Mansfield Park: Pharaoh

The story continues…

The dead pharaoh dropped the dead maid’s now desiccated body. He unwrapped the linens around his head and revealed that his lifeless flesh now held a glow about it. He was unmistakably dead, but seemed to be regenerating. He shuffled off to find someone else to aid in his regeneration process.

Meanwhile, the loud crash was heard in the dining room. Tom Bertram and Edmund Bertram looked up, alarmed. Everyone else hardly noticed and calmly continued their chatter about society and the latest gossip. Fanny Price, who had absolutely no interest in the subjects in question, also noticed the loud sound emanating from the upper floor. Tom indicated (to those that paid attention) that everyone should stay seated so that he may investigate. He didn’t think it was anything serious and therefore thought it was unnecessary to alarm anyone. He excused himself formally from the table and walked up the stairs.

Tom walked up the stairs and looked at the empty hall in front of him. He wondered which room the sound could have come from and resumed walking slowly down the hall, listening for any more sounds. He heard a rustle in the closet next to Fanny’s room.
He walked slowly and silently up to it and threw it open with a shout. He saw Josephine’s crumpled figure on the floor next to the empty sarcophagus. He exclaimed. “Josephine! Are you all right?”

Hurriedly, he bent to help her up. He recoiled and gasped in horror when he realized that the young woman was dead and looked to have been so for quite some time.
Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, the mummy gripped Tom’s neck, lifting him easily. Tom gave a shout of surprise and struggled against the mummy’s vice grip. He tried to hit or kick the monster, but it proved ineffective as the mummy’s grip continued to tighten.

Black spots danced at the edges of his vision. He knew he couldn’t stay conscious for much longer. His attempts at escape became weaker and weaker until he could hardly lift his limbs anymore. He was about to be engulfed by the darkness of unconsciousness when he was unceremoniously dropped onto the floor. Color flooded back into his world as he coughed and tried to breathe.

When he took a couple of full breaths, he looked up and saw his brother Edmund, striking the mummy about the head with a golden bust of Nefertiti he had found in a random crate. It just seemed to be annoying the creature rather than doing any real damage. Tom attempted to stealthily find a weapon in the closet to no avail. He was about to strike the mummy in the back of the head with his fist when he heard a woman scream downstairs! “How could this possibly get any worse?” wondered Edmund.

~*~
* Based on Mansfield Park and Mummies by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian.

* guest post from Titania of Fishmuffins of Doom

* image source mummy

~ Mansfield Park schedule ~

Mansfield Park: Closet

Dear guests, before we continue I must relay this story of a dinner party of last week...

For the past few months, Lady Bertram had not been herself. She had taken to muttering to herself and going through her daily routine in a daze. In addition to this odd behavior, she had been buying as many Egyptian antiquities she could get her hands on.

There were dusty crates, animal headed figures, papyrus, and things of that nature everywhere. One could hardly walk down the hall without tripping over one thing or another. Unfortunately, everyone just politely ignored her eccentric behavior instead of trying to figure out why she had changed so drastically.

As everyone was eating dinner in the dining room (which had been cleared of Egyptian artifacts for the evening), a rustling could be heard in the small closet next to Fanny Price’s room.

The rustling grew louder and became a scratching, accompanied by a muffled moan. Inside of the closet was a large crate in the center of the room with a beautiful sarcophagus in it. It was vibrantly painted and depicted a man wearing the nemes of an Egyptian pharaoh and holding a hook and flail. The sides of the coffin where covered in beautiful hieroglyphics designed to protect the dead pharaoh.

A scraping noise was heard as the lid of the sarcophagus inched slowly open. A mummified hand could be seen as the mummy struggled to free himself from the tomb he had obviously been in for some time. The lid fell to the floor with a crash and alerted Josephine, the maid, to investigate. She ran into the closet, fearful because she thought something might have broken which would surely incur the wrath of her eccentric employer. She knew how Lady Bertram treasured all her Egyptian antiquities.

She was puzzled by the open sarcophagus and slowly stepped towards it to see what could have moved such a large and heavy object. The mummy inside looked as it should: wrapped in linens and unmoving. She bent over the lid to make sure it wasn’t noticeably damaged. She heard a rustle of linens and she was suddenly lifted in the air by her neck! She gazed down at the mummy that held her and tried to scream, but the thing tightened its grip around her neck. “The mummy opened its already gaping maw wide…and it continued opening—wider, wider—and it drew forward just inches away from [Josephine’s] face.”*

This was the last thing she saw before she fainted.

to be continued...

~*~
* Taken from Mansfield Park and Mummies by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian, pg. 296

* guest post from Titania of Fishmuffins of Doom

* image source sacophagus

~ Mansfield Park schedule ~

Mansfield Park: Suspects

Dear guests, we have come to the moment where speculations and assumptions must be put aside. What are your conclusions for the affair at hand? Wild guesses are acceptable.

Suspect	Weapon	Room
Miss Scarlett	Knife	Conservatory
Colonel Mustard	Candlestick	Lounge
Mrs. White	Pistol	Library
Mr. Green	Rope	Study
Mrs. Peacock	Lead Pipe	Kitchen
Professor Plum	Wrench	Dining Room

*** Edmund Book & Paperdoll Giveaway ***


Edmund Bertram's Diary
by Amanda Grange

Edmund paper doll (pictured above)
created by Legacy Designs
Open to all

Offer ends July 31, 2010

TO DO:
Based on the list above, give me you best guess. In comments give me your email and tell me...

Who did the deed? What is the cause of Mr Boddy's demise?

Name the suspect, weapon, room the crime was committed and possible motive.

