ust about to stab him, when the king's
son darted forward to defend his father, and cried aloud:

"Do not touch him! That is Croesus, the king!"

So the soldiers bound Croesus, and carried him away to the Emperor; but
Cyrus was celebrating his victory at a banquet, and could not speak with
the captive, so orders were sent out for Croesus to be executed.

In the middle of the city square the soldiers built a great
burning-pile, and upon the top of it they placed King Croesus, bound him
to a stake, and set fire to the pile.

Croesus gazed around him, upon his city and upon his palace. Then he
remembered the words of the Greek philosopher, and, bursting into tears,
could only say:

"Ah, Solon, Solon!"

The soldiers were closing in about the pile when the Emperor Cyrus
arrived in person to view the execution. As he did so he caught these
words uttered by Croesus, but could not understand them.

So he commanded Croesus to be taken from the pile, and inquired of him
what he had just said. Croesus answered:

"I was but naming the name of a wise man--of one who told me a great
truth--a truth that is of greater worth than all earthly riches, than
all our kingly glory."

And Croesus related to Cyrus his conversation with Solon. The story
touched the heart of the Emperor, for he bethought him that he too was
but a man, that he too knew not what Fate might have in store for him.
So in the end he had mercy upon Croesus, and became his friend.

SECTION VI

MYTHS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. GENERAL HANDBOOKS

Bulfinch, Thomas, _Mythology: The Age of Fable_.

Gayley, Charles Mills, _Classic Myths in English Literature and
in Art_.

II. GREEK AND ROMAN

Baker, Emilie Kip, _Stories of Old Greece and Rome_.

Baldwin, James, _Old Greek Stories_.

Francillon, R. E., _Gods and Heroes, or the Kingdom of Jupiter_.

Guerber, H. A., _Myths of Greece and Rome_.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, _A Wonder-Book for Boys and Girls_.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, _Tanglewood Tales: A Second Wonder-Book_.

Kingsley, Charles, _Greek Heroes_.

Kupfer, Grace H., _Stories of Long Ago_.

Peabody, Josephine P., _Old Greek Folk Stories_.

III. NORTHERN MYTHS

Anderson, R. B., _Norse Mythology, or The Religion of Our
Forefathers_.

Baker, Emilie Kip, _Stories of Northern Myths_.

Boult, Katherine F., _Heroes of the Northland_.

Brown, Abbie Farwell, _In the Days of the Giants_.

Colum