courtiers,

"Do ye hear this boasting Egyptian, who talks of entering the reeds
and facing the lions in their lair, a thing that no man dare do where
none can see to shoot? What say ye now? Shall we ask him to prove his
words?"

Some great lord stepped forward, one who was a hunter though he looked
little like it, for the scent on his hair reached me from four paces
away and there was paint upon his face.

"Yes, O King," he said in a mincing voice, "let him enter and kill a
lion. But if he fail, then let a lion kill him. There are some hungry
in the palace den and it is not fit that the King's ears should be
filled with empty words by foreigners from Egypt."

"So be it," said the King. "Egyptian, you have brought it on your own
head. Prove that you can do what you say and I will give you great
honour. Fail, and to the lions with him who lies of lions. Still," he
added, "it is not right that you should go alone. Choose therefore one
of these lords to keep you company; he who would put you to the test,
if you will."

Now I looked at the scented noble who turned pale beneath his paint.
Then I looked at the fat eunuch, Houman, who opened his mouth and
gasped like a fish, and when I had looked, I shook my head and said as
though to myself,

"Not so, no woman and no eunuch shall be my companion on this quest,"
whereat the King and all the rest laughed out loud. "The dwarf and I