In the middle of the month Famenut (January) spring began. All Egypt was green with growing wheat. On black patches of land crowds of men were sowing lupines, beans, and barley. In the air was the odor of orange blossoms. The water had fallen greatly and new bits of land were laid bare day by day.
Preparations for the funeral of Osiris-Mer-Amen-Ramses were ended.
The revered mummy of the pharaoh was enclosed in a white box, the upper part of which repeated perfectly the features of the departed. The pharaoh seemed to see with enameled eyes, while the god-like face expressed a mild regret, not for the world which the ruler had left, but for the people condemned to the sufferings of temporal existence. On its head the image of the pharaoh had an Egyptian cap with white and sapphire stripes; on its neck, a string of jewels; on its breast, the picture of a man kneeling with crossed hands; on its legs, images of the gods, sacred birds, and eyes, not set into any face, but, as it were, gazing out of infinity.
Thus arrayed, the remains of the pharaoh rested on a costly couch in a small cedar chapel, the walls of which were covered with inscriptions celebrating the life and deeds of the departed sovereign. Above hovered a miraculous falcon with a human head, and near the couch night and day watched a priest clothed as Anubis, the god of burial, with a jackal's head on his body.
A heavy basalt sarcophagus had been prepared which was to be the outer coffin of the mummy. This sarcophagus had also the form and features of the dead pharaoh. It was covered with inscriptions, and pictures of people praying, of sacred birds and also scarabs.
On the 17th of Famenut, the mummy, together with its chapel and sarcophagus, was taken from the quarter of the dead to the palace and placed in the largest hall there.
This hall was soon filled with priests, who chanted funeral hymns, with attendants and servants of the departed, and above all with his women, who screamed so vehemently that their cries were heard across the river.
"O lord! Thou our lord!" cried they, "why art Thou leaving us? Thou so kind, so beautiful. Thou art silent now, Thou who didst speak to us so willingly. Thou didst incline to our society, but today Thou art far from us."
During this time the priests sang,
Chorus I. "I am Turn, who alone exists."