The Egyptian

by Mika Waltari

  I wished I had Kaptah’s cunning to help me, but I could not involve him in this affair. Besides, he was still in Syria collecting his dues. I summoned up my powers of invention and all my medical science, for a doctor is familiar with death, and with the materials at his command he may bring death as readily as life to his patients, if Prince Shubattu had been ill and I appointed to tend him, I could have tended him to death at my ease, according to all the laws of medicine, nor could any self-respecting physician have condemned my treatment since throughout all ages the medical faculty have helped one another to bury their dead. But Shubattu was not ill, and if he were to sicken he would summon a Hittite rather than an Egyptian physician.

  I have set forth my musings in detail, to show how exacting was the task Horemheb had laid on me, but now I will speak only of what I did. In the House of Life at Memphis I replenished my stock of drugs, and no one marveled at the prescriptions I wrote, for what to a layman is deadly poison may in the hands of a physician be a sound remedy. Then without further delay I continued my journey to Tanis, where I hired a chair and was furnished by the garrison with an escort of chariots to attend me along the great military road through the desert.

  Horemheb’s information proved correct. I met Shubattu and his suite three days out from Tanis, encamped by a well. Shubattu also traveled in a chair to save his strength, and he brought with him many pack asses laden with gifts for Princess Baketamon. Heavy chariots ensured safety on his journey, and light chariots reconnoitered the road ahead, for King Shubbiluliuma had commanded him to be prepared for all surprise attacks, being well aware that the expedition was far from agreeable to Horemheb.

  But the Hittites displayed great cordiality and courtesy to me and the officers of my modest escort, as is their way when they receive as a present what they cannot attain by force of arms. They received us in the camp they had pitched for the night, and having helped the Egyptian officers to set up our tents, they surrounded us with many guards, saying that they desired to defend us against robbers and against the lions of the desert, that we might sleep in peace. When Prince Shubattu heard that I had been sent by Princess Baketamon, his curiosity got the better of him, and he summoned me into his presence.

  He was a splendid-looking young man whose eyes-now that he was not drunk as when I had last seen him-were large and limpid. Happiness and interest brought color into his dark face. His nose was as noble as the beak of a bird of prey, his teeth gleamed like the teeth of a wild beast, and he laughed with pleasure at the sight of me. I handed him a letter from Princess Baketamon, forged by Eie, and stretched forth my hands at knee level before him with every mark of veneration, as though he were already my sovereign. I was greatly diverted to note that before receiving me he had arrayed himself in the Egyptian manner and now found himself embarrassed by these garments, to which he was unaccustomed.

  He said to me, “Since my future consort has confided in you and you are physician to the household, I will conceal nothing from you. When a prince marries, he is bound to his partner. My consort’s country shall be my country, Egypt’s customs my customs. I have striven as far as may be to adopt them already, that I may not come as a stranger to Thebes. I am impatient to see the wonders of Egypt of which so much has been told me and to become acquainted with its mighty gods, which henceforth shall be my gods also. But most eager am I to see my royal consort, for by her will I found a new ruling race in Egypt. Tell me about her, therefore. Tell me of her size and her figure and of the breadth of her loins as if I were already an Egyptian. Do not conceal any flaw in her from me, but trust me like a brother, as I trust you.”

  His trust was shown in a group of officers who stood behind him with drawn swords and in the soldiers who guarded the tent door with spears directed at my back. But I feigned to notice nothing of this.

  Bowing to the ground before him, I said, “My royal lady, Princess Baketamon, is one of the fairest women in Egypt. Because of her sacred blood she has preserved her virginity although she is some years older than yourself. Her beauty is timeless, her face is like the moon, and her eyes like lotus flowers. As a physician I can assure you that her loins are fit for childbearing although narrow, like those of all Egyptian women. She has sent me to meet you, to satisfy herself that your royal blood is worthy of hers and that you can fulfill the bodily requirements of a husband without causing her any disappointment. She awaits you with impatience, having never in her life been possessed by a man.”

