Page:The land of enchantment (1907, Cassell).djvu/65

 to make the most of his six years. Thus he enjoyed himself with feasting and gaiety both day and night, and travelled here, there, and every- where in search of pleasure. He hoped in this way to cheat the oracle by turning night into day, and thus live twelve years instead of six.”

“I think it was rather rough on Mycerinus,” said Harry. “Don’t you? Poor chap! He did his best, and all he got was bothers.”

“The ways of the gods are not the ways of men,” said Herodotus.

“Who was the next king?” asked Harry.

“The next one of interest was Sethên, but before he came to the throne the Ethiopians had held the land for many years, and had driven out a blind king named Anysis; but of this I will not tell thee more. Sethên was a priest, and he neglected and offended the army, so that when Sennacherib, King of Assyria, came down on his land the warriors would not fight for Sethên. Then was the king in great distress, and he prayed fervently to the gods to help him. And he did not pray in vain, for an answer came in a dream, wherein he saw the god at his side, and heard him say, ‘Go forth without fear.’

“So Sethên gathered working people around him, and set out to meet the Assyrians. The two armies pitched their camp opposite each other, and waited for the morning to do battle. In the night a swarm of field mice gnawed the quivers and bow-strings of the Assyrians, and also the thongs of their shields, so that they had no weapons, and were put to flight with great slaughter.”

“What a bit of luck for Sethên,”’ remarked Harry.

“Thou canst imagine he was grateful; a stone statue was set up in the Temple of Vulcan—Sethên with a mouse in his hand, and the inscription ran: ‘Look on me, and learn to reverence the gods.’

“After Sethên, twelve kings ruled over Egypt, and all went well and peacefully till a certain day, when the twelve had met together to worship in the temple of Vulcan. It happened that the high priest brought by mistake eleven golden goblets instead of twelve, and Psammetichus, the king who stood last, was left without one. So he took his bronze helmet, and held it out instead. The kings were startled and enraged, for they remembered a prophecy which ran that he who should pour forth a libation from a cup of bronze in the temple of Vulcan should become king of all Egypt. The kings thought Psammetichus had done this on purpose, which was untrue. At first they wished to put him to death; but, finding he had really acted thoughtlessly, they contented themselves with banishing him.”