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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Myths That Every Child Should Know
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: Myths That Every Child Should Know
+       A Selection Of The Classic Myths Of All Times For Young People
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Hamilton Wright Mabie
+
+Illustrator: Blanche Ostertag
+
+Release Date: August 17, 2005 [eBook #16537]
+[Most recently updated: November 1, 2021]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: Juliet Sutherland, Verity White and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS THAT EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW ***
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MEDEIA AND JASON WITH THE GOLDEN FLEECE]
+
+MYTHS THAT EVERY
+CHILD SHOULD KNOW
+
+A SELECTION OF THE CLASSIC MYTHS
+OF ALL TIMES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
+
+EDITED BY
+HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE
+
+ILLUSTRATED AND DECORATED
+BY BLANCHE OSTERTAG
+
+NEW YORK
+Doubleday, Page & Company
+1906
+
+
+NOTE
+
+The editor and publishers wish to express their appreciation of the
+courtesy of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Dodd, Mead & Co., and the
+Macmillan Company, by means of which they have been enabled to reprint
+stories from Hawthorne's "Wonder Book" and "Tanglewood Tales," from "In
+the Days of Giants," from "Norse Stories," from Church's "Stories from
+Homer," and from Kingsley's "Greek Heroes."
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I.    THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+II.   THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS
+      (Hawthorne's "Tanglewood Tales")
+
+III.  THE CHIMÆRA
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+IV.   THE GOLDEN TOUCH
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+V.    THE GORGON'S HEAD
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+VI.   THE DRAGON'S TEETH
+      (Hawthorne's "Tanglewood Tales")
+
+VII.  THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+VIII. THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+IX.   THE CYCLOPS
+      (Church's "Stories from Homer")
+
+X.    THE ARGONAUTS
+      (Kingsley's "Greek Heroes")
+
+XI.   THE GIANT BUILDER
+      ("In Days of Giants")
+
+XII.  HOW ODIN LOST HIS EYE
+      ("In Days of Giants")
+
+XIII. THE QUEST OF THE HAMMER
+      ("In Days of Giants")
+
+XIV.  THE APPLES OF IDUN
+      ("Norse Stories")
+
+XV.   THE DEATH OF BALDER
+      ("Norse Stories")
+
+XVI.  THE STAR AND THE LILY
+      (Miss Emerson's "Indian Myths")
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+In many parts of the country when the soil is disturbed arrow heads are
+found. Now, it is a great many years since arrow heads have been used,
+and they were never used by the people who own the land in which they
+appear or by their ancestors. To explain the presence of these roughly
+cut pieces of stone we must recall the weapons with which the Indians
+fought when Englishmen, Frenchmen, Dutchmen, and Spaniards first came to
+this part of the world. There may be no authentic history of Indians in
+the particular locality in which these old-fashioned weapons come to
+light, but their presence in the ground is the best kind of evidence
+that Indians once lived on these fields or were in the habit of hunting
+over them. In many parts of the country these arrow heads are turned up
+in great numbers; museums large and small are plentifully supplied with
+them; and they form part of the record of the men who once lived here,
+and of their ways of killing game and destroying their enemies. Wherever
+there are arrow heads there have been Indians.
+
+Among every people and in every language there are found stories,
+superstitions, traditions, phrases, which are not to be explained by the
+thoughts or ideas or beliefs of people now living; and the same stories,
+superstitions, phrases, are found among people as far apart as those of
+Norway and Australia. The people of to-day tell these stories or
+remember the superstitions or use the phrases without understanding
+where they came from or what they meant when first used. As the ground
+in some sections is full of arrow heads that have been buried no one
+knows how many centuries, so the poetry we read, the music we hear, the
+stories told us when we are children, have come down from a time in the
+history of man so early that there are in many cases no other records or
+remains of it. These stories vary greatly in details; they fit every
+climate and wear the peculiar dress of every country; but it is easy to
+see that they are made up of the same materials, and that they describe
+the same persons or ideas or things whether they are told in Greece or
+India or Norway or Brittany. Wherever they are found they make it
+certain that they come from a very remote time and grew out of ideas or
+feelings and ways of looking at the world which a great many men shared
+in common in many places.
+
+When a man sneezes, people still say in some countries, "God bless you."
+They do not know why they say it; they simply repeat what they heard
+older people say when they were children, and do not know that every
+time they use these words they recall the age when people believed that
+evil spirits could enter into a man, and that when a man sneezed he
+expelled one of these spirits. It is a very old and widely spread
+superstition that when a dog howls at night someone not far away is
+dying or will soon die. Many people are uncomfortable when they hear a
+dog howling after dark, not because they believe that dogs have any
+knowledge that death is present or coming, but because their ancestors
+for many centuries believed that the howling of a dog was ominous, and
+the habits of our ancestors leave deep traces in our natures.
+
+Now, every time the melancholy howling of a dog at night makes a child
+uncomfortable, he recalls the old superstition which identified the
+roaring or wailing of the wind with a wolf or dog into which a god or
+demon had entered, with power to summon the spirits of men to follow him
+as he rushed along in the darkness. In the old homes in the forests,
+thousands of years ago, children crowded about the open fire and
+trembled when a great blast shook the house, for fear that the gigantic
+beast who made the sound would call them and they would be compelled to
+follow him. We think of wind as air in motion; they thought of it as the
+breath and sound of some living creature. When we say that the wind
+"whistled in the keyhole," or "kissed the flowers," or "drove the
+clouds" before it, we are using poetically the language our forefathers
+used literally.
+
+We speak of "the siren voice of pleasure," "the blow of fate," "the
+smile of fortune," and do not remember, often do not know, that we are
+recalling that remote past when people believed that there were Sirens
+on the coast of Crete whose voices were so sweet that sailors could not
+resist them and were drawn on to the rocks and drowned; that fate was a
+terrible, relentless, passionless person with supreme power over gods
+and men; that fortune was a being who smiled or frowned as men smile or
+frown, but whose smile meant prosperity and her frown disaster.
+
+There are few poems which have interested children more than Robert
+Browning's "Pied Piper of Hamelin." The story runs that long ago, in the
+year 1284, the old German town of Hamelin was so overrun with rats that
+there was no peace for the people living in it. When things were at
+their worst a strange man appeared in the place and offered, for a sum
+of money, to clear it of these pests. The bargain was made and the
+stranger began to pipe; and straightway, from every nook and corner in
+the old town, the rats came in swarms, followed him to the river Weser
+and jumped in and were drowned.
+
+When the people found that the city was really free from rats they were
+ungrateful enough to say that the piper had used magic, which was
+believed to be the practice of the evil spirit, and refused to carry out
+their part of the contract. The stranger went off in a great rage and
+threatened to come back again and take payment in his own way. On St.
+John's Day, which was a time of great festivity, he suddenly reappeared,
+blew a new and beguiling air on his pipe, and immediately every child in
+the city felt as if a hand had seized him and ran pell-mell after the
+musician as he climbed the mountain, in which a door suddenly opened,
+and through that door all, save a lame boy, passed and were never seen
+again.
+
+From this old story probably came the proverb about paying the piper;
+and it is one of many stories which turn on the magical power of a voice
+or a sound to draw men, women, and children to their doom. These very
+interesting stories are not like the stories which are made up just to
+please people and help them pass away the time; they are different forms
+of one story--the story of the wind, told by people who thought that the
+wind was not what we call a force but a person, and that when he called
+those who heard must follow if he chose; for "the piper is no other than
+the wind, and the ancients held that in the wind were the souls of the
+dead."
+
+If every time we think of a force we should think of a person, we should
+see the world as the men and women who made the myths saw it. Everything
+that moved, or made a sound, or flashed out light, or gave out heat was
+a person to them; they could not think of the wind rushing through the
+trees or the storm devastating the fields without out imagining someone
+like themselves, only more powerful, behind the uproar and destruction,
+any more than we can see a lantern moving along the road at night
+without thinking instinctively that somebody is carrying it.
+
+Our idea of the world is scientific because it is based on exact though
+by no means complete knowledge; the myth-makers' idea of the world was
+poetic because, with very incomplete knowledge, they could not imagine
+how anything could be done unless it was done as they did things. When
+the black clouds gather on a summer afternoon and roll up the sky in
+great, terrifying masses, and the lightning flashes from them and the
+crash of the thunder fills the air and the rain beats down the crops, we
+feel as if we were in the laboratory of nature seeing a wonderful
+experiment made; when our ancestors saw the same spectacle they were
+sure that a great dragon, breathing fire and roaring with anger, was
+ravaging the earth. As children to-day imagine that dolls are alive,
+that fairies dance in moonlit meadows on summer nights, or beasts or
+Indians make the sounds in the woods, so the people who made the myths
+filled the world with creatures unlike themselves, but with something of
+human intelligence, feeling and will.
+
+As imaginative children personify the sounds they hear, so the men and
+women of an early time personified everything that lived or moved or
+gave any sign of life. They filled the earth, air, and sea with
+imaginary beings who had power over the elements and affected the lives
+of men. There were nymphs in the sea, dryads in the trees, kindly or
+destructive spirits in the air, household gods who watched over the
+home, and greater gods who managed the affairs of the world. When an
+intelligent man finds himself in new surroundings, he begins at once to
+study them and try to understand them. In every age this has been one of
+the greatest objects of interest to men, and every generation has
+endeavoured to explain the world, so as to satisfy not only its
+curiosity but its reason. The myths were explanations of the world
+created by people who had not had time to study that world closely nor
+to train themselves to study it in a scientific way. They saw the world
+with their imaginations quite as much as with their eyes, and as they
+put persons behind every kind and form of life, they told stories about
+the world instead of making accurate and matter-of-fact reports of it.
+The change of the seasons is not at all mysterious to us; but to the
+Norsemen it was a wonderful struggle between gods and giants. In the
+summer the gods had their triumph, but in the winter the giants had
+their way. Year after year and century after century this terrible
+warfare went on until a day should come when, in a last great battle,
+both gods and giants would be destroyed and a new heaven and earth
+arise. These same brave and warlike men believed that the most powerful
+fighter among the gods was Thor, and that it was the swinging and
+crashing of his terrible hammer which made the lightning and thunder.
+
+The sun, which vanquished the darkness, put out the stars, drove the
+cold to the far north, called back the flowers, made the fields fertile,
+awoke men from sleep and filled them with courage and hope, was the
+centre of mythology, and appears and reappears in a thousand stories in
+many parts of the world, and in all kinds of disguises. Now he is the
+most beautiful and noble of the Greek gods, Apollo; now he is Odin, with
+a single eye; now he is Hercules, the hero, with his twelve great
+labours for the good of men; now he is Oedipus, who met the Sphinx and
+solved her riddle. In the early times men saw how everything in the
+world about them drew its strength and beauty from the sun; how the sun
+warmed the earth and made the crops grow; how it brought gladness and
+hope and inspiration to men; and they made it the centre of the great
+world story, the foremost hero of the great world play. For the myths
+form a poetical explanation of the earth, the sea, the sky, and of the
+life of man in this wonderful universe, and each great myth was a
+chapter in a story which endowed day and night, summer and winter, sun,
+moon, stars, winds, clouds, fire, with life, and made them actors in the
+mysterious drama of the world. Our Norse forefathers thought of
+themselves always as looking on at a terrible fight between the gods,
+who were light and heat and fruitfulness, revealed in the beauty of day
+and the splendour of summer, and the giants, who were darkness, cold and
+barrenness, revealed in the gloom of night and the desolation of winter.
+To the Norseman, as to the Greek, the Roman, the Hindu and other
+primitive peoples, the world was the scene of a great struggle, the
+stage on which gods, demons, and heroes were contending for supremacy;
+and they told that story in a thousand different ways. Every myth is a
+chapter in that story, and differs from other stories and legends
+because it is an explanation of something that happened in earth, sea,
+or sky.
+
+If the men who created the myths had set to work to make wonder tales as
+stories are sometimes made to instruct while they entertain children,
+they would have left a mass of very dull tales which few people would
+have cared to read. They had no idea of doing anything so artificial and
+mechanical; they made these old stories because all life was a story to
+them, full of splendid or terrible figures moving across the sky or
+through the sea and in the depths of the woods, and whichever way they
+looked they saw or thought they saw mysterious and wonderful things
+going on. They were as much interested in their world as we are in ours;
+we write hundreds of scientific books every year to explain our world;
+they told hundreds of stories every year to explain theirs.
+
+This selection represents the work of several authors, and does not,
+therefore, preserve uniformity of style. It is probably better for the
+young reader that the Greek Myths should come from one hand, and the
+Norse Myths from another. The classical work of Hawthorne has been
+generously drawn upon. No change of any kind has been made in the text,
+but the introductions connecting one myth with another have been
+omitted.
+
+HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE.
+
+
+
+
+Myths That Every Child Should Know
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES
+
+
+Did you ever hear of the golden apples that grew in the garden of the
+Hesperides? Ah, those were such apples as would bring a great price, by
+the bushel, if any of them could be found growing in the orchards of
+nowadays! But there is not, I suppose, a graft of that wonderful fruit
+on a single tree in the wide world. Not so much as a seed of those
+apples exists any longer.
+
+And, even in the old, old, half-forgotten times, before the garden of
+the Hesperides was overrun with weeds, a great many people doubted
+whether there could be real trees that bore apples of solid gold upon
+their branches. All had heard of them, but nobody remembered to have
+seen any. Children, nevertheless, used to listen, open-mouthed, to
+stories of the golden apple tree, and resolved to discover it, when they
+should be big enough. Adventurous young men, who desired to do a braver
+thing than any of their fellows, set out in quest of this fruit. Many of
+them returned no more; none of them brought back the apples. No wonder
+that they found it impossible to gather them! It is said that there was
+a dragon beneath the tree, with a hundred terrible heads, fifty of
+which were always on the watch, while the other fifty slept.
+
+In my opinion it was hardly worth running so much risk for the sake of a
+solid golden apple. Had the apples been sweet, mellow, and juicy, indeed
+that would be another matter. There might then have been some sense in
+trying to get at them, in spite of the hundred-headed dragon.
+
+But, as I have already told you, it was quite a common thing with young
+persons, when tired of too much peace and rest, to go in search of the
+garden of the Hesperides. And once the adventure was undertaken by a
+hero who had enjoyed very little peace or rest since he came into the
+world. At the time of which I am going to speak, he was wandering
+through the pleasant land of Italy, with a mighty club in his hand, and
+a bow and quiver slung across his shoulders. He was wrapt in the skin of
+the biggest and fiercest lion that ever had been seen, and which he
+himself had killed; and though, on the whole, he was kind, and generous,
+and noble, there was a good deal of the lion's fierceness in his heart.
+As he went on his way, he continually inquired whether that were the
+right road to the famous garden. But none of the country people knew
+anything about the matter, and many looked as if they would have laughed
+at the question, if the stranger had not carried so very big a club.
+
+So he journeyed on and on, still making the same inquiry, until, at
+last, he came to the brink of a river where some beautiful young women
+sat twining wreaths of flowers.
+
+"Can you tell me, pretty maidens," asked the stranger, "whether this is
+the right way to the garden of the Hesperides?"
+
+The young women had been having a fine time together, weaving the
+flowers into wreaths, and crowning one another's heads. And there seemed
+to be a kind of magic in the touch of their fingers, that made the
+flowers more fresh and dewy, and of brighter hues, and sweeter
+fragrance, while they played with them, than even when they had been
+growing on their native stems. But, on hearing the stranger's question,
+they dropped all their flowers on the grass, and gazed at him with
+astonishment.
+
+"The garden of the Hesperides!" cried one. "We thought mortals had been
+weary of seeking it, after so many disappointments. And pray,
+adventurous traveller, what do you want there?"
+
+"A certain king, who is my cousin," replied he, "has ordered me to get
+him three of the golden apples."
+
+"Most of the young men who go in quest of these apples," observed
+another of the damsels, "desire to obtain them for themselves, or to
+present them to some fair maiden whom they love. Do you, then, love this
+king, your cousin, so very much?"
+
+"Perhaps not," replied the stranger, sighing. "He has often been severe
+and cruel to me. But it is my destiny to obey him."
+
+"And do you know," asked the damsel who had first spoken, "that a
+terrible dragon, with a hundred heads, keeps watch under the golden
+apple tree?"
+
+"I know it well," answered the stranger, calmly. "But, from my cradle
+upward, it has been my business, and almost my pastime, to deal with
+serpents and dragons."
+
+The young women looked at his massive club, and at the shaggy lion's
+skin which he wore, and likewise at his heroic limbs and figure; and
+they whispered to each other that the stranger appeared to be one who
+might reasonably expect to perform deeds far beyond the might of other
+men. But, then, the dragon with a hundred heads! What mortal, even if he
+possessed a hundred lives, could hope to escape the fangs of such a
+monster? So kind-hearted were the maidens that they could not bear to
+see this brave and handsome traveller attempt what was so very
+dangerous, and devote himself, most probably, to become a meal for the
+dragon's hundred ravenous mouths.
+
+"Go back," cried they all--"go back to your own home! Your mother,
+beholding you safe and sound, will shed tears of joy; and what can she
+do more, should you win ever so great a victory? No matter for the
+golden apples! No matter for the king, your cruel cousin! We do not wish
+the dragon with the hundred heads to eat you up!"
+
+The stranger seemed to grow impatient at these remonstrances. He
+carelessly lifted his mighty club, and let it fall upon a rock that lay
+half buried in the earth, near by. With the force of that idle blow, the
+great rock was shattered all to pieces. It cost the stranger no more
+effort to achieve this feat of a giant's strength than for one of the
+young maidens to touch her sister's rosy cheek with a flower.
+
+"Do you not believe," said he, looking at the damsels with a smile,
+"that such a blow would have crushed one of the dragon's hundred heads?"
+
+Then he sat down on the grass, and told them the story of his life, or
+as much of it as he could remember, from the day when he was first
+cradled in a warrior's brazen shield. While he lay there, two immense
+serpents came gliding over the floor, and opened their hideous jaws to
+devour him; and he, a baby of a few months old, had griped one of the
+fierce snakes in each of his little fists, and strangled them to death.
+When he was but a stripling, he had killed a huge lion, almost as big as
+the one whose vast and shaggy hide he now wore upon his shoulders. The
+next thing that he had done was to fight a battle with an ugly sort of
+monster, called a hydra, which had no less than nine heads, and
+exceedingly sharp teeth in every one.
+
+"But the dragon of the Hesperides, you know," observed one of the
+damsels, "has a hundred heads!"
+
+"Nevertheless," replied the stranger, "I would rather fight two such
+dragons than a single hydra. For, as fast as I cut off a head, two
+others grew in its place; and, besides, there was one of the heads that
+could not possibly be killed, but kept biting as fiercely as ever, long
+after it was cut off. So I was forced to bury it under a stone, where it
+is doubtless alive to this very day. But the hydra's body, and its eight
+other heads, will never do any further mischief."
+
+The damsels, judging that the story was likely to last a good while, had
+been preparing a repast of bread and grapes, that the stranger might
+refresh himself in the intervals of his talk. They took pleasure in
+helping him to this simple food; and, now and then, one of them would
+put a sweet grape between her rosy lips, lest it should make him bashful
+to eat alone.
+
+The traveller proceeded to tell how he had chased a very swift stag for
+a twelvemonth together, without ever stopping to take breath, and had at
+last caught it by the antlers, and carried it home alive. And he had
+fought with a very odd race of people, half horses and half men, and had
+put them all to death, from a sense of duty, in order that their ugly
+figures might never be seen any more. Besides all this, he took to
+himself great credit for having cleaned out a stable.
+
+"Do you call that a wonderful exploit?" asked one of the young maidens,
+with a smile. "Any clown in the country has done as much!"
+
+"Had it been an ordinary stable," replied the stranger, "I should not
+have mentioned it. But this was so gigantic a task that it would have
+taken me all my life to perform it, if I had not luckily thought of
+turning the channel of a river through the stable door. That did the
+business in a very short time!"
+
+Seeing how earnestly his fair auditors listened, he next told them how
+he had shot some monstrous birds, and had caught a wild bull alive and
+let him go again, and had tamed a number of very wild horses, and had
+conquered Hippolyta, the warlike queen of the Amazons. He mentioned,
+likewise, that he had taken off Hippolyta's enchanted girdle and had
+given it to the daughter of his cousin, the king.
+
+"Was it the girdle of Venus," inquired the prettiest of the damsels,
+"which makes women beautiful?"
+
+"No," answered the stranger. "It had formerly been the sword belt of
+Mars; and it can only make the wearer valiant and courageous."
+
+"An old sword belt!" cried the damsel, tossing her head. "Then I should
+not care about having it!"
+
+"You are right," said the stranger.
+
+Going on with his wonderful narrative, he informed the maidens that as
+strange an adventure as ever happened was when he fought with Geryon,
+the six-legged man. This was a very odd and frightful sort of figure, as
+you may well believe. Any person, looking at his tracks in the sand or
+snow, would suppose that three sociable companions had been walking
+along together. On hearing his footsteps at a little distance, it was no
+more than reasonable to judge that several people must be coming. But it
+was only the strange man Geryon clattering onward, with his six legs!
+
+Six legs, and one gigantic body! Certainly, he must have been a very
+queer monster to look at; and, my stars, what a waste of shoe leather!
+
+When the stranger had finished the story of his adventures, he looked
+around at the attentive faces of the maidens.
+
+"Perhaps you may have heard of me before," said he, modestly. "My name
+is Hercules!"
+
+"We had already guessed it," replied the maidens; "for your wonderful
+deeds are known all over the world. We do not think it strange, any
+longer, that you should set out in quest of the golden apples of the
+Hesperides. Come, sisters, let us crown the hero with flowers!"
+
+Then they flung beautiful wreaths over his stately head and mighty
+shoulders, so that the lion's skin was almost entirely covered with
+roses. They took possession of his ponderous club, and so entwined it
+about with the brightest, softest, and most fragrant blossoms that not a
+finger's breadth of its oaken substance could be seen. It looked all
+like a huge bunch of flowers. Lastly, they joined hands, and danced
+around him, chanting words which became poetry of their own accord, and
+grew into a choral song, in honour of the illustrious Hercules.
+
+And Hercules was rejoiced, as any other hero would have been, to know
+that these fair young girls had heard of the valiant deeds which it had
+cost him so much toil and danger to achieve. But still he was not
+satisfied. He could not think that what he had already done was worthy
+of so much honour, while there remained any bold or difficult adventure
+to be undertaken.
+
+"Dear maidens," said he, when they paused to take breath, "now that you
+know my name, will you not tell me how I am to reach the garden of the
+Hesperides?"
+
+"Ah! must you go to soon?" they exclaimed. "You--that have performed so
+many wonders, and spent such a toilsome life--cannot you content
+yourself to repose a little while on the margin of this peaceful river?"
+
+Hercules shook his head.
+
+"I must depart now," said he.
+
+"We will then give you the best directions we can," replied the damsels.
+"You must go to the seashore, and find out the Old One, and compel him
+to inform you where the golden apples are to be found."
+
+"The Old One!" repeated Hercules, laughing at this odd name. "And, pray,
+who may the Old One be?"
+
+"Why, the Old Man of the Sea, to be sure!" answered one of the damsels.
+"He has fifty daughters, whom some people call very beautiful; but we do
+not think it proper to be acquainted with them, because they have
+sea-green hair, and taper away like fishes. You must talk with this Old
+Man of the Sea. He is a seafaring person, and knows all about the garden
+of the Hesperides, for it is situated in an island which he is often in
+the habit of visiting."
+
+Hercules then asked whereabouts the Old One was most likely to be met
+with. When the damsels had informed him, he thanked them for all their
+kindness,--for the bread and grapes with which they had fed him, the
+lovely flowers with which they had crowned him, and the songs and
+dances wherewith they had done him honour--and he thanked them, most of
+all, for telling him the right way--and immediately set forth upon his
+journey.
+
+But, before he was out of hearing, one of the maidens called after him.
+
+"Keep fast hold of the Old One, when you catch him!" cried she, smiling,
+and lifting her finger to make the caution more impressive. "Do not be
+astonished at anything that may happen. Only hold him fast, and he will
+tell you what you wish to know."
+
+Hercules again thanked her, and pursued his way, while the maidens
+resumed their pleasant labour of making flower wreaths. They talked
+about the hero long after he was gone.
+
+"We will crown him with the loveliest of our garlands," said they, "when
+he returns hither with the three golden apples, after slaying the dragon
+with a hundred heads."
+
+Meanwhile, Hercules travelled constantly onward, over hill and dale, and
+through the solitary woods. Sometimes he swung his club aloft, and
+splintered a mighty oak with a downright blow. His mind was so full of
+the giants and monsters with whom it was the business of his life to
+fight, that perhaps he mistook the great tree for a giant or a monster.
+And so eager was Hercules to achieve what he had undertaken, that he
+almost regretted to have spent so much time with the damsels, wasting
+idle breath upon the story of his adventures. But thus it always is with
+persons who are destined to perform great things. What they have already
+done seems less than nothing. What they have taken in hand to do seems
+worth toil, danger, and life itself. Persons who happened to be passing
+through the forest must have been affrighted to see him smite the trees
+with his great club. With but a single blow, the trunk was riven as by
+the stroke of lightning and the broad boughs came rustling and crashing
+down.
+
+Hastening forward, without ever pausing or looking behind, he by and by
+heard the sea roaring at a distance. At this sound, he increased his
+speed, and soon came to a beach, where the great surf waves tumbled
+themselves upon the hard sand, in a long line of snowy foam. At one end
+of the beach, however, there was a pleasant spot, where some green
+shrubbery clambered up a cliff, making its rocky face look soft and
+beautiful. A carpet of verdant grass, largely intermixed with
+sweet-smelling clover, covered the narrow space between the bottom of
+the cliff and the sea. And what should Hercules espy there but an old
+man, fast asleep!
+
+But was it really and truly an old man? Certainly, at first sight, it
+looked very like one; but, on closer inspection, it rather seemed to be
+some kind of a creature that lived in the sea. For on his legs and arms
+there were scales, such as fishes have; he was web-footed and
+web-fingered, after the fashion of a duck; and his long beard, being of
+a greenish tinge, had more the appearance of a tuft of seaweed than of
+an ordinary beard. Have you never seen a stick of timber, that has been
+long tossed about by the waves, and has got all overgrown with
+barnacles, and, at last drifting ashore, seems to have been thrown up
+from the very deepest bottom of the sea. Well, the old man would have
+put you in mind of just such a wave-tossed spar! But Hercules, the
+instant he set eyes on this strange figure, was convinced that it could
+be no other than the Old One, who was to direct him on his way.
+
+Yes, it was the selfsame Old Man of the Sea whom the hospitable maidens
+had talked to him about. Thanking his stars for the lucky accident of
+finding the old fellow asleep, Hercules stole on tiptoe toward him, and
+caught him by the arm and leg.
+
+"Tell me," cried he, before the Old One was well awake, "which is the
+way to the garden of the Hesperides?"
+
+As you may easily imagine, the Old Man of the Sea awoke in a fright. But
+his astonishment could hardly have been greater than was that of
+Hercules, the next moment. For, all of a sudden, the Old One seemed to
+disappear out of his grasp, and he found himself holding a stag by the
+fore and hind leg! But still he kept fast hold. Then the stag
+disappeared, and in its stead there was a sea bird, fluttering and
+screaming, while Hercules clutched it by the wing and claw! But the bird
+could not get away. Immediately afterward, there was an ugly
+three-headed dog, which growled and barked at Hercules, and snapped
+fiercely at the hands by which he held him! But Hercules would not let
+him go. In another minute, instead of the three-headed dog, what should
+appear but Geryon, the six-legged man monster, kicking at Hercules with
+five of his legs, in order to get the remaining one at liberty! But
+Hercules held on. By and by, no Geryon was there, but a huge snake, like
+one of those which Hercules had strangled in his babyhood, only a
+hundred times as big; and it twisted and twined about the hero's neck
+and body, and threw its tail high into the air, and opened its deadly
+jaws as if to devour him outright; so that it was really a very terrible
+spectacle! But Hercules was no whit disheartened, and squeezed the great
+snake so tightly that he soon began to hiss with pain.
+
+You must understand that the Old Man of the Sea, though he generally
+looked so much like the wave-beaten figurehead of a vessel, had the
+power of assuming any shape he pleased. When he found himself so roughly
+seized by Hercules, he had been in hopes of putting him into such
+surprise and terror, by these magical transformations, that the hero
+would be glad to let him go. If Hercules had relaxed his grasp, the Old
+One would certainly have plunged down to the very bottom of the sea,
+whence he would not soon have given himself the trouble of coming up, in
+order to answer any impertinent questions. Ninety-nine people out of a
+hundred, I suppose, would have been frightened out of their wits by the
+very first of his ugly shapes, and would have taken to their heels at
+once. For one of the hardest things in this world is to see the
+difference between real dangers and imaginary ones.
+
+But, as Hercules held on so stubbornly, and only squeezed the Old One so
+much the tighter at every change of shape, and really put him to no
+small torture, he finally thought it best to reappear in his own figure.
+So there he was again, a fishy, scaly, web-footed sort of personage,
+with something like a tuft of seaweed at his chin.
+
+"Pray, what do you want with me?" cried the Old One, as soon as he could
+take breath; for it is quite a tiresome affair to go through so many
+false shapes. "Why do you squeeze me so hard? Let me go this moment, or
+I shall begin to consider you an extremely uncivil person!"
+
+"My name is Hercules!" roared the mighty stranger. "And you will never
+get out of my clutch until you tell me the nearest way to the garden of
+the Hesperides!"
+
+When the old fellow heard who it was that had caught him, he saw with
+half an eye that it would be necessary to tell him everything that he
+wanted to know. The Old One was an inhabitant of the sea, you must
+recollect, and roamed about everywhere, like other seafaring people. Of
+course, he had often heard of the fame of Hercules, and of the wonderful
+things that he was constantly performing in various parts of the earth,
+and how determined he always was to accomplish whatever he undertook. He
+therefore made no more attempts to escape, but told the hero how to find
+the garden of the Hesperides, and likewise warned him of many
+difficulties which must be overcome before he could arrive thither.
+
+"You must go on, thus and thus," said the Old Man of the Sea, after
+taking the points of the compass, "till you come in sight of a very tall
+giant, who holds the sky on his shoulders. And the giant, if he happens
+to be in the humour, will tell you exactly where the garden of the
+Hesperides lies."
+
+"And if the giant happens not to be in the humour," remarked Hercules,
+balancing his club on the tip of his finger, "perhaps I shall find means
+to persuade him!"
+
+Thanking the Old Man of the Sea, and begging his pardon for having
+squeezed him so roughly, the hero resumed his journey. He met with a
+great many strange adventures, which would be well worth your hearing,
+if I had leisure to narrate them as minutely as they deserve.
+
+It was in this journey, if I mistake not, that he encountered a
+prodigious giant, who was so wonderfully contrived by nature that, every
+time he touched the earth, he became ten times as strong as ever he had
+been before. His name was Antæus. You may see, plainly enough, that it
+was a very difficult business to fight with such a fellow; for, as often
+as he got a knock-down blow, up he started again, stronger, fiercer, and
+abler to use his weapons than if his enemy had let him alone. Thus, the
+harder Hercules pounded the giant with his club, the further he seemed
+from winning the victory. I have sometimes argued with such people, but
+never fought with one. The only way in which Hercules found it possible
+to finish the battle was by lifting Antæus off his feet into the air,
+and squeezing, and squeezing, and squeezing him until, finally, the
+strength was quite squeezed out of his enormous body.
+
+When this affair was finished, Hercules continued his travels, and went
+to the land of Egypt, where he was taken prisoner, and would have been
+put to death if he had not slain the king of the country and made his
+escape. Passing through the deserts of Africa, and going as fast as he
+could, he arrived at last on the shore of the great ocean. And here,
+unless he could walk on the crests of the billows, it seemed as if his
+journey must needs be at an end.
+
+Nothing was before him, save the foaming, dashing, measureless ocean.
+But, suddenly, as he looked toward the horizon, he saw something, a
+great way off, which he had not seen the moment before. It gleamed very
+brightly, almost as you may have beheld the round, golden disc of the
+sun, when it rises or sets over the edge of the world. It evidently drew
+nearer; for, at every instant, this wonderful object became larger and
+more lustrous. At length, it had come so nigh that Hercules discovered
+it to be an immense cup or bowl, made either of gold or burnished brass.
+How it had got afloat upon the sea is more than I can tell you. There it
+was, at all events, rolling on the tumultuous billows, which tossed it
+up and down, and heaved their foamy tops against its sides, but without
+ever throwing their spray over the brim.
+
+"I have seen many giants, in my time," thought Hercules, "but never one
+that would need to drink his wine out of a cup like this!"
+
+And, true enough, what a cup it must have been! It was as large--as
+large--but, in short, I am afraid to say how immeasurably large it was.
+To speak within bounds, it was ten times larger than a great mill wheel;
+and, all of metal as it was, it floated over the heaving surges more
+lightly than an acorn cup adown the brook. The waves tumbled it onward,
+until it grazed against the shore, within a short distance of the spot
+where Hercules was standing.
+
+As soon as this happened, he knew what was to be done; for he had not
+gone through so many remarkable adventures without learning pretty well
+how to conduct himself, whenever anything came to pass a little out of
+the common rule. It was just as clear as daylight that this marvellous
+cup had been set adrift by some unseen power, and guided hitherward, in
+order to carry Hercules across the sea, on his way to the garden of the
+Hesperides. Accordingly, without a moment's delay, he clambered over the
+brim, and slid down on the inside, where, spreading out his lion's skin,
+he proceeded to take a little repose. He had scarcely rested, until now,
+since he bade farewell to the damsels on the margin of the river. The
+waves dashed, with a pleasant and ringing sound, against the
+circumference of the hollow cup; it rocked lightly to and fro, and the
+motion was so soothing that it speedily rocked Hercules into an
+agreeable slumber.
+
+His nap had probably lasted a good while, when the cup chanced to graze
+against a rock, and, in consequence, immediately resounded and
+reverberated through its golden or brazen substance, a hundred times as
+loudly as ever you heard a church bell. The noise awoke Hercules, who
+instantly started up and gazed around him, wondering whereabouts he was.
+He was not long in discovering that the cup had floated across a great
+part of the sea, and was approaching the shore of what seemed to be an
+island. And, on that island, what do you think he saw?
+
+No; you will never guess it, not if you were to try fifty thousand
+times! It positively appears to me that this was the most marvellous
+spectacle that had ever been seen by Hercules in the whole course of his
+wonderful travels and adventures. It was a greater marvel than the hydra
+with nine heads, which kept growing twice as fast as they were cut off;
+greater than the six-legged man monster; greater than Antæus; greater
+than anything that was ever beheld by anybody, before or since the days
+of Hercules, or than anything that remains to be beheld by travellers in
+all time to come. It was a giant!
+
+But such an intolerably big giant! A giant as tall as a mountain; so
+vast a giant that the clouds rested about his midst, like a girdle, and
+hung like a hoary beard from his chin, and flitted before his huge eyes,
+so that he could neither see Hercules nor the golden cup in which he was
+voyaging. And, most wonderful of all, the giant held up his great hands
+and appeared to support the sky, which, so far as Hercules could discern
+through the clouds, was resting upon his head! This does really seem
+almost too much to believe.
+
+Meanwhile, the bright cup continued to float onward, and finally touched
+the strand. Just then a breeze wafted away the clouds from before the
+giant's visage, and Hercules beheld it, with all its enormous features;
+eyes each of them as big as yonder lake, a nose a mile long, and a mouth
+of the same width. It was a countenance terrible from its enormity of
+size, but disconsolate and weary, even as you may see the faces of many
+people, nowadays, who are compelled to sustain burdens above their
+strength. What the sky was to the giant, such are the cares of earth to
+those who let themselves be weighed down by them. And whenever men
+undertake what is beyond the just measure of their abilities, they
+encounter precisely such a doom as had befallen this poor giant.
+
+Poor fellow! He had evidently stood there a long while. An ancient
+forest had been growing and decaying around his feet; and oak trees, of
+six or seven centuries old, had sprung from the acorn, and forced
+themselves between his toes.
+
+The giant now looked down from the far height of his great eyes, and,
+perceiving Hercules, roared out, in a voice that resembled thunder,
+proceeding out of the cloud that had just flitted away from his face.
+
+"Who are you, down at my feet there? And whence do you come in that
+little cup?"
+
+"I am Hercules!" thundered back the hero, in a voice pretty nearly or
+quite as loud as the giant's own. "And I am seeking for the garden of
+the Hesperides!"
+
+"Ho! ho! ho!" roared the giant, in a fit of immense laughter. "That is a
+wise adventure, truly!"
+
+"And why not?" cried Hercules, getting a little angry at the giant's
+mirth. "Do you think I am afraid of the dragon with a hundred heads!"
+
+Just at this time, while they were talking together, some black clouds
+gathered about the giant's middle, and burst into a tremendous storm of
+thunder and lightning, causing such a pother that Hercules found it
+impossible to distinguish a word. Only the giant's immeasurable legs
+were to be seen, standing up into the obscurity of the tempest; and, now
+and then, a momentary glimpse of his whole figure, mantled in a volume
+of mist. He seemed to be speaking, most of the time; but his big, deep,
+rough voice chimed in with the reverberations of the thunder claps, and
+rolled away over the hills, like them. Thus, by talking out of season,
+the foolish giant expended an incalculable quantity of breath to no
+purpose; for the thunder spoke quite as intelligibly as he.
+
+At last, the storm swept over as suddenly as it had come. And there
+again was the clear sky, and the weary giant holding it up, and the
+pleasant sunshine beaming over his vast height, and illuminating it
+against the background of the sullen thunder clouds. So far above the
+shower had been his head, that not a hair of it was moistened by the
+rain-drops!
+
+When the giant could see Hercules still standing on the seashore, he
+roared out to him anew.
+
+"I am Atlas, the mightiest giant in the world! And I hold the sky upon
+my head!"
+
+"So I see," answered Hercules. "But, can you show me the way to the
+garden of the Hesperides?"
+
+"What do you want there?" asked the giant.
+
+"I want three of the golden apples," shouted Hercules, "for my cousin,
+the king."
+
+"There is nobody but myself," quoth the giant, "that can go to the
+garden of the Hesperides, and gather the golden apples. If it were not
+for this little business of holding up the sky, I would make half a
+dozen steps across the sea and get them for you."
+
+"You are very kind," replied Hercules. "And cannot you rest the sky upon
+a mountain?"
+
+"None of them are quite high enough," said Atlas, shaking his head. "But
+if you were to take your stand on the summit of that nearest one, your
+head would be pretty nearly on a level with mine. You seem to be a
+fellow of some strength. What if you should take my burden on your
+shoulders, while I do your errand for you?"
+
+Hercules, as you must be careful to remember, was a remarkably strong
+man; and though it certainly requires a great deal of muscular power to
+uphold the sky, yet, if any mortal could be supposed capable of such an
+exploit, he was the one. Nevertheless, it seemed so difficult an
+undertaking that, for the first time in his life, he hesitated.
+
+"Is the sky very heavy?" he inquired.
+
+"Why, not particularly so, at first," answered the giant, shrugging his
+shoulders. "But it gets to be a little burdensome after a thousand
+years!"
+
+"And how long a time," asked the hero, "will it take you to get the
+golden apples?"
+
+"Oh, that will be done in a few moments," cried Atlas. "I shall take ten
+or fifteen miles at a stride, and be at the garden and back again before
+your shoulders begin to ache."
+
+"Well, then," answered Hercules, "I will climb the mountain behind you
+there and relieve you of your burden."
+
+The truth is, Hercules had a kind heart of his own, and considered that
+he should be doing the giant a favour by allowing him this opportunity
+for a ramble. And, besides, he thought that it would be still more for
+his own glory if he could boast of upholding the sky, than merely to do
+so ordinary a thing as to conquer a dragon with a hundred heads.
+Accordingly, without more words, the sky was shifted from the shoulders
+of Atlas and placed upon those of Hercules.
+
+When this was safely accomplished, the first thing that the giant did
+was to stretch himself; and you may imagine what a prodigious spectacle
+he was then. Next, lie slowly lifted one of his feet out of the forest
+that had grown up around it; then, the other. Then, all at once, he
+began to caper, and leap, and dance for joy at his freedom; flinging
+himself nobody knows how high into the air, and floundering down again
+with a shock that made the earth tremble. Then he laughed--Ho! ho!
+ho!--with a thunderous roar that was echoed from the mountains, far and
+near, as if they and the giant had been so many rejoicing brothers. When
+his joy had a little subsided, he stepped into the sea; ten miles at the
+first stride, which brought him midleg deep; and ten miles at the
+second, when the water came just above his knees; and ten miles more at
+the third, by which he was immersed nearly to his waist. This was the
+greatest depth of the sea.
+
+Hercules watched the giant as he still went onward; for it was really a
+wonderful sight, this immense human form, more than thirty miles off,
+half hidden in the ocean, but with his upper half as tall, and misty,
+and blue as a distant mountain. At last the gigantic shape faded
+entirely out of view. And now Hercules began to consider what he should
+do in case Atlas should be drowned in the sea, or if he were to be stung
+to death by the dragon with the hundred heads, which guarded the golden
+apples of the Hesperides. If any such misfortune were to happen, how
+could he ever get rid of the sky? And, by the by, its weight began
+already to be a little irksome to his head and shoulders.
+
+"I really pity the poor giant," thought Hercules. "If it wearies me so
+much in ten minutes, how must it have wearied him in a thousand years!"
+
+O my sweet little people, you have no idea what a weight there was in
+that same blue sky, which looks so soft and aërial above our heads! And
+there, too, was the bluster of the wind, and the chill and watery
+clouds, and the blazing sun, all taking their turns to make Hercules
+uncomfortable! He began to be afraid that the giant would never come
+back. He gazed wistfully at the world beneath him, and acknowledged to
+himself that it was a far happier kind of life to be a shepherd at the
+foot of a mountain than to stand on its dizzy summit and bear up the
+firmament with his might and main. For, of course, as you will easily
+understand, Hercules had an immense responsibility on his mind, as well
+as a weight on his head and shoulders. Why, if he did not stand
+perfectly still, and keep the sky immovable, the sun would perhaps be
+put ajar! Or, after nightfall, a great many of the stars might be
+loosened from their places, and shower down, like fiery rain, upon the
+people's heads! And how ashamed would the hero be if, owing to his
+unsteadiness beneath its weight, the sky should crack and show a great
+fissure quite across it!
+
+I know not how long it was before, to his unspeakable joy, he beheld the
+huge shape of the giant, like a cloud, on the far-off edge of the sea.
+At his nearer approach, Atlas held up his hand, in which Hercules could
+perceive three magnificent golden apples, as big as pumpkins, all
+hanging from one branch.
+
+"I am glad to see you again," shouted Hercules, when the giant was
+within hearing. "So you have got the golden apples?"
+
+"Certainly, certainly," answered Atlas; "and very fair apples they are.
+I took the finest that grew on the tree, I assure you. Ah! it is a
+beautiful spot, that garden of Hesperides. Yes; and the dragon with a
+hundred heads is a sight worth any man's seeing. After all, you had
+better have gone for the apples yourself."
+
+"No matter," replied Hercules. "You have had a pleasant ramble, and have
+done the business as well as I could. I heartily thank you for your
+trouble. And now, as I have a long way to go, and am rather in
+haste--and as the king, my cousin, is anxious to receive the golden
+apples--will you be kind enough to take the sky off my shoulders again?"
+
+"Why, as to that," said the giant, chucking the golden apples into the
+air twenty miles high, or thereabouts and catching them as they came
+down--"as to that, my good friend, I consider you a little unreasonable.
+Cannot I carry the golden apples to the king, your cousin, much quicker
+than you could? As His Majesty is in such a hurry to get them, I promise
+you to take my longest strides. And, besides, I have no fancy for
+burdening myself with the sky, just now."
+
+Here Hercules grew impatient, and gave a great shrug of his shoulders.
+It being now twilight, you might have seen two or three stars tumble out
+of their places. Everybody on earth looked upward in affright, thinking
+that the sky might be going to fall next.
+
+"Oh, that will never do!" cried Giant Atlas, with a great roar of
+laughter. "I have not let fall so many stars within the last five
+centuries. By the time you have stood there as long as I did, you will
+begin to learn patience!"
+
+"What!" shouted Hercules, very wrathfully, "do you intend to make me
+bear this burden forever?"
+
+"We will see about that, one of these days," answered the giant. "At all
+events, you ought not to complain if you have to bear it the next
+hundred years, or perhaps the next thousand. I bore it a good while
+longer, in spite of the backache. Well, then, after a thousand years, if
+I happen to feel in the mood, we may possibly shift about again. You are
+certainly a very strong man, and can never have a better opportunity to
+prove it. Posterity will talk of you, I warrant it!"
+
+"Pish! a fig for its talk!" cried Hercules, with another hitch of his
+shoulders. "Just take the sky upon your head one instant, will you? I
+want to make a cushion of my lion's skin, for the weight to rest upon.
+It really chafes me, and will cause unnecessary inconvenience in so many
+centuries as I am to stand here."
+
+"That's no more than fair, and I'll do it!" quoth the giant; for he had
+no unkind feeling toward Hercules, and was merely acting with a too
+selfish consideration of his own ease. "For just five minutes, then,
+I'll take back the sky. Only for five minutes, recollect! I have no idea
+of spending another thousand years as I spent the last. Variety is the
+spice of life, say I."
+
+Ah, the thick-witted old rogue of a giant! He threw down the golden
+apples, and received back the sky from the head and shoulders of
+Hercules, upon his own, where it rightly belonged. And Hercules picked
+up the three golden apples, that were as big or bigger than pumpkins and
+straightway set out on his journey homeward, without paying the
+slightest heed to the thundering tones of the giant, who bellowed after
+him to come back. Another forest sprang up around his feet, and grew
+ancient there; and again might be seen oak trees, of six or seven
+centuries old, that had waxed thus aged betwixt his enormous toes.
+
+And there stands the giant to this day; or, at any rate, there stands a
+mountain as tall as he, and which bears his name; and when the thunder
+rumbles about its summit, we may imagine it to be the voice of Giant
+Atlas, bellowing after Hercules!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS
+
+
+Mother Ceres was exceedingly fond of her daughter Proserpina, and seldom
+let her go alone into the fields. But, just at the time when my story
+begins, the good lady was very busy, because she had the care of the
+wheat, and the Indian corn, and the rye and barley, and, in short, of
+the crops of every kind, all over the earth; and as the season had thus
+far been uncommonly backward, it was necessary to make the harvest ripen
+more speedily than usual. So she put on her turban, made of poppies (a
+kind of flower which she was always noted for wearing) and got into her
+car drawn by a pair of winged dragons, and was just ready to set off.
+
+"Dear mother," said Proserpina, "I shall be very lonely while you are
+away. May I not run down to the shore, and ask some of the sea nymphs to
+come up out of the waves and play with me?"
+
+"Yes, child," answered Mother Ceres. "The sea nymphs are good creatures,
+and will never lead you into any harm. But you must take care not to
+stray away from them, nor go wandering about the fields by yourself.
+Young girls, without their mothers to take care of them, are very apt to
+get into mischief."
+
+The child promised to be as prudent as if she were a grown-up woman,
+and, by the time the winged dragons had whirled the car out of sight,
+she was already on the shore, calling to the sea nymphs to come and
+play with her. They knew Proserpina's voice, and were not long in
+showing their glistening faces and sea-green hair above the water, at
+the bottom of which was their home. They brought along with them a great
+many beautiful shells; and, sitting down on the moist sand, where the
+surf wave broke over them, they busied themselves in making a necklace,
+which they hung round Proserpina's neck. By way of showing her
+gratitude, the child besought them to go with her a little way into the
+fields, so that they might gather abundance of flowers, with which she
+would make each of her kind playmates a wreath.
+
+"Oh, no, dear Proserpina," cried the sea nymphs; "we dare not go with
+you upon the dry land. We are apt to grow faint, unless at every breath
+we can snuff up the salt breeze of the ocean. And don't you see how
+careful we are to let the surf wave break over us every moment or two,
+so as to keep ourselves comfortably moist? If it were not for that, we
+should soon look like bunches of uprooted seaweed dried in the sun."
+
+"It is a great pity," said Proserpina. "But do you wait for me here, and
+I will run and gather my apron full of flowers, and be back again before
+the surf wave has broken ten times over you. I long to make you some
+wreaths that shall be as lovely as this necklace of many-coloured
+shells."
+
+"We will wait, then," answered the sea nymphs. "But while you are gone,
+we may as well lie down on a bank of soft sponge, under the water. The
+air to-day is a little too dry for our comfort. But we will pop up our
+heads every few minutes to see if you are coming."
+
+The young Proserpina ran quickly to a spot where, only the day before,
+she had seen a great many flowers. These, however, were now a little
+past their bloom; and wishing to give her friends the freshest and
+loveliest blossoms, she strayed farther into the fields, and found some
+that made her scream with delight. Never had she met with such exquisite
+flowers before--violets, so large and fragrant--roses, with so rich and
+delicate a blush--such superb hyacinths and such aromatic pinks--and
+many others, some of which seemed to be of new shapes and colours. Two
+or three times, moreover, she could not help thinking that a tuft of
+most splendid flowers had suddenly sprouted out of the earth before her
+very eyes, as if on purpose to tempt her a few steps farther.
+Proserpina's apron was soon filled and brimming over with delightful
+blossoms. She was on the point of turning back in order to rejoin the
+sea nymphs, and sit with them on the moist sands, all twining wreaths
+together. But, a little farther on, what should she behold? It was a
+large shrub, completely covered with the most magnificent flowers in the
+world.
+
+"The darlings!" cried Proserpina; and then she thought to herself, "I
+was looking at that spot only a moment ago. How strange it is that I did
+not see the flowers!"
+
+The nearer she approached the shrub, the more attractive it looked,
+until she came quite close to it; and then, although its beauty was
+richer than words can tell, she hardly knew whether to like it or not.
+It bore above a hundred flowers of the most brilliant hues, and each
+different from the others, but all having a kind of resemblance among
+themselves, which showed them to be sister blossoms. But there was a
+deep, glossy lustre on the leaves of the shrub, and on the petals of the
+flowers, that made Proserpina doubt whether they might not be
+poisonous. To tell you the truth, foolish as it may seem, she was half
+inclined to turn round and run away.
+
+"What a silly child I am!" thought she, taking courage. "It is really
+the most beautiful shrub that ever sprang out of the earth. I will pull
+it up by the roots, and carry it home, and plant it in my mother's
+garden."
+
+Holding up her apron full of flowers with her left hand, Proserpina
+seized the large shrub with the other, and pulled and pulled, but was
+hardly able to loosen the soil about its roots. What a deep-rooted plant
+it was! Again the girl pulled with all her might, and observed that the
+earth began to stir and crack to some distance around the stem. She gave
+another pull, but relaxed her hold, fancying that there was a rumbling
+sound right beneath her feet. Did the roots extend down into some
+enchanted cavern? Then, laughing at herself for so childish a notion,
+she made another effort; up came the shrub, and Proserpina staggered
+back, holding the stem triumphantly in her hand, and gazing at the deep
+hole which its roots had left in the soil.
+
+Much to her astonishment, this hole kept spreading wider and wider, and
+growing deeper and deeper, until it really seemed to have no bottom; and
+all the while, there came a rumbling noise out of its depths, louder and
+louder, and nearer and nearer, and sounding like the tramp of horses'
+hoofs and the rattling of wheels. Too much frightened to run away, she
+stood straining her eyes into this wonderful cavity, and soon saw a team
+of four sable horses, snorting smoke out of their nostrils, and tearing
+their way out of the earth with a splendid golden chariot whirling at
+their heels. They leaped out of the bottomless hole, chariot and all;
+and there they were, tossing their black manes, flourishing their black
+tails, and curveting with every one of their hoofs off the ground at
+once, close by the spot where Proserpina stood. In the chariot sat the
+figure of a man, richly dressed, with a crown on his head, all flaming
+with diamonds. He was of a noble aspect, and rather handsome, but looked
+sullen and discontented; and he kept rubbing his eyes and shading them
+with his hand, as if he did not live enough in the sunshine to be very
+fond of its light.
+
+As soon as this personage saw the affrighted Proserpina, he beckoned her
+to come a little nearer.
+
+"Do not be afraid," said he, with as cheerful a smile as he knew how to
+put on. "Come! Will not you like to ride a little way with me, in my
+beautiful chariot?"
+
+But Proserpina was so alarmed that she wished for nothing but to get out
+of his reach. And no wonder. The stranger did not look remarkably
+good-natured, in spite of his smile; and as for his voice, its tones
+were deep and stern, and sounded as much like the rumbling of an
+earthquake under ground as anything else. As is always the case with
+children in trouble, Proserpina's first thought was to call for her
+mother.
+
+"Mother, Mother Ceres!" cried she, all in a tremble. "Come quickly and
+save me."
+
+But her voice was too faint for her mother to hear. Indeed, it is most
+probable that Ceres was then a thousand miles off, making the corn grow
+in some far-distant country. Nor could it have availed her poor
+daughter, even had she been within hearing; for no sooner did Proserpina
+begin to cry out than the stranger leaped to the ground, caught the
+child in his arms, and again mounting the chariot, shook the reins, and
+shouted to the four black horses to set off. They immediately broke into
+so swift a gallop that it seemed rather like flying through the air
+than running along the earth. In a moment, Proserpina lost sight of the
+pleasant vale of Enna, in which she had always dwelt. Another instant,
+and even the summit of Mount Ætna had become so blue in the distance
+that she could scarcely distinguish it from the smoke that gushed out of
+its crater. But still the poor child screamed and scattered her apron
+full of flowers along the way, and left a long cry trailing behind
+the chariot; and many mothers, to whose ears it came, ran quickly to see
+if any mischief had befallen their children. But Mother Ceres was a
+great way off, and could not hear the cry.
+
+As they rode on, the stranger did his best to soothe her.
+
+"Why should you be so frightened, my pretty child?" said he, trying to
+soften his rough voice. "I promise not to do you any harm. What! You
+have been gathering flowers? Wait till we come to my palace, and I will
+give you a garden full of prettier flowers than those, all made of
+pearls, and diamonds, and rubies. Can you guess who I am? They call my
+name Pluto, and I am the king of diamonds and all other precious stones.
+Every atom of the gold and silver that lies under the earth belongs to
+me, to say nothing of the copper and iron, and of the coal mines, which
+supply me with abundance of fuel. Do you see this splendid crown upon my
+head? You may have it for a plaything. Oh, we shall be very good
+friends, and you will find me more agreeable than you expect, when once
+we get out of this troublesome sunshine."
+
+"Let me go home!" cried Proserpina--"let me go home!"
+
+"My home is better than your mother's," answered King Pluto. "It is a
+palace, all made of gold, with crystal windows; and because there is
+little or no sunshine thereabouts, the apartments are illuminated with
+diamond lamps. You never saw anything half so magnificent as my throne.
+If you like, you may sit down on it, and be my little queen, and I will
+sit on the footstool."
+
+"I don't care for golden palaces and thrones," sobbed Proserpina. "Oh,
+my mother, my mother! Carry me back to my mother!"
+
+But King Pluto, as he called himself, only shouted to his steeds to go
+faster.
+
+"Pray do not be foolish, Proserpina," said he, in rather a sullen tone,
+"I offer you my palace and my crown, and all the riches that are under
+the earth; and you treat me as if I were doing you an injury. The one
+thing which my palace needs is a merry little maid, to run up stairs and
+down, and cheer up the rooms with her smile. And this is what you must
+do for King Pluto."
+
+"Never!" answered Proserpina, looking as miserable as she could. "I
+shall never smile again till you set me down at my mother's door."
+
+But she might just as well have talked to the wind that whistled past
+them; for Pluto urged on his horses, and went faster than ever.
+Proserpina continued to cry out, and screamed so long and so loudly that
+her poor little voice was almost screamed away; and when it was nothing
+but a whisper, she happened to cast her eyes over a great, broad field
+of waving grain--and whom do you think she saw? Whom but Mother Ceres,
+making the corn grow, and too busy to notice the golden chariot as it
+went rattling along. The child mustered all her strength, and gave one
+more scream, but was out of sight before Ceres had time to turn her
+head.
+
+King Pluto had taken a road which now began to grow excessively gloomy.
+It was bordered on each side with rocks and precipices, between which
+the rumbling of the chariot wheels was reverberated with a noise like
+rolling thunder. The trees and bushes that grew in the crevices of the
+rocks had very dismal foliage; and by and by, although it was hardly
+noon, the air became obscured with a gray twilight. The black horses had
+rushed along so swiftly that they were already beyond the limits of the
+sunshine. But the duskier it grew, the more did Pluto's visage assume an
+air of satisfaction. After all, he was not an ill-looking person,
+especially when he left off twisting his features into a smile that did
+not belong to them. Proserpina peeped at his face through the gathering
+dusk, and hoped that he might not be so very wicked as she at first
+thought him.
+
+"Ah, this twilight is truly refreshing," said King Pluto, "after being
+so tormented with that ugly and impertinent glare of the sun. How much
+more agreeable is lamp-light or torchlight, more particularly when
+reflected from diamonds! It will be a magnificent sight when we get to
+my palace."
+
+"Is it much farther?" asked Proserpina. "And will you carry me back when
+I have seen it?"
+
+"We will talk of that by and by," answered Pluto. "We are just entering
+my dominions. Do you see that tall gateway before us? When we pass those
+gates, we are at home. And there lies my faithful mastiff at the
+threshold. Cerberus! Cerberus! Come hither, my good dog!"
+
+So saying, Pluto pulled at the reins, and stopped the chariot right
+between the tall, massive pillars of the gateway. The mastiff of which
+he had spoken got up from the threshold and stood on his hinder legs, so
+as to put his fore paws on the chariot wheel. But, my stars, what a
+strange dog it was! Why, he was a big, rough, ugly-looking monster, with
+three separate heads, and each of them fiercer than the two others; but,
+fierce as they were, King Pluto patted them all. He seemed as fond of
+his three-headed dog as if it had been a sweet little spaniel with
+silken ears and curly hair. Cerberus, on the other hand, was evidently
+rejoiced to see his master, and expressed his attachment, as other dogs
+do, by wagging his tail at a great rate. Proserpina's eyes being drawn
+to it by its brisk motion, she saw that this tail was neither more nor
+less than a live dragon, with fiery eyes, and fangs that had a very
+poisonous aspect. And while the three-headed Cerberus was fawning so
+lovingly on King Pluto, there was the dragon tail wagging against its
+will, and looking as cross and ill-natured as you can imagine, on its
+own separate account.
+
+"Will the dog bite me?" asked Proserpina, shrinking closer to Pluto.
+"What an ugly creature he is!"
+
+"Oh, never fear," answered her companion. "He never harms people, unless
+they try to enter my dominions without being sent for, or to get away
+when I wish to keep them here. Down, Cerberus! Now, my pretty
+Proserpina, we will drive on."
+
+On went the chariot, and King Pluto seemed greatly pleased to find
+himself once more in his own kingdom. He drew Proserpina's attention to
+the rich veins of gold that were to be seen among the rocks, and pointed
+to several places where one stroke of a pickaxe would loosen a bushel of
+diamonds. All along the road, indeed, there were sparkling gems which
+would have been of inestimable value above ground, but which were here
+reckoned of the meaner sort and hardly worth a beggar's stooping for.
+
+Not far from the gateway they came to a bridge which seemed to be built
+of iron, Pluto stopped the chariot, and bade Proserpina look at the
+stream which was gliding so lazily beneath it. Never in her life had she
+beheld so torpid, so black, so muddy looking a stream: its waters
+reflected no images of anything that was on the banks, and it moved as
+sluggishly as if it had quite forgotten which way it ought to flow, and
+had rather stagnate than flow either one way or the other.
+
+"This is the river Lethe," observed King Pluto. "Is it not a very
+pleasant stream?"
+
+"I think it a very dismal one," said Proserpina.
+
+"It suits my taste, however," answered Pluto, who was apt to be sullen
+when anybody disagreed with him. "At all events, its water has one very
+excellent quality; for a single draught of it makes people forget every
+care and sorrow that has hitherto tormented them. Only sip a little of
+it, my dear Proserpina, and you will instantly cease to grieve for your
+mother, and will have nothing in your memory that can prevent your being
+perfectly happy in my palace. I will send for some, in a golden goblet,
+the moment we arrive."
+
+"Oh no, no, no!" cried Proserpina, weeping afresh. "I had a thousand
+times rather be miserable with remembering my mother, than be happy in
+forgetting her. That dear, dear mother! I never, never will forget her."
+
+"We shall see," said King Pluto. "You do not know what fine times we
+will have in my palace. Here we are just at the portal. These pillars
+are solid gold, I assure you."
+
+He alighted from the chariot, and taking Proserpina in his arms, carried
+her up a lofty flight of steps into the great hall of the palace. It
+was splendidly illuminated by means of large precious stones of various
+hues, which seemed to burn like so many lamps and glowed with a
+hundred-fold radiance all through the vast apartment. And yet there was
+a kind of gloom in the midst of this enchanted light; nor was there a
+single object in the hall that was really agreeable to behold, except
+the little Proserpina herself, a lovely child, with one earthly flower
+which she had not let fall from her hand. It is my opinion that even
+King Pluto had never been happy in his palace, and that this was the
+true reason why he had stolen away Proserpina, in order that he might
+have something to love, instead of cheating his heart any longer with
+this tiresome magnificence. And though he pretended to dislike the
+sunshine of the upper world, yet the effect of the child's presence,
+bedimmed as she was by her tears, was as if a faint and watery sunbeam
+had somehow or other found its way into the enchanted hall.
+
+Pluto now summoned his domestics, and bade them lose no time in
+preparing a most sumptuous banquet, and above all things not to fail of
+setting a golden beaker of the water of Lethe by Proserpina's plate.
+
+"I will neither drink that nor anything else," said Proserpina. "Nor
+will I taste a morsel of food, even if you keep me forever in your
+palace."
+
+"I should be sorry for that," replied King Pluto, patting her cheek; for
+he really wished to be kind, if he had only known how. "You are a
+spoiled child, I perceive, my little Proserpina; but when you see the
+nice things which my cook will make for you, your appetite will quickly
+come again."
+
+Then, sending for the head cook, he gave strict orders that all sorts
+of delicacies, such as young people are usually fond of, should be set
+before Proserpina. He had a secret motive in this; for, you are to
+understand, it is a fixed law that, when persons are carried off to the
+land of magic, if they once taste any food there, they can never get
+back to their friends. Now, if King Pluto had been cunning enough to
+offer Proserpina some fruit, or bread and milk (which was the simple
+fare to which the child had always been accustomed), it is very probable
+that she would soon have been tempted to eat it. But he left the matter
+entirely to his cook, who, like all other cooks, considered nothing fit
+to eat unless it were rich pastry, or highly seasoned meat, or spiced
+sweet cakes--things which Proserpina's mother had never given her, and
+the smell of which quite took away her appetite, instead of sharpening
+it.
+
+But my story must now clamber out of King Pluto's dominions, and see
+what Mother Ceres has been about since she was bereft of her daughter.
+We had a glimpse of her, as you remember, half hidden among the waving
+grain, while the four black steeds were swiftly whirling along the
+chariot in which her beloved Proserpina was so unwillingly borne away.
+You recollect, too, the loud scream which Proserpina gave, just when the
+chariot was out of sight.
+
+Of all the child's outcries, this last shriek was the only one that
+reached the ears of Mother Ceres. She had mistaken the rumbling of the
+chariot wheels for a peal of thunder, and imagined that a shower was
+coming up, and that it would assist her in making the corn grow. But, at
+the sound of Proserpina's shriek, she started, and looked about in every
+direction, not knowing whence it came, but feeling almost certain that
+it was her daughter's voice. It seemed so unaccountable, however, that
+the girl should have strayed over so many lands and seas (which she
+herself could not have traversed without the aid of her winged dragons),
+that the good Ceres tried to believe that it must be the child of some
+other parent, and not her own darling Proserpina who had uttered this
+lamentable cry. Nevertheless, it troubled her with a vast many tender
+fears, such as are ready to bestir themselves in every mother's heart,
+when she finds it necessary to go away from her dear children without
+leaving them under the care of some maiden aunt, or other such faithful
+guardian. So she quickly left the field in which she had been so busy;
+and, as her work was not half done, the grain looked, next day, as if it
+needed both sun and rain, and as if it were blighted in the ear and had
+something the matter with its roots.
+
+The pair of dragons must have had very nimble wings; for, in less than
+an hour, Mother Ceres had alighted at the door of her home and found it
+empty. Knowing, however, that the child was fond of sporting on the
+seashore, she hastened thither as fast as she could, and there beheld
+the wet faces of the poor sea nymphs peeping over a wave. All this
+while, the good creatures had been waiting on the bank of sponge, and,
+once every half-minute or so, had popped up their four heads above
+water, to see if their playmate were yet coming back. When they saw
+Mother Ceres, they sat down on the crest of the surf wave, and let it
+toss them ashore at her feet.
+
+"Where is Proserpina?" cried Ceres. "Where is my child? Tell me, you
+naughty sea nymphs, have you enticed her under the sea?"
+
+"Oh, no, good Mother Ceres," said the innocent sea nymphs, tossing back
+their green ringlets and looking her in the face. "We never should dream
+of such a thing. Proserpina has been at play with us, it is true; but
+she left us a long while ago, meaning only to run a little way upon the
+dry land and gather some flowers for a wreath. This was early in the
+day, and we have seen nothing of her since."
+
+Ceres scarcely waited to hear what the nymphs had to say before she
+hurried off to make inquiries all through the neighbourhood. But nobody
+told her anything that could enable the poor mother to guess what had
+become of Proserpina. A fisherman, it is true, had noticed her little
+footprints in the sand, as he went homeward along the beach with a
+basket of fish; a rustic had seen the child stooping to gather flowers;
+several persons had heard either the rattling of chariot wheels or the
+rumbling of distant thunder; and one old woman, while plucking vervain
+and catnip, had heard a scream, but supposed it to be some childish
+nonsense, and therefore did not take the trouble to look up. The stupid
+people! It took them such a tedious while to tell the nothing that they
+knew, that it was dark night before Mother Ceres found out that she must
+seek her daughter elsewhere. So she lighted a torch, and set forth,
+resolving never to come back until Proserpina was discovered.
+
+In her haste and trouble of mind, she quite forgot her car and the
+winged dragons; or, it may be, she thought that she could follow up the
+search more thoroughly on foot. At all events, this was the way in which
+she began her sorrowful journey, holding her torch before her, and
+looking carefully at every object along the path. And as it happened,
+she had not gone far before she found one of the magnificent flowers
+which grew on the shrub that Proserpina had pulled up.
+
+"Ha!" thought Mother Ceres, examining it by torchlight. "Here is
+mischief in this flower! The earth did not produce it by any help of
+mine, nor of its own accord. It is the work of enchantment, and is
+therefore poisonous; and perhaps it has poisoned my poor child."
+
+But she put the poisonous flower in her bosom, not knowing whether she
+might ever find any other memorial of Proserpina.
+
+All night long, at the door of every cottage and farmhouse, Ceres
+knocked and called up the weary labourers to inquire if they had seen
+her child; and they stood, gaping and half asleep, at the threshold, and
+answered her pityingly, and besought her to come in and rest. At the
+portal of every palace, too, she made so loud a summons that the menials
+hurried to throw open the gate, thinking that it must be some great king
+or queen, who would demand a banquet for supper and a stately chamber to
+repose in. And when they saw only a sad and anxious woman, with a torch
+in her hand and a wreath of withered poppies on her head, they spoke
+rudely, and sometimes threatened to set the dogs upon her. But nobody
+had seen Proserpina, nor could give Mother Ceres the least hint which
+way to seek her. Thus passed the night; and still she continued her
+search without sitting down to rest, or stopping to take food, or even
+remembering to put out the torch; although first the rosy dawn, and then
+the glad light of the morning sun, made its red flame look thin and
+pale. But I wonder what sort of stuff this torch was made of; for it
+burned dimly through the day, and, at night, was as bright as ever, and
+never was extinguished by the rain or wind in all the weary days and
+nights while Ceres was seeking for Proserpina.
+
+It was not merely of human beings that she asked tidings of her
+daughter. In the woods and by the streams she met creatures of another
+nature, who used, in those old times, to haunt the pleasant and solitary
+places, and were very sociable with persons who understood their
+language and customs, as Mother Ceres did. Sometimes, for instance, she
+tapped with her finger against the knotted trunk of a majestic oak; and
+immediately its rude bark would cleave asunder, and forth would step a
+beautiful maiden, who was the hamadryad of the oak, dwelling inside of
+it, and sharing its long life, and rejoicing when its green leaves
+sported with the breeze. But not one of these leafy damsels had seen
+Proserpina. Then, going a little farther, Ceres would, perhaps, come to
+a fountain gushing out of a pebbly hollow in the earth, and would dabble
+with her hand in the water. Behold, up through its sandy and pebbly bed,
+along with the fountain's gush, a young woman with dripping hair would
+arise, and stand gazing at Mother Ceres, half out of the water, and
+undulating up and down with its ever-restless motion. But when the
+mother asked whether her poor lost child had stopped to drink out of the
+fountain, the naiad, with weeping eyes (for these water nymphs had tears
+to spare for everybody's grief), would answer, "No!" in a murmuring
+voice, which was just like the murmur of the stream.
+
+Often, likewise, she encountered fauns, who looked like sunburnt country
+people, except that they had hairy ears, and little horns upon their
+foreheads, and the hinder legs of goats, on which they gambolled merrily
+about the woods and fields. They were a frolicsome kind of creature,
+but grew as sad as their cheerful dispositions would allow when Ceres
+inquired for her daughter, and they had no good news to tell. But
+sometimes she came suddenly upon a rude gang of satyrs, who had faces
+like monkeys and horses' tails behind them, and who were generally
+dancing in a very boisterous manner, with shouts of noisy laughter. When
+she stopped to question them, they would only laugh the louder and make
+new merriment out of the lone woman's distress. How unkind of those ugly
+satyrs! And once, while crossing a solitary sheep pasture, she saw a
+personage named Pan, seated at the foot of a tall rock and making music
+on a shepherd's flute. He, too, had horns, and hairy ears, and goat's
+feet; but, being acquainted with Mother Ceres, he answered her question
+as civilly as he knew how, and invited her to taste some milk and honey
+out of a wooden bowl. But neither could Pan tell her what had become of
+Proserpina, any better than the rest of these wild people.
+
+And thus Mother Ceres went wandering about for nine long days and
+nights, finding no trace of Proserpina, unless it were now and then a
+withered flower; and these she picked up and put in her bosom, because
+she fancied that they might have fallen from her poor child's hand. All
+day she travelled onward through the hot sun; and at night, again, the
+flame of the torch would redden and gleam along the pathway, and she
+continued her search by its light, without ever sitting down to rest.
+
+On the tenth day, she chanced to espy the mouth of a cavern, within
+which (though it was bright noon everywhere else) there would have been
+only a dusky twilight; but it so happened that a torch was burning
+there. It flickered, and struggled with the duskiness, but could not
+half light up the gloomy cavern with all its melancholy glimmer. Ceres
+was resolved to leave no spot without a search; so she peeped into the
+entrance of the cave, and lighted it up a little more by holding her own
+torch before her. In so doing, she caught a glimpse of what seemed to be
+a woman, sitting on the brown leaves of the last autumn, a great heap of
+which had been swept into the cave by the wind. This woman (if woman it
+were) was by no means so beautiful as many of her sex; for her head,
+they tell me, was shaped very much like a dog's, and, by way of
+ornament, she wore a wreath of snakes around it. But Mother Ceres, the
+moment she saw her, knew that this was an odd kind of a person, who put
+all her enjoyment in being miserable, and never would have a word to say
+to other people, unless they were as melancholy and wretched as she
+herself delighted to be.
+
+"I am wretched enough now," thought poor Ceres, "to talk with this
+melancholy Hecate, were she ten times sadder than ever she was yet."
+
+So she stepped into the cave, and sat down on the withered leaves by the
+dog-headed woman's side. In all the world, since her daughter's loss,
+she had found no other companion.
+
+"O Hecate," said she, "if ever you lose a daughter, you will know what
+sorrow is. Tell me, for pity's sake, have you seen my poor child
+Proserpina pass by the mouth of your cavern?"
+
+"No," answered Hecate, in a cracked voice, and sighing betwixt every
+word or two--"no, Mother Ceres, I have seen nothing of your daughter.
+But my ears, you must know, are made in such a way that all cries of
+distress and affright, all over the world, are pretty sure to find
+their way to them; and nine days ago, as I sat in my cave, making myself
+very miserable, I heard the voice of a young girl shrieking as if in
+great distress. Something terrible has happened to the child, you may
+rest assured. As well as I could judge, a dragon, or some other cruel
+monster, was carrying her away."
+
+"You kill me by saying so," cried Ceres, almost ready to faint. "Where
+was the sound, and which way did it seem to go?"
+
+"It passed very swiftly along," said Hecate, "and, at the same time,
+there was a heavy rumbling of wheels toward the eastward. I can tell you
+nothing more, except that, in my honest opinion, you will never see your
+daughter again. The best advice I can give you is to take up your abode
+in this cavern, where we will be the two most wretched women in the
+world."
+
+"Not yet, dark Hecate," replied Ceres. "But do you first come with your
+torch, and help me to seek for my lost child. And when there shall be no
+more hope of finding her (if that black day is ordained to come), then,
+if you will give me room to fling myself down, either on these withered
+leaves or on the naked rock, I will show you what it is to be miserable.
+But, until I know that she has perished from the face of the earth, I
+will not allow myself space even to grieve."
+
+The dismal Hecate did not much like the idea of going abroad into the
+sunny world. But then she reflected that the sorrow of the disconsolate
+Ceres would be like a gloomy twilight round about them both, let the sun
+shine ever so brightly, and that therefore she might enjoy her bad
+spirits quite as well as if she were to stay in the cave. So she finally
+consented to go, and they set out together, both carrying torches,
+although it was broad daylight and clear sunshine. The torchlight
+seemed to make a gloom; so that the people whom they met along the road
+could not very distinctly see their figures; and, indeed, if they once
+caught a glimpse of Hecate, with the wreath of snakes round her
+forehead, they generally thought it prudent to run away without waiting
+for a second glance.
+
+As the pair travelled along in this woebegone manner, a thought struck
+Ceres.
+
+"There is one person," she exclaimed, "who must have seen my poor child,
+and can doubtless tell what has become of her. Why did not I think of
+him before? It is Phœbus."
+
+"What," said Hecate, "the young man that always sits in the sunshine?
+Oh, pray do not think of going near him. He is a gay, light, frivolous
+young fellow, and will only smile in your face. And besides, there is
+such a glare of the sun about him that he will quite blind my poor eyes,
+which I have almost wept away already."
+
+"You have promised to be my companion," answered Ceres. "Come, let us
+make haste, or the sunshine will be gone, and Phœbus along with it."
+
+Accordingly, they went along in quest of Phœbus, both of them sighing
+grievously, and Hecate, to say the truth, making a great deal worse
+lamentation than Ceres; for all the pleasure she had, you know, lay in
+being miserable, and therefore she made the most of it. By and by, after
+a pretty long journey, they arrived at the sunniest spot in the whole
+world. There they beheld a beautiful young man, with long, curling
+ringlets, which seemed to be made of golden sunbeams; his garments were
+like light summer clouds; and the expression of his face was so
+exceedingly vivid that Hecate held her hands before her eyes, muttering
+that he ought to wear a black veil. Phœbus (for this was the very
+person whom they were seeking) had a lyre in his hands, and was making
+its chords tremble with sweet music; at the same time singing a most
+exquisite song, which he had recently composed. For, besides a great
+many other accomplishments, this young man was renowned for his
+admirable poetry.
+
+As Ceres and her dismal companion approached him, Phœbus smiled on
+them so cheerfully that Hecate's wreath of snakes gave a spiteful hiss,
+and Hecate heartily wished herself back in her cave. But as for Ceres,
+she was too earnest in her grief either to know or care whether
+Phœbus smiled or frowned.
+
+"Phœbus!" exclaimed she, "I am in great trouble, and have come to you
+for assistance. Can you tell me what has become of my dear child
+Proserpina?"
+
+"Proserpina! Proserpina, did you call her name?" answered Phœbus,
+endeavouring to recollect; for there was such a continual flow of
+pleasant ideas in his mind that he was apt to forget what had happened
+no longer ago than yesterday. "Ah, yes, I remember her now. A very
+lovely child, indeed. I am happy to tell you, my dear madam, that I did
+see the little Proserpina not many days ago. You may make yourself
+perfectly easy about her. She is safe, and in excellent hands."
+
+"Oh, where is my dear child?" cried Ceres, clasping her hands and
+flinging herself at his feet.
+
+"Why," said Phœbus--and as he spoke, he kept touching his lyre so as
+to make a thread of music run in and out among his words--"as the little
+damsel was gathering flowers (and she has really a very exquisite taste
+for flowers) she was suddenly snatched up by King Pluto and carried off
+to his dominions. I have never been in that part of the universe; but
+the royal palace, I am told, is built in a very noble style of
+architecture, and of the most splendid and costly materials. Gold,
+diamonds, pearls, and all manner of precious stones will be your
+daughter's ordinary playthings. I recommend to you, my dear lady, to
+give yourself no uneasiness. Proserpina's sense of beauty will be duly
+gratified, and, even in spite of the lack of sunshine, she will lead a
+very enviable life."
+
+"Hush! Say not such a word!" answered Ceres, indignantly. "What is there
+to gratify her heart? What are all the splendours you speak of, without
+affection? I must have her back again. Will you go with me, Phœbus,
+to demand my daughter of this wicked Pluto?"
+
+"Pray excuse me," replied Phœbus, with an elegant obeisance. "I
+certainly wish you success, and regret that my own affairs are so
+immediately pressing that I cannot have the pleasure of attending you.
+Besides, I am not upon the best of terms with King Pluto. To tell you
+the truth, his three-headed mastiff would never let me pass the gateway;
+for I should be compelled to take a sheaf of sunbeams along with me, and
+those, you know, are forbidden things in Pluto's kingdom."
+
+"Ah, Phœbus," said Ceres, with bitter meaning in her words, "you have
+a harp instead of a heart. Farewell."
+
+"Will not you stay a moment," asked Phœbus, "and hear me turn the
+pretty and touching story of Proserpina into extemporary verses?"
+
+But Ceres shook her head, and hastened away, along with Hecate.
+Phœbus (who, as I have told you, was an exquisite poet) forthwith
+began to make an ode about the poor mother's grief; and, if we were to
+judge of his sensibility by this beautiful production, he must have
+been endowed with a very tender heart. But when a poet gets into the
+habit of using his heartstrings to make chords for his lyre, he may
+thrum upon them as much as he will, without any great pain to himself.
+Accordingly, though Phœbus sang a very sad song, he was as merry all
+the while as were the sunbeams amid which he dwelt.
+
+Poor Mother Ceres had now found out what had become of her daughter, but
+was not a whit happier than before. Her case, on the contrary, looked
+more desperate than ever. As long as Proserpina was above ground there
+might have been hopes of regaining her. But now, that the poor child was
+shut up within the iron gates of the king of the mines, at the threshold
+of which lay the three-headed Cerberus, there seemed no possibility of
+her ever making her escape. The dismal Hecate, who loved to take the
+darkest view of things, told Ceres that she had better come with her to
+the cavern, and spend the rest of her life in being miserable. Ceres
+answered that Hecate was welcome to go back thither herself, but that,
+for her part, she would wander about the earth in quest of the entrance
+to King Pluto's dominions. And Hecate took her at her word, and hurried
+back to her beloved cave, frightening a great many little children with
+a glimpse of her dog's face as she went.
+
+Poor Mother Ceres! It is melancholy to think of her, pursuing her
+toilsome way all alone, and holding up that never-dying torch, the flame
+of which seemed an emblem of the grief and hope that burned together in
+her heart. So much did she suffer that, though her aspect had been quite
+youthful when her troubles began, she grew to look like an elderly
+person in a very brief time. She cared not how she was dressed, nor had
+she ever thought of flinging away the wreath of withered poppies which
+she put on the very morning of Proserpina's disappearance. She roamed
+about in so wild a way, and with her hair so dishevelled, that people
+took her for some distracted creature, and never dreamed that this was
+Mother Ceres, who had the oversight of every seed which the husband-man
+planted. Nowadays, however, she gave herself no trouble about seed time
+nor harvest, but left the farmers to take care of their own affairs, and
+the crops to fade or flourish, as the case might be. There was nothing,
+now, in which Ceres seemed to feel an interest, unless when she saw
+children at play, or gathering flowers along the wayside. Then, indeed,
+she would stand and gaze at them with tears in her eyes. The children,
+too, appeared to have a sympathy with her grief, and would cluster
+themselves in a little group about her knees, and look up wistfully in
+her face; and Ceres, after giving them a kiss all round, would lead them
+to their homes, and advise their mothers never to let them stray out of
+sight.
+
+"For if they do," said she, "it may happen to you, as it has to me, that
+the iron-hearted King Pluto will take a liking to your darlings, and
+snatch them up in his chariot, and carry them away."
+
+One day, during her pilgrimage in quest of the entrance to Pluto's
+kingdom, she came to the palace of King Celeus, who reigned at Eleusis.
+Ascending a lofty flight of steps, she entered the portal, and found the
+royal household in very great alarm about the queen's baby. The infant,
+it seems, was sickly (being troubled with its teeth, I suppose), and
+would take no food, and was all the time moaning with pain. The
+queen--her name was Metanira--was desirous of finding a nurse; and when
+she beheld a woman of matronly aspect coming up the palace steps, she
+thought, in her own mind, that here was the very person whom she needed.
+So Queen Metanira ran to the door, with the poor wailing baby in her
+arms, and besought Ceres to take charge of it, or, at least, to tell her
+what would do it good.
+
+"Will you trust the child entirely to me?" asked Ceres.
+
+"Yes, and gladly, too," answered the queen, "if you will devote all your
+time to him. For I can see that you have been a mother."
+
+"You are right," said Ceres. "I once had a child of my own. Well; I will
+be the nurse of this poor, sickly boy. But beware, I warn you, that you
+do not interfere with any kind of treatment which I may judge proper for
+him. If you do so, the poor infant must suffer for his mother's folly."
+
+Then she kissed the child, and it seemed to do him good; for he smiled
+and nestled closely into her bosom.
+
+So Mother Ceres set her torch in a corner (where it kept burning all the
+while), and took up her abode in the palace of King Celeus, as nurse to
+the little Prince Demophoön. She treated him as if he were her own
+child, and allowed neither the king nor the queen to say whether he
+should be bathed in warm or cold water, or what he should eat, or how
+often he should take the air, or when he should be put to bed. You would
+hardly believe me, if I were to tell how quickly the baby prince got rid
+of his ailments, and grew fat, and rosy, and strong, and how he had two
+rows of ivory teeth in less time than any other little fellow, before or
+since. Instead of the palest, and wretchedest, and puniest imp in the
+world (as his own mother confessed him to be when Ceres first took him
+in charge), he was now a strapping baby, crowing, laughing, kicking up
+his heels, and rolling from one end of the room to the other. All the
+good women of the neighbourhood crowded to the palace, and held up their
+hands, in unutterable amazement, at the beauty and wholesomeness of this
+darling little prince. Their wonder was the greater, because he was
+never seen to taste any food; not even so much as a cup of milk.
+
+"Pray, nurse," the queen kept saying, "how is it that you make the child
+thrive so?"
+
+"I was a mother once," Ceres always replied; "and having nursed my own
+child, I know what other children need."
+
+But Queen Metanira, as was very natural, had a great curiosity to know
+precisely what the nurse did to her child. One night, therefore, she hid
+herself in the chamber where Ceres and the little prince were accustomed
+to sleep. There was a fire in the chimney, and it had now crumbled into
+great coals and embers, which lay glowing on the hearth, with a blaze
+flickering up now and then, and flinging a warm and ruddy light upon the
+walls. Ceres sat before the hearth with the child in her lap, and the
+fire-light making her shadow dance upon the ceiling overhead. She
+undressed the little prince, and bathed him all over with some fragrant
+liquid out of a vase. The next thing she did was to rake back the red
+embers, and make a hollow place among them, just where the backlog had
+been. At last, while the baby was crowing, and clapping its fat little
+hands, and laughing in the nurse's face (just as you may have seen your
+little brother or sister do before going into its warm bath), Ceres
+suddenly laid him, all naked as he was, in the hollow among the red-hot
+embers. She then raked the ashes over him, and turned quietly away.
+
+You may imagine, if you can, how Queen Metanira shrieked, thinking
+nothing less than that her dear child would be burned to a cinder. She
+burst forth from her hiding place, and running to the hearth, raked open
+the fire, and snatched up poor little Prince Demophoön out of his bed of
+live coals, one of which he was griping in each of his fists. He
+immediately set up a grievous cry, as babies are apt to do when rudely
+startled out of a sound sleep. To the queen's astonishment and joy, she
+could perceive no token of the child's being injured by the hot fire in
+which he had lain. She now turned to Mother Ceres, and asked her to
+explain the mystery.
+
+"Foolish woman," answered Ceres, "did you not promise to intrust this
+poor infant entirely to me? You little know the mischief you have done
+him. Had you left him to my care, he would have grown up like a child of
+celestial birth, endowed with superhuman strength and intelligence, and
+would have lived forever. Do you imagine that earthly children are to
+become immortal without being tempered to it in the fiercest heat of the
+fire? But you have ruined your own son. For though he will be a strong
+man and a hero in his day, yet, on account of your folly, he will grow
+old, and finally die, like the sons of other women. The weak tenderness
+of his mother has cost the poor boy an immortality. Farewell."
+
+Saying these words, she kissed the little Prince Demophoön, and sighed
+to think what he had lost, and took her departure without heeding Queen
+Metanira, who entreated her to remain, and cover up the child among the
+hot embers as often as she pleased. Poor baby! He never slept so warmly
+again.
+
+While she dwelt in the king's palace, Mother Ceres had been so
+continually occupied with taking care of the young prince that her
+heart was a little lightened of its grief for Proserpina. But now,
+having nothing else to busy herself about, she became just as wretched
+as before. At length, in her despair, she came to the dreadful
+resolution that not a stalk of grain, nor a blade of grass, not a
+potato, nor a turnip, nor any other vegetable that was good for man or
+beast to eat, should be suffered to grow until her daughter were
+restored. She even forbade the flowers to bloom, lest somebody's heart
+should be cheered by their beauty.
+
+Now, as not so much as a head of asparagus ever presumed to poke itself
+out of the ground without the especial permission of Ceres, you may
+conceive what a terrible calamity had here fallen upon the earth. The
+husbandmen ploughed and planted as usual; but there lay the rich black
+furrows, all as barren as a desert of sand. The pastures looked as brown
+in the sweet month of June as ever they did in chill November. The rich
+man's broad acres and the cottager's small garden patch were equally
+blighted. Every little girl's flower bed showed nothing but dry stalks.
+The old people shook their white heads, and said that the earth had
+grown aged like themselves, and was no longer capable of wearing the
+warm smile of summer on its face. It was really piteous to see the poor,
+starving cattle and sheep, how they followed behind Ceres, lowing and
+bleating, as if their instinct taught them to expect help from her; and
+everybody that was acquainted with her power besought her to have mercy
+on the human race, and, at all events, to let the grass grow. But Mother
+Ceres, though naturally of an affectionate disposition, was now
+inexorable.
+
+"Never," said she. "If the earth is ever again to see any verdure, it
+must first grow along the path which my daughter will tread in coming
+back to me."
+
+Finally, as there seemed to be no other remedy, our old friend
+Quicksilver was sent post haste to King Pluto, in hopes that he might be
+persuaded to undo the mischief he had done, and to set everything right
+again by giving up Proserpina. Quicksilver accordingly made the best of
+his way to the great gate, took a flying leap right over the
+three-headed mastiff, and stood at the door of the palace in an
+inconceivably short time. The servants knew him both by his face and
+garb; for his short cloak, and his winged cap and shoes, and his snaky
+staff had often been seen thereabouts in times gone by. He requested to
+be shown immediately into the king's presence; and Pluto, who heard his
+voice from the top of the stairs, and who loved to recreate himself with
+Quicksilver's merry talk, called out to him to come up. And while they
+settle their business together, we must inquire what Proserpina has been
+doing ever since we saw her last.
+
+The child had declared, as you may remember, that she would not taste a
+mouthful of food as long as she should be compelled to remain in King
+Pluto's palace. How she contrived to maintain her resolution, and at the
+same time to keep herself tolerably plump and rosy is more than I can
+explain; but some young ladies, I am given to understand, possess the
+faculty of living on air, and Proserpina seems to have possessed it too.
+At any rate, it was now six months since she left the outside of the
+earth; and not a morsel, so far as the attendants were able to testify,
+had yet passed between her teeth. This was the more creditable to
+Proserpina, inasmuch as King Pluto had caused her to be tempted day
+after day with all manner of sweetmeats, and richly preserved fruits,
+and delicacies of every sort, such as young people are generally most
+fond of. But her good mother had often told her of the hurtfulness of
+these things; and for that reason alone, if there had been no other, she
+would have resolutely refused to taste them.
+
+All this time, being of a cheerful and active disposition, the little
+damsel was not quite so unhappy as you may have supposed. The immense
+palace had a thousand rooms, and was full of beautiful and wonderful
+objects. There was a never-ceasing gloom, it is true, which half hid
+itself among the innumerable pillars, gliding before the child as she
+wandered among them, and treading stealthily behind her in the echo of
+her footsteps. Neither was all the dazzle of the precious stones, which
+flamed with their own light, worth one gleam of natural sunshine; nor
+could the most brilliant of the many-coloured gems, which Proserpina had
+for playthings, vie with the simple beauty of the flowers she used to
+gather. But still, wherever the girl went, among those gilded halls and
+chambers, it seemed as if she carried nature and sunshine along with
+her, and as if she scattered dewy blossoms on her right hand and on her
+left. After Proserpina came, the palace was no longer the same abode of
+stately artifice and dismal magnificence that it had before been. The
+inhabitants all felt this, and King Pluto more than any of them.
+
+"My own little Proserpina," he used to say, "I wish you could like me a
+little better. We gloomy and cloudy-natured persons have often as warm
+hearts at bottom as those of a more cheerful character. If you would
+only stay with me of your own accord, it would make me happier than the
+possession of a hundred such palaces as this."
+
+"Ah," said Proserpina, "you should have tried to make me like you before
+carrying me off. And the best thing you can do now is to let me go
+again. Then I might remember you sometimes, and think that you were as
+kind as you knew how to be. Perhaps, too, one day or other, I might come
+back, and pay you a visit."
+
+"No, no," answered Pluto, with his gloomy smile, "I will not trust you
+for that. You are too fond of living in the broad daylight, and
+gathering flowers. What an idle and childish taste that is! Are not
+these gems, which I have ordered to be dug for you, and which are richer
+than any in my crown--are they not prettier than a violet?"
+
+"Not half so pretty," said Proserpina, snatching the gems from Pluto's
+hand, and flinging them to the other end of the hall. "Oh, my sweet
+violets, shall I never see you again?"
+
+And then she burst into tears. But young people's tears have very little
+saltness or acidity in them, and do not inflame the eyes so much as
+those of grown persons; so that it is not to be wondered at if, a few
+moments afterward, Proserpina was sporting through the hall almost as
+merrily as she and the four sea nymphs had sported along the edge of the
+surf wave. King Pluto gazed after her, and wished that he, too, was a
+child. And little Proserpina, when she turned about and beheld this
+great king standing in his splendid hall, and looking so grand, and so
+melancholy, and so lonesome, was smitten with a kind of pity. She ran
+back to him, and, for the first time in all her life, put her small soft
+hand in his.
+
+"I love you a little," whispered she, looking up in his face.
+
+"Do you, indeed, my dear child?" cried Pluto, bending his dark face down
+to kiss her; but Proserpina shrank away from the kiss, for though his
+features were noble, they were very dusky and grim. "Well, I have not
+deserved it of you, after keeping you a prisoner for so many months, and
+starving you, besides. Are you not terribly hungry? Is there nothing
+which I can get you to eat?"
+
+In asking this question, the king of the mines had a very cunning
+purpose; for, you will recollect, if Proserpina tasted a morsel of food
+in his dominions, she would never afterward be at liberty to quit them.
+
+"No, indeed," said Proserpina. "Your head cook is always baking, and
+stewing, and roasting, and rolling out paste, and contriving one dish or
+another, which he imagines may be to my liking. But he might just as
+well save himself the trouble, poor, fat little man that he is. I have
+no appetite for anything in the world, unless it were a slice of bread
+of my mother's own baking, or a little fruit out of her garden."
+
+When Pluto heard this, he began to see that he had mistaken the best
+method of tempting Proserpina to eat. The cook's made dishes and
+artificial dainties were not half so delicious in the good child's
+opinion as the simple fare to which Mother Ceres had accustomed her.
+Wondering that he had never thought of it before, the king now sent one
+of his trusty attendants, with a large basket, to get some of the finest
+and juiciest pears, peaches and plums which could anywhere be found in
+the upper world. Unfortunately, however, this was during the time when
+Ceres had forbidden any fruits or vegetables to grow; and, after seeking
+all over the earth, King Pluto's servant found only a single
+pomegranate, and that so dried up as to be not worth eating.
+Nevertheless, since there was no better to be had, he brought this dry,
+old, withered pomegranate home to the palace, put it on a magnificent
+golden salver, and carried it up to Proserpina. Now it happened,
+curiously enough, that, just as the servant was bringing the pomegranate
+into the back door of the palace, our friend Quicksilver had gone up the
+front steps, on his errand to get Proserpina away from King Pluto.
+
+As soon as Proserpina saw the pomegranate on the golden salver, she told
+the servant he had better take it away again.
+
+"I shall not touch it, I assure you," said she. "If I were ever so
+hungry, I should never think of eating such a miserable, dry pomegranate
+as that."
+
+"It is the only one in the world," said the servant. He set down the
+golden salver, with the wizened pomegranate upon it, and left the room.
+When he was gone, Proserpina could not help coming close to the table,
+and looking at this poor specimen of dried fruit with a great deal of
+eagerness; for, to say the truth, on seeing something that suited her
+taste, she felt all the six months' appetite taking possession of her at
+once. To be sure, it was a very wretched looking pomegranate, and seemed
+to have no more juice in it than an oyster shell. But there was no
+choice of such things in King Pluto's palace. This was the first fruit
+she had seen there, and the last she was ever likely to see; and unless
+she ate it up immediately, it would grow drier than it already was, and
+be wholly unfit to eat.
+
+"At least, I may smell it," thought Proserpina.
+
+So she took up the pomegranate, and applied it to her nose; and, somehow
+or other, being in such close neighbourhood to her mouth, the fruit
+found its way into that little red cave. Dear me! what an everlasting
+pity! Before Proserpina knew what she was about, her teeth had actually
+bitten it, of their own accord. Just as this fatal deed was done, the
+door of the apartment opened, and in came King Pluto, followed by
+Quicksilver, who had been urging him to let his little prisoner go. At
+the first noise of their entrance, Proserpina withdrew the pomegranate
+from her mouth. But Quicksilver (whose eyes were very keen, and his wits
+the sharpest that ever anybody had) perceived that the child was a
+little confused; and seeing the empty salver, he suspected that she had
+been taking a sly nibble of something or other. As for honest Pluto, he
+never guessed at the secret.
+
+"My little Proserpina," said the king, sitting down, and affectionately
+drawing her between his knees, "here is Quicksilver, who tells me that a
+great many misfortunes have befallen innocent people on account of my
+detaining you in my dominions. To confess the truth, I myself had
+already reflected that it was an unjustifiable act to take you away from
+your good mother. But, then, you must consider, my dear child, that this
+vast palace is apt to be gloomy (although the precious stones certainly
+shine very bright), and that I am not of the most cheerful disposition,
+and that therefore it was a natural thing enough to seek for the society
+of some merrier creature than myself. I hoped you would take my crown
+for a plaything, and me--ah, you laugh, naughty Proserpina--me, grim as
+I am, for a playmate. It was a silly expectation."
+
+"Not so extremely silly," whispered Proserpina. "You have really amused
+me very much, sometimes."
+
+"Thank you," said King Pluto, rather dryly. "But I can see, plainly
+enough, that you think my palace a dusky prison, and me the iron-hearted
+keeper of it. And an iron heart I should surely have, if I could detain
+you here any longer, my poor child, when it is now six months since you
+tasted food. I give you your liberty. Go with Quicksilver. Hasten home
+to your dear mother."
+
+Now, although you may not have supposed it, Proserpina found it
+impossible to take leave of poor King Pluto without some regrets, and a
+good deal of compunction for not telling him about the pomegranate. She
+even shed a tear or two, thinking how lonely and cheerless the great
+palace would seem to him, with all its ugly glare of artificial light,
+after she herself--his one little ray of natural sunshine, whom he had
+stolen, to be sure, but only because he valued her so much--after she
+should have departed. I know not how many kind things she might have
+said to the disconsolate king of the mines, had not Quicksilver hurried
+her away.
+
+"Come along quickly," whispered he in her ear, "or His Majesty may
+change his royal mind. And take care, above all things, that you say
+nothing of what was brought you on the golden salver."
+
+In a very short time they had passed the great gateway (leaving the
+three-headed Cerberus barking, and yelping, and growling, with threefold
+din, behind them), and emerged upon the surface of the earth. It was
+delightful to behold, as Proserpina hastened along, how the path grew
+verdant behind and on either side of her. Wherever she set her blessed
+foot, there was at once a dewy flower. The violets gushed up along the
+wayside. The grass and the grain began to sprout with tenfold vigour
+and luxuriance, to make up for the dreary months that had been wasted in
+barrenness. The starved cattle immediately set to work grazing, after
+their long fast, and ate enormously all day, and got up at midnight to
+eat more. But I can assure you it was a busy time of year with the
+farmers, when they found the summer coming upon them with such a rush.
+Nor must I forget to say that all the birds in the whole world hopped
+about upon the newly blossoming trees, and sang together in a prodigious
+ecstasy of joy.
+
+Mother Ceres had returned to her deserted home, and was sitting
+disconsolately on the doorstep, with her torch burning in her hand. She
+had been idly watching the flame for some moments past, when all at once
+it flickered and went out.
+
+"What does this mean?" thought she. "It was an enchanted torch, and
+should have kept burning till my child came back."
+
+Lifting her eyes, she was surprised to see a sudden verdure flashing
+over the brown and barren fields, exactly as you may have observed a
+golden hue gleaming far and wide across the landscape, from the just
+risen sun.
+
+"Does the earth disobey me?" exclaimed Mother Ceres, indignantly. "Does
+it presume to be green, when I have bidden it be barren, until my
+daughter shall be restored to my arms?"
+
+"Then open your arms, dear mother," cried a well-known voice, "and take
+your little daughter into them."
+
+And Proserpina came running, and flung herself upon her mother's bosom.
+Their mutual transport is not to be described. The grief of their
+separation had caused both of them to shed a great many tears; and now
+they shed a great many more, because their joy could not so well express
+itself in any other way.
+
+When their hearts had grown a little more quiet, Mother Ceres looked
+anxiously at Proserpina.
+
+"My child," said she, "did you taste any food while you were in King
+Pluto's palace?"
+
+"Dearest mother," answered Proserpina, "I will tell you the whole truth.
+Until this very morning, not a morsel of food had passed my lips. But
+to-day, they brought me a pomegranate (a very dry one it was, and all
+shrivelled up, till there was little left of it but seeds and skin), and
+having seen no fruit for so long a time, and being faint with hunger, I
+was tempted just to bite it. The instant I tasted it, King Pluto and
+Quicksilver came into the room. I had not swallowed a morsel; but--dear
+mother, I hope it was no harm--but six of the pomegranate seeds, I am
+afraid, remained in my mouth."
+
+"Ah, unfortunate child, and miserable me!" exclaimed Ceres. "For each of
+those six pomegranate seeds you must spend one month of every year in
+King Pluto's palace. You are but half restored to your mother. Only six
+months with me, and six with that good-for-nothing King of Darkness!"
+
+"Do not speak so harshly of poor King Pluto," said Proserpina, kissing
+her mother. "He has some very good qualities; and I really think I can
+bear to spend six months in his palace, if he will only let me spend the
+other six with you. He certainly did very wrong to carry me off; but
+then, as he says, it was but a dismal sort of life for him, to live in
+that great gloomy place, all alone; and it has made a wonderful change
+in his spirits to have a little girl to run up stairs and down. There
+is some comfort in making him so happy; and so, upon the whole, dearest
+mother, let us be thankful that he is not to keep me the whole year
+round."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE CHIMÆRA
+
+
+Once, in the old, old times (for all the strange things which I tell you
+about happened long before anybody can remember), a fountain gushed out
+of a hillside, in the marvellous land of Greece. And, for aught I know,
+after so many thousand years, it is still gushing out of the very
+selfsame spot. At any rate, there was the pleasant fountain, welling
+freshly forth and sparkling adown the hillside, in the golden sunset,
+when a handsome young man named Bellerophon drew near its margin. In his
+hand he held a bridle, studded with brilliant gems, and adorned with a
+golden bit. Seeing an old man, and another of middle age, and a little
+boy, near the fountain, and likewise a maiden, who was dipping up some
+of the water in a pitcher, he paused, and begged that he might refresh
+himself with a draught.
+
+"This is very delicious water," he said to the maiden as he rinsed and
+filled her pitcher, after drinking out of it. "Will you be kind enough
+to tell me whether the fountain has any name?"
+
+"Yes; it is called the Fountain of Pirene," answered the maiden; and
+then she added, "My grandmother has told me that this clear fountain was
+once a beautiful woman; and when her son was killed by the arrows of the
+huntress Diana, she melted all away into tears. And so the water, which
+you find so cool and sweet, is the sorrow of that poor mother's heart!"
+
+"I should not have dreamed," observed the young stranger, "that so clear
+a well-spring, with its gush and gurgle, and its cheery dance out of the
+shade into the sunlight, had so much as one tear-drop in its bosom! And
+this, then, is Pirene? I thank you, pretty maiden, for telling me its
+name. I have come from a far-away country to find this very spot."
+
+A middle-aged country fellow (he had driven his cow to drink out of the
+spring) stared hard at young Bellerophon, and at the handsome bridle
+which he carried in his hand.
+
+"The watercourses must be getting low, friend, in your part of the
+world," remarked he, "if you come so far only to find the Fountain of
+Pirene. But, pray, have you lost a horse? I see you carry the bridle in
+your hand; and a very pretty one it is with that double row of bright
+stones upon it. If the horse was as fine as the bridle, you are much to
+be pitied for losing him."
+
+"I have lost no horse," said Bellerophon, with a smile. "But I happen to
+be seeking a very famous one, which, as wise people have informed me,
+must be found hereabouts, if anywhere. Do you know whether the winged
+horse Pegasus still haunts the Fountain of Pirene, as he used to do in
+your forefathers' days?"
+
+But then the country fellow laughed.
+
+Some of you, my little friends, have probably heard that this Pegasus
+was a snow-white steed, with beautiful silvery wings, who spent most of
+his time on the summit of Mount Helicon. He was as wild, and as swift,
+and as buoyant, in his flight through the air, as any eagle that ever
+soared into the clouds. There was nothing else like him in the world.
+He had no mate; he never had been backed or bridled by a master; and,
+for many a long year, he led a solitary and a happy life.
+
+Oh, how fine a thing it is to be a winged horse! Sleeping at night, as
+he did, on a lofty mountain-top, and passing the greater part of the day
+in the air, Pegasus seemed hardly to be a creature of the earth.
+Whenever he was seen, up very high above people's heads, with the
+sunshine on his silvery wings, you would have thought that he belonged
+to the sky, and that, skimming a little too low, he had got astray among
+our mists and vapours, and was seeking his way back again. It was very
+pretty to behold him plunge into the fleecy bosom of a bright cloud, and
+be lost in it, for a moment or two, and then break forth from the other
+side. Or, in a sullen rain storm, when there was a gray pavement of
+clouds over the whole sky, it would sometimes happen that the winged
+horse descended right through it, and the glad light of the upper region
+would gleam after him. In another instant, it is true, both Pegasus and
+the pleasant light would be gone away together. But anyone that was
+fortunate enough to see this wondrous spectacle felt cheerful the whole
+day afterward, and as much longer as the storm lasted.
+
+In the summer time, and in the beautifullest of weather, Pegasus often
+alighted on the solid earth, and, closing his silvery wings, would
+gallop over hill and dale for pastime, as fleetly as the wind. Oftener
+than in any other place, he had been seen near the Fountain of Pirene,
+drinking the delicious water, or rolling himself upon the soft grass of
+the margin. Sometimes, too (but Pegasus was very dainty in his food), he
+would crop a few of the clover blossoms that happened to be sweetest.
+
+To the Fountain of Pirene, therefore, people's great-grandfathers had
+been in the habit of going (as long as they were youthful and retained
+their faith in winged horses), in hopes of getting a glimpse at the
+beautiful Pegasus. But, of late years, he had been very seldom seen.
+Indeed, there were many of the country folks, dwelling within half an
+hour's walk of the fountain, who had never beheld Pegasus, and did not
+believe that there was any such creature in existence. The country
+fellow to whom Bellerophon was speaking chanced to be one of those
+incredulous persons.
+
+And that was the reason why he laughed.
+
+"Pegasus, indeed!" cried he, turning up his nose as high as such a flat
+nose could be turned up--"Pegasus, indeed! A winged horse, truly! Why,
+friend, are you in your senses? Of what use would wings be to a horse?
+Could he drag the plough so well, think you? To be sure, there might be
+a little saving in the expense of shoes; but then, how would a man like
+to see his horse flying out of the stable window?--yes, or whisking him
+up above the clouds, when he only wanted to ride to mill? No, no! I
+don't believe in Pegasus. There never was such a ridiculous kind of a
+horse fowl made!"
+
+"I have some reason to think otherwise," said Bellerophon, quietly.
+
+And then he turned to an old, gray man, who was leaning on a staff, and
+listening very attentively, with his head stretched forward and one hand
+at his ear, because, for the last twenty years, he had been getting
+rather deaf.
+
+"And what say you, venerable sir?" inquired he, "In your younger days, I
+should imagine, you must frequently have seen the winged steed!"
+
+"Ah, young stranger, my memory is very poor!" said the aged man. "When I
+was a lad, if I remember rightly, I used to believe there was such a
+horse, and so did everybody else. But, nowadays, I hardly know what to
+think, and very seldom think about the winged horse at all. If I ever
+saw the creature, it was a long, long while ago; and, to tell you the
+truth, I doubt whether I ever did see him. One day, to be sure, when I
+was quite a youth, I remember seeing some hoof tramps round about the
+brink of the fountain. Pegasus might have made those hoof marks; and so
+might some other horse."
+
+"And have you never seen him, my fair maiden?" asked Bellerophon of the
+girl, who stood with the pitcher on her head, while this talk went on.
+"You certainly could see Pegasus, if anybody can, for your eyes are very
+bright."
+
+"Once I thought I saw him," replied the maiden, with a smile and a
+blush. "It was either Pegasus or a large white bird, a very great way up
+in the air. And one other time, as I was coming to the fountain with my
+pitcher, I heard a neigh. Oh, such a brisk and melodious neigh as that
+was! My very heart leaped with delight at the sound. But it startled me,
+nevertheless; so that I ran home without filling my pitcher."
+
+"That was truly a pity!" said Bellerophon.
+
+And he turned to the child, whom I mentioned at the beginning of the
+story, and who was gazing at him, as children are apt to gaze at
+strangers, with his rosy mouth wide open.
+
+"Well, my little fellow," cried Bellerophon, playfully pulling one of
+his curls, "I suppose you have often seen the winged horse."
+
+"That I have," answered the child, very readily. "I saw him yesterday,
+and many times before."
+
+"You are a fine little man!" said Bellerophon, drawing the child closer
+to him. "Come, tell me all about it."
+
+"Why," replied the child, "I often come here to sail little boats in the
+fountain, and to gather pretty pebbles out of its basin. And sometimes,
+when I look down into the water, I see the image of the winged horse in
+the picture of the sky that is there. I wish he would come down, and
+take me on his back, and let me ride him up to the moon! But, if I so
+much as stir to look at him, he flies far away out of sight."
+
+And Bellerophon put his faith in the child, who had seen the image of
+Pegasus in the water, and in the maiden, who had heard him neigh so
+melodiously, rather than in the middle-aged clown, who believed only in
+cart horses, or in the old man who had forgotten the beautiful things of
+his youth.
+
+Therefore, he haunted about the Fountain of Pirene for a great many days
+afterward. He kept continually on the watch, looking upward at the sky,
+or else down into the water, hoping forever that he should see either
+the reflected image of the winged horse, or the marvellous reality. He
+held the bridle, with its bright gems and golden bit, always ready in
+his hand. The rustic people who dwelt in the neighbourhood, and drove
+their cattle to the fountain to drink, would often laugh at poor
+Bellerophon, and sometimes take him pretty severely to task. They told
+him that an able-bodied young man like himself ought to have better
+business than to be wasting his time in such an idle pursuit. They
+offered to sell him a horse, if he wanted one; and when Bellerophon
+declined the purchase, they tried to drive a bargain with him for his
+fine bridle.
+
+Even the country boys thought him so very foolish that they used to have
+a great deal of sport about him, and were rude enough not to care a fig,
+although Bellerophon saw and heard it. One little urchin, for example,
+would play Pegasus, and cut the oddest imaginable capers, by way of
+flying; while one of his schoolfellows would scamper after him, holding
+forth a twist of bulrushes, which was intended to represent
+Bellerophon's ornamental bridle. But the gentle child, who had seen the
+picture of Pegasus in the water, comforted the young stranger more than
+all the naughty boys could torment him. The dear little fellow, in his
+play hours, often sat down beside him, and, without speaking a word,
+would look down into the fountain and up toward the sky, with so
+innocent a faith that Bellerophon could not help feeling encouraged.
+
+Now you will, perhaps, wish to be told why it was that Bellerophon had
+undertaken to catch the winged horse. And we shall find no better
+opportunity to speak about this matter than while he is waiting for
+Pegasus to appear.
+
+If I were to relate the whole of Bellerophon's previous adventures, they
+might easily grow into a very long story. It will be quite enough to say
+that, in a certain country of Asia, a terrible monster, called a
+Chimæra, had made its appearance, and was doing more mischief than could
+be talked about between now and sunset. According to the best accounts
+which I have been able to obtain, this Chimæra was nearly, if not quite,
+the ugliest and most poisonous creature, and the strangest and
+unaccountablest, and the hardest to fight with, and the most difficult
+to run away from, that ever came out of the earth's inside. It had a
+tail like a boa-constrictor; its body was like I do not care what; and
+it had three separate heads, one of which was a lion's, the second a
+goat's, and the third an abominably great snake's. And a hot blast of
+fire came flaming out of each of its three mouths! Being an earthly
+monster, I doubt whether it had any wings; but, wings or no, it ran like
+a goat and a lion, and wriggled along like a serpent, and thus contrived
+to make about as much speed as all the three together.
+
+Oh, the mischief, and mischief, and mischief that this naughty creature
+did! With its flaming breath, it could set a forest on fire, or burn up
+a field of grain, or, for that matter, a village, with all its fences
+and houses. It laid waste the whole country round about, and used to eat
+up people and animals alive, and cook them afterward in the burning oven
+of its stomach. Mercy on us, little children, I hope neither you nor I
+will ever happen to meet a Chimæra!
+
+While the hateful beast (if a beast we can anywise call it) was doing
+all these horrible things, it so chanced that Bellerophon came to that
+part of the world, on a visit to the king. The king's name was Iobates,
+and Lycia was the country which he ruled over. Bellerophon was one of
+the bravest youths in the world, and desired nothing so much as to do
+some valiant and beneficent deed, such as would make all mankind admire
+and love him. In those days, the only way for a young man to distinguish
+himself was by fighting battles, either with the enemies of his country,
+or with wicked giants, or with troublesome dragons, or with wild beasts,
+when he could find nothing more dangerous to encounter. King Iobates,
+perceiving the courage of his youthful visitor, proposed to him to go
+and fight the Chimæra, which everybody else was afraid of, and which,
+unless it should be soon killed, was likely to convert Lycia into a
+desert. Bellerophon hesitated not a moment, but assured the king that he
+would either slay this dreaded Chimæra, or perish in the attempt.
+
+But, in the first place, as the monster was so prodigiously swift, he
+bethought himself that he should never win the victory by fighting on
+foot. The wisest thing he could do, therefore, was to get the very best
+and fleetest horse that could anywhere be found. And what other horse in
+all the world was half so fleet as the marvellous horse Pegasus, who had
+wings as well as legs, and was even more active in the air than on the
+earth? To be sure, a great many people denied that there was any such
+horse with wings, and said that the stories about him were all poetry
+and nonsense. But, wonderful as it appeared, Bellerophon believed that
+Pegasus was a real steed, and hoped that he himself might be fortunate
+enough to find him; and, once fairly mounted on his back, he would be
+able to fight the Chimæra at better advantage.
+
+And this was the purpose with which he had travelled from Lycia to
+Greece, and had brought the beautifully ornamented bridle in his hand.
+It was an enchanted bridle. If he could only succeed in putting the
+golden bit into the mouth of Pegasus, the winged horse would be
+submissive, and would own Bellerophon for his master, and fly
+whithersoever he might choose to turn the rein.
+
+But, indeed, it was a weary and anxious time, while Bellerophon waited
+and waited for Pegasus, in hopes that he would come and drink at the
+Fountain of Pirene. He was afraid lest King Iobates should imagine that
+he had fled from the Chimæra. It pained him, too, to think how much
+mischief the monster was doing, while he himself, instead of righting
+with it, was compelled to sit idly poring over the bright waters of
+Pirene, as they gushed out of the sparkling sand. And as Pegasus came
+thither so seldom in these latter years, and scarcely alighted there
+more than once in a lifetime, Bellerophon feared that he might grow an
+old man, and have no strength left in his arms nor courage in his heart,
+before the winged horse would appear. Oh, how heavily passes the time,
+while an adventurous youth is yearning to do his part in life, and to
+gather in the harvest of his renown! How hard a lesson it is to wait!
+Our life is brief, and how much of it is spent in teaching us only this!
+
+Well was it for Bellerophon that the gentle child had grown so fond of
+him, and was never weary of keeping him company. Every morning the child
+gave him a new hope to put in his bosom, instead of yesterday's withered
+one.
+
+"Dear Bellerophon," he would cry, looking up hopefully into his face, "I
+think we shall see Pegasus to-day!"
+
+And, at length, if it had not been for the little boy's unwavering
+faith, Bellerophon would have given up all hope, and would have gone
+back to Lycia, and have done his best to slay the Chimæra without the
+help of the winged horse. And in that case poor Bellerophon would at
+least have been terribly scorched by the creature's breath, and would
+most probably have been killed and devoured. Nobody should ever try to
+fight an earth-born Chimæra, unless he can first get upon the back of an
+aërial steed.
+
+One morning the child spoke to Bellerophon even more hopefully than
+usual.
+
+"Dear, dear Bellerophon," cried he, "I know not why it is, but I feel as
+if we should certainly see Pegasus to-day!"
+
+And all that day he would not stir a step from Bellerophon's side; so
+they ate a crust of bread together, and drank some of the water of the
+fountain. In the afternoon, there they sat, and Bellerophon had thrown
+his arm around the child, who likewise had put one of his little hands
+into Bellerophon's. The latter was lost in his own thoughts, and was
+fixing his eyes vacantly on the trunks of the trees that overshadowed
+the fountain, and on the grapevines that clambered up among their
+branches. But the gentle child was gazing down into the water; he was
+grieved, for Bellerophon's sake, that the hope of another day should be
+deceived, like so many before it; and two or three quiet tear-drops fell
+from his eyes, and mingled with what were said to be the many tears of
+Pirene, when she wept for her slain children.
+
+But, when he least thought of it, Bellerophon felt the pressure of the
+child's little hand, and heard a soft, almost breathless, whisper.
+
+"See there, dear Bellerophon! There is an image in the water!"
+
+The young man looked down into the dimpling mirror of the fountain, and
+saw what he took to be the reflection of a bird which seemed to be
+flying at a great height in the air, with a gleam of sunshine on its
+snowy or silvery wings.
+
+"What a splendid bird it must be!" said he. "And how very large it
+looks, though it must really be flying higher than the clouds!"
+
+"It makes me tremble!" whispered the child. "I am afraid to look up into
+the air! It is very beautiful, and yet I dare only look at its image in
+the water. Dear Bellerophon, do you not see that it is no bird? It is
+the winged horse Pegasus!"
+
+Bellerophon's heart began to throb! He gazed keenly upward, but could
+not see the winged creature, whether bird or horse; because, just then,
+it had plunged into the fleecy depths of a summer cloud. It was but a
+moment, however, before the object reappeared, sinking lightly down out
+of the cloud, although still at a vast distance from the earth.
+Bellerophon caught the child in his arms, and shrank back with him, so
+that they were both hidden among the thick shrubbery which grew all
+around the fountain. Not that he was afraid of any harm, but he dreaded
+lest, if Pegasus caught a glimpse of them, he would fly far away, and
+alight in some inaccessible mountain-top. For it was really the winged
+horse. After they had expected him so long, he was coming to quench his
+thirst with the water of Pirene.
+
+Nearer and nearer came the aërial wonder, flying in great circles, as
+you may have seen a dove when about to alight. Downward came Pegasus, in
+those wide, sweeping circles, which grew narrower, and narrower still,
+as he gradually approached the earth. The nigher the view of him, the
+more beautiful he was, and the more marvellous the sweep of his silvery
+wings. At last, with so light a pressure as hardly to bend the grass
+about the fountain, or imprint a hoof tramp in the sand of its margin,
+he alighted, and, stooping his wild head, began to drink. He drew in the
+water, with long and pleasant sighs, and tranquil pauses of enjoyment;
+and then another draught, and another, and another. For, nowhere in the
+world, or up among the clouds, did Pegasus love any water as he loved
+this of Pirene. And when his thirst was slaked, he cropped a few of the
+honey blossoms of the clover, delicately tasting them, but not caring to
+make a hearty meal, because the herbage just beneath the clouds, on the
+lofty sides of Mount Helicon, suited his palate better than this
+ordinary grass.
+
+After thus drinking to his heart's content, and in his dainty fashion
+condescending to take a little food, the winged horse began to caper to
+and fro, and dance as it were, out of mere idleness and sport. There
+never was a more playful creature made than this very Pegasus. So there
+he frisked, in a way that it delights me to think about, fluttering his
+great wings as lightly as ever did a linnet, and running little races,
+half on earth and half in air, and which I know not whether to call a
+flight or a gallop. When a creature is perfectly able to fly, he
+sometimes chooses to run, just for the pastime of the thing; and so did
+Pegasus, although it cost him some little trouble to keep his hoofs so
+near the ground. Bellerophon, meanwhile, holding the child's hand,
+peeped forth from the shrubbery, and thought that never was any sight so
+beautiful as this, nor ever a horse's eyes so wild and spirited as those
+of Pegasus. It seemed a sin to think of bridling him and riding on his
+back.
+
+Once or twice, Pegasus stopped, and snuffed the air, pricking up his
+ears, tossing his head, and turning it on all sides, as if he partly
+suspected some mischief or other. Seeing nothing, however, and hearing
+no sound, he soon began his antics again.
+
+At length--not that he was weary, but only idle and luxurious--Pegasus
+folded his wings, and lay down on the soft green turf. But, being too
+full of aërial life to remain quiet for many moments together, he soon
+rolled over on his back, with his four slender legs in the air. It was
+beautiful to see him, this one solitary creature, whose mate had never
+been created, but who needed no companion, and, living a great many
+hundred years, was as happy as the centuries were long. The more he did
+such things as mortal horses are accustomed to do, the less earthly and
+the more wonderful he seemed. Bellerophon and the child almost held
+their breaths, partly from a delightful awe, but still more because they
+dreaded lest the slightest stir or murmur should send him up, with the
+speed of an arrow flight, into the farthest blue of the sky.
+
+Finally, when he had had enough of rolling over and over, Pegasus turned
+himself about, and, indolently, like any other horse, put out his fore
+legs, in order to rise from the ground; and Bellerophon, who had guessed
+that he would do so, darted suddenly from the thicket, and leaped
+astride of his back.
+
+Yes, there he sat, on the back of the winged horse!
+
+But what a bound did Pegasus make, when, for the first time, he felt the
+weight of a mortal man upon his loins! A bound, indeed! Before he had
+time to draw a breath Bellerophon found himself five hundred feet aloft,
+and still shooting upward, while the winged horse snorted and trembled
+with terror and anger. Upward he went, up, up, up, until he plunged into
+the cold misty bosom of a cloud, at which, only a little while before,
+Bellerophon had been gazing, and fancying it a very pleasant spot. Then
+again, out of the heart of the cloud, Pegasus shot down like a
+thunderbolt, as if he meant to dash both himself and his rider headlong
+against a rock. Then he went through about a thousand of the wildest
+caprioles that had ever been performed either by a bird or a horse.
+
+I cannot tell you half that he did. He skimmed straight forward, and
+sideways, and backward. He reared himself erect, with his fore legs on a
+wreath of mist, and his hind legs on nothing at all. He flung out his
+heels behind, and put down his head between his legs, with his wings
+pointing right upward. At about two miles' height above the earth, he
+turned a somerset, so that Bellerophon's heels were where his head
+should have been, and he seemed to look down into the sky, instead of
+up. He twisted his head about, and, looking Bellerophon in the face,
+with fire flashing from his eyes, made a terrible attempt to bite him.
+He fluttered his pinions so wildly that one of the silver feathers was
+shaken out, and floating earthward, was picked up by the child, who kept
+it as long as he lived, in memory of Pegasus and Bellerophon.
+
+But the latter (who, as you may judge, was as good a horseman as ever
+galloped) had been watching his opportunity, and at last clapped the
+golden bit of the enchanted bridle between the winged steed's jaws. No
+sooner was this done, than Pegasus became as manageable as if he had
+taken food all his life out of Bellerophon's hand. To speak what I
+really feel, it was almost a sadness to see so wild a creature grow
+suddenly so tame. And Pegasus seemed to feel it so, likewise. He looked
+round to Bellerophon, with the tears in his beautiful eyes, instead of
+the fire that so recently flashed from them. But when Bellerophon patted
+his head, and spoke a few authoritative yet kind and soothing words,
+another look came into the eyes of Pegasus; for he was glad at heart,
+after so many lonely centuries, to have found a companion and a master.
+
+Thus it always is with winged horses, and with all such wild and
+solitary creatures. If you can catch and overcome them, it is the surest
+way to win their love.
+
+While Pegasus had been doing his utmost to shake Bellerophon off his
+back, he had flown a very long distance; and they had come within sight
+of a lofty mountain by the time the bit was in his mouth. Bellerophon
+had seen this mountain before, and knew it to be Helicon, on the summit
+of which was the winged horse's abode. Thither (after looking gently
+into his rider's face, as if to ask leave) Pegasus now flew, and,
+alighting, waited patiently until Bellerophon should please to dismount.
+The young man, accordingly, leaped from his steed's back, but still held
+him fast by the bridle. Meeting his eyes, however, he was so affected by
+the gentleness of his aspect, and by the thought of the free life which
+Pegasus had heretofore lived, that he could not bear to keep him a
+prisoner, if he really desired his liberty.
+
+Obeying this generous impulse he slipped the enchanted bridle off the
+head of Pegasus, and took the bit from his mouth.
+
+"Leave me, Pegasus!" said he. "Either leave me, or love me."
+
+In an instant, the winged horse shot almost out of sight, soaring upward
+from the summit of Mount Helicon. Being long after sunset, it was now
+twilight on the mountain-top, and dusky evening over all the country
+round about. But Pegasus flew so high that he overtook the departed day,
+and was bathed in the upper radiance of the sun. Ascending higher and
+higher, he looked like a bright speck, and, at last, could no longer be
+seen in the hollow waste of the sky. And Bellerophon was afraid that he
+should never behold him more. But, while he was lamenting his own folly,
+the bright speck reappeared, and drew nearer and nearer, until it
+descended lower than the sunshine; and, behold, Pegasus had come back!
+After this trial there was no more fear of the winged horse's making his
+escape. He and Bellerophon were friends, and put loving faith in one
+another.
+
+That night they lay down and slept together, with Bellerophon's arm
+about the neck of Pegasus, not as a caution, but for kindness. And they
+awoke at peep of day, and bade one another good-morning, each in his own
+language.
+
+In this manner, Bellerophon and the wondrous steed spent several days,
+and grew better acquainted and fonder of each other all the time. They
+went on long aërial journeys, and sometimes ascended so high that the
+earth looked hardly bigger than--the moon. They visited distant
+countries, and amazed the inhabitants, who thought that the beautiful
+young man, on the back of the winged horse, must have come down out of
+the sky. A thousand miles a day was no more than an easy space for the
+fleet Pegasus to pass over. Bellerophon was delighted with this kind of
+life, and would have liked nothing better than to live always in the
+same way, aloft in the clear atmosphere; for it was always sunny weather
+up there, however cheerless and rainy it might be in the lower region.
+But he could not forget the horrible Chimæra, which he had promised King
+Iobates to slay. So, at last, when he had become well accustomed, to
+feats of horsemanship in the air, and could manage Pegasus with the
+least motion of his hand, and had taught him to obey his voice, he
+determined to attempt the performance of this perilous adventure.
+
+At daybreak, therefore, as soon as he unclosed his eyes, he gently
+pinched the winged horse's ear, in order to arouse him. Pegasus
+immediately started from the ground, and pranced about a quarter of a
+mile aloft, and made a grand sweep around the mountain-top, by way of
+showing that he was wide awake, and ready for any kind of an excursion.
+During the whole of this little flight, he uttered a loud, brisk, and
+melodious neigh, and finally came down at Bellerophon's side, as lightly
+as ever you saw a sparrow hop upon a twig.
+
+"Well done, dear Pegasus! well done, my sky-skimmer!" cried
+Bellerophon, fondly stroking the horse's neck. "And now, my fleet and
+beautiful friend, we must break our fast. To-day we are to fight the
+terrible Chimæra."
+
+As soon as they had eaten their morning meal, and drank some sparkling
+water from a spring called Hippocrene, Pegasus held out his head, of his
+own accord, so that his master might put on the bridle. Then, with a
+great many playful leaps and airy caperings, he showed his impatience to
+be gone; while Bellerophon was girding on his sword, and hanging his
+shield about his neck, and preparing himself for battle. When everything
+was ready, the rider mounted, and (as was his custom, when going a long
+distance) ascended five miles perpendicularly, so as the better to see
+whither he was directing his course. He then turned the head of Pegasus
+toward the east, and set out for Lycia. In their flight they overtook an
+eagle, and came so nigh him, before he could get out of their way, that
+Bellerophon might easily have caught him by the leg. Hastening onward at
+this rate, it was still early in the forenoon when they beheld the lofty
+mountains of Lycia, with their deep and shaggy valleys. If Bellerophon
+had been told truly, it was in one of those dismal valleys that the
+hideous Chimæra had taken up its abode.
+
+Being now so near their journey's end, the winged horse gradually
+descended with his rider; and they took advantage of some clouds that
+were floating over the mountain-tops, in order to conceal themselves.
+Hovering on the upper surface of a cloud, and peeping over its edge,
+Bellerophon had a pretty distinct view of the mountainous part of Lycia,
+and could look into all its shadowy vales at once. At first there
+appeared to be nothing remarkable. It was a wild, savage, and rocky
+tract of high and precipitous hills. In the more level part of the
+country, there were the ruins of houses that had been burnt, and, here
+and there, the carcasses of dead cattle, strewn about the pastures where
+they had been feeding.
+
+"The Chimæra must have done this mischief," thought Bellerophon. "But
+where can the monster be?"
+
+As I have already said, there was nothing remarkable to be detected, at
+first sight, in any of the valleys and dells that lay among the
+precipitous heights of the mountains. Nothing at all; unless, indeed, it
+were three spires of black smoke, which issued from what seemed to be
+the mouth of a cavern, and clambered sullenly into the atmosphere.
+Before reaching the mountain-top, these three black smoke wreaths
+mingled themselves into one. The cavern was almost directly beneath the
+winged horse and his rider, at the distance of about a thousand feet.
+The smoke, as it crept heavily upward, had an ugly, sulphurous, stifling
+scent, which caused Pegasus to snort and Bellerophon to sneeze. So
+disagreeable was it to the marvellous steed (who was accustomed to
+breathe only the purest air), that he waved his wings, and shot half a
+mile out of the range of this offensive vapour.
+
+But, on looking behind him, Bellerophon saw something that induced him
+first to draw the bridle, and then to turn Pegasus about. He made a
+sign, which the winged horse understood, and sunk slowly through the
+air, until his hoofs were scarcely more than a man's height above the
+rocky bottom of the valley. In front, as far off as you could throw a
+stone, was the cavern's mouth, with the three smoke wreaths oozing out
+of it. And what else did Bellerophon behold there?
+
+There seemed to be a heap of strange and terrible creatures curled up
+within the cavern. Their bodies lay so close together that Bellerophon
+could not distinguish them apart; but, judging by their heads, one of
+these creatures was a huge snake, the second a fierce lion, and the
+third an ugly goat. The lion and the goat were asleep; the snake was
+broad awake, and kept staring around him with a great pair of fiery
+eyes. But--and this was the most wonderful part of the matter--the three
+spires of smoke evidently issued from the nostrils of these three heads!
+So strange was the spectacle, that, though Bellerophon had been all
+along expecting it, the truth did not immediately occur to him, that
+here was the terrible three-headed Chimæra. He had found out the
+Chimæra's cavern. The snake, the lion, and the goat, as he supposed them
+to be, were not three separate creatures, but one monster!
+
+The wicked, hateful thing! Slumbering as two-thirds of it were, it still
+held, in its abominable claws, the remnant of an unfortunate lamb--or
+possibly (but I hate to think so) it was a dear little boy--which its
+three mouths had been gnawing, before two of them fell asleep!
+
+All at once, Bellerophon started as from a dream, and knew it to be the
+Chimæra. Pegasus seemed to know it, at the same instant, and sent forth
+a neigh that sounded like the call of a trumpet to battle. At this sound
+the three heads reared themselves erect, and belched out great flashes
+of flame. Before Bellerophon had time to consider what to do next, the
+monster flung itself out of the cavern and sprung straight toward him,
+with its immense claws extended, and its snaky tail twisting itself
+venomously behind. If Pegasus had not been as nimble as a bird, both he
+and his rider would have been overthrown by the Chimæra's headlong rush,
+and thus the battle have been ended before it was well begun. But the
+winged horse was not to be caught so. In the twinkling of an eye he was
+up aloft, half way to the clouds, snorting with anger. He shuddered,
+too, not with affright, but with utter disgust at the loathsomeness of
+this poisonous thing with three heads.
+
+The Chimæra, on the other hand, raised itself up so as to stand
+absolutely on the tip end of its tail, with its talons pawing fiercely
+in the air, and its three heads sputtering fire at Pegasus and his
+rider. My stars, how it roared, and hissed, and bellowed! Bellerophon,
+meanwhile, was fitting his shield on his arm, and drawing his sword.
+
+"Now, my beloved Pegasus," he whispered in the winged horse's ear, "thou
+must help me to slay this insufferable monster; or else thou shalt fly
+back to thy solitary mountain peak without thy friend Bellerophon. For
+either the Chimæra dies, or its three mouths shall gnaw this head of
+mine, which has slumbered upon thy neck!"
+
+Pegasus whinnied, and, turning back his head, rubbed his nose tenderly
+against his rider's cheek. It was his way of telling him that, though he
+had wings and was an immortal horse, yet he would perish, if it were
+possible for immortality to perish, rather than leave Bellerophon
+behind.
+
+"I thank you, Pegasus," answered Bellerophon. "Now, then, let us make a
+dash at the monster!"
+
+Uttering these words, he shook the bridle; and Pegasus darted down
+aslant, as swift as the flight of an arrow, right toward the Chimæra's
+threefold head, which, all this time, was poking itself as high as it
+could into the air. As he came within arm's length, Bellerophon made a
+cut at the monster, but was carried onward by his steed, before he could
+see whether the blow had been successful. Pegasus continued his course,
+but soon wheeled round, at about the same distance from the Chimæra as
+before. Bellerophon then perceived that he had cut the goat's head of
+the monster almost off, so that it dangled downward by the skin, and
+seemed quite dead.
+
+But, to make amends, the snake's head and the lion's head had taken all
+the fierceness of the dead one into themselves, and spit flame, and
+hissed, and roared, with a vast deal more fury than before.
+
+"Never mind, my brave Pegasus!" cried Bellerophon. "With another stroke
+like that, we will stop either its hissing or its roaring."
+
+And again he shook the bridle. Dashing aslantwise, as before, the winged
+horse made another arrow-flight toward the Chimæra, and Bellerophon
+aimed another downright stroke at one of the two remaining heads, as he
+shot by. But this time, neither he nor Pegasus escaped so well as at
+first. With one of its claws, the Chimæra had given the young man a deep
+scratch in his shoulder, and had slightly damaged the left wing of the
+flying steed with the other. On his part, Bellerophon had mortally
+wounded the lion's head of the monster, insomuch that it now hung
+downward, with its fire almost extinguished, and sending out gasps of
+thick black smoke. The snake's head, however (which was the only one now
+left), was twice as fierce and venomous as ever before. It belched forth
+shoots of fire five hundred yards long, and emitted hisses so loud, so
+harsh, and so ear-piercing, that King Iobates heard them, fifty miles
+off, and trembled till the throne shook under him.
+
+"Well-a-day!" thought the poor king; "the Chimæra is certainly coming to
+devour me!"
+
+Meanwhile Pegasus had again paused in the air, and neighed angrily,
+while sparkles of a pure crystal flame darted out of his eyes. How
+unlike the lurid fire of the Chimæra! The aërial steed's spirit was all
+aroused, and so was that of Bellerophon.
+
+"Dost thou bleed, my immortal horse?" cried the young man, caring less
+for his own hurt than for the anguish of this glorious creature, that
+ought never to have tasted pain. "The execrable Chimæra shall pay for
+this mischief with his last head!"
+
+Then he shook the bridle, shouted loudly, and guided Pegasus, not
+aslantwise as before, but straight at the monster's hideous front. So
+rapid was the onset that it seemed but a dazzle and a flash before
+Bellerophon was at close grips with his enemy.
+
+The Chimæra, by this time, after losing its second head, had got into a
+red-hot passion of pain and rampant rage. It so flounced about, half on
+earth and partly in the air, that it was impossible to say which element
+it rested upon. It opened its snake jaws to such an abominable width,
+that Pegasus might almost, I was going to say, have flown right down its
+throat, wings outspread, rider and all! At their approach it shot out a
+tremendous blast of its fiery breath, and enveloped Bellerophon and his
+steed in a perfect atmosphere of flame, singeing the wings of Pegasus,
+scorching off one whole side of the young man's golden ringlets, and
+making them both far hotter than was comfortable, from head to foot.
+
+But this was nothing to what followed.
+
+When the airy rush of the winged horse had brought him within the
+distance of a hundred yards, the Chimæra gave a spring, and flung its
+huge, awkward, venomous, and utterly detestable carcass right upon poor
+Pegasus, clung round him with might and main, and tied up its snaky tail
+into a knot! Up flew the aërial steed, higher, higher, higher, above the
+mountain-peak, above the clouds, and almost out of sight of the solid
+earth. But still the earth-born monster kept its hold, and was borne
+upward, along with the creature of light and air. Bellerophon,
+meanwhile, turning about, found himself face to face with the ugly
+grimness of the Chimæra's visage, and could only avoid being scorched to
+death, or bitten right in twain, by holding up his shield. Over the
+upper edge of the shield, he looked sternly into the savage eyes of the
+monster.
+
+But the Chimæra was so mad and wild with pain that it did not guard
+itself so well as might else have been the case. Perhaps, after all,
+the best way to fight a Chimæra is by getting as close to it as you can.
+In its efforts to stick its horrible iron claws into its enemy the
+creature left its own breast quite exposed; and perceiving this,
+Bellerophon thrust his sword up to the hilt into its cruel heart.
+Immediately the snaky tail untied its knot. The monster let go its hold
+of Pegasus, and fell from that vast height downward; while the fire
+within its bosom, instead of being put out, burned fiercer than ever,
+and quickly began to consume the dead carcass. Thus it fell out of the
+sky, all a-flame, and (it being nightfall before it reached the earth)
+was mistaken for a shooting star or a comet. But, at early sunrise, some
+cottagers were going to their day's labour, and saw, to their
+astonishment, that several acres of ground were strewn with black ashes.
+In the middle of a field, there was a heap of whitened bones, a great
+deal higher than a haystack. Nothing else was ever seen of the dreadful
+Chimæra!
+
+And when Bellerophon had won the victory, he bent forward and kissed
+Pegasus, while the tears stood in his eyes.
+
+"Back now, my beloved steed!" said he. "Back to the Fountain of Pirene!"
+
+Pegasus skimmed through the air, quicker than ever he did before, and
+reached the fountain in a very short time. And there he found the old
+man leaning on his staff, and the country fellow watering his cow, and
+the pretty maiden filling her pitcher.
+
+"I remember now," quoth the old man, "I saw this winged horse once
+before, when I was quite a lad. But he was ten times handsomer in those
+days."
+
+"I own a cart horse worth three of him!" said the country fellow. "If
+this pony were mine, the first thing I should do would be to clip his
+wings!"
+
+But the poor maiden said nothing, for she had always the luck to be
+afraid at the wrong time. So she ran away, and let her pitcher tumble
+down, and broke it.
+
+"Where is the gentle child," asked Bellerophon, "who used to keep me
+company, and never lost his faith, and never was weary of gazing into
+the fountain?"
+
+"Here am I, dear Bellerophon!" said the child, softly.
+
+For the little boy had spent day after day on the margin of Pirene,
+waiting for his friend to come back; but when he perceived Bellerophon
+descending through the clouds, mounted on the winged horse, he had
+shrunk back into the shrubbery. He was a delicate and tender child, and
+dreaded lest the old man and the country fellow should see the tears
+gushing from his eyes.
+
+"Thou hast won the victory," said he, joyfully, running to the knee of
+Bellerophon, who still sat on the back of Pegasus. "I knew thou
+wouldst."
+
+"Yes, dear child!" replied Bellerophon, alighting from the winged horse.
+"But if thy faith had not helped me, I should never have waited for
+Pegasus, and never have gone up above the clouds, and never have
+conquered the terrible Chimæra. Thou, my beloved little friend, hast
+done it all. And now let us give Pegasus his liberty."
+
+So he slipped off the enchanted bridle from the head of the marvellous
+steed.
+
+"Be free, forevermore, my Pegasus!" cried he, with a shade of sadness in
+his tone. "Be as free as thou art fleet!"
+
+But Pegasus rested his head on Bellerophon's shoulder, and would not be
+persuaded to take flight.
+
+"Well then," said Bellerophon, caressing the airy horse, "thou shalt be
+with me as long as thou wilt; and we will go together, forthwith, and
+tell King Iobates that the Chimæra is destroyed."
+
+Then Bellerophon embraced the gentle child, and promised to come to him
+again, and departed. But, in after years, that child took higher flights
+upon the aërial steed than ever did Bellerophon, and achieved more
+honourable deeds than his friend's victory over the Chimæra. For, gentle
+and tender as he was, he grew to be a mighty poet!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE GOLDEN TOUCH
+
+
+Once upon a time, there lived a very rich man, and a king besides, whose
+name was Midas; and he had a little daughter, whom nobody but myself
+ever heard of, and whose name I either never knew, or have entirely
+forgotten. So, because I love odd names for little girls, I choose to
+call her Marygold.
+
+This King Midas was fonder of gold than of anything else in the world.
+He valued his royal crown chiefly because it was composed of that
+precious metal. If he loved anything better, or half so well, it was the
+one little maiden who played so merrily around her father's footstool.
+But the more Midas loved his daughter, the more did he desire and seek
+for wealth. He thought, foolish man! that the best thing he could
+possibly do for this dear child would be to bequeath her the immensest
+pile of yellow, glistening coin, that had ever been heaped together
+since the world was made. Thus, he gave all his thoughts and all his
+time to this one purpose. If ever he happened to gaze for an instant at
+the gold-tinted clouds of sunset, he wished that they were real gold,
+and that they could be squeezed safely into his strong box. When little
+Marygold ran to meet him, with a bunch of buttercups and dandelions, he
+used to say, "Poh, poh, child! If these flowers were as golden as they
+look, they would be worth the plucking!"
+
+And yet, in his earlier days, before he was so entirely possessed of
+this insane desire for riches, King Midas had shown a great taste for
+flowers. He had planted a garden, in which grew the biggest and
+beautifullest and sweetest roses that any mortal ever saw or smelt.
+These roses were still growing in the garden, as large, as lovely, and
+as fragrant as when Midas used to pass whole hours in gazing at them,
+and inhaling their perfume. But now, if he looked at them at all, it was
+only to calculate how much the garden would be worth if each of the
+innumerable rose petals were a thin plate of gold. And though he once
+was fond of music (in spite of an idle story about his ears, which were
+said to resemble those of an ass), the only music for poor Midas, now,
+was the chink of one coin against another.
+
+At length (as people always grow more and more foolish, unless they take
+care to grow wiser and wiser), Midas had got to be so exceedingly
+unreasonable that he could scarcely bear to see or touch any object that
+was not gold. He made it his custom, therefore, to pass a large portion
+of every day in a dark and dreary apartment, under ground, at the
+basement of his palace. It was here that he kept his wealth. To this
+dismal hole--for it was little better than a dungeon--Midas betook
+himself, whenever he wanted to be particularly happy. Here, after
+carefully locking the door, he would take a bag of gold coin, or a gold
+cup as big as a washbowl, or a heavy golden bar, or a peck measure of
+gold dust, and bring them from the obscure corners of the room into the
+one bright and narrow sunbeam that fell from the dungeon-like window. He
+valued the sunbeam for no other reason but that his treasure would not
+shine without its help. And then would he reckon over the coins in the
+bag; toss up the bar, and catch it as it came down; sift the gold dust
+through his fingers; look at the funny image of his own face, as
+reflected in the burnished circumference of the cup, and whisper to
+himself, "O Midas, rich King Midas, what a happy man art thou!" But it
+was laughable to see how the image of his face kept grinning at him, out
+of the polished surface of the cup. It seemed to be aware of his foolish
+behaviour, and to have a naughty inclination to make fun of him.
+
+Midas called himself a happy man, but felt that he was not yet quite so
+happy as he might be. The very tiptop of enjoyment would never be
+reached, unless the whole world were to become his treasure room, and be
+filled with yellow metal which should be all his own.
+
+Now, I need hardly remind such wise little people as you are, that in
+the old, old times, when King Midas was alive, a great many things came
+to pass, which we should consider wonderful if they were to happen in
+our own day and country. And, on the other hand, a great many things
+take place nowadays, which seem not only wonderful to us, but at which
+the people of old times would have stared their eyes out. On the whole,
+I regard our own times as the strangest of the two; but, however that
+may be, I must go on with my story.
+
+Midas was enjoying himself in his treasure room, one day, as usual, when
+he perceived a shadow fall over the heaps of gold; and, looking suddenly
+up, what should he behold but the figure of a stranger, standing in the
+bright and narrow sunbeam! It was a young man, with a cheerful and ruddy
+face. Whether it was that the imagination of King Midas threw a yellow
+tinge over everything, or whatever the cause might be, he could not
+help fancying that the smile with which the stranger regarded him had a
+kind of golden radiance in it. Certainly, although his figure
+intercepted the sunshine, there was now a brighter gleam upon all the
+piled-up treasures than before. Even the remotest corners had their
+share of it, and were lighted up, when the stranger smiled, as with tips
+of flame and sparkles of fire.
+
+As Midas knew that he had carefully turned the key in the lock, and that
+no mortal strength could possibly break into his treasure room, he, of
+course, concluded that his visitor must be something more than mortal.
+It is no matter about telling you who he was. In those days, when the
+earth was comparatively a new affair, it was supposed to be often the
+resort of beings endowed with supernatural power, and who used to
+interest themselves in the joys and sorrows of men, women, and children,
+half playfully and half seriously. Midas had met such beings before now,
+and was not sorry to meet one of them again. The stranger's aspect,
+indeed, was so good humoured and kindly, if not beneficent, that it
+would have been unreasonable to suspect him of intending any mischief.
+It was far more probable that he came to do Midas a favour. And what
+could that favour be, unless to multiply his heaps of treasure?
+
+The stranger gazed about the room; and when his lustrous smile had
+glistened upon all the golden objects that were there, he turned again
+to Midas.
+
+"You are a wealthy man, friend Midas!" he observed. "I doubt whether any
+other four walls, on earth, contain so much gold as you have contrived
+to pile up in this room."
+
+"I have done pretty well--pretty well," answered Midas, in a
+discontented tone. "But, after all, it is but a trifle, when you
+consider that it has taken me my whole life to get it together. If one
+could live a thousand years, he might have time to grow rich!"
+
+"What!" exclaimed the stranger. "Then you are not satisfied?"
+
+Midas shook his head.
+
+"And pray what would satisfy you?" asked the stranger. "Merely for the
+curiosity of the thing, I should be glad to know."
+
+Midas paused and meditated. He felt a presentiment that this stranger,
+with such a golden lustre in his good-humoured smile, had come hither
+with both the power and the purpose of gratifying his utmost wishes.
+Now, therefore, was the fortunate moment, when he had but to speak, and
+obtain whatever possible, or seemingly impossible thing, it might come
+into his head to ask. So he thought, and thought, and thought, and
+heaped up one golden mountain upon another, in his imagination, without
+being able to imagine them big enough. At last, a bright idea occurred
+to King Midas. It seemed really as bright as the glistening metal which
+he loved so much.
+
+Raising his head, he looked the lustrous stranger in the face.
+
+"Well, Midas," observed his visitor, "I see that you have at length hit
+upon something that will satisfy you. Tell me your wish."
+
+"It is only this," replied Midas. "I am weary of collecting my treasures
+with so much trouble, and beholding the heap so diminutive, after I have
+done my best. I wish everything that I touch to be changed to gold!"
+
+The stranger's smile grew so very broad, that it seemed to fill the room
+like an outburst of the sun, gleaming into a shadowy dell, where the
+yellow autumnal leaves--for so looked the lumps and particles of
+gold--lie strewn in the glow of light.
+
+"The Golden Touch!" exclaimed he. "You certainly deserve credit, friend
+Midas, for striking out so brilliant a conception. But are you quite
+sure that this will satisfy you?"
+
+"How could it fail?" said Midas.
+
+"And will you never regret the possession of it?"
+
+"What could induce me?" asked Midas. "I ask nothing else, to render me
+perfectly happy."
+
+"Be it as you wish, then," replied the stranger, waving his hand in
+token of farewell. "To-morrow, at sunrise, you will find yourself gifted
+with the Golden Touch."
+
+The figure of the stranger then became exceedingly bright, and Midas
+involuntarily closed his eyes. On opening them again, he beheld only one
+yellow sunbeam in the room, and, all around him, the glistening of the
+precious metal which he had spent his life in hoarding up.
+
+Whether Midas slept as usual that night, the story does not say. Asleep
+or awake, however, his mind was probably in the state of a child's, to
+whom a beautiful new plaything has been promised in the morning. At any
+rate, day had hardly peeped over the hills, when King Midas was broad
+awake, and, stretching his arms out of bed, began to touch the objects
+that were within reach. He was anxious to prove whether the Golden Touch
+had really come, according to the stranger's promise. So he laid his
+finger on a chair by the bedside, and on various other things, but was
+grievously disappointed to perceive that they remained of exactly the
+same substance as before. Indeed, he felt very much afraid that he had
+only dreamed about the lustrous stranger, or else that the latter had
+been making game of him. And what a miserable affair would it be, if,
+after all his hopes, Midas must content himself with what little gold he
+could scrape together by ordinary means, instead of creating it by a
+touch!
+
+All this while, it was only the gray of the morning, with but a streak
+of brightness along the edge of the sky, where Midas could not see it.
+He lay in a very disconsolate mood, regretting the downfall of his hopes
+and kept growing sadder and sadder, until the earliest sunbeam shone
+through the window, and gilded the ceiling over his head. It seemed to
+Midas that this bright yellow sunbeam was reflected in rather a singular
+way on the white covering of the bed. Looking more closely, what was his
+astonishment and delight, when he found that this linen fabric had been
+transmuted to what seemed a woven texture of the purest and brightest
+gold! The Golden Touch had come to him with the first sunbeam!
+
+Midas started up, in a kind of joyful frenzy, and ran about the room,
+grasping at everything that happened to be in his way. He seized one of
+the bedposts, and it became immediately a fluted golden pillar. He
+pulled aside a window curtain, in order to admit a clear spectacle of
+the wonders which he was performing; and the tassel grew heavy in his
+hand--a mass of gold. He took up a book from the table. At his first
+touch, it assumed the appearance of such a splendidly bound and
+gilt-edged volume as one often meets with, nowadays; but, on running his
+fingers through the leaves, behold! it was a bundle of thin golden
+plates, in which all the wisdom of the book had grown illegible. He
+hurriedly put on his clothes, and was enraptured to see himself in a
+magnificent suit of gold cloth, which retained its flexibility and
+softness, although it burdened him a little with its weight. He drew out
+his handkerchief, which little Marygold had hemmed for him. That was
+likewise gold, with the dear child's neat and pretty stitches running
+all along the border, in gold thread!
+
+Somehow or other, this last transformation did not quite please King
+Midas. He would rather that his little daughter's handiwork should have
+remained just the same as when she climbed his knee and put it into his
+hand.
+
+But it was not worth while to vex himself about a trifle. Midas now took
+his spectacles from his pocket, and put them on his nose, in order that
+he might see more distinctly what he was about. In those days,
+spectacles for common people had not been invented, but were already
+worn by kings: else, how could Midas have had any? To his great
+perplexity, however, excellent as the glasses were, he discovered that
+he could not possibly see through them. But this was the most natural
+thing in the world; for, on taking them off, the transparent crystals
+turned out to be plates of yellow metal, and, of course, were worthless
+as spectacles, though valuable as gold. It struck Midas, as rather
+inconvenient that, with all his wealth, he could never again be rich
+enough to own a pair of serviceable spectacles.
+
+"It is no great matter, nevertheless," said he to himself, very
+philosophically. "We cannot expect any great good, without its being
+accompanied with some small inconvenience. The Golden Touch is worth
+the sacrifice of a pair of spectacles, at least, if not of one's very
+eyesight. My own eyes will serve for ordinary purposes, and little
+Marygold will soon be old enough to read to me."
+
+Wise King Midas was so exalted by his good fortune, that the palace
+seemed not sufficiently spacious to contain him. He therefore went
+downstairs, and smiled, on observing that the balustrade of the
+staircase became a bar of burnished gold, as his hand passed over it, in
+his descent. He lifted the doorlatch (it was brass only a moment ago,
+but golden when his fingers quitted it), and emerged into the garden.
+Here, as it happened, he found a great number of beautiful roses in full
+bloom, and others in all the stages of lovely bud and blossom. Very
+delicious was their fragrance in the morning breeze. Their delicate
+blush was one of the fairest sights in the world; so gentle, so modest,
+and so full of sweet tranquillity, did these roses seem to be.
+
+But Midas knew a way to make them far more precious, according to his
+way of thinking, than roses had ever been before. So he took great pains
+in going from bush to bush, and exercised his magic touch most
+indefatigably; until every individual flower and bud, and even the worms
+at the heart of some of them, were changed to gold. By the time this
+good work was completed, King Midas was summoned to breakfast; and as
+the morning air had given him an excellent appetite, he made haste back
+to the palace.
+
+What was usually a king's breakfast in the days of Midas, I really do
+not know, and cannot stop now to investigate. To the best of my belief,
+however, on this particular morning, the breakfast consisted of hot
+cakes, some nice little brook trout, roasted potatoes, fresh boiled
+eggs, and coffee, for King Midas himself, and a bowl of bread and milk
+for his daughter Marygold. At all events, this is a breakfast fit to set
+before a king; and, whether he had it or not, King Midas could not have
+had a better.
+
+Little Marygold had not yet made her appearance. Her father ordered her
+to be called, and, seating himself at table, awaited the child's coming,
+in order to begin his own breakfast. To do Midas justice, he really
+loved his daughter, and loved her so much the more this morning, on
+account of the good fortune which had befallen him. It was not a great
+while before he heard her coming along the passageway crying bitterly.
+This circumstance surprised him, because Marygold was one of the
+cheerfullest little people whom you would see in a summer's day, and
+hardly shed a thimbleful of tears in a twelvemonth. When Midas heard her
+sobs, he determined to put little Marygold into better spirits, by an
+agreeable surprise; so, leaning across the table, he touched his
+daughter's bowl (which was a china one, with pretty figures all around
+it), and transmuted it to gleaming gold.
+
+Meanwhile, Marygold slowly and disconsolately opened the door, and
+showed herself with her apron at her eyes, still sobbing as if her heart
+would break.
+
+"How now, my little lady!" cried Midas. "Pray what is the matter with
+you, this bright morning?"
+
+Marygold, without taking the apron from her eyes, held out her hand, in
+which was one of the roses which Midas had so recently transmuted.
+
+"Beautiful!" exclaimed her father. "And what is there in this
+magnificent golden rose to make you cry?"
+
+"Ah, dear father!" answered the child, as well as her sobs would let
+her; "it is not beautiful, but the ugliest flower that ever grew! As
+soon as I was dressed I ran into the garden to gather some roses for
+you; because I know you like them, and like them the better when
+gathered by your little daughter. But, oh dear, dear me. What do you
+think has happened? Such a misfortune! All the beautiful roses, that
+smelled so sweetly and had so many lovely blushes, are blighted and
+spoilt! They are grown quite yellow, as you see this one, and have no
+longer any fragrance! What can have been the matter with them?"
+
+"Poh, my dear little girl--pray don't cry about it!" said Midas, who was
+ashamed to confess that he himself had wrought the change which so
+greatly afflicted her, "Sit down and eat your bread and milk! You will
+find it easy enough to exchange a golden rose like that (which will last
+hundreds of years) for an ordinary one which would wither in a day."
+
+"I don't care for such roses as this!" cried Marygold, tossing it
+contemptuously away. "It has no smell, and the hard petals prick my
+nose!"
+
+The child now sat down to table, but was so occupied with her grief for
+the blighted roses that she did not even notice the wonderful
+transmutation of her china bowl. Perhaps this was all the better; for
+Marygold was accustomed to take pleasure in looking at the queer
+figures, and strange trees and houses, that were painted on the
+circumference of the bowl; and these ornaments were now entirely lost in
+the yellow hue of the metal.
+
+Midas, meanwhile, had poured out a cup of coffee, and, as a matter of
+course, the Coffee-pot, whatever metal it may have been when he took it
+up, was gold when he set it down. He thought to himself, that it was
+rather an extravagant style of splendour, in a king of his simple
+habits, to breakfast off a service of gold, and began to be puzzled with
+the difficulty of keeping his treasures safe. The cupboard and the
+kitchen would no longer be a secure place of deposit for articles so
+valuable as golden bowls and coffee-pots.
+
+Amid these thoughts, he lifted a spoonful of coffee to his lips, and,
+sipping it, was astonished to perceive that, the instant his lips
+touched the liquid, it became molten gold, and, the next moment,
+hardened into a lump!
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Midas, rather aghast.
+
+"What is the matter, father?" asked little Marygold, gazing at him, with
+the tears still standing in her eyes.
+
+"Nothing, child, nothing!" said Midas. "Eat your milk, before it gets
+quite cold."
+
+He took one of the nice little trouts on his plate, and, by way of
+experiment, touched its tail with his finger. To his horror, it was
+immediately transmuted from an admirably fried brook trout into a
+gold-fish, though not one of those gold-fishes which people often keep
+in glass globes, as ornaments for the parlour. No; but it was really a
+metallic fish, and looked as if it had been very cunningly made by the
+nicest goldsmith in the world. Its little bones were now golden wires;
+its fins and tail were thin plates of gold; and there were the marks of
+the fork in it, and all the delicate, frothy appearance of a nicely
+fried fish, exactly imitated in metal. A very pretty piece of work, as
+you may suppose; only King Midas, just at that moment, would much rather
+have had a real trout in his dish than this elaborate and valuable
+imitation of one.
+
+"I don't quite see," thought he to himself, "how I am to get any
+breakfast!"
+
+He took one of the smoking-hot cakes, and had scarcely broken it, when,
+to his cruel mortification, though, a moment before, it had been of the
+whitest wheat, it assumed the yellow hue of Indian meal. To say the
+truth, if it had really been a hot Indian cake, Midas would have prized
+it a good deal more than he now did, when its solidity and increased
+weight made him too bitterly sensible that it was gold. Almost in
+despair, he helped himself to a boiled egg, which immediately underwent
+a change similar to those of the trout and the cake. The egg, indeed,
+might have been mistaken for one of those which the famous goose, in the
+story book, was in the habit of laying; but King Midas was the only
+goose that had had anything to do with the matter.
+
+"Well, this is a quandary!" thought he, leaning back in his chair, and
+looking quite enviously at little Marygold, who was now eating her bread
+and milk with great satisfaction. "Such a costly breakfast before me,
+and nothing that can be eaten!"
+
+Hoping that, by dint of great dispatch, he might avoid what he now felt
+to be a considerable inconvenience, King Midas next snatched a hot
+potato, and attempted to cram it into his mouth, and swallow it in a
+hurry. But the Golden Touch was too nimble for him. He found his mouth
+full, not of mealy potato, but of solid metal, which so burnt his tongue
+that he roared aloud, and, jumping up from the table, began to dance and
+stamp about the room, both with pain and affright.
+
+"Father, dear father!" cried little Marygold, who was a very
+affectionate child, "pray what is the matter? Have you burnt your
+mouth?"
+
+"Ah, dear child," groaned Midas, dolefully, "I don't know what is to
+become of your poor father!"
+
+And, truly, my dear little folks, did you ever hear of such a pitiable
+case in all your lives? Here was literally the richest breakfast that
+could be set before a king, and its very richness made it absolutely
+good for nothing. The poorest labourer, sitting down to his crust of
+bread and cup of water, was far better off than King Midas, whose
+delicate food was really worth its weight in gold. And what was to be
+done? Already, at breakfast, Midas was excessively hungry. Would he be
+less so by dinner-time? And how ravenous would be his appetite for
+supper, which must undoubtedly consist of the same sort of indigestible
+dishes as those now before him! How many days, think you, would he
+survive a continuance of this rich fare?
+
+These reflections so troubled wise King Midas, that he began to doubt
+whether, after all, riches are the one desirable thing in the world, or
+even the most desirable. But this was only a passing thought. So
+fascinated was Midas with the glitter of the yellow metal, that he would
+still have refused to give up the Golden Touch for so paltry a
+consideration as a breakfast. Just imagine what a price for one meal's
+victuals! It would have been the same as paying millions and millions of
+money (and as many millions more as would take forever to reckon up) for
+some fried trout, an egg, a potato, a hot cake, and a cup of coffee!
+
+"It would be quite too dear," thought Midas.
+
+Nevertheless, so great was his hunger, and the perplexity of his
+situation, that he again groaned aloud, and very grievously, too. Our
+pretty Marygold could endure it no longer. She sat, a moment, gazing at
+her father, and trying, with all the might of her little wits, to find
+out what was the matter with him. Then, with a sweet and sorrowful
+impulse to comfort him, she started from her chair, and, running to
+Midas, threw her arms affectionately about his knees. He bent down and
+kissed her. He felt that his little daughter's love was worth a thousand
+times more than he had gained by the Golden Touch.
+
+"My precious, precious Marygold!" cried he.
+
+But Marygold made no answer.
+
+Alas, what had he done? How fatal was the gift which the stranger
+bestowed! The moment the lips of Midas touched Marygold's forehead, a
+change had taken place. Her sweet, rosy face, so full of affection as it
+had been, assumed a glittering yellow colour, with yellow tear-drops
+congealing on her cheeks. Her beautiful brown ringlets took the same
+tint. Her soft and tender little form grew hard and inflexible within
+her father's encircling arms. Oh, terrible misfortune! The victim of his
+insatiable desire for wealth, little Marygold was a human child no
+longer, but a golden statue!
+
+Yes, there she was, with the questioning look of love, grief, and pity,
+hardened into her face. It was the prettiest and most woeful sight that
+ever mortal saw. All the features and tokens of Marygold were there;
+even the beloved little dimple remained in her golden chin. But, the
+more perfect was the resemblance, the greater was the father's agony at
+beholding this golden image, which was all that was left him of a
+daughter. It had been a favourite phrase of Midas, whenever he felt
+particularly fond of the child, to say that she was worth her weight in
+gold. And now the phrase had become literally true. And, now, at last,
+when it was too late, he felt how infinitely a warm and tender heart,
+that loved him, exceeded in value all the wealth that could be piled up
+betwixt the earth and sky!
+
+It would be too sad a story, if I were to tell you how Midas, in the
+fulness of all his gratified desires, began to wring his hands and
+bemoan himself; and how he could neither bear to look at Marygold, nor
+yet to look away from her. Except when his eyes were fixed on the image,
+he could not possibly believe that she was changed to gold. But,
+stealing another glance, there was the precious little figure, with a
+yellow tear-drop on its yellow cheek, and a look so piteous and tender,
+that it seemed as if that very expression must needs soften the gold,
+and make it flesh again. This, however, could not be. So Midas had only
+to wring his hands, and to wish that he were the poorest man in the wide
+world, if the loss of all his wealth might bring back the faintest rose
+colour to his dear child's face.
+
+While he was in this tumult of despair, he suddenly beheld a stranger
+standing near the door. Midas bent down his head, without speaking; for
+he recognised the same figure which had appeared to him, the day before,
+in the treasure-room, and had bestowed on him this disastrous faculty of
+the Golden Touch. The stranger's countenance still wore a smile, which
+seemed to shed a yellow lustre all about the room, and gleamed on little
+Marygold's image, and on the other objects that had been transmuted by
+the touch of Midas.
+
+"Well, friend Midas," said the stranger, "pray how do you succeed with
+the Golden Touch?"
+
+Midas shook his head.
+
+"I am very miserable," said he.
+
+"Very miserable, indeed!" exclaimed the stranger.
+
+"And how happens that? Have I not faithfully kept my promise with you?
+Have you not everything that your heart desired?"
+
+"Gold is not everything," answered Midas. "And I have lost all that my
+heart really cared for."
+
+"Ah! So you have made a discovery, since yesterday?" observed the
+stranger. "Let us see, then. Which of these two things do you think is
+really worth the most--the gift of the Golden Touch, or one cup of clear
+cold water?"
+
+"O blessed water!" exclaimed Midas. "I will never moisten my parched
+throat again!"
+
+"The Golden Touch," continued the stranger, "or a crust of bread?"
+
+"A piece of bread," answered Midas, "is worth all the gold on earth!"
+
+"The Golden Touch," asked the stranger, "or your own little Marygold,
+warm, soft, and loving as she was an hour ago?"
+
+"Oh, my child, my dear child!" cried poor Midas, wringing his hands. "I
+would not have given that one small dimple in her chin for the power of
+changing this whole big earth into a solid lump of gold!"
+
+"You are wiser than you were, King Midas!" said the stranger, looking
+seriously at him. "Your own heart, I perceive, has not been entirely
+changed from flesh to gold. Were it so, your case would indeed be
+desperate. But you appear to be still capable of understanding that the
+commonest things, such as lie within everybody's grasp, are more
+valuable than the riches which so many mortals sigh and struggle after.
+Tell me, now, do you sincerely desire to rid yourself of this Golden
+Touch?"
+
+"It is hateful to me!" replied Midas.
+
+A fly settled on his nose, but immediately fell to the floor; for it,
+too, had become gold. Midas shuddered.
+
+"Go, then," said the stranger, "and plunge into the river that glides
+past the bottom of your garden. Take likewise a vase of the same water,
+and sprinkle it over any object that you may desire to change back again
+from gold into its former substance. If you do this in earnestness and
+sincerity, it may possibly repair the mischief which your avarice has
+occasioned."
+
+King Midas bowed low; and when he lifted his head, the lustrous stranger
+had vanished.
+
+You will easily believe that Midas lost no time in snatching up a great
+earthen pitcher (but, alas me! it was no longer earthen after he touched
+it), and hastening to the river-side. As he scampered along, and forced
+his way through the shrubbery, it was positively marvellous to see how
+the foliage turned yellow behind him, as if the autumn had been there,
+and nowhere else. On reaching the river's brink, he plunged headlong in,
+without waiting so much as to pull off his shoes.
+
+"Poof! poof! poof!" snorted King Midas, as his head emerged out of the
+water. "Well; this is really a refreshing bath, and I think it must have
+quite washed away the Golden Touch. And now for filling my pitcher!"
+
+As he dipped the pitcher into the water, it gladdened his very heart to
+see it change from gold into the same good, honest earthen vessel which
+it had been before he touched it. He was conscious, also, of a change
+within himself. A cold, hard, and heavy weight seemed to have gone out
+of his bosom. No doubt, his heart had been gradually losing its human
+substance, and transmuting itself into insensible metal, but had now
+softened back again into flesh. Perceiving a violet, that grew on the
+bank of the river, Midas touched it with his finger, and was overjoyed
+to find that the delicate flower retained its purple hue, instead of
+undergoing a yellow blight. The curse of the Golden Touch had,
+therefore, really been removed from him.
+
+King Midas hastened back to the palace; and, I suppose, the servants
+knew not what to make of it when they saw their royal master so
+carefully bringing home an earthen pitcher of water. But that water,
+which was to undo all the mischief that his folly had wrought, was more
+precious to Midas than an ocean of molten gold could have been. The
+first thing he did, as you need hardly be told, was to sprinkle it by
+handfuls over the golden figure of little Marygold.
+
+No sooner did it fall on her than you would have laughed to see how the
+rosy colour came back to the dear child's cheek! and how she began to
+sneeze and sputter!--and how astonished she was to find herself dripping
+wet, and her father still throwing more water over her!
+
+"Pray do not, dear father!" cried she. "See how you have wet my nice
+frock, which I put on only this morning!"
+
+For Marygold did not know that she had been a little golden statue; nor
+could she remember anything that had happened since the moment when she
+ran with outstretched arms to comfort poor King Midas.
+
+Her father did not think it necessary to tell his beloved child how very
+foolish he had been, but contented himself with showing how much wiser
+he had now grown. For this purpose, he led little Marygold into the
+garden, where he sprinkled all the remainder of the water over the
+rose-bushes, and with such good effect that above five thousand roses
+recovered their beautiful bloom. There were two circumstances, however,
+which, as long as he lived, used to put King Midas in mind of the Golden
+Touch. One was, that the sands of the river sparkled like gold; the
+other, that little Marygold's hair had now a golden tinge, which he had
+never observed in it before she had been transmuted by the effect of his
+kiss. This change of hue was really an improvement, and made Marygold's
+hair richer than in her babyhood.
+
+When King Midas had grown quite an old man, and used to trot Marygold's
+children on his knee, he was fond of telling them this marvellous story,
+pretty much as I have now told it to you. And then would he stroke their
+glossy ringlets, and tell them that their hair, likewise, had a rich
+shade of gold, which they had inherited from their mother.
+
+"And to tell you the truth, my precious little folks," quoth King Midas,
+diligently trotting the children all the while, "ever since that
+morning, I have hated the very sight of all other gold, save this!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE GORGON'S HEAD
+
+
+Perseus was the son of Danaë, who was the daughter of a king. And when
+Perseus was a very little boy, some wicked people put his mother and
+himself into a chest, and set them afloat upon the sea. The wind blew
+freshly, and drove the chest away from the shore, and the uneasy billows
+tossed it up and down; while Danaë clasped her child closely to her
+bosom, and dreaded that some big wave would dash its foamy crest over
+them both. The chest sailed on, however, and neither sank nor was upset;
+until, when night was coming, it floated so near an island that it got
+entangled in a fisherman's nets, and was drawn out high and dry upon the
+sand. The island was called Seriphus, and it was reigned over by King
+Polydectes, who happened to be the fisherman's brother.
+
+This fisherman, I am glad to tell you, was an exceedingly humane and
+upright man. He showed great kindness to Danaë and her little boy; and
+continued to befriend them, until Perseus had grown to be a handsome
+youth, very strong and active, and skilful in the use of arms. Long
+before this time, King Polydectes had seen the two strangers--the mother
+and her child--who had come to his dominions in a floating chest. As he
+was not good and kind, like his brother the fisherman, but extremely
+wicked, he resolved to send Perseus on a dangerous enterprise, in which
+he would probably be killed, and then to do some great mischief to Danaë
+herself. So this bad-hearted king spent a long while in considering what
+was the most dangerous thing that a young man could possibly undertake
+to perform. At last, having hit upon an enterprise that promised to turn
+out as fatally as he desired, he sent for the youthful Perseus.
+
+The young man came to the palace, and found the king sitting upon his
+throne.
+
+"Perseus," said King Polydectes, smiling craftily upon him, "you are
+grown up a fine young man. You and your good mother have received a
+great deal of kindness from myself, as well as from my worthy brother
+the fisherman, and I suppose you would not be sorry to repay some of
+it."
+
+"Please, Your Majesty," answered Perseus, "I would willingly risk my
+life to do so."
+
+"Well, then," continued the king, still with a cunning smile on his
+lips, "I have a little adventure to propose to you; and, as you are a
+brave and enterprising youth, you will doubtless look upon it as a great
+piece of good luck to have so rare an opportunity of distinguishing
+yourself. You must know, my good Perseus, I think of getting married to
+the beautiful Princess Hippodamia; and it is customary, on these
+occasions, to make the bride a present of some far-fetched and elegant
+curiosity. I have been a little perplexed, I must honestly confess,
+where to obtain anything likely to please a princess of her exquisite
+taste. But, this morning, I flatter myself, I have thought of precisely
+the article."
+
+"And can I assist Your Majesty in obtaining it?" cried Perseus,
+eagerly.
+
+"You can, if you are as brave a youth as I believe you to be," replied
+King Polydectes, with the utmost graciousness of manner. "The bridal
+gift which I have set my heart on presenting to the beautiful Hippodamia
+is the head of the Gorgon Medusa with the snaky locks; and I depend on
+you, my dear Perseus, to bring it to me. So, as I am anxious to settle
+affairs with the princess, the sooner you go in quest of the Gorgon, the
+better I shall be pleased."
+
+"I will set out to-morrow morning," answered Perseus.
+
+"Pray do so, my gallant youth," rejoined the king. "And, Perseus, in
+cutting off the Gorgon's head, be careful to make a clean stroke, so as
+not to injure its appearance. You must bring it home in the very best
+condition, in order to suit the exquisite taste of the beautiful
+Princess Hippodamia."
+
+Perseus left the palace, but was scarcely out of hearing before
+Polydectes burst into a laugh; being greatly amused, wicked king that he
+was, to find how readily the young man fell into the snare. The news
+quickly spread abroad that Perseus had undertaken to cut off the head of
+Medusa with the snaky locks. Everybody was rejoiced; for most of the
+inhabitants of the island were as wicked as the king himself, and would
+have liked nothing better than to see some enormous mischief happen to
+Danaë and her son. The only good man in this unfortunate island of
+Seriphus appears to have been the fisherman. As Perseus walked along,
+therefore, the people pointed after him, and made mouths, and winked to
+one another, and ridiculed him as loudly as they dared.
+
+"Ho, ho!" cried they; "Medusa's snakes will sting him soundly!"
+
+Now, there were three Gorgons alive at that period; and they were the
+most strange and terrible monsters that had ever been since the world
+was made, or that have been seen in after days, or that are likely to be
+seen in all time to come. I hardly know what sort of creature or
+hobgoblin to call them. They were three sisters, and seem to have borne
+some distant resemblance to women, but were really a very frightful and
+mischievous species of dragon. It is, indeed, difficult to imagine what
+hideous beings these three sisters were. Why, instead of locks of hair,
+if you can believe me, they had each of them a hundred enormous snakes
+growing on their heads, all alive, twisting, wriggling, curling, and
+thrusting out their venomous tongues, with forked stings at the end! The
+teeth of the Gorgons were terribly long tusks; their hands were made of
+brass; and their bodies were all over scales, which, if not iron, were
+something as hard and impenetrable. They had wings, too, and exceedingly
+splendid ones, I can assure you; for every feather in them was pure,
+bright, glittering, burnished gold, and they looked very dazzlingly, no
+doubt, when the Gorgons were flying about in the sunshine.
+
+But when people happened to catch a glimpse of their glittering
+brightness, aloft in the air, they seldom stopped to gaze, but ran and
+hid themselves as speedily as they could. You will think, perhaps, that
+they were afraid of being stung by the serpents that served the Gorgons
+instead of hair--or of having their heads bitten off by their ugly
+tusks--or of being torn all to pieces by their brazen claws. Well, to be
+sure, these were some of the dangers, but by no means the greatest, nor
+the most difficult to avoid. For the worst thing about these abominable
+Gorgons was, that, if once a poor mortal fixed his eyes full upon one
+of their faces, he was certain, that very instant, to be changed from
+warm flesh and blood into cold and lifeless stone!
+
+Thus, as you will easily perceive, it was a very dangerous adventure
+that the wicked King Polydectes had contrived for this innocent young
+man. Perseus himself, when he had thought over the matter, could not
+help seeing that he had very little chance of coming safely through it,
+and that he was far more likely to become a stone image than to bring
+back the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. For, not to speak of other
+difficulties, there was one which it would have puzzled an older man
+than Perseus to get over. Not only must he fight with and slay this
+golden-winged, iron-scaled, long-tusked, brazen-clawed, snaky-haired
+monster, but he must do it with his eyes shut, or, at least, without so
+much as a glance at the enemy with whom he was contending. Else, while
+his arm was lifted to strike, he would stiffen into stone, and stand
+with that uplifted arm for centuries, until time, and the wind and
+weather, should crumble him quite away. This would be a very sad thing
+to befall a young man who wanted to perform a great many brave deeds,
+and to enjoy a great deal of happiness, in this bright and beautiful
+world.
+
+So disconsolate did these thoughts make him, that Perseus could not bear
+to tell his mother what he had undertaken to do. He therefore took his
+shield, girded on his sword, and crossed over from the island to the
+mainland, where he sat down in a solitary place, and hardly refrained
+from shedding tears.
+
+But, while he was in this sorrowful mood, he heard a voice close beside
+him.
+
+"Perseus," said the voice, "why are you sad?"
+
+He lifted his head from his hands, in which he had hidden it, and,
+behold! all alone as Perseus had supposed himself to be, there was a
+stranger in the solitary place. It was a brisk, intelligent, and
+remarkably shrewd-looking young man, with a cloak over his shoulders, an
+odd sort of cap on his head, a strangely twisted staff in his hand, and
+a short and very crooked sword hanging by his side. He was exceedingly
+light and active in his figure, like a person much accustomed to
+gymnastic exercises, and well able to leap or run. Above all, the
+stranger had such a cheerful, knowing, and helpful aspect (though it was
+certainly a little mischievous, into the bargain), that Perseus could
+not help feeling his spirits grow livelier as he gazed at him. Besides,
+being really a courageous youth, he felt greatly ashamed that anybody
+should have found him with tears in his eyes, like a timid little
+schoolboy, when, after all, there might be no occasion for despair. So
+Perseus wiped his eyes, and answered the stranger pretty briskly,
+putting on as brave a look as he could.
+
+"I am not so very sad," said he, "only thoughtful about an adventure
+that I have undertaken."
+
+"Oho!" answered the stranger. "Well, tell me all about it, and possibly
+I may be of service to you. I have helped a good many young men through
+adventures that looked difficult enough beforehand. Perhaps you may have
+heard of me. I have more names than one; but the name of Quicksilver
+suits me as well as any other. Tell me what the trouble is, and we will
+talk the matter over, and see what can be done."
+
+The stranger's words and manner put Perseus into quite a different mood
+from his former one. He resolved to tell Quicksilver all his
+difficulties, since he could not easily be worse off than he already
+was, and, very possibly, his new friend might give him some advice that
+would turn out well in the end. So he let the stranger know, in few
+words, precisely what the case was,--how that King Polydectes wanted the
+head of Medusa with the snaky locks as a bridal gift for the beautiful
+Princess Hippodamia, and how that he had undertaken to get it for him,
+but was afraid of being turned into stone.
+
+"And that would be a great pity," said Quicksilver, with his mischievous
+smile. "You would make a very handsome marble statue, it is true, and it
+would be a considerable number of centuries before you crumbled away;
+but, on the whole, one would rather be a young man for a few years, than
+a stone image for a great many."
+
+"Oh, far rather!" exclaimed Perseus, with the tears again standing in
+his eyes. "And, besides, what would my dear mother do, if her beloved
+son were turned into a stone?"
+
+"Well, well, let us hope that the affair will not turn out so very
+badly," replied Quicksilver, in an encouraging tone. "I am the very
+person to help you, if anybody can. My sister and myself will do our
+utmost to bring you safe through the adventure, ugly as it now looks."
+
+"Your sister?" repeated Perseus.
+
+"Yes, my sister," said the stranger. "She is very wise, I promise you;
+and as for myself, I generally have all my wits about me, such as they
+are. If you show yourself bold and cautious, and follow our advice, you
+need not fear being a stone image yet awhile. But, first of all, you
+must polish your shield, till you can see your face in it as distinctly
+as in a mirror."
+
+This seemed to Perseus rather an odd beginning of the adventure; for he
+thought it of far more consequence that the shield should be strong
+enough to defend him from the Gorgon's brazen claws, than that it should
+be bright enough to show him the reflection of his face. However,
+concluding that Quicksilver knew better than himself, he immediately set
+to work, and scrubbed the shield with so much diligence and good-will,
+that it very quickly shone like the moon at harvest time. Quicksilver
+looked at it with a smile, and nodded his approbation. Then, taking off
+his own short and crooked sword, he girded it about Perseus, instead of
+the one which he had before worn.
+
+"No sword but mine will answer your purpose," observed he; "the blade
+has a most excellent temper, and will cut through iron and brass as
+easily as through the slenderest twig. And now we will set out. The next
+thing is to find the Three Gray Women, who will tell us where to find
+the Nymphs."
+
+"The Three Gray Women!" cried Perseus, to whom this seemed only a new
+difficulty in the path of his adventure; "pray who may the Three Gray
+Women be? I never heard of them before."
+
+"They are three very strange old ladies," said Quicksilver, laughing.
+"They have but one eye among them, and only one tooth. Moreover, you
+must find them out by starlight, or in the dusk of the evening; for they
+never show themselves by the light either of the sun or moon."
+
+"But," said Perseus, "why should I waste my time with these Three Gray
+Women? Would it not be better to set out at once in search of the
+terrible Gorgons?"
+
+"No, no," answered his friend. "There are other things to be done,
+before you can find your way to the Gorgons. There is nothing for it but
+to hunt up these old ladies; and when we meet with them, you may be sure
+that the Gorgons are not a great way off. Come, let us be stirring!"
+
+Perseus, by this time, felt so much confidence in his companion's
+sagacity, that he made no more objections, and professed himself ready
+to begin the adventure immediately. They accordingly set out, and walked
+at a pretty brisk pace; so brisk, indeed, that Perseus found it rather
+difficult to keep up with his nimble friend Quicksilver. To say the
+truth, he had a singular idea that Quicksilver was furnished with a pair
+of winged shoes, which, of course, helped him along marvellously. And
+then, too, when Perseus looked sideways at him out of the corner of his
+eye, he seemed to see wings on the side of his head; although, if he
+turned a full gaze, there were no such things to be perceived, but only
+an odd kind of cap. But, at all events, the twisted staff was evidently
+a great convenience to Quicksilver, and enabled him to proceed so fast,
+that Perseus, though a remarkably active young man, began to be out of
+breath.
+
+"Here!" cried Quicksilver, at last--for he knew well enough, rogue that
+he was, how hard Perseus found it to keep pace with him--"take you the
+staff, for you need it a great deal more than I. Are there no better
+walkers than yourself in the island of Seriphus?"
+
+"I could walk pretty well," said Perseus, glancing slyly at his
+companion's feet, "if I had only a pair of winged shoes."
+
+"We must see about getting you a pair," answered Quicksilver.
+
+But the staff helped Perseus along so bravely, that he no longer felt
+the slightest weariness. In fact, the stick seemed to be alive in his
+hand, and to lend some of its life to Perseus. He and Quicksilver now
+walked onward at their ease, talking very sociably together; and
+Quicksilver told so many pleasant stories about his former adventures,
+and how well his wits had served him on various occasions, that Perseus
+began to think him a very wonderful person. He evidently knew the world;
+and nobody is so charming to a young man as a friend who has that kind
+of knowledge. Perseus listened the more eagerly, in the hope of
+brightening his own wits by what he heard.
+
+At last, he happened to recollect that Quicksilver had spoken of a
+sister, who was to lend her assistance in the adventure which they were
+now bound upon.
+
+"Where is she?" he inquired. "Shall we not meet her soon?"
+
+"All at the proper time," said his companion. "But this sister of mine,
+you must understand, is quite a different sort of character from myself.
+She is very grave and prudent, seldom smiles, never laughs, and makes it
+a rule not to utter a word unless she has something particularly
+profound to say. Neither will she listen to any but the wisest
+conversation."
+
+"Dear me!" ejaculated Perseus; "I shall be afraid to say a syllable."
+
+"She is a very accomplished person, I assure you," continued
+Quicksilver, "and has all the arts and sciences at her fingers' ends. In
+short, she is so immoderately wise, that many people call her wisdom
+personified. But, to tell you the truth, she has hardly vivacity enough
+for my taste; and I think you would scarcely find her so pleasant a
+travelling companion as myself. She has her good points, nevertheless;
+and you will find the benefit of them, in your encounter with the
+Gorgons."
+
+By this time it had grown quite dusk. They were now come to a very wild
+and desert place, overgrown with shaggy bushes, and so silent and
+solitary that nobody seemed ever to have dwelt or journeyed there. All
+was waste and desolate, in the gray twilight, which grew every moment
+more obscure. Perseus looked about him, rather disconsolately, and asked
+Quicksilver whether they had a great deal farther to go.
+
+"Hist! hist!" whispered his companion. "Make no noise! This is just the
+time and place to meet the Three Gray Women. Be careful that they do not
+see you before you see them; for, though they have but a single eye
+among the three, it is as sharp sighted as half a dozen common eyes."
+
+"But what must I do," asked Perseus, "when we meet them?"
+
+Quicksilver explained to Perseus how the Three Gray Women managed with
+their one eye. They were in the habit, it seems, of changing it from one
+to another, as if it had been a pair of spectacles, or--which would have
+suited them better--a quizzing glass. When one of the three had kept the
+eye a certain time, she took it out of the socket and passed it to one
+of her sisters, whose turn it might happen to be, and who immediately
+clapped it into her own head, and enjoyed a peep at the visible world.
+Thus it will easily be understood that only one of the Three Gray Women
+could see, while the other two were in utter darkness; and, moreover, at
+the instant when the eye was passing from hand to hand, neither of the
+poor old ladies was able to see a wink. I have heard of a great many
+strange things, in my day, and have witnessed not a few; but none, it
+seems to me, that can compare with the oddity of these Three Gray Women,
+all peeping through a single eye.
+
+So thought Perseus, likewise, and was so astonished that he almost
+fancied his companion was joking with him, and that there were no such
+old women in the world.
+
+"You will soon find whether I tell the truth or no," observed
+Quicksilver. "Hark! hush! hist! hist! There they come, now!"
+
+Perseus looked earnestly through the dusk of the evening, and there,
+sure enough, at no great distance off, he descried the Three Gray Women.
+The light being so faint, he could not well make out what sort of
+figures they were; only he discovered that they had long gray hair; and,
+as they came nearer, he saw that two of them had but the empty socket of
+an eye, in the middle of their foreheads. But, in the middle of the
+third sister's forehead, there was a very large, bright, and piercing
+eye, which sparkled like a great diamond in a ring; and so penetrating
+did it seem to be, that Perseus could not help thinking it must possess
+the gift of seeing in the darkest midnight just as perfectly as at
+noonday. The sight of three persons' eyes was melted and collected into
+that single one.
+
+Thus the three old dames got along about as comfortably, upon the whole,
+as if they could all see at once. She who chanced to have the eye in her
+forehead led the other two by the hands, peeping sharply about her, all
+the while; insomuch that Perseus dreaded lest she should see right
+through the thick clump of bushes behind which he and Quicksilver had
+hidden themselves. My stars! it was positively terrible to be within
+reach of so very sharp an eye!
+
+But, before they reached the clump of bushes, one of the Three Gray
+Women spoke.
+
+"Sister! Sister Scarecrow!" cried she, "you have had the eye long
+enough. It is my turn now!"
+
+"Let me keep it a moment longer, Sister Nightmare," answered Scarecrow.
+"I thought I had a glimpse of something behind that thick bush."
+
+"Well, and what of that?" retorted Nightmare, peevishly. "Can't I see
+into a thick bush as easily as yourself? The eye is mine as well as
+yours; and I know the use of it as well as you, or maybe a little
+better. I insist upon taking a peep immediately!"
+
+But here the third sister, whose name was Shakejoint, began to complain,
+and said that it was her turn to have the eye, and that Scarecrow and
+Nightmare wanted to keep it all to themselves. To end the dispute, old
+Dame Scarecrow took the eye out of her forehead, and held it forth in
+her hand.
+
+"Take it, one of you," cried she, "and quit this foolish quarrelling.
+For my part, I shall be glad of a little thick darkness. Take it
+quickly, however, or I must clap it into my own head again!"
+
+Accordingly, both Nightmare and Shakejoint put out their hands, groping
+eagerly to snatch the eye out of the hand of Scarecrow. But, being both
+alike blind, they could not easily find where Scarecrow's hand was; and
+Scarecrow, being now just as much in the dark as Shakejoint and
+Nightmare, could not at once meet either of their hands, in order to put
+the eye into it. Thus (as you will see, with half an eye, my wise little
+auditors), these good old dames had fallen into a strange perplexity.
+For, though the eye shone and glistened like a star, as Scarecrow held
+it out, yet the Gray Women caught not the least glimpse of its light,
+and were all three in utter darkness, from too impatient a desire to
+see.
+
+Quicksilver was so much tickled at beholding Shakejoint and Nightmare
+both groping for the eye, and each finding fault with Scarecrow and one
+another, that he could scarcely help laughing aloud.
+
+"Now is your time!" he whispered to Perseus. "Quick, quick! before they
+can clap the eye into either of their heads. Rush out upon the old
+ladies, and snatch it from Scarecrow's hand!"
+
+In an instant, while the Three Gray Women were still scolding each
+other, Perseus leaped from behind the clump of bushes, and made himself
+master of the prize. The marvellous eye, as he held it in his hand,
+shone very brightly, and seemed to look up into his face with a knowing
+air, and an expression as if it would have winked, had it been provided
+with a pair of eyelids for that purpose. But the Gray Women knew nothing
+of what had happened; and, each supposing that one of her sisters was in
+possession of the eye, they began their quarrel anew. At last, as
+Perseus did not wish to put these respectable dames to greater
+inconvenience than was really necessary, he thought it right to explain
+the matter.
+
+"My good ladies," said he, "pray do not be angry with one another. If
+anybody is in fault, it is myself; for I have the honour to hold your
+very brilliant and excellent eye in my own hand!"
+
+"You! you have our eye! And who are you?" screamed the Three Gray Women,
+all in a breath; for they were terribly frightened, of course, at
+hearing a strange voice, and discovering that their eyesight had got
+into the hands of they could not guess whom. "Oh, what shall we do,
+sisters? what shall we do? We are all in the dark! Give us our eye! Give
+us our one, precious, solitary eye! You have two of your own! Give us
+our eye!"
+
+"Tell them," whispered Quicksilver to Perseus, "that they shall have
+back the eye as soon as they direct you where to find the Nymphs who
+have the flying slippers, the magic wallet, and the helmet of darkness."
+
+"My dear, good, admirable old ladies," said Perseus, addressing the Gray
+Women, "there is no occasion for putting yourselves into such a fright.
+I am by no means a bad young man. You shall have back your eye, safe and
+sound, and as bright as ever, the moment you tell me where to find the
+Nymphs."
+
+"The Nymphs! Goodness me! sisters, what Nymphs does he mean?" screamed
+Scarecrow. "There are a great many Nymphs, people say; some that go a
+hunting in the woods, and some that live inside of trees, and some that
+have a comfortable home in fountains of water. We know nothing at all
+about them. We are three unfortunate old souls, that go wandering about
+in the dusk, and never had but one eye amongst us, and that one you have
+stolen away. Oh, give it back, good stranger!--whoever you are, give it
+back!"
+
+All this while the Three Gray Women were groping with their outstretched
+hands, and trying their utmost to get hold of Perseus. But he took good
+care to keep out of their reach.
+
+"My respectable dames," said he--for his mother had taught him always to
+use the greatest civility--"I hold your eye fast in my hand, and shall
+keep it safely for you, until you please to tell me where to find these
+Nymphs. The Nymphs, I mean, who keep the enchanted wallet, the flying
+slippers, and the what is it?--the helmet of invisibility."
+
+"Mercy on us, sisters! what is the young man talking about?" exclaimed
+Scarecrow, Nightmare and Shakejoint, one to another, with great
+appearance of astonishment. "A pair of flying slippers, quoth he! His
+heels would quickly fly higher than his head, if he was silly enough to
+put them on. And a helmet of invisibility! How could a helmet make him
+invisible, unless it were big enough for him to hide under it? And an
+enchanted wallet! What sort of a contrivance may that be, I wonder? No,
+no, good stranger! we can tell you nothing of these marvellous things.
+You have two eyes of your own, and we have but a single one amongst us
+three. You can find out such wonders better than three blind old
+creatures, like us."
+
+Perseus, hearing them talk in this way, began really to think that the
+Gray Women knew nothing of the matter; and, as it grieved him to have
+put them to so much trouble, he was just on the point of restoring their
+eye and asking pardon for his rudeness in snatching it away. But
+Quicksilver caught his hand.
+
+"Don't let them make a fool of you!" said he. "These Three Gray Women
+are the only persons in the world that can tell you where to find the
+Nymphs; and, unless you get that information, you will never succeed in
+cutting off the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. Keep fast hold of
+the eye, and all will go well."
+
+As it turned out, Quicksilver was in the right. There are but few things
+that people prize so much as they do their eyesight; and the Gray Women
+valued their single eye as highly as if it had been half a dozen, which
+was the number they ought to have had. Finding that there was no other
+way of recovering it, they at last told Perseus what he wanted to know.
+No sooner had they done so, than he immediately, and with the utmost
+respect, clapped the eye into the vacant socket in one of their
+foreheads, thanked them for their kindness, and bade them farewell.
+Before the young man was out of hearing, however, they had got into a
+new dispute, because he happened to have given the eye to Scarecrow, who
+had already taken her turn of it when their trouble with Perseus
+commenced.
+
+It is greatly to be feared that the Three Gray Women were very much in
+the habit of disturbing their mutual harmony by bickerings of this sort;
+which was the more pity, as they could not conveniently do without one
+another, and were evidently intended to be inseparable companions. As a
+general rule, I would advise all people, whether sisters or brothers,
+old or young, who chance to have but one eye amongst them, to cultivate
+forbearance, and not all insist upon peeping through it at once.
+
+Quicksilver and Perseus, in the meantime, were making the best of their
+way in quest of the Nymphs. The old dames had given them such particular
+directions that they were not long in finding them out. They proved to
+be very different persons from Nightmare, Shakejoint and Scarecrow; for,
+instead of being old, they were young and beautiful; and instead of one
+eye amongst the sisterhood, each Nymph had two exceedingly bright eyes
+of her own, with which she looked very kindly at Perseus. They seemed to
+be acquainted with Quicksilver; and, when he told them the adventure
+which Perseus had undertaken, they made no difficulty about giving him
+the valuable articles that were in their custody. In the first place,
+they brought out what appeared to be a small purse, made of deer skin,
+and curiously embroidered, and bade him be sure and keep it safe. This
+was the magic wallet. The Nymphs next produced a pair of shoes, or
+slippers, or sandals, with a nice little pair of wings at the heel of
+each.
+
+"Put them on, Perseus," said Quicksilver. "You will find yourself as
+light heeled as you can desire for the remainder of our journey."
+
+So Perseus proceeded to put one of the slippers on, while he laid the
+other on the ground by his side. Unexpectedly, however, this other
+slipper spread its wings, fluttered up off the ground, and would
+probably have flown away, if Quicksilver had not made a leap, and
+luckily caught it in the air.
+
+"Be more careful," said he, as he gave it back to Perseus. "It would
+frighten the birds, up aloft, if they should see a flying slipper
+amongst them."
+
+When Perseus had got on both of these wonderful slippers, he was
+altogether too buoyant to tread on earth. Making a step or two, lo and
+behold! upward he popped into the air, high above the heads of
+Quicksilver and the Nymphs, and found it very difficult to clamber down
+again. Winged slippers, and all such high-flying contrivances, are
+seldom quite easy to manage until one grows a little accustomed to them.
+Quicksilver laughed at his companion's involuntary activity, and told
+him that he must not be in so desperate a hurry, but must wait for the
+invisible helmet.
+
+The good-natured Nymphs had the helmet, with its dark tuft of waving
+plumes, all in readiness to put upon his head. And now there happened
+about as wonderful an incident as anything that I have yet told you.
+The instant before the helmet was put on, there stood Perseus, a
+beautiful young man, with golden ringlets and rosy cheeks, the crooked
+sword by his side, and the brightly polished shield upon his arm--a
+figure that seemed all made up of courage, sprightliness, and glorious
+light. But when the helmet had descended over his white brow, there was
+no longer any Perseus to be seen! Nothing but empty air! Even the
+helmet, that covered him with its invisibility, had vanished!
+
+"Where are you, Perseus?" asked Quicksilver.
+
+"Why, here, to be sure!" answered Perseus, very quietly, although his
+voice seemed to come out of the transparent atmosphere. "Just where I
+was a moment ago. Don't you see me?"
+
+"No, indeed!" answered his friend. "You are hidden under the helmet.
+But, if I cannot see you, neither can the Gorgons. Follow me, therefore,
+and we will try your dexterity in using the winged slippers."
+
+With these words, Quicksilver's cap spread its wings, as if his head
+were about to fly away from his shoulders; but his whole figure rose
+lightly into the air, and Perseus followed. By the time they had
+ascended a few hundred feet, the young man began to feel what a
+delightful thing it was to leave the dull earth so far beneath him, and
+to be able to flit about like a bird.
+
+It was now deep night. Perseus looked upward, and saw the round, bright,
+silvery moon, and thought that he should desire nothing better than to
+soar up thither, and spend his life there. Then he looked downward
+again, and saw the earth, with its seas and lakes, and the silver
+courses of its rivers, and its snowy mountain peaks, and the breadth of
+its fields, and the dark cluster of its woods, and its cities of white
+marble; and, with the moonshine sleeping over the whole scene, it was as
+beautiful as the moon or any star could be. And, among other objects, he
+saw the island of Seriphus, where his dear mother was. Sometimes he and
+Quicksilver approached a cloud, that, at a distance, looked as if it
+were made of fleecy silver; although, when they plunged into it, they
+found themselves chilled and moistened with gray mist. So swift was
+their flight, however, that, in an instant, they emerged from the cloud
+into the moonlight again. Once, a high-soaring eagle flew right against
+the invisible Perseus. The bravest sights were the meteors, that gleamed
+suddenly out, as if a bonfire had been kindled in the sky, and made the
+moonshine pale for as much as a hundred miles around them.
+
+As the two companions flew onward, Perseus fancied that he could hear
+the rustle of a garment close by his side; and it was on the side
+opposite to the one where he beheld Quicksilver, yet only Quicksilver
+was visible.
+
+"Whose garment is this," inquired Perseus, "that keeps rustling close
+beside me in the breeze?"
+
+"Oh, it is my sister's!" answered Quicksilver. "She is coming along with
+us, as I told you she would. We could do nothing without the help of my
+sister. You have no idea how wise she is. She has such eyes, too! Why,
+she can see you, at this moment, just as distinctly as if you were not
+invisible; and I'll venture to say, she will be the first to discover
+the Gorgons."
+
+By this time, in their swift voyage through the air, they had come
+within sight of the great ocean, and were soon flying over it. Far
+beneath them, the waves tossed themselves tumultuously in mid-sea, or
+rolled a white surf line upon the long beaches, or foamed against the
+rocky cliffs, with a roar that was thunderous, in the lower world;
+although it became a gentle murmur, like the voice of a baby half
+asleep, before it reached the ears of Perseus. Just then a voice spoke
+in the air close by him. It seemed to be a woman's voice, and was
+melodious, though not exactly what might be called sweet, but grave and
+mild.
+
+"Perseus," said the voice, "there are the Gorgons."
+
+"Where?" exclaimed Perseus. "I cannot see them."
+
+"On the shore of that island beneath you," replied the voice. "A pebble,
+dropped from your hand, would strike in the midst of them."
+
+"I told you she would be the first to discover them," said Quicksilver
+to Perseus. "And there they are!"
+
+Straight downward, two or three thousand feet below him, Perseus
+perceived a small island, with the sea breaking into white foam all
+around its rocky shore, except on one side, where there was a beach of
+snowy sand. He descended toward it, and, looking earnestly at a cluster
+or heap of brightness, at the foot of a precipice of black rocks,
+behold, there were the terrible Gorgons! They lay fast asleep, soothed
+by the thunder of the sea; for it required a tumult that would have
+deafened everybody else to lull such fierce creatures into slumber. The
+moonlight glistened on their steely scales, and on their golden wings,
+which drooped idly over the sand. Their brazen claws, horrible to look
+at, were thrust out, and clutched the wave-beaten fragments of rock,
+while the sleeping Gorgons dreamed of tearing some poor mortal all to
+pieces. The snakes that served them instead of hair seemed likewise to
+be asleep; although, now and then, one would writhe, and lift its head,
+and thrust out its forked tongue, emitting a drowsy hiss, and then let
+itself subside among its sister snakes.
+
+The Gorgons were more like an awful, gigantic kind of insect--immense,
+golden-winged beetles, or dragon-flies, or things of that sort--at once
+ugly and beautiful--than like anything else; only that they were a
+thousand and a million times as big. And, with all this, there was
+something partly human about them, too. Luckily for Perseus, their faces
+were completely hidden from him by the posture in which they lay; for,
+had he but looked one instant at them, he would have fallen heavily out
+of the air, an image of senseless stone.
+
+"Now," whispered Quicksilver, as he hovered by the side of Perseus--"now
+is your time to do the deed! Be quick; for, if one of the Gorgons should
+awake, you are too late!"
+
+"Which shall I strike at?" asked Perseus, drawing his sword and
+descending a little lower. "They all three look alike. All three have
+snaky locks. Which of the three is Medusa?"
+
+It must be understood that Medusa was the only one of these dragon
+monsters whose head Perseus could possibly cut off. As for the other
+two, let him have the sharpest sword that ever was forged, and he might
+have hacked away by the hour together, without doing them the least
+harm.
+
+"Be cautious," said the calm voice which had before spoken to him. "One
+of the Gorgons is stirring in her sleep, and is just about to turn over.
+That is Medusa. Do not look at her! The sight would turn you to stone!
+Look at the reflection of her face and figure in the bright mirror of
+your shield."
+
+Perseus now understood Quicksilver's motive for so earnestly exhorting
+him to polish his shield. In its surface he could safely look at the
+reflection of the Gorgon's face. And there it was--that terrible
+countenance--mirrored in the brightness of the shield, with the
+moonlight falling over it, and displaying all its horror. The snakes,
+whose venomous natures could not altogether sleep, kept twisting
+themselves over the forehead. It was the fiercest and most horrible face
+that ever was seen or imagined, and yet with a strange, fearful, and
+savage kind of beauty in it. The eyes were closed, and the Gorgon was
+still in a deep slumber; but there was an unquiet expression disturbing
+her features, as if the monster was troubled with an ugly dream. She
+gnashed her white tusks, and dug into the sand with her brazen claws.
+
+The snakes, too, seemed to feel Medusa's dream, and to be made more
+restless by it. They twined themselves into tumultuous knots, writhed
+fiercely, and uplifted a hundred hissing heads, without opening their
+eyes.
+
+"Now, now!" whispered Quicksilver, who was growing impatient. "Make a
+dash at the monster!"
+
+"But be calm," said the grave, melodious voice at the young man's side.
+"Look in your shield, as you fly downward, and take care that you do not
+miss your first stroke."
+
+Perseus flew cautiously downward, still keeping his eyes on Medusa's
+face, as reflected in his shield. The nearer he came, the more terrible
+did the snaky visage and metallic body of the monster grow. At last,
+when he found himself hovering over her within arm's length, Perseus
+uplifted his sword, while, at the same instant, each separate snake upon
+the Gorgon's head stretched threateningly upward, and Medusa unclosed
+her eyes. But she awoke too late. The sword was sharp; the stroke fell
+like a lightning flash; and the head of the wicked Medusa tumbled from
+her body!
+
+"Admirably done!" cried Quicksilver. "Make haste, and clap the head into
+your magic wallet."
+
+To the astonishment of Perseus, the small, embroidered wallet, which he
+had hung about his neck, and which had hitherto been no bigger than a
+purse, grew all at once large enough to contain Medusa's head. As quick
+as thought, he snatched it up, with the snakes still writhing upon it,
+and thrust it in.
+
+"Your task is done," said the calm voice. "Now fly; for the other
+Gorgons will do their utmost to take vengeance for Medusa's death."
+
+It was, indeed, necessary to take flight; for Perseus had not done the
+deed so quietly but that the clash of his sword, and the hissing of the
+snakes, and the thump of Medusa's head as it tumbled upon the sea-beaten
+sand, awoke the other two monsters. There they sat, for an instant,
+sleepily rubbing their eyes with their brazen fingers, while all the
+snakes on their heads reared themselves on end with surprise, and with
+venomous malice against they knew not what. But when the Gorgons saw the
+scaly carcass of Medusa, headless, and her golden wings all ruffled and
+half spread out on the sand, it was really awful to hear what yells and
+screeches they set up. And then the snakes! They sent forth a
+hundredfold hiss, with one consent, and Medusa's snakes answered them
+out of the magic wallet.
+
+No sooner were the Gorgons broad awake than they hurtled upward into the
+air, brandishing their brass talons, gnashing their horrible tusks, and
+flapping their huge wings so wildly, that some of the golden feathers
+were shaken out, and floated down upon the shore. And there, perhaps,
+those very feathers lie scattered till this day. Up rose the Gorgons, as
+I tell you, staring horribly about, in hopes of turning somebody to
+stone. Had Perseus looked them in the face, or had he fallen into their
+clutches, his poor mother would never have kissed her boy again! But he
+took good care to turn his eyes another way; and, as he wore the helmet
+of invisibility, the Gorgons knew not in what direction to follow him;
+nor did he fail to make the best use of the winged slippers, by soaring
+upward a perpendicular mile or so. At that height, when the screams of
+those abominable creatures sounded faintly beneath him, he made a
+straight course for the island of Seriphus, in order to carry Medusa's
+head to King Polydectes.
+
+I have no time to tell you of several marvellous things that befell
+Perseus on his way homeward; such as his killing a hideous sea monster,
+just as it was on the point of devouring a beautiful maiden; nor how he
+changed an enormous giant into a mountain of stone, merely by showing
+him the head of the Gorgon. If you doubt this latter story, you may make
+a voyage to Africa, some day or other, and see the very mountain, which
+is still known by the ancient giant's name.
+
+Finally, our brave Perseus arrived at the island, where he expected to
+see his dear mother. But, during his absence, the wicked king had
+treated Danaë so very ill that she was compelled to make her escape, and
+had taken refuge in a temple, where some good old priests were extremely
+kind to her. These praiseworthy priests, and the kind-hearted fisherman,
+who had first shown hospitality to Danaë and little Perseus when he
+found them afloat in the chest, seem to have been the only persons on
+the island who cared about doing right. All the rest of the people, as
+well as King Polydectes himself, were remarkably ill behaved, and
+deserved no better destiny than that which was now to happen.
+
+Not finding his mother at home, Perseus went straight to the palace, and
+was immediately ushered into the presence of the king. Polydectes was by
+no means rejoiced to see him; for he had felt almost certain, in his own
+evil mind, that the Gorgons would have torn the poor young man to
+pieces, and have eaten him up, out of the way. However, seeing him
+safely returned, he put the best face he could upon the matter and asked
+Perseus how he had succeeded.
+
+"Have you performed your promise?" inquired he. "Have you brought me the
+head of Medusa with the snaky locks? If not, young man, it will cost you
+dear; for I must have a bridal present for the beautiful Princess
+Hippodamia, and there is nothing else that she would admire so much."
+
+"Yes, please Your Majesty," answered Perseus, in a quiet way, as if it
+were no very wonderful deed for such a young man as he to perform. "I
+have brought you the Gorgon's head, snaky locks and all!"
+
+"Indeed! Pray let me see it," quoth King Polydectes. "It must be a very
+curious spectacle, if all that travellers tell about it be true!"
+
+"Your Majesty is in the right," replied Perseus. "It is really an object
+that will be pretty certain to fix the regards of all who look at it.
+And, if Your Majesty think fit, I would suggest that a holiday be
+proclaimed, and that all Your Majesty's subjects be summoned to behold
+this wonderful curiosity. Few of them, I imagine, have seen a Gorgon's
+head before, and perhaps never may again!"
+
+The king well knew that his subjects were an idle set of reprobates, and
+very fond of sightseeing, as idle persons usually are. So he took the
+young man's advice, and sent out heralds and messengers, in all
+directions, to blow the trumpet at the street corners, and in the market
+places, and wherever two roads met, and summon everybody to court.
+Thither, accordingly, came a great multitude of good-for-nothing
+vagabonds, all of whom, out of pure love of mischief, would have been
+glad if Perseus had met with some ill-hap in his encounter with the
+Gorgons. If there were any better people in the island (as I really hope
+there may have been, although the story tells nothing about any such),
+they stayed quietly at home, minding their business, and taking care of
+their little children. Most of the inhabitants, at all events, ran as
+fast as they could to the palace, and shoved, and pushed, and elbowed
+one another in their eagerness to get near a balcony, on which Perseus
+showed himself, holding the embroidered wallet in his hand.
+
+On a platform, within full view of the balcony, sat the mighty King
+Polydectes, amid his evil counsellors, and with his flattering courtiers
+in a semi-circle round about him. Monarch, counsellors, courtiers, and
+subjects, all gazed eagerly toward Perseus.
+
+"Show us the head! Show us the head!" shouted the people; and there was
+a fierceness in their cry as if they would tear Perseus to pieces,
+unless he should satisfy them with what he had to show. "Show us the
+head of Medusa with the snaky locks!"
+
+A feeling of sorrow and pity came over the youthful Perseus.
+
+"O King Polydectes," cried he, "and ye many people, I am very loath to
+show you the Gorgon's head!"
+
+"Ah, the villain and coward!" yelled the people, more fiercely than
+before. "He is making game of us! He has no Gorgon's head! Show us the
+head if you have it, or we will take your own head for a football!"
+
+The evil counsellors whispered bad advice in the king's ear; the
+courtiers murmured, with one consent, that Perseus had shown disrespect
+to their royal lord and master; and the great King Polydectes himself
+waved his hand, and ordered him, with the stern, deep voice of
+authority, on his peril, to produce the head.
+
+"Show me the Gorgon's head, or I will cut off your own!"
+
+And Perseus sighed.
+
+"This instant," repeated Polydectes, "or you die!"
+
+"Behold it then!" cried Perseus, in a voice like the blast of a trumpet.
+
+And, suddenly holding up the head, not an eyelid had time to wink before
+the wicked King Polydectes, his evil counsellors, and all his fierce
+subjects were no longer anything but the mere images of a monarch and
+his people. They were all fixed, forever, in the look and attitude of
+that moment! At the first glimpse of the terrible head of Medusa, they
+whitened into marble! And Perseus thrust the head back into his wallet,
+and went to tell his dear mother that she need no longer be afraid of
+the wicked King Polydectes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE DRAGON'S TEETH
+
+
+Cadmus, Phœnix, and Cilix, the three sons of King Agenor, and their
+little sister Europa (who was a very beautiful child) were at play
+together, near the seashore, in their father's kingdom of Phœnicia.
+They had rambled to some distance from the palace where their parents
+dwelt, and were now in a verdant meadow, on one side of which lay the
+sea, all sparkling and dimpling in the sunshine, and murmuring gently
+against the beach. The three boys were very happy, gathering flowers,
+and twining them into garlands, with which they adorned the little
+Europa. Seated on the grass, the child was almost hidden under an
+abundance of buds and blossoms, whence her rosy face peeped merrily out,
+and, as Cadmus said, was the prettiest of all the flowers.
+
+Just then, there came a splendid butterfly, fluttering along the meadow;
+and Cadmus, Phœnix, and Cilix set off in pursuit of it, crying out
+that it was a flower with wings. Europa, who was a little wearied with
+playing all day long, did not chase the butterfly with her brothers, but
+sat still where they had left her, and closed her eyes. For a while, she
+listened to the pleasant murmur of the sea, which was like a voice
+saying "Hush!" and bidding her go to sleep. But the pretty child, if she
+slept at all, could not have slept more than a moment, when she heard
+something trample on the grass, not far from her, and peeping out from
+the heap of flowers, beheld a snow-white bull.
+
+And whence could this bull have come? Europa and her brothers had been a
+long time playing in the meadow, and had seen no cattle, nor other
+living thing, either there or on the neighbouring hills.
+
+"Brother Cadmus!" cried Europa, starting up out of the midst of the
+roses and lilies. "Phœnix! Cilix! Where are you all? Help! Help! Come
+and drive away this bull!"
+
+But her brothers were too far off to hear; especially as the fright took
+away Europa's voice, and hindered her from calling very loudly. So there
+she stood, with her pretty mouth wide open, as pale as the white lilies
+that were twisted among the other flowers in her garlands.
+
+Nevertheless, it was the suddenness with which she had perceived the
+bull, rather than anything frightful in his appearance, that caused
+Europa so much alarm. On looking at him more attentively, she began to
+see that he was a beautiful animal, and even fancied a particularly
+amiable expression in his face. As for his breath--the breath of cattle,
+you know, is always sweet--it was as fragrant as if he had been grazing
+on no other food than rosebuds, or, at least, the most delicate of
+clover blossoms. Never before did a bull have such bright and tender
+eyes, and such smooth horns of ivory, as this one. And the bull ran
+little races, and capered sportively around the child; so that she quite
+forgot how big and strong he was, and, from the gentleness and
+playfulness of his actions, soon came to consider him as innocent a
+creature as a pet lamb.
+
+Thus, frightened as she at first was, you might by and by have seen
+Europa stroking the bull's forehead with her small white hand, and
+taking the garlands off her own head to hang them on his neck and ivory
+horns. Then she pulled up some blades of grass, and he ate them out of
+her hand, not as if he were hungry, but because he wanted to be friends
+with the child, and took pleasure in eating what she had touched. Well,
+my stars! was there ever such a gentle, sweet, pretty, and amiable
+creature as this bull, and ever such a nice playmate for a little girl?
+
+When the animal saw (for the bull had so much intelligence that it is
+really wonderful to think of), when he saw that Europa was no longer
+afraid of him, he grew overjoyed, and could hardly contain himself for
+delight. He frisked about the meadow, now here, now there, making
+sprightly leaps, with as little effort as a bird expends in hopping from
+twig to twig. Indeed, his motion was as light as if he were flying
+through the air, and his hoofs seemed hardly to leave their print in the
+grassy soil over which he trod. With his spotless hue, he resembled a
+snowdrift, wafted along by the wind. Once he galloped so far away that
+Europa feared lest she might never see him again; so, setting up her
+childish voice, she called him back.
+
+"Come back, pretty creature!" she cried. "Here is a nice clover
+blossom."
+
+And then it was delightful to witness the gratitude of this amiable
+bull, and how he was so full of joy and thankfulness that he capered
+higher than ever. He came running, and bowed his head before Europa, as
+if he knew her to be a king's daughter, or else recognised the important
+truth that a little girl is everybody's queen. And not only did the bull
+bend his neck, he absolutely knelt down at her feet, and made such
+intelligent nods, and other inviting gestures, that Europa understood
+what he meant just as well as if he had put it in so many words.
+
+"Come, dear child," was what he wanted to say, "let me give you a ride
+on my back."
+
+At the first thought of such a thing, Europa drew back. But then she
+considered in her wise little head that there could be no possible harm
+in taking just one gallop on the back of this docile and friendly
+animal, who would certainly set her down the very instant she desired
+it. And how it would surprise her brothers to see her riding across the
+green meadow! And what merry times they might have, either taking turns
+for a gallop, or clambering on the gentle creature, all four children
+together, and careering round the field with shouts of laughter that
+would be heard as far off as King Agenor's palace!
+
+"I think I will do it," said the child to herself.
+
+And, indeed, why not? She cast a glance around, and caught a glimpse of
+Cadmus, Phœnix, and Cilix, who were still in pursuit of the
+butterfly, almost at the other end of the meadow. It would be the
+quickest way of rejoining them, to get upon the white bull's back. She
+came a step nearer to him, therefore; and--sociable creature that he
+was--he showed so much joy at this mark of her confidence, that the
+child could not find it in her heart to hesitate any longer. Making one
+bound (for this little princess was as active as a squirrel), there sat
+Europa on the beautiful bull, holding an ivory horn in each hand, lest
+she should fall off.
+
+"Softly, pretty bull, softly!" she said, rather frightened at what she
+had done. "Do not gallop too fast."
+
+Having got the child on his back, the animal gave a leap into the air,
+and came down so like a feather that Europa did not know when his hoofs
+touched the ground. He then began a race to that part of the flowery
+plain where her three brothers were, and where they had just caught
+their splendid butterfly. Europa screamed with delight; and Phœnix,
+Cilix, and Cadmus stood gaping at the spectacle of their sister mounted
+on a white bull, not knowing whether to be frightened or to wish the
+same good luck for themselves. The gentle and innocent creature (for who
+could possibly doubt that he was so?) pranced round among the children
+as sportively as a kitten. Europa all the while looked down upon her
+brothers, nodding and laughing, but yet with a sort of stateliness in
+her rosy little face. As the bull wheeled about to take another gallop
+across the meadow, the child waved her hand, and said, "Good-by,"
+playfully pretending that she was now bound on a distant journey, and
+might not see her brothers again for nobody could tell how long.
+
+"Good-by," shouted Cadmus, Phœnix, and Cilix, all in one breath.
+
+But, together with her enjoyment of the sport, there was still a little
+remnant of fear in the child's heart; so that her last look at the three
+boys was a troubled one, and made them feel as if their dear sister were
+really leaving them forever. And what do you think the snowy bull did
+next? Why, he set off, as swift as the wind, straight down to the
+seashore, scampered across the sand, took an airy leap, and plunged
+right in among the foaming billows. The white spray rose in a shower
+over him and little Europa, and fell spattering down upon the water.
+
+Then what a scream of terror did the poor child send forth! The three
+brothers screamed manfully, likewise, and ran to the shore as fast as
+their legs would carry them, with Cadmus at their head. But it was too
+late. When they reached the margin of the sand, the treacherous animal
+was already far away in the wide blue sea, with only his snowy head and
+tail emerging, and poor little Europa between them, stretching out one
+hand toward her dear brothers, while she grasped the bull's ivory horn
+with the other. And there stood Cadmus, Phœnix, and Cilix, gazing at
+this sad spectacle, through their tears, until they could no longer
+distinguish the bull's snowy head from the white-capped billows that
+seemed to boil up out of the sea's depths around him. Nothing more was
+ever seen of the white bull--nothing more of the beautiful child.
+
+This was a mournful story, as you may well think, for the three boys to
+carry home to their parents. King Agenor, their father, was the ruler of
+the whole country; but he loved his little daughter Europa better than
+his kingdom, or than all his other children, or than anything else in
+the world. Therefore, when Cadmus and his two brothers came crying home,
+and told him how that a white bull had carried off their sister, and
+swam with her over the sea, the king was quite beside himself with grief
+and rage. Although it was now twilight, and fast growing dark, he bade
+them set out instantly in search of her.
+
+"Never shall you see my face again," he cried, "unless you bring me back
+my little Europa, to gladden me with her smiles and her pretty ways.
+Begone, and enter my presence no more, till you come leading her by the
+hand."
+
+As King Agenor said this, his eyes flashed fire (for he was a very
+passionate king), and he looked so terribly angry that the poor boys did
+not even venture to ask for their suppers, but slunk away out of the
+palace, and only paused on the steps a moment to consult whither they
+should go first. While they were standing there, all in dismay, their
+mother, Queen Telephassa (who happened not to be by when they told the
+story to the king), came hurrying after them, and said that she, too,
+would go in quest of her daughter.
+
+"Oh no, mother!" cried the boys. "The night is dark, and there is no
+knowing what troubles and perils we may meet with."
+
+"Alas! my dear children," answered poor Queen Telephassa, weeping
+bitterly, "that is only another reason why I should go with you. If I
+should lose you, too, as well as my little Europa, what would become of
+me?"
+
+"And let me go likewise!" said their playfellow Thasus, who came running
+to join them.
+
+Thasus was the son of a seafaring person in the neighbourhood; he had
+been brought up with the young princess, and was their intimate friend,
+and loved Europa very much; so they consented that he should accompany
+them. The whole party, therefore, set forth together; Cadmus, Phœnix,
+Cilix and Thasus clustered round Queen Telephassa, grasping her skirts,
+and begging her to lean upon their shoulders whenever she felt weary. In
+this manner they went down the palace steps, and began a journey which
+turned out to be a great deal longer than they dreamed of. The last that
+they saw of King Agenor, he came to the door, with a servant holding a
+torch beside him, and called after them into the gathering darkness:
+
+"Remember! Never ascend these steps again without the child!"
+
+"Never!" sobbed Queen Telephassa; and the three brothers and Thasus
+answered, "Never! Never! Never! Never!"
+
+And they kept their word. Year after year King Agenor sat in the
+solitude of his beautiful palace, listening in vain for their returning
+footsteps, hoping to hear the familiar voice of the queen, and the
+cheerful talk of his sons and their playfellow Thasus, entering the
+door together, and the sweet, childish accents of little Europa in the
+midst of them. But so long a time went by, that, at last, if they had
+really come, the king would not have known that this was the voice of
+Telephassa, and these the younger voices that used to make such joyful
+echoes when the children were playing about the palace. We must now
+leave King Agenor to sit on his throne, and must go along with Queen
+Telephassa and her four youthful companions.
+
+They went on and on, and travelled a long way, and passed over mountains
+and rivers, and sailed over seas. Here, and there, and everywhere, they
+made continual inquiry if any person could tell them what had become of
+Europa. The rustic people, of whom they asked this question, paused a
+little while from their labours in the field, and looked very much
+surprised. They thought it strange to behold a woman in the garb of a
+queen (for Telephassa, in her haste, had forgotten to take off her crown
+and her royal robes), roaming about the country, with four lads around
+her, on such an errand as this seemed to be. But nobody could give them
+any tidings of Europa; nobody had seen a little girl dressed like a
+princess, and mounted on a snow-white bull, which galloped as swiftly as
+the wind.
+
+I cannot tell you how long Queen Telephassa, and Cadmus, Phœnix, and
+Cilix, her three sons, and Thasus, their playfellow, went wandering
+along the highways and bypaths, or through the pathless wildernesses of
+the earth, in this manner. But certain it is, that, before they reached
+any place of rest, their splendid garments were quite worn out. They all
+looked very much travel stained, and would have had the dust of many
+countries on their shoes, if the streams, through which they waded, had
+not washed it all away. When they had been gone a year, Telephassa threw
+away her crown, because it chafed her forehead.
+
+"It has given me many a headache," said the poor queen, "and it cannot
+cure my heartache."
+
+As fast as their princely robes got torn and tattered, they exchanged
+them for such mean attire as ordinary people wore. By and by they came
+to have a wild and homeless aspect; so that you would much sooner have
+taken them for a gypsy family than a queen and three princes, and a
+young nobleman, who had once a palace for their home, and a train of
+servants to do their bidding. The four boys grew up to be tall young
+men, with sunburnt faces. Each of them girded on a sword, to defend
+themselves against the perils of the way. When the husbandmen, at whose
+farmhouses they sought hospitality, needed their assistance in the
+harvest field, they gave it willingly; and Queen Telephassa (who had
+done no work in her palace, save to braid silk threads with golden ones)
+came behind them to bind the sheaves. If payment was offered, they shook
+their heads, and only asked for tidings of Europa.
+
+"There are bulls enough in my pasture," the old farmers would reply;
+"but I never heard of one like this you tell me of. A snow-white bull
+with a little princess on his back! Ho! ho! I ask your pardon, good
+folks; but there never was such a sight seen hereabouts."
+
+At last, when his upper lip began to have the down on it, Phœnix grew
+weary of rambling hither and thither to no purpose. So, one day, when
+they happened to be passing through a pleasant and solitary tract of
+country, he sat himself down on a heap of moss.
+
+"I can go no farther," said Phœnix. "It is a mere foolish waste of
+life, to spend it, as we do, in always wandering up and down, and never
+coming to any home at nightfall. Our sister is lost, and never will be
+found. She probably perished in the sea; or, to whatever shore the white
+bull may have carried her, it is now so many years ago, that there would
+be neither love nor acquaintance between us should we meet again. My
+father has forbidden us to return to his palace; so I shall build me a
+hut of branches, and dwell here."
+
+"Well, son Phœnix," said Telephassa, sorrowfully, "you have grown to
+be a man, and must do as you judge best. But, for my part, I will still
+go in quest of my poor child."
+
+"And we three will go along with you!" cried Cadmus and Cilix, and their
+faithful friend Thasus.
+
+But, before setting out, they all helped Phœnix to build a
+habitation. When completed, it was a sweet rural bower, roofed overhead
+with an arch of living boughs. Inside there were two pleasant rooms, one
+of which had a soft heap of moss for a bed, while the other was
+furnished with a rustic seat or two, curiously fashioned out of the
+crooked roots of trees. So comfortable and homelike did it seem, that
+Telephassa and her three companions could not help sighing, to think
+that they must still roam about the world, instead of spending the
+remainder of their lives in some such cheerful abode as they had here
+built for Phœnix. But, when they bade him farewell, Phœnix shed
+tears, and probably regretted that he was no longer to keep them
+company.
+
+However, he had fixed upon an admirable place to dwell in. And by and by
+there came other people, who chanced to have no homes; and, seeing how
+pleasant a spot it was, they built themselves huts in the neighbourhood
+of Phœnix's habitation. Thus, before many years went by, a city had
+grown up there, in the centre of which was seen a stately palace of
+marble, wherein dwelt Phœnix, clothed in a purple robe, and wearing a
+golden crown upon his head. For the inhabitants of the new city, finding
+that he had royal blood in his veins, had chosen him to be their king.
+The very first decree of state which King Phœnix issued was, that if
+a maiden happened to arrive in the kingdom, mounted on a snow-white
+bull, and calling herself Europa, his subjects should treat her with the
+greatest kindness and respect, and immediately bring her to the palace.
+You may see, by this, that Phœnix's conscience never quite ceased to
+trouble him, for giving up the quest of his dear sister, and sitting
+himself down to be comfortable, while his mother and her companions went
+onward.
+
+But often and often, at the close of a weary day's journey, did
+Telephassa and Cadmus, Cilix and Thasus, remember the pleasant spot in
+which they had left Phœnix. It was a sorrowful prospect for these
+wanderers, that on the morrow they must again set forth, and that, after
+many nightfalls, they would perhaps be no nearer the close of their
+toilsome pilgrimage than now. These thoughts made them all melancholy at
+times, but appeared to torment Cilix more than the rest of the party. At
+length, one morning, when they were taking their staffs in hand to set
+out, he thus addressed them:
+
+"My dear mother, and you good brother Cadmus, and my friend Thasus,
+methinks we are like people in a dream. There is no substance in the
+life which we are leading. It is such a dreary length of time since the
+white bull carried off my sister Europa, that I have quite forgotten
+how she looked, and the tones of her voice, and, indeed, almost doubt
+whether such a little girl ever lived in the world. And whether she once
+lived or no, I am convinced that she no longer survives, and that
+therefore it is the merest folly to waste our own lives and happiness in
+seeking her. Were we to find her, she would now be a woman grown, and
+would look upon us all as strangers. So, to tell you the truth, I have
+resolved to take up my abode here; and I entreat you, mother, brother,
+and friend, to follow my example."
+
+"Not I, for one," said Telephassa; although the poor queen, firmly as
+she spoke, was so travel worn that she could hardly put her foot to the
+ground--"not I, for one! In the depths of my heart, little Europa is
+still the rosy child who ran to gather flowers so many years ago. She
+has not grown to womanhood, nor forgotten me. At noon, at night,
+journeying onward, sitting down to rest, her childish voice is always in
+my ears, calling, 'Mother! mother!' Stop here who may, there is no
+repose for me."
+
+"Nor for me," said Cadmus, "while my dear mother pleases to go onward."
+
+And the faithful Thasus, too, was resolved to bear them company. They
+remained with Cilix a few days, however, and helped him to build a
+rustic bower, resembling the one which they had formerly built for
+Phœnix.
+
+When they were bidding him farewell, Cilix burst into tears, and told
+his mother that it seemed just as melancholy a dream to stay there, in
+solitude, as to go onward. If she really believed that they would ever
+find Europa, he was willing to continue the search with them, even now.
+But Telephassa bade him remain there, and be happy, if his own heart
+would let him. So the pilgrims took their leave of him, and departed,
+and were hardly out of sight before some other wandering people came
+along that way, and saw Cilix's habitation, and were greatly delighted
+with the appearance of the place. There being abundance of unoccupied
+ground in the neighbourhood, these strangers built huts for themselves,
+and were soon joined by a multitude of new settlers, who quickly formed
+a city. In the middle of it was seen a magnificent palace of coloured
+marble, on the balcony of which, every noontide, appeared Cilix, in a
+long purple robe, and with a jewelled crown upon his head; for the
+inhabitants, when they found out that he was a king's son, had
+considered him the fittest of all men to be a king himself.
+
+One of the first acts of King Cilix's government was to send out an
+expedition, consisting of a grave ambassador and an escort of bold and
+hardy young men, with orders to visit the principal kingdoms of the
+earth, and inquire whether a young maiden had passed through those
+regions, galloping swiftly on a white bull. It is, therefore, plain to
+my mind, that Cilix secretly blamed himself for giving up the search for
+Europa, as long as he was able to put one foot before the other.
+
+As for Telephassa, and Cadmus, and the good Thasus, it grieves me to
+think of them, still keeping up that weary pilgrimage. The two young men
+did their best for the poor queen, helping her over the rough places,
+often carrying her across rivulets in their faithful arms, and seeking
+to shelter her at nightfall, even when they themselves lay on the
+ground. Sad, sad it was to hear them asking of every passerby if he had
+seen Europa, so long after the white bull had carried her away. But,
+though the gray years thrust themselves between, and made the child's
+figure dim in their remembrance, neither of these true-hearted three
+ever dreamed of giving up the search.
+
+One morning, however, poor Thasus found that he had sprained his ankle,
+and could not possibly go a step farther.
+
+"After a few days, to be sure," said he, mournfully, "I might make shift
+to hobble along with a stick. But that would only delay you, and perhaps
+hinder you from finding dear little Europa, after all your pains and
+trouble. Do you go forward, therefore, my beloved companions, and leave
+me to follow as I may."
+
+"Thou hast been a true friend, dear Thasus," said Queen Telephassa,
+kissing his forehead. "Being neither my son, nor the brother of our lost
+Europa, thou hast shown thyself truer to me and her than Phœnix and
+Cilix did, whom we have left behind us. Without thy loving help, and
+that of my son Cadmus, my limbs could not have borne me half so far as
+this. Now, take thy rest, and be at peace. For--and it is the first time
+I have owned it to myself--I begin to question whether we shall ever
+find my beloved daughter in this world."
+
+Saying this, the poor queen shed tears, because it was a grievous trial
+to the mother's heart to confess that her hopes were growing faint. From
+that day forward, Cadmus noticed that she never travelled with the same
+alacrity of spirit that had heretofore supported her. Her weight was
+heavier upon his arm.
+
+Before setting out, Cadmus helped Thasus build a bower; while
+Telephassa, being too infirm to give any great assistance, advised them
+how to fit it up and furnish it, so that it might be as comfortable as a
+hut of branches could. Thasus, however, did not spend all his days in
+this green bower. For it happened to him, as to Phœnix and Cilix,
+that other homeless people visited the spot and liked it, and built
+themselves habitations in the neighbourhood. So here, in the course of
+a few years, was another thriving city with a red freestone palace in
+the centre of it, where Thasus set upon a throne, doing justice to the
+people, with a purple robe over his shoulders, a sceptre in his hand,
+and a crown upon his head. The inhabitants had made him king, not for
+the sake of any royal blood (for none was in his veins), but because
+Thasus was an upright, true-hearted, and courageous man, and therefore
+fit to rule.
+
+But, when the affairs of his kingdom were all settled, King Thasus laid
+aside his purple robe, and crown, and sceptre, and bade his worthiest
+subject distribute justice to the people in his stead. Then, grasping
+the pilgrim's staff that had supported him so long, he set forth again,
+hoping still to discover some hoof mark of the snow-white bull, some
+trace of the vanished child. He returned, after a lengthened absence,
+and sat down wearily upon his throne. To his latest hour, nevertheless,
+King Thasus showed his true-hearted remembrance of Europa, by ordering
+that a fire should always be kept burning in his palace, and a bath
+steaming hot, and food ready to be served up, and a bed with snow-white
+sheets, in case the maiden should arrive, and require immediate
+refreshment. And though Europa never came, the good Thasus had the
+blessings of many a poor traveller, who profited by the food and lodging
+which were meant for the little playmate of the king's boyhood.
+
+Telephassa and Cadmus were now pursuing their weary way, with no
+companion but each other. The queen leaned heavily upon her son's arm,
+and could walk only a few miles a day. But for all her weakness and
+weariness, she would not be persuaded to give up the search. It was
+enough to bring tears into the eyes of bearded men to hear the
+melancholy tone with which she inquired of every stranger whether he
+could tell her any news of the lost child.
+
+"Have you seen a little girl--no, no, I mean a young maiden of full
+growth--passing by this way, mounted on a snow-white bull, which gallops
+as swiftly as the wind?"
+
+"We have seen no such wondrous sight," the people would reply; and very
+often, taking Cadmus aside, they whispered to him, "Is this stately and
+sad-looking woman your mother? Surely she is not in her right mind; and
+you ought to take her home, and make her comfortable, and do your best
+to get this dream out of her fancy."
+
+"It is no dream," said Cadmus. "Everything else is a dream, save that."
+
+But, one day, Telephassa seemed feebler than usual, and leaned almost
+her whole weight on the arm of Cadmus, and walked more slowly than ever
+before. At last they reached a solitary spot, where she told her son
+that she must needs lie down, and take a good, long rest.
+
+"A good, long rest!" she repeated, looking Cadmus tenderly in the
+face--"a good, long rest, thou dearest one!"
+
+"As long as you please, dear mother," answered Cadmus.
+
+Telephassa bade him sit down on the turf beside her, and then she took
+his hand.
+
+"My son," said she, fixing her dim eyes most lovingly upon him, "this
+rest that I speak of will be very long indeed! You must not wait till it
+is finished. Dear Cadmus, you do not comprehend me. You must make a
+grave here, and lay your mother's weary frame into it. My pilgrimage is
+over."
+
+Cadmus burst into tears, and, for a long time, refused to believe that
+his dear mother was now to be taken from him. But Telephassa reasoned
+with him, and kissed him, and at length made him discern that it was
+better for her spirit to pass away out of the toil, the weariness, the
+grief, and disappointment which had burdened her on earth, ever since
+the child was lost. He therefore repressed his sorrow, and listened to
+her last words.
+
+"Dearest Cadmus," said she, "thou hast been the truest son that ever
+mother had, and faithful to the very last. Who else would have borne
+with my infirmities as thou hast! It is owing to thy care, thou
+tenderest child, that my grave was not dug long years ago, in some
+valley, or on some hillside, that lies far, far behind us. It is enough.
+Thou shalt wander no more on this hopeless search. But when thou hast
+laid thy mother in the earth, then go, my son, to Delphi, and inquire of
+the oracle what thou shalt do next."
+
+"O mother, mother," cried Cadmus, "couldst thou but have seen my sister
+before this hour!"
+
+"It matters little now," answered Telephassa, and there was a smile upon
+her face. "I go now to the better world, and, sooner or later, shall
+find my daughter there."
+
+I will not sadden you, my little hearers, with telling how Telephassa
+died and was buried, but will only say, that her dying smile grew
+brighter, instead of vanishing from her dead face; so that Cadmus felt
+convinced that, at her very first step into the better world, she had
+caught Europa in her arms. He planted some flowers on his mother's
+grave, and left them to grow there, and make the place beautiful, when
+he should be far away.
+
+After performing this last sorrowful duty, he set forth alone, and took
+the road toward the famous oracle of Delphi, as Telephassa had advised
+him. On his way thither, he still inquired of most people whom he met
+whether they had seen Europa; for, to say the truth, Cadmus had grown so
+accustomed to ask the question, that it came to his lips as readily as a
+remark about the weather. He received various answers. Some told him one
+thing, and some another. Among the rest, a mariner affirmed, that, many
+years before, in a distant country, he had heard a rumour about a white
+bull, which came swimming across the sea with a child on his back,
+dressed up in flowers that were blighted by the sea water. He did not
+know what had become of the child or the bull; and Cadmus suspected,
+indeed, by a queer twinkle in the mariner's eyes, that he was putting a
+joke upon him, and had never really heard anything about the matter.
+
+Poor Cadmus found it more wearisome to travel alone than to bear all his
+dear mother's weight while she had kept him company. His heart, you will
+understand, was now so heavy that it seemed impossible, sometimes, to
+carry it any farther. But his limbs were strong and active and well
+accustomed to exercise. He walked swiftly along, thinking of King Agenor
+and Queen Telephassa, and his brothers, and the friendly Thasus, all of
+whom he had left behind him, at one point of his pilgrimage or another,
+and never expected to see them any more. Full of these remembrances, he
+came within sight of a lofty mountain, which the people thereabouts told
+him was called Parnassus. On the slope of Mount Parnassus was the famous
+Delphi, whither Cadmus was going.
+
+This Delphi was supposed to be the very midmost spot of the whole world.
+The place of the oracle was a certain cavity in the mountain side, over
+which, when Cadmus came thither, he found a rude bower of branches. It
+reminded him of those which he had helped to build for Phoenix and
+Cilix, and afterward for Thasus. In later times, when multitudes of
+people came from great distances to put questions to the oracle, a
+spacious temple of marble was erected over the spot. But in the days of
+Cadmus, as I have told you, there was only this rustic bower, with its
+abundance of green foliage, and a tuft of shrubbery, that ran wild over
+the mysterious hole in the hillside.
+
+When Cadmus had thrust a passage through the tangled boughs, and made
+his way into the bower, he did not at first discern the half-hidden
+cavity. But soon he felt a cold stream of air rushing out of it, with so
+much force that it shook the ringlets on his cheek. Pulling away the
+shrubbery which clustered over the hole, he bent forward, and spoke in a
+distinct but reverential tone, as if addressing some unseen personage
+inside of the mountain.
+
+"Sacred oracle of Delphi," said he, "whither shall I go next in quest of
+my dear sister Europa?"
+
+There was at first a deep silence, and then a rushing sound, or a noise
+like a long sigh, proceeding out of the interior of the earth. This
+cavity, you must know, was looked upon as a sort of fountain of truth,
+which sometimes gushed out in audible words; although, for the most
+part, these words were such a riddle that they might just as well have
+stayed at the bottom of the hole. But Cadmus was more fortunate than
+many others who went to Delphi in search of truth. By and by, the
+rushing noise began to sound like articulate language. It repeated, over
+and over again, the following sentence, which, after all, was so like
+the vague whistle of a blast of air, that Cadmus really did not quite
+know whether it meant anything or not:
+
+"Seek her no more! Seek her no more! Seek her no more!"
+
+"What, then, shall I do?" asked Cadmus.
+
+For, ever since he was a child, you know, it had been the great object
+of his life to find his sister. From the very hour that he left
+following the butterfly in the meadow, near his father's palace, he had
+done his best to follow Europa, over land and sea. And now, if he must
+give up the search, he seemed to have no more business in the world.
+
+But again the sighing gust of air grew into something like a hoarse
+voice.
+
+"Follow the cow!" it said. "Follow the cow! Follow the cow!"
+
+And when these words had been repeated until Cadmus was tired of hearing
+them (especially as he could not imagine what cow it was, or why he was
+to follow her), the gusty hole gave vent to another sentence.
+
+"Where the stray cow lies down, there is your home."
+
+These words were pronounced but a single time, and died away into a
+whisper before Cadmus was fully satisfied that he had caught the
+meaning. He put other questions, but received no answer; only the gust
+of wind sighed continually out of the cavity, and blew the withered
+leaves rustling along the ground before it.
+
+"Did there really come any words out of the hole?" thought Cadmus; "or
+have I been dreaming all this while?"
+
+He turned away from the oracle, and thought himself no wiser than when
+he came thither. Caring little what might happen to him, he took the
+first path that offered itself, and went along at a sluggish pace; for,
+having no object in view, nor any reason to go one way more than
+another, it would certainly have been foolish to make haste. Whenever he
+met anybody, the old question was at his tongue's end:
+
+"Have you seen a beautiful maiden, dressed like a king's daughter, and
+mounted on a snow-white bull, that gallops as swiftly as the wind?"
+
+But, remembering what the oracle had said, he only half uttered the
+words, and then mumbled the rest indistinctly; and from his confusion,
+people must have imagined that this handsome young man had lost his
+wits.
+
+I know not how far Cadmus had gone, nor could he himself have told you,
+when, at no great distance before him, he beheld a brindled cow. She was
+lying down by the wayside, and quietly chewing her cud; nor did she take
+any notice of the young man until he had approached pretty nigh. Then,
+getting leisurely upon her feet, and giving her head a gentle toss, she
+began to move along at a moderate pace, often pausing just long enough
+to crop a mouthful of grass. Cadmus loitered behind, whistling idly to
+himself, and scarcely noticing the cow; until the thought occurred to
+him, whether this could possibly be the animal which, according to the
+oracle's response, was to serve him for a guide. But he smiled at
+himself for fancying such a thing. He could not seriously think that
+this was the cow, because she went along so quietly, behaving just like
+any other cow. Evidently she neither knew nor cared so much as a wisp of
+hay about Cadmus, and was only thinking how to get her living along the
+wayside, where the herbage was green and fresh. Perhaps she was going
+home to be milked.
+
+"Cow, cow, cow!" cried Cadmus. "Hey, Brindle, hey! Stop, my good cow."
+
+He wanted to come up with the cow, so as to examine her, and see if she
+would appear to know him, or whether there were any peculiarities to
+distinguish her from a thousand other cows, whose only business is to
+fill the milk pail, and sometimes kick it over. But still the brindled
+cow trudged on, whisking her tail to keep the flies away, and taking as
+little notice of Cadmus as she well could. If he walked slowly, so did
+the cow, and seized the opportunity to graze. If he quickened his pace,
+the cow went just so much the faster; and once, when Cadmus tried to
+catch her by running, she threw out her heels, stuck her tail straight
+on end, and set off at a gallop, looking as queerly as cows generally
+do, while putting themselves to their speed.
+
+When Cadmus saw that it was impossible to come up with her, he walked on
+moderately, as before. The cow, too, went leisurely on, without looking
+behind. Wherever the grass was greenest, there she nibbled a mouthful or
+two. Where a brook glistened brightly across the path, there the cow
+drank, and breathed a comfortable sigh, and drank again, and trudged
+onward at the pace that best suited herself and Cadmus.
+
+"I do believe," thought Cadmus, "that this may be the cow that was
+foretold me. If it be the one, I suppose she will lie down somewhere
+hereabouts."
+
+Whether it were the oracular cow or some other one, it did not seem
+reasonable that she should travel a great way farther. So, whenever they
+reached a particularly pleasant spot on a breezy hillside, or in a
+sheltered vale, or flowery meadow, on the shore of a calm lake, or along
+the bank of a clear stream, Cadmus looked eagerly around to see if the
+situation would suit him for a home. But still, whether he liked the
+place or no, the brindled cow never offered to lie down. On she went at
+the quiet pace of a cow going homeward to the barnyard; and, every
+moment Cadmus expected to see a milkmaid approaching with a pail, or a
+herdsman running to head the stray animal, and turn her back toward the
+pasture. But no milkmaid came; no herdsman drove her back; and Cadmus
+followed the stray brindle till he was almost ready to drop down with
+fatigue.
+
+"O brindled cow," cried he, in a tone of despair, "do you never mean to
+stop?"
+
+He had now grown too intent on following her to think of lagging behind,
+however long the way, and whatever might be his fatigue. Indeed, it
+seemed as if there were something about the animal that bewitched
+people. Several persons who happened to see the brindled cow, and Cadmus
+following behind, began to trudge after her, precisely as he did. Cadmus
+was glad of somebody to converse with, and therefore talked very freely
+to these good people. He told them all his adventures, and how he had
+left King Agenor in his palace, and Phœnix at one place, and Cilix at
+another, and Thasus at a third, and his dear mother, Queen Telephassa,
+under a flowery sod; so that now he was quite alone, both friendless and
+homeless. He mentioned, likewise, that the oracle had bidden him be
+guided by a cow, and inquired of the strangers whether they supposed
+that this brindled animal could be the one.
+
+"Why, 'tis a very wonderful affair," answered one of his new companions.
+"I am pretty well acquainted with the ways of cattle, and I never knew a
+cow, of her own accord, to go so far without stopping. If my legs will
+let me, I'll never leave following the beast till she lies down."
+
+"Nor I!" said a second.
+
+"Nor I!" cried a third. "If she goes a hundred miles farther, I'm
+determined to see the end of it."
+
+The secret of it was, you must know, that the cow was an enchanted cow,
+and that, without their being conscious of it, she threw some of her
+enchantment over everybody that took so much as half a dozen steps
+behind her. They could not possibly help following her, though, all the
+time, they fancied themselves doing it of their own accord. The cow was
+by no means very nice in choosing her path; so that sometimes they had
+to scramble over rocks, or wade through mud and mire, and were all in a
+terribly bedraggled condition, and tired to death, and very hungry, into
+the bargain. What a weary business it was!
+
+But still they kept trudging stoutly forward, and talking as they went.
+The strangers grew very fond of Cadmus, and resolved never to leave him,
+but to help him build a city wherever the cow might lie down. In the
+centre of it there should be a noble palace, in which Cadmus might
+dwell, and be their king, with a throne, a crown and sceptre, a purple
+robe, and everything else that a king ought to have; for in him there
+was the royal blood, and the royal heart, and the head that knew how to
+rule.
+
+While they were talking of these schemes, and beguiling the tediousness
+of the way with laying out the plan of the new city, one of the company
+happened to look at the cow.
+
+"Joy! joy!" cried he, clapping his hands. "Brindle is going to lie
+down."
+
+They all looked; and, sure enough, the cow had stopped and was staring
+leisurely about her, as other cows do when on the point of lying down.
+And slowly, slowly did she recline herself on the soft grass, first
+bending her fore legs, and then crouching her hind ones. When Cadmus and
+his companions came up with her, there was the brindled cow taking her
+ease, chewing her cud, and looking them quietly in the face; as if this
+was just the spot she had been seeking for, and as if it were all a
+matter of course.
+
+"This, then," said Cadmus, gazing around him, "this is to be my home."
+
+It was a fertile and lovely plain, with great trees flinging their
+sun-speckled shadows over it, and hills fencing it in from the rough
+weather. At no great distance, they beheld a river gleaming in the
+sunshine. A home feeling stole into the heart of poor Cadmus. He was
+very glad to know that here he might awake in the morning, without the
+necessity of putting on his dusty sandals to travel farther and farther.
+The days and the years would pass over him, and find him still in this
+pleasant spot. If he could have had his brothers with him, and his
+friend Thasus, and could have seen his dear mother under a roof of his
+own, he might here have been happy, after all their disappointments.
+Some day or other, too, his sister Europa might have come quietly to the
+door of his home, and smiled round upon the familiar faces. But, indeed,
+since there was no hope of regaining the friends of his boyhood, or ever
+seeing his dear sister again, Cadmus resolved to make himself happy with
+these new companions, who had grown so fond of him while following the
+cow.
+
+"Yes, my friends," said he to them, "this is to be our home. Here we
+will build our habitations. The brindled cow, which has led us hither,
+will supply us with milk. We will cultivate the neighbouring soil, and
+lead an innocent and happy life."
+
+His companions joyfully assented to this plan; and, in the first place,
+being very hungry and thirsty, they looked about them for the means of
+providing a comfortable meal. Not far off, they saw a tuft of trees,
+which appeared as if there might be a spring of water beneath them. They
+went thither to fetch some, leaving Cadmus stretched on the ground
+along with the brindled cow; for, now that he had found a place of rest,
+it seemed as if all the weariness of his pilgrimage, ever since he left
+King Agenor's palace, had fallen upon him at once. But his new friends
+had not long been gone, when he was suddenly startled by cries, shouts,
+and screams, and the noise of a terrible struggle, and in the midst of
+it all, a most awful hissing, which went right through his ears like a
+rough saw.
+
+Running toward the tuft of trees, he beheld the head and fiery eyes of
+an immense serpent or dragon, with the widest jaws that ever a dragon
+had, and a vast many rows of horribly sharp teeth. Before Cadmus could
+reach the spot, this pitiless reptile had killed his poor companions,
+and was busily devouring them, making but a mouthful of each man.
+
+It appears that the fountain of water was enchanted, and that the dragon
+had been set to guard it, so that no mortal might ever quench his thirst
+there. As the neighbouring inhabitants carefully avoided the spot, it
+was now a long time (not less than a hundred years, or thereabouts)
+since the monster had broken his fast; and, as was natural enough, his
+appetite had grown to be enormous, and was not half satisfied by the
+poor people whom he had just eaten up. When he caught sight of Cadmus,
+therefore, he set up another abominable hiss, and flung back his immense
+jaws, until his mouth looked like a great red cavern, at the farther end
+of which were seen the legs of his last victim, whom he had hardly had
+time to swallow.
+
+But Cadmus was so enraged at the destruction of his friends, that he
+cared neither for the size of the dragon's jaws nor for his hundreds of
+sharp teeth. Drawing his sword, he rushed at the monster, and flung
+himself right into his cavernous mouth. This bold method of attacking
+him took the dragon by surprise; for, in fact, Cadmus had leaped so far
+down into his throat, that the rows of terrible teeth could not close
+upon him, nor do him the least harm in the world. Thus, though the
+struggle was a tremendous one, and though the dragon shattered the tuft
+of trees into small splinters by the lashing of his tail, yet, as Cadmus
+was all the while slashing and stabbing at his very vitals, it was not
+long before the scaly wretch bethought himself of slipping away. He had
+not gone his length, however, when the brave Cadmus gave him a sword
+thrust that finished the battle; and, creeping out of the gateway of the
+creature's jaws, there he beheld him still wriggling his vast bulk,
+although there was no longer life enough in him to harm a little child.
+
+But do not you suppose that it made Cadmus sorrowful to think of the
+melancholy fate which had befallen those poor, friendly people, who had
+followed the cow along with him? It seemed as if he were doomed to lose
+everybody whom he loved, or to see them perish in one way or another.
+And here he was, after all his toils and troubles, in a solitary place,
+with not a single human being to help him build a hut.
+
+"What shall I do?" cried he aloud. "It were better for me to have been
+devoured by the dragon, as my poor companions were."
+
+"Cadmus," said a voice--but whether it came from above or below him, or
+whether it spoke within his own breast, the young man could not
+tell--"Cadmus, pluck out the dragon's teeth, and plant them in the
+earth."
+
+This was a strange thing to do; nor was it very easy, I should imagine,
+to dig out all those deep-rooted fangs from the dead dragon's jaws. But
+Cadmus toiled and tugged, and after pounding the monstrous head almost
+to pieces with a great stone, he at last collected as many teeth as
+might have filled a bushel or two. The next thing was to plant them.
+This, likewise, was a tedious piece of work, especially as Cadmus was
+already exhausted with killing the dragon and knocking his head to
+pieces, and had nothing to dig the earth with, that I know of, unless it
+were his sword blade. Finally, however, a sufficiently large tract of
+ground was turned up, and sown with this new kind of seed; although half
+of the dragon's teeth still remained to be planted some other day.
+
+Cadmus, quite out of breath, stood leaning upon his sword, and wondering
+what was to happen next. He had waited but a few moments, when he began
+to see a sight, which was as great a marvel as the most marvellous thing
+I ever told you about.
+
+The sun was shining slantwise over the field, and showed all the moist,
+dark soil just like any other newly planted piece of ground. All at
+once, Cadmus fancied he saw something glisten very brightly, first at
+one spot, then at another, and then at a hundred and a thousand spots
+together. Soon he perceived them to be the steel heads of spears,
+sprouting up everywhere like so many stalks of grain, and continually
+growing taller and taller. Next appeared a vast number of bright sword
+blades, thrusting themselves up in the same way. A moment afterward, the
+whole surface of the ground was broken up by a multitude of polished
+brass helmets, coming up like a crop of enormous beans. So rapidly did
+they grow, that Cadmus now discerned the fierce countenance of a man
+beneath every one. In short, before he had time to think what a
+wonderful affair it was, he beheld an abundant harvest of what looked
+like human beings, armed with helmets and breastplates, shields, swords
+and spears; and before they were well out of the earth, they brandished
+their weapons, and clashed them one against another, seeming to think,
+little while as they had yet lived, that they had wasted too much of
+life without a battle. Every tooth of the dragon had produced one of
+these sons of deadly mischief.
+
+Up sprouted, also, a great many trumpeters; and with the first breath
+that they drew, they put their brazen trumpets to their lips, and
+sounded a tremendous and ear-shattering blast; so that the whole space,
+just now so quiet and solitary, reverberated with the clash and clang of
+arms, the bray of warlike music, and the shouts of angry men. So enraged
+did they all look, that Cadmus fully expected them to put the whole
+world to the sword. How fortunate would it be for a great conqueror, if
+he could get a bushel of the dragon's teeth to sow!
+
+"Cadmus," said the same voice which he had before heard, "throw a stone
+into the midst of the armed men."
+
+So Cadmus seized a large stone, and, flinging it into the middle of the
+earth army, saw it strike the breast-plate of a gigantic and
+fierce-looking warrior. Immediately on feeling the blow, he seemed to
+take it for granted that somebody had struck him; and, uplifting his
+weapon, he smote his next neighbour a blow that cleft his helmet
+asunder, and stretched him on the ground. In an instant, those nearest
+the fallen warrior began to strike at one another with their swords and
+stab with their spears. The confusion spread wider and wider. Each man
+smote down his brother, and was himself smitten down before he had time
+to exult in his victory. The trumpeters, all the while, blew their
+blasts shriller and shriller; each soldier shouted a battle cry and
+often fell with it on his lips. It was the strangest spectacle of
+causeless wrath, and of mischief for no good end, that had ever been
+witnessed; but, after all, it was neither more foolish nor more wicked
+than a thousand battles that have since been fought, in which men have
+slain their brothers with just as little reason as these children of the
+dragon's teeth. It ought to be considered, too, that the dragon people
+were made for nothing else; whereas other mortals were born to love and
+help one another.
+
+Well, this memorable battle continued to rage until the ground was
+strewn with helmeted heads that had been cut off. Of all the thousands
+that began the fight, there were only five left standing. These now
+rushed from different parts of the field, and, meeting in the middle of
+it, clashed their swords, and struck at each other's hearts as fiercely
+as ever.
+
+"Cadmus," said the voice again, "bid those five warriors to sheathe
+their swords. They will help you to build the city."
+
+Without hesitating an instant, Cadmus stepped forward, with the aspect
+of a king and a leader, and extending his drawn sword amongst them,
+spoke to the warriors in a stern and commanding voice.
+
+"Sheathe your weapons!" said he.
+
+And forthwith, feeling themselves bound to obey him, the five remaining
+sons of the dragon's teeth made him a military salute with their swords,
+returned them to the scabbards, and stood before Cadmus in a rank,
+eyeing him as soldiers eye their captain, while awaiting the word of
+command.
+
+These five men had probably sprung from the biggest of the dragon's
+teeth, and were the boldest and strongest of the whole army. They were
+almost giants, indeed, and had good need to be so, else they never could
+have lived through so terrible a fight. They still had a very furious
+look, and, if Cadmus happened to glance aside, would glare at one
+another, with fire flashing out of their eyes. It was strange, too, to
+observe how the earth, out of which they had so lately grown, was
+incrusted, here and there, on their bright breastplates, and even
+begrimed their faces, just as you may have seen it clinging to beets and
+carrots when pulled out of their native soil. Cadmus hardly knew whether
+to consider them as men, or some odd kind of vegetable; although, on the
+whole, he concluded that there was human nature in them, because they
+were so fond of trumpets and weapons, and so ready to shed blood.
+
+They looked him earnestly in the face, waiting for his next order, and
+evidently desiring no other employment than to follow him from one
+battlefield to another, all over the wide world. But Cadmus was wiser
+than these earth-born creatures, with the dragon's fierceness in them,
+and knew better how to use their strength and hardihood.
+
+"Come!" said he. "You are sturdy fellows. Make yourselves useful! Quarry
+some stones with those great swords of yours, and help me to build a
+city."
+
+The five soldiers grumbled a little, and muttered that it was their
+business to overthrow cities, not to build them up. But Cadmus looked at
+them with a stern eye, and spoke to them in, a tone of authority, so
+that they knew him for their master, and never again thought of
+disobeying his commands. They set to work in good earnest, and toiled so
+diligently, that, in a very short time, a city began to make its
+appearance. At first, to be sure, the workmen showed a quarrelsome
+disposition. Like savage beasts, they would doubtless have done one
+another a mischief, if Cadmus had not kept watch over them and quelled
+the fierce old serpent that lurked in their hearts, when he saw it
+gleaming out of their wild eyes. But, in course of time, they got
+accustomed to honest labour, and had sense enough to feel that there was
+more true enjoyment in living at peace, and doing good to one's
+neighbour, than in striking at him with a two-edged sword. It may not be
+too much to hope that the rest of mankind will by and by grow as wise
+and peaceable as these five earth-begrimed warriors, who sprang from the
+dragon's teeth.
+
+And now the city was built, and there was a home in it for each of the
+workmen. But the palace of Cadmus was not yet erected, because they had
+left it till the last, meaning to introduce all the new improvements of
+architecture, and make it very commodious, as well as stately and
+beautiful. After finishing the rest of their labours, they all went to
+bed betimes, in order to rise in the gray of the morning, and get at
+least the foundation of the edifice laid before nightfall. But, when
+Cadmus arose, and took his way toward the site where the palace was to
+be built, followed by his five sturdy workmen marching all in a row,
+what do you think he saw?
+
+What should it be but the most magnificent palace that had ever been
+seen in the world? It was built of marble and other beautiful kinds of
+stone, and rose high into the air, with a splendid dome and a portico
+along the front, and carved pillars, and everything else that befitted
+the habitation of a mighty king. It had grown up out of the earth in
+almost as short a time as it had taken the armed host to spring from the
+dragon's teeth; and what made the matter more strange, no seed of this
+stately edifice had ever been planted.
+
+When the five workmen beheld the dome, with the morning sunshine making
+it look golden and glorious, they gave a great shout.
+
+"Long live King Cadmus," they cried, "in his beautiful palace."
+
+And the new king, with his five faithful followers at his heels,
+shouldering their pickaxes and marching in a rank (for they still had a
+soldier-like sort of behaviour, as their nature was), ascended the
+palace steps. Halting at the entrance, they gazed through a long vista
+of lofty pillars that were ranged from end to end of a great hall. At
+the farther extremity of this hall, approaching slowly toward him,
+Cadmus beheld a female figure, wonderfully beautiful, and adorned with a
+royal robe, and a crown of diamonds over her golden ringlets, and the
+richest necklace that ever a queen wore. His heart thrilled with
+delight. He fancied it his long-lost sister Europa, now grown to
+womanhood, coming to make him happy, and to repay him, with her sweet
+sisterly affection, for all those weary wanderings in quest of her since
+he left King Agenor's palace--for the tears that he had shed, on parting
+with Phœnix, and Cilix, and Thasus--for the heart-breakings that had
+made the whole world seem dismal to him over his dear mother's grave.
+
+But, as Cadmus advanced to meet the beautiful stranger, he saw that her
+features were unknown to him, although, in the little time that it
+required to tread along the hall, he had already felt a sympathy betwixt
+himself and her.