  Prince Shubattu threw out his chest and raised his elbows to shoulder level to display the muscles of his arms, and he said, “My arms can draw the strongest bow, and with the grip of my knees I can squeeze the breath from an ass. There is no fault to be found with my face, as you may see, and I cannot remember when I was last ill.”

  I said to him, “You are indeed an inexperienced youth and ignorant of the customs of Egypt if you think that an Egyptian princess is a bow to be drawn or a donkey to be gripped between the knees. This is far from being the case, and it is clear that I must give you a few lectures in the Egyptian arts of love, that you may not cover yourself with ignominy in the eyes of the Princess. She was indeed well advised to send me hither so that as a physician I may initiate you into the customs of Egypt.”

  My words sorely wounded Prince Shubattu, for he was a high- mettled boy and like all Hittites was proud of his virility. His officers burst out laughing, and this still further incensed him. He whitened in fury and ground his teeth. But to me he sought to maintain the suave Egyptian manner, and he said as composedly as he could, “I am no such inexperienced boy as you seem to think, and my spear has pierced many a fair skin! I do not think that your Princess will be ill content with the arts of the land of Hatti.”

  I answered, “I readily believe in your strength, my ruler, but you must have been mistaken when you said you could not remember when last you were ill. I am a physician and can see by your eyes and your cheeks that you are sick now and are troubled by a flux.”

  There is no human being who does not end by believing he is sick when assured long and constantly that he is so. At heart everyone feels the desire to be pampered and tended. Doctors in every age have been aware of this, and the knowledge has made them rich. I had the further advantage of knowing that the desert springs contained lye which loosens the bowels of those who are not seasoned to it.

  Prince Shubattu was astonished at my words and cried, “You are certainly mistaken, Sinuhe the Egyptian. I feel in no way ill, although I must admit that I have a flux and have had continually to squat by the roadside in the course of my journey. But how you know this I cannot think. You must certainly be more skilled than my own physician, who has taken no note whatever of my disorder.”

  He listened to himself, and feeling his eyes and brow he said, “In truth I do feel a burning in my eyes after staring all day at the red sand of the desert. My forehead also is hot, and I am not as well as I could wish.”

  I said to him, “It would be well for your physician to give you a medicine to ease your stomach and give you a good sleep. The stomach disorders of the desert are severe, and I know that a number of Egyptians died of them on their march to Syria. No one knows the origin of these complaints. Some say that they are born of the poisonous desert winds; some blame the water, and others the locusts. I do not doubt that tomorrow you will be well again and able to continue your journey if your physician will mix you a good draught this evening.”

  He began to ponder at this. His eyes narrowed, and glancing at his chiefs, he said to me, smiling like a mischievous boy, “Do you mix me such a potion, Sinuhe. Without doubt you are more familiar with these strange desert diseases than my own attendant.”

  But I was no such fool. I raised my hands in protest and said, “Far be it from me! I dare not prepare any such remedy for you. Should you become worse, you would blame me and say that as an Egyptian I wished you ill. Your own physician will tend you as well as I, and better. He is familiar with your constitution and your f
ormer disorders. He need do no more than give you a simple binding medicine.”

  He smiled and said, “Perhaps your counsel is good. I mean to eat and drink with you, that you may tell me of my royal consort and of Egyptian customs, and I do not desire to be forever running out and squatting behind the tent during your account.”

  He summoned his own physician, who was an irritable and suspicious Hittite, and we took professional counsel together. When he found that I had no desire to compete with him, he conceived a liking for me and did as I advised. He prepared a binding medicine of exceptional strength, which I had my own reason for prescribing. When it was ready, he drank from the cup before handing it to the Prince.

