CONTENDINGS OF HORUS AND SET
Ennead Opens: Horus/Heru Declared King, Set Challenges.
This
is the judging of Heru and Set, mysterious in forms and the mightiest of the
princes and lords who ever existed.
[Heru] the young god was seated before Ra, the Lord of
All, and claimed the office of his father Wesir, (he of beautiful appearance,
the son of Ptah, who brightens the netherworld with his complexion), while
Djehuty offered the Eye to the great prince of Iunu.
Then
spoke Shu, the son of Ra, in the presence of Ra, the great prince of Iunu:
“Justice rules over sheer strength.
Do justice by saying: “Award the office to Heru.”
Then
Djehuty said to the Ennead:
“It
is correct a million times!”
Then
Aset uttered a loud shriek and was much delighted. And she came before the
Lord of All and said,
“North
wind, go west, bring the news to Wennofer!” [a name of Wesir meaning
"he
who is beneficent"]
Then
said Shu, son of Ra,
“Presenting the Eye to Heru seems
right to the Ennead.”
But
Ra, Lord of All, said,
“What
is the meaning of this, you making decisions on your own?”
Ra was silent for a long moment, being furious with
the Ennead because he wanted to give the office to Set, the son of Nut and
great of strength.
Then
Set, son of Nut, said,
“Send him outside with me, and I
will let you see my hand prevail over his hand in the presence of the Ennead,
since there is no other known method of dispossessing him.”
Djehuty
replied,
“Shall we give the office of Wesir to Set, while his
son Heru lives?”
And
Onuris cried out before the Ennead:
“What
shall we do?”
And
Ra, great prince of Iunu, said
“Summon Banebdjede, the great
living god, that he may judge between Heru and Set, and stop them quarreling
every day.”
So
they brought Banebdjede, the great god who dwells in Sehel, along with
Ptah-Tatenen. And Banebdjede replied,
“Do not have us exercise judgment
in ignorance. Write and send a letter to Nit the Great and Oldest One, Mother
of the Gods, and what she says we will do.”
Nit Makes Judgment
So
Djehuty wrote this letter to Nit:
“The King of Upper and Lower
Egypt: Ra-Atum, beloved of Djehuty, the Lord of the Two Lands; the Aten who
illumines the Two Lands with his hue, the Hapy mighty in his rising, Ra-Harakhti,
to Nit the Eldest, the divine mother, who shone on the first time, is alive,
in health, and young. The living Ba of the Lord of All, the Bull of Iunu who
is the good King of Egypt, says as follows: “I your servant spend the night on behalf of Wesir taking
counsel for the Two Lands every day, while Sobek endures forever. What shall
we do about these two people who for eighty years now have been before the
tribunal, and no one knows how to judge between them? Please write us what we
should do.”
Then
Nit the Great, the God’s Mother, replied to the Ennead,
“Give the office of Wesir to his son Heru, and don’t commit such blatant wrongs which are illegal! Or I shall get angry and the sky will crash to the ground! The Lord of All, the Bull in Iunu, should double Set’s possessions and give him Anat and Astarte, your two daughters, and place Heru on the seat of his father!”
When
Djehuty received the letter from Nit he read it out in the presence of Ra,
Lord of All, and the entire Ennead. They all proclaimed loudly:
“This
goddess is right!”
But
Ra was still angry at Heru and told him:
“You are feeble in body and this
office is too big for you, you boy, whose breath is still bad.”
Then
Onuris became exceedingly angry as did the Ennead, the Council of Thirty. The
god Baba got up and said to Ra-Harakhti,
“Your
shrine is empty!”
Ra-Harakhti
took offense at the insult offered him by Baba, and lay down on his back,
heartsick. And the Ennead shouted loudly at Baba and told him,
“Go
away! This is an exceeding great offense you have done!”
And they all
departed to their tents. But Ra spent a day lying on his back in his tent,
heartsick and alone. After a long while, Hethert, Lady of the Southern
Sycamore, came and stood before her father, Ra, Lord of All. And she uncovered
her nakedness, exposing herself before his eyes. Thereupon the great god
laughed at her antics, got up and returned to sit with the great Ennead.
Set,
son of Nut, great in strength, said
“I
am Set, greatest of strength amongst the Ennead, for I slay the enemy of Ra
every day, standing on the prow of the Barque of Millions, and no other god is
able to do that. I should receive the office of Wesir!”
And
they all said
“Set,
the son of Nut is correct.”
But
Onuris, Djehuty, and Banebdjed cried out,
“Should
the office be given to a mere lad, while Set, the elder relative, is here at
hand?”
Then
Heru, son of Aset, said:
“It
is not good to cheat me before the Ennead and deprive me of the office of my
father Wesir!”
Thereupon
Aset became angry with the Ennead, and swore by the god in their presence,
saying,
“By
my mother Nit, and as Ptah-Tatenen lives, these matters should be submitted
before Ra, the great prince of Iunu, and also, Khepri who resides in his
barque.”
The
Ennead said to her,
“Don’t
be angry. Rights will be given to him who is right. All that you have said
will be done.”