+
+"No, Cadmus," said the same voice that had spoken to him in the field of
+the armed men, "this is not that dear sister Europa whom you have sought
+so faithfully all over the wide world. This is Harmonia, a daughter of
+the sky, who is given you instead of sister, and brothers, and friend,
+and mother. You will find all those dear ones in her alone."
+
+So King Cadmus dwelt in the palace, with his new friend Harmonia, and
+found a great deal of comfort in his magnificent abode, but would
+doubtless have found as much, if not more, in the humblest cottage by
+the wayside. Before many years went by, there was a group of rosy little
+children (but how they came thither has always been a mystery to me)
+sporting in the great hall, and on the marble steps of the palace, and
+running joyfully to meet King Cadmus when affairs of state left him at
+leisure to play with them. They called him father, and Queen Harmonia
+mother. The five old soldiers of the dragon's teeth grew very fond of
+these small urchins, and were never weary of showing them how to
+shoulder sticks, flourish wooden swords, and march in military order,
+blowing a penny trumpet, or beating an abominable rub-a-dub upon a
+little drum.
+
+But King Cadmus, lest there should be too much of the dragon's tooth in
+his children's disposition, used to find time from his kingly duties to
+teach them their A B C--which he invented for their benefit, and for
+which many little people, I am afraid, are not half so grateful to him
+as they ought to be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER
+
+
+One evening, in times long ago, old Philemon and his old wife Baucis sat
+at their cottage door, enjoying the calm and beautiful sunset. They had
+already eaten their frugal supper, and intended now to spend a quiet
+hour or two before bedtime. So they talked together about their garden,
+and their cow, and their bees, and their grapevine, which clambered over
+the cottage wall, and on which the grapes were beginning to turn purple.
+But the rude shouts of children, and the fierce barking of dogs, in the
+village near at hand, grew louder and louder, until, at last, it was
+hardly possible for Baucis and Philemon to hear each other speak.
+
+"Ah, wife," cried Philemon, "I fear some poor traveller is seeking
+hospitality among our neighbours yonder, and, instead of giving him food
+and lodging, they have set their dogs at him, as their custom is!"
+
+"Well-a-day!" answered old Baucis, "I do wish our neighbours felt a
+little more kindness for their fellow creatures. And only think of
+bringing up their children in this naughty way, and patting them on the
+head when they fling stones at strangers!"
+
+"Those children will never come to any good," said Philemon, shaking his
+white head. "To tell you the truth, wife, I should not wonder if some
+terrible thing were to happen to all the people in the village, unless
+they mend their manners. But, as for you and me, so long as Providence
+affords us a crust of bread, let us be ready to give half to any poor,
+homeless stranger that may come along and need it."
+
+"That's right, husband!" said Baucis. "So we will!"
+
+These old folks, you must know, were quite poor, and had to work pretty
+hard for a living. Old Philemon toiled diligently in his garden, while
+Baucis was always busy with her distaff, or making a little butter and
+cheese with their cow's milk, or doing one thing and another about the
+cottage. Their food was seldom anything but bread, milk, and vegetables,
+with sometimes a portion of honey from their beehive, and now and then a
+bunch of grapes that had ripened against the cottage wall. But they were
+two of the kindest old people in the world, and would cheerfully have
+gone without their dinners, any day, rather than refuse a slice of their
+brown loaf, a cup of new milk, and a spoonful of honey, to the weary
+traveller who might pause before their door. They felt as if such guests
+had a sort of holiness, and that they ought, therefore, to treat them
+better and more bountifully than their own selves.
+
+Their cottage stood on a rising ground, at some short distance from a
+village, which lay in a hollow valley that was about half a mile in
+breadth. This valley, in past ages, when the world was new, had probably
+been the bed of a lake. There, fishes had glided to and fro in the
+depths, and water weeds had grown along the margin, and trees and hills
+had seen their reflected images in the broad and peaceful mirror. But,
+as the waters subsided, men had cultivated the soil, and built houses on
+it, so that it was now a fertile spot, and bore no traces of the ancient
+lake, except a very small brook, which meandered through the midst of
+the village, and supplied the inhabitants with water. The valley had
+been dry land so long that oaks had sprung up, and grown great and high,
+and perished with old age, and been succeeded by others, as tall and
+stately as the first. Never was there a prettier or more fruitful
+valley. The very sight of the plenty around them should have made the
+inhabitants kind and gentle, and ready to show their gratitude to
+Providence by doing good to their fellow creatures.
+
+But, we are sorry to say, the people of this lovely village were not
+worthy to dwell in a spot on which Heaven had smiled so beneficently.
+They were a very selfish and hard-hearted people, and had no pity for
+the poor, nor sympathy with the homeless. They would only have laughed,
+had anybody told them that human beings owe a debt of love to one
+another, because there is no other method of paying the debt of love and
+care which all of us owe to Providence. You will hardly believe what I
+am going to tell you. These naughty people taught their children to be
+no better than themselves, and used to clap their hands, by way of
+encouragement, when they saw the little boys and girls run after some
+poor stranger, shouting at his heels, and pelting him with stones. They
+kept large and fierce dogs, and whenever a traveller ventured to show
+himself in the village street, this pack of disagreeable curs scampered
+to meet him, barking, snarling, and showing their teeth. Then they would
+seize him by his leg, or by his clothes, just as it happened; and if he
+were ragged when he came, he was generally a pitiable object before he
+had time to run away. This was a very terrible thing to poor travellers,
+as you may suppose, especially when they chanced to be sick, or feeble,
+or lame, or old. Such persons (if they once knew how badly these unkind
+people, and their unkind children and curs, were in the habit of
+behaving) would go miles and miles out of their way, rather than try to
+pass through the village again.
+
+What made the matter seem worse, if possible, was that when rich persons
+came in their chariots, or riding on beautiful horses, with their
+servants in rich liveries attending on them, nobody could be more civil
+and obsequious than the inhabitants of the village. They would take off
+their hats, and make the humblest bows you ever saw. If the children
+were rude, they were pretty certain to get their ears boxed; and as for
+the dogs, if a single cur in the pack presumed to yelp, his master
+instantly beat him with a club, and tied him up without any supper. This
+would have been all very well, only it proved that the villagers cared
+much about the money that a stranger had in his pocket, and nothing
+whatever for the human soul, which lives equally in the beggar and the
+prince.
+
+So now you can understand why old Philemon spoke so sorrowfully, when he
+heard the shouts of the children and the barking of the dogs, at the
+farther extremity of the village street. There was a confused din, which
+lasted a good while, and seemed to pass quite through the breadth of the
+valley.
+
+"I never heard the dogs so loud!" observed the good old man.
+
+"Nor the children so rude!" answered his good old wife.
+
+They sat shaking their heads, one to another, while the noise came
+nearer and nearer; until, at the foot of the little eminence on which
+their cottage stood, they saw two travellers approaching on foot. Close
+behind them came the fierce dogs, snarling at their very heels. A little
+farther off, ran a crowd of children, who sent up shrill cries, and
+flung stones at the two strangers, with all their might. Once or twice,
+the younger of the two men (he was a slender and very active figure)
+turned about and drove back the dogs with a staff which he carried in
+his hand. His companion, who was a very tall person, walked calmly
+along, as if disdaining to notice either the naughty children, or the
+pack of curs, whose manners the children seemed to imitate.
+
+Both of the travellers were very humbly clad, and looked as if they
+might not have money enough in their pockets to pay for a night's
+lodging. And this, I am afraid, was the reason why the villagers had
+allowed their children and dogs to treat them so rudely.
+
+"Come, wife," said Philemon to Baucis, "let us go and meet these poor
+people. No doubt, they feel almost too heavy hearted to climb the hill."
+
+"Go you and meet them," answered Baucis, "while I make haste within
+doors, and see whether we can get them anything for supper. A
+comfortable bowl of bread and milk would do wonders toward raising their
+spirits."
+
+Accordingly, she hastened into the cottage. Philemon, on his part, went
+forward, and extended his hand with so hospitable an aspect that there
+was no need of saying what nevertheless he did say, in the heartiest
+tone imaginable:
+
+"Welcome, strangers! welcome!"
+
+"Thank you!" replied the younger of the two, in a lively kind of way,
+notwithstanding his weariness and trouble. "This is quite another
+greeting than we have met with yonder in the village. Pray, why do you
+live in such a bad neighbourhood?"
+
+"Ah!" observed old Philemon, with a quiet and benign smite, "Providence
+put me here, I hope, among other reasons, in order that I may make you
+what amends I can for the inhospitality of my neighbours."
+
+"Well said, old father!" cried the traveller, laughing; "and, if the
+truth must be told, my companion and myself need some amends. Those
+children (the little rascals!) have bespattered us finely with their mud
+balls; and one of the curs has torn my cloak, which was ragged enough
+already. But I took him across the muzzle with my staff; and I think you
+may have heard him yelp, even thus far off."
+
+Philemon was glad to see him in such good spirits; nor, indeed, would
+you have fancied, by the traveller's look and manner, that he was weary
+with a long day's journey, besides being disheartened by rough treatment
+at the end of it. He was dressed in rather an odd way, with a sort of
+cap on his head, the brim of which stuck out over both ears. Though it
+was a summer evening, he wore a cloak, which he kept wrapt closely about
+him, perhaps because his undergarments were shabby. Philemon perceived,
+too, that he had on a singular pair of shoes; but, as it was now growing
+dusk, and as the old man's eyesight was none the sharpest, he could not
+precisely tell in what the strangeness consisted. One thing, certainly,
+seemed queer. The traveller was so wonderfully light and active that it
+appeared as if his feet sometimes rose from the ground of their own
+accord, or could only be kept down by an effort.
+
+"I used to be light footed, in my youth," said Philemon to the
+traveller. "But I always found my feet grow heavier toward nightfall."
+
+"There is nothing like a good staff to help one along," answered the
+stranger; "and I happen to have an excellent one, as you see."
+
+This staff, in fact, was the oddest-looking staff that Philemon had ever
+beheld. It was made of olive wood, and had something like a little pair
+of wings near the top. Two snakes, carved in the wood, were represented
+as twining themselves about the staff, and were so very skilfully
+executed that old Philemon (whose eyes, you know, were getting rather
+dim) almost thought them alive, and that he could see them wriggling and
+twisting.
+
+"A curious piece of work, sure enough!" said he. "A staff with wings! It
+would be an excellent kind of stick for a little boy to ride astride
+of!"
+
+By this time, Philemon and his two guests had reached the cottage door.
+
+"Friends," said the old man, "sit down and rest yourselves here on this
+bench. My good wife Baucis has gone to see what you can have for supper.
+We are poor folks; but you shall be welcome to whatever we have in the
+cupboard."
+
+The younger stranger threw himself carelessly on the bench, letting his
+staff fall as he did so. And here happened something rather marvellous,
+though trifling enough, too. The staff seemed to get up from the ground
+of its own accord, and, spreading its little pair of wings, it half
+hopped, half flew, and leaned itself against the wall of the cottage.
+There it stood quite still, except that the snakes continued to wriggle.
+But, in my private opinion, old Philemon's eyesight had been playing him
+tricks again.
+
+Before he could ask any questions, the elder stranger drew his attention
+from the wonderful staff, by speaking to him.
+
+"Was there not," asked the stranger, in a remarkably deep tone of voice,
+"a lake, in very ancient times, covering the spot where now stands
+yonder village?"
+
+"Not in my day, friend," answered Philemon; "and yet I am an old man, as
+you see. There were always the fields and meadows, just as they are now,
+and the old trees, and the little stream murmuring through the midst of
+the valley. My father, nor his father before him, ever saw it otherwise,
+so far as I know; and doubtless it will still be the same, when old
+Philemon shall be gone and forgotten!"
+
+"That is more than can be safely foretold," observed the stranger; and
+there was something very stern in his deep voice. He shook his head,
+too, so that his dark and heavy curls were shaken with the movement.
+"Since the inhabitants of yonder village have forgotten the affections
+and sympathies of their nature, it were better that the lake should be
+rippling over their dwellings again!"
+
+The traveller looked so stern that Philemon was really almost
+frightened; the more so, that, at his frown, the twilight seemed
+suddenly to grow darker, and that, when he shook his head, there was a
+roll as of thunder in the air.
+
+But, in a moment afterward, the stranger's face became so kindly and
+mild, that the old man quite forgot his terror. Nevertheless, he could
+not help feeling that this elder traveller must be no ordinary
+personage, although he happened now to be attired so humbly and to be
+journeying on foot. Not that Philemon fancied him a prince in disguise,
+or any character of that sort; but rather some exceedingly wise man, who
+went about the world in this poor garb, despising wealth and all worldly
+objects, and seeking everywhere to add a mite to his wisdom. This idea
+appeared the more probable, because, when Philemon raised his eyes to
+the stranger's face, he seemed to see more thought there, in one look,
+than he could have studied out in a lifetime.
+
+While Baucis was getting the supper, the travellers both began to talk
+very sociably with Philemon. The younger, indeed, was extremely
+loquacious, and made such shrewd and witty remarks, that the good old
+man continually burst out a-laughing, and pronounced him the merriest
+fellow whom he had seen for many a day.
+
+"Pray, my young friend," said he, as they grew familiar together, "what
+may I call your name?"
+
+"Why, I am very nimble, as you see," answered the traveller. "So, if you
+call me Quicksilver, the name will fit tolerably well."
+
+"Quicksilver? Quicksilver?" repeated Philemon, looking in the
+traveller's face, to see if he were making fun of him. "It is a very odd
+name! And your companion there? Has he as strange a one?"
+
+"You must ask the thunder to tell it you!" replied Quicksilver, putting
+on a mysterious look. "No other voice is loud enough."
+
+This remark, whether it were serious or in jest, might have caused
+Philemon to conceive a very great awe of the elder stranger, if, on
+venturing to gaze at him, he had not beheld so much beneficence in his
+visage. But, undoubtedly, here was the grandest figure that ever sat so
+humbly beside a cottage door. When the stranger conversed, it was with
+gravity, and in such a way that Philemon felt irresistibly moved to
+tell him everything which he had most at heart. This is always the
+feeling that people have, when they meet with anyone wise enough to
+comprehend all their good and evil, and to despise not a tittle of it.
+
+But Philemon, simple and kind-hearted old man that he was, had not many
+secrets to disclose. He talked, however, quite garrulously, about the
+events of his past life, in the whole course of which he had never been
+a score of miles from this very spot. His wife Baucis and himself had
+dwelt in the cottage from their youth upward, earning their bread by
+honest labour, always poor, but still contented. He told what excellent
+butter and cheese Baucis made, and how nice were the vegetables which he
+raised in his garden. He said, too, that, because they loved one another
+so very much, it was the wish of both that death might not separate
+them, but that they should die, as they had lived, together.
+
+As the stranger listened, a smile beamed over his countenance, and made
+its expression as sweet as it was grand.
+
+"You are a good old man," said he to Philemon, "and you have a good old
+wife to be your helpmeet. It is fit that your wish be granted."
+
+And it seemed to Philemon, just then, as if the sunset clouds threw up a
+bright flash from the west, and kindled a sudden light in the sky.
+
+Baucis had now got supper ready, and, coming to the door, began to make
+apologies for the poor fare which she was forced to set before her
+guests.
+
+"Had we known you were coming," said she, "my good man and myself would
+have gone without a morsel, rather than you should lack a better supper.
+But I took the most part of to-day's milk to make cheese; and our last
+loaf is already half eaten. Ah me! I never feel the sorrow of being
+poor, save when a poor traveller knocks at our door."
+
+"All will be very well; do not trouble yourself, my good dame," replied
+the elder stranger, kindly. "An honest, hearty welcome to a guest works
+miracles with the fare, and is capable of turning the coarsest food to
+nectar and ambrosia."
+
+"A welcome you shall have," cried Baucis, "and likewise a little honey
+that we happen to have left, and a bunch of purple grapes besides."
+
+"Why, Mother Baucis, it is a feast!" exclaimed Quicksilver, laughing,
+"an absolute feast! and you shall see how bravely I will play my part at
+it! I think I never felt hungrier in my life."
+
+"Mercy on us!" whispered Baucis to her husband. "If the young man has
+such a terrible appetite, I am afraid there will not be half enough
+supper!"
+
+They all went into the cottage.
+
+And, now, my little auditors, shall I tell you something that will make
+you open your eyes very wide? It is really one of the oddest
+circumstances in the who|e story. Quicksilver's staff, you recollect,
+had set itself up against the wall of the cottage. Well; when its master
+entered the door, leaving this wonderful staff behind, what should it do
+but immediately spread its little wings, and go hopping and fluttering
+up the door-steps! Tap, tap, went the staff, on the kitchen floor; nor
+did it rest until it had stood itself on end, with the greatest gravity
+and decorum, beside Quicksilver's chair. Old Philemon, however, as well
+as his wife, was so taken up in attending to their guests, that no
+notice was given to what the staff had been about.
+
+As Baucis had said, there was but a scanty supper for two hungry
+travellers. In the middle of the table was the remnant of a brown loaf,
+with a piece of cheese on one side of it, and a dish of honeycomb on the
+other. There was a pretty good bunch of grapes for each of the guests. A
+moderately sized earthen pitcher, nearly full of milk, stood at a corner
+of the board; and when Baucis had filled two bowls, and set them before
+the strangers, only a little milk remained in the bottom of the pitcher.
+Alas! it is a very sad business, when a bountiful heart finds itself
+pinched and squeezed among narrow circumstances. Poor Baucis kept
+wishing that she might starve for a week to come, if it were possible,
+by so doing, to provide these hungry folks a more plentiful supper.
+
+And, since the supper was so exceedingly small, she could not help
+wishing that their appetites had not been quite so large. Why, at their
+very first sitting down, the travellers both drank off all the milk in
+their two bowls, at a draught.
+
+"A little more milk, kind Mother Baucis, if you please," said
+Quicksilver. "The day has been hot, and I am very much athirst."
+
+"Now, my dear people," answered Baucis, in great confusion, "I am so
+sorry and ashamed! But the truth is, there is hardly a drop more milk in
+the pitcher. O husband! husband! why didn't we go without our supper?"
+
+"Why, it appears to me," cried Quicksilver, starting up from the table
+and taking the pitcher by the handle, "it really appears to me that
+matters are not quite so bad as you represent them. Here is certainly
+more milk in the pitcher."
+
+So saying, and to the vast astonishment of Baucis, he proceeded to fill,
+not only his own bowl, but his companion's likewise, from the pitcher,
+that was supposed to be almost empty. The good woman could scarcely
+believe her eyes. She had certainly poured out nearly all the milk, and
+had peeped in afterward, and seen the bottom of the pitcher, as she set
+it down upon the table.
+
+"But I am old," thought Baucis to herself, "and apt to be forgetful I
+suppose I must have made a mistake. At all events, the pitcher cannot
+help being empty now, after filling the bowls twice over."
+
+"What excellent milk!" observed Quicksilver, after quaffing the contents
+of the second bowl, "Excuse me, my kind hostess, but I must really ask
+you for a little more."
+
+Now Baucis had seen, as plainly as she could see anything, that
+Quicksilver had turned the pitcher upside down, and consequently had
+poured out every drop of milk, in filling the last bowl. Of course,
+there could not possibly be any left. However, in order to let him know
+precisely how the case was, she lifted the pitcher, and made a gesture
+as if pouring milk into Quicksilver's bowl, but without the remotest
+idea that any milk would stream forth. What was her surprise, therefore,
+when such an abundant cascade fell bubbling into the bowl, that it was
+immediately filled to the brim, and overflowed upon the table! The two
+snakes that were twisted about Quicksilver's staff (but neither Baucis
+nor Philemon happened to observe this circumstance) stretched out their
+heads, and began to lap up the spilt milk.
+
+And then what a delicious fragrance the milk had! It seemed as if
+Philemon's only cow must have pastured, that day, on the richest herbage
+that could be found anywhere in the world. I only wish that each of
+you, my beloved little souls, could have a bowl of such nice milk, at
+supper time!
+
+"And now a slice of your brown loaf, Mother Baucis," said Quicksilver,
+"and a little of that honey!"
+
+Baucis cut him a slice, accordingly; and though the loaf, when she and
+her husband ate of it, had been rather too dry and crusty to be
+palatable, it was now as light and moist as if but a few hours out of
+the oven. Tasting a crumb, which had fallen on the table, she found it
+more delicious than bread ever was before, and could hardly believe that
+it was a loaf of her own kneading and baking. Yet, what other loaf could
+it possibly be?
+
+But, oh the honey! I may just as well let it alone, without trying to
+describe how exquisitely it smelt and looked. Its colour was that of the
+purest and most transparent gold; and it had the odour of a thousand
+flowers; but of such flowers as never grew in an earthly garden, and to
+seek which the bees must have flown high above the clouds. The wonder
+is, that, after alighting on a flower bed of so delicious fragrance and
+immortal bloom, they should have been content to fly down again to their
+hive in Philemon's garden. Never was such honey tasted, seen, or smelt.
+The perfume floated around the kitchen, and made it so delightful, that,
+had you closed your eyes, you would instantly have forgotten the low
+ceiling and smoky walls, and have fancied yourself in an arbour, with
+celestial honeysuckles creeping over it.
+
+Although good Mother Baucis was a simple old dame, she could not but
+think that there was something rather out of the common way, in all that
+had been going on. So, after helping the guests to bread and honey, and
+laying a bunch of grapes by each of their plates, she sat down by
+Philemon, and told him what she had seen, in a whisper.
+
+"Did you ever hear the like?" asked she.
+
+"No, I never did," answered Philemon, with a smile. "And I rather think,
+my dear old wife, you have been walking about in a sort of a dream. If I
+had poured out the milk, I should have seen through the business at
+once. There happened to be a little more in the pitcher than you
+thought--that is all."
+
+"Ah, husband," said Baucis, "say what you will, these are very uncommon
+people."
+
+"Well, well," replied Philemon, still smiling, "perhaps they are. They
+certainly do look as if they had seen better days; and I am heartily
+glad to see them making so comfortable a supper."
+
+Each of the guests had now taken his bunch of grapes upon his plate.
+Baucis (who rubbed her eyes, in order to see the more clearly) was of
+opinion that the clusters had grown larger and richer, and that each
+separate grape seemed to be on the point of bursting with ripe juice. It
+was entirely a mystery to her how such grapes could ever have been
+produced from the old stunted vine that climbed against the cottage
+wall.
+
+"Very admirable grapes these!" observed Quicksilver, as he swallowed one
+after another, without apparently diminishing his cluster. "Pray, my
+good host, whence did you gather them?"
+
+"From my own vine," answered Philemon. "You may see one of its branches
+twisting across the window, yonder. But wife and I never thought the
+grapes very fine ones."
+
+"I never tasted better," said the guest. "Another cup of this delicious
+milk, if you please, and I shall then have supped better than a prince."
+
+This time, old Philemon bestirred himself, and took up the pitcher; for
+he was curious to discover whether there was any reality in the marvels
+which Baucis had whispered to him. He knew that his good old wife was
+incapable of falsehood, and that she was seldom mistaken in what she
+supposed to be true; but this was so very singular a case, that he
+wanted to see into it with his own eyes. On taking up the pitcher,
+therefore, he slyly peeped into it, and was fully satisfied that it
+contained not so much as a single drop. All at once, however, he beheld
+a little white fountain, which gushed up from the bottom of the pitcher,
+and speedily filled it to the brim with foaming and deliciously fragrant
+milk. It was lucky that Philemon, in his surprise, did not drop the
+miraculous pitcher from his hand.
+
+"Who are ye, wonder-working strangers!" cried he, even more bewildered
+than his wife had been.
+
+"Your guests, my good Philemon, and your friends," replied the elder
+traveller, in his mild, deep voice, that had something at once sweet and
+awe-inspiring in it. "Give me likewise a cup of the milk; and may your
+pitcher never be empty for kind Baucis and yourself, any more than for
+the needy wayfarer!"
+
+The supper being now over, the strangers requested to be shown to their
+place of repose. The old people would gladly have talked with them a
+little longer, and have expressed the wonder which they felt, and their
+delight at finding the poor and meagre supper prove so much better and
+more abundant than they hoped. But the elder traveller had inspired them
+with such reverence, that they dared not ask him any questions. And
+when Philemon drew Quicksilver aside, and inquired how under the sun a
+fountain of milk could have got into an old earthen pitcher, this latter
+personage pointed to his staff.
+
+"There is the whole mystery of the affair," quoth Quicksilver; "and if
+you can make it out, I'll thank you to let me know. I can't tell what to
+make of my staff. It is always playing such odd tricks as this;
+sometimes getting me a supper, and, quite as often, stealing it away. If
+I had any faith in such nonsense, I should say the stick was bewitched!"
+
+He said no more, but looked so slyly in their faces, that they rather
+fancied he was laughing at them. The magic staff went hopping at his
+heels, as Quicksilver quitted the room. When left alone, the good old
+couple spent some little time in conversation about the events of the
+evening, and then lay down on the floor, and fell fast asleep. They had
+given up their sleeping room to the guests, and had no other bed for
+themselves, save these planks, which I wish had been as soft as their
+own hearts.
+
+The old man and his wife were stirring, betimes, in the morning, and the
+strangers likewise arose with the sun, and made their preparations to
+depart. Philemon hospitably entreated them to remain a little longer,
+until Baucis could milk the cow, and bake a cake upon the hearth, and,
+perhaps, find them a few fresh eggs for breakfast. The guests, however,
+seemed to think it better to accomplish a good part of their journey
+before the heat of the day should come on. They, therefore, persisted in
+setting out immediately, but asked Philemon and Baucis to walk forth
+with them a short distance, and show them the road which they were to
+take.
+
+So they all four issued from the cottage, chatting together like old
+friends. It was very remarkable, indeed, how familiar the old couple
+insensibly grew with the elder traveller, and how their good and simple
+spirits melted into his, even as two drops of water would melt into the
+illimitable ocean. And as for Quicksilver, with his keen, quick,
+laughing wits, he appeared to discover every little thought that but
+peeped into their minds, before they suspected it themselves. They
+sometimes wished, it is true, that he had not been quite so
+quick-witted, and also that he would fling away his staff, which looked
+so mysteriously mischievous, with the snakes always writhing about it.
+But then, again, Quicksilver showed himself so very good humoured that
+they would have been rejoiced to keep him in their cottage, staff,
+snakes, and all, every day, and the whole day long.
+
+"Ah me! Well-a-day!" exclaimed Philemon, when they had walked a little
+way from their door. "If our neighbours only knew what a blessed thing
+it is to show hospitality to strangers, they would tie up all their
+dogs, and never allow their children to fling another stone."
+
+"It is a sin and shame for them to behave so--that it is!" cried good
+old Baucis, vehemently. "And I mean to go this very day, and tell some
+of them what naughty people they are!"
+
+"I fear," remarked Quicksilver, slyly smiling, "that you will find none
+of them at home."
+
+The elder traveller's brow, just then, assumed such a grave, stern, and
+awful grandeur, yet serene withal, that neither Baucis nor Philemon
+dared to speak a word. They gazed reverently into his face, as if they
+had been gazing at the sky.
+
+"When men do not feel toward the humblest stranger as if he were a
+brother," said the traveller, in tones so deep that they sounded like
+those of an organ, "they are unworthy to exist on earth, which was
+created as the abode of a great human brotherhood!"
+
+"And, by the by, my dear old people," cried Quicksilver, with the
+liveliest look of fun and mischief in his eyes, "where is this same
+village that you talk about? On which side of us does it lie? Methinks I
+do not see it hereabouts."
+
+Philemon and his wife turned toward the valley, where, at sunset, only
+the day before, they had seen the meadows, the houses, the gardens, the
+clumps of trees, the wide, green-margined street, with children playing
+in it, and all the tokens of business, enjoyment, and prosperity. But
+what was their astonishment! There was no longer any appearance of a
+village! Even the fertile vale, in the hollow of which it lay, had
+ceased to have existence. In its stead, they beheld the broad, blue
+surface of a lake, which filled the great basin of the valley from brim
+to brim, and reflected the surrounding hills in its bosom with as
+tranquil an image as if it had been there ever since the creation of the
+world. For an instant, the lake remained perfectly smooth. Then a little
+breeze sprang up, and caused the water to dance, glitter, and sparkle in
+the early sunbeams, and to dash, with a pleasant rippling murmur,
+against the hither shore.
+
+The lake seemed so strangely familiar that the old couple were greatly
+perplexed, and felt as if they could only have been dreaming about a
+village having lain there. But, the next moment, they remembered the
+vanished dwellings, and the faces and characters of the inhabitants, far
+too distinctly for a dream. The village had been there yesterday, and
+now was gone!
+
+"Alas!" cried the kind-hearted old people, "what has become of our poor
+neighbours?"
+
+"They exist no longer as men and women," said the elder traveller, in
+his grand and deep voice, while a roll of thunder seemed to echo it at a
+distance. "There was neither use nor beauty in such a life as theirs;
+for they never softened or sweetened the hard lot of mortality by the
+exercise of kindly affections between man and man. They retained no
+image of the better life in their bosoms; therefore, the lake, that was
+of old, has spread itself forth again, to reflect the sky!"
+
+"And as for those foolish people," said Quicksilver, with his
+mischievous smile, "they are all transformed to fishes. There needed but
+little change, for they were already a scaly set of rascals, and the
+coldest-blooded beings in existence. So, kind Mother Baucis, whenever
+you or your husband have an appetite for a dish of broiled trout, he can
+throw in a line, and pull out half a dozen of your old neighbours!"
+
+"Ah," cried Baucis, shuddering, "I would not, for the world, put one of
+them on the gridiron!"
+
+"No," added Philemon, making a wry face, "we could never relish them!"
+
+"As for you, good Philemon," continued the elder traveller--"and you,
+kind Baucis--you, with your scanty means, have mingled so much heartfelt
+hospitality with your entertainment of the homeless stranger, that the
+milk became an inexhaustible fount of nectar, and the brown loaf and
+the honey were ambrosia. Thus, the divinities have feasted, at your
+board, off the same viands that supply their banquets on Olympus. You
+have done well, my dear old friends. Wherefore, request whatever favour
+you have most at heart, and it is granted."
+
+Philemon and Baucis looked at one another, and then--I know not which of
+the two it was who spoke, but that one uttered the desire of both their
+hearts.
+
+"Let us live together, while we live, and leave the world at the same
+instant, when we die! For we have always loved one another!"
+
+"Be it so!" replied the stranger, with majestic kindness, "Now, look
+toward your cottage!"
+
+They did so. But what was their surprise on beholding a tall edifice of
+white marble, with a wide-open portal, occupying the spot where their
+humble residence had so lately stood!
+
+"There is your home," said the stranger, beneficently smiling on them
+both. "Exercise your hospitality in yonder palace as freely as in the
+poor hovel to which you welcomed us last evening."
+
+The old folks fell on their knees to thank him; but, behold! neither he
+nor Quicksilver was there.
+
+So Philemon and Baucis took up their residence in the marble palace, and
+spent their time, with vast satisfaction to themselves, in making
+everybody jolly and comfortable who happened to pass that way. The milk
+pitcher, I must not forget to say, retained its marvellous quality of
+being never empty, when it was desirable to have it full. Whenever an
+honest, good-humoured, and free-hearted guest took a draught from this
+pitcher, he invariably found it the sweetest and most invigorating fluid
+that ever ran down his throat. But, if a cross and disagreeable
+curmudgeon happened to sip, he was pretty certain to twist his visage
+into a hard knot, and pronounce it a pitcher of sour milk!
+
+Thus the old couple lived in their palace a great, great while, and grew
+older and older, and very old indeed. At length, however, there came a
+summer morning when Philemon and Baucis failed to make their appearance,
+as on other mornings, with one hospitable smile overspreading both their
+pleasant faces, to invite the guests of over night to breakfast. The
+guests searched everywhere, from top to bottom of the spacious palace,
+and all to no purpose. But, after a great deal of perplexity, they
+espied, in front of the portal, two venerable trees, which nobody could
+remember to have seen there the day before. Yet there they stood, with
+their roots fastened deep into the soil, and a huge breadth of foliage
+overshadowing the whole front of the edifice. One was an oak, and the
+other a linden tree. Their boughs--it was strange and beautiful to
+see--were intertwined together, and embraced one another, so that each
+tree seemed to live in the other tree's bosom much more than in its own.
+
+While the guests were marvelling how these trees, that must have
+required at least a century to grow, could have come to be so tall and
+venerable in a single night, a breeze sprang up, and set their
+intermingled boughs astir. And then there was a deep, broad murmur in
+the air, as if the two mysterious trees were speaking.
+
+"I am old Philemon!" murmured the oak.
+
+"I am old Baucis!" murmured the linden tree.
+
+But, as the breeze grew stronger, the trees both spoke at
+once--"Philemon! Baucis! Baucis! Philemon!"--as if one were both and
+both were one, and talked together in the depths of their mutual heart.
+It was plain enough to perceive that the good old couple had renewed
+their age, and were now to spend a quiet and delightful hundred years or
+so, Philemon as an oak, and Baucis as a linden tree. And oh, what a
+hospitable shade did they fling around them. Whenever a wayfarer paused
+beneath it, he heard a pleasant whisper of the leaves above his head,
+and wondered how the sound should so much resemble words like these:
+
+"Welcome, welcome, dear traveller, welcome!"
+
+And some kind soul, that knew what would have pleased old Baucis and old
+Philemon best, built a circular seat around both their trunks, where,
+for a great while afterward the weary, and the hungry, and the thirsty
+used to repose themselves, and quaff milk abundantly out of the
+miraculous pitcher.
+
+And I wish, for all our sakes, that we had the pitcher here now!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN
+
+
+Long, long ago, when this old world was in its tender infancy, there was
+a child, named Epimetheus, who never had either father or mother; and,
+that he might not be lonely, another child, fatherless and motherless
+like himself, was sent from a far country, to live with him, and be his
+playfellow and helpmate. Her name was Pandora.
+
+The first thing that Pandora saw, when she entered the cottage where
+Epimetheus dwelt, was a great box. And almost the first question which
+she put to him, after crossing the threshold, was this:
+
+"Epimetheus, what have you in that box?"
+
+"My dear little Pandora," answered Epimetheus, "that is a secret, and
+you must be kind enough not to ask any questions about it. The box was
+left here to be kept safely, and I do not myself know what it contains."
+
+"But who gave it to you?" asked Pandora. "And where did it come from?"
+
+"That is a secret, too," replied Epimetheus.
+
+"How provoking!" exclaimed Pandora, pouting her lip. "I wish the great
+ugly box were out of the way!"
+
+"Oh, come, don't think of it any more," cried Epimetheus. "Let us run
+out of doors, and have some nice play with the other children."
+
+It is thousands of years since Epimetheus and Pandora were alive; and
+the world, nowadays, is a very different sort of thing from what it was
+in their time. Then, everybody was a child. There needed no fathers and
+mothers to take care of the children; because there was no danger, nor
+trouble of any kind, and no clothes to be mended, and there was always
+plenty to eat and drink. Whenever a child wanted his dinner, he found it
+growing on a tree; and, if he looked at the tree in the morning, he
+could see the expanding blossom of that night's supper; or, at eventide,
+he saw the tender bud of to-morrow's breakfast. It was a very pleasant
+life indeed. No labour to be done, no tasks to be studied; nothing but
+sports and dances, and sweet voices of children talking, or carolling
+like birds, or gushing out in merry laughter, throughout the livelong
+day.
+
+What was most wonderful of all, the children never quarrelled among
+themselves; neither had they any crying fits; nor, since time first
+began, had a single one of these little mortals ever gone apart into a
+corner, and sulked. Oh, what a good time was that to be alive in! The
+truth is, those ugly little winged monsters, called Troubles, which are
+now almost as numerous as mosquitoes, had never yet been seen on the
+earth. It is probable that the very greatest disquietude which a child
+had ever experienced was Pandora's vexation at not being able to
+discover the secret of the mysterious box.
+
+This was at first only the faint shadow of a Trouble; but, every day, it
+grew more and more substantial, until, before a great while, the cottage
+of Epimetheus and Pandora was less sunshiny than those of the other
+children.
+
+"Whence can the box have come?" Pandora continually kept saying to
+herself and to Epimetheus. "And what in the world can be inside of it?"
+
+"Always talking about this box!" said Epimetheus, at last; for he had
+grown extremely tired of the subject. "I wish, dear Pandora, you would
+try to talk of something else. Come, let us go and gather some ripe
+figs, and eat them under the trees, for our supper. And I know a vine
+that has the sweetest and juiciest grapes you ever tasted."
+
+"Always talking about grapes and figs!" cried Pandora, pettishly.
+
+"Well, then," said Epimetheus, who was a very good-tempered child, like
+a multitude of children in those days, "let us run out and have a merry
+time with our playmates."
+
+"I am tired of merry times, and don't care if I never have any more!"
+answered our pettish little Pandora. "And, besides, I never do have any.
+This ugly box! I am so taken up with thinking about it all the time. I
+insist upon your telling me what is inside of it."
+
+"As I have already said, fifty times over, I do not know!" replied
+Epimetheus, getting a little vexed. "How, then, can I tell you what is
+inside?"
+
+"You might open it," said Pandora, looking sideways at Epimetheus, "and
+then we could see for ourselves."
+
+"Pandora, what are you thinking of?" exclaimed Epimetheus.
+
+And his face expressed so much horror at the idea of looking into a box,
+which had been confided to him on the condition of his never opening it,
+that Pandora thought it best not to suggest it any more. Still, however,
+she could not help thinking and talking about the box.
+
+"At least," said she, "you can tell me how it came here."
+
+"It was left at the door," replied Epimetheus, "just before you came, by
+a person who looked very smiling and intelligent, and who could hardly
+forbear laughing as he put it down. He was dressed in an odd kind of a
+cloak, and had on a cap that seemed to be made partly of feathers, so
+that it looked almost as if it had wings."
+
+"What sort of a staff had he?" asked Pandora.
+
+"Oh, the most curious staff you ever saw!" cried Epimetheus. "It was
+like two serpents twisting around a stick, and was carved so naturally
+that I, at first, thought the serpents were alive."
+
+"I know him," said Pandora, thoughtfully. "Nobody else has such a staff.
+It was Quicksilver; and he brought me hither, as well as the box. No
+doubt he intended it for me; and, most probably, it contains pretty
+dresses for me to wear, or toys for you and me to play with, or
+something very nice for us both to eat!"
+
+"Perhaps so," answered Epimetheus, turning away. "But until Quicksilver
+comes back and tells us so, we have neither of us any right to lift the
+lid of the box."
+
+"What a dull boy he is!" muttered Pandora, as Epimetheus left the
+cottage. "I do wish he had a little more enterprise!"
+
+For the first time since her arrival, Epimetheus had gone out without
+asking Pandora to accompany him. He went to gather figs and grapes by
+himself, or to seek whatever amusement he could find, in other society
+than his little playfellow's. He was tired to death of hearing about the
+box, and heartily wished that Quicksilver, or whatever was the
+messenger's name, had left it at some other child's door, where Pandora
+would never have set eyes on it. So perseveringly as did she babble
+about this one thing! The box, the box, and nothing but the box! It
+seemed as if the box were bewitched, and as if the cottage were not big
+enough to hold it, without Pandora's continually stumbling over it, and
+making Epimetheus stumble over it likewise, and bruising all four of
+their shins.
+
+Well, it was really hard that poor Epimetheus should have a box in his
+ears from morning till night; especially as the little people of the
+earth were so unaccustomed to vexations, in those happy days, that they
+knew not how to deal with them. Thus, a small vexation made as much
+disturbance then as a far bigger one would in our own times.
+
+After Epimetheus was gone, Pandora stood gazing at the box. She had
+called it ugly, above a hundred times; but, in spite of all that she had
+said against it, it was positively a very handsome article of furniture,
+and would have been quite an ornament to any room in which it should be
+placed. It was made of a beautiful kind of wood, with dark and rich
+veins spreading over its surface, which was so highly polished that
+little Pandora could see her face in it. As the child had no other
+looking glass, it is odd that she did not value the box, merely on this
+account.
+
+The edges and corners of the box were carved with most wonderful skill.
+Around the margin there were figures of graceful men and women, and the
+prettiest children ever seen, reclining or sporting amid a profusion of
+flowers and foliage; and these various objects were so exquisitely
+represented, and were wrought together in such harmony, that flowers,
+foliage, and human beings seemed to combine into a wreath of mingled
+beauty. But here and there, peeping forth from behind the carved
+foliage, Pandora once or twice fancied that she saw a face not so
+lovely, or something or other that was disagreeable, and which stole the
+beauty out of all the rest. Nevertheless, on looking more closely, and
+touching the spot with her finger, she could discover nothing of the
+kind. Some face that was really beautiful had been made to look ugly by
+her catching a sideway glimpse at it.
+
+The most beautiful face of all was done in what is called high relief,
+in the centre of the lid. There was nothing else, save the dark, smooth
+richness of the polished wood, and this one face in the centre, with a
+garland of flowers about its brow. Pandora had looked at this face a
+great many times, and imagined that the mouth could smile if it liked,
+or be grave when it chose, the same as any living mouth. The features,
+indeed, all wore a very lively and rather mischievous expression, which
+looked almost as if it needs must burst out of the carved lips, and
+utter itself in words.
+
+Had the mouth spoken, it would probably have been something like this:
+
+"Do not be afraid, Pandora! What harm can there be in opening the box?
+Never mind that poor, simple Epimetheus! You are wiser than he, and have
+ten times as much spirit. Open the box, and see if you do not find
+something very pretty!"
+
+The box, I had almost forgotten to say, was fastened; not by a lock, nor
+by any other such contrivance, but by a very intricate knot of gold
+cord. There appeared to be no end to this knot, and no beginning. Never
+was a knot so cunningly twisted, nor with so many ins and outs, which
+roguishly defied the skilfullest fingers to disentangle them. And yet,
+by the very difficulty that there was in it, Pandora was the more
+tempted to examine the knot, and just see how it was made. Two or three
+times, already, she had stooped over the box, and taken the knot between
+her thumb and forefinger, but without positively trying to undo it.
+
+"I really believe," said she to herself, "that I begin to see how it was
+done. Nay, perhaps I could tie it up again, after undoing it. There
+would be no harm in that, surely. Even Epimetheus would not blame me for
+that. I need not open the box, and should not, of course, without the
+foolish boy's consent, even if the knot were untied."
+
+It might have been better for Pandora if she had had a little work to
+do, or anything to employ her mind upon, so as not to be so constantly
+thinking of this one subject. But children led so easy a life, before
+any Troubles came into the world, that they had really a great deal too
+much leisure. They could not be forever playing at hide-and-seek among
+the flower shrubs, or at blind-man's-buff with garlands over their eyes,
+or at whatever other games had been found out, while Mother Earth was in
+her babyhood. When life is all sport, toil is the real play. There was
+absolutely nothing to do. A little sweeping and dusting about the
+cottage, I suppose, and the gathering of fresh flowers (which were only
+too abundant everywhere), and arranging them in vases--and poor little
+Pandora's day's work was over. And then, for the rest of the day, there
+was the box!
+
+After all, I am not quite sure that the box was not a blessing to her in
+its way. It supplied her with such a variety of ideas to think of, and
+to talk about, whenever she had anybody to listen! When she was in good
+humour, she could admire the bright polish of its sides, and the rich
+border of beautiful faces and foliage that ran all around it. Or, if she
+chanced to be ill-tempered, she could give it a push, or kick it with
+her naughty little foot. And many a kick did the box--(but it was a
+mischievous box, as we shall see, and deserved all it got)--many a kick
+did it receive. But, certain it is, if it had not been for the box, our
+active-minded little Pandora would not have known half so well how to
+spend her time as she now did.
+
+For it was really an endless employment to guess what was inside. What
+could it be, indeed? Just imagine, my little hearers, how busy your wits
+would be, if there were a great box in the house, which, as you might
+have reason to suppose, contained something new and pretty for your
+Christmas or New Year's gifts. Do you think that you should be less
+curious than Pandora? If you were left alone with the box, might you not
+feel a little tempted to lift the lid? But you would not do it. Oh, fie!
+No, no! Only, if you thought there were toys in it, it would be so very
+hard to let slip an opportunity of taking just one peep! I know not
+whether Pandora expected any toys; for none had yet begun to be made,
+probably, in those days, when the world itself was one great plaything
+for the children that dwelt upon it. But Pandora was convinced that
+there was something very beautiful and valuable in the box; and
+therefore she felt just as anxious to take a peep as any of these little
+girls, here around me, would have felt. And, possibly, a little more so;
+but of that I am not quite so certain.
+
+On this particular day, however, which we have so long been talking
+about her curiosity grew so much greater than it usually was, that, at
+last, she approached the box. She was more than half determined to open
+it, if she could. Ah, naughty Pandora!
+
+First, however, she tried to lift it. It was heavy; quite too heavy for
+the slender strength of a child like Pandora. She raised one end of the
+box a few inches from the floor, and let it fall again, with a pretty
+loud thump. A moment afterward, she almost fancied that she heard
+something stir inside of the box. She applied her ear as closely as
+possible, and listened. Positively, there did seem to be a kind of
+stifled murmur within! Or was it merely the singing in Pandora's ears?
+Or could it be the beating of her heart? The child could not quite
+satisfy herself whether she had heard anything or no. But, at all
+events, her curiosity was stronger than ever.
+
+As she drew back her head, her eyes fell upon the knot of gold cord.
+
+"It must have been a very ingenious person who tied this knot," said
+Pandora to herself. "But I think I could untie it nevertheless. I am
+resolved, at least, to find the two ends of the cord."
+
+So she took the golden knot in her fingers, and pried into its
+intricacies as sharply as she could. Almost without intending it, or
+quite knowing what she was about, she was soon busily engaged in
+attempting to undo it. Meanwhile, the bright sunshine came through the
+open window; as did likewise the merry voices of the children, playing
+at a distance, and perhaps the voice of Epimetheus among them. Pandora
+stopped to listen. What a beautiful day it was! Would it not be wiser if
+she were to let the troublesome knot alone, and think no more about the
+box, but run and join her little playfellow and be happy?
+
+All this time, however, her fingers were half unconsciously busy with
+the knot; and happening to glance at the flower-wreathed face on the lid
+of the enchanted box, she seemed to perceive it slyly grinning at her.
+
+"That face looks very mischievous," thought Pandora. "I wonder whether
+it smiles because I am doing wrong! I have the greatest mind in the
+world to run away!"
+
+But just then, by the merest accident, she gave the knot a kind of
+twist, which produced a wonderful result. The gold cord untwined itself,
+as if by magic, and left the box without a fastening.
+
+"This is the strangest thing I ever knew!" said Pandora. "What will
+Epimetheus say? And how can I possibly tie it up again?"
+
+She made one or two attempts to restore the knot, but soon found it
+quite beyond her skill. It had disentangled itself so suddenly that she
+could not in the least remember how the strings had been doubled into
+one another; and when she tried to recollect the shape and appearance of
+the knot, it seemed to have gone entirely out of her mind. Nothing was
+to be done, therefore, but to let the box remain as it was until
+Epimetheus should come in.
+
+"But," said Pandora, "when he finds the knot untied, he will know that I
+have done it. How shall I make him believe that I have not looked into
+the box?"
+
+And then the thought came into her naughty little heart, that, since she
+would be suspected of having looked into the box, she might just as well
+do so at once. Oh, very naughty and very foolish Pandora! You should
+have thought only of doing what was right, and of leaving undone what
+was wrong, and not of what your playfellow Epimetheus would have said
+or believed. And so perhaps she might, if the enchanted face on the lid
+of the box had not looked so bewitchingly persuasive at her, and if she
+had not seemed to hear, more distinctly, than before, the murmur of
+small voices within. She could not tell whether it was fancy or no; but
+there was quite a little tumult of whispers in her ear--or else it was
+her curiosity that whispered:
+
+"Let us out, dear Pandora--pray let us out! We will be such nice pretty
+playfellows for you! Only let us out!"
+
+"What can it be?" thought Pandora. "Is there something alive in the box?
+Well--yes!--I am resolved to take just one peep! Only one peep; and then
+the lid shall be shut down as safely as ever! There cannot possibly be
+any harm in just one little peep!"
+
+But it is now time for us to see what Epimetheus was doing.
+
+This was the first time, since his little playmate had come to dwell
+with him, that he had attempted to enjoy any pleasure in which she did
+not partake. But nothing went right; nor was he nearly so happy as on
+other days. He could not find a sweet grape or a ripe fig (if Epimetheus
+had a fault, it was a little too much fondness for figs); or, if ripe at
+all, they were overripe, and so sweet as to be cloying. There was no
+mirth in his heart, such as usually made his voice gush out, of its own
+accord, and swell the merriment of his companions. In short, he grew so
+uneasy and discontented, that the other children could not imagine what
+was the matter with Epimetheus. Neither did he himself know what ailed
+him, any better than they did. For you must recollect that, at the time
+we are speaking of, it was everybody's nature, and constant habit, to be
+happy. The world had not yet learned to be otherwise. Not a single soul
+or body, since these children were first sent to enjoy themselves on the
+beautiful earth, had ever been sick or out of sorts.
+
+At length, discovering that, somehow or other, he put a stop to all the
+play, Epimetheus judged it best to go back to Pandora, who was in a
+humour better suited to his own. But, with a hope of giving her
+pleasure, he gathered some flowers, and made them into a wreath, which
+he meant to put upon her head. The flowers were very lovely--roses, and
+lilies, and orange blossoms, and a great many more, which left a trail
+of fragrance behind, as Epimetheus carried them along; and the wreath
+was put together with as much skill as could reasonably be expected of a
+boy. The fingers of little girls, it has always appeared to me, are the
+fittest to twine flower wreaths; but boys could do it, in those days,
+rather better than they can now.
+
+And here I must mention that a great black cloud had been gathering in
+the sky, for some time past, although it had not yet overspread the sun.
+But, just as Epimetheus reached the cottage door, this cloud began to
+intercept the sunshine, and thus to make a sudden and sad obscurity.
+
+He entered softly, for he meant, if possible, to steal behind Pandora,
+and fling the wreath of flowers over her head, before she should be
+aware of his approach. But, as it happened, there was no need of his
+treading so very lightly. He might have trod as heavily as he
+pleased--as heavily as a grown man--as heavily, I was going to say, as
+an elephant--without much probability of Pandora's hearing his
+footsteps. She was too intent upon her purpose. At the moment of his
+entering the cottage, the naughty child had put her hand to the lid,
+and was on the point of opening the mysterious box. Epimetheus beheld
+her. If he had cried out, Pandora would probably have withdrawn her
+hand, and the fatal mystery of the box might never have been known.
+
+But Epimetheus himself, although he said very little about it, had his
+own share of curiosity to know what was inside. Perceiving that Pandora
+was resolved to find out the secret, he determined that his playfellow
+should not be the only wise person in the cottage. And if there were
+anything pretty or valuable in the box, he meant to take half of it to
+himself. Thus, after all his sage speeches to Pandora about restraining
+her curiosity, Epimetheus turned out to be quite as foolish, and nearly
+as much in fault as she. So, whenever we blame Pandora for what
+happened, we must not forget to shake our heads at Epimetheus likewise.
+
+As Pandora raised the lid, the cottage grew very dark and dismal; for
+the black cloud had now swept quite over the sun, and seemed to have
+buried it alive. There had for a little while past been a low growling
+and muttering, which all at once broke into a heavy peal of thunder. But
+Pandora, heeding nothing of all this, lifted the lid nearly upright, and
+looked inside. It seemed as if a sudden swarm of winged creatures
+brushed past her, taking flight out of the box, while, at the same
+instant, she heard the voice of Epimetheus, with a lamentable tone, as
+if he were in pain.
+
+"Oh, I am stung!" cried he. "I am stung! Naughty Pandora! why have you
+opened this wicked box?"
+
+Pandora let fall the lid, and, starting up, looked about her, to see
+what had befallen Epimetheus. The thunder cloud had so darkened the room
+that she could not very clearly discern what was in it. But she heard a
+disagreeable buzzing, as if a great many huge flies, or gigantic
+mosquitoes, or those insects which we call dor bugs, and pinching dogs,
+were darting about. And, as her eyes grew more accustomed to the
+imperfect light, she saw a crowd of ugly little shapes, with bats'
+wings, looking abominably spiteful, and armed with terribly long stings
+in their tails. It was one of these that had stung Epimetheus. Nor was
+it a great while before Pandora herself began to scream, in no less pain
+and affright than her playfellow, and making a vast deal more hubbub
+about it. An odious little monster had settled on her forehead, and
+would have stung her I know not how deeply, if Epimetheus had not run
+and brushed it away.
+
+Now, if you wish to know what these ugly things might be, which had made
+their escape out of the box, I must tell you that they were the whole
+family of earthly Troubles. There were evil Passions; there were a great
+many species of Cares; there were more than a hundred and fifty Sorrows;
+there were Diseases, in a vast number of miserable and painful shapes;
+there were more kinds of Naughtiness than it would be of any use to talk
+about. In short, everything that has since afflicted the souls and
+bodies of mankind had been shut up in the mysterious box, and given to
+Epimetheus and Pandora to be kept safely, in order that the happy
+children of the world might never be molested by them. Had they been
+faithful to their trust, all would have gone well. No grown person would
+ever have been sad, nor any child have had cause to shed a single tear,
+from that hour until this moment.
+
+But--and you may see by this how a wrong act of any one mortal is a
+calamity to the whole world--by Pandora's lifting the lid of that
+miserable box, and by the fault of Epimetheus, too, in not preventing
+her, these Troubles have obtained a foothold among us, and do not seem
+very likely to be driven away in a hurry. For it was impossible, as you
+will easily guess, that the two children should keep the ugly swarms in
+their own little cottage. On the contrary, the first thing that they did
+was to fling open the doors and windows, in hopes of getting rid of
+them; and, sure enough, away flew the winged Troubles all abroad, and so
+pestered and tormented the small people, everywhere about, that none of
+them so much as smiled for many days afterward. And, what was very
+singular, all the flowers and dewy blossoms on earth not one of which
+had hitherto faded, now began to droop and shed their leaves, after a
+day or two. The children, moreover, who before seemed immortal in their
+childhood, now grew older, day by day, and came soon to be youths and
+maidens, and men and women by and by, and aged people, before they
+dreamed of such a thing.
+
+Meanwhile, the naughty Pandora, and hardly less naughty Epimetheus,
+remained in their cottage. Both of them had been grievously stung, and
+were in a good deal of pain, which seemed the more intolerable to them,
+because it was the very first pain that had ever been felt since the
+world began. Of course, they were entirely unaccustomed to it, and could
+have no idea what it meant. Besides all this, they were in exceedingly
+bad humour, both with themselves and with one another. In order to
+indulge it to the utmost, Epimetheus sat down sullenly in a corner with
+his back toward Pandora; while Pandora flung herself upon the floor and
+rested her head on the fatal and abominable box. She was crying
+bitterly, and sobbing as if her heart would break.
+
+Suddenly there was a gentle little tap on the inside of the lid.
+
+"What can that be?" cried Pandora, lifting her head.
+
+But either Epimetheus had not heard the tap, or was too much out of
+humour to notice it. At any rate, he made no answer.
+
+"You are very unkind," said Pandora, sobbing anew, "not to speak to me!"
+
+Again the tap! It sounded like the tiny knuckles of a fairy's hand,
+knocking lightly and playfully on the inside of the box.
+
+"Who are you?" asked Pandora, with a little of her former curiosity.
+"Who are you, inside of this naughty box?"
+
+A sweet little voice spoke from within--
+
+"Only lift the lid, and you shall see."
+
+"No, no," answered Pandora, again beginning to sob, "I have had enough
+of lifting the lid! You are inside of the box, naughty creature, and
+there you shall stay! There are plenty of your ugly brothers and sisters
+already flying about the world. You need never think that I shall be so
+foolish as to let you out!"
+
+She looked toward Epimetheus, as she spoke, perhaps expecting that he
+would commend her for her wisdom. But the sullen boy only muttered that
+she was wise a little too late.
+
+"Ah," said the sweet little voice again, "you had much better let me
+out. I am not like those naughty creatures that have stings in their
+tails. They are no brothers and sisters of mine, as you would see at
+once, if you were only to get a glimpse of me. Come, come, my pretty
+Pandora! I am sure you will let me out!"
+
+And, indeed, there was a kind of cheerful witchery in the tone, that
+made it almost impossible to refuse anything which this little voice
+asked. Pandora's heart had insensibly grown lighter, at every word that
+came from within the box. Epimetheus, too, though still in the corner,
+had turned half round, and seemed to be in rather better spirits than
+before.
+
+"My dear Epimetheus," cried Pandora, "have you heard this little voice?"
+
+"Yes, to be sure I have," answered he, but in no very good humour as
+yet. "And what of it?"
+
+"Shall I lift the lid again?" asked Pandora.
+
+"Just as you please," said Epimetheus. "You have done so much mischief
+already, that perhaps you may as well do a little more. One other
+Trouble, in such a swarm as you have set adrift about the world, can
+make no very great difference."
+
+"You might speak a little more kindly!" murmured Pandora, wiping her
+eyes.
+
+"Ah, naughty boy!" cried the little voice within the box, in an arch and
+laughing tone. "He knows he is longing to see me. Come, my dear Pandora,
+lift up the lid. I am in a great hurry to comfort you. Only let me have
+some fresh air, and you shall soon see that matters are not quite so
+dismal as you think them!"
+
+"Epimetheus," exclaimed Pandora, "come what may, I am resolved to open
+the box!"
+
+"And, as the lid seems very heavy," cried Epimetheus, running across the
+room, "I will help you!"
+
+So, with one consent, the two children again lifted the lid. Out flew a
+sunny and smiling little personage, and Hovered about the room, throwing
+a light wherever she went. Have you never made the sunshine dance into
+dark corners, by reflecting it from a bit of looking glass? Well, so
+looked the winged cheerfulness of this fairy-like stranger, amid the
+gloom of the cottage. She flew to Epimetheus, and laid the least touch
+of her finger on the inflamed spot where the Trouble had stung him, and
+immediately the anguish of it was gone. Then she kissed Pandora on the
+forehead, and her hurt was cured likewise.
+
+After performing these good offices, the bright stranger fluttered
+sportively over the children's heads, and looked so sweetly at them,
+that they both began to think it not so very much amiss to have opened
+the box, since, otherwise, their cheery guest must have been kept a
+prisoner among those naughty imps with stings in their tails.
+
+"Pray, who are you, beautiful creature?" inquired Pandora.
+
+"I am to be called Hope!" answered the sunshiny figure. "And because I
+am such a cheery little body, I was packed into the box, to make amends
+to the human race for that swarm of ugly Troubles, which was destined to
+be let loose among them. Never fear! we shall do pretty well in spite
+of them all."
+
+"Your wings are coloured like the rainbow!" exclaimed Pandora. "How very
+beautiful!"
+
+"Yes, they are like the rainbow," said Hope, "because, glad as my nature
+is, I am partly made of tears as well as smiles."
+
+"And will you stay with us," asked Epimetheus, "forever and ever?"
+
+"As long as you need me," said Hope, with her pleasant smile--"and that
+will be as long as you live in the world--I promise never to desert you.
+There may come times and seasons, now and then, when you will think
+that I have utterly vanished. But again, and again, and again, when
+perhaps you least dream of it, you shall see the glimmer of my wings on
+the ceiling of your cottage. Yes, my dear children, and I know something
+very good and beautiful that is to be given you hereafter!"
+
+"Oh tell us," they exclaimed--"tell us what it is!"
+
+"Do not ask me," replied Hope, putting her finger on her rosy mouth.
+"But do not despair, even if it should never happen while you live on
+this earth. Trust in my promise, for it is true."
+
+"We do trust you!" cried Epimetheus and Pandora, both in one breath.
+
+And so they did; and not only they, but so has everybody trusted Hope,
+that has since been alive. And to tell you the truth, I cannot help
+being glad--(though, to be sure, it was an uncommonly naughty thing for
+her to do)--but I cannot help being glad that our foolish Pandora peeped
+into the box. No doubt--no doubt--the Troubles are still flying about
+the world, and have increased in multitude, rather than lessened, and
+are a very ugly set of imps, and carry most venomous stings in their
+tails. I have felt them already, and expect to feel them more, as I grow
+older. But then that lovely and lightsome little figure of Hope! What in
+the world could we do without her? Hope spiritualises the earth; Hope
+makes it always new; and, even in the earth's best and brightest aspect,
+Hope shows it to be only the shadow of an infinite bliss hereafter!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE CYCLOPS
+
+
+When the great city of Troy was taken, all the chiefs who had fought
+against it set sail for their homes. But there was wrath in heaven
+against them, for indeed they had borne themselves haughtily and cruelly
+in the day of their victory. Therefore they did not all find a safe and
+happy return. For one was shipwrecked, and another was shamefully slain
+by his false wife in his palace, and others found all things at home
+troubled and changed, and were driven to seek new dwellings elsewhere.
+And some, whose wives and friends and people had been still true to them
+through those ten long years of absence, were driven far and wide about
+the world before they saw their native land again. And of all, the wise
+Ulysses was he who wandered farthest and suffered most.
+
+He was well-nigh the last to sail, for he had tarried many days to do
+pleasure to Agamemnon, lord of all the Greeks. Twelve ships he had with
+him--twelve he had brought to Troy--and in each there were some fifty
+men, being scarce half of those that had sailed in them in the old days,
+so many valiant heroes slept the last sleep by Simoïs and Scamander, and
+in the plain and on the seashore, slain in battle or by the shafts of
+Apollo.
+
+First they sailed northwest to the Thracian coast, where the Ciconians
+dwelt, who had helped the men of Troy. Their city they took, and in it
+much plunder, slaves and oxen, and jars of fragrant wine, and might
+have escaped unhurt, but that they stayed to hold revel on the shore.
+For the Ciconians gathered their neighbours, being men of the same
+blood, and did battle with the invaders, and drove them to their ship.
+And when Ulysses numbered his men, he found that he had lost six out of
+each ship.
+
+Scarce had he set out again when the wind began to blow fiercely; so,
+seeing a smooth sandy beach, they drave the ships ashore and dragged
+them out of reach of the waves, and waited till the storm should abate.
+And the third morning being fair, they sailed again, and journeyed
+prosperously till they came to the very end of the great Peloponnesian
+land, where Cape Malea looks out upon the southern sea. But contrary
+currents baffled them, so that they could not round it, and the north
+wind blew so strongly that they must fain drive before it. And on the
+tenth day they came to the land where the lotus grows--a wondrous fruit,
+of which whosoever eats cares not to see country or wife or children
+again. Now the Lotus eaters, for so they call the people of the land,
+were a kindly folk, and gave of the fruit to some of the sailors, not
+meaning them any harm, but thinking it to be the best that they had to
+give. These, when they had eaten, said that they would not sail any more
+over the sea; which, when the wise Ulysses heard, he bade their comrades
+bind them and carry them, sadly complaining, to the ships.
+
+Then, the wind having abated, they took to their oars, and rowed for
+many days till they came to the country where the Cyclopes dwell. Now, a
+mile or so from the shore there was an island, very fair and fertile,
+but no man dwells there or tills the soil, and in the island a harbour
+where a ship may be safe from all winds, and at the head of the harbour
+a stream falling from the rock, and whispering alders all about it. Into
+this the ships passed safely, and were hauled up on the beach, and the
+crews slept by them, waiting for the morning. And the next day they
+hunted the wild goats, of which there was great store on the island, and
+feasted right merrily on what they caught, with draughts of red wine
+which they had carried off from the town of the Ciconians.
+
+But on the morrow, Ulysses, for he was ever fond of adventure, and would
+know of every land to which he came what manner of men they were that
+dwelt there, took one of his twelve ships and bade row to the land.
+There was a great hill sloping to the shore, and there rose up here and
+there a smoke from the caves where the Cyclopes dwelt apart, holding no
+converse with each other, for they were a rude and savage folk, but
+ruled each his own household, not caring for others. Now very close to
+the shore was one of these caves, very huge and deep, with laurels round
+about the mouth, and in front a fold with walls built of rough stone,
+and shaded by tall oaks and pines. So Ulysses chose out of the crew the
+twelve bravest, and bade the rest guard the ship, and went to see what
+manner of dwelling this was, and who abode there. He had his sword by
+his side, and on his shoulder a mighty skin of wine, sweet smelling and
+strong, with which he might win the heart of some fierce savage, should
+he chance to meet with such, as indeed his prudent heart forecasted that
+he might.
+
+So they entered the cave, and judged that it was the dwelling of some
+rich and skilful shepherd. For within there were pens for the young of
+the sheep and of the goats, divided all according to their age, and
+there were baskets full of cheeses, and full milkpails ranged along the
+wall. But the Cyclops himself was away in the pastures. Then the
+companions of Ulysses besought him that he would depart, taking with
+him, if he would, a store of cheeses and sundry of the lambs and of the
+kids. But he would not, for he wished to see, after his wont, what
+manner of host this strange shepherd might be. And truly he saw it to
+his cost!
+
+It was evening when the Cyclops came home, a mighty giant, twenty feet
+in height, or more. On his shoulder he bore a vast bundle of pine logs
+for his fire, and threw them down outside the cave with a great crash,
+and drove the flocks within, and closed the entrance with a huge rock,
+which twenty wagons and more could not bear. Then he milked the ewes and
+all the she goats, and half of the milk he curdled for cheese, and half
+he set ready for himself, when he should sup. Next he kindled a fire
+with the pine logs, and the flame lighted up all the cave, showing him
+Ulysses and his comrades.
+
+"Who are ye?" cried Polyphemus, for that was the giant's name. "Are ye
+traders, or, haply, pirates?"
+
+For in those days it was not counted shame to be called a pirate.
+
+Ulysses shuddered at the dreadful voice and shape, but bore him bravely,
+and answered, "We are no pirates, mighty sir, but Greeks, sailing back
+from Troy, and subjects of the great King Agamemnon, whose fame is
+spread from one end of heaven to the other. And we are come to beg
+hospitality of thee in the name of Zeus, who rewards or punishes hosts
+and guests according as they be faithful the one to the other, or no."
+
+"Nay," said the giant, "it is but idle talk to tell me of Zeus and the
+other gods. We Cyclopes take no account of gods, holding ourselves to
+be much better and stronger than they. But come, tell me where have you
+left your ship?"
+
+But Ulysses saw his thought when he asked about the ship, how he was
+minded to break it, and take from them all hope of flight. Therefore he
+answered him craftily:
+
+"Ship have we none, for that which was ours King Poseidon brake, driving
+it on a jutting rock on this coast, and we whom thou seest are all that
+are escaped from the waves."
+
+Polyphemus answered nothing, but without more ado caught up two of the
+men, as a man might catch up the whelps of a dog, and dashed them on the
+ground, and tore them limb from limb, and devoured them, with huge
+draughts of milk between, leaving not a morsel, not even the very bones.
+But the others, when they saw the dreadful deed, could only weep and
+pray to Zeus for help. And when the giant had ended his foul meal, he
+lay down among his sheep and slept.
+
+Then Ulysses questioned much in his heart whether he should slay the
+monster as he slept, for he doubted not that his good sword would pierce
+to the giant's heart, mighty as he was. But, being very wise, he
+remembered that, should he slay him, he and his comrades would yet
+perish miserably. For who should move away the great rock that lay
+against the door of the cave? So they waited till the morning. And the
+monster woke, and milked his flocks, and afterward, seizing two men,
+devoured them for his meal. Then he went to the pastures, but put the
+great rock on the mouth of the cave, just as a man puts down the lid
+upon his quiver.
+
+All that day the wise Ulysses was thinking what he might best do to save
+himself and his companions, and the end of his thinking was this: There
+was a mighty pole in the cave, green wood of an olive tree, big as a
+ship's mast, which Polyphemus purposed to use, when the smoke should
+have dried it, as a walking staff. Of this he cut off a fathom's length,
+and his comrades sharpened it and hardened it in the fire, and then hid
+it away. At evening the giant came back, and drove his sheep into the
+cave, nor left the rams outside, as he had been wont to do before, but
+shut them in. And having duly done his shepherd's work, he made his
+cruel feast as before. Then Ulysses came forward with the wine skin in
+his hand, and said:
+
+"Drink, Cyclops, now that thou hast feasted. Drink, and see what
+precious things we had in our ship. But no one hereafter will come to
+thee with such like, if thou dealest with strangers as cruelly as thou
+hast dealt with us."
+
+Then the Cyclops drank, and was mightily pleased, and said, "Give me
+again to drink, and tell me thy name, stranger, and I will give thee a
+gift such as a host should give. In good truth this is a rare liquor.
+We, too, have vines, but they bear not wine like this, which indeed must
+be such as the gods drink in heaven."
+
+Then Ulysses gave him the cup again, and he drank. Thrice he gave it to
+him, and thrice he drank, not knowing what it was, and how it would work
+within his brain.
+
+Then Ulysses spake to him. "Thou didst ask my name, Cyclops. Lo! my name
+is No Man. And now that thou knowest my name, thou shouldst give me thy
+gift."
+
+And he said, "My gift shall be that I will eat thee last of all thy
+company."
+
+And as he spake he fell back in a drunken sleep. Then Ulysses bade his
+comrades be of good courage, for the time was come when they should be
+delivered. And they thrust the stake of olive wood into the fire till it
+was ready, green as it was, to burst into flame, and they thrust it into
+the monster's eye; for he had but one eye, and that in the midst of his
+forehead, with the eyebrow below it. And Ulysses leant with all his
+force upon the stake, and thrust it in with might and main. And the
+burning wood hissed in the eye, just as the red-hot iron hisses in the
+water when a man seeks to temper steel for a sword.
+
+Then the giant leapt up, and tore away the stake, and cried aloud, so
+that all the Cyclopes who dwelt on the mountain side heard him and came
+about his cave, asking him, "What aileth thee, Polyphemus, that thou
+makest this uproar in the peaceful night, driving away sleep? Is any one
+robbing thee of thy sheep, or seeking to slay thee by craft or force?"
+
+And the giant answered, "No Man slays me by craft."
+
+"Nay, but," they said, "if no man does thee wrong, we cannot help thee.
+The sickness which great Zeus may send, who can avoid? Pray to our
+father, Poseidon, for help."
+
+Then they departed; and Ulysses was glad at heart for the good success
+of his device, when he said that he was No Man.
+
+But the Cyclops rolled away the great stone from the door of the cave,
+and sat in the midst stretching out his hands, to feel whether perchance
+the men within the cave would seek to go out among the sheep.
+
+Long did Ulysses think how he and his comrades should best escape. At
+last he lighted upon a good device, and much he thanked Zeus for that
+this once the giant had driven the rams with the other sheep into the
+cave. For, these being great and strong, he fastened his comrades under
+the bellies of the beasts, tying them with osier twigs, of which the
+giant made his bed. One ram he took, and fastened a man beneath it, and
+two others he set, one on either side. So he did with the six, for but
+six were left out of the twelve who had ventured with him from the ship.
+And there was one mighty ram, far larger than all the others, and to
+this Ulysses clung, grasping the fleece tight with both his hands. So
+they waited for the morning. And when the morning came, the rams rushed
+forth to the pasture; but the giant sat in the door and felt the back of
+each as it went by, nor thought to try what might be underneath. Last of
+all went the great ram. And the Cyclops knew him as he passed and said:
+
+"How is this, thou, who art the leader of the flock? Thou art not wont
+thus to lag behind. Thou hast always been the first to run to the
+pastures and streams in the morning, and the first to come back to the
+fold when evening fell; and now thou art last of all. Perhaps thou art
+troubled about thy master's eye, which some wretch--No Man, they call
+him--has destroyed, having first mastered me with wine. He has not
+escaped, I ween. I would that thou couldst speak, and tell me where he
+is lurking. Of a truth I would dash out his brains upon the ground, and
+avenge me of this No Man."
+
+So speaking, he let him pass out of the cave. But when they were out of
+reach of the giant, Ulysses loosed his hold of the ram, and then unbound
+his comrades. And they hastened to their ship, not forgetting to drive
+before them a good store of the Cyclops' fat sheep. Right glad were
+those that had abode by the ship to see them. Nor did they lament for
+those that had died, though they were fain to do so, for Ulysses
+forbade, fearing lest the noise of their weeping should betray them to
+the giant, where they were. Then they all climbed into the ship, and
+sitting well in order on the benches, smote the sea with their oars,
+laying-to right lustily, that they might the sooner get away from the
+accursed land. And when they had rowed a hundred yards or so, so that a
+man's voice could yet be heard by one who stood upon the shore, Ulysses
+stood up in the ship and shouted:
+
+"He was no coward, O Cyclops, whose comrades thou didst so foully slay
+in thy den. Justly art thou punished, monster, that devourest thy guests
+in thy dwelling. May the gods make thee suffer yet worse things than
+these!"
+
+Then the Cylops, in his wrath, broke off the top of a great hill, a
+mighty rock, and hurled it where he had heard the voice. Right in front
+of the ship's bow it fell, and a great wave rose as it sank, and washed
+the ship back to the shore. But Ulysses seized a long pole with both
+hands and pushed the ship from the land, and bade his comrades ply their
+oars, nodding with his head, for he was too wise to speak, lest the
+Cyclops should know where they were. Then they rowed with all their
+might and main.
+
+And when they had gotten twice as far as before, Ulysses made as if he
+would speak again; but his comrades sought to hinder him, saying, "Nay,
+my lord, anger not the giant any more. Surely we thought before we were
+lost, when he threw the great rock, and washed our ship back to the
+shore. And if he hear thee now, he may crush our ship and us, for the
+man throws a mighty bolt, and throws it far."
+
+But Ulysses would not be persuaded, but stood up and said, "Hear,
+Cyclops! If any man ask who blinded thee, say that it was the warrior
+Ulysses, son of Laertes, dwelling in Ithaca."
+
+And the Cyclops answered with a groan, "Of a truth, the old oracles are
+fulfilled, for long ago there came to this land one Telemus, a prophet,
+and dwelt among us even to old age. This man foretold me that one
+Ulysses would rob me of my sight. But I looked for a great man and a
+strong, who should subdue me by force, and now a weakling has done the
+deed, having cheated me with wine. But come thou hither, Ulysses, and I
+will be a host indeed to thee. Or, at least, may Poseidon give thee such
+a voyage to thy home as I would wish thee to have. For know that
+Poseidon is my sire. May be that he may heal me of my grievous wound."
+
+And Ulysses said, "Would to God, I could send thee down to the abode of
+the dead, where thou wouldst be past all healing, even from Poseidon's
+self."
+
+Then Cyclops lifted up his hands to Poseidon and prayed:
+
+"Hear me, Poseidon, if I am indeed thy son and thou my father. May this
+Ulysses never reach his home! or, if the Fates have ordered that he
+should reach it, may he come alone, all his comrades lost, and come to
+find sore trouble in his house!"
+
+And as he ended he hurled another mighty rock, which almost lighted on
+the rudder's end, yet missed it as if by a hair's breadth. So Ulysses
+and his comrades escaped, and came to the island of the wild goats,
+where they found their comrades, who indeed had waited long for them, in
+sore fear lest they had perished. Then Ulysses divided among his company
+all the sheep which they had taken from the Cyclops. And all, with one
+consent, gave him for his share the great ram which had carried him out
+of the cave, and he sacrificed it to Zeus. And all that day they feasted
+right merrily on the flesh of sheep and on sweet wine, and when the
+night was come, they lay down upon the shore and slept.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE ARGONAUTS
+
+
+I
+
+_How the Centaur Trained the Heroes on Pelion_
+
+I have told you of a hero who fought with wild beasts and with wild men;
+but now I have a tale of heroes who sailed away into a distant land to
+win themselves renown forever, in the adventure of the Golden Fleece.
+
+Whither they sailed, my children, I cannot clearly tell. It all happened
+long ago; so long that it has all grown dim, like a dream which you
+dreamed last year. And why they went, I cannot tell; some say that it
+was to win gold. It may be so; but the noblest deeds which have been
+done on earth, have not been done for gold. It was not for the sake of
+gold that the Lord came down and died, and the Apostles went out to
+preach the good news in all lands. The Spartans looked for no reward in
+money when they fought and died at Thermopylæ; and Socrates the wise
+asked no pay from his countrymen, but lived poor and barefoot all his
+days, only caring to make men good. And there are heroes in our days
+also, who do noble deeds, but not for gold. Our discoverers did not go
+to make themselves rich, when they sailed out one after another into the
+dreary frozen seas; nor did the ladies, who went out last year, to
+drudge in the hospitals of the East, making themselves poor, that they
+might be rich in noble works. And young men, too, whom you know,
+children, and some of them of your own kin, did they say to themselves,
+"How much money shall I earn?" when they went out to the war, leaving
+wealth, and comfort, and a pleasant home, and all that money can give,
+to face hunger and thirst, and wounds and death, that they might fight
+for their country and their Queen? No, children, there is a better thing
+on earth than wealth, a better thing than life itself; and that is, to
+have done something before you die, for which good men may honour you,
+and God your Father smile upon your work.
+
+Therefore we will believe--why should we not--of these same Argonauts of
+old, that they, too, were noble men, who planned and did a noble deed;
+and that therefore their fame has lived, and been told in story and in
+song, mixed up, no doubt, with dreams and fables, yet true and right at
+heart. So we will honour these old Argonauts, and listen to their story
+as it stands; and we will try to be like them, each of us in our place;
+for each of us has a Golden Fleece to seek, and a wild sea to sail over,
+ere we reach it, and dragons to fight ere it be ours.
+
+And what was that first Golden Fleece? I do not know, nor care. The old
+Hellenes said that it hung in Colchis, which we call the Circassian
+coast, nailed to a beech tree in the war-god's wood; and that it was the
+fleece of the wondrous ram, who bore Phrixus and Helle across the Euxine
+Sea. For Phrixus and Helle were the children of the cloud nymph, and of
+Athamas the Minuan king. And when a famine came upon the land, their
+cruel stepmother, Ino, wished to kill them, that her own children might
+reign, and said that they must be sacrificed on an altar, to turn away
+the anger of the gods. So the poor children were brought to the altar,
+and the priest stood ready with his knife, when out of the clouds came
+the Golden Ram, and took them on his back, and vanished. Then madness
+came upon that foolish king Athamas, and ruin upon Ino and her children.
+For Athamas killed one of them in his fury, and Ino fled from him with
+the other in her arms, and leaped from a cliff into the sea, and was
+changed into a dolphin, such as you have seen, which wanders over the
+waves forever sighing, with its little one clasped to its breast.
+
+But the people drove out King Athamas, because he had killed his child;
+and he roamed about in his misery, till he came to the Oracle in Delphi.
+And the Oracle told him that he must wander for his sin, till the wild
+beasts should feast him as their guest. So he went on in hunger and
+sorrow for many a weary day, till he saw a pack of wolves. The wolves
+were tearing a sheep; but when they saw Athamas they fled, and left the
+sheep for him, and he ate of it; and then he knew that the oracle was
+fulfilled at last. So he wandered no more; but settled, and built a
+town, and became a king again.
+
+But the ram carried the two children far away over land and sea, till he
+came to the Thracian Chersonese, and there Helle fell into the sea. So
+those narrow straits are called "Hellespont," after her; and they bear
+that name until this day.
+
+Then the ram flew on with Phrixus to the northeast across the sea which
+we call the Black Sea now; but the Hellenes called it Euxine. And at
+last, they say, he stopped at Colchis, on the steep Circassian coast;
+and there Phrixus married Chalchiope, the daughter of Aietes the king;
+and offered the ram in sacrifice; and Aietes nailed the ram's fleece to
+a beech, in the grove of Ares the war god.
+
+And after awhile Phrixus died, and was buried, but his spirit had no
+rest; for he was buried far from his native land, and the pleasant hills
+of Hellas. So he came in dreams to the heroes of the Minuai, and called
+sadly by their beds: "Come and set my spirit free, that I may go home to
+my fathers and to my kinsfolk, and the pleasant Minuan land."
+
+And they asked: "How shall we set your spirit free?"
+
+"You must sail over the sea to Colchis, and bring home the golden
+fleece; and then my spirit will come back with it, and I shall sleep
+with my fathers and have rest."
+
+He came thus, and called to them often, but when they woke they looked
+at each other, and said: "Who dare sail to Colchis, or bring home the
+golden fleece?" And in all the country none was brave enough to try it;
+for the man and the time were not come.
+
+Phrixus had a cousin called Æson, who was king in Iolcos by the sea.
+There he ruled over the rich Minuan heroes, as Athamas his uncle ruled
+in BÅ“otia; and like Athamas, he was an unhappy man. For he had a
+stepbrother named Pelias, of whom some said that he was a nymph's son,
+and there were dark and sad tales about his birth. When he was a babe he
+was cast out on the mountains, and a wild mare came by and kicked him.
+But a shepherd passing found the baby, with its face all blackened by
+the blow; and took him home, and called him Pelias, because his face was
+bruised and black. And he grew up fierce and lawless, and did many a
+fearful deed; and at last he drove out Æson his stepbrother, and then
+his own brother Neleus, and took the kingdom to himself, and ruled over
+the rich Minuan heroes, in Iolcos by the sea.
+
+And Æson, when he was driven out, went sadly away out of the town,
+leading his little son by the hand; and he said to himself, "I must hide
+the child in the mountains; or Pelias will surely kill him, because he
+is the heir."
+
+So he went up from the sea across the valley, through the vineyards and
+the olive groves, and across the torrent of Anauros, toward Pelion the
+ancient mountain, whose brows are white with snow.
+
+He went up and up into the mountain over marsh, and crag, and down, till
+the boy was tired and footsore, and Æson had to bear him in his arms,
+till he came to the mouth of a lonely cave, at the foot of a mighty
+cliff.
+
+Above the cliff the snow wreaths hung, dripping and cracking in the sun.
+But at its foot around the cave's mouth grew all fair flowers and herbs,
+as if in a garden, ranged in order, each sort by itself. There they grew
+gayly in the sunshine, and the spray of the torrent from above; while
+from the cave came the sound of music, and a man's voice singing to the
+harp.
+
+Then Æson put down the lad, and whispered:
+
+"Fear not, but go in, and whomsoever you shall find, lay your hands upon
+his knees, and say, 'In the name of Zeus the father of gods and men, I
+am your guest from this day forth.'"
+
+Then the lad went in without trembling, for he, too, was a hero's son;
+but when he was within, he stopped in wonder, to listen to that magic
+song.
+
+And there he saw the singer lying upon bear skins and fragrant boughs;
+Cheiron, the ancient centaur, the wisest of all things beneath the sky.
+Down to the waist he was a man; but below he was a noble horse; his
+white hair rolled down over his broad shoulders, and his white beard
+over his broad brown chest; and his eyes were wise and mild, and his
+forehead like a mountain wall.
+
+And in his hands he held a harp of gold, and struck it with a golden
+key; and as he struck, he sang till his eyes glittered, and filled all
+the cave with light.
+
+And he sang of the birth of Time, and of the heavens and the dancing
+stars; and of the ocean, and the ether, and the fire, and the shaping of
+the wondrous earth. And he sang of the treasures of the hills, and the
+hidden jewels of the mine, and the veins of fire and metal, and the
+virtues of all healing herbs, and of the speech of birds, and of
+prophecy, and of hidden things to come.
+
+Then he sang of health, and strength, and manhood, and a valiant heart;
+and of music, and hunting, and wrestling, and all the games which heroes
+love; and of travel, and wars, and sieges, and a noble death in fight;
+and then he sang of peace and plenty, and of equal justice in the land;
+and as he sang, the boy listened wide eyed, and forgot his errand in the
+song.
+
+And at the last old Cheiron was silent, and called the lad with a soft
+voice.
+
+And the lad ran trembling to him, and would have laid his hands upon his
+knees; but Cheiron smiled, and said, "Call hither your father Æson, for
+I know you, and all that has befallen, and saw you both afar in the
+valley, even before you left the town."
+
+Then Æson came in sadly, and Cheiron asked him, "Why came you not
+yourself to me, Æson the Æolid?"
+
+And Æson said:
+
+"I thought, Cheiron will pity the lad if he sees him come alone; and I
+wished to try whether he was fearless, and dare venture like a hero's
+son. But now I entreat you by Father Zeus, let the boy be your guest
+till better times, and train him among the sons of the heroes, that he
+may avenge his father's house."
+
+Then Cheiron smiled, and drew the lad to him, and laid his hand upon his
+golden locks, and said, "Are you afraid of my horse's hoofs, fair boy,
+or will you be my pupil from this day?"
+
+"I would gladly have horse's hoofs like you, if I could sing such songs
+as yours."
+
+And Cheiron laughed, and said, "Sit here by me till sundown, when your
+playfellows will come home, and you shall learn like them to be a king,
+worthy to rule over gallant men."
+
+Then he turned to Æson, and said, "Go back in peace, and bend before the
+storm like a prudent man. This boy shall not cross the Anauros again,
+till he has become a glory to you and to the house of Æolus."
+
+And Æson wept over his son and went away; but the boy did not weep, so
+full was his fancy of that strange cave, and the Centaur, and his song,
+and the playfellows whom he was to see.
+
+Then Cheiron put the lyre into his hands, and taught him how to play it,
+till the sun sank low behind the cliff, and a shout was heard outside.
+
+And then in came the sons of the heroes, Æneas, and Heracles, and
+Peleus, and many another mighty name.
+
+And great Cheiron leapt up joyfully, and his hoofs made the cave
+resound, as they shouted, "Come out, Father Cheiron; come out and see
+our game." And one cried, "I have killed two deer," and another, "I took
+a wildcat among the crags"; and Heracles dragged a wild goat after him
+by its horns, for he was as huge as a mountain crag; and Cæneus carried
+a bear cub under each arm, and laughed when they scratched and bit; for
+neither tooth nor steel could wound him.
+
+And Cheiron praised them all, each according to his deserts.
+
+Only one walked apart and silent, Asclepius, the too-wise child, with
+his bosom full of herbs and flowers, and round his wrist a spotted
+snake; he came with downcast eyes to Cheiron, and whispered how he had
+watched the snake cast his old skin, and grow young again before his
+eyes, and how he had gone down into a village in the vale, and cured a
+dying man with a herb which he had seen a sick goat eat.
+
+And Cheiron smiled, and said: "To each Athené and Apollo give some gift,
+and each is worthy in his place; but to this child they have given an
+honour beyond all honours, to cure while others kill."
+
+Then the lads brought in wood, and split it, and lighted a blazing fire;
+and others skinned the deer and quartered them, and set them to roast
+before the fire; and while the venison was cooking they bathed in the
+snow torrent, and washed away the dust and sweat.
+
+And then all ate till they could eat no more (for they had tasted
+nothing since the dawn), and drank of the clear spring water, for wine
+is not fit for growing lads. And when the remnants were put away, they
+all lay down upon the skins and leaves about the fire, and each took the
+lyre in turn, and sang and played with all his heart.
+
+And after a while they all went out to a plot of grass at the cave's
+mouth, and there they boxed, and ran, and wrestled, and laughed till the
+stones fell from the cliffs.
+
+Then Cheiron took his lyre, and all the lads joined hands; and as he
+played, they danced to his measure, in and out, and round and round.
+There they danced hand in hand, till the night fell over land and sea,
+while the black glen shone with their broad white limbs, and the gleam
+of their golden hair.
+
+And the lad danced with them, delighted, and then slept a wholesome
+sleep, upon fragrant leaves of bay, and myrtle, and marjoram, and
+flowers of thyme; and rose at the dawn, and bathed in the torrent, and
+became a schoolfellow to the heroes' sons, and forgot Iolcos, and his
+father, and all his former life. But he grew strong, and brave and
+cunning, upon the pleasant downs of Pelion, in the keen hungry mountain
+air. And he learnt to wrestle, and to box, and to hunt, and to play upon
+the harp; and next he learnt to ride, for old Cheiron used to mount him
+on his back; and he learnt the virtues of all herbs, and how to cure all
+wounds; and Cheiron called him Jason the healer, and that is his name
+until this day.
+
+
+PART II
+
+_How Jason Lost His Sandal in Anauros_
+
+And ten years came and went, and Jason was grown to be a mighty man.
+Some of his fellows were gone, and some were growing up by his side.
+Asclepius was gone into Peloponnese, to work his wondrous cures on men;
+and some say he used to raise the dead to life. And Heracles was gone to
+Thebes, to fulfil those famous labours which have become a proverb among
+men. And Peleus had married a sea nymph, and his wedding is famous to
+this day. And Æneas was gone home to Troy, and many a noble tale you
+will read of him, and of all the other gallant heroes, the scholars of
+Cheiron the just. And it happened on a day that Jason stood on the
+mountain, and looked north and south and east and west; and Cheiron
+stood by him and watched him, for he knew that the time was come.
+
+And Jason looked and saw the plains of Thessaly, where the Lapithai
+breed their horses; and the lake of Boibé, and the stream which runs
+northward to Peneus and Tempe; and he looked north, and saw the mountain
+wall which guards the Magnesian shore; Olympus, the seat of the
+Immortals, and Ossa, and Pelion, where he stood. Then he looked east and
+saw the bright blue sea, which stretched away forever toward the dawn.
+Then he looked south, and saw a pleasant land, with white-walled towns
+and farms, nestling along the shore of a land-locked bay, while the
+smoke rose blue among the trees; and he knew it for the bay of Pagasai,
+and the rich lowlands of Hæmonia, and Iolcos by the sea.
+
+Then he sighed, and asked: "Is it true what the heroes tell me, that I
+am heir of that fair land?"
+
+"And what good would it be to you, Jason, if you were heir of that fair
+land?"
+
+"I would take it and keep it."
+
+"A strong man has taken it and kept it long. Are you stronger than
+Pelias the terrible?"
+
+"I can try my strength with his," said Jason. But Cheiron sighed and
+said:
+
+"You have many a danger to go through before you rule in Iolcos by the
+sea; many a danger, and many a woe; and strange troubles in strange
+lands, such as man never saw before."
+
+"The happier I," said Jason, "to see what man never saw before."
+
+And Cheiron sighed again, and said: "The eaglet must leave the nest when
+it is fledged. Will you go to Iolcos by the sea? Then promise me two
+things before you go."
+
+Jason promised, and Cheiron answered: "Speak harshly to no soul whom you
+may meet, and stand by the word which you shall speak."
+
+Jason wondered why Cheiron asked this of him; but he knew that the
+Centaur was a prophet, and saw things long before they came. So he
+promised, and leapt down the mountain, to take his fortune like a man.
+
+He went down through the arbutus thickets, and across the downs of
+thyme, till he came to the vineyard walls, and the pomegranates and the
+olives in the glen; and among the olives roared Anauros, all foaming
+with a summer flood.
+
+And on the bank of Anauros sat a woman, all wrinkled gray, and old; her
+head shook palsied on her breast, and her hands shook palsied on her
+knees; and when she saw Jason, she spoke whining: "Who will carry me
+across the flood?"
+
+Jason was bold and hasty, and was just going to leap into the flood; and
+yet he thought twice before he leapt, so loud roared the torrent down,
+all brown from the mountain rains, and silver veined with melting snow;
+while underneath he could hear the boulders rumbling like the tramp of
+horsemen or the roll of wheels, as they ground along the narrow channel,
+and shook the rocks on which he stood.
+
+But the old woman whined all the more: "I am weak and old, fair youth.
+For Hera's sake, carry me over the torrent."
+
+And Jason was going to answer her scornfully, when Cheiron's words came
+to his mind.
+
+So he said: "For Hera's sake, the Queen of the Immortals on Olympus, I
+will carry you over the torrent, unless we both are drowned midway."
+
+Then the old dame leapt upon his back, as nimbly as a goat; and Jason
+staggered in, wondering; and the first step was up to his knees.
+
+The first step was up to his knees, and the second step was up to his
+waist; and the stones rolled about his feet, and his feet slipped about
+the stones; so he went on staggering and panting, while the old woman
+cried from off his back:
+
+"Fool, you have wet my mantle! Do you make game of poor old souls like
+me?"
+
+Jason had half a mind to drop her, and let her get through the torrent
+by herself; but Cheiron's words were in his mind, and he said only:
+"Patience, mother; the best horse may stumble some day."
+
+At last he staggered to the shore, and set her down upon the bank; and a
+strong man he needed to have been, or that wild water he never would
+have crossed.
+
+He lay panting awhile upon the bank, and then leapt up to go upon his
+journey; but he cast one look at the old woman, for he thought, "She
+should thank me once at least."
+
+And as he looked, she grew fairer than all women, and taller than all
+men on earth; and her garments shone like the summer sea, and her jewels
+like the stars of heaven; and over her forehead was a veil, woven of the
+golden clouds of sunset; and through the veil she looked down on him,
+with great soft heifer's eyes; with great eyes, mild and awful, which
+filled all the glen with light.
+
+And Jason fell upon his knees, and hid his face between his hands.
+
+And she spoke: "I am the Queen of Olympus, Hera the wife of Zeus. As
+thou hast done to me, so will I do to thee. Call on me in the hour of
+need, and try if the Immortals can forget."
+
+And when Jason looked up, she rose from off the earth, like a pillar of
+tall white cloud, and floated away across the mountain peaks, toward
+Olympus the holy hill.
+
+Then a great fear fell on Jason; but after a while he grew light of
+heart; and he blessed old Cheiron, and said: "Surely the Centaur is a
+prophet, and guessed what would come to pass, when he bade me speak
+harshly to no soul whom I might meet."
+
+Then he went down toward Iolcos, and as he walked, he found that he had
+lost one of his sandals in the flood.
+
+And as he went through the streets, the people came out to look at him,
+so tall and fair was he; but some of the elders whispered together; and
+at last one of them stopped Jason, and called to him: "Fair lad, who are
+you, and whence come you; and what is your errand in the town?"
+
+"My name, good father, is Jason, and I come from Pelion up above; and my
+errand is to Pelias your king; tell me then where his palace is."
+
+But the old man started, and grew pale, and said, "Do you not know the
+oracle, my son, that you go so boldly through the town, with but one
+sandal on?"
+
+"I am a stranger here, and know of no oracle; but what of my one sandal?
+I lost the other in Anauros, while I was struggling with the flood."
+
+Then the old man looked back to his companions; and one sighed and
+another smiled; at last he said: "I will tell you, lest you rush upon
+your ruin unawares. The oracle in Delphi has said, that a man wearing
+one sandal should take the kingdom from Pelias, and keep it for
+himself. Therefore beware how you go up to his palace, for he is the
+fiercest and most cunning of all kings."
+
+Then Jason laughed a great laugh, like a war horse in his pride: "Good
+news, good father, both for you and me. For that very end I came into
+the town."
+
+Then he strode on toward the palace of Pelias, while all the people
+wondered at his bearing.
+
+And he stood in the doorway and cried, "Come out, come out, Pelias the
+valiant, and fight for your kingdom like a man."
+
+Pelias came out wondering, and "Who are you, bold youth?" he cried.
+
+"I am Jason, the son of Æson, the heir of all this land."
+
+Then Pelias lifted up his hands and eyes, and wept, or seemed to weep;
+and blessed the heavens which had brought his nephew to him, never to
+leave him more. "For," said he, "I have but three daughters, and no son
+to be my heir. You shall be my heir then, and rule the kingdom after me,
+and marry whichsoever of my daughters you shall choose; though a sad
+kingdom you will find it, and whosoever rules it a miserable man. But
+come in, come in, and feast."
+
+So he drew Jason in, whether he would or not, and spoke to him so
+lovingly and feasted him so well, that Jason's anger passed; and after
+supper his three cousins came into the hall, and Jason thought that he
+should like well enough to have one of them for his wife.
+
+But at last he said to Pelias, "Why do you look so sad, my uncle? And
+what did you mean just now, when you said that this was a doleful
+kingdom, and its ruler a miserable man?"
+
+Then Pelias sighed heavily again and again and again, like a man who
+had to tell some dreadful story and was afraid to begin; but at last:
+
+"For seven long years and more have I never known a quiet night; and no
+more will he who comes after me, till the golden fleece be brought
+home."
+
+Then he told Jason the story of Phrixus, and of the golden fleece; and
+told him, too, which was a lie, that Phrixus's spirit tormented him,
+calling to him day and night. And his daughters came, and told the same
+tale (for their father had taught them their parts) and wept, and said,
+"Oh, who will bring home the golden fleece, that our uncle's spirit may
+have rest; and that we may have rest also, whom he never lets sleep in
+peace?"
+
+Jason sat awhile, sad and silent; for he had often heard of that golden
+fleece; but he looked on it as a thing hopeless and impossible for any
+mortal man to win it.
+
+But when Pelias saw him silent, he began to talk of other things, and
+courted Jason more and more, speaking to him as if he was certain to be
+his heir, and asking his advice about the kingdom; till Jason who was
+young and simple, could not help saying to himself, "Surely he is not
+the dark man whom people call him. Yet why did he drive my father out?"
+And he asked Pelias boldly, "Men say that you are terrible, and a man of
+blood; but I find you a kind and hospitable man; and as you are to me,
+so will I be to you. Yet why did you drive my father out?"
+
+Pelias smiled and sighed: "Men have slandered me in that, as in all
+things. Your father was growing old and weary, and he gave the kingdom
+up to me of his own will. You shall see him to-morrow, and ask him; and
+he will tell you the same."
+
+Jason's heart leapt in him, when he heard that he was to see his
+father; and he believed all that Pelias said, forgetting that his father
+might not dare to tell the truth.
+
+"One thing more there is," said Pelias, "on which I need your advice;
+for though you are young, I see in you a wisdom beyond your years. There
+is one neighbour of mine, whom I dread more than all men on earth. I am
+stronger than he now, and can command him; but I know that if he stay
+among us, he will work my ruin in the end. Can you give me a plan,
+Jason, by which I can rid myself of that man?"
+
+After awhile, Jason answered, half laughing, "Were I you, I would send
+him to fetch that same golden fleece; for if he once set forth after it
+you would never be troubled with him more."
+
+And at that a bitter smile came across Pelias's lips, and a flash of
+wicked joy into his eyes; and Jason saw it, and started; and over his
+mind came the warning of the old man, and his own one sandal, and the
+oracle, and he saw that he was taken in a trap.
+
+But Pelias only answered gently, "My son, he shall be sent forthwith."
+
+"You mean me?" cried Jason, starting up, "because I came here with one
+sandal?" And he lifted his fist angrily, while Pelias stood up to him
+like a wolf at bay; and whether of the two was the stronger and the
+fiercer, it would be hard to tell.
+
+But after a moment Pelias spoke gently, "Why then so rash, my son? You,
+and not I, have said what is said; why blame me for what I have not
+done? Had you bid me love the man of whom I spoke, and make him my
+son-in-law and heir, I would have obeyed you; and what if I obey you
+now, and send the man to win himself immortal fame? I have not harmed
+you, or him. One thing at least I know, that he will go, and that
+gladly; for he has a hero's heart within him; loving glory, and scorning
+to break the word which he has given."
+
+Jason saw that he was entrapped; but his second promise to Cheiron came
+into his mind, and he thought, "What if the Centaur were a prophet in
+that also, and meant that I should win the fleece!" Then he cried aloud:
+
+"You have well spoken, cunning uncle of mine! I love glory, and I dare
+keep to my word. I will go and fetch this golden fleece. Promise me but
+this in return, and keep your word as I keep mine. Treat my father
+lovingly while I am gone, for the sake of the all-seeing Zeus; and give
+me up the kingdom for my own, on the day that I bring back the golden
+fleece."
+
+Then Pelias looked at him and almost loved him, in the midst of all his
+hate; and said, "I promise, and I will perform. It will be no shame to
+give up my kingdom to the man who wins that fleece."
+
+Then they swore a great oath between them; and afterward both went in,
+and lay down to sleep.
+
+But Jason could not sleep, for thinking of his mighty oath, and how he
+was to fulfil it, all alone, and without wealth or friends. So he tossed
+a long time upon his bed, and thought of this plan and of that; and
+sometimes Phrixus seemed to call him, in a thin voice, faint and low, as
+if it came from far across the sea, "Let me come home to my fathers and
+have rest." And sometimes he seemed to see the eyes of Hera, and to hear
+her words again, "Call on me in the hour of need, and see if the
+Immortals can forget."
+
+And on the morrow he went to Pelias, and said, "Give me a victim, that I
+may sacrifice to Hera." So he went up, and offered his sacrifice; and
+as he stood by the altar, Hera sent a thought into his mind; and he went
+back to Pelias, and said:
+
+"If you are indeed in earnest, give me two heralds, that they may go
+round to all the princes of the Minuai who were pupils of the Centaur
+with me, that we may fit out a ship together, and take what shall
+befall."
+
+At that Pelias praised his wisdom, and hastened to send the heralds out;
+for he said in his heart: "Let all the princes go with him, and like
+him, never return; for so I shall be lord of all the Minuai, and the
+greatest king in Hellas."
+
+
+PART III
+
+_How They Built the Ship Argo in Iolcos_
+
+So the heralds went out, and cried to all the heroes of the Minuai, "Who
+dare come to the adventure of the golden fleece?"
+
+And Hera stirred the hearts of all the princes, and they came from all
+their valleys to the yellow sands of Pagasai. And first came Heracles
+the mighty, with his lion's skin and club, and behind him Hylas his
+young squire, who bore his arrows and his bow; and Tiphys, the skilful
+steersman; and Butes, the fairest of all men; and Castor and Polydeuces
+the twins, the sons of the magic swan; and Caineus, the strongest of
+mortals, whom the Centaurs tried in vain to kill, and overwhelmed him
+with trunks of pine trees, but even so he would not die; and thither
+came Zetes and Calais, the winged sons of the north wind; and Peleus,
+the father of Achilles, whose bride was silver-footed Thetis the goddess
+of the sea. And thither came Telamon and Oileus, the fathers of the two
+Aiantes, who fought upon the plains of Troy; and Mopsus, the wise
+soothsayer, who knew the speech of birds; and Idmon, to whom Phœbus
+gave a tongue to prophesy of things to come; and Ancaios, who could read
+the stars, and knew all the circles of the heavens; and Argus, the famed
+shipbuilder, and many a hero more, in helmets of brass and gold with
+tall dyed horsehair crests, and embroidered shirts of linen beneath
+their coats of mail, and greaves of polished tin to guard their knees in
+fight; with each man his shield upon his shoulder, of many a fold of
+tough bull's hide, and his sword of tempered bronze in his
+silver-studded belt, and in his right hand a pair of lances, of the
+heavy white-ash stave.
+
+So they came down to Iolcos, and all the city came out to meet them, and
+were never tired with looking at their height, and their beauty, and
+their gallant bearing, and the glitter of their inlaid arms. And some
+said, "Never was such a gathering of the heroes since the Hellenes
+conquered the land." But the women sighed over them, and whispered,
+"Alas! they are all going to the death."
+
+Then they felled the pines on Pelion, and shaped them with the axe, and
+Argus taught them to build a galley, the first long ship which ever
+sailed the seas. They pierced her for fifty oars, an oar for each hero
+of the crew, and pitched her with coal-black pitch, and painted her bows
+with vermilion; and they named her Argo after Argus, and worked at her
+all day long. And at night Pelias feasted them like a king, and they
+slept in his palace porch.
+
+But Jason went away to the northward, and into the land of Thrace, till
+he found Orpheus, the prince of minstrels, where he dwelt in his cave
+under Rhodope, among the savage Cicon tribes. And he asked him: "Will
+you leave your mountains, Orpheus, my fellow scholar in old times, and
+cross Strymon once more with me, to sail with the heroes of the Minuai,
+and bring home the golden fleece, and charm for us all men and all
+monsters with your magic harp and song?"
+
+Then Orpheus sighed: "Have I not had enough of toil and of weary
+wandering far and wide, since I lived in Cheiron's cave, above Iolcos by
+the sea? In vain is the skill and the voice which my goddess mother gave
+me; in vain have I sung and laboured; in vain I went down to the dead,
+and charmed all the kings of Hades, to win back Eurydice my bride. For I
+won her, my beloved, and lost her again the same day, and wandered away
+in my madness, even to Egypt and the Libyan sands, and the isles of all
+the seas, driven on by the terrible gadfly, while I charmed in vain the
+hearts of men, and the savage forest beasts, and the trees, and the
+lifeless stones, with my magic harp and song, giving rest, but finding
+none. But at last Calliope, my mother, delivered me, and brought me home
+in peace; and I dwell here in the cave alone, among the savage Cicon
+tribes, softening their wild hearts with music and the gentle laws of
+Zeus. And now I must go out again, to the ends of all the earth, far
+away into the misty darkness, to the last wave of the Eastern Sea. But
+what is doomed must be, and a friend's demand obeyed; for prayers are
+the daughters of Zeus, and who honours them honours him."
+
+Then Orpheus rose up sighing, and took his harp, and went over Strymon.
+And he led Jason to the southwest, up the banks of Haliacmon and over
+the spurs of Pindus, to Dodona the town of Zeus, where it stood by the
+side of the sacred lake, and the fountain which breathed out fire, in
+the darkness of the ancient oak wood, beneath the mountain of the
+hundred springs. And he led him to the holy oak, where the black dove
+settled in old times, and was changed into the priestess of Zeus, and
+gave oracles to all nations round. And he bade him cut down a bough, and
+sacrifice to Hera and to Zeus; and they took the bough and came to
+Iolcos, and nailed it to the beak head of the ship.
+
+And at last the ship was finished, and they tried to launch her down the
+beach; but she was too heavy for them to move her, and her keel sank
+deep in the sand. Then all the heroes looked at each other blushing; but
+Jason spoke, and said, "Let us ask the magic bough; perhaps it can help
+us in our need."
+
+Then a voice came from the bough, and Jason heard the words it said, and
+bade Orpheus play upon the harp, while the heroes waited round, holding
+the pine-trunk rollers, to help her toward the sea.
+
+Then Orpheus took his harp, and began his magic song: "How sweet it is
+to ride upon the surges, and to leap from wave to wave, while the wind
+sings cheerful in the cordage, and the oars flash fast among the foam!
+How sweet it is to roam across the ocean, and see new towns and wondrous
+lands, and to come home laden with treasure, and to win undying fame!"
+
+And the good ship Argo heard him, and longed to be away and out at sea;
+till she stirred in every timber, and heaved from stem to stern, and
+leapt up from the sand upon the rollers, and plunged onward like a
+gallant horse; and the heroes fed her path with pine trunks, till she
+rushed into the whispering sea.
+
+Then they stored her well with food and water, and pulled the ladder up
+on board, and settled themselves each man to his oar, and kept time to
+Orpheus's harp; and away across the bay they rowed southward, while the
+people lined the cliffs; and the women wept while the men shouted, at
+the starting of that gallant crew.
+
+
+PART IV
+
+_How the Argonauts Sailed to Colchis_
+
+And what happened next, my children, whether it be true or not, stands
+written in ancient songs, which you shall read for yourselves some day.
+And grand old songs they are, written in grand old rolling verse; and
+they call them the Songs of Orpheus, or the Orphics, to this day. And
+they tell how the heroes came to Aphetai, across the bay, and waited for
+the southwest wind, and chose themselves a captain from their crew: and
+how all called for Heracles, because he was the strongest and most huge;
+but Heracles refused, and called for Jason, because he was the wisest of
+them all. So Jason was chosen captain: and Orpheus heaped a pile of wood
+and slew a bull, and offered it to Hera, and called all the heroes to
+stand round, each man's head crowned with olive, and to strike their
+swords into the bull. Then he filled a golden goblet with the bull's
+blood, and with wheaten flour, and honey, and wine, and the bitter salt
+sea water, and bade the heroes taste. So each tasted the goblet, and
+passed it round, and vowed an awful vow; and they vowed before the sun,
+and the night, and the blue-haired sea who shakes the land, to stand by
+Jason faithfully, in the adventure of the golden fleece; and whosoever
+shrank back, or disobeyed, or turned traitor to his vow, then justice
+should witness against him, and the Erinnes who track guilty men.
+
+Then Jason lighted the pile, and burnt the carcass of the bull; and they
+went to their ship and sailed eastward, like men who have a work to do;
+and the place from which they went was called Aphetai, the sailing
+place, from that day forth. Three thousand years ago and more they
+sailed away, into the unknown Eastern seas; and great nations have come
+and gone since then, and many a storm has swept the earth; and many a
+mighty armament, to which Argo would be but one small boat, have sailed
+those waters since; yet the fame of that small Argo lives forever, and
+her name is become a proverb among men.
+
+So they sailed past the Isle of Sciathos, with the Cape of Sepius on
+their left, and turned to the northward toward Pelion, up the long
+Magnesian shore. On their right hand was the open sea, and on their left
+old Pelion rose, while the clouds crawled round his dark pine forests,
+and his caps of summer snow. And their hearts yearned for the dear old
+mountain, as they thought of pleasant days gone by, and of the sports of
+their boyhood, and their hunting, and their schooling in the cave
+beneath the cliff. And at last Peleus spoke: "Let us land here, friends,
+and climb the dear old hill once more. We are going on a fearful
+journey: who knows if we shall see Pelion again? Let us go up to Cheiron
+our master, and ask his blessing ere we start. And I have a boy, too,
+with him, whom he trains as he trained me once, the son whom Thetis
+brought me, the silver-footed lady of the sea, whom I caught in the
+cave, and tamed her though she changed her shape seven times. For she
+changed, as I held her, into water, and to vapour, and to burning flame,
+and to a rock, and to a black-maned lion, and to a tall and stately
+tree. But I held her and held her ever till she took her own shape
+again, and led her to my father's house, and won her for my bride. And
+all the rulers of Olympus came to our wedding, and the heavens and the
+earth rejoiced together, when an immortal wedded mortal man. And now let
+me see my son; for it is not often I shall see him upon earth; famous he
+will be, but short lived, and die in the flower of youth."
+
+So Tiphys, the helmsman, steered them to the shore under the crags of
+Pelion; and they went up through the dark pine forests toward the
+Centaur's cave.
+
+And they came into the misty hall, beneath the snow-crowned crag; and
+saw the great Centaur lying with his huge limbs spread upon the rock;
+and beside him stood Achilles, the child whom no steel could wound, and
+played upon his harp right sweetly, while Cheiron watched and smiled.
+
+Then Cheiron leapt up and welcomed them, and kissed them every one, and
+set a feast before them, of swine's flesh, and venison, and good wine;
+and young Achilles served them, and carried the golden goblet round. And
+after supper all the heroes clapped their hands, and called on Orpheus
+to sing; but he refused, and said, "How can I, who am the younger, sing
+before our ancient host?" So they called on Cheiron to sing, and
+Achilles brought him his harp; and he began a wondrous song; a famous
+story of old time, of the fight between Centaurs and the Lapithai, which
+you may still see carved in stone. He sang how his brothers came to ruin
+by their folly, when they were mad with wine; and how they and the
+heroes fought, with fists, and teeth, and the goblets from which they
+drank; and how they tore up the pine trees in their fury, and hurled
+great crags of stone, while the mountains thundered with the battle, and
+the land was wasted far and wide; till the Lapithai drove them from
+their home in the rich Thessalian plains to the lonely glens of Pindus,
+leaving Cheiron all alone. And the heroes praised his song right
+heartily; for some of them had helped in that great fight.
+
+Then Orpheus took the lyre, and sang of Chaos, and the making of the
+wondrous World, and how all things sprang from Love, who could not live
+alone in the Abyss. And as he sang, his voice rose from the cave, above
+the crags, and through the tree tops, and the glens of oak and pine. And
+the trees bowed their heads when they heard it, and the gray rocks
+cracked and rang, and the forest beasts crept near to listen, and the
+birds forsook their nests and hovered round. And old Cheiron clapt his
+hands together, and beat his hoofs upon the ground, for wonder at that
+magic song.
+
+Then Peleus kissed his boy, and wept over him, and they went down to the
+ship; and Cheiron came down with them, weeping, and kissed them one by
+one, and blest them, and promised to them great renown. And the heroes
+wept when they left him, till their great hearts could weep no more; for
+he was kind and just and pious, and wiser than all beasts and men. Then
+he went up to a cliff, and prayed for them, that they might come home
+safe and well; while the heroes rowed away, and watched him standing on
+his cliff above the sea, with his great hands raised toward heaven, and
+his white locks waving in the wind; and they strained their eyes to
+watch him to the last, for they felt that they should look on him no
+more.
+
+So they rowed on over the long swell of the sea, past Olympus, the seat
+of die immortals, and past the wooded bays of Athos, and Samothrace, the
+sacred isle; and they came past Lemnos to the Hellespont, and through
+the narrow strait of Abydos, and so on into the Propontis, which we call
+Marmora now. And there they met with Cyzicus, ruling in Asia over the
+Dolions, who, the songs say, was the son of Æneas, of whom you will hear
+many a tale some day. For Homer tells us how he fought at Troy; and
+Virgil how he sailed away and founded Rome; and men believed until late
+years that from him sprang the old British kings. Now Cyzicus, the songs
+say, welcomed the heroes; for his father had been one of Cheiron's
+scholars; so he welcomed them, and feasted them, and stored their ship
+with corn and wine, and cloaks and rugs, the songs say, and shirts, of
+which no doubt they stood in need.
+
+But at night, while they lay sleeping, came down on them terrible men,
+who lived with the bears in the mountains, like Titans or giants in
+shape; for each of them had six arms, and they fought with young firs
+and pines. But Heracles killed them all before morn with his deadly
+poisoned arrows; but among them, in the darkness, he slew Cyzicus the
+kindly prince.
+
+Then they got to their ship and to their oars, and Tiphys bade them cast
+off the hawsers, and go to sea. But as he spoke a whirlwind came, and
+spun the Argo round, and twisted the hawsers together, so that no man
+could loose them. Then Tiphys dropped the rudder from his hand, and
+cried, "This comes from the Gods above." But Jason went forward, and
+asked counsel of the magic bough.
+
+Then the magic bough spoke and answered: "This is because you have
+slain Cyzicus your friend. You must appease his soul, or you will never
+leave this shore."
+
+Jason went back sadly, and told the heroes what he had heard. And they
+leapt on shore, and searched till dawn; and at dawn they found the body,
+all rolled in dust and blood, among the corpses of those monstrous
+beasts. And they wept over their kind host, and laid him on a fair bed,
+and heaped a huge mound over him, and offered black sheep at his tomb,
+and Orpheus sang a magic song to him, that his spirit might have rest.
+And then they held games at the tomb, after the custom of those times,
+and Jason gave prizes to each winner. To Ancæus he gave a golden cup,
+for he wrestled best of all; and to Heracles a silver one, for he was
+the strongest of all; and to Castor, who rode best, a golden crest; and
+Polydeuces the boxer had a rich carpet, and to Orpheus for his song, a
+sandal with golden wings. But Jason himself was the best of all the
+archers, and the Minuai crowned him with an olive crown; and so, the
+songs say, the soul of good Cyzicus was appeased, and the heroes went on
+their way in peace.
+
+But when Cyzicus's wife heard that he was dead, she died likewise of
+grief; and her tears became a fountain of clear water, which flows the
+whole year round.
+
+Then they rowed away, the songs say, along the Mysian shore, and past
+the mouth of Rhindacus, till they found a pleasant bay, sheltered by the
+long ridges of Arganthus, and by high walls of basalt rock. And there
+they ran the ship ashore upon the yellow sand, and furled the sail, and
+took the mast down, and lashed it in its crutch. And next they let down
+the ladder, and went ashore to sport and rest.
+
+And there Heracles went away into the woods, bow in hand, to hunt wild
+deer; and Hylas the fair boy slipt away after him, and followed him by
+stealth, until he lost himself among the glens, and sat down weary to
+rest himself by the side of a lake; and there the water nymphs came up
+to look at him, and loved him, and carried him down under the lake to be
+their playfellow, forever happy and young. And Heracles sought for him
+in vain, shouting his name till all the mountains rang; but Hylas never
+heard him, far down under the sparkling lake. So while Heracles wandered
+searching for him, a fair breeze sprang up, and Heracles was nowhere to
+be found; and the Argo sailed away, and Heracles was left behind, and
+never saw the noble Phasian stream.
+
+Then the Minuai came to a doleful land, where Amycus the giant ruled,
+and cared nothing for the laws of Zeus, but challenged all strangers to
+box with him, and those whom he conquered he slew. But Polydeuces the
+boxer struck him a harder blow than he ever felt before, and slew him;
+and the Minuai went on up the Bosphorus, till they came to the city of
+Phineus, the fierce Bithynian king; for Zetes and Calais bade Jason land
+there, because they had a work to do.
+
+And they went up from the shore toward the city, through forests white
+with snow; and Phineus came out to meet them with a lean and woeful
+face, and said, "Welcome, gallant heroes, to the land of bitter blasts,
+a land of cold and misery; yet I will feast you as best I can." And he
+led them in, and set meat before them; but before they could put their
+hands to their mouths, down came two fearful monsters, the like of whom
+man never saw; for they had the faces and the hair of fair maidens, but
+the wings and claws of hawks; and they snatched the meat from off the
+table, and flew shrieking out above the roofs.
+
+Then Phineus beat his breast and cried, "These are the Harpies, whose
+names are the Whirlwind and the Swift, the daughters of Wonder and of
+the Amber nymph, and they rob us night and day. They carried off the
+daughters of Pandareus, whom all the Gods had blest; for Aphrodite fed
+them on Olympus with honey and milk and wine; and Hera gave them beauty
+and wisdom, and Athene skill in all the arts; but when they came to
+their wedding, the Harpies snatched them both away, and gave them to be
+slaves to the Erinnues, and live in horror all their days. And now they
+haunt me, and my people, and the Bosphorus, with fearful storms; and
+sweep away our food from off our tables, so that we starve in spite of
+all our wealth."
+
+Then up rose Zetes and Calais, the winged sons of the North wind, and
+said, "Do you not know us, Phineus, and these wings which grow upon our
+backs?" And Phineus hid his face in terror; but he answered not a word.
+
+"Because you have been a traitor, Phineus, the Harpies haunt you night
+and day. Where is Cleopatra our sister, your wife, whom you keep in
+prison? and where are her two children, whom you blinded in your rage,
+at the bidding of an evil woman, and cast them out upon the rocks? Swear
+to us that you will right our sister, and cast out that wicked woman;
+and then we will free you from your plague, and drive the whirlwind
+maidens from the south; but if not, we will put out your eyes, as you
+put out the eyes of your own sons."
+
+Then Phineus swore an oath to them, and drove out the wicked woman; and
+Jason took those two poor children, and cured their eyes with magic
+herbs.
+
+But Zetes and Calais rose up sadly; and said: "Farewell now, heroes
+all; farewell, our dear companions, with whom we played on Pelion in old
+times; for a fate is laid upon us, and our day is come at last, in which
+we may hunt the whirlwinds, over land and sea forever; and if we catch
+them they die, and if not, we die ourselves."
+
+At that all the heroes wept; but the two young men sprang up, and aloft
+into the air after the Harpies, and the battle of the winds began.
+
+The heroes trembled in silence as they heard the shrieking of the
+blasts; while the palace rocked and all the city, and great stones were
+torn from the crags, and the forest pines were hurled eastward, north
+and south and east and west, and the Bosphorus boiled white with foam,
+and the clouds were dashed against the cliffs.
+
+But at last the battle ended, and the Harpies fled screaming toward the
+south, and the sons of the North wind rushed after them, and brought
+clear sunshine where they passed. For many a league they followed them,
+over all the isles of the Cyclades, and away to the southwest across
+Hellas, till they came to the Ionian Sea, and there they fell upon the
+Echinades, at the mouth of the Achelous; and those isles were called the
+Whirlwind Isles for many a hundred years. But what became of Zetes and
+Calais I know not; for the heroes never saw them again; and some say
+that Heracles met them, and quarrelled with them, and slew them with his
+arrows; and some say that they fell down from weariness and the heat of
+the summer sun, and that the Sun god buried them among the Cyclades, in
+the pleasant Isle of Tenos; and for many hundred years their grave was
+shown there, and over it a pillar, which turned to every wind. But those
+dark storms and whirlwinds haunt the Bosphorus until this day.
+
+But the Argonauts went eastward, and out into the open sea, which we now
+call the Black Sea, but it was called the Euxine then. No Hellen had
+ever crossed it, and all feared that dreadful sea, and its rocks, and
+shoals, and fogs, and bitter freezing storms; and they told strange
+stories of it, some false and some half true, how it stretched northward
+to the ends of the earth, and the sluggish Putrid Sea, and the
+everlasting night, and the regions of the dead. So the heroes trembled,
+for all their courage, as they came into that wild Black Sea, and saw it
+stretching out before them, without a shore, as far as eye could see.
+
+And first Orpheus spoke, and warned them: "We shall come now to the
+wandering blue rocks; my mother warned me of them, Calliope, the
+immortal muse."
+
+And soon they saw the blue rocks shining, like spires and castles of
+gray glass, while an ice-cold wind blew from them, and chilled all the
+heroes' hearts. And as they neared, they could see them heaving, as they
+rolled upon the long sea waves, crashing and grinding together, till the
+roar went up to heaven. The sea sprang up in spouts between them, and
+swept round them in white sheets of foam; but their heads swung nodding
+high in air, while the wind whistled shrill among the crags.
+
+The heroes' hearts sank within them, and they lay upon their oars in
+fear; but Orpheus called to Tiphys the helmsman: "Between them we must
+pass; so look ahead for an opening, and be brave, for Hera is with us."
+But Tiphys the cunning helmsman stood silent, clenching his teeth, till
+he saw a heron come flying mast high toward the rocks, and hover awhile
+before them, as if looking for a passage through. Then he cried, "Hera
+has sent us a pilot; let us follow the cunning bird."
+
+Then the heron flapped to and fro a moment, till he saw a hidden gap,
+and into it he rushed like an arrow, while the heroes watched what would
+befall.
+
+And the blue rocks clashed together as the bird fled swiftly through;
+but they struck but a feather from his tail, and then rebounded apart at
+the shock.
+
+Then Tiphys cheered the heroes, and they shouted; and the oars bent like
+withes beneath their strokes, as they rushed between those toppling ice
+crags, and the cold blue lips of death. And ere the rocks could meet
+again they had passed them, and were safe out in the open sea.
+
+And after that they sailed on wearily along the Asian coast, by the
+Black Cape and Thyneis, where the hot stream of Thymbris falls into the
+sea, and Sangarius, whose waters float on the Euxine, till they came to
+Wolf the river, and to Wolf the kindly king. And there died two brave
+heroes, Idmon and Tiphys the wise helmsman; one died of an evil
+sickness, and one a wild boar slew. So the heroes heaped a mound above
+them, and set upon it an oar on high, and left them there to sleep
+together, on the far-off Lycian shore. But Idas killed the boar, and
+avenged Tiphys; and Ancaios took the rudder and was helmsman, and
+steered them on toward the east.
+
+And they went on past Sinope, and many a mighty river's mouth, and past
+many a barbarous tribe, and the cities of the Amazons, the warlike women
+of the East, till all night they heard the clank of anvils and the roar
+of furnace blasts, and the forge fires shone like sparks through the
+darkness, in the mountain glens aloft; for they were come to the shores
+of the Chalybes, the smiths who never tire, but serve Ares the cruel War
+god, forging weapons day and night.
+
+And at day dawn they looked eastward, and midway between the sea and the
+sky they saw white snow peaks hanging glittering sharp and bright above
+the clouds. And they knew that they were come to Caucasus, at the end of
+all the earth; Caucasus the highest of all mountains, the father of the
+rivers of the East. On his peak lies chained the Titan, while a vulture
+tears his heart; and at his feet are piled dark forests round the magic
+Colchian land.
+
+And they rowed three days to the eastward, while Caucasus rose higher
+hour by hour, till they saw the dark stream of Phasis rushing headlong
+to the sea, and shining above the treetops, the golden roofs of King
+Aietes, the child of the sun.
+
+Then out spoke Ancaios the helmsman: "We are come to our goal at last;
+for there are the roofs of Aietes, and the woods where all poisons grow;
+but who can tell us where among them is hid the golden fleece? Many a
+toil must we bear ere we find it, and bring it home to Greece."
+
+But Jason cheered the heroes, for his heart was high and bold; and he
+said: "I will go alone up to Aietes, though he be the child of the sun,
+and win him with soft words. Better so than to go altogether, and to
+come to blows at once." But the Minuai would not stay behind, so they
+rowed boldly up the stream.
+
+And a dream came to Aietes, and filled his heart with fear. He thought
+he saw a shining star, which fell into his daughter's lap; and that
+Medeia his daughter took it gladly, and carried it to the river side,
+and cast it in, and there the whirling river bore it down, and out into
+the Euxine Sea.
+
+Then he leapt up in fear, and bade his servants bring his chariot, that
+he might go down to the riverside and appease the nymphs, and the heroes
+whose spirits haunt the bank. So he went down in his golden chariot, and
+his daughters by his side, Medeia the fair witch maiden, and Chalciope,
+who had been Phrixus's wife, and behind him a crowd of servants and
+soldiers, for he was a rich and mighty prince.
+
+And as he drove down by the reedy river, he saw Argo sliding up beneath
+the bank, and many a hero in her, like immortals for beauty and for
+strength, as their weapons glittered round them in the level morning
+sunlight, through the white mist of the stream. But Jason was the
+noblest of all; for Hera who loved him gave him beauty, and tallness,
+and terrible manhood.
+
+And when they came near together and looked into each other's eyes, the
+heroes were awed before Aietes as he shone in his chariot, like his
+father the glorious Sun; for his robes were of rich gold tissue, and the
+rays of his diadem flashed fire; and in his hand he bore a jewelled
+sceptre, which glittered like the stars; and sternly he looked at them
+under his brows, and sternly he spoke and loud:
+
+"Who are you, and what want you here, that you come to the shore of
+Cutaia? Do you take no account of my rule, nor of my people the
+Colchians who serve me, who never tired yet in the battle, and know well
+how to face an invader?"
+
+And the heroes sat silent awhile before the face of that ancient king.
+But Hera the awful goddess put courage into Jason's heart, and he rose
+and shouted loudly in answer: "We are no pirates, nor lawless men. We
+come not to plunder and to ravage, or carry away slaves from your land;
+but my uncle, the son of Poseidon, Pelias the Minuan king, he it is who
+has set me on a quest to bring home the golden fleece. And these, too,
+my bold comrades, they are no nameless men; for some are the sons of
+immortals, and some of heroes far renowned. And we, too, never tire in
+battle, and know well how to give blows and to take; yet we wish to be
+guests at your table; it will be better so for both."
+
+Then Aietes's rage rushed up like a whirlwind, and his eyes flashed fire
+as he heard; but he crushed his anger down in his breast, and spoke
+mildly a cunning speech:
+
+"If you will fight for the fleece with my Colchians, then many a man
+must die. But do you indeed expect to win from me the fleece in fight?
+So few you are, that if you be worsted, I can load your ship with your
+corpses. But if you will be ruled by me, you will find it better far to
+choose the best man among you, and let him fulfil the labours which I
+demand. Then I will give him the golden fleece for a prize and a glory
+to you all."
+
+So saying, he turned his horses and drove back in silence to the town.
+And the Minuai sat silent with sorrow, and longed for Heracles and his
+strength; for there was no facing the thousands of the Colchians, and
+the fearful chance of war.
+
+But Chalciope, Phrixus's widow, went weeping to the town; for she
+remembered her Minuan husband, and all the pleasures of her youth, while
+she watched the fair faces of his kinsmen, and their long locks of
+golden hair. And she whispered to Medeia her sister: "Why should all
+these brave men die? why does not my father give them up the fleece,
+that my husband's spirit may have rest?"
+
+And Medeia's heart pitied the heroes, and Jason most of all; and she
+answered, "Our father is stern and terrible, and who can win the golden
+fleece?" But Chalciope said: "These men are not like our men; there is
+nothing which they cannot dare nor do."
+
+And Medeia thought of Jason and his brave countenance, and said: "If
+there was one among them who knew no fear, I could show him how to win
+the fleece."
+
+So in the dusk of evening they went down to the riverside, Chalciope and
+Medeia the witch maiden, and Argus, Phrixus's son. And Argus the boy
+crept forward, among the beds of reeds, till he came where the heroes
+were sleeping, on the thwarts of the ship, beneath the bank, while Jason
+kept ward on shore, and leant upon his lance full of thought. And the
+boy came to Jason, and said:
+
+"I am the son of Phrixus, your cousin; and Chalciope my mother waits for
+you, to talk about the golden fleece."
+
+Then Jason went boldly with the boy, and found the two princesses
+standing; and when Chalciope saw him she wept, and took his hands, and
+cried:
+
+"O cousin of my beloved, go home before you die!"
+
+"It would be base to go home now, fair princess, and to have sailed all
+these seas in vain." Then both the princesses besought him: but Jason
+said, "It is too late."
+
+"But you know not," said Medeia, "what he must do who would win the
+fleece. He must tame the two brazen-footed bulls, who breathe devouring
+flame; and with them he must plough ere nightfall four acres in the
+field of Ares; and he must sow them with serpents' teeth, of which each
+tooth springs up into an armed man. Then he must fight with all those
+warriors; and little will it profit him to conquer them; for the fleece
+is guarded by a serpent, more huge than any mountain pine; and over his
+body you must step, if you would reach the golden fleece."
+
+Then Jason laughed bitterly. "Unjustly is that fleece kept here, and by
+an unjust and lawless king; and unjustly shall I die in my youth, for I
+will attempt it ere another sun be set."
+
+Then Medeia trembled, and said: "No mortal man can reach that fleece,
+unless I guide him through. For round it, beyond the river, is a wall
+full nine ells high, with lofty towers and buttresses, and mighty gates
+of threefold brass; and over the gates the wall is arched, with golden
+battlements above. And over the gateway sits Brimo, the wild witch
+huntress of the woods, brandishing a pine torch in her hands, while her
+mad hounds howl around. No man dare meet her or look on her, but only I
+her priestess, and she watches far and wide lest any stranger should
+come near."
+
+"No wall so high but it may be climbed at last, and no wood so thick but
+it may be crawled through; no serpent so wary but he may be charmed, or
+witch queen so fierce but spells may soothe her; and I may yet win the
+golden fleece, if a wise maiden help bold men."
+
+And he looked at Medeia cunningly, and held her with his glittering eye,
+till she blushed and trembled, and said:
+
+"Who can face the fire of the bulls' breath, and fight ten thousand
+armed men?"
+
+"He whom you help," said Jason, flattering her, "for your fame is spread
+over all the earth. Are you not the queen of all enchantresses, wiser
+even than your sister Circe, in her fairy island in the West?"
+
+"Would that I were with my sister Circe in her fairy island in the West,
+far away from sore temptation, and thoughts which tear the heart! But
+if it must be so--for why should you die?--I have an ointment here; I
+made it from the magic ice flower which sprang from Prometheus's wound,
+above the clouds on Caucasus, in the dreary fields of snow. Anoint
+yourself with that, and you shall have in you seven men's strength; and
+anoint your shield with it, and neither fire nor sword can harm you. But
+what you begin you must end before sunset, for its virtue lasts only one
+day. And anoint your helmet with it before you sow the serpents' teeth;
+and when the sons of earth spring up, cast your helmet among their
+ranks, and the deadly crop of the War-god's field will mow itself, and
+perish."
+
+Then Jason fell on his knees before her, and thanked her and kissed her
+hands; and she gave him the vase of ointment, and fled trembling through
+the reeds. And Jason told his comrades what had happened, and showed
+them the box of ointment; and all rejoiced but Idas and he grew mad with
+envy.
+
+And at sunrise Jason went and bathed, and anointed himself from head to
+foot, and his shield, and his helmet, and his weapons, and bade his
+comrades try the spell. So they tried to bend his lance, but it stood
+like an iron bar; and Idas in spite hewed at it with his sword, but the
+blade flew to splinters in his face. Then they hurled their lances at
+his shield, but the spear points turned like lead; and Caineus tried to
+throw him, but he never stirred a foot; and Polydeuces struck him with
+his fist a blow which would have killed an ox; but Jason only smiled,
+and the heroes danced about him with delight; and he leapt and ran, and
+shouted, in the joy of that enormous strength, till the sun rose, and it
+was time to go and to claim Aietes's promise.
+
+So he sent up Telamon and Aithalides to tell Aietes that he was ready
+for the fight; and they went up among the marble walls, and beneath the
+roofs of gold, and stood in Aietes's hall, while he grew pale with rage.
+
+"Fulfil your promise to us, child of the blazing sun. Give us the
+serpents' teeth, and let loose the fiery bulls; for we have found a
+champion among us who can win the golden fleece."
+
+And Aietes bit his lips, for he fancied that they had fled away by
+night; but he could not go back from his promise; so he gave them the
+serpents' teeth.
+
+Then he called for his chariot and his horses, and sent heralds through
+all the town; and all the people went out with him to the dreadful
+War-god's field.
+
+And there Aietes sat upon his throne, with his warriors on each hand,
+thousands and tens of thousands, clothed from head to foot in
+steel-chain mail. And the people and the women crowded to every window,
+and bank and wall; while the Minuai stood together, a mere handful in
+the midst of that great host.
+
+And Chalciope was there and Argus, trembling, and Medeia, wrapped
+closely in her veil; but Aietes did not know that she was muttering
+cunning spells between her lips.
+
+Then Jason cried, "Fulfil your promise, and let your fiery bulls come
+forth."
+
+Then Aietes bade open the gates, and the magic bulls leapt out. Their
+brazen hoofs rang upon the ground, and their nostrils sent out sheets of
+flame, as they rushed with lowered heads upon Jason; but he never
+flinched a step. The flame of their breath swept round him, but it
+singed not a hair of his head; and the bulls stopped short and trembled,
+when Medeia began her spell.
+
+Then Jason sprang upon the nearest, and seized him by the horn; and up
+and down they wrestled, till the bull fell grovelling on his knees; for
+the heart of the brute died within him, and his mighty limbs were loosed
+beneath the steadfast eye of that dark witch maiden, and the magic
+whisper of her lips.
+
+So both the bulls were tamed and yoked; and Jason bound them to the
+plough, and goaded them onward with his lance, till he had ploughed the
+sacred field.
+
+And all the Minuai shouted; but Aietes bit his lips with rage; for the
+half of Jason's work was over, and the sun was yet high in heaven.
+
+Then he took the serpents' teeth and sowed them, and waited what would
+befall. But Medeia looked at him and at his helmet, lest he should
+forget the lesson she had taught.
+
+And every furrow heaved and bubbled, and out of every clod rose a man.
+Out of the earth they rose by thousands, each clad from head to foot in
+steel, and drew their swords and rushed on Jason, where he stood in the
+midst alone. Then the Minuai grew pale with fear for him; but Aietes
+laughed a bitter laugh. "See! if I had not warriors enough already round
+me, I could call them out of the bosom of the earth."
+
+But Jason snatched off his helmet, and hurled it into the thickest of
+the throng. And blind madness came upon them, suspicion, hate, and fear;
+and one cried to his fellow, "Thou didst strike me!" and another, "Thou
+art Jason; thou shalt die!" So fury seized those earth-born phantoms,
+and each turned his hand against the rest; and they fought and were
+never weary, till they all lay dead upon the ground. Then the magic
+furrows opened, and the kind earth took them home into her breast; and
+the grass grew up all green again above them, and Jason's work was done.
+
+Then the Minuai rose and shouted, till Prometheus heard them from his
+crag. And Jason cried: "Lead me to the fleece this moment, before the
+sun goes down."
+
+But Aietes thought: "He has conquered the bulls; and sown and reaped the
+deadly crop. Who is this who is proof against all magic? He may kill the
+serpent yet." So he delayed, and sat taking counsel with his princes,
+till the sun went down and all was dark. Then he bade a herald cry,
+"Every man to his home for to-night. To-morrow we will meet these
+heroes, and speak about the golden fleece."
+
+Then he turned and looked at Medeia: "This is your doing, false witch
+maid! You have helped these yellow-haired strangers, and brought shame
+upon your father and yourself!"
+
+Medeia shrank and trembled, and her face grew pale with fear; and Aietes
+knew that she was guilty, and whispered, "If they win the fleece, you
+die!"
+
+But the Minuai marched toward their ship, growling like lions cheated of
+their prey; for they saw that Aietes meant to mock them, and to cheat
+them out of all their toil. And Oileus said, "Let us go to the grove
+together, and take the fleece by force."
+
+And Idas the rash cried, "Let us draw lots who shall go in first; for
+while the dragon is devouring one, the rest can slay him, and carry off
+the fleece in peace." But Jason held them back, though he praised them;
+for he hoped for Medeia's help.
+
+And after awhile Medeia came trembling, and wept a long while before she
+spoke. And at last:
+
+"My end is come, and I must die; for my father has found out that I
+have helped you. You he would kill if he dared; but he will not harm
+you, because you have been his guests. Go then, go, and remember poor
+Medeia when you are far away across the sea." But all the heroes cried:
+
+"If you die, we die with you; for without you we cannot win the fleece,
+and home we will not go without it, but fall here fighting to the last
+man."
+
+"You need not die," said Jason. "Flee home with us across the sea. Show
+us first how to win the fleece; for you can do it. Why else are you the
+priestess of the grove? Show us but how to win the fleece, and come with
+us, and you shall be my queen, and rule over the rich princes of the
+Minuai, in Iolcos by the sea."
+
+And all the heroes pressed round, and vowed to her that she should be
+their queen.
+
+Medeia wept, and shuddered, and hid her face in her hands; for her heart
+yearned after her sisters and her playfellows, and the home where she
+was brought up as a child. But at last she looked up at Jason, and spoke
+between her sobs:
+
+"Must I leave my home and my people, to wander with strangers across the
+sea? The lot is cast, and I must endure it. I will show you how to win
+the golden fleece. Bring up your ship to the woodside, and moor her
+there against the bank and let Jason come up at midnight, and one brave
+comrade with him, and meet me beneath the wall."
+
+Then all the heroes cried together: "I will go!" "and I!" "and I!" And
+Idas the rash grew mad with envy; for he longed to be foremost in all
+things. But Medeia calmed them, and said: "Orpheus shall go with Jason,
+and bring his magic harp; for I hear of him that he is the king of all
+minstrels, and can charm all things on earth."
+
+And Orpheus laughed for joy, and clapped his hands, because the choice
+had fallen on him; for in those days poets and singers were as bold
+warriors as the best.
+
+So at midnight they went up the bank, and found Medeia; and beside came
+Absyrtus her young brother, leading a yearling lamb.
+
+Then Medeia brought them to a thicket, beside the War-god's gate; and
+there she bade Jason dig a ditch, and kill the lamb and leave it there,
+and strew on it magic herbs and honey from the honeycomb.
+
+Then sprang up through the earth, with the red fire flashing before her,
+Brimo the wild witch huntress, while her mad hounds howled around. She
+had one head like a horse's, and another like a ravening hound's, and
+another like a hissing snake's, and a sword in either hand. And she
+leapt into the ditch with her hounds, and they ate and drank their fill,
+while Jason and Orpheus trembled, and Medeia hid her eyes. And at last
+the witch queen vanished, and fled with her hounds into the woods; and
+the bars of the gates fell down, and the brazen doors flew wide, and
+Medeia and the heroes ran forward and hurried through the poison wood,
+among the dark stems of the mighty beeches, guided by the gleam of the
+golden fleece, until they saw it hanging on one vast tree in the midst.
+And Jason would have sprung to seize it; but Medeia held him back, and
+pointed shuddering to the tree foot, where the mighty serpent lay,
+coiled in and out among the roots, with a body like a mountain pine. His
+coils stretched many a fathom, spangled with bronze and gold; and half
+of him they could see, but no more; for the rest lay in the darkness
+far beyond.
+
+And when he saw them coming, he lifted up his head, and watched them
+with his small bright eyes, and flashed his forked tongue, and roared
+like the fire among the woodlands, till the forest tossed and groaned.
+For his cry shook the trees from leaf to root, and swept over the long
+reaches of the river, and over Æetes's hall, and woke the sleepers in
+the city, till mothers clasped their children in their fear.
+
+But Medeia called gently to him; and he stretched out his long spotted
+neck, and licked her hand, and looked up in her face, as if to ask for
+food. Then she made a sign to Orpheus, and he began his magic song.
+
+And as he sung, the forest grew calm again, and the leaves on every tree
+hung still; and the serpent's head sank down, and his brazen coils grew
+limp, and his glittering eyes closed lazily, till he breathed as gently
+as a child, while Orpheus called to pleasant Slumber, who gives peace to
+men, and beasts, and waves.
+
+Then Jason leapt forward warily, and stept across that mighty snake, and
+tore the fleece from off the tree trunk; and the four rushed down the
+garden, to the bank where the Argo lay.
+
+There was a silence for a moment, while Jason held the golden fleece on
+high. Then he cried: "Go now, good Argo, swift and steady, if ever you
+would see Pelion more."
+
+And she went, as the heroes drove her, grim and silent all, with muffled
+oars, till the pine wood bent like willow in their hands, and stout Argo
+groaned beneath their strokes.
+
+On and on, beneath the dewy darkness, they fled swiftly down the
+swirling stream; underneath black walls, and temples, and the castles of
+the princes of the East; past sluice mouths, and fragrant gardens, and
+groves of all strange fruits; past marshes where fat kine lay sleeping,
+and long beds of whispering reeds; till they heard the merry music of
+the surge upon the bar, as it tumbled in the moonlight all alone.
+
+Into the surge they rushed, and Argo leapt the breakers like a horse;
+for she knew the time was come to show her mettle, and win honour for
+the heroes and herself.
+
+Into the surge they rushed, and Argo leapt the breakers like a horse,
+till the heroes stopped all panting, each man upon his oar, as she slid
+into the still broad sea.
+
+Then Orpheus took his harp and sang a pæan, till the heroes' hearts rose
+high again; and they rowed on stoutly and steadfastly, away into the
+darkness of the West.
+
+
+PART V
+
+_How the Argonauts Were Driven into the Unknown Sea_
+
+So they fled away in haste to the westward: but Aietes manned his fleet
+and followed them. And Lynceus the quick eyed saw him coming, while he
+was still many a mile away, and cried: "I see a hundred ships, like a
+flock of white swans, far in the east." And at that they rowed hard,
+like heroes; but the ships came nearer every hour.
+
+Then Medeia, the dark witch maiden, laid a cruel and a cunning plot; for
+she killed Absyrtus her young brother, and cast him into the sea, and
+said: "Ere my father can take up his corpse and bury it, he must wait
+long, and be left far behind."
+
+And all the heroes shuddered, and looked one at the other for shame; yet
+they did not punish that dark witch woman, because she had won for them
+the golden fleece.
+
+And when Aietes came to the place, he saw the floating corpse; and he
+stopped a long while, and bewailed his son, and took him up, and went
+home. But he sent on his sailors toward the westward, and bound them by
+a mighty curse: "Bring back to me that dark witch woman, that she may
+die a dreadful death. But if you return without her, you shall die by
+the same death yourselves."
+
+So the Argonauts escaped for that time; but Father Zeus saw that foul
+crime; and out of the heavens he sent a storm, and swept the ship far
+from her course. Day after day the storm drove her, amid foam and
+blinding mist, till they knew no longer where they were, for the sun was
+blotted from the skies. And at last the ship struck on a shoal, amid low
+isles of mud and sand, and the waves rolled over her and through her,
+and the heroes lost all hope of life.
+
+Then Jason cried to Hera: "Fair queen, who hast befriended us till now,
+why hast thou left us in our misery, to die here among unknown seas? It
+is hard to lose the honour which we have won with such toil and danger,
+and hard never to see Hellas again, and the pleasant bay of Pagasai."
+
+Then out and spoke the magic bough which stood upon the Argo's beak:
+"Because Father Zeus is angry, all this has fallen on you; for a cruel
+crime has been done on board, and the sacred ship is foul with blood."
+
+At that some of the heroes cried: "Medeia is the murderess. Let the
+witch woman bear her sin, and die!"
+
+And they seized Medeia, to hurl her into the sea and atone for the young
+boy's death; but the magic bough spoke again: "Let her live till her
+crimes are full. Vengeance waits for her, slow and sure; but she must
+live, for you need her still. She must show you the way to her sister
+Circe, who lives among the islands of the West. To her you must sail, a
+weary way, and she shall cleanse you from your guilt."
+
+Then all the heroes wept aloud when they heard the sentence of the oak;
+for they knew that a dark journey lay before them, and years of bitter
+toil. And some upbraided the dark witch woman, and some said: "Nay, we
+are her debtors still; without her we should never have won the fleece."
+But most of them bit their lips in silence, for they feared the witch's
+spells.
+
+And now the sea grew calmer, and the sun shone out once more, and the
+heroes thrust the ship off the sand bank, and rowed forward on their
+weary course, under the guiding of the dark witch maiden, into the
+wastes of the unknown sea.
+
+Whither they went I cannot tell, nor how they came to Circe's isle. Some
+say that they went to the westward, and up the Ister[A] stream, and so
+came into the Adriatic, dragging their ship over the snowy Alps. And
+others say that they went southward, into the Red Indian Sea, and past
+the sunny lands where spices grow, round Æthiopia toward the west; and
+that at last they came to Libya, and dragged their ship across the
+burning sands, and over the hills into the Syrtes, where the flats and
+quicksands spread for many a mile, between rich Cyrene and the
+Lotus-eaters' shore. But all these are but dreams and fables, and dim
+hints of unknown lands.
+
+[Footnote A: The Danube.]
+
+But all say that they came to a place where they had to drag their ship
+across the land nine days with ropes and rollers, till they came into an
+unknown sea. And the best of all the old songs tells us, how they went
+away toward the north, till they came to the slope of Caucasus, where it
+sinks into the sea; and to the narrow Cimmerian Bosphorus,[A] where the
+Titan swam across upon the bull; and thence into the lazy waters of the
+still Mæotid Lake.[B] And thence they went northward ever, up the
+Tanais, which we call Don, past the Geloni and Sauromatai, and many a
+wandering shepherd tribe, and the one-eyed Arimaspi, of whom old Greek
+poets tell, who steal the gold from the Griffins, in the cold
+Rhiphaian[C] hills.
+
+And they passed the Scythian archers, and the Tauri who eat men, and the
+wandering Hyperboreai, who feed their flocks beneath the pole star,
+until they came into the northern ocean, the dull dead Cronian Sea.[D]
+And there Argo would move on no longer; and each man clasped his elbow,
+and leaned his head upon his hand, heartbroken with toil and hunger, and
+gave himself up to death. But brave Ancaios the helmsman cheered up
+their hearts once more, and bade them leap on land, and haul the ship
+with ropes and rollers for many a weary day, whether over land, or mud,
+or ice, I know not, for the song is mixed and broken like a dream. And
+it says next, how they came to the rich nation of the famous long-lived
+men; and to the coast of the Cimmerians, who never saw the sun, buried
+deep in the glens of the snow mountains; and to the fair land of
+Hermione, where dwelt the most righteous of all nations; and to the
+gates of the world below, and to the dwelling place of dreams.
+
+[Footnote A: Between the Crimæa and Circassia.]
+
+[Footnote B: The Sea of Azov.]
+
+[Footnote C: The Ural Mountains.]
+
+[Footnote D: The Baltic.]
+
+And at last Ancaios shouted: "Endure a little while, brave friends, the
+worst is surely past; for I can see the pure west wind ruffle the water,
+and hear the roar of ocean on the sands. So raise up the mast, and set
+the sail, and face what comes like men."
+
+Then out spoke the magic bough: "Ah, would that I had perished long ago,
+and been whelmed by the dread blue rocks, beneath the fierce swell of
+the Euxine! Better so, than to wander forever, disgraced by the guilt of
+my princes; for the blood of Absyrtus still tracks me, and woe follows
+hard upon woe. And now some dark horror will clutch me, if I come near
+the Isle of Ierne.[A] Unless you will cling to the land, and sail
+southward and southward forever, I shall wander beyond the Atlantic, to
+the ocean which has no shore."
+
+Then they blest the magic bough, and sailed southward along the land.
+But ere they could pass Ierne, the land of mists and storms, the wild
+wind came down, dark and roaring, and caught the sail, and strained the
+ropes. And away they drove twelve nights, on the wide wild western sea,
+through the foam, and over the rollers, while they saw neither sun nor
+stars. And they cried again: "We shall perish, for we know not where we
+are. We are lost in the dreary damp darkness, and cannot tell north from
+south."
+
+But Lynceus the long sighted called gayly from the bows: "Take heart
+again, brave sailors; for I see a pine-clad isle, and the halls of the
+kind Earth mother, with a crown of clouds around them."
+
+[Footnote A: Britain.]
+
+But Orpheus said: "Turn from them, for no living man can land there:
+there is no harbour on the coast, but steep-walled cliffs all round."
+
+So Ancaios turned the ship away; and for three days more they sailed on,
+till they came to Aiaia, Circe's home, and the fairy island of the West.
+
+And there Jason bid them land, and seek about for any sign of living
+man. And as they went inland, Circe met them, coming down toward the
+ship; and they trembled when they saw her; for her hair, and face, and
+robes, shone like flame.
+
+And she came and looked at Medeia; and Medeia hid her face beneath her
+veil.
+
+And Circe cried, "Ah, wretched girl, have you forgotten all your sins,
+that you come hither to my island, where the flowers bloom all the year
+round? Where is your aged father, and the brother whom you killed?
+Little do I expect you to return in safety with these strangers whom you
+love. I will send you food and wine: but your ship must not stay here,
+for it is foul with sin, and foul with sin its crew."
+
+And the heroes prayed her, but in vain, and cried, "Cleanse us from our
+guilt!" But she sent them away and said, "Go on to Malea, and there you
+may be cleansed, and return home."
+
+Then a fair wind rose, and they sailed eastward, by Tartessus on the
+Iberian shore, till they came to the Pillars of Hercules, and the
+Mediterranean Sea. And thence they sailed on through the deeps of
+Sardinia, and past the Ausonian Islands, and the capes of the Tyrrhenian
+shore, till they came to a flowery island, upon a still, bright summer's
+eve. And as they neared it, slowly and wearily, they heard sweet songs
+upon the shore. But when Medeia heard it, she started, and cried:
+"Beware, all heroes, for these are the rocks of the Sirens. You must
+pass close by them, for there is no other channel; but those who listen
+to that song are lost."
+
+Then Orpheus spoke, the king of all minstrels: "Let them match their
+song against mine. I have charmed stones, and trees, and dragons, how
+much more the hearts of man!" So he caught up his lyre, and stood upon
+the poop, and began his magic song.
+
+And now they could see the Sirens, on Anthemousa, the flowery isle;
+three fair maidens sitting on the beach, beneath a red rock in the
+setting sun, among beds of crimson poppies and golden asphodel. Slowly
+they sung and sleepily, with silver voices, mild and clear, which stole
+over the golden waters, and into the hearts of all the heroes, in spite
+of Orpheus's song.
+
+And all things stayed around and listened; the gulls sat in white lines
+along the rocks; on the beach great seals lay basking, and kept time
+with lazy heads; while silver shoals of fish came up to hearken, and
+whispered as they broke the shining calm. The Wind overhead hushed his
+whistling, as he shepherded his clouds toward the west; and the clouds
+stood in mid blue, and listened dreaming, like a flock of golden sheep.
+
+And as the heroes listened, the oars fell from their hands, and their
+heads drooped on their breasts, and they closed their heavy eyes; and
+they dreamed of bright still gardens, and of slumbers under murmuring
+pines, till all their toil seemed foolishness, and they thought of their
+renown no more.
+
+Then one lifted his head suddenly, and cried, "What use in wandering
+forever? Let us stay here and rest awhile." And another, "Let us row to
+the shore, and hear the words they sing." And another, "I care not for
+the words, but for the music. They shall sing me to sleep, that I may
+rest."
+
+And Butes, the son of Pandion, the fairest of all mortal men, leapt out
+and swam toward the shore, crying, "I come, I come, fair maidens, to
+live and die here, listening to your song."
+
+Then Medeia clapped her hands together, and cried, "Sing louder,
+Orpheus, sing a bolder strain; wake up these hapless sluggards, or none
+of them will see the land of Hellas more."
+
+Then Orpheus lifted his harp, and crashed his cunning hand across the
+strings; and his music and his voice rose like a trumpet through the
+still evening air; into the air it rushed like thunder, till the rocks
+rang and the sea; and into their souls it rushed like wine, till all
+hearts beat fast within their breasts.
+
+And he sung the song of Perseus, how the Gods led him over land and sea,
+and how he slew the loathly Gorgon, and won himself a peerless bride;
+and how he sits now with the Gods upon Olympus, a shining star in the
+sky, immortal with his immortal bride, and honoured by all men below.
+
+So Orpheus sang, and the Sirens, answering each other across the golden
+sea, till Orpheus's voice drowned the Sirens, and the heroes caught
+their oars again.
+
+And they cried: "We will be men like Perseus, and we will dare and
+suffer to the last. Sing us his song again, brave Orpheus, that we may
+forget the Sirens and their spell."
+
+And as Orpheus sang, they dashed their oars into the sea, and kept time
+to his music, as they fled fast away; and the Sirens' voices died behind
+them, in the hissing of the foam along their wake.
+
+But Butes swam to the shore, and knelt down before the Sirens, and
+cried, "Sing on! sing on!" But he could say no more; for a charmed sleep
+came over him, and a pleasant humming in his ears; and he sank all along
+upon the pebbles, and forgot all heaven and earth, and never looked at
+that sad beach around him, all strewn with the bones of men.
+
+Then slowly rose up those three fair sisters, with a cruel smile upon
+their lips; and slowly they crept down toward him, like leopards who
+creep upon their prey; and their hands were like the talons of eagles,
+as they stept across the bones of their victims to enjoy their cruel
+feast.
+
+But fairest Aphrodite saw him from the highest Idalian peak, and she
+pitied his youth and his beauty, and leapt up from her golden throne;
+and like a falling star she cleft the sky, and left a trail of
+glittering light, till she stooped to the Isle of the Sirens, and
+snatched their prey from their claws. And she lifted Butes as he lay
+sleeping, and wrapt him in a golden mist; and she bore him to the peak
+of Lilybæum; and he slept there many a pleasant year.
+
+But when the Sirens saw that they were conquered, they shrieked for envy
+and rage, and leapt from the beach into the sea, and were changed into
+rocks until this day.
+
+Then they came to the straits by Lilybæum, and saw Sicily, the
+three-cornered island, under which Enceladus the giant lies groaning day
+and night, and when he turns the earth quakes, and his breath bursts out
+in roaring flames from the highest cone of Ætna, above the chestnut
+woods. And there Charybdis caught them in its fearful coils of wave, and
+rolled mast-high about them, and spun them round and round; and they
+could go neither back nor forward, while the whirlpool sucked them in.
+
+And while they struggled they saw near them, on the other side of the
+strait, a rock stand in the water, with a peak wrapt round in clouds; a
+rock which no man could climb, though he had twenty hands and feet, for
+the stone was smooth and slippery, as if polished by man's hand; and
+half way up a misty cave looked out toward the west.
+
+And when Orpheus saw it, he groaned, and struck his hands together. And
+"Little will it help to us," he cried, "to escape the jaws of the
+whirlpool; for in that cave lives Scylla, the sea-hag with a young
+whelp's voice; my mother warned me of her ere we sailed away from
+Hellas; she has six heads, and six long necks, and hides in that dark
+cleft. And from her cave she fishes for all things which pass by, for
+sharks, and seals, and dolphins, and all the herds of Amphitrite. And
+never ship's crew boasted that they came safe by her rock; for she bends
+her long necks down to them, and every mouth takes up a man And who will
+help us now? For Hera and Zeus hate us, and our ship is foul with guilt;
+so we must die, whatever befalls."
+
+Then out of the depths came Thetis, Peleus's silver-footed bride, for
+love of her gallant husband, and all her nymphs around her; and they
+played like snow-white dolphins, diving on from wave to wave, before the
+ship, and in her wake, and beside her, as dolphins play. And they caught
+the ship, and guided her, and passed her on from hand to hand, and
+tossed her through the billows, as maidens toss the ball. And when
+Scylla stooped to seize her, they struck back her ravening heads, and
+foul Scylla whined, as a whelp whines, at the touch of their gentle
+hands. But she shrank into her cave affrighted; for all bad things
+shrink from good; and Argo leapt safe past her, while a fair breeze rose
+behind. Then Thetis and her nymphs sank down to their gardens of green
+and purple, where live flowers of bloom all the year round; while the
+heroes went on rejoicing, yet dreading what might come next.
+
+After that they rowed on steadily for many a weary day, till they saw a
+long high island, and beyond it a mountain land. And they searched till
+they found a harbour, and there rowed boldly in. But after awhile they
+stopped, and wondered; for there stood a great city on the shore, and
+temples and walls and gardens, and castles high in air upon the cliffs.
+And on either side they saw a harbour, with a narrow mouth, but wide
+within; and black ships without number, high and dry upon the shore.
+
+Then Ancaius, the wise helmsman, spoke: "What new wonder is this? I know
+all isles, and harbours, and the windings of all the seas; and this
+should be Corcyra, where a few wild goatherds dwell. But whence come
+these new harbours, and vast works of polished stone?"
+
+But Jason said: "They can be no savage people. We will go in and take
+our chance."
+
+So they rowed into the harbour, among a thousand black-beaked ships,
+each larger far than Argo, toward a quay of polished stone. And they
+wondered at that mighty city, with its roofs of burnished brass, and
+long and lofty walls of marble, with strong palisades above. And the
+quays were full of people, merchants, and mariners, and slaves, going to
+and fro with merchandise among the crowd of ships. And the heroes'
+hearts were humbled, and they looked at each other and said: "We thought
+ourselves a gallant crew when we sailed from Iolcos by the sea; but how
+small we look before this city, like an ant before a hive of bees."
+
+Then the sailors hailed them roughly from the quay:
+
+"What men are you?--we want no strangers here, nor pirates. We keep our
+business to ourselves."
+
+But Jason answered gently, with many a flattering word, and praised
+their city and their harbour, and their fleet of gallant ships. "Surely
+you are the children of Poseidon, and the masters of the sea; and we are
+but poor wandering mariners, worn out with thirst and toil. Give us but
+food and water, and we will go on our voyage in peace."
+
+Then the sailors laughed and answered: "Stranger, you are no fool; you
+talk like an honest man, and you shall find us honest too. We are the
+children of Poseidon, and the masters of the sea; but come ashore to us,
+and you shall have the best that we can give."
+
+So they limped ashore, all stiff and weary, with long ragged beards and
+sunburnt cheeks, and garments torn and weather-stained, and weapons
+rusted with the spray, while the sailors laughed at them (for they were
+rough-tongued, though their hearts were frank and kind). And one said;
+"These fellows are but raw sailors; they look as if they had been
+sea-sick all the day." And another: "Their legs have grown crooked with
+much rowing, till they waddle in their walk like ducks."
+
+At that Idas the rash would have struck them; but Jason held him back,
+till one of the merchant kings spoke to them, a tall and stately man.
+
+"Do not be angry, strangers; the sailor boys must have their jest. But
+we will treat you justly and kindly, for strangers and poor men come
+from God; and you seem no common sailors by your strength, and height,
+and weapons. Come up with me to the palace of Alcinous, the rich
+sea-going king, and we will feast you well and heartily; and after that
+you shall tell us your name."
+
+But Medeia hung back, and trembled, and whispered in Jason's ear, "We
+are betrayed, and are going to our ruin; for I see my countrymen among
+the crowd; dark-eyed Colchi in steel mail shirts, such as they wear in
+my father's land."
+
+"It is too late to turn," said Jason. And he spoke to the merchant king:
+"What country is this, good sir; and what is this new-built town?"
+
+"This is the land of the Phæaces, beloved by all the Immortals; for they
+come hither and feast like friends with us, and sit by our side in the
+hall. Hither we came from Liburnia to escape the unrighteous Cyclopes;
+for they robbed us, peaceful merchants, of our hard-earned wares and
+wealth. So Nausithous, the son of Poseidon, brought us hither, and died
+in peace; and now his son Alcinous rules us, and Arete the wisest of
+queens."
+
+So they went up across the square, and wondered still more as they went;
+for along the quays lay in order great cables, and yards, and masts,
+before the fair temple of Poseidon, the blue-haired king of the seas.
+And round the square worked the shipwrights, as many in number as ants,
+twining ropes, and hewing timber, and smoothing long yards and oars. And
+the Minuai went on in silence through clean white marble streets, till
+they came to the hall of Alcinous, and they wondered then still more.
+For the lofty palace shone aloft in the sun, with walls of plated brass,
+from the threshold to the innermost chamber, and the doors were of
+silver and gold. And on each side of the doorway sat living dogs of
+gold, who never grew old or died, so well Hephaistus had made them in
+his forges in smoking Lemnos, and gave them to Alcinous to guard his
+gates by night. And within, against the walls, stood thrones on either
+side, down the whole length of the hall, strewn with rich glossy
+shawls; and on them the merchant kings of those crafty sea-roving
+Phæaces sat eating and drinking in pride, and feasting there all the
+year round. And boys of molten gold stood each on a polished altar, and
+held torches in their hands, to give light all night to the guests. And
+round the house sat fifty maid servants, some grinding the meal in the
+mill, some turning the spindle, some weaving at the loom, while their
+hands twinkled as they passed the shuttle, like quivering aspen leaves.
+
+And outside before the palace a great garden was walled round, filled
+full of stately fruit trees, with olives and sweet figs, and
+pomegranates, pears, and apples, which bore the whole year round. For
+the rich southwest wind fed them, till pear grew ripe on pear, fig on
+fig, and grape on grape, all the winter and the spring. And at the
+further end gay flower beds bloomed through all seasons of the year; and
+two fair fountains rose, and ran, one through the garden grounds, and
+one beneath the palace gate, to water all the town. Such noble gifts the
+heavens had given to Alcinous the wise.
+
+So they went in, and saw him sitting, like Poseidon, on his throne, with
+his golden sceptre by him, in garments stiff with gold, and in his hand
+a sculptured goblet, as he pledged the merchant kings; and beside him
+stood Arete, his wise and lovely queen, and leaned against a pillar, as
+she spun her golden threads.
+
+Then Alcinous rose, and welcomed them, and bade them sit and eat; and
+the servants brought them tables, and bread, and meat, and wine.
+
+But Medeia went on trembling toward Arete, the fair queen, and fell at
+her knees, and clasped them, and cried weeping as she knelt:
+
+"I am your guest, fair queen, and I entreat you be Zeus from whom
+prayers come. Do not send me back to my father, to die some dreadful
+death; but let me go my way, and bear my burden. Have I not had enough
+of punishment and shame?"
+
+"Who are you, strange maiden? and what is the meaning of your prayer?"
+
+"I am Medeia, daughter of Aietes, and I saw my countrymen here to-day;
+and I know that they are come to find me, and take me home to die some
+dreadful death."
+
+Then Arete frowned, and said: "Lead this girl in, my maidens; and let
+the kings decide, not I."
+
+And Alcinous leapt up from his throne, and cried, "Speak, strangers, who
+are you? And who is this maiden?"
+
+"We are the heroes of the Minuai," said Jason; "and this maiden has
+spoken truth. We are the men who took the golden fleece, the men whose
+fame has run round every shore. We came hither out of the ocean, after
+sorrows such as man never saw before. We went out many, and come back
+few, for many a noble comrade have we lost. So let us go, as you should
+let your guests go, in peace; that the world may say, 'Alcinous is a
+just king.'"
+
+But Alcinous frowned, and stood deep in thought; and at last he spoke:
+
+"Had not the deed been done, which is done, I should have said this day
+to myself, 'It is an honour to Alcinous, and to his children after him,
+that the far-famed Argonauts are his guests.' But these Colchi are my
+guests, as you are; and for this month they have waited here with all
+their fleet; for they have hunted all the seas of Hellas, and could not
+find you, and dared neither go further, nor go home."
+
+"Let them choose out their champions, and we will fight them, man for
+man."
+
+"No guest of ours shall fight upon our island; and if you go outside,
+they will outnumber you. I will do justice between you; for I know and
+do what is right."
+
+Then he turned to his kings, and said: "This may stand over till
+to-morrow. To-night we will feast our guests, and hear the story of all
+their wanderings, and how they came hither out of the ocean."
+
+So Alcinous bade the servants take the heroes in, and bathe them, and
+give them clothes. And they were glad when they saw the warm water, for
+it was long since they had bathed. And they washed off the sea salt from
+their limbs, and anointed themselves from head to foot with oil, and
+combed out their golden hair. Then they came back again into the hall,
+while the merchant kings rose up to do them honour. And each man said to
+his neighbour: "No wonder that these men won fame. How they stand now
+like Giants, or Titans, or Immortals come down from Olympus, though many
+a winter has worn them, and many a fearful storm. What must they have
+been when they sailed from Iolcos, in the bloom of their youth, long
+ago?"
+
+Then they went out to the garden; and the merchant princes said:
+"Heroes, run races with us. Let us see whose feet are nimblest."
+
+"We cannot race against you, for our limbs are stiff from sea; and we
+have lost our two swift comrades, the sons of the north wind. But do not
+think us cowards; if you wish to try our strength, we will shoot and
+box, and wrestle, against any men on earth."
+
+And Alcinous smiled, and answered: "I believe you, gallant guests; with
+your long limbs and broad shoulders, we could never match you here. For
+we care nothing here for boxing, or for shooting with the bow; but for
+feasts, and songs, and harping, and dancing, and running races, to
+stretch our limbs on shore."
+
+So they danced there and ran races, the jolly merchant kings, till the
+night fell, and all went in.
+
+And then they ate and drank, and comforted their weary souls, till
+Alcinous called a herald, and bade him go and fetch the harper.
+
+The herald went out, and fetched the harper, and led him in by the hand;
+and Alcinous cut him a piece of meat from the fattest of the haunch, and
+sent it to him, and said: "Sing to us, noble harper, and rejoice the
+heroes' hearts."
+
+So the harper played and sang, while the dancers danced strange figures;
+and after that the tumblers showed their tricks, till the heroes laughed
+again.
+
+Then, "Tell me, heroes," asked Alcinous, "you who have sailed the ocean
+round, and seen the manners of all nations, have you seen such dancers
+as ours here? or heard such music and such singing? We hold ours to be
+the best on earth."
+
+"Such dancing we have never seen," said Orpheus; "and your singer is a
+happy man; for Phœbus himself must have taught him, or else he is the
+son of a Muse; as I am also, and have sung once or twice, though not so
+well as he."
+
+"Sing to us, then, noble stranger," said Alcinous; "and we will give you
+precious gifts."
+
+So Orpheus took his magic harp, and sang to them a stirring song of
+their voyage from Iolcos, and their dangers, and how they won the
+golden fleece; and of Medeia's love, and how she helped them, and went
+with them over land and sea; and of all their fearful dangers, from
+monsters, and rocks, and storms, till the heart of Arete was softened,
+and all the women wept. And the merchant kings rose up, each man from
+off his golden throne, and clasped their hands, and shouted: "Hail to
+the noble Argonauts, who sailed the unknown sea!"
+
+Then he went on, and told their journey over the sluggish northern main,
+and through the shoreless outer ocean, to the fairy island of the West;
+and of the Sirens, and Scylla, and Charybdis, and all the wonders they
+had seen, till midnight passed, and the day dawned; but the kings never
+thought of sleep. Each man sat still and listened, with his chin upon
+his hand.
+
+And at last when Orpheus had ended, they all went thoughtful out, and
+the heroes lay down to sleep, beneath the sounding porch outside, where
+Arete had strewn them rugs and carpets, in the sweet still summer night.
+
+But Arete pleaded hard with her husband for Medeia, for her heart was
+softened. And she said: "The Gods will punish her, not we. After all,
+she is our guest and my suppliant, and prayers are the daughters of
+Zeus. And who, too, dare part man and wife, after all they have endured
+together?"
+
+And Alcinous smiled. "The minstrel's song has charmed you; but I must
+remember what is right; for songs cannot alter justice; and I must be
+faithful to my name. Alcinous I am called, the man of sturdy sense, and
+Alcinous I will be." But for all that, Arete besought him, until she won
+him round.
+
+So next morning he sent a herald, and called the kings into the square,
+and said: "This is a puzzling matter; remember but one thing. These
+Minuai live close by us, and we may meet them often on the seas; but
+Aietes lives afar off, and we have only heard his name. Which, then, of
+the two is it safer to offend, the men near us, or the men far off?"
+
+The princes laughed, and praised his wisdom; and Alcinous called the
+heroes to the square, and the Colchi also; and they came and stood
+opposite each other; but Medeia stayed in the palace. Then Alcinous
+spoke: "Heroes of the Colchi, what is your errand about this lady?"
+
+"To carry her home with us, that she may die a shameful death; but if we
+return without her, we must die the death she should have died."
+
+"What say you to this, Jason the Æolid?" said Alcinous, turning to the
+Minuai.
+
+"I say," said the cunning Jason, "that they are come here on a bootless
+errand. Do you think that you can make her follow you, heroes of the
+Colchi? her, who knows all spells and charms? She will cast away your
+ships on quicksands, or call down on you Brimo the wild huntress; or the
+chains will fall from off her wrists, and she will escape in her dragon
+car; or if not thus, some other way; for she has a thousand plans and
+wiles. And why return home at all, brave heroes, and face the long seas
+again, and the Bosphorus, and the stormy Euxine, and double all your
+toil? There is many a fair land round these coasts, which waits for
+gallant men like you. Better to settle there, and build a city, and let
+Aietes and Colchis help themselves."
+
+Then a murmur rose among the Colchi, and some cried, "He has spoken
+well"; and some, "We have had enough of roving, we will sail the seas
+no more!" And the chief said at last, "Be it so, then; a plague she has
+been to us, and a plague to the house of her father, and a plague she
+will be to you. Take her, since you are no wiser; and we will sail away
+toward the north."
+
+Then Alcinous gave them food, and water, and garments, and rich presents
+of all sorts; and he gave the same to the Minuai, and sent them all away
+in peace.
+
+So Jason kept the dark witch maiden to breed him woe and shame; and the
+Colchi went northward into the Adriatic, and settled, and built towns
+along the shore.
+
+Then the heroes rowed away to the eastward, to reach Hellas their
+beloved land; but a storm came down upon them, and swept them far away
+toward the south. And they rowed till they were spent with struggling,
+through the darkness and the blinding rain, but where they were they
+could not tell, and they gave up all hope of life. And at last they
+touched the ground, and when daylight came they waded to the shore; and
+saw nothing round but sand, and desolate salt pools; for they had come
+to the quicksands of the Syrtis, and the dreary treeless flats, which
+lie between Numidia and Cyrene, on the burning shore of Africa. And
+there they wandered starving for many a weary day, ere they could launch
+their ship again, and gain the open sea. And there Canthus was killed
+while he was trying to drive off sheep, by a stone which a herdsman
+threw.
+
+And there, too, Mopsus died, the seer who knew the voices of all birds;
+but he could not foretell his own end, for he was bitten in the foot by
+a snake, one of those which sprang from the Gorgon's head when Perseus
+carried it across the sands.
+
+At last they rowed away toward the northward, for many a weary day,
+till their water was spent, and their food eaten; and they were worn out
+with hunger and thirst. But at last they saw a long steep island, and a
+blue peak high among the clouds; and they knew it for the peak of Ida,
+and the famous land of Crete. And they said, "We will land in Crete, and
+see Minos the just king, and all his glory and his wealth; at least he
+will treat us hospitably, and let us fill our water casks upon the
+shore."
+
+But when they came nearer to the island they saw a wondrous sight upon
+the cliffs. For on a cape to the westward stood a giant, taller than any
+mountain pine; who glittered aloft against the sky like a tower of
+burnished brass. He turned and looked on all sides round him, till he
+saw the Argo and her crew; and when he saw them he came toward them,
+more swiftly than the swiftest horse, leaping across the glens at a
+bound, and striding at one step from down to down. And when he came
+abreast of them he brandished his arms up and down, as a ship hoists and
+lowers her yards, and shouted with his brazen throat like a trumpet from
+off the hills: "You are pirates, you are robbers! If you dare land here,
+you die."
+
+Then the heroes cried: "We are no pirates. We are all good men and true;
+and all we ask is food and water"; but the giant cried the more--
+
+"You are robbers, you are pirates all; I know you; and if you land, you
+shall die the death."
+
+Then he waved his arms again as a signal, and they saw the people flying
+inland, driving their flocks before them, while a great flame arose
+among the hills. Then the giant ran up a valley and vanished; and the
+heroes lay on their oars in fear.
+
+But Medeia stood watching all, from under her steep black brows, with a
+cunning smile upon her lips, and a cunning plot within her heart. At
+last she spoke; "I know this giant. I heard of him in the East.
+Hephaistos the Fire King made him, in his forge in Ætna beneath the
+earth, and called him Talus, and gave him to Minos for a servant, to
+guard the coast of Crete. Thrice a day he walks round the island, and
+never stops to sleep; and if strangers land he leaps into his furnace,
+which flames there among the hills; and when he is red hot he rushes on
+them, and burns them in his brazen hands."
+
+Then all the heroes cried, "What shall we do, wise Medeia? We must have
+water, or we die of thirst. Flesh and blood we can face fairly; but who
+can face this red-hot brass?"
+
+"I can face red-hot brass, if the tale I hear be true. For they say
+that he has but one vein in all his body, filled with liquid fire; and
+that this vein is closed with a nail; but I know not where that nail is
+placed. But if I can get it once into these hands, you shall water your
+ship here in peace."
+
+Then she bade them put her on shore, and row off again, and wait what
+would befall.
+
+And the heroes obeyed her unwillingly; for they were ashamed to leave
+her so alone; but Jason said, "She is dearer to me than to any of you,
+yet I will trust her freely on shore; she has more plots than we can
+dream of, in the windings of that fair and cunning head."
+
+So they left the witch maiden on the shore; and she stood there in her
+beauty all alone, till the giant strode back red hot from head to heel,
+while the grass hissed and smoked beneath his tread.
+
+And when he saw the maiden alone, he stopped; and she looked boldly up
+into his face without moving, and began her magic song:
+
+"Life is short, though life is sweet; and even men of brass and fire
+must die. The brass must rust, the fire must cool, for time gnaws all
+things in their turn. Life is short, though life is sweet; but sweeter
+to live forever; sweeter to live ever youthful like the Gods, who have
+ichor in their veins; ichor which gives life, and youth, and joy, and a
+bounding heart."
+
+Then Talus said, "Who are you, strange maiden; and where is this ichor
+of youth?"
+
+Then Medeia held up a flask of crystal, and said, "Here is the ichor of
+youth. I am Medeia the enchantress; my sister Circe gave me this, and
+said, 'Go and reward Talus the faithful servant, for his fame is gone
+out into all lands.' So come, and I will pour this into your veins, that
+you may live forever young."
+
+And he listened to her false words, that simple Talus, and came near;
+and Medeia said, "Dip yourself in the sea first, and cool yourself, lest
+you burn my tender hands, then show me where the nail in your vein is,
+that I may pour the ichor in."
+
+Then that simple Talus dipped himself in the sea, till it hissed, and
+roared, and smoked; and came and knelt before Medeia, and showed her the
+secret nail.
+
+And she drew the nail out gently; but she poured no ichor in; and
+instead the liquid fire spouted forth, like a stream of red-hot iron.
+And Talus tried to leap up, crying, "You have betrayed me, false witch
+maiden!" But she lifted up her hands before him, and sang, till he sank
+beneath her spell. And as he sank, his brazen limbs clanked heavily, and
+the earth groaned beneath his weight; and the liquid fire ran from his
+heel, like a stream of lava to the sea; and Medeia laughed, and called
+to the heroes, "Come ashore, and water your ship in peace."
+
+So they came, and found the giant lying dead; and they fell down, and
+kissed Medeia's feet; and watered their ship, and took sheep and oxen,
+and so left that inhospitable shore.
+
+At last, after many more adventures, they came to the Cape of Malea, at
+the southwest point of the Peloponnese. And there they offered
+sacrifices, and Orpheus purged them from their guilt. Then they rowed
+away again to the northward, past the Laconian shore, and came all worn
+and tired by Sunium, and up the long Eubœan Strait, until they saw
+once more Pelion, and Aphetai, and Iolcos by the sea.
+
+And they ran the ship ashore; but they had no strength left to haul her
+up the beach; and they crawled out on the pebbles, and sat down, and
+wept till they could weep no more. For the houses and the trees were all
+altered; and all the faces which they saw were strange; and their joy
+was swallowed up in sorrow, while they thought of their youth, and all
+their labour, and the gallant comrades they had lost.
+
+And the people crowded round, and asked them, "Who are you, that you sit
+weeping here?"
+
+"We are the sons of your princes, who sailed out many a year ago. We
+went to fetch the golden fleece; and we have brought it, and grief
+therewith. Give us news of our fathers and our mothers, if any of them
+be left alive on earth."
+
+Then there was shouting and laughing, and weeping; and all the kings
+came to the shore, and they led away the heroes to their homes, and
+bewailed the valiant dead.
+
+Then Jason went up with Medeia to the palace of his uncle Pelias. And
+when he came in, Pelias sat by the hearth, crippled and blind with age;
+while opposite him sat Æson, Jason's father, crippled and blind
+likewise; and the two old men's heads shook together, as they tried to
+warm themselves before the fire.
+
+And Jason fell down at his father's knees, and wept, and called him by
+his name. And the old man stretched his hands out, and felt him, and
+said: "Do not mock me, young hero. My son Jason is dead long ago at
+sea."
+
+"I am your own son Jason, whom you trusted to the Centaur upon Pelion;
+and I have brought home the golden fleece, and a princess of the Sun's
+race for my bride. So now give me up the kingdom, Pelias my uncle, and
+fulfil your promise as I have fulfilled mine."
+
+Then his father clung to him like a child, and wept, and would not let
+him go; and cried, "Now I shall not go down lonely to my grave. Promise
+me never to leave me till I die."
+
+
+PART VI
+
+_What Was the End of the Heroes_
+
+And now I wish that I could end my story pleasantly; but it is no fault
+of mine that I cannot. The old songs end it sadly, and I believe that
+they are right and wise; for though the heroes were purified at Malea,
+yet sacrifices cannot make bad hearts good, and Jason had taken a wicked
+wife, and he had to bear his burden to the last.
+
+And first she laid a cunning plot, to punish that poor old Pelias,
+instead of letting him die in peace.
+
+For she told his daughters: "I can make old things young again; I will
+show you how easy it is to do." So she took an old ram and killed him,
+and put him in a cauldron with magic herbs; and whispered her spells
+over him, and he leapt out again a young lamb. So that "Medeia's
+cauldron" is a proverb still, by which we mean times of war and change,
+when the world has become old and feeble, and grows young again through
+bitter pains.
+
+Then she said to Pelias's daughters: "Do to your father as I did to this
+ram, and he will grow young and strong again." But she only told them
+half the spell; so they failed, while Medeia mocked them; and poor old
+Pelias died, and his daughters came to misery. But the songs say she
+cured Æson, Jason's father, and he became young and strong again.
+
+But Jason could not love her, after all her cruel deeds. So he was
+ungrateful to her, and wronged her: and she revenged herself on him. And
+a terrible revenge she took--too terrible to speak of here. But you will
+hear of it yourselves when you grow up, for it has been sung in noble
+poetry and music; and whether it be true or not, it stands forever as a
+warning to us, not to seek for help from evil persons, or to gain good
+ends by evil means. For if we use an adder even against our enemies, it
+will turn again and sting us.
+
+But of all the other heroes there is many a brave tale left, which I
+have no space to tell you, so you must read them for yourselves--of the
+hunting of the boar in Calydon, which Meleager killed; and of Heracles's
+twelve famous labours; and of the seven who fought at Thebes; and of
+the noble love of Castor and Polydeuces, the twin Dioscouroi; how when
+one died, the other would not live without him, so they shared their
+immortality between them; and Zeus changed them into the two twin stars,
+which never rise both at once.
+
+And what became of Cheiron, the good immortal beast? That, too, is a sad
+story; for the heroes never saw him more. He was wounded by a poisoned
+arrow, at Pholoc among the hills, when Heracles opened the fatal wine
+jar, which Cheiron had warned him not to touch. And the Centaurs smelt
+the wine, and flocked to it, and fought for it with Heracles; but he
+killed them all with his poisoned arrows, and Cheiron was left alone.
+Then Cheiron took up one of the arrows, and dropped it by chance upon
+his foot; and the poison ran like fire along his veins, and he lay down,
+and longed to die; and cried: "Through wine I perish, the bane of all my
+race. Why should I live forever in this agony? Who will take my
+immortality that I may die?"
+
+Then Prometheus answered, the good Titan, whom Heracles had set free
+from Caucasus: "I will take your immortality and live forever, that I
+may help poor mortal men." So Cheiron gave him his immortality, and
+died, and had rest from pain. And Heracles and Prometheus wept over him,
+and went to bury him on Pelion; but Zeus took him up among the stars, to
+live forever, grand and mild, low down in the far southern sky.
+
+And in time the heroes died, all but Nestor the silver-tongued old man;
+and left behind them valiant sons, but not so great as they had been.
+Yet their fame, too, lives till this day; for they fought at the ten
+years' siege of Troy; and their story is in the book which we call
+Homer, in two of the noblest songs on earth; the Iliad, which tells us
+of the siege of Troy, and Achilles's quarrel with the kings; and the
+Odyssey, which tells the wanderings of Odysseus, through many lands for
+many years; and how Alcinous sent him home at last, safe to Ithaca his
+beloved island, and to Penelope his faithful wife, and Telemachus his
+son, and Euphorbus the noble swineherd, and the old dog who licked his
+hand and died.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE GIANT BUILDER
+
+
+Ages and ages ago, when the world was first made, the gods decided to
+build a beautiful city high above the heavens, the most glorious and
+wonderful city that ever was known. Asgard was to be its name, and it
+was to stand on Ida Plain under the shade of Yggdrasil, the great tree
+whose roots were underneath the earth.
+
+First of all they built a house with a silver roof, where there were
+seats for all the twelve chiefs. In the midst, and high above the rest,
+was the wonder throne of Odin the All-Father, whence he could see
+everything that happened in the sky or on the earth or in the sea. Next
+they made a fair house for Queen Frigg and her lovely daughters. Then
+they built a smithy, with its great hammers, tongs, anvils, and bellows,
+where the gods could work at their favourite trade, the making of
+beautiful things out of gold; which they did so well that folk name that
+time the Golden Age. Afterward, as they had more leisure, they built
+separate houses for all the Æsir, each more beautiful than the
+preceding, for of course they were continually growing more skilful.
+They saved Father Odin's palace until the last, for they meant this to
+be the largest and the most splendid of all.
+
+Gladsheim, the home of joy, was the name of Odin's house, and it was
+built all of gold, set in the midst of a wood whereof the trees had
+leaves of ruddy gold--like an autumn-gilded forest. For the safety of
+All-Father it was surrounded by a roaring river and by a high picket
+fence; and there was a great courtyard within.
+
+The glory of Gladsheim was its wondrous hall, radiant with gold, the
+most lovely room that time has ever seen. Valhalla, the Hall of Heroes,
+was the name of it, and it was roofed with the mighty shields of
+warriors. The ceiling was made of interlacing spears, and there was a
+portal at the west end before which hung a great gray wolf, while over
+him a fierce eagle hovered. The hall was so huge that it had 540 gates,
+through each of which 800 men could march abreast. Indeed, there needed
+to be room, for this was the hall where every morning Odin received all
+the brave warriors who had died in battle on the earth below; and there
+were many heroes in those days.
+
+This was the reward which the gods gave to courage. When a hero had
+gloriously lost his life, the Valkyries, the nine warrior daughters of
+Odin, brought his body up to Valhalla on their white horses that gallop
+the clouds. There they lived forever after in happiness, enjoying the
+things that they had most loved upon earth. Every morning they armed
+themselves and went out to fight with one another in the great
+courtyard. It was a wondrous game, wondrously played. No matter how
+often a hero was killed, he became alive again in time to return
+perfectly well to Valhalla, where he ate a delicious breakfast with the
+Jisir; while the beautiful Valkyries who had first brought him thither
+waited at table and poured the blessed mead, which only the immortal
+taste. A happy life it was for the heroes, and a happy life for all who
+dwelt in Asgard; for this was before trouble had come among the gods,
+following the mischief of Loki.
+
+This is how the trouble began. From the beginning of time, the giants
+had been unfriendly to the Æsir, because the giants were older and huger
+and more wicked; besides, they were jealous because the good Æsir were
+fast gaining more wisdom and power than the giants had ever known. It
+was the Æsir who set the fair brother and sister, Sun and Moon, in the
+sky to give light to men; and it was they also who made the jewelled
+stars out of sparks from the place of fire. The giants hated the Æsir,
+and tried all in their power to injure them and the men of the earth
+below, whom the Æsir loved and cared for. The gods had already built a
+wall around Midgard, the world of men, to keep the giants out; built it
+of the bushy eyebrows of Ymir, the oldest and hugest of giants. Between
+Asgard and the giants flowed Ifing, the great river on which ice never
+formed, and which the gods crossed on the rainbow bridge. But this was
+not protection enough. Their beautiful new city needed a fortress.
+
+So the word went forth in Asgard: "We must build us a fortress against
+the giants; the hugest, strongest, finest fortress that ever was built."
+
+Now one day, soon after they had announced this decision, there came a
+mighty man stalking up the rainbow bridge that led to Asgard city.
+
+"Who goes there!" cried Heimdal the watchman, whose eyes were so keen
+that he could see for a hundred miles around, and whose ears were so
+sharp that he could hear the grass growing in the meadow and the wool on
+the backs of the sheep. "Who goes there! No one can enter Asgard if I
+say no."
+
+"I am a builder," said the stranger, who was a huge fellow with sleeves
+rolled up to show the iron muscles of his arms. "I am a builder of
+strong towers, and I have heard that the folk of Asgard need one to help
+them raise a fair fortress in their city."
+
+Heimdal looked at the stranger narrowly, for there was that about him
+which his sharp eyes did not like. But he made no answer, only blew on
+his golden horn, which was so loud that it sounded through all the
+world. At this signal all the Æsir came running to the rainbow bridge,
+from wherever they happened to be, to find out who was coming to Asgard.
+For it was Heimdal's duty ever to warn them of the approach of the
+unknown.
+
+"This fellow says he is a builder," quoth Heimdal. "And he would fain
+build us a fortress in the city."
+
+"Ay, that I would," nodded the stranger, "Look at my iron arm; look at
+my broad back; look at my shoulders. Am I not the workman you need?"
+
+"Truly, he is a mighty figure," vowed Odin, looking at him approvingly.
+"How long will it take you alone to build our fortress? We can allow but
+one stranger at a time within our city, for safety's sake."
+
+"In three half-years," replied the stranger, "I will undertake to build
+for you a castle so strong that not even the giants, should they swarm
+hither over Midgard--not even they could enter without your leave."
+
+"Aha!" cried Father Odin, well pleased at this offer. "And what reward
+do you ask, friend, for help so timely?"
+
+The stranger hummed and hawed and pulled his long beard while he
+thought. Then he spoke suddenly, as if the idea had just come into his
+mind. "I will name my price, friends," he said; "a small price for so
+great a deed. I ask you to give me Freia for my wife, and those two
+sparkling jewels, the Sun and Moon."
+
+At this demand the gods looked grave; for Freia was their dearest
+treasure. She was the most beautiful maid who ever lived, the light and
+life of heaven, and if she should leave Asgard, joy would go with her;
+while the Sun and Moon were the light and life of the Æsir's children,
+men, who lived in the little world below. But Loki the sly whispered
+that they would be safe enough if they made another condition on their
+part, so hard that the builder could not fulfil it. After thinking
+cautiously, he spoke for them all.
+
+"Mighty man," quoth he, "we are willing to agree to your price--upon one
+condition. It is too long a time that you ask; we cannot wait three
+half-years for our castle; that is equal to three centuries when one is
+in a hurry. See that you finish the fort without help in one winter, one
+short winter, and you shall have fair Freia with the Sun and Moon. But
+if, on the first day of summer, one stone is wanting to the walls, or if
+anyone has given you aid in the building, then your reward is lost, and
+you shall depart without payment." So spoke Loki, in the name of all the
+gods; but the plan was his own.
+
+At first the stranger shook his head and frowned, saying that in so
+short a time no one unaided could complete the undertaking. At last he
+made another offer. "Let me have but my good horse to help me, and I
+will try," he urged. "Let me bring the useful Svadilföri with me to the
+task, and I will finish the work in one winter of short days, or lose my
+reward. Surely, you will not deny me this little help, from one
+four-footed friend."
+
+Then again the Æsir consulted, and the wiser of them were doubtful
+whether it were best to accept the stranger's offer so strangely made.
+But again Loki urged them to accept. "Surely, there is no harm," he
+said. "Even with his old horse to help him, he cannot build the castle
+in the promised time. We shall gain a fortress without trouble and with
+never a price to pay."
+
+Loki was so eager that, although the other Æsir did not like this crafty
+way of making bargains, they finally consented. Then in the presence of
+the heroes, with the Valkyries and Mimer's head for witnesses, the
+stranger and the Æsir gave solemn promise that the bargain should be
+kept.
+
+On the first day of winter the strange builder began his work, and
+wondrous was the way he set about it. His strength seemed as the
+strength of a hundred men. As for his horse Svadilföri, he did more work
+by half than even the mighty builder. In the night he dragged the
+enormous rocks that were to be used in building the castle, rocks as big
+as mountains of the earth; while in the daytime the stranger piled them
+into place with his iron arms. The Æsir watched him with amazement;
+never was seen such strength in Asgard. Neither TÅ·r the stout nor
+Thor the strong could match the power of the stranger. The gods began to
+look at one another uneasily. Who was this mighty one who had come among
+them, and what if after all he should win his reward? Freia trembled in
+her palace, and the Sun and Moon grew dim with fear.
+
+Still the work went on, and the fort was piling higher and higher, by
+day and by night. There were but three days left before the end of
+winter, and already the building was so tall and so strong that it was
+safe from the attacks of any giant. The Æsir were delighted with their
+fine new castle; but their pride was dimmed by the fear that it must be
+paid for at all too costly a price. For only the gateway remained to be
+completed, and unless the stranger should fail to finish that in the
+next three days, they must give him Freia with the Sun and Moon.
+
+The Æsir held a meeting upon Ida Plain, a meeting full of fear and
+anger. At last they realised what they had done; they had made a bargain
+with one of the giants, their enemies; and if he won the prize, it would
+mean sorrow and darkness in heaven and upon earth. "How did we happen to
+agree to so mad a bargain?" they asked one another. "Who suggested the
+wicked plan which bids fair to cost us all that we most cherish?" Then
+they remembered that it was Loki who had made the plan; it was he who
+had insisted that it be carried out; and they blamed him for all the
+trouble.
+
+"It is your counsels, Loki, that have brought this danger upon us,"
+quoth Father Odin, frowning. "You chose the way of guile, which is not
+our way. It now remains for you to help us by guile, if you can. But if
+you cannot save for us Freia and the Sun and Moon, you shall die. This
+is my word." All the other Æsir agreed that this was just. Thor alone
+was away hunting evil demons at the other end of the world, so he did
+not know what was going on, and what dangers were threatening Asgard.
+
+Loki was much frightened at the word of All-Father. "It was my fault,"
+he cried, "but how was I to know that he was a giant? He had disguised
+himself so that he seemed but a strong man. And as for his horse--it
+looks much like that of other folk. If it were not for the horse, he
+could not finish the work. Ha! I have a thought! The builder shall not
+finish the gate; the giant shall not receive his payment. I will cheat
+the fellow."
+
+Now it was the last night of winter, and there remained but a few stones
+to put in place on the top of the wondrous gateway. The giant was sure
+of his prize, and chuckled to himself as he went out with his horse to
+drag the remaining stones; for he did not know that the Æsir had guessed
+at last who he was, and that Loki was plotting to outwit him. Hardly had
+he gone to work when out of the wood came running a pretty little mare,
+who neighed to Svadilföri as if inviting the tired horse to leave his
+work and come to the green fields for a holiday.
+
+Svadilföri, you must remember, had been working hard all winter, with
+never a sight of four-footed creature of his kind, and he was very
+lonesome and tired of dragging stones. Giving a snort of disobedience,
+off he ran after this new friend toward the grassy meadows. Off went the
+giant after him, howling with rage, and running for dear life, as he saw
+not only his horse but his chance of success slipping out of reach. It
+was a mad chase, and all Asgard thundered with the noise of galloping
+hoofs and the giant's mighty tread. The mare who raced ahead was Loki in
+disguise, and he led Svadilföri far out of reach, to a hidden meadow
+that he knew; so that the giant howled and panted up and down all night
+long, without catching even a sight of his horse.
+
+Now when the morning came the gateway was still unfinished, and night
+and winter had ended at the same hour. The giant's time was over, and he
+had forfeited his reward. The Æsir came flocking to the gateway, and
+how they laughed and triumphed when they found three stones wanting to
+complete the gate!
+
+"You have failed, fellow," judged Father Odin sternly, "and no price
+shall we pay for work that is still undone. You have failed. Leave
+Asgard quickly; we have seen all we want of you and of your race."
+
+Then the giant knew that he was discovered, and he was mad with rage.
+"It was a trick!" he bellowed, assuming his own proper form, which was
+huge as a mountain, and towered high beside the fortress that he had
+built. "It was a wicked trick. You shall pay for this in one way or
+another. I cannot tear down the castle which, ungrateful ones, I have
+built you, stronger than the strength of any giant. But I will demolish
+the rest of your shining city!" Indeed, he would have done so in his
+mighty rage; but at this moment Thor, whom Heimdal had called from the
+end of the earth by one blast of the golden horn, came rushing to the
+rescue, drawn in his chariot of goats. Thor jumped to the ground close
+beside the giant, and before that huge fellow knew what had happened,
+his head was rolling upon the ground at Father Odin's feet; for with one
+blow Thor had put an end to the giant's wickedness and had saved Asgard.
+
+"This is the reward you deserve!" Thor cried. "Not Freia nor the Sun and
+Moon, but the death that I have in store for all the enemies of the
+Æsir."
+
+In this extraordinary way the noble city of Asgard was made safe and
+complete by the addition of a fortress which no one, not even the giant
+who built it, could injure, it was so wonder-strong. But always at the
+top of the gate were lacking three great stones that no one was mighty
+enough to lift. This was a reminder to the Æsir that now they had the
+race of giants for their everlasting enemies. And though Loki's trick
+had saved them Freia, and for the world the Sun and Moon, it was the
+beginning of trouble in Asgard which lasted as long as Loki lived to
+make mischief with his guile.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HOW ODIN LOST HIS EYE
+
+
+In the beginning of things, before there was any world or sun, moon, and
+stars, there were the giants; for these were the oldest creatures that
+ever breathed. They lived in Jotunheim, the land of frost and darkness,
+and their hearts were evil. Next came the gods, the good Æsir, who made
+earth and sky and sea, and who dwelt in Asgard, above the heavens. Then
+were created the queer little dwarfs, who lived underground in the
+caverns of the mountains, working at their mines of metal and precious
+stones. Last of all, the gods made men to dwell in Midgard, the good
+world that we know, between which and the glorious home of the Æsir
+stretched Bifröst, the bridge of rainbows.
+
+In those days, folk say, there was a mighty ash tree named Yggdrasil, so
+vast that its branches shaded the whole earth and stretched up into
+heaven where the Æsir dwelt, while its roots sank far down below the
+lowest depth. In the branches of the big ash tree lived a queer family
+of creatures. First, there was a great eagle, who was wiser than any
+bird that ever lived--except the two ravens, Thought and Memory, who sat
+upon Father Odin's shoulders and told him the secrets which they learned
+in their flight over the wide world. Near the great eagle perched a
+hawk, and four antlered deer browsed among the buds of Yggdrasil. At
+the foot of the tree coiled a huge serpent, who was always gnawing
+hungrily at its roots, with a whole colony of little snakes to keep him
+company--so many that they could never be counted. The eagle at the top
+of the tree and the serpent at its foot were enemies, always saying hard
+things of each other. Between the two skipped up and down a little
+squirrel, a tale bearer and a gossip, who repeated each unkind remark
+and, like the malicious neighbour that he was, kept their quarrel ever
+fresh and green.
+
+In one place at the roots of Yggdrasil was a fair fountain called the
+Urdar-well, where the three Norn maidens, who knew the past, present,
+and future, dwelt with their pets, the two white swans. This was magic
+water in the fountain, which the Norns sprinkled every day upon the
+giant tree to keep it green--water so sacred that everything which
+entered it became white as the film of an eggshell. Close beside this
+sacred well the Æsir had their council hall, to which they galloped
+every morning over the rainbow bridge.
+
+But Father Odin, the king of all the Æsir, knew of another fountain more
+wonderful still; the two ravens whom he sent forth to bring him news had
+told him. This also was below the roots of Yggdrasil, in the spot where
+the sky and ocean met. Here for centuries and centuries the giant Mimer
+had sat keeping guard over his hidden well, in the bottom of which lay
+such a treasure of wisdom as was to be found nowhere else in the world.
+Every morning Mimer dipped his glittering horn Giöll into the fountain
+and drew out a draught of the wondrous water, which he drank to make him
+wise. Every day he grew wiser and wiser; and as this had been going on
+ever since the beginning of things, you can scarcely imagine how wise
+Mimer was.
+
+Now it did not seem right to Father Odin that a giant should have all
+this wisdom to himself; for the giants were the enemies of the Æsir, and
+the wisdom which they had been hoarding for ages before the gods were
+made was generally used for evil purposes. Moreover, Odin longed and
+longed to become the wisest being in the world. So he resolved to win a
+draught from Mimer's well, if in any way that could be done.
+
+One night, when the sun had set behind the mountains of Midgard, Odin
+put on his broad-brimmed hat and his striped cloak, and taking his
+famous staff in his hand, trudged down the long bridge to where it ended
+by Mimer's secret grotto.
+
+"Good-day, Mimer," said Odin, entering; "I have come for a drink from
+your well."
+
+The giant was sitting with his knees drawn up to his chin, his long
+white beard falling over his folded arms, and his head nodding; for
+Mimer was very old, and he often fell asleep while watching over his
+precious spring. He woke with a frown at Odin's words. "You want a drink
+from my well, do you?" he growled. "Hey! I let no one drink from my
+well."
+
+"Nevertheless, you must let me have a draught from your glittering
+horn," insisted Odin, "and I will pay you for it."
+
+"Oho, you will pay me for it, will you?" echoed Mimer, eyeing his
+visitor keenly. For now that he was wide awake, his wisdom taught him
+that this was no ordinary stranger. "What will you pay for a drink from
+my well, and why do you wish it so much?"
+
+"I can see with my eyes all that goes on in heaven and upon earth,"
+said Odin, "but I cannot see into the depths of ocean. I lack the hidden
+wisdom of the deep--the wit that lies at the bottom of your fountain. My
+ravens tell me many secrets; but I would know all. And as for payment,
+ask what you will, and I will pledge anything in return for the draught
+of wisdom."
+
+Then Mimer's keen glance grew keener. "You are Odin, of the race of
+gods," he cried. "We giants are centuries older than you, and our wisdom
+which we have treasured during these ages, when we were the only
+creatures in all space, is a precious thing. If I grant you a draught
+from my well, you will become as one of us, a wise and dangerous enemy.
+It is a goodly price, Odin, which I shall demand for a boon so great."
+
+Now Odin was growing impatient for the sparkling water. "Ask your
+price," he frowned. "I have promised that I will pay."
+
+"What say you, then, to leaving one of those far-seeing eyes of yours at
+the bottom of my well?" asked Mimer, hoping that he would refuse the
+bargain. "This is the only payment I will take."
+
+Odin hesitated. It was indeed a heavy price, and one that he could ill
+afford, for he was proud of his noble beauty. But he glanced at the
+magic fountain bubbling mysteriously in the shadow, and he knew that he
+must have the draught.
+
+"Give me the glittering horn," he answered. "I pledge you my eye for a
+draught to the brim."
+
+Very unwillingly Mimer filled the horn from the fountain of wisdom and
+handed it to Odin. "Drink, then," he said; "drink and grow wise. This
+hour is the beginning of trouble between your race and mine." And wise
+Mimer foretold the truth.
+
+Odin thought merely of the wisdom which was to be his. He seized the
+horn eagerly, and emptied it without delay. From that moment he became
+wiser than anyone else in the world except Mimer himself.
+
+Now he had the price to pay, which was not so pleasant. When he went
+away from the grotto, he left at the bottom of the dark pool one of his
+fiery eyes, which twinkled and winked up through the magic depths like
+the reflection of a star. This is how Odin lost his eye, and why from
+that day he was careful to pull his gray hat low over his face when he
+wanted to pass unnoticed. For by this oddity folk could easily recognise
+the wise lord of Asgard.
+
+In the bright morning, when the sun rose over the mountains of Midgard,
+old Mimer drank from his bubbly well a draught of the wise water that
+flowed over Odin's pledge. Doing so, from his underground grotto he saw
+all that befell in heaven and on earth. So that he also was wiser by the
+bargain. Mimer seemed to have secured rather the best of it; for he lost
+nothing that he could not spare, while Odin lost what no man can well
+part with--one of the good windows wherethrough his heart looks out upon
+the world. But there was a sequel to these doings which made the balance
+swing down in Odin's favour.
+
+Not long after this, the Æsir quarrelled with the Vanir, wild enemies of
+theirs, and there was a terrible battle. But in the end the two sides
+made peace; and to prove that they meant never to quarrel again, they
+exchanged hostages. The Vanir gave to the Æsir old Niörd the rich, the
+lord of the sea and the ocean wind, with his two children, Frey and
+Freia. This was indeed a gracious gift; for Freia was the most beautiful
+maid in the world, and her twin brother was almost as fair. To the
+Vanir in return Father Odin gave his own brother HÅ“nir. And with
+HÅ“nir he sent Mimer the wise, whom he took from his lonely well.
+
+Now the Vanir made HÅ“nir their chief, thinking that he must be very
+wise because he was the brother of great Odin, who had lately become
+famous for his wisdom. They did not know the secret of Mimer's well, how
+the hoary old giant was far more wise than anyone who had not quaffed of
+the magic water. It is true that in the assemblies of the Vanir HÅ“nir
+gave excellent counsel. But this was because Mimer whispered in
+HÅ“nir's ear all the wisdom that he uttered. Witless HÅ“nir was
+quite helpless without his aid, and did not know what to do or say.
+Whenever Mimer was absent he would look nervous and frightened, and if
+folk questioned him he always answered:
+
+"Yes, ah yes! Now go and consult someone else."
+
+Of course the Vanir soon grew very angry at such silly answers from
+their chief, and presently they began to suspect the truth. "Odin has
+deceived us," they said. "He has sent us his foolish brother with a
+witch to tell him what to say. Ha! We will show him that we understand
+the trick." So they cut off poor old Mimer's head and sent it to Odin as
+a present.
+
+The tales do not say what Odin thought of the gift. Perhaps he was glad
+that now there was no one in the whole world who could be called so wise
+as himself. Perhaps he was sorry for the danger into which he had thrust
+a poor old giant who had never done him any wrong, except to be a giant
+of the race which the Æsir hated. Perhaps he was a little ashamed of the
+trick which he had played the Vanir. Odin's new wisdom showed him how
+to prepare Mimer's head with herbs and charms, so that it stood up by
+itself quite naturally and seemed not dead. Thenceforth Odin kept it
+near him, and learned from it many useful secrets which it had not
+forgotten.
+
+So in the end Odin fared better than the unhappy Mimer, whose worst
+fault was that he knew more than most folk. That is a dangerous fault,
+as others have found; though it is not one for which many of us need
+fear being punished.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE QUEST OF THE HAMMER
+
+
+One morning Thor the Thunderer awoke with a yawn, and stretching out his
+knotted arm, felt for his precious hammer, which he kept always under
+his pillow of clouds. But he started up with a roar of rage, so that all
+the palace trembled. The hammer was gone!
+
+Now this was a very serious matter, for Thor was the protector of
+Asgard, and Miölnir, the magic hammer which the dwarf had made, was his
+mighty weapon, of which the enemies of the Æsir stood so much in dread
+that they dared not venture near. But if they should learn that Miölnir
+was gone, who could tell what danger might not threaten the palaces of
+heaven?
+
+Thor darted his flashing eye into every corner of Cloud Land in search
+of the hammer. He called his fair wife, Sif of the golden hair, to aid
+in the search, and his two lovely daughters, Thrude and Lora. They
+hunted and they hunted; they turned Thrudheim upside down, and set the
+clouds to rolling wonderfully, as they peeped and pried behind and
+around and under each billowy mass. But Miölnir was not to be found.
+Certainly, someone had stolen it.
+
+Thor's yellow beard quivered with rage, and his hair bristled on end
+like the golden rays of a star, while all his household trembled.
+
+"It is Loki again!" he cried. "I am sure Loki is at the bottom of this
+mischief!" For since the time when Thor had captured Loki for the dwarf
+Brock and had given him over to have his bragging lips sewed up, Loki
+had looked at him with evil eyes; and Thor knew that the red rascal
+hated him most of all the gods.
+
+But this time Thor was mistaken. It was not Loki who had stolen the
+hammer--he was too great a coward for that. And though he meant, before
+the end, to be revenged upon Thor, he was waiting until a safe chance
+should come, when Thor himself might stumble into danger, and Loki need
+only to help the evil by a malicious word or two; and this chance came
+later, as you shall hear in another tale.
+
+Meanwhile Loki was on his best behaviour, trying to appear very kind and
+obliging; so when Thor came rumbling and roaring up to him, demanding,
+"What have you done with my hammer, you thief?" Loki looked surprised,
+but did not lose his temper nor answer rudely.
+
+"Have you indeed missed your hammer, brother Thor?" he said, mumbling,
+for his mouth was still sore where Brock had sewed the stitches. "That
+is a pity; for if the giants hear of this, they will be coming to try
+their might against Asgard."
+
+"Hush!" muttered Thor, grasping him by the shoulder with his iron
+fingers. "That is what I fear. But look you, Loki: I suspect your hand
+in the mischief. Come, confess."
+
+Then Loki protested that he had nothing to do with so wicked a deed.
+"But," he added wheedlingly, "I think I can guess the thief; and because
+I love you, Thor, I will help you to find him."
+
+"Humph!" growled Thor. "Much love you bear to me! However, you are a
+wise rascal, the nimblest wit of all the Æsir, and it is better to have
+you on my side than on the other, when giants are in the game. Tell me,
+then: who has robbed the Thunder Lord of his bolt of power?"
+
+Loki drew near and whispered in Thor's ear. "Look, how the storms rage
+and the winds howl in the world below! Someone is wielding your thunder
+hammer all unskilfully. Can you not guess the thief? Who but Thrym, the
+mighty giant who has ever been your enemy and your imitator, and whose
+fingers have long itched to grasp the short handle of mighty Miölnir,
+that the world may name him Thunder Lord instead of you. But look! What
+a tempest! The world will be shattered into fragments unless we soon get
+the hammer back."
+
+Then Thor roared with rage. "I will seek this impudent Thrym!" he cried.
+"I will crush him into bits, and teach him to meddle with the weapon of
+the Æsir!"
+
+"Softly, softly," said Loki, smiling maliciously. "He is a shrewd giant,
+and a mighty. Even you, great Thor, cannot go to him and pluck the
+hammer from his hand as one would slip the rattle from a baby's pink
+fist. Nay, you must use craft, Thor; and it is I who will teach you, if
+you will be patient."
+
+Thor was a brave, blunt fellow, and he hated the ways of Loki, his lies
+and his deceit. He liked best the way of warriors--the thundering
+charge, the flash of weapons, and the heavy blow; but without the hammer
+he could not fight the giants hand to hand. Loki's advice seemed wise,
+and he decided to leave the matter to the Red One.
+
+Loki was now all eagerness, for he loved difficulties which would set
+his wit in play and bring other folk into danger. "Look, now," he said.
+"We must go to Freia and borrow her falcon dress. But you must ask; for
+she loves me so little that she would scarce listen to me."
+
+So first they made their way to Folkvang, the house of maidens, where
+Freia dwelt, the loveliest of all in Asgard. She was fairer than fair,
+and sweeter than sweet, and the tears from her flower eyes made the dew
+which blessed the earth flowers night and morning. Of her Thor borrowed
+the magic dress of feathers in which Freia was wont to clothe herself
+and flit like a great beautiful bird all about the world. She was
+willing enough to lend it to Thor when he told her that by its aid he
+hoped to win back the hammer which he had lost; for she well knew the
+danger threatening herself and all the Æsir until Miölnir should be
+found.
+
+"Now will I fetch the hammer for you," said Loki. So he put on the
+falcon plumage, and, spreading his brown wings, flapped away up, up,
+over the world, down, down, across the great ocean which lies beyond all
+things that men know. And he came to the dark country where there was no
+sunshine nor spring, but it was always dreary winter; where mountains
+were piled up like blocks of ice, and where great caverns yawned
+hungrily in blackness. And this was Jotunheim, the land of the Frost
+Giants.
+
+And lo! when Loki came thereto he found Thrym the Giant King sitting
+outside his palace cave, playing with his dogs and horses. The dogs were
+as big as elephants, and the horses were as big as houses, but Thrym
+himself was as huge as a mountain; and Loki trembled, but he tried to
+seem brave.
+
+"Good-day, Loki," said Thrym, with the terrible voice of which he was so
+proud, for he fancied it was as loud as Thor's. "How fares it,
+feathered one, with your little brothers, the Æsir, in Asgard halls? And
+how dare you venture alone in this guise to Giant Land?"
+
+"It is an ill day in Asgard," sighed Loki, keeping his eye warily upon
+the giant, "and a stormy one in the world of men, I heard the winds
+howling and the storms rushing on the earth as I passed by. Some mighty
+one has stolen the hammer of our Thor. Is it you, Thrym, greatest of all
+giants--greater than Thor himself?"
+
+This the crafty one said to flatter Thrym, for Loki well knew the
+weakness of those who love to be thought greater than they are.
+
+Then Thrym bridled and swelled with pride, and tried to put on the
+majesty and awe of noble Thor; but he only succeeded in becoming an
+ugly, puffy monster.
+
+"Well, yes," he admitted. "I have the hammer that belonged to your
+little Thor; and now how much of & lord is he?"
+
+"Alack!" sighed Loki again, "weak enough he is without his magic weapon.
+But you, O Thrym--surely your mightiness needs no such aid. Give me the
+hammer, that Asgard may no longer be shaken by Thor's grief for his
+precious toy."
+
+But Thrym was not so easily to be flattered into parting with his stolen
+treasure. He grinned a dreadful grin, several yards in width, which his
+teeth barred like jagged boulders across the entrance to a mountain
+cavern,
+
+"Miölnir the hammer is mine," he said, "and I am Thunder Lord, mightiest
+of the mighty. I have hidden it where Thor can never find it, twelve
+leagues below the sea caves, where Queen Ran lives with her daughters,
+the white-capped Waves. But listen, Loki. Go tell the Æsir that I will
+give back Thor's hammer. I will give it back upon one condition--that
+they send Freia the beautiful to be my wife."
+
+"Freia the beautiful!" Loki had to stifle a laugh. Fancy the Æsir giving
+their fairest flower to such an ugly fellow as this! But he only said
+politely, "Ah, yes; you demand our Freia in exchange for the little
+hammer? It is a costly price, great Thrym. But I will be your friend in
+Asgard. If I have my way, you shall soon see the fairest bride in all
+the world knocking at your door. Farewell!"
+
+So Loki whizzed back to Asgard on his falcon wings; and as he went he
+chuckled to think of the evils which were likely to happen because of
+his words with Thrym. First he gave the message to Thor--not sparing of
+Thrym's insolence, to make Thor angry; and then he went to Freia with
+the word for her--not sparing of Thrym's ugliness, to make her shudder.
+The spiteful fellow!
+
+Now you can imagine the horror that was in Asgard as the Æsir listened
+to Loki's words. "My hammer!" roared Thor. "The villain confesses that
+he has stolen my hammer, and boasts that he is Thunder Lord! Gr-r-r!"
+
+"The ugly giant!" wailed Freia. "Must I be the bride of that hideous old
+monster, and live in his gloomy mountain prison all my life?"
+
+"Yes; put on your bridal veil, sweet Freia," said Loki maliciously, "and
+come with me to Jotunheim. Hang your famous starry necklace about your
+neck, and don your bravest robe; for in eight days there will be a
+wedding, and Thor's hammer is to pay."
+
+Then Freia fell to weeping. "I cannot go! I will not go!" she cried. "I
+will not leave the home of gladness and Father Odin's table to dwell in
+the land of horrors! Thor's hammer is mighty, but mightier the love of
+the kind Æsir for their little Freia! Good Odin, dear brother Frey,
+speak for me! You will not make me go?"
+
+The Asir looked at her and thought how lonely and bare would Asgard be
+without her loveliness; for she was fairer than fair, and sweeter than
+sweet.
+
+"She shall not go!" shouted Frey, putting his arms about his sister's
+neck.
+
+"No, she shall not go!" cried all the Asir with one voice.
+
+"But my hammer," insisted Thor. "I must have Miölnir back again."
+
+"And my word to Thrym," said Loki, "that must be made good."
+
+"You are too generous with your words," said Odin sternly, for he knew
+his brother well. "Your word is not a gem of great price, for you have
+made it cheap."
+
+Then spoke Heimdal, the sleepless watchman who sits on guard at the
+entrance to the rainbow bridge which leads to Asgard; and Heimdal was
+the wisest of the Æsir, for he could see into the future, and knew how
+things would come to pass. Through his golden teeth he spoke, for his
+teeth were all of gold.
+
+"I have a plan," he said. "Let us dress Thor himself like a bride in
+Freia's robes, and send him to Jotunheim to talk with Thrym and to win
+back his hammer."
+
+But at this word Thor grew very angry. "What! dress me like a girl!" he
+roared. "I should never hear the last of it! The Asir will mock me, and
+call me 'maiden'! The giants, and even the puny dwarfs, will have a
+lasting jest upon me! I will not go! I will fight! I will die, if need
+be! But dressed as a woman I will not go!"
+
+But Loki answered him with sharp words, for this was a scheme after his
+own heart. "What, Thor!" he said. "Would you lose your hammer and keep
+Asgard in danger for so small a whim. Look, now: if you go not, Thrym
+with his giants will come in a mighty army and drive us from Asgard;
+then he will indeed make Freia his bride, and, moreover, he will have
+you for his slave under the power of his hammer. How like you this
+picture, brother of the thunder? Nay, Heimdal's plan is a good one, and
+I myself will help to carry it out."
+
+Still Thor hesitated; but Freia came and laid her white hand on his arm,
+and looked up into his scowling face pleadingly.
+
+"To save me, Thor," she begged. And Thor said he would go.
+
+Then there was great sport among the Æsir, while they dressed Thor like
+a beautiful maiden. Brunhilde and her sisters, the nine Valkyrie,
+daughters of Odin, had the task in hand. How they laughed as they
+brushed and curled his yellow hair, and set upon it the wondrous
+headdress of silk and pearls! They let out seams, and they let down
+hems, and set on extra pieces, to make it larger, and so they hid his
+great limbs and knotted arms under Freia's fairest robe of scarlet; but
+beneath it all he would wear his shirt of mail and his belt of power
+that gave him double strength. Freia herself twisted about his neck her
+famous necklace of starry jewels, and Queen Frigg, his mother, hung at
+his girdle a jingling bunch of keys, such as was the custom for the
+bride to wear at Norse weddings. Last of all, that Thrym might not see
+Thor's fierce eyes and the yellow beard, that ill became a maiden, they
+threw over him a long veil of silver white which covered him to the
+feet. And there he stood, as stately and tall a bride as even a giant
+might wish to see; but on his hands he wore his iron gloves, and they
+ached for but one thing--to grasp the handle of the stolen hammer.
+
+"Ah, what a lovely maid it is!" chuckled Loki; "and how glad will Thrym
+be to see this Freia come! Bride Thor, I will go with you as your
+handmaiden, for I would fain see the fun."
+
+"Come, then," said Thor sulkily, for he was ill pleased, and wore his
+maiden robes with no good grace. "It is fitting that you go; for I like
+not these lies and masking and I may spoil the mummery without you at my
+elbow."
+
+There was loud laughter above the clouds when Thor, all veiled and
+dainty seeming, drove away from Asgard to his wedding, with maid Loki by
+his side. Thor cracked his whip and chirruped fiercely to his twin goats
+with golden hoofs, for he wanted to escape the sounds of mirth that
+echoed from the rainbow bridge, where all the Æsir stood watching. Loki,
+sitting with his hands meekly folded like a girl, chuckled as he glanced
+up at Thor's angry face; but he said nothing, for he knew it was not
+good to joke too far with Thor, even when Milönir was hidden twelve
+leagues below the sea in Ran's kingdom.
+
+So off they dashed to Jotunheim, where Thrym was waiting and longing for
+his beautiful bride. Thor's goats thundered along above the sea and land
+and people far below, who looked up wondering as the noise rolled
+overhead. "Hear how the thunder rumbles!" they said. "Thor is on a long
+journey to-night." And a long journey it was, as the tired goats found
+before they reached the end.
+
+Thrym heard the sound of their approach, for his ear was eager. "Hola!"
+he cried. "Someone is coming from Asgard--only one of Odin's children
+could make a din so fearful. Hasten, men, and see if they are bringing
+Freia to be my wife."
+
+Then the lookout giant stepped down from the top of his mountain, and
+said that a chariot was bringing two maidens to the door.
+
+"Run, giants, run!" shouted Thrym, in a fever at this news. "My bride is
+coming! Put silken cushions on the benches for a great banquet, and make
+the house beautiful for the fairest maid in all space! Bring in all my
+golden-horned cows and my coal-black oxen, that she may see how rich I
+am, and heap all my gold and jewels about to dazzle her sweet eyes! She
+shall find me richest of the rich; and when I have her--fairest of the
+fair--there will be no treasure that I lack--not one!"
+
+The chariot stopped at the gate, and out stepped the tall bride, hidden
+from head to foot, and her handmaiden muffled to the chin. "How afraid
+of catching cold they must be!" whispered the giant ladies, who were
+peering over one another's shoulders to catch a glimpse of the bride,
+just as the crowd outside the awning does at a wedding nowadays.
+
+Thrym had sent six splendid servants to escort the maidens: these were
+the Metal Kings, who served him as lord of them all. There was the Gold
+King, all in cloth of gold, with fringes of yellow bullion, most
+glittering to see; and there was the Silver King, almost as gorgeous in
+a suit of spangled white; and side by side bowed the dark Kings of Iron
+and Lead, the one mighty in black, the other sullen in blue; and after
+them were the Copper King, gleaming ruddy and brave, and the Tin King,
+strutting in his trimmings of gaudy tinsel which looked nearly as well
+as silver, but were more economical. And this fine troop of lackey kings
+most politely led Thor and Loki into the palace, and gave them of the
+best, for they never suspected who these seeming maidens really were.
+
+And when evening came there was a wonderful banquet to celebrate the
+wedding. On a golden throne sat Thrym, uglier than ever in his finery of
+purple and gold. Beside him was the bride, of whose face no one had yet
+caught even a glimpse; and at Thrym's other hand stood Loki, the waiting
+maid, for he wanted to be near to mend the mistakes which Thor might
+make.
+
+Now the dishes at the feast were served in a huge way, as befitted the
+table of giants: great beeves roasted whole, on platters as wide across
+as a ship's deck; plum puddings as fat as feather beds, with plums as
+big as footballs; and a wedding cake like a snow-capped hay mow. The
+giants ate enormously. But to Thor, because they thought him a dainty
+maiden, they served small bits of everything on a tiny gold dish. Now
+Thor's long journey had made him very hungry, and through his veil he
+whispered to Loki, "I shall starve, Loki! I cannot fare on these
+nibbles. I must eat a goodly meal as I do at home." And forthwith he
+helped himself to such morsels as might satisfy his hunger for a little
+time. You should have seen the giants stare at the meal which the dainty
+bride devoured!
+
+For first under the silver veil disappeared by pieces a whole roast ox.
+Then Thor made eight mouthfuls of eight pink salmon, a dish of which he
+was very fond. And next he looked about and reached for a platter of
+cakes and sweetmeats that was set aside at one end of the table for the
+lady guests, and the bride ate them all. You can fancy how the damsels
+drew down their mouths and looked at one another when they saw their
+dessert disappear; and they whispered about the table, "Alack! if our
+future mistress is to sup like this day by day, there will be poor cheer
+for the rest of us!" And to crown it all, Thor was thirsty, as well he
+might be; and one after another he raised to his lips and emptied three
+great barrels of mead, the foamy drink of the giants. Then indeed Thrym
+was amazed, for Thor's giant appetite had beaten that of the giants
+themselves.
+
+"Never before saw I a bride so hungry," he cried. "And never before one
+half so thirsty!"
+
+But Loki, the waiting maid, whispered to him softly, "The truth is,
+great Thrym, that my dear mistress was almost starved. For eight days
+Freia has eaten nothing at all, so eager was she for Jotunheim."
+
+Then Thrym was delighted, you may be sure. He forgave his hungry bride,
+and loved her with all his heart. He leaned forward to give her a kiss,
+raising a corner of her veil; but his hand dropped suddenly, and he
+started up in terror, for he had caught the angry flash of Thor's eye,
+which was glaring at him through the bridal veil. Thor was longing for
+his hammer.
+
+"Why has Freia so sharp a look?" Thrym cried. "It pierces like lightning
+and burns like fire."
+
+But again the sly waiting maid whispered timidly, "Oh, Thrym, be not
+amazed! The truth is, my poor mistress's eyes are red with wakefulness
+and bright with longing. For eight nights Freia has not known a wink of
+sleep, so eager was she for Jotunheim."
+
+Then again Thrym was doubly delighted, and he longed to call her his
+very own dear wife. "Bring in the wedding gift!" he cried. "Bring in
+Thor's hammer, Miölnir, and give it to Freia, as I promised; for when I
+have kept my word she will be mine--all mine!"
+
+Then Thor's big heart laughed under his woman's dress, and his fierce
+eyes swept eagerly down the hall to meet the servant who was bringing in
+the hammer on a velvet cushion. Thor's fingers could hardly wait to
+clutch the stubby handle which they knew so well; but he sat quite still
+on the throne beside ugly old Thrym, with his hands meekly folded and
+his head bowed like a bashful bride.
+
+The giant servant drew nearer, nearer, puffing and blowing, strong
+though he was, beneath the mighty weight. He was about to lay it at
+Thor's feet (for he thought it so heavy that no maiden could lift it or
+hold it in her lap), when suddenly Thor's heart swelled, and he gave a
+most unmaidenly shout of rage and triumph. With one swoop he grasped the
+hammer in his iron fingers; with the other arm he tore off the veil that
+hid his terrible face, and trampled it under foot; then he turned to the
+frightened king, who cowered beside him on the throne.
+
+"Thief!" he cried. "Freia sends you _this_ as a wedding gift!" And he
+whirled the hammer about his head, then hurled it once, twice, thrice,
+as it rebounded to his hand; and in the first stroke, as of lightning,
+Thrym rolled dead from his throne; in the second stroke perished the
+whole giant household--these ugly enemies of the Æsir; and in the third
+stroke the palace itself tumbled together and fell to the ground like a
+toppling playhouse of blocks.
+
+But Loki and Thor stood safely among the ruins, dressed in their
+tattered maiden robes, a quaint and curious sight; and Loki, full of
+mischief now as ever, burst out laughing.
+
+"Oh, Thor! if you could see--" he began; but Thor held up his hammer and
+shook it gently as he said:
+
+"Look now, Loki: it was an excellent joke, and so far you have done
+well--after your crafty fashion, which likes me not. But now I have my
+hammer again, and the joke is done. From you, nor from another, I brook
+no laughter at my expense. Henceforth we will have no mention of this
+masquerade, nor of these rags which now I throw away. Do you hear, red
+laughter?"
+
+And Loki heard, with a look of hate, and stifled his laughter as best he
+could; for it is not good to laugh at him who holds the hammer.
+
+Not once after that was there mention in Asgard of the time when Thor
+dressed him as a girl and won his bridal gift from Thrym the giant.
+
+But Miölnir was safe once more in Asgard, and you and I know how it came
+there; so someone must have told. I wonder if red Loki whispered the
+tale to some outsider, after all? Perhaps it may be so, for now he knew
+how best to make Thor angry; and from that day when Thor forbade his
+laughing, Loki hated him with the mean little hatred of a mean little
+soul.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE APPLES OF IDUN
+
+
+Once upon a time Odin, Loki, and HÅ“ner started on a journey. They had
+often travelled together before on all sorts of errands, for they had a
+great many things to look after, and more than once they had fallen into
+trouble through the prying, meddlesome, malicious spirit of Loke, who
+was never so happy as when he was doing wrong. When the gods went on a
+journey they travelled fast and hard, for they were strong, active
+spirits who loved nothing so much as hard work, hard blows, storm,
+peril, and struggle. There were no roads through the country over which
+they made their way, only high mountains to be climbed by rocky paths,
+deep valleys into which the sun hardly looked during half the year, and
+swift-rushing streams, cold as ice, and treacherous to the surest foot
+and the strongest arm. Not a bird flew through the air, not an animal
+sprang through the trees. It was as still as a desert. The gods walked
+on and on, getting more tired and hungry at every step. The sun was
+sinking low over the steep, pine-crested mountains, and the travellers
+had neither breakfasted nor dined. Even Odin was beginning to feel the
+pangs of hunger, like the most ordinary mortal, when suddenly, entering
+a little valley, the famished gods came upon a herd of cattle. It was
+the work of a minute to kill a great ox and to have the carcass
+swinging in a huge pot over a roaring fire.
+
+But never were gods so unlucky before! In spite of their hunger, the pot
+would not boil. They piled on the wood until the great flames crackled
+and licked the pot with their fiery tongues, but every time the cover
+was lifted there was the meat just as raw as when it was put in. It is
+easy to imagine that the travellers were not in very good humour. As
+they were talking about it, and wondering how it could be, a voice
+called out from the branches of the oak overhead, "If you will give me
+my fill, I'll make the pot boil."
+
+The gods looked first at each other and then into the tree, and there
+they discovered a great eagle. They were glad enough to get their supper
+on almost any terms, so they told the eagle he might have what he wanted
+if he would only get the meat cooked. The bird was as good as his word,
+and in less time than it takes to tell it supper was ready. Then the
+eagle flew down and picked out both shoulders and both legs. This was a
+pretty large share, it must be confessed, and Loki, who was always angry
+when anybody got more than he, no sooner saw what the eagle had taken,
+than he seized a great pole and began to beat the rapacious bird
+unmercifully. Whereupon a very singular thing happened, as singular
+things always used to happen when the gods were concerned: the pole
+stuck fast in the huge talons of the eagle at one end, and Loki stuck
+fast at the other end. Struggle as he might, he could not get loose, and
+as the great bird sailed away over the tops of the trees, Loki went
+pounding along on the ground, striking against rocks and branches until
+he was bruised half to death.
+
+The eagle was not an ordinary bird by any means, as Loki soon found
+when he begged for mercy. The giant Thjasse happened to be flying abroad
+in his eagle plumage when the hungry travellers came under the oak and
+tried to cook the ox. It was into his hands that Loki had fallen, and he
+was not to get away until he had promised to pay roundly for his
+freedom.
+
+If there was one thing which the gods prized above their other treasures
+in Asgard, it was the beautiful fruit of Idun, kept by the goddess in a
+golden casket and given to the gods to keep them forever young and fair.
+Without these Apples all their power could not have kept them from
+getting old like the meanest of mortals. Without these Apples of Idun,
+Asgard itself would have lost its charm; for what would heaven be
+without youth and beauty forever shining through it?
+
+Thjasse told Loki that he could not go unless he would promise to bring
+him the Apples of Idun. Loki was wicked enough for anything; but when it
+came to robbing the gods of their immortality, even he hesitated. And
+while he hesitated the eagle dashed hither and thither, flinging him
+against the sides of the mountains and dragging him through the great
+tough boughs of the oaks until his courage gave out entirely, and he
+promised to steal the Apples out of Asgard and give them to the giant.
+
+Loki was bruised and sore enough when he got on his feet again to hate
+the giant who handled him so roughly, with all his heart, but he was not
+unwilling to keep his promise to steal the Apples, if only for the sake
+of tormenting the other gods. But how was it to be done? Idun guarded
+the golden fruit of immortality with sleepless watchfulness. No one ever
+touched it but herself, and a beautiful sight it was to see her fair
+hands spread it forth for the morning feasts in Asgard. The power which
+Loki possessed lay not so much in his own strength, although he had a
+smooth way of deceiving people, as in the goodness of others who had no
+thought of his doing wrong because they never did wrong themselves.
+
+Not long after all this happened, Loki came carelessly up to Idun as she
+was gathering her Apples to put them away in the beautiful carven box
+which held them.
+
+"Good-morning, goddess," said he. "How fair and golden your Apples are!"
+
+"Yes," answered Idun; "the bloom of youth keeps them always beautiful."
+
+"I never saw anything like them," continued Loki slowly, as if he were
+talking about a matter of no importance, "until the other day."
+
+Idun looked up at once with the greatest interest and curiosity in her
+face. She was very proud of her Apples, and she knew no earthly trees,
+however large and fair, bore the immortal fruit.
+
+"Where have you seen any Apples like them?" she asked.
+
+"Oh, just outside the gates," said Loki indifferently. "If you care to
+see them I'll take you there. It will keep you but a moment. The tree is
+only a little way off."
+
+Idun was anxious to go at once.
+
+"Better take your Apples with you, to compare them with the others,"
+said the wily god, as she prepared to go.
+
+Idun gathered up the golden Apples and went out of Asgard, carrying with
+her all that made it heaven. No sooner was she beyond the gates than a
+mighty rushing sound was heard, like the coming of a tempest, and before
+she could think or act, the giant Thjasse, in his eagle plumage, was
+bearing her swiftly away through the air to his desolate, icy home in
+Thrymheim, where, after vainly trying to persuade her to let him eat the
+Apples and be forever young like the gods, he kept her a lonely
+prisoner.
+
+Loki, after keeping his promise and delivering Idun into the hands of
+the giant, strayed back into Asgard as if nothing had happened. The next
+morning, when the gods assembled for their feast, there was no Idun. Day
+after day went past, and still the beautiful goddess did not come.
+Little by little the light of youth and beauty faded from the home of
+the gods, and they themselves became old and haggard. Their strong,
+young faces were lined with care and furrowed by age, their raven locks
+passed from gray to white, and their flashing eyes became dim and
+hollow. Brage, the god of poetry, could make no music while his
+beautiful wife was gone he knew not whither.
+
+Morning after morning the faded light broke on paler and ever paler
+faces, until even in heaven the eternal light of youth seemed to be
+going out forever.
+
+Finally the gods could bear the loss of power and joy no longer. They
+made rigorous inquiry. They tracked Loki on that fair morning when he
+led Idun beyond the gates; they seized him and brought him into solemn
+council, and when he read in their haggard faces the deadly hate which
+flamed in all their hearts against his treachery, his courage failed,
+and he promised to bring Idun back to Asgard if the goddess Freyja would
+lend him her falcon guise. No sooner said than done; and with eager gaze
+the gods watched him as he flew away, becoming at last only a dark
+moving speck against the sky.
+
+After long and weary flight Loki came to Thrymheim, and was glad enough
+to find Thjasse gone to sea and Idun alone in his dreary house. He
+changed her instantly into a nut, and taking her thus disguised in his
+talons, flew away as fast as his falcon wings could carry him. And he
+had need of all his speed, for Thjasse, coming suddenly home and finding
+Idun and her precious fruit gone, guessed what had happened, and,
+putting on his eagle plumage, flew forth in a mighty rage, with
+vengeance in his heart. Like the rushing wings of a tempest, his mighty
+pinions beat the air and bore him swiftly onward. From mountain peak to
+mountain peak he measured his wide course, almost grazing at times the
+murmuring pine forests, and then sweeping high in mid-air with nothing
+above but the arching sky, and nothing beneath but the tossing sea.
+
+At last he sees the falcon far ahead, and now his flight becomes like
+the flash of the lightning for swiftness, and like the rushing of clouds
+for uproar. The haggard faces of the gods line the walls of Asgard and
+watch the race with tremulous eagerness. Youth and immortality are
+staked upon the winning of Loki. He is weary enough and frightened
+enough, too, as the eagle sweeps on close behind him; but he makes
+desperate efforts to widen the distance between them. Little by little
+the eagle gains on the falcon. The gods grow white with fear; they rush
+off and prepare great fires upon the walls. With fainting, drooping wing
+the falcon passes over and drops exhausted by the wall. In an instant
+the fires have been lighted, and the great flames roar to heaven. The
+eagle sweeps across the fiery line a second later, and falls, maimed and
+burned, to the ground, where a dozen fierce hands smite the life out of
+him, and the great giant Thjasse perishes among his foes.
+
+Idun resumes her natural form as Brage rushes to meet her. The gods
+crowd round her. She spreads the feast, the golden Apples gleaming with
+unspeakable lustre in the eyes of the gods. They eat; and once more
+their faces glow with the beauty of immortal youth, their eyes flash
+with the radiance of divine power, and, while Idun stands like a star
+for beauty among the throng, the song of Brage is heard once more; for
+poetry and immortality are wedded again.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE DEATH OF BALDER
+
+
+There was one shadow which always fell over Asgard. Sometimes in the
+long years the gods almost forgot it, it lay so far off, like a dim
+cloud in a clear sky; but Odin saw it deepen and widen as he looked out
+into the universe, and he knew that the last great battle would surely
+come, when the gods themselves would be destroyed and a long twilight
+would rest on all the worlds; and now the day was close at hand.
+Misfortunes never come singly to men, and they did not to the gods.
+Idun, the beautiful goddess of youth, whose apples were the joy of all
+Asgard, made a resting place for herself among the massive branches of
+Yggdrasil, and there every evening came Brage, and sang so sweetly that
+the birds stopped to listen, and even the Norns, those implacable
+sisters at the foot of the tree, were softened by the melody. But poetry
+cannot change the purposes of fate, and one evening no song was heard of
+Brage or birds, the leaves of the world tree hung withered and lifeless
+on the branches, and the fountain from which they had daily been
+sprinkled was dry at last. Idun had fallen into the dark valley of
+death, and when Brage, Heimdal, and Loki went to question her about the
+future she could answer them only with tears. Brage would not leave his
+beautiful wife alone amid the dim shades that crowded the dreary
+valley, and so youth and genius vanished out of Asgard forever.
+
+Balder was the most godlike of all the gods, because he was the purest
+and the best. Wherever he went his coming was like the coming of
+sunshine, and all the beauty of summer was but the shining of his face.
+When men's hearts were white like the light, and their lives clear as
+the day, it was because Balder was looking down upon them with those
+soft, clear eyes that were open windows to the soul of God. He had
+always lived in such a glow of brightness that no darkness had ever
+touched him; but one morning, after Idun and Brage had gone, Balder's
+face was sad and troubled. He walked slowly from room to room in his
+palace Breidablik, stainless as the sky when April showers have swept
+across it because no impure thing had ever crossed the threshold, and
+his eyes were heavy with sorrow. In the night terrible dreams had broken
+his sleep, and made it a long torture. The air seemed to be full of
+awful changes for him and for all the gods. He knew in his soul that the
+shadow of the last great day was sweeping on; as he looked out and saw
+the worlds lying in light and beauty, the fields yellow with waving
+grain, the deep fiords flashing back the sunbeams from their clear
+depths, the verdure clothing the loftiest mountains, and knew that over
+all this darkness and desolation would come, with silence of reapers and
+birds, with fading of leaf and flower, a great sorrow fell on his heart.
+
+Balder could bear the burden no longer. He went out, called all the gods
+together, and told them the terrible dreams of the night. Every face was
+heavy with care. The death of Balder would be like the going out of the
+sun, and after a long, sad council the gods resolved to protect him
+from harm by pledging all things to stand between him and any hurt. So
+Frigg, his mother, went forth and made everything promise, on a solemn
+oath, not to injure her son. Fire, iron, all kinds of metal, every sort
+of stone, trees, earth, diseases, birds, beasts, snakes, as the anxious
+mother went to them, solemnly pledged themselves that no harm should
+come near Balder. Everything promised, and Frigg thought she had driven
+away the cloud; but fate was stronger than her love, and one little
+shrub had not sworn.
+
+Odin was not satisfied even with these precautions, for whichever way he
+looked the shadow of a great sorrow spread over the worlds. He began to
+feel as if he were no longer the greatest of the gods, and he could
+almost hear the rough shouts of the frost giants crowding the rainbow
+bridge on their way into Asgard. When trouble comes to men it is hard to
+bear, but to a god who had so many worlds to guide and rule it was a new
+and terrible thing. Odin thought and thought until he was weary, but no
+gleam of light could he find anywhere; it was thick darkness everywhere.
+
+At last he could bear the suspense no longer, and saddling his horse he
+rode sadly out of Asgard to Niflheim, the home of Hel, whose face was as
+the face of death itself. As he drew near the gates, a monstrous dog
+came out and barked furiously, but Odin rode a little eastward of the
+shadowy gates to the grave of a wonderful prophetess. It was a cold,
+gloomy place, and the soul of the great god was pierced with a feeling
+of hopeless sorrow as he dismounted from Sleipner, and bending over the
+grave began to chant weird songs, and weave magical charms over it. When
+he had spoken those wonderful words which could waken the dead from
+their sleep, there was an awful silence for a moment, and then a faint
+ghost-like voice came from the grave.
+
+"Who art thou?" it said. "Who breaketh the silence of death, and calleth
+the sleeper out of her long slumbers? Ages ago I was laid at rest here,
+snow and rain have fallen upon me through myriad years; why dost thou
+disturb me?"
+
+"I am Vegtam," answered Odin, "and I come to ask why the couches of Hel
+are hung with gold and the benches strewn with shining rings?"
+
+"It is done for Balder," answered the awful voice; "ask me no more."
+
+Odin's heart sank when he heard these words; but he was determined to
+know the worst.
+
+"I will ask thee until I know all. Who shall strike the fatal blow?"
+
+"If I must, I must," moaned the prophetess. "Hoder shall smite his
+brother Balder and send him down to the dark home of Hel. The mead is
+already brewed for Balder, and the despair draweth near."
+
+Then Odin, looking into the future across the open grave, saw all the
+days to come.
+
+"Who is this," he said, seeing that which no mortal could have seen;
+"who is this that will not weep for Balder?"
+
+Then the prophetess knew that it was none other than the greatest of the
+gods who had called her up.
+
+"Thou art not Vegtam," she exclaimed, "thou art Odin himself, the king
+of men."
+
+"And thou," answered Odin angrily, "art no prophetess, but the mother of
+three giants."
+
+"Ride home, then, and exult in what thou hast discovered," said the dead
+woman. "Never shall my slumbers be broken again until Loki shall burst
+his chains and the great battle come."
+
+And Odin rode sadly homeward knowing that already Niflheim was making
+itself beautiful against the coming of Balder.
+
+The other gods meanwhile had become merry again; for had not everything
+promised to protect their beloved Balder? They even made sport of that
+which troubled them, for when they found that nothing could hurt Balder,
+and that all things glanced aside from his shining form, they persuaded
+him to stand as a target for their weapons; hurling darts, spears,
+swords, and battle-axes at him, all of which went singing through the
+air and fell harmless at his feet. But Loki, when he saw these sports,
+was jealous of Balder, and went about thinking how he could destroy him.
+
+It happened that as Frigg sat spinning in her house Fensal, the soft
+wind blowing in at the windows and bringing the merry shouts of the gods
+at play, an old woman entered and approached her.
+
+"Do you know," asked the newcomer, "what they are doing in Asgard? They
+are throwing all manner of dangerous weapons at Balder. He stands there
+like the sun for brightness, and against his glory, spears and
+battle-axes fall powerless to the ground. Nothing can harm him."
+
+"No," answered Frigg joyfully; "nothing can bring him any hurt, for I
+have made everything in heaven and earth swear to protect him."
+
+"What!" said the old woman, "has everything sworn to guard Balder?"
+
+"Yes," said Frigg, "everything has sworn except one little shrub which
+is called Mistletoe, and grows on the eastern side of Valhal. I did not
+take an oath from that because I thought it too young and weak."
+
+When the old woman heard this a strange light came into her eyes; she
+walked off much faster than she had come in, and no sooner had she
+passed beyond Frigg's sight than this same feeble old woman grew
+suddenly erect, shook off her woman's garments, and there stood Loki
+himself. In a moment he had reached the slope east of Valhal, had
+plucked a twig of the unsworn Mistletoe, and was back in the circle of
+the gods, who were still at their favourite pastime with Balder. Hoder
+was standing silent and alone outside the noisy throng, for he was
+blind. Loki touched him.
+
+"Why do you not throw something at Balder?"
+
+"Because I cannot see where Balder stands, and have nothing to throw if
+I could," replied Hoder.
+
+"If that is all," said Loki, "come with me. I will give you something to
+throw, and direct your aim."
+
+Hoder, thinking no evil, went with Loki and did as he was told.
+
+The little sprig of Mistletoe shot through the air, pierced the heart of
+Balder, and in a moment the beautiful god lay dead upon the field. A
+shadow rose out of the deep beyond the worlds and spread itself over
+heaven and earth, for the light of the universe had gone out.
+
+The gods could not speak for horror. They stood like statues for a
+moment, and then a hopeless wail burst from their lips. Tears fell like
+rain from eyes that had never wept before, for Balder, the joy of
+Asgard, had gone to Niflheim and left them desolate. But Odin was
+saddest of all, because he knew the future, and he knew that peace and
+light had fled from Asgard forever, and that the last day and the long
+night were hurrying on.
+
+Frigg could not give up her beautiful son, and when her grief had spent
+itself a little, she asked who would go to Hel and offer her a rich
+ransom if she would permit Balder to return to Asgard.
+
+"I will go," said Hermod; swift at the word of Odin Sleipner was led
+forth, and in an instant Hermod was galloping furiously away.
+
+Then the gods began with sorrowful hearts to make ready for Balder's
+funeral. When the once beautiful form had been arrayed in grave clothes
+they carried it reverently down to the deep sea, which lay, calm as a
+summer afternoon, waiting for its precious burden. Close to the water's
+edge lay Balder's Ringhorn, the greatest of all the ships that sailed
+the seas, but when the gods tried to launch it they could not move it an
+inch. The great vessel creaked and groaned, but no one could push it
+down to the water. Odin walked about it with a sad face, and the gentle
+ripple of the little waves chasing each other over the rocks seemed a
+mocking laugh to him.
+
+"Send to Jotunheim for Hyrroken," he said at last; and a messenger was
+soon flying for that mighty giantess.
+
+In a little time, Hyrroken came riding swiftly on a wolf so large and
+fierce that he made the gods think of Fenrer. When the giantess had
+alighted, Odin ordered four Berserkers of mighty strength to hold the
+wolf, but he struggled so angrily that they had to throw him on the
+ground before they could control him. Then Hyrroken went to the prow of
+the ship and with one mighty effort sent it far into the sea, the
+rollers underneath bursting into flame, and the whole earth trembling
+with the shock. Thor was so angry at the uproar that he would have
+killed the giantess on the spot if he had not been held back by the
+other gods. The great ship floated on the sea as she had often done
+before, when Balder, full of life and beauty, set all her sails and was
+borne joyfully across the tossing seas. Slowly and solemnly the dead god
+was carried on board, and as Nanna, his faithful wife, saw her husband
+borne for the last time from the earth which he had made dear to her and
+beautiful to all men, her heart broke with sorrow, and they laid her
+beside Balder on the funeral pyre.
+
+Since the world began no one had seen such a funeral. No bells tolled,
+no long procession of mourners moved across the hills, but all the
+worlds lay under a deep shadow, and from every quarter came those who
+had loved or feared Balder. There at the very water's edge stood Odin
+himself, the ravens flying about his head, and on his majestic face a
+gloom that no sun would ever lighten again; and there was Frigg, the
+desolate mother whose son had already gone so far that he would never
+come back to her; there was Frey standing sad and stern in his chariot;
+there was Freyja, the goddess of love, from whose eyes fell a shining
+rain of tears; there, too, was Heimdal on his horse Goldtop; and around
+all these glorious ones from Asgard crowded the children of Jotunheim,
+grim mountain giants seamed with scars from Thor's hammer, and frost
+giants who saw in the death of Balder the coming of that long winter in
+which they should reign through all the worlds.
+
+A deep hush fell on all created things, and every eye was fixed on the
+great ship riding near the shore, and on the funeral pyre rising from
+the deck crowned with the forms of Balder and Nanna. Suddenly a gleam of
+light flashed over the water; the pile had been kindled, and the flames,
+creeping slowly at first, climbed faster and faster until they met over
+the dead and rose skyward.
+
+A lurid light filled the heavens and shone on the sea, and in the
+brightness of it the gods looked pale and sad, and the circle of giants
+grew darker and more portentous. Thor struck the fast burning pyre with
+his consecrating hammer, and Odin cast into it the wonderful ring
+Draupner. Higher and higher leaped the flames, more and more desolate
+grew the scene; at last they began to sink, the funeral pyre was
+consumed. Balder had vanished forever, the summer was ended, and winter
+waited at the doors.
+
+Meanwhile Hermod was riding hard and fast on his gloomy errand. Nine
+days and nights he rode through valleys so deep and dark that he could
+not see his horse. Stillness and blackness and solitude were his only
+companions until he came to the golden bridge which crosses the river
+Gjol. The good horse Sleipner, who had carried Odin on so many strange
+journeys, had never travelled such a road before, and his hoofs rang
+drearily as he stopped short at the bridge, for in front of him stood
+its porter, the gigantic Modgud.
+
+"Who are you?" she asked, fixing her piercing eyes on Hermod. "What is
+your name and parentage? Yesterday five bands of dead men rode across
+the bridge, and beneath them all it did not shake as under your single
+tread. There is no colour of death in your face. Why ride you hither,
+the living among the dead?"
+
+"I come," said Hermod, "to seek for Balder. Have you seen him pass this
+way?"
+
+"He has already crossed the bridge and taken his journey northward to
+Hel."
+
+Then Hermod rode slowly across the bridge that spans the abyss between
+life and death, and found his way at last to the barred gates of Hel's
+dreadful home. There he sprang to the ground, tightened the girths,
+remounted, drove the spurs deep into the horse, and Sleipner, with a
+mighty leap, cleared the wall. Hermod rode straight to the gloomy
+palace, dismounted, entered, and in a moment was face to face with the
+terrible queen of the kingdom of the dead. Beside her, on a beautiful
+throne, sat Balder, pale and wan, crowned with a withered wreath of
+flowers, and close at hand was Nanna, pallid as her husband, for whom
+she had died. And all night long, while ghostly forms wandered restless
+and sleepless through Helheim, Hermod talked with Balder and Nanna.
+There is no record of what they said, but the talk was sad enough,
+doubtless, and ran like a still stream among the happy days in Asgard
+when Balder's smile was morning over the earth and the sight of his face
+the summer of the world.
+
+When the morning came, faint and dim, through the dusky palace, Hermod
+sought Hel, who received him as cold and stern as fate.
+
+"Your kingdom is full, O Hel!" he said, "and without Balder, Asgard is
+empty. Send him back to us once more, for there is sadness in every
+heart and tears are in every eye. Through heaven and earth all things
+weep for him."
+
+"If that is true," was the slow, icy answer, "if every created thing
+weeps for Balder, he shall return to Asgard; but if one eye is dry he
+remains henceforth in Helheim."
+
+Then Hermod rode swiftly away, and the decree of Hel was soon told in
+Asgard. Through all the worlds the gods sent messengers to say that all
+who loved Balder should weep for his return, and everywhere tears fell
+like rain. There was weeping in Asgard, and in all the earth there was
+nothing that did not weep. Men and women and little children, missing
+the light that had once fallen into their hearts and homes, sobbed with
+bitter grief; the birds of the air, who had sung carols of joy at the
+gates of the morning since time began, were full of sorrow; the beasts
+of the fields crouched and moaned in their desolation; the great trees,
+that had put on their robes of green at Balder's command, sighed as the
+wind wailed through them; and the sweet flowers, that waited for
+Balder's footstep and sprang up in all the fields to greet him, hung
+their frail blossoms and wept bitterly for the love and the warmth and
+the light that had gone out. Throughout the whole earth there was
+nothing but weeping, and the sound of it was like the wailing of those
+storms in autumn that weep for the dead summer as its withered leaves
+drop one by one from the trees.
+
+The messengers of the gods went gladly back to Asgard, for everything
+had wept for Balder; but as they journeyed they came upon a giantess,
+called Thok, and her eyes were dry.
+
+"Weep for Balder," they said.
+
+"With dry eyes only will I weep for Balder," she answered. "Dead or
+alive, he never gave me gladness. Let him stay in Helheim."
+
+When she had spoken these words a terrible laugh broke from her lips,
+and the messengers looked at each other with pallid faces, for they knew
+it was the voice of Loki.
+
+Balder never came back to Asgard, and the shadows deepened over all
+things, for the night of death was fast coming on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE STAR AND THE LILY
+
+
+An old chieftain sat in his wigwam, quietly smoking his favourite pipe,
+when a crowd of Indian boys and girls suddenly entered, and, with
+numerous offerings of tobacco, begged him to tell them a story, and he
+did so.
+
+There was once a time when this world was filled with happy people; when
+all the nations were as one, and the crimson tide of war had not begun
+to roll. Plenty of game was in the forest and on the plains. None were
+in want, for a full supply was at hand. Sickness was unknown. The beasts
+of the field were tame; they came and went at the bidding of man. One
+unending spring gave no place for winter--for its cold blasts or its
+unhealthy chills. Every tree and bush yielded fruit. Flowers carpeted
+the earth. The air was laden with their fragrance, and redolent with the
+songs of wedded warblers that flew from branch to branch, fearing none,
+for there were none to harm them. There were birds then of more
+beautiful song and plumage than now. It was at such a time, when earth
+was a paradise and man worthily its possessor, that the Indians were
+lone inhabitants of the American wilderness. They numbered millions;
+and, living as nature designed them to live, enjoyed its many blessings.
+Instead of amusements in close rooms, the sport of the field was theirs.
+At night they met on the wide green beneath the heavenly worlds--the
+_ah-nung-o-kah_. They watched the stars; they loved to gaze at them,
+for they believed them to be the residences of the good, who had been
+taken home by the Great Spirit.
+
+One night they saw one star that shone brighter than all others. Its
+location was far away in the south, near a mountain peak. For many
+nights it was seen, till at length it was doubted by many that the star
+was as far distant in the southern skies as it seemed to be. This doubt
+led to an examination, which proved the star to be only a short distance
+away, and near the tops of some trees. A number of warriors were deputed
+to go and see what it was. They went, and on their return said it
+appeared strange, and somewhat like a bird. A committee of the wise men
+were called to inquire into, and if possible to ascertain the meaning
+of, the strange phenomenon. They feared that it might be the omen of
+some disaster. Some thought it a precursor of good, others of evil; and
+some supposed it to be the star spoken of by their forefathers as the
+forerunner of a dreadful war.
+
+One moon had nearly gone by, and yet the mystery remained unsolved. One
+night a young warrior had a dream, in which a beautiful maiden came and
+stood at his side, and thus addressed him: "Young brave! charmed with
+the land of my forefathers, its flowers, its birds, its rivers, its
+beautiful lakes, and its mountains clothed with green, I have left my
+sisters in yonder world to dwell among you. Young brave! ask your wise
+and your great men where I can live and see the happy race continually;
+ask them what form I shall assume in order to be loved."
+
+Thus discoursed the bright stranger. The young man awoke. On stepping
+out of his lodge he saw the star yet blazing in its accustomed place. At
+early dawn the chief's crier was sent round the camp to call every
+warrior to the council lodge. When they had met, the young warrior
+related his dream. They concluded that the star that had been seen in
+the south had fallen in love with mankind, and that it was desirous to
+dwell with them.
+
+The next night five tall, noble-looking, adventurous braves were sent to
+welcome the stranger to earth. They went and presented to it a pipe of
+peace, filled with sweet-scented herbs, and were rejoiced that it took
+it from them. As they returned to the village, the star, with expanded
+wings, followed, and hovered over their homes till the dawn of day.
+Again it came to the young man in a dream, and desired to know where it
+should live and what form it should take. Places were named--on the top
+of giant trees, or in flowers. At length it was told to choose a place
+itself, and it did so. At first it dwelt in the white rose of the
+mountains; but there it was so buried that it could not be seen. It went
+to the prairie; but it feared the hoof of the buffalo. It next sought
+the rocky cliff; but there it was so high that the children, whom it
+loved most, could not see it.
+
+"I know where I shall live," said the bright fugitive--"where I can see
+the gliding canoe of the race I most admire. Children!--yes, they shall
+be my playmates, and I will kiss their slumber by the side of cool
+lakes. The nation shall love me wherever I am."
+
+These words having been said, she alighted on the waters, where she saw
+herself reflected. The next morning thousands of white flowers were seen
+on the surface of the lakes, and the Indians gave them this name,
+_wah-be-gwan-nee_ (white flower).
+
+This star lived in the southern skies. Her brethren can be seen far off
+in the cold north, hunting the Great Bear, whilst her sisters watch her
+in the east and west.
+
+Children! when you see the lily on the waters, take it in your hands and
+hold it to the skies, that it may be happy on earth, as its two sisters,
+the morning and evening stars, are happy in heaven.
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS THAT EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW ***
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+<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Myths That Every Child Should Know</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
+at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
+are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
+country where you are located before using this eBook.
+</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Myths That Every Child Should Know<br />
+  A Selection Of The Classic Myths Of All Times For Young People</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Various</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Editor: Hamilton Wright Mabie</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Blanche Ostertag</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 17, 2005 [eBook #16537]<br />
+[Most recently updated: November 1, 2021]</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Juliet Sutherland, Verity White and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team</div>
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS THAT EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW ***</div>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<img src="images/front.jpg" width="344" height="600" alt="[Illustration]" />
+<p class="caption">MEDEIA AND JASON WITH THE GOLDEN FLEECE</p>
+</div>
+
+<h1>MYTHS THAT EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW</h1>
+
+<h3>A SELECTION OF THE CLASSIC MYTHS OF ALL TIMES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE</h3>
+
+<h4>EDITED BY</h4>
+
+<h2 class="no-break">HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE</h2>
+
+<h4>ILLUSTRATED AND DECORATED</h4>
+
+<h3>BY BLANCHE OSTERTAG</h3>
+
+<h4>NEW YORK</h4>
+<h4>Doubleday, Page &amp; Company</h4>
+<h4>1906</h4>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h4>NOTE</h4>
+
+<p>The editor and publishers wish to express their appreciation of the
+courtesy of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin &amp; Co., Dodd, Mead &amp; Co., and the
+Macmillan Company, by means of which they have been enabled to reprint
+stories from Hawthorne's "Wonder Book" and "Tanglewood Tales," from "In
+the Days of Giants," from "Norse Stories," from Church's "Stories from
+Homer," and from Kingsley's "Greek Heroes."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table summary="" style="">
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES</a> - (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS</a> - (Hawthorne's "Tanglewood Tales")</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. THE CHIMÆRA</a> - (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. THE GOLDEN TOUCH</a> - (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. THE GORGON'S HEAD</a> - (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. THE DRAGON'S TEETH</a> - (Hawthorne's "Tanglewood Tales")</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER</a> - (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN</a> - (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. THE CYCLOPS</a> - (Church's "Stories from Homer")</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. THE ARGONAUTS</a> - (Kingsley's "Greek Heroes")</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. THE GIANT BUILDER</a> - ("In Days of Giants")</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. HOW ODIN LOST HIS EYE</a> - ("In Days of Giants")</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. THE QUEST OF THE HAMMER</a> - ("In Days of Giants")</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. THE APPLES OF IDUN</a> - ("In Days of Giants")</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. THE DEATH OF BALDER</a> - ("Norse Stories")</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. THE STAR AND THE LILY </a> - (Miss Emerson's "Indian Myths")</td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2>
+
+<p>In many parts of the country when the soil is disturbed arrow heads are
+found. Now, it is a great many years since arrow heads have been used,
+and they were never used by the people who own the land in which they
+appear or by their ancestors. To explain the presence of these roughly
+cut pieces of stone we must recall the weapons with which the Indians
+fought when Englishmen, Frenchmen, Dutchmen, and Spaniards first came to
+this part of the world. There may be no authentic history of Indians in
+the particular locality in which these old-fashioned weapons come to
+light, but their presence in the ground is the best kind of evidence
+that Indians once lived on these fields or were in the habit of hunting
+over them. In many parts of the country these arrow heads are turned up
+in great numbers; museums large and small are plentifully supplied with
+them; and they form part of the record of the men who once lived here,
+and of their ways of killing game and destroying their enemies. Wherever
+there are arrow heads there have been Indians.</p>
+
+<p>Among every people and in every language there are found stories,
+superstitions, traditions, phrases, which are not to be explained by the
+thoughts or ideas or beliefs of people now living; and the same stories,
+superstitions, phrases, are found among people as far apart as those of
+Norway and Australia. The people of to-day tell these stories or
+remember the superstitions or use the phrases without understanding
+where they came from or what they meant when first used. As the ground
+in some sections is full of arrow heads that have been buried no one
+knows how many centuries, so the poetry we read, the music we hear, the
+stories told us when we are children, have come down from a time in the
+history of man so early that there are in many cases no other records or
+remains of it. These stories vary greatly in details; they fit every
+climate and wear the peculiar dress of every country; but it is easy to
+see that they are made up of the same materials, and that they describe
+the same persons or ideas or things whether they are told in Greece or
+India or Norway or Brittany. Wherever they are found they make it
+certain that they come from a very remote time and grew out of ideas or
+feelings and ways of looking at the world which a great many men shared
+in common in many places.</p>
+
+<p>When a man sneezes, people still say in some countries, "God bless you."
