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"We knew our , and the spirits knew it We did our best to cale When she died, her ghost would rise and pass through the realo rief

"But finally it happened, as it was perfectly natural and inevitable, and we caone to higher realht in the wind reen leaves My sister and I wept; and for the first tiht I heard their cries and lamentations over the wind

"At once the villagers came to do what must be done

"First our mother was laid out on a stone slab as was the custom so that all could coown she so loved in life, of Egyptian linen, and all her fine jewelry fros and necklaces of bone which contained tiny bits of our ancestors, and which would soon come to us

"And after ten hours had passed, and hundreds had co villages, we then prepared the body for the funeral feast For any other dead person of our village, the priests would have done this honor But itches and our mother was a witch; and we alone could touch her And in privacy, and by the light of oil laown from our mother and covered her body completely with fresh flowers and leaves We sawed open her skull and lifted the top carefully so that it remained intact at the forehead, and we removed her brain and placed it on a plate with her eyes Then with an equally careful incision we removed the heart and placed it on another plate Then these plates were covered with heavy domes of clay to protect them

"And the villagers came forward and built a brick oven around the body of our mother on the stone slab, with the plates beside her, and they put the fire in the oven, beneath the slab, between the rocks upon which it rested, and the roasting began

"All night it took place The spirits had quieted because the spirit of our one I don't think the body mattered to them; e did now did not matter, but it certainly mattered to us

"Because itches and our mother was a witch, we alone would partake of her flesh It was all ours by custoers would not assist in the feast as theywere left with the obligation Noit took ould consuers would keep watch with us

"But as the night wore on, as the remains of our mother were prepared in the oven, my sister and I deliberated over the heart and the brain We would divide these organs of course; and which should take which organ, that hat concerned us; for we had strong beliefs about these organs and what resided in each

"Now to many peoples of that tiyptians, for example, the heart was the seat of conscience This was even so to the people of our village; but we as witches believed that the brain was the residence of the human spirit: that is, the spiritual part of each man or woman that was like unto the spirits of the air And our belief that the brain was important came from the fact that the eyes were connected to the brain; and the eyes were the organs of sight And seeing is e did as witches;into hearts, we s

aw into the future;into the past Seer, that was the word for ere in our language; that is what 'witch' meant

"But again, this was largely cereone Out of respect for her, we consuans so that they should not rot So it was easy for us to reach agreement; Mekare would take the brain and the eyes; and I would take the heart

"Mekare was the more powerful witch; the one born first; and the one who always took the lead in things; the one who spoke out immediately; the one who acted as the older sister, as one twin invariably does It seeht that she should take the brain and the eyes; and I, who had always been quieter of disposition, and slower, should take the organ which was associated with deep feeling, and love-the heart

"We were pleased with the division and as the ht we slept for a few hours, our bodies weak fro that prepared us for the feast

"So the wind colowed in the oven The villagers who kept watch were asleep Angrily I told the spirits to keep quiet But one of theathered on the ers ere erously curious about the feast