To them she, being different, seems to be ugly.
Therefore when they say that she is ugly, they speak the truth." "If so, it is a truth that she does not like, Bes, as I have no doubt she will tell you by and by.

Do they think me ugly also ?" "Yes, they do, Master; but they think also that you look like a man who can draw a bow and use a sword, and that goes far with the Ethiopians.
Of your mother they say nothing because she is old and they venerate the aged whom the Grasshopper is waiting to carry away." Now I began to laugh again and went with Bes to gather the lilies.

These grew at the end of a mass of reeds woven together by the pressure of the current and floating on the water.

Bes lay down upon his stomach while his people watched from a distance on the bank amazed into silence, and stretched out his long arms to reach the blue lotus flowers.

Suddenly the reeds gave way beneath him just as he had grasped two of the flowers and was dragging at them, so that he fell into the river.
Next instant I saw a swirl in the brown water and perceived a huge crocodile.