Isis raised her son alone. In the mornings, having lulled the baby to sleep, she hid him in a papyrus nest and went to some village to get food, and returned back in the evening. Once the goddess was absent for a very long time, and when she returned, a terrible sight met her eyes: the baby Horus was choking, wheezing, his body was beating in convulsions.
Isis, in desperation, began to call for help. Local fishermen, whose village was nearby, came running to her call, but among the fishermen there was not a single one who knew medicinal herbs and could cure the child. Seeing that they were unable to help the goddess and her son, the fishermen began to cry. Isis exclaimed:
- There are many of you who cry, but there is no one who knows how to revive! Suddenly the patron goddess of the Delta came out of the swamps with the sign of life “ankh” in her hand and said to the inconsolable Isis:
- Don't be sad, mother of God! If you think that your son was harmed by Seth, then this is not so. The child is inaccessible to his opponent: the thickets are impenetrable. <... > Thanks to the spell of Atum, Seth cannot penetrate these places. Look for the real reason why this misfortune happened to the baby, and the Chorus will come to life for its mother! He must have been stung by a scorpion, or bitten by a snake with an envious heart!
According to another version of this myth, Seth, due to the spell of Atum, could not penetrate the swamps of the Delta in his real form, but he took the form of a snake, crawled into a papyrus nest and bit Horus.
Heeding the wise advice of the goddess Delta, Isis examined the baby’s body and discovered that he had indeed been stung. She began to sob, grabbed the child in her arms and rushed about with him, wailing:
- Horus is stung! Horus is stung, O Ra, your son is stung! Heir to the heir, successor to the kingdom of Shu!
Horus, the youth of the Delta, the wonderful child, has been stung!
Horus is stung, a beautiful, golden child, an innocent child, an orphan!
Chorus, born of Isis, is stung!
Horus, without sin, a beautiful youth among the gods, was stung!
How dear to me will be the one who revives him!
At the cry of Isis, Nephthys and the scorpion goddess Selket came to the Delta. Nephthys, having learned about the misfortune that befell her sister, burst into tears, and Selket turned to Isis with the words:
- Call to the sky, Isis, so that the rowers of Ra will stop. May the Boat of Ra not move as long as your son Horus lies motionless!
Isis turned her voice to the sky, and at the same moment the Boat of Eternity stopped over the swamps of the Delta. God Thoth left his place in the Boat and descended from heaven to Isis.
- No harm to your son Horus! - he declared decisively. - O good goddess with wise lips! His protection is Rook Ra. I came to you from the divine Rook. The sun will remain in its yesterday's place, the darkness will remain, there will be no light until the Chorus is healed for its mother Isis! - O Thoth, although your heart is great, how slowly your intentions are accomplished! - Isis exclaimed in response.
Then the god of wisdom cast a magic spell, and the scorpion’s poison lost its power. Baby Horus was saved. When did he recover? He, at the request of Isis, ordered the Egyptians to tirelessly monitor the Choir, protect it and help Isis in every possible way. Otherwise, Thoth threatened, darkness, desolation and hunger will reign on the earth. Having said this, Thoth returned to the Boat of Ra-Horakhte.
The myths “Isis and Horus in the swamps of the Delta” and “The Secret Name of the God Ra” (see below) are magical spells against scorpion or snake bites. The injured Egyptian was identified with Horus or Ra, who was healed of poisonous bites thanks to magic. It was believed that the evil demon, by whose will the poisonous creature acted, would decide that he was again dealing with a powerful god, and not with a mere mortal, would remember his past defeat and immediately take flight. The spell ended with words identifying the injured Egyptian with Horus or Ra: “As Horus (Ra) was healed, so will the name be healed; he will live, but the poison will die.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru