"'Sire, the academicians of your kingdom have the honour to place at your feet the universal history that they have compiled at your majesty's behests. It comprises 6000 volumes and contains all that we could possibly collect regarding the customs of nations and the vicissitudes of empires. We have inserted the ancient chronicles which have been luckily preserved, and we have illustrated them with abundant notes on geography, chronology, and diplomacy. The prolegomena are alone one camel's load, and the paralipomena are borne with great difficulty by another camel.'
"The king answered:
"'Gentlemen, I thank you for the trouble that you have taken. But I am very busy with the cares of state. Moreover, I have aged while you worked. I am arrived, as says the Persian poet, half-way along the road of life, and even supposing I die full of years, I cannot reasonably hope to have the time to read such a lengthy history. It shall be placed in the archives of the kingdom. Be good enough to make me a summary better fitted to the brevity of human life.'
"The Persian academicians worked twenty years; then they brought to the king 1500 volumes on three camels.
"'Sire,' said the permanent secretary, in a weakened voice, 'here is our new work. We believe we have omitted nothing essential.'
"'That may be,' answered the king, 'but I shall not read it. I am old; lengthy undertakings do not suit my years; abridge it further and do not be long about it.'
"They lingered so little that at the end of ten years they returned followed by a young elephant bearing 500 volumes.
"'I flatter myself I have been succinct,' said the permanent secretary.
"'You have not yet been sufficiently so,' answered the king.
"'I am at the end of my life. Abridge, abridge, if you want me to know the history of mankind ere I die.'