Egypte - Legends Of The Gods - THE LEGEND OF THE DEATH OF HORUS THROUGH THE STING OF A SCORPION
II.--THE NARRATIVE OF ISIS.
I am Isis, [and] I have come forth from the dwelling (or, prison)
wherein my brother Set placed me. Behold the god Thoth, the great god,
the Chief of Maat[FN#203] [both] in heaven and on the earth, said unto
me, "Come now, O Isis, thou goddess, moreover it is a good thing to
hearken,[FN#204] [for there is] life to one who shall be guided [by the
advice] of another. Hide thou thyself with [thy] son the child, and
there shall come unto him these things. His members shall
grow,[FN#205] and two-fold strength of every kind shall spring up [in
him]. [And he] shall be made to take his seat upon the throne of his
father, [whom] he shall avenge,[FN#206] [and he shall take possession
of] the exalted position of Heq[FN#207] of the Two Lands."[FN#208]
[FN#203] i.e., Law, or Truth.
[FN#204] Or, obey.
[FN#205] i.e., flourish.
[FN#206] He avenged his father Osiris by vanquishing Set.
[FN#207] i.e., tribal chief.
[FN#208] i.e., Upper and Lower Egypt.
I came forth [from the dwelling] at the time of evening, and there came
forth the Seven Scorpions which were to accompany me and to strike(?)
for me with [their] stings. Two scorpions, Tefen and Befen, were
behind me, two scorpions, Mestet and Mestetef, were by my side, and
three scorpions, Petet, Thetet, and Maatet (or, Martet), were for
preparing the road for me. I charged them very strictly (or, in a loud
voice), and my words penetrated into their ears: "Have no knowledge of
[any], make no cry to the Tesheru beings, and pay no attention to the
'son of a man' (i.e., anyone) who belongeth to a man of no account,"
[and I said,] "Let your faces be turned towards the ground [that ye may
show me] the way." So the guardian of the company brought me to the
boundaries of the city of Pa-Sui,[FN#209] the city of the goddesses of
the Divine Sandals, [which was situated] in front of the Papyrus
Swamps.[FN#210]
[FN#209] "The House of the Crocodile," perhaps the same town as Pa-
Sebekt, a district in the VIIth nome of Lower Egypt (Metelites).
[FN#210] Perhaps a district in the Metelite nome.
When I had arrived at the place where the people lived[FN#211] I came
to the houses wherein dwelt the wives [and] husbands. And a certain
woman of quality spied me as I was journeying along the road, and she
shut her doors on me. Now she was sick at heart by reason of those
[scorpions] which were with me. Then [the Seven Scorpions] took
counsel concerning her, and they all at one time shot out their venom
on the tail of the scorpion Tefen; as for me, the woman Taha[FN#212]
opened her door, and I entered into the house of the miserable lady.
[FN#211] In Egyptian Teb, which may be the Tebut in the Metelite nome.
[FN#212] Taha may be the name of a woman, or goddess, or the word may
mean a "dweller in the swamps," as Golenischeff thinks.
Then the scorpion Tefen entered in under the leaves of the door and
smote (i.e., stung) the son of Usert, and a fire broke out in the house
of Usert, and there was no water there to extinguish it; [but] the sky
rained upon the house of Usert, though it was not the season for
rain.[FN#213]
[FN#213] i.e., it was not the season of the inundation.
Behold, the heart of her who had not opened her door to me was
grievously sad, for she knew not whether he (i.e., her son) would live
[or not], and although she went round about through her town uttering
cries [for help], there was none who came at [the sound of] her voice.
Now mine own heart was grievously sad for the sake of the child, and [I
wished] to make to live [again] him that was free from fault.
[Thereupon] I cried out to the noble lady, "Come to me. Come to me.
Verily my mouth (?) possesseth life. I am a daughter [well] known in
her town, [and I] can destroy the demon of death by the spell (or,
utterance) which my father taught me to know. I am his daughter, the
beloved [offspring] of his body."
