Mitchell and the Mummy's Curse

Mitchell and the Mummy’s Curse
by
Grandma Baadsgaard
Happy birthday Mitchell.
I hope you have great 7^th birthday.
Always remember that I love you very much.

 When Mitchell turned the corner to his street as he walked home from school, he saw his family’s cat Ella sitting next to their front door. But Ella didn’t run toward Mitchell and rub against his legs as usual. In fact, Ella didn’t move at all. She was still as stone.

Mitchell was puzzled. Ella was never still unless she was sleeping. Mitchell approached his front door cautiously. When he was standing right next to his cat, he yelled, “Boo!”
But Ella didn’t move. Mitchell reached down to pet her but when he touched her, she really had turned to stone. Looking carefully, he noticed that Ella had the head of a cat and the body of a woman.
Mom!” Mitchell yelled as he charged through the front door. “Ella has turned into the goddess Bastet. I read all about her in the book about Egypt I got at the library. Quick, come see.” But by the time Mitchell’s mother made it to the front door and looked out, Ella was gone. “I swear I saw her and she looked just like the goddess Bastet,” Mitchell said. “What do you think has happened. “Egyptians used to put a statue of the goddess Bastet next to their front door to protect them. Do you think Ella knows something we don’t?”
“Now Mitchell,” his mother said. “Don’t let your imagination run wild. Maybe you should just do a little detective work like the archaeologists do.”
“Good idea Mom,” Mitchell said.
So Mitchell put on his treasure hunting pants, shirt and hat then took out his magnifying glass and pulled out his favorite shovel. Then he headed outside to his back yard.
“Just don’t get the mummy’s curse,” his mother said with a smile and a wink. Don’t let a mosquito bite you on your cheek.”
Mitchell shook his head. He knew King Tut was not that much older than he was when he became Pharaoh. Mitchell knew a lot about ancient cultures because he often went to the library and brought home stacks of books about ancient civilizations. So Mitchell knew King Tut's tomb was overlooked for thousands of years. He also knew that when a British archaeologist named Howard Carter entered King Tut's tomb, it was almost like entering a time machine. Carter and his team found lots of treasures including a solid gold mask of King Tut's face.
Mitchell knew that many objects found in tombs were ordinary things like tools, pots, chests, baskets, and amulets which the Egyptians used every day. Others were specially made for the occasion like coffins, masks, models or scrolls with spells designed to help the dead person to survive in the afterworld. Mitchell even knew that King Tut was protected by three coffins. The outer sarcophagus had a relief of king Osiris carved into it, the one in the middle was made of wood and decorated with gold and semi-precious stones and the inner coffin was made of solid gold. His burial mask was beautifully crafted, painted and expensively gilded.

Mitchell also knew that nearly all ancient Egyptian homes had a cat. But cats were not pets. The ancient Egyptians believed that cats had magical powers. They believed cats protected their homes and children from danger. You were in big trouble if you hurt a cat in ancient Egypt. Your punishment could be death! Mitchell also knew that Bastet the Goddess was depicted as having the body of a woman and the head of a domestic cat. She was the daughter of the sun god Ra, wife of Ptah, and mother of Mihos. The Egyptians celebrated Bastet's feast day with enthusiasm for she was the Egyptian Goddess of pleasure, music, dancing and joy. The people of ancient Egypt turned to Bastet for protection and for blessing.
Mitchell remembered reading and repeating aloud this ancient Egyptian prayer with his mother, “Beloved Bastet, mistress of happiness and bounty, twin of the Sun God, slay the evil that afflicts our minds as you slew the serpent Apep. With your graceful stealth anticipate the moves of all who perpetrate cruelties and stay their hands against the children of light. Grant us the joy of song and dance, and ever watch over us in the lonely places in which we must walk".
Sometimes Mitchell imagined he had ventured into Tutankhamen’s tomb brimming with priceless figurines, ritual jewelry, small boats and a shrine of the pharaoh’s embalmed organs. But Mitchell didn’t know what to think of the mummy’s curse. When the man who discovered King Tut’s artifacts stepped into the tomb, his financial backer was at his side. Four months later, his financial backer died of blood poisoning from an infected mosquito bite on his cheek. Newspapers at the time speculated that he was a victim of the “mummy’s curse” for after lifting the death mask, King Tut also had a lesion on the same cheek.
Right then, Mitchell heard a mosquito buzzing near his cheek and he freaked out.
“AHHHHHHHH!!!!!” he screamed running into the house.
“What’s the matter?” his mother asked.
“It’s the mummy curse,” Mitchell said. That mosquito almost bit me mom.
“Well I can take care of that,” his mother said with a sly smile. “Give me a copy of that ancient Egyptian prayer.”
“I totally gave that book back to the library last week,” Mitchell said. “It’s too late. I’m doomed.”
“Kneel,” his mother said as she turned to Mitchell looking strangely like the Egyptian goddess Bastet.
Mitchell knelt down just before his mother began, “Light of the universe, grant us courage in the face of mosquito bites,” Mitchell’s mother said with a wink and a smile. “And watch over us in the lonely places we must walk.”
Then she gave Mitchell a great big hug that lasted for a long time. Before long Mitchell felt warm and relaxed inside.
“Are you going to go back outside now,” Mitchell’s mother asked.
“No,” Mitchell answered. But I was thinking, do you think you could find me a little mosquito repellant?”
Right then Ella walked through the back door with a stone cold look in her eyes. As their cat walked stealthily toward them, Mitchell’s eyes grew bigger and bigger. Then Ella crawled into Mitchell’s lap . . . and purred.
“Looks like no more mummy’s curse as long as I have Ella the protector around,” Mitchell said with a wink and a smile.
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