"Oh, my mother would be delighted to have you for a son-in-law; I will
answer for that. As to the king, your father must apply to him; he is
our uncle and has a right to ask the hand of Cyrus's daughter for his
son."

"But have you forgotten your father's dream? You know that Cambyses has
always looked on me with suspicion since that time."

"Oh, that has been long forgotten. My father dreamt before his death
that you had wings, and was misled by the soothsayers into the fancy that
you, though you were only eighteen then, would try to gain the crown.
Cambyses thought of this dream too; but, when you saved my mother and
sister, Croesus explained to him that this must have been its fulfilment,
as no one but Darius or a winged eagle could possibly have possessed
strength and dexterity enough to hang suspended over such an abyss."

"Yes, and I remember too that these words did not please your brother.
He chooses to be the only eagle in Persia; but Croesus does not spare his
vanity--"

"Where can Croesus be all this time?"

"In the hanging-gardens. My father and Gobryas have very likely detained
him."

Just at that moment the voice of Zopyrus was heard exclaiming, "Well, I
call that polite! Bartja invites us to a wine-party and leaves us
sitting here without a host, while he talks secrets yonder."

"We are coming, we are coming," answered Bartja. Then taking the hand of