Once upon a time, there was an extremely famous
family, the Mortons. Everyone in the whole world knew about this Mortons, but
they were famous for something a little unusual. You see, everyone in the
family for ten generations had been in the funeral business. Some members of
the family had more normal occupations, like florists, but because of their
family connections, they spent most of their time making flower arrangements
for funerals. However, the most common funeral occupation was something
extremely specialized. Over half of the Mortons were carpenters who built
nothing but coffins.
To be buried in a Morton coffin was the highest honor a deceased
person could hope for. There were amazing rumors about what would happen to the
person or their family if they were lucky enough to be buried in a casket made
by one of the world-famous Mortons. Some said that you would return as a ghost,
or that your family would be endlessly rich, but these were just stories of
course.
The only true magic that the Mortons had to offer was actually the
sole reason that ten generations of Mortons were in the funeral business. Ten
generations ago, when Marty Morton had his first son, he built he first coffin.
The coffin didn’t look much different from other coffins at the time, but when
he built it he told his wife how important this coffin was. He said that it was
extremely special and that the person whose body fit this coffin exactly would
be the one whose family took on the Morton family business. Mrs. Morton didn’t
even know what the Morton family business was yet, since this was Marty’s first
coffin, but she listened and the legend lived on among the Mortons.
Finally, after ten generations of this special coffin being offered
to every deceased body that came to the Mortons, there was a man who fit the
proportions perfectly. The Mortons weren’t sure what exactly to do because
Marty’s story had been shortened and summarized so many times that it was
lacking details. They decided it would be best to just let the man’s family
have the coffin free of charge.
As soon as the man who fit the special coffin exactly was buried,
the Mortons lost all of their business. The florists started making bouquets
for weddings and the carpenters started building grandfather clocks. And
suddenly, the entire family of the man who had fit inside of the coffin opened
a funeral home. Now there are stories about the powers that this new family
holds, but, once again, it’s mostly rumors. However, this family, like all
families, has just one nugget of magic, but it might be ten generations before their
special magic is revealed.
Author's note: The original ancient Egyptian story was about a chest that was made by Set to the proportions of Osiris that many people tried to fit inside, until Osiris finally did and was killed according to Set's plan. I liked that the plot was similar to my favorite Disney princess movie, Cinderella, except that in the end, the person who fit into the object had something bad happen instead of something good! I decided to make it about a coffin because I thought that made more sense to accompany death than a chest.
Bibliography: The Death of Osiris from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907).
Image: Coffin
