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The king's men had to hack a way laboriously through the wilderness of weeds with their swords to the central building, and when they did so they came to a door on which was an inscription cut deep into the wood. The language was unknown to all but Muflog, who deciphered it as follows: "We, the Dwellers in this Palace, lived for many years in Comfort and Luxury. Then Hunger came.

We had made no preparation. We had amassed jewels in abundance but not Corn. We ground Pearls and Rubies to fine flour, but could make no Bread. Wherefore we die, bequeathing this Palace to the eagles who will devour our bodies and build their eyries on our towers." A dread silence fell on the whole party when Muflog read these strange words, and the king turned pale.

In addition to the name there was an inscription on the pedestal. Muflog read it amid an awed stillness: "I am the last of the kings yea, the last of men, and with my own hands have completed this work. I ruled over a thousand cities, rode on a thousand horses, and received the homage of a thousand vassal princes; but when Famine came I was powerless.

At length, one of the most venturesome of the party discovered an eagle's nest on one of the smallest towers, and with great difficulty he secured the bird and brought it down to the king. His majesty bade one of his wise men, Muflog, learned in bird languages, to speak to it. He did so. In a harsh croaking voice, the eagle replied, "I am but a young bird, only seven centuries old. I know naught.

This hall was dustless, and Muflog pointed out that it was an airtight chamber. Evidently it had been specifically devised to preserve the statues. "These must be the effigies of kings," said his majesty, and on reading the inscriptions, Muflog said that was so. At the far end of the hall, on a pedestal higher than the others, was a statue bigger than the rest.

"Where is the door?" asked Muflog. That was a puzzle the ancient bird could not answer readily. He thought and thought and fell asleep and had to be kept being awakened until at last he remembered. "When the sun shines in the morning," he croaked, "its first ray falls on the door." Then, worn out with all his thinking and talking, he fell asleep again. There was no rest for the party that night.