The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

much as they can and hits and pokes at everyone he sees. If the enemy flees, the commander receives great honours, and his skills are praised, and Pharaoh throws him a golden chain from his balcony. But if we flee, everyone thanks his luck to have saved his life, and various papers get written, and survivors get flogged, and the commander is hung on the wall head downward. However, if the commander is a distinguished man, he might still be thrown a golden chain by Pharaoh from the balcony, regardless of the defeat, and his defeat is declared as victory and carved in stone to endure forever. This is how war is, royal Sinuhe, so that do not moan for your troubles but thank your luck for not having to wage war yourself.”

This was his way to comfort me until I slept, but in the middle of the night I woke up in terrible cries and to the sound of tramping hoofs and crashing chariots. After we had lit torches, we saw that both night guards were lying down, throats cut and bleeding heavily. A chariot and its horses were stolen, and the remaining chariots and horses were in a big wild mess with shafts, reins and wheels all mixed up. After clearing everything up, we continued the journey even if it was dark, and no more I complained about the hardships of the journey for the nightly attackers must have been on their way to get reinforcements so that they could attack us again and take over our horses and chariots and water. Juju said that horses and chariots and water were more valuable to voluntary troops than gold. So the voluntary troops attacked also Egyptians to steal horses and chariots.

So the day dawned, and the sunshine made my head hurt, and sand stung in my eyes, and my tongue was glued to my palate. The burning wind of the desert brought the smell of smoke and blood to our nostrils, and the horses started snorting, and the drivers attached scythes to their chariots. Going about some red hills, we saw an oasis and the burning huts around it and bodies stripped naked, bleeding to sand and having their eyes pecked by ravens. We were approached my some spearmen, and a few arrows were fired against us, but the voluntary troops who had fought here — whether with Aziru’s men or with shepherds or with some other voluntary troops, I never learned that — realised it was better to make way for us, having compared their numbers with our numbers and chariots. They settled with shouting at us various slurs and threats from a distance and poked the air with their spears, but we ignored them and continued on our journey even if Juju’s men would have liked to drive them down with their chariots for the sake of practise.

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The following night, we saw camp fires or burning houses shimmering in the horizon. Juju said we were approaching the Syrian edge of the desert, and after feeding the horses, we continued the journey cautiously in the moonlight, until I fell asleep, dead tired, on the forage sacks in the chariot. At dawn, I was roused by Juju rolling me roughly out of the chariot onto the sand. He threw out my clay tablets and traveling chest after me and turned his horses commending me to the protection of the gods of Egypt and shouting encouraging words to me. He tore off at full gallop, wheels striking sparks from the stones, and the rest of the chariots followed him.

When I had rubbed the sand from my eyes, I saw a group of Syrian chariots with their pennants advancing toward me from between the mountains and fanning out in battle order. I rose and reminded myself of my rank and waved a green palm branch above my head with both hands in token of peace, although the branch had withered and shrivelled in the course of my journey. But the chariots whirled by unheeding so that only a single arrow sang past my ear like an angry wasp and plunged into the sand behind me. The chariots tore after Juju’s chariots, but I saw Juju and his men throw away forage sacks from their chariots, and even the water bags were thrown away to make their chariots lighter. In this manner, I saw them make their escape, and only one chariot was left behind after its horses stumbled in stones, and the attackers ran the chariot down, felling the horses and killing the men while flying past them at full speed.

Finding that pursuit was vain, Aziru’s chariots returned to me, and the drivers stepped down from their chariots. I shouted them explaining my rank and showed them Pharaoh’s clay tablets in my hands. But they took no heed of my shouting but approached me indifferently, and some had hands hanging on their belts, still dripping blood. They robbed me and opened my traveling chest and took my gold and then stripped the clothes off me and bound me by the wrists to the tail of a chariot, so that I had to run behind their chariots, and when they drove off, I thought I would swelter, and sand scraped the skin from my knees, and they did not care about my shouts even if I threatened them with Aziru’s anger. All this I had to suffer for the sake of Pharaoh Akhenaten.

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