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ADDRESS TO THE GODS OF THE UNDERWORLD
109

What, then, didst thou do therewith? I buried them by the Furrow of Mānāat as ‘things for the night.’ What, then, didst thou find by the furrow of Mānāat? A sceptre of flint, the name of which is ‘Giver of winds.’ What, then, didst thou do to the flame of fire and the tablet (or sceptre) of crystal after thou hadst buried them? I uttered words over them in the furrow, [and I dug them out therefrom];[1] I extinguished the fire, and I broke the tablet (or sceptre), and I created a pool of water. ‘Come, then,’ [they say,] ‘and enter in through the door of this Hall of double Maāti, for thou knowest us.’”

“‘We will not let thee enter in through us,’ say the bolts of the door, ‘unless thou tellest [us] our names;’ ‘Tongue [of the Balance] of the place of right and truth’ is your name. ‘I will not let thee enter in by me,’ saith the [right] lintel of the door, ‘unless thou tellest [me] my name;’ ‘Balance of the support of right and truth’ is thy name. ‘I will not let thee enter in by me,’ saith the [left] lintel of the door,’ unless thou tellest [me] my name;’ ['Balance of] wine’ is thy name. ‘I will not let thee pass over me,’ saith the threshold of this door, ‘unless thou tellest [me] my name;’ ‘Ox of the god Seb’ is thy name. ‘I will not open unto thee,’ saith the fastening of this door, ‘unless thou tellest [me] my name;’ ‘Flesh of his mother’ is thy name. ‘I will not open unto thee,’ saith the socket of the fastening of the door, ‘unless thou tellest me my name;’ ‘Living eye of the god Sebek, the lord of Bakhau,’ is thy name. ‘I will not open unto thee [and I will not let thee enter in by me,’ saith the guardian of the leaf of] this door, ‘unless thou tellest [me] my name;’ ‘Elbow of the god Shu when he placeth himself to protect Osiris’ is thy name. ‘We will not let thee enter in by us,’ say the posts of this door, ‘unless thou tellest us our names;’ ‘Children of the uræi-goddesses’ is your name.[2] ‘Thou knowest us,’ [they say,] ‘pass on, therefore, by us.’

“‘I will not let thee tread upon me,’ saith the floor of the Hall of double Maāti, ‘because I am silent and I am holy, and because I do not know the name[s] of thy two feet wherewith thou wouldst walk upon me; therefore tell them to me.’

  1. These words are added from the Papyrus of Nebseni.
  2. The Papyrus of Nu continues: “‘I will not open unto thee and I will not let thee pass by me,’ saith the Guardian of this door, ‘unless thou tellest [me] my name’; ‘Ox of Seb’ is thy name.” See above, l. 30.