In
the days before Re
had
left the earth, before he had begun to grow old, his great wisdom
told him that if the goddess Nut
bore
children, one of them would end his reign among men. So Re laid a
curse upon Nut - that she should not be able to bear any child upon
any day in the year.
Full
of sorrow, Nut went for help to Thoth,
the thrice-great god of wisdom and magic and learning, Re's son, who
loved her. Thoth knew that the curse of Re, once spoken, could never
be recalled, but in his wisdom he found a way of escape. He went to
Khonsu,
the Moon-god, and challenged him to a contest at draughts. Game after
game they played and always Thoth won. The stakes grew higher and
higher, but Khonsu wagered the most, for it was some of his own light
that he risked and lost.
At
last Khonsu would play no more. Then Thoth the thrice-great in wisdom
gathered up the light which he had won and made it into five extra
days which for ever after were set between the end of the old year
and the beginning of the new. The year was of three hundred and sixty
days before this, but the five days which were added, which were not
days of any year, were ever afterwards held as days of festival in
old Egypt.
But,
since his match with Thoth, Khonsu the moon has not had enough light
to shine throughout the month, but dwindles into darkness and then
grows to his full glory again; for he had lost the light needed to
make five whole days.
On
the first of these days Osiris,
the eldest son of Nut, was born, and the second day was set aside to
be the birthday of Horus
the Elder.
On the third day the second son of Nut was born, dark Seth,
the lord of evil. On the fourth her daughter Isis
first
saw the light, and her second daughter Nephthys
on
the fifth. In this way the curse of Re was both fulfilled and
defeated: for the days on which the children of Nut were born
belonged to no year.
When
Osiris was born many signs and wonders were seen and heard throughout
the world. Most notable was the voice which came from the holiest
shrine in the temple at Thebes
on
the Nile, which today is called Karnak, speaking to a man called
Pamyles bidding him proclaim to all men that Osiris, the good and
mighty king, was born to bring joy to all the earth. Pamyles did as
he was bidden, and he also attended on the Divine Child and brought
him up as a man among men.
When
Osiris was grown up he married his sister Isis, a custom which the
Pharaohs of Egypt followed ever after. And Seth married Nephthys: for
he too being a god could marry only a goddess.
After
Isis by her craft had learned the Secret Name of Re, Osiris became
sole ruler of Egypt and reigned on earth as Re had done. He found the
people both savage and brutish, fighting among themselves and killing
and eating one another. But Isis discovered the grain of both wheat
and barley, which grew wild over the land with the other plants and
was still unknown to man; and Osiris taught them how to plant the
seeds when the Nile had risen in the yearly inundation and sunk again
leaving fresh fertile mud over the fields; how to tend and water the
crops; how to cut the corn when it was ripe, and how to thresh the
grain on the threshing floors, dry it and grind it to flour and make
it into bread. He showed them also how to plant vines and make the
grapes into wine; and they knew already how to brew beer out of the
barley.
When
the people of Egypt had learned to make bread and cut only the flesh
of such animals as he taught them were suitable, Osiris, went on to
teach them laws, and how to live peacefully and happily together,
delighting themselves with music and poetry. As soon as Egypt was
filled with peace and plenty, Osiris set out over the world to bring
his blessings upon other nations. While he was away he left Isis to
rule over the land, which she did both wisely and well.
But
Seth the Evil One, their brother, envied Osiris and hated Isis. The
more the people loved and praised Osiris, the more Seth hated him;
and the more good he did and the happier mankind became, the stronger
grew Seth's desire to kill his brother and rule in his place. Isis,
however, was so full of wisdom and so watchful that Seth made no
attempt to seize the throne while she was watching over the land of
Egypt. And when Osiris returned from his travels Seth was among the
first to welcome him back and kneel in reverence before "the
good god Pharaoh Osiris".
Yet
he had made his plans, aided by seventy-two of his wicked friends and
Aso the evil queen of Ethiopia. Secretly Seth obtained the exact
measurements of the body of Osiris, and caused beautiful chest to be
made that would fit only him. It was fashioned of the rarest and most
costly woods: cedar brought from Lebanon, and ebony from Punt at the
south end of the Red Sea for no wood grows in Egypt except the soft
and useless palm.
Then
Seth gave a great feast in honour of Osiris; but the other guests
were the two-and-seventy conspirators. It was the greatest feast that
had yet been seen in Egypt, and the foods were choicer, the wines
stronger and the dancing girls more beautiful than ever before. When
the heart of Osiris had been made glad with feasting and song the
chest was brought in, and all were amazed at its beauty.
