Dante's Heart
Fourteen Pieces
"Do not lament, stepmother. Let us take my father home," Anubis said.
The journey to their homeland was long, and all the way, Isis begged
Anubis to take her life. "I cannot live without my beloved, and you, god of
death, shall bear me to the underworld!"
Anubis would not hear of it. "Hush, gentle one. I will see my father well and
alive again. You shall see."
Anubis paused in the mighty forests of the northern lands and felled a
great tree. He bore this tree upon his shoulders to the source of the Nile.
There, he worked all night and all day for a season until tears of his toil
swept down the river and covered the plains with fertile soil.
On a night of a full moon, he came to Isis and presented her with a gift.
"Gentle one, you have been my mother when I did not have one. This I give
you, so my father will be whole. Call Typhon, and let him bear witness."
Isis summoned Typhon to her palace. She received him dressed in her
finest robes and served him the nectar of the winds. Osiris's coffin stood
beside Isis's throne with all but his left eye inside.
"So, dark one, have you found the pieces? I do not see my brother."
Isis bowed but did not answer. Instead, she offered Typhon a lotus-flower.
"And you are still without a husband. I shall take you for my own." Typhon
stood and embraced Isis, but she pushed him away.
"And I say you are wrong." Isis parted the petals of the lotus-flower to
reveal the wooden eye of Osiris, carved by his own son's hand. Typhon
gasped and stumbled away, but not before Isis set the eye in Osiris's skull.
"Wake, my husband, and avenge your murder!"
Osiris rose from his coffin and stared at his brother. Typhon knelt
before his kin and begged for mercy, but there was none to be had.
Anubis offered Osiris his dagger and Osiris carved the heart of his
brother from his chest and threw it to the crocodiles.
To this day, it is said that a crocodile will never eat the heart of its victim,
except for the man who has a wooden eye.
Back
"Do not lament, stepmother. Let us take my father home," Anubis said.
The journey to their homeland was long, and all the way, Isis begged
Anubis to take her life. "I cannot live without my beloved, and you, god of
death, shall bear me to the underworld!"
Anubis would not hear of it. "Hush, gentle one. I will see my father well and
alive again. You shall see."
Anubis paused in the mighty forests of the northern lands and felled a
great tree. He bore this tree upon his shoulders to the source of the Nile.
There, he worked all night and all day for a season until tears of his toil
swept down the river and covered the plains with fertile soil.
On a night of a full moon, he came to Isis and presented her with a gift.
"Gentle one, you have been my mother when I did not have one. This I give
you, so my father will be whole. Call Typhon, and let him bear witness."
Isis summoned Typhon to her palace. She received him dressed in her
finest robes and served him the nectar of the winds. Osiris's coffin stood
beside Isis's throne with all but his left eye inside.
"So, dark one, have you found the pieces? I do not see my brother."
Isis bowed but did not answer. Instead, she offered Typhon a lotus-flower.
"And you are still without a husband. I shall take you for my own." Typhon
stood and embraced Isis, but she pushed him away.
"And I say you are wrong." Isis parted the petals of the lotus-flower to
reveal the wooden eye of Osiris, carved by his own son's hand. Typhon
gasped and stumbled away, but not before Isis set the eye in Osiris's skull.
"Wake, my husband, and avenge your murder!"
Osiris rose from his coffin and stared at his brother. Typhon knelt
before his kin and begged for mercy, but there was none to be had.
Anubis offered Osiris his dagger and Osiris carved the heart of his
brother from his chest and threw it to the crocodiles.
To this day, it is said that a crocodile will never eat the heart of its victim,
except for the man who has a wooden eye.
Back
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