CHAPTER CLXIV.
_Another Chapter._
Hail, Sekhet, Bast, daughter of Rā, lady of the gods, who holdeth her
fan of plumes, the lady of the scarlet garment, the mistress of the
white and red crown, the only one who stands above her father, when
there are no gods to stand above her; the great magician in the boat of
millions of years, lofty when she rises in the abode of silence, the
mother of the Shakas, the royal wife of the lion Haka.
These are the forms of the princess, the mistress of the funereal
chamber, the mother on the horizon of the sky, the joyful, the beloved,
who destroyeth the rebels collected in her fist.
She stands at the prow of the boat of her father, in order to strike
down the evildoer, in order to place Maāt at the prow of the boat of Rā.
Neith, the burning one, after whom nothing remains; she who follows
Kaharo, who follows Saromkaharomat is thy name, thou art the mighty
burning wind behind Kanas,(1.) at the prow of the boat of her father
Haropukaka Scharoshaba, in the language of the negroes and of the Anti
of the land of Nubia(2.).
Acclamations to thee, mightier than the gods; thou art praised by the
gods of Hermopolis, the living spirits who are in their tabernacles.
They give praise to the valour of Mut (?),(3.) and they begin to bring
offerings to the mysterious gates. Their bones are sound, they are
delivered from dangers; they become powerful in the eternal abode; they
are delivered from the society of the wicked one, the spirit with a
terrible face, which is among the assembly of the gods.
The child(4.) who is born of him with the terrible face, will hide his
body to the cursed serpent whose breath is burning; because he has found
the names; the mysterious lion is one, the soul of the dwarf (is the
other). As for the eye of the great one, the princess of the gods, her
name is she who partakes of the name of Mut.
His soul is powerful, his body is sound; they are safe from the abode of
the enemies who are in the society of the wicked one. They will not be
imprisoned.
These words which were spoken by the mouth of the goddess herself have
become the words of the goddesses, and the male gods, and of every soul
to whom a burial is given.
_Said on a Mut having three faces: one is the face of the Pekha-vulture
having two plumes; the other is the face of a man, wearing the red and
the white crown. The other is a face of a Ner-vulture, having two
plumes, with a phallus and wings and the claws of a lion._
_It is painted with anti with resin (?) mixed with green colour, on a
scarlet bandage. There is a dwarf in front and behind her; he looks at
her and wears two plumes. He has one arm raised, and he has two faces,
one of a hawk and the other of a man._
_He whose body is wrapped up in these bandages, he is mighty among the
gods in the Netherworld. He is never repulsed; his flesh and his bones
are like one who never died; he drinks at the source of the river, he
receives fields in the garden of Aarru; a star in the sky is given to
him._
_He is delivered from the fiend-serpent with a burning mouth. His soul
will not be imprisoned like a bird; he will be lord of those around him,
and he will not be eaten by worms._
NOTES.
The translation of these magical Chapters is still more uncertain than
that of the rest of the book, and the text is often very corrupt.
The vignette consists of the three figures described in the rubric. That
which is given here is taken from the Turin papyrus. It differs slightly
from the description and from the vignettes of the other texts. The
middle figure should have a man’s body with a lion’s claws.
1. A papyrus at Leyden reads here ⁂⁂⁂⁂ the enemies.
2. There it is said distinctly that these barbarous words belong to
African languages. They are probably not all proper names; some of them
seem to have a sense which we have not yet discovered, for instance, the
word _Shakas_ in this expression: the mother of the Shakas.
3. Very uncertain text.
4. These words seem to apply to the deceased.
------------------------------------