Osiris
marveled at the rare cedar inlaid with ebony and ivory, with less
rare gold
and
silver, and painted inside with figures of gods and birds and
animals, and he desired it greatly.
"I
will give this chest to whosoever fits it most exactly!" cried
Seth. And at once the conspirators began in turn to see if they could
win it. But one was too tall and another too short; one was too fat
and another too thin - and all tried in vain.
"Let
me see if I will fit into this marvelous piece of work," said
Osiris, and he laid himself down in the chest while all gathered
round breathlessly.
"I
fit exactly, and the chest is mine!" cried Osiris.
"It
is yours indeed, and shall be so forever!" hissed Seth as he
banged down the lid. Then in desperate haste he and the conspirators
nailed it shut and sealed every crack with molten lead, so that
Osiris the man died in the chest and his spirit went west across the
Nile into Duat the Place of Testing; but, beyond it to Amenti, where
those live for ever who have lived well on earth and passed the
judgments of Duat, he could not pass as yet. Seth and his companions
took the chest which held the body of Osiris and cast it into the
Nile; and Hapi the Nile-god carried it out into the Great Green Sea
where it was tossed for many days until it came to the shore of
Phoenicia near the city of Byblos. Here the waves cast it into a
tamarisk tree
that
grew on the shore; and the tree shot out branches and grew leaves and
flowers to make a fit resting place for the body of the good god
Osiris and very soon that tree
became
famous throughout the land.
Presently
King Malcander heard of it, and he and his wife, Queen Astarte, came
to the seashore to gaze at the tree. By now the branches had grown
together and hidden the chest which held the body of Osiris in the
trunk itself. King Malcander gave orders that the tree should be cut
down and fashioned into a great pillar for his palace. This was done,
and all wondered at its beauty and fragrance: but none knew that it
held the body of a god. Meanwhile in Egypt Isis was in great fear.
She had always known that Seth was filled with evil and jealousy, but
kindly Osiris would not believe in his brother's wickedness. But Isis
knew as soon as her husband was dead, though no one told her, and
fled into the marshes of the delta carrying the baby Horus with her.
She found shelter on a little island where the goddess Buto lived,
and entrusted the divine child to her. And as a further safeguard
against Seth, Isis loosed the island from its foundations, and let it
float so that no one could tell where to find it.
Then
she went to seek for the body of Osiris. For, until he was buried
with all the needful rites and charms, even his spirit could go no
farther to the west than Duat, the Testing-Place; and it could not
come to Amenti.
Back
and forth over the land of Egypt wandered Isis, but never a trace
could she find of the chest in which lay the body of Osiris. She
asked all whom she met, but no one had seen it - and in this matter
her magic powers could not help her.
At
last she questioned the children who were playing by the riverside,
and at once they told her that just such a chest as she described had
floated past them on the swift stream and out into the Great Green
Sea.
Then
Isis wandered on the shore, and again and again it was the children
who had seen the chest floating by and told her which way it had
gone. And because of this, Isis blessed the children and decreed that
ever afterwards children should speak words of wisdom and sometimes
tell of things to come.
At
length Isis came to Byblos and sat down by the seashore. Presently
the maidens who attended on Queen Astarte came down to bathe at that
place; and when they returned out of the water Isis taught them how
to plait their hair - which had never been done before. When they
went up to the palace a strange and wonderful perfume seemed to cling
to them; and Queen Astarte marveled at it, and at their plaited hair,
and asked them how it came to be so.
The
maidens told her of the wonderful woman who sat by the seashore, and
Queen Astarte sent for Isis, and asked her to serve in the palace and
tend her children, the little Prince Maneros and the baby Dictys, who
was ailing sorely. For she did not know that the strange woman who
was wandering alone at Byblos was the greatest of all the goddesses
of Egypt. Isis agreed to this, and very soon the baby Dictys was
strong and well though she did no more than give him her finger to
suck. But presently she became fond of the child, and thought to make
him immortal, which she did by burning away his mortal parts while
she flew round and round him in the form of a swallow.
Astarte, however, had been watching her secretly; and when she saw
that her baby seemed to be on fire she rushed into the room with a
loud cry, and so broke the magic.
Then
Isis took on her own form, and Astarte crouched down in terror when
she saw the shining goddess and learned who she was.
Malcander
and Astarte offered her gifts of all the richest treasures in Byblos,
but Isis asked only for the great tamarisk pillar which held up the
roof, and for what it contained. When it was given to her, she caused
it to open and took out the chest of Seth. But the pillar she gave
back to Malcander and Astarte; and it remained the most sacred object
in Byblos, since it had once held the body of a god.
When
the chest which had become the coffin of Osiris was given to her,
Isis flung herself down on it with so terrible a cry of sorrow that
little Dictys died at the very sound. But Isis at length caused the
chest to be placed on a ship which King Malcander provided for her,
and set out for Egypt. With her went Maneros, the young prince of
Byblos: but he did not remain with her for long, since his curiosity
proved his undoing. For as soon as the ship had left the land Isis
retired to where the chest of Seth lay, and opened the lid. Maneros
crept up behind her and peeped over her shoulder: but Isis knew he
was there and, turning, gave him one glance of anger - and he fell
backwards over the side of the ship into the sea.
Next
morning, as the ship was passing the Phaedrus River, its strong
current threatened to carry them out of sight of land. But Isis grew
angry and placed a curse on the river, so that its stream dried up
from that day.
She
came safely to Egypt after this, and hid the chest in the marshes of
the delta while she hastened to the floating island where Buto
was
guarding Horus.
But
it chanced that Seth came hunting wild boars with his dogs, hunting
by night after his custom, since he loved the darkness in which evil
things abound. By the light of the moon he saw the chest of cedar
wood inlaid with ebony and ivory, with gold and silver, and
recognized it.
At
the sight hatred and anger came upon him in a red cloud, and he raged
like a panther of the south. He tore open the chest, took the body of
Osiris, and rent it into fourteen pieces which, by his divine
strength, he scattered up and down the whole length of the Nile so
that the crocodiles might eat them.
"It
is not possible to destroy the body of a god!" cried Seth. "Yet
I have done it - for I have destroyed Osiris!" His laughter
echoed through the land, and all who heard it trembled and hid.
Now
Isis had to begin her search once more. This time she had helpers,
for Nephthys left her wicked husband Seth and came to join her
sister. And Anubis,
the son of Osiris and Nephthys, taking the form of a jackal, assisted
in the search. When Isis traveled over the land she was accompanied
and guarded by seven
scorpions.
But when she searched on the Nile and among the many streams of the
delta she made her way in a boat made of papyrus: and the crocodiles,
in their reverence for the goddess, touched neither the rent pieces
of Osiris nor Isis herself. Indeed ever afterwards anyone who sailed
the Nile in a boat made of papyrus was safe from them, for they
thought that it was Isis still questing after the pieces of her
husband's body.
Slowly,
piece by piece, Isis recovered the fragments of Osiris. And wherever
she did so, she formed by magic the likeness of his whole body and
caused the priests to build a shrine and perform his funeral rites.
And so there were thirteen places in Egypt which claimed to be the
burial place of Osiris. In this way also she made it harder for Seth
to meddle further with the body of the dead god.
One
piece only she did not recover, for it had been eaten by certain
impious fishes; and their kind were accursed ever afterwards, and no
Egyptian would touch or eat them. Isis, however, did not bury any of
the pieces in the places where the tombs and shrines of Osiris stood.
She gathered the pieces together, rejoined them by magic, and by
magic made a likeness of the missing member so that Osiris was
complete. Then she caused the body to be embalmed and hidden away in
a place of which she alone knew. And after this the spirit of Osiris
passed into Amenti to rule over the dead until the last great battle,
when Horus should slay Seth and Osiris would return to earth once
more.
But
as Horus grew in this world the spirit of Osiris visited him often
and taught him all that a great warrior should know - one who was to
fight against Seth both in the body and in the spirit.
One
day Osiris said to the boy: "Tell me, what is the noblest thing
that a man can do?"
And
Horus answered: "To avenge his father and mother for the evil
done to them."
This
pleased Osiris, and he asked further: "And what animal is most
useful for the avenger to take with him as he goes out to battle?"
"A
horse," answered Horus promptly.
"Surely
a lion would be better still?" suggested Osiris.
"A
lion would indeed be the best for a man who needed help,"
replied Horus; "but a horse is best for pursuing a flying foe
and cutting him off from escape."
When
he heard this Osiris knew that the time had come for Horus to declare
war on Seth, and bade him gather together a great army and sail up
the Nile to attack him in the deserts of the south.
Horus
gathered his forces and prepared to begin the war. And Re himself,
the shining father of the gods, came to his aid in his own divine
boat that sails across the heavens and through the dangers of the
underworld.
