Week 4: Ammon: The Wax Crocodile

Ammon: The Wax Crocodile

My name is Ammon and I am a Nile crocodile currently living in a wonderful lake near the temple of the god Ptah. I want to tell you a story about how I came to be a part of this beautiful world. It all started ten years ago with a piece of wax that a scribe, known as Aten, carved into the shape of a crocodile.

Aten was an elderly man that lived a simple life, casting simple spells and worshipping the Egyptian gods. One day the Pharaoh came to visit the temple of Ptah and he had quite the following. One of the people following him was a young lad, known as Minkah, with devilish good looks and the ability to charm even the great serpent Apep, who wants to see nothing more than the destruction of all Ra has created. Aten brought the Pharaoh to the temple of Ptah, but Minkah stayed at the small shack of Aten the scribe and he flirted with the scribe’s wife, Anippe. Being a young woman that was forced to marry a much older man, she never felt fully satisfied and happy. However, Minkah seduced Anippe and they defiled Aten’s house for days. Aten found out about this injustice and abuse of his trust and this is where I come into the picture.

(Apep)

Aten loved to cast spells and on that day he cast a spell over the wax crocodile that he had carved bringing it to life and transferring some of his knowledge me. Aten gave me the greatest gift that anyone could ever give, the gift of life. I often hear people say that he threw me into the water when Minkah was bathing, but the truth is that he placed me in the water the night before and gave me instructions on what to do. Of course, I had to become accustomed to walking, swimming, and even catching prey, so I stayed up all night practicing and honing my skills so that I would not let Aten down.

(Crocodile)

The next day I saw Minkah bathing in the water and I slowly swam to the shoreline, hiding just beneath the murky water. I was within three feet of Minkah and without any hesitation I lunged at him. Oh it was such a fantastic experience! The boy screamed like a girl and as he continued screaming for help I took him to the middle of the lake and drowned him.

(Hidden Crocodile)

What they say of my story is the incorrect version that one day I took Minkah into the lake and he never resurfaced, but I will be completely honest with you. Aten was pleased with my work and wanted to show off his magical abilities to the Pharaoh. As a result, he asked me to rip Minkah into seven pieces and bring a different body part of Minkah to the shoreline for seven days as if putting him together like a puzzle. I did this without hesitation and on the seventh day the Pharaoh finally realized that I was no ordinary crocodile. In the end I ate the pieces of Minkah and the barbecued pieces of Anippe after they burned her at the stake, and Aten is living the life of luxury since the Pharaoh gave him a small fortune to practice magic.

(Hungry Crocodile)

Aten still lives next to the lake and he brings me cattle and chickens for dinner sent from the pharaoh himself. As for Aten, he was made head scribe of our area and his little shack is now a palace, and I cannot count the number of wives he currently has. The moral of the story is that life is a blessing and you definitely do not want to cheat on your spouse if they practice magic.

Author’s Note: This story is based off of The Wax Crocodile from the Ancient Egypt unit. This story follows the original story exactly, but is set in the perspective of the crocodile that brings it to life. This story is told in the third person and centers around the scribe and the boy. In the story the scribe took the pharaoh to the temple, but while he is gone the boy began fraternizing with the scribe's wife. The scribe then took a wax crocodile and brought it to life intending to murder the boy while he bathed in the lake. I did add a few extra things such as names and some gory details, but overall the story is the same. I wanted to show from the crocodile's perspective why he listened to the scribe's commands, that he was grateful for the gift of life. I believe that in stories like this people often only look at it from the human character's perspective, but they rarely look at the animals as more than a means to an end. However, every creature on this earth is a living being and every day we all fight for one more day to survive. Life is the greatest gift anyone can give and by being given the gift of life Ammon felt eternally indebted to Aten.

Bibliography:
Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907)
Source: UnTextbook