HOW AN OWL CONVERTED BAHRAN 53 



regarded by the most diverse races and from the 

 earliest times, as the harbingers of disaster or 

 death. It is all the more worthy of remark, there- 

 fore, that, on one occasion, the cries of a pair of 

 owls with their varying intonations, are said, when 

 skilfully interpreted by a Magian priest who, like 

 Solomon, was able to understand the language of 

 birds, to have partially converted a typical Eastern 

 tyrant from the error of his ways. Bahran, one of 

 the Sassanid kings of Persia, who shrunk from no 

 act of oppression towards his subjects, and was, 

 therefore, regarded by them as a man of " right 

 royal " disposition, was passing, one night, through 

 some villages which he had depopulated. He was 

 accompanied by a Magian priest who thanks to 

 the influence which his mysterious insight gave 

 him was able, sometimes, like the barber of the 

 infamous Louis XL, and by methods, similar to 

 his, appealing to superstitious feelings, to deter 

 even his master from a deed of violence. The king 

 was struck by the loud hooting of an owl in one 

 ruined village, which was immediately answered by 

 his fellow in another. " What is the owl saying ? " 

 he asked. "The male bird," replied the seer, "is 

 making a proposal of marriage to the female." 

 "And what does the female say in reply?" asked 



