Egyptian Literature/The Book of the Dead/Transformation into a Heron
TRANSFORMATION INTO A HERON
[From the Papyrus of Nu (British Museum No. 10,477, sheet 10).]
[The Chapter of making the transformation into a heron. The chancellor-in-chief, Nu, triumphant, saith:]
“[I] have gotten dominion over the beasts that are brought for sacrifice, with the knives which are [held] at their heads, and at their hair, and at their. . . . [Hail], Aged ones [hail,] Khus, who are provided with the opportunity, the chancellor-in-chief, the overseer of the palace, Nu, triumphant, is upon the earth, and what he hath slaughtered is in heaven; and what he hath slaughtered is in heaven and he is upon the earth. Behold, I am strong, and I work mighty deeds to the very heights of heaven. I have made myself pure, and [l make the breadth of heaven [a place for] my footsteps [as I go] into the cities of Aukert; I advance, and I go forward into the city of Unnu (Hermopolis). I have set the gods upon their paths, and I have roused up the exalted ones who dwell in their shrines. Do I not know Nu? Do I not know Ta-tunen? Do I not know the beings of the color of fire who thrust forward their horns? Do I not know [every being having] incantations unto whose words I listen? I am the Smam bull [for slaughter] which is written down in the books. The gods crying out say: ‘Let your faces be gracious to him that fcometh onward.’ The light is beyond your knowledge, and ye cannot fetter it; and times and seasons are in my body. I do not utter words to the god Hu, [I do not utter words of] wickedness instead of [words of] right and truth, and each day right and truth come upon my eyebrows. At night taketh place the festival of him that is dead, the Aged One, who is in ward [in] the earth.”