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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35377-8.txt b/35377-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..be85452 --- /dev/null +++ b/35377-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12229 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales, by +Nathaniel Hawthorne + +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: A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales + For girls and boys + +Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Illustrator: Maxfield Parrish + +Release Date: February 23, 2011 [EBook #35377] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WONDER BOOK AND TANGLEWOOD TALES *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + A WONDER BOOK + + AND + + TANGLEWOOD TALES + + FOR GIRLS AND BOYS + + BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE + + + WITH PICTURES BY + MAXFIELD PARRISH + + NEW YORK + DUFFIELD & COMPANY + MCMX + + COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY DUFFIELD & COMPANY + + THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. + + + + +[Illustration: JASON AND THE TALKING OAK + +(From the original in the collection of Austin M. Purves, Esqu're +Philadelphia)] + + + + +Preface + +The author has long been of opinion that many of the classical myths +were capable of being rendered into very capital reading for children. +In the little volume here offered to the public, he has worked up half a +dozen of them, with this end in view. A great freedom of treatment was +necessary to his plan; but it will be observed by every one who attempts +to render these legends malleable in his intellectual furnace, that they +are marvellously independent of all temporary modes and circumstances. +They remain essentially the same, after changes that would affect the +identity of almost anything else. + +He does not, therefore, plead guilty to a sacrilege, in having sometimes +shaped anew, as his fancy dictated, the forms that have been hallowed by +an antiquity of two or three thousand years. No epoch of time can claim +a copyright in these immortal fables. They seem never to have been made; +and certainly, so long as man exists, they can never perish; but, by +their indestructibility itself, they are legitimate subjects for every +age to clothe with its own garniture of manners and sentiment, and to +imbue with its own morality. In the present version they may have lost +much of their classical aspect (or, at all events, the author has not +been careful to preserve it), and have, perhaps, assumed a Gothic or +romantic guise. + +In performing this pleasant task,--for it has been really a task fit for +hot weather, and one of the most agreeable, of a literary kind, which +he ever undertook,--the author has not always thought it necessary to +write downward, in order to meet the comprehension of children. He has +generally suffered the theme to soar, whenever such was its tendency, +and when he himself was buoyant enough to follow without an effort. +Children possess an unestimated sensibility to whatever is deep or high, +in imagination or feeling, so long as it is simple, likewise. It is only +the artificial and the complex that bewilder them. + +LENOX, _July 15, 1851_. + + + + +Contents + + +A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys + + +The Gorgon's Head + +The Golden Touch + +The Paradise of Children + +The Three Golden Apples + +The Miraculous Pitcher + +The Chimæra + + +Tanglewood Tales + + +The Wayside--_Introductory_ + +The Minotaur + +The Pygmies + +The Dragon's Teeth + +Circe's Palace + +The Pomegranate Seeds + +The Golden Fleece + + + + +Illustrations + + +JASON AND THE TALKING OAK + +PANDORA + +ATLAS + +BELLEROPHON BY THE FOUNTAIN OF PIRENE + +THE FOUNTAIN OF PIRENE + +CADMUS SOWING THE DRAGON'S TEETH + +CIRCE'S PALACE + +PROSERPINA + +JASON AND HIS TEACHER + +THE ARGONAUTS IN QUEST OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE + + + + +A Wonder Book + + + + +THE GORGON'S HEAD + + +Tanglewood Porch + +_Introductory to "The Gorgon's Head"_ + +Beneath the porch of the country-seat called Tanglewood, one fine +autumnal morning, was assembled a merry party of little folks, with a +tall youth in the midst of them. They had planned a nutting expedition, +and were impatiently waiting for the mists to roll up the hill-slopes, +and for the sun to pour the warmth of the Indian summer over the fields +and pastures, and into the nooks of the many-colored woods. There was a +prospect of as fine a day as ever gladdened the aspect of this beautiful +and comfortable world. As yet, however, the morning mist filled up the +whole length and breadth of the valley, above which, on a gently sloping +eminence, the mansion stood. + +This body of white vapor extended to within less than a hundred yards of +the house. It completely hid everything beyond that distance, except a +few ruddy or yellow tree-tops, which here and there emerged, and were +glorified by the early sunshine, as was likewise the broad surface of +the mist. Four or five miles off to the southward rose the summit of +Monument Mountain, and seemed to be floating on a cloud. Some fifteen +miles farther away, in the same direction, appeared the loftier Dome of +Taconic, looking blue and indistinct, and hardly so substantial as the +vapory sea that almost rolled over it. The nearer hills, which bordered +the valley, were half submerged, and were specked with little +cloud-wreaths all the way to their tops. On the whole, there was so +much cloud, and so little solid earth, that it had the effect of a +vision. + +The children above-mentioned, being as full of life as they could hold, +kept overflowing from the porch of Tanglewood, and scampering along the +gravel-walk, or rushing across the dewy herbage of the lawn. I can +hardly tell how many of these small people there were; not less than +nine or ten, however, nor more than a dozen, of all sorts, sizes, and +ages, whether girls or boys. They were brothers, sisters, and cousins, +together with a few of their young acquaintances, who had been invited +by Mr. and Mrs. Pringle to spend some of this delightful weather with +their own children, at Tanglewood. I am afraid to tell you their names, +or even to give them any names which other children have ever been +called by; because, to my certain knowledge, authors sometimes get +themselves into great trouble by accidentally giving the names of real +persons to the characters in their books. For this reason I mean to call +them Primrose, Periwinkle, Sweet Fern, Dandelion, Blue Eye, Clover, +Huckleberry, Cowslip, Squash-Blossom, Milkweed, Plantain, and Buttercup; +although, to be sure, such titles might better suit a group of fairies +than a company of earthly children. + +It is not to be supposed that these little folks were to be permitted by +their careful fathers and mothers, uncles, aunts, or grandparents, to +stray abroad into the woods and fields, without the guardianship of some +particularly grave and elderly person. Oh no, indeed! In the first +sentence of my book, you will recollect that I spoke of a tall youth, +standing in the midst of the children. His name--(and I shall let you +know his real name, because he considers it a great honor to have told +the stories that are here to be printed)--his name was Eustace Bright. +He was a student at Williams College, and had reached, I think, at this +period, the venerable age of eighteen years; so that he felt quite like +a grandfather towards Periwinkle, Dandelion, Huckleberry, +Squash-Blossom, Milkweed, and the rest, who were only half or a third as +venerable as he. A trouble in his eyesight (such as many students think +it necessary to have, nowadays, in order to prove their diligence at +their books) had kept him from college a week or two after the beginning +of the term. But, for my part, I have seldom met with a pair of eyes +that looked as if they could see farther or better than those of Eustace +Bright. + +This learned student was slender, and rather pale, as all Yankee +students are; but yet of a healthy aspect, and as light and active as if +he had wings to his shoes. By the by, being much addicted to wading +through streamlets and across meadows, he had put on cowhide boots for +the expedition. He wore a linen blouse, a cloth cap, and a pair of green +spectacles, which he had assumed, probably, less for the preservation of +his eyes than for the dignity that they imparted to his countenance. In +either case, however, he might as well have let them alone; for +Huckleberry, a mischievous little elf, crept behind Eustace as he sat on +the steps of the porch, snatched the spectacles from his nose, and +clapped them on her own; and as the student forgot to take them back, +they fell off into the grass, and lay there till the next spring. + +Now, Eustace Bright, you must know, had won great fame among the +children, as a narrator of wonderful stories; and though he sometimes +pretended to be annoyed, when they teased him for more, and more, and +always for more, yet I really doubt whether he liked anything quite so +well as to tell them. You might have seen his eyes twinkle, therefore, +when Clover, Sweet Fern, Cowslip, Buttercup, and most of their +playmates, besought him to relate one of his stories, while they were +waiting for the mist to clear up. + +"Yes, Cousin Eustace," said Primrose, who was a bright girl of twelve, +with laughing eyes, and a nose that turned up a little, "the morning is +certainly the best time for the stories with which you so often tire out +our patience. We shall be in less danger of hurting your feelings, by +falling asleep at the most interesting points,--as little Cowslip and I +did last night!" + +"Naughty Primrose," cried Cowslip, a child of six years old; "I did not +fall asleep, and I only shut my eyes, so as to see a picture of what +Cousin Eustace was telling about. His stories are good to hear at night, +because we can dream about them asleep; and good in the morning, too, +because then we can dream about them awake. So I hope he will tell us +one this very minute." + +"Thank you, my little Cowslip," said Eustace; "certainly you shall have +the best story I can think of, if it were only for defending me so well +from that naughty Primrose. But, children, I have already told you so +many fairy tales, that I doubt whether there is a single one which you +have not heard at least twice over. I am afraid you will fall asleep in +reality, if I repeat any of them again." + +"No, no, no!" cried Blue Eye, Periwinkle, Plantain, and half a dozen +others. "We like a story all the better for having heard it two or three +times before." + +And it is a truth, as regards children, that a story seems often to +deepen its mark in their interest, not merely by two or three, but by +numberless repetitions. But Eustace Bright, in the exuberance of his +resources, scorned to avail himself of an advantage which an older +story-teller would have been glad to grasp at. + +"It would be a great pity," said he, "if a man of my learning (to say +nothing of original fancy) could not find a new story every day, year in +and year out, for children such as you. I will tell you one of the +nursery tales that were made for the amusement of our great old +grandmother, the Earth, when she was a child in frock and pinafore. +There are a hundred such; and it is a wonder to me that they have not +long ago been put into picture-books for little girls and boys. But, +instead of that, old gray-bearded grandsires pore over them in musty +volumes of Greek, and puzzle themselves with trying to find out when, +and how, and for what they were made." + +"Well, well, well, well, Cousin Eustace!" cried all the children at +once; "talk no more about your stories, but begin." + +"Sit down, then, every soul of you," said Eustace Bright, "and be all as +still as so many mice. At the slightest interruption, whether from +great, naughty Primrose, little Dandelion, or any other, I shall bite +the story short off between my teeth, and swallow the untold part. But, +in the first place, do any of you know what a Gorgon is?" + +"I do," said Primrose. + +"Then hold your tongue!" rejoined Eustace, who had rather she would have +known nothing about the matter. "Hold all your tongues, and I shall tell +you a sweet pretty story of a Gorgon's head." + +And so he did, as you may begin to read on the next page. Working up his +sophomorical erudition with a good deal of tact, and incurring great +obligations to Professor Anthon, he, nevertheless, disregarded all +classical authorities, whenever the vagrant audacity of his imagination +impelled him to do so. + + +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 +school-boy, 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 may be 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 honor 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 were 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 mean time, 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 towards 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; or, 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 hundred-fold 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 praise-worthy 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 sight-seeing, 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 semicircle round about him. Monarch, counsellors, courtiers, and +subjects, all gazed eagerly towards 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. + + +Tanglewood Porch + +_After the Story_ + +"Was not that a very fine story?" asked Eustace. + +"Oh yes, yes!" cried Cowslip, clapping her hands. + +"And those funny old women, with only one eye amongst them! I never +heard of anything so strange." + +"As to their one tooth, which they shifted about," observed Primrose, +"there was nothing so very wonderful in that. I suppose it was a false +tooth. But think of your turning Mercury into Quicksilver, and talking +about his sister! You are too ridiculous!" + +"And was she not his sister?" asked Eustace Bright. "If I had thought of +it sooner, I would have described her as a maiden lady, who kept a pet +owl!" + +"Well, at any rate," said Primrose, "your story seems to have driven +away the mist." + +And, indeed, while the tale was going forward, the vapors had been quite +exhaled from the landscape. A scene was now disclosed which the +spectators might almost fancy as having been created since they had last +looked in the direction where it lay. About half a mile distant, in the +lap of the valley, now appeared a beautiful lake, which reflected a +perfect image of its own wooded banks, and of the summits of the more +distant hills. It gleamed in glassy tranquillity, without the trace of a +winged breeze on any part of its bosom. Beyond its farther shore was +Monument Mountain, in a recumbent position, stretching almost across the +valley. Eustace Bright compared it to a huge, headless sphinx, wrapped +in a Persian shawl; and, indeed, so rich and diversified was the +autumnal foliage of its woods, that the simile of the shawl was by no +means too high-colored for the reality. In the lower ground, between +Tanglewood and the lake, the clumps of trees and borders of woodland +were chiefly golden-leaved or dusky brown, as having suffered more from +frost than the foliage on the hill-sides. + +Over all this scene there was a genial sunshine, intermingled with a +slight haze, which made it unspeakably soft and tender. Oh, what a day +of Indian summer was it going to be! The children snatched their +baskets, and set forth, with hop, skip, and jump, and all sorts of +frisks and gambols; while Cousin Eustace proved his fitness to preside +over the party, by outdoing all their antics, and performing several new +capers, which none of them could ever hope to imitate. Behind went a +good old dog, whose name was Ben. He was one of the most respectable and +kind-hearted of quadrupeds, and probably felt it to be his duty not to +trust the children away from their parents without some better guardian +than this feather-brained Eustace Bright. + + + + +THE GOLDEN TOUCH + + +Shadow Brook + +_Introductory to "The Golden Touch"_ + +At noon, our juvenile party assembled in a dell, through the depths of +which ran a little brook. The dell was narrow, and its steep sides, from +the margin of the stream upward, were thickly set with trees, chiefly +walnuts and chestnuts, among which grew a few oaks and maples. In the +summer time, the shade of so many clustering branches, meeting and +intermingling across the rivulet, was deep enough to produce a noontide +twilight. Hence came the name of Shadow Brook. But now, ever since +autumn had crept into this secluded place, all the dark verdure was +changed to gold, so that it really kindled up the dell, instead of +shading it. The bright yellow leaves, even had it been a cloudy day, +would have seemed to keep the sunlight among them; and enough of them +had fallen to strew all the bed and margin of the brook with sunlight, +too. Thus the shady nook, where summer had cooled herself, was now the +sunniest spot anywhere to be found. + +The little brook ran along over its pathway of gold, here pausing to +form a pool, in which minnows were darting to and fro; and then it +hurried onward at a swifter pace, as if in haste to reach the lake; and, +forgetting to look whither it went, it tumbled over the root of a tree, +which stretched quite across its current. You would have laughed to hear +how noisily it babbled about this accident. And even after it had run +onward, the brook still kept talking to itself, as if it were in a +maze. It was wonder-smitten, I suppose, at finding its dark dell so +illuminated, and at hearing the prattle and merriment of so many +children. So it stole away as quickly as it could, and hid itself in the +lake. + +In the dell of Shadow Brook, Eustace Bright and his little friends had +eaten their dinner. They had brought plenty of good things from +Tanglewood, in their baskets, and had spread them out on the stumps of +trees, and on mossy trunks, and had feasted merrily, and made a very +nice dinner indeed. After it was over, nobody felt like stirring. + +"We will rest ourselves here," said several of the children, "while +Cousin Eustace tells us another of his pretty stories." + +Cousin Eustace had a good right to be tired, as well as the children, +for he had performed great feats on that memorable forenoon. Dandelion, +Clover, Cowslip, and Buttercup were almost most persuaded that he had +winged slippers, like those which the Nymphs gave Perseus; so often had +the student shown himself at the tip-top of a nut-tree, when only a +moment before he had been standing on the ground. And then, what showers +of walnuts had he sent rattling down upon their heads, for their busy +little hands to gather into the baskets! In short, he had been as active +as a squirrel or a monkey, and now, flinging himself down on the yellow +leaves, seemed inclined to take a little rest. + +But children have no mercy nor consideration for anybody's weariness; +and if you had but a single breath left, they would ask you to spend it +in telling them a story. + +"Cousin Eustace," said Cowslip, "that was a very nice story of the +Gorgon's Head. Do you think you could tell us another as good?" + +"Yes, child," said Eustace, pulling the brim of his cap over his eyes, +as if preparing for a nap. "I can tell you a dozen, as good or better, +if I choose." + +"O Primrose and Periwinkle, do you hear what he says?" cried Cowslip, +dancing with delight. "Cousin Eustace is going to tell us a dozen better +stories than that about the Gorgon's Head!" + +"I did not promise you even one, you foolish little Cowslip!" said +Eustace, half pettishly. "However, I suppose you must have it. This is +the consequence of having earned a reputation! I wish I were a great +deal duller than I am, or that I had never shown half the bright +qualities with which nature has endowed me; and then I might have my nap +out, in peace and comfort!" + +But Cousin Eustace, as I think I have hinted before, was as fond of +telling his stories as the children of hearing them. His mind was in a +free and happy state, and took delight in its own activity, and scarcely +required any external impulse to set it at work. + +How different is this spontaneous play of the intellect from the trained +diligence of maturer years, when toil has perhaps grown easy by long +habit, and the day's work may have become essential to the day's +comfort, although the rest of the matter has bubbled away! This remark, +however, is not meant for the children to hear. + +Without further solicitation, Eustace Bright proceeded to tell the +following really splendid story. It had come into his mind as he lay +looking upward into the depths of a tree, and observing how the touch of +Autumn had transmuted every one of its green leaves into what resembled +the purest gold. And this change, which we have all of us witnessed, is +as wonderful as anything that Eustace told about in the story of Midas. + + +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 behavior, 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 tip-top 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-humored 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 favor. And what could that +favor 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-humored 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 bed-posts, 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 down +stairs, 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 door-latch (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 splendor, 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 parlor. 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 laborer, 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 color, 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 woful 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 favorite 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-color 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 recognized 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. "It 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 color 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!" + + +Shadow Brook + +_After the Story_ + +"Well, children," inquired Eustace, who was very fond of eliciting a +definite opinion from his auditors, "did you ever, in all your lives, +listen to a better story than this of 'The Golden Touch'?" + +"Why, as to the story of King Midas," said saucy Primrose, "it was a +famous one thousands of years before Mr. Eustace Bright came into the +world, and will continue to be so as long after he quits it. But some +people have what we may call 'The Leaden Touch,' and make everything +dull and heavy that they lay their fingers upon." + +"You are a smart child, Primrose, to be not yet in your teens," said +Eustace, taken rather aback by the piquancy of her criticism. "But you +well know, in your naughty little heart, that I have burnished the old +gold of Midas all over anew, and have made it shine as it never shone +before. And then that figure of Marygold! Do you perceive no nice +workmanship in that? And how finely I have brought out and deepened the +moral! What say you, Sweet Fern, Dandelion, Clover, Periwinkle? Would +any of you, after hearing this story, be so foolish as to desire the +faculty of changing things to gold?" + +"I should like," said Periwinkle, a girl of ten, "to have the power of +turning everything to gold with my right forefinger; but, with my left +forefinger, I should want the power of changing it back again, if the +first change did not please me. And I know what I would do, this very +afternoon!" + +"Pray tell me," said Eustace. + +"Why," answered Periwinkle, "I would touch every one of these golden +leaves on the trees with my left forefinger, and make them all green +again; so that we might have the summer back at once, with no ugly +winter in the mean time." + +"O Periwinkle!" cried Eustace Bright, "there you are wrong, and would do +a great deal of mischief. Were I Midas, I would make nothing else but +just such golden days as these over and over again, all the year +throughout. My best thoughts always come a little too late. Why did not +I tell you how old King Midas came to America, and changed the dusky +autumn, such as it is in other countries, into the burnished beauty +which it here puts on? He gilded the leaves of the great volume of +Nature." + +"Cousin Eustace," said Sweet Fern, a good little boy, who was always +making particular inquiries about the precise height of giants and the +littleness of fairies, "how big was Marygold, and how much did she weigh +after she was turned to gold?" + +"She was about as tall as you are," replied Eustace, "and, as gold is +very heavy, she weighed at least two thousand pounds, and might have +been coined into thirty or forty thousand gold dollars. I wish Primrose +were worth half as much. Come, little people, let us clamber out of the +dell, and look about us." + +They did so. The sun was now an hour or two beyond its noontide mark, +and filled the great hollow of the valley with its western radiance, so +that it seemed to be brimming with mellow light, and to spill it over +the surrounding hill-sides, like golden wine out of a bowl. It was such +a day that you could not help saying of it, "There never was such a day +before!" although yesterday was just such a day, and to-morrow will be +just such another. Ah, but there are very few of them in a twelvemonth's +circle! It is a remarkable peculiarity of these October days, that each +of them seems to occupy a great deal of space, although the sun rises +rather tardily at that season of the year, and goes to bed, as little +children ought, at sober six o'clock, or even earlier. We cannot, +therefore, call the days long; but they appear, somehow or other, to +make up for their shortness by their breadth; and when the cool night +comes, we are conscious of having enjoyed a big armful of life, since +morning. + +"Come, children, come!" cried Eustace Bright. "More nuts, more nuts, +more nuts! Fill all your baskets; and, at Christmas time, I will crack +them for you, and tell you beautiful stories!" + +So away they went; all of them in excellent spirits, except little +Dandelion, who, I am sorry to tell you, had been sitting on a +chestnut-bur, and was stuck as full as a pincushion of its prickles. +Dear me, how uncomfortably he must have felt! + + + + +THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN + + +Tanglewood Play-Room + +_Introductory to "The Paradise of Children"_ + +The golden days of October passed away, as so many other Octobers have, +and