83 pages • 2 hours read
Eloise McgrawThe Golden Goblet
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1961A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary
Neither Heqet nor the Ancient find information about their targets. After no results and dangerous misadventures, Ranofer loses faith in their spying until he considers that Gebu must be stealing at nighttime. Despite his fear of khefts and his promise to the Ancient, Ranofer bravely follows Gebu one night. He envisions demons in the darkness and encounters something terrifying that he later thinks may have been a cat rather than the kheft he imagined.
Doubting he will become a goldsmith, Ranofer takes the Ancient’s advice and commits to learning stonecutting. While studying a scroll detailing plans of a tomb, he observes a small superfluous room. He asks Gebu about it, but the man strikes him. Later, Gebu confronts Ranofer about his interest in the scroll. He hits Ranofer in the face, bloodying his lip. Ranofer, angry, yells at Gebu that he was trying to learn. When Gebu leaves, Ranofer defiantly searches Gebu’s room for food and discovers an exquisite golden goblet shaped like a lotus blossom, with a silver stem and inlaid silver band, hidden in a chest and wrapped in old rags. Ranofer thinks that no one could craft such a treasure, perhaps not even Zau. Reading the hieroglyphs on the goblet, he realizes it belonged to the Pharaoh Thutmose-Nefer-Kheperu, who died 100 years earlier. Gebu is a tomb robber. Terrified, Ranofer replaces the goblet. As he leaves, he notices that Gebu had placed a clay seal on his door, which Ranofer broke when he entered. Now, Gebu will know he was there.
Chapter 11 Summary
To fix the seal on the door, Ranofer needs a light to work by. Fearing khefts, he braves the darkness outside the courtyard to light his torch from one burning down the street. Ranofer patches the seal, but he knows the effort will not fool Gebu. Fortunately, Gebu stumbles home so drunk he does not notice the patched seal.
Ranofer believes the goblet is his key to freedom from Gebu. He imagines how Gebu will be hung as a tomb raider, the Pharaoh will praise Ranofer, and Zau will take Ranofer as his pupil. But he realizes he is in the same situation as with the wineskins: No one will believe him about Gebu—except possibly Zau. Ranofer plans to steal the goblet from Gebu and take it to Zau. But at midday, when he goes to Gebu’s room, the goblet is gone. The Ancient informs Ranofer that he overheard Gebu fighting with Setma. The Ancient believes that Heqet is right about Setma smuggling things out of the city for Gebu. Setma wanted more money, but Gebu refused and ended their partnership. Gebu carried a bundle of old clothes like those under which Ranofer found the goblet. Ranofer is elated: This buys him more time to find the goblet. He does not tell the Ancient about the goblet.
The next day, Ranofer trails Gebu to the stonecutting shop. Gebu again carries the bundle. The stonecutter disappears into the scroll room and emerges without the bundle. Ranofer searches the room but cannot find the goblet.
Chapter 12 Summary
Ranofer avoids his friends because he does not want to tell Heqet about the goblet, despite feeling guilty about keeping the secret, especially since he knows he can trust Heqet. Heqet finds Ranofer after work: He and the Ancient had worried that Gebu had harmed Ranofer. Heqet’s chatter gradually makes Ranofer relax, and he again meets with his friends, but the conversation is now strained. Heqet feels that Ranofer is again the closed-off person he was when they met. Heqet thinks the little room marked on the scroll was a hiding place for Gebu and Wenamon to store stolen goods. Ranofer shuts down HeqetH Heqet’s speculations but privately thinks the small room does have something to do with Gebu’s plans. The friends eagerly anticipate the upcoming High Nile Festival, when the river overflows and the canals are opened to water the fields. On that day, no one works, and everyone gets free food and barley beer.
Ranofer feels the taint from Gebu’s crimes spreading to him. Heqet, spying, overhears Wenamon and Gebu planning to meet the next day during the festival. Wenamon advises waiting, but Gebu wants his “reward.” Ranofer deflects Heqet’s excitement but knows that Gebu and Wenamon are going to the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings. Troubled, he meets the Ancient by the river and asks how the executed tomb robbers had been discovered. The Ancient explains that someone who loved Egypt had followed them into the tomb. Ranofer knows he must follow Gebu the next day.
Chapters 10-12 Analysis
Ranofer overcomes emotional, physical, and moral challenges in this section, illuminating McGraw’s themes of courage, perseverance, and friendship. Although Ranofer makes several questionable choices, leading to further abuse from Gebu and isolation from his friends, he decides to risk everything to expose Gebu, uphold his pride and values, and win his freedom.
Ranofer rides an emotional rollercoaster in these chapters, fluctuating between sullen acceptance and desperate hope. He grudgingly resolves to learn stonecutting, putting aside his dreams of becoming a goldsmith, only to have those hopes return with his discovery of the goblet. Gebu’s violent abuse ultimately drives Ranofer to the defiant act that will change his future. He stands up for himself against the powerful Gebu, stating that sometimes a beating is “worth it.” His rash attitude and resistance will engender more abuse, but they reflect his battered pride. Although his spirit is injured by Gebu, it is not yet broken. Driven by hunger and rebelling against months of abuse, Ranofer bravely investigates Gebu’s room.
Ranofer finally puts together the pieces of the mystery surrounding Gebu and recognizes that his half-brother is a tomb robber—an anathema to Egyptian society. Tomb robbing, he knows, has dreadful consequences to the souls of the departed and is a “terrible, evil thing to do” (173). Ranofer understands that by going against the gods, Gebu commits a spiritual crime and a crime against human law.
However, the drive to prove Gebu’s thievery takes a toll on Ranofer. He doggedly perseveres in following Gebu despite losing confidence that he will discover anything. He braves his fears of supernatural and physical elements, both of which he knows can have negative consequences. His terror of encountering khefts at night is very real. Similarly, Ranofer knows that if Gebu catches him, he will be in for a beating—or worse. Despite rebuking himself for his cowardice, he demonstrates great courage in facing and overcoming these fears. Stopping Gebu’s sacrilege takes precedence over Ranofer’s personal fears. Like the other individual who turned in tomb raiders, “who loved his pharaoh and the gods of Egypt” (196), Ranofer puts his gods and his country ahead of himself.
Ranofer’s self-sacrifice does not come easily. Ethical dilemmas torment him. In his desperation to find the goblet and thwart Gebu’s great crime, he commits smaller infractions, breaking promises and lying to his friends. These small acts of betrayal make him miserably guilty.
Ranofer feels guilt on several levels: for breaking his promise to the Ancient and going out after dark; for not telling Heqet and the Ancient about the goblet and being a bad friend by distrusting them; for not telling the authorities about Gebu and thereby being an accomplice to Gebu’s evil; and for not living up to his father’s good name and reputation. The secret of the goblet and his guilt weigh on him as time passes. Heqet notices that Ranofer goes back into his “shell” and does not want companionship. Ranofer does not want to lose their friendship—yet cannot confide in them. His promise to meet them at the festival is empty.
Despite Ranofer’s often prickly nature, Heqet proves to be a stalwart friend. He seeks out Ranofer when he does not hear from him in days. He tactfully draws him out of his shell with conversational subject changes. He offers a sympathetic and listening ear and offers to help if Ranofer is in trouble. Heqet and the Ancient‘s worry for Ranofer emphasizes their supportive friendship and foreshadows their part in the adventure to come.
