"Oh! I'll agree, as long as they never molest us more."

"Well, your majesty, I'm going to turn them to fairies--small living
creatures to live in caves in the bowels of the earth, and they
shall only visit people living on the earth once a year. They shall
be harmless, and hurt nothing; they shall be fairies, and do nothing
but dance and sing, and I shall allow them to go about on earth for
twenty-four hours once a year and play their antics, but they shall
do no mischief."

"How long are the birds to remain in that state?" asked the king.

"I'll give them 2,000 years, your majesty; and at the end of that
time they are to go back into birds, as they were before. And after
the birds change from the fairy state back into birds, they shall
never breed more, but die a natural death."

So the tribes lost their birds, and the King of Persia made such
fearful havoc amongst them that they decided to leave the country.

They travelled, supporting themselves by robbery; until they came to
a place where they built a city, and called it Troy, where they were
besieged for a long time.

At length the besiegers built a large caravan, with a large man's
head in front; the head was all gilded with gold. When the caravan
was finished they put 150 of the best warriors inside, provided with
food, and one of them had a trumpet. Then they pulled the caravan,
which ran upon eight broad wheels, up to the gates of the city, and
left it there, their army being drawn up in a valley near by. It