[MSN] German returns "cursed" stolen Pharaonic carving.

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German returns "cursed" stolen Pharaonic carving 

Wed Aug 22, 8:43 AM ET
 


A German has handed in a package containing part of a Pharaonic carving to
Egypt's embassy in Berlin, with a note saying his stepfather had suffered a
"curse of the Pharaohs" for stealing it, Egypt said on Wednesday.

The note said the man felt obliged to return the carving to make amends for
his late stepfather and enable his soul to rest in peace, Egypt's Supreme
Council for Antiquities said.

The stepfather had stolen the piece while on a visit to Egypt in 2004 and on
his return to Germany suffered paralysis, nausea, unexplained fevers and
cancer before dying recently, the anonymous man said in the note.

The Egyptian embassy in Berlin had sent the fragment back to Egypt by
diplomatic pouch and it had been handed over to the Supreme Council for
Antiquities, where a committee of experts was trying to ascertain its
authenticity, the statement said.

The belief in a curse that strikes down anyone who disturbs the tombs or
mummies of ancient Egypt's Pharaohs has been around since the discovery of
Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 and the subsequent death of the excavation's
financier Lord Carnarvon.

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