CHAPTER XXVIII.

[From the Papyrus of Nu (Brit. Mus. No. 10,477, sheet 5). ]
Vignette : In some papyri containing the Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead (e.., those of Nu and Amen-neb (Brit. Mus. No. 9964), this Chapter has no vignette. In the Papyrus of Nefer-uben-f the deceased is seen holding his heart upon his breast with his left hand, and kneeling before a monster in human form who holds a knife in his right hand, and grasps his
142 OF GUARDING THE HEART [Chap. xxviii. x
tail with the left. Another papyrus shows the deceased offering incense to Osiris, who, standing on a pedestal in the form of Maat, holds the flail and sceptre in his hands; in the Brockle- hurst- papyrus the deceased is kneeling and holding his heart in his left hand, which is outstretched (see Naville, Todtenbuch, Bd. I. Bl. 39), In the Turin Papyrus the deceased is adoring his heart, which is placed on a pedestal, before a seated deity (Lepsius, Todtenbuch, Bl. 15).
Text: (1) THe CHAPTER OF NOT LETTING THE HEART OF THE OVERSEER OF THE HOUSE OF THE OVERSEER OF THE SEAL, NU, TRIUMPHANT, BE CARRIED AWAY (2) FROM HIM IN THE UNDERWORLD. He saith :—
“ Hail, thou Lion-god! Iam the Flower Bush (Unb). “That which is an abomination unto me is the divine “block. Let not this my heart (Adti) be carried away “from me by (3) the fighting gods in Annu. Hail, “thou who dost wind bandages round Osiris and who “hast seen Set! Hail, thou who returnest after ‘“‘smiting and destroying him before the mighty ones ! “(4) This my heart (ab) [sitteth] and weepeth for itself “before Osiris; it hath made supplication for me, I “have given unto him and I have decreed unto him the “thoughts (5) of the heart in the House of the god “Usekh-hra! and I have brought to him sand (sie) at “the entry to Khemennu (Hermopolis Magna). Let ‘not this my heart (Adti) be carried away from me! I ‘make thee to (6) dwell (?) upon his throne, O thou who “joinest together hearts (hdtw) [in Sekhet-hetep (with)
1 J.e., the god of the ‘* Large Face.”
Chap. xxviii. 9] OF GUARDING THE HEART 143
years] of strength against all things that are an “abomination unto thee, and to carry off (7) food from “among the things which belong unto thee, and are in “thy grasp by reason of thy two-fold strength. And “this my heart (Adti) is devoted to the decrees of the “ood Tem who leadeth me into the (8) dens of Suti, but “Jet not this my heart, which hath done its desire “before the sovereign princes who are in the under- “world, be given unto him. When they find the leg “and the swathings (9) they bury them.”