The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

But Kaptah was greatly shocked at my words and burped many times in a row, drinking mixed wine and saying, “I won’t do any such thing for I am a man of honour, and a merchant must hold to his engagements if he is to preserve his reputation, and I don’t want to deceive anyone, though there probably isn’t that much gold in all Egypt which I owe to that old man. I thought I would die in Gaza for the sake of the Gaza commander’s stupidity, and therefore I joked with him and promised him whatever he asked — for as I thought I would never be left paying for any of it. Had I guessed that I should survive, I should of course have greatly bargained with him, but smelling the bread in his hand, I did not have the patience to bargain due to my hunger.”

I wiped my eyes and forehead and stared at him alarmed and asked, “Are you really Kaptah? No, I cant believe it, but I believe that some curse lurks in the stones of this fortress, and anyone who remains within it long enough goes mad. So have you gone mad too and are you not the old Kaptah any more? Do you really mean to pay the old man all you owe him — and with what will you pay it since the kingdom of Aten has fallen and I fancy you are as poor as myself and your wealth lost.”

But Kaptah was now drunk from wine, and he said, “I am a pious man and honour the gods and keep my word. I intend to pay my debt to the old man to the last deben, although of course he must allow me time, and I do not believe that he even understands in his simple head how much I owe him but would doubtless be content if I weighed out a couple of deben to him, for never in his life has he squeezed soft gold between his fingers. Indeed, he would be beside himself with joy to receive only one deben, but this does not release me from my word and debt. I don’t know where I can find so much, for I lost a very great deal in the Theban rebellion and was compelled to fly from Thebes in a shameful manner, leaving my wealth behind me when the slaves and porters got this idea that I had betrayed them to Amun, and they sought to kill me; but after that, I did a great service to Horemheb in Memphis, and when I had to flee Memphis too, since slaves’ hatred reached me even there, I have done Horemheb even greater services in Syria, living here as a merchant and selling grain and forage to the Hittites. I estimate therefore that Horemheb already owes me half a million deben of gold and even more, because I had to leave my business affairs behind and make my escape to Gaza, in peril of my life on the sea in a very small boat. The Hittites, you understand,

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were greatly enraged because their horses fell sick of the forage I had sold them. But unbeknownst to me, I ran an even greater risk by escaping to Gaza, for the mad Gaza commander imprisoned me as a Syrian spy and stretched me for being a spy, and assuredly he would have had my hide hanging on the wall, had not this silly old man hidden me and vowed that I had perished in the dungeon. Therefore, I must pay my debt to him.”

While he was speaking, my eyes opened, and I understood that it was Kaptah who had been Horemheb’s best servant in Syria and the head of his spies, since the thirsty man who visited Horemheb’s tent at the mountain of victory by night had covered his one eye as a sign that he had been sent by a one-eyed man. I perceived that no other than Kaptah could have performed such wonders in Syria, for in guile Kaptah had no peer. Yet I said to him:

“It may be that Horemheb does owe you much gold, but it is easier to squeeze gold out of a rock with your fingers than make him pay his debt. You know very well that he never pays his debts.”

Kaptah said, “That is so, and I know well that Horemheb is a hard-hearted and ungrateful man — even more ungrateful than this mad Gaza commander, to whom I conveyed grain, thrown by the Hittites in closed jars. You see, the Hittites fancied that the jars were full of venomous serpents, which I had with great effort and trouble gathered from the desert, and as the proof of this, I let one jar break, and the serpents bit three Hittite soldiers so that they died during a water measure’s time; and after this, the Hittites felt no desire to open further jars which contained grains but paid me well for these jars. Therefore every grain that arrived in these jars to Gaza costs Horemheb its weight of gold and maybe more, for the grain was worth its price, and the shameful manner with which the Gaza commander has treated me makes it even pricier. But naturally I don’t even dream of managing to collect my claims from Horemheb in gold, but he has to cede to me the harbour privileges with all their revenues in those Syrian cities he conquers, and he has to cede to me the salt trade in all of Syria and other things too so that I can collect my claims from him.”

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