Then Isis placed her two hands on the child in order to make to live him
whose throat was stopped, [and she said], "O poison of the scorpion
Tefent, come forth and appear on the ground! Thou shalt neither enter
nor penetrate [further into the body of the child]. O poison of the
scorpion Befent, come forth and appear on the ground! I am Isis, the
goddess, the lady (or, mistress) of words of power, and I am the maker
of words of power (i.e., spells), and I know how to utter words with
magical effect.[FN#214] Hearken ye unto me, O every reptile which
possesseth the power to bite (i.e., to sting), and fall headlong to the
ground! O poison of the scorpion Mestet, make no advance [into his
body]. O poison of the scorpion Mestetef, rise not up [in his body]. O
poison of the scorpions Petet and Thetet, penetrate not [into his body].
[O poison of] the scorpion Maatet (or, Martet), fall down on the
ground."
[FN#214] By uttering spells Isis restored life to her husband Osiris
for a season, and so became with child by him. She made a magical
figure of a reptile, and having endowed it with life, it stung Ra as he
passed through the sky, and the great god almost died. In Greek times
it was believed that she discovered a medicine which would raise the
dead, and she was reputed to be a great expert in the art of healing
men's sicknesses. As a goddess she appeared to the sick, and cured
them.
[Here follows the] "Chapter of the stinging [of scorpions]."
And Isis, the goddess, the great mistress of spells (or, words of
power), she who is at the head of the gods, unto whom the god Keb gave
his own magical spells for the driving away of poison at noon-day (?),
and for making poison to go back, and retreat, and withdraw, and go
backward, spake, saying, "Ascend not into heaven, through the command
of the beloved one of Ra, the egg of the Smen goose which cometh forth
from the sycamore. Verily my words are made to command the uttermost
limit of the night. I speak unto you, [O scorpions] I am alone and in
sorrow because our names will suffer disgrace throughout the nomes. Do
not make love, do not cry out to the Tesheru fiends, and cast no
glances upon the noble ladies in their houses. Turn your faces towards
the earth and [find out] the road, so that we may arrive at the hidden
places in the town of Khebt.[FN#215] Oh the child shall live and the
poison die! Ra liveth and the poison dieth! Verily Horus shall be in
good case (or, healthy) for his mother Isis. Verily he who is stricken
shall be in good case likewise."
[FN#215] The island of Chemmis of classical writers.
And the fire [which was in the house of Usert] was extinguished, and
heaven was satisfied with the utterance of Isis, the goddess.
Then the lady Usert came, and she brought unto me her possessions, and
she filled the house of the woman Tah (?), for the Ka of Tah
(?) because [she] had opened to me her door. Now the lady Usert
suffered pain and anguish the whole night, and her mouth tasted (i.e.,
felt) the sting [which] her son [had suffered]. And she brought her
possessions as the penalty for not having opened the door to me. Oh
the child shall live and the poison die! Verily Horus shall be in good
case for his mother Isis. Verily everyone who is stricken shall be in
good case likewise.
Lo, a bread-cake [made] of barley meal shall drive out (or, destroy)
the poison, and natron shall make it to withdraw, and the fire [made]
of hetchet-plant shall drive out (or, destroy) fever-heat from the
limbs.
"O Isis, O Isis, come thou to thy Horus, O thou woman of the wise
mouth! Come to thy son"--thus cried the gods who dwelt in her quarter
of the town--"for he is as one whom a scorpion hath stung, and like
one whom the scorpion Uhat, which the animal Antesh drove away, hath
wounded."
[Then] Isis ran out like one who had a knife [stuck] in her body, and
she opened her arms wide, [saying] "Behold me, behold me, my son Horus,
have no fear, have no fear, O son my glory! No evil thing of any kind
whatsoever shall happen unto thee, [for] there is in thee the essence
(or, fluid) which made the things which exist. Thou art the son from
the country of Mesqet,[FN#216] [thou hast] come forth from the
celestial waters Nu, and thou shalt not die by the heat of the poison.
Thou wast the Great Bennu,[FN#217] who art born (or, produced) or; the
top of the balsam-trees[FN#218] which are in the House of the Aged One
in Anu (Heliopolis). Thou art the brother of the Abtu Fish,[FN#219]
who orderest what is to be, and art the nursling of the Cat[FN#220] who
dwelleth in the House of Neith. The goddess Reret,[FN#221] the goddess
Hat, and the god Bes protect thy members. Thy head shall not fall to
the Tchat fiend that attacketh thee. Thy members shall not receive the
fire of that which is thy poison. Thou shalt not go backwards on the
land, and thou shalt not be brought low on the water. No reptile which
biteth (or, stingeth) shall gain the mastery over thee, and no lion
shall subdue thee or have dominion over thee. Thou art the son of the
sublime god 82 who proceeded from Keb. Thou art Horus, and the poison
shall not gain the mastery over thy members. Thou art the son of the
sublime god who proceeded from Keb, and thus likewise shall it be with
those who are under the knife. And the four august goddesses shall
protect thy members."
