The Tale of the Two Brothers (Anpu and Bata)

Two brothers farm together. While the elder brother Anpu is away, his wife tries to seduce the younger, Bata: "Come, stay with me … I will make for thee beautiful garments." Bata refuses in horror — "thy husband is to me as a father … what is this wickedness that thou hast said to me?" — and says nothing. The wife then smears herself as if beaten and tells Anpu that Bata attacked her; Anpu takes a knife to kill his brother, who flees and is finally vindicated.

The first act is Genesis 39 almost beat for beat — Potiphar's wife, "Lie with me," Joseph's refusal ("how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"), the false accusation, the master's rage. The papyrus is about 75 years older than the usual date for the Exodus. (The rest of the tale runs off into magic — a heart hidden in a pine tree, transformations into a bull and a tree — with no biblical parallel.)