that a Div had
taken the likeness of Bartja and visited the Egyptian in order to ruin
us."

"Folly! I don't believe in such things."

"But don't you remember the legend of the Div, who took the beautiful
form of a minstrel and appeared before king Kawus?"

"Of course," cried Araspes. "Cyrus had this legend so often recited at
the banquets, that I know it by heart.

"Kai Kawus hearkened to the words of the disguised Div and went to
Masenderan, and was beaten there by the Divs and deprived of his
eyesight."

"But," broke in Darius, "Rustem, the great hero, came and conquered
Erscheng and the other bad spirits, freed the captives and restored
sight to the blind, by dropping the blood of the slaughtered Divs into
their eyes. And so it will be with us, my friends! We shall be set free,
and the eyes of Cambyses and of our blind and infatuated fathers will
be opened to see our innocence. Listen, Bischen; if we really should be
executed, go to the Magi, the Chaldwans, and Nebenchari the Egyptian,
and tell them they had better not study the stars any longer, for that
those very stars had proved themselves liars and deceivers to Darius."

"Yes," interrupted Araspes, "I always said that dreams were the only
real prophecies. Before Abradatas fell in the battle of Sardis, the
peerless Panthea dreamt that she saw him pierced by a Lydian arrow."

"You cruel fellow!" exclaimed Zopyrus. "Why do you remind us, that it is
much more glorious to die in battle than to have our necks wrung off?"

"Quite right," answered the elder man; "I confess that I have seen many
a death, which I should prefer to our own,--indeed to life itself. Ah,
boys, there was a time when things went better than they do now."

"Tell us something about those times."

"And tell us why you never married. It won't matter to you in the next
world, if we do let out your secret."

"There's no secret; any of your own fathers could tell you what you want
to hear from me. Listen then. When I was young, I used to amuse myself
with women, but I laughed at the idea of love. It occurred, however,
that Panthea, the most beautiful of all women, fell into our hands,
and Cyrus gave her into my charge, because I had always boasted that my
heart was invulnerable. I saw her everyday, and learnt, my friends, that
love is stronger than a man's will. However, she refused all my offers,
induced Cyrus to remove me from my office near her, and to accept her
husband Abradatas as a