Feel free to be creative and if you feel that someone else (not on the list) is suspect, then specify the other.
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Contest has ended - winner is here

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~ Mansfield Park schedule ~

Mad Tea Party

Virtual Mad Tea Party
hosted by A Fanciful Twist
view more parties here

~*~
teaser 1: Pine Cone Palace
teaser 2: Soulraye's Hut
teaser 3: Tree Top

~*~

The table has been set.


Fairies start to arrive for the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.


Fairy flight is the main mode of transportation.


Alice is present and waiting patiently.


More fairies arrive for the occasion.


Dormouse is sleeping.


Hare is perplexed.


Hatter is absent.

Fairies frolick as they wait to be served.


Alice joins in the fun.
But her stomach is starting to growwwwl.
Perhaps she should take a swig from her bottle o'blue.


Where is Hatter?

Methinks, being the Mad Hatter, he got caught up with other imaginings and plainly, simply forgot!

*** Alice Book Giveaway ***

Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy
edited by Richard Brian Davis
courtesy of John Wiley & Sons

Open to all.

Offer ends June 30, 2010

TO DO:
Comment with your email and tell me...

What is your favorite item to eat while drinking tea?

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Contest has ended - winner is here

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* special thanks to the daughter, svb, for the use of her fae
* Alice created by Shana of Kreating Insecurities
* image source dormouse sleeping
* image source march hare
* image source Mad Hatter

Mansfield Park: Study

While Professor Plum is being interviewed by Dr Watson, Sharli of Montgomery Park, Midnight Cowgirl and Lady Iris Seyton of Brightmore Manor (aka Mademoiselle Stella) amuse themselves with a game of cards.

During their card game they speak of the latest gossip and news. They are most excited about Meredith of Austenesque's latest book acquisitions...

To Conquer Mr. Darcy
by Abigail Reynolds

Darcy's Voyage
by Kara Louise

Mr. Darcy's Little Sister
by C. Allyn Pierson
The ladies' voices steadily increase with their excited chatter. Dr Watson must interrupt his interview with Professor Plum to alert them of their volume.

Things to know about Watson:
--> full name, Dr John Hamish Watson

--> British Doctor who is the friend, assistant, and flatmate of detective Sherlock Holmes

--> used to be an athlete

--> Assistant Surgeon of the Army Medical Department (attached to the 66th Foot) in Afghanistan, but he was discharged following an injury

--> Watson often uses his service revolver in the cases. He is a crack shot, apparently a better marksman than Holmes.

~*~
Shelock Holmes pokes his head into the study.

psst. Watson, have you examined the body?

No, not yet.

Well, what are you waiting for ol' boy. Be off. I shall finish the narratives here.

Dr Watson concludes his interview with Professor Plum, writes down final notes, gathers his things and leaves the room.

Dr Watson found that...
Professor Plum is almost the smartest man on the planet. If he wasn’t so scatterbrained, he would definitely be the smartest. Slightly balding and middle-aged, Peter Plum can’t remember where he’s been the last five minutes of any part of any day, so how could he remember if he murdered Mr. Boddy or not? He’s a simple, intelligent man and good-natured at heart, but he likes to steal his own things. That’s because he's just scatterbrained enough to do so! -Plum bio

Before Holmes continues with questioning the remaining guests he notices a crumpled letter that did not make it into the trash bin. It lay on the floor beckoning him. With curiosity, Holmes picks up the letter and smoothes it out...

~*~
Whenever I think of mummies, I think of them buried in the Valley of the Kings or in grand pyramids in Giza or lying behind glass in a museum. I never thought there were other more disturbing uses for mummies employed in the past. Here are a few that I find the most interesting.

* The bitumen was considered to have healing properties and was used as a medicine. People believed for a long time that bitumen was used in the mummification process. Because of this, people would grind up mummies into powder and use it for medicinal purposes. This practice is over 500 years old and was used as recently as 1972. When mummies were hard to find, merchants would embalm corpses themselves and market them as mummies.

* The Mummy Brown or Egyptian Brown is a color of paint that contained powdered mummy. It was primarily used in the 1500’s and 1600’s in oil and watercolor painting. The color was no longer used after the contents were well known in the 1800’s.

* Mummies were used as entertainment as well. Mummy unwrapping parties were popular in the 1830’s and 1840’s. This was most likely to discover if there were any valuables within the wrappings. Gail Carriger added this tidbit in her new novel, Changeless (the second of the Parasol Protectorate series). I was horrified that it was considered acceptable, let alone a form of entertainment, but I accepted that it was a part of actual history.

* The tombs of Ancient Egyptians have been robbed throughout history by a variety of different people. This practice was accepted and not criminalized until that late 1800’s.

* There is speculation that there may have been papyrus paper imported into America in the 1850’s that was made from linen wrappings of mummies.

* Mummified cats were shipped to Europe to sell as fertilizer.
I find these facts also saddening because these practices destroyed so many mummies and tombs that may have led to important discoveries about the Ancient Egyptian people.

~*~
More mummy facts. Holmes is intrigued. First the marked book in the Library and now this letter. Whatever could be the meaning of it all?

*** Watson Book Giveaway ***

Courtesy of Quirk Books:

The Crimes of Dr. Watson
An Interactive Sherlock Holmes Mystery
Author: John H. Watson, M.D.,
Edited and with an Introduction by, Duane Swierczynski
-for 2 winners
Open to all.

Offer ends: July 31, 2010

TO DO:
Visit the Quirk Books site and tell me 2 things of interest that you found there in comments along with your email.
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Contest has ended - winner is here

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~*~
* guest post of mummy facts from Titania of Fishmuffins of Doom

* image source Dr Watson

~ Mansfield Park schedule ~