Horus, the beautiful one of gold, the boy, the child,
lifeless! He had bedewed the ground with the
water of his eye and with the foam of his lips.
His body was motionless, his heart did not beat, and
his muscles were relaxed.” Then Isis sent
forth a bitter cry, and lamented loudly her misfortune,
for now that Horus was dead she had none to protect
her, or to take vengeance on Set. When the people
heard her voice they went out to her, and they bewailed
with her the greatness of her affliction. But
though all lamented on her behalf there was none who
could bring back Horus to life. Then a “woman
who was well known in her town, a lady who was the
mistress of property in her own right,” went
out to Isis, and consoled her, and assured her that
the child should live through his mother. And
she said, “A scorpion hath stung him, the reptile
Aunab hath wounded him.” Then Isis bent
her face over the child to find out if he breathed,
and she examined the wound, and found that there was
poison in it, and then taking him in her arms, “she
leaped about with him like a fish that is put upon
hot coals,” uttering loud cries of lamentation.
During this outburst of grief the goddess Nephthys,
her sister, arrived, and she too lamented and cried
bitterly over her sister’s loss; with her came
the Scorpion-goddess Serqet. Nephthys at once
advised Isis to cry out for help to Ra, for, said
she, it is wholly impossible for the Boat of Ra to
travel across the sky whilst Horus is lying dead.
Then Isis cried out, and made supplication to the
Boat of Millions of Years, and the Sun-god stopped
the Boat. Out of it came down Thoth, who was
provided with powerful spells, and, going to Isis,
he inquired concerning her trouble. “What
is it, what is it, O Isis, thou goddess of spells,
whose mouth hath skill to utter them with supreme effect?
Surely no evil thing hath befallen Horus, for the
Boat of Ra hath him under its protection. I have
come from the Boat of the Disk to heal Horus.”
Then Thoth told Isis not to fear, but to put away
all anxiety from her heart, for he had come to heal
her child, and he told her that Horus was fully protected
because he was the Dweller in his disk, and the firstborn
son of heaven, and the Great Dwarf, and the Mighty
Ram, and the Great Hawk, and the Holy Beetle, and
the Hidden Body, and the Governor of the Other World,
and the Holy Benu Bird, and by the spells of Isis and
the names of Osiris and the weeping of his mother
and brethren, and by his own name and heart.
Turning towards the child Thoth began to recite his
spells and said, “Wake up, Horus! Thy protection
is established. Make thou happy the heart of
thy mother Isis. The words of Horus bind up hearts
and he comforteth him that is in affliction. Let
your hearts rejoice, O ye dwellers in the heavens.
Horus who avenged his father shall make the poison
to retreat. That which is in the mouth of Ra shall
circulate, and the tongue of the Great God shall overcome
[opposition]. The Boat of Ra standeth still and