Readers Theater Play DRAMATIZATION a story based on true events from the past THE (POSSIBLY) TRUE STORY OF A mummy’s wraTH BY SpenceR KAYDEN IllUSTRATION BY LISA K. WEBER CHARACTERS Circle the character you will play. *NARRATORS 1, 2, 3 (N1, N2, N3) LORD CARNARVON: a wealthy Englishman LADY EVELYN HERBERT: Lord Carnarvon’s daughter DOCTOR: Lord Carnarvon’s physician *HOWARD CARTER: an English archaeologist REIS AHMED: an Egyptian worker on Carter’s team TARIK: another Egyptian worker ALAN GARDINER: a hieroglyphics specialist ARTHUR MACE: a member of Carter’s team GEORGES BÉNÉDITE: an Egyptologist from France TONY: a truck driver JAKE: a truck driver * Starred characters are major roles. TURN THE PAGE to read this supernatural tale. scholastic.com/scope • OCTOBER 10, 2011 11 DOCTOR: Yes, all of Egypt has N3: Just then, the lights flicker AS YOU READ, THINK ABOUT: been speaking of it. and go out. The room is THE CURSE HERBERT: The treasures inside have completely dark. This play is about one of the not been seen for more than 3,000 DOCTOR: Perhaps the curse most famous mysteries of the years. has claimed its first victim. 20th century: a curse supposedly DOCTOR: Forgive me, my lady, but unleashed by the opening of an perhaps they should not be seen. ancient king’s tomb. As you read, HERBERT: What do you mean? N1: Flashback to five months decide whether you think the DOCTOR: Many believe that the earlier, in Luxor, Egypt. curse is real. final resting place of a pharaoh is N2: Archaeologist Howard Carter sacred, and that those who enter believes an undiscovered tomb lies an ancient tomb will be cursed. in the Valley of the Kings. HERBERT: Could it be true? Father N3: It is a desolate place full of sand N1: Cairo, Egypt, April 1923. fell ill soon after he entered N2: Lady Evelyn Herbert sits Tutankhamen’s tomb. 2 at her father’s bedside. N1: Lord Carnarvon’s body begins LORD CARNARVON: I’ll be fine, to tremble. He reaches for his my dear. daughter’s hand. LADY EVELYN HERBERT: But Father, CARNARVON: Dearest Evelyn, tell your skin has turned so pale. And Carter he must continue to that red mark on your cheek looks excavate the tomb no matter what like it’s on fire! happens. I . I . CARNARVON: It is nothing. Just an N2: Lord Carnarvon gasps for infected mosquito bite. breath. He dies. HERBERT: Are you sure? You look like you’re having trouble 1 breathing. CARNARVON: I’m euphoric! My archaeology team just made one of the biggest discoveries in history. N3: Lord Carnarvon starts to cough violently. A doctor arrives. HERBERT (quietly): Doctor, what’s wrong with him? DOCTOR: I can’t say. This is a very mysterious illness. HERBERT: My father must get well. 1. Outside the tomb of King Tut in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. 2. Howard Carter examines He and his partner, Howard Carter, the sarcophagus. 3. Artifacts from Tut’s tomb recently discovered the tomb of an being removed. Though Carter stated that they ancient pharaoh named should remain in Egypt, many relics ended up in museums and private collections around the Tutankhamen (toot-ahn-KAH- world. Today, most have been returned to the men). The tomb has rooms full Egyptian Museum in Egypt’s capital, Cairo. of gold and untold riches! 12 scholastic scope • OCTOBER 10, 2011 and rock. Temperatures there can is the one place in the valley Are you all right? ollection exceed 120˚F. I haven’t looked. Let’s clear away TARIK: The cobra is a symbol c ollection; ollection; N1: Carter and his team have spent all this debris. of protection for the pharaoh. nger c A r g years in this scorching valley, N1: One of the workers, Reis Ahmed, This is a warning: You must not nger he A t r g searching for the tomb of finds a smooth stone surface under disturb the pharaoh’s tomb! he t Tutankhamen. the sand. He keeps digging and CARTER: My good man, that’s N2: Tutankhamen became uncovers another stone below it. nonsense. If we have found ue des Archives/ pharaoh around 1333 b.c., when REIS AHMED: Mr. Carter, I think Tutankhamen’s tomb, just imagine r ue des Archives/ he was only 9 years old. He died I’ve found something unusual. the immense treasure inside! r mysteriously at age 19. N2: Carter brushes off the stones. TARIK: But, Sir . ollection; c N3: His tomb has never been Then he gently probes the sand CARTER: We may be able to show t to right: nger F A r found. around the stones. the world a perfectly preserved g he t From le