Nut and Geb: The Sky and Earth
Myth: The sky is Nut's body, arching from horizon to horizon. Geb is the Earth, lying beneath her. During the day, Nut and Geb are separated, but each evening Nut comes down to meet Geb and this causes darkness. If storms came during the day, it was believed that Nut had come closer to the earth.
Nut was married to the King of the Gods, Ra, but she was in love with Geb. When Ra found out, he was angry and said that Nut could not give birth to any children during the 360 days of the year. Nut was unhappy and asked the God of Wisdom, Thoth, to help. At this time, the Moon was as bright as the Sun. Thoth got some light from the Moon, so now the Moon gets bigger and smaller each month. With this light, Thoth made five new days, so now the year is 365 days long. Nut gave birth to her five children; Osiris, Set, Isis, Nepthys, and Horus the Elder, on these five days. When Osiris, the oldest, was born, a loud voice said "The lord of all the earth is born." Set, his brother, was born hating Osiris for this and later in life plots to kill him.
