When Osiris returned from his mission, there was great rejoicing in the land. A royal feast was held, and set
came to make merry, and with him were his fellow conspirators. He brought a shapely and decorated chest,
which he had caused to be made according to the measurements of the king's body. All men praised it at the
feast, admiring its beauty, and many desired greatly to possess it. When hearts were made glad with
beer−drinking, Set proclaimed that he would gift the chest unto him whose body fitted its proportions with
exactness. There was no suspicion of evil design among the faithful subjects of Osiris. The guests spoke
lightly, uttering jests one against another, and all were eager to make trial as Set had desired. So it happened
that one after another entered the chest on that fateful night, until it seemed that no man could be found to
win it for himself. Then Osiris came forward. He lay down within the chest, and he filled it in every part. But
dearly was his triumph won in that dark hour which was his hour of doom. Ere he could raise his body, the
evil followers of Set sprang suddenly forward and shut down the lid, which they nailed fast and soldered with
lead. So the richly decorated chest became the coffin of the good king Osiris, from whom departed the breath
of life.
The feast was broken up in. confusion. Merrymaking ended in sorrow, and blood flowed after that instead of
beer. Set commanded his followers to carry away the chest and dispose of it secretly. As he bade them, so did
they do. They hastened through the night and flung it into the Nile. The current bore it away in the darkness,
and when morning came it reached the great ocean and was driven hither and thither, tossing among the
waves. So ended the days of Osiris and the years of his wise and prosperous reign in the land of Egypt.When
the grievous tidings were borne unto Isis, she was stricken with great sorrow and refused to be comforted.
She wept bitter tears and cried aloud. Then she uttered a binding vow, cut off a lock of her shining hair, and
put on the garments of mourning. Thereafter the widowed queen wandered up and down the land, seeking for
the body of Osiris.
Nor would she rest nor stay until she found what she sought. She questioned each one she encountered, and
one after another they answered her without knowledge. Long she made search in vain, but at length she was
told by shoreland children that they had beheld the chest floating down the Nile and entering the sea by the
Delta mouth which takes its name from the city of Tanis.
Meanwhile Set, the usurper, ascended the throne of Osiris and reigned over the land of Egypt. Men were
wronged and despoiled of their possessions. Tyranny prevailed and great disorder, and the followers of Osiris
suffered persecution. The good queen Isis became a fugitive in the kingdom, and she sought concealment
from her enemies in the swamps and deep jungle of the Delta. Seven scorpions followed her, and these were
her protectors. Ra, looking down from heaven, was moved to pity because of her sore distress, and he sent to
her aid Anubis, "the opener of the ways", who was the son of Osiris and Nepthys, and he became her guide.
One day Isis sought shelter at the house of a poor woman, who was stricken with such great fear when she
beheld the fearsome scorpions that she closed the door against the wandering queen. But a scorpion gained
entrance) and bit her child so that he died. Then loud and long were the lamentations of the stricken mother.
The heart of Isis was touched with pity, and she uttered magical words which caused the child to come to life
again, and the woman ministered unto the queen with gratitude while she remained in the house.
Then Isis gave birth unto her son Horus; but Set came to know where the mother and babe were concealed,
and he made them prisoners in the house.
It was his desire to put Horus to death, lest he should become his enemy and the claimant of the throne of
Osiris. But wise Thoth came out of heaven and gave warning unto Isis, and she fled with her child into the
night. She took refuge in Buto, where she gave Horus into the keeping of Uazit, the virgin goddess of the
city, who was a serpent, So that he might have protection against the jealous wrath of Set, his wicked uncle,
while she went forth to search for the body of Osiris. But one day, when she came to gaze upon the child, she
found him lying dead. A scorpion had bitten him, nor was it in her power to restore him to life again. In her
bitter grief she called upon the great god Ra. Her voice ascended to high heaven, and the sun boat was stayed
in its course. Then wise Thoth came down to give aid. He worked a mighty spell; he spoke magical words
over the child Horus, who was immediately restored to life again. It was the will of the gods that he should
grow into strong manhood and then smite his father's slayer.
