The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

Unknown is the mind of man, and so had Pharaoh’s truth blinded me that I did not forebode any ill though the smoke from smouldering ruins lingered in the heat of the day and the reek of corpses came from the river. The Avenue of Rams was brilliant with banners and was lined with vast crowds who had come to see Pharaoh, and boys had climbed the trees in the gardens on either side; and Pepitaten had ordered countless baskets of flowers to be set out along the road so that, according to custom, the spectators could strew them in the path of Pharaoh’s carrying chair. My mood was airy and misty for I seemed to glimpse freedom and light for the land of Egypt since I had received a golden cup from Pharaoh’s house and had been appointed as the royal skull opener. Beside me stood a mature and lovely woman who was my friend, and I held her hand on my arm, and around us in the reserved places we saw only happy people and smiling faces so that I could not see the faces of the common people. Yet profound silence reigned, such silence that the squawking of crows could be heard from the roof of the great Temple for crows and vultures had taken up their abode in Thebes and were so gorged that they could not rise and fly back to their mountains.

Perhaps it was a mistake to have black men painted with stripes escort Pharaoh’s golden chair for the mere sight of them aroused the fury of the people. There were few in the crowd who had not suffered some injury during the preceding days: many had lost their homes by fire, the tears of wives had not yet dried, men’s wounds still smarted beneath the bandages, and their bruised and broken mouths could not smile. But Pharaoh Akhenaten appeared, swaying high in his chair above the heads of the people and visible to them all. Upon his head, he wore the double crown of the Two Kingdoms, the crown of lotus and the crown of papyrus, the crown of Upper Kingdom and the crown of Lower Kingdom; and his arms were crossed on his breast, and his hands were hard clenched about the royal crook and scourge. He sat motionless as an image of god, as Pharaohs of all ages have sat in the sight of the people, and there was a dreaded silence as he came, as if the sight of him had struck men dumb. Then the soldiers guarding the route

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raised their spears with a shout of greeting, and the more eminent of the onlookers also began to shout and throw flowers in front of the chair. But against the menacing silence of the crowd, their cries sounded thin and pitiful, like the buzz of a solitary midge on a winter’s night, so that they soon fell silent and looked at one another in amazement.

Now, against all tradition, Pharaoh moved and raised the crook and scourge in his anxious excitement to greet the people. The crowd wobbled and suddenly from its manifold throat broke a cry as terrible as the thunder of bursting seas among the rocks. The crowd moved and shouted in a bellowing cry, “Amun, Amun, give us back Amun, the King of all gods.” As the crowd billowed and swayed, and the cry rolled out ever louder, the crows and vultures winged upward from the Temple roof and flapped their black pinions above the chair of Pharaoh. And the people cried, “Away with you, false Pharaoh, begone.”

Their shouting alarmed the porters so that the chair halted in its course, but when they again tried moving forward, goaded by the nervous officers of the guard, the people poured in an irresistible flood across the Avenue of Rams, swept away the chain of soldiers, and threw themselves pell -mell before the chair to block its advance. It was no longer possible to follow exactly what was happening for the soldiers began to beat the people with their sticks and cudgels to clear the way; but soon they had recourse to use spears and daggers to protect their lives, and sticks and stones sang through the air, while blood flowed over the stones of the Avenue of Rams, and above the roar rose the shrill screams of the dying. But not one stone was cast at Pharaoh, for he was born of the sun like all other Pharaohs before him. His person was sacred, and no one in the crowd would have dared even in his dreams to lift a hand against him, though in their hearts they hated him. I do not believe that even the priests would have lifted their hands against him for such a thing had never happened. Thus unmolested by anyone, Pharaoh could see everything that passed from his high chair. Then he arose, forgetting his dignity, and called out to halt the soldiers, but no one heard his cry in all the din.

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