Set
then got angry with the Ennead because of their words to Aset the Great, the
divine Mother, and said to them, swearing,
“I
will take my scepter of 4,500 pounds and kill one of you each day. I will not
come in to the tribunal as long as Aset is still in it.”
Ra-Harakhti
then said to them,
“Ferry across to the
Island-in-the-Middle and judge between them there. Tell Nemty [sometimes
written as Anty] the ferryman not to ferry across any woman who looks like
Aset.”
And
the Ennead ferried across to the Island and sat down to bread.
Then Aset transformed herself into an old woman, walking with a hobble and wearing a gold ring on her hand, and came over and approached Nemty, the ferryman. She said to Nemty,
“Ferry
me across to the Island-in-the-Middle, so that I may give this bowl of
porridge for the young boy tending cattle therein. He has been there five days
and is hungry.”
Nemty
told her he was ordered not to ferry across any woman. He asked what she would
offer him. Aset offered him cake, which Nemty refused. Aset then offered him
the gold ring on her hand. And he took it and ferried Aset across to the
Island-in-the-Middle.
Now,
as Aset walked under the trees, Set saw her as she drew near. So Aset used her
magic and transformed herself into a beautiful maiden. And Set desired her
deeply. And he left the Ennead and approached her, to be with her.
Aset
said to him,
“Listen
to my story, great lord. I was wife to a cattleman, with whom I had a son. My
husband died, and the boy tended the cattle in his turn.
But then a stranger came, sat down in my stable, and said to my son,
‘I will beat you and take your father’s cattle and throw you out.’ Now,
good sir, I wish to make you my son’s protector.”
Set
said to her,
“Shall
one give the cattle to the stranger, while the son of the owner is still
here?”
Then
Aset changed herself into a kite, and flew up to perch in an acacia tree. She
called to Set saying,
“Be
ashamed! Your own mouth has said it, and your own cleverness has judged you.
What more can you say now?”
Set
became ashamed and went to Ra-Harakhti and told him that Aset had appeared and
had tricked him and what he had replied to her, that the stranger should be
beaten with a stick, evicted, and the son be put in his father’s position.
Ra-Harakhti
told Set,
“See
you have judged yourself. What more do you want then?”
Set
replied that Nemty the ferryman should be punished because he ferried Aset
across to the Island. So Nemty was brought before the Ennead, and his toes
removed. And he foreswore gold from that time on.
Ra-Harakhti
and Atum, the Lord of All, wrote then to the Ennead saying,
“Are
you going to keep these two youths spend their lives in court? Place the White
Crown on the head of Heru son of Aset and appoint him to the office of his
father Wesir.”
Then
Set became terribly angry and swore that he would remove the White Crown from
Heru and cast him into the water so that Set could continue to contend with
him. Set told Heru,
“Let
us change into hippopotamuses and swim to the bottom of the sea, and he who
comes out after three whole months shall be awarded the office of Ruler.”
Aset
sat weeping and said,
“Set
will kill my son, Heru.”
And
she took yarn and made a line of rope, fetched a portion of copper and made it
into a harpoon. She tied the line to it and hurled it into the water. But the
copper barb bit into the body of Heru her son.
And
Heru cried aloud, saying,
“Come
to me mother Aset, my mother! Tell your weapon to release me your son!”
Aset
shrieked and told her copper barb to release Heru her son. And she again
hurled the harpoon into the water and this time it entered the body of Set.
Set shrieked saying,
“What
have I done against you, my sister Aset? Tell your weapon to release me, I am
your brother Set.”
And Aset took pity
on her brother Set and told her weapon to release him.
Heru,
son of Aset, became furious at his mother, and took his cleaver in his hand.
He cut off the head of his mother Aset, took it in his arms, and went up the
mountain.
Aset
transformed herself into a statue of flint with no head.
And when Ra-Harakhti learned what Heru had done, he desired to punish
him, and went with the Ennead to search for Heru and punish him.
Now
Heru was lying under a tree, and Set came upon him, wrestled with him and
removed both his eyes and buried them there on the mountain. Toward morning,
the two eyes bloomed into bulbs and became lotuses. Set then went to Ra-Harakhti
and denied having found Heru.
Then
Hethert, Mistress of the Southern Sycamore, found Heru as he lay weeping. She
caught a gazelle, milked it, and said to Heru,
“Open
your eyes, that I may put this milk in.”
And
when she had done as she said, Heru opened his eyes and he found that they
were healed.
Hethert went and told Ra-Harakhti that she had found Heru after Set had deprived him of his eyes and had restored him to health.
The
Ennead said,
“Summon
Heru and Set that they may be judged.”
The
Lord of All told Heru and Set to stop quarreling without end every day.
So
Set said to Heru,
“Come
let us make celebration in my house.”
And
Heru went to the house of Set. At evening time, as Heru lay down to bed, Set
came to him, and placed his stiffened member between the thighs of Heru. But
Heru placed his hands between his thighs and caught the semen of Set. Heru
went to his mother and showed her the semen on his hand.
