Rededjet (also read as Ruddedet[2]) is the name of a fictitious ancient Egyptian woman appearing as the heroic character in a story told in the legendary Westcar Papyrus.
She is said to have fulfilled a prophecy by giving birth to three future kings that was forecast during the reign of Khufu (Fourth Dynasty) by a magician named Dedi.
The god Ra, Lord of Sachebu, says to the deities Isis, Nephthys, Meskhenet, Heqet, and Khnum: “May you all go to Rededjet and release her from her trinity of children which are still in her womb and which will exercise their splendid office in the whole realm one day.
So they can build temples for you, take care of your offering tables, let your drink plates thrive and multiply your god's sacrifices.”[2] And so the goddesses turn to Rededjet's house after they had transformed themselves into music-making dancers.
After cutting the umbilical cord, purifying the baby and placing it in a brick-made bed, covered with soft sheets, Khnum makes the body strong.
Meskhenet steps by and says: “This is a king who will exercise the rulership over the whole country!”[2] After this, Isis stands again before Rededjet and says: “May you, whose name is Sahure, stop kicking in her womb.”[2] And this baby, too, comes out quickly.
They were not brought yet.”[2] Rededjet inquires: “Why is this not so, that the jars with beer were brought?”[2] And the maidservant says: “There is nothing you could produce it with, except the barley of those musicians, the barley that is stored and sealed away.”[2] Rededjet orders: “Go and take some, Ra-User will replace it when he comes home.”[2] And the maidservant opens the storeroom and all of a sudden she hears music, celebrations, and cheering from afar - its festive mood typical for a royal enthroning feast.
When she went off for some water a crocodile snatched her.”[2][4][9] Historians and Egyptologists such as Adolf Erman and Kurt Heinrich Sethe once thought the tales of the Westcar Papyrus were mere folklore, despite their knowledge of the historical correctness about the beginning of the fifth dynasty by describing the succession of the kings Userkaf, Sahure, and Neferirkare.
[11] Since in the Westcar Papyrus Rededjet was concerned with the role of a future king's mother, the parallels between the biographies of the two ladies aroused special attention.
The objective of the tale is to ensure the beginning of a new dynasty and by making the only danger disappear, the author of the Westcar Papyrus artfully creates some kind of happy ending.
The episode in which the crocodile snatches a traitor, is repeated several times, just as a refrain, which is a typical writing element used in ancient Egyptian documents to close a chapter or text.
The supposition is that when Nyuserre Ini was on the throne, he revived the cult of the Khentkaus I, as the similarities between both women provided him with a genealogical link relating him to his Fourth Dynasty forebears.
Egyptologist John Nolan believes that the mirroring position of the character in the story and association with the two royal women was emphasised so that Nyuserre Ini could legitimise his rule after the troubled times surrounding Neferefre's death.