What a Little Moonlight Can Do

Ra, the father god, was always in control but there comes a time when the old has to be replaced with the new.

In the beginning, when Ra had just created the world, Geb, the earth, and Nut, the sky, who loved each other dearly, lay together in close embrace. But Ra, the great god of Egypt, was not too pleased with that. So he sent Shu, the air, to go between the two and separate them.

Shu lifted Nut with his arms, her body arching high above him. Poor Nut! Only her feet, which rested on the eastern horizon, could touch Geb now. She stretched her arms towards him in the west and touched him lovingly with her fingertips. That was how it was going to be—sky above and earth below, forever!

But there was bad news for Ra. Shortly after, Thoth, the ibis-headed god of wisdom, came to him and said, ‘Nut, the sky goddess, is expecting a child. If she gives birth to a son, he will replace you as the ruler of Egypt.’ Thoth, who knew everything, had the power to foretell the future too.

‘That cannot be!’ thundered an angry Ra. ‘I will not let it happen. Nut will not have a child. Not if I can help it! It was I who created time and numbered the days of the year to 360. I curse Nut. She will not be able to give birth to her child at any hour of any day of any year. Not this year, nor any other for that matter!’

Thoth remained silent.

When the news of the curse reached Nut, she burst into tears. She had recently been parted from Geb and could not bear any more grief. All the other gods felt sorry for her too but they knew that Ra would never take the curse back. More than anyone else, it was Thoth who felt great pity for the sky goddess; moreover, he felt guilty for it had been his prophecy that had caused her to be punished like this.

He approached the grieving Nut and comforted her. ‘Do not lose heart, Nut. We’ll find a way out of this. I have a plan that should work.’

When dusk set in, Thoth went to meet his friend Khons, the moon god. ‘It’s been a long time, my friend,’ said Thoth. ‘It’s going to be a long night and what better way to spend it than to play a game of draughts?’ Khons, delighted at the company, immediately agreed.

‘But the loser has to pay,’ added Thoth.

‘Agreed!’ laughed Khons and they settled down to play. Thoth won the first game. ‘All right, what do I pay you?’ asked Khons.

‘Oh, just a little bit of your moonlight will do,’ replied Thoth.

‘That’s nothing!’ said Khons—for he had plenty to spare—and paid Thoth. ‘Let’s play again,’ he said, for he wanted to win too. So they played another game and Thoth won this one as well. Khons didn’t want to give up, so they played again and again and yet again. Every time, it was Thoth who won. As he parted with more and more moonlight, Khons’ beams grew weaker and weaker until there was no light at all. And so it came to be that the moon lost his shine and on some nights, kept the world in darkness. It was only when he had managed to save enough that he could shine bright and full once a month.

As for Thoth, he had won quite a haul. He had so much moonlight that when he added it all together, there was enough to make five whole days! Quietly, he slipped these extra days between the end of the old year and the beginning of the new so that it would not be part of either!

During those extra days, five children were born to Nut. On the first day was born a son, Osiris. After him came Haroeris, followed by Set, sons all. Daughters followed next, Isis born on the fourth day and Nephthys on the fifth.

You can imagine how angry Ra was when he heard of this. But there was nothing he could do, of course, except declare that he was going to claim all those extra days to fit into his years! That is how we ended up with 365 days in the year.

When Osiris, Nut’s eldest son, had been born, a celestial voice from nowhere had proclaimed, ‘Behold, the lord of all is born.’ Nut knew that great danger awaited her son. Most of all, she feared the wrath of Ra. She requested Thoth to take her son away and raise him in secret. Osiris grew up to be gentle, kind and just, as he had been taught by the wise Thoth.

As time passed, the children of Nut grew up and Ra was angry no more. Generously, he welcomed them into his council chamber along with the rest of the gods. Although he had grown very, very old and almost senile, he still continued to rule Egypt as pharaoh.

Isis, the firstborn daughter of Nut, was also taught by Thoth. He, the god of all knowledge, was the one who taught the people of Egypt the art of writing, the hieroglyphs and the numbers. He also charted the courses of the stars in the sky. But he was also a magician and, as you know, could foretell the future. It was this magic that fascinated young Isis. She begged him to teach it to her. Thoth was a little wary about teaching her the dark arts, as it were, for they dealt with spirits, reviving the dead and curing illnesses. But he finally gave in to her pleas and before long, Isis became as skilled a magician as her teacher.