Could a 3,300-year-old mummy really unleash doom on all who come near?
Learning Objective: Students will learn about a historic discovery of ancient Egyptian artifacts and consider various characters’ motivations for wanting to explore them or leave them untouched.
Prologue
N1: Thousands of years ago in Egypt, there lived a pharaoh named Tutankhamen.
N2: Tutankhamen became pharaoh around 1333 b.c., when he was only 9 years old.
N3: Ten years later, he died. Mysteriously.
N1: King Tut was buried in a secret tomb. People said it held exquisite treasures.
N2: Some believed the tomb was cursed—that opening it would release a powerful evil.
N3: Still, for thousands of years, men searched for the tomb—lured by its untold riches.
N1: But the mummy’s tomb was never found.
N2: Until now.
Scene 1
Luxor, Egypt, November 1922
N3: A team of archaeologists and workers is gathered in the Valley of the Kings.
N1: It is a desolate place full of sand and rock.
N2: The men sweat profusely in the heat.
N3: Two workers talk to Howard Carter.
Gerigar: You have been searching in this valley
for years, Mr. Carter. What makes you think this spot will be any different?
Carter: This is the one place in the valley where I have not yet looked.
Moussa: Fair enough.
Gerigar (loudly): Gentlemen, let’s clear away all this debris.
N1: The crew gets to work.
N2: Before long, Gerigar stumbles upon a large, smooth stone under the sand. He keeps digging and uncovers another stone.
Gerigar: I may have found something over here.
N3: Carter brushes off the stones, then gently pokes a stick into the sand around them.
Carter: It seems to be part of a structure.
N1: The crew continues to dig.
Worker 1: Look!
Worker 2: What is that?
Gerigar: It looks like a staircase.
Carter (excited ): Keep going! Keep digging!
Worker 1: The staircase leads to a door!
Worker 2: There are royal symbols on the door!
Moussa: Mr. Carter, what do you make of this?
N2: Carter studies the door carefully.
Carter: I must summon Lord Carnarvon from England before we go any further. He and I should make this discovery together.
Rue des Archives/The Granger Collection
Ancient Treasures
In the 1920s, Americans and Europeans had a fascination with ancient cultures, especially Egypt. Explorers and archaeologists like Howard Carter traveled the world in search of ancient treasures. In this photo, Carter brings up artifacts from King Tut’s tomb. Egyptian law stated that the artifacts had to stay in Egypt. But many still ended up in museums or owned by individuals around the world. Today, most have been returned to the Egyptian Museum in Egypt’s capital, Cairo.
Scene 2
Carter’s tent, later that day
N3: Carter walks into his tent. Moussa is there waiting for him with wide eyes.
Carter: You look as if you have seen a ghost!
Moussa: I just came from your house. A cobra crawled inside and killed your pet canary.
Carter: Oh my. I am quite sad to hear that.
Moussa: The cobra is a symbol of protection for the pharaoh. Don’t you see, Mr. Carter? This is a warning.
Carter: A warning about what?
Moussa: Not to disturb the pharaoh’s tomb.
Carter: My good man, that is nonsense.
Moussa: But, sir . . .
Carter: Just think of it. If we find the tomb of Tutankhamen, we will be able to show the world a perfectly preserved piece of ancient Egypt. And we’ll be famous for doing it! What could be bad about that?
Jim McMahon/Mapman®
Scene 3
A few weeks later
N1: Lord Carnarvon stands next to Carter as the crew finishes digging out the staircase.
Carnarvon: You were right to wait for me to arrive from England. Carter, old chap, this is the moment we have been waiting for.
N2: The crew carefully breaks through the door at the bottom of the staircase.
Carnarvon: After you, Carter.
N3: Carter leads the team through the door and into a dark stone passageway.
N1: The men are silent, their faces full of wonder. The sound of their steps echoes off the walls.
N2: At the end of the passageway, they come to another sealed door.
Carnarvon: This door has hieroglyphs on it.
Gardiner: Let me have a look. (leaning in closely with a candle) Tut . . . an . . . khamen!
Carnarvon: By Jove, Carter, we’ve found it!
Carter (in awe): No human being has set foot here in thousands of years.
N3: With trembling hands, Carter makes a small hole in the door. Holding a candle before him, he pokes his head through.
N1: A sudden blast of hot air escapes from the chamber. The candle flickers.
Carnarvon: Can you see anything?
Carter: Yes . . . wonderful things!
N2: The hole is widened. The men slip through.
N3: They find themselves in a room overflowing with glittering treasures: statues, jewelry, and gold—everywhere, the glint of gold.
N1: Gardiner picks up a gilded wooden cobra.
Gardiner: Carter, I can’t help but wonder if these serpents have real power. People have warned me that a curse will be unleashed if we enter this tomb.
Carter (whispering): Keep your superstitions to yourself, Gardiner. If the workers believe there is a curse, they won’t help us excavate. And we can’t do it alone.
Gardiner: You have studied ancient Egypt most of your life. Do you believe the curse is real?
