A Superstitious Scarabug

“Daddy, why does everyone think that Scarabugs are so lucky?”

     “Elle, why don’t you sit down here, as this story may take a while,” I said, pulling her down beside me on our Plushie Sofa. “Four hundred years ago, in the Lost Desert when it was still lost, lived an ancient King known as Gizu. Gizu began ruling when he was only 8 years old.”

     “Hey, I’m eight! I want to rule a kingdom! Just like king Gizu!”

     “King Gizu, though, isn’t remembered as a great King, Elle. Later during his rule, he began feeling as if he wouldn’t be remembered when another king took over. Making the worst decision possible, he began taxing his people rampantly. No one in his kingdom thought highly of the King because he used all their money not for the good of the people, but for his own gain. One day, a part of town became blocked off. People lined up all around trying to see why, even though they knew Gizu was doing something bad behind the blockade. Queen Zajha told the people that there was no need to worry and to go about their daily lives. Roaring behind the blockade, though, were the sounds of many workers, toiling away endlessly. Suddenly, one day, it was revealed. The people of Sakhmet recoiled as they realized their taxes paid for the ugliest monument to a king ever which now towered above their city.”

     “Umm, Dad, where do the Scarabugs come into it?” asked baby Elle.

     “Very well, I’ll get to that part. With the people’s money now invested in this horrid statue, the town went in to a sort of recession, where people couldn’t buy the things they wanted or needed. Xtra scarabugs suddenly appeared everywhere, which the people accounted to the ugliness of the statue drawing in the bugs.”

     “You are saying,” asked Elle, “that some silly statue caused all of the Lost Desert to go broke?”

     “Zajha herself was even suffering, while King Gizu was still taking everyone’s money, only benefiting himself. A couple months later, though, a young boy began to capture the Scarabugs, since they were the only thing left, and eventually, he began using them as money! Bartering with the Scarabugs, eventually the Lost Desert began to thrive again.”

     “Can that be why the Scarabugs are considered lucky, because they brought the Lost Desert back from being poor?” asked Elle.

     “Doing so helped push the Scarabugs toward fame, but that’s not the only reason. Elle, have you ever played Scarab 21?”

     “Four or five times, I guess, although I wasn’t very good at it,” Elle responded.

     “Gizu, though, loved this game. However, back at this time it was called Gizu 21, for obvious reasons. In Gizu’s pyramid, Gizu was beginning to become very weary of these Scarabugs because they were causing him to lose money! Joking with Queen Zajha, Gizu said he should send people to capture all the Scarabugs and lure them to his castle. King Gizu gave a hardy belly laugh at that proposition. Leaning forward with an evil glint in her eye, Queen Zajha told King Gizu that they should do it. Momentarily, King Gizu was stunned, but then, almost reluctantly, he agreed.”

     “No, how could they steal the Scarabugs?!” cried Elle.

     “One Scarabug at a time is how they did it. People would wake up one day and be missing a Scarabug or two. ‘Quietly in the night, they must have flown off,’ the people had thought. Really, though, they had been taken by the King to improve his finances! So this went on for a couple weeks or so, until that same boy that started the Scarabugs as currency realized what was going on. This boy went straight to King Gizu himself and demanded that he give the Scarabug back! Unfortunately for the boy, King Gizu wasn’t in a very giving mood that day. Very seldom was Gizu in a horrid mood, but this was one of those unfortunate days. With great courage, the young boy walked right up to King Gizu. ‘Xpel the Scarabug from your pyramid!’ he exclaimed. Zajha, as calmly as possible, said, ‘Boy, you need to leave my castle immediately. All of these Scarabug you see are ours, and they were all obtained within the law.’ ‘Brilliant,’ the boy responded, ‘you stole all of our Scarabugs. Careless Kings before you have been struck of their power for less!’

     ‘Dear boy, you’re not going to get your Scarabugs back, so I suggest you leave immediately,’ replied Gizu.

     Everyone’s counting on me, thought the boy. Fervently, the boy’s mind began racing in an attempt to find a way to free the Scarabugs. ‘Gizu,’ he said, coming up with a plan, ‘I challenge you to a game of Gizu 21! Have my score in a challenge against your score. If I win, you free the Scarabugs, and if you win, you can keep the Scarabugs, I’ll leave, and the people will let you keep your ugly statue.’

     ‘Just beating you will insure that I can keep my wealth and my statue?’ inquired Gizu. King Gizu couldn’t believe his luck. Losing was never an option when Gizu played Gizu 21, so there was no way he could possibly lose!

     Moments later, the boy and King Gizu were next to each other, playing simultaneous games of Gizu 21. Not known by Gizu, the boy had his very own Scarabug in his pocket. Only this Scarabug could help him, because he knew this Scarabug was lucky. People before this boy had told him about the luck of this particular Scarabug, whose casing was a violent shade of orange, with some uncommon markings on its shell. Quickly but efficiently, the boy had slipped the Scarabug under his clothes so he could get him in the castle, just in case a situation arose in which luck would be needed. Right now I’m going to need some luck to win, thought the boy.”

     “So did he win?” Elle asked excitedly.

     “The luck of his Scarabug came through, and yes, miraculously he beat King Gizu at Gizu 21. Unfortunately for King Gizu, this meant that he had to give all the Scarabugs back. Very quiet, Gizu went to where he was holding the Scarabugs and opened the latch. Wings all around, the Scarabug floated around the pyramid until they finally left the pyramid. Xactly one Scarabug remained in the building; the boy’s lucky Scarabug. ‘You should probably go. Zajha, will you show him out?’ said Gizu. ‘And please, inform my people it will no longer be called Gizu 21, as I do not deserve such glory as to have it named after me. Boy, you may name it whatever you like.’ Casting a look around the room, the boy decided what to call the game.”

     “Dad, I know what he called it! Everyone knows it’s now called Scarab 21!” exclaimed Elle excitedly.

     “‘Forevermore, the game shall be called Scarab 21!’ stated the boy. Good job, Elle! However, because Gizu had taken a lot of the Scarabugs and imprisoned them, those that were imprisoned left the Lost Desert, leaving only a few Scarabugs behind. In the town, after the boy had returned and his story had been spread, those Scarabugs that were left behind were hailed as being lucky creatures.”

     “Just one question, though,” interrupted Elle, “who was that boy? King Gizu’s statue, is it still there?”

     “Luckily for the town, that boy was the legendary Coltzan. Many years later, Gizu’s statue was beautified to make it the towering Sphinx that is still there today!”

     “No way! Over four hundred years ago, King Gizu built that? People back then sure were good architects,” she said, giving a giggle.

     “Queen Zajha even decreed that the Scarabug was an official lucky symbol of the Lost Desert. Right after the Plushie Shop was created, they began selling... these.”

     Sheltered in a drawer, I pulled out an exact plushie replica of the lucky scarab that Coltzan had used to win the game. “This plushie has brought me a lot of luck,” I said, “and now I want you to have it, Elle.” Unknowing what to say, Elle slowly reached for the plushie. Very quickly, after she had the plushie in her arms, she jumped up, gave me a hug, shouted, “Thanks Dad!” and ran into her room, presumably to play with the lucky Scarabug.

The End