Dawn of the Greatest Persian

In the audience chamber the Great King sat on his massive throne with Queen Aryenis beside him.  The room was filled with the royal family and guards to protect the King.  Zav and other ministers had not been allowed into the room.  Queen Aryenis had decided this was to be a family gathering with only royalty present.  The King and Queen were both smiling.  There was an atmosphere of joy in the room.  Cambyses bowed touching his forehead to the floor.  Mandane just ran forward to hug her father and mother.  

King Astyages ordered Cambyses to rise at the same time Mandane said, “Father, mother, where is my son?”

The King attempted to make small talk with Mandane, and she grew more and more agitated.  Cambyses saw what was going on and started to get angry.  He was beginning to feel that something was amiss.  He reached out touching Mandane’s shoulder.  At that moment the Great King snapped his fingers.  An enormous double door opened.  Standing in the middle of the opening, looking small but confident was Cyrus.  He stood erect with his head held high.  He wore purple pantaloons, gathered at the ankles.  His blouse was a lighter shade of purple and the sash about his waist was a rose color.  It was decorated with geometric designs of gold and silver threads.  His thick black hair was cut and neatly combed.  Cyrus wore gold shoes.  He stepped forward with slow, careful steps into the audience chamber and approached his new parents.

His young beauty and handsomeness transfixed Mandane.  She was so overjoyed she almost swooned into a faint.  She tried to speak but could only weep.  This magnificent boy was hers.  She tried to rush forward to take him in her arms but she could not move.  She was seeing a small Cambyses.  Her life was complete in that instant.      

Cambyses was amazed at how handsome the boy was.  The minor king began to think that if this was really his son, the boy he had dreamed about, he had been blessed by the gods.  As the boy approached Cambyses recovered first and asked, “What is your name, son?”

Still walking with a firm gait the boy answered in a clear voice, “Cyrus, sire,” and he stopped before his mother.

Mandane, with tears that clouded her vision, leaned to the boy; she hugged him to her breast.  The gesture made her burden of guilt flow out of her like a river spilling into the sea.  The Great King was exuberant.  Queen Aryenis was weeping, smiling and fidgeting in her seat with happiness.  She could not decide whether to look at her husband, her daughter, or Cambyses as her head swiveled trying to see everyone at once.  A spontaneous roar rose from the people in the room.  The princesses cried.  The princes, young and old, cheered the wonderful scene.  Mandane was one of them.  They were thrilled at her joy.  They wanted to surge forward to embrace her, but they stayed at a distance and reveled at the exultation in her face.  There was never a more beautiful moment in Ecbatana.    

When Mandane finally released Cyrus just enough to hold him at arms length he asked, “You are my mother?”

Mandane almost fainted again at a voice calling her mother.  She wept, “Oh yes, my son, yes!  I am your mother.”

“And I am your father Cambyses, king of Pars, Cyrus,” said Cambyses with proud surety that this was his son.  The minor king was completely captivated also by this boy and his regal composure.  Cambyses wondered how a boy of ten sun cycles, in this circumstance, could be so calm.  As a first impression Cambyses wondered if he was meeting a king instead of a boy.