The Book
The Book of Knowledge
There was once an Egyptian Pharaoh named Nefer-ka-ptah. He was blessed with the gift of Knowledge. He knew all the magic in the world, understood all languages, even the languages of the animals. He knew of every human, creature, and monster who ever walked the earth. With this knowledge he created the most powerful and richest empire the world had ever seen. On his deathbed, Nefer-ka-ptah told his most trusted servant to help him put a spell on his tomb. This spell would allow Nefer-ka-ptah to come back to life and rule once more. Nefer-ka-ptah was buried with the most extraordinary treasure there ever was. And with this treasure lay the book of knowledge, which would give anyone who reads it all the knowledge of the world.
However, Nefer-ka-ptah was not the only one with magic. The gods were furious with Nefer-ka-ptah for trying to find a loophole out of death. They blessed him with the gift of knowledge and instead of being thankful Kefer-ka-ptah wanted to become the most powerful creature there ever was, even as powerful as the gods. Therefore, the gods came together and hid Nefer-ka-ptah’s tomb with booby traps, obstacles and a huge labyrinth of doors and tunnels. The gods did this so that no mortal human would ever be able to reach the tomb. If a human did, then Nefer-ka-ptah’s spell would be put in motion and he would be able to come back to life.
Thousands of years passed by, and the all-knowing Nefer-ka-ptah and his wondrous treasure became nothing more than a myth, told to scare little children.
Most children who would hear the story were obsessed with the enormous treasure of gold and jewels that was greater than their wildest imagination. But the book of knowledge entranced one child who heard this story. His name was Nathan. Nathan thought he could use that knowledge to help fix all the brokenness and sorrow in the world. And if you could do that, no one would need all the gold and jewels for everything and everyone would be whole and content.
Many years later, Nathan had grown up and became an archeologist. For being as young as he was he had a lot of impressive excavation sites he had discovered. However, he was still desperately searching for the tomb of Nefer-ka-ptah, even though that he kept to himself. But it turned out Nathan was a lot closer to his dream than he thought.
“Hey boss! You’re going to want to come take a look at this.”
Nathan walked over to the freshly dug eight-foot hole, when suddenly his eyes lit up. “This is it, boys!” Nathan shouted. “We have found the entrance to the tomb that holds all the riches of the world!”
There, in the dirt, was a massive doorway leading into a tunnel. Nathan and his team got their supplies together and started on their way down the tunnel. After about a mile, they reached a wide-open room, which had four doorways, each leading to a different tunnel going in different directions. They all split up and went through the different doorways. They had to get past many obstacles and creatures such as scorpions, snakes and spiders. Nathan had finally reached the tomb of Nefer-ka-ptah. “Now that I finally found what I was looking for, the book of knowledge, how will I use it? Will I really be able to make a positive impact on this world or be consumed by knowing all there ever was?” Nathan thought to himself. Then with a deep breath he said, “I have come this far and there is no turning back now. Whatever is meant to be will be.” Then he opened the book and began to read, “Chapter One: The Languages of the world……….”
Author’s Note:
The story The Book of Thoth from the Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie is about a prince named Nefer-ka-ptah. Nefer-ka-ptah embarks on a journey for the Book of Thoth, which holds all the magic and knowledge of the world. Nefer-ka-ptah must travel far and defeat multiple beasts such as a massive serpent in order to obtain the book. Once he finds the Book of Thoth he is able to understand all languages and he truly sees the skies and the entire world around him. In my story I stayed with the same theme but wanted to bring the story into a more modern era. I did this by having Nefer-ka-ptah’s story be a legend that happened about a thousand years ago in which my main character Nathan is entranced with and in turn sets out to find the all-knowing book, just like prince Nefer-ka-ptah did in the original story. Another modern twist is having Nathan, my main character, be an archeologist who ends up finding the book of knowledge. However, that was no easy task. Nathan is torn for he wants to use the book for good but he does not know if the book will change him.
Bibliography: The Book of Thoth from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie. Link to original story.