83 pages • 2 hours read
The Golden Goblet
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Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary
Ranofer awakens the next day with a fully formed plan to expose Gebu’s theft. Convinced that his father’s ba visited him during the night to help him, he visits his father’s tomb, located on a cliffside with those of other artisans and merchants. The chapel is a small alcove carved into the rocky hill. Inside is a false door leading down to the burial chamber, an offering table, and a poorly made statue of Thutra—a product of Gebu’s cheapness. Ranofer thanks his father, leaving half his meager breakfast as an offering. He arrives late to work, but Rekh excuses him and tasks him with teaching Heqet.
Ranofer’s plan hinges on Heqet, but he worries about whether his new friend can keep a secret. Through awkward questioning, Ranofer learns that Heqet is the oldest in a large family, and his father is the Overseer of Storehouses, from whom Heqet learned the values of honesty and trust. He confides everything to Heqet, who is amazed and understanding. Heqet agrees to tell Rekh for Ranofer, a good solution because Rekh will believe Heqet and Ranofer will avoid Gebu’s wrath. As Ranofer leaves, Ibni gives him a wineskin. Ranofer is upset but knows that he and Heqet must wait longer for proof. At home, he finds Gebu with Wenamon, drunk and in a good mood. Gebu accepts the wineskin, though mysteriously comments that it does not matter much anymore.
Chapter 5 Summary
Ranofer waits impatiently until Heqet speaks privately with Rekh. The next day, however, Ibni is still at work. Heqet assures him that Rekh believes him. Ranofer desperately imagines alternatives to carrying the wineskins again, like stowing away aboard a ship.
Ranofer is caught up in a crush of people running toward the palace. Curious, he follows but is grabbed by the old man, the Ancient, whom he met before by the river. The old man explains that tomb robbers are being executed and that it is not a pretty sight. Ranofer agrees that even though robbing a tomb is a terrible crime, he does not want to watch.
The Ancient lives at the desert’s edge in a house he made himself. He sells papyrus to sailmakers and makes enough money for him and his donkey, Lotus, to survive. The Ancient is happy and independent. Ranofer briefly imagines he could leave Gebu and do the same while apprenticing part-time to Rekh.
Ranofer is elated when Ibni is absent from the goldsmith’s shop, but his joy dissipates when he sees Ibni at Gebu’s house, arguing. Gebu rejects Ibni’s demands for money and is unconcerned that Ibni can no longer bring him gold. Gebu announces that Ranofer is now apprenticed to him at the stonecutting shop. He is crushed and pleads, futilely, to return to Rekh’s. Ranofer argues that he is a burden to Gebu and can survive on his own like the Ancient if only Gebu would buy him a donkey, but Gebu only laughs.
Chapter 6 Summary
In contrast to the goldsmith’s shop, the stonecutting shop is filled with harsh noise, “rough work,” and clutter. The workers prepare giant stone slabs for distant sculptors to finish. Ranofer feels that stonecutting lacks beauty and finesse. He meets the kindly undercraftsman, Zahotep, whose hands have been badly injured over his years working with stone. Ranofer worries that if his hands get damaged, he can never work with gold again. Pai, the irritable, eagle-eyed foreman, scorns his slight build and has him assist Zahotep with stone drilling. Ranofer learns that the stones they are working on are pieces of an outer coffin and that the inner coffins will feature the dead man’s portrait done in gold. Stonework is tedious, and Ranofer immediately daydreams about how he would create the gold portrait until Zahotep warns him not to let Pai catch him idling. He joins a dull older boy, Nebre, smoothing stone. Stonecutting is physically exhausting and boring, and Ranofer hates it.
Gebu visits the shop daily, often with Wenamon, to look at papyrus rolls. Aside from some occasional beatings and tauntings, Gebu largely ignores Ranofer. One night, sleeping lightly because of his aching muscles, he thinks he hears the hinges on Gebu’s door squeak, then believes it is his father’s ba visiting as before. After hearing the sound again, he realizes that it was never his father’s ba coming to see him; rather, Gebu has been sneaking out of the house in the dangerous late-night hours when khefts are about. Ranofer wonders where Gebu goes.
