There was once a king who lived in Egypt(埃及). He wanted to send a mes-sage to a friend who lived far away in Greece (希臘).

Now the king wanted his friend to read the message， but he didn't want anyone else to see it. He wanted it to be a secret one. How could he send his friend the secret message? The king thought and thought. Then，at last，he had an idea.He knew how he could do that.

The king called in a servant whom he trusted most and said to him， \"I want you to shave (剃) all the hair off your head.\" And the servant did so.

\"Now，\"said the king，\"I'm going to write something on your head.\"

The servant bent down， and the king wrote a message on his head. Then the king said; \"I want you to stay alone until your hair grows back. Your hair will hide what I have written. I Fm going to put you in a locked room for a month.\"

One month passed. The king went to see the servant and said，\"l see that your hair has grown back. Now I want you to go to see my friend in Greece. And I want you to show him the message on your head. Only he may see it.\"

When the servant got to the king's friend，he cut his hair off again to be read the message. Then the Servant washed his head， and the message was off.

No one but the king and his friend ever knew what the message said. It was a secret message between them. It might have been. the first secret message ever sent.