The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

I thanked Muti and praised her skill, and she was greatly delighted although she tried to frown and sniff her nose, and Merit complimented her also. Whether this meal in the old copper founder’s house was in any way memorable or noteworthy, I do not know but I mention it for my own sake because it was then I felt happy and said, “Stay your course, water clock, and cease your flow, water, for this is a good hour, and let it never pass.”

But while we were eating, people had gathered in my courtyard, and the people from the poor quarter had arrayed themselves in their best clothes and anointed their faces with oil like it was a festival day and came to greet me and to bewail their aches and pains. They said, “We have sorely missed you, Sinuhe, for while you dwelled amongst us we did not value you at your true worth but only when you had gone did we perceive how much good you did us, and how much we lost in losing you.”

They brought me presents, although their presents were small and modest, for these people were poorer than ever because of Pharaoh Akhenaten’s god. One brought me a cup of grits and one a bird he’d caught with a throwing rod and one dried dates and one a flower for he had nothing else to give, and upon seeing how many flowers there were in front of my house, I no longer wondered why Avenue of Rams had such bare and robbed flower beds. Among the people was the old scribe who held his head askew because of the growth in his neck and to my astonishment was still alive. Among them was also the slave whose fingers I had healed, and he showed me his fingers proudly and moved them before my eyes, and it was him who brought the grits for he still worked in the mill and could steal from there. Among them was a mother who showed me her son who had grown up handsome and sturdy so that he had a black eye, and there were scars on his legs, and he boasted to me he could thrash any boy of his size in the neighbourhood. Among them was also the prostitute whose eyes I had healed and who ill repaid me by sending to me all the other girls from the pleasure house that I might remove disfiguring birthmarks and warts from their skin. She had prospered for she had been able to earn enough by practicing her profession to buy a pay toilet by the market where she sold perfumes and supplied the market sellers with the addresses of young and free-hearted girls. They all brought me gifts and said, “Do not scorn our presents, Sinuhe, royal physician though you are and live in Pharaoh’s golden house, for our hearts rejoice to see you, so long as you do not speak to us of Aten.”

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And I did not speak of Aten to them but received them one by one, according to their ailments and listened to their woes and prescribed medication for them and gave them treatment. In order to help me, Merit put off her beautiful dress so as not to stain it and bathed their sores and purified my knife in fire and mixed narcotic drinks for those who were to have a sore tooth extracted. Whenever I looked at her, I was glad, and I looked at her often as we worked, for she was fair to watch, and her body was luscious and slender, and her bearing was graceful, and she was not ashamed to put aside her dress to work as poor women do nor did any of my patients wonder at it, being too much concerned with their own troubles.

The day wore on while I received patients and talked to them as in former times, rejoicing in my knowledge and skill when I could affect their cure and rejoicing when I watched my friend Merit as I worked — and often I drew a full breath and said, “Stay your course, water clock, and cease your flow, water, for this fair moment cannot last too long.” Thus I entirely forgot that I had to pay visit to the golden house and that my visit had been announced to the great Queen Mother. But I think I forgot because, being happy, I had no wish to remember.

By the time the shadows lengthened, the last of my patients had left the court, and Merit poured water over my hands and helped me to cleanse myself, and with gladness I did the same for her, and we dressed together. But when I would have stroked her cheek and brushed her mouth with mine, she pushed me away, saying, “Make haste to visit your witch, Sinuhe, and lose no time, that you may return before nightfall for I think my sleeping mat awaits you with impatience. Yes, I feel that the mat in my room awaits you very eagerly, though why this should be, I have no idea since your limbs are soft, Sinuhe, and your flesh flabby, nor are your caresses in any way remarkable, but nevertheless, to me you are different from all other men, and I can well understand the feelings of my mat.”

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