The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

Hearing this, I realised entirely how Pharaoh Akhenaten was above all prejudices; and the thought in my mind that the great Queen Mother was of black blood strengthened — for how would she otherwise be able to master the secret art of the black men. As an Egyptian and as a physician, I found giving birth this way repulsing. Nevertheless, I said carefully:

“Only Aten alone can define the gender of the child in mother’s womb, and men have no power to define it. Although in different countries I have encountered beliefs and seen talismans that women use to give birth to sons when they so wish, but every other time they fail which is understandable since the possibility is evenly divided. However, since you have already given birth to two daughters, it is more likely now that you give birth to a son than a daughter, but nothing certain I can say for I want to be honest with you and not entice you with stupid tricks like false doctors to earn gold.”

She did not like my words and smiled no more while looking at me with her bright, expressionless eyes, but said, “My husband Akhenaten was born from the sun, as you know. He was born after the great Queen Mother prayed in Iunu, and his birth was a divine secret. You cannot forbid that, can you?”

Something in her cold, prudent behaviour irritated me, so that my courage rose, and perhaps part of my courage came from wine, for I looked past her markedly long at priest Ay and said, “There are no divine secrets to a physician, and I would not like you to travel to Iunu for the sake of the people since you have that same power in your own house, and Pharaoh Akhenaten wants to live by truth. If your womb remained barren from year to year, I would not say anything, for succession is a significant matter, but since Pharaoh and you have no natural problem, there is no benefit in damaging your heart, since the possibilities remain evenly divided.”

She raised her hand to her flexible neck and sighed deeply looking at me as if wishing to have me killed. But she was cold-blooded in her consideration and therefore said, “I do not understand what you are talking about, but perhaps you try to be profound to make an impression on me. There is no use for that since your honest answer is enough for me, and I thank you for it.”

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Thutmose chimed in boldly and looked her in the eyes and said, “Nefertiti, the most beautiful of all the beauties, give birth to girls only so that they would inherit your beauty and thus make the world richer. The little Meritaten is already a beauty, and the court women imitate the shape of her head with wigs, envious of her good looks. But I will sculpt an image of you to preserve your beauty forever.”

I calmed down, too, and wondered about her magical power that had irritated me to speak so foolishly. I gave her doctor’s advice on foods to avoid and urged her to chew grains of wheat when they were ripe for that is the only sure way to increase the strength of the seed to make nature hesitate and prefer male gender in woman’s womb. I said to her, “The only divine secret in all this is how a seed of man inseminates a woman for everyone thinks it is natural but cannot explain it.” Then she smiled at me again and tasted wine from my cup and said, “I am but a stupid woman and a mother and as mother very superstitious, like all women. Protect me from my superstition so that I would give birth to a healthy child, be it a girl or a boy.”

The colour of her lips left a tile red mark on the edge of my cup, and I was careful not to lose it. Thus my golden cup still bears the red mark of her mouth, and something unfathomable that defines the course of things caused the child, who had made the grain of barley sprout, be born as a girl so that eventually a childish boy became Pharaoh of both Kingdoms. But I did not know that back then yet, and that night I showed the cup to Merit and had double reason to be proud, for not only Pharaoh had drank from it, but there was also the red sign of Nefertiti’s mouth on the edge. I could not help her being the unreachable woman of my dreams even if her eyes were so hard and bright. Merit despised my cup greatly and did not allow me to caress her cheeks with my hands but said I was drunk from the wine of the golden house. However, the next morning, when I came to fetch her to watch Pharaoh’s festival procession, she wore the summer dress that was made in the new fashion, and she looked very lovely in that dress, even if she was born in a tavern, so that I was not at all ashamed to stand beside her by the Avenue of Rams in places reserved for the favoured of Pharaoh.

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