CHAPTER LXXXVI.

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


I am the Swallow; I am the Swallow.

I am the Scorpion-bird, daughter of Rā.

O ye gods, whose perfume is delicious: Flame which proceedest from the
Horizon: O thou who art in the place whence I have brought the keeper of
his fold—let me have thine arm that I may make my observation at the
Tank of Flame, that I may advance as an envoy and come with the report
of it.

Be it opened to me, in order that I may tell what I have seen.

Horus is in command of his bark. There hath been given to him the throne
of his father, and Sutu that son of Nut is under the grappling hooks
which he made for him.

I have ascertained what is in Sechem. I have touched with my two hands
the Heart of Osiris.(2.)

And that which I went in order to ascertain I am come to tell. Come let
me enter and report my mission.

And I, entering and ascertaining who cometh forth through that gate of
the Inviolate one, I purify myself at that great stream where my ills
are made to cease, and that which is wrong in me is pardoned and the
spots which were on my body upon earth are effaced.

O Keeper of the Portal, let the path be made for me, for I am as one of
you. Let me come forth by day, and walk upon my own legs. Let me have
the feet of the Glorified.

I know the mysterious paths and the gates of Aarru from whence I come.
Here am I, and I come that I may overthrow mine adversaries upon earth,
though my dead body be buried.

_If this chapter be known he will re-enter after coming forth by day._

NOTES.

1. The Swallow ⁂⁂. The objection to this meaning is that the bird
in question was eaten; and that doves or pigeons would be less meagre
food than the Swallow, and therefore more probably intended in the
Egyptian texts. But Swallows are still eaten at Rome, where like Clive
Newcome we may be regaled not only with “wild swans and ducks” but with
“robins, owls, and οἰωνοῖσι τε πᾶσι for dinner.” And Willughby, the
naturalist, found a large quantity of swallows being sold for food at
Valencia in Spain.

The flat head, the short legs, and the tail of the bird are
characteristic not of the pigeon but of the swallow, and on many
pictures (_e.g._, pl. xxi, vignette from Leyden papyrus) we are reminded
of the song—

Ἦλθ’ ἦλθε χελιδὼν ...
ἐπὶ γαστέρα λευκὰ
ἐπὶ νῶτα μέλαινα.

It is not quite plain why the name of Scorpion should be given to the
bird, but the name ⁂⁂⁂ of the insect in itself implies
nothing more than the characteristic _whiteness_ of colour.

2. _Touched with my two hands the Heart of Osiris._

⁂⁂⁂ is the origin of the Coptic ϭⲟϩ ‘touch.’ The word Heart
has dropped out of the later texts (_e.g._, the Turin copy), but in the
older papyri it is found in the form of ⁂⁂ or ⁂.

ADDITIONAL NOTE.

In Chapter 86 ⁂⁂⁂ has unquestionably the sense of
_ascertaining by inspection._ The Abbot Papyrus in its account of the
enquiry respecting the spoliation of the royal coffins gives ample
evidence of this meaning. And the word there used for _reporting_ the
result of the inspection is, as is Ch. 86, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _semȧu_,
in Coptic ⲧⲁⲙⲉ.

But it is well to remember that ⁂⁂⁂ has another use; which
perhaps implies the existence of two homonymous roots. In a passage
quoted in Note 21 to Ch. 64, it certainly signifies _restore_. And this
may possibly be its meaning in the rubric of Ch. 64. The journey of
Prince Hortâtâf may have had reference to the _restoration_, not simply
_inspection_, of the temples. In this sense it is often written
⁂⁂⁂⁂ or ⁂⁂⁂⁂ _sȧpu_. The Coptic word for
ἀποκαθιστάναι in Hosea xi, 11 and Acts i, 6 is ⲧⲫⲟ.

------------------------------------