Ancient Artifacts

Fandango

On a pleasant spring day at the county fair, a man was standing on a platform behind a table upon which were placed a number of items purported to be ancient artifacts. There were maybe a dozen people standing in front of the platform attentively listening to the man’s spiel. “I have in my possession,” the man said, “a very special, extremely rare bottle that was found at an archeological dig in the Upper Nile region of Egypt beneath the site of the great Sphinx of Giza. As were the habits of the ancient Egyptian deities, they would fill bottles such as this with the mystical nectars of the gods and bury them deep within the ground at holy sites.

The man paused, held out the bottle in his hand, and looked around at the people standing before him. “Today, my friends, I am willing to part with this valuable bottle to the highest bidder. I am prepared to offer the powerful potion contained in this ancient artifact to the one among you who is ready to partake of its magic with just a twist of its cap. Who will offer one-hundred dollars to experience something truly meant for the gods?”

Jack and his best buddy Sam were among those in the audience. Sam poked Jack and said, “Hey, Jack, should we bid on that bottle?”

Jack leaned over and whispered to Sam, “No way, Sam. This guy is a total charlatan.”

“How do you know that, Jack?” Sam asked.

“Simple, Sam,” Jack said. “They didn’t have bottles with twist-off caps in ancient Egypt.”

Written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (possession), Ragtag Daily Prompt (bottle), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (upper), Your Daily Word Prompt (beneath), MMA Storytime (habits), and Word of the Day Challenge (twist).

19 thoughts on “Ancient Artifacts”

  1. Mason Bushell May 20, 2021 / 3:26 am

    Haha! its all in the details! Nice one, Fandango.

    Like

  3. Marleen May 20, 2021 / 5:26 am

    I just finished listening to a talk in which (as a background mention) it was said that the pyramids were built as the great Egyptian culture was imploding.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Marleen May 20, 2021 / 5:41 am

      Additionally, Dick Cheney is revealed to be a utopian at 1:06:00.

      Chris Hedges’ Empire of Illusion | The New School

      Keep listening, and the speaker will explain how he is a socialist but not a Marxist.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Marleen May 20, 2021 / 7:49 am

        This clip, besides being newer and much shorter, at least mentions some active examples of people who do still care about something (other than their own personal lives) — a touch of optimism. Nevertheless: there’s a scary new precident being demonstrated; it’s a precident but also an inevitable outcome of decades in more and more unfettered corporatism (or the goals of conservative American “libertarian” economics or neoliberalism). I see our libertarianism or neoliberalism as a reversion back to empire or the few in power and all the tendencies we thought we had left behind for freedom.

        Steven Donziger: How Chevron Is Attacking Me For Revealing The Truth

        Liked by 1 person

        • Marleen May 21, 2021 / 8:54 am

          Susan Sarandon and Marianne Williamson Call on Biden Admin To STOP Chevron Persecution of Donziger

          Liked by 1 person

    • Fandango May 20, 2021 / 7:26 am

      Like Trump’s border wall.

      Like

      • Marleen May 20, 2021 / 11:54 pm

        Yep, I’d say so.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. jilldennison May 20, 2021 / 5:39 pm

    That was my first thought, too … twist caps weren’t even invented yet when I was a child back in the days of Queen Nefertiti!

    Liked by 1 person

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