Pharaoh User-Maat-Ra had a son named Satni-Khemuas, who was known as a skilled scribe and sage. And Satni-Khemuas had a son Sa-Osiris (“Son of Osiris”). When Sa-Osiris grew up, he was sent to study at the temple school, but very soon the boy surpassed all his mentors in wisdom and knowledge. Then he was sent to the school of priests at the Temple of Ptah, where he studied spells with the scribes. But even in the school of priests, Sa-Osiris very soon had no equal. Then Satni-Khemuas brought his son to the festival with the pharaoh. The boy competed in the art of magic with the greatest sorcerers - and won. Pharaoh User-Maat-Ra recognized him as the first sage of Memphis and the Two Lands!
One day, Satni-Hemuas, standing on the terrace of his house, prayed to the gods and suddenly heard sorrowful cries and lamentations in the distance. It was a rich man being buried, the luxuriously decorated coffin was carried on a funeral stretcher, and hundreds of mourners filled the mountains and valley with their lamentations.
Then Sutni-Khemuas looked a second time from the terrace of his house and saw the funeral of a poor man. The body, wrapped in old matting, was carried into the desert by the widow and son of the deceased. No one else accompanied him.
“May Osiris make sure that I am rewarded in the Duat, as they will be rewarded to that rich man, and may I pass over the fate of the poor man who is carried to the city of the dead without any honors or ceremonies!” - exclaimed Sutni-Hemuas.
“No,” Sa-Osiris suddenly objected. “You will receive in the Duat what a poor man will receive there, and the share prepared for a rich man will pass you by.”
- How! — Sutni-Hemuas was taken aback. - Did I hear correctly? Are these really the words of a son who loves his father!
“So know this: if you wish, I will show you what is in store in the Duat for the rich man, whom everyone mourns, and what is in store for the poor man, whose death no one grieves,” said Sa-Osiris.
With these words, he took his father by the hand and led him to the necropolis. They stopped near one of the tombs. Sa-Osiris cast a spell, and suddenly the earth opened up under their feet, and they found themselves in an unknown hall.
Under the stone arches sat many people who were twisting ropes, and the donkeys behind them were eating these ropes. Other people reached up, trying to reach the bread and jugs of water suspended above their heads. These unfortunates were exhausted from hunger and thirst, but all their efforts were in vain, because other people at that time were digging holes under their feet so that they could not reach food and water.
Sa-Osiris again took his father by the hand and led him into another hall. Here, pure souls appeared in their places of honor before the gaze of Satni-Khemuas. Those who committed some atrocity crowded at the door of the hall and tearfully begged for forgiveness. And the lower spike of the door stuck out in the right eye of some man who was praying and filling the cave with groans. When the door opened and closed, the thorn turned in his eye.
The father, unable to take his eyes off the unfortunate man, moved further after his son. They entered the next room. The Judgment Seat of the gods sat here. Each god sat in his place, and the gatekeepers of the Kingdom of the Dead announced the verdicts.
Finally, they entered the last hall, and Satni-Khemuas saw Osiris on the throne. Near the throne stood Anubis and Thoth, in front of whom were the Scales of Truth. On these Scales, the gods of the Duat weighed the good and evil done by people. Anubis announced the verdicts of the gods, and He wrote them down. If the gods decided that a person’s atrocities were more numerous than his good deeds, they handed him over to the power of Ammat; if on the contrary, then the human soul went to heaven and stayed there among pure souls. If, finally, the number of atrocities was exactly equal to the number of good deeds, the gods placed the deceased among the repentant souls who serve the god Sokar-Osiris.
Near Osiris, Satnih-Khemuas noticed a man of noble appearance, dressed in robes of the finest linen. He stood in one of the most honorable places near the ruler of the dead.
- My father, Satni! - exclaimed Sa-Osiris. - Do you see the noble man who stands next to Osiris? This is the same poor man who was buried without any honor and taken to the city of the dead in a simple mat. It's him! He was brought to the Judgment, the good and evil deeds he had done on earth were weighed, and it was found that the good he had done outweighed the evil. But his earthly life had too few happy days. And so the gods commanded, before the face of Osiris, to give to the poor man the funeral attire of the rich man whom you saw when he was buried with
honors. You see: the poor man was placed among pure souls. But you also saw the rich man, my father Satni! The door spike sticks out in his right eye. That is why I told you: “They will treat you like a poor man, and let the rich man’s share pass you by.”
- My son Sa-Osiris! - exclaimed Satni-Hemuas - I saw many miracles in the Duat! But tell me, who are these people who are constantly making ropes that are being devoured by donkeys behind them? And these people, tormented by hunger and thirst?
“I will reveal the truth to you,” answered Sa-Osiris. “People who twist ropes are like those over whom the curse of the gods weighs on earth.” On the land they work day and night, getting food, but their wives steal it behind their backs, and these people do not even have enough bread. When they come to the Duat, and it turns out that their evil deeds are more numerous than their good deeds, the gods condemn them to the same punishment. It is the same with those who suffer from hunger but cannot reach food. This is like those people on earth who only need to stretch out their hand to get food for themselves, but the gods dig holes in front of them. They come to the Duat and here, in the Kingdom of the Dead, they experience the same thing that they experienced on earth. Know this, my father Satni! Those who did good on earth are rewarded with good, but those who did evil are rewarded with evil. This has been the case forever and will never change.
With these words, Sa-Osiris took his father by the hand and led him through the desert to Memphis.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru