CHAPTER LXXVII.
Chapter whereby one assumeth the form of the Golden Hawk.([1])
I set myself to view: I set myself to view as the Golden Hawk, which cometh out from its Egg; and I fly and I hover as a Hawk of four cubits across the back. My two wings are of the green gem of the South.([2])
I come forth from the cabin of the Sektit Bark and I raise myself up from the Eastern Hill.
I stoop upon the Âtit Bark, that I may come and raise to me those who are in their circles, and who bow down before me.
I display myself and gather myself together as the beautiful Golden Hawk with the head of a Heron, to listen to whose utterances Râ cometh every day, and I sit down in the midst of all the great gods of Heaven.
The fields lie before me; the produce is before me; I eat of it, I wax radiant upon it, I am saturated with it to the satisfaction of my heart.
Nepra hath given to me my throat, and I am in possession of all that pertaineth to my person.([3])
Notes.
[1.] This is the first of a series of chapters relative to the “Transformations,” the subject of which is treated in the Introduction. It is sufficient here to repeat that the Egyptian ‘Transformations’ have nothing in common with Metempsychosis, as understood in the Greek or Indian religions. The change of form in the Egyptian idea depended upon the will of the person; it was not a penance for sin, but a means of glorification. And all the forms assumed in the Book of the Dead by the deceased are well known forms of the Sun-god.
[2.] Green gem of the South
. This has generally been understood as representing the green feldspar of which many objects in our museums are made. But Dümichen (Zeitschr., 1872) has shown that the
‘of the East’ is a synonym of Māfkait, emerald, and M. Naville has referred to Pliny, who (Hist. Nat., XXXVII, 17) speaks of the Egyptian emeralds ‘qui eruuntur circa Copton oppidum Thebaidis in collibus, ex cautibus.’ The same author quotes Juba in reference to Ethiopic gems as being ‘alacriter virides, sed non facile puri aut concolores.’
[3.] Nepra is one of the names of Osiris, considered as giver of corn, ὀ Πυροφόρος. By Throat is here meant the organ or power of swallowing, deglutition.