means of the prayers that had been recited and the ceremonies that had
been performed on the day of the funeral, or on that wherein it was laid
in the tomb. It is interesting to notice that no mention is made of meat
or drink in the CLIVth Chapter, and the only thing which the deceased
refers to as necessary for his existence is air, which he obtains
through, the god Temu, the god who is always depicted in human form; the
god is here mentioned in his aspect of the night Sun as opposed to R[=a]
the day Sun, and a comparison of the Sun's daily death with the death of
the deceased is intended to be made. The deposit of the head of the God-man
Osiris at Abydos has already been mentioned, and the belief that it
was preserved there was common throughout Egypt. But in the text quoted
above the deceased says, "My head shall not be separated from my neck,"
which seems to indicate that he wished to keep his body whole,
notwithstanding that Osiris was almighty, and could restore the limbs
and reconstitute the body, even as he had done for his own limbs and
body which had been hacked to pieces by Set. Chapter XLIII of the Book
of the Dead [Footnote: See _The Chapters of Coming Forth by Day_, p.
98.] also has an important reference to the head of Osiris. It is
entitled "The Chapter of not letting the head of a man be cut off from
him in the underworld," and must be of considerable antiquity. In it the
deceased says: "I am the Great One, the son of the Great One; I am Fire,
and the son of the Fire, to whom was given his head after it had been
cut off. The head of Osiris was not taken away from him, let not the
head of the deceased be taken away from him. I have knit myself together
(_or_ reconstituted myself); I have made myself whole and complete; I
have renewed my youth; I am Osiris, the lord of eternity."

From the above it would seem that, according to one version of the
Osiris story, the head of Osiris was not only cut off, but that it was
passed through the fire also; and if this version be very ancient, as it