+They do not know why they say it; they simply repeat what they heard
+older people say when they were children, and do not know that every
+time they use these words they recall the age when people believed that
+evil spirits could enter into a man, and that when a man sneezed he
+expelled one of these spirits. It is a very old and widely spread
+superstition that when a dog howls at night someone not far away is
+dying or will soon die. Many people are uncomfortable when they hear a
+dog howling after dark, not because they believe that dogs have any
+knowledge that death is present or coming, but because their ancestors
+for many centuries believed that the howling of a dog was ominous, and
+the habits of our ancestors leave deep traces in our natures.</p>
+
+<p>Now, every time the melancholy howling of a dog at night makes a child
+uncomfortable, he recalls the old superstition which identified the
+roaring or wailing of the wind with a wolf or dog into which a god or
+demon had entered, with power to summon the spirits of men to follow him
+as he rushed along in the darkness. In the old homes in the forests,
+thousands of years ago, children crowded about the open fire and
+trembled when a great blast shook the house, for fear that the gigantic
+beast who made the sound would call them and they would be compelled to
+follow him. We think of wind as air in motion; they thought of it as the
+breath and sound of some living creature. When we say that the wind
+"whistled in the keyhole," or "kissed the flowers," or "drove the
+clouds" before it, we are using poetically the language our forefathers
+used literally.</p>
+
+<p>We speak of "the siren voice of pleasure," "the blow of fate," "the
+smile of fortune," and do not remember, often do not know, that we are
+recalling that remote past when people believed that there were Sirens
+on the coast of Crete whose voices were so sweet that sailors could not
+resist them and were drawn on to the rocks and drowned; that fate was a
+terrible, relentless, passionless person with supreme power over gods
+and men; that fortune was a being who smiled or frowned as men smile or
+frown, but whose smile meant prosperity and her frown disaster.</p>
+
+<p>There are few poems which have interested children more than Robert
+Browning's "Pied Piper of Hamelin." The story runs that long ago, in the
+year 1284, the old German town of Hamelin was so overrun with rats that
+there was no peace for the people living in it. When things were at
+their worst a strange man appeared in the place and offered, for a sum
+of money, to clear it of these pests. The bargain was made and the
+stranger began to pipe; and straightway, from every nook and corner in
+the old town, the rats came in swarms, followed him to the river Weser
+and jumped in and were drowned.</p>
+
+<p>When the people found that the city was really free from rats they were
+ungrateful enough to say that the piper had used magic, which was
+believed to be the practice of the evil spirit, and refused to carry out
+their part of the contract. The stranger went off in a great rage and
+threatened to come back again and take payment in his own way. On St.
+John's Day, which was a time of great festivity, he suddenly reappeared,
+blew a new and beguiling air on his pipe, and immediately every child in
+the city felt as if a hand had seized him and ran pell-mell after the
+musician as he climbed the mountain, in which a door suddenly opened,
+and through that door all, save a lame boy, passed and were never seen
+again.</p>
+
+<p>From this old story probably came the proverb about paying the piper;
+and it is one of many stories which turn on the magical power of a voice
+or a sound to draw men, women, and children to their doom. These very
+interesting stories are not like the stories which are made up just to
+please people and help them pass away the time; they are different forms
+of one story&mdash;the story of the wind, told by people who thought that the
+wind was not what we call a force but a person, and that when he called
+those who heard must follow if he chose; for "the piper is no other than
+the wind, and the ancients held that in the wind were the souls of the
+dead."</p>
+
+<p>If every time we think of a force we should think of a person, we should
+see the world as the men and women who made the myths saw it. Everything
+that moved, or made a sound, or flashed out light, or gave out heat was
+a person to them; they could not think of the wind rushing through the
+trees or the storm devastating the fields without out imagining someone
+like themselves, only more powerful, behind the uproar and destruction,
+any more than we can see a lantern moving along the road at night
+without thinking instinctively that somebody is carrying it.</p>
+
+<p>Our idea of the world is scientific because it is based on exact though
+by no means complete knowledge; the myth-makers' idea of the world was
+poetic because, with very incomplete knowledge, they could not imagine
+how anything could be done unless it was done as they did things. When
+the black clouds gather on a summer afternoon and roll up the sky in
+great, terrifying masses, and the lightning flashes from them and the
+crash of the thunder fills the air and the rain beats down the crops, we
+feel as if we were in the laboratory of nature seeing a wonderful
+experiment made; when our ancestors saw the same spectacle they were
+sure that a great dragon, breathing fire and roaring with anger, was
+ravaging the earth. As children to-day imagine that dolls are alive,
+that fairies dance in moonlit meadows on summer nights, or beasts or
+Indians make the sounds in the woods, so the people who made the myths
+filled the world with creatures unlike themselves, but with something of
+human intelligence, feeling and will.</p>
+
+<p>As imaginative children personify the sounds they hear, so the men and
+women of an early time personified everything that lived or moved or
+gave any sign of life. They filled the earth, air, and sea with
+imaginary beings who had power over the elements and affected the lives
+of men. There were nymphs in the sea, dryads in the trees, kindly or
+destructive spirits in the air, household gods who watched over the
+home, and greater gods who managed the affairs of the world. When an
+intelligent man finds himself in new surroundings, he begins at once to
+study them and try to understand them. In every age this has been one of
+the greatest objects of interest to men, and every generation has
+endeavoured to explain the world, so as to satisfy not only its
+curiosity but its reason. The myths were explanations of the world
+created by people who had not had time to study that world closely nor
+to train themselves to study it in a scientific way. They saw the world
+with their imaginations quite as much as with their eyes, and as they
+put persons behind every kind and form of life, they told stories about
+the world instead of making accurate and matter-of-fact reports of it.
+The change of the seasons is not at all mysterious to us; but to the
+Norsemen it was a wonderful struggle between gods and giants. In the
+summer the gods had their triumph, but in the winter the giants had
+their way. Year after year and century after century this terrible
+warfare went on until a day should come when, in a last great battle,
+both gods and giants would be destroyed and a new heaven and earth
+arise. These same brave and warlike men believed that the most powerful
+fighter among the gods was Thor, and that it was the swinging and
+crashing of his terrible hammer which made the lightning and thunder.</p>
+
+<p>The sun, which vanquished the darkness, put out the stars, drove the
+cold to the far north, called back the flowers, made the fields fertile,
+awoke men from sleep and filled them with courage and hope, was the
+centre of mythology, and appears and reappears in a thousand stories in
+many parts of the world, and in all kinds of disguises. Now he is the
+most beautiful and noble of the Greek gods, Apollo; now he is Odin, with
+a single eye; now he is Hercules, the hero, with his twelve great
+labours for the good of men; now he is Oedipus, who met the Sphinx and
+solved her riddle. In the early times men saw how everything in the
+world about them drew its strength and beauty from the sun; how the sun
+warmed the earth and made the crops grow; how it brought gladness and
+hope and inspiration to men; and they made it the centre of the great
+world story, the foremost hero of the great world play. For the myths
+form a poetical explanation of the earth, the sea, the sky, and of the
+life of man in this wonderful universe, and each great myth was a
+chapter in a story which endowed day and night, summer and winter, sun,
+moon, stars, winds, clouds, fire, with life, and made them actors in the
+mysterious drama of the world. Our Norse forefathers thought of
+themselves always as looking on at a terrible fight between the gods,
+who were light and heat and fruitfulness, revealed in the beauty of day
+and the splendour of summer, and the giants, who were darkness, cold and
+barrenness, revealed in the gloom of night and the desolation of winter.
+To the Norseman, as to the Greek, the Roman, the Hindu and other
+primitive peoples, the world was the scene of a great struggle, the
+stage on which gods, demons, and heroes were contending for supremacy;
+and they told that story in a thousand different ways. Every myth is a
+chapter in that story, and differs from other stories and legends
+because it is an explanation of something that happened in earth, sea,
+or sky.</p>
+
+<p>If the men who created the myths had set to work to make wonder tales as
+stories are sometimes made to instruct while they entertain children,
+they would have left a mass of very dull tales which few people would
+have cared to read. They had no idea of doing anything so artificial and
+mechanical; they made these old stories because all life was a story to
+them, full of splendid or terrible figures moving across the sky or
+through the sea and in the depths of the woods, and whichever way they
+looked they saw or thought they saw mysterious and wonderful things
+going on. They were as much interested in their world as we are in ours;
+we write hundreds of scientific books every year to explain our world;
+they told hundreds of stories every year to explain theirs.</p>
+
+<p>This selection represents the work of several authors, and does not,
+therefore, preserve uniformity of style. It is probably better for the
+young reader that the Greek Myths should come from one hand, and the
+Norse Myths from another. The classical work of Hawthorne has been
+generously drawn upon. No change of any kind has been made in the text,
+but the introductions connecting one myth with another have been
+omitted.</p>
+
+<p class="author">Hamilton Wright Mabie.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2>Myths That Every Child Should Know</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br />
+THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES</h2>
+
+<p>Did you ever hear of the golden apples that grew in the garden of the
+Hesperides? Ah, those were such apples as would bring a great price, by
+the bushel, if any of them could be found growing in the orchards of
+nowadays! But there is not, I suppose, a graft of that wonderful fruit
+on a single tree in the wide world. Not so much as a seed of those
+apples exists any longer.</p>
+
+<p>And, even in the old, old, half-forgotten times, before the garden of
+the Hesperides was overrun with weeds, a great many people doubted
+whether there could be real trees that bore apples of solid gold upon
+their branches. All had heard of them, but nobody remembered to have
+seen any. Children, nevertheless, used to listen, open-mouthed, to
+stories of the golden apple tree, and resolved to discover it, when they
+should be big enough. Adventurous young men, who desired to do a braver
+thing than any of their fellows, set out in quest of this fruit. Many of
+them returned no more; none of them brought back the apples. No wonder
+that they found it impossible to gather them! It is said that there was
+a dragon beneath the tree, with a hundred terrible heads, fifty of
+which were always on the watch, while the other fifty slept.</p>
+
+<p>In my opinion it was hardly worth running so much risk for the sake of a
+solid golden apple. Had the apples been sweet, mellow, and juicy, indeed
+that would be another matter. There might then have been some sense in
+trying to get at them, in spite of the hundred-headed dragon.</p>
+
+<p>But, as I have already told you, it was quite a common thing with young
+persons, when tired of too much peace and rest, to go in search of the
+garden of the Hesperides. And once the adventure was undertaken by a
+hero who had enjoyed very little peace or rest since he came into the
+world. At the time of which I am going to speak, he was wandering
+through the pleasant land of Italy, with a mighty club in his hand, and
+a bow and quiver slung across his shoulders. He was wrapt in the skin of
+the biggest and fiercest lion that ever had been seen, and which he
+himself had killed; and though, on the whole, he was kind, and generous,
+and noble, there was a good deal of the lion's fierceness in his heart.
+As he went on his way, he continually inquired whether that were the
+right road to the famous garden. But none of the country people knew
+anything about the matter, and many looked as if they would have laughed
+at the question, if the stranger had not carried so very big a club.</p>
+
+<p>So he journeyed on and on, still making the same inquiry, until, at
+last, he came to the brink of a river where some beautiful young women
+sat twining wreaths of flowers.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you tell me, pretty maidens," asked the stranger, "whether this is
+the right way to the garden of the Hesperides?"</p>
+
+<p>The young women had been having a fine time together, weaving the
+flowers into wreaths, and crowning one another's heads. And there seemed
+to be a kind of magic in the touch of their fingers, that made the
+flowers more fresh and dewy, and of brighter hues, and sweeter
+fragrance, while they played with them, than even when they had been
+growing on their native stems. But, on hearing the stranger's question,
+they dropped all their flowers on the grass, and gazed at him with
+astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"The garden of the Hesperides!" cried one. "We thought mortals had been
+weary of seeking it, after so many disappointments. And pray,
+adventurous traveller, what do you want there?"</p>
+
+<p>"A certain king, who is my cousin," replied he, "has ordered me to get
+him three of the golden apples."</p>
+
+<p>"Most of the young men who go in quest of these apples," observed
+another of the damsels, "desire to obtain them for themselves, or to
+present them to some fair maiden whom they love. Do you, then, love this
+king, your cousin, so very much?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps not," replied the stranger, sighing. "He has often been severe
+and cruel to me. But it is my destiny to obey him."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you know," asked the damsel who had first spoken, "that a
+terrible dragon, with a hundred heads, keeps watch under the golden
+apple tree?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know it well," answered the stranger, calmly. "But, from my cradle
+upward, it has been my business, and almost my pastime, to deal with
+serpents and dragons."</p>
+
+<p>The young women looked at his massive club, and at the shaggy lion's
+skin which he wore, and likewise at his heroic limbs and figure; and
+they whispered to each other that the stranger appeared to be one who
+might reasonably expect to perform deeds far beyond the might of other
+men. But, then, the dragon with a hundred heads! What mortal, even if he
+possessed a hundred lives, could hope to escape the fangs of such a
+monster? So kind-hearted were the maidens that they could not bear to
+see this brave and handsome traveller attempt what was so very
+dangerous, and devote himself, most probably, to become a meal for the
+dragon's hundred ravenous mouths.</p>
+
+<p>"Go back," cried they all&mdash;"go back to your own home! Your mother,
+beholding you safe and sound, will shed tears of joy; and what can she
+do more, should you win ever so great a victory? No matter for the
+golden apples! No matter for the king, your cruel cousin! We do not wish
+the dragon with the hundred heads to eat you up!"</p>
+
+<p>The stranger seemed to grow impatient at these remonstrances. He
+carelessly lifted his mighty club, and let it fall upon a rock that lay
+half buried in the earth, near by. With the force of that idle blow, the
+great rock was shattered all to pieces. It cost the stranger no more
+effort to achieve this feat of a giant's strength than for one of the
+young maidens to touch her sister's rosy cheek with a flower.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you not believe," said he, looking at the damsels with a smile,
+"that such a blow would have crushed one of the dragon's hundred heads?"</p>
+
+<p>Then he sat down on the grass, and told them the story of his life, or
+as much of it as he could remember, from the day when he was first
+cradled in a warrior's brazen shield. While he lay there, two immense
+serpents came gliding over the floor, and opened their hideous jaws to
+devour him; and he, a baby of a few months old, had griped one of the
+fierce snakes in each of his little fists, and strangled them to death.
+When he was but a stripling, he had killed a huge lion, almost as big as
+the one whose vast and shaggy hide he now wore upon his shoulders. The
+next thing that he had done was to fight a battle with an ugly sort of
+monster, called a hydra, which had no less than nine heads, and
+exceedingly sharp teeth in every one.</p>
+
+<p>"But the dragon of the Hesperides, you know," observed one of the
+damsels, "has a hundred heads!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless," replied the stranger, "I would rather fight two such
+dragons than a single hydra. For, as fast as I cut off a head, two
+others grew in its place; and, besides, there was one of the heads that
+could not possibly be killed, but kept biting as fiercely as ever, long
+after it was cut off. So I was forced to bury it under a stone, where it
+is doubtless alive to this very day. But the hydra's body, and its eight
+other heads, will never do any further mischief."</p>
+
+<p>The damsels, judging that the story was likely to last a good while, had
+been preparing a repast of bread and grapes, that the stranger might
+refresh himself in the intervals of his talk. They took pleasure in
+helping him to this simple food; and, now and then, one of them would
+put a sweet grape between her rosy lips, lest it should make him bashful
+to eat alone.</p>
+
+<p>The traveller proceeded to tell how he had chased a very swift stag for
+a twelvemonth together, without ever stopping to take breath, and had at
+last caught it by the antlers, and carried it home alive. And he had
+fought with a very odd race of people, half horses and half men, and had
+put them all to death, from a sense of duty, in order that their ugly
+figures might never be seen any more. Besides all this, he took to
+himself great credit for having cleaned out a stable.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you call that a wonderful exploit?" asked one of the young maidens,
+with a smile. "Any clown in the country has done as much!"</p>
+
+<p>"Had it been an ordinary stable," replied the stranger, "I should not
+have mentioned it. But this was so gigantic a task that it would have
+taken me all my life to perform it, if I had not luckily thought of
+turning the channel of a river through the stable door. That did the
+business in a very short time!"</p>
+
+<p>Seeing how earnestly his fair auditors listened, he next told them how
+he had shot some monstrous birds, and had caught a wild bull alive and
+let him go again, and had tamed a number of very wild horses, and had
+conquered Hippolyta, the warlike queen of the Amazons. He mentioned,
+likewise, that he had taken off Hippolyta's enchanted girdle and had
+given it to the daughter of his cousin, the king.</p>
+
+<p>"Was it the girdle of Venus," inquired the prettiest of the damsels,
+"which makes women beautiful?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," answered the stranger. "It had formerly been the sword belt of
+Mars; and it can only make the wearer valiant and courageous."</p>
+
+<p>"An old sword belt!" cried the damsel, tossing her head. "Then I should
+not care about having it!"</p>
+
+<p>"You are right," said the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Going on with his wonderful narrative, he informed the maidens that as
+strange an adventure as ever happened was when he fought with Geryon,
+the six-legged man. This was a very odd and frightful sort of figure, as
+you may well believe. Any person, looking at his tracks in the sand or
+snow, would suppose that three sociable companions had been walking
+along together. On hearing his footsteps at a little distance, it was no
+more than reasonable to judge that several people must be coming. But it
+was only the strange man Geryon clattering onward, with his six legs!</p>
+
+<p>Six legs, and one gigantic body! Certainly, he must have been a very
+queer monster to look at; and, my stars, what a waste of shoe leather!</p>
+
+<p>When the stranger had finished the story of his adventures, he looked
+around at the attentive faces of the maidens.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you may have heard of me before," said he, modestly. "My name
+is Hercules!"</p>
+
+<p>"We had already guessed it," replied the maidens; "for your wonderful
+deeds are known all over the world. We do not think it strange, any
+longer, that you should set out in quest of the golden apples of the
+Hesperides. Come, sisters, let us crown the hero with flowers!"</p>
+
+<p>Then they flung beautiful wreaths over his stately head and mighty
+shoulders, so that the lion's skin was almost entirely covered with
+roses. They took possession of his ponderous club, and so entwined it
+about with the brightest, softest, and most fragrant blossoms that not a
+finger's breadth of its oaken substance could be seen. It looked all
+like a huge bunch of flowers. Lastly, they joined hands, and danced
+around him, chanting words which became poetry of their own accord, and
+grew into a choral song, in honour of the illustrious Hercules.</p>
+
+<p>And Hercules was rejoiced, as any other hero would have been, to know
+that these fair young girls had heard of the valiant deeds which it had
+cost him so much toil and danger to achieve. But still he was not
+satisfied. He could not think that what he had already done was worthy
+of so much honour, while there remained any bold or difficult adventure
+to be undertaken.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear maidens," said he, when they paused to take breath, "now that you
+know my name, will you not tell me how I am to reach the garden of the
+Hesperides?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! must you go to soon?" they exclaimed. "You&mdash;that have performed so
+many wonders, and spent such a toilsome life&mdash;cannot you content
+yourself to repose a little while on the margin of this peaceful river?"</p>
+
+<p>Hercules shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"I must depart now," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"We will then give you the best directions we can," replied the damsels.
+"You must go to the seashore, and find out the Old One, and compel him
+to inform you where the golden apples are to be found."</p>
+
+<p>"The Old One!" repeated Hercules, laughing at this odd name. "And, pray,
+who may the Old One be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the Old Man of the Sea, to be sure!" answered one of the damsels.
+"He has fifty daughters, whom some people call very beautiful; but we do
+not think it proper to be acquainted with them, because they have
+sea-green hair, and taper away like fishes. You must talk with this Old
+Man of the Sea. He is a seafaring person, and knows all about the garden
+of the Hesperides, for it is situated in an island which he is often in
+the habit of visiting."</p>
+
+<p>Hercules then asked whereabouts the Old One was most likely to be met
+with. When the damsels had informed him, he thanked them for all their
+kindness,&mdash;for the bread and grapes with which they had fed him, the
+lovely flowers with which they had crowned him, and the songs and
+dances wherewith they had done him honour&mdash;and he thanked them, most of
+all, for telling him the right way&mdash;and immediately set forth upon his
+journey.</p>
+
+<p>But, before he was out of hearing, one of the maidens called after him.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep fast hold of the Old One, when you catch him!" cried she, smiling,
+and lifting her finger to make the caution more impressive. "Do not be
+astonished at anything that may happen. Only hold him fast, and he will
+tell you what you wish to know."</p>
+
+<p>Hercules again thanked her, and pursued his way, while the maidens
+resumed their pleasant labour of making flower wreaths. They talked
+about the hero long after he was gone.</p>
+
+<p>"We will crown him with the loveliest of our garlands," said they, "when
+he returns hither with the three golden apples, after slaying the dragon
+with a hundred heads."</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Hercules travelled constantly onward, over hill and dale, and
+through the solitary woods. Sometimes he swung his club aloft, and
+splintered a mighty oak with a downright blow. His mind was so full of
+the giants and monsters with whom it was the business of his life to
+fight, that perhaps he mistook the great tree for a giant or a monster.
+And so eager was Hercules to achieve what he had undertaken, that he
+almost regretted to have spent so much time with the damsels, wasting
+idle breath upon the story of his adventures. But thus it always is with
+persons who are destined to perform great things. What they have already
+done seems less than nothing. What they have taken in hand to do seems
+worth toil, danger, and life itself. Persons who happened to be passing
+through the forest must have been affrighted to see him smite the trees
+with his great club. With but a single blow, the trunk was riven as by
+the stroke of lightning and the broad boughs came rustling and crashing
+down.</p>
+
+<p>Hastening forward, without ever pausing or looking behind, he by and by
+heard the sea roaring at a distance. At this sound, he increased his
+speed, and soon came to a beach, where the great surf waves tumbled
+themselves upon the hard sand, in a long line of snowy foam. At one end
+of the beach, however, there was a pleasant spot, where some green
+shrubbery clambered up a cliff, making its rocky face look soft and
+beautiful. A carpet of verdant grass, largely intermixed with
+sweet-smelling clover, covered the narrow space between the bottom of
+the cliff and the sea. And what should Hercules espy there but an old
+man, fast asleep!</p>
+
+<p>But was it really and truly an old man? Certainly, at first sight, it
+looked very like one; but, on closer inspection, it rather seemed to be
+some kind of a creature that lived in the sea. For on his legs and arms
+there were scales, such as fishes have; he was web-footed and
+web-fingered, after the fashion of a duck; and his long beard, being of
+a greenish tinge, had more the appearance of a tuft of seaweed than of
+an ordinary beard. Have you never seen a stick of timber, that has been
+long tossed about by the waves, and has got all overgrown with
+barnacles, and, at last drifting ashore, seems to have been thrown up
+from the very deepest bottom of the sea. Well, the old man would have
+put you in mind of just such a wave-tossed spar! But Hercules, the
+instant he set eyes on this strange figure, was convinced that it could
+be no other than the Old One, who was to direct him on his way.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, it was the selfsame Old Man of the Sea whom the hospitable maidens
+had talked to him about. Thanking his stars for the lucky accident of
+finding the old fellow asleep, Hercules stole on tiptoe toward him, and
+caught him by the arm and leg.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me," cried he, before the Old One was well awake, "which is the
+way to the garden of the Hesperides?"</p>
+
+<p>As you may easily imagine, the Old Man of the Sea awoke in a fright. But
+his astonishment could hardly have been greater than was that of
+Hercules, the next moment. For, all of a sudden, the Old One seemed to
+disappear out of his grasp, and he found himself holding a stag by the
+fore and hind leg! But still he kept fast hold. Then the stag
+disappeared, and in its stead there was a sea bird, fluttering and
+screaming, while Hercules clutched it by the wing and claw! But the bird
+could not get away. Immediately afterward, there was an ugly
+three-headed dog, which growled and barked at Hercules, and snapped
+fiercely at the hands by which he held him! But Hercules would not let
+him go. In another minute, instead of the three-headed dog, what should
+appear but Geryon, the six-legged man monster, kicking at Hercules with
+five of his legs, in order to get the remaining one at liberty! But
+Hercules held on. By and by, no Geryon was there, but a huge snake, like
+one of those which Hercules had strangled in his babyhood, only a
+hundred times as big; and it twisted and twined about the hero's neck
+and body, and threw its tail high into the air, and opened its deadly
+jaws as if to devour him outright; so that it was really a very terrible
+spectacle! But Hercules was no whit disheartened, and squeezed the great
+snake so tightly that he soon began to hiss with pain.</p>
+
+<p>You must understand that the Old Man of the Sea, though he generally
+looked so much like the wave-beaten figurehead of a vessel, had the
+power of assuming any shape he pleased. When he found himself so roughly
+seized by Hercules, he had been in hopes of putting him into such
+surprise and terror, by these magical transformations, that the hero
+would be glad to let him go. If Hercules had relaxed his grasp, the Old
+One would certainly have plunged down to the very bottom of the sea,
+whence he would not soon have given himself the trouble of coming up, in
+order to answer any impertinent questions. Ninety-nine people out of a
+hundred, I suppose, would have been frightened out of their wits by the
+very first of his ugly shapes, and would have taken to their heels at
+once. For one of the hardest things in this world is to see the
+difference between real dangers and imaginary ones.</p>
+
+<p>But, as Hercules held on so stubbornly, and only squeezed the Old One so
+much the tighter at every change of shape, and really put him to no
+small torture, he finally thought it best to reappear in his own figure.
+So there he was again, a fishy, scaly, web-footed sort of personage,
+with something like a tuft of seaweed at his chin.</p>
+
+<p>"Pray, what do you want with me?" cried the Old One, as soon as he could
+take breath; for it is quite a tiresome affair to go through so many
+false shapes. "Why do you squeeze me so hard? Let me go this moment, or
+I shall begin to consider you an extremely uncivil person!"</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Hercules!" roared the mighty stranger. "And you will never
+get out of my clutch until you tell me the nearest way to the garden of
+the Hesperides!"</p>
+
+<p>When the old fellow heard who it was that had caught him, he saw with
+half an eye that it would be necessary to tell him everything that he
+wanted to know. The Old One was an inhabitant of the sea, you must
+recollect, and roamed about everywhere, like other seafaring people. Of
+course, he had often heard of the fame of Hercules, and of the wonderful
+things that he was constantly performing in various parts of the earth,
+and how determined he always was to accomplish whatever he undertook. He
+therefore made no more attempts to escape, but told the hero how to find
+the garden of the Hesperides, and likewise warned him of many
+difficulties which must be overcome before he could arrive thither.</p>
+
+<p>"You must go on, thus and thus," said the Old Man of the Sea, after
+taking the points of the compass, "till you come in sight of a very tall
+giant, who holds the sky on his shoulders. And the giant, if he happens
+to be in the humour, will tell you exactly where the garden of the
+Hesperides lies."</p>
+
+<p>"And if the giant happens not to be in the humour," remarked Hercules,
+balancing his club on the tip of his finger, "perhaps I shall find means
+to persuade him!"</p>
+
+<p>Thanking the Old Man of the Sea, and begging his pardon for having
+squeezed him so roughly, the hero resumed his journey. He met with a
+great many strange adventures, which would be well worth your hearing,
+if I had leisure to narrate them as minutely as they deserve.</p>
+
+<p>It was in this journey, if I mistake not, that he encountered a
+prodigious giant, who was so wonderfully contrived by nature that, every
+time he touched the earth, he became ten times as strong as ever he had
+been before. His name was Antæus. You may see, plainly enough, that it
+was a very difficult business to fight with such a fellow; for, as often
+as he got a knock-down blow, up he started again, stronger, fiercer, and
+abler to use his weapons than if his enemy had let him alone. Thus, the
+harder Hercules pounded the giant with his club, the further he seemed
+from winning the victory. I have sometimes argued with such people, but
+never fought with one. The only way in which Hercules found it possible
+to finish the battle was by lifting Antæus off his feet into the air,
+and squeezing, and squeezing, and squeezing him until, finally, the
+strength was quite squeezed out of his enormous body.</p>
+
+<p>When this affair was finished, Hercules continued his travels, and went
+to the land of Egypt, where he was taken prisoner, and would have been
+put to death if he had not slain the king of the country and made his
+escape. Passing through the deserts of Africa, and going as fast as he
+could, he arrived at last on the shore of the great ocean. And here,
+unless he could walk on the crests of the billows, it seemed as if his
+journey must needs be at an end.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing was before him, save the foaming, dashing, measureless ocean.
+But, suddenly, as he looked toward the horizon, he saw something, a
+great way off, which he had not seen the moment before. It gleamed very
+brightly, almost as you may have beheld the round, golden disc of the
+sun, when it rises or sets over the edge of the world. It evidently drew
+nearer; for, at every instant, this wonderful object became larger and
+more lustrous. At length, it had come so nigh that Hercules discovered
+it to be an immense cup or bowl, made either of gold or burnished brass.
+How it had got afloat upon the sea is more than I can tell you. There it
+was, at all events, rolling on the tumultuous billows, which tossed it
+up and down, and heaved their foamy tops against its sides, but without
+ever throwing their spray over the brim.</p>
+
+<p>"I have seen many giants, in my time," thought Hercules, "but never one
+that would need to drink his wine out of a cup like this!"</p>
+
+<p>And, true enough, what a cup it must have been! It was as large&mdash;as
+large&mdash;but, in short, I am afraid to say how immeasurably large it was.
+To speak within bounds, it was ten times larger than a great mill wheel;
+and, all of metal as it was, it floated over the heaving surges more
+lightly than an acorn cup adown the brook. The waves tumbled it onward,
+until it grazed against the shore, within a short distance of the spot
+where Hercules was standing.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as this happened, he knew what was to be done; for he had not
+gone through so many remarkable adventures without learning pretty well
+how to conduct himself, whenever anything came to pass a little out of
+the common rule. It was just as clear as daylight that this marvellous
+cup had been set adrift by some unseen power, and guided hitherward, in
+order to carry Hercules across the sea, on his way to the garden of the
+Hesperides. Accordingly, without a moment's delay, he clambered over the
+brim, and slid down on the inside, where, spreading out his lion's skin,
+he proceeded to take a little repose. He had scarcely rested, until now,
+since he bade farewell to the damsels on the margin of the river. The
+waves dashed, with a pleasant and ringing sound, against the
+circumference of the hollow cup; it rocked lightly to and fro, and the
+motion was so soothing that it speedily rocked Hercules into an
+agreeable slumber.</p>
+
+<p>His nap had probably lasted a good while, when the cup chanced to graze
+against a rock, and, in consequence, immediately resounded and
+reverberated through its golden or brazen substance, a hundred times as
+loudly as ever you heard a church bell. The noise awoke Hercules, who
+instantly started up and gazed around him, wondering whereabouts he was.
+He was not long in discovering that the cup had floated across a great
+part of the sea, and was approaching the shore of what seemed to be an
+island. And, on that island, what do you think he saw?</p>
+
+<p>No; you will never guess it, not if you were to try fifty thousand
+times! It positively appears to me that this was the most marvellous
+spectacle that had ever been seen by Hercules in the whole course of his
+wonderful travels and adventures. It was a greater marvel than the hydra
+with nine heads, which kept growing twice as fast as they were cut off;
+greater than the six-legged man monster; greater than Antæus; greater
+than anything that was ever beheld by anybody, before or since the days
+of Hercules, or than anything that remains to be beheld by travellers in
+all time to come. It was a giant!</p>
+
+<p>But such an intolerably big giant! A giant as tall as a mountain; so
+vast a giant that the clouds rested about his midst, like a girdle, and
+hung like a hoary beard from his chin, and flitted before his huge eyes,
+so that he could neither see Hercules nor the golden cup in which he was
+voyaging. And, most wonderful of all, the giant held up his great hands
+and appeared to support the sky, which, so far as Hercules could discern
+through the clouds, was resting upon his head! This does really seem
+almost too much to believe.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the bright cup continued to float onward, and finally touched
+the strand. Just then a breeze wafted away the clouds from before the
+giant's visage, and Hercules beheld it, with all its enormous features;
+eyes each of them as big as yonder lake, a nose a mile long, and a mouth
+of the same width. It was a countenance terrible from its enormity of
+size, but disconsolate and weary, even as you may see the faces of many
+people, nowadays, who are compelled to sustain burdens above their
+strength. What the sky was to the giant, such are the cares of earth to
+those who let themselves be weighed down by them. And whenever men
+undertake what is beyond the just measure of their abilities, they
+encounter precisely such a doom as had befallen this poor giant.</p>
+
+<p>Poor fellow! He had evidently stood there a long while. An ancient
+forest had been growing and decaying around his feet; and oak trees, of
+six or seven centuries old, had sprung from the acorn, and forced
+themselves between his toes.</p>
+
+<p>The giant now looked down from the far height of his great eyes, and,
+perceiving Hercules, roared out, in a voice that resembled thunder,
+proceeding out of the cloud that had just flitted away from his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you, down at my feet there? And whence do you come in that
+little cup?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am Hercules!" thundered back the hero, in a voice pretty nearly or
+quite as loud as the giant's own. "And I am seeking for the garden of
+the Hesperides!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ho! ho! ho!" roared the giant, in a fit of immense laughter. "That is a
+wise adventure, truly!"</p>
+
+<p>"And why not?" cried Hercules, getting a little angry at the giant's
+mirth. "Do you think I am afraid of the dragon with a hundred heads!"</p>
+
+<p>Just at this time, while they were talking together, some black clouds
+gathered about the giant's middle, and burst into a tremendous storm of
+thunder and lightning, causing such a pother that Hercules found it
+impossible to distinguish a word. Only the giant's immeasurable legs
+were to be seen, standing up into the obscurity of the tempest; and, now
+and then, a momentary glimpse of his whole figure, mantled in a volume
+of mist. He seemed to be speaking, most of the time; but his big, deep,
+rough voice chimed in with the reverberations of the thunder claps, and
+rolled away over the hills, like them. Thus, by talking out of season,
+the foolish giant expended an incalculable quantity of breath to no
+purpose; for the thunder spoke quite as intelligibly as he.</p>
+
+<p>At last, the storm swept over as suddenly as it had come. And there
+again was the clear sky, and the weary giant holding it up, and the
+pleasant sunshine beaming over his vast height, and illuminating it
+against the background of the sullen thunder clouds. So far above the
+shower had been his head, that not a hair of it was moistened by the
+rain-drops!</p>
+
+<p>When the giant could see Hercules still standing on the seashore, he
+roared out to him anew.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Atlas, the mightiest giant in the world! And I hold the sky upon
+my head!"</p>
+
+<p>"So I see," answered Hercules. "But, can you show me the way to the
+garden of the Hesperides?"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want there?" asked the giant.</p>
+
+<p>"I want three of the golden apples," shouted Hercules, "for my cousin,
+the king."</p>
+
+<p>"There is nobody but myself," quoth the giant, "that can go to the
+garden of the Hesperides, and gather the golden apples. If it were not
+for this little business of holding up the sky, I would make half a
+dozen steps across the sea and get them for you."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very kind," replied Hercules. "And cannot you rest the sky upon
+a mountain?"</p>
+
+<p>"None of them are quite high enough," said Atlas, shaking his head. "But
+if you were to take your stand on the summit of that nearest one, your
+head would be pretty nearly on a level with mine. You seem to be a
+fellow of some strength. What if you should take my burden on your
+shoulders, while I do your errand for you?"</p>
+
+<p>Hercules, as you must be careful to remember, was a remarkably strong
+man; and though it certainly requires a great deal of muscular power to
+uphold the sky, yet, if any mortal could be supposed capable of such an
+exploit, he was the one. Nevertheless, it seemed so difficult an
+undertaking that, for the first time in his life, he hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Is the sky very heavy?" he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, not particularly so, at first," answered the giant, shrugging his
+shoulders. "But it gets to be a little burdensome after a thousand
+years!"</p>
+
+<p>"And how long a time," asked the hero, "will it take you to get the
+golden apples?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that will be done in a few moments," cried Atlas. "I shall take ten
+or fifteen miles at a stride, and be at the garden and back again before
+your shoulders begin to ache."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then," answered Hercules, "I will climb the mountain behind you
+there and relieve you of your burden."</p>
+
+<p>The truth is, Hercules had a kind heart of his own, and considered that
+he should be doing the giant a favour by allowing him this opportunity
+for a ramble. And, besides, he thought that it would be still more for
+his own glory if he could boast of upholding the sky, than merely to do
+so ordinary a thing as to conquer a dragon with a hundred heads.
+Accordingly, without more words, the sky was shifted from the shoulders
+of Atlas and placed upon those of Hercules.</p>
+
+<p>When this was safely accomplished, the first thing that the giant did
+was to stretch himself; and you may imagine what a prodigious spectacle
+he was then. Next, lie slowly lifted one of his feet out of the forest
+that had grown up around it; then, the other. Then, all at once, he
+began to caper, and leap, and dance for joy at his freedom; flinging
+himself nobody knows how high into the air, and floundering down again
+with a shock that made the earth tremble. Then he laughed&mdash;Ho! ho!
+ho!&mdash;with a thunderous roar that was echoed from the mountains, far and
+near, as if they and the giant had been so many rejoicing brothers. When
+his joy had a little subsided, he stepped into the sea; ten miles at the
+first stride, which brought him midleg deep; and ten miles at the
+second, when the water came just above his knees; and ten miles more at
+the third, by which he was immersed nearly to his waist. This was the
+greatest depth of the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Hercules watched the giant as he still went onward; for it was really a
+wonderful sight, this immense human form, more than thirty miles off,
+half hidden in the ocean, but with his upper half as tall, and misty,
+and blue as a distant mountain. At last the gigantic shape faded
+entirely out of view. And now Hercules began to consider what he should
+do in case Atlas should be drowned in the sea, or if he were to be stung
+to death by the dragon with the hundred heads, which guarded the golden
+apples of the Hesperides. If any such misfortune were to happen, how
+could he ever get rid of the sky? And, by the by, its weight began
+already to be a little irksome to his head and shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"I really pity the poor giant," thought Hercules. "If it wearies me so
+much in ten minutes, how must it have wearied him in a thousand years!"</p>
+
+<p>O my sweet little people, you have no idea what a weight there was in
+that same blue sky, which looks so soft and a&euml;rial above our heads! And
+there, too, was the bluster of the wind, and the chill and watery
+clouds, and the blazing sun, all taking their turns to make Hercules
+uncomfortable! He began to be afraid that the giant would never come
+back. He gazed wistfully at the world beneath him, and acknowledged to
+himself that it was a far happier kind of life to be a shepherd at the
+foot of a mountain than to stand on its dizzy summit and bear up the
+firmament with his might and main. For, of course, as you will easily
+understand, Hercules had an immense responsibility on his mind, as well
+as a weight on his head and shoulders. Why, if he did not stand
+perfectly still, and keep the sky immovable, the sun would perhaps be
+put ajar! Or, after nightfall, a great many of the stars might be
+loosened from their places, and shower down, like fiery rain, upon the
+people's heads! And how ashamed would the hero be if, owing to his
+unsteadiness beneath its weight, the sky should crack and show a great
+fissure quite across it!</p>
+
+<p>I know not how long it was before, to his unspeakable joy, he beheld the
+huge shape of the giant, like a cloud, on the far-off edge of the sea.
+At his nearer approach, Atlas held up his hand, in which Hercules could
+perceive three magnificent golden apples, as big as pumpkins, all
+hanging from one branch.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to see you again," shouted Hercules, when the giant was
+within hearing. "So you have got the golden apples?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, certainly," answered Atlas; "and very fair apples they are.
+I took the finest that grew on the tree, I assure you. Ah! it is a
+beautiful spot, that garden of Hesperides. Yes; and the dragon with a
+hundred heads is a sight worth any man's seeing. After all, you had
+better have gone for the apples yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"No matter," replied Hercules. "You have had a pleasant ramble, and have
+done the business as well as I could. I heartily thank you for your
+trouble. And now, as I have a long way to go, and am rather in
+haste&mdash;and as the king, my cousin, is anxious to receive the golden
+apples&mdash;will you be kind enough to take the sky off my shoulders again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, as to that," said the giant, chucking the golden apples into the
+air twenty miles high, or thereabouts and catching them as they came
+down&mdash;"as to that, my good friend, I consider you a little unreasonable.
+Cannot I carry the golden apples to the king, your cousin, much quicker
+than you could? As His Majesty is in such a hurry to get them, I promise
+you to take my longest strides. And, besides, I have no fancy for
+burdening myself with the sky, just now."</p>
+
+<p>Here Hercules grew impatient, and gave a great shrug of his shoulders.
+It being now twilight, you might have seen two or three stars tumble out
+of their places. Everybody on earth looked upward in affright, thinking
+that the sky might be going to fall next.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that will never do!" cried Giant Atlas, with a great roar of
+laughter. "I have not let fall so many stars within the last five
+centuries. By the time you have stood there as long as I did, you will
+begin to learn patience!"</p>
+
+<p>"What!" shouted Hercules, very wrathfully, "do you intend to make me
+bear this burden forever?"</p>
+
+<p>"We will see about that, one of these days," answered the giant. "At all
+events, you ought not to complain if you have to bear it the next
+hundred years, or perhaps the next thousand. I bore it a good while
+longer, in spite of the backache. Well, then, after a thousand years, if
+I happen to feel in the mood, we may possibly shift about again. You are
+certainly a very strong man, and can never have a better opportunity to
+prove it. Posterity will talk of you, I warrant it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Pish! a fig for its talk!" cried Hercules, with another hitch of his
+shoulders. "Just take the sky upon your head one instant, will you? I
+want to make a cushion of my lion's skin, for the weight to rest upon.
+It really chafes me, and will cause unnecessary inconvenience in so many
+centuries as I am to stand here."</p>
+
+<p>"That's no more than fair, and I'll do it!" quoth the giant; for he had
+no unkind feeling toward Hercules, and was merely acting with a too
+selfish consideration of his own ease. "For just five minutes, then,
+I'll take back the sky. Only for five minutes, recollect! I have no idea
+of spending another thousand years as I spent the last. Variety is the
+spice of life, say I."</p>
+
+<p>Ah, the thick-witted old rogue of a giant! He threw down the golden
+apples, and received back the sky from the head and shoulders of
+Hercules, upon his own, where it rightly belonged. And Hercules picked
+up the three golden apples, that were as big or bigger than pumpkins and
+straightway set out on his journey homeward, without paying the
+slightest heed to the thundering tones of the giant, who bellowed after
+him to come back. Another forest sprang up around his feet, and grew
+ancient there; and again might be seen oak trees, of six or seven
+centuries old, that had waxed thus aged betwixt his enormous toes.</p>
+
+<p>And there stands the giant to this day; or, at any rate, there stands a
+mountain as tall as he, and which bears his name; and when the thunder
+rumbles about its summit, we may imagine it to be the voice of Giant
+Atlas, bellowing after Hercules!</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br />
+THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS</h2>
+
+<p>Mother Ceres was exceedingly fond of her daughter Proserpina, and seldom
+let her go alone into the fields. But, just at the time when my story
+begins, the good lady was very busy, because she had the care of the
+wheat, and the Indian corn, and the rye and barley, and, in short, of
+the crops of every kind, all over the earth; and as the season had thus
+far been uncommonly backward, it was necessary to make the harvest ripen
+more speedily than usual. So she put on her turban, made of poppies (a
+kind of flower which she was always noted for wearing) and got into her
+car drawn by a pair of winged dragons, and was just ready to set off.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear mother," said Proserpina, "I shall be very lonely while you are
+away. May I not run down to the shore, and ask some of the sea nymphs to
+come up out of the waves and play with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, child," answered Mother Ceres. "The sea nymphs are good creatures,
+and will never lead you into any harm. But you must take care not to
+stray away from them, nor go wandering about the fields by yourself.
+Young girls, without their mothers to take care of them, are very apt to
+get into mischief."</p>
+
+<p>The child promised to be as prudent as if she were a grown-up woman,
+and, by the time the winged dragons had whirled the car out of sight,
+she was already on the shore, calling to the sea nymphs to come and
+play with her. They knew Proserpina's voice, and were not long in
+showing their glistening faces and sea-green hair above the water, at
+the bottom of which was their home. They brought along with them a great
+many beautiful shells; and, sitting down on the moist sand, where the
+surf wave broke over them, they busied themselves in making a necklace,
+which they hung round Proserpina's neck. By way of showing her
+gratitude, the child besought them to go with her a little way into the
+fields, so that they might gather abundance of flowers, with which she
+would make each of her kind playmates a wreath.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, dear Proserpina," cried the sea nymphs; "we dare not go with
+you upon the dry land. We are apt to grow faint, unless at every breath
+we can snuff up the salt breeze of the ocean. And don't you see how
+careful we are to let the surf wave break over us every moment or two,
+so as to keep ourselves comfortably moist? If it were not for that, we
+should soon look like bunches of uprooted seaweed dried in the sun."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a great pity," said Proserpina. "But do you wait for me here, and
+I will run and gather my apron full of flowers, and be back again before
+the surf wave has broken ten times over you. I long to make you some
+wreaths that shall be as lovely as this necklace of many-coloured
+shells."</p>
+
+<p>"We will wait, then," answered the sea nymphs. "But while you are gone,
+we may as well lie down on a bank of soft sponge, under the water. The
+air to-day is a little too dry for our comfort. But we will pop up our
+heads every few minutes to see if you are coming."</p>
+
+<p>The young Proserpina ran quickly to a spot where, only the day before,
+she had seen a great many flowers. These, however, were now a little
+past their bloom; and wishing to give her friends the freshest and
+loveliest blossoms, she strayed farther into the fields, and found some
+that made her scream with delight. Never had she met with such exquisite
+flowers before&mdash;violets, so large and fragrant&mdash;roses, with so rich and
+delicate a blush&mdash;such superb hyacinths and such aromatic pinks&mdash;and
+many others, some of which seemed to be of new shapes and colours. Two
+or three times, moreover, she could not help thinking that a tuft of
+most splendid flowers had suddenly sprouted out of the earth before her
+very eyes, as if on purpose to tempt her a few steps farther.
+Proserpina's apron was soon filled and brimming over with delightful
+blossoms. She was on the point of turning back in order to rejoin the
+sea nymphs, and sit with them on the moist sands, all twining wreaths
+together. But, a little farther on, what should she behold? It was a
+large shrub, completely covered with the most magnificent flowers in the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>"The darlings!" cried Proserpina; and then she thought to herself, "I
+was looking at that spot only a moment ago. How strange it is that I did
+not see the flowers!"</p>
+
+<p>The nearer she approached the shrub, the more attractive it looked,
+until she came quite close to it; and then, although its beauty was
+richer than words can tell, she hardly knew whether to like it or not.
+It bore above a hundred flowers of the most brilliant hues, and each
+different from the others, but all having a kind of resemblance among
+themselves, which showed them to be sister blossoms. But there was a
+deep, glossy lustre on the leaves of the shrub, and on the petals of the
+flowers, that made Proserpina doubt whether they might not be
+poisonous. To tell you the truth, foolish as it may seem, she was half
+inclined to turn round and run away.</p>
+
+<p>"What a silly child I am!" thought she, taking courage. "It is really
+the most beautiful shrub that ever sprang out of the earth. I will pull
+it up by the roots, and carry it home, and plant it in my mother's
+garden."</p>
+
+<p>Holding up her apron full of flowers with her left hand, Proserpina
+seized the large shrub with the other, and pulled and pulled, but was
+hardly able to loosen the soil about its roots. What a deep-rooted plant
+it was! Again the girl pulled with all her might, and observed that the
+earth began to stir and crack to some distance around the stem. She gave
+another pull, but relaxed her hold, fancying that there was a rumbling
+sound right beneath her feet. Did the roots extend down into some
+enchanted cavern? Then, laughing at herself for so childish a notion,
+she made another effort; up came the shrub, and Proserpina staggered
+back, holding the stem triumphantly in her hand, and gazing at the deep
+hole which its roots had left in the soil.</p>
+
+<p>Much to her astonishment, this hole kept spreading wider and wider, and
+growing deeper and deeper, until it really seemed to have no bottom; and
+all the while, there came a rumbling noise out of its depths, louder and
+louder, and nearer and nearer, and sounding like the tramp of horses'
+hoofs and the rattling of wheels. Too much frightened to run away, she
+stood straining her eyes into this wonderful cavity, and soon saw a team
+of four sable horses, snorting smoke out of their nostrils, and tearing
+their way out of the earth with a splendid golden chariot whirling at
+their heels. They leaped out of the bottomless hole, chariot and all;
+and there they were, tossing their black manes, flourishing their black
+tails, and curveting with every one of their hoofs off the ground at
+once, close by the spot where Proserpina stood. In the chariot sat the
+figure of a man, richly dressed, with a crown on his head, all flaming
+with diamonds. He was of a noble aspect, and rather handsome, but looked
+sullen and discontented; and he kept rubbing his eyes and shading them
+with his hand, as if he did not live enough in the sunshine to be very
+fond of its light.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as this personage saw the affrighted Proserpina, he beckoned her
+to come a little nearer.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not be afraid," said he, with as cheerful a smile as he knew how to
+put on. "Come! Will not you like to ride a little way with me, in my
+beautiful chariot?"</p>
+
+<p>But Proserpina was so alarmed that she wished for nothing but to get out
+of his reach. And no wonder. The stranger did not look remarkably
+good-natured, in spite of his smile; and as for his voice, its tones
+were deep and stern, and sounded as much like the rumbling of an
+earthquake under ground as anything else. As is always the case with
+children in trouble, Proserpina's first thought was to call for her
+mother.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, Mother Ceres!" cried she, all in a tremble. "Come quickly and
+save me."</p>
+
+<p>But her voice was too faint for her mother to hear. Indeed, it is most
+probable that Ceres was then a thousand miles off, making the corn grow
+in some far-distant country. Nor could it have availed her poor
+daughter, even had she been within hearing; for no sooner did Proserpina
+begin to cry out than the stranger leaped to the ground, caught the
+child in his arms, and again mounting the chariot, shook the reins, and
+shouted to the four black horses to set off. They immediately broke into
+so swift a gallop that it seemed rather like flying through the air
+than running along the earth. In a moment, Proserpina lost sight of the
+pleasant vale of Enna, in which she had always dwelt. Another instant,
+and even the summit of Mount Ætna had become so blue in the distance
+that she could scarcely distinguish it from the smoke that gushed out of
+its crater. But still the poor child screamed and scattered her apron
+full of flowers along the way, and left a long cry trailing behind
+the chariot; and many mothers, to whose ears it came, ran quickly to see
+if any mischief had befallen their children. But Mother Ceres was a
+great way off, and could not hear the cry.</p>
+
+<p>As they rode on, the stranger did his best to soothe her.</p>
+
+<p>"Why should you be so frightened, my pretty child?" said he, trying to
+soften his rough voice. "I promise not to do you any harm. What! You
+have been gathering flowers? Wait till we come to my palace, and I will
+give you a garden full of prettier flowers than those, all made of
+pearls, and diamonds, and rubies. Can you guess who I am? They call my
+name Pluto, and I am the king of diamonds and all other precious stones.
+Every atom of the gold and silver that lies under the earth belongs to
+me, to say nothing of the copper and iron, and of the coal mines, which
+supply me with abundance of fuel. Do you see this splendid crown upon my
+head? You may have it for a plaything. Oh, we shall be very good
+friends, and you will find me more agreeable than you expect, when once
+we get out of this troublesome sunshine."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me go home!" cried Proserpina&mdash;"let me go home!"</p>
+
+<p>"My home is better than your mother's," answered King Pluto. "It is a
+palace, all made of gold, with crystal windows; and because there is
+little or no sunshine thereabouts, the apartments are illuminated with
+diamond lamps. You never saw anything half so magnificent as my throne.
+If you like, you may sit down on it, and be my little queen, and I will
+sit on the footstool."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care for golden palaces and thrones," sobbed Proserpina. "Oh,
+my mother, my mother! Carry me back to my mother!"</p>
+
+<p>But King Pluto, as he called himself, only shouted to his steeds to go
+faster.</p>
+
+<p>"Pray do not be foolish, Proserpina," said he, in rather a sullen tone,
+"I offer you my palace and my crown, and all the riches that are under
+the earth; and you treat me as if I were doing you an injury. The one
+thing which my palace needs is a merry little maid, to run up stairs and
+down, and cheer up the rooms with her smile. And this is what you must
+do for King Pluto."</p>
+
+<p>"Never!" answered Proserpina, looking as miserable as she could. "I
+shall never smile again till you set me down at my mother's door."</p>
+
+<p>But she might just as well have talked to the wind that whistled past
+them; for Pluto urged on his horses, and went faster than ever.
+Proserpina continued to cry out, and screamed so long and so loudly that
+her poor little voice was almost screamed away; and when it was nothing
+but a whisper, she happened to cast her eyes over a great, broad field
+of waving grain&mdash;and whom do you think she saw? Whom but Mother Ceres,
+making the corn grow, and too busy to notice the golden chariot as it
+went rattling along. The child mustered all her strength, and gave one
+more scream, but was out of sight before Ceres had time to turn her
+head.</p>
+
+<p>King Pluto had taken a road which now began to grow excessively gloomy.
+It was bordered on each side with rocks and precipices, between which
+the rumbling of the chariot wheels was reverberated with a noise like
+rolling thunder. The trees and bushes that grew in the crevices of the
+rocks had very dismal foliage; and by and by, although it was hardly
+noon, the air became obscured with a gray twilight. The black horses had
+rushed along so swiftly that they were already beyond the limits of the
+sunshine. But the duskier it grew, the more did Pluto's visage assume an
+air of satisfaction. After all, he was not an ill-looking person,
+especially when he left off twisting his features into a smile that did
+not belong to them. Proserpina peeped at his face through the gathering
+dusk, and hoped that he might not be so very wicked as she at first
+thought him.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, this twilight is truly refreshing," said King Pluto, "after being
+so tormented with that ugly and impertinent glare of the sun. How much
+more agreeable is lamp-light or torchlight, more particularly when
+reflected from diamonds! It will be a magnificent sight when we get to
+my palace."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it much farther?" asked Proserpina. "And will you carry me back when
+I have seen it?"</p>
+
+<p>"We will talk of that by and by," answered Pluto. "We are just entering
+my dominions. Do you see that tall gateway before us? When we pass those
+gates, we are at home. And there lies my faithful mastiff at the
+threshold. Cerberus! Cerberus! Come hither, my good dog!"</p>
+
+<p>So saying, Pluto pulled at the reins, and stopped the chariot right
+between the tall, massive pillars of the gateway. The mastiff of which
+he had spoken got up from the threshold and stood on his hinder legs, so
+as to put his fore paws on the chariot wheel. But, my stars, what a
+strange dog it was! Why, he was a big, rough, ugly-looking monster, with
+three separate heads, and each of them fiercer than the two others; but,
+fierce as they were, King Pluto patted them all. He seemed as fond of
+his three-headed dog as if it had been a sweet little spaniel with
+silken ears and curly hair. Cerberus, on the other hand, was evidently
+rejoiced to see his master, and expressed his attachment, as other dogs
+do, by wagging his tail at a great rate. Proserpina's eyes being drawn
+to it by its brisk motion, she saw that this tail was neither more nor
+less than a live dragon, with fiery eyes, and fangs that had a very
+poisonous aspect. And while the three-headed Cerberus was fawning so
+lovingly on King Pluto, there was the dragon tail wagging against its
+will, and looking as cross and ill-natured as you can imagine, on its
+own separate account.</p>
+
+<p>"Will the dog bite me?" asked Proserpina, shrinking closer to Pluto.
+"What an ugly creature he is!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, never fear," answered her companion. "He never harms people, unless
+they try to enter my dominions without being sent for, or to get away
+when I wish to keep them here. Down, Cerberus! Now, my pretty
+Proserpina, we will drive on."</p>
+
+<p>On went the chariot, and King Pluto seemed greatly pleased to find
+himself once more in his own kingdom. He drew Proserpina's attention to
+the rich veins of gold that were to be seen among the rocks, and pointed
+to several places where one stroke of a pickaxe would loosen a bushel of
+diamonds. All along the road, indeed, there were sparkling gems which
+would have been of inestimable value above ground, but which were here
+reckoned of the meaner sort and hardly worth a beggar's stooping for.</p>
+
+<p>Not far from the gateway they came to a bridge which seemed to be built
+of iron, Pluto stopped the chariot, and bade Proserpina look at the
+stream which was gliding so lazily beneath it. Never in her life had she
+beheld so torpid, so black, so muddy looking a stream: its waters
+reflected no images of anything that was on the banks, and it moved as
+sluggishly as if it had quite forgotten which way it ought to flow, and
+had rather stagnate than flow either one way or the other.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the river Lethe," observed King Pluto. "Is it not a very
+pleasant stream?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think it a very dismal one," said Proserpina.</p>
+
+<p>"It suits my taste, however," answered Pluto, who was apt to be sullen
+when anybody disagreed with him. "At all events, its water has one very
+excellent quality; for a single draught of it makes people forget every
+care and sorrow that has hitherto tormented them. Only sip a little of
+it, my dear Proserpina, and you will instantly cease to grieve for your
+mother, and will have nothing in your memory that can prevent your being
+perfectly happy in my palace. I will send for some, in a golden goblet,
+the moment we arrive."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, no, no!" cried Proserpina, weeping afresh. "I had a thousand
+times rather be miserable with remembering my mother, than be happy in
+forgetting her. That dear, dear mother! I never, never will forget her."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall see," said King Pluto. "You do not know what fine times we
+will have in my palace. Here we are just at the portal. These pillars
+are solid gold, I assure you."</p>
+
+<p>He alighted from the chariot, and taking Proserpina in his arms, carried
+her up a lofty flight of steps into the great hall of the palace. It
+was splendidly illuminated by means of large precious stones of various
+hues, which seemed to burn like so many lamps and glowed with a
+hundred-fold radiance all through the vast apartment. And yet there was
+a kind of gloom in the midst of this enchanted light; nor was there a
+single object in the hall that was really agreeable to behold, except
+the little Proserpina herself, a lovely child, with one earthly flower
+which she had not let fall from her hand. It is my opinion that even
+King Pluto had never been happy in his palace, and that this was the
+true reason why he had stolen away Proserpina, in order that he might
+have something to love, instead of cheating his heart any longer with
+this tiresome magnificence. And though he pretended to dislike the
+sunshine of the upper world, yet the effect of the child's presence,
+bedimmed as she was by her tears, was as if a faint and watery sunbeam
+had somehow or other found its way into the enchanted hall.</p>
+
+<p>Pluto now summoned his domestics, and bade them lose no time in
+preparing a most sumptuous banquet, and above all things not to fail of
+setting a golden beaker of the water of Lethe by Proserpina's plate.</p>
+
+<p>"I will neither drink that nor anything else," said Proserpina. "Nor
+will I taste a morsel of food, even if you keep me forever in your
+palace."</p>
+
+<p>"I should be sorry for that," replied King Pluto, patting her cheek; for
+he really wished to be kind, if he had only known how. "You are a
+spoiled child, I perceive, my little Proserpina; but when you see the
+nice things which my cook will make for you, your appetite will quickly
+come again."</p>
+
+<p>Then, sending for the head cook, he gave strict orders that all sorts
+of delicacies, such as young people are usually fond of, should be set
+before Proserpina. He had a secret motive in this; for, you are to
+understand, it is a fixed law that, when persons are carried off to the
+land of magic, if they once taste any food there, they can never get
+back to their friends. Now, if King Pluto had been cunning enough to
+offer Proserpina some fruit, or bread and milk (which was the simple
+fare to which the child had always been accustomed), it is very probable
+that she would soon have been tempted to eat it. But he left the matter
+entirely to his cook, who, like all other cooks, considered nothing fit
+to eat unless it were rich pastry, or highly seasoned meat, or spiced
+sweet cakes&mdash;things which Proserpina's mother had never given her, and
+the smell of which quite took away her appetite, instead of sharpening
+it.</p>
+
+<p>But my story must now clamber out of King Pluto's dominions, and see
+what Mother Ceres has been about since she was bereft of her daughter.
+We had a glimpse of her, as you remember, half hidden among the waving
+grain, while the four black steeds were swiftly whirling along the
+chariot in which her beloved Proserpina was so unwillingly borne away.
+You recollect, too, the loud scream which Proserpina gave, just when the
+chariot was out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>Of all the child's outcries, this last shriek was the only one that
+reached the ears of Mother Ceres. She had mistaken the rumbling of the
+chariot wheels for a peal of thunder, and imagined that a shower was
+coming up, and that it would assist her in making the corn grow. But, at
+the sound of Proserpina's shriek, she started, and looked about in every
+direction, not knowing whence it came, but feeling almost certain that
+it was her daughter's voice. It seemed so unaccountable, however, that
+the girl should have strayed over so many lands and seas (which she
+herself could not have traversed without the aid of her winged dragons),
+that the good Ceres tried to believe that it must be the child of some
+other parent, and not her own darling Proserpina who had uttered this
+lamentable cry. Nevertheless, it troubled her with a vast many tender
+fears, such as are ready to bestir themselves in every mother's heart,
+when she finds it necessary to go away from her dear children without
+leaving them under the care of some maiden aunt, or other such faithful
+guardian. So she quickly left the field in which she had been so busy;
+and, as her work was not half done, the grain looked, next day, as if it
+needed both sun and rain, and as if it were blighted in the ear and had
+something the matter with its roots.</p>
+
+<p>The pair of dragons must have had very nimble wings; for, in less than
+an hour, Mother Ceres had alighted at the door of her home and found it
+empty. Knowing, however, that the child was fond of sporting on the
+seashore, she hastened thither as fast as she could, and there beheld
+the wet faces of the poor sea nymphs peeping over a wave. All this
+while, the good creatures had been waiting on the bank of sponge, and,
+once every half-minute or so, had popped up their four heads above
+water, to see if their playmate were yet coming back. When they saw
+Mother Ceres, they sat down on the crest of the surf wave, and let it
+toss them ashore at her feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Proserpina?" cried Ceres. "Where is my child? Tell me, you
+naughty sea nymphs, have you enticed her under the sea?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, good Mother Ceres," said the innocent sea nymphs, tossing back
+their green ringlets and looking her in the face. "We never should dream
+of such a thing. Proserpina has been at play with us, it is true; but
+she left us a long while ago, meaning only to run a little way upon the
+dry land and gather some flowers for a wreath. This was early in the
+day, and we have seen nothing of her since."</p>
+
+<p>Ceres scarcely waited to hear what the nymphs had to say before she
+hurried off to make inquiries all through the neighbourhood. But nobody
+told her anything that could enable the poor mother to guess what had
+become of Proserpina. A fisherman, it is true, had noticed her little
+footprints in the sand, as he went homeward along the beach with a
+basket of fish; a rustic had seen the child stooping to gather flowers;
+several persons had heard either the rattling of chariot wheels or the
+rumbling of distant thunder; and one old woman, while plucking vervain
+and catnip, had heard a scream, but supposed it to be some childish
+nonsense, and therefore did not take the trouble to look up. The stupid
+people! It took them such a tedious while to tell the nothing that they
+knew, that it was dark night before Mother Ceres found out that she must
+seek her daughter elsewhere. So she lighted a torch, and set forth,
+resolving never to come back until Proserpina was discovered.</p>
+
+<p>In her haste and trouble of mind, she quite forgot her car and the
+winged dragons; or, it may be, she thought that she could follow up the
+search more thoroughly on foot. At all events, this was the way in which
+she began her sorrowful journey, holding her torch before her, and
+looking carefully at every object along the path. And as it happened,
+she had not gone far before she found one of the magnificent flowers
+which grew on the shrub that Proserpina had pulled up.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha!" thought Mother Ceres, examining it by torchlight. "Here is
+mischief in this flower! The earth did not produce it by any help of
+mine, nor of its own accord. It is the work of enchantment, and is
+therefore poisonous; and perhaps it has poisoned my poor child."</p>
+
+<p>But she put the poisonous flower in her bosom, not knowing whether she
+might ever find any other memorial of Proserpina.</p>
+
+<p>All night long, at the door of every cottage and farmhouse, Ceres
+knocked and called up the weary labourers to inquire if they had seen
+her child; and they stood, gaping and half asleep, at the threshold, and
+answered her pityingly, and besought her to come in and rest. At the
+portal of every palace, too, she made so loud a summons that the menials
+hurried to throw open the gate, thinking that it must be some great king
+or queen, who would demand a banquet for supper and a stately chamber to
+repose in. And when they saw only a sad and anxious woman, with a torch
+in her hand and a wreath of withered poppies on her head, they spoke
+rudely, and sometimes threatened to set the dogs upon her. But nobody
+had seen Proserpina, nor could give Mother Ceres the least hint which
+way to seek her. Thus passed the night; and still she continued her
+search without sitting down to rest, or stopping to take food, or even
+remembering to put out the torch; although first the rosy dawn, and then
+the glad light of the morning sun, made its red flame look thin and
+pale. But I wonder what sort of stuff this torch was made of; for it
+burned dimly through the day, and, at night, was as bright as ever, and
+never was extinguished by the rain or wind in all the weary days and
+nights while Ceres was seeking for Proserpina.</p>
+
+<p>It was not merely of human beings that she asked tidings of her
+daughter. In the woods and by the streams she met creatures of another
+nature, who used, in those old times, to haunt the pleasant and solitary
+places, and were very sociable with persons who understood their
+language and customs, as Mother Ceres did. Sometimes, for instance, she
+tapped with her finger against the knotted trunk of a majestic oak; and
+immediately its rude bark would cleave asunder, and forth would step a
+beautiful maiden, who was the hamadryad of the oak, dwelling inside of
+it, and sharing its long life, and rejoicing when its green leaves
+sported with the breeze. But not one of these leafy damsels had seen
+Proserpina. Then, going a little farther, Ceres would, perhaps, come to
+a fountain gushing out of a pebbly hollow in the earth, and would dabble
+with her hand in the water. Behold, up through its sandy and pebbly bed,
+along with the fountain's gush, a young woman with dripping hair would
+arise, and stand gazing at Mother Ceres, half out of the water, and
+undulating up and down with its ever-restless motion. But when the
+mother asked whether her poor lost child had stopped to drink out of the
+fountain, the naiad, with weeping eyes (for these water nymphs had tears
+to spare for everybody's grief), would answer, "No!" in a murmuring
+voice, which was just like the murmur of the stream.</p>
+
+<p>Often, likewise, she encountered fauns, who looked like sunburnt country
+people, except that they had hairy ears, and little horns upon their
+foreheads, and the hinder legs of goats, on which they gambolled merrily
+about the woods and fields. They were a frolicsome kind of creature,
+but grew as sad as their cheerful dispositions would allow when Ceres
+inquired for her daughter, and they had no good news to tell. But
+sometimes she came suddenly upon a rude gang of satyrs, who had faces
+like monkeys and horses' tails behind them, and who were generally
+dancing in a very boisterous manner, with shouts of noisy laughter. When
+she stopped to question them, they would only laugh the louder and make
+new merriment out of the lone woman's distress. How unkind of those ugly
+satyrs! And once, while crossing a solitary sheep pasture, she saw a
+personage named Pan, seated at the foot of a tall rock and making music
+on a shepherd's flute. He, too, had horns, and hairy ears, and goat's
+feet; but, being acquainted with Mother Ceres, he answered her question
+as civilly as he knew how, and invited her to taste some milk and honey
+out of a wooden bowl. But neither could Pan tell her what had become of
+Proserpina, any better than the rest of these wild people.</p>
+
+<p>And thus Mother Ceres went wandering about for nine long days and
+nights, finding no trace of Proserpina, unless it were now and then a
+withered flower; and these she picked up and put in her bosom, because
+she fancied that they might have fallen from her poor child's hand. All
+day she travelled onward through the hot sun; and at night, again, the
+flame of the torch would redden and gleam along the pathway, and she
+continued her search by its light, without ever sitting down to rest.</p>
+
+<p>On the tenth day, she chanced to espy the mouth of a cavern, within
+which (though it was bright noon everywhere else) there would have been
+only a dusky twilight; but it so happened that a torch was burning
+there. It flickered, and struggled with the duskiness, but could not
+half light up the gloomy cavern with all its melancholy glimmer. Ceres
+was resolved to leave no spot without a search; so she peeped into the
+entrance of the cave, and lighted it up a little more by holding her own
+torch before her. In so doing, she caught a glimpse of what seemed to be
+a woman, sitting on the brown leaves of the last autumn, a great heap of
+which had been swept into the cave by the wind. This woman (if woman it
+were) was by no means so beautiful as many of her sex; for her head,
+they tell me, was shaped very much like a dog's, and, by way of
+ornament, she wore a wreath of snakes around it. But Mother Ceres, the
+moment she saw her, knew that this was an odd kind of a person, who put
+all her enjoyment in being miserable, and never would have a word to say
+to other people, unless they were as melancholy and wretched as she
+herself delighted to be.</p>
+
+<p>"I am wretched enough now," thought poor Ceres, "to talk with this
+melancholy Hecate, were she ten times sadder than ever she was yet."</p>
+
+<p>So she stepped into the cave, and sat down on the withered leaves by the
+dog-headed woman's side. In all the world, since her daughter's loss,
+she had found no other companion.</p>
+
+<p>"O Hecate," said she, "if ever you lose a daughter, you will know what
+sorrow is. Tell me, for pity's sake, have you seen my poor child
+Proserpina pass by the mouth of your cavern?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," answered Hecate, in a cracked voice, and sighing betwixt every
+word or two&mdash;"no, Mother Ceres, I have seen nothing of your daughter.
+But my ears, you must know, are made in such a way that all cries of
+distress and affright, all over the world, are pretty sure to find
+their way to them; and nine days ago, as I sat in my cave, making myself
+very miserable, I heard the voice of a young girl shrieking as if in
+great distress. Something terrible has happened to the child, you may
+rest assured. As well as I could judge, a dragon, or some other cruel
+monster, was carrying her away."</p>
+
+<p>"You kill me by saying so," cried Ceres, almost ready to faint. "Where
+was the sound, and which way did it seem to go?"</p>
+
+<p>"It passed very swiftly along," said Hecate, "and, at the same time,
+there was a heavy rumbling of wheels toward the eastward. I can tell you
+nothing more, except that, in my honest opinion, you will never see your
+daughter again. The best advice I can give you is to take up your abode
+in this cavern, where we will be the two most wretched women in the
+world."</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet, dark Hecate," replied Ceres. "But do you first come with your
+torch, and help me to seek for my lost child. And when there shall be no
+more hope of finding her (if that black day is ordained to come), then,
+if you will give me room to fling myself down, either on these withered
+leaves or on the naked rock, I will show you what it is to be miserable.
+But, until I know that she has perished from the face of the earth, I
+will not allow myself space even to grieve."</p>
+
+<p>The dismal Hecate did not much like the idea of going abroad into the
+sunny world. But then she reflected that the sorrow of the disconsolate
+Ceres would be like a gloomy twilight round about them both, let the sun
+shine ever so brightly, and that therefore she might enjoy her bad
+spirits quite as well as if she were to stay in the cave. So she finally
+consented to go, and they set out together, both carrying torches,
+although it was broad daylight and clear sunshine. The torchlight
+seemed to make a gloom; so that the people whom they met along the road
+could not very distinctly see their figures; and, indeed, if they once
+caught a glimpse of Hecate, with the wreath of snakes round her
+forehead, they generally thought it prudent to run away without waiting
+for a second glance.</p>
+
+<p>As the pair travelled along in this woebegone manner, a thought struck
+Ceres.</p>
+
+<p>"There is one person," she exclaimed, "who must have seen my poor child,
+and can doubtless tell what has become of her. Why did not I think of
+him before? It is Phœbus."</p>
+
+<p>"What," said Hecate, "the young man that always sits in the sunshine?
+Oh, pray do not think of going near him. He is a gay, light, frivolous
+young fellow, and will only smile in your face. And besides, there is
+such a glare of the sun about him that he will quite blind my poor eyes,
+which I have almost wept away already."</p>
+
+<p>"You have promised to be my companion," answered Ceres. "Come, let us
+make haste, or the sunshine will be gone, and Phœbus along with it."</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, they went along in quest of Phœbus, both of them sighing
+grievously, and Hecate, to say the truth, making a great deal worse
+lamentation than Ceres; for all the pleasure she had, you know, lay in
+being miserable, and therefore she made the most of it. By and by, after
+a pretty long journey, they arrived at the sunniest spot in the whole
+world. There they beheld a beautiful young man, with long, curling
+ringlets, which seemed to be made of golden sunbeams; his garments were
+like light summer clouds; and the expression of his face was so
+exceedingly vivid that Hecate held her hands before her eyes, muttering
+that he ought to wear a black veil. Phœbus (for this was the very
+person whom they were seeking) had a lyre in his hands, and was making
+its chords tremble with sweet music; at the same time singing a most
+exquisite song, which he had recently composed. For, besides a great
+many other accomplishments, this young man was renowned for his
+admirable poetry.</p>
+
+<p>As Ceres and her dismal companion approached him, Phœbus smiled on
+them so cheerfully that Hecate's wreath of snakes gave a spiteful hiss,
+and Hecate heartily wished herself back in her cave. But as for Ceres,
+she was too earnest in her grief either to know or care whether
+Phœbus smiled or frowned.</p>
+
+<p>"Phœbus!" exclaimed she, "I am in great trouble, and have come to you
+for assistance. Can you tell me what has become of my dear child
+Proserpina?"</p>
+
+<p>"Proserpina! Proserpina, did you call her name?" answered Phœbus,
+endeavouring to recollect; for there was such a continual flow of
+pleasant ideas in his mind that he was apt to forget what had happened
+no longer ago than yesterday. "Ah, yes, I remember her now. A very
+lovely child, indeed. I am happy to tell you, my dear madam, that I did
+see the little Proserpina not many days ago. You may make yourself
+perfectly easy about her. She is safe, and in excellent hands."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, where is my dear child?" cried Ceres, clasping her hands and
+flinging herself at his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Why," said Phœbus&mdash;and as he spoke, he kept touching his lyre so as
+to make a thread of music run in and out among his words&mdash;"as the little
+damsel was gathering flowers (and she has really a very exquisite taste
+for flowers) she was suddenly snatched up by King Pluto and carried off
+to his dominions. I have never been in that part of the universe; but
+the royal palace, I am told, is built in a very noble style of
+architecture, and of the most splendid and costly materials. Gold,
+diamonds, pearls, and all manner of precious stones will be your
+daughter's ordinary playthings. I recommend to you, my dear lady, to
+give yourself no uneasiness. Proserpina's sense of beauty will be duly
+gratified, and, even in spite of the lack of sunshine, she will lead a
+very enviable life."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush! Say not such a word!" answered Ceres, indignantly. "What is there
+to gratify her heart? What are all the splendours you speak of, without
+affection? I must have her back again. Will you go with me, Phœbus,
+to demand my daughter of this wicked Pluto?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pray excuse me," replied Phœbus, with an elegant obeisance. "I
+certainly wish you success, and regret that my own affairs are so
+immediately pressing that I cannot have the pleasure of attending you.
+Besides, I am not upon the best of terms with King Pluto. To tell you
+the truth, his three-headed mastiff would never let me pass the gateway;
+for I should be compelled to take a sheaf of sunbeams along with me, and
+those, you know, are forbidden things in Pluto's kingdom."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Phœbus," said Ceres, with bitter meaning in her words, "you have
+a harp instead of a heart. Farewell."</p>
+
+<p>"Will not you stay a moment," asked Phœbus, "and hear me turn the
+pretty and touching story of Proserpina into extemporary verses?"</p>
+
+<p>But Ceres shook her head, and hastened away, along with Hecate.
+Phœbus (who, as I have told you, was an exquisite poet) forthwith
+began to make an ode about the poor mother's grief; and, if we were to
+judge of his sensibility by this beautiful production, he must have
+been endowed with a very tender heart. But when a poet gets into the
+habit of using his heartstrings to make chords for his lyre, he may
+thrum upon them as much as he will, without any great pain to himself.
+Accordingly, though Phœbus sang a very sad song, he was as merry all
+the while as were the sunbeams amid which he dwelt.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Mother Ceres had now found out what had become of her daughter, but
+was not a whit happier than before. Her case, on the contrary, looked
+more desperate than ever. As long as Proserpina was above ground there
+might have been hopes of regaining her. But now, that the poor child was
+shut up within the iron gates of the king of the mines, at the threshold
+of which lay the three-headed Cerberus, there seemed no possibility of
+her ever making her escape. The dismal Hecate, who loved to take the
+darkest view of things, told Ceres that she had better come with her to
+the cavern, and spend the rest of her life in being miserable. Ceres
+answered that Hecate was welcome to go back thither herself, but that,
+for her part, she would wander about the earth in quest of the entrance
+to King Pluto's dominions. And Hecate took her at her word, and hurried
+back to her beloved cave, frightening a great many little children with
+a glimpse of her dog's face as she went.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Mother Ceres! It is melancholy to think of her, pursuing her
+toilsome way all alone, and holding up that never-dying torch, the flame
+of which seemed an emblem of the grief and hope that burned together in
+her heart. So much did she suffer that, though her aspect had been quite
+youthful when her troubles began, she grew to look like an elderly
+person in a very brief time. She cared not how she was dressed, nor had
+she ever thought of flinging away the wreath of withered poppies which
+she put on the very morning of Proserpina's disappearance. She roamed
+about in so wild a way, and with her hair so dishevelled, that people
+took her for some distracted creature, and never dreamed that this was
+Mother Ceres, who had the oversight of every seed which the husband-man
+planted. Nowadays, however, she gave herself no trouble about seed time
+nor harvest, but left the farmers to take care of their own affairs, and
+the crops to fade or flourish, as the case might be. There was nothing,
+now, in which Ceres seemed to feel an interest, unless when she saw
+children at play, or gathering flowers along the wayside. Then, indeed,
+she would stand and gaze at them with tears in her eyes. The children,
+too, appeared to have a sympathy with her grief, and would cluster
+themselves in a little group about her knees, and look up wistfully in
+her face; and Ceres, after giving them a kiss all round, would lead them
+to their homes, and advise their mothers never to let them stray out of
+sight.</p>
+
+<p>"For if they do," said she, "it may happen to you, as it has to me, that
+the iron-hearted King Pluto will take a liking to your darlings, and
+snatch them up in his chariot, and carry them away."</p>
+
+<p>One day, during her pilgrimage in quest of the entrance to Pluto's
+kingdom, she came to the palace of King Celeus, who reigned at Eleusis.
+Ascending a lofty flight of steps, she entered the portal, and found the
+royal household in very great alarm about the queen's baby. The infant,
+it seems, was sickly (being troubled with its teeth, I suppose), and
+would take no food, and was all the time moaning with pain. The
+queen&mdash;her name was Metanira&mdash;was desirous of finding a nurse; and when
+she beheld a woman of matronly aspect coming up the palace steps, she
+thought, in her own mind, that here was the very person whom she needed.
+So Queen Metanira ran to the door, with the poor wailing baby in her
+arms, and besought Ceres to take charge of it, or, at least, to tell her
+what would do it good.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you trust the child entirely to me?" asked Ceres.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and gladly, too," answered the queen, "if you will devote all your
+time to him. For I can see that you have been a mother."</p>
+
+<p>"You are right," said Ceres. "I once had a child of my own. Well; I will
+be the nurse of this poor, sickly boy. But beware, I warn you, that you
+do not interfere with any kind of treatment which I may judge proper for
+him. If you do so, the poor infant must suffer for his mother's folly."</p>
+
+<p>Then she kissed the child, and it seemed to do him good; for he smiled
+and nestled closely into her bosom.</p>
+
+<p>So Mother Ceres set her torch in a corner (where it kept burning all the
+while), and took up her abode in the palace of King Celeus, as nurse to
+the little Prince Demopho&ouml;n. She treated him as if he were her own
+child, and allowed neither the king nor the queen to say whether he
+should be bathed in warm or cold water, or what he should eat, or how
+often he should take the air, or when he should be put to bed. You would
+hardly believe me, if I were to tell how quickly the baby prince got rid
+of his ailments, and grew fat, and rosy, and strong, and how he had two
+rows of ivory teeth in less time than any other little fellow, before or
+since. Instead of the palest, and wretchedest, and puniest imp in the
+world (as his own mother confessed him to be when Ceres first took him
+in charge), he was now a strapping baby, crowing, laughing, kicking up
+his heels, and rolling from one end of the room to the other. All the
+good women of the neighbourhood crowded to the palace, and held up their
+hands, in unutterable amazement, at the beauty and wholesomeness of this
+darling little prince. Their wonder was the greater, because he was
+never seen to taste any food; not even so much as a cup of milk.</p>
+
+<p>"Pray, nurse," the queen kept saying, "how is it that you make the child
+thrive so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was a mother once," Ceres always replied; "and having nursed my own
+child, I know what other children need."</p>
+
+<p>But Queen Metanira, as was very natural, had a great curiosity to know
+precisely what the nurse did to her child. One night, therefore, she hid
+herself in the chamber where Ceres and the little prince were accustomed
+to sleep. There was a fire in the chimney, and it had now crumbled into
+great coals and embers, which lay glowing on the hearth, with a blaze
+flickering up now and then, and flinging a warm and ruddy light upon the
+walls. Ceres sat before the hearth with the child in her lap, and the
+fire-light making her shadow dance upon the ceiling overhead. She
+undressed the little prince, and bathed him all over with some fragrant
+liquid out of a vase. The next thing she did was to rake back the red
+embers, and make a hollow place among them, just where the backlog had
+been. At last, while the baby was crowing, and clapping its fat little
+hands, and laughing in the nurse's face (just as you may have seen your
+little brother or sister do before going into its warm bath), Ceres
+suddenly laid him, all naked as he was, in the hollow among the red-hot
+embers. She then raked the ashes over him, and turned quietly away.</p>
+
+<p>You may imagine, if you can, how Queen Metanira shrieked, thinking
+nothing less than that her dear child would be burned to a cinder. She
+burst forth from her hiding place, and running to the hearth, raked open
+the fire, and snatched up poor little Prince Demopho&ouml;n out of his bed of
+live coals, one of which he was griping in each of his fists. He
+immediately set up a grievous cry, as babies are apt to do when rudely
+startled out of a sound sleep. To the queen's astonishment and joy, she
+could perceive no token of the child's being injured by the hot fire in
+which he had lain. She now turned to Mother Ceres, and asked her to
+explain the mystery.</p>
+
+<p>"Foolish woman," answered Ceres, "did you not promise to intrust this
+poor infant entirely to me? You little know the mischief you have done
+him. Had you left him to my care, he would have grown up like a child of
+celestial birth, endowed with superhuman strength and intelligence, and
+would have lived forever. Do you imagine that earthly children are to
+become immortal without being tempered to it in the fiercest heat of the
+fire? But you have ruined your own son. For though he will be a strong
+man and a hero in his day, yet, on account of your folly, he will grow
+old, and finally die, like the sons of other women. The weak tenderness
+of his mother has cost the poor boy an immortality. Farewell."</p>
+
+<p>Saying these words, she kissed the little Prince Demopho&ouml;n, and sighed
+to think what he had lost, and took her departure without heeding Queen
+Metanira, who entreated her to remain, and cover up the child among the
+hot embers as often as she pleased. Poor baby! He never slept so warmly
+again.</p>
+
+<p>While she dwelt in the king's palace, Mother Ceres had been so
+continually occupied with taking care of the young prince that her
+heart was a little lightened of its grief for Proserpina. But now,
+having nothing else to busy herself about, she became just as wretched
+as before. At length, in her despair, she came to the dreadful
+resolution that not a stalk of grain, nor a blade of grass, not a
+potato, nor a turnip, nor any other vegetable that was good for man or
+beast to eat, should be suffered to grow until her daughter were
+restored. She even forbade the flowers to bloom, lest somebody's heart
+should be cheered by their beauty.</p>
+
+<p>Now, as not so much as a head of asparagus ever presumed to poke itself
+out of the ground without the especial permission of Ceres, you may
+conceive what a terrible calamity had here fallen upon the earth. The
+husbandmen ploughed and planted as usual; but there lay the rich black
+furrows, all as barren as a desert of sand. The pastures looked as brown
+in the sweet month of June as ever they did in chill November. The rich
+man's broad acres and the cottager's small garden patch were equally
+blighted. Every little girl's flower bed showed nothing but dry stalks.
+The old people shook their white heads, and said that the earth had
+grown aged like themselves, and was no longer capable of wearing the
+warm smile of summer on its face. It was really piteous to see the poor,
+starving cattle and sheep, how they followed behind Ceres, lowing and
+bleating, as if their instinct taught them to expect help from her; and
+everybody that was acquainted with her power besought her to have mercy
+on the human race, and, at all events, to let the grass grow. But Mother
+Ceres, though naturally of an affectionate disposition, was now
+inexorable.</p>
+
+<p>"Never," said she. "If the earth is ever again to see any verdure, it
+must first grow along the path which my daughter will tread in coming
+back to me."</p>
+
+<p>Finally, as there seemed to be no other remedy, our old friend
+Quicksilver was sent post haste to King Pluto, in hopes that he might be
+persuaded to undo the mischief he had done, and to set everything right
+again by giving up Proserpina. Quicksilver accordingly made the best of
+his way to the great gate, took a flying leap right over the
+three-headed mastiff, and stood at the door of the palace in an
+inconceivably short time. The servants knew him both by his face and
+garb; for his short cloak, and his winged cap and shoes, and his snaky
+staff had often been seen thereabouts in times gone by. He requested to
+be shown immediately into the king's presence; and Pluto, who heard his
+voice from the top of the stairs, and who loved to recreate himself with
+Quicksilver's merry talk, called out to him to come up. And while they
+settle their business together, we must inquire what Proserpina has been
+doing ever since we saw her last.</p>
+
+<p>The child had declared, as you may remember, that she would not taste a
+mouthful of food as long as she should be compelled to remain in King
+Pluto's palace. How she contrived to maintain her resolution, and at the
+same time to keep herself tolerably plump and rosy is more than I can
+explain; but some young ladies, I am given to understand, possess the
+faculty of living on air, and Proserpina seems to have possessed it too.
+At any rate, it was now six months since she left the outside of the
+earth; and not a morsel, so far as the attendants were able to testify,
+had yet passed between her teeth. This was the more creditable to
+Proserpina, inasmuch as King Pluto had caused her to be tempted day
+after day with all manner of sweetmeats, and richly preserved fruits,
+and delicacies of every sort, such as young people are generally most
+fond of. But her good mother had often told her of the hurtfulness of
+these things; and for that reason alone, if there had been no other, she
+would have resolutely refused to taste them.</p>
+
+<p>All this time, being of a cheerful and active disposition, the little
+damsel was not quite so unhappy as you may have supposed. The immense
+palace had a thousand rooms, and was full of beautiful and wonderful
+objects. There was a never-ceasing gloom, it is true, which half hid
+itself among the innumerable pillars, gliding before the child as she
+wandered among them, and treading stealthily behind her in the echo of
+her footsteps. Neither was all the dazzle of the precious stones, which
+flamed with their own light, worth one gleam of natural sunshine; nor
+could the most brilliant of the many-coloured gems, which Proserpina had
+for playthings, vie with the simple beauty of the flowers she used to
+gather. But still, wherever the girl went, among those gilded halls and
+chambers, it seemed as if she carried nature and sunshine along with
+her, and as if she scattered dewy blossoms on her right hand and on her
+left. After Proserpina came, the palace was no longer the same abode of
+stately artifice and dismal magnificence that it had before been. The
+inhabitants all felt this, and King Pluto more than any of them.</p>
+
+<p>"My own little Proserpina," he used to say, "I wish you could like me a
+little better. We gloomy and cloudy-natured persons have often as warm
+hearts at bottom as those of a more cheerful character. If you would
+only stay with me of your own accord, it would make me happier than the
+possession of a hundred such palaces as this."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah," said Proserpina, "you should have tried to make me like you before
+carrying me off. And the best thing you can do now is to let me go
+again. Then I might remember you sometimes, and think that you were as
+kind as you knew how to be. Perhaps, too, one day or other, I might come
+back, and pay you a visit."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," answered Pluto, with his gloomy smile, "I will not trust you
+for that. You are too fond of living in the broad daylight, and
+gathering flowers. What an idle and childish taste that is! Are not
+these gems, which I have ordered to be dug for you, and which are richer
+than any in my crown&mdash;are they not prettier than a violet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not half so pretty," said Proserpina, snatching the gems from Pluto's
+hand, and flinging them to the other end of the hall. "Oh, my sweet
+violets, shall I never see you again?"</p>
+
+<p>And then she burst into tears. But young people's tears have very little
+saltness or acidity in them, and do not inflame the eyes so much as
+those of grown persons; so that it is not to be wondered at if, a few
+moments afterward, Proserpina was sporting through the hall almost as
+merrily as she and the four sea nymphs had sported along the edge of the
+surf wave. King Pluto gazed after her, and wished that he, too, was a
+child. And little Proserpina, when she turned about and beheld this
+great king standing in his splendid hall, and looking so grand, and so
+melancholy, and so lonesome, was smitten with a kind of pity. She ran
+back to him, and, for the first time in all her life, put her small soft
+hand in his.</p>
+
+<p>"I love you a little," whispered she, looking up in his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you, indeed, my dear child?" cried Pluto, bending his dark face down
+to kiss her; but Proserpina shrank away from the kiss, for though his
+features were noble, they were very dusky and grim. "Well, I have not
+deserved it of you, after keeping you a prisoner for so many months, and
+starving you, besides. Are you not terribly hungry? Is there nothing
+which I can get you to eat?"</p>
+
+<p>In asking this question, the king of the mines had a very cunning
+purpose; for, you will recollect, if Proserpina tasted a morsel of food
+in his dominions, she would never afterward be at liberty to quit them.</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed," said Proserpina. "Your head cook is always baking, and
+stewing, and roasting, and rolling out paste, and contriving one dish or
+another, which he imagines may be to my liking. But he might just as
+well save himself the trouble, poor, fat little man that he is. I have
+no appetite for anything in the world, unless it were a slice of bread
+of my mother's own baking, or a little fruit out of her garden."</p>
+
+<p>When Pluto heard this, he began to see that he had mistaken the best
+method of tempting Proserpina to eat. The cook's made dishes and
+artificial dainties were not half so delicious in the good child's
+opinion as the simple fare to which Mother Ceres had accustomed her.
+Wondering that he had never thought of it before, the king now sent one
+of his trusty attendants, with a large basket, to get some of the finest
+and juiciest pears, peaches and plums which could anywhere be found in
+the upper world. Unfortunately, however, this was during the time when
+Ceres had forbidden any fruits or vegetables to grow; and, after seeking
+all over the earth, King Pluto's servant found only a single
+pomegranate, and that so dried up as to be not worth eating.
+Nevertheless, since there was no better to be had, he brought this dry,
+old, withered pomegranate home to the palace, put it on a magnificent
+golden salver, and carried it up to Proserpina. Now it happened,
+curiously enough, that, just as the servant was bringing the pomegranate
+into the back door of the palace, our friend Quicksilver had gone up the
+front steps, on his errand to get Proserpina away from King Pluto.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as Proserpina saw the pomegranate on the golden salver, she told
+the servant he had better take it away again.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not touch it, I assure you," said she. "If I were ever so
+hungry, I should never think of eating such a miserable, dry pomegranate
+as that."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the only one in the world," said the servant. He set down the
+golden salver, with the wizened pomegranate upon it, and left the room.
+When he was gone, Proserpina could not help coming close to the table,
+and looking at this poor specimen of dried fruit with a great deal of
+eagerness; for, to say the truth, on seeing something that suited her
+taste, she felt all the six months' appetite taking possession of her at
+once. To be sure, it was a very wretched looking pomegranate, and seemed
+to have no more juice in it than an oyster shell. But there was no
+choice of such things in King Pluto's palace. This was the first fruit
+she had seen there, and the last she was ever likely to see; and unless
+she ate it up immediately, it would grow drier than it already was, and
+be wholly unfit to eat.</p>
+
+<p>"At least, I may smell it," thought Proserpina.</p>
+
+<p>So she took up the pomegranate, and applied it to her nose; and, somehow
+or other, being in such close neighbourhood to her mouth, the fruit
+found its way into that little red cave. Dear me! what an everlasting
+pity! Before Proserpina knew what she was about, her teeth had actually
+bitten it, of their own accord. Just as this fatal deed was done, the
+door of the apartment opened, and in came King Pluto, followed by
+Quicksilver, who had been urging him to let his little prisoner go. At
+the first noise of their entrance, Proserpina withdrew the pomegranate
+from her mouth. But Quicksilver (whose eyes were very keen, and his wits
+the sharpest that ever anybody had) perceived that the child was a
+little confused; and seeing the empty salver, he suspected that she had
+been taking a sly nibble of something or other. As for honest Pluto, he
+never guessed at the secret.</p>
+
+<p>"My little Proserpina," said the king, sitting down, and affectionately
+drawing her between his knees, "here is Quicksilver, who tells me that a
+great many misfortunes have befallen innocent people on account of my
+detaining you in my dominions. To confess the truth, I myself had
+already reflected that it was an unjustifiable act to take you away from
+your good mother. But, then, you must consider, my dear child, that this
+vast palace is apt to be gloomy (although the precious stones certainly
+shine very bright), and that I am not of the most cheerful disposition,
+and that therefore it was a natural thing enough to seek for the society
+of some merrier creature than myself. I hoped you would take my crown
+for a plaything, and me&mdash;ah, you laugh, naughty Proserpina&mdash;me, grim as
+I am, for a playmate. It was a silly expectation."</p>
+
+<p>"Not so extremely silly," whispered Proserpina. "You have really amused
+me very much, sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," said King Pluto, rather dryly. "But I can see, plainly
+enough, that you think my palace a dusky prison, and me the iron-hearted
+keeper of it. And an iron heart I should surely have, if I could detain
+you here any longer, my poor child, when it is now six months since you
+tasted food. I give you your liberty. Go with Quicksilver. Hasten home
+to your dear mother."</p>
+
+<p>Now, although you may not have supposed it, Proserpina found it
+impossible to take leave of poor King Pluto without some regrets, and a
+good deal of compunction for not telling him about the pomegranate. She
+even shed a tear or two, thinking how lonely and cheerless the great
+palace would seem to him, with all its ugly glare of artificial light,
+after she herself&mdash;his one little ray of natural sunshine, whom he had
+stolen, to be sure, but only because he valued her so much&mdash;after she
+should have departed. I know not how many kind things she might have
+said to the disconsolate king of the mines, had not Quicksilver hurried
+her away.</p>
+
+<p>"Come along quickly," whispered he in her ear, "or His Majesty may
+change his royal mind. And take care, above all things, that you say
+nothing of what was brought you on the golden salver."</p>
+
+<p>In a very short time they had passed the great gateway (leaving the
+three-headed Cerberus barking, and yelping, and growling, with threefold
+din, behind them), and emerged upon the surface of the earth. It was
+delightful to behold, as Proserpina hastened along, how the path grew
+verdant behind and on either side of her. Wherever she set her blessed
+foot, there was at once a dewy flower. The violets gushed up along the
+wayside. The grass and the grain began to sprout with tenfold vigour
+and luxuriance, to make up for the dreary months that had been wasted in
+barrenness. The starved cattle immediately set to work grazing, after
+their long fast, and ate enormously all day, and got up at midnight to
+eat more. But I can assure you it was a busy time of year with the
+farmers, when they found the summer coming upon them with such a rush.
+Nor must I forget to say that all the birds in the whole world hopped
+about upon the newly blossoming trees, and sang together in a prodigious
+ecstasy of joy.</p>
+
+<p>Mother Ceres had returned to her deserted home, and was sitting
+disconsolately on the doorstep, with her torch burning in her hand. She
+had been idly watching the flame for some moments past, when all at once
+it flickered and went out.</p>
+
+<p>"What does this mean?" thought she. "It was an enchanted torch, and
+should have kept burning till my child came back."</p>
+
+<p>Lifting her eyes, she was surprised to see a sudden verdure flashing
+over the brown and barren fields, exactly as you may have observed a
+golden hue gleaming far and wide across the landscape, from the just
+risen sun.</p>
+
+<p>"Does the earth disobey me?" exclaimed Mother Ceres, indignantly. "Does
+it presume to be green, when I have bidden it be barren, until my
+daughter shall be restored to my arms?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then open your arms, dear mother," cried a well-known voice, "and take
+your little daughter into them."</p>
+
+<p>And Proserpina came running, and flung herself upon her mother's bosom.
+Their mutual transport is not to be described. The grief of their
+separation had caused both of them to shed a great many tears; and now
+they shed a great many more, because their joy could not so well express
+itself in any other way.</p>
+
+<p>When their hearts had grown a little more quiet, Mother Ceres looked
+anxiously at Proserpina.</p>
+
+<p>"My child," said she, "did you taste any food while you were in King
+Pluto's palace?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dearest mother," answered Proserpina, "I will tell you the whole truth.
+Until this very morning, not a morsel of food had passed my lips. But
+to-day, they brought me a pomegranate (a very dry one it was, and all
+shrivelled up, till there was little left of it but seeds and skin), and
+having seen no fruit for so long a time, and being faint with hunger, I
+was tempted just to bite it. The instant I tasted it, King Pluto and
+Quicksilver came into the room. I had not swallowed a morsel; but&mdash;dear
+mother, I hope it was no harm&mdash;but six of the pomegranate seeds, I am
+afraid, remained in my mouth."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, unfortunate child, and miserable me!" exclaimed Ceres. "For each of
+those six pomegranate seeds you must spend one month of every year in
+King Pluto's palace. You are but half restored to your mother. Only six
+months with me, and six with that good-for-nothing King of Darkness!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do not speak so harshly of poor King Pluto," said Proserpina, kissing
+her mother. "He has some very good qualities; and I really think I can
+bear to spend six months in his palace, if he will only let me spend the
+other six with you. He certainly did very wrong to carry me off; but
+then, as he says, it was but a dismal sort of life for him, to live in
+that great gloomy place, all alone; and it has made a wonderful change
+in his spirits to have a little girl to run up stairs and down. There
+is some comfort in making him so happy; and so, upon the whole, dearest
+mother, let us be thankful that he is not to keep me the whole year
+round."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br />
+THE CHIMÆRA</h2>
+
+<p>Once, in the old, old times (for all the strange things which I tell you
+about happened long before anybody can remember), a fountain gushed out
+of a hillside, in the marvellous land of Greece. And, for aught I know,
+after so many thousand years, it is still gushing out of the very
+selfsame spot. At any rate, there was the pleasant fountain, welling
+freshly forth and sparkling adown the hillside, in the golden sunset,
+when a handsome young man named Bellerophon drew near its margin. In his
+hand he held a bridle, studded with brilliant gems, and adorned with a
+golden bit. Seeing an old man, and another of middle age, and a little
+boy, near the fountain, and likewise a maiden, who was dipping up some
+of the water in a pitcher, he paused, and begged that he might refresh
+himself with a draught.</p>
+
+<p>"This is very delicious water," he said to the maiden as he rinsed and
+filled her pitcher, after drinking out of it. "Will you be kind enough
+to tell me whether the fountain has any name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; it is called the Fountain of Pirene," answered the maiden; and
+then she added, "My grandmother has told me that this clear fountain was
+once a beautiful woman; and when her son was killed by the arrows of the
+huntress Diana, she melted all away into tears. And so the water, which
+you find so cool and sweet, is the sorrow of that poor mother's heart!"</p>
+
+<p>"I should not have dreamed," observed the young stranger, "that so clear
+a well-spring, with its gush and gurgle, and its cheery dance out of the
+shade into the sunlight, had so much as one tear-drop in its bosom! And
+this, then, is Pirene? I thank you, pretty maiden, for telling me its
+name. I have come from a far-away country to find this very spot."</p>
+
+<p>A middle-aged country fellow (he had driven his cow to drink out of the
+spring) stared hard at young Bellerophon, and at the handsome bridle
+which he carried in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"The watercourses must be getting low, friend, in your part of the
+world," remarked he, "if you come so far only to find the Fountain of
+Pirene. But, pray, have you lost a horse? I see you carry the bridle in
+your hand; and a very pretty one it is with that double row of bright
+stones upon it. If the horse was as fine as the bridle, you are much to
+be pitied for losing him."</p>
+
+<p>"I have lost no horse," said Bellerophon, with a smile. "But I happen to
+be seeking a very famous one, which, as wise people have informed me,
+must be found hereabouts, if anywhere. Do you know whether the winged
+horse Pegasus still haunts the Fountain of Pirene, as he used to do in
+your forefathers' days?"</p>
+
+<p>But then the country fellow laughed.</p>
+
+<p>Some of you, my little friends, have probably heard that this Pegasus
+was a snow-white steed, with beautiful silvery wings, who spent most of
+his time on the summit of Mount Helicon. He was as wild, and as swift,
+and as buoyant, in his flight through the air, as any eagle that ever
+soared into the clouds. There was nothing else like him in the world.
+He had no mate; he never had been backed or bridled by a master; and,
+for many a long year, he led a solitary and a happy life.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, how fine a thing it is to be a winged horse! Sleeping at night, as
+he did, on a lofty mountain-top, and passing the greater part of the day
+in the air, Pegasus seemed hardly to be a creature of the earth.
+Whenever he was seen, up very high above people's heads, with the
+sunshine on his silvery wings, you would have thought that he belonged
+to the sky, and that, skimming a little too low, he had got astray among
+our mists and vapours, and was seeking his way back again. It was very
+pretty to behold him plunge into the fleecy bosom of a bright cloud, and
+be lost in it, for a moment or two, and then break forth from the other
+side. Or, in a sullen rain storm, when there was a gray pavement of
+clouds over the whole sky, it would sometimes happen that the winged
+horse descended right through it, and the glad light of the upper region
+would gleam after him. In another instant, it is true, both Pegasus and
+the pleasant light would be gone away together. But anyone that was
+fortunate enough to see this wondrous spectacle felt cheerful the whole
+day afterward, and as much longer as the storm lasted.</p>
+
+<p>In the summer time, and in the beautifullest of weather, Pegasus often
+alighted on the solid earth, and, closing his silvery wings, would
+gallop over hill and dale for pastime, as fleetly as the wind. Oftener
+than in any other place, he had been seen near the Fountain of Pirene,
+drinking the delicious water, or rolling himself upon the soft grass of
+the margin. Sometimes, too (but Pegasus was very dainty in his food), he
+would crop a few of the clover blossoms that happened to be sweetest.</p>
+
+<p>To the Fountain of Pirene, therefore, people's great-grandfathers had
+been in the habit of going (as long as they were youthful and retained
+their faith in winged horses), in hopes of getting a glimpse at the
+beautiful Pegasus. But, of late years, he had been very seldom seen.
+Indeed, there were many of the country folks, dwelling within half an
+hour's walk of the fountain, who had never beheld Pegasus, and did not
+believe that there was any such creature in existence. The country
+fellow to whom Bellerophon was speaking chanced to be one of those
+incredulous persons.</p>
+
+<p>And that was the reason why he laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Pegasus, indeed!" cried he, turning up his nose as high as such a flat
+nose could be turned up&mdash;"Pegasus, indeed! A winged horse, truly! Why,
+friend, are you in your senses? Of what use would wings be to a horse?
+Could he drag the plough so well, think you? To be sure, there might be
+a little saving in the expense of shoes; but then, how would a man like
+to see his horse flying out of the stable window?&mdash;yes, or whisking him
+up above the clouds, when he only wanted to ride to mill? No, no! I
+don't believe in Pegasus. There never was such a ridiculous kind of a
+horse fowl made!"</p>
+
+<p>"I have some reason to think otherwise," said Bellerophon, quietly.</p>
+
+<p>And then he turned to an old, gray man, who was leaning on a staff, and
+listening very attentively, with his head stretched forward and one hand
+at his ear, because, for the last twenty years, he had been getting
+rather deaf.</p>
+
+<p>"And what say you, venerable sir?" inquired he, "In your younger days, I
+should imagine, you must frequently have seen the winged steed!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, young stranger, my memory is very poor!" said the aged man. "When I
+was a lad, if I remember rightly, I used to believe there was such a
+horse, and so did everybody else. But, nowadays, I hardly know what to
+think, and very seldom think about the winged horse at all. If I ever
+saw the creature, it was a long, long while ago; and, to tell you the
+truth, I doubt whether I ever did see him. One day, to be sure, when I
+was quite a youth, I remember seeing some hoof tramps round about the
+brink of the fountain. Pegasus might have made those hoof marks; and so
+might some other horse."</p>
+
+<p>"And have you never seen him, my fair maiden?" asked Bellerophon of the
+girl, who stood with the pitcher on her head, while this talk went on.
+"You certainly could see Pegasus, if anybody can, for your eyes are very
+bright."</p>
+
+<p>"Once I thought I saw him," replied the maiden, with a smile and a
+blush. "It was either Pegasus or a large white bird, a very great way up
+in the air. And one other time, as I was coming to the fountain with my
+pitcher, I heard a neigh. Oh, such a brisk and melodious neigh as that
+was! My very heart leaped with delight at the sound. But it startled me,
+nevertheless; so that I ran home without filling my pitcher."</p>
+
+<p>"That was truly a pity!" said Bellerophon.</p>
+
+<p>And he turned to the child, whom I mentioned at the beginning of the
+story, and who was gazing at him, as children are apt to gaze at
+strangers, with his rosy mouth wide open.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my little fellow," cried Bellerophon, playfully pulling one of
+his curls, "I suppose you have often seen the winged horse."</p>
+
+<p>"That I have," answered the child, very readily. "I saw him yesterday,
+and many times before."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a fine little man!" said Bellerophon, drawing the child closer
+to him. "Come, tell me all about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Why," replied the child, "I often come here to sail little boats in the
+fountain, and to gather pretty pebbles out of its basin. And sometimes,
+when I look down into the water, I see the image of the winged horse in
+the picture of the sky that is there. I wish he would come down, and
+take me on his back, and let me ride him up to the moon! But, if I so
+much as stir to look at him, he flies far away out of sight."</p>
+
+<p>And Bellerophon put his faith in the child, who had seen the image of
+Pegasus in the water, and in the maiden, who had heard him neigh so
+melodiously, rather than in the middle-aged clown, who believed only in
+cart horses, or in the old man who had forgotten the beautiful things of
+his youth.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, he haunted about the Fountain of Pirene for a great many days
+afterward. He kept continually on the watch, looking upward at the sky,
+or else down into the water, hoping forever that he should see either
+the reflected image of the winged horse, or the marvellous reality. He
+held the bridle, with its bright gems and golden bit, always ready in
+his hand. The rustic people who dwelt in the neighbourhood, and drove
+their cattle to the fountain to drink, would often laugh at poor
+Bellerophon, and sometimes take him pretty severely to task. They told
+him that an able-bodied young man like himself ought to have better
+business than to be wasting his time in such an idle pursuit. They
+offered to sell him a horse, if he wanted one; and when Bellerophon
+declined the purchase, they tried to drive a bargain with him for his
+fine bridle.</p>
+
+<p>Even the country boys thought him so very foolish that they used to have
+a great deal of sport about him, and were rude enough not to care a fig,
+although Bellerophon saw and heard it. One little urchin, for example,
+would play Pegasus, and cut the oddest imaginable capers, by way of
+flying; while one of his schoolfellows would scamper after him, holding
+forth a twist of bulrushes, which was intended to represent
+Bellerophon's ornamental bridle. But the gentle child, who had seen the
+picture of Pegasus in the water, comforted the young stranger more than
+all the naughty boys could torment him. The dear little fellow, in his
+play hours, often sat down beside him, and, without speaking a word,
+would look down into the fountain and up toward the sky, with so
+innocent a faith that Bellerophon could not help feeling encouraged.</p>
+
+<p>Now you will, perhaps, wish to be told why it was that Bellerophon had
+undertaken to catch the winged horse. And we shall find no better
+opportunity to speak about this matter than while he is waiting for
+Pegasus to appear.</p>
+
+<p>If I were to relate the whole of Bellerophon's previous adventures, they
+might easily grow into a very long story. It will be quite enough to say
+that, in a certain country of Asia, a terrible monster, called a
+Chimæra, had made its appearance, and was doing more mischief than could
+be talked about between now and sunset. According to the best accounts
+which I have been able to obtain, this Chimæra was nearly, if not quite,
+the ugliest and most poisonous creature, and the strangest and
+unaccountablest, and the hardest to fight with, and the most difficult
+to run away from, that ever came out of the earth's inside. It had a
+tail like a boa-constrictor; its body was like I do not care what; and
+it had three separate heads, one of which was a lion's, the second a
+goat's, and the third an abominably great snake's. And a hot blast of
+fire came flaming out of each of its three mouths! Being an earthly
+monster, I doubt whether it had any wings; but, wings or no, it ran like
+a goat and a lion, and wriggled along like a serpent, and thus contrived
+to make about as much speed as all the three together.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, the mischief, and mischief, and mischief that this naughty creature
+did! With its flaming breath, it could set a forest on fire, or burn up
+a field of grain, or, for that matter, a village, with all its fences
+and houses. It laid waste the whole country round about, and used to eat
+up people and animals alive, and cook them afterward in the burning oven
+of its stomach. Mercy on us, little children, I hope neither you nor I
+will ever happen to meet a Chimæra!</p>
+
+<p>While the hateful beast (if a beast we can anywise call it) was doing
+all these horrible things, it so chanced that Bellerophon came to that
+part of the world, on a visit to the king. The king's name was Iobates,
+and Lycia was the country which he ruled over. Bellerophon was one of
+the bravest youths in the world, and desired nothing so much as to do
+some valiant and beneficent deed, such as would make all mankind admire
+and love him. In those days, the only way for a young man to distinguish
+himself was by fighting battles, either with the enemies of his country,
+or with wicked giants, or with troublesome dragons, or with wild beasts,
+when he could find nothing more dangerous to encounter. King Iobates,
+perceiving the courage of his youthful visitor, proposed to him to go
+and fight the Chimæra, which everybody else was afraid of, and which,
+unless it should be soon killed, was likely to convert Lycia into a
+desert. Bellerophon hesitated not a moment, but assured the king that he
+would either slay this dreaded Chimæra, or perish in the attempt.</p>
+
+<p>But, in the first place, as the monster was so prodigiously swift, he
+bethought himself that he should never win the victory by fighting on
+foot. The wisest thing he could do, therefore, was to get the very best
+and fleetest horse that could anywhere be found. And what other horse in
+all the world was half so fleet as the marvellous horse Pegasus, who had
+wings as well as legs, and was even more active in the air than on the
+earth? To be sure, a great many people denied that there was any such
+horse with wings, and said that the stories about him were all poetry
+and nonsense. But, wonderful as it appeared, Bellerophon believed that
+Pegasus was a real steed, and hoped that he himself might be fortunate
+enough to find him; and, once fairly mounted on his back, he would be
+able to fight the Chimæra at better advantage.</p>
+
+<p>And this was the purpose with which he had travelled from Lycia to
+Greece, and had brought the beautifully ornamented bridle in his hand.
+It was an enchanted bridle. If he could only succeed in putting the
+golden bit into the mouth of Pegasus, the winged horse would be
+submissive, and would own Bellerophon for his master, and fly
+whithersoever he might choose to turn the rein.</p>
+
+<p>But, indeed, it was a weary and anxious time, while Bellerophon waited
+and waited for Pegasus, in hopes that he would come and drink at the
+Fountain of Pirene. He was afraid lest King Iobates should imagine that
+he had fled from the Chimæra. It pained him, too, to think how much
+mischief the monster was doing, while he himself, instead of righting
+with it, was compelled to sit idly poring over the bright waters of
+Pirene, as they gushed out of the sparkling sand. And as Pegasus came
+thither so seldom in these latter years, and scarcely alighted there
+more than once in a lifetime, Bellerophon feared that he might grow an
+old man, and have no strength left in his arms nor courage in his heart,
+before the winged horse would appear. Oh, how heavily passes the time,
+while an adventurous youth is yearning to do his part in life, and to
+gather in the harvest of his renown! How hard a lesson it is to wait!
+Our life is brief, and how much of it is spent in teaching us only this!</p>
+
+<p>Well was it for Bellerophon that the gentle child had grown so fond of
+him, and was never weary of keeping him company. Every morning the child
+gave him a new hope to put in his bosom, instead of yesterday's withered
+one.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Bellerophon," he would cry, looking up hopefully into his face, "I
+think we shall see Pegasus to-day!"</p>
+
+<p>And, at length, if it had not been for the little boy's unwavering
+faith, Bellerophon would have given up all hope, and would have gone
+back to Lycia, and have done his best to slay the Chimæra without the
+help of the winged horse. And in that case poor Bellerophon would at
+least have been terribly scorched by the creature's breath, and would
+most probably have been killed and devoured. Nobody should ever try to
+fight an earth-born Chimæra, unless he can first get upon the back of an
+a&euml;rial steed.</p>
+
+<p>One morning the child spoke to Bellerophon even more hopefully than
+usual.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, dear Bellerophon," cried he, "I know not why it is, but I feel as
+if we should certainly see Pegasus to-day!"</p>
+
+<p>And all that day he would not stir a step from Bellerophon's side; so
+they ate a crust of bread together, and drank some of the water of the
+fountain. In the afternoon, there they sat, and Bellerophon had thrown
+his arm around the child, who likewise had put one of his little hands
+into Bellerophon's. The latter was lost in his own thoughts, and was
+fixing his eyes vacantly on the trunks of the trees that overshadowed
+the fountain, and on the grapevines that clambered up among their
+branches. But the gentle child was gazing down into the water; he was
+grieved, for Bellerophon's sake, that the hope of another day should be
+deceived, like so many before it; and two or three quiet tear-drops fell
+from his eyes, and mingled with what were said to be the many tears of
+Pirene, when she wept for her slain children.</p>
+
+<p>But, when he least thought of it, Bellerophon felt the pressure of the
+child's little hand, and heard a soft, almost breathless, whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"See there, dear Bellerophon! There is an image in the water!"</p>
+
+<p>The young man looked down into the dimpling mirror of the fountain, and
+saw what he took to be the reflection of a bird which seemed to be
+flying at a great height in the air, with a gleam of sunshine on its
+snowy or silvery wings.</p>
+
+<p>"What a splendid bird it must be!" said he. "And how very large it
+looks, though it must really be flying higher than the clouds!"</p>
+
+<p>"It makes me tremble!" whispered the child. "I am afraid to look up into
+the air! It is very beautiful, and yet I dare only look at its image in
+the water. Dear Bellerophon, do you not see that it is no bird? It is
+the winged horse Pegasus!"</p>
+
+<p>Bellerophon's heart began to throb! He gazed keenly upward, but could
+not see the winged creature, whether bird or horse; because, just then,
+it had plunged into the fleecy depths of a summer cloud. It was but a
+moment, however, before the object reappeared, sinking lightly down out
+of the cloud, although still at a vast distance from the earth.
+Bellerophon caught the child in his arms, and shrank back with him, so
+that they were both hidden among the thick shrubbery which grew all
+around the fountain. Not that he was afraid of any harm, but he dreaded
+lest, if Pegasus caught a glimpse of them, he would fly far away, and
+alight in some inaccessible mountain-top. For it was really the winged
+horse. After they had expected him so long, he was coming to quench his
+thirst with the water of Pirene.</p>
+
+<p>Nearer and nearer came the a&euml;rial wonder, flying in great circles, as
+you may have seen a dove when about to alight. Downward came Pegasus, in
+those wide, sweeping circles, which grew narrower, and narrower still,
+as he gradually approached the earth. The nigher the view of him, the
+more beautiful he was, and the more marvellous the sweep of his silvery
+wings. At last, with so light a pressure as hardly to bend the grass
+about the fountain, or imprint a hoof tramp in the sand of its margin,
+he alighted, and, stooping his wild head, began to drink. He drew in the
+water, with long and pleasant sighs, and tranquil pauses of enjoyment;
+and then another draught, and another, and another. For, nowhere in the
+world, or up among the clouds, did Pegasus love any water as he loved
+this of Pirene. And when his thirst was slaked, he cropped a few of the
+honey blossoms of the clover, delicately tasting them, but not caring to
+make a hearty meal, because the herbage just beneath the clouds, on the
+lofty sides of Mount Helicon, suited his palate better than this
+ordinary grass.</p>
+
+<p>After thus drinking to his heart's content, and in his dainty fashion
+condescending to take a little food, the winged horse began to caper to
+and fro, and dance as it were, out of mere idleness and sport. There
+never was a more playful creature made than this very Pegasus. So there
+he frisked, in a way that it delights me to think about, fluttering his
+great wings as lightly as ever did a linnet, and running little races,
+half on earth and half in air, and which I know not whether to call a
+flight or a gallop. When a creature is perfectly able to fly, he
+sometimes chooses to run, just for the pastime of the thing; and so did
+Pegasus, although it cost him some little trouble to keep his hoofs so
+near the ground. Bellerophon, meanwhile, holding the child's hand,
+peeped forth from the shrubbery, and thought that never was any sight so
+beautiful as this, nor ever a horse's eyes so wild and spirited as those
+of Pegasus. It seemed a sin to think of bridling him and riding on his
+back.</p>
+
+<p>Once or twice, Pegasus stopped, and snuffed the air, pricking up his
+ears, tossing his head, and turning it on all sides, as if he partly
+suspected some mischief or other. Seeing nothing, however, and hearing
+no sound, he soon began his antics again.</p>
+
+<p>At length&mdash;not that he was weary, but only idle and luxurious&mdash;Pegasus
+folded his wings, and lay down on the soft green turf. But, being too
+full of a&euml;rial life to remain quiet for many moments together, he soon
+rolled over on his back, with his four slender legs in the air. It was
+beautiful to see him, this one solitary creature, whose mate had never
+been created, but who needed no companion, and, living a great many
+hundred years, was as happy as the centuries were long. The more he did
+such things as mortal horses are accustomed to do, the less earthly and
+the more wonderful he seemed. Bellerophon and the child almost held
+their breaths, partly from a delightful awe, but still more because they
+dreaded lest the slightest stir or murmur should send him up, with the
+speed of an arrow flight, into the farthest blue of the sky.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, when he had had enough of rolling over and over, Pegasus turned
+himself about, and, indolently, like any other horse, put out his fore
+legs, in order to rise from the ground; and Bellerophon, who had guessed
+that he would do so, darted suddenly from the thicket, and leaped
+astride of his back.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, there he sat, on the back of the winged horse!</p>
+
+<p>But what a bound did Pegasus make, when, for the first time, he felt the
+weight of a mortal man upon his loins! A bound, indeed! Before he had
+time to draw a breath Bellerophon found himself five hundred feet aloft,
+and still shooting upward, while the winged horse snorted and trembled
+with terror and anger. Upward he went, up, up, up, until he plunged into
+the cold misty bosom of a cloud, at which, only a little while before,
+Bellerophon had been gazing, and fancying it a very pleasant spot. Then
+again, out of the heart of the cloud, Pegasus shot down like a
+thunderbolt, as if he meant to dash both himself and his rider headlong
+against a rock. Then he went through about a thousand of the wildest
+caprioles that had ever been performed either by a bird or a horse.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot tell you half that he did. He skimmed straight forward, and
+sideways, and backward. He reared himself erect, with his fore legs on a
+wreath of mist, and his hind legs on nothing at all. He flung out his
+heels behind, and put down his head between his legs, with his wings
+pointing right upward. At about two miles' height above the earth, he
+turned a somerset, so that Bellerophon's heels were where his head
+should have been, and he seemed to look down into the sky, instead of
+up. He twisted his head about, and, looking Bellerophon in the face,
+with fire flashing from his eyes, made a terrible attempt to bite him.
+He fluttered his pinions so wildly that one of the silver feathers was
+shaken out, and floating earthward, was picked up by the child, who kept
+it as long as he lived, in memory of Pegasus and Bellerophon.</p>
+
+<p>But the latter (who, as you may judge, was as good a horseman as ever
+galloped) had been watching his opportunity, and at last clapped the
+golden bit of the enchanted bridle between the winged steed's jaws. No
+sooner was this done, than Pegasus became as manageable as if he had
+taken food all his life out of Bellerophon's hand. To speak what I
+really feel, it was almost a sadness to see so wild a creature grow
+suddenly so tame. And Pegasus seemed to feel it so, likewise. He looked
+round to Bellerophon, with the tears in his beautiful eyes, instead of
+the fire that so recently flashed from them. But when Bellerophon patted
+his head, and spoke a few authoritative yet kind and soothing words,
+another look came into the eyes of Pegasus; for he was glad at heart,
+after so many lonely centuries, to have found a companion and a master.</p>
+
+<p>Thus it always is with winged horses, and with all such wild and
+solitary creatures. If you can catch and overcome them, it is the surest
+way to win their love.</p>
+
+<p>While Pegasus had been doing his utmost to shake Bellerophon off his
+back, he had flown a very long distance; and they had come within sight
+of a lofty mountain by the time the bit was in his mouth. Bellerophon
+had seen this mountain before, and knew it to be Helicon, on the summit
+of which was the winged horse's abode. Thither (after looking gently
+into his rider's face, as if to ask leave) Pegasus now flew, and,
+alighting, waited patiently until Bellerophon should please to dismount.
+The young man, accordingly, leaped from his steed's back, but still held
+him fast by the bridle. Meeting his eyes, however, he was so affected by
+the gentleness of his aspect, and by the thought of the free life which
+Pegasus had heretofore lived, that he could not bear to keep him a
+prisoner, if he really desired his liberty.</p>
+
+<p>Obeying this generous impulse he slipped the enchanted bridle off the
+head of Pegasus, and took the bit from his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"Leave me, Pegasus!" said he. "Either leave me, or love me."</p>
+
+<p>In an instant, the winged horse shot almost out of sight, soaring upward
+from the summit of Mount Helicon. Being long after sunset, it was now
+twilight on the mountain-top, and dusky evening over all the country
+round about. But Pegasus flew so high that he overtook the departed day,
+and was bathed in the upper radiance of the sun. Ascending higher and
+higher, he looked like a bright speck, and, at last, could no longer be
+seen in the hollow waste of the sky. And Bellerophon was afraid that he
+should never behold him more. But, while he was lamenting his own folly,
+the bright speck reappeared, and drew nearer and nearer, until it
+descended lower than the sunshine; and, behold, Pegasus had come back!
+After this trial there was no more fear of the winged horse's making his
+escape. He and Bellerophon were friends, and put loving faith in one
+another.</p>
+
+<p>That night they lay down and slept together, with Bellerophon's arm
+about the neck of Pegasus, not as a caution, but for kindness. And they
+awoke at peep of day, and bade one another good-morning, each in his own
+language.</p>
+
+<p>In this manner, Bellerophon and the wondrous steed spent several days,
+and grew better acquainted and fonder of each other all the time. They
+went on long a&euml;rial journeys, and sometimes ascended so high that the
+earth looked hardly bigger than&mdash;the moon. They visited distant
+countries, and amazed the inhabitants, who thought that the beautiful
+young man, on the back of the winged horse, must have come down out of
+the sky. A thousand miles a day was no more than an easy space for the
+fleet Pegasus to pass over. Bellerophon was delighted with this kind of
+life, and would have liked nothing better than to live always in the
+same way, aloft in the clear atmosphere; for it was always sunny weather
+up there, however cheerless and rainy it might be in the lower region.
+But he could not forget the horrible Chimæra, which he had promised King
+Iobates to slay. So, at last, when he had become well accustomed, to
+feats of horsemanship in the air, and could manage Pegasus with the
+least motion of his hand, and had taught him to obey his voice, he
+determined to attempt the performance of this perilous adventure.</p>
+
+<p>At daybreak, therefore, as soon as he unclosed his eyes, he gently
+pinched the winged horse's ear, in order to arouse him. Pegasus
+immediately started from the ground, and pranced about a quarter of a
+mile aloft, and made a grand sweep around the mountain-top, by way of
+showing that he was wide awake, and ready for any kind of an excursion.
+During the whole of this little flight, he uttered a loud, brisk, and
+melodious neigh, and finally came down at Bellerophon's side, as lightly
+as ever you saw a sparrow hop upon a twig.</p>
+
+<p>"Well done, dear Pegasus! well done, my sky-skimmer!" cried
+Bellerophon, fondly stroking the horse's neck. "And now, my fleet and
+beautiful friend, we must break our fast. To-day we are to fight the
+terrible Chimæra."</p>
+
+<p>As soon as they had eaten their morning meal, and drank some sparkling
+water from a spring called Hippocrene, Pegasus held out his head, of his
+own accord, so that his master might put on the bridle. Then, with a
+great many playful leaps and airy caperings, he showed his impatience to
+be gone; while Bellerophon was girding on his sword, and hanging his
+shield about his neck, and preparing himself for battle. When everything
+was ready, the rider mounted, and (as was his custom, when going a long
+distance) ascended five miles perpendicularly, so as the better to see
+whither he was directing his course. He then turned the head of Pegasus
+toward the east, and set out for Lycia. In their flight they overtook an
+eagle, and came so nigh him, before he could get out of their way, that
+Bellerophon might easily have caught him by the leg. Hastening onward at
+this rate, it was still early in the forenoon when they beheld the lofty
+mountains of Lycia, with their deep and shaggy valleys. If Bellerophon
+had been told truly, it was in one of those dismal valleys that the
+hideous Chimæra had taken up its abode.</p>
+
+<p>Being now so near their journey's end, the winged horse gradually
+descended with his rider; and they took advantage of some clouds that
+were floating over the mountain-tops, in order to conceal themselves.
+Hovering on the upper surface of a cloud, and peeping over its edge,
+Bellerophon had a pretty distinct view of the mountainous part of Lycia,
+and could look into all its shadowy vales at once. At first there
+appeared to be nothing remarkable. It was a wild, savage, and rocky
+tract of high and precipitous hills. In the more level part of the
+country, there were the ruins of houses that had been burnt, and, here
+and there, the carcasses of dead cattle, strewn about the pastures where
+they had been feeding.</p>
+
+<p>"The Chimæra must have done this mischief," thought Bellerophon. "But
+where can the monster be?"</p>
+
+<p>As I have already said, there was nothing remarkable to be detected, at
+first sight, in any of the valleys and dells that lay among the
+precipitous heights of the mountains. Nothing at all; unless, indeed, it
+were three spires of black smoke, which issued from what seemed to be
+the mouth of a cavern, and clambered sullenly into the atmosphere.
+Before reaching the mountain-top, these three black smoke wreaths
+mingled themselves into one. The cavern was almost directly beneath the
+winged horse and his rider, at the distance of about a thousand feet.
+The smoke, as it crept heavily upward, had an ugly, sulphurous, stifling
+scent, which caused Pegasus to snort and Bellerophon to sneeze. So
+disagreeable was it to the marvellous steed (who was accustomed to
+breathe only the purest air), that he waved his wings, and shot half a
+mile out of the range of this offensive vapour.</p>
+
+<p>But, on looking behind him, Bellerophon saw something that induced him
+first to draw the bridle, and then to turn Pegasus about. He made a
+sign, which the winged horse understood, and sunk slowly through the
+air, until his hoofs were scarcely more than a man's height above the
+rocky bottom of the valley. In front, as far off as you could throw a
+stone, was the cavern's mouth, with the three smoke wreaths oozing out
+of it. And what else did Bellerophon behold there?</p>
+
+<p>There seemed to be a heap of strange and terrible creatures curled up
+within the cavern. Their bodies lay so close together that Bellerophon
+could not distinguish them apart; but, judging by their heads, one of
+these creatures was a huge snake, the second a fierce lion, and the
+third an ugly goat. The lion and the goat were asleep; the snake was
+broad awake, and kept staring around him with a great pair of fiery
+eyes. But&mdash;and this was the most wonderful part of the matter&mdash;the three
+spires of smoke evidently issued from the nostrils of these three heads!
+So strange was the spectacle, that, though Bellerophon had been all
+along expecting it, the truth did not immediately occur to him, that
+here was the terrible three-headed Chimæra. He had found out the
+Chimæra's cavern. The snake, the lion, and the goat, as he supposed them
+to be, were not three separate creatures, but one monster!</p>
+
+<p>The wicked, hateful thing! Slumbering as two-thirds of it were, it still
+held, in its abominable claws, the remnant of an unfortunate lamb&mdash;or
+possibly (but I hate to think so) it was a dear little boy&mdash;which its
+three mouths had been gnawing, before two of them fell asleep!</p>
+
+<p>All at once, Bellerophon started as from a dream, and knew it to be the
+Chimæra. Pegasus seemed to know it, at the same instant, and sent forth
+a neigh that sounded like the call of a trumpet to battle. At this sound
+the three heads reared themselves erect, and belched out great flashes
+of flame. Before Bellerophon had time to consider what to do next, the
+monster flung itself out of the cavern and sprung straight toward him,
+with its immense claws extended, and its snaky tail twisting itself
+venomously behind. If Pegasus had not been as nimble as a bird, both he
+and his rider would have been overthrown by the Chimæra's headlong rush,
+and thus the battle have been ended before it was well begun. But the
+winged horse was not to be caught so. In the twinkling of an eye he was
+up aloft, half way to the clouds, snorting with anger. He shuddered,
+too, not with affright, but with utter disgust at the loathsomeness of
+this poisonous thing with three heads.</p>
+
+<p>The Chimæra, on the other hand, raised itself up so as to stand
+absolutely on the tip end of its tail, with its talons pawing fiercely
+in the air, and its three heads sputtering fire at Pegasus and his
+rider. My stars, how it roared, and hissed, and bellowed! Bellerophon,
+meanwhile, was fitting his shield on his arm, and drawing his sword.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my beloved Pegasus," he whispered in the winged horse's ear, "thou
+must help me to slay this insufferable monster; or else thou shalt fly
+back to thy solitary mountain peak without thy friend Bellerophon. For
+either the Chimæra dies, or its three mouths shall gnaw this head of
+mine, which has slumbered upon thy neck!"</p>
+
+<p>Pegasus whinnied, and, turning back his head, rubbed his nose tenderly
+against his rider's cheek. It was his way of telling him that, though he
+had wings and was an immortal horse, yet he would perish, if it were
+possible for immortality to perish, rather than leave Bellerophon
+behind.</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you, Pegasus," answered Bellerophon. "Now, then, let us make a
+dash at the monster!"</p>
+
+<p>Uttering these words, he shook the bridle; and Pegasus darted down
+aslant, as swift as the flight of an arrow, right toward the Chimæra's
+threefold head, which, all this time, was poking itself as high as it
+could into the air. As he came within arm's length, Bellerophon made a
+cut at the monster, but was carried onward by his steed, before he could
+see whether the blow had been successful. Pegasus continued his course,
+but soon wheeled round, at about the same distance from the Chimæra as
+before. Bellerophon then perceived that he had cut the goat's head of
+the monster almost off, so that it dangled downward by the skin, and
+seemed quite dead.</p>
+
+<p>But, to make amends, the snake's head and the lion's head had taken all
+the fierceness of the dead one into themselves, and spit flame, and
+hissed, and roared, with a vast deal more fury than before.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, my brave Pegasus!" cried Bellerophon. "With another stroke
+like that, we will stop either its hissing or its roaring."</p>
+
+<p>And again he shook the bridle. Dashing aslantwise, as before, the winged
+horse made another arrow-flight toward the Chimæra, and Bellerophon
+aimed another downright stroke at one of the two remaining heads, as he
+shot by. But this time, neither he nor Pegasus escaped so well as at
+first. With one of its claws, the Chimæra had given the young man a deep
+scratch in his shoulder, and had slightly damaged the left wing of the
+flying steed with the other. On his part, Bellerophon had mortally
+wounded the lion's head of the monster, insomuch that it now hung
+downward, with its fire almost extinguished, and sending out gasps of
+thick black smoke. The snake's head, however (which was the only one now
+left), was twice as fierce and venomous as ever before. It belched forth
+shoots of fire five hundred yards long, and emitted hisses so loud, so
+harsh, and so ear-piercing, that King Iobates heard them, fifty miles
+off, and trembled till the throne shook under him.</p>
+
+<p>"Well-a-day!" thought the poor king; "the Chimæra is certainly coming to
+devour me!"</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Pegasus had again paused in the air, and neighed angrily,
+while sparkles of a pure crystal flame darted out of his eyes. How
+unlike the lurid fire of the Chimæra! The a&euml;rial steed's spirit was all
+aroused, and so was that of Bellerophon.</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou bleed, my immortal horse?" cried the young man, caring less
+for his own hurt than for the anguish of this glorious creature, that
+ought never to have tasted pain. "The execrable Chimæra shall pay for
+this mischief with his last head!"</p>
+
+<p>Then he shook the bridle, shouted loudly, and guided Pegasus, not
+aslantwise as before, but straight at the monster's hideous front. So
+rapid was the onset that it seemed but a dazzle and a flash before
+Bellerophon was at close grips with his enemy.</p>
+
+<p>The Chimæra, by this time, after losing its second head, had got into a
+red-hot passion of pain and rampant rage. It so flounced about, half on
+earth and partly in the air, that it was impossible to say which element
+it rested upon. It opened its snake jaws to such an abominable width,
+that Pegasus might almost, I was going to say, have flown right down its
+throat, wings outspread, rider and all! At their approach it shot out a
+tremendous blast of its fiery breath, and enveloped Bellerophon and his
+steed in a perfect atmosphere of flame, singeing the wings of Pegasus,
+scorching off one whole side of the young man's golden ringlets, and
+making them both far hotter than was comfortable, from head to foot.</p>
+
+<p>But this was nothing to what followed.</p>
+
+<p>When the airy rush of the winged horse had brought him within the
+distance of a hundred yards, the Chimæra gave a spring, and flung its
+huge, awkward, venomous, and utterly detestable carcass right upon poor
+Pegasus, clung round him with might and main, and tied up its snaky tail
+into a knot! Up flew the a&euml;rial steed, higher, higher, higher, above the
+mountain-peak, above the clouds, and almost out of sight of the solid
+earth. But still the earth-born monster kept its hold, and was borne
+upward, along with the creature of light and air. Bellerophon,
+meanwhile, turning about, found himself face to face with the ugly
+grimness of the Chimæra's visage, and could only avoid being scorched to
+death, or bitten right in twain, by holding up his shield. Over the
+upper edge of the shield, he looked sternly into the savage eyes of the
+monster.</p>
+
+<p>But the Chimæra was so mad and wild with pain that it did not guard
+itself so well as might else have been the case. Perhaps, after all,
+the best way to fight a Chimæra is by getting as close to it as you can.
+In its efforts to stick its horrible iron claws into its enemy the
+creature left its own breast quite exposed; and perceiving this,
+Bellerophon thrust his sword up to the hilt into its cruel heart.
+Immediately the snaky tail untied its knot. The monster let go its hold
+of Pegasus, and fell from that vast height downward; while the fire
+within its bosom, instead of being put out, burned fiercer than ever,
+and quickly began to consume the dead carcass. Thus it fell out of the
+sky, all a-flame, and (it being nightfall before it reached the earth)
+was mistaken for a shooting star or a comet. But, at early sunrise, some
+cottagers were going to their day's labour, and saw, to their
+astonishment, that several acres of ground were strewn with black ashes.
+In the middle of a field, there was a heap of whitened bones, a great
+deal higher than a haystack. Nothing else was ever seen of the dreadful
+Chimæra!</p>
+
+<p>And when Bellerophon had won the victory, he bent forward and kissed
+Pegasus, while the tears stood in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Back now, my beloved steed!" said he. "Back to the Fountain of Pirene!"</p>
+
+<p>Pegasus skimmed through the air, quicker than ever he did before, and
+reached the fountain in a very short time. And there he found the old
+man leaning on his staff, and the country fellow watering his cow, and
+the pretty maiden filling her pitcher.</p>
+
+<p>"I remember now," quoth the old man, "I saw this winged horse once
+before, when I was quite a lad. But he was ten times handsomer in those
+days."</p>
+
+<p>"I own a cart horse worth three of him!" said the country fellow. "If
+this pony were mine, the first thing I should do would be to clip his
+wings!"</p>
+
+<p>But the poor maiden said nothing, for she had always the luck to be
+afraid at the wrong time. So she ran away, and let her pitcher tumble
+down, and broke it.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the gentle child," asked Bellerophon, "who used to keep me
+company, and never lost his faith, and never was weary of gazing into
+the fountain?"</p>
+
+<p>"Here am I, dear Bellerophon!" said the child, softly.</p>
+
+<p>For the little boy had spent day after day on the margin of Pirene,
+waiting for his friend to come back; but when he perceived Bellerophon
+descending through the clouds, mounted on the winged horse, he had
+shrunk back into the shrubbery. He was a delicate and tender child, and
+dreaded lest the old man and the country fellow should see the tears
+gushing from his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast won the victory," said he, joyfully, running to the knee of
+Bellerophon, who still sat on the back of Pegasus. "I knew thou
+wouldst."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear child!" replied Bellerophon, alighting from the winged horse.
+"But if thy faith had not helped me, I should never have waited for
+Pegasus, and never have gone up above the clouds, and never have
+conquered the terrible Chimæra. Thou, my beloved little friend, hast
+done it all. And now let us give Pegasus his liberty."</p>
+
+<p>So he slipped off the enchanted bridle from the head of the marvellous
+steed.</p>
+
+<p>"Be free, forevermore, my Pegasus!" cried he, with a shade of sadness in
+his tone. "Be as free as thou art fleet!"</p>
+
+<p>But Pegasus rested his head on Bellerophon's shoulder, and would not be
+persuaded to take flight.</p>
+
+<p>"Well then," said Bellerophon, caressing the airy horse, "thou shalt be
+with me as long as thou wilt; and we will go together, forthwith, and
+tell King Iobates that the Chimæra is destroyed."</p>
+
+<p>Then Bellerophon embraced the gentle child, and promised to come to him
+again, and departed. But, in after years, that child took higher flights
+upon the a&euml;rial steed than ever did Bellerophon, and achieved more
+honourable deeds than his friend's victory over the Chimæra. For, gentle
+and tender as he was, he grew to be a mighty poet!</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br />
+THE GOLDEN TOUCH</h2>
+
+<p>Once upon a time, there lived a very rich man, and a king besides, whose
+name was Midas; and he had a little daughter, whom nobody but myself
+ever heard of, and whose name I either never knew, or have entirely
+forgotten. So, because I love odd names for little girls, I choose to
+call her Marygold.</p>
+
+<p>This King Midas was fonder of gold than of anything else in the world.
+He valued his royal crown chiefly because it was composed of that
+precious metal. If he loved anything better, or half so well, it was the
+one little maiden who played so merrily around her father's footstool.
+But the more Midas loved his daughter, the more did he desire and seek
+for wealth. He thought, foolish man! that the best thing he could
+possibly do for this dear child would be to bequeath her the immensest
+pile of yellow, glistening coin, that had ever been heaped together
+since the world was made. Thus, he gave all his thoughts and all his
+time to this one purpose. If ever he happened to gaze for an instant at
+the gold-tinted clouds of sunset, he wished that they were real gold,
+and that they could be squeezed safely into his strong box. When little
+Marygold ran to meet him, with a bunch of buttercups and dandelions, he
+used to say, "Poh, poh, child! If these flowers were as golden as they
+look, they would be worth the plucking!"</p>
+
+<p>And yet, in his earlier days, before he was so entirely possessed of
+this insane desire for riches, King Midas had shown a great taste for
+flowers. He had planted a garden, in which grew the biggest and
+beautifullest and sweetest roses that any mortal ever saw or smelt.
+These roses were still growing in the garden, as large, as lovely, and
+as fragrant as when Midas used to pass whole hours in gazing at them,
+and inhaling their perfume. But now, if he looked at them at all, it was
+only to calculate how much the garden would be worth if each of the
+innumerable rose petals were a thin plate of gold. And though he once
+was fond of music (in spite of an idle story about his ears, which were
+said to resemble those of an ass), the only music for poor Midas, now,
+was the chink of one coin against another.</p>
+
+<p>At length (as people always grow more and more foolish, unless they take
+care to grow wiser and wiser), Midas had got to be so exceedingly
+unreasonable that he could scarcely bear to see or touch any object that
+was not gold. He made it his custom, therefore, to pass a large portion
+of every day in a dark and dreary apartment, under ground, at the
+basement of his palace. It was here that he kept his wealth. To this
+dismal hole&mdash;for it was little better than a dungeon&mdash;Midas betook
+himself, whenever he wanted to be particularly happy. Here, after
+carefully locking the door, he would take a bag of gold coin, or a gold
+cup as big as a washbowl, or a heavy golden bar, or a peck measure of
+gold dust, and bring them from the obscure corners of the room into the
+one bright and narrow sunbeam that fell from the dungeon-like window. He
+valued the sunbeam for no other reason but that his treasure would not
+shine without its help. And then would he reckon over the coins in the
+bag; toss up the bar, and catch it as it came down; sift the gold dust
+through his fingers; look at the funny image of his own face, as
+reflected in the burnished circumference of the cup, and whisper to
+himself, "O Midas, rich King Midas, what a happy man art thou!" But it
+was laughable to see how the image of his face kept grinning at him, out
+of the polished surface of the cup. It seemed to be aware of his foolish
+behaviour, and to have a naughty inclination to make fun of him.</p>
+
+<p>Midas called himself a happy man, but felt that he was not yet quite so
+happy as he might be. The very tiptop of enjoyment would never be
+reached, unless the whole world were to become his treasure room, and be
+filled with yellow metal which should be all his own.</p>
+
+<p>Now, I need hardly remind such wise little people as you are, that in
+the old, old times, when King Midas was alive, a great many things came
+to pass, which we should consider wonderful if they were to happen in
+our own day and country. And, on the other hand, a great many things
+take place nowadays, which seem not only wonderful to us, but at which
+the people of old times would have stared their eyes out. On the whole,
+I regard our own times as the strangest of the two; but, however that
+may be, I must go on with my story.</p>
+
+<p>Midas was enjoying himself in his treasure room, one day, as usual, when
+he perceived a shadow fall over the heaps of gold; and, looking suddenly
+up, what should he behold but the figure of a stranger, standing in the
+bright and narrow sunbeam! It was a young man, with a cheerful and ruddy
+face. Whether it was that the imagination of King Midas threw a yellow
+tinge over everything, or whatever the cause might be, he could not
+help fancying that the smile with which the stranger regarded him had a
+kind of golden radiance in it. Certainly, although his figure
+intercepted the sunshine, there was now a brighter gleam upon all the
+piled-up treasures than before. Even the remotest corners had their
+share of it, and were lighted up, when the stranger smiled, as with tips
+of flame and sparkles of fire.</p>
+
+<p>As Midas knew that he had carefully turned the key in the lock, and that
+no mortal strength could possibly break into his treasure room, he, of
+course, concluded that his visitor must be something more than mortal.
+It is no matter about telling you who he was. In those days, when the
+earth was comparatively a new affair, it was supposed to be often the
+resort of beings endowed with supernatural power, and who used to
+interest themselves in the joys and sorrows of men, women, and children,
+half playfully and half seriously. Midas had met such beings before now,
+and was not sorry to meet one of them again. The stranger's aspect,
+indeed, was so good humoured and kindly, if not beneficent, that it
+would have been unreasonable to suspect him of intending any mischief.
+It was far more probable that he came to do Midas a favour. And what
+could that favour be, unless to multiply his heaps of treasure?</p>
+
+<p>The stranger gazed about the room; and when his lustrous smile had
+glistened upon all the golden objects that were there, he turned again
+to Midas.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a wealthy man, friend Midas!" he observed. "I doubt whether any
+other four walls, on earth, contain so much gold as you have contrived
+to pile up in this room."</p>
+
+<p>"I have done pretty well&mdash;pretty well," answered Midas, in a
+discontented tone. "But, after all, it is but a trifle, when you
+consider that it has taken me my whole life to get it together. If one
+could live a thousand years, he might have time to grow rich!"</p>
+
+<p>"What!" exclaimed the stranger. "Then you are not satisfied?"</p>
+
+<p>Midas shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"And pray what would satisfy you?" asked the stranger. "Merely for the
+curiosity of the thing, I should be glad to know."</p>
+
+<p>Midas paused and meditated. He felt a presentiment that this stranger,
+with such a golden lustre in his good-humoured smile, had come hither
+with both the power and the purpose of gratifying his utmost wishes.
+Now, therefore, was the fortunate moment, when he had but to speak, and
+obtain whatever possible, or seemingly impossible thing, it might come
+into his head to ask. So he thought, and thought, and thought, and
+heaped up one golden mountain upon another, in his imagination, without
+being able to imagine them big enough. At last, a bright idea occurred
+to King Midas. It seemed really as bright as the glistening metal which
+he loved so much.</p>
+
+<p>Raising his head, he looked the lustrous stranger in the face.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Midas," observed his visitor, "I see that you have at length hit
+upon something that will satisfy you. Tell me your wish."</p>
+
+<p>"It is only this," replied Midas. "I am weary of collecting my treasures
+with so much trouble, and beholding the heap so diminutive, after I have
+done my best. I wish everything that I touch to be changed to gold!"</p>
+
+<p>The stranger's smile grew so very broad, that it seemed to fill the room
+like an outburst of the sun, gleaming into a shadowy dell, where the
+yellow autumnal leaves&mdash;for so looked the lumps and particles of
+gold&mdash;lie strewn in the glow of light.</p>
+
+<p>"The Golden Touch!" exclaimed he. "You certainly deserve credit, friend
+Midas, for striking out so brilliant a conception. But are you quite
+sure that this will satisfy you?"</p>
+
+<p>"How could it fail?" said Midas.</p>
+
+<p>"And will you never regret the possession of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"What could induce me?" asked Midas. "I ask nothing else, to render me
+perfectly happy."</p>
+
+<p>"Be it as you wish, then," replied the stranger, waving his hand in
+token of farewell. "To-morrow, at sunrise, you will find yourself gifted
+with the Golden Touch."</p>
+
+<p>The figure of the stranger then became exceedingly bright, and Midas
+involuntarily closed his eyes. On opening them again, he beheld only one
+yellow sunbeam in the room, and, all around him, the glistening of the
+precious metal which he had spent his life in hoarding up.</p>
+
+<p>Whether Midas slept as usual that night, the story does not say. Asleep
+or awake, however, his mind was probably in the state of a child's, to
+whom a beautiful new plaything has been promised in the morning. At any
+rate, day had hardly peeped over the hills, when King Midas was broad
+awake, and, stretching his arms out of bed, began to touch the objects
+that were within reach. He was anxious to prove whether the Golden Touch
+had really come, according to the stranger's promise. So he laid his
+finger on a chair by the bedside, and on various other things, but was
+grievously disappointed to perceive that they remained of exactly the
+same substance as before. Indeed, he felt very much afraid that he had
+only dreamed about the lustrous stranger, or else that the latter had
+been making game of him. And what a miserable affair would it be, if,
+after all his hopes, Midas must content himself with what little gold he
+could scrape together by ordinary means, instead of creating it by a
+touch!</p>
+
+<p>All this while, it was only the gray of the morning, with but a streak
+of brightness along the edge of the sky, where Midas could not see it.
+He lay in a very disconsolate mood, regretting the downfall of his hopes
+and kept growing sadder and sadder, until the earliest sunbeam shone
+through the window, and gilded the ceiling over his head. It seemed to
+Midas that this bright yellow sunbeam was reflected in rather a singular
+way on the white covering of the bed. Looking more closely, what was his
+astonishment and delight, when he found that this linen fabric had been
+transmuted to what seemed a woven texture of the purest and brightest
+gold! The Golden Touch had come to him with the first sunbeam!</p>
+
+<p>Midas started up, in a kind of joyful frenzy, and ran about the room,
+grasping at everything that happened to be in his way. He seized one of
+the bedposts, and it became immediately a fluted golden pillar. He
+pulled aside a window curtain, in order to admit a clear spectacle of
+the wonders which he was performing; and the tassel grew heavy in his
+hand&mdash;a mass of gold. He took up a book from the table. At his first
+touch, it assumed the appearance of such a splendidly bound and
+gilt-edged volume as one often meets with, nowadays; but, on running his
+fingers through the leaves, behold! it was a bundle of thin golden
+plates, in which all the wisdom of the book had grown illegible. He
+hurriedly put on his clothes, and was enraptured to see himself in a
+magnificent suit of gold cloth, which retained its flexibility and
+softness, although it burdened him a little with its weight. He drew out
+his handkerchief, which little Marygold had hemmed for him. That was
+likewise gold, with the dear child's neat and pretty stitches running
+all along the border, in gold thread!</p>
+
+<p>Somehow or other, this last transformation did not quite please King
+Midas. He would rather that his little daughter's handiwork should have
+remained just the same as when she climbed his knee and put it into his
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>But it was not worth while to vex himself about a trifle. Midas now took
+his spectacles from his pocket, and put them on his nose, in order that
+he might see more distinctly what he was about. In those days,
+spectacles for common people had not been invented, but were already
+worn by kings: else, how could Midas have had any? To his great
+perplexity, however, excellent as the glasses were, he discovered that
+he could not possibly see through them. But this was the most natural
+thing in the world; for, on taking them off, the transparent crystals
+turned out to be plates of yellow metal, and, of course, were worthless
+as spectacles, though valuable as gold. It struck Midas, as rather
+inconvenient that, with all his wealth, he could never again be rich
+enough to own a pair of serviceable spectacles.</p>
+
+<p>"It is no great matter, nevertheless," said he to himself, very
+philosophically. "We cannot expect any great good, without its being
+accompanied with some small inconvenience. The Golden Touch is worth
+the sacrifice of a pair of spectacles, at least, if not of one's very
+eyesight. My own eyes will serve for ordinary purposes, and little
+Marygold will soon be old enough to read to me."</p>
+
+<p>Wise King Midas was so exalted by his good fortune, that the palace
+seemed not sufficiently spacious to contain him. He therefore went
+downstairs, and smiled, on observing that the balustrade of the
+staircase became a bar of burnished gold, as his hand passed over it, in
+his descent. He lifted the doorlatch (it was brass only a moment ago,
+but golden when his fingers quitted it), and emerged into the garden.
+Here, as it happened, he found a great number of beautiful roses in full
+bloom, and others in all the stages of lovely bud and blossom. Very
+delicious was their fragrance in the morning breeze. Their delicate
+blush was one of the fairest sights in the world; so gentle, so modest,
+and so full of sweet tranquillity, did these roses seem to be.</p>
+
+<p>But Midas knew a way to make them far more precious, according to his
+way of thinking, than roses had ever been before. So he took great pains
+in going from bush to bush, and exercised his magic touch most
+indefatigably; until every individual flower and bud, and even the worms
+at the heart of some of them, were changed to gold. By the time this
+good work was completed, King Midas was summoned to breakfast; and as
+the morning air had given him an excellent appetite, he made haste back
+to the palace.</p>
+
+<p>What was usually a king's breakfast in the days of Midas, I really do
+not know, and cannot stop now to investigate. To the best of my belief,
+however, on this particular morning, the breakfast consisted of hot
+cakes, some nice little brook trout, roasted potatoes, fresh boiled
+eggs, and coffee, for King Midas himself, and a bowl of bread and milk
+for his daughter Marygold. At all events, this is a breakfast fit to set
+before a king; and, whether he had it or not, King Midas could not have
+had a better.</p>
+
+<p>Little Marygold had not yet made her appearance. Her father ordered her
+to be called, and, seating himself at table, awaited the child's coming,
+in order to begin his own breakfast. To do Midas justice, he really
+loved his daughter, and loved her so much the more this morning, on
+account of the good fortune which had befallen him. It was not a great
+while before he heard her coming along the passageway crying bitterly.
+This circumstance surprised him, because Marygold was one of the
+cheerfullest little people whom you would see in a summer's day, and
+hardly shed a thimbleful of tears in a twelvemonth. When Midas heard her
+sobs, he determined to put little Marygold into better spirits, by an
+agreeable surprise; so, leaning across the table, he touched his
+daughter's bowl (which was a china one, with pretty figures all around
+it), and transmuted it to gleaming gold.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Marygold slowly and disconsolately opened the door, and
+showed herself with her apron at her eyes, still sobbing as if her heart
+would break.</p>
+
+<p>"How now, my little lady!" cried Midas. "Pray what is the matter with
+you, this bright morning?"</p>
+
+<p>Marygold, without taking the apron from her eyes, held out her hand, in
+which was one of the roses which Midas had so recently transmuted.</p>
+
+<p>"Beautiful!" exclaimed her father. "And what is there in this
+magnificent golden rose to make you cry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, dear father!" answered the child, as well as her sobs would let
+her; "it is not beautiful, but the ugliest flower that ever grew! As
+soon as I was dressed I ran into the garden to gather some roses for
+you; because I know you like them, and like them the better when
+gathered by your little daughter. But, oh dear, dear me. What do you
+think has happened? Such a misfortune! All the beautiful roses, that
+smelled so sweetly and had so many lovely blushes, are blighted and
+spoilt! They are grown quite yellow, as you see this one, and have no
+longer any fragrance! What can have been the matter with them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Poh, my dear little girl&mdash;pray don't cry about it!" said Midas, who was
+ashamed to confess that he himself had wrought the change which so
+greatly afflicted her, "Sit down and eat your bread and milk! You will
+find it easy enough to exchange a golden rose like that (which will last
+hundreds of years) for an ordinary one which would wither in a day."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care for such roses as this!" cried Marygold, tossing it
+contemptuously away. "It has no smell, and the hard petals prick my
+nose!"</p>
+
+<p>The child now sat down to table, but was so occupied with her grief for
+the blighted roses that she did not even notice the wonderful
+transmutation of her china bowl. Perhaps this was all the better; for
+Marygold was accustomed to take pleasure in looking at the queer
+figures, and strange trees and houses, that were painted on the
+circumference of the bowl; and these ornaments were now entirely lost in
+the yellow hue of the metal.</p>
+
+<p>Midas, meanwhile, had poured out a cup of coffee, and, as a matter of
+course, the Coffee-pot, whatever metal it may have been when he took it
+up, was gold when he set it down. He thought to himself, that it was
+rather an extravagant style of splendour, in a king of his simple
+habits, to breakfast off a service of gold, and began to be puzzled with
+the difficulty of keeping his treasures safe. The cupboard and the
+kitchen would no longer be a secure place of deposit for articles so
+valuable as golden bowls and coffee-pots.</p>
+
+<p>Amid these thoughts, he lifted a spoonful of coffee to his lips, and,
+sipping it, was astonished to perceive that, the instant his lips
+touched the liquid, it became molten gold, and, the next moment,
+hardened into a lump!</p>
+
+<p>"Ha!" exclaimed Midas, rather aghast.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, father?" asked little Marygold, gazing at him, with
+the tears still standing in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, child, nothing!" said Midas. "Eat your milk, before it gets
+quite cold."</p>
+
+<p>He took one of the nice little trouts on his plate, and, by way of
+experiment, touched its tail with his finger. To his horror, it was
+immediately transmuted from an admirably fried brook trout into a
+gold-fish, though not one of those gold-fishes which people often keep
+in glass globes, as ornaments for the parlour. No; but it was really a
+metallic fish, and looked as if it had been very cunningly made by the
+nicest goldsmith in the world. Its little bones were now golden wires;
+its fins and tail were thin plates of gold; and there were the marks of
+the fork in it, and all the delicate, frothy appearance of a nicely
+fried fish, exactly imitated in metal. A very pretty piece of work, as
+you may suppose; only King Midas, just at that moment, would much rather
+have had a real trout in his dish than this elaborate and valuable
+imitation of one.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't quite see," thought he to himself, "how I am to get any
+breakfast!"</p>
+
+<p>He took one of the smoking-hot cakes, and had scarcely broken it, when,
+to his cruel mortification, though, a moment before, it had been of the
+whitest wheat, it assumed the yellow hue of Indian meal. To say the
+truth, if it had really been a hot Indian cake, Midas would have prized
+it a good deal more than he now did, when its solidity and increased
+weight made him too bitterly sensible that it was gold. Almost in
+despair, he helped himself to a boiled egg, which immediately underwent
+a change similar to those of the trout and the cake. The egg, indeed,
+might have been mistaken for one of those which the famous goose, in the
+story book, was in the habit of laying; but King Midas was the only
+goose that had had anything to do with the matter.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, this is a quandary!" thought he, leaning back in his chair, and
+looking quite enviously at little Marygold, who was now eating her bread
+and milk with great satisfaction. "Such a costly breakfast before me,
+and nothing that can be eaten!"</p>
+
+<p>Hoping that, by dint of great dispatch, he might avoid what he now felt
+to be a considerable inconvenience, King Midas next snatched a hot
+potato, and attempted to cram it into his mouth, and swallow it in a
+hurry. But the Golden Touch was too nimble for him. He found his mouth
+full, not of mealy potato, but of solid metal, which so burnt his tongue
+that he roared aloud, and, jumping up from the table, began to dance and
+stamp about the room, both with pain and affright.</p>
+
+<p>"Father, dear father!" cried little Marygold, who was a very
+affectionate child, "pray what is the matter? Have you burnt your
+mouth?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, dear child," groaned Midas, dolefully, "I don't know what is to
+become of your poor father!"</p>
+
+<p>And, truly, my dear little folks, did you ever hear of such a pitiable
+case in all your lives? Here was literally the richest breakfast that
+could be set before a king, and its very richness made it absolutely
+good for nothing. The poorest labourer, sitting down to his crust of
+bread and cup of water, was far better off than King Midas, whose
+delicate food was really worth its weight in gold. And what was to be
+done? Already, at breakfast, Midas was excessively hungry. Would he be
+less so by dinner-time? And how ravenous would be his appetite for
+supper, which must undoubtedly consist of the same sort of indigestible
+dishes as those now before him! How many days, think you, would he
+survive a continuance of this rich fare?</p>
+
+<p>These reflections so troubled wise King Midas, that he began to doubt
+whether, after all, riches are the one desirable thing in the world, or
+even the most desirable. But this was only a passing thought. So
+fascinated was Midas with the glitter of the yellow metal, that he would
+still have refused to give up the Golden Touch for so paltry a
+consideration as a breakfast. Just imagine what a price for one meal's
+victuals! It would have been the same as paying millions and millions of
+money (and as many millions more as would take forever to reckon up) for
+some fried trout, an egg, a potato, a hot cake, and a cup of coffee!</p>
+
+<p>"It would be quite too dear," thought Midas.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, so great was his hunger, and the perplexity of his
+situation, that he again groaned aloud, and very grievously, too. Our
+pretty Marygold could endure it no longer. She sat, a moment, gazing at
+her father, and trying, with all the might of her little wits, to find
+out what was the matter with him. Then, with a sweet and sorrowful
+impulse to comfort him, she started from her chair, and, running to
+Midas, threw her arms affectionately about his knees. He bent down and
+kissed her. He felt that his little daughter's love was worth a thousand
+times more than he had gained by the Golden Touch.</p>
+
+<p>"My precious, precious Marygold!" cried he.</p>
+
+<p>But Marygold made no answer.</p>
+
+<p>Alas, what had he done? How fatal was the gift which the stranger
+bestowed! The moment the lips of Midas touched Marygold's forehead, a
+change had taken place. Her sweet, rosy face, so full of affection as it
+had been, assumed a glittering yellow colour, with yellow tear-drops
+congealing on her cheeks. Her beautiful brown ringlets took the same
+tint. Her soft and tender little form grew hard and inflexible within
+her father's encircling arms. Oh, terrible misfortune! The victim of his
+insatiable desire for wealth, little Marygold was a human child no
+longer, but a golden statue!</p>
+
+<p>Yes, there she was, with the questioning look of love, grief, and pity,
+hardened into her face. It was the prettiest and most woeful sight that
+ever mortal saw. All the features and tokens of Marygold were there;
+even the beloved little dimple remained in her golden chin. But, the
+more perfect was the resemblance, the greater was the father's agony at
+beholding this golden image, which was all that was left him of a
+daughter. It had been a favourite phrase of Midas, whenever he felt
+particularly fond of the child, to say that she was worth her weight in
+gold. And now the phrase had become literally true. And, now, at last,
+when it was too late, he felt how infinitely a warm and tender heart,
+that loved him, exceeded in value all the wealth that could be piled up
+betwixt the earth and sky!</p>
+
+<p>It would be too sad a story, if I were to tell you how Midas, in the
+fulness of all his gratified desires, began to wring his hands and
+bemoan himself; and how he could neither bear to look at Marygold, nor
+yet to look away from her. Except when his eyes were fixed on the image,
+he could not possibly believe that she was changed to gold. But,
+stealing another glance, there was the precious little figure, with a
+yellow tear-drop on its yellow cheek, and a look so piteous and tender,
+that it seemed as if that very expression must needs soften the gold,
+and make it flesh again. This, however, could not be. So Midas had only
+to wring his hands, and to wish that he were the poorest man in the wide
+world, if the loss of all his wealth might bring back the faintest rose
+colour to his dear child's face.</p>
+
+<p>While he was in this tumult of despair, he suddenly beheld a stranger
+standing near the door. Midas bent down his head, without speaking; for
+he recognised the same figure which had appeared to him, the day before,
+in the treasure-room, and had bestowed on him this disastrous faculty of
+the Golden Touch. The stranger's countenance still wore a smile, which
+seemed to shed a yellow lustre all about the room, and gleamed on little
+Marygold's image, and on the other objects that had been transmuted by
+the touch of Midas.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, friend Midas," said the stranger, "pray how do you succeed with
+the Golden Touch?"</p>
+
+<p>Midas shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very miserable," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Very miserable, indeed!" exclaimed the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>"And how happens that? Have I not faithfully kept my promise with you?
+Have you not everything that your heart desired?"</p>
+
+<p>"Gold is not everything," answered Midas. "And I have lost all that my
+heart really cared for."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! So you have made a discovery, since yesterday?" observed the
+stranger. "Let us see, then. Which of these two things do you think is
+really worth the most&mdash;the gift of the Golden Touch, or one cup of clear
+cold water?"</p>
+
+<p>"O blessed water!" exclaimed Midas. "I will never moisten my parched
+throat again!"</p>
+
+<p>"The Golden Touch," continued the stranger, "or a crust of bread?"</p>
+
+<p>"A piece of bread," answered Midas, "is worth all the gold on earth!"</p>
+
+<p>"The Golden Touch," asked the stranger, "or your own little Marygold,
+warm, soft, and loving as she was an hour ago?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my child, my dear child!" cried poor Midas, wringing his hands. "I
+would not have given that one small dimple in her chin for the power of
+changing this whole big earth into a solid lump of gold!"</p>
+
+<p>"You are wiser than you were, King Midas!" said the stranger, looking
+seriously at him. "Your own heart, I perceive, has not been entirely
+changed from flesh to gold. Were it so, your case would indeed be
+desperate. But you appear to be still capable of understanding that the
+commonest things, such as lie within everybody's grasp, are more
+valuable than the riches which so many mortals sigh and struggle after.
+Tell me, now, do you sincerely desire to rid yourself of this Golden
+Touch?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is hateful to me!" replied Midas.</p>
+
+<p>A fly settled on his nose, but immediately fell to the floor; for it,
+too, had become gold. Midas shuddered.</p>
+
+<p>"Go, then," said the stranger, "and plunge into the river that glides
+past the bottom of your garden. Take likewise a vase of the same water,
+and sprinkle it over any object that you may desire to change back again
+from gold into its former substance. If you do this in earnestness and
+sincerity, it may possibly repair the mischief which your avarice has
+occasioned."</p>
+
+<p>King Midas bowed low; and when he lifted his head, the lustrous stranger
+had vanished.</p>
+
+<p>You will easily believe that Midas lost no time in snatching up a great
+earthen pitcher (but, alas me! it was no longer earthen after he touched
+it), and hastening to the river-side. As he scampered along, and forced
+his way through the shrubbery, it was positively marvellous to see how
+the foliage turned yellow behind him, as if the autumn had been there,
+and nowhere else. On reaching the river's brink, he plunged headlong in,
+without waiting so much as to pull off his shoes.</p>
+
+<p>"Poof! poof! poof!" snorted King Midas, as his head emerged out of the
+water. "Well; this is really a refreshing bath, and I think it must have
+quite washed away the Golden Touch. And now for filling my pitcher!"</p>
+
+<p>As he dipped the pitcher into the water, it gladdened his very heart to
+see it change from gold into the same good, honest earthen vessel which
+it had been before he touched it. He was conscious, also, of a change
+within himself. A cold, hard, and heavy weight seemed to have gone out
+of his bosom. No doubt, his heart had been gradually losing its human
+substance, and transmuting itself into insensible metal, but had now
+softened back again into flesh. Perceiving a violet, that grew on the
+bank of the river, Midas touched it with his finger, and was overjoyed
+to find that the delicate flower retained its purple hue, instead of
+undergoing a yellow blight. The curse of the Golden Touch had,
+therefore, really been removed from him.</p>
+
+<p>King Midas hastened back to the palace; and, I suppose, the servants
+knew not what to make of it when they saw their royal master so
+carefully bringing home an earthen pitcher of water. But that water,
+which was to undo all the mischief that his folly had wrought, was more
+precious to Midas than an ocean of molten gold could have been. The
+first thing he did, as you need hardly be told, was to sprinkle it by
+handfuls over the golden figure of little Marygold.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner did it fall on her than you would have laughed to see how the
+rosy colour came back to the dear child's cheek! and how she began to
+sneeze and sputter!&mdash;and how astonished she was to find herself dripping
+wet, and her father still throwing more water over her!</p>
+
+<p>"Pray do not, dear father!" cried she. "See how you have wet my nice
+frock, which I put on only this morning!"</p>
+
+<p>For Marygold did not know that she had been a little golden statue; nor
+could she remember anything that had happened since the moment when she
+ran with outstretched arms to comfort poor King Midas.</p>
+
+<p>Her father did not think it necessary to tell his beloved child how very
+foolish he had been, but contented himself with showing how much wiser
+he had now grown. For this purpose, he led little Marygold into the
+garden, where he sprinkled all the remainder of the water over the
+rose-bushes, and with such good effect that above five thousand roses
+recovered their beautiful bloom. There were two circumstances, however,
+which, as long as he lived, used to put King Midas in mind of the Golden
+Touch. One was, that the sands of the river sparkled like gold; the
+other, that little Marygold's hair had now a golden tinge, which he had
+never observed in it before she had been transmuted by the effect of his
+kiss. This change of hue was really an improvement, and made Marygold's
+hair richer than in her babyhood.</p>
+
+<p>When King Midas had grown quite an old man, and used to trot Marygold's
+children on his knee, he was fond of telling them this marvellous story,
+pretty much as I have now told it to you. And then would he stroke their
+glossy ringlets, and tell them that their hair, likewise, had a rich
+shade of gold, which they had inherited from their mother.</p>
+
+<p>"And to tell you the truth, my precious little folks," quoth King Midas,
+diligently trotting the children all the while, "ever since that
+morning, I have hated the very sight of all other gold, save this!"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br />
+THE GORGON'S HEAD</h2>
+
+<p>Perseus was the son of Dana&euml;, who was the daughter of a king. And when
+Perseus was a very little boy, some wicked people put his mother and
+himself into a chest, and set them afloat upon the sea. The wind blew
+freshly, and drove the chest away from the shore, and the uneasy billows
+tossed it up and down; while Dana&euml; clasped her child closely to her
+bosom, and dreaded that some big wave would dash its foamy crest over
+them both. The chest sailed on, however, and neither sank nor was upset;
+until, when night was coming, it floated so near an island that it got
+entangled in a fisherman's nets, and was drawn out high and dry upon the
+sand. The island was called Seriphus, and it was reigned over by King
+Polydectes, who happened to be the fisherman's brother.</p>
+
+<p>This fisherman, I am glad to tell you, was an exceedingly humane and
+upright man. He showed great kindness to Dana&euml; and her little boy; and
+continued to befriend them, until Perseus had grown to be a handsome
+youth, very strong and active, and skilful in the use of arms. Long
+before this time, King Polydectes had seen the two strangers&mdash;the mother
+and her child&mdash;who had come to his dominions in a floating chest. As he
+was not good and kind, like his brother the fisherman, but extremely
+wicked, he resolved to send Perseus on a dangerous enterprise, in which
+he would probably be killed, and then to do some great mischief to Dana&euml;
+herself. So this bad-hearted king spent a long while in considering what
+was the most dangerous thing that a young man could possibly undertake
+to perform. At last, having hit upon an enterprise that promised to turn
+out as fatally as he desired, he sent for the youthful Perseus.</p>
+
+<p>The young man came to the palace, and found the king sitting upon his
+throne.</p>
+
+<p>"Perseus," said King Polydectes, smiling craftily upon him, "you are
+grown up a fine young man. You and your good mother have received a
+great deal of kindness from myself, as well as from my worthy brother
+the fisherman, and I suppose you would not be sorry to repay some of
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Please, Your Majesty," answered Perseus, "I would willingly risk my
+life to do so."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then," continued the king, still with a cunning smile on his
+lips, "I have a little adventure to propose to you; and, as you are a
+brave and enterprising youth, you will doubtless look upon it as a great
+piece of good luck to have so rare an opportunity of distinguishing
+yourself. You must know, my good Perseus, I think of getting married to
+the beautiful Princess Hippodamia; and it is customary, on these
+occasions, to make the bride a present of some far-fetched and elegant
+curiosity. I have been a little perplexed, I must honestly confess,
+where to obtain anything likely to please a princess of her exquisite
+taste. But, this morning, I flatter myself, I have thought of precisely
+the article."</p>
+
+<p>"And can I assist Your Majesty in obtaining it?" cried Perseus,
+eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"You can, if you are as brave a youth as I believe you to be," replied
+King Polydectes, with the utmost graciousness of manner. "The bridal
+gift which I have set my heart on presenting to the beautiful Hippodamia
+is the head of the Gorgon Medusa with the snaky locks; and I depend on
+you, my dear Perseus, to bring it to me. So, as I am anxious to settle
+affairs with the princess, the sooner you go in quest of the Gorgon, the
+better I shall be pleased."</p>
+
+<p>"I will set out to-morrow morning," answered Perseus.</p>
+
+<p>"Pray do so, my gallant youth," rejoined the king. "And, Perseus, in
+cutting off the Gorgon's head, be careful to make a clean stroke, so as
+not to injure its appearance. You must bring it home in the very best
+condition, in order to suit the exquisite taste of the beautiful
+Princess Hippodamia."</p>
+
+<p>Perseus left the palace, but was scarcely out of hearing before
+Polydectes burst into a laugh; being greatly amused, wicked king that he
+was, to find how readily the young man fell into the snare. The news
+quickly spread abroad that Perseus had undertaken to cut off the head of
+Medusa with the snaky locks. Everybody was rejoiced; for most of the
+inhabitants of the island were as wicked as the king himself, and would
+have liked nothing better than to see some enormous mischief happen to
+Dana&euml; and her son. The only good man in this unfortunate island of
+Seriphus appears to have been the fisherman. As Perseus walked along,
+therefore, the people pointed after him, and made mouths, and winked to
+one another, and ridiculed him as loudly as they dared.</p>
+
+<p>"Ho, ho!" cried they; "Medusa's snakes will sting him soundly!"</p>
+
+<p>Now, there were three Gorgons alive at that period; and they were the
+most strange and terrible monsters that had ever been since the world
+was made, or that have been seen in after days, or that are likely to be
+seen in all time to come. I hardly know what sort of creature or
+hobgoblin to call them. They were three sisters, and seem to have borne
+some distant resemblance to women, but were really a very frightful and
+mischievous species of dragon. It is, indeed, difficult to imagine what
+hideous beings these three sisters were. Why, instead of locks of hair,
+if you can believe me, they had each of them a hundred enormous snakes
+growing on their heads, all alive, twisting, wriggling, curling, and
+thrusting out their venomous tongues, with forked stings at the end! The
+teeth of the Gorgons were terribly long tusks; their hands were made of
+brass; and their bodies were all over scales, which, if not iron, were
+something as hard and impenetrable. They had wings, too, and exceedingly
+splendid ones, I can assure you; for every feather in them was pure,
+bright, glittering, burnished gold, and they looked very dazzlingly, no
+doubt, when the Gorgons were flying about in the sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>But when people happened to catch a glimpse of their glittering
+brightness, aloft in the air, they seldom stopped to gaze, but ran and
+hid themselves as speedily as they could. You will think, perhaps, that
+they were afraid of being stung by the serpents that served the Gorgons
+instead of hair&mdash;or of having their heads bitten off by their ugly
+tusks&mdash;or of being torn all to pieces by their brazen claws. Well, to be
+sure, these were some of the dangers, but by no means the greatest, nor
+the most difficult to avoid. For the worst thing about these abominable
+Gorgons was, that, if once a poor mortal fixed his eyes full upon one
+of their faces, he was certain, that very instant, to be changed from
+warm flesh and blood into cold and lifeless stone!</p>
+
+<p>Thus, as you will easily perceive, it was a very dangerous adventure
+that the wicked King Polydectes had contrived for this innocent young
+man. Perseus himself, when he had thought over the matter, could not
+help seeing that he had very little chance of coming safely through it,
+and that he was far more likely to become a stone image than to bring
+back the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. For, not to speak of other
+difficulties, there was one which it would have puzzled an older man
+than Perseus to get over. Not only must he fight with and slay this
+golden-winged, iron-scaled, long-tusked, brazen-clawed, snaky-haired
+monster, but he must do it with his eyes shut, or, at least, without so
+much as a glance at the enemy with whom he was contending. Else, while
+his arm was lifted to strike, he would stiffen into stone, and stand
+with that uplifted arm for centuries, until time, and the wind and
+weather, should crumble him quite away. This would be a very sad thing
+to befall a young man who wanted to perform a great many brave deeds,
+and to enjoy a great deal of happiness, in this bright and beautiful
+world.</p>
+
+<p>So disconsolate did these thoughts make him, that Perseus could not bear
+to tell his mother what he had undertaken to do. He therefore took his
+shield, girded on his sword, and crossed over from the island to the
+mainland, where he sat down in a solitary place, and hardly refrained
+from shedding tears.</p>
+
+<p>But, while he was in this sorrowful mood, he heard a voice close beside
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Perseus," said the voice, "why are you sad?"</p>
+
+<p>He lifted his head from his hands, in which he had hidden it, and,
+behold! all alone as Perseus had supposed himself to be, there was a
+stranger in the solitary place. It was a brisk, intelligent, and
+remarkably shrewd-looking young man, with a cloak over his shoulders, an
+odd sort of cap on his head, a strangely twisted staff in his hand, and
+a short and very crooked sword hanging by his side. He was exceedingly
+light and active in his figure, like a person much accustomed to
+gymnastic exercises, and well able to leap or run. Above all, the
+stranger had such a cheerful, knowing, and helpful aspect (though it was
+certainly a little mischievous, into the bargain), that Perseus could
+not help feeling his spirits grow livelier as he gazed at him. Besides,
+being really a courageous youth, he felt greatly ashamed that anybody
+should have found him with tears in his eyes, like a timid little
+schoolboy, when, after all, there might be no occasion for despair. So
+Perseus wiped his eyes, and answered the stranger pretty briskly,
+putting on as brave a look as he could.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not so very sad," said he, "only thoughtful about an adventure
+that I have undertaken."</p>
+
+<p>"Oho!" answered the stranger. "Well, tell me all about it, and possibly
+I may be of service to you. I have helped a good many young men through
+adventures that looked difficult enough beforehand. Perhaps you may have
+heard of me. I have more names than one; but the name of Quicksilver
+suits me as well as any other. Tell me what the trouble is, and we will
+talk the matter over, and see what can be done."</p>
+
+<p>The stranger's words and manner put Perseus into quite a different mood
+from his former one. He resolved to tell Quicksilver all his
+difficulties, since he could not easily be worse off than he already
+was, and, very possibly, his new friend might give him some advice that
+would turn out well in the end. So he let the stranger know, in few
+words, precisely what the case was,&mdash;how that King Polydectes wanted the
+head of Medusa with the snaky locks as a bridal gift for the beautiful
+Princess Hippodamia, and how that he had undertaken to get it for him,
+but was afraid of being turned into stone.</p>
+
+<p>"And that would be a great pity," said Quicksilver, with his mischievous
+smile. "You would make a very handsome marble statue, it is true, and it
+would be a considerable number of centuries before you crumbled away;
+but, on the whole, one would rather be a young man for a few years, than
+a stone image for a great many."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, far rather!" exclaimed Perseus, with the tears again standing in
+his eyes. "And, besides, what would my dear mother do, if her beloved
+son were turned into a stone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well, let us hope that the affair will not turn out so very
+badly," replied Quicksilver, in an encouraging tone. "I am the very
+person to help you, if anybody can. My sister and myself will do our
+utmost to bring you safe through the adventure, ugly as it now looks."</p>
+
+<p>"Your sister?" repeated Perseus.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my sister," said the stranger. "She is very wise, I promise you;
+and as for myself, I generally have all my wits about me, such as they
+are. If you show yourself bold and cautious, and follow our advice, you
+need not fear being a stone image yet awhile. But, first of all, you
+must polish your shield, till you can see your face in it as distinctly
+as in a mirror."</p>
+
+<p>This seemed to Perseus rather an odd beginning of the adventure; for he
+thought it of far more consequence that the shield should be strong
+enough to defend him from the Gorgon's brazen claws, than that it should
+be bright enough to show him the reflection of his face. However,
+concluding that Quicksilver knew better than himself, he immediately set
+to work, and scrubbed the shield with so much diligence and good-will,
+that it very quickly shone like the moon at harvest time. Quicksilver
+looked at it with a smile, and nodded his approbation. Then, taking off
+his own short and crooked sword, he girded it about Perseus, instead of
+the one which he had before worn.</p>
+
+<p>"No sword but mine will answer your purpose," observed he; "the blade
+has a most excellent temper, and will cut through iron and brass as
+easily as through the slenderest twig. And now we will set out. The next
+thing is to find the Three Gray Women, who will tell us where to find
+the Nymphs."</p>
+
+<p>"The Three Gray Women!" cried Perseus, to whom this seemed only a new
+difficulty in the path of his adventure; "pray who may the Three Gray
+Women be? I never heard of them before."</p>
+
+<p>"They are three very strange old ladies," said Quicksilver, laughing.
+"They have but one eye among them, and only one tooth. Moreover, you
+must find them out by starlight, or in the dusk of the evening; for they
+never show themselves by the light either of the sun or moon."</p>
+
+<p>"But," said Perseus, "why should I waste my time with these Three Gray
+Women? Would it not be better to set out at once in search of the
+terrible Gorgons?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," answered his friend. "There are other things to be done,
+before you can find your way to the Gorgons. There is nothing for it but
+to hunt up these old ladies; and when we meet with them, you may be sure
+that the Gorgons are not a great way off. Come, let us be stirring!"</p>
+
+<p>Perseus, by this time, felt so much confidence in his companion's
+sagacity, that he made no more objections, and professed himself ready
+to begin the adventure immediately. They accordingly set out, and walked
+at a pretty brisk pace; so brisk, indeed, that Perseus found it rather
+difficult to keep up with his nimble friend Quicksilver. To say the
+truth, he had a singular idea that Quicksilver was furnished with a pair
+of winged shoes, which, of course, helped him along marvellously. And
+then, too, when Perseus looked sideways at him out of the corner of his
+eye, he seemed to see wings on the side of his head; although, if he
+turned a full gaze, there were no such things to be perceived, but only
+an odd kind of cap. But, at all events, the twisted staff was evidently
+a great convenience to Quicksilver, and enabled him to proceed so fast,
+that Perseus, though a remarkably active young man, began to be out of
+breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Here!" cried Quicksilver, at last&mdash;for he knew well enough, rogue that
+he was, how hard Perseus found it to keep pace with him&mdash;"take you the
+staff, for you need it a great deal more than I. Are there no better
+walkers than yourself in the island of Seriphus?"</p>
+
+<p>"I could walk pretty well," said Perseus, glancing slyly at his
+companion's feet, "if I had only a pair of winged shoes."</p>
+
+<p>"We must see about getting you a pair," answered Quicksilver.</p>
+
+<p>But the staff helped Perseus along so bravely, that he no longer felt
+the slightest weariness. In fact, the stick seemed to be alive in his
+hand, and to lend some of its life to Perseus. He and Quicksilver now
+walked onward at their ease, talking very sociably together; and
+Quicksilver told so many pleasant stories about his former adventures,
+and how well his wits had served him on various occasions, that Perseus
+began to think him a very wonderful person. He evidently knew the world;
+and nobody is so charming to a young man as a friend who has that kind
+of knowledge. Perseus listened the more eagerly, in the hope of
+brightening his own wits by what he heard.</p>
+
+<p>At last, he happened to recollect that Quicksilver had spoken of a
+sister, who was to lend her assistance in the adventure which they were
+now bound upon.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is she?" he inquired. "Shall we not meet her soon?"</p>
+
+<p>"All at the proper time," said his companion. "But this sister of mine,
+you must understand, is quite a different sort of character from myself.
+She is very grave and prudent, seldom smiles, never laughs, and makes it
+a rule not to utter a word unless she has something particularly
+profound to say. Neither will she listen to any but the wisest
+conversation."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me!" ejaculated Perseus; "I shall be afraid to say a syllable."</p>
+
+<p>"She is a very accomplished person, I assure you," continued
+Quicksilver, "and has all the arts and sciences at her fingers' ends. In
+short, she is so immoderately wise, that many people call her wisdom
+personified. But, to tell you the truth, she has hardly vivacity enough
+for my taste; and I think you would scarcely find her so pleasant a
+travelling companion as myself. She has her good points, nevertheless;
+and you will find the benefit of them, in your encounter with the
+Gorgons."</p>
+
+<p>By this time it had grown quite dusk. They were now come to a very wild
+and desert place, overgrown with shaggy bushes, and so silent and
+solitary that nobody seemed ever to have dwelt or journeyed there. All
+was waste and desolate, in the gray twilight, which grew every moment
+more obscure. Perseus looked about him, rather disconsolately, and asked
+Quicksilver whether they had a great deal farther to go.</p>
+
+<p>"Hist! hist!" whispered his companion. "Make no noise! This is just the
+time and place to meet the Three Gray Women. Be careful that they do not
+see you before you see them; for, though they have but a single eye
+among the three, it is as sharp sighted as half a dozen common eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"But what must I do," asked Perseus, "when we meet them?"</p>
+
+<p>Quicksilver explained to Perseus how the Three Gray Women managed with
+their one eye. They were in the habit, it seems, of changing it from one
+to another, as if it had been a pair of spectacles, or&mdash;which would have
+suited them better&mdash;a quizzing glass. When one of the three had kept the
+eye a certain time, she took it out of the socket and passed it to one
+of her sisters, whose turn it might happen to be, and who immediately
+clapped it into her own head, and enjoyed a peep at the visible world.
+Thus it will easily be understood that only one of the Three Gray Women
+could see, while the other two were in utter darkness; and, moreover, at
+the instant when the eye was passing from hand to hand, neither of the
+poor old ladies was able to see a wink. I have heard of a great many
+strange things, in my day, and have witnessed not a few; but none, it
+seems to me, that can compare with the oddity of these Three Gray Women,
+all peeping through a single eye.</p>
+
+<p>So thought Perseus, likewise, and was so astonished that he almost
+fancied his companion was joking with him, and that there were no such
+old women in the world.</p>
+
+<p>"You will soon find whether I tell the truth or no," observed
+Quicksilver. "Hark! hush! hist! hist! There they come, now!"</p>
+
+<p>Perseus looked earnestly through the dusk of the evening, and there,
+sure enough, at no great distance off, he descried the Three Gray Women.
+The light being so faint, he could not well make out what sort of
+figures they were; only he discovered that they had long gray hair; and,
+as they came nearer, he saw that two of them had but the empty socket of
+an eye, in the middle of their foreheads. But, in the middle of the
+third sister's forehead, there was a very large, bright, and piercing
+eye, which sparkled like a great diamond in a ring; and so penetrating
+did it seem to be, that Perseus could not help thinking it must possess
+the gift of seeing in the darkest midnight just as perfectly as at
+noonday. The sight of three persons' eyes was melted and collected into
+that single one.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the three old dames got along about as comfortably, upon the whole,
+as if they could all see at once. She who chanced to have the eye in her
+forehead led the other two by the hands, peeping sharply about her, all
+the while; insomuch that Perseus dreaded lest she should see right
+through the thick clump of bushes behind which he and Quicksilver had
+hidden themselves. My stars! it was positively terrible to be within
+reach of so very sharp an eye!</p>
+
+<p>But, before they reached the clump of bushes, one of the Three Gray
+Women spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"Sister! Sister Scarecrow!" cried she, "you have had the eye long
+enough. It is my turn now!"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me keep it a moment longer, Sister Nightmare," answered Scarecrow.
+"I thought I had a glimpse of something behind that thick bush."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, and what of that?" retorted Nightmare, peevishly. "Can't I see
+into a thick bush as easily as yourself? The eye is mine as well as
+yours; and I know the use of it as well as you, or maybe a little
+better. I insist upon taking a peep immediately!"</p>
+
+<p>But here the third sister, whose name was Shakejoint, began to complain,
+and said that it was her turn to have the eye, and that Scarecrow and
+Nightmare wanted to keep it all to themselves. To end the dispute, old
+Dame Scarecrow took the eye out of her forehead, and held it forth in
+her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Take it, one of you," cried she, "and quit this foolish quarrelling.
+For my part, I shall be glad of a little thick darkness. Take it
+quickly, however, or I must clap it into my own head again!"</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, both Nightmare and Shakejoint put out their hands, groping
+eagerly to snatch the eye out of the hand of Scarecrow. But, being both
+alike blind, they could not easily find where Scarecrow's hand was; and
+Scarecrow, being now just as much in the dark as Shakejoint and
+Nightmare, could not at once meet either of their hands, in order to put
+the eye into it. Thus (as you will see, with half an eye, my wise little
+auditors), these good old dames had fallen into a strange perplexity.
+For, though the eye shone and glistened like a star, as Scarecrow held
+it out, yet the Gray Women caught not the least glimpse of its light,
+and were all three in utter darkness, from too impatient a desire to
+see.</p>
+
+<p>Quicksilver was so much tickled at beholding Shakejoint and Nightmare
+both groping for the eye, and each finding fault with Scarecrow and one
+another, that he could scarcely help laughing aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"Now is your time!" he whispered to Perseus. "Quick, quick! before they
+can clap the eye into either of their heads. Rush out upon the old
+ladies, and snatch it from Scarecrow's hand!"</p>
+
+<p>In an instant, while the Three Gray Women were still scolding each
+other, Perseus leaped from behind the clump of bushes, and made himself
+master of the prize. The marvellous eye, as he held it in his hand,
+shone very brightly, and seemed to look up into his face with a knowing
+air, and an expression as if it would have winked, had it been provided
+with a pair of eyelids for that purpose. But the Gray Women knew nothing
+of what had happened; and, each supposing that one of her sisters was in
+possession of the eye, they began their quarrel anew. At last, as
+Perseus did not wish to put these respectable dames to greater
+inconvenience than was really necessary, he thought it right to explain
+the matter.</p>
+
+<p>"My good ladies," said he, "pray do not be angry with one another. If
+anybody is in fault, it is myself; for I have the honour to hold your
+very brilliant and excellent eye in my own hand!"</p>
+
+<p>"You! you have our eye! And who are you?" screamed the Three Gray Women,
+all in a breath; for they were terribly frightened, of course, at
+hearing a strange voice, and discovering that their eyesight had got
+into the hands of they could not guess whom. "Oh, what shall we do,
+sisters? what shall we do? We are all in the dark! Give us our eye! Give
+us our one, precious, solitary eye! You have two of your own! Give us
+our eye!"</p>
+
+<p>"Tell them," whispered Quicksilver to Perseus, "that they shall have
+back the eye as soon as they direct you where to find the Nymphs who
+have the flying slippers, the magic wallet, and the helmet of darkness."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, good, admirable old ladies," said Perseus, addressing the Gray
+Women, "there is no occasion for putting yourselves into such a fright.
+I am by no means a bad young man. You shall have back your eye, safe and
+sound, and as bright as ever, the moment you tell me where to find the
+Nymphs."</p>
+
+<p>"The Nymphs! Goodness me! sisters, what Nymphs does he mean?" screamed
+Scarecrow. "There are a great many Nymphs, people say; some that go a
+hunting in the woods, and some that live inside of trees, and some that
+have a comfortable home in fountains of water. We know nothing at all
+about them. We are three unfortunate old souls, that go wandering about
+in the dusk, and never had but one eye amongst us, and that one you have
+stolen away. Oh, give it back, good stranger!&mdash;whoever you are, give it
+back!"</p>
+
+<p>All this while the Three Gray Women were groping with their outstretched
+hands, and trying their utmost to get hold of Perseus. But he took good
+care to keep out of their reach.</p>
+
+<p>"My respectable dames," said he&mdash;for his mother had taught him always to
+use the greatest civility&mdash;"I hold your eye fast in my hand, and shall
+keep it safely for you, until you please to tell me where to find these
+Nymphs. The Nymphs, I mean, who keep the enchanted wallet, the flying
+slippers, and the what is it?&mdash;the helmet of invisibility."</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy on us, sisters! what is the young man talking about?" exclaimed
+Scarecrow, Nightmare and Shakejoint, one to another, with great
+appearance of astonishment. "A pair of flying slippers, quoth he! His
+heels would quickly fly higher than his head, if he was silly enough to
+put them on. And a helmet of invisibility! How could a helmet make him
+invisible, unless it were big enough for him to hide under it? And an
+enchanted wallet! What sort of a contrivance may that be, I wonder? No,
+no, good stranger! we can tell you nothing of these marvellous things.
+You have two eyes of your own, and we have but a single one amongst us
+three. You can find out such wonders better than three blind old
+creatures, like us."</p>
+
+<p>Perseus, hearing them talk in this way, began really to think that the
+Gray Women knew nothing of the matter; and, as it grieved him to have
+put them to so much trouble, he was just on the point of restoring their
+eye and asking pardon for his rudeness in snatching it away. But
+Quicksilver caught his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't let them make a fool of you!" said he. "These Three Gray Women
+are the only persons in the world that can tell you where to find the
+Nymphs; and, unless you get that information, you will never succeed in
+cutting off the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. Keep fast hold of
+the eye, and all will go well."</p>
+
+<p>As it turned out, Quicksilver was in the right. There are but few things
+that people prize so much as they do their eyesight; and the Gray Women
+valued their single eye as highly as if it had been half a dozen, which
+was the number they ought to have had. Finding that there was no other
+way of recovering it, they at last told Perseus what he wanted to know.
+No sooner had they done so, than he immediately, and with the utmost
+respect, clapped the eye into the vacant socket in one of their
+foreheads, thanked them for their kindness, and bade them farewell.
+Before the young man was out of hearing, however, they had got into a
+new dispute, because he happened to have given the eye to Scarecrow, who
+had already taken her turn of it when their trouble with Perseus
+commenced.</p>
+
+<p>It is greatly to be feared that the Three Gray Women were very much in
+the habit of disturbing their mutual harmony by bickerings of this sort;
+which was the more pity, as they could not conveniently do without one
+another, and were evidently intended to be inseparable companions. As a
+general rule, I would advise all people, whether sisters or brothers,
+old or young, who chance to have but one eye amongst them, to cultivate
+forbearance, and not all insist upon peeping through it at once.</p>
+
+<p>Quicksilver and Perseus, in the meantime, were making the best of their
+way in quest of the Nymphs. The old dames had given them such particular
+directions that they were not long in finding them out. They proved to
+be very different persons from Nightmare, Shakejoint and Scarecrow; for,
+instead of being old, they were young and beautiful; and instead of one
+eye amongst the sisterhood, each Nymph had two exceedingly bright eyes
+of her own, with which she looked very kindly at Perseus. They seemed to
+be acquainted with Quicksilver; and, when he told them the adventure
+which Perseus had undertaken, they made no difficulty about giving him
+the valuable articles that were in their custody. In the first place,
+they brought out what appeared to be a small purse, made of deer skin,
+and curiously embroidered, and bade him be sure and keep it safe. This
+was the magic wallet. The Nymphs next produced a pair of shoes, or
+slippers, or sandals, with a nice little pair of wings at the heel of
+each.</p>
+
+<p>"Put them on, Perseus," said Quicksilver. "You will find yourself as
+light heeled as you can desire for the remainder of our journey."</p>
+
+<p>So Perseus proceeded to put one of the slippers on, while he laid the
+other on the ground by his side. Unexpectedly, however, this other
+slipper spread its wings, fluttered up off the ground, and would
+probably have flown away, if Quicksilver had not made a leap, and
+luckily caught it in the air.</p>
+
+<p>"Be more careful," said he, as he gave it back to Perseus. "It would
+frighten the birds, up aloft, if they should see a flying slipper
+amongst them."</p>
+
+<p>When Perseus had got on both of these wonderful slippers, he was
+altogether too buoyant to tread on earth. Making a step or two, lo and
+behold! upward he popped into the air, high above the heads of
+Quicksilver and the Nymphs, and found it very difficult to clamber down
+again. Winged slippers, and all such high-flying contrivances, are
+seldom quite easy to manage until one grows a little accustomed to them.
+Quicksilver laughed at his companion's involuntary activity, and told
+him that he must not be in so desperate a hurry, but must wait for the
+invisible helmet.</p>
+
+<p>The good-natured Nymphs had the helmet, with its dark tuft of waving
+plumes, all in readiness to put upon his head. And now there happened
+about as wonderful an incident as anything that I have yet told you.
+The instant before the helmet was put on, there stood Perseus, a
+beautiful young man, with golden ringlets and rosy cheeks, the crooked
+sword by his side, and the brightly polished shield upon his arm&mdash;a
+figure that seemed all made up of courage, sprightliness, and glorious
+light. But when the helmet had descended over his white brow, there was
+no longer any Perseus to be seen! Nothing but empty air! Even the
+helmet, that covered him with its invisibility, had vanished!</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you, Perseus?" asked Quicksilver.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, here, to be sure!" answered Perseus, very quietly, although his
+voice seemed to come out of the transparent atmosphere. "Just where I
+was a moment ago. Don't you see me?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed!" answered his friend. "You are hidden under the helmet.
+But, if I cannot see you, neither can the Gorgons. Follow me, therefore,
+and we will try your dexterity in using the winged slippers."</p>
+
+<p>With these words, Quicksilver's cap spread its wings, as if his head
+were about to fly away from his shoulders; but his whole figure rose
+lightly into the air, and Perseus followed. By the time they had
+ascended a few hundred feet, the young man began to feel what a
+delightful thing it was to leave the dull earth so far beneath him, and
+to be able to flit about like a bird.</p>
+
+<p>It was now deep night. Perseus looked upward, and saw the round, bright,
+silvery moon, and thought that he should desire nothing better than to
+soar up thither, and spend his life there. Then he looked downward
+again, and saw the earth, with its seas and lakes, and the silver
+courses of its rivers, and its snowy mountain peaks, and the breadth of
+its fields, and the dark cluster of its woods, and its cities of white
+marble; and, with the moonshine sleeping over the whole scene, it was as
+beautiful as the moon or any star could be. And, among other objects, he
+saw the island of Seriphus, where his dear mother was. Sometimes he and
+Quicksilver approached a cloud, that, at a distance, looked as if it
+were made of fleecy silver; although, when they plunged into it, they
+found themselves chilled and moistened with gray mist. So swift was
+their flight, however, that, in an instant, they emerged from the cloud
+into the moonlight again. Once, a high-soaring eagle flew right against
+the invisible Perseus. The bravest sights were the meteors, that gleamed
+suddenly out, as if a bonfire had been kindled in the sky, and made the
+moonshine pale for as much as a hundred miles around them.</p>
+
+<p>As the two companions flew onward, Perseus fancied that he could hear
+the rustle of a garment close by his side; and it was on the side
+opposite to the one where he beheld Quicksilver, yet only Quicksilver
+was visible.</p>
+
+<p>"Whose garment is this," inquired Perseus, "that keeps rustling close
+beside me in the breeze?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it is my sister's!" answered Quicksilver. "She is coming along with
+us, as I told you she would. We could do nothing without the help of my
+sister. You have no idea how wise she is. She has such eyes, too! Why,
+she can see you, at this moment, just as distinctly as if you were not
+invisible; and I'll venture to say, she will be the first to discover
+the Gorgons."</p>
+
+<p>By this time, in their swift voyage through the air, they had come
+within sight of the great ocean, and were soon flying over it. Far
+beneath them, the waves tossed themselves tumultuously in mid-sea, or
+rolled a white surf line upon the long beaches, or foamed against the
+rocky cliffs, with a roar that was thunderous, in the lower world;
+although it became a gentle murmur, like the voice of a baby half
+asleep, before it reached the ears of Perseus. Just then a voice spoke
+in the air close by him. It seemed to be a woman's voice, and was
+melodious, though not exactly what might be called sweet, but grave and
+mild.</p>
+
+<p>"Perseus," said the voice, "there are the Gorgons."</p>
+
+<p>"Where?" exclaimed Perseus. "I cannot see them."</p>
+
+<p>"On the shore of that island beneath you," replied the voice. "A pebble,
+dropped from your hand, would strike in the midst of them."</p>
+
+<p>"I told you she would be the first to discover them," said Quicksilver
+to Perseus. "And there they are!"</p>
+
+<p>Straight downward, two or three thousand feet below him, Perseus
+perceived a small island, with the sea breaking into white foam all
+around its rocky shore, except on one side, where there was a beach of
+snowy sand. He descended toward it, and, looking earnestly at a cluster
+or heap of brightness, at the foot of a precipice of black rocks,
+behold, there were the terrible Gorgons! They lay fast asleep, soothed
+by the thunder of the sea; for it required a tumult that would have
+deafened everybody else to lull such fierce creatures into slumber. The
+moonlight glistened on their steely scales, and on their golden wings,
+which drooped idly over the sand. Their brazen claws, horrible to look
+at, were thrust out, and clutched the wave-beaten fragments of rock,
+while the sleeping Gorgons dreamed of tearing some poor mortal all to
+pieces. The snakes that served them instead of hair seemed likewise to
+be asleep; although, now and then, one would writhe, and lift its head,
+and thrust out its forked tongue, emitting a drowsy hiss, and then let
+itself subside among its sister snakes.</p>
+
+<p>The Gorgons were more like an awful, gigantic kind of insect&mdash;immense,
+golden-winged beetles, or dragon-flies, or things of that sort&mdash;at once
+ugly and beautiful&mdash;than like anything else; only that they were a
+thousand and a million times as big. And, with all this, there was
+something partly human about them, too. Luckily for Perseus, their faces
+were completely hidden from him by the posture in which they lay; for,
+had he but looked one instant at them, he would have fallen heavily out
+of the air, an image of senseless stone.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," whispered Quicksilver, as he hovered by the side of Perseus&mdash;"now
+is your time to do the deed! Be quick; for, if one of the Gorgons should
+awake, you are too late!"</p>
+
+<p>"Which shall I strike at?" asked Perseus, drawing his sword and
+descending a little lower. "They all three look alike. All three have
+snaky locks. Which of the three is Medusa?"</p>
+
+<p>It must be understood that Medusa was the only one of these dragon
+monsters whose head Perseus could possibly cut off. As for the other
+two, let him have the sharpest sword that ever was forged, and he might
+have hacked away by the hour together, without doing them the least
+harm.</p>
+
+<p>"Be cautious," said the calm voice which had before spoken to him. "One
+of the Gorgons is stirring in her sleep, and is just about to turn over.
+That is Medusa. Do not look at her! The sight would turn you to stone!
+Look at the reflection of her face and figure in the bright mirror of
+your shield."</p>
+
+<p>Perseus now understood Quicksilver's motive for so earnestly exhorting
+him to polish his shield. In its surface he could safely look at the
+reflection of the Gorgon's face. And there it was&mdash;that terrible
+countenance&mdash;mirrored in the brightness of the shield, with the
+moonlight falling over it, and displaying all its horror. The snakes,
+whose venomous natures could not altogether sleep, kept twisting
+themselves over the forehead. It was the fiercest and most horrible face
+that ever was seen or imagined, and yet with a strange, fearful, and
+savage kind of beauty in it. The eyes were closed, and the Gorgon was
+still in a deep slumber; but there was an unquiet expression disturbing
+her features, as if the monster was troubled with an ugly dream. She
+gnashed her white tusks, and dug into the sand with her brazen claws.</p>
+
+<p>The snakes, too, seemed to feel Medusa's dream, and to be made more
+restless by it. They twined themselves into tumultuous knots, writhed
+fiercely, and uplifted a hundred hissing heads, without opening their
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, now!" whispered Quicksilver, who was growing impatient. "Make a
+dash at the monster!"</p>
+
+<p>"But be calm," said the grave, melodious voice at the young man's side.
+"Look in your shield, as you fly downward, and take care that you do not
+miss your first stroke."</p>
+
+<p>Perseus flew cautiously downward, still keeping his eyes on Medusa's
+face, as reflected in his shield. The nearer he came, the more terrible
+did the snaky visage and metallic body of the monster grow. At last,
+when he found himself hovering over her within arm's length, Perseus
+uplifted his sword, while, at the same instant, each separate snake upon
+the Gorgon's head stretched threateningly upward, and Medusa unclosed
+her eyes. But she awoke too late. The sword was sharp; the stroke fell
+like a lightning flash; and the head of the wicked Medusa tumbled from
+her body!</p>
+
+<p>"Admirably done!" cried Quicksilver. "Make haste, and clap the head into
+your magic wallet."</p>
+
+<p>To the astonishment of Perseus, the small, embroidered wallet, which he
+had hung about his neck, and which had hitherto been no bigger than a
+purse, grew all at once large enough to contain Medusa's head. As quick
+as thought, he snatched it up, with the snakes still writhing upon it,
+and thrust it in.</p>
+
+<p>"Your task is done," said the calm voice. "Now fly; for the other
+Gorgons will do their utmost to take vengeance for Medusa's death."</p>
+
+<p>It was, indeed, necessary to take flight; for Perseus had not done the
+deed so quietly but that the clash of his sword, and the hissing of the
+snakes, and the thump of Medusa's head as it tumbled upon the sea-beaten
+sand, awoke the other two monsters. There they sat, for an instant,
+sleepily rubbing their eyes with their brazen fingers, while all the
+snakes on their heads reared themselves on end with surprise, and with
+venomous malice against they knew not what. But when the Gorgons saw the
+scaly carcass of Medusa, headless, and her golden wings all ruffled and
+half spread out on the sand, it was really awful to hear what yells and
+screeches they set up. And then the snakes! They sent forth a
+hundredfold hiss, with one consent, and Medusa's snakes answered them
+out of the magic wallet.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner were the Gorgons broad awake than they hurtled upward into the
+air, brandishing their brass talons, gnashing their horrible tusks, and
+flapping their huge wings so wildly, that some of the golden feathers
+were shaken out, and floated down upon the shore. And there, perhaps,
+those very feathers lie scattered till this day. Up rose the Gorgons, as
+I tell you, staring horribly about, in hopes of turning somebody to
+stone. Had Perseus looked them in the face, or had he fallen into their
+clutches, his poor mother would never have kissed her boy again! But he
+took good care to turn his eyes another way; and, as he wore the helmet
+of invisibility, the Gorgons knew not in what direction to follow him;
+nor did he fail to make the best use of the winged slippers, by soaring
+upward a perpendicular mile or so. At that height, when the screams of
+those abominable creatures sounded faintly beneath him, he made a
+straight course for the island of Seriphus, in order to carry Medusa's
+head to King Polydectes.</p>
+
+<p>I have no time to tell you of several marvellous things that befell
+Perseus on his way homeward; such as his killing a hideous sea monster,
+just as it was on the point of devouring a beautiful maiden; nor how he
+changed an enormous giant into a mountain of stone, merely by showing
+him the head of the Gorgon. If you doubt this latter story, you may make
+a voyage to Africa, some day or other, and see the very mountain, which
+is still known by the ancient giant's name.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, our brave Perseus arrived at the island, where he expected to
+see his dear mother. But, during his absence, the wicked king had
+treated Dana&euml; so very ill that she was compelled to make her escape, and
+had taken refuge in a temple, where some good old priests were extremely
+kind to her. These praiseworthy priests, and the kind-hearted fisherman,
+who had first shown hospitality to Dana&euml; and little Perseus when he
+found them afloat in the chest, seem to have been the only persons on
+the island who cared about doing right. All the rest of the people, as
+well as King Polydectes himself, were remarkably ill behaved, and
+deserved no better destiny than that which was now to happen.</p>
+
+<p>Not finding his mother at home, Perseus went straight to the palace, and
+was immediately ushered into the presence of the king. Polydectes was by
+no means rejoiced to see him; for he had felt almost certain, in his own
+evil mind, that the Gorgons would have torn the poor young man to
+pieces, and have eaten him up, out of the way. However, seeing him
+safely returned, he put the best face he could upon the matter and asked
+Perseus how he had succeeded.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you performed your promise?" inquired he. "Have you brought me the
+head of Medusa with the snaky locks? If not, young man, it will cost you
+dear; for I must have a bridal present for the beautiful Princess
+Hippodamia, and there is nothing else that she would admire so much."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, please Your Majesty," answered Perseus, in a quiet way, as if it
+were no very wonderful deed for such a young man as he to perform. "I
+have brought you the Gorgon's head, snaky locks and all!"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! Pray let me see it," quoth King Polydectes. "It must be a very
+curious spectacle, if all that travellers tell about it be true!"</p>
+
+<p>"Your Majesty is in the right," replied Perseus. "It is really an object
+that will be pretty certain to fix the regards of all who look at it.
+And, if Your Majesty think fit, I would suggest that a holiday be
+proclaimed, and that all Your Majesty's subjects be summoned to behold
+this wonderful curiosity. Few of them, I imagine, have seen a Gorgon's
+head before, and perhaps never may again!"</p>
+
+<p>The king well knew that his subjects were an idle set of reprobates, and
+very fond of sightseeing, as idle persons usually are. So he took the
+young man's advice, and sent out heralds and messengers, in all
+directions, to blow the trumpet at the street corners, and in the market
+places, and wherever two roads met, and summon everybody to court.
+Thither, accordingly, came a great multitude of good-for-nothing
+vagabonds, all of whom, out of pure love of mischief, would have been
+glad if Perseus had met with some ill-hap in his encounter with the
+Gorgons. If there were any better people in the island (as I really hope
+there may have been, although the story tells nothing about any such),
+they stayed quietly at home, minding their business, and taking care of
+their little children. Most of the inhabitants, at all events, ran as
+fast as they could to the palace, and shoved, and pushed, and elbowed
+one another in their eagerness to get near a balcony, on which Perseus
+showed himself, holding the embroidered wallet in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>On a platform, within full view of the balcony, sat the mighty King
+Polydectes, amid his evil counsellors, and with his flattering courtiers
+in a semi-circle round about him. Monarch, counsellors, courtiers, and
+subjects, all gazed eagerly toward Perseus.</p>
+
+<p>"Show us the head! Show us the head!" shouted the people; and there was
+a fierceness in their cry as if they would tear Perseus to pieces,
+unless he should satisfy them with what he had to show. "Show us the
+head of Medusa with the snaky locks!"</p>
+
+<p>A feeling of sorrow and pity came over the youthful Perseus.</p>
+
+<p>"O King Polydectes," cried he, "and ye many people, I am very loath to
+show you the Gorgon's head!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, the villain and coward!" yelled the people, more fiercely than
+before. "He is making game of us! He has no Gorgon's head! Show us the
+head if you have it, or we will take your own head for a football!"</p>
+
+<p>The evil counsellors whispered bad advice in the king's ear; the
+courtiers murmured, with one consent, that Perseus had shown disrespect
+to their royal lord and master; and the great King Polydectes himself
+waved his hand, and ordered him, with the stern, deep voice of
+authority, on his peril, to produce the head.</p>
+
+<p>"Show me the Gorgon's head, or I will cut off your own!"</p>
+
+<p>And Perseus sighed.</p>
+
+<p>"This instant," repeated Polydectes, "or you die!"</p>
+
+<p>"Behold it then!" cried Perseus, in a voice like the blast of a trumpet.</p>
+
+<p>And, suddenly holding up the head, not an eyelid had time to wink before
+the wicked King Polydectes, his evil counsellors, and all his fierce
+subjects were no longer anything but the mere images of a monarch and
+his people. They were all fixed, forever, in the look and attitude of
+that moment! At the first glimpse of the terrible head of Medusa, they
+whitened into marble! And Perseus thrust the head back into his wallet,
+and went to tell his dear mother that she need no longer be afraid of
+the wicked King Polydectes.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br />
+THE DRAGON'S TEETH</h2>
+
+<p>Cadmus, Phœnix, and Cilix, the three sons of King Agenor, and their
+little sister Europa (who was a very beautiful child) were at play
+together, near the seashore, in their father's kingdom of Phœnicia.
+They had rambled to some distance from the palace where their parents
+dwelt, and were now in a verdant meadow, on one side of which lay the
+sea, all sparkling and dimpling in the sunshine, and murmuring gently
+against the beach. The three boys were very happy, gathering flowers,
+and twining them into garlands, with which they adorned the little
+Europa. Seated on the grass, the child was almost hidden under an
+abundance of buds and blossoms, whence her rosy face peeped merrily out,
+and, as Cadmus said, was the prettiest of all the flowers.</p>
+
+<p>Just then, there came a splendid butterfly, fluttering along the meadow;
+and Cadmus, Phœnix, and Cilix set off in pursuit of it, crying out
+that it was a flower with wings. Europa, who was a little wearied with
+playing all day long, did not chase the butterfly with her brothers, but
+sat still where they had left her, and closed her eyes. For a while, she
+listened to the pleasant murmur of the sea, which was like a voice
+saying "Hush!" and bidding her go to sleep. But the pretty child, if she
+slept at all, could not have slept more than a moment, when she heard
+something trample on the grass, not far from her, and peeping out from
+the heap of flowers, beheld a snow-white bull.</p>
+
+<p>And whence could this bull have come? Europa and her brothers had been a
+long time playing in the meadow, and had seen no cattle, nor other
+living thing, either there or on the neighbouring hills.</p>
+
+<p>"Brother Cadmus!" cried Europa, starting up out of the midst of the
+roses and lilies. "Phœnix! Cilix! Where are you all? Help! Help! Come
+and drive away this bull!"</p>
+
+<p>But her brothers were too far off to hear; especially as the fright took
+away Europa's voice, and hindered her from calling very loudly. So there
+she stood, with her pretty mouth wide open, as pale as the white lilies
+that were twisted among the other flowers in her garlands.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, it was the suddenness with which she had perceived the
+bull, rather than anything frightful in his appearance, that caused
+Europa so much alarm. On looking at him more attentively, she began to
+see that he was a beautiful animal, and even fancied a particularly
+amiable expression in his face. As for his breath&mdash;the breath of cattle,
+you know, is always sweet&mdash;it was as fragrant as if he had been grazing
+on no other food than rosebuds, or, at least, the most delicate of
+clover blossoms. Never before did a bull have such bright and tender
+eyes, and such smooth horns of ivory, as this one. And the bull ran
+little races, and capered sportively around the child; so that she quite
+forgot how big and strong he was, and, from the gentleness and
+playfulness of his actions, soon came to consider him as innocent a
+creature as a pet lamb.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, frightened as she at first was, you might by and by have seen
+Europa stroking the bull's forehead with her small white hand, and
+taking the garlands off her own head to hang them on his neck and ivory
+horns. Then she pulled up some blades of grass, and he ate them out of
+her hand, not as if he were hungry, but because he wanted to be friends
+with the child, and took pleasure in eating what she had touched. Well,
+my stars! was there ever such a gentle, sweet, pretty, and amiable
+creature as this bull, and ever such a nice playmate for a little girl?</p>
+
+<p>When the animal saw (for the bull had so much intelligence that it is
+really wonderful to think of), when he saw that Europa was no longer
+afraid of him, he grew overjoyed, and could hardly contain himself for
+delight. He frisked about the meadow, now here, now there, making
+sprightly leaps, with as little effort as a bird expends in hopping from
+twig to twig. Indeed, his motion was as light as if he were flying
+through the air, and his hoofs seemed hardly to leave their print in the
+grassy soil over which he trod. With his spotless hue, he resembled a
+snowdrift, wafted along by the wind. Once he galloped so far away that
+Europa feared lest she might never see him again; so, setting up her
+childish voice, she called him back.</p>
+
+<p>"Come back, pretty creature!" she cried. "Here is a nice clover
+blossom."</p>
+
+<p>And then it was delightful to witness the gratitude of this amiable
+bull, and how he was so full of joy and thankfulness that he capered
+higher than ever. He came running, and bowed his head before Europa, as
+if he knew her to be a king's daughter, or else recognised the important
+truth that a little girl is everybody's queen. And not only did the bull
+bend his neck, he absolutely knelt down at her feet, and made such
+intelligent nods, and other inviting gestures, that Europa understood
+what he meant just as well as if he had put it in so many words.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, dear child," was what he wanted to say, "let me give you a ride
+on my back."</p>
+
+<p>At the first thought of such a thing, Europa drew back. But then she
+considered in her wise little head that there could be no possible harm
+in taking just one gallop on the back of this docile and friendly
+animal, who would certainly set her down the very instant she desired
+it. And how it would surprise her brothers to see her riding across the
+green meadow! And what merry times they might have, either taking turns
+for a gallop, or clambering on the gentle creature, all four children
+together, and careering round the field with shouts of laughter that
+would be heard as far off as King Agenor's palace!</p>
+
+<p>"I think I will do it," said the child to herself.</p>
+
+<p>And, indeed, why not? She cast a glance around, and caught a glimpse of
+Cadmus, Phœnix, and Cilix, who were still in pursuit of the
+butterfly, almost at the other end of the meadow. It would be the
+quickest way of rejoining them, to get upon the white bull's back. She
+came a step nearer to him, therefore; and&mdash;sociable creature that he
+was&mdash;he showed so much joy at this mark of her confidence, that the
+child could not find it in her heart to hesitate any longer. Making one
+bound (for this little princess was as active as a squirrel), there sat
+Europa on the beautiful bull, holding an ivory horn in each hand, lest
+she should fall off.</p>
+
+<p>"Softly, pretty bull, softly!" she said, rather frightened at what she
+had done. "Do not gallop too fast."</p>
+
+<p>Having got the child on his back, the animal gave a leap into the air,
+and came down so like a feather that Europa did not know when his hoofs
+touched the ground. He then began a race to that part of the flowery
+plain where her three brothers were, and where they had just caught
+their splendid butterfly. Europa screamed with delight; and Phœnix,
+Cilix, and Cadmus stood gaping at the spectacle of their sister mounted
+on a white bull, not knowing whether to be frightened or to wish the
+same good luck for themselves. The gentle and innocent creature (for who
+could possibly doubt that he was so?) pranced round among the children
+as sportively as a kitten. Europa all the while looked down upon her
+brothers, nodding and laughing, but yet with a sort of stateliness in
+her rosy little face. As the bull wheeled about to take another gallop
+across the meadow, the child waved her hand, and said, "Good-by,"
+playfully pretending that she was now bound on a distant journey, and
+might not see her brothers again for nobody could tell how long.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by," shouted Cadmus, Phœnix, and Cilix, all in one breath.</p>
+
+<p>But, together with her enjoyment of the sport, there was still a little
+remnant of fear in the child's heart; so that her last look at the three
+boys was a troubled one, and made them feel as if their dear sister were
+really leaving them forever. And what do you think the snowy bull did
+next? Why, he set off, as swift as the wind, straight down to the
+seashore, scampered across the sand, took an airy leap, and plunged
+right in among the foaming billows. The white spray rose in a shower
+over him and little Europa, and fell spattering down upon the water.</p>
+
+<p>Then what a scream of terror did the poor child send forth! The three
+brothers screamed manfully, likewise, and ran to the shore as fast as
+their legs would carry them, with Cadmus at their head. But it was too
+late. When they reached the margin of the sand, the treacherous animal
+was already far away in the wide blue sea, with only his snowy head and
+tail emerging, and poor little Europa between them, stretching out one
+hand toward her dear brothers, while she grasped the bull's ivory horn
+with the other. And there stood Cadmus, Phœnix, and Cilix, gazing at
+this sad spectacle, through their tears, until they could no longer
+distinguish the bull's snowy head from the white-capped billows that
+seemed to boil up out of the sea's depths around him. Nothing more was
+ever seen of the white bull&mdash;nothing more of the beautiful child.</p>
+
+<p>This was a mournful story, as you may well think, for the three boys to
+carry home to their parents. King Agenor, their father, was the ruler of
+the whole country; but he loved his little daughter Europa better than
+his kingdom, or than all his other children, or than anything else in
+the world. Therefore, when Cadmus and his two brothers came crying home,
+and told him how that a white bull had carried off their sister, and
+swam with her over the sea, the king was quite beside himself with grief
+and rage. Although it was now twilight, and fast growing dark, he bade
+them set out instantly in search of her.</p>
+
+<p>"Never shall you see my face again," he cried, "unless you bring me back
+my little Europa, to gladden me with her smiles and her pretty ways.
+Begone, and enter my presence no more, till you come leading her by the
+hand."</p>
+
+<p>As King Agenor said this, his eyes flashed fire (for he was a very
+passionate king), and he looked so terribly angry that the poor boys did
+not even venture to ask for their suppers, but slunk away out of the
+palace, and only paused on the steps a moment to consult whither they
+should go first. While they were standing there, all in dismay, their
+mother, Queen Telephassa (who happened not to be by when they told the
+story to the king), came hurrying after them, and said that she, too,
+would go in quest of her daughter.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, mother!" cried the boys. "The night is dark, and there is no
+knowing what troubles and perils we may meet with."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! my dear children," answered poor Queen Telephassa, weeping
+bitterly, "that is only another reason why I should go with you. If I
+should lose you, too, as well as my little Europa, what would become of
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"And let me go likewise!" said their playfellow Thasus, who came running
+to join them.</p>
+
+<p>Thasus was the son of a seafaring person in the neighbourhood; he had
+been brought up with the young princess, and was their intimate friend,
+and loved Europa very much; so they consented that he should accompany
+them. The whole party, therefore, set forth together; Cadmus, Phœnix,
+Cilix and Thasus clustered round Queen Telephassa, grasping her skirts,
+and begging her to lean upon their shoulders whenever she felt weary. In
+this manner they went down the palace steps, and began a journey which
+turned out to be a great deal longer than they dreamed of. The last that
+they saw of King Agenor, he came to the door, with a servant holding a
+torch beside him, and called after them into the gathering darkness:</p>
+
+<p>"Remember! Never ascend these steps again without the child!"</p>
+
+<p>"Never!" sobbed Queen Telephassa; and the three brothers and Thasus
+answered, "Never! Never! Never! Never!"</p>
+
+<p>And they kept their word. Year after year King Agenor sat in the
+solitude of his beautiful palace, listening in vain for their returning
+footsteps, hoping to hear the familiar voice of the queen, and the
+cheerful talk of his sons and their playfellow Thasus, entering the
+door together, and the sweet, childish accents of little Europa in the
+midst of them. But so long a time went by, that, at last, if they had
+really come, the king would not have known that this was the voice of
+Telephassa, and these the younger voices that used to make such joyful
+echoes when the children were playing about the palace. We must now
+leave King Agenor to sit on his throne, and must go along with Queen
+Telephassa and her four youthful companions.</p>
+
+<p>They went on and on, and travelled a long way, and passed over mountains
+and rivers, and sailed over seas. Here, and there, and everywhere, they
+made continual inquiry if any person could tell them what had become of
+Europa. The rustic people, of whom they asked this question, paused a
+little while from their labours in the field, and looked very much
+surprised. They thought it strange to behold a woman in the garb of a
+queen (for Telephassa, in her haste, had forgotten to take off her crown
+and her royal robes), roaming about the country, with four lads around
+her, on such an errand as this seemed to be. But nobody could give them
+any tidings of Europa; nobody had seen a little girl dressed like a
+princess, and mounted on a snow-white bull, which galloped as swiftly as
+the wind.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot tell you how long Queen Telephassa, and Cadmus, Phœnix, and
+Cilix, her three sons, and Thasus, their playfellow, went wandering
+along the highways and bypaths, or through the pathless wildernesses of
+the earth, in this manner. But certain it is, that, before they reached
+any place of rest, their splendid garments were quite worn out. They all
+looked very much travel stained, and would have had the dust of many
+countries on their shoes, if the streams, through which they waded, had
+not washed it all away. When they had been gone a year, Telephassa threw
+away her crown, because it chafed her forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"It has given me many a headache," said the poor queen, "and it cannot
+cure my heartache."</p>
+
+<p>As fast as their princely robes got torn and tattered, they exchanged
+them for such mean attire as ordinary people wore. By and by they came
+to have a wild and homeless aspect; so that you would much sooner have
+taken them for a gypsy family than a queen and three princes, and a
+young nobleman, who had once a palace for their home, and a train of
+servants to do their bidding. The four boys grew up to be tall young
+men, with sunburnt faces. Each of them girded on a sword, to defend
+themselves against the perils of the way. When the husbandmen, at whose
+farmhouses they sought hospitality, needed their assistance in the
+harvest field, they gave it willingly; and Queen Telephassa (who had
+done no work in her palace, save to braid silk threads with golden ones)
+came behind them to bind the sheaves. If payment was offered, they shook
+their heads, and only asked for tidings of Europa.</p>
+
+<p>"There are bulls enough in my pasture," the old farmers would reply;
+"but I never heard of one like this you tell me of. A snow-white bull
+with a little princess on his back! Ho! ho! I ask your pardon, good
+folks; but there never was such a sight seen hereabouts."</p>
+
+<p>At last, when his upper lip began to have the down on it, Phœnix grew
+weary of rambling hither and thither to no purpose. So, one day, when
+they happened to be passing through a pleasant and solitary tract of
+country, he sat himself down on a heap of moss.</p>
+
+<p>"I can go no farther," said Phœnix. "It is a mere foolish waste of
+life, to spend it, as we do, in always wandering up and down, and never
+coming to any home at nightfall. Our sister is lost, and never will be
+found. She probably perished in the sea; or, to whatever shore the white
+bull may have carried her, it is now so many years ago, that there would
+be neither love nor acquaintance between us should we meet again. My
+father has forbidden us to return to his palace; so I shall build me a
+hut of branches, and dwell here."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, son Phœnix," said Telephassa, sorrowfully, "you have grown to
+be a man, and must do as you judge best. But, for my part, I will still
+go in quest of my poor child."</p>
+
+<p>"And we three will go along with you!" cried Cadmus and Cilix, and their
+faithful friend Thasus.</p>
+
+<p>But, before setting out, they all helped Phœnix to build a
+habitation. When completed, it was a sweet rural bower, roofed overhead
+with an arch of living boughs. Inside there were two pleasant rooms, one
+of which had a soft heap of moss for a bed, while the other was
+furnished with a rustic seat or two, curiously fashioned out of the
+crooked roots of trees. So comfortable and homelike did it seem, that
+Telephassa and her three companions could not help sighing, to think
+that they must still roam about the world, instead of spending the
+remainder of their lives in some such cheerful abode as they had here
+built for Phœnix. But, when they bade him farewell, Phœnix shed
+tears, and probably regretted that he was no longer to keep them
+company.</p>
+
+<p>However, he had fixed upon an admirable place to dwell in. And by and by
+there came other people, who chanced to have no homes; and, seeing how
+pleasant a spot it was, they built themselves huts in the neighbourhood
+of Phœnix's habitation. Thus, before many years went by, a city had
+grown up there, in the centre of which was seen a stately palace of
+marble, wherein dwelt Phœnix, clothed in a purple robe, and wearing a
+golden crown upon his head. For the inhabitants of the new city, finding
+that he had royal blood in his veins, had chosen him to be their king.
+The very first decree of state which King Phœnix issued was, that if
+a maiden happened to arrive in the kingdom, mounted on a snow-white
+bull, and calling herself Europa, his subjects should treat her with the
+greatest kindness and respect, and immediately bring her to the palace.
+You may see, by this, that Phœnix's conscience never quite ceased to
+trouble him, for giving up the quest of his dear sister, and sitting
+himself down to be comfortable, while his mother and her companions went
+onward.</p>
+
+<p>But often and often, at the close of a weary day's journey, did
+Telephassa and Cadmus, Cilix and Thasus, remember the pleasant spot in
+which they had left Phœnix. It was a sorrowful prospect for these
+wanderers, that on the morrow they must again set forth, and that, after
+many nightfalls, they would perhaps be no nearer the close of their
+toilsome pilgrimage than now. These thoughts made them all melancholy at
+times, but appeared to torment Cilix more than the rest of the party. At
+length, one morning, when they were taking their staffs in hand to set
+out, he thus addressed them:</p>
+
+<p>"My dear mother, and you good brother Cadmus, and my friend Thasus,
+methinks we are like people in a dream. There is no substance in the
+life which we are leading. It is such a dreary length of time since the
+white bull carried off my sister Europa, that I have quite forgotten
+how she looked, and the tones of her voice, and, indeed, almost doubt
+whether such a little girl ever lived in the world. And whether she once
+lived or no, I am convinced that she no longer survives, and that
+therefore it is the merest folly to waste our own lives and happiness in
+seeking her. Were we to find her, she would now be a woman grown, and
+would look upon us all as strangers. So, to tell you the truth, I have
+resolved to take up my abode here; and I entreat you, mother, brother,
+and friend, to follow my example."</p>
+
+<p>"Not I, for one," said Telephassa; although the poor queen, firmly as
+she spoke, was so travel worn that she could hardly put her foot to the
+ground&mdash;"not I, for one! In the depths of my heart, little Europa is
+still the rosy child who ran to gather flowers so many years ago. She
+has not grown to womanhood, nor forgotten me. At noon, at night,
+journeying onward, sitting down to rest, her childish voice is always in
+my ears, calling, 'Mother! mother!' Stop here who may, there is no
+repose for me."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor for me," said Cadmus, "while my dear mother pleases to go onward."</p>
+
+<p>And the faithful Thasus, too, was resolved to bear them company. They
+remained with Cilix a few days, however, and helped him to build a
+rustic bower, resembling the one which they had formerly built for
+Phœnix.</p>
+
+<p>When they were bidding him farewell, Cilix burst into tears, and told
+his mother that it seemed just as melancholy a dream to stay there, in
+solitude, as to go onward. If she really believed that they would ever
+find Europa, he was willing to continue the search with them, even now.
+But Telephassa bade him remain there, and be happy, if his own heart
+would let him. So the pilgrims took their leave of him, and departed,
+and were hardly out of sight before some other wandering people came
+along that way, and saw Cilix's habitation, and were greatly delighted
+with the appearance of the place. There being abundance of unoccupied
+ground in the neighbourhood, these strangers built huts for themselves,
+and were soon joined by a multitude of new settlers, who quickly formed
+a city. In the middle of it was seen a magnificent palace of coloured
+marble, on the balcony of which, every noontide, appeared Cilix, in a
+long purple robe, and with a jewelled crown upon his head; for the
+inhabitants, when they found out that he was a king's son, had
+considered him the fittest of all men to be a king himself.</p>
+
+<p>One of the first acts of King Cilix's government was to send out an
+expedition, consisting of a grave ambassador and an escort of bold and
+hardy young men, with orders to visit the principal kingdoms of the
+earth, and inquire whether a young maiden had passed through those
+regions, galloping swiftly on a white bull. It is, therefore, plain to
+my mind, that Cilix secretly blamed himself for giving up the search for
+Europa, as long as he was able to put one foot before the other.</p>
+
+<p>As for Telephassa, and Cadmus, and the good Thasus, it grieves me to
+think of them, still keeping up that weary pilgrimage. The two young men
+did their best for the poor queen, helping her over the rough places,
+often carrying her across rivulets in their faithful arms, and seeking
+to shelter her at nightfall, even when they themselves lay on the
+ground. Sad, sad it was to hear them asking of every passerby if he had
+seen Europa, so long after the white bull had carried her away. But,
+though the gray years thrust themselves between, and made the child's
+figure dim in their remembrance, neither of these true-hearted three
+ever dreamed of giving up the search.</p>
+
+<p>One morning, however, poor Thasus found that he had sprained his ankle,
+and could not possibly go a step farther.</p>
+
+<p>"After a few days, to be sure," said he, mournfully, "I might make shift
+to hobble along with a stick. But that would only delay you, and perhaps
+hinder you from finding dear little Europa, after all your pains and
+trouble. Do you go forward, therefore, my beloved companions, and leave
+me to follow as I may."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast been a true friend, dear Thasus," said Queen Telephassa,
+kissing his forehead. "Being neither my son, nor the brother of our lost
+Europa, thou hast shown thyself truer to me and her than Phœnix and
+Cilix did, whom we have left behind us. Without thy loving help, and
+that of my son Cadmus, my limbs could not have borne me half so far as
+this. Now, take thy rest, and be at peace. For&mdash;and it is the first time
+I have owned it to myself&mdash;I begin to question whether we shall ever
+find my beloved daughter in this world."</p>
+
+<p>Saying this, the poor queen shed tears, because it was a grievous trial
+to the mother's heart to confess that her hopes were growing faint. From
+that day forward, Cadmus noticed that she never travelled with the same
+alacrity of spirit that had heretofore supported her. Her weight was
+heavier upon his arm.</p>
+
+<p>Before setting out, Cadmus helped Thasus build a bower; while
+Telephassa, being too infirm to give any great assistance, advised them
+how to fit it up and furnish it, so that it might be as comfortable as a
+hut of branches could. Thasus, however, did not spend all his days in
+this green bower. For it happened to him, as to Phœnix and Cilix,
+that other homeless people visited the spot and liked it, and built
+themselves habitations in the neighbourhood. So here, in the course of
+a few years, was another thriving city with a red freestone palace in
+the centre of it, where Thasus set upon a throne, doing justice to the
+people, with a purple robe over his shoulders, a sceptre in his hand,
+and a crown upon his head. The inhabitants had made him king, not for
+the sake of any royal blood (for none was in his veins), but because
+Thasus was an upright, true-hearted, and courageous man, and therefore
+fit to rule.</p>
+
+<p>But, when the affairs of his kingdom were all settled, King Thasus laid
+aside his purple robe, and crown, and sceptre, and bade his worthiest
+subject distribute justice to the people in his stead. Then, grasping
+the pilgrim's staff that had supported him so long, he set forth again,
+hoping still to discover some hoof mark of the snow-white bull, some
+trace of the vanished child. He returned, after a lengthened absence,
+and sat down wearily upon his throne. To his latest hour, nevertheless,
+King Thasus showed his true-hearted remembrance of Europa, by ordering
+that a fire should always be kept burning in his palace, and a bath
+steaming hot, and food ready to be served up, and a bed with snow-white
+sheets, in case the maiden should arrive, and require immediate
+refreshment. And though Europa never came, the good Thasus had the
+blessings of many a poor traveller, who profited by the food and lodging
+which were meant for the little playmate of the king's boyhood.</p>
+
+<p>Telephassa and Cadmus were now pursuing their weary way, with no
+companion but each other. The queen leaned heavily upon her son's arm,
+and could walk only a few miles a day. But for all her weakness and
+weariness, she would not be persuaded to give up the search. It was
+enough to bring tears into the eyes of bearded men to hear the
+melancholy tone with which she inquired of every stranger whether he
+could tell her any news of the lost child.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you seen a little girl&mdash;no, no, I mean a young maiden of full
+growth&mdash;passing by this way, mounted on a snow-white bull, which gallops
+as swiftly as the wind?"</p>
+
+<p>"We have seen no such wondrous sight," the people would reply; and very
+often, taking Cadmus aside, they whispered to him, "Is this stately and
+sad-looking woman your mother? Surely she is not in her right mind; and
+you ought to take her home, and make her comfortable, and do your best
+to get this dream out of her fancy."</p>
+
+<p>"It is no dream," said Cadmus. "Everything else is a dream, save that."</p>
+
+<p>But, one day, Telephassa seemed feebler than usual, and leaned almost
+her whole weight on the arm of Cadmus, and walked more slowly than ever
+before. At last they reached a solitary spot, where she told her son
+that she must needs lie down, and take a good, long rest.</p>
+
+<p>"A good, long rest!" she repeated, looking Cadmus tenderly in the
+face&mdash;"a good, long rest, thou dearest one!"</p>
+
+<p>"As long as you please, dear mother," answered Cadmus.</p>
+
+<p>Telephassa bade him sit down on the turf beside her, and then she took
+his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"My son," said she, fixing her dim eyes most lovingly upon him, "this
+rest that I speak of will be very long indeed! You must not wait till it
+is finished. Dear Cadmus, you do not comprehend me. You must make a
+grave here, and lay your mother's weary frame into it. My pilgrimage is
+over."</p>
+
+<p>Cadmus burst into tears, and, for a long time, refused to believe that
+his dear mother was now to be taken from him. But Telephassa reasoned
+with him, and kissed him, and at length made him discern that it was
+better for her spirit to pass away out of the toil, the weariness, the
+grief, and disappointment which had burdened her on earth, ever since
+the child was lost. He therefore repressed his sorrow, and listened to
+her last words.</p>
+
+<p>"Dearest Cadmus," said she, "thou hast been the truest son that ever
+mother had, and faithful to the very last. Who else would have borne
+with my infirmities as thou hast! It is owing to thy care, thou
+tenderest child, that my grave was not dug long years ago, in some
+valley, or on some hillside, that lies far, far behind us. It is enough.
+Thou shalt wander no more on this hopeless search. But when thou hast
+laid thy mother in the earth, then go, my son, to Delphi, and inquire of
+the oracle what thou shalt do next."</p>
+
+<p>"O mother, mother," cried Cadmus, "couldst thou but have seen my sister
+before this hour!"</p>
+
+<p>"It matters little now," answered Telephassa, and there was a smile upon
+her face. "I go now to the better world, and, sooner or later, shall
+find my daughter there."</p>
+
+<p>I will not sadden you, my little hearers, with telling how Telephassa
+died and was buried, but will only say, that her dying smile grew
+brighter, instead of vanishing from her dead face; so that Cadmus felt
+convinced that, at her very first step into the better world, she had
+caught Europa in her arms. He planted some flowers on his mother's
+grave, and left them to grow there, and make the place beautiful, when
+he should be far away.</p>
+
+<p>After performing this last sorrowful duty, he set forth alone, and took
+the road toward the famous oracle of Delphi, as Telephassa had advised
+him. On his way thither, he still inquired of most people whom he met
+whether they had seen Europa; for, to say the truth, Cadmus had grown so
+accustomed to ask the question, that it came to his lips as readily as a
+remark about the weather. He received various answers. Some told him one
+thing, and some another. Among the rest, a mariner affirmed, that, many
+years before, in a distant country, he had heard a rumour about a white
+bull, which came swimming across the sea with a child on his back,
+dressed up in flowers that were blighted by the sea water. He did not
+know what had become of the child or the bull; and Cadmus suspected,
+indeed, by a queer twinkle in the mariner's eyes, that he was putting a
+joke upon him, and had never really heard anything about the matter.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Cadmus found it more wearisome to travel alone than to bear all his
+dear mother's weight while she had kept him company. His heart, you will
+understand, was now so heavy that it seemed impossible, sometimes, to
+carry it any farther. But his limbs were strong and active and well
+accustomed to exercise. He walked swiftly along, thinking of King Agenor
+and Queen Telephassa, and his brothers, and the friendly Thasus, all of
+whom he had left behind him, at one point of his pilgrimage or another,
+and never expected to see them any more. Full of these remembrances, he
+came within sight of a lofty mountain, which the people thereabouts told
+him was called Parnassus. On the slope of Mount Parnassus was the famous
+Delphi, whither Cadmus was going.</p>
+
+<p>This Delphi was supposed to be the very midmost spot of the whole world.
+The place of the oracle was a certain cavity in the mountain side, over
+which, when Cadmus came thither, he found a rude bower of branches. It
+reminded him of those which he had helped to build for Phoenix and
+Cilix, and afterward for Thasus. In later times, when multitudes of
+people came from great distances to put questions to the oracle, a
+spacious temple of marble was erected over the spot. But in the days of
+Cadmus, as I have told you, there was only this rustic bower, with its
+abundance of green foliage, and a tuft of shrubbery, that ran wild over
+the mysterious hole in the hillside.</p>
+
+<p>When Cadmus had thrust a passage through the tangled boughs, and made
+his way into the bower, he did not at first discern the half-hidden
+cavity. But soon he felt a cold stream of air rushing out of it, with so
+much force that it shook the ringlets on his cheek. Pulling away the
+shrubbery which clustered over the hole, he bent forward, and spoke in a
+distinct but reverential tone, as if addressing some unseen personage
+inside of the mountain.</p>
+
+<p>"Sacred oracle of Delphi," said he, "whither shall I go next in quest of
+my dear sister Europa?"</p>
+
+<p>There was at first a deep silence, and then a rushing sound, or a noise
+like a long sigh, proceeding out of the interior of the earth. This
+cavity, you must know, was looked upon as a sort of fountain of truth,
+which sometimes gushed out in audible words; although, for the most
+part, these words were such a riddle that they might just as well have
+stayed at the bottom of the hole. But Cadmus was more fortunate than
+many others who went to Delphi in search of truth. By and by, the
+rushing noise began to sound like articulate language. It repeated, over
+and over again, the following sentence, which, after all, was so like
+the vague whistle of a blast of air, that Cadmus really did not quite
+know whether it meant anything or not:</p>
+
+<p>"Seek her no more! Seek her no more! Seek her no more!"</p>
+
+<p>"What, then, shall I do?" asked Cadmus.</p>
+
+<p>For, ever since he was a child, you know, it had been the great object
+of his life to find his sister. From the very hour that he left
+following the butterfly in the meadow, near his father's palace, he had
+done his best to follow Europa, over land and sea. And now, if he must
+give up the search, he seemed to have no more business in the world.</p>
+
+<p>But again the sighing gust of air grew into something like a hoarse
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Follow the cow!" it said. "Follow the cow! Follow the cow!"</p>
+
+<p>And when these words had been repeated until Cadmus was tired of hearing
+them (especially as he could not imagine what cow it was, or why he was
+to follow her), the gusty hole gave vent to another sentence.</p>
+
+<p>"Where the stray cow lies down, there is your home."</p>
+
+<p>These words were pronounced but a single time, and died away into a
+whisper before Cadmus was fully satisfied that he had caught the
+meaning. He put other questions, but received no answer; only the gust
+of wind sighed continually out of the cavity, and blew the withered
+leaves rustling along the ground before it.</p>
+
+<p>"Did there really come any words out of the hole?" thought Cadmus; "or
+have I been dreaming all this while?"</p>
+
+<p>He turned away from the oracle, and thought himself no wiser than when
+he came thither. Caring little what might happen to him, he took the
+first path that offered itself, and went along at a sluggish pace; for,
+having no object in view, nor any reason to go one way more than
+another, it would certainly have been foolish to make haste. Whenever he
+met anybody, the old question was at his tongue's end:</p>
+
+<p>"Have you seen a beautiful maiden, dressed like a king's daughter, and
+mounted on a snow-white bull, that gallops as swiftly as the wind?"</p>
+
+<p>But, remembering what the oracle had said, he only half uttered the
+words, and then mumbled the rest indistinctly; and from his confusion,
+people must have imagined that this handsome young man had lost his
+wits.</p>
+
+<p>I know not how far Cadmus had gone, nor could he himself have told you,
+when, at no great distance before him, he beheld a brindled cow. She was
+lying down by the wayside, and quietly chewing her cud; nor did she take
+any notice of the young man until he had approached pretty nigh. Then,
+getting leisurely upon her feet, and giving her head a gentle toss, she
+began to move along at a moderate pace, often pausing just long enough
+to crop a mouthful of grass. Cadmus loitered behind, whistling idly to
+himself, and scarcely noticing the cow; until the thought occurred to
+him, whether this could possibly be the animal which, according to the
+oracle's response, was to serve him for a guide. But he smiled at
+himself for fancying such a thing. He could not seriously think that
+this was the cow, because she went along so quietly, behaving just like
+any other cow. Evidently she neither knew nor cared so much as a wisp of
+hay about Cadmus, and was only thinking how to get her living along the
+wayside, where the herbage was green and fresh. Perhaps she was going
+home to be milked.</p>
+
+<p>"Cow, cow, cow!" cried Cadmus. "Hey, Brindle, hey! Stop, my good cow."</p>
+
+<p>He wanted to come up with the cow, so as to examine her, and see if she
+would appear to know him, or whether there were any peculiarities to
+distinguish her from a thousand other cows, whose only business is to
+fill the milk pail, and sometimes kick it over. But still the brindled
+cow trudged on, whisking her tail to keep the flies away, and taking as
+little notice of Cadmus as she well could. If he walked slowly, so did
+the cow, and seized the opportunity to graze. If he quickened his pace,
+the cow went just so much the faster; and once, when Cadmus tried to
+catch her by running, she threw out her heels, stuck her tail straight
+on end, and set off at a gallop, looking as queerly as cows generally
+do, while putting themselves to their speed.</p>
+
+<p>When Cadmus saw that it was impossible to come up with her, he walked on
+moderately, as before. The cow, too, went leisurely on, without looking
+behind. Wherever the grass was greenest, there she nibbled a mouthful or
+two. Where a brook glistened brightly across the path, there the cow
+drank, and breathed a comfortable sigh, and drank again, and trudged
+onward at the pace that best suited herself and Cadmus.</p>
+
+<p>"I do believe," thought Cadmus, "that this may be the cow that was
+foretold me. If it be the one, I suppose she will lie down somewhere
+hereabouts."</p>
+
+<p>Whether it were the oracular cow or some other one, it did not seem
+reasonable that she should travel a great way farther. So, whenever they
+reached a particularly pleasant spot on a breezy hillside, or in a
+sheltered vale, or flowery meadow, on the shore of a calm lake, or along
+the bank of a clear stream, Cadmus looked eagerly around to see if the
+situation would suit him for a home. But still, whether he liked the
+place or no, the brindled cow never offered to lie down. On she went at
+the quiet pace of a cow going homeward to the barnyard; and, every
+moment Cadmus expected to see a milkmaid approaching with a pail, or a
+herdsman running to head the stray animal, and turn her back toward the
+pasture. But no milkmaid came; no herdsman drove her back; and Cadmus
+followed the stray brindle till he was almost ready to drop down with
+fatigue.</p>
+
+<p>"O brindled cow," cried he, in a tone of despair, "do you never mean to
+stop?"</p>
+
+<p>He had now grown too intent on following her to think of lagging behind,
+however long the way, and whatever might be his fatigue. Indeed, it
+seemed as if there were something about the animal that bewitched
+people. Several persons who happened to see the brindled cow, and Cadmus
+following behind, began to trudge after her, precisely as he did. Cadmus
+was glad of somebody to converse with, and therefore talked very freely
+to these good people. He told them all his adventures, and how he had
+left King Agenor in his palace, and Phœnix at one place, and Cilix at
+another, and Thasus at a third, and his dear mother, Queen Telephassa,
+under a flowery sod; so that now he was quite alone, both friendless and
+homeless. He mentioned, likewise, that the oracle had bidden him be
+guided by a cow, and inquired of the strangers whether they supposed
+that this brindled animal could be the one.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, 'tis a very wonderful affair," answered one of his new companions.
+"I am pretty well acquainted with the ways of cattle, and I never knew a
+cow, of her own accord, to go so far without stopping. If my legs will
+let me, I'll never leave following the beast till she lies down."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor I!" said a second.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor I!" cried a third. "If she goes a hundred miles farther, I'm
+determined to see the end of it."</p>
+
+<p>The secret of it was, you must know, that the cow was an enchanted cow,
+and that, without their being conscious of it, she threw some of her
+enchantment over everybody that took so much as half a dozen steps
+behind her. They could not possibly help following her, though, all the
+time, they fancied themselves doing it of their own accord. The cow was
+by no means very nice in choosing her path; so that sometimes they had
+to scramble over rocks, or wade through mud and mire, and were all in a
+terribly bedraggled condition, and tired to death, and very hungry, into
+the bargain. What a weary business it was!</p>
+
+<p>But still they kept trudging stoutly forward, and talking as they went.
+The strangers grew very fond of Cadmus, and resolved never to leave him,
+but to help him build a city wherever the cow might lie down. In the
+centre of it there should be a noble palace, in which Cadmus might
+dwell, and be their king, with a throne, a crown and sceptre, a purple
+robe, and everything else that a king ought to have; for in him there
+was the royal blood, and the royal heart, and the head that knew how to
+rule.</p>
+
+<p>While they were talking of these schemes, and beguiling the tediousness
+of the way with laying out the plan of the new city, one of the company
+happened to look at the cow.</p>
+
+<p>"Joy! joy!" cried he, clapping his hands. "Brindle is going to lie
+down."</p>
+
+<p>They all looked; and, sure enough, the cow had stopped and was staring
+leisurely about her, as other cows do when on the point of lying down.
+And slowly, slowly did she recline herself on the soft grass, first
+bending her fore legs, and then crouching her hind ones. When Cadmus and
+his companions came up with her, there was the brindled cow taking her
+ease, chewing her cud, and looking them quietly in the face; as if this
+was just the spot she had been seeking for, and as if it were all a
+matter of course.</p>
+
+<p>"This, then," said Cadmus, gazing around him, "this is to be my home."</p>
+
+<p>It was a fertile and lovely plain, with great trees flinging their
+sun-speckled shadows over it, and hills fencing it in from the rough
+weather. At no great distance, they beheld a river gleaming in the
+sunshine. A home feeling stole into the heart of poor Cadmus. He was
+very glad to know that here he might awake in the morning, without the
+necessity of putting on his dusty sandals to travel farther and farther.
+The days and the years would pass over him, and find him still in this
+pleasant spot. If he could have had his brothers with him, and his
+friend Thasus, and could have seen his dear mother under a roof of his
+own, he might here have been happy, after all their disappointments.
+Some day or other, too, his sister Europa might have come quietly to the
+door of his home, and smiled round upon the familiar faces. But, indeed,
+since there was no hope of regaining the friends of his boyhood, or ever
+seeing his dear sister again, Cadmus resolved to make himself happy with
+these new companions, who had grown so fond of him while following the
+cow.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my friends," said he to them, "this is to be our home. Here we
+will build our habitations. The brindled cow, which has led us hither,
+will supply us with milk. We will cultivate the neighbouring soil, and
+lead an innocent and happy life."</p>
+
+<p>His companions joyfully assented to this plan; and, in the first place,
+being very hungry and thirsty, they looked about them for the means of
+providing a comfortable meal. Not far off, they saw a tuft of trees,
+which appeared as if there might be a spring of water beneath them. They
+went thither to fetch some, leaving Cadmus stretched on the ground
+along with the brindled cow; for, now that he had found a place of rest,
+it seemed as if all the weariness of his pilgrimage, ever since he left
+King Agenor's palace, had fallen upon him at once. But his new friends
+had not long been gone, when he was suddenly startled by cries, shouts,
+and screams, and the noise of a terrible struggle, and in the midst of
+it all, a most awful hissing, which went right through his ears like a
+rough saw.</p>
+
+<p>Running toward the tuft of trees, he beheld the head and fiery eyes of
+an immense serpent or dragon, with the widest jaws that ever a dragon
+had, and a vast many rows of horribly sharp teeth. Before Cadmus could
+reach the spot, this pitiless reptile had killed his poor companions,
+and was busily devouring them, making but a mouthful of each man.</p>
+
+<p>It appears that the fountain of water was enchanted, and that the dragon
+had been set to guard it, so that no mortal might ever quench his thirst
+there. As the neighbouring inhabitants carefully avoided the spot, it
+was now a long time (not less than a hundred years, or thereabouts)
+since the monster had broken his fast; and, as was natural enough, his
+appetite had grown to be enormous, and was not half satisfied by the
+poor people whom he had just eaten up. When he caught sight of Cadmus,
+therefore, he set up another abominable hiss, and flung back his immense
+jaws, until his mouth looked like a great red cavern, at the farther end
+of which were seen the legs of his last victim, whom he had hardly had
+time to swallow.</p>
+
+<p>But Cadmus was so enraged at the destruction of his friends, that he
+cared neither for the size of the dragon's jaws nor for his hundreds of
+sharp teeth. Drawing his sword, he rushed at the monster, and flung
+himself right into his cavernous mouth. This bold method of attacking
+him took the dragon by surprise; for, in fact, Cadmus had leaped so far
+down into his throat, that the rows of terrible teeth could not close
+upon him, nor do him the least harm in the world. Thus, though the
+struggle was a tremendous one, and though the dragon shattered the tuft
+of trees into small splinters by the lashing of his tail, yet, as Cadmus
+was all the while slashing and stabbing at his very vitals, it was not
+long before the scaly wretch bethought himself of slipping away. He had
+not gone his length, however, when the brave Cadmus gave him a sword
+thrust that finished the battle; and, creeping out of the gateway of the
+creature's jaws, there he beheld him still wriggling his vast bulk,
+although there was no longer life enough in him to harm a little child.</p>
+
+<p>But do not you suppose that it made Cadmus sorrowful to think of the
+melancholy fate which had befallen those poor, friendly people, who had
+followed the cow along with him? It seemed as if he were doomed to lose
+everybody whom he loved, or to see them perish in one way or another.
+And here he was, after all his toils and troubles, in a solitary place,
+with not a single human being to help him build a hut.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall I do?" cried he aloud. "It were better for me to have been
+devoured by the dragon, as my poor companions were."</p>
+
+<p>"Cadmus," said a voice&mdash;but whether it came from above or below him, or
+whether it spoke within his own breast, the young man could not
+tell&mdash;"Cadmus, pluck out the dragon's teeth, and plant them in the
+earth."</p>
+
+<p>This was a strange thing to do; nor was it very easy, I should imagine,
+to dig out all those deep-rooted fangs from the dead dragon's jaws. But
+Cadmus toiled and tugged, and after pounding the monstrous head almost
+to pieces with a great stone, he at last collected as many teeth as
+might have filled a bushel or two. The next thing was to plant them.
+This, likewise, was a tedious piece of work, especially as Cadmus was
+already exhausted with killing the dragon and knocking his head to
+pieces, and had nothing to dig the earth with, that I know of, unless it
+were his sword blade. Finally, however, a sufficiently large tract of
+ground was turned up, and sown with this new kind of seed; although half
+of the dragon's teeth still remained to be planted some other day.</p>
+
+<p>Cadmus, quite out of breath, stood leaning upon his sword, and wondering
+what was to happen next. He had waited but a few moments, when he began
+to see a sight, which was as great a marvel as the most marvellous thing
+I ever told you about.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was shining slantwise over the field, and showed all the moist,
+dark soil just like any other newly planted piece of ground. All at
+once, Cadmus fancied he saw something glisten very brightly, first at
+one spot, then at another, and then at a hundred and a thousand spots
+together. Soon he perceived them to be the steel heads of spears,
+sprouting up everywhere like so many stalks of grain, and continually
+growing taller and taller. Next appeared a vast number of bright sword
+blades, thrusting themselves up in the same way. A moment afterward, the
+whole surface of the ground was broken up by a multitude of polished
+brass helmets, coming up like a crop of enormous beans. So rapidly did
+they grow, that Cadmus now discerned the fierce countenance of a man
+beneath every one. In short, before he had time to think what a
+wonderful affair it was, he beheld an abundant harvest of what looked
+like human beings, armed with helmets and breastplates, shields, swords
+and spears; and before they were well out of the earth, they brandished
+their weapons, and clashed them one against another, seeming to think,
+little while as they had yet lived, that they had wasted too much of
+life without a battle. Every tooth of the dragon had produced one of
+these sons of deadly mischief.</p>
+
+<p>Up sprouted, also, a great many trumpeters; and with the first breath
+that they drew, they put their brazen trumpets to their lips, and
+sounded a tremendous and ear-shattering blast; so that the whole space,
+just now so quiet and solitary, reverberated with the clash and clang of
+arms, the bray of warlike music, and the shouts of angry men. So enraged
+did they all look, that Cadmus fully expected them to put the whole
+world to the sword. How fortunate would it be for a great conqueror, if
+he could get a bushel of the dragon's teeth to sow!</p>
+
+<p>"Cadmus," said the same voice which he had before heard, "throw a stone
+into the midst of the armed men."</p>
+
+<p>So Cadmus seized a large stone, and, flinging it into the middle of the
+earth army, saw it strike the breast-plate of a gigantic and
+fierce-looking warrior. Immediately on feeling the blow, he seemed to
+take it for granted that somebody had struck him; and, uplifting his
+weapon, he smote his next neighbour a blow that cleft his helmet
+asunder, and stretched him on the ground. In an instant, those nearest
+the fallen warrior began to strike at one another with their swords and
+stab with their spears. The confusion spread wider and wider. Each man
+smote down his brother, and was himself smitten down before he had time
+to exult in his victory. The trumpeters, all the while, blew their
+blasts shriller and shriller; each soldier shouted a battle cry and
+often fell with it on his lips. It was the strangest spectacle of
+causeless wrath, and of mischief for no good end, that had ever been
+witnessed; but, after all, it was neither more foolish nor more wicked
+than a thousand battles that have since been fought, in which men have
+slain their brothers with just as little reason as these children of the
+dragon's teeth. It ought to be considered, too, that the dragon people
+were made for nothing else; whereas other mortals were born to love and
+help one another.</p>
+
+<p>Well, this memorable battle continued to rage until the ground was
+strewn with helmeted heads that had been cut off. Of all the thousands
+that began the fight, there were only five left standing. These now
+rushed from different parts of the field, and, meeting in the middle of
+it, clashed their swords, and struck at each other's hearts as fiercely
+as ever.</p>
+
+<p>"Cadmus," said the voice again, "bid those five warriors to sheathe
+their swords. They will help you to build the city."</p>
+
+<p>Without hesitating an instant, Cadmus stepped forward, with the aspect
+of a king and a leader, and extending his drawn sword amongst them,
+spoke to the warriors in a stern and commanding voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Sheathe your weapons!" said he.</p>
+
+<p>And forthwith, feeling themselves bound to obey him, the five remaining
+sons of the dragon's teeth made him a military salute with their swords,
+returned them to the scabbards, and stood before Cadmus in a rank,
+eyeing him as soldiers eye their captain, while awaiting the word of
+command.</p>
+
+<p>These five men had probably sprung from the biggest of the dragon's
+teeth, and were the boldest and strongest of the whole army. They were
+almost giants, indeed, and had good need to be so, else they never could
+have lived through so terrible a fight. They still had a very furious
+look, and, if Cadmus happened to glance aside, would glare at one
+another, with fire flashing out of their eyes. It was strange, too, to
+observe how the earth, out of which they had so lately grown, was
+incrusted, here and there, on their bright breastplates, and even
+begrimed their faces, just as you may have seen it clinging to beets and
+carrots when pulled out of their native soil. Cadmus hardly knew whether
+to consider them as men, or some odd kind of vegetable; although, on the
+whole, he concluded that there was human nature in them, because they
+were so fond of trumpets and weapons, and so ready to shed blood.</p>
+
+<p>They looked him earnestly in the face, waiting for his next order, and
+evidently desiring no other employment than to follow him from one
+battlefield to another, all over the wide world. But Cadmus was wiser
+than these earth-born creatures, with the dragon's fierceness in them,
+and knew better how to use their strength and hardihood.</p>
+
+<p>"Come!" said he. "You are sturdy fellows. Make yourselves useful! Quarry
+some stones with those great swords of yours, and help me to build a
+city."</p>
+
+<p>The five soldiers grumbled a little, and muttered that it was their
+business to overthrow cities, not to build them up. But Cadmus looked at
+them with a stern eye, and spoke to them in, a tone of authority, so
+that they knew him for their master, and never again thought of
+disobeying his commands. They set to work in good earnest, and toiled so
+diligently, that, in a very short time, a city began to make its
+appearance. At first, to be sure, the workmen showed a quarrelsome
+disposition. Like savage beasts, they would doubtless have done one
+another a mischief, if Cadmus had not kept watch over them and quelled
+the fierce old serpent that lurked in their hearts, when he saw it
+gleaming out of their wild eyes. But, in course of time, they got
+accustomed to honest labour, and had sense enough to feel that there was
+more true enjoyment in living at peace, and doing good to one's
+neighbour, than in striking at him with a two-edged sword. It may not be
+too much to hope that the rest of mankind will by and by grow as wise
+and peaceable as these five earth-begrimed warriors, who sprang from the
+dragon's teeth.</p>
+
+<p>And now the city was built, and there was a home in it for each of the
+workmen. But the palace of Cadmus was not yet erected, because they had
+left it till the last, meaning to introduce all the new improvements of
+architecture, and make it very commodious, as well as stately and
+beautiful. After finishing the rest of their labours, they all went to
+bed betimes, in order to rise in the gray of the morning, and get at
+least the foundation of the edifice laid before nightfall. But, when
+Cadmus arose, and took his way toward the site where the palace was to
+be built, followed by his five sturdy workmen marching all in a row,
+what do you think he saw?</p>
+
+<p>What should it be but the most magnificent palace that had ever been
+seen in the world? It was built of marble and other beautiful kinds of
+stone, and rose high into the air, with a splendid dome and a portico
+along the front, and carved pillars, and everything else that befitted
+the habitation of a mighty king. It had grown up out of the earth in
+almost as short a time as it had taken the armed host to spring from the
+dragon's teeth; and what made the matter more strange, no seed of this
+stately edifice had ever been planted.</p>
+
+<p>When the five workmen beheld the dome, with the morning sunshine making
+it look golden and glorious, they gave a great shout.</p>
+
+<p>"Long live King Cadmus," they cried, "in his beautiful palace."</p>
+
+<p>And the new king, with his five faithful followers at his heels,
+shouldering their pickaxes and marching in a rank (for they still had a
+soldier-like sort of behaviour, as their nature was), ascended the
+palace steps. Halting at the entrance, they gazed through a long vista
+of lofty pillars that were ranged from end to end of a great hall. At
+the farther extremity of this hall, approaching slowly toward him,
+Cadmus beheld a female figure, wonderfully beautiful, and adorned with a
+royal robe, and a crown of diamonds over her golden ringlets, and the
+richest necklace that ever a queen wore. His heart thrilled with
+delight. He fancied it his long-lost sister Europa, now grown to
+womanhood, coming to make him happy, and to repay him, with her sweet
+sisterly affection, for all those weary wanderings in quest of her since
+he left King Agenor's palace&mdash;for the tears that he had shed, on parting
+with Phœnix, and Cilix, and Thasus&mdash;for the heart-breakings that had
+made the whole world seem dismal to him over his dear mother's grave.</p>
+
+<p>But, as Cadmus advanced to meet the beautiful stranger, he saw that her
+features were unknown to him, although, in the little time that it
+required to tread along the hall, he had already felt a sympathy betwixt
+himself and her.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Cadmus," said the same voice that had spoken to him in the field of
+the armed men, "this is not that dear sister Europa whom you have sought
+so faithfully all over the wide world. This is Harmonia, a daughter of
+the sky, who is given you instead of sister, and brothers, and friend,
+and mother. You will find all those dear ones in her alone."</p>
+
+<p>So King Cadmus dwelt in the palace, with his new friend Harmonia, and
+found a great deal of comfort in his magnificent abode, but would
+doubtless have found as much, if not more, in the humblest cottage by
+the wayside. Before many years went by, there was a group of rosy little
+children (but how they came thither has always been a mystery to me)
+sporting in the great hall, and on the marble steps of the palace, and
+running joyfully to meet King Cadmus when affairs of state left him at
+leisure to play with them. They called him father, and Queen Harmonia
+mother. The five old soldiers of the dragon's teeth grew very fond of
+these small urchins, and were never weary of showing them how to
+shoulder sticks, flourish wooden swords, and march in military order,
+blowing a penny trumpet, or beating an abominable rub-a-dub upon a
+little drum.</p>
+
+<p>But King Cadmus, lest there should be too much of the dragon's tooth in
+his children's disposition, used to find time from his kingly duties to
+teach them their A B C&mdash;which he invented for their benefit, and for
+which many little people, I am afraid, are not half so grateful to him
+as they ought to be.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br />
+THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER</h2>
+
+<p>One evening, in times long ago, old Philemon and his old wife Baucis sat
+at their cottage door, enjoying the calm and beautiful sunset. They had
+already eaten their frugal supper, and intended now to spend a quiet
+hour or two before bedtime. So they talked together about their garden,
+and their cow, and their bees, and their grapevine, which clambered over
+the cottage wall, and on which the grapes were beginning to turn purple.
