The Stories of Thoth and Ma'at:

How the First Lovers, Nut and Geb, almost crushed the Sun and the Moon,

and how the Air created some Breathing Room

 

For the Background on these events, see Thoth's First Stories

 

(As MA'AT names the Neters who now come into the story, their KHU images appear, and move in relation to each other.)

MA'AT:

Atum first separated the air, whom he named Shu, from the water, whom he called Tefnut. These two had body forms that later would be called lions. They created the first pair of lovers: Geb, the male Neter of Earth, and the measurelessly beautiful Nut, the starry sky. These two lay in the embrace lovers dream of: continuously in union, with no need for anything but delight. They soon made two more children: Ra, the golden orb of the Sun, and my husband, the silver light of the moon.

THOTH:

You can see the problem. There had to be space for the Sun and Moon to move between the Sky and the Earth, but with our parents united all the time, well, it wasn't so bad for me. The Moon gets smaller for half a cycle, even disappears. But for Ra it was unbearable. The smothering got so bad it felt fatal, and Ra finally kicked his talons and swept his wings out from his breast as hard as he could. The lovers recoiled from each other for a moment, just far enough that in the Sun's light, Mother Sky and Father Earth could now actually see each other for the first time. When they did, their desire exploded.

THOTH:

They swooned into each other again, and flattened me like a leaf. Ra saved us. He cried out for Shu, who would do anything for his grandsons. He got between the lovers and blew, and his breath lifted the Sky up above the Earth, where it still is now, so finally, there was room for lights to move in the Sky. Ra began to move in his course, and within hours he had built his Boat of Dawn, and had sailed below the horizon, and night fell for the first time.

THOTH:

For the two lovers, especially for Geb, who lay stunned on the ground until the first night came, and he could see the stars in Nut's body arching in splendor far above him, Shu became history's first obstacle to love. For me, the cool air felt like melon on ice. It was wonderful to glide around the sky, to breathe a whole chest full of air and sing it out. But for Ra, the Sky was already too crowded because in his mind's eye he could see all the Neters in Nut's body, ripening and squirming and murmuring, getting ready to dive down toward Earth to be born.

 

 

 

(The first CONSTELLATION KHU images that will appear later in other NIGHT SKY scenes appear among the stars on NUT's body.)

MA'AT:

Ra didn't want all these people, whoever they were, running around the Sky and causing who knows what annoyance on Earth. So he decreed that Nut, his own mother, would not be allowed to give birth during any of the days of the year, which he now owned as the Sun, who marked the passing of time. And she obeyed!

THOTH:

And Geb did not object!

MA'AT:

One of the first great questions.

THOTH:

One of the grand ones. Why didn't Nut and Geb just tell Ra to behave himself? Instead, he became the first child ever to make his parents miserable and get away with it, at least for a time. In the end, we were fortunate that Ra was superb in leadership but -- ahh --

MA'AT:

Numerically challenged. Ra assumed that since a circle has 360 degrees, the year must have 360 days. And this actually worked for a few years. But you know what had to happen. The Sun and the Earth got completely out of time with each other, the crops got scorched, Nut was long overdue to give birth, and still Ra would not listen. The only way to solve it all was for Thoth to invent a game.

THOTH:

I'm ready.

MA'AT:

Please take a rest. Really. I need to tell our Celebrants here a little about what we're going to do. (To CELEBRANTS:) One thing about the female Neters like me is that we're on Delta Time, and we don't feel we have to get to work at once. This is why baldness is not as issue for us. And you people must not be in a hurry, or you wouldn't be here now in a story as eternal as this one. A little tasty truth for you, since my husband still won't leave: the thing I love most about his bird body is his neck.

THOTH:

I get the hint.

MA'AT:

Take a soar.

THOTH exits, THOTH KHU appears as a white Ibis and flies away.

MA'AT:

Was any pair of eyes ever moved around by any neck to see so much, and when you see the grace and tenderness and music in that neck, and how it might give pleasure to another neck, is it any wonder that the ibises that glide in pairs on the river and wing toward the shore together seem so well joined in love? We are birds. It is easy to be faithful. (She gestures toward wall, and HIEROGLYPHS appear.) It is time for our first Disclaimer.

As always, you now have some Choices:

You can see the Disclaimer, for Your Protection as well as Ours

To go to the next scene, enter The Game of Chance

To meet the Five Neters, go to How Osiris, Isis, Set, Horus and Nephthys were Born

You can join Isis for a Conspiration

Or you can Start the Show

 Or you can Choose from other Scenes

 

Copyright 2001 Dan Furst

 

 

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