|| An Egyptian legend ||
Rhea, sky-goddess was the wife of Ra (the God of gods). She was said to be very beautiful and was admired by many others. One among those was Kronos, the god of time, whose affection she returned. In due course, she became pregnant with his children.
When Ra discovered his wife’s infidelity he was furious, and pronounced a curse upon her, saying that her child should not be born in any month or in any year. Now the curse of Ra the mighty could not be turned aside, for Ra was the chief of all the gods.
Rhea was greatly distressed and asked the god Thoth (god of wisdom), who also loved her, to help her.
Thoth knew that the curse of Ra must be fulfilled, yet by a very cunning stratagy he found a way out of the difficulty. He went to Silene, the moon-goddess and challenged her to a game of tables. At that time, the moon’s light was equal to that of the sun himself.
The stakes on both sides were high, but Thoth was clever. Silene staked some of her light, the seventieth part of each of her illuminations, and lost.
Thus, it came about that her light wanes and dwindles at certain periods giving way to the 15 day lunar cycle. She was no longer the rival of the sun.
From the light which he had won from the moon-goddess, Thoth made five days which he added to the year (at that time consisting of three hundred and sixty days), such that they belonged neither to the preceding nor to the following year, nor to any specific month.
On these five days Rhea delivered her five children. Osiris was born on the first day, Horus on the second, Set on the third, Isis on the fourth, and Nephthys on the fifth.
When Osiris was born, a man named Pamyles, carrying water from the temple of Ra at Thebes, heard a voice commanding him to proclaim the birth of “the good and great king Osiris,” which he straightway did. This man, Pamyles, would later be entrusted with educating Osiris. Thus, it is said, was the ancient festival of Pamilia instituted.
In course of time, Osiris became a great and wise king. The land of Egypt flourished under his rule as it had never done before. It was said that he set out with the task of civilizing his people, who were very barbarous at that time. His methods were so gentle and kind that they worshipped him more as a god than a king.
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