CHAPTER LXXXIV.
Chapter whereby one assumeth the form of the Hernshaw.([1])
Thou who holdest the bound victims; ye knives over their heads and locks and fleeces;([2]) ye aged and bright ones who are armed with the fated moment.
I come to heaven but I strike upon the earth; and conversely.
It is my power which produceth victory and raiseth the height of heaven, and I make the lustrations which yield the extent of earth to my feet against the sinful cities as I advance and cut in pieces([3]) those who are involved in rebellion.([4])
I leave the gods upon their paths but I strike the Wakers who are in their coffins.
I know not Nu, I know not Tatunen, I know not the Red ones when they bring opposition to me.
I know not a Word of Power to whose utterance I listen.
I am the Red Calf upon the tablets.
This is what the gods say when they raise their voice.
Let your countenances be without restraint towards him who cometh to me.
The morning dawns are independent of you, ye have not the charge of them; but my alternations are in my own hands. I say not the wrong instead of the right.
Day after day unswervingly turneth back upon my eye-brow.
And Evening is the beginning of my voyage to celebrate the solemnity of the Reclining and the Embrace of the Aged one who hath charge of the Earth.
Notes.
[1.] Both the Bennu and the Shenshen (which I here translate ‘Hernshaw’) are Herons. They fly to a great height in spiral whirls.
[2.] The true reading here seems to be
from
‘shear.’
[3.] Cut in pieces. The papyrus of Ani gives the valuable reading
.
[4.] Rebellion. So I understand
, a wrongful and violent rising, ἐπανάστασις.