| #### CHAPTER 21 |

| #### #### The Icthyophagi on reaching this people, delivered the gifts to the king of the country, and spoke as follows: "Cambyses, king of the Persians, anxious to become thy ally and sworn friend, has sent us to hold converse with thee, and to bear thee the gifts thou seest, which are the things wherein he himself delights the most." Hereon the Ethiopian, who knew they came as spies, made answer: "The king of the Persians sent you not with these gifts because he much desired to become my sworn friend - nor is the account which ye give of yourselves true, for ye are come to search out my kingdom. Also your king is not a just man - for were he so, he had not coveted a land which is not his own, nor brought slavery on a people who never did him any wrong. Bear him this bow, and say - 'The king of the Ethiops thus advises the king of the Persians when the Persians can pull a bow of this strength thus easily, then let him come with an army of superior strength against the long-lived Ethiopians - till then, let him thank the gods that they have not put it into the heart of the sons of the Ethiops to covet countries which do not belong to them.' ####  |