Chapter 5
Ms. Frizzle and the class followed Rameses and his family from Queen Tuya's room to a square house-like complex with a single central building behind the wall. As the class looked around, Ralphie noticed a strange scent on the air and said, "Uh, guys? Is it just me or does the air here smell like salt?"
"It's not just you, Ralphie. I can smell it too," Tim replied.
"Good observation, Tim," said the Friz. "This place is the House of the Dead, where the Egyptians prepared the mummies of pharaohs, priests, and peasants alike for their next great journey."
The class said together, "Blech!" and then went into the central room where Rameses and his family were speaking to a group of men led by a man wearing a black dog-like mask with pointed ears.
"Who are those guys?" wondered Carlos.
"They're embalmers, Carlos," explained Dorothy Ann. "According to my research, embalmers were responsible for preparing the dead for burial in ancient Egypt. Their methods of mummifying people have become famous in modern times."
"You bet your sweet sarcophagus, Dorothy Ann," grinned Ms. Frizzle. "The ancient Egyptians were the most understanding people in the study of the human body in ancient times. Or should I say 'are'?"
The class calmly drew closer to observe the embalmers, who were now at work preparing Queen Tuya to be mummified. While they were working, Phoebe noticed one man bringing four small jars whose lids bore a different type of head: one had a jackal's head, one a falcon, one a baboon, and one a human.
"What are those strange jars?" she wondered.
"They're called canopic jars," Ms. Frizzle said in a mysterious voice.
"'Can'-opic jars?" Carlos pronounced. "Sounds kinda redundant if you ask me."
Dorothy Ann flipped through her book and explained, "But it's not, Carlos. It says in my book the ancient Egyptians used canopic jars to contain specific organs of a dead person after they were removed. The jackal one was for the stomach, the falcon for the intestines, the baboon for the lungs, and the human for the liver. They also had to remove the heart so they could preserve it in the body, and they even removed the brain because they didn't know what it was for."
Ralphie held his stomach with both hands and groaned, "I think I'm gonna be sick."
Phoebe whispered to Arnold, "Don't you think Dorothy Ann's going a little overboard?"
"Going overboard? She's there," Arnold moaned.
After half an hour, Ms. Frizzle said, "Now we come to the essential part of mummification, class. Take a look for yourselves."
The class did look, and they were intrigued. Rameses personally laid his mother's body in a square basin of stone and then a few embalmers began to pour a strange gray-white salt over the late queen. Wanda asked, "What kind of salt is that?"
"It's called natron," said the Friz.
"Cool!" mused Ralphie. "It's drying out the queen like a salt bath!"
"That's what it's for, Ralphie," explained Tim. "Salt is dry, which is why we get so thirsty when we taste it. This kind of salt is so dry that the ancient Egyptians used it to suck up the moisture in the body for the mummification process."
"But how long does it take?" asked Keesha.
…
Forty days passed after the late dowager queen had been treated with the natron salt before Rameses invited Ms. Frizzle and the rest of the class to come with him and his family once more to the House of the Dead. This time, Ms. Frizzle was giving the class a slight smile and she said, "Come along, class. It's time for the best part of mummification: the wrapping."
This time, the kids all felt glad to be joining Rameses and his family- even Arnold. When they arrived, they saw Rameses, Nefertari, and their sons and daughters watching the embalmers at their work. Then Ralphie nudged Carlos and pointed out that the embalmers were now wrapping the late queen's body in linen bandages from the feet to the head. Once the queen was completely wrapped in linen, the priests tucked amulets of gold and precious stones among the wrappings. Finally, they brought a golden mask which resembled Queen Tuya's face and placed it on her shoulders. Then the priests brought the dowager queen's mummified body to another chamber, where they placed it in a fine sarcophagus of wood overlaid with gold.
Then Rameses said to Ms. Frizzle and her class, "Come, my friends. It is time."
He gave a nod to the priests who then carried Queen Tuya's sarcophagus from the chamber, and then Ms. Frizzle and the kids followed the royal family to a great boat which would carry Queen Tuya's mummy to her tomb in the Valley of the Queens, which was south of the Valley of the Kings, where the pharaohs of the New Kingdom were buried.
Ms. Frizzle held the chest of canopic jars while she and her class followed Rameses and his family beside Queen Tuya's golden sarcophagus. Funeral dancers followed from behind, singing songs of mourning and imploring their deities to allow the dowager queen safe passage to the next world.
At last, they entered the dowager queen's tomb, where the priests performed a funerary ceremony that was called "the opening of the mouth". Dorothy Ann informed her friends that this ceremony was said to allow the person being buried to eat, drink, and speak in the afterlife, as it was done for the tests required to meet Osiris, the Egyptian god who ruled the land of the dead.
When Queen Tuya's funeral was over, Ms. Frizzle and the class accompanied the pharaoh and his family back to the palace. Once there, Ms. Frizzle stayed in the throne room to offer her condolences to Rameses and Nefertari while the kids kept the pharaoh's sons and daughters company, for they all knew at this sad time, the royal family would need friends to lean on.
...
The next few days went by rather slowly for Ms. Frizzle's class as they remained in ancient Egypt to console Rameses and his family. Tim, Carlos, Ralphie, and Arnold spent time with the pharaoh's sons while Phoebe, Wanda, Keesha, Dorothy Ann, and Ms. Frizzle provided comfort for Queen Nefertari and for Rameses' daughters. It did take time, but the pharaoh and his family were pleased to have the class as company and enjoyed their time together even though Rameses' mother, the dowager queen Tuya, was no longer with them.
Two weeks passed, and the Friz's class soon restored gladness to Rameses and his family, and word spread throughout the land of Egypt that these outsiders from a land unseen had stayed to ease the pain of loss that the royal family had suffered.
Eventually, the time came for the class to return to their own time, for they had accomplished every goal on their field trip and more. On the day they were to head home, Rameses thanked Ms. Frizzle's class and for their kindness to him and his family, he gave them gold, silver, and jewels from his personal treasury.
"This is the reward of your benevolence," the pharaoh told the class.
The class thanked Rameses gladly, and before they left, Meritamen came to Phoebe. Though she had suffered the loss of her grandmother some days earlier, the Egyptian princess was smiling as she embraced Phoebe. Meritamen said to her, "Goodbye, Phoebe. I'll never forget you."
"Neither will I, Meritamen," Phoebe replied sweetly.
Then Ms. Frizzle and her students were escorted by the pharaoh and his family to the palace entrance, and from there, the class departed Pi-Rameses amid waves and well wishes from the ancient Egyptians. Once they were far from the city, Ms. Frizzle pulled the transformed Magic School Bus from her dress pocket, whereon it changed back into a plane.
Ms. Frizzle turned the key and activated the time circuits to take them back to the 20th Century, and she said, "Take a good long look at ancient Egypt, class. It's an experience too exciting to miss."
And the class did, and all they could think about was how exciting this new field trip had been for them. They would have a lot to talk about when they were back home.
…
Ms. Frizzle and the kids arrived in their own time right on schedule. From there, school continued as normal, but the class could still hardly believe that their next field trip had taken them to the ancient civilization that was every kid's dream. And even if they didn't tell their parents about the trip itself, Ms. Frizzle's students knew their parents couldn't wait to hear how much they knew about ancient Egypt.
A/N: I hope this chapter brought a smile to your faces with the lightheartedness of the show brought back my readers. I was going to write a sixth chapter, but there really wasn't much to go on. Nevertheless, I hope you've all enjoyed this Magic School Bus adventure, and please be sure to stayed tuned for more.