Aset
cried out and took a knife and cut off Heru’s hands, throwing them into the
water, and gave him new hands. Then she took some ointment, stiffened Heru’s
member and caught the semen in a pot. In the morning she went with Heru to the
garden of Set and sprinkled the semen of Heru on the lettuce that Set would
eat. When Set ate of the lettuce he became pregnant with the semen of Heru.
Then
Set called Heru into the court with him so they could be judged. Set told the
Ennead,
“Let
the office of ruler be given to me now, because I have done a man’s deed
against him.”
The
Ennead cried out and spat against Heru.
And
Heru laughed and said,
“Set
has spoken falsely. Summon Set’s semen, and my semen, and we shall see from
whence each comes.”
Djehuty,
lord of writing, true scribe of the Ennead, laid his hand on the arm of Heru
and said,
“Come
out, semen of Set.”
And
it answered him from the water in the midst of the marsh. And Djehuty put his
hand on the arm of Set and said,
“Come
out, semen of Heru.”
And
it said,
“Where
shall I come out?”
Djehuty
said,
“Come
out of his ear.”
And
the semen replied,
“Shall
I come out of his ear, I who am a divine seed?”
And
Djehuty said,
“Come out from
the top of his head.”
And
the semen came out as a golden sun-disk on the head of Set. Set became very
angry and lifted his hand to seize the sun-disk, but Djehuty took it away and
placed it as a crown upon his own head.
And
the Ennead declared,
“Heru
is right and Set is wrong.”
Set
swore and said,
“He
shall not be yet given the office. We shall go outside together and build
ships of stone and race each other. The one who wins shall be awarded the
office of Ruler.”
Heru
built himself a boat of pine, plastered it over with gypsum, and launched it
in the evening. Set thought the boat was truly stone and built his own out of
a mountain top. They each set out their ships before the Ennead. Set’s boat
sank. So he transformed himself into a hippopotamus and scuttled Heru’s
boat. Heru then brought his
harpoon and struck at Set.
So
Heru took his weapons and sailed his boat downstream to Sais to consult with
Nit the Great, the God’s Mother. And he told her how he and Set had been
quarreling for eighty years in the court and how the Ennead could not judge
between them.
Djehuty then said
to the Lord of All to send to Wesir so that he could judge between Heru and
Set. So Djehuty wrote this to Wesir:
“The Bull,
Hunting Lion, The Two Ladies, protecting the gods and subduing the Two Lands,
Gold Heru, who invented mankind in the beginning; King of Upper and Lower
Egypt, Bull who dwells in On, Son of Ptah, Benefactor of the Two Banks,
appearing as father of his Ennead while he eats of gold and glaze, Life,
Prosperity and health! Please tell us what we should do about Heru and Set so
that we do not act in ignorance.”
When
Wesir the King, son of Ra, Great in Bounty and Lord of Sustenance, received
this letter he cried out aloud. He replied to the Ennead,
“Why is my son
Heru being cheated when it was I who made you strong? It was I who made barley
and emmer to sustain the gods and cattle when no other god or goddess could do
so?”
Ra-Harakhti
replied,
“If you had
not existed, if you had not been born, barley and emmer would yet exist.”
Wesir
wrote back:
“All
you have done and what the Ennead has done is very good. Maat has been allowed
to sink into the netherworld. Please consider, the land in which I am is
filled with savage-looking messengers who do not fear any god or goddess. I
have but to release them and they will bring me the heart of every evildoer.
What can it mean, me here in the West while you are all there? Who among you
is mightier than I?”
Djehuty
read this letter to the Ennead, who declared Wesir right. Heru was declared in
the right against Set.
Then
Atum called for Set to be brought before him in fetters. And Aset brought Set
fettered before Atum. Atum asked Set,
“Why
have you resisted being judged and have taken for yourself the office of Heru?”
But
Set said,
“Let
Heru be summoned and be awarded the office of his father Wesir.”
So
they brought Heru, and placed the White Crown upon his head and he was
installed in the office of Wesir. And they declared to him,
“You
are the good king of Egypt! You are the good lord of all the lands forever and
ever!”
Then
Aset shrieked aloud and declared,
“You
are the good king. My heart is in joy. You have illumined the earth with your
countenance.”
Then
Ptah the Great, South of his Wall, Lord of Memphis, said,
“What
shall we do for Set, now that Heru has been placed on the seat of Wesir?”
Ra-Harakhti
said,
“Let
Set be given to me to dwell with me and be my son. And he shall thunder in the
sky and be feared.”
And
the Ennead said to Ra-Harakhti:
“Heru
has risen as Ruler!”
And
Ra-Harakhti rejoiced and declared,
“Celebrate
throughout the land for Heru, son of Aset.”
And
Aset said,
“Heru
has risen as Ruler, life, prosperity and health! The Ennead is in feast,
heaven in joy! They take garlands seeing Heru, son of Aset Risen as great
Ruler of Egypt. The hearts of the Ennead exult, The entire land rejoices. As
they see Heru, son of Aset, given the office of his father, Wesir, lord of
Busiris!”
THE END