Chapter 1:

GOLDEN GOBLET SUMMARY

Chapter 1:

1.) Ranofer dreams of his father Thuthra, a great goldsmith who has died.

2.) Ranofer had hoped to become his fathers pupil one day but instead he now had to live with his half- brother Gebu who starves and beats him.

3.) He is forced to work as a porter, to sweep out the goldsmith shop instead of working as an apprentice.

4.) Ranofer makes friends with Heqet, a new apprentice at the gold shop.

5.) Ibni, a Babylonian porter, has Ranofer delivering wine to Gebu and Ranofer becomes suspicious that Ibni is hiding stolen gold in the wineshin when the head goldsmith Rekh reveals that he has discovered gold has been stolen from the shop.

6.) Ranofer cant expose the crime because he would be implicated for accepting the wineskins and taking them to Gebu all these months; plus, he is afraid that Gebu would sell him into slavery or actually kill him if he reveals the thieves.

Chapter 2:

1.) Ranofer meets the Ancient an Old papyrus cutter and his donkey, Lotus.

2.) Ranofer confronts Gebu warns him that Rekh is suspicious and that he no longer will carry the wineskins to Gebu.

3.) Gebu threatens to harm if he tells Rekh about his suspicions and if refuses to continue to deliver them to Gebu as always. 4) Ranofer hears Gebu talking that night to Setma, the Nile boat captain, and Wenamon, another mason (stonecutter)(. 4.) Ranofer imagines running away and becoming an apprentice to Thutra.

Chapter 3:

1.) Ranofer decides to tell Ibni that Gebu doesnt want his wine, so he wont have to carry home the stolen gold which he believes to be inside the wineskins.

2.) On the way to work Ranofer recalls what symbols he had learned during his lessons with the scribe and practices writing in the sand.

3.) At work, Ranofer accepts a fig from his new friend Heqet, and then goes to his tasks of passing out the gold, and stocking the furnace. He overhears the scribe tell Rekh that the tally of weightings shows that there is missing gold again. Ranofer feels better knowing he will refuse to transport the wineskin with the stolen gold inside.

4.) Ranofer shows Heqet how to make coals and then shows Meryra how to pound a bowl. When Rekh oversees, his skills, he offers to let Ranofer make 50 leaves of gold for a necklace ordered by Lady Irenmaat.

5.) Jubilant, Ranofer leaves work with his friend Heqet and when Ibni approaches with the wineskin, he refuses to take it.

6.) When Ranofer comes home empty handed, Gebu beats him severely and forces him to agree to bring home the wineskins from then on.

Chapter 4:

1.) Ranofer awakes with a plan to expose Gebu as the gold stealer.

2.) Because he feels his fathers ba had brought him the plan in his sleep, Ranofer takes an offering of half his meager breakfast to his fathers grave before work.

3.) While Ranofer shows Heqet how to make solder, he confides in him his belief that Gebu and Ibni are stealing the gold, and asks him to tell Rekh at the right time so that Gebu wont know it is Ranofer who tells. Heqet agrees.

Chapter 5:

1,) 8 days later, as Ranofer walks home, he sees people rushing past him and dashing about shouting. Something is happening. He becomes very anxious and curious.

2.) He encounters the Ancient, the old donkey owner, who tells him that an execution of grave robbers is taking place. They are hung by one foot from the palace walls until dead. The Ancient advises him not to watch.3.) The next day when he gets to work, Ibini has been replaced at the vats- he must have been fired.

4.) Ranofer hears Ibni begs Gebu for intercession to get his job back, Gebu refuses. Ranofer pretends to know nothing.

5.) Gebu informs him that Ranofer that he will start the next day as an apprentice at Gebus cutting stone.

6.) Ranofer offers to live in the desert and cut papyrus for the sail makers if Gebu will buy him a donkey. Gebu only laughs.

