"He is," Sesostris told us. "You are not. You came from another land with him who is dead, and have never been taught. If I teach you now, will you learn of me?"
"Yes," we said, "teach us!"
"A man is of five parts," Sesostris told us. He held up his hand, its fingers wide. "A woman or a child, the same. They are Body, Name, Shade, Ba, and Ka. At death, Body sleeps. You will be judged by gods. If you are found worthy, you will wait in the Field of Reeds until the day when all shall be reunited. If unworthy, devoured."
We nodded one by one, first the small shining one, last I. I said, "There are many gods here."
"There are more than you suppose, more gods than men, by far. Do you fear they will all judge you?"
"I do not fear," I said.
"You need not. Forty-two will judge you, with Osiris to preside."
The gate of the temple wall stood before us. We walked through it, though it was shut. Within were the temple, not large but fine in the way of Kemet, and other buildings.
"What are these places?" we asked.
"That is the House of Life." Sesostris gestured with his stalk of papyrus. "That is the House of Priests. Some are storehouses. Many are thought empty."
"They are not?" Shade said.
Sesostris shook his head, and the cobra on his crown hissed.
"You are Sesostris," Name said. "What is the serpent's name?"
Sesostris smiled. "In a thousand years I have not been asked that question. His name is Uraeus."
We walked, and he taught again. "I was king," he said. "Dying, I was judged worthy and became a god. So you will become at last, if you too are judged worthy. You will dwell in the Field of Reeds until you are needed or invoked. Then you will return to this world of the living, unseen save by those you would have see you."
"All of us?" we asked. "Do we all become gods, who die?"
"Only those deemed worthy. The rest are devoured by Ammut."
As soon as he spoke her name Ammut waddled beside us, huge and stinking. Her head is like a crocodile's, though it is not a crocodile's. Her body is that of a fat woman with misshapen feet, though it is not a fat woman's. "Did you ask whether I would eat you all?" She simpered. "Yes. All of you, if the heart is heavy."
"Better to be devoured by you than to fare in the Deadland," said the small and shining I.
"Here is the Deadland," Ammut told him, and smote her great belly.
We passed through the temple. The figure in the holy of holies was old, the man who walked with me young.
"It is too dark here," the I called Shade said; but his voice was weak and far.
Inside the mountain-tomb it was darker still until Sesostris kindled his light. Then we saw everything, stairs that led only to other stairs, chapels in the rock where no priest sacrificed. The riches of his burial chamber would take more men to tell of than man this ship. From it a stair led down and down through stone until it reached the chamber where the court sat. Sesostris walked before us to show the way, Ammut after us, slow and laboring, panting and slavering.
"You stand before your judges," the bleeding man said. He was the chief judge of that court, a handsome man sorely wounded. He wore a white crown with two plumes. "We shall question you, and you will answer us honestly. You cannot do otherwise."
We nodded. "We cannot." We knew as we spoke that it was true.
"I am Strider of Annu," said a god. "Have you done iniquity?"
"I have not!" We all said this.
"I am Burning of Kher-aba," announced another. "Have you robbed by violence?"
"I have not!" we said.
"I am Fenti of Khemennu," declared a third. "Have you broken the nose?"
"Yes, as a boxer," we said.
"I am Am-khaibitu of Qereret," said a fourth. "Have you stolen?"
"Yes," we said, "we took the Horses of the Sun, doing the bidding of the Lady of the Beasts." This theft has left my mind now, yet I must have known it then.
"I am Neha-hra of Restau," murmured a fifth. "Have you slain man or woman?"
"Many men," we said, "for I was a soldier."
"I am the Double Lion-God," roared a sixth. "Have you given short measure?"
"To none!" we said.
"I am Burning Eye of Sekhem." This seventh god spoke in stately tones. "Have you sworn falsely?"
"Never!" we said.
"I am Flame," hissed an eighth. "Have you stolen from Ptah?"
"Never!" we said.
"I am Set-qesu of Suten-henen," whispered a ninth. "Surely-surely you have lied."
"Never to you, Set-qesu," we said.
"I am Khemi of the Hidden Place," a tenth god told us. "Have you carried off goods by force?"
"We have looted the goods of some we slew," we said.
"I am Brightflame of Mennufer," crowed an eleventh. "Have you uttered words of evil?"
"Never have I cursed anyone!" we said.
"I am Hra-f-ha-f of the Caverns of the Deep," said a god who had no face. "Have you carried off food by force?"
"I have," we said.
"I am Qerti of the Underworld," intoned the sepulchral voice of a thirteenth god. "Have you acted to deceive?"
"Often," we said. At this Ammut edged nearer us.
"I am Firefoot of the Night," shouted a fourteenth god. "Have you raged?"
"Yes," we said.
"I am Shining-teeth of Ta-she." The fifteenth god grinned as he addressed us. "Have you invaded a foreign land?"
"I have," we said.
"I am the Eater of Blood…" So sighed a sixteenth, whose voice was like the wind. "I am he who comes forth from the tomb. Tell me, have you slain the Beasts of Ptah?"
"Yes," we said, "I have slain them."
"I am the Eater of Entrails." The seventeenth licked his lips. "Have you laid waste to plowed land?"
"That also I have done," we said.
"I am Lord of Maat," trumpeted an eighteenth god. "Answer me! Have you pried into the affairs of others to do them hurt?"
"Never!" we said.
"I am Themeni of Bast," mewed the nineteenth. "Have you slandered man or woman?"
"Never!" we said.
"I am Anti of Annu," growled the twentieth. "You have raged, and I know it. Was it without cause?"
"Never!" we said.
"Tututef of Ati am I." The voice of the twenty-first god was an insinuating whisper. "Have you sodomized a child?"
"Never!" we said.
"I am Uamemti of the slaughterhouse." The twenty-second studied us coldly. "Have you poisoned waters?"
"Never!" we said.
"I am the Seer of the House of Amsu. How often have you lain with the wife of another?"
"Never!" we said.
"I am H-her-seru of Nehatu," quavered the twenty-fourth. "Have you made men afraid?"
"Often," we confessed.
"Have you been hot of mouth?" asked Neb-Sekhem, who comest forth from Lake Kaui.
"I have," we said.
"I am Seshet-kheru of Urit," affirmed the twenty-sixth. "Have you been deaf to words of right and truth?"
"More than once," we admitted.
"I am he of Lake Heqat," squalled an infant god. "Have you made others weep?"
"I have," we said.
"I am Kenemti of Kenemet," boasted the twenty-eighth. "Have you blasphemed Ptah?"
"Never!" we said.