brown November likewise, and the greater part of chill December, +too. At last came merry Christmas, and Eustace Bright along with it, +making it all the merrier by his presence. And, the day after his +arrival from college, there came a mighty snow-storm. Up to this time, +the winter had held back, and had given us a good many mild days, which +were like smiles upon its wrinkled visage. The grass had kept itself +green, in sheltered places, such as the nooks of southern hill-slopes, +and along the lee of the stone fences. It was but a week or two ago, and +since the beginning of the month, that the children had found a +dandelion in bloom, on the margin of Shadow Brook, where it glides out +of the dell. + +But no more green grass and dandelions now. This was such a snow-storm! +Twenty miles of it might have been visible at once, between the windows +of Tanglewood and the dome of Taconic, had it been possible to see so +far among the eddying drifts that whitened all the atmosphere. It seemed +as if the hills were giants, and were flinging monstrous handfuls of +snow at one another, in their enormous sport. So thick were the +fluttering snow-flakes, that even the trees, midway down the valley, +were hidden by them the greater part of the time. Sometimes, it is +true, the little prisoners of Tanglewood could discern a dim outline of +Monument Mountain, and the smooth whiteness of the frozen lake at its +base, and the black or gray tracts of woodland in the nearer landscape. +But these were merely peeps through the tempest. + +Nevertheless, the children rejoiced greatly in the snow-storm. They had +already made acquaintance with it, by tumbling heels over head into its +highest drifts, and flinging snow at one another, as we have just +fancied the Berkshire mountains to be doing. And now they had come back +to their spacious play-room, which was as big as the great drawing-room, +and was lumbered with all sorts of playthings, large and small. The +biggest was a rocking-horse, that looked like a real pony; and there was +a whole family of wooden, waxen, plaster, and china dolls, besides +rag-babies; and blocks enough to build Bunker Hill Monument, and +nine-pins, and balls, and humming tops, and battledores, and +grace-sticks, and skipping-ropes, and more of such valuable property +than I could tell of in a printed page. But the children liked the +snow-storm better than them all. It suggested so many brisk enjoyments +for to-morrow, and all the remainder of the winter. The sleigh-ride; the +slides down hill into the valley; the snow-images that were to be shaped +out; the snow-fortresses that were to be built; and the snowballing to +be carried on! + +So the little folks blessed the snow-storm, and were glad to see it come +thicker and thicker, and watched hopefully the long drift that was +piling itself up in the avenue, and was already higher than any of their +heads. + +"Why, we shall be blocked up till spring!" cried they, with the hugest +delight. "What a pity that the house is too high to be quite covered up! +The little red house, down yonder, will be buried up to its eaves." + +"You silly children, what do you want of more snow?" asked Eustace, +who, tired of some novel that he was skimming through, had strolled into +the play-room. "It has done mischief enough already, by spoiling the +only skating that I could hope for through the winter. We shall see +nothing more of the lake till April; and this was to have been my first +day upon it! Don't you pity me, Primrose?" + +"Oh, to be sure!" answered Primrose, laughing. "But, for your comfort, +we will listen to another of your old stories, such as you told us under +the porch, and down in the hollow, by Shadow Brook. Perhaps I shall like +them better now, when there is nothing to do, than while there were nuts +to be gathered, and beautiful weather to enjoy." + +Hereupon, Periwinkle, Clover, Sweet Fern, and as many others of the +little fraternity and cousinhood as were still at Tanglewood, gathered +about Eustace, and earnestly besought him for a story. The student +yawned, stretched himself, and then, to the vast admiration of the small +people, skipped three times back and forth over the top of a chair, in +order, as he explained to them, to set his wits in motion. + +"Well, well, children," said he, after these preliminaries, "since you +insist, and Primrose has set her heart upon it, I will see what can be +done for you. And, that you may know what happy days there were before +snow-storms came into fashion, I will tell you a story of the oldest of +all old times, when the world was as new as Sweet Fern's bran-new +humming-top. There was then but one season in the year, and that was the +delightful summer; and but one age for mortals, and that was childhood." + +"I never heard of that before," said Primrose. + +"Of course, you never did," answered Eustace. "It shall be a story of +what nobody but myself ever dreamed of,--a Paradise of children,--and +how, by the naughtiness of just such a little imp as Primrose here, it +all came to nothing." + +So Eustace Bright sat down in the chair which he had just been skipping +over, took Cowslip upon his knee, ordered silence throughout the +auditory, and began a story about a sad naughty child, whose name was +Pandora, and about her playfellow Epimetheus. You may read it, word for +word, in the pages that come next. + + +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 labor 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. + +[Illustration: PANDORA] + +"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 she did 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-humor, 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 afterwards, 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 playfellows, 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 a +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 over-ripe, 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 +humor 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 swarm 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 afterwards. 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 humor, 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 towards 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 +humor 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 towards 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-humor 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 colored 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 spiritualizes 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! + + +Tanglewood Play-Room + +_After the Story_ + +"Primrose," asked Eustace, pinching her ear, "how do you like my little +Pandora? Don't you think her the exact picture of yourself? But you +would not have hesitated half so long about opening the box." + +"Then I should have been well punished for my naughtiness," retorted +Primrose, smartly; "for the first thing to pop out, after the lid was +lifted, would have been Mr. Eustace Bright, in the shape of a Trouble." + +"Cousin Eustace," said Sweet Fern, "did the box hold all the trouble +that has ever come into the world?" + +"Every mite of it!" answered Eustace. "This very snow-storm, which has +spoiled my skating, was packed up there." + +"And how big was the box?" asked Sweet Fern. + +"Why, perhaps three feet long," said Eustace, "two feet wide, and two +feet and a half high." + +"Ah," said the child, "you are making fun of me, Cousin Eustace! I know +there is not trouble enough in the world to fill such a great box as +that. As for the snow-storm, it is no trouble at all, but a pleasure; so +it could not have been in the box." + +"Hear the child!" cried Primrose, with an air of superiority. "How +little he knows about the troubles of this world! Poor fellow! He will +be wiser when he has seen as much of life as I have." + +So saying, she began to skip the rope. + +Meantime, the day was drawing towards its close. Out of doors the scene +certainly looked dreary. There was a gray drift, far and wide, through +the gathering twilight; the earth was as pathless as the air; and the +bank of snow over the steps of the porch proved that nobody had entered +or gone out for a good many hours past. Had there been only one child at +the window of Tanglewood, gazing at this wintry prospect, it would +perhaps have made him sad. But half a dozen children together, though +they cannot quite turn the world into a paradise, may defy old Winter +and all his storms to put them out of spirits. Eustace Bright, moreover, +on the spur of the moment, invented several new kinds of play, which +kept them all in a roar of merriment till bedtime, and served for the +next stormy day besides. + + + + +THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES + + +Tanglewood Fireside + +_Introductory to "The Three Golden Apples"_ + +The snow-storm lasted another day; but what became of it afterwards, I +cannot possibly imagine. At any rate, it entirely cleared away during +the night; and when the sun arose the next morning, it shone brightly +down on as bleak a tract of hill-country, here in Berkshire, as could be +seen anywhere in the world. The frostwork had so covered the +window-panes that it was hardly possible to get a glimpse at the scenery +outside. But, while waiting for breakfast, the small populace of +Tanglewood had scratched peep-holes with their finger-nails, and saw +with vast delight that--unless it were one or two bare patches on a +precipitous hill-side, or the gray effect of the snow, intermingled with +the black pine forest--all nature was as white as a sheet. How +exceedingly pleasant! And, to make it all the better, it was cold enough +to nip one's nose short off! If people have but life enough in them to +bear it, there is nothing that so raises the spirits, and makes the +blood ripple and dance so nimbly, like a brook down the slope of a hill, +as a bright, hard frost. + +No sooner was breakfast over, than the whole party, well muffled in furs +and woollens, floundered forth into the midst of the snow. Well, what a +day of frosty sport was this! They slid down hill into the valley, a +hundred times, nobody knows how far; and, to make it all the merrier, +upsetting their sledges, and tumbling head over heels, quite as often +as they came safely to the bottom. And, once, Eustace Bright took +Periwinkle, Sweet Fern, and Squash-Blossom, on the sledge with him, by +way of insuring a safe passage; and down they went, full speed. But, +behold, half-way down, the sledge hit against a hidden stump, and flung +all four of its passengers into a heap; and, on gathering themselves up, +there was no little Squash-Blossom to be found! Why, what could have +become of the child? And while they were wondering and staring about, up +started Squash-Blossom out of a snow-bank, with the reddest face you +ever saw, and looking as if a large scarlet flower had suddenly sprouted +up in midwinter. Then there was a great laugh. + +When they had grown tired of sliding down hill, Eustace set the children +to digging a cave in the biggest snow-drift that they could find. +Unluckily, just as it was completed, and the party had squeezed +themselves into the hollow, down came the roof upon their heads, and +buried every soul of them alive! The next moment, up popped all their +little heads out of the ruins, and the tall student's head in the midst +of them, looking hoary and venerable with the snow-dust that had got +amongst his brown curls. And then, to punish Cousin Eustace for advising +them to dig such a tumble-down cavern, the children attacked him in a +body, and so bepelted him with snowballs that he was fain to take to his +heels. + +So he ran away, and went into the woods, and thence to the margin of +Shadow Brook, where he could hear the streamlet grumbling along, under +great overhanging banks of snow and ice, which would scarcely let it see +the light of day. There were adamantine icicles glittering around all +its little cascades. Thence he strolled to the shore of the lake, and +beheld a white, untrodden plain before him, stretching from his own feet +to the foot of Monument Mountain. And, it being now almost sunset, +Eustace thought that he had never beheld anything so fresh and +beautiful as the scene. He was glad that the children were not with him; +for their lively spirits and tumble-about activity would quite have +chased away his higher and graver mood, so that he would merely have +been merry (as he had already been, the whole day long), and would not +have known the loveliness of the winter sunset among the hills. + +When the sun was fairly down, our friend Eustace went home to eat his +supper. After the meal was over, he betook himself to the study, with a +purpose, I rather imagine, to write an ode, or two or three sonnets, or +verses of some kind or other, in praise of the purple and golden clouds +which he had seen around the setting sun. But, before he had hammered +out the very first rhyme, the door opened, and Primrose and Periwinkle +made their appearance. + +"Go away, children! I can't be troubled with you now!" cried the +student, looking over his shoulder, with the pen between his fingers. +"What in the world do you want here? I thought you were all in bed!" + +"Hear him, Periwinkle, trying to talk like a grown man!" said Primrose. +"And he seems to forget that I am now thirteen years old, and may sit up +almost as late as I please. But, Cousin Eustace, you must put off your +airs, and come with us to the drawing-room. The children have talked so +much about your stories, that my father wishes to hear one of them, in +order to judge whether they are likely to do any mischief." + +"Poh, poh, Primrose!" exclaimed the student, rather vexed. "I don't +believe I can tell one of my stories in the presence of grown people. +Besides, your father is a classical scholar; not that I am much afraid +of his scholarship, neither, for I doubt not it is as rusty as an old +case-knife by this time. But then he will be sure to quarrel with the +admirable nonsense that I put into these stories, out of my own head, +and which makes the great charm of the matter for children, like +yourself. No man of fifty, who has read the classical myths in his +youth, can possibly understand my merit as a reinventor and improver of +them." + +"All this may be very true," said Primrose, "but come you must! My +father will not open his book, nor will mamma open the piano, till you +have given us some of your nonsense, as you very correctly call it. So +be a good boy, and come along." + +Whatever he might pretend, the student was rather glad than otherwise, +on second thoughts, to catch at the opportunity of proving to Mr. +Pringle what an excellent faculty he had in modernizing the myths of +ancient times. Until twenty years of age, a young man may, indeed, be +rather bashful about showing his poetry and his prose; but, for all +that, he is pretty apt to think that these very productions would place +him at the tip-top of literature, if once they could be known. +Accordingly, without much more resistance, Eustace suffered Primrose and +Periwinkle to drag him into the drawing-room. + +It was a large, handsome apartment, with a semicircular window at one +end, in the recess of which stood a marble copy of Greenough's Angel and +Child. On one side of the fireplace there were many shelves of books, +gravely but richly bound. The white light of the astral-lamp, and the +red glow of the bright coal-fire, made the room brilliant and cheerful; +and before the fire, in a deep arm-chair, sat Mr. Pringle, looking just +fit to be seated in such a chair, and in such a room. He was a tall and +quite a handsome gentleman, with a bald brow; and was always so nicely +dressed, that even Eustace Bright never liked to enter his presence +without at least pausing at the threshold to settle his shirt-collar. +But now, as Primrose had hold of one of his hands, and Periwinkle of the +other, he was forced to make his appearance with a rough-and-tumble sort +of look, as if he had been rolling all day in a snow-bank. And so he +had. + +Mr. Pringle turned towards the student benignly enough, but in a way +that made him feel how uncombed and unbrushed he was, and how uncombed +and unbrushed, likewise, were his mind and thoughts. + +"Eustace," said Mr. Pringle, with a smile, "I find that you are +producing a great sensation among the little public of Tanglewood, by +the exercise of your gifts of narrative. Primrose here, as the little +folks choose to call her, and the rest of the children, have been so +loud in praise of your stories, that Mrs. Pringle and myself are really +curious to hear a specimen. It would be so much the more gratifying to +myself, as the stories appear to be an attempt to render the fables of +classical antiquity into the idiom of modern fancy and feeling. At +least, so I judge from a few of the incidents which have come to me at +second hand." + +"You are not exactly the auditor that I should have chosen, sir," +observed the student, "for fantasies of this nature." + +"Possibly not," replied Mr. Pringle. "I suspect, however, that a young +author's most useful critic is precisely the one whom he would be least +apt to choose. Pray oblige me, therefore." + +"Sympathy, methinks, should have some little share in the critic's +qualifications," murmured Eustace Bright. "However, sir, if you will +find patience, I will find stories. But be kind enough to remember that +I am addressing myself to the imagination and sympathies of the +children, not to your own." + +Accordingly, the student snatched hold of the first theme which +presented itself. It was suggested by a plate of apples that he happened +to spy on the mantelpiece. + + +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?" + +[Illustration: ATLAS] + +"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 +upwards, 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 honor 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 honor, 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 so 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 sea-shore, 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 sea-faring 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 honor,--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 labor 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 sea-weed 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-tost 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 towards 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 afterwards, 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 figure-head 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 sea-weed 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 sea-faring 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 humor, will tell you exactly where the garden of the +Hesperides lies." + +"And if the giant happens not to be in the humor," 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 towards 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 disk 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 thunderclouds. 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 sea-shore, 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 favor, 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, he 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 the 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 back-ache. 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 towards 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! + + +Tanglewood Fireside + +_After the Story_ + + +"Cousin Eustace," demanded Sweet Fern, who had been sitting at the +story-teller's feet, with his mouth wide open, "exactly how tall was +this giant?" + +"O Sweet Fern, Sweet Fern!" cried the student, "do you think I was +there, to measure him with a yard-stick? Well, if you must know to a +hair's-breadth, I suppose he might be from three to fifteen miles +straight upward, and that he might have seated himself on Taconic, and +had Monument Mountain for a footstool." + +"Dear me!" ejaculated the good little boy, with a contented sort of a +grunt, "that was a giant, sure enough! And how long was his little +finger?" + +"As long as from Tanglewood to the lake," said Eustace. + +"Sure enough, that was a giant!" repeated Sweet Fern, in an ecstasy at +the precision of these measurements. "And how broad, I wonder, were the +shoulders of Hercules?" + +"That is what I have never been able to find out," answered the student. +"But I think they must have been a great deal broader than mine, or than +your father's, or than almost any shoulders which one sees nowadays." + +"I wish," whispered Sweet Fern, with his mouth close to the student's +ear, "that you would tell me how big were some of the oak-trees that +grew between the giant's toes." + +"They were bigger," said Eustace, "than the great chestnut-tree which +stands beyond Captain Smith's house." + +"Eustace," remarked Mr. Pringle, after some deliberation, "I find it +impossible to express such an opinion of this story as will be likely to +gratify, in the smallest degree, your pride of authorship. Pray let me +advise you never more to meddle with a classical myth. Your imagination +is altogether Gothic, and will inevitably Gothicize everything that you +touch. The effect is like bedaubing a marble statue with paint. This +giant, now! How can you have ventured to thrust his huge, +disproportioned mass among the seemly outlines of Grecian fable, the +tendency of which is to reduce even the extravagant within limits, by +its pervading elegance?" + +"I described the giant as he appeared to me," replied the student, +rather piqued. "And, sir, if you would only bring your mind into such a +relation with these fables as is necessary in order to remodel them, you +would see at once that an old Greek had no more exclusive right to them +than a modern Yankee has. They are the common property of the world, and +of all time. The ancient poets remodelled them at pleasure, and held +them plastic in their hands; and why should they not be plastic in my +hands as well?" + +Mr. Pringle could not forbear a smile. + +"And besides," continued Eustace, "the moment you put any warmth of +heart, any passion or affection, any human or divine morality, into a +classic mould, you make it quite another thing from what it was before. +My own opinion is, that the Greeks, by taking possession of these +legends (which were the immemorial birthright of mankind), and putting +them into shapes of indestructible beauty, indeed, but cold and +heartless, have done all subsequent ages an incalculable injury." + +"Which you, doubtless, were born to remedy," said Mr. Pringle, laughing +outright. "Well, well, go on; but take my advice, and never put any of +your travesties on paper. And, as your next effort, what if you should +try your hand on some one of the legends of Apollo?" + +"Ah, sir, you propose it as an impossibility," observed the student, +after a moment's meditation; "and, to be sure, at first thought, the +idea of a Gothic Apollo strikes one rather ludicrously. But I will turn +over your suggestion in my mind, and do not quite despair of success." + +During the above discussion, the children (who understood not a word of +it) had grown very sleepy, and were now sent off to bed. Their drowsy +babble was heard, ascending the staircase, while a northwest-wind roared +loudly among the tree-tops of Tanglewood, and played an anthem around +the house. Eustace Bright went back to the study, and again endeavored +to hammer out some verses, but fell asleep between two of the rhymes. + + + + +THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER + + +The Hill-Side + +_Introductory to "The Miraculous Pitcher"_ + +And when, and where, do you think we find the children next? No longer +in the winter-time, but in the merry month of May. No longer in +Tanglewood play-room, or at Tanglewood fireside, but more than half-way +up a monstrous hill, or a mountain, as perhaps it would be better +pleased to have us call it. They had set out from home with the mighty +purpose of climbing this high hill, even to the very tip-top of its bald +head. To be sure, it was not quite so high as Chimborazo, or Mont Blanc, +and was even a good deal lower than old Graylock. But, at any rate, it +was higher than a thousand ant-hillocks, or a million of mole-hills; +and, when measured by the short strides of little children, might be +reckoned a very respectable mountain. + +And was Cousin Eustace with the party? Of that you may be certain; else +how could the book go on a step further? He was now in the middle of the +spring vacation, and looked pretty much as we saw him four or five +months ago, except that, if you gazed quite closely at his upper lip, +you could discern the funniest little bit of a mustache upon it. Setting +aside this mark of mature manhood, you might have considered Cousin +Eustace just as much a boy as when you first became acquainted with him. +He was as merry, as playful, as good-humored, as light of foot and of +spirits, and equally a favorite with the little folks, as he had always +been. This expedition up the mountain was entirely of his contrivance. +All the way up the steep ascent, he had encouraged the elder children +with his cheerful voice; and when Dandelion, Cowslip, and Squash-Blossom +grew weary, he had lugged them along, alternately, on his back. In this +manner, they had passed through the orchards and pastures on the lower +part of the hill, and had reached the wood, which extends thence towards +its bare summit. + +The month of May, thus far, had been more amiable than it often is, and +this was as sweet and genial a day as the heart of man or child could +wish. In their progress up the hill, the small people had found enough +of violets, blue and white, and some that were as golden as if they had +the touch of Midas on them. That sociablest of flowers, the little +Houstonia, was very abundant. It is a flower that never lives alone, but +which loves its own kind, and is always fond of dwelling with a great +many friends and relatives around it. Sometimes you see a family of +them, covering a space no bigger than the palm of your hand; and +sometimes a large community, whitening a whole tract of pasture, and all +keeping one another in cheerful heart and life. + +Within the verge of the wood there were columbines, looking more pale +than red, because they were so modest, and had thought proper to seclude +themselves too anxiously from the sun. There were wild geraniums, too, +and a thousand white blossoms of the strawberry. The trailing arbutus +was not yet quite out of bloom; but it hid its precious flowers under +the last year's withered forest-leaves, as carefully