Professor Khiwi Meets a Mummy!

Professor Khiwi was always curious!

He loved to explore! When he was a tiny kitten, he explored the basket he lived in.

When he was bigger, he explored the room that the basket was in.

When he was nearly grown-up, he explored the whole house!

And now that he is all grown-up, he explores the whole world!

One day, Professor Khiwi went to Egypt.

Egypt is a country in Africa, and a long time ago they had kings and queens called pharaohs.

There is a wonderful river in Egypt, called the Nile!

The Nile stops the Sahara Desert from making Egypt into desert.

Deserts are very dry, but water is wet and the Nile has lots of water in it.

Professor Khiwi sailed down the Nile on a big boat, with some friendly frogs and other visitors!

Professor Khiwi went on a camel ride. His camel was called Clarence. 

Afterwards, Professor Khiwi said, “Thank you, Clarence.”

Clarence didn’t say anything, but he spat – ptooey! – right at Professor Khiwi’s feet.

“How rude!” said Professor Khiwi.

“No, no!” said one of the frogs. “He likes you. Otherwise he would have spat at you!”

“Oh!” said Professor Khiwi. “How very curious!”

Professor Khiwi went exploring with some of the frogs!

He found a great big pyramid. 

“Oh!” he said, looking at his map. “This pyramid isn’t on my map!”

“It must be!” said the frogs. 

But it wasn’t!

“Let’s explore!” said Professor Khiwi!

“I’ve always wanted to know what was in a pyramid!”

“Us too!” said the frogs.

They walked all around the pyramid. 

“Oh!” said the frogs. “There’s no door!”

“How very curious!” said Professor Khiwi. “But there must be!” 

Professor Khiwi asked for help from some local monkies. “Did you know a group of monkeys is called a troop?”

He went closer to the pyramid and realized that some of the stones were loose!

“Here!” he shouted. “I’ve found the door! It was all blocked up!”

Some local cats hurried forward to help and soon the doorway was clear.

“Did you know that the Egyptians used to worship cats?” Cats were a very big deal!

A long dark passageway went into the heart of the pyramid!

Professor Khiwi stood in the doorway and took a deep breath.

Adventure! 

“Are you scared?” asked one of the frogs.

“We’re not! We’re going in!”

But they all lined up behind Professor Khiwi, peering around his legs nervously!

“Not at all!” he said.

“I was enjoying the moment. I’m so curious about this pyramid and what we’ll find inside.

And in just a minute we will know for sure!”

And he stepped into the passageway, holding up a bright torch that chased away all the scary shadows in a second!

They walked to the middle of the pyramid and stood there, looking around.

The cats were still scared, and did not want to go on!

“That is ok! Not everybody has to explore or be curious about everything!” said Professor Khiwi.

There was a big stone sarcophagus – with the lid pushed off! 

“Uh-oh,” said the frogs huddling together.

“What’s the matter?” asked Professor Kiwi.

“RAAAAHHH!” A baggy white shape rushed out of the shadows at them. “RaaaAAAAhhh-cough-cough-cough!”

“ARGH!” yelled all the frogs, hopping down the passageway in a panic!

“Oh, I say!” said Professor Khiwi. “Can I offer you a throat sweet?”

“Very-cough-kind of you. Cough,” said the Mummy (for that is who it was).

The frogs came back and peered around the doorway!

“It’s the dust you know. Very hard to get rid of.” She took a throat sweet and sucked it noisily.

“Is this your pyramid?” asked Professor Khiwi.

“I’m very curious about what goes into a pyramid, you know.”

“Yes, it’s mine,” said the Mummy!

“And I do wish people would leave me alone!”

“How curious!” said Professor Khiwi. “You don’t like people?”

“Not much,” said the Mummy. “I had a very busy life and always longed for a very quiet afterlife…”

“…But here I am, and every millennium someone comes along and ‘discovers’ my pyramid…“

“I don’t know, I thought I’d built it far away enough for some peace and quiet!”

“Ah,” said Professor Khiwi. “People are curious, you see. They want to know everything about everything.”

“Curious? What does that mean?” asked the Mummy!

“There’s two meanings,” said Professor Khiwi.

“One meaning is ‘strange’. So if you would say something is strange, you can also say something is curious.

The other means to be interested in things.”

“Hmm,” said the Mummy. “So you can be curious about curious things? Which is another way of saying, ‘nosy about stuff’?”

“Yes!” said Professor Khiwi.

“Well, I don’t want people being nosy about my stuff!” said the Mummy crossly.

“Can you put a sign up or something, telling them not to come here?”

“Well, I could,” said Professor Khiwi.

“But then people will wonder why there’s a sign saying not to come this way and they’ll come even quicker!”

“This monkey troop is especially curious!” noted Professor Khiwi. 

The Mummy shook her head sadly!

“We can help!” said the frogs. “We can cast a magic spell so no one can see your pyramid.”

“Really?” said the Mummy.

“Yes,” said the frogs. 

“Anyone who knows about it now will remember it, but everyone else will forget.”

“Yes, please!” said the Mummy happily!

“And then, finally, I’ll get some peace!”

The frogs gathered in a circle and cast the spell. “There,” they said. “It’s done.”

“Thank you!” said the Mummy. “And to reward you, I will show you a friendship dance.”

She showed them the dance and they all danced it together all the way through, three times without stopping!

“Oh, that was fun!” said Professor Khiwi, fanning himself with his hat.

“But now I’m really warm!”

He took a sip of water and continued, “But now, we’ll get out of your home and leave you to some peace and quiet.”

“Thank you,” said the Mummy.

“I’d like that. But because we are friends now, you can come back and visit.”

“Oh thank you very much!” said Professor Khiwi!

 “I would love to come back one day, perhaps when I know a bit more about ancient Egypt.”

“Mmm,” said the Mummy, walking them to the door. “But don’t come back too soon! About fifty years is fine by me!”

Tada!

And with that, she waved her hands and all the stones that had been blocking up the doorway flew up into the air and replaced themselves, stopping anyone from going back in!

The End

And because Professor Khiwi was very polite and respectful, he did wait a whole fifty years before going back to visit his curious friend, the Mummy!