Continuing on with the Ancient Egyptian myths.
The story that captured my interest this time around was The Book of Thoth. In it, the prince is consumed with his love of reading. A priest tells him of the Book of Thoth and the prince must have it! He gets his father, the king, to finance his expedition even against the warnings of his wife. He, his wife and his son travel to find this book. After finding it, the prince reads it and gains insight and magic. He then also has his wife read it and they sail happily back to his father's kingdom.
Meanwhile, Thoth has discovered his book had been stolen and asks Ra for satisfaction against those who stole it. On the journey back, first the son, then the wife, and then the prince himself are compelled over the side of the boat to drown in the water. Before his death, the prince affixed the book to himself in a final act to make sure Thoth didn't get it back.
My question is, was it really worth it? The prince got to read the book, but both himself and his family is dead because of it. He had been warned against it by his wife, but he still did it. Perhaps if the story was told in modern times, the prince would have been the only death, or he wouldn't have died but his family still would. I'd go for the second, actually. More drama that way.
No harm ever came from reading a book, right?
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