  I knew that the Prince was not sick, but I desired his suite to believe that he was. I desired also to bind his stomach, that the draught I proposed to administer might not pass through him overrapidly. Before the meal he had ordered in my honor I went to my tent and drank my stomach full of oil-despite the nausea it caused me-so as to preserve my own life. I then took a small jar of wine with which I had mixed the poison. This jar, which I had resealed, held enough for two cups only. I returned to the prince’s tent with it, sat on his mat, and ate the dishes his slaves set before me, and drank the wine his stewards poured into our cups. Despite severe nausea I related lurid stories of Egyptian customs to divert the Prince and his followers.

  Prince Shubattu laughed with flashing teeth; he slapped me on the back and said, “You are an entertaining fellow, Sinuhe, Egyptian though you be, and when I have settled in Egypt I will make you my physician. Truly I choke with laughter and forget my disorder when you tell of Egyptian marriage practices, although I fancy the Egyptians have adopted them only to avoid the begetting of children. I mean to teach Egypt many Hittite practices, and I will make my officers regional governors-which I think will be most beneficial to Egypt-so soon as I have given the Princess her due.”

  He smote his knees, and being by now somewhat exalted with the wine, he laughed and said, “In truth I could wish the Princess already lay on my mat, for your tales have greatly inflamed me, Sinuhe, and I know I shall cause her to groan in her ecstasy. By the holy heavens and the Earth Mother! When the land of Hatti and Egypt are united, no kingdom on earth will be able to withstand our power, and we shall gather under our sway the four corners of the world. But Egypt must first be imbued with iron and fire until every man there believes that death is better than life. All this shall come about, and soon!”

  He raised his goblet and drank, and he poured libations to the Earth Mother and to the heavens until his cup was empty. By now all the Hittites were somewhat fuddled, and my merry tales had melted their misgivings.

  I profited by the occasion and said, “I would not insult you or your wine, Shubattu, but it is plain that you have never tasted the wine of Egypt. Had you tasted it, all other wine would seem to you as insipid as water. Forgive me, therefore, if I drink of my own wine, for that alone can make me drunk, which is the reason I always take it with me to the banquets of strangers.”

  I shook my wine jar and broke the seal before his eyes, and in feigned drunkenness I poured the wine into my cup so that it slopped on the ground. I drank and exclaimed, “Ah, this is the wine of Memphis-pyramid wine paid for in gold-strong, sweet, and heady-unparalleled in all the world!”

  The wine was indeed strong and good, and I had mixed myrrh with it so that the whole tent was perfumed when I opened the jar. Even through wine and myrrh I tasted the tang of death. I spilled much of it down my chin as I drank, but the Hittites attributed this to my fuddled condition.

  Prince Shubattu was curious, and holding out his cup to me, he said, “I am no stranger to you. Tomorrow I shall be your lord and Pharaoh. Let me taste your wine, or I shall not believe it is as excellent as you say.”

  But I pressed the wine jar to my breast and refused him earnestly, saying, “This wine does not suffice for two, and I have no more with me, and I desire to get drunk this evening because this is a day of great rejoicing for all Egypt and the land of Hatti-hee-haw, heehaw!”

  I brayed like a donkey and pressed the wine jar closer. The Hittites doubled up with laughing and smote their knees, but Shubattu was accustomed to having every wish granted. He begged and besought me to let him taste of my wine until at last I wept and filled his cup until my little. jar was empty. Nor was it hard for me to weep, so great was my terror at this moment.

  When Shubattu had been given the wine, he looked about him as if warned by some misgiving. Then in the Hittite manner he held out the cup to me saying, “Hallow my cup, as you are my friend, and I will do you a like favor.”

  He said this because he did not wish to seem suspicious and let his cupbearer taste the wine. I took a deep draught from his cup, whereupon he emptied it, tasted the wine, and seemed to be listening to his body with his head on one side as he said, “Truly your wine is strong, Sinuhe! It mounts to the head like smoke and burns the stomach like fire, but it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, which I will rinse away with wine from the mountains.”

  He refilled his cup with his own wine, thus swilling it out. I knew the poison would not take effect until the morning because his bowels were bound and he had eaten copiously.

