will go alone."

"The dwarf!" said the King. "Can he hunt lions also?"

"No, O King, but perchance he can smell them, for otherwise how shall
I find them in that thicket within an hour?"

"Perchance they can smell him. How is the ape-man named?" asked the
King.

"Bes, O King, after the god of the Egyptians whom he resembles."

"Dare you accompany your master on this hunt, O Bes?" inquired the
King.

Then Bes looked up, rolling his yellow eyes, and answered in his thick
and guttural voice,

"I am my master's slave and dare I refuse to accompany him? If I did
he might kill me, as the King of kings kills his slaves. It is better
to die with honour by the teeth of a lion, than with dishonour beneath
the whip of a master. So at least we think in Ethiopia."

"Well spoken, dwarf Bes!" exclaimed the King. "So would I have all men
think throughout the East. Let the words of this Ethiop be written
down and copies of them sent to the satraps of all the provinces that
they may be read to the peoples of the earth. I the King have decreed
it."