ys: "The Egyptians had two moon-gods,
Khons or Khonsu, and Tet or Thoth." [185] Dr. Birch has translated
an inscription relating to Thoth, which reads: "All eyes are open on
thee, and all men worship thee as a god." [186] And M. Renouf
says: "The Egyptian god Tehuti is known to the readers of Plato
under the name of Thoyth. He represents the moon, which he wears
upon his head, either as crescent or as full disk." [187] The same
learned Egyptologist tells us that Khonsu or Chonsu was one of the
triad of Theban gods, and was the moon one of his attributes being
the reckoner of time. [188] Of the former divinity, Rawlinson
relates an instructive myth. "According to one legend Thoth once
wrote a wonderful book, full of wisdom and science, containing in it
everything relating to the fowls of the air, the fishes of the sea, and
the four-footed beasts of the mountains. The man who knew a single
page of the work could charm the heaven, the earth, the great abyss,
the mountains and the seas. This marvellous composition he
inclosed in a box of gold, which he placed within a box of silver; the
box of silver within a box of ivory and ebony, and that again within
a box of bronze; the box of bronze within a box of brass; and the
box of brass within a box of iron; and the book, thus guarded, he
threw into the Nile at Coptos. The fact became known, and the book
was searched for and found. It gave its possessor vast knowledge
and magical power, but it always brought on him misfortune. What
became of it ultimately does not appear in the manuscript from
which this account is taken; but the moral of the story seems to be
the common one, that unlawful knowledge is punished by all kinds
of calamity." [189] There is also a story of the moon-god Chonsu,
which is worthy of repetition. Its original is in the _Bibliotheque
Nationale_ at Paris, and for its first translation we are indebted to
Dr. Birch, of the British Museum. [190] A certain Asiatic princess
of Bechten, wherever that was, was possessed by a spirit. Being
connected, through her sister's marriage, with the court of Egypt, on
her falling ill, an Egyptian practitioner was summoned to her aid.
He declared that she had a demon, with which he himself was
unable to cope. Thereupon the image of the moon-god Chonsu was
despatched in his mystic ark, for the purpose of exorcising the spirit
and delivering the princess. The demon at once yielded to the divine
influence; and the king of Bechten