CHAPTER LIX.
Chapter for breathing air and command of water.
Oh thou Sycomore of Nut, give me of the water and of the wind which are within thee.
It is I who hold that abode which is in Heracleopolis, I watch over that Egg of the Great Cackler. My strength is the strength thereof, my life the life thereof, and my breath the breath thereof.
Notes.
On the mythological tree in heaven which produces both wind and water, that is the rain-cloud, see my Egyptian Mythology, particularly with reference to Mist and Cloud, in Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., Vol. VIII.
The same kind of imagery is still current in Europe. German authorities tell us about the ‘Wetterbaum,’ which in some places is called ‘Abraham’s Tree,’ in others, ‘Adam’s Tree.’ The Yggdrasill myth is supposed to have the same origin. The Rainbow is the heavenly Mountain Ash of a well known Swedish and Esthonian riddle. The water from heaven was supposed in Egypt to be especially refreshing for the dead.