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A whole goose

by Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti

Great was the magic made by the Egyptian magicians. Thus, in another report that come to us thank to the Westcar Papyrus, we hear of another story, and the Pharao Cheops, who in these tales of wizardry is always involved, is still there. As we have seen there were people telling him about magic in the past but this time it is his own son Herutătăf who wanted to show him that magic was still thriving in his kingdom Once that he was discussing with his father on these things his father expressed his doubts on these tales and told that probably they were only fabrications; but Herutătăf, who was a staunch believer in magic and magicians, told him “ In some thing you are right. Up to now you heard about a lot of prodigies, but only about them that were enacted centuries ago, and it is clear that we cannot know if these tales are true. However if you want to meet a man who lives in our days and who makes extraordinary feats I can bring him here.” “Who is this man?” asked Cheops and Herutătăf answered “His name is Teta, he lives in the village of Tet-Seneferu. He is 110 year old but he does not look his age, and he is so healthy that every day, he of eats 500 loaves of bread, he enjoys an entire round of ox and drinks 100 glasses of beer”.
A really good appetite we must say, and if this was not magic we really want to know what else it could be. “That man” went on Herutătăf “knows how to reattach a beheaded head to its body and know how to give it back its life. Then he can do other marvelous things as make a lion to follow him and get entrapped and so on”. And he went on illustrating the incredible capacity of this contemporary magician. Of course Cheops wanted to see this portent, so he ordered that the royal boat was prepared and sent Herutătăf to Teta with the order to bring him back. The prince arrived in the neighborhood of the village of Tet-Seneferu, then, as this was in the inland, he continued his trip on a splendid ebony lectern sustained by poles of gold inlaid precious wood. At the end he arrived to the magician’s house and found him in his courtyard while a servant washed his head and another one massaged his feet. Herutătăf explained to him the reason of his arrival and his mission and Teta consented to come, but he said that he wanted to be accompanied by all is sons and by all his books.
Teta’s village was far away and the party employed some time to arrive to the palace but as soon as they arrived Cheops was told that the visit that he awaited was there and so, going down in the great pillared hall, he ordered to bring Teta to him. The old man came and after the formalities the Pharaoh asked him if it was true that he could reattach the head of anyone who had been beheaded and give him back his life. Teta told him that he could very well do so, and after having declined Cheops offer to have a criminal brought there and to cut his head, he said that any animal would have done as well. So a goose was brought there and Teta cut its head. After this he took the goose’s body and put it under the western porch, while he arranged the head in the eastern one. When this was done he stood up and said some magic formulae. Then under the eyes full of curiosity of the Pharaoh and of all his retinue, everybody saw that little by little, crawling on the ground and with different springs he head and the body began to reapproach. Slowly but continuously the distance between the two parts disminished and at the end they reconnected. The goose stood for a moment motionless on the ground. Then offended and indignant it roused itself on its legs and began to to yell flapping its wings
Then Teta repeated the experiment with another bird and ended triumphally reattaching the two parts of an ox. After this I imagine that he began to feel a little hungry and that he tried to find the kind of modest dinner that has been described to us, but it is clear that after this brilliant exhibition the Pharaoh offered him a splendid banquet more ample than his normal fare and we are also sure that Teta must have enjoyed it very much.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
E.A. WALLIS BUDGE, Egyptian Magi, Bury St.Edmunds, Suffolk, 1975, first published in 1899 pp16-19
Westcar Papyrus