The Heart-stone

"There!" he says, as he bent the metal to hold the jewel, "Now I will show this to my father!"

His father was upstairs.

"Look! "cried Shunnu, running up the stairs.

"What a fine job you have made!" said Shunnu's father, "And who is it for?"

"A beautiful woman," said Shunnu grinning. His teeth shone white in his brown face and his eyes twinkled.

"I know of one," says Shunnu's father, catching the riddle.

"Who?" asked Shunnu.

"Your mother."

Snatching the string of jewels Shunnu ran through the house to his mother and gave her the necklace.

"This is for you!" said Shunnu, "I made it myself!"

"My darling boy!" said his mother, "This is the most wonderful present. I want to always wear a red stone over my heart, to remember your love!"



Shunnu's mother kept her word. She wore the necklace every day, and many people said how beautiful it looked on her. And when she was old, she asked that she have the necklace on even when she was dead and buried.

And so it was.

CHAPTER TWO

(Egypt, 2000 BC)

But when many years had passed, and the great city of Ur was gone, and the walls were like hills of sand, grave-robbers from Egypt came creeping and crawling, like spiders across the ruins. They dug up the bones of Shunnu's mother, and took the gold and precious stones from where she lay.

They stole the treasures and took them back to Egypt. And there they sold them.

And a man called Khety, an important military man, paid money to the robbers and took the necklace from them.

"It is a fine piece of work," he said, "Where did you get it?"