Ra-Horakhte wearily turned to Set and Horus, saying: “Listen to what I tell you.” Eat, drink and give us peace. Stop your daily quarrels.
“Yes,” Seth agreed and said to the Choir in a friendly manner: “Let’s go to my house.” We will have a wonderful day and have a good rest.
“Indeed, I will do so,” said Horus. Throughout the day, Seth and the Choir feasted and had fun. When it was time to go to bed, Seth's servant laid out a wide bed, and the gods lay down together. The chorus naively believed that the friendliness that Seth showed was sincere. He did not suspect that Seth lured him to his house with an insidious calculation: to rape him and thereby forever disgrace him before the gods. As soon as Horus fell asleep, Seth pounced on him, trying to take possession of him.
But Horus outwitted his enemy. He did not resist or enter into a fight. Taking advantage of the darkness, he quietly took Seth's penis in his hand, collected the seed in his palm, and only then fell asleep. The insidious Seth was fully convinced that he had succeeded in carrying out his plan. The choir went to Isis early in the morning and said to her:
“Come to me, Isis, my mother, come and see what Seth has done to me.”
With these words, he opened his palm and showed Seth's seed to his mother. Isis immediately grabbed a copper knife, cut off Horus’s defiled hand and threw it into the water. Instead of the severed hand, she made a new one; then, having collected the seed of Horus in a clay jug, the goddess went to Set’s house and turned to one of his servants, the gardener: “What vegetables does your master eat?” “He only eats lettuce,” answered the gardener. Then Isis watered the lettuce with the seed of Horus, and Seth, having eaten vegetables at dinner, became pregnant.
The next day the gods again gathered for judgment. Seth, laughing, announced to Nine:
- Give the rank of ruler to me. My enemy Horus is unworthy of this: I have mastered him and disgraced him!
Here the gods of the Nine let out a great cry. They laughed at the Chorus, spat in his face and vying with each other showered him with insults. The choir <...> swore in the name of God, saying:
“Everything Seth said here is a lie.” Summon the Seed of Set and we will see where it responds. And let them call my [seed], and we will see where it responds from.
The laughter stopped. He, the scribe Ra, laid his hand on Horus’s shoulder and ordered: “Seed of Set, come out!”
(A similar plot is attested in a Middle Kingdom text. According to ancient Egyptian belief, lettuce contributed to conception.)
[But] the seed responded from the depths of the swamp. Then Thoth laid his hand on Seth’s shoulder and said: “Seed of Horus, come out!”
- Which way are you ordering me to leave? - came from Seth's womb.
“Come out through his ear,” said Thoth, but the seed objected: “Should I really come out through his ear, since I am a divine outflow?!”
“Then come out through Set’s forehead,” said the wise Thoth, and the seed of Horus at the same instant appeared on Set’s forehead in the form of a golden disk. The gods laughed; Seth, beside himself with rage, stretched out his hand to tear off the golden disk. But Thoth did not let him do this: he himself took the disk and placed it on his head like a crown.
“The Chorus is right, and Seth is wrong,” said Nine, laughing. Seth became more furious than ever:
“I swear in the name of God, there will be no rank for Horus until we measure our strength once again.” We will build ourselves stone boats and we will both sail in a race. The one who defeats the opponent will be given the rank of ruler.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru