by Bruce Thompson.
In the beginning there was only Nun, the indeterminate—a something that was not something, a nothing that was not nothing. No words can describe what it was or what it was not. Within the non-descript, the first deity, Ptah, created itself simply by willing itself to be something rather than nothing. Everything that exists is Ptah, willing itself to be all things.
The first children of Ptah were Nut, the heavens, and Geb, the earth. Being male and female, they lusted for each other and their lovemaking produced the other gods, including Amun (light) and his shadow Amaunet (darkness), Nil (moisture) and his shadow Shu (wind), as well as Min (fertility) and his shadow Anubis (death).
Still Nut and Geb lusted for each other. Their love-making grew so passionate that it disturbed the other gods, and they could get no sleep. At last Shu could take no more. She inserted herself between them and puffed herself up, becoming so rarified that she could no longer be seen. This separated Nut and Geb, and put an end to their love-making; but, being in love, they still touch tenderly at the horizon.
Once they could no longer make love Nut and Geb became hungry. To satisfy her hunger Nut ate Amun. Her chewing broke light into a thousand thousand pieces; but, two pieces, the Sun (Ra) and the Moon (Thoth), got stuck in her teeth, so she had to swallow them whole. To satisfy his hunger Geb ate Nil. His chewing broke moisture into a million million pieces, the raindrops. Now, the stars are very haughty and keep their distance from each other as they travel up and down the sky; but, the raindrops are gregarious and love to flow together to form streams and rivers, thus re-forming the great god, Nil.
Of all the stars the most beautiful is named Sothis. She spends part of the year shining in the sky, but the other part she spends in the underworld where her beauty is hidden. At the beginning of each summer she rises up, revealing her beauty. Min, the god of fertility, lusts for her, but he cannot reach her. So he dreams of her, and in his dreams he imagines that she yields to him and he possesses her. His nighttime emissions are so exuberant that they flood Nil, who washes over his banks. Min’s fertility makes the skin of Geb pregnant with greenery.
Khnum is the son of Nil and Shu. Being wise in all manner of crafts, he mixed the skin of Geb with the water of Nil to produce clay. He then shaped the clay into all the animals that exist—the crocodile, the leopard, the gazelle, the peacock, and so on. Because the clay was mixed with the semen of Min, the animals came to life, and Khnum was forced to tend to them, although it was a great bother for him to do so.
At first, all the animals were naked, with skin as brown as the clay from which they were made. Khnum asked each of the animals what they would like to wear. The leopard chose a beautiful suit of yellow with black spots made of fur; the crocodile chose a suit of green leather; the peacock chose to wear bright blue feathers. At last Khnum asked the first man and the first woman what they would wear. The man replied that he didn’t care. Anything would do—whatever Khnum thought best. But the woman wanted to try everything on to see how it would look. In the end she couldn’t decide, and Khnum lost patience with her. He taught the man and the woman how to weave and said, “Now you can wear whatever you like!”
Next Khnum asked each of the animals what they would like to eat. The crocodile chose to eat fish; the gazelle chose to eat grass; the peacock chose to eat seeds and bugs; the crocodile and the leopard both chose to eat the flesh of the other animals—which alarmed the other animals, but there was nothing they could do about it. At last Khnum asked the man and the woman what they would eat. The man replied that he didn’t care, whatever Khnum thought best. The woman wanted to try everything, and then couldn’t decide which she liked best. So Khnum taught the man and the woman how to fish, how to hunt, how to grow vegetables and grasses, and how to make fire. “Now,” he said, “you can eat whatever you like!”
Finally, Khnum asked each of the animals where they would like to live. The crocodile chose to live in the river, near his favorite god, Nil. The gazelle chose to live on the savannah, near her favorite god, Geb; the leopard chose to live in the forest, near his favorite goddess, Amaunet; the peacock chose to live in the trees, near her favorite goddess, Shu. At last Khnum asked the man and the woman where they would live. The man replied that he didn’t care, wherever Khnum thought best. But the woman wanted to try them all, and in the end she couldn’t decide. So Khnum taught the man and the woman how to build dwellings of skins, how to build dwellings of wood, and even how to build dwellings of stone. “There!” he said in exasperation. “Now you can live wherever you like! But, while the other animals must worship only one god each, you must worship all of them, since you can’t decide which one you like best!”
Thus did the world as we know it come to be.