The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

He stared at me impudently and smiled behind his hand, but I talked to him vehemently and said, “Aziru, you bandit and rustler and hangman of the innocent. Don’t you know that in every smithy throughout the Lower Kingdom spearheads are being forged, and the number of Horemheb’s chariots is already greater than that of the fleas in your camp, and these fleas will bite you sorely once the harvest has ripened. This Horemheb, whose fame is known to you, spat on my feet when I spoke to him of peace, but for the sake of his god, Pharaoh desires peace rather than the shedding of blood. Therefore I give you one last chance, Aziru. Egypt will keep Gaza, and you must scatter the desert hordes yourself, for Egypt is in no way answerable for their deeds but your own cruelty alone has forced these Syrians to flee into the desert, there to take arms against you, and this is Syria’s internal matter. Furthermore, you shall release all Egyptian prisoners and pay compensation for the losses Egyptian traders have sustained in Syrian cities and restore to them their property.”

But Aziru tore his clothes and pulled hairs from his beard and shouted bitterly, “Have you been bitten by a mad dog, Sinuhe, that you talk so mindlessly. Gaza must be ceded to Syria, and the Egyptian traders shall answer for their own losses, and the prisoners shall be sold as slaves as good custom requires, but nothing prevents Pharaoh from buying their freedom if he has gold enough for the purpose.”

I said to him, “If you make peace you can build high walls about your cities and lofty towers, so that you need no longer fear the Hittites, and Egypt will support you. The merchants of those cities will grow rich when they can trade with Egypt free of tax, and the Hittites cannot hinder your commerce since they have no warships. All the advantages will be on your side, Aziru, if you make peace. Pharaoh’s terms are moderate, and I can make no concessions.”

Day after day we debated, and many times Aziru tore his clothes, and poured ash on his hair, and called me a shameless robber and wept over the fate of his son, who would certainly die as a beggar in a ditch, made poor by Egypt. Once I even left his tent and called for a chair and escort to travel to Gaza and had already stepped up into the chair before Aziru called me back. Yet I think he delighted in this haggling, being a Syrian, and

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all the time fancied he cheated me and had got the better of me when I yielded certain points. He could never have suspected my mandate from Pharaoh was to buy peace at any price, even if Egypt became poor for the sake of peace.

Thus I maintained my self-assurance and through my negotiating won terms that were very advantageous to Pharaoh, and time was on my side, for dissension within Aziru’s camp was intensifying, and every day more men departed for their own cities, and he could not prevent them for his authority was as yet insufficiently established. This way, we got so far that Aziru as his last condition proposed the following: the walls of Gaza should be teared down and he would appoint the King of Gaza, but along with the King there would be an advisor appointed by Pharaoh, and both Syrian and Egyptian ships could sail to Gaza and engage in trade there without paying taxes. But naturally I could not accept that since without walls Gaza would be worthless and entirely in his power.

When I said firmly that I could not accept his proposal and demanded an escort to depart for Gaza, he became enraged and expelled me from his tent and threw all my clay tables out of the tent after me. But he did not allow me to leave, and I killed time in the camp by curing the sick and buying Egyptian prisoners their freedom for they had greatly suffered as porters and from pulling load wagons. I also bought a few women their freedom, but some I gave medicine that allowed them to die since death was better for them than life after torture by the Hittites. This way, time went by, and time was on my side for I had nothing to lose whereas Aziru had more to lose each passing day so that he tore the silver net from his beard in his impatience and pulled black tufts of hair from his head for the sake of my intransigence, and he called me ugly names.

I have to add that Aziru let every step of mine be carefully guarded and spied on me, thinking I was like him and fearing I was intriguing with his nobles and officers. That would have been an easy task indeed, but it never came to my mind for I had a sheep’s heart and Aziru was my friend. Nevertheless, one night two assassins entered his tent and wounded him with their knives but not mortally, and he slew one, while his small son awoke and thrust his little sword into the back of the other so that he also died.

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