+But the rude shouts of children, and the fierce barking of dogs, in the
+village near at hand, grew louder and louder, until, at last, it was
+hardly possible for Baucis and Philemon to hear each other speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, wife," cried Philemon, "I fear some poor traveller is seeking
+hospitality among our neighbours yonder, and, instead of giving him food
+and lodging, they have set their dogs at him, as their custom is!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well-a-day!" answered old Baucis, "I do wish our neighbours felt a
+little more kindness for their fellow creatures. And only think of
+bringing up their children in this naughty way, and patting them on the
+head when they fling stones at strangers!"</p>
+
+<p>"Those children will never come to any good," said Philemon, shaking his
+white head. "To tell you the truth, wife, I should not wonder if some
+terrible thing were to happen to all the people in the village, unless
+they mend their manners. But, as for you and me, so long as Providence
+affords us a crust of bread, let us be ready to give half to any poor,
+homeless stranger that may come along and need it."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, husband!" said Baucis. "So we will!"</p>
+
+<p>These old folks, you must know, were quite poor, and had to work pretty
+hard for a living. Old Philemon toiled diligently in his garden, while
+Baucis was always busy with her distaff, or making a little butter and
+cheese with their cow's milk, or doing one thing and another about the
+cottage. Their food was seldom anything but bread, milk, and vegetables,
+with sometimes a portion of honey from their beehive, and now and then a
+bunch of grapes that had ripened against the cottage wall. But they were
+two of the kindest old people in the world, and would cheerfully have
+gone without their dinners, any day, rather than refuse a slice of their
+brown loaf, a cup of new milk, and a spoonful of honey, to the weary
+traveller who might pause before their door. They felt as if such guests
+had a sort of holiness, and that they ought, therefore, to treat them
+better and more bountifully than their own selves.</p>
+
+<p>Their cottage stood on a rising ground, at some short distance from a
+village, which lay in a hollow valley that was about half a mile in
+breadth. This valley, in past ages, when the world was new, had probably
+been the bed of a lake. There, fishes had glided to and fro in the
+depths, and water weeds had grown along the margin, and trees and hills
+had seen their reflected images in the broad and peaceful mirror. But,
+as the waters subsided, men had cultivated the soil, and built houses on
+it, so that it was now a fertile spot, and bore no traces of the ancient
+lake, except a very small brook, which meandered through the midst of
+the village, and supplied the inhabitants with water. The valley had
+been dry land so long that oaks had sprung up, and grown great and high,
+and perished with old age, and been succeeded by others, as tall and
+stately as the first. Never was there a prettier or more fruitful
+valley. The very sight of the plenty around them should have made the
+inhabitants kind and gentle, and ready to show their gratitude to
+Providence by doing good to their fellow creatures.</p>
+
+<p>But, we are sorry to say, the people of this lovely village were not
+worthy to dwell in a spot on which Heaven had smiled so beneficently.
+They were a very selfish and hard-hearted people, and had no pity for
+the poor, nor sympathy with the homeless. They would only have laughed,
+had anybody told them that human beings owe a debt of love to one
+another, because there is no other method of paying the debt of love and
+care which all of us owe to Providence. You will hardly believe what I
+am going to tell you. These naughty people taught their children to be
+no better than themselves, and used to clap their hands, by way of
+encouragement, when they saw the little boys and girls run after some
+poor stranger, shouting at his heels, and pelting him with stones. They
+kept large and fierce dogs, and whenever a traveller ventured to show
+himself in the village street, this pack of disagreeable curs scampered
+to meet him, barking, snarling, and showing their teeth. Then they would
+seize him by his leg, or by his clothes, just as it happened; and if he
+were ragged when he came, he was generally a pitiable object before he
+had time to run away. This was a very terrible thing to poor travellers,
+as you may suppose, especially when they chanced to be sick, or feeble,
+or lame, or old. Such persons (if they once knew how badly these unkind
+people, and their unkind children and curs, were in the habit of
+behaving) would go miles and miles out of their way, rather than try to
+pass through the village again.</p>
+
+<p>What made the matter seem worse, if possible, was that when rich persons
+came in their chariots, or riding on beautiful horses, with their
+servants in rich liveries attending on them, nobody could be more civil
+and obsequious than the inhabitants of the village. They would take off
+their hats, and make the humblest bows you ever saw. If the children
+were rude, they were pretty certain to get their ears boxed; and as for
+the dogs, if a single cur in the pack presumed to yelp, his master
+instantly beat him with a club, and tied him up without any supper. This
+would have been all very well, only it proved that the villagers cared
+much about the money that a stranger had in his pocket, and nothing
+whatever for the human soul, which lives equally in the beggar and the
+prince.</p>
+
+<p>So now you can understand why old Philemon spoke so sorrowfully, when he
+heard the shouts of the children and the barking of the dogs, at the
+farther extremity of the village street. There was a confused din, which
+lasted a good while, and seemed to pass quite through the breadth of the
+valley.</p>
+
+<p>"I never heard the dogs so loud!" observed the good old man.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor the children so rude!" answered his good old wife.</p>
+
+<p>They sat shaking their heads, one to another, while the noise came
+nearer and nearer; until, at the foot of the little eminence on which
+their cottage stood, they saw two travellers approaching on foot. Close
+behind them came the fierce dogs, snarling at their very heels. A little
+farther off, ran a crowd of children, who sent up shrill cries, and
+flung stones at the two strangers, with all their might. Once or twice,
+the younger of the two men (he was a slender and very active figure)
+turned about and drove back the dogs with a staff which he carried in
+his hand. His companion, who was a very tall person, walked calmly
+along, as if disdaining to notice either the naughty children, or the
+pack of curs, whose manners the children seemed to imitate.</p>
+
+<p>Both of the travellers were very humbly clad, and looked as if they
+might not have money enough in their pockets to pay for a night's
+lodging. And this, I am afraid, was the reason why the villagers had
+allowed their children and dogs to treat them so rudely.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, wife," said Philemon to Baucis, "let us go and meet these poor
+people. No doubt, they feel almost too heavy hearted to climb the hill."</p>
+
+<p>"Go you and meet them," answered Baucis, "while I make haste within
+doors, and see whether we can get them anything for supper. A
+comfortable bowl of bread and milk would do wonders toward raising their
+spirits."</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, she hastened into the cottage. Philemon, on his part, went
+forward, and extended his hand with so hospitable an aspect that there
+was no need of saying what nevertheless he did say, in the heartiest
+tone imaginable:</p>
+
+<p>"Welcome, strangers! welcome!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you!" replied the younger of the two, in a lively kind of way,
+notwithstanding his weariness and trouble. "This is quite another
+greeting than we have met with yonder in the village. Pray, why do you
+live in such a bad neighbourhood?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" observed old Philemon, with a quiet and benign smite, "Providence
+put me here, I hope, among other reasons, in order that I may make you
+what amends I can for the inhospitality of my neighbours."</p>
+
+<p>"Well said, old father!" cried the traveller, laughing; "and, if the
+truth must be told, my companion and myself need some amends. Those
+children (the little rascals!) have bespattered us finely with their mud
+balls; and one of the curs has torn my cloak, which was ragged enough
+already. But I took him across the muzzle with my staff; and I think you
+may have heard him yelp, even thus far off."</p>
+
+<p>Philemon was glad to see him in such good spirits; nor, indeed, would
+you have fancied, by the traveller's look and manner, that he was weary
+with a long day's journey, besides being disheartened by rough treatment
+at the end of it. He was dressed in rather an odd way, with a sort of
+cap on his head, the brim of which stuck out over both ears. Though it
+was a summer evening, he wore a cloak, which he kept wrapt closely about
+him, perhaps because his undergarments were shabby. Philemon perceived,
+too, that he had on a singular pair of shoes; but, as it was now growing
+dusk, and as the old man's eyesight was none the sharpest, he could not
+precisely tell in what the strangeness consisted. One thing, certainly,
+seemed queer. The traveller was so wonderfully light and active that it
+appeared as if his feet sometimes rose from the ground of their own
+accord, or could only be kept down by an effort.</p>
+
+<p>"I used to be light footed, in my youth," said Philemon to the
+traveller. "But I always found my feet grow heavier toward nightfall."</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing like a good staff to help one along," answered the
+stranger; "and I happen to have an excellent one, as you see."</p>
+
+<p>This staff, in fact, was the oddest-looking staff that Philemon had ever
+beheld. It was made of olive wood, and had something like a little pair
+of wings near the top. Two snakes, carved in the wood, were represented
+as twining themselves about the staff, and were so very skilfully
+executed that old Philemon (whose eyes, you know, were getting rather
+dim) almost thought them alive, and that he could see them wriggling and
+twisting.</p>
+
+<p>"A curious piece of work, sure enough!" said he. "A staff with wings! It
+would be an excellent kind of stick for a little boy to ride astride
+of!"</p>
+
+<p>By this time, Philemon and his two guests had reached the cottage door.</p>
+
+<p>"Friends," said the old man, "sit down and rest yourselves here on this
+bench. My good wife Baucis has gone to see what you can have for supper.
+We are poor folks; but you shall be welcome to whatever we have in the
+cupboard."</p>
+
+<p>The younger stranger threw himself carelessly on the bench, letting his
+staff fall as he did so. And here happened something rather marvellous,
+though trifling enough, too. The staff seemed to get up from the ground
+of its own accord, and, spreading its little pair of wings, it half
+hopped, half flew, and leaned itself against the wall of the cottage.
+There it stood quite still, except that the snakes continued to wriggle.
+But, in my private opinion, old Philemon's eyesight had been playing him
+tricks again.</p>
+
+<p>Before he could ask any questions, the elder stranger drew his attention
+from the wonderful staff, by speaking to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Was there not," asked the stranger, in a remarkably deep tone of voice,
+"a lake, in very ancient times, covering the spot where now stands
+yonder village?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not in my day, friend," answered Philemon; "and yet I am an old man, as
+you see. There were always the fields and meadows, just as they are now,
+and the old trees, and the little stream murmuring through the midst of
+the valley. My father, nor his father before him, ever saw it otherwise,
+so far as I know; and doubtless it will still be the same, when old
+Philemon shall be gone and forgotten!"</p>
+
+<p>"That is more than can be safely foretold," observed the stranger; and
+there was something very stern in his deep voice. He shook his head,
+too, so that his dark and heavy curls were shaken with the movement.
+"Since the inhabitants of yonder village have forgotten the affections
+and sympathies of their nature, it were better that the lake should be
+rippling over their dwellings again!"</p>
+
+<p>The traveller looked so stern that Philemon was really almost
+frightened; the more so, that, at his frown, the twilight seemed
+suddenly to grow darker, and that, when he shook his head, there was a
+roll as of thunder in the air.</p>
+
+<p>But, in a moment afterward, the stranger's face became so kindly and
+mild, that the old man quite forgot his terror. Nevertheless, he could
+not help feeling that this elder traveller must be no ordinary
+personage, although he happened now to be attired so humbly and to be
+journeying on foot. Not that Philemon fancied him a prince in disguise,
+or any character of that sort; but rather some exceedingly wise man, who
+went about the world in this poor garb, despising wealth and all worldly
+objects, and seeking everywhere to add a mite to his wisdom. This idea
+appeared the more probable, because, when Philemon raised his eyes to
+the stranger's face, he seemed to see more thought there, in one look,
+than he could have studied out in a lifetime.</p>
+
+<p>While Baucis was getting the supper, the travellers both began to talk
+very sociably with Philemon. The younger, indeed, was extremely
+loquacious, and made such shrewd and witty remarks, that the good old
+man continually burst out a-laughing, and pronounced him the merriest
+fellow whom he had seen for many a day.</p>
+
+<p>"Pray, my young friend," said he, as they grew familiar together, "what
+may I call your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I am very nimble, as you see," answered the traveller. "So, if you
+call me Quicksilver, the name will fit tolerably well."</p>
+
+<p>"Quicksilver? Quicksilver?" repeated Philemon, looking in the
+traveller's face, to see if he were making fun of him. "It is a very odd
+name! And your companion there? Has he as strange a one?"</p>
+
+<p>"You must ask the thunder to tell it you!" replied Quicksilver, putting
+on a mysterious look. "No other voice is loud enough."</p>
+
+<p>This remark, whether it were serious or in jest, might have caused
+Philemon to conceive a very great awe of the elder stranger, if, on
+venturing to gaze at him, he had not beheld so much beneficence in his
+visage. But, undoubtedly, here was the grandest figure that ever sat so
+humbly beside a cottage door. When the stranger conversed, it was with
+gravity, and in such a way that Philemon felt irresistibly moved to
+tell him everything which he had most at heart. This is always the
+feeling that people have, when they meet with anyone wise enough to
+comprehend all their good and evil, and to despise not a tittle of it.</p>
+
+<p>But Philemon, simple and kind-hearted old man that he was, had not many
+secrets to disclose. He talked, however, quite garrulously, about the
+events of his past life, in the whole course of which he had never been
+a score of miles from this very spot. His wife Baucis and himself had
+dwelt in the cottage from their youth upward, earning their bread by
+honest labour, always poor, but still contented. He told what excellent
+butter and cheese Baucis made, and how nice were the vegetables which he
+raised in his garden. He said, too, that, because they loved one another
+so very much, it was the wish of both that death might not separate
+them, but that they should die, as they had lived, together.</p>
+
+<p>As the stranger listened, a smile beamed over his countenance, and made
+its expression as sweet as it was grand.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a good old man," said he to Philemon, "and you have a good old
+wife to be your helpmeet. It is fit that your wish be granted."</p>
+
+<p>And it seemed to Philemon, just then, as if the sunset clouds threw up a
+bright flash from the west, and kindled a sudden light in the sky.</p>
+
+<p>Baucis had now got supper ready, and, coming to the door, began to make
+apologies for the poor fare which she was forced to set before her
+guests.</p>
+
+<p>"Had we known you were coming," said she, "my good man and myself would
+have gone without a morsel, rather than you should lack a better supper.
+But I took the most part of to-day's milk to make cheese; and our last
+loaf is already half eaten. Ah me! I never feel the sorrow of being
+poor, save when a poor traveller knocks at our door."</p>
+
+<p>"All will be very well; do not trouble yourself, my good dame," replied
+the elder stranger, kindly. "An honest, hearty welcome to a guest works
+miracles with the fare, and is capable of turning the coarsest food to
+nectar and ambrosia."</p>
+
+<p>"A welcome you shall have," cried Baucis, "and likewise a little honey
+that we happen to have left, and a bunch of purple grapes besides."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Mother Baucis, it is a feast!" exclaimed Quicksilver, laughing,
+"an absolute feast! and you shall see how bravely I will play my part at
+it! I think I never felt hungrier in my life."</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy on us!" whispered Baucis to her husband. "If the young man has
+such a terrible appetite, I am afraid there will not be half enough
+supper!"</p>
+
+<p>They all went into the cottage.</p>
+
+<p>And, now, my little auditors, shall I tell you something that will make
+you open your eyes very wide? It is really one of the oddest
+circumstances in the who|e story. Quicksilver's staff, you recollect,
+had set itself up against the wall of the cottage. Well; when its master
+entered the door, leaving this wonderful staff behind, what should it do
+but immediately spread its little wings, and go hopping and fluttering
+up the door-steps! Tap, tap, went the staff, on the kitchen floor; nor
+did it rest until it had stood itself on end, with the greatest gravity
+and decorum, beside Quicksilver's chair. Old Philemon, however, as well
+as his wife, was so taken up in attending to their guests, that no
+notice was given to what the staff had been about.</p>
+
+<p>As Baucis had said, there was but a scanty supper for two hungry
+travellers. In the middle of the table was the remnant of a brown loaf,
+with a piece of cheese on one side of it, and a dish of honeycomb on the
+other. There was a pretty good bunch of grapes for each of the guests. A
+moderately sized earthen pitcher, nearly full of milk, stood at a corner
+of the board; and when Baucis had filled two bowls, and set them before
+the strangers, only a little milk remained in the bottom of the pitcher.
+Alas! it is a very sad business, when a bountiful heart finds itself
+pinched and squeezed among narrow circumstances. Poor Baucis kept
+wishing that she might starve for a week to come, if it were possible,
+by so doing, to provide these hungry folks a more plentiful supper.</p>
+
+<p>And, since the supper was so exceedingly small, she could not help
+wishing that their appetites had not been quite so large. Why, at their
+very first sitting down, the travellers both drank off all the milk in
+their two bowls, at a draught.</p>
+
+<p>"A little more milk, kind Mother Baucis, if you please," said
+Quicksilver. "The day has been hot, and I am very much athirst."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my dear people," answered Baucis, in great confusion, "I am so
+sorry and ashamed! But the truth is, there is hardly a drop more milk in
+the pitcher. O husband! husband! why didn't we go without our supper?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it appears to me," cried Quicksilver, starting up from the table
+and taking the pitcher by the handle, "it really appears to me that
+matters are not quite so bad as you represent them. Here is certainly
+more milk in the pitcher."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, and to the vast astonishment of Baucis, he proceeded to fill,
+not only his own bowl, but his companion's likewise, from the pitcher,
+that was supposed to be almost empty. The good woman could scarcely
+believe her eyes. She had certainly poured out nearly all the milk, and
+had peeped in afterward, and seen the bottom of the pitcher, as she set
+it down upon the table.</p>
+
+<p>"But I am old," thought Baucis to herself, "and apt to be forgetful I
+suppose I must have made a mistake. At all events, the pitcher cannot
+help being empty now, after filling the bowls twice over."</p>
+
+<p>"What excellent milk!" observed Quicksilver, after quaffing the contents
+of the second bowl, "Excuse me, my kind hostess, but I must really ask
+you for a little more."</p>
+
+<p>Now Baucis had seen, as plainly as she could see anything, that
+Quicksilver had turned the pitcher upside down, and consequently had
+poured out every drop of milk, in filling the last bowl. Of course,
+there could not possibly be any left. However, in order to let him know
+precisely how the case was, she lifted the pitcher, and made a gesture
+as if pouring milk into Quicksilver's bowl, but without the remotest
+idea that any milk would stream forth. What was her surprise, therefore,
+when such an abundant cascade fell bubbling into the bowl, that it was
+immediately filled to the brim, and overflowed upon the table! The two
+snakes that were twisted about Quicksilver's staff (but neither Baucis
+nor Philemon happened to observe this circumstance) stretched out their
+heads, and began to lap up the spilt milk.</p>
+
+<p>And then what a delicious fragrance the milk had! It seemed as if
+Philemon's only cow must have pastured, that day, on the richest herbage
+that could be found anywhere in the world. I only wish that each of
+you, my beloved little souls, could have a bowl of such nice milk, at
+supper time!</p>
+
+<p>"And now a slice of your brown loaf, Mother Baucis," said Quicksilver,
+"and a little of that honey!"</p>
+
+<p>Baucis cut him a slice, accordingly; and though the loaf, when she and
+her husband ate of it, had been rather too dry and crusty to be
+palatable, it was now as light and moist as if but a few hours out of
+the oven. Tasting a crumb, which had fallen on the table, she found it
+more delicious than bread ever was before, and could hardly believe that
+it was a loaf of her own kneading and baking. Yet, what other loaf could
+it possibly be?</p>
+
+<p>But, oh the honey! I may just as well let it alone, without trying to
+describe how exquisitely it smelt and looked. Its colour was that of the
+purest and most transparent gold; and it had the odour of a thousand
+flowers; but of such flowers as never grew in an earthly garden, and to
+seek which the bees must have flown high above the clouds. The wonder
+is, that, after alighting on a flower bed of so delicious fragrance and
+immortal bloom, they should have been content to fly down again to their
+hive in Philemon's garden. Never was such honey tasted, seen, or smelt.
+The perfume floated around the kitchen, and made it so delightful, that,
+had you closed your eyes, you would instantly have forgotten the low
+ceiling and smoky walls, and have fancied yourself in an arbour, with
+celestial honeysuckles creeping over it.</p>
+
+<p>Although good Mother Baucis was a simple old dame, she could not but
+think that there was something rather out of the common way, in all that
+had been going on. So, after helping the guests to bread and honey, and
+laying a bunch of grapes by each of their plates, she sat down by
+Philemon, and told him what she had seen, in a whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever hear the like?" asked she.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I never did," answered Philemon, with a smile. "And I rather think,
+my dear old wife, you have been walking about in a sort of a dream. If I
+had poured out the milk, I should have seen through the business at
+once. There happened to be a little more in the pitcher than you
+thought&mdash;that is all."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, husband," said Baucis, "say what you will, these are very uncommon
+people."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well," replied Philemon, still smiling, "perhaps they are. They
+certainly do look as if they had seen better days; and I am heartily
+glad to see them making so comfortable a supper."</p>
+
+<p>Each of the guests had now taken his bunch of grapes upon his plate.
+Baucis (who rubbed her eyes, in order to see the more clearly) was of
+opinion that the clusters had grown larger and richer, and that each
+separate grape seemed to be on the point of bursting with ripe juice. It
+was entirely a mystery to her how such grapes could ever have been
+produced from the old stunted vine that climbed against the cottage
+wall.</p>
+
+<p>"Very admirable grapes these!" observed Quicksilver, as he swallowed one
+after another, without apparently diminishing his cluster. "Pray, my
+good host, whence did you gather them?"</p>
+
+<p>"From my own vine," answered Philemon. "You may see one of its branches
+twisting across the window, yonder. But wife and I never thought the
+grapes very fine ones."</p>
+
+<p>"I never tasted better," said the guest. "Another cup of this delicious
+milk, if you please, and I shall then have supped better than a prince."</p>
+
+<p>This time, old Philemon bestirred himself, and took up the pitcher; for
+he was curious to discover whether there was any reality in the marvels
+which Baucis had whispered to him. He knew that his good old wife was
+incapable of falsehood, and that she was seldom mistaken in what she
+supposed to be true; but this was so very singular a case, that he
+wanted to see into it with his own eyes. On taking up the pitcher,
+therefore, he slyly peeped into it, and was fully satisfied that it
+contained not so much as a single drop. All at once, however, he beheld
+a little white fountain, which gushed up from the bottom of the pitcher,
+and speedily filled it to the brim with foaming and deliciously fragrant
+milk. It was lucky that Philemon, in his surprise, did not drop the
+miraculous pitcher from his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are ye, wonder-working strangers!" cried he, even more bewildered
+than his wife had been.</p>
+
+<p>"Your guests, my good Philemon, and your friends," replied the elder
+traveller, in his mild, deep voice, that had something at once sweet and
+awe-inspiring in it. "Give me likewise a cup of the milk; and may your
+pitcher never be empty for kind Baucis and yourself, any more than for
+the needy wayfarer!"</p>
+
+<p>The supper being now over, the strangers requested to be shown to their
+place of repose. The old people would gladly have talked with them a
+little longer, and have expressed the wonder which they felt, and their
+delight at finding the poor and meagre supper prove so much better and
+more abundant than they hoped. But the elder traveller had inspired them
+with such reverence, that they dared not ask him any questions. And
+when Philemon drew Quicksilver aside, and inquired how under the sun a
+fountain of milk could have got into an old earthen pitcher, this latter
+personage pointed to his staff.</p>
+
+<p>"There is the whole mystery of the affair," quoth Quicksilver; "and if
+you can make it out, I'll thank you to let me know. I can't tell what to
+make of my staff. It is always playing such odd tricks as this;
+sometimes getting me a supper, and, quite as often, stealing it away. If
+I had any faith in such nonsense, I should say the stick was bewitched!"</p>
+
+<p>He said no more, but looked so slyly in their faces, that they rather
+fancied he was laughing at them. The magic staff went hopping at his
+heels, as Quicksilver quitted the room. When left alone, the good old
+couple spent some little time in conversation about the events of the
+evening, and then lay down on the floor, and fell fast asleep. They had
+given up their sleeping room to the guests, and had no other bed for
+themselves, save these planks, which I wish had been as soft as their
+own hearts.</p>
+
+<p>The old man and his wife were stirring, betimes, in the morning, and the
+strangers likewise arose with the sun, and made their preparations to
+depart. Philemon hospitably entreated them to remain a little longer,
+until Baucis could milk the cow, and bake a cake upon the hearth, and,
+perhaps, find them a few fresh eggs for breakfast. The guests, however,
+seemed to think it better to accomplish a good part of their journey
+before the heat of the day should come on. They, therefore, persisted in
+setting out immediately, but asked Philemon and Baucis to walk forth
+with them a short distance, and show them the road which they were to
+take.</p>
+
+<p>So they all four issued from the cottage, chatting together like old
+friends. It was very remarkable, indeed, how familiar the old couple
+insensibly grew with the elder traveller, and how their good and simple
+spirits melted into his, even as two drops of water would melt into the
+illimitable ocean. And as for Quicksilver, with his keen, quick,
+laughing wits, he appeared to discover every little thought that but
+peeped into their minds, before they suspected it themselves. They
+sometimes wished, it is true, that he had not been quite so
+quick-witted, and also that he would fling away his staff, which looked
+so mysteriously mischievous, with the snakes always writhing about it.
+But then, again, Quicksilver showed himself so very good humoured that
+they would have been rejoiced to keep him in their cottage, staff,
+snakes, and all, every day, and the whole day long.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah me! Well-a-day!" exclaimed Philemon, when they had walked a little
+way from their door. "If our neighbours only knew what a blessed thing
+it is to show hospitality to strangers, they would tie up all their
+dogs, and never allow their children to fling another stone."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a sin and shame for them to behave so&mdash;that it is!" cried good
+old Baucis, vehemently. "And I mean to go this very day, and tell some
+of them what naughty people they are!"</p>
+
+<p>"I fear," remarked Quicksilver, slyly smiling, "that you will find none
+of them at home."</p>
+
+<p>The elder traveller's brow, just then, assumed such a grave, stern, and
+awful grandeur, yet serene withal, that neither Baucis nor Philemon
+dared to speak a word. They gazed reverently into his face, as if they
+had been gazing at the sky.</p>
+
+<p>"When men do not feel toward the humblest stranger as if he were a
+brother," said the traveller, in tones so deep that they sounded like
+those of an organ, "they are unworthy to exist on earth, which was
+created as the abode of a great human brotherhood!"</p>
+
+<p>"And, by the by, my dear old people," cried Quicksilver, with the
+liveliest look of fun and mischief in his eyes, "where is this same
+village that you talk about? On which side of us does it lie? Methinks I
+do not see it hereabouts."</p>
+
+<p>Philemon and his wife turned toward the valley, where, at sunset, only
+the day before, they had seen the meadows, the houses, the gardens, the
+clumps of trees, the wide, green-margined street, with children playing
+in it, and all the tokens of business, enjoyment, and prosperity. But
+what was their astonishment! There was no longer any appearance of a
+village! Even the fertile vale, in the hollow of which it lay, had
+ceased to have existence. In its stead, they beheld the broad, blue
+surface of a lake, which filled the great basin of the valley from brim
+to brim, and reflected the surrounding hills in its bosom with as
+tranquil an image as if it had been there ever since the creation of the
+world. For an instant, the lake remained perfectly smooth. Then a little
+breeze sprang up, and caused the water to dance, glitter, and sparkle in
+the early sunbeams, and to dash, with a pleasant rippling murmur,
+against the hither shore.</p>
+
+<p>The lake seemed so strangely familiar that the old couple were greatly
+perplexed, and felt as if they could only have been dreaming about a
+village having lain there. But, the next moment, they remembered the
+vanished dwellings, and the faces and characters of the inhabitants, far
+too distinctly for a dream. The village had been there yesterday, and
+now was gone!</p>
+
+<p>"Alas!" cried the kind-hearted old people, "what has become of our poor
+neighbours?"</p>
+
+<p>"They exist no longer as men and women," said the elder traveller, in
+his grand and deep voice, while a roll of thunder seemed to echo it at a
+distance. "There was neither use nor beauty in such a life as theirs;
+for they never softened or sweetened the hard lot of mortality by the
+exercise of kindly affections between man and man. They retained no
+image of the better life in their bosoms; therefore, the lake, that was
+of old, has spread itself forth again, to reflect the sky!"</p>
+
+<p>"And as for those foolish people," said Quicksilver, with his
+mischievous smile, "they are all transformed to fishes. There needed but
+little change, for they were already a scaly set of rascals, and the
+coldest-blooded beings in existence. So, kind Mother Baucis, whenever
+you or your husband have an appetite for a dish of broiled trout, he can
+throw in a line, and pull out half a dozen of your old neighbours!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah," cried Baucis, shuddering, "I would not, for the world, put one of
+them on the gridiron!"</p>
+
+<p>"No," added Philemon, making a wry face, "we could never relish them!"</p>
+
+<p>"As for you, good Philemon," continued the elder traveller&mdash;"and you,
+kind Baucis&mdash;you, with your scanty means, have mingled so much heartfelt
+hospitality with your entertainment of the homeless stranger, that the
+milk became an inexhaustible fount of nectar, and the brown loaf and
+the honey were ambrosia. Thus, the divinities have feasted, at your
+board, off the same viands that supply their banquets on Olympus. You
+have done well, my dear old friends. Wherefore, request whatever favour
+you have most at heart, and it is granted."</p>
+
+<p>Philemon and Baucis looked at one another, and then&mdash;I know not which of
+the two it was who spoke, but that one uttered the desire of both their
+hearts.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us live together, while we live, and leave the world at the same
+instant, when we die! For we have always loved one another!"</p>
+
+<p>"Be it so!" replied the stranger, with majestic kindness, "Now, look
+toward your cottage!"</p>
+
+<p>They did so. But what was their surprise on beholding a tall edifice of
+white marble, with a wide-open portal, occupying the spot where their
+humble residence had so lately stood!</p>
+
+<p>"There is your home," said the stranger, beneficently smiling on them
+both. "Exercise your hospitality in yonder palace as freely as in the
+poor hovel to which you welcomed us last evening."</p>
+
+<p>The old folks fell on their knees to thank him; but, behold! neither he
+nor Quicksilver was there.</p>
+
+<p>So Philemon and Baucis took up their residence in the marble palace, and
+spent their time, with vast satisfaction to themselves, in making
+everybody jolly and comfortable who happened to pass that way. The milk
+pitcher, I must not forget to say, retained its marvellous quality of
+being never empty, when it was desirable to have it full. Whenever an
+honest, good-humoured, and free-hearted guest took a draught from this
+pitcher, he invariably found it the sweetest and most invigorating fluid
+that ever ran down his throat. But, if a cross and disagreeable
+curmudgeon happened to sip, he was pretty certain to twist his visage
+into a hard knot, and pronounce it a pitcher of sour milk!</p>
+
+<p>Thus the old couple lived in their palace a great, great while, and grew
+older and older, and very old indeed. At length, however, there came a
+summer morning when Philemon and Baucis failed to make their appearance,
+as on other mornings, with one hospitable smile overspreading both their
+pleasant faces, to invite the guests of over night to breakfast. The
+guests searched everywhere, from top to bottom of the spacious palace,
+and all to no purpose. But, after a great deal of perplexity, they
+espied, in front of the portal, two venerable trees, which nobody could
+remember to have seen there the day before. Yet there they stood, with
+their roots fastened deep into the soil, and a huge breadth of foliage
+overshadowing the whole front of the edifice. One was an oak, and the
+other a linden tree. Their boughs&mdash;it was strange and beautiful to
+see&mdash;were intertwined together, and embraced one another, so that each
+tree seemed to live in the other tree's bosom much more than in its own.</p>
+
+<p>While the guests were marvelling how these trees, that must have
+required at least a century to grow, could have come to be so tall and
+venerable in a single night, a breeze sprang up, and set their
+intermingled boughs astir. And then there was a deep, broad murmur in
+the air, as if the two mysterious trees were speaking.</p>
+
+<p>"I am old Philemon!" murmured the oak.</p>
+
+<p>"I am old Baucis!" murmured the linden tree.</p>
+
+<p>But, as the breeze grew stronger, the trees both spoke at
+once&mdash;"Philemon! Baucis! Baucis! Philemon!"&mdash;as if one were both and
+both were one, and talked together in the depths of their mutual heart.
+It was plain enough to perceive that the good old couple had renewed
+their age, and were now to spend a quiet and delightful hundred years or
+so, Philemon as an oak, and Baucis as a linden tree. And oh, what a
+hospitable shade did they fling around them. Whenever a wayfarer paused
+beneath it, he heard a pleasant whisper of the leaves above his head,
+and wondered how the sound should so much resemble words like these:</p>
+
+<p>"Welcome, welcome, dear traveller, welcome!"</p>
+
+<p>And some kind soul, that knew what would have pleased old Baucis and old
+Philemon best, built a circular seat around both their trunks, where,
+for a great while afterward the weary, and the hungry, and the thirsty
+used to repose themselves, and quaff milk abundantly out of the
+miraculous pitcher.</p>
+
+<p>And I wish, for all our sakes, that we had the pitcher here now!</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br />
+THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN</h2>
+
+<p>Long, long ago, when this old world was in its tender infancy, there was
+a child, named Epimetheus, who never had either father or mother; and,
+that he might not be lonely, another child, fatherless and motherless
+like himself, was sent from a far country, to live with him, and be his
+playfellow and helpmate. Her name was Pandora.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing that Pandora saw, when she entered the cottage where
+Epimetheus dwelt, was a great box. And almost the first question which
+she put to him, after crossing the threshold, was this:</p>
+
+<p>"Epimetheus, what have you in that box?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear little Pandora," answered Epimetheus, "that is a secret, and
+you must be kind enough not to ask any questions about it. The box was
+left here to be kept safely, and I do not myself know what it contains."</p>
+
+<p>"But who gave it to you?" asked Pandora. "And where did it come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is a secret, too," replied Epimetheus.</p>
+
+<p>"How provoking!" exclaimed Pandora, pouting her lip. "I wish the great
+ugly box were out of the way!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, come, don't think of it any more," cried Epimetheus. "Let us run
+out of doors, and have some nice play with the other children."</p>
+
+<p>It is thousands of years since Epimetheus and Pandora were alive; and
+the world, nowadays, is a very different sort of thing from what it was
+in their time. Then, everybody was a child. There needed no fathers and
+mothers to take care of the children; because there was no danger, nor
+trouble of any kind, and no clothes to be mended, and there was always
+plenty to eat and drink. Whenever a child wanted his dinner, he found it
+growing on a tree; and, if he looked at the tree in the morning, he
+could see the expanding blossom of that night's supper; or, at eventide,
+he saw the tender bud of to-morrow's breakfast. It was a very pleasant
+life indeed. No labour to be done, no tasks to be studied; nothing but
+sports and dances, and sweet voices of children talking, or carolling
+like birds, or gushing out in merry laughter, throughout the livelong
+day.</p>
+
+<p>What was most wonderful of all, the children never quarrelled among
+themselves; neither had they any crying fits; nor, since time first
+began, had a single one of these little mortals ever gone apart into a
+corner, and sulked. Oh, what a good time was that to be alive in! The
+truth is, those ugly little winged monsters, called Troubles, which are
+now almost as numerous as mosquitoes, had never yet been seen on the
+earth. It is probable that the very greatest disquietude which a child
+had ever experienced was Pandora's vexation at not being able to
+discover the secret of the mysterious box.</p>
+
+<p>This was at first only the faint shadow of a Trouble; but, every day, it
+grew more and more substantial, until, before a great while, the cottage
+of Epimetheus and Pandora was less sunshiny than those of the other
+children.</p>
+
+<p>"Whence can the box have come?" Pandora continually kept saying to
+herself and to Epimetheus. "And what in the world can be inside of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Always talking about this box!" said Epimetheus, at last; for he had
+grown extremely tired of the subject. "I wish, dear Pandora, you would
+try to talk of something else. Come, let us go and gather some ripe
+figs, and eat them under the trees, for our supper. And I know a vine
+that has the sweetest and juiciest grapes you ever tasted."</p>
+
+<p>"Always talking about grapes and figs!" cried Pandora, pettishly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then," said Epimetheus, who was a very good-tempered child, like
+a multitude of children in those days, "let us run out and have a merry
+time with our playmates."</p>
+
+<p>"I am tired of merry times, and don't care if I never have any more!"
+answered our pettish little Pandora. "And, besides, I never do have any.
+This ugly box! I am so taken up with thinking about it all the time. I
+insist upon your telling me what is inside of it."</p>
+
+<p>"As I have already said, fifty times over, I do not know!" replied
+Epimetheus, getting a little vexed. "How, then, can I tell you what is
+inside?"</p>
+
+<p>"You might open it," said Pandora, looking sideways at Epimetheus, "and
+then we could see for ourselves."</p>
+
+<p>"Pandora, what are you thinking of?" exclaimed Epimetheus.</p>
+
+<p>And his face expressed so much horror at the idea of looking into a box,
+which had been confided to him on the condition of his never opening it,
+that Pandora thought it best not to suggest it any more. Still, however,
+she could not help thinking and talking about the box.</p>
+
+<p>"At least," said she, "you can tell me how it came here."</p>
+
+<p>"It was left at the door," replied Epimetheus, "just before you came, by
+a person who looked very smiling and intelligent, and who could hardly
+forbear laughing as he put it down. He was dressed in an odd kind of a
+cloak, and had on a cap that seemed to be made partly of feathers, so
+that it looked almost as if it had wings."</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of a staff had he?" asked Pandora.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the most curious staff you ever saw!" cried Epimetheus. "It was
+like two serpents twisting around a stick, and was carved so naturally
+that I, at first, thought the serpents were alive."</p>
+
+<p>"I know him," said Pandora, thoughtfully. "Nobody else has such a staff.
+It was Quicksilver; and he brought me hither, as well as the box. No
+doubt he intended it for me; and, most probably, it contains pretty
+dresses for me to wear, or toys for you and me to play with, or
+something very nice for us both to eat!"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps so," answered Epimetheus, turning away. "But until Quicksilver
+comes back and tells us so, we have neither of us any right to lift the
+lid of the box."</p>
+
+<p>"What a dull boy he is!" muttered Pandora, as Epimetheus left the
+cottage. "I do wish he had a little more enterprise!"</p>
+
+<p>For the first time since her arrival, Epimetheus had gone out without
+asking Pandora to accompany him. He went to gather figs and grapes by
+himself, or to seek whatever amusement he could find, in other society
+than his little playfellow's. He was tired to death of hearing about the
+box, and heartily wished that Quicksilver, or whatever was the
+messenger's name, had left it at some other child's door, where Pandora
+would never have set eyes on it. So perseveringly as did she babble
+about this one thing! The box, the box, and nothing but the box! It
+seemed as if the box were bewitched, and as if the cottage were not big
+enough to hold it, without Pandora's continually stumbling over it, and
+making Epimetheus stumble over it likewise, and bruising all four of
+their shins.</p>
+
+<p>Well, it was really hard that poor Epimetheus should have a box in his
+ears from morning till night; especially as the little people of the
+earth were so unaccustomed to vexations, in those happy days, that they
+knew not how to deal with them. Thus, a small vexation made as much
+disturbance then as a far bigger one would in our own times.</p>
+
+<p>After Epimetheus was gone, Pandora stood gazing at the box. She had
+called it ugly, above a hundred times; but, in spite of all that she had
+said against it, it was positively a very handsome article of furniture,
+and would have been quite an ornament to any room in which it should be
+placed. It was made of a beautiful kind of wood, with dark and rich
+veins spreading over its surface, which was so highly polished that
+little Pandora could see her face in it. As the child had no other
+looking glass, it is odd that she did not value the box, merely on this
+account.</p>
+
+<p>The edges and corners of the box were carved with most wonderful skill.
+Around the margin there were figures of graceful men and women, and the
+prettiest children ever seen, reclining or sporting amid a profusion of
+flowers and foliage; and these various objects were so exquisitely
+represented, and were wrought together in such harmony, that flowers,
+foliage, and human beings seemed to combine into a wreath of mingled
+beauty. But here and there, peeping forth from behind the carved
+foliage, Pandora once or twice fancied that she saw a face not so
+lovely, or something or other that was disagreeable, and which stole the
+beauty out of all the rest. Nevertheless, on looking more closely, and
+touching the spot with her finger, she could discover nothing of the
+kind. Some face that was really beautiful had been made to look ugly by
+her catching a sideway glimpse at it.</p>
+
+<p>The most beautiful face of all was done in what is called high relief,
+in the centre of the lid. There was nothing else, save the dark, smooth
+richness of the polished wood, and this one face in the centre, with a
+garland of flowers about its brow. Pandora had looked at this face a
+great many times, and imagined that the mouth could smile if it liked,
+or be grave when it chose, the same as any living mouth. The features,
+indeed, all wore a very lively and rather mischievous expression, which
+looked almost as if it needs must burst out of the carved lips, and
+utter itself in words.</p>
+
+<p>Had the mouth spoken, it would probably have been something like this:</p>
+
+<p>"Do not be afraid, Pandora! What harm can there be in opening the box?
+Never mind that poor, simple Epimetheus! You are wiser than he, and have
+ten times as much spirit. Open the box, and see if you do not find
+something very pretty!"</p>
+
+<p>The box, I had almost forgotten to say, was fastened; not by a lock, nor
+by any other such contrivance, but by a very intricate knot of gold
+cord. There appeared to be no end to this knot, and no beginning. Never
+was a knot so cunningly twisted, nor with so many ins and outs, which
+roguishly defied the skilfullest fingers to disentangle them. And yet,
+by the very difficulty that there was in it, Pandora was the more
+tempted to examine the knot, and just see how it was made. Two or three
+times, already, she had stooped over the box, and taken the knot between
+her thumb and forefinger, but without positively trying to undo it.</p>
+
+<p>"I really believe," said she to herself, "that I begin to see how it was
+done. Nay, perhaps I could tie it up again, after undoing it. There
+would be no harm in that, surely. Even Epimetheus would not blame me for
+that. I need not open the box, and should not, of course, without the
+foolish boy's consent, even if the knot were untied."</p>
+
+<p>It might have been better for Pandora if she had had a little work to
+do, or anything to employ her mind upon, so as not to be so constantly
+thinking of this one subject. But children led so easy a life, before
+any Troubles came into the world, that they had really a great deal too
+much leisure. They could not be forever playing at hide-and-seek among
+the flower shrubs, or at blind-man's-buff with garlands over their eyes,
+or at whatever other games had been found out, while Mother Earth was in
+her babyhood. When life is all sport, toil is the real play. There was
+absolutely nothing to do. A little sweeping and dusting about the
+cottage, I suppose, and the gathering of fresh flowers (which were only
+too abundant everywhere), and arranging them in vases&mdash;and poor little
+Pandora's day's work was over. And then, for the rest of the day, there
+was the box!</p>
+
+<p>After all, I am not quite sure that the box was not a blessing to her in
+its way. It supplied her with such a variety of ideas to think of, and
+to talk about, whenever she had anybody to listen! When she was in good
+humour, she could admire the bright polish of its sides, and the rich
+border of beautiful faces and foliage that ran all around it. Or, if she
+chanced to be ill-tempered, she could give it a push, or kick it with
+her naughty little foot. And many a kick did the box&mdash;(but it was a
+mischievous box, as we shall see, and deserved all it got)&mdash;many a kick
+did it receive. But, certain it is, if it had not been for the box, our
+active-minded little Pandora would not have known half so well how to
+spend her time as she now did.</p>
+
+<p>For it was really an endless employment to guess what was inside. What
+could it be, indeed? Just imagine, my little hearers, how busy your wits
+would be, if there were a great box in the house, which, as you might
+have reason to suppose, contained something new and pretty for your
+Christmas or New Year's gifts. Do you think that you should be less
+curious than Pandora? If you were left alone with the box, might you not
+feel a little tempted to lift the lid? But you would not do it. Oh, fie!
+No, no! Only, if you thought there were toys in it, it would be so very
+hard to let slip an opportunity of taking just one peep! I know not
+whether Pandora expected any toys; for none had yet begun to be made,
+probably, in those days, when the world itself was one great plaything
+for the children that dwelt upon it. But Pandora was convinced that
+there was something very beautiful and valuable in the box; and
+therefore she felt just as anxious to take a peep as any of these little
+girls, here around me, would have felt. And, possibly, a little more so;
+but of that I am not quite so certain.</p>
+
+<p>On this particular day, however, which we have so long been talking
+about her curiosity grew so much greater than it usually was, that, at
+last, she approached the box. She was more than half determined to open
+it, if she could. Ah, naughty Pandora!</p>
+
+<p>First, however, she tried to lift it. It was heavy; quite too heavy for
+the slender strength of a child like Pandora. She raised one end of the
+box a few inches from the floor, and let it fall again, with a pretty
+loud thump. A moment afterward, she almost fancied that she heard
+something stir inside of the box. She applied her ear as closely as
+possible, and listened. Positively, there did seem to be a kind of
+stifled murmur within! Or was it merely the singing in Pandora's ears?
+Or could it be the beating of her heart? The child could not quite
+satisfy herself whether she had heard anything or no. But, at all
+events, her curiosity was stronger than ever.</p>
+
+<p>As she drew back her head, her eyes fell upon the knot of gold cord.</p>
+
+<p>"It must have been a very ingenious person who tied this knot," said
+Pandora to herself. "But I think I could untie it nevertheless. I am
+resolved, at least, to find the two ends of the cord."</p>
+
+<p>So she took the golden knot in her fingers, and pried into its
+intricacies as sharply as she could. Almost without intending it, or
+quite knowing what she was about, she was soon busily engaged in
+attempting to undo it. Meanwhile, the bright sunshine came through the
+open window; as did likewise the merry voices of the children, playing
+at a distance, and perhaps the voice of Epimetheus among them. Pandora
+stopped to listen. What a beautiful day it was! Would it not be wiser if
+she were to let the troublesome knot alone, and think no more about the
+box, but run and join her little playfellow and be happy?</p>
+
+<p>All this time, however, her fingers were half unconsciously busy with
+the knot; and happening to glance at the flower-wreathed face on the lid
+of the enchanted box, she seemed to perceive it slyly grinning at her.</p>
+
+<p>"That face looks very mischievous," thought Pandora. "I wonder whether
+it smiles because I am doing wrong! I have the greatest mind in the
+world to run away!"</p>
+
+<p>But just then, by the merest accident, she gave the knot a kind of
+twist, which produced a wonderful result. The gold cord untwined itself,
+as if by magic, and left the box without a fastening.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the strangest thing I ever knew!" said Pandora. "What will
+Epimetheus say? And how can I possibly tie it up again?"</p>
+
+<p>She made one or two attempts to restore the knot, but soon found it
+quite beyond her skill. It had disentangled itself so suddenly that she
+could not in the least remember how the strings had been doubled into
+one another; and when she tried to recollect the shape and appearance of
+the knot, it seemed to have gone entirely out of her mind. Nothing was
+to be done, therefore, but to let the box remain as it was until
+Epimetheus should come in.</p>
+
+<p>"But," said Pandora, "when he finds the knot untied, he will know that I
+have done it. How shall I make him believe that I have not looked into
+the box?"</p>
+
+<p>And then the thought came into her naughty little heart, that, since she
+would be suspected of having looked into the box, she might just as well
+do so at once. Oh, very naughty and very foolish Pandora! You should
+have thought only of doing what was right, and of leaving undone what
+was wrong, and not of what your playfellow Epimetheus would have said
+or believed. And so perhaps she might, if the enchanted face on the lid
+of the box had not looked so bewitchingly persuasive at her, and if she
+had not seemed to hear, more distinctly, than before, the murmur of
+small voices within. She could not tell whether it was fancy or no; but
+there was quite a little tumult of whispers in her ear&mdash;or else it was
+her curiosity that whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Let us out, dear Pandora&mdash;pray let us out! We will be such nice pretty
+playfellows for you! Only let us out!"</p>
+
+<p>"What can it be?" thought Pandora. "Is there something alive in the box?
+Well&mdash;yes!&mdash;I am resolved to take just one peep! Only one peep; and then
+the lid shall be shut down as safely as ever! There cannot possibly be
+any harm in just one little peep!"</p>
+
+<p>But it is now time for us to see what Epimetheus was doing.</p>
+
+<p>This was the first time, since his little playmate had come to dwell
+with him, that he had attempted to enjoy any pleasure in which she did
+not partake. But nothing went right; nor was he nearly so happy as on
+other days. He could not find a sweet grape or a ripe fig (if Epimetheus
+had a fault, it was a little too much fondness for figs); or, if ripe at
+all, they were overripe, and so sweet as to be cloying. There was no
+mirth in his heart, such as usually made his voice gush out, of its own
+accord, and swell the merriment of his companions. In short, he grew so
+uneasy and discontented, that the other children could not imagine what
+was the matter with Epimetheus. Neither did he himself know what ailed
+him, any better than they did. For you must recollect that, at the time
+we are speaking of, it was everybody's nature, and constant habit, to be
+happy. The world had not yet learned to be otherwise. Not a single soul
+or body, since these children were first sent to enjoy themselves on the
+beautiful earth, had ever been sick or out of sorts.</p>
+
+<p>At length, discovering that, somehow or other, he put a stop to all the
+play, Epimetheus judged it best to go back to Pandora, who was in a
+humour better suited to his own. But, with a hope of giving her
+pleasure, he gathered some flowers, and made them into a wreath, which
+he meant to put upon her head. The flowers were very lovely&mdash;roses, and
+lilies, and orange blossoms, and a great many more, which left a trail
+of fragrance behind, as Epimetheus carried them along; and the wreath
+was put together with as much skill as could reasonably be expected of a
+boy. The fingers of little girls, it has always appeared to me, are the
+fittest to twine flower wreaths; but boys could do it, in those days,
+rather better than they can now.</p>
+
+<p>And here I must mention that a great black cloud had been gathering in
+the sky, for some time past, although it had not yet overspread the sun.
+But, just as Epimetheus reached the cottage door, this cloud began to
+intercept the sunshine, and thus to make a sudden and sad obscurity.</p>
+
+<p>He entered softly, for he meant, if possible, to steal behind Pandora,
+and fling the wreath of flowers over her head, before she should be
+aware of his approach. But, as it happened, there was no need of his
+treading so very lightly. He might have trod as heavily as he
+pleased&mdash;as heavily as a grown man&mdash;as heavily, I was going to say, as
+an elephant&mdash;without much probability of Pandora's hearing his
+footsteps. She was too intent upon her purpose. At the moment of his
+entering the cottage, the naughty child had put her hand to the lid,
+and was on the point of opening the mysterious box. Epimetheus beheld
+her. If he had cried out, Pandora would probably have withdrawn her
+hand, and the fatal mystery of the box might never have been known.</p>
+
+<p>But Epimetheus himself, although he said very little about it, had his
+own share of curiosity to know what was inside. Perceiving that Pandora
+was resolved to find out the secret, he determined that his playfellow
+should not be the only wise person in the cottage. And if there were
+anything pretty or valuable in the box, he meant to take half of it to
+himself. Thus, after all his sage speeches to Pandora about restraining
+her curiosity, Epimetheus turned out to be quite as foolish, and nearly
+as much in fault as she. So, whenever we blame Pandora for what
+happened, we must not forget to shake our heads at Epimetheus likewise.</p>
+
+<p>As Pandora raised the lid, the cottage grew very dark and dismal; for
+the black cloud had now swept quite over the sun, and seemed to have
+buried it alive. There had for a little while past been a low growling
+and muttering, which all at once broke into a heavy peal of thunder. But
+Pandora, heeding nothing of all this, lifted the lid nearly upright, and
+looked inside. It seemed as if a sudden swarm of winged creatures
+brushed past her, taking flight out of the box, while, at the same
+instant, she heard the voice of Epimetheus, with a lamentable tone, as
+if he were in pain.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I am stung!" cried he. "I am stung! Naughty Pandora! why have you
+opened this wicked box?"</p>
+
+<p>Pandora let fall the lid, and, starting up, looked about her, to see
+what had befallen Epimetheus. The thunder cloud had so darkened the room
+that she could not very clearly discern what was in it. But she heard a
+disagreeable buzzing, as if a great many huge flies, or gigantic
+mosquitoes, or those insects which we call dor bugs, and pinching dogs,
+were darting about. And, as her eyes grew more accustomed to the
+imperfect light, she saw a crowd of ugly little shapes, with bats'
+wings, looking abominably spiteful, and armed with terribly long stings
+in their tails. It was one of these that had stung Epimetheus. Nor was
+it a great while before Pandora herself began to scream, in no less pain
+and affright than her playfellow, and making a vast deal more hubbub
+about it. An odious little monster had settled on her forehead, and
+would have stung her I know not how deeply, if Epimetheus had not run
+and brushed it away.</p>
+
+<p>Now, if you wish to know what these ugly things might be, which had made
+their escape out of the box, I must tell you that they were the whole
+family of earthly Troubles. There were evil Passions; there were a great
+many species of Cares; there were more than a hundred and fifty Sorrows;
+there were Diseases, in a vast number of miserable and painful shapes;
+there were more kinds of Naughtiness than it would be of any use to talk
+about. In short, everything that has since afflicted the souls and
+bodies of mankind had been shut up in the mysterious box, and given to
+Epimetheus and Pandora to be kept safely, in order that the happy
+children of the world might never be molested by them. Had they been
+faithful to their trust, all would have gone well. No grown person would
+ever have been sad, nor any child have had cause to shed a single tear,
+from that hour until this moment.</p>
+
+<p>But&mdash;and you may see by this how a wrong act of any one mortal is a
+calamity to the whole world&mdash;by Pandora's lifting the lid of that
+miserable box, and by the fault of Epimetheus, too, in not preventing
+her, these Troubles have obtained a foothold among us, and do not seem
+very likely to be driven away in a hurry. For it was impossible, as you
+will easily guess, that the two children should keep the ugly swarms in
+their own little cottage. On the contrary, the first thing that they did
+was to fling open the doors and windows, in hopes of getting rid of
+them; and, sure enough, away flew the winged Troubles all abroad, and so
+pestered and tormented the small people, everywhere about, that none of
+them so much as smiled for many days afterward. And, what was very
+singular, all the flowers and dewy blossoms on earth not one of which
+had hitherto faded, now began to droop and shed their leaves, after a
+day or two. The children, moreover, who before seemed immortal in their
+childhood, now grew older, day by day, and came soon to be youths and
+maidens, and men and women by and by, and aged people, before they
+dreamed of such a thing.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the naughty Pandora, and hardly less naughty Epimetheus,
+remained in their cottage. Both of them had been grievously stung, and
+were in a good deal of pain, which seemed the more intolerable to them,
+because it was the very first pain that had ever been felt since the
+world began. Of course, they were entirely unaccustomed to it, and could
+have no idea what it meant. Besides all this, they were in exceedingly
+bad humour, both with themselves and with one another. In order to
+indulge it to the utmost, Epimetheus sat down sullenly in a corner with
+his back toward Pandora; while Pandora flung herself upon the floor and
+rested her head on the fatal and abominable box. She was crying
+bitterly, and sobbing as if her heart would break.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly there was a gentle little tap on the inside of the lid.</p>
+
+<p>"What can that be?" cried Pandora, lifting her head.</p>
+
+<p>But either Epimetheus had not heard the tap, or was too much out of
+humour to notice it. At any rate, he made no answer.</p>
+
+<p>"You are very unkind," said Pandora, sobbing anew, "not to speak to me!"</p>
+
+<p>Again the tap! It sounded like the tiny knuckles of a fairy's hand,
+knocking lightly and playfully on the inside of the box.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" asked Pandora, with a little of her former curiosity.
+"Who are you, inside of this naughty box?"</p>
+
+<p>A sweet little voice spoke from within&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Only lift the lid, and you shall see."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," answered Pandora, again beginning to sob, "I have had enough
+of lifting the lid! You are inside of the box, naughty creature, and
+there you shall stay! There are plenty of your ugly brothers and sisters
+already flying about the world. You need never think that I shall be so
+foolish as to let you out!"</p>
+
+<p>She looked toward Epimetheus, as she spoke, perhaps expecting that he
+would commend her for her wisdom. But the sullen boy only muttered that
+she was wise a little too late.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah," said the sweet little voice again, "you had much better let me
+out. I am not like those naughty creatures that have stings in their
+tails. They are no brothers and sisters of mine, as you would see at
+once, if you were only to get a glimpse of me. Come, come, my pretty
+Pandora! I am sure you will let me out!"</p>
+
+<p>And, indeed, there was a kind of cheerful witchery in the tone, that
+made it almost impossible to refuse anything which this little voice
+asked. Pandora's heart had insensibly grown lighter, at every word that
+came from within the box. Epimetheus, too, though still in the corner,
+had turned half round, and seemed to be in rather better spirits than
+before.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Epimetheus," cried Pandora, "have you heard this little voice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, to be sure I have," answered he, but in no very good humour as
+yet. "And what of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I lift the lid again?" asked Pandora.</p>
+
+<p>"Just as you please," said Epimetheus. "You have done so much mischief
+already, that perhaps you may as well do a little more. One other
+Trouble, in such a swarm as you have set adrift about the world, can
+make no very great difference."</p>
+
+<p>"You might speak a little more kindly!" murmured Pandora, wiping her
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, naughty boy!" cried the little voice within the box, in an arch and
+laughing tone. "He knows he is longing to see me. Come, my dear Pandora,
+lift up the lid. I am in a great hurry to comfort you. Only let me have
+some fresh air, and you shall soon see that matters are not quite so
+dismal as you think them!"</p>
+
+<p>"Epimetheus," exclaimed Pandora, "come what may, I am resolved to open
+the box!"</p>
+
+<p>"And, as the lid seems very heavy," cried Epimetheus, running across the
+room, "I will help you!"</p>
+
+<p>So, with one consent, the two children again lifted the lid. Out flew a
+sunny and smiling little personage, and Hovered about the room, throwing
+a light wherever she went. Have you never made the sunshine dance into
+dark corners, by reflecting it from a bit of looking glass? Well, so
+looked the winged cheerfulness of this fairy-like stranger, amid the
+gloom of the cottage. She flew to Epimetheus, and laid the least touch
+of her finger on the inflamed spot where the Trouble had stung him, and
+immediately the anguish of it was gone. Then she kissed Pandora on the
+forehead, and her hurt was cured likewise.</p>
+
+<p>After performing these good offices, the bright stranger fluttered
+sportively over the children's heads, and looked so sweetly at them,
+that they both began to think it not so very much amiss to have opened
+the box, since, otherwise, their cheery guest must have been kept a
+prisoner among those naughty imps with stings in their tails.</p>
+
+<p>"Pray, who are you, beautiful creature?" inquired Pandora.</p>
+
+<p>"I am to be called Hope!" answered the sunshiny figure. "And because I
+am such a cheery little body, I was packed into the box, to make amends
+to the human race for that swarm of ugly Troubles, which was destined to
+be let loose among them. Never fear! we shall do pretty well in spite
+of them all."</p>
+
+<p>"Your wings are coloured like the rainbow!" exclaimed Pandora. "How very
+beautiful!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they are like the rainbow," said Hope, "because, glad as my nature
+is, I am partly made of tears as well as smiles."</p>
+
+<p>"And will you stay with us," asked Epimetheus, "forever and ever?"</p>
+
+<p>"As long as you need me," said Hope, with her pleasant smile&mdash;"and that
+will be as long as you live in the world&mdash;I promise never to desert you.
+There may come times and seasons, now and then, when you will think
+that I have utterly vanished. But again, and again, and again, when
+perhaps you least dream of it, you shall see the glimmer of my wings on
+the ceiling of your cottage. Yes, my dear children, and I know something
+very good and beautiful that is to be given you hereafter!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh tell us," they exclaimed&mdash;"tell us what it is!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do not ask me," replied Hope, putting her finger on her rosy mouth.
+"But do not despair, even if it should never happen while you live on
+this earth. Trust in my promise, for it is true."</p>
+
+<p>"We do trust you!" cried Epimetheus and Pandora, both in one breath.</p>
+
+<p>And so they did; and not only they, but so has everybody trusted Hope,
+that has since been alive. And to tell you the truth, I cannot help
+being glad&mdash;(though, to be sure, it was an uncommonly naughty thing for
+her to do)&mdash;but I cannot help being glad that our foolish Pandora peeped
+into the box. No doubt&mdash;no doubt&mdash;the Troubles are still flying about
+the world, and have increased in multitude, rather than lessened, and
+are a very ugly set of imps, and carry most venomous stings in their
+tails. I have felt them already, and expect to feel them more, as I grow
+older. But then that lovely and lightsome little figure of Hope! What in
+the world could we do without her? Hope spiritualises the earth; Hope
+makes it always new; and, even in the earth's best and brightest aspect,
+Hope shows it to be only the shadow of an infinite bliss hereafter!</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br />
+THE CYCLOPS</h2>
+
+<p>When the great city of Troy was taken, all the chiefs who had fought
+against it set sail for their homes. But there was wrath in heaven
+against them, for indeed they had borne themselves haughtily and cruelly
+in the day of their victory. Therefore they did not all find a safe and
+happy return. For one was shipwrecked, and another was shamefully slain
+by his false wife in his palace, and others found all things at home
+troubled and changed, and were driven to seek new dwellings elsewhere.
+And some, whose wives and friends and people had been still true to them
+through those ten long years of absence, were driven far and wide about
+the world before they saw their native land again. And of all, the wise
+Ulysses was he who wandered farthest and suffered most.</p>
+
+<p>He was well-nigh the last to sail, for he had tarried many days to do
+pleasure to Agamemnon, lord of all the Greeks. Twelve ships he had with
+him&mdash;twelve he had brought to Troy&mdash;and in each there were some fifty
+men, being scarce half of those that had sailed in them in the old days,
+so many valiant heroes slept the last sleep by Simo&iuml;s and Scamander, and
+in the plain and on the seashore, slain in battle or by the shafts of
+Apollo.</p>
+
+<p>First they sailed northwest to the Thracian coast, where the Ciconians
+dwelt, who had helped the men of Troy. Their city they took, and in it
+much plunder, slaves and oxen, and jars of fragrant wine, and might
+have escaped unhurt, but that they stayed to hold revel on the shore.
+For the Ciconians gathered their neighbours, being men of the same
+blood, and did battle with the invaders, and drove them to their ship.
+And when Ulysses numbered his men, he found that he had lost six out of
+each ship.</p>
+
+<p>Scarce had he set out again when the wind began to blow fiercely; so,
+seeing a smooth sandy beach, they drave the ships ashore and dragged
+them out of reach of the waves, and waited till the storm should abate.
+And the third morning being fair, they sailed again, and journeyed
+prosperously till they came to the very end of the great Peloponnesian
+land, where Cape Malea looks out upon the southern sea. But contrary
+currents baffled them, so that they could not round it, and the north
+wind blew so strongly that they must fain drive before it. And on the
+tenth day they came to the land where the lotus grows&mdash;a wondrous fruit,
+of which whosoever eats cares not to see country or wife or children
+again. Now the Lotus eaters, for so they call the people of the land,
+were a kindly folk, and gave of the fruit to some of the sailors, not
+meaning them any harm, but thinking it to be the best that they had to
+give. These, when they had eaten, said that they would not sail any more
+over the sea; which, when the wise Ulysses heard, he bade their comrades
+bind them and carry them, sadly complaining, to the ships.</p>
+
+<p>Then, the wind having abated, they took to their oars, and rowed for
+many days till they came to the country where the Cyclopes dwell. Now, a
+mile or so from the shore there was an island, very fair and fertile,
+but no man dwells there or tills the soil, and in the island a harbour
+where a ship may be safe from all winds, and at the head of the harbour
+a stream falling from the rock, and whispering alders all about it. Into
+this the ships passed safely, and were hauled up on the beach, and the
+crews slept by them, waiting for the morning. And the next day they
+hunted the wild goats, of which there was great store on the island, and
+feasted right merrily on what they caught, with draughts of red wine
+which they had carried off from the town of the Ciconians.</p>
+
+<p>But on the morrow, Ulysses, for he was ever fond of adventure, and would
+know of every land to which he came what manner of men they were that
+dwelt there, took one of his twelve ships and bade row to the land.
+There was a great hill sloping to the shore, and there rose up here and
+there a smoke from the caves where the Cyclopes dwelt apart, holding no
+converse with each other, for they were a rude and savage folk, but
+ruled each his own household, not caring for others. Now very close to
+the shore was one of these caves, very huge and deep, with laurels round
+about the mouth, and in front a fold with walls built of rough stone,
+and shaded by tall oaks and pines. So Ulysses chose out of the crew the
+twelve bravest, and bade the rest guard the ship, and went to see what
+manner of dwelling this was, and who abode there. He had his sword by
+his side, and on his shoulder a mighty skin of wine, sweet smelling and
+strong, with which he might win the heart of some fierce savage, should
+he chance to meet with such, as indeed his prudent heart forecasted that
+he might.</p>
+
+<p>So they entered the cave, and judged that it was the dwelling of some
+rich and skilful shepherd. For within there were pens for the young of
+the sheep and of the goats, divided all according to their age, and
+there were baskets full of cheeses, and full milkpails ranged along the
+wall. But the Cyclops himself was away in the pastures. Then the
+companions of Ulysses besought him that he would depart, taking with
+him, if he would, a store of cheeses and sundry of the lambs and of the
+kids. But he would not, for he wished to see, after his wont, what
+manner of host this strange shepherd might be. And truly he saw it to
+his cost!</p>
+
+<p>It was evening when the Cyclops came home, a mighty giant, twenty feet
+in height, or more. On his shoulder he bore a vast bundle of pine logs
+for his fire, and threw them down outside the cave with a great crash,
+and drove the flocks within, and closed the entrance with a huge rock,
+which twenty wagons and more could not bear. Then he milked the ewes and
+all the she goats, and half of the milk he curdled for cheese, and half
+he set ready for himself, when he should sup. Next he kindled a fire
+with the pine logs, and the flame lighted up all the cave, showing him
+Ulysses and his comrades.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are ye?" cried Polyphemus, for that was the giant's name. "Are ye
+traders, or, haply, pirates?"</p>
+
+<p>For in those days it was not counted shame to be called a pirate.</p>
+
+<p>Ulysses shuddered at the dreadful voice and shape, but bore him bravely,
+and answered, "We are no pirates, mighty sir, but Greeks, sailing back
+from Troy, and subjects of the great King Agamemnon, whose fame is
+spread from one end of heaven to the other. And we are come to beg
+hospitality of thee in the name of Zeus, who rewards or punishes hosts
+and guests according as they be faithful the one to the other, or no."</p>
+
+<p>"Nay," said the giant, "it is but idle talk to tell me of Zeus and the
+other gods. We Cyclopes take no account of gods, holding ourselves to
+be much better and stronger than they. But come, tell me where have you
+left your ship?"</p>
+
+<p>But Ulysses saw his thought when he asked about the ship, how he was
+minded to break it, and take from them all hope of flight. Therefore he
+answered him craftily:</p>
+
+<p>"Ship have we none, for that which was ours King Poseidon brake, driving
+it on a jutting rock on this coast, and we whom thou seest are all that
+are escaped from the waves."</p>
+
+<p>Polyphemus answered nothing, but without more ado caught up two of the
+men, as a man might catch up the whelps of a dog, and dashed them on the
+ground, and tore them limb from limb, and devoured them, with huge
+draughts of milk between, leaving not a morsel, not even the very bones.
+But the others, when they saw the dreadful deed, could only weep and
+pray to Zeus for help. And when the giant had ended his foul meal, he
+lay down among his sheep and slept.</p>
+
+<p>Then Ulysses questioned much in his heart whether he should slay the
+monster as he slept, for he doubted not that his good sword would pierce
+to the giant's heart, mighty as he was. But, being very wise, he
+remembered that, should he slay him, he and his comrades would yet
+perish miserably. For who should move away the great rock that lay
+against the door of the cave? So they waited till the morning. And the
+monster woke, and milked his flocks, and afterward, seizing two men,
+devoured them for his meal. Then he went to the pastures, but put the
+great rock on the mouth of the cave, just as a man puts down the lid
+upon his quiver.</p>
+
+<p>All that day the wise Ulysses was thinking what he might best do to save
+himself and his companions, and the end of his thinking was this: There
+was a mighty pole in the cave, green wood of an olive tree, big as a
+ship's mast, which Polyphemus purposed to use, when the smoke should
+have dried it, as a walking staff. Of this he cut off a fathom's length,
+and his comrades sharpened it and hardened it in the fire, and then hid
+it away. At evening the giant came back, and drove his sheep into the
+cave, nor left the rams outside, as he had been wont to do before, but
+shut them in. And having duly done his shepherd's work, he made his
+cruel feast as before. Then Ulysses came forward with the wine skin in
+his hand, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Drink, Cyclops, now that thou hast feasted. Drink, and see what
+precious things we had in our ship. But no one hereafter will come to
+thee with such like, if thou dealest with strangers as cruelly as thou
+hast dealt with us."</p>
+
+<p>Then the Cyclops drank, and was mightily pleased, and said, "Give me
+again to drink, and tell me thy name, stranger, and I will give thee a
+gift such as a host should give. In good truth this is a rare liquor.
+We, too, have vines, but they bear not wine like this, which indeed must
+be such as the gods drink in heaven."</p>
+
+<p>Then Ulysses gave him the cup again, and he drank. Thrice he gave it to
+him, and thrice he drank, not knowing what it was, and how it would work
+within his brain.</p>
+
+<p>Then Ulysses spake to him. "Thou didst ask my name, Cyclops. Lo! my name
+is No Man. And now that thou knowest my name, thou shouldst give me thy
+gift."</p>
+
+<p>And he said, "My gift shall be that I will eat thee last of all thy
+company."</p>
+
+<p>And as he spake he fell back in a drunken sleep. Then Ulysses bade his
+comrades be of good courage, for the time was come when they should be
+delivered. And they thrust the stake of olive wood into the fire till it
+was ready, green as it was, to burst into flame, and they thrust it into
+the monster's eye; for he had but one eye, and that in the midst of his
+forehead, with the eyebrow below it. And Ulysses leant with all his
+force upon the stake, and thrust it in with might and main. And the
+burning wood hissed in the eye, just as the red-hot iron hisses in the
+water when a man seeks to temper steel for a sword.</p>
+
+<p>Then the giant leapt up, and tore away the stake, and cried aloud, so
+that all the Cyclopes who dwelt on the mountain side heard him and came
+about his cave, asking him, "What aileth thee, Polyphemus, that thou
+makest this uproar in the peaceful night, driving away sleep? Is any one
+robbing thee of thy sheep, or seeking to slay thee by craft or force?"</p>
+
+<p>And the giant answered, "No Man slays me by craft."</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, but," they said, "if no man does thee wrong, we cannot help thee.
+The sickness which great Zeus may send, who can avoid? Pray to our
+father, Poseidon, for help."</p>
+
+<p>Then they departed; and Ulysses was glad at heart for the good success
+of his device, when he said that he was No Man.</p>
+
+<p>But the Cyclops rolled away the great stone from the door of the cave,
+and sat in the midst stretching out his hands, to feel whether perchance
+the men within the cave would seek to go out among the sheep.</p>
+
+<p>Long did Ulysses think how he and his comrades should best escape. At
+last he lighted upon a good device, and much he thanked Zeus for that
+this once the giant had driven the rams with the other sheep into the
+cave. For, these being great and strong, he fastened his comrades under
+the bellies of the beasts, tying them with osier twigs, of which the
+giant made his bed. One ram he took, and fastened a man beneath it, and
+two others he set, one on either side. So he did with the six, for but
+six were left out of the twelve who had ventured with him from the ship.
+And there was one mighty ram, far larger than all the others, and to
+this Ulysses clung, grasping the fleece tight with both his hands. So
+they waited for the morning. And when the morning came, the rams rushed
+forth to the pasture; but the giant sat in the door and felt the back of
+each as it went by, nor thought to try what might be underneath. Last of
+all went the great ram. And the Cyclops knew him as he passed and said:</p>
+
+<p>"How is this, thou, who art the leader of the flock? Thou art not wont
+thus to lag behind. Thou hast always been the first to run to the
+pastures and streams in the morning, and the first to come back to the
+fold when evening fell; and now thou art last of all. Perhaps thou art
+troubled about thy master's eye, which some wretch&mdash;No Man, they call
+him&mdash;has destroyed, having first mastered me with wine. He has not
+escaped, I ween. I would that thou couldst speak, and tell me where he
+is lurking. Of a truth I would dash out his brains upon the ground, and
+avenge me of this No Man."</p>
+
+<p>So speaking, he let him pass out of the cave. But when they were out of
+reach of the giant, Ulysses loosed his hold of the ram, and then unbound
+his comrades. And they hastened to their ship, not forgetting to drive
+before them a good store of the Cyclops' fat sheep. Right glad were
+those that had abode by the ship to see them. Nor did they lament for
+those that had died, though they were fain to do so, for Ulysses
+forbade, fearing lest the noise of their weeping should betray them to
+the giant, where they were. Then they all climbed into the ship, and
+sitting well in order on the benches, smote the sea with their oars,
+laying-to right lustily, that they might the sooner get away from the
+accursed land. And when they had rowed a hundred yards or so, so that a
+man's voice could yet be heard by one who stood upon the shore, Ulysses
+stood up in the ship and shouted:</p>
+
+<p>"He was no coward, O Cyclops, whose comrades thou didst so foully slay
+in thy den. Justly art thou punished, monster, that devourest thy guests
+in thy dwelling. May the gods make thee suffer yet worse things than
+these!"</p>
+
+<p>Then the Cylops, in his wrath, broke off the top of a great hill, a
+mighty rock, and hurled it where he had heard the voice. Right in front
+of the ship's bow it fell, and a great wave rose as it sank, and washed
+the ship back to the shore. But Ulysses seized a long pole with both
+hands and pushed the ship from the land, and bade his comrades ply their
+oars, nodding with his head, for he was too wise to speak, lest the
+Cyclops should know where they were. Then they rowed with all their
+might and main.</p>
+
+<p>And when they had gotten twice as far as before, Ulysses made as if he
+would speak again; but his comrades sought to hinder him, saying, "Nay,
+my lord, anger not the giant any more. Surely we thought before we were
+lost, when he threw the great rock, and washed our ship back to the
+shore. And if he hear thee now, he may crush our ship and us, for the
+man throws a mighty bolt, and throws it far."</p>
+
+<p>But Ulysses would not be persuaded, but stood up and said, "Hear,
+Cyclops! If any man ask who blinded thee, say that it was the warrior
+Ulysses, son of Laertes, dwelling in Ithaca."</p>
+
+<p>And the Cyclops answered with a groan, "Of a truth, the old oracles are
+fulfilled, for long ago there came to this land one Telemus, a prophet,
+and dwelt among us even to old age. This man foretold me that one
+Ulysses would rob me of my sight. But I looked for a great man and a
+strong, who should subdue me by force, and now a weakling has done the
+deed, having cheated me with wine. But come thou hither, Ulysses, and I
+will be a host indeed to thee. Or, at least, may Poseidon give thee such
+a voyage to thy home as I would wish thee to have. For know that
+Poseidon is my sire. May be that he may heal me of my grievous wound."</p>
+
+<p>And Ulysses said, "Would to God, I could send thee down to the abode of
+the dead, where thou wouldst be past all healing, even from Poseidon's
+self."</p>
+
+<p>Then Cyclops lifted up his hands to Poseidon and prayed:</p>
+
+<p>"Hear me, Poseidon, if I am indeed thy son and thou my father. May this
+Ulysses never reach his home! or, if the Fates have ordered that he
+should reach it, may he come alone, all his comrades lost, and come to
+find sore trouble in his house!"</p>
+
+<p>And as he ended he hurled another mighty rock, which almost lighted on
+the rudder's end, yet missed it as if by a hair's breadth. So Ulysses
+and his comrades escaped, and came to the island of the wild goats,
+where they found their comrades, who indeed had waited long for them, in
+sore fear lest they had perished. Then Ulysses divided among his company
+all the sheep which they had taken from the Cyclops. And all, with one
+consent, gave him for his share the great ram which had carried him out
+of the cave, and he sacrificed it to Zeus. And all that day they feasted
+right merrily on the flesh of sheep and on sweet wine, and when the
+night was come, they lay down upon the shore and slept.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br />
+THE ARGONAUTS</h2>
+
+<h3>I<br />
+<i>How the Centaur Trained the Heroes on Pelion</i></h3>
+
+<p>I have told you of a hero who fought with wild beasts and with wild men;
+but now I have a tale of heroes who sailed away into a distant land to
+win themselves renown forever, in the adventure of the Golden Fleece.</p>
+
+<p>Whither they sailed, my children, I cannot clearly tell. It all happened
+long ago; so long that it has all grown dim, like a dream which you
+dreamed last year. And why they went, I cannot tell; some say that it
+was to win gold. It may be so; but the noblest deeds which have been
+done on earth, have not been done for gold. It was not for the sake of
+gold that the Lord came down and died, and the Apostles went out to
+preach the good news in all lands. The Spartans looked for no reward in
+money when they fought and died at Thermopylæ; and Socrates the wise
+asked no pay from his countrymen, but lived poor and barefoot all his
+days, only caring to make men good. And there are heroes in our days
+also, who do noble deeds, but not for gold. Our discoverers did not go
+to make themselves rich, when they sailed out one after another into the
+dreary frozen seas; nor did the ladies, who went out last year, to
+drudge in the hospitals of the East, making themselves poor, that they
+might be rich in noble works. And young men, too, whom you know,
+children, and some of them of your own kin, did they say to themselves,
+"How much money shall I earn?" when they went out to the war, leaving
+wealth, and comfort, and a pleasant home, and all that money can give,
+to face hunger and thirst, and wounds and death, that they might fight
+for their country and their Queen? No, children, there is a better thing
+on earth than wealth, a better thing than life itself; and that is, to
+have done something before you die, for which good men may honour you,
+and God your Father smile upon your work.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore we will believe&mdash;why should we not&mdash;of these same Argonauts of
+old, that they, too, were noble men, who planned and did a noble deed;
+and that therefore their fame has lived, and been told in story and in
+song, mixed up, no doubt, with dreams and fables, yet true and right at
+heart. So we will honour these old Argonauts, and listen to their story
+as it stands; and we will try to be like them, each of us in our place;
+for each of us has a Golden Fleece to seek, and a wild sea to sail over,
+ere we reach it, and dragons to fight ere it be ours.</p>
+
+<p>And what was that first Golden Fleece? I do not know, nor care. The old
+Hellenes said that it hung in Colchis, which we call the Circassian
+coast, nailed to a beech tree in the war-god's wood; and that it was the
+fleece of the wondrous ram, who bore Phrixus and Helle across the Euxine
+Sea. For Phrixus and Helle were the children of the cloud nymph, and of
+Athamas the Minuan king. And when a famine came upon the land, their
+cruel stepmother, Ino, wished to kill them, that her own children might
+reign, and said that they must be sacrificed on an altar, to turn away
+the anger of the gods. So the poor children were brought to the altar,
+and the priest stood ready with his knife, when out of the clouds came
+the Golden Ram, and took them on his back, and vanished. Then madness
+came upon that foolish king Athamas, and ruin upon Ino and her children.
+For Athamas killed one of them in his fury, and Ino fled from him with
+the other in her arms, and leaped from a cliff into the sea, and was
+changed into a dolphin, such as you have seen, which wanders over the
+waves forever sighing, with its little one clasped to its breast.</p>
+
+<p>But the people drove out King Athamas, because he had killed his child;
+and he roamed about in his misery, till he came to the Oracle in Delphi.
+And the Oracle told him that he must wander for his sin, till the wild
+beasts should feast him as their guest. So he went on in hunger and
+sorrow for many a weary day, till he saw a pack of wolves. The wolves
+were tearing a sheep; but when they saw Athamas they fled, and left the
+sheep for him, and he ate of it; and then he knew that the oracle was
+fulfilled at last. So he wandered no more; but settled, and built a
+town, and became a king again.</p>
+
+<p>But the ram carried the two children far away over land and sea, till he
+came to the Thracian Chersonese, and there Helle fell into the sea. So
+those narrow straits are called "Hellespont," after her; and they bear
+that name until this day.</p>
+
+<p>Then the ram flew on with Phrixus to the northeast across the sea which
+we call the Black Sea now; but the Hellenes called it Euxine. And at
+last, they say, he stopped at Colchis, on the steep Circassian coast;
+and there Phrixus married Chalchiope, the daughter of Aietes the king;
+and offered the ram in sacrifice; and Aietes nailed the ram's fleece to
+a beech, in the grove of Ares the war god.</p>
+
+<p>And after awhile Phrixus died, and was buried, but his spirit had no
+rest; for he was buried far from his native land, and the pleasant hills
+of Hellas. So he came in dreams to the heroes of the Minuai, and called
+sadly by their beds: "Come and set my spirit free, that I may go home to
+my fathers and to my kinsfolk, and the pleasant Minuan land."</p>
+
+<p>And they asked: "How shall we set your spirit free?"</p>
+
+<p>"You must sail over the sea to Colchis, and bring home the golden
+fleece; and then my spirit will come back with it, and I shall sleep
+with my fathers and have rest."</p>
+
+<p>He came thus, and called to them often, but when they woke they looked
+at each other, and said: "Who dare sail to Colchis, or bring home the
+golden fleece?" And in all the country none was brave enough to try it;
+for the man and the time were not come.</p>
+
+<p>Phrixus had a cousin called Æson, who was king in Iolcos by the sea.
+There he ruled over the rich Minuan heroes, as Athamas his uncle ruled
+in BÅ“otia; and like Athamas, he was an unhappy man. For he had a
+stepbrother named Pelias, of whom some said that he was a nymph's son,
+and there were dark and sad tales about his birth. When he was a babe he
+was cast out on the mountains, and a wild mare came by and kicked him.
+But a shepherd passing found the baby, with its face all blackened by
+the blow; and took him home, and called him Pelias, because his face was
+bruised and black. And he grew up fierce and lawless, and did many a
+fearful deed; and at last he drove out Æson his stepbrother, and then
+his own brother Neleus, and took the kingdom to himself, and ruled over
+the rich Minuan heroes, in Iolcos by the sea.</p>
+
+<p>And Æson, when he was driven out, went sadly away out of the town,
+leading his little son by the hand; and he said to himself, "I must hide
+the child in the mountains; or Pelias will surely kill him, because he
+is the heir."</p>
+
+<p>So he went up from the sea across the valley, through the vineyards and
+the olive groves, and across the torrent of Anauros, toward Pelion the
+ancient mountain, whose brows are white with snow.</p>
+
+<p>He went up and up into the mountain over marsh, and crag, and down, till
+the boy was tired and footsore, and Æson had to bear him in his arms,
+till he came to the mouth of a lonely cave, at the foot of a mighty
+cliff.</p>
+
+<p>Above the cliff the snow wreaths hung, dripping and cracking in the sun.
+But at its foot around the cave's mouth grew all fair flowers and herbs,
+as if in a garden, ranged in order, each sort by itself. There they grew
+gayly in the sunshine, and the spray of the torrent from above; while
+from the cave came the sound of music, and a man's voice singing to the
+harp.</p>
+
+<p>Then Æson put down the lad, and whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Fear not, but go in, and whomsoever you shall find, lay your hands upon
+his knees, and say, 'In the name of Zeus the father of gods and men, I
+am your guest from this day forth.'"</p>
+
+<p>Then the lad went in without trembling, for he, too, was a hero's son;
+but when he was within, he stopped in wonder, to listen to that magic
+song.</p>
+
+<p>And there he saw the singer lying upon bear skins and fragrant boughs;
+Cheiron, the ancient centaur, the wisest of all things beneath the sky.
+Down to the waist he was a man; but below he was a noble horse; his
+white hair rolled down over his broad shoulders, and his white beard
+over his broad brown chest; and his eyes were wise and mild, and his
+forehead like a mountain wall.</p>
+
+<p>And in his hands he held a harp of gold, and struck it with a golden
+key; and as he struck, he sang till his eyes glittered, and filled all
+the cave with light.</p>
+
+<p>And he sang of the birth of Time, and of the heavens and the dancing
+stars; and of the ocean, and the ether, and the fire, and the shaping of
+the wondrous earth. And he sang of the treasures of the hills, and the
+hidden jewels of the mine, and the veins of fire and metal, and the
+virtues of all healing herbs, and of the speech of birds, and of
+prophecy, and of hidden things to come.</p>
+
+<p>Then he sang of health, and strength, and manhood, and a valiant heart;
+and of music, and hunting, and wrestling, and all the games which heroes
+love; and of travel, and wars, and sieges, and a noble death in fight;
+and then he sang of peace and plenty, and of equal justice in the land;
+and as he sang, the boy listened wide eyed, and forgot his errand in the
+song.</p>
+
+<p>And at the last old Cheiron was silent, and called the lad with a soft
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>And the lad ran trembling to him, and would have laid his hands upon his
+knees; but Cheiron smiled, and said, "Call hither your father Æson, for
+I know you, and all that has befallen, and saw you both afar in the
+valley, even before you left the town."</p>
+
+<p>Then Æson came in sadly, and Cheiron asked him, "Why came you not
+yourself to me, Æson the Æolid?"</p>
+
+<p>And Æson said:</p>
+
+<p>"I thought, Cheiron will pity the lad if he sees him come alone; and I
+wished to try whether he was fearless, and dare venture like a hero's
+son. But now I entreat you by Father Zeus, let the boy be your guest
+till better times, and train him among the sons of the heroes, that he
+may avenge his father's house."</p>
+
+<p>Then Cheiron smiled, and drew the lad to him, and laid his hand upon his
+golden locks, and said, "Are you afraid of my horse's hoofs, fair boy,
+or will you be my pupil from this day?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would gladly have horse's hoofs like you, if I could sing such songs
+as yours."</p>
+
+<p>And Cheiron laughed, and said, "Sit here by me till sundown, when your
+playfellows will come home, and you shall learn like them to be a king,
+worthy to rule over gallant men."</p>
+
+<p>Then he turned to Æson, and said, "Go back in peace, and bend before the
+storm like a prudent man. This boy shall not cross the Anauros again,
+till he has become a glory to you and to the house of Æolus."</p>
+
+<p>And Æson wept over his son and went away; but the boy did not weep, so
+full was his fancy of that strange cave, and the Centaur, and his song,
+and the playfellows whom he was to see.</p>
+
+<p>Then Cheiron put the lyre into his hands, and taught him how to play it,
+till the sun sank low behind the cliff, and a shout was heard outside.</p>
+
+<p>And then in came the sons of the heroes, Æneas, and Heracles, and
+Peleus, and many another mighty name.</p>
+
+<p>And great Cheiron leapt up joyfully, and his hoofs made the cave
+resound, as they shouted, "Come out, Father Cheiron; come out and see
+our game." And one cried, "I have killed two deer," and another, "I took
+a wildcat among the crags"; and Heracles dragged a wild goat after him
+by its horns, for he was as huge as a mountain crag; and Cæneus carried
+a bear cub under each arm, and laughed when they scratched and bit; for
+neither tooth nor steel could wound him.</p>
+
+<p>And Cheiron praised them all, each according to his deserts.</p>
+
+<p>Only one walked apart and silent, Asclepius, the too-wise child, with
+his bosom full of herbs and flowers, and round his wrist a spotted
+snake; he came with downcast eyes to Cheiron, and whispered how he had
+watched the snake cast his old skin, and grow young again before his
+eyes, and how he had gone down into a village in the vale, and cured a
+dying man with a herb which he had seen a sick goat eat.</p>
+
+<p>And Cheiron smiled, and said: "To each Athen&eacute; and Apollo give some gift,
+and each is worthy in his place; but to this child they have given an
+honour beyond all honours, to cure while others kill."</p>
+
+<p>Then the lads brought in wood, and split it, and lighted a blazing fire;
+and others skinned the deer and quartered them, and set them to roast
+before the fire; and while the venison was cooking they bathed in the
+snow torrent, and washed away the dust and sweat.</p>
+
+<p>And then all ate till they could eat no more (for they had tasted
+nothing since the dawn), and drank of the clear spring water, for wine
+is not fit for growing lads. And when the remnants were put away, they
+all lay down upon the skins and leaves about the fire, and each took the
+lyre in turn, and sang and played with all his heart.</p>
+
+<p>And after a while they all went out to a plot of grass at the cave's
+mouth, and there they boxed, and ran, and wrestled, and laughed till the
+stones fell from the cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>Then Cheiron took his lyre, and all the lads joined hands; and as he
+played, they danced to his measure, in and out, and round and round.
+There they danced hand in hand, till the night fell over land and sea,
+while the black glen shone with their broad white limbs, and the gleam
+of their golden hair.</p>
+
+<p>And the lad danced with them, delighted, and then slept a wholesome
+sleep, upon fragrant leaves of bay, and myrtle, and marjoram, and
+flowers of thyme; and rose at the dawn, and bathed in the torrent, and
+became a schoolfellow to the heroes' sons, and forgot Iolcos, and his
+father, and all his former life. But he grew strong, and brave and
+cunning, upon the pleasant downs of Pelion, in the keen hungry mountain
+air. And he learnt to wrestle, and to box, and to hunt, and to play upon
+the harp; and next he learnt to ride, for old Cheiron used to mount him
+on his back; and he learnt the virtues of all herbs, and how to cure all
+wounds; and Cheiron called him Jason the healer, and that is his name
+until this day.</p>
+
+<h3>PART II<br />
+<i>How Jason Lost His Sandal in Anauros</i></h3>
+
+<p>And ten years came and went, and Jason was grown to be a mighty man.
+Some of his fellows were gone, and some were growing up by his side.
+Asclepius was gone into Peloponnese, to work his wondrous cures on men;
+and some say he used to raise the dead to life. And Heracles was gone to
+Thebes, to fulfil those famous labours which have become a proverb among
+men. And Peleus had married a sea nymph, and his wedding is famous to
+this day. And Æneas was gone home to Troy, and many a noble tale you
+will read of him, and of all the other gallant heroes, the scholars of
+Cheiron the just. And it happened on a day that Jason stood on the
+mountain, and looked north and south and east and west; and Cheiron
+stood by him and watched him, for he knew that the time was come.</p>
+
+<p>And Jason looked and saw the plains of Thessaly, where the Lapithai
+breed their horses; and the lake of Boib&eacute;, and the stream which runs
+northward to Peneus and Tempe; and he looked north, and saw the mountain
+wall which guards the Magnesian shore; Olympus, the seat of the
+Immortals, and Ossa, and Pelion, where he stood. Then he looked east and
+saw the bright blue sea, which stretched away forever toward the dawn.
+Then he looked south, and saw a pleasant land, with white-walled towns
+and farms, nestling along the shore of a land-locked bay, while the
+smoke rose blue among the trees; and he knew it for the bay of Pagasai,
+and the rich lowlands of Hæmonia, and Iolcos by the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Then he sighed, and asked: "Is it true what the heroes tell me, that I
+am heir of that fair land?"</p>
+
+<p>"And what good would it be to you, Jason, if you were heir of that fair
+land?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would take it and keep it."</p>
+
+<p>"A strong man has taken it and kept it long. Are you stronger than
+Pelias the terrible?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can try my strength with his," said Jason. But Cheiron sighed and
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"You have many a danger to go through before you rule in Iolcos by the
+sea; many a danger, and many a woe; and strange troubles in strange
+lands, such as man never saw before."</p>
+
+<p>"The happier I," said Jason, "to see what man never saw before."</p>
+
+<p>And Cheiron sighed again, and said: "The eaglet must leave the nest when
+it is fledged. Will you go to Iolcos by the sea? Then promise me two
+things before you go."</p>
+
+<p>Jason promised, and Cheiron answered: "Speak harshly to no soul whom you
+may meet, and stand by the word which you shall speak."</p>
+
+<p>Jason wondered why Cheiron asked this of him; but he knew that the
+Centaur was a prophet, and saw things long before they came. So he
+promised, and leapt down the mountain, to take his fortune like a man.</p>
+
+<p>He went down through the arbutus thickets, and across the downs of
+thyme, till he came to the vineyard walls, and the pomegranates and the
+olives in the glen; and among the olives roared Anauros, all foaming
+with a summer flood.</p>
+
+<p>And on the bank of Anauros sat a woman, all wrinkled gray, and old; her
+head shook palsied on her breast, and her hands shook palsied on her
+knees; and when she saw Jason, she spoke whining: "Who will carry me
+across the flood?"</p>
+
+<p>Jason was bold and hasty, and was just going to leap into the flood; and
+yet he thought twice before he leapt, so loud roared the torrent down,
+all brown from the mountain rains, and silver veined with melting snow;
+while underneath he could hear the boulders rumbling like the tramp of
+horsemen or the roll of wheels, as they ground along the narrow channel,
+and shook the rocks on which he stood.</p>
+
+<p>But the old woman whined all the more: "I am weak and old, fair youth.
+For Hera's sake, carry me over the torrent."</p>
+
+<p>And Jason was going to answer her scornfully, when Cheiron's words came
+to his mind.</p>
+
+<p>So he said: "For Hera's sake, the Queen of the Immortals on Olympus, I
+will carry you over the torrent, unless we both are drowned midway."</p>
+
+<p>Then the old dame leapt upon his back, as nimbly as a goat; and Jason
+staggered in, wondering; and the first step was up to his knees.</p>
+
+<p>The first step was up to his knees, and the second step was up to his
+waist; and the stones rolled about his feet, and his feet slipped about
+the stones; so he went on staggering and panting, while the old woman
+cried from off his back:</p>
+
+<p>"Fool, you have wet my mantle! Do you make game of poor old souls like
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>Jason had half a mind to drop her, and let her get through the torrent
+by herself; but Cheiron's words were in his mind, and he said only:
+"Patience, mother; the best horse may stumble some day."</p>
+
+<p>At last he staggered to the shore, and set her down upon the bank; and a
+strong man he needed to have been, or that wild water he never would
+have crossed.</p>
+
+<p>He lay panting awhile upon the bank, and then leapt up to go upon his
+journey; but he cast one look at the old woman, for he thought, "She
+should thank me once at least."</p>
+
+<p>And as he looked, she grew fairer than all women, and taller than all
+men on earth; and her garments shone like the summer sea, and her jewels
+like the stars of heaven; and over her forehead was a veil, woven of the
+golden clouds of sunset; and through the veil she looked down on him,
+with great soft heifer's eyes; with great eyes, mild and awful, which
+filled all the glen with light.</p>
+
+<p>And Jason fell upon his knees, and hid his face between his hands.</p>
+
+<p>And she spoke: "I am the Queen of Olympus, Hera the wife of Zeus. As
+thou hast done to me, so will I do to thee. Call on me in the hour of
+need, and try if the Immortals can forget."</p>
+
+<p>And when Jason looked up, she rose from off the earth, like a pillar of
+tall white cloud, and floated away across the mountain peaks, toward
+Olympus the holy hill.</p>
+
+<p>Then a great fear fell on Jason; but after a while he grew light of
+heart; and he blessed old Cheiron, and said: "Surely the Centaur is a
+prophet, and guessed what would come to pass, when he bade me speak
+harshly to no soul whom I might meet."</p>
+
+<p>Then he went down toward Iolcos, and as he walked, he found that he had
+lost one of his sandals in the flood.</p>
+
+<p>And as he went through the streets, the people came out to look at him,
+so tall and fair was he; but some of the elders whispered together; and
+at last one of them stopped Jason, and called to him: "Fair lad, who are
+you, and whence come you; and what is your errand in the town?"</p>
+
+<p>"My name, good father, is Jason, and I come from Pelion up above; and my
+errand is to Pelias your king; tell me then where his palace is."</p>
+
+<p>But the old man started, and grew pale, and said, "Do you not know the
+oracle, my son, that you go so boldly through the town, with but one
+sandal on?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a stranger here, and know of no oracle; but what of my one sandal?
+I lost the other in Anauros, while I was struggling with the flood."</p>
+
+<p>Then the old man looked back to his companions; and one sighed and
+another smiled; at last he said: "I will tell you, lest you rush upon
+your ruin unawares. The oracle in Delphi has said, that a man wearing
+one sandal should take the kingdom from Pelias, and keep it for
+himself. Therefore beware how you go up to his palace, for he is the
+fiercest and most cunning of all kings."</p>
+
+<p>Then Jason laughed a great laugh, like a war horse in his pride: "Good
+news, good father, both for you and me. For that very end I came into
+the town."</p>
+
+<p>Then he strode on toward the palace of Pelias, while all the people
+wondered at his bearing.</p>
+
+<p>And he stood in the doorway and cried, "Come out, come out, Pelias the
+valiant, and fight for your kingdom like a man."</p>
+
+<p>Pelias came out wondering, and "Who are you, bold youth?" he cried.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Jason, the son of Æson, the heir of all this land."</p>
+
+<p>Then Pelias lifted up his hands and eyes, and wept, or seemed to weep;
+and blessed the heavens which had brought his nephew to him, never to
+leave him more. "For," said he, "I have but three daughters, and no son
+to be my heir. You shall be my heir then, and rule the kingdom after me,
+and marry whichsoever of my daughters you shall choose; though a sad
+kingdom you will find it, and whosoever rules it a miserable man. But
+come in, come in, and feast."</p>
+
+<p>So he drew Jason in, whether he would or not, and spoke to him so
+lovingly and feasted him so well, that Jason's anger passed; and after
+supper his three cousins came into the hall, and Jason thought that he
+should like well enough to have one of them for his wife.</p>
+
+<p>But at last he said to Pelias, "Why do you look so sad, my uncle? And
+what did you mean just now, when you said that this was a doleful
+kingdom, and its ruler a miserable man?"</p>
+
+<p>Then Pelias sighed heavily again and again and again, like a man who
+had to tell some dreadful story and was afraid to begin; but at last:</p>
+
+<p>"For seven long years and more have I never known a quiet night; and no
+more will he who comes after me, till the golden fleece be brought
+home."</p>
+
+<p>Then he told Jason the story of Phrixus, and of the golden fleece; and
+told him, too, which was a lie, that Phrixus's spirit tormented him,
+calling to him day and night. And his daughters came, and told the same
+tale (for their father had taught them their parts) and wept, and said,
+"Oh, who will bring home the golden fleece, that our uncle's spirit may
+have rest; and that we may have rest also, whom he never lets sleep in
+peace?"</p>
+
+<p>Jason sat awhile, sad and silent; for he had often heard of that golden
+fleece; but he looked on it as a thing hopeless and impossible for any
+mortal man to win it.</p>
+
+<p>But when Pelias saw him silent, he began to talk of other things, and
+courted Jason more and more, speaking to him as if he was certain to be
+his heir, and asking his advice about the kingdom; till Jason who was
+young and simple, could not help saying to himself, "Surely he is not
+the dark man whom people call him. Yet why did he drive my father out?"
+And he asked Pelias boldly, "Men say that you are terrible, and a man of
+blood; but I find you a kind and hospitable man; and as you are to me,
+so will I be to you. Yet why did you drive my father out?"</p>
+
+<p>Pelias smiled and sighed: "Men have slandered me in that, as in all
+things. Your father was growing old and weary, and he gave the kingdom
+up to me of his own will. You shall see him to-morrow, and ask him; and
+he will tell you the same."</p>
+
+<p>Jason's heart leapt in him, when he heard that he was to see his
+father; and he believed all that Pelias said, forgetting that his father
+might not dare to tell the truth.</p>
+
+<p>"One thing more there is," said Pelias, "on which I need your advice;
+for though you are young, I see in you a wisdom beyond your years. There
+is one neighbour of mine, whom I dread more than all men on earth. I am
+stronger than he now, and can command him; but I know that if he stay
+among us, he will work my ruin in the end. Can you give me a plan,
+Jason, by which I can rid myself of that man?"</p>
+
+<p>After awhile, Jason answered, half laughing, "Were I you, I would send
+him to fetch that same golden fleece; for if he once set forth after it
+you would never be troubled with him more."</p>
+
+<p>And at that a bitter smile came across Pelias's lips, and a flash of
+wicked joy into his eyes; and Jason saw it, and started; and over his
+mind came the warning of the old man, and his own one sandal, and the
+oracle, and he saw that he was taken in a trap.</p>
+
+<p>But Pelias only answered gently, "My son, he shall be sent forthwith."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean me?" cried Jason, starting up, "because I came here with one
+sandal?" And he lifted his fist angrily, while Pelias stood up to him
+like a wolf at bay; and whether of the two was the stronger and the
+fiercer, it would be hard to tell.</p>
+
+<p>But after a moment Pelias spoke gently, "Why then so rash, my son? You,
+and not I, have said what is said; why blame me for what I have not
+done? Had you bid me love the man of whom I spoke, and make him my
+son-in-law and heir, I would have obeyed you; and what if I obey you
+now, and send the man to win himself immortal fame? I have not harmed
+you, or him. One thing at least I know, that he will go, and that
+gladly; for he has a hero's heart within him; loving glory, and scorning
+to break the word which he has given."</p>
+
+<p>Jason saw that he was entrapped; but his second promise to Cheiron came
+into his mind, and he thought, "What if the Centaur were a prophet in
+that also, and meant that I should win the fleece!" Then he cried aloud:</p>
+
+<p>"You have well spoken, cunning uncle of mine! I love glory, and I dare
+keep to my word. I will go and fetch this golden fleece. Promise me but
+this in return, and keep your word as I keep mine. Treat my father
+lovingly while I am gone, for the sake of the all-seeing Zeus; and give
+me up the kingdom for my own, on the day that I bring back the golden
+fleece."</p>
+
+<p>Then Pelias looked at him and almost loved him, in the midst of all his
+hate; and said, "I promise, and I will perform. It will be no shame to
+give up my kingdom to the man who wins that fleece."</p>
+
+<p>Then they swore a great oath between them; and afterward both went in,
+and lay down to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>But Jason could not sleep, for thinking of his mighty oath, and how he
+was to fulfil it, all alone, and without wealth or friends. So he tossed
+a long time upon his bed, and thought of this plan and of that; and
+sometimes Phrixus seemed to call him, in a thin voice, faint and low, as
+if it came from far across the sea, "Let me come home to my fathers and
+have rest." And sometimes he seemed to see the eyes of Hera, and to hear
+her words again, "Call on me in the hour of need, and see if the
+Immortals can forget."</p>
+
+<p>And on the morrow he went to Pelias, and said, "Give me a victim, that I
+may sacrifice to Hera." So he went up, and offered his sacrifice; and
+as he stood by the altar, Hera sent a thought into his mind; and he went
+back to Pelias, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"If you are indeed in earnest, give me two heralds, that they may go
+round to all the princes of the Minuai who were pupils of the Centaur
+with me, that we may fit out a ship together, and take what shall
+befall."</p>
+
+<p>At that Pelias praised his wisdom, and hastened to send the heralds out;
+for he said in his heart: "Let all the princes go with him, and like
+him, never return; for so I shall be lord of all the Minuai, and the
+greatest king in Hellas."</p>
+
+<h3>PART III<br />
+<i>How They Built the Ship Argo in Iolcos</i></h3>
+
+<p>So the heralds went out, and cried to all the heroes of the Minuai, "Who
+dare come to the adventure of the golden fleece?"</p>
+
+<p>And Hera stirred the hearts of all the princes, and they came from all
+their valleys to the yellow sands of Pagasai. And first came Heracles
+the mighty, with his lion's skin and club, and behind him Hylas his
+young squire, who bore his arrows and his bow; and Tiphys, the skilful
+steersman; and Butes, the fairest of all men; and Castor and Polydeuces
+the twins, the sons of the magic swan; and Caineus, the strongest of
+mortals, whom the Centaurs tried in vain to kill, and overwhelmed him
+with trunks of pine trees, but even so he would not die; and thither
+came Zetes and Calais, the winged sons of the north wind; and Peleus,
+the father of Achilles, whose bride was silver-footed Thetis the goddess
+of the sea. And thither came Telamon and Oileus, the fathers of the two
+Aiantes, who fought upon the plains of Troy; and Mopsus, the wise
+soothsayer, who knew the speech of birds; and Idmon, to whom Phœbus
+gave a tongue to prophesy of things to come; and Ancaios, who could read
+the stars, and knew all the circles of the heavens; and Argus, the famed
+shipbuilder, and many a hero more, in helmets of brass and gold with
+tall dyed horsehair crests, and embroidered shirts of linen beneath
+their coats of mail, and greaves of polished tin to guard their knees in
+fight; with each man his shield upon his shoulder, of many a fold of
+tough bull's hide, and his sword of tempered bronze in his
+silver-studded belt, and in his right hand a pair of lances, of the
+heavy white-ash stave.</p>
+
+<p>So they came down to Iolcos, and all the city came out to meet them, and
+were never tired with looking at their height, and their beauty, and
+their gallant bearing, and the glitter of their inlaid arms. And some
+said, "Never was such a gathering of the heroes since the Hellenes
+conquered the land." But the women sighed over them, and whispered,
+"Alas! they are all going to the death."</p>
+
+<p>Then they felled the pines on Pelion, and shaped them with the axe, and
+Argus taught them to build a galley, the first long ship which ever
+sailed the seas. They pierced her for fifty oars, an oar for each hero
+of the crew, and pitched her with coal-black pitch, and painted her bows
+with vermilion; and they named her Argo after Argus, and worked at her
+all day long. And at night Pelias feasted them like a king, and they
+slept in his palace porch.</p>
+
+<p>But Jason went away to the northward, and into the land of Thrace, till
+he found Orpheus, the prince of minstrels, where he dwelt in his cave
+under Rhodope, among the savage Cicon tribes. And he asked him: "Will
+you leave your mountains, Orpheus, my fellow scholar in old times, and
+cross Strymon once more with me, to sail with the heroes of the Minuai,
+and bring home the golden fleece, and charm for us all men and all
+monsters with your magic harp and song?"</p>
+
+<p>Then Orpheus sighed: "Have I not had enough of toil and of weary
+wandering far and wide, since I lived in Cheiron's cave, above Iolcos by
+the sea? In vain is the skill and the voice which my goddess mother gave
+me; in vain have I sung and laboured; in vain I went down to the dead,
+and charmed all the kings of Hades, to win back Eurydice my bride. For I
+won her, my beloved, and lost her again the same day, and wandered away
+in my madness, even to Egypt and the Libyan sands, and the isles of all
+the seas, driven on by the terrible gadfly, while I charmed in vain the
+hearts of men, and the savage forest beasts, and the trees, and the
+lifeless stones, with my magic harp and song, giving rest, but finding
+none. But at last Calliope, my mother, delivered me, and brought me home
+in peace; and I dwell here in the cave alone, among the savage Cicon
+tribes, softening their wild hearts with music and the gentle laws of
+Zeus. And now I must go out again, to the ends of all the earth, far
+away into the misty darkness, to the last wave of the Eastern Sea. But
+what is doomed must be, and a friend's demand obeyed; for prayers are
+the daughters of Zeus, and who honours them honours him."</p>
+
+<p>Then Orpheus rose up sighing, and took his harp, and went over Strymon.
+And he led Jason to the southwest, up the banks of Haliacmon and over
+the spurs of Pindus, to Dodona the town of Zeus, where it stood by the
+side of the sacred lake, and the fountain which breathed out fire, in
+the darkness of the ancient oak wood, beneath the mountain of the
+hundred springs. And he led him to the holy oak, where the black dove
+settled in old times, and was changed into the priestess of Zeus, and
+gave oracles to all nations round. And he bade him cut down a bough, and
+sacrifice to Hera and to Zeus; and they took the bough and came to
+Iolcos, and nailed it to the beak head of the ship.</p>
+
+<p>And at last the ship was finished, and they tried to launch her down the
+beach; but she was too heavy for them to move her, and her keel sank
+deep in the sand. Then all the heroes looked at each other blushing; but
+Jason spoke, and said, "Let us ask the magic bough; perhaps it can help
+us in our need."</p>
+
+<p>Then a voice came from the bough, and Jason heard the words it said, and
+bade Orpheus play upon the harp, while the heroes waited round, holding
+the pine-trunk rollers, to help her toward the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Then Orpheus took his harp, and began his magic song: "How sweet it is
+to ride upon the surges, and to leap from wave to wave, while the wind
+sings cheerful in the cordage, and the oars flash fast among the foam!
+How sweet it is to roam across the ocean, and see new towns and wondrous
+lands, and to come home laden with treasure, and to win undying fame!"</p>
+
+<p>And the good ship Argo heard him, and longed to be away and out at sea;
+till she stirred in every timber, and heaved from stem to stern, and
+leapt up from the sand upon the rollers, and plunged onward like a
+gallant horse; and the heroes fed her path with pine trunks, till she
+rushed into the whispering sea.</p>
+
+<p>Then they stored her well with food and water, and pulled the ladder up
+on board, and settled themselves each man to his oar, and kept time to
+Orpheus's harp; and away across the bay they rowed southward, while the
+people lined the cliffs; and the women wept while the men shouted, at
+the starting of that gallant crew.</p>
+
+<h3>PART IV<br />
+<i>How the Argonauts Sailed to Colchis</i></h3>
+
+<p>And what happened next, my children, whether it be true or not, stands
+written in ancient songs, which you shall read for yourselves some day.
+And grand old songs they are, written in grand old rolling verse; and
+they call them the Songs of Orpheus, or the Orphics, to this day. And
+they tell how the heroes came to Aphetai, across the bay, and waited for
+the southwest wind, and chose themselves a captain from their crew: and
+how all called for Heracles, because he was the strongest and most huge;
+but Heracles refused, and called for Jason, because he was the wisest of
+them all. So Jason was chosen captain: and Orpheus heaped a pile of wood
+and slew a bull, and offered it to Hera, and called all the heroes to
+stand round, each man's head crowned with olive, and to strike their
+swords into the bull. Then he filled a golden goblet with the bull's
+blood, and with wheaten flour, and honey, and wine, and the bitter salt
+sea water, and bade the heroes taste. So each tasted the goblet, and
+passed it round, and vowed an awful vow; and they vowed before the sun,
+and the night, and the blue-haired sea who shakes the land, to stand by
+Jason faithfully, in the adventure of the golden fleece; and whosoever
+shrank back, or disobeyed, or turned traitor to his vow, then justice
+should witness against him, and the Erinnes who track guilty men.</p>
+
+<p>Then Jason lighted the pile, and burnt the carcass of the bull; and they
+went to their ship and sailed eastward, like men who have a work to do;
+and the place from which they went was called Aphetai, the sailing
+place, from that day forth. Three thousand years ago and more they
+sailed away, into the unknown Eastern seas; and great nations have come
+and gone since then, and many a storm has swept the earth; and many a
+mighty armament, to which Argo would be but one small boat, have sailed
+those waters since; yet the fame of that small Argo lives forever, and
+her name is become a proverb among men.</p>
+
+<p>So they sailed past the Isle of Sciathos, with the Cape of Sepius on
+their left, and turned to the northward toward Pelion, up the long
+Magnesian shore. On their right hand was the open sea, and on their left
+old Pelion rose, while the clouds crawled round his dark pine forests,
+and his caps of summer snow. And their hearts yearned for the dear old
+mountain, as they thought of pleasant days gone by, and of the sports of
+their boyhood, and their hunting, and their schooling in the cave
+beneath the cliff. And at last Peleus spoke: "Let us land here, friends,
+and climb the dear old hill once more. We are going on a fearful
+journey: who knows if we shall see Pelion again? Let us go up to Cheiron
+our master, and ask his blessing ere we start. And I have a boy, too,
+with him, whom he trains as he trained me once, the son whom Thetis
+brought me, the silver-footed lady of the sea, whom I caught in the
+cave, and tamed her though she changed her shape seven times. For she
+changed, as I held her, into water, and to vapour, and to burning flame,
+and to a rock, and to a black-maned lion, and to a tall and stately
+tree. But I held her and held her ever till she took her own shape
+again, and led her to my father's house, and won her for my bride. And
+all the rulers of Olympus came to our wedding, and the heavens and the
+earth rejoiced together, when an immortal wedded mortal man. And now let
+me see my son; for it is not often I shall see him upon earth; famous he
+will be, but short lived, and die in the flower of youth."</p>
+
+<p>So Tiphys, the helmsman, steered them to the shore under the crags of
+Pelion; and they went up through the dark pine forests toward the
+Centaur's cave.</p>
+
+<p>And they came into the misty hall, beneath the snow-crowned crag; and
+saw the great Centaur lying with his huge limbs spread upon the rock;
+and beside him stood Achilles, the child whom no steel could wound, and
+played upon his harp right sweetly, while Cheiron watched and smiled.</p>
+
+<p>Then Cheiron leapt up and welcomed them, and kissed them every one, and
+set a feast before them, of swine's flesh, and venison, and good wine;
+and young Achilles served them, and carried the golden goblet round. And
+after supper all the heroes clapped their hands, and called on Orpheus
+to sing; but he refused, and said, "How can I, who am the younger, sing
+before our ancient host?" So they called on Cheiron to sing, and
+Achilles brought him his harp; and he began a wondrous song; a famous
+story of old time, of the fight between Centaurs and the Lapithai, which
+you may still see carved in stone. He sang how his brothers came to ruin
+by their folly, when they were mad with wine; and how they and the
+heroes fought, with fists, and teeth, and the goblets from which they
+drank; and how they tore up the pine trees in their fury, and hurled
+great crags of stone, while the mountains thundered with the battle, and
+the land was wasted far and wide; till the Lapithai drove them from
+their home in the rich Thessalian plains to the lonely glens of Pindus,
+leaving Cheiron all alone. And the heroes praised his song right
+heartily; for some of them had helped in that great fight.</p>
+
+<p>Then Orpheus took the lyre, and sang of Chaos, and the making of the
+wondrous World, and how all things sprang from Love, who could not live
+alone in the Abyss. And as he sang, his voice rose from the cave, above
+the crags, and through the tree tops, and the glens of oak and pine. And
+the trees bowed their heads when they heard it, and the gray rocks
+cracked and rang, and the forest beasts crept near to listen, and the
+birds forsook their nests and hovered round. And old Cheiron clapt his
+hands together, and beat his hoofs upon the ground, for wonder at that
+magic song.</p>
+
+<p>Then Peleus kissed his boy, and wept over him, and they went down to the
+ship; and Cheiron came down with them, weeping, and kissed them one by
+one, and blest them, and promised to them great renown. And the heroes
+wept when they left him, till their great hearts could weep no more; for
+he was kind and just and pious, and wiser than all beasts and men. Then
+he went up to a cliff, and prayed for them, that they might come home
+safe and well; while the heroes rowed away, and watched him standing on
+his cliff above the sea, with his great hands raised toward heaven, and
+his white locks waving in the wind; and they strained their eyes to
+watch him to the last, for they felt that they should look on him no
+more.</p>
+
+<p>So they rowed on over the long swell of the sea, past Olympus, the seat
+of die immortals, and past the wooded bays of Athos, and Samothrace, the
+sacred isle; and they came past Lemnos to the Hellespont, and through
+the narrow strait of Abydos, and so on into the Propontis, which we call
+Marmora now. And there they met with Cyzicus, ruling in Asia over the
+Dolions, who, the songs say, was the son of Æneas, of whom you will hear
+many a tale some day. For Homer tells us how he fought at Troy; and
+Virgil how he sailed away and founded Rome; and men believed until late
+years that from him sprang the old British kings. Now Cyzicus, the songs
+say, welcomed the heroes; for his father had been one of Cheiron's
+scholars; so he welcomed them, and feasted them, and stored their ship
+with corn and wine, and cloaks and rugs, the songs say, and shirts, of
+which no doubt they stood in need.</p>
+
+<p>But at night, while they lay sleeping, came down on them terrible men,
+who lived with the bears in the mountains, like Titans or giants in
+shape; for each of them had six arms, and they fought with young firs
+and pines. But Heracles killed them all before morn with his deadly
+poisoned arrows; but among them, in the darkness, he slew Cyzicus the
+kindly prince.</p>
+
+<p>Then they got to their ship and to their oars, and Tiphys bade them cast
+off the hawsers, and go to sea. But as he spoke a whirlwind came, and
+spun the Argo round, and twisted the hawsers together, so that no man
+could loose them. Then Tiphys dropped the rudder from his hand, and
+cried, "This comes from the Gods above." But Jason went forward, and
+asked counsel of the magic bough.</p>
+
+<p>Then the magic bough spoke and answered: "This is because you have
+slain Cyzicus your friend. You must appease his soul, or you will never
+leave this shore."</p>
+
+<p>Jason went back sadly, and told the heroes what he had heard. And they
+leapt on shore, and searched till dawn; and at dawn they found the body,
+all rolled in dust and blood, among the corpses of those monstrous
+beasts. And they wept over their kind host, and laid him on a fair bed,
+and heaped a huge mound over him, and offered black sheep at his tomb,
+and Orpheus sang a magic song to him, that his spirit might have rest.
+And then they held games at the tomb, after the custom of those times,
+and Jason gave prizes to each winner. To Ancæus he gave a golden cup,
+for he wrestled best of all; and to Heracles a silver one, for he was
+the strongest of all; and to Castor, who rode best, a golden crest; and
+Polydeuces the boxer had a rich carpet, and to Orpheus for his song, a
+sandal with golden wings. But Jason himself was the best of all the
+archers, and the Minuai crowned him with an olive crown; and so, the
+songs say, the soul of good Cyzicus was appeased, and the heroes went on
+their way in peace.</p>
+
+<p>But when Cyzicus's wife heard that he was dead, she died likewise of
+grief; and her tears became a fountain of clear water, which flows the
+whole year round.</p>
+
+<p>Then they rowed away, the songs say, along the Mysian shore, and past
+the mouth of Rhindacus, till they found a pleasant bay, sheltered by the
+long ridges of Arganthus, and by high walls of basalt rock. And there
+they ran the ship ashore upon the yellow sand, and furled the sail, and
+took the mast down, and lashed it in its crutch. And next they let down
+the ladder, and went ashore to sport and rest.</p>
+
+<p>And there Heracles went away into the woods, bow in hand, to hunt wild
+deer; and Hylas the fair boy slipt away after him, and followed him by
+stealth, until he lost himself among the glens, and sat down weary to
+rest himself by the side of a lake; and there the water nymphs came up
+to look at him, and loved him, and carried him down under the lake to be
+their playfellow, forever happy and young. And Heracles sought for him
+in vain, shouting his name till all the mountains rang; but Hylas never
+heard him, far down under the sparkling lake. So while Heracles wandered
+searching for him, a fair breeze sprang up, and Heracles was nowhere to
+be found; and the Argo sailed away, and Heracles was left behind, and
+never saw the noble Phasian stream.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Minuai came to a doleful land, where Amycus the giant ruled,
+and cared nothing for the laws of Zeus, but challenged all strangers to
+box with him, and those whom he conquered he slew. But Polydeuces the
+boxer struck him a harder blow than he ever felt before, and slew him;
+and the Minuai went on up the Bosphorus, till they came to the city of
+Phineus, the fierce Bithynian king; for Zetes and Calais bade Jason land
+there, because they had a work to do.</p>
+
+<p>And they went up from the shore toward the city, through forests white
+with snow; and Phineus came out to meet them with a lean and woeful
+face, and said, "Welcome, gallant heroes, to the land of bitter blasts,
+a land of cold and misery; yet I will feast you as best I can." And he
+led them in, and set meat before them; but before they could put their
+hands to their mouths, down came two fearful monsters, the like of whom
+man never saw; for they had the faces and the hair of fair maidens, but
+the wings and claws of hawks; and they snatched the meat from off the
+table, and flew shrieking out above the roofs.</p>
+
+<p>Then Phineus beat his breast and cried, "These are the Harpies, whose
+names are the Whirlwind and the Swift, the daughters of Wonder and of
+the Amber nymph, and they rob us night and day. They carried off the
+daughters of Pandareus, whom all the Gods had blest; for Aphrodite fed
+them on Olympus with honey and milk and wine; and Hera gave them beauty
+and wisdom, and Athene skill in all the arts; but when they came to
+their wedding, the Harpies snatched them both away, and gave them to be
+slaves to the Erinnues, and live in horror all their days. And now they
+haunt me, and my people, and the Bosphorus, with fearful storms; and
+sweep away our food from off our tables, so that we starve in spite of
+all our wealth."</p>
+
+<p>Then up rose Zetes and Calais, the winged sons of the North wind, and
+said, "Do you not know us, Phineus, and these wings which grow upon our
+backs?" And Phineus hid his face in terror; but he answered not a word.</p>
+
+<p>"Because you have been a traitor, Phineus, the Harpies haunt you night
+and day. Where is Cleopatra our sister, your wife, whom you keep in
+prison? and where are her two children, whom you blinded in your rage,
+at the bidding of an evil woman, and cast them out upon the rocks? Swear
+to us that you will right our sister, and cast out that wicked woman;
+and then we will free you from your plague, and drive the whirlwind
+maidens from the south; but if not, we will put out your eyes, as you
+put out the eyes of your own sons."</p>
+
+<p>Then Phineus swore an oath to them, and drove out the wicked woman; and
+Jason took those two poor children, and cured their eyes with magic
+herbs.</p>
+
+<p>But Zetes and Calais rose up sadly; and said: "Farewell now, heroes
+all; farewell, our dear companions, with whom we played on Pelion in old
+times; for a fate is laid upon us, and our day is come at last, in which
+we may hunt the whirlwinds, over land and sea forever; and if we catch
+them they die, and if not, we die ourselves."</p>
+
+<p>At that all the heroes wept; but the two young men sprang up, and aloft
+into the air after the Harpies, and the battle of the winds began.</p>
+
+<p>The heroes trembled in silence as they heard the shrieking of the
+blasts; while the palace rocked and all the city, and great stones were
+torn from the crags, and the forest pines were hurled eastward, north
+and south and east and west, and the Bosphorus boiled white with foam,
+and the clouds were dashed against the cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>But at last the battle ended, and the Harpies fled screaming toward the
+south, and the sons of the North wind rushed after them, and brought
+clear sunshine where they passed. For many a league they followed them,
+over all the isles of the Cyclades, and away to the southwest across
+Hellas, till they came to the Ionian Sea, and there they fell upon the
+Echinades, at the mouth of the Achelous; and those isles were called the
+Whirlwind Isles for many a hundred years. But what became of Zetes and
+Calais I know not; for the heroes never saw them again; and some say
+that Heracles met them, and quarrelled with them, and slew them with his
+arrows; and some say that they fell down from weariness and the heat of
+the summer sun, and that the Sun god buried them among the Cyclades, in
+the pleasant Isle of Tenos; and for many hundred years their grave was
+shown there, and over it a pillar, which turned to every wind. But those
+dark storms and whirlwinds haunt the Bosphorus until this day.</p>
+
+<p>But the Argonauts went eastward, and out into the open sea, which we now
+call the Black Sea, but it was called the Euxine then. No Hellen had
+ever crossed it, and all feared that dreadful sea, and its rocks, and
+shoals, and fogs, and bitter freezing storms; and they told strange
+stories of it, some false and some half true, how it stretched northward
+to the ends of the earth, and the sluggish Putrid Sea, and the
+everlasting night, and the regions of the dead. So the heroes trembled,
+for all their courage, as they came into that wild Black Sea, and saw it
+stretching out before them, without a shore, as far as eye could see.</p>
+
+<p>And first Orpheus spoke, and warned them: "We shall come now to the
+wandering blue rocks; my mother warned me of them, Calliope, the
+immortal muse."</p>
+
+<p>And soon they saw the blue rocks shining, like spires and castles of
+gray glass, while an ice-cold wind blew from them, and chilled all the
+heroes' hearts. And as they neared, they could see them heaving, as they
+rolled upon the long sea waves, crashing and grinding together, till the
+roar went up to heaven. The sea sprang up in spouts between them, and
+swept round them in white sheets of foam; but their heads swung nodding
+high in air, while the wind whistled shrill among the crags.</p>
+
+<p>The heroes' hearts sank within them, and they lay upon their oars in
+fear; but Orpheus called to Tiphys the helmsman: "Between them we must
+pass; so look ahead for an opening, and be brave, for Hera is with us."
+But Tiphys the cunning helmsman stood silent, clenching his teeth, till
+he saw a heron come flying mast high toward the rocks, and hover awhile
+before them, as if looking for a passage through. Then he cried, "Hera
+has sent us a pilot; let us follow the cunning bird."</p>
+
+<p>Then the heron flapped to and fro a moment, till he saw a hidden gap,
+and into it he rushed like an arrow, while the heroes watched what would
+befall.</p>
+
+<p>And the blue rocks clashed together as the bird fled swiftly through;
+but they struck but a feather from his tail, and then rebounded apart at
+the shock.</p>
+
+<p>Then Tiphys cheered the heroes, and they shouted; and the oars bent like
+withes beneath their strokes, as they rushed between those toppling ice
+crags, and the cold blue lips of death. And ere the rocks could meet
+again they had passed them, and were safe out in the open sea.</p>
+
+<p>And after that they sailed on wearily along the Asian coast, by the
+Black Cape and Thyneis, where the hot stream of Thymbris falls into the
+sea, and Sangarius, whose waters float on the Euxine, till they came to
+Wolf the river, and to Wolf the kindly king. And there died two brave
+heroes, Idmon and Tiphys the wise helmsman; one died of an evil
+sickness, and one a wild boar slew. So the heroes heaped a mound above
+them, and set upon it an oar on high, and left them there to sleep
+together, on the far-off Lycian shore. But Idas killed the boar, and
+avenged Tiphys; and Ancaios took the rudder and was helmsman, and
+steered them on toward the east.</p>
+
+<p>And they went on past Sinope, and many a mighty river's mouth, and past
+many a barbarous tribe, and the cities of the Amazons, the warlike women
+of the East, till all night they heard the clank of anvils and the roar
+of furnace blasts, and the forge fires shone like sparks through the
+darkness, in the mountain glens aloft; for they were come to the shores
+of the Chalybes, the smiths who never tire, but serve Ares the cruel War
+god, forging weapons day and night.</p>
+
+<p>And at day dawn they looked eastward, and midway between the sea and the
+sky they saw white snow peaks hanging glittering sharp and bright above
+the clouds. And they knew that they were come to Caucasus, at the end of
+all the earth; Caucasus the highest of all mountains, the father of the
+rivers of the East. On his peak lies chained the Titan, while a vulture
+tears his heart; and at his feet are piled dark forests round the magic
+Colchian land.</p>
+
+<p>And they rowed three days to the eastward, while Caucasus rose higher
+hour by hour, till they saw the dark stream of Phasis rushing headlong
+to the sea, and shining above the treetops, the golden roofs of King
+Aietes, the child of the sun.</p>
+
+<p>Then out spoke Ancaios the helmsman: "We are come to our goal at last;
+for there are the roofs of Aietes, and the woods where all poisons grow;
+but who can tell us where among them is hid the golden fleece? Many a
+toil must we bear ere we find it, and bring it home to Greece."</p>
+
+<p>But Jason cheered the heroes, for his heart was high and bold; and he
+said: "I will go alone up to Aietes, though he be the child of the sun,
+and win him with soft words. Better so than to go altogether, and to
+come to blows at once." But the Minuai would not stay behind, so they
+rowed boldly up the stream.</p>
+
+<p>And a dream came to Aietes, and filled his heart with fear. He thought
+he saw a shining star, which fell into his daughter's lap; and that
+Medeia his daughter took it gladly, and carried it to the river side,
+and cast it in, and there the whirling river bore it down, and out into
+the Euxine Sea.</p>
+
+<p>Then he leapt up in fear, and bade his servants bring his chariot, that
+he might go down to the riverside and appease the nymphs, and the heroes
+whose spirits haunt the bank. So he went down in his golden chariot, and
+his daughters by his side, Medeia the fair witch maiden, and Chalciope,
+who had been Phrixus's wife, and behind him a crowd of servants and
+soldiers, for he was a rich and mighty prince.</p>
+
+<p>And as he drove down by the reedy river, he saw Argo sliding up beneath
+the bank, and many a hero in her, like immortals for beauty and for
+strength, as their weapons glittered round them in the level morning
+sunlight, through the white mist of the stream. But Jason was the
+noblest of all; for Hera who loved him gave him beauty, and tallness,
+and terrible manhood.</p>
+
+<p>And when they came near together and looked into each other's eyes, the
+heroes were awed before Aietes as he shone in his chariot, like his
+father the glorious Sun; for his robes were of rich gold tissue, and the
+rays of his diadem flashed fire; and in his hand he bore a jewelled
+sceptre, which glittered like the stars; and sternly he looked at them
+under his brows, and sternly he spoke and loud:</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you, and what want you here, that you come to the shore of
+Cutaia? Do you take no account of my rule, nor of my people the
+Colchians who serve me, who never tired yet in the battle, and know well
+how to face an invader?"</p>
+
+<p>And the heroes sat silent awhile before the face of that ancient king.
+But Hera the awful goddess put courage into Jason's heart, and he rose
+and shouted loudly in answer: "We are no pirates, nor lawless men. We
+come not to plunder and to ravage, or carry away slaves from your land;
+but my uncle, the son of Poseidon, Pelias the Minuan king, he it is who
+has set me on a quest to bring home the golden fleece. And these, too,
+my bold comrades, they are no nameless men; for some are the sons of
+immortals, and some of heroes far renowned. And we, too, never tire in
+battle, and know well how to give blows and to take; yet we wish to be
+guests at your table; it will be better so for both."</p>
+
+<p>Then Aietes's rage rushed up like a whirlwind, and his eyes flashed fire
+as he heard; but he crushed his anger down in his breast, and spoke
+mildly a cunning speech:</p>
+
+<p>"If you will fight for the fleece with my Colchians, then many a man
+must die. But do you indeed expect to win from me the fleece in fight?
+So few you are, that if you be worsted, I can load your ship with your
+corpses. But if you will be ruled by me, you will find it better far to
+choose the best man among you, and let him fulfil the labours which I
+demand. Then I will give him the golden fleece for a prize and a glory
+to you all."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he turned his horses and drove back in silence to the town.
+And the Minuai sat silent with sorrow, and longed for Heracles and his
+strength; for there was no facing the thousands of the Colchians, and
+the fearful chance of war.</p>
+
+<p>But Chalciope, Phrixus's widow, went weeping to the town; for she
+remembered her Minuan husband, and all the pleasures of her youth, while
+she watched the fair faces of his kinsmen, and their long locks of
+golden hair. And she whispered to Medeia her sister: "Why should all
+these brave men die? why does not my father give them up the fleece,
+that my husband's spirit may have rest?"</p>
+
+<p>And Medeia's heart pitied the heroes, and Jason most of all; and she
+answered, "Our father is stern and terrible, and who can win the golden
+fleece?" But Chalciope said: "These men are not like our men; there is
+nothing which they cannot dare nor do."</p>
+
+<p>And Medeia thought of Jason and his brave countenance, and said: "If
+there was one among them who knew no fear, I could show him how to win
+the fleece."</p>
+
+<p>So in the dusk of evening they went down to the riverside, Chalciope and
+Medeia the witch maiden, and Argus, Phrixus's son. And Argus the boy
+crept forward, among the beds of reeds, till he came where the heroes
+were sleeping, on the thwarts of the ship, beneath the bank, while Jason
+kept ward on shore, and leant upon his lance full of thought. And the
+boy came to Jason, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"I am the son of Phrixus, your cousin; and Chalciope my mother waits for
+you, to talk about the golden fleece."</p>
+
+<p>Then Jason went boldly with the boy, and found the two princesses
+standing; and when Chalciope saw him she wept, and took his hands, and
+cried:</p>
+
+<p>"O cousin of my beloved, go home before you die!"</p>
+
+<p>"It would be base to go home now, fair princess, and to have sailed all
+these seas in vain." Then both the princesses besought him: but Jason
+said, "It is too late."</p>
+
+<p>"But you know not," said Medeia, "what he must do who would win the
+fleece. He must tame the two brazen-footed bulls, who breathe devouring
+flame; and with them he must plough ere nightfall four acres in the
+field of Ares; and he must sow them with serpents' teeth, of which each
+tooth springs up into an armed man. Then he must fight with all those
+warriors; and little will it profit him to conquer them; for the fleece
+is guarded by a serpent, more huge than any mountain pine; and over his
+body you must step, if you would reach the golden fleece."</p>
+
+<p>Then Jason laughed bitterly. "Unjustly is that fleece kept here, and by
+an unjust and lawless king; and unjustly shall I die in my youth, for I
+will attempt it ere another sun be set."</p>
+
+<p>Then Medeia trembled, and said: "No mortal man can reach that fleece,
+unless I guide him through. For round it, beyond the river, is a wall
+full nine ells high, with lofty towers and buttresses, and mighty gates
+of threefold brass; and over the gates the wall is arched, with golden
+battlements above. And over the gateway sits Brimo, the wild witch
+huntress of the woods, brandishing a pine torch in her hands, while her
+mad hounds howl around. No man dare meet her or look on her, but only I
+her priestess, and she watches far and wide lest any stranger should
+come near."</p>
+
+<p>"No wall so high but it may be climbed at last, and no wood so thick but
+it may be crawled through; no serpent so wary but he may be charmed, or
+witch queen so fierce but spells may soothe her; and I may yet win the
+golden fleece, if a wise maiden help bold men."</p>
+
+<p>And he looked at Medeia cunningly, and held her with his glittering eye,
+till she blushed and trembled, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Who can face the fire of the bulls' breath, and fight ten thousand
+armed men?"</p>
+
+<p>"He whom you help," said Jason, flattering her, "for your fame is spread
+over all the earth. Are you not the queen of all enchantresses, wiser
+even than your sister Circe, in her fairy island in the West?"</p>
+
+<p>"Would that I were with my sister Circe in her fairy island in the West,
+far away from sore temptation, and thoughts which tear the heart! But
+if it must be so&mdash;for why should you die?&mdash;I have an ointment here; I
+made it from the magic ice flower which sprang from Prometheus's wound,
+above the clouds on Caucasus, in the dreary fields of snow. Anoint
+yourself with that, and you shall have in you seven men's strength; and
+anoint your shield with it, and neither fire nor sword can harm you. But
+what you begin you must end before sunset, for its virtue lasts only one
+day. And anoint your helmet with it before you sow the serpents' teeth;
+and when the sons of earth spring up, cast your helmet among their
+ranks, and the deadly crop of the War-god's field will mow itself, and
+perish."</p>
+
+<p>Then Jason fell on his knees before her, and thanked her and kissed her
+hands; and she gave him the vase of ointment, and fled trembling through
+the reeds. And Jason told his comrades what had happened, and showed
+them the box of ointment; and all rejoiced but Idas and he grew mad with
+envy.</p>
+
+<p>And at sunrise Jason went and bathed, and anointed himself from head to
+foot, and his shield, and his helmet, and his weapons, and bade his
+comrades try the spell. So they tried to bend his lance, but it stood
+like an iron bar; and Idas in spite hewed at it with his sword, but the
+blade flew to splinters in his face. Then they hurled their lances at
+his shield, but the spear points turned like lead; and Caineus tried to
+throw him, but he never stirred a foot; and Polydeuces struck him with
+his fist a blow which would have killed an ox; but Jason only smiled,
+and the heroes danced about him with delight; and he leapt and ran, and
+shouted, in the joy of that enormous strength, till the sun rose, and it
+was time to go and to claim Aietes's promise.</p>
+
+<p>So he sent up Telamon and Aithalides to tell Aietes that he was ready
+for the fight; and they went up among the marble walls, and beneath the
+roofs of gold, and stood in Aietes's hall, while he grew pale with rage.</p>
+
+<p>"Fulfil your promise to us, child of the blazing sun. Give us the
+serpents' teeth, and let loose the fiery bulls; for we have found a
+champion among us who can win the golden fleece."</p>
+
+<p>And Aietes bit his lips, for he fancied that they had fled away by
+night; but he could not go back from his promise; so he gave them the
+serpents' teeth.</p>
+
+<p>Then he called for his chariot and his horses, and sent heralds through
+all the town; and all the people went out with him to the dreadful
+War-god's field.</p>
+
+<p>And there Aietes sat upon his throne, with his warriors on each hand,
+thousands and tens of thousands, clothed from head to foot in
+steel-chain mail. And the people and the women crowded to every window,
+and bank and wall; while the Minuai stood together, a mere handful in
+the midst of that great host.</p>
+
+<p>And Chalciope was there and Argus, trembling, and Medeia, wrapped
+closely in her veil; but Aietes did not know that she was muttering
+cunning spells between her lips.</p>
+
+<p>Then Jason cried, "Fulfil your promise, and let your fiery bulls come
+forth."</p>
+
+<p>Then Aietes bade open the gates, and the magic bulls leapt out. Their
+brazen hoofs rang upon the ground, and their nostrils sent out sheets of
+flame, as they rushed with lowered heads upon Jason; but he never
+flinched a step. The flame of their breath swept round him, but it
+singed not a hair of his head; and the bulls stopped short and trembled,
+when Medeia began her spell.</p>
+
+<p>Then Jason sprang upon the nearest, and seized him by the horn; and up
+and down they wrestled, till the bull fell grovelling on his knees; for
+the heart of the brute died within him, and his mighty limbs were loosed
+beneath the steadfast eye of that dark witch maiden, and the magic
+whisper of her lips.</p>
+
+<p>So both the bulls were tamed and yoked; and Jason bound them to the
+plough, and goaded them onward with his lance, till he had ploughed the
+sacred field.</p>
+
+<p>And all the Minuai shouted; but Aietes bit his lips with rage; for the
+half of Jason's work was over, and the sun was yet high in heaven.</p>
+
+<p>Then he took the serpents' teeth and sowed them, and waited what would
+befall. But Medeia looked at him and at his helmet, lest he should
+forget the lesson she had taught.</p>
+
+<p>And every furrow heaved and bubbled, and out of every clod rose a man.
+Out of the earth they rose by thousands, each clad from head to foot in
+steel, and drew their swords and rushed on Jason, where he stood in the
+midst alone. Then the Minuai grew pale with fear for him; but Aietes
+laughed a bitter laugh. "See! if I had not warriors enough already round
+me, I could call them out of the bosom of the earth."</p>
+
+<p>But Jason snatched off his helmet, and hurled it into the thickest of
+the throng. And blind madness came upon them, suspicion, hate, and fear;
+and one cried to his fellow, "Thou didst strike me!" and another, "Thou
+art Jason; thou shalt die!" So fury seized those earth-born phantoms,
+and each turned his hand against the rest; and they fought and were
+never weary, till they all lay dead upon the ground. Then the magic
+furrows opened, and the kind earth took them home into her breast; and
+the grass grew up all green again above them, and Jason's work was done.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Minuai rose and shouted, till Prometheus heard them from his
+crag. And Jason cried: "Lead me to the fleece this moment, before the
+sun goes down."</p>
+
+<p>But Aietes thought: "He has conquered the bulls; and sown and reaped the
+deadly crop. Who is this who is proof against all magic? He may kill the
+serpent yet." So he delayed, and sat taking counsel with his princes,
+till the sun went down and all was dark. Then he bade a herald cry,
+"Every man to his home for to-night. To-morrow we will meet these
+heroes, and speak about the golden fleece."</p>
+
+<p>Then he turned and looked at Medeia: "This is your doing, false witch
+maid! You have helped these yellow-haired strangers, and brought shame
+upon your father and yourself!"</p>
+
+<p>Medeia shrank and trembled, and her face grew pale with fear; and Aietes
+knew that she was guilty, and whispered, "If they win the fleece, you
+die!"</p>
+
+<p>But the Minuai marched toward their ship, growling like lions cheated of
+their prey; for they saw that Aietes meant to mock them, and to cheat
+them out of all their toil. And Oileus said, "Let us go to the grove
+together, and take the fleece by force."</p>
+
+<p>And Idas the rash cried, "Let us draw lots who shall go in first; for
+while the dragon is devouring one, the rest can slay him, and carry off
+the fleece in peace." But Jason held them back, though he praised them;
+for he hoped for Medeia's help.</p>
+
+<p>And after awhile Medeia came trembling, and wept a long while before she
+spoke. And at last:</p>
+
+<p>"My end is come, and I must die; for my father has found out that I
+have helped you. You he would kill if he dared; but he will not harm
+you, because you have been his guests. Go then, go, and remember poor
+Medeia when you are far away across the sea." But all the heroes cried:</p>
+
+<p>"If you die, we die with you; for without you we cannot win the fleece,
+and home we will not go without it, but fall here fighting to the last
+man."</p>
+
+<p>"You need not die," said Jason. "Flee home with us across the sea. Show
+us first how to win the fleece; for you can do it. Why else are you the
+priestess of the grove? Show us but how to win the fleece, and come with
+us, and you shall be my queen, and rule over the rich princes of the
+Minuai, in Iolcos by the sea."</p>
+
+<p>And all the heroes pressed round, and vowed to her that she should be
+their queen.</p>
+
+<p>Medeia wept, and shuddered, and hid her face in her hands; for her heart
+yearned after her sisters and her playfellows, and the home where she
+was brought up as a child. But at last she looked up at Jason, and spoke
+between her sobs:</p>
+
+<p>"Must I leave my home and my people, to wander with strangers across the
+sea? The lot is cast, and I must endure it. I will show you how to win
+the golden fleece. Bring up your ship to the woodside, and moor her
+there against the bank and let Jason come up at midnight, and one brave
+comrade with him, and meet me beneath the wall."</p>
+
+<p>Then all the heroes cried together: "I will go!" "and I!" "and I!" And
+Idas the rash grew mad with envy; for he longed to be foremost in all
+things. But Medeia calmed them, and said: "Orpheus shall go with Jason,
+and bring his magic harp; for I hear of him that he is the king of all
+minstrels, and can charm all things on earth."</p>
+
+<p>And Orpheus laughed for joy, and clapped his hands, because the choice
+had fallen on him; for in those days poets and singers were as bold
+warriors as the best.</p>
+
+<p>So at midnight they went up the bank, and found Medeia; and beside came
+Absyrtus her young brother, leading a yearling lamb.</p>
+
+<p>Then Medeia brought them to a thicket, beside the War-god's gate; and
+there she bade Jason dig a ditch, and kill the lamb and leave it there,
+and strew on it magic herbs and honey from the honeycomb.</p>
+
+<p>Then sprang up through the earth, with the red fire flashing before her,
+Brimo the wild witch huntress, while her mad hounds howled around. She
+had one head like a horse's, and another like a ravening hound's, and
+another like a hissing snake's, and a sword in either hand. And she
+leapt into the ditch with her hounds, and they ate and drank their fill,
+while Jason and Orpheus trembled, and Medeia hid her eyes. And at last
+the witch queen vanished, and fled with her hounds into the woods; and
+the bars of the gates fell down, and the brazen doors flew wide, and
+Medeia and the heroes ran forward and hurried through the poison wood,
+among the dark stems of the mighty beeches, guided by the gleam of the
+golden fleece, until they saw it hanging on one vast tree in the midst.
+And Jason would have sprung to seize it; but Medeia held him back, and
+pointed shuddering to the tree foot, where the mighty serpent lay,
+coiled in and out among the roots, with a body like a mountain pine. His
+coils stretched many a fathom, spangled with bronze and gold; and half
+of him they could see, but no more; for the rest lay in the darkness
+far beyond.</p>
+
+<p>And when he saw them coming, he lifted up his head, and watched them
+with his small bright eyes, and flashed his forked tongue, and roared
+like the fire among the woodlands, till the forest tossed and groaned.
+For his cry shook the trees from leaf to root, and swept over the long
+reaches of the river, and over Æetes's hall, and woke the sleepers in
+the city, till mothers clasped their children in their fear.</p>
+
+<p>But Medeia called gently to him; and he stretched out his long spotted
+neck, and licked her hand, and looked up in her face, as if to ask for
+food. Then she made a sign to Orpheus, and he began his magic song.</p>
+
+<p>And as he sung, the forest grew calm again, and the leaves on every tree
+hung still; and the serpent's head sank down, and his brazen coils grew
+limp, and his glittering eyes closed lazily, till he breathed as gently
+as a child, while Orpheus called to pleasant Slumber, who gives peace to
+men, and beasts, and waves.</p>
+
+<p>Then Jason leapt forward warily, and stept across that mighty snake, and
+tore the fleece from off the tree trunk; and the four rushed down the
+garden, to the bank where the Argo lay.</p>
+
+<p>There was a silence for a moment, while Jason held the golden fleece on
+high. Then he cried: "Go now, good Argo, swift and steady, if ever you
+would see Pelion more."</p>
+
+<p>And she went, as the heroes drove her, grim and silent all, with muffled
+oars, till the pine wood bent like willow in their hands, and stout Argo
+groaned beneath their strokes.</p>
+
+<p>On and on, beneath the dewy darkness, they fled swiftly down the
+swirling stream; underneath black walls, and temples, and the castles of
+the princes of the East; past sluice mouths, and fragrant gardens, and
+groves of all strange fruits; past marshes where fat kine lay sleeping,
+and long beds of whispering reeds; till they heard the merry music of
+the surge upon the bar, as it tumbled in the moonlight all alone.</p>
+
+<p>Into the surge they rushed, and Argo leapt the breakers like a horse;
+for she knew the time was come to show her mettle, and win honour for
+the heroes and herself.</p>
+
+<p>Into the surge they rushed, and Argo leapt the breakers like a horse,
+till the heroes stopped all panting, each man upon his oar, as she slid
+into the still broad sea.</p>
+
+<p>Then Orpheus took his harp and sang a pæan, till the heroes' hearts rose
+high again; and they rowed on stoutly and steadfastly, away into the
+darkness of the West.</p>
+
+<h3>PART V<br />
+<i>How the Argonauts Were Driven into the Unknown Sea</i></h3>
+
+<p>So they fled away in haste to the westward: but Aietes manned his fleet
+and followed them. And Lynceus the quick eyed saw him coming, while he
+was still many a mile away, and cried: "I see a hundred ships, like a
+flock of white swans, far in the east." And at that they rowed hard,
+like heroes; but the ships came nearer every hour.</p>
+
+<p>Then Medeia, the dark witch maiden, laid a cruel and a cunning plot; for
+she killed Absyrtus her young brother, and cast him into the sea, and
+said: "Ere my father can take up his corpse and bury it, he must wait
+long, and be left far behind."</p>
+
+<p>And all the heroes shuddered, and looked one at the other for shame; yet
+they did not punish that dark witch woman, because she had won for them
+the golden fleece.</p>
+
+<p>And when Aietes came to the place, he saw the floating corpse; and he
+stopped a long while, and bewailed his son, and took him up, and went
+home. But he sent on his sailors toward the westward, and bound them by
+a mighty curse: "Bring back to me that dark witch woman, that she may
+die a dreadful death. But if you return without her, you shall die by
+the same death yourselves."</p>
+
+<p>So the Argonauts escaped for that time; but Father Zeus saw that foul
+crime; and out of the heavens he sent a storm, and swept the ship far
+from her course. Day after day the storm drove her, amid foam and
+blinding mist, till they knew no longer where they were, for the sun was
+blotted from the skies. And at last the ship struck on a shoal, amid low
+isles of mud and sand, and the waves rolled over her and through her,
+and the heroes lost all hope of life.</p>
+
+<p>Then Jason cried to Hera: "Fair queen, who hast befriended us till now,
+why hast thou left us in our misery, to die here among unknown seas? It
+is hard to lose the honour which we have won with such toil and danger,
+and hard never to see Hellas again, and the pleasant bay of Pagasai."</p>
+
+<p>Then out and spoke the magic bough which stood upon the Argo's beak:
+"Because Father Zeus is angry, all this has fallen on you; for a cruel
+crime has been done on board, and the sacred ship is foul with blood."</p>
+
+<p>At that some of the heroes cried: "Medeia is the murderess. Let the
+witch woman bear her sin, and die!"</p>
+
+<p>And they seized Medeia, to hurl her into the sea and atone for the young
+boy's death; but the magic bough spoke again: "Let her live till her
+crimes are full. Vengeance waits for her, slow and sure; but she must
+live, for you need her still. She must show you the way to her sister
+Circe, who lives among the islands of the West. To her you must sail, a
+weary way, and she shall cleanse you from your guilt."</p>
+
+<p>Then all the heroes wept aloud when they heard the sentence of the oak;
+for they knew that a dark journey lay before them, and years of bitter
+toil. And some upbraided the dark witch woman, and some said: "Nay, we
+are her debtors still; without her we should never have won the fleece."
+But most of them bit their lips in silence, for they feared the witch's
+spells.</p>
+
+<p>And now the sea grew calmer, and the sun shone out once more, and the
+heroes thrust the ship off the sand bank, and rowed forward on their
+weary course, under the guiding of the dark witch maiden, into the
+wastes of the unknown sea.</p>
+
+<p>Whither they went I cannot tell, nor how they came to Circe's isle. Some
+say that they went to the westward, and up the Ister<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> stream, and so
+came into the Adriatic, dragging their ship over the snowy Alps. And
+others say that they went southward, into the Red Indian Sea, and past
+the sunny lands where spices grow, round Æthiopia toward the west; and
+that at last they came to Libya, and dragged their ship across the
+burning sands, and over the hills into the Syrtes, where the flats and
+quicksands spread for many a mile, between rich Cyrene and the
+Lotus-eaters' shore. But all these are but dreams and fables, and dim
+hints of unknown lands.</p>
+
+<p>But all say that they came to a place where they had to drag their ship
+across the land nine days with ropes and rollers, till they came into an
+unknown sea. And the best of all the old songs tells us, how they went
+away toward the north, till they came to the slope of Caucasus, where it
+sinks into the sea; and to the narrow Cimmerian Bosphorus,<a name="FNanchor_A_2" id="FNanchor_A_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> where the
+Titan swam across upon the bull; and thence into the lazy waters of the
+still Mæotid Lake.<a name="FNanchor_B_3" id="FNanchor_B_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a> And thence they went northward ever, up the
+Tanais, which we call Don, past the Geloni and Sauromatai, and many a
+wandering shepherd tribe, and the one-eyed Arimaspi, of whom old Greek
+poets tell, who steal the gold from the Griffins, in the cold
+Rhiphaian<a name="FNanchor_C_4" id="FNanchor_C_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a> hills.</p>
+
+<p>And they passed the Scythian archers, and the Tauri who eat men, and the
+wandering Hyperboreai, who feed their flocks beneath the pole star,
+until they came into the northern ocean, the dull dead Cronian Sea.<a name="FNanchor_D_5" id="FNanchor_D_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_5" class="fnanchor">[E]</a>
+And there Argo would move on no longer; and each man clasped his elbow,
+and leaned his head upon his hand, heartbroken with toil and hunger, and
+gave himself up to death. But brave Ancaios the helmsman cheered up
+their hearts once more, and bade them leap on land, and haul the ship
+with ropes and rollers for many a weary day, whether over land, or mud,
+or ice, I know not, for the song is mixed and broken like a dream. And
+it says next, how they came to the rich nation of the famous long-lived
+men; and to the coast of the Cimmerians, who never saw the sun, buried
+deep in the glens of the snow mountains; and to the fair land of
+Hermione, where dwelt the most righteous of all nations; and to the
+gates of the world below, and to the dwelling place of dreams.</p>
+
+<p>And at last Ancaios shouted: "Endure a little while, brave friends, the
+worst is surely past; for I can see the pure west wind ruffle the water,
+and hear the roar of ocean on the sands. So raise up the mast, and set
+the sail, and face what comes like men."</p>
+
+<p>Then out spoke the magic bough: "Ah, would that I had perished long ago,
+and been whelmed by the dread blue rocks, beneath the fierce swell of
+the Euxine! Better so, than to wander forever, disgraced by the guilt of
+my princes; for the blood of Absyrtus still tracks me, and woe follows
+hard upon woe. And now some dark horror will clutch me, if I come near
+the Isle of Ierne.<a name="FNanchor_A_6" id="FNanchor_A_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_6" class="fnanchor">[F]</a> Unless you will cling to the land, and sail
+southward and southward forever, I shall wander beyond the Atlantic, to
+the ocean which has no shore."</p>
+
+<p>Then they blest the magic bough, and sailed southward along the land.
+But ere they could pass Ierne, the land of mists and storms, the wild
+wind came down, dark and roaring, and caught the sail, and strained the
+ropes. And away they drove twelve nights, on the wide wild western sea,
+through the foam, and over the rollers, while they saw neither sun nor
+stars. And they cried again: "We shall perish, for we know not where we
+are. We are lost in the dreary damp darkness, and cannot tell north from
+south."</p>
+
+<p>But Lynceus the long sighted called gayly from the bows: "Take heart
+again, brave sailors; for I see a pine-clad isle, and the halls of the
+kind Earth mother, with a crown of clouds around them."</p>
+
+<p>But Orpheus said: "Turn from them, for no living man can land there:
+there is no harbour on the coast, but steep-walled cliffs all round."</p>
+
+<p>So Ancaios turned the ship away; and for three days more they sailed on,
+till they came to Aiaia, Circe's home, and the fairy island of the West.</p>
+
+<p>And there Jason bid them land, and seek about for any sign of living
+man. And as they went inland, Circe met them, coming down toward the
+ship; and they trembled when they saw her; for her hair, and face, and
+robes, shone like flame.</p>
+
+<p>And she came and looked at Medeia; and Medeia hid her face beneath her
+veil.</p>
+
+<p>And Circe cried, "Ah, wretched girl, have you forgotten all your sins,
+that you come hither to my island, where the flowers bloom all the year
+round? Where is your aged father, and the brother whom you killed?
+Little do I expect you to return in safety with these strangers whom you
+love. I will send you food and wine: but your ship must not stay here,
+for it is foul with sin, and foul with sin its crew."</p>
+
+<p>And the heroes prayed her, but in vain, and cried, "Cleanse us from our
+guilt!" But she sent them away and said, "Go on to Malea, and there you
+may be cleansed, and return home."</p>
+
+<p>Then a fair wind rose, and they sailed eastward, by Tartessus on the
+Iberian shore, till they came to the Pillars of Hercules, and the
+Mediterranean Sea. And thence they sailed on through the deeps of
+Sardinia, and past the Ausonian Islands, and the capes of the Tyrrhenian
+shore, till they came to a flowery island, upon a still, bright summer's
+eve. And as they neared it, slowly and wearily, they heard sweet songs
+upon the shore. But when Medeia heard it, she started, and cried:
+"Beware, all heroes, for these are the rocks of the Sirens. You must
+pass close by them, for there is no other channel; but those who listen
+to that song are lost."</p>
+
+<p>Then Orpheus spoke, the king of all minstrels: "Let them match their
+song against mine. I have charmed stones, and trees, and dragons, how
+much more the hearts of man!" So he caught up his lyre, and stood upon
+the poop, and began his magic song.</p>
+
+<p>And now they could see the Sirens, on Anthemousa, the flowery isle;
+three fair maidens sitting on the beach, beneath a red rock in the
+setting sun, among beds of crimson poppies and golden asphodel. Slowly
+they sung and sleepily, with silver voices, mild and clear, which stole
+over the golden waters, and into the hearts of all the heroes, in spite
+of Orpheus's song.</p>
+
+<p>And all things stayed around and listened; the gulls sat in white lines
+along the rocks; on the beach great seals lay basking, and kept time
+with lazy heads; while silver shoals of fish came up to hearken, and
+whispered as they broke the shining calm. The Wind overhead hushed his
+whistling, as he shepherded his clouds toward the west; and the clouds
+stood in mid blue, and listened dreaming, like a flock of golden sheep.</p>
+
+<p>And as the heroes listened, the oars fell from their hands, and their
+heads drooped on their breasts, and they closed their heavy eyes; and
+they dreamed of bright still gardens, and of slumbers under murmuring
+pines, till all their toil seemed foolishness, and they thought of their
+renown no more.</p>
+
+<p>Then one lifted his head suddenly, and cried, "What use in wandering
+forever? Let us stay here and rest awhile." And another, "Let us row to
+the shore, and hear the words they sing." And another, "I care not for
+the words, but for the music. They shall sing me to sleep, that I may
+rest."</p>
+
+<p>And Butes, the son of Pandion, the fairest of all mortal men, leapt out
+and swam toward the shore, crying, "I come, I come, fair maidens, to
+live and die here, listening to your song."</p>
+
+<p>Then Medeia clapped her hands together, and cried, "Sing louder,
+Orpheus, sing a bolder strain; wake up these hapless sluggards, or none
+of them will see the land of Hellas more."</p>
+
+<p>Then Orpheus lifted his harp, and crashed his cunning hand across the
+strings; and his music and his voice rose like a trumpet through the
+still evening air; into the air it rushed like thunder, till the rocks
+rang and the sea; and into their souls it rushed like wine, till all
+hearts beat fast within their breasts.</p>
+
+<p>And he sung the song of Perseus, how the Gods led him over land and sea,
+and how he slew the loathly Gorgon, and won himself a peerless bride;
+and how he sits now with the Gods upon Olympus, a shining star in the
+sky, immortal with his immortal bride, and honoured by all men below.</p>
+
+<p>So Orpheus sang, and the Sirens, answering each other across the golden
+sea, till Orpheus's voice drowned the Sirens, and the heroes caught
+their oars again.</p>
+
+<p>And they cried: "We will be men like Perseus, and we will dare and
+suffer to the last. Sing us his song again, brave Orpheus, that we may
+forget the Sirens and their spell."</p>
+
+<p>And as Orpheus sang, they dashed their oars into the sea, and kept time
+to his music, as they fled fast away; and the Sirens' voices died behind
+them, in the hissing of the foam along their wake.</p>
+
+<p>But Butes swam to the shore, and knelt down before the Sirens, and
+cried, "Sing on! sing on!" But he could say no more; for a charmed sleep
+came over him, and a pleasant humming in his ears; and he sank all along
+upon the pebbles, and forgot all heaven and earth, and never looked at
+that sad beach around him, all strewn with the bones of men.</p>
+
+<p>Then slowly rose up those three fair sisters, with a cruel smile upon
+their lips; and slowly they crept down toward him, like leopards who
+creep upon their prey; and their hands were like the talons of eagles,
+as they stept across the bones of their victims to enjoy their cruel
+feast.</p>
+
+<p>But fairest Aphrodite saw him from the highest Idalian peak, and she
+pitied his youth and his beauty, and leapt up from her golden throne;
+and like a falling star she cleft the sky, and left a trail of
+glittering light, till she stooped to the Isle of the Sirens, and
+snatched their prey from their claws. And she lifted Butes as he lay
+sleeping, and wrapt him in a golden mist; and she bore him to the peak
+of Lilybæum; and he slept there many a pleasant year.</p>
+
+<p>But when the Sirens saw that they were conquered, they shrieked for envy
+and rage, and leapt from the beach into the sea, and were changed into
+rocks until this day.</p>
+
+<p>Then they came to the straits by Lilybæum, and saw Sicily, the
+three-cornered island, under which Enceladus the giant lies groaning day
+and night, and when he turns the earth quakes, and his breath bursts out
+in roaring flames from the highest cone of Ætna, above the chestnut
+woods. And there Charybdis caught them in its fearful coils of wave, and
+rolled mast-high about them, and spun them round and round; and they
+could go neither back nor forward, while the whirlpool sucked them in.</p>
+
+<p>And while they struggled they saw near them, on the other side of the
+strait, a rock stand in the water, with a peak wrapt round in clouds; a
+rock which no man could climb, though he had twenty hands and feet, for
+the stone was smooth and slippery, as if polished by man's hand; and
+half way up a misty cave looked out toward the west.</p>
+
+<p>And when Orpheus saw it, he groaned, and struck his hands together. And
+"Little will it help to us," he cried, "to escape the jaws of the
+whirlpool; for in that cave lives Scylla, the sea-hag with a young
+whelp's voice; my mother warned me of her ere we sailed away from
+Hellas; she has six heads, and six long necks, and hides in that dark
+cleft. And from her cave she fishes for all things which pass by, for
+sharks, and seals, and dolphins, and all the herds of Amphitrite. And
+never ship's crew boasted that they came safe by her rock; for she bends
+her long necks down to them, and every mouth takes up a man And who will
+help us now? For Hera and Zeus hate us, and our ship is foul with guilt;
+so we must die, whatever befalls."</p>
+
+<p>Then out of the depths came Thetis, Peleus's silver-footed bride, for
+love of her gallant husband, and all her nymphs around her; and they
+played like snow-white dolphins, diving on from wave to wave, before the
+ship, and in her wake, and beside her, as dolphins play. And they caught
+the ship, and guided her, and passed her on from hand to hand, and
+tossed her through the billows, as maidens toss the ball. And when
+Scylla stooped to seize her, they struck back her ravening heads, and
+foul Scylla whined, as a whelp whines, at the touch of their gentle
+hands. But she shrank into her cave affrighted; for all bad things
+shrink from good; and Argo leapt safe past her, while a fair breeze rose
+behind. Then Thetis and her nymphs sank down to their gardens of green
+and purple, where live flowers of bloom all the year round; while the
+heroes went on rejoicing, yet dreading what might come next.</p>
+
+<p>After that they rowed on steadily for many a weary day, till they saw a
+long high island, and beyond it a mountain land. And they searched till
+they found a harbour, and there rowed boldly in. But after awhile they
+stopped, and wondered; for there stood a great city on the shore, and
+temples and walls and gardens, and castles high in air upon the cliffs.
+And on either side they saw a harbour, with a narrow mouth, but wide
+within; and black ships without number, high and dry upon the shore.</p>
+
+<p>Then Ancaius, the wise helmsman, spoke: "What new wonder is this? I know
+all isles, and harbours, and the windings of all the seas; and this
+should be Corcyra, where a few wild goatherds dwell. But whence come
+these new harbours, and vast works of polished stone?"</p>
+
+<p>But Jason said: "They can be no savage people. We will go in and take
+our chance."</p>
+
+<p>So they rowed into the harbour, among a thousand black-beaked ships,
+each larger far than Argo, toward a quay of polished stone. And they
+wondered at that mighty city, with its roofs of burnished brass, and
+long and lofty walls of marble, with strong palisades above. And the
+quays were full of people, merchants, and mariners, and slaves, going to
+and fro with merchandise among the crowd of ships. And the heroes'
+hearts were humbled, and they looked at each other and said: "We thought
+ourselves a gallant crew when we sailed from Iolcos by the sea; but how
+small we look before this city, like an ant before a hive of bees."</p>
+
+<p>Then the sailors hailed them roughly from the quay:</p>
+
+<p>"What men are you?&mdash;we want no strangers here, nor pirates. We keep our
+business to ourselves."</p>
+
+<p>But Jason answered gently, with many a flattering word, and praised
+their city and their harbour, and their fleet of gallant ships. "Surely
+you are the children of Poseidon, and the masters of the sea; and we are
+but poor wandering mariners, worn out with thirst and toil. Give us but
+food and water, and we will go on our voyage in peace."</p>
+
+<p>Then the sailors laughed and answered: "Stranger, you are no fool; you
+talk like an honest man, and you shall find us honest too. We are the
+children of Poseidon, and the masters of the sea; but come ashore to us,
+and you shall have the best that we can give."</p>
+
+<p>So they limped ashore, all stiff and weary, with long ragged beards and
+sunburnt cheeks, and garments torn and weather-stained, and weapons
+rusted with the spray, while the sailors laughed at them (for they were
+rough-tongued, though their hearts were frank and kind). And one said;
+"These fellows are but raw sailors; they look as if they had been
+sea-sick all the day." And another: "Their legs have grown crooked with
+much rowing, till they waddle in their walk like ducks."</p>
+
+<p>At that Idas the rash would have struck them; but Jason held him back,
+till one of the merchant kings spoke to them, a tall and stately man.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not be angry, strangers; the sailor boys must have their jest. But
+we will treat you justly and kindly, for strangers and poor men come
+from God; and you seem no common sailors by your strength, and height,
+and weapons. Come up with me to the palace of Alcinous, the rich
+sea-going king, and we will feast you well and heartily; and after that
+you shall tell us your name."</p>
+
+<p>But Medeia hung back, and trembled, and whispered in Jason's ear, "We
+are betrayed, and are going to our ruin; for I see my countrymen among
+the crowd; dark-eyed Colchi in steel mail shirts, such as they wear in
+my father's land."</p>
+
+<p>"It is too late to turn," said Jason. And he spoke to the merchant king:
+"What country is this, good sir; and what is this new-built town?"</p>
+
+<p>"This is the land of the Phæaces, beloved by all the Immortals; for they
+come hither and feast like friends with us, and sit by our side in the
+hall. Hither we came from Liburnia to escape the unrighteous Cyclopes;
+for they robbed us, peaceful merchants, of our hard-earned wares and
+wealth. So Nausithous, the son of Poseidon, brought us hither, and died
+in peace; and now his son Alcinous rules us, and Arete the wisest of
+queens."</p>
+
+<p>So they went up across the square, and wondered still more as they went;
+for along the quays lay in order great cables, and yards, and masts,
+before the fair temple of Poseidon, the blue-haired king of the seas.
+And round the square worked the shipwrights, as many in number as ants,
+twining ropes, and hewing timber, and smoothing long yards and oars. And
+the Minuai went on in silence through clean white marble streets, till
+they came to the hall of Alcinous, and they wondered then still more.
+For the lofty palace shone aloft in the sun, with walls of plated brass,
+from the threshold to the innermost chamber, and the doors were of
+silver and gold. And on each side of the doorway sat living dogs of
+gold, who never grew old or died, so well Hephaistus had made them in
+his forges in smoking Lemnos, and gave them to Alcinous to guard his
+gates by night. And within, against the walls, stood thrones on either
+side, down the whole length of the hall, strewn with rich glossy
+shawls; and on them the merchant kings of those crafty sea-roving
+Phæaces sat eating and drinking in pride, and feasting there all the
+year round. And boys of molten gold stood each on a polished altar, and
+held torches in their hands, to give light all night to the guests. And
+round the house sat fifty maid servants, some grinding the meal in the
+mill, some turning the spindle, some weaving at the loom, while their
+hands twinkled as they passed the shuttle, like quivering aspen leaves.</p>
+
+<p>And outside before the palace a great garden was walled round, filled
+full of stately fruit trees, with olives and sweet figs, and
+pomegranates, pears, and apples, which bore the whole year round. For
+the rich southwest wind fed them, till pear grew ripe on pear, fig on
+fig, and grape on grape, all the winter and the spring. And at the
+further end gay flower beds bloomed through all seasons of the year; and
+two fair fountains rose, and ran, one through the garden grounds, and
+one beneath the palace gate, to water all the town. Such noble gifts the
+heavens had given to Alcinous the wise.</p>
+
+<p>So they went in, and saw him sitting, like Poseidon, on his throne, with
+his golden sceptre by him, in garments stiff with gold, and in his hand
+a sculptured goblet, as he pledged the merchant kings; and beside him
+stood Arete, his wise and lovely queen, and leaned against a pillar, as
+she spun her golden threads.</p>
+
+<p>Then Alcinous rose, and welcomed them, and bade them sit and eat; and
+the servants brought them tables, and bread, and meat, and wine.</p>
+
+<p>But Medeia went on trembling toward Arete, the fair queen, and fell at
+her knees, and clasped them, and cried weeping as she knelt:</p>
+
+<p>"I am your guest, fair queen, and I entreat you be Zeus from whom
+prayers come. Do not send me back to my father, to die some dreadful
+death; but let me go my way, and bear my burden. Have I not had enough
+of punishment and shame?"</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you, strange maiden? and what is the meaning of your prayer?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am Medeia, daughter of Aietes, and I saw my countrymen here to-day;
+and I know that they are come to find me, and take me home to die some
+dreadful death."</p>
+
+<p>Then Arete frowned, and said: "Lead this girl in, my maidens; and let
+the kings decide, not I."</p>
+
+<p>And Alcinous leapt up from his throne, and cried, "Speak, strangers, who
+are you? And who is this maiden?"</p>
+
+<p>"We are the heroes of the Minuai," said Jason; "and this maiden has
+spoken truth. We are the men who took the golden fleece, the men whose
+fame has run round every shore. We came hither out of the ocean, after
+sorrows such as man never saw before. We went out many, and come back
+few, for many a noble comrade have we lost. So let us go, as you should
+let your guests go, in peace; that the world may say, 'Alcinous is a
+just king.'"</p>
+
+<p>But Alcinous frowned, and stood deep in thought; and at last he spoke:</p>
+
+<p>"Had not the deed been done, which is done, I should have said this day
+to myself, 'It is an honour to Alcinous, and to his children after him,
+that the far-famed Argonauts are his guests.' But these Colchi are my
+guests, as you are; and for this month they have waited here with all
+their fleet; for they have hunted all the seas of Hellas, and could not
+find you, and dared neither go further, nor go home."</p>
+
+<p>"Let them choose out their champions, and we will fight them, man for
+man."</p>
+
+<p>"No guest of ours shall fight upon our island; and if you go outside,
+they will outnumber you. I will do justice between you; for I know and
+do what is right."</p>
+
+<p>Then he turned to his kings, and said: "This may stand over till
+to-morrow. To-night we will feast our guests, and hear the story of all
+their wanderings, and how they came hither out of the ocean."</p>
+
+<p>So Alcinous bade the servants take the heroes in, and bathe them, and
+give them clothes. And they were glad when they saw the warm water, for
+it was long since they had bathed. And they washed off the sea salt from
+their limbs, and anointed themselves from head to foot with oil, and
+combed out their golden hair. Then they came back again into the hall,
+while the merchant kings rose up to do them honour. And each man said to
+his neighbour: "No wonder that these men won fame. How they stand now
+like Giants, or Titans, or Immortals come down from Olympus, though many
+a winter has worn them, and many a fearful storm. What must they have
+been when they sailed from Iolcos, in the bloom of their youth, long
+ago?"</p>
+
+<p>Then they went out to the garden; and the merchant princes said:
+"Heroes, run races with us. Let us see whose feet are nimblest."</p>
+
+<p>"We cannot race against you, for our limbs are stiff from sea; and we
+have lost our two swift comrades, the sons of the north wind. But do not
+think us cowards; if you wish to try our strength, we will shoot and
+box, and wrestle, against any men on earth."</p>
+
+<p>And Alcinous smiled, and answered: "I believe you, gallant guests; with
+your long limbs and broad shoulders, we could never match you here. For
+we care nothing here for boxing, or for shooting with the bow; but for
+feasts, and songs, and harping, and dancing, and running races, to
+stretch our limbs on shore."</p>
+
+<p>So they danced there and ran races, the jolly merchant kings, till the
+night fell, and all went in.</p>
+
+<p>And then they ate and drank, and comforted their weary souls, till
+Alcinous called a herald, and bade him go and fetch the harper.</p>
+
+<p>The herald went out, and fetched the harper, and led him in by the hand;
+and Alcinous cut him a piece of meat from the fattest of the haunch, and
+sent it to him, and said: "Sing to us, noble harper, and rejoice the
+heroes' hearts."</p>
+
+<p>So the harper played and sang, while the dancers danced strange figures;
+and after that the tumblers showed their tricks, till the heroes laughed
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Then, "Tell me, heroes," asked Alcinous, "you who have sailed the ocean
+round, and seen the manners of all nations, have you seen such dancers
+as ours here? or heard such music and such singing? We hold ours to be
+the best on earth."</p>
+
+<p>"Such dancing we have never seen," said Orpheus; "and your singer is a
+happy man; for Phœbus himself must have taught him, or else he is the
+son of a Muse; as I am also, and have sung once or twice, though not so
+well as he."</p>
+
+<p>"Sing to us, then, noble stranger," said Alcinous; "and we will give you
+precious gifts."</p>
+
+<p>So Orpheus took his magic harp, and sang to them a stirring song of
+their voyage from Iolcos, and their dangers, and how they won the
+golden fleece; and of Medeia's love, and how she helped them, and went
+with them over land and sea; and of all their fearful dangers, from
+monsters, and rocks, and storms, till the heart of Arete was softened,
+and all the women wept. And the merchant kings rose up, each man from
+off his golden throne, and clasped their hands, and shouted: "Hail to
+the noble Argonauts, who sailed the unknown sea!"</p>
+
+<p>Then he went on, and told their journey over the sluggish northern main,
+and through the shoreless outer ocean, to the fairy island of the West;
+and of the Sirens, and Scylla, and Charybdis, and all the wonders they
+had seen, till midnight passed, and the day dawned; but the kings never
+thought of sleep. Each man sat still and listened, with his chin upon
+his hand.</p>
+
+<p>And at last when Orpheus had ended, they all went thoughtful out, and
+the heroes lay down to sleep, beneath the sounding porch outside, where
+Arete had strewn them rugs and carpets, in the sweet still summer night.</p>
+
+<p>But Arete pleaded hard with her husband for Medeia, for her heart was
+softened. And she said: "The Gods will punish her, not we. After all,
+she is our guest and my suppliant, and prayers are the daughters of
+Zeus. And who, too, dare part man and wife, after all they have endured
+together?"</p>
+
+<p>And Alcinous smiled. "The minstrel's song has charmed you; but I must
+remember what is right; for songs cannot alter justice; and I must be
+faithful to my name. Alcinous I am called, the man of sturdy sense, and
+Alcinous I will be." But for all that, Arete besought him, until she won
+him round.</p>
+
+<p>So next morning he sent a herald, and called the kings into the square,
+and said: "This is a puzzling matter; remember but one thing. These
+Minuai live close by us, and we may meet them often on the seas; but
+Aietes lives afar off, and we have only heard his name. Which, then, of
+the two is it safer to offend, the men near us, or the men far off?"</p>
+
+<p>The princes laughed, and praised his wisdom; and Alcinous called the
+heroes to the square, and the Colchi also; and they came and stood
+opposite each other; but Medeia stayed in the palace. Then Alcinous
+spoke: "Heroes of the Colchi, what is your errand about this lady?"</p>
+
+<p>"To carry her home with us, that she may die a shameful death; but if we
+return without her, we must die the death she should have died."</p>
+
+<p>"What say you to this, Jason the Æolid?" said Alcinous, turning to the
+Minuai.</p>
+
+<p>"I say," said the cunning Jason, "that they are come here on a bootless
+errand. Do you think that you can make her follow you, heroes of the
+Colchi? her, who knows all spells and charms? She will cast away your
+ships on quicksands, or call down on you Brimo the wild huntress; or the
+chains will fall from off her wrists, and she will escape in her dragon
+car; or if not thus, some other way; for she has a thousand plans and
+wiles. And why return home at all, brave heroes, and face the long seas
+again, and the Bosphorus, and the stormy Euxine, and double all your
+toil? There is many a fair land round these coasts, which waits for
+gallant men like you. Better to settle there, and build a city, and let
+Aietes and Colchis help themselves."</p>
+
+<p>Then a murmur rose among the Colchi, and some cried, "He has spoken
+well"; and some, "We have had enough of roving, we will sail the seas
+no more!" And the chief said at last, "Be it so, then; a plague she has
+been to us, and a plague to the house of her father, and a plague she
+will be to you. Take her, since you are no wiser; and we will sail away
+toward the north."</p>
+
+<p>Then Alcinous gave them food, and water, and garments, and rich presents
+of all sorts; and he gave the same to the Minuai, and sent them all away
+in peace.</p>
+
+<p>So Jason kept the dark witch maiden to breed him woe and shame; and the
+Colchi went northward into the Adriatic, and settled, and built towns
+along the shore.</p>
+
+<p>Then the heroes rowed away to the eastward, to reach Hellas their
+beloved land; but a storm came down upon them, and swept them far away
+toward the south. And they rowed till they were spent with struggling,
+through the darkness and the blinding rain, but where they were they
+could not tell, and they gave up all hope of life. And at last they
+touched the ground, and when daylight came they waded to the shore; and
+saw nothing round but sand, and desolate salt pools; for they had come
+to the quicksands of the Syrtis, and the dreary treeless flats, which
+lie between Numidia and Cyrene, on the burning shore of Africa. And
+there they wandered starving for many a weary day, ere they could launch
+their ship again, and gain the open sea. And there Canthus was killed
+while he was trying to drive off sheep, by a stone which a herdsman
+threw.</p>
+
+<p>And there, too, Mopsus died, the seer who knew the voices of all birds;
+but he could not foretell his own end, for he was bitten in the foot by
+a snake, one of those which sprang from the Gorgon's head when Perseus
+carried it across the sands.</p>
+
+<p>At last they rowed away toward the northward, for many a weary day,
+till their water was spent, and their food eaten; and they were worn out
+with hunger and thirst. But at last they saw a long steep island, and a
+blue peak high among the clouds; and they knew it for the peak of Ida,
+and the famous land of Crete. And they said, "We will land in Crete, and
+see Minos the just king, and all his glory and his wealth; at least he
+will treat us hospitably, and let us fill our water casks upon the
+shore."</p>
+
+<p>But when they came nearer to the island they saw a wondrous sight upon
+the cliffs. For on a cape to the westward stood a giant, taller than any
+mountain pine; who glittered aloft against the sky like a tower of
+burnished brass. He turned and looked on all sides round him, till he
+saw the Argo and her crew; and when he saw them he came toward them,
+more swiftly than the swiftest horse, leaping across the glens at a
+bound, and striding at one step from down to down. And when he came
+abreast of them he brandished his arms up and down, as a ship hoists and
+lowers her yards, and shouted with his brazen throat like a trumpet from
+off the hills: "You are pirates, you are robbers! If you dare land here,
+you die."</p>
+
+<p>Then the heroes cried: "We are no pirates. We are all good men and true;
+and all we ask is food and water"; but the giant cried the more&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You are robbers, you are pirates all; I know you; and if you land, you
+shall die the death."</p>
+
+<p>Then he waved his arms again as a signal, and they saw the people flying
+inland, driving their flocks before them, while a great flame arose
+among the hills. Then the giant ran up a valley and vanished; and the
+heroes lay on their oars in fear.</p>
+
+<p>But Medeia stood watching all, from under her steep black brows, with a
+cunning smile upon her lips, and a cunning plot within her heart. At
+last she spoke; "I know this giant. I heard of him in the East.
+Hephaistos the Fire King made him, in his forge in Ætna beneath the
+earth, and called him Talus, and gave him to Minos for a servant, to
+guard the coast of Crete. Thrice a day he walks round the island, and
+never stops to sleep; and if strangers land he leaps into his furnace,
+which flames there among the hills; and when he is red hot he rushes on
+them, and burns them in his brazen hands."</p>
+
+<p>Then all the heroes cried, "What shall we do, wise Medeia? We must have
+water, or we die of thirst. Flesh and blood we can face fairly; but who
+can face this red-hot brass?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can face red-hot brass, if the tale I hear be true. For they say
+that he has but one vein in all his body, filled with liquid fire; and
+that this vein is closed with a nail; but I know not where that nail is
+placed. But if I can get it once into these hands, you shall water your
+ship here in peace."</p>
+
+<p>Then she bade them put her on shore, and row off again, and wait what
+would befall.</p>
+
+<p>And the heroes obeyed her unwillingly; for they were ashamed to leave
+her so alone; but Jason said, "She is dearer to me than to any of you,
+yet I will trust her freely on shore; she has more plots than we can
+dream of, in the windings of that fair and cunning head."</p>
+
+<p>So they left the witch maiden on the shore; and she stood there in her
+beauty all alone, till the giant strode back red hot from head to heel,
+while the grass hissed and smoked beneath his tread.</p>
+
+<p>And when he saw the maiden alone, he stopped; and she looked boldly up
+into his face without moving, and began her magic song:</p>
+
+<p>"Life is short, though life is sweet; and even men of brass and fire
+must die. The brass must rust, the fire must cool, for time gnaws all
+things in their turn. Life is short, though life is sweet; but sweeter
+to live forever; sweeter to live ever youthful like the Gods, who have
+ichor in their veins; ichor which gives life, and youth, and joy, and a
+bounding heart."</p>
+
+<p>Then Talus said, "Who are you, strange maiden; and where is this ichor
+of youth?"</p>
+
+<p>Then Medeia held up a flask of crystal, and said, "Here is the ichor of
+youth. I am Medeia the enchantress; my sister Circe gave me this, and
+said, 'Go and reward Talus the faithful servant, for his fame is gone
+out into all lands.' So come, and I will pour this into your veins, that
+you may live forever young."</p>
+
+<p>And he listened to her false words, that simple Talus, and came near;
+and Medeia said, "Dip yourself in the sea first, and cool yourself, lest
+you burn my tender hands, then show me where the nail in your vein is,
+that I may pour the ichor in."</p>
+
+<p>Then that simple Talus dipped himself in the sea, till it hissed, and
+roared, and smoked; and came and knelt before Medeia, and showed her the
+secret nail.</p>
+
+<p>And she drew the nail out gently; but she poured no ichor in; and
+instead the liquid fire spouted forth, like a stream of red-hot iron.
+And Talus tried to leap up, crying, "You have betrayed me, false witch
+maiden!" But she lifted up her hands before him, and sang, till he sank
+beneath her spell. And as he sank, his brazen limbs clanked heavily, and
+the earth groaned beneath his weight; and the liquid fire ran from his
+heel, like a stream of lava to the sea; and Medeia laughed, and called
+to the heroes, "Come ashore, and water your ship in peace."</p>
+
+<p>So they came, and found the giant lying dead; and they fell down, and
+kissed Medeia's feet; and watered their ship, and took sheep and oxen,
+and so left that inhospitable shore.</p>
+
+<p>At last, after many more adventures, they came to the Cape of Malea, at
+the southwest point of the Peloponnese. And there they offered
+sacrifices, and Orpheus purged them from their guilt. Then they rowed
+away again to the northward, past the Laconian shore, and came all worn
+and tired by Sunium, and up the long Eubœan Strait, until they saw
+once more Pelion, and Aphetai, and Iolcos by the sea.</p>
+
+<p>And they ran the ship ashore; but they had no strength left to haul her
+up the beach; and they crawled out on the pebbles, and sat down, and
+wept till they could weep no more. For the houses and the trees were all
+altered; and all the faces which they saw were strange; and their joy
+was swallowed up in sorrow, while they thought of their youth, and all
+their labour, and the gallant comrades they had lost.</p>
+
+<p>And the people crowded round, and asked them, "Who are you, that you sit
+weeping here?"</p>
+
+<p>"We are the sons of your princes, who sailed out many a year ago. We
+went to fetch the golden fleece; and we have brought it, and grief
+therewith. Give us news of our fathers and our mothers, if any of them
+be left alive on earth."</p>
+
+<p>Then there was shouting and laughing, and weeping; and all the kings
+came to the shore, and they led away the heroes to their homes, and
+bewailed the valiant dead.</p>
+
+<p>Then Jason went up with Medeia to the palace of his uncle Pelias. And
+when he came in, Pelias sat by the hearth, crippled and blind with age;
+while opposite him sat Æson, Jason's father, crippled and blind
+likewise; and the two old men's heads shook together, as they tried to
+warm themselves before the fire.</p>
+
+<p>And Jason fell down at his father's knees, and wept, and called him by
+his name. And the old man stretched his hands out, and felt him, and
+said: "Do not mock me, young hero. My son Jason is dead long ago at
+sea."</p>
+
+<p>"I am your own son Jason, whom you trusted to the Centaur upon Pelion;
+and I have brought home the golden fleece, and a princess of the Sun's
+race for my bride. So now give me up the kingdom, Pelias my uncle, and
+fulfil your promise as I have fulfilled mine."</p>
+
+<p>Then his father clung to him like a child, and wept, and would not let
+him go; and cried, "Now I shall not go down lonely to my grave. Promise
+me never to leave me till I die."</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> The Danube.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_2" id="Footnote_A_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> Between the Crimæa and Circassia.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_3" id="Footnote_B_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> The Sea of Azov.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_4" id="Footnote_C_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> The Ural Mountains.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_5" id="Footnote_D_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> The Baltic.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_6" id="Footnote_A_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_6"><span class="label">[F]</span></a> Britain.</p></div>
+
+<h3>PART VI<br />
+<i>What Was the End of the Heroes</i></h3>
+
+<p>And now I wish that I could end my story pleasantly; but it is no fault
+of mine that I cannot. The old songs end it sadly, and I believe that
+they are right and wise; for though the heroes were purified at Malea,
+yet sacrifices cannot make bad hearts good, and Jason had taken a wicked
+wife, and he had to bear his burden to the last.</p>
+
+<p>And first she laid a cunning plot, to punish that poor old Pelias,
+instead of letting him die in peace.</p>
+
+<p>For she told his daughters: "I can make old things young again; I will
+show you how easy it is to do." So she took an old ram and killed him,
+and put him in a cauldron with magic herbs; and whispered her spells
+over him, and he leapt out again a young lamb. So that "Medeia's
+cauldron" is a proverb still, by which we mean times of war and change,
+when the world has become old and feeble, and grows young again through
+bitter pains.</p>
+
+<p>Then she said to Pelias's daughters: "Do to your father as I did to this
+ram, and he will grow young and strong again." But she only told them
+half the spell; so they failed, while Medeia mocked them; and poor old
+Pelias died, and his daughters came to misery. But the songs say she
+cured Æson, Jason's father, and he became young and strong again.</p>
+
+<p>But Jason could not love her, after all her cruel deeds. So he was
+ungrateful to her, and wronged her: and she revenged herself on him. And
+a terrible revenge she took&mdash;too terrible to speak of here. But you will
+hear of it yourselves when you grow up, for it has been sung in noble
+poetry and music; and whether it be true or not, it stands forever as a
+warning to us, not to seek for help from evil persons, or to gain good
+ends by evil means. For if we use an adder even against our enemies, it
+will turn again and sting us.</p>
+
+<p>But of all the other heroes there is many a brave tale left, which I
+have no space to tell you, so you must read them for yourselves&mdash;of the
+hunting of the boar in Calydon, which Meleager killed; and of Heracles's
+twelve famous labours; and of the seven who fought at Thebes; and of
+the noble love of Castor and Polydeuces, the twin Dioscouroi; how when
+one died, the other would not live without him, so they shared their
+immortality between them; and Zeus changed them into the two twin stars,
+which never rise both at once.</p>
+
+<p>And what became of Cheiron, the good immortal beast? That, too, is a sad
+story; for the heroes never saw him more. He was wounded by a poisoned
+arrow, at Pholoc among the hills, when Heracles opened the fatal wine
+jar, which Cheiron had warned him not to touch. And the Centaurs smelt
+the wine, and flocked to it, and fought for it with Heracles; but he
+killed them all with his poisoned arrows, and Cheiron was left alone.
+Then Cheiron took up one of the arrows, and dropped it by chance upon
+his foot; and the poison ran like fire along his veins, and he lay down,
+and longed to die; and cried: "Through wine I perish, the bane of all my
+race. Why should I live forever in this agony? Who will take my
+immortality that I may die?"</p>
+
+<p>Then Prometheus answered, the good Titan, whom Heracles had set free
+from Caucasus: "I will take your immortality and live forever, that I
+may help poor mortal men." So Cheiron gave him his immortality, and
+died, and had rest from pain. And Heracles and Prometheus wept over him,
+and went to bury him on Pelion; but Zeus took him up among the stars, to
+live forever, grand and mild, low down in the far southern sky.</p>
+
+<p>And in time the heroes died, all but Nestor the silver-tongued old man;
+and left behind them valiant sons, but not so great as they had been.
+Yet their fame, too, lives till this day; for they fought at the ten
+years' siege of Troy; and their story is in the book which we call
+Homer, in two of the noblest songs on earth; the Iliad, which tells us
+of the siege of Troy, and Achilles's quarrel with the kings; and the
+Odyssey, which tells the wanderings of Odysseus, through many lands for
+many years; and how Alcinous sent him home at last, safe to Ithaca his
+beloved island, and to Penelope his faithful wife, and Telemachus his
+son, and Euphorbus the noble swineherd, and the old dog who licked his
+hand and died.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br />
+THE GIANT BUILDER</h2>
+
+<p>Ages and ages ago, when the world was first made, the gods decided to
+build a beautiful city high above the heavens, the most glorious and
+wonderful city that ever was known. Asgard was to be its name, and it
+was to stand on Ida Plain under the shade of Yggdrasil, the great tree
+whose roots were underneath the earth.</p>
+
+<p>First of all they built a house with a silver roof, where there were
+seats for all the twelve chiefs. In the midst, and high above the rest,
+was the wonder throne of Odin the All-Father, whence he could see
+everything that happened in the sky or on the earth or in the sea. Next
+they made a fair house for Queen Frigg and her lovely daughters. Then
+they built a smithy, with its great hammers, tongs, anvils, and bellows,
+where the gods could work at their favourite trade, the making of
+beautiful things out of gold; which they did so well that folk name that
+time the Golden Age. Afterward, as they had more leisure, they built
+separate houses for all the Æsir, each more beautiful than the
+preceding, for of course they were continually growing more skilful.
+They saved Father Odin's palace until the last, for they meant this to
+be the largest and the most splendid of all.</p>
+
+<p>Gladsheim, the home of joy, was the name of Odin's house, and it was
+built all of gold, set in the midst of a wood whereof the trees had
+leaves of ruddy gold&mdash;like an autumn-gilded forest. For the safety of
+All-Father it was surrounded by a roaring river and by a high picket
+fence; and there was a great courtyard within.</p>
+
+<p>The glory of Gladsheim was its wondrous hall, radiant with gold, the
+most lovely room that time has ever seen. Valhalla, the Hall of Heroes,
+was the name of it, and it was roofed with the mighty shields of
+warriors. The ceiling was made of interlacing spears, and there was a
+portal at the west end before which hung a great gray wolf, while over
+him a fierce eagle hovered. The hall was so huge that it had 540 gates,
+through each of which 800 men could march abreast. Indeed, there needed
+to be room, for this was the hall where every morning Odin received all
+the brave warriors who had died in battle on the earth below; and there
+were many heroes in those days.</p>
+
+<p>This was the reward which the gods gave to courage. When a hero had
+gloriously lost his life, the Valkyries, the nine warrior daughters of
+Odin, brought his body up to Valhalla on their white horses that gallop
+the clouds. There they lived forever after in happiness, enjoying the
+things that they had most loved upon earth. Every morning they armed
+themselves and went out to fight with one another in the great
+courtyard. It was a wondrous game, wondrously played. No matter how
+often a hero was killed, he became alive again in time to return
+perfectly well to Valhalla, where he ate a delicious breakfast with the
+Jisir; while the beautiful Valkyries who had first brought him thither
+waited at table and poured the blessed mead, which only the immortal
+taste. A happy life it was for the heroes, and a happy life for all who
+dwelt in Asgard; for this was before trouble had come among the gods,
+following the mischief of Loki.</p>
+
+<p>This is how the trouble began. From the beginning of time, the giants
+had been unfriendly to the Æsir, because the giants were older and huger
+and more wicked; besides, they were jealous because the good Æsir were
+fast gaining more wisdom and power than the giants had ever known. It
+was the Æsir who set the fair brother and sister, Sun and Moon, in the
+sky to give light to men; and it was they also who made the jewelled
+stars out of sparks from the place of fire. The giants hated the Æsir,
+and tried all in their power to injure them and the men of the earth
+below, whom the Æsir loved and cared for. The gods had already built a
+wall around Midgard, the world of men, to keep the giants out; built it
+of the bushy eyebrows of Ymir, the oldest and hugest of giants. Between
+Asgard and the giants flowed Ifing, the great river on which ice never
+formed, and which the gods crossed on the rainbow bridge. But this was
+not protection enough. Their beautiful new city needed a fortress.</p>
+
+<p>So the word went forth in Asgard: "We must build us a fortress against
+the giants; the hugest, strongest, finest fortress that ever was built."</p>
+
+<p>Now one day, soon after they had announced this decision, there came a
+mighty man stalking up the rainbow bridge that led to Asgard city.</p>
+
+<p>"Who goes there!" cried Heimdal the watchman, whose eyes were so keen
+that he could see for a hundred miles around, and whose ears were so
+sharp that he could hear the grass growing in the meadow and the wool on
+the backs of the sheep. "Who goes there! No one can enter Asgard if I
+say no."</p>
+
+<p>"I am a builder," said the stranger, who was a huge fellow with sleeves
+rolled up to show the iron muscles of his arms. "I am a builder of
+strong towers, and I have heard that the folk of Asgard need one to help
+them raise a fair fortress in their city."</p>
+
+<p>Heimdal looked at the stranger narrowly, for there was that about him
+which his sharp eyes did not like. But he made no answer, only blew on
+his golden horn, which was so loud that it sounded through all the
+world. At this signal all the Æsir came running to the rainbow bridge,
+from wherever they happened to be, to find out who was coming to Asgard.
+For it was Heimdal's duty ever to warn them of the approach of the
+unknown.</p>
+
+<p>"This fellow says he is a builder," quoth Heimdal. "And he would fain
+build us a fortress in the city."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, that I would," nodded the stranger, "Look at my iron arm; look at
+my broad back; look at my shoulders. Am I not the workman you need?"</p>
+
+<p>"Truly, he is a mighty figure," vowed Odin, looking at him approvingly.
+"How long will it take you alone to build our fortress? We can allow but
+one stranger at a time within our city, for safety's sake."</p>
+
+<p>"In three half-years," replied the stranger, "I will undertake to build
+for you a castle so strong that not even the giants, should they swarm
+hither over Midgard&mdash;not even they could enter without your leave."</p>
+
+<p>"Aha!" cried Father Odin, well pleased at this offer. "And what reward
+do you ask, friend, for help so timely?"</p>
+
+<p>The stranger hummed and hawed and pulled his long beard while he
+thought. Then he spoke suddenly, as if the idea had just come into his
+mind. "I will name my price, friends," he said; "a small price for so
+great a deed. I ask you to give me Freia for my wife, and those two
+sparkling jewels, the Sun and Moon."</p>
+
+<p>At this demand the gods looked grave; for Freia was their dearest
+treasure. She was the most beautiful maid who ever lived, the light and
+life of heaven, and if she should leave Asgard, joy would go with her;
+while the Sun and Moon were the light and life of the Æsir's children,
+men, who lived in the little world below. But Loki the sly whispered
+that they would be safe enough if they made another condition on their
+part, so hard that the builder could not fulfil it. After thinking
+cautiously, he spoke for them all.</p>
+
+<p>"Mighty man," quoth he, "we are willing to agree to your price&mdash;upon one
+condition. It is too long a time that you ask; we cannot wait three
+half-years for our castle; that is equal to three centuries when one is
+in a hurry. See that you finish the fort without help in one winter, one
+short winter, and you shall have fair Freia with the Sun and Moon. But
+if, on the first day of summer, one stone is wanting to the walls, or if
+anyone has given you aid in the building, then your reward is lost, and
+you shall depart without payment." So spoke Loki, in the name of all the
+gods; but the plan was his own.</p>
+
+<p>At first the stranger shook his head and frowned, saying that in so
+short a time no one unaided could complete the undertaking. At last he
+made another offer. "Let me have but my good horse to help me, and I
+will try," he urged. "Let me bring the useful Svadilf&ouml;ri with me to the
+task, and I will finish the work in one winter of short days, or lose my
+reward. Surely, you will not deny me this little help, from one
+four-footed friend."</p>
+
+<p>Then again the Æsir consulted, and the wiser of them were doubtful
+whether it were best to accept the stranger's offer so strangely made.
+But again Loki urged them to accept. "Surely, there is no harm," he
+said. "Even with his old horse to help him, he cannot build the castle
+in the promised time. We shall gain a fortress without trouble and with
+never a price to pay."</p>
+
+<p>Loki was so eager that, although the other Æsir did not like this crafty
+way of making bargains, they finally consented. Then in the presence of
+the heroes, with the Valkyries and Mimer's head for witnesses, the
+stranger and the Æsir gave solemn promise that the bargain should be
+kept.</p>
+
+<p>On the first day of winter the strange builder began his work, and
+wondrous was the way he set about it. His strength seemed as the
+strength of a hundred men. As for his horse Svadilf&ouml;ri, he did more work
+by half than even the mighty builder. In the night he dragged the
+enormous rocks that were to be used in building the castle, rocks as big
+as mountains of the earth; while in the daytime the stranger piled them
+into place with his iron arms. The Æsir watched him with amazement;
+never was seen such strength in Asgard. Neither T&#375;r the stout nor
+Thor the strong could match the power of the stranger. The gods began to
+look at one another uneasily. Who was this mighty one who had come among
+them, and what if after all he should win his reward? Freia trembled in
+her palace, and the Sun and Moon grew dim with fear.</p>
+
+<p>Still the work went on, and the fort was piling higher and higher, by
+day and by night. There were but three days left before the end of
+winter, and already the building was so tall and so strong that it was
+safe from the attacks of any giant. The Æsir were delighted with their
+fine new castle; but their pride was dimmed by the fear that it must be
+paid for at all too costly a price. For only the gateway remained to be
+completed, and unless the stranger should fail to finish that in the
+next three days, they must give him Freia with the Sun and Moon.</p>
+
+<p>The Æsir held a meeting upon Ida Plain, a meeting full of fear and
+anger. At last they realised what they had done; they had made a bargain
+with one of the giants, their enemies; and if he won the prize, it would
+mean sorrow and darkness in heaven and upon earth. "How did we happen to
+agree to so mad a bargain?" they asked one another. "Who suggested the
+wicked plan which bids fair to cost us all that we most cherish?" Then
+they remembered that it was Loki who had made the plan; it was he who
+had insisted that it be carried out; and they blamed him for all the
+trouble.</p>
+
+<p>"It is your counsels, Loki, that have brought this danger upon us,"
+quoth Father Odin, frowning. "You chose the way of guile, which is not
+our way. It now remains for you to help us by guile, if you can. But if
+you cannot save for us Freia and the Sun and Moon, you shall die. This
+is my word." All the other Æsir agreed that this was just. Thor alone
+was away hunting evil demons at the other end of the world, so he did
+not know what was going on, and what dangers were threatening Asgard.</p>
+
+<p>Loki was much frightened at the word of All-Father. "It was my fault,"
+he cried, "but how was I to know that he was a giant? He had disguised
+himself so that he seemed but a strong man. And as for his horse&mdash;it
+looks much like that of other folk. If it were not for the horse, he
+could not finish the work. Ha! I have a thought! The builder shall not
+finish the gate; the giant shall not receive his payment. I will cheat
+the fellow."</p>
+
+<p>Now it was the last night of winter, and there remained but a few stones
+to put in place on the top of the wondrous gateway. The giant was sure
+of his prize, and chuckled to himself as he went out with his horse to
+drag the remaining stones; for he did not know that the Æsir had guessed
+at last who he was, and that Loki was plotting to outwit him. Hardly had
+he gone to work when out of the wood came running a pretty little mare,
+who neighed to Svadilf&ouml;ri as if inviting the tired horse to leave his
+work and come to the green fields for a holiday.</p>
+
+<p>Svadilf&ouml;ri, you must remember, had been working hard all winter, with
+never a sight of four-footed creature of his kind, and he was very
+lonesome and tired of dragging stones. Giving a snort of disobedience,
+off he ran after this new friend toward the grassy meadows. Off went the
+giant after him, howling with rage, and running for dear life, as he saw
+not only his horse but his chance of success slipping out of reach. It
+was a mad chase, and all Asgard thundered with the noise of galloping
+hoofs and the giant's mighty tread. The mare who raced ahead was Loki in
+disguise, and he led Svadilf&ouml;ri far out of reach, to a hidden meadow
+that he knew; so that the giant howled and panted up and down all night
+long, without catching even a sight of his horse.</p>
+
+<p>Now when the morning came the gateway was still unfinished, and night
+and winter had ended at the same hour. The giant's time was over, and he
+had forfeited his reward. The Æsir came flocking to the gateway, and
+how they laughed and triumphed when they found three stones wanting to
+complete the gate!</p>
+
+<p>"You have failed, fellow," judged Father Odin sternly, "and no price
+shall we pay for work that is still undone. You have failed. Leave
+Asgard quickly; we have seen all we want of you and of your race."</p>
+
+<p>Then the giant knew that he was discovered, and he was mad with rage.
+"It was a trick!" he bellowed, assuming his own proper form, which was
+huge as a mountain, and towered high beside the fortress that he had
+built. "It was a wicked trick. You shall pay for this in one way or
+another. I cannot tear down the castle which, ungrateful ones, I have
+built you, stronger than the strength of any giant. But I will demolish
+the rest of your shining city!" Indeed, he would have done so in his
+mighty rage; but at this moment Thor, whom Heimdal had called from the
+end of the earth by one blast of the golden horn, came rushing to the
+rescue, drawn in his chariot of goats. Thor jumped to the ground close
+beside the giant, and before that huge fellow knew what had happened,
+his head was rolling upon the ground at Father Odin's feet; for with one
+blow Thor had put an end to the giant's wickedness and had saved Asgard.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the reward you deserve!" Thor cried. "Not Freia nor the Sun and
+Moon, but the death that I have in store for all the enemies of the
+Æsir."</p>
+
+<p>In this extraordinary way the noble city of Asgard was made safe and
+complete by the addition of a fortress which no one, not even the giant
+who built it, could injure, it was so wonder-strong. But always at the
+top of the gate were lacking three great stones that no one was mighty
+enough to lift. This was a reminder to the Æsir that now they had the
+race of giants for their everlasting enemies. And though Loki's trick
+had saved them Freia, and for the world the Sun and Moon, it was the
+beginning of trouble in Asgard which lasted as long as Loki lived to
+make mischief with his guile.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br />
+HOW ODIN LOST HIS EYE</h2>
+
+<p>In the beginning of things, before there was any world or sun, moon, and
+stars, there were the giants; for these were the oldest creatures that
+ever breathed. They lived in Jotunheim, the land of frost and darkness,
+and their hearts were evil. Next came the gods, the good Æsir, who made
+earth and sky and sea, and who dwelt in Asgard, above the heavens. Then
+were created the queer little dwarfs, who lived underground in the
+caverns of the mountains, working at their mines of metal and precious
+stones. Last of all, the gods made men to dwell in Midgard, the good
+world that we know, between which and the glorious home of the Æsir
+stretched Bifr&ouml;st, the bridge of rainbows.</p>
+
+<p>In those days, folk say, there was a mighty ash tree named Yggdrasil, so
+vast that its branches shaded the whole earth and stretched up into
+heaven where the Æsir dwelt, while its roots sank far down below the
+lowest depth. In the branches of the big ash tree lived a queer family
+of creatures. First, there was a great eagle, who was wiser than any
+bird that ever lived&mdash;except the two ravens, Thought and Memory, who sat
+upon Father Odin's shoulders and told him the secrets which they learned
+in their flight over the wide world. Near the great eagle perched a
+hawk, and four antlered deer browsed among the buds of Yggdrasil. At
+the foot of the tree coiled a huge serpent, who was always gnawing
+hungrily at its roots, with a whole colony of little snakes to keep him
+company&mdash;so many that they could never be counted. The eagle at the top
+of the tree and the serpent at its foot were enemies, always saying hard
+things of each other. Between the two skipped up and down a little
+squirrel, a tale bearer and a gossip, who repeated each unkind remark
+and, like the malicious neighbour that he was, kept their quarrel ever
+fresh and green.</p>
+
+<p>In one place at the roots of Yggdrasil was a fair fountain called the
+Urdar-well, where the three Norn maidens, who knew the past, present,
+and future, dwelt with their pets, the two white swans. This was magic
+water in the fountain, which the Norns sprinkled every day upon the
+giant tree to keep it green&mdash;water so sacred that everything which
+entered it became white as the film of an eggshell. Close beside this
+sacred well the Æsir had their council hall, to which they galloped
+every morning over the rainbow bridge.</p>
+
+<p>But Father Odin, the king of all the Æsir, knew of another fountain more
+wonderful still; the two ravens whom he sent forth to bring him news had
+told him. This also was below the roots of Yggdrasil, in the spot where
+the sky and ocean met. Here for centuries and centuries the giant Mimer
+had sat keeping guard over his hidden well, in the bottom of which lay
+such a treasure of wisdom as was to be found nowhere else in the world.
+Every morning Mimer dipped his glittering horn Gi&ouml;ll into the fountain
+and drew out a draught of the wondrous water, which he drank to make him
+wise. Every day he grew wiser and wiser; and as this had been going on
+ever since the beginning of things, you can scarcely imagine how wise
+Mimer was.</p>
+
+<p>Now it did not seem right to Father Odin that a giant should have all
+this wisdom to himself; for the giants were the enemies of the Æsir, and
+the wisdom which they had been hoarding for ages before the gods were
+made was generally used for evil purposes. Moreover, Odin longed and
+longed to become the wisest being in the world. So he resolved to win a
+draught from Mimer's well, if in any way that could be done.</p>
+
+<p>One night, when the sun had set behind the mountains of Midgard, Odin
+put on his broad-brimmed hat and his striped cloak, and taking his
+famous staff in his hand, trudged down the long bridge to where it ended
+by Mimer's secret grotto.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-day, Mimer," said Odin, entering; "I have come for a drink from
+your well."</p>
+
+<p>The giant was sitting with his knees drawn up to his chin, his long
+white beard falling over his folded arms, and his head nodding; for
+Mimer was very old, and he often fell asleep while watching over his
+precious spring. He woke with a frown at Odin's words. "You want a drink
+from my well, do you?" he growled. "Hey! I let no one drink from my
+well."</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, you must let me have a draught from your glittering
+horn," insisted Odin, "and I will pay you for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oho, you will pay me for it, will you?" echoed Mimer, eyeing his
+visitor keenly. For now that he was wide awake, his wisdom taught him
+that this was no ordinary stranger. "What will you pay for a drink from
+my well, and why do you wish it so much?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can see with my eyes all that goes on in heaven and upon earth,"
+said Odin, "but I cannot see into the depths of ocean. I lack the hidden
+wisdom of the deep&mdash;the wit that lies at the bottom of your fountain. My
+ravens tell me many secrets; but I would know all. And as for payment,
+ask what you will, and I will pledge anything in return for the draught
+of wisdom."</p>
+
+<p>Then Mimer's keen glance grew keener. "You are Odin, of the race of
+gods," he cried. "We giants are centuries older than you, and our wisdom
+which we have treasured during these ages, when we were the only
+creatures in all space, is a precious thing. If I grant you a draught
+from my well, you will become as one of us, a wise and dangerous enemy.
+It is a goodly price, Odin, which I shall demand for a boon so great."</p>
+
+<p>Now Odin was growing impatient for the sparkling water. "Ask your
+price," he frowned. "I have promised that I will pay."</p>
+
+<p>"What say you, then, to leaving one of those far-seeing eyes of yours at
+the bottom of my well?" asked Mimer, hoping that he would refuse the
+bargain. "This is the only payment I will take."</p>
+
+<p>Odin hesitated. It was indeed a heavy price, and one that he could ill
+afford, for he was proud of his noble beauty. But he glanced at the
+magic fountain bubbling mysteriously in the shadow, and he knew that he
+must have the draught.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me the glittering horn," he answered. "I pledge you my eye for a
+draught to the brim."</p>
+
+<p>Very unwillingly Mimer filled the horn from the fountain of wisdom and
+handed it to Odin. "Drink, then," he said; "drink and grow wise. This
+hour is the beginning of trouble between your race and mine." And wise
+Mimer foretold the truth.</p>
+
+<p>Odin thought merely of the wisdom which was to be his. He seized the
+horn eagerly, and emptied it without delay. From that moment he became
+wiser than anyone else in the world except Mimer himself.</p>
+
+<p>Now he had the price to pay, which was not so pleasant. When he went
+away from the grotto, he left at the bottom of the dark pool one of his
+fiery eyes, which twinkled and winked up through the magic depths like
+the reflection of a star. This is how Odin lost his eye, and why from
+that day he was careful to pull his gray hat low over his face when he
+wanted to pass unnoticed. For by this oddity folk could easily recognise
+the wise lord of Asgard.</p>
+
+<p>In the bright morning, when the sun rose over the mountains of Midgard,
+old Mimer drank from his bubbly well a draught of the wise water that
+flowed over Odin's pledge. Doing so, from his underground grotto he saw
+all that befell in heaven and on earth. So that he also was wiser by the
+bargain. Mimer seemed to have secured rather the best of it; for he lost
+nothing that he could not spare, while Odin lost what no man can well
+part with&mdash;one of the good windows wherethrough his heart looks out upon
+the world. But there was a sequel to these doings which made the balance
+swing down in Odin's favour.</p>
+
+<p>Not long after this, the Æsir quarrelled with the Vanir, wild enemies of
+theirs, and there was a terrible battle. But in the end the two sides
+made peace; and to prove that they meant never to quarrel again, they
+exchanged hostages. The Vanir gave to the Æsir old Ni&ouml;rd the rich, the
+lord of the sea and the ocean wind, with his two children, Frey and
+Freia. This was indeed a gracious gift; for Freia was the most beautiful
+maid in the world, and her twin brother was almost as fair. To the
+Vanir in return Father Odin gave his own brother HÅ“nir. And with
+HÅ“nir he sent Mimer the wise, whom he took from his lonely well.</p>
+
+<p>Now the Vanir made HÅ“nir their chief, thinking that he must be very
+wise because he was the brother of great Odin, who had lately become
+famous for his wisdom. They did not know the secret of Mimer's well, how
+the hoary old giant was far more wise than anyone who had not quaffed of
+the magic water. It is true that in the assemblies of the Vanir HÅ“nir
+gave excellent counsel. But this was because Mimer whispered in
+HÅ“nir's ear all the wisdom that he uttered. Witless HÅ“nir was
+quite helpless without his aid, and did not know what to do or say.
+Whenever Mimer was absent he would look nervous and frightened, and if
+folk questioned him he always answered:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ah yes! Now go and consult someone else."</p>
+
+<p>Of course the Vanir soon grew very angry at such silly answers from
+their chief, and presently they began to suspect the truth. "Odin has
+deceived us," they said. "He has sent us his foolish brother with a
+witch to tell him what to say. Ha! We will show him that we understand
+the trick." So they cut off poor old Mimer's head and sent it to Odin as
+a present.</p>
+
+<p>The tales do not say what Odin thought of the gift. Perhaps he was glad
+that now there was no one in the whole world who could be called so wise
+as himself. Perhaps he was sorry for the danger into which he had thrust
+a poor old giant who had never done him any wrong, except to be a giant
+of the race which the Æsir hated. Perhaps he was a little ashamed of the
+trick which he had played the Vanir. Odin's new wisdom showed him how
+to prepare Mimer's head with herbs and charms, so that it stood up by
+itself quite naturally and seemed not dead. Thenceforth Odin kept it
+near him, and learned from it many useful secrets which it had not
+forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>So in the end Odin fared better than the unhappy Mimer, whose worst
+fault was that he knew more than most folk. That is a dangerous fault,
+as others have found; though it is not one for which many of us need
+fear being punished.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br />
+THE QUEST OF THE HAMMER</h2>
+
+<p>One morning Thor the Thunderer awoke with a yawn, and stretching out his
+knotted arm, felt for his precious hammer, which he kept always under
+his pillow of clouds. But he started up with a roar of rage, so that all
+the palace trembled. The hammer was gone!</p>
+
+<p>Now this was a very serious matter, for Thor was the protector of
+Asgard, and Mi&ouml;lnir, the magic hammer which the dwarf had made, was his
+mighty weapon, of which the enemies of the Æsir stood so much in dread
+that they dared not venture near. But if they should learn that Mi&ouml;lnir
+was gone, who could tell what danger might not threaten the palaces of
+heaven?</p>
+
+<p>Thor darted his flashing eye into every corner of Cloud Land in search
+of the hammer. He called his fair wife, Sif of the golden hair, to aid
+in the search, and his two lovely daughters, Thrude and Lora. They
+hunted and they hunted; they turned Thrudheim upside down, and set the
+clouds to rolling wonderfully, as they peeped and pried behind and
+around and under each billowy mass. But Mi&ouml;lnir was not to be found.
+Certainly, someone had stolen it.</p>
+
+<p>Thor's yellow beard quivered with rage, and his hair bristled on end
+like the golden rays of a star, while all his household trembled.</p>
+
+<p>"It is Loki again!" he cried. "I am sure Loki is at the bottom of this
+mischief!" For since the time when Thor had captured Loki for the dwarf
+Brock and had given him over to have his bragging lips sewed up, Loki
+had looked at him with evil eyes; and Thor knew that the red rascal
+hated him most of all the gods.</p>
+
+<p>But this time Thor was mistaken. It was not Loki who had stolen the
+hammer&mdash;he was too great a coward for that. And though he meant, before
+the end, to be revenged upon Thor, he was waiting until a safe chance
+should come, when Thor himself might stumble into danger, and Loki need
+only to help the evil by a malicious word or two; and this chance came
+later, as you shall hear in another tale.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Loki was on his best behaviour, trying to appear very kind and
+obliging; so when Thor came rumbling and roaring up to him, demanding,
+"What have you done with my hammer, you thief?" Loki looked surprised,
+but did not lose his temper nor answer rudely.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you indeed missed your hammer, brother Thor?" he said, mumbling,
+for his mouth was still sore where Brock had sewed the stitches. "That
+is a pity; for if the giants hear of this, they will be coming to try
+their might against Asgard."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" muttered Thor, grasping him by the shoulder with his iron
+fingers. "That is what I fear. But look you, Loki: I suspect your hand
+in the mischief. Come, confess."</p>
+
+<p>Then Loki protested that he had nothing to do with so wicked a deed.
+"But," he added wheedlingly, "I think I can guess the thief; and because
+I love you, Thor, I will help you to find him."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" growled Thor. "Much love you bear to me! However, you are a
+wise rascal, the nimblest wit of all the Æsir, and it is better to have
+you on my side than on the other, when giants are in the game. Tell me,
+then: who has robbed the Thunder Lord of his bolt of power?"</p>
+
+<p>Loki drew near and whispered in Thor's ear. "Look, how the storms rage
+and the winds howl in the world below! Someone is wielding your thunder
+hammer all unskilfully. Can you not guess the thief? Who but Thrym, the
+mighty giant who has ever been your enemy and your imitator, and whose
+fingers have long itched to grasp the short handle of mighty Mi&ouml;lnir,
+that the world may name him Thunder Lord instead of you. But look! What
+a tempest! The world will be shattered into fragments unless we soon get
+the hammer back."</p>
+
+<p>Then Thor roared with rage. "I will seek this impudent Thrym!" he cried.
+"I will crush him into bits, and teach him to meddle with the weapon of
+the Æsir!"</p>
+
+<p>"Softly, softly," said Loki, smiling maliciously. "He is a shrewd giant,
+and a mighty. Even you, great Thor, cannot go to him and pluck the
+hammer from his hand as one would slip the rattle from a baby's pink
+fist. Nay, you must use craft, Thor; and it is I who will teach you, if
+you will be patient."</p>
+
+<p>Thor was a brave, blunt fellow, and he hated the ways of Loki, his lies
+and his deceit. He liked best the way of warriors&mdash;the thundering
+charge, the flash of weapons, and the heavy blow; but without the hammer
+he could not fight the giants hand to hand. Loki's advice seemed wise,
+and he decided to leave the matter to the Red One.</p>
+
+<p>Loki was now all eagerness, for he loved difficulties which would set
+his wit in play and bring other folk into danger. "Look, now," he said.
+"We must go to Freia and borrow her falcon dress. But you must ask; for
+she loves me so little that she would scarce listen to me."</p>
+
+<p>So first they made their way to Folkvang, the house of maidens, where
+Freia dwelt, the loveliest of all in Asgard. She was fairer than fair,
+and sweeter than sweet, and the tears from her flower eyes made the dew
+which blessed the earth flowers night and morning. Of her Thor borrowed
+the magic dress of feathers in which Freia was wont to clothe herself
+and flit like a great beautiful bird all about the world. She was
+willing enough to lend it to Thor when he told her that by its aid he
+hoped to win back the hammer which he had lost; for she well knew the
+danger threatening herself and all the Æsir until Mi&ouml;lnir should be
+found.</p>
+
+<p>"Now will I fetch the hammer for you," said Loki. So he put on the
+falcon plumage, and, spreading his brown wings, flapped away up, up,
+over the world, down, down, across the great ocean which lies beyond all
+things that men know. And he came to the dark country where there was no
+sunshine nor spring, but it was always dreary winter; where mountains
+were piled up like blocks of ice, and where great caverns yawned
+hungrily in blackness. And this was Jotunheim, the land of the Frost
+Giants.</p>
+
+<p>And lo! when Loki came thereto he found Thrym the Giant King sitting
+outside his palace cave, playing with his dogs and horses. The dogs were
+as big as elephants, and the horses were as big as houses, but Thrym
+himself was as huge as a mountain; and Loki trembled, but he tried to
+seem brave.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-day, Loki," said Thrym, with the terrible voice of which he was so
+proud, for he fancied it was as loud as Thor's. "How fares it,
+feathered one, with your little brothers, the Æsir, in Asgard halls? And
+how dare you venture alone in this guise to Giant Land?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is an ill day in Asgard," sighed Loki, keeping his eye warily upon
+the giant, "and a stormy one in the world of men, I heard the winds
+howling and the storms rushing on the earth as I passed by. Some mighty
+one has stolen the hammer of our Thor. Is it you, Thrym, greatest of all
+giants&mdash;greater than Thor himself?"</p>
+
+<p>This the crafty one said to flatter Thrym, for Loki well knew the
+weakness of those who love to be thought greater than they are.</p>
+
+<p>Then Thrym bridled and swelled with pride, and tried to put on the
+majesty and awe of noble Thor; but he only succeeded in becoming an
+ugly, puffy monster.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes," he admitted. "I have the hammer that belonged to your
+little Thor; and now how much of &amp; lord is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Alack!" sighed Loki again, "weak enough he is without his magic weapon.
+But you, O Thrym&mdash;surely your mightiness needs no such aid. Give me the
+hammer, that Asgard may no longer be shaken by Thor's grief for his
+precious toy."</p>
+
+<p>But Thrym was not so easily to be flattered into parting with his stolen
+treasure. He grinned a dreadful grin, several yards in width, which his
+teeth barred like jagged boulders across the entrance to a mountain
+cavern.</p>
+
+<p>"Mi&ouml;lnir the hammer is mine," he said, "and I am Thunder Lord, mightiest
+of the mighty. I have hidden it where Thor can never find it, twelve
+leagues below the sea caves, where Queen Ran lives with her daughters,
+the white-capped Waves. But listen, Loki. Go tell the Æsir that I will
+give back Thor's hammer. I will give it back upon one condition&mdash;that
+they send Freia the beautiful to be my wife."</p>
+
+<p>"Freia the beautiful!" Loki had to stifle a laugh. Fancy the Æsir giving
+their fairest flower to such an ugly fellow as this! But he only said
+politely, "Ah, yes; you demand our Freia in exchange for the little
+hammer? It is a costly price, great Thrym. But I will be your friend in
+Asgard. If I have my way, you shall soon see the fairest bride in all
+the world knocking at your door. Farewell!"</p>
+
+<p>So Loki whizzed back to Asgard on his falcon wings; and as he went he
+chuckled to think of the evils which were likely to happen because of
+his words with Thrym. First he gave the message to Thor&mdash;not sparing of
+Thrym's insolence, to make Thor angry; and then he went to Freia with
+the word for her&mdash;not sparing of Thrym's ugliness, to make her shudder.
+The spiteful fellow!</p>
+
+<p>Now you can imagine the horror that was in Asgard as the Æsir listened
+to Loki's words. "My hammer!" roared Thor. "The villain confesses that
+he has stolen my hammer, and boasts that he is Thunder Lord! Gr-r-r!"</p>
+
+<p>"The ugly giant!" wailed Freia. "Must I be the bride of that hideous old
+monster, and live in his gloomy mountain prison all my life?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; put on your bridal veil, sweet Freia," said Loki maliciously, "and
+come with me to Jotunheim. Hang your famous starry necklace about your
+neck, and don your bravest robe; for in eight days there will be a
+wedding, and Thor's hammer is to pay."</p>
+
+<p>Then Freia fell to weeping. "I cannot go! I will not go!" she cried. "I
+will not leave the home of gladness and Father Odin's table to dwell in
+the land of horrors! Thor's hammer is mighty, but mightier the love of
+the kind Æsir for their little Freia! Good Odin, dear brother Frey,
+speak for me! You will not make me go?"</p>
+
+<p>The Asir looked at her and thought how lonely and bare would Asgard be
+without her loveliness; for she was fairer than fair, and sweeter than
+sweet.</p>
+
+<p>"She shall not go!" shouted Frey, putting his arms about his sister's
+neck.</p>
+
+<p>"No, she shall not go!" cried all the Asir with one voice.</p>
+
+<p>"But my hammer," insisted Thor. "I must have Mi&ouml;lnir back again."</p>
+
+<p>"And my word to Thrym," said Loki, "that must be made good."</p>
+
+<p>"You are too generous with your words," said Odin sternly, for he knew
+his brother well. "Your word is not a gem of great price, for you have
+made it cheap."</p>
+
+<p>Then spoke Heimdal, the sleepless watchman who sits on guard at the
+entrance to the rainbow bridge which leads to Asgard; and Heimdal was
+the wisest of the Æsir, for he could see into the future, and knew how
+things would come to pass. Through his golden teeth he spoke, for his
+teeth were all of gold.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a plan," he said. "Let us dress Thor himself like a bride in
+Freia's robes, and send him to Jotunheim to talk with Thrym and to win
+back his hammer."</p>
+
+<p>But at this word Thor grew very angry. "What! dress me like a girl!" he
+roared. "I should never hear the last of it! The Asir will mock me, and
+call me 'maiden'! The giants, and even the puny dwarfs, will have a
+lasting jest upon me! I will not go! I will fight! I will die, if need
+be! But dressed as a woman I will not go!"</p>
+
+<p>But Loki answered him with sharp words, for this was a scheme after his
+own heart. "What, Thor!" he said. "Would you lose your hammer and keep
+Asgard in danger for so small a whim. Look, now: if you go not, Thrym
+with his giants will come in a mighty army and drive us from Asgard;
+then he will indeed make Freia his bride, and, moreover, he will have
+you for his slave under the power of his hammer. How like you this
+picture, brother of the thunder? Nay, Heimdal's plan is a good one, and
+I myself will help to carry it out."</p>
+
+<p>Still Thor hesitated; but Freia came and laid her white hand on his arm,
+and looked up into his scowling face pleadingly.</p>
+
+<p>"To save me, Thor," she begged. And Thor said he would go.</p>
+
+<p>Then there was great sport among the Æsir, while they dressed Thor like
+a beautiful maiden. Brunhilde and her sisters, the nine Valkyrie,
+daughters of Odin, had the task in hand. How they laughed as they
+brushed and curled his yellow hair, and set upon it the wondrous
+headdress of silk and pearls! They let out seams, and they let down
+hems, and set on extra pieces, to make it larger, and so they hid his
+great limbs and knotted arms under Freia's fairest robe of scarlet; but
+beneath it all he would wear his shirt of mail and his belt of power
+that gave him double strength. Freia herself twisted about his neck her
+famous necklace of starry jewels, and Queen Frigg, his mother, hung at
+his girdle a jingling bunch of keys, such as was the custom for the
+bride to wear at Norse weddings. Last of all, that Thrym might not see
+Thor's fierce eyes and the yellow beard, that ill became a maiden, they
+threw over him a long veil of silver white which covered him to the
+feet. And there he stood, as stately and tall a bride as even a giant
+might wish to see; but on his hands he wore his iron gloves, and they
+ached for but one thing&mdash;to grasp the handle of the stolen hammer.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, what a lovely maid it is!" chuckled Loki; "and how glad will Thrym
+be to see this Freia come! Bride Thor, I will go with you as your
+handmaiden, for I would fain see the fun."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, then," said Thor sulkily, for he was ill pleased, and wore his
+maiden robes with no good grace. "It is fitting that you go; for I like
+not these lies and masking and I may spoil the mummery without you at my
+elbow."</p>
+
+<p>There was loud laughter above the clouds when Thor, all veiled and
+dainty seeming, drove away from Asgard to his wedding, with maid Loki by
+his side. Thor cracked his whip and chirruped fiercely to his twin goats
+with golden hoofs, for he wanted to escape the sounds of mirth that
+echoed from the rainbow bridge, where all the Æsir stood watching. Loki,
+sitting with his hands meekly folded like a girl, chuckled as he glanced
+up at Thor's angry face; but he said nothing, for he knew it was not
+good to joke too far with Thor, even when Mil&ouml;nir was hidden twelve
+leagues below the sea in Ran's kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>So off they dashed to Jotunheim, where Thrym was waiting and longing for
+his beautiful bride. Thor's goats thundered along above the sea and land
+and people far below, who looked up wondering as the noise rolled
+overhead. "Hear how the thunder rumbles!" they said. "Thor is on a long
+journey to-night." And a long journey it was, as the tired goats found
+before they reached the end.</p>
+
+<p>Thrym heard the sound of their approach, for his ear was eager. "Hola!"
+he cried. "Someone is coming from Asgard&mdash;only one of Odin's children
+could make a din so fearful. Hasten, men, and see if they are bringing
+Freia to be my wife."</p>
+
+<p>Then the lookout giant stepped down from the top of his mountain, and
+said that a chariot was bringing two maidens to the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Run, giants, run!" shouted Thrym, in a fever at this news. "My bride is
+coming! Put silken cushions on the benches for a great banquet, and make
+the house beautiful for the fairest maid in all space! Bring in all my
+golden-horned cows and my coal-black oxen, that she may see how rich I
+am, and heap all my gold and jewels about to dazzle her sweet eyes! She
+shall find me richest of the rich; and when I have her&mdash;fairest of the
+fair&mdash;there will be no treasure that I lack&mdash;not one!"</p>
+
+<p>The chariot stopped at the gate, and out stepped the tall bride, hidden
+from head to foot, and her handmaiden muffled to the chin. "How afraid
+of catching cold they must be!" whispered the giant ladies, who were
+peering over one another's shoulders to catch a glimpse of the bride,
+just as the crowd outside the awning does at a wedding nowadays.</p>
+
+<p>Thrym had sent six splendid servants to escort the maidens: these were
+the Metal Kings, who served him as lord of them all. There was the Gold
+King, all in cloth of gold, with fringes of yellow bullion, most
+glittering to see; and there was the Silver King, almost as gorgeous in
+a suit of spangled white; and side by side bowed the dark Kings of Iron
+and Lead, the one mighty in black, the other sullen in blue; and after
+them were the Copper King, gleaming ruddy and brave, and the Tin King,
+strutting in his trimmings of gaudy tinsel which looked nearly as well
+as silver, but were more economical. And this fine troop of lackey kings
+most politely led Thor and Loki into the palace, and gave them of the
+best, for they never suspected who these seeming maidens really were.</p>
+
+<p>And when evening came there was a wonderful banquet to celebrate the
+wedding. On a golden throne sat Thrym, uglier than ever in his finery of
+purple and gold. Beside him was the bride, of whose face no one had yet
+caught even a glimpse; and at Thrym's other hand stood Loki, the waiting
+maid, for he wanted to be near to mend the mistakes which Thor might
+make.</p>
+
+<p>Now the dishes at the feast were served in a huge way, as befitted the
+table of giants: great beeves roasted whole, on platters as wide across
+as a ship's deck; plum puddings as fat as feather beds, with plums as
+big as footballs; and a wedding cake like a snow-capped hay mow. The
+giants ate enormously. But to Thor, because they thought him a dainty
+maiden, they served small bits of everything on a tiny gold dish. Now
+Thor's long journey had made him very hungry, and through his veil he
+whispered to Loki, "I shall starve, Loki! I cannot fare on these
+nibbles. I must eat a goodly meal as I do at home." And forthwith he
+helped himself to such morsels as might satisfy his hunger for a little
+time. You should have seen the giants stare at the meal which the dainty
+bride devoured!</p>
+
+<p>For first under the silver veil disappeared by pieces a whole roast ox.
+Then Thor made eight mouthfuls of eight pink salmon, a dish of which he
+was very fond. And next he looked about and reached for a platter of
+cakes and sweetmeats that was set aside at one end of the table for the
+lady guests, and the bride ate them all. You can fancy how the damsels
+drew down their mouths and looked at one another when they saw their
+dessert disappear; and they whispered about the table, "Alack! if our
+future mistress is to sup like this day by day, there will be poor cheer
+for the rest of us!" And to crown it all, Thor was thirsty, as well he
+might be; and one after another he raised to his lips and emptied three
+great barrels of mead, the foamy drink of the giants. Then indeed Thrym
+was amazed, for Thor's giant appetite had beaten that of the giants
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"Never before saw I a bride so hungry," he cried. "And never before one
+half so thirsty!"</p>
+
+<p>But Loki, the waiting maid, whispered to him softly, "The truth is,
+great Thrym, that my dear mistress was almost starved. For eight days
+Freia has eaten nothing at all, so eager was she for Jotunheim."</p>
+
+<p>Then Thrym was delighted, you may be sure. He forgave his hungry bride,
+and loved her with all his heart. He leaned forward to give her a kiss,
+raising a corner of her veil; but his hand dropped suddenly, and he
+started up in terror, for he had caught the angry flash of Thor's eye,
+which was glaring at him through the bridal veil. Thor was longing for
+his hammer.</p>
+
+<p>"Why has Freia so sharp a look?" Thrym cried. "It pierces like lightning
+and burns like fire."</p>
+
+<p>But again the sly waiting maid whispered timidly, "Oh, Thrym, be not
+amazed! The truth is, my poor mistress's eyes are red with wakefulness
+and bright with longing. For eight nights Freia has not known a wink of
+sleep, so eager was she for Jotunheim."</p>
+
+<p>Then again Thrym was doubly delighted, and he longed to call her his
+very own dear wife. "Bring in the wedding gift!" he cried. "Bring in
+Thor's hammer, Mi&ouml;lnir, and give it to Freia, as I promised; for when I
+have kept my word she will be mine&mdash;all mine!"</p>
+
+<p>Then Thor's big heart laughed under his woman's dress, and his fierce
+eyes swept eagerly down the hall to meet the servant who was bringing in
+the hammer on a velvet cushion. Thor's fingers could hardly wait to
+clutch the stubby handle which they knew so well; but he sat quite still
+on the throne beside ugly old Thrym, with his hands meekly folded and
+his head bowed like a bashful bride.</p>
+
+<p>The giant servant drew nearer, nearer, puffing and blowing, strong
+though he was, beneath the mighty weight. He was about to lay it at
+Thor's feet (for he thought it so heavy that no maiden could lift it or
+hold it in her lap), when suddenly Thor's heart swelled, and he gave a
+most unmaidenly shout of rage and triumph. With one swoop he grasped the
+hammer in his iron fingers; with the other arm he tore off the veil that
+hid his terrible face, and trampled it under foot; then he turned to the
+frightened king, who cowered beside him on the throne.</p>
+
+<p>"Thief!" he cried. "Freia sends you <i>this</i> as a wedding gift!" And he
+whirled the hammer about his head, then hurled it once, twice, thrice,
+as it rebounded to his hand; and in the first stroke, as of lightning,
+Thrym rolled dead from his throne; in the second stroke perished the
+whole giant household&mdash;these ugly enemies of the Æsir; and in the third
+stroke the palace itself tumbled together and fell to the ground like a
+toppling playhouse of blocks.</p>
+
+<p>But Loki and Thor stood safely among the ruins, dressed in their
+tattered maiden robes, a quaint and curious sight; and Loki, full of
+mischief now as ever, burst out laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Thor! if you could see&mdash;" he began; but Thor held up his hammer and
+shook it gently as he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Look now, Loki: it was an excellent joke, and so far you have done
+well&mdash;after your crafty fashion, which likes me not. But now I have my
+hammer again, and the joke is done. From you, nor from another, I brook
+no laughter at my expense. Henceforth we will have no mention of this
+masquerade, nor of these rags which now I throw away. Do you hear, red
+laughter?"</p>
+
+<p>And Loki heard, with a look of hate, and stifled his laughter as best he
+could; for it is not good to laugh at him who holds the hammer.</p>
+
+<p>Not once after that was there mention in Asgard of the time when Thor
+dressed him as a girl and won his bridal gift from Thrym the giant.</p>
+
+<p>But Mi&ouml;lnir was safe once more in Asgard, and you and I know how it came
+there; so someone must have told. I wonder if red Loki whispered the
+tale to some outsider, after all? Perhaps it may be so, for now he knew
+how best to make Thor angry; and from that day when Thor forbade his
+laughing, Loki hated him with the mean little hatred of a mean little
+soul.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br />
+THE APPLES OF IDUN</h2>
+
+<p>Once upon a time Odin, Loki, and HÅ“ner started on a journey. They had
+often travelled together before on all sorts of errands, for they had a
+great many things to look after, and more than once they had fallen into
+trouble through the prying, meddlesome, malicious spirit of Loke, who
+was never so happy as when he was doing wrong. When the gods went on a
+journey they travelled fast and hard, for they were strong, active
+spirits who loved nothing so much as hard work, hard blows, storm,
+peril, and struggle. There were no roads through the country over which
+they made their way, only high mountains to be climbed by rocky paths,
+deep valleys into which the sun hardly looked during half the year, and
+swift-rushing streams, cold as ice, and treacherous to the surest foot
+and the strongest arm. Not a bird flew through the air, not an animal
+sprang through the trees. It was as still as a desert. The gods walked
+on and on, getting more tired and hungry at every step. The sun was
+sinking low over the steep, pine-crested mountains, and the travellers
+had neither breakfasted nor dined. Even Odin was beginning to feel the
+pangs of hunger, like the most ordinary mortal, when suddenly, entering
+a little valley, the famished gods came upon a herd of cattle. It was
+the work of a minute to kill a great ox and to have the carcass
+swinging in a huge pot over a roaring fire.</p>
+
+<p>But never were gods so unlucky before! In spite of their hunger, the pot
+would not boil. They piled on the wood until the great flames crackled
+and licked the pot with their fiery tongues, but every time the cover
+was lifted there was the meat just as raw as when it was put in. It is
+easy to imagine that the travellers were not in very good humour. As
+they were talking about it, and wondering how it could be, a voice
+called out from the branches of the oak overhead, "If you will give me
+my fill, I'll make the pot boil."</p>
+
+<p>The gods looked first at each other and then into the tree, and there
+they discovered a great eagle. They were glad enough to get their supper
+on almost any terms, so they told the eagle he might have what he wanted
+if he would only get the meat cooked. The bird was as good as his word,
+and in less time than it takes to tell it supper was ready. Then the
+eagle flew down and picked out both shoulders and both legs. This was a
+pretty large share, it must be confessed, and Loki, who was always angry
+when anybody got more than he, no sooner saw what the eagle had taken,
+than he seized a great pole and began to beat the rapacious bird
+unmercifully. Whereupon a very singular thing happened, as singular
+things always used to happen when the gods were concerned: the pole
+stuck fast in the huge talons of the eagle at one end, and Loki stuck
+fast at the other end. Struggle as he might, he could not get loose, and
+as the great bird sailed away over the tops of the trees, Loki went
+pounding along on the ground, striking against rocks and branches until
+he was bruised half to death.</p>
+
+<p>The eagle was not an ordinary bird by any means, as Loki soon found
+when he begged for mercy. The giant Thjasse happened to be flying abroad
+in his eagle plumage when the hungry travellers came under the oak and
+tried to cook the ox. It was into his hands that Loki had fallen, and he
+was not to get away until he had promised to pay roundly for his
+freedom.</p>
+
+<p>If there was one thing which the gods prized above their other treasures
+in Asgard, it was the beautiful fruit of Idun, kept by the goddess in a
+golden casket and given to the gods to keep them forever young and fair.
+Without these Apples all their power could not have kept them from
+getting old like the meanest of mortals. Without these Apples of Idun,
+Asgard itself would have lost its charm; for what would heaven be
+without youth and beauty forever shining through it?</p>
+
+<p>Thjasse told Loki that he could not go unless he would promise to bring
+him the Apples of Idun. Loki was wicked enough for anything; but when it
+came to robbing the gods of their immortality, even he hesitated. And
+while he hesitated the eagle dashed hither and thither, flinging him
+against the sides of the mountains and dragging him through the great
+tough boughs of the oaks until his courage gave out entirely, and he
+promised to steal the Apples out of Asgard and give them to the giant.</p>
+
+<p>Loki was bruised and sore enough when he got on his feet again to hate
+the giant who handled him so roughly, with all his heart, but he was not
+unwilling to keep his promise to steal the Apples, if only for the sake
+of tormenting the other gods. But how was it to be done? Idun guarded
+the golden fruit of immortality with sleepless watchfulness. No one ever
+touched it but herself, and a beautiful sight it was to see her fair
+hands spread it forth for the morning feasts in Asgard. The power which
+Loki possessed lay not so much in his own strength, although he had a
+smooth way of deceiving people, as in the goodness of others who had no
+thought of his doing wrong because they never did wrong themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Not long after all this happened, Loki came carelessly up to Idun as she
+was gathering her Apples to put them away in the beautiful carven box
+which held them.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-morning, goddess," said he. "How fair and golden your Apples are!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Idun; "the bloom of youth keeps them always beautiful."</p>
+
+<p>"I never saw anything like them," continued Loki slowly, as if he were
+talking about a matter of no importance, "until the other day."</p>
+
+<p>Idun looked up at once with the greatest interest and curiosity in her
+face. She was very proud of her Apples, and she knew no earthly trees,
+however large and fair, bore the immortal fruit.</p>
+
+<p>"Where have you seen any Apples like them?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, just outside the gates," said Loki indifferently. "If you care to
+see them I'll take you there. It will keep you but a moment. The tree is
+only a little way off."</p>
+
+<p>Idun was anxious to go at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Better take your Apples with you, to compare them with the others,"
+said the wily god, as she prepared to go.</p>
+
+<p>Idun gathered up the golden Apples and went out of Asgard, carrying with
+her all that made it heaven. No sooner was she beyond the gates than a
+mighty rushing sound was heard, like the coming of a tempest, and before
+she could think or act, the giant Thjasse, in his eagle plumage, was
+bearing her swiftly away through the air to his desolate, icy home in
+Thrymheim, where, after vainly trying to persuade her to let him eat the
+Apples and be forever young like the gods, he kept her a lonely
+prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>Loki, after keeping his promise and delivering Idun into the hands of
+the giant, strayed back into Asgard as if nothing had happened. The next
+morning, when the gods assembled for their feast, there was no Idun. Day
+after day went past, and still the beautiful goddess did not come.
+Little by little the light of youth and beauty faded from the home of
+the gods, and they themselves became old and haggard. Their strong,
+young faces were lined with care and furrowed by age, their raven locks
+passed from gray to white, and their flashing eyes became dim and
+hollow. Brage, the god of poetry, could make no music while his
+beautiful wife was gone he knew not whither.</p>
+
+<p>Morning after morning the faded light broke on paler and ever paler
+faces, until even in heaven the eternal light of youth seemed to be
+going out forever.</p>
+
+<p>Finally the gods could bear the loss of power and joy no longer. They
+made rigorous inquiry. They tracked Loki on that fair morning when he
+led Idun beyond the gates; they seized him and brought him into solemn
+council, and when he read in their haggard faces the deadly hate which
+flamed in all their hearts against his treachery, his courage failed,
+and he promised to bring Idun back to Asgard if the goddess Freyja would
+lend him her falcon guise. No sooner said than done; and with eager gaze
+the gods watched him as he flew away, becoming at last only a dark
+moving speck against the sky.</p>
+
+<p>After long and weary flight Loki came to Thrymheim, and was glad enough
+to find Thjasse gone to sea and Idun alone in his dreary house. He
+changed her instantly into a nut, and taking her thus disguised in his
+talons, flew away as fast as his falcon wings could carry him. And he
+had need of all his speed, for Thjasse, coming suddenly home and finding
+Idun and her precious fruit gone, guessed what had happened, and,
+putting on his eagle plumage, flew forth in a mighty rage, with
+vengeance in his heart. Like the rushing wings of a tempest, his mighty
+pinions beat the air and bore him swiftly onward. From mountain peak to
+mountain peak he measured his wide course, almost grazing at times the
+murmuring pine forests, and then sweeping high in mid-air with nothing
+above but the arching sky, and nothing beneath but the tossing sea.</p>
+
+<p>At last he sees the falcon far ahead, and now his flight becomes like
+the flash of the lightning for swiftness, and like the rushing of clouds
+for uproar. The haggard faces of the gods line the walls of Asgard and
+watch the race with tremulous eagerness. Youth and immortality are
+staked upon the winning of Loki. He is weary enough and frightened
+enough, too, as the eagle sweeps on close behind him; but he makes
+desperate efforts to widen the distance between them. Little by little
+the eagle gains on the falcon. The gods grow white with fear; they rush
+off and prepare great fires upon the walls. With fainting, drooping wing
+the falcon passes over and drops exhausted by the wall. In an instant
+the fires have been lighted, and the great flames roar to heaven. The
+eagle sweeps across the fiery line a second later, and falls, maimed and
+burned, to the ground, where a dozen fierce hands smite the life out of
+him, and the great giant Thjasse perishes among his foes.</p>
+
+<p>Idun resumes her natural form as Brage rushes to meet her. The gods
+crowd round her. She spreads the feast, the golden Apples gleaming with
+unspeakable lustre in the eyes of the gods. They eat; and once more
+their faces glow with the beauty of immortal youth, their eyes flash
+with the radiance of divine power, and, while Idun stands like a star
+for beauty among the throng, the song of Brage is heard once more; for
+poetry and immortality are wedded again.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV<br />
+THE DEATH OF BALDER</h2>
+
+<p>There was one shadow which always fell over Asgard. Sometimes in the
+long years the gods almost forgot it, it lay so far off, like a dim
+cloud in a clear sky; but Odin saw it deepen and widen as he looked out
+into the universe, and he knew that the last great battle would surely
+come, when the gods themselves would be destroyed and a long twilight
+would rest on all the worlds; and now the day was close at hand.
+Misfortunes never come singly to men, and they did not to the gods.
+Idun, the beautiful goddess of youth, whose apples were the joy of all
+Asgard, made a resting place for herself among the massive branches of
+Yggdrasil, and there every evening came Brage, and sang so sweetly that
+the birds stopped to listen, and even the Norns, those implacable
+sisters at the foot of the tree, were softened by the melody. But poetry
+cannot change the purposes of fate, and one evening no song was heard of
+Brage or birds, the leaves of the world tree hung withered and lifeless
+on the branches, and the fountain from which they had daily been
+sprinkled was dry at last. Idun had fallen into the dark valley of
+death, and when Brage, Heimdal, and Loki went to question her about the
+future she could answer them only with tears. Brage would not leave his
+beautiful wife alone amid the dim shades that crowded the dreary
+valley, and so youth and genius vanished out of Asgard forever.</p>
+
+<p>Balder was the most godlike of all the gods, because he was the purest
+and the best. Wherever he went his coming was like the coming of
+sunshine, and all the beauty of summer was but the shining of his face.
+When men's hearts were white like the light, and their lives clear as
+the day, it was because Balder was looking down upon them with those
+soft, clear eyes that were open windows to the soul of God. He had
+always lived in such a glow of brightness that no darkness had ever
+touched him; but one morning, after Idun and Brage had gone, Balder's
+face was sad and troubled. He walked slowly from room to room in his
+palace Breidablik, stainless as the sky when April showers have swept
+across it because no impure thing had ever crossed the threshold, and
+his eyes were heavy with sorrow. In the night terrible dreams had broken
+his sleep, and made it a long torture. The air seemed to be full of
+awful changes for him and for all the gods. He knew in his soul that the
+shadow of the last great day was sweeping on; as he looked out and saw
+the worlds lying in light and beauty, the fields yellow with waving
+grain, the deep fiords flashing back the sunbeams from their clear
+depths, the verdure clothing the loftiest mountains, and knew that over
+all this darkness and desolation would come, with silence of reapers and
+birds, with fading of leaf and flower, a great sorrow fell on his heart.</p>
+
+<p>Balder could bear the burden no longer. He went out, called all the gods
+together, and told them the terrible dreams of the night. Every face was
+heavy with care. The death of Balder would be like the going out of the
+sun, and after a long, sad council the gods resolved to protect him
+from harm by pledging all things to stand between him and any hurt. So
+Frigg, his mother, went forth and made everything promise, on a solemn
+oath, not to injure her son. Fire, iron, all kinds of metal, every sort
+of stone, trees, earth, diseases, birds, beasts, snakes, as the anxious
+mother went to them, solemnly pledged themselves that no harm should
+come near Balder. Everything promised, and Frigg thought she had driven
+away the cloud; but fate was stronger than her love, and one little
+shrub had not sworn.</p>
+
+<p>Odin was not satisfied even with these precautions, for whichever way he
+looked the shadow of a great sorrow spread over the worlds. He began to
+feel as if he were no longer the greatest of the gods, and he could
+almost hear the rough shouts of the frost giants crowding the rainbow
+bridge on their way into Asgard. When trouble comes to men it is hard to
+bear, but to a god who had so many worlds to guide and rule it was a new
+and terrible thing. Odin thought and thought until he was weary, but no
+gleam of light could he find anywhere; it was thick darkness everywhere.</p>
+
+<p>At last he could bear the suspense no longer, and saddling his horse he
+rode sadly out of Asgard to Niflheim, the home of Hel, whose face was as
+the face of death itself. As he drew near the gates, a monstrous dog
+came out and barked furiously, but Odin rode a little eastward of the
+shadowy gates to the grave of a wonderful prophetess. It was a cold,
+gloomy place, and the soul of the great god was pierced with a feeling
+of hopeless sorrow as he dismounted from Sleipner, and bending over the
+grave began to chant weird songs, and weave magical charms over it. When
+he had spoken those wonderful words which could waken the dead from
+their sleep, there was an awful silence for a moment, and then a faint
+ghost-like voice came from the grave.</p>
+
+<p>"Who art thou?" it said. "Who breaketh the silence of death, and calleth
+the sleeper out of her long slumbers? Ages ago I was laid at rest here,
+snow and rain have fallen upon me through myriad years; why dost thou
+disturb me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am Vegtam," answered Odin, "and I come to ask why the couches of Hel
+are hung with gold and the benches strewn with shining rings?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is done for Balder," answered the awful voice; "ask me no more."</p>
+
+<p>Odin's heart sank when he heard these words; but he was determined to
+know the worst.</p>
+
+<p>"I will ask thee until I know all. Who shall strike the fatal blow?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I must, I must," moaned the prophetess. "Hoder shall smite his
+brother Balder and send him down to the dark home of Hel. The mead is
+already brewed for Balder, and the despair draweth near."</p>
+
+<p>Then Odin, looking into the future across the open grave, saw all the
+days to come.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is this," he said, seeing that which no mortal could have seen;
+"who is this that will not weep for Balder?"</p>
+
+<p>Then the prophetess knew that it was none other than the greatest of the
+gods who had called her up.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art not Vegtam," she exclaimed, "thou art Odin himself, the king
+of men."</p>
+
+<p>"And thou," answered Odin angrily, "art no prophetess, but the mother of
+three giants."</p>
+
+<p>"Ride home, then, and exult in what thou hast discovered," said the dead
+woman. "Never shall my slumbers be broken again until Loki shall burst
+his chains and the great battle come."</p>
+
+<p>And Odin rode sadly homeward knowing that already Niflheim was making
+itself beautiful against the coming of Balder.</p>
+
+<p>The other gods meanwhile had become merry again; for had not everything
+promised to protect their beloved Balder? They even made sport of that
+which troubled them, for when they found that nothing could hurt Balder,
+and that all things glanced aside from his shining form, they persuaded
+him to stand as a target for their weapons; hurling darts, spears,
+swords, and battle-axes at him, all of which went singing through the
+air and fell harmless at his feet. But Loki, when he saw these sports,
+was jealous of Balder, and went about thinking how he could destroy him.</p>
+
+<p>It happened that as Frigg sat spinning in her house Fensal, the soft
+wind blowing in at the windows and bringing the merry shouts of the gods
+at play, an old woman entered and approached her.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know," asked the newcomer, "what they are doing in Asgard? They
+are throwing all manner of dangerous weapons at Balder. He stands there
+like the sun for brightness, and against his glory, spears and
+battle-axes fall powerless to the ground. Nothing can harm him."</p>
+
+<p>"No," answered Frigg joyfully; "nothing can bring him any hurt, for I
+have made everything in heaven and earth swear to protect him."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" said the old woman, "has everything sworn to guard Balder?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Frigg, "everything has sworn except one little shrub which
+is called Mistletoe, and grows on the eastern side of Valhal. I did not
+take an oath from that because I thought it too young and weak."</p>
+
+<p>When the old woman heard this a strange light came into her eyes; she
+walked off much faster than she had come in, and no sooner had she
+passed beyond Frigg's sight than this same feeble old woman grew
+suddenly erect, shook off her woman's garments, and there stood Loki
+himself. In a moment he had reached the slope east of Valhal, had
+plucked a twig of the unsworn Mistletoe, and was back in the circle of
+the gods, who were still at their favourite pastime with Balder. Hoder
+was standing silent and alone outside the noisy throng, for he was
+blind. Loki touched him.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you not throw something at Balder?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I cannot see where Balder stands, and have nothing to throw if
+I could," replied Hoder.</p>
+
+<p>"If that is all," said Loki, "come with me. I will give you something to
+throw, and direct your aim."</p>
+
+<p>Hoder, thinking no evil, went with Loki and did as he was told.</p>
+
+<p>The little sprig of Mistletoe shot through the air, pierced the heart of
+Balder, and in a moment the beautiful god lay dead upon the field. A
+shadow rose out of the deep beyond the worlds and spread itself over
+heaven and earth, for the light of the universe had gone out.</p>
+
+<p>The gods could not speak for horror. They stood like statues for a
+moment, and then a hopeless wail burst from their lips. Tears fell like
+rain from eyes that had never wept before, for Balder, the joy of
+Asgard, had gone to Niflheim and left them desolate. But Odin was
+saddest of all, because he knew the future, and he knew that peace and
+light had fled from Asgard forever, and that the last day and the long
+night were hurrying on.</p>
+
+<p>Frigg could not give up her beautiful son, and when her grief had spent
+itself a little, she asked who would go to Hel and offer her a rich
+ransom if she would permit Balder to return to Asgard.</p>
+
+<p>"I will go," said Hermod; swift at the word of Odin Sleipner was led
+forth, and in an instant Hermod was galloping furiously away.</p>
+
+<p>Then the gods began with sorrowful hearts to make ready for Balder's
+funeral. When the once beautiful form had been arrayed in grave clothes
+they carried it reverently down to the deep sea, which lay, calm as a
+summer afternoon, waiting for its precious burden. Close to the water's
+edge lay Balder's Ringhorn, the greatest of all the ships that sailed
+the seas, but when the gods tried to launch it they could not move it an
+inch. The great vessel creaked and groaned, but no one could push it
+down to the water. Odin walked about it with a sad face, and the gentle
+ripple of the little waves chasing each other over the rocks seemed a
+mocking laugh to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Send to Jotunheim for Hyrroken," he said at last; and a messenger was
+soon flying for that mighty giantess.</p>
+
+<p>In a little time, Hyrroken came riding swiftly on a wolf so large and
+fierce that he made the gods think of Fenrer. When the giantess had
+alighted, Odin ordered four Berserkers of mighty strength to hold the
+wolf, but he struggled so angrily that they had to throw him on the
+ground before they could control him. Then Hyrroken went to the prow of
+the ship and with one mighty effort sent it far into the sea, the
+rollers underneath bursting into flame, and the whole earth trembling
+with the shock. Thor was so angry at the uproar that he would have
+killed the giantess on the spot if he had not been held back by the
+other gods. The great ship floated on the sea as she had often done
+before, when Balder, full of life and beauty, set all her sails and was
+borne joyfully across the tossing seas. Slowly and solemnly the dead god
+was carried on board, and as Nanna, his faithful wife, saw her husband
+borne for the last time from the earth which he had made dear to her and
+beautiful to all men, her heart broke with sorrow, and they laid her
+beside Balder on the funeral pyre.</p>
+
+<p>Since the world began no one had seen such a funeral. No bells tolled,
+no long procession of mourners moved across the hills, but all the
+worlds lay under a deep shadow, and from every quarter came those who
+had loved or feared Balder. There at the very water's edge stood Odin
+himself, the ravens flying about his head, and on his majestic face a
+gloom that no sun would ever lighten again; and there was Frigg, the
+desolate mother whose son had already gone so far that he would never
+come back to her; there was Frey standing sad and stern in his chariot;
+there was Freyja, the goddess of love, from whose eyes fell a shining
+rain of tears; there, too, was Heimdal on his horse Goldtop; and around
+all these glorious ones from Asgard crowded the children of Jotunheim,
+grim mountain giants seamed with scars from Thor's hammer, and frost
+giants who saw in the death of Balder the coming of that long winter in
+which they should reign through all the worlds.</p>
+
+<p>A deep hush fell on all created things, and every eye was fixed on the
+great ship riding near the shore, and on the funeral pyre rising from
+the deck crowned with the forms of Balder and Nanna. Suddenly a gleam of
+light flashed over the water; the pile had been kindled, and the flames,
+creeping slowly at first, climbed faster and faster until they met over
+the dead and rose skyward.</p>
+
+<p>A lurid light filled the heavens and shone on the sea, and in the
+brightness of it the gods looked pale and sad, and the circle of giants
+grew darker and more portentous. Thor struck the fast burning pyre with
+his consecrating hammer, and Odin cast into it the wonderful ring
+Draupner. Higher and higher leaped the flames, more and more desolate
+grew the scene; at last they began to sink, the funeral pyre was
+consumed. Balder had vanished forever, the summer was ended, and winter
+waited at the doors.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Hermod was riding hard and fast on his gloomy errand. Nine
+days and nights he rode through valleys so deep and dark that he could
+not see his horse. Stillness and blackness and solitude were his only
+companions until he came to the golden bridge which crosses the river
+Gjol. The good horse Sleipner, who had carried Odin on so many strange
+journeys, had never travelled such a road before, and his hoofs rang
+drearily as he stopped short at the bridge, for in front of him stood
+its porter, the gigantic Modgud.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" she asked, fixing her piercing eyes on Hermod. "What is
+your name and parentage? Yesterday five bands of dead men rode across
+the bridge, and beneath them all it did not shake as under your single
+tread. There is no colour of death in your face. Why ride you hither,
+the living among the dead?"</p>
+
+<p>"I come," said Hermod, "to seek for Balder. Have you seen him pass this
+way?"</p>
+
+<p>"He has already crossed the bridge and taken his journey northward to
+Hel."</p>
+
+<p>Then Hermod rode slowly across the bridge that spans the abyss between
+life and death, and found his way at last to the barred gates of Hel's
+dreadful home. There he sprang to the ground, tightened the girths,
+remounted, drove the spurs deep into the horse, and Sleipner, with a
+mighty leap, cleared the wall. Hermod rode straight to the gloomy
+palace, dismounted, entered, and in a moment was face to face with the
+terrible queen of the kingdom of the dead. Beside her, on a beautiful
+throne, sat Balder, pale and wan, crowned with a withered wreath of
+flowers, and close at hand was Nanna, pallid as her husband, for whom
+she had died. And all night long, while ghostly forms wandered restless
+and sleepless through Helheim, Hermod talked with Balder and Nanna.