[FN#216] Mesqet was originally the name of the bull's skin in which
the deceased was wrapped in order to secure for him the now life; later
the name was applied to the Other World generally. {See Book of the
Dead, Chap. xvii. 121.}
[FN#217] The Bennu who kept the book of destiny. See Book of the Dead,
Chap. xvii. 25.
[FN#218] These are the balsam-trees for which Heliopolis has been
always famous. They are described by Wansleben, L'Histoire de
l'Eglise, pp. 88-93, and by 'Abd al-Latif (ed. de Sacy), p. 88.
[FN#219] The Abtu and Ant Fishes swam before the Boat of Ra and guided
it.
[FN#220] This is the Cat who lived by the Persea tree in Heliopolis.
See Book of the Dead, Chap. xvii. 18.
[FN#221] A hippopotamus goddess.
[Here the narrative is interrupted by the following texts:]
[I am] he who rolleth up into the sky, and who goeth down (i.e.,
setteth) in the Tuat, whose form is in the House of height, through
whom when he openeth his Eye the light cometh into being, and when he
closeth his Eye it becometh night. [I am] the Water-god Het when he
giveth commands, whose name is unknown to the gods. I illumine the Two
Lands, night betaketh itself to flight, and I shine by day and by
night.[FN#222] I am the Bull of Bakha[FN#223], and the Lion of
Manu[FN#224]. I am he who traverseth the heavens by day and by night
without being repulsed. I have come 85 by reason of the voice (or,
cry) of the son of Isis. Verily the blind serpent Na hath bitten the
Bull. O thou poison which floweth through every member of him that is
under the knife, come forth, I charge thee, upon the ground. Behold,
he that is under the knife shall not be bitten. Thou art Menu, the
Lord of Coptos, the child of the White Shat[FN#225] which is in Anu
(Heliopolis), which was bitten [by a reptile]. O Menu, Lord of Coptos,
give thou air unto him that is under the knife; and air shall be given
to thee. Hail, divine father and minister of the god Nebun, [called]
Mer-Tem, son of the divine father and minister of the god Nebun, scribe
of the Water-god Het, [called] Ankh-Semptek (sic), son of the lady of
the house Tent-Het-nub! He restored this inscription after he had
found it in a ruined state in the Temple of Osiris-Mnevis, because he
wished to make to live her name . . . . . . . . . . and to give air
unto him that is under [the knife], and to give life unto the ancestors
of all the gods. And his Lord Osiris-Mnevis shall make long his life
with happiness of heart, [and shall give him] a beautiful burial after
[attaining to] an old age, because of what he hath done for the Temple
of Osiris-Mnevis.
[FN#222] i.e., always.
[FN#223] The land of the sunrise, the East.
[FN#224] The land of the sunset, the West.
[FN#225] Perhaps an animal of the Lynx class.
89. Horus was bitten (i.e., stung) in Sekhet-An, to the north of Hetep-
hemt, whilst his mother Isis was in the celestial houses making a
libation for her brother Osiris. And Horus sent forth his cry into the
horizon, and it was heard by those who were in . . . . . . Thereupon
the keepers of the doors who were in the [temple of] the holy Acacia
Tree started up at the voice of Horus. And one sent forth a cry of
lamentation, and Heaven gave the order that Horus was to be healed.
And [the gods] took counsel [together] concerning the life [of Horus,
saying,] "O goddess Pai(?), O god Asten, who dwellest in Aat-Khus(?)
. . . . .[FN#226] thy . . . . . . enter in . . . . . lord of sleep . .
. . . . the child Horus. Oh, Oh, bring thou the things which are thine
to cut off the poison which is in every member of Horus, the son of
Isis, and which is in every member of him that is under the knife
likewise."
[FN#226] The text appears to be corrupt in this passage.
Egypte - Legends Of The Gods - THE LEGEND OF THE DEATH OF HORUS THROUGH THE STING OF A SCORPION
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