Herodotus of Halicarnassus came to Egypt four hundred and fifty years ago, and asked the priests everything. They told him this story. He says he doesn’t believe it, but he tells it anyway.
Myths of Egypt · Indirect questions
The Treasure of Rhampsinitus
Do you know who…? Could you tell me where…? I wonder whether…: the grammar of polite and careful questions, for the cleverest thief in Egypt and a king who wanted to know who he was.
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SOPHIA
MARCOS
My kind of historian.
The story
After Herodotus, Histories, Book 2
King Rhampsinitus had more silver than any king before him. He built a stone treasury next to his palace to keep it safe. But the builder secretly made one stone that could be removed.
When the builder was dying, he told his two sons about the stone. They went at night, took out the stone, and carried off some of the silver. The king noticed the jars were getting emptier, although the seals on the door were never broken. He set a trap among the jars. The next night one brother was caught in it, and, so that nobody would recognise him, he asked the other to cut off his head and take it away.
In the morning the king found a headless body, the door sealed, and no way in or out. He hung the body on the wall and set guards, to see who would come and mourn for it. The mother begged her remaining son to bring the body home. He loaded donkeys with wineskins, let the wine spill near the guards, gave them drink until they fell asleep, and carried the body away.
The king, astonished, tried one trick after another to find out who the thief was, and the thief was always cleverer. At last the king announced that if the thief came forward, he would not be punished, but rewarded. The young man came, and the king gave him his daughter in marriage, “because the Egyptians are cleverer than all men, and he was the cleverest Egyptian.”
Herodotus, Histories 2.121, retold in brief. Herodotus adds: “I don’t believe it, but it is what they said.”
What we know today
Herodotus visited Egypt in the 5th century BCE, and his second book is full of wonderful and doubtful stories. “Rhampsinitus” is probably a Greek memory of one of the Ramesses kings.
The same kind of story, the clever thief who outwits the king, is told in India, Persia and many other countries. Folklorists call it “the Master Thief”.
Direct and indirect questions
SOPHIA
A direct question: “Who is the thief?” An indirect question sits inside another sentence: Do you know who the thief is? Notice: the order changes back to subject + verb.
MARCOS
So not “Do you know who is the thief?”
SOPHIA
No: who the thief is. Unless who is itself the subject: Do you know who took the silver?
No do, does, did
DEMETRIA
“How did he get in?” becomes “I wonder how he got in.”
SOPHIA
Yes: in indirect questions, do / does / did disappear, and the main verb takes the tense: Could you tell me where the treasury is? I wonder how he got in.
If and whether
THE CLERK
“Is the door sealed?” → “Can you check if the door is sealed?”
SOPHIA
For yes / no questions, use if or whether: I wonder whether he will come. Whether is a little more formal, and it can go with or not: whether or not he is guilty.
Why use them?
PHILO
Because they’re politer. You don’t say to a king “Where is my reward?” You say “Might I ask where my reward is?”
SOPHIA
Exactly: Could you tell me…? Do you know…? I was wondering…? Would you mind telling me…? are softer, and much safer with kings.
Sophia’s summary
| Form | Use | From the story |
|---|---|---|
| Do you know / Could you tell me + wh-word + subject + verb | polite indirect wh- questions | Do you know who the thief is? |
| no do / does / did | the main verb carries the tense | I wonder how he got in. |
| if / whether + subject + verb | indirect yes / no questions | I wonder whether he will come. |
| who / what as subject | normal order already | Do you know who took the silver? |
Practice
Answer all the questions, then press “Check my answers”. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Choose the best form
Choose the form that fits best.
1. Do you know who ___?
2. Could you tell me where the treasury ___?
3. I wonder how he ___ in.
4. Can you check ___ the seals are broken?
5. Do you know who ___ the silver?
6. The king wanted to know ___ the thief would come forward.
B · Complete the sentence
Rewrite as an indirect question.
7. “Where did he hide the body?” → Do you know where he the body?
8. “Is the king angry?” → I wonder the king is angry.
9. “What does the king want?” → Could you tell me what the king ?
10. “How many jars are empty?” → Nobody knew how many jars empty.
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
11. “Do you know where is the treasury?”
12. “I wonder whether he will come back.”
13. “Could you tell me what did he steal?”
Now be the thief yourself, the cleverest man in Egypt.Play the gamebook →