as a mother-bird +hides its little young ones. It knew, I suppose, how beautiful and +sweet-scented they were. So cunning was their concealment, that the +children sometimes smelt the delicate richness of their perfume before +they knew whence it proceeded. + +Amid so much new life, it was strange and truly pitiful to behold, here +and there, in the fields and pastures, the hoary periwigs of dandelions +that had already gone to seed. They had done with summer before the +summer came. Within those small globes of winged seeds it was autumn +now! + +Well, but we must not waste our valuable pages with any more talk about +the spring-time and wild flowers. There is something, we hope, more +interesting to be talked about. If you look at the group of children, +you may see them all gathered around Eustace Bright, who, sitting on the +stump of a tree, seems to be just beginning a story. The fact is, the +younger part of the troop have found out that it takes rather too many +of their short strides to measure the long ascent of the hill. Cousin +Eustace, therefore, has decided to leave Sweet Fern, Cowslip, +Squash-Blossom, and Dandelion, at this point, midway up, until the +return of the rest of the party from the summit. And because they +complain a little, and do not quite like to stay behind, he gives them +some apples out of his pocket, and proposes to tell them a very pretty +story. Hereupon they brighten up, and change their grieved looks into +the broadest kind of smiles. + +As for the story, I was there to hear it, hidden behind a bush, and +shall tell it over to you in the pages that come next. + + +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 neighbors 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 neighbors 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 towards 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 neighborhood?" + +"Ah!" observed old Philemon, with a quiet and benign smile, "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 neighbors." + +"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 under garments 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 towards 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 olivewood, 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 afterwards, 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 any one 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 labor, 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 whole 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 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 afterwards, 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 color was that of the +purest and most transparent gold; and it had the odor 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 arbor, 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-humored, 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 neighbors 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 towards 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 towards 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 these kind-hearted old people, "what has become of our +poor neighbors?" + +"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 neighbors!" + +"All," 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 +favor 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 +towards 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-humored, 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 talking 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 afterwards, 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! + +The Hill-Side + +_After the Story_ + +"How much did the pitcher hold?" asked Sweet Fern. "It did not hold +quite a quart," answered the student; "but you might keep pouring milk +out of it, till you should fill a hogshead, if you pleased. The truth +is, it would run on forever, and not be dry even at midsummer,--which is +more than can be said of yonder rill, that goes babbling down the +hill-side." + +"And what has become of the pitcher now?" inquired the little boy. + +"It was broken, I am sorry to say, about twenty-five thousand years +ago," replied Cousin Eustace. "The people mended it as well as they +could, but, though it would hold milk pretty well, it was never +afterwards known to fill itself of its own accord. So, you see, it was +no better than any other cracked earthen pitcher." + +"What a pity!" cried all the children at once. + +The respectable dog Ben had accompanied the party, as did likewise a +half-grown Newfoundland puppy, who went by the name of Bruin, because he +was just as black as a bear. Ben, being elderly, and of very circumspect +habits, was respectfully requested, by Cousin Eustace, to stay behind +with the four little children, in order to keep them out of mischief. As +for black Bruin, who was himself nothing but a child, the student +thought it best to take him along, lest, in his rude play with the +other children, he should trip them up, and send them rolling and +tumbling down the hill. Advising Cowslip, Sweet Fern, Dandelion, and +Squash-Blossom to sit pretty still, in the spot where he left them, the +student, with Primrose and the elder children, began to ascend, and were +soon out of sight among the trees. + + +THE CHIMÆRA + + +Bald-Summit + +_Introductory to "The Chimæra"_ + +Upward, along the steep and wooded hill-side, went Eustace Bright and +his companions. The trees were not yet in full leaf, but had budded +forth sufficiently to throw an airy shadow, while the sunshine filled +them with green light. There were moss-grown rocks, half hidden among +the old, brown, fallen leaves; there were rotten tree-trunks, lying at +full length where they had long ago fallen; there were decayed boughs, +that had been shaken down by the wintry gales, and were scattered +everywhere about. But still, though these things looked so aged, the +aspect of the wood was that of the newest life; for, whichever way you +turned your eyes, something fresh and green was springing forth, so as +to be ready for the summer. + +At last, the young people reached the upper verge of the wood, and found +themselves almost at the summit of the hill. It was not a peak, nor a +great round ball, but a pretty wide plain, or table-land, with a house +and barn upon it, at some distance. That house was the home of a +solitary family; and often-times the clouds, whence fell the rain, and +whence the snow-storm drifted down into the valley, hung lower than this +bleak and lonely dwelling-place. + +On the highest point of the hill was a heap of stones, in the centre of +which was stuck a long pole, with a little flag fluttering at the end of +it. Eustace led the children thither, and bade them look around, and +see how large a tract of our beautiful world they could take in at a +glance. And their eyes grew wider as they looked. + +Monument Mountain, to the southward, was still in the centre of the +scene, but seemed to have sunk and subsided, so that it was now but an +undistinguished member of a large family of hills. Beyond it, the +Taconic range looked higher and bulkier than before. Our pretty lake was +seen, with all its little bays and inlets; and not that alone, but two +or three new lakes were opening their blue eyes to the sun. Several +white villages, each with its steeple, were scattered about in the +distance. There were so many farm-houses, with their acres of woodland, +pasture, mowing-fields, and tillage, that the children could hardly make +room in their minds to receive all these different objects. There, too, +was Tanglewood, which they had hitherto thought such an important apex +of the world. It now occupied so small a space, that they gazed far +beyond it, and on either side, and searched a good while with all their +eyes, before discovering whereabout it stood. + +White, fleecy clouds were hanging in the air, and threw the dark spots +of their shadow here and there over the landscape. But, by and by, the +sunshine was where the shadow had been, and the shadow was somewhere +else. + +Far to the westward was a range of blue mountains, which Eustace Bright +told the children were the Catskills. Among those misty hills, he said, +was a spot where some old Dutchmen were playing an everlasting game of +nine-pins, and where an idle fellow, whose name was Rip Van Winkle, had +fallen asleep, and slept twenty years at a stretch. The children eagerly +besought Eustace to tell them all about this wonderful affair. But the +student replied that the story had been told once already, and better +than it ever could be told again; and that nobody would have a right to +alter a word of it, until it should have grown as old as "The Gorgon's +Head," and "The Three Golden Apples," and the rest of those miraculous +legends. + +"At least," said Periwinkle, "while we rest ourselves here, and are +looking about us, you can tell us another of your own stories." + +"Yes, Cousin Eustace," cried Primrose, "I advise you to tell us a story +here. Take some lofty subject or other, and see if your imagination will +not come up to it. Perhaps the mountain air may make you poetical, for +once. And no matter how strange and wonderful the story may be, now that +we are up among the clouds, we can believe anything." + +"Can you believe," asked Eustace, "that there was once a winged horse?" + +"Yes," said saucy Primrose; "but I am afraid you will never be able to +catch him." + +"For that matter, Primrose," rejoined the student, "I might possibly +catch Pegasus, and get upon his back, too, as well as a dozen other +fellows that I know of. At any rate, here is a story about him; and, of +all places in the world, it ought certainly to be told upon a +mountain-top." + +So, sitting on the pile of stones, while the children clustered +themselves at its base, Eustace fixed his eyes on a white cloud that was +sailing by, and began as follows. + + +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 hill-side, 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 hill-side, 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 water-courses 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 vapors, 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 any one that was +fortunate enough to see this wondrous spectacle felt cheerful the whole +day afterwards, 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 +afterwards. 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 neighborhood, 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 towards 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. + +[Illustration: BELLEROPHON BY THE FOUNTAIN OF PIRENE] + +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 afterwards 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 fighting +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 +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 breath, 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 +straight 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 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 +towards 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 vapor. + +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 +towards 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 +Chimera'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 spluttering 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 towards 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 towards 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 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 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 aerial steed, higher, higher, higher, above the +mountain-peaks, 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 labor, 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 aerial steed than ever did Bellerophon, and achieved more +honorable deeds than his friend's victory over the Chimæra. For, gentle +and tender as he was, he grew to be a mighty poet! + + +Bald-Summit + +_After the Story_ + +Eustace Bright told the legend of Bellerophon with as much fervor and +animation as if he had really been taking a gallop on the winged horse. +At the conclusion, he was gratified to discern, by the glowing +countenances of his auditors, how greatly they had been interested. All +their eyes were dancing in their heads, except those of Primrose. In her +eyes there were positively tears; for she was conscious of something in +the legend which the rest of them were not yet old enough to feel. +Child's story as it was, the student had contrived to breathe through it +the ardor, the generous hope, and the imaginative enterprise of youth. + +"I forgive you, now, Primrose," said he, "for all your ridicule of +myself and my stories. One tear pays for a great deal of laughter." + +"Well, Mr. Bright," answered Primrose, wiping her eyes, and giving him +another of her mischievous smiles, "it certainly does elevate your +ideas, to get your head above the clouds. I advise you never to tell +another story, unless it be, as at present, from the top of a mountain." + +"Or from the back of Pegasus," replied Eustace, laughing. "Don't you +think that I succeeded pretty well in catching that wonderful pony?" + +"It was so like one of your madcap pranks!" cried Primrose, clapping her +hands. "I think I see you now on his back, two miles high, and with your +head downward! It is well that you have not really an opportunity of +trying your horsemanship on any wilder steed than our sober Davy, or Old +Hundred." + +[Illustration: THE FOUNTAIN OF PIRENE + +(From the original in the collection of Austin M. Purves, Esq're +Philadelphia)] + +"For my part, I wish I had Pegasus here, at this moment," said the +student. "I would mount him forthwith, and gallop about the country, +within a circumference of a few miles, making literary calls on my +brother authors. Dr. Dewey would be within my reach, at the foot of +Taconic. In Stockbridge, yonder, is Mr. James, conspicuous to all the +world on his mountain-pile of history and romance. Longfellow, I +believe, is not yet at the Ox-bow, else the winged horse would neigh at +the sight of him. But, here in Lenox, I should find our most truthful +novelist, who has made the scenery and life of Berkshire all her own. On +the hither side of Pittsfield sits Herman Melville, shaping out the +gigantic conception of his 'White Whale,' while the gigantic shape of +Graylock looms upon him from his study-window. Another bound of my +flying steed would bring me to the door of Holmes, whom I mention last, +because Pegasus would certainly unseat me, the next minute, and claim +the poet as his rider." + +"Have we not an author for our next neighbor?" asked Primrose. "That +silent man, who lives in the old red house, near Tanglewood Avenue, and +whom we sometimes meet, with two children at his side, in the woods or +at the lake. I think I have heard of his having written a poem, or a +romance, or an arithmetic, or a school-history, or some other kind of a +book." + +"Hush, Primrose, hush!" exclaimed Eustace, in a thrilling whisper, and +putting his finger on his lip. "Not a word about that man, even on a +hill-top! If our babble were to reach his ears, and happen not to please +him, he has but to fling a quire or two of paper into the stove, and +you, Primrose, and I, and Periwinkle, Sweet Fern, Squash-Blossom, Blue +Eye, Huckleberry, Clover, Cowslip, Plantain, Milkweed, Dandelion, and +Buttercup,--yes, and wise Mr. Pringle, with his unfavorable criticisms +on my legends, and poor Mrs. Pringle, too,--would all turn to smoke, +and go whisking up the funnel! Our neighbor in the red house is a +harmless sort of person enough, for aught I know, as concerns the rest +of the world; but something whispers to me that he has a terrible power +over ourselves, extending to nothing short of annihilation." + +"And would Tanglewood turn to smoke, as well as we?" asked Periwinkle, +quite appalled at the threatened destruction. "And what would become of +Ben and Bruin?" + +"Tanglewood would remain," replied the student, "looking just as it does +now, but occupied by an entirely different family. And Ben and Bruin +would be still alive, and would make themselves very comfortable with +the bones from the dinner-table, without ever thinking of the good times +which they and we have had together!" + +"What nonsense you are talking!" exclaimed Primrose. + +With idle chat of this kind, the party had already begun to descend the +hill, and were now within the shadow of the woods. Primrose gathered +some mountain-laurel, the leaf of which, though of last year's growth, +was still as verdant and elastic as if the frost and thaw had not +alternately tried their force upon its texture. Of these twigs of laurel +she twined a wreath, and took off the student's cap, in order to place +it on his brow. + +"Nobody else is likely to crown you for your stories," observed saucy +Primrose, "so take this from me." + +"Do not be too sure," answered Eustace, looking really like a youthful +poet, with the laurel among his glossy curls, "that I shall not win +other wreaths by these wonderful and admirable stories. I mean to spend +all my leisure, during the rest of the vacation, and throughout the +summer term at college, in writing them out for the press. Mr. J. T. +Fields (with whom I became acquainted when he was in Berkshire, last +summer, and who is a poet, as well as a publisher) will see their +uncommon merit at a glance. He will get them illustrated, I hope, by +Billings, and will bring them before the world under the very best of +auspices, through the eminent house of Ticknor & Co. In about five +months from this moment, I make no doubt of being reckoned among the +lights of this age!" + +"Poor boy!" said Primrose, half aside. "What a disappointment awaits +him!" + +Descending a little lower, Bruin began to bark, and was answered by the +graver bow-wow of the respectable Ben. They soon saw the good old dog, +keeping careful watch over Dandelion, Sweet Fern, Cowslip, and +Squash-Blossom. These little people, quite recovered from their fatigue, +had set about gathering checkerberries, and now came clambering to meet +their playfellows. Thus reunited, the whole party went down through +Luther Butler's orchard, and made the best of their way home to +Tanglewood. + + + + +Tanglewood Tales, + +For Girls And Boys, + +Being A Second Wonder-Book + + + + +TANGLEWOOD TALES + + + + +The Wayside + + +_Introductory_ + +A short time ago, I was favored with a flying visit from my young friend +Eustace Bright, whom I had not before met with since quitting the breezy +mountains of Berkshire. It being the winter vacation at his college, +Eustace was allowing himself a little relaxation, in the hope, he told +me, of repairing the inroads which severe application to study had made +upon his health; and I was happy to conclude, from the excellent +physical condition in which I saw him, that the remedy had already been +attended with very desirable success. He had now run up from Boston by +the noon train, partly impelled by the friendly regard with which he is +pleased to honor me, and partly, as I soon found, on a matter of +literary business. + +It delighted me to receive Mr. Bright, for the first time, under a roof, +though a very humble one, which I could really call my own. Nor did I +fail (as is the custom of landed proprietors all about the world) to +parade the poor fellow up and down over my half a dozen acres; secretly +rejoicing, nevertheless, that the disarray of the inclement season, and +particularly the six inches of snow then upon the ground, prevented him +from observing the ragged neglect of soil and shrubbery into which the +place has lapsed. It was idle, however, to imagine that an airy guest +from Monument Mountain, Bald-Summit, and old Graylock, shaggy with +primeval forests, could see anything to admire in my poor little +hill-side, with its growth of frail and insect-eaten locust-trees. +Eustace very frankly called the view from my hill-top tame; and so, no +doubt, it was, after rough, broken, rugged, headlong Berkshire, and +especially the northern parts of the county, with which his college +residence had made him familiar. But to me there is a peculiar, quiet +charm in these broad meadows and gentle eminences. They are better than +mountains, because they do not stamp and stereotype themselves into the +brain, and thus grow wearisome with the same strong impression, repeated +day after day. A few summer weeks among mountains, a lifetime among +green meadows and placid slopes, with outlines forever new, because +continually fading out of the memory,--such would be my sober choice. + +I doubt whether Eustace did not internally pronounce the whole thing a +bore, until I led him to my predecessor's little ruined, rustic +summer-house, midway on the hill-side. It is a mere skeleton of slender, +decaying tree-trunks, with neither walls nor a roof; nothing but a +tracery of branches and twigs, which the next wintry blast will be very +likely to scatter in fragments along the terrace. It looks, and is, as +evanescent as a dream; and yet, in its rustic net-work of boughs, it has +somehow enclosed a hint of spiritual beauty, and has become a true +emblem of the subtile and ethereal mind that planned it. I made Eustace +Bright sit down on a snow-bank, which bad heaped itself over the mossy +seat, and gazing through the arched window opposite, he acknowledged +that the scene at once grew picturesque. + +"Simple as it looks," said he, "this little edifice seems to be the work +of magic. It is full of suggestiveness, and, in its way, is as good as a +cathedral. Ah, it would be just the spot for one to sit in, of a summer +afternoon, and tell the children some more of those wild stories from +the classic myths!" + +"It would, indeed," answered I. "The summer-house itself, so airy and so +broken, is like one of those old tales, imperfectly remembered; and +these living branches of the Baldwin apple-tree, thrusting themselves so +rudely in, are like your unwarrantable interpolations. But, by the by, +have you added any more legends to the series, since the publication of +the Wonder Book?" + +"Many more," said Eustace; "Primrose, Periwinkle, and the rest of them +allow me no comfort of my life, unless I tell them a story every day or +two. I have run away from home partly to escape the importunity of those +little wretches! But I have written out six of the new stories, and have +brought them for you to look over." + +"Are they as good as the first?" I inquired. + +"Better chosen, and better handled," replied Eustace Bright. "You will +say so when you read them." + +"Possibly not," I remarked. "I know, from my own experience, that an +author's last work is always his best one, in his own estimate, until it +quite loses the red heat of composition. After that, it falls into its +true place, quietly enough. But let us adjourn to my study, and examine +these new stories. It would hardly be doing yourself justice, were you +to bring me acquainted with them, sitting here on this snow-bank!" + +So we descended the hill to my small, old cottage, and shut ourselves up +in the southeastern room, where the sunshine comes in, warmly and +brightly, through the better half of a winter's day. Eustace put his +bundle of manuscript into my hands; and I skimmed through it pretty +rapidly, trying to find out its merits and demerits by the touch of my +fingers, as a veteran story-teller ought to know how to do. + +It will be remembered, that Mr. Bright condescended to avail himself of +my literary experience by constituting me editor of the Wonder Book. As +he had no reason to complain of the reception of that erudite work by +the public, he was now disposed to retain me in a similar position, with +respect to the present volume, which he entitled "TANGLEWOOD TALES." +Not, as Eustace hinted, that there was any real necessity for my +services as introductor, inasmuch as his own name had become +established, in some good degree of favor, with the literary world. But +the connection with myself, he was kind enough to say, had been highly +agreeable; nor was he by any means desirous, as most people are, of +kicking away the ladder that had perhaps helped him to reach his present +elevation. My young friend was willing, in short, that the fresh verdure +of his growing reputation should spread over my straggling and +half-naked boughs; even as I have sometimes thought of training a vine, +with its broad leafiness, and purple fruitage, over the worm-eaten posts +and rafters of the rustic summer-house. I was not insensible to the +advantages of his proposal, and gladly assured him of my acceptance. + +Merely from the titles of the stories, I saw at once that the subjects +were not less rich than those of the former volume; nor did I at all +doubt that Mr. Bright's audacity (so far as that endowment might avail) +had enabled him to take full advantage of whatever capabilities they +offered. Yet, in spite of my experience of his free way of handling +them, I did not quite see, I confess, how he could have obviated all the +difficulties in the way of rendering them presentable to children. These +old legends, so brimming over with everything that is most abhorrent to +our Christianized moral sense,--some of them so hideous, others so +melancholy and miserable, amid which the Greek tragedians sought their +themes, and moulded them into the sternest forms of grief that ever the +world saw; was such material the stuff that children's playthings should +be made of! How were they to be purified? How was the blessed sunshine +to be thrown into them? + +But Eustace told me that these myths were the most singular things in +the world, and that he was invariably astonished, whenever he began to +relate one, by the readiness with which it adapted itself to the +childish purity of his auditors. The objectionable characteristics seem +to be a parasitical growth, having no essential connection with the +original fable. They fall away, and are thought of no more, the instant +he puts his imagination in sympathy with the innocent little circle, +whose wide-open eyes are fixed so eagerly upon him. Thus the stories +(not by any strained effort of the narrator's, but in harmony with their +inherent germ) transform themselves, and reassume the shapes which they +might be supposed to possess in the pure childhood of the world. When +the first poet or romancer told these marvellous legends (such is +Eustace Bright's opinion), it was still the Golden Age. Evil had never +yet existed; and sorrow, misfortune, crime, were mere shadows which the +mind fancifully created for itself, as a shelter against too sunny +realities; or, at most, but prophetic dreams, to which the dreamer +himself did not yield a waking