Ra gave command, saying, "Call hither to me messengers who are swift as the blast of the storm wind." And when they were brought, he said, "Run to Elephantine, hasten, go quickly, and bring back to me the fruit that causes sleep. Be swift, be swift, for all this must be accomplished ere the day dawn."
The messengers hastened, and their speed was the speed of a blast of the storm-wind. They came to Elephantine, where the great river rages among the rocks that bar its passage; they took the fruit that causes sleep, and with the fleetness of the wind they brought it to Ra. Crimson and scarlet was the fruit, and its juice was the colour of man's blood; and the messengers carried to it Heliopolis, the city of Ra.
Then the women of Heliopolis crushed barley and made beer, and with the beer they mixed the juice of the fruit that causes sleep, and the beer became the colour of blood. Seven thousand measures of beer did they make, and in haste they brewed it, for the night was drawing to a close and the day was about to break. In haste came the Majesty of Ra, and all the gods and goddesses, who were with him, to Heliopolis to inspect the beer. Ra saw that it was like human blood, and he said, "Very good is this beer. By this I can protect mankind."
At the dawning of the day, he gave command, "Carry this beer to the place where men and women have been slain, and pour it out upon the fields before the beauty of the night has passed." So they poured it out upon the fields. Four palms deep it lay upon the ground, and its colour was the colour of blood.
In the morning came the fierce Sekhmet, ready to slay, and as she passed by she looked to this side and that, watching for her prey. But no living thing did she see, only the fields that lay four palms deep in the beer that was the colour of blood. Then she laughed with the laugh like the roar of a lioness, for she thought it was the blood she had shed. And she stooped and drank. Again and again she drank, and she laughed the more, for the juice of the fruit that causes sleep mounted to her brain, and no longer could she see to slay by reason of the juice of that fruit.
Then the Majesty of Ra said to her, "Come in peace, O sweet one." And to this day the maidens of Amu are called "Sweet Ones" in remembrance.
And the Majesty of Ra spoke again to the goddess, saying, "For thee shall be prepared drinks from the fruits that cause sleep; every year shall these be made at the great Festival of the New Year, and the number of them shall be according to the number of the priestesses who serve me."
And to this day, on the festival of Hathor, drinks are made of the fruits that cause sleep, according to the number of the priestesses of Ra, in remembrance of the protection of mankind from the fury of the goddess.