The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

“I, Anukis, sowed seeds and planted fruit trees, and my crops were plentiful because I feared the gods and sacrificed to them one fifth of all my harvest. The Nile greeted me with favour, and no one upon my land went hungry at any time during my life, nor did my neighbours lack food, for I brought water to their fields and fed them with my grain in lean years. I dried the tears of the fatherless and robbed not the widows but forgave them their debts, and my name is blessed from end to end of the land. To him whose ox died, I, Anukis, gave a new and healthy one. I was scrupulous in removing no landmarks nor in hindering the water from flowing over my neighbours’ field. I walked in justice and piety all my days. These things did I, Anukis, that the gods might be gracious to me and lighten my journey to the Western Land.”

The noseless one listened reverently, and when I had finished, he shed bitter tears, saying, “I am a poor man, and I believe all that is written. Thus I see that Anukis was a pious man, revered in death. Future generations will read the inscription on the door of his tomb and do him honour. But I am miserable and an evildoer and have neither nose nor ears so that my shame is seen of all, and when I die, my body will be cast into the river, and I shall cease to be. Is not everything in this world great vanity?”

He broke the seal of the wine jar and drank. A watchman came up and menaced him with his stick, but he said, “Anukis was good to me in his day, and I would honour his memory by eating and drinking at his tomb. But if you lay hands upon me or upon my friend, who stands beside and is a learned man, because he can read, or if you call for other guards to help you, then know that there are many sturdy fellows among the reeds, and some of us have knives and will come upon you by night and slit your throat. I would feel sorry doing so, because I am a pious man and fear gods, and I want no harm to anyone. Thus it is better that you leave and do not see us. For your sake I believe that.”

He glared at the guard and was terrible to see in his drags without nose and ears, so that the guard believed him, looked this way and that and went away. We ate and drank by the tomb of Anukis, and the roof above the offerings gave a cool shade. After drinking wine the noseless one said:

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“I see now that it would have been better to give up my daughter willingly to Anukis. Perhaps he would have let me keep my hut and given me presents as well, for my daughter was beautiful and innocent, though now she is a worn-out pallet for his servants. I see that the rights of the rich and powerful are the only rights in this world and that the word of the poor man does not reach the ear of Pharaoh.”

Raising the jar to his lips, he laughed aloud and said, “Your health, most righteous Anukis, and may your body be preserved forever, for I have no wish to follow you to the Western Land, where you and your like live merrily, unvexed by the gods. Yet it appears to me but right that you should continue in your loving kindness on earth and share with me the golden goblets and the jewels in your tomb, so this next night I shall visit you when the moon is veiled in cloud.”

“What are you saying, Noseless?” I exclaimed in consternation and instinctively made the holy sign of Amun with my hands. “You would not become a grave robber, for that is the vilest of all crimes in the eyes of gods and men.”

But Noseless, fired with wine, said, “You talk filth in the way of a learned man, but Anukis is in my debt, and I, being less merciful than he, will enforce my demands. If you try to stop me, I will break your neck, but if you are wise, you will help me since four eyes see better than two, and once the tomb is broken open, together we could bear away more from the tomb than I could manage alone, that is if there is no moon tonight.”

“I do not wish to be hung head downward on the wall and flogged,” said I in a fright. But on reflection I knew that my shame could hardly be deeper though my friends should see me hanging thus, and death of itself held no terrors for me.

After eating and drinking and emptying the jar, we smashed it and threw the fragments at the graves around us. The guards did not shout at us but turned their backs on us, because they were frightened. That night, soldiers rowed across the river from the city to guard the tombs, but the new Pharaoh had not given them the presents that were customary after a coronation. So they murmured among themselves and lit up torches and started to break open tombs and despoil them after drinking some wine for there was much wine among the offerings. No one hindered Noseless and me when we violated the tomb of Anukis

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