Carter: I think it is hogwash.
Gardiner: I do hope you are right.
Scene 4
Lordprice Collection/Alamy
Lord Carnarvon was obsessed with ancient Egypt. He paid for Carter’s search for the tomb of King Tut.
Cairo, Egypt, April 1923
N2: In a dimly lit room, Lady Evelyn sits at the bedside of her father.
N3: Lord Carnarvon looks thin and frail in the large bed.
Evelyn: Father, your skin is so pale. And that red mark on your cheek looks like it’s on fire.
Carnarvon: It is nothing. Just a mosquito bite.
Evelyn: Are you sure? You seem to be having trouble breathing.
Carnarvon: There is no trouble. I’m overjoyed!
Evelyn (taking his hand ): I know, Father. Your archaeology team has just made the discovery of the century. Your name will live forever in history books.
N1: Lord Carnarvon begins to cough. A doctor arrives.
Evelyn (quietly): Doctor, can you help him?
Doctor: I don’t know. This is a very mysterious illness.
Evelyn: He must get well. Haven’t you heard?
Doctor: Ah yes, the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen. All of Egypt has been speaking of it.
Evelyn: The treasures inside have been hidden for more than 3,000 years.
Doctor: Forgive me, my lady, but perhaps they should remain hidden.
Evelyn: What do you mean?
Doctor: Many believe that the final resting place of a pharaoh is sacred—and that those who enter a pharaoh’s tomb will be cursed.
N2: CLAP! Thunder echoes outside. Lady Evelyn and the doctor both jump.
Evelyn (whispering): Father did fall ill soon after he entered Tutankhamen’s tomb.
N3: Lord Carnarvon’s body begins to tremble. He reaches for his daughter’s hand.
Carnarvon: Evelyn, tell Carter he must . . .
N1: Carnarvon gasps for breath.
Evelyn: Father?
N2: The lights flicker—and go out.
N3: CLAP! Thunder sounds again.
N1: The room is dark, except for a sliver of moonlight peeking in through the window.
N2: The doctor checks Carnarvon’s pulse.
Doctor (to himself ): It seems the curse has claimed its first victim.
Evelyn: Is he . . . ?
Doctor: I am so sorry, my lady.
N3: Neither the doctor nor Lady Evelyn notices the cobra that slithers out from under Carnarvon’s bed and disappears into the shadows.
Granger, NYC/The Granger Collection (Howard Carter examining mummy); Rosemary Calvert/Photographer’s Choice/Getty Images (gold mask)
Spooky, Right?
Ancient Egyptians believed that they would live again after they died and would need their bodies in the afterlife. So wealthy Egyptians had their corpses preserved through mummification—the process of creating a mummy. Above left, Howard Carter examines King Tut’s mummy, which wears a solid-gold burial mask (above right). According to rumors at the time, Tut’s mummy had a mark on its cheek in the same place as Lord Carnarvon’s mosquito bite. Wwwooooooo . . .
Scene 5
King Tut’s tomb, February 1924
N1: Carter and his crew are carefully making a list of everything in Tut’s tomb.
N2: Inside the burial chamber, the workers use pulleys to lift a coffin out of a stone sarcophagus.
Carter: Careful now. Steady. Don’t jostle the mummy.
Mace: Why is it so heavy?
Carter: The coffin seems to be solid gold! Just think—soon we will be looking into the face of an ancient king. If only Lord Carnarvon were alive to see it . . .
Mace: Can someone take this rope? I feel weak.
Gardiner: I’ll get it.
N3: Gardiner takes the rope just as Mace collapses.
Carter: What happened?
Gardiner: I am not sure. One moment he was fine, the next, he fainted.
Carter: He must be overheated. Get this man to a tent and give him water.
Gerigar: Mr. Carter, the Egyptologist from the French museum is here.
N1: Carter follows Gerigar out of the tomb to his tent.
Carter: Good afternoon! I trust this heat has not gotten the better of you?
Bénédite: Ah, it is a small price to pay for such a magnificent find. Carter, what are the chances we can bring some of these marvelous treasures to France?
Carter: People have come from museums all over the world to see Tut’s tomb. Its treasures are marvelous, as you say. But though I want to share this extraordinary discovery with the world, it does not belong to me.
Bénédite: Would it really matter if one or two artifacts were missing?
Carter: The contents of the tomb must stay in Egypt. Say, are you quite all right? You look rather flushed.
N2: Bénédite suddenly collapses. Gerigar takes his pulse.
Gerigar: Mr. Carter . . . he is . . . he is dead.
Scene 6
A market in Cairo, the next day
N3: Gerigar sees Moussa in the market.
Gerigar: Mr. Moussa, why haven’t you been working at the tomb?
Moussa: I will not go back there.
Gerigar: Why not?
Moussa: I heard that a tablet was found in the tomb that says, “Death will come to those who disturb the sleep of the pharaoh.”
Gerigar: That is a rumor. And if such a thing were found, it would probably have been written to scare away tomb robbers.
