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 mothe