Egyptologists use the word tales to refer to a series of popular stories that were primarily passed on orally by traveling storytellers. Only the ones that were also recorded in papyri are known today, and few of these have been found in their entirety For example, The Tale of the Doomed Prince, a New Kingdom story about a prince beset by a series of troubles, including attacks by monsters, is recorded in only one known papyrus, and the ending is missing.

Fortunately, a few tales appear in multiple papyri. The Tale of Prince Setna, for example, is in several Ptolemaic and Roman Period papyri; it concerns a Nineteenth Dynasty prince who kills his children because of his love for a woman, although later he learns that his experiences were only a dream. Other tales include The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant (which appeared during the New Kingdom, and possibly before), The Tale of Sinuhe (a Middle Kingdom tale), The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (another Middle Kingdom tale), and The Tale of Two Brothers (apparently from the Nineteenth Dynasty).

See also: Eloquent Peasant, The Tale of the ; literature ; Ptolemaic Period ; Shipwrecked Sailor, The Tale of the ; Sinuhe, The Tale of ; Two Brothers, The Tale of .