Title: Sinuhe the Egyptian
Original title: Sinuhe egyptiläinen
Author(s): Mika Waltari
Release year: 1945 (FIN), 1949 (ENG)
Publisher: WSOY (FIN)
Why in Database: Turtles appear in this book in the form of several mentions, but all of them are in the form of comparisons. We found four such fragments in the english version.
He regarded me, bent backed and blinking like a tortoise, and said, “In truth, Sinuhe, you are the first distinguished man who has ever called a corpse washer his friend.”
Where truth lay I cannot say, for although there are those who think always in the same manner and draw in their heads like tortoises at the hint of any new thing, yet my thoughts have ever been modified by what I have seen and heard. Many things have therefore influenced my thinking even when I have not understood them well.
Terror paralyzed my legs, and I crouched beneath the shield like a tortoise, weeping and crying out most pitifully.
“Where have you been loitering, dung beetles? Where have you skulked, you devils’ spawn? Truly I should rejoice to see your skulls whiten in the sand tomorrow; I am so filled with shame at the sight of you! You creep to me like tortoises; you smell of sweat and filth so that I am compelled to hold my nose, while my best men bleed from countless wounds and my noble horses pant their last.”
