Of Performing Transformations

[From the Papyrus of Nu (British Museum No. 10,477, sheet 10).]

THE CHAPTER OF PERFORMING THE TRANSFORMATION INTO A HAWK OF GOLD. The
chancellor-in-chief, Nu, triumphant, saith:

“I have risen, I have risen like the mighty hawk [of gold] that cometh
forth from his egg; I fly and I alight like the hawk which hath a back
four cubits wide, and the wings of which are like unto the
mother-of-emerald of the south. I have come forth from the interior of the
_Sektet_ boat, and my heart hath been brought unto me from the mountain of
the east. I have alighted upon the _Atet_ boat, and those who were
dwelling in their companies have been brought unto me, and they bowed low
in paying homage unto me and in saluting me with cries of joy. I have
risen, and I have gathered myself together like the beautiful hawk of
gold, which hath the head of a _Bennu_ bird, and Rā entereth in day by day
to hearken unto my words; I have taken my seat among those first-born gods
of Nut. I am stablished, and the divine Sekhet-hetep is before me, I have
eaten therein, I have become a _khu_ therein, I have an abundance
therein—as much as I desire—the god Nepra hath given to me my throat, and
I have gained the mastery over that which guardeth (or belongeth to) my
head.”