The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

His words made my heart uneasy. I drank more of the wine, and my mouth and nostrils were filled with the sweet fragrance of myrrh. With a forced laugh, I said, “You must have been bitten by a rabid dog or stung by a scorpion, for indeed I have little power of any kind, and I cannot even heal the sick as well as you.”

He rose and said, “I will show you something.” Taking up a lamp, he led me out into the passage and opened a door that was secured with many locks and held the lamp to illuminate a cell blazing with gold and silver and precious stones and expensive golden vessels as high as a man and said, “Have no fear. I shall not tempt you with gold, I am not so foolish though it will do you no harm to see that Amun is still richer than Pharaoh. No, I shall not tempt you with gold but I only want to show you something.”

Opening another massive copper door, he threw light into a little cell where, on a stone shelf, lay a waxen image crowned with a double crown, its breast and temples transfixed with sharp bone pins. Involuntarily, I raised my hands and recited the prayers that give protection from sorcery, such as I had learned before my initiation as priest of the first order. Herihor regarded me with a smile, and the lamp in his hand was steady. “Do you believe now that Pharaoh’s days are nearly numbered for we have bewitched him to this image in the name of Amun and pierced its head and its heart with the sacred pins of Amun. Yet the workings of sorcery are slow, and much evil may yet come to pass, and moreover, his god is able to protect him somewhat from our magic. Now that you have seen this, I will speak with you further.”

He secured all doors again with care and led me back to his cell and poured more wine into my cup, but the wine slopped on my chin, and the rim of the cup clattered against my teeth — for I knew that with my own eyes I had seen a sorcery more potent than all others and one that no one hitherto had been able to withstand. So horrible is the sorcery of the waxen image that the priests of Amun did not dare talk about it aloud in the Temple, but it could only be read from old texts — and many believed that such sorcery could not be practised any more when two thousand years had already passed since the pyramids were built and the world was not young and full of sorcery like in those days. Herihor said:

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“From this, you may see that Amun’s power extends even to Akhetaten and do not ask me how we acquired hairs from his head and clippings from his nails to mix with the wax. I tell you only that we did not buy them for gold but we got them for the sake of Amun.”

Regarding me narrowly and weighing his words with care, he finally said, “Amun’s power increases day by day as you saw when I healed the sick in the name of Amun. Day by day his curse on Egypt becomes more terrible. The longer Pharaoh lives, so much more must the people suffer for his sake — and sorcery is slow. In any case, Pharaoh suffers from headaches that wear out his powers. What would you say, Sinuhe, if I gave you a medicine to cure Pharaoh’s headaches so that he need never again suffer pain?”

“Men are always subject to pain,” I said. “Only the dead never feel pain any more.”

His burning eyes were on me, and his will chained me to my seat so that I could not even raise my hand as he said, “That may be true, but this medicine leaves no trace, and no one will blame you, and not even the embalmers will notice anything unusual in his entrails. But you need know nothing of it at all, merely to give Pharaoh a potion to relieve his headaches. When he has taken it, he will fall asleep, never again to suffer pain or sorrow.

He raised his hand to prevent my speaking and said still, “I do not bribe you with gold, but if you will do this thing, your name shall be blessed for all eternity, and your body shall never be destroyed but shall endure forever. Invisible hands will protect you all the days of your life, and there is no human desire of yours that shall not be fulfilled. This I promise you, having the power to do so.

He raised both his hands, and his burning eyes held me, and I could not avoid his gaze. His will chained me, and I could not move or raise my hands or stand up. He said, “If I say to you: Arise, you will do so. If I say: Raise your hands, you will raise them. But I cannot compel you to bow before Amun against your will nor induce you to perform deeds to which your heart is opposed. This limits my power over you. I conjure you, Sinuhe, for the sake of Egypt give him this medicine, and cure his headaches forever.”

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