[FN#57] i.e., I uttered my own name from my own mouth as a word of
power.





THE LEGEND OF THE DESTRUCTION OF MANKIND.



CHAPTER I.



[Here is the story of Ra,] the god who was self-begotten and self-
created, after he had assumed the sovereignty over men and women, and
gods, and things, the ONE god. Now men and women were speaking words
of complaint, saying:--"Behold, his Majesty (Life, Strength, and Health
to him!) hath grown old, and his bones have become like silver, and
his members have turned into gold and his hair is like unto real lapis-
lazuli." His Majesty heard the words of complaint which men and women
were uttering, and his Majesty (Life, Strength, and Health to him!)
said unto those who were in his train:--"Cry out, and bring to me my
Eye, and Shu, and Tefnut, and Seb, and Nut, and the father-gods, and
the mother-gods who were with me, even when I was in Nu side by side
with my god Nu. Let there be brought along with my Eye his ministers,
and let them be led to me hither secretly, so that men and women may
not perceive them [coming] hither, and may not therefore take to flight