Page:The International Folk-Lore Congress of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, July, 1893.djvu/556

476 are contained in the first text, and the second time either before or after at some other place, where the copyist was induced by some word in the text to copy the sentence again regardless of the context. In that way great confusion was caused which, however, may be corrected in places by comparison with the first text. Moreover—which is of greater importance to us—the author endeavored to introduce into the composition a new fundamental mythological thought, viz., numerous references to the names of the gods and their magic power, in order to promote the practice of incantations and magic more than was done by the writer of the first sober text.

The beginning of the second version, of which a translation follows for the purpose of comparison, affords an example of this prominence of the mystical tendency prevalent in it:

Ausars is an otherwise unknown name of a god. Budge suggests a possible connection with Osiris, but this name is in later years written Usar, Usiri and in similar forms, but a final s is always absent. I would prefer to divide the word into a verb-form an s-ar-s "it (the circle of gods) is made," but this interpretation also is uncertain.

The creation of Shu and Tefnut is twice reported alike:

{{smaller block|"I begot with my fist. I brought my innermost (literally, my heart) forth from the phallus (literally, from the hand of the phallus), it fell from my orifice {re). I flowed out as Shu, I trickled out as Tefnut; I became, with reference to myself, from one god three gods, who took being in this land. Then were Shu and Tefnut glad in the tranquil primordial waters, in which they were."}}

The word for phallus here is āaā. It is derived from the root āa—to be big; the determination as the male member