credence. Children are now the only +representatives of the men and women of that happy era; and therefore it +is that we must raise the intellect and fancy to the level of childhood, +in order to recreate the original myths. + +I let the youthful author talk as much and as extravagantly as he +pleased, and was glad to see him commencing life with such confidence in +himself and his performances. A few years will do all that is necessary +towards showing him the truth in both respects. Meanwhile, it is but +right to say, he does really appear to have overcome the moral +objections against these fables, although at the expense of such +liberties with their structure as must be left to plead their own +excuse, without any help from me. Indeed, except that there was a +necessity for it,--and that the inner life of the legends cannot be come +at save by making them entirely one's own property,--there is no defence +to be made. + +Eustace informed me that he had told his stories to the children in +various situations,--in the woods, on the shore of the lake, in the dell +of Shadow Brook, in the play-room, at Tanglewood fireside, and in a +magnificent palace of snow, with ice windows, which he helped his little +friends to build. His auditors were even more delighted with the +contents of the present volume than with the specimens which have +already been given to the world. The classically learned Mr. Pringle, +too, had listened to two or three of the tales, and censured them even +more bitterly than he did THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES; so that, what with +praise, and what with criticism, Eustace Bright thinks that there is +good hope of at least as much success with the public as in the case of +the Wonder Book. + +I made all sorts of inquiries about the children, not doubting that +there would be great eagerness to hear of their welfare among some good +little folks who have written to me, to ask for another volume of myths. +They are all, I am happy to say (unless we except Clover), in excellent +health and spirits. Primrose is now almost a young lady, and, Eustace +tells me, is just as saucy as ever. She pretends to consider herself +quite beyond the age to be interested by such idle stories as these; +but, for all that, whenever a story is to be told, Primrose never fails +to be one of the listeners, and to make fun of it when finished. +Periwinkle is very much grown, and is expected to shut up her baby-house +and throw away her doll in a month or two more. Sweet Fern has learned +to read and write, and has put on a jacket and pair of pantaloons,--all +of which improvements I am sorry for. Squash-Blossom, Blue Eye, +Plantain, and Buttercup have had the scarlet fever, but came easily +through it. Huckleberry, Milkweed, and Dandelion were attacked with the +hooping-cough, but bore it bravely, and kept out of doors whenever the +sun shone. Cowslip, during the autumn, had either the measles, or some +eruption that looked very much like it, but was hardly sick a day. Poor +Clover has been a good deal troubled with her second teeth, which have +made her meagre in aspect and rather fractious in temper; nor, even when +she smiles, is the matter much mended, since it discloses a gap just +within her lips, almost as wide as the barn door. But all this will +pass over, and it is predicted that she will turn out a very pretty +girl. + +As for Mr. Bright himself, he is now in his senior year at Williams +College, and has a prospect of graduating with some degree of honorable +distinction at the next Commencement. In his oration for the bachelor's +degree, he gives me to understand, he will treat of the classical myths, +viewed in the aspect of baby stories, and has a great mind to discuss +the expediency of using up the whole of ancient history for the same +purpose. I do not know what he means to do with himself after leaving +college, but trust that, by dabbling so early with the dangerous and +seductive business of authorship, he will not be tempted to become an +author by profession. If so, I shall be very sorry for the little that I +have had to do with the matter, in encouraging these first beginnings. + +I wish there were any likelihood of my soon seeing Primrose, Periwinkle, +Dandelion, Sweet Fern, Clover, Plantain, Huckleberry, Milkweed, Cowslip, +Buttercup, Blue Eye, and Squash-Blossom again. But as I do not know when +I shall revisit Tanglewood, and as Eustace Bright probably will not ask +me to edit a third Wonder Book, the public of little folks must not +expect to hear any more about those dear children from me. Heaven bless +them, and everybody else, whether grown people or children! + + THE WAYSIDE, CONCORD, MASS. + + _March 13, 1853._ + + + + +The Minotaur + + +In the old city of Troezene, at the foot of a lofty mountain, there +lived, a very long time ago, a little boy named Theseus. His +grandfather, King Pittheus, was the sovereign of that country, and was +reckoned a very wise man; so that Theseus, being brought up in the royal +palace, and being naturally a bright lad, could hardly fail of profiting +by the old king's instructions. His mother's name was Æthra. As for his +father, the boy had never seen him. But, from his earliest remembrance, +Æthra used to go with little Theseus into a wood, and sit down upon a +moss-grown rock, which was deeply sunk into the earth. Here she often +talked with her son about his father, and said that he was called Ægeus, +and that he was a great king, and ruled over Attica, and dwelt at +Athens, which was as famous a city as any in the world. Theseus was very +fond of hearing about King Ægeus, and often asked his good mother Æthra +why he did not come and live with them at Troezene. + +"Ah, my dear son," answered Æthra, with a sigh, "a monarch has his +people to take care of. The men and women over whom he rules are in the +place of children to him; and he can seldom spare time to love his own +children as other parents do. Your father will never be able to leave +his kingdom for the sake of seeing his little boy." + +"Well, but, dear mother," asked the boy, "why cannot I go to this famous +city of Athens, and tell King Ægeus that I am his son?" + +"That may happen by and by," said Æthra. "Be patient, and we shall see. +You are not yet big and strong enough to set out on such an errand." + +"And how soon shall I be strong enough?" Theseus persisted in inquiring. + +"You are but a tiny boy as yet," replied his mother. "See if you can +lift this rock on which we are sitting?" + +The little fellow had a great opinion of his own strength. So, grasping +the rough protuberances of the rock, he tugged and toiled amain, and got +himself quite out of breath, without being able to stir the heavy stone. +It seemed to be rooted into the ground. No wonder he could not move it; +for it would have taken all the force of a very strong man to lift it +out of its earthy bed. + +His mother stood looking on, with a sad kind of a smile on her lips and +in her eyes, to see the zealous and yet puny efforts of her little boy. +She could not help being sorrowful at finding him already so impatient +to begin his adventures in the world. + +"You see how it is, my dear Theseus," said she. "You must possess far +more strength than now before I can trust you to go to Athens, and tell +King Ægeus that you are his son. But when you can lift this rock, and +show me what is hidden beneath it, I promise you my permission to +depart." + +Often and often, after this, did Theseus ask his mother whether it was +yet time for him to go to Athens; and still his mother pointed to the +rock, and told him that, for years to come, he could not be strong +enough to move it. And again and again the rosy-cheeked and curly-headed +boy would tug and strain at the huge mass of stone, striving, child as +he was, to do what a giant could hardly have done without taking both of +his great hands to the task. Meanwhile the rock seemed to be sinking +farther and farther into the ground. The moss grew over it thicker and +thicker, until at last it looked almost like a soft green seat, with +only a few gray knobs of granite peeping out. The overhanging trees, +also, shed their brown leaves upon it, as often as the autumn came; and +at its base grew ferns and wild flowers, some of which crept quite over +its surface. To all appearance, the rock was as firmly fastened as any +other portion of the earth's substance. + +But, difficult as the matter looked, Theseus was now growing up to be +such a vigorous youth, that, in his own opinion, the time would quickly +come when he might hope to get the upper hand of this ponderous lump of +stone. + +"Mother, I do believe it has started!" cried he, after one of his +attempts. "The earth around it is certainly a little cracked!" + +"No, no, child!" his mother hastily answered. "It is not possible you +can have moved it, such a boy as you still are!" + +Nor would she be convinced, although Theseus showed her the place where +he fancied that the stem of a flower had been partly uprooted by the +movement of the rock. But Æthra sighed and looked disquieted; for, no +doubt, she began to be conscious that her son was no longer a child, and +that, in a little while hence, she must send him forth among the perils +and troubles of the world. + +It was not more than a year afterwards when they were again sitting on +the moss-covered stone. Æthra had once more told him the oft-repeated +story of his father, and how gladly he would receive Theseus at his +stately palace, and how he would present him to his courtiers and the +people, and tell them that here was the heir of his dominions. The eyes +of Theseus glowed with enthusiasm, and he would hardly sit still to hear +his mother speak. + +"Dear mother Æthra," he exclaimed, "I never felt half so strong as now! +I am no longer a child, nor a boy, nor a mere youth! I feel myself a +man! It is now time to make one earnest trial to remove the stone!" + +"Ah, my dearest Theseus," replied his mother, "not yet! not yet!" + +"Yes, mother," said he, resolutely, "the time has come." + +Then Theseus bent himself in good earnest to the task, and strained +every sinew, with manly strength and resolution. He put his whole brave +heart into the effort. He wrestled with the big and sluggish stone, as +if it had been a living enemy. He heaved, he lifted, he resolved now to +succeed, or else to perish there, and let the rock be his monument +forever! Æthra stood gazing at him, and clasped her hands, partly with a +mother's pride, and partly with a mother's sorrow. The great rock +stirred! Yes, it was raised slowly from the bedded moss and earth, +uprooting the shrubs and flowers along with it, and was turned upon its +side. Theseus had conquered! + +While taking breath, he looked joyfully at his mother, and she smiled +upon him through her tears. + +"Yes, Theseus," she said, "the time has come, and you must stay no +longer at my side! See what King Ægeus, your royal father, left for you, +beneath the stone, when he lifted it in his mighty arms, and laid it on +the spot whence you have now removed it." + +Theseus looked, and saw that the rock had been placed over another slab +of stone, containing a cavity within it; so that it somewhat resembled a +roughly made chest or coffer, of which the upper mass had served as the +lid. Within the cavity lay a sword, with a golden hilt, and a pair of +sandals. + +"That was your father's sword," said Æthra, "and those were his sandals. +When he went to be king of Athens, he bade me treat you as a child until +you should prove yourself a man by lifting this heavy stone. That task +being accomplished, you are to put on his sandals, in order to follow in +your father's footsteps, and to gird on his sword, so that you may fight +giants and dragons, as King Ægeus did in his youth." + +"I will set out for Athens this very day!" cried Theseus. + +But his mother persuaded him to stay a day or two longer, while she got +ready some necessary articles for his journey. When his grandfather, the +wise King Pittheus, heard that Theseus intended to present himself at +his father's palace, he earnestly advised him to get on board of a +vessel, and go by sea; because he might thus arrive within fifteen miles +of Athens, without either fatigue or danger. + +"The roads are very bad by land," quoth the venerable king; "and they +are terribly infested with robbers and monsters. A mere lad, like +Theseus, is not fit to be trusted on such a perilous journey, all by +himself. No, no; let him go by sea!" + +But when Theseus heard of robbers and monsters, he pricked up his ears, +and was so much the more eager to take the road along which they were to +be met with. On the third day, therefore, he bade a respectful farewell +to his grandfather, thanking him for all his kindness, and, after +affectionately embracing his mother, he set forth, with a good many of +her tears glistening on his cheeks, and some, if the truth must be told, +that had gushed out of his own eyes. But he let the sun and wind dry +them, and walked stoutly on, playing with the golden hilt of his sword +and taking very manly strides in his father's sandals. + +I cannot stop to tell you hardly any of the adventures that befell +Theseus on the road to Athens. It is enough to say, that he quite +cleared that part of the country of the robbers, about whom King +Pittheus had been so much alarmed. One of these bad people was named +Procrustes; and he was indeed a terrible fellow, and had an ugly way of +making fun of the poor travellers who happened to fall into his +clutches. In his cavern he had a bed, on which, with great pretence of +hospitality, he invited his guests to lie down; but if they happened to +be shorter than the bed, this wicked villain stretched them out by main +force; or, if they were too long, he lopped off their heads or feet, and +laughed at what he had done, as an excellent joke. Thus, however weary +a man might be, he never liked to lie in the bed of Procrustes. Another +of these robbers, named Scinis, must likewise have been a very great +scoundrel. He was in the habit of flinging his victims off a high cliff +into the sea; and, in order to give him exactly his deserts, Theseus +tossed him off the very same place. But if you will believe me, the sea +would not pollute itself by receiving such a bad person into its bosom, +neither would the earth, having once got rid of him, consent to take him +back; so that, between the cliff and the sea, Scinis stuck fast in the +air, which was forced to bear the burden of his naughtiness. + +After these memorable deeds, Theseus heard of an enormous sow, which ran +wild, and was the terror of all the farmers round about; and, as he did +not consider himself above doing any good thing that came in his way, he +killed this monstrous creature, and gave the carcass to the poor people +for bacon. The great sow had been an awful beast, while ramping about +the woods and fields, but was a pleasant object enough when cut up into +joints, and smoking on I know not how many dinner tables. + +Thus, by the time he had reached his journey's end, Theseus had done +many valiant deeds with his father's golden-hilted sword, and had gained +the renown of being one of the bravest young men of the day. His fame +travelled faster than he did, and reached Athens before him. As he +entered the city, he heard the inhabitants talking at the +street-corners, and saying that Hercules was brave, and Jason too, and +Castor and Pollux likewise, but that Theseus, the son of their own king, +would turn out as great a hero as the best of them. Theseus took longer +strides on hearing this, and fancied himself sure of a magnificent +reception at his father's court, since he came hither with Fame to blow +her trumpet before him, and cry to King Ægeus, "Behold your son!" + +He little suspected, innocent youth that he was, that here, in this +very Athens, where his father reigned, a greater danger awaited him than +any which he had encountered on the road. Yet this was the truth. You +must understand that the father of Theseus, though not very old in +years, was almost worn out with the cares of government, and had thus +grown aged before his time. His nephews, not expecting him to live a +very great while, intended to get all the power of the kingdom into +their own hands. But when they heard that Theseus had arrived in Athens, +and learned what a gallant young man he was, they saw that he would not +be at all the kind of person to let them steal away his father's crown +and sceptre, which ought to be his own by right of inheritance. Thus +these bad-hearted nephews of King Ægeus, who were the own cousins of +Theseus, at once became his enemies. A still more dangerous enemy was +Medea, the wicked enchantress; for she was now the king's wife, and +wanted to give the kingdom to her son Medus, instead of letting it be +given to the son of Æthra, whom she hated. + +It so happened that the king's nephews met Theseus, and found out who he +was, just as he reached the entrance of the royal palace. With all their +evil designs against him, they pretended to be their cousin's best +friends, and expressed great joy at making his acquaintance. They +proposed to him that he should come into the king's presence as a +stranger, in order to try whether Ægeus would discover in the young +man's features any likeness either to himself or his mother Æthra, and +thus recognize him for a son. Theseus consented; for he fancied that his +father would know him in a moment, by the love that was in his heart. +But, while he waited at the door, the nephews ran and told King Ægeus +that a young man had arrived in Athens, who, to their certain knowledge, +intended to put him to death, and get possession of his royal crown. + +"And he is now waiting for admission to your Majesty's presence," added +they. + +"Aha!" cried the old king, on hearing this. "Why, he must be a very +wicked young fellow indeed! Pray, what would you advise me to do with +him?" + +In reply to this question, the wicked Medea put in her word. As I have +already told you, she was a famous enchantress. According to some +stories, she was in the habit of boiling old people in a large caldron, +under pretence of making them young again; but King Ægeus, I suppose, +did not fancy such an uncomfortable way of growing young, or perhaps was +contented to be old, and therefore would never let himself be popped +into the caldron. If there were time to spare from more important +matters, I should be glad to tell you of Medea's fiery chariot, drawn by +winged dragons, in which the enchantress used often to take an airing +among the clouds. This chariot, in fact, was the vehicle that first +brought her to Athens, where she had done nothing but mischief ever +since her arrival. But these and many other wonders must be left untold; +and it is enough to say, that Medea, amongst a thousand other bad +things, knew how to prepare a poison, that was instantly fatal to +whomsoever might so much as touch it with his lips. + +So, when the king asked what he should do with Theseus, this naughty +woman had an answer ready at her tongue's end. + +"Leave that to me, please your Majesty," she replied. "Only admit this +evil-minded young man to your presence, treat him civilly, and invite +him to drink a goblet of wine. Your Majesty is well aware that I +sometimes amuse myself with distilling very powerful medicines. Here is +one of them in this small phial. As to what it is made of, that is one +of my secrets of state. Do but let me put a single drop into the goblet, +and let the young man taste it; and I will answer for it, he shall quite +lay aside the bad designs with which he comes hither." + +As she said this, Medea smiled; but, for all her smiling face, she meant +nothing less than to poison the poor innocent Theseus, before his +father's eyes. And King Ægeus, like most other kings, thought any +punishment mild enough for a person who was accused of plotting against +his life. He therefore made little or no objection to Medea's scheme, +and as soon as the poisonous wine was ready, gave orders that the young +stranger should be admitted into his presence. The goblet was set on a +table beside the king's throne; and a fly, meaning just to sip a little +from the brim, immediately tumbled into it, dead. Observing this, Medea +looked round at the nephews, and smiled again. + +When Theseus was ushered into the royal apartment, the only object that +he seemed to behold was the white-bearded old king. There he sat on his +magnificent throne, a dazzling crown on his head, and a sceptre in his +hand. His aspect was stately and majestic, although his years and +infirmities weighed heavily upon him, as if each year were a lump of +lead, and each infirmity a ponderous stone, and all were bundled up +together, and laid upon his weary shoulders. The tears both of joy and +sorrow sprang into the young man's eyes; for he thought how sad it was +to see his dear father so infirm, and how sweet it would be to support +him with his own youthful strength, and to cheer him up with the +alacrity of his loving spirit. When a son takes his father into his warm +heart, it renews the old man's youth in a better way than by the heat of +Medea's magic caldron. And this was what Theseus resolved to do. He +could scarcely wait to see whether King Ægeus would recognize him, so +eager was he to throw himself into his arms. + +Advancing to the foot of the throne, he attempted to make a little +speech, which he had been thinking about, as he came up the stairs. But +he was almost choked by a great many tender feelings that gushed out of +his heart and swelled into his throat, all struggling to find utterance +together. And therefore, unless he could have laid his full, +over-brimming heart into the king's hand, poor Theseus knew not what to +do or say. The cunning Medea observed what was passing in the young +man's mind. She was more wicked at that moment than ever she had been +before; for (and it makes me tremble to tell you of it) she did her +worst to turn all this unspeakable love with which Theseus was agitated, +to his own ruin and destruction. + +"Does your Majesty see his confusion?" she whispered in the king's ear. +"He is so conscious of guilt, that he trembles and cannot speak. The +wretch lives too long! Quick! offer him the wine!" + +Now King Ægeus had been gazing earnestly at the young stranger, as he +drew near the throne. There was something, he knew not what, either in +his white brow, or in the fine expression of his mouth, or in his +beautiful and tender eyes, that made him indistinctly feel as if he had +seen this youth before; as if, indeed, he had trotted him on his knee +when a baby, and had beheld him growing to be a stalwart man, while he +himself grew old. But Medea guessed how the king felt, and would not +suffer him to yield to these natural sensibilities; although they were +the voice of his deepest heart, telling him, as plainly as it could +speak, that here was his dear son, and Æthra's son, coming to claim him +for a father. The enchantress again whispered in the king's ear, and +compelled him, by her witchcraft, to see everything under a false +aspect. + +He made up his mind, therefore, to let Theseus drink off the poisoned +wine. + +"Young man," said he, "you are welcome! I am proud to show hospitality +to so heroic a youth. Do me the favor to drink the contents of this +goblet. It is brimming over, as you see, with delicious wine, such as I +bestow only on those who are worthy of it! None is more worthy to quaff +it than yourself!" + +So saying, King Ægeus took the golden goblet from the table, and was +about to offer it to Theseus. But, partly through his infirmities, and +partly because it seemed so sad a thing to take away this young man's +life, however wicked he might be, and partly, no doubt, because his +heart was wiser than his head, and quaked within him at the thought of +what he was going to do,--for all these reasons, the king's hand +trembled so much that a great deal of the wine slopped over. In order to +strengthen his purpose, and fearing lest the whole of the precious +poison should be wasted, one of his nephews now whispered to him,-- + +"Has your Majesty any doubt of this stranger's guilt? There is the very +sword with which he meant to slay you. How sharp, and bright, and +terrible it is! Quick!