Chapter 6:

1.) The next day Ranofer very reluctantly reports to Pai, the foreman, at the stone cutting shop and is given the dull and dangerous job of putting cutting sand into holes so Zahotep may drill sockets in an alabaster slab.

2.) While working, he learns the slab will be a coffin lid for a tomb. Next, he is set to smoothing sandstone with blocks of granite.

3.) The third day he is set to rough dressing stone with chisel and hammer. He learns to hate stone cutting for its monotony, but has to be attentive because mistakes mean mutilated hands and harsh reprises from Pai. 4.) Ranofer has no friends at the shop to eat lunch with, so he just observes the activities of the shop. Gebu comes to the shop once per day and sometime goes over some linen scrolls of temple plans with Wenamon.

5.) One night hears Gebu sneak out of the house and wonders why he would go out at such a late hours when spirits- kefts- roam the night.

6.) At irregular intervals, Ranofer hears Gebu sneaking out at night, but he puts the matter out of his mind.

Chapter 7:

1.) Harvest time comes and many stonecutters must assist with the harvest, which leaves Gebu to oversee work in the shop nearly all day.

2.) Finally Ranofer returns to the Street of the Goldsmith. He resumes his friendship with Hequet.

3.) For lunch, Hequet shares his cheese in exchange for lotus root that Ranofer has and hates though Ranofer is embarrassed and doesnt want to admit he is starving. The Ancient, the old papyrus cutter, joins then and brings nebumbo nuts. The 3 are becoming good friends. Chapter 8:

1.) At Hequets invitation when he has to run an errand there, Ranofer accompanies him to the workshop of Zau who recognizes Ranofer from the days when the boy apprenticed under Thutra who was Zaus friend.

2.) Even though he does not take apprentices, Zau agrees that he will take Ranofer as a pupil and not charge him out of respect of Ranofers father, but Ranofer would have to feed and house himself and Ranofer has to admit that he has not way to support himself during training and that Gebu will never let him go.

3.) In his excitement over future possibilities, Ranofer returns to Gebu without his wages and Gebu beats him again. Chapter 9:

1.) The next day at work, Ranofer is glad to be ignored except for being asked to retrieve some tomb plans. Gebu and Pai are fighting about the tombs dimensions. The fight ends when Gebu shouts that Gebu must narrow the sides of a coffin because it is too wide for the tombs passageway.

2.) On his way out, Gebu collects Ranofers wages for two days.3.) While returning the plans to the storeroom, Ranofer realizes that Gebu has recently seemed more well-to do, and now Ranofer is even more suspicious that Gebu is stealing again.

4.) Ranofer tells Heqet and the Ancient about his suspicions at lunch.

5.) After discussing the situation, they each agree to follow and watch Gebu and his consorts.

6.) Heqet agrees to watch Wenamon whose house is just behind the apprentices quarters where he lives.

7.) The Ancient agrees to watch Setma, the river captain, who works near the sail makers docks where he delivers his papyrus. They believe Setma may be transporting Gebus stolen goods out of the city to be sold.

8.) Ranofer agrees to watch Gebu very carefully to avoid suspicion.

Chapter 10:

1.) Ranofer ventures follows Gebu out into the darkness in extreme fear, chanting spells to keep spirits away. As he looks for Gebu, something trips him, and thinking it is some unknown attacker he races home. He then realizes it was a cat. 2.) Ranofer goes out once more to look for Gebu, but weak with fear, returns home resolved to follow Gebu the next time he sneaks out.

3.) Ranofer waits many nights for Gebu to sneak out, but when it doesnt happen he becomes discouraged with spying altogether.

4.) Ranofer tries to turn his attention to stone cutting to learn it as a trade as the Ancient suggests and one day asks Gebu about the purpose of a particular room drawn in the plans of a tomb. Gebu reacts in extreme anger and hits Ranofer, telling him never to ask questions again.

