The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

“Her husband is skinny, bald and stingy, so she told me,” said Horemheb and drank beer. “Therefore, I gave her the gold necklace from my neck, for gold is nothing but dust under my feet and it has no value to me, unless I win it in a battle. In return she gave me her wig — we were drunk indeed — and I have no idea what to do with this wig.” Under his apron, Horemheb took a wig, whose glowing hair was skilfully painted bright green, and started indifferently waving it in his hand. “The only thing that annoys me is that I was drunk enough to forget my whip under her bed, so now soldiers do not greet me any more on the streets. Do you think I can change the wig to a whip on the market, for I do not think I will bother to return to her, no matter how soft she was.”

I said he sure could do that and repeated I was in a hurry. But Horemheb did not make a single gesture to leave. He said there was a taste in his mouth like he had eaten mud, and the scent of a woman lingering in his hands disgusted him. He also smelled me and thought I too had slept through the night with a woman, as a smell of balms was on me. I told him I had only visited a barbershop, because I thought it was degrading to compare Nefernefernefer to his woman. I felt I had done something entirely different than him, as if I was wrapped in golden threads. Maybe I was right — because it does not matter what a man does, but what the man’s heart feels when he does it.

“Do you remember the oath I swore,” said Horemheb. “I had drunk a lot of wine, but wine gave me clarity in many things that I have been thinking about. I realised all these people entertaining themselves around me, so proud of their wealth and rank, are nothing but flies around me. Maybe even princess Beketamun, whom I love, is just a persistent fly around me. Anything that matters is power. There is no power without weapons. My falcon was correct to make me a warrior.”

“Power is not in the hands of those who fight,” I said, “but those who send others to fight for them.”

“I am not stupid,” Horemheb said. “But maybe all those people who think they have power and sit on high thrones do not really give any orders, and altogether different people hold the real power in secrecy. So I think that the council of priests of Amun hold great power in the land of Egypt, and that one priest who sits on the right side of the Queen Mother has great power in his hands indeed, for the moment. But if someone could build an army and take it to war and make it follow his command, then he would be the real ruler, even if nobody knew it.”

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“You are dumb after all,” I said, “because a soldier needs to make an oath to Pharaoh. So is Pharaoh always above him.”

“You are right,” Horemheb said, “a soldier must always be loyal, because that is the basis of military command. A whip teaches loyalty to lowly people, but an officer knows that there is no army without loyalty, and if there is no loyalty at the top, there is no loyalty at the bottom, and everything falls apart. That is the problem. But in any case, I think I will remain in Thebes, until my time comes. After sleeping with a woman, I am much calmed down, and even though I still love the one I cannot reach, the love has quieted in my heart so that it is like ordinary gripes. I must thank you, my friend Sinuhe, for your good advice, and if you ever need any advice or help, you will find me in the golden house.”

He left for the market to exchange the green wig to an officer’s whip, and I ordered a chair, telling the porters to run. I desired to hasten to the house of Nefernefernefer without soiling my clothes or feet with the street dust. My one-eyed servant Kaptah looked after me with concern and shook his head, for I had never before left my workroom in the middle of the day, and he feared that if I neglected my patients, the doctor’s presents would dwindle. But I had one thought in my mind only, and my body burned as with fire — but that was a sweet fire.

A servant admitted me and led me to Nefernefernefer’s room. She was adorning herself before the mirror and looked at me with eyes that were hard and indifferent like green stones.

“What do you want, Sinuhe?” she asked. “Your presence is weary to me.”

“You know well what I want,” I said, trying to gather her into my arms and remembering her ardor of the night before. But she pushed me roughly away.

“Is this malice or stupidity to disturb me like this” she said fiercely. “Can’t you see that I must beautify myself, for a merchant has arrived from Sidon with a jewel that was once a queen’s, a forehead ornament from a tomb. This evening someone is to give it to me for I have long yearned for a gem such as no one else possesses. Therefore I shall make myself beautiful and let my body be anointed.” She undressed without embarrassment and stretched herself upon the bed for a slave girl to rub salve into her limbs. My heart rose into my throat, and my hands sweated at the sight of her beauty.

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