Before
they set sail Re drew Horus aside so as to gaze into his blue eyes:
for whoever looks into them, of gods or men, sees the future
reflected there. But Seth was watching; and he took upon himself the
form of a black pig - black as the thunder-cloud, fierce to look at,
with tusks to strike terror into the bravest heart.
Meanwhile
Re said to Horus: "Let me gaze into your eyes, and see what is
to come of this war." He gazed into the eyes of Horus and their
color was that of the Great Green Sea when the summer sky turns it to
deepest blue.
While
he gazed the black pig passed by and distracted his attention, so
that he exclaimed: "Look at that! Never have I seen so huge and
fierce a pig."
And
Horus looked; and he did not know that it was Seth, but thought it
was a wild boar out of the thickets of the north, and he was not
ready with a charm or a word of power to guard himself against the
enemy.
Then
Seth aimed a blow of fire at the eyes of Horus; and Horus shouted
with the pain and was in a great rage. He knew now that it was Seth;
but Seth had gone on the instant and could not be trapped.
Re
caused Horus to be taken into a dark room, and it was not long before
his eyes could see again as clearly as before. When he was recovered
Re had returned to the sky;
but Horus was filled with joy that he could see, once more, and as he
set out up the Nile at the head of his army, the country on either
side shared his joy and blossomed into spring.
There
were many battles in that war, but the last and greatest was at Edfu,
where the great temple of Horus stands to this day in memory of it.
The forces of Seth and Horus drew near to one another among the
islands and the rapids of the First Cataract of the Nile. Seth, in
the form of a red
hippopotamus
of gigantic size, sprang up on the island of Elephantine
and
uttered a great curse against Horus and against Isis:
"Let
there come a terrible raging tempest and a mighty flood against my
enemies!" he cried, and his voice was like the thunder rolling
across the heavens from the south to the north. At once the storm
broke over the boats of Horus and his army; the wind roared and the
water was heaped into great waves. But Horus held on his way, his own
boat gleaming through the darkness, its prow shining like a ray of
the sun.
Opposite
Edfu, Seth turned and stood at bay, straddling the whole stream of
the Nile, so huge a red hippopotamus was he. But Horus took upon
himself the shape of a handsome young man, twelve feet in height. His
hand held a harpoon thirty feet long with a blade six feet wide at
its point of greatest width.
Seth
opened his mighty jaws to destroy Horus and his followers when the
storm should wreck their boats. But Horus cast his harpoon, and it
struck deep into the head of the red hippopotamus, deep into his
brain. And that one blow slew Seth the great wicked one, the enemy of
Osiris and the gods - and the red hippopotamus sank dead beside the
Nile at Edfu. The storm passed away, the flood sank and the sky was
clear and blue once more. Then the people of Edfu came out to welcome
Horus the avenger and lead him in triumph to the shrine over which
the great temple now stands. And they sang the song of praise which
the priests chanted ever afterwards when the yearly festival of Horus
was held at Edfu:
"Rejoice,
you who dwell in Edfu! Horus the great god, the lord of the sky, has
slain the enemy of his father! Eat the flesh of the vanquished, drink
the blood of the red hippopotamus, burn his bones with fire! Let him
be cut in pieces, and the scraps be given to the cats, and the offal
to the reptiles!
"Glory
to Horus of the mighty blow, the brave one, the slayer, the wielder
of the Harpoon, the only son of Osiris, Horus of Edfu, Horus the
avenger!"
But
when Horus passed from earth and reigned no more as the Pharaoh of
Egypt, he appeared before the assembly of the gods, and Seth came
also in the spirit, and contended in words for the rule of the world.
But not even Thoth the wise could give judgment. And so it comes
about that Horus and Seth still contend for the souls of men and for
the rule of the world.
There
were no more battles on the Nile or in the land of Egypt; and Osiris
rested quietly in his grave, which (since Seth could no longer
disturb it) Isis admitted was on the island of Philae, the most
sacred place of all, in the Nile a few miles upstream from
Elephantine. But the Egyptians believed that the Last Battle was
still to come - and that Horus would defeat Seth in this also. And
when Seth was destroyed forever, Osiris would rise from the dead and
return to earth, bringing with him all those who had been his own
faithful followers. And for this reason the Egyptians embalmed dead
and set the bodies away beneath towering pyramids of stone and deep
in the tomb chambers of western Thebes, so that the blessed souls
returning from Amenti should find them ready to enter again, and in
them to live for ever on earth under the good god Osiris, Isis his
queen and their son Horus.
