Amten

Good evening, my fellow travelers. My name is Amten. I came to this place from the distant land of Egypt, and have passed many nights around this fire, hanging onto every word of every story. After so much time, I feel that I must contribute. This is a tale from my homeland, written to me in a letter from my dear friend Fenuku.

Dear Amten,

You won’t believe all that has happened since you moved! These events were just beginning before you went away and now that the business is concluded, I finally have time to write you about it.

Do you remember how little bits of treasure started going missing from Pharaoh Rhampsinitus's storeroom? We’d been so confused about how the thieves could have gotten in and out without breaking the seal on the door. Well, soon after you’d left, we started laying traps in the room. Not long after that, we caught someone, except the someone had no head! There was only a headless body stuck in one of the traps. Clearly someone else had to have been there to take the head with them, but we couldn't tell who, or why, or how! Asides from the cadaver in the middle of it, the room appeared to be as impenetrable as ever. Pharaoh yelled at us for what felt like a season. You know how he gets. Anyway, we put the headless corpse on the walls to see if the accomplice would give themselves away by morning. Of course, no one was stupid enough to show up. But what could we do but keep the corpse hung up and our eyes open? Pharaoh ordered a special guard for this purpose. Lucky for me, I was not on duty when the remaining thief struck again! I am not certain what happened, but when I reported for my next shift, the body was gone, there was wine all over the ground, and all of the men that had been on watch were hungover and only half-shaven! Gods forgive me, I may have laughed at them a little too much. Pharaoh wasn’t amused, though. He immediately dismissed every man who stood watch that night. I went and made an extra sacrifice that day, and thanked the gods that I am still employed.

But get this, Amten. Pharaoh wanted to find this thief so badly that he sent his own daughter to go and search for him! What’s more, she found the man! I don’t know how, but she did, and it turns out he was the brother of the dead man we found. I heard that when they spoke, he confessed to it all without prompting! The treasure, the corpse, everything. Apparently, he and his brother were the sons of the builder of the palace, and knew a back door into the treasure room. After we laid the trap, though, one brother got stuck, and asked our living thief to behead him and leave, so that at least one of them might get away unrecognized. As for how he retrieved the body, he cleverly tricked the guards into drunkenness by spilling his wine in front of them. But after he finished telling his tale, when the princess tried to grab his arm and bring him in, it came off in her hand. It was the arm of the dead man!

Obviously, this guy was making us look like fools, even though we were doing everything in our power to find him and protect the Pharaoh from further embarrassment. Rhampsinitus got sick of us, I guess. Do you know what he did? He invited the criminal to the palace! We thought it must be a ploy, that we’d receive orders to rush in and take him at the final moment. But no, we simply got to watch as the Pharaoh casually gave his daughter to this evil and clever man. You read that right, Amten. Pharaoh let the man marry his daughter! I seriously can’t believe what this place is coming to.

Anyway, how’s the new city? I hope you and the wife are settling in okay. Write back as soon as you can, please. I’m dying to know your thoughts!

Sincerely,

Fenuku

Can you believe, friends, that I once lived in that place where such things came to pass? I much prefer the life of a traveler to that of a guard, but I do wish I had been there to witness this. However, my time to speak has ended, and I shall again take the mantle of listener. Who will tell their story next?

Author's Note: My biggest goal in writing this story was to keep it shorter. My past several stories have all come very close to the thousand word mark, and it's generally easier for me to write longer stories. I have a lot to say, and I always want to write more plot point than I have room for. Anyway, the basic plot of this story is the same as the original, but told in a different format. Two thieves steal from the king's "impenetrable" storeroom, and one dies when they are almost caught. The king then tries to track down the remaining thief to punish him, but ultimately rewards him for his cleverness. The original is narrated in third person, with a slight focus on the thief's perspective. I thought it would be interesting to take the perspective of a guard, but I didn't want to do a straight up first person talking to the reader situation, or another third person narration that just put more emphasis on the guards. I wanted to have a guard tell the story, so I decided to do it as a letter from one to another that had moved away just as the events of the story began to unfold. For the names, I used this generator. I have no idea about the historical accuracy of the names, but I figure they work for story purposes.

Bibliography: "The Tale of King Rhampsinitus" from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie. Source

Image: Ancient Egyptian Treasure Room by Junti Dutta. Source.