that is man. The work of Khnum thereafter was to reach into the wombs of women and shape the body
of the child who lay within. They called him the Potter-God. He it was who, at the command of Amen,
greatest of the younger Gods, shaped the body of the great Queen Hat-shep-sut whom Amen begot,
lying beside her mother in the likeness of the Pharaoh, her husband. At least, so wrote the priests of her
day.
"But a thousand years before this there was a Prince whom Osiris and Isis loved greatly-for his beauty,
his courage and his strength. Nowhere on earth, they thought, was there a woman fit for him. So they
called Khnum, the Potter-God, to make one. He came, with long hands like those of…Madame
Mandilip…like hers, each finger alive. He shaped the clay into a woman so beautiful that even the
Goddess Isis felt a touch of envy. They were severely practical Gods, those of old Egypt, so they threw