and the spearing, the stock of animals ran so low that Astyages was
hard put to it to collect enough for him. Then Cyrus, seeing that his
grandfather for all his goodwill could never furnish him with enough,
came to him one day and said, "Grandfather, why should you take so
much trouble in finding game for me? If only you would let me go out
to hunt with my uncle, I could fancy every beast we came across had
been reared for my particular delight!" [6] But however anxious the
lad might be to go out to the chase, he had somehow lost the old
childish art of winning what he wanted by coaxing: and he hesitated a
long time before approaching the king again. If in the old days he had
quarrelled with Sacas for not letting him in, now he began to play the
part of Sacas against himself, and could not summon courage to intrude
until he thought the right moment had come: indeed, he implored the
real Sacas to let him know when he might venture. So that the old
butler's heart was won, and he, like the rest of the world, was
completely in love with the young prince.

[7] At last when Astyages saw that the lad's heart was really set on
hunting in the open country, he gave him leave to go out with his
uncle, taking care at the same time to send an escort of mounted
veterans at his heels, whose business it was to keep watch and ward
over him in any dangerous place or against any savage beast. Cyrus
plied his retinue with questions about the creatures they came across,
which must he avoid and which might he hunt? They told him he must be
on his guard against bears and wild-boars and lions and leopards: many
a man had found himself at too close quarters with these dangerous
creatures, and been torn to pieces: but antelopes, they said, and deer
and mountain sheep and wild asses were harmless enough. And the
huntsman, they added, ought to be as careful about dangerous places as
about the beasts themselves: many a time horse and rider had gone