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When I was a little child:
and dwelling in my kingdom
in my father's house, and was content with the wealth and the:
luxuries of my nourishers
from the East, our home:
my parents equipped me and sent me forth;
and of the wealth of our treasury:
they took abundantly, and tied up for me a load
large and yet light:
which I myself could carry
gold of Beth-Ellaya:
and silver of Gazak the great
and rubies of India:
and agates from Beth-Kashan
and they furnished me with the adamant:
which can crush iron.
And they took off from me the glittering robe:
which in their affection they made for me
and the purple toga:
which was measured and woven to my stature.
And they made a compact with me:
and wrote it in my heart, that it might not be forgotten:
"If thou goest down into Egypt:
and bringest the one pearl
which is in the midst of the sea:
around the loud-breathing serpent
thou shalt put on thy glittering robe:
and thy toga, with which thou art contented
and with thy brother, who is next to us in authority:
thou shalt be heir in our kingdom."
I quitted the East and went down:
there being two guardians
for the way was dangerous and difficult:
and I was very young to travel it.
I passed through the borders of Maishan:
the meeting-place of the merchants of the East
and I reached the land of Babel:
and I entered the walls of Sarbug.
I went down into Egypt:
and my companions parted from me.
I went straight to the serpent:
I dwelt in his abode
waiting till he should lumber and sleep:
and I could take my pearl from him.
And when I was single and alone:
and became strange to my family
one of my race, a free-born man:
and Oriental, I saw there
a youth fair and loveable:
the son of oil-sellers;
and he came and attached himself to me:
and I made him my intimate friend
and associate with whom I shared my merchandise:
I warned him against the Egyptians and against
consorting with the unclean;
And I dressed in their dress:
that they might not hold me in abhorrence
because I was come from abroad in order to take the pearl:
and arouse the serpent against me.
But in some way other or another:
they found out that I was not their countryman
and they dealt with me treacherously:
and gave their food to eat.
I forget that I was a son of kings:
and I served their king;
and I forgot the pearl:
for which my parents had sent me
and because of the burden of their oppressions:
I lay in a deep sleep.
But all this things that befell me:
my parents perceived, and were grieved for me;
and proclamation was made in our kingdom:
that every one should come to our gate [kingdom]
kings and princes of Parthia:
and all the nobles of the East.
And they wove a plan on my behalf:
that I might not be left in Egypt;
and they wrote to me a letter:
and every noble signed his name to it:
"From thy father, the king of kings:
and thy mother, the mistress of the East
and from thy brother, our second in authority:
to thee our son, who art in Egypt, greeting!
Call to mind that thou art a son of kings:
See the slavery, whom thou servest!
Remember the pearl:
for which thou was sent to Egypt!
Think of thy robe:
and remember thy splendid toga
which thou shalt wear and with which thou shalt be adorned:
when thy name hath been read out in
the list of the valiant
and thy brother, our viceroy:
thou shalt be in our kingdom."
My letter is a letter:
which the king sealed with his own right hand
to keep it from the wicked ones, the children of Babel:
and from the savage demons of Sarbug.
It flew in the likeness of an eagle:
the king of all birds;
it flew and alight beside me:
and became all speech.
At its voice and the sound of its rustling:
I started and arose from my sleep.
I took it up and kissed it:
and I began and read it;
and according to what was traced on my heart:
were the words of my letter.
I remembered that I was a son of royal parents:
and my noble birth asserted itself.
I remembered the pearl:
for which I had been sent to Egypt
and I began to charm him:
the terrible loud breathing serpent.
I hushed him asleep and lulled him into slumber:
for my father's name I named over him
and the name of our second in power:
and the of my mother, the queen of the East.
And I snatched away the pearl:
and turned to go back to my father's house.
And their filthy and unclean dress I stripped off:
and left it in their country;
and I took my way straight to come:
to the light of our home in the East.
And my letter, my awakener:
I found before me on the road;
and as with its voice it had awakened me:
so too with its light it was leading me.
It, that dwelt in the palace:
gave light before me with its form
and with its voice and its guidance:
it also encouraged me to speed and with its love it drew me
on.
I went forth and passed by Sarbug:
I left Babel on my left hand;
and I came to the great Maisan:
to the haven of merchants which sitteth on the shore of the sea.
And my bright robe, which I had stripped off:
and the toga that was wrapped with it
from Rantha and Reken:
my parents had sent thither
by the hand of their treasures:
who in their truth could be trusted therewith.
And because I remembered not its fashion:
for in my childhood I had left it in my father's house,
on a sudden, when I received it:
the garment seemed to me to become like a mirror of myself.
I saw it all in all:
and I to received all in it
for we were two in distinction:
and yet gain one in one likeness.
And the treasurers too:
who brought it to me, I saw in like manner
to be two and yet one likeness:
for one sign of the king was written on them both
of the hands of him who restored to me through them:
my trust and my wealth
my decorated robe, which:
was adorned with glorious colors
with gold and beryls:
and rubies and agates
and sardonyxes, varied in color:
And it was skillfully worked in its home on high
and with diamond clasps:
were all its seams fastened;
and the image of the king of kings:
was embroidered and depicted in full all over it
and like the stone of the sapphire too:
its hues were varied.
And I saw also that all over it:
the instincts of knowledge were working and I saw too that it was
preparing to speak.
I heard the sound of its tones:
which it uttered with its whole being, saying:
"I am the active in deeds:
whom they reared for him before my father;
and I perceived myself:
that my stature grew according to his labors."
And in its kingly movements:
it poured itself entirely over me
and on the hand of its givers:
it hastened that I might take it.
And love urged me too run:
to meet it and receive it;
and I stretched forth and took it:
With the beauty of its colors I adorned myself
and I wrapped myself wholly in my toga:
of brilliant hues.
I clothed myself with it, and went up to the gate:
of salutation and prostration;
I bowed my head and worshipped the majesty:
of my father who sent me,
for I had done his commandments:
and he too had done what he promised,
and the gate of his heart.:
I mingled with his princes
for he rejoiced in me and received me:
and I was with him in his kingdom
and with the voice of joy:
all his servants praised him.
And he promised that to the gate too:
of the king of kings with him I should go
and with my offering and my pearl:
with him should present myself to our king.
The Hymn of Judas Thomas the Apostles:
which he spake in prison, is ended. | 
