Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

A TALKING BIRD. 337
"number of fine things and works. And the king
"himself had made in his palace a shrine wherein
"was a familiar idoP of the king of that country,
"and he was wont to offer sacrifices unto it. And I
"saw in the place inside it a marvellous thing which
"was made of gold and which hung from the roof,
"and in it was a bird like unto a dove, and it was The goiaen
"said concerning the bird that it interpreted to
"the king- things which were about to come
"to him, and that no man understood its speech
"except the king; and further it was said about
"the bird that it had lived for a very long time.^
"And it came to pass that when I desired to take
"it down and to send it unto thee, the idolaters
"entreated me, saying, 'Let it stay with us.' And
"I saw another marvellous thing in that place. I
"saw a silver statue^ [p. 196] which was ornamented
"with gold, and it rested upon a base which was
"[also] ornamented with gold, and upon it was an
"inscription. And it was said that it was [for-
' In the Syriac (p. 133), it was a statue of a Greek god
which, on a certain occasion, spake to the king.
^ In the Greek text Alexander is made to see one bird
in the temple, which advises him to return and not to
attempt to go further, and another in the palace of Cyrus;
the latter had knowledge of the language of men.
i In the Greek, an amphora ornamented with gold, Kpanipa
XpuaoTopveuTOV, which held about 540 gallons, laetpriTd? g';
see Muller, p. 142, col. i. In the Syriac (p. 133), Alexander
saw three large silver globes each of which would hold 360
measures of wine.
uu