The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

Then, carrying the goblet to Kaptah, I said, “Kaptah, it may be that we shall never meet again, for your pride has gone to your head and by tomorrow you will not deign to know me. Drink, therefore, from the cup I now offer you, so that upon my return to Egypt I shall be able to say that the lord of the four quarters of the world was my friend. When you have drunk, you will know that I mean you nothing but good, whatever may befall, and also remember our scarab.”

Kaptah said, “The talk of this Egyptian would be like the buzz of flies in my ears — if my ears were not already so full of the buzz of wine that I cannot hear what he says. But the cup I have never spurned, as all here know, and as I have striven to prove today to all my subjects with whom I am greatly pleased. Therefore, I will drain the cup you offer me though I know that I shall feel wild asses kicking in my head tomorrow.” He emptied the goblet, and at that moment the sun went down, and torches were brought in and lamps lighted, and all rose and stood in silence so that quietness reigned throughout the palace. But Kaptah put off the diadem of the Babylonian King and said, “This accursed crown weighs down my head, and I am weary of it. Also my legs are numb and my eyelids like lead so I had better go to bed.” He dragged a heavy tablecloth over himself and lay down to sleep upon the floor, and with the cloth, jars and wine cups came tumbling down on him so that he bathed in wine up to his neck, like he had promised to do in the morning. The King’s servants undressed him and put the wine-drenched robe on Burnaburiash, set the royal diadem on his head and the symbols of majesty in his hands and led him to take his place upon the throne.

“This has been a tiring day,” said Burnaburiash, “but in the course of it I have however not failed to note one and another of you who have shown me insufficient respect during the revels, no doubt in the hope that I should accidentally choke in hot soup. Drive those sleepers out with whips and chase the rabble from the courtyards and expel the crowds from the courts and put this clown into the jar of eternity if he is dead, for I am weary of him.”

Kaptah was rolled on to his back, and the royal physician, having examined him with hands shaking from wine and dim eyes, declared, “Truly he is as dead as a dung beetle.” Servants bore in a great earthenware urn such as Babylonians use for the entombing of their dead, and into this Kaptah was put, the top being then sealed with clay.

233

The King gave orders that the jar was to be carried down to the vaults beneath the palace and placed among those of previous false kings, as was the custom, but at this point I said, “This man is an Egyptian and circumcised like myself. Therefore, I must preserve his body in death after the Egyptian custom, and for his journey to the Western Land I must furnish him with all necessary things so that he may eat and drink and take his pleasure after death without the necessity of toil. This may take thirty days or it may take seventy days, according to the rank the dead man has held during his lifetime. With Kaptah I think it will take but thirty days, as he was only my servant. After that time I will bring him back to his place among his predecessors, the other false kings, in their crypt beneath your house.”

Burnaburiash listened curiously and said, “So be it even if I think your trouble will be for nothing for a man who is dead, lies down, and his restless spirit wanders around and eats garbage from the road — unless his kin keep him in a clay jar in their house so that the spirit can have its share of the meals of the house. That happens to everyone except me because I am King and I will join gods in my death, so that I do not need to worry about my porridge and beer after I pass away, like others do. Do with him as you will since it is the custom of your land, and I shall not quarrel over customs — for I also pray to gods I do not know in order to propitiate them for sins I may unknowingly have committed — for certainty is best.”

I bade the servants carry Kaptah out in his jar and put him in a carrying chair that stood waiting by the palace wall. Before leaving, I said to the King, “For thirty days you will not see me, for during the period of embalming I cannot show myself among men, lest I transmit to them the devils that swarm about the corpse.” Burnaburiash laughed and said, “Be it as you say, and if you show your face, I will let the servants drive you away with sticks so that you wouldn’t bring evil spirits to my palace.” On reaching the carrying chair, I pierced a hole in the still soft clay that sealed the jar to give Kaptah air to breathe. Then I returned secretly to the palace and went to the women’s house where the eunuchs rejoiced to see me, for they feared that at any moment the King might come.

234