The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

In any case, I opened three skulls in the House of Life and one from compassion because the sick man was incurable and was in too much pain. The remaining two cases were interesting and demanded the full exercise of my skill. One was a man who a year or so before had fallen on his head from a rooftop, where he had been disporting himself with another man’s wife. He had fallen while fleeing from the husband but regained consciousness later without apparent injury. After some time, he fell ill of the holy sickness and suffered successive attacks, which invariably followed after the drinking of wine. He saw no visions but merely shouted in a furious voice and he kicked and bit his tongue, nor could he contain his water. So greatly did he dread these attacks that he begged to undergo the operation and asked for it himself. I agreed to open his skull and, following the advice of the doctors of the House of Life, I used a stauncher of blood though I was not used to relying on a stauncher of blood but more on my own skill. This stauncher of blood was even duller and sleepier than the one who died in Pharaoh’s golden house, like I have told before, and during the entire operation he needed to be pushed and jostled to stay awake and keep his duties in his mind. Even then the blood was now and then spilling from the operation wound. I laid bare the whole surface of his brain, which in many parts was black with old blood. The cleansing process took a considerable time and could not have been fully performed without injury. The man suffered no further attacks, however, for he died on the third day after the operation, as is usual. Nevertheless this operation was acclaimed as highly successful, and my skill was greatly praised, and the students took careful note of all I did and showed to them.

The other case was basically a simple one for the patient was a young boy whom the guards had found senseless and dying in the street, having been robbed with his head beaten in. I chanced to be at the House of Life when the guards brought him in and he had nothing to lose as the physicians refused to attend to him, being convinced that he would certainly die. I opened the crushed skull as rapidly as possible, picked the splinters of bone from his brain and covered the hole with a plate of purified sliver. He recovered and was still alive when I left

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Thebes two weeks later, although he found difficulty in moving his arms and didn’t tickle when his palms and the soles of his feet were tickled with a feather. I believed however that in time he would be completely cured. This trepanning did not cause as much attention as that of the man with the holy sickness for everyone thought my success was ordinary and they mainly praised the speed of my hands. The case was remarkable in that its urgency had given me no time to shave his head before operating, and when I had stitched the scalp together again over the silver plate, the hair went on growing as before and entirely hid the scar in his head.

Although I was treated with respect in the House of Life because of my position, the older physicians avoided me and withheld their confidence, for I was from Akhetaten, while they were governed by fear of the false god. I never spoke to them of Aten and discussed professional matters only with them. Day after day they sought to read my mind, and sniffed about me like dogs on a trail until I started marvelling at their behaviour. At length, after the third skull operation, a certain surgeon of exceptional wisdom and proficiency approached me and said to me:

“Royal Sinuhe, you must have observed that the House of Life is emptier than in former days and that our knowledge is less sought after than it once was, although there are as many sick people as ever in Thebes, and even more than before. You have travelled in many countries, Sinuhe, and seen many cures, yet I doubt if you have seen such healing as is performed secretly in Thebes today — for this healing requires neither knife nor fire, neither medicine nor bandages. I have been instructed to tell you of these cures and to ask if you want to witness some examples. You must promise not to speak of what you see. Also you must suffer your eyes to be blindfolded when you are conveyed to the sacred healing place, that you may remain in ignorance of where it lies.”

His words were not pleasing to me, for I feared trouble with Pharaoh for the sake of this matter. Yet my curiosity was aroused, and so I said, “I have indeed heard that strange things are happening in Thebes. Men tell tales and women see visions, but of cures I have heard nothing. As a physician, I am exceedingly sceptical of cures effected without knife or fire, without medicine or bandages. I prefer not to involve myself in deceptions lest my name be taken falsely, to testify to things that do not exist and cannot occur.”

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