As soon as he arrived and Cyrus knew Astyages to be his mother’s father, he immediately—since he was by nature an affectionate boy—hugged him as one would have done if he had been raised with him and had been friendly with him for a long time. And he saw him adorned with eye shadow, rouge, and a wig—as was, of course, customary among the Medes (for all these things were Median: purple coats, cloaks, necklaces, and bracelets on their wrists; but among the Persians who are at home, their clothes are even now much more ordinary and their diet much cheaper). So seeing the adornment of his grandfather, he said while looking at him, “Mother, how handsome my grandfather is!”

And when his mother asked him whom he thought more handsome, Astyages or his father, Cyrus then answered, “Of the Persians, my father is the most handsome by far; of the Medes, however, this grandfather of mine is by far the most handsome of those I have seen both in the streets and at court.”

Hugging him in return, the grandfather put a beautiful robe on him and honored and adorned him with necklaces and bracelets, and if ever he went out somewhere, he took him along on a horse with a golden bridle, in just the way he himself was accustomed to travel. Since he was a boy who loved beauty and honor, Cyrus was pleased with the robe and exceedingly delighted at learning how to ride a horse. For among the Persians, it was very rare even to see a horse, because it is difficult to raise horses and difficult to ride them in so mountainous a country.

When at dinner with his daughter and Cyrus, Astyages wished the boy to dine as pleasantly as possible so that he might yearn less for what he had left at home. He thus put before him fancy side dishes and all sorts of sauces and meats; and they say that Cyrus said, “Grandfather, how many troubles you have at dinner, if it is necessary for you to stretch out your hands to all these little dishes and taste all these different sorts of meat!”

“What?” Astyages said. “Does it not seem to you that this dinner is much finer than that among the Persians?”

To this Cyrus answered, “No, grandfather, for the road to satisfaction is much more simple and direct among us than among you, for bread and meat take us to it. You hurry to the same place as we do, yet only after wandering back and forth on many curves do you arrive with difficulty at the point we reached long ago.”

“But child,” Astyages said, “we are not distressed to wander as we do. Taste them, and you too will realize that they are pleasant.”

“And yet I see that even you, grandfather, are disgusted with these meats,” he said.