  I swallowed as much wine as I could and pretended to be very drunk. I waited yet half a water measure’s time before I bade them lead me to my tent, lest I should arouse suspicion in the minds of the Hittites. I clung tightly to my empty wine jar that it might not be left behind to be examined by them. When the Hittites, with many coarse jests, had put me to bed and left me to myself, I rose hastily. Thrusting my finger down my throat, I vomited the poison and the protecting oil. So acute was my fear that the sweat poured off me and my knees trembled, and perhaps the poison had to some extent affected me. Therefore, I rinsed my stomach many times; I drank cleansing draughts and vomited repeatedly until at last I threw up from pure fright without the help of emetics.

  Not until I was as limp as a wet rag did I rinse out the wine jar, smash it, and bury the pieces in the sand. After this I lay sleepless, trembling with fear and with the effects of the poison. All night long Shubattu’s great eyes gazed at me; I saw his face before me in the darkness and could not forget his proud, careless laugh and his dazzling teeth.

  3

  Hittite pride came to my aid. Next morning when Prince Shubattu felt indisposed, he would not confess to it or put off the journey because of the pains in his stomach. He stepped into his chair denying that he suffered, although this required great self-mastery. The journey continued all day, therefore, and when I passed his chair, he waved to me and strove to smile. His physician twice administered binding and pain-killing medicines, thus aggravating his condition by allowing the poison to exert its full effect. A powerful purge might even then have saved his life.

  In the afternoon he fell into a deep coma. His eyes turned in his head, and his drawn face assumed a yellow pallor, striking terror to the heart of his physician, who summoned me to his aid. When I saw his desperate plight, I had no need to feign terror, for it was real enough and chilled me despite the day’s heat. I felt ill already from the poison. I said that I knew the symptoms to be those of the desert sickness, of which I had warned Shubattu the evening before and of which I had read the signs in his face, although he would not heed me.

  The caravan halted, and we tended him where he lay in his chair, giving him stimulants and cleansing draughts and laying hot stones to his stomach. I saw to it that the Hittite physician alone mixed the drugs and administered them, forcing them between the Prince’s clenched teeth. I knew that he would die and desired by my counsel to render his death as painless and easy as might be since I could not do more.

  When evening came we bore him to his tent. The Hittites gathered outside to mourn aloud, to rend their clothes, strew ashes in their hair, and gash themselves with knives. They were in mortal fear, knowing that King Shubbiluliuma would have no mercy on them if the Prince died in their charge. I watched with
the Hittite physician at the bedside of the Prince and saw this fair youth, who but the day before had been robust and happy, wasting away in pallor and ugliness before my eyes.

  The Hittite physician, filled with suspicion and despair, made continual examination of his condition, but the symptoms were no different from those of a severe stomach disorder. No one thought of poison since I had drunk the same wine from his cup. I had carried out my task with noteworthy skill and with great profit to Egypt; yet I felt no pride as I watched Prince Shubattu die.

  On the following day he regained consciousness. As death approached, he called softly for his mother, like a sick child. In a low, pitiful voice he moaned, “Mother, Mother! My lovely Mother!” But when the pains loosed their grip of him, his face lit up in a boyish smile and he remembered that he was of royal blood.

  He summoned his officers and said, “Let no one bear the blame for my death, for it has come on me in the form of the desert sickness, and I have been tended by the best physician of the land of Hatti and the most eminent physician of Egypt. Their arts have not availed to cure me, because it is the will of the heavens and of the Earth Mother that I should die-and assuredly the desert is ruled not by the Earth Mother but by the gods of Egypt, and it exists to protect Egypt. The Hittites must not seek to cross the desert, for my death is a sign of this, even as the defeat of our chariots in the desert was a sign although we would not heed it. Give the physicians a present worthy of me when I am dead. And you, Sinuhe, greet Princess Baketamon and say that I release her from her promise and feel great sorrow because I may not carry her to her marriage bed for my own joy and hers. Bring her this greeting, for as I die I see her floating in my dreams like a story princess, and I die with her timeless beauty before my eyes though I have never seen her.”