+There is no record of what they said, but the talk was sad enough,
+doubtless, and ran like a still stream among the happy days in Asgard
+when Balder's smile was morning over the earth and the sight of his face
+the summer of the world.</p>
+
+<p>When the morning came, faint and dim, through the dusky palace, Hermod
+sought Hel, who received him as cold and stern as fate.</p>
+
+<p>"Your kingdom is full, O Hel!" he said, "and without Balder, Asgard is
+empty. Send him back to us once more, for there is sadness in every
+heart and tears are in every eye. Through heaven and earth all things
+weep for him."</p>
+
+<p>"If that is true," was the slow, icy answer, "if every created thing
+weeps for Balder, he shall return to Asgard; but if one eye is dry he
+remains henceforth in Helheim."</p>
+
+<p>Then Hermod rode swiftly away, and the decree of Hel was soon told in
+Asgard. Through all the worlds the gods sent messengers to say that all
+who loved Balder should weep for his return, and everywhere tears fell
+like rain. There was weeping in Asgard, and in all the earth there was
+nothing that did not weep. Men and women and little children, missing
+the light that had once fallen into their hearts and homes, sobbed with
+bitter grief; the birds of the air, who had sung carols of joy at the
+gates of the morning since time began, were full of sorrow; the beasts
+of the fields crouched and moaned in their desolation; the great trees,
+that had put on their robes of green at Balder's command, sighed as the
+wind wailed through them; and the sweet flowers, that waited for
+Balder's footstep and sprang up in all the fields to greet him, hung
+their frail blossoms and wept bitterly for the love and the warmth and
+the light that had gone out. Throughout the whole earth there was
+nothing but weeping, and the sound of it was like the wailing of those
+storms in autumn that weep for the dead summer as its withered leaves
+drop one by one from the trees.</p>
+
+<p>The messengers of the gods went gladly back to Asgard, for everything
+had wept for Balder; but as they journeyed they came upon a giantess,
+called Thok, and her eyes were dry.</p>
+
+<p>"Weep for Balder," they said.</p>
+
+<p>"With dry eyes only will I weep for Balder," she answered. "Dead or
+alive, he never gave me gladness. Let him stay in Helheim."</p>
+
+<p>When she had spoken these words a terrible laugh broke from her lips,
+and the messengers looked at each other with pallid faces, for they knew
+it was the voice of Loki.</p>
+
+<p>Balder never came back to Asgard, and the shadows deepened over all
+things, for the night of death was fast coming on.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br />
+THE STAR AND THE LILY</h2>
+
+<p>An old chieftain sat in his wigwam, quietly smoking his favourite pipe,
+when a crowd of Indian boys and girls suddenly entered, and, with
+numerous offerings of tobacco, begged him to tell them a story, and he
+did so.</p>
+
+<p>There was once a time when this world was filled with happy people; when
+all the nations were as one, and the crimson tide of war had not begun
+to roll. Plenty of game was in the forest and on the plains. None were
+in want, for a full supply was at hand. Sickness was unknown. The beasts
+of the field were tame; they came and went at the bidding of man. One
+unending spring gave no place for winter&mdash;for its cold blasts or its
+unhealthy chills. Every tree and bush yielded fruit. Flowers carpeted
+the earth. The air was laden with their fragrance, and redolent with the
+songs of wedded warblers that flew from branch to branch, fearing none,
+for there were none to harm them. There were birds then of more
+beautiful song and plumage than now. It was at such a time, when earth
+was a paradise and man worthily its possessor, that the Indians were
+lone inhabitants of the American wilderness. They numbered millions;
+and, living as nature designed them to live, enjoyed its many blessings.
+Instead of amusements in close rooms, the sport of the field was theirs.
+At night they met on the wide green beneath the heavenly worlds&mdash;the
+<i>ah-nung-o-kah</i>. They watched the stars; they loved to gaze at them,
+for they believed them to be the residences of the good, who had been
+taken home by the Great Spirit.</p>
+
+<p>One night they saw one star that shone brighter than all others. Its
+location was far away in the south, near a mountain peak. For many
+nights it was seen, till at length it was doubted by many that the star
+was as far distant in the southern skies as it seemed to be. This doubt
+led to an examination, which proved the star to be only a short distance
+away, and near the tops of some trees. A number of warriors were deputed
+to go and see what it was. They went, and on their return said it
+appeared strange, and somewhat like a bird. A committee of the wise men
+were called to inquire into, and if possible to ascertain the meaning
+of, the strange phenomenon. They feared that it might be the omen of
+some disaster. Some thought it a precursor of good, others of evil; and
+some supposed it to be the star spoken of by their forefathers as the
+forerunner of a dreadful war.</p>
+
+<p>One moon had nearly gone by, and yet the mystery remained unsolved. One
+night a young warrior had a dream, in which a beautiful maiden came and
+stood at his side, and thus addressed him: "Young brave! charmed with
+the land of my forefathers, its flowers, its birds, its rivers, its
+beautiful lakes, and its mountains clothed with green, I have left my
+sisters in yonder world to dwell among you. Young brave! ask your wise
+and your great men where I can live and see the happy race continually;
+ask them what form I shall assume in order to be loved."</p>
+
+<p>Thus discoursed the bright stranger. The young man awoke. On stepping
+out of his lodge he saw the star yet blazing in its accustomed place. At
+early dawn the chief's crier was sent round the camp to call every
+warrior to the council lodge. When they had met, the young warrior
+related his dream. They concluded that the star that had been seen in
+the south had fallen in love with mankind, and that it was desirous to
+dwell with them.</p>
+
+<p>The next night five tall, noble-looking, adventurous braves were sent to
+welcome the stranger to earth. They went and presented to it a pipe of
+peace, filled with sweet-scented herbs, and were rejoiced that it took
+it from them. As they returned to the village, the star, with expanded
+wings, followed, and hovered over their homes till the dawn of day.
+Again it came to the young man in a dream, and desired to know where it
+should live and what form it should take. Places were named&mdash;on the top
+of giant trees, or in flowers. At length it was told to choose a place
+itself, and it did so. At first it dwelt in the white rose of the
+mountains; but there it was so buried that it could not be seen. It went
+to the prairie; but it feared the hoof of the buffalo. It next sought
+the rocky cliff; but there it was so high that the children, whom it
+loved most, could not see it.</p>
+
+<p>"I know where I shall live," said the bright fugitive&mdash;"where I can see
+the gliding canoe of the race I most admire. Children!&mdash;yes, they shall
+be my playmates, and I will kiss their slumber by the side of cool
+lakes. The nation shall love me wherever I am."</p>
+
+<p>These words having been said, she alighted on the waters, where she saw
+herself reflected. The next morning thousands of white flowers were seen
+on the surface of the lakes, and the Indians gave them this name,
+<i>wah-be-gwan-nee</i> (white flower).</p>
+
+<p>This star lived in the southern skies. Her brethren can be seen far off
+in the cold north, hunting the Great Bear, whilst her sisters watch her
+in the east and west.</p>
+
+<p>Children! when you see the lily on the waters, take it in your hands and
+hold it to the skies, that it may be happy on earth, as its two sisters,
+the morning and evening stars, are happy in heaven.</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS THAT EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW ***</div>
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #16537 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16537)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Myths That Every Child Should Know, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Myths That Every Child Should Know
+       A Selection Of The Classic Myths Of All Times For Young People
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Hamilton Wright Mabie
+
+Illustrator: Blanche Ostertag
+
+Release Date: August 17, 2005 [EBook #16537]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS THAT EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Verity White and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MEDEIA AND JASON WITH THE GOLDEN FLEECE]
+
+MYTHS THAT EVERY
+CHILD SHOULD KNOW
+
+A SELECTION OF THE CLASSIC MYTHS
+OF ALL TIMES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
+
+EDITED BY
+HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE
+
+ILLUSTRATED AND DECORATED
+BY BLANCHE OSTERTAG
+
+NEW YORK
+Doubleday, Page & Company
+1906
+
+
+NOTE
+
+The editor and publishers wish to express their appreciation of the
+courtesy of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Dodd, Mead & Co., and the
+Macmillan Company, by means of which they have been enabled to reprint
+stories from Hawthorne's "Wonder Book" and "Tanglewood Tales," from "In
+the Days of Giants," from "Norse Stories," from Church's "Stories from
+Homer," and from Kingsley's "Greek Heroes."
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+INTRODUCTION                            ix
+
+CHAPTER                                  PAGE
+
+I.    THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES               3
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+II.   THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS                27
+      (Hawthorne's "Tanglewood Tales")
+
+III.  THE CHIMÆRA                          65
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+IV.   THE GOLDEN TOUCH                     92
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+V.    THE GORGON'S HEAD                   112
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+VI.   THE DRAGON'S TEETH                  140
+      (Hawthorne's "Tanglewood Tales")
+
+VII.  THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER              174
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+VIII. THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN            107
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+IX.   THE CYCLOPS                         216
+      (Church's "Stories from Homer")
+
+X.    THE ARGONAUTS                       227
+      (Kingsley's "Greek Heroes")
+
+XI.   THE GIANT BUILDER                   299
+      ("In Days of Giants")
+
+XII.  HOW ODIN LOST HIS EYE               308
+      ("In Days of Giants")
+
+XIII. THE QUEST OF THE HAMMER             316
+      ("In Days of Giants")
+
+XIV.  THE APPLES OF IDUN                  330
+      ("Norse Stories")
+
+XV.   THE DEATH OF BALDER                 337
+      ("Norse Stories")
+
+XVI.  THE STAR AND THE LILY               348
+      (Miss Emerson's "Indian Myths")
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+In many parts of the country when the soil is disturbed arrow heads are
+found. Now, it is a great many years since arrow heads have been used,
+and they were never used by the people who own the land in which they
+appear or by their ancestors. To explain the presence of these roughly
+cut pieces of stone we must recall the weapons with which the Indians
+fought when Englishmen, Frenchmen, Dutchmen, and Spaniards first came to
+this part of the world. There may be no authentic history of Indians in
+the particular locality in which these old-fashioned weapons come to
+light, but their presence in the ground is the best kind of evidence
+that Indians once lived on these fields or were in the habit of hunting
+over them. In many parts of the country these arrow heads are turned up
+in great numbers; museums large and small are plentifully supplied with
+them; and they form part of the record of the men who once lived here,
+and of their ways of killing game and destroying their enemies. Wherever
+there are arrow heads there have been Indians.
+
+Among every people and in every language there are found stories,
+superstitions, traditions, phrases, which are not to be explained by the
+thoughts or ideas or beliefs of people now living; and the same stories,
+superstitions, phrases, are found among people as far apart as those of
+Norway and Australia. The people of to-day tell these stories or
+remember the superstitions or use the phrases without understanding
+where they came from or what they meant when first used. As the ground
+in some sections is full of arrow heads that have been buried no one
+knows how many centuries, so the poetry we read, the music we hear, the
+stories told us when we are children, have come down from a time in the
+history of man so early that there are in many cases no other records or
+remains of it. These stories vary greatly in details; they fit every
+climate and wear the peculiar dress of every country; but it is easy to
+see that they are made up of the same materials, and that they describe
+the same persons or ideas or things whether they are told in Greece or
+India or Norway or Brittany. Wherever they are found they make it
+certain that they come from a very remote time and grew out of ideas or
+feelings and ways of looking at the world which a great many men shared
+in common in many places.
+
+When a man sneezes, people still say in some countries, "God bless you."
+They do not know why they say it; they simply repeat what they heard
+older people say when they were children, and do not know that every
+time they use these words they recall the age when people believed that
+evil spirits could enter into a man, and that when a man sneezed he
+expelled one of these spirits. It is a very old and widely spread
+superstition that when a dog howls at night someone not far away is
+dying or will soon die. Many people are uncomfortable when they hear a
+dog howling after dark, not because they believe that dogs have any
+knowledge that death is present or coming, but because their ancestors
+for many centuries believed that the howling of a dog was ominous, and
+the habits of our ancestors leave deep traces in our natures.
+
+Now, every time the melancholy howling of a dog at night makes a child
+uncomfortable, he recalls the old superstition which identified the
+roaring or wailing of the wind with a wolf or dog into which a god or
+demon had entered, with power to summon the spirits of men to follow him
+as he rushed along in the darkness. In the old homes in the forests,
+thousands of years ago, children crowded about the open fire and
+trembled when a great blast shook the house, for fear that the gigantic
+beast who made the sound would call them and they would be compelled to
+follow him. We think of wind as air in motion; they thought of it as the
+breath and sound of some living creature. When we say that the wind
+"whistled in the keyhole," or "kissed the flowers," or "drove the
+clouds" before it, we are using poetically the language our forefathers
+used literally.
+
+We speak of "the siren voice of pleasure," "the blow of fate," "the
+smile of fortune," and do not remember, often do not know, that we are
+recalling that remote past when people believed that there were Sirens
+on the coast of Crete whose voices were so sweet that sailors could not
+resist them and were drawn on to the rocks and drowned; that fate was a
+terrible, relentless, passionless person with supreme power over gods
+and men; that fortune was a being who smiled or frowned as men smile or
+frown, but whose smile meant prosperity and her frown disaster.
+
+There are few poems which have interested children more than Robert
+Browning's "Pied Piper of Hamelin." The story runs that long ago, in the
+year 1284, the old German town of Hamelin was so overrun with rats that
+there was no peace for the people living in it. When things were at
+their worst a strange man appeared in the place and offered, for a sum
+of money, to clear it of these pests. The bargain was made and the
+stranger began to pipe; and straightway, from every nook and corner in
+the old town, the rats came in swarms, followed him to the river Weser
+and jumped in and were drowned.
+
+When the people found that the city was really free from rats they were
+ungrateful enough to say that the piper had used magic, which was
+believed to be the practice of the evil spirit, and refused to carry out
+their part of the contract. The stranger went off in a great rage and
+threatened to come back again and take payment in his own way. On St.
+John's Day, which was a time of great festivity, he suddenly reappeared,
+blew a new and beguiling air on his pipe, and immediately every child in
+the city felt as if a hand had seized him and ran pell-mell after the
+musician as he climbed the mountain, in which a door suddenly opened,
+and through that door all, save a lame boy, passed and were never seen
+again.
+
+From this old story probably came the proverb about paying the piper;
+and it is one of many stories which turn on the magical power of a voice
+or a sound to draw men, women, and children to their doom. These very
+interesting stories are not like the stories which are made up just to
+please people and help them pass away the time; they are different forms
+of one story--the story of the wind, told by people who thought that the
+wind was not what we call a force but a person, and that when he called
+those who heard must follow if he chose; for "the piper is no other than
+the wind, and the ancients held that in the wind were the souls of the
+dead."
+
+If every time we think of a force we should think of a person, we should
+see the world as the men and women who made the myths saw it. Everything
+that moved, or made a sound, or flashed out light, or gave out heat was
+a person to them; they could not think of the wind rushing through the
+trees or the storm devastating the fields without out imagining someone
+like themselves, only more powerful, behind the uproar and destruction,
+any more than we can see a lantern moving along the road at night
+without thinking instinctively that somebody is carrying it.
+
+Our idea of the world is scientific because it is based on exact though
+by no means complete knowledge; the myth-makers' idea of the world was
+poetic because, with very incomplete knowledge, they could not imagine
+how anything could be done unless it was done as they did things. When
+the black clouds gather on a summer afternoon and roll up the sky in
+great, terrifying masses, and the lightning flashes from them and the
+crash of the thunder fills the air and the rain beats down the crops, we
+feel as if we were in the laboratory of nature seeing a wonderful
+experiment made; when our ancestors saw the same spectacle they were
+sure that a great dragon, breathing fire and roaring with anger, was
+ravaging the earth. As children to-day imagine that dolls are alive,
+that fairies dance in moonlit meadows on summer nights, or beasts or
+Indians make the sounds in the woods, so the people who made the myths
+filled the world with creatures unlike themselves, but with something of
+human intelligence, feeling and will.
+
+As imaginative children personify the sounds they hear, so the men and
+women of an early time personified everything that lived or moved or
+gave any sign of life. They filled the earth, air, and sea with
+imaginary beings who had power over the elements and affected the lives
+of men. There were nymphs in the sea, dryads in the trees, kindly or
+destructive spirits in the air, household gods who watched over the
+home, and greater gods who managed the affairs of the world. When an
+intelligent man finds himself in new surroundings, he begins at once to
+study them and try to understand them. In every age this has been one of
+the greatest objects of interest to men, and every generation has
+endeavoured to explain the world, so as to satisfy not only its
+curiosity but its reason. The myths were explanations of the world
+created by people who had not had time to study that world closely nor
+to train themselves to study it in a scientific way. They saw the world
+with their imaginations quite as much as with their eyes, and as they
+put persons behind every kind and form of life, they told stories about
+the world instead of making accurate and matter-of-fact reports of it.
+The change of the seasons is not at all mysterious to us; but to the
+Norsemen it was a wonderful struggle between gods and giants. In the
+summer the gods had their triumph, but in the winter the giants had
+their way. Year after year and century after century this terrible
+warfare went on until a day should come when, in a last great battle,
+both gods and giants would be destroyed and a new heaven and earth
+arise. These same brave and warlike men believed that the most powerful
+fighter among the gods was Thor, and that it was the swinging and
+crashing of his terrible hammer which made the lightning and thunder.
+
+The sun, which vanquished the darkness, put out the stars, drove the
+cold to the far north, called back the flowers, made the fields fertile,
+awoke men from sleep and filled them with courage and hope, was the
+centre of mythology, and appears and reappears in a thousand stories in
+many parts of the world, and in all kinds of disguises. Now he is the
+most beautiful and noble of the Greek gods, Apollo; now he is Odin, with
+a single eye; now he is Hercules, the hero, with his twelve great
+labours for the good of men; now he is Oedipus, who met the Sphinx and
+solved her riddle. In the early times men saw how everything in the
+world about them drew its strength and beauty from the sun; how the sun
+warmed the earth and made the crops grow; how it brought gladness and
+hope and inspiration to men; and they made it the centre of the great
+world story, the foremost hero of the great world play. For the myths
+form a poetical explanation of the earth, the sea, the sky, and of the
+life of man in this wonderful universe, and each great myth was a
+chapter in a story which endowed day and night, summer and winter, sun,
+moon, stars, winds, clouds, fire, with life, and made them actors in the
+mysterious drama of the world. Our Norse forefathers thought of
+themselves always as looking on at a terrible fight between the gods,
+who were light and heat and fruitfulness, revealed in the beauty of day
+and the splendour of summer, and the giants, who were darkness, cold and
+barrenness, revealed in the gloom of night and the desolation of winter.
+To the Norseman, as to the Greek, the Roman, the Hindu and other
+primitive peoples, the world was the scene of a great struggle, the
+stage on which gods, demons, and heroes were contending for supremacy;
+and they told that story in a thousand different ways. Every myth is a
+chapter in that story, and differs from other stories and legends
+because it is an explanation of something that happened in earth, sea,
+or sky.
+
+If the men who created the myths had set to work to make wonder tales as
+stories are sometimes made to instruct while they entertain children,
+they would have left a mass of very dull tales which few people would
+have cared to read. They had no idea of doing anything so artificial and
+mechanical; they made these old stories because all life was a story to
+them, full of splendid or terrible figures moving across the sky or
+through the sea and in the depths of the woods, and whichever way they
+looked they saw or thought they saw mysterious and wonderful things
+going on. They were as much interested in their world as we are in ours;
+we write hundreds of scientific books every year to explain our world;
+they told hundreds of stories every year to explain theirs.
+
+This selection represents the work of several authors, and does not,
+therefore, preserve uniformity of style. It is probably better for the
+young reader that the Greek Myths should come from one hand, and the
+Norse Myths from another. The classical work of Hawthorne has been
+generously drawn upon. No change of any kind has been made in the text,
+but the introductions connecting one myth with another have been
+omitted.
+
+HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE.
+
+
+
+
+Myths That Every Child Should Know
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES
+
+
+Did you ever hear of the golden apples that grew in the garden of the
+Hesperides? Ah, those were such apples as would bring a great price, by
+the bushel, if any of them could be found growing in the orchards of
+nowadays! But there is not, I suppose, a graft of that wonderful fruit
+on a single tree in the wide world. Not so much as a seed of those
+apples exists any longer.
+
+And, even in the old, old, half-forgotten times, before the garden of
+the Hesperides was overrun with weeds, a great many people doubted
+whether there could be real trees that bore apples of solid gold upon
+their branches. All had heard of them, but nobody remembered to have
+seen any. Children, nevertheless, used to listen, open-mouthed, to
+stories of the golden apple tree, and resolved to discover it, when they
+should be big enough. Adventurous young men, who desired to do a braver
+thing than any of their fellows, set out in quest of this fruit. Many of
+them returned no more; none of them brought back the apples. No wonder
+that they found it impossible to gather them! It is said that there was
+a dragon beneath the tree, with a hundred terrible heads, fifty of
+which were always on the watch, while the other fifty slept.
+
+In my opinion it was hardly worth running so much risk for the sake of a
+solid golden apple. Had the apples been sweet, mellow, and juicy, indeed
+that would be another matter. There might then have been some sense in
+trying to get at them, in spite of the hundred-headed dragon.
+
+But, as I have already told you, it was quite a common thing with young
+persons, when tired of too much peace and rest, to go in search of the
+garden of the Hesperides. And once the adventure was undertaken by a
+hero who had enjoyed very little peace or rest since he came into the
+world. At the time of which I am going to speak, he was wandering
+through the pleasant land of Italy, with a mighty club in his hand, and
+a bow and quiver slung across his shoulders. He was wrapt in the skin of
+the biggest and fiercest lion that ever had been seen, and which he
+himself had killed; and though, on the whole, he was kind, and generous,
+and noble, there was a good deal of the lion's fierceness in his heart.
+As he went on his way, he continually inquired whether that were the
+right road to the famous garden. But none of the country people knew
+anything about the matter, and many looked as if they would have laughed
+at the question, if the stranger had not carried so very big a club.
+
+So he journeyed on and on, still making the same inquiry, until, at
+last, he came to the brink of a river where some beautiful young women
+sat twining wreaths of flowers.
+
+"Can you tell me, pretty maidens," asked the stranger, "whether this is
+the right way to the garden of the Hesperides?"
+
+The young women had been having a fine time together, weaving the
+flowers into wreaths, and crowning one another's heads. And there seemed
+to be a kind of magic in the touch of their fingers, that made the
+flowers more fresh and dewy, and of brighter hues, and sweeter
+fragrance, while they played with them, than even when they had been
+growing on their native stems. But, on hearing the stranger's question,
+they dropped all their flowers on the grass, and gazed at him with
+astonishment.
+
+"The garden of the Hesperides!" cried one. "We thought mortals had been
+weary of seeking it, after so many disappointments. And pray,
+adventurous traveller, what do you want there?"
+
+"A certain king, who is my cousin," replied he, "has ordered me to get
+him three of the golden apples."
+
+"Most of the young men who go in quest of these apples," observed
+another of the damsels, "desire to obtain them for themselves, or to
+present them to some fair maiden whom they love. Do you, then, love this
+king, your cousin, so very much?"
+
+"Perhaps not," replied the stranger, sighing. "He has often been severe
+and cruel to me. But it is my destiny to obey him."
+
+"And do you know," asked the damsel who had first spoken, "that a
+terrible dragon, with a hundred heads, keeps watch under the golden
+apple tree?"
+
+"I know it well," answered the stranger, calmly. "But, from my cradle
+upward, it has been my business, and almost my pastime, to deal with
+serpents and dragons."
+
+The young women looked at his massive club, and at the shaggy lion's
+skin which he wore, and likewise at his heroic limbs and figure; and
+they whispered to each other that the stranger appeared to be one who
+might reasonably expect to perform deeds far beyond the might of other
+men. But, then, the dragon with a hundred heads! What mortal, even if he
+possessed a hundred lives, could hope to escape the fangs of such a
+monster? So kind-hearted were the maidens that they could not bear to
+see this brave and handsome traveller attempt what was so very
+dangerous, and devote himself, most probably, to become a meal for the
+dragon's hundred ravenous mouths.
+
+"Go back," cried they all--"go back to your own home! Your mother,
+beholding you safe and sound, will shed tears of joy; and what can she
+do more, should you win ever so great a victory? No matter for the
+golden apples! No matter for the king, your cruel cousin! We do not wish
+the dragon with the hundred heads to eat you up!"
+
+The stranger seemed to grow impatient at these remonstrances. He
+carelessly lifted his mighty club, and let it fall upon a rock that lay
+half buried in the earth, near by. With the force of that idle blow, the
+great rock was shattered all to pieces. It cost the stranger no more
+effort to achieve this feat of a giant's strength than for one of the
+young maidens to touch her sister's rosy cheek with a flower.
+
+"Do you not believe," said he, looking at the damsels with a smile,
+"that such a blow would have crushed one of the dragon's hundred heads?"
+
+Then he sat down on the grass, and told them the story of his life, or
+as much of it as he could remember, from the day when he was first
+cradled in a warrior's brazen shield. While he lay there, two immense
+serpents came gliding over the floor, and opened their hideous jaws to
+devour him; and he, a baby of a few months old, had griped one of the
+fierce snakes in each of his little fists, and strangled them to death.
+When he was but a stripling, he had killed a huge lion, almost as big as
+the one whose vast and shaggy hide he now wore upon his shoulders. The
+next thing that he had done was to fight a battle with an ugly sort of
+monster, called a hydra, which had no less than nine heads, and
+exceedingly sharp teeth in every one.
+
+"But the dragon of the Hesperides, you know," observed one of the
+damsels, "has a hundred heads!"
+
+"Nevertheless," replied the stranger, "I would rather fight two such
+dragons than a single hydra. For, as fast as I cut off a head, two
+others grew in its place; and, besides, there was one of the heads that
+could not possibly be killed, but kept biting as fiercely as ever, long
+after it was cut off. So I was forced to bury it under a stone, where it
+is doubtless alive to this very day. But the hydra's body, and its eight
+other heads, will never do any further mischief."
+
+The damsels, judging that the story was likely to last a good while, had
+been preparing a repast of bread and grapes, that the stranger might
+refresh himself in the intervals of his talk. They took pleasure in
+helping him to this simple food; and, now and then, one of them would
+put a sweet grape between her rosy lips, lest it should make him bashful
+to eat alone.
+
+The traveller proceeded to tell how he had chased a very swift stag for
+a twelvemonth together, without ever stopping to take breath, and had at
+last caught it by the antlers, and carried it home alive. And he had
+fought with a very odd race of people, half horses and half men, and had
+put them all to death, from a sense of duty, in order that their ugly
+figures might never be seen any more. Besides all this, he took to
+himself great credit for having cleaned out a stable.
+
+"Do you call that a wonderful exploit?" asked one of the young maidens,
+with a smile. "Any clown in the country has done as much!"
+
+"Had it been an ordinary stable," replied the stranger, "I should not
+have mentioned it. But this was so gigantic a task that it would have
+taken me all my life to perform it, if I had not luckily thought of
+turning the channel of a river through the stable door. That did the
+business in a very short time!"
+
+Seeing how earnestly his fair auditors listened, he next told them how
+he had shot some monstrous birds, and had caught a wild bull alive and
+let him go again, and had tamed a number of very wild horses, and had
+conquered Hippolyta, the warlike queen of the Amazons. He mentioned,
+likewise, that he had taken off Hippolyta's enchanted girdle and had
+given it to the daughter of his cousin, the king.
+
+"Was it the girdle of Venus," inquired the prettiest of the damsels,
+"which makes women beautiful?"
+
+"No," answered the stranger. "It had formerly been the sword belt of
+Mars; and it can only make the wearer valiant and courageous."
+
+"An old sword belt!" cried the damsel, tossing her head. "Then I should
+not care about having it!"
+
+"You are right," said the stranger.
+
+Going on with his wonderful narrative, he informed the maidens that as
+strange an adventure as ever happened was when he fought with Geryon,
+the six-legged man. This was a very odd and frightful sort of figure, as
+you may well believe. Any person, looking at his tracks in the sand or
+snow, would suppose that three sociable companions had been walking
+along together. On hearing his footsteps at a little distance, it was no
+more than reasonable to judge that several people must be coming. But it
+was only the strange man Geryon clattering onward, with his six legs!
+
+Six legs, and one gigantic body! Certainly, he must have been a very
+queer monster to look at; and, my stars, what a waste of shoe leather!
+
+When the stranger had finished the story of his adventures, he looked
+around at the attentive faces of the maidens.
+
+"Perhaps you may have heard of me before," said he, modestly. "My name
+is Hercules!"
+
+"We had already guessed it," replied the maidens; "for your wonderful
+deeds are known all over the world. We do not think it strange, any
+longer, that you should set out in quest of the golden apples of the
+Hesperides. Come, sisters, let us crown the hero with flowers!"
+
+Then they flung beautiful wreaths over his stately head and mighty
+shoulders, so that the lion's skin was almost entirely covered with
+roses. They took possession of his ponderous club, and so entwined it
+about with the brightest, softest, and most fragrant blossoms that not a
+finger's breadth of its oaken substance could be seen. It looked all
+like a huge bunch of flowers. Lastly, they joined hands, and danced
+around him, chanting words which became poetry of their own accord, and
+grew into a choral song, in honour of the illustrious Hercules.
+
+And Hercules was rejoiced, as any other hero would have been, to know
+that these fair young girls had heard of the valiant deeds which it had
+cost him so much toil and danger to achieve. But still he was not
+satisfied. He could not think that what he had already done was worthy
+of so much honour, while there remained any bold or difficult adventure
+to be undertaken.
+
+"Dear maidens," said he, when they paused to take breath, "now that you
+know my name, will you not tell me how I am to reach the garden of the
+Hesperides?"
+
+"Ah! must you go to soon?" they exclaimed. "You--that have performed so
+many wonders, and spent such a toilsome life--cannot you content
+yourself to repose a little while on the margin of this peaceful river?"
+
+Hercules shook his head.
+
+"I must depart now," said he.
+
+"We will then give you the best directions we can," replied the damsels.
+"You must go to the seashore, and find out the Old One, and compel him
+to inform you where the golden apples are to be found."
+
+"The Old One!" repeated Hercules, laughing at this odd name. "And, pray,
+who may the Old One be?"
+
+"Why, the Old Man of the Sea, to be sure!" answered one of the damsels.
+"He has fifty daughters, whom some people call very beautiful; but we do
+not think it proper to be acquainted with them, because they have
+sea-green hair, and taper away like fishes. You must talk with this Old
+Man of the Sea. He is a seafaring person, and knows all about the garden
+of the Hesperides, for it is situated in an island which he is often in
+the habit of visiting."
+
+Hercules then asked whereabouts the Old One was most likely to be met
+with. When the damsels had informed him, he thanked them for all their
+kindness,--for the bread and grapes with which they had fed him, the
+lovely flowers with which they had crowned him, and the songs and
+dances wherewith they had done him honour--and he thanked them, most of
+all, for telling him the right way--and immediately set forth upon his
+journey.
+
+But, before he was out of hearing, one of the maidens called after him.
+
+"Keep fast hold of the Old One, when you catch him!" cried she, smiling,
+and lifting her finger to make the caution more impressive. "Do not be
+astonished at anything that may happen. Only hold him fast, and he will
+tell you what you wish to know."
+
+Hercules again thanked her, and pursued his way, while the maidens
+resumed their pleasant labour of making flower wreaths. They talked
+about the hero long after he was gone.
+
+"We will crown him with the loveliest of our garlands," said they, "when
+he returns hither with the three golden apples, after slaying the dragon
+with a hundred heads."
+
+Meanwhile, Hercules travelled constantly onward, over hill and dale, and
+through the solitary woods. Sometimes he swung his club aloft, and
+splintered a mighty oak with a downright blow. His mind was so full of
+the giants and monsters with whom it was the business of his life to
+fight, that perhaps he mistook the great tree for a giant or a monster.
+And so eager was Hercules to achieve what he had undertaken, that he
+almost regretted to have spent so much time with the damsels, wasting
+idle breath upon the story of his adventures. But thus it always is with
+persons who are destined to perform great things. What they have already
+done seems less than nothing. What they have taken in hand to do seems
+worth toil, danger, and life itself. Persons who happened to be passing
+through the forest must have been affrighted to see him smite the trees
+with his great club. With but a single blow, the trunk was riven as by
+the stroke of lightning and the broad boughs came rustling and crashing
+down.
+
+Hastening forward, without ever pausing or looking behind, he by and by
+heard the sea roaring at a distance. At this sound, he increased his
+speed, and soon came to a beach, where the great surf waves tumbled
+themselves upon the hard sand, in a long line of snowy foam. At one end
+of the beach, however, there was a pleasant spot, where some green
+shrubbery clambered up a cliff, making its rocky face look soft and
+beautiful. A carpet of verdant grass, largely intermixed with
+sweet-smelling clover, covered the narrow space between the bottom of
+the cliff and the sea. And what should Hercules espy there but an old
+man, fast asleep!
+
+But was it really and truly an old man? Certainly, at first sight, it
+looked very like one; but, on closer inspection, it rather seemed to be
+some kind of a creature that lived in the sea. For on his legs and arms
+there were scales, such as fishes have; he was web-footed and
+web-fingered, after the fashion of a duck; and his long beard, being of
+a greenish tinge, had more the appearance of a tuft of seaweed than of
+an ordinary beard. Have you never seen a stick of timber, that has been
+long tossed about by the waves, and has got all overgrown with
+barnacles, and, at last drifting ashore, seems to have been thrown up
+from the very deepest bottom of the sea. Well, the old man would have
+put you in mind of just such a wave-tossed spar! But Hercules, the
+instant he set eyes on this strange figure, was convinced that it could
+be no other than the Old One, who was to direct him on his way.
+
+Yes, it was the selfsame Old Man of the Sea whom the hospitable maidens
+had talked to him about. Thanking his stars for the lucky accident of
+finding the old fellow asleep, Hercules stole on tiptoe toward him, and
+caught him by the arm and leg.
+
+"Tell me," cried he, before the Old One was well awake, "which is the
+way to the garden of the Hesperides?"
+
+As you may easily imagine, the Old Man of the Sea awoke in a fright. But
+his astonishment could hardly have been greater than was that of
+Hercules, the next moment. For, all of a sudden, the Old One seemed to
+disappear out of his grasp, and he found himself holding a stag by the
+fore and hind leg! But still he kept fast hold. Then the stag
+disappeared, and in its stead there was a sea bird, fluttering and
+screaming, while Hercules clutched it by the wing and claw! But the bird
+could not get away. Immediately afterward, there was an ugly
+three-headed dog, which growled and barked at Hercules, and snapped
+fiercely at the hands by which he held him! But Hercules would not let
+him go. In another minute, instead of the three-headed dog, what should
+appear but Geryon, the six-legged man monster, kicking at Hercules with
+five of his legs, in order to get the remaining one at liberty! But
+Hercules held on. By and by, no Geryon was there, but a huge snake, like
+one of those which Hercules had strangled in his babyhood, only a
+hundred times as big; and it twisted and twined about the hero's neck
+and body, and threw its tail high into the air, and opened its deadly
+jaws as if to devour him outright; so that it was really a very terrible
+spectacle! But Hercules was no whit disheartened, and squeezed the great
+snake so tightly that he soon began to hiss with pain.
+
+You must understand that the Old Man of the Sea, though he generally
+looked so much like the wave-beaten figurehead of a vessel, had the
+power of assuming any shape he pleased. When he found himself so roughly
+seized by Hercules, he had been in hopes of putting him into such
+surprise and terror, by these magical transformations, that the hero
+would be glad to let him go. If Hercules had relaxed his grasp, the Old
+One would certainly have plunged down to the very bottom of the sea,
+whence he would not soon have given himself the trouble of coming up, in
+order to answer any impertinent questions. Ninety-nine people out of a
+hundred, I suppose, would have been frightened out of their wits by the
+very first of his ugly shapes, and would have taken to their heels at
+once. For one of the hardest things in this world is to see the
+difference between real dangers and imaginary ones.
+
+But, as Hercules held on so stubbornly, and only squeezed the Old One so
+much the tighter at every change of shape, and really put him to no
+small torture, he finally thought it best to reappear in his own figure.
+So there he was again, a fishy, scaly, web-footed sort of personage,
+with something like a tuft of seaweed at his chin.
+
+"Pray, what do you want with me?" cried the Old One, as soon as he could
+take breath; for it is quite a tiresome affair to go through so many
+false shapes. "Why do you squeeze me so hard? Let me go this moment, or
+I shall begin to consider you an extremely uncivil person!"
+
+"My name is Hercules!" roared the mighty stranger. "And you will never
+get out of my clutch until you tell me the nearest way to the garden of
+the Hesperides!"
+
+When the old fellow heard who it was that had caught him, he saw with
+half an eye that it would be necessary to tell him everything that he
+wanted to know. The Old One was an inhabitant of the sea, you must
+recollect, and roamed about everywhere, like other seafaring people. Of
+course, he had often heard of the fame of Hercules, and of the wonderful
+things that he was constantly performing in various parts of the earth,
+and how determined he always was to accomplish whatever he undertook. He
+therefore made no more attempts to escape, but told the hero how to find
+the garden of the Hesperides, and likewise warned him of many
+difficulties which must be overcome before he could arrive thither.
+
+"You must go on, thus and thus," said the Old Man of the Sea, after
+taking the points of the compass, "till you come in sight of a very tall
+giant, who holds the sky on his shoulders. And the giant, if he happens
+to be in the humour, will tell you exactly where the garden of the
+Hesperides lies."
+
+"And if the giant happens not to be in the humour," remarked Hercules,
+balancing his club on the tip of his finger, "perhaps I shall find means
+to persuade him!"
+
+Thanking the Old Man of the Sea, and begging his pardon for having
+squeezed him so roughly, the hero resumed his journey. He met with a
+great many strange adventures, which would be well worth your hearing,
+if I had leisure to narrate them as minutely as they deserve.
+
+It was in this journey, if I mistake not, that he encountered a
+prodigious giant, who was so wonderfully contrived by nature that, every
+time he touched the earth, he became ten times as strong as ever he had
+been before. His name was Antæus. You may see, plainly enough, that it
+was a very difficult business to fight with such a fellow; for, as often
+as he got a knock-down blow, up he started again, stronger, fiercer, and
+abler to use his weapons than if his enemy had let him alone. Thus, the
+harder Hercules pounded the giant with his club, the further he seemed
+from winning the victory. I have sometimes argued with such people, but
+never fought with one. The only way in which Hercules found it possible
+to finish the battle was by lifting Antæus off his feet into the air,
+and squeezing, and squeezing, and squeezing him until, finally, the
+strength was quite squeezed out of his enormous body.
+
+When this affair was finished, Hercules continued his travels, and went
+to the land of Egypt, where he was taken prisoner, and would have been
+put to death if he had not slain the king of the country and made his
+escape. Passing through the deserts of Africa, and going as fast as he
+could, he arrived at last on the shore of the great ocean. And here,
+unless he could walk on the crests of the billows, it seemed as if his
+journey must needs be at an end.
+
+Nothing was before him, save the foaming, dashing, measureless ocean.
+But, suddenly, as he looked toward the horizon, he saw something, a
+great way off, which he had not seen the moment before. It gleamed very
+brightly, almost as you may have beheld the round, golden disc of the
+sun, when it rises or sets over the edge of the world. It evidently drew
+nearer; for, at every instant, this wonderful object became larger and
+more lustrous. At length, it had come so nigh that Hercules discovered
+it to be an immense cup or bowl, made either of gold or burnished brass.
+How it had got afloat upon the sea is more than I can tell you. There it
+was, at all events, rolling on the tumultuous billows, which tossed it
+up and down, and heaved their foamy tops against its sides, but without
+ever throwing their spray over the brim.
+
+"I have seen many giants, in my time," thought Hercules, "but never one
+that would need to drink his wine out of a cup like this!"
+
+And, true enough, what a cup it must have been! It was as large--as
+large--but, in short, I am afraid to say how immeasurably large it was.
+To speak within bounds, it was ten times larger than a great mill wheel;
+and, all of metal as it was, it floated over the heaving surges more
+lightly than an acorn cup adown the brook. The waves tumbled it onward,
+until it grazed against the shore, within a short distance of the spot
+where Hercules was standing.
+
+As soon as this happened, he knew what was to be done; for he had not
+gone through so many remarkable adventures without learning pretty well
+how to conduct himself, whenever anything came to pass a little out of
+the common rule. It was just as clear as daylight that this marvellous
+cup had been set adrift by some unseen power, and guided hitherward, in
+order to carry Hercules across the sea, on his way to the garden of the
+Hesperides. Accordingly, without a moment's delay, he clambered over the
+brim, and slid down on the inside, where, spreading out his lion's skin,
+he proceeded to take a little repose. He had scarcely rested, until now,
+since he bade farewell to the damsels on the margin of the river. The
+waves dashed, with a pleasant and ringing sound, against the
+circumference of the hollow cup; it rocked lightly to and fro, and the
+motion was so soothing that it speedily rocked Hercules into an
+agreeable slumber.
+
+His nap had probably lasted a good while, when the cup chanced to graze
+against a rock, and, in consequence, immediately resounded and
+reverberated through its golden or brazen substance, a hundred times as
+loudly as ever you heard a church bell. The noise awoke Hercules, who
+instantly started up and gazed around him, wondering whereabouts he was.
+He was not long in discovering that the cup had floated across a great
+part of the sea, and was approaching the shore of what seemed to be an
+island. And, on that island, what do you think he saw?
+
+No; you will never guess it, not if you were to try fifty thousand
+times! It positively appears to me that this was the most marvellous
+spectacle that had ever been seen by Hercules in the whole course of his
+wonderful travels and adventures. It was a greater marvel than the hydra
+with nine heads, which kept growing twice as fast as they were cut off;
+greater than the six-legged man monster; greater than Antæus; greater
+than anything that was ever beheld by anybody, before or since the days
+of Hercules, or than anything that remains to be beheld by travellers in
+all time to come. It was a giant!
+
+But such an intolerably big giant! A giant as tall as a mountain; so
+vast a giant that the clouds rested about his midst, like a girdle, and
+hung like a hoary beard from his chin, and flitted before his huge eyes,
+so that he could neither see Hercules nor the golden cup in which he was
+voyaging. And, most wonderful of all, the giant held up his great hands
+and appeared to support the sky, which, so far as Hercules could discern
+through the clouds, was resting upon his head! This does really seem
+almost too much to believe.
+
+Meanwhile, the bright cup continued to float onward, and finally touched
+the strand. Just then a breeze wafted away the clouds from before the
+giant's visage, and Hercules beheld it, with all its enormous features;
+eyes each of them as big as yonder lake, a nose a mile long, and a mouth
+of the same width. It was a countenance terrible from its enormity of
+size, but disconsolate and weary, even as you may see the faces of many
+people, nowadays, who are compelled to sustain burdens above their
+strength. What the sky was to the giant, such are the cares of earth to
+those who let themselves be weighed down by them. And whenever men
+undertake what is beyond the just measure of their abilities, they
+encounter precisely such a doom as had befallen this poor giant.
+
+Poor fellow! He had evidently stood there a long while. An ancient
+forest had been growing and decaying around his feet; and oak trees, of
+six or seven centuries old, had sprung from the acorn, and forced
+themselves between his toes.
+
+The giant now looked down from the far height of his great eyes, and,
+perceiving Hercules, roared out, in a voice that resembled thunder,
+proceeding out of the cloud that had just flitted away from his face.
+
+"Who are you, down at my feet there? And whence do you come in that
+little cup?"
+
+"I am Hercules!" thundered back the hero, in a voice pretty nearly or
+quite as loud as the giant's own. "And I am seeking for the garden of
+the Hesperides!"
+
+"Ho! ho! ho!" roared the giant, in a fit of immense laughter. "That is a
+wise adventure, truly!"
+
+"And why not?" cried Hercules, getting a little angry at the giant's
+mirth. "Do you think I am afraid of the dragon with a hundred heads!"
+
+Just at this time, while they were talking together, some black clouds
+gathered about the giant's middle, and burst into a tremendous storm of
+thunder and lightning, causing such a pother that Hercules found it
+impossible to distinguish a word. Only the giant's immeasurable legs
+were to be seen, standing up into the obscurity of the tempest; and, now
+and then, a momentary glimpse of his whole figure, mantled in a volume
+of mist. He seemed to be speaking, most of the time; but his big, deep,
+rough voice chimed in with the reverberations of the thunder claps, and
+rolled away over the hills, like them. Thus, by talking out of season,
+the foolish giant expended an incalculable quantity of breath to no
+purpose; for the thunder spoke quite as intelligibly as he.
+
+At last, the storm swept over as suddenly as it had come. And there
+again was the clear sky, and the weary giant holding it up, and the
+pleasant sunshine beaming over his vast height, and illuminating it
+against the background of the sullen thunder clouds. So far above the
+shower had been his head, that not a hair of it was moistened by the
+rain-drops!
+
+When the giant could see Hercules still standing on the seashore, he
+roared out to him anew.
+
+"I am Atlas, the mightiest giant in the world! And I hold the sky upon
+my head!"
+
+"So I see," answered Hercules. "But, can you show me the way to the
+garden of the Hesperides?"
+
+"What do you want there?" asked the giant.
+
+"I want three of the golden apples," shouted Hercules, "for my cousin,
+the king."
+
+"There is nobody but myself," quoth the giant, "that can go to the
+garden of the Hesperides, and gather the golden apples. If it were not
+for this little business of holding up the sky, I would make half a
+dozen steps across the sea and get them for you."
+
+"You are very kind," replied Hercules. "And cannot you rest the sky upon
+a mountain?"
+
+"None of them are quite high enough," said Atlas, shaking his head. "But
+if you were to take your stand on the summit of that nearest one, your
+head would be pretty nearly on a level with mine. You seem to be a
+fellow of some strength. What if you should take my burden on your
+shoulders, while I do your errand for you?"
+
+Hercules, as you must be careful to remember, was a remarkably strong
+man; and though it certainly requires a great deal of muscular power to
+uphold the sky, yet, if any mortal could be supposed capable of such an
+exploit, he was the one. Nevertheless, it seemed so difficult an
+undertaking that, for the first time in his life, he hesitated.
+
+"Is the sky very heavy?" he inquired.
+
+"Why, not particularly so, at first," answered the giant, shrugging his
+shoulders. "But it gets to be a little burdensome after a thousand
+years!"
+
+"And how long a time," asked the hero, "will it take you to get the
+golden apples?"
+
+"Oh, that will be done in a few moments," cried Atlas. "I shall take ten
+or fifteen miles at a stride, and be at the garden and back again before
+your shoulders begin to ache."
+
+"Well, then," answered Hercules, "I will climb the mountain behind you
+there and relieve you of your burden."
+
+The truth is, Hercules had a kind heart of his own, and considered that
+he should be doing the giant a favour by allowing him this opportunity
+for a ramble. And, besides, he thought that it would be still more for
+his own glory if he could boast of upholding the sky, than merely to do
+so ordinary a thing as to conquer a dragon with a hundred heads.
+Accordingly, without more words, the sky was shifted from the shoulders
+of Atlas and placed upon those of Hercules.
+
+When this was safely accomplished, the first thing that the giant did
+was to stretch himself; and you may imagine what a prodigious spectacle
+he was then. Next, lie slowly lifted one of his feet out of the forest
+that had grown up around it; then, the other. Then, all at once, he
+began to caper, and leap, and dance for joy at his freedom; flinging
+himself nobody knows how high into the air, and floundering down again
+with a shock that made the earth tremble. Then he laughed--Ho! ho!
+ho!--with a thunderous roar that was echoed from the mountains, far and
+near, as if they and the giant had been so many rejoicing brothers. When
+his joy had a little subsided, he stepped into the sea; ten miles at the
+first stride, which brought him midleg deep; and ten miles at the
+second, when the water came just above his knees; and ten miles more at
+the third, by which he was immersed nearly to his waist. This was the
+greatest depth of the sea.
+
+Hercules watched the giant as he still went onward; for it was really a
+wonderful sight, this immense human form, more than thirty miles off,
+half hidden in the ocean, but with his upper half as tall, and misty,
+and blue as a distant mountain. At last the gigantic shape faded
+entirely out of view. And now Hercules began to consider what he should
+do in case Atlas should be drowned in the sea, or if he were to be stung
+to death by the dragon with the hundred heads, which guarded the golden
+apples of the Hesperides. If any such misfortune were to happen, how
+could he ever get rid of the sky? And, by the by, its weight began
+already to be a little irksome to his head and shoulders.
+
+"I really pity the poor giant," thought Hercules. "If it wearies me so
+much in ten minutes, how must it have wearied him in a thousand years!"
+
+O my sweet little people, you have no idea what a weight there was in
+that same blue sky, which looks so soft and aërial above our heads! And
+there, too, was the bluster of the wind, and the chill and watery
+clouds, and the blazing sun, all taking their turns to make Hercules
+uncomfortable! He began to be afraid that the giant would never come
+back. He gazed wistfully at the world beneath him, and acknowledged to
+himself that it was a far happier kind of life to be a shepherd at the
+foot of a mountain than to stand on its dizzy summit and bear up the
+firmament with his might and main. For, of course, as you will easily
+understand, Hercules had an immense responsibility on his mind, as well
+as a weight on his head and shoulders. Why, if he did not stand
+perfectly still, and keep the sky immovable, the sun would perhaps be
+put ajar! Or, after nightfall, a great many of the stars might be
+loosened from their places, and shower down, like fiery rain, upon the
+people's heads! And how ashamed would the hero be if, owing to his
+unsteadiness beneath its weight, the sky should crack and show a great
+fissure quite across it!
+
+I know not how long it was before, to his unspeakable joy, he beheld the
+huge shape of the giant, like a cloud, on the far-off edge of the sea.
+At his nearer approach, Atlas held up his hand, in which Hercules could
+perceive three magnificent golden apples, as big as pumpkins, all
+hanging from one branch.
+
+"I am glad to see you again," shouted Hercules, when the giant was
+within hearing. "So you have got the golden apples?"
+
+"Certainly, certainly," answered Atlas; "and very fair apples they are.
+I took the finest that grew on the tree, I assure you. Ah! it is a
+beautiful spot, that garden of Hesperides. Yes; and the dragon with a
+hundred heads is a sight worth any man's seeing. After all, you had
+better have gone for the apples yourself."
+
+"No matter," replied Hercules. "You have had a pleasant ramble, and have
+done the business as well as I could. I heartily thank you for your
+trouble. And now, as I have a long way to go, and am rather in
+haste--and as the king, my cousin, is anxious to receive the golden
+apples--will you be kind enough to take the sky off my shoulders again?"
+
+"Why, as to that," said the giant, chucking the golden apples into the
+air twenty miles high, or thereabouts and catching them as they came
+down--"as to that, my good friend, I consider you a little unreasonable.
+Cannot I carry the golden apples to the king, your cousin, much quicker
+than you could? As His Majesty is in such a hurry to get them, I promise
+you to take my longest strides. And, besides, I have no fancy for
+burdening myself with the sky, just now."
+
+Here Hercules grew impatient, and gave a great shrug of his shoulders.
+It being now twilight, you might have seen two or three stars tumble out
+of their places. Everybody on earth looked upward in affright, thinking
+that the sky might be going to fall next.
+
+"Oh, that will never do!" cried Giant Atlas, with a great roar of
+laughter. "I have not let fall so many stars within the last five
+centuries. By the time you have stood there as long as I did, you will
+begin to learn patience!"
+
+"What!" shouted Hercules, very wrathfully, "do you intend to make me
+bear this burden forever?"
+
+"We will see about that, one of these days," answered the giant. "At all
+events, you ought not to complain if you have to bear it the next
+hundred years, or perhaps the next thousand. I bore it a good while
+longer, in spite of the backache. Well, then, after a thousand years, if
+I happen to feel in the mood, we may possibly shift about again. You are
+certainly a very strong man, and can never have a better opportunity to
+prove it. Posterity will talk of you, I warrant it!"
+
+"Pish! a fig for its talk!" cried Hercules, with another hitch of his
+shoulders. "Just take the sky upon your head one instant, will you? I
+want to make a cushion of my lion's skin, for the weight to rest upon.
+It really chafes me, and will cause unnecessary inconvenience in so many
+centuries as I am to stand here."
+
+"That's no more than fair, and I'll do it!" quoth the giant; for he had
+no unkind feeling toward Hercules, and was merely acting with a too
+selfish consideration of his own ease. "For just five minutes, then,
+I'll take back the sky. Only for five minutes, recollect! I have no idea
+of spending another thousand years as I spent the last. Variety is the
+spice of life, say I."
+
+Ah, the thick-witted old rogue of a giant! He threw down the golden
+apples, and received back the sky from the head and shoulders of
+Hercules, upon his own, where it rightly belonged. And Hercules picked
+up the three golden apples, that were as big or bigger than pumpkins and
+straightway set out on his journey homeward, without paying the
+slightest heed to the thundering tones of the giant, who bellowed after
+him to come back. Another forest sprang up around his feet, and grew
+ancient there; and again might be seen oak trees, of six or seven
+centuries old, that had waxed thus aged betwixt his enormous toes.
+
+And there stands the giant to this day; or, at any rate, there stands a
+mountain as tall as he, and which bears his name; and when the thunder
+rumbles about its summit, we may imagine it to be the voice of Giant
+Atlas, bellowing after Hercules!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS
+
+
+Mother Ceres was exceedingly fond of her daughter Proserpina, and seldom
+let her go alone into the fields. But, just at the time when my story
+begins, the good lady was very busy, because she had the care of the
+wheat, and the Indian corn, and the rye and barley, and, in short, of
+the crops of every kind, all over the earth; and as the season had thus
+far been uncommonly backward, it was necessary to make the harvest ripen
+more speedily than usual. So she put on her turban, made of poppies (a
+kind of flower which she was always noted for wearing) and got into her
+car drawn by a pair of winged dragons, and was just ready to set off.
+
+"Dear mother," said Proserpina, "I shall be very lonely while you are
+away. May I not run down to the shore, and ask some of the sea nymphs to
+come up out of the waves and play with me?"
+
+"Yes, child," answered Mother Ceres. "The sea nymphs are good creatures,
+and will never lead you into any harm. But you must take care not to
+stray away from them, nor go wandering about the fields by yourself.
+Young girls, without their mothers to take care of them, are very apt to
+get into mischief."
+
+The child promised to be as prudent as if she were a grown-up woman,
+and, by the time the winged dragons had whirled the car out of sight,
+she was already on the shore, calling to the sea nymphs to come and
+play with her. They knew Proserpina's voice, and were not long in
+showing their glistening faces and sea-green hair above the water, at
+the bottom of which was their home. They brought along with them a great
+many beautiful shells; and, sitting down on the moist sand, where the
+surf wave broke over them, they busied themselves in making a necklace,
+which they hung round Proserpina's neck. By way of showing her
+gratitude, the child besought them to go with her a little way into the
+fields, so that they might gather abundance of flowers, with which she
+would make each of her kind playmates a wreath.
+
+"Oh, no, dear Proserpina," cried the sea nymphs; "we dare not go with
+you upon the dry land. We are apt to grow faint, unless at every breath
+we can snuff up the salt breeze of the ocean. And don't you see how
+careful we are to let the surf wave break over us every moment or two,
+so as to keep ourselves comfortably moist? If it were not for that, we
+should soon look like bunches of uprooted seaweed dried in the sun."
+
+"It is a great pity," said Proserpina. "But do you wait for me here, and
+I will run and gather my apron full of flowers, and be back again before
+the surf wave has broken ten times over you. I long to make you some
+wreaths that shall be as lovely as this necklace of many-coloured
+shells."
+
+"We will wait, then," answered the sea nymphs. "But while you are gone,
+we may as well lie down on a bank of soft sponge, under the water. The
+air to-day is a little too dry for our comfort. But we will pop up our
+heads every few minutes to see if you are coming."
+
+The young Proserpina ran quickly to a spot where, only the day before,
+she had seen a great many flowers. These, however, were now a little
+past their bloom; and wishing to give her friends the freshest and
+loveliest blossoms, she strayed farther into the fields, and found some
+that made her scream with delight. Never had she met with such exquisite
+flowers before--violets, so large and fragrant--roses, with so rich and
+delicate a blush--such superb hyacinths and such aromatic pinks--and
+many others, some of which seemed to be of new shapes and colours. Two
+or three times, moreover, she could not help thinking that a tuft of
+most splendid flowers had suddenly sprouted out of the earth before her
+very eyes, as if on purpose to tempt her a few steps farther.
+Proserpina's apron was soon filled and brimming over with delightful
+blossoms. She was on the point of turning back in order to rejoin the
+sea nymphs, and sit with them on the moist sands, all twining wreaths
+together. But, a little farther on, what should she behold? It was a
+large shrub, completely covered with the most magnificent flowers in the
+world.
+
+"The darlings!" cried Proserpina; and then she thought to herself, "I
+was looking at that spot only a moment ago. How strange it is that I did
+not see the flowers!"
+
+The nearer she approached the shrub, the more attractive it looked,
+until she came quite close to it; and then, although its beauty was
+richer than words can tell, she hardly knew whether to like it or not.
+It bore above a hundred flowers of the most brilliant hues, and each
+different from the others, but all having a kind of resemblance among
+themselves, which showed them to be sister blossoms. But there was a
+deep, glossy lustre on the leaves of the shrub, and on the petals of the
+flowers, that made Proserpina doubt whether they might not be
+poisonous. To tell you the truth, foolish as it may seem, she was half
+inclined to turn round and run away.
+
+"What a silly child I am!" thought she, taking courage. "It is really
+the most beautiful shrub that ever sprang out of the earth. I will pull
+it up by the roots, and carry it home, and plant it in my mother's
+garden."
+
+Holding up her apron full of flowers with her left hand, Proserpina
+seized the large shrub with the other, and pulled and pulled, but was
+hardly able to loosen the soil about its roots. What a deep-rooted plant
+it was! Again the girl pulled with all her might, and observed that the
+earth began to stir and crack to some distance around the stem. She gave
+another pull, but relaxed her hold, fancying that there was a rumbling
+sound right beneath her feet. Did the roots extend down into some
+enchanted cavern? Then, laughing at herself for so childish a notion,
+she made another effort; up came the shrub, and Proserpina staggered
+back, holding the stem triumphantly in her hand, and gazing at the deep
+hole which its roots had left in the soil.
+
+Much to her astonishment, this hole kept spreading wider and wider, and
+growing deeper and deeper, until it really seemed to have no bottom; and
+all the while, there came a rumbling noise out of its depths, louder and
+louder, and nearer and nearer, and sounding like the tramp of horses'
+hoofs and the rattling of wheels. Too much frightened to run away, she
+stood straining her eyes into this wonderful cavity, and soon saw a team
+of four sable horses, snorting smoke out of their nostrils, and tearing
+their way out of the earth with a splendid golden chariot whirling at
+their heels. They leaped out of the bottomless hole, chariot and all;
+and there they were, tossing their black manes, flourishing their black
+tails, and curveting with every one of their hoofs off the ground at
+once, close by the spot where Proserpina stood. In the chariot sat the
+figure of a man, richly dressed, with a crown on his head, all flaming
+with diamonds. He was of a noble aspect, and rather handsome, but looked
+sullen and discontented; and he kept rubbing his eyes and shading them
+with his hand, as if he did not live enough in the sunshine to be very
+fond of its light.
+
+As soon as this personage saw the affrighted Proserpina, he beckoned her
+to come a little nearer.
+
+"Do not be afraid," said he, with as cheerful a smile as he knew how to
+put on. "Come! Will not you like to ride a little way with me, in my
+beautiful chariot?"
+
+But Proserpina was so alarmed that she wished for nothing but to get out
+of his reach. And no wonder. The stranger did not look remarkably
+good-natured, in spite of his smile; and as for his voice, its tones
+were deep and stern, and sounded as much like the rumbling of an
+earthquake under ground as anything else. As is always the case with
+children in trouble, Proserpina's first thought was to call for her
+mother.
+
+"Mother, Mother Ceres!" cried she, all in a tremble. "Come quickly and
+save me."
+
+But her voice was too faint for her mother to hear. Indeed, it is most
+probable that Ceres was then a thousand miles off, making the corn grow
+in some far-distant country. Nor could it have availed her poor
+daughter, even had she been within hearing; for no sooner did Proserpina
+begin to cry out than the stranger leaped to the ground, caught the
+child in his arms, and again mounting the chariot, shook the reins, and
+shouted to the four black horses to set off. They immediately broke into
+so swift a gallop that it seemed rather like flying through the air
+than running along the earth. In a moment, Proserpina lost sight of the
+pleasant vale of Enna, in which she had always dwelt. Another instant,
+and even the summit of Mount Ætna had become so blue in the distance
+that she could scarcely distinguish it from the smoke that gushed out of
+its crater. But still the poor child screamed and scattered her apron
+full of flowers along the way, and left a long cry trailing behind
+the chariot; and many mothers, to whose ears it came, ran quickly to see
+if any mischief had befallen their children. But Mother Ceres was a
+great way off, and could not hear the cry.
+
+As they rode on, the stranger did his best to soothe her.
+
+"Why should you be so frightened, my pretty child?" said he, trying to
+soften his rough voice. "I promise not to do you any harm. What! You
+have been gathering flowers? Wait till we come to my palace, and I will
+give you a garden full of prettier flowers than those, all made of
+pearls, and diamonds, and rubies. Can you guess who I am? They call my
+name Pluto, and I am the king of diamonds and all other precious stones.
+Every atom of the gold and silver that lies under the earth belongs to
+me, to say nothing of the copper and iron, and of the coal mines, which
+supply me with abundance of fuel. Do you see this splendid crown upon my
+head? You may have it for a plaything. Oh, we shall be very good
+friends, and you will find me more agreeable than you expect, when once
+we get out of this troublesome sunshine."
+
+"Let me go home!" cried Proserpina--"let me go home!"
+
+"My home is better than your mother's," answered King Pluto. "It is a
+palace, all made of gold, with crystal windows; and because there is
+little or no sunshine thereabouts, the apartments are illuminated with
+diamond lamps. You never saw anything half so magnificent as my throne.
+If you like, you may sit down on it, and be my little queen, and I will
+sit on the footstool."
+
+"I don't care for golden palaces and thrones," sobbed Proserpina. "Oh,
+my mother, my mother! Carry me back to my mother!"
+
+But King Pluto, as he called himself, only shouted to his steeds to go
+faster.
+
+"Pray do not be foolish, Proserpina," said he, in rather a sullen tone,
+"I offer you my palace and my crown, and all the riches that are under
+the earth; and you treat me as if I were doing you an injury. The one
+thing which my palace needs is a merry little maid, to run up stairs and
+down, and cheer up the rooms with her smile. And this is what you must
+do for King Pluto."
+
+"Never!" answered Proserpina, looking as miserable as she could. "I
+shall never smile again till you set me down at my mother's door."
+
+But she might just as well have talked to the wind that whistled past
+them; for Pluto urged on his horses, and went faster than ever.
+Proserpina continued to cry out, and screamed so long and so loudly that
+her poor little voice was almost screamed away; and when it was nothing
+but a whisper, she happened to cast her eyes over a great, broad field
+of waving grain--and whom do you think she saw? Whom but Mother Ceres,
+making the corn grow, and too busy to notice the golden chariot as it
+went rattling along. The child mustered all her strength, and gave one
+more scream, but was out of sight before Ceres had time to turn her
+head.
+
+King Pluto had taken a road which now began to grow excessively gloomy.
+It was bordered on each side with rocks and precipices, between which
+the rumbling of the chariot wheels was reverberated with a noise like
+rolling thunder. The trees and bushes that grew in the crevices of the
+rocks had very dismal foliage; and by and by, although it was hardly
+noon, the air became obscured with a gray twilight. The black horses had
+rushed along so swiftly that they were already beyond the limits of the
+sunshine. But the duskier it grew, the more did Pluto's visage assume an
+air of satisfaction. After all, he was not an ill-looking person,
+especially when he left off twisting his features into a smile that did
+not belong to them. Proserpina peeped at his face through the gathering
+dusk, and hoped that he might not be so very wicked as she at first
+thought him.
+
+"Ah, this twilight is truly refreshing," said King Pluto, "after being
+so tormented with that ugly and impertinent glare of the sun. How much
+more agreeable is lamp-light or torchlight, more particularly when
+reflected from diamonds! It will be a magnificent sight when we get to
+my palace."
+
+"Is it much farther?" asked Proserpina. "And will you carry me back when
+I have seen it?"
+
+"We will talk of that by and by," answered Pluto. "We are just entering
+my dominions. Do you see that tall gateway before us? When we pass those
+gates, we are at home. And there lies my faithful mastiff at the
+threshold. Cerberus! Cerberus! Come hither, my good dog!"
+
+So saying, Pluto pulled at the reins, and stopped the chariot right
+between the tall, massive pillars of the gateway. The mastiff of which
+he had spoken got up from the threshold and stood on his hinder legs, so
+as to put his fore paws on the chariot wheel. But, my stars, what a
+strange dog it was! Why, he was a big, rough, ugly-looking monster, with
+three separate heads, and each of them fiercer than the two others; but,
+fierce as they were, King Pluto patted them all. He seemed as fond of
+his three-headed dog as if it had been a sweet little spaniel with
+silken ears and curly hair. Cerberus, on the other hand, was evidently
+rejoiced to see his master, and expressed his attachment, as other dogs
+do, by wagging his tail at a great rate. Proserpina's eyes being drawn
+to it by its brisk motion, she saw that this tail was neither more nor
+less than a live dragon, with fiery eyes, and fangs that had a very
+poisonous aspect. And while the three-headed Cerberus was fawning so
+lovingly on King Pluto, there was the dragon tail wagging against its
+will, and looking as cross and ill-natured as you can imagine, on its
+own separate account.
+
+"Will the dog bite me?" asked Proserpina, shrinking closer to Pluto.
+"What an ugly creature he is!"
+
+"Oh, never fear," answered her companion. "He never harms people, unless
+they try to enter my dominions without being sent for, or to get away
+when I wish to keep them here. Down, Cerberus! Now, my pretty
+Proserpina, we will drive on."
+
+On went the chariot, and King Pluto seemed greatly pleased to find
+himself once more in his own kingdom. He drew Proserpina's attention to
+the rich veins of gold that were to be seen among the rocks, and pointed
+to several places where one stroke of a pickaxe would loosen a bushel of
+diamonds. All along the road, indeed, there were sparkling gems which
+would have been of inestimable value above ground, but which were here
+reckoned of the meaner sort and hardly worth a beggar's stooping for.
+
+Not far from the gateway they came to a bridge which seemed to be built
+of iron, Pluto stopped the chariot, and bade Proserpina look at the
+stream which was gliding so lazily beneath it. Never in her life had she
+beheld so torpid, so black, so muddy looking a stream: its waters
+reflected no images of anything that was on the banks, and it moved as
+sluggishly as if it had quite forgotten which way it ought to flow, and
+had rather stagnate than flow either one way or the other.
+
+"This is the river Lethe," observed King Pluto. "Is it not a very
+pleasant stream?"
+
+"I think it a very dismal one," said Proserpina.
+
+"It suits my taste, however," answered Pluto, who was apt to be sullen
+when anybody disagreed with him. "At all events, its water has one very
+excellent quality; for a single draught of it makes people forget every
+care and sorrow that has hitherto tormented them. Only sip a little of
+it, my dear Proserpina, and you will instantly cease to grieve for your
+mother, and will have nothing in your memory that can prevent your being
+perfectly happy in my palace. I will send for some, in a golden goblet,
+the moment we arrive."
+
+"Oh no, no, no!" cried Proserpina, weeping afresh. "I had a thousand
+times rather be miserable with remembering my mother, than be happy in
+forgetting her. That dear, dear mother! I never, never will forget her."
+
+"We shall see," said King Pluto. "You do not know what fine times we
+will have in my palace. Here we are just at the portal. These pillars
+are solid gold, I assure you."
+
+He alighted from the chariot, and taking Proserpina in his arms, carried
+her up a lofty flight of steps into the great hall of the palace. It
+was splendidly illuminated by means of large precious stones of various
+hues, which seemed to burn like so many lamps and glowed with a
+hundred-fold radiance all through the vast apartment. And yet there was
+a kind of gloom in the midst of this enchanted light; nor was there a
+single object in the hall that was really agreeable to behold, except
+the little Proserpina herself, a lovely child, with one earthly flower
+which she had not let fall from her hand. It is my opinion that even
+King Pluto had never been happy in his palace, and that this was the
+true reason why he had stolen away Proserpina, in order that he might
+have something to love, instead of cheating his heart any longer with
+this tiresome magnificence. And though he pretended to dislike the
+sunshine of the upper world, yet the effect of the child's presence,
+bedimmed as she was by her tears, was as if a faint and watery sunbeam
+had somehow or other found its way into the enchanted hall.
+
+Pluto now summoned his domestics, and bade them lose no time in
+preparing a most sumptuous banquet, and above all things not to fail of
+setting a golden beaker of the water of Lethe by Proserpina's plate.
+
+"I will neither drink that nor anything else," said Proserpina. "Nor
+will I taste a morsel of food, even if you keep me forever in your
+palace."
+
+"I should be sorry for that," replied King Pluto, patting her cheek; for
+he really wished to be kind, if he had only known how. "You are a
+spoiled child, I perceive, my little Proserpina; but when you see the
+nice things which my cook will make for you, your appetite will quickly
+come again."
+
+Then, sending for the head cook, he gave strict orders that all sorts
+of delicacies, such as young people are usually fond of, should be set
+before Proserpina. He had a secret motive in this; for, you are to
+understand, it is a fixed law that, when persons are carried off to the
+land of magic, if they once taste any food there, they can never get
+back to their friends. Now, if King Pluto had been cunning enough to
+offer Proserpina some fruit, or bread and milk (which was the simple
+fare to which the child had always been accustomed), it is very probable
+that she would soon have been tempted to eat it. But he left the matter
+entirely to his cook, who, like all other cooks, considered nothing fit
+to eat unless it were rich pastry, or highly seasoned meat, or spiced
+sweet cakes--things which Proserpina's mother had never given her, and
+the smell of which quite took away her appetite, instead of sharpening
+it.
+
+But my story must now clamber out of King Pluto's dominions, and see
+what Mother Ceres has been about since she was bereft of her daughter.
+We had a glimpse of her, as you remember, half hidden among the waving
+grain, while the four black steeds were swiftly whirling along the
+chariot in which her beloved Proserpina was so unwillingly borne away.
+You recollect, too, the loud scream which Proserpina gave, just when the
+chariot was out of sight.
+
+Of all the child's outcries, this last shriek was the only one that
+reached the ears of Mother Ceres. She had mistaken the rumbling of the
+chariot wheels for a peal of thunder, and imagined that a shower was
+coming up, and that it would assist her in making the corn grow. But, at
+the sound of Proserpina's shriek, she started, and looked about in every
+direction, not knowing whence it came, but feeling almost certain that
+it was her daughter's voice. It seemed so unaccountable, however, that
+the girl should have strayed over so many lands and seas (which she
+herself could not have traversed without the aid of her winged dragons),
+that the good Ceres tried to believe that it must be the child of some
+other parent, and not her own darling Proserpina who had uttered this
+lamentable cry. Nevertheless, it troubled her with a vast many tender
+fears, such as are ready to bestir themselves in every mother's heart,
+when she finds it necessary to go away from her dear children without
+leaving them under the care of some maiden aunt, or other such faithful
+guardian. So she quickly left the field in which she had been so busy;
+and, as her work was not half done, the grain looked, next day, as if it
+needed both sun and rain, and as if it were blighted in the ear and had
+something the matter with its roots.
+
+The pair of dragons must have had very nimble wings; for, in less than
+an hour, Mother Ceres had alighted at the door of her home and found it
+empty. Knowing, however, that the child was fond of sporting on the
+seashore, she hastened thither as fast as she could, and there beheld
+the wet faces of the poor sea nymphs peeping over a wave. All this
+while, the good creatures had been waiting on the bank of sponge, and,
+once every half-minute or so, had popped up their four heads above
+water, to see if their playmate were yet coming back. When they saw
+Mother Ceres, they sat down on the crest of the surf wave, and let it
+toss them ashore at her feet.
+
+"Where is Proserpina?" cried Ceres. "Where is my child? Tell me, you
+naughty sea nymphs, have you enticed her under the sea?"
+
+"Oh, no, good Mother Ceres," said the innocent sea nymphs, tossing back
+their green ringlets and looking her in the face. "We never should dream
+of such a thing. Proserpina has been at play with us, it is true; but
+she left us a long while ago, meaning only to run a little way upon the
+dry land and gather some flowers for a wreath. This was early in the
+day, and we have seen nothing of her since."
+
+Ceres scarcely waited to hear what the nymphs had to say before she
+hurried off to make inquiries all through the neighbourhood. But nobody
+told her anything that could enable the poor mother to guess what had
+become of Proserpina. A fisherman, it is true, had noticed her little
+footprints in the sand, as he went homeward along the beach with a
+basket of fish; a rustic had seen the child stooping to gather flowers;
+several persons had heard either the rattling of chariot wheels or the
+rumbling of distant thunder; and one old woman, while plucking vervain
+and catnip, had heard a scream, but supposed it to be some childish
+nonsense, and therefore did not take the trouble to look up. The stupid
+people! It took them such a tedious while to tell the nothing that they
+knew, that it was dark night before Mother Ceres found out that she must
+seek her daughter elsewhere. So she lighted a torch, and set forth,
+resolving never to come back until Proserpina was discovered.
+
+In her haste and trouble of mind, she quite forgot her car and the
+winged dragons; or, it may be, she thought that she could follow up the
+search more thoroughly on foot. At all events, this was the way in which
+she began her sorrowful journey, holding her torch before her, and
+looking carefully at every object along the path. And as it happened,
+she had not gone far before she found one of the magnificent flowers
+which grew on the shrub that Proserpina had pulled up.
+
+"Ha!" thought Mother Ceres, examining it by torchlight. "Here is
+mischief in this flower! The earth did not produce it by any help of
+mine, nor of its own accord. It is the work of enchantment, and is
+therefore poisonous; and perhaps it has poisoned my poor child."
+
+But she put the poisonous flower in her bosom, not knowing whether she
+might ever find any other memorial of Proserpina.
+
+All night long, at the door of every cottage and farmhouse, Ceres
+knocked and called up the weary labourers to inquire if they had seen
+her child; and they stood, gaping and half asleep, at the threshold, and
+answered her pityingly, and besought her to come in and rest. At the
+portal of every palace, too, she made so loud a summons that the menials
+hurried to throw open the gate, thinking that it must be some great king
+or queen, who would demand a banquet for supper and a stately chamber to
+repose in. And when they saw only a sad and anxious woman, with a torch
+in her hand and a wreath of withered poppies on her head, they spoke
+rudely, and sometimes threatened to set the dogs upon her. But nobody
+had seen Proserpina, nor could give Mother Ceres the least hint which
+way to seek her. Thus passed the night; and still she continued her
+search without sitting down to rest, or stopping to take food, or even
+remembering to put out the torch; although first the rosy dawn, and then
+the glad light of the morning sun, made its red flame look thin and
+pale. But I wonder what sort of stuff this torch was made of; for it
+burned dimly through the day, and, at night, was as bright as ever, and
+never was extinguished by the rain or wind in all the weary days and
+nights while Ceres was seeking for Proserpina.
+
+It was not merely of human beings that she asked tidings of her
+daughter. In the woods and by the streams she met creatures of another
+nature, who used, in those old times, to haunt the pleasant and solitary
+places, and were very sociable with persons who understood their
+language and customs, as Mother Ceres did. Sometimes, for instance, she
+tapped with her finger against the knotted trunk of a majestic oak; and
+immediately its rude bark would cleave asunder, and forth would step a
+beautiful maiden, who was the hamadryad of the oak, dwelling inside of
+it, and sharing its long life, and rejoicing when its green leaves
+sported with the breeze. But not one of these leafy damsels had seen
+Proserpina. Then, going a little farther, Ceres would, perhaps, come to
+a fountain gushing out of a pebbly hollow in the earth, and would dabble
+with her hand in the water. Behold, up through its sandy and pebbly bed,
+along with the fountain's gush, a young woman with dripping hair would
+arise, and stand gazing at Mother Ceres, half out of the water, and
+undulating up and down with its ever-restless motion. But when the
+mother asked whether her poor lost child had stopped to drink out of the
+fountain, the naiad, with weeping eyes (for these water nymphs had tears
+to spare for everybody's grief), would answer, "No!" in a murmuring
+voice, which was just like the murmur of the stream.
+
+Often, likewise, she encountered fauns, who looked like sunburnt country
+people, except that they had hairy ears, and little horns upon their
+foreheads, and the hinder legs of goats, on which they gambolled merrily
+about the woods and fields. They were a frolicsome kind of creature,
+but grew as sad as their cheerful dispositions would allow when Ceres
+inquired for her daughter, and they had no good news to tell. But
+sometimes she came suddenly upon a rude gang of satyrs, who had faces
+like monkeys and horses' tails behind them, and who were generally
+dancing in a very boisterous manner, with shouts of noisy laughter. When
+she stopped to question them, they would only laugh the louder and make
+new merriment out of the lone woman's distress. How unkind of those ugly
+satyrs! And once, while crossing a solitary sheep pasture, she saw a
+personage named Pan, seated at the foot of a tall rock and making music
+on a shepherd's flute. He, too, had horns, and hairy ears, and goat's
+feet; but, being acquainted with Mother Ceres, he answered her question
+as civilly as he knew how, and invited her to taste some milk and honey
+out of a wooden bowl. But neither could Pan tell her what had become of
+Proserpina, any better than the rest of these wild people.
+
+And thus Mother Ceres went wandering about for nine long days and
+nights, finding no trace of Proserpina, unless it were now and then a
+withered flower; and these she picked up and put in her bosom, because
+she fancied that they might have fallen from her poor child's hand. All
+day she travelled onward through the hot sun; and at night, again, the
+flame of the torch would redden and gleam along the pathway, and she
+continued her search by its light, without ever sitting down to rest.
+
+On the tenth day, she chanced to espy the mouth of a cavern, within
+which (though it was bright noon everywhere else) there would have been
+only a dusky twilight; but it so happened that a torch was burning
+there. It flickered, and struggled with the duskiness, but could not
+half light up the gloomy cavern with all its melancholy glimmer. Ceres
+was resolved to leave no spot without a search; so she peeped into the
+entrance of the cave, and lighted it up a little more by holding her own
+torch before her. In so doing, she caught a glimpse of what seemed to be
+a woman, sitting on the brown leaves of the last autumn, a great heap of
+which had been swept into the cave by the wind. This woman (if woman it
+were) was by no means so beautiful as many of her sex; for her head,
+they tell me, was shaped very much like a dog's, and, by way of
+ornament, she wore a wreath of snakes around it. But Mother Ceres, the
+moment she saw her, knew that this was an odd kind of a person, who put
+all her enjoyment in being miserable, and never would have a word to say
+to other people, unless they were as melancholy and wretched as she
+herself delighted to be.
+
+"I am wretched enough now," thought poor Ceres, "to talk with this
+melancholy Hecate, were she ten times sadder than ever she was yet."
+
+So she stepped into the cave, and sat down on the withered leaves by the
+dog-headed woman's side. In all the world, since her daughter's loss,
+she had found no other companion.
+
+"O Hecate," said she, "if ever you lose a daughter, you will know what
+sorrow is. Tell me, for pity's sake, have you seen my poor child
+Proserpina pass by the mouth of your cavern?"
+
+"No," answered Hecate, in a cracked voice, and sighing betwixt every
+word or two--"no, Mother Ceres, I have seen nothing of your daughter.
+But my ears, you must know, are made in such a way that all cries of
+distress and affright, all over the world, are pretty sure to find
+their way to them; and nine days ago, as I sat in my cave, making myself
+very miserable, I heard the voice of a young girl shrieking as if in
+great distress. Something terrible has happened to the child, you may
+rest assured. As well as I could judge, a dragon, or some other cruel
+monster, was carrying her away."
+
+"You kill me by saying so," cried Ceres, almost ready to faint. "Where
+was the sound, and which way did it seem to go?"
+
+"It passed very swiftly along," said Hecate, "and, at the same time,
+there was a heavy rumbling of wheels toward the eastward. I can tell you
+nothing more, except that, in my honest opinion, you will never see your
+daughter again. The best advice I can give you is to take up your abode
+in this cavern, where we will be the two most wretched women in the
+world."
+
+"Not yet, dark Hecate," replied Ceres. "But do you first come with your
+torch, and help me to seek for my lost child. And when there shall be no
+more hope of finding her (if that black day is ordained to come), then,
+if you will give me room to fling myself down, either on these withered
+leaves or on the naked rock, I will show you what it is to be miserable.
+But, until I know that she has perished from the face of the earth, I
+will not allow myself space even to grieve."
+
+The dismal Hecate did not much like the idea of going abroad into the
+sunny world. But then she reflected that the sorrow of the disconsolate
+Ceres would be like a gloomy twilight round about them both, let the sun
+shine ever so brightly, and that therefore she might enjoy her bad
+spirits quite as well as if she were to stay in the cave. So she finally
+consented to go, and they set out together, both carrying torches,
+although it was broad daylight and clear sunshine. The torchlight
+seemed to make a gloom; so that the people whom they met along the road
+could not very distinctly see their figures; and, indeed, if they once
+caught a glimpse of Hecate, with the wreath of snakes round her
+forehead, they generally thought it prudent to run away without waiting
+for a second glance.
+
+As the pair travelled along in this woebegone manner, a thought struck
+Ceres.
+
+"There is one person," she exclaimed, "who must have seen my poor child,
+and can doubtless tell what has become of her. Why did not I think of
+him before? It is Phoebus."
+
+"What," said Hecate, "the young man that always sits in the sunshine?
+Oh, pray do not think of going near him. He is a gay, light, frivolous
+young fellow, and will only smile in your face. And besides, there is
+such a glare of the sun about him that he will quite blind my poor eyes,
+which I have almost wept away already."
+
+"You have promised to be my companion," answered Ceres. "Come, let us
+make haste, or the sunshine will be gone, and Phoebus along with it."
+
+Accordingly, they went along in quest of Phoebus, both of them sighing
+grievously, and Hecate, to say the truth, making a great deal worse
+lamentation than Ceres; for all the pleasure she had, you know, lay in
+being miserable, and therefore she made the most of it. By and by, after
+a pretty long journey, they arrived at the sunniest spot in the whole
+world. There they beheld a beautiful young man, with long, curling
+ringlets, which seemed to be made of golden sunbeams; his garments were
+like light summer clouds; and the expression of his face was so
+exceedingly vivid that Hecate held her hands before her eyes, muttering
+that he ought to wear a black veil. Phoebus (for this was the very
+person whom they were seeking) had a lyre in his hands, and was making
+its chords tremble with sweet music; at the same time singing a most
+exquisite song, which he had recently composed. For, besides a great
+many other accomplishments, this young man was renowned for his
+admirable poetry.
+
+As Ceres and her dismal companion approached him, Phoebus smiled on
+them so cheerfully that Hecate's wreath of snakes gave a spiteful hiss,
+and Hecate heartily wished herself back in her cave. But as for Ceres,
+she was too earnest in her grief either to know or care whether
+Phoebus smiled or frowned.
+
+"Phoebus!" exclaimed she, "I am in great trouble, and have come to you
+for assistance. Can you tell me what has become of my dear child
+Proserpina?"
+
+"Proserpina! Proserpina, did you call her name?" answered Phoebus,
+endeavouring to recollect; for there was such a continual flow of
+pleasant ideas in his mind that he was apt to forget what had happened
+no longer ago than yesterday. "Ah, yes, I remember her now. A very
+lovely child, indeed. I am happy to tell you, my dear madam, that I did
+see the little Proserpina not many days ago. You may make yourself
+perfectly easy about her. She is safe, and in excellent hands."
+
+"Oh, where is my dear child?" cried Ceres, clasping her hands and
+flinging herself at his feet.
+
+"Why," said Phoebus--and as he spoke, he kept touching his lyre so as
+to make a thread of music run in and out among his words--"as the little
+damsel was gathering flowers (and she has really a very exquisite taste
+for flowers) she was suddenly snatched up by King Pluto and carried off
+to his dominions. I have never been in that part of the universe; but
+the royal palace, I am told, is built in a very noble style of
+architecture, and of the most splendid and costly materials. Gold,
+diamonds, pearls, and all manner of precious stones will be your
+daughter's ordinary playthings. I recommend to you, my dear lady, to
+give yourself no uneasiness. Proserpina's sense of beauty will be duly
+gratified, and, even in spite of the lack of sunshine, she will lead a
+very enviable life."
+
+"Hush! Say not such a word!" answered Ceres, indignantly. "What is there
+to gratify her heart? What are all the splendours you speak of, without
+affection? I must have her back again. Will you go with me, Phoebus,
+to demand my daughter of this wicked Pluto?"
+
+"Pray excuse me," replied Phoebus, with an elegant obeisance. "I
+certainly wish you success, and regret that my own affairs are so
+immediately pressing that I cannot have the pleasure of attending you.
+Besides, I am not upon the best of terms with King Pluto. To tell you
+the truth, his three-headed mastiff would never let me pass the gateway;
+for I should be compelled to take a sheaf of sunbeams along with me, and
+those, you know, are forbidden things in Pluto's kingdom."
+
+"Ah, Phoebus," said Ceres, with bitter meaning in her words, "you have
+a harp instead of a heart. Farewell."
+
+"Will not you stay a moment," asked Phoebus, "and hear me turn the
+pretty and touching story of Proserpina into extemporary verses?"
+
+But Ceres shook her head, and hastened away, along with Hecate.
+Phoebus (who, as I have told you, was an exquisite poet) forthwith
+began to make an ode about the poor mother's grief; and, if we were to
+judge of his sensibility by this beautiful production, he must have
+been endowed with a very tender heart. But when a poet gets into the
+habit of using his heartstrings to make chords for his lyre, he may
+thrum upon them as much as he will, without any great pain to himself.
+Accordingly, though Phoebus sang a very sad song, he was as merry all
+the while as were the sunbeams amid which he dwelt.
+
+Poor Mother Ceres had now found out what had become of her daughter, but
+was not a whit happier than before. Her case, on the contrary, looked
+more desperate than ever. As long as Proserpina was above ground there
+might have been hopes of regaining her. But now, that the poor child was
+shut up within the iron gates of the king of the mines, at the threshold
+of which lay the three-headed Cerberus, there seemed no possibility of
+her ever making her escape. The dismal Hecate, who loved to take the
+darkest view of things, told Ceres that she had better come with her to
+the cavern, and spend the rest of her life in being miserable. Ceres
+answered that Hecate was welcome to go back thither herself, but that,
+for her part, she would wander about the earth in quest of the entrance
+to King Pluto's dominions. And Hecate took her at her word, and hurried
+back to her beloved cave, frightening a great many little children with
+a glimpse of her dog's face as she went.
+
+Poor Mother Ceres! It is melancholy to think of her, pursuing her
+toilsome way all alone, and holding up that never-dying torch, the flame
+of which seemed an emblem of the grief and hope that burned together in
+her heart. So much did she suffer that, though her aspect had been quite
+youthful when her troubles began, she grew to look like an elderly
+person in a very brief time. She cared not how she was dressed, nor had
+she ever thought of flinging away the wreath of withered poppies which
+she put on the very morning of Proserpina's disappearance. She roamed
+about in so wild a way, and with her hair so dishevelled, that people
+took her for some distracted creature, and never dreamed that this was
+Mother Ceres, who had the oversight of every seed which the husband-man
+planted. Nowadays, however, she gave herself no trouble about seed time
+nor harvest, but left the farmers to take care of their own affairs, and
+the crops to fade or flourish, as the case might be. There was nothing,
+now, in which Ceres seemed to feel an interest, unless when she saw
+children at play, or gathering flowers along the wayside. Then, indeed,
+she would stand and gaze at them with tears in her eyes. The children,
+too, appeared to have a sympathy with her grief, and would cluster
+themselves in a little group about her knees, and look up wistfully in
+her face; and Ceres, after giving them a kiss all round, would lead them
+to their homes, and advise their mothers never to let them stray out of
+sight.
+
+"For if they do," said she, "it may happen to you, as it has to me, that
+the iron-hearted King Pluto will take a liking to your darlings, and
+snatch them up in his chariot, and carry them away."
+
+One day, during her pilgrimage in quest of the entrance to Pluto's
+kingdom, she came to the palace of King Celeus, who reigned at Eleusis.
+Ascending a lofty flight of steps, she entered the portal, and found the
+royal household in very great alarm about the queen's baby. The infant,
+it seems, was sickly (being troubled with its teeth, I suppose), and
+would take no food, and was all the time moaning with pain. The
+queen--her name was Metanira--was desirous of finding a nurse; and when
+she beheld a woman of matronly aspect coming up the palace steps, she
+thought, in her own mind, that here was the very person whom she needed.
+So Queen Metanira ran to the door, with the poor wailing baby in her
+arms, and besought Ceres to take charge of it, or, at least, to tell her
+what would do it good.
+
+"Will you trust the child entirely to me?" asked Ceres.
+
+"Yes, and gladly, too," answered the queen, "if you will devote all your
+time to him. For I can see that you have been a mother."
+
+"You are right," said Ceres. "I once had a child of my own. Well; I will
+be the nurse of this poor, sickly boy. But beware, I warn you, that you
+do not interfere with any kind of treatment which I may judge proper for
+him. If you do so, the poor infant must suffer for his mother's folly."
+
+Then she kissed the child, and it seemed to do him good; for he smiled
+and nestled closely into her bosom.
+
+So Mother Ceres set her torch in a corner (where it kept burning all the
+while), and took up her abode in the palace of King Celeus, as nurse to
+the little Prince Demophoön. She treated him as if he were her own
+child, and allowed neither the king nor the queen to say whether he
+should be bathed in warm or cold water, or what he should eat, or how
+often he should take the air, or when he should be put to bed. You would
+hardly believe me, if I were to tell how quickly the baby prince got rid
+of his ailments, and grew fat, and rosy, and strong, and how he had two
+rows of ivory teeth in less time than any other little fellow, before or
+since. Instead of the palest, and wretchedest, and puniest imp in the
+world (as his own mother confessed him to be when Ceres first took him
+in charge), he was now a strapping baby, crowing, laughing, kicking up
+his heels, and rolling from one end of the room to the other. All the
+good women of the neighbourhood crowded to the palace, and held up their
+hands, in unutterable amazement, at the beauty and wholesomeness of this
+darling little prince. Their wonder was the greater, because he was
+never seen to taste any food; not even so much as a cup of milk.
+
+"Pray, nurse," the queen kept saying, "how is it that you make the child
+thrive so?"
+
+"I was a mother once," Ceres always replied; "and having nursed my own
+child, I know what other children need."
+
+But Queen Metanira, as was very natural, had a great curiosity to know
+precisely what the nurse did to her child. One night, therefore, she hid
+herself in the chamber where Ceres and the little prince were accustomed
+to sleep. There was a fire in the chimney, and it had now crumbled into
+great coals and embers, which lay glowing on the hearth, with a blaze
+flickering up now and then, and flinging a warm and ruddy light upon the
+walls. Ceres sat before the hearth with the child in her lap, and the
+fire-light making her shadow dance upon the ceiling overhead. She
+undressed the little prince, and bathed him all over with some fragrant
+liquid out of a vase. The next thing she did was to rake back the red
+embers, and make a hollow place among them, just where the backlog had
+been. At last, while the baby was crowing, and clapping its fat little
+hands, and laughing in the nurse's face (just as you may have seen your
+little brother or sister do before going into its warm bath), Ceres
+suddenly laid him, all naked as he was, in the hollow among the red-hot
+embers. She then raked the ashes over him, and turned quietly away.
+
+You may imagine, if you can, how Queen Metanira shrieked, thinking
+nothing less than that her dear child would be burned to a cinder. She
+burst forth from her hiding place, and running to the hearth, raked open
+the fire, and snatched up poor little Prince Demophoön out of his bed of
+live coals, one of which he was griping in each of his fists. He
+immediately set up a grievous cry, as babies are apt to do when rudely
+startled out of a sound sleep. To the queen's astonishment and joy, she
+could perceive no token of the child's being injured by the hot fire in
+which he had lain. She now turned to Mother Ceres, and asked her to
+explain the mystery.
+
+"Foolish woman," answered Ceres, "did you not promise to intrust this
+poor infant entirely to me? You little know the mischief you have done
+him. Had you left him to my care, he would have grown up like a child of
+celestial birth, endowed with superhuman strength and intelligence, and
+would have lived forever. Do you imagine that earthly children are to
+become immortal without being tempered to it in the fiercest heat of the
+fire? But you have ruined your own son. For though he will be a strong
+man and a hero in his day, yet, on account of your folly, he will grow
+old, and finally die, like the sons of other women. The weak tenderness
+of his mother has cost the poor boy an immortality. Farewell."
+
+Saying these words, she kissed the little Prince Demophoön, and sighed
+to think what he had lost, and took her departure without heeding Queen
+Metanira, who entreated her to remain, and cover up the child among the
+hot embers as often as she pleased. Poor baby! He never slept so warmly
+again.
+
+While she dwelt in the king's palace, Mother Ceres had been so
+continually occupied with taking care of the young prince that her
+heart was a little lightened of its grief for Proserpina. But now,
+having nothing else to busy herself about, she became just as wretched
+as before. At length, in her despair, she came to the dreadful
+resolution that not a stalk of grain, nor a blade of grass, not a
+potato, nor a turnip, nor any other vegetable that was good for man or
+beast to eat, should be suffered to grow until her daughter were
+restored. She even forbade the flowers to bloom, lest somebody's heart
+should be cheered by their beauty.
+
+Now, as not so much as a head of asparagus ever presumed to poke itself
+out of the ground without the especial permission of Ceres, you may
+conceive what a terrible calamity had here fallen upon the earth. The
+husbandmen ploughed and planted as usual; but there lay the rich black
+furrows, all as barren as a desert of sand. The pastures looked as brown
+in the sweet month of June as ever they did in chill November. The rich
+man's broad acres and the cottager's small garden patch were equally
+blighted. Every little girl's flower bed showed nothing but dry stalks.
+The old people shook their white heads, and said that the earth had
+grown aged like themselves, and was no longer capable of wearing the
+warm smile of summer on its face. It was really piteous to see the poor,
+starving cattle and sheep, how they followed behind Ceres, lowing and
+bleating, as if their instinct taught them to expect help from her; and
+everybody that was acquainted with her power besought her to have mercy
+on the human race, and, at all events, to let the grass grow. But Mother
+Ceres, though naturally of an affectionate disposition, was now
+inexorable.
+
+"Never," said she. "If the earth is ever again to see any verdure, it
+must first grow along the path which my daughter will tread in coming
+back to me."
+
+Finally, as there seemed to be no other remedy, our old friend
+Quicksilver was sent post haste to King Pluto, in hopes that he might be
+persuaded to undo the mischief he had done, and to set everything right
+again by giving up Proserpina. Quicksilver accordingly made the best of
+his way to the great gate, took a flying leap right over the
+three-headed mastiff, and stood at the door of the palace in an
+inconceivably short time. The servants knew him both by his face and
+garb; for his short cloak, and his winged cap and shoes, and his snaky
+staff had often been seen thereabouts in times gone by. He requested to
+be shown immediately into the king's presence; and Pluto, who heard his
+voice from the top of the stairs, and who loved to recreate himself with
+Quicksilver's merry talk, called out to him to come up. And while they
+settle their business together, we must inquire what Proserpina has been
+doing ever since we saw her last.
+
+The child had declared, as you may remember, that she would not taste a
+mouthful of food as long as she should be compelled to remain in King
+Pluto's palace. How she contrived to maintain her resolution, and at the
+same time to keep herself tolerably plump and rosy is more than I can
+explain; but some young ladies, I am given to understand, possess the
+faculty of living on air, and Proserpina seems to have possessed it too.
+At any rate, it was now six months since she left the outside of the
+earth; and not a morsel, so far as the attendants were able to testify,
+had yet passed between her teeth. This was the more creditable to
+Proserpina, inasmuch as King Pluto had caused her to be tempted day
+after day with all manner of sweetmeats, and richly preserved fruits,
+and delicacies of every sort, such as young people are generally most
+fond of. But her good mother had often told her of the hurtfulness of
+these things; and for that reason alone, if there had been no other, she
+would have resolutely refused to taste them.
+
+All this time, being of a cheerful and active disposition, the little
+damsel was not quite so unhappy as you may have supposed. The immense
+palace had a thousand rooms, and was full of beautiful and wonderful
+objects. There was a never-ceasing gloom, it is true, which half hid
+itself among the innumerable pillars, gliding before the child as she
+wandered among them, and treading stealthily behind her in the echo of
+her footsteps. Neither was all the dazzle of the precious stones, which
+flamed with their own light, worth one gleam of natural sunshine; nor
+could the most brilliant of the many-coloured gems, which Proserpina had
+for playthings, vie with the simple beauty of the flowers she used to
+gather. But still, wherever the girl went, among those gilded halls and
+chambers, it seemed as if she carried nature and sunshine along with
+her, and as if she scattered dewy blossoms on her right hand and on her
+left. After Proserpina came, the palace was no longer the same abode of
+stately artifice and dismal magnificence that it had before been. The
+inhabitants all felt this, and King Pluto more than any of them.
+
+"My own little Proserpina," he used to say, "I wish you could like me a
+little better. We gloomy and cloudy-natured persons have often as warm
+hearts at bottom as those of a more cheerful character. If you would
+only stay with me of your own accord, it would make me happier than the
+possession of a hundred such palaces as this."
+
+"Ah," said Proserpina, "you should have tried to make me like you before
+carrying me off. And the best thing you can do now is to let me go
+again. Then I might remember you sometimes, and think that you were as
+kind as you knew how to be. Perhaps, too, one day or other, I might come
+back, and pay you a visit."
+
+"No, no," answered Pluto, with his gloomy smile, "I will not trust you
+for that. You are too fond of living in the broad daylight, and
+gathering flowers. What an idle and childish taste that is! Are not
+these gems, which I have ordered to be dug for you, and which are richer
+than any in my crown--are they not prettier than a violet?"
+
+"Not half so pretty," said Proserpina, snatching the gems from Pluto's
+hand, and flinging them to the other end of the hall. "Oh, my sweet
+violets, shall I never see you again?"
+
+And then she burst into tears. But young people's tears have very little
+saltness or acidity in them, and do not inflame the eyes so much as
+those of grown persons; so that it is not to be wondered at if, a few
+moments afterward, Proserpina was sporting through the hall almost as
+merrily as she and the four sea nymphs had sported along the edge of the
+surf wave. King Pluto gazed after her, and wished that he, too, was a
+child. And little Proserpina, when she turned about and beheld this
+great king standing in his splendid hall, and looking so grand, and so
+melancholy, and so lonesome, was smitten with a kind of pity. She ran
+back to him, and, for the first time in all her life, put her small soft
+hand in his.
+
+"I love you a little," whispered she, looking up in his face.
+
+"Do you, indeed, my dear child?" cried Pluto, bending his dark face down
+to kiss her; but Proserpina shrank away from the kiss, for though his
+features were noble, they were very dusky and grim. "Well, I have not
+deserved it of you, after keeping you a prisoner for so many months, and
+starving you, besides. Are you not terribly hungry? Is there nothing
+which I can get you to eat?"
+
+In asking this question, the king of the mines had a very cunning
+purpose; for, you will recollect, if Proserpina tasted a morsel of food
+in his dominions, she would never afterward be at liberty to quit them.
+
+"No, indeed," said Proserpina. "Your head cook is always baking, and
+stewing, and roasting, and rolling out paste, and contriving one dish or
+another, which he imagines may be to my liking. But he might just as
+well save himself the trouble, poor, fat little man that he is. I have
+no appetite for anything in the world, unless it were a slice of bread
+of my mother's own baking, or a little fruit out of her garden."
+
+When Pluto heard this, he began to see that he had mistaken the best
+method of tempting Proserpina to eat. The cook's made dishes and
+artificial dainties were not half so delicious in the good child's
+opinion as the simple fare to which Mother Ceres had accustomed her.
+Wondering that he had never thought of it before, the king now sent one
+of his trusty attendants, with a large basket, to get some of the finest
+and juiciest pears, peaches and plums which could anywhere be found in
+the upper world. Unfortunately, however, this was during the time when
+Ceres had forbidden any fruits or vegetables to grow; and, after seeking
+all over the earth, King Pluto's servant found only a single
+pomegranate, and that so dried up as to be not worth eating.
+Nevertheless, since there was no better to be had, he brought this dry,
+old, withered pomegranate home to the palace, put it on a magnificent
+golden salver, and carried it up to Proserpina. Now it happened,
+curiously enough, that, just as the servant was bringing the pomegranate
+into the back door of the palace, our friend Quicksilver had gone up the
+front steps, on his errand to get Proserpina away from King Pluto.
+
+As soon as Proserpina saw the pomegranate on the golden salver, she told
+the servant he had better take it away again.
+
+"I shall not touch it, I assure you," said she. "If I were ever so
+hungry, I should never think of eating such a miserable, dry pomegranate
+as that."
+
+"It is the only one in the world," said the servant. He set down the
+golden salver, with the wizened pomegranate upon it, and left the room.
+When he was gone, Proserpina could not help coming close to the table,
+and looking at this poor specimen of dried fruit with a great deal of
+eagerness; for, to say the truth, on seeing something that suited her
+taste, she felt all the six months' appetite taking possession of her at
+once. To be sure, it was a very wretched looking pomegranate, and seemed
+to have no more juice in it than an oyster shell. But there was no
+choice of such things in King Pluto's palace. This was the first fruit
+she had seen there, and the last she was ever likely to see; and unless
+she ate it up immediately, it would grow drier than it already was, and
+be wholly unfit to eat.
+
+"At least, I may smell it," thought Proserpina.
+
+So she took up the pomegranate, and applied it to her nose; and, somehow
+or other, being in such close neighbourhood to her mouth, the fruit
+found its way into that little red cave. Dear me! what an everlasting
+pity! Before Proserpina knew what she was about, her teeth had actually
+bitten it, of their own accord. Just as this fatal deed was done, the
+door of the apartment opened, and in came King Pluto, followed by
+Quicksilver, who had been urging him to let his little prisoner go. At
+the first noise of their entrance, Proserpina withdrew the pomegranate
+from her mouth. But Quicksilver (whose eyes were very keen, and his wits
+the sharpest that ever anybody had) perceived that the child was a
+little confused; and seeing the empty salver, he suspected that she had
+been taking a sly nibble of something or other. As for honest Pluto, he
+never guessed at the secret.
+
+"My little Proserpina," said the king, sitting down, and affectionately
+drawing her between his knees, "here is Quicksilver, who tells me that a
+great many misfortunes have befallen innocent people on account of my
+detaining you in my dominions. To confess the truth, I myself had
+already reflected that it was an unjustifiable act to take you away from
+your good mother. But, then, you must consider, my dear child, that this
+vast palace is apt to be gloomy (although the precious stones certainly
+shine very bright), and that I am not of the most cheerful disposition,
+and that therefore it was a natural thing enough to seek for the society
+of some merrier creature than myself. I hoped you would take my crown
+for a plaything, and me--ah, you laugh, naughty Proserpina--me, grim as
+I am, for a playmate. It was a silly expectation."
+
+"Not so extremely silly," whispered Proserpina. "You have really amused
+me very much, sometimes."
+
+"Thank you," said King Pluto, rather dryly. "But I can see, plainly
+enough, that you think my palace a dusky prison, and me the iron-hearted
+keeper of it. And an iron heart I should surely have, if I could detain
+you here any longer, my poor child, when it is now six months since you
+tasted food. I give you your liberty. Go with Quicksilver. Hasten home
+to your dear mother."
+
+Now, although you may not have supposed it, Proserpina found it
+impossible to take leave of poor King Pluto without some regrets, and a
+good deal of compunction for not telling him about the pomegranate. She
+even shed a tear or two, thinking how lonely and cheerless the great
+palace would seem to him, with all its ugly glare of artificial light,
+after she herself--his one little ray of natural sunshine, whom he had
+stolen, to be sure, but only because he valued her so much--after she
+should have departed. I know not how many kind things she might have
+said to the disconsolate king of the mines, had not Quicksilver hurried
+her away.
+
+"Come along quickly," whispered he in her ear, "or His Majesty may
+change his royal mind. And take care, above all things, that you say
+nothing of what was brought you on the golden salver."
+
+In a very short time they had passed the great gateway (leaving the
+three-headed Cerberus barking, and yelping, and growling, with threefold
+din, behind them), and emerged upon the surface of the earth. It was
+delightful to behold, as Proserpina hastened along, how the path grew
+verdant behind and on either side of her. Wherever she set her blessed
+foot, there was at once a dewy flower. The violets gushed up along the
+wayside. The grass and the grain began to sprout with tenfold vigour
+and luxuriance, to make up for the dreary months that had been wasted in
+barrenness. The starved cattle immediately set to work grazing, after
+their long fast, and ate enormously all day, and got up at midnight to
+eat more. But I can assure you it was a busy time of year with the
+farmers, when they found the summer coming upon them with such a rush.
+Nor must I forget to say that all the birds in the whole world hopped
+about upon the newly blossoming trees, and sang together in a prodigious
+ecstasy of joy.
+
+Mother Ceres had returned to her deserted home, and was sitting
+disconsolately on the doorstep, with her torch burning in her hand. She
+had been idly watching the flame for some moments past, when all at once
+it flickered and went out.
+
+"What does this mean?" thought she. "It was an enchanted torch, and
+should have kept burning till my child came back."
+
+Lifting her eyes, she was surprised to see a sudden verdure flashing
+over the brown and barren fields, exactly as you may have observed a
+golden hue gleaming far and wide across the landscape, from the just
+risen sun.
+
+"Does the earth disobey me?" exclaimed Mother Ceres, indignantly. "Does
+it presume to be green, when I have bidden it be barren, until my
+daughter shall be restored to my arms?"
+
+"Then open your arms, dear mother," cried a well-known voice, "and take
+your little daughter into them."
+
+And Proserpina came running, and flung herself upon her mother's bosom.
+Their mutual transport is not to be described. The grief of their
+separation had caused both of them to shed a great many tears; and now
+they shed a great many more, because their joy could not so well express
+itself in any other way.
+
+When their hearts had grown a little more quiet, Mother Ceres looked
+anxiously at Proserpina.
+
+"My child," said she, "did you taste any food while you were in King
+Pluto's palace?"
+
+"Dearest mother," answered Proserpina, "I will tell you the whole truth.
+Until this very morning, not a morsel of food had passed my lips. But
+to-day, they brought me a pomegranate (a very dry one it was, and all
+shrivelled up, till there was little left of it but seeds and skin), and
+having seen no fruit for so long a time, and being faint with hunger, I
+was tempted just to bite it. The instant I tasted it, King Pluto and
+Quicksilver came into the room. I had not swallowed a morsel; but--dear
+mother, I hope it was no harm--but six of the pomegranate seeds, I am
+afraid, remained in my mouth."
+
+"Ah, unfortunate child, and miserable me!" exclaimed Ceres. "For each of
+those six pomegranate seeds you must spend one month of every year in
+King Pluto's palace. You are but half restored to your mother. Only six
+months with me, and six with that good-for-nothing King of Darkness!"
+
+"Do not speak so harshly of poor King Pluto," said Proserpina, kissing
+her mother. "He has some very good qualities; and I really think I can
+bear to spend six months in his palace, if he will only let me spend the
+other six with you. He certainly did very wrong to carry me off; but
+then, as he says, it was but a dismal sort of life for him, to live in
+that great gloomy place, all alone; and it has made a wonderful change
+in his spirits to have a little girl to run up stairs and down. There
+is some comfort in making him so happy; and so, upon the whole, dearest
+mother, let us be thankful that he is not to keep me the whole year
+round."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE CHIMÆRA
+
+
+Once, in the old, old times (for all the strange things which I tell you
+about happened long before anybody can remember), a fountain gushed out
+of a hillside, in the marvellous land of Greece. And, for aught I know,
+after so many thousand years, it is still gushing out of the very
+selfsame spot. At any rate, there was the pleasant fountain, welling
+freshly forth and sparkling adown the hillside, in the golden sunset,
+when a handsome young man named Bellerophon drew near its margin. In his
+hand he held a bridle, studded with brilliant gems, and adorned with a
+golden bit. Seeing an old man, and another of middle age, and a little
+boy, near the fountain, and likewise a maiden, who was dipping up some
+of the water in a pitcher, he paused, and begged that he might refresh
+himself with a draught.
+
+"This is very delicious water," he said to the maiden as he rinsed and
+filled her pitcher, after drinking out of it. "Will you be kind enough
+to tell me whether the fountain has any name?"
+
+"Yes; it is called the Fountain of Pirene," answered the maiden; and
+then she added, "My grandmother has told me that this clear fountain was
+once a beautiful woman; and when her son was killed by the arrows of the
+huntress Diana, she melted all away into tears. And so the water, which
+you find so cool and sweet, is the sorrow of that poor mother's heart!"
+
+"I should not have dreamed," observed the young stranger, "that so clear
+a well-spring, with its gush and gurgle, and its cheery dance out of the
+shade into the sunlight, had so much as one tear-drop in its bosom! And
+this, then, is Pirene? I thank you, pretty maiden, for telling me its
+name. I have come from a far-away country to find this very spot."
+
+A middle-aged country fellow (he had driven his cow to drink out of the
+spring) stared hard at young Bellerophon, and at the handsome bridle
+which he carried in his hand.
+
+"The watercourses must be getting low, friend, in your part of the
+world," remarked he, "if you come so far only to find the Fountain of
+Pirene. But, pray, have you lost a horse? I see you carry the bridle in
+your hand; and a very pretty one it is with that double row of bright
+stones upon it. If the horse was as fine as the bridle, you are much to
+be pitied for losing him."
+
+"I have lost no horse," said Bellerophon, with a smile. "But I happen to
+be seeking a very famous one, which, as wise people have informed me,
+must be found hereabouts, if anywhere. Do you know whether the winged
+horse Pegasus still haunts the Fountain of Pirene, as he used to do in
+your forefathers' days?"
+
+But then the country fellow laughed.
+
+Some of you, my little friends, have probably heard that this Pegasus
+was a snow-white steed, with beautiful silvery wings, who spent most of
+his time on the summit of Mount Helicon. He was as wild, and as swift,
+and as buoyant, in his flight through the air, as any eagle that ever
+soared into the clouds. There was nothing else like him in the world.
+He had no mate; he never had been backed or bridled by a master; and,
+for many a long year, he led a solitary and a happy life.
+
+Oh, how fine a thing it is to be a winged horse! Sleeping at night, as
+he did, on a lofty mountain-top, and passing the greater part of the day
+in the air, Pegasus seemed hardly to be a creature of the earth.
+Whenever he was seen, up very high above people's heads, with the
+sunshine on his silvery wings, you would have thought that he belonged
+to the sky, and that, skimming a little too low, he had got astray among
+our mists and vapours, and was seeking his way back again. It was very
+pretty to behold him plunge into the fleecy bosom of a bright cloud, and
+be lost in it, for a moment or two, and then break forth from the other
+side. Or, in a sullen rain storm, when there was a gray pavement of
+clouds over the whole sky, it would sometimes happen that the winged
+horse descended right through it, and the glad light of the upper region
+would gleam after him. In another instant, it is true, both Pegasus and
+the pleasant light would be gone away together. But anyone that was
+fortunate enough to see this wondrous spectacle felt cheerful the whole
+day afterward, and as much longer as the storm lasted.
+
+In the summer time, and in the beautifullest of weather, Pegasus often
+alighted on the solid earth, and, closing his silvery wings, would
+gallop over hill and dale for pastime, as fleetly as the wind. Oftener
+than in any other place, he had been seen near the Fountain of Pirene,
+drinking the delicious water, or rolling himself upon the soft grass of
+the margin. Sometimes, too (but Pegasus was very dainty in his food), he
+would crop a few of the clover blossoms that happened to be sweetest.
+
+To the Fountain of Pirene, therefore, people's great-grandfathers had
+been in the habit of going (as long as they were youthful and retained
+their faith in winged horses), in hopes of getting a glimpse at the
+beautiful Pegasus. But, of late years, he had been very seldom seen.
+Indeed, there were many of the country folks, dwelling within half an
+hour's walk of the fountain, who had never beheld Pegasus, and did not
+believe that there was any such creature in existence. The country
+fellow to whom Bellerophon was speaking chanced to be one of those
+incredulous persons.
+
+And that was the reason why he laughed.
+
+"Pegasus, indeed!" cried he, turning up his nose as high as such a flat
+nose could be turned up--"Pegasus, indeed! A winged horse, truly! Why,
+friend, are you in your senses? Of what use would wings be to a horse?
+Could he drag the plough so well, think you? To be sure, there might be
+a little saving in the expense of shoes; but then, how would a man like
+to see his horse flying out of the stable window?--yes, or whisking him
+up above the clouds, when he only wanted to ride to mill? No, no! I
+don't believe in Pegasus. There never was such a ridiculous kind of a
+horse fowl made!"
+
+"I have some reason to think otherwise," said Bellerophon, quietly.
+
+And then he turned to an old, gray man, who was leaning on a staff, and
+listening very attentively, with his head stretched forward and one hand
+at his ear, because, for the last twenty years, he had been getting
+rather deaf.
+
+"And what say you, venerable sir?" inquired he, "In your younger days, I
+should imagine, you must frequently have seen the winged steed!"
+
+"Ah, young stranger, my memory is very poor!" said the aged man. "When I
+was a lad, if I remember rightly, I used to believe there was such a
+horse, and so did everybody else. But, nowadays, I hardly know what to
+think, and very seldom think about the winged horse at all. If I ever
+saw the creature, it was a long, long while ago; and, to tell you the
+truth, I doubt whether I ever did see him. One day, to be sure, when I
+was quite a youth, I remember seeing some hoof tramps round about the
+brink of the fountain. Pegasus might have made those hoof marks; and so
+might some other horse."
+
+"And have you never seen him, my fair maiden?" asked Bellerophon of the
+girl, who stood with the pitcher on her head, while this talk went on.
+"You certainly could see Pegasus, if anybody can, for your eyes are very
+bright."
+
+"Once I thought I saw him," replied the maiden, with a smile and a
+blush. "It was either Pegasus or a large white bird, a very great way up
+in the air. And one other time, as I was coming to the fountain with my
+pitcher, I heard a neigh. Oh, such a brisk and melodious neigh as that
+was! My very heart leaped with delight at the sound. But it startled me,
+nevertheless; so that I ran home without filling my pitcher."
+
+"That was truly a pity!" said Bellerophon.
+
+And he turned to the child, whom I mentioned at the beginning of the
+story, and who was gazing at him, as children are apt to gaze at
+strangers, with his rosy mouth wide open.
+
+"Well, my little fellow," cried Bellerophon, playfully pulling one of
+his curls, "I suppose you have often seen the winged horse."
+
+"That I have," answered the child, very readily. "I saw him yesterday,
+and many times before."
+
+"You are a fine little man!" said Bellerophon, drawing the child closer
+to him. "Come, tell me all about it."
+
+"Why," replied the child, "I often come here to sail little boats in the
+fountain, and to gather pretty pebbles out of its basin. And sometimes,
+when I look down into the water, I see the image of the winged horse in
+the picture of the sky that is there. I wish he would come down, and
+take me on his back, and let me ride him up to the moon! But, if I so
+much as stir to look at him, he flies far away out of sight."
+
+And Bellerophon put his faith in the child, who had seen the image of
+Pegasus in the water, and in the maiden, who had heard him neigh so
+melodiously, rather than in the middle-aged clown, who believed only in
+cart horses, or in the old man who had forgotten the beautiful things of
+his youth.
+
+Therefore, he haunted about the Fountain of Pirene for a great many days
+afterward. He kept continually on the watch, looking upward at the sky,
+or else down into the water, hoping forever that he should see either
+the reflected image of the winged horse, or the marvellous reality. He
+held the bridle, with its bright gems and golden bit, always ready in
+his hand. The rustic people who dwelt in the neighbourhood, and drove
+their cattle to the fountain to drink, would often laugh at poor
+Bellerophon, and sometimes take him pretty severely to task. They told
+him that an able-bodied young man like himself ought to have better
+business than to be wasting his time in such an idle pursuit. They
+offered to sell him a horse, if he wanted one; and when Bellerophon
+declined the purchase, they tried to drive a bargain with him for his
+fine bridle.
+
+Even the country boys thought him so very foolish that they used to have
+a great deal of sport about him, and were rude enough not to care a fig,
+although Bellerophon saw and heard it. One little urchin, for example,
+would play Pegasus, and cut the oddest imaginable capers, by way of
+flying; while one of his schoolfellows would scamper after him, holding
+forth a twist of bulrushes, which was intended to represent
+Bellerophon's ornamental bridle. But the gentle child, who had seen the
+picture of Pegasus in the water, comforted the young stranger more than
+all the naughty boys could torment him. The dear little fellow, in his
+play hours, often sat down beside him, and, without speaking a word,
+would look down into the fountain and up toward the sky, with so
+innocent a faith that Bellerophon could not help feeling encouraged.
+
+Now you will, perhaps, wish to be told why it was that Bellerophon had
+undertaken to catch the winged horse. And we shall find no better
+opportunity to speak about this matter than while he is waiting for
+Pegasus to appear.
+
+If I were to relate the whole of Bellerophon's previous adventures, they
+might easily grow into a very long story. It will be quite enough to say
+that, in a certain country of Asia, a terrible monster, called a
+Chimæra, had made its appearance, and was doing more mischief than could
+be talked about between now and sunset. According to the best accounts
+which I have been able to obtain, this Chimæra was nearly, if not quite,
+the ugliest and most poisonous creature, and the strangest and
+unaccountablest, and the hardest to fight with, and the most difficult
+to run away from, that ever came out of the earth's inside. It had a
+tail like a boa-constrictor; its body was like I do not care what; and
+it had three separate heads, one of which was a lion's, the second a
+goat's, and the third an abominably great snake's. And a hot blast of
+fire came flaming out of each of its three mouths! Being an earthly
+monster, I doubt whether it had any wings; but, wings or no, it ran like
+a goat and a lion, and wriggled along like a serpent, and thus contrived
+to make about as much speed as all the three together.
+
+Oh, the mischief, and mischief, and mischief that this naughty creature
+did! With its flaming breath, it could set a forest on fire, or burn up
+a field of grain, or, for that matter, a village, with all its fences
+and houses. It laid waste the whole country round about, and used to eat
+up people and animals alive, and cook them afterward in the burning oven
+of its stomach. Mercy on us, little children, I hope neither you nor I
+will ever happen to meet a Chimæra!
+
+While the hateful beast (if a beast we can anywise call it) was doing
+all these horrible things, it so chanced that Bellerophon came to that
+part of the world, on a visit to the king. The king's name was Iobates,
+and Lycia was the country which he ruled over. Bellerophon was one of
+the bravest youths in the world, and desired nothing so much as to do
+some valiant and beneficent deed, such as would make all mankind admire
+and love him. In those days, the only way for a young man to distinguish
+himself was by fighting battles, either with the enemies of his country,
+or with wicked giants, or with troublesome dragons, or with wild beasts,
+when he could find nothing more dangerous to encounter. King Iobates,
+perceiving the courage of his youthful visitor, proposed to him to go
+and fight the Chimæra, which everybody else was afraid of, and which,
+unless it should be soon killed, was likely to convert Lycia into a
+desert. Bellerophon hesitated not a moment, but assured the king that he
+would either slay this dreaded Chimæra, or perish in the attempt.
+
+But, in the first place, as the monster was so prodigiously swift, he
+bethought himself that he should never win the victory by fighting on
+foot. The wisest thing he could do, therefore, was to get the very best
+and fleetest horse that could anywhere be found. And what other horse in
+all the world was half so fleet as the marvellous horse Pegasus, who had
+wings as well as legs, and was even more active in the air than on the
+earth? To be sure, a great many people denied that there was any such
+horse with wings, and said that the stories about him were all poetry
+and nonsense. But, wonderful as it appeared, Bellerophon believed that
+Pegasus was a real steed, and hoped that he himself might be fortunate
+enough to find him; and, once fairly mounted on his back, he would be
+able to fight the Chimæra at better advantage.
+
+And this was the purpose with which he had travelled from Lycia to
+Greece, and had brought the beautifully ornamented bridle in his hand.
+It was an enchanted bridle. If he could only succeed in putting the
+golden bit into the mouth of Pegasus, the winged horse would be
+submissive, and would own Bellerophon for his master, and fly
+whithersoever he might choose to turn the rein.
+
+But, indeed, it was a weary and anxious time, while Bellerophon waited
+and waited for Pegasus, in hopes that he would come and drink at the
+Fountain of Pirene. He was afraid lest King Iobates should imagine that
+he had fled from the Chimæra. It pained him, too, to think how much
+mischief the monster was doing, while he himself, instead of righting
+with it, was compelled to sit idly poring over the bright waters of
+Pirene, as they gushed out of the sparkling sand. And as Pegasus came
+thither so seldom in these latter years, and scarcely alighted there
+more than once in a lifetime, Bellerophon feared that he might grow an
+old man, and have no strength left in his arms nor courage in his heart,
+before the winged horse would appear. Oh, how heavily passes the time,
+while an adventurous youth is yearning to do his part in life, and to
+gather in the harvest of his renown! How hard a lesson it is to wait!
+Our life is brief, and how much of it is spent in teaching us only this!
+
+Well was it for Bellerophon that the gentle child had grown so fond of
+him, and was never weary of keeping him company. Every morning the child
+gave him a new hope to put in his bosom, instead of yesterday's withered
+one.
+
+"Dear Bellerophon," he would cry, looking up hopefully into his face, "I
+think we shall see Pegasus to-day!"
+
+And, at length, if it had not been for the little boy's unwavering
+faith, Bellerophon would have given up all hope, and would have gone
+back to Lycia, and have done his best to slay the Chimæra without the
+help of the winged horse. And in that case poor Bellerophon would at
+least have been terribly scorched by the creature's breath, and would
+most probably have been killed and devoured. Nobody should ever try to
+fight an earth-born Chimæra, unless he can first get upon the back of an
+aërial steed.
+
+One morning the child spoke to Bellerophon even more hopefully than
+usual.
+
+"Dear, dear Bellerophon," cried he, "I know not why it is, but I feel as
+if we should certainly see Pegasus to-day!"
+
+And all that day he would not stir a step from Bellerophon's side; so
+they ate a crust of bread together, and drank some of the water of the
+fountain. In the afternoon, there they sat, and Bellerophon had thrown
+his arm around the child, who likewise had put one of his little hands
+into Bellerophon's. The latter was lost in his own thoughts, and was
+fixing his eyes vacantly on the trunks of the trees that overshadowed
+the fountain, and on the grapevines that clambered up among their
+branches. But the gentle child was gazing down into the water; he was
+grieved, for Bellerophon's sake, that the hope of another day should be
+deceived, like so many before it; and two or three quiet tear-drops fell
+from his eyes, and mingled with what were said to be the many tears of
+Pirene, when she wept for her slain children.
+
+But, when he least thought of it, Bellerophon felt the pressure of the
+child's little hand, and heard a soft, almost breathless, whisper.
+
+"See there, dear Bellerophon! There is an image in the water!"
+
+The young man looked down into the dimpling mirror of the fountain, and
+saw what he took to be the reflection of a bird which seemed to be
+flying at a great height in the air, with a gleam of sunshine on its
+snowy or silvery wings.
+
+"What a splendid bird it must be!" said he. "And how very large it
+looks, though it must really be flying higher than the clouds!"
+
+"It makes me tremble!" whispered the child. "I am afraid to look up into
+the air! It is very beautiful, and yet I dare only look at its image in
+the water. Dear Bellerophon, do you not see that it is no bird? It is
+the winged horse Pegasus!"
+
+Bellerophon's heart began to throb! He gazed keenly upward, but could
+not see the winged creature, whether bird or horse; because, just then,
+it had plunged into the fleecy depths of a summer cloud. It was but a
+moment, however, before the object reappeared, sinking lightly down out
+of the cloud, although still at a vast distance from the earth.
+Bellerophon caught the child in his arms, and shrank back with him, so
+that they were both hidden among the thick shrubbery which grew all
+around the fountain. Not that he was afraid of any harm, but he dreaded
+lest, if Pegasus caught a glimpse of them, he would fly far away, and
+alight in some inaccessible mountain-top. For it was really the winged
+horse. After they had expected him so long, he was coming to quench his
+thirst with the water of Pirene.
+
+Nearer and nearer came the aërial wonder, flying in great circles, as
+you may have seen a dove when about to alight. Downward came Pegasus, in
+those wide, sweeping circles, which grew narrower, and narrower still,
+as he gradually approached the earth. The nigher the view of him, the
+more beautiful he was, and the more marvellous the sweep of his silvery
+wings. At last, with so light a pressure as hardly to bend the grass
+about the fountain, or imprint a hoof tramp in the sand of its margin,
+he alighted, and, stooping his wild head, began to drink. He drew in the
+water, with long and pleasant sighs, and tranquil pauses of enjoyment;
+and then another draught, and another, and another. For, nowhere in the
+world, or up among the clouds, did Pegasus love any water as he loved
+this of Pirene. And when his thirst was slaked, he cropped a few of the
+honey blossoms of the clover, delicately tasting them, but not caring to
+make a hearty meal, because the herbage just beneath the clouds, on the
+lofty sides of Mount Helicon, suited his palate better than this
+ordinary grass.
+
+After thus drinking to his heart's content, and in his dainty fashion
+condescending to take a little food, the winged horse began to caper to
+and fro, and dance as it were, out of mere idleness and sport. There
+never was a more playful creature made than this very Pegasus. So there
+he frisked, in a way that it delights me to think about, fluttering his
+great wings as lightly as ever did a linnet, and running little races,
+half on earth and half in air, and which I know not whether to call a
+flight or a gallop. When a creature is perfectly able to fly, he
+sometimes chooses to run, just for the pastime of the thing; and so did
+Pegasus, although it cost him some little trouble to keep his hoofs so
+near the ground. Bellerophon, meanwhile, holding the child's hand,
+peeped forth from the shrubbery, and thought that never was any sight so
+beautiful as this, nor ever a horse's eyes so wild and spirited as those
+of Pegasus. It seemed a sin to think of bridling him and riding on his
+back.
+
+Once or twice, Pegasus stopped, and snuffed the air, pricking up his
+ears, tossing his head, and turning it on all sides, as if he partly
+suspected some mischief or other. Seeing nothing, however, and hearing
+no sound, he soon began his antics again.
+
+At length--not that he was weary, but only idle and luxurious--Pegasus
+folded his wings, and lay down on the soft green turf. But, being too
+full of aërial life to remain quiet for many moments together, he soon
+rolled over on his back, with his four slender legs in the air. It was
+beautiful to see him, this one solitary creature, whose mate had never
+been created, but who needed no companion, and, living a great many
+hundred years, was as happy as the centuries were long. The more he did
+such things as mortal horses are accustomed to do, the less earthly and
+the more wonderful he seemed. Bellerophon and the child almost held
+their breaths, partly from a delightful awe, but still more because they
+dreaded lest the slightest stir or murmur should send him up, with the
+speed of an arrow flight, into the farthest blue of the sky.
+
+Finally, when he had had enough of rolling over and over, Pegasus turned
+himself about, and, indolently, like any other horse, put out his fore
+legs, in order to rise from the ground; and Bellerophon, who had guessed
+that he would do so, darted suddenly from the thicket, and leaped
+astride of his back.
+
+Yes, there he sat, on the back of the winged horse!
+
+But what a bound did Pegasus make, when, for the first time, he felt the
+weight of a mortal man upon his loins! A bound, indeed! Before he had
+time to draw a breath Bellerophon found himself five hundred feet aloft,
+and still shooting upward, while the winged horse snorted and trembled
+with terror and anger. Upward he went, up, up, up, until he plunged into
+the cold misty bosom of a cloud, at which, only a little while before,
+Bellerophon had been gazing, and fancying it a very pleasant spot. Then
+again, out of the heart of the cloud, Pegasus shot down like a
+thunderbolt, as if he meant to dash both himself and his rider headlong
+against a rock. Then he went through about a thousand of the wildest
+caprioles that had ever been performed either by a bird or a horse.
+
+I cannot tell you half that he did. He skimmed straight forward, and
+sideways, and backward. He reared himself erect, with his fore legs on a
+wreath of mist, and his hind legs on nothing at all. He flung out his
+heels behind, and put down his head between his legs, with his wings
+pointing right upward. At about two miles' height above the earth, he
+turned a somerset, so that Bellerophon's heels were where his head
+should have been, and he seemed to look down into the sky, instead of
+up. He twisted his head about, and, looking Bellerophon in the face,
+with fire flashing from his eyes, made a terrible attempt to bite him.
+He fluttered his pinions so wildly that one of the silver feathers was
+shaken out, and floating earthward, was picked up by the child, who kept
+it as long as he lived, in memory of Pegasus and Bellerophon.
+
+But the latter (who, as you may judge, was as good a horseman as ever
+galloped) had been watching his opportunity, and at last clapped the
+golden bit of the enchanted bridle between the winged steed's jaws. No
+sooner was this done, than Pegasus became as manageable as if he had
+taken food all his life out of Bellerophon's hand. To speak what I
+really feel, it was almost a sadness to see so wild a creature grow
+suddenly so tame. And Pegasus seemed to feel it so, likewise. He looked
+round to Bellerophon, with the tears in his beautiful eyes, instead of
+the fire that so recently flashed from them. But when Bellerophon patted
+his head, and spoke a few authoritative yet kind and soothing words,
+another look came into the eyes of Pegasus; for he was glad at heart,
+after so many lonely centuries, to have found a companion and a master.
+
+Thus it always is with winged horses, and with all such wild and
+solitary creatures. If you can catch and overcome them, it is the surest
+way to win their love.
+
+While Pegasus had been doing his utmost to shake Bellerophon off his
+back, he had flown a very long distance; and they had come within sight
+of a lofty mountain by the time the bit was in his mouth. Bellerophon
+had seen this mountain before, and knew it to be Helicon, on the summit
+of which was the winged horse's abode. Thither (after looking gently
+into his rider's face, as if to ask leave) Pegasus now flew, and,
+alighting, waited patiently until Bellerophon should please to dismount.
+The young man, accordingly, leaped from his steed's back, but still held
+him fast by the bridle. Meeting his eyes, however, he was so affected by
+the gentleness of his aspect, and by the thought of the free life which
+Pegasus had heretofore lived, that he could not bear to keep him a
+prisoner, if he really desired his liberty.
+
+Obeying this generous impulse he slipped the enchanted bridle off the
+head of Pegasus, and took the bit from his mouth.
+
+"Leave me, Pegasus!" said he. "Either leave me, or love me."
+
+In an instant, the winged horse shot almost out of sight, soaring upward
+from the summit of Mount Helicon. Being long after sunset, it was now
+twilight on the mountain-top, and dusky evening over all the country
+round about. But Pegasus flew so high that he overtook the departed day,
+and was bathed in the upper radiance of the sun. Ascending higher and
+higher, he looked like a bright speck, and, at last, could no longer be
+seen in the hollow waste of the sky. And Bellerophon was afraid that he
+should never behold him more. But, while he was lamenting his own folly,
+the bright speck reappeared, and drew nearer and nearer, until it
+descended lower than the sunshine; and, behold, Pegasus had come back!
+After this trial there was no more fear of the winged horse's making his
+escape. He and Bellerophon were friends, and put loving faith in one
+another.
+
+That night they lay down and slept together, with Bellerophon's arm
+about the neck of Pegasus, not as a caution, but for kindness. And they
+awoke at peep of day, and bade one another good-morning, each in his own
+language.
+
+In this manner, Bellerophon and the wondrous steed spent several days,
+and grew better acquainted and fonder of each other all the time. They
+went on long aërial journeys, and sometimes ascended so high that the
+earth looked hardly bigger than--the moon. They visited distant
+countries, and amazed the inhabitants, who thought that the beautiful
+young man, on the back of the winged horse, must have come down out of
+the sky. A thousand miles a day was no more than an easy space for the
+fleet Pegasus to pass over. Bellerophon was delighted with this kind of
+life, and would have liked nothing better than to live always in the
+same way, aloft in the clear atmosphere; for it was always sunny weather
+up there, however cheerless and rainy it might be in the lower region.
+But he could not forget the horrible Chimæra, which he had promised King
+Iobates to slay. So, at last, when he had become well accustomed, to
+feats of horsemanship in the air, and could manage Pegasus with the
+least motion of his hand, and had taught him to obey his voice, he
+determined to attempt the performance of this perilous adventure.
+
+At daybreak, therefore, as soon as he unclosed his eyes, he gently
+pinched the winged horse's ear, in order to arouse him. Pegasus
+immediately started from the ground, and pranced about a quarter of a
+mile aloft, and made a grand sweep around the mountain-top, by way of
+showing that he was wide awake, and ready for any kind of an excursion.
+During the whole of this little flight, he uttered a loud, brisk, and
+melodious neigh, and finally came down at Bellerophon's side, as lightly
+as ever you saw a sparrow hop upon a twig.
+
+"Well done, dear Pegasus I well done, my sky-skimmer!" cried
+Bellerophon, fondly stroking the horse's neck. "And now, my fleet and
+beautiful friend, we must break our fast. To-day we are to fight the
+terrible Chimæra."
+
+As soon as they had eaten their morning meal, and drank some sparkling
+water from a spring called Hippocrene, Pegasus held out his head, of his
+own accord, so that his master might put on the bridle. Then, with a
+great many playful leaps and airy caperings, he showed his impatience to
+be gone; while Bellerophon was girding on his sword, and hanging his
+shield about his neck, and preparing himself for battle. When everything
+was ready, the rider mounted, and (as was his custom, when going a long
+distance) ascended five miles perpendicularly, so as the better to see
+whither he was directing his course. He then turned the head of Pegasus
+toward the east, and set out for Lycia. In their flight they overtook an
+eagle, and came so nigh him, before he could get out of their way, that
+Bellerophon might easily have caught him by the leg. Hastening onward at
+this rate, it was still early in the forenoon when they beheld the lofty
+mountains of Lycia, with their deep and shaggy valleys. If Bellerophon
+had been told truly, it was in one of those dismal valleys that the
+hideous Chimæra had taken up its abode.
+
+Being now so near their journey's end, the winged horse gradually
+descended with his rider; and they took advantage of some clouds that
+were floating over the mountain-tops, in order to conceal themselves.
+Hovering on the upper surface of a cloud, and peeping over its edge,
+Bellerophon had a pretty distinct view of the mountainous part of Lycia,
+and could look into all its shadowy vales at once. At first there
+appeared to be nothing remarkable. It was a wild, savage, and rocky
+tract of high and precipitous hills. In the more level part of the
+country, there were the ruins of houses that had been burnt, and, here
+and there, the carcasses of dead cattle, strewn about the pastures where
+they had been feeding.
+
+"The Chimæra must have done this mischief," thought Bellerophon. "But
+where can the monster be?"
+
+As I have already said, there was nothing remarkable to be detected, at
+first sight, in any of the valleys and dells that lay among the
+precipitous heights of the mountains. Nothing at all; unless, indeed, it
+were three spires of black smoke, which issued from what seemed to be
+the mouth of a cavern, and clambered sullenly into the atmosphere.
+Before reaching the mountain-top, these three black smoke wreaths
+mingled themselves into one. The cavern was almost directly beneath the
+winged horse and his rider, at the distance of about a thousand feet.
+The smoke, as it crept heavily upward, had an ugly, sulphurous, stifling
+scent, which caused Pegasus to snort and Bellerophon to sneeze. So
+disagreeable was it to the marvellous steed (who was accustomed to
+breathe only the purest air), that he waved his wings, and shot half a
+mile out of the range of this offensive vapour.
+
+But, on looking behind him, Bellerophon saw something that induced him
+first to draw the bridle, and then to turn Pegasus about. He made a
+sign, which the winged horse understood, and sunk slowly through the
+air, until his hoofs were scarcely more than a man's height above the
+rocky bottom of the valley. In front, as far off as you could throw a
+stone, was the cavern's mouth, with the three smoke wreaths oozing out
+of it. And what else did Bellerophon behold there?
+
+There seemed to be a heap of strange and terrible creatures curled up
+within the cavern. Their bodies lay so close together that Bellerophon
+could not distinguish them apart; but, judging by their heads, one of
+these creatures was a huge snake, the second a fierce lion, and the
+third an ugly goat. The lion and the goat were asleep; the snake was
+broad awake, and kept staring around him with a great pair of fiery
+eyes. But--and this was the most wonderful part of the matter--the three
+spires of smoke evidently issued from the nostrils of these three heads!
+So strange was the spectacle, that, though Bellerophon had been all
+along expecting it, the truth did not immediately occur to him, that
+here was the terrible three-headed Chimæra. He had found out the
+Chimæra's cavern. The snake, the lion, and the goat, as he supposed them
+to be, were not three separate creatures, but one monster!
+
+The wicked, hateful thing! Slumbering as two-thirds of it were, it still
+held, in its abominable claws, the remnant of an unfortunate lamb--or
+possibly (but I hate to think so) it was a dear little boy--which its
+three mouths had been gnawing, before two of them fell asleep!
+
+All at once, Bellerophon started as from a dream, and knew it to be the
+Chimæra. Pegasus seemed to know it, at the same instant, and sent forth
+a neigh that sounded like the call of a trumpet to battle. At this sound
+the three heads reared themselves erect, and belched out great flashes
+of flame. Before Bellerophon had time to consider what to do next, the
+monster flung itself out of the cavern and sprung straight toward him,
+with its immense claws extended, and its snaky tail twisting itself
+venomously behind. If Pegasus had not been as nimble as a bird, both he
+and his rider would have been overthrown by the Chimæra's headlong rush,
+and thus the battle have been ended before it was well begun. But the
+winged horse was not to be caught so. In the twinkling of an eye he was
+up aloft, half way to the clouds, snorting with anger. He shuddered,
+too, not with affright, but with utter disgust at the loathsomeness of
+this poisonous thing with three heads.
+
+The Chimæra, on the other hand, raised itself up so as to stand
+absolutely on the tip end of its tail, with its talons pawing fiercely
+in the air, and its three heads sputtering fire at Pegasus and his
+rider. My stars, how it roared, and hissed, and bellowed! Bellerophon,
+meanwhile, was fitting his shield on his arm, and drawing his sword.
+
+"Now, my beloved Pegasus," he whispered in the winged horse's ear, "thou
+must help me to slay this insufferable monster; or else thou shalt fly
+back to thy solitary mountain peak without thy friend Bellerophon. For
+either the Chimæra dies, or its three mouths shall gnaw this head of
+mine, which has slumbered upon thy neck!"
+
+Pegasus whinnied, and, turning back his head, rubbed his nose tenderly
+against his rider's cheek. It was his way of telling him that, though he
+had wings and was an immortal horse, yet he would perish, if it were
+possible for immortality to perish, rather than leave Bellerophon
+behind.
+
+"I thank you, Pegasus," answered Bellerophon. "Now, then, let us make a
+dash at the monster!"
+
+Uttering these words, he shook the bridle; and Pegasus darted down
+aslant, as swift as the flight of an arrow, right toward the Chimæra's
+threefold head, which, all this time, was poking itself as high as it
+could into the air. As he came within arm's length, Bellerophon made a
+cut at the monster, but was carried onward by his steed, before he could
+see whether the blow had been successful. Pegasus continued his course,
+but soon wheeled round, at about the same distance from the Chimæra as
+before. Bellerophon then perceived that he had cut the goat's head of
+the monster almost off, so that it dangled downward by the skin, and
+seemed quite dead.
+
+But, to make amends, the snake's head and the lion's head had taken all
+the fierceness of the dead one into themselves, and spit flame, and
+hissed, and roared, with a vast deal more fury than before.
+
+"Never mind, my brave Pegasus!" cried Bellerophon. "With another stroke
+like that, we will stop either its hissing or its roaring."
+
+And again he shook the bridle. Dashing aslantwise, as before, the winged
+horse made another arrow-flight toward the Chimæra, and Bellerophon
+aimed another downright stroke at one of the two remaining heads, as he
+shot by. But this time, neither he nor Pegasus escaped so well as at
+first. With one of its claws, the Chimæra had given the young man a deep
+scratch in his shoulder, and had slightly damaged the left wing of the
+flying steed with the other. On his part, Bellerophon had mortally
+wounded the lion's head of the monster, insomuch that it now hung
+downward, with its fire almost extinguished, and sending out gasps of
+thick black smoke. The snake's head, however (which was the only one now
+left), was twice as fierce and venomous as ever before. It belched forth
+shoots of fire five hundred yards long, and emitted hisses so loud, so
+harsh, and so ear-piercing, that King Iobates heard them, fifty miles
+off, and trembled till the throne shook under him.
+
+"Well-a-day!" thought the poor king; "the Chimæra is certainly coming to
+devour me!"
+
+Meanwhile Pegasus had again paused in the air, and neighed angrily,
+while sparkles of a pure crystal flame darted out of his eyes. How
+unlike the lurid fire of the Chimæra! The aërial steed's spirit was all
+aroused, and so was that of Bellerophon.
+
+"Dost thou bleed, my immortal horse?" cried the young man, caring less
+for his own hurt than for the anguish of this glorious creature, that
+ought never to have tasted pain. "The execrable Chimæra shall pay for
+this mischief with his last head!"
+
+Then he shook the bridle, shouted loudly, and guided Pegasus, not
+aslantwise as before, but straight at the monster's hideous front. So
+rapid was the onset that it seemed but a dazzle and a flash before
+Bellerophon was at close gripes with his enemy.
+
+The Chimæra, by this time, after losing its second head, had got into a
+red-hot passion of pain and rampant rage. It so flounced about, half on
+earth and partly in the air, that it was impossible to say which element
+it rested upon. It opened its snake jaws to such an abominable width,
+that Pegasus might almost, I was going to say, have flown right down its
+throat, wings outspread, rider and all! At their approach it shot out a
+tremendous blast of its fiery breath, and enveloped Bellerophon and his
+steed in a perfect atmosphere of flame, singeing the wings of Pegasus,
+scorching off one whole side of the young man's golden ringlets, and
+making them both far hotter than was comfortable, from head to foot.
+
+But this was nothing to what followed.
+
+When the airy rush of the winged horse had brought him within the
+distance of a hundred yards, the Chimæra gave a spring, and flung its
+huge, awkward, venomous, and utterly detestable carcass right upon poor
+Pegasus, clung round him with might and main, and tied up its snaky tail
+into a knot! Up flew the aërial steed, higher, higher, higher, above the
+mountain-peak, above the clouds, and almost out of sight of the solid
+earth. But still the earth-born monster kept its hold, and was borne
+upward, along with the creature of light and air. Bellerophon,
+meanwhile, turning about, found himself face to face with the ugly
+grimness of the Chimæra's visage, and could only avoid being scorched to
+death, or bitten right in twain, by holding up his shield. Over the
+upper edge of the shield, he looked sternly into the savage eyes of the
+monster.
+
+But the Chimæra was so mad and wild with pain that it did not guard
+itself so well as might else have been the case. Perhaps, after all,
+the best way to fight a Chimæra is by getting as close to it as you can.
+In its efforts to stick its horrible iron claws into its enemy the
+creature left its own breast quite exposed; and perceiving this,
+Bellerophon thrust his sword up to the hilt into its cruel heart.
+Immediately the snaky tail untied its knot. The monster let go its hold
+of Pegasus, and fell from that vast height downward; while the fire
+within its bosom, instead of being put out, burned fiercer than ever,
+and quickly began to consume the dead carcass. Thus it fell out of the
+sky, all a-flame, and (it being nightfall before it reached the earth)
+was mistaken for a shooting star or a comet. But, at early sunrise, some
+cottagers were going to their day's labour, and saw, to their
+astonishment, that several acres of ground were strewn with black ashes.
+In the middle of a field, there was a heap of whitened bones, a great
+deal higher than a haystack. Nothing else was ever seen of the dreadful
+Chimæra!
+
+And when Bellerophon had won the victory, he bent forward and kissed
+Pegasus, while the tears stood in his eyes.
+
+"Back now, my beloved steed!" said he. "Back to the Fountain of Pirene!"
+
+Pegasus skimmed through the air, quicker than ever he did before, and
+reached the fountain in a very short time. And there he found the old
+man leaning on his staff, and the country fellow watering his cow, and
+the pretty maiden filling her pitcher.
+
+"I remember now," quoth the old man, "I saw this winged horse once
+before, when I was quite a lad. But he was ten times handsomer in those
+days."
+
+"I own a cart horse worth three of him!" said the country fellow. "If
+this pony were mine, the first thing I should do would be to clip his
+wings!"
+
+But the poor maiden said nothing, for she had always the luck to be
+afraid at the wrong time. So she ran away, and let her pitcher tumble
+down, and broke it.
+
+"Where is the gentle child," asked Bellerophon, "who used to keep me
+company, and never lost his faith, and never was weary of gazing into
+the fountain?"
+
+"Here am I, dear Bellerophon!" said the child, softly.
+
+For the little boy had spent day after day on the margin of Pirene,
+waiting for his friend to come back; but when he perceived Bellerophon
+descending through the clouds, mounted on the winged horse, he had
+shrunk back into the shrubbery. He was a delicate and tender child, and
+dreaded lest the old man and the country fellow should see the tears
+gushing from his eyes.
+
+"Thou hast won the victory," said he, joyfully, running to the knee of
+Bellerophon, who still sat on the back of Pegasus. "I knew thou
+wouldst."
+
+"Yes, dear child!" replied Bellerophon, alighting from the winged horse.
+"But if thy faith had not helped me, I should never have waited for
+Pegasus, and never have gone up above the clouds, and never have
+conquered the terrible Chimæra. Thou, my beloved little friend, hast
+done it all. And now let us give Pegasus his liberty."
+
+So he slipped off the enchanted bridle from the head of the marvellous
+steed.
+
+"Be free, forevermore, my Pegasus!" cried he, with a shade of sadness in
+his tone. "Be as free as thou art fleet!"
+
+But Pegasus rested his head on Bellerophon's shoulder, and would not be
+persuaded to take flight.
+
+"Well then," said Bellerophon, caressing the airy horse, "thou shalt be
+with me as long as thou wilt; and we will go together, forthwith, and
+tell King Iobates that the Chimæra is destroyed."
+
+Then Bellerophon embraced the gentle child, and promised to come to him
+again, and departed. But, in after years, that child took higher flights
+upon the aërial steed than ever did Bellerophon, and achieved more
+honourable deeds than his friend's victory over the Chimæra. For, gentle
+and tender as he was, he grew to be a mighty poet!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE GOLDEN TOUCH
+
+
+Once upon a time, there lived a very rich man, and a king besides, whose
+name was Midas; and he had a little daughter, whom nobody but myself
+ever heard of, and whose name I either never knew, or have entirely
+forgotten. So, because I love odd names for little girls, I choose to
+call her Marygold.
+
+This King Midas was fonder of gold than of anything else in the world.
+He valued his royal crown chiefly because it was composed of that
+precious metal. If he loved anything better, or half so well, it was the
+one little maiden who played so merrily around her father's footstool.
+But the more Midas loved his daughter, the more did he desire and seek
+for wealth. He thought, foolish man! that the best thing he could
+possibly do for this dear child would be to bequeath her the immensest
+pile of yellow, glistening coin, that had ever been heaped together
+since the world was made. Thus, he gave all his thoughts and all his
+time to this one purpose. If ever he happened to gaze for an instant at
+the gold-tinted clouds of sunset, he wished that they were real gold,
+and that they could be squeezed safely into his strong box. When little
+Marygold ran to meet him, with a bunch of buttercups and dandelions, he
+used to say, "Poh, poh, child! If these flowers were as golden as they
+look, they would be worth the plucking!"
+
+And yet, in his earlier days, before he was so entirely possessed of
+this insane desire for riches, King Midas had shown a great taste for
+flowers. He had planted a garden, in which grew the biggest and
+beautifullest and sweetest roses that any mortal ever saw or smelt.
+These roses were still growing in the garden, as large, as lovely, and
+as fragrant as when Midas used to pass whole hours in gazing at them,
+and inhaling their perfume. But now, if he looked at them at all, it was
+only to calculate how much the garden would be worth if each of the
+innumerable rose petals were a thin plate of gold. And though he once
+was fond of music (in spite of an idle story about his ears, which were
+said to resemble those of an ass), the only music for poor Midas, now,
+was the chink of one coin against another.
+
+At length (as people always grow more and more foolish, unless they take
+care to grow wiser and wiser), Midas had got to be so exceedingly
+unreasonable that he could scarcely bear to see or touch any object that
+was not gold. He made it his custom, therefore, to pass a large portion
+of every day in a dark and dreary apartment, under ground, at the
+basement of his palace. It was here that he kept his wealth. To this
+dismal hole--for it was little better than a dungeon--Midas betook
+himself, whenever he wanted to be particularly happy. Here, after
+carefully locking the door, he would take a bag of gold coin, or a gold
+cup as big as a washbowl, or a heavy golden bar, or a peck measure of
+gold dust, and bring them from the obscure corners of the room into the
+one bright and narrow sunbeam that fell from the dungeon-like window. He
+valued the sunbeam for no other reason but that his treasure would not
+shine without its help. And then would he reckon over the coins in the
+bag; toss up the bar, and catch it as it came down; sift the gold dust
+through his fingers; look at the funny image of his own face, as
+reflected in the burnished circumference of the cup, and whisper to
+himself, "O Midas, rich King Midas, what a happy man art thou!" But it
+was laughable to see how the image of his face kept grinning at him, out
+of the polished surface of the cup. It seemed to be aware of his foolish
+behaviour, and to have a naughty inclination to make fun of him.
+
+Midas called himself a happy man, but felt that he was not yet quite so
+happy as he might be. The very tiptop of enjoyment would never be
+reached, unless the whole world were to become his treasure room, and be
+filled with yellow metal which should be all his own.
+
+Now, I need hardly remind such wise little people as you are, that in
+the old, old times, when King Midas was alive, a great many things came
+to pass, which we should consider wonderful if they were to happen in
+our own day and country. And, on the other hand, a great many things
+take place nowadays, which seem not only wonderful to us, but at which
+the people of old times would have stared their eyes out. On the whole,
+I regard our own times as the strangest of the two; but, however that
+may be, I must go on with my story.
+
+Midas was enjoying himself in his treasure room, one day, as usual, when
+he perceived a shadow fall over the heaps of gold; and, looking suddenly
+up, what should he behold but the figure of a stranger, standing in the
+bright and narrow sunbeam! It was a young man, with a cheerful and ruddy
+face. Whether it was that the imagination of King Midas threw a yellow
+tinge over everything, or whatever the cause might be, he could not
+help fancying that the smile with which the stranger regarded him had a
+kind of golden radiance in it. Certainly, although his figure
+intercepted the sunshine, there was now a brighter gleam upon all the
+piled-up treasures than before. Even the remotest corners had their
+share of it, and were lighted up, when the stranger smiled, as with tips
+of flame and sparkles of fire.
+
+As Midas knew that he had carefully turned the key in the lock, and that
+no mortal strength could possibly break into his treasure room, he, of
+course, concluded that his visitor must be something more than mortal.
+It is no matter about telling you who he was. In those days, when the
+earth was comparatively a new affair, it was supposed to be often the
+resort of beings endowed with supernatural power, and who used to
+interest themselves in the joys and sorrows of men, women, and children,
+half playfully and half seriously. Midas had met such beings before now,
+and was not sorry to meet one of them again. The stranger's aspect,
+indeed, was so good humoured and kindly, if not beneficent, that it
+would have been unreasonable to suspect him of intending any mischief.
+It was far more probable that he came to do Midas a favour. And what
+could that favour be, unless to multiply his heaps of treasure?
+
+The stranger gazed about the room; and when his lustrous smile had
+glistened upon all the golden objects that were there, he turned again
+to Midas.
+
+"You are a wealthy man, friend Midas!" he observed. "I doubt whether any
+other four walls, on earth, contain so much gold as you have contrived
+to pile up in this room."
+
+"I have done pretty well--pretty well," answered Midas, in a
+discontented tone. "But, after all, it is but a trifle, when you
+consider that it has taken me my whole life to get it together. If one
+could live a thousand years, he might have time to grow rich!"
+
+"What!" exclaimed the stranger. "Then you are not satisfied?"
+
+Midas shook his head.
+
+"And pray what would satisfy you?" asked the stranger. "Merely for the
+curiosity of the thing, I should be glad to know."
+
+Midas paused and meditated. He felt a presentiment that this stranger,
+with such a golden lustre in his good-humoured smile, had come hither
+with both the power and the purpose of gratifying his utmost wishes.
+Now, therefore, was the fortunate moment, when he had but to speak, and
+obtain whatever possible, or seemingly impossible thing, it might come
+into his head to ask. So he thought, and thought, and thought, and
+heaped up one golden mountain upon another, in his imagination, without
+being able to imagine them big enough. At last, a bright idea occurred
+to King Midas. It seemed really as bright as the glistening metal which
+he loved so much.
+
+Raising his head, he looked the lustrous stranger in the face.
+
+"Well, Midas," observed his visitor, "I see that you have at length hit
+upon something that will satisfy you. Tell me your wish."
+
+"It is only this," replied Midas. "I am weary of collecting my treasures
+with so much trouble, and beholding the heap so diminutive, after I have
+done my best. I wish everything that I touch to be changed to gold!"
+
+The stranger's smile grew so very broad, that it seemed to fill the room
+like an outburst of the sun, gleaming into a shadowy dell, where the
+yellow autumnal leaves--for so looked the lumps and particles of
+gold--lie strewn in the glow of light.
+
+"The Golden Touch!" exclaimed he. "You certainly deserve credit, friend
+Midas, for striking out so brilliant a conception. But are you quite
+sure that this will satisfy you?"
+
+"How could it fail?" said Midas.
+
+"And will you never regret the possession of it?"
+
+"What could induce me?" asked Midas. "I ask nothing else, to render me
+perfectly happy."
+
+"Be it as you wish, then," replied the stranger, waving his hand in
+token of farewell. "To-morrow, at sunrise, you will find yourself gifted
+with the Golden Touch."
+
+The figure of the stranger then became exceedingly bright, and Midas
+involuntarily closed his eyes. On opening them again, he beheld only one
+yellow sunbeam in the room, and, all around him, the glistening of the
+precious metal which he had spent his life in hoarding up.
+
+Whether Midas slept as usual that night, the story does not say. Asleep
+or awake, however, his mind was probably in the state of a child's, to
+whom a beautiful new plaything has been promised in the morning. At any
+rate, day had hardly peeped over the hills, when King Midas was broad
+awake, and, stretching his arms out of bed, began to touch the objects
+that were within reach. He was anxious to prove whether the Golden Touch
+had really come, according to the stranger's promise. So he laid his
+finger on a chair by the bedside, and on various other things, but was
+grievously disappointed to perceive that they remained of exactly the
+same substance as before. Indeed, he felt very much afraid that he had
+only dreamed about the lustrous stranger, or else that the latter had
+been making game of him. And what a miserable affair would it be, if,
+after all his hopes, Midas must content himself with what little gold he
+could scrape together by ordinary means, instead of creating it by a
+touch!
+
+All this while, it was only the gray of the morning, with but a streak
+of brightness along the edge of the sky, where Midas could not see it.
+He lay in a very disconsolate mood, regretting the downfall of his hopes
+and kept growing sadder and sadder, until the earliest sunbeam shone
+through the window, and gilded the ceiling over his head. It seemed to
+Midas that this bright yellow sunbeam was reflected in rather a singular
+way on the white covering of the bed. Looking more closely, what was his
+astonishment and delight, when he found that this linen fabric had been
+transmuted to what seemed a woven texture of the purest and brightest
+gold! The Golden Touch had come to him with the first sunbeam!
+
+Midas started up, in a kind of joyful frenzy, and ran about the room,
+grasping at everything that happened to be in his way. He seized one of
+the bedposts, and it became immediately a fluted golden pillar. He
+pulled aside a window curtain, in order to admit a clear spectacle of
+the wonders which he was performing; and the tassel grew heavy in his
+hand--a mass of gold. He took up a book from the table. At his first
+touch, it assumed the appearance of such a splendidly bound and
+gilt-edged volume as one often meets with, nowadays; but, on running his
+fingers through the leaves, behold! it was a bundle of thin golden
+plates, in which all the wisdom of the book had grown illegible. He
+hurriedly put on his clothes, and was enraptured to see himself in a
+magnificent suit of gold cloth, which retained its flexibility and
+softness, although it burdened him a little with its weight. He drew out
+his handkerchief, which little Marygold had hemmed for him. That was
+likewise gold, with the dear child's neat and pretty stitches running
+all along the border, in gold thread!
+
+Somehow or other, this last transformation did not quite please King
+Midas. He would rather that his little daughter's handiwork should have
+remained just the same as when she climbed his knee and put it into his
+hand.
+
+But it was not worth while to vex himself about a trifle. Midas now took
+his spectacles from his pocket, and put them on his nose, in order that
+he might see more distinctly what he was about. In those days,
+spectacles for common people had not been invented, but were already
+worn by kings: else, how could Midas have had any? To his great
+perplexity, however, excellent as the glasses were, he discovered that
+he could not possibly see through them. But this was the most natural
+thing in the world; for, on taking them off, the transparent crystals
+turned out to be plates of yellow metal, and, of course, were worthless
+as spectacles, though valuable as gold. It struck Midas, as rather
+inconvenient that, with all his wealth, he could never again be rich
+enough to own a pair of serviceable spectacles.
+
+"It is no great matter, nevertheless," said he to himself, very
+philosophically. "We cannot expect any great good, without its being
+accompanied with some small inconvenience. The Golden Touch is worth
+the sacrifice of a pair of spectacles, at least, if not of one's very
+eyesight. My own eyes will serve for ordinary purposes, and little
+Marygold will soon be old enough to read to me."
+
+Wise King Midas was so exalted by his good fortune, that the palace
+seemed not sufficiently spacious to contain him. He therefore went
+downstairs, and smiled, on observing that the balustrade of the
+staircase became a bar of burnished gold, as his hand passed over it, in
+his descent. He lifted the doorlatch (it was brass only a moment ago,
+but golden when his fingers quitted it), and emerged into the garden.
+Here, as it happened, he found a great number of beautiful roses in full
+bloom, and others in all the stages of lovely bud and blossom. Very
+delicious was their fragrance in the morning breeze. Their delicate
+blush was one of the fairest sights in the world; so gentle, so modest,
+and so full of sweet tranquillity, did these roses seem to be.
+
+But Midas knew a way to make them far more precious, according to his
+way of thinking, than roses had ever been before. So he took great pains
+in going from bush to bush, and exercised his magic touch most
+indefatigably; until every individual flower and bud, and even the worms
+at the heart of some of them, were changed to gold. By the time this
+good work was completed, King Midas was summoned to breakfast; and as
+the morning air had given him an excellent appetite, he made haste back
+to the palace.
+
+What was usually a king's breakfast in the days of Midas, I really do
+not know, and cannot stop now to investigate. To the best of my belief,
+however, on this particular morning, the breakfast consisted of hot
+cakes, some nice little brook trout, roasted potatoes, fresh boiled
+eggs, and coffee, for King Midas himself, and a bowl of bread and milk
+for his daughter Marygold. At all events, this is a breakfast fit to set
+before a king; and, whether he had it or not, King Midas could not have
+had a better.
+
+Little Marygold had not yet made her appearance. Her father ordered her
+to be called, and, seating himself at table, awaited the child's coming,
+in order to begin his own breakfast. To do Midas justice, he really
+loved his daughter, and loved her so much the more this morning, on
+account of the good fortune which had befallen him. It was not a great
+while before he heard her coming along the passageway crying bitterly.
+This circumstance surprised him, because Marygold was one of the
+cheerfullest little people whom you would see in a summer's day, and
+hardly shed a thimbleful of tears in a twelvemonth. When Midas heard her
+sobs, he determined to put little Marygold into better spirits, by an
+agreeable surprise; so, leaning across the table, he touched his
+daughter's bowl (which was a china one, with pretty figures all around
+it), and transmuted it to gleaming gold.
+
+Meanwhile, Marygold slowly and disconsolately opened the door, and
+showed herself with her apron at her eyes, still sobbing as if her heart
+would break.
+
+"How now, my little lady!" cried Midas. "Pray what is the matter with
+you, this bright morning?"
+
+Marygold, without taking the apron from her eyes, held out her hand, in
+which was one of the roses which Midas had so recently transmuted.
+
+"Beautiful!" exclaimed her father. "And what is there in this
+magnificent golden rose to make you cry?"
+
+"Ah, dear father!" answered the child, as well as her sobs would let
+her; "it is not beautiful, but the ugliest flower that ever grew! As
+soon as I was dressed I ran into the garden to gather some roses for
+you; because I know you like them, and like them the better when
+gathered by your little daughter. But, oh dear, dear me. What do you
+think has happened? Such a misfortune! All the beautiful roses, that
+smelled so sweetly and had so many lovely blushes, are blighted and
+spoilt! They are grown quite yellow, as you see this one, and have no
+longer any fragrance! What can have been the matter with them?"
+
+"Poh, my dear little girl--pray don't cry about it!" said Midas, who was
+ashamed to confess that he himself had wrought the change which so
+greatly afflicted her, "Sit down and eat your bread and milk! You will
+find it easy enough to exchange a golden rose like that (which will last
+hundreds of years) for an ordinary one which would wither in a day."
+
+"I don't care for such roses as this!" cried Marygold, tossing it
+contemptuously away. "It has no smell, and the hard petals prick my
+nose!"
+
+The child now sat down to table, but was so occupied with her grief for
+the blighted roses that she did not even notice the wonderful
+transmutation of her china bowl. Perhaps this was all the better; for
+Marygold was accustomed to take pleasure in looking at the queer
+figures, and strange trees and houses, that were painted on the
+circumference of the bowl; and these ornaments were now entirely lost in
+the yellow hue of the metal.
+
+Midas, meanwhile, had poured out a cup of coffee, and, as a matter of
+course, the Coffee-pot, whatever metal it may have been when he took it
+up, was gold when he set it down. He thought to himself, that it was
+rather an extravagant style of splendour, in a king of his simple
+habits, to breakfast off a service of gold, and began to be puzzled with
+the difficulty of keeping his treasures safe. The cupboard and the
+kitchen would no longer be a secure place of deposit for articles so
+valuable as golden bowls and coffee-pots.
+
+Amid these thoughts, he lifted a spoonful of coffee to his lips, and,
+sipping it, was astonished to perceive that, the instant his lips
+touched the liquid, it became molten gold, and, the next moment,
+hardened into a lump!
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Midas, rather aghast.
+
+"What is the matter, father?" asked little Marygold, gazing at him, with
+the tears still standing in her eyes.
+
+"Nothing, child, nothing!" said Midas. "Eat your milk, before it gets
+quite cold."
+
+He took one of the nice little trouts on his plate, and, by way of
+experiment, touched its tail with his finger. To his horror, it was
+immediately transmuted from an admirably fried brook trout into a
+gold-fish, though not one of those gold-fishes which people often keep
+in glass globes, as ornaments for the parlour. No; but it was really a
+metallic fish, and looked as if it had been very cunningly made by the
+nicest goldsmith in the world. Its little bones were now golden wires;
+its fins and tail were thin plates of gold; and there were the marks of
+the fork in it, and all the delicate, frothy appearance of a nicely
+fried fish, exactly imitated in metal. A very pretty piece of work, as
+you may suppose; only King Midas, just at that moment, would much rather
+have had a real trout in his dish than this elaborate and valuable
+imitation of one.
+
+"I don't quite see," thought he to himself, "how I am to get any
+breakfast!"
+
+He took one of the smoking-hot cakes, and had scarcely broken it, when,
+to his cruel mortification, though, a moment before, it had been of the
+whitest wheat, it assumed the yellow hue of Indian meal. To say the
+truth, if it had really been a hot Indian cake, Midas would have prized
+it a good deal more than he now did, when its solidity and increased
+weight made him too bitterly sensible that it was gold. Almost in
+despair, he helped himself to a boiled egg, which immediately underwent
+a change similar to those of the trout and the cake. The egg, indeed,
+might have been mistaken for one of those which the famous goose, in the
+story book, was in the habit of laying; but King Midas was the only
+goose that had had anything to do with the matter.
+
+"Well, this is a quandary!" thought he, leaning back in his chair, and
+looking quite enviously at little Marygold, who was now eating her bread
+and milk with great satisfaction. "Such a costly breakfast before me,
+and nothing that can be eaten!"
+
+Hoping that, by dint of great dispatch, he might avoid what he now felt
+to be a considerable inconvenience, King Midas next snatched a hot
+potato, and attempted to cram it into his mouth, and swallow it in a
+hurry. But the Golden Touch was too nimble for him. He found his mouth
+full, not of mealy potato, but of solid metal, which so burnt his tongue
+that he roared aloud, and, jumping up from the table, began to dance and
+stamp about the room, both with pain and affright.
+
+"Father, dear father!" cried little Marygold, who was a very
+affectionate child, "pray what is the matter? Have you burnt your
+mouth?"
+
+"Ah, dear child," groaned Midas, dolefully, "I don't know what is to
+become of your poor father!"
+
+And, truly, my dear little folks, did you ever hear of such a pitiable
+case in all your lives? Here was literally the richest breakfast that
+could be set before a king, and its very richness made it absolutely
+good for nothing. The poorest labourer, sitting down to his crust of
+bread and cup of water, was far better off than King Midas, whose
+delicate food was really worth its weight in gold. And what was to be
+done? Already, at breakfast, Midas was excessively hungry. Would he be
+less so by dinner-time? And how ravenous would be his appetite for
+supper, which must undoubtedly consist of the same sort of indigestible
+dishes as those now before him! How many days, think you, would he
+survive a continuance of this rich fare?
+
+These reflections so troubled wise King Midas, that he began to doubt
+whether, after all, riches are the one desirable thing in the world, or
+even the most desirable. But this was only a passing thought. So
+fascinated was Midas with the glitter of the yellow metal, that he would
+still have refused to give up the Golden Touch for so paltry a
+consideration as a breakfast. Just imagine what a price for one meal's
+victuals! It would have been the same as paying millions and millions of
+money (and as many millions more as would take forever to reckon up) for
+some fried trout, an egg, a potato, a hot cake, and a cup of coffee!
+
+"It would be quite too dear," thought Midas.
+
+Nevertheless, so great was his hunger, and the perplexity of his
+situation, that he again groaned aloud, and very grievously, too. Our
+pretty Marygold could endure it no longer. She sat, a moment, gazing at
+her father, and trying, with all the might of her little wits, to find
+out what was the matter with him. Then, with a sweet and sorrowful
+impulse to comfort him, she started from her chair, and, running to
+Midas, threw her arms affectionately about his knees. He bent down and
+kissed her. He felt that his little daughter's love was worth a thousand
+times more than he had gained by the Golden Touch.
+
+"My precious, precious Marygold!" cried he.
+
+But Marygold made no answer.
+
+Alas, what had he done? How fatal was the gift which the stranger
+bestowed! The moment the lips of Midas touched Marygold's forehead, a
+change had taken place. Her sweet, rosy face, so full of affection as it
+had been, assumed a glittering yellow colour, with yellow tear-drops
+congealing on her cheeks. Her beautiful brown ringlets took the same
+tint. Her soft and tender little form grew hard and inflexible within
+her father's encircling arms. Oh, terrible misfortune! The victim of his
+insatiable desire for wealth, little Marygold was a human child no
+longer, but a golden statue!
+
+Yes, there she was, with the questioning look of love, grief, and pity,
+hardened into her face. It was the prettiest and most woeful sight that
+ever mortal saw. All the features and tokens of Marygold were there;
+even the beloved little dimple remained in her golden chin. But, the
+more perfect was the resemblance, the greater was the father's agony at
+beholding this golden image, which was all that was left him of a
+daughter. It had been a favourite phrase of Midas, whenever he felt
+particularly fond of the child, to say that she was worth her weight in
+gold. And now the phrase had become literally true. And, now, at last,
+when it was too late, he felt how infinitely a warm and tender heart,
+that loved him, exceeded in value all the wealth that could be piled up
+betwixt the earth and sky!
+
+It would be too sad a story, if I were to tell you how Midas, in the
+fulness of all his gratified desires, began to wring his hands and
+bemoan himself; and how he could neither bear to look at Marygold, nor
+yet to look away from her. Except when his eyes were fixed on the image,
+he could not possibly believe that she was changed to gold. But,
+stealing another glance, there was the precious little figure, with a
+yellow tear-drop on its yellow cheek, and a look so piteous and tender,
+that it seemed as if that very expression must needs soften the gold,
+and make it flesh again. This, however, could not be. So Midas had only
+to wring his hands, and to wish that he were the poorest man in the wide
+world, if the loss of all his wealth might bring back the faintest rose
+colour to his dear child's face.
+
+While he was in this tumult of despair, he suddenly beheld a stranger
+standing near the door. Midas bent down his head, without speaking; for
+he recognised the same figure which had appeared to him, the day before,
+in the treasure-room, and had bestowed on him this disastrous faculty of
+the Golden Touch. The stranger's countenance still wore a smile, which
+seemed to shed a yellow lustre all about the room, and gleamed on little
+Marygold's image, and on the other objects that had been transmuted by
+the touch of Midas.
+
+"Well, friend Midas," said the stranger, "pray how do you succeed with
+the Golden Touch?"
+
+Midas shook his head.
+
+"I am very miserable," said he.
+
+"Very miserable, indeed!" exclaimed the stranger.
+
+"And how happens that? Have I not faithfully kept my promise with you?
+Have you not everything that your heart desired?"
+
+"Gold is not everything," answered Midas. "And I have lost all that my
+heart really cared for."
+
+"Ah! So you have made a discovery, since yesterday?" observed the
+stranger. "Let us see, then. Which of these two things do you think is
+really worth the most--the gift of the Golden Touch, or one cup of clear
+cold water?"
+
+"O blessed water!" exclaimed Midas. "I will never moisten my parched
+throat again!"
+
+"The Golden Touch," continued the stranger, "or a crust of bread?"
+
+"A piece of bread," answered Midas, "is worth all the gold on earth!"
+
+"The Golden Touch," asked the stranger, "or your own little Marygold,
+warm, soft, and loving as she was an hour ago?"
+
+"Oh, my child, my dear child!" cried poor Midas, wringing his hands. "I
+would not have given that one small dimple in her chin for the power of
+changing this whole big earth into a solid lump of gold!"
+
+"You are wiser than you were, King Midas!" said the stranger, looking
+seriously at him. "Your own heart, I perceive, has not been entirely
+changed from flesh to gold. Were it so, your case would indeed be
+desperate. But you appear to be still capable of understanding that the
+commonest things, such as lie within everybody's grasp, are more
+valuable than the riches which so many mortals sigh and struggle after.
+Tell me, now, do you sincerely desire to rid yourself of this Golden
+Touch?"
+
+"It is hateful to me!" replied Midas.
+
+A fly settled on his nose, but immediately fell to the floor; for it,
+too, had become gold. Midas shuddered.
+
+"Go, then," said the stranger, "and plunge into the river that glides
+past the bottom of your garden. Take likewise a vase of the same water,
+and sprinkle it over any object that you may desire to change back again
+from gold into its former substance. If you do this in earnestness and
+sincerity, it may possibly repair the mischief which your avarice has
+occasioned."
+
+King Midas bowed low; and when he lifted his head, the lustrous stranger
+had vanished.
+
+You will easily believe that Midas lost no time in snatching up a great
+earthen pitcher (but, alas me! it was no longer earthen after he touched
+it), and hastening to the river-side. As he scampered along, and forced
+his way through the shrubbery, it was positively marvellous to see how
+the foliage turned yellow behind him, as if the autumn had been there,
+and nowhere else. On reaching the river's brink, he plunged headlong in,
+without waiting so much as to pull off his shoes.
+
+"Poof! poof! poof!" snorted King Midas, as his head emerged out of the
+water. "Well; this is really a refreshing bath, and I think it must have
+quite washed away the Golden Touch. And now for filling my pitcher!"
+
+As he dipped the pitcher into the water, it gladdened his very heart to
+see it change from gold into the same good, honest earthen vessel which
+it had been before he touched it. He was conscious, also, of a change
+within himself. A cold, hard, and heavy weight seemed to have gone out
+of his bosom. No doubt, his heart had been gradually losing its human
+substance, and transmuting itself into insensible metal, but had now
+softened back again into flesh. Perceiving a violet, that grew on the
+bank of the river, Midas touched it with his finger, and was overjoyed
+to find that the delicate flower retained its purple hue, instead of
+undergoing a yellow blight. The curse of the Golden Touch had,
+therefore, really been removed from him.
+
+King Midas hastened back to the palace; and, I suppose, the servants
+knew not what to make of it when they saw their royal master so
+carefully bringing home an earthen pitcher of water. But that water,
+which was to undo all the mischief that his folly had wrought, was more
+precious to Midas than an ocean of molten gold could have been. The
+first thing he did, as you need hardly be told, was to sprinkle it by
+handfuls over the golden figure of little Marygold.
+
+No sooner did it fall on her than you would have laughed to see how the
+rosy colour came back to the dear child's cheek! and how she began to
+sneeze and sputter!--and how astonished she was to find herself dripping
+wet, and her father still throwing more water over her!
+
+"Pray do not, dear father!" cried she. "See how you have wet my nice
+frock, which I put on only this morning!"
+
+For Marygold did not know that she had been a little golden statue; nor
+could she remember anything that had happened since the moment when she
+ran with outstretched arms to comfort poor King Midas.
+
+Her father did not think it necessary to tell his beloved child how very
+foolish he had been, but contented himself with showing how much wiser
+he had now grown. For this purpose, he led little Marygold into the
+garden, where he sprinkled all the remainder of the water over the
+rose-bushes, and with such good effect that above five thousand roses
+recovered their beautiful bloom. There were two circumstances, however,
+which, as long as he lived, used to put King Midas in mind of the Golden
+Touch. One was, that the sands of the river sparkled like gold; the
+other, that little Marygold's hair had now a golden tinge, which he had
+never observed in it before she had been transmuted by the effect of his
+kiss. This change of hue was really an improvement, and made Marygold's
+hair richer than in her babyhood.
+
+When King Midas had grown quite an old man, and used to trot Mary gold's
+children on his knee, he was fond of telling them this marvellous story,
+pretty much as I have now told it to you. And then would he stroke their
+glossy ringlets, and tell them that their hair, likewise, had a rich
+shade of gold, which they had inherited from their mother.
+
+"And to tell you the truth, my precious little folks," quoth King Midas,
+diligently trotting the children all the while, "ever since that
+morning, I have hated the very sight of all other gold, save this!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE GORGON'S HEAD
+
+
+Perseus was the son of Danaë, who was the daughter of a king. And when
+Perseus was a very little boy, some wicked people put his mother and
+himself into a chest, and set them afloat upon the sea. The wind blew
+freshly, and drove the chest away from the shore, and the uneasy billows
+tossed it up and down; while Danaë clasped her child closely to her
+bosom, and dreaded that some big wave would dash its foamy crest over
+them both. The chest sailed on, however, and neither sank nor was upset;
+until, when night was coming, it floated so near an island that it got
+entangled in a fisherman's nets, and was drawn out high and dry upon the
+sand. The island was called Seriphus, and it was reigned over by King
+Polydectes, who happened to be the fisherman's brother.
+
+This fisherman, I am glad to tell you, was an exceedingly humane and
+upright man. He showed great kindness to Danaë and her little boy; and
+continued to befriend them, until Perseus had grown to be a handsome
+youth, very strong and active, and skilful in the use of arms. Long
+before this time, King Polydectes had seen the two strangers--the mother
+and her child--who had come to his dominions in a floating chest. As he
+was not good and kind, like his brother the fisherman, but extremely
+wicked, he resolved to send Perseus on a dangerous enterprise, in which
+he would probably be killed, and then to do some great mischief to Danaë
+herself. So this bad-hearted king spent a long while in considering what
+was the most dangerous thing that a young man could possibly undertake
+to perform. At last, having hit upon an enterprise that promised to turn
+out as fatally as he desired, he sent for the youthful Perseus.
+
+The young man came to the palace, and found the king sitting upon his
+throne.
+
+"Perseus," said King Polydectes, smiling craftily upon him, "you are
+grown up a fine young man. You and your good mother have received a
+great deal of kindness from myself, as well as from my worthy brother
+the fisherman, and I suppose you would not be sorry to repay some of
+it."
+
+"Please, Your Majesty," answered Perseus, "I would willingly risk my
+life to do so."
+
+"Well, then," continued the king, still with a cunning smile on his
+lips, "I have a little adventure to propose to you; and, as you are a
+brave and enterprising youth, you will doubtless look upon it as a great
+piece of good luck to have so rare an opportunity of distinguishing
+yourself. You must know, my good Perseus, I think of getting married to
+the beautiful Princess Hippodamia; and it is customary, on these
+occasions, to make the bride a present of some far-fetched and elegant
+curiosity. I have been a little perplexed, I must honestly confess,
+where to obtain anything likely to please a princess of her exquisite
+taste. But, this morning, I flatter myself, I have thought of precisely
+the article."
+
+"And can I assist Your Majesty in obtaining it?" cried Perseus,
+eagerly.
+
+"You can, if you are as brave a youth as I believe you to be," replied
+King Polydectes, with the utmost graciousness of manner. "The bridal
+gift which I have set my heart on presenting to the beautiful Hippodamia
+is the head of the Gorgon Medusa with the snaky locks; and I depend on
+you, my dear Perseus, to bring it to me. So, as I am anxious to settle
+affairs with the princess, the sooner you go in quest of the Gorgon, the
+better I shall be pleased."
+
+"I will set out to-morrow morning," answered Perseus.
+
+"Pray do so, my gallant youth," rejoined the king. "And, Perseus, in
+cutting off the Gorgon's head, be careful to make a clean stroke, so as
+not to injure its appearance. You must bring it home in the very best
+condition, in order to suit the exquisite taste of the beautiful
+Princess Hippodamia."
+
+Perseus left the palace, but was scarcely out of hearing before
+Polydectes burst into a laugh; being greatly amused, wicked king that he
+was, to find how readily the young man fell into the snare. The news
+quickly spread abroad that Perseus had undertaken to cut off the head of
+Medusa with the snaky locks. Everybody was rejoiced; for most of the
+inhabitants of the island were as wicked as the king himself, and would
+have liked nothing better than to see some enormous mischief happen to
+Danaë and her son. The only good man in this unfortunate island of
+Seriphus appears to have been the fisherman. As Perseus walked along,
+therefore, the people pointed after him, and made mouths, and winked to
+one another, and ridiculed him as loudly as they dared.
+
+"Ho, ho!" cried they; "Medusa's snakes will sting him soundly!"
+
+Now, there were three Gorgons alive at that period; and they were the
+most strange and terrible monsters that had ever been since the world
+was made, or that have been seen in after days, or that are likely to be
+seen in all time to come. I hardly know what sort of creature or
+hobgoblin to call them. They were three sisters, and seem to have borne
+some distant resemblance to women, but were really a very frightful and
+mischievous species of dragon. It is, indeed, difficult to imagine what
+hideous beings these three sisters were. Why, instead of locks of hair,
+if you can believe me, they had each of them a hundred enormous snakes
+growing on their heads, all alive, twisting, wriggling, curling, and
+thrusting out their venomous tongues, with forked stings at the end! The
+teeth of the Gorgons were terribly long tusks; their hands were made of
+brass; and their bodies were all over scales, which, if not iron, were
+something as hard and impenetrable. They had wings, too, and exceedingly
+splendid ones, I can assure you; for every feather in them was pure,
+bright, glittering, burnished gold, and they looked very dazzlingly, no
+doubt, when the Gorgons were flying about in the sunshine.
+
+But when people happened to catch a glimpse of their glittering
+brightness, aloft in the air, they seldom stopped to gaze, but ran and
+hid themselves as speedily as they could. You will think, perhaps, that
+they were afraid of being stung by the serpents that served the Gorgons
+instead of hair--or of having their heads bitten off by their ugly
+tusks--or of being torn all to pieces by their brazen claws. Well, to be
+sure, these were some of the dangers, but by no means the greatest, nor
+the most difficult to avoid. For the worst thing about these abominable
+Gorgons was, that, if once a poor mortal fixed his eyes full upon one
+of their faces, he was certain, that very instant, to be changed from
+warm flesh and blood into cold and lifeless stone!
+
+Thus, as you will easily perceive, it was a very dangerous adventure
+that the wicked King Polydectes had contrived for this innocent young
+man. Perseus himself, when he had thought over the matter, could not
+help seeing that he had very little chance of coming safely through it,
+and that he was far more likely to become a stone image than to bring
+back the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. For, not to speak of other
+difficulties, there was one which it would have puzzled an older man
+than Perseus to get over. Not only must he fight with and slay this
+golden-winged, iron-scaled, long-tusked, brazen-clawed, snaky-haired
+monster, but he must do it with his eyes shut, or, at least, without so
+much as a glance at the enemy with whom he was contending. Else, while
+his arm was lifted to strike, he would stiffen into stone, and stand
+with that uplifted arm for centuries, until time, and the wind and
+weather, should crumble him quite away. This would be a very sad thing
+to befall a young man who wanted to perform a great many brave deeds,
+and to enjoy a great deal of happiness, in this bright and beautiful
+world.
+
+So disconsolate did these thoughts make him, that Perseus could not bear
+to tell his mother what he had undertaken to do. He therefore took his
+shield, girded on his sword, and crossed over from the island to the
+mainland, where he sat down in a solitary place, and hardly refrained
+from shedding tears.
+
+But, while he was in this sorrowful mood, he heard a voice close beside
+him.
+
+"Perseus," said the voice, "why are you sad?"
+
+He lifted his head from his hands, in which he had hidden it, and,
+behold! all alone as Perseus had supposed himself to be, there was a
+stranger in the solitary place. It was a brisk, intelligent, and
+remarkably shrewd-looking young man, with a cloak over his shoulders, an
+odd sort of cap on his head, a strangely twisted staff in his hand, and
+a short and very crooked sword hanging by his side. He was exceedingly
+light and active in his figure, like a person much accustomed to
+gymnastic exercises, and well able to leap or run. Above all, the
+stranger had such a cheerful, knowing, and helpful aspect (though it was
+certainly a little mischievous, into the bargain), that Perseus could
+not help feeling his spirits grow livelier as he gazed at him. Besides,
+being really a courageous youth, he felt greatly ashamed that anybody
+should have found him with tears in his eyes, like a timid little
+schoolboy, when, after all, there might be no occasion for despair. So
+Perseus wiped his eyes, and answered the stranger pretty briskly,
+putting on as brave a look as he could.
+
+"I am not so very sad," said he, "only thoughtful about an adventure
+that I have undertaken."
+
+"Oho!" answered the stranger. "Well, tell me all about it, and possibly
+I may be of service to you. I have helped a good many young men through
+adventures that looked difficult enough beforehand. Perhaps you may have
+heard of me. I have more names than one; but the name of Quicksilver
+suits me as well as any other. Tell me what the trouble is, and we will
+talk the matter over, and see what can be done."
+
+The stranger's words and manner put Perseus into quite a different mood
+from his former one. He resolved to tell Quicksilver all his
+difficulties, since he could not easily be worse off than he already
+was, and, very possibly, his new friend might give him some advice that
+would turn out well in the end. So he let the stranger know, in few
+words, precisely what the case was,--how that King Polydectes wanted the
+head of Medusa with the snaky locks as a bridal gift for the beautiful
+Princess Hippodamia, and how that he had undertaken to get it for him,
+but was afraid of being turned into stone.
+
+"And that would be a great pity," said Quicksilver, with his mischievous
+smile. "You would make a very handsome marble statue, it is true, and it
+would be a considerable number of centuries before you crumbled away;
+but, on the whole, one would rather be a young man for a few years, than
+a stone image for a great many."
+
+"Oh, far rather!" exclaimed Perseus, with the tears again standing in
+his eyes. "And, besides, what would my dear mother do, if her beloved
+son were turned into a stone?"
+
+"Well, well, let us hope that the affair will not turn out so very
+badly," replied Quicksilver, in an encouraging tone. "I am the very
+person to help you, if anybody can. My sister and myself will do our
+utmost to bring you safe through the adventure, ugly as it now looks."
+
+"Your sister?" repeated Perseus.
+
+"Yes, my sister," said the stranger. "She is very wise, I promise you;
+and as for myself, I generally have all my wits about me, such as they
+are. If you show yourself bold and cautious, and follow our advice, you
+need not fear being a stone image yet awhile. But, first of all, you
+must polish your shield, till you can see your face in it as distinctly
+as in a mirror."
+
+This seemed to Perseus rather an odd beginning of the adventure; for he
+thought it of far more consequence that the shield should be strong
+enough to defend him from the Gorgon's brazen claws, than that it should
+be bright enough to show him the reflection of his face. However,
+concluding that Quicksilver knew better than himself, he immediately set
+to work, and scrubbed the shield with so much diligence and good-will,
+that it very quickly shone like the moon at harvest time. Quicksilver
+looked at it with a smile, and nodded his approbation. Then, taking off
+his own short and crooked sword, he girded it about Perseus, instead of
+the one which he had before worn.
+
+"No sword but mine will answer your purpose," observed he; "the blade
+has a most excellent temper, and will cut through iron and brass as
+easily as through the slenderest twig. And now we will set out. The next
+thing is to find the Three Gray Women, who will tell us where to find
+the Nymphs."
+
+"The Three Gray Women!" cried Perseus, to whom this seemed only a new
+difficulty in the path of his adventure; "pray who may the Three Gray
+Women be? I never heard of them before."
+
+"They are three very strange old ladies," said Quicksilver, laughing.
+"They have but one eye among them, and only one tooth. Moreover, you
+must find them out by starlight, or in the dusk of the evening; for they
+never show themselves by the light either of the sun or moon."
+
+"But," said Perseus, "why should I waste my time with these Three Gray
+Women? Would it not be better to set out at once in search of the
+terrible Gorgons?"
+
+"No, no," answered his friend. "There are other things to be done,
+before you can find your way to the Gorgons. There is nothing for it but
+to hunt up these old ladies; and when we meet with them, you may be sure
+that the Gorgons are not a great way off. Come, let us be stirring!"
+
+Perseus, by this time, felt so much confidence in his companion's
+sagacity, that he made no more objections, and professed himself ready
+to begin the adventure immediately. They accordingly set out, and walked
+at a pretty brisk pace; so brisk, indeed, that Perseus found it rather
+difficult to keep up with his nimble friend Quicksilver. To say the
+truth, he had a singular idea that Quicksilver was furnished with a pair
+of winged shoes, which, of course, helped him along marvellously. And
+then, too, when Perseus looked sideways at him out of the corner of his
+eye, he seemed to see wings on the side of his head; although, if he
+turned a full gaze, there were no such things to be perceived, but only
+an odd kind of cap. But, at all events, the twisted staff was evidently
+a great convenience to Quicksilver, and enabled him to proceed so fast,
+that Perseus, though a remarkably active young man, began to be out of
+breath.
+
+"Here!" cried Quicksilver, at last--for he knew well enough, rogue that
+he was, how hard Perseus found it to keep pace with him--"take you the
+staff, for you need it a great deal more than I. Are there no better
+walkers than yourself in the island of Seriphus?"
+
+"I could walk pretty well," said Perseus, glancing slyly at his
+companion's feet, "if I had only a pair of winged shoes."
+
+"We must see about getting you a pair," answered Quicksilver.
+
+But the staff helped Perseus along so bravely, that he no longer felt
+the slightest weariness. In fact, the stick seemed to be alive in his
+hand, and to lend some of its life to Perseus. He and Quicksilver now
+walked onward at their ease, talking very sociably together; and
+Quicksilver told so many pleasant stories about his former adventures,
+and how well his wits had served him on various occasions, that Perseus
+began to think him a very wonderful person. He evidently knew the world;
+and nobody is so charming to a young man as a friend who has that kind
+of knowledge. Perseus listened the more eagerly, in the hope of
+brightening his own wits by what he heard.
+
+At last, he happened to recollect that Quicksilver had spoken of a
+sister, who was to lend her assistance in the adventure which they were
+now bound upon.
+
+"Where is she?" he inquired. "Shall we not meet her soon?"
+
+"All at the proper time," said his companion. "But this sister of mine,
+you must understand, is quite a different sort of character from myself.
+She is very grave and prudent, seldom smiles, never laughs, and makes it
+a rule not to utter a word unless she has something particularly
+profound to say. Neither will she listen to any but the wisest
+conversation."
+
+"Dear me!" ejaculated Perseus; "I shall be afraid to say a syllable."
+
+"She is a very accomplished person, I assure you," continued
+Quicksilver, "and has all the arts and sciences at her fingers' ends. In
+short, she is so immoderately wise, that many people call her wisdom
+personified. But, to tell you the truth, she has hardly vivacity enough
+for my taste; and I think you would scarcely find her so pleasant a
+travelling companion as myself. She has her good points, nevertheless;
+and you will find the benefit of them, in your encounter with the
+Gorgons."
+
+By this time it had grown quite dusk. They were now come to a very wild
+and desert place, overgrown with shaggy bushes, and so silent and
+solitary that nobody seemed ever to have dwelt or journeyed there. All
+was waste and desolate, in the gray twilight, which grew every moment
+more obscure. Perseus looked about him, rather disconsolately, and asked
+Quicksilver whether they had a great deal farther to go.
+
+"Hist! hist!" whispered his companion. "Make no noise! This is just the
+time and place to meet the Three Gray Women. Be careful that they do not
+see you before you see them; for, though they have but a single eye
+among the three, it is as sharp sighted as half a dozen common eyes."
+
+"But what must I do," asked Perseus, "when we meet them?"
+
+Quicksilver explained to Perseus how the Three Gray Women managed with
+their one eye. They were in the habit, it seems, of changing it from one
+to another, as if it had been a pair of spectacles, or--which would have
+suited them better--a quizzing glass. When one of the three had kept the
+eye a certain time, she took it out of the socket and passed it to one
+of her sisters, whose turn it might happen to be, and who immediately
+clapped it into her own head, and enjoyed a peep at the visible world.
+Thus it will easily be understood that only one of the Three Gray Women
+could see, while the other two were in utter darkness; and, moreover, at
+the instant when the eye was passing from hand to hand, neither of the
+poor old ladies was able to see a wink. I have heard of a great many
+strange things, in my day, and have witnessed not a few; but none, it
+seems to me, that can compare with the oddity of these Three Gray Women,
+all peeping through a single eye.
+
+So thought Perseus, likewise, and was so astonished that he almost
+fancied his companion was joking with him, and that there were no such
+old women in the world.
+
+"You will soon find whether I tell the truth or no," observed
+Quicksilver. "Hark! hush! hist! hist! There they come, now!"
+
+Perseus looked earnestly through the dusk of the evening, and there,
+sure enough, at no great distance off, he descried the Three Gray Women.
+The light being so faint, he could not well make out what sort of
+figures they were; only he discovered that they had long gray hair; and,
+as they came nearer, he saw that two of them had but the empty socket of
+an eye, in the middle of their foreheads. But, in the middle of the
+third sister's forehead, there was a very large, bright, and piercing
+eye, which sparkled like a great diamond in a ring; and so penetrating
+did it seem to be, that Perseus could not help thinking it must possess
+the gift of seeing in the darkest midnight just as perfectly as at
+noonday. The sight of three persons' eyes was melted and collected into
+that single one.
+
+Thus the three old dames got along about as comfortably, upon the whole,
+as if they could all see at once. She who chanced to have the eye in her
+forehead led the other two by the hands, peeping sharply about her, all
+the while; insomuch that Perseus dreaded lest she should see right
+through the thick clump of bushes behind which he and Quicksilver had
+hidden themselves. My stars! it was positively terrible to be within
+reach of so very sharp an eye!
+
+But, before they reached the clump of bushes, one of the Three Gray
+Women spoke.
+
+"Sister! Sister Scarecrow!" cried she, "you have had the eye long
+enough. It is my turn now!"
+
+"Let me keep it a moment longer, Sister Nightmare," answered Scarecrow.
+"I thought I had a glimpse of something behind that thick bush."
+
+"Well, and what of that?" retorted Nightmare, peevishly. "Can't I see
+into a thick bush as easily as yourself? The eye is mine as well as
+yours; and I know the use of it as well as you, or maybe a little
+better. I insist upon taking a peep immediately!"
+
+But here the third sister, whose name was Shakejoint, began to complain,
+and said that it was her turn to have the eye, and that Scarecrow and
+Nightmare wanted to keep it all to themselves. To end the dispute, old
+Dame Scarecrow took the eye out of her forehead, and held it forth in
+her hand.
+
+"Take it, one of you," cried she, "and quit this foolish quarrelling.
+For my part, I shall be glad of a little thick darkness. Take it
+quickly, however, or I must clap it into my own head again!"
+
+Accordingly, both Nightmare and Shakejoint put out their hands, groping
+eagerly to snatch the eye out of the hand of Scarecrow. But, being both
+alike blind, they could not easily find where Scarecrow's hand was; and
+Scarecrow, being now just as much in the dark as Shakejoint and
+Nightmare, could not at once meet either of their hands, in order to put
+the eye into it. Thus (as you will see, with half an eye, my wise little
+auditors), these good old dames had fallen into a strange perplexity.
+For, though the eye shone and glistened like a star, as Scarecrow held
+it out, yet the Gray Women caught not the least glimpse of its light,
+and were all three in utter darkness, from too impatient a desire to
+see.
+
+Quicksilver was so much tickled at beholding Shakejoint and Nightmare
+both groping for the eye, and each finding fault with Scarecrow and one
+another, that he could scarcely help laughing aloud.
+
+"Now is your time!" he whispered to Perseus. "Quick, quick! before they
+can clap the eye into either of their heads. Rush out upon the old
+ladies, and snatch it from Scarecrow's hand!"
+
+In an instant, while the Three Gray Women were still scolding each
+other, Perseus leaped from behind the clump of bushes, and made himself
+master of the prize. The marvellous eye, as he held it in his hand,
+shone very brightly, and seemed to look up into his face with a knowing
+air, and an expression as if it would have winked, had it been provided
+with a pair of eyelids for that purpose. But the Gray Women knew nothing
+of what had happened; and, each supposing that one of her sisters was in
+possession of the eye, they began their quarrel anew. At last, as
+Perseus did not wish to put these respectable dames to greater
+inconvenience than was really necessary, he thought it right to explain
+the matter.
+
+"My good ladies," said he, "pray do not be angry with one another. If
+anybody is in fault, it is myself; for I have the honour to hold your
+very brilliant and excellent eye in my own hand!"
+
+"You! you have our eye! And who are you?" screamed the Three Gray Women,
+all in a breath; for they were terribly frightened, of course, at
+hearing a strange voice, and discovering that their eyesight had got
+into the hands of they could not guess whom. "Oh, what shall we do,
+sisters? what shall we do? We are all in the dark! Give us our eye! Give
+us our one, precious, solitary eye! You have two of your own! Give us
+our eye!"
+
+"Tell them," whispered Quicksilver to Perseus, "that they shall have
+back the eye as soon as they direct you where to find the Nymphs who
+have the flying slippers, the magic wallet, and the helmet of darkness."
+
+"My dear, good, admirable old ladies," said Perseus, addressing the Gray
+Women, "there is no occasion for putting yourselves into such a fright.
+I am by no means a bad young man. You shall have back your eye, safe and
+sound, and as bright as ever, the moment you tell me where to find the
+Nymphs."
+
+"The Nymphs! Goodness me! sisters, what Nymphs does he mean?" screamed
+Scarecrow. "There are a great many Nymphs, people say; some that go a
+hunting in the woods, and some that live inside of trees, and some that
+have a comfortable home in fountains of water. We know nothing at all
+about them. We are three unfortunate old souls, that go wandering about
+in the dusk, and never had but one eye amongst us, and that one you have
+stolen away. Oh, give it back, good stranger!--whoever you are, give it
+back!"
+
+All this while the Three Gray Women were groping with their outstretched
+hands, and trying their utmost to get hold of Perseus. But he took good
+care to keep out of their reach.
+
+"My respectable dames," said he--for his mother had taught him always to
+use the greatest civility--"I hold your eye fast in my hand, and shall
+keep it safely for you, until you please to tell me where to find these
+Nymphs. The Nymphs, I mean, who keep the enchanted wallet, the flying
+slippers, and the what is it?--the helmet of invisibility."
+
+"Mercy on us, sisters! what is the young man talking about?" exclaimed
+Scarecrow, Nightmare and Shakejoint, one to another, with great
+appearance of astonishment. "A pair of flying slippers, quoth he! His
+heels would quickly fly higher than his head, if he was silly enough to
+put them on. And a helmet of invisibility! How could a helmet make him
+invisible, unless it were big enough for him to hide under it? And an
+enchanted wallet! What sort of a contrivance may that be, I wonder? No,
+no, good stranger! we can tell you nothing of these marvellous things.
+You have two eyes of your own, and we have but a single one amongst us
+three. You can find out such wonders better than three blind old
+creatures, like us."
+
+Perseus, hearing them talk in this way, began really to think that the
+Gray Women knew nothing of the matter; and, as it grieved him to have
+put them to so much trouble, he was just on the point of restoring their
+eye and asking pardon for his rudeness in snatching it away. But
+Quicksilver caught his hand.
+
+"Don't let them make a fool of you!" said he. "These Three Gray Women
+are the only persons in the world that can tell you where to find the
+Nymphs; and, unless you get that information, you will never succeed in
+cutting off the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. Keep fast hold of
+the eye, and all will go well."
+
+As it turned out, Quicksilver was in the right. There are but few things
+that people prize so much as they do their eyesight; and the Gray Women
+valued their single eye as highly as if it had been half a dozen, which
+was the number they ought to have had. Finding that there was no other
+way of recovering it, they at last told Perseus what he wanted to know.
+No sooner had they done so, than he immediately, and with the utmost
+respect, clapped the eye into the vacant socket in one of their
+foreheads, thanked them for their kindness, and bade them farewell.
+Before the young man was out of hearing, however, they had got into a
+new dispute, because he happened to have given the eye to Scarecrow, who
+had already taken her turn of it when their trouble with Perseus
+commenced.
+
+It is greatly to be feared that the Three Gray Women were very much in
+the habit of disturbing their mutual harmony by bickerings of this sort;
+which was the more pity, as they could not conveniently do without one
+another, and were evidently intended to be inseparable companions. As a
+general rule, I would advise all people, whether sisters or brothers,
+old or young, who chance to have but one eye amongst them, to cultivate
+forbearance, and not all insist upon peeping through it at once.
+
+Quicksilver and Perseus, in the meantime, were making the best of their
+way in quest of the Nymphs. The old dames had given them such particular
+directions that they were not long in finding them out. They proved to
+be very different persons from Nightmare, Shakejoint and Scarecrow; for,
+instead of being old, they were young and beautiful; and instead of one
+eye amongst the sisterhood, each Nymph had two exceedingly bright eyes
+of her own, with which she looked very kindly at Perseus. They seemed to
+be acquainted with Quicksilver; and, when he told them the adventure
+which Perseus had undertaken, they made no difficulty about giving him
+the valuable articles that were in their custody. In the first place,
+they brought out what appeared to be a small purse, made of deer skin,
+and curiously embroidered, and bade him be sure and keep it safe. This
+was the magic wallet. The Nymphs next produced a pair of shoes, or
+slippers, or sandals, with a nice little pair of wings at the heel of
+each.
+
+"Put them on, Perseus," said Quicksilver. "You will find yourself as
+light heeled as you can desire for the remainder of our journey."
+
+So Perseus proceeded to put one of the slippers on, while he laid the
+other on the ground by his side. Unexpectedly, however, this other
+slipper spread its wings, fluttered up off the ground, and would
+probably have flown away, if Quicksilver had not made a leap, and
+luckily caught it in the air.
+
+"Be more careful," said he, as he gave it back to Perseus. "It would
+frighten the birds, up aloft, if they should see a flying slipper
+amongst them."
+
+When Perseus had got on both of these wonderful slippers, he was
+altogether too buoyant to tread on earth. Making a step or two, lo and
+behold! upward he popped into the air, high above the heads of
+Quicksilver and the Nymphs, and found it very difficult to clamber down
+again. Winged slippers, and all such high-flying contrivances, are
+seldom quite easy to manage until one grows a little accustomed to them.
+Quicksilver laughed at his companion's involuntary activity, and told
+him that he must not be in so desperate a hurry, but must wait for the
+invisible helmet.
+
+The good-natured Nymphs had the helmet, with its dark tuft of waving
+plumes, all in readiness to put upon his head. And now there happened
+about as wonderful an incident as anything that I have yet told you.
+The instant before the helmet was put on, there stood Perseus, a
+beautiful young man, with golden ringlets and rosy cheeks, the crooked
+sword by his side, and the brightly polished shield upon his arm--a
+figure that seemed all made up of courage, sprightliness, and glorious
+light. But when the helmet had descended over his white brow, there was
+no longer any Perseus to be seen! Nothing but empty air! Even the
+helmet, that covered him with its invisibility, had vanished!
+
+"Where are you, Perseus?" asked Quicksilver.
+
+"Why, here, to be sure!" answered Perseus, very quietly, although his
+voice seemed to come out of the transparent atmosphere. "Just where I
+was a moment ago. Don't you see me?"
+
+"No, indeed!" answered his friend. "You are hidden under the helmet.
+But, if I cannot see you, neither can the Gorgons. Follow me, therefore,
+and we will try your dexterity in using the winged slippers."
+
+With these words, Quicksilver's cap spread its wings, as if his head
+were about to fly away from his shoulders; but his whole figure rose
+lightly into the air, and Perseus followed. By the time they had
+ascended a few hundred feet, the young man began to feel what a
+delightful thing it was to leave the dull earth so far beneath him, and
+to be able to flit about like a bird.
+
+It was now deep night. Perseus looked upward, and saw the round, bright,
+silvery moon, and thought that he should desire nothing better than to
+soar up thither, and spend his life there. Then he looked downward
+again, and saw the earth, with its seas and lakes, and the silver
+courses of its rivers, and its snowy mountain peaks, and the breadth of
+its fields, and the dark cluster of its woods, and its cities of white
+marble; and, with the moonshine sleeping over the whole scene, it was as
+beautiful as the moon or any star could be. And, among other objects, he
+saw the island of Seriphus, where his dear mother was. Sometimes he and
+Quicksilver approached a cloud, that, at a distance, looked as if it
+were made of fleecy silver; although, when they plunged into it, they
+found themselves chilled and moistened with gray mist. So swift was
+their flight, however, that, in an instant, they emerged from the cloud
+into the moonlight again. Once, a high-soaring eagle flew right against
+the invisible Perseus. The bravest sights were the meteors, that gleamed
+suddenly out, as if a bonfire had been kindled in the sky, and made the
+moonshine pale for as much as a hundred miles around them.
+
+As the two companions flew onward, Perseus fancied that he could hear
+the rustle of a garment close by his side; and it was on the side
+opposite to the one where he beheld Quicksilver, yet only Quicksilver
+was visible.
+
+"Whose garment is this," inquired Perseus, "that keeps rustling close
+beside me in the breeze?"
+
+"Oh, it is my sister's!" answered Quicksilver. "She is coming along with
+us, as I told you she would. We could do nothing without the help of my
+sister. You have no idea how wise she is. She has such eyes, too! Why,
+she can see you, at this moment, just as distinctly as if you were not
+invisible; and I'll venture to say, she will be the first to discover
+the Gorgons."
+
+By this time, in their swift voyage through the air, they had come
+within sight of the great ocean, and were soon flying over it. Far
+beneath them, the waves tossed themselves tumultuously in mid-sea, or
+rolled a white surf line upon the long beaches, or foamed against the
+rocky cliffs, with a roar that was thunderous, in the lower world;
+although it became a gentle murmur, like the voice of a baby half
+asleep, before it reached the ears of Perseus. Just then a voice spoke
+in the air close by him. It seemed to be a woman's voice, and was
+melodious, though not exactly what might be called sweet, but grave and
+mild.
+
+"Perseus," said the voice, "there are the Gorgons."
+
+"Where?" exclaimed Perseus. "I cannot see them."
+
+"On the shore of that island beneath you," replied the voice. "A pebble,
+dropped from your hand, would strike in the midst of them."
+
+"I told you she would be the first to discover them," said Quicksilver
+to Perseus. "And there they are!"
+
+Straight downward, two or three thousand feet below him, Perseus
+perceived a small island, with the sea breaking into white foam all
+around its rocky shore, except on one side, where there was a beach of
+snowy sand. He descended toward it, and, looking earnestly at a cluster
+or heap of brightness, at the foot of a precipice of black rocks,
+behold, there were the terrible Gorgons! They lay fast asleep, soothed
+by the thunder of the sea; for it required a tumult that would have
+deafened everybody else to lull such fierce creatures into slumber. The
+moonlight glistened on their steely scales, and on their golden wings,
+which drooped idly over the sand. Their brazen claws, horrible to look
+at, were thrust out, and clutched the wave-beaten fragments of rock,
+while the sleeping Gorgons dreamed of tearing some poor mortal all to
+pieces. The snakes that served them instead of hair seemed likewise to
+be asleep; although, now and then, one would writhe, and lift its head,
+and thrust out its forked tongue, emitting a drowsy hiss, and then let
+itself subside among its sister snakes.
+
+The Gorgons were more like an awful, gigantic kind of insect--immense,
+golden-winged beetles, or dragon-flies, or things of that sort--at once
+ugly and beautiful--than like anything else; only that they were a
+thousand and a million times as big. And, with all this, there was
+something partly human about them, too. Luckily for Perseus, their faces
+were completely hidden from him by the posture in which they lay; for,
+had he but looked one instant at them, he would have fallen heavily out
+of the air, an image of senseless stone.
+
+"Now," whispered Quicksilver, as he hovered by the side of Perseus--"now
+is your time to do the deed! Be quick; for, if one of the Gorgons should
+awake, you are too late!"
+
+"Which shall I strike at?" asked Perseus, drawing his sword and
+descending a little lower. "They all three look alike. All three have
+snaky locks. Which of the three is Medusa?"
+
+It must be understood that Medusa was the only one of these dragon
+monsters whose head Perseus could possibly cut off. As for the other
+two, let him have the sharpest sword that ever was forged, and he might
+have hacked away by the hour together, without doing them the least
+harm.
+
+"Be cautious," said the calm voice which had before spoken to him. "One
+of the Gorgons is stirring in her sleep, and is just about to turn over.
+That is Medusa. Do not look at her! The sight would turn you to stone!
+Look at the reflection of her face and figure in the bright mirror of
+your shield."
+
+Perseus now understood Quicksilver's motive for so earnestly exhorting
+him to polish his shield. In its surface he could safely look at the
+reflection of the Gorgon's face. And there it was--that terrible
+countenance--mirrored in the brightness of the shield, with the
+moonlight falling over it, and displaying all its horror. The snakes,
+whose venomous natures could not altogether sleep, kept twisting
+themselves over the forehead. It was the fiercest and most horrible face
+that ever was seen or imagined, and yet with a strange, fearful, and
+savage kind of beauty in it. The eyes were closed, and the Gorgon was
+still in a deep slumber; but there was an unquiet expression disturbing
+her features, as if the monster was troubled with an ugly dream. She
+gnashed her white tusks, and dug into the sand with her brazen claws.
+
+The snakes, too, seemed to feel Medusa's dream, and to be made more
+restless by it. They twined themselves into tumultuous knots, writhed
+fiercely, and uplifted a hundred hissing heads, without opening their
+eyes.
+
+"Now, now!" whispered Quicksilver, who was growing impatient. "Make a
+dash at the monster!"
+
+"But be calm," said the grave, melodious voice at the young man's side.
+"Look in your shield, as you fly downward, and take care that you do not
+miss your first stroke."
+
+Perseus flew cautiously downward, still keeping his eyes on Medusa's
+face, as reflected in his shield. The nearer he came, the more terrible
+did the snaky visage and metallic body of the monster grow. At last,
+when he found himself hovering over her within arm's length, Perseus
+uplifted his sword, while, at the same instant, each separate snake upon
+the Gorgon's head stretched threateningly upward, and Medusa unclosed
+her eyes. But she awoke too late. The sword was sharp; the stroke fell
+like a lightning flash; and the head of the wicked Medusa tumbled from
+her body!
+
+"Admirably done!" cried Quicksilver. "Make haste, and clap the head into
+your magic wallet."
+
+To the astonishment of Perseus, the small, embroidered wallet, which he
+had hung about his neck, and which had hitherto been no bigger than a
+purse, grew all at once large enough to contain Medusa's head. As quick
+as thought, he snatched it up, with the snakes still writhing upon it,
+and thrust it in.
+
+"Your task is done," said the calm voice. "Now fly; for the other
+Gorgons will do their utmost to take vengeance for Medusa's death."
+
+It was, indeed, necessary to take flight; for Perseus had not done the
+deed so quietly but that the clash of his sword, and the hissing of the
+snakes, and the thump of Medusa's head as it tumbled upon the sea-beaten
+sand, awoke the other two monsters. There they sat, for an instant,
+sleepily rubbing their eyes with their brazen fingers, while all the
+snakes on their heads reared themselves on end with surprise, and with
+venomous malice against they knew not what. But when the Gorgons saw the
+scaly carcass of Medusa, headless, and her golden wings all ruffled and
+half spread out on the sand, it was really awful to hear what yells and
+screeches they set up. And then the snakes! They sent forth a
+hundredfold hiss, with one consent, and Medusa's snakes answered them
+out of the magic wallet.
+
+No sooner were the Gorgons broad awake than they hurtled upward into the
+air, brandishing their brass talons, gnashing their horrible tusks, and
+flapping their huge wings so wildly, that some of the golden feathers
+were shaken out, and floated down upon the shore. And there, perhaps,
+those very feathers lie scattered till this day. Up rose the Gorgons, as
+I tell you, staring horribly about, in hopes of turning somebody to
+stone. Had Perseus looked them in the face, or had he fallen into their
+clutches, his poor mother would never have kissed her boy again! But he
+took good care to turn his eyes another way; and, as he wore the helmet
+of invisibility, the Gorgons knew not in what direction to follow him;
+nor did he fail to make the best use of the winged slippers, by soaring
+upward a perpendicular mile or so. At that height, when the screams of
+those abominable creatures sounded faintly beneath him, he made a
+straight course for the island of Seriphus, in order to carry Medusa's
+head to King Polydectes.
+
+I have no time to tell you of several marvellous things that befell
+Perseus on his way homeward; such as his killing a hideous sea monster,
+just as it was on the point of devouring a beautiful maiden; nor how he
+changed an enormous giant into a mountain of stone, merely by showing
+him the head of the Gorgon. If you doubt this latter story, you may make
+a voyage to Africa, some day or other, and see the very mountain, which
+is still known by the ancient giant's name.
+
+Finally, our brave Perseus arrived at the island, where he expected to
+see his dear mother. But, during his absence, the wicked king had
+treated Danaë so very ill that she was compelled to make her escape, and
+had taken refuge in a temple, where some good old priests were extremely
+kind to her. These praiseworthy priests, and the kind-hearted fisherman,
+who had first shown hospitality to Danaë and little Perseus when he
+found them afloat in the chest, seem to have been the only persons on
+the island who cared about doing right. All the rest of the people, as
+well as King Polydectes himself, were remarkably ill behaved, and
+deserved no better destiny than that which was now to happen.
+
+Not finding his mother at home, Perseus went straight to the palace, and
+was immediately ushered into the presence of the king. Polydectes was by
+no means rejoiced to see him; for he had felt almost certain, in his own
+evil mind, that the Gorgons would have torn the poor young man to
+pieces, and have eaten him up, out of the way. However, seeing him
+safely returned, he put the best face he could upon the matter and asked
+Perseus how he had succeeded.
+
+"Have you performed your promise?" inquired he. "Have you brought me the
+head of Medusa with the snaky locks? If not, young man, it will cost you
+dear; for I must have a bridal present for the beautiful Princess
+Hippodamia, and there is nothing else that she would admire so much."
+
+"Yes, please Your Majesty," answered Perseus, in a quiet way, as if it
+were no very wonderful deed for such a young man as he to perform. "I
+have brought you the Gorgon's head, snaky locks and all!"
+
+"Indeed! Pray let me see it," quoth King Polydectes. "It must be a very
+curious spectacle, if all that travellers tell about it be true!"
+
+"Your Majesty is in the right," replied Perseus. "It is really an object
+that will be pretty certain to fix the regards of all who look at it.
+And, if Your Majesty think fit, I would suggest that a holiday be
+proclaimed, and that all Your Majesty's subjects be summoned to behold
+this wonderful curiosity. Few of them, I imagine, have seen a Gorgon's
+head before, and perhaps never may again!"
+
+The king well knew that his subjects were an idle set of reprobates, and
+very fond of sightseeing, as idle persons usually are. So he took the
+young man's advice, and sent out heralds and messengers, in all
+directions, to blow the trumpet at the street corners, and in the market
+places, and wherever two roads met, and summon everybody to court.
+Thither, accordingly, came a great multitude of good-for-nothing
+vagabonds, all of whom, out of pure love of mischief, would have been
+glad if Perseus had met with some ill-hap in his encounter with the
+Gorgons. If there were any better people in the island (as I really hope
+there may have been, although the story tells nothing about any such),
+they stayed quietly at home, minding their business, and taking care of
+their little children. Most of the inhabitants, at all events, ran as
+fast as they could to the palace, and shoved, and pushed, and elbowed
+one another in their eagerness to get near a balcony, on which Perseus
+showed himself, holding the embroidered wallet in his hand.
+
+On a platform, within full view of the balcony, sat the mighty King
+Polydectes, amid his evil counsellors, and with his flattering courtiers
+in a semi-circle round about him. Monarch, counsellors, courtiers, and
+subjects, all gazed eagerly toward Perseus.
+
+"Show us the head! Show us the head!" shouted the people; and there was
+a fierceness in their cry as if they would tear Perseus to pieces,
+unless he should satisfy them with what he had to show. "Show us the
+head of Medusa with the snaky locks!"
+
+A feeling of sorrow and pity came over the youthful Perseus.
+
+"O King Polydectes," cried he, "and ye many people, I am very loath to
+show you the Gorgon's head!"
+
+"Ah, the villain and coward!" yelled the people, more fiercely than
+before. "He is making game of us! He has no Gorgon's head! Show us the
+head if you have it, or we will take your own head for a football!"
+
+The evil counsellors whispered bad advice in the king's ear; the
+courtiers murmured, with one consent, that Perseus had shown disrespect
+to their royal lord and master; and the great King Polydectes himself
+waved his hand, and ordered him, with the stern, deep voice of
+authority, on his peril, to produce the head.
+
+"Show me the Gorgon's head, or I will cut off your own!"
+
+And Perseus sighed.
+
+"This instant," repeated Polydectes, "or you die!"
+
+"Behold it then!" cried Perseus, in a voice like the blast of a trumpet.
+
+And, suddenly holding up the head, not an eyelid had time to wink before
+the wicked King Polydectes, his evil counsellors, and all his fierce
+subjects were no longer anything but the mere images of a monarch and
+his people. They were all fixed, forever, in the look and attitude of
+that moment! At the first glimpse of the terrible head of Medusa, they
+whitened into marble! And Perseus thrust the head back into his wallet,
+and went to tell his dear mother that she need no longer be afraid of
+the wicked King Polydectes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE DRAGON'S TEETH
+
+
+Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, the three sons of King Agenor, and their
+little sister Europa (who was a very beautiful child) were at play
+together, near the seashore, in their father's kingdom of Phoenicia.
+They had rambled to some distance from the palace where their parents
+dwelt, and were now in a verdant meadow, on one side of which lay the
+sea, all sparkling and dimpling in the sunshine, and murmuring gently
+against the beach. The three boys were very happy, gathering flowers,
+and twining them into garlands, with which they adorned the little
+Europa. Seated on the grass, the child was almost hidden under an
+abundance of buds and blossoms, whence her rosy face peeped merrily out,
+and, as Cadmus said, was the prettiest of all the flowers.
+
+Just then, there came a splendid butterfly, fluttering along the meadow;
+and Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix set off in pursuit of it, crying out
+that it was a flower with wings. Europa, who was a little wearied with
+playing all day long, did not chase the butterfly with her brothers, but
+sat still where they had left her, and closed her eyes. For a while, she
+listened to the pleasant murmur of the sea, which was like a voice
+saying "Hush!" and bidding her go to sleep. But the pretty child, if she
+slept at all, could not have slept more than a moment, when she heard
+something trample on the grass, not far from her, and peeping out from
+the heap of flowers, beheld a snow-white bull.
+
+And whence could this bull have come? Europa and her brothers had been a
+long time playing in the meadow, and had seen no cattle, nor other
+living thing, either there or on the neighbouring hills.
+
+"Brother Cadmus!" cried Europa, starting up out of the midst of the
+roses and lilies. "Phoenix! Cilix! Where are you all? Help! Help! Come
+and drive away this bull!"
+
+But her brothers were too far off to hear; especially as the fright took
+away Europa's voice, and hindered her from calling very loudly. So there
+she stood, with her pretty mouth wide open, as pale as the white lilies
+that were twisted among the other flowers in her garlands.
+
+Nevertheless, it was the suddenness with which she had perceived the
+bull, rather than anything frightful in his appearance, that caused
+Europa so much alarm. On looking at him more attentively, she began to
+see that he was a beautiful animal, and even fancied a particularly
+amiable expression in his face. As for his breath--the breath of cattle,
+you know, is always sweet--it was as fragrant as if he had been grazing
+on no other food than rosebuds, or, at least, the most delicate of
+clover blossoms. Never before did a bull have such bright and tender
+eyes, and such smooth horns of ivory, as this one. And the bull ran
+little races, and capered sportively around the child; so that she quite
+forgot how big and strong he was, and, from the gentleness and
+playfulness of his actions, soon came to consider him as innocent a
+creature as a pet lamb.
+
+Thus, frightened as she at first was, you might by and by have seen
+Europa stroking the bull's forehead with her small white hand, and
+taking the garlands off her own head to hang them on his neck and ivory
+horns. Then she pulled up some blades of grass, and he ate them out of
+her hand, not as if he were hungry, but because he wanted to be friends
+with the child, and took pleasure in eating what she had touched. Well,
+my stars! was there ever such a gentle, sweet, pretty, and amiable
+creature as this bull, and ever such a nice playmate for a little girl?
+
+When the animal saw (for the bull had so much intelligence that it is
+really wonderful to think of), when he saw that Europa was no longer
+afraid of him, he grew overjoyed, and could hardly contain himself for
+delight. He frisked about the meadow, now here, now there, making
+sprightly leaps, with as little effort as a bird expends in hopping from
+twig to twig. Indeed, his motion was as light as if he were flying
+through the air, and his hoofs seemed hardly to leave their print in the
+grassy soil over which he trod. With his spotless hue, he resembled a
+snowdrift, wafted along by the wind. Once he galloped so far away that
+Europa feared lest she might never see him again; so, setting up her
+childish voice, she called him back.
+
+"Come back, pretty creature!" she cried. "Here is a nice clover
+blossom."
+
+And then it was delightful to witness the gratitude of this amiable
+bull, and how he was so full of joy and thankfulness that he capered
+higher than ever. He came running, and bowed his head before Europa, as
+if he knew her to be a king's daughter, or else recognised the important
+truth that a little girl is everybody's queen. And not only did the bull
+bend his neck, he absolutely knelt down at her feet, and made such
+intelligent nods, and other inviting gestures, that Europa understood
+what he meant just as well as if he had put it in so many words.
+
+"Come, dear child," was what he wanted to say, "let me give you a ride
+on my back."
+
+At the first thought of such a thing, Europa drew back. But then she
+considered in her wise little head that there could be no possible harm
+in taking just one gallop on the back of this docile and friendly
+animal, who would certainly set her down the very instant she desired
+it. And how it would surprise her brothers to see her riding across the
+green meadow! And what merry times they might have, either taking turns
+for a gallop, or clambering on the gentle creature, all four children
+together, and careering round the field with shouts of laughter that
+would be heard as far off as King Agenor's palace!
+
+"I think I will do it," said the child to herself.
+
+And, indeed, why not? She cast a glance around, and caught a glimpse of
+Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, who were still in pursuit of the
+butterfly, almost at the other end of the meadow. It would be the
+quickest way of rejoining them, to get upon the white bull's back. She
+came a step nearer to him, therefore; and--sociable creature that he
+was--he showed so much joy at this mark of her confidence, that the
+child could not find it in her heart to hesitate any longer. Making one
+bound (for this little princess was as active as a squirrel), there sat
+Europa on the beautiful bull, holding an ivory horn in each hand, lest
+she should fall off.
+
+"Softly, pretty bull, softly!" she said, rather frightened at what she
+had done. "Do not gallop too fast."
+
+Having got the child on his back, the animal gave a leap into the air,
+and came down so like a feather that Europa did not know when his hoofs
+touched the ground. He then began a race to that part of the flowery
+plain where her three brothers were, and where they had just caught
+their splendid butterfly. Europa screamed with delight; and Phoenix,
+Cilix, and Cadmus stood gaping at the spectacle of their sister mounted
+on a white bull, not knowing whether to be frightened or to wish the
+same good luck for themselves. The gentle and innocent creature (for who
+could possibly doubt that he was so?) pranced round among the children
+as sportively as a kitten. Europa all the while looked down upon her
+brothers, nodding and laughing, but yet with a sort of stateliness in
+her rosy little face. As the bull wheeled about to take another gallop
+across the meadow, the child waved her hand, and said, "Good-by,"
+playfully pretending that she was now bound on a distant journey, and
+might not see her brothers again for nobody could tell how long.
+
+"Good-by," shouted Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, all in one breath.
+
+But, together with her enjoyment of the sport, there was still a little
+remnant of fear in the child's heart; so that her last look at the three
+boys was a troubled one, and made them feel as if their dear sister were
+really leaving them forever. And what do you think the snowy bull did
+next? Why, he set off, as swift as the wind, straight down to the
+seashore, scampered across the sand, took an airy leap, and plunged
+right in among the foaming billows. The white spray rose in a shower
+over him and little Europa, and fell spattering down upon the water.
+
+Then what a scream of terror did the poor child send forth! The three
+brothers screamed manfully, likewise, and ran to the shore as fast as
+their legs would carry them, with Cadmus at their head. But it was too
+late. When they reached the margin of the sand, the treacherous animal
+was already far away in the wide blue sea, with only his snowy head and
+tail emerging, and poor little Europa between them, stretching out one
+hand toward her dear brothers, while she grasped the bull's ivory horn
+with the other. And there stood Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, gazing at
+this sad spectacle, through their tears, until they could no longer
+distinguish the bull's snowy head from the white-capped billows that
+seemed to boil up out of the sea's depths around him. Nothing more was
+ever seen of the white bull--nothing more of the beautiful child.
+
+This was a mournful story, as you may well think, for the three boys to
+carry home to their parents. King Agenor, their father, was the ruler of
+the whole country; but he loved his little daughter Europa better than
+his kingdom, or than all his other children, or than anything else in
+the world. Therefore, when Cadmus and his two brothers came crying home,
+and told him how that a white bull had carried off their sister, and
+swam with her over the sea, the king was quite beside himself with grief
+and rage. Although it was now twilight, and fast growing dark, he bade
+them set out instantly in search of her.
+
+"Never shall you see my face again," he cried, "unless you bring me back
+my little Europa, to gladden me with her smiles and her pretty ways.
+Begone, and enter my presence no more, till you come leading her by the
+hand."
+
+As King Agenor said this, his eyes flashed fire (for he was a very
+passionate king), and he looked so terribly angry that the poor boys did
+not even venture to ask for their suppers, but slunk away out of the
+palace, and only paused on the steps a moment to consult whither they
+should go first. While they were standing there, all in dismay, their
+mother, Queen Telephassa (who happened not to be by when they told the
+story to the king), came hurrying after them, and said that she, too,
+would go in quest of her daughter.
+
+"Oh no, mother!" cried the boys. "The night is dark, and there is no
+knowing what troubles and perils we may meet with."
+
+"Alas! my dear children," answered poor Queen Telephassa, weeping
+bitterly, "that is only another reason why I should go with you. If I
+should lose you, too, as well as my little Europa, what would become of
+me?"
+
+"And let me go likewise!" said their playfellow Thasus, who came running
+to join them.
+
+Thasus was the son of a seafaring person in the neighbourhood; he had
+been brought up with the young princess, and was their intimate friend,
+and loved Europa very much; so they consented that he should accompany
+them. The whole party, therefore, set forth together; Cadmus, Phoenix,
+Cilix and Thasus clustered round Queen Telephassa, grasping her skirts,
+and begging her to lean upon their shoulders whenever she felt weary. In
+this manner they went down the palace steps, and began a journey which
+turned out to be a great deal longer than they dreamed of. The last that
+they saw of King Agenor, he came to the door, with a servant holding a
+torch beside him, and called after them into the gathering darkness:
+
+"Remember! Never ascend these steps again without the child!"
+
+"Never!" sobbed Queen Telephassa; and the three brothers and Thasus
+answered, "Never! Never! Never! Never!"
+
+And they kept their word. Year after year King Agenor sat in the
+solitude of his beautiful palace, listening in vain for their returning
+footsteps, hoping to hear the familiar voice of the queen, and the
+cheerful talk of his sons and their playfellow Thasus, entering the
+door together, and the sweet, childish accents of little Europa in the
+midst of them. But so long a time went by, that, at last, if they had
+really come, the king would not have known that this was the voice of
+Telephassa, and these the younger voices that used to make such joyful
+echoes when the children were playing about the palace. We must now
+leave King Agenor to sit on his throne, and must go along with Queen
+Telephassa and her four youthful companions.
+
+They went on and on, and travelled a long way, and passed over mountains
+and rivers, and sailed over seas. Here, and there, and everywhere, they
+made continual inquiry if any person could tell them what had become of
+Europa. The rustic people, of whom they asked this question, paused a
+little while from their labours in the field, and looked very much
+surprised. They thought it strange to behold a woman in the garb of a
+queen (for Telephassa, in her haste, had forgotten to take off her crown
+and her royal robes), roaming about the country, with four lads around
+her, on such an errand as this seemed to be. But nobody could give them
+any tidings of Europa; nobody had seen a little girl dressed like a
+princess, and mounted on a snow-white bull, which galloped as swiftly as
+the wind.
+
+I cannot tell you how long Queen Telephassa, and Cadmus, Phoenix, and
+Cilix, her three sons, and Thasus, their playfellow, went wandering
+along the highways and bypaths, or through the pathless wildernesses of
+the earth, in this manner. But certain it is, that, before they reached
+any place of rest, their splendid garments were quite worn out. They all
+looked very much travel stained, and would have had the dust of many
+countries on their shoes, if the streams, through which they waded, had
+not washed it all away. When they had been gone a year, Telephassa threw
+away her crown, because it chafed her forehead.
+
+"It has given me many a headache," said the poor queen, "and it cannot
+cure my heartache."
+
+As fast as their princely robes got torn and tattered, they exchanged
+them for such mean attire as ordinary people wore. By and by they came
+to have a wild and homeless aspect; so that you would much sooner have
+taken them for a gypsy family than a queen and three princes, and a
+young nobleman, who had once a palace for their home, and a train of
+servants to do their bidding. The four boys grew up to be tall young
+men, with sunburnt faces. Each of them girded on a sword, to defend
+themselves against the perils of the way. When the husbandmen, at whose
+farmhouses they sought hospitality, needed their assistance in the
+harvest field, they gave it willingly; and Queen Telephassa (who had
+done no work in her palace, save to braid silk threads with golden ones)
+came behind them to bind the sheaves. If payment was offered, they shook
+their heads, and only asked for tidings of Europa.
+
+"There are bulls enough in my pasture," the old farmers would reply;
+"but I never heard of one like this you tell me of. A snow-white bull
+with a little princess on his back! Ho! ho! I ask your pardon, good
+folks; but there never was such a sight seen hereabouts."
+
+At last, when his upper lip began to have the down on it, Phoenix grew
+weary of rambling hither and thither to no purpose. So, one day, when
+they happened to be passing through a pleasant and solitary tract of
+country, he sat himself down on a heap of moss.
+
+"I can go no farther," said Phoenix. "It is a mere foolish waste of
+life, to spend it, as we do, in always wandering up and down, and never
+coming to any home at nightfall. Our sister is lost, and never will be
+found. She probably perished in the sea; or, to whatever shore the white
+bull may have carried her, it is now so many years ago, that there would
+be neither love nor acquaintance between us should we meet again. My
+father has forbidden us to return to his palace; so I shall build me a
+hut of branches, and dwell here."
+
+"Well, son Phoenix," said Telephassa, sorrowfully, "you have grown to
+be a man, and must do as you judge best. But, for my part, I will still
+go in quest of my poor child."
+
+"And we three will go along with you!" cried Cadmus and Cilix, and their
+faithful friend Thasus.
+
+But, before setting out, they all helped Phoenix to build a
+habitation. When completed, it was a sweet rural bower, roofed overhead
+with an arch of living boughs. Inside there were two pleasant rooms, one
+of which had a soft heap of moss for a bed, while the other was
+furnished with a rustic seat or two, curiously fashioned out of the
+crooked roots of trees. So comfortable and homelike did it seem, that
+Telephassa and her three companions could not help sighing, to think
+that they must still roam about the world, instead of spending the
+remainder of their lives in some such cheerful abode as they had here
+built for Phoenix. But, when they bade him farewell, Phoenix shed
+tears, and probably regretted that he was no longer to keep them
+company.
+
+However, he had fixed upon an admirable place to dwell in. And by and by
+there came other people, who chanced to have no homes; and, seeing how
+pleasant a spot it was, they built themselves huts in the neighbourhood
+of Phoenix's habitation. Thus, before many years went by, a city had
+grown up there, in the centre of which was seen a stately palace of
+marble, wherein dwelt Phoenix, clothed in a purple robe, and wearing a
+golden crown upon his head. For the inhabitants of the new city, finding
+that he had royal blood in his veins, had chosen him to be their king.
+The very first decree of state which King Phoenix issued was, that if
+a maiden happened to arrive in the kingdom, mounted on a snow-white
+bull, and calling herself Europa, his subjects should treat her with the
+greatest kindness and respect, and immediately bring her to the palace.
+You may see, by this, that Phoenix's conscience never quite ceased to
+trouble him, for giving up the quest of his dear sister, and sitting
+himself down to be comfortable, while his mother and her companions went
+onward.
+
+But often and often, at the close of a weary day's journey, did
+Telephassa and Cadmus, Cilix and Thasus, remember the pleasant spot in
+which they had left Phoenix. It was a sorrowful prospect for these
+wanderers, that on the morrow they must again set forth, and that, after
+many nightfalls, they would perhaps be no nearer the close of their
+toilsome pilgrimage than now. These thoughts made them all melancholy at
+times, but appeared to torment Cilix more than the rest of the party. At
+length, one morning, when they were taking their staffs in hand to set
+out, he thus addressed them:
+
+"My dear mother, and you good brother Cadmus, and my friend Thasus,
+methinks we are like people in a dream. There is no substance in the
+life which we are leading. It is such a dreary length of time since the
+white bull carried off my sister Europa, that I have quite forgotten
+how she looked, and the tones of her voice, and, indeed, almost doubt
+whether such a little girl ever lived in the world. And whether she once
+lived or no, I am convinced that she no longer survives, and that
+therefore it is the merest folly to waste our own lives and happiness in
+seeking her. Were we to find her, she would now be a woman grown, and
+would look upon us all as strangers. So, to tell you the truth, I have
+resolved to take up my abode here; and I entreat you, mother, brother,
+and friend, to follow my example."
+
+"Not I, for one," said Telephassa; although the poor queen, firmly as
+she spoke, was so travel worn that she could hardly put her foot to the
+ground--"not I, for one! In the depths of my heart, little Europa is
+still the rosy child who ran to gather flowers so many years ago. She
+has not grown to womanhood, nor forgotten me. At noon, at night,
+journeying onward, sitting down to rest, her childish voice is always in
+my ears, calling, 'Mother! mother!' Stop here who may, there is no
+repose for me."
+
+"Nor for me," said Cadmus, "while my dear mother pleases to go onward."
+
+And the faithful Thasus, too, was resolved to bear them company. They
+remained with Cilix a few days, however, and helped him to build a
+rustic bower, resembling the one which they had formerly built for
+Phoenix.
+
+When they were bidding him farewell, Cilix burst into tears, and told
+his mother that it seemed just as melancholy a dream to stay there, in
+solitude, as to go onward. If she really believed that they would ever
+find Europa, he was willing to continue the search with them, even now.
+But Telephassa bade him remain there, and be happy, if his own heart
+would let him. So the pilgrims took their leave of him, and departed,
+and were hardly out of sight before some other wandering people came
+along that way, and saw Cilix's habitation, and were greatly delighted
+with the appearance of the place. There being abundance of unoccupied
+ground in the neighbourhood, these strangers built huts for themselves,
+and were soon joined by a multitude of new settlers, who quickly formed
+a city. In the middle of it was seen a magnificent palace of coloured
+marble, on the balcony of which, every noontide, appeared Cilix, in a
+long purple robe, and with a jewelled crown upon his head; for the
+inhabitants, when they found out that he was a king's son, had
+considered him the fittest of all men to be a king himself.
+
+One of the first acts of King Cilix's government was to send out an
+expedition, consisting of a grave ambassador and an escort of bold and
+hardy young men, with orders to visit the principal kingdoms of the
+earth, and inquire whether a young maiden had passed through those
+regions, galloping swiftly on a white bull. It is, therefore, plain to
+my mind, that Cilix secretly blamed himself for giving up the search for
+Europa, as long as he was able to put one foot before the other.
+
+As for Telephassa, and Cadmus, and the good Thasus, it grieves me to
+think of them, still keeping up that weary pilgrimage. The two young men
+did their best for the poor queen, helping her over the rough places,
+often carrying her across rivulets in their faithful arms, and seeking
+to shelter her at nightfall, even when they themselves lay on the
+ground. Sad, sad it was to hear them asking of every passerby if he had
+seen Europa, so long after the white bull had carried her away. But,
+though the gray years thrust themselves between, and made the child's
+figure dim in their remembrance, neither of these true-hearted three
+ever dreamed of giving up the search.
+
+One morning, however, poor Thasus found that he had sprained his ankle,
+and could not possibly go a step farther.
+
+"After a few days, to be sure," said he, mournfully, "I might make shift
+to hobble along with a stick. But that would only delay you, and perhaps
+hinder you from finding dear little Europa, after all your pains and
+trouble. Do you go forward, therefore, my beloved companions, and leave
+me to follow as I may."
+
+"Thou hast been a true friend, dear Thasus," said Queen Telephassa,
+kissing his forehead. "Being neither my son, nor the brother of our lost
+Europa, thou hast shown thyself truer to me and her than Phoenix and
+Cilix did, whom we have left behind us. Without thy loving help, and
+that of my son Cadmus, my limbs could not have borne me half so far as
+this. Now, take thy rest, and be at peace. For--and it is the first time
+I have owned it to myself--I begin to question whether we shall ever
+find my beloved daughter in this world."
+
+Saying this, the poor queen shed tears, because it was a grievous trial
+to the mother's heart to confess that her hopes were growing faint. From
+that day forward, Cadmus noticed that she never travelled with the same
+alacrity of spirit that had heretofore supported her. Her weight was
+heavier upon his arm.
+
+Before setting out, Cadmus helped Thasus build a bower; while
+Telephassa, being too infirm to give any great assistance, advised them
+how to fit it up and furnish it, so that it might be as comfortable as a
+hut of branches could. Thasus, however, did not spend all his days in
+this green bower. For it happened to him, as to Phoenix and Cilix,
+that other homeless people visited the spot and liked it, and built
+themselves habitations in the neighbourhood. So here, in the course of
+a few years, was another thriving city with a red freestone palace in
+the centre of it, where Thasus set upon a throne, doing justice to the
+people, with a purple robe over his shoulders, a sceptre in his hand,
+and a crown upon his head. The inhabitants had made him king, not for
+the sake of any royal blood (for none was in his veins), but because
+Thasus was an upright, true-hearted, and courageous man, and therefore
+fit to rule.
+
+But, when the affairs of his kingdom were all settled, King Thasus laid
+aside his purple robe, and crown, and sceptre, and bade his worthiest
+subject distribute justice to the people in his stead. Then, grasping
+the pilgrim's staff that had supported him so long, he set forth again,
+hoping still to discover some hoof mark of the snow-white bull, some
+trace of the vanished child. He returned, after a lengthened absence,
+and sat down wearily upon his throne. To his latest hour, nevertheless,
+King Thasus showed his true-hearted remembrance of Europa, by ordering
+that a fire should always be kept burning in his palace, and a bath
+steaming hot, and food ready to be served up, and a bed with snow-white
+sheets, in case the maiden should arrive, and require immediate
+refreshment. And though Europa never came, the good Thasus had the
+blessings of many a poor traveller, who profited by the food and lodging
+which were meant for the little playmate of the king's boyhood.
+
+Telephassa and Cadmus were now pursuing their weary way, with no
+companion but each other. The queen leaned heavily upon her son's arm,
+and could walk only a few miles a day. But for all her weakness and
+weariness, she would not be persuaded to give up the search. It was
+enough to bring tears into the eyes of bearded men to hear the
+melancholy tone with which she inquired of every stranger whether he
+could tell her any news of the lost child.
+
+"Have you seen a little girl--no, no, I mean a young maiden of full
+growth--passing by this way, mounted on a snow-white bull, which gallops
+as swiftly as the wind?"
+
+"We have seen no such wondrous sight," the people would reply; and very
+often, taking Cadmus aside, they whispered to him, "Is this stately and
+sad-looking woman your mother? Surely she is not in her right mind; and
+you ought to take her home, and make her comfortable, and do your best
+to get this dream out of her fancy."
+
+"It is no dream," said Cadmus. "Everything else is a dream, save that."
+
+But, one day, Telephassa seemed feebler than usual, and leaned almost
+her whole weight on the arm of Cadmus, and walked more slowly than ever
+before. At last they reached a solitary spot, where she told her son
+that she must needs lie down, and take a good, long rest.
+
+"A good, long rest!" she repeated, looking Cadmus tenderly in the
+face--"a good, long rest, thou dearest one!"
+
+"As long as you please, dear mother," answered Cadmus.
+
+Telephassa bade him sit down on the turf beside her, and then she took
+his hand.
+
+"My son," said she, fixing her dim eyes most lovingly upon him, "this
+rest that I speak of will be very long indeed! You must not wait till it
+is finished. Dear Cadmus, you do not comprehend me. You must make a
+grave here, and lay your mother's weary frame into it. My pilgrimage is
+over."
+
+Cadmus burst into tears, and, for a long time, refused to believe that
+his dear mother was now to be taken from him. But Telephassa reasoned
+with him, and kissed him, and at length made him discern that it was
+better for her spirit to pass away out of the toil, the weariness, the
+grief, and disappointment which had burdened her on earth, ever since
+the child was lost. He therefore repressed his sorrow, and listened to
+her last words.
+
+"Dearest Cadmus," said she, "thou hast been the truest son that ever
+mother had, and faithful to the very last. Who else would have borne
+with my infirmities as thou hast! It is owing to thy care, thou
+tenderest child, that my grave was not dug long years ago, in some
+valley, or on some hillside, that lies far, far behind us. It is enough.
+Thou shalt wander no more on this hopeless search. But when thou hast
+laid thy mother in the earth, then go, my son, to Delphi, and inquire of
+the oracle what thou shalt do next."
+
+"O mother, mother," cried Cadmus, "couldst thou but have seen my sister
+before this hour!"
+
+"It matters little now," answered Telephassa, and there was a smile upon
+her face. "I go now to the better world, and, sooner or later, shall
+find my daughter there."
+
+I will not sadden you, my little hearers, with telling how Telephassa
+died and was buried, but will only say, that her dying smile grew
+brighter, instead of vanishing from her dead face; so that Cadmus felt
+convinced that, at her very first step into the better world, she had
+caught Europa in her arms. He planted some flowers on his mother's
+grave, and left them to grow there, and make the place beautiful, when
+he should be far away.
+
+After performing this last sorrowful duty, he set forth alone, and took
+the road toward the famous oracle of Delphi, as Telephassa had advised
+him. On his way thither, he still inquired of most people whom he met
+whether they had seen Europa; for, to say the truth, Cadmus had grown so
+accustomed to ask the question, that it came to his lips as readily as a
+remark about the weather. He received various answers. Some told him one
+thing, and some another. Among the rest, a mariner affirmed, that, many
+years before, in a distant country, he had heard a rumour about a white
+bull, which came swimming across the sea with a child on his back,
+dressed up in flowers that were blighted by the sea water. He did not
+know what had become of the child or the bull; and Cadmus suspected,
+indeed, by a queer twinkle in the mariner's eyes, that he was putting a
+joke upon him, and had never really heard anything about the matter.
+
+Poor Cadmus found it more wearisome to travel alone than to bear all his
+dear mother's weight while she had kept him company. His heart, you will
+understand, was now so heavy that it seemed impossible, sometimes, to
+carry it any farther. But his limbs were strong and active and well
+accustomed to exercise. He walked swiftly along, thinking of King Agenor
+and Queen Telephassa, and his brothers, and the friendly Thasus, all of
+whom he had left behind him, at one point of his pilgrimage or another,
+and never expected to see them any more. Full of these remembrances, he
+came within sight of a lofty mountain, which the people thereabouts told
+him was called Parnassus. On the slope of Mount Parnassus was the famous
+Delphi, whither Cadmus was going.
+
+This Delphi was supposed to be the very midmost spot of the whole world.
+The place of the oracle was a certain cavity in the mountain side, over
+which, when Cadmus came thither, he found a rude bower of branches. It
+reminded him of those which he had helped to build for Phoenix and
+Cilix, and afterward for Thasus. In later times, when multitudes of
+people came from great distances to put questions to the oracle, a
+spacious temple of marble was erected over the spot. But in the days of
+Cadmus, as I have told you, there was only this rustic bower, with its
+abundance of green foliage, and a tuft of shrubbery, that ran wild over
+the mysterious hole in the hillside.
+
+When Cadmus had thrust a passage through the tangled boughs, and made
+his way into the bower, he did not at first discern the half-hidden
+cavity. But soon he felt a cold stream of air rushing out of it, with so
+much force that it shook the ringlets on his cheek. Pulling away the
+shrubbery which clustered over the hole, he bent forward, and spoke in a
+distinct but reverential tone, as if addressing some unseen personage
+inside of the mountain.
+
+"Sacred oracle of Delphi," said he, "whither shall I go next in quest of
+my dear sister Europa?"
+
+There was at first a deep silence, and then a rushing sound, or a noise
+like a long sigh, proceeding out of the interior of the earth. This
+cavity, you must know, was looked upon as a sort of fountain of truth,
+which sometimes gushed out in audible words; although, for the most
+part, these words were such a riddle that they might just as well have
+stayed at the bottom of the hole. But Cadmus was more fortunate than
+many others who went to Delphi in search of truth. By and by, the
+rushing noise began to sound like articulate language. It repeated, over
+and over again, the following sentence, which, after all, was so like
+the vague whistle of a blast of air, that Cadmus really did not quite
+know whether it meant anything or not:
+
+"Seek her no more! Seek her no more! Seek her no more!"
+
+"What, then, shall I do?" asked Cadmus.
+
+For, ever since he was a child, you know, it had been the great object
+of his life to find his sister. From the very hour that he left
+following the butterfly in the meadow, near his father's palace, he had
+done his best to follow Europa, over land and sea. And now, if he must
+give up the search, he seemed to have no more business in the world.
+
+But again the sighing gust of air grew into something like a hoarse
+voice.
+
+"Follow the cow!" it said. "Follow the cow! Follow the cow!"
+
+And when these words had been repeated until Cadmus was tired of hearing
+them (especially as he could not imagine what cow it was, or why he was
+to follow her), the gusty hole gave vent to another sentence.
+
+"Where the stray cow lies down, there is your home."
+
+These words were pronounced but a single time, and died away into a
+whisper before Cadmus was fully satisfied that he had caught the
+meaning. He put other questions, but received no answer; only the gust
+of wind sighed continually out of the cavity, and blew the withered
+leaves rustling along the ground before it.
+
+"Did there really come any words out of the hole?" thought Cadmus; "or
+have I been dreaming all this while?"
+
+He turned away from the oracle, and thought himself no wiser than when
+he came thither. Caring little what might happen to him, he took the
+first path that offered itself, and went along at a sluggish pace; for,
+having no object in view, nor any reason to go one way more than
+another, it would certainly have been foolish to make haste. Whenever he
+met anybody, the old question was at his tongue's end:
+
+"Have you seen a beautiful maiden, dressed like a king's daughter, and
+mounted on a snow-white bull, that gallops as swiftly as the wind?"
+
+But, remembering what the oracle had said, he only half uttered the
+words, and then mumbled the rest indistinctly; and from his confusion,
+people must have imagined that this handsome young man had lost his
+wits.
+
+I know not how far Cadmus had gone, nor could he himself have told you,
+when, at no great distance before him, he beheld a brindled cow. She was
+lying down by the wayside, and quietly chewing her cud; nor did she take
+any notice of the young man until he had approached pretty nigh. Then,
+getting leisurely upon her feet, and giving her head a gentle toss, she
+began to move along at a moderate pace, often pausing just long enough
+to crop a mouthful of grass. Cadmus loitered behind, whistling idly to
+himself, and scarcely noticing the cow; until the thought occurred to
+him, whether this could possibly be the animal which, according to the
+oracle's response, was to serve him for a guide. But he smiled at
+himself for fancying such a thing. He could not seriously think that
+this was the cow, because she went along so quietly, behaving just like
+any other cow. Evidently she neither knew nor cared so much as a wisp of
+hay about Cadmus, and was only thinking how to get her living along the
+wayside, where the herbage was green and fresh. Perhaps she was going
+home to be milked.
+
+"Cow, cow, cow!" cried Cadmus. "Hey, Brindle, hey! Stop, my good cow."
+
+He wanted to come up with the cow, so as to examine her, and see if she
+would appear to know him, or whether there were any peculiarities to
+distinguish her from a thousand other cows, whose only business is to
+fill the milk pail, and sometimes kick it over. But still the brindled
+cow trudged on, whisking her tail to keep the flies away, and taking as
+little notice of Cadmus as she well could. If he walked slowly, so did
+the cow, and seized the opportunity to graze. If he quickened his pace,
+the cow went just so much the faster; and once, when Cadmus tried to
+catch her by running, she threw out her heels, stuck her tail straight
+on end, and set off at a gallop, looking as queerly as cows generally
+do, while putting themselves to their speed.
+
+When Cadmus saw that it was impossible to come up with her, he walked on
+moderately, as before. The cow, too, went leisurely on, without looking
+behind. Wherever the grass was greenest, there she nibbled a mouthful or
+two. Where a brook glistened brightly across the path, there the cow
+drank, and breathed a comfortable sigh, and drank again, and trudged
+onward at the pace that best suited herself and Cadmus.
+
+"I do believe," thought Cadmus, "that this may be the cow that was
+foretold me. If it be the one, I suppose she will lie down somewhere
+hereabouts."
+
+Whether it were the oracular cow or some other one, it did not seem
+reasonable that she should travel a great way farther. So, whenever they
+reached a particularly pleasant spot on a breezy hillside, or in a
+sheltered vale, or flowery meadow, on the shore of a calm lake, or along
+the bank of a clear stream, Cadmus looked eagerly around to see if the
+situation would suit him for a home. But still, whether he liked the
+place or no, the brindled cow never offered to lie down. On she went at
+the quiet pace of a cow going homeward to the barnyard; and, every
+moment Cadmus expected to see a milkmaid approaching with a pail, or a
+herdsman running to head the stray animal, and turn her back toward the
+pasture. But no milkmaid came; no herdsman drove her back; and Cadmus
+followed the stray brindle till he was almost ready to drop down with
+fatigue.
+
+"O brindled cow," cried he, in a tone of despair, "do you never mean to
+stop?"
+
+He had now grown too intent on following her to think of lagging behind,
+however long the way, and whatever might be his fatigue. Indeed, it
+seemed as if there were something about the animal that bewitched
+people. Several persons who happened to see the brindled cow, and Cadmus
+following behind, began to trudge after her, precisely as he did. Cadmus
+was glad of somebody to converse with, and therefore talked very freely
+to these good people. He told them all his adventures, and how he had
+left King Agenor in his palace, and Phoenix at one place, and Cilix at
+another, and Thasus at a third, and his dear mother, Queen Telephassa,
+under a flowery sod; so that now he was quite alone, both friendless and
+homeless. He mentioned, likewise, that the oracle had bidden him be
+guided by a cow, and inquired of the strangers whether they supposed
+that this brindled animal could be the one.
+
+"Why, 'tis a very wonderful affair," answered one of his new companions.
+"I am pretty well acquainted with the ways of cattle, and I never knew a
+cow, of her own accord, to go so far without stopping. If my legs will
+let me, I'll never leave following the beast till she lies down."
+
+"Nor I!" said a second.
+
+"Nor I!" cried a third. "If she goes a hundred miles farther, I'm
+determined to see the end of it."
+
+The secret of it was, you must know, that the cow was an enchanted cow,
+and that, without their being conscious of it, she threw some of her
+enchantment over everybody that took so much as half a dozen steps
+behind her. They could not possibly help following her, though, all the
+time, they fancied themselves doing it of their own accord. The cow was
+by no means very nice in choosing her path; so that sometimes they had
+to scramble over rocks, or wade through mud and mire, and were all in a
+terribly bedraggled condition, and tired to death, and very hungry, into
+the bargain. What a weary business it was!
+
+But still they kept trudging stoutly forward, and talking as they went.
+The strangers grew very fond of Cadmus, and resolved never to leave him,
+but to help him build a city wherever the cow might lie down. In the
+centre of it there should be a noble palace, in which Cadmus might
+dwell, and be their king, with a throne, a crown and sceptre, a purple
+robe, and everything else that a king ought to have; for in him there
+was the royal blood, and the royal heart, and the head that knew how to
+rule.
+
+While they were talking of these schemes, and beguiling the tediousness
+of the way with laying out the plan of the new city, one of the company
+happened to look at the cow.
+
+"Joy! joy!" cried he, clapping his hands. "Brindle is going to lie
+down."
+
+They all looked; and, sure enough, the cow had stopped and was staring
+leisurely about her, as other cows do when on the point of lying down.
+And slowly, slowly did she recline herself on the soft grass, first
+bending her fore legs, and then crouching her hind ones. When Cadmus and
+his companions came up with her, there was the brindled cow taking her
+ease, chewing her cud, and looking them quietly in the face; as if this
+was just the spot she had been seeking for, and as if it were all a
+matter of course.
+
+"This, then," said Cadmus, gazing around him, "this is to be my home."
+
+It was a fertile and lovely plain, with great trees flinging their
+sun-speckled shadows over it, and hills fencing it in from the rough
+weather. At no great distance, they beheld a river gleaming in the
+sunshine. A home feeling stole into the heart of poor Cadmus. He was
+very glad to know that here he might awake in the morning, without the
+necessity of putting on his dusty sandals to travel farther and farther.
+The days and the years would pass over him, and find him still in this
+pleasant spot. If he could have had his brothers with him, and his
+friend Thasus, and could have seen his dear mother under a roof of his
+own, he might here have been happy, after all their disappointments.
+Some day or other, too, his sister Europa might have come quietly to the
+door of his home, and smiled round upon the familiar faces. But, indeed,
+since there was no hope of regaining the friends of his boyhood, or ever
+seeing his dear sister again, Cadmus resolved to make himself happy with
+these new companions, who had grown so fond of him while following the
+cow.
+
+"Yes, my friends," said he to them, "this is to be our home. Here we
+will build our habitations. The brindled cow, which has led us hither,
+will supply us with milk. We will cultivate the neighbouring soil, and
+lead an innocent and happy life."
+
+His companions joyfully assented to this plan; and, in the first place,
+being very hungry and thirsty, they looked about them for the means of
+providing a comfortable meal. Not far off, they saw a tuft of trees,
+which appeared as if there might be a spring of water beneath them. They
+went thither to fetch some, leaving Cadmus stretched on the ground
+along with the brindled cow; for, now that he had found a place of rest,
+it seemed as if all the weariness of his pilgrimage, ever since he left
+King Agenor's palace, had fallen upon him at once. But his new friends
+had not long been gone, when he was suddenly startled by cries, shouts,
+and screams, and the noise of a terrible struggle, and in the midst of
+it all, a most awful hissing, which went right through his ears like a
+rough saw.
+
+Running toward the tuft of trees, he beheld the head and fiery eyes of
+an immense serpent or dragon, with the widest jaws that ever a dragon
+had, and a vast many rows of horribly sharp teeth. Before Cadmus could
+reach the spot, this pitiless reptile had killed his poor companions,
+and was busily devouring them, making but a mouthful of each man.
+
+It appears that the fountain of water was enchanted, and that the dragon
+had been set to guard it, so that no mortal might ever quench his thirst
+there. As the neighbouring inhabitants carefully avoided the spot, it
+was now a long time (not less than a hundred years, or thereabouts)
+since the monster had broken his fast; and, as was natural enough, his
+appetite had grown to be enormous, and was not half satisfied by the
+poor people whom he had just eaten up. When he caught sight of Cadmus,
+therefore, he set up another abominable hiss, and flung back his immense
+jaws, until his mouth looked like a great red cavern, at the farther end
+of which were seen the legs of his last victim, whom he had hardly had
+time to swallow.
+
+But Cadmus was so enraged at the destruction of his friends, that he
+cared neither for the size of the dragon's jaws nor for his hundreds of
+sharp teeth. Drawing his sword, he rushed at the monster, and flung
+himself right into his cavernous mouth. This bold method of attacking
+him took the dragon by surprise; for, in fact, Cadmus had leaped so far
+down into his throat, that the rows of terrible teeth could not close
+upon him, nor do him the least harm in the world. Thus, though the
+struggle was a tremendous one, and though the dragon shattered the tuft
+of trees into small splinters by the lashing of his tail, yet, as Cadmus
+was all the while slashing and stabbing at his very vitals, it was not
+long before the scaly wretch bethought himself of slipping away. He had
+not gone his length, however, when the brave Cadmus gave him a sword
+thrust that finished the battle; and, creeping out of the gateway of the
+creature's jaws, there he beheld him still wriggling his vast bulk,
+although there was no longer life enough in him to harm a little child.
+
+But do not you suppose that it made Cadmus sorrowful to think of the
+melancholy fate which had befallen those poor, friendly people, who had
+followed the cow along with him? It seemed as if he were doomed to lose
+everybody whom he loved, or to see them perish in one way or another.
+And here he was, after all his toils and troubles, in a solitary place,
+with not a single human being to help him build a hut.
+
+"What shall I do?" cried he aloud. "It were better for me to have been
+devoured by the dragon, as my poor companions were."
+
+"Cadmus," said a voice--but whether it came from above or below him, or
+whether it spoke within his own breast, the young man could not
+tell--"Cadmus, pluck out the dragon's teeth, and plant them in the
+earth."
+
+This was a strange thing to do; nor was it very easy, I should imagine,
+to dig out all those deep-rooted fangs from the dead dragon's jaws. But
+Cadmus toiled and tugged, and after pounding the monstrous head almost
+to pieces with a great stone, he at last collected as many teeth as
+might have filled a bushel or two. The next thing was to plant them.
+This, likewise, was a tedious piece of work, especially as Cadmus was
+already exhausted with killing the dragon and knocking his head to
+pieces, and had nothing to dig the earth with, that I know of, unless it
+were his sword blade. Finally, however, a sufficiently large tract of
+ground was turned up, and sown with this new kind of seed; although half
+of the dragon's teeth still remained to be planted some other day.
+
+Cadmus, quite out of breath, stood leaning upon his sword, and wondering
+what was to happen next. He had waited but a few moments, when he began
+to see a sight, which was as great a marvel as the most marvellous thing
+I ever told you about.
