The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

purse, but in the desert they are like sheep that you have led to the slaughterhouse, and they will follow you baaing obediently only to run around in mindless fear a moment later. Therefore I keep healing these snouts of yours only for my own sake, hoping that their courage gives us some unbelievable turn of luck that saves our lives. But it would be wisest if you pick out the swiftest horses and board a light chariot and take me behind you, so that we might make it alive back to the Lower Kingdom, and you could muster a new and better army.”

Horemheb rubbed his nose with his palm and looked at my slyly, saying, “Your counsel is worth your wisdom, Sinuhe, and if I were wise, I would doubtless have followed your advice already. But I love dearly my dung snouts and could not abandon them in the desert to die even if I could have escaped by myself and have the water stores destroyed and thus postpone the war until next year. Why was it that I did not escape, I indeed cannot tell, for any sensible man would have done it in my place — and I could have afterwards had a memorial built for these snouts of mine and have their names carved in stone to preserve them forever. But I did not do that, and so we have no choice save to defeat the Hittites here in the desert. It is that simple, Sinuhe. We defeat the Hittites since we have no alternative, and perhaps I did a wise thing to call my army into the desert since here the men have no place to run but they need to fight for their lives, whether they want to or not. But I think I shall now take my rest and drink wine, so that I will have a hangover in the morning, because with a hangover I am exceedingly ill-tempered and fight better than when sober.”

He went to his chariot and tilted a wine jar against his chin, and in the silent night, I heard the gurgling from his wine jar, until the sounds of chariots’ crashing and the screams of alarmed and terrified Egyptians, running chaotically from the barricades into the dark, came from afar again. His men looked at him enviously, and he passed the jar to everyone who went by and let his men drink from the same jar as he drank. While he had them drink, he reproached them, saying, “Your bellies are like bottomless sacks, and you empty my jar so that I will never get drunk enough, and you make my jar dirty with your filthy mouths.” He punched them on the shoulders with his fist and spoke to each by his name and reminded them about their deeds in front of Gaza, where they apparently had tangled in their own reins, and their own horses had kicked them.

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So the night passed, and from the desert rose the deadly grey morning like a ghost, bringing with it the reek of death and vultures. Before the barricades, lay dead horses and overturned chariots, and vultures were tearing out the eyes of Hittites who had fallen from their chariots. At dawn, horns sounded at Horemheb’s order, and he paraded his men at the foot of the mountain and spoke to his troops.

While the Hittites were smothering their fires with sand across the desert, harnessing their horses and whetting their blades, Horemheb addressed his troops, leaning on a rough rock while chewing dry bread and biting an onion in his hand. He spoke to his troops and said:

“Look before you, and you shall see a great marvel, for indeed Amun has delivered the Hittites into our hands, and we shall do great things this day. As you can see, the Hittite infantry has not yet come up, but remains at the edge of the desert because they lack water, and the chariots must break through our lines and capture the water stores in our rear if the Hittites fancy pursuing their attack on Egypt. Already their horses are thirsty and lack forage, for I have burned up their stores and smashed their water jars with hammers all the way from here to Syria. Therefore the Hittites must today either break through with their chariots or retire back to Syria, bringing their chariots with them, or they must pitch camp to await fresh supplies, in which event they will be unable to engage us in battle. If they were wise men, they would give up the battle and go back to Syria, but they are greedy men, and they have invested all the gold and silver of Syria in those water jars that lie full of water, strung out behind us all the way to Egypt, and they will not give them up without a fight. This is why I say that Amun has delivered them into our hands, for when they attack, their horses will stumble and entangle themselves in our barriers, and they cannot hurl their full force against us, for the Hittite power lies in their chariots’ irresistible assault but the trenches you have so bravely and diligently dug as well as the rocks and the stretched ropes will break the edge of their attack.”

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