The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

Our journey was troublesome for the wind was strong and the ship had to tack against the wind swaying endlessly, and the waves rumbled like mountains against the ship’s side boards. Kaptah’s talismans were not helpful any more, and it didn’t help him to tie his belt many times about his stomach, and the scarab did not help him even if he sacrificed everything to the gods of the sea and fasted in their honour and hoped he had never been born of this world. But he was no longer afraid of dying like before, and it comforted him in his misery that as soon as he had soil under his feet, he’d be cured again, even if he said that unless he already knew it based on his earlier experiences, he would not have believed it.

Therefore when we finally got ashore in Zemar, he threw himself on his face to the ground and wiped the pier’s stone boulders with his mouth and he wept and swore by scarab he would never again touch a ship’s deck with his foot. Also I was moved by the sight of Zemar’s narrow alleys and high buildings, people’s clothes, dying dogs and swarms of flies over fish baskets for I had lived two years of my life in Zemar and it had become familiar to me, and there I had had my first victories as a physician curing people.

My house in Zemar was still standing though the shutters had been broken open by thieves, and they had carried away all that was worth taking which I had not entrusted to the safekeeping of the trading house. Since I had been away so long, my neighbours had begun to use the space before my house as rubbish dump and privy, the stench of which was very foul, and rats scuttled over the floor as I entered my rooms and tore the cobwebs from the doorways. My neighbours were not pleased to see me at all, but averted their eyes and closed their doors before me and said to one another, “He is an Egyptian and all evil comes from Egypt.” Therefore I went first to an inn, bidding Kaptah set my house in order so that I could once more live there, and then visited the trading houses where I had placed my funds. After my three years’ traveling, I had returned a poor man, for besides the earnings from my skills I had lost the gold that Horemheb had given me, mostly to the possession of the priests of Babylon on Minea’s account.

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The wealthy shipowners were astonished to see me, and their noses grew even longer than before and they tugged thoughtfully at their beards, for my long absence had encouraged them to think that they had already inherited my wealth. Nevertheless, they rendered me strict account, and although certain ships had foundered and I had lost my share in them, yet others had proved exceedingly profitable, and when all had been assessed, it appeared that I was now wealthier than I had been at my departure and I need have no concern for my livelihood in Zemar.

Nevertheless, my friends, the shipowners, invited me into their rooms and offered me wine and honey bread and, pulling long faces, said, “Sinuhe, our physician, by all means you are our friend, but you are an Egyptian, and although we are glad to trade with Egypt, we do not like to see Egyptians making their way in amongst us for the people murmur and are sorely vexed by the taxes they must pay to Pharaoh. We do not know how all this got started, but already have such things happened that Egyptians have been stoned in the streets and dead pigs have been cast into their temples, and our people will not show themselves publicly in their company. You, Sinuhe, are our friend, and we respect you highly for your skill in healing, which we still remember. For this reason, we would make all clear to you, that you may look after yourself and act accordingly.”

Their words bewildered me greatly since before my departure people had vied with one another for the Egyptians’ friendship and invited them to their houses, and just as Syrian customs had been adopted in Thebes, so here in Zemar men followed the fashion of Egypt. Yet Kaptah bore out their words when in high indignation he called at the inn and said, “Some evil spirit has certainly crept into the people of Zemar through their anuses, for they conduct themselves like mad dogs, feigning ignorance of the Egyptian tongue and threw me out of the tavern where I went to refresh my throat that was parched from all the troubles you forced me to, my lord. They threw me out when they saw I was Egyptian and shouted evil words after me, and the children showered me with donkey’s dung. Therefore I was wiser when I went to another tavern, for my throat was as dry as a bag of chaff, and I craved the strong Syrian beer. But there I did not speak which is hard for me — like you well know for my tongue is like a lively animal who does not want to stand still. Anyway, I was wiser and dipped my reed into my beer with the others in silence and listened to what they were saying.

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