The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

uncomfortable garments and dressed in grey clothes that reeked of cattle, and they served us cheese they had cooked along with sour wine. They bowed deep before us and lowered their hands at their knees and asked us to tell them about their son, and Horemheb’s father said, “We thought he was foolish when he tied a copper blade in his shepherd’s crook and honed it sharp and he refused to be humble though we always urged him to be humble.” And his mother said, “My heart has endlessly trembled for his sake for already when he was a child, he would rather hit his nose on a rock rather than go around it, and since he left our home we have feared he would bust his head or return to us as cripple and beaten. Yet now he returns carved in stone in all glory. Still every night my heart is uneasy for him, and I fear he eats too much meat though meat is not good for his stomach, and I fear he drowns in the river for he learned to swim against all my advice.”

This was what they in their simplicity spoke to us, and they touched our clothes and jewels and asked about Pharaoh and the great royal consort Nefertiti and the four little princesses. They also said they prayed every day, to Horus to be precise, the god of their son, so that the great royal consort would finally give birth to a son and heir to the royal power. We departed Horemheb’s parents as friends and left his image in the temple of Horus for the people of Nen-nesu to worship. Thutmose did not accompany me to Memphis even though I begged and prayed him to follow me for his own sake, but he returned to Akhenaten to carve the image of Queen Nefertiti in hard wood, which was all that he could speak about. So totally had Nefertiti’s beauty enchanted him, and I did not believe it was good for his health for too much woman’s beauty is dangerous and fairly close to sorcery, if not a kind of sorcery itself.

Thus my journey to Memphis became tedious, and I hastened the oarsmen, thinking that if I was to die, there was no need to delay the matter but better to be over with it and without regrets. I sat on a soft chair on the deck of Pharaoh’s boat, and Pharaoh’s pennants were fluttering over my head, and I watched the rushes and the river and the flying ducks and said to my heart, “I wonder if all this is worth living and seeing?” I said to my heart, “The day is hot, and the flies bite me, and the joy of man is small next to all of his troubles. His eyes become

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weary of seeing, noises and idle talk disturb his ears, and his heart dreams too much to be happy.” This way, I pacified my heart, travelling downstream, and I ate good meals prepared by Pharaoh’s royal cook and drank wine, until I was full and calm; and the wine made death resemble an old friend who was no one to be afraid of, and it was life with all its troubles that was more frightening than death, — life was like a hot dust, and death but a cool water.

However, already in Memphis harbour I felt uncomfortable, for I saw warships whose side shields were broken by catapult stones and their bows were cracked and masts were cut. I saw chariots whose shafts were broken and wheels severed, and flies swirled around the dried blood on their bases. I also saw refugees who were camping on the quays with their countless bundles — ragged, sick and wounded, eyes blazing terrifyingly from their fleshless faces. They included both Egyptians and Syrians, wearing colourful Syrian clothes. Noticing Pharaoh’s pennants over my head, they raised their dirty fists towards my ship and shouted curses at me in various languages until guards hit them with sticks and bulldozed me a way out of the harbour.

Horemheb received me in my capacity as Pharaoh’s envoy with great honours and bowed deep before me — for there was a large crowd of escaped Syrian government officials, distinguished Egyptians from Syrian cities, and envoys and representatives from foreign countries who were not involved in the war — and in front of them he had to respect Pharaoh. But as soon as we were alone, Horemheb began slapping his leg with his golden whip and asked impatiently, “What ill wind blows you hither as Pharaoh’s envoy, and what dung has hatched out from his crazy head?”

I told him that my mission was to journey to Syria and buy peace at any price from Aziru. Hearing this, Horemheb swore bitterly and called his falcons with various names and said, “Did I not guess that he would ruin all the plans I have laid with such pain and cost, for know that thanks to me, Gaza is still in our hands, so that Egypt holds one bridgehead in Syria for military operations. Moreover, by means of gifts and threats, I have induced the Cretan battle fleet to guard our sea communications with Gaza, since a strong and independent Syrian federation would not be in Crete’s interest but threatens their supremacy

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