HOWARD CARTER: Gentlemen, this CARTER: It seems to be part piece of ancient Egypt. And, we’ll of a structure. be famous for doing it! What could N3: The crew keeps working and be bad about that? uncovers a staircase that leads down to a door. CARTER: This door has royal N2: A few weeks later, Lord symbols! I must summon Lord Carnarvon arrives at the site from Carnarvon before we go any England. Carter’s crew finishes further. We should make this digging out the staircase and discovery together. breaks through the door. N1: Carter goes to his tent. N3: The team makes its way down Tarik is waiting for him. a dark passageway filled with stone CARTER: What is wrong? You and rubble. At the end, they find look as if you’ve seen a ghost! another sealed door. TARIK: I just came from your CARNARVON: This door has house. A cobra crept inside and hieroglyphics on it! What does killed your beloved canary. it say? CARTER: I’m sad to hear that. GARDINER: Let me have a look . Tut . ankh . amen! By Jove, Carter, 3 CARNARVON: we’ve found it! N1: With trembling hands, Carter makes a small breach in the door. Holding a candle in front of him, he sticks his head through the opening. N2: A sudden blast of hot air escapes from the chamber, causing the candle to flicker. N3: As Carter’s eyes grow accustomed to the light, scholastic.com/scope • OCTOBER 10, 2011 13 details of the room within slowly emerge—strange animals, statues, N1: After Lord Carnarvon’s death, world travel to Egypt to see and gold, everywhere the glint of Carter and his crew continue the the tomb. gold. laborious task of identifying and GEORGES BÉNÉDITE: Carter, what CARNARVON: Can you see anything? cataloguing everything in are the chances we can bring CARTER: Yes . wonderful things! Tutankhamen’s tomb. some of these marvelous treasures ollection N1: The crew widens the hole, and N2: More than 5,000 artifacts are to France? c the men slip through. found inside. The workers take CARTER: I do want to share this nger A r N2: The room is packed with great care with each one. extraordinary discovery with the g he glittering treasures: statues, N3: Inside the burial chamber, they world, but it does not belong to me. t chariots, ornate chests, furniture, use pulleys to lift a gold coffin out BÉNÉDITE: Would it really matter if urns, and jewelry—everything the of a stone sarcophagus. one or two artifacts were missing? imes; bottom: t ancient Egyptians believed Tut CARTER: Careful now. Keep it CARTER: The contents of the tomb would need in the afterlife. steady. Let’s not jostle the mummy. must stay in Egypt. Say, are you ew York n he N3: Gardiner picks up a gilded MACE: Why is it so heavy? OK? You look flushed. t wooden cobra. CARTER: The coffin seems to be N3: Bénédite collapses and dies. top: GARDINER: Carter, I can’t help but solid gold! Just wonder if these serpents have real think—soon we will power. People have warned me be looking into the that a curse will be unleashed if we face of an ancient enter this tomb. king. CARTER (whispering): Keep your MACE: Can someone superstitions to yourself, Gardiner. take this rope? My If the workers believe there is a body feels weak. curse, they won’t help us excavate. GARDINER: I’ll get it. We can’t do it ourselves. N1: Gardiner takes GARDINER: You have studied the rope just as Mace ancient Egypt most of your life. collapses. You don’t believe the curse could CARTER: What be real? happened? CARTER: I think it is a load of GARDINER: I’m not hogwash. sure. One moment GARDINER: Carter, I do hope you’re he was fine, the next, right. I would hate to incur the he fainted. wrath of the Egyptian gods and N2: Museum curators goddesses. from all over the 14 scholastic scope • OCTOBER 10, 2011 tired with a very high fever. Now he respect the pharaoh or our people. N1: Ahmed is dead. We have not seen the end AHMED: But, Tarik, our ancestors sees Tarik in of this curse. believed that their souls were kept the market. AHMED: But Mr. Carter works in alive when their names were AHMED: Tarik, the tomb every day. He is healthy remembered. You must admit, why haven’t you and robust. because of Howard Carter, been working at TARIK: Others are paying for his Tutankhamen will live forever. the tomb? greed with their lives. Entering the TARIK: I will not tomb was bad enough, but now he go back there. I heard that a tablet is removing every last item. N2: Texas, 2011. was found in the tomb that says, AHMED: Mr.