we sit in the seats of the golden house and drink wine from expensive cups — we, who suffered persecution and mocking and doused our thirst with bitter beer during the days of the false god. We saw the freedom of the Cretan art and found our own freedom through art — and you will be amazed of the things you will see for already stone lives in our hands even if there is still lot to learn.”
I said to him, “There is the cross of life in your garment.” He smiled broadly and said, “So what? It stands for freedom from the power of the false god and life in light and truth.”
“What else does it mean to you who earned your living by drawing mice besieging trembling cats to the children of the rich men?” I asked. Remembering the days of his poverty, he laughed and raised my cup in his hand and looked at it in admiration and said, “I refrain from discussing matters of god for I am content with this beautiful life, all its colours and wonderful shapes, and life is like a never -emptying wine jar to my hands and like a never -tiring picture to my eyes. No, Sinuhe, matters of god I do not want to discuss with you for they shift and change every day according to his visions, and what was right yesterday may be wrong today as he tears down one veil after another before his truth — and yet there are ever more veils which is not surprising. You are also dreary, Sinuhe, to start talking about Aten at the feast table for it is more than enough for us to follow his enthusiasm even when we are sober. No, Sinuhe, let us gladden our hearts with wine, for Aten is the giver of joy, and he shares golden cups and high chairs to his favourites. Let us leave the matters of god for Pharaoh to worry for he understands them best though they give him a worse headache than mixed wine gives to me.”
I was very happy to see Thutmose again, and also Horemheb rejoiced seeing him although he could not show his joy openly for the sake of his dignity. But Thutmose studied him closely and said he would make an image of him in the temple of Aten since he had set Thebes free from the power of the false god and his face and posture were opportune to be pictured, if only Pharaoh granted gold and proper stone for the work. Horemheb was quite flattered since never had a picture been made of him, but he said:
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“You must think you do a favour by sculpting me to endure orever, but I anticipate my name will endure already for the sake of my deeds. In any case, I do not want to stand there like a fool staring at bloodless sacrifice of Aten’s altar for as a soldier I cannot make anything out of that. On the other hand, I would not mind if my image was erected in the temple of Horus in Nen-nesu, my native town, for Aten is not fighting with Horus yet and I’d like to see the locals choke in their flour for they laughed at me and my spear when I was a boy.”
Having said that, he got up and bowed deeply, stretching his hands forth to his knees, and also I and Thutmose bowed deeply, for Queen Nefertiti approached us and addressed us holding her beautiful hand gently on her bosom. There were no rings in her fingers nor golden bracelets about her wrists so that everyone could see how fair her hands were and how fragile her wrists. She also spoke to me and said:
“A grain of barley is again sprouting from the water of my body, and my anticipation is eager for Pharaoh longs for a son, an heir to his power, and his power is not certain before his own blood stands strong by his side, for the false god still vies in the dark for his power, and there is no reason to hide that amongst us because it is true and we all know it. You, Sinuhe, have collected a lot of knowledge from many countries, and I have been told that you have made marvellous deeds as a physician. Tell me, shall I give birth to a son?”
I looked at her with doctor’s eyes, trying to forget her beauty, for she seemed to make her beauty rush at me as if something in her had cried for me, and this happened to everyone whom she looked at and to everyone who approached her. “Nefertiti,” I said, “great royal consort, for your sake do not wish for a son as your hips are narrow, and a boy would bring greater pain than a girl and put your life in risk.”
Also she looked at me, and her eyes were bright and hard, and she said impatiently, “You do not need to tell me something I already know for the most skilful obstetricians of the House of Life elongated my daughters’ heads long and narrow already before they were born so that they would be born alive. They would not have dared to do it unless the black witches who live in straw huts and know this art were brought from the land of Kush under the orders of the great Queen Mother. Therefore do not worry about my life or the size of my son’s head but tell me what I need to do to give birth to a son.”
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