--let him taste the wine; or perhaps he may do the +deed even yet." + +At these words, Ægeus drove every thought and feeling out of his breast, +except the one idea of how justly the young man deserved to be put to +death. He sat erect on his throne, and held out the goblet of wine with +a steady hand, and bent on Theseus a frown of kingly severity; for, +after all, he had too noble a spirit to murder even a treacherous enemy +with a deceitful smile upon his face. + +"Drink!" said he, in the stern tone with which he was wont to condemn a +criminal to be beheaded. "You have well deserved of me such wine as +this!" + +Theseus held out his hand to take the wine. But, before he touched it, +King Ægeus trembled again. His eyes had fallen on the gold-hilted sword +that hung at the young man's side. He drew back the goblet. + +"That sword!" he cried; "how came you by it?" + +"It was my father's sword," replied Theseus, with a tremulous voice. +"These were his sandals. My dear mother (her name is Æthra) told me his +story while I was yet a little child. But it is only a month since I +grew strong enough to lift the heavy stone, and take the sword and +sandals from beneath it, and come to Athens to seek my father." + +"My son! my son!" cried King Ægeus, flinging away the fatal goblet, and +tottering down from the throne to fall into the arms of Theseus. "Yes, +these are Æthra's eyes. It is my son." + +I have quite forgotten what became of the king's nephews. But when the +wicked Medea saw this new turn of affairs, she hurried out of the room, +and going to her private chamber, lost no time in setting her +enchantments at work. In a few moments, she heard a great noise of +hissing snakes outside of the chamber window; and, behold! there was her +fiery chariot, and four huge winged serpents, wriggling and twisting in +the air, flourishing their tails higher than the top of the palace, and +all ready to set off on an aerial journey. Medea stayed only long enough +to take her son with her, and to steal the crown jewels, together with +the king's best robes, and whatever other valuable things she could lay +hands on; and getting into the chariot, she whipped up the snakes, and +ascended high over the city. + +The king, hearing the hiss of the serpents, scrambled as fast as he +could to the window, and bawled out to the abominable enchantress never +to come back. The whole people of Athens, too, who had run out of doors +to see this wonderful spectacle, set up a shout of joy at the prospect +of getting rid of her. Medea, almost bursting with rage, uttered +precisely such a hiss as one of her own snakes, only ten times more +venomous and spiteful; and glaring fiercely out of the blaze of the +chariot, she shook her hands over the multitude below, as if she were +scattering a million of curses among them. In so doing, however, she +unintentionally let fall about five hundred diamonds of the first water, +together with a thousand great pearls, and two thousand emeralds, +rubies, sapphires, opals, and topazes, to which she had helped herself +out of the king's strong-box. All these came pelting down, like a shower +of many-colored hailstones, upon the heads of grown people and children, +who forthwith gathered them up and carried them back to the palace. But +King Ægeus told them that they were welcome to the whole, and to twice +as many more, if he had them, for the sake of his delight at finding +his son, and losing the wicked Medea. And, indeed, if you had seen how +hateful was her last look, as the flaming chariot flew upward, you would +not have wondered that both king and people should think her departure a +good riddance. + +And now Prince Theseus was taken into great favor by his royal father. +The old king was never weary of having him sit beside him on his throne +(which was quite wide enough for two), and of hearing him tell about his +dear mother, and his childhood, and his many boyish efforts to lift the +ponderous stone. Theseus, however, was much too brave and active a young +man to be willing to spend all his time in relating things which had +already happened. His ambition was to perform other and more heroic +deeds, which should be better worth telling in prose and verse. Nor had +he been long in Athens before he caught and chained a terrible mad bull, +and made a public show of him, greatly to the wonder and admiration of +good King Ægeus and his subjects. But pretty soon, he undertook an +affair that made all his foregone adventures seem like mere boy's play. +The occasion of it was as follows:-- + +One morning, when Prince Theseus awoke, he fancied that he must have had +a very sorrowful dream, and that it was still running in his mind, even +now that his eyes were open. For it appeared as if the air was full of a +melancholy wail; and when he listened more attentively, he could hear +sobs and groans, and screams of woe, mingled with deep, quiet sighs, +which came from the king's palace, and from the streets, and from the +temples, and from every habitation in the city. And all these mournful +noises, issuing out of thousands of separate hearts, united themselves +into the one great sound of affliction, which bad startled Theseus from +slumber. He put on his clothes as quickly as he could (not forgetting +his sandals and gold-hilted sword), and hastening to the king, inquired +what it all meant. + +"Alas! my son," quoth King Ægeus, heaving a long sigh, "here is a very +lamentable matter in hand! This is the wofullest anniversary in the +whole year. It is the day when we annually draw lots to see which of the +youths and maidens of Athens shall go to be devoured by the horrible +Minotaur!" + +"The Minotaur!" exclaimed Prince Theseus; and, like a brave young prince +as he was, he put his hand to the hilt of his sword. "What kind of a +monster may that be? Is it not possible, at the risk of one's life, to +slay him?" + +But King Ægeus shook his venerable head, and to convince Theseus that it +was quite a hopeless case, he gave him an explanation of the whole +affair. It seems that in the island of Crete there lived a certain +dreadful monster, called a Minotaur, which was shaped partly like a man +and partly like a bull, and was altogether such a hideous sort of a +creature that it is really disagreeable to think of him. If he were +suffered to exist at all, it should have been on some desert island, or +in the duskiness of some deep cavern, where nobody would ever be +tormented by his abominable aspect. But King Minos, who reigned over +Crete, laid out a vast deal of money in building a habitation for the +Minotaur, and took great care of his health and comfort, merely for +mischief's sake. A few years before this time, there had been a war +between the city of Athens and the island of Crete, in which the +Athenians were beaten, and compelled to beg for peace. No peace could +they obtain, however, except on condition that they should send seven +young men and seven maidens, every year, to be devoured by the pet +monster of the cruel King Minos. For three years past, this grievous +calamity had been borne. And the sobs, and groans, and shrieks, with +which the city was now filled, were caused by the people's woe, because +the fatal day had come again, when the fourteen victims were to be +chosen by lot; and the old people feared lest their sons or daughters +might be taken, and the youths and damsels dreaded lest they themselves +might be destined to glut the ravenous maw of that detestable man-brute. + +But when Theseus heard the story, he straightened himself up, so that he +seemed taller than ever before; and as for his face, it was indignant, +despiteful, bold, tender, and compassionate, all in one look. + +"Let the people of Athens, this year, draw lots for only six young men, +instead of seven," said he. "I will myself be the seventh; and let the +Minotaur devour me, if he can!" + +"O my dear son," cried King Ægeus, "why should you expose yourself to +this horrible fate? You are a royal prince, and have a right to hold +yourself above the destinies of common men." + +"It is because I am a prince, your son, and the rightful heir of your +kingdom, that I freely take upon me the calamity of your subjects," +answered Theseus. "And you, my father, being king over this people, and +answerable to Heaven for their welfare, are bound to sacrifice what is +dearest to you, rather than that the son or daughter of the poorest +citizen should come to any harm." + +The old king shed tears, and besought Theseus not to leave him desolate +in his old age, more especially as he had but just begun to know the +happiness of possessing a good and valiant son. Theseus, however, felt +that he was in the right, and therefore would not give up his +resolution. But he assured his father that he did not intend to be eaten +up, unresistingly, like a sheep, and that, if the Minotaur devoured him, +it should not be without a battle for his dinner. And finally, since he +could not help it, King Ægeus consented to let him go. So a vessel was +got ready, and rigged with black sails; and Theseus, with six other +young men, and seven tender and beautiful damsels, came down to the +harbor to embark. A sorrowful multitude accompanied them to the shore. +There was the poor old king, too, leaning on his son's arm, and looking +as if his single heart held all the grief of Athens. + +Just as Prince Theseus was going on board, his father bethought himself +of one last word to say. + +"My beloved son," said he, grasping the prince's hand, "you observe that +the sails of this vessel are black; as indeed they ought to be, since it +goes upon a voyage of sorrow and despair. Now, being weighed down with +infirmities, I know not whether I can survive till the vessel shall +return. But, as long as I do live, I shall creep daily to the top of +yonder cliff, to watch if there be a sail upon the sea. And, dearest +Theseus, if by some happy chance you should escape the jaws of the +Minotaur, then tear down those dismal sails, and hoist others that shall +be bright as the sunshine. Beholding them on the horizon, myself and all +the people will know that you are coming back victorious, and will +welcome you with such a festal uproar as Athens never heard before." + +Theseus promised that he would do so. Then, going on board, the mariners +trimmed the vessel's black sails to the wind, which blew faintly off the +shore, being pretty much made up of the sighs that everybody kept +pouring forth on this melancholy occasion. But by and by, when they had +got fairly out to sea, there came a stiff breeze from the northwest, and +drove them along as merrily over the white-capped waves as if they had +been going on the most delightful errand imaginable. And though it was a +sad business enough, I rather question whether fourteen young people, +without any old persons to keep them in order, could continue to spend +the whole time of the voyage in being miserable. There had been some few +dances upon the undulating deck, I suspect, and some hearty bursts of +laughter, and other such unseasonable merriment among the victims, +before the high, blue mountains of Crete began to show themselves among +the far-off clouds. That sight, to be sure, made them all very grave +again. + +Theseus stood among the sailors, gazing eagerly towards the land; +although, as yet, it seemed hardly more substantial than the clouds, +amidst which the mountains were looming up. Once or twice, he fancied +that he saw a glare of some bright object, a long way off, flinging a +gleam across the waves. + +"Did you see that flash of light?" he inquired of the master of the +vessel. + +"No, prince; but I have seen it before," answered the master. "It came +from Talus, I suppose." + +As the breeze came fresher just then, the master was busy with trimming +his sails, and had no more time to answer questions. But while the +vessel flew faster and faster towards Crete, Theseus was astonished to +behold a human figure, gigantic in size, which appeared to be striding +with a measured movement, along the margin of the island. It stepped +from cliff to cliff, and sometimes from one headland to another, while +the sea foamed and thundered on the shore beneath, and dashed its jets +of spray over the giant's feet. What was still more remarkable, whenever +the sun shone on this huge figure, it flickered and glimmered; its vast +countenance, too, had a metallic lustre, and threw great flashes of +splendor through the air. The folds of its garments, moreover, instead +of waving in the wind, fell heavily over its limbs, as if woven of some +kind of metal. + +The nigher the vessel came, the more Theseus wondered what this immense +giant could be, and whether it actually had life or no. For though it +walked, and made other lifelike motions, there yet was a kind of jerk in +its gait, which, together with its brazen aspect, caused the young +prince to suspect that it was no true giant, but only a wonderful piece +of machinery. The figure looked all the more terrible because it carried +an enormous brass club on its shoulder. + +"What is this wonder?" Theseus asked of the master of the vessel, who +was now at leisure to answer him. + +"It is Talus, the Man of Brass," said the master. + +"And is he a live giant, or a brazen image?" asked Theseus. + +"That, truly," replied the master, "is the point which has always +perplexed me. Some say, indeed, that this Talus was hammered out for +King Minos by Vulcan himself, the skilfullest of all workers in metal. +But who ever saw a brazen image that had sense enough to walk round an +island three times a day, as this giant walks round the island of Crete, +challenging every vessel that comes nigh the shore? And, on the other +hand, what living thing, unless his sinews were made of brass, would not +be weary of marching eighteen hundred miles in the twenty-four hours, as +Talus does, without ever sitting down to rest? He is a puzzler, take him +how you will." + +Still the vessel went bounding onward; and now Theseus could hear the +brazen clangor of the giant's footsteps, as he trod heavily upon the +sea-beaten rocks, some of which were seen to crack and crumble into the +foamy waves beneath his weight. As they approached the entrance of the +port, the giant straddled clear across it, with a foot firmly planted on +each headland, and uplifting his club to such a height that its butt-end +was hidden in a cloud, he stood in that formidable posture, with the sun +gleaming all over his metallic surface. There seemed nothing else to be +expected but that, the next moment, he would fetch his great club down, +slam bang, and smash the vessel into a thousand pieces, without heeding +how many innocent people he might destroy; for there is seldom any mercy +in a giant, you know, and quite as little in a piece of brass clockwork. +But just when Theseus and his companions thought the blow was coming, +the brazen lips unclosed themselves, and the figure spoke. + +"Whence come you, strangers?" + +And when the ringing voice ceased, there was just such a reverberation +as you may have heard within a great church bell, for a moment or two +after the stroke of the hammer. + +"From Athens!" shouted the master in reply. + +"On what errand?" thundered the Man of Brass. + +And he whirled his club aloft more threateningly than ever, as if he +were about to smite them with a thunder-stroke right amid-ships, because +Athens, so little while ago, had been at war with Crete. + +"We bring the seven youths and the seven maidens," answered the master, +"to be devoured by the Minotaur!" + +"Pass!" cried the brazen giant. + +That one loud word rolled all about the sky, while again there was a +booming reverberation within the figure's breast. The vessel glided +between the headlands of the port, and the giant resumed his march. In a +few moments, this wondrous sentinel was far away, flashing in the +distant sunshine, and revolving with immense strides around the island +of Crete, as it was his never-ceasing task to do. + +No sooner had they entered the harbor than a party of the guards of King +Minos came down to the water-side, and took charge of the fourteen young +men and damsels. Surrounded by these armed warriors, Prince Theseus and +his companions were led to the king's palace, and ushered into his +presence. Now, Minos was a stern and pitiless king. If the figure that +guarded Crete was made of brass, then the monarch, who ruled over it, +might be thought to have a still harder metal in his breast, and might +have been called a man of iron. He bent his shaggy brows upon the poor +Athenian victims. Any other mortal, beholding their fresh and tender +beauty, and their innocent looks, would have felt himself sitting on +thorns until he had made every soul of them happy, by bidding them go +free as the summer wind. But this immitigable Minos cared only to +examine whether they were plump enough to satisfy the Minotaur's +appetite. For my part, I wish he had himself been the only victim; and +the monster would have found him a pretty tough one. + +One after another, King Minos called these pale, frightened youths and +sobbing maidens to his footstool, gave them each a poke in the ribs with +his sceptre (to try whether they were in good flesh or no), and +dismissed them with a nod to his guards. But when his eyes rested on +Theseus, the king looked at him more attentively, because his face was +calm and brave. + +"Young man," asked he, with his stern voice, "are you not appalled at +the certainty of being devoured by this terrible Minotaur?" + +"I have offered my life in a good cause," answered Theseus, "and +therefore I give it freely and gladly. But thou, King Minos, art thou +not thyself appalled, who, year after year, hast perpetrated this +dreadful wrong, by giving seven innocent youths and as many maidens to +be devoured by a monster? Dost thou not tremble, wicked king, to turn +thine eyes inward on thine own heart? Sitting there on thy golden +throne, and in thy robes of majesty, I tell thee to thy face, King +Minos, thou art a more hideous monster than the Minotaur himself!" + +"Aha! do you think me so?" cried the king, laughing in his cruel way. +"To-morrow, at breakfast-time, you shall have an opportunity of judging +which is the greater monster, the Minotaur or the king! Take them away, +guards; and let this free-spoken youth be the Minotaur's first morsel!" + +Near the king's throne (though I had no time to tell you so before) +stood his daughter Ariadne. She was a beautiful and tender-hearted +maiden, and looked at these poor doomed captives with very different +feelings from those of the iron-breasted King Minos. She really wept, +indeed, at the idea of how much human happiness would be needlessly +thrown away, by giving so many young people, in the first bloom and rose +blossom of their lives, to be eaten up by a creature who, no doubt, +would have preferred a fat ox, or even a large pig, to the plumpest of +them. And when she beheld the brave, spirited figure of Prince Theseus +bearing himself so calmly in his terrible peril, she grew a hundred +times more pitiful than before. As the guards were taking him away, she +flung herself at the king's feet, and besought him to set all the +captives free, and especially this one young man. + +"Peace, foolish girl!" answered King Minos. "What hast thou to do with +an affair like this? It is a matter of state policy, and therefore quite +beyond thy weak comprehension. Go water thy flowers, and think no more +of these Athenian caitiffs, whom the Minotaur shall as certainly eat up +for breakfast as I will eat a partridge for my supper." + +So saying, the king looked cruel enough to devour Theseus and all the +rest of the captives, himself, had there been no Minotaur to save him +the trouble. As he would not hear another word in their favor, the +prisoners were now led away, and clapped into a dungeon, where the +jailer advised them to go to sleep as soon as possible, because the +Minotaur was in the habit of calling for breakfast early. The seven +maidens and six of the young men soon sobbed themselves to slumber! But +Theseus was not like them. He felt conscious that he was wiser and +braver and stronger than his companions, and that therefore he had the +responsibility of all their lives upon him, and must consider whether +there was no way to save them, even in this last extremity. So he kept +himself awake, and paced to and fro across the gloomy dungeon in which +they were shut up. + +Just before midnight, the door was softly unbarred, and the gentle +Ariadne showed herself, with a torch in her hand. + +"Are you awake, Prince Theseus?" she whispered. + +"Yes," answered Theseus. "With so little time to live, I do not choose +to waste any of it in sleep." + +"Then follow me," said Ariadne, "and tread softly." + +What had become of the jailer and the guards, Theseus never knew. But +however that might be, Ariadne opened all the doors, and led him forth +from the darksome prison into the pleasant moonlight. + +"Theseus," said the maiden, "you can now get on board your vessel, and +sail away for Athens." + +"No," answered the young man; "I will never leave Crete unless I can +first slay the Minotaur, and save my poor companions, and deliver Athens +from this cruel tribute." + +"I knew that this would be your resolution," said Ariadne. "Come, then, +with me, brave Theseus. Here is your own sword, which the guards +deprived you of. You will need it; and pray Heaven you may use it well." + +Then she led Theseus along by the hand until they came to a dark, shadow +grove, where the moonlight wasted itself on the tops of the trees, +without shedding hardly so much as a glimmering beam upon their pathway. +After going a good way through this obscurity, they reached a high, +marble wall, which was overgrown with creeping plants, that made it +shaggy with their verdure. The wall seemed to have no door, nor any +windows, but rose up, lofty, and massive, and mysterious, and was +neither to be clambered over, nor, so far as Theseus could perceive, to +be passed through. Nevertheless, Ariadne did but press one of her soft +little fingers against a particular block of marble, and, though it +looked as solid as any other part of the wall, it yielded to her touch, +disclosing an entrance just wide enough to admit them. They crept +through, and the marble stone swung back into its place. + +"We are now," said Ariadne, "in the famous labyrinth which Dædalus built +before he made himself a pair of wings, and flew away from our island +like a bird. That Dædalus was a very cunning workman; but of all his +artful contrivances, this labyrinth is the most wondrous. Were we to +take but a few steps from the doorway, we might wander about all our +lifetime, and never find it again. Yet in the very centre of this +labyrinth is the Minotaur; and, Theseus, you must go thither to seek +him." + +"But how shall I ever find him?" asked Theseus, "if the labyrinth so +bewilders me as you say it will?" + +Just as he spoke, they heard a rough and very disagreeable roar, which +greatly resembled the lowing of a fierce bull, but yet had some sort of +sound like the human voice. Theseus even fancied a rude articulation in +it, as if the creature that uttered it were trying to shape his hoarse +breath into words. It was at some distance, however, and he really could +not tell whether it sounded most like a bull's roar or a man's harsh +voice. + +"That is the Minotaur's noise," whispered Ariadne, closely grasping the +hand of Theseus, and pressing one of her own hands to her heart, which +was all in a tremble. "You must follow that sound through the windings +of the labyrinth, and, by and by, you will find him. Stay! take the end +of this silken string; I will hold the other end; and then, if you win +the victory, it will lead you again to this spot. Farewell, brave +Theseus." + +So the young man took the end of the silken string in his left hand, and +his gold-hilted sword, ready drawn from its scabbard, in the other, and +trod boldly into the inscrutable labyrinth. How this labyrinth was built +is more than I can tell you. But so cunningly contrived a mizmaze was +never seen in the world, before nor since. There can be nothing else so +intricate, unless it were the brain of a man like Dædalus, who planned +it, or the heart of any ordinary man; which last, to be sure, is ten +times as great a mystery as the labyrinth of Crete. Theseus had not +taken five steps before he lost sight of Ariadne; and in five more his +head was growing dizzy. But still he went on, now creeping through a low +arch, now ascending a flight of steps, now in one crooked passage and +now in another, with here a door opening before him, and there one +banging behind, until it really seemed as if the walls spun round, and +whirled him round along with them. And all the while, through these +hollow avenues, now nearer, now farther off again, resounded the cry of +the Minotaur; and the sound was so fierce, so cruel, so ugly, so like a +bull's roar, and withal so like a human voice, and yet like neither of +them, that the brave heart of Theseus grew sterner and angrier at every +step; for he felt it an insult to the moon and sky, and to our +affectionate and simple Mother Earth, that such a monster should have +the audacity to exist. + +As he passed onward, the clouds gathered over the moon, and the +labyrinth grew so dusky that Theseus could no longer discern the +bewilderment through which he was passing. He would have felt quite +lost, and utterly hopeless of ever again walking in a straight path, if, +every little while, he had not been conscious of a gentle twitch at the +silken cord. Then he knew that the tender-hearted Ariadne was still +holding the other end, and that she was fearing for him, and hoping for +him, and giving him just as much of her sympathy as if she were close by +his side. Oh, indeed, I can assure you, there was a vast deal of human +sympathy running along that slender thread of silk. But still he +followed the dreadful roar of the Minotaur, which now grew louder and +louder, and finally so very loud that Theseus fully expected to come +close upon him, at every new zigzag and wriggle of the path. And at +last, in an open space, at the very centre of the labyrinth, he did +discern the hideous creature. + +Sure enough, what an ugly monster it was! Only his horned head belonged +to a bull; and yet, somehow or other, he looked like a bull all over, +preposterously waddling on his hind legs; or, if you happened to view +him in another way, he seemed wholly a man, and all the more monstrous +for being so. And there he was, the wretched thing, with no society, no +companion, no kind of a mate, living only to do mischief, and incapable +of knowing what affection means. Theseus hated him, and shuddered at +him, and yet could not but be sensible of some sort of pity; and all the +more, the uglier and more detestable the creature was. For he kept +striding to and fro in a solitary frenzy of rage, continually emitting a +hoarse roar, which was oddly mixed up with half-shaped words; and, after +listening awhile, Theseus understood that the Minotaur was saying to +himself how miserable he was, and how hungry, and how he hated +everybody, and how he longed to eat up the human race alive. + +Ah, the bull-headed villain! And O, my good little people, you will +perhaps see, one of these days, as I do now, that every human being who +suffers anything evil to get into his nature, or to remain there, is a +kind of Minotaur, an enemy of his fellow-creatures, and separated from +all good companionship, as this poor monster was. + +Was Theseus afraid? By no means, my dear auditors. What! a hero like +Theseus afraid! Not had the Minotaur had twenty bull heads instead of +one. Bold as he was, however, I rather fancy that it strengthened his +valiant heart, just at this crisis, to feel a tremulous twitch at the +silken cord, which he was still holding in his left hand. It was as if +Ariadne were giving him all her might and courage; and, much as he +already had, and little as she had to give, it made his own seem twice +as much. And to confess the honest truth, he needed the whole; for now +the Minotaur, turning suddenly about, caught sight of Theseus, and +instantly lowered his horribly sharp horns, exactly as a mad bull does +when he means to rush against an enemy. At the same time, he belched +forth a tremendous roar, in which there was something like the words of +human language, but all disjointed and shaken-to pieces by passing +through the gullet of a miserably enraged brute. + +Theseus could only guess what the creature intended to say, and that +rather by his gestures than his words; for the Minotaur's horns were +sharper than his wits, and of a great deal more service to him than his +tongue. But probably this was the sense of what he uttered:-- + +"Ah, wretch of a human being! I'll stick my horns through you, and toss +you fifty feet high, and eat you up the moment you come down." + +"Come on, then, and try it!" was all that Theseus deigned to reply; for +he was far too magnanimous to assault