The King, whose temper had been weakened by his wound, was placed in a grievous pass. Should he suffer this witch to tell her damning tale of disaster in the chase, it would brand the royal hunter as a braggart and a liar--a case far out of tune with a king's desire to be thought a god. On the other hand, should he check her speech by force, there were those who would hold displeasure for a deed they could not understand. Therefore Ninus swallowed down his spleen and sought to meet guile with guile.
"Princess," he laughed, as he once more took his seat, "with anger assumed did I test the mettle of a huntress at my court, and my heart is glad because of the spirit she hath shown. Speak then, fearing naught, and if thy tale prove true and pleasing to our ears, demand what thou wilt from Ninus in exchange for this one-eyed lion's skin."
Semiramis bowed low and was about to speak, when the monarch checked her with a lifted hand.
"Nay, a moment," he begged. "Now perchance I might tell this tale myself, and thereby lose no shred of its palatable meat." He smiled to his court amusedly and once more bent his glance upon Semiramis: "A lion's skin is borne me from the thickets along the lower Euphrates--a one-eyed lion, fierce and strong, that leapt upon my charger's neck and pressed me hurtfully. I, Ninus, in my terror of a beast so strange, then flung my weapons down, turned tail and fled for safety in my distant camp, whilst thou--all praise to Asshur for the deed--came after me and slew my enemy." Again the monarch laughed and stretched his hand toward the huntress: "Speak, pretty one, is this the tale of Ninus and the one-eyed lion?"
The King, in painting with a brush of truth, had spread his colors artfully, for it came to him that to steal the thunder from an accusing tongue was better far than a shield of defensive lies. So the courtiers whispered among themselves and smiled at the pleasing humor of their Song. This joyed the monarch vastly, for his vanity was large, and now that his wit had given him a vantage ground, he turned to Semiramis, ready for attack, but was ill prepared for his subtle enemy.
On her face came a look of childish wonderment and pain, while her hands were raised in protest of a thought so wrongful to the King. She stood with her back toward the _stele_ which pictured the lion hunt, yet, on entering the hall, her eye had marked it, and memory served her well.