Years passed, and Astyages lived in a fabricated peace, believing that by sending Mandane to Parsa and marrying her to Cambyses, he had deceived fate. But this tranquility did not last long. When young Cyrus reached his fifth year, his boundless intelligence and wisdom among his peers in Parsa, and his astonishing composure that was well-known to all, re-sowed the seeds of fear in Astyages's heart. The Median king, upon witnessing the child's premature blossoming, had another disturbing dream; a dream that shattered his peace forever.
This time, Astyages saw in his dream that a massive vine had grown from Mandane's belly, its shadow covering all of Asia. This image was even more terrifying than the first dream, as it clearly showed the widespread influence and power of this nascent being. Terror consumed the entire king's being. He immediately, with a trembling and fearful heart, sent for his daughter Mandane, who was then living in Anshan with five-year-old Cyrus, to bring her and his grandson back to Ecbatana.
Mandane and young Cyrus were brought to Ecbatana, and contrary to Mandane's expectation, she was imprisoned in a palace so that the king could ensure himself against any threat from his grandson. Astyages once again gathered the Magi and shared his new dream with them. The Magi repeated the same answer as the previous year, confirming the earlier prophecy. This renewed confirmation completed Astyages's madness and drove him to a horrifying decision: he ordered this young child to be eliminated.
To execute this command, the Median monarch snatched young Cyrus from his mother Mandane's embrace and entrusted him to one of his loyal relatives named Harpagus. Harpagus, Astyages's trusted commander, was tasked with taking the child to the Zagros mountains and disposing of him. Harpagus, with a cold face and a sword in hand, seized the child from Mandane's arms and set off towards the wild nature. But along the way, when Cyrus looked at him with eyes full of fear and let out a heartbreaking cry, the hardened heart that had been steeled on the battlefield for years softened.
Harpagus, fearing the king's wrath and Mandane's grief, could not directly carry out the murder order himself. To escape the wrath of the king and the princess, he decided to save Cyrus's life. Harpagus entrusted the child to Mithradates, a kind and intelligent shepherd who lived in the foothills of the mountains, and ordered him to kill the child. He then returned to court, swearing silence, pretending that his mission had been accomplished, and putting the king's mind at ease about his grandson's death.
Mithradates, the loyal shepherd, carefully and compassionately brought Cyrus to his simple home in the mountain wilderness. Mithradates's wife, who had given birth to a stillborn child on the same day, asked her husband to abandon the dead infant to the predators instead of Mandane's son, and to raise the prince in their home. Mithradates agreed and gave his own child to the predators. Then, after ten days, he sent one of his men to Harpagus with a message asking him to send someone to see the child's bones and put his mind at ease.
Harpagus did so and ordered that whatever remained of the child be buried. In this way, young Cyrus miraculously escaped death and was raised in the home of the kind and wise shepherd, Mithradates. This marked the beginning of a new era for Cyrus; an era that would nurture him in a natural environment, far from court intrigues, for a great role in history, and would contribute to the formation of his independent and powerful character.