The Myths of Aset;

The tale is long with many incidents and what follows here is a much shortened version.

The story begins as Heru sets out from Chemmis where has grown up, protected by his mother Aset. It will however be clear that her help is still needed if he is to win his father´s throne back from Set.

Heru appears in front of the Council of the Gods at Heliopolis, presided over by Atum. Here he claims the right to the throne of Egypt, which Shu, the son of Re thinks is justice. Also Djehuty, the god of wisdom agrees.

Aset cries out in joy:

"Hence, North Wind! to the west and tell the good news to the 'still vigorous one'" (Wesir).

But Re has not yet given his word, and is angered that the gods have not waited for his decision. He is silent for a while and Set takes his chance to suggest that he and Heru go outside and decide by combat who shall have the throne, something which Djehuty disagrees with as Heru is after all the son of Wesir. Re is still angered as he prefers the strength of Set to a young, unproven boy.

Things come to a standstill for a period of eighty years before the gods decide to seek the advice of Nit, the creator goddess. A letter is sent off in the name of Re. Her answer is curt and somewhat impatient; give the office to Heru, otherwise she will get angry and the sky will topple. To placate Set she suggests that he be given Re´s two daughters Anat and Astarte as wives. Everyone is relieved except for Re who accuses Heru of being a weakling and not strong enough for such an important office. A quarrel break out and Re leaves them to go sulking on his own. This is where Het-Hert steps in to cheer him up. She goes to stand before him and pulls her skirts up, revealing her private parts. This changes Re´s mood, he laughs and returns to the council and tells Heru and Set to state their cases.

Set boasts of his strength and says that only he is the one who can slay Apep, the enemy of Re, every day from the prow of the sunboat. Some gods approve of this as Set is the elder one, though Djehuty and Anhur questions if it is justifiable to give the throne to a brother while the rightful heir, the son is capable of taking assuming it. Aset now loses patience and speaks to gain the sympathy of the council, while Set refuses to submit to any council as long as Aset is present. Re then moves the whole company to an island and tells the ferryman Nemty to not let any woman looking like Aset be ferried across.

Aset however is more clever than they think. She deftly disguises herself as an old woman and tricks Nemty into rowing her across. In the bargain for the fare Aset pays him with a golden ring.

On the island Aset changes herself again, now into a young, beautiful woman and catches the attention of Set and presents herself as the widow of a herdsman whose son is in danger of having his father´s cattle confiscated and himself and the mother evicted from their home. Set is indignant at this injustice and at this point Aset changes herself again, this time into a kite. From the branches of an acacia she tells Set that his own verdict has condemned him.

Set is very agitated and complains to Re, then he has Nemty dragged before the tribunal and punished by having his toes cut off. The whole company then moves to a mountain in the desert and gives the throne to Heru, but Set manages to intercede it by challenging Heru to a contest.

Now follows a series of bizarre events, probably with the purpose of miscrediting Set, as well as entertain the listener. In the first one, Heru and Set changes into hippopotami and stay under water for three months. Aset becomes conerned for her son and fashions a copper harpoon and throws it at the spot where they disappeared under the water. She misses and hits Heru instead but retrieves it by her magic when he complains. On her next throw she hits Set but when he appeals to her and claims the brother-sister relationship between them, she withdraws the weapon again.

Next, Heru emerges out of the water, enraged that his mother spared the life of Set. He cuts off her head and she turns into a headless statue of flint. However, Djehuty restores her and gives her a new head. Later Set finds Heru asleep under a tree and attacks him and gouges out his eyes which he buries in the sand where they turn into lotus flowers. Het-Hert discovers Heru and by pouring gazelle milk into his eye sockets she causes them to heal. Re then hears of what has happened, loses patience with them both and summons them to his court where he orders them to stop quarrelling.

Set pretends to agree, and invites Heru to his home, but he has not yet given up and so makes a homosexual attack on Heru. Heru however resorts to trickery himself and manages to catch the semen of Set, which he later shows his mother Aset. She is outraged, cuts off his hand, throws it into the marshes and by her magic creates a new one for him. Then by the use of powerful ungents she makes Heru´s phallus arise and catches the semen in a jar, spreading it on lettuces which Set later eats. By having homosexually dominated Heru, Set hopes to make Heru appear as the laughingstock before the gods, but Heru instead wants their respective semen be called forth from where it is located. Djehuty does so, and the semen of Set comes out, not from Heru, but from the marshes where his hand had been thrown by Aset. Heru´s semen appears as a gold disc on the head of Set who is now is the one humiliated.

But Set does not give up. Instead he challenges Heru to make a ship of stone to race it against his own. Heru then builds a ship of pinewood and coats it with plaster so that it looks like stone. Set however, builds a ship of stone, which immediately sinks, which causes him to once again turn into a hippopotamus and destroys Heru´ boat. Heru has had enough and wants to kill Set, but is stopped by the other gods. Then he sails off to Nit at Sais and expresses his frustration and amazement that he, despite so many judgment for his sake, he still not has gained the throne of his father.

At this point there is an exchange of letters between Re and Wesir in the underworld. The result is that Wesir threatens them all with the agents of the underworld who fear not to bring back any wrongdoer, besides the stars in the heavens together with man and god alike will descend into the Western Horizon and the kingdom of Wesir. This causes them to think things over and to finally instate Heru on the throne of Egypt. Set is the prisoner of Aset, but Re still favours him and states that Set will accompany Re in the heavens and that his voice will be heard in the thunder itself.

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