sky sent down rain, though it was not the time of rain.  And the heart of Usert was sore within her, and she was very sad, for she knew not whether her son would live or die; and she went through the town shrieking for help, but none came out at the sound of her voice.  And I was sad for the child’s sake, and I wished the innocent one to live again.  So I cried out to her, saying, Come to me!  Come to me!  There is life in my mouth.  I am a woman well known in her town.  I can destroy the devil of death by a spell which my father taught me.  I am his daughter, his beloved one.

[Footnote 1:  These places were in the seventh nome of Lower Egypt (Metelites).]

Then Isis laid her hands on the child and recited this spell: 

“O poison of Tefent, come forth, fall on the ground; go no further.  O poison of Befent, come forth, fall on the ground.  I am Isis, the goddess, the mistress of words of power.  I am a weaver of spells, I know how to utter words so that they take effect.  Hearken to me, O every reptile that biteth (or stingeth), and fall on the ground.  O poison of Mestet, go no further.  O poison of Mestetef, rise not up in his body.  O poison of Petet and Thetet, enter not his body.  O poison of Maatet, fall on the ground.  Ascend not into heaven, I command you by the beloved of Ra, the egg of the goose which appeareth from the sycamore.  My words indeed rule to the uttermost limit of the night.  I speak to you, O scorpions.  I am alone and in sorrow, and our names will stink throughout the nomes....  The child shall live!  The poison shall die!  For Ra liveth and the poison dieth.  Horus shall be saved through his mother Isis, and he who is stricken shall likewise be saved.”  Meanwhile the fire in the house of Usert was extinguished, and heaven was content with the utterance of Isis.  Then the lady Usert was filled with sorrow because she had shut her door in the face of Isis, and she brought to the house of the peasant woman gifts for the goddess, whom she had apparently not recognised.  The spells of the goddess produced, of course, the desired effect on the poison, and we may assume that the life of the child was restored to him.  The second lot of gifts made to Isis represented his mother’s gratitude.

Exactly when and how Isis made her way to a hiding place cannot be said, but she reached it in safety, and her son Horus was born there.  The story of the death of Horus she tells in the following words:  “I am Isis.  I conceived a child, Horus, and I brought him forth in a cluster of papyrus plants (or, bulrushes).  I rejoiced exceedingly, for in him I saw one who would make answer for his father.  I hid him, and I covered him up carefully, being afraid of that foul one [Set], and then I went to the town of Am, where the people gave thanks for me because they knew I could cause them trouble.  I passed the day in collecting food for the child, and when I returned and took Horus into my arms, I found him,