The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

and in secret to any of the faithful who have money. I also was greatly dismayed to hear of this and inquired into it more closely, and Amun is indeed selling land, and cheaply but on condition that Amun has the right, if he wants, to redeem the land back with the same price within a time limit. But the sale is still profitable for it comes with the domestic buildings, farming equipment, cattle and slaves so that the buyer will earn a good profit from his assets every year by farming the land well. You know that Amun owns the most fertile tracts in Egypt. If matters stood as they did formerly, nothing would be more tempting than such a purchase, for profit is sure and speedy. Amun has sold immense areas of land and amassed in his vaults all the ready gold in Egypt, so that there is shortage of gold and the price of real estate has steeply dropped. But all these matters are secret and may not be discussed about, and I should have heard nothing of them had not my most serviceable thirst brought me amongst just the right people.”

“Do not tell me you have bought land, Kaptah?” I cried in dismay.

But Kaptah reassured me and said, “I am not so foolish, my lord, for you should know that I was not born with dung between the toes, slave though I am, but I was born to stone-paved streets and to tall houses. I know nothing of land, and if I bought land to your account, would every bailiff and shepherd and slave and paid servant girl steal from me whatever they could whereas in Thebes no one can steal anything from me but I steal from the others. The great profitability of Amun’s deals is also so evident that any one should see it and therefore I suspect that a jackal must be lurking in the deal somewhere and I get the same feeling from wealthy men’s suspicions of the temple safes. I believe that the whole affair is the result of Pharaoh’s new god. Many things will happen, my lord, many strange things will happen before we see and understand where all this takes us. But I, seeking only your advantage, have bought with your gold a number of inexpensive city buildings, shops and dwelling houses, for these return a substantial yearly profit, and the purchases await only your seal and signature to be complete. Believe me, I have bought them cheap, and should the sellers make me presents afterward, that is none of your affair but a matter between myself and the sellers arising out of their stupidity, and I cannot steal anything from you in these dealings. But I would not protest if you were to offer me a present or so since I have arranged these deals so cheaply to your benefit.”

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I reflected a little and said, “No, Kaptah, I shall make you no presents because you plainly intend to divert to yourself a portion of the rents and also to make your own arrangements with the builders when they estimate their yearly repairs.”

Kaptah was not disappointed at all, but settled with my words and admitted, “That is exactly how I saw the matter, for as your wealth is my wealth, so your advantage must be my advantage and I must always look after your interest. Yet I will admit that when I heard of Amun’s transactions, I began to take an intense interest in agriculture and went to the corn exchange and there wandered due to my thirst from tavern to tavern listening their talk until I learned many things. With your gold and by your permission, my lord, I mean to purchase stocks of grain, of next summer’s harvest I mean, for that is currently being sold and the prices are still very reasonable. It is true that grain perishes easier than stone and houses, and that rats eat it and slaves steal it, but that happens also if you are farming the fields, and if you want to win something you need to take risks. Farming and harvest depend on the flood and locusts, field mice and irrigation trenches and other things which I do not want to list since I do not know them. What I want to say that a farmer bears a greater responsibility than me as I now know the exact price that buys grain to my storage in the autumn. I propose to keep it in store and carefully secured, for something tells me that the price of corn will rise as time goes on. Now that Amun is selling and every fool becomes a farmer, the harvest cannot continue to be so abundant as formerly. Therefore I have bought storehouses for the grain, dry and soundly built for when we no longer have need of them we can lease them to corn merchants on advantageous terms.”

To my mind, Kaptah was giving himself unnecessary trouble and vexation, but the plans amused him, and I had nothing against the investments so long as I had not to concern myself with their management. Thus I thought and told him so, and he concealed his satisfaction studiously and said with an air of irritation:

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