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When Proteus died, Rhampsinitus, the priests informed me,
succeeded to the throne. His monuments were the western gateway of the
temple of Vulcan, and the two statues which stand in front of this
gateway, called by the Egyptians, the one Summer, the other
Winter, each twenty-five cubits in height. The statue of Summer,
which is the northernmost of the two, is worshipped by the natives,
and has offerings made to it; that of Winter, which stands towards
the south, is treated in exactly the contrary way. King Rhampsinitus
was possessed, they said, of great riches in silver - indeed to such
an amount, that none of the princes, his successors, surpassed or
even equalled his wealth. For the better custody of this money, he
proposed to build a vast chamber of hewn stone, one side of which was
to form a part of the outer wall of his palace. The builder,
therefore, having designs upon the treasures, contrived, as he was
making the building, to insert in this wall a stone, which could
easily be removed from its place by two men, or even by one. So the
chamber was finished, and the king's money stored away in it. Time
passed, and the builder fell sick, when finding his end approaching,
he called for his two sons, and related to them the contrivance he had
made in the king's treasure-chamber, telling them it was for their
sakes he had done it, that so they might always live in affluence.
Then he gave them clear directions concerning the mode of removing the
stone, and communicated the measurements, bidding them carefully keep
the secret, whereby they would be Comptrollers of the Royal
Exchequer so long as they lived. Then the father died, and the sons
were not slow in setting to work: they went by night to the palace,
found the stone in the wall of the building, and having removed it with
ease, plundered the treasury of a round sum.
When the king next paid a visit to the apartment, he was astonished to
see that the money was sunk in some of the vessels wherein it was stored
away. Whom to accuse, however, he knew not, as the seals were all
perfect, and the fastenings of the room secure. Still each time that
he repeated his visits, he found that more money was gone. The
thieves in truth never stopped, but plundered the treasury ever more
and more. At last the king determined to have some traps made, and
set near the vessels which contained his wealth. This was done, and
when the thieves came, as usual, to the treasure-chamber, and one of
them entering through the aperture, made straight for the jars,
suddenly he found himself caught in one of the traps. Perceiving that
he was lost, he instantly called his brother and telling him what had
happened, entreated him to enter as quickly as possible and cut off his
head, that when his body should be discovered it might not be
recognised, which would have the effect of bringing ruin upon both.
The other thief thought the advice good, and was persuaded to follow
it then, fitting the stone into its place, he went home, taking with
him his brother's head.
When day dawned, the king came into the room, and marvelled greatly
to see the body of the thief in the trap without a head, while the
building was still whole, and neither entrance nor exit was to be seen
anywhere. In this perplexity he commanded the body of the dead man to
be hung up outside the palace wall, and set a guard to watch it, with
orders that if any persons were seen weeping or lamenting near the
place, they should be seized and brought before him. When the mother
heard of this exposure of the corpse of her son, she took it sorely to
heart, and spoke to her surviving child, bidding him devise some plan
or other to get back the body, and threatening, that if he did not
exert himself, she would go herself to the king, and denounce him as
the robber.
The son said all he could to persuade her to let the matter rest, but
in vain; she still continued to trouble him, until at last he yielded
to her importunity, and contrived as follows: Filling some skins with
wine, he loaded them on donkeys, which he drove before him till he
came to the place where the guards were watching the dead body, when
pulling two or three of the skins towards him, he untied some of the
necks which dangled by the asses' sides. The wine poured freely out,
whereupon he began to beat his head, and shout with all his might,
seeming not to know which of the donkeys he should turn to first. When
the guards saw the wine running, delighted to profit by the occasion,
they rushed one and all into the road, each with some vessel or other,
and caught the liquor as it was spilling. The driver pretended anger,
and loaded them with abuse; whereon they did their best to pacify him,
until at last he appeared to soften, and recover his good humour,
drove his asses aside out of the road, and set to work to rearrange
their burthens; meanwhile, as he talked and chatted with the guards,
one of them began to rally him, and make him laugh, whereupon he gave
them one of the skins as a gift. They now made up their minds to sit
down and have a drinking-bout where they were, so they begged him to
remain and drink with them. Then the man let himself be persuaded,
and stayed. As the drinking went on, they grew very friendly
together, so presently he gave them another skin, upon which they
drank so copiously that they were all overcome with the liquor, and
growing drowsy lay down, and fell asleep on the spot. The thief
waited till it was the dead of the night, and then took down the body
of his brother; after which, in mockery, he shaved off the right side
of all the soldiers' beards, and so left them. Laying his brother's
body upon the asses, he carried it home to his mother, having thus
accomplished the thing that she had required of him.
When it came to the king's ears that the thief's body was stolen
away, he was sorely vexed. Wishing, therefore, whatever it might
cost, to catch the man who had contrived the trick, he had recourse
(the priests said) to an expedient, which I can scarcely credit.
He sent his own daughter to the common stews, with orders to admit all
comers, but to require every man to tell her what was the cleverest and
wickedest thing he had done in the whole course of his life. If any
one in reply told her the story of the thief, she was to lay hold of
him and not allow him to get away. The daughter did as her father
willed, whereon the thief, who was well aware of the king's motive,
felt a desire to outdo him in craft and cunning. Accordingly he
contrived the following plan: He procured the corpse of a man lately
dead, and cutting of one of the arms at the shoulder, put it under his
dress, and so went to the king's daughter. When she put the question
to him as she had done to all the rest, he replied that the wickedest
thing he had ever done was cutting off the head of his brother when he
was caught in a trap in the king's treasury, and the cleverest was
making the guards drunk and carrying off the body. As he spoke, the
princess caught at him, but the thief took advantage of the darkness to
hold out to her the hand of the corpse. Imagining it to be his own
hand, she seized and held it fast; while the thief, leaving it in her
grasp, made his escape by the door.
The king, when word was brought him of this fresh success, amazed at
the sagacity and boldness of the man, sent messengers to all the towns
in his dominions to proclaim a free pardon for the thief, and to
promise him a rich reward, if he came and made himself known. The
thief took the king at his word, and came boldly into his presence;
whereupon Rhampsinitus, greatly admiring him, and looking on him as
the most knowing of men, gave him his daughter in marriage. "The
Egyptians," he said, "excelled all the rest of the world in
wisdom, and this man excelled all other Egyptians."
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