Egyptian Literature/The Book of the Dead/Of Performing Transformations
OF PERFORMING TRANSFORMATIONS
[From the Papyrus of Nu (British Museum No. 10,477, sheet 10).]
The Chapter of performing the transformation into a hawk of gold. The chancellor-in-chief, Nu, triumphant, saith:
“I have risen, I have risen like the mighty hawk [of gold] that cometh forth from his egg; I fly and I alight like the hawk which hath a back four cubits wide, and the wings of which are like unto the mother-of-emerald of the south. I have come forth from the interior of the Sektet boat, and my heart hath been brought unto me from the mountain of the east. I have alighted upon the Atet boat, and those who were dwelling in their companies have been brought unto me, and they bowed low in paying homage unto me and in saluting me with cries of joy. I have risen, and I have gathered myself together like the beautiful hawk of gold, which hath the head of a Bennu bird, and Rā entereth in day by day to hearken unto my words; I have taken my seat among those first-born gods of Nut. I am stablished, and the divine Sekhet-hetep is before me, I have eaten therein, I have become a khu therein, I have an abundance therein—as much as I desire—the god Nepra hath given to me my throat, and I have gained the mastery over that which guardeth (or belongeth to) my head.”