The coffin of Osiris was driven by the waves to Byblos, in Syria, and it was cast upon the shore. A sacred tree
sprang up and grew round it, and the body of the dead ruler was enclosed in its great trunk. The king of that
alien land marvelled greatly at the wonderful tree, because that it had such rapid growth, and he gave
command that it should be cut down. As he desired, so it was done. Then was the trunk erected in his house
as a sacred pillar, but to no man was given knowledge of the secret which it contained.
A revelation came unto Isis, and she set out towards Byblos in a ship. When she reached the Syrian coast she
went ashore clad in common raiment, and she sat beside a well, weeping bitterly. Women came to draw
water, and they spoke to her with pity, but Isis answered not, nor ceased to grieve, until the handmaidens of
the queen drew nigh. Unto them she gave kindly greetings. When they had spoken gently unto her she
braided their hair, and into each lock she breathed sweet and alluring perfume. So it chanced that when the
maidens returned unto the king's house the queen smelt the perfume, and commanded that the strange woman
should be brought before her. Then it was that Isis found favour in the eyes of the queen, who chose her to be
the foster−mother of the royal babe.
But Isis refused to suckle the child, and to silence his cries for milk, she put her finger into his mouth. When
night came she caused fire to burn away his flesh, and she took the form of a swallow and flew, uttering
broken cries of sorrow, round about the sacred pillar which contained the body of Osiris. It chanced that the
queen came nigh and beheld her babe in the flames. She immediately plucked him forth; but although she
rescued his body she caused him to be denied immortality.
Isis again assumed her wonted form, and she confessed
unto the queen who she was. Then she asked the king that the sacred pillar be given unto her. The boon was
granted, and she cut deep into the trunk and took forth the chest which was concealed therein. Embracing it
tenderly, she uttered cries of lamentation that were so bitter and keen that the royal babe died with terror.
Then she consecrated the sacred pillar, which she wrapped in linen and anointed with myrrh, and it was
afterwards placed in a temple which the king caused to be erected to Isis, and for long centuries it was
worshipped by the people of Byblos.
The coffin of Osiris was borne to the ship in which the queen goddess had sailed unto Syria. Then she went
aboard, and took with her Maneros, the king's first−born, and put forth to sea. The ship sped on, and the land
faded from sight. Isis yearned to behold once again the face of her dead husband, and she opened the chest
and kissed passionately his cold lips, while tears streamed from her eyes. Maneros, son of the King of
Byblos, came stealthily behind her, wondering what secret the chest contained. Isis looked round with anger,
her bright eyes blinded him, and he fell back dead into the sea.
When Isis reached the land of Egypt she concealed the body of the dead king in a secret place, and hastened
towards the city of Buto to embrace her son Horus; but shortlived was her triumph. It chanced that Set came
hunting the boar at full moon in the Delta jungle, and he found the chest which Isis had taken back from
Syria. He caused it to be opened, and the body of Osiris was taken forth and rent into fourteen pieces, which
he cast into the Nile, so that the crocodiles might devour them. But these reptiles had fear of Isis and touched
them not,
and they were scattered along the river banks. A fish (Oxyrhynchus) swallowed the phallus.
The heart of Isis was filled with grief when she came to know what Set had done. She had made for herself a
papyrus boat and sailed up and down the Delta waters, searching for the fragments of her husband's body, and
at length she recovered them all, save the part which had been swallowed by the fish. She buried the
fragments where they were found, and for each she made a tomb. In after days temples were erected over the
tombs, and in these Osiris was worshipped by the people for long centuries.
Set continued to rule over Egypt, and he persecuted the followers of Osiris and Isis in the Delta swamps and
along the seacoast to the north. But Horus, who was rightful king, grew into strong manhood. He prepared for
the coming conflict, and became a strong and brave warrior. Among his followers were cunning workers in
metal who were called Mesniu (smiths), and bright and keen were their weapons of war. The sun hawk was
blazoned on their battle banners.
