Her counsel was good, and I set Muti to gathering up my belongings and rolling them in mats and sent slaves to seek out my oarsmen in the beer taverns and pleasure houses of the harbour. Meanwhile, I composed a letter to Mehunefer, but unwilling to wound her, I wrote with great courtesy, and this is what I said:
“Sinuhe, the royal skull opener, greets Mehunefer, Keeper of the Needle Case in the golden house at Thebes. My friend, I sorely repent of my excited mood if it has led you to a misunderstanding of my heart for I cannot meet you again, since such an encounter might lead me into sin, and my heart is already engaged. For this reason, I am going away, never to see you again but with you will remember me merely as a friend, and with my letter I send you a jar of drink called crocodile’s tail, which I hope may somewhat assuage any grief you may be feelin — but I assure you that I am nothing to grieve for, being an old and flabby and worn-out man in whom a woman such as you could find no delight. I rejoice that we have both been preserved from sin and shall not see you again. This is the sincere hope of your friend Sinuhe, the royal physician.”
Merit shook her head at this letter, objecting that its tone was too gentle. In her opinion, I should have expressed myself more curtly and told Mehunefer that she was an ugly old hag and that I was seeking escape from her persecution in flight. But I could not have written thusly to any woman, and after some argument Merit allowed me to roll up the letter and seal it although she continued to shake her head in foreboding. I sent a slave to the golden house with the letter and also the wine jar to insure that on this evening at least Mehunefer could not pursue me. Believing myself rid of Mehunefer, I heaved a sigh of relief, but the proof is not always in the pudding
I had been so entirely distressed that I had forgotten Merit and my longing for her, but when the letter was on its way and Muti was rolling my chests and coffers in mats for the journey, I looked at Merit and was filled with unspeakable sadness at the thought of losing her through my own foolishness even if I might well have remained in Thebes for some time to come. Merit also seemed plunged in thought and suddenly asked, “Are you fond of children, Sinuhe?”
495
Her question bewildered me, and looking into my eyes, she smiled a little sadly and said, “Oh, have no fear, Sinuhe. I do not intend to bear you any. But I have a female friend with a four-year-old son, and she has often said how fine it would be for the boy to sail down the river in a boat and see the green meadows and the rolling plough land and the water fowl and cattle instead of the cats and dogs in the dusty streets of Thebes.”
I was much disturbed and said, “You cannot mean me to take an unruly little boy of one of your friends on board only to deprive me of my peace and continually bring my heart into my mouth for fear he may tumble overboard or thrust his arm into the jaws of a crocodile?”
Merit looked at me smiling, but sorrow darkened her eyes, and she said, “I do not want to cause you any vexation, but the voyage would do the boy good, and I myself carried him to be circumcised so I have obligations toward him, like you well know. I intended to come with the boy, of course, to see that he did not fall into the water, and in this way I should have had good and sufficient reason for accompanying you, but I shall do nothing against your will, and let us forget the matter.”
At this, I shouted for joy and clapped my hands above my head and said, “If that’s the case, you can bring along the whole nursery of the Temple. Truly this is a day of great joy for me since in my dullness I never thought that you could come with me to Akhetaten. And you incur no injury to your reputation on my account if you bring a child with you as a pretext for your journey.”
“Quite so, Sinuhe,” she said, with the irritating smile affected by women in discussing matters that men do not understand. “My reputation will not be endangered if I bring a child and you protect me. Oh, fools that men are but I nevertheless forgive you.”
Our departure was sudden because of my dread of Mehunefer, and we sailed at dawn when the sky was becoming white before the sunrise. Merit brought the child to the ship swathed in blankets and still sleeping, and his mother did not come although I would gladly have seen a woman who dared to call her child Thoth — for parents seldom presume to give their children the names of gods. Thoth is the god of
496
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384