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Another water miracle

by Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti

TheRed Sea crossing was the last miracle done by Moses in Egypt, but certainly it was not the first water miracle done there. This was a kind of magic used by many Egyptian wizards. and belonged to the enchantments that accredited to the masters of the “Words of Power” the rule of the waters. We find the description of one of those miracles in the Westcar papyrus written as a story that was told to the Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops for us) and attested the phenomenal ability of Tchatcha-em-Ankh, the head of the priests who officiated the burial rites and read the service in the books.
It seems – so the story goes – that one day the Pharaoh Senefuru felt depressed. Thus he reunited all his courtiers and asked them to find something that could bolster his morale : but not even one of them succeeded to make him smile: At this point he ordered to call Tchatcha-em-ãnkh and told him “Oh, brother I asked to my retinue to think of something that could bring back joy in my heart, but they didn’t find anything”.To this Tchatcha proposed him to go to ne nearby lake and to embark on a boat furnished with all the palace’s commodity and niceness. “Thus –said the priest – Your heart, my Pharaoh, will cheer up, and you will rejoice sailing around, admiring the thickets which line its coast, its beautiful shores and the flowering fields” The Pharaoh let his friend persuade him and Tchatcha-em-ãnkh asked to the Pharaoh to let to him organize the outing and he got it his permission.
Before anything else Tchatcha equipped a boat with twenty splendid ebon oars inlaid with gold and to those oars he put 20 very young virgins with splendid figures, perfect legs and with their face framed by elegant hairdressings. Instead of being dressed the girls were draped in nets that revealed all their curves and while rowing they sang sweetly the most beautiful song that ever existed.
Thus while the boat glided on the lake the pharaoh’s heart was relieved. Unfortunately while the girls were at the oars one of the jewel of “new turquoise” of one of them got entangled and fell in the water. Immediately the girl stopped to row and all the others did the same. Bewildered the Pharaoh asked them why they had stopped. “Don’t you wont to row any more?” he asked them and the girls answered “Our head-rower stopped”. Then the Pharaoh spoke to her and asked what had happened and she told him of her loss. It was necessary to provide a remedy for it, and Senefuru sent people to summon Tchatcha-em-ãnkh, and when he came he told him “Tchatcha, my friend. I followed your advice and my heart was cheered up while I admired the oars-girls, but now a jewel made with “new turquoise” that belonged to one of them fell in the lake. From his moment she doesnt sing or row anymore and all the others did the same.”
Immediately Tchatcha-em-Ankh reassured the Pharaoh and started to work on it. As soon as he had pronounced the “Words of Power” (hekau) a part of the water was lifted and put high on the rest.. As there the lake was 12 cubits deep the Pharaoh and the girls found themselves sitting in the boat with at their side a transparent wall of water high 24 cubits. On the uncovered bottom of the lake they saw the jewel set on a sherd. Tchatcha-em-Ankh took it and gave it back to the girl. Then at a wave of his hand, the water returned to its normal level and the outing was resumed.


BIBLIOGRAPHY
E.A. WALLIS BUDGE, Egyptian Magi, Bury St.Edmunds, Suffolk, 1975, first published in 1899, pp- 7-10
ERMAN, Die Märchen del Papyrus Westcar, Berlino 1890