The seer and the listener

The seer and the listener is an animal fable written down in the second century AD , which is described in the context of an ancient Egyptian - demotic tale in the papyrus The Homecoming of the Goddess . The narrative is based on an older model, the date of which, however, is difficult to estimate. Some older forms of language, which the writer has to explain to the reader because they are incomprehensible, allow parts of the original text to go back to the time of the New Kingdom (1550 BC to 1070 BC).

Mythological connections

The goddess Tefnut , who appears in the myth The Homecoming of the Goddess as the sun eye as well as daughter of Re and sister of Shu , took on the form of an angry lion in a fit of anger before the beginning of the story of the animal fable The Seer and the Listener , when her companion Thoth , who appeared in the form of a monkey, prevented Tefnut from a speedy return to Egypt with his stories:

“She transformed into the form of an angry lioness who was six gods long. She flicked her tail forward in front of her. Her abdomen smoked with fire. Her back was the color of blood. Her face was the glow of the sun. Her eyes glowed with fire. Their eyes blazed like a flame. She struck her paw, and the mountain was dusty. She bared her teeth when fire blazed out of the mountain. "

Thoth, who compared Tefnut as an angry lioness to Sachmet , apologized for his time delay attempt and asked her to resume her previous cat shape. After Tefnut had accepted the apology and presented himself again as a "purring Nubian cat ", Thoth introduced the two-part animal fable.

content

The fable deals with the functional principle of retribution: whoever kills, one kills. Whoever orders to kill is ordered to be destroyed. A great man does not rob a man or a great man in his houses . In particular, it is pointed out that no action remains hidden from the sun god Re. Tefnut as the sun's eye does not have to justify himself to any god with regard to the deeds that have been accomplished. As the “daughter of Re” she will therefore not be followed by any divine retribution for “all of her deeds”, although she herself also represents the manifestation of “divine retribution”.

prehistory

The prehistory is about two vultures who admiringly tell each other their special abilities.

“Once upon a time there were the two vultures ' seer ' and 'listener' who sat on the peaks of the mountains and talked about their special characteristics: The seer said to the listener:“ My eyes and my gaze are more perfect than yours. What happens to me does not happen to any other flying bird. I see to the darkness and know the sea to the primal abyss . It happens because I stay in the silver house and choose my food. I don't eat anything after sunset ”. The listener replied: “Your eyes and gaze are more perfect than mine. But what happens to me does not happen to any other flying bird except me. See, I am crossing the sky so that I hear what is in it. I hear what Re, the light, the retribution of the gods, decides about the earth every day. It happens to me because I don't sleep during the day. I don't eat anything after sunset. I sleep in the evening when my head is empty. "The seer put these words in her heart."

Revenge

One day the listener told the seer that a divine listener had come to her on earth and reported about the conversation in heaven with the divine seer Iirif: “ A skink swallowed a lizard , then a snake swallowed the skink. The falcon took the snake to the sea . ”However, since the listener could not look into the sea, she asked the seer to tell the progress of these actions. The seer confirmed that she had observed the things described and reported on the further course:

“The snake and the hawk fell into the sea. Both ate a mullet , a catfish devoured the mullet as it landed on the bank. A lion came by and pulled the catfish ashore. A griffin had scented the lion and catfish and tore them to pieces with its claws, carrying the light of heaven. If you don't believe me, I will show you how they are scattered and torn before him while the griffin feeds on them. "

The seer and listener flew to the mountain and saw what was described before. The seer explained to the listener that Re-Harachte would make the decisions. He who does a good deed will also be given good. However, a bad deed afflicts the person who committed it. The listener then asked the seer curiously what would happen now to the griffin that had killed the lion and the catfish. The seer replied:

“Don't you know that the griffin is the image of death and retribution? He is the Shepherd of all that is on earth. He is the one who cannot be repaid. Its beak is that of a falcon, its eyes that of a human, its limbs those of a lion, its ears those of a fish, its tail that of a snake. The five animate beings are in him because he exercises power over everything. "

The seer also explained the equality principle of retribution to the listener: The sun god Re takes retribution for every deed, even the smallest creature on earth is subject to the equality principle "Good is rewarded with good, bad with bad." No deed, no action can be before the sun god be kept secret, everything is seen. Finally, the seer points out the identification of a murderer so that the creature can be recognized who committed this deed and everyone should keep away from him. The stain of this time haunts him for all eternity, even beyond death; it cannot be washed off or otherwise removed.

literature

Friedhelm Hoffmann , Joachim Friedrich Quack : Anthology of demotic literature (= introductions and source texts on Egyptology. Volume 4). LIT, Berlin 2007, ISBN 3-8258-0762-2 .

Web links

Depiction of the sun's eye with the feet of a griffin (next to it two serpent-necked panthers while killing a gazelle)

Remarks

↑ ^a ^b ^c Christian Leitz u. a .: Lexicon of the Egyptian gods and names of gods . Volume 3 (= Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta. Volume 112). Peeters, Leuven 2002, ISBN 90-429-1148-4 , p. 540.
↑ Friedhelm Hoffmann, Joachim Friedrich Quack: Anthology of demotic literature . Pp. 215-216.
↑ Friedhelm Hoffmann, Joachim Friedrich Quack: Anthology of demotic literature . P. 217.
↑ ^a ^b Friedhelm Hoffmann, Joachim Friedrich Quack: Anthology of demotic literature . P. 218.

[L540-1] Christian Leitz u. a .: Lexicon of the Egyptian gods and names of gods . Volume 3 (= Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta. Volume 112). Peeters, Leuven 2002, ISBN 90-429-1148-4 , p. 540.

[2] Friedhelm Hoffmann, Joachim Friedrich Quack: Anthology of demotic literature . Pp. 215-216.

[3] Friedhelm Hoffmann, Joachim Friedrich Quack: Anthology of demotic literature . P. 217.

[H218-4] Friedhelm Hoffmann, Joachim Friedrich Quack: Anthology of demotic literature . P. 218.