+
+The sun was shining slantwise over the field, and showed all the moist,
+dark soil just like any other newly planted piece of ground. All at
+once, Cadmus fancied he saw something glisten very brightly, first at
+one spot, then at another, and then at a hundred and a thousand spots
+together. Soon he perceived them to be the steel heads of spears,
+sprouting up everywhere like so many stalks of grain, and continually
+growing taller and taller. Next appeared a vast number of bright sword
+blades, thrusting themselves up in the same way. A moment afterward, the
+whole surface of the ground was broken up by a multitude of polished
+brass helmets, coming up like a crop of enormous beans. So rapidly did
+they grow, that Cadmus now discerned the fierce countenance of a man
+beneath every one. In short, before he had time to think what a
+wonderful affair it was, he beheld an abundant harvest of what looked
+like human beings, armed with helmets and breastplates, shields, swords
+and spears; and before they were well out of the earth, they brandished
+their weapons, and clashed them one against another, seeming to think,
+little while as they had yet lived, that they had wasted too much of
+life without a battle. Every tooth of the dragon had produced one of
+these sons of deadly mischief.
+
+Up sprouted, also, a great many trumpeters; and with the first breath
+that they drew, they put their brazen trumpets to their lips, and
+sounded a tremendous and ear-shattering blast; so that the whole space,
+just now so quiet and solitary, reverberated with the clash and clang of
+arms, the bray of warlike music, and the shouts of angry men. So enraged
+did they all look, that Cadmus fully expected them to put the whole
+world to the sword. How fortunate would it be for a great conqueror, if
+he could get a bushel of the dragon's teeth to sow!
+
+"Cadmus," said the same voice which he had before heard, "throw a stone
+into the midst of the armed men."
+
+So Cadmus seized a large stone, and, flinging it into the middle of the
+earth army, saw it strike the breast-plate of a gigantic and
+fierce-looking warrior. Immediately on feeling the blow, he seemed to
+take it for granted that somebody had struck him; and, uplifting his
+weapon, he smote his next neighbour a blow that cleft his helmet
+asunder, and stretched him on the ground. In an instant, those nearest
+the fallen warrior began to strike at one another with their swords and
+stab with their spears. The confusion spread wider and wider. Each man
+smote down his brother, and was himself smitten down before he had time
+to exult in his victory. The trumpeters, all the while, blew their
+blasts shriller and shriller; each soldier shouted a battle cry and
+often fell with it on his lips. It was the strangest spectacle of
+causeless wrath, and of mischief for no good end, that had ever been
+witnessed; but, after all, it was neither more foolish nor more wicked
+than a thousand battles that have since been fought, in which men have
+slain their brothers with just as little reason as these children of the
+dragon's teeth. It ought to be considered, too, that the dragon people
+were made for nothing else; whereas other mortals were born to love and
+help one another.
+
+Well, this memorable battle continued to rage until the ground was
+strewn with helmeted heads that had been cut off. Of all the thousands
+that began the fight, there were only five left standing. These now
+rushed from different parts of the field, and, meeting in the middle of
+it, clashed their swords, and struck at each other's hearts as fiercely
+as ever.
+
+"Cadmus," said the voice again, "bid those five warriors to sheathe
+their swords. They will help you to build the city."
+
+Without hesitating an instant, Cadmus stepped forward, with the aspect
+of a king and a leader, and extending his drawn sword amongst them,
+spoke to the warriors in a stern and commanding voice.
+
+"Sheathe your weapons!" said he.
+
+And forthwith, feeling themselves bound to obey him, the five remaining
+sons of the dragon's teeth made him a military salute with their swords,
+returned them to the scabbards, and stood before Cadmus in a rank,
+eyeing him as soldiers eye their captain, while awaiting the word of
+command.
+
+These five men had probably sprung from the biggest of the dragon's
+teeth, and were the boldest and strongest of the whole army. They were
+almost giants, indeed, and had good need to be so, else they never could
+have lived through so terrible a fight. They still had a very furious
+look, and, if Cadmus happened to glance aside, would glare at one
+another, with fire flashing out of their eyes. It was strange, too, to
+observe how the earth, out of which they had so lately grown, was
+incrusted, here and there, on their bright breastplates, and even
+begrimed their faces, just as you may have seen it clinging to beets and
+carrots when pulled out of their native soil. Cadmus hardly knew whether
+to consider them as men, or some odd kind of vegetable; although, on the
+whole, he concluded that there was human nature in them, because they
+were so fond of trumpets and weapons, and so ready to shed blood.
+
+They looked him earnestly in the face, waiting for his next order, and
+evidently desiring no other employment than to follow him from one
+battlefield to another, all over the wide world. But Cadmus was wiser
+than these earth-born creatures, with the dragon's fierceness in them,
+and knew better how to use their strength and hardihood.
+
+"Come!" said he. "You are sturdy fellows. Make yourselves useful! Quarry
+some stones with those great swords of yours, and help me to build a
+city."
+
+The five soldiers grumbled a little, and muttered that it was their
+business to overthrow cities, not to build them up. But Cadmus looked at
+them with a stern eye, and spoke to them in, a tone of authority, so
+that they knew him for their master, and never again thought of
+disobeying his commands. They set to work in good earnest, and toiled so
+diligently, that, in a very short time, a city began to make its
+appearance. At first, to be sure, the workmen showed a quarrelsome
+disposition. Like savage beasts, they would doubtless have done one
+another a mischief, if Cadmus had not kept watch over them and quelled
+the fierce old serpent that lurked in their hearts, when he saw it
+gleaming out of their wild eyes. But, in course of time, they got
+accustomed to honest labour, and had sense enough to feel that there was
+more true enjoyment in living at peace, and doing good to one's
+neighbour, than in striking at him with a two-edged sword. It may not be
+too much to hope that the rest of mankind will by and by grow as wise
+and peaceable as these five earth-begrimed warriors, who sprang from the
+dragon's teeth.
+
+And now the city was built, and there was a home in it for each of the
+workmen. But the palace of Cadmus was not yet erected, because they had
+left it till the last, meaning to introduce all the new improvements of
+architecture, and make it very commodious, as well as stately and
+beautiful. After finishing the rest of their labours, they all went to
+bed betimes, in order to rise in the gray of the morning, and get at
+least the foundation of the edifice laid before nightfall. But, when
+Cadmus arose, and took his way toward the site where the palace was to
+be built, followed by his five sturdy workmen marching all in a row,
+what do you think he saw?
+
+What should it be but the most magnificent palace that had ever been
+seen in the world? It was built of marble and other beautiful kinds of
+stone, and rose high into the air, with a splendid dome and a portico
+along the front, and carved pillars, and everything else that befitted
+the habitation of a mighty king. It had grown up out of the earth in
+almost as short a time as it had taken the armed host to spring from the
+dragon's teeth; and what made the matter more strange, no seed of this
+stately edifice had ever been planted.
+
+When the five workmen beheld the dome, with the morning sunshine making
+it look golden and glorious, they gave a great shout.
+
+"Long live King Cadmus," they cried, "in his beautiful palace."
+
+And the new king, with his five faithful followers at his heels,
+shouldering their pickaxes and marching in a rank (for they still had a
+soldier-like sort of behaviour, as their nature was), ascended the
+palace steps. Halting at the entrance, they gazed through a long vista
+of lofty pillars that were ranged from end to end of a great hall. At
+the farther extremity of this hall, approaching slowly toward him,
+Cadmus beheld a female figure, wonderfully beautiful, and adorned with a
+royal robe, and a crown of diamonds over her golden ringlets, and the
+richest necklace that ever a queen wore. His heart thrilled with
+delight. He fancied it his long-lost sister Europa, now grown to
+womanhood, coming to make him happy, and to repay him, with her sweet
+sisterly affection, for all those weary wanderings in quest of her since
+he left King Agenor's palace--for the tears that he had shed, on parting
+with Phoenix, and Cilix, and Thasus--for the heart-breakings that had
+made the whole world seem dismal to him over his dear mother's grave.
+
+But, as Cadmus advanced to meet the beautiful stranger, he saw that her
+features were unknown to him, although, in the little time that it
+required to tread along the hall, he had already felt a sympathy betwixt
+himself and her.
+
+"No, Cadmus," said the same voice that had spoken to him in the field of
+the armed men, "this is not that dear sister Europa whom you have sought
+so faithfully all over the wide world. This is Harmonia, a daughter of
+the sky, who is given you instead of sister, and brothers, and friend,
+and mother. You will find all those dear ones in her alone."
+
+So King Cadmus dwelt in the palace, with his new friend Harmonia, and
+found a great deal of comfort in his magnificent abode, but would
+doubtless have found as much, if not more, in the humblest cottage by
+the wayside. Before many years went by, there was a group of rosy little
+children (but how they came thither has always been a mystery to me)
+sporting in the great hall, and on the marble steps of the palace, and
+running joyfully to meet King Cadmus when affairs of state left him at
+leisure to play with them. They called him father, and Queen Harmonia
+mother. The five old soldiers of the dragon's teeth grew very fond of
+these small urchins, and were never weary of showing them how to
+shoulder sticks, flourish wooden swords, and march in military order,
+blowing a penny trumpet, or beating an abominable rub-a-dub upon a
+little drum.
+
+But King Cadmus, lest there should be too much of the dragon's tooth in
+his children's disposition, used to find time from his kingly duties to
+teach them their A B C--which he invented for their benefit, and for
+which many little people, I am afraid, are not half so grateful to him
+as they ought to be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER
+
+
+One evening, in times long ago, old Philemon and his old wife Baucis sat
+at their cottage door, enjoying the calm and beautiful sunset. They had
+already eaten their frugal supper, and intended now to spend a quiet
+hour or two before bedtime. So they talked together about their garden,
+and their cow, and their bees, and their grapevine, which clambered over
+the cottage wall, and on which the grapes were beginning to turn purple.
+But the rude shouts of children, and the fierce barking of dogs, in the
+village near at hand, grew louder and louder, until, at last, it was
+hardly possible for Baucis and Philemon to hear each other speak.
+
+"Ah, wife," cried Philemon, "I fear some poor traveller is seeking
+hospitality among our neighbours yonder, and, instead of giving him food
+and lodging, they have set their dogs at him, as their custom is!"
+
+"Well-a-day!" answered old Baucis, "I do wish our neighbours felt a
+little more kindness for their fellow creatures. And only think of
+bringing up their children in this naughty way, and patting them on the
+head when they fling stones at strangers!"
+
+"Those children will never come to any good," said Philemon, shaking his
+white head. "To tell you the truth, wife, I should not wonder if some
+terrible thing were to happen to all the people in the village, unless
+they mend their manners. But, as for you and me, so long as Providence
+affords us a crust of bread, let us be ready to give half to any poor,
+homeless stranger that may come along and need it."
+
+"That's right, husband!" said Baucis. "So we will!"
+
+These old folks, you must know, were quite poor, and had to work pretty
+hard for a living. Old Philemon toiled diligently in his garden, while
+Baucis was always busy with her distaff, or making a little butter and
+cheese with their cow's milk, or doing one thing and another about the
+cottage. Their food was seldom anything but bread, milk, and vegetables,
+with sometimes a portion of honey from their beehive, and now and then a
+bunch of grapes that had ripened against the cottage wall. But they were
+two of the kindest old people in the world, and would cheerfully have
+gone without their dinners, any day, rather than refuse a slice of their
+brown loaf, a cup of new milk, and a spoonful of honey, to the weary
+traveller who might pause before their door. They felt as if such guests
+had a sort of holiness, and that they ought, therefore, to treat them
+better and more bountifully than their own selves.
+
+Their cottage stood on a rising ground, at some short distance from a
+village, which lay in a hollow valley that was about half a mile in
+breadth. This valley, in past ages, when the world was new, had probably
+been the bed of a lake. There, fishes had glided to and fro in the
+depths, and water weeds had grown along the margin, and trees and hills
+had seen their reflected images in the broad and peaceful mirror. But,
+as the waters subsided, men had cultivated the soil, and built houses on
+it, so that it was now a fertile spot, and bore no traces of the ancient
+lake, except a very small brook, which meandered through the midst of
+the village, and supplied the inhabitants with water. The valley had
+been dry land so long that oaks had sprung up, and grown great and high,
+and perished with old age, and been succeeded by others, as tall and
+stately as the first. Never was there a prettier or more fruitful
+valley. The very sight of the plenty around them should have made the
+inhabitants kind and gentle, and ready to show their gratitude to
+Providence by doing good to their fellow creatures.
+
+But, we are sorry to say, the people of this lovely village were not
+worthy to dwell in a spot on which Heaven had smiled so beneficently.
+They were a very selfish and hard-hearted people, and had no pity for
+the poor, nor sympathy with the homeless. They would only have laughed,
+had anybody told them that human beings owe a debt of love to one
+another, because there is no other method of paying the debt of love and
+care which all of us owe to Providence. You will hardly believe what I
+am going to tell you. These naughty people taught their children to be
+no better than themselves, and used to clap their hands, by way of
+encouragement, when they saw the little boys and girls run after some
+poor stranger, shouting at his heels, and pelting him with stones. They
+kept large and fierce dogs, and whenever a traveller ventured to show
+himself in the village street, this pack of disagreeable curs scampered
+to meet him, barking, snarling, and showing their teeth. Then they would
+seize him by his leg, or by his clothes, just as it happened; and if he
+were ragged when he came, he was generally a pitiable object before he
+had time to run away. This was a very terrible thing to poor travellers,
+as you may suppose, especially when they chanced to be sick, or feeble,
+or lame, or old. Such persons (if they once knew how badly these unkind
+people, and their unkind children and curs, were in the habit of
+behaving) would go miles and miles out of their way, rather than try to
+pass through the village again.
+
+What made the matter seem worse, if possible, was that when rich persons
+came in their chariots, or riding on beautiful horses, with their
+servants in rich liveries attending on them, nobody could be more civil
+and obsequious than the inhabitants of the village. They would take off
+their hats, and make the humblest bows you ever saw. If the children
+were rude, they were pretty certain to get their ears boxed; and as for
+the dogs, if a single cur in the pack presumed to yelp, his master
+instantly beat him with a club, and tied him up without any supper. This
+would have been all very well, only it proved that the villagers cared
+much about the money that a stranger had in his pocket, and nothing
+whatever for the human soul, which lives equally in the beggar and the
+prince.
+
+So now you can understand why old Philemon spoke so sorrowfully, when he
+heard the shouts of the children and the barking of the dogs, at the
+farther extremity of the village street. There was a confused din, which
+lasted a good while, and seemed to pass quite through the breadth of the
+valley.
+
+"I never heard the dogs so loud!" observed the good old man.
+
+"Nor the children so rude!" answered his good old wife.
+
+They sat shaking their heads, one to another, while the noise came
+nearer and nearer; until, at the foot of the little eminence on which
+their cottage stood, they saw two travellers approaching on foot. Close
+behind them came the fierce dogs, snarling at their very heels. A little
+farther off, ran a crowd of children, who sent up shrill cries, and
+flung stones at the two strangers, with all their might. Once or twice,
+the younger of the two men (he was a slender and very active figure)
+turned about and drove back the dogs with a staff which he carried in
+his hand. His companion, who was a very tall person, walked calmly
+along, as if disdaining to notice either the naughty children, or the
+pack of curs, whose manners the children seemed to imitate.
+
+Both of the travellers were very humbly clad, and looked as if they
+might not have money enough in their pockets to pay for a night's
+lodging. And this, I am afraid, was the reason why the villagers had
+allowed their children and dogs to treat them so rudely.
+
+"Come, wife," said Philemon to Baucis, "let us go and meet these poor
+people. No doubt, they feel almost too heavy hearted to climb the hill."
+
+"Go you and meet them," answered Baucis, "while I make haste within
+doors, and see whether we can get them anything for supper. A
+comfortable bowl of bread and milk would do wonders toward raising their
+spirits."
+
+Accordingly, she hastened into the cottage. Philemon, on his part, went
+forward, and extended his hand with so hospitable an aspect that there
+was no need of saying what nevertheless he did say, in the heartiest
+tone imaginable:
+
+"Welcome, strangers! welcome!"
+
+"Thank you!" replied the younger of the two, in a lively kind of way,
+notwithstanding his weariness and trouble. "This is quite another
+greeting than we have met with yonder in the village. Pray, why do you
+live in such a bad neighbourhood?"
+
+"Ah!" observed old Philemon, with a quiet and benign smite, "Providence
+put me here, I hope, among other reasons, in order that I may make you
+what amends I can for the inhospitality of my neighbours."
+
+"Well said, old father!" cried the traveller, laughing; "and, if the
+truth must be told, my companion and myself need some amends. Those
+children (the little rascals!) have bespattered us finely with their mud
+balls; and one of the curs has torn my cloak, which was ragged enough
+already. But I took him across the muzzle with my staff; and I think you
+may have heard him yelp, even thus far off."
+
+Philemon was glad to see him in such good spirits; nor, indeed, would
+you have fancied, by the traveller's look and manner, that he was weary
+with a long day's journey, besides being disheartened by rough treatment
+at the end of it. He was dressed in rather an odd way, with a sort of
+cap on his head, the brim of which stuck out over both ears. Though it
+was a summer evening, he wore a cloak, which he kept wrapt closely about
+him, perhaps because his undergarments were shabby. Philemon perceived,
+too, that he had on a singular pair of shoes; but, as it was now growing
+dusk, and as the old man's eyesight was none the sharpest, he could not
+precisely tell in what the strangeness consisted. One thing, certainly,
+seemed queer. The traveller was so wonderfully light and active that it
+appeared as if his feet sometimes rose from the ground of their own
+accord, or could only be kept down by an effort.
+
+"I used to be light footed, in my youth," said Philemon to the
+traveller. "But I always found my feet grow heavier toward nightfall."
+
+"There is nothing like a good staff to help one along," answered the
+stranger; "and I happen to have an excellent one, as you see."
+
+This staff, in fact, was the oddest-looking staff that Philemon had ever
+beheld. It was made of olive wood, and had something like a little pair
+of wings near the top. Two snakes, carved in the wood, were represented
+as twining themselves about the staff, and were so very skilfully
+executed that old Philemon (whose eyes, you know, were getting rather
+dim) almost thought them alive, and that he could see them wriggling and
+twisting.
+
+"A curious piece of work, sure enough!" said he. "A staff with wings! It
+would be an excellent kind of stick for a little boy to ride astride
+of!"
+
+By this time, Philemon and his two guests had reached the cottage door.
+
+"Friends," said the old man, "sit down and rest yourselves here on this
+bench. My good wife Baucis has gone to see what you can have for supper.
+We are poor folks; but you shall be welcome to whatever we have in the
+cupboard."
+
+The younger stranger threw himself carelessly on the bench, letting his
+staff fall as he did so. And here happened something rather marvellous,
+though trifling enough, too. The staff seemed to get up from the ground
+of its own accord, and, spreading its little pair of wings, it half
+hopped, half flew, and leaned itself against the wall of the cottage.
+There it stood quite still, except that the snakes continued to wriggle.
+But, in my private opinion, old Philemon's eyesight had been playing him
+tricks again.
+
+Before he could ask any questions, the elder stranger drew his attention
+from the wonderful staff, by speaking to him.
+
+"Was there not," asked the stranger, in a remarkably deep tone of voice,
+"a lake, in very ancient times, covering the spot where now stands
+yonder village?"
+
+"Not in my day, friend," answered Philemon; "and yet I am an old man, as
+you see. There were always the fields and meadows, just as they are now,
+and the old trees, and the little stream murmuring through the midst of
+the valley. My father, nor his father before him, ever saw it otherwise,
+so far as I know; and doubtless it will still be the same, when old
+Philemon shall be gone and forgotten!"
+
+"That is more than can be safely foretold," observed the stranger; and
+there was something very stern in his deep voice. He shook his head,
+too, so that his dark and heavy curls were shaken with the movement.
+"Since the inhabitants of yonder village have forgotten the affections
+and sympathies of their nature, it were better that the lake should be
+rippling over their dwellings again!"
+
+The traveller looked so stern that Philemon was really almost
+frightened; the more so, that, at his frown, the twilight seemed
+suddenly to grow darker, and that, when he shook his head, there was a
+roll as of thunder in the air.
+
+But, in a moment afterward, the stranger's face became so kindly and
+mild, that the old man quite forgot his terror. Nevertheless, he could
+not help feeling that this elder traveller must be no ordinary
+personage, although he happened now to be attired so humbly and to be
+journeying on foot. Not that Philemon fancied him a prince in disguise,
+or any character of that sort; but rather some exceedingly wise man, who
+went about the world in this poor garb, despising wealth and all worldly
+objects, and seeking everywhere to add a mite to his wisdom. This idea
+appeared the more probable, because, when Philemon raised his eyes to
+the stranger's face, he seemed to see more thought there, in one look,
+than he could have studied out in a lifetime.
+
+While Baucis was getting the supper, the travellers both began to talk
+very sociably with Philemon. The younger, indeed, was extremely
+loquacious, and made such shrewd and witty remarks, that the good old
+man continually burst out a-laughing, and pronounced him the merriest
+fellow whom he had seen for many a day.
+
+"Pray, my young friend," said he, as they grew familiar together, "what
+may I call your name?"
+
+"Why, I am very nimble, as you see," answered the traveller. "So, if you
+call me Quicksilver, the name will fit tolerably well."
+
+"Quicksilver? Quicksilver?" repeated Philemon, looking in the
+traveller's face, to see if he were making fun of him. "It is a very odd
+name! And your companion there? Has he as strange a one?"
+
+"You must ask the thunder to tell it you!" replied Quicksilver, putting
+on a mysterious look. "No other voice is loud enough."
+
+This remark, whether it were serious or in jest, might have caused
+Philemon to conceive a very great awe of the elder stranger, if, on
+venturing to gaze at him, he had not beheld so much beneficence in his
+visage. But, undoubtedly, here was the grandest figure that ever sat so
+humbly beside a cottage door. When the stranger conversed, it was with
+gravity, and in such a way that Philemon felt irresistibly moved to
+tell him everything which he had most at heart. This is always the
+feeling that people have, when they meet with anyone wise enough to
+comprehend all their good and evil, and to despise not a tittle of it.
+
+But Philemon, simple and kind-hearted old man that he was, had not many
+secrets to disclose. He talked, however, quite garrulously, about the
+events of his past life, in the whole course of which he had never been
+a score of miles from this very spot. His wife Baucis and himself had
+dwelt in the cottage from their youth upward, earning their bread by
+honest labour, always poor, but still contented. He told what excellent
+butter and cheese Baucis made, and how nice were the vegetables which he
+raised in his garden. He said, too, that, because they loved one another
+so very much, it was the wish of both that death might not separate
+them, but that they should die, as they had lived, together.
+
+As the stranger listened, a smile beamed over his countenance, and made
+its expression as sweet as it was grand.
+
+"You are a good old man," said he to Philemon, "and you have a good old
+wife to be your helpmeet. It is fit that your wish be granted."
+
+And it seemed to Philemon, just then, as if the sunset clouds threw up a
+bright flash from the west, and kindled a sudden light in the sky.
+
+Baucis had now got supper ready, and, coming to the door, began to make
+apologies for the poor fare which she was forced to set before her
+guests.
+
+"Had we known you were coming," said she, "my good man and myself would
+have gone without a morsel, rather than you should lack a better supper.
+But I took the most part of to-day's milk to make cheese; and our last
+loaf is already half eaten. Ah me! I never feel the sorrow of being
+poor, save when a poor traveller knocks at our door."
+
+"All will be very well; do not trouble yourself, my good dame," replied
+the elder stranger, kindly. "An honest, hearty welcome to a guest works
+miracles with the fare, and is capable of turning the coarsest food to
+nectar and ambrosia."
+
+"A welcome you shall have," cried Baucis, "and likewise a little honey
+that we happen to have left, and a bunch of purple grapes besides."
+
+"Why, Mother Baucis, it is a feast!" exclaimed Quicksilver, laughing,
+"an absolute feast! and you shall see how bravely I will play my part at
+it! I think I never felt hungrier in my life."
+
+"Mercy on us!" whispered Baucis to her husband. "If the young man has
+such a terrible appetite, I am afraid there will not be half enough
+supper!"
+
+They all went into the cottage.
+
+And, now, my little auditors, shall I tell you something that will make
+you open your eyes very wide? It is really one of the oddest
+circumstances in the who|e story. Quicksilver's staff, you recollect,
+had set itself up against the wall of the cottage. Well; when its master
+entered the door, leaving this wonderful staff behind, what should it do
+but immediately spread its little wings, and go hopping and fluttering
+up the door-steps! Tap, tap, went the staff, on the kitchen floor; nor
+did it rest until it had stood itself on end, with the greatest gravity
+and decorum, beside Quicksilver's chair. Old Philemon, however, as well
+as his wife, was so taken up in attending to their guests, that no
+notice was given to what the staff had been about.
+
+As Baucis had said, there was but a scanty supper for two hungry
+travellers. In the middle of the table was the remnant of a brown loaf,
+with a piece of cheese on one side of it, and a dish of honeycomb on the
+other. There was a pretty good bunch of grapes for each of the guests. A
+moderately sized earthen pitcher, nearly full of milk, stood at a corner
+of the board; and when Baucis had filled two bowls, and set them before
+the strangers, only a little milk remained in the bottom of the pitcher.
+Alas! it is a very sad business, when a bountiful heart finds itself
+pinched and squeezed among narrow circumstances. Poor Baucis kept
+wishing that she might starve for a week to come, if it were possible,
+by so doing, to provide these hungry folks a more plentiful supper.
+
+And, since the supper was so exceedingly small, she could not help
+wishing that their appetites had not been quite so large. Why, at their
+very first sitting down, the travellers both drank off all the milk in
+their two bowls, at a draught.
+
+"A little more milk, kind Mother Baucis, if you please," said
+Quicksilver. "The day has been hot, and I am very much athirst."
+
+"Now, my dear people," answered Baucis, in great confusion, "I am so
+sorry and ashamed! But the truth is, there is hardly a drop more milk in
+the pitcher. O husband! husband! why didn't we go without our supper?"
+
+"Why, it appears to me," cried Quicksilver, starting up from the table
+and taking the pitcher by the handle, "it really appears to me that
+matters are not quite so bad as you represent them. Here is certainly
+more milk in the pitcher."
+
+So saying, and to the vast astonishment of Baucis, he proceeded to fill,
+not only his own bowl, but his companion's likewise, from the pitcher,
+that was supposed to be almost empty. The good woman could scarcely
+believe her eyes. She had certainly poured out nearly all the milk, and
+had peeped in afterward, and seen the bottom of the pitcher, as she set
+it down upon the table.
+
+"But I am old," thought Baucis to herself, "and apt to be forgetful I
+suppose I must have made a mistake. At all events, the pitcher cannot
+help being empty now, after filling the bowls twice over."
+
+"What excellent milk!" observed Quicksilver, after quaffing the contents
+of the second bowl, "Excuse me, my kind hostess, but I must really ask
+you for a little more."
+
+Now Baucis had seen, as plainly as she could see anything, that
+Quicksilver had turned the pitcher upside down, and consequently had
+poured out every drop of milk, in filling the last bowl. Of course,
+there could not possibly be any left. However, in order to let him know
+precisely how the case was, she lifted the pitcher, and made a gesture
+as if pouring milk into Quicksilver's bowl, but without the remotest
+idea that any milk would stream forth. What was her surprise, therefore,
+when such an abundant cascade fell bubbling into the bowl, that it was
+immediately filled to the brim, and overflowed upon the table! The two
+snakes that were twisted about Quicksilver's staff (but neither Baucis
+nor Philemon happened to observe this circumstance) stretched out their
+heads, and began to lap up the spilt milk.
+
+And then what a delicious fragrance the milk had! It seemed as if
+Philemon's only cow must have pastured, that day, on the richest herbage
+that could be found anywhere in the world. I only wish that each of
+you, my beloved little souls, could have a bowl of such nice milk, at
+supper time!
+
+"And now a slice of your brown loaf, Mother Baucis," said Quicksilver,
+"and a little of that honey!"
+
+Baucis cut him a slice, accordingly; and though the loaf, when she and
+her husband ate of it, had been rather too dry and crusty to be
+palatable, it was now as light and moist as if but a few hours out of
+the oven. Tasting a crumb, which had fallen on the table, she found it
+more delicious than bread ever was before, and could hardly believe that
+it was a loaf of her own kneading and baking. Yet, what other loaf could
+it possibly be?
+
+But, oh the honey! I may just as well let it alone, without trying to
+describe how exquisitely it smelt and looked. Its colour was that of the
+purest and most transparent gold; and it had the odour of a thousand
+flowers; but of such flowers as never grew in an earthly garden, and to
+seek which the bees must have flown high above the clouds. The wonder
+is, that, after alighting on a flower bed of so delicious fragrance and
+immortal bloom, they should have been content to fly down again to their
+hive in Philemon's garden. Never was such honey tasted, seen, or smelt.
+The perfume floated around the kitchen, and made it so delightful, that,
+had you closed your eyes, you would instantly have forgotten the low
+ceiling and smoky walls, and have fancied yourself in an arbour, with
+celestial honeysuckles creeping over it.
+
+Although good Mother Baucis was a simple old dame, she could not but
+think that there was something rather out of the common way, in all that
+had been going on. So, after helping the guests to bread and honey, and
+laying a bunch of grapes by each of their plates, she sat down by
+Philemon, and told him what she had seen, in a whisper.
+
+"Did you ever hear the like?" asked she.
+
+"No, I never did," answered Philemon, with a smile. "And I rather think,
+my dear old wife, you have been walking about in a sort of a dream. If I
+had poured out the milk, I should have seen through the business at
+once. There happened to be a little more in the pitcher than you
+thought--that is all."
+
+"Ah, husband," said Baucis, "say what you will, these are very uncommon
+people."
+
+"Well, well," replied Philemon, still smiling, "perhaps they are. They
+certainly do look as if they had seen better days; and I am heartily
+glad to see them making so comfortable a supper."
+
+Each of the guests had now taken his bunch of grapes upon his plate.
+Baucis (who rubbed her eyes, in order to see the more clearly) was of
+opinion that the clusters had grown larger and richer, and that each
+separate grape seemed to be on the point of bursting with ripe juice. It
+was entirely a mystery to her how such grapes could ever have been
+produced from the old stunted vine that climbed against the cottage
+wall.
+
+"Very admirable grapes these!" observed Quicksilver, as he swallowed one
+after another, without apparently diminishing his cluster. "Pray, my
+good host, whence did you gather them?"
+
+"From my own vine," answered Philemon. "You may see one of its branches
+twisting across the window, yonder. But wife and I never thought the
+grapes very fine ones."
+
+"I never tasted better," said the guest. "Another cup of this delicious
+milk, if you please, and I shall then have supped better than a prince."
+
+This time, old Philemon bestirred himself, and took up the pitcher; for
+he was curious to discover whether there was any reality in the marvels
+which Baucis had whispered to him. He knew that his good old wife was
+incapable of falsehood, and that she was seldom mistaken in what she
+supposed to be true; but this was so very singular a case, that he
+wanted to see into it with his own eyes. On taking up the pitcher,
+therefore, he slyly peeped into it, and was fully satisfied that it
+contained not so much as a single drop. All at once, however, he beheld
+a little white fountain, which gushed up from the bottom of the pitcher,
+and speedily filled it to the brim with foaming and deliciously fragrant
+milk. It was lucky that Philemon, in his surprise, did not drop the
+miraculous pitcher from his hand.
+
+"Who are ye, wonder-working strangers!" cried he, even more bewildered
+than his wife had been.
+
+"Your guests, my good Philemon, and your friends," replied the elder
+traveller, in his mild, deep voice, that had something at once sweet and
+awe-inspiring in it. "Give me likewise a cup of the milk; and may your
+pitcher never be empty for kind Baucis and yourself, any more than for
+the needy wayfarer!"
+
+The supper being now over, the strangers requested to be shown to their
+place of repose. The old people would gladly have talked with them a
+little longer, and have expressed the wonder which they felt, and their
+delight at finding the poor and meagre supper prove so much better and
+more abundant than they hoped. But the elder traveller had inspired them
+with such reverence, that they dared not ask him any questions. And
+when Philemon drew Quicksilver aside, and inquired how under the sun a
+fountain of milk could have got into an old earthen pitcher, this latter
+personage pointed to his staff.
+
+"There is the whole mystery of the affair," quoth Quicksilver; "and if
+you can make it out, I'll thank you to let me know. I can't tell what to
+make of my staff. It is always playing such odd tricks as this;
+sometimes getting me a supper, and, quite as often, stealing it away. If
+I had any faith in such nonsense, I should say the stick was bewitched!"
+
+He said no more, but looked so slyly in their faces, that they rather
+fancied he was laughing at them. The magic staff went hopping at his
+heels, as Quicksilver quitted the room. When left alone, the good old
+couple spent some little time in conversation about the events of the
+evening, and then lay down on the floor, and fell fast asleep. They had
+given up their sleeping room to the guests, and had no other bed for
+themselves, save these planks, which I wish had been as soft as their
+own hearts.
+
+The old man and his wife were stirring, betimes, in the morning, and the
+strangers likewise arose with the sun, and made their preparations to
+depart. Philemon hospitably entreated them to remain a little longer,
+until Baucis could milk the cow, and bake a cake upon the hearth, and,
+perhaps, find them a few fresh eggs for breakfast. The guests, however,
+seemed to think it better to accomplish a good part of their journey
+before the heat of the day should come on. They, therefore, persisted in
+setting out immediately, but asked Philemon and Baucis to walk forth
+with them a short distance, and show them the road which they were to
+take.
+
+So they all four issued from the cottage, chatting together like old
+friends. It was very remarkable, indeed, how familiar the old couple
+insensibly grew with the elder traveller, and how their good and simple
+spirits melted into his, even as two drops of water would melt into the
+illimitable ocean. And as for Quicksilver, with his keen, quick,
+laughing wits, he appeared to discover every little thought that but
+peeped into their minds, before they suspected it themselves. They
+sometimes wished, it is true, that he had not been quite so
+quick-witted, and also that he would fling away his staff, which looked
+so mysteriously mischievous, with the snakes always writhing about it.
+But then, again, Quicksilver showed himself so very good humoured that
+they would have been rejoiced to keep him in their cottage, staff,
+snakes, and all, every day, and the whole day long.
+
+"Ah me! Well-a-day!" exclaimed Philemon, when they had walked a little
+way from their door. "If our neighbours only knew what a blessed thing
+it is to show hospitality to strangers, they would tie up all their
+dogs, and never allow their children to fling another stone."
+
+"It is a sin and shame for them to behave so--that it is!" cried good
+old Baucis, vehemently. "And I mean to go this very day, and tell some
+of them what naughty people they are!"
+
+"I fear," remarked Quicksilver, slyly smiling, "that you will find none
+of them at home."
+
+The elder traveller's brow, just then, assumed such a grave, stern, and
+awful grandeur, yet serene withal, that neither Baucis nor Philemon
+dared to speak a word. They gazed reverently into his face, as if they
+had been gazing at the sky.
+
+"When men do not feel toward the humblest stranger as if he were a
+brother," said the traveller, in tones so deep that they sounded like
+those of an organ, "they are unworthy to exist on earth, which was
+created as the abode of a great human brotherhood!"
+
+"And, by the by, my dear old people," cried Quicksilver, with the
+liveliest look of fun and mischief in his eyes, "where is this same
+village that you talk about? On which side of us does it lie? Methinks I
+do not see it hereabouts."
+
+Philemon and his wife turned toward the valley, where, at sunset, only
+the day before, they had seen the meadows, the houses, the gardens, the
+clumps of trees, the wide, green-margined street, with children playing
+in it, and all the tokens of business, enjoyment, and prosperity. But
+what was their astonishment! There was no longer any appearance of a
+village! Even the fertile vale, in the hollow of which it lay, had
+ceased to have existence. In its stead, they beheld the broad, blue
+surface of a lake, which filled the great basin of the valley from brim
+to brim, and reflected the surrounding hills in its bosom with as
+tranquil an image as if it had been there ever since the creation of the
+world. For an instant, the lake remained perfectly smooth. Then a little
+breeze sprang up, and caused the water to dance, glitter, and sparkle in
+the early sunbeams, and to dash, with a pleasant rippling murmur,
+against the hither shore.
+
+The lake seemed so strangely familiar that the old couple were greatly
+perplexed, and felt as if they could only have been dreaming about a
+village having lain there. But, the next moment, they remembered the
+vanished dwellings, and the faces and characters of the inhabitants, far
+too distinctly for a dream. The village had been there yesterday, and
+now was gone!
+
+"Alas!" cried the kind-hearted old people, "what has become of our poor
+neighbours?"
+
+"They exist no longer as men and women," said the elder traveller, in
+his grand and deep voice, while a roll of thunder seemed to echo it at a
+distance. "There was neither use nor beauty in such a life as theirs;
+for they never softened or sweetened the hard lot of mortality by the
+exercise of kindly affections between man and man. They retained no
+image of the better life in their bosoms; therefore, the lake, that was
+of old, has spread itself forth again, to reflect the sky!"
+
+"And as for those foolish people," said Quicksilver, with his
+mischievous smile, "they are all transformed to fishes. There needed but
+little change, for they were already a scaly set of rascals, and the
+coldest-blooded beings in existence. So, kind Mother Baucis, whenever
+you or your husband have an appetite for a dish of broiled trout, he can
+throw in a line, and pull out half a dozen of your old neighbours!"
+
+"Ah," cried Baucis, shuddering, "I would not, for the world, put one of
+them on the gridiron!"
+
+"No," added Philemon, making a wry face, "we could never relish them!"
+
+"As for you, good Philemon," continued the elder traveller--"and you,
+kind Baucis--you, with your scanty means, have mingled so much heartfelt
+hospitality with your entertainment of the homeless stranger, that the
+milk became an inexhaustible fount of nectar, and the brown loaf and
+the honey were ambrosia. Thus, the divinities have feasted, at your
+board, off the same viands that supply their banquets on Olympus. You
+have done well, my dear old friends. Wherefore, request whatever favour
+you have most at heart, and it is granted."
+
+Philemon and Baucis looked at one another, and then--I know not which of
+the two it was who spoke, but that one uttered the desire of both their
+hearts.
+
+"Let us live together, while we live, and leave the world at the same
+instant, when we die! For we have always loved one another!"
+
+"Be it so!" replied the stranger, with majestic kindness, "Now, look
+toward your cottage!"
+
+They did so. But what was their surprise on beholding a tall edifice of
+white marble, with a wide-open portal, occupying the spot where their
+humble residence had so lately stood!
+
+"There is your home," said the stranger, beneficently smiling on them
+both. "Exercise your hospitality in yonder palace as freely as in the
+poor hovel to which you welcomed us last evening."
+
+The old folks fell on their knees to thank him; but, behold! neither he
+nor Quicksilver was there.
+
+So Philemon and Baucis took up their residence in the marble palace, and
+spent their time, with vast satisfaction to themselves, in making
+everybody jolly and comfortable who happened to pass that way. The milk
+pitcher, I must not forget to say, retained its marvellous quality of
+being never empty, when it was desirable to have it full. Whenever an
+honest, good-humoured, and free-hearted guest took a draught from this
+pitcher, he invariably found it the sweetest and most invigorating fluid
+that ever ran down his throat. But, if a cross and disagreeable
+curmudgeon happened to sip, he was pretty certain to twist his visage
+into a hard knot, and pronounce it a pitcher of sour milk!
+
+Thus the old couple lived in their palace a great, great while, and grew
+older and older, and very old indeed. At length, however, there came a
+summer morning when Philemon and Baucis failed to make their appearance,
+as on other mornings, with one hospitable smile overspreading both their
+pleasant faces, to invite the guests of over night to breakfast. The
+guests searched everywhere, from top to bottom of the spacious palace,
+and all to no purpose. But, after a great deal of perplexity, they
+espied, in front of the portal, two venerable trees, which nobody could
+remember to have seen there the day before. Yet there they stood, with
+their roots fastened deep into the soil, and a huge breadth of foliage
+overshadowing the whole front of the edifice. One was an oak, and the
+other a linden tree. Their boughs--it was strange and beautiful to
+see--were intertwined together, and embraced one another, so that each
+tree seemed to live in the other tree's bosom much more than in its own.
+
+While the guests were marvelling how these trees, that must have
+required at least a century to grow, could have come to be so tall and
+venerable in a single night, a breeze sprang up, and set their
+intermingled boughs astir. And then there was a deep, broad murmur in
+the air, as if the two mysterious trees were speaking.
+
+"I am old Philemon!" murmured the oak.
+
+"I am old Baucis!" murmured the linden tree.
+
+But, as the breeze grew stronger, the trees both spoke at
+once--"Philemon! Baucis! Baucis! Philemon!"--as if one were both and
+both were one, and talked together in the depths of their mutual heart.
+It was plain enough to perceive that the good old couple had renewed
+their age, and were now to spend a quiet and delightful hundred years or
+so, Philemon as an oak, and Baucis as a linden tree. And oh, what a
+hospitable shade did they fling around them. Whenever a wayfarer paused
+beneath it, he heard a pleasant whisper of the leaves above his head,
+and wondered how the sound should so much resemble words like these:
+
+"Welcome, welcome, dear traveller, welcome!"
+
+And some kind soul, that knew what would have pleased old Baucis and old
+Philemon best, built a circular seat around both their trunks, where,
+for a great while afterward the weary, and the hungry, and the thirsty
+used to repose themselves, and quaff milk abundantly out of the
+miraculous pitcher.
+
+And I wish, for all our sakes, that we had the pitcher here now!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN
+
+
+Long, long ago, when this old world was in its tender infancy, there was
+a child, named Epimetheus, who never had either father or mother; and,
+that he might not be lonely, another child, fatherless and motherless
+like himself, was sent from a far country, to live with him, and be his
+playfellow and helpmate. Her name was Pandora.
+
+The first thing that Pandora saw, when she entered the cottage where
+Epimetheus dwelt, was a great box. And almost the first question which
+she put to him, after crossing the threshold, was this:
+
+"Epimetheus, what have you in that box?"
+
+"My dear little Pandora," answered Epimetheus, "that is a secret, and
+you must be kind enough not to ask any questions about it. The box was
+left here to be kept safely, and I do not myself know what it contains."
+
+"But who gave it to you?" asked Pandora. "And where did it come from?"
+
+"That is a secret, too," replied Epimetheus.
+
+"How provoking!" exclaimed Pandora, pouting her lip. "I wish the great
+ugly box were out of the way!"
+
+"Oh, come, don't think of it any more," cried Epimetheus. "Let us run
+out of doors, and have some nice play with the other children."
+
+It is thousands of years since Epimetheus and Pandora were alive; and
+the world, nowadays, is a very different sort of thing from what it was
+in their time. Then, everybody was a child. There needed no fathers and
+mothers to take care of the children; because there was no danger, nor
+trouble of any kind, and no clothes to be mended, and there was always
+plenty to eat and drink. Whenever a child wanted his dinner, he found it
+growing on a tree; and, if he looked at the tree in the morning, he
+could see the expanding blossom of that night's supper; or, at eventide,
+he saw the tender bud of to-morrow's breakfast. It was a very pleasant
+life indeed. No labour to be done, no tasks to be studied; nothing but
+sports and dances, and sweet voices of children talking, or carolling
+like birds, or gushing out in merry laughter, throughout the livelong
+day.
+
+What was most wonderful of all, the children never quarrelled among
+themselves; neither had they any crying fits; nor, since time first
+began, had a single one of these little mortals ever gone apart into a
+corner, and sulked. Oh, what a good time was that to be alive in! The
+truth is, those ugly little winged monsters, called Troubles, which are
+now almost as numerous as mosquitoes, had never yet been seen on the
+earth. It is probable that the very greatest disquietude which a child
+had ever experienced was Pandora's vexation at not being able to
+discover the secret of the mysterious box.
+
+This was at first only the faint shadow of a Trouble; but, every day, it
+grew more and more substantial, until, before a great while, the cottage
+of Epimetheus and Pandora was less sunshiny than those of the other
+children.
+
+"Whence can the box have come?" Pandora continually kept saying to
+herself and to Epimetheus. "And what in the world can be inside of it?"
+
+"Always talking about this box!" said Epimetheus, at last; for he had
+grown extremely tired of the subject. "I wish, dear Pandora, you would
+try to talk of something else. Come, let us go and gather some ripe
+figs, and eat them under the trees, for our supper. And I know a vine
+that has the sweetest and juiciest grapes you ever tasted."
+
+"Always talking about grapes and figs!" cried Pandora, pettishly.
+
+"Well, then," said Epimetheus, who was a very good-tempered child, like
+a multitude of children in those days, "let us run out and have a merry
+time with our playmates."
+
+"I am tired of merry times, and don't care if I never have any more!"
+answered our pettish little Pandora. "And, besides, I never do have any.
+This ugly box! I am so taken up with thinking about it all the time. I
+insist upon your telling me what is inside of it."
+
+"As I have already said, fifty times over, I do not know!" replied
+Epimetheus, getting a little vexed. "How, then, can I tell you what is
+inside?"
+
+"You might open it," said Pandora, looking sideways at Epimetheus, "and
+then we could see for ourselves."
+
+"Pandora, what are you thinking of?" exclaimed Epimetheus.
+
+And his face expressed so much horror at the idea of looking into a box,
+which had been confided to him on the condition of his never opening it,
+that Pandora thought it best not to suggest it any more. Still, however,
+she could not help thinking and talking about the box.
+
+"At least," said she, "you can tell me how it came here."
+
+"It was left at the door," replied Epimetheus, "just before you came, by
+a person who looked very smiling and intelligent, and who could hardly
+forbear laughing as he put it down. He was dressed in an odd kind of a
+cloak, and had on a cap that seemed to be made partly of feathers, so
+that it looked almost as if it had wings."
+
+"What sort of a staff had he?" asked Pandora.
+
+"Oh, the most curious staff you ever saw!" cried Epimetheus. "It was
+like two serpents twisting around a stick, and was carved so naturally
+that I, at first, thought the serpents were alive."
+
+"I know him," said Pandora, thoughtfully. "Nobody else has such a staff.
+It was Quicksilver; and he brought me hither, as well as the box. No
+doubt he intended it for me; and, most probably, it contains pretty
+dresses for me to wear, or toys for you and me to play with, or
+something very nice for us both to eat!"
+
+"Perhaps so," answered Epimetheus, turning away. "But until Quicksilver
+comes back and tells us so, we have neither of us any right to lift the
+lid of the box."
+
+"What a dull boy he is!" muttered Pandora, as Epimetheus left the
+cottage. "I do wish he had a little more enterprise!"
+
+For the first time since her arrival, Epimetheus had gone out without
+asking Pandora to accompany him. He went to gather figs and grapes by
+himself, or to seek whatever amusement he could find, in other society
+than his little playfellow's. He was tired to death of hearing about the
+box, and heartily wished that Quicksilver, or whatever was the
+messenger's name, had left it at some other child's door, where Pandora
+would never have set eyes on it. So perseveringly as did she babble
+about this one thing! The box, the box, and nothing but the box! It
+seemed as if the box were bewitched, and as if the cottage were not big
+enough to hold it, without Pandora's continually stumbling over it, and
+making Epimetheus stumble over it likewise, and bruising all four of
+their shins.
+
+Well, it was really hard that poor Epimetheus should have a box in his
+ears from morning till night; especially as the little people of the
+earth were so unaccustomed to vexations, in those happy days, that they
+knew not how to deal with them. Thus, a small vexation made as much
+disturbance then as a far bigger one would in our own times.
+
+After Epimetheus was gone, Pandora stood gazing at the box. She had
+called it ugly, above a hundred times; but, in spite of all that she had
+said against it, it was positively a very handsome article of furniture,
+and would have been quite an ornament to any room in which it should be
+placed. It was made of a beautiful kind of wood, with dark and rich
+veins spreading over its surface, which was so highly polished that
+little Pandora could see her face in it. As the child had no other
+looking glass, it is odd that she did not value the box, merely on this
+account.
+
+The edges and corners of the box were carved with most wonderful skill.
+Around the margin there were figures of graceful men and women, and the
+prettiest children ever seen, reclining or sporting amid a profusion of
+flowers and foliage; and these various objects were so exquisitely
+represented, and were wrought together in such harmony, that flowers,
+foliage, and human beings seemed to combine into a wreath of mingled
+beauty. But here and there, peeping forth from behind the carved
+foliage, Pandora once or twice fancied that she saw a face not so
+lovely, or something or other that was disagreeable, and which stole the
+beauty out of all the rest. Nevertheless, on looking more closely, and
+touching the spot with her finger, she could discover nothing of the
+kind. Some face that was really beautiful had been made to look ugly by
+her catching a sideway glimpse at it.
+
+The most beautiful face of all was done in what is called high relief,
+in the centre of the lid. There was nothing else, save the dark, smooth
+richness of the polished wood, and this one face in the centre, with a
+garland of flowers about its brow. Pandora had looked at this face a
+great many times, and imagined that the mouth could smile if it liked,
+or be grave when it chose, the same as any living mouth. The features,
+indeed, all wore a very lively and rather mischievous expression, which
+looked almost as if it needs must burst out of the carved lips, and
+utter itself in words.
+
+Had the mouth spoken, it would probably have been something like this:
+
+"Do not be afraid, Pandora! What harm can there be in opening the box?
+Never mind that poor, simple Epimetheus! You are wiser than he, and have
+ten times as much spirit. Open the box, and see if you do not find
+something very pretty!"
+
+The box, I had almost forgotten to say, was fastened; not by a lock, nor
+by any other such contrivance, but by a very intricate knot of gold
+cord. There appeared to be no end to this knot, and no beginning. Never
+was a knot so cunningly twisted, nor with so many ins and outs, which
+roguishly defied the skilfullest fingers to disentangle them. And yet,
+by the very difficulty that there was in it, Pandora was the more
+tempted to examine the knot, and just see how it was made. Two or three
+times, already, she had stooped over the box, and taken the knot between
+her thumb and forefinger, but without positively trying to undo it.
+
+"I really believe," said she to herself, "that I begin to see how it was
+done. Nay, perhaps I could tie it up again, after undoing it. There
+would be no harm in that, surely. Even Epimetheus would not blame me for
+that. I need not open the box, and should not, of course, without the
+foolish boy's consent, even if the knot were untied."
+
+It might have been better for Pandora if she had had a little work to
+do, or anything to employ her mind upon, so as not to be so constantly
+thinking of this one subject. But children led so easy a life, before
+any Troubles came into the world, that they had really a great deal too
+much leisure. They could not be forever playing at hide-and-seek among
+the flower shrubs, or at blind-man's-buff with garlands over their eyes,
+or at whatever other games had been found out, while Mother Earth was in
+her babyhood. When life is all sport, toil is the real play. There was
+absolutely nothing to do. A little sweeping and dusting about the
+cottage, I suppose, and the gathering of fresh flowers (which were only
+too abundant everywhere), and arranging them in vases--and poor little
+Pandora's day's work was over. And then, for the rest of the day, there
+was the box!
+
+After all, I am not quite sure that the box was not a blessing to her in
+its way. It supplied her with such a variety of ideas to think of, and
+to talk about, whenever she had anybody to listen! When she was in good
+humour, she could admire the bright polish of its sides, and the rich
+border of beautiful faces and foliage that ran all around it. Or, if she
+chanced to be ill-tempered, she could give it a push, or kick it with
+her naughty little foot. And many a kick did the box--(but it was a
+mischievous box, as we shall see, and deserved all it got)--many a kick
+did it receive. But, certain it is, if it had not been for the box, our
+active-minded little Pandora would not have known half so well how to
+spend her time as she now did.
+
+For it was really an endless employment to guess what was inside. What
+could it be, indeed? Just imagine, my little hearers, how busy your wits
+would be, if there were a great box in the house, which, as you might
+have reason to suppose, contained something new and pretty for your
+Christmas or New Year's gifts. Do you think that you should be less
+curious than Pandora? If you were left alone with the box, might you not
+feel a little tempted to lift the lid? But you would not do it. Oh, fie!
+No, no! Only, if you thought there were toys in it, it would be so very
+hard to let slip an opportunity of taking just one peep! I know not
+whether Pandora expected any toys; for none had yet begun to be made,
+probably, in those days, when the world itself was one great plaything
+for the children that dwelt upon it. But Pandora was convinced that
+there was something very beautiful and valuable in the box; and
+therefore she felt just as anxious to take a peep as any of these little
+girls, here around me, would have felt. And, possibly, a little more so;
+but of that I am not quite so certain.
+
+On this particular day, however, which we have so long been talking
+about her curiosity grew so much greater than it usually was, that, at
+last, she approached the box. She was more than half determined to open
+it, if she could. Ah, naughty Pandora!
+
+First, however, she tried to lift it. It was heavy; quite too heavy for
+the slender strength of a child like Pandora. She raised one end of the
+box a few inches from the floor, and let it fall again, with a pretty
+loud thump. A moment afterward, she almost fancied that she heard
+something stir inside of the box. She applied her ear as closely as
+possible, and listened. Positively, there did seem to be a kind of
+stifled murmur within! Or was it merely the singing in Pandora's ears?
+Or could it be the beating of her heart? The child could not quite
+satisfy herself whether she had heard anything or no. But, at all
+events, her curiosity was stronger than ever.
+
+As she drew back her head, her eyes fell upon the knot of gold cord.
+
+"It must have been a very ingenious person who tied this knot," said
+Pandora to herself. "But I think I could untie it nevertheless. I am
+resolved, at least, to find the two ends of the cord."
+
+So she took the golden knot in her fingers, and pried into its
+intricacies as sharply as she could. Almost without intending it, or
+quite knowing what she was about, she was soon busily engaged in
+attempting to undo it. Meanwhile, the bright sunshine came through the
+open window; as did likewise the merry voices of the children, playing
+at a distance, and perhaps the voice of Epimetheus among them. Pandora
+stopped to listen. What a beautiful day it was! Would it not be wiser if
+she were to let the troublesome knot alone, and think no more about the
+box, but run and join her little playfellow and be happy?
+
+All this time, however, her fingers were half unconsciously busy with
+the knot; and happening to glance at the flower-wreathed face on the lid
+of the enchanted box, she seemed to perceive it slyly grinning at her.
+
+"That face looks very mischievous," thought Pandora. "I wonder whether
+it smiles because I am doing wrong! I have the greatest mind in the
+world to run away!"
+
+But just then, by the merest accident, she gave the knot a kind of
+twist, which produced a wonderful result. The gold cord untwined itself,
+as if by magic, and left the box without a fastening.
+
+"This is the strangest thing I ever knew!" said Pandora. "What will
+Epimetheus say? And how can I possibly tie it up again?"
+
+She made one or two attempts to restore the knot, but soon found it
+quite beyond her skill. It had disentangled itself so suddenly that she
+could not in the least remember how the strings had been doubled into
+one another; and when she tried to recollect the shape and appearance of
+the knot, it seemed to have gone entirely out of her mind. Nothing was
+to be done, therefore, but to let the box remain as it was until
+Epimetheus should come in.
+
+"But," said Pandora, "when he finds the knot untied, he will know that I
+have done it. How shall I make him believe that I have not looked into
+the box?"
+
+And then the thought came into her naughty little heart, that, since she
+would be suspected of having looked into the box, she might just as well
+do so at once. Oh, very naughty and very foolish Pandora! You should
+have thought only of doing what was right, and of leaving undone what
+was wrong, and not of what your playfellow Epimetheus would have said
+or believed. And so perhaps she might, if the enchanted face on the lid
+of the box had not looked so bewitchingly persuasive at her, and if she
+had not seemed to hear, more distinctly, than before, the murmur of
+small voices within. She could not tell whether it was fancy or no; but
+there was quite a little tumult of whispers in her ear--or else it was
+her curiosity that whispered:
+
+"Let us out, dear Pandora--pray let us out! We will be such nice pretty
+playfellows for you! Only let us out!"
+
+"What can it be?" thought Pandora. "Is there something alive in the box?
+Well--yes!--I am resolved to take just one peep! Only one peep; and then
+the lid shall be shut down as safely as ever! There cannot possibly be
+any harm in just one little peep!"
+
+But it is now time for us to see what Epimetheus was doing.
+
+This was the first time, since his little playmate had come to dwell
+with him, that he had attempted to enjoy any pleasure in which she did
+not partake. But nothing went right; nor was he nearly so happy as on
+other days. He could not find a sweet grape or a ripe fig (if Epimetheus
+had a fault, it was a little too much fondness for figs); or, if ripe at
+all, they were overripe, and so sweet as to be cloying. There was no
+mirth in his heart, such as usually made his voice gush out, of its own
+accord, and swell the merriment of his companions. In short, he grew so
+uneasy and discontented, that the other children could not imagine what
+was the matter with Epimetheus. Neither did he himself know what ailed
+him, any better than they did. For you must recollect that, at the time
+we are speaking of, it was everybody's nature, and constant habit, to be
+happy. The world had not yet learned to be otherwise. Not a single soul
+or body, since these children were first sent to enjoy themselves on the
+beautiful earth, had ever been sick or out of sorts.
+
+At length, discovering that, somehow or other, he put a stop to all the
+play, Epimetheus judged it best to go back to Pandora, who was in a
+humour better suited to his own. But, with a hope of giving her
+pleasure, he gathered some flowers, and made them into a wreath, which
+he meant to put upon her head. The flowers were very lovely--roses, and
+lilies, and orange blossoms, and a great many more, which left a trail
+of fragrance behind, as Epimetheus carried them along; and the wreath
+was put together with as much skill as could reasonably be expected of a
+boy. The fingers of little girls, it has always appeared to me, are the
+fittest to twine flower wreaths; but boys could do it, in those days,
+rather better than they can now.
+
+And here I must mention that a great black cloud had been gathering in
+the sky, for some time past, although it had not yet overspread the sun.
+But, just as Epimetheus reached the cottage door, this cloud began to
+intercept the sunshine, and thus to make a sudden and sad obscurity.
+
+He entered softly, for he meant, if possible, to steal behind Pandora,
+and fling the wreath of flowers over her head, before she should be
+aware of his approach. But, as it happened, there was no need of his
+treading so very lightly. He might have trod as heavily as he
+pleased--as heavily as a grown man--as heavily, I was going to say, as
+an elephant--without much probability of Pandora's hearing his
+footsteps. She was too intent upon her purpose. At the moment of his
+entering the cottage, the naughty child had put her hand to the lid,
+and was on the point of opening the mysterious box. Epimetheus beheld
+her. If he had cried out, Pandora would probably have withdrawn her
+hand, and the fatal mystery of the box might never have been known.
+
+But Epimetheus himself, although he said very little about it, had his
+own share of curiosity to know what was inside. Perceiving that Pandora
+was resolved to find out the secret, he determined that his playfellow
+should not be the only wise person in the cottage. And if there were
+anything pretty or valuable in the box, he meant to take half of it to
+himself. Thus, after all his sage speeches to Pandora about restraining
+her curiosity, Epimetheus turned out to be quite as foolish, and nearly
+as much in fault as she. So, whenever we blame Pandora for what
+happened, we must not forget to shake our heads at Epimetheus likewise.
+
+As Pandora raised the lid, the cottage grew very dark and dismal; for
+the black cloud had now swept quite over the sun, and seemed to have
+buried it alive. There had for a little while past been a low growling
+and muttering, which all at once broke into a heavy peal of thunder. But
+Pandora, heeding nothing of all this, lifted the lid nearly upright, and
+looked inside. It seemed as if a sudden swarm of winged creatures
+brushed past her, taking flight out of the box, while, at the same
+instant, she heard the voice of Epimetheus, with a lamentable tone, as
+if he were in pain.
+
+"Oh, I am stung!" cried he. "I am stung! Naughty Pandora! why have you
+opened this wicked box?"
+
+Pandora let fall the lid, and, starting up, looked about her, to see
+what had befallen Epimetheus. The thunder cloud had so darkened the room
+that she could not very clearly discern what was in it. But she heard a
+disagreeable buzzing, as if a great many huge flies, or gigantic
+mosquitoes, or those insects which we call dor bugs, and pinching dogs,
+were darting about. And, as her eyes grew more accustomed to the
+imperfect light, she saw a crowd of ugly little shapes, with bats'
+wings, looking abominably spiteful, and armed with terribly long stings
+in their tails. It was one of these that had stung Epimetheus. Nor was
+it a great while before Pandora herself began to scream, in no less pain
+and affright than her playfellow, and making a vast deal more hubbub
+about it. An odious little monster had settled on her forehead, and
+would have stung her I know not how deeply, if Epimetheus had not run
+and brushed it away.
+
+Now, if you wish to know what these ugly things might be, which had made
+their escape out of the box, I must tell you that they were the whole
+family of earthly Troubles. There were evil Passions; there were a great
+many species of Cares; there were more than a hundred and fifty Sorrows;
+there were Diseases, in a vast number of miserable and painful shapes;
+there were more kinds of Naughtiness than it would be of any use to talk
+about. In short, everything that has since afflicted the souls and
+bodies of mankind had been shut up in the mysterious box, and given to
+Epimetheus and Pandora to be kept safely, in order that the happy
+children of the world might never be molested by them. Had they been
+faithful to their trust, all would have gone well. No grown person would
+ever have been sad, nor any child have had cause to shed a single tear,
+from that hour until this moment.
+
+But--and you may see by this how a wrong act of any one mortal is a
+calamity to the whole world--by Pandora's lifting the lid of that
+miserable box, and by the fault of Epimetheus, too, in not preventing
+her, these Troubles have obtained a foothold among us, and do not seem
+very likely to be driven away in a hurry. For it was impossible, as you
+will easily guess, that the two children should keep the ugly swarms in
+their own little cottage. On the contrary, the first thing that they did
+was to fling open the doors and windows, in hopes of getting rid of
+them; and, sure enough, away flew the winged Troubles all abroad, and so
+pestered and tormented the small people, everywhere about, that none of
+them so much as smiled for many days afterward. And, what was very
+singular, all the flowers and dewy blossoms on earth not one of which
+had hitherto faded, now began to droop and shed their leaves, after a
+day or two. The children, moreover, who before seemed immortal in their
+childhood, now grew older, day by day, and came soon to be youths and
+maidens, and men and women by and by, and aged people, before they
+dreamed of such a thing.
+
+Meanwhile, the naughty Pandora, and hardly less naughty Epimetheus,
+remained in their cottage. Both of them had been grievously stung, and
+were in a good deal of pain, which seemed the more intolerable to them,
+because it was the very first pain that had ever been felt since the
+world began. Of course, they were entirely unaccustomed to it, and could
+have no idea what it meant. Besides all this, they were in exceedingly
+bad humour, both with themselves and with one another. In order to
+indulge it to the utmost, Epimetheus sat down sullenly in a corner with
+his back toward Pandora; while Pandora flung herself upon the floor and
+rested her head on the fatal and abominable box. She was crying
+bitterly, and sobbing as if her heart would break.
+
+Suddenly there was a gentle little tap on the inside of the lid.
+
+"What can that be?" cried Pandora, lifting her head.
+
+But either Epimetheus had not heard the tap, or was too much out of
+humour to notice it. At any rate, he made no answer.
+
+"You are very unkind," said Pandora, sobbing anew, "not to speak to me!"
+
+Again the tap! It sounded like the tiny knuckles of a fairy's hand,
+knocking lightly and playfully on the inside of the box.
+
+"Who are you?" asked Pandora, with a little of her former curiosity.
+"Who are you, inside of this naughty box?"
+
+A sweet little voice spoke from within--
+
+"Only lift the lid, and you shall see."
+
+"No, no," answered Pandora, again beginning to sob, "I have had enough
+of lifting the lid! You are inside of the box, naughty creature, and
+there you shall stay! There are plenty of your ugly brothers and sisters
+already flying about the world. You need never think that I shall be so
+foolish as to let you out!"
+
+She looked toward Epimetheus, as she spoke, perhaps expecting that he
+would commend her for her wisdom. But the sullen boy only muttered that
+she was wise a little too late.
+
+"Ah," said the sweet little voice again, "you had much better let me
+out. I am not like those naughty creatures that have stings in their
+tails. They are no brothers and sisters of mine, as you would see at
+once, if you were only to get a glimpse of me. Come, come, my pretty
+Pandora! I am sure you will let me out!"
+
+And, indeed, there was a kind of cheerful witchery in the tone, that
+made it almost impossible to refuse anything which this little voice
+asked. Pandora's heart had insensibly grown lighter, at every word that
+came from within the box. Epimetheus, too, though still in the corner,
+had turned half round, and seemed to be in rather better spirits than
+before.
+
+"My dear Epimetheus," cried Pandora, "have you heard this little voice?"
+
+"Yes, to be sure I have," answered he, but in no very good humour as
+yet. "And what of it?"
+
+"Shall I lift the lid again?" asked Pandora.
+
+"Just as you please," said Epimetheus. "You have done so much mischief
+already, that perhaps you may as well do a little more. One other
+Trouble, in such a swarm as you have set adrift about the world, can
+make no very great difference."
+
+"You might speak a little more kindly!" murmured Pandora, wiping her
+eyes.
+
+"Ah, naughty boy!" cried the little voice within the box, in an arch and
+laughing tone. "He knows he is longing to see me. Come, my dear Pandora,
+lift up the lid. I am in a great hurry to comfort you. Only let me have
+some fresh air, and you shall soon see that matters are not quite so
+dismal as you think them!"
+
+"Epimetheus," exclaimed Pandora, "come what may, I am resolved to open
+the box!"
+
+"And, as the lid seems very heavy," cried Epimetheus, running across the
+room, "I will help you!"
+
+So, with one consent, the two children again lifted the lid. Out flew a
+sunny and smiling little personage, and Hovered about the room, throwing
+a light wherever she went. Have you never made the sunshine dance into
+dark corners, by reflecting it from a bit of looking glass? Well, so
+looked the winged cheerfulness of this fairy-like stranger, amid the
+gloom of the cottage. She flew to Epimetheus, and laid the least touch
+of her finger on the inflamed spot where the Trouble had stung him, and
+immediately the anguish of it was gone. Then she kissed Pandora on the
+forehead, and her hurt was cured likewise.
+
+After performing these good offices, the bright stranger fluttered
+sportively over the children's heads, and looked so sweetly at them,
+that they both began to think it not so very much amiss to have opened
+the box, since, otherwise, their cheery guest must have been kept a
+prisoner among those naughty imps with stings in their tails.
+
+"Pray, who are you, beautiful creature?" inquired Pandora.
+
+"I am to be called Hope!" answered the sunshiny figure. "And because I
+am such a cheery little body, I was packed into the box, to make amends
+to the human race for that swarm of ugly Troubles, which was destined to
+be let loose among them. Never fear I we shall do pretty well in spite
+of them all."
+
+"Your wings are coloured like the rainbow!" exclaimed Pandora. "How very
+beautiful!"
+
+"Yes, they are like the rainbow," said Hope, "because, glad as my nature
+is, I am partly made of tears as well as smiles."
+
+"And will you stay with us," asked Epimetheus, "forever and ever?"
+
+"As long as you need me," said Hope, with her pleasant smile--"and that
+will be as long as you live in the world--I promise never to desert you.
+There may come times and seasons, now and then, when you will think
+that I have utterly vanished. But again, and again, and again, when
+perhaps you least dream of it, you shall see the glimmer of my wings on
+the ceiling of your cottage. Yes, my dear children, and I know something
+very good and beautiful that is to be given you hereafter!"
+
+"Oh tell us," they exclaimed--"tell us what it is!"
+
+"Do not ask me," replied Hope, putting her finger on her rosy mouth.
+"But do not despair, even if it should never happen while you live on
+this earth. Trust in my promise, for it is true."
+
+"We do trust you!" cried Epimetheus and Pandora, both in one breath.
+
+And so they did; and not only they, but so has everybody trusted Hope,
+that has since been alive. And to tell you the truth, I cannot help
+being glad--(though, to be sure, it was an uncommonly naughty thing for
+her to do)--but I cannot help being glad that our foolish Pandora peeped
+into the box. No doubt--no doubt--the Troubles are still flying about
+the world, and have increased in multitude, rather than lessened, and
+are a very ugly set of imps, and carry most venomous stings in their
+tails. I have felt them already, and expect to feel them more, as I grow
+older. But then that lovely and lightsome little figure of Hope! What in
+the world could we do without her? Hope spiritualises the earth; Hope
+makes it always new; and, even in the earth's best and brightest aspect,
+Hope shows it to be only the shadow of an infinite bliss hereafter!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE CYCLOPS
+
+
+When the great city of Troy was taken, all the chiefs who had fought
+against it set sail for their homes. But there was wrath in heaven
+against them, for indeed they had borne themselves haughtily and cruelly
+in the day of their victory. Therefore they did not all find a safe and
+happy return. For one was shipwrecked, and another was shamefully slain
+by his false wife in his palace, and others found all things at home
+troubled and changed, and were driven to seek new dwellings elsewhere.
+And some, whose wives and friends and people had been still true to them
+through those ten long years of absence, were driven far and wide about
+the world before they saw their native land again. And of all, the wise
+Ulysses was he who wandered farthest and suffered most.
+
+He was well-nigh the last to sail, for he had tarried many days to do
+pleasure to Agamemnon, lord of all the Greeks. Twelve ships he had with
+him--twelve he had brought to Troy--and in each there were some fifty
+men, being scarce half of those that had sailed in them in the old days,
+so many valiant heroes slept the last sleep by Simoïs and Scamander, and
+in the plain and on the seashore, slain in battle or by the shafts of
+Apollo.
+
+First they sailed northwest to the Thracian coast, where the Ciconians
+dwelt, who had helped the men of Troy. Their city they took, and in it
+much plunder, slaves and oxen, and jars of fragrant wine, and might
+have escaped unhurt, but that they stayed to hold revel on the shore.
+For the Ciconians gathered their neighbours, being men of the same
+blood, and did battle with the invaders, and drove them to their ship.
+And when Ulysses numbered his men, he found that he had lost six out of
+each ship.
+
+Scarce had he set out again when the wind began to blow fiercely; so,
+seeing a smooth sandy beach, they drave the ships ashore and dragged
+them out of reach of the waves, and waited till the storm should abate.
+And the third morning being fair, they sailed again, and journeyed
+prosperously till they came to the very end of the great Peloponnesian
+land, where Cape Malea looks out upon the southern sea. But contrary
+currents baffled them, so that they could not round it, and the north
+wind blew so strongly that they must fain drive before it. And on the
+tenth day they came to the land where the lotus grows--a wondrous fruit,
+of which whosoever eats cares not to see country or wife or children
+again. Now the Lotus eaters, for so they call the people of the land,
+were a kindly folk, and gave of the fruit to some of the sailors, not
+meaning them any harm, but thinking it to be the best that they had to
+give. These, when they had eaten, said that they would not sail any more
+over the sea; which, when the wise Ulysses heard, he bade their comrades
+bind them and carry them, sadly complaining, to the ships.
+
+Then, the wind having abated, they took to their oars, and rowed for
+many days till they came to the country where the Cyclopes dwell. Now, a
+mile or so from the shore there was an island, very fair and fertile,
+but no man dwells there or tills the soil, and in the island a harbour
+where a ship may be safe from all winds, and at the head of the harbour
+a stream falling from the rock, and whispering alders all about it. Into
+this the ships passed safely, and were hauled up on the beach, and the
+crews slept by them, waiting for the morning. And the next day they
+hunted the wild goats, of which there was great store on the island, and
+feasted right merrily on what they caught, with draughts of red wine
+which they had carried off from the town of the Ciconians.
+
+But on the morrow, Ulysses, for he was ever fond of adventure, and would
+know of every land to which he came what manner of men they were that
+dwelt there, took one of his twelve ships and bade row to the land.
+There was a great hill sloping to the shore, and there rose up here and
+there a smoke from the caves where the Cyclopes dwelt apart, holding no
+converse with each other, for they were a rude and savage folk, but
+ruled each his own household, not caring for others. Now very close to
+the shore was one of these caves, very huge and deep, with laurels round
+about the mouth, and in front a fold with walls built of rough stone,
+and shaded by tall oaks and pines. So Ulysses chose out of the crew the
+twelve bravest, and bade the rest guard the ship, and went to see what
+manner of dwelling this was, and who abode there. He had his sword by
+his side, and on his shoulder a mighty skin of wine, sweet smelling and
+strong, with which he might win the heart of some fierce savage, should
+he chance to meet with such, as indeed his prudent heart forecasted that
+he might.
+
+So they entered the cave, and judged that it was the dwelling of some
+rich and skilful shepherd. For within there were pens for the young of
+the sheep and of the goats, divided all according to their age, and
+there were baskets full of cheeses, and full milkpails ranged along the
+wall. But the Cyclops himself was away in the pastures. Then the
+companions of Ulysses besought him that he would depart, taking with
+him, if he would, a store of cheeses and sundry of the lambs and of the
+kids. But he would not, for he wished to see, after his wont, what
+manner of host this strange shepherd might be. And truly he saw it to
+his cost!
+
+It was evening when the Cyclops came home, a mighty giant, twenty feet
+in height, or more. On his shoulder he bore a vast bundle of pine logs
+for his fire, and threw them down outside the cave with a great crash,
+and drove the flocks within, and closed the entrance with a huge rock,
+which twenty wagons and more could not bear. Then he milked the ewes and
+all the she goats, and half of the milk he curdled for cheese, and half
+he set ready for himself, when he should sup. Next he kindled a fire
+with the pine logs, and the flame lighted up all the cave, showing him
+Ulysses and his comrades.
+
+"Who are ye?" cried Polyphemus, for that was the giant's name. "Are ye
+traders, or, haply, pirates?"
+
+For in those days it was not counted shame to be called a pirate.
+
+Ulysses shuddered at the dreadful voice and shape, but bore him bravely,
+and answered, "We are no pirates, mighty sir, but Greeks, sailing back
+from Troy, and subjects of the great King Agamemnon, whose fame is
+spread from one end of heaven to the other. And we are come to beg
+hospitality of thee in the name of Zeus, who rewards or punishes hosts
+and guests according as they be faithful the one to the other, or no."
+
+"Nay," said the giant, "it is but idle talk to tell me of Zeus and the
+other gods. We Cyclopes take no account of gods, holding ourselves to
+be much better and stronger than they. But come, tell me where have you
+left your ship?"
+
+But Ulysses saw his thought when he asked about the ship, how he was
+minded to break it, and take from them all hope of flight. Therefore he
+answered him craftily:
+
+"Ship have we none, for that which was ours King Poseidon brake, driving
+it on a jutting rock on this coast, and we whom thou seest are all that
+are escaped from the waves."
+
+Polyphemus answered nothing, but without more ado caught up two of the
+men, as a man might catch up the whelps of a dog, and dashed them on the
+ground, and tore them limb from limb, and devoured them, with huge
+draughts of milk between, leaving not a morsel, not even the very bones.
+But the others, when they saw the dreadful deed, could only weep and
+pray to Zeus for help. And when the giant had ended his foul meal, he
+lay down among his sheep and slept.
+
+Then Ulysses questioned much in his heart whether he should slay the
+monster as he slept, for he doubted not that his good sword would pierce
+to the giant's heart, mighty as he was. But, being very wise, he
+remembered that, should he slay him, he and his comrades would yet
+perish miserably. For who should move away the great rock that lay
+against the door of the cave? So they waited till the morning. And the
+monster woke, and milked his flocks, and afterward, seizing two men,
+devoured them for his meal. Then he went to the pastures, but put the
+great rock on the mouth of the cave, just as a man puts down the lid
+upon his quiver.
+
+All that day the wise Ulysses was thinking what he might best do to save
+himself and his companions, and the end of his thinking was this: There
+was a mighty pole in the cave, green wood of an olive tree, big as a
+ship's mast, which Polyphemus purposed to use, when the smoke should
+have dried it, as a walking staff. Of this he cut off a fathom's length,
+and his comrades sharpened it and hardened it in the fire, and then hid
+it away. At evening the giant came back, and drove his sheep into the
+cave, nor left the rams outside, as he had been wont to do before, but
+shut them in. And having duly done his shepherd's work, he made his
+cruel feast as before. Then Ulysses came forward with the wine skin in
+his hand, and said:
+
+"Drink, Cyclops, now that thou hast feasted. Drink, and see what
+precious things we had in our ship. But no one hereafter will come to
+thee with such like, if thou dealest with strangers as cruelly as thou
+hast dealt with us."
+
+Then the Cyclops drank, and was mightily pleased, and said, "Give me
+again to drink, and tell me thy name, stranger, and I will give thee a
+gift such as a host should give. In good truth this is a rare liquor.
+We, too, have vines, but they bear not wine like this, which indeed must
+be such as the gods drink in heaven."
+
+Then Ulysses gave him the cup again, and he drank. Thrice he gave it to
+him, and thrice he drank, not knowing what it was, and how it would work
+within his brain.
+
+Then Ulysses spake to him. "Thou didst ask my name, Cyclops. Lo! my name
+is No Man. And now that thou knowest my name, thou shouldst give me thy
+gift."
+
+And he said, "My gift shall be that I will eat thee last of all thy
+company."
+
+And as he spake he fell back in a drunken sleep. Then Ulysses bade his
+comrades be of good courage, for the time was come when they should be
+delivered. And they thrust the stake of olive wood into the fire till it
+was ready, green as it was, to burst into flame, and they thrust it into
+the monster's eye; for he had but one eye, and that in the midst of his
+forehead, with the eyebrow below it. And Ulysses leant with all his
+force upon the stake, and thrust it in with might and main. And the
+burning wood hissed in the eye, just as the red-hot iron hisses in the
+water when a man seeks to temper steel for a sword.
+
+Then the giant leapt up, and tore away the stake, and cried aloud, so
+that all the Cyclopes who dwelt on the mountain side heard him and came
+about his cave, asking him, "What aileth thee, Polyphemus, that thou
+makest this uproar in the peaceful night, driving away sleep? Is any one
+robbing thee of thy sheep, or seeking to slay thee by craft or force?"
+
+And the giant answered, "No Man slays me by craft."
+
+"Nay, but," they said, "if no man does thee wrong, we cannot help thee.
+The sickness which great Zeus may send, who can avoid? Pray to our
+father, Poseidon, for help."
+
+Then they departed; and Ulysses was glad at heart for the good success
+of his device, when he said that he was No Man.
+
+But the Cyclops rolled away the great stone from the door of the cave,
+and sat in the midst stretching out his hands, to feel whether perchance
+the men within the cave would seek to go out among the sheep.
+
+Long did Ulysses think how he and his comrades should best escape. At
+last he lighted upon a good device, and much he thanked Zeus for that
+this once the giant had driven the rams with the other sheep into the
+cave. For, these being great and strong, he fastened his comrades under
+the bellies of the beasts, tying them with osier twigs, of which the
+giant made his bed. One ram he took, and fastened a man beneath it, and
+two others he set, one on either side. So he did with the six, for but
+six were left out of the twelve who had ventured with him from the ship.
+And there was one mighty ram, far larger than all the others, and to
+this Ulysses clung, grasping the fleece tight with both his hands. So
+they waited for the morning. And when the morning came, the rams rushed
+forth to the pasture; but the giant sat in the door and felt the back of
+each as it went by, nor thought to try what might be underneath. Last of
+all went the great ram. And the Cyclops knew him as he passed and said:
+
+"How is this, thou, who art the leader of the flock? Thou art not wont
+thus to lag behind. Thou hast always been the first to run to the
+pastures and streams in the morning, and the first to come back to the
+fold when evening fell; and now thou art last of all. Perhaps thou art
+troubled about thy master's eye, which some wretch--No Man, they call
+him--has destroyed, having first mastered me with wine. He has not
+escaped, I ween. I would that thou couldst speak, and tell me where he
+is lurking. Of a truth I would dash out his brains upon the ground, and
+avenge me of this No Man."
+
+So speaking, he let him pass out of the cave. But when they were out of
+reach of the giant, Ulysses loosed his hold of the ram, and then unbound
+his comrades. And they hastened to their ship, not forgetting to drive
+before them a good store of the Cyclops' fat sheep. Right glad were
+those that had abode by the ship to see them. Nor did they lament for
+those that had died, though they were fain to do so, for Ulysses
+forbade, fearing lest the noise of their weeping should betray them to
+the giant, where they were. Then they all climbed into the ship, and
+sitting well in order on the benches, smote the sea with their oars,
+laying-to right lustily, that they might the sooner get away from the
+accursed land. And when they had rowed a hundred yards or so, so that a
+man's voice could yet be heard by one who stood upon the shore, Ulysses
+stood up in the ship and shouted:
+
+"He was no coward, O Cyclops, whose comrades thou didst so foully slay
+in thy den. Justly art thou punished, monster, that devourest thy guests
+in thy dwelling. May the gods make thee suffer yet worse things than
+these!"
+
+Then the Cylops, in his wrath, broke off the top of a great hill, a
+mighty rock, and hurled it where he had heard the voice. Right in front
+of the ship's bow it fell, and a great wave rose as it sank, and washed
+the ship back to the shore. But Ulysses seized a long pole with both
+hands and pushed the ship from the land, and bade his comrades ply their
+oars, nodding with his head, for he was too wise to speak, lest the
+Cyclops should know where they were. Then they rowed with all their
+might and main.
+
+And when they had gotten twice as far as before, Ulysses made as if he
+would speak again; but his comrades sought to hinder him, saying, "Nay,
+my lord, anger not the giant any more. Surely we thought before we were
+lost, when he threw the great rock, and washed our ship back to the
+shore. And if he hear thee now, he may crush our ship and us, for the
+man throws a mighty bolt, and throws it far."
+
+But Ulysses would not be persuaded, but stood up and said, "Hear,
+Cyclops! If any man ask who blinded thee, say that it was the warrior
+Ulysses, son of Laertes, dwelling in Ithaca."
+
+And the Cyclops answered with a groan, "Of a truth, the old oracles are
+fulfilled, for long ago there came to this land one Telemus, a prophet,
+and dwelt among us even to old age. This man foretold me that one
+Ulysses would rob me of my sight. But I looked for a great man and a
+strong, who should subdue me by force, and now a weakling has done the
+deed, having cheated me with wine. But come thou hither, Ulysses, and I
+will be a host indeed to thee. Or, at least, may Poseidon give thee such
+a voyage to thy home as I would wish thee to have. For know that
+Poseidon is my sire. May be that he may heal me of my grievous wound."
+
+And Ulysses said, "Would to God, I could send thee down to the abode of
+the dead, where thou wouldst be past all healing, even from Poseidon's
+self."
+
+Then Cyclops lifted up his hands to Poseidon and prayed:
+
+"Hear me, Poseidon, if I am indeed thy son and thou my father. May this
+Ulysses never reach his home! or, if the Fates have ordered that he
+should reach it, may he come alone, all his comrades lost, and come to
+find sore trouble in his house!"
+
+And as he ended he hurled another mighty rock, which almost lighted on
+the rudder's end, yet missed it as if by a hair's breadth. So Ulysses
+and his comrades escaped, and came to the island of the wild goats,
+where they found their comrades, who indeed had waited long for them, in
+sore fear lest they had perished. Then Ulysses divided among his company
+all the sheep which they had taken from the Cyclops. And all, with one
+consent, gave him for his share the great ram which had carried him out
+of the cave, and he sacrificed it to Zeus. And all that day they feasted
+right merrily on the flesh of sheep and on sweet wine, and when the
+night was come, they lay down upon the shore and slept.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE ARGONAUTS
+
+
+I
+
+_How the Centaur Trained the Heroes on Pelion_
+
+I have told you of a hero who fought with wild beasts and with wild men;
+but now I have a tale of heroes who sailed away into a distant land to
+win themselves renown forever, in the adventure of the Golden Fleece.
+
+Whither they sailed, my children, I cannot clearly tell. It all happened
+long ago; so long that it has all grown dim, like a dream which you
+dreamed last year. And why they went, I cannot tell; some say that it
+was to win gold. It may be so; but the noblest deeds which have been
+done on earth, have not been done for gold. It was not for the sake of
+gold that the Lord came down and died, and the Apostles went out to
+preach the good news in all lands. The Spartans looked for no reward in
+money when they fought and died at Thermopylæ; and Socrates the wise
+asked no pay from his countrymen, but lived poor and barefoot all his
+days, only caring to make men good. And there are heroes in our days
+also, who do noble deeds, but not for gold. Our discoverers did not go
+to make themselves rich, when they sailed out one after another into the
+dreary frozen seas; nor did the ladies, who went out last year, to
+drudge in the hospitals of the East, making themselves poor, that they
+might be rich in noble works. And young men, too, whom you know,
+children, and some of them of your own kin, did they say to themselves,
+"How much money shall I earn?" when they went out to the war, leaving
+wealth, and comfort, and a pleasant home, and all that money can give,
+to face hunger and thirst, and wounds and death, that they might fight
+for their country and their Queen? No, children, there is a better thing
+on earth than wealth, a better thing than life itself; and that is, to
+have done something before you die, for which good men may honour you,
+and God your Father smile upon your work.
+
+Therefore we will believe--why should we not--of these same Argonauts of
+old, that they, too, were noble men, who planned and did a noble deed;
+and that therefore their fame has lived, and been told in story and in
+song, mixed up, no doubt, with dreams and fables, yet true and right at
+heart. So we will honour these old Argonauts, and listen to their story
+as it stands; and we will try to be like them, each of us in our place;
+for each of us has a Golden Fleece to seek, and a wild sea to sail over,
+ere we reach it, and dragons to fight ere it be ours.
+
+And what was that first Golden Fleece? I do not know, nor care. The old
+Hellenes said that it hung in Colchis, which we call the Circassian
+coast, nailed to a beech tree in the war-god's wood; and that it was the
+fleece of the wondrous ram, who bore Phrixus and Helle across the Euxine
+Sea. For Phrixus and Helle were the children of the cloud nymph, and of
+Athamas the Minuan king. And when a famine came upon the land, their
+cruel stepmother, Ino, wished to kill them, that her own children might
+reign, and said that they must be sacrificed on an altar, to turn away
+the anger of the gods. So the poor children were brought to the altar,
+and the priest stood ready with his knife, when out of the clouds came
+the Golden Ram, and took them on his back, and vanished. Then madness
+came upon that foolish king Athamas, and ruin upon Ino and her children.
+For Athamas killed one of them in his fury, and Ino fled from him with
+the other in her arms, and leaped from a cliff into the sea, and was
+changed into a dolphin, such as you have seen, which wanders over the
+waves forever sighing, with its little one clasped to its breast.
+
+But the people drove out King Athamas, because he had killed his child;
+and he roamed about in his misery, till he came to the Oracle in Delphi.
+And the Oracle told him that he must wander for his sin, till the wild
+beasts should feast him as their guest. So he went on in hunger and
+sorrow for many a weary day, till he saw a pack of wolves. The wolves
+were tearing a sheep; but when they saw Athamas they fled, and left the
+sheep for him, and he ate of it; and then he knew that the oracle was
+fulfilled at last. So he wandered no more; but settled, and built a
+town, and became a king again.
+
+But the ram carried the two children far away over land and sea, till he
+came to the Thracian Chersonese, and there Helle fell into the sea. So
+those narrow straits are called "Hellespont," after her; and they bear
+that name until this day.
+
+Then the ram flew on with Phrixus to the northeast across the sea which
+we call the Black Sea now; but the Hellenes called it Euxine. And at
+last, they say, he stopped at Colchis, on the steep Circassian coast;
+and there Phrixus married Chalchiope, the daughter of Aietes the king;
+and offered the ram in sacrifice; and Aietes nailed the ram's fleece to
+a beech, in the grove of Ares the war god.
+
+And after awhile Phrixus died, and was buried, but his spirit had no
+rest; for he was buried far from his native land, and the pleasant hills
+of Hellas. So he came in dreams to the heroes of the Minuai, and called
+sadly by their beds: "Come and set my spirit free, that I may go home to
+my fathers and to my kinsfolk, and the pleasant Minuan land."
+
+And they asked: "How shall we set your spirit free?"
+
+"You must sail over the sea to Colchis, and bring home the golden
+fleece; and then my spirit will come back with it, and I shall sleep
+with my fathers and have rest."
+
+He came thus, and called to them often, but when they woke they looked
+at each other, and said: "Who dare sail to Colchis, or bring home the
+golden fleece?" And in all the country none was brave enough to try it;
+for the man and the time were not come.
+
+Phrixus had a cousin called Æson, who was king in Iolcos by the sea.
+There he ruled over the rich Minuan heroes, as Athamas his uncle ruled
+in Boeotia; and like Athamas, he was an unhappy man. For he had a
+stepbrother named Pelias, of whom some said that he was a nymph's son,
+and there were dark and sad tales about his birth. When he was a babe he
+was cast out on the mountains, and a wild mare came by and kicked him.
+But a shepherd passing found the baby, with its face all blackened by
+the blow; and took him home, and called him Pelias, because his face was
+bruised and black. And he grew up fierce and lawless, and did many a
+fearful deed; and at last he drove out Æson his stepbrother, and then
+his own brother Neleus, and took the kingdom to himself, and ruled over
+the rich Minuan heroes, in Iolcos by the sea.
+
+And Æson, when he was driven out, went sadly away out of the town,
+leading his little son by the hand; and he said to himself, "I must hide
+the child in the mountains; or Pelias will surely kill him, because he
+is the heir."
+
+So he went up from the sea across the valley, through the vineyards and
+the olive groves, and across the torrent of Anauros, toward Pelion the
+ancient mountain, whose brows are white with snow.
+
+He went up and up into the mountain over marsh, and crag, and down, till
+the boy was tired and footsore, and Æson had to bear him in his arms,
+till he came to the mouth of a lonely cave, at the foot of a mighty
+cliff.
+
+Above the cliff the snow wreaths hung, dripping and cracking in the sun.
+But at its foot around the cave's mouth grew all fair flowers and herbs,
+as if in a garden, ranged in order, each sort by itself. There they grew
+gayly in the sunshine, and the spray of the torrent from above; while
+from the cave came the sound of music, and a man's voice singing to the
+harp.
+
+Then Æson put down the lad, and whispered:
+
+"Fear not, but go in, and whomsoever you shall find, lay your hands upon
+his knees, and say, 'In the name of Zeus the father of gods and men, I
+am your guest from this day forth.'"
+
+Then the lad went in without trembling, for he, too, was a hero's son;
+but when he was within, he stopped in wonder, to listen to that magic
+song.
+
+And there he saw the singer lying upon bear skins and fragrant boughs;
+Cheiron, the ancient centaur, the wisest of all things beneath the sky.
+Down to the waist he was a man; but below he was a noble horse; his
+white hair rolled down over his broad shoulders, and his white beard
+over his broad brown chest; and his eyes were wise and mild, and his
+forehead like a mountain wall.
+
+And in his hands he held a harp of gold, and struck it with a golden
+key; and as he struck, he sang till his eyes glittered, and filled all
+the cave with light.
+
+And he sang of the birth of Time, and of the heavens and the dancing
+stars; and of the ocean, and the ether, and the fire, and the shaping of
+the wondrous earth. And he sang of the treasures of the hills, and the
+hidden jewels of the mine, and the veins of fire and metal, and the
+virtues of all healing herbs, and of the speech of birds, and of
+prophecy, and of hidden things to come.
+
+Then he sang of health, and strength, and manhood, and a valiant heart;
+and of music, and hunting, and wrestling, and all the games which heroes
+love; and of travel, and wars, and sieges, and a noble death in fight;
+and then he sang of peace and plenty, and of equal justice in the land;
+and as he sang, the boy listened wide eyed, and forgot his errand in the
+song.
+
+And at the last old Cheiron was silent, and called the lad with a soft
+voice.
+
+And the lad ran trembling to him, and would have laid his hands upon his
+knees; but Cheiron smiled, and said, "Call hither your father Æson, for
+I know you, and all that has befallen, and saw you both afar in the
+valley, even before you left the town."
+
+Then Æson came in sadly, and Cheiron asked him, "Why came you not
+yourself to me, Æson the Æolid?"
+
+And Æson said:
+
+"I thought, Cheiron will pity the lad if he sees him come alone; and I
+wished to try whether he was fearless, and dare venture like a hero's
+son. But now I entreat you by Father Zeus, let the boy be your guest
+till better times, and train him among the sons of the heroes, that he
+may avenge his father's house."
+
+Then Cheiron smiled, and drew the lad to him, and laid his hand upon his
+golden locks, and said, "Are you afraid of my horse's hoofs, fair boy,
+or will you be my pupil from this day?"
+
+"I would gladly have horse's hoofs like you, if I could sing such songs
+as yours."
+
+And Cheiron laughed, and said, "Sit here by me till sundown, when your
+playfellows will come home, and you shall learn like them to be a king,
+worthy to rule over gallant men."
+
+Then he turned to Æson, and said, "Go back in peace, and bend before the
+storm like a prudent man. This boy shall not cross the Anauros again,
+till he has become a glory to you and to the house of Æolus."
+
+And Æson wept over his son and went away; but the boy did not weep, so
+full was his fancy of that strange cave, and the Centaur, and his song,
+and the playfellows whom he was to see.
+
+Then Cheiron put the lyre into his hands, and taught him how to play it,
+till the sun sank low behind the cliff, and a shout was heard outside.
+
+And then in came the sons of the heroes, Æneas, and Heracles, and
+Peleus, and many another mighty name.
+
+And great Cheiron leapt up joyfully, and his hoofs made the cave
+resound, as they shouted, "Come out, Father Cheiron; come out and see
+our game." And one cried, "I have killed two deer," and another, "I took
+a wildcat among the crags"; and Heracles dragged a wild goat after him
+by its horns, for he was as huge as a mountain crag; and Cæneus carried
+a bear cub under each arm, and laughed when they scratched and bit; for
+neither tooth nor steel could wound him.
+
+And Cheiron praised them all, each according to his deserts.
+
+Only one walked apart and silent, Asclepius, the too-wise child, with
+his bosom full of herbs and flowers, and round his wrist a spotted
+snake; he came with downcast eyes to Cheiron, and whispered how he had
+watched the snake cast his old skin, and grow young again before his
+eyes, and how he had gone down into a village in the vale, and cured a
+dying man with a herb which he had seen a sick goat eat.
+
+And Cheiron smiled, and said: "To each Athené and Apollo give some gift,
+and each is worthy in his place; but to this child they have given an
+honour beyond all honours, to cure while others kill."
+
+Then the lads brought in wood, and split it, and lighted a blazing fire;
+and others skinned the deer and quartered them, and set them to roast
+before the fire; and while the venison was cooking they bathed in the
+snow torrent, and washed away the dust and sweat.
+
+And then all ate till they could eat no more (for they had tasted
+nothing since the dawn), and drank of the clear spring water, for wine
+is not fit for growing lads. And when the remnants were put away, they
+all lay down upon the skins and leaves about the fire, and each took the
+lyre in turn, and sang and played with all his heart.
+
+And after a while they all went out to a plot of grass at the cave's
+mouth, and there they boxed, and ran, and wrestled, and laughed till the
+stones fell from the cliffs.
+
+Then Cheiron took his lyre, and all the lads joined hands; and as he
+played, they danced to his measure, in and out, and round and round.
+There they danced hand in hand, till the night fell over land and sea,
+while the black glen shone with their broad white limbs, and the gleam
+of their golden hair.
+
+And the lad danced with them, delighted, and then slept a wholesome
+sleep, upon fragrant leaves of bay, and myrtle, and marjoram, and
+flowers of thyme; and rose at the dawn, and bathed in the torrent, and
+became a schoolfellow to the heroes' sons, and forgot Iolcos, and his
+father, and all his former life. But he grew strong, and brave and
+cunning, upon the pleasant downs of Pelion, in the keen hungry mountain
+air. And he learnt to wrestle, and to box, and to hunt, and to play upon
+the harp; and next he learnt to ride, for old Cheiron used to mount him
+on his back; and he learnt the virtues of all herbs, and how to cure all
+wounds; and Cheiron called him Jason the healer, and that is his name
+until this day.
+
+
+PART II
+
+_How Jason Lost His Sandal in Anauros_
+
+And ten years came and went, and Jason was grown to be a mighty man.
+Some of his fellows were gone, and some were growing up by his side.
+Asclepius was gone into Peloponnese, to work his wondrous cures on men;
+and some say he used to raise the dead to life. And Heracles was gone to
+Thebes, to fulfil those famous labours which have become a proverb among
+men. And Peleus had married a sea nymph, and his wedding is famous to
+this day. And Æneas was gone home to Troy, and many a noble tale you
+will read of him, and of all the other gallant heroes, the scholars of
+Cheiron the just. And it happened on a day that Jason stood on the
+mountain, and looked north and south and east and west; and Cheiron
+stood by him and watched him, for he knew that the time was come.
+
+And Jason looked and saw the plains of Thessaly, where the Lapithai
+breed their horses; and the lake of Boibé, and the stream which runs
+northward to Peneus and Tempe; and he looked north, and saw the mountain
+wall which guards the Magnesian shore; Olympus, the seat of the
+Immortals, and Ossa, and Pelion, where he stood. Then he looked east and
+saw the bright blue sea, which stretched away forever toward the dawn.
+Then he looked south, and saw a pleasant land, with white-walled towns
+and farms, nestling along the shore of a land-locked bay, while the
+smoke rose blue among the trees; and he knew it for the bay of Pagasai,
+and the rich lowlands of Hæmonia, and Iolcos by the sea.
+
+Then he sighed, and asked: "Is it true what the heroes tell me, that I
+am heir of that fair land?"
+
+"And what good would it be to you, Jason, if you were heir of that fair
+land?"
+
+"I would take it and keep it."
+
+"A strong man has taken it and kept it long. Are you stronger than
+Pelias the terrible?"
+
+"I can try my strength with his," said Jason. But Cheiron sighed and
+said:
+
+"You have many a danger to go through before you rule in Iolcos by the
+sea; many a danger, and many a woe; and strange troubles in strange
+lands, such as man never saw before."
+
+"The happier I," said Jason, "to see what man never saw before."
+
+And Cheiron sighed again, and said: "The eaglet must leave the nest when
+it is fledged. Will you go to Iolcos by the sea? Then promise me two
+things before you go."
+
+Jason promised, and Cheiron answered: "Speak harshly to no soul whom you
+may meet, and stand by the word which you shall speak."
+
+Jason wondered why Cheiron asked this of him; but he knew that the
+Centaur was a prophet, and saw things long before they came. So he
+promised, and leapt down the mountain, to take his fortune like a man.
+
+He went down through the arbutus thickets, and across the downs of
+thyme, till he came to the vineyard walls, and the pomegranates and the
+olives in the glen; and among the olives roared Anauros, all foaming
+with a summer flood.
+
+And on the bank of Anauros sat a woman, all wrinkled gray, and old; her
+head shook palsied on her breast, and her hands shook palsied on her
+knees; and when she saw Jason, she spoke whining: "Who will carry me
+across the flood?"
+
+Jason was bold and hasty, and was just going to leap into the flood; and
+yet he thought twice before he leapt, so loud roared the torrent down,
+all brown from the mountain rains, and silver veined with melting snow;
+while underneath he could hear the boulders rumbling like the tramp of
+horsemen or the roll of wheels, as they ground along the narrow channel,
+and shook the rocks on which he stood.
+
+But the old woman whined all the more: "I am weak and old, fair youth.
+For Hera's sake, carry me over the torrent."
+
+And Jason was going to answer her scornfully, when Cheiron's words came
+to his mind.
+
+So he said: "For Hera's sake, the Queen of the Immortals on Olympus, I
+will carry you over the torrent, unless we both are drowned midway."
+
+Then the old dame leapt upon his back, as nimbly as a goat; and Jason
+staggered in, wondering; and the first step was up to his knees.
+
+The first step was up to his knees, and the second step was up to his
+waist; and the stones rolled about his feet, and his feet slipped about
+the stones; so he went on staggering and panting, while the old woman
+cried from off his back:
+
+"Fool, you have wet my mantle! Do you make game of poor old souls like
+me?"
+
+Jason had half a mind to drop her, and let her get through the torrent
+by herself; but Cheiron's words were in his mind, and he said only:
+"Patience, mother; the best horse may stumble some day."
+
+At last he staggered to the shore, and set her down upon the bank; and a
+strong man he needed to have been, or that wild water he never would
+have crossed.
+
+He lay panting awhile upon the bank, and then leapt up to go upon his
+journey; but he cast one look at the old woman, for he thought, "She
+should thank me once at least."
+
+And as he looked, she grew fairer than all women, and taller than all
+men on earth; and her garments shone like the summer sea, and her jewels
+like the stars of heaven; and over her forehead was a veil, woven of the
+golden clouds of sunset; and through the veil she looked down on him,
+with great soft heifer's eyes; with great eyes, mild and awful, which
+filled all the glen with light.
+
+And Jason fell upon his knees, and hid his face between his hands.
+
+And she spoke: "I am the Queen of Olympus, Hera the wife of Zeus. As
+thou hast done to me, so will I do to thee. Call on me in the hour of
+need, and try if the Immortals can forget."
+
+And when Jason looked up, she rose from off the earth, like a pillar of
+tall white cloud, and floated away across the mountain peaks, toward
+Olympus the holy hill.
+
+Then a great fear fell on Jason; but after a while he grew light of
+heart; and he blessed old Cheiron, and said: "Surely the Centaur is a
+prophet, and guessed what would come to pass, when he bade me speak
+harshly to no soul whom I might meet."
+
+Then he went down toward Iolcos, and as he walked, he found that he had
+lost one of his sandals in the flood.
+
+And as he went through the streets, the people came out to look at him,
+so tall and fair was he; but some of the elders whispered together; and
+at last one of them stopped Jason, and called to him: "Fair lad, who are
+you, and whence come you; and what is your errand in the town?"
+
+"My name, good father, is Jason, and I come from Pelion up above; and my
+errand is to Pelias your king; tell me then where his palace is."
+
+But the old man started, and grew pale, and said, "Do you not know the
+oracle, my son, that you go so boldly through the town, with but one
+sandal on?"
+
+"I am a stranger here, and know of no oracle; but what of my one sandal?
+I lost the other in Anauros, while I was struggling with the flood."
+
+Then the old man looked back to his companions; and one sighed and
+another smiled; at last he said: "I will tell you, lest you rush upon
+your ruin unawares. The oracle in Delphi has said, that a man wearing
+one sandal should take the kingdom from Pelias, and keep it for
+himself. Therefore beware how you go up to his palace, for he is the
+fiercest and most cunning of all kings."
+
+Then Jason laughed a great laugh, like a war horse in his pride: "Good
+news, good father, both for you and me. For that very end I came into
+the town."
+
+Then he strode on toward the palace of Pelias, while all the people
+wondered at his bearing.
+
+And he stood in the doorway and cried, "Come out, come out, Pelias the
+valiant, and fight for your kingdom like a man."
+
+Pelias came out wondering, and "Who are you, bold youth?" he cried.
+
+"I am Jason, the son of Æson, the heir of all this land."
+
+Then Pelias lifted up his hands and eyes, and wept, or seemed to weep;
+and blessed the heavens which had brought his nephew to him, never to
+leave him more. "For," said he, "I have but three daughters, and no son
+to be my heir. You shall be my heir then, and rule the kingdom after me,
+and marry whichsoever of my daughters you shall choose; though a sad
+kingdom you will find it, and whosoever rules it a miserable man. But
+come in, come in, and feast."
+
+So he drew Jason in, whether he would or not, and spoke to him so
+lovingly and feasted him so well, that Jason's anger passed; and after
+supper his three cousins came into the hall, and Jason thought that he
+should like well enough to have one of them for his wife.
+
+But at last he said to Pelias, "Why do you look so sad, my uncle? And
+what did you mean just now, when you said that this was a doleful
+kingdom, and its ruler a miserable man?"
+
+Then Pelias sighed heavily again and again and again, like a man who
+had to tell some dreadful story and was afraid to begin; but at last:
+
+"For seven long years and more have I never known a quiet night; and no
+more will he who comes after me, till the golden fleece be brought
+home."
+
+Then he told Jason the story of Phrixus, and of the golden fleece; and
+told him, too, which was a lie, that Phrixus's spirit tormented him,
+calling to him day and night. And his daughters came, and told the same
+tale (for their father had taught them their parts) and wept, and said,
+"Oh, who will bring home the golden fleece, that our uncle's spirit may
+have rest; and that we may have rest also, whom he never lets sleep in
+peace?"
+
+Jason sat awhile, sad and silent; for he had often heard of that golden
+fleece; but he looked on it as a thing hopeless and impossible for any
+mortal man to win it.
+
+But when Pelias saw him silent, he began to talk of other things, and
+courted Jason more and more, speaking to him as if he was certain to be
+his heir, and asking his advice about the kingdom; till Jason who was
+young and simple, could not help saying to himself, "Surely he is not
+the dark man whom people call him. Yet why did he drive my father out?"
+And he asked Pelias boldly, "Men say that you are terrible, and a man of
+blood; but I find you a kind and hospitable man; and as you are to me,
+so will I be to you. Yet why did you drive my father out?"
+
+Pelias smiled and sighed: "Men have slandered me in that, as in all
+things. Your father was growing old and weary, and he gave the kingdom
+up to me of his own will. You shall see him to-morrow, and ask him; and
+he will tell you the same."
+
+Jason's heart leapt in him, when he heard that he was to see his
+father; and he believed all that Pelias said, forgetting that his father
+might not dare to tell the truth.
+
+"One thing more there is," said Pelias, "on which I need your advice;
+for though you are young, I see in you a wisdom beyond your years. There
+is one neighbour of mine, whom I dread more than all men on earth. I am
+stronger than he now, and can command him; but I know that if he stay
+among us, he will work my ruin in the end. Can you give me a plan,
+Jason, by which I can rid myself of that man?"
+
+After awhile, Jason answered, half laughing, "Were I you, I would send
+him to fetch that same golden fleece; for if he once set forth after it
+you would never be troubled with him more."
+
+And at that a bitter smile came across Pelias's lips, and a flash of
+wicked joy into his eyes; and Jason saw it, and started; and over his
+mind came the warning of the old man, and his own one sandal, and the
+oracle, and he saw that he was taken in a trap.
+
+But Pelias only answered gently, "My son, he shall be sent forthwith."
+
+"You mean me?" cried Jason, starting up, "because I came here with one
+sandal?" And he lifted his fist angrily, while Pelias stood up to him
+like a wolf at bay; and whether of the two was the stronger and the
+fiercer, it would be hard to tell.
+
+But after a moment Pelias spoke gently, "Why then so rash, my son? You,
+and not I, have said what is said; why blame me for what I have not
+done? Had you bid me love the man of whom I spoke, and make him my
+son-in-law and heir, I would have obeyed you; and what if I obey you
+now, and send the man to win himself immortal fame? I have not harmed
+you, or him. One thing at least I know, that he will go, and that
+gladly; for he has a hero's heart within him; loving glory, and scorning
+to break the word which he has given."
+
+Jason saw that he was entrapped; but his second promise to Cheiron came
+into his mind, and he thought, "What if the Centaur were a prophet in
+that also, and meant that I should win the fleece!" Then he cried aloud:
+
+"You have well spoken, cunning uncle of mine! I love glory, and I dare
+keep to my word. I will go and fetch this golden fleece. Promise me but
+this in return, and keep your word as I keep mine. Treat my father
+lovingly while I am gone, for the sake of the all-seeing Zeus; and give
+me up the kingdom for my own, on the day that I bring back the golden
+fleece."
+
+Then Pelias looked at him and almost loved him, in the midst of all his
+hate; and said, "I promise, and I will perform. It will be no shame to
+give up my kingdom to the man who wins that fleece."
+
+Then they swore a great oath between them; and afterward both went in,
+and lay down to sleep.
+
+But Jason could not sleep, for thinking of his mighty oath, and how he
+was to fulfil it, all alone, and without wealth or friends. So he tossed
+a long time upon his bed, and thought of this plan and of that; and
+sometimes Phrixus seemed to call him, in a thin voice, faint and low, as
+if it came from far across the sea, "Let me come home to my fathers and
+have rest." And sometimes he seemed to see the eyes of Hera, and to hear
+her words again, "Call on me in the hour of need, and see if the
+Immortals can forget."
+
+And on the morrow he went to Pelias, and said, "Give me a victim, that I
+may sacrifice to Hera." So he went up, and offered his sacrifice; and
+as he stood by the altar, Hera sent a thought into his mind; and he went
+back to Pelias, and said:
+
+"If you are indeed in earnest, give me two heralds, that they may go
+round to all the princes of the Minuai who were pupils of the Centaur
+with me, that we may fit out a ship together, and take what shall
+befall."
+
+At that Pelias praised his wisdom, and hastened to send the heralds out;
+for he said in his heart: "Let all the princes go with him, and like
+him, never return; for so I shall be lord of all the Minuai, and the
+greatest king in Hellas."
+
+
+PART III
+
+_How They Built the Ship Argo in Iolcos_
+
+So the heralds went out, and cried to all the heroes of the Minuai, "Who
+dare come to the adventure of the golden fleece?"
+
+And Hera stirred the hearts of all the princes, and they came from all
+their valleys to the yellow sands of Pagasai. And first came Heracles
+the mighty, with his lion's skin and club, and behind him Hylas his
+young squire, who bore his arrows and his bow; and Tiphys, the skilful
+steersman; and Butes, the fairest of all men; and Castor and Polydeuces
+the twins, the sons of the magic swan; and Caineus, the strongest of
+mortals, whom the Centaurs tried in vain to kill, and overwhelmed him
+with trunks of pine trees, but even so he would not die; and thither
+came Zetes and Calais, the winged sons of the north wind; and Peleus,
+the father of Achilles, whose bride was silver-footed Thetis the goddess
+of the sea. And thither came Telamon and Oileus, the fathers of the two
+Aiantes, who fought upon the plains of Troy; and Mopsus, the wise
+soothsayer, who knew the speech of birds; and Idmon, to whom Phoebus
+gave a tongue to prophesy of things to come; and Ancaios, who could read
+the stars, and knew all the circles of the heavens; and Argus, the famed
+shipbuilder, and many a hero more, in helmets of brass and gold with
+tall dyed horsehair crests, and embroidered shirts of linen beneath
+their coats of mail, and greaves of polished tin to guard their knees in
+fight; with each man his shield upon his shoulder, of many a fold of
+tough bull's hide, and his sword of tempered bronze in his
+silver-studded belt, and in his right hand a pair of lances, of the
+heavy white-ash stave.
+
+So they came down to Iolcos, and all the city came out to meet them, and
+were never tired with looking at their height, and their beauty, and
+their gallant bearing, and the glitter of their inlaid arms. And some
+said, "Never was such a gathering of the heroes since the Hellenes
+conquered the land." But the women sighed over them, and whispered,
+"Alas! they are all going to the death."
+
+Then they felled the pines on Pelion, and shaped them with the axe, and
+Argus taught them to build a galley, the first long ship which ever
+sailed the seas. They pierced her for fifty oars, an oar for each hero
+of the crew, and pitched her with coal-black pitch, and painted her bows
+with vermilion; and they named her Argo after Argus, and worked at her
+all day long. And at night Pelias feasted them like a king, and they
+slept in his palace porch.
+
+But Jason went away to the northward, and into the land of Thrace, till
+he found Orpheus, the prince of minstrels, where he dwelt in his cave
+under Rhodope, among the savage Cicon tribes. And he asked him: "Will
+you leave your mountains, Orpheus, my fellow scholar in old times, and
+cross Strymon once more with me, to sail with the heroes of the Minuai,
+and bring home the golden fleece, and charm for us all men and all
+monsters with your magic harp and song?"
+
+Then Orpheus sighed: "Have I not had enough of toil and of weary
+wandering far and wide, since I lived in Cheiron's cave, above Iolcos by
+the sea? In vain is the skill and the voice which my goddess mother gave
+me; in vain have I sung and laboured; in vain I went down to the dead,
+and charmed all the kings of Hades, to win back Eurydice my bride. For I
+won her, my beloved, and lost her again the same day, and wandered away
+in my madness, even to Egypt and the Libyan sands, and the isles of all
+the seas, driven on by the terrible gadfly, while I charmed in vain the
+hearts of men, and the savage forest beasts, and the trees, and the
+lifeless stones, with my magic harp and song, giving rest, but finding
+none. But at last Calliope, my mother, delivered me, and brought me home
+in peace; and I dwell here in the cave alone, among the savage Cicon
+tribes, softening their wild hearts with music and the gentle laws of
+Zeus. And now I must go out again, to the ends of all the earth, far
+away into the misty darkness, to the last wave of the Eastern Sea. But
+what is doomed must be, and a friend's demand obeyed; for prayers are
+the daughters of Zeus, and who honours them honours him."
+
+Then Orpheus rose up sighing, and took his harp, and went over Strymon.
+And he led Jason to the southwest, up the banks of Haliacmon and over
+the spurs of Pindus, to Dodona the town of Zeus, where it stood by the
+side of the sacred lake, and the fountain which breathed out fire, in
+the darkness of the ancient oak wood, beneath the mountain of the
+hundred springs. And he led him to the holy oak, where the black dove
+settled in old times, and was changed into the priestess of Zeus, and
+gave oracles to all nations round. And he bade him cut down a bough, and
+sacrifice to Hera and to Zeus; and they took the bough and came to
+Iolcos, and nailed it to the beak head of the ship.
+
+And at last the ship was finished, and they tried to launch her down the
+beach; but she was too heavy for them to move her, and her keel sank
+deep in the sand. Then all the heroes looked at each other blushing; but
+Jason spoke, and said, "Let us ask the magic bough; perhaps it can help
+us in our need."
+
+Then a voice came from the bough, and Jason heard the words it said, and
+bade Orpheus play upon the harp, while the heroes waited round, holding
+the pine-trunk rollers, to help her toward the sea.
+
+Then Orpheus took his harp, and began his magic song: "How sweet it is
+to ride upon the surges, and to leap from wave to wave, while the wind
+sings cheerful in the cordage, and the oars flash fast among the foam!
+How sweet it is to roam across the ocean, and see new towns and wondrous
+lands, and to come home laden with treasure, and to win undying fame!"
+
+And the good ship Argo heard him, and longed to be away and out at sea;
+till she stirred in every timber, and heaved from stem to stern, and
+leapt up from the sand upon the rollers, and plunged onward like a
+gallant horse; and the heroes fed her path with pine trunks, till she
+rushed into the whispering sea.
+
+Then they stored her well with food and water, and pulled the ladder up
+on board, and settled themselves each man to his oar, and kept time to
+Orpheus's harp; and away across the bay they rowed southward, while the
+people lined the cliffs; and the women wept while the men shouted, at
+the starting of that gallant crew.
+
+
+PART IV
+
+_How the Argonauts Sailed to Colchis_
+
+And what happened next, my children, whether it be true or not, stands
+written in ancient songs, which you shall read for yourselves some day.
+And grand old songs they are, written in grand old rolling verse; and
+they call them the Songs of Orpheus, or the Orphics, to this day. And
+they tell how the heroes came to Aphetai, across the bay, and waited for
+the southwest wind, and chose themselves a captain from their crew: and
+how all called for Heracles, because he was the strongest and most huge;
+but Heracles refused, and called for Jason, because he was the wisest of
+them all. So Jason was chosen captain: and Orpheus heaped a pile of wood
+and slew a bull, and offered it to Hera, and called all the heroes to
+stand round, each man's head crowned with olive, and to strike their
+swords into the bull. Then he filled a golden goblet with the bull's
+blood, and with wheaten flour, and honey, and wine, and the bitter salt
+sea water, and bade the heroes taste. So each tasted the goblet, and
+passed it round, and vowed an awful vow; and they vowed before the sun,
+and the night, and the blue-haired sea who shakes the land, to stand by
+Jason faithfully, in the adventure of the golden fleece; and whosoever
+shrank back, or disobeyed, or turned traitor to his vow, then justice
+should witness against him, and the Erinnes who track guilty men.
+
+Then Jason lighted the pile, and burnt the carcass of the bull; and they
+went to their ship and sailed eastward, like men who have a work to do;
+and the place from which they went was called Aphetai, the sailing
+place, from that day forth. Three thousand years ago and more they
+sailed away, into the unknown Eastern seas; and great nations have come
+and gone since then, and many a storm has swept the earth; and many a
+mighty armament, to which Argo would be but one small boat, have sailed
+those waters since; yet the fame of that small Argo lives forever, and
+her name is become a proverb among men.
+
+So they sailed past the Isle of Sciathos, with the Cape of Sepius on
+their left, and turned to the northward toward Pelion, up the long
+Magnesian shore. On their right hand was the open sea, and on their left
+old Pelion rose, while the clouds crawled round his dark pine forests,
+and his caps of summer snow. And their hearts yearned for the dear old
+mountain, as they thought of pleasant days gone by, and of the sports of
+their boyhood, and their hunting, and their schooling in the cave
+beneath the cliff. And at last Peleus spoke: "Let us land here, friends,
+and climb the dear old hill once more. We are going on a fearful
+journey: who knows if we shall see Pelion again? Let us go up to Cheiron
+our master, and ask his blessing ere we start. And I have a boy, too,
+with him, whom he trains as he trained me once, the son whom Thetis
+brought me, the silver-footed lady of the sea, whom I caught in the
+cave, and tamed her though she changed her shape seven times. For she
+changed, as I held her, into water, and to vapour, and to burning flame,
+and to a rock, and to a black-maned lion, and to a tall and stately
+tree. But I held her and held her ever till she took her own shape
+again, and led her to my father's house, and won her for my bride. And
+all the rulers of Olympus came to our wedding, and the heavens and the
+earth rejoiced together, when an immortal wedded mortal man. And now let
+me see my son; for it is not often I shall see him upon earth; famous he
+will be, but short lived, and die in the flower of youth."
+
+So Tiphys, the helmsman, steered them to the shore under the crags of
+Pelion; and they went up through the dark pine forests toward the
+Centaur's cave.
+
+And they came into the misty hall, beneath the snow-crowned crag; and
+saw the great Centaur lying with his huge limbs spread upon the rock;
+and beside him stood Achilles, the child whom no steel could wound, and
+played upon his harp right sweetly, while Cheiron watched and smiled.
+
+Then Cheiron leapt up and welcomed them, and kissed them every one, and
+set a feast before them, of swine's flesh, and venison, and good wine;
+and young Achilles served them, and carried the golden goblet round. And
+after supper all the heroes clapped their hands, and called on Orpheus
+to sing; but he refused, and said, "How can I, who am the younger, sing
+before our ancient host?" So they called on Cheiron to sing, and
+Achilles brought him his harp; and he began a wondrous song; a famous
+story of old time, of the fight between Centaurs and the Lapithai, which
+you may still see carved in stone. He sang how his brothers came to ruin
+by their folly, when they were mad with wine; and how they and the
+heroes fought, with fists, and teeth, and the goblets from which they
+drank; and how they tore up the pine trees in their fury, and hurled
+great crags of stone, while the mountains thundered with the battle, and
+the land was wasted far and wide; till the Lapithai drove them from
+their home in the rich Thessalian plains to the lonely glens of Pindus,
+leaving Cheiron all alone. And the heroes praised his song right
+heartily; for some of them had helped in that great fight.
+
+Then Orpheus took the lyre, and sang of Chaos, and the making of the
+wondrous World, and how all things sprang from Love, who could not live
+alone in the Abyss. And as he sang, his voice rose from the cave, above
+the crags, and through the tree tops, and the glens of oak and pine. And
+the trees bowed their heads when they heard it, and the gray rocks
+cracked and rang, and the forest beasts crept near to listen, and the
+birds forsook their nests and hovered round. And old Cheiron clapt his
+hands together, and beat his hoofs upon the ground, for wonder at that
+magic song.
+
+Then Peleus kissed his boy, and wept over him, and they went down to the
+ship; and Cheiron came down with them, weeping, and kissed them one by
+one, and blest them, and promised to them great renown. And the heroes
+wept when they left him, till their great hearts could weep no more; for
+he was kind and just and pious, and wiser than all beasts and men. Then
+he went up to a cliff, and prayed for them, that they might come home
+safe and well; while the heroes rowed away, and watched him standing on
+his cliff above the sea, with his great hands raised toward heaven, and
+his white locks waving in the wind; and they strained their eyes to
+watch him to the last, for they felt that they should look on him no
+more.
+
+So they rowed on over the long swell of the sea, past Olympus, the seat
+of die immortals, and past the wooded bays of Athos, and Samothrace, the
+sacred isle; and they came past Lemnos to the Hellespont, and through
+the narrow strait of Abydos, and so on into the Propontis, which we call
+Marmora now. And there they met with Cyzicus, ruling in Asia over the
+Dolions, who, the songs say, was the son of Æneas, of whom you will hear
+many a tale some day. For Homer tells us how he fought at Troy; and
+Virgil how he sailed away and founded Rome; and men believed until late
+years that from him sprang the old British kings. Now Cyzicus, the songs
+say, welcomed the heroes; for his father had been one of Cheiron's
+scholars; so he welcomed them, and feasted them, and stored their ship
+with corn and wine, and cloaks and rugs, the songs say, and shirts, of
+which no doubt they stood in need.
+
+But at night, while they lay sleeping, came down on them terrible men,
+who lived with the bears in the mountains, like Titans or giants in
+shape; for each of them had six arms, and they fought with young firs
+and pines. But Heracles killed them all before morn with his deadly
+poisoned arrows; but among them, in the darkness, he slew Cyzicus the
+kindly prince.
+
+Then they got to their ship and to their oars, and Tiphys bade them cast
+off the hawsers, and go to sea. But as he spoke a whirlwind came, and
+spun the Argo round, and twisted the hawsers together, so that no man
+could loose them. Then Tiphys dropped the rudder from his hand, and
+cried, "This comes from the Gods above." But Jason went forward, and
+asked counsel of the magic bough.
+
+Then the magic bough spoke and answered: "This is because you have
+slain Cyzicus your friend. You must appease his soul, or you will never
+leave this shore."
+
+Jason went back sadly, and told the heroes what he had heard. And they
+leapt on shore, and searched till dawn; and at dawn they found the body,
+all rolled in dust and blood, among the corpses of those monstrous
+beasts. And they wept over their kind host, and laid him on a fair bed,
+and heaped a huge mound over him, and offered black sheep at his tomb,
+and Orpheus sang a magic song to him, that his spirit might have rest.
+And then they held games at the tomb, after the custom of those times,
+and Jason gave prizes to each winner. To Ancæus he gave a golden cup,
+for he wrestled best of all; and to Heracles a silver one, for he was
+the strongest of all; and to Castor, who rode best, a golden crest; and
+Polydeuces the boxer had a rich carpet, and to Orpheus for his song, a
+sandal with golden wings. But Jason himself was the best of all the
+archers, and the Minuai crowned him with an olive crown; and so, the
+songs say, the soul of good Cyzicus was appeased, and the heroes went on
+their way in peace.
+
+But when Cyzicus's wife heard that he was dead, she died likewise of
+grief; and her tears became a fountain of clear water, which flows the
+whole year round.
+
+Then they rowed away, the songs say, along the Mysian shore, and past
+the mouth of Rhindacus, till they found a pleasant bay, sheltered by the
+long ridges of Arganthus, and by high walls of basalt rock. And there
+they ran the ship ashore upon the yellow sand, and furled the sail, and
+took the mast down, and lashed it in its crutch. And next they let down
+the ladder, and went ashore to sport and rest.
+
+And there Heracles went away into the woods, bow in hand, to hunt wild
+deer; and Hylas the fair boy slipt away after him, and followed him by
+stealth, until he lost himself among the glens, and sat down weary to
+rest himself by the side of a lake; and there the water nymphs came up
+to look at him, and loved him, and carried him down under the lake to be
+their playfellow, forever happy and young. And Heracles sought for him
+in vain, shouting his name till all the mountains rang; but Hylas never
+heard him, far down under the sparkling lake. So while Heracles wandered
+searching for him, a fair breeze sprang up, and Heracles was nowhere to
+be found; and the Argo sailed away, and Heracles was left behind, and
+never saw the noble Phasian stream.
+
+Then the Minuai came to a doleful land, where Amycus the giant ruled,
+and cared nothing for the laws of Zeus, but challenged all strangers to
+box with him, and those whom he conquered he slew. But Polydeuces the
+boxer struck him a harder blow than he ever felt before, and slew him;
+and the Minuai went on up the Bosphorus, till they came to the city of
+Phineus, the fierce Bithynian king; for Zetes and Calais bade Jason land
+there, because they had a work to do.
+
+And they went up from the shore toward the city, through forests white
+with snow; and Phineus came out to meet them with a lean and woeful
+face, and said, "Welcome, gallant heroes, to the land of bitter blasts,
+a land of cold and misery; yet I will feast you as best I can." And he
+led them in, and set meat before them; but before they could put their
+hands to their mouths, down came two fearful monsters, the like of whom
+man never saw; for they had the faces and the hair of fair maidens, but
+the wings and claws of hawks; and they snatched the meat from off the
+table, and flew shrieking out above the roofs.
+
+Then Phineus beat his breast and cried, "These are the Harpies, whose
+names are the Whirlwind and the Swift, the daughters of Wonder and of
+the Amber nymph, and they rob us night and day. They carried off the
+daughters of Pandareus, whom all the Gods had blest; for Aphrodite fed
+them on Olympus with honey and milk and wine; and Hera gave them beauty
+and wisdom, and Athene skill in all the arts; but when they came to
+their wedding, the Harpies snatched them both away, and gave them to be
+slaves to the Erinnues, and live in horror all their days. And now they
+haunt me, and my people, and the Bosphorus, with fearful storms; and
+sweep away our food from off our tables, so that we starve in spite of
+all our wealth."
+
+Then up rose Zetes and Calais, the winged sons of the North wind, and
+said, "Do you not know us, Phineus, and these wings which grow upon our
+backs?" And Phineus hid his face in terror; but he answered not a word.
+
+"Because you have been a traitor, Phineus, the Harpies haunt you night
+and day. Where is Cleopatra our sister, your wife, whom you keep in
+prison? and where are her two children, whom you blinded in your rage,
+at the bidding of an evil woman, and cast them out upon the rocks? Swear
+to us that you will right our sister, and cast out that wicked woman;
+and then we will free you from your plague, and drive the whirlwind
+maidens from the south; but if not, we will put out your eyes, as you
+put out the eyes of your own sons."
+
+Then Phineus swore an oath to them, and drove out the wicked woman; and
+Jason took those two poor children, and cured their eyes with magic
+herbs.
+
+But Zetes and Calais rose up sadly; and said: "Farewell now, heroes
+all; farewell, our dear companions, with whom we played on Pelion in old
+times; for a fate is laid upon us, and our day is come at last, in which
+we may hunt the whirlwinds, over land and sea forever; and if we catch
+them they die, and if not, we die ourselves."
+
+At that all the heroes wept; but the two young men sprang up, and aloft
+into the air after the Harpies, and the battle of the winds began.
+
+The heroes trembled in silence as they heard the shrieking of the
+blasts; while the palace rocked and all the city, and great stones were
+torn from the crags, and the forest pines were hurled eastward, north
+and south and east and west, and the Bosphorus boiled white with foam,
+and the clouds were dashed against the cliffs.
+
+But at last the battle ended, and the Harpies fled screaming toward the
+south, and the sons of the North wind rushed after them, and brought
+clear sunshine where they passed. For many a league they followed them,
+over all the isles of the Cyclades, and away to the southwest across
+Hellas, till they came to the Ionian Sea, and there they fell upon the
+Echinades, at the mouth of the Achelous; and those isles were called the
+Whirlwind Isles for many a hundred years. But what became of Zetes and
+Calais I know not; for the heroes never saw them again; and some say
+that Heracles met them, and quarrelled with them, and slew them with his
+arrows; and some say that they fell down from weariness and the heat of
+the summer sun, and that the Sun god buried them among the Cyclades, in
+the pleasant Isle of Tenos; and for many hundred years their grave was
+shown there, and over it a pillar, which turned to every wind. But those
+dark storms and whirlwinds haunt the Bosphorus until this day.
+
+But the Argonauts went eastward, and out into the open sea, which we now
+call the Black Sea, but it was called the Euxine then. No Hellen had
+ever crossed it, and all feared that dreadful sea, and its rocks, and
+shoals, and fogs, and bitter freezing storms; and they told strange
+stories of it, some false and some half true, how it stretched northward
+to the ends of the earth, and the sluggish Putrid Sea, and the
+everlasting night, and the regions of the dead. So the heroes trembled,
+for all their courage, as they came into that wild Black Sea, and saw it
+stretching out before them, without a shore, as far as eye could see.
+
+And first Orpheus spoke, and warned them: "We shall come now to the
+wandering blue rocks; my mother warned me of them, Calliope, the
+immortal muse."
+
+And soon they saw the blue rocks shining, like spires and castles of
+gray glass, while an ice-cold wind blew from them, and chilled all the
+heroes' hearts. And as they neared, they could see them heaving, as they
+rolled upon the long sea waves, crashing and grinding together, till the
+roar went up to heaven. The sea sprang up in spouts between them, and
+swept round them in white sheets of foam; but their heads swung nodding
+high in air, while the wind whistled shrill among the crags.
+
+The heroes' hearts sank within them, and they lay upon their oars in
+fear; but Orpheus called to Tiphys the helmsman: "Between them we must
+pass; so look ahead for an opening, and be brave, for Hera is with us."
+But Tiphys the cunning helmsman stood silent, clenching his teeth, till
+he saw a heron come flying mast high toward the rocks, and hover awhile
+before them, as if looking for a passage through. Then he cried, "Hera
+has sent us a pilot; let us follow the cunning bird."
+
+Then the heron flapped to and fro a moment, till he saw a hidden gap,
+and into it he rushed like an arrow, while the heroes watched what would
+befall.
+
+And the blue rocks clashed together as the bird fled swiftly through;
+but they struck but a feather from his tail, and then rebounded apart at
+the shock.
+
+Then Tiphys cheered the heroes, and they shouted; and the oars bent like
+withes beneath their strokes, as they rushed between those toppling ice
+crags, and the cold blue lips of death. And ere the rocks could meet
+again they had passed them, and were safe out in the open sea.
+
+And after that they sailed on wearily along the Asian coast, by the
+Black Cape and Thyneis, where the hot stream of Thymbris falls into the
+sea, and Sangarius, whose waters float on the Euxine, till they came to
+Wolf the river, and to Wolf the kindly king. And there died two brave
+heroes, Idmon and Tiphys the wise helmsman; one died of an evil
+sickness, and one a wild boar slew. So the heroes heaped a mound above
+them, and set upon it an oar on high, and left them there to sleep
+together, on the far-off Lycian shore. But Idas killed the boar, and
+avenged Tiphys; and Ancaios took the rudder and was helmsman, and
+steered them on toward the east.
+
+And they went on past Sinope, and many a mighty river's mouth, and past
+many a barbarous tribe, and the cities of the Amazons, the warlike women
+of the East, till all night they heard the clank of anvils and the roar
+of furnace blasts, and the forge fires shone like sparks through the
+darkness, in the mountain glens aloft; for they were come to the shores
+of the Chalybes, the smiths who never tire, but serve Ares the cruel War
+god, forging weapons day and night.
+
+And at day dawn they looked eastward, and midway between the sea and the
+sky they saw white snow peaks hanging glittering sharp and bright above
+the clouds. And they knew that they were come to Caucasus, at the end of
+all the earth; Caucasus the highest of all mountains, the father of the
+rivers of the East. On his peak lies chained the Titan, while a vulture
+tears his heart; and at his feet are piled dark forests round the magic
+Colchian land.
+
+And they rowed three days to the eastward, while Caucasus rose higher
+hour by hour, till they saw the dark stream of Phasis rushing headlong
+to the sea, and shining above the treetops, the golden roofs of King
+Aietes, the child of the sun.
+
+Then out spoke Ancaios the helmsman: "We are come to our goal at last;
+for there are the roofs of Aietes, and the woods where all poisons grow;
+but who can tell us where among them is hid the golden fleece? Many a
+toil must we bear ere we find it, and bring it home to Greece."
+
+But Jason cheered the heroes, for his heart was high and bold; and he
+said: "I will go alone up to Aietes, though he be the child of the sun,
+and win him with soft words. Better so than to go altogether, and to
+come to blows at once." But the Minuai would not stay behind, so they
+rowed boldly up the stream.
+
+And a dream came to Aietes, and filled his heart with fear. He thought
+he saw a shining star, which fell into his daughter's lap; and that
+Medeia his daughter took it gladly, and carried it to the river side,
+and cast it in, and there the whirling river bore it down, and out into
+the Euxine Sea.
+
+Then he leapt up in fear, and bade his servants bring his chariot, that
+he might go down to the riverside and appease the nymphs, and the heroes
+whose spirits haunt the bank. So he went down in his golden chariot, and
+his daughters by his side, Medeia the fair witch maiden, and Chalciope,
+who had been Phrixus's wife, and behind him a crowd of servants and
+soldiers, for he was a rich and mighty prince.
+
+And as he drove down by the reedy river, he saw Argo sliding up beneath
+the bank, and many a hero in her, like immortals for beauty and for
+strength, as their weapons glittered round them in the level morning
+sunlight, through the white mist of the stream. But Jason was the
+noblest of all; for Hera who loved him gave him beauty, and tallness,
+and terrible manhood.
+
+And when they came near together and looked into each other's eyes, the
+heroes were awed before Aietes as he shone in his chariot, like his
+father the glorious Sun; for his robes were of rich gold tissue, and the
+rays of his diadem flashed fire; and in his hand he bore a jewelled
+sceptre, which glittered like the stars; and sternly he looked at them
+under his brows, and sternly he spoke and loud:
+
+"Who are you, and what want you here, that you come to the shore of
+Cutaia? Do you take no account of my rule, nor of my people the
+Colchians who serve me, who never tired yet in the battle, and know well
+how to face an invader?"
+
+And the heroes sat silent awhile before the face of that ancient king.
+But Hera the awful goddess put courage into Jason's heart, and he rose
+and shouted loudly in answer: "We are no pirates, nor lawless men. We
+come not to plunder and to ravage, or carry away slaves from your land;
+but my uncle, the son of Poseidon, Pelias the Minuan king, he it is who
+has set me on a quest to bring home the golden fleece. And these, too,
+my bold comrades, they are no nameless men; for some are the sons of
+immortals, and some of heroes far renowned. And we, too, never tire in
+battle, and know well how to give blows and to take; yet we wish to be
+guests at your table; it will be better so for both."
+
+Then Aietes's rage rushed up like a whirlwind, and his eyes flashed fire
+as he heard; but he crushed his anger down in his breast, and spoke
+mildly a cunning speech:
+
+"If you will fight for the fleece with my Colchians, then many a man
+must die. But do you indeed expect to win from me the fleece in fight?
+So few you are, that if you be worsted, I can load your ship with your
+corpses. But if you will be ruled by me, you will find it better far to
+choose the best man among you, and let him fulfil the labours which I
+demand. Then I will give him the golden fleece for a prize and a glory
+to you all."
+
+So saying, he turned his horses and drove back in silence to the town.
+And the Minuai sat silent with sorrow, and longed for Heracles and his
+strength; for there was no facing the thousands of the Colchians, and
+the fearful chance of war.
+
+But Chalciope, Phrixus's widow, went weeping to the town; for she
+remembered her Minuan husband, and all the pleasures of her youth, while
+she watched the fair faces of his kinsmen, and their long locks of
+golden hair. And she whispered to Medeia her sister: "Why should all
+these brave men die? why does not my father give them up the fleece,
+that my husband's spirit may have rest?"
+
+And Medeia's heart pitied the heroes, and Jason most of all; and she
+answered, "Our father is stern and terrible, and who can win the golden
+fleece?" But Chalciope said: "These men are not like our men; there is
+nothing which they cannot dare nor do."
+
+And Medeia thought of Jason and his brave countenance, and said: "If
+there was one among them who knew no fear, I could show him how to win
+the fleece."
+
+So in the dusk of evening they went down to the riverside, Chalciope and
+Medeia the witch maiden, and Argus, Phrixus's son. And Argus the boy
+crept forward, among the beds of reeds, till he came where the heroes
+were sleeping, on the thwarts of the ship, beneath the bank, while Jason
+kept ward on shore, and leant upon his lance full of thought. And the
+boy came to Jason, and said:
+
+"I am the son of Phrixus, your cousin; and Chalciope my mother waits for
+you, to talk about the golden fleece."
+
+Then Jason went boldly with the boy, and found the two princesses
+standing; and when Chalciope saw him she wept, and took his hands, and
+cried:
+
+"O cousin of my beloved, go home before you die!"
+
+"It would be base to go home now, fair princess, and to have sailed all
+these seas in vain." Then both the princesses besought him: but Jason
+said, "It is too late."
+
+"But you know not," said Medeia, "what he must do who would win the
+fleece. He must tame the two brazen-footed bulls, who breathe devouring
+flame; and with them he must plough ere nightfall four acres in the
+field of Ares; and he must sow them with serpents' teeth, of which each
+tooth springs up into an armed man. Then he must fight with all those
+warriors; and little will it profit him to conquer them; for the fleece
+is guarded by a serpent, more huge than any mountain pine; and over his
+body you must step, if you would reach the golden fleece."
+
+Then Jason laughed bitterly. "Unjustly is that fleece kept here, and by
+an unjust and lawless king; and unjustly shall I die in my youth, for I
+will attempt it ere another sun be set."
+
+Then Medeia trembled, and said: "No mortal man can reach that fleece,
+unless I guide him through. For round it, beyond the river, is a wall
+full nine ells high, with lofty towers and buttresses, and mighty gates
+of threefold brass; and over the gates the wall is arched, with golden
+battlements above. And over the gateway sits Brimo, the wild witch
+huntress of the woods, brandishing a pine torch in her hands, while her
+mad hounds howl around. No man dare meet her or look on her, but only I
+her priestess, and she watches far and wide lest any stranger should
+come near."
+
+"No wall so high but it may be climbed at last, and no wood so thick but
+it may be crawled through; no serpent so wary but he may be charmed, or
+witch queen so fierce but spells may soothe her; and I may yet win the
+golden fleece, if a wise maiden help bold men."
+
+And he looked at Medeia cunningly, and held her with his glittering eye,
+till she blushed and trembled, and said:
+
+"Who can face the fire of the bulls' breath, and fight ten thousand
+armed men?"
+
+"He whom you help," said Jason, flattering her, "for your fame is spread
+over all the earth. Are you not the queen of all enchantresses, wiser
+even than your sister Circe, in her fairy island in the West?"
+
+"Would that I were with my sister Circe in her fairy island in the West,
+far away from sore temptation, and thoughts which tear the heart! But
+if it must be so--for why should you die?--I have an ointment here; I
+made it from the magic ice flower which sprang from Prometheus's wound,
+above the clouds on Caucasus, in the dreary fields of snow. Anoint
+yourself with that, and you shall have in you seven men's strength; and
+anoint your shield with it, and neither fire nor sword can harm you. But
+what you begin you must end before sunset, for its virtue lasts only one
+day. And anoint your helmet with it before you sow the serpents' teeth;
+and when the sons of earth spring up, cast your helmet among their
+ranks, and the deadly crop of the War-god's field will mow itself, and
+perish."
+
+Then Jason fell on his knees before her, and thanked her and kissed her
+hands; and she gave him the vase of ointment, and fled trembling through
+the reeds. And Jason told his comrades what had happened, and showed
+them the box of ointment; and all rejoiced but Idas and he grew mad with
+envy.
+
+And at sunrise Jason went and bathed, and anointed himself from head to
+foot, and his shield, and his helmet, and his weapons, and bade his
+comrades try the spell. So they tried to bend his lance, but it stood
+like an iron bar; and Idas in spite hewed at it with his sword, but the
+blade flew to splinters in his face. Then they hurled their lances at
+his shield, but the spear points turned like lead; and Caineus tried to
+throw him, but he never stirred a foot; and Polydeuces struck him with
+his fist a blow which would have killed an ox; but Jason only smiled,
+and the heroes danced about him with delight; and he leapt and ran, and
+shouted, in the joy of that enormous strength, till the sun rose, and it
+was time to go and to claim Aietes's promise.
+
+So he sent up Telamon and Aithalides to tell Aietes that he was ready
+for the fight; and they went up among the marble walls, and beneath the
+roofs of gold, and stood in Aietes's hall, while he grew pale with rage.
+
+"Fulfil your promise to us, child of the blazing sun. Give us the
+serpents' teeth, and let loose the fiery bulls; for we have found a
+champion among us who can win the golden fleece."
+
+And Aietes bit his lips, for he fancied that they had fled away by
+night; but he could not go back from his promise; so he gave them the
+serpents' teeth.
+
+Then he called for his chariot and his horses, and sent heralds through
+all the town; and all the people went out with him to the dreadful
+War-god's field.
+
+And there Aietes sat upon his throne, with his warriors on each hand,
+thousands and tens of thousands, clothed from head to foot in
+steel-chain mail. And the people and the women crowded to every window,
+and bank and wall; while the Minuai stood together, a mere handful in
+the midst of that great host.
+
+And Chalciope was there and Argus, trembling, and Medeia, wrapped
+closely in her veil; but Aietes did not know that she was muttering
+cunning spells between her lips.
+
+Then Jason cried, "Fulfil your promise, and let your fiery bulls come
+forth."
+
+Then Aietes bade open the gates, and the magic bulls leapt out. Their
+brazen hoofs rang upon the ground, and their nostrils sent out sheets of
+flame, as they rushed with lowered heads upon Jason; but he never
+flinched a step. The flame of their breath swept round him, but it
+singed not a hair of his head; and the bulls stopped short and trembled,
+when Medeia began her spell.
+
+Then Jason sprang upon the nearest, and seized him by the horn; and up
+and down they wrestled, till the bull fell grovelling on his knees; for
+the heart of the brute died within him, and his mighty limbs were loosed
+beneath the steadfast eye of that dark witch maiden, and the magic
+whisper of her lips.
+
+So both the bulls were tamed and yoked; and Jason bound them to the
+plough, and goaded them onward with his lance, till he had ploughed the
+sacred field.
+
+And all the Minuai shouted; but Aietes bit his lips with rage; for the
+half of Jason's work was over, and the sun was yet high in heaven.
+
+Then he took the serpents' teeth and sowed them, and waited what would
+befall. But Medeia looked at him and at his helmet, lest he should
+forget the lesson she had taught.
+
+And every furrow heaved and bubbled, and out of every clod rose a man.
+Out of the earth they rose by thousands, each clad from head to foot in
+steel, and drew their swords and rushed on Jason, where he stood in the
+midst alone. Then the Minuai grew pale with fear for him; but Aietes
+laughed a bitter laugh. "See! if I had not warriors enough already round
+me, I could call them out of the bosom of the earth."
+
+But Jason snatched off his helmet, and hurled it into the thickest of
+the throng. And blind madness came upon them, suspicion, hate, and fear;
+and one cried to his fellow, "Thou didst strike me!" and another, "Thou
+art Jason; thou shalt die!" So fury seized those earth-born phantoms,
+and each turned his hand against the rest; and they fought and were
+never weary, till they all lay dead upon the ground. Then the magic
+furrows opened, and the kind earth took them home into her breast; and
+the grass grew up all green again above them, and Jason's work was done.
+
+Then the Minuai rose and shouted, till Prometheus heard them from his
+crag. And Jason cried: "Lead me to the fleece this moment, before the
+sun goes down."
+
+But Aietes thought: "He has conquered the bulls; and sown and reaped the
+deadly crop. Who is this who is proof against all magic? He may kill the
+serpent yet." So he delayed, and sat taking counsel with his princes,
+till the sun went down and all was dark. Then he bade a herald cry,
+"Every man to his home for to-night. To-morrow we will meet these
+heroes, and speak about the golden fleece."
+
+Then he turned and looked at Medeia: "This is your doing, false witch
+maid! You have helped these yellow-haired strangers, and brought shame
+upon your father and yourself!"
+
+Medeia shrank and trembled, and her face grew pale with fear; and Aietes
+knew that she was guilty, and whispered, "If they win the fleece, you
+die!"
+
+But the Minuai marched toward their ship, growling like lions cheated of
+their prey; for they saw that Aietes meant to mock them, and to cheat
+them out of all their toil. And Oileus said, "Let us go to the grove
+together, and take the fleece by force."
+
+And Idas the rash cried, "Let us draw lots who shall go in first; for
+while the dragon is devouring one, the rest can slay him, and carry off
+the fleece in peace." But Jason held them back, though he praised them;
+for he hoped for Medeia's help.
+
+And after awhile Medeia came trembling, and wept a long while before she
+spoke. And at last:
+
+"My end is come, and I must die; for my father has found out that I
+have helped you. You he would kill if he dared; but he will not harm
+you, because you have been his guests. Go then, go, and remember poor
+Medeia when you are far away across the sea." But all the heroes cried:
+
+"If you die, we die with you; for without you we cannot win the fleece,
+and home we will not go without it, but fall here fighting to the last
+man."
+
+"You need not die," said Jason. "Flee home with us across the sea. Show
+us first how to win the fleece; for you can do it. Why else are you the
+priestess of the grove? Show us but how to win the fleece, and come with
+us, and you shall be my queen, and rule over the rich princes of the
+Minuai, in Iolcos by the sea."
+
+And all the heroes pressed round, and vowed to her that she should be
+their queen.
+
+Medeia wept, and shuddered, and hid her face in her hands; for her heart
+yearned after her sisters and her playfellows, and the home where she
+was brought up as a child. But at last she looked up at Jason, and spoke
+between her sobs:
+
+"Must I leave my home and my people, to wander with strangers across the
+sea? The lot is cast, and I must endure it. I will show you how to win
+the golden fleece. Bring up your ship to the woodside, and moor her
+there against the bank and let Jason come up at midnight, and one brave
+comrade with him, and meet me beneath the wall."
+
+Then all the heroes cried together: "I will go!" "and I!" "and I!" And
+Idas the rash grew mad with envy; for he longed to be foremost in all
+things. But Medeia calmed them, and said: "Orpheus shall go with Jason,
+and bring his magic harp; for I hear of him that he is the king of all
+minstrels, and can charm all things on earth."
+
+And Orpheus laughed for joy, and clapped his hands, because the choice
+had fallen on him; for in those days poets and singers were as bold
+warriors as the best.
+
+So at midnight they went up the bank, and found Medeia; and beside came
+Absyrtus her young brother, leading a yearling lamb.
+
+Then Medeia brought them to a thicket, beside the War-god's gate; and
+there she bade Jason dig a ditch, and kill the lamb and leave it there,
+and strew on it magic herbs and honey from the honeycomb.
+
+Then sprang up through the earth, with the red fire flashing before her,
+Brimo the wild witch huntress, while her mad hounds howled around. She
+had one head like a horse's, and another like a ravening hound's, and
+another like a hissing snake's, and a sword in either hand. And she
+leapt into the ditch with her hounds, and they ate and drank their fill,
+while Jason and Orpheus trembled, and Medeia hid her eyes. And at last
+the witch queen vanished, and fled with her hounds into the woods; and
+the bars of the gates fell down, and the brazen doors flew wide, and
+Medeia and the heroes ran forward and hurried through the poison wood,
+among the dark stems of the mighty beeches, guided by the gleam of the
+golden fleece, until they saw it hanging on one vast tree in the midst.
+And Jason would have sprung to seize it; but Medeia held him back, and
+pointed shuddering to the tree foot, where the mighty serpent lay,
+coiled in and out among the roots, with a body like a mountain pine. His
+coils stretched many a fathom, spangled with bronze and gold; and half
+of him they could see, but no more; for the rest lay in the darkness
+far beyond.
+
+And when he saw them coming, he lifted up his head, and watched them
+with his small bright eyes, and flashed his forked tongue, and roared
+like the fire among the woodlands, till the forest tossed and groaned.
+For his cry shook the trees from leaf to root, and swept over the long
+reaches of the river, and over Æetes's hall, and woke the sleepers in
+the city, till mothers clasped their children in their fear.
+
+But Medeia called gently to him; and he stretched out his long spotted
+neck, and licked her hand, and looked up in her face, as if to ask for
+food. Then she made a sign to Orpheus, and he began his magic song.
+
+And as he sung, the forest grew calm again, and the leaves on every tree
+hung still; and the serpent's head sank down, and his brazen coils grew
+limp, and his glittering eyes closed lazily, till he breathed as gently
+as a child, while Orpheus called to pleasant Slumber, who gives peace to
+men, and beasts, and waves.
+
+Then Jason leapt forward warily, and stept across that mighty snake, and
+tore the fleece from off the tree trunk; and the four rushed down the
+garden, to the bank where the Argo lay.
+
+There was a silence for a moment, while Jason held the golden fleece on
+high. Then he cried: "Go now, good Argo, swift and steady, if ever you
+would see Pelion more."
+
+And she went, as the heroes drove her, grim and silent all, with muffled
+oars, till the pine wood bent like willow in their hands, and stout Argo
+groaned beneath their strokes.
+
+On and on, beneath the dewy darkness, they fled swiftly down the
+swirling stream; underneath black walls, and temples, and the castles of
+the princes of the East; past sluice mouths, and fragrant gardens, and
+groves of all strange fruits; past marshes where fat kine lay sleeping,
+and long beds of whispering reeds; till they heard the merry music of
+the surge upon the bar, as it tumbled in the moonlight all alone.
+
+Into the surge they rushed, and Argo leapt the breakers like a horse;
+for she knew the time was come to show her mettle, and win honour for
+the heroes and herself.
+
+Into the surge they rushed, and Argo leapt the breakers like a horse,
+till the heroes stopped all panting, each man upon his oar, as she slid
+into the still broad sea.
+
+Then Orpheus took his harp and sang a pæan, till the heroes' hearts rose
+high again; and they rowed on stoutly and steadfastly, away into the
+darkness of the West.
+
+
+PART V
+
+_How the Argonauts Were Driven into the Unknown Sea_
+
+So they fled away in haste to the westward: but Aietes manned his fleet
+and followed them. And Lynceus the quick eyed saw him coming, while he
+was still many a mile away, and cried: "I see a hundred ships, like a
+flock of white swans, far in the east." And at that they rowed hard,
+like heroes; but the ships came nearer every hour.
+
+Then Medeia, the dark witch maiden, laid a cruel and a cunning plot; for
+she killed Absyrtus her young brother, and cast him into the sea, and
+said: "Ere my father can take up his corpse and bury it, he must wait
+long, and be left far behind."
+
+And all the heroes shuddered, and looked one at the other for shame; yet
+they did not punish that dark witch woman, because she had won for them
+the golden fleece.
+
+And when Aietes came to the place, he saw the floating corpse; and he
+stopped a long while, and bewailed his son, and took him up, and went
+home. But he sent on his sailors toward the westward, and bound them by
+a mighty curse: "Bring back to me that dark witch woman, that she may
+die a dreadful death. But if you return without her, you shall die by
+the same death yourselves."
+
+So the Argonauts escaped for that time; but Father Zeus saw that foul
+crime; and out of the heavens he sent a storm, and swept the ship far
+from her course. Day after day the storm drove her, amid foam and
+blinding mist, till they knew no longer where they were, for the sun was
+blotted from the skies. And at last the ship struck on a shoal, amid low
+isles of mud and sand, and the waves rolled over her and through her,
+and the heroes lost all hope of life.
+
+Then Jason cried to Hera: "Fair queen, who hast befriended us till now,
+why hast thou left us in our misery, to die here among unknown seas? It
+is hard to lose the honour which we have won with such toil and danger,
+and hard never to see Hellas again, and the pleasant bay of Pagasai."
+
+Then out and spoke the magic bough which stood upon the Argo's beak:
+"Because Father Zeus is angry, all this has fallen on you; for a cruel
+crime has been done on board, and the sacred ship is foul with blood."
+
+At that some of the heroes cried: "Medeia is the murderess. Let the
+witch woman bear her sin, and die!"
+
+And they seized Medeia, to hurl her into the sea and atone for the young
+boy's death; but the magic bough spoke again: "Let her live till her
+crimes are full. Vengeance waits for her, slow and sure; but she must
+live, for you need her still. She must show you the way to her sister
+Circe, who lives among the islands of the West. To her you must sail, a
+weary way, and she shall cleanse you from your guilt."
+
+Then all the heroes wept aloud when they heard the sentence of the oak;
+for they knew that a dark journey lay before them, and years of bitter
+toil. And some upbraided the dark witch woman, and some said: "Nay, we
+are her debtors still; without her we should never have won the fleece."
+But most of them bit their lips in silence, for they feared the witch's
+spells.
+
+And now the sea grew calmer, and the sun shone out once more, and the
+heroes thrust the ship off the sand bank, and rowed forward on their
+weary course, under the guiding of the dark witch maiden, into the
+wastes of the unknown sea.
+
+Whither they went I cannot tell, nor how they came to Circe's isle. Some
+say that they went to the westward, and up the Ister[A] stream, and so
+came into the Adriatic, dragging their ship over the snowy Alps. And
+others say that they went southward, into the Red Indian Sea, and past
+the sunny lands where spices grow, round Æthiopia toward the west; and
+that at last they came to Libya, and dragged their ship across the
+burning sands, and over the hills into the Syrtes, where the flats and
+quicksands spread for many a mile, between rich Cyrene and the
+Lotus-eaters' shore. But all these are but dreams and fables, and dim
+hints of unknown lands.
+
+[Footnote A: The Danube.]
+
+But all say that they came to a place where they had to drag their ship
+across the land nine days with ropes and rollers, till they came into an
+unknown sea. And the best of all the old songs tells us, how they went
+away toward the north, till they came to the slope of Caucasus, where it
+sinks into the sea; and to the narrow Cimmerian Bosphorus,[A] where the
+Titan swam across upon the bull; and thence into the lazy waters of the
+still Mæotid Lake.[B] And thence they went northward ever, up the
+Tanais, which we call Don, past the Geloni and Sauromatai, and many a
+wandering shepherd tribe, and the one-eyed Arimaspi, of whom old Greek
+poets tell, who steal the gold from the Griffins, in the cold
+Rhiphaian[C] hills.
+
+And they passed the Scythian archers, and the Tauri who eat men, and the
+wandering Hyperboreai, who feed their flocks beneath the pole star,
+until they came into the northern ocean, the dull dead Cronian Sea.[D]
+And there Argo would move on no longer; and each man clasped his elbow,
+and leaned his head upon his hand, heartbroken with toil and hunger, and
+gave himself up to death. But brave Ancaios the helmsman cheered up
+their hearts once more, and bade them leap on land, and haul the ship
+with ropes and rollers for many a weary day, whether over land, or mud,
+or ice, I know not, for the song is mixed and broken like a dream. And
+it says next, how they came to the rich nation of the famous long-lived
+men; and to the coast of the Cimmerians, who never saw the sun, buried
+deep in the glens of the snow mountains; and to the fair land of
+Hermione, where dwelt the most righteous of all nations; and to the
+gates of the world below, and to the dwelling place of dreams.
+
+[Footnote A: Between the Crimæa and Circassia.]
+
+[Footnote B: The Sea of Azov.]
+
+[Footnote C: The Ural Mountains.]
+
+[Footnote D: The Baltic.]
+
+And at last Ancaios shouted: "Endure a little while, brave friends, the
+worst is surely past; for I can see the pure west wind ruffle the water,
+and hear the roar of ocean on the sands. So raise up the mast, and set
+the sail, and face what comes like men."
+
+Then out spoke the magic bough: "Ah, would that I had perished long ago,
+and been whelmed by the dread blue rocks, beneath the fierce swell of
+the Euxine! Better so, than to wander forever, disgraced by the guilt of
+my princes; for the blood of Absyrtus still tracks me, and woe follows
+hard upon woe. And now some dark horror will clutch me, if I come near
+the Isle of Ierne.[A] Unless you will cling to the land, and sail
+southward and southward forever, I shall wander beyond the Atlantic, to
+the ocean which has no shore."
+
+Then they blest the magic bough, and sailed southward along the land.
+But ere they could pass Ierne, the land of mists and storms, the wild
+wind came down, dark and roaring, and caught the sail, and strained the
+ropes. And away they drove twelve nights, on the wide wild western sea,
+through the foam, and over the rollers, while they saw neither sun nor
+stars. And they cried again: "We shall perish, for we know not where we
+are. We are lost in the dreary damp darkness, and cannot tell north from
+south."
+
+But Lynceus the long sighted called gayly from the bows: "Take heart
+again, brave sailors; for I see a pine-clad isle, and the halls of the
+kind Earth mother, with a crown of clouds around them."
+
+[Footnote A: Britain.]
+
+But Orpheus said: "Turn from them, for no living man can land there:
+there is no harbour on the coast, but steep-walled cliffs all round."
+
+So Ancaios turned the ship away; and for three days more they sailed on,
+till they came to Aiaia, Circe's home, and the fairy island of the West.
+
+And there Jason bid them land, and seek about for any sign of living
+man. And as they went inland, Circe met them, coming down toward the
+ship; and they trembled when they saw her; for her hair, and face, and
+robes, shone like flame.
+
+And she came and looked at Medeia; and Medeia hid her face beneath her
+veil.
+
+And Circe cried, "Ah, wretched girl, have you forgotten all your sins,
+that you come hither to my island, where the flowers bloom all the year
+round? Where is your aged father, and the brother whom you killed?
+Little do I expect you to return in safety with these strangers whom you
+love. I will send you food and wine: but your ship must not stay here,
+for it is foul with sin, and foul with sin its crew."
+
+And the heroes prayed her, but in vain, and cried, "Cleanse us from our
+guilt!" But she sent them away and said, "Go on to Malea, and there you
+may be cleansed, and return home."
+
+Then a fair wind rose, and they sailed eastward, by Tartessus on the
+Iberian shore, till they came to the Pillars of Hercules, and the
+Mediterranean Sea. And thence they sailed on through the deeps of
+Sardinia, and past the Ausonian Islands, and the capes of the Tyrrhenian
+shore, till they came to a flowery island, upon a still, bright summer's
+eve. And as they neared it, slowly and wearily, they heard sweet songs
+upon the shore. But when Medeia heard it, she started, and cried:
+"Beware, all heroes, for these are the rocks of the Sirens. You must
+pass close by them, for there is no other channel; but those who listen
+to that song are lost."
+
+Then Orpheus spoke, the king of all minstrels: "Let them match their
+song against mine. I have charmed stones, and trees, and dragons, how
+much more the hearts of man!" So he caught up his lyre, and stood upon
+the poop, and began his magic song.
+
+And now they could see the Sirens, on Anthemousa, the flowery isle;
+three fair maidens sitting on the beach, beneath a red rock in the
+setting sun, among beds of crimson poppies and golden asphodel. Slowly
+they sung and sleepily, with silver voices, mild and clear, which stole
+over the golden waters, and into the hearts of all the heroes, in spite
+of Orpheus's song.
+
+And all things stayed around and listened; the gulls sat in white lines
+along the rocks; on the beach great seals lay basking, and kept time
+with lazy heads; while silver shoals of fish came up to hearken, and
+whispered as they broke the shining calm. The Wind overhead hushed his
+whistling, as he shepherded his clouds toward the west; and the clouds
+stood in mid blue, and listened dreaming, like a flock of golden sheep.
+
+And as the heroes listened, the oars fell from their hands, and their
+heads drooped on their breasts, and they closed their heavy eyes; and
+they dreamed of bright still gardens, and of slumbers under murmuring
+pines, till all their toil seemed foolishness, and they thought of their
+renown no more.
+
+Then one lifted his head suddenly, and cried, "What use in wandering
+forever? Let us stay here and rest awhile." And another, "Let us row to
+the shore, and hear the words they sing." And another, "I care not for
+the words, but for the music. They shall sing me to sleep, that I may
+rest."
+
+And Butes, the son of Pandion, the fairest of all mortal men, leapt out
+and swam toward the shore, crying, "I come, I come, fair maidens, to
+live and die here, listening to your song."
+
+Then Medeia clapped her hands together, and cried, "Sing louder,
+Orpheus, sing a bolder strain; wake up these hapless sluggards, or none
+of them will see the land of Hellas more."
+
+Then Orpheus lifted his harp, and crashed his cunning hand across the
+strings; and his music and his voice rose like a trumpet through the
+still evening air; into the air it rushed like thunder, till the rocks
+rang and the sea; and into their souls it rushed like wine, till all
+hearts beat fast within their breasts.
+
+And he sung the song of Perseus, how the Gods led him over land and sea,
+and how he slew the loathly Gorgon, and won himself a peerless bride;
+and how he sits now with the Gods upon Olympus, a shining star in the
+sky, immortal with his immortal bride, and honoured by all men below.
+
+So Orpheus sang, and the Sirens, answering each other across the golden
+sea, till Orpheus's voice drowned the Sirens, and the heroes caught
+their oars again.
+
+And they cried: "We will be men like Perseus, and we will dare and
+suffer to the last. Sing us his song again, brave Orpheus, that we may
+forget the Sirens and their spell."
+
+And as Orpheus sang, they dashed their oars into the sea, and kept time
+to his music, as they fled fast away; and the Sirens' voices died behind
+them, in the hissing of the foam along their wake.
+
+But Butes swam to the shore, and knelt down before the Sirens, and
+cried, "Sing on! sing on!" But he could say no more; for a charmed sleep
+came over him, and a pleasant humming in his ears; and he sank all along
+upon the pebbles, and forgot all heaven and earth, and never looked at
+that sad beach around him, all strewn with the bones of men.
+
+Then slowly rose up those three fair sisters, with a cruel smile upon
+their lips; and slowly they crept down toward him, like leopards who
+creep upon their prey; and their hands were like the talons of eagles,
+as they stept across the bones of their victims to enjoy their cruel
+feast.
+
+But fairest Aphrodite saw him from the highest Idalian peak, and she
+pitied his youth and his beauty, and leapt up from her golden throne;
+and like a falling star she cleft the sky, and left a trail of
+glittering light, till she stooped to the Isle of the Sirens, and
+snatched their prey from their claws. And she lifted Butes as he lay
+sleeping, and wrapt him in a golden mist; and she bore him to the peak
+of Lilybæum; and he slept there many a pleasant year.
+
+But when the Sirens saw that they were conquered, they shrieked for envy
+and rage, and leapt from the beach into the sea, and were changed into
+rocks until this day.
+
+Then they came to the straits by Lilybæum, and saw Sicily, the
+three-cornered island, under which Enceladus the giant lies groaning day
+and night, and when he turns the earth quakes, and his breath bursts out
+in roaring flames from the highest cone of Ætna, above the chestnut
+woods. And there Charybdis caught them in its fearful coils of wave, and
+rolled mast-high about them, and spun them round and round; and they
+could go neither back nor forward, while the whirlpool sucked them in.
+
+And while they struggled they saw near them, on the other side of the
+strait, a rock stand in the water, with a peak wrapt round in clouds; a
+rock which no man could climb, though he had twenty hands and feet, for
+the stone was smooth and slippery, as if polished by man's hand; and
+half way up a misty cave looked out toward the west.
+
+And when Orpheus saw it, he groaned, and struck his hands together. And
+"Little will it help to us," he cried, "to escape the jaws of the
+whirlpool; for in that cave lives Scylla, the sea-hag with a young
+whelp's voice; my mother warned me of her ere we sailed away from
+Hellas; she has six heads, and six long necks, and hides in that dark
+cleft. And from her cave she fishes for all things which pass by, for
+sharks, and seals, and dolphins, and all the herds of Amphitrite. And
+never ship's crew boasted that they came safe by her rock; for she bends
+her long necks down to them, and every mouth takes up a man And who will
+help us now? For Hera and Zeus hate us, and our ship is foul with guilt;
+so we must die, whatever befalls."
+
+Then out of the depths came Thetis, Peleus's silver-footed bride, for
+love of her gallant husband, and all her nymphs around her; and they
+played like snow-white dolphins, diving on from wave to wave, before the
+ship, and in her wake, and beside her, as dolphins play. And they caught
+the ship, and guided her, and passed her on from hand to hand, and
+tossed her through the billows, as maidens toss the ball. And when
+Scylla stooped to seize her, they struck back her ravening heads, and
+foul Scylla whined, as a whelp whines, at the touch of their gentle
+hands. But she shrank into her cave affrighted; for all bad things
+shrink from good; and Argo leapt safe past her, while a fair breeze rose
+behind. Then Thetis and her nymphs sank down to their gardens of green
+and purple, where live flowers of bloom all the year round; while the
+heroes went on rejoicing, yet dreading what might come next.
+
+After that they rowed on steadily for many a weary day, till they saw a
+long high island, and beyond it a mountain land. And they searched till
+they found a harbour, and there rowed boldly in. But after awhile they
+stopped, and wondered; for there stood a great city on the shore, and
+temples and walls and gardens, and castles high in air upon the cliffs.
+And on either side they saw a harbour, with a narrow mouth, but wide
+within; and black ships without number, high and dry upon the shore.
+
+Then Ancaius, the wise helmsman, spoke: "What new wonder is this? I know
+all isles, and harbours, and the windings of all the seas; and this
+should be Corcyra, where a few wild goatherds dwell. But whence come
+these new harbours, and vast works of polished stone?"
+
+But Jason said: "They can be no savage people. We will go in and take
+our chance."
+
+So they rowed into the harbour, among a thousand black-beaked ships,
+each larger far than Argo, toward a quay of polished stone. And they
+wondered at that mighty city, with its roofs of burnished brass, and
+long and lofty walls of marble, with strong palisades above. And the
+quays were full of people, merchants, and mariners, and slaves, going to
+and fro with merchandise among the crowd of ships. And the heroes'
+hearts were humbled, and they looked at each other and said: "We thought
+ourselves a gallant crew when we sailed from Iolcos by the sea; but how
+small we look before this city, like an ant before a hive of bees."
+
+Then the sailors hailed them roughly from the quay:
+
+"What men are you?--we want no strangers here, nor pirates. We keep our
+business to ourselves."
+
+But Jason answered gently, with many a flattering word, and praised
+their city and their harbour, and their fleet of gallant ships. "Surely
+you are the children of Poseidon, and the masters of the sea; and we are
+but poor wandering mariners, worn out with thirst and toil. Give us but
+food and water, and we will go on our voyage in peace."
+
+Then the sailors laughed and answered: "Stranger, you are no fool; you
+talk like an honest man, and you shall find us honest too. We are the
+children of Poseidon, and the masters of the sea; but come ashore to us,
+and you shall have the best that we can give."
+
+So they limped ashore, all stiff and weary, with long ragged beards and
+sunburnt cheeks, and garments torn and weather-stained, and weapons
+rusted with the spray, while the sailors laughed at them (for they were
+rough-tongued, though their hearts were frank and kind). And one said;
+"These fellows are but raw sailors; they look as if they had been
+sea-sick all the day." And another: "Their legs have grown crooked with
+much rowing, till they waddle in their walk like ducks."
+
+At that Idas the rash would have struck them; but Jason held him back,
+till one of the merchant kings spoke to them, a tall and stately man.
+
+"Do not be angry, strangers; the sailor boys must have their jest. But
+we will treat you justly and kindly, for strangers and poor men come
+from God; and you seem no common sailors by your strength, and height,
+and weapons. Come up with me to the palace of Alcinous, the rich
+sea-going king, and we will feast you well and heartily; and after that
+you shall tell us your name."
+
+But Medeia hung back, and trembled, and whispered in Jason's ear, "We
+are betrayed, and are going to our ruin; for I see my countrymen among
+the crowd; dark-eyed Colchi in steel mail shirts, such as they wear in
+my father's land."
+
+"It is too late to turn," said Jason. And he spoke to the merchant king:
+"What country is this, good sir; and what is this new-built town?"
+
+"This is the land of the Phæaces, beloved by all the Immortals; for they
+come hither and feast like friends with us, and sit by our side in the
+hall. Hither we came from Liburnia to escape the unrighteous Cyclopes;
+for they robbed us, peaceful merchants, of our hard-earned wares and
+wealth. So Nausithous, the son of Poseidon, brought us hither, and died
+in peace; and now his son Alcinous rules us, and Arete the wisest of
+queens."
+
+So they went up across the square, and wondered still more as they went;
+for along the quays lay in order great cables, and yards, and masts,
+before the fair temple of Poseidon, the blue-haired king of the seas.
+And round the square worked the shipwrights, as many in number as ants,
+twining ropes, and hewing timber, and smoothing long yards and oars. And
+the Minuai went on in silence through clean white marble streets, till
+they came to the hall of Alcinous, and they wondered then still more.
+For the lofty palace shone aloft in the sun, with walls of plated brass,
+from the threshold to the innermost chamber, and the doors were of
+silver and gold. And on each side of the doorway sat living dogs of
+gold, who never grew old or died, so well Hephaistus had made them in
+his forges in smoking Lemnos, and gave them to Alcinous to guard his
+gates by night. And within, against the walls, stood thrones on either
+side, down the whole length of the hall, strewn with rich glossy
+shawls; and on them the merchant kings of those crafty sea-roving
+Phæaces sat eating and drinking in pride, and feasting there all the
+year round. And boys of molten gold stood each on a polished altar, and
+held torches in their hands, to give light all night to the guests. And
+round the house sat fifty maid servants, some grinding the meal in the
+mill, some turning the spindle, some weaving at the loom, while their
+hands twinkled as they passed the shuttle, like quivering aspen leaves.
+
+And outside before the palace a great garden was walled round, filled
+full of stately fruit trees, with olives and sweet figs, and
+pomegranates, pears, and apples, which bore the whole year round. For
+the rich southwest wind fed them, till pear grew ripe on pear, fig on
+fig, and grape on grape, all the winter and the spring. And at the
+further end gay flower beds bloomed through all seasons of the year; and
+two fair fountains rose, and ran, one through the garden grounds, and
+one beneath the palace gate, to water all the town. Such noble gifts the
+heavens had given to Alcinous the wise.
+
+So they went in, and saw him sitting, like Poseidon, on his throne, with
+his golden sceptre by him, in garments stiff with gold, and in his hand
+a sculptured goblet, as he pledged the merchant kings; and beside him
+stood Arete, his wise and lovely queen, and leaned against a pillar, as
+she spun her golden threads.
+
+Then Alcinous rose, and welcomed them, and bade them sit and eat; and
+the servants brought them tables, and bread, and meat, and wine.
+
+But Medeia went on trembling toward Arete, the fair queen, and fell at
+her knees, and clasped them, and cried weeping as she knelt:
+
+"I am your guest, fair queen, and I entreat you be Zeus from whom
+prayers come. Do not send me back to my father, to die some dreadful
+death; but let me go my way, and bear my burden. Have I not had enough
+of punishment and shame?"
+
+"Who are you, strange maiden? and what is the meaning of your prayer?"
+
+"I am Medeia, daughter of Aietes, and I saw my countrymen here to-day;
+and I know that they are come to find me, and take me home to die some
+dreadful death."
+
+Then Arete frowned, and said: "Lead this girl in, my maidens; and let
+the kings decide, not I."
+
+And Alcinous leapt up from his throne, and cried, "Speak, strangers, who
+are you? And who is this maiden?"
+
+"We are the heroes of the Minuai," said Jason; "and this maiden has
+spoken truth. We are the men who took the golden fleece, the men whose
+fame has run round every shore. We came hither out of the ocean, after
+sorrows such as man never saw before. We went out many, and come back
+few, for many a noble comrade have we lost. So let us go, as you should
+let your guests go, in peace; that the world may say, 'Alcinous is a
+just king.'"
+
+But Alcinous frowned, and stood deep in thought; and at last he spoke:
+
+"Had not the deed been done, which is done, I should have said this day
+to myself, 'It is an honour to Alcinous, and to his children after him,
+that the far-famed Argonauts are his guests.' But these Colchi are my
+guests, as you are; and for this month they have waited here with all
+their fleet; for they have hunted all the seas of Hellas, and could not
+find you, and dared neither go further, nor go home."
+
+"Let them choose out their champions, and we will fight them, man for
+man."
+
+"No guest of ours shall fight upon our island; and if you go outside,
+they will outnumber you. I will do justice between you; for I know and
+do what is right."
+
+Then he turned to his kings, and said: "This may stand over till
+to-morrow. To-night we will feast our guests, and hear the story of all
+their wanderings, and how they came hither out of the ocean."
+
+So Alcinous bade the servants take the heroes in, and bathe them, and
+give them clothes. And they were glad when they saw the warm water, for
+it was long since they had bathed. And they washed off the sea salt from
+their limbs, and anointed themselves from head to foot with oil, and
+combed out their golden hair. Then they came back again into the hall,
+while the merchant kings rose up to do them honour. And each man said to
+his neighbour: "No wonder that these men won fame. How they stand now
+like Giants, or Titans, or Immortals come down from Olympus, though many
+a winter has worn them, and many a fearful storm. What must they have
+been when they sailed from Iolcos, in the bloom of their youth, long
+ago?"
+
+Then they went out to the garden; and the merchant princes said:
+"Heroes, run races with us. Let us see whose feet are nimblest."
+
+"We cannot race against you, for our limbs are stiff from sea; and we
+have lost our two swift comrades, the sons of the north wind. But do not
+think us cowards; if you wish to try our strength, we will shoot and
+box, and wrestle, against any men on earth."
+
+And Alcinous smiled, and answered: "I believe you, gallant guests; with
+your long limbs and broad shoulders, we could never match you here. For
+we care nothing here for boxing, or for shooting with the bow; but for
+feasts, and songs, and harping, and dancing, and running races, to
+stretch our limbs on shore."
+
+So they danced there and ran races, the jolly merchant kings, till the
+night fell, and all went in.
+
+And then they ate and drank, and comforted their weary souls, till
+Alcinous called a herald, and bade him go and fetch the harper.
+
+The herald went out, and fetched the harper, and led him in by the hand;
+and Alcinous cut him a piece of meat from the fattest of the haunch, and
+sent it to him, and said: "Sing to us, noble harper, and rejoice the
+heroes' hearts."
+
+So the harper played and sang, while the dancers danced strange figures;
+and after that the tumblers showed their tricks, till the heroes laughed
+again.
+
+Then, "Tell me, heroes," asked Alcinous, "you who have sailed the ocean
+round, and seen the manners of all nations, have you seen such dancers
+as ours here? or heard such music and such singing? We hold ours to be
+the best on earth."
+
+"Such dancing we have never seen," said Orpheus; "and your singer is a
+happy man; for Phoebus himself must have taught him, or else he is the
+son of a Muse; as I am also, and have sung once or twice, though not so
+well as he."
+
+"Sing to us, then, noble stranger," said Alcinous; "and we will give you
+precious gifts."
+
+So Orpheus took his magic harp, and sang to them a stirring song of
+their voyage from Iolcos, and their dangers, and how they won the
+golden fleece; and of Medeia's love, and how she helped them, and went
+with them over land and sea; and of all their fearful dangers, from
+monsters, and rocks, and storms, till the heart of Arete was softened,
+and all the women wept. And the merchant kings rose up, each man from
+off his golden throne, and clasped their hands, and shouted: "Hail to
+the noble Argonauts, who sailed the unknown seal"
+
+Then he went on, and told their journey over the sluggish northern main,
+and through the shoreless outer ocean, to the fairy island of the West;
+and of the Sirens, and Scylla, and Charybdis, and all the wonders they
+had seen, till midnight passed, and the day dawned; but the kings never
+thought of sleep. Each man sat still and listened, with his chin upon
+his hand.
+
+And at last when Orpheus had ended, they all went thoughtful out, and
+the heroes lay down to sleep, beneath the sounding porch outside, where
+Arete had strewn them rugs and carpets, in the sweet still summer night.
+
+But Arete pleaded hard with her husband for Medeia, for her heart was
+softened. And she said: "The Gods will punish her, not we. After all,
+she is our guest and my suppliant, and prayers are the daughters of
+Zeus. And who, too, dare part man and wife, after all they have endured
+together?"
+
+And Alcinous smiled. "The minstrel's song has charmed you; but I must
+remember what is right; for songs cannot alter justice; and I must be
+faithful to my name. Alcinous I am called, the man of sturdy sense, and
+Alcinous I will be." But for all that, Arete besought him, until she won
+him round.
+
+So next morning he sent a herald, and called the kings into the square,
+and said: "This is a puzzling matter; remember but one thing. These
+Minuai live close by us, and we may meet them often on the seas; but
+Aietes lives afar off, and we have only heard his name. Which, then, of
+the two is it safer to offend, the men near us, or the men far off?"
+
+The princes laughed, and praised his wisdom; and Alcinous called the
+heroes to the square, and the Colchi also; and they came and stood
+opposite each other; but Medeia stayed in the palace. Then Alcinous
+spoke: "Heroes of the Colchi, what is your errand about this lady?"
+
+"To carry her home with us, that she may die a shameful death; but if we
+return without her, we must die the death she should have died."
+
+"What say you to this, Jason the Æolid?" said Alcinous, turning to the
+Minuai.
+
+"I say," said the cunning Jason, "that they are come here on a bootless
+errand. Do you think that you can make her follow you, heroes of the
+Colchi? her, who knows all spells and charms? She will cast away your
+ships on quicksands, or call down on you Brimo the wild huntress; or the
+chains will fall from off her wrists, and she will escape in her dragon
+car; or if not thus, some other way; for she has a thousand plans and
+wiles. And why return home at all, brave heroes, and face the long seas
+again, and the Bosphorus, and the stormy Euxine, and double all your
+toil? There is many a fair land round these coasts, which waits for
+gallant men like you. Better to settle there, and build a city, and let
+Aietes and Colchis help themselves."
+
+Then a murmur rose among the Colchi, and some cried, "He has spoken
+well"; and some, "We have had enough of roving, we will sail the seas
+no more!" And the chief said at last, "Be it so, then; a plague she has
+been to us, and a plague to the house of her father, and a plague she
+will be to you. Take her, since you are no wiser; and we will sail away
+toward the north."
+
+Then Alcinous gave them food, and water, and garments, and rich presents
+of all sorts; and he gave the same to the Minuai, and sent them all away
+in peace.
+
+So Jason kept the dark witch maiden to breed him woe and shame; and the
+Colchi went northward into the Adriatic, and settled, and built towns
+along the shore.
+
+Then the heroes rowed away to the eastward, to reach Hellas their
+beloved land; but a storm came down upon them, and swept them far away
+toward the south. And they rowed till they were spent with struggling,
+through the darkness and the blinding rain, but where they were they
+could not tell, and they gave up all hope of life. And at last they
+touched the ground, and when daylight came they waded to the shore; and
+saw nothing round but sand, and desolate salt pools; for they had come
+to the quicksands of the Syrtis, and the dreary treeless flats, which
+lie between Numidia and Cyrene, on the burning shore of Africa. And
+there they wandered starving for many a weary day, ere they could launch
+their ship again, and gain the open sea. And there Canthus was killed
+while he was trying to drive off sheep, by a stone which a herdsman
+threw.
+
+And there, too, Mopsus died, the seer who knew the voices of all birds;
+but he could not foretell his own end, for he was bitten in the foot by
+a snake, one of those which sprang from the Gorgon's head when Perseus
+carried it across the sands.
+
+At last they rowed away toward the northward, for many a weary day,
+till their water was spent, and their food eaten; and they were worn out
+with hunger and thirst. But at last they saw a long steep island, and a
+blue peak high among the clouds; and they knew it for the peak of Ida,
+and the famous land of Crete. And they said, "We will land in Crete, and
+see Minos the just king, and all his glory and his wealth; at least he
+will treat us hospitably, and let us fill our water casks upon the
+shore."
+
+But when they came nearer to the island they saw a wondrous sight upon
+the cliffs. For on a cape to the westward stood a giant, taller than any
+mountain pine; who glittered aloft against the sky like a tower of
+burnished brass. He turned and looked on all sides round him, till he
+saw the Argo and her crew; and when he saw them he came toward them,
+more swiftly than the swiftest horse, leaping across the glens at a
+bound, and striding at one step from down to down. And when he came
+abreast of them he brandished his arms up and down, as a ship hoists and
+lowers her yards, and shouted with his brazen throat like a trumpet from
+off the hills: "You are pirates, you are robbers! If you dare land here,
+you die."
+
+Then the heroes cried: "We are no pirates. We are all good men and true;
+and all we ask is food and water"; but the giant cried the more--
+
+"You are robbers, you are pirates all; I know you; and if you land, you
+shall die the death."
+
+Then he waved his arms again as a signal, and they saw the people flying
+inland, driving their flocks before them, while a great flame arose
+among the hills. Then the giant ran up a valley and vanished; and the
+heroes lay on their oars in fear.
+
+But Medeia stood watching all, from under her steep black brows, with a
+cunning smile upon her lips, and a cunning plot within her heart. At
+last she spoke; "I know this giant. I heard of him in the East.
+Hephaistos the Fire King made him, in his forge in Ætna beneath the
+earth, and called him Talus, and gave him to Minos for a servant, to
+guard the coast of Crete. Thrice a day he walks round the island, and
+never stops to sleep; and if strangers land he leaps into his furnace,
+which flames there among the hills; and when he is red hot he rushes on
+them, and burns them in his brazen hands."
+
+Then all the heroes cried, "What shall we do, wise Medeia? We must have
+water, or we die of thirst. Flesh and blood we can face fairly; but who
+can face this red-hot brass?"
+
+"I can face red-hot brass, if the tale I hear be true. For they say
+that he has but one vein in all his body, filled with liquid fire; and
+that this vein is closed with a nail; but I know not where that nail is
+placed. But if I can get it once into these hands, you shall water your
+ship here in peace."
+
+Then she bade them put her on shore, and row off again, and wait what
+would befall.
+
+And the heroes obeyed her unwillingly; for they were ashamed to leave
+her so alone; but Jason said, "She is dearer to me than to any of you,
+yet I will trust her freely on shore; she has more plots than we can
+dream of, in the windings of that fair and cunning head."
+
+So they left the witch maiden on the shore; and she stood there in her
+beauty all alone, till the giant strode back red hot from head to heel,
+while the grass hissed and smoked beneath his tread.
+
+And when he saw the maiden alone, he stopped; and she looked boldly up
+into his face without moving, and began her magic song:
+
+"Life is short, though life is sweet; and even men of brass and fire
+must die. The brass must rust, the fire must cool, for time gnaws all
+things in their turn. Life is short, though life is sweet; but sweeter
+to live forever; sweeter to live ever youthful like the Gods, who have
+ichor in their veins; ichor which gives life, and youth, and joy, and a
+bounding heart."
+
+Then Talus said, "Who are you, strange maiden; and where is this ichor
+of youth?"
+
+Then Medeia held up a flask of crystal, and said, "Here is the ichor of
+youth. I am Medeia the enchantress; my sister Circe gave me this, and
+said, 'Go and reward Talus the faithful servant, for his fame is gone
+out into all lands.' So come, and I will pour this into your veins, that
+you may live forever young."
+
+And he listened to her false words, that simple Talus, and came near;
+and Medeia said, "Dip yourself in the sea first, and cool yourself, lest
+you burn my tender hands, then show me where the nail in your vein is,
+that I may pour the ichor in."
+
+Then that simple Talus dipped himself in the sea, till it hissed, and
+roared, and smoked; and came and knelt before Medeia, and showed her the
+secret nail.
+
+And she drew the nail out gently; but she poured no ichor in; and
+instead the liquid fire spouted forth, like a stream of red-hot iron.
+And Talus tried to leap up, crying, "You have betrayed me, false witch
+maiden!" But she lifted up her hands before him, and sang, till he sank
+beneath her spell. And as he sank, his brazen limbs clanked heavily, and
+the earth groaned beneath his weight; and the liquid fire ran from his
+heel, like a stream of lava to the sea; and Medeia laughed, and called
+to the heroes, "Come ashore, and water your ship in peace."
+
+So they came, and found the giant lying dead; and they fell down, and
+kissed Medeia's feet; and watered their ship, and took sheep and oxen,
+and so left that inhospitable shore.
+
+At last, after many more adventures, they came to the Cape of Malea, at
+the southwest point of the Peloponnese. And there they offered
+sacrifices, and Orpheus purged them from their guilt. Then they rowed
+away again to the northward, past the Laconian shore, and came all worn
+and tired by Sunium, and up the long Euboean Strait, until they saw
+once more Pelion, and Aphetai, and Iolcos by the sea.
+
+And they ran the ship ashore; but they had no strength left to haul her
+up the beach; and they crawled out on the pebbles, and sat down, and
+wept till they could weep no more. For the houses and the trees were all
+altered; and all the faces which they saw were strange; and their joy
+was swallowed up in sorrow, while they thought of their youth, and all
+their labour, and the gallant comrades they had lost.
+
+And the people crowded round, and asked them, "Who are you, that you sit
+weeping here?"
+
+"We are the sons of your princes, who sailed out many a year ago. We
+went to fetch the golden fleece; and we have brought it, and grief
+therewith. Give us news of our fathers and our mothers, if any of them
+be left alive on earth."
+
+Then there was shouting and laughing, and weeping; and all the kings
+came to the shore, and they led away the heroes to their homes, and
+bewailed the valiant dead.
+
+Then Jason went up with Medeia to the palace of his uncle Pelias. And
+when he came in, Pelias sat by the hearth, crippled and blind with age;
+while opposite him sat Æson, Jason's father, crippled and blind
+likewise; and the two old men's heads shook together, as they tried to
+warm themselves before the fire.
+
+And Jason fell down at his father's knees, and wept, and called him by
+his name. And the old man stretched his hands out, and felt him, and
+said: "Do not mock me, young hero. My son Jason is dead long ago at
+sea."
+
+"I am your own son Jason, whom you trusted to the Centaur upon Pelion;
+and I have brought home the golden fleece, and a princess of the Sun's
+race for my bride. So now give me up the kingdom, Pelias my uncle, and
+fulfil your promise as I have fulfilled mine."
+
+Then his father clung to him like a child, and wept, and would not let
+him go; and cried, "Now I shall not go down lonely to my grave. Promise
+me never to leave me till I die."
+
+
+PART VI
+
+_What Was the End of the Heroes_
+
+And now I wish that I could end my story pleasantly; but it is no fault
+of mine that I cannot. The old songs end it sadly, and I believe that
+they are right and wise; for though the heroes were purified at Malea,
+yet sacrifices cannot make bad hearts good, and Jason had taken a wicked
+wife, and he had to bear his burden to the last.
+
+And first she laid a cunning plot, to punish that poor old Pelias,
+instead of letting him die in peace.
+
+For she told his daughters: "I can make old things young again; I will
+show you how easy it is to do." So she took an old ram and killed him,
+and put him in a cauldron with magic herbs; and whispered her spells
+over him, and he leapt out again a young lamb. So that "Medeia's
+cauldron" is a proverb still, by which we mean times of war and change,
+when the world has become old and feeble, and grows young again through
+bitter pains.
+
+Then she said to Pelias's daughters: "Do to your father as I did to this
+ram, and he will grow young and strong again." But she only told them
+half the spell; so they failed, while Medeia mocked them; and poor old
+Pelias died, and his daughters came to misery. But the songs say she
+cured Æson, Jason's father, and he became young and strong again.
+
+But Jason could not love her, after all her cruel deeds. So he was
+ungrateful to her, and wronged her: and she revenged herself on him. And
+a terrible revenge she took--too terrible to speak of here. But you will
+hear of it yourselves when you grow up, for it has been sung in noble
+poetry and music; and whether it be true or not, it stands forever as a
+warning to us, not to seek for help from evil persons, or to gain good
+ends by evil means. For if we use an adder even against our enemies, it
+will turn again and sting us.
+
+But of all the other heroes there is many a brave tale left, which I
+have no space to tell you, so you must read them for yourselves--of the
+hunting of the boar in Calydon, which Meleager killed; and of Heracles's
+twelve famous labours; and of the seven who fought at Thebes; and of
+the noble love of Castor and Polydeuces, the twin Dioscouroi; how when
+one died, the other would not live without him, so they shared their
+immortality between them; and Zeus changed them into the two twin stars,
+which never rise both at once.
+
+And what became of Cheiron, the good immortal beast? That, too, is a sad
+story; for the heroes never saw him more. He was wounded by a poisoned
+arrow, at Pholoc among the hills, when Heracles opened the fatal wine
+jar, which Cheiron had warned him not to touch. And the Centaurs smelt
+the wine, and flocked to it, and fought for it with Heracles; but he
+killed them all with his poisoned arrows, and Cheiron was left alone.
+Then Cheiron took up one of the arrows, and dropped it by chance upon
+his foot; and the poison ran like fire along his veins, and he lay down,
+and longed to die; and cried: "Through wine I perish, the bane of all my
+race. Why should I live forever in this agony? Who will take my
+immortality that I may die?"
+
+Then Prometheus answered, the good Titan, whom Heracles had set free
+from Caucasus: "I will take your immortality and live forever, that I
+may help poor mortal men." So Cheiron gave him his immortality, and
+died, and had rest from pain. And Heracles and Prometheus wept over him,
+and went to bury him on Pelion; but Zeus took him up among the stars, to
+live forever, grand and mild, low down in the far southern sky.
+
+And in time the heroes died, all but Nestor the silver-tongued old man;
+and left behind them valiant sons, but not so great as they had been.
+Yet their fame, too, lives till this day; for they fought at the ten
+years' siege of Troy; and their story is in the book which we call
+Homer, in two of the noblest songs on earth; the Iliad, which tells us
+of the siege of Troy, and Achilles's quarrel with the kings; and the
+Odyssey, which tells the wanderings of Odysseus, through many lands for
+many years; and how Alcinous sent him home at last, safe to Ithaca his
+beloved island, and to Penelope his faithful wife, and Telemachus his
+son, and Euphorbus the noble swineherd, and the old dog who licked his
+hand and died.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE GIANT BUILDER
+
+
+Ages and ages ago, when the world was first made, the gods decided to
+build a beautiful city high above the heavens, the most glorious and
+wonderful city that ever was known. Asgard was to be its name, and it
+was to stand on Ida Plain under the shade of Yggdrasil, the great tree
+whose roots were underneath the earth.
+
+First of all they built a house with a silver roof, where there were
+seats for all the twelve chiefs. In the midst, and high above the rest,
+was the wonder throne of Odin the All-Father, whence he could see
+everything that happened in the sky or on the earth or in the sea. Next
+they made a fair house for Queen Frigg and her lovely daughters. Then
+they built a smithy, with its great hammers, tongs, anvils, and bellows,
+where the gods could work at their favourite trade, the making of
+beautiful things out of gold; which they did so well that folk name that
+time the Golden Age. Afterward, as they had more leisure, they built
+separate houses for all the Æsir, each more beautiful than the
+preceding, for of course they were continually growing more skilful.
+They saved Father Odin's palace until the last, for they meant this to
+be the largest and the most splendid of all.
+
+Gladsheim, the home of joy, was the name of Odin's house, and it was
+built all of gold, set in the midst of a wood whereof the trees had
+leaves of ruddy gold--like an autumn-gilded forest. For the safety of
+All-Father it was surrounded by a roaring river and by a high picket
+fence; and there was a great courtyard within.
+
+The glory of Gladsheim was its wondrous hall, radiant with gold, the
+most lovely room that time has ever seen. Valhalla, the Hall of Heroes,
+was the name of it, and it was roofed with the mighty shields of
+warriors. The ceiling was made of interlacing spears, and there was a
+portal at the west end before which hung a great gray wolf, while over
+him a fierce eagle hovered. The hall was so huge that it had 540 gates,
+through each of which 800 men could march abreast. Indeed, there needed
+to be room, for this was the hall where every morning Odin received all
+the brave warriors who had died in battle on the earth below; and there
+were many heroes in those days.
+
+This was the reward which the gods gave to courage. When a hero had
+gloriously lost his life, the Valkyries, the nine warrior daughters of
+Odin, brought his body up to Valhalla on their white horses that gallop
+the clouds. There they lived forever after in happiness, enjoying the
+things that they had most loved upon earth. Every morning they armed
+themselves and went out to fight with one another in the great
+courtyard. It was a wondrous game, wondrously played. No matter how
+often a hero was killed, he became alive again in time to return
+perfectly well to Valhalla, where he ate a delicious breakfast with the
+Jisir; while the beautiful Valkyries who had first brought him thither
+waited at table and poured the blessed mead, which only the immortal
+taste. A happy life it was for the heroes, and a happy life for all who
+dwelt in Asgard; for this was before trouble had come among the gods,
+following the mischief of Loki.
+
+This is how the trouble began. From the beginning of time, the giants
+had been unfriendly to the Æsir, because the giants were older and huger
+and more wicked; besides, they were jealous because the good Æsir were
+fast gaining more wisdom and power than the giants had ever known. It
+was the Æsir who set the fair brother and sister, Sun and Moon, in the
+sky to give light to men; and it was they also who made the jewelled
+stars out of sparks from the place of fire. The giants hated the Æsir,
+and tried all in their power to injure them and the men of the earth
+below, whom the Æsir loved and cared for. The gods had already built a
+wall around Midgard, the world of men, to keep the giants out; built it
+of the bushy eyebrows of Ymir, the oldest and hugest of giants. Between
+Asgard and the giants flowed Ifing, the great river on which ice never
+formed, and which the gods crossed on the rainbow bridge. But this was
+not protection enough. Their beautiful new city needed a fortress.
+
+So the word went forth in Asgard: "We must build us a fortress against
+the giants; the hugest, strongest, finest fortress that ever was built."
+
+Now one day, soon after they had announced this decision, there came a
+mighty man stalking up the rainbow bridge that led to Asgard city.
+
+"Who goes there!" cried Heimdal the watchman, whose eyes were so keen
+that he could see for a hundred miles around, and whose ears were so
+sharp that he could hear the grass growing in the meadow and the wool on
+the backs of the sheep. "Who goes there! No one can enter Asgard if I
+say no."
+
+"I am a builder," said the stranger, who was a huge fellow with sleeves
+rolled up to show the iron muscles of his arms. "I am a builder of
+strong towers, and I have heard that the folk of Asgard need one to help
+them raise a fair fortress in their city."
+
+Heimdal looked at the stranger narrowly, for there was that about him
+which his sharp eyes did not like. But he made no answer, only blew on
+his golden horn, which was so loud that it sounded through all the
+world. At this signal all the Æsir came running to the rainbow bridge,
+from wherever they happened to be, to find out who was coming to Asgard.
+For it was Heimdal's duty ever to warn them of the approach of the
+unknown.
+
+"This fellow says he is a builder," quoth Heimdal. "And he would fain
+build us a fortress in the city."
+
+"Ay, that I would," nodded the stranger, "Look at my iron arm; look at
+my broad back; look at my shoulders. Am I not the workman you need?"
+
+"Truly, he is a mighty figure," vowed Odin, looking at him approvingly.
+"How long will it take you alone to build our fortress? We can allow but
+one stranger at a time within our city, for safety's sake."
+
+"In three half-years," replied the stranger, "I will undertake to build
+for you a castle so strong that not even the giants, should they swarm
+hither over Midgard--not even they could enter without your leave."
+
+"Aha!" cried Father Odin, well pleased at this offer. "And what reward
+do you ask, friend, for help so timely?"
+
+The stranger hummed and hawed and pulled his long beard while he
+thought. Then he spoke suddenly, as if the idea had just come into his
+mind. "I will name my price, friends," he said; "a small price for so
+great a deed. I ask you to give me Freia for my wife, and those two
+sparkling jewels, the Sun and Moon."
+
+At this demand the gods looked grave; for Freia was their dearest
+treasure. She was the most beautiful maid who ever lived, the light and
+life of heaven, and if she should leave Asgard, joy would go with her;
+while the Sun and Moon were the light and life of the Æsir's children,
+men, who lived in the little world below. But Loki the sly whispered
+that they would be safe enough if they made another condition on their
+part, so hard that the builder could not fulfil it. After thinking
+cautiously, he spoke for them all.
+
+"Mighty man," quoth he, "we are willing to agree to your price--upon one
+condition. It is too long a time that you ask; we cannot wait three
+half-years for our castle; that is equal to three centuries when one is
+in a hurry. See that you finish the fort without help in one winter, one
+short winter, and you shall have fair Freia with the Sun and Moon. But
+if, on the first day of summer, one stone is wanting to the walls, or if
+anyone has given you aid in the building, then your reward is lost, and
+you shall depart without payment." So spoke Loki, in the name of all the
+gods; but the plan was his own.
+
+At first the stranger shook his head and frowned, saying that in so
+short a time no one unaided could complete the undertaking. At last he
+made another offer. "Let me have but my good horse to help me, and I
+will try," he urged. "Let me bring the useful Svadilföri with me to the
+task, and I will finish the work in one winter of short days, or lose my
+reward. Surely, you will not deny me this little help, from one
+four-footed friend."
+
+Then again the Æsir consulted, and the wiser of them were doubtful
+whether it were best to accept the stranger's offer so strangely made.
+But again Loki urged them to accept. "Surely, there is no harm," he
+said. "Even with his old horse to help him, he cannot build the castle
+in the promised time. We shall gain a fortress without trouble and with
+never a price to pay."
+
+Loki was so eager that, although the other Æsir did not like this crafty
+way of making bargains, they finally consented. Then in the presence of
+the heroes, with the Valkyries and Mimer's head for witnesses, the
+stranger and the Æsir gave solemn promise that the bargain should be
+kept.
+
+On the first day of winter the strange builder began his work, and
+wondrous was the way he set about it. His strength seemed as the
+strength of a hundred men. As for his horse Svadilföri, he did more work
+by half than even the mighty builder. In the night he dragged the
+enormous rocks that were to be used in building the castle, rocks as big
+as mountains of the earth; while in the daytime the stranger piled them
+into place with his iron arms. The Æsir watched him with amazement;
+never was seen such strength in Asgard. Neither Tyr the stout nor
+Thor the strong could match the power of the stranger. The gods began to
+look at one another uneasily. Who was this mighty one who had come among
+them, and what if after all he should win his reward? Freia trembled in
+her palace, and the Sun and Moon grew dim with fear.
+
+Still the work went on, and the fort was piling higher and higher, by
+day and by night. There were but three days left before the end of
+winter, and already the building was so tall and so strong that it was
+safe from the attacks of any giant. The Æsir were delighted with their
+fine new castle; but their pride was dimmed by the fear that it must be
+paid for at all too costly a price. For only the gateway remained to be
+completed, and unless the stranger should fail to finish that in the
+next three days, they must give him Freia with the Sun and Moon.
+
+The Æsir held a meeting upon Ida Plain, a meeting full of fear and
+anger. At last they realised what they had done; they had made a bargain
+with one of the giants, their enemies; and if he won the prize, it would
+mean sorrow and darkness in heaven and upon earth. "How did we happen to
+agree to so mad a bargain?" they asked one another. "Who suggested the
+wicked plan which bids fair to cost us all that we most cherish?" Then
+they remembered that it was Loki who had made the plan; it was he who
+had insisted that it be carried out; and they blamed him for all the
+trouble.
+
+"It is your counsels, Loki, that have brought this danger upon us,"
+quoth Father Odin, frowning. "You chose the way of guile, which is not
+our way. It now remains for you to help us by guile, if you can. But if
+you cannot save for us Freia and the Sun and Moon, you shall die. This
+is my word." All the other Æsir agreed that this was just. Thor alone
+was away hunting evil demons at the other end of the world, so he did
+not know what was going on, and what dangers were threatening Asgard.
+
+Loki was much frightened at the word of All-Father. "It was my fault,"
+he cried, "but how was I to know that he was a giant? He had disguised
+himself so that he seemed but a strong man. And as for his horse--it
+looks much like that of other folk. If it were not for the horse, he
+could not finish the work. Ha! I have a thought! The builder shall not
+finish the gate; the giant shall not receive his payment. I will cheat
+the fellow."
+
+Now it was the last night of winter, and there remained but a few stones
+to put in place on the top of the wondrous gateway. The giant was sure
+of his prize, and chuckled to himself as he went out with his horse to
+drag the remaining stones; for he did not know that the Æsir had guessed
+at last who he was, and that Loki was plotting to outwit him. Hardly had
+he gone to work when out of the wood came running a pretty little mare,
+who neighed to Svadilföri as if inviting the tired horse to leave his
+work and come to the green fields for a holiday.
+
+Svadilföri, you must remember, had been working hard all winter, with
+never a sight of four-footed creature of his kind, and he was very
+lonesome and tired of dragging stones. Giving a snort of disobedience,
+off he ran after this new friend toward the grassy meadows. Off went the
+giant after him, howling with rage, and running for dear life, as he saw
+not only his horse but his chance of success slipping out of reach. It
+was a mad chase, and all Asgard thundered with the noise of galloping
+hoofs and the giant's mighty tread. The mare who raced ahead was Loki in
+disguise, and he led Svadilföri far out of reach, to a hidden meadow
+that he knew; so that the giant howled and panted up and down all night
+long, without catching even a sight of his horse.
+
+Now when the morning came the gateway was still unfinished, and night
+and winter had ended at the same hour. The giant's time was over, and he
+had forfeited his reward. The Æsir came flocking to the gateway, and
+how they laughed and triumphed when they found three stones wanting to
+complete the gate!
+
+"You have failed, fellow," judged Father Odin sternly, "and no price
+shall we pay for work that is still undone. You have failed. Leave
+Asgard quickly; we have seen all we want of you and of your race."
+
+Then the giant knew that he was discovered, and he was mad with rage.
+"It was a trick!" he bellowed, assuming his own proper form, which was
+huge as a mountain, and towered high beside the fortress that he had
+built. "It was a wicked trick. You shall pay for this in one way or
+another. I cannot tear down the castle which, ungrateful ones, I have
+built you, stronger than the strength of any giant. But I will demolish
+the rest of your shining city!" Indeed, he would have done so in his
+mighty rage; but at this moment Thor, whom Heimdal had called from the
+end of the earth by one blast of the golden horn, came rushing to the
+rescue, drawn in his chariot of goats. Thor jumped to the ground close
+beside the giant, and before that huge fellow knew what had happened,
+his head was rolling upon the ground at Father Odin's feet; for with one
+blow Thor had put an end to the giant's wickedness and had saved Asgard.
+
+"This is the reward you deserve!" Thor cried. "Not Freia nor the Sun and
+Moon, but the death that I have in store for all the enemies of the
+Æsir."
+
+In this extraordinary way the noble city of Asgard was made safe and
+complete by the addition of a fortress which no one, not even the giant
+who built it, could injure, it was so wonder-strong. But always at the
+top of the gate were lacking three great stones that no one was mighty
+enough to lift. This was a reminder to the Æsir that now they had the
+race of giants for their everlasting enemies. And though Loki's trick
+had saved them Freia, and for the world the Sun and Moon, it was the
+beginning of trouble in Asgard which lasted as long as Loki lived to
+make mischief with his guile.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HOW ODIN LOST HIS EYE
+
+
+In the beginning of things, before there was any world or sun, moon, and
+stars, there were the giants; for these were the oldest creatures that
+ever breathed. They lived in Jotunheim, the land of frost and darkness,
+and their hearts were evil. Next came the gods, the good Æsir, who made
+earth and sky and sea, and who dwelt in Asgard, above the heavens. Then
+were created the queer little dwarfs, who lived underground in the
+caverns of the mountains, working at their mines of metal and precious
+stones. Last of all, the gods made men to dwell in Midgard, the good
+world that we know, between which and the glorious home of the Æsir
+stretched Bifröst, the bridge of rainbows.
+
+In those days, folk say, there was a mighty ash tree named Yggdrasil, so
+vast that its branches shaded the whole earth and stretched up into
+heaven where the Æsir dwelt, while its roots sank far down below the
+lowest depth. In the branches of the big ash tree lived a queer family
+of creatures. First, there was a great eagle, who was wiser than any
+bird that ever lived--except the two ravens, Thought and Memory, who sat
+upon Father Odin's shoulders and told him the secrets which they learned
+in their flight over the wide world. Near the great eagle perched a
+hawk, and four antlered deer browsed among the buds of Yggdrasil. At
+the foot of the tree coiled a huge serpent, who was always gnawing
+hungrily at its roots, with a whole colony of little snakes to keep him
+company--so many that they could never be counted. The eagle at the top
+of the tree and the serpent at its foot were enemies, always saying hard
+things of each other. Between the two skipped up and down a little
+squirrel, a tale bearer and a gossip, who repeated each unkind remark
+and, like the malicious neighbour that he was, kept their quarrel ever
+fresh and green.
+
+In one place at the roots of Yggdrasil was a fair fountain called the
+Urdar-well, where the three Norn maidens, who knew the past, present,
+and future, dwelt with their pets, the two white swans. This was magic
+water in the fountain, which the Norns sprinkled every day upon the
+giant tree to keep it green--water so sacred that everything which
+entered it became white as the film of an eggshell. Close beside this
+sacred well the Æsir had their council hall, to which they galloped
+every morning over the rainbow bridge.
+
+But Father Odin, the king of all the Æsir, knew of another fountain more
+wonderful still; the two ravens whom he sent forth to bring him news had
+told him. This also was below the roots of Yggdrasil, in the spot where
+the sky and ocean met. Here for centuries and centuries the giant Mimer
+had sat keeping guard over his hidden well, in the bottom of which lay
+such a treasure of wisdom as was to be found nowhere else in the world.
+Every morning Mimer dipped his glittering horn Giöll into the fountain
+and drew out a draught of the wondrous water, which he drank to make him
+wise. Every day he grew wiser and wiser; and as this had been going on
+ever since the beginning of things, you can scarcely imagine how wise
+Mimer was.
+
+Now it did not seem right to Father Odin that a giant should have all
+this wisdom to himself; for the giants were the enemies of the Æsir, and
+the wisdom which they had been hoarding for ages before the gods were
+made was generally used for evil purposes. Moreover, Odin longed and
+longed to become the wisest being in the world. So he resolved to win a
+draught from Mimer's well, if in any way that could be done.
+
+One night, when the sun had set behind the mountains of Midgard, Odin
+put on his broad-brimmed hat and his striped cloak, and taking his
+famous staff in his hand, trudged down the long bridge to where it ended
+by Mimer's secret grotto.
+
+"Good-day, Mimer," said Odin, entering; "I have come for a drink from
+your well."
+
+The giant was sitting with his knees drawn up to his chin, his long
+white beard falling over his folded arms, and his head nodding; for
+Mimer was very old, and he often fell asleep while watching over his
+precious spring. He woke with a frown at Odin's words. "You want a drink
+from my well, do you?" he growled. "Hey! I let no one drink from my
+well."
+
+"Nevertheless, you must let me have a draught from your glittering
+horn," insisted Odin, "and I will pay you for it."
+
+"Oho, you will pay me for it, will you?" echoed Mimer, eyeing his
+visitor keenly. For now that he was wide awake, his wisdom taught him
+that this was no ordinary stranger. "What will you pay for a drink from
+my well, and why do you wish it so much?"
+
+"I can see with my eyes all that goes on in heaven and upon earth,"
+said Odin, "but I cannot see into the depths of ocean. I lack the hidden
+wisdom of the deep--the wit that lies at the bottom of your fountain. My
+ravens tell me many secrets; but I would know all. And as for payment,
+ask what you will, and I will pledge anything in return for the draught
+of wisdom."
+
+Then Mimer's keen glance grew keener. "You are Odin, of the race of
+gods," he cried. "We giants are centuries older than you, and our wisdom
+which we have treasured during these ages, when we were the only
+creatures in all space, is a precious thing. If I grant you a draught
+from my well, you will become as one of us, a wise and dangerous enemy.
+It is a goodly price, Odin, which I shall demand for a boon so great."
+
+Now Odin was growing impatient for the sparkling water. "Ask your
+price," he frowned. "I have promised that I will pay."
+
+"What say you, then, to leaving one of those far-seeing eyes of yours at
+the bottom of my well?" asked Mimer, hoping that he would refuse the
+bargain. "This is the only payment I will take."
+
+Odin hesitated. It was indeed a heavy price, and one that he could ill
+afford, for he was proud of his noble beauty. But he glanced at the
+magic fountain bubbling mysteriously in the shadow, and he knew that he
+must have the draught.
+
+"Give me the glittering horn," he answered. "I pledge you my eye for a
+draught to the brim."
+
+Very unwillingly Mimer filled the horn from the fountain of wisdom and
+handed it to Odin. "Drink, then," he said; "drink and grow wise. This
+hour is the beginning of trouble between your race and mine." And wise
+Mimer foretold the truth.
+
+Odin thought merely of the wisdom which was to be his. He seized the
+horn eagerly, and emptied it without delay. From that moment he became
+wiser than anyone else in the world except Mimer himself.
+
+Now he had the price to pay, which was not so pleasant. When he went
+away from the grotto, he left at the bottom of the dark pool one of his
+fiery eyes, which twinkled and winked up through the magic depths like
+the reflection of a star. This is how Odin lost his eye, and why from
+that day he was careful to pull his gray hat low over his face when he
+wanted to pass unnoticed. For by this oddity folk could easily recognise
+the wise lord of Asgard.
+
+In the bright morning, when the sun rose over the mountains of Midgard,
+old Mimer drank from his bubbly well a draught of the wise water that
+flowed over Odin's pledge. Doing so, from his underground grotto he saw
+all that befell in heaven and on earth. So that he also was wiser by the
+bargain. Mimer seemed to have secured rather the best of it; for he lost
+nothing that he could not spare, while Odin lost what no man can well
+part with--one of the good windows wherethrough his heart looks out upon
+the world. But there was a sequel to these doings which made the balance
+swing down in Odin's favour.
+
+Not long after this, the Æsir quarrelled with the Vanir, wild enemies of
+theirs, and there was a terrible battle. But in the end the two sides
+made peace; and to prove that they meant never to quarrel again, they
+exchanged hostages. The Vanir gave to the Æsir old Niörd the rich, the
+lord of the sea and the ocean wind, with his two children, Frey and
+Freia. This was indeed a gracious gift; for Freia was the most beautiful
+maid in the world, and her twin brother was almost as fair. To the
+Vanir in return Father Odin gave his own brother Hoenir. And with
+Hoenir he sent Mimer the wise, whom he took from his lonely well.
+
+Now the Vanir made Hoenir their chief, thinking that he must be very
+wise because he was the brother of great Odin, who had lately become
+famous for his wisdom. They did not know the secret of Mimer's well, how
+the hoary old giant was far more wise than anyone who had not quaffed of
+the magic water. It is true that in the assemblies of the Vanir Hoenir
+gave excellent counsel. But this was because Mimer whispered in
+Hoenir's ear all the wisdom that he uttered. Witless Hoenir was
+quite helpless without his aid, and did not know what to do or say.
+Whenever Mimer was absent he would look nervous and frightened, and if
+folk questioned him he always answered:
+
+"Yes, ah yes! Now go and consult someone else."
+
+Of course the Vanir soon grew very angry at such silly answers from
+their chief, and presently they began to suspect the truth. "Odin has
+deceived us," they said. "He has sent us his foolish brother with a
+witch to tell him what to say. Ha! We will show him that we understand
+the trick." So they cut off poor old Mimer's head and sent it to Odin as
+a present.
+
+The tales do not say what Odin thought of the gift. Perhaps he was glad
+that now there was no one in the whole world who could be called so wise
+as himself. Perhaps he was sorry for the danger into which he had thrust
+a poor old giant who had never done him any wrong, except to be a giant
+of the race which the Æsir hated. Perhaps he was a little ashamed of the
+trick which he had played the Vanir. Odin's new wisdom showed him how
+to prepare Mimer's head with herbs and charms, so that it stood up by
+itself quite naturally and seemed not dead. Thenceforth Odin kept it
+near him, and learned from it many useful secrets which it had not
+forgotten.
+
+So in the end Odin fared better than the unhappy Mimer, whose worst
+fault was that he knew more than most folk. That is a dangerous fault,
+as others have found; though it is not one for which many of us need
+fear being punished.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE QUEST OF THE HAMMER
+
+
+One morning Thor the Thunderer awoke with a yawn, and stretching out his
+knotted arm, felt for his precious hammer, which he kept always under
+his pillow of clouds. But he started up with a roar of rage, so that all
+the palace trembled. The hammer was gone!
+
+Now this was a very serious matter, for Thor was the protector of
+Asgard, and Miölnir, the magic hammer which the dwarf had made, was his
+mighty weapon, of which the enemies of the Æsir stood so much in dread
+that they dared not venture near. But if they should learn that Miölnir
+was gone, who could tell what danger might not threaten the palaces of
+heaven?
+
+Thor darted his flashing eye into every corner of Cloud Land in search
+of the hammer. He called his fair wife, Sif of the golden hair, to aid
+in the search, and his two lovely daughters, Thrude and Lora. They
+hunted and they hunted; they turned Thrudheim upside down, and set the
+clouds to rolling wonderfully, as they peeped and pried behind and
+around and under each billowy mass. But Miölnir was not to be found.
+Certainly, someone had stolen it.
+
+Thor's yellow beard quivered with rage, and his hair bristled on end
+like the golden rays of a star, while all his household trembled.
+
+"It is Loki again!" he cried. "I am sure Loki is at the bottom of this
+mischief!" For since the time when Thor had captured Loki for the dwarf
+Brock and had given him over to have his bragging lips sewed up, Loki
+had looked at him with evil eyes; and Thor knew that the red rascal
+hated him most of all the gods.
+
+But this time Thor was mistaken. It was not Loki who had stolen the
+hammer--he was too great a coward for that. And though he meant, before
+the end, to be revenged upon Thor, he was waiting until a safe chance
+should come, when Thor himself might stumble into danger, and Loki need
+only to help the evil by a malicious word or two; and this chance came
+later, as you shall hear in another tale.
+
+Meanwhile Loki was on his best behaviour, trying to appear very kind and
+obliging; so when Thor came rumbling and roaring up to him, demanding,
+"What have you done with my hammer, you thief?" Loki looked surprised,
+but did not lose his temper nor answer rudely.
+
+"Have you indeed missed your hammer, brother Thor?" he said, mumbling,
+for his mouth was still sore where Brock had sewed the stitches. "That
+is a pity; for if the giants hear of this, they will be coming to try
+their might against Asgard."
+
+"Hush!" muttered Thor, grasping him by the shoulder with his iron
+fingers. "That is what I fear. But look you, Loki: I suspect your hand
+in the mischief. Come, confess."
+
+Then Loki protested that he had nothing to do with so wicked a deed.
+"But," he added wheedlingly, "I think I can guess the thief; and because
+I love you, Thor, I will help you to find him."
+
+"Humph!" growled Thor. "Much love you bear to me! However, you are a
+wise rascal, the nimblest wit of all the Æsir, and it is better to have
+you on my side than on the other, when giants are in the game. Tell me,
+then: who has robbed the Thunder Lord of his bolt of power?"
+
+Loki drew near and whispered in Thor's ear. "Look, how the storms rage
+and the winds howl in the world below! Someone is wielding your thunder
+hammer all unskilfully. Can you not guess the thief? Who but Thrym, the
+mighty giant who has ever been your enemy and your imitator, and whose
+fingers have long itched to grasp the short handle of mighty Miölnir,
+that the world may name him Thunder Lord instead of you. But look! What
+a tempest! The world will be shattered into fragments unless we soon get
+the hammer back."
+
+Then Thor roared with rage. "I will seek this impudent Thrym!" he cried.
+"I will crush him into bits, and teach him to meddle with the weapon of
+the Æsir!"
+
+"Softly, softly," said Loki, smiling maliciously. "He is a shrewd giant,
+and a mighty. Even you, great Thor, cannot go to him and pluck the
+hammer from his hand as one would slip the rattle from a baby's pink
+fist. Nay, you must use craft, Thor; and it is I who will teach you, if
+you will be patient."
+
+Thor was a brave, blunt fellow, and he hated the ways of Loki, his lies
+and his deceit. He liked best the way of warriors--the thundering
+charge, the flash of weapons, and the heavy blow; but without the hammer
+he could not fight the giants hand to hand. Loki's advice seemed wise,
+and he decided to leave the matter to the Red One.
+
+Loki was now all eagerness, for he loved difficulties which would set
+his wit in play and bring other folk into danger. "Look, now," he said.
+"We must go to Freia and borrow her falcon dress. But you must ask; for
+she loves me so little that she would scarce listen to me."
+
+So first they made their way to Folkvang, the house of maidens, where
+Freia dwelt, the loveliest of all in Asgard. She was fairer than fair,
+and sweeter than sweet, and the tears from her flower eyes made the dew
+which blessed the earth flowers night and morning. Of her Thor borrowed
+the magic dress of feathers in which Freia was wont to clothe herself
+and flit like a great beautiful bird all about the world. She was
+willing enough to lend it to Thor when he told her that by its aid he
+hoped to win back the hammer which he had lost; for she well knew the
+danger threatening herself and all the Æsir until Miölnir should be
+found.
+
+"Now will I fetch the hammer for you," said Loki. So he put on the
+falcon plumage, and, spreading his brown wings, flapped away up, up,
+over the world, down, down, across the great ocean which lies beyond all
+things that men know. And he came to the dark country where there was no
+sunshine nor spring, but it was always dreary winter; where mountains
+were piled up like blocks of ice, and where great caverns yawned
+hungrily in blackness. And this was Jotunheim, the land of the Frost
+Giants.
+
+And lo! when Loki came thereto he found Thrym the Giant King sitting
+outside his palace cave, playing with his dogs and horses. The dogs were
+as big as elephants, and the horses were as big as houses, but Thrym
+himself was as huge as a mountain; and Loki trembled, but he tried to
+seem brave.
+
+"Good-day, Loki," said Thrym, with the terrible voice of which he was so
+proud, for he fancied it was as loud as Thor's. "How fares it,
+feathered one, with your little brothers, the Æsir, in Asgard halls? And
+how dare you venture alone in this guise to Giant Land?"
+
+"It is an ill day in Asgard," sighed Loki, keeping his eye warily upon
+the giant, "and a stormy one in the world of men, I heard the winds
+howling and the storms rushing on the earth as I passed by. Some mighty
+one has stolen the hammer of our Thor. Is it you, Thrym, greatest of all
+giants--greater than Thor himself?"
+
+This the crafty one said to flatter Thrym, for Loki well knew the
+weakness of those who love to be thought greater than they are.
+
+Then Thrym bridled and swelled with pride, and tried to put on the
+majesty and awe of noble Thor; but he only succeeded in becoming an
+ugly, puffy monster.
+
+"Well, yes," he admitted. "I have the hammer that belonged to your
+little Thor; and now how much of & lord is he?"
+
+"Alack!" sighed Loki again, "weak enough he is without his magic weapon.
+But you, O Thrym--surely your mightiness needs no such aid. Give me the
+hammer, that Asgard may no longer be shaken by Thor's grief for his
+precious toy."
+
+But Thrym was not so easily to be flattered into parting with his stolen
+treasure. He grinned a dreadful grin, several yards in width, which his
+teeth barred like jagged boulders across the entrance to a mountain
+cavern.
+
+"Miölnir the hammer is mine," he said, "and I am Thunder Lord, mightiest
+of the mighty. I have hidden it where Thor can never find it, twelve
+leagues below the sea caves, where Queen Ran lives with her daughters,
+the white-capped Waves. But listen, Loki. Go tell the Æsir that I will
+give back Thor's hammer. I will give it back upon one condition--that
+they send Freia the beautiful to be my wife."
+
+"Freia the beautiful!" Loki had to stifle a laugh. Fancy the Æsir giving
+their fairest flower to such an ugly fellow as this! But he only said
+politely, "Ah, yes; you demand our Freia in exchange for the little
+hammer? It is a costly price, great Thrym. But I will be your friend in
+Asgard. If I have my way, you shall soon see the fairest bride in all
+the world knocking at your door. Farewell!"
+
+So Loki whizzed back to Asgard on his falcon wings; and as he went he
+chuckled to think of the evils which were likely to happen because of
+his words with Thrym. First he gave the message to Thor--not sparing of
+Thrym's insolence, to make Thor angry; and then he went to Freia with
+the word for her--not sparing of Thrym's ugliness, to make her shudder.
+The spiteful fellow!
+
+Now you can imagine the horror that was in Asgard as the Æsir listened
+to Loki's words. "My hammer!" roared Thor. "The villain confesses that
+he has stolen my hammer, and boasts that he is Thunder Lord! Gr-r-r!"
+
+"The ugly giant!" wailed Freia. "Must I be the bride of that hideous old
+monster, and live in his gloomy mountain prison all my life?"
+
+"Yes; put on your bridal veil, sweet Freia," said Loki maliciously, "and
+come with me to Jotunheim. Hang your famous starry necklace about your
+neck, and don your bravest robe; for in eight days there will be a
+wedding, and Thor's hammer is to pay."
+
+Then Freia fell to weeping. "I cannot go! I will not go!" she cried. "I
+will not leave the home of gladness and Father Odin's table to dwell in
+the land of horrors! Thor's hammer is mighty, but mightier the love of
+the kind Æsir for their little Freia! Good Odin, dear brother Frey,
+speak for me! You will not make me go?"
+
+The Asir looked at her and thought how lonely and bare would Asgard be
+without her loveliness; for she was fairer than fair, and sweeter than
+sweet.
+
+"She shall not go!" shouted Frey, putting his arms about his sister's
+neck.
+
+"No, she shall not go!" cried all the Asir with one voice.
+
+"But my hammer," insisted Thor. "I must have Miölnir back again."
+
+"And my word to Thrym," said Loki, "that must be made good."
+
+"You are too generous with your words," said Odin sternly, for he knew
+his brother well. "Your word is not a gem of great price, for you have
+made it cheap."
+
+Then spoke Heimdal, the sleepless watchman who sits on guard at the
+entrance to the rainbow bridge which leads to Asgard; and Heimdal was
+the wisest of the Æsir, for he could see into the future, and knew how
+things would come to pass. Through his golden teeth he spoke, for his
+teeth were all of gold.
+
+"I have a plan," he said. "Let us dress Thor himself like a bride in
+Freia's robes, and send him to Jotunheim to talk with Thrym and to win
+back his hammer."
+
+But at this word Thor grew very angry. "What! dress me like a girl!" he
+roared. "I should never hear the last of it! The Asir will mock me, and
+call me 'maiden'! The giants, and even the puny dwarfs, will have a
+lasting jest upon me! I will not go! I will fight! I will die, if need
+be! But dressed as a woman I will not go!"
+
+But Loki answered him with sharp words, for this was a scheme after his
+own heart. "What, Thor!" he said. "Would you lose your hammer and keep
+Asgard in danger for so small a whim. Look, now: if you go not, Thrym
+with his giants will come in a mighty army and drive us from Asgard;
+then he will indeed make Freia his bride, and, moreover, he will have
+you for his slave under the power of his hammer. How like you this
+picture, brother of the thunder? Nay, Heimdal's plan is a good one, and
+I myself will help to carry it out."
+
+Still Thor hesitated; but Freia came and laid her white hand on his arm,
+and looked up into his scowling face pleadingly.
+
+"To save me, Thor," she begged. And Thor said he would go.
+
+Then there was great sport among the Æsir, while they dressed Thor like
+a beautiful maiden. Brunhilde and her sisters, the nine Valkyrie,
+daughters of Odin, had the task in hand. How they laughed as they
+brushed and curled his yellow hair, and set upon it the wondrous
+headdress of silk and pearls! They let out seams, and they let down
+hems, and set on extra pieces, to make it larger, and so they hid his
+great limbs and knotted arms under Freia's fairest robe of scarlet; but
+beneath it all he would wear his shirt of mail and his belt of power
+that gave him double strength. Freia herself twisted about his neck her
+famous necklace of starry jewels, and Queen Frigg, his mother, hung at
+his girdle a jingling bunch of keys, such as was the custom for the
+bride to wear at Norse weddings. Last of all, that Thrym might not see
+Thor's fierce eyes and the yellow beard, that ill became a maiden, they
+threw over him a long veil of silver white which covered him to the
+feet. And there he stood, as stately and tall a bride as even a giant
+might wish to see; but on his hands he wore his iron gloves, and they
+ached for but one thing--to grasp the handle of the stolen hammer.
+
+"Ah, what a lovely maid it is!" chuckled Loki; "and how glad will Thrym
+be to see this Freia come! Bride Thor, I will go with you as your
+handmaiden, for I would fain see the fun."
+
+"Come, then," said Thor sulkily, for he was ill pleased, and wore his
+maiden robes with no good grace. "It is fitting that you go; for I like
+not these lies and masking and I may spoil the mummery without you at my
+elbow."
+
+There was loud laughter above the clouds when Thor, all veiled and
+dainty seeming, drove away from Asgard to his wedding, with maid Loki by
+his side. Thor cracked his whip and chirruped fiercely to his twin goats
+with golden hoofs, for he wanted to escape the sounds of mirth that
+echoed from the rainbow bridge, where all the Æsir stood watching. Loki,
+sitting with his hands meekly folded like a girl, chuckled as he glanced
+up at Thor's angry face; but he said nothing, for he knew it was not
+good to joke too far with Thor, even when Milönir was hidden twelve
+leagues below the sea in Ran's kingdom.
+
+So off they dashed to Jotunheim, where Thrym was waiting and longing for
+his beautiful bride. Thor's goats thundered along above the sea and land
+and people far below, who looked up wondering as the noise rolled
+overhead. "Hear how the thunder rumbles!" they said. "Thor is on a long
+journey to-night." And a long journey it was, as the tired goats found
+before they reached the end.
+
+Thrym heard the sound of their approach, for his ear was eager. "Hola!"
+he cried. "Someone is coming from Asgard--only one of Odin's children
+could make a din so fearful. Hasten, men, and see if they are bringing
+Freia to be my wife."
+
+Then the lookout giant stepped down from the top of his mountain, and
+said that a chariot was bringing two maidens to the door.
+
+"Run, giants, run!" shouted Thrym, in a fever at this news. "My bride is
+coming! Put silken cushions on the benches for a great banquet, and make
+the house beautiful for the fairest maid in all space! Bring in all my
+golden-horned cows and my coal-black oxen, that she may see how rich I
+am, and heap all my gold and jewels about to dazzle her sweet eyes! She
+shall find me richest of the rich; and when I have her--fairest of the
+fair--there will be no treasure that I lack--not one!"
+
+The chariot stopped at the gate, and out stepped the tall bride, hidden
+from head to foot, and her handmaiden muffled to the chin. "How afraid
+of catching cold they must be!" whispered the giant ladies, who were
+peering over one another's shoulders to catch a glimpse of the bride,
+just as the crowd outside the awning does at a wedding nowadays.
+
+Thrym had sent six splendid servants to escort the maidens: these were
+the Metal Kings, who served him as lord of them all. There was the Gold
+King, all in cloth of gold, with fringes of yellow bullion, most
+glittering to see; and there was the Silver King, almost as gorgeous in
+a suit of spangled white; and side by side bowed the dark Kings of Iron
+and Lead, the one mighty in black, the other sullen in blue; and after
+them were the Copper King, gleaming ruddy and brave, and the Tin King,
+strutting in his trimmings of gaudy tinsel which looked nearly as well
+as silver, but were more economical. And this fine troop of lackey kings
+most politely led Thor and Loki into the palace, and gave them of the
+best, for they never suspected who these seeming maidens really were.
+
+And when evening came there was a wonderful banquet to celebrate the
+wedding. On a golden throne sat Thrym, uglier than ever in his finery of
+purple and gold. Beside him was the bride, of whose face no one had yet
+caught even a glimpse; and at Thrym's other hand stood Loki, the waiting
+maid, for he wanted to be near to mend the mistakes which Thor might
+make.
+
+Now the dishes at the feast were served in a huge way, as befitted the
+table of giants: great beeves roasted whole, on platters as wide across
+as a ship's deck; plum puddings as fat as feather beds, with plums as
+big as footballs; and a wedding cake like a snow-capped hay mow. The
+giants ate enormously. But to Thor, because they thought him a dainty
+maiden, they served small bits of everything on a tiny gold dish. Now
+Thor's long journey had made him very hungry, and through his veil he
+whispered to Loki, "I shall starve, Loki! I cannot fare on these
+nibbles. I must eat a goodly meal as I do at home." And forthwith he
+helped himself to such morsels as might satisfy his hunger for a little
+time. You should have seen the giants stare at the meal which the dainty
+bride devoured!
+
+For first under the silver veil disappeared by pieces a whole roast ox.
+Then Thor made eight mouthfuls of eight pink salmon, a dish of which he
+was very fond. And next he looked about and reached for a platter of
+cakes and sweetmeats that was set aside at one end of the table for the
+lady guests, and the bride ate them all. You can fancy how the damsels
+drew down their mouths and looked at one another when they saw their
+dessert disappear; and they whispered about the table, "Alack! if our
+future mistress is to sup like this day by day, there will be poor cheer
+for the rest of us!" And to crown it all, Thor was thirsty, as well he
+might be; and one after another he raised to his lips and emptied three
+great barrels of mead, the foamy drink of the giants. Then indeed Thrym
+was amazed, for Thor's giant appetite had beaten that of the giants
+themselves.
+
+"Never before saw I a bride so hungry," he cried. "And never before one
+half so thirsty!"
+
+But Loki, the waiting maid, whispered to him softly, "The truth is,
+great Thrym, that my dear mistress was almost starved. For eight days
+Freia has eaten nothing at all, so eager was she for Jotunheim."
+
+Then Thrym was delighted, you may be sure. He forgave his hungry bride,
+and loved her with all his heart. He leaned forward to give her a kiss,
+raising a corner of her veil; but his hand dropped suddenly, and he
+started up in terror, for he had caught the angry flash of Thor's eye,
+which was glaring at him through the bridal veil. Thor was longing for
+his hammer.
+
+"Why has Freia so sharp a look?" Thrym cried. "It pierces like lightning
+and burns like fire."
+
+But again the sly waiting maid whispered timidly, "Oh, Thrym, be not
+amazed! The truth is, my poor mistress's eyes are red with wakefulness
+and bright with longing. For eight nights Freia has not known a wink of
+sleep, so eager was she for Jotunheim."
+
+Then again Thrym was doubly delighted, and he longed to call her his
+very own dear wife. "Bring in the wedding gift!" he cried. "Bring in
+Thor's hammer, Miölnir, and give it to Freia, as I promised; for when I
+have kept my word she will be mine--all mine!"
+
+Then Thor's big heart laughed under his woman's dress, and his fierce
+eyes swept eagerly down the hall to meet the servant who was bringing in
+the hammer on a velvet cushion. Thor's fingers could hardly wait to
+clutch the stubby handle which they knew so well; but he sat quite still
+on the throne beside ugly old Thrym, with his hands meekly folded and
+his head bowed like a bashful bride.
+
+The giant servant drew nearer, nearer, puffing and blowing, strong
+though he was, beneath the mighty weight. He was about to lay it at
+Thor's feet (for he thought it so heavy that no maiden could lift it or
+hold it in her lap), when suddenly Thor's heart swelled, and he gave a
+most unmaidenly shout of rage and triumph. With one swoop he grasped the
+hammer in his iron fingers; with the other arm he tore off the veil that
+hid his terrible face, and trampled it under foot; then he turned to the
+frightened king, who cowered beside him on the throne.
+
+"Thief!" he cried. "Freia sends you _this_ as a wedding gift!" And he
+whirled the hammer about his head, then hurled it once, twice, thrice,
+as it rebounded to his hand; and in the first stroke, as of lightning,
+Thrym rolled dead from his throne; in the second stroke perished the
+whole giant household--these ugly enemies of the Æsir; and in the third
+stroke the palace itself tumbled together and fell to the ground like a
+toppling playhouse of blocks.
+
+But Loki and Thor stood safely among the ruins, dressed in their
+tattered maiden robes, a quaint and curious sight; and Loki, full of
+mischief now as ever, burst out laughing.
+
+"Oh, Thor! if you could see--" he began; but Thor held up his hammer and
+shook it gently as he said:
+
+"Look now, Loki: it was an excellent joke, and so far you have done
+well--after your crafty fashion, which likes me not. But now I have my
+hammer again, and the joke is done. From you, nor from another, I brook
+no laughter at my expense. Henceforth we will have no mention of this
+masquerade, nor of these rags which now I throw away. Do you hear, red
+laughter?"
+
+And Loki heard, with a look of hate, and stifled his laughter as best he
+could; for it is not good to laugh at him who holds the hammer.
+
+Not once after that was there mention in Asgard of the time when Thor
+dressed him as a girl and won his bridal gift from Thrym the giant.
+
+But Miölnir was safe once more in Asgard, and you and I know how it came
+there; so someone must have told. I wonder if red Loki whispered the
+tale to some outsider, after all? Perhaps it may be so, for now he knew
+how best to make Thor angry; and from that day when Thor forbade his
+laughing, Loki hated him with the mean little hatred of a mean little
+soul.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE APPLES OF IDUN
+
+
+Once upon a time Odin, Loki, and Hoener started on a journey. They had
+often travelled together before on all sorts of errands, for they had a
+great many things to look after, and more than once they had fallen into
+trouble through the prying, meddlesome, malicious spirit of Loke, who
+was never so happy as when he was doing wrong. When the gods went on a
+journey they travelled fast and hard, for they were strong, active
+spirits who loved nothing so much as hard work, hard blows, storm,
+peril, and struggle. There were no roads through the country over which
+they made their way, only high mountains to be climbed by rocky paths,
+deep valleys into which the sun hardly looked during half the year, and
+swift-rushing streams, cold as ice, and treacherous to the surest foot
+and the strongest arm. Not a bird flew through the air, not an animal
+sprang through the trees. It was as still as a desert. The gods walked
+on and on, getting more tired and hungry at every step. The sun was
+sinking low over the steep, pine-crested mountains, and the travellers
+had neither breakfasted nor dined. Even Odin was beginning to feel the
+pangs of hunger, like the most ordinary mortal, when suddenly, entering
+a little valley, the famished gods came upon a herd of cattle. It was
+the work of a minute to kill a great ox and to have the carcass
+swinging in a huge pot over a roaring fire.
+
+But never were gods so unlucky before! In spite of their hunger, the pot
+would not boil. They piled on the wood until the great flames crackled
+and licked the pot with their fiery tongues, but every time the cover
+was lifted there was the meat just as raw as when it was put in. It is
+easy to imagine that the travellers were not in very good humour. As
+they were talking about it, and wondering how it could be, a voice
+called out from the branches of the oak overhead, "If you will give me
+my fill, I'll make the pot boil."
+
+The gods looked first at each other and then into the tree, and there
+they discovered a great eagle. They were glad enough to get their supper
+on almost any terms, so they told the eagle he might have what he wanted
+if he would only get the meat cooked. The bird was as good as his word,
+and in less time than it takes to tell it supper was ready. Then the
+eagle flew down and picked out both shoulders and both legs. This was a
+pretty large share, it must be confessed, and Loki, who was always angry
+when anybody got more than he, no sooner saw what the eagle had taken,
+than he seized a great pole and began to beat the rapacious bird
+unmercifully. Whereupon a very singular thing happened, as singular
+things always used to happen when the gods were concerned: the pole
+stuck fast in the huge talons of the eagle at one end, and Loki stuck
+fast at the other end. Struggle as he might, he could not get loose, and
+as the great bird sailed away over the tops of the trees, Loki went
+pounding along on the ground, striking against rocks and branches until
+he was bruised half to death.
+
+The eagle was not an ordinary bird by any means, as Loki soon found
+when he begged for mercy. The giant Thjasse happened to be flying abroad
+in his eagle plumage when the hungry travellers came under the oak and
+tried to cook the ox. It was into his hands that Loki had fallen, and he
+was not to get away until he had promised to pay roundly for his
+freedom.
+
+If there was one thing which the gods prized above their other treasures
+in Asgard, it was the beautiful fruit of Idun, kept by the goddess in a
+golden casket and given to the gods to keep them forever young and fair.
+Without these Apples all their power could not have kept them from
+getting old like the meanest of mortals. Without these Apples of Idun,
+Asgard itself would have lost its charm; for what would heaven be
+without youth and beauty forever shining through it?
+
+Thjasse told Loki that he could not go unless he would promise to bring
+him the Apples of Idun. Loki was wicked enough for anything; but when it
+came to robbing the gods of their immortality, even he hesitated. And
+while he hesitated the eagle dashed hither and thither, flinging him
+against the sides of the mountains and dragging him through the great
+tough boughs of the oaks until his courage gave out entirely, and he
+promised to steal the Apples out of Asgard and give them to the giant.
+
+Loki was bruised and sore enough when he got on his feet again to hate
+the giant who handled him so roughly, with all his heart, but he was not
+unwilling to keep his promise to steal the Apples, if only for the sake
+of tormenting the other gods. But how was it to be done? Idun guarded
+the golden fruit of immortality with sleepless watchfulness. No one ever
+touched it but herself, and a beautiful sight it was to see her fair
+hands spread it forth for the morning feasts in Asgard. The power which
+Loki possessed lay not so much in his own strength, although he had a
+smooth way of deceiving people, as in the goodness of others who had no
+thought of his doing wrong because they never did wrong themselves.
+
+Not long after all this happened, Loki came carelessly up to Idun as she
+was gathering her Apples to put them away in the beautiful carven box
+which held them.
+
+"Good-morning, goddess," said he. "How fair and golden your Apples are!"
+
+"Yes," answered Idun; "the bloom of youth keeps them always beautiful."
+
+"I never saw anything like them," continued Loki slowly, as if he were
+talking about a matter of no importance, "until the other day."
+
+Idun looked up at once with the greatest interest and curiosity in her
+face. She was very proud of her Apples, and she knew no earthly trees,
+however large and fair, bore the immortal fruit.
+
+"Where have you seen any Apples like them?" she asked.
+
+"Oh, just outside the gates," said Loki indifferently. "If you care to
+see them I'll take you there. It will keep you but a moment. The tree is
+only a little way off."
+
+Idun was anxious to go at once.
+
+"Better take your Apples with you, to compare them with the others,"
+said the wily god, as she prepared to go.
+
+Idun gathered up the golden Apples and went out of Asgard, carrying with
+her all that made it heaven. No sooner was she beyond the gates than a
+mighty rushing sound was heard, like the coming of a tempest, and before
+she could think or act, the giant Thjasse, in his eagle plumage, was
+bearing her swiftly away through the air to his desolate, icy home in
+Thrymheim, where, after vainly trying to persuade her to let him eat the
+Apples and be forever young like the gods, he kept her a lonely
+prisoner.
+
+Loki, after keeping his promise and delivering Idun into the hands of
+the giant, strayed back into Asgard as if nothing had happened. The next
+morning, when the gods assembled for their feast, there was no Idun. Day
+after day went past, and still the beautiful goddess did not come.
+Little by little the light of youth and beauty faded from the home of
+the gods, and they themselves became old and haggard. Their strong,
+young faces were lined with care and furrowed by age, their raven locks
+passed from gray to white, and their flashing eyes became dim and
+hollow. Brage, the god of poetry, could make no music while his
+beautiful wife was gone he knew not whither.
+
+Morning after morning the faded light broke on paler and ever paler
+faces, until even in heaven the eternal light of youth seemed to be
+going out forever.
+
+Finally the gods could bear the loss of power and joy no longer. They
+made rigorous inquiry. They tracked Loki on that fair morning when he
+led Idun beyond the gates; they seized him and brought him into solemn
+council, and when he read in their haggard faces the deadly hate which
+flamed in all their hearts against his treachery, his courage failed,
+and he promised to bring Idun back to Asgard if the goddess Freyja would
+lend him her falcon guise. No sooner said than done; and with eager gaze
+the gods watched him as he flew away, becoming at last only a dark
+moving speck against the sky.
+
+After long and weary flight Loki came to Thrymheim, and was glad enough
+to find Thjasse gone to sea and Idun alone in his dreary house. He
+changed her instantly into a nut, and taking her thus disguised in his
+talons, flew away as fast as his falcon wings could carry him. And he
+had need of all his speed, for Thjasse, coming suddenly home and finding
+Idun and her precious fruit gone, guessed what had happened, and,
+putting on his eagle plumage, flew forth in a mighty rage, with
+vengeance in his heart. Like the rushing wings of a tempest, his mighty
+pinions beat the air and bore him swiftly onward. From mountain peak to
+mountain peak he measured his wide course, almost grazing at times the
+murmuring pine forests, and then sweeping high in mid-air with nothing
+above but the arching sky, and nothing beneath but the tossing sea.
+
+At last he sees the falcon far ahead, and now his flight becomes like
+the flash of the lightning for swiftness, and like the rushing of clouds
+for uproar. The haggard faces of the gods line the walls of Asgard and
+watch the race with tremulous eagerness. Youth and immortality are
+staked upon the winning of Loki. He is weary enough and frightened
+enough, too, as the eagle sweeps on close behind him; but he makes
+desperate efforts to widen the distance between them. Little by little
+the eagle gains on the falcon. The gods grow white with fear; they rush
+off and prepare great fires upon the walls. With fainting, drooping wing
+the falcon passes over and drops exhausted by the wall. In an instant
+the fires have been lighted, and the great flames roar to heaven. The
+eagle sweeps across the fiery line a second later, and falls, maimed and
+burned, to the ground, where a dozen fierce hands smite the life out of
+him, and the great giant Thjasse perishes among his foes.
+
+Idun resumes her natural form as Brage rushes to meet her. The gods
+crowd round her. She spreads the feast, the golden Apples gleaming with
+unspeakable lustre in the eyes of the gods. They eat; and once more
+their faces glow with the beauty of immortal youth, their eyes flash
+with the radiance of divine power, and, while Idun stands like a star
+for beauty among the throng, the song of Brage is heard once more; for
+poetry and immortality are wedded again.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE DEATH OF BALDER
+
+
+There was one shadow which always fell over Asgard. Sometimes in the
+long years the gods almost forgot it, it lay so far off, like a dim
+cloud in a clear sky; but Odin saw it deepen and widen as he looked out
+into the universe, and he knew that the last great battle would surely
+come, when the gods themselves would be destroyed and a long twilight
+would rest on all the worlds; and now the day was close at hand.
+Misfortunes never come singly to men, and they did not to the gods.
+Idun, the beautiful goddess of youth, whose apples were the joy of all
+Asgard, made a resting place for herself among the massive branches of
+Yggdrasil, and there every evening came Brage, and sang so sweetly that
+the birds stopped to listen, and even the Norns, those implacable
+sisters at the foot of the tree, were softened by the melody. But poetry
+cannot change the purposes of fate, and one evening no song was heard of
+Brage or birds, the leaves of the world tree hung withered and lifeless
+on the branches, and the fountain from which they had daily been
+sprinkled was dry at last. Idun had fallen into the dark valley of
+death, and when Brage, Heimdal, and Loki went to question her about the
+future she could answer them only with tears. Brage would not leave his
+beautiful wife alone amid the dim shades that crowded the dreary
+valley, and so youth and genius vanished out of Asgard forever.
+
+Balder was the most godlike of all the gods, because he was the purest
+and the best. Wherever he went his coming was like the coming of
+sunshine, and all the beauty of summer was but the shining of his face.
+When men's hearts were white like the light, and their lives clear as
+the day, it was because Balder was looking down upon them with those
+soft, clear eyes that were open windows to the soul of God. He had
+always lived in such a glow of brightness that no darkness had ever
+touched him; but one morning, after Idun and Brage had gone, Balder's
+face was sad and troubled. He walked slowly from room to room in his
+palace Breidablik, stainless as the sky when April showers have swept
+across it because no impure thing had ever crossed the threshold, and
+his eyes were heavy with sorrow. In the night terrible dreams had broken
+his sleep, and made it a long torture. The air seemed to be full of
+awful changes for him and for all the gods. He knew in his soul that the
+shadow of the last great day was sweeping on; as he looked out and saw
+the worlds lying in light and beauty, the fields yellow with waving
+grain, the deep fiords flashing back the sunbeams from their clear
+depths, the verdure clothing the loftiest mountains, and knew that over
+all this darkness and desolation would come, with silence of reapers and
+birds, with fading of leaf and flower, a great sorrow fell on his heart.
+
+Balder could bear the burden no longer. He went out, called all the gods
+together, and told them the terrible dreams of the night. Every face was
+heavy with care. The death of Balder would be like the going out of the
+sun, and after a long, sad council the gods resolved to protect him
+from harm by pledging all things to stand between him and any hurt. So
+Frigg, his mother, went forth and made everything promise, on a solemn
+oath, not to injure her son. Fire, iron, all kinds of metal, every sort
+of stone, trees, earth, diseases, birds, beasts, snakes, as the anxious
+mother went to them, solemnly pledged themselves that no harm should
+come near Balder. Everything promised, and Frigg thought she had driven
+away the cloud; but fate was stronger than her love, and one little
+shrub had not sworn.
+
+Odin was not satisfied even with these precautions, for whichever way he
+looked the shadow of a great sorrow spread over the worlds. He began to
+feel as if he were no longer the greatest of the gods, and he could
+almost hear the rough shouts of the frost giants crowding the rainbow
+bridge on their way into Asgard. When trouble comes to men it is hard to
+bear, but to a god who had so many worlds to guide and rule it was a new
+and terrible thing. Odin thought and thought until he was weary, but no
+gleam of light could he find anywhere; it was thick darkness everywhere.
+
+At last he could bear the suspense no longer, and saddling his horse he
+rode sadly out of Asgard to Niflheim, the home of Hel, whose face was as
+the face of death itself. As he drew near the gates, a monstrous dog
+came out and barked furiously, but Odin rode a little eastward of the
+shadowy gates to the grave of a wonderful prophetess. It was a cold,
+gloomy place, and the soul of the great god was pierced with a feeling
+of hopeless sorrow as he dismounted from Sleipner, and bending over the
+grave began to chant weird songs, and weave magical charms over it. When
+he had spoken those wonderful words which could waken the dead from
+their sleep, there was an awful silence for a moment, and then a faint
+ghost-like voice came from the grave.
+
+"Who art thou?" it said. "Who breaketh the silence of death, and calleth
+the sleeper out of her long slumbers? Ages ago I was laid at rest here,
+snow and rain have fallen upon me through myriad years; why dost thou
+disturb me?"
+
+"I am Vegtam," answered Odin, "and I come to ask why the couches of Hel
+are hung with gold and the benches strewn with shining rings?"
+
+"It is done for Balder," answered the awful voice; "ask me no more."
+
+Odin's heart sank when he heard these words; but he was determined to
+know the worst.
+
+"I will ask thee until I know all. Who shall strike the fatal blow?"
+
+"If I must, I must," moaned the prophetess. "Hoder shall smite his
+brother Balder and send him down to the dark home of Hel. The mead is
+already brewed for Balder, and the despair draweth near."
+
+Then Odin, looking into the future across the open grave, saw all the
+days to come.
+
+"Who is this," he said, seeing that which no mortal could have seen;
+"who is this that will not weep for Balder?"
+
+Then the prophetess knew that it was none other than the greatest of the
+gods who had called her up.
+
+"Thou art not Vegtam," she exclaimed, "thou art Odin himself, the king
+of men."
+
+"And thou," answered Odin angrily, "art no prophetess, but the mother of
+three giants."
+
+"Ride home, then, and exult in what thou hast discovered," said the dead
+woman. "Never shall my slumbers be broken again until Loki shall burst
+his chains and the great battle come."
+
+And Odin rode sadly homeward knowing that already Niflheim was making
+itself beautiful against the coming of Balder.
+
+The other gods meanwhile had become merry again; for had not everything
+promised to protect their beloved Balder? They even made sport of that
+which troubled them, for when they found that nothing could hurt Balder,
+and that all things glanced aside from his shining form, they persuaded
+him to stand as a target for their weapons; hurling darts, spears,
+swords, and battle-axes at him, all of which went singing through the
+air and fell harmless at his feet. But Loki, when he saw these sports,
+was jealous of Balder, and went about thinking how he could destroy him.
+
+It happened that as Frigg sat spinning in her house Fensal, the soft
+wind blowing in at the windows and bringing the merry shouts of the gods
+at play, an old woman entered and approached her.
+
+"Do you know," asked the newcomer, "what they are doing in Asgard? They
+are throwing all manner of dangerous weapons at Balder. He stands there
+like the sun for brightness, and against his glory, spears and
+battle-axes fall powerless to the ground. Nothing can harm him."
+
+"No," answered Frigg joyfully; "nothing can bring him any hurt, for I
+have made everything in heaven and earth swear to protect him."
+
+"What!" said the old woman, "has everything sworn to guard Balder?"
+
+"Yes," said Frigg, "everything has sworn except one little shrub which
+is called Mistletoe, and grows on the eastern side of Valhal. I did not
+take an oath from that because I thought it too young and weak."
+
+When the old woman heard this a strange light came into her eyes; she
+walked off much faster than she had come in, and no sooner had she
+passed beyond Frigg's sight than this same feeble old woman grew
+suddenly erect, shook off her woman's garments, and there stood Loki
+himself. In a moment he had reached the slope east of Valhal, had
+plucked a twig of the unsworn Mistletoe, and was back in the circle of
+the gods, who were still at their favourite pastime with Balder. Hoder
+was standing silent and alone outside the noisy throng, for he was
+blind. Loki touched him.
+
+"Why do you not throw something at Balder?"
+
+"Because I cannot see where Balder stands, and have nothing to throw if
+I could," replied Hoder.
+
+"If that is all," said Loki, "come with me. I will give you something to
+throw, and direct your aim."
+
+Hoder, thinking no evil, went with Loki and did as he was told.
+
+The little sprig of Mistletoe shot through the air, pierced the heart of
+Balder, and in a moment the beautiful god lay dead upon the field. A
+shadow rose out of the deep beyond the worlds and spread itself over
+heaven and earth, for the light of the universe had gone out.
+
+The gods could not speak for horror. They stood like statues for a
+moment, and then a hopeless wail burst from their lips. Tears fell like
+rain from eyes that had never wept before, for Balder, the joy of
+Asgard, had gone to Niflheim and left them desolate. But Odin was
+saddest of all, because he knew the future, and he knew that peace and
+light had fled from Asgard forever, and that the last day and the long
+night were hurrying on.
+
+Frigg could not give up her beautiful son, and when her grief had spent
+itself a little, she asked who would go to Hel and offer her a rich
+ransom if she would permit Balder to return to Asgard.
+
+"I will go," said Hermod; swift at the word of Odin Sleipner was led
+forth, and in an instant Hermod was galloping furiously away.
+
+Then the gods began with sorrowful hearts to make ready for Balder's
+funeral. When the once beautiful form had been arrayed in grave clothes
+they carried it reverently down to the deep sea, which lay, calm as a
+summer afternoon, waiting for its precious burden. Close to the water's
+edge lay Balder's Ringhorn, the greatest of all the ships that sailed
+the seas, but when the gods tried to launch it they could not move it an
+inch. The great vessel creaked and groaned, out no one could push it
+down to the water. Odin walked about it with a sad face, and the gentle
+ripple of the little waves chasing each other over the rocks seemed a
+mocking laugh to him.
+
+"Send to Jotunheim for Hyrroken," he said at last; and a messenger was
+soon flying for that mighty giantess.
+
+In a little time, Hyrroken came riding swiftly on a wolf so large and
+fierce that he made the gods think of Fenrer. When the giantess had
+alighted, Odin ordered four Berserkers of mighty strength to hold the
+wolf, but he struggled so angrily that they had to throw him on the
+ground before they could control him. Then Hyrroken went to the prow of
+the ship and with one mighty effort sent it far into the sea, the
+rollers underneath bursting into flame, and the whole earth trembling
+with the shock. Thor was so angry at the uproar that he would have
+killed the giantess on the spot if he had not been held back by the
+other gods. The great ship floated on the sea as she had often done
+before, when Balder, full of life and beauty, set all her sails and was
+borne joyfully across the tossing seas. Slowly and solemnly the dead god
+was carried on board, and as Nanna, his faithful wife, saw her husband
+borne for the last time from the earth which he had made dear to her and
+beautiful to all men, her heart broke with sorrow, and they laid her
+beside Balder on the funeral pyre.
+
+Since the world began no one had seen such a funeral. No bells tolled,
+no long procession of mourners moved across the hills, but all the
+worlds lay under a deep shadow, and from every quarter came those who
+had loved or feared Balder. There at the very water's edge stood Odin
+himself, the ravens flying about his head, and on his majestic face a
+gloom that no sun would ever lighten again; and there was Frigg, the
+desolate mother whose son had already gone so far that he would never
+come back to her; there was Frey standing sad and stern in his chariot;
+there was Freyja, the goddess of love, from whose eyes fell a shining
+rain of tears; there, too, was Heimdal on his horse Goldtop; and around
+all these glorious ones from Asgard crowded the children of Jotunheim,
+grim mountain giants seamed with scars from Thor's hammer, and frost
+giants who saw in the death of Balder the coming of that long winter in
+which they should reign through all the worlds.
+
+A deep hush fell on all created things, and every eye was fixed on the
+great ship riding near the shore, and on the funeral pyre rising from
+the deck crowned with the forms of Balder and Nanna. Suddenly a gleam of
+light flashed over the water; the pile had been kindled, and the flames,
+creeping slowly at first, climbed faster and faster until they met over
+the dead and rose skyward.
+
+A lurid light filled the heavens and shone on the sea, and in the
+brightness of it the gods looked pale and sad, and the circle of giants
+grew darker and more portentous. Thor struck the fast burning pyre with
+his consecrating hammer, and Odin cast into it the wonderful ring
+Draupner. Higher and higher leaped the flames, more and more desolate
+grew the scene; at last they began to sink, the funeral pyre was
+consumed. Balder had vanished forever, the summer was ended, and winter
+waited at the doors.
+
+Meanwhile Hermod was riding hard and fast on his gloomy errand. Nine
+days and nights he rode through valleys so deep and dark that he could
+not see his horse. Stillness and blackness and solitude were his only
+companions until he came to the golden bridge which crosses the river
+Gjol. The good horse Sleipner, who had carried Odin on so many strange
+journeys, had never travelled such a road before, and his hoofs rang
+drearily as he stopped short at the bridge, for in front of him stood
+its porter, the gigantic Modgud.
+
+"Who are you?" she asked, fixing her piercing eyes on Hermod. "What is
+your name and parentage? Yesterday five bands of dead men rode across
+the bridge, and beneath them all it did not shake as under your single
+tread. There is no colour of death in your face. Why ride you hither,
+the living among the dead?"
+
+"I come," said Hermod, "to seek for Balder. Have you seen him pass this
+way?"
+
+"He has already crossed the bridge and taken his journey northward to
+Hel."
+
+Then Hermod rode slowly across the bridge that spans the abyss between
+life and death, and found his way at last to the barred gates of Hel's
+dreadful home. There he sprang to the ground, tightened the girths,
+remounted, drove the spurs deep into the horse, and Sleipner, with a
+mighty leap, cleared the wall. Hermod rode straight to the gloomy
+palace, dismounted, entered, and in a moment was face to face with the
+terrible queen of the kingdom of the dead. Beside her, on a beautiful
+throne, sat Balder, pale and wan, crowned with a withered wreath of
+flowers, and close at hand was Nanna, pallid as her husband, for whom
+she had died. And all night long, while ghostly forms wandered restless
+and sleepless through Helheim, Hermod talked with Balder and Nanna.
+There is no record of what they said, but the talk was sad enough,
+doubtless, and ran like a still stream among the happy days in Asgard
+when Balder's smile was morning over the earth and the sight of his face
+the summer of the world.
+
+When the morning came, faint and dim, through the dusky palace, Hermod
+sought Hel, who received him as cold and stern as fate.
+
+"Your kingdom is full, O Hel!" he said, "and without Balder, Asgard is
+empty. Send him back to us once more, for there is sadness in every
+heart and tears are in every eye. Through heaven and earth all things
+weep for him."
+
+"If that is true," was the slow, icy answer, "if every created thing
+weeps for Balder, he shall return to Asgard; but if one eye is dry he
+remains henceforth in Helheim."
+
+Then Hermod rode swiftly away, and the decree of Hel was soon told in
+Asgard. Through all the worlds the gods sent messengers to say that all
+who loved Balder should weep for his return, and everywhere tears fell
+like rain. There was weeping in Asgard, and in all the earth there was
+nothing that did not weep. Men and women and little children, missing
+the light that had once fallen into their hearts and homes, sobbed with
+bitter grief; the birds of the air, who had sung carols of joy at the
+gates of the morning since time began, were full of sorrow; the beasts
+of the fields crouched and moaned in their desolation; the great trees,
+that had put on their robes of green at Balder's command, sighed as the
+wind wailed through them; and the sweet flowers, that waited for
+Balder's footstep and sprang up in all the fields to greet him, hung
+their frail blossoms and wept bitterly for the love and the warmth and
+the light that had gone out. Throughout the whole earth there was
+nothing but weeping, and the sound of it was like the wailing of those
+storms in autumn that weep for the dead summer as its withered leaves
+drop one by one from the trees.
+
+The messengers of the gods went gladly back to Asgard, for everything
+had wept for Balder; but as they journeyed they came upon a giantess,
+called Thok, and her eyes were dry.
+
+"Weep for Balder," they said.
+
+"With dry eyes only will I weep for Balder," she answered. "Dead or
+alive, he never gave me gladness. Let him stay in Helheim."
+
+When she had spoken these words a terrible laugh broke from her lips,
+and the messengers looked at each other with pallid faces, for they knew
+it was the voice of Loki.
+
+Balder never came back to Asgard, and the shadows deepened over all
+things, for the night of death was fast coming on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE STAR AND THE LILY
+
+
+An old chieftain sat in his wigwam, quietly smoking his favourite pipe,
+when a crowd of Indian boys and girls suddenly entered, and, with
+numerous offerings of tobacco, begged him to tell them a story, and he
+did so.
