Page:Books on Egypt and Chaldaea, Vol. 32--Legends of the Gods.pdf/52

 name is, , who is the essence of the primeval matter of which he himself is formed. Thus Osiris was of the same substance as the Great God who created the world according to the Egyptians, and was a reincarnation of his great-grandfather. This portion of the legend helps to explain the views held about Osiris as the great ancestral spirit, who when on earth was a benefactor of mankind, and who when in heaven was the saviour of souls.

The legend speaks of the sun as the Eye of Kheperȧ, or Neb-er-tcher, and refers to some calamity which befell it and extinguished its light. This calamity may have been simply the coming of night, or eclipses, or storms; but in any case the god made a second Eye, i.e., the Moon, to which [he gave some of the splendour of the other Eye, i.e., the Sun, and he gave it a place in his Face, and henceforth it ruled throughout the earth, and had special powers in respect of the production of trees, plants, vegetables, herbs, etc. Thus from the earliest times the moon was associated with the fertility of the earth, especially in connection with the produc­tion of abundant crops and successful harvests.

According to the legend, men and women sprang not from the earth, but directly from the body of the god Kheperȧ, or Neb-er-tcher, who placed his members together and then wept tears upon them, and men and women,, came into being from the tears which had fallen from his eyes. No special mention