Croesus was followed by Prexaspes, the king's Ambassador, Zopyrus, the
son of Megabyzus, a Persian noble, the friend of Bartja and Darius; and,
lastly, by his own son, the slender, pale Gyges, who after having become
dumb in his fourth year through the fearful anguish he had suffered on
his father's account at the taking of Sardis, had now recovered the power
of speech.

Psamtik descended the steps to welcome the strangers. His austere,
sallow face endeavored to assume a smile. The high officials in his
train bowed down nearly to the ground, allowing their arms to hang
loosely at their sides. The Persians, crossing their hands on their
breasts, cast themselves on the earth before the heir to the Egyptian
throne. When the first formalities were over, Bartja, according to the
custom of his native country, but greatly to the astonishment of the
populace, who were totally unaccustomed to such a sight, kissed the
sallow cheek of the Egyptian prince; who shuddered at the touch of a
stranger's unclean lips, then took his way to the litters waiting to
convey him and his escort to the dwelling designed for them by the king,
in the palace at Sais.

A portion of the crowd streamed after the strangers, but the larger
number remained at their places, knowing that many a new and wonderful
sight yet awaited them.

"Are you going to run after those dressed-up monkeys and children of
Typhon, too?" asked an angry priest of his neighbor, a respectable
tailor of Sais. "I tell you, Puhor, and the high-priest says so too,
that these strangers can bring no good to the black land! I am for the
good old times, when no one who cared for his life dared set foot on
Egyptian soil. Now our streets are literally swarming with cheating