him of his desire to create a Light-soul in the
Tuat and in the Land of the Caves. Over this region he appointed Thoth
to rule, and he ordered him to keep a register of those who were there,
and to mete out just punishments to them. In fact, Thoth was to be ever
after the representative of Ra in the Other World.

THE LEGEND OF RA AND ISIS

This Legend is found written in the hieratic character upon a papyrus
preserved in Turin, and it illustrates a portion of the preceding
Legend. We have seen that Ra instructed Thoth to draw up a series of
spells to be used against venomous reptiles of all kinds, and the reader
will perceive from the following summary that Ra had good reason for
doing this. The Legend opens with a list of the titles of Ra, the
"self-created god," creator of heaven, earth, breath of life, fire,
gods, men, beasts, cattle, reptiles, feathered fowl, and fish, the King
of gods and men, to whom cycles of 120 years are as years, whose
manifold names are unknown even by the gods. The text continues: "Isis
had the form of a woman, and knew words of power, but she was disgusted
with men, and she yearned for the companionship of the gods and the
spirits, and she meditated and asked herself whether, supposing she had
the knowledge of the Name of Ra, it was not possible to make herself as
great as Ra was in heaven and on the earth? Meanwhile Ra appeared in
heaven each day upon his throne, but he had become old, and he dribbled
at the mouth, and his spittle fell on the ground. One day Isis took some
of the spittle and kneaded up dust in it, and made this paste into the
form of a serpent with a forked tongue, so that if it struck anyone the
person struck would find it impossible to escape death. This figure she
placed on the path on which Ra walked as he came into heaven after his
daily survey of the Two Lands (_i.e._ Egypt). Soon after this Ra rose
up, and attended by his gods he came into heaven, but as he went along
the serpent drove its fangs into him. As soon as he was bitten Ra felt
the living fire leaving his body, and he cried out so loudly that his
voice reached the uttermost parts of heaven. The gods rushed to him in
great alarm, saying, "What is the matter?" At first Ra was speechless,
and found himself unable to answer, for his jaws shook, his lips
trembled, and the poison continued to run through every part of his
body. When he was able to regain a little strength, he told the go