The Cat of Bubastis

             I have been reading a book called “The Cat of Bubastis”. This is an amazing story about the price of the Rebu, whose name was Amuba. In the beginning of the book, Amuba and his father, the king, are about to go to war with the Egyptians.

            This is Amuba’s first time fighting in battle, and the problem is the Egyptian’s weapons are much more powerful and dangerous than the Rebu. Amuba’s friend, Jethro, is not only his friend, but his chariot driver, so Jethro is there too. In this battle, Amuba’s father is shot in the eye with an Egyptian arrow and dies. Since the Rebu now have no king, they do not know what to do. The Egyptians are clearly stronger than the Rebu, and since the Egyptians know that the people are disorganized and confused, so they head for the city. The Rebu get there first and build the city stronger overnight. Sadly, the Egyptians win, and they take back 100 people (50 male and 50 female) as slaves, Amuba and Jethro being two of them.

              When they get back to Egypt, Ameres, the high priest, chooses Amuba to be a servant to him, and, through Amuba’s pleading, chooses Jethro too. When they get to Ameres’ beautiful house, they meet his son, Chebron. Amuba can speak Egyptian, so they can understand each other, because he is going to be Chebron’s servant. Chebron and Amuba are the same age, and they become great friends over the years. Jethro becomes Ameres’ daughter’s (Mysa) servant.

             They have many adventures, like saving a girl from getting torn apart by a crocodile. This is one of the most interesting chapters in the story. The boys and Jethro were hippopotamus-hunting, when they heard a woman scream. They follow the scream and see a girl getting dragged into the river by a crocodile, and they save her life. The girl is an Israelite, and since her great-grandfather is very old and about to die, she goes to live with them. Of course, there is the story of when Chebron and Amuba accidentally kill one of the most sacred animals in Egypt, a cat. There was a hawk killing all the birds in Ameres’ garden, so they went with their bows and arrows to shoot the hawk. The hawk came down and snatched one of the birds. Both boys shot arrows at the hawk. While Amuba’s arrow hit the hawk in the wing and killed it, Chebron’s arrow hit a branch, which changed its route, and went into the cathouse, and Chebron saw one of the cats fall. This cat was Mysa’s cat (Paucis), and it was chosen to be the sacred cat of Bubastis.  This was a problem, so Amuba buried the cat and left the cat door open so that people would think that it got out and wandered off.

             This is as far as I have gotten on the book. I am so anxious to see what will happen to Amuba and Chebron, for the consequence for killing a cat in Egypt is death. I absolutely recommend this book so far.