e king's
mother and sister, and his wives. In going through the narrow pass which
leads over the Orontes, the horses of your mother's carriage slipped.
The yoke to which the horses were harnessed broke from the pole, and
the heavy, four-wheeled carriage fell over the precipice without
obstruction.

[There was a yoke at the end of the shaft of a Persian carriage,
which was fastened on to the backs of the horses and took the place
of our horse-collar and pole-chain.]

On seeing it disappear, we were horrified and spurred our horses to
the place as quickly as possible. We expected of course to see only
fragments of the carriages and the dead bodies of its inmates, but the
gods had taken them into their almighty protection, and there lay the
carriage, with broken wheels, in the arms of two gigantic cypresses
which had taken firm root in the fissures of the slate rocks, and whose
dark tops reached up to the edge of the carriage-road.

"As quick as thought I sprang from my horse and scrambled down one of
the cypresses. Your mother and sister stretched their arms to me, crying
for help. The danger was frightful, for the sides of the carriage had
been so shattered by the fall, that they threatened every moment to give
way, in which case those inside it must inevitably have fallen into
the black, unfathomable abyss which looked like an abode for the gloomy
Divs, and stretched his jaws wide to crush its beautiful victims.

"I stood before the shattered carriage as it hung over the precipice
ready to fall to pieces every moment, and then for the first time I met
your sister's imploring look. From that moment I loved her, but at the
time I was much too intent on saving them, to think of anything else,
and had no idea what had taken place within me. I dragged the trembling
women out of the carriage, and one minute later it rolled down the abyss
crashing into a thousand pieces. I am a strong man, but I confess that
all my strength was required to keep myself and the two women from
falling over the precipice until ropes were thrown to us from above.
Atossa hung round my neck, and Kassandane lay on my breast, supported by
my left arm; with the right I fastened the rope round my waist, we were
drawn up, and I found myself a few minutes later on the high-road--your
mother and sister were saved.

"As soon as one of the Magi had bound up the wounds cut by the rope in
my side, the king sent for me, gave me the chain I am now w