There were once two brothers named Truth and Lies. Truth was noble, honest, and just, but his brother Lies was deceitful and wicked, and he hated Truth with all his heart.

One day Lies appeared before the Ennead and accused his brother of stealing his magnificent dagger.

When the gods asked him to describe it, Lies answered smoothly,

“All the copper in Mount Yalu went into its blade, and all the timber in Coptos into its hilt. Its sheath is as long as a tomb shaft, and the hides of every cow in Kal were used to make its belt. Never has there been such a splendid dagger. Truth has stolen it from me. If he refuses to return it, let him be blinded and given to me as my doorkeeper.”

Truth was summoned before the Ennead and protested his innocence.

He could not produce the dagger because it had never existed. Yet Lies spoke so convincingly that the gods believed him.

Truth was condemned.

The Ennead ordered that he be blinded in both eyes and handed over to Lies to serve as his doorkeeper.

For a time Truth sat patiently beside his brother’s doorway, accepting his fate without complaint.

But every day that Lies looked upon his blind brother, he was reminded of his own wickedness and of Truth’s innocence. Unable to bear the sight, he summoned two of Truth’s former servants.

“Take your master into the desert,” he ordered. “Leave him where the lions hunt. Do not return until you are certain he is dead.”

The servants were too frightened to disobey.

Sadly, they each took Truth by the arm and led him into the wilderness.

When Truth felt the hot sand beneath his feet, he asked quietly,

“Why have you brought me here?”

Weeping, the servants confessed the cruel command they had received.

“Please,” begged Truth, “do not leave me for the lions. Take me instead to a distant village. Stain my clothing with the blood of some animal and show it to Lies. He will believe that I am dead.”

Relieved, the servants gladly agreed.

They escorted Truth to a village half a day’s journey away before staining his tunic with animal blood. They then returned to Lies and told him that his brother was dead.

Several days later, a wealthy lady named Desire was walking through her garden when two of her maidservants came running toward her.

“My lady,” they cried, “we have found a blind man lying among the reeds beside the lake. Please come and see him.”

“Bring him to me,” Desire replied.

The servants returned, supporting Truth between them.

He was exhausted and half-starved, yet Desire thought him the most handsome man she had ever seen.

She welcomed him into her home, and in time he became her lover. Before long, she gave birth to a son.

But Desire soon grew tired of Truth, and she cast him out of the house.

Their son, however, was no ordinary child.

He grew tall and handsome, almost like one of the gods. By the age of twelve, he surpassed every other boy at school in reading, writing, and the arts of war.

His classmates became jealous.

“If you’re so clever,” they mocked, “tell us who your father is.”

The boy did not know.

Ashamed and humiliated, he ran home and pleaded with his mother.

“Please tell me who my father is so I can answer them.”

Desire pointed carelessly toward the gate.

“Do you see that blind man sitting in the dust? That is your father.”

The boy stared at her in horror.

“And you leave him there?” he cried. “You deserve to be thrown to the crocodiles!”

He rushed outside, embraced his father, and led him into the house.

He seated Truth in the finest chair, placed the choicest food before him, and lovingly helped him eat and drink.

Then he asked, “Father, who dared to blind you? Tell me, and I will avenge you.”

“It was my own brother,” Truth replied.

The boy immediately devised a plan.

He went to his mother’s storeroom and gathered ten loaves of bread, a skin of water, a sword, a staff, and a pair of leather sandals.

Then he selected the finest dappled ox from her herd and drove it before him until he reached the pastures where Lies kept his cattle.

Approaching the chief herdsman, he said,

“I must leave on a long journey. If you will care for my ox until I return, you may keep these provisions, this sword, this staff, and these fine leather sandals.”

The herdsman eagerly accepted the bargain, and the boy pretended to leave the district.

Several weeks later, Lies came to inspect his herds.

His eyes immediately fell upon the handsome dappled ox.

“I shall take that beast home and slaughter it for a feast,” he declared. “It is easily the finest animal in the herd.”

The chief herdsman protested.

“It belongs to a young man who will soon return.”

Lies shrugged.

“What does that matter? When he comes back, let him choose any other beast from the herd.”

So Lies drove away the ox and had it slaughtered.

Not long afterward, the son of Truth returned.

The chief herdsman apologized.

“You may choose whichever animal you like from the herd.”

The young man shook his head.

“What good would that do? None of them can compare with my ox.

“My ox was so enormous that if it stood upon the Island of Amun, its chin would reach the Nubian Desert and its tail would stretch to the marshes of the Delta. One horn rested upon the Eastern Mountains and the other upon the Western Mountains, while its body covered the River Nile.”

The chief herdsman stared in amazement.

“Has there ever been such an ox?”

The son of Truth became indignant.

He seized both the herdsman and Lies and brought them before the Ennead to answer for the theft.

Standing before the gods, he described his magnificent ox exactly as before.

Lies burst into laughter.

“What nonsense! No ox has ever been that large.”

The young man smiled.

“And no dagger has ever had a blade forged from all the copper in Mount Yalu, a hilt made from all the timber in Coptos, a sheath as long as a tomb shaft, and a belt made from every hide in Kal.”

Suddenly Lies fell silent.

The son of Truth turned to the Ennead.

“Judge the case of Truth and Lies once again. How could you condemn an innocent man because of such an impossible story? I am Truth’s son, and I have come to restore my father’s honor.”

Even then, Lies stubbornly refused to confess.

“My story was true,” he insisted. “If Truth is still alive and denies it, then I will admit my guilt. Blind me, and make me his doorkeeper.”

Lies spoke confidently, believing his brother had long since perished.

The young man smiled.

“You have judged yourself. Come with me, and I shall show you that Truth still lives.”

He led the Ennead to his mother’s house and brought them before his blind father.

When they heard Truth’s account, the gods realized that they had been deceived.

The Ennead ordered Lies to be blinded in both eyes.

As he himself had demanded, he was made the doorkeeper of Truth.

From that day forward, Truth was restored to honor, and he and his faithful son lived together in peace, while Lies spent the rest of his life serving the brother he had tried to destroy.