+
+There was once a time when this world was filled with happy people; when
+all the nations were as one, and the crimson tide of war had not begun
+to roll. Plenty of game was in the forest and on the plains. None were
+in want, for a full supply was at hand. Sickness was unknown. The beasts
+of the field were tame; they came and went at the bidding of man. One
+unending spring gave no place for winter--for its cold blasts or its
+unhealthy chills. Every tree and bush yielded fruit. Flowers carpeted
+the earth. The air was laden with their fragrance, and redolent with the
+songs of wedded warblers that flew from branch to branch, fearing none,
+for there were none to harm them. There were birds then of more
+beautiful song and plumage than now. It was at such a time, when earth
+was a paradise and man worthily its possessor, that the Indians were
+lone inhabitants of the American wilderness. They numbered millions;
+and, living as nature designed them to live, enjoyed its many blessings.
+Instead of amusements in close rooms, the sport of the field was theirs.
+At night they met on the wide green beneath the heavenly worlds--the
+_ah-nung-o-kah_. They watched the stars; they loved to gaze at them,
+for they believed them to be the residences of the good, who had been
+taken home by the Great Spirit.
+
+One night they saw one star that shone brighter than all others. Its
+location was far away in the south, near a mountain peak. For many
+nights it was seen, till at length it was doubted by many that the star
+was as far distant in the southern skies as it seemed to be. This doubt
+led to an examination, which proved the star to be only a short distance
+away, and near the tops of some trees. A number of warriors were deputed
+to go and see what it was. They went, and on their return said it
+appeared strange, and somewhat like a bird. A committee of the wise men
+were called to inquire into, and if possible to ascertain the meaning
+of, the strange phenomenon. They feared that it might be the omen of
+some disaster. Some thought it a precursor of good, others of evil; and
+some supposed it to be the star spoken of by their forefathers as the
+forerunner of a dreadful war.
+
+One moon had nearly gone by, and yet the mystery remained unsolved. One
+night a young warrior had a dream, in which a beautiful maiden came and
+stood at his side, and thus addressed him: "Young brave! charmed with
+the land of my forefathers, its flowers, its birds, its rivers, its
+beautiful lakes, and its mountains clothed with green, I have left my
+sisters in yonder world to dwell among you. Young brave! ask your wise
+and your great men where I can live and see the happy race continually;
+ask them what form I shall assume in order to be loved."
+
+Thus discoursed the bright stranger. The young man awoke. On stepping
+out of his lodge he saw the star yet blazing in its accustomed place. At
+early dawn the chief's crier was sent round the camp to call every
+warrior to the council lodge. When they had met, the young warrior
+related his dream. They concluded that the star that had been seen in
+the south had fallen in love with mankind, and that it was desirous to
+dwell with them.
+
+The next night five tall, noble-looking, adventurous braves were sent to
+welcome the stranger to earth. They went and presented to it a pipe of
+peace, filled with sweet-scented herbs, and were rejoiced that it took
+it from them. As they returned to the village, the star, with expanded
+wings, followed, and hovered over their homes till the dawn of day.
+Again it came to the young man in a dream, and desired to know where it
+should live and what form it should take. Places were named--on the top
+of giant trees, or in flowers. At length it was told to choose a place
+itself, and it did so. At first it dwelt in the white rose of the
+mountains; but there it was so buried that it could not be seen. It went
+to the prairie; but it feared the hoof of the buffalo. It next sought
+the rocky cliff; but there it was so high that the children, whom it
+loved most, could not see it.
+
+"I know where I shall live," said the bright fugitive--"where I can see
+the gliding canoe of the race I most admire. Children!--yes, they shall
+be my playmates, and I will kiss their slumber by the side of cool
+lakes. The nation shall love me wherever I am."
+
+These words having been said, she alighted on the waters, where she saw
+herself reflected. The next morning thousands of white flowers were seen
+on the surface of the lakes, and the Indians gave them this name,
+_wah-be-gwan-nee_ (white flower).
+
+This star lived in the southern skies. Her brethren can be seen far off
+in the cold north, hunting the Great Bear, whilst her sisters watch her
+in the east and west.
+
+Children! when you see the lily on the waters, take it in your hands and
+hold it to the skies, that it may be happy on earth, as its two sisters,
+the morning and evening stars, are happy in heaven.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Myths That Every Child Should Know, by Various
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Myths That Every Child Should Know, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Myths That Every Child Should Know
+       A Selection Of The Classic Myths Of All Times For Young People
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Hamilton Wright Mabie
+
+Illustrator: Blanche Ostertag
+
+Release Date: August 17, 2005 [EBook #16537]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS THAT EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Verity White and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MEDEIA AND JASON WITH THE GOLDEN FLEECE]
+
+MYTHS THAT EVERY
+CHILD SHOULD KNOW
+
+A SELECTION OF THE CLASSIC MYTHS
+OF ALL TIMES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
+
+EDITED BY
+HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE
+
+ILLUSTRATED AND DECORATED
+BY BLANCHE OSTERTAG
+
+NEW YORK
+Doubleday, Page & Company
+1906
+
+
+NOTE
+
+The editor and publishers wish to express their appreciation of the
+courtesy of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Dodd, Mead & Co., and the
+Macmillan Company, by means of which they have been enabled to reprint
+stories from Hawthorne's "Wonder Book" and "Tanglewood Tales," from "In
+the Days of Giants," from "Norse Stories," from Church's "Stories from
+Homer," and from Kingsley's "Greek Heroes."
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+INTRODUCTION                            ix
+
+CHAPTER                                  PAGE
+
+I.    THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES               3
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+II.   THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS                27
+      (Hawthorne's "Tanglewood Tales")
+
+III.  THE CHIMAERA                          65
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+IV.   THE GOLDEN TOUCH                     92
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+V.    THE GORGON'S HEAD                   112
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+VI.   THE DRAGON'S TEETH                  140
+      (Hawthorne's "Tanglewood Tales")
+
+VII.  THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER              174
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+VIII. THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN            107
+      (Hawthorne's "Wonder Book")
+
+IX.   THE CYCLOPS                         216
+      (Church's "Stories from Homer")
+
+X.    THE ARGONAUTS                       227
+      (Kingsley's "Greek Heroes")
+
+XI.   THE GIANT BUILDER                   299
+      ("In Days of Giants")
+
+XII.  HOW ODIN LOST HIS EYE               308
+      ("In Days of Giants")
+
+XIII. THE QUEST OF THE HAMMER             316
+      ("In Days of Giants")
+
+XIV.  THE APPLES OF IDUN                  330
+      ("Norse Stories")
+
+XV.   THE DEATH OF BALDER                 337
+      ("Norse Stories")
+
+XVI.  THE STAR AND THE LILY               348
+      (Miss Emerson's "Indian Myths")
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+In many parts of the country when the soil is disturbed arrow heads are
+found. Now, it is a great many years since arrow heads have been used,
+and they were never used by the people who own the land in which they
+appear or by their ancestors. To explain the presence of these roughly
+cut pieces of stone we must recall the weapons with which the Indians
+fought when Englishmen, Frenchmen, Dutchmen, and Spaniards first came to
+this part of the world. There may be no authentic history of Indians in
+the particular locality in which these old-fashioned weapons come to
+light, but their presence in the ground is the best kind of evidence
+that Indians once lived on these fields or were in the habit of hunting
+over them. In many parts of the country these arrow heads are turned up
+in great numbers; museums large and small are plentifully supplied with
+them; and they form part of the record of the men who once lived here,
+and of their ways of killing game and destroying their enemies. Wherever
+there are arrow heads there have been Indians.
+
+Among every people and in every language there are found stories,
+superstitions, traditions, phrases, which are not to be explained by the
+thoughts or ideas or beliefs of people now living; and the same stories,
+superstitions, phrases, are found among people as far apart as those of
+Norway and Australia. The people of to-day tell these stories or
+remember the superstitions or use the phrases without understanding
+where they came from or what they meant when first used. As the ground
+in some sections is full of arrow heads that have been buried no one
+knows how many centuries, so the poetry we read, the music we hear, the
+stories told us when we are children, have come down from a time in the
+history of man so early that there are in many cases no other records or
+remains of it. These stories vary greatly in details; they fit every
+climate and wear the peculiar dress of every country; but it is easy to
+see that they are made up of the same materials, and that they describe
+the same persons or ideas or things whether they are told in Greece or
+India or Norway or Brittany. Wherever they are found they make it
+certain that they come from a very remote time and grew out of ideas or
+feelings and ways of looking at the world which a great many men shared
+in common in many places.
+
+When a man sneezes, people still say in some countries, "God bless you."
+They do not know why they say it; they simply repeat what they heard
+older people say when they were children, and do not know that every
+time they use these words they recall the age when people believed that
+evil spirits could enter into a man, and that when a man sneezed he
+expelled one of these spirits. It is a very old and widely spread
+superstition that when a dog howls at night someone not far away is
+dying or will soon die. Many people are uncomfortable when they hear a
+dog howling after dark, not because they believe that dogs have any
+knowledge that death is present or coming, but because their ancestors
+for many centuries believed that the howling of a dog was ominous, and
+the habits of our ancestors leave deep traces in our natures.
+
+Now, every time the melancholy howling of a dog at night makes a child
+uncomfortable, he recalls the old superstition which identified the
+roaring or wailing of the wind with a wolf or dog into which a god or
+demon had entered, with power to summon the spirits of men to follow him
+as he rushed along in the darkness. In the old homes in the forests,
+thousands of years ago, children crowded about the open fire and
+trembled when a great blast shook the house, for fear that the gigantic
+beast who made the sound would call them and they would be compelled to
+follow him. We think of wind as air in motion; they thought of it as the
+breath and sound of some living creature. When we say that the wind
+"whistled in the keyhole," or "kissed the flowers," or "drove the
+clouds" before it, we are using poetically the language our forefathers
+used literally.
+
+We speak of "the siren voice of pleasure," "the blow of fate," "the
+smile of fortune," and do not remember, often do not know, that we are
+recalling that remote past when people believed that there were Sirens
+on the coast of Crete whose voices were so sweet that sailors could not
+resist them and were drawn on to the rocks and drowned; that fate was a
+terrible, relentless, passionless person with supreme power over gods
+and men; that fortune was a being who smiled or frowned as men smile or
+frown, but whose smile meant prosperity and her frown disaster.
+
+There are few poems which have interested children more than Robert
+Browning's "Pied Piper of Hamelin." The story runs that long ago, in the
+year 1284, the old German town of Hamelin was so overrun with rats that
+there was no peace for the people living in it. When things were at
+their worst a strange man appeared in the place and offered, for a sum
+of money, to clear it of these pests. The bargain was made and the
+stranger began to pipe; and straightway, from every nook and corner in
+the old town, the rats came in swarms, followed him to the river Weser
+and jumped in and were drowned.
+
+When the people found that the city was really free from rats they were
+ungrateful enough to say that the piper had used magic, which was
+believed to be the practice of the evil spirit, and refused to carry out
+their part of the contract. The stranger went off in a great rage and
+threatened to come back again and take payment in his own way. On St.
+John's Day, which was a time of great festivity, he suddenly reappeared,
+blew a new and beguiling air on his pipe, and immediately every child in
+the city felt as if a hand had seized him and ran pell-mell after the
+musician as he climbed the mountain, in which a door suddenly opened,
+and through that door all, save a lame boy, passed and were never seen
+again.
+
+From this old story probably came the proverb about paying the piper;
+and it is one of many stories which turn on the magical power of a voice
+or a sound to draw men, women, and children to their doom. These very
+interesting stories are not like the stories which are made up just to
+please people and help them pass away the time; they are different forms
+of one story--the story of the wind, told by people who thought that the
+wind was not what we call a force but a person, and that when he called
+those who heard must follow if he chose; for "the piper is no other than
+the wind, and the ancients held that in the wind were the souls of the
+dead."
+
+If every time we think of a force we should think of a person, we should
+see the world as the men and women who made the myths saw it. Everything
+that moved, or made a sound, or flashed out light, or gave out heat was
+a person to them; they could not think of the wind rushing through the
+trees or the storm devastating the fields without out imagining someone
+like themselves, only more powerful, behind the uproar and destruction,
+any more than we can see a lantern moving along the road at night
+without thinking instinctively that somebody is carrying it.
+
+Our idea of the world is scientific because it is based on exact though
+by no means complete knowledge; the myth-makers' idea of the world was
+poetic because, with very incomplete knowledge, they could not imagine
+how anything could be done unless it was done as they did things. When
+the black clouds gather on a summer afternoon and roll up the sky in
+great, terrifying masses, and the lightning flashes from them and the
+crash of the thunder fills the air and the rain beats down the crops, we
+feel as if we were in the laboratory of nature seeing a wonderful
+experiment made; when our ancestors saw the same spectacle they were
+sure that a great dragon, breathing fire and roaring with anger, was
+ravaging the earth. As children to-day imagine that dolls are alive,
+that fairies dance in moonlit meadows on summer nights, or beasts or
+Indians make the sounds in the woods, so the people who made the myths
+filled the world with creatures unlike themselves, but with something of
+human intelligence, feeling and will.
+
+As imaginative children personify the sounds they hear, so the men and
+women of an early time personified everything that lived or moved or
+gave any sign of life. They filled the earth, air, and sea with
+imaginary beings who had power over the elements and affected the lives
+of men. There were nymphs in the sea, dryads in the trees, kindly or
+destructive spirits in the air, household gods who watched over the
+home, and greater gods who managed the affairs of the world. When an
+intelligent man finds himself in new surroundings, he begins at once to
+study them and try to understand them. In every age this has been one of
+the greatest objects of interest to men, and every generation has
+endeavoured to explain the world, so as to satisfy not only its
+curiosity but its reason. The myths were explanations of the world
+created by people who had not had time to study that world closely nor
+to train themselves to study it in a scientific way. They saw the world
+with their imaginations quite as much as with their eyes, and as they
+put persons behind every kind and form of life, they told stories about
+the world instead of making accurate and matter-of-fact reports of it.
+The change of the seasons is not at all mysterious to us; but to the
+Norsemen it was a wonderful struggle between gods and giants. In the
+summer the gods had their triumph, but in the winter the giants had
+their way. Year after year and century after century this terrible
+warfare went on until a day should come when, in a last great battle,
+both gods and giants would be destroyed and a new heaven and earth
+arise. These same brave and warlike men believed that the most powerful
+fighter among the gods was Thor, and that it was the swinging and
+crashing of his terrible hammer which made the lightning and thunder.
+
+The sun, which vanquished the darkness, put out the stars, drove the
+cold to the far north, called back the flowers, made the fields fertile,
+awoke men from sleep and filled them with courage and hope, was the
+centre of mythology, and appears and reappears in a thousand stories in
+many parts of the world, and in all kinds of disguises. Now he is the
+most beautiful and noble of the Greek gods, Apollo; now he is Odin, with
+a single eye; now he is Hercules, the hero, with his twelve great
+labours for the good of men; now he is Oedipus, who met the Sphinx and
+solved her riddle. In the early times men saw how everything in the
+world about them drew its strength and beauty from the sun; how the sun
+warmed the earth and made the crops grow; how it brought gladness and
+hope and inspiration to men; and they made it the centre of the great
+world story, the foremost hero of the great world play. For the myths
+form a poetical explanation of the earth, the sea, the sky, and of the
+life of man in this wonderful universe, and each great myth was a
+chapter in a story which endowed day and night, summer and winter, sun,
+moon, stars, winds, clouds, fire, with life, and made them actors in the
+mysterious drama of the world. Our Norse forefathers thought of
+themselves always as looking on at a terrible fight between the gods,
+who were light and heat and fruitfulness, revealed in the beauty of day
+and the splendour of summer, and the giants, who were darkness, cold and
+barrenness, revealed in the gloom of night and the desolation of winter.
+To the Norseman, as to the Greek, the Roman, the Hindu and other
+primitive peoples, the world was the scene of a great struggle, the
+stage on which gods, demons, and heroes were contending for supremacy;
+and they told that story in a thousand different ways. Every myth is a
+chapter in that story, and differs from other stories and legends
+because it is an explanation of something that happened in earth, sea,
+or sky.
+
+If the men who created the myths had set to work to make wonder tales as
+stories are sometimes made to instruct while they entertain children,
+they would have left a mass of very dull tales which few people would
+have cared to read. They had no idea of doing anything so artificial and
+mechanical; they made these old stories because all life was a story to
+them, full of splendid or terrible figures moving across the sky or
+through the sea and in the depths of the woods, and whichever way they
+looked they saw or thought they saw mysterious and wonderful things
+going on. They were as much interested in their world as we are in ours;
+we write hundreds of scientific books every year to explain our world;
+they told hundreds of stories every year to explain theirs.
+
+This selection represents the work of several authors, and does not,
+therefore, preserve uniformity of style. It is probably better for the
+young reader that the Greek Myths should come from one hand, and the
+Norse Myths from another. The classical work of Hawthorne has been
+generously drawn upon. No change of any kind has been made in the text,
+but the introductions connecting one myth with another have been
+omitted.
+
+HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE.
+
+
+
+
+Myths That Every Child Should Know
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES
+
+
+Did you ever hear of the golden apples that grew in the garden of the
+Hesperides? Ah, those were such apples as would bring a great price, by
+the bushel, if any of them could be found growing in the orchards of
+nowadays! But there is not, I suppose, a graft of that wonderful fruit
+on a single tree in the wide world. Not so much as a seed of those
+apples exists any longer.
+
+And, even in the old, old, half-forgotten times, before the garden of
+the Hesperides was overrun with weeds, a great many people doubted
+whether there could be real trees that bore apples of solid gold upon
+their branches. All had heard of them, but nobody remembered to have
+seen any. Children, nevertheless, used to listen, open-mouthed, to
+stories of the golden apple tree, and resolved to discover it, when they
+should be big enough. Adventurous young men, who desired to do a braver
+thing than any of their fellows, set out in quest of this fruit. Many of
+them returned no more; none of them brought back the apples. No wonder
+that they found it impossible to gather them! It is said that there was
+a dragon beneath the tree, with a hundred terrible heads, fifty of
+which were always on the watch, while the other fifty slept.
+
+In my opinion it was hardly worth running so much risk for the sake of a
+solid golden apple. Had the apples been sweet, mellow, and juicy, indeed
+that would be another matter. There might then have been some sense in
+trying to get at them, in spite of the hundred-headed dragon.
+
+But, as I have already told you, it was quite a common thing with young
+persons, when tired of too much peace and rest, to go in search of the
+garden of the Hesperides. And once the adventure was undertaken by a
+hero who had enjoyed very little peace or rest since he came into the
+world. At the time of which I am going to speak, he was wandering
+through the pleasant land of Italy, with a mighty club in his hand, and
+a bow and quiver slung across his shoulders. He was wrapt in the skin of
+the biggest and fiercest lion that ever had been seen, and which he
+himself had killed; and though, on the whole, he was kind, and generous,
+and noble, there was a good deal of the lion's fierceness in his heart.
+As he went on his way, he continually inquired whether that were the
+right road to the famous garden. But none of the country people knew
+anything about the matter, and many looked as if they would have laughed
+at the question, if the stranger had not carried so very big a club.
+
+So he journeyed on and on, still making the same inquiry, until, at
+last, he came to the brink of a river where some beautiful young women
+sat twining wreaths of flowers.
+
+"Can you tell me, pretty maidens," asked the stranger, "whether this is
+the right way to the garden of the Hesperides?"
+
+The young women had been having a fine time together, weaving the
+flowers into wreaths, and crowning one another's heads. And there seemed
+to be a kind of magic in the touch of their fingers, that made the
+flowers more fresh and dewy, and of brighter hues, and sweeter
+fragrance, while they played with them, than even when they had been
+growing on their native stems. But, on hearing the stranger's question,
+they dropped all their flowers on the grass, and gazed at him with
+astonishment.
+
+"The garden of the Hesperides!" cried one. "We thought mortals had been
+weary of seeking it, after so many disappointments. And pray,
+adventurous traveller, what do you want there?"
+
+"A certain king, who is my cousin," replied he, "has ordered me to get
+him three of the golden apples."
+
+"Most of the young men who go in quest of these apples," observed
+another of the damsels, "desire to obtain them for themselves, or to
+present them to some fair maiden whom they love. Do you, then, love this
+king, your cousin, so very much?"
+
+"Perhaps not," replied the stranger, sighing. "He has often been severe
+and cruel to me. But it is my destiny to obey him."
+
+"And do you know," asked the damsel who had first spoken, "that a
+terrible dragon, with a hundred heads, keeps watch under the golden
+apple tree?"
+
+"I know it well," answered the stranger, calmly. "But, from my cradle
+upward, it has been my business, and almost my pastime, to deal with
+serpents and dragons."
+
+The young women looked at his massive club, and at the shaggy lion's
+skin which he wore, and likewise at his heroic limbs and figure; and
+they whispered to each other that the stranger appeared to be one who
+might reasonably expect to perform deeds far beyond the might of other
+men. But, then, the dragon with a hundred heads! What mortal, even if he
+possessed a hundred lives, could hope to escape the fangs of such a
+monster? So kind-hearted were the maidens that they could not bear to
+see this brave and handsome traveller attempt what was so very
+dangerous, and devote himself, most probably, to become a meal for the
+dragon's hundred ravenous mouths.
+
+"Go back," cried they all--"go back to your own home! Your mother,
+beholding you safe and sound, will shed tears of joy; and what can she
+do more, should you win ever so great a victory? No matter for the
+golden apples! No matter for the king, your cruel cousin! We do not wish
+the dragon with the hundred heads to eat you up!"
+
+The stranger seemed to grow impatient at these remonstrances. He
+carelessly lifted his mighty club, and let it fall upon a rock that lay
+half buried in the earth, near by. With the force of that idle blow, the
+great rock was shattered all to pieces. It cost the stranger no more
+effort to achieve this feat of a giant's strength than for one of the
+young maidens to touch her sister's rosy cheek with a flower.
+
+"Do you not believe," said he, looking at the damsels with a smile,
+"that such a blow would have crushed one of the dragon's hundred heads?"
+
+Then he sat down on the grass, and told them the story of his life, or
+as much of it as he could remember, from the day when he was first
+cradled in a warrior's brazen shield. While he lay there, two immense
+serpents came gliding over the floor, and opened their hideous jaws to
+devour him; and he, a baby of a few months old, had griped one of the
+fierce snakes in each of his little fists, and strangled them to death.
+When he was but a stripling, he had killed a huge lion, almost as big as
+the one whose vast and shaggy hide he now wore upon his shoulders. The
+next thing that he had done was to fight a battle with an ugly sort of
+monster, called a hydra, which had no less than nine heads, and
+exceedingly sharp teeth in every one.
+
+"But the dragon of the Hesperides, you know," observed one of the
+damsels, "has a hundred heads!"
+
+"Nevertheless," replied the stranger, "I would rather fight two such
+dragons than a single hydra. For, as fast as I cut off a head, two
+others grew in its place; and, besides, there was one of the heads that
+could not possibly be killed, but kept biting as fiercely as ever, long
+after it was cut off. So I was forced to bury it under a stone, where it
+is doubtless alive to this very day. But the hydra's body, and its eight
+other heads, will never do any further mischief."
+
+The damsels, judging that the story was likely to last a good while, had
+been preparing a repast of bread and grapes, that the stranger might
+refresh himself in the intervals of his talk. They took pleasure in
+helping him to this simple food; and, now and then, one of them would
+put a sweet grape between her rosy lips, lest it should make him bashful
+to eat alone.
+
+The traveller proceeded to tell how he had chased a very swift stag for
+a twelvemonth together, without ever stopping to take breath, and had at
+last caught it by the antlers, and carried it home alive. And he had
+fought with a very odd race of people, half horses and half men, and had
+put them all to death, from a sense of duty, in order that their ugly
+figures might never be seen any more. Besides all this, he took to
+himself great credit for having cleaned out a stable.
+
+"Do you call that a wonderful exploit?" asked one of the young maidens,
+with a smile. "Any clown in the country has done as much!"
+
+"Had it been an ordinary stable," replied the stranger, "I should not
+have mentioned it. But this was so gigantic a task that it would have
+taken me all my life to perform it, if I had not luckily thought of
+turning the channel of a river through the stable door. That did the
+business in a very short time!"
+
+Seeing how earnestly his fair auditors listened, he next told them how
+he had shot some monstrous birds, and had caught a wild bull alive and
+let him go again, and had tamed a number of very wild horses, and had
+conquered Hippolyta, the warlike queen of the Amazons. He mentioned,
+likewise, that he had taken off Hippolyta's enchanted girdle and had
+given it to the daughter of his cousin, the king.
+
+"Was it the girdle of Venus," inquired the prettiest of the damsels,
+"which makes women beautiful?"
+
+"No," answered the stranger. "It had formerly been the sword belt of
+Mars; and it can only make the wearer valiant and courageous."
+
+"An old sword belt!" cried the damsel, tossing her head. "Then I should
+not care about having it!"
+
+"You are right," said the stranger.
+
+Going on with his wonderful narrative, he informed the maidens that as
+strange an adventure as ever happened was when he fought with Geryon,
+the six-legged man. This was a very odd and frightful sort of figure, as
+you may well believe. Any person, looking at his tracks in the sand or
+snow, would suppose that three sociable companions had been walking
+along together. On hearing his footsteps at a little distance, it was no
+more than reasonable to judge that several people must be coming. But it
+was only the strange man Geryon clattering onward, with his six legs!
+
+Six legs, and one gigantic body! Certainly, he must have been a very
+queer monster to look at; and, my stars, what a waste of shoe leather!
+
+When the stranger had finished the story of his adventures, he looked
+around at the attentive faces of the maidens.
+
+"Perhaps you may have heard of me before," said he, modestly. "My name
+is Hercules!"
+
+"We had already guessed it," replied the maidens; "for your wonderful
+deeds are known all over the world. We do not think it strange, any
+longer, that you should set out in quest of the golden apples of the
+Hesperides. Come, sisters, let us crown the hero with flowers!"
+
+Then they flung beautiful wreaths over his stately head and mighty
+shoulders, so that the lion's skin was almost entirely covered with
+roses. They took possession of his ponderous club, and so entwined it
+about with the brightest, softest, and most fragrant blossoms that not a
+finger's breadth of its oaken substance could be seen. It looked all
+like a huge bunch of flowers. Lastly, they joined hands, and danced
+around him, chanting words which became poetry of their own accord, and
+grew into a choral song, in honour of the illustrious Hercules.
+
+And Hercules was rejoiced, as any other hero would have been, to know
+that these fair young girls had heard of the valiant deeds which it had
+cost him so much toil and danger to achieve. But still he was not
+satisfied. He could not think that what he had already done was worthy
+of so much honour, while there remained any bold or difficult adventure
+to be undertaken.
+
+"Dear maidens," said he, when they paused to take breath, "now that you
+know my name, will you not tell me how I am to reach the garden of the
+Hesperides?"
+
+"Ah! must you go to soon?" they exclaimed. "You--that have performed so
+many wonders, and spent such a toilsome life--cannot you content
+yourself to repose a little while on the margin of this peaceful river?"
+
+Hercules shook his head.
+
+"I must depart now," said he.
+
+"We will then give you the best directions we can," replied the damsels.
+"You must go to the seashore, and find out the Old One, and compel him
+to inform you where the golden apples are to be found."
+
+"The Old One!" repeated Hercules, laughing at this odd name. "And, pray,
+who may the Old One be?"
+
+"Why, the Old Man of the Sea, to be sure!" answered one of the damsels.
+"He has fifty daughters, whom some people call very beautiful; but we do
+not think it proper to be acquainted with them, because they have
+sea-green hair, and taper away like fishes. You must talk with this Old
+Man of the Sea. He is a seafaring person, and knows all about the garden
+of the Hesperides, for it is situated in an island which he is often in
+the habit of visiting."
+
+Hercules then asked whereabouts the Old One was most likely to be met
+with. When the damsels had informed him, he thanked them for all their
+kindness,--for the bread and grapes with which they had fed him, the
+lovely flowers with which they had crowned him, and the songs and
+dances wherewith they had done him honour--and he thanked them, most of
+all, for telling him the right way--and immediately set forth upon his
+journey.
+
+But, before he was out of hearing, one of the maidens called after him.
+
+"Keep fast hold of the Old One, when you catch him!" cried she, smiling,
+and lifting her finger to make the caution more impressive. "Do not be
+astonished at anything that may happen. Only hold him fast, and he will
+tell you what you wish to know."
+
+Hercules again thanked her, and pursued his way, while the maidens
+resumed their pleasant labour of making flower wreaths. They talked
+about the hero long after he was gone.
+
+"We will crown him with the loveliest of our garlands," said they, "when
+he returns hither with the three golden apples, after slaying the dragon
+with a hundred heads."
+
+Meanwhile, Hercules travelled constantly onward, over hill and dale, and
+through the solitary woods. Sometimes he swung his club aloft, and
+splintered a mighty oak with a downright blow. His mind was so full of
+the giants and monsters with whom it was the business of his life to
+fight, that perhaps he mistook the great tree for a giant or a monster.
+And so eager was Hercules to achieve what he had undertaken, that he
+almost regretted to have spent so much time with the damsels, wasting
+idle breath upon the story of his adventures. But thus it always is with
+persons who are destined to perform great things. What they have already
+done seems less than nothing. What they have taken in hand to do seems
+worth toil, danger, and life itself. Persons who happened to be passing
+through the forest must have been affrighted to see him smite the trees
+with his great club. With but a single blow, the trunk was riven as by
+the stroke of lightning and the broad boughs came rustling and crashing
+down.
+
+Hastening forward, without ever pausing or looking behind, he by and by
+heard the sea roaring at a distance. At this sound, he increased his
+speed, and soon came to a beach, where the great surf waves tumbled
+themselves upon the hard sand, in a long line of snowy foam. At one end
+of the beach, however, there was a pleasant spot, where some green
+shrubbery clambered up a cliff, making its rocky face look soft and
+beautiful. A carpet of verdant grass, largely intermixed with
+sweet-smelling clover, covered the narrow space between the bottom of
+the cliff and the sea. And what should Hercules espy there but an old
+man, fast asleep!
+
+But was it really and truly an old man? Certainly, at first sight, it
+looked very like one; but, on closer inspection, it rather seemed to be
+some kind of a creature that lived in the sea. For on his legs and arms
+there were scales, such as fishes have; he was web-footed and
+web-fingered, after the fashion of a duck; and his long beard, being of
+a greenish tinge, had more the appearance of a tuft of seaweed than of
+an ordinary beard. Have you never seen a stick of timber, that has been
+long tossed about by the waves, and has got all overgrown with
+barnacles, and, at last drifting ashore, seems to have been thrown up
+from the very deepest bottom of the sea. Well, the old man would have
+put you in mind of just such a wave-tossed spar! But Hercules, the
+instant he set eyes on this strange figure, was convinced that it could
+be no other than the Old One, who was to direct him on his way.
+
+Yes, it was the selfsame Old Man of the Sea whom the hospitable maidens
+had talked to him about. Thanking his stars for the lucky accident of
+finding the old fellow asleep, Hercules stole on tiptoe toward him, and
+caught him by the arm and leg.
+
+"Tell me," cried he, before the Old One was well awake, "which is the
+way to the garden of the Hesperides?"
+
+As you may easily imagine, the Old Man of the Sea awoke in a fright. But
+his astonishment could hardly have been greater than was that of
+Hercules, the next moment. For, all of a sudden, the Old One seemed to
+disappear out of his grasp, and he found himself holding a stag by the
+fore and hind leg! But still he kept fast hold. Then the stag
+disappeared, and in its stead there was a sea bird, fluttering and
+screaming, while Hercules clutched it by the wing and claw! But the bird
+could not get away. Immediately afterward, there was an ugly
+three-headed dog, which growled and barked at Hercules, and snapped
+fiercely at the hands by which he held him! But Hercules would not let
+him go. In another minute, instead of the three-headed dog, what should
+appear but Geryon, the six-legged man monster, kicking at Hercules with
+five of his legs, in order to get the remaining one at liberty! But
+Hercules held on. By and by, no Geryon was there, but a huge snake, like
+one of those which Hercules had strangled in his babyhood, only a
+hundred times as big; and it twisted and twined about the hero's neck
+and body, and threw its tail high into the air, and opened its deadly
+jaws as if to devour him outright; so that it was really a very terrible
+spectacle! But Hercules was no whit disheartened, and squeezed the great
+snake so tightly that he soon began to hiss with pain.
+
+You must understand that the Old Man of the Sea, though he generally
+looked so much like the wave-beaten figurehead of a vessel, had the
+power of assuming any shape he pleased. When he found himself so roughly
+seized by Hercules, he had been in hopes of putting him into such
+surprise and terror, by these magical transformations, that the hero
+would be glad to let him go. If Hercules had relaxed his grasp, the Old
+One would certainly have plunged down to the very bottom of the sea,
+whence he would not soon have given himself the trouble of coming up, in
+order to answer any impertinent questions. Ninety-nine people out of a
+hundred, I suppose, would have been frightened out of their wits by the
+very first of his ugly shapes, and would have taken to their heels at
+once. For one of the hardest things in this world is to see the
+difference between real dangers and imaginary ones.
+
+But, as Hercules held on so stubbornly, and only squeezed the Old One so
+much the tighter at every change of shape, and really put him to no
+small torture, he finally thought it best to reappear in his own figure.
+So there he was again, a fishy, scaly, web-footed sort of personage,
+with something like a tuft of seaweed at his chin.
+
+"Pray, what do you want with me?" cried the Old One, as soon as he could
+take breath; for it is quite a tiresome affair to go through so many
+false shapes. "Why do you squeeze me so hard? Let me go this moment, or
+I shall begin to consider you an extremely uncivil person!"
+
+"My name is Hercules!" roared the mighty stranger. "And you will never
+get out of my clutch until you tell me the nearest way to the garden of
+the Hesperides!"
+
+When the old fellow heard who it was that had caught him, he saw with
+half an eye that it would be necessary to tell him everything that he
+wanted to know. The Old One was an inhabitant of the sea, you must
+recollect, and roamed about everywhere, like other seafaring people. Of
+course, he had often heard of the fame of Hercules, and of the wonderful
+things that he was constantly performing in various parts of the earth,
+and how determined he always was to accomplish whatever he undertook. He
+therefore made no more attempts to escape, but told the hero how to find
+the garden of the Hesperides, and likewise warned him of many
+difficulties which must be overcome before he could arrive thither.
+
+"You must go on, thus and thus," said the Old Man of the Sea, after
+taking the points of the compass, "till you come in sight of a very tall
+giant, who holds the sky on his shoulders. And the giant, if he happens
+to be in the humour, will tell you exactly where the garden of the
+Hesperides lies."
+
+"And if the giant happens not to be in the humour," remarked Hercules,
+balancing his club on the tip of his finger, "perhaps I shall find means
+to persuade him!"
+
+Thanking the Old Man of the Sea, and begging his pardon for having
+squeezed him so roughly, the hero resumed his journey. He met with a
+great many strange adventures, which would be well worth your hearing,
+if I had leisure to narrate them as minutely as they deserve.
+
+It was in this journey, if I mistake not, that he encountered a
+prodigious giant, who was so wonderfully contrived by nature that, every
+time he touched the earth, he became ten times as strong as ever he had
+been before. His name was Antaeus. You may see, plainly enough, that it
+was a very difficult business to fight with such a fellow; for, as often
+as he got a knock-down blow, up he started again, stronger, fiercer, and
+abler to use his weapons than if his enemy had let him alone. Thus, the
+harder Hercules pounded the giant with his club, the further he seemed
+from winning the victory. I have sometimes argued with such people, but
+never fought with one. The only way in which Hercules found it possible
+to finish the battle was by lifting Antaeus off his feet into the air,
+and squeezing, and squeezing, and squeezing him until, finally, the
+strength was quite squeezed out of his enormous body.
+
+When this affair was finished, Hercules continued his travels, and went
+to the land of Egypt, where he was taken prisoner, and would have been
+put to death if he had not slain the king of the country and made his
+escape. Passing through the deserts of Africa, and going as fast as he
+could, he arrived at last on the shore of the great ocean. And here,
+unless he could walk on the crests of the billows, it seemed as if his
+journey must needs be at an end.
+
+Nothing was before him, save the foaming, dashing, measureless ocean.
+But, suddenly, as he looked toward the horizon, he saw something, a
+great way off, which he had not seen the moment before. It gleamed very
+brightly, almost as you may have beheld the round, golden disc of the
+sun, when it rises or sets over the edge of the world. It evidently drew
+nearer; for, at every instant, this wonderful object became larger and
+more lustrous. At length, it had come so nigh that Hercules discovered
+it to be an immense cup or bowl, made either of gold or burnished brass.
+How it had got afloat upon the sea is more than I can tell you. There it
+was, at all events, rolling on the tumultuous billows, which tossed it
+up and down, and heaved their foamy tops against its sides, but without
+ever throwing their spray over the brim.
+
+"I have seen many giants, in my time," thought Hercules, "but never one
+that would need to drink his wine out of a cup like this!"
+
+And, true enough, what a cup it must have been! It was as large--as
+large--but, in short, I am afraid to say how immeasurably large it was.
+To speak within bounds, it was ten times larger than a great mill wheel;
+and, all of metal as it was, it floated over the heaving surges more
+lightly than an acorn cup adown the brook. The waves tumbled it onward,
+until it grazed against the shore, within a short distance of the spot
+where Hercules was standing.
+
+As soon as this happened, he knew what was to be done; for he had not
+gone through so many remarkable adventures without learning pretty well
+how to conduct himself, whenever anything came to pass a little out of
+the common rule. It was just as clear as daylight that this marvellous
+cup had been set adrift by some unseen power, and guided hitherward, in
+order to carry Hercules across the sea, on his way to the garden of the
+Hesperides. Accordingly, without a moment's delay, he clambered over the
+brim, and slid down on the inside, where, spreading out his lion's skin,
+he proceeded to take a little repose. He had scarcely rested, until now,
+since he bade farewell to the damsels on the margin of the river. The
+waves dashed, with a pleasant and ringing sound, against the
+circumference of the hollow cup; it rocked lightly to and fro, and the
+motion was so soothing that it speedily rocked Hercules into an
+agreeable slumber.
+
+His nap had probably lasted a good while, when the cup chanced to graze
+against a rock, and, in consequence, immediately resounded and
+reverberated through its golden or brazen substance, a hundred times as
+loudly as ever you heard a church bell. The noise awoke Hercules, who
+instantly started up and gazed around him, wondering whereabouts he was.
+He was not long in discovering that the cup had floated across a great
+part of the sea, and was approaching the shore of what seemed to be an
+island. And, on that island, what do you think he saw?
+
+No; you will never guess it, not if you were to try fifty thousand
+times! It positively appears to me that this was the most marvellous
+spectacle that had ever been seen by Hercules in the whole course of his
+wonderful travels and adventures. It was a greater marvel than the hydra
+with nine heads, which kept growing twice as fast as they were cut off;
+greater than the six-legged man monster; greater than Antaeus; greater
+than anything that was ever beheld by anybody, before or since the days
+of Hercules, or than anything that remains to be beheld by travellers in
+all time to come. It was a giant!
+
+But such an intolerably big giant! A giant as tall as a mountain; so
+vast a giant that the clouds rested about his midst, like a girdle, and
+hung like a hoary beard from his chin, and flitted before his huge eyes,
+so that he could neither see Hercules nor the golden cup in which he was
+voyaging. And, most wonderful of all, the giant held up his great hands
+and appeared to support the sky, which, so far as Hercules could discern
+through the clouds, was resting upon his head! This does really seem
+almost too much to believe.
+
+Meanwhile, the bright cup continued to float onward, and finally touched
+the strand. Just then a breeze wafted away the clouds from before the
+giant's visage, and Hercules beheld it, with all its enormous features;
+eyes each of them as big as yonder lake, a nose a mile long, and a mouth
+of the same width. It was a countenance terrible from its enormity of
+size, but disconsolate and weary, even as you may see the faces of many
+people, nowadays, who are compelled to sustain burdens above their
+strength. What the sky was to the giant, such are the cares of earth to
+those who let themselves be weighed down by them. And whenever men
+undertake what is beyond the just measure of their abilities, they
+encounter precisely such a doom as had befallen this poor giant.
+
+Poor fellow! He had evidently stood there a long while. An ancient
+forest had been growing and decaying around his feet; and oak trees, of
+six or seven centuries old, had sprung from the acorn, and forced
+themselves between his toes.
+
+The giant now looked down from the far height of his great eyes, and,
+perceiving Hercules, roared out, in a voice that resembled thunder,
+proceeding out of the cloud that had just flitted away from his face.
+
+"Who are you, down at my feet there? And whence do you come in that
+little cup?"
+
+"I am Hercules!" thundered back the hero, in a voice pretty nearly or
+quite as loud as the giant's own. "And I am seeking for the garden of
+the Hesperides!"
+
+"Ho! ho! ho!" roared the giant, in a fit of immense laughter. "That is a
+wise adventure, truly!"
+
+"And why not?" cried Hercules, getting a little angry at the giant's
+mirth. "Do you think I am afraid of the dragon with a hundred heads!"
+
+Just at this time, while they were talking together, some black clouds
+gathered about the giant's middle, and burst into a tremendous storm of
+thunder and lightning, causing such a pother that Hercules found it
+impossible to distinguish a word. Only the giant's immeasurable legs
+were to be seen, standing up into the obscurity of the tempest; and, now
+and then, a momentary glimpse of his whole figure, mantled in a volume
+of mist. He seemed to be speaking, most of the time; but his big, deep,
+rough voice chimed in with the reverberations of the thunder claps, and
+rolled away over the hills, like them. Thus, by talking out of season,
+the foolish giant expended an incalculable quantity of breath to no
+purpose; for the thunder spoke quite as intelligibly as he.
+
+At last, the storm swept over as suddenly as it had come. And there
+again was the clear sky, and the weary giant holding it up, and the
+pleasant sunshine beaming over his vast height, and illuminating it
+against the background of the sullen thunder clouds. So far above the
+shower had been his head, that not a hair of it was moistened by the
+rain-drops!
+
+When the giant could see Hercules still standing on the seashore, he
+roared out to him anew.
+
+"I am Atlas, the mightiest giant in the world! And I hold the sky upon
+my head!"
+
+"So I see," answered Hercules. "But, can you show me the way to the
+garden of the Hesperides?"
+
+"What do you want there?" asked the giant.
+
+"I want three of the golden apples," shouted Hercules, "for my cousin,
+the king."
+
+"There is nobody but myself," quoth the giant, "that can go to the
+garden of the Hesperides, and gather the golden apples. If it were not
+for this little business of holding up the sky, I would make half a
+dozen steps across the sea and get them for you."
+
+"You are very kind," replied Hercules. "And cannot you rest the sky upon
+a mountain?"
+
+"None of them are quite high enough," said Atlas, shaking his head. "But
+if you were to take your stand on the summit of that nearest one, your
+head would be pretty nearly on a level with mine. You seem to be a
+fellow of some strength. What if you should take my burden on your
+shoulders, while I do your errand for you?"
+
+Hercules, as you must be careful to remember, was a remarkably strong
+man; and though it certainly requires a great deal of muscular power to
+uphold the sky, yet, if any mortal could be supposed capable of such an
+exploit, he was the one. Nevertheless, it seemed so difficult an
+undertaking that, for the first time in his life, he hesitated.
+
+"Is the sky very heavy?" he inquired.
+
+"Why, not particularly so, at first," answered the giant, shrugging his
+shoulders. "But it gets to be a little burdensome after a thousand
+years!"
+
+"And how long a time," asked the hero, "will it take you to get the
+golden apples?"
+
+"Oh, that will be done in a few moments," cried Atlas. "I shall take ten
+or fifteen miles at a stride, and be at the garden and back again before
+your shoulders begin to ache."
+
+"Well, then," answered Hercules, "I will climb the mountain behind you
+there and relieve you of your burden."
+
+The truth is, Hercules had a kind heart of his own, and considered that
+he should be doing the giant a favour by allowing him this opportunity
+for a ramble. And, besides, he thought that it would be still more for
+his own glory if he could boast of upholding the sky, than merely to do
+so ordinary a thing as to conquer a dragon with a hundred heads.
+Accordingly, without more words, the sky was shifted from the shoulders
+of Atlas and placed upon those of Hercules.
+
+When this was safely accomplished, the first thing that the giant did
+was to stretch himself; and you may imagine what a prodigious spectacle
+he was then. Next, lie slowly lifted one of his feet out of the forest
+that had grown up around it; then, the other. Then, all at once, he
+began to caper, and leap, and dance for joy at his freedom; flinging
+himself nobody knows how high into the air, and floundering down again
+with a shock that made the earth tremble. Then he laughed--Ho! ho!
+ho!--with a thunderous roar that was echoed from the mountains, far and
+near, as if they and the giant had been so many rejoicing brothers. When
+his joy had a little subsided, he stepped into the sea; ten miles at the
+first stride, which brought him midleg deep; and ten miles at the
+second, when the water came just above his knees; and ten miles more at
+the third, by which he was immersed nearly to his waist. This was the
+greatest depth of the sea.
+
+Hercules watched the giant as he still went onward; for it was really a
+wonderful sight, this immense human form, more than thirty miles off,
+half hidden in the ocean, but with his upper half as tall, and misty,
+and blue as a distant mountain. At last the gigantic shape faded
+entirely out of view. And now Hercules began to consider what he should
+do in case Atlas should be drowned in the sea, or if he were to be stung
+to death by the dragon with the hundred heads, which guarded the golden
+apples of the Hesperides. If any such misfortune were to happen, how
+could he ever get rid of the sky? And, by the by, its weight began
+already to be a little irksome to his head and shoulders.
+
+"I really pity the poor giant," thought Hercules. "If it wearies me so
+much in ten minutes, how must it have wearied him in a thousand years!"
+
+O my sweet little people, you have no idea what a weight there was in
+that same blue sky, which looks so soft and aerial above our heads! And
+there, too, was the bluster of the wind, and the chill and watery
+clouds, and the blazing sun, all taking their turns to make Hercules
+uncomfortable! He began to be afraid that the giant would never come
+back. He gazed wistfully at the world beneath him, and acknowledged to
+himself that it was a far happier kind of life to be a shepherd at the
+foot of a mountain than to stand on its dizzy summit and bear up the
+firmament with his might and main. For, of course, as you will easily
+understand, Hercules had an immense responsibility on his mind, as well
+as a weight on his head and shoulders. Why, if he did not stand
+perfectly still, and keep the sky immovable, the sun would perhaps be
+put ajar! Or, after nightfall, a great many of the stars might be
+loosened from their places, and shower down, like fiery rain, upon the
+people's heads! And how ashamed would the hero be if, owing to his
+unsteadiness beneath its weight, the sky should crack and show a great
+fissure quite across it!
+
+I know not how long it was before, to his unspeakable joy, he beheld the
+huge shape of the giant, like a cloud, on the far-off edge of the sea.
+At his nearer approach, Atlas held up his hand, in which Hercules could
+perceive three magnificent golden apples, as big as pumpkins, all
+hanging from one branch.
+
+"I am glad to see you again," shouted Hercules, when the giant was
+within hearing. "So you have got the golden apples?"
+
+"Certainly, certainly," answered Atlas; "and very fair apples they are.
+I took the finest that grew on the tree, I assure you. Ah! it is a
+beautiful spot, that garden of Hesperides. Yes; and the dragon with a
+hundred heads is a sight worth any man's seeing. After all, you had
+better have gone for the apples yourself."
+
+"No matter," replied Hercules. "You have had a pleasant ramble, and have
+done the business as well as I could. I heartily thank you for your
+trouble. And now, as I have a long way to go, and am rather in
+haste--and as the king, my cousin, is anxious to receive the golden
+apples--will you be kind enough to take the sky off my shoulders again?"
+
+"Why, as to that," said the giant, chucking the golden apples into the
+air twenty miles high, or thereabouts and catching them as they came
+down--"as to that, my good friend, I consider you a little unreasonable.
+Cannot I carry the golden apples to the king, your cousin, much quicker
+than you could? As His Majesty is in such a hurry to get them, I promise
+you to take my longest strides. And, besides, I have no fancy for
+burdening myself with the sky, just now."
+
+Here Hercules grew impatient, and gave a great shrug of his shoulders.
+It being now twilight, you might have seen two or three stars tumble out
+of their places. Everybody on earth looked upward in affright, thinking
+that the sky might be going to fall next.
+
+"Oh, that will never do!" cried Giant Atlas, with a great roar of
+laughter. "I have not let fall so many stars within the last five
+centuries. By the time you have stood there as long as I did, you will
+begin to learn patience!"
+
+"What!" shouted Hercules, very wrathfully, "do you intend to make me
+bear this burden forever?"
+
+"We will see about that, one of these days," answered the giant. "At all
+events, you ought not to complain if you have to bear it the next
+hundred years, or perhaps the next thousand. I bore it a good while
+longer, in spite of the backache. Well, then, after a thousand years, if
+I happen to feel in the mood, we may possibly shift about again. You are
+certainly a very strong man, and can never have a better opportunity to
+prove it. Posterity will talk of you, I warrant it!"
+
+"Pish! a fig for its talk!" cried Hercules, with another hitch of his
+shoulders. "Just take the sky upon your head one instant, will you? I
+want to make a cushion of my lion's skin, for the weight to rest upon.
+It really chafes me, and will cause unnecessary inconvenience in so many
+centuries as I am to stand here."
+
+"That's no more than fair, and I'll do it!" quoth the giant; for he had
+no unkind feeling toward Hercules, and was merely acting with a too
+selfish consideration of his own ease. "For just five minutes, then,
+I'll take back the sky. Only for five minutes, recollect! I have no idea
+of spending another thousand years as I spent the last. Variety is the
+spice of life, say I."
+
+Ah, the thick-witted old rogue of a giant! He threw down the golden
+apples, and received back the sky from the head and shoulders of
+Hercules, upon his own, where it rightly belonged. And Hercules picked
+up the three golden apples, that were as big or bigger than pumpkins and
+straightway set out on his journey homeward, without paying the
+slightest heed to the thundering tones of the giant, who bellowed after
+him to come back. Another forest sprang up around his feet, and grew
+ancient there; and again might be seen oak trees, of six or seven
+centuries old, that had waxed thus aged betwixt his enormous toes.
+
+And there stands the giant to this day; or, at any rate, there stands a
+mountain as tall as he, and which bears his name; and when the thunder
+rumbles about its summit, we may imagine it to be the voice of Giant
+Atlas, bellowing after Hercules!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS
+
+
+Mother Ceres was exceedingly fond of her daughter Proserpina, and seldom
+let her go alone into the fields. But, just at the time when my story
+begins, the good lady was very busy, because she had the care of the
+wheat, and the Indian corn, and the rye and barley, and, in short, of
+the crops of every kind, all over the earth; and as the season had thus
+far been uncommonly backward, it was necessary to make the harvest ripen
+more speedily than usual. So she put on her turban, made of poppies (a
+kind of flower which she was always noted for wearing) and got into her
+car drawn by a pair of winged dragons, and was just ready to set off.
+
+"Dear mother," said Proserpina, "I shall be very lonely while you are
+away. May I not run down to the shore, and ask some of the sea nymphs to
+come up out of the waves and play with me?"
+
+"Yes, child," answered Mother Ceres. "The sea nymphs are good creatures,
+and will never lead you into any harm. But you must take care not to
+stray away from them, nor go wandering about the fields by yourself.
+Young girls, without their mothers to take care of them, are very apt to
+get into mischief."
+
+The child promised to be as prudent as if she were a grown-up woman,
+and, by the time the winged dragons had whirled the car out of sight,
+she was already on the shore, calling to the sea nymphs to come and
+play with her. They knew Proserpina's voice, and were not long in
+showing their glistening faces and sea-green hair above the water, at
+the bottom of which was their home. They brought along with them a great
+many beautiful shells; and, sitting down on the moist sand, where the
+surf wave broke over them, they busied themselves in making a necklace,
+which they hung round Proserpina's neck. By way of showing her
+gratitude, the child besought them to go with her a little way into the
+fields, so that they might gather abundance of flowers, with which she
+would make each of her kind playmates a wreath.
+
+"Oh, no, dear Proserpina," cried the sea nymphs; "we dare not go with
+you upon the dry land. We are apt to grow faint, unless at every breath
+we can snuff up the salt breeze of the ocean. And don't you see how
+careful we are to let the surf wave break over us every moment or two,
+so as to keep ourselves comfortably moist? If it were not for that, we
+should soon look like bunches of uprooted seaweed dried in the sun."
+
+"It is a great pity," said Proserpina. "But do you wait for me here, and
+I will run and gather my apron full of flowers, and be back again before
+the surf wave has broken ten times over you. I long to make you some
+wreaths that shall be as lovely as this necklace of many-coloured
+shells."
+
+"We will wait, then," answered the sea nymphs. "But while you are gone,
+we may as well lie down on a bank of soft sponge, under the water. The
+air to-day is a little too dry for our comfort. But we will pop up our
+heads every few minutes to see if you are coming."
+
+The young Proserpina ran quickly to a spot where, only the day before,
+she had seen a great many flowers. These, however, were now a little
+past their bloom; and wishing to give her friends the freshest and
+loveliest blossoms, she strayed farther into the fields, and found some
+that made her scream with delight. Never had she met with such exquisite
+flowers before--violets, so large and fragrant--roses, with so rich and
+delicate a blush--such superb hyacinths and such aromatic pinks--and
+many others, some of which seemed to be of new shapes and colours. Two
+or three times, moreover, she could not help thinking that a tuft of
+most splendid flowers had suddenly sprouted out of the earth before her
+very eyes, as if on purpose to tempt her a few steps farther.
+Proserpina's apron was soon filled and brimming over with delightful
+blossoms. She was on the point of turning back in order to rejoin the
+sea nymphs, and sit with them on the moist sands, all twining wreaths
+together. But, a little farther on, what should she behold? It was a
+large shrub, completely covered with the most magnificent flowers in the
+world.
+
+"The darlings!" cried Proserpina; and then she thought to herself, "I
+was looking at that spot only a moment ago. How strange it is that I did
+not see the flowers!"
+
+The nearer she approached the shrub, the more attractive it looked,
+until she came quite close to it; and then, although its beauty was
+richer than words can tell, she hardly knew whether to like it or not.
+It bore above a hundred flowers of the most brilliant hues, and each
+different from the others, but all having a kind of resemblance among
+themselves, which showed them to be sister blossoms. But there was a
+deep, glossy lustre on the leaves of the shrub, and on the petals of the
+flowers, that made Proserpina doubt whether they might not be
+poisonous. To tell you the truth, foolish as it may seem, she was half
+inclined to turn round and run away.
+
+"What a silly child I am!" thought she, taking courage. "It is really
+the most beautiful shrub that ever sprang out of the earth. I will pull
+it up by the roots, and carry it home, and plant it in my mother's
+garden."
+
+Holding up her apron full of flowers with her left hand, Proserpina
+seized the large shrub with the other, and pulled and pulled, but was
+hardly able to loosen the soil about its roots. What a deep-rooted plant
+it was! Again the girl pulled with all her might, and observed that the
+earth began to stir and crack to some distance around the stem. She gave
+another pull, but relaxed her hold, fancying that there was a rumbling
+sound right beneath her feet. Did the roots extend down into some
+enchanted cavern? Then, laughing at herself for so childish a notion,
+she made another effort; up came the shrub, and Proserpina staggered
+back, holding the stem triumphantly in her hand, and gazing at the deep
+hole which its roots had left in the soil.
+
+Much to her astonishment, this hole kept spreading wider and wider, and
+growing deeper and deeper, until it really seemed to have no bottom; and
+all the while, there came a rumbling noise out of its depths, louder and
+louder, and nearer and nearer, and sounding like the tramp of horses'
+hoofs and the rattling of wheels. Too much frightened to run away, she
+stood straining her eyes into this wonderful cavity, and soon saw a team
+of four sable horses, snorting smoke out of their nostrils, and tearing
+their way out of the earth with a splendid golden chariot whirling at
+their heels. They leaped out of the bottomless hole, chariot and all;
+and there they were, tossing their black manes, flourishing their black
+tails, and curveting with every one of their hoofs off the ground at
+once, close by the spot where Proserpina stood. In the chariot sat the
+figure of a man, richly dressed, with a crown on his head, all flaming
+with diamonds. He was of a noble aspect, and rather handsome, but looked
+sullen and discontented; and he kept rubbing his eyes and shading them
+with his hand, as if he did not live enough in the sunshine to be very
+fond of its light.
+
+As soon as this personage saw the affrighted Proserpina, he beckoned her
+to come a little nearer.
+
+"Do not be afraid," said he, with as cheerful a smile as he knew how to
+put on. "Come! Will not you like to ride a little way with me, in my
+beautiful chariot?"
+
+But Proserpina was so alarmed that she wished for nothing but to get out
+of his reach. And no wonder. The stranger did not look remarkably
+good-natured, in spite of his smile; and as for his voice, its tones
+were deep and stern, and sounded as much like the rumbling of an
+earthquake under ground as anything else. As is always the case with
+children in trouble, Proserpina's first thought was to call for her
+mother.
+
+"Mother, Mother Ceres!" cried she, all in a tremble. "Come quickly and
+save me."
+
+But her voice was too faint for her mother to hear. Indeed, it is most
+probable that Ceres was then a thousand miles off, making the corn grow
+in some far-distant country. Nor could it have availed her poor
+daughter, even had she been within hearing; for no sooner did Proserpina
+begin to cry out than the stranger leaped to the ground, caught the
+child in his arms, and again mounting the chariot, shook the reins, and
+shouted to the four black horses to set off. They immediately broke into
+so swift a gallop that it seemed rather like flying through the air
+than running along the earth. In a moment, Proserpina lost sight of the
+pleasant vale of Enna, in which she had always dwelt. Another instant,
+and even the summit of Mount AEtna had become so blue in the distance
+that she could scarcely distinguish it from the smoke that gushed out of
+its crater. But still the poor child screamed and scattered her apron
+full of flowers along the way, and left a long cry trailing behind
+the chariot; and many mothers, to whose ears it came, ran quickly to see
+if any mischief had befallen their children. But Mother Ceres was a
+great way off, and could not hear the cry.
+
+As they rode on, the stranger did his best to soothe her.
+
+"Why should you be so frightened, my pretty child?" said he, trying to
+soften his rough voice. "I promise not to do you any harm. What! You
+have been gathering flowers? Wait till we come to my palace, and I will
+give you a garden full of prettier flowers than those, all made of
+pearls, and diamonds, and rubies. Can you guess who I am? They call my
+name Pluto, and I am the king of diamonds and all other precious stones.
+Every atom of the gold and silver that lies under the earth belongs to
+me, to say nothing of the copper and iron, and of the coal mines, which
+supply me with abundance of fuel. Do you see this splendid crown upon my
+head? You may have it for a plaything. Oh, we shall be very good
+friends, and you will find me more agreeable than you expect, when once
+we get out of this troublesome sunshine."
+
+"Let me go home!" cried Proserpina--"let me go home!"
+
+"My home is better than your mother's," answered King Pluto. "It is a
+palace, all made of gold, with crystal windows; and because there is
+little or no sunshine thereabouts, the apartments are illuminated with
+diamond lamps. You never saw anything half so magnificent as my throne.
+If you like, you may sit down on it, and be my little queen, and I will
+sit on the footstool."
+
+"I don't care for golden palaces and thrones," sobbed Proserpina. "Oh,
+my mother, my mother! Carry me back to my mother!"
+
+But King Pluto, as he called himself, only shouted to his steeds to go
+faster.
+
+"Pray do not be foolish, Proserpina," said he, in rather a sullen tone,
+"I offer you my palace and my crown, and all the riches that are under
+the earth; and you treat me as if I were doing you an injury. The one
+thing which my palace needs is a merry little maid, to run up stairs and
+down, and cheer up the rooms with her smile. And this is what you must
+do for King Pluto."
+
+"Never!" answered Proserpina, looking as miserable as she could. "I
+shall never smile again till you set me down at my mother's door."
+
+But she might just as well have talked to the wind that whistled past
+them; for Pluto urged on his horses, and went faster than ever.
+Proserpina continued to cry out, and screamed so long and so loudly that
+her poor little voice was almost screamed away; and when it was nothing
+but a whisper, she happened to cast her eyes over a great, broad field
+of waving grain--and whom do you think she saw? Whom but Mother Ceres,
+making the corn grow, and too busy to notice the golden chariot as it
+went rattling along. The child mustered all her strength, and gave one
+more scream, but was out of sight before Ceres had time to turn her
+head.
+
+King Pluto had taken a road which now began to grow excessively gloomy.
+It was bordered on each side with rocks and precipices, between which
+the rumbling of the chariot wheels was reverberated with a noise like
+rolling thunder. The trees and bushes that grew in the crevices of the
+rocks had very dismal foliage; and by and by, although it was hardly
+noon, the air became obscured with a gray twilight. The black horses had
+rushed along so swiftly that they were already beyond the limits of the
+sunshine. But the duskier it grew, the more did Pluto's visage assume an
+air of satisfaction. After all, he was not an ill-looking person,
+especially when he left off twisting his features into a smile that did
+not belong to them. Proserpina peeped at his face through the gathering
+dusk, and hoped that he might not be so very wicked as she at first
+thought him.
+
+"Ah, this twilight is truly refreshing," said King Pluto, "after being
+so tormented with that ugly and impertinent glare of the sun. How much
+more agreeable is lamp-light or torchlight, more particularly when
+reflected from diamonds! It will be a magnificent sight when we get to
+my palace."
+
+"Is it much farther?" asked Proserpina. "And will you carry me back when
+I have seen it?"
+
+"We will talk of that by and by," answered Pluto. "We are just entering
+my dominions. Do you see that tall gateway before us? When we pass those
+gates, we are at home. And there lies my faithful mastiff at the
+threshold. Cerberus! Cerberus! Come hither, my good dog!"
+
+So saying, Pluto pulled at the reins, and stopped the chariot right
+between the tall, massive pillars of the gateway. The mastiff of which
+he had spoken got up from the threshold and stood on his hinder legs, so
+as to put his fore paws on the chariot wheel. But, my stars, what a
+strange dog it was! Why, he was a big, rough, ugly-looking monster, with
+three separate heads, and each of them fiercer than the two others; but,
+fierce as they were, King Pluto patted them all. He seemed as fond of
+his three-headed dog as if it had been a sweet little spaniel with
+silken ears and curly hair. Cerberus, on the other hand, was evidently
+rejoiced to see his master, and expressed his attachment, as other dogs
+do, by wagging his tail at a great rate. Proserpina's eyes being drawn
+to it by its brisk motion, she saw that this tail was neither more nor
+less than a live dragon, with fiery eyes, and fangs that had a very
+poisonous aspect. And while the three-headed Cerberus was fawning so
+lovingly on King Pluto, there was the dragon tail wagging against its
+will, and looking as cross and ill-natured as you can imagine, on its
+own separate account.
+
+"Will the dog bite me?" asked Proserpina, shrinking closer to Pluto.
+"What an ugly creature he is!"
+
+"Oh, never fear," answered her companion. "He never harms people, unless
+they try to enter my dominions without being sent for, or to get away
+when I wish to keep them here. Down, Cerberus! Now, my pretty
+Proserpina, we will drive on."
+
+On went the chariot, and King Pluto seemed greatly pleased to find
+himself once more in his own kingdom. He drew Proserpina's attention to
+the rich veins of gold that were to be seen among the rocks, and pointed
+to several places where one stroke of a pickaxe would loosen a bushel of
+diamonds. All along the road, indeed, there were sparkling gems which
+would have been of inestimable value above ground, but which were here
+reckoned of the meaner sort and hardly worth a beggar's stooping for.
+
+Not far from the gateway they came to a bridge which seemed to be built
+of iron, Pluto stopped the chariot, and bade Proserpina look at the
+stream which was gliding so lazily beneath it. Never in her life had she
+beheld so torpid, so black, so muddy looking a stream: its waters
+reflected no images of anything that was on the banks, and it moved as
+sluggishly as if it had quite forgotten which way it ought to flow, and
+had rather stagnate than flow either one way or the other.
+
+"This is the river Lethe," observed King Pluto. "Is it not a very
+pleasant stream?"
+
+"I think it a very dismal one," said Proserpina.
+
+"It suits my taste, however," answered Pluto, who was apt to be sullen
+when anybody disagreed with him. "At all events, its water has one very
+excellent quality; for a single draught of it makes people forget every
+care and sorrow that has hitherto tormented them. Only sip a little of
+it, my dear Proserpina, and you will instantly cease to grieve for your
+mother, and will have nothing in your memory that can prevent your being
+perfectly happy in my palace. I will send for some, in a golden goblet,
+the moment we arrive."
+
+"Oh no, no, no!" cried Proserpina, weeping afresh. "I had a thousand
+times rather be miserable with remembering my mother, than be happy in
+forgetting her. That dear, dear mother! I never, never will forget her."
+
+"We shall see," said King Pluto. "You do not know what fine times we
+will have in my palace. Here we are just at the portal. These pillars
+are solid gold, I assure you."
+
+He alighted from the chariot, and taking Proserpina in his arms, carried
+her up a lofty flight of steps into the great hall of the palace. It
+was splendidly illuminated by means of large precious stones of various
+hues, which seemed to burn like so many lamps and glowed with a
+hundred-fold radiance all through the vast apartment. And yet there was
+a kind of gloom in the midst of this enchanted light; nor was there a
+single object in the hall that was really agreeable to behold, except
+the little Proserpina herself, a lovely child, with one earthly flower
+which she had not let fall from her hand. It is my opinion that even
+King Pluto had never been happy in his palace, and that this was the
+true reason why he had stolen away Proserpina, in order that he might
+have something to love, instead of cheating his heart any longer with
+this tiresome magnificence. And though he pretended to dislike the
+sunshine of the upper world, yet the effect of the child's presence,
+bedimmed as she was by her tears, was as if a faint and watery sunbeam
+had somehow or other found its way into the enchanted hall.
+
+Pluto now summoned his domestics, and bade them lose no time in
+preparing a most sumptuous banquet, and above all things not to fail of
+setting a golden beaker of the water of Lethe by Proserpina's plate.
+
+"I will neither drink that nor anything else," said Proserpina. "Nor
+will I taste a morsel of food, even if you keep me forever in your
+palace."
+
+"I should be sorry for that," replied King Pluto, patting her cheek; for
+he really wished to be kind, if he had only known how. "You are a
+spoiled child, I perceive, my little Proserpina; but when you see the
+nice things which my cook will make for you, your appetite will quickly
+come again."
+
+Then, sending for the head cook, he gave strict orders that all sorts
+of delicacies, such as young people are usually fond of, should be set
+before Proserpina. He had a secret motive in this; for, you are to
+understand, it is a fixed law that, when persons are carried off to the
+land of magic, if they once taste any food there, they can never get
+back to their friends. Now, if King Pluto had been cunning enough to
+offer Proserpina some fruit, or bread and milk (which was the simple
+fare to which the child had always been accustomed), it is very probable
+that she would soon have been tempted to eat it. But he left the matter
+entirely to his cook, who, like all other cooks, considered nothing fit
+to eat unless it were rich pastry, or highly seasoned meat, or spiced
+sweet cakes--things which Proserpina's mother had never given her, and
+the smell of which quite took away her appetite, instead of sharpening
+it.
+
+But my story must now clamber out of King Pluto's dominions, and see
+what Mother Ceres has been about since she was bereft of her daughter.
+We had a glimpse of her, as you remember, half hidden among the waving
+grain, while the four black steeds were swiftly whirling along the
+chariot in which her beloved Proserpina was so unwillingly borne away.
+You recollect, too, the loud scream which Proserpina gave, just when the
+chariot was out of sight.
+
+Of all the child's outcries, this last shriek was the only one that
+reached the ears of Mother Ceres. She had mistaken the rumbling of the
+chariot wheels for a peal of thunder, and imagined that a shower was
+coming up, and that it would assist her in making the corn grow. But, at
+the sound of Proserpina's shriek, she started, and looked about in every
+direction, not knowing whence it came, but feeling almost certain that
+it was her daughter's voice. It seemed so unaccountable, however, that
+the girl should have strayed over so many lands and seas (which she
+herself could not have traversed without the aid of her winged dragons),
+that the good Ceres tried to believe that it must be the child of some
+other parent, and not her own darling Proserpina who had uttered this
+lamentable cry. Nevertheless, it troubled her with a vast many tender
+fears, such as are ready to bestir themselves in every mother's heart,
+when she finds it necessary to go away from her dear children without
+leaving them under the care of some maiden aunt, or other such faithful
+guardian. So she quickly left the field in which she had been so busy;
+and, as her work was not half done, the grain looked, next day, as if it
+needed both sun and rain, and as if it were blighted in the ear and had
+something the matter with its roots.
+
+The pair of dragons must have had very nimble wings; for, in less than
+an hour, Mother Ceres had alighted at the door of her home and found it
+empty. Knowing, however, that the child was fond of sporting on the
+seashore, she hastened thither as fast as she could, and there beheld
+the wet faces of the poor sea nymphs peeping over a wave. All this
+while, the good creatures had been waiting on the bank of sponge, and,
+once every half-minute or so, had popped up their four heads above
+water, to see if their playmate were yet coming back. When they saw
+Mother Ceres, they sat down on the crest of the surf wave, and let it
+toss them ashore at her feet.
+
+"Where is Proserpina?" cried Ceres. "Where is my child? Tell me, you
+naughty sea nymphs, have you enticed her under the sea?"
+
+"Oh, no, good Mother Ceres," said the innocent sea nymphs, tossing back
+their green ringlets and looking her in the face. "We never should dream
+of such a thing. Proserpina has been at play with us, it is true; but
+she left us a long while ago, meaning only to run a little way upon the
+dry land and gather some flowers for a wreath. This was early in the
+day, and we have seen nothing of her since."
+
+Ceres scarcely waited to hear what the nymphs had to say before she
+hurried off to make inquiries all through the neighbourhood. But nobody
+told her anything that could enable the poor mother to guess what had
+become of Proserpina. A fisherman, it is true, had noticed her little
+footprints in the sand, as he went homeward along the beach with a
+basket of fish; a rustic had seen the child stooping to gather flowers;
+several persons had heard either the rattling of chariot wheels or the
+rumbling of distant thunder; and one old woman, while plucking vervain
+and catnip, had heard a scream, but supposed it to be some childish
+nonsense, and therefore did not take the trouble to look up. The stupid
+people! It took them such a tedious while to tell the nothing that they
+knew, that it was dark night before Mother Ceres found out that she must
+seek her daughter elsewhere. So she lighted a torch, and set forth,
+resolving never to come back until Proserpina was discovered.
+
+In her haste and trouble of mind, she quite forgot her car and the
+winged dragons; or, it may be, she thought that she could follow up the
+search more thoroughly on foot. At all events, this was the way in which
+she began her sorrowful journey, holding her torch before her, and
+looking carefully at every object along the path. And as it happened,
+she had not gone far before she found one of the magnificent flowers
+which grew on the shrub that Proserpina had pulled up.
+
+"Ha!" thought Mother Ceres, examining it by torchlight. "Here is
+mischief in this flower! The earth did not produce it by any help of
+mine, nor of its own accord. It is the work of enchantment, and is
+therefore poisonous; and perhaps it has poisoned my poor child."
+
+But she put the poisonous flower in her bosom, not knowing whether she
+might ever find any other memorial of Proserpina.
+
+All night long, at the door of every cottage and farmhouse, Ceres
+knocked and called up the weary labourers to inquire if they had seen
+her child; and they stood, gaping and half asleep, at the threshold, and
+answered her pityingly, and besought her to come in and rest. At the
+portal of every palace, too, she made so loud a summons that the menials
+hurried to throw open the gate, thinking that it must be some great king
+or queen, who would demand a banquet for supper and a stately chamber to
+repose in. And when they saw only a sad and anxious woman, with a torch
+in her hand and a wreath of withered poppies on her head, they spoke
+rudely, and sometimes threatened to set the dogs upon her. But nobody
+had seen Proserpina, nor could give Mother Ceres the least hint which
+way to seek her. Thus passed the night; and still she continued her
+search without sitting down to rest, or stopping to take food, or even
+remembering to put out the torch; although first the rosy dawn, and then
+the glad light of the morning sun, made its red flame look thin and
+pale. But I wonder what sort of stuff this torch was made of; for it
+burned dimly through the day, and, at night, was as bright as ever, and
+never was extinguished by the rain or wind in all the weary days and
+nights while Ceres was seeking for Proserpina.
+
+It was not merely of human beings that she asked tidings of her
+daughter. In the woods and by the streams she met creatures of another
+nature, who used, in those old times, to haunt the pleasant and solitary
+places, and were very sociable with persons who understood their
+language and customs, as Mother Ceres did. Sometimes, for instance, she
+tapped with her finger against the knotted trunk of a majestic oak; and
+immediately its rude bark would cleave asunder, and forth would step a
+beautiful maiden, who was the hamadryad of the oak, dwelling inside of
+it, and sharing its long life, and rejoicing when its green leaves
+sported with the breeze. But not one of these leafy damsels had seen
+Proserpina. Then, going a little farther, Ceres would, perhaps, come to
+a fountain gushing out of a pebbly hollow in the earth, and would dabble
+with her hand in the water. Behold, up through its sandy and pebbly bed,
+along with the fountain's gush, a young woman with dripping hair would
+arise, and stand gazing at Mother Ceres, half out of the water, and
+undulating up and down with its ever-restless motion. But when the
+mother asked whether her poor lost child had stopped to drink out of the
+fountain, the naiad, with weeping eyes (for these water nymphs had tears
+to spare for everybody's grief), would answer, "No!" in a murmuring
+voice, which was just like the murmur of the stream.
+
+Often, likewise, she encountered fauns, who looked like sunburnt country
+people, except that they had hairy ears, and little horns upon their
+foreheads, and the hinder legs of goats, on which they gambolled merrily
+about the woods and fields. They were a frolicsome kind of creature,
+but grew as sad as their cheerful dispositions would allow when Ceres
+inquired for her daughter, and they had no good news to tell. But
+sometimes she came suddenly upon a rude gang of satyrs, who had faces
+like monkeys and horses' tails behind them, and who were generally
+dancing in a very boisterous manner, with shouts of noisy laughter. When
+she stopped to question them, they would only laugh the louder and make
+new merriment out of the lone woman's distress. How unkind of those ugly
+satyrs! And once, while crossing a solitary sheep pasture, she saw a
+personage named Pan, seated at the foot of a tall rock and making music
+on a shepherd's flute. He, too, had horns, and hairy ears, and goat's
+feet; but, being acquainted with Mother Ceres, he answered her question
+as civilly as he knew how, and invited her to taste some milk and honey
+out of a wooden bowl. But neither could Pan tell her what had become of
+Proserpina, any better than the rest of these wild people.
+
+And thus Mother Ceres went wandering about for nine long days and
+nights, finding no trace of Proserpina, unless it were now and then a
+withered flower; and these she picked up and put in her bosom, because
+she fancied that they might have fallen from her poor child's hand. All
+day she travelled onward through the hot sun; and at night, again, the
+flame of the torch would redden and gleam along the pathway, and she
+continued her search by its light, without ever sitting down to rest.
+
+On the tenth day, she chanced to espy the mouth of a cavern, within
+which (though it was bright noon everywhere else) there would have been
+only a dusky twilight; but it so happened that a torch was burning
+there. It flickered, and struggled with the duskiness, but could not
+half light up the gloomy cavern with all its melancholy glimmer. Ceres
+was resolved to leave no spot without a search; so she peeped into the
+entrance of the cave, and lighted it up a little more by holding her own
+torch before her. In so doing, she caught a glimpse of what seemed to be
+a woman, sitting on the brown leaves of the last autumn, a great heap of
+which had been swept into the cave by the wind. This woman (if woman it
+were) was by no means so beautiful as many of her sex; for her head,
+they tell me, was shaped very much like a dog's, and, by way of
+ornament, she wore a wreath of snakes around it. But Mother Ceres, the
+moment she saw her, knew that this was an odd kind of a person, who put
+all her enjoyment in being miserable, and never would have a word to say
+to other people, unless they were as melancholy and wretched as she
+herself delighted to be.
+
+"I am wretched enough now," thought poor Ceres, "to talk with this
+melancholy Hecate, were she ten times sadder than ever she was yet."
+
+So she stepped into the cave, and sat down on the withered leaves by the
+dog-headed woman's side. In all the world, since her daughter's loss,
+she had found no other companion.
+
+"O Hecate," said she, "if ever you lose a daughter, you will know what
+sorrow is. Tell me, for pity's sake, have you seen my poor child
+Proserpina pass by the mouth of your cavern?"
+
+"No," answered Hecate, in a cracked voice, and sighing betwixt every
+word or two--"no, Mother Ceres, I have seen nothing of your daughter.
+But my ears, you must know, are made in such a way that all cries of
+distress and affright, all over the world, are pretty sure to find
+their way to them; and nine days ago, as I sat in my cave, making myself
+very miserable, I heard the voice of a young girl shrieking as if in
+great distress. Something terrible has happened to the child, you may
+rest assured. As well as I could judge, a dragon, or some other cruel
+monster, was carrying her away."
+
+"You kill me by saying so," cried Ceres, almost ready to faint. "Where
+was the sound, and which way did it seem to go?"
+
+"It passed very swiftly along," said Hecate, "and, at the same time,
+there was a heavy rumbling of wheels toward the eastward. I can tell you
+nothing more, except that, in my honest opinion, you will never see your
+daughter again. The best advice I can give you is to take up your abode
+in this cavern, where we will be the two most wretched women in the
+world."
+
+"Not yet, dark Hecate," replied Ceres. "But do you first come with your
+torch, and help me to seek for my lost child. And when there shall be no
+more hope of finding her (if that black day is ordained to come), then,
+if you will give me room to fling myself down, either on these withered
+leaves or on the naked rock, I will show you what it is to be miserable.
+But, until I know that she has perished from the face of the earth, I
+will not allow myself space even to grieve."
+
+The dismal Hecate did not much like the idea of going abroad into the
+sunny world. But then she reflected that the sorrow of the disconsolate
+Ceres would be like a gloomy twilight round about them both, let the sun
+shine ever so brightly, and that therefore she might enjoy her bad
+spirits quite as well as if she were to stay in the cave. So she finally
+consented to go, and they set out together, both carrying torches,
+although it was broad daylight and clear sunshine. The torchlight
+seemed to make a gloom; so that the people whom they met along the road
+could not very distinctly see their figures; and, indeed, if they once
+caught a glimpse of Hecate, with the wreath of snakes round her
+forehead, they generally thought it prudent to run away without waiting
+for a second glance.
+
+As the pair travelled along in this woebegone manner, a thought struck
+Ceres.
+
+"There is one person," she exclaimed, "who must have seen my poor child,
+and can doubtless tell what has become of her. Why did not I think of
+him before? It is Phoebus."
+
+"What," said Hecate, "the young man that always sits in the sunshine?
+Oh, pray do not think of going near him. He is a gay, light, frivolous
+young fellow, and will only smile in your face. And besides, there is
+such a glare of the sun about him that he will quite blind my poor eyes,
+which I have almost wept away already."
+
+"You have promised to be my companion," answered Ceres. "Come, let us
+make haste, or the sunshine will be gone, and Phoebus along with it."
+
+Accordingly, they went along in quest of Phoebus, both of them sighing
+grievously, and Hecate, to say the truth, making a great deal worse
+lamentation than Ceres; for all the pleasure she had, you know, lay in
+being miserable, and therefore she made the most of it. By and by, after
+a pretty long journey, they arrived at the sunniest spot in the whole
+world. There they beheld a beautiful young man, with long, curling
+ringlets, which seemed to be made of golden sunbeams; his garments were
+like light summer clouds; and the expression of his face was so
+exceedingly vivid that Hecate held her hands before her eyes, muttering
+that he ought to wear a black veil. Phoebus (for this was the very
+person whom they were seeking) had a lyre in his hands, and was making
+its chords tremble with sweet music; at the same time singing a most
+exquisite song, which he had recently composed. For, besides a great
+many other accomplishments, this young man was renowned for his
+admirable poetry.
+
+As Ceres and her dismal companion approached him, Phoebus smiled on
+them so cheerfully that Hecate's wreath of snakes gave a spiteful hiss,
+and Hecate heartily wished herself back in her cave. But as for Ceres,
+she was too earnest in her grief either to know or care whether
+Phoebus smiled or frowned.
+
+"Phoebus!" exclaimed she, "I am in great trouble, and have come to you
+for assistance. Can you tell me what has become of my dear child
+Proserpina?"
+
+"Proserpina! Proserpina, did you call her name?" answered Phoebus,
+endeavouring to recollect; for there was such a continual flow of
+pleasant ideas in his mind that he was apt to forget what had happened
+no longer ago than yesterday. "Ah, yes, I remember her now. A very
+lovely child, indeed. I am happy to tell you, my dear madam, that I did
+see the little Proserpina not many days ago. You may make yourself
+perfectly easy about her. She is safe, and in excellent hands."
+
+"Oh, where is my dear child?" cried Ceres, clasping her hands and
+flinging herself at his feet.
+
+"Why," said Phoebus--and as he spoke, he kept touching his lyre so as
+to make a thread of music run in and out among his words--"as the little
+damsel was gathering flowers (and she has really a very exquisite taste
+for flowers) she was suddenly snatched up by King Pluto and carried off
+to his dominions. I have never been in that part of the universe; but
+the royal palace, I am told, is built in a very noble style of
+architecture, and of the most splendid and costly materials. Gold,
+diamonds, pearls, and all manner of precious stones will be your
+daughter's ordinary playthings. I recommend to you, my dear lady, to
+give yourself no uneasiness. Proserpina's sense of beauty will be duly
+gratified, and, even in spite of the lack of sunshine, she will lead a
+very enviable life."
+
+"Hush! Say not such a word!" answered Ceres, indignantly. "What is there
+to gratify her heart? What are all the splendours you speak of, without
+affection? I must have her back again. Will you go with me, Phoebus,
+to demand my daughter of this wicked Pluto?"
+
+"Pray excuse me," replied Phoebus, with an elegant obeisance. "I
+certainly wish you success, and regret that my own affairs are so
+immediately pressing that I cannot have the pleasure of attending you.
+Besides, I am not upon the best of terms with King Pluto. To tell you
+the truth, his three-headed mastiff would never let me pass the gateway;
+for I should be compelled to take a sheaf of sunbeams along with me, and
+those, you know, are forbidden things in Pluto's kingdom."
+
+"Ah, Phoebus," said Ceres, with bitter meaning in her words, "you have
+a harp instead of a heart. Farewell."
+
+"Will not you stay a moment," asked Phoebus, "and hear me turn the
+pretty and touching story of Proserpina into extemporary verses?"
+
+But Ceres shook her head, and hastened away, along with Hecate.
+Phoebus (who, as I have told you, was an exquisite poet) forthwith
+began to make an ode about the poor mother's grief; and, if we were to
+judge of his sensibility by this beautiful production, he must have
+been endowed with a very tender heart. But when a poet gets into the
+habit of using his heartstrings to make chords for his lyre, he may
+thrum upon them as much as he will, without any great pain to himself.
+Accordingly, though Phoebus sang a very sad song, he was as merry all
+the while as were the sunbeams amid which he dwelt.
+
+Poor Mother Ceres had now found out what had become of her daughter, but
+was not a whit happier than before. Her case, on the contrary, looked
+more desperate than ever. As long as Proserpina was above ground there
+might have been hopes of regaining her. But now, that the poor child was
+shut up within the iron gates of the king of the mines, at the threshold
+of which lay the three-headed Cerberus, there seemed no possibility of
+her ever making her escape. The dismal Hecate, who loved to take the
+darkest view of things, told Ceres that she had better come with her to
+the cavern, and spend the rest of her life in being miserable. Ceres
+answered that Hecate was welcome to go back thither herself, but that,
+for her part, she would wander about the earth in quest of the entrance
+to King Pluto's dominions. And Hecate took her at her word, and hurried
+back to her beloved cave, frightening a great many little children with
+a glimpse of her dog's face as she went.
+
+Poor Mother Ceres! It is melancholy to think of her, pursuing her
+toilsome way all alone, and holding up that never-dying torch, the flame
+of which seemed an emblem of the grief and hope that burned together in
+her heart. So much did she suffer that, though her aspect had been quite
+youthful when her troubles began, she grew to look like an elderly
+person in a very brief time. She cared not how she was dressed, nor had
+she ever thought of flinging away the wreath of withered poppies which
+she put on the very morning of Proserpina's disappearance. She roamed
+about in so wild a way, and with her hair so dishevelled, that people
+took her for some distracted creature, and never dreamed that this was
+Mother Ceres, who had the oversight of every seed which the husband-man
+planted. Nowadays, however, she gave herself no trouble about seed time
+nor harvest, but left the farmers to take care of their own affairs, and
+the crops to fade or flourish, as the case might be. There was nothing,
+now, in which Ceres seemed to feel an interest, unless when she saw
+children at play, or gathering flowers along the wayside. Then, indeed,
+she would stand and gaze at them with tears in her eyes. The children,
+too, appeared to have a sympathy with her grief, and would cluster
+themselves in a little group about her knees, and look up wistfully in
+her face; and Ceres, after giving them a kiss all round, would lead them
+to their homes, and advise their mothers never to let them stray out of
+sight.
+
+"For if they do," said she, "it may happen to you, as it has to me, that
+the iron-hearted King Pluto will take a liking to your darlings, and
+snatch them up in his chariot, and carry them away."
+
+One day, during her pilgrimage in quest of the entrance to Pluto's
+kingdom, she came to the palace of King Celeus, who reigned at Eleusis.
+Ascending a lofty flight of steps, she entered the portal, and found the
+royal household in very great alarm about the queen's baby. The infant,
+it seems, was sickly (being troubled with its teeth, I suppose), and
+would take no food, and was all the time moaning with pain. The
+queen--her name was Metanira--was desirous of finding a nurse; and when
+she beheld a woman of matronly aspect coming up the palace steps, she
+thought, in her own mind, that here was the very person whom she needed.
+So Queen Metanira ran to the door, with the poor wailing baby in her
+arms, and besought Ceres to take charge of it, or, at least, to tell her
+what would do it good.
+
+"Will you trust the child entirely to me?" asked Ceres.
+
+"Yes, and gladly, too," answered the queen, "if you will devote all your
+time to him. For I can see that you have been a mother."
+
+"You are right," said Ceres. "I once had a child of my own. Well; I will
+be the nurse of this poor, sickly boy. But beware, I warn you, that you
+do not interfere with any kind of treatment which I may judge proper for
+him. If you do so, the poor infant must suffer for his mother's folly."
+
+Then she kissed the child, and it seemed to do him good; for he smiled
+and nestled closely into her bosom.
+
+So Mother Ceres set her torch in a corner (where it kept burning all the
+while), and took up her abode in the palace of King Celeus, as nurse to
+the little Prince Demophooen. She treated him as if he were her own
+child, and allowed neither the king nor the queen to say whether he
+should be bathed in warm or cold water, or what he should eat, or how
+often he should take the air, or when he should be put to bed. You would
+hardly believe me, if I were to tell how quickly the baby prince got rid
+of his ailments, and grew fat, and rosy, and strong, and how he had two
+rows of ivory teeth in less time than any other little fellow, before or
+since. Instead of the palest, and wretchedest, and puniest imp in the
+world (as his own mother confessed him to be when Ceres first took him
+in charge), he was now a strapping baby, crowing, laughing, kicking up
+his heels, and rolling from one end of the room to the other. All the
+good women of the neighbourhood crowded to the palace, and held up their
+hands, in unutterable amazement, at the beauty and wholesomeness of this
+darling little prince. Their wonder was the greater, because he was
+never seen to taste any food; not even so much as a cup of milk.
+
+"Pray, nurse," the queen kept saying, "how is it that you make the child
+thrive so?"
+
+"I was a mother once," Ceres always replied; "and having nursed my own
+child, I know what other children need."
+
+But Queen Metanira, as was very natural, had a great curiosity to know
+precisely what the nurse did to her child. One night, therefore, she hid
+herself in the chamber where Ceres and the little prince were accustomed
+to sleep. There was a fire in the chimney, and it had now crumbled into
+great coals and embers, which lay glowing on the hearth, with a blaze
+flickering up now and then, and flinging a warm and ruddy light upon the
+walls. Ceres sat before the hearth with the child in her lap, and the
+fire-light making her shadow dance upon the ceiling overhead. She
+undressed the little prince, and bathed him all over with some fragrant
+liquid out of a vase. The next thing she did was to rake back the red
+embers, and make a hollow place among them, just where the backlog had
+been. At last, while the baby was crowing, and clapping its fat little
+hands, and laughing in the nurse's face (just as you may have seen your
+little brother or sister do before going into its warm bath), Ceres
+suddenly laid him, all naked as he was, in the hollow among the red-hot
+embers. She then raked the ashes over him, and turned quietly away.
+
+You may imagine, if you can, how Queen Metanira shrieked, thinking
+nothing less than that her dear child would be burned to a cinder. She
+burst forth from her hiding place, and running to the hearth, raked open
+the fire, and snatched up poor little Prince Demophooen out of his bed of
+live coals, one of which he was griping in each of his fists. He
+immediately set up a grievous cry, as babies are apt to do when rudely
+startled out of a sound sleep. To the queen's astonishment and joy, she
+could perceive no token of the child's being injured by the hot fire in
+which he had lain. She now turned to Mother Ceres, and asked her to
+explain the mystery.
+
+"Foolish woman," answered Ceres, "did you not promise to intrust this
+poor infant entirely to me? You little know the mischief you have done
+him. Had you left him to my care, he would have grown up like a child of
+celestial birth, endowed with superhuman strength and intelligence, and
+would have lived forever. Do you imagine that earthly children are to
+become immortal without being tempered to it in the fiercest heat of the
+fire? But you have ruined your own son. For though he will be a strong
+man and a hero in his day, yet, on account of your folly, he will grow
+old, and finally die, like the sons of other women. The weak tenderness
+of his mother has cost the poor boy an immortality. Farewell."
+
+Saying these words, she kissed the little Prince Demophooen, and sighed
+to think what he had lost, and took her departure without heeding Queen
+Metanira, who entreated her to remain, and cover up the child among the
+hot embers as often as she pleased. Poor baby! He never slept so warmly
+again.
+
+While she dwelt in the king's palace, Mother Ceres had been so
+continually occupied with taking care of the young prince that her
+heart was a little lightened of its grief for Proserpina. But now,
+having nothing else to busy herself about, she became just as wretched
+as before. At length, in her despair, she came to the dreadful
+resolution that not a stalk of grain, nor a blade of grass, not a
+potato, nor a turnip, nor any other vegetable that was good for man or
+beast to eat, should be suffered to grow until her daughter were
+restored. She even forbade the flowers to bloom, lest somebody's heart
+should be cheered by their beauty.
+
+Now, as not so much as a head of asparagus ever presumed to poke itself
+out of the ground without the especial permission of Ceres, you may
+conceive what a terrible calamity had here fallen upon the earth. The
+husbandmen ploughed and planted as usual; but there lay the rich black
+furrows, all as barren as a desert of sand. The pastures looked as brown
+in the sweet month of June as ever they did in chill November. The rich
+man's broad acres and the cottager's small garden patch were equally
+blighted. Every little girl's flower bed showed nothing but dry stalks.
+The old people shook their white heads, and said that the earth had
+grown aged like themselves, and was no longer capable of wearing the
+warm smile of summer on its face. It was really piteous to see the poor,
+starving cattle and sheep, how they followed behind Ceres, lowing and
+bleating, as if their instinct taught them to expect help from her; and
+everybody that was acquainted with her power besought her to have mercy
+on the human race, and, at all events, to let the grass grow. But Mother
+Ceres, though naturally of an affectionate disposition, was now
+inexorable.
+
+"Never," said she. "If the earth is ever again to see any verdure, it
+must first grow along the path which my daughter will tread in coming
+back to me."
+
+Finally, as there seemed to be no other remedy, our old friend
+Quicksilver was sent post haste to King Pluto, in hopes that he might be
+persuaded to undo the mischief he had done, and to set everything right
+again by giving up Proserpina. Quicksilver accordingly made the best of
+his way to the great gate, took a flying leap right over the
+three-headed mastiff, and stood at the door of the palace in an
+inconceivably short time. The servants knew him both by his face and
+garb; for his short cloak, and his winged cap and shoes, and his snaky
+staff had often been seen thereabouts in times gone by. He requested to
+be shown immediately into the king's presence; and Pluto, who heard his
+voice from the top of the stairs, and who loved to recreate himself with
+Quicksilver's merry talk, called out to him to come up. And while they
+settle their business together, we must inquire what Proserpina has been
+doing ever since we saw her last.
+
+The child had declared, as you may remember, that she would not taste a
+mouthful of food as long as she should be compelled to remain in King
+Pluto's palace. How she contrived to maintain her resolution, and at the
+same time to keep herself tolerably plump and rosy is more than I can
+explain; but some young ladies, I am given to understand, possess the
+faculty of living on air, and Proserpina seems to have possessed it too.
+At any rate, it was now six months since she left the outside of the
+earth; and not a morsel, so far as the attendants were able to testify,
+had yet passed between her teeth. This was the more creditable to
+Proserpina, inasmuch as King Pluto had caused her to be tempted day
+after day with all manner of sweetmeats, and richly preserved fruits,
+and delicacies of every sort, such as young people are generally most
+fond of. But her good mother had often told her of the hurtfulness of
+these things; and for that reason alone, if there had been no other, she
+would have resolutely refused to taste them.
+
+All this time, being of a cheerful and active disposition, the little
+damsel was not quite so unhappy as you may have supposed. The immense
+palace had a thousand rooms, and was full of beautiful and wonderful
+objects. There was a never-ceasing gloom, it is true, which half hid
+itself among the innumerable pillars, gliding before the child as she
+wandered among them, and treading stealthily behind her in the echo of
+her footsteps. Neither was all the dazzle of the precious stones, which
+flamed with their own light, worth one gleam of natural sunshine; nor
+could the most brilliant of the many-coloured gems, which Proserpina had
+for playthings, vie with the simple beauty of the flowers she used to
+gather. But still, wherever the girl went, among those gilded halls and
+chambers, it seemed as if she carried nature and sunshine along with
+her, and as if she scattered dewy blossoms on her right hand and on her
+left. After Proserpina came, the palace was no longer the same abode of
+stately artifice and dismal magnificence that it had before been. The
+inhabitants all felt this, and King Pluto more than any of them.
+
+"My own little Proserpina," he used to say, "I wish you could like me a
+little better. We gloomy and cloudy-natured persons have often as warm
+hearts at bottom as those of a more cheerful character. If you would
+only stay with me of your own accord, it would make me happier than the
+possession of a hundred such palaces as this."
+
+"Ah," said Proserpina, "you should have tried to make me like you before
+carrying me off. And the best thing you can do now is to let me go
+again. Then I might remember you sometimes, and think that you were as
+kind as you knew how to be. Perhaps, too, one day or other, I might come
+back, and pay you a visit."
+
+"No, no," answered Pluto, with his gloomy smile, "I will not trust you
+for that. You are too fond of living in the broad daylight, and
+gathering flowers. What an idle and childish taste that is! Are not
+these gems, which I have ordered to be dug for you, and which are richer
+than any in my crown--are they not prettier than a violet?"
+
+"Not half so pretty," said Proserpina, snatching the gems from Pluto's
+hand, and flinging them to the other end of the hall. "Oh, my sweet
+violets, shall I never see you again?"
+
+And then she burst into tears. But young people's tears have very little
+saltness or acidity in them, and do not inflame the eyes so much as
+those of grown persons; so that it is not to be wondered at if, a few
+moments afterward, Proserpina was sporting through the hall almost as
+merrily as she and the four sea nymphs had sported along the edge of the
+surf wave. King Pluto gazed after her, and wished that he, too, was a
+child. And little Proserpina, when she turned about and beheld this
+great king standing in his splendid hall, and looking so grand, and so
+melancholy, and so lonesome, was smitten with a kind of pity. She ran
+back to him, and, for the first time in all her life, put her small soft
+hand in his.
+
+"I love you a little," whispered she, looking up in his face.
+
+"Do you, indeed, my dear child?" cried Pluto, bending his dark face down
+to kiss her; but Proserpina shrank away from the kiss, for though his
+features were noble, they were very dusky and grim. "Well, I have not
+deserved it of you, after keeping you a prisoner for so many months, and
+starving you, besides. Are you not terribly hungry? Is there nothing
+which I can get you to eat?"
+
+In asking this question, the king of the mines had a very cunning
+purpose; for, you will recollect, if Proserpina tasted a morsel of food
+in his dominions, she would never afterward be at liberty to quit them.
+
+"No, indeed," said Proserpina. "Your head cook is always baking, and
+stewing, and roasting, and rolling out paste, and contriving one dish or
+another, which he imagines may be to my liking. But he might just as
+well save himself the trouble, poor, fat little man that he is. I have
+no appetite for anything in the world, unless it were a slice of bread
+of my mother's own baking, or a little fruit out of her garden."
+
+When Pluto heard this, he began to see that he had mistaken the best
+method of tempting Proserpina to eat. The cook's made dishes and
+artificial dainties were not half so delicious in the good child's
+opinion as the simple fare to which Mother Ceres had accustomed her.
+Wondering that he had never thought of it before, the king now sent one
+of his trusty attendants, with a large basket, to get some of the finest
+and juiciest pears, peaches and plums which could anywhere be found in
+the upper world. Unfortunately, however, this was during the time when
+Ceres had forbidden any fruits or vegetables to grow; and, after seeking
+all over the earth, King Pluto's servant found only a single
+pomegranate, and that so dried up as to be not worth eating.
+Nevertheless, since there was no better to be had, he brought this dry,
+old, withered pomegranate home to the palace, put it on a magnificent
+golden salver, and carried it up to Proserpina. Now it happened,
+curiously enough, that, just as the servant was bringing the pomegranate
+into the back door of the palace, our friend Quicksilver had gone up the
+front steps, on his errand to get Proserpina away from King Pluto.
+
+As soon as Proserpina saw the pomegranate on the golden salver, she told
+the servant he had better take it away again.
+
+"I shall not touch it, I assure you," said she. "If I were ever so
+hungry, I should never think of eating such a miserable, dry pomegranate
+as that."
+
+"It is the only one in the world," said the servant. He set down the
+golden salver, with the wizened pomegranate upon it, and left the room.
+When he was gone, Proserpina could not help coming close to the table,
+and looking at this poor specimen of dried fruit with a great deal of
+eagerness; for, to say the truth, on seeing something that suited her
+taste, she felt all the six months' appetite taking possession of her at
+once. To be sure, it was a very wretched looking pomegranate, and seemed
+to have no more juice in it than an oyster shell. But there was no
+choice of such things in King Pluto's palace. This was the first fruit
+she had seen there, and the last she was ever likely to see; and unless
+she ate it up immediately, it would grow drier than it already was, and
+be wholly unfit to eat.
+
+"At least, I may smell it," thought Proserpina.
+
+So she took up the pomegranate, and applied it to her nose; and, somehow
+or other, being in such close neighbourhood to her mouth, the fruit
+found its way into that little red cave. Dear me! what an everlasting
+pity! Before Proserpina knew what she was about, her teeth had actually
+bitten it, of their own accord. Just as this fatal deed was done, the
+door of the apartment opened, and in came King Pluto, followed by
+Quicksilver, who had been urging him to let his little prisoner go. At
+the first noise of their entrance, Proserpina withdrew the pomegranate
+from her mouth. But Quicksilver (whose eyes were very keen, and his wits
+the sharpest that ever anybody had) perceived that the child was a
+little confused; and seeing the empty salver, he suspected that she had
+been taking a sly nibble of something or other. As for honest Pluto, he
+never guessed at the secret.
+
+"My little Proserpina," said the king, sitting down, and affectionately
+drawing her between his knees, "here is Quicksilver, who tells me that a
+great many misfortunes have befallen innocent people on account of my
+detaining you in my dominions. To confess the truth, I myself had
+already reflected that it was an unjustifiable act to take you away from
+your good mother. But, then, you must consider, my dear child, that this
+vast palace is apt to be gloomy (although the precious stones certainly
+shine very bright), and that I am not of the most cheerful disposition,
+and that therefore it was a natural thing enough to seek for the society
+of some merrier creature than myself. I hoped you would take my crown
+for a plaything, and me--ah, you laugh, naughty Proserpina--me, grim as
+I am, for a playmate. It was a silly expectation."
+
+"Not so extremely silly," whispered Proserpina. "You have really amused
+me very much, sometimes."
+
+"Thank you," said King Pluto, rather dryly. "But I can see, plainly
+enough, that you think my palace a dusky prison, and me the iron-hearted
+keeper of it. And an iron heart I should surely have, if I could detain
+you here any longer, my poor child, when it is now six months since you
+tasted food. I give you your liberty. Go with Quicksilver. Hasten home
+to your dear mother."
+
+Now, although you may not have supposed it, Proserpina found it
+impossible to take leave of poor King Pluto without some regrets, and a
+good deal of compunction for not telling him about the pomegranate. She
+even shed a tear or two, thinking how lonely and cheerless the great
+palace would seem to him, with all its ugly glare of artificial light,
+after she herself--his one little ray of natural sunshine, whom he had
+stolen, to be sure, but only because he valued her so much--after she
+should have departed. I know not how many kind things she might have
+said to the disconsolate king of the mines, had not Quicksilver hurried
+her away.
+
+"Come along quickly," whispered he in her ear, "or His Majesty may
+change his royal mind. And take care, above all things, that you say
+nothing of what was brought you on the golden salver."
+
+In a very short time they had passed the great gateway (leaving the
+three-headed Cerberus barking, and yelping, and growling, with threefold
+din, behind them), and emerged upon the surface of the earth. It was
+delightful to behold, as Proserpina hastened along, how the path grew
+verdant behind and on either side of her. Wherever she set her blessed
+foot, there was at once a dewy flower. The violets gushed up along the
+wayside. The grass and the grain began to sprout with tenfold vigour
+and luxuriance, to make up for the dreary months that had been wasted in
+barrenness. The starved cattle immediately set to work grazing, after
+their long fast, and ate enormously all day, and got up at midnight to
+eat more. But I can assure you it was a busy time of year with the
+farmers, when they found the summer coming upon them with such a rush.
+Nor must I forget to say that all the birds in the whole world hopped
+about upon the newly blossoming trees, and sang together in a prodigious
+ecstasy of joy.
+
+Mother Ceres had returned to her deserted home, and was sitting
+disconsolately on the doorstep, with her torch burning in her hand. She
+had been idly watching the flame for some moments past, when all at once
+it flickered and went out.
+
+"What does this mean?" thought she. "It was an enchanted torch, and
+should have kept burning till my child came back."
+
+Lifting her eyes, she was surprised to see a sudden verdure flashing
+over the brown and barren fields, exactly as you may have observed a
+golden hue gleaming far and wide across the landscape, from the just
+risen sun.
+
+"Does the earth disobey me?" exclaimed Mother Ceres, indignantly. "Does
+it presume to be green, when I have bidden it be barren, until my
+daughter shall be restored to my arms?"
+
+"Then open your arms, dear mother," cried a well-known voice, "and take
+your little daughter into them."
+
+And Proserpina came running, and flung herself upon her mother's bosom.
+Their mutual transport is not to be described. The grief of their
+separation had caused both of them to shed a great many tears; and now
+they shed a great many more, because their joy could not so well express
+itself in any other way.
+
+When their hearts had grown a little more quiet, Mother Ceres looked
+anxiously at Proserpina.
+
+"My child," said she, "did you taste any food while you were in King
+Pluto's palace?"
+
+"Dearest mother," answered Proserpina, "I will tell you the whole truth.
+Until this very morning, not a morsel of food had passed my lips. But
+to-day, they brought me a pomegranate (a very dry one it was, and all
+shrivelled up, till there was little left of it but seeds and skin), and
+having seen no fruit for so long a time, and being faint with hunger, I
+was tempted just to bite it. The instant I tasted it, King Pluto and
+Quicksilver came into the room. I had not swallowed a morsel; but--dear
+mother, I hope it was no harm--but six of the pomegranate seeds, I am
+afraid, remained in my mouth."
+
+"Ah, unfortunate child, and miserable me!" exclaimed Ceres. "For each of
+those six pomegranate seeds you must spend one month of every year in
+King Pluto's palace. You are but half restored to your mother. Only six
+months with me, and six with that good-for-nothing King of Darkness!"
+
+"Do not speak so harshly of poor King Pluto," said Proserpina, kissing
+her mother. "He has some very good qualities; and I really think I can
+bear to spend six months in his palace, if he will only let me spend the
+other six with you. He certainly did very wrong to carry me off; but
+then, as he says, it was but a dismal sort of life for him, to live in
+that great gloomy place, all alone; and it has made a wonderful change
+in his spirits to have a little girl to run up stairs and down. There
+is some comfort in making him so happy; and so, upon the whole, dearest
+mother, let us be thankful that he is not to keep me the whole year
+round."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE CHIMAERA
+
+
+Once, in the old, old times (for all the strange things which I tell you
+about happened long before anybody can remember), a fountain gushed out
+of a hillside, in the marvellous land of Greece. And, for aught I know,
+after so many thousand years, it is still gushing out of the very
+selfsame spot. At any rate, there was the pleasant fountain, welling
+freshly forth and sparkling adown the hillside, in the golden sunset,
+when a handsome young man named Bellerophon drew near its margin. In his
+hand he held a bridle, studded with brilliant gems, and adorned with a
+golden bit. Seeing an old man, and another of middle age, and a little
+boy, near the fountain, and likewise a maiden, who was dipping up some
+of the water in a pitcher, he paused, and begged that he might refresh
+himself with a draught.
+
+"This is very delicious water," he said to the maiden as he rinsed and
+filled her pitcher, after drinking out of it. "Will you be kind enough
+to tell me whether the fountain has any name?"
+
+"Yes; it is called the Fountain of Pirene," answered the maiden; and
+then she added, "My grandmother has told me that this clear fountain was
+once a beautiful woman; and when her son was killed by the arrows of the
+huntress Diana, she melted all away into tears. And so the water, which
+you find so cool and sweet, is the sorrow of that poor mother's heart!"
+
+"I should not have dreamed," observed the young stranger, "that so clear
+a well-spring, with its gush and gurgle, and its cheery dance out of the
+shade into the sunlight, had so much as one tear-drop in its bosom! And
+this, then, is Pirene? I thank you, pretty maiden, for telling me its
+name. I have come from a far-away country to find this very spot."
+
+A middle-aged country fellow (he had driven his cow to drink out of the
+spring) stared hard at young Bellerophon, and at the handsome bridle
+which he carried in his hand.
+
+"The watercourses must be getting low, friend, in your part of the
+world," remarked he, "if you come so far only to find the Fountain of
+Pirene. But, pray, have you lost a horse? I see you carry the bridle in
+your hand; and a very pretty one it is with that double row of bright
+stones upon it. If the horse was as fine as the bridle, you are much to
+be pitied for losing him."
+
+"I have lost no horse," said Bellerophon, with a smile. "But I happen to
+be seeking a very famous one, which, as wise people have informed me,
+must be found hereabouts, if anywhere. Do you know whether the winged
+horse Pegasus still haunts the Fountain of Pirene, as he used to do in
+your forefathers' days?"
+
+But then the country fellow laughed.
+
+Some of you, my little friends, have probably heard that this Pegasus
+was a snow-white steed, with beautiful silvery wings, who spent most of
+his time on the summit of Mount Helicon. He was as wild, and as swift,
+and as buoyant, in his flight through the air, as any eagle that ever
+soared into the clouds. There was nothing else like him in the world.
+He had no mate; he never had been backed or bridled by a master; and,
+for many a long year, he led a solitary and a happy life.
+
+Oh, how fine a thing it is to be a winged horse! Sleeping at night, as
+he did, on a lofty mountain-top, and passing the greater part of the day
+in the air, Pegasus seemed hardly to be a creature of the earth.
+Whenever he was seen, up very high above people's heads, with the
+sunshine on his silvery wings, you would have thought that he belonged
+to the sky, and that, skimming a little too low, he had got astray among
+our mists and vapours, and was seeking his way back again. It was very
+pretty to behold him plunge into the fleecy bosom of a bright cloud, and
+be lost in it, for a moment or two, and then break forth from the other
+side. Or, in a sullen rain storm, when there was a gray pavement of
+clouds over the whole sky, it would sometimes happen that the winged
+horse descended right through it, and the glad light of the upper region
+would gleam after him. In another instant, it is true, both Pegasus and
+the pleasant light would be gone away together. But anyone that was
+fortunate enough to see this wondrous spectacle felt cheerful the whole
+day afterward, and as much longer as the storm lasted.
+
+In the summer time, and in the beautifullest of weather, Pegasus often
+alighted on the solid earth, and, closing his silvery wings, would
+gallop over hill and dale for pastime, as fleetly as the wind. Oftener
+than in any other place, he had been seen near the Fountain of Pirene,
+drinking the delicious water, or rolling himself upon the soft grass of
+the margin. Sometimes, too (but Pegasus was very dainty in his food), he
+would crop a few of the clover blossoms that happened to be sweetest.
+
+To the Fountain of Pirene, therefore, people's great-grandfathers had
+been in the habit of going (as long as they were youthful and retained
+their faith in winged horses), in hopes of getting a glimpse at the
+beautiful Pegasus. But, of late years, he had been very seldom seen.
+Indeed, there were many of the country folks, dwelling within half an
+hour's walk of the fountain, who had never beheld Pegasus, and did not
+believe that there was any such creature in existence. The country
+fellow to whom Bellerophon was speaking chanced to be one of those
+incredulous persons.
+
+And that was the reason why he laughed.
+
+"Pegasus, indeed!" cried he, turning up his nose as high as such a flat
+nose could be turned up--"Pegasus, indeed! A winged horse, truly! Why,
+friend, are you in your senses? Of what use would wings be to a horse?
+Could he drag the plough so well, think you? To be sure, there might be
+a little saving in the expense of shoes; but then, how would a man like
+to see his horse flying out of the stable window?--yes, or whisking him
+up above the clouds, when he only wanted to ride to mill? No, no! I
+don't believe in Pegasus. There never was such a ridiculous kind of a
+horse fowl made!"
+
+"I have some reason to think otherwise," said Bellerophon, quietly.
+
+And then he turned to an old, gray man, who was leaning on a staff, and
+listening very attentively, with his head stretched forward and one hand
+at his ear, because, for the last twenty years, he had been getting
+rather deaf.
+
+"And what say you, venerable sir?" inquired he, "In your younger days, I
+should imagine, you must frequently have seen the winged steed!"
+
+"Ah, young stranger, my memory is very poor!" said the aged man. "When I
+was a lad, if I remember rightly, I used to believe there was such a
+horse, and so did everybody else. But, nowadays, I hardly know what to
+think, and very seldom think about the winged horse at all. If I ever
+saw the creature, it was a long, long while ago; and, to tell you the
+truth, I doubt whether I ever did see him. One day, to be sure, when I
+was quite a youth, I remember seeing some hoof tramps round about the
+brink of the fountain. Pegasus might have made those hoof marks; and so
+might some other horse."
+
+"And have you never seen him, my fair maiden?" asked Bellerophon of the
+girl, who stood with the pitcher on her head, while this talk went on.
+"You certainly could see Pegasus, if anybody can, for your eyes are very
+bright."
+
+"Once I thought I saw him," replied the maiden, with a smile and a
+blush. "It was either Pegasus or a large white bird, a very great way up
+in the air. And one other time, as I was coming to the fountain with my
+pitcher, I heard a neigh. Oh, such a brisk and melodious neigh as that
+was! My very heart leaped with delight at the sound. But it startled me,
+nevertheless; so that I ran home without filling my pitcher."
+
+"That was truly a pity!" said Bellerophon.
+
+And he turned to the child, whom I mentioned at the beginning of the
+story, and who was gazing at him, as children are apt to gaze at
+strangers, with his rosy mouth wide open.
+
+"Well, my little fellow," cried Bellerophon, playfully pulling one of
+his curls, "I suppose you have often seen the winged horse."
+
+"That I have," answered the child, very readily. "I saw him yesterday,
+and many times before."
+
+"You are a fine little man!" said Bellerophon, drawing the child closer
+to him. "Come, tell me all about it."
+
+"Why," replied the child, "I often come here to sail little boats in the
+fountain, and to gather pretty pebbles out of its basin. And sometimes,
+when I look down into the water, I see the image of the winged horse in
+the picture of the sky that is there. I wish he would come down, and
+take me on his back, and let me ride him up to the moon! But, if I so
+much as stir to look at him, he flies far away out of sight."
+
+And Bellerophon put his faith in the child, who had seen the image of
+Pegasus in the water, and in the maiden, who had heard him neigh so
+melodiously, rather than in the middle-aged clown, who believed only in
+cart horses, or in the old man who had forgotten the beautiful things of
+his youth.
+
+Therefore, he haunted about the Fountain of Pirene for a great many days
+afterward. He kept continually on the watch, looking upward at the sky,
+or else down into the water, hoping forever that he should see either
+the reflected image of the winged horse, or the marvellous reality. He
+held the bridle, with its bright gems and golden bit, always ready in
+his hand. The rustic people who dwelt in the neighbourhood, and drove
+their cattle to the fountain to drink, would often laugh at poor
+Bellerophon, and sometimes take him pretty severely to task. They told
+him that an able-bodied young man like himself ought to have better
+business than to be wasting his time in such an idle pursuit. They
+offered to sell him a horse, if he wanted one; and when Bellerophon
+declined the purchase, they tried to drive a bargain with him for his
+fine bridle.
+
+Even the country boys thought him so very foolish that they used to have
+a great deal of sport about him, and were rude enough not to care a fig,
+although Bellerophon saw and heard it. One little urchin, for example,
+would play Pegasus, and cut the oddest imaginable capers, by way of
+flying; while one of his schoolfellows would scamper after him, holding
+forth a twist of bulrushes, which was intended to represent
+Bellerophon's ornamental bridle. But the gentle child, who had seen the
+picture of Pegasus in the water, comforted the young stranger more than
+all the naughty boys could torment him. The dear little fellow, in his
+play hours, often sat down beside him, and, without speaking a word,
+would look down into the fountain and up toward the sky, with so
+innocent a faith that Bellerophon could not help feeling encouraged.
+
+Now you will, perhaps, wish to be told why it was that Bellerophon had
+undertaken to catch the winged horse. And we shall find no better
+opportunity to speak about this matter than while he is waiting for
+Pegasus to appear.
+
+If I were to relate the whole of Bellerophon's previous adventures, they
+might easily grow into a very long story. It will be quite enough to say
+that, in a certain country of Asia, a terrible monster, called a
+Chimaera, had made its appearance, and was doing more mischief than could
+be talked about between now and sunset. According to the best accounts
+which I have been able to obtain, this Chimaera was nearly, if not quite,
+the ugliest and most poisonous creature, and the strangest and
+unaccountablest, and the hardest to fight with, and the most difficult
+to run away from, that ever came out of the earth's inside. It had a
+tail like a boa-constrictor; its body was like I do not care what; and
+it had three separate heads, one of which was a lion's, the second a
+goat's, and the third an abominably great snake's. And a hot blast of
+fire came flaming out of each of its three mouths! Being an earthly
+monster, I doubt whether it had any wings; but, wings or no, it ran like
+a goat and a lion, and wriggled along like a serpent, and thus contrived
+to make about as much speed as all the three together.
+
+Oh, the mischief, and mischief, and mischief that this naughty creature
+did! With its flaming breath, it could set a forest on fire, or burn up
+a field of grain, or, for that matter, a village, with all its fences
+and houses. It laid waste the whole country round about, and used to eat
+up people and animals alive, and cook them afterward in the burning oven
+of its stomach. Mercy on us, little children, I hope neither you nor I
+will ever happen to meet a Chimaera!
+
+While the hateful beast (if a beast we can anywise call it) was doing
+all these horrible things, it so chanced that Bellerophon came to that
+part of the world, on a visit to the king. The king's name was Iobates,
+and Lycia was the country which he ruled over. Bellerophon was one of
+the bravest youths in the world, and desired nothing so much as to do
+some valiant and beneficent deed, such as would make all mankind admire
+and love him. In those days, the only way for a young man to distinguish
+himself was by fighting battles, either with the enemies of his country,
+or with wicked giants, or with troublesome dragons, or with wild beasts,
+when he could find nothing more dangerous to encounter. King Iobates,
+perceiving the courage of his youthful visitor, proposed to him to go
+and fight the Chimaera, which everybody else was afraid of, and which,
+unless it should be soon killed, was likely to convert Lycia into a
+desert. Bellerophon hesitated not a moment, but assured the king that he
+would either slay this dreaded Chimaera, or perish in the attempt.
+
+But, in the first place, as the monster was so prodigiously swift, he
+bethought himself that he should never win the victory by fighting on
+foot. The wisest thing he could do, therefore, was to get the very best
+and fleetest horse that could anywhere be found. And what other horse in
+all the world was half so fleet as the marvellous horse Pegasus, who had
+wings as well as legs, and was even more active in the air than on the
+earth? To be sure, a great many people denied that there was any such
+horse with wings, and said that the stories about him were all poetry
+and nonsense. But, wonderful as it appeared, Bellerophon believed that
+Pegasus was a real steed, and hoped that he himself might be fortunate
+enough to find him; and, once fairly mounted on his back, he would be
+able to fight the Chimaera at better advantage.
+
+And this was the purpose with which he had travelled from Lycia to
+Greece, and had brought the beautifully ornamented bridle in his hand.
+It was an enchanted bridle. If he could only succeed in putting the
+golden bit into the mouth of Pegasus, the winged horse would be
+submissive, and would own Bellerophon for his master, and fly
+whithersoever he might choose to turn the rein.
+
+But, indeed, it was a weary and anxious time, while Bellerophon waited
+and waited for Pegasus, in hopes that he would come and drink at the
+Fountain of Pirene. He was afraid lest King Iobates should imagine that
+he had fled from the Chimaera. It pained him, too, to think how much
+mischief the monster was doing, while he himself, instead of righting
+with it, was compelled to sit idly poring over the bright waters of
+Pirene, as they gushed out of the sparkling sand. And as Pegasus came
+thither so seldom in these latter years, and scarcely alighted there
+more than once in a lifetime, Bellerophon feared that he might grow an
+old man, and have no strength left in his arms nor courage in his heart,
+before the winged horse would appear. Oh, how heavily passes the time,
+while an adventurous youth is yearning to do his part in life, and to
+gather in the harvest of his renown! How hard a lesson it is to wait!
+Our life is brief, and how much of it is spent in teaching us only this!
+
+Well was it for Bellerophon that the gentle child had grown so fond of
+him, and was never weary of keeping him company. Every morning the child
+gave him a new hope to put in his bosom, instead of yesterday's withered
+one.
+
+"Dear Bellerophon," he would cry, looking up hopefully into his face, "I
+think we shall see Pegasus to-day!"
+
+And, at length, if it had not been for the little boy's unwavering
+faith, Bellerophon would have given up all hope, and would have gone
+back to Lycia, and have done his best to slay the Chimaera without the
+help of the winged horse. And in that case poor Bellerophon would at
+least have been terribly scorched by the creature's breath, and would
+most probably have been killed and devoured. Nobody should ever try to
+fight an earth-born Chimaera, unless he can first get upon the back of an
+aerial steed.
+
+One morning the child spoke to Bellerophon even more hopefully than
+usual.
+
+"Dear, dear Bellerophon," cried he, "I know not why it is, but I feel as
+if we should certainly see Pegasus to-day!"
+
+And all that day he would not stir a step from Bellerophon's side; so
+they ate a crust of bread together, and drank some of the water of the
+fountain. In the afternoon, there they sat, and Bellerophon had thrown
+his arm around the child, who likewise had put one of his little hands
+into Bellerophon's. The latter was lost in his own thoughts, and was
+fixing his eyes vacantly on the trunks of the trees that overshadowed
+the fountain, and on the grapevines that clambered up among their
+branches. But the gentle child was gazing down into the water; he was
+grieved, for Bellerophon's sake, that the hope of another day should be
+deceived, like so many before it; and two or three quiet tear-drops fell
+from his eyes, and mingled with what were said to be the many tears of
+Pirene, when she wept for her slain children.
+
+But, when he least thought of it, Bellerophon felt the pressure of the
+child's little hand, and heard a soft, almost breathless, whisper.
+
+"See there, dear Bellerophon! There is an image in the water!"
+
+The young man looked down into the dimpling mirror of the fountain, and
+saw what he took to be the reflection of a bird which seemed to be
+flying at a great height in the air, with a gleam of sunshine on its
+snowy or silvery wings.
+
+"What a splendid bird it must be!" said he. "And how very large it
+looks, though it must really be flying higher than the clouds!"
+
+"It makes me tremble!" whispered the child. "I am afraid to look up into
+the air! It is very beautiful, and yet I dare only look at its image in
+the water. Dear Bellerophon, do you not see that it is no bird? It is
+the winged horse Pegasus!"
+
+Bellerophon's heart began to throb! He gazed keenly upward, but could
+not see the winged creature, whether bird or horse; because, just then,
+it had plunged into the fleecy depths of a summer cloud. It was but a
+moment, however, before the object reappeared, sinking lightly down out
+of the cloud, although still at a vast distance from the earth.
+Bellerophon caught the child in his arms, and shrank back with him, so
+that they were both hidden among the thick shrubbery which grew all
+around the fountain. Not that he was afraid of any harm, but he dreaded
+lest, if Pegasus caught a glimpse of them, he would fly far away, and
+alight in some inaccessible mountain-top. For it was really the winged
+horse. After they had expected him so long, he was coming to quench his
+thirst with the water of Pirene.
+
+Nearer and nearer came the aerial wonder, flying in great circles, as
+you may have seen a dove when about to alight. Downward came Pegasus, in
+those wide, sweeping circles, which grew narrower, and narrower still,
+as he gradually approached the earth. The nigher the view of him, the
+more beautiful he was, and the more marvellous the sweep of his silvery
+wings. At last, with so light a pressure as hardly to bend the grass
+about the fountain, or imprint a hoof tramp in the sand of its margin,
+he alighted, and, stooping his wild head, began to drink. He drew in the
+water, with long and pleasant sighs, and tranquil pauses of enjoyment;
+and then another draught, and another, and another. For, nowhere in the
+world, or up among the clouds, did Pegasus love any water as he loved
+this of Pirene. And when his thirst was slaked, he cropped a few of the
+honey blossoms of the clover, delicately tasting them, but not caring to
+make a hearty meal, because the herbage just beneath the clouds, on the
+lofty sides of Mount Helicon, suited his palate better than this
+ordinary grass.
+
+After thus drinking to his heart's content, and in his dainty fashion
+condescending to take a little food, the winged horse began to caper to
+and fro, and dance as it were, out of mere idleness and sport. There
+never was a more playful creature made than this very Pegasus. So there
+he frisked, in a way that it delights me to think about, fluttering his
+great wings as lightly as ever did a linnet, and running little races,
+half on earth and half in air, and which I know not whether to call a
+flight or a gallop. When a creature is perfectly able to fly, he
+sometimes chooses to run, just for the pastime of the thing; and so did
+Pegasus, although it cost him some little trouble to keep his hoofs so
+near the ground. Bellerophon, meanwhile, holding the child's hand,
+peeped forth from the shrubbery, and thought that never was any sight so
+beautiful as this, nor ever a horse's eyes so wild and spirited as those
+of Pegasus. It seemed a sin to think of bridling him and riding on his
+back.
+
+Once or twice, Pegasus stopped, and snuffed the air, pricking up his
+ears, tossing his head, and turning it on all sides, as if he partly
+suspected some mischief or other. Seeing nothing, however, and hearing
+no sound, he soon began his antics again.
+
+At length--not that he was weary, but only idle and luxurious--Pegasus
+folded his wings, and lay down on the soft green turf. But, being too
+full of aerial life to remain quiet for many moments together, he soon
+rolled over on his back, with his four slender legs in the air. It was
+beautiful to see him, this one solitary creature, whose mate had never
+been created, but who needed no companion, and, living a great many
+hundred years, was as happy as the centuries were long. The more he did
+such things as mortal horses are accustomed to do, the less earthly and
+the more wonderful he seemed. Bellerophon and the child almost held
+their breaths, partly from a delightful awe, but still more because they
+dreaded lest the slightest stir or murmur should send him up, with the
+speed of an arrow flight, into the farthest blue of the sky.
+
+Finally, when he had had enough of rolling over and over, Pegasus turned
+himself about, and, indolently, like any other horse, put out his fore
+legs, in order to rise from the ground; and Bellerophon, who had guessed
+that he would do so, darted suddenly from the thicket, and leaped
+astride of his back.
+
+Yes, there he sat, on the back of the winged horse!
+
+But what a bound did Pegasus make, when, for the first time, he felt the
+weight of a mortal man upon his loins! A bound, indeed! Before he had
+time to draw a breath Bellerophon found himself five hundred feet aloft,
+and still shooting upward, while the winged horse snorted and trembled
+with terror and anger. Upward he went, up, up, up, until he plunged into
+the cold misty bosom of a cloud, at which, only a little while before,
+Bellerophon had been gazing, and fancying it a very pleasant spot. Then
+again, out of the heart of the cloud, Pegasus shot down like a
+thunderbolt, as if he meant to dash both himself and his rider headlong
+against a rock. Then he went through about a thousand of the wildest
+caprioles that had ever been performed either by a bird or a horse.
+
+I cannot tell you half that he did. He skimmed straight forward, and
+sideways, and backward. He reared himself erect, with his fore legs on a
+wreath of mist, and his hind legs on nothing at all. He flung out his
+heels behind, and put down his head between his legs, with his wings
+pointing right upward. At about two miles' height above the earth, he
+turned a somerset, so that Bellerophon's heels were where his head
+should have been, and he seemed to look down into the sky, instead of
+up. He twisted his head about, and, looking Bellerophon in the face,
+with fire flashing from his eyes, made a terrible attempt to bite him.
+He fluttered his pinions so wildly that one of the silver feathers was
+shaken out, and floating earthward, was picked up by the child, who kept
+it as long as he lived, in memory of Pegasus and Bellerophon.
+
+But the latter (who, as you may judge, was as good a horseman as ever
+galloped) had been watching his opportunity, and at last clapped the
+golden bit of the enchanted bridle between the winged steed's jaws. No
+sooner was this done, than Pegasus became as manageable as if he had
+taken food all his life out of Bellerophon's hand. To speak what I
+really feel, it was almost a sadness to see so wild a creature grow
+suddenly so tame. And Pegasus seemed to feel it so, likewise. He looked
+round to Bellerophon, with the tears in his beautiful eyes, instead of
+the fire that so recently flashed from them. But when Bellerophon patted
+his head, and spoke a few authoritative yet kind and soothing words,
+another look came into the eyes of Pegasus; for he was glad at heart,
+after so many lonely centuries, to have found a companion and a master.
+
+Thus it always is with winged horses, and with all such wild and
+solitary creatures. If you can catch and overcome them, it is the surest
+way to win their love.
+
+While Pegasus had been doing his utmost to shake Bellerophon off his
+back, he had flown a very long distance; and they had come within sight
+of a lofty mountain by the time the bit was in his mouth. Bellerophon
+had seen this mountain before, and knew it to be Helicon, on the summit
+of which was the winged horse's abode. Thither (after looking gently
+into his rider's face, as if to ask leave) Pegasus now flew, and,
+alighting, waited patiently until Bellerophon should please to dismount.
+The young man, accordingly, leaped from his steed's back, but still held
+him fast by the bridle. Meeting his eyes, however, he was so affected by
+the gentleness of his aspect, and by the thought of the free life which
+Pegasus had heretofore lived, that he could not bear to keep him a
+prisoner, if he really desired his liberty.
+
+Obeying this generous impulse he slipped the enchanted bridle off the
+head of Pegasus, and took the bit from his mouth.
+
+"Leave me, Pegasus!" said he. "Either leave me, or love me."
+
+In an instant, the winged horse shot almost out of sight, soaring upward
+from the summit of Mount Helicon. Being long after sunset, it was now
+twilight on the mountain-top, and dusky evening over all the country
+round about. But Pegasus flew so high that he overtook the departed day,
+and was bathed in the upper radiance of the sun. Ascending higher and
+higher, he looked like a bright speck, and, at last, could no longer be
+seen in the hollow waste of the sky. And Bellerophon was afraid that he
+should never behold him more. But, while he was lamenting his own folly,
+the bright speck reappeared, and drew nearer and nearer, until it
+descended lower than the sunshine; and, behold, Pegasus had come back!
+After this trial there was no more fear of the winged horse's making his
+escape. He and Bellerophon were friends, and put loving faith in one
+another.
+
+That night they lay down and slept together, with Bellerophon's arm
+about the neck of Pegasus, not as a caution, but for kindness. And they
+awoke at peep of day, and bade one another good-morning, each in his own
+language.
+
+In this manner, Bellerophon and the wondrous steed spent several days,
+and grew better acquainted and fonder of each other all the time. They
+went on long aerial journeys, and sometimes ascended so high that the
+earth looked hardly bigger than--the moon. They visited distant
+countries, and amazed the inhabitants, who thought that the beautiful
+young man, on the back of the winged horse, must have come down out of
+the sky. A thousand miles a day was no more than an easy space for the
+fleet Pegasus to pass over. Bellerophon was delighted with this kind of
+life, and would have liked nothing better than to live always in the
+same way, aloft in the clear atmosphere; for it was always sunny weather
+up there, however cheerless and rainy it might be in the lower region.
+But he could not forget the horrible Chimaera, which he had promised King
+Iobates to slay. So, at last, when he had become well accustomed, to
+feats of horsemanship in the air, and could manage Pegasus with the
+least motion of his hand, and had taught him to obey his voice, he
+determined to attempt the performance of this perilous adventure.
+
+At daybreak, therefore, as soon as he unclosed his eyes, he gently
+pinched the winged horse's ear, in order to arouse him. Pegasus
+immediately started from the ground, and pranced about a quarter of a
+mile aloft, and made a grand sweep around the mountain-top, by way of
+showing that he was wide awake, and ready for any kind of an excursion.
+During the whole of this little flight, he uttered a loud, brisk, and
+melodious neigh, and finally came down at Bellerophon's side, as lightly
+as ever you saw a sparrow hop upon a twig.
+
+"Well done, dear Pegasus I well done, my sky-skimmer!" cried
+Bellerophon, fondly stroking the horse's neck. "And now, my fleet and
+beautiful friend, we must break our fast. To-day we are to fight the
+terrible Chimaera."
+
+As soon as they had eaten their morning meal, and drank some sparkling
+water from a spring called Hippocrene, Pegasus held out his head, of his
+own accord, so that his master might put on the bridle. Then, with a
+great many playful leaps and airy caperings, he showed his impatience to
+be gone; while Bellerophon was girding on his sword, and hanging his
+shield about his neck, and preparing himself for battle. When everything
+was ready, the rider mounted, and (as was his custom, when going a long
+distance) ascended five miles perpendicularly, so as the better to see
+whither he was directing his course. He then turned the head of Pegasus
+toward the east, and set out for Lycia. In their flight they overtook an
+eagle, and came so nigh him, before he could get out of their way, that
+Bellerophon might easily have caught him by the leg. Hastening onward at
+this rate, it was still early in the forenoon when they beheld the lofty
+mountains of Lycia, with their deep and shaggy valleys. If Bellerophon
+had been told truly, it was in one of those dismal valleys that the
+hideous Chimaera had taken up its abode.
+
+Being now so near their journey's end, the winged horse gradually
+descended with his rider; and they took advantage of some clouds that
+were floating over the mountain-tops, in order to conceal themselves.
+Hovering on the upper surface of a cloud, and peeping over its edge,
+Bellerophon had a pretty distinct view of the mountainous part of Lycia,
+and could look into all its shadowy vales at once. At first there
+appeared to be nothing remarkable. It was a wild, savage, and rocky
+tract of high and precipitous hills. In the more level part of the
+country, there were the ruins of houses that had been burnt, and, here
+and there, the carcasses of dead cattle, strewn about the pastures where
+they had been feeding.
+
+"The Chimaera must have done this mischief," thought Bellerophon. "But
+where can the monster be?"
+
+As I have already said, there was nothing remarkable to be detected, at
+first sight, in any of the valleys and dells that lay among the
+precipitous heights of the mountains. Nothing at all; unless, indeed, it
+were three spires of black smoke, which issued from what seemed to be
+the mouth of a cavern, and clambered sullenly into the atmosphere.
+Before reaching the mountain-top, these three black smoke wreaths
+mingled themselves into one. The cavern was almost directly beneath the
+winged horse and his rider, at the distance of about a thousand feet.
+The smoke, as it crept heavily upward, had an ugly, sulphurous, stifling
+scent, which caused Pegasus to snort and Bellerophon to sneeze. So
+disagreeable was it to the marvellous steed (who was accustomed to
+breathe only the purest air), that he waved his wings, and shot half a
+mile out of the range of this offensive vapour.
+
+But, on looking behind him, Bellerophon saw something that induced him
+first to draw the bridle, and then to turn Pegasus about. He made a
+sign, which the winged horse understood, and sunk slowly through the
+air, until his hoofs were scarcely more than a man's height above the
+rocky bottom of the valley. In front, as far off as you could throw a
+stone, was the cavern's mouth, with the three smoke wreaths oozing out
+of it. And what else did Bellerophon behold there?
+
+There seemed to be a heap of strange and terrible creatures curled up
+within the cavern. Their bodies lay so close together that Bellerophon
+could not distinguish them apart; but, judging by their heads, one of
+these creatures was a huge snake, the second a fierce lion, and the
+third an ugly goat. The lion and the goat were asleep; the snake was
+broad awake, and kept staring around him with a great pair of fiery
+eyes. But--and this was the most wonderful part of the matter--the three
+spires of smoke evidently issued from the nostrils of these three heads!
+So strange was the spectacle, that, though Bellerophon had been all
+along expecting it, the truth did not immediately occur to him, that
+here was the terrible three-headed Chimaera. He had found out the
+Chimaera's cavern. The snake, the lion, and the goat, as he supposed them
+to be, were not three separate creatures, but one monster!
+
+The wicked, hateful thing! Slumbering as two-thirds of it were, it still
+held, in its abominable claws, the remnant of an unfortunate lamb--or
+possibly (but I hate to think so) it was a dear little boy--which its
+three mouths had been gnawing, before two of them fell asleep!
+
+All at once, Bellerophon started as from a dream, and knew it to be the
+Chimaera. Pegasus seemed to know it, at the same instant, and sent forth
+a neigh that sounded like the call of a trumpet to battle. At this sound
+the three heads reared themselves erect, and belched out great flashes
+of flame. Before Bellerophon had time to consider what to do next, the
+monster flung itself out of the cavern and sprung straight toward him,
+with its immense claws extended, and its snaky tail twisting itself
+venomously behind. If Pegasus had not been as nimble as a bird, both he
+and his rider would have been overthrown by the Chimaera's headlong rush,
+and thus the battle have been ended before it was well begun. But the
+winged horse was not to be caught so. In the twinkling of an eye he was
+up aloft, half way to the clouds, snorting with anger. He shuddered,
+too, not with affright, but with utter disgust at the loathsomeness of
+this poisonous thing with three heads.
+
+The Chimaera, on the other hand, raised itself up so as to stand
+absolutely on the tip end of its tail, with its talons pawing fiercely
+in the air, and its three heads sputtering fire at Pegasus and his
+rider. My stars, how it roared, and hissed, and bellowed! Bellerophon,
+meanwhile, was fitting his shield on his arm, and drawing his sword.
+
+"Now, my beloved Pegasus," he whispered in the winged horse's ear, "thou
+must help me to slay this insufferable monster; or else thou shalt fly
+back to thy solitary mountain peak without thy friend Bellerophon. For
+either the Chimaera dies, or its three mouths shall gnaw this head of
+mine, which has slumbered upon thy neck!"
+
+Pegasus whinnied, and, turning back his head, rubbed his nose tenderly
+against his rider's cheek. It was his way of telling him that, though he
+had wings and was an immortal horse, yet he would perish, if it were
+possible for immortality to perish, rather than leave Bellerophon
+behind.
+
+"I thank you, Pegasus," answered Bellerophon. "Now, then, let us make a
+dash at the monster!"
+
+Uttering these words, he shook the bridle; and Pegasus darted down
+aslant, as swift as the flight of an arrow, right toward the Chimaera's
+threefold head, which, all this time, was poking itself as high as it
+could into the air. As he came within arm's length, Bellerophon made a
+cut at the monster, but was carried onward by his steed, before he could
+see whether the blow had been successful. Pegasus continued his course,
+but soon wheeled round, at about the same distance from the Chimaera as
+before. Bellerophon then perceived that he had cut the goat's head of
+the monster almost off, so that it dangled downward by the skin, and
+seemed quite dead.
+
+But, to make amends, the snake's head and the lion's head had taken all
+the fierceness of the dead one into themselves, and spit flame, and
+hissed, and roared, with a vast deal more fury than before.
+
+"Never mind, my brave Pegasus!" cried Bellerophon. "With another stroke
+like that, we will stop either its hissing or its roaring."
+
+And again he shook the bridle. Dashing aslantwise, as before, the winged
+horse made another arrow-flight toward the Chimaera, and Bellerophon
+aimed another downright stroke at one of the two remaining heads, as he
+shot by. But this time, neither he nor Pegasus escaped so well as at
+first. With one of its claws, the Chimaera had given the young man a deep
+scratch in his shoulder, and had slightly damaged the left wing of the
+flying steed with the other. On his part, Bellerophon had mortally
+wounded the lion's head of the monster, insomuch that it now hung
+downward, with its fire almost extinguished, and sending out gasps of
+thick black smoke. The snake's head, however (which was the only one now
+left), was twice as fierce and venomous as ever before. It belched forth
+shoots of fire five hundred yards long, and emitted hisses so loud, so
+harsh, and so ear-piercing, that King Iobates heard them, fifty miles
+off, and trembled till the throne shook under him.
+
+"Well-a-day!" thought the poor king; "the Chimaera is certainly coming to
+devour me!"
+
+Meanwhile Pegasus had again paused in the air, and neighed angrily,
+while sparkles of a pure crystal flame darted out of his eyes. How
+unlike the lurid fire of the Chimaera! The aerial steed's spirit was all
+aroused, and so was that of Bellerophon.
+
+"Dost thou bleed, my immortal horse?" cried the young man, caring less
+for his own hurt than for the anguish of this glorious creature, that
+ought never to have tasted pain. "The execrable Chimaera shall pay for
+this mischief with his last head!"
+
+Then he shook the bridle, shouted loudly, and guided Pegasus, not
+aslantwise as before, but straight at the monster's hideous front. So
+rapid was the onset that it seemed but a dazzle and a flash before
+Bellerophon was at close gripes with his enemy.
+
+The Chimaera, by this time, after losing its second head, had got into a
+red-hot passion of pain and rampant rage. It so flounced about, half on
+earth and partly in the air, that it was impossible to say which element
+it rested upon. It opened its snake jaws to such an abominable width,
+that Pegasus might almost, I was going to say, have flown right down its
+throat, wings outspread, rider and all! At their approach it shot out a
+tremendous blast of its fiery breath, and enveloped Bellerophon and his
+steed in a perfect atmosphere of flame, singeing the wings of Pegasus,
+scorching off one whole side of the young man's golden ringlets, and
+making them both far hotter than was comfortable, from head to foot.
+
+But this was nothing to what followed.
+
+When the airy rush of the winged horse had brought him within the
+distance of a hundred yards, the Chimaera gave a spring, and flung its
+huge, awkward, venomous, and utterly detestable carcass right upon poor
+Pegasus, clung round him with might and main, and tied up its snaky tail
+into a knot! Up flew the aerial steed, higher, higher, higher, above the
+mountain-peak, above the clouds, and almost out of sight of the solid
+earth. But still the earth-born monster kept its hold, and was borne
+upward, along with the creature of light and air. Bellerophon,
+meanwhile, turning about, found himself face to face with the ugly
+grimness of the Chimaera's visage, and could only avoid being scorched to
+death, or bitten right in twain, by holding up his shield. Over the
+upper edge of the shield, he looked sternly into the savage eyes of the
+monster.
+
+But the Chimaera was so mad and wild with pain that it did not guard
+itself so well as might else have been the case. Perhaps, after all,
+the best way to fight a Chimaera is by getting as close to it as you can.
+In its efforts to stick its horrible iron claws into its enemy the
+creature left its own breast quite exposed; and perceiving this,
+Bellerophon thrust his sword up to the hilt into its cruel heart.
+Immediately the snaky tail untied its knot. The monster let go its hold
+of Pegasus, and fell from that vast height downward; while the fire
+within its bosom, instead of being put out, burned fiercer than ever,
+and quickly began to consume the dead carcass. Thus it fell out of the
+sky, all a-flame, and (it being nightfall before it reached the earth)
+was mistaken for a shooting star or a comet. But, at early sunrise, some
+cottagers were going to their day's labour, and saw, to their
+astonishment, that several acres of ground were strewn with black ashes.
+In the middle of a field, there was a heap of whitened bones, a great
+deal higher than a haystack. Nothing else was ever seen of the dreadful
+Chimaera!
+
+And when Bellerophon had won the victory, he bent forward and kissed
+Pegasus, while the tears stood in his eyes.
+
+"Back now, my beloved steed!" said he. "Back to the Fountain of Pirene!"
+
+Pegasus skimmed through the air, quicker than ever he did before, and
+reached the fountain in a very short time. And there he found the old
+man leaning on his staff, and the country fellow watering his cow, and
+the pretty maiden filling her pitcher.
+
+"I remember now," quoth the old man, "I saw this winged horse once
+before, when I was quite a lad. But he was ten times handsomer in those
+days."
+
+"I own a cart horse worth three of him!" said the country fellow. "If
+this pony were mine, the first thing I should do would be to clip his
+wings!"
+
+But the poor maiden said nothing, for she had always the luck to be
+afraid at the wrong time. So she ran away, and let her pitcher tumble
+down, and broke it.
+
+"Where is the gentle child," asked Bellerophon, "who used to keep me
+company, and never lost his faith, and never was weary of gazing into
+the fountain?"
+
+"Here am I, dear Bellerophon!" said the child, softly.
+
+For the little boy had spent day after day on the margin of Pirene,
+waiting for his friend to come back; but when he perceived Bellerophon
+descending through the clouds, mounted on the winged horse, he had
+shrunk back into the shrubbery. He was a delicate and tender child, and
+dreaded lest the old man and the country fellow should see the tears
+gushing from his eyes.
+
+"Thou hast won the victory," said he, joyfully, running to the knee of
+Bellerophon, who still sat on the back of Pegasus. "I knew thou
+wouldst."
+
+"Yes, dear child!" replied Bellerophon, alighting from the winged horse.
+"But if thy faith had not helped me, I should never have waited for
+Pegasus, and never have gone up above the clouds, and never have
+conquered the terrible Chimaera. Thou, my beloved little friend, hast
+done it all. And now let us give Pegasus his liberty."
+
+So he slipped off the enchanted bridle from the head of the marvellous
+steed.
+
+"Be free, forevermore, my Pegasus!" cried he, with a shade of sadness in
+his tone. "Be as free as thou art fleet!"
+
+But Pegasus rested his head on Bellerophon's shoulder, and would not be
+persuaded to take flight.
+
+"Well then," said Bellerophon, caressing the airy horse, "thou shalt be
+with me as long as thou wilt; and we will go together, forthwith, and
+tell King Iobates that the Chimaera is destroyed."
+
+Then Bellerophon embraced the gentle child, and promised to come to him
+again, and departed. But, in after years, that child took higher flights
+upon the aerial steed than ever did Bellerophon, and achieved more
+honourable deeds than his friend's victory over the Chimaera. For, gentle
+and tender as he was, he grew to be a mighty poet!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE GOLDEN TOUCH
+
+
+Once upon a time, there lived a very rich man, and a king besides, whose
+name was Midas; and he had a little daughter, whom nobody but myself
+ever heard of, and whose name I either never knew, or have entirely
+forgotten. So, because I love odd names for little girls, I choose to
+call her Marygold.
+
+This King Midas was fonder of gold than of anything else in the world.
+He valued his royal crown chiefly because it was composed of that
+precious metal. If he loved anything better, or half so well, it was the
+one little maiden who played so merrily around her father's footstool.
+But the more Midas loved his daughter, the more did he desire and seek
+for wealth. He thought, foolish man! that the best thing he could
+possibly do for this dear child would be to bequeath her the immensest
+pile of yellow, glistening coin, that had ever been heaped together
+since the world was made. Thus, he gave all his thoughts and all his
+time to this one purpose. If ever he happened to gaze for an instant at
+the gold-tinted clouds of sunset, he wished that they were real gold,
+and that they could be squeezed safely into his strong box. When little
+Marygold ran to meet him, with a bunch of buttercups and dandelions, he
+used to say, "Poh, poh, child! If these flowers were as golden as they
+look, they would be worth the plucking!"
+
+And yet, in his earlier days, before he was so entirely possessed of
+this insane desire for riches, King Midas had shown a great taste for
+flowers. He had planted a garden, in which grew the biggest and
+beautifullest and sweetest roses that any mortal ever saw or smelt.
+These roses were still growing in the garden, as large, as lovely, and
+as fragrant as when Midas used to pass whole hours in gazing at them,
+and inhaling their perfume. But now, if he looked at them at all, it was
+only to calculate how much the garden would be worth if each of the
+innumerable rose petals were a thin plate of gold. And though he once
+was fond of music (in spite of an idle story about his ears, which were
+said to resemble those of an ass), the only music for poor Midas, now,
+was the chink of one coin against another.
+
+At length (as people always grow more and more foolish, unless they take
+care to grow wiser and wiser), Midas had got to be so exceedingly
+unreasonable that he could scarcely bear to see or touch any object that
+was not gold. He made it his custom, therefore, to pass a large portion
+of every day in a dark and dreary apartment, under ground, at the
+basement of his palace. It was here that he kept his wealth. To this
+dismal hole--for it was little better than a dungeon--Midas betook
+himself, whenever he wanted to be particularly happy. Here, after
+carefully locking the door, he would take a bag of gold coin, or a gold
+cup as big as a washbowl, or a heavy golden bar, or a peck measure of
+gold dust, and bring them from the obscure corners of the room into the
+one bright and narrow sunbeam that fell from the dungeon-like window. He
+valued the sunbeam for no other reason but that his treasure would not
+shine without its help. And then would he reckon over the coins in the
+bag; toss up the bar, and catch it as it came down; sift the gold dust
+through his fingers; look at the funny image of his own face, as
+reflected in the burnished circumference of the cup, and whisper to
+himself, "O Midas, rich King Midas, what a happy man art thou!" But it
+was laughable to see how the image of his face kept grinning at him, out
+of the polished surface of the cup. It seemed to be aware of his foolish
+behaviour, and to have a naughty inclination to make fun of him.
+
+Midas called himself a happy man, but felt that he was not yet quite so
+happy as he might be. The very tiptop of enjoyment would never be
+reached, unless the whole world were to become his treasure room, and be
+filled with yellow metal which should be all his own.
+
+Now, I need hardly remind such wise little people as you are, that in
+the old, old times, when King Midas was alive, a great many things came
+to pass, which we should consider wonderful if they were to happen in
+our own day and country. And, on the other hand, a great many things
+take place nowadays, which seem not only wonderful to us, but at which
+the people of old times would have stared their eyes out. On the whole,
+I regard our own times as the strangest of the two; but, however that
+may be, I must go on with my story.
+
+Midas was enjoying himself in his treasure room, one day, as usual, when
+he perceived a shadow fall over the heaps of gold; and, looking suddenly
+up, what should he behold but the figure of a stranger, standing in the
+bright and narrow sunbeam! It was a young man, with a cheerful and ruddy
+face. Whether it was that the imagination of King Midas threw a yellow
+tinge over everything, or whatever the cause might be, he could not
+help fancying that the smile with which the stranger regarded him had a
+kind of golden radiance in it. Certainly, although his figure
+intercepted the sunshine, there was now a brighter gleam upon all the
+piled-up treasures than before. Even the remotest corners had their
+share of it, and were lighted up, when the stranger smiled, as with tips
+of flame and sparkles of fire.
+
+As Midas knew that he had carefully turned the key in the lock, and that
+no mortal strength could possibly break into his treasure room, he, of
+course, concluded that his visitor must be something more than mortal.
+It is no matter about telling you who he was. In those days, when the
+earth was comparatively a new affair, it was supposed to be often the
+resort of beings endowed with supernatural power, and who used to
+interest themselves in the joys and sorrows of men, women, and children,
+half playfully and half seriously. Midas had met such beings before now,
+and was not sorry to meet one of them again. The stranger's aspect,
+indeed, was so good humoured and kindly, if not beneficent, that it
+would have been unreasonable to suspect him of intending any mischief.
+It was far more probable that he came to do Midas a favour. And what
+could that favour be, unless to multiply his heaps of treasure?
+
+The stranger gazed about the room; and when his lustrous smile had
+glistened upon all the golden objects that were there, he turned again
+to Midas.
+
+"You are a wealthy man, friend Midas!" he observed. "I doubt whether any
+other four walls, on earth, contain so much gold as you have contrived
+to pile up in this room."
+
+"I have done pretty well--pretty well," answered Midas, in a
+discontented tone. "But, after all, it is but a trifle, when you
+consider that it has taken me my whole life to get it together. If one
+could live a thousand years, he might have time to grow rich!"
+
+"What!" exclaimed the stranger. "Then you are not satisfied?"
+
+Midas shook his head.
+
+"And pray what would satisfy you?" asked the stranger. "Merely for the
+curiosity of the thing, I should be glad to know."
+
+Midas paused and meditated. He felt a presentiment that this stranger,
+with such a golden lustre in his good-humoured smile, had come hither
+with both the power and the purpose of gratifying his utmost wishes.
+Now, therefore, was the fortunate moment, when he had but to speak, and
+obtain whatever possible, or seemingly impossible thing, it might come
+into his head to ask. So he thought, and thought, and thought, and
+heaped up one golden mountain upon another, in his imagination, without
+being able to imagine them big enough. At last, a bright idea occurred
+to King Midas. It seemed really as bright as the glistening metal which
+he loved so much.
+
+Raising his head, he looked the lustrous stranger in the face.
+
+"Well, Midas," observed his visitor, "I see that you have at length hit
+upon something that will satisfy you. Tell me your wish."
+
+"It is only this," replied Midas. "I am weary of collecting my treasures
+with so much trouble, and beholding the heap so diminutive, after I have
+done my best. I wish everything that I touch to be changed to gold!"
+
+The stranger's smile grew so very broad, that it seemed to fill the room
+like an outburst of the sun, gleaming into a shadowy dell, where the
+yellow autumnal leaves--for so looked the lumps and particles of
+gold--lie strewn in the glow of light.
+
+"The Golden Touch!" exclaimed he. "You certainly deserve credit, friend
+Midas, for striking out so brilliant a conception. But are you quite
+sure that this will satisfy you?"
+
+"How could it fail?" said Midas.
+
+"And will you never regret the possession of it?"
+
+"What could induce me?" asked Midas. "I ask nothing else, to render me
+perfectly happy."
+
+"Be it as you wish, then," replied the stranger, waving his hand in
+token of farewell. "To-morrow, at sunrise, you will find yourself gifted
+with the Golden Touch."
+
+The figure of the stranger then became exceedingly bright, and Midas
+involuntarily closed his eyes. On opening them again, he beheld only one
+yellow sunbeam in the room, and, all around him, the glistening of the
+precious metal which he had spent his life in hoarding up.
+
+Whether Midas slept as usual that night, the story does not say. Asleep
+or awake, however, his mind was probably in the state of a child's, to
+whom a beautiful new plaything has been promised in the morning. At any
+rate, day had hardly peeped over the hills, when King Midas was broad
+awake, and, stretching his arms out of bed, began to touch the objects
+that were within reach. He was anxious to prove whether the Golden Touch
+had really come, according to the stranger's promise. So he laid his
+finger on a chair by the bedside, and on various other things, but was
+grievously disappointed to perceive that they remained of exactly the
+same substance as before. Indeed, he felt very much afraid that he had
+only dreamed about the lustrous stranger, or else that the latter had
+been making game of him. And what a miserable affair would it be, if,
+after all his hopes, Midas must content himself with what little gold he
+could scrape together by ordinary means, instead of creating it by a
+touch!
+
+All this while, it was only the gray of the morning, with but a streak
+of brightness along the edge of the sky, where Midas could not see it.
+He lay in a very disconsolate mood, regretting the downfall of his hopes
+and kept growing sadder and sadder, until the earliest sunbeam shone
+through the window, and gilded the ceiling over his head. It seemed to
+Midas that this bright yellow sunbeam was reflected in rather a singular
+way on the white covering of the bed. Looking more closely, what was his
+astonishment and delight, when he found that this linen fabric had been
+transmuted to what seemed a woven texture of the purest and brightest
+gold! The Golden Touch had come to him with the first sunbeam!
+
+Midas started up, in a kind of joyful frenzy, and ran about the room,
+grasping at everything that happened to be in his way. He seized one of
+the bedposts, and it became immediately a fluted golden pillar. He
+pulled aside a window curtain, in order to admit a clear spectacle of
+the wonders which he was performing; and the tassel grew heavy in his
+hand--a mass of gold. He took up a book from the table. At his first
+touch, it assumed the appearance of such a splendidly bound and
+gilt-edged volume as one often meets with, nowadays; but, on running his
+fingers through the leaves, behold! it was a bundle of thin golden
+plates, in which all the wisdom of the book had grown illegible. He
+hurriedly put on his clothes, and was enraptured to see himself in a
+magnificent suit of gold cloth, which retained its flexibility and
+softness, although it burdened him a little with its weight. He drew out
+his handkerchief, which little Marygold had hemmed for him. That was
+likewise gold, with the dear child's neat and pretty stitches running
+all along the border, in gold thread!
+
+Somehow or other, this last transformation did not quite please King
+Midas. He would rather that his little daughter's handiwork should have
+remained just the same as when she climbed his knee and put it into his
+hand.
+
+But it was not worth while to vex himself about a trifle. Midas now took
+his spectacles from his pocket, and put them on his nose, in order that
+he might see more distinctly what he was about. In those days,
+spectacles for common people had not been invented, but were already
+worn by kings: else, how could Midas have had any? To his great
+perplexity, however, excellent as the glasses were, he discovered that
+he could not possibly see through them. But this was the most natural
+thing in the world; for, on taking them off, the transparent crystals
+turned out to be plates of yellow metal, and, of course, were worthless
+as spectacles, though valuable as gold. It struck Midas, as rather
+inconvenient that, with all his wealth, he could never again be rich
+enough to own a pair of serviceable spectacles.
+
+"It is no great matter, nevertheless," said he to himself, very
+philosophically. "We cannot expect any great good, without its being
+accompanied with some small inconvenience. The Golden Touch is worth
+the sacrifice of a pair of spectacles, at least, if not of one's very
+eyesight. My own eyes will serve for ordinary purposes, and little
+Marygold will soon be old enough to read to me."
+
+Wise King Midas was so exalted by his good fortune, that the palace
+seemed not sufficiently spacious to contain him. He therefore went
+downstairs, and smiled, on observing that the balustrade of the
+staircase became a bar of burnished gold, as his hand passed over it, in
+his descent. He lifted the doorlatch (it was brass only a moment ago,
+but golden when his fingers quitted it), and emerged into the garden.
+Here, as it happened, he found a great number of beautiful roses in full
+bloom, and others in all the stages of lovely bud and blossom. Very
+delicious was their fragrance in the morning breeze. Their delicate
+blush was one of the fairest sights in the world; so gentle, so modest,
+and so full of sweet tranquillity, did these roses seem to be.
+
+But Midas knew a way to make them far more precious, according to his
+way of thinking, than roses had ever been before. So he took great pains
+in going from bush to bush, and exercised his magic touch most
+indefatigably; until every individual flower and bud, and even the worms
+at the heart of some of them, were changed to gold. By the time this
+good work was completed, King Midas was summoned to breakfast; and as
+the morning air had given him an excellent appetite, he made haste back
+to the palace.
+
+What was usually a king's breakfast in the days of Midas, I really do
+not know, and cannot stop now to investigate. To the best of my belief,
+however, on this particular morning, the breakfast consisted of hot
+cakes, some nice little brook trout, roasted potatoes, fresh boiled
+eggs, and coffee, for King Midas himself, and a bowl of bread and milk
+for his daughter Marygold. At all events, this is a breakfast fit to set
+before a king; and, whether he had it or not, King Midas could not have
+had a better.
+
+Little Marygold had not yet made her appearance. Her father ordered her
+to be called, and, seating himself at table, awaited the child's coming,
+in order to begin his own breakfast. To do Midas justice, he really
+loved his daughter, and loved her so much the more this morning, on
+account of the good fortune which had befallen him. It was not a great
+while before he heard her coming along the passageway crying bitterly.
+This circumstance surprised him, because Marygold was one of the
+cheerfullest little people whom you would see in a summer's day, and
+hardly shed a thimbleful of tears in a twelvemonth. When Midas heard her
+sobs, he determined to put little Marygold into better spirits, by an
+agreeable surprise; so, leaning across the table, he touched his
+daughter's bowl (which was a china one, with pretty figures all around
+it), and transmuted it to gleaming gold.
+
+Meanwhile, Marygold slowly and disconsolately opened the door, and
+showed herself with her apron at her eyes, still sobbing as if her heart
+would break.
+
+"How now, my little lady!" cried Midas. "Pray what is the matter with
+you, this bright morning?"
+
+Marygold, without taking the apron from her eyes, held out her hand, in
+which was one of the roses which Midas had so recently transmuted.
+
+"Beautiful!" exclaimed her father. "And what is there in this
+magnificent golden rose to make you cry?"
+
+"Ah, dear father!" answered the child, as well as her sobs would let
+her; "it is not beautiful, but the ugliest flower that ever grew! As
+soon as I was dressed I ran into the garden to gather some roses for
+you; because I know you like them, and like them the better when
+gathered by your little daughter. But, oh dear, dear me. What do you
+think has happened? Such a misfortune! All the beautiful roses, that
+smelled so sweetly and had so many lovely blushes, are blighted and
+spoilt! They are grown quite yellow, as you see this one, and have no
+longer any fragrance! What can have been the matter with them?"
+
+"Poh, my dear little girl--pray don't cry about it!" said Midas, who was
+ashamed to confess that he himself had wrought the change which so
+greatly afflicted her, "Sit down and eat your bread and milk! You will
+find it easy enough to exchange a golden rose like that (which will last
+hundreds of years) for an ordinary one which would wither in a day."
+
+"I don't care for such roses as this!" cried Marygold, tossing it
+contemptuously away. "It has no smell, and the hard petals prick my
+nose!"
+
+The child now sat down to table, but was so occupied with her grief for
+the blighted roses that she did not even notice the wonderful
+transmutation of her china bowl. Perhaps this was all the better; for
+Marygold was accustomed to take pleasure in looking at the queer
+figures, and strange trees and houses, that were painted on the
+circumference of the bowl; and these ornaments were now entirely lost in
+the yellow hue of the metal.
+
+Midas, meanwhile, had poured out a cup of coffee, and, as a matter of
+course, the Coffee-pot, whatever metal it may have been when he took it
+up, was gold when he set it down. He thought to himself, that it was
+rather an extravagant style of splendour, in a king of his simple
+habits, to breakfast off a service of gold, and began to be puzzled with
+the difficulty of keeping his treasures safe. The cupboard and the
+kitchen would no longer be a secure place of deposit for articles so
+valuable as golden bowls and coffee-pots.
+
+Amid these thoughts, he lifted a spoonful of coffee to his lips, and,
+sipping it, was astonished to perceive that, the instant his lips
+touched the liquid, it became molten gold, and, the next moment,
+hardened into a lump!
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Midas, rather aghast.
+
+"What is the matter, father?" asked little Marygold, gazing at him, with
+the tears still standing in her eyes.
+
+"Nothing, child, nothing!" said Midas. "Eat your milk, before it gets
+quite cold."
+
+He took one of the nice little trouts on his plate, and, by way of
+experiment, touched its tail with his finger. To his horror, it was
+immediately transmuted from an admirably fried brook trout into a
+gold-fish, though not one of those gold-fishes which people often keep
+in glass globes, as ornaments for the parlour. No; but it was really a
+metallic fish, and looked as if it had been very cunningly made by the
+nicest goldsmith in the world. Its little bones were now golden wires;
+its fins and tail were thin plates of gold; and there were the marks of
+the fork in it, and all the delicate, frothy appearance of a nicely
+fried fish, exactly imitated in metal. A very pretty piece of work, as
+you may suppose; only King Midas, just at that moment, would much rather
+have had a real trout in his dish than this elaborate and valuable
+imitation of one.
+
+"I don't quite see," thought he to himself, "how I am to get any
+breakfast!"
+
+He took one of the smoking-hot cakes, and had scarcely broken it, when,
+to his cruel mortification, though, a moment before, it had been of the
+whitest wheat, it assumed the yellow hue of Indian meal. To say the
+truth, if it had really been a hot Indian cake, Midas would have prized
+it a good deal more than he now did, when its solidity and increased
+weight made him too bitterly sensible that it was gold. Almost in
+despair, he helped himself to a boiled egg, which immediately underwent
+a change similar to those of the trout and the cake. The egg, indeed,
+might have been mistaken for one of those which the famous goose, in the
+story book, was in the habit of laying; but King Midas was the only
+goose that had had anything to do with the matter.
+
+"Well, this is a quandary!" thought he, leaning back in his chair, and
+looking quite enviously at little Marygold, who was now eating her bread
+and milk with great satisfaction. "Such a costly breakfast before me,
+and nothing that can be eaten!"
+
+Hoping that, by dint of great dispatch, he might avoid what he now felt
+to be a considerable inconvenience, King Midas next snatched a hot
+potato, and attempted to cram it into his mouth, and swallow it in a
+hurry. But the Golden Touch was too nimble for him. He found his mouth
+full, not of mealy potato, but of solid metal, which so burnt his tongue
+that he roared aloud, and, jumping up from the table, began to dance and
+stamp about the room, both with pain and affright.
+
+"Father, dear father!" cried little Marygold, who was a very
+affectionate child, "pray what is the matter? Have you burnt your
+mouth?"
+
+"Ah, dear child," groaned Midas, dolefully, "I don't know what is to
+become of your poor father!"
+
+And, truly, my dear little folks, did you ever hear of such a pitiable
+case in all your lives? Here was literally the richest breakfast that
+could be set before a king, and its very richness made it absolutely
+good for nothing. The poorest labourer, sitting down to his crust of
+bread and cup of water, was far better off than King Midas, whose
+delicate food was really worth its weight in gold. And what was to be
+done? Already, at breakfast, Midas was excessively hungry. Would he be
+less so by dinner-time? And how ravenous would be his appetite for
+supper, which must undoubtedly consist of the same sort of indigestible
+dishes as those now before him! How many days, think you, would he
+survive a continuance of this rich fare?
+
+These reflections so troubled wise King Midas, that he began to doubt
+whether, after all, riches are the one desirable thing in the world, or
+even the most desirable. But this was only a passing thought. So
+fascinated was Midas with the glitter of the yellow metal, that he would
+still have refused to give up the Golden Touch for so paltry a
+consideration as a breakfast. Just imagine what a price for one meal's
+victuals! It would have been the same as paying millions and millions of
+money (and as many millions more as would take forever to reckon up) for
+some fried trout, an egg, a potato, a hot cake, and a cup of coffee!
+
+"It would be quite too dear," thought Midas.
+
+Nevertheless, so great was his hunger, and the perplexity of his
+situation, that he again groaned aloud, and very grievously, too. Our
+pretty Marygold could endure it no longer. She sat, a moment, gazing at
+her father, and trying, with all the might of her little wits, to find
+out what was the matter with him. Then, with a sweet and sorrowful
+impulse to comfort him, she started from her chair, and, running to
+Midas, threw her arms affectionately about his knees. He bent down and
+kissed her. He felt that his little daughter's love was worth a thousand
+times more than he had gained by the Golden Touch.
+
+"My precious, precious Marygold!" cried he.
+
+But Marygold made no answer.
+
+Alas, what had he done? How fatal was the gift which the stranger
+bestowed! The moment the lips of Midas touched Marygold's forehead, a
+change had taken place. Her sweet, rosy face, so full of affection as it
+had been, assumed a glittering yellow colour, with yellow tear-drops
+congealing on her cheeks. Her beautiful brown ringlets took the same
+tint. Her soft and tender little form grew hard and inflexible within
+her father's encircling arms. Oh, terrible misfortune! The victim of his
+insatiable desire for wealth, little Marygold was a human child no
+longer, but a golden statue!
+
+Yes, there she was, with the questioning look of love, grief, and pity,
+hardened into her face. It was the prettiest and most woeful sight that
+ever mortal saw. All the features and tokens of Marygold were there;
+even the beloved little dimple remained in her golden chin. But, the
+more perfect was the resemblance, the greater was the father's agony at
+beholding this golden image, which was all that was left him of a
+daughter. It had been a favourite phrase of Midas, whenever he felt
+particularly fond of the child, to say that she was worth her weight in
+gold. And now the phrase had become literally true. And, now, at last,
+when it was too late, he felt how infinitely a warm and tender heart,
+that loved him, exceeded in value all the wealth that could be piled up
+betwixt the earth and sky!
+
+It would be too sad a story, if I were to tell you how Midas, in the
+fulness of all his gratified desires, began to wring his hands and
+bemoan himself; and how he could neither bear to look at Marygold, nor
+yet to look away from her. Except when his eyes were fixed on the image,
+he could not possibly believe that she was changed to gold. But,
+stealing another glance, there was the precious little figure, with a
+yellow tear-drop on its yellow cheek, and a look so piteous and tender,
+that it seemed as if that very expression must needs soften the gold,
+and make it flesh again. This, however, could not be. So Midas had only
+to wring his hands, and to wish that he were the poorest man in the wide
+world, if the loss of all his wealth might bring back the faintest rose
+colour to his dear child's face.
+
+While he was in this tumult of despair, he suddenly beheld a stranger
+standing near the door. Midas bent down his head, without speaking; for
+he recognised the same figure which had appeared to him, the day before,
+in the treasure-room, and had bestowed on him this disastrous faculty of
+the Golden Touch. The stranger's countenance still wore a smile, which
+seemed to shed a yellow lustre all about the room, and gleamed on little
+Marygold's image, and on the other objects that had been transmuted by
+the touch of Midas.
+
+"Well, friend Midas," said the stranger, "pray how do you succeed with
+the Golden Touch?"
+
+Midas shook his head.
+
+"I am very miserable," said he.
+
+"Very miserable, indeed!" exclaimed the stranger.
+
+"And how happens that? Have I not faithfully kept my promise with you?
+Have you not everything that your heart desired?"
+
+"Gold is not everything," answered Midas. "And I have lost all that my
+heart really cared for."
+
+"Ah! So you have made a discovery, since yesterday?" observed the
+stranger. "Let us see, then. Which of these two things do you think is
+really worth the most--the gift of the Golden Touch, or one cup of clear
+cold water?"
+
+"O blessed water!" exclaimed Midas. "I will never moisten my parched
+throat again!"
+
+"The Golden Touch," continued the stranger, "or a crust of bread?"
+
+"A piece of bread," answered Midas, "is worth all the gold on earth!"
+
+"The Golden Touch," asked the stranger, "or your own little Marygold,
+warm, soft, and loving as she was an hour ago?"
+
+"Oh, my child, my dear child!" cried poor Midas, wringing his hands. "I
+would not have given that one small dimple in her chin for the power of
+changing this whole big earth into a solid lump of gold!"
+
+"You are wiser than you were, King Midas!" said the stranger, looking
+seriously at him. "Your own heart, I perceive, has not been entirely
+changed from flesh to gold. Were it so, your case would indeed be
+desperate. But you appear to be still capable of understanding that the
+commonest things, such as lie within everybody's grasp, are more
+valuable than the riches which so many mortals sigh and struggle after.
+Tell me, now, do you sincerely desire to rid yourself of this Golden
+Touch?"
+
+"It is hateful to me!" replied Midas.
+
+A fly settled on his nose, but immediately fell to the floor; for it,
+too, had become gold. Midas shuddered.
+
+"Go, then," said the stranger, "and plunge into the river that glides
+past the bottom of your garden. Take likewise a vase of the same water,
+and sprinkle it over any object that you may desire to change back again
+from gold into its former substance. If you do this in earnestness and
+sincerity, it may possibly repair the mischief which your avarice has
+occasioned."
+
+King Midas bowed low; and when he lifted his head, the lustrous stranger
+had vanished.
+
+You will easily believe that Midas lost no time in snatching up a great
+earthen pitcher (but, alas me! it was no longer earthen after he touched
+it), and hastening to the river-side. As he scampered along, and forced
+his way through the shrubbery, it was positively marvellous to see how
+the foliage turned yellow behind him, as if the autumn had been there,
+and nowhere else. On reaching the river's brink, he plunged headlong in,
+without waiting so much as to pull off his shoes.
+
+"Poof! poof! poof!" snorted King Midas, as his head emerged out of the
+water. "Well; this is really a refreshing bath, and I think it must have
+quite washed away the Golden Touch. And now for filling my pitcher!"
+
+As he dipped the pitcher into the water, it gladdened his very heart to
+see it change from gold into the same good, honest earthen vessel which
+it had been before he touched it. He was conscious, also, of a change
+within himself. A cold, hard, and heavy weight seemed to have gone out
+of his bosom. No doubt, his heart had been gradually losing its human
+substance, and transmuting itself into insensible metal, but had now
+softened back again into flesh. Perceiving a violet, that grew on the
+bank of the river, Midas touched it with his finger, and was overjoyed
+to find that the delicate flower retained its purple hue, instead of
+undergoing a yellow blight. The curse of the Golden Touch had,
+therefore, really been removed from him.
+
+King Midas hastened back to the palace; and, I suppose, the servants
+knew not what to make of it when they saw their royal master so
+carefully bringing home an earthen pitcher of water. But that water,
+which was to undo all the mischief that his folly had wrought, was more
+precious to Midas than an ocean of molten gold could have been. The
+first thing he did, as you need hardly be told, was to sprinkle it by
+handfuls over the golden figure of little Marygold.
+
+No sooner did it fall on her than you would have laughed to see how the
+rosy colour came back to the dear child's cheek! and how she began to
+sneeze and sputter!--and how astonished she was to find herself dripping
+wet, and her father still throwing more water over her!
+
+"Pray do not, dear father!" cried she. "See how you have wet my nice
+frock, which I put on only this morning!"
+
+For Marygold did not know that she had been a little golden statue; nor
+could she remember anything that had happened since the moment when she
+ran with outstretched arms to comfort poor King Midas.
+
+Her father did not think it necessary to tell his beloved child how very
+foolish he had been, but contented himself with showing how much wiser
+he had now grown. For this purpose, he led little Marygold into the
+garden, where he sprinkled all the remainder of the water over the
+rose-bushes, and with such good effect that above five thousand roses
+recovered their beautiful bloom. There were two circumstances, however,
+which, as long as he lived, used to put King Midas in mind of the Golden
+Touch. One was, that the sands of the river sparkled like gold; the
+other, that little Marygold's hair had now a golden tinge, which he had
+never observed in it before she had been transmuted by the effect of his
+kiss. This change of hue was really an improvement, and made Marygold's
+hair richer than in her babyhood.
+
+When King Midas had grown quite an old man, and used to trot Mary gold's
+children on his knee, he was fond of telling them this marvellous story,
+pretty much as I have now told it to you. And then would he stroke their
+glossy ringlets, and tell them that their hair, likewise, had a rich
+shade of gold, which they had inherited from their mother.
+
+"And to tell you the truth, my precious little folks," quoth King Midas,
+diligently trotting the children all the while, "ever since that
+morning, I have hated the very sight of all other gold, save this!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE GORGON'S HEAD
+
+
+Perseus was the son of Danae, who was the daughter of a king. And when
+Perseus was a very little boy, some wicked people put his mother and
+himself into a chest, and set them afloat upon the sea. The wind blew
+freshly, and drove the chest away from the shore, and the uneasy billows
+tossed it up and down; while Danae clasped her child closely to her
+bosom, and dreaded that some big wave would dash its foamy crest over
+them both. The chest sailed on, however, and neither sank nor was upset;
+until, when night was coming, it floated so near an island that it got
+entangled in a fisherman's nets, and was drawn out high and dry upon the
+sand. The island was called Seriphus, and it was reigned over by King
+Polydectes, who happened to be the fisherman's brother.
+
+This fisherman, I am glad to tell you, was an exceedingly humane and
+upright man. He showed great kindness to Danae and her little boy; and
+continued to befriend them, until Perseus had grown to be a handsome
+youth, very strong and active, and skilful in the use of arms. Long
+before this time, King Polydectes had seen the two strangers--the mother
+and her child--who had come to his dominions in a floating chest. As he
+was not good and kind, like his brother the fisherman, but extremely
+wicked, he resolved to send Perseus on a dangerous enterprise, in which
+he would probably be killed, and then to do some great mischief to Danae
+herself. So this bad-hearted king spent a long while in considering what
+was the most dangerous thing that a young man could possibly undertake
+to perform. At last, having hit upon an enterprise that promised to turn
+out as fatally as he desired, he sent for the youthful Perseus.
+
+The young man came to the palace, and found the king sitting upon his
+throne.
+
+"Perseus," said King Polydectes, smiling craftily upon him, "you are
+grown up a fine young man. You and your good mother have received a
+great deal of kindness from myself, as well as from my worthy brother
+the fisherman, and I suppose you would not be sorry to repay some of
+it."
+
+"Please, Your Majesty," answered Perseus, "I would willingly risk my
+life to do so."
+
+"Well, then," continued the king, still with a cunning smile on his
+lips, "I have a little adventure to propose to you; and, as you are a
+brave and enterprising youth, you will doubtless look upon it as a great
+piece of good luck to have so rare an opportunity of distinguishing
+yourself. You must know, my good Perseus, I think of getting married to
+the beautiful Princess Hippodamia; and it is customary, on these
+occasions, to make the bride a present of some far-fetched and elegant
+curiosity. I have been a little perplexed, I must honestly confess,
+where to obtain anything likely to please a princess of her exquisite
+taste. But, this morning, I flatter myself, I have thought of precisely
+the article."
+
+"And can I assist Your Majesty in obtaining it?" cried Perseus,
+eagerly.
+
+"You can, if you are as brave a youth as I believe you to be," replied
+King Polydectes, with the utmost graciousness of manner. "The bridal
+gift which I have set my heart on presenting to the beautiful Hippodamia
+is the head of the Gorgon Medusa with the snaky locks; and I depend on
+you, my dear Perseus, to bring it to me. So, as I am anxious to settle
+affairs with the princess, the sooner you go in quest of the Gorgon, the
+better I shall be pleased."
+
+"I will set out to-morrow morning," answered Perseus.
+
+"Pray do so, my gallant youth," rejoined the king. "And, Perseus, in
+cutting off the Gorgon's head, be careful to make a clean stroke, so as
+not to injure its appearance. You must bring it home in the very best
+condition, in order to suit the exquisite taste of the beautiful
+Princess Hippodamia."
+
+Perseus left the palace, but was scarcely out of hearing before
+Polydectes burst into a laugh; being greatly amused, wicked king that he
+was, to find how readily the young man fell into the snare. The news
+quickly spread abroad that Perseus had undertaken to cut off the head of
+Medusa with the snaky locks. Everybody was rejoiced; for most of the
+inhabitants of the island were as wicked as the king himself, and would
+have liked nothing better than to see some enormous mischief happen to
+Danae and her son. The only good man in this unfortunate island of
+Seriphus appears to have been the fisherman. As Perseus walked along,
+therefore, the people pointed after him, and made mouths, and winked to
+one another, and ridiculed him as loudly as they dared.
+
+"Ho, ho!" cried they; "Medusa's snakes will sting him soundly!"
+
+Now, there were three Gorgons alive at that period; and they were the
+most strange and terrible monsters that had ever been since the world
+was made, or that have been seen in after days, or that are likely to be
+seen in all time to come. I hardly know what sort of creature or
+hobgoblin to call them. They were three sisters, and seem to have borne
+some distant resemblance to women, but were really a very frightful and
+mischievous species of dragon. It is, indeed, difficult to imagine what
+hideous beings these three sisters were. Why, instead of locks of hair,
+if you can believe me, they had each of them a hundred enormous snakes
+growing on their heads, all alive, twisting, wriggling, curling, and
+thrusting out their venomous tongues, with forked stings at the end! The
+teeth of the Gorgons were terribly long tusks; their hands were made of
+brass; and their bodies were all over scales, which, if not iron, were
+something as hard and impenetrable. They had wings, too, and exceedingly
+splendid ones, I can assure you; for every feather in them was pure,
+bright, glittering, burnished gold, and they looked very dazzlingly, no
+doubt, when the Gorgons were flying about in the sunshine.
+
+But when people happened to catch a glimpse of their glittering
+brightness, aloft in the air, they seldom stopped to gaze, but ran and
+hid themselves as speedily as they could. You will think, perhaps, that
+they were afraid of being stung by the serpents that served the Gorgons
+instead of hair--or of having their heads bitten off by their ugly
+tusks--or of being torn all to pieces by their brazen claws. Well, to be
+sure, these were some of the dangers, but by no means the greatest, nor
+the most difficult to avoid. For the worst thing about these abominable
+Gorgons was, that, if once a poor mortal fixed his eyes full upon one
+of their faces, he was certain, that very instant, to be changed from
+warm flesh and blood into cold and lifeless stone!
+
+Thus, as you will easily perceive, it was a very dangerous adventure
+that the wicked King Polydectes had contrived for this innocent young
+man. Perseus himself, when he had thought over the matter, could not
+help seeing that he had very little chance of coming safely through it,
+and that he was far more likely to become a stone image than to bring
+back the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. For, not to speak of other
+difficulties, there was one which it would have puzzled an older man
+than Perseus to get over. Not only must he fight with and slay this
+golden-winged, iron-scaled, long-tusked, brazen-clawed, snaky-haired
+monster, but he must do it with his eyes shut, or, at least, without so
+much as a glance at the enemy with whom he was contending. Else, while
+his arm was lifted to strike, he would stiffen into stone, and stand
+with that uplifted arm for centuries, until time, and the wind and
+weather, should crumble him quite away. This would be a very sad thing
+to befall a young man who wanted to perform a great many brave deeds,
+and to enjoy a great deal of happiness, in this bright and beautiful
+world.
+
+So disconsolate did these thoughts make him, that Perseus could not bear
+to tell his mother what he had undertaken to do. He therefore took his
+shield, girded on his sword, and crossed over from the island to the
+mainland, where he sat down in a solitary place, and hardly refrained
+from shedding tears.
+
+But, while he was in this sorrowful mood, he heard a voice close beside
+him.
+
+"Perseus," said the voice, "why are you sad?"
+
+He lifted his head from his hands, in which he had hidden it, and,
+behold! all alone as Perseus had supposed himself to be, there was a
+stranger in the solitary place. It was a brisk, intelligent, and
+remarkably shrewd-looking young man, with a cloak over his shoulders, an
+odd sort of cap on his head, a strangely twisted staff in his hand, and
+a short and very crooked sword hanging by his side. He was exceedingly
+light and active in his figure, like a person much accustomed to
+gymnastic exercises, and well able to leap or run. Above all, the
+stranger had such a cheerful, knowing, and helpful aspect (though it was
+certainly a little mischievous, into the bargain), that Perseus could
+not help feeling his spirits grow livelier as he gazed at him. Besides,
+being really a courageous youth, he felt greatly ashamed that anybody
+should have found him with tears in his eyes, like a timid little
+schoolboy, when, after all, there might be no occasion for despair. So
+Perseus wiped his eyes, and answered the stranger pretty briskly,
+putting on as brave a look as he could.
+
+"I am not so very sad," said he, "only thoughtful about an adventure
+that I have undertaken."
+
+"Oho!" answered the stranger. "Well, tell me all about it, and possibly
+I may be of service to you. I have helped a good many young men through
+adventures that looked difficult enough beforehand. Perhaps you may have
+heard of me. I have more names than one; but the name of Quicksilver
+suits me as well as any other. Tell me what the trouble is, and we will
+talk the matter over, and see what can be done."
+
+The stranger's words and manner put Perseus into quite a different mood
+from his former one. He resolved to tell Quicksilver all his
+difficulties, since he could not easily be worse off than he already
+was, and, very possibly, his new friend might give him some advice that
+would turn out well in the end. So he let the stranger know, in few
+words, precisely what the case was,--how that King Polydectes wanted the
+head of Medusa with the snaky locks as a bridal gift for the beautiful
+Princess Hippodamia, and how that he had undertaken to get it for him,
+but was afraid of being turned into stone.
+
+"And that would be a great pity," said Quicksilver, with his mischievous
+smile. "You would make a very handsome marble statue, it is true, and it
+would be a considerable number of centuries before you crumbled away;
+but, on the whole, one would rather be a young man for a few years, than
+a stone image for a great many."
+
+"Oh, far rather!" exclaimed Perseus, with the tears again standing in
+his eyes. "And, besides, what would my dear mother do, if her beloved
+son were turned into a stone?"
+
+"Well, well, let us hope that the affair will not turn out so very
+badly," replied Quicksilver, in an encouraging tone. "I am the very
+person to help you, if anybody can. My sister and myself will do our
+utmost to bring you safe through the adventure, ugly as it now looks."
+
+"Your sister?" repeated Perseus.
+
+"Yes, my sister," said the stranger. "She is very wise, I promise you;
+and as for myself, I generally have all my wits about me, such as they
+are. If you show yourself bold and cautious, and follow our advice, you
+need not fear being a stone image yet awhile. But, first of all, you
+must polish your shield, till you can see your face in it as distinctly
+as in a mirror."
+
+This seemed to Perseus rather an odd beginning of the adventure; for he
+thought it of far more consequence that the shield should be strong
+enough to defend him from the Gorgon's brazen claws, than that it should
+be bright enough to show him the reflection of his face. However,
+concluding that Quicksilver knew better than himself, he immediately set
+to work, and scrubbed the shield with so much diligence and good-will,
+that it very quickly shone like the moon at harvest time. Quicksilver
+looked at it with a smile, and nodded his approbation. Then, taking off
+his own short and crooked sword, he girded it about Perseus, instead of
+the one which he had before worn.
+
+"No sword but mine will answer your purpose," observed he; "the blade
+has a most excellent temper, and will cut through iron and brass as
+easily as through the slenderest twig. And now we will set out. The next
+thing is to find the Three Gray Women, who will tell us where to find
+the Nymphs."
+
+"The Three Gray Women!" cried Perseus, to whom this seemed only a new
+difficulty in the path of his adventure; "pray who may the Three Gray
+Women be? I never heard of them before."
+
+"They are three very strange old ladies," said Quicksilver, laughing.
+"They have but one eye among them, and only one tooth. Moreover, you
+must find them out by starlight, or in the dusk of the evening; for they
+never show themselves by the light either of the sun or moon."
+
+"But," said Perseus, "why should I waste my time with these Three Gray
+Women? Would it not be better to set out at once in search of the
+terrible Gorgons?"
+
+"No, no," answered his friend. "There are other things to be done,
+before you can find your way to the Gorgons. There is nothing for it but
+to hunt up these old ladies; and when we meet with them, you may be sure
+that the Gorgons are not a great way off. Come, let us be stirring!"
+
+Perseus, by this time, felt so much confidence in his companion's
+sagacity, that he made no more objections, and professed himself ready
+to begin the adventure immediately. They accordingly set out, and walked
+at a pretty brisk pace; so brisk, indeed, that Perseus found it rather
+difficult to keep up with his nimble friend Quicksilver. To say the
+truth, he had a singular idea that Quicksilver was furnished with a pair
+of winged shoes, which, of course, helped him along marvellously. And
+then, too, when Perseus looked sideways at him out of the corner of his
+eye, he seemed to see wings on the side of his head; although, if he
+turned a full gaze, there were no such things to be perceived, but only
+an odd kind of cap. But, at all events, the twisted staff was evidently
+a great convenience to Quicksilver, and enabled him to proceed so fast,
+that Perseus, though a remarkably active young man, began to be out of
+breath.
+
+"Here!" cried Quicksilver, at last--for he knew well enough, rogue that
+he was, how hard Perseus found it to keep pace with him--"take you the
+staff, for you need it a great deal more than I. Are there no better
+walkers than yourself in the island of Seriphus?"
+
+"I could walk pretty well," said Perseus, glancing slyly at his
+companion's feet, "if I had only a pair of winged shoes."
+
+"We must see about getting you a pair," answered Quicksilver.
+
+But the staff helped Perseus along so bravely, that he no longer felt
+the slightest weariness. In fact, the stick seemed to be alive in his
+hand, and to lend some of its life to Perseus. He and Quicksilver now
+walked onward at their ease, talking very sociably together; and
+Quicksilver told so many pleasant stories about his former adventures,
+and how well his wits had served him on various occasions, that Perseus
+began to think him a very wonderful person. He evidently knew the world;
+and nobody is so charming to a young man as a friend who has that kind
+of knowledge. Perseus listened the more eagerly, in the hope of
+brightening his own wits by what he heard.
+
+At last, he happened to recollect that Quicksilver had spoken of a
+sister, who was to lend her assistance in the adventure which they were
+now bound upon.
+
+"Where is she?" he inquired. "Shall we not meet her soon?"
+
+"All at the proper time," said his companion. "But this sister of mine,
+you must understand, is quite a different sort of character from myself.
+She is very grave and prudent, seldom smiles, never laughs, and makes it
+a rule not to utter a word unless she has something particularly
+profound to say. Neither will she listen to any but the wisest
+conversation."
+
+"Dear me!" ejaculated Perseus; "I shall be afraid to say a syllable."
+
+"She is a very accomplished person, I assure you," continued
+Quicksilver, "and has all the arts and sciences at her fingers' ends. In
+short, she is so immoderately wise, that many people call her wisdom
+personified. But, to tell you the truth, she has hardly vivacity enough
+for my taste; and I think you would scarcely find her so pleasant a
+travelling companion as myself. She has her good points, nevertheless;
+and you will find the benefit of them, in your encounter with the
+Gorgons."
+
+By this time it had grown quite dusk. They were now come to a very wild
+and desert place, overgrown with shaggy bushes, and so silent and
+solitary that nobody seemed ever to have dwelt or journeyed there. All
+was waste and desolate, in the gray twilight, which grew every moment
+more obscure. Perseus looked about him, rather disconsolately, and asked
+Quicksilver whether they had a great deal farther to go.
+
+"Hist! hist!" whispered his companion. "Make no noise! This is just the
+time and place to meet the Three Gray Women. Be careful that they do not
+see you before you see them; for, though they have but a single eye
+among the three, it is as sharp sighted as half a dozen common eyes."
+
+"But what must I do," asked Perseus, "when we meet them?"
+
+Quicksilver explained to Perseus how the Three Gray Women managed with
+their one eye. They were in the habit, it seems, of changing it from one
+to another, as if it had been a pair of spectacles, or--which would have
+suited them better--a quizzing glass. When one of the three had kept the
+eye a certain time, she took it out of the socket and passed it to one
+of her sisters, whose turn it might happen to be, and who immediately
+clapped it into her own head, and enjoyed a peep at the visible world.
+Thus it will easily be understood that only one of the Three Gray Women
+could see, while the other two were in utter darkness; and, moreover, at
+the instant when the eye was passing from hand to hand, neither of the
+poor old ladies was able to see a wink. I have heard of a great many
+strange things, in my day, and have witnessed not a few; but none, it
+seems to me, that can compare with the oddity of these Three Gray Women,
+all peeping through a single eye.
+
+So thought Perseus, likewise, and was so astonished that he almost
+fancied his companion was joking with him, and that there were no such
+old women in the world.
+
+"You will soon find whether I tell the truth or no," observed
+Quicksilver. "Hark! hush! hist! hist! There they come, now!"
+
+Perseus looked earnestly through the dusk of the evening, and there,
+sure enough, at no great distance off, he descried the Three Gray Women.
+The light being so faint, he could not well make out what sort of
+figures they were; only he discovered that they had long gray hair; and,
+as they came nearer, he saw that two of them had but the empty socket of
+an eye, in the middle of their foreheads. But, in the middle of the
+third sister's forehead, there was a very large, bright, and piercing
+eye, which sparkled like a great diamond in a ring; and so penetrating
+did it seem to be, that Perseus could not help thinking it must possess
+the gift of seeing in the darkest midnight just as perfectly as at
+noonday. The sight of three persons' eyes was melted and collected into
+that single one.
+
+Thus the three old dames got along about as comfortably, upon the whole,
+as if they could all see at once. She who chanced to have the eye in her
+forehead led the other two by the hands, peeping sharply about her, all
+the while; insomuch that Perseus dreaded lest she should see right
+through the thick clump of bushes behind which he and Quicksilver had
+hidden themselves. My stars! it was positively terrible to be within
+reach of so very sharp an eye!
+
+But, before they reached the clump of bushes, one of the Three Gray
+Women spoke.
+
+"Sister! Sister Scarecrow!" cried she, "you have had the eye long
+enough. It is my turn now!"
+
+"Let me keep it a moment longer, Sister Nightmare," answered Scarecrow.
+"I thought I had a glimpse of something behind that thick bush."
+
+"Well, and what of that?" retorted Nightmare, peevishly. "Can't I see
+into a thick bush as easily as yourself? The eye is mine as well as
+yours; and I know the use of it as well as you, or maybe a little
+better. I insist upon taking a peep immediately!"
+
+But here the third sister, whose name was Shakejoint, began to complain,
+and said that it was her turn to have the eye, and that Scarecrow and
+Nightmare wanted to keep it all to themselves. To end the dispute, old
+Dame Scarecrow took the eye out of her forehead, and held it forth in
+her hand.
+
+"Take it, one of you," cried she, "and quit this foolish quarrelling.
+For my part, I shall be glad of a little thick darkness. Take it
+quickly, however, or I must clap it into my own head again!"
+
+Accordingly, both Nightmare and Shakejoint put out their hands, groping
+eagerly to snatch the eye out of the hand of Scarecrow. But, being both
+alike blind, they could not easily find where Scarecrow's hand was; and
+Scarecrow, being now just as much in the dark as Shakejoint and
+Nightmare, could not at once meet either of their hands, in order to put
+the eye into it. Thus (as you will see, with half an eye, my wise little
+auditors), these good old dames had fallen into a strange perplexity.
+For, though the eye shone and glistened like a star, as Scarecrow held
+it out, yet the Gray Women caught not the least glimpse of its light,
+and were all three in utter darkness, from too impatient a desire to
+see.
+
+Quicksilver was so much tickled at beholding Shakejoint and Nightmare
+both groping for the eye, and each finding fault with Scarecrow and one
+another, that he could scarcely help laughing aloud.
+
+"Now is your time!" he whispered to Perseus. "Quick, quick! before they
+can clap the eye into either of their heads. Rush out upon the old
+ladies, and snatch it from Scarecrow's hand!"
+
+In an instant, while the Three Gray Women were still scolding each
+other, Perseus leaped from behind the clump of bushes, and made himself
+master of the prize. The marvellous eye, as he held it in his hand,
+shone very brightly, and seemed to look up into his face with a knowing
+air, and an expression as if it would have winked, had it been provided
+with a pair of eyelids for that purpose. But the Gray Women knew nothing
+of what had happened; and, each supposing that one of her sisters was in
+possession of the eye, they began their quarrel anew. At last, as
+Perseus did not wish to put these respectable dames to greater
+inconvenience than was really necessary, he thought it right to explain
+the matter.
+
+"My good ladies," said he, "pray do not be angry with one another. If
+anybody is in fault, it is myself; for I have the honour to hold your
+very brilliant and excellent eye in my own hand!"
+
+"You! you have our eye! And who are you?" screamed the Three Gray Women,
+all in a breath; for they were terribly frightened, of course, at
+hearing a strange voice, and discovering that their eyesight had got
+into the hands of they could not guess whom. "Oh, what shall we do,
+sisters? what shall we do? We are all in the dark! Give us our eye! Give
+us our one, precious, solitary eye! You have two of your own! Give us
+our eye!"
+
+"Tell them," whispered Quicksilver to Perseus, "that they shall have
+back the eye as soon as they direct you where to find the Nymphs who
+have the flying slippers, the magic wallet, and the helmet of darkness."
+
+"My dear, good, admirable old ladies," said Perseus, addressing the Gray
+Women, "there is no occasion for putting yourselves into such a fright.
+I am by no means a bad young man. You shall have back your eye, safe and
+sound, and as bright as ever, the moment you tell me where to find the
+Nymphs."
+
+"The Nymphs! Goodness me! sisters, what Nymphs does he mean?" screamed
+Scarecrow. "There are a great many Nymphs, people say; some that go a
+hunting in the woods, and some that live inside of trees, and some that
+have a comfortable home in fountains of water. We know nothing at all
+about them. We are three unfortunate old souls, that go wandering about
+in the dusk, and never had but one eye amongst us, and that one you have
+stolen away. Oh, give it back, good stranger!--whoever you are, give it
+back!"
+
+All this while the Three Gray Women were groping with their outstretched
+hands, and trying their utmost to get hold of Perseus. But he took good
+care to keep out of their reach.
+
+"My respectable dames," said he--for his mother had taught him always to
+use the greatest civility--"I hold your eye fast in my hand, and shall
+keep it safely for you, until you please to tell me where to find these
+Nymphs. The Nymphs, I mean, who keep the enchanted wallet, the flying
+slippers, and the what is it?--the helmet of invisibility."
+
+"Mercy on us, sisters! what is the young man talking about?" exclaimed
+Scarecrow, Nightmare and Shakejoint, one to another, with great
+appearance of astonishment. "A pair of flying slippers, quoth he! His
+heels would quickly fly higher than his head, if he was silly enough to
+put them on. And a helmet of invisibility! How could a helmet make him
+invisible, unless it were big enough for him to hide under it? And an
+enchanted wallet! What sort of a contrivance may that be, I wonder? No,
+no, good stranger! we can tell you nothing of these marvellous things.
+You have two eyes of your own, and we have but a single one amongst us
+three. You can find out such wonders better than three blind old
+creatures, like us."
+
+Perseus, hearing them talk in this way, began really to think that the
+Gray Women knew nothing of the matter; and, as it grieved him to have
+put them to so much trouble, he was just on the point of restoring their
+eye and asking pardon for his rudeness in snatching it away. But
+Quicksilver caught his hand.
+
+"Don't let them make a fool of you!" said he. "These Three Gray Women
+are the only persons in the world that can tell you where to find the
+Nymphs; and, unless you get that information, you will never succeed in
+cutting off the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. Keep fast hold of
+the eye, and all will go well."
+
+As it turned out, Quicksilver was in the right. There are but few things
+that people prize so much as they do their eyesight; and the Gray Women
+valued their single eye as highly as if it had been half a dozen, which
+was the number they ought to have had. Finding that there was no other
+way of recovering it, they at last told Perseus what he wanted to know.
+No sooner had they done so, than he immediately, and with the utmost
+respect, clapped the eye into the vacant socket in one of their
+foreheads, thanked them for their kindness, and bade them farewell.
+Before the young man was out of hearing, however, they had got into a
+new dispute, because he happened to have given the eye to Scarecrow, who
+had already taken her turn of it when their trouble with Perseus
+commenced.
+
+It is greatly to be feared that the Three Gray Women were very much in
+the habit of disturbing their mutual harmony by bickerings of this sort;
+which was the more pity, as they could not conveniently do without one
+another, and were evidently intended to be inseparable companions. As a
+general rule, I would advise all people, whether sisters or brothers,
+old or young, who chance to have but one eye amongst them, to cultivate
+forbearance, and not all insist upon peeping through it at once.
+
+Quicksilver and Perseus, in the meantime, were making the best of their
+way in quest of the Nymphs. The old dames had given them such particular
+directions that they were not long in finding them out. They proved to
+be very different persons from Nightmare, Shakejoint and Scarecrow; for,
+instead of being old, they were young and beautiful; and instead of one
+eye amongst the sisterhood, each Nymph had two exceedingly bright eyes
+of her own, with which she looked very kindly at Perseus. They seemed to
+be acquainted with Quicksilver; and, when he told them the adventure
+which Perseus had undertaken, they made no difficulty about giving him
+the valuable articles that were in their custody. In the first place,
+they brought out what appeared to be a small purse, made of deer skin,
+and curiously embroidered, and bade him be sure and keep it safe. This
+was the magic wallet. The Nymphs next produced a pair of shoes, or
+slippers, or sandals, with a nice little pair of wings at the heel of
+each.
+
+"Put them on, Perseus," said Quicksilver. "You will find yourself as
+light heeled as you can desire for the remainder of our journey."
+
+So Perseus proceeded to put one of the slippers on, while he laid the
+other on the ground by his side. Unexpectedly, however, this other
+slipper spread its wings, fluttered up off the ground, and would
+probably have flown away, if Quicksilver had not made a leap, and
+luckily caught it in the air.
+
+"Be more careful," said he, as he gave it back to Perseus. "It would
+frighten the birds, up aloft, if they should see a flying slipper
+amongst them."
+
+When Perseus had got on both of these wonderful slippers, he was
+altogether too buoyant to tread on earth. Making a step or two, lo and
+behold! upward he popped into the air, high above the heads of
+Quicksilver and the Nymphs, and found it very difficult to clamber down
+again. Winged slippers, and all such high-flying contrivances, are
+seldom quite easy to manage until one grows a little accustomed to them.
+Quicksilver laughed at his companion's involuntary activity, and told
+him that he must not be in so desperate a hurry, but must wait for the
+invisible helmet.
+
+The good-natured Nymphs had the helmet, with its dark tuft of waving
+plumes, all in readiness to put upon his head. And now there happened
+about as wonderful an incident as anything that I have yet told you.
+The instant before the helmet was put on, there stood Perseus, a
+beautiful young man, with golden ringlets and rosy cheeks, the crooked
+sword by his side, and the brightly polished shield upon his arm--a
+figure that seemed all made up of courage, sprightliness, and glorious
+light. But when the helmet had descended over his white brow, there was
+no longer any Perseus to be seen! Nothing but empty air! Even the
+helmet, that covered him with its invisibility, had vanished!
+
+"Where are you, Perseus?" asked Quicksilver.
+
+"Why, here, to be sure!" answered Perseus, very quietly, although his
+voice seemed to come out of the transparent atmosphere. "Just where I
+was a moment ago. Don't you see me?"
+
+"No, indeed!" answered his friend. "You are hidden under the helmet.
+But, if I cannot see you, neither can the Gorgons. Follow me, therefore,
+and we will try your dexterity in using the winged slippers."
+
+With these words, Quicksilver's cap spread its wings, as if his head
+were about to fly away from his shoulders; but his whole figure rose
+lightly into the air, and Perseus followed. By the time they had
+ascended a few hundred feet, the young man began to feel what a
+delightful thing it was to leave the dull earth so far beneath him, and
+to be able to flit about like a bird.
+
+It was now deep night. Perseus looked upward, and saw the round, bright,
+silvery moon, and thought that he should desire nothing better than to
+soar up thither, and spend his life there. Then he looked downward
+again, and saw the earth, with its seas and lakes, and the silver
+courses of its rivers, and its snowy mountain peaks, and the breadth of
+its fields, and the dark cluster of its woods, and its cities of white
+marble; and, with the moonshine sleeping over the whole scene, it was as
+beautiful as the moon or any star could be. And, among other objects, he
+saw the island of Seriphus, where his dear mother was. Sometimes he and
+Quicksilver approached a cloud, that, at a distance, looked as if it
+were made of fleecy silver; although, when they plunged into it, they
+found themselves chilled and moistened with gray mist. So swift was
+their flight, however, that, in an instant, they emerged from the cloud
+into the moonlight again. Once, a high-soaring eagle flew right against
+the invisible Perseus. The bravest sights were the meteors, that gleamed
+suddenly out, as if a bonfire had been kindled in the sky, and made the
+moonshine pale for as much as a hundred miles around them.
+
+As the two companions flew onward, Perseus fancied that he could hear
+the rustle of a garment close by his side; and it was on the side
+opposite to the one where he beheld Quicksilver, yet only Quicksilver
+was visible.
+
+"Whose garment is this," inquired Perseus, "that keeps rustling close
+beside me in the breeze?"
+
+"Oh, it is my sister's!" answered Quicksilver. "She is coming along with
+us, as I told you she would. We could do nothing without the help of my
+sister. You have no idea how wise she is. She has such eyes, too! Why,
+she can see you, at this moment, just as distinctly as if you were not
+invisible; and I'll venture to say, she will be the first to discover
+the Gorgons."
+
+By this time, in their swift voyage through the air, they had come
+within sight of the great ocean, and were soon flying over it. Far
+beneath them, the waves tossed themselves tumultuously in mid-sea, or
+rolled a white surf line upon the long beaches, or foamed against the
+rocky cliffs, with a roar that was thunderous, in the lower world;
+although it became a gentle murmur, like the voice of a baby half
+asleep, before it reached the ears of Perseus. Just then a voice spoke
+in the air close by him. It seemed to be a woman's voice, and was
+melodious, though not exactly what might be called sweet, but grave and
+mild.
+
+"Perseus," said the voice, "there are the Gorgons."
+
+"Where?" exclaimed Perseus. "I cannot see them."
+
+"On the shore of that island beneath you," replied the voice. "A pebble,
+dropped from your hand, would strike in the midst of them."
+
+"I told you she would be the first to discover them," said Quicksilver
+to Perseus. "And there they are!"
+
+Straight downward, two or three thousand feet below him, Perseus
+perceived a small island, with the sea breaking into white foam all
+around its rocky shore, except on one side, where there was a beach of
+snowy sand. He descended toward it, and, looking earnestly at a cluster
+or heap of brightness, at the foot of a precipice of black rocks,
+behold, there were the terrible Gorgons! They lay fast asleep, soothed
+by the thunder of the sea; for it required a tumult that would have
+deafened everybody else to lull such fierce creatures into slumber. The
+moonlight glistened on their steely scales, and on their golden wings,
+which drooped idly over the sand. Their brazen claws, horrible to look
+at, were thrust out, and clutched the wave-beaten fragments of rock,
+while the sleeping Gorgons dreamed of tearing some poor mortal all to
+pieces. The snakes that served them instead of hair seemed likewise to
+be asleep; although, now and then, one would writhe, and lift its head,
+and thrust out its forked tongue, emitting a drowsy hiss, and then let
+itself subside among its sister snakes.
+
+The Gorgons were more like an awful, gigantic kind of insect--immense,
+golden-winged beetles, or dragon-flies, or things of that sort--at once
+ugly and beautiful--than like anything else; only that they were a
+thousand and a million times as big. And, with all this, there was
+something partly human about them, too. Luckily for Perseus, their faces
+were completely hidden from him by the posture in which they lay; for,
+had he but looked one instant at them, he would have fallen heavily out
+of the air, an image of senseless stone.
+
+"Now," whispered Quicksilver, as he hovered by the side of Perseus--"now
+is your time to do the deed! Be quick; for, if one of the Gorgons should
+awake, you are too late!"
+
+"Which shall I strike at?" asked Perseus, drawing his sword and
+descending a little lower. "They all three look alike. All three have
+snaky locks. Which of the three is Medusa?"
+
+It must be understood that Medusa was the only one of these dragon
+monsters whose head Perseus could possibly cut off. As for the other
+two, let him have the sharpest sword that ever was forged, and he might
+have hacked away by the hour together, without doing them the least
+harm.
+
+"Be cautious," said the calm voice which had before spoken to him. "One
+of the Gorgons is stirring in her sleep, and is just about to turn over.
+That is Medusa. Do not look at her! The sight would turn you to stone!
+Look at the reflection of her face and figure in the bright mirror of
+your shield."
+
+Perseus now understood Quicksilver's motive for so earnestly exhorting
+him to polish his shield. In its surface he could safely look at the
+reflection of the Gorgon's face. And there it was--that terrible
+countenance--mirrored in the brightness of the shield, with the
+moonlight falling over it, and displaying all its horror. The snakes,
+whose venomous natures could not altogether sleep, kept twisting
+themselves over the forehead. It was the fiercest and most horrible face
+that ever was seen or imagined, and yet with a strange, fearful, and
+savage kind of beauty in it. The eyes were closed, and the Gorgon was
+still in a deep slumber; but there was an unquiet expression disturbing
+her features, as if the monster was troubled with an ugly dream. She
+gnashed her white tusks, and dug into the sand with her brazen claws.
+
+The snakes, too, seemed to feel Medusa's dream, and to be made more
+restless by it. They twined themselves into tumultuous knots, writhed
+fiercely, and uplifted a hundred hissing heads, without opening their
+eyes.
+
+"Now, now!" whispered Quicksilver, who was growing impatient. "Make a
+dash at the monster!"
+
+"But be calm," said the grave, melodious voice at the young man's side.
+"Look in your shield, as you fly downward, and take care that you do not
+miss your first stroke."
+
+Perseus flew cautiously downward, still keeping his eyes on Medusa's
+face, as reflected in his shield. The nearer he came, the more terrible
+did the snaky visage and metallic body of the monster grow. At last,
+when he found himself hovering over her within arm's length, Perseus
+uplifted his sword, while, at the same instant, each separate snake upon
+the Gorgon's head stretched threateningly upward, and Medusa unclosed
+her eyes. But she awoke too late. The sword was sharp; the stroke fell
+like a lightning flash; and the head of the wicked Medusa tumbled from
+her body!
+
+"Admirably done!" cried Quicksilver. "Make haste, and clap the head into
+your magic wallet."
+
+To the astonishment of Perseus, the small, embroidered wallet, which he
+had hung about his neck, and which had hitherto been no bigger than a
+purse, grew all at once large enough to contain Medusa's head. As quick
+as thought, he snatched it up, with the snakes still writhing upon it,
+and thrust it in.
+
+"Your task is done," said the calm voice. "Now fly; for the other
+Gorgons will do their utmost to take vengeance for Medusa's death."
+
+It was, indeed, necessary to take flight; for Perseus had not done the
+deed so quietly but that the clash of his sword, and the hissing of the
+snakes, and the thump of Medusa's head as it tumbled upon the sea-beaten
+sand, awoke the other two monsters. There they sat, for an instant,
+sleepily rubbing their eyes with their brazen fingers, while all the
+snakes on their heads reared themselves on end with surprise, and with
+venomous malice against they knew not what. But when the Gorgons saw the
+scaly carcass of Medusa, headless, and her golden wings all ruffled and
+half spread out on the sand, it was really awful to hear what yells and
+screeches they set up. And then the snakes! They sent forth a
+hundredfold hiss, with one consent, and Medusa's snakes answered them
+out of the magic wallet.
+
+No sooner were the Gorgons broad awake than they hurtled upward into the
+air, brandishing their brass talons, gnashing their horrible tusks, and
+flapping their huge wings so wildly, that some of the golden feathers
+were shaken out, and floated down upon the shore. And there, perhaps,
+those very feathers lie scattered till this day. Up rose the Gorgons, as
+I tell you, staring horribly about, in hopes of turning somebody to
+stone. Had Perseus looked them in the face, or had he fallen into their
+clutches, his poor mother would never have kissed her boy again! But he
+took good care to turn his eyes another way; and, as he wore the helmet
+of invisibility, the Gorgons knew not in what direction to follow him;
+nor did he fail to make the best use of the winged slippers, by soaring
+upward a perpendicular mile or so. At that height, when the screams of
+those abominable creatures sounded faintly beneath him, he made a
+straight course for the island of Seriphus, in order to carry Medusa's
+head to King Polydectes.
+
+I have no time to tell you of several marvellous things that befell
+Perseus on his way homeward; such as his killing a hideous sea monster,
+just as it was on the point of devouring a beautiful maiden; nor how he
+changed an enormous giant into a mountain of stone, merely by showing
+him the head of the Gorgon. If you doubt this latter story, you may make
+a voyage to Africa, some day or other, and see the very mountain, which
+is still known by the ancient giant's name.
+
+Finally, our brave Perseus arrived at the island, where he expected to
+see his dear mother. But, during his absence, the wicked king had
+treated Danae so very ill that she was compelled to make her escape, and
+had taken refuge in a temple, where some good old priests were extremely
+kind to her. These praiseworthy priests, and the kind-hearted fisherman,
+who had first shown hospitality to Danae and little Perseus when he
+found them afloat in the chest, seem to have been the only persons on
+the island who cared about doing right. All the rest of the people, as
+well as King Polydectes himself, were remarkably ill behaved, and
+deserved no better destiny than that which was now to happen.
+
+Not finding his mother at home, Perseus went straight to the palace, and
+was immediately ushered into the presence of the king. Polydectes was by
+no means rejoiced to see him; for he had felt almost certain, in his own
+evil mind, that the Gorgons would have torn the poor young man to
+pieces, and have eaten him up, out of the way. However, seeing him
+safely returned, he put the best face he could upon the matter and asked
+Perseus how he had succeeded.
+
+"Have you performed your promise?" inquired he. "Have you brought me the
+head of Medusa with the snaky locks? If not, young man, it will cost you
+dear; for I must have a bridal present for the beautiful Princess
+Hippodamia, and there is nothing else that she would admire so much."
+
+"Yes, please Your Majesty," answered Perseus, in a quiet way, as if it
+were no very wonderful deed for such a young man as he to perform. "I
+have brought you the Gorgon's head, snaky locks and all!"
+
+"Indeed! Pray let me see it," quoth King Polydectes. "It must be a very
+curious spectacle, if all that travellers tell about it be true!"
+
+"Your Majesty is in the right," replied Perseus. "It is really an object
+that will be pretty certain to fix the regards of all who look at it.
+And, if Your Majesty think fit, I would suggest that a holiday be
+proclaimed, and that all Your Majesty's subjects be summoned to behold
+this wonderful curiosity. Few of them, I imagine, have seen a Gorgon's
+head before, and perhaps never may again!"
+
+The king well knew that his subjects were an idle set of reprobates, and
+very fond of sightseeing, as idle persons usually are. So he took the
+young man's advice, and sent out heralds and messengers, in all
+directions, to blow the trumpet at the street corners, and in the market
+places, and wherever two roads met, and summon everybody to court.
+Thither, accordingly, came a great multitude of good-for-nothing
+vagabonds, all of whom, out of pure love of mischief, would have been
+glad if Perseus had met with some ill-hap in his encounter with the
+Gorgons. If there were any better people in the island (as I really hope
+there may have been, although the story tells nothing about any such),
+they stayed quietly at home, minding their business, and taking care of
+their little children. Most of the inhabitants, at all events, ran as
+fast as they could to the palace, and shoved, and pushed, and elbowed
+one another in their eagerness to get near a balcony, on which Perseus
+showed himself, holding the embroidered wallet in his hand.
+
+On a platform, within full view of the balcony, sat the mighty King
+Polydectes, amid his evil counsellors, and with his flattering courtiers
+in a semi-circle round about him. Monarch, counsellors, courtiers, and
+subjects, all gazed eagerly toward Perseus.
+
+"Show us the head! Show us the head!" shouted the people; and there was
+a fierceness in their cry as if they would tear Perseus to pieces,
+unless he should satisfy them with what he had to show. "Show us the
+head of Medusa with the snaky locks!"
+
+A feeling of sorrow and pity came over the youthful Perseus.
+
+"O King Polydectes," cried he, "and ye many people, I am very loath to
+show you the Gorgon's head!"
+
+"Ah, the villain and coward!" yelled the people, more fiercely than
+before. "He is making game of us! He has no Gorgon's head! Show us the
+head if you have it, or we will take your own head for a football!"
+
+The evil counsellors whispered bad advice in the king's ear; the
+courtiers murmured, with one consent, that Perseus had shown disrespect
+to their royal lord and master; and the great King Polydectes himself
+waved his hand, and ordered him, with the stern, deep voice of
+authority, on his peril, to produce the head.
+
+"Show me the Gorgon's head, or I will cut off your own!"
+
+And Perseus sighed.
+
+"This instant," repeated Polydectes, "or you die!"
+
+"Behold it then!" cried Perseus, in a voice like the blast of a trumpet.
+
+And, suddenly holding up the head, not an eyelid had time to wink before
+the wicked King Polydectes, his evil counsellors, and all his fierce
+subjects were no longer anything but the mere images of a monarch and
+his people. They were all fixed, forever, in the look and attitude of
+that moment! At the first glimpse of the terrible head of Medusa, they
+whitened into marble! And Perseus thrust the head back into his wallet,
+and went to tell his dear mother that she need no longer be afraid of
+the wicked King Polydectes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE DRAGON'S TEETH
+
+
+Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, the three sons of King Agenor, and their
+little sister Europa (who was a very beautiful child) were at play
+together, near the seashore, in their father's kingdom of Phoenicia.
+They had rambled to some distance from the palace where their parents
+dwelt, and were now in a verdant meadow, on one side of which lay the
+sea, all sparkling and dimpling in the sunshine, and murmuring gently
+against the beach. The three boys were very happy, gathering flowers,
+and twining them into garlands, with which they adorned the little
+Europa. Seated on the grass, the child was almost hidden under an
+abundance of buds and blossoms, whence her rosy face peeped merrily out,
+and, as Cadmus said, was the prettiest of all the flowers.
+
+Just then, there came a splendid butterfly, fluttering along the meadow;
+and Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix set off in pursuit of it, crying out
+that it was a flower with wings. Europa, who was a little wearied with
+playing all day long, did not chase the butterfly with her brothers, but
+sat still where they had left her, and closed her eyes. For a while, she
+listened to the pleasant murmur of the sea, which was like a voice
+saying "Hush!" and bidding her go to sleep. But the pretty child, if she
+slept at all, could not have slept more than a moment, when she heard
+something trample on the grass, not far from her, and peeping out from
+the heap of flowers, beheld a snow-white bull.
+
+And whence could this bull have come? Europa and her brothers had been a
+long time playing in the meadow, and had seen no cattle, nor other
+living thing, either there or on the neighbouring hills.
+
+"Brother Cadmus!" cried Europa, starting up out of the midst of the
+roses and lilies. "Phoenix! Cilix! Where are you all? Help! Help! Come
+and drive away this bull!"
+
+But her brothers were too far off to hear; especially as the fright took
+away Europa's voice, and hindered her from calling very loudly. So there
+she stood, with her pretty mouth wide open, as pale as the white lilies
+that were twisted among the other flowers in her garlands.
+
+Nevertheless, it was the suddenness with which she had perceived the
+bull, rather than anything frightful in his appearance, that caused
+Europa so much alarm. On looking at him more attentively, she began to
+see that he was a beautiful animal, and even fancied a particularly
+amiable expression in his face. As for his breath--the breath of cattle,
+you know, is always sweet--it was as fragrant as if he had been grazing
+on no other food than rosebuds, or, at least, the most delicate of
+clover blossoms. Never before did a bull have such bright and tender
+eyes, and such smooth horns of ivory, as this one. And the bull ran
+little races, and capered sportively around the child; so that she quite
+forgot how big and strong he was, and, from the gentleness and
+playfulness of his actions, soon came to consider him as innocent a
+creature as a pet lamb.
+
+Thus, frightened as she at first was, you might by and by have seen
+Europa stroking the bull's forehead with her small white hand, and
+taking the garlands off her own head to hang them on his neck and ivory
+horns. Then she pulled up some blades of grass, and he ate them out of
+her hand, not as if he were hungry, but because he wanted to be friends
+with the child, and took pleasure in eating what she had touched. Well,
+my stars! was there ever such a gentle, sweet, pretty, and amiable
+creature as this bull, and ever such a nice playmate for a little girl?
+
+When the animal saw (for the bull had so much intelligence that it is
+really wonderful to think of), when he saw that Europa was no longer
+afraid of him, he grew overjoyed, and could hardly contain himself for
+delight. He frisked about the meadow, now here, now there, making
+sprightly leaps, with as little effort as a bird expends in hopping from
+twig to twig. Indeed, his motion was as light as if he were flying
+through the air, and his hoofs seemed hardly to leave their print in the
+grassy soil over which he trod. With his spotless hue, he resembled a
+snowdrift, wafted along by the wind. Once he galloped so far away that
+Europa feared lest she might never see him again; so, setting up her
+childish voice, she called him back.
+
+"Come back, pretty creature!" she cried. "Here is a nice clover
+blossom."
+
+And then it was delightful to witness the gratitude of this amiable
+bull, and how he was so full of joy and thankfulness that he capered
+higher than ever. He came running, and bowed his head before Europa, as
+if he knew her to be a king's daughter, or else recognised the important
+truth that a little girl is everybody's queen. And not only did the bull
+bend his neck, he absolutely knelt down at her feet, and made such
+intelligent nods, and other inviting gestures, that Europa understood
+what he meant just as well as if he had put it in so many words.
+
+"Come, dear child," was what he wanted to say, "let me give you a ride
+on my back."
+
+At the first thought of such a thing, Europa drew back. But then she
+considered in her wise little head that there could be no possible harm
+in taking just one gallop on the back of this docile and friendly
+animal, who would certainly set her down the very instant she desired
+it. And how it would surprise her brothers to see her riding across the
+green meadow! And what merry times they might have, either taking turns
+for a gallop, or clambering on the gentle creature, all four children
+together, and careering round the field with shouts of laughter that
+would be heard as far off as King Agenor's palace!
+
+"I think I will do it," said the child to herself.
+
+And, indeed, why not? She cast a glance around, and caught a glimpse of
+Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, who were still in pursuit of the
+butterfly, almost at the other end of the meadow. It would be the
+quickest way of rejoining them, to get upon the white bull's back. She
+came a step nearer to him, therefore; and--sociable creature that he
+was--he showed so much joy at this mark of her confidence, that the
+child could not find it in her heart to hesitate any longer. Making one
+bound (for this little princess was as active as a squirrel), there sat
+Europa on the beautiful bull, holding an ivory horn in each hand, lest
+she should fall off.
+
+"Softly, pretty bull, softly!" she said, rather frightened at what she
+had done. "Do not gallop too fast."
+
+Having got the child on his back, the animal gave a leap into the air,
+and came down so like a feather that Europa did not know when his hoofs
+touched the ground. He then began a race to that part of the flowery
+plain where her three brothers were, and where they had just caught
+their splendid butterfly. Europa screamed with delight; and Phoenix,
+Cilix, and Cadmus stood gaping at the spectacle of their sister mounted
+on a white bull, not knowing whether to be frightened or to wish the
+same good luck for themselves. The gentle and innocent creature (for who
+could possibly doubt that he was so?) pranced round among the children
+as sportively as a kitten. Europa all the while looked down upon her
+brothers, nodding and laughing, but yet with a sort of stateliness in
+her rosy little face. As the bull wheeled about to take another gallop
+across the meadow, the child waved her hand, and said, "Good-by,"
+playfully pretending that she was now bound on a distant journey, and
+might not see her brothers again for nobody could tell how long.
+
+"Good-by," shouted Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, all in one breath.
+
+But, together with her enjoyment of the sport, there was still a little
+remnant of fear in the child's heart; so that her last look at the three
+boys was a troubled one, and made them feel as if their dear sister were
+really leaving them forever. And what do you think the snowy bull did
+next? Why, he set off, as swift as the wind, straight down to the
+seashore, scampered across the sand, took an airy leap, and plunged
+right in among the foaming billows. The white spray rose in a shower
+over him and little Europa, and fell spattering down upon the water.
+
+Then what a scream of terror did the poor child send forth! The three
+brothers screamed manfully, likewise, and ran to the shore as fast as
+their legs would carry them, with Cadmus at their head. But it was too
+late. When they reached the margin of the sand, the treacherous animal
+was already far away in the wide blue sea, with only his snowy head and
+tail emerging, and poor little Europa between them, stretching out one
+hand toward her dear brothers, while she grasped the bull's ivory horn
+with the other. And there stood Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, gazing at
+this sad spectacle, through their tears, until they could no longer
+distinguish the bull's snowy head from the white-capped billows that
+seemed to boil up out of the sea's depths around him. Nothing more was
+ever seen of the white bull--nothing more of the beautiful child.
+
+This was a mournful story, as you may well think, for the three boys to
+carry home to their parents. King Agenor, their father, was the ruler of
+the whole country; but he loved his little daughter Europa better than
+his kingdom, or than all his other children, or than anything else in
+the world. Therefore, when Cadmus and his two brothers came crying home,
+and told him how that a white bull had carried off their sister, and
+swam with her over the sea, the king was quite beside himself with grief
+and rage. Although it was now twilight, and fast growing dark, he bade
+them set out instantly in search of her.
+
+"Never shall you see my face again," he cried, "unless you bring me back
+my little Europa, to gladden me with her smiles and her pretty ways.
+Begone, and enter my presence no more, till you come leading her by the
+hand."
+
+As King Agenor said this, his eyes flashed fire (for he was a very
+passionate king), and he looked so terribly angry that the poor boys did
+not even venture to ask for their suppers, but slunk away out of the
+palace, and only paused on the steps a moment to consult whither they
+should go first. While they were standing there, all in dismay, their
+mother, Queen Telephassa (who happened not to be by when they told the
+story to the king), came hurrying after them, and said that she, too,
+would go in quest of her daughter.
+
+"Oh no, mother!" cried the boys. "The night is dark, and there is no
+knowing what troubles and perils we may meet with."
+
+"Alas! my dear children," answered poor Queen Telephassa, weeping
+bitterly, "that is only another reason why I should go with you. If I
+should lose you, too, as well as my little Europa, what would become of
+me?"
+
+"And let me go likewise!" said their playfellow Thasus, who came running
+to join them.
+
+Thasus was the son of a seafaring person in the neighbourhood; he had
+been brought up with the young princess, and was their intimate friend,
+and loved Europa very much; so they consented that he should accompany
+them. The whole party, therefore, set forth together; Cadmus, Phoenix,
+Cilix and Thasus clustered round Queen Telephassa, grasping her skirts,
+and begging her to lean upon their shoulders whenever she felt weary. In
+this manner they went down the palace steps, and began a journey which
+turned out to be a great deal longer than they dreamed of. The last that
+they saw of King Agenor, he came to the door, with a servant holding a
+torch beside him, and called after them into the gathering darkness:
+
+"Remember! Never ascend these steps again without the child!"
+
+"Never!" sobbed Queen Telephassa; and the three brothers and Thasus
+answered, "Never! Never! Never! Never!"
+
+And they kept their word. Year after year King Agenor sat in the
+solitude of his beautiful palace, listening in vain for their returning
+footsteps, hoping to hear the familiar voice of the queen, and the
+cheerful talk of his sons and their playfellow Thasus, entering the
+door together, and the sweet, childish accents of little Europa in the
+midst of them. But so long a time went by, that, at last, if they had
+really come, the king would not have known that this was the voice of
+Telephassa, and these the younger voices that used to make such joyful
+echoes when the children were playing about the palace. We must now
+leave King Agenor to sit on his throne, and must go along with Queen
+Telephassa and her four youthful companions.
+
+They went on and on, and travelled a long way, and passed over mountains
+and rivers, and sailed over seas. Here, and there, and everywhere, they
+made continual inquiry if any person could tell them what had become of
+Europa. The rustic people, of whom they asked this question, paused a
+little while from their labours in the field, and looked very much
+surprised. They thought it strange to behold a woman in the garb of a
+queen (for Telephassa, in her haste, had forgotten to take off her crown
+and her royal robes), roaming about the country, with four lads around
+her, on such an errand as this seemed to be. But nobody could give them
+any tidings of Europa; nobody had seen a little girl dressed like a
+princess, and mounted on a snow-white bull, which galloped as swiftly as
+the wind.
+
+I cannot tell you how long Queen Telephassa, and Cadmus, Phoenix, and
+Cilix, her three sons, and Thasus, their playfellow, went wandering
+along the highways and bypaths, or through the pathless wildernesses of
+the earth, in this manner. But certain it is, that, before they reached
+any place of rest, their splendid garments were quite worn out. They all
+looked very much travel stained, and would have had the dust of many
+countries on their shoes, if the streams, through which they waded, had
+not washed it all away. When they had been gone a year, Telephassa threw
+away her crown, because it chafed her forehead.
+
+"It has given me many a headache," said the poor queen, "and it cannot
+cure my heartache."
+
+As fast as their princely robes got torn and tattered, they exchanged
+them for such mean attire as ordinary people wore. By and by they came
+to have a wild and homeless aspect; so that you would much sooner have
+taken them for a gypsy family than a queen and three princes, and a
+young nobleman, who had once a palace for their home, and a train of
+servants to do their bidding. The four boys grew up to be tall young
+men, with sunburnt faces. Each of them girded on a sword, to defend
+themselves against the perils of the way. When the husbandmen, at whose
+farmhouses they sought hospitality, needed their assistance in the
+harvest field, they gave it willingly; and Queen Telephassa (who had
+done no work in her palace, save to braid silk threads with golden ones)
+came behind them to bind the sheaves. If payment was offered, they shook
+their heads, and only asked for tidings of Europa.
+
+"There are bulls enough in my pasture," the old farmers would reply;
+"but I never heard of one like this you tell me of. A snow-white bull
+with a little princess on his back! Ho! ho! I ask your pardon, good
+folks; but there never was such a sight seen hereabouts."
+
+At last, when his upper lip began to have the down on it, Phoenix grew
+weary of rambling hither and thither to no purpose. So, one day, when
+they happened to be passing through a pleasant and solitary tract of
+country, he sat himself down on a heap of moss.
+
+"I can go no farther," said Phoenix. "It is a mere foolish waste of
+life, to spend it, as we do, in always wandering up and down, and never
+coming to any home at nightfall. Our sister is lost, and never will be
+found. She probably perished in the sea; or, to whatever shore the white
+bull may have carried her, it is now so many years ago, that there would
+be neither love nor acquaintance between us should we meet again. My
+father has forbidden us to return to his palace; so I shall build me a
+hut of branches, and dwell here."
+
+"Well, son Phoenix," said Telephassa, sorrowfully, "you have grown to
+be a man, and must do as you judge best. But, for my part, I will still
+go in quest of my poor child."
+
+"And we three will go along with you!" cried Cadmus and Cilix, and their
+faithful friend Thasus.
+
+But, before setting out, they all helped Phoenix to build a
+habitation. When completed, it was a sweet rural bower, roofed overhead
+with an arch of living boughs. Inside there were two pleasant rooms, one
+of which had a soft heap of moss for a bed, while the other was
+furnished with a rustic seat or two, curiously fashioned out of the
+crooked roots of trees. So comfortable and homelike did it seem, that
+Telephassa and her three companions could not help sighing, to think
+that they must still roam about the world, instead of spending the
+remainder of their lives in some such cheerful abode as they had here
+built for Phoenix. But, when they bade him farewell, Phoenix shed
+tears, and probably regretted that he was no longer to keep them
+company.
+
+However, he had fixed upon an admirable place to dwell in. And by and by
+there came other people, who chanced to have no homes; and, seeing how
+pleasant a spot it was, they built themselves huts in the neighbourhood
+of Phoenix's habitation. Thus, before many years went by, a city had
+grown up there, in the centre of which was seen a stately palace of
+marble, wherein dwelt Phoenix, clothed in a purple robe, and wearing a
+golden crown upon his head. For the inhabitants of the new city, finding
+that he had royal blood in his veins, had chosen him to be their king.
+The very first decree of state which King Phoenix issued was, that if
+a maiden happened to arrive in the kingdom, mounted on a snow-white
+bull, and calling herself Europa, his subjects should treat her with the
+greatest kindness and respect, and immediately bring her to the palace.
+You may see, by this, that Phoenix's conscience never quite ceased to
+trouble him, for giving up the quest of his dear sister, and sitting
+himself down to be comfortable, while his mother and her companions went
+onward.
+
+But often and often, at the close of a weary day's journey, did
+Telephassa and Cadmus, Cilix and Thasus, remember the pleasant spot in
+which they had left Phoenix. It was a sorrowful prospect for these
+wanderers, that on the morrow they must again set forth, and that, after
+many nightfalls, they would perhaps be no nearer the close of their
+toilsome pilgrimage than now. These thoughts made them all melancholy at
+times, but appeared to torment Cilix more than the rest of the party. At
+length, one morning, when they were taking their staffs in hand to set
+out, he thus addressed them:
+
+"My dear mother, and you good brother Cadmus, and my friend Thasus,
+methinks we are like people in a dream. There is no substance in the
+life which we are leading. It is such a dreary length of time since the
+white bull carried off my sister Europa, that I have quite forgotten
+how she looked, and the tones of her voice, and, indeed, almost doubt
+whether such a little girl ever lived in the world. And whether she once
+lived or no, I am convinced that she no longer survives, and that
+therefore it is the merest folly to waste our own lives and happiness in
+seeking her. Were we to find her, she would now be a woman grown, and
+would look upon us all as strangers. So, to tell you the truth, I have
+resolved to take up my abode here; and I entreat you, mother, brother,
+and friend, to follow my example."
+
+"Not I, for one," said Telephassa; although the poor queen, firmly as
+she spoke, was so travel worn that she could hardly put her foot to the
+ground--"not I, for one! In the depths of my heart, little Europa is
+still the rosy child who ran to gather flowers so many years ago. She
+has not grown to womanhood, nor forgotten me. At noon, at night,
+journeying onward, sitting down to rest, her childish voice is always in
+my ears, calling, 'Mother! mother!' Stop here who may, there is no
+repose for me."
+
+"Nor for me," said Cadmus, "while my dear mother pleases to go onward."
+
+And the faithful Thasus, too, was resolved to bear them company. They
+remained with Cilix a few days, however, and helped him to build a
+rustic bower, resembling the one which they had formerly built for
+Phoenix.
+
+When they were bidding him farewell, Cilix burst into tears, and told
+his mother that it seemed just as melancholy a dream to stay there, in
+solitude, as to go onward. If she really believed that they would ever
+find Europa, he was willing to continue the search with them, even now.
+But Telephassa bade him remain there, and be happy, if his own heart
+would let him. So the pilgrims took their leave of him, and departed,
+and were hardly out of sight before some other wandering people came
+along that way, and saw Cilix's habitation, and were greatly delighted
+with the appearance of the place. There being abundance of unoccupied
+ground in the neighbourhood, these strangers built huts for themselves,
+and were soon joined by a multitude of new settlers, who quickly formed
+a city. In the middle of it was seen a magnificent palace of coloured
+marble, on the balcony of which, every noontide, appeared Cilix, in a
+long purple robe, and with a jewelled crown upon his head; for the
+inhabitants, when they found out that he was a king's son, had
+considered him the fittest of all men to be a king himself.
+
+One of the first acts of King Cilix's government was to send out an
+expedition, consisting of a grave ambassador and an escort of bold and
+hardy young men, with orders to visit the principal kingdoms of the
+earth, and inquire whether a young maiden had passed through those
+regions, galloping swiftly on a white bull. It is, therefore, plain to
+my mind, that Cilix secretly blamed himself for giving up the search for
+Europa, as long as he was able to put one foot before the other.
+
+As for Telephassa, and Cadmus, and the good Thasus, it grieves me to
+think of them, still keeping up that weary pilgrimage. The two young men
+did their best for the poor queen, helping her over the rough places,
+often carrying her across rivulets in their faithful arms, and seeking
+to shelter her at nightfall, even when they themselves lay on the
+ground. Sad, sad it was to hear them asking of every passerby if he had
+seen Europa, so long after the white bull had carried her away. But,
+though the gray years thrust themselves between, and made the child's
+figure dim in their remembrance, neither of these true-hearted three
+ever dreamed of giving up the search.
+
+One morning, however, poor Thasus found that he had sprained his ankle,
+and could not possibly go a step farther.
+
+"After a few days, to be sure," said he, mournfully, "I might make shift
+to hobble along with a stick. But that would only delay you, and perhaps
+hinder you from finding dear little Europa, after all your pains and
+trouble. Do you go forward, therefore, my beloved companions, and leave
+me to follow as I may."
+
+"Thou hast been a true friend, dear Thasus," said Queen Telephassa,
+kissing his forehead. "Being neither my son, nor the brother of our lost
+Europa, thou hast shown thyself truer to me and her than Phoenix and
+Cilix did, whom we have left behind us. Without thy loving help, and
+that of my son Cadmus, my limbs could not have borne me half so far as
+this. Now, take thy rest, and be at peace. For--and it is the first time
+I have owned it to myself--I begin to question whether we shall ever
+find my beloved daughter in this world."
+
+Saying this, the poor queen shed tears, because it was a grievous trial
+to the mother's heart to confess that her hopes were growing faint. From
+that day forward, Cadmus noticed that she never travelled with the same
+alacrity of spirit that had heretofore supported her. Her weight was
+heavier upon his arm.
+
+Before setting out, Cadmus helped Thasus build a bower; while
+Telephassa, being too infirm to give any great assistance, advised them
+how to fit it up and furnish it, so that it might be as comfortable as a
+hut of branches could. Thasus, however, did not spend all his days in
+this green bower. For it happened to him, as to Phoenix and Cilix,
+that other homeless people visited the spot and liked it, and built
+themselves habitations in the neighbourhood. So here, in the course of
+a few years, was another thriving city with a red freestone palace in
+the centre of it, where Thasus set upon a throne, doing justice to the
+people, with a purple robe over his shoulders, a sceptre in his hand,
+and a crown upon his head. The inhabitants had made him king, not for
+the sake of any royal blood (for none was in his veins), but because
+Thasus was an upright, true-hearted, and courageous man, and therefore
+fit to rule.
+
+But, when the affairs of his kingdom were all settled, King Thasus laid
+aside his purple robe, and crown, and sceptre, and bade his worthiest
+subject distribute justice to the people in his stead. Then, grasping
+the pilgrim's staff that had supported him so long, he set forth again,
+hoping still to discover some hoof mark of the snow-white bull, some
+trace of the vanished child. He returned, after a lengthened absence,
+and sat down wearily upon his throne. To his latest hour, nevertheless,
+King Thasus showed his true-hearted remembrance of Europa, by ordering
+that a fire should always be kept burning in his palace, and a bath
+steaming hot, and food ready to be served up, and a bed with snow-white
+sheets, in case the maiden should arrive, and require immediate
+refreshment. And though Europa never came, the good Thasus had the
+blessings of many a poor traveller, who profited by the food and lodging
+which were meant for the little playmate of the king's boyhood.
+
+Telephassa and Cadmus were now pursuing their weary way, with no
+companion but each other. The queen leaned heavily upon her son's arm,
+and could walk only a few miles a day. But for all her weakness and
+weariness, she would not be persuaded to give up the search. It was
+enough to bring tears into the eyes of bearded men to hear the
+melancholy tone with which she inquired of every stranger whether he
+could tell her any news of the lost child.
+
+"Have you seen a little girl--no, no, I mean a young maiden of full
+growth--passing by this way, mounted on a snow-white bull, which gallops
+as swiftly as the wind?"
+
+"We have seen no such wondrous sight," the people would reply; and very
+often, taking Cadmus aside, they whispered to him, "Is this stately and
+sad-looking woman your mother? Surely she is not in her right mind; and
+you ought to take her home, and make her comfortable, and do your best
+to get this dream out of her fancy."
+
+"It is no dream," said Cadmus. "Everything else is a dream, save that."
+
+But, one day, Telephassa seemed feebler than usual, and leaned almost
+her whole weight on the arm of Cadmus, and walked more slowly than ever
+before. At last they reached a solitary spot, where she told her son
+that she must needs lie down, and take a good, long rest.
+
+"A good, long rest!" she repeated, looking Cadmus tenderly in the
+face--"a good, long rest, thou dearest one!"
+
+"As long as you please, dear mother," answered Cadmus.
+
+Telephassa bade him sit down on the turf beside her, and then she took
+his hand.
+
+"My son," said she, fixing her dim eyes most lovingly upon him, "this
+rest that I speak of will be very long indeed! You must not wait till it
+is finished. Dear Cadmus, you do not comprehend me. You must make a
+grave here, and lay your mother's weary frame into it. My pilgrimage is
+over."
+
+Cadmus burst into tears, and, for a long time, refused to believe that
+his dear mother was now to be taken from him. But Telephassa reasoned
+with him, and kissed him, and at length made him discern that it was
+better for her spirit to pass away out of the toil, the weariness, the
+grief, and disappointment which had burdened her on earth, ever since
+the child was lost. He therefore repressed his sorrow, and listened to
+her last words.
+
+"Dearest Cadmus," said she, "thou hast been the truest son that ever
+mother had, and faithful to the very last. Who else would have borne
+with my infirmities as thou hast! It is owing to thy care, thou
+tenderest child, that my grave was not dug long years ago, in some
+valley, or on some hillside, that lies far, far behind us. It is enough.
+Thou shalt wander no more on this hopeless search. But when thou hast
+laid thy mother in the earth, then go, my son, to Delphi, and inquire of
+the oracle what thou shalt do next."
+
+"O mother, mother," cried Cadmus, "couldst thou but have seen my sister
+before this hour!"
+
+"It matters little now," answered Telephassa, and there was a smile upon
+her face. "I go now to the better world, and, sooner or later, shall
+find my daughter there."
+
+I will not sadden you, my little hearers, with telling how Telephassa
+died and was buried, but will only say, that her dying smile grew
+brighter, instead of vanishing from her dead face; so that Cadmus felt
+convinced that, at her very first step into the better world, she had
+caught Europa in her arms. He planted some flowers on his mother's
+grave, and left them to grow there, and make the place beautiful, when
+he should be far away.
+
+After performing this last sorrowful duty, he set forth alone, and took
+the road toward the famous oracle of Delphi, as Telephassa had advised
+him. On his way thither, he still inquired of most people whom he met
+whether they had seen Europa; for, to say the truth, Cadmus had grown so
+accustomed to ask the question, that it came to his lips as readily as a
+remark about the weather. He received various answers. Some told him one
+thing, and some another. Among the rest, a mariner affirmed, that, many
+years before, in a distant country, he had heard a rumour about a white
+bull, which came swimming across the sea with a child on his back,
+dressed up in flowers that were blighted by the sea water. He did not
+know what had become of the child or the bull; and Cadmus suspected,
+indeed, by a queer twinkle in the mariner's eyes, that he was putting a
+joke upon him, and had never really heard anything about the matter.
+
+Poor Cadmus found it more wearisome to travel alone than to bear all his
+dear mother's weight while she had kept him company. His heart, you will
+understand, was now so heavy that it seemed impossible, sometimes, to
+carry it any farther. But his limbs were strong and active and well
+accustomed to exercise. He walked swiftly along, thinking of King Agenor
+and Queen Telephassa, and his brothers, and the friendly Thasus, all of
+whom he had left behind him, at one point of his pilgrimage or another,
+and never expected to see them any more. Full of these remembrances, he
+came within sight of a lofty mountain, which the people thereabouts told
+him was called Parnassus. On the slope of Mount Parnassus was the famous
+Delphi, whither Cadmus was going.
+
+This Delphi was supposed to be the very midmost spot of the whole world.
+The place of the oracle was a certain cavity in the mountain side, over
+which, when Cadmus came thither, he found a rude bower of branches. It
+reminded him of those which he had helped to build for Phoenix and
+Cilix, and afterward for Thasus. In later times, when multitudes of
+people came from great distances to put questions to the oracle, a
+spacious temple of marble was erected over the spot. But in the days of
+Cadmus, as I have told you, there was only this rustic bower, with its
+abundance of green foliage, and a tuft of shrubbery, that ran wild over
+the mysterious hole in the hillside.
+
+When Cadmus had thrust a passage through the tangled boughs, and made
+his way into the bower, he did not at first discern the half-hidden
+cavity. But soon he felt a cold stream of air rushing out of it, with so
+much force that it shook the ringlets on his cheek. Pulling away the
+shrubbery which clustered over the hole, he bent forward, and spoke in a
+distinct but reverential tone, as if addressing some unseen personage
+inside of the mountain.
+
+"Sacred oracle of Delphi," said he, "whither shall I go next in quest of
+my dear sister Europa?"
+
+There was at first a deep silence, and then a rushing sound, or a noise
+like a long sigh, proceeding out of the interior of the earth. This
+cavity, you must know, was looked upon as a sort of fountain of truth,
+which sometimes gushed out in audible words; although, for the most
+part, these words were such a riddle that they might just as well have
+stayed at the bottom of the hole. But Cadmus was more fortunate than
+many others who went to Delphi in search of truth. By and by, the
+rushing noise began to sound like articulate language. It repeated, over
+and over again, the following sentence, which, after all, was so like
+the vague whistle of a blast of air, that Cadmus really did not quite
+know whether it meant anything or not:
+
+"Seek her no more! Seek her no more! Seek her no more!"
+
+"What, then, shall I do?" asked Cadmus.
+
+For, ever since he was a child, you know, it had been the great object
+of his life to find his sister. From the very hour that he left
+following the butterfly in the meadow, near his father's palace, he had
+done his best to follow Europa, over land and sea. And now, if he must
+give up the search, he seemed to have no more business in the world.
+
+But again the sighing gust of air grew into something like a hoarse
+voice.
+
+"Follow the cow!" it said. "Follow the cow! Follow the cow!"
+
+And when these words had been repeated until Cadmus was tired of hearing
+them (especially as he could not imagine what cow it was, or why he was
+to follow her), the gusty hole gave vent to another sentence.
+
+"Where the stray cow lies down, there is your home."
+
+These words were pronounced but a single time, and died away into a
+whisper before Cadmus was fully satisfied that he had caught the
+meaning. He put other questions, but received no answer; only the gust
+of wind sighed continually out of the cavity, and blew the withered
+leaves rustling along the ground before it.
+
+"Did there really come any words out of the hole?" thought Cadmus; "or
+have I been dreaming all this while?"
+
+He turned away from the oracle, and thought himself no wiser than when
+he came thither. Caring little what might happen to him, he took the
+first path that offered itself, and went along at a sluggish pace; for,
+having no object in view, nor any reason to go one way more than
+another, it would certainly have been foolish to make haste. Whenever he
+met anybody, the old question was at his tongue's end:
+
+"Have you seen a beautiful maiden, dressed like a king's daughter, and
+mounted on a snow-white bull, that gallops as swiftly as the wind?"
+
+But, remembering what the oracle had said, he only half uttered the
+words, and then mumbled the rest indistinctly; and from his confusion,
+people must have imagined that this handsome young man had lost his
+wits.
+
+I know not how far Cadmus had gone, nor could he himself have told you,
+when, at no great distance before him, he beheld a brindled cow. She was
+lying down by the wayside, and quietly chewing her cud; nor did she take
+any notice of the young man until he had approached pretty nigh. Then,
+getting leisurely upon her feet, and giving her head a gentle toss, she
+began to move along at a moderate pace, often pausing just long enough
+to crop a mouthful of grass. Cadmus loitered behind, whistling idly to
+himself, and scarcely noticing the cow; until the thought occurred to
+him, whether this could possibly be the animal which, according to the
+oracle's response, was to serve him for a guide. But he smiled at
+himself for fancying such a thing. He could not seriously think that
+this was the cow, because she went along so quietly, behaving just like
+any other cow. Evidently she neither knew nor cared so much as a wisp of
+hay about Cadmus, and was only thinking how to get her living along the
+wayside, where the herbage was green and fresh. Perhaps she was going
+home to be milked.
+
+"Cow, cow, cow!" cried Cadmus. "Hey, Brindle, hey! Stop, my good cow."
+
+He wanted to come up with the cow, so as to examine her, and see if she
+would appear to know him, or whether there were any peculiarities to
+distinguish her from a thousand other cows, whose only business is to
+fill the milk pail, and sometimes kick it over. But still the brindled
+cow trudged on, whisking her tail to keep the flies away, and taking as
+little notice of Cadmus as she well could. If he walked slowly, so did
+the cow, and seized the opportunity to graze. If he quickened his pace,
+the cow went just so much the faster; and once, when Cadmus tried to
+catch her by running, she threw out her heels, stuck her tail straight
+on end, and set off at a gallop, looking as queerly as cows generally
+do, while putting themselves to their speed.
+
+When Cadmus saw that it was impossible to come up with her, he walked on
+moderately, as before. The cow, too, went leisurely on, without looking
+behind. Wherever the grass was greenest, there she nibbled a mouthful or
+two. Where a brook glistened brightly across the path, there the cow
+drank, and breathed a comfortable sigh, and drank again, and trudged
+onward at the pace that best suited herself and Cadmus.
+
+"I do believe," thought Cadmus, "that this may be the cow that was
+foretold me. If it be the one, I suppose she will lie down somewhere
+hereabouts."
+
+Whether it were the oracular cow or some other one, it did not seem
+reasonable that she should travel a great way farther. So, whenever they
+reached a particularly pleasant spot on a breezy hillside, or in a
+sheltered vale, or flowery meadow, on the shore of a calm lake, or along
+the bank of a clear stream, Cadmus looked eagerly around to see if the
+situation would suit him for a home. But still, whether he liked the
+place or no, the brindled cow never offered to lie down. On she went at
+the quiet pace of a cow going homeward to the barnyard; and, every
+moment Cadmus expected to see a milkmaid approaching with a pail, or a
+herdsman running to head the stray animal, and turn her back toward the
+pasture. But no milkmaid came; no herdsman drove her back; and Cadmus
+followed the stray brindle till he was almost ready to drop down with
+fatigue.
+
+"O brindled cow," cried he, in a tone of despair, "do you never mean to
+stop?"
+
+He had now grown too intent on following her to think of lagging behind,
+however long the way, and whatever might be his fatigue. Indeed, it
+seemed as if there were something about the animal that bewitched
+people. Several persons who happened to see the brindled cow, and Cadmus
+following behind, began to trudge after her, precisely as he did. Cadmus
+was glad of somebody to converse with, and therefore talked very freely
+to these good people. He told them all his adventures, and how he had
+left King Agenor in his palace, and Phoenix at one place, and Cilix at
+another, and Thasus at a third, and his dear mother, Queen Telephassa,
+under a flowery sod; so that now he was quite alone, both friendless and
+homeless. He mentioned, likewise, that the oracle had bidden him be
+guided by a cow, and inquired of the strangers whether they supposed
+that this brindled animal could be the one.
+
+"Why, 'tis a very wonderful affair," answered one of his new companions.
+"I am pretty well acquainted with the ways of cattle, and I never knew a
+cow, of her own accord, to go so far without stopping. If my legs will
+let me, I'll never leave following the beast till she lies down."
+
+"Nor I!" said a second.
+
+"Nor I!" cried a third. "If she goes a hundred miles farther, I'm
+determined to see the end of it."
+
+The secret of it was, you must know, that the cow was an enchanted cow,
+and that, without their being conscious of it, she threw some of her
+enchantment over everybody that took so much as half a dozen steps
+behind her. They could not possibly help following her, though, all the
+time, they fancied themselves doing it of their own accord. The cow was
+by no means very nice in choosing her path; so that sometimes they had
+to scramble over rocks, or wade through mud and mire, and were all in a
+terribly bedraggled condition, and tired to death, and very hungry, into
+the bargain. What a weary business it was!
+
+But still they kept trudging stoutly forward, and talking as they went.
+The strangers grew very fond of Cadmus, and resolved never to leave him,
+but to help him build a city wherever the cow might lie down. In the
+centre of it there should be a noble palace, in which Cadmus might
+dwell, and be their king, with a throne, a crown and sceptre, a purple
+robe, and everything else that a king ought to have; for in him there
+was the royal blood, and the royal heart, and the head that knew how to
+rule.
+
+While they were talking of these schemes, and beguiling the tediousness
+of the way with laying out the plan of the new city, one of the company
+happened to look at the cow.
+
+"Joy! joy!" cried he, clapping his hands. "Brindle is going to lie
+down."
+
+They all looked; and, sure enough, the cow had stopped and was staring
+leisurely about her, as other cows do when on the point of lying down.
+And slowly, slowly did she recline herself on the soft grass, first
+bending her fore legs, and then crouching her hind ones. When Cadmus and
+his companions came up with her, there was the brindled cow taking her
+ease, chewing her cud, and looking them quietly in the face; as if this
+was just the spot she had been seeking for, and as if it were all a
+matter of course.
+
+"This, then," said Cadmus, gazing around him, "this is to be my home."
+
+It was a fertile and lovely plain, with great trees flinging their
+sun-speckled shadows over it, and hills fencing it in from the rough
+weather. At no great distance, they beheld a river gleaming in the
+sunshine. A home feeling stole into the heart of poor Cadmus. He was
+very glad to know that here he might awake in the morning, without the
+necessity of putting on his dusty sandals to travel farther and farther.
+The days and the years would pass over him, and find him still in this
+pleasant spot. If he could have had his brothers with him, and his
+friend Thasus, and could have seen his dear mother under a roof of his
+own, he might here have been happy, after all their disappointments.
+Some day or other, too, his sister Europa might have come quietly to the
+door of his home, and smiled round upon the familiar faces. But, indeed,
+since there was no hope of regaining the friends of his boyhood, or ever
+seeing his dear sister again, Cadmus resolved to make himself happy with
+these new companions, who had grown so fond of him while following the
+cow.
+
+"Yes, my friends," said he to them, "this is to be our home. Here we
+will build our habitations. The brindled cow, which has led us hither,
+will supply us with milk. We will cultivate the neighbouring soil, and
+lead an innocent and happy life."
+
+His companions joyfully assented to this plan; and, in the first place,
+being very hungry and thirsty, they looked about them for the means of
+providing a comfortable meal. Not far off, they saw a tuft of trees,
+which appeared as if there might be a spring of water beneath them. They
+went thither to fetch some, leaving Cadmus stretched on the ground
+along with the brindled cow; for, now that he had found a place of rest,
+it seemed as if all the weariness of his pilgrimage, ever since he left
+King Agenor's palace, had fallen upon him at once. But his new friends
+had not long been gone, when he was suddenly startled by cries, shouts,
+and screams, and the noise of a terrible struggle, and in the midst of
+it all, a most awful hissing, which went right through his ears like a
+rough saw.
+
+Running toward the tuft of trees, he beheld the head and fiery eyes of
+an immense serpent or dragon, with the widest jaws that ever a dragon
+had, and a vast many rows of horribly sharp teeth. Before Cadmus could
+reach the spot, this pitiless reptile had killed his poor companions,
+and was busily devouring them, making but a mouthful of each man.
+
+It appears that the fountain of water was enchanted, and that the dragon
+had been set to guard it, so that no mortal might ever quench his thirst
+there. As the neighbouring inhabitants carefully avoided the spot, it
+was now a long time (not less than a hundred years, or thereabouts)
+since the monster had broken his fast; and, as was natural enough, his
+appetite had grown to be enormous, and was not half satisfied by the
+poor people whom he had just eaten up. When he caught sight of Cadmus,
+therefore, he set up another abominable hiss, and flung back his immense
+jaws, until his mouth looked like a great red cavern, at the farther end
+of which were seen the legs of his last victim, whom he had hardly had
+time to swallow.
+
+But Cadmus was so enraged at the destruction of his friends, that he
+cared neither for the size of the dragon's jaws nor for his hundreds of
+sharp teeth. Drawing his sword, he rushed at the monster, and flung
+himself right into his cavernous mouth. This bold method of attacking
+him took the dragon by surprise; for, in fact, Cadmus had leaped so far
+down into his throat, that the rows of terrible teeth could not close
+upon him, nor do him the least harm in the world. Thus, though the
+struggle was a tremendous one, and though the dragon shattered the tuft
+of trees into small splinters by the lashing of his tail, yet, as Cadmus
+was all the while slashing and stabbing at his very vitals, it was not
+long before the scaly wretch bethought himself of slipping away. He had
+not gone his length, however, when the brave Cadmus gave him a sword
+thrust that finished the battle; and, creeping out of the gateway of the
+creature's jaws, there he beheld him still wriggling his vast bulk,
+although there was no longer life enough in him to harm a little child.
+
+But do not you suppose that it made Cadmus sorrowful to think of the
+melancholy fate which had befallen those poor, friendly people, who had
+followed the cow along with him? It seemed as if he were doomed to lose
+everybody whom he loved, or to see them perish in one way or another.
+And here he was, after all his toils and troubles, in a solitary place,
+with not a single human being to help him build a hut.
+
+"What shall I do?" cried he aloud. "It were better for me to have been
+devoured by the dragon, as my poor companions were."
+
+"Cadmus," said a voice--but whether it came from above or below him, or
+whether it spoke within his own breast, the young man could not
+tell--"Cadmus, pluck out the dragon's teeth, and plant them in the
+earth."
+
+This was a strange thing to do; nor was it very easy, I should imagine,
+to dig out all those deep-rooted fangs from the dead dragon's jaws. But
+Cadmus toiled and tugged, and after pounding the monstrous head almost
+to pieces with a great stone, he at last collected as many teeth as
+might have filled a bushel or two. The next thing was to plant them.
+This, likewise, was a tedious piece of work, especially as Cadmus was
+already exhausted with killing the dragon and knocking his head to
+pieces, and had nothing to dig the earth with, that I know of, unless it
+were his sword blade. Finally, however, a sufficiently large tract of
+ground was turned up, and sown with this new kind of seed; although half
+of the dragon's teeth still remained to be planted some other day.
+
+Cadmus, quite out of breath, stood leaning upon his sword, and wondering
+what was to happen next. He had waited but a few moments, when he began
+to see a sight, which was as great a marvel as the most marvellous thing
+I ever told you about.
+
+The sun was shining slantwise over the field, and showed all the moist,
+dark soil just like any other newly planted piece of ground. All at
+once, Cadmus fancied he saw something glisten very brightly, first at
+one spot, then at another, and then at a hundred and a thousand spots
+together. Soon he perceived them to be the steel heads of spears,
+sprouting up everywhere like so many stalks of grain, and continually
+growing taller and taller. Next appeared a vast number of bright sword
+blades, thrusting themselves up in the same way. A moment afterward, the
+whole surface of the ground was broken up by a multitude of polished
+brass helmets, coming up like a crop of enormous beans. So rapidly did
+they grow, that Cadmus now discerned the fierce countenance of a man
+beneath every one. In short, before he had time to think what a
+wonderful affair it was, he beheld an abundant harvest of what looked
+like human beings, armed with helmets and breastplates, shields, swords
+and spears; and before they were well out of the earth, they brandished
+their weapons, and clashed them one against another, seeming to think,
+little while as they had yet lived, that they had wasted too much of
+life without a battle. Every tooth of the dragon had produced one of
+these sons of deadly mischief.
+
+Up sprouted, also, a great many trumpeters; and with the first breath
+that they drew, they put their brazen trumpets to their lips, and
+sounded a tremendous and ear-shattering blast; so that the whole space,
+just now so quiet and solitary, reverberated with the clash and clang of
+arms, the bray of warlike music, and the shouts of angry men. So enraged
+did they all look, that Cadmus fully expected them to put the whole
+world to the sword. How fortunate would it be for a great conqueror, if
+he could get a bushel of the dragon's teeth to sow!
+
+"Cadmus," said the same voice which he had before heard, "throw a stone
+into the midst of the armed men."
+
+So Cadmus seized a large stone, and, flinging it into the middle of the
+earth army, saw it strike the breast-plate of a gigantic and
+fierce-looking warrior. Immediately on feeling the blow, he seemed to
+take it for granted that somebody had struck him; and, uplifting his
+weapon, he smote his next neighbour a blow that cleft his helmet
+asunder, and stretched him on the ground. In an instant, those nearest
+the fallen warrior began to strike at one another with their swords and
+stab with their spears. The confusion spread wider and wider. Each man
+smote down his brother, and was himself smitten down before he had time
+to exult in his victory. The trumpeters, all the while, blew their
+blasts shriller and shriller; each soldier shouted a battle cry and
+often fell with it on his lips. It was the strangest spectacle of
+causeless wrath, and of mischief for no good end, that had ever been
+witnessed; but, after all, it was neither more foolish nor more wicked
+than a thousand battles that have since been fought, in which men have
+slain their brothers with just as little reason as these children of the
+dragon's teeth. It ought to be considered, too, that the dragon people
+were made for nothing else; whereas other mortals were born to love and
+help one another.
+
+Well, this memorable battle continued to rage until the ground was
+strewn with helmeted heads that had been cut off. Of all the thousands
+that began the fight, there were only five left standing. These now
+rushed from different parts of the field, and, meeting in the middle of
+it, clashed their swords, and struck at each other's hearts as fiercely
+as ever.
+
+"Cadmus," said the voice again, "bid those five warriors to sheathe
+their swords. They will help you to build the city."
+
+Without hesitating an instant, Cadmus stepped forward, with the aspect
+of a king and a leader, and extending his drawn sword amongst them,
+spoke to the warriors in a stern and commanding voice.
+
+"Sheathe your weapons!" said he.
+
+And forthwith, feeling themselves bound to obey him, the five remaining
+sons of the dragon's teeth made him a military salute with their swords,
+returned them to the scabbards, and stood before Cadmus in a rank,
+eyeing him as soldiers eye their captain, while awaiting the word of
+command.
+
+These five men had probably sprung from the biggest of the dragon's
+teeth, and were the boldest and strongest of the whole army. They were
+almost giants, indeed, and had good need to be so, else they never could
+have lived through so terrible a fight. They still had a very furious
+look, and, if Cadmus happened to glance aside, would glare at one
+another, with fire flashing out of their eyes. It was strange, too, to
+observe how the earth, out of which they had so lately grown, was
+incrusted, here and there, on their bright breastplates, and even
+begrimed their faces, just as you may have seen it clinging to beets and
+carrots when pulled out of their native soil. Cadmus hardly knew whether
+to consider them as men, or some odd kind of vegetable; although, on the
+whole, he concluded that there was human nature in them, because they
+were so fond of trumpets and weapons, and so ready to shed blood.