One night there appeared to Horus in a. dream a vision of his father Osiris. The ghost urged him to
overthrow Set) by whom he had been so treacherously put to death, and Horus vowed to drive his wicked
uncle and all his followers out of the land of Egypt. So he gathered his army together and went forth to battle.
Set came against him at Edfu and slew many of his followers. But Horus secured the aid of the tribes that
remained faithful to Osiris and Isis, and Set was again attacked and driven towards the eastern frontier. The
usurper uttered a
great cry of grief when he was forced to take flight. He rested at Zaru, and there was the last battle fought. It
was waged for many days, and Horus lost an eye. But Set was still more grievously wounded, and he was at
length driven with his army out of the kingdom.
It is told that the god Thoth descended out of heaven and healed the wounds of Horus and Set. Then the
slayer of Osiris appeared before the divine council and claimed the throne. But the gods gave judgment that
Horus was the rightful king, and he established his power in the land of Egypt, and became a wise and strong
ruler like to his father Osiris.
Another version of the legend relates that when the fragments of the body of Osiris were recovered from the
Nile, Isis and Nepthys lamented over them, weeping bitterly. In one of the temple chants Isis exclaims:
Gods, and men before the face of the gods, are weeping for thee at the same time when they behold me!
Lo! I invoke thee with wailing that reacheth high as heaven
Yet thou hearest not my voice. Lo! I, thy sister, I love thee more than all the earth
And thou lovest not another as thou dost thy sister!
Nepthys cries,
Subdue every sorrow which is in the hearts of us thy sisters . . .
Live before us, desiring to behold thee.
The lamentations of the goddesses were heard by Ra, and he sent down from heaven the god Anubis, who,
with the assistance of Thoth and Horus, united the severed portions of the body of Osiris, which they
wrapped in linen bandages. Thus had origin the mummy form of the god. Then the winged Isis hovered over
the body, and the air from her wings entered the nostrils of Osiris so that he was imbued with life once again.
He afterwards became the Judge and King of the Dead.
Egyptian burial rites were based upon this legend. At the ceremony enacted in the tomb chapel two female
relatives of the deceased took the parts of Isis and Nepthys, and recited magical formulæ so that the dead
might be imbued with vitality and enabled to pass to the Judgment Hall and Paradise.
Osiris and Isis, the traditional king and queen of ancient Egyptian tribes, were identified with the deities who
symbolized the forces of Nature, and were accordingly associated with agricultural rites.
The fertility of the narrow strip of country in the Nile valley depends upon the River Nile, which overflows
its banks every year and brings down fresh soil from the hills. The river is at its lowest between April and
June, the period of winter. Fed by the melting snows on the Abyssinian hills, and by the equatorial lakes,
which are flooded during the rainy season, the gradual rise of the river becomes perceptible about the middle
of June. The waters first assume a reddish tint on account of the clay which they carry. For a short period they
then become greenish and unwholesome. Ere that change took place the Ancient Egyptians were wont to
store up water for domestic use in large jars. By the beginning of August the Nile runs high. It was then that
the canals were opened in ancient days, so that the waters might fertilize the fields.
"As the Nile rose," writes Wilkinson, "the peasants were careful to remove the flocks and herds from the
lowlands; and when a sudden irruption of the water, owing to the bursting. of a dike, or an unexpected and
unusual increase of the river, overflowed the fields and pastures, they were seen hurrying to the spot, on foot
or in boats, to rescue the animals and to remove them to the high grounds above the reach of the inundation. .
. . And though some suppose the inundation does not now attain the same height as of old, those who have
lived in the country have frequently seen the villages of the Delta standing, as Herodotus describes them, like
islands in the Ægean Sea, with the same scenes of rescuing the cattle from the water." According to Pliny, "a
proper inundation is of 16 cubits . . . in 12 cubits the country suffers from famine, and feels a deficiency even
in 13; 14 causes joy, 15 scarcity, 16 delight; the greatest rise of the river to this period was of 18 cubits".
When the river rose very high in the days of the Pharaohs, "the lives and property of the inhabitants", says
Wilkinson, "were endangered"; in some villages the houses collapsed. Hence the legend that Ra sought to
destroy his enemies among mankind.
