Legends of the Gods / The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations

by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge

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.