They relate that Isis nursed the child by giving
it her finger to suck instead of her breast, and in the
night she would burn away the mortal portions of its
body. She herself wrould turn into a swallow and
flit about the pillar with a wailing lament, until the
queen who had been watching, when she saw her
babe on fire, gave forth a loud cry and thus deprived
it of immortality. Then the goddess disclosed herself
and asked for the pillar which served to support the
roof. She removed it with the greatest ease and cut
away the wood of the heather which surrounded the
chest; then, when she had wrapped up the wood in
a linen cloth and had poured perfume upon it, she
[p. 43]
entrusted it to the care of the kings ; and even to
this day the people of Byblus venerate this wood
which is preserved in the shrine of Isis. Then the
goddess threw herself down upon the coffin with such
a dreadful wailing that the younger of the king's sons
expired on the spot. The elder son she kept with her,
and, having placed the coffin on board a boat, she
put out from land. Since the Phaedrus river toward
the early morning fostered a rather boisterous wind,
the goddess grew angry and dried up its stream.