his enemy with insolent language. + +Without more words on either side, there ensued the most awful fight +between Theseus and the Minotaur that ever happened beneath the sun or +moon. I really know not how it might have turned out, if the monster, in +his first headlong rush against Theseus, had not missed him, by a +hair's-breadth, and broken one of his horns short off against the stone +wall. On this mishap, he bellowed so intolerably that a part of the +labyrinth tumbled down, and all the inhabitants of Crete mistook the +noise for an uncommonly heavy thunder-storm. Smarting with the pain, he +galloped around the open space in so ridiculous a way that Theseus +laughed at it, long afterwards, though not precisely at the moment. +After this, the two antagonists stood valiantly up to one another, and +fought sword to horn, for a long while. At last, the Minotaur made a run +at Theseus, grazed his left side with his horn, and flung him down; and +thinking that he had stabbed him to the heart, he cut a great caper in +the air, opened his bull mouth from ear to ear, and prepared to snap his +head off. But Theseus by this time had leaped up, and caught the monster +off his guard. Fetching a sword-stroke at him with all his force, he hit +him fair upon the neck, and made his bull head skip six yards from his +human body, which fell down flat upon the ground. + +So now the battle was ended. Immediately the moon shone out as brightly +as if all the troubles of the world, and all the wickedness and the +ugliness that infest human life, were past and gone forever. And +Theseus, as he leaned on his sword, taking breath, felt another twitch +of the silken cord; for all through the terrible encounter he had held +it fast in his left hand. Eager to let Ariadne know of his success, he +followed the guidance of the thread, and soon found himself at the +entrance of the labyrinth. + +"Thou hast slain the monster," cried Ariadne, clasping her hands. + +"Thanks to thee, dear Ariadne," answered Theseus, "I return victorious." + +"Then," said Ariadne, "we must quickly summon thy friends, and get them +and thyself on board the vessel before dawn. If morning finds thee here, +my father will avenge the Minotaur." + +To make my story short, the poor captives were awakened, and, hardly +knowing whether it was not a joyful dream, were told of what Theseus had +done, and that they must set sail for Athens before daybreak. Hastening +down to the vessel, they all clambered on board, except Prince Theseus, +who lingered behind them, on the strand, holding Ariadne's hand clasped +in his own. + +"Dear maiden," said he, "thou wilt surely go with us. Thou art too +gentle and sweet a child for such an iron-hearted father as King Minos. +He cares no more for thee than a granite rock cares for the little +flower that grows in one of its crevices. But my father. King Ægeus, and +my dear mother, Æthra, and all the fathers and mothers in Athens, and +all the sons and daughters too, will love and honor thee as their +benefactress. Come with us, then; for King Minos will be very angry when +he knows what thou hast done." + +Now, some low-minded people, who pretend to tell the story of Theseus +and Ariadne, have the face to say that this royal and honorable maiden +did really flee away, under cover of the night, with the young stranger +whose life she had preserved. They say, too, that Prince Theseus (who +would have died sooner than wrong the meanest creature in the world) +ungratefully deserted Ariadne, on a solitary island, where the vessel +touched on its voyage to Athens. But, had the noble Theseus heard these +falsehoods, he would have served their slanderous authors as he served +the Minotaur! Here is what Ariadne answered, when the brave Prince of +Athens besought her to accompany him:-- + +"No, Theseus," the maiden said, pressing his hand, and then drawing back +a step or two, "I cannot go with you. My father is old, and has nobody +but myself to love him. Hard as you think his heart is, it would break +to lose me. At first King Minos will be angry; but he will soon forgive +his only child; and, by and by, he will rejoice, I know, that no more +youths and maidens must come from Athens to be devoured by the Minotaur. +I have saved you, Theseus, as much for my father's sake as for your own. +Farewell! Heaven bless you!" + +All this was so true, and so maiden-like, and was spoken with so sweet a +dignity, that Theseus would have blushed to urge her any longer. Nothing +remained for him, therefore, but to bid Ariadne an affectionate +farewell, and go on board the vessel, and set sail. + +In a few moments the white foam was boiling up before their prow, as +Prince Theseus and his companions sailed out of the harbor with a +whistling breeze behind them. Talus, the brazen giant, on his +never-ceasing sentinel's march, happened to be approaching that part of +the coast; and they saw him, by the glimmering of the moonbeams on his +polished surface, while he was yet a great way off. As the figure moved +like clockwork, however, and could neither hasten his enormous strides +nor retard them, he arrived at the port when they were just beyond the +reach of his club. Nevertheless, straddling from headland to headland, +as his custom was, Talus attempted to strike a blow at the vessel, and, +overreaching himself, tumbled at full length into the sea, which +splashed high over his gigantic shape, as when an iceberg turns a +somerset. There he lies yet; and whoever desires to enrich himself by +means of brass had better go thither with a diving-bell, and fish up +Talus. + +On the homeward voyage, the fourteen youths and damsels were in +excellent spirits, as you will easily suppose. They spent most of their +time in dancing, unless when the sidelong breeze made the deck slope too +much. In due season, they came within sight of the coast of Attica, +which was their native country. But here, I am grieved to tell you, +happened a sad misfortune. + +You will remember (what Theseus unfortunately forgot) that his father, +King Ægeus, had enjoined it upon him to hoist sunshine sails, instead of +black ones, in case he should overcome the Minotaur, and return +victorious. In the joy of their success, however, and amidst the sports, +dancing, and other merriment, with which these young folks wore away the +time, they never once thought whether their sails were black, white, or +rainbow colored, and, indeed, left it entirely to the mariners whether +they had any sails at all. Thus the vessel returned, like a raven, with +the same sable wings that had wafted her away. But poor King Ægeus, day +after day, infirm as he was, had clambered to the summit of a cliff that +overhung the sea, and there sat watching for Prince Theseus, homeward +bound; and no sooner did he behold the fatal blackness of the sails, +than he concluded that his dear son, whom he loved so much, and felt so +proud of, had been eaten by the Minotaur. He could not bear the thought +of living any longer; so, first flinging his crown and sceptre into the +sea, (useless bawbles that they were to him now!) King Ægeus merely +stooped forward, and fell headlong over the cliff, and was drowned, poor +soul, in the waves that foamed at its base! + +This was melancholy news for Prince Theseus, who, when he stepped +ashore, found himself king of all the country, whether he would or no; +and such a turn of fortune was enough to make any young man feel very +much out of spirits. However, he sent for his dear mother to Athens, +and, by taking her advice in matters of state, became a very excellent +monarch, and was greatly beloved by his people. + + + + +The Pygmies + + +A great while ago, when the world was full of wonders, there lived an +earth-born Giant named Antæus, and a million or more of curious little +earth-born people, who were called Pygmies. This Giant and these Pygmies +being children of the same mother (that is to say, our good old +Grandmother Earth), were all brethren and dwelt together in a very +friendly and affectionate manner, far, far off, in the middle of hot +Africa. The Pygmies were so small, and there were so many sandy deserts +and such high mountains between them and the rest of mankind, that +nobody could get a peep at them oftener than once in a hundred years. As +for the Giant, being of a very lofty stature, it was easy enough to see +him, but safest to keep out of his sight. + +Among the Pygmies, I suppose, if one of them grew to the height of six +or eight inches, he was reckoned a prodigiously tall man. It must have +been very pretty to behold their little cities, with streets two or +three feet wide, paved with the smallest pebbles, and bordered by +habitations about as big as a squirrel's cage. The king's palace +attained to the stupendous magnitude of Periwinkle's baby-house, and +stood in the centre of a spacious square, which could hardly have been +covered by our hearth-rug. Their principal temple, or cathedral, was as +lofty as yonder bureau, and was looked upon as a wonderfully sublime and +magnificent edifice. All these structures were built neither of stone +nor wood. They were neatly plastered together by the Pygmy workmen, +pretty much like bird's-nests, out of straw, feathers, eggshells, and +other small bits of stuff, with stiff clay instead of mortar; and when +the hot sun had dried them, they were just as snug and comfortable as a +Pygmy could desire. + +The country round about was conveniently laid out in fields, the largest +of which was nearly of the same extent as one of Sweet Fern's +flower-beds. Here the Pygmies used to plant wheat and other kinds of +grain, which, when it grew up and ripened, overshadowed these tiny +people, as the pines, and the oaks, and the walnut and chestnut-trees +overshadow you and me, when we walk in our own tracts of woodland. At +harvest-time, they were forced to go with their little axes and cut down +the grain, exactly as a wood-cutter makes a clearing in the forest; and +when a stalk of wheat, with its overburdened top, chanced to come +crashing down upon an unfortunate Pygmy, it was apt to be a very sad +affair. If it did not smash him all to pieces, at least, I am sure, it +must have made the poor little fellow's head ache. And oh, my stars! if +the fathers and mothers were so small, what must the children and babies +have been? A whole family of them might have been put to bed in a shoe, +or have crept into an old glove, and played at hide-and-seek in its +thumb and fingers. You might have hidden a year-old baby under a +thimble. + +Now these funny Pygmies, as I told you before, had a Giant for their +neighbor and brother, who was bigger, if possible, than they were +little. He was so very tall that he carried a pine-tree, which was eight +feet through the butt, for a walking-stick. It took a far-sighted Pygmy, +I can assure you, to discern his summit without the help of a telescope; +and sometimes, in misty weather, they could not see his upper half, but +only his long legs, which seemed to be striding about by themselves. But +at noonday, in a clear atmosphere, when the sun shone brightly over him, +the Giant Antæus presented a very grand spectacle. There he used to +stand, a perfect mountain of a man, with his great countenance smiling +down upon his little brothers, and his one vast eye (which was as big +as a cart-wheel, and placed right in the centre of his forehead) giving +a friendly wink to the whole nation at once. + +The Pygmies loved to talk with Antæus; and fifty times a day, one or +another of them would turn up his head, and shout through the hollow of +his fists, "Halloo, brother Antæus! How are you, my good fellow?" and +when the small, distant squeak of their voices reached his ear, the +Giant would make answer, "Pretty well, brother Pygmy, I thank you," in a +thunderous roar that would have shaken down the walls of their strongest +temple, only that it came from so far aloft. + +It was a happy circumstance that Antæus was the Pygmy people's friend; +for there was more strength in his little finger than in ten million of +such bodies as theirs. If he had been as ill-natured to them as he was +to everybody else, he might have beaten down their biggest city at one +kick, and hardly have known that he did it. With the tornado of his +breath, he could have stripped the roofs from a hundred dwellings, and +sent thousands of the inhabitants whirling through the air. He might +have set his immense foot upon a multitude; and when he took it up +again, there would have been a pitiful sight, to be sure. But, being the +son of Mother Earth, as they likewise were, the Giant gave them his +brotherly kindness, and loved them with as big a love as it was possible +to feel for creatures so very small. And, on their parts, the Pygmies +loved Antæus with as much affection as their tiny hearts could hold. He +was always ready to do them any good offices that lay in his power; as, +for example, when they wanted a breeze to turn their windmills, the +Giant would set all the sails a-going with the mere natural respiration +of his lungs. When the sun was too hot, he often sat himself down, and +let his shadow fall over the kingdom, from one frontier to the other; +and as for matters in general, he was wise enough to let them alone, and +leave the Pygmies to manage their own affairs,--which, after all, is +about the best thing that great people can do for little ones. + +In short, as I said before, Antæus loved the Pygmies, and the Pygmies +loved Antæus. The Giant's life being as long as his body was large, +while the lifetime of a Pygmy was but a span, this friendly intercourse +had been going on for innumerable generations and ages. It was written +about in the Pygmy histories, and talked about in their ancient +traditions. The most venerable and white-bearded Pygmy had never heard +of a time, even in his greatest of grandfather's days, when the Giant +was not their enormous friend. Once, to be sure (as was recorded on an +obelisk, three feet high, erected on the place of the catastrophe), +Antæus sat down upon about five thousand Pygmies, who were assembled at +a military review. But this was one of those unlucky accidents for which +nobody is to blame; so that the small folks never took it to heart, and +only requested the Giant to be careful forever afterwards to examine the +acre of ground where he intended to squat himself. + +It is a very pleasant picture to imagine Antæus standing among the +Pygmies, like the spire of the tallest cathedral that ever was built, +while they ran about like pismires at his feet; and to think that, in +spite of their difference in size, there were affection and sympathy +between them and him! Indeed, it has always seemed to me that the Giant +needed the little people more than the Pygmies needed the Giant. For, +unless they had been his neighbors and wellwishers, and, as we may say, +his playfellows, Antæus would not have had a single friend in the world. +No other being like himself had ever been created. No creature of his +own size had ever talked with him, in thunder-like accents, face to +face. When he stood with his head among the clouds, he was quite alone, +and had been so for hundreds of years, and would be so forever. Even if +he had met another Giant, Antæus would have fancied the world not big +enough for two such vast personages, and, instead of being friends with +him, would have fought him till one of the two was killed. But with the +Pygmies he was the most sportive, and humorous, and merry-hearted, and +sweet-tempered old Giant that ever washed his face in a wet cloud. + +His little friends, like all other small people, had a great opinion of +their own importance, and used to assume quite a patronizing air towards +the Giant. + +"Poor creature!" they said one to another. "He has a very dull time of +it, all by himself; and we ought not to grudge wasting a little of our +precious time to amuse him. He is not half so bright as we are, to be +sure; and, for that reason, he needs us to look after his comfort and +happiness. Let us be kind to the old fellow. Why, if Mother Earth had +not been very kind to ourselves, we might all have been Giants too." + +On all their holidays, the Pygmies had excellent sport with Antæus. He +often stretched himself out at full length on the ground, where he +looked like the long ridge of a hill; and it was a good hour's walk, no +doubt, for a short-legged Pygmy to journey from head to foot of the +Giant. He would lay down his great hand flat on the grass, and challenge +the tallest of them to clamber upon it, and straddle from finger to +finger. So fearless were they, that they made nothing of creeping in +among the folds of his garments. When his head lay sidewise on the +earth, they would march boldly up, and peep into the great cavern of his +mouth, and take it all as a joke, (as indeed it was meant) when Antæus +gave a sudden snap with his jaws, as if he were going to swallow fifty +of them at once. You would have laughed to see the children dodging in +and out among his hair, or swinging from his beard. It is impossible to +tell half of the funny tricks that they played with their huge comrade; +but I do not know that anything was more curious than when a party of +boys were seen running races on his forehead, to try which of them could +get first round the circle of his one great eye. It was another favorite +feat with them to march along the bridge of his nose, and jump down upon +his upper lip. + +If the truth must be told, they were sometimes as troublesome to the +Giant as a swarm of ants or mosquitoes, especially as they had a +fondness for mischief, and liked to prick his skin with their little +swords and lances, to see how thick and tough it was. But Antæus took it +all kindly enough; although, once in a while, when he happened to be +sleepy, he would grumble out a peevish word or two, like the muttering +of a tempest, and ask them to have done with their nonsense. A great +deal oftener, however, he watched their merriment and gambols until his +huge, heavy, clumsy wits were completely stirred up by them; and then +would he roar out such a tremendous volume of immeasurable laughter, +that the whole nation of Pygmies had to put their hands to their ears, +else it would certainly have deafened them. + +"Ho! ho! ho!" quoth the Giant, shaking his mountainous sides. "What a +funny thing it is to be little! If I were not Antæus, I should like to +be a pygmy, just for the joke's sake." + +The Pygmies had but one thing to trouble them in the world. They were +constantly at war with the cranes, and had always been so, ever since +the long-lived giant could remember. From time to time very terrible +battles had been fought, in which sometimes the little men won the +victory, and sometimes the cranes. According to some historians, the +Pygmies used to go to the battle, mounted on the backs of goats and +rams; but such animals as these must have been far too big for Pygmies +to ride upon; so that, I rather suppose, they rode on squirrel-back, or +rabbit-back, or rat-back, or perhaps got upon hedgehogs, whose prickly +quills would be very terrible to the enemy. However this might be, and +whatever creatures the Pygmies rode upon, I do not doubt that they made +a formidable appearance, armed with sword and spear, and bow and arrow, +blowing their tiny trumpet, and shouting their little war-cry. They +never failed to exhort one another to fight bravely, and recollect that +the world had its eyes upon them; although, in simple truth, the only +spectator was the Giant Antæus, with his one, great, stupid eye, in the +middle of his forehead. + +When the two armies joined battle, the cranes would rush forward, +flapping their wings and stretching out their necks, and would perhaps +snatch up some of the Pygmies crosswise in their beaks. Whenever this +happened, it was truly an awful spectacle to see those little men of +might kicking and sprawling in the air, and at last disappearing down +the crane's long, crooked throat, swallowed up alive. A hero, you know, +must hold himself in readiness for any kind of fate; and doubtless the +glory of the thing was a consolation to him, even in the crane's +gizzard. If Antæus observed that the battle was going hard against his +little allies, he generally stopped laughing, and ran with mile-long +strides to their assistance, flourishing his club aloft and shouting at +the cranes, who quacked and croaked, and retreated as fast as they +could. Then the Pygmy army would march homeward in triumph, attributing +the victory entirely to their own valor, and to the warlike skill and +strategy of whomsoever happened to be captain general; and for a tedious +while afterwards, nothing would be heard of but grand processions, and +public banquets, and brilliant illuminations, and shows of waxwork, with +likenesses of the distinguished officers as small as life. + +In the above-described warfare, if a Pygmy chanced to pluck out a +crane's tail-feather, it proved a very great feather in his cap. Once or +twice, if you will believe me, a little man was made chief ruler of the +nation for no other merit in the world than bringing home such a +feather. + +But I have now said enough to let you see what a gallant little people +these were, and how happily they and their forefathers, for nobody knows +how many generations, had lived with the immeasurable Giant Antæus. In +the remaining part of the story, I shall tell you of a far more +astonishing battle than any that was fought between the Pygmies and the +cranes. + +One day the mighty Antæus was lolling at full length among his little +friends. His pine-tree walking-stick lay on the ground close by his +side. His head was in one part of the kingdom, and his feet extended +across the boundaries of another part; and he was taking whatever +comfort he could get, while the Pygmies scrambled over him, and peeped +into his cavernous mouth, and played among his hair. Sometimes, for a +minute or two, the Giant dropped asleep, and snored like the rush of a +whirlwind. During one of these little bits of slumber, a Pygmy chanced +to climb upon his shoulder, and took a view around the horizon, as from +the summit of a hill; and he beheld something, a long way off, which +made him rub the bright specks of his eyes, and look sharper than +before. At first he mistook it for a mountain, and wondered how it had +grown up so suddenly out of the earth. But soon he saw the mountain +move. As it came nearer and nearer, what should it turn out to be but a +human shape, not so big as Antæus, it is true, although a very enormous +figure, in comparison with Pygmies, and a vast deal bigger than the men +whom we see nowadays. + +When the Pygmy was quite satisfied that his eyes had not deceived him, +he scampered, as fast as his legs would carry him, to the Giant's ear, +and stooping over its cavity, shouted lustily into it,-- + +"Halloo, brother Antæus! Get up this minute, and take your pine-tree +walking-stick in your hand. Here comes another Giant to have a tussle +with you." + +"Poh, poh!" grumbled Antæus, only half awake, "None of your nonsense, my +little fellow! Don't you see I'm sleepy. There is not a Giant on earth +for whom I would take the trouble to get up." + +But the Pygmy looked again, and now perceived that the stranger was +coming directly towards the prostrate form of Antæus. With every step he +looked less like a blue mountain, and more like an immensely large man. +He was soon so nigh, that there could be no possible mistake about the +matter. There he was, with the sun flaming on his golden helmet, and +flashing from his polished breastplate; he had a sword by his side, and +a lion's skin over his back, and on his right shoulder he carried a +club, which looked bulkier and heavier than the pine-tree walking-stick +of Antæus. + +By this time, the whole nation of Pygmies had seen the new wonder, and a +million of them set up a shout, all together; so that it really made +quite an audible squeak. + +"Get up, Antæus! Bestir yourself, you lazy old Giant! Here comes another +Giant, as strong as you are, to fight with you." + +"Nonsense, nonsense!" growled the sleepy Giant. "I'll have my nap out." + +Still the stranger drew nearer; and now the Pygmies could plainly +discern that if his stature were less lofty than the Giant's, yet his +shoulders were even broader. And, in truth, what a pair of shoulders +they must have been! As I told you, a long while ago, they once upheld +the sky. The Pygmies, being ten times as vivacious as their great +numskull of a brother, could not abide the Giant's slow movements, and +were determined to have him on his feet. So they kept shouting to him, +and even went so far as to prick him with their swords. + +"Get up, get up, get up!" they cried. "Up with you, lazy bones! The +strange Giant's club is bigger than your own, his shoulders are the +broadest, and we think him the stronger of the two." + +Antæus could not endure to have it said that any mortal was half so +mighty as himself. This latter remark of the Pygmies pricked him deeper +than their swords; and, sitting up, in rather a sulky humor, he gave a +gape of several yards wide, rubbed his eye, and finally turned his +stupid head in the direction whither his little friends were eagerly +pointing. + +No sooner did he set eye on the stranger than, leaping on his feet, and +seizing his walking-stick, he strode a mile or two to meet him; all the +while brandishing the sturdy pine-tree, so that it whistled through the +air. + +"Who are you?" thundered the Giant. "And what do you want in my +dominions?" + +There was one strange thing about Antæus, of which I have not yet told +you, lest, hearing of so many wonders all in a lump, you might not +believe much more than half of them. You are to know, then, that +whenever this redoubtable Giant touched the ground, either with his +hand, his foot, or any other part of his body, he grew stronger than +ever he had been before. The Earth, you remember, was his mother, and +was very fond of him, as being almost the biggest of her children; and +so she took this method of keeping him always in full vigor. Some +persons affirm that he grew ten times stronger at every touch; others +say that it was only twice as strong. But only think of it! Whenever +Antæus took a walk, supposing it were but ten miles, and that he stepped +a hundred yards at a stride, you may try to cipher out how much mightier +he was, on sitting down again, than when he first started. And whenever +he flung himself on the earth to take a little repose, even if he got up +the very next instant, he would be as strong as exactly ten just such +giants as his former self. It was well for the world that Antæus +happened to be of a sluggish