+
+They looked him earnestly in the face, waiting for his next order, and
+evidently desiring no other employment than to follow him from one
+battlefield to another, all over the wide world. But Cadmus was wiser
+than these earth-born creatures, with the dragon's fierceness in them,
+and knew better how to use their strength and hardihood.
+
+"Come!" said he. "You are sturdy fellows. Make yourselves useful! Quarry
+some stones with those great swords of yours, and help me to build a
+city."
+
+The five soldiers grumbled a little, and muttered that it was their
+business to overthrow cities, not to build them up. But Cadmus looked at
+them with a stern eye, and spoke to them in, a tone of authority, so
+that they knew him for their master, and never again thought of
+disobeying his commands. They set to work in good earnest, and toiled so
+diligently, that, in a very short time, a city began to make its
+appearance. At first, to be sure, the workmen showed a quarrelsome
+disposition. Like savage beasts, they would doubtless have done one
+another a mischief, if Cadmus had not kept watch over them and quelled
+the fierce old serpent that lurked in their hearts, when he saw it
+gleaming out of their wild eyes. But, in course of time, they got
+accustomed to honest labour, and had sense enough to feel that there was
+more true enjoyment in living at peace, and doing good to one's
+neighbour, than in striking at him with a two-edged sword. It may not be
+too much to hope that the rest of mankind will by and by grow as wise
+and peaceable as these five earth-begrimed warriors, who sprang from the
+dragon's teeth.
+
+And now the city was built, and there was a home in it for each of the
+workmen. But the palace of Cadmus was not yet erected, because they had
+left it till the last, meaning to introduce all the new improvements of
+architecture, and make it very commodious, as well as stately and
+beautiful. After finishing the rest of their labours, they all went to
+bed betimes, in order to rise in the gray of the morning, and get at
+least the foundation of the edifice laid before nightfall. But, when
+Cadmus arose, and took his way toward the site where the palace was to
+be built, followed by his five sturdy workmen marching all in a row,
+what do you think he saw?
+
+What should it be but the most magnificent palace that had ever been
+seen in the world? It was built of marble and other beautiful kinds of
+stone, and rose high into the air, with a splendid dome and a portico
+along the front, and carved pillars, and everything else that befitted
+the habitation of a mighty king. It had grown up out of the earth in
+almost as short a time as it had taken the armed host to spring from the
+dragon's teeth; and what made the matter more strange, no seed of this
+stately edifice had ever been planted.
+
+When the five workmen beheld the dome, with the morning sunshine making
+it look golden and glorious, they gave a great shout.
+
+"Long live King Cadmus," they cried, "in his beautiful palace."
+
+And the new king, with his five faithful followers at his heels,
+shouldering their pickaxes and marching in a rank (for they still had a
+soldier-like sort of behaviour, as their nature was), ascended the
+palace steps. Halting at the entrance, they gazed through a long vista
+of lofty pillars that were ranged from end to end of a great hall. At
+the farther extremity of this hall, approaching slowly toward him,
+Cadmus beheld a female figure, wonderfully beautiful, and adorned with a
+royal robe, and a crown of diamonds over her golden ringlets, and the
+richest necklace that ever a queen wore. His heart thrilled with
+delight. He fancied it his long-lost sister Europa, now grown to
+womanhood, coming to make him happy, and to repay him, with her sweet
+sisterly affection, for all those weary wanderings in quest of her since
+he left King Agenor's palace--for the tears that he had shed, on parting
+with Phoenix, and Cilix, and Thasus--for the heart-breakings that had
+made the whole world seem dismal to him over his dear mother's grave.
+
+But, as Cadmus advanced to meet the beautiful stranger, he saw that her
+features were unknown to him, although, in the little time that it
+required to tread along the hall, he had already felt a sympathy betwixt
+himself and her.
+
+"No, Cadmus," said the same voice that had spoken to him in the field of
+the armed men, "this is not that dear sister Europa whom you have sought
+so faithfully all over the wide world. This is Harmonia, a daughter of
+the sky, who is given you instead of sister, and brothers, and friend,
+and mother. You will find all those dear ones in her alone."
+
+So King Cadmus dwelt in the palace, with his new friend Harmonia, and
+found a great deal of comfort in his magnificent abode, but would
+doubtless have found as much, if not more, in the humblest cottage by
+the wayside. Before many years went by, there was a group of rosy little
+children (but how they came thither has always been a mystery to me)
+sporting in the great hall, and on the marble steps of the palace, and
+running joyfully to meet King Cadmus when affairs of state left him at
+leisure to play with them. They called him father, and Queen Harmonia
+mother. The five old soldiers of the dragon's teeth grew very fond of
+these small urchins, and were never weary of showing them how to
+shoulder sticks, flourish wooden swords, and march in military order,
+blowing a penny trumpet, or beating an abominable rub-a-dub upon a
+little drum.
+
+But King Cadmus, lest there should be too much of the dragon's tooth in
+his children's disposition, used to find time from his kingly duties to
+teach them their A B C--which he invented for their benefit, and for
+which many little people, I am afraid, are not half so grateful to him
+as they ought to be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER
+
+
+One evening, in times long ago, old Philemon and his old wife Baucis sat
+at their cottage door, enjoying the calm and beautiful sunset. They had
+already eaten their frugal supper, and intended now to spend a quiet
+hour or two before bedtime. So they talked together about their garden,
+and their cow, and their bees, and their grapevine, which clambered over
+the cottage wall, and on which the grapes were beginning to turn purple.
+But the rude shouts of children, and the fierce barking of dogs, in the
+village near at hand, grew louder and louder, until, at last, it was
+hardly possible for Baucis and Philemon to hear each other speak.
+
+"Ah, wife," cried Philemon, "I fear some poor traveller is seeking
+hospitality among our neighbours yonder, and, instead of giving him food
+and lodging, they have set their dogs at him, as their custom is!"
+
+"Well-a-day!" answered old Baucis, "I do wish our neighbours felt a
+little more kindness for their fellow creatures. And only think of
+bringing up their children in this naughty way, and patting them on the
+head when they fling stones at strangers!"
+
+"Those children will never come to any good," said Philemon, shaking his
+white head. "To tell you the truth, wife, I should not wonder if some
+terrible thing were to happen to all the people in the village, unless
+they mend their manners. But, as for you and me, so long as Providence
+affords us a crust of bread, let us be ready to give half to any poor,
+homeless stranger that may come along and need it."
+
+"That's right, husband!" said Baucis. "So we will!"
+
+These old folks, you must know, were quite poor, and had to work pretty
+hard for a living. Old Philemon toiled diligently in his garden, while
+Baucis was always busy with her distaff, or making a little butter and
+cheese with their cow's milk, or doing one thing and another about the
+cottage. Their food was seldom anything but bread, milk, and vegetables,
+with sometimes a portion of honey from their beehive, and now and then a
+bunch of grapes that had ripened against the cottage wall. But they were
+two of the kindest old people in the world, and would cheerfully have
+gone without their dinners, any day, rather than refuse a slice of their
+brown loaf, a cup of new milk, and a spoonful of honey, to the weary
+traveller who might pause before their door. They felt as if such guests
+had a sort of holiness, and that they ought, therefore, to treat them
+better and more bountifully than their own selves.
+
+Their cottage stood on a rising ground, at some short distance from a
+village, which lay in a hollow valley that was about half a mile in
+breadth. This valley, in past ages, when the world was new, had probably
+been the bed of a lake. There, fishes had glided to and fro in the
+depths, and water weeds had grown along the margin, and trees and hills
+had seen their reflected images in the broad and peaceful mirror. But,
+as the waters subsided, men had cultivated the soil, and built houses on
+it, so that it was now a fertile spot, and bore no traces of the ancient
+lake, except a very small brook, which meandered through the midst of
+the village, and supplied the inhabitants with water. The valley had
+been dry land so long that oaks had sprung up, and grown great and high,
+and perished with old age, and been succeeded by others, as tall and
+stately as the first. Never was there a prettier or more fruitful
+valley. The very sight of the plenty around them should have made the
+inhabitants kind and gentle, and ready to show their gratitude to
+Providence by doing good to their fellow creatures.
+
+But, we are sorry to say, the people of this lovely village were not
+worthy to dwell in a spot on which Heaven had smiled so beneficently.
+They were a very selfish and hard-hearted people, and had no pity for
+the poor, nor sympathy with the homeless. They would only have laughed,
+had anybody told them that human beings owe a debt of love to one
+another, because there is no other method of paying the debt of love and
+care which all of us owe to Providence. You will hardly believe what I
+am going to tell you. These naughty people taught their children to be
+no better than themselves, and used to clap their hands, by way of
+encouragement, when they saw the little boys and girls run after some
+poor stranger, shouting at his heels, and pelting him with stones. They
+kept large and fierce dogs, and whenever a traveller ventured to show
+himself in the village street, this pack of disagreeable curs scampered
+to meet him, barking, snarling, and showing their teeth. Then they would
+seize him by his leg, or by his clothes, just as it happened; and if he
+were ragged when he came, he was generally a pitiable object before he
+had time to run away. This was a very terrible thing to poor travellers,
+as you may suppose, especially when they chanced to be sick, or feeble,
+or lame, or old. Such persons (if they once knew how badly these unkind
+people, and their unkind children and curs, were in the habit of
+behaving) would go miles and miles out of their way, rather than try to
+pass through the village again.
+
+What made the matter seem worse, if possible, was that when rich persons
+came in their chariots, or riding on beautiful horses, with their
+servants in rich liveries attending on them, nobody could be more civil
+and obsequious than the inhabitants of the village. They would take off
+their hats, and make the humblest bows you ever saw. If the children
+were rude, they were pretty certain to get their ears boxed; and as for
+the dogs, if a single cur in the pack presumed to yelp, his master
+instantly beat him with a club, and tied him up without any supper. This
+would have been all very well, only it proved that the villagers cared
+much about the money that a stranger had in his pocket, and nothing
+whatever for the human soul, which lives equally in the beggar and the
+prince.
+
+So now you can understand why old Philemon spoke so sorrowfully, when he
+heard the shouts of the children and the barking of the dogs, at the
+farther extremity of the village street. There was a confused din, which
+lasted a good while, and seemed to pass quite through the breadth of the
+valley.
+
+"I never heard the dogs so loud!" observed the good old man.
+
+"Nor the children so rude!" answered his good old wife.
+
+They sat shaking their heads, one to another, while the noise came
+nearer and nearer; until, at the foot of the little eminence on which
+their cottage stood, they saw two travellers approaching on foot. Close
+behind them came the fierce dogs, snarling at their very heels. A little
+farther off, ran a crowd of children, who sent up shrill cries, and
+flung stones at the two strangers, with all their might. Once or twice,
+the younger of the two men (he was a slender and very active figure)
+turned about and drove back the dogs with a staff which he carried in
+his hand. His companion, who was a very tall person, walked calmly
+along, as if disdaining to notice either the naughty children, or the
+pack of curs, whose manners the children seemed to imitate.
+
+Both of the travellers were very humbly clad, and looked as if they
+might not have money enough in their pockets to pay for a night's
+lodging. And this, I am afraid, was the reason why the villagers had
+allowed their children and dogs to treat them so rudely.
+
+"Come, wife," said Philemon to Baucis, "let us go and meet these poor
+people. No doubt, they feel almost too heavy hearted to climb the hill."
+
+"Go you and meet them," answered Baucis, "while I make haste within
+doors, and see whether we can get them anything for supper. A
+comfortable bowl of bread and milk would do wonders toward raising their
+spirits."
+
+Accordingly, she hastened into the cottage. Philemon, on his part, went
+forward, and extended his hand with so hospitable an aspect that there
+was no need of saying what nevertheless he did say, in the heartiest
+tone imaginable:
+
+"Welcome, strangers! welcome!"
+
+"Thank you!" replied the younger of the two, in a lively kind of way,
+notwithstanding his weariness and trouble. "This is quite another
+greeting than we have met with yonder in the village. Pray, why do you
+live in such a bad neighbourhood?"
+
+"Ah!" observed old Philemon, with a quiet and benign smite, "Providence
+put me here, I hope, among other reasons, in order that I may make you
+what amends I can for the inhospitality of my neighbours."
+
+"Well said, old father!" cried the traveller, laughing; "and, if the
+truth must be told, my companion and myself need some amends. Those
+children (the little rascals!) have bespattered us finely with their mud
+balls; and one of the curs has torn my cloak, which was ragged enough
+already. But I took him across the muzzle with my staff; and I think you
+may have heard him yelp, even thus far off."
+
+Philemon was glad to see him in such good spirits; nor, indeed, would
+you have fancied, by the traveller's look and manner, that he was weary
+with a long day's journey, besides being disheartened by rough treatment
+at the end of it. He was dressed in rather an odd way, with a sort of
+cap on his head, the brim of which stuck out over both ears. Though it
+was a summer evening, he wore a cloak, which he kept wrapt closely about
+him, perhaps because his undergarments were shabby. Philemon perceived,
+too, that he had on a singular pair of shoes; but, as it was now growing
+dusk, and as the old man's eyesight was none the sharpest, he could not
+precisely tell in what the strangeness consisted. One thing, certainly,
+seemed queer. The traveller was so wonderfully light and active that it
+appeared as if his feet sometimes rose from the ground of their own
+accord, or could only be kept down by an effort.
+
+"I used to be light footed, in my youth," said Philemon to the
+traveller. "But I always found my feet grow heavier toward nightfall."
+
+"There is nothing like a good staff to help one along," answered the
+stranger; "and I happen to have an excellent one, as you see."
+
+This staff, in fact, was the oddest-looking staff that Philemon had ever
+beheld. It was made of olive wood, and had something like a little pair
+of wings near the top. Two snakes, carved in the wood, were represented
+as twining themselves about the staff, and were so very skilfully
+executed that old Philemon (whose eyes, you know, were getting rather
+dim) almost thought them alive, and that he could see them wriggling and
+twisting.
+
+"A curious piece of work, sure enough!" said he. "A staff with wings! It
+would be an excellent kind of stick for a little boy to ride astride
+of!"
+
+By this time, Philemon and his two guests had reached the cottage door.
+
+"Friends," said the old man, "sit down and rest yourselves here on this
+bench. My good wife Baucis has gone to see what you can have for supper.
+We are poor folks; but you shall be welcome to whatever we have in the
+cupboard."
+
+The younger stranger threw himself carelessly on the bench, letting his
+staff fall as he did so. And here happened something rather marvellous,
+though trifling enough, too. The staff seemed to get up from the ground
+of its own accord, and, spreading its little pair of wings, it half
+hopped, half flew, and leaned itself against the wall of the cottage.
+There it stood quite still, except that the snakes continued to wriggle.
+But, in my private opinion, old Philemon's eyesight had been playing him
+tricks again.
+
+Before he could ask any questions, the elder stranger drew his attention
+from the wonderful staff, by speaking to him.
+
+"Was there not," asked the stranger, in a remarkably deep tone of voice,
+"a lake, in very ancient times, covering the spot where now stands
+yonder village?"
+
+"Not in my day, friend," answered Philemon; "and yet I am an old man, as
+you see. There were always the fields and meadows, just as they are now,
+and the old trees, and the little stream murmuring through the midst of
+the valley. My father, nor his father before him, ever saw it otherwise,
+so far as I know; and doubtless it will still be the same, when old
+Philemon shall be gone and forgotten!"
+
+"That is more than can be safely foretold," observed the stranger; and
+there was something very stern in his deep voice. He shook his head,
+too, so that his dark and heavy curls were shaken with the movement.
+"Since the inhabitants of yonder village have forgotten the affections
+and sympathies of their nature, it were better that the lake should be
+rippling over their dwellings again!"
+
+The traveller looked so stern that Philemon was really almost
+frightened; the more so, that, at his frown, the twilight seemed
+suddenly to grow darker, and that, when he shook his head, there was a
+roll as of thunder in the air.
+
+But, in a moment afterward, the stranger's face became so kindly and
+mild, that the old man quite forgot his terror. Nevertheless, he could
+not help feeling that this elder traveller must be no ordinary
+personage, although he happened now to be attired so humbly and to be
+journeying on foot. Not that Philemon fancied him a prince in disguise,
+or any character of that sort; but rather some exceedingly wise man, who
+went about the world in this poor garb, despising wealth and all worldly
+objects, and seeking everywhere to add a mite to his wisdom. This idea
+appeared the more probable, because, when Philemon raised his eyes to
+the stranger's face, he seemed to see more thought there, in one look,
+than he could have studied out in a lifetime.
+
+While Baucis was getting the supper, the travellers both began to talk
+very sociably with Philemon. The younger, indeed, was extremely
+loquacious, and made such shrewd and witty remarks, that the good old
+man continually burst out a-laughing, and pronounced him the merriest
+fellow whom he had seen for many a day.
+
+"Pray, my young friend," said he, as they grew familiar together, "what
+may I call your name?"
+
+"Why, I am very nimble, as you see," answered the traveller. "So, if you
+call me Quicksilver, the name will fit tolerably well."
+
+"Quicksilver? Quicksilver?" repeated Philemon, looking in the
+traveller's face, to see if he were making fun of him. "It is a very odd
+name! And your companion there? Has he as strange a one?"
+
+"You must ask the thunder to tell it you!" replied Quicksilver, putting
+on a mysterious look. "No other voice is loud enough."
+
+This remark, whether it were serious or in jest, might have caused
+Philemon to conceive a very great awe of the elder stranger, if, on
+venturing to gaze at him, he had not beheld so much beneficence in his
+visage. But, undoubtedly, here was the grandest figure that ever sat so
+humbly beside a cottage door. When the stranger conversed, it was with
+gravity, and in such a way that Philemon felt irresistibly moved to
+tell him everything which he had most at heart. This is always the
+feeling that people have, when they meet with anyone wise enough to
+comprehend all their good and evil, and to despise not a tittle of it.
+
+But Philemon, simple and kind-hearted old man that he was, had not many
+secrets to disclose. He talked, however, quite garrulously, about the
+events of his past life, in the whole course of which he had never been
+a score of miles from this very spot. His wife Baucis and himself had
+dwelt in the cottage from their youth upward, earning their bread by
+honest labour, always poor, but still contented. He told what excellent
+butter and cheese Baucis made, and how nice were the vegetables which he
+raised in his garden. He said, too, that, because they loved one another
+so very much, it was the wish of both that death might not separate
+them, but that they should die, as they had lived, together.
+
+As the stranger listened, a smile beamed over his countenance, and made
+its expression as sweet as it was grand.
+
+"You are a good old man," said he to Philemon, "and you have a good old
+wife to be your helpmeet. It is fit that your wish be granted."
+
+And it seemed to Philemon, just then, as if the sunset clouds threw up a
+bright flash from the west, and kindled a sudden light in the sky.
+
+Baucis had now got supper ready, and, coming to the door, began to make
+apologies for the poor fare which she was forced to set before her
+guests.
+
+"Had we known you were coming," said she, "my good man and myself would
+have gone without a morsel, rather than you should lack a better supper.
+But I took the most part of to-day's milk to make cheese; and our last
+loaf is already half eaten. Ah me! I never feel the sorrow of being
+poor, save when a poor traveller knocks at our door."
+
+"All will be very well; do not trouble yourself, my good dame," replied
+the elder stranger, kindly. "An honest, hearty welcome to a guest works
+miracles with the fare, and is capable of turning the coarsest food to
+nectar and ambrosia."
+
+"A welcome you shall have," cried Baucis, "and likewise a little honey
+that we happen to have left, and a bunch of purple grapes besides."
+
+"Why, Mother Baucis, it is a feast!" exclaimed Quicksilver, laughing,
+"an absolute feast! and you shall see how bravely I will play my part at
+it! I think I never felt hungrier in my life."
+
+"Mercy on us!" whispered Baucis to her husband. "If the young man has
+such a terrible appetite, I am afraid there will not be half enough
+supper!"
+
+They all went into the cottage.
+
+And, now, my little auditors, shall I tell you something that will make
+you open your eyes very wide? It is really one of the oddest
+circumstances in the who|e story. Quicksilver's staff, you recollect,
+had set itself up against the wall of the cottage. Well; when its master
+entered the door, leaving this wonderful staff behind, what should it do
+but immediately spread its little wings, and go hopping and fluttering
+up the door-steps! Tap, tap, went the staff, on the kitchen floor; nor
+did it rest until it had stood itself on end, with the greatest gravity
+and decorum, beside Quicksilver's chair. Old Philemon, however, as well
+as his wife, was so taken up in attending to their guests, that no
+notice was given to what the staff had been about.
+
+As Baucis had said, there was but a scanty supper for two hungry
+travellers. In the middle of the table was the remnant of a brown loaf,
+with a piece of cheese on one side of it, and a dish of honeycomb on the
+other. There was a pretty good bunch of grapes for each of the guests. A
+moderately sized earthen pitcher, nearly full of milk, stood at a corner
+of the board; and when Baucis had filled two bowls, and set them before
+the strangers, only a little milk remained in the bottom of the pitcher.
+Alas! it is a very sad business, when a bountiful heart finds itself
+pinched and squeezed among narrow circumstances. Poor Baucis kept
+wishing that she might starve for a week to come, if it were possible,
+by so doing, to provide these hungry folks a more plentiful supper.
+
+And, since the supper was so exceedingly small, she could not help
+wishing that their appetites had not been quite so large. Why, at their
+very first sitting down, the travellers both drank off all the milk in
+their two bowls, at a draught.
+
+"A little more milk, kind Mother Baucis, if you please," said
+Quicksilver. "The day has been hot, and I am very much athirst."
+
+"Now, my dear people," answered Baucis, in great confusion, "I am so
+sorry and ashamed! But the truth is, there is hardly a drop more milk in
+the pitcher. O husband! husband! why didn't we go without our supper?"
+
+"Why, it appears to me," cried Quicksilver, starting up from the table
+and taking the pitcher by the handle, "it really appears to me that
+matters are not quite so bad as you represent them. Here is certainly
+more milk in the pitcher."
+
+So saying, and to the vast astonishment of Baucis, he proceeded to fill,
+not only his own bowl, but his companion's likewise, from the pitcher,
+that was supposed to be almost empty. The good woman could scarcely
+believe her eyes. She had certainly poured out nearly all the milk, and
+had peeped in afterward, and seen the bottom of the pitcher, as she set
+it down upon the table.
+
+"But I am old," thought Baucis to herself, "and apt to be forgetful I
+suppose I must have made a mistake. At all events, the pitcher cannot
+help being empty now, after filling the bowls twice over."
+
+"What excellent milk!" observed Quicksilver, after quaffing the contents
+of the second bowl, "Excuse me, my kind hostess, but I must really ask
+you for a little more."
+
+Now Baucis had seen, as plainly as she could see anything, that
+Quicksilver had turned the pitcher upside down, and consequently had
+poured out every drop of milk, in filling the last bowl. Of course,
+there could not possibly be any left. However, in order to let him know
+precisely how the case was, she lifted the pitcher, and made a gesture
+as if pouring milk into Quicksilver's bowl, but without the remotest
+idea that any milk would stream forth. What was her surprise, therefore,
+when such an abundant cascade fell bubbling into the bowl, that it was
+immediately filled to the brim, and overflowed upon the table! The two
+snakes that were twisted about Quicksilver's staff (but neither Baucis
+nor Philemon happened to observe this circumstance) stretched out their
+heads, and began to lap up the spilt milk.
+
+And then what a delicious fragrance the milk had! It seemed as if
+Philemon's only cow must have pastured, that day, on the richest herbage
+that could be found anywhere in the world. I only wish that each of
+you, my beloved little souls, could have a bowl of such nice milk, at
+supper time!
+
+"And now a slice of your brown loaf, Mother Baucis," said Quicksilver,
+"and a little of that honey!"
+
+Baucis cut him a slice, accordingly; and though the loaf, when she and
+her husband ate of it, had been rather too dry and crusty to be
+palatable, it was now as light and moist as if but a few hours out of
+the oven. Tasting a crumb, which had fallen on the table, she found it
+more delicious than bread ever was before, and could hardly believe that
+it was a loaf of her own kneading and baking. Yet, what other loaf could
+it possibly be?
+
+But, oh the honey! I may just as well let it alone, without trying to
+describe how exquisitely it smelt and looked. Its colour was that of the
+purest and most transparent gold; and it had the odour of a thousand
+flowers; but of such flowers as never grew in an earthly garden, and to
+seek which the bees must have flown high above the clouds. The wonder
+is, that, after alighting on a flower bed of so delicious fragrance and
+immortal bloom, they should have been content to fly down again to their
+hive in Philemon's garden. Never was such honey tasted, seen, or smelt.
+The perfume floated around the kitchen, and made it so delightful, that,
+had you closed your eyes, you would instantly have forgotten the low
+ceiling and smoky walls, and have fancied yourself in an arbour, with
+celestial honeysuckles creeping over it.
+
+Although good Mother Baucis was a simple old dame, she could not but
+think that there was something rather out of the common way, in all that
+had been going on. So, after helping the guests to bread and honey, and
+laying a bunch of grapes by each of their plates, she sat down by
+Philemon, and told him what she had seen, in a whisper.
+
+"Did you ever hear the like?" asked she.
+
+"No, I never did," answered Philemon, with a smile. "And I rather think,
+my dear old wife, you have been walking about in a sort of a dream. If I
+had poured out the milk, I should have seen through the business at
+once. There happened to be a little more in the pitcher than you
+thought--that is all."
+
+"Ah, husband," said Baucis, "say what you will, these are very uncommon
+people."
+
+"Well, well," replied Philemon, still smiling, "perhaps they are. They
+certainly do look as if they had seen better days; and I am heartily
+glad to see them making so comfortable a supper."
+
+Each of the guests had now taken his bunch of grapes upon his plate.
+Baucis (who rubbed her eyes, in order to see the more clearly) was of
+opinion that the clusters had grown larger and richer, and that each
+separate grape seemed to be on the point of bursting with ripe juice. It
+was entirely a mystery to her how such grapes could ever have been
+produced from the old stunted vine that climbed against the cottage
+wall.
+
+"Very admirable grapes these!" observed Quicksilver, as he swallowed one
+after another, without apparently diminishing his cluster. "Pray, my
+good host, whence did you gather them?"
+
+"From my own vine," answered Philemon. "You may see one of its branches
+twisting across the window, yonder. But wife and I never thought the
+grapes very fine ones."
+
+"I never tasted better," said the guest. "Another cup of this delicious
+milk, if you please, and I shall then have supped better than a prince."
+
+This time, old Philemon bestirred himself, and took up the pitcher; for
+he was curious to discover whether there was any reality in the marvels
+which Baucis had whispered to him. He knew that his good old wife was
+incapable of falsehood, and that she was seldom mistaken in what she
+supposed to be true; but this was so very singular a case, that he
+wanted to see into it with his own eyes. On taking up the pitcher,
+therefore, he slyly peeped into it, and was fully satisfied that it
+contained not so much as a single drop. All at once, however, he beheld
+a little white fountain, which gushed up from the bottom of the pitcher,
+and speedily filled it to the brim with foaming and deliciously fragrant
+milk. It was lucky that Philemon, in his surprise, did not drop the
+miraculous pitcher from his hand.
+
+"Who are ye, wonder-working strangers!" cried he, even more bewildered
+than his wife had been.
+
+"Your guests, my good Philemon, and your friends," replied the elder
+traveller, in his mild, deep voice, that had something at once sweet and
+awe-inspiring in it. "Give me likewise a cup of the milk; and may your
+pitcher never be empty for kind Baucis and yourself, any more than for
+the needy wayfarer!"
+
+The supper being now over, the strangers requested to be shown to their
+place of repose. The old people would gladly have talked with them a
+little longer, and have expressed the wonder which they felt, and their
+delight at finding the poor and meagre supper prove so much better and
+more abundant than they hoped. But the elder traveller had inspired them
+with such reverence, that they dared not ask him any questions. And
+when Philemon drew Quicksilver aside, and inquired how under the sun a
+fountain of milk could have got into an old earthen pitcher, this latter
+personage pointed to his staff.
+
+"There is the whole mystery of the affair," quoth Quicksilver; "and if
+you can make it out, I'll thank you to let me know. I can't tell what to
+make of my staff. It is always playing such odd tricks as this;
+sometimes getting me a supper, and, quite as often, stealing it away. If
+I had any faith in such nonsense, I should say the stick was bewitched!"
+
+He said no more, but looked so slyly in their faces, that they rather
+fancied he was laughing at them. The magic staff went hopping at his
+heels, as Quicksilver quitted the room. When left alone, the good old
+couple spent some little time in conversation about the events of the
+evening, and then lay down on the floor, and fell fast asleep. They had
+given up their sleeping room to the guests, and had no other bed for
+themselves, save these planks, which I wish had been as soft as their
+own hearts.
+
+The old man and his wife were stirring, betimes, in the morning, and the
+strangers likewise arose with the sun, and made their preparations to
+depart. Philemon hospitably entreated them to remain a little longer,
+until Baucis could milk the cow, and bake a cake upon the hearth, and,
+perhaps, find them a few fresh eggs for breakfast. The guests, however,
+seemed to think it better to accomplish a good part of their journey
+before the heat of the day should come on. They, therefore, persisted in
+setting out immediately, but asked Philemon and Baucis to walk forth
+with them a short distance, and show them the road which they were to
+take.
+
+So they all four issued from the cottage, chatting together like old
+friends. It was very remarkable, indeed, how familiar the old couple
+insensibly grew with the elder traveller, and how their good and simple
+spirits melted into his, even as two drops of water would melt into the
+illimitable ocean. And as for Quicksilver, with his keen, quick,
+laughing wits, he appeared to discover every little thought that but
+peeped into their minds, before they suspected it themselves. They
+sometimes wished, it is true, that he had not been quite so
+quick-witted, and also that he would fling away his staff, which looked
+so mysteriously mischievous, with the snakes always writhing about it.
+But then, again, Quicksilver showed himself so very good humoured that
+they would have been rejoiced to keep him in their cottage, staff,
+snakes, and all, every day, and the whole day long.
+
+"Ah me! Well-a-day!" exclaimed Philemon, when they had walked a little
+way from their door. "If our neighbours only knew what a blessed thing
+it is to show hospitality to strangers, they would tie up all their
+dogs, and never allow their children to fling another stone."
+
+"It is a sin and shame for them to behave so--that it is!" cried good
+old Baucis, vehemently. "And I mean to go this very day, and tell some
+of them what naughty people they are!"
+
+"I fear," remarked Quicksilver, slyly smiling, "that you will find none
+of them at home."
+
+The elder traveller's brow, just then, assumed such a grave, stern, and
+awful grandeur, yet serene withal, that neither Baucis nor Philemon
+dared to speak a word. They gazed reverently into his face, as if they
+had been gazing at the sky.
+
+"When men do not feel toward the humblest stranger as if he were a
+brother," said the traveller, in tones so deep that they sounded like
+those of an organ, "they are unworthy to exist on earth, which was
+created as the abode of a great human brotherhood!"
+
+"And, by the by, my dear old people," cried Quicksilver, with the
+liveliest look of fun and mischief in his eyes, "where is this same
+village that you talk about? On which side of us does it lie? Methinks I
+do not see it hereabouts."
+
+Philemon and his wife turned toward the valley, where, at sunset, only
+the day before, they had seen the meadows, the houses, the gardens, the
+clumps of trees, the wide, green-margined street, with children playing
+in it, and all the tokens of business, enjoyment, and prosperity. But
+what was their astonishment! There was no longer any appearance of a
+village! Even the fertile vale, in the hollow of which it lay, had
+ceased to have existence. In its stead, they beheld the broad, blue
+surface of a lake, which filled the great basin of the valley from brim
+to brim, and reflected the surrounding hills in its bosom with as
+tranquil an image as if it had been there ever since the creation of the
+world. For an instant, the lake remained perfectly smooth. Then a little
+breeze sprang up, and caused the water to dance, glitter, and sparkle in
+the early sunbeams, and to dash, with a pleasant rippling murmur,
+against the hither shore.
+
+The lake seemed so strangely familiar that the old couple were greatly
+perplexed, and felt as if they could only have been dreaming about a
+village having lain there. But, the next moment, they remembered the
+vanished dwellings, and the faces and characters of the inhabitants, far
+too distinctly for a dream. The village had been there yesterday, and
+now was gone!
+
+"Alas!" cried the kind-hearted old people, "what has become of our poor
+neighbours?"
+
+"They exist no longer as men and women," said the elder traveller, in
+his grand and deep voice, while a roll of thunder seemed to echo it at a
+distance. "There was neither use nor beauty in such a life as theirs;
+for they never softened or sweetened the hard lot of mortality by the
+exercise of kindly affections between man and man. They retained no
+image of the better life in their bosoms; therefore, the lake, that was
+of old, has spread itself forth again, to reflect the sky!"
+
+"And as for those foolish people," said Quicksilver, with his
+mischievous smile, "they are all transformed to fishes. There needed but
+little change, for they were already a scaly set of rascals, and the
+coldest-blooded beings in existence. So, kind Mother Baucis, whenever
+you or your husband have an appetite for a dish of broiled trout, he can
+throw in a line, and pull out half a dozen of your old neighbours!"
+
+"Ah," cried Baucis, shuddering, "I would not, for the world, put one of
+them on the gridiron!"
+
+"No," added Philemon, making a wry face, "we could never relish them!"
+
+"As for you, good Philemon," continued the elder traveller--"and you,
+kind Baucis--you, with your scanty means, have mingled so much heartfelt
+hospitality with your entertainment of the homeless stranger, that the
+milk became an inexhaustible fount of nectar, and the brown loaf and
+the honey were ambrosia. Thus, the divinities have feasted, at your
+board, off the same viands that supply their banquets on Olympus. You
+have done well, my dear old friends. Wherefore, request whatever favour
+you have most at heart, and it is granted."
+
+Philemon and Baucis looked at one another, and then--I know not which of
+the two it was who spoke, but that one uttered the desire of both their
+hearts.
+
+"Let us live together, while we live, and leave the world at the same
+instant, when we die! For we have always loved one another!"
+
+"Be it so!" replied the stranger, with majestic kindness, "Now, look
+toward your cottage!"
+
+They did so. But what was their surprise on beholding a tall edifice of
+white marble, with a wide-open portal, occupying the spot where their
+humble residence had so lately stood!
+
+"There is your home," said the stranger, beneficently smiling on them
+both. "Exercise your hospitality in yonder palace as freely as in the
+poor hovel to which you welcomed us last evening."
+
+The old folks fell on their knees to thank him; but, behold! neither he
+nor Quicksilver was there.
+
+So Philemon and Baucis took up their residence in the marble palace, and
+spent their time, with vast satisfaction to themselves, in making
+everybody jolly and comfortable who happened to pass that way. The milk
+pitcher, I must not forget to say, retained its marvellous quality of
+being never empty, when it was desirable to have it full. Whenever an
+honest, good-humoured, and free-hearted guest took a draught from this
+pitcher, he invariably found it the sweetest and most invigorating fluid
+that ever ran down his throat. But, if a cross and disagreeable
+curmudgeon happened to sip, he was pretty certain to twist his visage
+into a hard knot, and pronounce it a pitcher of sour milk!
+
+Thus the old couple lived in their palace a great, great while, and grew
+older and older, and very old indeed. At length, however, there came a
+summer morning when Philemon and Baucis failed to make their appearance,
+as on other mornings, with one hospitable smile overspreading both their
+pleasant faces, to invite the guests of over night to breakfast. The
+guests searched everywhere, from top to bottom of the spacious palace,
+and all to no purpose. But, after a great deal of perplexity, they
+espied, in front of the portal, two venerable trees, which nobody could
+remember to have seen there the day before. Yet there they stood, with
+their roots fastened deep into the soil, and a huge breadth of foliage
+overshadowing the whole front of the edifice. One was an oak, and the
+other a linden tree. Their boughs--it was strange and beautiful to
+see--were intertwined together, and embraced one another, so that each
+tree seemed to live in the other tree's bosom much more than in its own.
+
+While the guests were marvelling how these trees, that must have
+required at least a century to grow, could have come to be so tall and
+venerable in a single night, a breeze sprang up, and set their
+intermingled boughs astir. And then there was a deep, broad murmur in
+the air, as if the two mysterious trees were speaking.
+
+"I am old Philemon!" murmured the oak.
+
+"I am old Baucis!" murmured the linden tree.
+
+But, as the breeze grew stronger, the trees both spoke at
+once--"Philemon! Baucis! Baucis! Philemon!"--as if one were both and
+both were one, and talked together in the depths of their mutual heart.
+It was plain enough to perceive that the good old couple had renewed
+their age, and were now to spend a quiet and delightful hundred years or
+so, Philemon as an oak, and Baucis as a linden tree. And oh, what a
+hospitable shade did they fling around them. Whenever a wayfarer paused
+beneath it, he heard a pleasant whisper of the leaves above his head,
+and wondered how the sound should so much resemble words like these:
+
+"Welcome, welcome, dear traveller, welcome!"
+
+And some kind soul, that knew what would have pleased old Baucis and old
+Philemon best, built a circular seat around both their trunks, where,
+for a great while afterward the weary, and the hungry, and the thirsty
+used to repose themselves, and quaff milk abundantly out of the
+miraculous pitcher.
+
+And I wish, for all our sakes, that we had the pitcher here now!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN
+
+
+Long, long ago, when this old world was in its tender infancy, there was
+a child, named Epimetheus, who never had either father or mother; and,
+that he might not be lonely, another child, fatherless and motherless
+like himself, was sent from a far country, to live with him, and be his
+playfellow and helpmate. Her name was Pandora.
+
+The first thing that Pandora saw, when she entered the cottage where
+Epimetheus dwelt, was a great box. And almost the first question which
+she put to him, after crossing the threshold, was this:
+
+"Epimetheus, what have you in that box?"
+
+"My dear little Pandora," answered Epimetheus, "that is a secret, and
+you must be kind enough not to ask any questions about it. The box was
+left here to be kept safely, and I do not myself know what it contains."
+
+"But who gave it to you?" asked Pandora. "And where did it come from?"
+
+"That is a secret, too," replied Epimetheus.
+
+"How provoking!" exclaimed Pandora, pouting her lip. "I wish the great
+ugly box were out of the way!"
+
+"Oh, come, don't think of it any more," cried Epimetheus. "Let us run
+out of doors, and have some nice play with the other children."
+
+It is thousands of years since Epimetheus and Pandora were alive; and
+the world, nowadays, is a very different sort of thing from what it was
+in their time. Then, everybody was a child. There needed no fathers and
+mothers to take care of the children; because there was no danger, nor
+trouble of any kind, and no clothes to be mended, and there was always
+plenty to eat and drink. Whenever a child wanted his dinner, he found it
+growing on a tree; and, if he looked at the tree in the morning, he
+could see the expanding blossom of that night's supper; or, at eventide,
+he saw the tender bud of to-morrow's breakfast. It was a very pleasant
+life indeed. No labour to be done, no tasks to be studied; nothing but
+sports and dances, and sweet voices of children talking, or carolling
+like birds, or gushing out in merry laughter, throughout the livelong
+day.
+
+What was most wonderful of all, the children never quarrelled among
+themselves; neither had they any crying fits; nor, since time first
+began, had a single one of these little mortals ever gone apart into a
+corner, and sulked. Oh, what a good time was that to be alive in! The
+truth is, those ugly little winged monsters, called Troubles, which are
+now almost as numerous as mosquitoes, had never yet been seen on the
+earth. It is probable that the very greatest disquietude which a child
+had ever experienced was Pandora's vexation at not being able to
+discover the secret of the mysterious box.
+
+This was at first only the faint shadow of a Trouble; but, every day, it
+grew more and more substantial, until, before a great while, the cottage
+of Epimetheus and Pandora was less sunshiny than those of the other
+children.
+
+"Whence can the box have come?" Pandora continually kept saying to
+herself and to Epimetheus. "And what in the world can be inside of it?"
+
+"Always talking about this box!" said Epimetheus, at last; for he had
+grown extremely tired of the subject. "I wish, dear Pandora, you would
+try to talk of something else. Come, let us go and gather some ripe
+figs, and eat them under the trees, for our supper. And I know a vine
+that has the sweetest and juiciest grapes you ever tasted."
+
+"Always talking about grapes and figs!" cried Pandora, pettishly.
+
+"Well, then," said Epimetheus, who was a very good-tempered child, like
+a multitude of children in those days, "let us run out and have a merry
+time with our playmates."
+
+"I am tired of merry times, and don't care if I never have any more!"
+answered our pettish little Pandora. "And, besides, I never do have any.
+This ugly box! I am so taken up with thinking about it all the time. I
+insist upon your telling me what is inside of it."
+
+"As I have already said, fifty times over, I do not know!" replied
+Epimetheus, getting a little vexed. "How, then, can I tell you what is
+inside?"
+
+"You might open it," said Pandora, looking sideways at Epimetheus, "and
+then we could see for ourselves."
+
+"Pandora, what are you thinking of?" exclaimed Epimetheus.
+
+And his face expressed so much horror at the idea of looking into a box,
+which had been confided to him on the condition of his never opening it,
+that Pandora thought it best not to suggest it any more. Still, however,
+she could not help thinking and talking about the box.
+
+"At least," said she, "you can tell me how it came here."
+
+"It was left at the door," replied Epimetheus, "just before you came, by
+a person who looked very smiling and intelligent, and who could hardly
+forbear laughing as he put it down. He was dressed in an odd kind of a
+cloak, and had on a cap that seemed to be made partly of feathers, so
+that it looked almost as if it had wings."
+
+"What sort of a staff had he?" asked Pandora.
+
+"Oh, the most curious staff you ever saw!" cried Epimetheus. "It was
+like two serpents twisting around a stick, and was carved so naturally
+that I, at first, thought the serpents were alive."
+
+"I know him," said Pandora, thoughtfully. "Nobody else has such a staff.
+It was Quicksilver; and he brought me hither, as well as the box. No
+doubt he intended it for me; and, most probably, it contains pretty
+dresses for me to wear, or toys for you and me to play with, or
+something very nice for us both to eat!"
+
+"Perhaps so," answered Epimetheus, turning away. "But until Quicksilver
+comes back and tells us so, we have neither of us any right to lift the
+lid of the box."
+
+"What a dull boy he is!" muttered Pandora, as Epimetheus left the
+cottage. "I do wish he had a little more enterprise!"
+
+For the first time since her arrival, Epimetheus had gone out without
+asking Pandora to accompany him. He went to gather figs and grapes by
+himself, or to seek whatever amusement he could find, in other society
+than his little playfellow's. He was tired to death of hearing about the
+box, and heartily wished that Quicksilver, or whatever was the
+messenger's name, had left it at some other child's door, where Pandora
+would never have set eyes on it. So perseveringly as did she babble
+about this one thing! The box, the box, and nothing but the box! It
+seemed as if the box were bewitched, and as if the cottage were not big
+enough to hold it, without Pandora's continually stumbling over it, and
+making Epimetheus stumble over it likewise, and bruising all four of
+their shins.
+
+Well, it was really hard that poor Epimetheus should have a box in his
+ears from morning till night; especially as the little people of the
+earth were so unaccustomed to vexations, in those happy days, that they
+knew not how to deal with them. Thus, a small vexation made as much
+disturbance then as a far bigger one would in our own times.
+
+After Epimetheus was gone, Pandora stood gazing at the box. She had
+called it ugly, above a hundred times; but, in spite of all that she had
+said against it, it was positively a very handsome article of furniture,
+and would have been quite an ornament to any room in which it should be
+placed. It was made of a beautiful kind of wood, with dark and rich
+veins spreading over its surface, which was so highly polished that
+little Pandora could see her face in it. As the child had no other
+looking glass, it is odd that she did not value the box, merely on this
+account.
+
+The edges and corners of the box were carved with most wonderful skill.
+Around the margin there were figures of graceful men and women, and the
+prettiest children ever seen, reclining or sporting amid a profusion of
+flowers and foliage; and these various objects were so exquisitely
+represented, and were wrought together in such harmony, that flowers,
+foliage, and human beings seemed to combine into a wreath of mingled
+beauty. But here and there, peeping forth from behind the carved
+foliage, Pandora once or twice fancied that she saw a face not so
+lovely, or something or other that was disagreeable, and which stole the
+beauty out of all the rest. Nevertheless, on looking more closely, and
+touching the spot with her finger, she could discover nothing of the
+kind. Some face that was really beautiful had been made to look ugly by
+her catching a sideway glimpse at it.
+
+The most beautiful face of all was done in what is called high relief,
+in the centre of the lid. There was nothing else, save the dark, smooth
+richness of the polished wood, and this one face in the centre, with a
+garland of flowers about its brow. Pandora had looked at this face a
+great many times, and imagined that the mouth could smile if it liked,
+or be grave when it chose, the same as any living mouth. The features,
+indeed, all wore a very lively and rather mischievous expression, which
+looked almost as if it needs must burst out of the carved lips, and
+utter itself in words.
+
+Had the mouth spoken, it would probably have been something like this:
+
+"Do not be afraid, Pandora! What harm can there be in opening the box?
+Never mind that poor, simple Epimetheus! You are wiser than he, and have
+ten times as much spirit. Open the box, and see if you do not find
+something very pretty!"
+
+The box, I had almost forgotten to say, was fastened; not by a lock, nor
+by any other such contrivance, but by a very intricate knot of gold
+cord. There appeared to be no end to this knot, and no beginning. Never
+was a knot so cunningly twisted, nor with so many ins and outs, which
+roguishly defied the skilfullest fingers to disentangle them. And yet,
+by the very difficulty that there was in it, Pandora was the more
+tempted to examine the knot, and just see how it was made. Two or three
+times, already, she had stooped over the box, and taken the knot between
+her thumb and forefinger, but without positively trying to undo it.
+
+"I really believe," said she to herself, "that I begin to see how it was
+done. Nay, perhaps I could tie it up again, after undoing it. There
+would be no harm in that, surely. Even Epimetheus would not blame me for
+that. I need not open the box, and should not, of course, without the
+foolish boy's consent, even if the knot were untied."
+
+It might have been better for Pandora if she had had a little work to
+do, or anything to employ her mind upon, so as not to be so constantly
+thinking of this one subject. But children led so easy a life, before
+any Troubles came into the world, that they had really a great deal too
+much leisure. They could not be forever playing at hide-and-seek among
+the flower shrubs, or at blind-man's-buff with garlands over their eyes,
+or at whatever other games had been found out, while Mother Earth was in
+her babyhood. When life is all sport, toil is the real play. There was
+absolutely nothing to do. A little sweeping and dusting about the
+cottage, I suppose, and the gathering of fresh flowers (which were only
+too abundant everywhere), and arranging them in vases--and poor little
+Pandora's day's work was over. And then, for the rest of the day, there
+was the box!
+
+After all, I am not quite sure that the box was not a blessing to her in
+its way. It supplied her with such a variety of ideas to think of, and
+to talk about, whenever she had anybody to listen! When she was in good
+humour, she could admire the bright polish of its sides, and the rich
+border of beautiful faces and foliage that ran all around it. Or, if she
+chanced to be ill-tempered, she could give it a push, or kick it with
+her naughty little foot. And many a kick did the box--(but it was a
+mischievous box, as we shall see, and deserved all it got)--many a kick
+did it receive. But, certain it is, if it had not been for the box, our
+active-minded little Pandora would not have known half so well how to
+spend her time as she now did.
+
+For it was really an endless employment to guess what was inside. What
+could it be, indeed? Just imagine, my little hearers, how busy your wits
+would be, if there were a great box in the house, which, as you might
+have reason to suppose, contained something new and pretty for your
+Christmas or New Year's gifts. Do you think that you should be less
+curious than Pandora? If you were left alone with the box, might you not
+feel a little tempted to lift the lid? But you would not do it. Oh, fie!
+No, no! Only, if you thought there were toys in it, it would be so very
+hard to let slip an opportunity of taking just one peep! I know not
+whether Pandora expected any toys; for none had yet begun to be made,
+probably, in those days, when the world itself was one great plaything
+for the children that dwelt upon it. But Pandora was convinced that
+there was something very beautiful and valuable in the box; and
+therefore she felt just as anxious to take a peep as any of these little
+girls, here around me, would have felt. And, possibly, a little more so;
+but of that I am not quite so certain.
+
+On this particular day, however, which we have so long been talking
+about her curiosity grew so much greater than it usually was, that, at
+last, she approached the box. She was more than half determined to open
+it, if she could. Ah, naughty Pandora!
+
+First, however, she tried to lift it. It was heavy; quite too heavy for
+the slender strength of a child like Pandora. She raised one end of the
+box a few inches from the floor, and let it fall again, with a pretty
+loud thump. A moment afterward, she almost fancied that she heard
+something stir inside of the box. She applied her ear as closely as
+possible, and listened. Positively, there did seem to be a kind of
+stifled murmur within! Or was it merely the singing in Pandora's ears?
+Or could it be the beating of her heart? The child could not quite
+satisfy herself whether she had heard anything or no. But, at all
+events, her curiosity was stronger than ever.
+
+As she drew back her head, her eyes fell upon the knot of gold cord.
+
+"It must have been a very ingenious person who tied this knot," said
+Pandora to herself. "But I think I could untie it nevertheless. I am
+resolved, at least, to find the two ends of the cord."
+
+So she took the golden knot in her fingers, and pried into its
+intricacies as sharply as she could. Almost without intending it, or
+quite knowing what she was about, she was soon busily engaged in
+attempting to undo it. Meanwhile, the bright sunshine came through the
+open window; as did likewise the merry voices of the children, playing
+at a distance, and perhaps the voice of Epimetheus among them. Pandora
+stopped to listen. What a beautiful day it was! Would it not be wiser if
+she were to let the troublesome knot alone, and think no more about the
+box, but run and join her little playfellow and be happy?
+
+All this time, however, her fingers were half unconsciously busy with
+the knot; and happening to glance at the flower-wreathed face on the lid
+of the enchanted box, she seemed to perceive it slyly grinning at her.
+
+"That face looks very mischievous," thought Pandora. "I wonder whether
+it smiles because I am doing wrong! I have the greatest mind in the
+world to run away!"
+
+But just then, by the merest accident, she gave the knot a kind of
+twist, which produced a wonderful result. The gold cord untwined itself,
+as if by magic, and left the box without a fastening.
+
+"This is the strangest thing I ever knew!" said Pandora. "What will
+Epimetheus say? And how can I possibly tie it up again?"
+
+She made one or two attempts to restore the knot, but soon found it
+quite beyond her skill. It had disentangled itself so suddenly that she
+could not in the least remember how the strings had been doubled into
+one another; and when she tried to recollect the shape and appearance of
+the knot, it seemed to have gone entirely out of her mind. Nothing was
+to be done, therefore, but to let the box remain as it was until
+Epimetheus should come in.
+
+"But," said Pandora, "when he finds the knot untied, he will know that I
+have done it. How shall I make him believe that I have not looked into
+the box?"
+
+And then the thought came into her naughty little heart, that, since she
+would be suspected of having looked into the box, she might just as well
+do so at once. Oh, very naughty and very foolish Pandora! You should
+have thought only of doing what was right, and of leaving undone what
+was wrong, and not of what your playfellow Epimetheus would have said
+or believed. And so perhaps she might, if the enchanted face on the lid
+of the box had not looked so bewitchingly persuasive at her, and if she
+had not seemed to hear, more distinctly, than before, the murmur of
+small voices within. She could not tell whether it was fancy or no; but
+there was quite a little tumult of whispers in her ear--or else it was
+her curiosity that whispered:
+
+"Let us out, dear Pandora--pray let us out! We will be such nice pretty
+playfellows for you! Only let us out!"
+
+"What can it be?" thought Pandora. "Is there something alive in the box?
+Well--yes!--I am resolved to take just one peep! Only one peep; and then
+the lid shall be shut down as safely as ever! There cannot possibly be
+any harm in just one little peep!"
+
+But it is now time for us to see what Epimetheus was doing.
+
+This was the first time, since his little playmate had come to dwell
+with him, that he had attempted to enjoy any pleasure in which she did
+not partake. But nothing went right; nor was he nearly so happy as on
+other days. He could not find a sweet grape or a ripe fig (if Epimetheus
+had a fault, it was a little too much fondness for figs); or, if ripe at
+all, they were overripe, and so sweet as to be cloying. There was no
+mirth in his heart, such as usually made his voice gush out, of its own
+accord, and swell the merriment of his companions. In short, he grew so
+uneasy and discontented, that the other children could not imagine what
+was the matter with Epimetheus. Neither did he himself know what ailed
+him, any better than they did. For you must recollect that, at the time
+we are speaking of, it was everybody's nature, and constant habit, to be
+happy. The world had not yet learned to be otherwise. Not a single soul
+or body, since these children were first sent to enjoy themselves on the
+beautiful earth, had ever been sick or out of sorts.
+
+At length, discovering that, somehow or other, he put a stop to all the
+play, Epimetheus judged it best to go back to Pandora, who was in a
+humour better suited to his own. But, with a hope of giving her
+pleasure, he gathered some flowers, and made them into a wreath, which
+he meant to put upon her head. The flowers were very lovely--roses, and
+lilies, and orange blossoms, and a great many more, which left a trail
+of fragrance behind, as Epimetheus carried them along; and the wreath
+was put together with as much skill as could reasonably be expected of a
+boy. The fingers of little girls, it has always appeared to me, are the
+fittest to twine flower wreaths; but boys could do it, in those days,
+rather better than they can now.
+
+And here I must mention that a great black cloud had been gathering in
+the sky, for some time past, although it had not yet overspread the sun.
+But, just as Epimetheus reached the cottage door, this cloud began to
+intercept the sunshine, and thus to make a sudden and sad obscurity.
+
+He entered softly, for he meant, if possible, to steal behind Pandora,
+and fling the wreath of flowers over her head, before she should be
+aware of his approach. But, as it happened, there was no need of his
+treading so very lightly. He might have trod as heavily as he
+pleased--as heavily as a grown man--as heavily, I was going to say, as
+an elephant--without much probability of Pandora's hearing his
+footsteps. She was too intent upon her purpose. At the moment of his
+entering the cottage, the naughty child had put her hand to the lid,
+and was on the point of opening the mysterious box. Epimetheus beheld
+her. If he had cried out, Pandora would probably have withdrawn her
+hand, and the fatal mystery of the box might never have been known.
+
+But Epimetheus himself, although he said very little about it, had his
+own share of curiosity to know what was inside. Perceiving that Pandora
+was resolved to find out the secret, he determined that his playfellow
+should not be the only wise person in the cottage. And if there were
+anything pretty or valuable in the box, he meant to take half of it to
+himself. Thus, after all his sage speeches to Pandora about restraining
+her curiosity, Epimetheus turned out to be quite as foolish, and nearly
+as much in fault as she. So, whenever we blame Pandora for what
+happened, we must not forget to shake our heads at Epimetheus likewise.
+
+As Pandora raised the lid, the cottage grew very dark and dismal; for
+the black cloud had now swept quite over the sun, and seemed to have
+buried it alive. There had for a little while past been a low growling
+and muttering, which all at once broke into a heavy peal of thunder. But
+Pandora, heeding nothing of all this, lifted the lid nearly upright, and
+looked inside. It seemed as if a sudden swarm of winged creatures
+brushed past her, taking flight out of the box, while, at the same
+instant, she heard the voice of Epimetheus, with a lamentable tone, as
+if he were in pain.
+
+"Oh, I am stung!" cried he. "I am stung! Naughty Pandora! why have you
+opened this wicked box?"
+
+Pandora let fall the lid, and, starting up, looked about her, to see
+what had befallen Epimetheus. The thunder cloud had so darkened the room
+that she could not very clearly discern what was in it. But she heard a
+disagreeable buzzing, as if a great many huge flies, or gigantic
+mosquitoes, or those insects which we call dor bugs, and pinching dogs,
+were darting about. And, as her eyes grew more accustomed to the
+imperfect light, she saw a crowd of ugly little shapes, with bats'
+wings, looking abominably spiteful, and armed with terribly long stings
+in their tails. It was one of these that had stung Epimetheus. Nor was
+it a great while before Pandora herself began to scream, in no less pain
+and affright than her playfellow, and making a vast deal more hubbub
+about it. An odious little monster had settled on her forehead, and
+would have stung her I know not how deeply, if Epimetheus had not run
+and brushed it away.
+
+Now, if you wish to know what these ugly things might be, which had made
+their escape out of the box, I must tell you that they were the whole
+family of earthly Troubles. There were evil Passions; there were a great
+many species of Cares; there were more than a hundred and fifty Sorrows;
+there were Diseases, in a vast number of miserable and painful shapes;
+there were more kinds of Naughtiness than it would be of any use to talk
+about. In short, everything that has since afflicted the souls and
+bodies of mankind had been shut up in the mysterious box, and given to
+Epimetheus and Pandora to be kept safely, in order that the happy
+children of the world might never be molested by them. Had they been
+faithful to their trust, all would have gone well. No grown person would
+ever have been sad, nor any child have had cause to shed a single tear,
+from that hour until this moment.
+
+But--and you may see by this how a wrong act of any one mortal is a
+calamity to the whole world--by Pandora's lifting the lid of that
+miserable box, and by the fault of Epimetheus, too, in not preventing
+her, these Troubles have obtained a foothold among us, and do not seem
+very likely to be driven away in a hurry. For it was impossible, as you
+will easily guess, that the two children should keep the ugly swarms in
+their own little cottage. On the contrary, the first thing that they did
+was to fling open the doors and windows, in hopes of getting rid of
+them; and, sure enough, away flew the winged Troubles all abroad, and so
+pestered and tormented the small people, everywhere about, that none of
+them so much as smiled for many days afterward. And, what was very
+singular, all the flowers and dewy blossoms on earth not one of which
+had hitherto faded, now began to droop and shed their leaves, after a
+day or two. The children, moreover, who before seemed immortal in their
+childhood, now grew older, day by day, and came soon to be youths and
+maidens, and men and women by and by, and aged people, before they
+dreamed of such a thing.
+
+Meanwhile, the naughty Pandora, and hardly less naughty Epimetheus,
+remained in their cottage. Both of them had been grievously stung, and
+were in a good deal of pain, which seemed the more intolerable to them,
+because it was the very first pain that had ever been felt since the
+world began. Of course, they were entirely unaccustomed to it, and could
+have no idea what it meant. Besides all this, they were in exceedingly
+bad humour, both with themselves and with one another. In order to
+indulge it to the utmost, Epimetheus sat down sullenly in a corner with
+his back toward Pandora; while Pandora flung herself upon the floor and
+rested her head on the fatal and abominable box. She was crying
+bitterly, and sobbing as if her heart would break.
+
+Suddenly there was a gentle little tap on the inside of the lid.
+
+"What can that be?" cried Pandora, lifting her head.
+
+But either Epimetheus had not heard the tap, or was too much out of
+humour to notice it. At any rate, he made no answer.
+
+"You are very unkind," said Pandora, sobbing anew, "not to speak to me!"
+
+Again the tap! It sounded like the tiny knuckles of a fairy's hand,
+knocking lightly and playfully on the inside of the box.
+
+"Who are you?" asked Pandora, with a little of her former curiosity.
+"Who are you, inside of this naughty box?"
+
+A sweet little voice spoke from within--
+
+"Only lift the lid, and you shall see."
+
+"No, no," answered Pandora, again beginning to sob, "I have had enough
+of lifting the lid! You are inside of the box, naughty creature, and
+there you shall stay! There are plenty of your ugly brothers and sisters
+already flying about the world. You need never think that I shall be so
+foolish as to let you out!"
+
+She looked toward Epimetheus, as she spoke, perhaps expecting that he
+would commend her for her wisdom. But the sullen boy only muttered that
+she was wise a little too late.
+
+"Ah," said the sweet little voice again, "you had much better let me
+out. I am not like those naughty creatures that have stings in their
+tails. They are no brothers and sisters of mine, as you would see at
+once, if you were only to get a glimpse of me. Come, come, my pretty
+Pandora! I am sure you will let me out!"
+
+And, indeed, there was a kind of cheerful witchery in the tone, that
+made it almost impossible to refuse anything which this little voice
+asked. Pandora's heart had insensibly grown lighter, at every word that
+came from within the box. Epimetheus, too, though still in the corner,
+had turned half round, and seemed to be in rather better spirits than
+before.
+
+"My dear Epimetheus," cried Pandora, "have you heard this little voice?"
+
+"Yes, to be sure I have," answered he, but in no very good humour as
+yet. "And what of it?"
+
+"Shall I lift the lid again?" asked Pandora.
+
+"Just as you please," said Epimetheus. "You have done so much mischief
+already, that perhaps you may as well do a little more. One other
+Trouble, in such a swarm as you have set adrift about the world, can
+make no very great difference."
+
+"You might speak a little more kindly!" murmured Pandora, wiping her
+eyes.
+
+"Ah, naughty boy!" cried the little voice within the box, in an arch and
+laughing tone. "He knows he is longing to see me. Come, my dear Pandora,
+lift up the lid. I am in a great hurry to comfort you. Only let me have
+some fresh air, and you shall soon see that matters are not quite so
+dismal as you think them!"
+
+"Epimetheus," exclaimed Pandora, "come what may, I am resolved to open
+the box!"
+
+"And, as the lid seems very heavy," cried Epimetheus, running across the
+room, "I will help you!"
+
+So, with one consent, the two children again lifted the lid. Out flew a
+sunny and smiling little personage, and Hovered about the room, throwing
+a light wherever she went. Have you never made the sunshine dance into
+dark corners, by reflecting it from a bit of looking glass? Well, so
+looked the winged cheerfulness of this fairy-like stranger, amid the
+gloom of the cottage. She flew to Epimetheus, and laid the least touch
+of her finger on the inflamed spot where the Trouble had stung him, and
+immediately the anguish of it was gone. Then she kissed Pandora on the
+forehead, and her hurt was cured likewise.
+
+After performing these good offices, the bright stranger fluttered
+sportively over the children's heads, and looked so sweetly at them,
+that they both began to think it not so very much amiss to have opened
+the box, since, otherwise, their cheery guest must have been kept a
+prisoner among those naughty imps with stings in their tails.
+
+"Pray, who are you, beautiful creature?" inquired Pandora.
+
+"I am to be called Hope!" answered the sunshiny figure. "And because I
+am such a cheery little body, I was packed into the box, to make amends
+to the human race for that swarm of ugly Troubles, which was destined to
+be let loose among them. Never fear I we shall do pretty well in spite
+of them all."
+
+"Your wings are coloured like the rainbow!" exclaimed Pandora. "How very
+beautiful!"
+
+"Yes, they are like the rainbow," said Hope, "because, glad as my nature
+is, I am partly made of tears as well as smiles."
+
+"And will you stay with us," asked Epimetheus, "forever and ever?"
+
+"As long as you need me," said Hope, with her pleasant smile--"and that
+will be as long as you live in the world--I promise never to desert you.
+There may come times and seasons, now and then, when you will think
+that I have utterly vanished. But again, and again, and again, when
+perhaps you least dream of it, you shall see the glimmer of my wings on
+the ceiling of your cottage. Yes, my dear children, and I know something
+very good and beautiful that is to be given you hereafter!"
+
+"Oh tell us," they exclaimed--"tell us what it is!"
+
+"Do not ask me," replied Hope, putting her finger on her rosy mouth.
+"But do not despair, even if it should never happen while you live on
+this earth. Trust in my promise, for it is true."
+
+"We do trust you!" cried Epimetheus and Pandora, both in one breath.
+
+And so they did; and not only they, but so has everybody trusted Hope,
+that has since been alive. And to tell you the truth, I cannot help
+being glad--(though, to be sure, it was an uncommonly naughty thing for
+her to do)--but I cannot help being glad that our foolish Pandora peeped
+into the box. No doubt--no doubt--the Troubles are still flying about
+the world, and have increased in multitude, rather than lessened, and
+are a very ugly set of imps, and carry most venomous stings in their
+tails. I have felt them already, and expect to feel them more, as I grow
+older. But then that lovely and lightsome little figure of Hope! What in
+the world could we do without her? Hope spiritualises the earth; Hope
+makes it always new; and, even in the earth's best and brightest aspect,
+Hope shows it to be only the shadow of an infinite bliss hereafter!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE CYCLOPS
+
+
+When the great city of Troy was taken, all the chiefs who had fought
+against it set sail for their homes. But there was wrath in heaven
+against them, for indeed they had borne themselves haughtily and cruelly
+in the day of their victory. Therefore they did not all find a safe and
+happy return. For one was shipwrecked, and another was shamefully slain
+by his false wife in his palace, and others found all things at home
+troubled and changed, and were driven to seek new dwellings elsewhere.
+And some, whose wives and friends and people had been still true to them
+through those ten long years of absence, were driven far and wide about
+the world before they saw their native land again. And of all, the wise
+Ulysses was he who wandered farthest and suffered most.
+
+He was well-nigh the last to sail, for he had tarried many days to do
+pleasure to Agamemnon, lord of all the Greeks. Twelve ships he had with
+him--twelve he had brought to Troy--and in each there were some fifty
+men, being scarce half of those that had sailed in them in the old days,
+so many valiant heroes slept the last sleep by Simois and Scamander, and
+in the plain and on the seashore, slain in battle or by the shafts of
+Apollo.
+
+First they sailed northwest to the Thracian coast, where the Ciconians
+dwelt, who had helped the men of Troy. Their city they took, and in it
+much plunder, slaves and oxen, and jars of fragrant wine, and might
+have escaped unhurt, but that they stayed to hold revel on the shore.
+For the Ciconians gathered their neighbours, being men of the same
+blood, and did battle with the invaders, and drove them to their ship.
+And when Ulysses numbered his men, he found that he had lost six out of
+each ship.
+
+Scarce had he set out again when the wind began to blow fiercely; so,
+seeing a smooth sandy beach, they drave the ships ashore and dragged
+them out of reach of the waves, and waited till the storm should abate.
+And the third morning being fair, they sailed again, and journeyed
+prosperously till they came to the very end of the great Peloponnesian
+land, where Cape Malea looks out upon the southern sea. But contrary
+currents baffled them, so that they could not round it, and the north
+wind blew so strongly that they must fain drive before it. And on the
+tenth day they came to the land where the lotus grows--a wondrous fruit,
+of which whosoever eats cares not to see country or wife or children
+again. Now the Lotus eaters, for so they call the people of the land,
+were a kindly folk, and gave of the fruit to some of the sailors, not
+meaning them any harm, but thinking it to be the best that they had to
+give. These, when they had eaten, said that they would not sail any more
+over the sea; which, when the wise Ulysses heard, he bade their comrades
+bind them and carry them, sadly complaining, to the ships.
+
+Then, the wind having abated, they took to their oars, and rowed for
+many days till they came to the country where the Cyclopes dwell. Now, a
+mile or so from the shore there was an island, very fair and fertile,
+but no man dwells there or tills the soil, and in the island a harbour
+where a ship may be safe from all winds, and at the head of the harbour
+a stream falling from the rock, and whispering alders all about it. Into
+this the ships passed safely, and were hauled up on the beach, and the
+crews slept by them, waiting for the morning. And the next day they
+hunted the wild goats, of which there was great store on the island, and
+feasted right merrily on what they caught, with draughts of red wine
+which they had carried off from the town of the Ciconians.
+
+But on the morrow, Ulysses, for he was ever fond of adventure, and would
+know of every land to which he came what manner of men they were that
+dwelt there, took one of his twelve ships and bade row to the land.
+There was a great hill sloping to the shore, and there rose up here and
+there a smoke from the caves where the Cyclopes dwelt apart, holding no
+converse with each other, for they were a rude and savage folk, but
+ruled each his own household, not caring for others. Now very close to
+the shore was one of these caves, very huge and deep, with laurels round
+about the mouth, and in front a fold with walls built of rough stone,
+and shaded by tall oaks and pines. So Ulysses chose out of the crew the
+twelve bravest, and bade the rest guard the ship, and went to see what
+manner of dwelling this was, and who abode there. He had his sword by
+his side, and on his shoulder a mighty skin of wine, sweet smelling and
+strong, with which he might win the heart of some fierce savage, should
+he chance to meet with such, as indeed his prudent heart forecasted that
+he might.
+
+So they entered the cave, and judged that it was the dwelling of some
+rich and skilful shepherd. For within there were pens for the young of
+the sheep and of the goats, divided all according to their age, and
+there were baskets full of cheeses, and full milkpails ranged along the
+wall. But the Cyclops himself was away in the pastures. Then the
+companions of Ulysses besought him that he would depart, taking with
+him, if he would, a store of cheeses and sundry of the lambs and of the
+kids. But he would not, for he wished to see, after his wont, what
+manner of host this strange shepherd might be. And truly he saw it to
+his cost!
+
+It was evening when the Cyclops came home, a mighty giant, twenty feet
+in height, or more. On his shoulder he bore a vast bundle of pine logs
+for his fire, and threw them down outside the cave with a great crash,
+and drove the flocks within, and closed the entrance with a huge rock,
+which twenty wagons and more could not bear. Then he milked the ewes and
+all the she goats, and half of the milk he curdled for cheese, and half
+he set ready for himself, when he should sup. Next he kindled a fire
+with the pine logs, and the flame lighted up all the cave, showing him
+Ulysses and his comrades.
+
+"Who are ye?" cried Polyphemus, for that was the giant's name. "Are ye
+traders, or, haply, pirates?"
+
+For in those days it was not counted shame to be called a pirate.
+
+Ulysses shuddered at the dreadful voice and shape, but bore him bravely,
+and answered, "We are no pirates, mighty sir, but Greeks, sailing back
+from Troy, and subjects of the great King Agamemnon, whose fame is
+spread from one end of heaven to the other. And we are come to beg
+hospitality of thee in the name of Zeus, who rewards or punishes hosts
+and guests according as they be faithful the one to the other, or no."
+
+"Nay," said the giant, "it is but idle talk to tell me of Zeus and the
+other gods. We Cyclopes take no account of gods, holding ourselves to
+be much better and stronger than they. But come, tell me where have you
+left your ship?"
+
+But Ulysses saw his thought when he asked about the ship, how he was
+minded to break it, and take from them all hope of flight. Therefore he
+answered him craftily:
+
+"Ship have we none, for that which was ours King Poseidon brake, driving
+it on a jutting rock on this coast, and we whom thou seest are all that
+are escaped from the waves."
+
+Polyphemus answered nothing, but without more ado caught up two of the
+men, as a man might catch up the whelps of a dog, and dashed them on the
+ground, and tore them limb from limb, and devoured them, with huge
+draughts of milk between, leaving not a morsel, not even the very bones.
+But the others, when they saw the dreadful deed, could only weep and
+pray to Zeus for help. And when the giant had ended his foul meal, he
+lay down among his sheep and slept.
+
+Then Ulysses questioned much in his heart whether he should slay the
+monster as he slept, for he doubted not that his good sword would pierce
+to the giant's heart, mighty as he was. But, being very wise, he
+remembered that, should he slay him, he and his comrades would yet
+perish miserably. For who should move away the great rock that lay
+against the door of the cave? So they waited till the morning. And the
+monster woke, and milked his flocks, and afterward, seizing two men,
+devoured them for his meal. Then he went to the pastures, but put the
+great rock on the mouth of the cave, just as a man puts down the lid
+upon his quiver.
+
+All that day the wise Ulysses was thinking what he might best do to save
+himself and his companions, and the end of his thinking was this: There
+was a mighty pole in the cave, green wood of an olive tree, big as a
+ship's mast, which Polyphemus purposed to use, when the smoke should
+have dried it, as a walking staff. Of this he cut off a fathom's length,
+and his comrades sharpened it and hardened it in the fire, and then hid
+it away. At evening the giant came back, and drove his sheep into the
+cave, nor left the rams outside, as he had been wont to do before, but
+shut them in. And having duly done his shepherd's work, he made his
+cruel feast as before. Then Ulysses came forward with the wine skin in
+his hand, and said:
+
+"Drink, Cyclops, now that thou hast feasted. Drink, and see what
+precious things we had in our ship. But no one hereafter will come to
+thee with such like, if thou dealest with strangers as cruelly as thou
+hast dealt with us."
+
+Then the Cyclops drank, and was mightily pleased, and said, "Give me
+again to drink, and tell me thy name, stranger, and I will give thee a
+gift such as a host should give. In good truth this is a rare liquor.
+We, too, have vines, but they bear not wine like this, which indeed must
+be such as the gods drink in heaven."
+
+Then Ulysses gave him the cup again, and he drank. Thrice he gave it to
+him, and thrice he drank, not knowing what it was, and how it would work
+within his brain.
+
+Then Ulysses spake to him. "Thou didst ask my name, Cyclops. Lo! my name
+is No Man. And now that thou knowest my name, thou shouldst give me thy
+gift."
+
+And he said, "My gift shall be that I will eat thee last of all thy
+company."
+
+And as he spake he fell back in a drunken sleep. Then Ulysses bade his
+comrades be of good courage, for the time was come when they should be
+delivered. And they thrust the stake of olive wood into the fire till it
+was ready, green as it was, to burst into flame, and they thrust it into
+the monster's eye; for he had but one eye, and that in the midst of his
+forehead, with the eyebrow below it. And Ulysses leant with all his
+force upon the stake, and thrust it in with might and main. And the
+burning wood hissed in the eye, just as the red-hot iron hisses in the
+water when a man seeks to temper steel for a sword.
+
+Then the giant leapt up, and tore away the stake, and cried aloud, so
+that all the Cyclopes who dwelt on the mountain side heard him and came
+about his cave, asking him, "What aileth thee, Polyphemus, that thou
+makest this uproar in the peaceful night, driving away sleep? Is any one
+robbing thee of thy sheep, or seeking to slay thee by craft or force?"
+
+And the giant answered, "No Man slays me by craft."
+
+"Nay, but," they said, "if no man does thee wrong, we cannot help thee.
+The sickness which great Zeus may send, who can avoid? Pray to our
+father, Poseidon, for help."
+
+Then they departed; and Ulysses was glad at heart for the good success
+of his device, when he said that he was No Man.
+
+But the Cyclops rolled away the great stone from the door of the cave,
+and sat in the midst stretching out his hands, to feel whether perchance
+the men within the cave would seek to go out among the sheep.
+
+Long did Ulysses think how he and his comrades should best escape. At
+last he lighted upon a good device, and much he thanked Zeus for that
+this once the giant had driven the rams with the other sheep into the
+cave. For, these being great and strong, he fastened his comrades under
+the bellies of the beasts, tying them with osier twigs, of which the
+giant made his bed. One ram he took, and fastened a man beneath it, and
+two others he set, one on either side. So he did with the six, for but
+six were left out of the twelve who had ventured with him from the ship.
+And there was one mighty ram, far larger than all the others, and to
+this Ulysses clung, grasping the fleece tight with both his hands. So
+they waited for the morning. And when the morning came, the rams rushed
+forth to the pasture; but the giant sat in the door and felt the back of
+each as it went by, nor thought to try what might be underneath. Last of
+all went the great ram. And the Cyclops knew him as he passed and said:
+
+"How is this, thou, who art the leader of the flock? Thou art not wont
+thus to lag behind. Thou hast always been the first to run to the
+pastures and streams in the morning, and the first to come back to the
+fold when evening fell; and now thou art last of all. Perhaps thou art
+troubled about thy master's eye, which some wretch--No Man, they call
+him--has destroyed, having first mastered me with wine. He has not
+escaped, I ween. I would that thou couldst speak, and tell me where he
+is lurking. Of a truth I would dash out his brains upon the ground, and
+avenge me of this No Man."
+
+So speaking, he let him pass out of the cave. But when they were out of
+reach of the giant, Ulysses loosed his hold of the ram, and then unbound
+his comrades. And they hastened to their ship, not forgetting to drive
+before them a good store of the Cyclops' fat sheep. Right glad were
+those that had abode by the ship to see them. Nor did they lament for
+those that had died, though they were fain to do so, for Ulysses
+forbade, fearing lest the noise of their weeping should betray them to
+the giant, where they were. Then they all climbed into the ship, and
+sitting well in order on the benches, smote the sea with their oars,
+laying-to right lustily, that they might the sooner get away from the
+accursed land. And when they had rowed a hundred yards or so, so that a
+man's voice could yet be heard by one who stood upon the shore, Ulysses
+stood up in the ship and shouted:
+
+"He was no coward, O Cyclops, whose comrades thou didst so foully slay
+in thy den. Justly art thou punished, monster, that devourest thy guests
+in thy dwelling. May the gods make thee suffer yet worse things than
+these!"
+
+Then the Cylops, in his wrath, broke off the top of a great hill, a
+mighty rock, and hurled it where he had heard the voice. Right in front
+of the ship's bow it fell, and a great wave rose as it sank, and washed
+the ship back to the shore. But Ulysses seized a long pole with both
+hands and pushed the ship from the land, and bade his comrades ply their
+oars, nodding with his head, for he was too wise to speak, lest the
+Cyclops should know where they were. Then they rowed with all their
+might and main.
+
+And when they had gotten twice as far as before, Ulysses made as if he
+would speak again; but his comrades sought to hinder him, saying, "Nay,
+my lord, anger not the giant any more. Surely we thought before we were
+lost, when he threw the great rock, and washed our ship back to the
+shore. And if he hear thee now, he may crush our ship and us, for the
+man throws a mighty bolt, and throws it far."
+
+But Ulysses would not be persuaded, but stood up and said, "Hear,
+Cyclops! If any man ask who blinded thee, say that it was the warrior
+Ulysses, son of Laertes, dwelling in Ithaca."
+
+And the Cyclops answered with a groan, "Of a truth, the old oracles are
+fulfilled, for long ago there came to this land one Telemus, a prophet,
+and dwelt among us even to old age. This man foretold me that one
+Ulysses would rob me of my sight. But I looked for a great man and a
+strong, who should subdue me by force, and now a weakling has done the
+deed, having cheated me with wine. But come thou hither, Ulysses, and I
+will be a host indeed to thee. Or, at least, may Poseidon give thee such
+a voyage to thy home as I would wish thee to have. For know that
+Poseidon is my sire. May be that he may heal me of my grievous wound."
+
+And Ulysses said, "Would to God, I could send thee down to the abode of
+the dead, where thou wouldst be past all healing, even from Poseidon's
+self."
+
+Then Cyclops lifted up his hands to Poseidon and prayed:
+
+"Hear me, Poseidon, if I am indeed thy son and thou my father. May this
+Ulysses never reach his home! or, if the Fates have ordered that he
+should reach it, may he come alone, all his comrades lost, and come to
+find sore trouble in his house!"
+
+And as he ended he hurled another mighty rock, which almost lighted on
+the rudder's end, yet missed it as if by a hair's breadth. So Ulysses
+and his comrades escaped, and came to the island of the wild goats,
+where they found their comrades, who indeed had waited long for them, in
+sore fear lest they had perished. Then Ulysses divided among his company
+all the sheep which they had taken from the Cyclops. And all, with one
+consent, gave him for his share the great ram which had carried him out
+of the cave, and he sacrificed it to Zeus. And all that day they feasted
+right merrily on the flesh of sheep and on sweet wine, and when the
+night was come, they lay down upon the shore and slept.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE ARGONAUTS
+
+
+I
+
+_How the Centaur Trained the Heroes on Pelion_
+
+I have told you of a hero who fought with wild beasts and with wild men;
+but now I have a tale of heroes who sailed away into a distant land to
+win themselves renown forever, in the adventure of the Golden Fleece.
+
+Whither they sailed, my children, I cannot clearly tell. It all happened
+long ago; so long that it has all grown dim, like a dream which you
+dreamed last year. And why they went, I cannot tell; some say that it
+was to win gold. It may be so; but the noblest deeds which have been
+done on earth, have not been done for gold. It was not for the sake of
+gold that the Lord came down and died, and the Apostles went out to
+preach the good news in all lands. The Spartans looked for no reward in
+money when they fought and died at Thermopylae; and Socrates the wise
+asked no pay from his countrymen, but lived poor and barefoot all his
+days, only caring to make men good. And there are heroes in our days
+also, who do noble deeds, but not for gold. Our discoverers did not go
+to make themselves rich, when they sailed out one after another into the
+dreary frozen seas; nor did the ladies, who went out last year, to
+drudge in the hospitals of the East, making themselves poor, that they
+might be rich in noble works. And young men, too, whom you know,
+children, and some of them of your own kin, did they say to themselves,
+"How much money shall I earn?" when they went out to the war, leaving
+wealth, and comfort, and a pleasant home, and all that money can give,
+to face hunger and thirst, and wounds and death, that they might fight
+for their country and their Queen? No, children, there is a better thing
+on earth than wealth, a better thing than life itself; and that is, to
+have done something before you die, for which good men may honour you,
+and God your Father smile upon your work.
+
+Therefore we will believe--why should we not--of these same Argonauts of
+old, that they, too, were noble men, who planned and did a noble deed;
+and that therefore their fame has lived, and been told in story and in
+song, mixed up, no doubt, with dreams and fables, yet true and right at
+heart. So we will honour these old Argonauts, and listen to their story
+as it stands; and we will try to be like them, each of us in our place;
+for each of us has a Golden Fleece to seek, and a wild sea to sail over,
+ere we reach it, and dragons to fight ere it be ours.
+
+And what was that first Golden Fleece? I do not know, nor care. The old
+Hellenes said that it hung in Colchis, which we call the Circassian
+coast, nailed to a beech tree in the war-god's wood; and that it was the
+fleece of the wondrous ram, who bore Phrixus and Helle across the Euxine
+Sea. For Phrixus and Helle were the children of the cloud nymph, and of
+Athamas the Minuan king. And when a famine came upon the land, their
+cruel stepmother, Ino, wished to kill them, that her own children might
+reign, and said that they must be sacrificed on an altar, to turn away
+the anger of the gods. So the poor children were brought to the altar,
+and the priest stood ready with his knife, when out of the clouds came
+the Golden Ram, and took them on his back, and vanished. Then madness
+came upon that foolish king Athamas, and ruin upon Ino and her children.
+For Athamas killed one of them in his fury, and Ino fled from him with
+the other in her arms, and leaped from a cliff into the sea, and was
+changed into a dolphin, such as you have seen, which wanders over the
+waves forever sighing, with its little one clasped to its breast.
+
+But the people drove out King Athamas, because he had killed his child;
+and he roamed about in his misery, till he came to the Oracle in Delphi.
+And the Oracle told him that he must wander for his sin, till the wild
+beasts should feast him as their guest. So he went on in hunger and
+sorrow for many a weary day, till he saw a pack of wolves. The wolves
+were tearing a sheep; but when they saw Athamas they fled, and left the
+sheep for him, and he ate of it; and then he knew that the oracle was
+fulfilled at last. So he wandered no more; but settled, and built a
+town, and became a king again.
+
+But the ram carried the two children far away over land and sea, till he
+came to the Thracian Chersonese, and there Helle fell into the sea. So
+those narrow straits are called "Hellespont," after her; and they bear
+that name until this day.
+
+Then the ram flew on with Phrixus to the northeast across the sea which
+we call the Black Sea now; but the Hellenes called it Euxine. And at
+last, they say, he stopped at Colchis, on the steep Circassian coast;
+and there Phrixus married Chalchiope, the daughter of Aietes the king;
+and offered the ram in sacrifice; and Aietes nailed the ram's fleece to
+a beech, in the grove of Ares the war god.
+
+And after awhile Phrixus died, and was buried, but his spirit had no
+rest; for he was buried far from his native land, and the pleasant hills
+of Hellas. So he came in dreams to the heroes of the Minuai, and called
+sadly by their beds: "Come and set my spirit free, that I may go home to
+my fathers and to my kinsfolk, and the pleasant Minuan land."
+
+And they asked: "How shall we set your spirit free?"
+
+"You must sail over the sea to Colchis, and bring home the golden
+fleece; and then my spirit will come back with it, and I shall sleep
+with my fathers and have rest."
+
+He came thus, and called to them often, but when they woke they looked
+at each other, and said: "Who dare sail to Colchis, or bring home the
+golden fleece?" And in all the country none was brave enough to try it;
+for the man and the time were not come.
+
+Phrixus had a cousin called AEson, who was king in Iolcos by the sea.
+There he ruled over the rich Minuan heroes, as Athamas his uncle ruled
+in Boeotia; and like Athamas, he was an unhappy man. For he had a
+stepbrother named Pelias, of whom some said that he was a nymph's son,
+and there were dark and sad tales about his birth. When he was a babe he
+was cast out on the mountains, and a wild mare came by and kicked him.
+But a shepherd passing found the baby, with its face all blackened by
+the blow; and took him home, and called him Pelias, because his face was
+bruised and black. And he grew up fierce and lawless, and did many a
+fearful deed; and at last he drove out AEson his stepbrother, and then
+his own brother Neleus, and took the kingdom to himself, and ruled over
+the rich Minuan heroes, in Iolcos by the sea.
+
+And AEson, when he was driven out, went sadly away out of the town,
+leading his little son by the hand; and he said to himself, "I must hide
+the child in the mountains; or Pelias will surely kill him, because he
+is the heir."
+
+So he went up from the sea across the valley, through the vineyards and
+the olive groves, and across the torrent of Anauros, toward Pelion the
+ancient mountain, whose brows are white with snow.
+
+He went up and up into the mountain over marsh, and crag, and down, till
+the boy was tired and footsore, and AEson had to bear him in his arms,
+till he came to the mouth of a lonely cave, at the foot of a mighty
+cliff.
+
+Above the cliff the snow wreaths hung, dripping and cracking in the sun.
+But at its foot around the cave's mouth grew all fair flowers and herbs,
+as if in a garden, ranged in order, each sort by itself. There they grew
+gayly in the sunshine, and the spray of the torrent from above; while
+from the cave came the sound of music, and a man's voice singing to the
+harp.
+
+Then AEson put down the lad, and whispered:
+
+"Fear not, but go in, and whomsoever you shall find, lay your hands upon
+his knees, and say, 'In the name of Zeus the father of gods and men, I
+am your guest from this day forth.'"
+
+Then the lad went in without trembling, for he, too, was a hero's son;
+but when he was within, he stopped in wonder, to listen to that magic
+song.
+
+And there he saw the singer lying upon bear skins and fragrant boughs;
+Cheiron, the ancient centaur, the wisest of all things beneath the sky.
+Down to the waist he was a man; but below he was a noble horse; his
+white hair rolled down over his broad shoulders, and his white beard
+over his broad brown chest; and his eyes were wise and mild, and his
+forehead like a mountain wall.
+
+And in his hands he held a harp of gold, and struck it with a golden
+key; and as he struck, he sang till his eyes glittered, and filled all
+the cave with light.
+
+And he sang of the birth of Time, and of the heavens and the dancing
+stars; and of the ocean, and the ether, and the fire, and the shaping of
+the wondrous earth. And he sang of the treasures of the hills, and the
+hidden jewels of the mine, and the veins of fire and metal, and the
+virtues of all healing herbs, and of the speech of birds, and of
+prophecy, and of hidden things to come.
+
+Then he sang of health, and strength, and manhood, and a valiant heart;
+and of music, and hunting, and wrestling, and all the games which heroes
+love; and of travel, and wars, and sieges, and a noble death in fight;
+and then he sang of peace and plenty, and of equal justice in the land;
+and as he sang, the boy listened wide eyed, and forgot his errand in the
+song.
+
+And at the last old Cheiron was silent, and called the lad with a soft
+voice.
+
+And the lad ran trembling to him, and would have laid his hands upon his
+knees; but Cheiron smiled, and said, "Call hither your father AEson, for
+I know you, and all that has befallen, and saw you both afar in the
+valley, even before you left the town."
+
+Then AEson came in sadly, and Cheiron asked him, "Why came you not
+yourself to me, AEson the AEolid?"
+
+And AEson said:
+
+"I thought, Cheiron will pity the lad if he sees him come alone; and I
+wished to try whether he was fearless, and dare venture like a hero's
+son. But now I entreat you by Father Zeus, let the boy be your guest
+till better times, and train him among the sons of the heroes, that he
+may avenge his father's house."
+
+Then Cheiron smiled, and drew the lad to him, and laid his hand upon his
+golden locks, and said, "Are you afraid of my horse's hoofs, fair boy,
+or will you be my pupil from this day?"
+
+"I would gladly have horse's hoofs like you, if I could sing such songs
+as yours."
+
+And Cheiron laughed, and said, "Sit here by me till sundown, when your
+playfellows will come home, and you shall learn like them to be a king,
+worthy to rule over gallant men."
+
+Then he turned to AEson, and said, "Go back in peace, and bend before the
+storm like a prudent man. This boy shall not cross the Anauros again,
+till he has become a glory to you and to the house of AEolus."
+
+And AEson wept over his son and went away; but the boy did not weep, so
+full was his fancy of that strange cave, and the Centaur, and his song,
+and the playfellows whom he was to see.
+
+Then Cheiron put the lyre into his hands, and taught him how to play it,
+till the sun sank low behind the cliff, and a shout was heard outside.
+
+And then in came the sons of the heroes, AEneas, and Heracles, and
+Peleus, and many another mighty name.
+
+And great Cheiron leapt up joyfully, and his hoofs made the cave
+resound, as they shouted, "Come out, Father Cheiron; come out and see
+our game." And one cried, "I have killed two deer," and another, "I took
+a wildcat among the crags"; and Heracles dragged a wild goat after him
+by its horns, for he was as huge as a mountain crag; and Caeneus carried
+a bear cub under each arm, and laughed when they scratched and bit; for
+neither tooth nor steel could wound him.
+
+And Cheiron praised them all, each according to his deserts.
+
+Only one walked apart and silent, Asclepius, the too-wise child, with
+his bosom full of herbs and flowers, and round his wrist a spotted
+snake; he came with downcast eyes to Cheiron, and whispered how he had
+watched the snake cast his old skin, and grow young again before his
+eyes, and how he had gone down into a village in the vale, and cured a
+dying man with a herb which he had seen a sick goat eat.
+
+And Cheiron smiled, and said: "To each Athene and Apollo give some gift,
+and each is worthy in his place; but to this child they have given an
+honour beyond all honours, to cure while others kill."
+
+Then the lads brought in wood, and split it, and lighted a blazing fire;
+and others skinned the deer and quartered them, and set them to roast
+before the fire; and while the venison was cooking they bathed in the
+snow torrent, and washed away the dust and sweat.
+
+And then all ate till they could eat no more (for they had tasted
+nothing since the dawn), and drank of the clear spring water, for wine
+is not fit for growing lads. And when the remnants were put away, they
+all lay down upon the skins and leaves about the fire, and each took the
+lyre in turn, and sang and played with all his heart.
+
+And after a while they all went out to a plot of grass at the cave's
+mouth, and there they boxed, and ran, and wrestled, and laughed till the
+stones fell from the cliffs.
+
+Then Cheiron took his lyre, and all the lads joined hands; and as he
+played, they danced to his measure, in and out, and round and round.
+There they danced hand in hand, till the night fell over land and sea,
+while the black glen shone with their broad white limbs, and the gleam
+of their golden hair.
+
+And the lad danced with them, delighted, and then slept a wholesome
+sleep, upon fragrant leaves of bay, and myrtle, and marjoram, and
+flowers of thyme; and rose at the dawn, and bathed in the torrent, and
+became a schoolfellow to the heroes' sons, and forgot Iolcos, and his
+father, and all his former life. But he grew strong, and brave and
+cunning, upon the pleasant downs of Pelion, in the keen hungry mountain
+air. And he learnt to wrestle, and to box, and to hunt, and to play upon
+the harp; and next he learnt to ride, for old Cheiron used to mount him
+on his back; and he learnt the virtues of all herbs, and how to cure all
+wounds; and Cheiron called him Jason the healer, and that is his name
+until this day.
+
+
+PART II
+
+_How Jason Lost His Sandal in Anauros_
+
+And ten years came and went, and Jason was grown to be a mighty man.
+Some of his fellows were gone, and some were growing up by his side.
+Asclepius was gone into Peloponnese, to work his wondrous cures on men;
+and some say he used to raise the dead to life. And Heracles was gone to
+Thebes, to fulfil those famous labours which have become a proverb among
+men. And Peleus had married a sea nymph, and his wedding is famous to
+this day. And AEneas was gone home to Troy, and many a noble tale you
+will read of him, and of all the other gallant heroes, the scholars of
+Cheiron the just. And it happened on a day that Jason stood on the
+mountain, and looked north and south and east and west; and Cheiron
+stood by him and watched him, for he knew that the time was come.
+
+And Jason looked and saw the plains of Thessaly, where the Lapithai
+breed their horses; and the lake of Boibe, and the stream which runs
+northward to Peneus and Tempe; and he looked north, and saw the mountain
+wall which guards the Magnesian shore; Olympus, the seat of the
+Immortals, and Ossa, and Pelion, where he stood. Then he looked east and
+saw the bright blue sea, which stretched away forever toward the dawn.
+Then he looked south, and saw a pleasant land, with white-walled towns
+and farms, nestling along the shore of a land-locked bay, while the
+smoke rose blue among the trees; and he knew it for the bay of Pagasai,
+and the rich lowlands of Haemonia, and Iolcos by the sea.
+
+Then he sighed, and asked: "Is it true what the heroes tell me, that I
+am heir of that fair land?"
+
+"And what good would it be to you, Jason, if you were heir of that fair
+land?"
+
+"I would take it and keep it."
+
+"A strong man has taken it and kept it long. Are you stronger than
+Pelias the terrible?"
+
+"I can try my strength with his," said Jason. But Cheiron sighed and
+said:
+
+"You have many a danger to go through before you rule in Iolcos by the
+sea; many a danger, and many a woe; and strange troubles in strange
+lands, such as man never saw before."
+
+"The happier I," said Jason, "to see what man never saw before."
+
+And Cheiron sighed again, and said: "The eaglet must leave the nest when
+it is fledged. Will you go to Iolcos by the sea? Then promise me two
+things before you go."
+
+Jason promised, and Cheiron answered: "Speak harshly to no soul whom you
+may meet, and stand by the word which you shall speak."
+
+Jason wondered why Cheiron asked this of him; but he knew that the
+Centaur was a prophet, and saw things long before they came. So he
+promised, and leapt down the mountain, to take his fortune like a man.
+
+He went down through the arbutus thickets, and across the downs of
+thyme, till he came to the vineyard walls, and the pomegranates and the
+olives in the glen; and among the olives roared Anauros, all foaming
+with a summer flood.
+
+And on the bank of Anauros sat a woman, all wrinkled gray, and old; her
+head shook palsied on her breast, and her hands shook palsied on her
+knees; and when she saw Jason, she spoke whining: "Who will carry me
+across the flood?"
+
+Jason was bold and hasty, and was just going to leap into the flood; and
+yet he thought twice before he leapt, so loud roared the torrent down,
+all brown from the mountain rains, and silver veined with melting snow;
+while underneath he could hear the boulders rumbling like the tramp of
+horsemen or the roll of wheels, as they ground along the narrow channel,
+and shook the rocks on which he stood.
+
+But the old woman whined all the more: "I am weak and old, fair youth.
+For Hera's sake, carry me over the torrent."
+
+And Jason was going to answer her scornfully, when Cheiron's words came
+to his mind.
+
+So he said: "For Hera's sake, the Queen of the Immortals on Olympus, I
+will carry you over the torrent, unless we both are drowned midway."
+
+Then the old dame leapt upon his back, as nimbly as a goat; and Jason
+staggered in, wondering; and the first step was up to his knees.
+
+The first step was up to his knees, and the second step was up to his
+waist; and the stones rolled about his feet, and his feet slipped about
+the stones; so he went on staggering and panting, while the old woman
+cried from off his back:
+
+"Fool, you have wet my mantle! Do you make game of poor old souls like
+me?"
+
+Jason had half a mind to drop her, and let her get through the torrent
+by herself; but Cheiron's words were in his mind, and he said only:
+"Patience, mother; the best horse may stumble some day."
+
+At last he staggered to the shore, and set her down upon the bank; and a
+strong man he needed to have been, or that wild water he never would
+have crossed.
+
+He lay panting awhile upon the bank, and then leapt up to go upon his
+journey; but he cast one look at the old woman, for he thought, "She
+should thank me once at least."
+
+And as he looked, she grew fairer than all women, and taller than all
+men on earth; and her garments shone like the summer sea, and her jewels
+like the stars of heaven; and over her forehead was a veil, woven of the
+golden clouds of sunset; and through the veil she looked down on him,
+with great soft heifer's eyes; with great eyes, mild and awful, which
+filled all the glen with light.
+
+And Jason fell upon his knees, and hid his face between his hands.
+
+And she spoke: "I am the Queen of Olympus, Hera the wife of Zeus. As
+thou hast done to me, so will I do to thee. Call on me in the hour of
+need, and try if the Immortals can forget."
+
+And when Jason looked up, she rose from off the earth, like a pillar of
+tall white cloud, and floated away across the mountain peaks, toward
+Olympus the holy hill.
+
+Then a great fear fell on Jason; but after a while he grew light of
+heart; and he blessed old Cheiron, and said: "Surely the Centaur is a
+prophet, and guessed what would come to pass, when he bade me speak
+harshly to no soul whom I might meet."
+
+Then he went down toward Iolcos, and as he walked, he found that he had
+lost one of his sandals in the flood.
+
+And as he went through the streets, the people came out to look at him,
+so tall and fair was he; but some of the elders whispered together; and
+at last one of them stopped Jason, and called to him: "Fair lad, who are
+you, and whence come you; and what is your errand in the town?"
+
+"My name, good father, is Jason, and I come from Pelion up above; and my
+errand is to Pelias your king; tell me then where his palace is."
+
+But the old man started, and grew pale, and said, "Do you not know the
+oracle, my son, that you go so boldly through the town, with but one
+sandal on?"
+
+"I am a stranger here, and know of no oracle; but what of my one sandal?
+I lost the other in Anauros, while I was struggling with the flood."
+
+Then the old man looked back to his companions; and one sighed and
+another smiled; at last he said: "I will tell you, lest you rush upon
+your ruin unawares. The oracle in Delphi has said, that a man wearing
+one sandal should take the kingdom from Pelias, and keep it for
+himself. Therefore beware how you go up to his palace, for he is the
+fiercest and most cunning of all kings."
+
+Then Jason laughed a great laugh, like a war horse in his pride: "Good
+news, good father, both for you and me. For that very end I came into
+the town."
+
+Then he strode on toward the palace of Pelias, while all the people
+wondered at his bearing.
+
+And he stood in the doorway and cried, "Come out, come out, Pelias the
+valiant, and fight for your kingdom like a man."
+
+Pelias came out wondering, and "Who are you, bold youth?" he cried.
+
+"I am Jason, the son of AEson, the heir of all this land."
+
+Then Pelias lifted up his hands and eyes, and wept, or seemed to weep;
+and blessed the heavens which had brought his nephew to him, never to
+leave him more. "For," said he, "I have but three daughters, and no son
+to be my heir. You shall be my heir then, and rule the kingdom after me,
+and marry whichsoever of my daughters you shall choose; though a sad
+kingdom you will find it, and whosoever rules it a miserable man. But
+come in, come in, and feast."
+
+So he drew Jason in, whether he would or not, and spoke to him so
+lovingly and feasted him so well, that Jason's anger passed; and after
+supper his three cousins came into the hall, and Jason thought that he
+should like well enough to have one of them for his wife.
+
+But at last he said to Pelias, "Why do you look so sad, my uncle? And
+what did you mean just now, when you said that this was a doleful
+kingdom, and its ruler a miserable man?"
+
+Then Pelias sighed heavily again and again and again, like a man who
+had to tell some dreadful story and was afraid to begin; but at last:
+
+"For seven long years and more have I never known a quiet night; and no
+more will he who comes after me, till the golden fleece be brought
+home."
+
+Then he told Jason the story of Phrixus, and of the golden fleece; and
+told him, too, which was a lie, that Phrixus's spirit tormented him,
+calling to him day and night. And his daughters came, and told the same
+tale (for their father had taught them their parts) and wept, and said,
+"Oh, who will bring home the golden fleece, that our uncle's spirit may
+have rest; and that we may have rest also, whom he never lets sleep in
+peace?"
+
+Jason sat awhile, sad and silent; for he had often heard of that golden
+fleece; but he looked on it as a thing hopeless and impossible for any
+mortal man to win it.
+
+But when Pelias saw him silent, he began to talk of other things, and
+courted Jason more and more, speaking to him as if he was certain to be
+his heir, and asking his advice about the kingdom; till Jason who was
+young and simple, could not help saying to himself, "Surely he is not
+the dark man whom people call him. Yet why did he drive my father out?"
+And he asked Pelias boldly, "Men say that you are terrible, and a man of
+blood; but I find you a kind and hospitable man; and as you are to me,
+so will I be to you. Yet why did you drive my father out?"
+
+Pelias smiled and sighed: "Men have slandered me in that, as in all
+things. Your father was growing old and weary, and he gave the kingdom
+up to me of his own will. You shall see him to-morrow, and ask him; and
+he will tell you the same."
+
+Jason's heart leapt in him, when he heard that he was to see his
+father; and he believed all that Pelias said, forgetting that his father
+might not dare to tell the truth.
+
+"One thing more there is," said Pelias, "on which I need your advice;
+for though you are young, I see in you a wisdom beyond your years. There
+is one neighbour of mine, whom I dread more than all men on earth. I am
+stronger than he now, and can command him; but I know that if he stay
+among us, he will work my ruin in the end. Can you give me a plan,
+Jason, by which I can rid myself of that man?"
+
+After awhile, Jason answered, half laughing, "Were I you, I would send
+him to fetch that same golden fleece; for if he once set forth after it
+you would never be troubled with him more."
+
+And at that a bitter smile came across Pelias's lips, and a flash of
+wicked joy into his eyes; and Jason saw it, and started; and over his
+mind came the warning of the old man, and his own one sandal, and the
+oracle, and he saw that he was taken in a trap.
+
+But Pelias only answered gently, "My son, he shall be sent forthwith."
+
+"You mean me?" cried Jason, starting up, "because I came here with one
+sandal?" And he lifted his fist angrily, while Pelias stood up to him
+like a wolf at bay; and whether of the two was the stronger and the
+fiercer, it would be hard to tell.
+
+But after a moment Pelias spoke gently, "Why then so rash, my son? You,
+and not I, have said what is said; why blame me for what I have not
+done? Had you bid me love the man of whom I spoke, and make him my
+son-in-law and heir, I would have obeyed you; and what if I obey you
+now, and send the man to win himself immortal fame? I have not harmed
+you, or him. One thing at least I know, that he will go, and that
+gladly; for he has a hero's heart within him; loving glory, and scorning
+to break the word which he has given."
+
+Jason saw that he was entrapped; but his second promise to Cheiron came
+into his mind, and he thought, "What if the Centaur were a prophet in
+that also, and meant that I should win the fleece!" Then he cried aloud:
+
+"You have well spoken, cunning uncle of mine! I love glory, and I dare
+keep to my word. I will go and fetch this golden fleece. Promise me but
+this in return, and keep your word as I keep mine. Treat my father
+lovingly while I am gone, for the sake of the all-seeing Zeus; and give
+me up the kingdom for my own, on the day that I bring back the golden
+fleece."
+
+Then Pelias looked at him and almost loved him, in the midst of all his
+hate; and said, "I promise, and I will perform. It will be no shame to
+give up my kingdom to the man who wins that fleece."
+
+Then they swore a great oath between them; and afterward both went in,
+and lay down to sleep.
+
+But Jason could not sleep, for thinking of his mighty oath, and how he
+was to fulfil it, all alone, and without wealth or friends. So he tossed
+a long time upon his bed, and thought of this plan and of that; and
+sometimes Phrixus seemed to call him, in a thin voice, faint and low, as
+if it came from far across the sea, "Let me come home to my fathers and
+have rest." And sometimes he seemed to see the eyes of Hera, and to hear
+her words again, "Call on me in the hour of need, and see if the
+Immortals can forget."
+
+And on the morrow he went to Pelias, and said, "Give me a victim, that I
+may sacrifice to Hera." So he went up, and offered his sacrifice; and
+as he stood by the altar, Hera sent a thought into his mind; and he went
+back to Pelias, and said:
+
+"If you are indeed in earnest, give me two heralds, that they may go
+round to all the princes of the Minuai who were pupils of the Centaur
+with me, that we may fit out a ship together, and take what shall
+befall."
+
+At that Pelias praised his wisdom, and hastened to send the heralds out;
+for he said in his heart: "Let all the princes go with him, and like
+him, never return; for so I shall be lord of all the Minuai, and the
+greatest king in Hellas."
+
+
+PART III
+
+_How They Built the Ship Argo in Iolcos_
+
+So the heralds went out, and cried to all the heroes of the Minuai, "Who
+dare come to the adventure of the golden fleece?"
+
+And Hera stirred the hearts of all the princes, and they came from all
+their valleys to the yellow sands of Pagasai. And first came Heracles
+the mighty, with his lion's skin and club, and behind him Hylas his
+young squire, who bore his arrows and his bow; and Tiphys, the skilful
+steersman; and Butes, the fairest of all men; and Castor and Polydeuces
+the twins, the sons of the magic swan; and Caineus, the strongest of
+mortals, whom the Centaurs tried in vain to kill, and overwhelmed him
+with trunks of pine trees, but even so he would not die; and thither
+came Zetes and Calais, the winged sons of the north wind; and Peleus,
+the father of Achilles, whose bride was silver-footed Thetis the goddess
+of the sea. And thither came Telamon and Oileus, the fathers of the two
+Aiantes, who fought upon the plains of Troy; and Mopsus, the wise
+soothsayer, who knew the speech of birds; and Idmon, to whom Phoebus
+gave a tongue to prophesy of things to come; and Ancaios, who could read
+the stars, and knew all the circles of the heavens; and Argus, the famed
+shipbuilder, and many a hero more, in helmets of brass and gold with
+tall dyed horsehair crests, and embroidered shirts of linen beneath
+their coats of mail, and greaves of polished tin to guard their knees in
+fight; with each man his shield upon his shoulder, of many a fold of
+tough bull's hide, and his sword of tempered bronze in his
+silver-studded belt, and in his right hand a pair of lances, of the
+heavy white-ash stave.
+
+So they came down to Iolcos, and all the city came out to meet them, and
+were never tired with looking at their height, and their beauty, and
+their gallant bearing, and the glitter of their inlaid arms. And some
+said, "Never was such a gathering of the heroes since the Hellenes
+conquered the land." But the women sighed over them, and whispered,
+"Alas! they are all going to the death."
+
+Then they felled the pines on Pelion, and shaped them with the axe, and
+Argus taught them to build a galley, the first long ship which ever
+sailed the seas. They pierced her for fifty oars, an oar for each hero
+of the crew, and pitched her with coal-black pitch, and painted her bows
+with vermilion; and they named her Argo after Argus, and worked at her
+all day long. And at night Pelias feasted them like a king, and they
+slept in his palace porch.
+
+But Jason went away to the northward, and into the land of Thrace, till
+he found Orpheus, the prince of minstrels, where he dwelt in his cave
+under Rhodope, among the savage Cicon tribes. And he asked him: "Will
+you leave your mountains, Orpheus, my fellow scholar in old times, and
+cross Strymon once more with me, to sail with the heroes of the Minuai,
+and bring home the golden fleece, and charm for us all men and all
+monsters with your magic harp and song?"
+
+Then Orpheus sighed: "Have I not had enough of toil and of weary
+wandering far and wide, since I lived in Cheiron's cave, above Iolcos by
+the sea? In vain is the skill and the voice which my goddess mother gave
+me; in vain have I sung and laboured; in vain I went down to the dead,
+and charmed all the kings of Hades, to win back Eurydice my bride. For I
+won her, my beloved, and lost her again the same day, and wandered away
+in my madness, even to Egypt and the Libyan sands, and the isles of all
+the seas, driven on by the terrible gadfly, while I charmed in vain the
+hearts of men, and the savage forest beasts, and the trees, and the
+lifeless stones, with my magic harp and song, giving rest, but finding
+none. But at last Calliope, my mother, delivered me, and brought me home
+in peace; and I dwell here in the cave alone, among the savage Cicon
+tribes, softening their wild hearts with music and the gentle laws of
+Zeus. And now I must go out again, to the ends of all the earth, far
+away into the misty darkness, to the last wave of the Eastern Sea. But
+what is doomed must be, and a friend's demand obeyed; for prayers are
+the daughters of Zeus, and who honours them honours him."
+
+Then Orpheus rose up sighing, and took his harp, and went over Strymon.
+And he led Jason to the southwest, up the banks of Haliacmon and over
+the spurs of Pindus, to Dodona the town of Zeus, where it stood by the
+side of the sacred lake, and the fountain which breathed out fire, in
+the darkness of the ancient oak wood, beneath the mountain of the
+hundred springs. And he led him to the holy oak, where the black dove
+settled in old times, and was changed into the priestess of Zeus, and
+gave oracles to all nations round. And he bade him cut down a bough, and
+sacrifice to Hera and to Zeus; and they took the bough and came to
+Iolcos, and nailed it to the beak head of the ship.
+
+And at last the ship was finished, and they tried to launch her down the
+beach; but she was too heavy for them to move her, and her keel sank
+deep in the sand. Then all the heroes looked at each other blushing; but
+Jason spoke, and said, "Let us ask the magic bough; perhaps it can help
+us in our need."
+
+Then a voice came from the bough, and Jason heard the words it said, and
+bade Orpheus play upon the harp, while the heroes waited round, holding
+the pine-trunk rollers, to help her toward the sea.
+
+Then Orpheus took his harp, and began his magic song: "How sweet it is
+to ride upon the surges, and to leap from wave to wave, while the wind
+sings cheerful in the cordage, and the oars flash fast among the foam!
+How sweet it is to roam across the ocean, and see new towns and wondrous
+lands, and to come home laden with treasure, and to win undying fame!"
+
+And the good ship Argo heard him, and longed to be away and out at sea;
+till she stirred in every timber, and heaved from stem to stern, and
+leapt up from the sand upon the rollers, and plunged onward like a
+gallant horse; and the heroes fed her path with pine trunks, till she
+rushed into the whispering sea.
+
+Then they stored her well with food and water, and pulled the ladder up
+on board, and settled themselves each man to his oar, and kept time to
+Orpheus's harp; and away across the bay they rowed southward, while the
+people lined the cliffs; and the women wept while the men shouted, at
+the starting of that gallant crew.
+
+
+PART IV
+
+_How the Argonauts Sailed to Colchis_
+
+And what happened next, my children, whether it be true or not, stands
+written in ancient songs, which you shall read for yourselves some day.
+And grand old songs they are, written in grand old rolling verse; and
+they call them the Songs of Orpheus, or the Orphics, to this day. And
+they tell how the heroes came to Aphetai, across the bay, and waited for
+the southwest wind, and chose themselves a captain from their crew: and
+how all called for Heracles, because he was the strongest and most huge;
+but Heracles refused, and called for Jason, because he was the wisest of
+them all. So Jason was chosen captain: and Orpheus heaped a pile of wood
+and slew a bull, and offered it to Hera, and called all the heroes to
+stand round, each man's head crowned with olive, and to strike their
+swords into the bull. Then he filled a golden goblet with the bull's
+blood, and with wheaten flour, and honey, and wine, and the bitter salt
+sea water, and bade the heroes taste. So each tasted the goblet, and
+passed it round, and vowed an awful vow; and they vowed before the sun,
+and the night, and the blue-haired sea who shakes the land, to stand by
+Jason faithfully, in the adventure of the golden fleece; and whosoever
+shrank back, or disobeyed, or turned traitor to his vow, then justice
+should witness against him, and the Erinnes who track guilty men.
+
+Then Jason lighted the pile, and burnt the carcass of the bull; and they
+went to their ship and sailed eastward, like men who have a work to do;
+and the place from which they went was called Aphetai, the sailing
+place, from that day forth. Three thousand years ago and more they
+sailed away, into the unknown Eastern seas; and great nations have come
+and gone since then, and many a storm has swept the earth; and many a
+mighty armament, to which Argo would be but one small boat, have sailed
+those waters since; yet the fame of that small Argo lives forever, and
+her name is become a proverb among men.
+
+So they sailed past the Isle of Sciathos, with the Cape of Sepius on
+their left, and turned to the northward toward Pelion, up the long
+Magnesian shore. On their right hand was the open sea, and on their left
+old Pelion rose, while the clouds crawled round his dark pine forests,
+and his caps of summer snow. And their hearts yearned for the dear old
+mountain, as they thought of pleasant days gone by, and of the sports of
+their boyhood, and their hunting, and their schooling in the cave
+beneath the cliff. And at last Peleus spoke: "Let us land here, friends,
+and climb the dear old hill once more. We are going on a fearful
+journey: who knows if we shall see Pelion again? Let us go up to Cheiron
+our master, and ask his blessing ere we start. And I have a boy, too,
+with him, whom he trains as he trained me once, the son whom Thetis
+brought me, the silver-footed lady of the sea, whom I caught in the
+cave, and tamed her though she changed her shape seven times. For she
+changed, as I held her, into water, and to vapour, and to burning flame,
+and to a rock, and to a black-maned lion, and to a tall and stately
+tree. But I held her and held her ever till she took her own shape
+again, and led her to my father's house, and won her for my bride. And
+all the rulers of Olympus came to our wedding, and the heavens and the
+earth rejoiced together, when an immortal wedded mortal man. And now let
+me see my son; for it is not often I shall see him upon earth; famous he
+will be, but short lived, and die in the flower of youth."
+
+So Tiphys, the helmsman, steered them to the shore under the crags of
+Pelion; and they went up through the dark pine forests toward the
+Centaur's cave.
+
+And they came into the misty hall, beneath the snow-crowned crag; and
+saw the great Centaur lying with his huge limbs spread upon the rock;
+and beside him stood Achilles, the child whom no steel could wound, and
+played upon his harp right sweetly, while Cheiron watched and smiled.
+
+Then Cheiron leapt up and welcomed them, and kissed them every one, and
+set a feast before them, of swine's flesh, and venison, and good wine;
+and young Achilles served them, and carried the golden goblet round. And
+after supper all the heroes clapped their hands, and called on Orpheus
+to sing; but he refused, and said, "How can I, who am the younger, sing
+before our ancient host?" So they called on Cheiron to sing, and
+Achilles brought him his harp; and he began a wondrous song; a famous
+story of old time, of the fight between Centaurs and the Lapithai, which
+you may still see carved in stone. He sang how his brothers came to ruin
+by their folly, when they were mad with wine; and how they and the
+heroes fought, with fists, and teeth, and the goblets from which they
+drank; and how they tore up the pine trees in their fury, and hurled
+great crags of stone, while the mountains thundered with the battle, and
+the land was wasted far and wide; till the Lapithai drove them from
+their home in the rich Thessalian plains to the lonely glens of Pindus,
+leaving Cheiron all alone. And the heroes praised his song right
+heartily; for some of them had helped in that great fight.
+
+Then Orpheus took the lyre, and sang of Chaos, and the making of the
+wondrous World, and how all things sprang from Love, who could not live
+alone in the Abyss. And as he sang, his voice rose from the cave, above
+the crags, and through the tree tops, and the glens of oak and pine. And
+the trees bowed their heads when they heard it, and the gray rocks
+cracked and rang, and the forest beasts crept near to listen, and the
+birds forsook their nests and hovered round. And old Cheiron clapt his
+hands together, and beat his hoofs upon the ground, for wonder at that
+magic song.
+
+Then Peleus kissed his boy, and wept over him, and they went down to the
+ship; and Cheiron came down with them, weeping, and kissed them one by
+one, and blest them, and promised to them great renown. And the heroes
+wept when they left him, till their great hearts could weep no more; for
+he was kind and just and pious, and wiser than all beasts and men. Then
+he went up to a cliff, and prayed for them, that they might come home
+safe and well; while the heroes rowed away, and watched him standing on
+his cliff above the sea, with his great hands raised toward heaven, and
+his white locks waving in the wind; and they strained their eyes to
+watch him to the last, for they felt that they should look on him no
+more.
+
+So they rowed on over the long swell of the sea, past Olympus, the seat
+of die immortals, and past the wooded bays of Athos, and Samothrace, the
+sacred isle; and they came past Lemnos to the Hellespont, and through
+the narrow strait of Abydos, and so on into the Propontis, which we call
+Marmora now. And there they met with Cyzicus, ruling in Asia over the
+Dolions, who, the songs say, was the son of AEneas, of whom you will hear
+many a tale some day. For Homer tells us how he fought at Troy; and
+Virgil how he sailed away and founded Rome; and men believed until late
+years that from him sprang the old British kings. Now Cyzicus, the songs
+say, welcomed the heroes; for his father had been one of Cheiron's
+scholars; so he welcomed them, and feasted them, and stored their ship
+with corn and wine, and cloaks and rugs, the songs say, and shirts, of
+which no doubt they stood in need.
+
+But at night, while they lay sleeping, came down on them terrible men,
+who lived with the bears in the mountains, like Titans or giants in
+shape; for each of them had six arms, and they fought with young firs
+and pines. But Heracles killed them all before morn with his deadly
+poisoned arrows; but among them, in the darkness, he slew Cyzicus the
+kindly prince.
+
+Then they got to their ship and to their oars, and Tiphys bade them cast
+off the hawsers, and go to sea. But as he spoke a whirlwind came, and
+spun the Argo round, and twisted the hawsers together, so that no man
+could loose them. Then Tiphys dropped the rudder from his hand, and
+cried, "This comes from the Gods above." But Jason went forward, and
+asked counsel of the magic bough.
+
+Then the magic bough spoke and answered: "This is because you have
+slain Cyzicus your friend. You must appease his soul, or you will never
+leave this shore."
+
+Jason went back sadly, and told the heroes what he had heard. And they
+leapt on shore, and searched till dawn; and at dawn they found the body,
+all rolled in dust and blood, among the corpses of those monstrous
+beasts. And they wept over their kind host, and laid him on a fair bed,
+and heaped a huge mound over him, and offered black sheep at his tomb,
+and Orpheus sang a magic song to him, that his spirit might have rest.
+And then they held games at the tomb, after the custom of those times,
+and Jason gave prizes to each winner. To Ancaeus he gave a golden cup,
+for he wrestled best of all; and to Heracles a silver one, for he was
+the strongest of all; and to Castor, who rode best, a golden crest; and
+Polydeuces the boxer had a rich carpet, and to Orpheus for his song, a
+sandal with golden wings. But Jason himself was the best of all the
+archers, and the Minuai crowned him with an olive crown; and so, the
+songs say, the soul of good Cyzicus was appeased, and the heroes went on
+their way in peace.
+
+But when Cyzicus's wife heard that he was dead, she died likewise of
+grief; and her tears became a fountain of clear water, which flows the
+whole year round.
+
+Then they rowed away, the songs say, along the Mysian shore, and past
+the mouth of Rhindacus, till they found a pleasant bay, sheltered by the
+long ridges of Arganthus, and by high walls of basalt rock. And there
+they ran the ship ashore upon the yellow sand, and furled the sail, and
+took the mast down, and lashed it in its crutch. And next they let down
+the ladder, and went ashore to sport and rest.
+
+And there Heracles went away into the woods, bow in hand, to hunt wild
+deer; and Hylas the fair boy slipt away after him, and followed him by
+stealth, until he lost himself among the glens, and sat down weary to
+rest himself by the side of a lake; and there the water nymphs came up
+to look at him, and loved him, and carried him down under the lake to be
+their playfellow, forever happy and young. And Heracles sought for him
+in vain, shouting his name till all the mountains rang; but Hylas never
+heard him, far down under the sparkling lake. So while Heracles wandered
+searching for him, a fair breeze sprang up, and Heracles was nowhere to
+be found; and the Argo sailed away, and Heracles was left behind, and
+never saw the noble Phasian stream.
+
+Then the Minuai came to a doleful land, where Amycus the giant ruled,
+and cared nothing for the laws of Zeus, but challenged all strangers to
+box with him, and those whom he conquered he slew. But Polydeuces the
+boxer struck him a harder blow than he ever felt before, and slew him;
+and the Minuai went on up the Bosphorus, till they came to the city of
+Phineus, the fierce Bithynian king; for Zetes and Calais bade Jason land
+there, because they had a work to do.
+
+And they went up from the shore toward the city, through forests white
+with snow; and Phineus came out to meet them with a lean and woeful
+face, and said, "Welcome, gallant heroes, to the land of bitter blasts,
+a land of cold and misery; yet I will feast you as best I can." And he
+led them in, and set meat before them; but before they could put their
+hands to their mouths, down came two fearful monsters, the like of whom
+man never saw; for they had the faces and the hair of fair maidens, but
+the wings and claws of hawks; and they snatched the meat from off the
+table, and flew shrieking out above the roofs.
+
+Then Phineus beat his breast and cried, "These are the Harpies, whose
+names are the Whirlwind and the Swift, the daughters of Wonder and of
+the Amber nymph, and they rob us night and day. They carried off the
+daughters of Pandareus, whom all the Gods had blest; for Aphrodite fed
+them on Olympus with honey and milk and wine; and Hera gave them beauty
+and wisdom, and Athene skill in all the arts; but when they came to
+their wedding, the Harpies snatched them both away, and gave them to be
+slaves to the Erinnues, and live in horror all their days. And now they
+haunt me, and my people, and the Bosphorus, with fearful storms; and
+sweep away our food from off our tables, so that we starve in spite of
+all our wealth."
+
+Then up rose Zetes and Calais, the winged sons of the North wind, and
+said, "Do you not know us, Phineus, and these wings which grow upon our
+backs?" And Phineus hid his face in terror; but he answered not a word.
+
+"Because you have been a traitor, Phineus, the Harpies haunt you night
+and day. Where is Cleopatra our sister, your wife, whom you keep in
+prison? and where are her two children, whom you blinded in your rage,
+at the bidding of an evil woman, and cast them out upon the rocks? Swear
+to us that you will right our sister, and cast out that wicked woman;
+and then we will free you from your plague, and drive the whirlwind
+maidens from the south; but if not, we will put out your eyes, as you
+put out the eyes of your own sons."
+
+Then Phineus swore an oath to them, and drove out the wicked woman; and
+Jason took those two poor children, and cured their eyes with magic
+herbs.
+
+But Zetes and Calais rose up sadly; and said: "Farewell now, heroes
+all; farewell, our dear companions, with whom we played on Pelion in old
+times; for a fate is laid upon us, and our day is come at last, in which
+we may hunt the whirlwinds, over land and sea forever; and if we catch
+them they die, and if not, we die ourselves."
+
+At that all the heroes wept; but the two young men sprang up, and aloft
+into the air after the Harpies, and the battle of the winds began.
+
+The heroes trembled in silence as they heard the shrieking of the
+blasts; while the palace rocked and all the city, and great stones were
+torn from the crags, and the forest pines were hurled eastward, north
+and south and east and west, and the Bosphorus boiled white with foam,
+and the clouds were dashed against the cliffs.
+
+But at last the battle ended, and the Harpies fled screaming toward the
+south, and the sons of the North wind rushed after them, and brought
+clear sunshine where they passed. For many a league they followed them,
+over all the isles of the Cyclades, and away to the southwest across
+Hellas, till they came to the Ionian Sea, and there they fell upon the
+Echinades, at the mouth of the Achelous; and those isles were called the
+Whirlwind Isles for many a hundred years. But what became of Zetes and
+Calais I know not; for the heroes never saw them again; and some say
+that Heracles met them, and quarrelled with them, and slew them with his
+arrows; and some say that they fell down from weariness and the heat of
+the summer sun, and that the Sun god buried them among the Cyclades, in
+the pleasant Isle of Tenos; and for many hundred years their grave was
+shown there, and over it a pillar, which turned to every wind. But those
+dark storms and whirlwinds haunt the Bosphorus until this day.
+
+But the Argonauts went eastward, and out into the open sea, which we now
+call the Black Sea, but it was called the Euxine then. No Hellen had
+ever crossed it, and all feared that dreadful sea, and its rocks, and
+shoals, and fogs, and bitter freezing storms; and they told strange
+stories of it, some false and some half true, how it stretched northward
+to the ends of the earth, and the sluggish Putrid Sea, and the
+everlasting night, and the regions of the dead. So the heroes trembled,
+for all their courage, as they came into that wild Black Sea, and saw it
+stretching out before them, without a shore, as far as eye could see.
+
+And first Orpheus spoke, and warned them: "We shall come now to the
+wandering blue rocks; my mother warned me of them, Calliope, the
+immortal muse."
+
+And soon they saw the blue rocks shining, like spires and castles of
+gray glass, while an ice-cold wind blew from them, and chilled all the
+heroes' hearts. And as they neared, they could see them heaving, as they
+rolled upon the long sea waves, crashing and grinding together, till the
+roar went up to heaven. The sea sprang up in spouts between them, and
+swept round them in white sheets of foam; but their heads swung nodding
+high in air, while the wind whistled shrill among the crags.
+
+The heroes' hearts sank within them, and they lay upon their oars in
+fear; but Orpheus called to Tiphys the helmsman: "Between them we must
+pass; so look ahead for an opening, and be brave, for Hera is with us."
+But Tiphys the cunning helmsman stood silent, clenching his teeth, till
+he saw a heron come flying mast high toward the rocks, and hover awhile
+before them, as if looking for a passage through. Then he cried, "Hera
+has sent us a pilot; let us follow the cunning bird."
+
+Then the heron flapped to and fro a moment, till he saw a hidden gap,
+and into it he rushed like an arrow, while the heroes watched what would
+befall.
+
+And the blue rocks clashed together as the bird fled swiftly through;
+but they struck but a feather from his tail, and then rebounded apart at
+the shock.
+
+Then Tiphys cheered the heroes, and they shouted; and the oars bent like
+withes beneath their strokes, as they rushed between those toppling ice
+crags, and the cold blue lips of death. And ere the rocks could meet
+again they had passed them, and were safe out in the open sea.
+
+And after that they sailed on wearily along the Asian coast, by the
+Black Cape and Thyneis, where the hot stream of Thymbris falls into the
+sea, and Sangarius, whose waters float on the Euxine, till they came to
+Wolf the river, and to Wolf the kindly king. And there died two brave
+heroes, Idmon and Tiphys the wise helmsman; one died of an evil
+sickness, and one a wild boar slew. So the heroes heaped a mound above
+them, and set upon it an oar on high, and left them there to sleep
+together, on the far-off Lycian shore. But Idas killed the boar, and
+avenged Tiphys; and Ancaios took the rudder and was helmsman, and
+steered them on toward the east.
+
+And they went on past Sinope, and many a mighty river's mouth, and past
+many a barbarous tribe, and the cities of the Amazons, the warlike women
+of the East, till all night they heard the clank of anvils and the roar
+of furnace blasts, and the forge fires shone like sparks through the
+darkness, in the mountain glens aloft; for they were come to the shores
+of the Chalybes, the smiths who never tire, but serve Ares the cruel War
+god, forging weapons day and night.
+
+And at day dawn they looked eastward, and midway between the sea and the
+sky they saw white snow peaks hanging glittering sharp and bright above
+the clouds. And they knew that they were come to Caucasus, at the end of
+all the earth; Caucasus the highest of all mountains, the father of the
+rivers of the East. On his peak lies chained the Titan, while a vulture
+tears his heart; and at his feet are piled dark forests round the magic
+Colchian land.
+
+And they rowed three days to the eastward, while Caucasus rose higher
+hour by hour, till they saw the dark stream of Phasis rushing headlong
+to the sea, and shining above the treetops, the golden roofs of King
+Aietes, the child of the sun.
+
+Then out spoke Ancaios the helmsman: "We are come to our goal at last;
+for there are the roofs of Aietes, and the woods where all poisons grow;
+but who can tell us where among them is hid the golden fleece? Many a
+toil must we bear ere we find it, and bring it home to Greece."
+
+But Jason cheered the heroes, for his heart was high and bold; and he
+said: "I will go alone up to Aietes, though he be the child of the sun,
+and win him with soft words. Better so than to go altogether, and to
+come to blows at once." But the Minuai would not stay behind, so they
+rowed boldly up the stream.
+
+And a dream came to Aietes, and filled his heart with fear. He thought
+he saw a shining star, which fell into his daughter's lap; and that
+Medeia his daughter took it gladly, and carried it to the river side,
+and cast it in, and there the whirling river bore it down, and out into
+the Euxine Sea.
+
+Then he leapt up in fear, and bade his servants bring his chariot, that
+he might go down to the riverside and appease the nymphs, and the heroes
+whose spirits haunt the bank. So he went down in his golden chariot, and
+his daughters by his side, Medeia the fair witch maiden, and Chalciope,
+who had been Phrixus's wife, and behind him a crowd of servants and
+soldiers, for he was a rich and mighty prince.
+
+And as he drove down by the reedy river, he saw Argo sliding up beneath
+the bank, and many a hero in her, like immortals for beauty and for
+strength, as their weapons glittered round them in the level morning
+sunlight, through the white mist of the stream. But Jason was the
+noblest of all; for Hera who loved him gave him beauty, and tallness,
+and terrible manhood.
+
+And when they came near together and looked into each other's eyes, the
+heroes were awed before Aietes as he shone in his chariot, like his
+father the glorious Sun; for his robes were of rich gold tissue, and the
+rays of his diadem flashed fire; and in his hand he bore a jewelled
+sceptre, which glittered like the stars; and sternly he looked at them
+under his brows, and sternly he spoke and loud:
+
+"Who are you, and what want you here, that you come to the shore of
+Cutaia? Do you take no account of my rule, nor of my people the
+Colchians who serve me, who never tired yet in the battle, and know well
+how to face an invader?"
+
+And the heroes sat silent awhile before the face of that ancient king.
+But Hera the awful goddess put courage into Jason's heart, and he rose
+and shouted loudly in answer: "We are no pirates, nor lawless men. We
+come not to plunder and to ravage, or carry away slaves from your land;
+but my uncle, the son of Poseidon, Pelias the Minuan king, he it is who
+has set me on a quest to bring home the golden fleece. And these, too,
+my bold comrades, they are no nameless men; for some are the sons of
+immortals, and some of heroes far renowned. And we, too, never tire in
+battle, and know well how to give blows and to take; yet we wish to be
+guests at your table; it will be better so for both."
+
+Then Aietes's rage rushed up like a whirlwind, and his eyes flashed fire
+as he heard; but he crushed his anger down in his breast, and spoke
+mildly a cunning speech:
+
+"If you will fight for the fleece with my Colchians, then many a man
+must die. But do you indeed expect to win from me the fleece in fight?
+So few you are, that if you be worsted, I can load your ship with your
+corpses. But if you will be ruled by me, you will find it better far to
+choose the best man among you, and let him fulfil the labours which I
+demand. Then I will give him the golden fleece for a prize and a glory
+to you all."
+
+So saying, he turned his horses and drove back in silence to the town.
+And the Minuai sat silent with sorrow, and longed for Heracles and his
+strength; for there was no facing the thousands of the Colchians, and
+the fearful chance of war.
+
+But Chalciope, Phrixus's widow, went weeping to the town; for she
+remembered her Minuan husband, and all the pleasures of her youth, while
+she watched the fair faces of his kinsmen, and their long locks of
+golden hair. And she whispered to Medeia her sister: "Why should all
+these brave men die? why does not my father give them up the fleece,
+that my husband's spirit may have rest?"
+
+And Medeia's heart pitied the heroes, and Jason most of all; and she
+answered, "Our father is stern and terrible, and who can win the golden
+fleece?" But Chalciope said: "These men are not like our men; there is
+nothing which they cannot dare nor do."
+
+And Medeia thought of Jason and his brave countenance, and said: "If
+there was one among them who knew no fear, I could show him how to win
+the fleece."
+
+So in the dusk of evening they went down to the riverside, Chalciope and
+Medeia the witch maiden, and Argus, Phrixus's son. And Argus the boy
+crept forward, among the beds of reeds, till he came where the heroes
+were sleeping, on the thwarts of the ship, beneath the bank, while Jason
+kept ward on shore, and leant upon his lance full of thought. And the
+boy came to Jason, and said:
+
+"I am the son of Phrixus, your cousin; and Chalciope my mother waits for
+you, to talk about the golden fleece."
+
+Then Jason went boldly with the boy, and found the two princesses
+standing; and when Chalciope saw him she wept, and took his hands, and
+cried:
+
+"O cousin of my beloved, go home before you die!"
+
+"It would be base to go home now, fair princess, and to have sailed all
+these seas in vain." Then both the princesses besought him: but Jason
+said, "It is too late."
+
+"But you know not," said Medeia, "what he must do who would win the
+fleece. He must tame the two brazen-footed bulls, who breathe devouring
+flame; and with them he must plough ere nightfall four acres in the
+field of Ares; and he must sow them with serpents' teeth, of which each
+tooth springs up into an armed man. Then he must fight with all those
+warriors; and little will it profit him to conquer them; for the fleece
+is guarded by a serpent, more huge than any mountain pine; and over his
+body you must step, if you would reach the golden fleece."
+
+Then Jason laughed bitterly. "Unjustly is that fleece kept here, and by
+an unjust and lawless king; and unjustly shall I die in my youth, for I
+will attempt it ere another sun be set."
+
+Then Medeia trembled, and said: "No mortal man can reach that fleece,
+unless I guide him through. For round it, beyond the river, is a wall
+full nine ells high, with lofty towers and buttresses, and mighty gates
+of threefold brass; and over the gates the wall is arched, with golden
+battlements above. And over the gateway sits Brimo, the wild witch
+huntress of the woods, brandishing a pine torch in her hands, while her
+mad hounds howl around. No man dare meet her or look on her, but only I
+her priestess, and she watches far and wide lest any stranger should
+come near."
+
+"No wall so high but it may be climbed at last, and no wood so thick but
+it may be crawled through; no serpent so wary but he may be charmed, or
+witch queen so fierce but spells may soothe her; and I may yet win the
+golden fleece, if a wise maiden help bold men."
+
+And he looked at Medeia cunningly, and held her with his glittering eye,
+till she blushed and trembled, and said:
+
+"Who can face the fire of the bulls' breath, and fight ten thousand
+armed men?"
+
+"He whom you help," said Jason, flattering her, "for your fame is spread
+over all the earth. Are you not the queen of all enchantresses, wiser
+even than your sister Circe, in her fairy island in the West?"
+
+"Would that I were with my sister Circe in her fairy island in the West,
+far away from sore temptation, and thoughts which tear the heart! But
+if it must be so--for why should you die?--I have an ointment here; I
+made it from the magic ice flower which sprang from Prometheus's wound,
+above the clouds on Caucasus, in the dreary fields of snow. Anoint
+yourself with that, and you shall have in you seven men's strength; and
+anoint your shield with it, and neither fire nor sword can harm you. But
+what you begin you must end before sunset, for its virtue lasts only one
+day. And anoint your helmet with it before you sow the serpents' teeth;
+and when the sons of earth spring up, cast your helmet among their
+ranks, and the deadly crop of the War-god's field will mow itself, and
+perish."
+
+Then Jason fell on his knees before her, and thanked her and kissed her
+hands; and she gave him the vase of ointment, and fled trembling through
+the reeds. And Jason told his comrades what had happened, and showed
+them the box of ointment; and all rejoiced but Idas and he grew mad with
+envy.
+
+And at sunrise Jason went and bathed, and anointed himself from head to
+foot, and his shield, and his helmet, and his weapons, and bade his
+comrades try the spell. So they tried to bend his lance, but it stood
+like an iron bar; and Idas in spite hewed at it with his sword, but the
+blade flew to splinters in his face. Then they hurled their lances at
+his shield, but the spear points turned like lead; and Caineus tried to
+throw him, but he never stirred a foot; and Polydeuces struck him with
+his fist a blow which would have killed an ox; but Jason only smiled,
+and the heroes danced about him with delight; and he leapt and ran, and
+shouted, in the joy of that enormous strength, till the sun rose, and it
+was time to go and to claim Aietes's promise.
+
+So he sent up Telamon and Aithalides to tell Aietes that he was ready
+for the fight; and they went up among the marble walls, and beneath the
+roofs of gold, and stood in Aietes's hall, while he grew pale with rage.
+
+"Fulfil your promise to us, child of the blazing sun. Give us the
+serpents' teeth, and let loose the fiery bulls; for we have found a
+champion among us who can win the golden fleece."
+
+And Aietes bit his lips, for he fancied that they had fled away by
+night; but he could not go back from his promise; so he gave them the
+serpents' teeth.
+
+Then he called for his chariot and his horses, and sent heralds through
+all the town; and all the people went out with him to the dreadful
+War-god's field.
+
+And there Aietes sat upon his throne, with his warriors on each hand,
+thousands and tens of thousands, clothed from head to foot in
+steel-chain mail. And the people and the women crowded to every window,
+and bank and wall; while the Minuai stood together, a mere handful in
+the midst of that great host.
+
+And Chalciope was there and Argus, trembling, and Medeia, wrapped
+closely in her veil; but Aietes did not know that she was muttering
+cunning spells between her lips.
+
+Then Jason cried, "Fulfil your promise, and let your fiery bulls come
+forth."
+
+Then Aietes bade open the gates, and the magic bulls leapt out. Their
+brazen hoofs rang upon the ground, and their nostrils sent out sheets of
+flame, as they rushed with lowered heads upon Jason; but he never
+flinched a step. The flame of their breath swept round him, but it
+singed not a hair of his head; and the bulls stopped short and trembled,
+when Medeia began her spell.
+
+Then Jason sprang upon the nearest, and seized him by the horn; and up
+and down they wrestled, till the bull fell grovelling on his knees; for
+the heart of the brute died within him, and his mighty limbs were loosed
+beneath the steadfast eye of that dark witch maiden, and the magic
+whisper of her lips.
+
+So both the bulls were tamed and yoked; and Jason bound them to the
+plough, and goaded them onward with his lance, till he had ploughed the
+sacred field.
+
+And all the Minuai shouted; but Aietes bit his lips with rage; for the
+half of Jason's work was over, and the sun was yet high in heaven.
+
+Then he took the serpents' teeth and sowed them, and waited what would
+befall. But Medeia looked at him and at his helmet, lest he should
+forget the lesson she had taught.
+
+And every furrow heaved and bubbled, and out of every clod rose a man.
+Out of the earth they rose by thousands, each clad from head to foot in
+steel, and drew their swords and rushed on Jason, where he stood in the
+midst alone. Then the Minuai grew pale with fear for him; but Aietes
+laughed a bitter laugh. "See! if I had not warriors enough already round
+me, I could call them out of the bosom of the earth."
+
+But Jason snatched off his helmet, and hurled it into the thickest of
+the throng. And blind madness came upon them, suspicion, hate, and fear;
+and one cried to his fellow, "Thou didst strike me!" and another, "Thou
+art Jason; thou shalt die!" So fury seized those earth-born phantoms,
+and each turned his hand against the rest; and they fought and were
+never weary, till they all lay dead upon the ground. Then the magic
+furrows opened, and the kind earth took them home into her breast; and
+the grass grew up all green again above them, and Jason's work was done.
+
+Then the Minuai rose and shouted, till Prometheus heard them from his
+crag. And Jason cried: "Lead me to the fleece this moment, before the
+sun goes down."
+
+But Aietes thought: "He has conquered the bulls; and sown and reaped the
+deadly crop. Who is this who is proof against all magic? He may kill the
+serpent yet." So he delayed, and sat taking counsel with his princes,
+till the sun went down and all was dark. Then he bade a herald cry,
+"Every man to his home for to-night. To-morrow we will meet these
+heroes, and speak about the golden fleece."
+
+Then he turned and looked at Medeia: "This is your doing, false witch
+maid! You have helped these yellow-haired strangers, and brought shame
+upon your father and yourself!"
+
+Medeia shrank and trembled, and her face grew pale with fear; and Aietes
+knew that she was guilty, and whispered, "If they win the fleece, you
+die!"
+
+But the Minuai marched toward their ship, growling like lions cheated of
+their prey; for they saw that Aietes meant to mock them, and to cheat
+them out of all their toil. And Oileus said, "Let us go to the grove
+together, and take the fleece by force."
+
+And Idas the rash cried, "Let us draw lots who shall go in first; for
+while the dragon is devouring one, the rest can slay him, and carry off
+the fleece in peace." But Jason held them back, though he praised them;
+for he hoped for Medeia's help.
+
+And after awhile Medeia came trembling, and wept a long while before she
+spoke. And at last:
+
+"My end is come, and I must die; for my father has found out that I
+have helped you. You he would kill if he dared; but he will not harm
+you, because you have been his guests. Go then, go, and remember poor
+Medeia when you are far away across the sea." But all the heroes cried:
+
+"If you die, we die with you; for without you we cannot win the fleece,
+and home we will not go without it, but fall here fighting to the last
+man."
+
+"You need not die," said Jason. "Flee home with us across the sea. Show
+us first how to win the fleece; for you can do it. Why else are you the
+priestess of the grove? Show us but how to win the fleece, and come with
+us, and you shall be my queen, and rule over the rich princes of the
+Minuai, in Iolcos by the sea."
+
+And all the heroes pressed round, and vowed to her that she should be
+their queen.
+
+Medeia wept, and shuddered, and hid her face in her hands; for her heart
+yearned after her sisters and her playfellows, and the home where she
+was brought up as a child. But at last she looked up at Jason, and spoke
+between her sobs:
+
+"Must I leave my home and my people, to wander with strangers across the
+sea? The lot is cast, and I must endure it. I will show you how to win
+the golden fleece. Bring up your ship to the woodside, and moor her
+there against the bank and let Jason come up at midnight, and one brave
+comrade with him, and meet me beneath the wall."
+
+Then all the heroes cried together: "I will go!" "and I!" "and I!" And
+Idas the rash grew mad with envy; for he longed to be foremost in all
+things. But Medeia calmed them, and said: "Orpheus shall go with Jason,
+and bring his magic harp; for I hear of him that he is the king of all
+minstrels, and can charm all things on earth."
+
+And Orpheus laughed for joy, and clapped his hands, because the choice
+had fallen on him; for in those days poets and singers were as bold
+warriors as the best.
+
+So at midnight they went up the bank, and found Medeia; and beside came
+Absyrtus her young brother, leading a yearling lamb.
+
+Then Medeia brought them to a thicket, beside the War-god's gate; and
+there she bade Jason dig a ditch, and kill the lamb and leave it there,
+and strew on it magic herbs and honey from the honeycomb.
+
+Then sprang up through the earth, with the red fire flashing before her,
+Brimo the wild witch huntress, while her mad hounds howled around. She
+had one head like a horse's, and another like a ravening hound's, and
+another like a hissing snake's, and a sword in either hand. And she
+leapt into the ditch with her hounds, and they ate and drank their fill,
+while Jason and Orpheus trembled, and Medeia hid her eyes. And at last
+the witch queen vanished, and fled with her hounds into the woods; and
+the bars of the gates fell down, and the brazen doors flew wide, and
+Medeia and the heroes ran forward and hurried through the poison wood,
+among the dark stems of the mighty beeches, guided by the gleam of the
+golden fleece, until they saw it hanging on one vast tree in the midst.
+And Jason would have sprung to seize it; but Medeia held him back, and
+pointed shuddering to the tree foot, where the mighty serpent lay,
+coiled in and out among the roots, with a body like a mountain pine. His
+coils stretched many a fathom, spangled with bronze and gold; and half
+of him they could see, but no more; for the rest lay in the darkness
+far beyond.
+
+And when he saw them coming, he lifted up his head, and watched them
+with his small bright eyes, and flashed his forked tongue, and roared
+like the fire among the woodlands, till the forest tossed and groaned.
+For his cry shook the trees from leaf to root, and swept over the long
+reaches of the river, and over AEetes's hall, and woke the sleepers in
+the city, till mothers clasped their children in their fear.
+
+But Medeia called gently to him; and he stretched out his long spotted
+neck, and licked her hand, and looked up in her face, as if to ask for
+food. Then she made a sign to Orpheus, and he began his magic song.
+
+And as he sung, the forest grew calm again, and the leaves on every tree
+hung still; and the serpent's head sank down, and his brazen coils grew
+limp, and his glittering eyes closed lazily, till he breathed as gently
+as a child, while Orpheus called to pleasant Slumber, who gives peace to
+men, and beasts, and waves.
+
+Then Jason leapt forward warily, and stept across that mighty snake, and
+tore the fleece from off the tree trunk; and the four rushed down the
+garden, to the bank where the Argo lay.
+
+There was a silence for a moment, while Jason held the golden fleece on
+high. Then he cried: "Go now, good Argo, swift and steady, if ever you
+would see Pelion more."
+
+And she went, as the heroes drove her, grim and silent all, with muffled
+oars, till the pine wood bent like willow in their hands, and stout Argo
+groaned beneath their strokes.
+
+On and on, beneath the dewy darkness, they fled swiftly down the
+swirling stream; underneath black walls, and temples, and the castles of
+the princes of the East; past sluice mouths, and fragrant gardens, and
+groves of all strange fruits; past marshes where fat kine lay sleeping,
+and long beds of whispering reeds; till they heard the merry music of
+the surge upon the bar, as it tumbled in the moonlight all alone.
+
+Into the surge they rushed, and Argo leapt the breakers like a horse;
+for she knew the time was come to show her mettle, and win honour for
+the heroes and herself.
+
+Into the surge they rushed, and Argo leapt the breakers like a horse,
+till the heroes stopped all panting, each man upon his oar, as she slid
+into the still broad sea.
+
+Then Orpheus took his harp and sang a paean, till the heroes' hearts rose
+high again; and they rowed on stoutly and steadfastly, away into the
+darkness of the West.
+
+
+PART V
+
+_How the Argonauts Were Driven into the Unknown Sea_
+
+So they fled away in haste to the westward: but Aietes manned his fleet
+and followed them. And Lynceus the quick eyed saw him coming, while he
+was still many a mile away, and cried: "I see a hundred ships, like a
+flock of white swans, far in the east." And at that they rowed hard,
+like heroes; but the ships came nearer every hour.
+
+Then Medeia, the dark witch maiden, laid a cruel and a cunning plot; for
+she killed Absyrtus her young brother, and cast him into the sea, and
+said: "Ere my father can take up his corpse and bury it, he must wait
+long, and be left far behind."
+
+And all the heroes shuddered, and looked one at the other for shame; yet
+they did not punish that dark witch woman, because she had won for them
+the golden fleece.
+
+And when Aietes came to the place, he saw the floating corpse; and he
+stopped a long while, and bewailed his son, and took him up, and went
+home. But he sent on his sailors toward the westward, and bound them by
+a mighty curse: "Bring back to me that dark witch woman, that she may
+die a dreadful death. But if you return without her, you shall die by
+the same death yourselves."
+
+So the Argonauts escaped for that time; but Father Zeus saw that foul
+crime; and out of the heavens he sent a storm, and swept the ship far
+from her course. Day after day the storm drove her, amid foam and
+blinding mist, till they knew no longer where they were, for the sun was
+blotted from the skies. And at last the ship struck on a shoal, amid low
+isles of mud and sand, and the waves rolled over her and through her,
+and the heroes lost all hope of life.
+
+Then Jason cried to Hera: "Fair queen, who hast befriended us till now,
+why hast thou left us in our misery, to die here among unknown seas? It
+is hard to lose the honour which we have won with such toil and danger,
+and hard never to see Hellas again, and the pleasant bay of Pagasai."
+
+Then out and spoke the magic bough which stood upon the Argo's beak:
+"Because Father Zeus is angry, all this has fallen on you; for a cruel
+crime has been done on board, and the sacred ship is foul with blood."
+
+At that some of the heroes cried: "Medeia is the murderess. Let the
+witch woman bear her sin, and die!"
+
+And they seized Medeia, to hurl her into the sea and atone for the young
+boy's death; but the magic bough spoke again: "Let her live till her
+crimes are full. Vengeance waits for her, slow and sure; but she must
+live, for you need her still. She must show you the way to her sister
+Circe, who lives among the islands of the West. To her you must sail, a
+weary way, and she shall cleanse you from your guilt."
+
+Then all the heroes wept aloud when they heard the sentence of the oak;
+for they knew that a dark journey lay before them, and years of bitter
+toil. And some upbraided the dark witch woman, and some said: "Nay, we
+are her debtors still; without her we should never have won the fleece."
+But most of them bit their lips in silence, for they feared the witch's
+spells.
+
+And now the sea grew calmer, and the sun shone out once more, and the
+heroes thrust the ship off the sand bank, and rowed forward on their
+weary course, under the guiding of the dark witch maiden, into the
+wastes of the unknown sea.
+
+Whither they went I cannot tell, nor how they came to Circe's isle. Some
+say that they went to the westward, and up the Ister[A] stream, and so
+came into the Adriatic, dragging their ship over the snowy Alps. And
+others say that they went southward, into the Red Indian Sea, and past
+the sunny lands where spices grow, round AEthiopia toward the west; and
+that at last they came to Libya, and dragged their ship across the
+burning sands, and over the hills into the Syrtes, where the flats and
+quicksands spread for many a mile, between rich Cyrene and the
+Lotus-eaters' shore. But all these are but dreams and fables, and dim
+hints of unknown lands.
+
+[Footnote A: The Danube.]
+
+But all say that they came to a place where they had to drag their ship
+across the land nine days with ropes and rollers, till they came into an
+unknown sea. And the best of all the old songs tells us, how they went
+away toward the north, till they came to the slope of Caucasus, where it
+sinks into the sea; and to the narrow Cimmerian Bosphorus,[A] where the
+Titan swam across upon the bull; and thence into the lazy waters of the
+still Maeotid Lake.[B] And thence they went northward ever, up the
+Tanais, which we call Don, past the Geloni and Sauromatai, and many a
+wandering shepherd tribe, and the one-eyed Arimaspi, of whom old Greek
+poets tell, who steal the gold from the Griffins, in the cold
+Rhiphaian[C] hills.
+
+And they passed the Scythian archers, and the Tauri who eat men, and the
+wandering Hyperboreai, who feed their flocks beneath the pole star,
+until they came into the northern ocean, the dull dead Cronian Sea.[D]
+And there Argo would move on no longer; and each man clasped his elbow,
+and leaned his head upon his hand, heartbroken with toil and hunger, and
+gave himself up to death. But brave Ancaios the helmsman cheered up
+their hearts once more, and bade them leap on land, and haul the ship
+with ropes and rollers for many a weary day, whether over land, or mud,
+or ice, I know not, for the song is mixed and broken like a dream. And
+it says next, how they came to the rich nation of the famous long-lived
+men; and to the coast of the Cimmerians, who never saw the sun, buried
+deep in the glens of the snow mountains; and to the fair land of
+Hermione, where dwelt the most righteous of all nations; and to the
+gates of the world below, and to the dwelling place of dreams.
+
+[Footnote A: Between the Crimaea and Circassia.]
+
+[Footnote B: The Sea of Azov.]
+
+[Footnote C: The Ural Mountains.]
+
+[Footnote D: The Baltic.]
+
+And at last Ancaios shouted: "Endure a little while, brave friends, the
+worst is surely past; for I can see the pure west wind ruffle the water,
+and hear the roar of ocean on the sands. So raise up the mast, and set
+the sail, and face what comes like men."
+
+Then out spoke the magic bough: "Ah, would that I had perished long ago,
+and been whelmed by the dread blue rocks, beneath the fierce swell of
+the Euxine! Better so, than to wander forever, disgraced by the guilt of
+my princes; for the blood of Absyrtus still tracks me, and woe follows
+hard upon woe. And now some dark horror will clutch me, if I come near
+the Isle of Ierne.[A] Unless you will cling to the land, and sail
+southward and southward forever, I shall wander beyond the Atlantic, to
+the ocean which has no shore."
+
+Then they blest the magic bough, and sailed southward along the land.
+But ere they could pass Ierne, the land of mists and storms, the wild
+wind came down, dark and roaring, and caught the sail, and strained the
+ropes. And away they drove twelve nights, on the wide wild western sea,
+through the foam, and over the rollers, while they saw neither sun nor
+stars. And they cried again: "We shall perish, for we know not where we
+are. We are lost in the dreary damp darkness, and cannot tell north from
+south."
+
+But Lynceus the long sighted called gayly from the bows: "Take heart
+again, brave sailors; for I see a pine-clad isle, and the halls of the
+kind Earth mother, with a crown of clouds around them."
+
+[Footnote A: Britain.]
+
+But Orpheus said: "Turn from them, for no living man can land there:
+there is no harbour on the coast, but steep-walled cliffs all round."
+
+So Ancaios turned the ship away; and for three days more they sailed on,
+till they came to Aiaia, Circe's home, and the fairy island of the West.
+
+And there Jason bid them land, and seek about for any sign of living
+man. And as they went inland, Circe met them, coming down toward the
+ship; and they trembled when they saw her; for her hair, and face, and
+robes, shone like flame.
+
+And she came and looked at Medeia; and Medeia hid her face beneath her
+veil.
+
+And Circe cried, "Ah, wretched girl, have you forgotten all your sins,
+that you come hither to my island, where the flowers bloom all the year
+round? Where is your aged father, and the brother whom you killed?
+Little do I expect you to return in safety with these strangers whom you
+love. I will send you food and wine: but your ship must not stay here,
+for it is foul with sin, and foul with sin its crew."
+
+And the heroes prayed her, but in vain, and cried, "Cleanse us from our
+guilt!" But she sent them away and said, "Go on to Malea, and there you
+may be cleansed, and return home."
+
+Then a fair wind rose, and they sailed eastward, by Tartessus on the
+Iberian shore, till they came to the Pillars of Hercules, and the
+Mediterranean Sea. And thence they sailed on through the deeps of
+Sardinia, and past the Ausonian Islands, and the capes of the Tyrrhenian
+shore, till they came to a flowery island, upon a still, bright summer's
+eve. And as they neared it, slowly and wearily, they heard sweet songs
+upon the shore. But when Medeia heard it, she started, and cried:
+"Beware, all heroes, for these are the rocks of the Sirens. You must
+pass close by them, for there is no other channel; but those who listen
+to that song are lost."
+
+Then Orpheus spoke, the king of all minstrels: "Let them match their
+song against mine. I have charmed stones, and trees, and dragons, how
+much more the hearts of man!" So he caught up his lyre, and stood upon
+the poop, and began his magic song.
+
+And now they could see the Sirens, on Anthemousa, the flowery isle;
+three fair maidens sitting on the beach, beneath a red rock in the
+setting sun, among beds of crimson poppies and golden asphodel. Slowly
+they sung and sleepily, with silver voices, mild and clear, which stole
+over the golden waters, and into the hearts of all the heroes, in spite
+of Orpheus's song.
+
+And all things stayed around and listened; the gulls sat in white lines
+along the rocks; on the beach great seals lay basking, and kept time
+with lazy heads; while silver shoals of fish came up to hearken, and
+whispered as they broke the shining calm. The Wind overhead hushed his
+whistling, as he shepherded his clouds toward the west; and the clouds
+stood in mid blue, and listened dreaming, like a flock of golden sheep.
+
+And as the heroes listened, the oars fell from their hands, and their
+heads drooped on their breasts, and they closed their heavy eyes; and
+they dreamed of bright still gardens, and of slumbers under murmuring
+pines, till all their toil seemed foolishness, and they thought of their
+renown no more.
+
+Then one lifted his head suddenly, and cried, "What use in wandering
+forever? Let us stay here and rest awhile." And another, "Let us row to
+the shore, and hear the words they sing." And another, "I care not for
+the words, but for the music. They shall sing me to sleep, that I may
+rest."
+
+And Butes, the son of Pandion, the fairest of all mortal men, leapt out
+and swam toward the shore, crying, "I come, I come, fair maidens, to
+live and die here, listening to your song."
+
+Then Medeia clapped her hands together, and cried, "Sing louder,
+Orpheus, sing a bolder strain; wake up these hapless sluggards, or none
+of them will see the land of Hellas more."
+
+Then Orpheus lifted his harp, and crashed his cunning hand across the
+strings; and his music and his voice rose like a trumpet through the
+still evening air; into the air it rushed like thunder, till the rocks
+rang and the sea; and into their souls it rushed like wine, till all
+hearts beat fast within their breasts.
+
+And he sung the song of Perseus, how the Gods led him over land and sea,
+and how he slew the loathly Gorgon, and won himself a peerless bride;
+and how he sits now with the Gods upon Olympus, a shining star in the
+sky, immortal with his immortal bride, and honoured by all men below.
+
+So Orpheus sang, and the Sirens, answering each other across the golden
+sea, till Orpheus's voice drowned the Sirens, and the heroes caught
+their oars again.
+
+And they cried: "We will be men like Perseus, and we will dare and
+suffer to the last. Sing us his song again, brave Orpheus, that we may
+forget the Sirens and their spell."
+
+And as Orpheus sang, they dashed their oars into the sea, and kept time
+to his music, as they fled fast away; and the Sirens' voices died behind
+them, in the hissing of the foam along their wake.
+
+But Butes swam to the shore, and knelt down before the Sirens, and
+cried, "Sing on! sing on!" But he could say no more; for a charmed sleep
+came over him, and a pleasant humming in his ears; and he sank all along
+upon the pebbles, and forgot all heaven and earth, and never looked at
+that sad beach around him, all strewn with the bones of men.
+
+Then slowly rose up those three fair sisters, with a cruel smile upon
+their lips; and slowly they crept down toward him, like leopards who
+creep upon their prey; and their hands were like the talons of eagles,
+as they stept across the bones of their victims to enjoy their cruel
+feast.
+
+But fairest Aphrodite saw him from the highest Idalian peak, and she
+pitied his youth and his beauty, and leapt up from her golden throne;
+and like a falling star she cleft the sky, and left a trail of
+glittering light, till she stooped to the Isle of the Sirens, and
+snatched their prey from their claws. And she lifted Butes as he lay
+sleeping, and wrapt him in a golden mist; and she bore him to the peak
+of Lilybaeum; and he slept there many a pleasant year.
+
+But when the Sirens saw that they were conquered, they shrieked for envy
+and rage, and leapt from the beach into the sea, and were changed into
+rocks until this day.
+
+Then they came to the straits by Lilybaeum, and saw Sicily, the
+three-cornered island, under which Enceladus the giant lies groaning day
+and night, and when he turns the earth quakes, and his breath bursts out
+in roaring flames from the highest cone of AEtna, above the chestnut
+woods. And there Charybdis caught them in its fearful coils of wave, and
+rolled mast-high about them, and spun them round and round; and they
+could go neither back nor forward, while the whirlpool sucked them in.
+
+And while they struggled they saw near them, on the other side of the
+strait, a rock stand in the water, with a peak wrapt round in clouds; a
+rock which no man could climb, though he had twenty hands and feet, for
+the stone was smooth and slippery, as if polished by man's hand; and
+half way up a misty cave looked out toward the west.
+
+And when Orpheus saw it, he groaned, and struck his hands together. And
+"Little will it help to us," he cried, "to escape the jaws of the
+whirlpool; for in that cave lives Scylla, the sea-hag with a young
+whelp's voice; my mother warned me of her ere we sailed away from
+Hellas; she has six heads, and six long necks, and hides in that dark
+cleft. And from her cave she fishes for all things which pass by, for
+sharks, and seals, and dolphins, and all the herds of Amphitrite. And
+never ship's crew boasted that they came safe by her rock; for she bends
+her long necks down to them, and every mouth takes up a man And who will
+help us now? For Hera and Zeus hate us, and our ship is foul with guilt;
+so we must die, whatever befalls."
+
+Then out of the depths came Thetis, Peleus's silver-footed bride, for
+love of her gallant husband, and all her nymphs around her; and they
+played like snow-white dolphins, diving on from wave to wave, before the
+ship, and in her wake, and beside her, as dolphins play. And they caught
+the ship, and guided her, and passed her on from hand to hand, and
+tossed her through the billows, as maidens toss the ball. And when
+Scylla stooped to seize her, they struck back her ravening heads, and
+foul Scylla whined, as a whelp whines, at the touch of their gentle
+hands. But she shrank into her cave affrighted; for all bad things
+shrink from good; and Argo leapt safe past her, while a fair breeze rose
+behind. Then Thetis and her nymphs sank down to their gardens of green
+and purple, where live flowers of bloom all the year round; while the
+heroes went on rejoicing, yet dreading what might come next.
+
+After that they rowed on steadily for many a weary day, till they saw a
+long high island, and beyond it a mountain land. And they searched till
+they found a harbour, and there rowed boldly in. But after awhile they
+stopped, and wondered; for there stood a great city on the shore, and
+temples and walls and gardens, and castles high in air upon the cliffs.
+And on either side they saw a harbour, with a narrow mouth, but wide
+within; and black ships without number, high and dry upon the shore.
+
+Then Ancaius, the wise helmsman, spoke: "What new wonder is this? I know
+all isles, and harbours, and the windings of all the seas; and this
+should be Corcyra, where a few wild goatherds dwell. But whence come
+these new harbours, and vast works of polished stone?"
+
+But Jason said: "They can be no savage people. We will go in and take
+our chance."
+
+So they rowed into the harbour, among a thousand black-beaked ships,
+each larger far than Argo, toward a quay of polished stone. And they
+wondered at that mighty city, with its roofs of burnished brass, and
+long and lofty walls of marble, with strong palisades above. And the
+quays were full of people, merchants, and mariners, and slaves, going to
+and fro with merchandise among the crowd of ships. And the heroes'
+hearts were humbled, and they looked at each other and said: "We thought
+ourselves a gallant crew when we sailed from Iolcos by the sea; but how
+small we look before this city, like an ant before a hive of bees."
+
+Then the sailors hailed them roughly from the quay:
+
+"What men are you?--we want no strangers here, nor pirates. We keep our
+business to ourselves."
+
+But Jason answered gently, with many a flattering word, and praised
+their city and their harbour, and their fleet of gallant ships. "Surely
+you are the children of Poseidon, and the masters of the sea; and we are
+but poor wandering mariners, worn out with thirst and toil. Give us but
+food and water, and we will go on our voyage in peace."
+
+Then the sailors laughed and answered: "Stranger, you are no fool; you
+talk like an honest man, and you shall find us honest too. We are the
+children of Poseidon, and the masters of the sea; but come ashore to us,
+and you shall have the best that we can give."
+
+So they limped ashore, all stiff and weary, with long ragged beards and
+sunburnt cheeks, and garments torn and weather-stained, and weapons
+rusted with the spray, while the sailors laughed at them (for they were
+rough-tongued, though their hearts were frank and kind). And one said;
+"These fellows are but raw sailors; they look as if they had been
+sea-sick all the day." And another: "Their legs have grown crooked with
+much rowing, till they waddle in their walk like ducks."
+
+At that Idas the rash would have struck them; but Jason held him back,
+till one of the merchant kings spoke to them, a tall and stately man.
+
+"Do not be angry, strangers; the sailor boys must have their jest. But
+we will treat you justly and kindly, for strangers and poor men come
+from God; and you seem no common sailors by your strength, and height,
+and weapons. Come up with me to the palace of Alcinous, the rich
+sea-going king, and we will feast you well and heartily; and after that
+you shall tell us your name."
+
+But Medeia hung back, and trembled, and whispered in Jason's ear, "We
+are betrayed, and are going to our ruin; for I see my countrymen among
+the crowd; dark-eyed Colchi in steel mail shirts, such as they wear in
+my father's land."
+
+"It is too late to turn," said Jason. And he spoke to the merchant king:
+"What country is this, good sir; and what is this new-built town?"
+
+"This is the land of the Phaeaces, beloved by all the Immortals; for they
+come hither and feast like friends with us, and sit by our side in the
+hall. Hither we came from Liburnia to escape the unrighteous Cyclopes;
+for they robbed us, peaceful merchants, of our hard-earned wares and
+wealth. So Nausithous, the son of Poseidon, brought us hither, and died
+in peace; and now his son Alcinous rules us, and Arete the wisest of
+queens."
+
+So they went up across the square, and wondered still more as they went;
+for along the quays lay in order great cables, and yards, and masts,
+before the fair temple of Poseidon, the blue-haired king of the seas.
+And round the square worked the shipwrights, as many in number as ants,
+twining ropes, and hewing timber, and smoothing long yards and oars. And
+the Minuai went on in silence through clean white marble streets, till
+they came to the hall of Alcinous, and they wondered then still more.
+For the lofty palace shone aloft in the sun, with walls of plated brass,
+from the threshold to the innermost chamber, and the doors were of
+silver and gold. And on each side of the doorway sat living dogs of
+gold, who never grew old or died, so well Hephaistus had made them in
+his forges in smoking Lemnos, and gave them to Alcinous to guard his
+gates by night. And within, against the walls, stood thrones on either
+side, down the whole length of the hall, strewn with rich glossy
+shawls; and on them the merchant kings of those crafty sea-roving
+Phaeaces sat eating and drinking in pride, and feasting there all the
+year round. And boys of molten gold stood each on a polished altar, and
+held torches in their hands, to give light all night to the guests. And
+round the house sat fifty maid servants, some grinding the meal in the
+mill, some turning the spindle, some weaving at the loom, while their
+hands twinkled as they passed the shuttle, like quivering aspen leaves.
+
+And outside before the palace a great garden was walled round, filled
+full of stately fruit trees, with olives and sweet figs, and
+pomegranates, pears, and apples, which bore the whole year round. For
+the rich southwest wind fed them, till pear grew ripe on pear, fig on
+fig, and grape on grape, all the winter and the spring. And at the
+further end gay flower beds bloomed through all seasons of the year; and
+two fair fountains rose, and ran, one through the garden grounds, and
+one beneath the palace gate, to water all the town. Such noble gifts the
+heavens had given to Alcinous the wise.
+
+So they went in, and saw him sitting, like Poseidon, on his throne, with
+his golden sceptre by him, in garments stiff with gold, and in his hand
+a sculptured goblet, as he pledged the merchant kings; and beside him
+stood Arete, his wise and lovely queen, and leaned against a pillar, as
+she spun her golden threads.
+
+Then Alcinous rose, and welcomed them, and bade them sit and eat; and
+the servants brought them tables, and bread, and meat, and wine.
+
+But Medeia went on trembling toward Arete, the fair queen, and fell at
+her knees, and clasped them, and cried weeping as she knelt:
+
+"I am your guest, fair queen, and I entreat you be Zeus from whom
+prayers come. Do not send me back to my father, to die some dreadful
+death; but let me go my way, and bear my burden. Have I not had enough
+of punishment and shame?"
+
+"Who are you, strange maiden? and what is the meaning of your prayer?"
+
+"I am Medeia, daughter of Aietes, and I saw my countrymen here to-day;
+and I know that they are come to find me, and take me home to die some
+dreadful death."
+
+Then Arete frowned, and said: "Lead this girl in, my maidens; and let
+the kings decide, not I."
+
+And Alcinous leapt up from his throne, and cried, "Speak, strangers, who
+are you? And who is this maiden?"
+
+"We are the heroes of the Minuai," said Jason; "and this maiden has
+spoken truth. We are the men who took the golden fleece, the men whose
+fame has run round every shore. We came hither out of the ocean, after
+sorrows such as man never saw before. We went out many, and come back
+few, for many a noble comrade have we lost. So let us go, as you should
+let your guests go, in peace; that the world may say, 'Alcinous is a
+just king.'"
+
+But Alcinous frowned, and stood deep in thought; and at last he spoke:
+
+"Had not the deed been done, which is done, I should have said this day
+to myself, 'It is an honour to Alcinous, and to his children after him,
+that the far-famed Argonauts are his guests.' But these Colchi are my
+guests, as you are; and for this month they have waited here with all
+their fleet; for they have hunted all the seas of Hellas, and could not
+find you, and dared neither go further, nor go home."
+
+"Let them choose out their champions, and we will fight them, man for
+man."
+
+"No guest of ours shall fight upon our island; and if you go outside,
+they will outnumber you. I will do justice between you; for I know and
+do what is right."
+
+Then he turned to his kings, and said: "This may stand over till
+to-morrow. To-night we will feast our guests, and hear the story of all
+their wanderings, and how they came hither out of the ocean."
+
+So Alcinous bade the servants take the heroes in, and bathe them, and
+give them clothes. And they were glad when they saw the warm water, for
+it was long since they had bathed. And they washed off the sea salt from
+their limbs, and anointed themselves from head to foot with oil, and
+combed out their golden hair. Then they came back again into the hall,
+while the merchant kings rose up to do them honour. And each man said to
+his neighbour: "No wonder that these men won fame. How they stand now
+like Giants, or Titans, or Immortals come down from Olympus, though many
+a winter has worn them, and many a fearful storm. What must they have
+been when they sailed from Iolcos, in the bloom of their youth, long
+ago?"
+
+Then they went out to the garden; and the merchant princes said:
+"Heroes, run races with us. Let us see whose feet are nimblest."
+
+"We cannot race against you, for our limbs are stiff from sea; and we
+have lost our two swift comrades, the sons of the north wind. But do not
+think us cowards; if you wish to try our strength, we will shoot and
+box, and wrestle, against any men on earth."
+
+And Alcinous smiled, and answered: "I believe you, gallant guests; with
+your long limbs and broad shoulders, we could never match you here. For
+we care nothing here for boxing, or for shooting with the bow; but for
+feasts, and songs, and harping, and dancing, and running races, to
+stretch our limbs on shore."
+
+So they danced there and ran races, the jolly merchant kings, till the
+night fell, and all went in.
+
+And then they ate and drank, and comforted their weary souls, till
+Alcinous called a herald, and bade him go and fetch the harper.
+
+The herald went out, and fetched the harper, and led him in by the hand;
+and Alcinous cut him a piece of meat from the fattest of the haunch, and
+sent it to him, and said: "Sing to us, noble harper, and rejoice the
+heroes' hearts."
+
+So the harper played and sang, while the dancers danced strange figures;
+and after that the tumblers showed their tricks, till the heroes laughed
+again.
+
+Then, "Tell me, heroes," asked Alcinous, "you who have sailed the ocean
+round, and seen the manners of all nations, have you seen such dancers
+as ours here? or heard such music and such singing? We hold ours to be
+the best on earth."
+
+"Such dancing we have never seen," said Orpheus; "and your singer is a
+happy man; for Phoebus himself must have taught him, or else he is the
+son of a Muse; as I am also, and have sung once or twice, though not so
+well as he."
+
+"Sing to us, then, noble stranger," said Alcinous; "and we will give you
+precious gifts."
+
+So Orpheus took his magic harp, and sang to them a stirring song of
+their voyage from Iolcos, and their dangers, and how they won the
+golden fleece; and of Medeia's love, and how she helped them, and went
+with them over land and sea; and of all their fearful dangers, from
+monsters, and rocks, and storms, till the heart of Arete was softened,
+and all the women wept. And the merchant kings rose up, each man from
+off his golden throne, and clasped their hands, and shouted: "Hail to
+the noble Argonauts, who sailed the unknown seal"
+
+Then he went on, and told their journey over the sluggish northern main,
+and through the shoreless outer ocean, to the fairy island of the West;
+and of the Sirens, and Scylla, and Charybdis, and all the wonders they
+had seen, till midnight passed, and the day dawned; but the kings never
+thought of sleep. Each man sat still and listened, with his chin upon
+his hand.
+
+And at last when Orpheus had ended, they all went thoughtful out, and
+the heroes lay down to sleep, beneath the sounding porch outside, where
+Arete had strewn them rugs and carpets, in the sweet still summer night.
+
+But Arete pleaded hard with her husband for Medeia, for her heart was
+softened. And she said: "The Gods will punish her, not we. After all,
+she is our guest and my suppliant, and prayers are the daughters of
+Zeus. And who, too, dare part man and wife, after all they have endured
+together?"
+
+And Alcinous smiled. "The minstrel's song has charmed you; but I must
+remember what is right; for songs cannot alter justice; and I must be
+faithful to my name. Alcinous I am called, the man of sturdy sense, and
+Alcinous I will be." But for all that, Arete besought him, until she won
+him round.
+
+So next morning he sent a herald, and called the kings into the square,
+and said: "This is a puzzling matter; remember but one thing. These
+Minuai live close by us, and we may meet them often on the seas; but
+Aietes lives afar off, and we have only heard his name. Which, then, of
+the two is it safer to offend, the men near us, or the men far off?"
+
+The princes laughed, and praised his wisdom; and Alcinous called the
+heroes to the square, and the Colchi also; and they came and stood
+opposite each other; but Medeia stayed in the palace. Then Alcinous
+spoke: "Heroes of the Colchi, what is your errand about this lady?"
+
+"To carry her home with us, that she may die a shameful death; but if we
+return without her, we must die the death she should have died."
+
+"What say you to this, Jason the AEolid?" said Alcinous, turning to the
+Minuai.
+
+"I say," said the cunning Jason, "that they are come here on a bootless
+errand. Do you think that you can make her follow you, heroes of the
+Colchi? her, who knows all spells and charms? She will cast away your
+ships on quicksands, or call down on you Brimo the wild huntress; or the
+chains will fall from off her wrists, and she will escape in her dragon
+car; or if not thus, some other way; for she has a thousand plans and
+wiles. And why return home at all, brave heroes, and face the long seas
+again, and the Bosphorus, and the stormy Euxine, and double all your
+toil? There is many a fair land round these coasts, which waits for
+gallant men like you. Better to settle there, and build a city, and let
+Aietes and Colchis help themselves."
+
+Then a murmur rose among the Colchi, and some cried, "He has spoken
+well"; and some, "We have had enough of roving, we will sail the seas
+no more!" And the chief said at last, "Be it so, then; a plague she has
+been to us, and a plague to the house of her father, and a plague she
+will be to you. Take her, since you are no wiser; and we will sail away
+toward the north."
+
+Then Alcinous gave them food, and water, and garments, and rich presents
+of all sorts; and he gave the same to the Minuai, and sent them all away
+in peace.
+
+So Jason kept the dark witch maiden to breed him woe and shame; and the
+Colchi went northward into the Adriatic, and settled, and built towns
+along the shore.
+
+Then the heroes rowed away to the eastward, to reach Hellas their
+beloved land; but a storm came down upon them, and swept them far away
+toward the south. And they rowed till they were spent with struggling,
+through the darkness and the blinding rain, but where they were they
+could not tell, and they gave up all hope of life. And at last they
+touched the ground, and when daylight came they waded to the shore; and
+saw nothing round but sand, and desolate salt pools; for they had come
+to the quicksands of the Syrtis, and the dreary treeless flats, which
+lie between Numidia and Cyrene, on the burning shore of Africa. And
+there they wandered starving for many a weary day, ere they could launch
+their ship again, and gain the open sea. And there Canthus was killed
+while he was trying to drive off sheep, by a stone which a herdsman
+threw.
+
+And there, too, Mopsus died, the seer who knew the voices of all birds;
+but he could not foretell his own end, for he was bitten in the foot by
+a snake, one of those which sprang from the Gorgon's head when Perseus
+carried it across the sands.
+
+At last they rowed away toward the northward, for many a weary day,
+till their water was spent, and their food eaten; and they were worn out
+with hunger and thirst. But at last they saw a long steep island, and a
+blue peak high among the clouds; and they knew it for the peak of Ida,
+and the famous land of Crete. And they said, "We will land in Crete, and
+see Minos the just king, and all his glory and his wealth; at least he
+will treat us hospitably, and let us fill our water casks upon the
+shore."
+
+But when they came nearer to the island they saw a wondrous sight upon
+the cliffs. For on a cape to the westward stood a giant, taller than any
+mountain pine; who glittered aloft against the sky like a tower of
+burnished brass. He turned and looked on all sides round him, till he
+saw the Argo and her crew; and when he saw them he came toward them,
+more swiftly than the swiftest horse, leaping across the glens at a
+bound, and striding at one step from down to down. And when he came
+abreast of them he brandished his arms up and down, as a ship hoists and
+lowers her yards, and shouted with his brazen throat like a trumpet from
+off the hills: "You are pirates, you are robbers! If you dare land here,
+you die."
+
+Then the heroes cried: "We are no pirates. We are all good men and true;
+and all we ask is food and water"; but the giant cried the more--
+
+"You are robbers, you are pirates all; I know you; and if you land, you
+shall die the death."
+
+Then he waved his arms again as a signal, and they saw the people flying
+inland, driving their flocks before them, while a great flame arose
+among the hills. Then the giant ran up a valley and vanished; and the
+heroes lay on their oars in fear.
+
+But Medeia stood watching all, from under her steep black brows, with a
+cunning smile upon her lips, and a cunning plot within her heart. At
+last she spoke; "I know this giant. I heard of him in the East.
+Hephaistos the Fire King made him, in his forge in AEtna beneath the
+earth, and called him Talus, and gave him to Minos for a servant, to
+guard the coast of Crete. Thrice a day he walks round the island, and
+never stops to sleep; and if strangers land he leaps into his furnace,
+which flames there among the hills; and when he is red hot he rushes on
+them, and burns them in his brazen hands."
+
+Then all the heroes cried, "What shall we do, wise Medeia? We must have
+water, or we die of thirst. Flesh and blood we can face fairly; but who
+can face this red-hot brass?"
+
+"I can face red-hot brass, if the tale I hear be true. For they say
+that he has but one vein in all his body, filled with liquid fire; and
+that this vein is closed with a nail; but I know not where that nail is
+placed. But if I can get it once into these hands, you shall water your
+ship here in peace."
+
+Then she bade them put her on shore, and row off again, and wait what
+would befall.
+
+And the heroes obeyed her unwillingly; for they were ashamed to leave
+her so alone; but Jason said, "She is dearer to me than to any of you,
+yet I will trust her freely on shore; she has more plots than we can
+dream of, in the windings of that fair and cunning head."
+
+So they left the witch maiden on the shore; and she stood there in her
+beauty all alone, till the giant strode back red hot from head to heel,
+while the grass hissed and smoked beneath his tread.
+
+And when he saw the maiden alone, he stopped; and she looked boldly up
+into his face without moving, and began her magic song:
+
+"Life is short, though life is sweet; and even men of brass and fire
+must die. The brass must rust, the fire must cool, for time gnaws all
+things in their turn. Life is short, though life is sweet; but sweeter
+to live forever; sweeter to live ever youthful like the Gods, who have
+ichor in their veins; ichor which gives life, and youth, and joy, and a
+bounding heart."
+
+Then Talus said, "Who are you, strange maiden; and where is this ichor
+of youth?"
+
+Then Medeia held up a flask of crystal, and said, "Here is the ichor of
+youth. I am Medeia the enchantress; my sister Circe gave me this, and
+said, 'Go and reward Talus the faithful servant, for his fame is gone
+out into all lands.' So come, and I will pour this into your veins, that
+you may live forever young."
+
+And he listened to her false words, that simple Talus, and came near;
+and Medeia said, "Dip yourself in the sea first, and cool yourself, lest
+you burn my tender hands, then show me where the nail in your vein is,
+that I may pour the ichor in."
+
+Then that simple Talus dipped himself in the sea, till it hissed, and
+roared, and smoked; and came and knelt before Medeia, and showed her the
+secret nail.
+
+And she drew the nail out gently; but she poured no ichor in; and
+instead the liquid fire spouted forth, like a stream of red-hot iron.
+And Talus tried to leap up, crying, "You have betrayed me, false witch
+maiden!" But she lifted up her hands before him, and sang, till he sank
+beneath her spell. And as he sank, his brazen limbs clanked heavily, and
+the earth groaned beneath his weight; and the liquid fire ran from his
+heel, like a stream of lava to the sea; and Medeia laughed, and called
+to the heroes, "Come ashore, and water your ship in peace."
+
+So they came, and found the giant lying dead; and they fell down, and
+kissed Medeia's feet; and watered their ship, and took sheep and oxen,
+and so left that inhospitable shore.
+
+At last, after many more adventures, they came to the Cape of Malea, at
+the southwest point of the Peloponnese. And there they offered
+sacrifices, and Orpheus purged them from their guilt. Then they rowed
+away again to the northward, past the Laconian shore, and came all worn
+and tired by Sunium, and up the long Euboean Strait, until they saw
+once more Pelion, and Aphetai, and Iolcos by the sea.
+
+And they ran the ship ashore; but they had no strength left to haul her
+up the beach; and they crawled out on the pebbles, and sat down, and
+wept till they could weep no more. For the houses and the trees were all
+altered; and all the faces which they saw were strange; and their joy
+was swallowed up in sorrow, while they thought of their youth, and all
+their labour, and the gallant comrades they had lost.
+
+And the people crowded round, and asked them, "Who are you, that you sit
+weeping here?"
+
+"We are the sons of your princes, who sailed out many a year ago. We
+went to fetch the golden fleece; and we have brought it, and grief
+therewith. Give us news of our fathers and our mothers, if any of them
+be left alive on earth."
+
+Then there was shouting and laughing, and weeping; and all the kings
+came to the shore, and they led away the heroes to their homes, and
+bewailed the valiant dead.
+
+Then Jason went up with Medeia to the palace of his uncle Pelias. And
+when he came in, Pelias sat by the hearth, crippled and blind with age;
+while opposite him sat AEson, Jason's father, crippled and blind
+likewise; and the two old men's heads shook together, as they tried to
+warm themselves before the fire.
+
+And Jason fell down at his father's knees, and wept, and called him by
+his name. And the old man stretched his hands out, and felt him, and
+said: "Do not mock me, young hero. My son Jason is dead long ago at
+sea."
+
+"I am your own son Jason, whom you trusted to the Centaur upon Pelion;
+and I have brought home the golden fleece, and a princess of the Sun's
+race for my bride. So now give me up the kingdom, Pelias my uncle, and
+fulfil your promise as I have fulfilled mine."
+
+Then his father clung to him like a child, and wept, and would not let
+him go; and cried, "Now I shall not go down lonely to my grave. Promise
+me never to leave me till I die."
+
+
+PART VI
+
+_What Was the End of the Heroes_
+
+And now I wish that I could end my story pleasantly; but it is no fault
+of mine that I cannot. The old songs end it sadly, and I believe that
+they are right and wise; for though the heroes were purified at Malea,
+yet sacrifices cannot make bad hearts good, and Jason had taken a wicked
+wife, and he had to bear his burden to the last.
+
+And first she laid a cunning plot, to punish that poor old Pelias,
+instead of letting him die in peace.
+
+For she told his daughters: "I can make old things young again; I will
+show you how easy it is to do." So she took an old ram and killed him,
+and put him in a cauldron with magic herbs; and whispered her spells
+over him, and he leapt out again a young lamb. So that "Medeia's
+cauldron" is a proverb still, by which we mean times of war and change,
+when the world has become old and feeble, and grows young again through
+bitter pains.
+
+Then she said to Pelias's daughters: "Do to your father as I did to this
+ram, and he will grow young and strong again." But she only told them
+half the spell; so they failed, while Medeia mocked them; and poor old
+Pelias died, and his daughters came to misery. But the songs say she
+cured AEson, Jason's father, and he became young and strong again.
+
+But Jason could not love her, after all her cruel deeds. So he was
+ungrateful to her, and wronged her: and she revenged herself on him. And
+a terrible revenge she took--too terrible to speak of here. But you will
+hear of it yourselves when you grow up, for it has been sung in noble
+poetry and music; and whether it be true or not, it stands forever as a
+warning to us, not to seek for help from evil persons, or to gain good
+ends by evil means. For if we use an adder even against our enemies, it
+will turn again and sting us.
+
+But of all the other heroes there is many a brave tale left, which I
+have no space to tell you, so you must read them for yourselves--of the
+hunting of the boar in Calydon, which Meleager killed; and of Heracles's
+twelve famous labours; and of the seven who fought at Thebes; and of
+the noble love of Castor and Polydeuces, the twin Dioscouroi; how when
+one died, the other would not live without him, so they shared their
+immortality between them; and Zeus changed them into the two twin stars,
+which never rise both at once.
+
+And what became of Cheiron, the good immortal beast? That, too, is a sad
+story; for the heroes never saw him more. He was wounded by a poisoned
+arrow, at Pholoc among the hills, when Heracles opened the fatal wine
+jar, which Cheiron had warned him not to touch. And the Centaurs smelt
+the wine, and flocked to it, and fought for it with Heracles; but he
+killed them all with his poisoned arrows, and Cheiron was left alone.
+Then Cheiron took up one of the arrows, and dropped it by chance upon
+his foot; and the poison ran like fire along his veins, and he lay down,
+and longed to die; and cried: "Through wine I perish, the bane of all my
+race. Why should I live forever in this agony? Who will take my
+immortality that I may die?"
+
+Then Prometheus answered, the good Titan, whom Heracles had set free
+from Caucasus: "I will take your immortality and live forever, that I
+may help poor mortal men." So Cheiron gave him his immortality, and
+died, and had rest from pain. And Heracles and Prometheus wept over him,
+and went to bury him on Pelion; but Zeus took him up among the stars, to
+live forever, grand and mild, low down in the far southern sky.
+
+And in time the heroes died, all but Nestor the silver-tongued old man;
+and left behind them valiant sons, but not so great as they had been.
+Yet their fame, too, lives till this day; for they fought at the ten
+years' siege of Troy; and their story is in the book which we call
+Homer, in two of the noblest songs on earth; the Iliad, which tells us
+of the siege of Troy, and Achilles's quarrel with the kings; and the
+Odyssey, which tells the wanderings of Odysseus, through many lands for
+many years; and how Alcinous sent him home at last, safe to Ithaca his
+beloved island, and to Penelope his faithful wife, and Telemachus his
+son, and Euphorbus the noble swineherd, and the old dog who licked his
+hand and died.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE GIANT BUILDER
+
+
+Ages and ages ago, when the world was first made, the gods decided to
+build a beautiful city high above the heavens, the most glorious and
+wonderful city that ever was known. Asgard was to be its name, and it
+was to stand on Ida Plain under the shade of Yggdrasil, the great tree
+whose roots were underneath the earth.
+
+First of all they built a house with a silver roof, where there were
+seats for all the twelve chiefs. In the midst, and high above the rest,
+was the wonder throne of Odin the All-Father, whence he could see
+everything that happened in the sky or on the earth or in the sea. Next
+they made a fair house for Queen Frigg and her lovely daughters. Then
+they built a smithy, with its great hammers, tongs, anvils, and bellows,
+where the gods could work at their favourite trade, the making of
+beautiful things out of gold; which they did so well that folk name that
+time the Golden Age. Afterward, as they had more leisure, they built
+separate houses for all the AEsir, each more beautiful than the
+preceding, for of course they were continually growing more skilful.
+They saved Father Odin's palace until the last, for they meant this to
+be the largest and the most splendid of all.
+
+Gladsheim, the home of joy, was the name of Odin's house, and it was
+built all of gold, set in the midst of a wood whereof the trees had
+leaves of ruddy gold--like an autumn-gilded forest. For the safety of
+All-Father it was surrounded by a roaring river and by a high picket
+fence; and there was a great courtyard within.
+
+The glory of Gladsheim was its wondrous hall, radiant with gold, the
+most lovely room that time has ever seen. Valhalla, the Hall of Heroes,
+was the name of it, and it was roofed with the mighty shields of
+warriors. The ceiling was made of interlacing spears, and there was a
+portal at the west end before which hung a great gray wolf, while over
+him a fierce eagle hovered. The hall was so huge that it had 540 gates,
+through each of which 800 men could march abreast. Indeed, there needed
+to be room, for this was the hall where every morning Odin received all
+the brave warriors who had died in battle on the earth below; and there
+were many heroes in those days.
+
+This was the reward which the gods gave to courage. When a hero had
+gloriously lost his life, the Valkyries, the nine warrior daughters of
+Odin, brought his body up to Valhalla on their white horses that gallop
+the clouds. There they lived forever after in happiness, enjoying the
+things that they had most loved upon earth. Every morning they armed
+themselves and went out to fight with one another in the great
+courtyard. It was a wondrous game, wondrously played. No matter how
+often a hero was killed, he became alive again in time to return
+perfectly well to Valhalla, where he ate a delicious breakfast with the
+Jisir; while the beautiful Valkyries who had first brought him thither
+waited at table and poured the blessed mead, which only the immortal
+taste. A happy life it was for the heroes, and a happy life for all who
+dwelt in Asgard; for this was before trouble had come among the gods,
+following the mischief of Loki.
+
+This is how the trouble began. From the beginning of time, the giants
+had been unfriendly to the AEsir, because the giants were older and huger
+and more wicked; besides, they were jealous because the good AEsir were
+fast gaining more wisdom and power than the giants had ever known. It
+was the AEsir who set the fair brother and sister, Sun and Moon, in the
+sky to give light to men; and it was they also who made the jewelled
+stars out of sparks from the place of fire. The giants hated the AEsir,
+and tried all in their power to injure them and the men of the earth
+below, whom the AEsir loved and cared for. The gods had already built a
+wall around Midgard, the world of men, to keep the giants out; built it
+of the bushy eyebrows of Ymir, the oldest and hugest of giants. Between
+Asgard and the giants flowed Ifing, the great river on which ice never
+formed, and which the gods crossed on the rainbow bridge. But this was
+not protection enough. Their beautiful new city needed a fortress.
+
+So the word went forth in Asgard: "We must build us a fortress against
+the giants; the hugest, strongest, finest fortress that ever was built."
+
+Now one day, soon after they had announced this decision, there came a
+mighty man stalking up the rainbow bridge that led to Asgard city.
+
+"Who goes there!" cried Heimdal the watchman, whose eyes were so keen
+that he could see for a hundred miles around, and whose ears were so
+sharp that he could hear the grass growing in the meadow and the wool on
+the backs of the sheep. "Who goes there! No one can enter Asgard if I
+say no."
+
+"I am a builder," said the stranger, who was a huge fellow with sleeves
+rolled up to show the iron muscles of his arms. "I am a builder of
+strong towers, and I have heard that the folk of Asgard need one to help
+them raise a fair fortress in their city."
+
+Heimdal looked at the stranger narrowly, for there was that about him
+which his sharp eyes did not like. But he made no answer, only blew on
+his golden horn, which was so loud that it sounded through all the
+world. At this signal all the AEsir came running to the rainbow bridge,
+from wherever they happened to be, to find out who was coming to Asgard.
+For it was Heimdal's duty ever to warn them of the approach of the
+unknown.
+
+"This fellow says he is a builder," quoth Heimdal. "And he would fain
+build us a fortress in the city."
+
+"Ay, that I would," nodded the stranger, "Look at my iron arm; look at
+my broad back; look at my shoulders. Am I not the workman you need?"
+
+"Truly, he is a mighty figure," vowed Odin, looking at him approvingly.
+"How long will it take you alone to build our fortress? We can allow but
+one stranger at a time within our city, for safety's sake."
+
+"In three half-years," replied the stranger, "I will undertake to build
+for you a castle so strong that not even the giants, should they swarm
+hither over Midgard--not even they could enter without your leave."
+
+"Aha!" cried Father Odin, well pleased at this offer. "And what reward
+do you ask, friend, for help so timely?"
+
+The stranger hummed and hawed and pulled his long beard while he
+thought. Then he spoke suddenly, as if the idea had just come into his
+mind. "I will name my price, friends," he said; "a small price for so
+great a deed. I ask you to give me Freia for my wife, and those two
+sparkling jewels, the Sun and Moon."
+
+At this demand the gods looked grave; for Freia was their dearest
+treasure. She was the most beautiful maid who ever lived, the light and
+life of heaven, and if she should leave Asgard, joy would go with her;
+while the Sun and Moon were the light and life of the AEsir's children,
+men, who lived in the little world below. But Loki the sly whispered
+that they would be safe enough if they made another condition on their
+part, so hard that the builder could not fulfil it. After thinking
+cautiously, he spoke for them all.
+
+"Mighty man," quoth he, "we are willing to agree to your price--upon one
+condition. It is too long a time that you ask; we cannot wait three
+half-years for our castle; that is equal to three centuries when one is
+in a hurry. See that you finish the fort without help in one winter, one
+short winter, and you shall have fair Freia with the Sun and Moon. But
+if, on the first day of summer, one stone is wanting to the walls, or if
+anyone has given you aid in the building, then your reward is lost, and
+you shall depart without payment." So spoke Loki, in the name of all the
+gods; but the plan was his own.
+
+At first the stranger shook his head and frowned, saying that in so
+short a time no one unaided could complete the undertaking. At last he
+made another offer. "Let me have but my good horse to help me, and I
+will try," he urged. "Let me bring the useful Svadilfoeri with me to the
+task, and I will finish the work in one winter of short days, or lose my
+reward. Surely, you will not deny me this little help, from one
+four-footed friend."
+
+Then again the AEsir consulted, and the wiser of them were doubtful
+whether it were best to accept the stranger's offer so strangely made.
+But again Loki urged them to accept. "Surely, there is no harm," he
+said. "Even with his old horse to help him, he cannot build the castle
+in the promised time. We shall gain a fortress without trouble and with
+never a price to pay."
+
+Loki was so eager that, although the other AEsir did not like this crafty
+way of making bargains, they finally consented. Then in the presence of
+the heroes, with the Valkyries and Mimer's head for witnesses, the
+stranger and the AEsir gave solemn promise that the bargain should be
+kept.
+
+On the first day of winter the strange builder began his work, and
+wondrous was the way he set about it. His strength seemed as the
+strength of a hundred men. As for his horse Svadilfoeri, he did more work
+by half than even the mighty builder. In the night he dragged the
+enormous rocks that were to be used in building the castle, rocks as big
+as mountains of the earth; while in the daytime the stranger piled them
+into place with his iron arms. The AEsir watched him with amazement;
+never was seen such strength in Asgard. Neither Tyr the stout nor
+Thor the strong could match the power of the stranger. The gods began to
+look at one another uneasily. Who was this mighty one who had come among
+them, and what if after all he should win his reward? Freia trembled in
+her palace, and the Sun and Moon grew dim with fear.
+
+Still the work went on, and the fort was piling higher and higher, by
+day and by night. There were but three days left before the end of
+winter, and already the building was so tall and so strong that it was
+safe from the attacks of any giant. The AEsir were delighted with their
+fine new castle; but their pride was dimmed by the fear that it must be
+paid for at all too costly a price. For only the gateway remained to be
+completed, and unless the stranger should fail to finish that in the
+next three days, they must give him Freia with the Sun and Moon.
+
+The AEsir held a meeting upon Ida Plain, a meeting full of fear and
+anger. At last they realised what they had done; they had made a bargain
+with one of the giants, their enemies; and if he won the prize, it would
+mean sorrow and darkness in heaven and upon earth. "How did we happen to
+agree to so mad a bargain?" they asked one another. "Who suggested the
+wicked plan which bids fair to cost us all that we most cherish?" Then
+they remembered that it was Loki who had made the plan; it was he who
+had insisted that it be carried out; and they blamed him for all the
+trouble.
+
+"It is your counsels, Loki, that have brought this danger upon us,"
+quoth Father Odin, frowning. "You chose the way of guile, which is not
+our way. It now remains for you to help us by guile, if you can. But if
+you cannot save for us Freia and the Sun and Moon, you shall die. This
+is my word." All the other AEsir agreed that this was just. Thor alone
+was away hunting evil demons at the other end of the world, so he did
+not know what was going on, and what dangers were threatening Asgard.
+
+Loki was much frightened at the word of All-Father. "It was my fault,"
+he cried, "but how was I to know that he was a giant? He had disguised
+himself so that he seemed but a strong man. And as for his horse--it
+looks much like that of other folk. If it were not for the horse, he
+could not finish the work. Ha! I have a thought! The builder shall not
+finish the gate; the giant shall not receive his payment. I will cheat
+the fellow."
+
+Now it was the last night of winter, and there remained but a few stones
+to put in place on the top of the wondrous gateway. The giant was sure
+of his prize, and chuckled to himself as he went out with his horse to
+drag the remaining stones; for he did not know that the AEsir had guessed
+at last who he was, and that Loki was plotting to outwit him. Hardly had
+he gone to work when out of the wood came running a pretty little mare,
+who neighed to Svadilfoeri as if inviting the tired horse to leave his
+work and come to the green fields for a holiday.
+
+Svadilfoeri, you must remember, had been working hard all winter, with
+never a sight of four-footed creature of his kind, and he was very
+lonesome and tired of dragging stones. Giving a snort of disobedience,
+off he ran after this new friend toward the grassy meadows. Off went the
+giant after him, howling with rage, and running for dear life, as he saw
+not only his horse but his chance of success slipping out of reach. It
+was a mad chase, and all Asgard thundered with the noise of galloping
+hoofs and the giant's mighty tread. The mare who raced ahead was Loki in
+disguise, and he led Svadilfoeri far out of reach, to a hidden meadow
+that he knew; so that the giant howled and panted up and down all night
+long, without catching even a sight of his horse.
+
+Now when the morning came the gateway was still unfinished, and night
+and winter had ended at the same hour. The giant's time was over, and he
+had forfeited his reward. The AEsir came flocking to the gateway, and
+how they laughed and triumphed when they found three stones wanting to
+complete the gate!
+
+"You have failed, fellow," judged Father Odin sternly, "and no price
+shall we pay for work that is still undone. You have failed. Leave
+Asgard quickly; we have seen all we want of you and of your race."
+
+Then the giant knew that he was discovered, and he was mad with rage.
+"It was a trick!" he bellowed, assuming his own proper form, which was
+huge as a mountain, and towered high beside the fortress that he had
+built. "It was a wicked trick. You shall pay for this in one way or
+another. I cannot tear down the castle which, ungrateful ones, I have
+built you, stronger than the strength of any giant. But I will demolish
+the rest of your shining city!" Indeed, he would have done so in his
+mighty rage; but at this moment Thor, whom Heimdal had called from the
+end of the earth by one blast of the golden horn, came rushing to the
+rescue, drawn in his chariot of goats. Thor jumped to the ground close
+beside the giant, and before that huge fellow knew what had happened,
+his head was rolling upon the ground at Father Odin's feet; for with one
+blow Thor had put an end to the giant's wickedness and had saved Asgard.
+
+"This is the reward you deserve!" Thor cried. "Not Freia nor the Sun and
+Moon, but the death that I have in store for all the enemies of the
+AEsir."
+
+In this extraordinary way the noble city of Asgard was made safe and
+complete by the addition of a fortress which no one, not even the giant
+who built it, could injure, it was so wonder-strong. But always at the
+top of the gate were lacking three great stones that no one was mighty
+enough to lift. This was a reminder to the AEsir that now they had the
+race of giants for their everlasting enemies. And though Loki's trick
+had saved them Freia, and for the world the Sun and Moon, it was the
+beginning of trouble in Asgard which lasted as long as Loki lived to
+make mischief with his guile.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HOW ODIN LOST HIS EYE
+
+
+In the beginning of things, before there was any world or sun, moon, and
+stars, there were the giants; for these were the oldest creatures that
+ever breathed. They lived in Jotunheim, the land of frost and darkness,
+and their hearts were evil. Next came the gods, the good AEsir, who made
+earth and sky and sea, and who dwelt in Asgard, above the heavens. Then
+were created the queer little dwarfs, who lived underground in the
+caverns of the mountains, working at their mines of metal and precious
+stones. Last of all, the gods made men to dwell in Midgard, the good
+world that we know, between which and the glorious home of the AEsir
+stretched Bifroest, the bridge of rainbows.
+
+In those days, folk say, there was a mighty ash tree named Yggdrasil, so
+vast that its branches shaded the whole earth and stretched up into
+heaven where the AEsir dwelt, while its roots sank far down below the
+lowest depth. In the branches of the big ash tree lived a queer family
+of creatures. First, there was a great eagle, who was wiser than any
+bird that ever lived--except the two ravens, Thought and Memory, who sat
+upon Father Odin's shoulders and told him the secrets which they learned
+in their flight over the wide world. Near the great eagle perched a
+hawk, and four antlered deer browsed among the buds of Yggdrasil. At
+the foot of the tree coiled a huge serpent, who was always gnawing
+hungrily at its roots, with a whole colony of little snakes to keep him
+company--so many that they could never be counted. The eagle at the top
+of the tree and the serpent at its foot were enemies, always saying hard
+things of each other. Between the two skipped up and down a little
+squirrel, a tale bearer and a gossip, who repeated each unkind remark
+and, like the malicious neighbour that he was, kept their quarrel ever
+fresh and green.
+
+In one place at the roots of Yggdrasil was a fair fountain called the
+Urdar-well, where the three Norn maidens, who knew the past, present,
+and future, dwelt with their pets, the two white swans. This was magic
+water in the fountain, which the Norns sprinkled every day upon the
+giant tree to keep it green--water so sacred that everything which
+entered it became white as the film of an eggshell. Close beside this
+sacred well the AEsir had their council hall, to which they galloped
+every morning over the rainbow bridge.
+
+But Father Odin, the king of all the AEsir, knew of another fountain more
+wonderful still; the two ravens whom he sent forth to bring him news had
+told him. This also was below the roots of Yggdrasil, in the spot where
+the sky and ocean met. Here for centuries and centuries the giant Mimer
+had sat keeping guard over his hidden well, in the bottom of which lay
+such a treasure of wisdom as was to be found nowhere else in the world.
+Every morning Mimer dipped his glittering horn Gioell into the fountain
+and drew out a draught of the wondrous water, which he drank to make him
+wise. Every day he grew wiser and wiser; and as this had been going on
+ever since the beginning of things, you can scarcely imagine how wise
+Mimer was.
+
+Now it did not seem right to Father Odin that a giant should have all
+this wisdom to himself; for the giants were the enemies of the AEsir, and
+the wisdom which they had been hoarding for ages before the gods were
+made was generally used for evil purposes. Moreover, Odin longed and
+longed to become the wisest being in the world. So he resolved to win a
+draught from Mimer's well, if in any way that could be done.
+
+One night, when the sun had set behind the mountains of Midgard, Odin
+put on his broad-brimmed hat and his striped cloak, and taking his
+famous staff in his hand, trudged down the long bridge to where it ended
+by Mimer's secret grotto.
+
+"Good-day, Mimer," said Odin, entering; "I have come for a drink from
+your well."
+
+The giant was sitting with his knees drawn up to his chin, his long
+white beard falling over his folded arms, and his head nodding; for
+Mimer was very old, and he often fell asleep while watching over his
+precious spring. He woke with a frown at Odin's words. "You want a drink
+from my well, do you?" he growled. "Hey! I let no one drink from my
+well."
+
+"Nevertheless, you must let me have a draught from your glittering
+horn," insisted Odin, "and I will pay you for it."
+
+"Oho, you will pay me for it, will you?" echoed Mimer, eyeing his
+visitor keenly. For now that he was wide awake, his wisdom taught him
+that this was no ordinary stranger. "What will you pay for a drink from
+my well, and why do you wish it so much?"
+
+"I can see with my eyes all that goes on in heaven and upon earth,"
+said Odin, "but I cannot see into the depths of ocean. I lack the hidden
+wisdom of the deep--the wit that lies at the bottom of your fountain. My
+ravens tell me many secrets; but I would know all. And as for payment,
+ask what you will, and I will pledge anything in return for the draught
+of wisdom."
+
+Then Mimer's keen glance grew keener. "You are Odin, of the race of
+gods," he cried. "We giants are centuries older than you, and our wisdom
+which we have treasured during these ages, when we were the only
+creatures in all space, is a precious thing. If I grant you a draught
+from my well, you will become as one of us, a wise and dangerous enemy.
+It is a goodly price, Odin, which I shall demand for a boon so great."
+
+Now Odin was growing impatient for the sparkling water. "Ask your
+price," he frowned. "I have promised that I will pay."
+
+"What say you, then, to leaving one of those far-seeing eyes of yours at
+the bottom of my well?" asked Mimer, hoping that he would refuse the
+bargain. "This is the only payment I will take."
+
+Odin hesitated. It was indeed a heavy price, and one that he could ill
+afford, for he was proud of his noble beauty. But he glanced at the
+magic fountain bubbling mysteriously in the shadow, and he knew that he
+must have the draught.
+
+"Give me the glittering horn," he answered. "I pledge you my eye for a
+draught to the brim."
+
+Very unwillingly Mimer filled the horn from the fountain of wisdom and
+handed it to Odin. "Drink, then," he said; "drink and grow wise. This
+hour is the beginning of trouble between your race and mine." And wise
+Mimer foretold the truth.
+
+Odin thought merely of the wisdom which was to be his. He seized the
+horn eagerly, and emptied it without delay. From that moment he became
+wiser than anyone else in the world except Mimer himself.
+
+Now he had the price to pay, which was not so pleasant. When he went
+away from the grotto, he left at the bottom of the dark pool one of his
+fiery eyes, which twinkled and winked up through the magic depths like
+the reflection of a star. This is how Odin lost his eye, and why from
+that day he was careful to pull his gray hat low over his face when he
+wanted to pass unnoticed. For by this oddity folk could easily recognise
+the wise lord of Asgard.
+
+In the bright morning, when the sun rose over the mountains of Midgard,
+old Mimer drank from his bubbly well a draught of the wise water that
+flowed over Odin's pledge. Doing so, from his underground grotto he saw
+all that befell in heaven and on earth. So that he also was wiser by the
+bargain. Mimer seemed to have secured rather the best of it; for he lost
+nothing that he could not spare, while Odin lost what no man can well
+part with--one of the good windows wherethrough his heart looks out upon
+the world. But there was a sequel to these doings which made the balance
+swing down in Odin's favour.
+
+Not long after this, the AEsir quarrelled with the Vanir, wild enemies of
+theirs, and there was a terrible battle. But in the end the two sides
+made peace; and to prove that they meant never to quarrel again, they
+exchanged hostages. The Vanir gave to the AEsir old Nioerd the rich, the
+lord of the sea and the ocean wind, with his two children, Frey and
+Freia. This was indeed a gracious gift; for Freia was the most beautiful
+maid in the world, and her twin brother was almost as fair. To the
+Vanir in return Father Odin gave his own brother Hoenir. And with
+Hoenir he sent Mimer the wise, whom he took from his lonely well.
+
+Now the Vanir made Hoenir their chief, thinking that he must be very
+wise because he was the brother of great Odin, who had lately become
+famous for his wisdom. They did not know the secret of Mimer's well, how
+the hoary old giant was far more wise than anyone who had not quaffed of
+the magic water. It is true that in the assemblies of the Vanir Hoenir
+gave excellent counsel. But this was because Mimer whispered in
+Hoenir's ear all the wisdom that he uttered. Witless Hoenir was
+quite helpless without his aid, and did not know what to do or say.
+Whenever Mimer was absent he would look nervous and frightened, and if
+folk questioned him he always answered:
+
+"Yes, ah yes! Now go and consult someone else."
+
+Of course the Vanir soon grew very angry at such silly answers from
+their chief, and presently they began to suspect the truth. "Odin has
+deceived us," they said. "He has sent us his foolish brother with a
+witch to tell him what to say. Ha! We will show him that we understand
+the trick." So they cut off poor old Mimer's head and sent it to Odin as
+a present.
+
+The tales do not say what Odin thought of the gift. Perhaps he was glad
+that now there was no one in the whole world who could be called so wise
+as himself. Perhaps he was sorry for the danger into which he had thrust
+a poor old giant who had never done him any wrong, except to be a giant
+of the race which the AEsir hated. Perhaps he was a little ashamed of the
+trick which he had played the Vanir. Odin's new wisdom showed him how
+to prepare Mimer's head with herbs and charms, so that it stood up by
+itself quite naturally and seemed not dead. Thenceforth Odin kept it
+near him, and learned from it many useful secrets which it had not
+forgotten.
+
+So in the end Odin fared better than the unhappy Mimer, whose worst
+fault was that he knew more than most folk. That is a dangerous fault,
+as others have found; though it is not one for which many of us need
+fear being punished.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE QUEST OF THE HAMMER
+
+
+One morning Thor the Thunderer awoke with a yawn, and stretching out his
+knotted arm, felt for his precious hammer, which he kept always under
+his pillow of clouds. But he started up with a roar of rage, so that all
+the palace trembled. The hammer was gone!
+
+Now this was a very serious matter, for Thor was the protector of
+Asgard, and Mioelnir, the magic hammer which the dwarf had made, was his
+mighty weapon, of which the enemies of the AEsir stood so much in dread
+that they dared not venture near. But if they should learn that Mioelnir
+was gone, who could tell what danger might not threaten the palaces of
+heaven?
+
+Thor darted his flashing eye into every corner of Cloud Land in search
+of the hammer. He called his fair wife, Sif of the golden hair, to aid
+in the search, and his two lovely daughters, Thrude and Lora. They
+hunted and they hunted; they turned Thrudheim upside down, and set the
+clouds to rolling wonderfully, as they peeped and pried behind and
+around and under each billowy mass. But Mioelnir was not to be found.
+Certainly, someone had stolen it.
+
+Thor's yellow beard quivered with rage, and his hair bristled on end
+like the golden rays of a star, while all his household trembled.
+
+"It is Loki again!" he cried. "I am sure Loki is at the bottom of this
+mischief!" For since the time when Thor had captured Loki for the dwarf
+Brock and had given him over to have his bragging lips sewed up, Loki
+had looked at him with evil eyes; and Thor knew that the red rascal
+hated him most of all the gods.
+
+But this time Thor was mistaken. It was not Loki who had stolen the
+hammer--he was too great a coward for that. And though he meant, before
+the end, to be revenged upon Thor, he was waiting until a safe chance
+should come, when Thor himself might stumble into danger, and Loki need
+only to help the evil by a malicious word or two; and this chance came
+later, as you shall hear in another tale.
+
+Meanwhile Loki was on his best behaviour, trying to appear very kind and
+obliging; so when Thor came rumbling and roaring up to him, demanding,
+"What have you done with my hammer, you thief?" Loki looked surprised,
+but did not lose his temper nor answer rudely.
+
+"Have you indeed missed your hammer, brother Thor?" he said, mumbling,
+for his mouth was still sore where Brock had sewed the stitches. "That
+is a pity; for if the giants hear of this, they will be coming to try
+their might against Asgard."
+
+"Hush!" muttered Thor, grasping him by the shoulder with his iron
+fingers. "That is what I fear. But look you, Loki: I suspect your hand
+in the mischief. Come, confess."
+
+Then Loki protested that he had nothing to do with so wicked a deed.
+"But," he added wheedlingly, "I think I can guess the thief; and because
+I love you, Thor, I will help you to find him."
+
+"Humph!" growled Thor. "Much love you bear to me! However, you are a
+wise rascal, the nimblest wit of all the AEsir, and it is better to have
+you on my side than on the other, when giants are in the game. Tell me,
+then: who has robbed the Thunder Lord of his bolt of power?"
+
+Loki drew near and whispered in Thor's ear. "Look, how the storms rage
+and the winds howl in the world below! Someone is wielding your thunder
+hammer all unskilfully. Can you not guess the thief? Who but Thrym, the
+mighty giant who has ever been your enemy and your imitator, and whose
+fingers have long itched to grasp the short handle of mighty Mioelnir,
+that the world may name him Thunder Lord instead of you. But look! What
+a tempest! The world will be shattered into fragments unless we soon get
+the hammer back."
+
+Then Thor roared with rage. "I will seek this impudent Thrym!" he cried.
+"I will crush him into bits, and teach him to meddle with the weapon of
+the AEsir!"
+
+"Softly, softly," said Loki, smiling maliciously. "He is a shrewd giant,
+and a mighty. Even you, great Thor, cannot go to him and pluck the
+hammer from his hand as one would slip the rattle from a baby's pink
+fist. Nay, you must use craft, Thor; and it is I who will teach you, if
+you will be patient."
+
+Thor was a brave, blunt fellow, and he hated the ways of Loki, his lies
+and his deceit. He liked best the way of warriors--the thundering
+charge, the flash of weapons, and the heavy blow; but without the hammer
+he could not fight the giants hand to hand. Loki's advice seemed wise,
+and he decided to leave the matter to the Red One.
+
+Loki was now all eagerness, for he loved difficulties which would set
+his wit in play and bring other folk into danger. "Look, now," he said.
+"We must go to Freia and borrow her falcon dress. But you must ask; for
+she loves me so little that she would scarce listen to me."
+
+So first they made their way to Folkvang, the house of maidens, where
+Freia dwelt, the loveliest of all in Asgard. She was fairer than fair,
+and sweeter than sweet, and the tears from her flower eyes made the dew
+which blessed the earth flowers night and morning. Of her Thor borrowed
+the magic dress of feathers in which Freia was wont to clothe herself
+and flit like a great beautiful bird all about the world. She was
+willing enough to lend it to Thor when he told her that by its aid he
+hoped to win back the hammer which he had lost; for she well knew the
+danger threatening herself and all the AEsir until Mioelnir should be
+found.
+
+"Now will I fetch the hammer for you," said Loki. So he put on the
+falcon plumage, and, spreading his brown wings, flapped away up, up,
+over the world, down, down, across the great ocean which lies beyond all
+things that men know. And he came to the dark country where there was no
+sunshine nor spring, but it was always dreary winter; where mountains
+were piled up like blocks of ice, and where great caverns yawned
+hungrily in blackness. And this was Jotunheim, the land of the Frost
+Giants.
+
+And lo! when Loki came thereto he found Thrym the Giant King sitting
+outside his palace cave, playing with his dogs and horses. The dogs were
+as big as elephants, and the horses were as big as houses, but Thrym
+himself was as huge as a mountain; and Loki trembled, but he tried to
+seem brave.
+
+"Good-day, Loki," said Thrym, with the terrible voice of which he was so
+proud, for he fancied it was as loud as Thor's. "How fares it,
+feathered one, with your little brothers, the AEsir, in Asgard halls? And
+how dare you venture alone in this guise to Giant Land?"
+
+"It is an ill day in Asgard," sighed Loki, keeping his eye warily upon
+the giant, "and a stormy one in the world of men, I heard the winds
+howling and the storms rushing on the earth as I passed by. Some mighty
+one has stolen the hammer of our Thor. Is it you, Thrym, greatest of all
+giants--greater than Thor himself?"
+
+This the crafty one said to flatter Thrym, for Loki well knew the
+weakness of those who love to be thought greater than they are.
+
+Then Thrym bridled and swelled with pride, and tried to put on the
+majesty and awe of noble Thor; but he only succeeded in becoming an
+ugly, puffy monster.
+
+"Well, yes," he admitted. "I have the hammer that belonged to your
+little Thor; and now how much of & lord is he?"
+
+"Alack!" sighed Loki again, "weak enough he is without his magic weapon.
+But you, O Thrym--surely your mightiness needs no such aid. Give me the
+hammer, that Asgard may no longer be shaken by Thor's grief for his
+precious toy."
+
+But Thrym was not so easily to be flattered into parting with his stolen
+treasure. He grinned a dreadful grin, several yards in width, which his
+teeth barred like jagged boulders across the entrance to a mountain
+cavern.
+
+"Mioelnir the hammer is mine," he said, "and I am Thunder Lord, mightiest
+of the mighty. I have hidden it where Thor can never find it, twelve
+leagues below the sea caves, where Queen Ran lives with her daughters,
+the white-capped Waves. But listen, Loki. Go tell the AEsir that I will
+give back Thor's hammer. I will give it back upon one condition--that
+they send Freia the beautiful to be my wife."
+
+"Freia the beautiful!" Loki had to stifle a laugh. Fancy the AEsir giving
+their fairest flower to such an ugly fellow as this! But he only said
+politely, "Ah, yes; you demand our Freia in exchange for the little
+hammer? It is a costly price, great Thrym. But I will be your friend in
+Asgard. If I have my way, you shall soon see the fairest bride in all
+the world knocking at your door. Farewell!"
+
+So Loki whizzed back to Asgard on his falcon wings; and as he went he
+chuckled to think of the evils which were likely to happen because of
+his words with Thrym. First he gave the message to Thor--not sparing of
+Thrym's insolence, to make Thor angry; and then he went to Freia with
+the word for her--not sparing of Thrym's ugliness, to make her shudder.
+The spiteful fellow!
+
+Now you can imagine the horror that was in Asgard as the AEsir listened
+to Loki's words. "My hammer!" roared Thor. "The villain confesses that
+he has stolen my hammer, and boasts that he is Thunder Lord! Gr-r-r!"
+
+"The ugly giant!" wailed Freia. "Must I be the bride of that hideous old
+monster, and live in his gloomy mountain prison all my life?"
+
+"Yes; put on your bridal veil, sweet Freia," said Loki maliciously, "and
+come with me to Jotunheim. Hang your famous starry necklace about your
+neck, and don your bravest robe; for in eight days there will be a
+wedding, and Thor's hammer is to pay."
+
+Then Freia fell to weeping. "I cannot go! I will not go!" she cried. "I
+will not leave the home of gladness and Father Odin's table to dwell in
+the land of horrors! Thor's hammer is mighty, but mightier the love of
+the kind AEsir for their little Freia! Good Odin, dear brother Frey,
+speak for me! You will not make me go?"
+
+The Asir looked at her and thought how lonely and bare would Asgard be
+without her loveliness; for she was fairer than fair, and sweeter than
+sweet.
+
+"She shall not go!" shouted Frey, putting his arms about his sister's
+neck.
+
+"No, she shall not go!" cried all the Asir with one voice.
+
+"But my hammer," insisted Thor. "I must have Mioelnir back again."
+
+"And my word to Thrym," said Loki, "that must be made good."
+
+"You are too generous with your words," said Odin sternly, for he knew
+his brother well. "Your word is not a gem of great price, for you have
+made it cheap."
+
+Then spoke Heimdal, the sleepless watchman who sits on guard at the
+entrance to the rainbow bridge which leads to Asgard; and Heimdal was
+the wisest of the AEsir, for he could see into the future, and knew how
+things would come to pass. Through his golden teeth he spoke, for his
+teeth were all of gold.
+
+"I have a plan," he said. "Let us dress Thor himself like a bride in
+Freia's robes, and send him to Jotunheim to talk with Thrym and to win
+back his hammer."
+
+But at this word Thor grew very angry. "What! dress me like a girl!" he
+roared. "I should never hear the last of it! The Asir will mock me, and
+call me 'maiden'! The giants, and even the puny dwarfs, will have a
+lasting jest upon me! I will not go! I will fight! I will die, if need
+be! But dressed as a woman I will not go!"
+
+But Loki answered him with sharp words, for this was a scheme after his
+own heart. "What, Thor!" he said. "Would you lose your hammer and keep
+Asgard in danger for so small a whim. Look, now: if you go not, Thrym
+with his giants will come in a mighty army and drive us from Asgard;
+then he will indeed make Freia his bride, and, moreover, he will have
+you for his slave under the power of his hammer. How like you this
+picture, brother of the thunder? Nay, Heimdal's plan is a good one, and
+I myself will help to carry it out."
+
+Still Thor hesitated; but Freia came and laid her white hand on his arm,
+and looked up into his scowling face pleadingly.
+
+"To save me, Thor," she begged. And Thor said he would go.
+
+Then there was great sport among the AEsir, while they dressed Thor like
+a beautiful maiden. Brunhilde and her sisters, the nine Valkyrie,
+daughters of Odin, had the task in hand. How they laughed as they
+brushed and curled his yellow hair, and set upon it the wondrous
+headdress of silk and pearls! They let out seams, and they let down
+hems, and set on extra pieces, to make it larger, and so they hid his
+great limbs and knotted arms under Freia's fairest robe of scarlet; but
+beneath it all he would wear his shirt of mail and his belt of power
+that gave him double strength. Freia herself twisted about his neck her
+famous necklace of starry jewels, and Queen Frigg, his mother, hung at
+his girdle a jingling bunch of keys, such as was the custom for the
+bride to wear at Norse weddings. Last of all, that Thrym might not see
+Thor's fierce eyes and the yellow beard, that ill became a maiden, they
+threw over him a long veil of silver white which covered him to the
+feet. And there he stood, as stately and tall a bride as even a giant
+might wish to see; but on his hands he wore his iron gloves, and they
+ached for but one thing--to grasp the handle of the stolen hammer.
+
+"Ah, what a lovely maid it is!" chuckled Loki; "and how glad will Thrym
+be to see this Freia come! Bride Thor, I will go with you as your
+handmaiden, for I would fain see the fun."
+
+"Come, then," said Thor sulkily, for he was ill pleased, and wore his
+maiden robes with no good grace. "It is fitting that you go; for I like
+not these lies and masking and I may spoil the mummery without you at my
+elbow."
+
+There was loud laughter above the clouds when Thor, all veiled and
+dainty seeming, drove away from Asgard to his wedding, with maid Loki by
+his side. Thor cracked his whip and chirruped fiercely to his twin goats
+with golden hoofs, for he wanted to escape the sounds of mirth that
+echoed from the rainbow bridge, where all the AEsir stood watching. Loki,
+sitting with his hands meekly folded like a girl, chuckled as he glanced
+up at Thor's angry face; but he said nothing, for he knew it was not
+good to joke too far with Thor, even when Miloenir was hidden twelve
+leagues below the sea in Ran's kingdom.
+
+So off they dashed to Jotunheim, where Thrym was waiting and longing for
+his beautiful bride. Thor's goats thundered along above the sea and land
+and people far below, who looked up wondering as the noise rolled
+overhead. "Hear how the thunder rumbles!" they said. "Thor is on a long
+journey to-night." And a long journey it was, as the tired goats found
+before they reached the end.
+
+Thrym heard the sound of their approach, for his ear was eager. "Hola!"
+he cried. "Someone is coming from Asgard--only one of Odin's children
+could make a din so fearful. Hasten, men, and see if they are bringing
+Freia to be my wife."
+
+Then the lookout giant stepped down from the top of his mountain, and
+said that a chariot was bringing two maidens to the door.
+
+"Run, giants, run!" shouted Thrym, in a fever at this news. "My bride is
+coming! Put silken cushions on the benches for a great banquet, and make
+the house beautiful for the fairest maid in all space! Bring in all my
+golden-horned cows and my coal-black oxen, that she may see how rich I
+am, and heap all my gold and jewels about to dazzle her sweet eyes! She
+shall find me richest of the rich; and when I have her--fairest of the
+fair--there will be no treasure that I lack--not one!"
+
+The chariot stopped at the gate, and out stepped the tall bride, hidden
+from head to foot, and her handmaiden muffled to the chin. "How afraid
+of catching cold they must be!" whispered the giant ladies, who were
+peering over one another's shoulders to catch a glimpse of the bride,
+just as the crowd outside the awning does at a wedding nowadays.
+
+Thrym had sent six splendid servants to escort the maidens: these were
+the Metal Kings, who served him as lord of them all. There was the Gold
+King, all in cloth of gold, with fringes of yellow bullion, most
+glittering to see; and there was the Silver King, almost as gorgeous in
+a suit of spangled white; and side by side bowed the dark Kings of Iron
+and Lead, the one mighty in black, the other sullen in blue; and after
+them were the Copper King, gleaming ruddy and brave, and the Tin King,
+strutting in his trimmings of gaudy tinsel which looked nearly as well
+as silver, but were more economical. And this fine troop of lackey kings
+most politely led Thor and Loki into the palace, and gave them of the
+best, for they never suspected who these seeming maidens really were.
+
+And when evening came there was a wonderful banquet to celebrate the
+wedding. On a golden throne sat Thrym, uglier than ever in his finery of
+purple and gold. Beside him was the bride, of whose face no one had yet
+caught even a glimpse; and at Thrym's other hand stood Loki, the waiting
+maid, for he wanted to be near to mend the mistakes which Thor might
+make.
+
+Now the dishes at the feast were served in a huge way, as befitted the
+table of giants: great beeves roasted whole, on platters as wide across
+as a ship's deck; plum puddings as fat as feather beds, with plums as
+big as footballs; and a wedding cake like a snow-capped hay mow. The
+giants ate enormously. But to Thor, because they thought him a dainty
+maiden, they served small bits of everything on a tiny gold dish. Now
+Thor's long journey had made him very hungry, and through his veil he
+whispered to Loki, "I shall starve, Loki! I cannot fare on these
+nibbles. I must eat a goodly meal as I do at home." And forthwith he
+helped himself to such morsels as might satisfy his hunger for a little
+time. You should have seen the giants stare at the meal which the dainty
+bride devoured!
+
+For first under the silver veil disappeared by pieces a whole roast ox.
+Then Thor made eight mouthfuls of eight pink salmon, a dish of which he
+was very fond. And next he looked about and reached for a platter of
+cakes and sweetmeats that was set aside at one end of the table for the
+lady guests, and the bride ate them all. You can fancy how the damsels
+drew down their mouths and looked at one another when they saw their
+dessert disappear; and they whispered about the table, "Alack! if our
+future mistress is to sup like this day by day, there will be poor cheer
+for the rest of us!" And to crown it all, Thor was thirsty, as well he
+might be; and one after another he raised to his lips and emptied three
+great barrels of mead, the foamy drink of the giants. Then indeed Thrym
+was amazed, for Thor's giant appetite had beaten that of the giants
+themselves.
+
+"Never before saw I a bride so hungry," he cried. "And never before one
+half so thirsty!"
+
+But Loki, the waiting maid, whispered to him softly, "The truth is,
+great Thrym, that my dear mistress was almost starved. For eight days
+Freia has eaten nothing at all, so eager was she for Jotunheim."
+
+Then Thrym was delighted, you may be sure. He forgave his hungry bride,
+and loved her with all his heart. He leaned forward to give her a kiss,
+raising a corner of her veil; but his hand dropped suddenly, and he
+started up in terror, for he had caught the angry flash of Thor's eye,
+which was glaring at him through the bridal veil. Thor was longing for
+his hammer.
+
+"Why has Freia so sharp a look?" Thrym cried. "It pierces like lightning
+and burns like fire."
+
+But again the sly waiting maid whispered timidly, "Oh, Thrym, be not
+amazed! The truth is, my poor mistress's eyes are red with wakefulness
+and bright with longing. For eight nights Freia has not known a wink of
+sleep, so eager was she for Jotunheim."
+
+Then again Thrym was doubly delighted, and he longed to call her his
+very own dear wife. "Bring in the wedding gift!" he cried. "Bring in
+Thor's hammer, Mioelnir, and give it to Freia, as I promised; for when I
+have kept my word she will be mine--all mine!"
+
+Then Thor's big heart laughed under his woman's dress, and his fierce
+eyes swept eagerly down the hall to meet the servant who was bringing in
+the hammer on a velvet cushion. Thor's fingers could hardly wait to
+clutch the stubby handle which they knew so well; but he sat quite still
+on the throne beside ugly old Thrym, with his hands meekly folded and
+his head bowed like a bashful bride.
+
+The giant servant drew nearer, nearer, puffing and blowing, strong
+though he was, beneath the mighty weight. He was about to lay it at
+Thor's feet (for he thought it so heavy that no maiden could lift it or
+hold it in her lap), when suddenly Thor's heart swelled, and he gave a
+most unmaidenly shout of rage and triumph. With one swoop he grasped the
+hammer in his iron fingers; with the other arm he tore off the veil that
+hid his terrible face, and trampled it under foot; then he turned to the
+frightened king, who cowered beside him on the throne.
+
+"Thief!" he cried. "Freia sends you _this_ as a wedding gift!" And he
+whirled the hammer about his head, then hurled it once, twice, thrice,
+as it rebounded to his hand; and in the first stroke, as of lightning,
+Thrym rolled dead from his throne; in the second stroke perished the
+whole giant household--these ugly enemies of the AEsir; and in the third
+stroke the palace itself tumbled together and fell to the ground like a
+toppling playhouse of blocks.
+
+But Loki and Thor stood safely among the ruins, dressed in their
+tattered maiden robes, a quaint and curious sight; and Loki, full of
+mischief now as ever, burst out laughing.
+
+"Oh, Thor! if you could see--" he began; but Thor held up his hammer and
+shook it gently as he said:
+
+"Look now, Loki: it was an excellent joke, and so far you have done
+well--after your crafty fashion, which likes me not. But now I have my
+hammer again, and the joke is done. From you, nor from another, I brook
+no laughter at my expense. Henceforth we will have no mention of this
+masquerade, nor of these rags which now I throw away. Do you hear, red
+laughter?"
+
+And Loki heard, with a look of hate, and stifled his laughter as best he
+could; for it is not good to laugh at him who holds the hammer.
+
+Not once after that was there mention in Asgard of the time when Thor
+dressed him as a girl and won his bridal gift from Thrym the giant.
+
+But Mioelnir was safe once more in Asgard, and you and I know how it came
+there; so someone must have told. I wonder if red Loki whispered the
+tale to some outsider, after all? Perhaps it may be so, for now he knew
+how best to make Thor angry; and from that day when Thor forbade his
+laughing, Loki hated him with the mean little hatred of a mean little
+soul.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE APPLES OF IDUN
+
+
+Once upon a time Odin, Loki, and Hoener started on a journey. They had
+often travelled together before on all sorts of errands, for they had a
+great many things to look after, and more than once they had fallen into
+trouble through the prying, meddlesome, malicious spirit of Loke, who
+was never so happy as when he was doing wrong. When the gods went on a
+journey they travelled fast and hard, for they were strong, active
+spirits who loved nothing so much as hard work, hard blows, storm,
+peril, and struggle. There were no roads through the country over which
+they made their way, only high mountains to be climbed by rocky paths,
+deep valleys into which the sun hardly looked during half the year, and
+swift-rushing streams, cold as ice, and treacherous to the surest foot
+and the strongest arm. Not a bird flew through the air, not an animal
+sprang through the trees. It was as still as a desert. The gods walked
+on and on, getting more tired and hungry at every step. The sun was
+sinking low over the steep, pine-crested mountains, and the travellers
+had neither breakfasted nor dined. Even Odin was beginning to feel the
+pangs of hunger, like the most ordinary mortal, when suddenly, entering
+a little valley, the famished gods came upon a herd of cattle. It was
+the work of a minute to kill a great ox and to have the carcass
+swinging in a huge pot over a roaring fire.
+
+But never were gods so unlucky before! In spite of their hunger, the pot
+would not boil. They piled on the wood until the great flames crackled
+and licked the pot with their fiery tongues, but every time the cover
+was lifted there was the meat just as raw as when it was put in. It is
+easy to imagine that the travellers were not in very good humour. As
+they were talking about it, and wondering how it could be, a voice
+called out from the branches of the oak overhead, "If you will give me
+my fill, I'll make the pot boil."
+
+The gods looked first at each other and then into the tree, and there
+they discovered a great eagle. They were glad enough to get their supper
+on almost any terms, so they told the eagle he might have what he wanted
+if he would only get the meat cooked. The bird was as good as his word,
+and in less time than it takes to tell it supper was ready. Then the
+eagle flew down and picked out both shoulders and both legs. This was a
+pretty large share, it must be confessed, and Loki, who was always angry
+when anybody got more than he, no sooner saw what the eagle had taken,
+than he seized a great pole and began to beat the rapacious bird
+unmercifully. Whereupon a very singular thing happened, as singular
+things always used to happen when the gods were concerned: the pole
+stuck fast in the huge talons of the eagle at one end, and Loki stuck
+fast at the other end. Struggle as he might, he could not get loose, and
+as the great bird sailed away over the tops of the trees, Loki went
+pounding along on the ground, striking against rocks and branches until
+he was bruised half to death.
+
+The eagle was not an ordinary bird by any means, as Loki soon found
+when he begged for mercy. The giant Thjasse happened to be flying abroad
+in his eagle plumage when the hungry travellers came under the oak and
+tried to cook the ox. It was into his hands that Loki had fallen, and he
+was not to get away until he had promised to pay roundly for his
+freedom.
+
+If there was one thing which the gods prized above their other treasures
+in Asgard, it was the beautiful fruit of Idun, kept by the goddess in a
+golden casket and given to the gods to keep them forever young and fair.
+Without these Apples all their power could not have kept them from
+getting old like the meanest of mortals. Without these Apples of Idun,
+Asgard itself would have lost its charm; for what would heaven be
+without youth and beauty forever shining through it?
+
+Thjasse told Loki that he could not go unless he would promise to bring
+him the Apples of Idun. Loki was wicked enough for anything; but when it
+came to robbing the gods of their immortality, even he hesitated. And
+while he hesitated the eagle dashed hither and thither, flinging him
+against the sides of the mountains and dragging him through the great
+tough boughs of the oaks until his courage gave out entirely, and he
+promised to steal the Apples out of Asgard and give them to the giant.
+
+Loki was bruised and sore enough when he got on his feet again to hate
+the giant who handled him so roughly, with all his heart, but he was not
+unwilling to keep his promise to steal the Apples, if only for the sake
+of tormenting the other gods. But how was it to be done? Idun guarded
+the golden fruit of immortality with sleepless watchfulness. No one ever
+touched it but herself, and a beautiful sight it was to see her fair
+hands spread it forth for the morning feasts in Asgard. The power which
+Loki possessed lay not so much in his own strength, although he had a
+smooth way of deceiving people, as in the goodness of others who had no
+thought of his doing wrong because they never did wrong themselves.
+
+Not long after all this happened, Loki came carelessly up to Idun as she
+was gathering her Apples to put them away in the beautiful carven box
+which held them.
+
+"Good-morning, goddess," said he. "How fair and golden your Apples are!"
+
+"Yes," answered Idun; "the bloom of youth keeps them always beautiful."
+
+"I never saw anything like them," continued Loki slowly, as if he were
+talking about a matter of no importance, "until the other day."
+
+Idun looked up at once with the greatest interest and curiosity in her
+face. She was very proud of her Apples, and she knew no earthly trees,
+however large and fair, bore the immortal fruit.
+
+"Where have you seen any Apples like them?" she asked.
+
+"Oh, just outside the gates," said Loki indifferently. "If you care to
+see them I'll take you there. It will keep you but a moment. The tree is
+only a little way off."
+
+Idun was anxious to go at once.
+
+"Better take your Apples with you, to compare them with the others,"
+said the wily god, as she prepared to go.
+
+Idun gathered up the golden Apples and went out of Asgard, carrying with
+her all that made it heaven. No sooner was she beyond the gates than a
+mighty rushing sound was heard, like the coming of a tempest, and before
+she could think or act, the giant Thjasse, in his eagle plumage, was
+bearing her swiftly away through the air to his desolate, icy home in
+Thrymheim, where, after vainly trying to persuade her to let him eat the
+Apples and be forever young like the gods, he kept her a lonely
+prisoner.
+
+Loki, after keeping his promise and delivering Idun into the hands of
+the giant, strayed back into Asgard as if nothing had happened. The next
+morning, when the gods assembled for their feast, there was no Idun. Day
+after day went past, and still the beautiful goddess did not come.
+Little by little the light of youth and beauty faded from the home of
+the gods, and they themselves became old and haggard. Their strong,
+young faces were lined with care and furrowed by age, their raven locks
+passed from gray to white, and their flashing eyes became dim and
+hollow. Brage, the god of poetry, could make no music while his
+beautiful wife was gone he knew not whither.
+
+Morning after morning the faded light broke on paler and ever paler
+faces, until even in heaven the eternal light of youth seemed to be
+going out forever.
+
+Finally the gods could bear the loss of power and joy no longer. They
+made rigorous inquiry. They tracked Loki on that fair morning when he
+led Idun beyond the gates; they seized him and brought him into solemn
+council, and when he read in their haggard faces the deadly hate which
+flamed in all their hearts against his treachery, his courage failed,
+and he promised to bring Idun back to Asgard if the goddess Freyja would
+lend him her falcon guise. No sooner said than done; and with eager gaze
+the gods watched him as he flew away, becoming at last only a dark
+moving speck against the sky.
+
+After long and weary flight Loki came to Thrymheim, and was glad enough
+to find Thjasse gone to sea and Idun alone in his dreary house. He
+changed her instantly into a nut, and taking her thus disguised in his
+talons, flew away as fast as his falcon wings could carry him. And he
+had need of all his speed, for Thjasse, coming suddenly home and finding
+Idun and her precious fruit gone, guessed what had happened, and,
+putting on his eagle plumage, flew forth in a mighty rage, with
+vengeance in his heart. Like the rushing wings of a tempest, his mighty
+pinions beat the air and bore him swiftly onward. From mountain peak to
+mountain peak he measured his wide course, almost grazing at times the
+murmuring pine forests, and then sweeping high in mid-air with nothing
+above but the arching sky, and nothing beneath but the tossing sea.
+
+At last he sees the falcon far ahead, and now his flight becomes like
+the flash of the lightning for swiftness, and like the rushing of clouds
+for uproar. The haggard faces of the gods line the walls of Asgard and
+watch the race with tremulous eagerness. Youth and immortality are
+staked upon the winning of Loki. He is weary enough and frightened
+enough, too, as the eagle sweeps on close behind him; but he makes
+desperate efforts to widen the distance between them. Little by little
+the eagle gains on the falcon. The gods grow white with fear; they rush
+off and prepare great fires upon the walls. With fainting, drooping wing
+the falcon passes over and drops exhausted by the wall. In an instant
+the fires have been lighted, and the great flames roar to heaven. The
+eagle sweeps across the fiery line a second later, and falls, maimed and
+burned, to the ground, where a dozen fierce hands smite the life out of
+him, and the great giant Thjasse perishes among his foes.
+
+Idun resumes her natural form as Brage rushes to meet her. The gods
+crowd round her. She spreads the feast, the golden Apples gleaming with
+unspeakable lustre in the eyes of the gods. They eat; and once more
+their faces glow with the beauty of immortal youth, their eyes flash
+with the radiance of divine power, and, while Idun stands like a star
+for beauty among the throng, the song of Brage is heard once more; for
+poetry and immortality are wedded again.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE DEATH OF BALDER
+
+
+There was one shadow which always fell over Asgard. Sometimes in the
+long years the gods almost forgot it, it lay so far off, like a dim
+cloud in a clear sky; but Odin saw it deepen and widen as he looked out
+into the universe, and he knew that the last great battle would surely
+come, when the gods themselves would be destroyed and a long twilight
+would rest on all the worlds; and now the day was close at hand.
+Misfortunes never come singly to men, and they did not to the gods.
+Idun, the beautiful goddess of youth, whose apples were the joy of all
+Asgard, made a resting place for herself among the massive branches of
+Yggdrasil, and there every evening came Brage, and sang so sweetly that
+the birds stopped to listen, and even the Norns, those implacable
+sisters at the foot of the tree, were softened by the melody. But poetry
+cannot change the purposes of fate, and one evening no song was heard of
+Brage or birds, the leaves of the world tree hung withered and lifeless
+on the branches, and the fountain from which they had daily been
+sprinkled was dry at last. Idun had fallen into the dark valley of
+death, and when Brage, Heimdal, and Loki went to question her about the
+future she could answer them only with tears. Brage would not leave his
+beautiful wife alone amid the dim shades that crowded the dreary
+valley, and so youth and genius vanished out of Asgard forever.
+
+Balder was the most godlike of all the gods, because he was the purest
+and the best. Wherever he went his coming was like the coming of
+sunshine, and all the beauty of summer was but the shining of his face.
+When men's hearts were white like the light, and their lives clear as
+the day, it was because Balder was looking down upon them with those
+soft, clear eyes that were open windows to the soul of God. He had
+always lived in such a glow of brightness that no darkness had ever
+touched him; but one morning, after Idun and Brage had gone, Balder's
+face was sad and troubled. He walked slowly from room to room in his
+palace Breidablik, stainless as the sky when April showers have swept
+across it because no impure thing had ever crossed the threshold, and
+his eyes were heavy with sorrow. In the night terrible dreams had broken
+his sleep, and made it a long torture. The air seemed to be full of
+awful changes for him and for all the gods. He knew in his soul that the
+shadow of the last great day was sweeping on; as he looked out and saw
+the worlds lying in light and beauty, the fields yellow with waving
+grain, the deep fiords flashing back the sunbeams from their clear
+depths, the verdure clothing the loftiest mountains, and knew that over
+all this darkness and desolation would come, with silence of reapers and
+birds, with fading of leaf and flower, a great sorrow fell on his heart.
+
+Balder could bear the burden no longer. He went out, called all the gods
+together, and told them the terrible dreams of the night. Every face was
+heavy with care. The death of Balder would be like the going out of the
+sun, and after a long, sad council the gods resolved to protect him
+from harm by pledging all things to stand between him and any hurt. So
+Frigg, his mother, went forth and made everything promise, on a solemn
+oath, not to injure her son. Fire, iron, all kinds of metal, every sort
+of stone, trees, earth, diseases, birds, beasts, snakes, as the anxious
+mother went to them, solemnly pledged themselves that no harm should
+come near Balder. Everything promised, and Frigg thought she had driven
+away the cloud; but fate was stronger than her love, and one little
+shrub had not sworn.
+
+Odin was not satisfied even with these precautions, for whichever way he
+looked the shadow of a great sorrow spread over the worlds. He began to
+feel as if he were no longer the greatest of the gods, and he could
+almost hear the rough shouts of the frost giants crowding the rainbow
+bridge on their way into Asgard. When trouble comes to men it is hard to
+bear, but to a god who had so many worlds to guide and rule it was a new
+and terrible thing. Odin thought and thought until he was weary, but no
+gleam of light could he find anywhere; it was thick darkness everywhere.
+
+At last he could bear the suspense no longer, and saddling his horse he
+rode sadly out of Asgard to Niflheim, the home of Hel, whose face was as
+the face of death itself. As he drew near the gates, a monstrous dog
+came out and barked furiously, but Odin rode a little eastward of the
+shadowy gates to the grave of a wonderful prophetess. It was a cold,
+gloomy place, and the soul of the great god was pierced with a feeling
+of hopeless sorrow as he dismounted from Sleipner, and bending over the
+grave began to chant weird songs, and weave magical charms over it. When
+he had spoken those wonderful words which could waken the dead from
+their sleep, there was an awful silence for a moment, and then a faint
+ghost-like voice came from the grave.
+
+"Who art thou?" it said. "Who breaketh the silence of death, and calleth
+the sleeper out of her long slumbers? Ages ago I was laid at rest here,
+snow and rain have fallen upon me through myriad years; why dost thou
+disturb me?"
+
+"I am Vegtam," answered Odin, "and I come to ask why the couches of Hel
+are hung with gold and the benches strewn with shining rings?"
+
+"It is done for Balder," answered the awful voice; "ask me no more."
+
+Odin's heart sank when he heard these words; but he was determined to
+know the worst.
+
+"I will ask thee until I know all. Who shall strike the fatal blow?"
+
+"If I must, I must," moaned the prophetess. "Hoder shall smite his
+brother Balder and send him down to the dark home of Hel. The mead is
+already brewed for Balder, and the despair draweth near."
+
+Then Odin, looking into the future across the open grave, saw all the
+days to come.
+
+"Who is this," he said, seeing that which no mortal could have seen;
+"who is this that will not weep for Balder?"
+
+Then the prophetess knew that it was none other than the greatest of the
+gods who had called her up.
+
+"Thou art not Vegtam," she exclaimed, "thou art Odin himself, the king
+of men."
+
+"And thou," answered Odin angrily, "art no prophetess, but the mother of
+three giants."
+
+"Ride home, then, and exult in what thou hast discovered," said the dead
+woman. "Never shall my slumbers be broken again until Loki shall burst
+his chains and the great battle come."
+
+And Odin rode sadly homeward knowing that already Niflheim was making
+itself beautiful against the coming of Balder.
+
+The other gods meanwhile had become merry again; for had not everything
+promised to protect their beloved Balder? They even made sport of that
+which troubled them, for when they found that nothing could hurt Balder,
+and that all things glanced aside from his shining form, they persuaded
+him to stand as a target for their weapons; hurling darts, spears,
+swords, and battle-axes at him, all of which went singing through the
+air and fell harmless at his feet. But Loki, when he saw these sports,
+was jealous of Balder, and went about thinking how he could destroy him.
+
+It happened that as Frigg sat spinning in her house Fensal, the soft
+wind blowing in at the windows and bringing the merry shouts of the gods
+at play, an old woman entered and approached her.
+
+"Do you know," asked the newcomer, "what they are doing in Asgard? They
+are throwing all manner of dangerous weapons at Balder. He stands there
+like the sun for brightness, and against his glory, spears and
+battle-axes fall powerless to the ground. Nothing can harm him."
+
+"No," answered Frigg joyfully; "nothing can bring him any hurt, for I
+have made everything in heaven and earth swear to protect him."
+
+"What!" said the old woman, "has everything sworn to guard Balder?"
+
+"Yes," said Frigg, "everything has sworn except one little shrub which
+is called Mistletoe, and grows on the eastern side of Valhal. I did not
+take an oath from that because I thought it too young and weak."
+
+When the old woman heard this a strange light came into her eyes; she
+walked off much faster than she had come in, and no sooner had she
+passed beyond Frigg's sight than this same feeble old woman grew
+suddenly erect, shook off her woman's garments, and there stood Loki
+himself. In a moment he had reached the slope east of Valhal, had
+plucked a twig of the unsworn Mistletoe, and was back in the circle of
+the gods, who were still at their favourite pastime with Balder. Hoder
+was standing silent and alone outside the noisy throng, for he was
+blind. Loki touched him.
+
+"Why do you not throw something at Balder?"
+
+"Because I cannot see where Balder stands, and have nothing to throw if
+I could," replied Hoder.
+
+"If that is all," said Loki, "come with me. I will give you something to
+throw, and direct your aim."
+
+Hoder, thinking no evil, went with Loki and did as he was told.
+
+The little sprig of Mistletoe shot through the air, pierced the heart of
+Balder, and in a moment the beautiful god lay dead upon the field. A
+shadow rose out of the deep beyond the worlds and spread itself over
+heaven and earth, for the light of the universe had gone out.
+
+The gods could not speak for horror. They stood like statues for a
+moment, and then a hopeless wail burst from their lips. Tears fell like
+rain from eyes that had never wept before, for Balder, the joy of
+Asgard, had gone to Niflheim and left them desolate. But Odin was
+saddest of all, because he knew the future, and he knew that peace and
+light had fled from Asgard forever, and that the last day and the long
+night were hurrying on.
+
+Frigg could not give up her beautiful son, and when her grief had spent
+itself a little, she asked who would go to Hel and offer her a rich
+ransom if she would permit Balder to return to Asgard.
+
+"I will go," said Hermod; swift at the word of Odin Sleipner was led
+forth, and in an instant Hermod was galloping furiously away.
+
+Then the gods began with sorrowful hearts to make ready for Balder's
+funeral. When the once beautiful form had been arrayed in grave clothes
+they carried it reverently down to the deep sea, which lay, calm as a
+summer afternoon, waiting for its precious burden. Close to the water's
+edge lay Balder's Ringhorn, the greatest of all the ships that sailed
+the seas, but when the gods tried to launch it they could not move it an
+inch. The great vessel creaked and groaned, out no one could push it
+down to the water. Odin walked about it with a sad face, and the gentle
+ripple of the little waves chasing each other over the rocks seemed a
+mocking laugh to him.
+
+"Send to Jotunheim for Hyrroken," he said at last; and a messenger was
+soon flying for that mighty giantess.
+
+In a little time, Hyrroken came riding swiftly on a wolf so large and
+fierce that he made the gods think of Fenrer. When the giantess had
+alighted, Odin ordered four Berserkers of mighty strength to hold the
+wolf, but he struggled so angrily that they had to throw him on the
+ground before they could control him. Then Hyrroken went to the prow of
+the ship and with one mighty effort sent it far into the sea, the
+rollers underneath bursting into flame, and the whole earth trembling
+with the shock. Thor was so angry at the uproar that he would have
+killed the giantess on the spot if he had not been held back by the
+other gods. The great ship floated on the sea as she had often done
+before, when Balder, full of life and beauty, set all her sails and was
+borne joyfully across the tossing seas. Slowly and solemnly the dead god
+was carried on board, and as Nanna, his faithful wife, saw her husband
+borne for the last time from the earth which he had made dear to her and
+beautiful to all men, her heart broke with sorrow, and they laid her
+beside Balder on the funeral pyre.
+
+Since the world began no one had seen such a funeral. No bells tolled,
+no long procession of mourners moved across the hills, but all the
+worlds lay under a deep shadow, and from every quarter came those who
+had loved or feared Balder. There at the very water's edge stood Odin
+himself, the ravens flying about his head, and on his majestic face a
+gloom that no sun would ever lighten again; and there was Frigg, the
+desolate mother whose son had already gone so far that he would never
+come back to her; there was Frey standing sad and stern in his chariot;
+there was Freyja, the goddess of love, from whose eyes fell a shining
+rain of tears; there, too, was Heimdal on his horse Goldtop; and around
+all these glorious ones from Asgard crowded the children of Jotunheim,
+grim mountain giants seamed with scars from Thor's hammer, and frost
+giants who saw in the death of Balder the coming of that long winter in
+which they should reign through all the worlds.
+
+A deep hush fell on all created things, and every eye was fixed on the
+great ship riding near the shore, and on the funeral pyre rising from
+the deck crowned with the forms of Balder and Nanna. Suddenly a gleam of
+light flashed over the water; the pile had been kindled, and the flames,
+creeping slowly at first, climbed faster and faster until they met over
+the dead and rose skyward.
+
+A lurid light filled the heavens and shone on the sea, and in the
+brightness of it the gods looked pale and sad, and the circle of giants
+grew darker and more portentous. Thor struck the fast burning pyre with
+his consecrating hammer, and Odin cast into it the wonderful ring
+Draupner. Higher and higher leaped the flames, more and more desolate
+grew the scene; at last they began to sink, the funeral pyre was
+consumed. Balder had vanished forever, the summer was ended, and winter
+waited at the doors.
+
+Meanwhile Hermod was riding hard and fast on his gloomy errand. Nine
+days and nights he rode through valleys so deep and dark that he could
+not see his horse. Stillness and blackness and solitude were his only
+companions until he came to the golden bridge which crosses the river
+Gjol. The good horse Sleipner, who had carried Odin on so many strange
+journeys, had never travelled such a road before, and his hoofs rang
+drearily as he stopped short at the bridge, for in front of him stood
+its porter, the gigantic Modgud.
+
+"Who are you?" she asked, fixing her piercing eyes on Hermod. "What is
+your name and parentage? Yesterday five bands of dead men rode across
+the bridge, and beneath them all it did not shake as under your single
+tread. There is no colour of death in your face. Why ride you hither,
+the living among the dead?"
+
+"I come," said Hermod, "to seek for Balder. Have you seen him pass this
+way?"
+
+"He has already crossed the bridge and taken his journey northward to
+Hel."
+
+Then Hermod rode slowly across the bridge that spans the abyss between
+life and death, and found his way at last to the barred gates of Hel's
+dreadful home. There he sprang to the ground, tightened the girths,
+remounted, drove the spurs deep into the horse, and Sleipner, with a
+mighty leap, cleared the wall. Hermod rode straight to the gloomy
+palace, dismounted, entered, and in a moment was face to face with the
+terrible queen of the kingdom of the dead. Beside her, on a beautiful
+throne, sat Balder, pale and wan, crowned with a withered wreath of
+flowers, and close at hand was Nanna, pallid as her husband, for whom
+she had died. And all night long, while ghostly forms wandered restless
+and sleepless through Helheim, Hermod talked with Balder and Nanna.
+There is no record of what they said, but the talk was sad enough,
+doubtless, and ran like a still stream among the happy days in Asgard
+when Balder's smile was morning over the earth and the sight of his face
+the summer of the world.
+
+When the morning came, faint and dim, through the dusky palace, Hermod
+sought Hel, who received him as cold and stern as fate.
+
+"Your kingdom is full, O Hel!" he said, "and without Balder, Asgard is
+empty. Send him back to us once more, for there is sadness in every
+heart and tears are in every eye. Through heaven and earth all things
+weep for him."
+
+"If that is true," was the slow, icy answer, "if every created thing
+weeps for Balder, he shall return to Asgard; but if one eye is dry he
+remains henceforth in Helheim."
+
+Then Hermod rode swiftly away, and the decree of Hel was soon told in
+Asgard. Through all the worlds the gods sent messengers to say that all
+who loved Balder should weep for his return, and everywhere tears fell
+like rain. There was weeping in Asgard, and in all the earth there was
+nothing that did not weep. Men and women and little children, missing
+the light that had once fallen into their hearts and homes, sobbed with
+bitter grief; the birds of the air, who had sung carols of joy at the
+gates of the morning since time began, were full of sorrow; the beasts
+of the fields crouched and moaned in their desolation; the great trees,
+that had put on their robes of green at Balder's command, sighed as the
+wind wailed through them; and the sweet flowers, that waited for
+Balder's footstep and sprang up in all the fields to greet him, hung
+their frail blossoms and wept bitterly for the love and the warmth and
+the light that had gone out. Throughout the whole earth there was
+nothing but weeping, and the sound of it was like the wailing of those
+storms in autumn that weep for the dead summer as its withered leaves
+drop one by one from the trees.
+
+The messengers of the gods went gladly back to Asgard, for everything
+had wept for Balder; but as they journeyed they came upon a giantess,
+called Thok, and her eyes were dry.
+
+"Weep for Balder," they said.
+
+"With dry eyes only will I weep for Balder," she answered. "Dead or
+alive, he never gave me gladness. Let him stay in Helheim."
+
+When she had spoken these words a terrible laugh broke from her lips,
+and the messengers looked at each other with pallid faces, for they knew
+it was the voice of Loki.
+
+Balder never came back to Asgard, and the shadows deepened over all
+things, for the night of death was fast coming on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE STAR AND THE LILY
+
+
+An old chieftain sat in his wigwam, quietly smoking his favourite pipe,
+when a crowd of Indian boys and girls suddenly entered, and, with
+numerous offerings of tobacco, begged him to tell them a story, and he
+did so.
+
+There was once a time when this world was filled with happy people; when
+all the nations were as one, and the crimson tide of war had not begun
+to roll. Plenty of game was in the forest and on the plains. None were
+in want, for a full supply was at hand. Sickness was unknown. The beasts
+of the field were tame; they came and went at the bidding of man. One
+unending spring gave no place for winter--for its cold blasts or its
+unhealthy chills. Every tree and bush yielded fruit. Flowers carpeted
+the earth. The air was laden with their fragrance, and redolent with the
+songs of wedded warblers that flew from branch to branch, fearing none,
+for there were none to harm them. There were birds then of more
+beautiful song and plumage than now. It was at such a time, when earth
+was a paradise and man worthily its possessor, that the Indians were
+lone inhabitants of the American wilderness. They numbered millions;
+and, living as nature designed them to live, enjoyed its many blessings.
+Instead of amusements in close rooms, the sport of the field was theirs.
+At night they met on the wide green beneath the heavenly worlds--the
+_ah-nung-o-kah_. They watched the stars; they loved to gaze at them,
+for they believed them to be the residences of the good, who had been
+taken home by the Great Spirit.
+
+One night they saw one star that shone brighter than all others. Its
+location was far away in the south, near a mountain peak. For many
+nights it was seen, till at length it was doubted by many that the star
+was as far distant in the southern skies as it seemed to be. This doubt
+led to an examination, which proved the star to be only a short distance
+away, and near the tops of some trees. A number of warriors were deputed
+to go and see what it was. They went, and on their return said it
+appeared strange, and somewhat like a bird. A committee of the wise men
+were called to inquire into, and if possible to ascertain the meaning
+of, the strange phenomenon. They feared that it might be the omen of
+some disaster. Some thought it a precursor of good, others of evil; and
+some supposed it to be the star spoken of by their forefathers as the
+forerunner of a dreadful war.
+
+One moon had nearly gone by, and yet the mystery remained unsolved. One
+night a young warrior had a dream, in which a beautiful maiden came and
+stood at his side, and thus addressed him: "Young brave! charmed with
+the land of my forefathers, its flowers, its birds, its rivers, its
+beautiful lakes, and its mountains clothed with green, I have left my
+sisters in yonder world to dwell among you. Young brave! ask your wise
+and your great men where I can live and see the happy race continually;
+ask them what form I shall assume in order to be loved."
+
+Thus discoursed the bright stranger. The young man awoke. On stepping
+out of his lodge he saw the star yet blazing in its accustomed place. At
+early dawn the chief's crier was sent round the camp to call every
+warrior to the council lodge. When they had met, the young warrior
+related his dream. They concluded that the star that had been seen in
+the south had fallen in love with mankind, and that it was desirous to
+dwell with them.
+
+The next night five tall, noble-looking, adventurous braves were sent to
+welcome the stranger to earth. They went and presented to it a pipe of
+peace, filled with sweet-scented herbs, and were rejoiced that it took
+it from them. As they returned to the village, the star, with expanded
+wings, followed, and hovered over their homes till the dawn of day.
+Again it came to the young man in a dream, and desired to know where it
+should live and what form it should take. Places were named--on the top
+of giant trees, or in flowers. At length it was told to choose a place
+itself, and it did so. At first it dwelt in the white rose of the
+mountains; but there it was so buried that it could not be seen. It went
+to the prairie; but it feared the hoof of the buffalo. It next sought
+the rocky cliff; but there it was so high that the children, whom it
+loved most, could not see it.
+
+"I know where I shall live," said the bright fugitive--"where I can see
+the gliding canoe of the race I most admire. Children!--yes, they shall
+be my playmates, and I will kiss their slumber by the side of cool
+lakes. The nation shall love me wherever I am."
+
+These words having been said, she alighted on the waters, where she saw
+herself reflected. The next morning thousands of white flowers were seen
+on the surface of the lakes, and the Indians gave them this name,
+_wah-be-gwan-nee_ (white flower).
+
+This star lived in the southern skies. Her brethren can be seen far off
+in the cold north, hunting the Great Bear, whilst her sisters watch her
+in the east and west.
+
+Children! when you see the lily on the waters, take it in your hands and
+hold it to the skies, that it may be happy on earth, as its two sisters,
+the morning and evening stars, are happy in heaven.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Myths That Every Child Should Know, by Various
+
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