The inundation is at its height by the end of September, and continues stationary for about a month. Not until
the end of September does the river resume normal proportions. November is the month for sowing; the
harvest is reaped in Upper Egypt by March and in Lower Egypt by April.
It was believed by the ancient agriculturists that the tears of Isis caused the river to increase in volume. When
Sirius rose before dawn about the middle of July it was identified with the goddess. In the sun−cult legend
this star is Hathor, "the eye of Ra", who comes to slaughter mankind. There are evidences that human
sacrifices were offered to the sun god at this period.
E. W. Lane, in his Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians , tells that the night of 17 June is called
"Leylet−en−Nuktah",or "the Night of the Drop", because "it is believed that a miraculous drop then falls into
the Nile and causes it to rise". An interesting ceremony used to be performed at "the cutting of the dam" in
old Cairo. A round pillar of earth was formed, and it was called the "bride", and seeds were sown on the top
of it. Lane says that an ancient Arabian historian "was told that the Egyptians were accustomed, at the period
when the Nile began to rise, to deck a young virgin in gay apparel, and throw her into the river, as a sacrifice
to obtain a plentiful inundation".
When the ancient Egyptians had ploughed their fields they held a great festival at which the moon god, who,
in his animal form, symbolized the generative principle, was invoked and worshipped. Then the sowing took
place, amidst lamentations and mourning for the death of Osiris. The divine being was buried in the earth; the
seeds were the fragments of his body. Reference is made to this old custom in Psalm cxxvi: "They that sow in
tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again
with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him".
When harvest operations began, the Egyptians mourned because they were slaying the corn spirit. Diodorus
Siculus tells that when the first handful of grain was cut, the Egyptian reapers beat their breasts and lamented,
calling upon Isis. When, however, all the sheaves were brought in from the fields, they rejoiced greatly and
held their "harvest home".
Both Osiris and Isis were originally identified with the spirits of the corn. The former represented the earth
god and the latter the earth goddess. But after the union of the tribes which worshipped the human
incarnations of ancient deities, the rival conceptions werefused. As a result we find that the inundation is
symbolized now as the male principle and now as the female principle; the Nile god, Hapi, is depicted as a
man with female breasts. In an Abydos temple chant Isis makes reference to herself as "the woman who was
made a male by her father, Osiris".
The Scottish Osiris
THERE were three kings into the east,
Three kings both great and high,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn should die.
They took a plough and plough'd him down
Put clods upon his head,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn was dead.
But the cheerful spring came kindly on,
And show'rs began to fall;
John Barleycorn got up again,
And sore surpris'd them all.
The sultry suns of summer came,
And he grew thick and strong,
His head weel arm'd wi' pointed spears,
That no one should him wrong.
The sober autumn enter'd mild,
When he grew wan and pale;
His bending joints and drooping head
Show'd he began to fail.
His colour sicken'd more and more,
He faded into age;
And then his enemies began
To show their deadly rage.
They've ta'en a weapon long and sharp,
And cut him by the knee;
Then ty'd him fast upon a cart,
Like a rogue for forgerie.
They laid him down upon his back,
And cudgell'd him full sore;
They hung him up before the storm,
And turn'd him o'er and o'er.
They filèd up a darksome pit
With water to the brim,
They heavèd in John Barleycorn−
There let him sink or swim.
They laid him out upon the floor,
To work him farther woe;
And still, as signs of life appear'd,
They tossed him to and fro.
They wasted, o'er a scorching flame,
The marrow of his bones;
But the miller us'd him worst of all,
For he crush'd him between two stones.
And they hae ta'en his very heart's blood,
And drank it round and round;
And still the more and more they drank,
Their joy did more abound.
John Barleycorn was a hero bold
Of noble enterprise;
For if you do but taste his blood,
'Twill make your courage rise.
'Twill make a man forget his woe;
'Twill heighten all his joy;
'Twill make the widow's heart to sing,
Tho' the tear were in her eye.
Then let us toast John Barleycorn,
Each man a glass in hand;
And may his great posterity
Ne'er fail in old Scotland.