disposition, and liked ease better than +exercise; for, if he had frisked about like the Pygmies, and touched the +earth as often as they did, he would long ago have been strong enough to +pull down the sky about people's ears. But these great lubberly fellows +resemble mountains, not only in bulk, but in their disinclination to +move. + +Any other mortal man, except the very one whom Antæus had now +encountered, would have been half frightened to death by the Giant's +ferocious aspect and terrible voice. But the stranger did not seem at +all disturbed. He carelessly lifted his club, and balanced it in his +hand, measuring Antæus with his eye from head to foot, not as if +wonder-smitten at his stature, but as if he had seen a great many Giants +before, and this was by no means the biggest of them. In fact, if the +Giant had been no bigger than the Pygmies (who stood pricking up their +ears, and looking and listening to what was going forward), the stranger +could not have been less afraid of him. + +"Who are you, I say?" roared Antæus again. "What's your name? Why do you +come hither? Speak, you vagabond, or I'll try the thickness of your +skull with my walking-stick." + +"You are a very discourteous Giant," answered the stranger, quietly, +"and I shall probably have to teach you a little civility, before we +part. As for my name, it is Hercules. I have come hither because this is +my most convenient road to the garden of the Hesperides, whither I am +going to get three of the golden apples for King Eurystheus." + +"Caitiff, you shall go no farther!" bellowed Antæus, putting on a +grimmer look than before; for he had heard of the mighty Hercules, and +hated him because he was said to be so strong. "Neither shall you go +back whence you came!" + +"How will you prevent me," asked Hercules, "from going whither I +please?" + +"By hitting you a rap with this pine-tree here," shouted Antæus, +scowling so that he made himself the ugliest monster in Africa. "I am +fifty times stronger than you; and, now that I stamp my foot upon the +ground, I am five hundred times stronger! I am ashamed to kill such a +puny little dwarf as you seem to be. I will make a slave of you, and you +shall likewise be the slave of my brethren, here, the Pygmies. So throw +down your club and your other weapons; and as for that lion's skin, I +intend to have a pair of gloves made of it." + +"Come and take it off my shoulders, then," answered Hercules, lifting +his club. + +Then the Giant, grinning with rage, strode towerlike towards the +stranger (ten times strengthened at every step), and fetched a monstrous +blow at him with his pine-tree, which Hercules caught upon his club; and +being more skilful than Antæus, he paid him back such a rap upon the +sconce, that down tumbled the great lumbering man-mountain, flat upon +the ground. The poor little Pygmies (who really never dreamed that +anybody in the world was half so strong as their brother Antæus) were a +good deal dismayed at this. But no sooner was the Giant down, than up he +bounced again, with tenfold might, and such a furious visage as was +horrible to behold. He aimed another blow at Hercules, but struck awry, +being blinded with wrath, and only hit his poor, innocent Mother Earth, +who groaned and trembled at the stroke. His pine-tree went so deep into +the ground, and stuck there so fast, that before Antæus could get it +out, Hercules brought down his club across his shoulders with a mighty +thwack, which made the Giant roar as if all sorts of intolerable noises +had come screeching and rumbling out of his immeasurable lungs in that +one cry. Away it went, over mountains and valleys, and, for aught I +know, was heard on the other side of the African deserts. + +As for the Pygmies, their capital city was laid in ruins by the +concussion and vibration of the air; and, though there was uproar enough +without their help, they all set up a shriek out of three millions of +little throats, fancying, no doubt, that they swelled the Giant's bellow +by at least ten times as much. Meanwhile, Antæus had scrambled upon his +feet again, and pulled his pine-tree out of the earth; and, all a-flame +with fury, and more outrageously strong than ever, he ran at Hercules, +and brought down another blow. + +"This time, rascal," shouted he, "you shall not escape me." + +But once more Hercules warded off the stroke with his club, and the +Giant's pine-tree was shattered into a thousand splinters, most of which +flew among the Pygmies, and did them more mischief than I like to think +about. Before Antæus could get out of the way, Hercules let drive +again, and gave him another knock-down blow, which sent him heels over +head, but served only to increase his already enormous and insufferable +strength. As for his rage, there is no telling what a fiery furnace it +had now got to be. His one eye was nothing but a circle of red flame. +Having now no weapons but his fists, he doubled them up (each bigger +than a hogshead), smote one against the other, and danced up and down +with absolute frenzy, flourishing his immense arms about, as if he meant +not merely to kill Hercules, but to smash the whole world to pieces. + +"Come on!" roared this thundering Giant. "Let me hit you but one box on +the ear, and you'll never have the headache again." + +Now Hercules (though strong enough, as you already know, to hold the sky +up) began to be sensible that he should never win the victory, if he +kept on knocking Antæus down; for, by and by, if he hit him such hard +blows, the Giant would inevitably, by the help of his Mother Earth, +become stronger than the mighty Hercules himself. So, throwing down his +club, with which he had fought so many dreadful battles, the hero stood +ready to receive his antagonist with naked arms. + +"Step forward," cried he. "Since I've broken your pine-tree, we'll try +which is the better man at a wrestling-match." + +"Aha! then I'll soon satisfy you," shouted the Giant; for, if there was +one thing on which he prided himself more than another, it was his skill +in wrestling. "Villain, I'll fling you where you can never pick yourself +up again." + +On came Antæus, hopping and capering with the scorching heat of his +rage, and getting new vigor wherewith to wreak his passion every time he +hopped. But Hercules, you must understand, was wiser than this numskull +of a Giant, and had thought of a way to fight him,--huge, earth-born +monster that he was,--and to conquer him too, in spite of all that his +Mother Earth could do for him. Watching his opportunity, as the mad +Giant made a rush at him, Hercules caught him round the middle with both +hands, lifted him high into the air, and held him aloft overhead. + +Just imagine it, my dear little friends! What a spectacle it must have +been, to see this monstrous fellow sprawling in the air, face downward, +kicking out his long legs and wriggling his whole vast body, like a baby +when its father holds it at arm's-length toward the ceiling. + +But the most wonderful thing was, that, as soon as Antæus was fairly off +the earth, he began to lose the vigor which he had gained by touching +it. Hercules very soon perceived that his troublesome enemy was growing +weaker, both because he struggled and kicked with less violence, and +because the thunder of his big voice subsided into a grumble. The truth +was, that, unless the Giant touched Mother Earth as often as once in +five minutes, not only his overgrown strength, but the very breath of +his life, would depart from him. Hercules had guessed this secret; and +it may be well for us all to remember it, in case we should ever have to +fight a battle with a fellow like Antæus. For these earth-born creatures +are only difficult to conquer on their own ground, but may easily be +managed if we can contrive to lift them into a loftier and purer region. +So it proved with the poor Giant, whom I am really sorry for, +notwithstanding his uncivil way of treating strangers who came to visit +him. + +When his strength and breath were quite gone, Hercules gave his huge +body a toss, and flung it about a mile off, where it fell heavily, and +lay with no more motion than a sand-hill. It was too late for the +Giant's Mother Earth to help him now; and I should not wonder if his +ponderous bones were lying on the same spot to this very day, and were +mistaken for those of an uncommonly large elephant. + +But, alas me! What a wailing did the poor little Pygmies set up when +they saw their enormous brother treated in this terrible manner! If +Hercules heard their shrieks, however, he took no notice, and perhaps +fancied them only the shrill, plaintive twittering of small birds that +had been frightened from their nests by the uproar of the battle between +himself and Antæus. Indeed, his thoughts had been so much taken up with +the Giant, that he had never once looked at the Pygmies, nor even knew +that there was such a funny little nation in the world. And now, as he +had travelled a good way, and was also rather weary with his exertions +in the fight, he spread out his lion's skin on the ground, and reclining +himself upon it, fell fast asleep. + +As soon as the Pygmies saw Hercules preparing for a nap, they nodded +their little heads at one another, and winked with their little eyes. +And when his deep, regular breathing gave them notice that he was +asleep, they assembled together in an immense crowd, spreading over a +space of about twenty-seven feet square. One of their most eloquent +orators (and a valiant warrior enough, besides, though hardly so good at +any other weapon as he was with his tongue) climbed upon a toadstool, +and, from that elevated position, addressed the multitude. His +sentiments were pretty much as follows; or, at all events, something +like this was probably the upshot of his speech:-- + +"Tall Pygmies and mighty little men! You and all of us have seen what a +public calamity has been brought to pass, and what an insult has here +been offered to the majesty of our nation. Yonder lies Antæus, our great +friend and brother, slain, within our territory, by a miscreant who took +him at disadvantage, and fought him (if fighting it can be called) in a +way that neither man, nor Giant, nor Pygmy ever dreamed of fighting +until this hour. And, adding a grievous contumely to the wrong already +done us, the miscreant has now fallen asleep as quietly as if nothing +were to be dreaded from our wrath! It behooves you, fellow-countrymen, +to consider in what aspect we shall stand before the world, and what +will be the verdict of impartial history, should we suffer these +accumulated outrages to go unavenged. + +"Antæus was our brother, born of that same beloved parent to whom we owe +the thews and sinews, as well as the courageous hearts, which made him +proud of our relationship. He was our faithful ally, and fell fighting +as much for our national rights and immunities as for his own personal +ones. We and our forefathers have dwelt in friendship with him, and held +affectionate intercourse, as man to man, through immemorial generations. +You remember how often our entire people have reposed in his great +shadow, and how our little ones have played at hide-and-seek in the +tangles of his hair, and how his mighty footsteps have familiarly gone +to and fro among us, and never trodden upon any of our toes. And there +lies this dear brother,--this sweet and amiable friend,--this brave and +faithful ally,--this virtuous Giant,--this blameless and excellent +Antæus,--dead! Dead! Silent! Powerless! A mere mountain of clay! Forgive +my tears! Nay, I behold your own! Were we to drown the world with them, +could the world blame us? + +"But to resume: Shall we, my countrymen, suffer this wicked stranger to +depart unharmed, and triumph in his treacherous victory, among distant +communities of the earth? Shall we not rather compel him to leave his +bones here on our soil, by the side of our slain brother's bones, so +that, while one skeleton shall remain as the everlasting monument of our +sorrow, the other shall endure as long, exhibiting to the whole human +race a terrible example of Pygmy vengeance? Such is the question. I put +it to you in full confidence of a response that shall be worthy of our +national character, and calculated to increase, rather than diminish, +the glory which our ancestors have transmitted to us, and which we +ourselves have proudly vindicated in our welfare with the cranes." + +The orator was here interrupted by a burst of irrepressible enthusiasm; +every individual Pygmy crying out that the national honor must be +preserved at all hazards. He bowed, and making a gesture for silence, +wound up his harangue in the following admirable manner:-- + +"It only remains for us, then, to decide whether we shall carry on the +war in our national capacity,--one united people against a common +enemy,--or whether some champion, famous in former fights, shall be +selected to defy the slayer of our brother Antæus to single combat. In +the latter case, though not unconscious that there may be taller men +among you, I hereby offer myself for that enviable duty. And, believe +me, dear countrymen, whether I live or die, the honor of this great +country, and the fame bequeathed us by our heroic progenitors, shall +suffer no diminution in my hands. Never, while I can wield this sword, +of which I now fling away the scabbard,--never, never, never, even if +the crimson hand that slew the great Antæus shall lay me prostrate, like +him, on the soil which I give my life to defend." + +So saying, this valiant Pygmy drew out his weapon (which was terrible to +behold, being as long as the blade of a penknife), and sent the scabbard +whirling over the heads of the multitude. His speech was followed by an +uproar of applause, as its patriotism and self-devotion unquestionably +deserved; and the shouts and clapping of hands would have been greatly +prolonged had they not been rendered quite inaudible by a deep +respiration, vulgarly called a snore, from the sleeping Hercules. + +It was finally decided that the whole nation of Pygmies should set to +work to destroy Hercules; not, be it understood, from any doubt that a +single champion would be capable of putting him to the sword, but +because he was a public enemy, and all were desirous of sharing in the +glory of his defeat. There was a debate whether the national honor did +not demand that a herald should be sent with a trumpet, to stand over +the ear of Hercules, and, after blowing a blast right into it, to defy +him to the combat by formal proclamation. But two or three venerable and +sagacious Pygmies, well versed in state affairs, gave it as their +opinion that war already existed, and that it was their rightful +privilege to take the enemy by surprise. Moreover, if awakened, and +allowed to get upon his feet, Hercules might happen to do them a +mischief before he could be beaten down again. For, as these sage +counsellors remarked, the stranger's club was really very big, and had +rattled like a thunderbolt against the skull of Antæus. So the Pygmies +resolved to set aside all foolish punctilios, and assail their +antagonist at once. + +Accordingly, all the fighting men of the nation took their weapons, and +went boldly up to Hercules, who still lay fast asleep, little dreaming +of the harm which the Pygmies meant to do him. A body of twenty thousand +archers marched in front, with their little bows all ready, and the +arrows on the string. The same number were ordered to clamber upon +Hercules, some with spades to dig his eyes out, and others with bundles +of hay, and all manner of rubbish, with which they intended to plug up +his mouth and nostrils, so that he might perish for lack of breath. +These last, however, could by no means perform their appointed duty; +inasmuch as the enemy's breath rushed out of his nose in an obstreperous +hurricane and whirlwind, which blew the Pygmies away as fast as they +came nigh. It was found necessary, therefore, to hit upon some other +method of carrying on the war. + +After holding a council, the captains ordered their troops to collect +sticks, straws, dry weeds, and whatever combustible stuff they could +find, and make a pile of it, heaping it high around the head of +Hercules. As a great many thousand Pygmies were employed in this task, +they soon brought together several bushels of inflammatory matter, and +raised so tall a heap, that, mounting on its summit, they were quite +upon a level with the sleeper's face. The archers, meanwhile, were +stationed within bow-shot, with orders to let fly at Hercules the +instant that he stirred. Everything being in readiness, a torch was +applied to the pile, which immediately burst into flames, and soon waxed +hot enough to roast the enemy, had he but chosen to lie still. A Pygmy, +you know, though so very small, might set the world on fire, just as +easily as a Giant could; so that this was certainly the very best way of +dealing with their foe, provided they could have kept him quiet while +the conflagration was going forward. + +But no sooner did Hercules begin to be scorched, than up he started, +with his hair in a red blaze. + +"What's all this?" he cried, bewildered with sleep, and staring about +him as if he expected to see another Giant. + +At that moment the twenty thousand archers twanged their bowstrings, and +the arrows came whizzing, like so many winged mosquitoes, right into the +face of Hercules. But I doubt whether more than half a dozen of them +punctured the skin, which was remarkably tough, as you know the skin of +a hero has good need to be. + +"Villain!" shouted all the Pygmies at once. "You have killed the Giant +Antæus, our great brother, and the ally of our nation. We declare bloody +war against you and will slay you on the spot." + +Surprised at the shrill piping of so many little voices, Hercules, after +putting out the conflagration of his hair, gazed all round about, but +could see nothing. At last, however, looking narrowly on the ground, he +espied the innumerable assemblage of Pygmies at his feet. He stooped +down, and taking up the nearest one between his thumb and finger, set +him on the palm of his left hand, and held him at a proper distance for +examination. It chanced to be the very identical Pygmy who had spoken +from the top of the toadstool, and had offered himself as a champion to +meet Hercules in single combat. + +"What in the world, my little fellow," ejaculated Hercules, "may you +be?" + +"I am your enemy," answered the valiant Pygmy, in his mightiest squeak. +"You have slain the enormous Antæus, our brother by the mother's side, +and for ages the faithful ally of our illustrious nation. We are +determined to put you to death; and for my own part, I challenge you to +instant battle, on equal ground." + +Hercules was so tickled with the Pygmy's big words and warlike gestures, +that he burst into a great explosion of laughter, and almost dropped the +poor little mite of a creature off the palm of his hand, through the +ecstasy and convulsion of his merriment. + +"Upon my word," cried he, "I thought I had seen wonders before +to-day,--hydras with nine heads, stags with golden horns, six-legged +men, three-headed dogs, giants with furnaces in their stomachs, and +nobody knows what besides. But here, on the palm of my hand, stands a +wonder that outdoes them all! Your body, my little friend, is about the +size of an ordinary man's finger. Pray, how big may your soul be?" + +"As big as your own!" said the Pygmy. + +Hercules was touched with the little man's dauntless courage, and could +not help acknowledging such a brotherhood with him as one hero feels for +another. + +"My good little people," said he, making a low obeisance to the grand +nation, "not for all the world would I do an intentional injury to such +brave fellows as you! Your hearts seem to me so exceedingly great, that, +upon my honor, I marvel how your small bodies can contain them. I sue +for peace, and, as a condition of it, will take five strides, and be out +of your kingdom at the sixth. Good-by. I shall pick my steps carefully, +for fear of treading upon some fifty of you, without knowing it. Ha, ha, +ha! Ho, ho, ho! For once, Hercules acknowledges himself vanquished." + +Some writers say, that Hercules gathered up the whole race of Pygmies in +his lion's skin, and carried them home to Greece, for the children of +King Eurystheus to play with. But this is a mistake. He left them, one +and all, within their own territory, where, for aught I can tell, their +descendants are alive to the present day, building their little houses, +cultivating their little fields, spanking their little children, waging +their little warfare with the cranes, doing their little business, +whatever it may be, and reading their little histories of ancient times. +In those histories, perhaps, it stands recorded, that, a great many +centuries ago, the valiant Pygmies avenged the death of the Giant Antæus +by scaring away the mighty Hercules. + + + + +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 sea-shore, 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 neighboring hills. + +[Illustration: CADMUS SOWING THE DRAGON'S TEETH] + +"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 +snow-drift, wafted along by the wind. Once be 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 recognized 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 +sea-shore, 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 towards 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 sea-faring person in the neighborhood; he had +been brought up with the young princes, 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 labors 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 had 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 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 farm-houses +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 farmer 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 was never 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 neighborhood +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 neighborhood, 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 colored +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 passer-by 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 neighborhood. 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 sat 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 mother +ever had, and faithful to the 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 +hill-side, 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 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 towards 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 rumor 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 afterwards 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 hill-side. + +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 hill-side, 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 barn-yard; 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 towards 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 pulling 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 neighboring 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 towards 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 neighboring 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 +afterwards, 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 breastplate 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 neighbor 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 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 +battle-field 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 labor, and had sense enough to feel that there was +more true enjoyment in living in peace, and doing good to one's +neighbor, 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 labors, 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 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 behavior, 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 towards 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 twixt +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. + + + + +Circe's Palace + + +Some of you have heard, no doubt, of the wise King Ulysses, and how he +went to the siege of Troy, and how, after that famous city was taken and +burned, he spent ten long years in trying to get back again to his own +little kingdom of Ithaca. At one time in the course of this weary +voyage, he arrived at an island that looked very green and pleasant, but +the name of which was unknown to him. For, only a little while before he +came thither, he had met with a terrible hurricane, or rather a great +many hurricanes at once, which drove his fleet of vessels into a strange +part of the sea, where neither himself nor any of his mariners had ever +sailed. This misfortune was entirely owing to the foolish curiosity of +his shipmates, who, while Ulysses lay asleep, had untied some very bulky +leathern bags, in which they supposed a valuable treasure to be +concealed. But in each of these stout bags, King Æolus, the ruler of the +winds, had tied up a tempest, and had given it to Ulysses to keep, in +order that he might be sure of a favorable passage homeward to Ithaca; +and when the strings were loosened, forth rushed the whistling blasts, +like air out of a blown bladder, whitening the sea with foam, and +scattering the vessels nobody could tell whither. + +Immediately after escaping from this peril, a still greater one had +befallen him. Scudding before the hurricane, he reached a place, which, +as he afterwards found, was called Læstrygonia, where some monstrous +giants had eaten up many of his companions, and had sunk every one of +his vessels, except that in which he himself sailed, by flinging great +masses of rock at them, from the cliffs along the shore. After going +through such troubles as these, you cannot wonder that King Ulysses was +glad to moor his tempest-beaten bark in a quiet cove of the green +island, which I began with telling you about. But he had encountered so +many dangers from giants, and one-eyed Cyclopes, and monsters of the sea +and land, that he could not help dreading some mischief, even in this +pleasant and seemingly solitary spot. For two days, therefore, the poor +weather-worn voyagers kept quiet, and either stayed on board of their +vessel, or merely crept along under cliffs that bordered the shore; and +to keep themselves alive, they dug shell-fish out of the sand, and +sought for any little rill of fresh water that might be running towards +the sea. + +Before the two days were spent, they grew very weary of this kind of +life; for the followers of King Ulysses, as you will find it important +to remember, were terrible gormandizers, and pretty