Storytelling Week 5 :The Peasant Goddess

As I stand here over the body of my husband, poor Osiris, with the power of Ra coursing though my veins, I think about how I came to be here. How did a poor, mortal, spell-weaver become the most powerful woman, nay most powerful being aside from Ra, in Egypt?

I suppose it started with my first husband. Before, I had been a wench. The lowly wife of a cruel man. There, I was treated worse then a slave. To him slaves had uses, where as I was little more then a glamours doll, beautiful to look at but not worth anything. I had been sold by my parents at a great price, not for my wit or abilities, but for my otherworldly beauty. There, I was the lowest of that man's many wives, the most beautiful, but the most useless at the same time. So, I ran away. I left his household, and suffered greatly for it. Men approached me, hundreds of them, thinking I was some common whore. When I denied them I was beaten and spat upon.

This continued for many months until a sorceress found me cowering outside the temples. She took me in and taught me her trade. I became powerful, an intricate artist, a commander of the spirits and a master of the physical realm. I changed, no longer was I a cowardly child, easily traded and beaten. Now, I was a woman, assured and proud. My beauty was no longer my damming grace, it was my greatest weapon. Then, as my power grew, I decided that I wanted to be known, I wanted to be remembered. Pointless pride overwhelmed my common sense.  I decided I was going to do what no other being had done. I would be the one to learn the true name of  Ra.

I enchanted a snake, wove it out of spirits, made it so potent that it would stumble even Ra. I sent my pet out as Ra walked among the gardens and it struck him on the calf. The other gods attempted to cure him. For three weeks they toiled against my poison until they called out to the land for a healer. I arrived and they sent me to attend the dying king. There I told him that I could only heal him if I knew his true name. He tried several times to deny me until he gave out and whispered it into my ears. Now I know why no other being knows the name. Certainly, I succeeded in my goal, I was the only other being to know the name of Ra, but I had not understood the cost!

Ra's name is power and whoever wields that name holds the power of Ra. As I heard his name, his power came into me. It burned through my veins like acid, reshaping me into something worthy of it. I became a god born from man, greater then the gods that Ra had formed in his early days recently freed from the black. Almost equal in power to Ra himself. Like him, I could now see into the universe. I could understand the complexities and interconnections of time. Creation lay at my finger tips awaiting my every whim. It was overwhelming and grounding at the same time. I healed Ra, as I had promised. Then, I left Egypt to find myself again in my new understanding.

I returned only when Ra asked. His son Osiris was taking up the throne and Ra was seeking a wife who would be worthy of his son. Someone who could help this naive king control his kingdom. By then, I had already been know. My reputation had proceed me as a wise and fair being. Someone who could take power without being overwhelmed by it. I was someone who would be good to the people she had come from, the poor common rabble. They were correct. After my marriage to Osiris, we became rulers of Egypt. Under us, Egypt thrived, the people were happy, life was good for all who lived by the Nile.

I suppose I got careless. I forgot about my enemies, and those of my husband. One day, while I was out bathing in the Nile, my naive husband fell into a trap from his brother Set. He crawled into a box and was killed then sent away from me. I will not deny being rash. I left Egypt in the hands of my son Horus. He was wise and strong enough to confront his uncle and regain control of Egypt. I went in search of my husband. But Set found the body first. He took it and chopped it into many pieces before throwing them into the Nile. I ignored the war around me, the pleas of my son to help him in his crusade. That may seem cruel, but I knew that he would succeed, just as I knew that Osiris would be needed again and that I had to bring him back.

Here I stand now, having dredged through the Nile for the scattered remains of my husband, before his bound body. Using the gift of Ra, the power of creation, to defy fate and give my husband back his breath.  To bring back to the good to Egypt. As the fire drained from my veins, Osiris breathed again.

Isis: Mother of Horus by Inna-Vjuzhannia
DiviantArt

Author's Note: To begin, I will say that my tale is a very different one then the original Egyptian version. I took several difference stories and kind of patched them together. There is a story about a sorceress named Iris tricking Ra into telling her his true name, but she does not become a goddess. Also, Iris is Osiris wife, but she was not originally a human, and she does go sort of crazy trying to find his body. Twice in fact, once when it was in a coffin, and another time after it was torn apart and thrown into the Nile. But she does help her son face Set, unlike in my tale. Even in the original story Isis is a very powerful woman, she rules over Egypt while Osiris travels and she does help bring Osiris back to life after he was killed with the help of Ra. My main goal was to combine the two stories and keep Isis a a powerful woman. I wanted to show that she is a incredible woman. I wanted a mythology story where the female was the hero, rather then the blame.

Bibliography-Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie, online source