Calamitous Botanicus : Ivy & Burt and the Mummy's Curse

Waves of cold rain swept across the cobblestone courtyard as Ivy hurried to Vienna's Kunst Historisches Museum. There was a special project waiting for her and she was late. Rounding the corner she was greeted with an endless line of visitors at a dead standstill but there was no time to stop and help the ticket vendors today. Weaving through dripping tourists she made her way up the staircase leading to the Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection and through the doors.

Passing a pair of massive statues of Sekhmet, the fierce goddess of vengeance who traditionally led the pharaoh into battle, Ivy made her way through the exhibition halls.

As an archaeologist and scholar of hieroglyphics, Ivy had toiled away for many years at excavation sites from the rocky plateau at Giza to the Valley of the Kings. She unearthed hundreds of artefacts and her many discoveries have contributed to our knowledge of the ancient people of the Nile.

Suddenly, all the other visitors seem to vanish and Ivy found herself all alone among the mummy cases and sarcophagi. She wasn't sure if it was the ghosts of the previous occupants or the thought of her new project - but she definitely felt a cold shiver go down her spine.

The museum's collection of ancient Egyptian art began in 1560 when an emissary of the Austrian imperial family purchased a sculpture in Constantinople. (Just for reference, this was sixty years before the pilgrims set foot on Plymouth rock.) Though it wasn't until about 1820 that it became the thing to acquire and then it was mostly due to Napoleon's invasion of Egypt at the turn of the century and the discovery of the Rosetta stone. What really got everyone interested was a false claim that buried somewhere in those ancient tombs was the secret for turning silver into gold!

Of course the ancient artists had no such skill but they did possess the ability to make things look like gold. Even though she would be late getting to her new project, Ivy couldn't resist taking a few moments to gaze up at the pillars. They were over twenty feet tall and had come from an excavation site near Alexandria. The Emperor Franz Josef had received them as a gift in 1869 and had his architects design the room around them. She often wondered if the visitors were aware they were once part of a huge temple or maybe they just assumed they were fakes made to look old.

Finally, Ivy got to her project and as you might have guessed, it's a mummy! She really didn't need to be concerned about being late. The inscription on the tomb had read Bur-ton-heptet and it had been recently discovered near the ancient site of Shopkko.

After a careful examination, Ivy decided to take a look at what shabti or amulets may have been added during the mummification process. They were often added to ease the person's journey to the afterlife. His Madness showed up to help and in no time at all they had unwrapped quite a few trinkets. Then they came to a small figure of a cat. It was Bastet, the kitty god who is the protector of the home. (Don't tell your kitties they were once worshiped as gods, it will give them ideas.)

Suddenly the mummy began to scream and tear at the bandages!

Ivy and HM were paralysed in horror!

Until they realised it was Burt! He thought scaring them would be a fun Halloween prank and then he decided to make himself into a mummy piñata as well. Obviously, Burt like to party.