Egyptian Literature: Comprising Egyptian tales, hymns, litanies, invocations, the Book of the Dead, and cuneiform writings
Religion
Egyptian Literature: Comprising Egyptian tales, hymns, litanies, invocations, the Book of the Dead, and cuneiform writings
Egyptian literature -- Translations into English
I found his Majesty on the great throne in the hall of pale gold. Then I
threw myself on my belly; this god, in whose presence I was, knew me not.
He questioned me graciously, but I was as one seized with blindness, my
spirit fainted, my limbs failed, my heart was no longer in my bosom, and I
knew the difference between life and death. His Majesty said to one of the
companions, “Lift him up, let him speak to me.” And his Majesty said,
“Behold thou hast come, thou hast trodden the deserts, thou hast played
the wanderer. Decay falls on thee, old age has reached thee; it is no
small thing that thy body should be embalmed, that the Pedtiu shall not
bury thee. Do not, do not, be silent and speechless; tell thy name; is it
fear that prevents thee?” I answered in reply, “I fear, what is it that my
lord has said that I should answer it? I have not called on me the hand of
God, but it is terror in my body, like that which brings sudden death. Now
behold I am before thee; thou art life; let thy Majesty do what pleaseth
him.”
The royal children were brought in, and his Majesty said to the Queen,
“Behold thou Sanehat has come as an Amu, whom the Sati have produced.”
She cried aloud, and the royal children spake with one voice, saying,
before his Majesty, “Verily it is not so, O King, my lord.” Said his
Majesty, “It is verily he.” Then they brought their collars, and their
wands, and their sistra in their hands, and displayed them before his
Majesty; and they sang—
“May thy hands prosper, O King;
May the ornaments of the Lady of Heaven continue.
May the Goddess Nub give life to thy nostril;
May the mistress of the stars favor thee, when thou sailest south
and north.
All wisdom is in the mouth of thy Majesty;
Thy uræus is on thy forehead, thou drivest away the miserable.
Thou art pacified, O Ra, lord of the lands;
They call on thee as on the mistress of all.
Strong is thy horn,
Thou lettest fly thine arrow.
Grant the breath to him who is without it;
Grant good things to this traveller, Samehit the Pedti, born in
the land of Egypt,
Who fled away from fear of thee,
And fled this land from thy terrors.
Does not the face grow pale, of him who beholds thy countenance;
Does not the eye fear, which looks upon thee.”
Said his Majesty, “Let him not fear, let him be freed from terror. He
shall be a Royal Friend amongst the nobles; he shall be put within the
circle of the courtiers. Go ye to the chamber of praise to seek wealth for
him.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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