The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

and fat even in the mud hovels. But the old times will return with me, and Egypt shall be fertile and wealthy again, and I will send my ships to sail to Punt, and I will restart the stone quarries and the deserted mines to make temples bigger and to gather gold, silver and copper for Pharaoh’s stores. Truly, in ten years you will not recognise Egypt any more, Sinuhe, for after I have got ten years, you shall see no more beggars nor cripples in the land of Kem. The weak shall give space to the strong, and I will wash away the weak and sick blood from Egypt so that the people of Egypt will again be a strong nation which my sons can lead to war for the conquest of the world.”

But I did not rejoice at his words, as his words made my belly sink to my knees, and a deadly chill gnawed at my heart. I did not smile at him but stood before him silent. This angered him, and he frowned as he used to, and he started lashing his legs with the golden whip, saying:

“You are as sour as ever, Sinuhe, and you are like a barren thorn bush in my sight, and I don’t know why I expected to be happy to see you again. I called you before me first — before I lifted my sons in my arms or embraced my wife Beketamun, for war has made me lonely and power has made me lonely so that there was not one single man in Syria with whom I could share my joy and sorrow, and when I spoke with anyone, I always had to weigh my words according to what I wanted from him. I want nothing from you, Sinuhe, but only ask for your friendship. Yet it appears as if your friendship has burned out, and you feel no joy in seeing me.”

I bowed deep before him, and my lonely heart cried out to him, and I said, “Horemheb, of all the friends of our common youth, you are the only one alive after everything that has come to pass. Thus I will always love you. Now the power is yours, and soon you will set upon your head the crowns of both kingdoms, and no one can curb your power. Therefore I beg you, Horemheb — restore Aten. For the sake of our friend Akhenaten, restore Aten. For the sake of our most terrible crime, restore Aten that all nations may be brothers, and there would be no difference between a man and a man, and there would never be war again.”

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When Horemheb heard this, he shook his head pitifully and said, “You are as mad as before, Sinuhe. Don’t you see that Akhenaten threw a stone into the water, and the splash was great, but I will smooth the surface again as if he had never been. Don’t you see that my falcon brought me to Akhenaten and to golden house on the night of the great Pharaoh’s death so that Egypt might not fall but be preserved after him — for the gods do not want Egypt be vanquished. Therefore I restore everything as it was, since men are never satisfied with the present, but in their eyes only the past is good, and the future is good. I will unite the past and the future. I will squeeze the wealthy who have swelled too rich, and I will squeeze the gods who have grown too fat, so that in my kingdom the wealthy won’t be too rich nor the poor too poor, and neither man nor god would compete with me for power. Yet I talk to you in vain since you cannot comprehend my thoughts anyway, and your own thoughts are those of a weak and feeble man — and the weak and feeble have no right to live in the world but are made to be trampled underfoot by the strong, and it is right that they are trampled. So are also weak nations trampled underfoot by the strong nations, and the big take the share of the small from their mouths. So it has ever been and ever will be.”

Thus we parted, Horemheb and I, and we were no longer friends like we were before. But when I left him, he went to his sons and lifted them in his strong arms and threw them up in the air from joy, and from his sons he went to princess Beketamun’s rooms and said to her, “My royal consort, you have shone in my thought like the moon during these past years, and my longing has been great. Now my work is done, and you shall soon be the great royal consort by my side as your sacred blood entitles. I have shed much blood for your sake, Beketamun, and for your sake cities have burned, and everywhere that my army has walked the cries of people have risen to heavens for your sake. Have I not then earned my reward?”

Beketamun smiled amiably at him and stroked his shoulder shyly, saying, “Truly you have earned your reward, my consort Horemheb, the great commander of Egypt. Therefore I have built in my garden a pavilion the like of which has never been seen to receive you in the manner that you deserve, and every stone in its walls I have collected myself in my great longing for you. Let us go to this pavilion that you may have your reward in my embrace and that I may give you pleasure.”

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