The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

front of Pharaoh and take over Gaza. I will not consent to your deceitful proposal and will not accept the donkey cruppers you offer me, for I will hold Gaza, and my men will hold Gaza, as long as we live — and I will find those four hundred donkey cruppers if I have to tear down all of Gaza stone by stone to find them.”

At this, Horemheb became worried of his state of mind and urged him to travel to Egypt to recover with his wife and children from the hardships of the siege. But he should not have proposed this, since now Roju was certain that Horemheb was after his power and wanted to strip him of Gaza. Thus he said, “Gaza is my Egypt, the walls of Gaza are my wives, and the towers of Gaza are my children. But truly I will open my wife’s belly and cut the heads of my children if I won’t recover these lost donkey cruppers.”

Unknown to Horemheb, Roju ordered the execution of the store clerk, who had endured all the hardships of the siege by his side, and set men to tearing up the floor of his tower with pickaxes and rods to find the lost donkey cruppers. When Horemheb saw this destruction, he ordered him to be locked in his room and watched, and then he consulted me as a physician. After speaking friendly with Roju — though he did not believe I was his friend but suspected me of trying to use cunning to become the commander of Gaza — I said to Horemheb, “This man won’t calm down before you and your troops march out of Gaza and he is able to close its gates again and rule in Gaza as Pharaoh as he pleases.” But Horemheb said, “How in the name of Seth and the devils could I do such a thing before the ships have arrived from Egypt and have brought fresh troops, arms and supplies so that I may begin the campaign against Joppe. Until then, the walls of Gaza are my only defence, and if I go with my troops outside the walls, I risk everything that I have so far won.”

I hesitated in my mind and said, “It might be happiest for him if I opened his skull and in that manner tried to cure him, since he suffers a lot for the sake of your stay and must be kept tied to his bed. Otherwise he might harm himself or you.” But Horemheb would not allow to open the skull of the most famed Egyptian hero, since it might have risked his own reputation, if Roju had died, for I was not able to guarantee he survived. Opening the skull is always an insecure and dangerous procedure. Therefore he sent me to Roju, and with the help of many strong men, I bound him to his bedstead and then administered a soothing medicine. But from the shadows of his bed, his eyes blazed green like eyes of a beast, and he writhed, foaming at the mouth in fury, when he said to me:

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“Am I not commander in Gaza, you jackal of Horemheb? I remember now that there is in the fortress dungeon a Syrian spy whom I captured before your master came and forgot to hang on the wall by reason of my many duties. This spy is an exceedingly cunning fellow, and I now understand that it is he who has made off with those four hundred donkey cruppers. Bring him before me that I may squeeze these accursed cruppers out of him and sleep in peace once more.”

He insisted and raved so long about the Syrian spy that I grew weary, and taking lighted torches, I descended into the dungeon, where a number of rat-gnawed bodies sat chained to the walls. The guard of the dungeon was a blind old man who had become blind from having lived all his days in the dungeons of Gaza, and he could move around in them without torches, knowing every corridor. I questioned him about a certain Syrian spy who had been imprisoned before the end of the siege, but he vowed and declared that all the prisoners had perished long ago, having first been questioned on the stretching rack and then left without food or water. But I knew human nature, and the old man’s demeanour aroused my suspicions. Therefore I pressed him hard and threatened him until he prostrated himself before me and shouted, wailing:

“Spare my life, lord, for I have faithfully served Egypt all my days and in the name of Egypt have tormented prisoners and stolen their food. But this spy is no ordinary man, and his tongue is wonderful and whistles like a nightingale, and he has promised me great wealth if I will feed him and keep him alive until the coming of Horemheb, and he has also promised to restore my sight, having been blind himself until a great physician healed his one eye, and he has promised to bring me to this great physician that my sight may also be restored and that I may live in the city amongst people and enjoy my wealth. He already owes me more than two million deben of gold for the bread and water I have given him, and I have not told him that the siege is over and that Horemheb has come to Gaza, that he may incur yet heavier debt for

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