CHAPTER LXXVII.

_Chapter whereby one assumeth the form of the Golden Hawk._(1.)


I set myself to view: I set myself to view as the Golden Hawk, which
cometh out from its Egg; and I fly and I hover as a Hawk of four cubits
across the back. My two wings are of the green gem of the South.(2.)

I come forth from the cabin of the Sektit Bark and I raise myself up
from the Eastern Hill.

I stoop upon the Âtit Bark, that I may come and raise to me those who
are in their circles, and who bow down before me.

I display myself and gather myself together as the beautiful Golden Hawk
with the head of a Heron, to listen to whose utterances Râ cometh every
day, and I sit down in the midst of all the great gods of Heaven.

The fields lie before me; the produce is before me; I eat of it, I wax
radiant upon it, I am saturated with it to the satisfaction of my heart.

Nepra hath given to me my throat, and I am in possession of all that
pertaineth to my person.(3.)

NOTES.

1. This is the first of a series of chapters relative to the
“Transformations,” the subject of which is treated in the Introduction.
It is sufficient here to repeat that the Egyptian ‘Transformations’ have
nothing in common with Metempsychosis, as understood in the Greek or
Indian religions. The change of form in the Egyptian idea depended upon
the will of the person; it was not a penance for sin, but a means of
glorification. And all the forms assumed in the Book of the Dead by the
deceased are well known forms of the Sun-god.

2. _Green gem of the South_ ⁂⁂⁂⁂. This has generally been
understood as representing the green feldspar of which many objects in
our museums are made. But Dümichen (_Zeitschr._, 1872) has shown that
the ⁂⁂ ‘of the _East_’ is a synonym of _Māfkait_, emerald, and M.
Naville has referred to Pliny, who (_Hist. Nat._, XXXVII, 17) speaks of
the Egyptian emeralds ‘qui eruuntur circa Copton oppidum Thebaidis in
collibus, ex cautibus.’ The same author quotes Juba in reference to
Ethiopic gems as being ‘alacriter virides, sed non facile puri aut
concolores.’

3. Nepra is one of the names of Osiris, considered as giver of corn, ὀ
Πυροφόρος. By _Throat_ is here meant the organ or power of swallowing,
deglutition.

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