But when the Egyptians saw Aesop, they considered him a monster and without knowledge, a fakir and jokester, for they did not realize that in ugly and dull vessels there is sometimes contained a balsam that is the most precious of all liquids, and if sometimes the bottles are not clean, they contain clean wines. So Aesop went to the palace and threw himself at the feet of the king, who in all his majesty received him in kindly fashion. And when he said to him: “Tell me, Aesop, with whom do you compare me and mine?” And Aesop replied: “I compare you to the sun, and your followers to the rays of the sun, for certainly you shine in no other manner than the sun and the solar circle and disk, and your people shine like the rays of the sun that surround it.” Then Nectanabo said to him: “What is the kingdom of Licurus like, as compared with ours?” And Aesop smiling said: “In no way is it lower, but much higher. Just as the sun exceeds the moon and astonishes with its splendor, so the kingdom of Licurus exceeds and overwhelms yours.” The king, marveling at such prompt and skillful reply, and impressed by Aesop’s speaking, said: “Bring me the masters who are to build the tower.” Aesop replied: “After one other thing: show me the place where you want it built.” Going straightaway out of the city, the king then showed him the place in the country. And Aesop, in the four corners of the appointed place, put the eagles with the money bags fastened to their feet and with the children in them, who held their tongues in one hand and the food in the other. As the children were borne aloft by the eagles, they called out, showing their tongues and saying: “Give us mortar and give us bricks and wood and the things necessary for building.” When Nectanabo saw this he said: “Why are there men among you who have wings?” And Aesop replied: “For many reasons, yet you, a man, wish to contend with he who is a demigod?”