Anthony Holmes
Category:
Children
Publisher: Anthony Holmes
ISBN-10: 0981401104
Type: Fiction
Pages: 74
ISBN-13: 9780981401102
The story of the mysterious disappearance of “The Pharaoh’s Horse” is
suitable for self-reading by 9 – 12 year olds, or for adults to read to
younger children. It is the story of the Pharaoh’s black chariot horse
that vanishes in very strange circumstances. It tells how Berry, the
black cat born in the Palace who we first met in “The Cat’s Princess”,
solves the mystery with the help of her friends a Dog, a Bat, a Frog,
a Scarab beetle and various other animals.
In addition to the exciting and delightful story, the book contains
beautiful illustrations by Charmaine Hoy, a maze to solve and how to
read and write hieroglyphs.
The Pharaoh's Horse
A horse is a large animal, especially one of the black horses especially bred to pull the Pharaoh's chariot. It is unlikely that such a large animal could disappear, quite literally, before the very eyes of the men who were employed to look after it. The horse did not run away, it did not fall into the river a get eaten by crocodiles, so what happened to it? Berry, the black cat that lives in the Pharaoh's palace and her animal friends set out to find the Pharaoh's Horse an solve the mystery surrounding its disappearance.
Excerpt
‘We can’t do much at the moment, Tom. It is full moon tonight and we are going to the frog concert at the pond by the Riverside. Perhaps we can find out from the frogs what they know about the missing horse.’
The moon was very bright when we set out to the frog concert. Hekr was with us as we walked towards the River. The croaking got louder and louder as we approached the pond alongside the Riverbank. It sounded like the whole of ‘frogdom’ was croaking at the same time. The ground was muddy underfoot, but Hekr didn’t mind that. The big grey shaggy dog lay flat on his tummy with his head on the ground and he put both paws over his ears! I wished cats could do something similar, but we are not built that way. The noise was incredible, then suddenly it all stopped! Every frog stopped at the same time! A strange and eyrie silence descended over the pond. Then a single bull frog started his song. This was the competition to find the best frog voice in the Land! When the first frog had completed his song, the next one took over.
They all sang about the same thing. The words of their songs were a lot more beautiful than the music! They called to the lady frogs that lived by the River and invited them to join them in their homes along the Riverbank. Each frog sang of his strength, of his beauty and of the wonderful home he had dug. They used the most glowing words and to my ears the most exaggerated stories to entice the lady frogs to join them. Finally the competition was over. A certain amount of croaking followed. It seemed that the frogs knew which one had won, but we had no idea. While it was quiet I went over to the group of frog singers. One of them, an old and wrinkled bull frog with many bumps and warts on his back was an old friend of mine.
‘Good evening Frog. How are you this evening?’
‘Hello Berry! I am well, but I am afraid my voice is no longer as sweet as it used to be. There was a time when I was known to have the sweetest voice in this part of the River, but I am old now and my voice is a bit croaky.’
I nearly laughed at his words, but I remembered that he was very sensitive about his voice. Instead I asked him who had won the competition.
‘It’s that young fellow over there,’ he said, pointing with one long green webbed finger. ‘Oh well,’ he sighed, ‘I suppose it is time for the young ones to come along now!’
‘Tell me, Frog,’ I went on, ‘do you know anything about the Pharaoh’s missing black horse.’
‘I have heard about it, but to tell you the truth I have been practicing for the competition and I have not been paying much attention to the news lately,’ croaked Frog.
‘One thought is that the stable lads were not watching the horses closely and the missing horse was taken by the crocodiles!’ I said.
‘Really,’ said the frog, ‘how strange. I will find out for you if you like.’
‘That would be most useful,’ I answered.
The big, old frog took two hops and flopped into the water. I could follow the ripples as he swam swiftly out into the blackness of the River. The bright full silver moon cast the shadows of the tall palm trees across the River and it became difficult to follow what was happening, but every now and then I caught sight of an old log of wood drifting in the current and the glint of moonlight reflecting from a pair of yellow eyes just above the surface. I climbed a short way up one of the palm trees to get a better view. I saw Frog flop out of the water onto the back of one of the crocodiles. The big old crocodile did not seem to notice the weight of the bull frog landing on his back. Frog hopped closer to the crocodile’s head. Finally he was actually sitting between the crocodile’s eyes! A short while later, Frog hopped off the crocodile, flopped into the water and started on his way back. I climbed down from the palm tree. Frog hopped up onto the bank and came over to where Tom and I were standing.
‘That was interesting, but it will not be of much help to you. The horse was not taken by the crocodiles, although they do remember seeing the horses very close to the bank. If they had grabbed a horse, every crocodile between here and Thebes would have known about it! The last thing the crocodile saw of the horses was when the stable lads rounded them all up and drove them back the way they had come. And now you must excuse me because the whole choir is going give its major performance of the evening and they are waiting for me.’
Frog’s fat, green, glistening body hopped off towards the pond and the singing commenced! If it was loud before, it was unbelievable now! Tom, Hekr and I backed away slowly at first and then quicker and quicker until we turned and ran from the awesome sound of about fifty bull frogs doing what they believed they did best. That was singing all together as loud as they could!
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