“And what good thing do the presidents desire of the king?” asked Darius, in rather a surly mood, for, the more he thought of their new statute, the more repulsive it appeared in his sight.
“O king, live forever!” replied Fraggood, with a deceitful smile on his countenance. “Hast thou not signed a decree that every man that asketh a petition of any god or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?”
“The thing is true,” answered the king, “according to the laws of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.”
“Then it is made our painful duty to inform thee that Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou has signed; but maketh his petition three times a day.”
“Daniel!” replied the king. “I know of no Daniel but my worthy first president, whom ye say assisted in making this law.”
“This same Daniel, O king, thy first president, is the guilty one!” answered Fraggood. “After having exerted his influence with thy servants to make the law, he is now the first of all to transgress. In this he hath but sought an opportunity to show thee, O king, how utterly he disregardeth all thy wise commandments.”
“What!” said the king, suddenly rising to his feet. “Daniel, the first president in the kingdom? Daniel, noted for his wisdom and prudence? Impossible! Ye have been wrongly informed! Beware how ye thus accuse the best man in Babylon!”
“Thy servants wonder not at thy astonishment, O king! If we had not been eye-witnesses to the thing, we could have in no wise believed it; but the eyes and ears of thy servants are witnesses against him. He offers his petitions, and tramples upon the authority of our king.”
“His petitions!” cried the excited king. “And to whom does he offer his petitions?”
“He daily offers his petitions to his God, O king!”