The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

The King spat and pressed his cheek and spat again, and the cheek was no longer painful, and he said, “I never heard a man speak as you speak, Sinuhe. If it is true what you say, there is no use to have your liver slit by my soldiers, if it didn’t worry you, for what point would there be. Truly you have brought me great relief, and therefore, I pardon you your insolence and I forgive your servant also though he saw me with my head under your arm and heard me cry out. I forgive him because he made me laugh with his silly capering.” To Kaptah he added, “Do it again.” But Kaptah said morosely, “It is inconsistent with my dignity.”

Burnaburiash said smiling, “We shall see.” He called the lion, and the lion rose and stretched till its joints cracked, its intelligent eyes upon its master. The King pointed to Kaptah, and the lion strolled lazily toward him waving his tail, while Kaptah drew back and back and gazed on the beast as if bewitched. Suddenly the lion opened its jaws and gave a muffled roar. Then Kaptah whipped about and, seizing the door hangings, scuttled up them and perched upon the lintel and squeaked with terror as the animal dabbed up at him with its paw. The King laughed more than ever and said, “Never did I see such clowning.” The lion sat licking its chops while Kaptah clung to the lintel in great distress. But now the King ordered food and drink, and said, “I am hungry.” The old man wept for joy that the King was cured, and many different foods were brought to him on silver dishes with pictures carved on them, as well as wine in golden cups, and he said, “Eat with me, Sinuhe, ill though it befits my dignity, but I will forget it today and not think of how you held my head under your arm and poked your fingers into my mouth.”

So I drank and ate with the King, and I told him, “Your pain is soothed, but may return at any time if you do not let remove the tooth that is the cause of it. Therefore, let your dentist draw it as soon as the swelling in your cheek has gone down, when it may be done without endangering your health.”

He darkened and he said morosely, “You say evil words and spoil my fun, you mad stranger.” But after some reflection he added, “You may be right, for the pain returns every autumn and spring when my feet are wet, and so badly that I wish I were dead. If it must be done then you shall do it, for I will not set eyes on that dentist again because of the needless pain he has caused me.”

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I said to him, “I can hear from your words that you drank more wine than milk as a child, and the sweets of this city are not good for you because they make the sweets from date syrup which ruins the teeth, whereas in Egypt the sweets are made of honey which very tiny birds gather in huge heaps. From now on only eat the sweets of the harbour and drink milk when you wake up.”

He said, “You must be a great joker, Sinuhe, because I do not believe that tiny birds gather people sweets. I have never heard of that.” But I said, “Hard is my fate for the men of my own country will call me a liar when I tell them how wingless birds live here together with people and in return every morning lay them eggs making their owners rich. Therefore it may be better I say nothing, because I will lose my reputation if I am thought to be a liar.” But he resisted anxiously and said, “Speak freely, for no one has spoken to me like you do.”

Then I said to him gravely, “Your dentist shall draw the tooth and not I, for in such matters he is the cleverest man in the country, and more clever even than myself, and I would not bring his anger upon my head. But if you wish it, I will stand beside you and hold your hands and encourage you while he does it. I will also soothe the pain with all the arts I have learned in many lands among many people. And this shall be done two weeks from today for it is best to fix the time lest you repent of it. By then your jaw will be sufficiently healed, and meanwhile you shall rinse your mouth morning and evening with a remedy I shall give you, though it may sting and has a bad taste.”

He became sullen and said, “And if I will not do this?”

I said, “You must give me your royal word that all shall be done as I have said, for indeed the lord of the four quarters of the world cannot go back upon his royal word. And if you let it be done, I will divert you with my arts and turn water into blood before your eyes, and I will even teach you to do this and amaze your subjects. But you must promise never to reveal the secret to anyone else, for it is sacred to the priests of Amun, and I should not know it myself were I not a priest of the first order nor dare to teach it to you were you not a King.”

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