Ancient Egyptian legends

								

near and afar; the duration of thy life shall be for many years; my
face shall be towards thee and my heart shall incline to thee if thou
wilt do for me that which I desire of thee."
And Thothmes looked, and he saw that the figure lay half-buried in
the sand, and it seemed as though the God struggled to free himself,
for naught but the head appeared above the plain, and the sands came
up about him like the waves of the sea when they swallow up a ship
that is on the rocks.
Then the Majesty of the God spoke again, and said, "The sand of the
desert on which I rest is about me, it overwhelms me, it covers me.
Hasten to do that which my heart desires, for I know that thou art a
son who honours the behests of his father."
Sleep fell from the eyelids of Thothmes, and he awoke.
[Here the inscription is broken away and the end of the story is not
known.]






III
THE COMING OF THE GREAT QUEEN
Now Amon-Ra, king of the gods, sat upon his throne, and around him
stood the greatest of the gods and goddesses.  On his right was
Osiris crowned with the great White Crown of the South Land; on his
left was Mentu, god of war, and on the head of Mentu were two great
feathers and the flashing disk of the sun.  With Osiris were the twin
goddesses Isis and Nephthys, beside them stood Hathor, goddess of
love, whom the Greeks call Aphrodite; Horus, the son of Isis, with
the far-seeing eyes of the hawk; and Anubis, son of Nephthys, the
faithful guardian of Isis.  With Mentu were Atmu, the god of the
sunset; Shu and his twin-sister Tefnut; Geb the earth-god, and Nut
the sky-goddess.  These two are the oldest of the gods, from whom all
others proceed.
Amon-Ra, king of the gods, sat upon his throne and looked upon the
land of Egypt, and he spoke, saying, "I will create a queen to rule
over Ta-mery, I will unite the Two Lands in peace for her, and in her
hands I will place the whole world.  Egypt and Syria, Nubia and Punt,
the land of the Gods, shall be under her sway."  And when he had
spoken there was silence among the gods.
While he yet spoke, Thoth entered into his presence, Thoth, the
twice-great, the maker of magic, the lord of Khemennu.  He listened
to the words of Amon-Ra, king of the gods, and in the silence that
followed he spoke:
"O Amon-Ra, Lord of the thrones of the Two Lands, King of the gods,
Maker of men.  Behold in the Black Land in the palace of the king is
a maiden, fair and beautiful is she in all her limbs.  Aahmes is her
name, and she is wife to the king of Egypt.  She alone can be the
mother of the great Queen, whom thou wilt create to rule over the Two
Lands.  She is in the palace of the king.  Come, let us go to her."
Now the form of Thoth is the form of an ibis, that he may fly swiftly
through the air and none may know him, and as an ibis he went to the
palace of the king.  But Amon-Ra took upon himself the shape of the
king of Egypt.  Great was the majesty of Amon-Ra, splendid his