Page:Books on Egypt and Chaldaea, Vol. 32--Legends of the Gods.pdf/72

 so that they might be able to wreck his boat and devour him. As the boat of the god approached them they opened their jaws to crush it, but Horus and his followers came quickly on the scene, and defeated their purpose. The followers of Horus here mentioned are called in the text "Mesniu," i.e., "blacksmiths," or "workers in metal," and they represent the primitive conquerors of the Egyptians, who were armed with metal weapons, and so were able to overcome with tolerable ease the indigenous Egyptians, whose weapons were made of flint and wood. Horus and his "blacksmiths" were provided with iron lances and chains, and, having cast the chains over the monsters in the river, they drove their lances into their snouts, and slew 651 of them. Because Horus gained his victory by means of metal weapons, Rā decreed that a metal statue of Horus should be placed at Edfû, and remain there for ever, and a name was given to the town to commemorate the great battle that had taken place there. Rā applauded Horus for the mighty deeds which he had been able to perform by means of the spells contained in the "Book of Slaying the Hippopotamus." Horus then associated with himself the goddesses Uatchet and Nekhebet, who were in the form of serpents, and, taking his place as the winged Disk on the front of the Boat of Rā, destroyed all the enemies of Rā wheresoever he found them. When the remnant of the enemies of Rā saw that they were likely to be slain, they doubled back to the South, but 