Harpagus came, and Astyages asked him “Harpagus, how did you kill the boy, my daughter's son, whom I gave you?” Harpagus, when he saw the cowherd was there, did not take the way of falsehood, lest he be caught and confuted:

“O King,” he said,” when I took the boy, I thought and considered how to do what you wanted and not be held a murderer by your daughter or by you even though I was blameless toward you.

So I did this: I summoned this cowherd here, and gave the child to him, telling him that it was you who gave the command to kill it. And that was the truth; for such was your command. But I gave the child with the instructions that the cowherd was to lay it on a desolate mountainside and wait there and watch until it was dead; and I threatened all sorts of things if he did not accomplish this.