So in my last two posts I talked about Osiris and his wife Isis, who became pregnant with Horus. Even before Horus was born his life was plagued with trials and woe. His uncle Set, who feared Horus as the rightful heir to the Egyptian throne, captured the pregnant Isis and held her hostage. It was only through the aid of the god Thoth that she was able to escape with her unborn son.
Isis went into hiding, and Horus was born in the riverlands. Thoth advised the goddess to keep her son hidden and allow him to grow away from the dangers of his uncle, and that was what Isis did. Horus grew up a fugitive near the river.
It is here that I shall begin my story of the day.
First off - why the title of "The Baby Bird"? Horus is often depicted in Egyptian mythology as having the head of a falcon and the body of a man, like so:
Since he is an infant in the story I'm about to tell, the title seemed apropos. But, I'll admit...mostly I just wanted an excuse to share this picture:
One day Isis had to leave to run some heavenly errands - just because Set was hunting for her didn't mean she got to stop being a goddess! So Isis tucked Horus away safely into the reeds of the river and then left for the day.
Unfortunately, Set was hunting for the child.
Ever since Isis had escaped his nefarious clutches Set had had scouts out looking for she and the child. On this particular day one of the scouts, a highly venomous scorpion, happened across the baby Horus. Recognizing its target the scorpion struck, stinging Horus before making its escape.
By the time Isis returned Horus was dead. The goddess wept and wailed, for her child had been murdered.
(I find it interesting that in our post last week Isis saved another child from being killed by scorpion venom...but she was unable to save her own.)
As it turned out, Isis was in luck. Her laments were so loud that Ra, god of the sun, heard them as he and his flaming barge were passing by overhead.
(Ra is awesome. He rides a boat made of fire that serves as the sun, and fights an evil serpent every night to make sure that the sun rises once again in the morning. Such a cool god!)
Ra paused his boat in the sky and sent one of his companions down to check on Isis. As it happened, this god was Thoth.
I find it fascinating that Thoth is really responsible for so much of the good in these stories. It was he who figured out a way for Nut to give birth to Isis and her siblings. It was he who helped the pregnant Isis escape from Set's clutches.
It was also Thoth who would save Horus' life.
When the god of wisdom found Isis holding her son's lifeless body he took great pity on her. Thoth used his magic (apparently stronger than Isis') to raise Horus from the dead. The boy was returned to life, and Isis wept with gratitude.
I know we didn't actually talk much about Horus in this post, but I promise I'll go into more detail next week! Tune in then for the awesome finale to our ongoing family drama, featuring the great showdown between Set and Horus. I'll see you then!
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