Moussa: Did you not hear about Sheik Abdul Haman?
Gerigar: No.
Moussa: He went to visit the tomb. The next day, he got a high fever. Now he is dead. So is the Frenchman and Lord Carnarvon. And what of Mace?
Gerigar: He just got overheated. He is fine now.
Moussa: We have not seen the end of this curse.
Gerigar: Mr. Carter works in the tomb every day. He is perfectly healthy.
Moussa: Others are paying for his greed with their lives. Entering the tomb was bad enough, but Mr. Carter is removing every last one of the 5,000 artifacts that have been found inside.
Gerigar: Mr. Carter is taking them to the museum in Cairo. Is that so wrong?
Moussa: If Mr. Carter is willing to dishonor Tutankhamen’s tomb, he does not truly respect the pharaoh or our people.
Gerigar: Our ancestors believed that their souls were kept alive when their names were remembered. You must admit: Because of Mr. Carter, Tutankhamen will live forever.
CRIS BOURONCLE/AFP/Getty Images (Mummy); KENNETH GARRETT AND ELISABETH DAYNES/National Geographic Creative (King Tut face)
Explanation for the Curse
Experts have been studying Tutankhamen for decades. They’ve created a model of what he may have looked like (left) by studying his mummy (right). They’ve also found a few possible explanations for the so-called curse. One is that there was toxic mold inside Tut’s tomb. This can be deadly for someone with a health problem—someone like Lord Carnarvon, who had an infected mosquito bite.
Scene 7
California, 2018
N1: A man and a woman drive down a dark and empty highway in an 18-wheeler.
Tony: Thanks for giving me a ride to Arizona. What are you hauling tonight?
Angela: Ancient treasure. I’m bringing it to a museum in Los Angeles.
Tony: Are you kidding me?
Angela: Nope. It’s stuff from the tomb of that mummy guy, King Tut.
Tony: Doesn’t that give you the creeps?
Angela: What do you mean?
Tony: Would you want someone digging you out of the ground years after you died? Whatever happened to “rest in peace”?
Angela: It’s funny you should say that. When I took this job, they told me that a bunch of other drivers had already turned it down.
Tony: Why?
Angela: People say there’s a curse on anyone who disturbs King Tut or anything that was buried with him. They believe that what’s in the back of this truck should never have been taken from his tomb.
Tony: What do you think?
Angela: I think it’s time to stop for some coffee.
N2: Angela steers the truck onto the exit ramp.
N3: Just then, the truck’s headlights catch something stretched across the road.
Angela: What is that?
N1: Angela and Tony see a flash of yellow eyes.
Tony: Watch out!
N2: Angela hits the brakes.
Angela and Tony: Aaaaah!!!
N3: The truck skids into a ditch and comes to a violent stop.
Angela: What was that?
N1: They peer out the window.
N2: An enormous cobra slithers across the road. It turns its head and flicks its tongue at them before slinking away into the night.
Can't-Miss Teaching Extras
Learn more about the life of King Tut and the speculation surrounding his death with this National Geographic Kids article. It even includes a rendering of what the King may have looked like. If your students are eager to learn more about Egypt, take a look at this article for some more information about the country’s history.
Take your class on a virtual tour of King Tut’s tomb with this exciting video!
More About the Story
Skills
Characters' motivations, fluency, vocabulary, inference, mood, compare and contrast, text features, author’s craft, critical thinking, opinion writing
Complexity Factors
Levels of Meaning
Structure
The play is chronological and has seven scenes as well as a prologue. Most of the play takes place in Egypt during the years 1922-1924, but the prologue focuses on ancient Egypt and Scene 7 jumps forward to 2018 in California. Text features provide additional information about Egyptology and a probable explanation for the deaths associated with the curse.
Language
They play contains challenging domain-specific vocabulary, such as pharaoh, hieroglyphs, sacred, and sarcophagus. A cobra appears throughout as a symbol of the tomb’s curse.
Knowledge Demands
Some background knowledge of Ancient Egypt will aid comprehension. Cobras and 18-wheelers are mentioned.
1. Preparing to Read
Activate Prior Knowledge; Preview Vocabulary and Text Features (30 minutes)
2. Reading the Play
Close-Reading Questions (20 minutes)
Critical-Thinking Question
3. Skill Building
Featured Skill: Characters’ Motivations
Differentiate and Customize
Aside from the highlighted domain-specific vocabulary, the play contains a number of other challenging words, including exquisite, desolate, profusely, debris, and pulleys. Pause as they arise to make sure students understand them.
Invite students to do research to find out more about the curse of King Tut. How did the story of the curse get started? How did it spread? What have different scientists said about it? Have them present their findings to the class.
Support students’ understanding of this play by providing visuals to help them. Start with our vocabulary slideshow. You can find more visuals having to do with Tutankhamen and ancient Egypt at natgeokids.com and other websites.
Divide the class into seven groups and assign each group a scene from 1 to 7. Have students choose parts within their groups, then practice reading the scene with drama and expression or even act it out!
