with God Almighty. Where and how Neb-er-tcher existed is not said, but
it seems as if he was believed to have been an almighty and invisible
power which filled all space. It seems also that a desire arose in him
to create the world, and in order to do this he took upon himself the
form of the god Khepera, who from first to last was regarded as the
Creator, par excellence, among all the gods known to the Egyptians.
When this transformation of Neb-er-tcher into Khepera took place the
heavens and the earth had not been created, but there seems to have
existed a vast mass of water, or world-ocean, called Nu, and it must
have been in this that the transformation took place. In this
celestial ocean were the germs of all the living things which
afterwards took form in heaven and on earth, but they existed in a
state of inertness and helplessness. Out of this ocean Khepera raised
himself, and so passed from a state of passiveness and inertness into
one of activity. When Khepera raised himself out of the ocean Nu, he
found himself in vast empty space, wherein was nothing on which he
could stand. The second version of the legend says that Khepera gave
being to himself by uttering his own name, and the first version states
that he made use of words in providing himself with a place on which to
stand. In other words, when Khepera was still a portion of the being
of Neb-er-tcher, he spake the word "Khepera," and Khepera came into
being. Similarly, when he needed a place whereon to stand, he uttered
the name of the thing, or place, on which he wanted to stand, and that
thing, or place, came into being. This spell he seems to have
addressed to his heart, or as we should say, will, so that Khepera
willed this standing-place to appear, and it did so forthwith. The
first version only mentions a heart, but the second also speaks of a
heart-soul as assisting Khepera in his first creative acts; and we may
assume that he thought out in his heart what manner of thing be wished
to create, and then by uttering its name caused his thought to take