Chapters 4-6 Analysis
Ranofer’s plan to stop Gebu has unintended side effects, good and bad: He gains a solid friend in Heqet but loses his position working at the goldsmith shop. Both consequences set him on a path of self-discovery and growth. These chapters also highlight the influence of beauty and art in Ranofer’s life and the importance of religion to him and all Egyptians. Lastly, although the mystery of the wineskin theft is resolved, Gebu’s mysterious comments and midnight wanderings present a new puzzle, foreshadowing events to come.
Because of his strong ethics and sense of justice, Ranofer commits to stopping Gebu and Ibni’s thieving and recognizes that he needs help to accomplish this task. However, the abuse he endures affects his social interactions, making him hesitant to trust anyone. Ranofer wrestles with trusting Heqet, whom he barely knows, calling it a “risk.” He is relieved both to learn that Heqet’s father instilled in him positive values and find that Heqet is a true friend. Heqet makes Ranofer laugh—a rare occurrence—and proves to be understanding and reliable. Their friendship is solidified, only to be cut short when Ranofer becomes Gebu’s apprentice.
McGraw’s detailed description of stonecutting emphasizes the contrast between stonework and goldsmithing. Working at the Gebu’s shop makes Ranofer even more conscious of the precious nature of what he has lost: his friendship and his ability to be near the craft he loves. Stonecutting is brute force work that is physically exhausting, dangerous, and mentally unstimulating. Ranofer has no friends at the stonecutter’s shop. He has no connection to art and beauty, his body aches from the hard work, and “his mind is in a prison of monotony” (97). Stonecutting crystallizes Ranofer’s love for goldwork.
Ranofer’s second encounter with the Ancient reveals his self-reflective nature and growing maturity. Ranofer agrees that he does not want to witness the executions, showing a shrewd self-understanding that sets him apart from the other onlookers and earns praise from the Ancient. Ranofer also recognizes that the Ancient is self-sufficient and content—exactly what he desires for himself. Ranofer envisions how he could support himself and continue working at the goldsmith’s shop if only he had a donkey. His planning shows forethought, though he dismisses his ideas as fantasy, which Gebu’s mocking laughter seems to confirm.
Ranofer accepts—reluctantly—that he must work at the stonecutter’s shop because “the gods and Gebu had decreed” it (89). He believes there is no point resisting because he is under divine and earthly control. This attitude, and Ranofer’s beliefs about the dead and the afterlife, reveal how deeply ingrained religion is in the everyday life of Egyptians. Ranofer believes that Egyptian culture and religion are superior to those in other places. He thinks people of other countries, like the Kush, are “barbarians,” lacking “true gods” and the sensible language of Egyptians (77).
Ranofer believes without question that people possess ka, or life essence, and ba, the part of the soul unique to an individual, often pictured as a human-headed bird. The ka remains in the tomb after death, but the ba can fly and revisit the living world. Eventually, the ka and ba would merge into the divine spark called the akh after passing judgment in the afterlife. When Ranofer believes, initially, that he is visited by his father’s ba and leaves an offering of love and gratitude, others respect this piety. Rekh calls him “Son Who Honors His Father” (64), a phrase in sharp contrast to the derogative ones that Gebu uses to describe Ranofer.
Both the ka and ba could face a second death if they were not reunited or the tombs of the deceased were violated and their mummies damaged. All Egyptians dread this possibility. As Ranofer says, “Murder of the soul was a terrible, unnatural crime, hideous to think about” (78). Tomb robbing is a vile offense worthy of capital punishment.
In addition to a wide pantheon of greater and lesser Egyptian gods that can take an interest in an individual’s life, there are malevolent spirits, kehfts, who can harm the living. Ranofer wonders what is so important that Gebu risks walking at night when khefts are abroad. Gebu’s suspicious actions, his suggestion that he has a new scheme in the works, and the hanging of the tomb robbers foreshadow that Gebu may be a tomb robber himself.
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