the first buffalo is not eaten, for it is regarded as poisoned meat,
but all the others are used as food.[FN#22]



[FN#22] Johnston, Uganda, vol. ii., p. 584. The authority for this
statement is Mr. George Wilson, formerly Collector in Unyoro.



Soon after Isis had placed the serpent on the Path, Ra passed by, and
the reptile bit him, thus injecting poison into his body. Its effect
was terrible, and Ra cried out in agony. His jaws chattered, his lips
trembled, and he became speechless for a time; never before had be
suffered such pain. The gods hearing his cry rushed to him, and when
he could speak he told them that he had been bitten by a deadly
serpent. In spite of all the words of power which were known to him,
and his secret name which had been hidden in his body at his birth, a
serpent had bitten him, and he was being consumed with a fiery pain.
He then commanded that all the gods who had any knowledge of magical
spells should come to him, and when they came, Isis, the great lady of
spells, the destroyer of diseases, and the revivifier of the dead, came
with them. Turning to Ra she said, "What hath happened, O divine
Father?" and in answer the god told her that a serpent had bitten him,
that he was hotter than fire and colder than water, that his limbs
quaked, and that he was losing the power of sight. Then Isis said to
him with guile, "Divine Father, tell me thy name, for he who uttereth
his own name shall live." Thereupon Ra proceeded to enumerate the
various things that he had done, and to describe his creative acts, and
ended his speech to Isis by saying, that he was Khepera in the morning,