Ancient Egyptian legends

								

Hapi the Nile-god caught it and carried it upon his stream to the
sea; the Great Green Waters received it and the waves bore it to
Byblos and lifted it into a tamarisk-tree that grew by the shore.
Then the tree shot forth great branches and put out leaves and
flowers to make a fit resting-place for the God, and the fame of its
beauty went throughout the land.
In Byblos ruled King Malkander and his wife, Queen Athenais.  They
came to the sea-shore to gaze upon the tree, for naught could be seen
but leaves and blossoms which hid the coffin from all eyes.  Then
King Malkander gave command and the tree was cut down and carried to
the royal palace to make a pillar therein, for it was worthy to be
used in a king's house.  All men wondered at its beauty, though none
knew that it held the body of a God.
Now Isis feared Set exceedingly.  His smooth words did not deceive
her, and she knew of his enmity to Osiris, but the great King would
not believe in his brother's wickedness.  When the soul of Osiris
passed from his body, at once Isis was aware that he was dead, though
no man told her.  She took her little son, whom men call Harpocrates
or Horus the Child, and fled with him to the marshes of the Delta,
and hid him in the city of Pé.  Ancient and gray was this city of Pé
and it stood on an island; there dwelt the goddess Uazet, whom men
call also Buto and Latona, for she is worshipped under many names.
Uazet took the child and sheltered him, and Isis by her divine power
loosed the island from its moorings, and it floated on the surface of
the Great Green Waters, so that no man could tell where to find it.
For she feared the power of Set lest he should destroy the child as
he had destroyed the father.
As the souls of men cannot rest until the funeral rites are performed
and the funeral sacrifices offered, she journeyed, solitary and
alone, to seek the body of her husband, and bury it as became his
greatness.  Many people did she meet, both men and women, but none
had seen the chest, and in this matter her power was of no avail.
Then she thought to ask the children, and at once they told her of a
painted coffer floating on the Nile.  And to this day children have
prophetic power and can declare the will of the Gods and the things
that are yet for to come.
Thus, asking always of the children, Isis came to Byblos.  She sat by
the Great Green Waters, and the maidens of Queen Athenais came to
bathe and disport themselves in the waves.  Then Isis spoke to them
and braided their hair and adjusted their jewels; the breath of the
Goddess was sweeter than the odours of the Land of Punt, and it
perfumed the hair and the jewels and the garments of the maidens.
When they returned to the palace, Queen Athenais asked them whence
they had obtained the perfume, and they answered, "A woman, strange
and sad, sat by the sea-shore when we went to bathe, and she braided
our hair and adjusted our jewels, and from her came the perfume,