7. The path of Sun in summer is evidently described by the form of the roof of the Taranaki storehouse:
Cat is at center bottom, positioned exactly below the apex of the roof (midsummer).
His pupils are large, because of the darkness in midwinter. South of the equator Cat cannot be at the apex of the sky roof, he must be down in the water. Leo is in midwinter. The path of Sun is characterized as triangular in form. If it is not Cat who is in the egg at the apex, then it must be Rat (Aquarius). At midsummer the head of the king is turned into an egg (or Sun enters his oval house).When Sun is hatched from his egg his dry old bony skull has changed into a laughing baby:
If we follow the left path instead of the right path, i.e. follow the path of Moon instead of the path of Sun, then the left leg of Schu should be followed, because his right leg has the form of the Taranaki storehouse roof:
The roof described by the body of Nut has a flat top, which presumably is hinted at by the dark form behind the head of Cat. Solstice in winter is experienced to have a long duration: ... The ten or twelve days when the Sun appeared to linger at the winter solstice were a period of deep concern to primitive man, who trembled lest the luminary hesitate too long or fail to return to give life and warmth to earth and mankind. Hence the reference to the 'long pit' ... Maybe the right hand of Schu is giving a sign meaning 'roof' to explain that his right knee is the roof of the day. Schu is reclining on earth (the long straight rectangular surface), he is not down in the water (cfr the waves surrounding Cat). The position of Schu is presumably that of Rat (with Cat in the egg shell - or hole - straight above him), because Schu is inside the 'cave' formed by the sky vault of night. I now feel free to say night instead of winter and day instead of summer, because basically the diurnal rythm has precedence before the cycle of the seasons of the year. The Jade Emperor made each one of 12 quick animals (there was no turtle among them) into symbols for a cycle of 12 years to make people remember the order. But the Yellow Way of the 12 months utilized the same animals in the same order and this shorter cycle presumably came before the 12-year cycle. |
