Anubis Speaks!: A Guide to the Afterlife by the Egyptian God of the Dead (34 page)

Destroying the Evil

One on Our Behalf

Before sunrise every morning, Ra’s priests

symbolically destroyed Apophis in many ways.

First, they wrote down all of the monster’s

names—the names of his ka, his ba, his secret name, and his magic name—on fresh papyrus. Then they either lit them on fire or buried them.

But that was not enough for Ra’s priests. They also made small wax figures of Apophis and his

“agents,” the enemies of Egypt, and spit, stomped, stabbed, and burned the little monsters. Then, just because they could, they urinated on what was left!

Yes, because releasing your bladder on enemies is the ultimate insult and humiliation. Also, it smells.

Meanwhile, look! Here comes the great serpent Mehen to help bring us to the finish line. He descends from above us, where he has been protecting us like a canopy, and positions himself in front of our boat.

Suddenly, the good-guy snake grows before our eyes, expanding to fill the entire cavern!

Ra must travel through the snake and come out of the other side to be reborn. And by
through it
, I mean
inside
through it.

Yup, all of us in the boat are going to have to slog through the insides of a giant snake so Ra can be reborn. Oh, and just so you know, we begin our journey 97

98

99

through the snake starting at its, um . . . hindquarters . . .

and end by exiting through its mouth.

No, I am not joking.

What? Haven’t You

Always Wanted to Travel

through the Belly of a

Giant Snake?

Okay, okay. Moving through the bowels of this great snake is not entirely pleasant. I admit it.

But it’s what Ra needs to do in order to fully transform into his scarab beetle self, Kephri. So don’t even think about trying to get out of this.

In fact, I think slogging through the gelatinous innards of this beast will be good for you. Seriously.

It’ll toughen you up. Take a deep breath.

Here we go!

We’re now magically inside the serpent. It’s not so bad, right? Well, except for the smell. And the blood.

And the squishing, sucking sounds our feet make as we trudge forward.

To take your mind off the grossness of it all, grab a rope and help us pull the boat. Oh, stop complaining.

The blood, guts, and gore wash off with water. Most of it anyway.

As we near the mouth of Mehen, keep your eye 100

on Ra. Look! He is finishing his transformation and becoming Kephri, the scarab beetle. He’s so excited you can hear his giant, bug legs whirring and his sharp buggy mouth clicking in anticipation.

We are all excited because we can see the light of dawn through Mehen’s open mouth. It’s almost time!

Ra discards his dead form like a cicada wriggling out of its shell.

We exit first, and then pull Ra through the

opening of Mehen’s mouth to the sounds of gods cheering, baboons chattering, birds chirping, and our people chanting. We can’t help but feel excited. This is happening, people! And it’s happening now.

One final tug and . . . yes! Ra is reborn. The world lives. It is lit anew!

We did it! We defeated the powers of chaos and darkness to help Ra emerge as fresh and as filled with promise and possibility as a newborn babe.