All right. Why don't we start with Isis and Osiris? It's a rather nice one, if you ask me.
[She clears her throat, preparing for a rather long tale. Evy tells stories enthusiastically and with a great deal of animation to her speech and expression. She's more concerned with getting the meaning across than the actual texts, as evidenced by the way she doesn't notice that she's switched tenses halfway through.]
Long, long ago, Geb and Nut, the earth and sky, had four children: Isis, Osiris, Seth, and Nephthys.
But Osiris was the pharaoh--er, the king, you might say--of all Egypt. His sister, Isis, was also his wife--you'll find that's rather common to ancient Egypt, I'm afraid. Royal families were full to the brim with incest, but that is a story for another day. And you should bear in mind that this is a story that's been told and retold many different ways--only one version of many. But I think it's the best one to start with, since the other ones would be a lot of me saying 'it might have been this or that'.
Now, where was I? Osiris ruled Egypt, with Isis as his queen. Seth was a jealous brother, one who wants Osiris' power for his own. He contrived to have a beautiful coffin built, exactly to Osiris' shape and size, and at a party, he presented it for all to see. Whosoever would fit within it, he says, would receive it as a gift. Of course, everyone tries it, but only Osiris is a perfect fit--and once he's lying down inside it, Seth shuts the lid on top of him, then throws the coffin into the river Nile.
Isis went to retrieve it after some trouble--there's a great deal of detail there that isn't terribly important for our purposes--but Seth stole Osiris' drowned body away once more. He chopped the body up into fourteen bits and strewed the pieces across the known world. Isis, of course, was a devoted wife, and she went in search of her husband's parts, hoping to put him back together. She transforms herself into a bird and searches high and low for what remains of Osiris.
There are only thirteen pieces left to be found, however. His, er--[and she clears her throat again] shall we say his male parts?--had been scattered in the sea and eaten by a fish.
Isis replaces them with gold imitations and puts her husband's body back together, which is, of course, the basis for mummification. Have you heard of mummification? Well--that's also a story for another day. She returns Osiris to life with her breath, and they conceive a son called Horus.
And there's a great deal more from there, of course, wherein Horus confronts his wicked uncle, who has been ruling Egypt all this time, and Osiris is eventually made god of the Egyptian underworld. I can certainly tell you about all those, too, of course. Oh--and their designations as gods and goddesses, I nearly forgot that bit. Osiris is the god of the afterlife, as I've said. Isis watches over children and mothers and wives and offers protection in general. Seth is the god of the desert...which I suppose you've never seen, have you? It's hot and dry--never rains--and filled with sand. Most of Egypt is desert. He's also the god of chaos and violence, and a rather nasty piece of work in general.
...And of course, there's more, a great deal more, but I'm sure that's no surprise. There are dozens and dozens of stories among your Northmen, too, aren't there?
sorry this is so long, man, STORIES i'm just saying
[She clears her throat, preparing for a rather long tale. Evy tells stories enthusiastically and with a great deal of animation to her speech and expression. She's more concerned with getting the meaning across than the actual texts, as evidenced by the way she doesn't notice that she's switched tenses halfway through.]
Long, long ago, Geb and Nut, the earth and sky, had four children: Isis, Osiris, Seth, and Nephthys.
But Osiris was the pharaoh--er, the king, you might say--of all Egypt. His sister, Isis, was also his wife--you'll find that's rather common to ancient Egypt, I'm afraid. Royal families were full to the brim with incest, but that is a story for another day. And you should bear in mind that this is a story that's been told and retold many different ways--only one version of many. But I think it's the best one to start with, since the other ones would be a lot of me saying 'it might have been this or that'.
Now, where was I? Osiris ruled Egypt, with Isis as his queen. Seth was a jealous brother, one who wants Osiris' power for his own. He contrived to have a beautiful coffin built, exactly to Osiris' shape and size, and at a party, he presented it for all to see. Whosoever would fit within it, he says, would receive it as a gift. Of course, everyone tries it, but only Osiris is a perfect fit--and once he's lying down inside it, Seth shuts the lid on top of him, then throws the coffin into the river Nile.
Isis went to retrieve it after some trouble--there's a great deal of detail there that isn't terribly important for our purposes--but Seth stole Osiris' drowned body away once more. He chopped the body up into fourteen bits and strewed the pieces across the known world. Isis, of course, was a devoted wife, and she went in search of her husband's parts, hoping to put him back together. She transforms herself into a bird and searches high and low for what remains of Osiris.
There are only thirteen pieces left to be found, however. His, er--[and she clears her throat again] shall we say his male parts?--had been scattered in the sea and eaten by a fish.
Isis replaces them with gold imitations and puts her husband's body back together, which is, of course, the basis for mummification. Have you heard of mummification? Well--that's also a story for another day. She returns Osiris to life with her breath, and they conceive a son called Horus.
And there's a great deal more from there, of course, wherein Horus confronts his wicked uncle, who has been ruling Egypt all this time, and Osiris is eventually made god of the Egyptian underworld. I can certainly tell you about all those, too, of course. Oh--and their designations as gods and goddesses, I nearly forgot that bit. Osiris is the god of the afterlife, as I've said. Isis watches over children and mothers and wives and offers protection in general. Seth is the god of the desert...which I suppose you've never seen, have you? It's hot and dry--never rains--and filled with sand. Most of Egypt is desert. He's also the god of chaos and violence, and a rather nasty piece of work in general.
...And of course, there's more, a great deal more, but I'm sure that's no surprise. There are dozens and dozens of stories among your Northmen, too, aren't there?