Dim VIDEO images show the image of the green Earth, without the river, trees and other features that will appear later, an hour before dawn. The roiling ocean becomes still. NUT screams (Off) and MUSIC clarifies into crystal singing bowls in D and F#. LIGHT gradually comes up, defining the horizon.

THOTH:

The five new days were born.

KHU images: As THOTH introduces each of the new Neters, a ball of light swoops down from one of the stars, growing larger and brighter as it enters the theatre space, flashes brilliantly, then fades at once, revealing each Neter's KHU image. OSIRIS, the first flash of golden light comes from the star Capella, in Auriga. He is followed by HORUS, a bolt of blue light from Rigel in Orion.

THOTH:   Osiris. The father. The male force of love and creation. He comes first, to heal the damage Ra's heat has done to the Earth. This first Neter to be born is the vegetable power, the force that makes a tender green shoot so mighty that it can crack its way through a stone as thick as my body to get to the Sun. He is as mild as a chamomile flower, and as hardy, as infinitely resilient.

A ball of blood red light sweeps down from Orion's belt, flashes into the theatre space and becomes a KHU image in the sandstone red color of the desert. Screams and booming sounds.

THOTH:

The agent of death. Any comments? (SET's KHU image comes into focus as MA'AT speaks.)

MA'AT:

I wish it were easier to be both truthful and kind. He was the only one, Neter or man, that all the artists of Egypt never could make handsome. They could make any fish meal seller look like the herald of the Sun, but not him. When I first saw him, my stomach drew in. My breast and arms flexed, expecting pain, even before I had time to form a thought of him. The body does not lie.

THOTH:

I also found him hard to look at for long. But he has to be in this story. There is no other way. In the time when you are seeing this story, human beings, plants, animals, everything is still living and dying in these same apparently solid bodies. The Earth must have some power that balances the surge of birth, that sweeps away in every moment all these quidillions of dried and oozy wings and shells, stalks and fins and bones, all this crack and ruin of life. We must have . . .

ENSEMBLE:

Death!  (MUSIC:  didjeridoos, cellos, rattles, wind fade. KHU images continue to move during THOTH's narration.)

THOTH:

There must be death until the conscious power of human thought grows so strong that you can even overcome death. When enough human beings awake, the Earth flies up and our story ends. But until then . . .

MA'AT:

Set is born in fear. Nephthys is the sister and the wife of Set. She is born in love and sorrow, and keeps them both well hidden, for she is the keeper and revealer of secrets.

As the east grows brighter, we see that we are on the bank of a river. On the other side are lush green forests, and in the distance plains and mountains. Soon we can see palm trees, papyrus plants, egrets and ibises.

THOTH:

Only one thing more--

MA'AT:

This is getting too long. I'm going to fly.

THOTH:

Osiris and Isis, the two teachers of love, brother and sister, are the King and Queen.

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