The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

turn of a tap. In the privies, running water sluices out the pans with a rushing sound, and nowhere else have I seen such a refinement of luxury than in the houses of Crete. Nor is it only the eminent and the wealthiest who live in this fashion, but all save those about the harbour, where foreigners and labourers have their dwellings.

The women spend endless time in washing themselves, in plucking hairs from their bodies and in tending, beautifying and painting their faces — so they can never be ready at any stated time but arrive at receptions when it suits their convenience. Even at the King’s reception they arrive when it suits them, and no one thinks ill of that. Strangest of all are their clothes for they wear dresses woven of silver or gold, which fit their bodies and cover them save for the arms and bare bosom for they are proud of their lovely breasts, but the wide, pleated skirts are adorned with a thousand embroideries, and they let the artists decorate them with images. Also they have dresses put together of hundreds of pieces of beaten gold in the form of cuttlefish, butterflies and palm leaves, and their skin gleams through them. They dress their hair to high coiffures, devoting whole days to the task, and they wear small, light hats that they fasten to the hair with gold pins, appearing like butterflies about to take flight on their heads. Their bodies are lithe and slim and their loins as narrow as a boy’s so that they have difficulty in bearing children and avoid this as far as they can, thinking it no shame to be childless or to have but one or two.

The men wear ornamented boots to the knee, but their loincloths are simple, and they gird themselves tightly, being proud of their slender waists and broad shoulders. They have small, delicate heads and slender limbs and wrists, and like the women, they allow no hair upon their bodies. Only a few of them speak foreign tongues, for they prefer their own country to others and do not long to go to any other which does not offer the same ease and gaiety as their mother country. Although they derive their wealth from seafaring and commerce, I met among them men who refused to visit the harbour because of its evil smells and who could not perform the simplest calculation but in all things relied upon their stewards. Able foreigners may, therefore, speedily acquire wealth if they are content to live in the harbour quarter.

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They have instruments that play without a musician in the house, and they claim to be able to put music into writing so that reading their texts one may learn to play without ever having heard the music before. The musicians of Babylon also declared that they could do this, and I will not contradict them or the Cretans since I know nothing of music and the instruments of many different lands have perplexed my ears. Nevertheless, all this makes me understand the current saying in other parts of the world, “He lies like a Cretan.”

They have no visible temples, and they pay little heed to the gods but content themselves with serving their bulls. This they do, however, with great enthusiasm so that a day seldom passes without a visit to the stadium of the bull field. I do not think this is to be attributed so much to their respect to the gods as to the excitement and pleasure afforded to the spectators by the dance before the bulls.

Nor can I say that they display much veneration for their King, for he is their equal save that he lives in a palace many times larger than those of his subjects. They are as much in their King’s company as in anyone’s, and they jest with him and tell stories, come to his receptions at whatever hour they please and leave when they are bored or respond to some fresh whim. They drink wine skilfully for cheerfulness’ sake, and they are very free in their ways, but they are never drunk for they consider this barbarous, nor have I seen anyone vomit from excess of drinking at their banquets as often happens in Egypt and elsewhere. Nevertheless, desire for one another is readily kindled, and they enjoy each other’s wives or husbands how or when the fancy takes them. The youths who dance before the bulls stand highest in the women’s favour so that many distinguished men learn this art though they are not initiates but do it for pleasure and at times attain a proficiency equal to that of the initiated youths to whom women are forbidden, as men are forbidden to the initiated girls. This last thing I cannot understand, for from their way of life one would not expect them to attach much importance to the matter.

I tell all this to show how the Cretan customs took me by surprise before I grew accustomed to them, if that ever happened, for they take pride in coming up with new and surprising things every so often, so that it is impossible to predict what was to happen. Yet I have to tell about Minea even if that makes my heart heavy.

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