THE RING OF POLYCRATES. 103

But destiny is not so easily to be disarmed. Several
days afterwards a Samian fisherman had the fortune
to catch a fish so large and beautiful that he esteemed
it worthy to be offered as a present to the king.
He accordingly went with it to the palace gates
and asked to see Polycrates. The guards, learning
his purpose, admitted him. On coming into the
king’s presence, the fisherman said that, though he
was a poor man who lived by his labor, he could
not let himself offer such a prize in the public market.

_ “J gaid to myself,” he continued, “‘It is worthy:
of Polycrates and his greatness ;’ and so I brought
it here to give it to you.”

The compliment and the gift so pleased the tyrant
that he not only thanked the fisherman warmly,
but invited him to sup with him on the fish.

But a wonder happened in the king’s kitchen.
On the cook’s cutting open the fish to prepare it
for the table, to his surprise he found within it the
signet-ring of the king. With joy he hastened to
Polycrates with his strangely recovered treasure,
the story of whose loss had gone abroad, and told
in what a remarkable way it had been restored.

As for Polycrates, the return of the ring brought
him some joy but more grief. The fates, it appeared,
were not so lightly to be appeased. He wrote to
Amasis, telling what he had done and with what
result. The letter came to the Egyptian king like
a prognostic of evil. That there would be an ill
end to the career of Polycrates he now felt sure;
and, not wishing to be involved in it himself, he
sent a herald to Samos and informed his late friend