Page:The land of enchantment (1907, Cassell).djvu/62

 “Otherwise,” said she, “will I go to the king myself and tell him all.

“She gave him no peace till at last he devised a plan. He filled some skins with wine, placed them on donkeys, and made his way to the place where the guards were watching his brother’s body. Arrived there, he opened one or two of the skins, so that the wine began to pour out. He appeared distracted at the supposed accident, so the guards rushed to help him, each bringing some vessel in which to catch the wine. The thief pretended to be very angry at their interference, but at last allowed himself to be pacified to such an extent that he presented them with some of the wine. They drank far too much of it, and soon fell fast asleep. Then was the thief′s opportunity. He cut down his brother’s body, shaved off the right side of each soldier’s beard, and left them to awake to their folly!”

“What a smart chap,” said Harry, admiringly. “He’d have made a splendid Sherlock Holmes. What happened to him?”

“Well, the king was so struck with his cleverness—for he had other adventures—that he offered him a free pardon and his daughter for his wife; so he did not do so badly after all.

“There is a strange tale told of Rhampsinitus, too, that he went down to the region which we call Hades—where those who are dead go, thou knowest—and there he played at dice with the goddess Ceres, who gave him a golden napkin when he returned to the light of day.”

“That sounds a bit of a tale, doesn’t it?” said Harry, with a knowing air.

“I cannot tell whether these things be true or not—I can but vouch for those things mine eyes have seen. It doth not follow that a man believes all tales he tells you. For instance, I will tell thee a strange belief of the Egyptians, but thou needest not think it is mine. They believed that when a man dies, his spirit enters into the form of an animal, and thus onwards through the ages from one to another, till it has passed through all creatures of earth, air, and water, when it at length enters into human form again. They said, moreover, that all these changes took three thousand years to achieve.”

“What a strange notion,” said Harry. “I shouldn’t much like to become an animal, except, perhaps, a horse, or a dog—but fancy being a frog or a mouse. Ugh!”

“Well, we must part for to-day,” said the Greek, wrapping his