The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Posted by admin_akashic on Mar 4th, 2022 in Stories

wine in Babylon. Whoever had gold, he could buy slaves, of different colours and sizes, children and men and young girls, who they could rejoice with, and employ servants, but men without gold had to work with his hands until his skin was rough and thick and his hands battered and neck bent. But if someone broke into a rich man’s house to steel gold so that he could buy wine and rejoice and buy slaves, he was hanged on the wall head downward.

And now having praised that happy time when even the sun shone more brightly and the winds were gentler than in these evil days, I will tell of my journeys and of all I saw and heard. But first I must speak of my return to Zemar.

When I returned to Zemar and my house, Kaptah ran to meet me, shouting and weeping for joy, and threw himself at my feet and said, “Blessed be the day that brings my lord home. You have returned though I believed you dead in battle, and I believed positively that you had been slit open with a spear because you were heedless of my warnings and went forth to see what war is like. Truly our scarab is a powerful god and has protected you, and blessed is this day. My heart is full of gladness at the sight of you, and the gladness flows from my eyes in tears for I cannot restrain them though I fancied myself your heir and expected to take possession of all the gold you placed with the Zemar trading houses. Yet I do not grieve over this lost wealth, for without you I am like a kid that has lost its dam, and I would baa miserably, and my days would be dark. Nor have I stolen more from you than formerly but have guarded your house and property and all your interests so that you return richer than when you went.”

He washed my feet and poured water over my hands and tended me in every way with uninterrupted outcry till I ordered him to be silent and said, “Make speedy preparation, for we are to set forth upon a journey that may take many years and that will be full of hardships. We go to the land of Mitanni and to Babylon and to the islands in the sea.”

Kaptah fell silent that instant, and his face became grey from fear and lost its shine, and he cried, “By the scarab, my lord has gone mad, and I should tie him up and put leeches under his arms and knees. For we are good here in Zemar, and we sink our bread in honey, and the city merchants and the men of its government respect us, and maybe it

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would be best if you quickly ran to the temple to make a sacrifice to forget your crazy words, for the sailors have taught the virgins in the temple of Ishtar various new things that bring great pleasure to men and make their bodies jump like fish on dry land.”

I said to him, “I have no command over my steps, but why I do not want to tell you, because you are a slave and dumb. But let it be as you wish, you may stay here and tend my house and property and rejoice as you see best in the temple with the women, whom I do not want to call virgins, while I am away. I will travel alone, if you do not want to accompany me, for I do not want to force you, because certainly you will be more trouble than use during the long journey.”

Then Kaptah started moaning and cried, “Now truly I wish that I had never been born into this world and also that I had never grown fat and prosperous, for the more fortunate a man is, the harder is it for him to renounce his ease. Were you to set forth for a month or two, as you have done before, I should say nothing but remain peacefully here in Zemar. But if your journey is to last for years, you may never return and I may never see you again. Therefore, I must come with you, taking our sacred scarab for against such hazards you will need all possible good fortune, and without the scarab you would tumble into crevasses on your way and be transfixed by the spears of robbers. Without me and my experience you are like a tied veal on the back of a thief, and without me you are like a blindfolded man groping thin air so that everyone you meet steals what he can; and I cannot allow that because if someone has to steal from you, it is better to be me, for I steal with care and according to your wealth and in your interest. Yet it would be better for us to remain at our house in Zemar.”

Kaptah had grown more impudent with every passing year and already spoke of ‘our’ house and ‘our’ scarab and when paying for something said ‘our’ gold. But I wearied of this, and of his lamentation, so that I took my stick to teach him and anointed his fat rear with the stick, so that he had something real to cry about, and said:

“My heart tells me that one fine day you will hang by the heels on the wall for your insolence. Resolve, therefore, whether you will come with me or stay here, but above all cease this continual caterwauling that hurts my ears when I would make ready for a long journey.”

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