Reading Notes: Egypt: Part B

(Rhamsinitus species of Beetle by Bernard Dupont)

The Tale of King Rhampsinitus by Donald Mackenzie

Characters: Rhampsinitus, Builder, Son1, Son2, Mother

Rhampsinitus: The King. Is very rich. wants to keep is treasure. likes tricksters.

Builder: Skilled at building treasure houses with weaknesses

Son1: Is greedy

Son2: Is greedy and really weird person.

Mother: Sad because one of her sons dies (understandably) 

Plot: The King Rhampsinitus wants to store all his treasure in a nice safe place. He hires the builder who does a pretty good job except he makes a purposeful false rock. He does this so he can come in and take some treasure. This is going to plan until he becomes extremely sick and won't be able to take the treasure. This causes him to tell his 2 sons about the secret so they can get some money. After their father died, they began to plunder the treasure house. They snuck in through the secret hole and stole some loot. The King being understandably confused stationed more guards and had more traps installed. This didn't stop the thieves. Until one day, there were so many traps that when the first son entered the treasure room he fell into a trap he couldn't escape. He told his brother this and told him to cut off his head so at least one of them would get away. The second son did as his brother asked and escaped into the night. The King found the body without a head and had it out displayed to try to find who he was related to. The mother of the two brothers grieved and told the second brother to retrieve his sibling's body. She threatened to turn them into the King. He eventually agrees to do so and gets the guard drunk so he can steal the body back. The king then has his daughter try to find the guy by seducing him and getting him to tell her his crimes. This works but when she goes to grab him, she grabs onto the dead brother's arm and the alive brother runs away. (WTF) The King is amused by this and pardons the brother and marrys his daughter to him.

Setting: In Egypt somewhere? The treasure house and palace. I don't think I would change much here. Maybe add more about how the mother grieved and how the clouds hung low or something. 

Things I can change: I would like to have the 2nd brother not use the body of his sibling for more wrongdoing. That was pretty shocking.