5.) That night Gebu beats Ranofer again demanding an explanation for his question about the room. Ranofer cries out that he was merely trying to learn more about the stone cutting trade, but would cease the attempt from then on. 6.) After Gebu leaves, Ranofer sneaks into Gebu room and finds a Golden Goblet in Gebus wooden chest of shanties (clothes). His finds written on the goblet the name Thutmose-Nefer-Kheperu, a Pharaoh of Egypt from a hundred years previous, and realizes Gebu has robbed a grave! The greatest of all crimes in Egypt.7.) On his way out of the room, Ranofer realizes he broke a clay seal on the door Gebu placed there to reveal intrusions.. Chapter 11:

1.) Ranofer crudely replaces the seal, then nervously waits on his mat, but luckily Gebu returns drunk and doesnt notice the seal has been broken.

2.) Ranofer feels relieved when he realizes he can turn in Gebu in and be free of him for good, but he troubles over the question of how to do it.

3.) He decides he must get the goblet to use as proof when he reports the crime, but when he sneaks into Gebus room, the goblet is gone! Chapter 12:

1.) Ranofer dares not tell Heqet or anyone about his discovery of the goblet and that he cant find it because he will need proof that Gebu is stealing from the tombs or no one in authority will believe him and he doesnt want to endanger his friends.2.) Then Heqet overhears Gebu telling Wenamon to meet him at daybreak beside the crooked tree.

3.) Ranofer lies and tells his friends that Gebu is going to Abydos, but the truth is Gebu and Wenoman are really going to enter the Valley of the Tombs instead of going to the festival.

4.) Ranofer decides that he will follow them.

Chapter 13:

1.) Ranofer follow Gebu through the City of the Dead2.) Ranofer stops and hears Gebu and Wenamon talking at the meeting place of the crooked tree. He is forced to hide on a ledge when Wenamon checks the path to see if he or Gebu are being followed.

3.) He follows Gebu and Wenamon down a path into the Valley of the Tombs.

4.) Ranofer hides while Gebu and Wenamon uncover a secret tomb entrance and go in.

5.) After Ranofer looks down the tomb entrance, he understands Gebus system for robbing the graves. The plot is that Gebu digs a secret tunnel leading to the tomb during its construction, and then Wenamon hides the passageway behind a plaster tomb wall, which can be broken open from the passageway for later access. This also explains why Gebu was so angry when Ranofer had asked about the little room on the tomb plans, for it was intended to lead to just such a secret passageway.

6.) A vulture, quickly swoops down just over his head and Ranofer falls into the tomb.

7.) When Ranofer does not arrive to meet Heqet and the Ancient to go with them to the festival, Heqet and the Ancient realize through clues of Ranofers behavior and comments from the previous week, that he had probably discovered Gebu and Wenamon were tomb robbing and decided to follow them.

8.) Heqet and the Ancient follow the path to the crooked tree, and then proceed to the Valley of the Tombs to look for Ranofer.

Chapter 14:

1) Heqet and the Ancient cant find Ranofer and suspect that Ranofer may have ventured too far.

3.) Ranofer walks into the dark recesses of the tomb and discovers that Gebu is robbing the tomb of Huaa, father of Queen Tiy who is presently Queen of Egypt.

4.) The grave robbers hear Ranofer, who hurls a jewel box into Gebus face and a bottle of wine to extinguish the torch they carry. He races away in the darkness and wedges stones into the tomb opening and escapes leaving them trapped inside the tomb for now. Chapter 15:1.) Heqet and the ancient appear in time to push a heavy boulder in place to block the entrance and to guard the spot while Ranofer seeks help.

2.) He runs to the city, everyone gone to the festival, but finds the palace occupied.

3.) Climbing over the wall into the Queens garden, Ranofer is apprehended by guards, whom he tells of the grave plundering.

4.) The only person to believe him is Qa-nafer of Abydos, the Queens dwarf, who gains him audience with the queen to tell his story.

Chapter 16:

Read what happens.