Page:The International Folk-Lore Congress of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, July, 1893.djvu/555

 Rh back to him and saw this, it became angry bat Ra pacified it by restoring it to its old place in his head.

The double sun at first burned too hot upon the newly created plants, and Ra was forced to restore and revive the withiered plants which had been thereby removed from earth. Then he issued from these plants and created the serpents, which are here mentioned for the same reasons as in the early part of the legend.

Hor-chent-neu-ma is a form of the older Horus or Hameris, who was thought to be blind and was worshipped especially at Setopolis. It symbolizes the eclipse of the sun. The shrew-mouse was sacred to it which, according to Plutarch, enjoyed divine worship in Egypt because it was believed to be blind, and darkness was held to be older than light.

The sequence of creation, according to this myth, was as follows: Pre-existence of the sun-god and of matter, Nu. The former creates Shu and Tefnut, then earth with its sun; the latter creates man. Shu and Tefnut emerge from the primordial waters, the nether and the upper suns are united; creation and protection of plants from the heat of the sun, creation of the reptiles, birth of the gods of the Osiris circle. Accordingly, the latter are younger than man, which is contrary to other legends that praise Orisis as the creator of the world. Thus a hymn to Osiris (on a stela from the 18th dynasty in the Paris library): "He (Osiris) made with his hand the earth, the water thereon, the air, the plants, all its domestic animals, all its birds, all its fowl, all its reptiles, all its quadrupeds (literally goats)."

The second version of the myth appears in the papyrus, at first glance, almost twice as long as the first. Upon closer examination, however, it is seen that this is only apparent. The copyist here worked very carelessly and took long pieces twice. These are found once at the proper place where they