sure to grumble if +they missed their regular meals, and their irregular ones besides. Their +stock of provisions was quite exhausted, and even the shell-fish began +to get scarce, so that they had now to choose between starving to death +or venturing into the interior of the island, where, perhaps, some huge +three-headed dragon, or other horrible monster, had his den. Such +misshapen creatures were very numerous in those days; and nobody ever +expected to make a voyage, or take a journey, without running more or +less risk of being devoured by them. + +But King Ulysses was a bold man as well as a prudent one; and on the +third morning he determined to discover what sort of a place the island +was, and whether it were possible to obtain a supply of food for the +hungry mouths of his companions. So, taking a spear in his hand, he +clambered to the summit of a cliff, and gazed round about him. At a +distance, towards the centre of the island, he beheld the stately towers +of what seemed to be a palace, built of snow-white marble, and rising in +the midst of a grove of lofty trees. The thick branches of these trees +stretched across the front of the edifice, and more than half concealed +it, although, from the portion which he saw, Ulysses judged it to be +spacious and exceedingly beautiful, and probably the residence of some +great nobleman or prince. A blue smoke went curling up from the chimney, +and was almost the pleasantest part of the spectacle to Ulysses. For, +from the abundance of this smoke, it was reasonable to conclude that +there was a good fire in the kitchen, and that, at dinner-time, a +plentiful banquet would be served up to the inhabitants of the palace, +and to whatever guests might happen to drop in. + +[Illustration: CIRCE'S PALACE] + +With so agreeable a prospect before him, Ulysses fancied that he could +not do better than to go straight to the palace gate, and tell the +master of it that there was a crew of poor shipwrecked mariners, not far +off, who had eaten nothing for a day or two save a few clams and +oysters, and would therefore be thankful for a little food. And the +prince or nobleman must be a very stingy curmudgeon, to be sure, if, at +least, when his own dinner was over, he would not bid them welcome to +the broken victuals from the table. + +Pleasing himself with this idea, King Ulysses had made a few steps in +the direction of the palace, when there was a great twittering and +chirping from the branch of a neighboring tree. A moment afterwards, a +bird came flying towards him, and hovered in the air, so as almost to +brush his face with its wings. It was a very pretty little bird, with +purple wings and body, and yellow legs, and a circle of golden feathers +round his neck, and on its head a golden tuft, which looked like a +king's crown in miniature. Ulysses tried to catch the bird. But it +fluttered nimbly out of his reach, still chirping in a piteous tone, as +if it could have told a lamentable story, had it only been gifted with +human language. And when he attempted to drive it away, the bird flew no +farther than the bough of the next tree, and again came fluttering about +his head, with its doleful chirp, as soon as he showed a purpose of +going forward. + +"Have you anything to tell me, little bird?" asked Ulysses. + +And he was ready to listen attentively to whatever the bird might +communicate; for at the siege of Troy, and elsewhere, he had known such +odd things to happen, that he would not have considered it much out of +the common run had this little feathered creature talked as plainly as +himself. + +"Peep!" said the bird, "peep, peep, pe--weep!" And nothing else would it +say, but only, "Peep, peep, pe--weep!" in a melancholy cadence, over and +over and over again. As often as Ulysses moved forward, however, the +bird showed the greatest alarm, and did its best to drive him back, with +the anxious flutter of its purple wings. Its unaccountable behavior made +him conclude, at last, that the bird knew of some danger that awaited +him, and which must needs be very terrible, beyond all question, since +it moved even a little fowl to feel compassion for a human being. So he +resolved, for the present, to return to the vessel, and tell his +companions what he had seen. + +This appeared to satisfy the bird. As soon as Ulysses turned back, it +ran up the trunk of a tree, and began to pick insects out of the bark +with its long, sharp bill; for it was a kind of wood-pecker, you must +know, and had to get its living in the same manner as other birds of +that species. But every little while, as it pecked at the bark of the +tree, the purple bird bethought itself of some secret sorrow, and +repeated its plaintive note of "Peep, peep, pe--weep!" + +On his way to the shore, Ulysses had the good luck to kill a large stag +by thrusting his spear into its back. Taking it on his shoulders (for he +was a remarkably strong man), he lugged it along with him, and flung it +down before his hungry companions. I have already hinted to you what +gormandizers some of the comrades of King Ulysses were. From what is +related of them, I reckon that their favorite diet was pork, and that +they had lived upon it until a good part of their physical substance was +swine's flesh, and their tempers and dispositions were very much akin +to the hog. A dish of venison, however, was no unacceptable meal to +them, especially after feeding so long on oysters and clams. So, +beholding the dead stag, they felt of its ribs in a knowing way, and +lost no time in kindling a fire, of drift-wood, to cook it. The rest of +the day was spent in feasting; and if these enormous eaters got up from +table at sunset, it was only because they could not scrape another +morsel off the poor animal's bones. + +The next morning their appetites were as sharp as ever. They looked at +Ulysses, as if they expected him to clamber up the cliff again, and come +back with another fat deer upon his shoulders. Instead of setting out, +however, he summoned the whole crew together, and told them it was in +vain to hope that he could kill a stag every day for their dinner, and +therefore it was advisable to think of some other mode of satisfying +their hunger. + +"Now," said he, "when I was on the cliff yesterday, I discovered that +this island is inhabited. At a considerable distance from the shore +stood a marble palace, which appeared to be very spacious, and had a +great deal of smoke curling out of one of its chimneys." + +"Aha!" muttered some of his companions, smacking their lips. "That smoke +must have come from the kitchen fire. There was a good dinner on the +spit; and no doubt there will be as good a one to-day." + +"But," continued the wise Ulysses, "you must remember, my good friends, +our misadventure in the cavern of one-eyed Polyphemus, the Cyclops! +Instead of his ordinary milk diet, did he not eat up two of our comrades +for his supper, and a couple more for breakfast, and two at his supper +again? Methinks I see him yet, the hideous monster, scanning us with +that great red eye, in the middle of his forehead, to single out the +fattest. And then again only a few days ago, did we not fall into the +hands of the king of the Læstrygons, and those other horrible giants, +his subjects, who devoured a great many more of us than are now left? +To tell you the truth, if we go to yonder palace, there can be no +question that we shall make our appearance at the dinner-table; but +whether seated as guests, or served up as food, is a point to be +seriously considered." + +"Either way," murmured some of the hungriest of the crew, "it will be +better than starvation; particularly if one could be sure of being well +fattened beforehand, and daintily cooked afterwards." + +"That is a matter of taste," said King Ulysses, "and, for my own part, +neither the most careful fattening nor the daintiest of cookery would +reconcile me to being dished at last. My proposal is, therefore, that we +divide ourselves into two equal parties, and ascertain, by drawing lots, +which of the two shall go to the palace, and beg for food and +assistance. If these can be obtained, all is well. If not, and if the +inhabitants prove as inhospitable as Polyphemus, or the Læstrygons, then +there will but half of us perish, and the remainder may set sail and +escape." + +As nobody objected to this scheme, Ulysses proceeded to count the whole +band, and found that there were forty-six men including himself. He then +numbered off twenty-two of them, and put Eurylochus (who was one of his +chief officers, and second only to himself in sagacity) at their head. +Ulysses took command of the remaining twenty-two men, in person. Then, +taking off his helmet, he put two shells into it, on one of which was +written, "Go," and on the other "Stay." Another person now held the +helmet, while Ulysses and Eurylochus drew out each a shell; and the word +"Go" was found written on that which Eurylochus had drawn. In this +manner, it was decided that Ulysses and his twenty-two men were to +remain at the seaside until the other party should have found out what +sort of treatment they might expect at the mysterious palace. As there +was no help for it, Eurylochus immediately set forth at the head of his +twenty-two followers, who went off in a very melancholy state of mind, +leaving their friends in hardly better spirits than themselves. + +No sooner had they clambered up the cliff, than they discerned the tall +marble towers of the palace, ascending, as white as snow, out of the +lovely green shadow of the trees which surrounded it. A gush of smoke +came from a chimney in the rear of the edifice. This vapor rose high in +the air, and, meeting with a breeze, was wafted seaward, and made to +pass over the heads of the hungry mariners. When people's appetites are +keen, they have a very quick scent for anything savory in the wind. + +"That smoke comes from the kitchen!" cried one of them, turning up his +nose as high as he could, and snuffing eagerly. "And, as sure as I'm a +half-starved vagabond, I smell roast meat in it." + +"Pig, roast pig!" said another. "Ah, the dainty little porker! My mouth +waters for him." + +"Let us make haste," cried the others, "or we shall be too late for the +good cheer!" + +But scarcely had they made half a dozen steps from the edge of the +cliff, when a bird came fluttering to meet them. It was the same pretty +little bird, with the purple wings and body, the yellow legs, the golden +collar round its neck, and the crown-like tuft upon its head, whose +behavior had so much surprised Ulysses. It hovered about Eurylochus, and +almost brushed his face with its wings. + +"Peep, peep, pe--weep!" chirped the bird. + +So plaintively intelligent was the sound, that it seemed as if the +little creature were going to break its heart with some mighty secret +that it had to tell, and only this one poor note to tell it with. + +"My pretty bird," said Eurylochus,--for he was a wary person, and let no +token of harm escape his notice,--"my pretty bird, who sent you hither? +And what is the message which you bring?" + +"Peep, peep, pe--weep!" replied the bird, very sorrowfully. + +Then it flew towards the edge of the cliff, and looked round at them, as +if exceedingly anxious that they should return whence they came. +Eurylochus and a few of the others were inclined to turn back. They +could not help suspecting that the purple bird must be aware of +something mischievous that would befall them at the palace, and the +knowledge of which affected its airy spirit with a human sympathy and +sorrow. But the rest of the voyagers, snuffing up the smoke from the +palace kitchen, ridiculed the idea of returning to the vessel. One of +them (more brutal than his fellows, and the most notorious gormandizer +in the whole crew) said such a cruel and wicked thing, that I wonder the +mere thought did not turn him into a wild beast in shape, as he already +was in his nature. + +"This troublesome and impertinent little fowl," said he, "would make a +delicate titbit to begin dinner with. Just one plump morsel, melting +away between the teeth. If he comes within my reach, I'll catch him, and +give him to the palace cook to be roasted on a skewer." + +The words were hardly out of his mouth, before the purple bird flew +away, crying "Peep, peep, pe--weep," more dolorously than ever. + +"That bird," remarked Eurylochus, "knows more than we do about what +awaits us at the palace." + +"Come on, then," cried his comrades, "and we'll soon know as much as he +does." + +The party, accordingly, went onward through the green and pleasant wood. +Every little while they caught new glimpses of the marble palace, which +looked more and more beautiful the nearer they approached it. They soon +entered a broad pathway, which seemed to be very neatly kept, and which +went winding along with streaks of sunshine falling across it, and +specks of light quivering among the deepest shadows that fell from the +lofty trees. It was bordered, too, with a great many sweet-smelling +flowers, such as the mariners had never seen before. So rich and +beautiful they were, that, if the shrubs grew wild here, and were native +in the soil, then this island was surely the flower-garden of the whole +earth; or, if transplanted from some other clime, it must have been from +the Happy Islands that lay towards the golden sunset. + +"There has been a great deal of pains foolishly wasted on these +flowers," observed one of the company; and I tell you what he said, that +you may keep in mind what gormandizers they were. "For my part, if I +were the owner of the palace, I would bid my gardener cultivate nothing +but savory potherbs to make a stuffing for roast meat, or to flavor a +stew with." + +"Well said!" cried the others. "But I'll warrant you there's a +kitchen-garden in the rear of the palace." + +At one place they came to a crystal spring, and paused to drink at it +for want of liquor which they liked better. Looking into its bosom, they +beheld their own faces dimly reflected, but so extravagantly distorted +by the gush and motion of the water, that each one of them appeared to +be laughing at himself and all his companions. So ridiculous were these +images of themselves, indeed, that they did really laugh aloud, and +could hardly be grave again as soon as they wished. And after they had +drank, they grew still merrier than before. + +"It has a twang of the wine-cask in it," said one, smacking his lips. + +"Make haste!" cried his fellows; "we'll find the wine-cask itself at the +palace; and that will be better than a hundred crystal fountains." + +Then they quickened their pace, and capered for joy at the thought of +the savory banquet at which they hoped to be guests. But Eurylochus told +them that he felt as if he were walking in a dream. + +"If I am really awake," continued he, "then, in my opinion, we are on +the point of meeting with some stranger adventure than any that befell +us in the cave of Polyphemus, or among the gigantic man-eating +Læstrygons, or in the windy palace of King Æolus, which stands on a +brazen-walled island. This kind of dreamy feeling always comes over me +before any wonderful occurrence. If you take my advice, you will turn +back." + +"No, no," answered his comrades, snuffing the air, in which the scent +from the palace kitchen was now very perceptible. "We would not turn +back, though we were certain that the king of the Læstrygons, as big as +a mountain, would sit at the head of the table, and huge Polyphemus, the +one-eyed Cyclops, at its foot." + +At length they came within full sight of the palace, which proved to be +very large and lofty, with a great number of airy pinnacles upon its +roof. Though it was now midday, and the sun shone brightly over the +marble front, yet its snowy whiteness, and its fantastic style of +architecture, made it look unreal, like the frostwork on a window-pane, +or like the shapes of castles which one sees among the clouds by +moonlight. But, just then, a puff of wind brought down the smoke of the +kitchen chimney among them, and caused each man to smell the odor of the +dish that he liked best; and, after scenting it, they thought everything +else moonshine, and nothing real save this palace, and save the banquet +that was evidently ready to be served up in it. + +So they hastened their steps towards the portal, but had not got +half-way across the wide lawn, when a pack of lions, tigers, and wolves +came bounding to meet them. The terrified mariners started back, +expecting no better fate than to be torn to pieces and devoured. To +their surprise and joy, however, these wild beasts merely capered around +them, wagging their tails, offering their heads to be stroked and +patted, and behaving just like so many well-bred house-dogs, when they +wish to express their delight at meeting their master, or their master's +friends. The biggest lion licked the feet of Eurylochus; and every other +lion, and every wolf and tiger, singled out one of his two-and-twenty +followers, whom the beast fondled as if he loved him better than a +beef-bone. + +But, for all that, Eurylochus imagined that he saw something fierce and +savage in their eyes; nor would he have been surprised, at any moment, +to feel the big lion's terrible claws, or to see each of the tigers make +a deadly spring, or each wolf leap at the throat of the man whom he had +fondled. Their mildness seemed unreal, and a mere freak; but their +savage nature was as true as their teeth and claws. + +Nevertheless, the men went safely across the lawn with the wild beasts +frisking about them, and doing no manner of harm; although, as they +mounted the steps of the palace, you might possibly have heard a low +growl, particularly from the wolves; as if they thought it a pity, after +all, to let the strangers pass without so much as tasting what they were +made of. + +Eurylochus and his followers now passed under a lofty portal, and looked +through the open doorway into the interior of the palace. The first +thing that they saw was a spacious hall, and a fountain in the middle of +it, gushing up towards the ceiling out of a marble basin, and falling +back into it with a continual plash. The water of this fountain, as it +spouted upward, was constantly taking new shapes, not very distinctly, +but plainly enough for a nimble fancy to recognize what they were. Now +it was the shape of a man in a long robe, the fleecy whiteness of which +was made out of the fountain's spray; now it was a lion, or a tiger, or +a wolf, or an ass, or, as often as anything else, a hog, wallowing in +the marble basin as if it were his sty. It was either magic or some very +curious machinery that caused the gushing waterspout to assume all +these forms. But, before the strangers had time to look closely at this +wonderful sight, their attention was drawn off by a very sweet and +agreeable sound. A woman's voice was singing melodiously in another room +of the palace, and with her voice was mingled the noise of a loom, at +which she was probably seated, weaving a rich texture of cloth, and +intertwining the high and low sweetness of her voice into a rich tissue +of harmony. + +By and by, the song came to an end; and then, all at once, there were +several feminine voices, talking airily and cheerfully, with now and +then a merry burst of laughter, such as you may always hear when three +or four young women sit at work together. + +"What a sweet song that was!" exclaimed one of the voyagers. + +"Too sweet, indeed," answered Eurylochus, shaking his head. "Yet it was +not so sweet as the song of the Sirens, those birdlike damsels who +wanted to tempt us on the rocks, so that our vessel might be wrecked, +and our bones left whitening along the shore." + +"But just listen to the pleasant voices of those maidens, and that buzz +of the loom, as the shuttle passes to and fro," said another comrade. +"What a domestic, household, homelike sound it is! Ah, before that weary +siege of Troy, I used to hear the buzzing loom and the women's voices +under my own roof. Shall I never hear them again? nor taste those nice +little savory dishes which my dearest wife knew how to serve up?" + +"Tush! we shall fare better here," said another. "But how innocently +those women are babbling together, without guessing that we overhear +them! And mark that richest voice of all, so pleasant and familiar, but +which yet seems to have the authority of a mistress among them. Let us +show ourselves at once. What harm can the lady of the palace and her +maidens do to mariners and warriors like us?" + +"Remember," said Eurylochus, "that it was a young maiden who beguiled +three of our friends into the palace of the king of the Læstrygons, who +ate up one of them in the twinkling of an eye." + +No warning or persuasion, however, had any effect on his companions. +They went up to a pair of folding-doors at the farther end of the hall, +and, throwing them wide open, passed into the next room. Eurylochus, +meanwhile, had stepped behind a pillar. In the short moment while the +folding-doors opened and closed again, he caught a glimpse of a very +beautiful woman rising from the loom, and coming to meet the poor +weather-beaten wanderers, with a hospitable smile, and her hand +stretched out in welcome. There were four other young women, who joined +their hands and danced merrily forward, making gestures of obeisance to +the strangers. They were only less beautiful than the lady who seemed to +be their mistress. Yet Eurylochus fancied that one of them had sea-green +hair, and that the close-fitting bodice of a second looked like the bark +of a tree, and that both the others had something odd in their aspect, +although he could not quite determine what it was, in the little while +that he had to examine them. + +The folding-doors swung quickly back, and left him standing behind the +pillar, in the solitude of the outer hall. There Eurylochus waited until +he was quite weary, and listened eagerly to every sound, but without +hearing anything that could help him to guess what had become of his +friends. Footsteps, it is true, seemed to be passing and repassing in +other parts of the palace. Then there was a clatter of silver dishes, or +golden ones, which made him imagine a rich feast in a splendid +banqueting-hall. But by and by he heard a tremendous grunting and +squealing, and then a sudden scampering, like that of small, hard hoofs +over a marble floor, while the voices of the mistress and her four +handmaidens were screaming all together, in tones of anger and derision. +Eurylochus could not conceive what had happened, unless a drove of swine +had broken into the palace, attracted by the smell of the feast. +Chancing to cast his eyes at the fountain, he saw that it did not shift +its shape, as formerly, nor looked either like a long-robed man, or a +lion, a tiger, a wolf, or an ass. It looked like nothing but a hog, +which lay wallowing in the marble basin, and filled it from brim to +brim. + +But we must leave the prudent Eurylochus waiting in the outer hall, and +follow his friends into the inner secrecy of the palace. As soon as the +beautiful woman saw them, she arose from the loom, as I have told you, +and came forward, smiling, and stretching out her hand. She took the +hand of the foremost among them, and bade him and the whole party +welcome. + +"You have been long expected, my good friends," said she. "I and my +maidens are well acquainted with you, although you do not appear to +recognize us. Look at this piece of tapestry, and judge if your faces +must not have been familiar to us." + +So the voyagers examined the web of cloth which the beautiful woman had +been weaving in her loom; and, to their vast astonishment they saw their +own figures perfectly represented in different colored threads. It was a +lifelike picture of their recent adventures, showing them in the cave of +Polyphemus, and how they had put out his one great moony eye; while in +another part of the tapestry they were untying the leathern bags, puffed +out with contrary winds; and farther on, they beheld themselves +scampering away from the gigantic king of the Læstrygons, who had caught +one of them by the leg. Lastly, there they were, sitting on the desolate +shore of this very island, hungry and downcast, and looking ruefully at +the bare bones of the stag which they devoured yesterday. This was as +far as the work had yet proceeded; but when the beautiful woman should +again sit down at her loom, she would probably make a picture of what +had since happened to the strangers, and of what was now going to +happen. + +"You see," she said, "that I know all about your troubles; and you +cannot doubt that I desire to make you happy for as long a time as you +may remain with me. For this purpose, my honored guests, I have ordered +a banquet to be prepared. Fish, fowl, and flesh, roasted, and in +luscious stews, and seasoned, I trust, to all your tastes, are ready to +be served up. If your appetites tell you it is dinner-time, then come +with me to the festal saloon." + +At this kind invitation, the hungry mariners were quite overjoyed; and +one of them, taking upon himself to be spokesman, assured their +hospitable hostess that any hour of the day was dinner-time with them, +whenever they could get flesh to put in the pot, and fire to boil it +with. So the beautiful woman led the way; and the four maidens (one of +them had sea-green hair, another a bodice of oak bark, a third sprinkled +a shower of water-drops from her fingers' ends, and the fourth had some +other oddity, which I have forgotten), all these followed behind, and +hurried the guests along, until they entered a magnificent saloon. It +was built in a perfect oval, and lighted from a crystal dome above. +Around the walls were ranged two-and-twenty thrones, overhung by +canopies of crimson and gold, and provided with the softest of cushions, +which were tasselled and fringed with gold cord. Each of the strangers +was invited to sit down; and there they were, two-and-twenty +storm-beaten mariners, in worn and tattered garb, sitting on +two-and-twenty canopied thrones, so rich and gorgeous that the proudest +monarch had nothing more splendid in his stateliest hall. + +Then you might have seen the guests nodding, winking with one eye, and +leaning from one throne to another, to communicate their satisfaction in +hoarse whispers. + +"Our good hostess has made kings of us all," said one. "Ha! do you smell +the feast? I'll engage it will be fit to set before two-and-twenty +kings." + +"I hope," said another, "it will be, mainly, good substantial joints, +sirloins, spareribs, and hinder quarters, without too many kickshaws. +If I thought the good lady would not take it amiss, I should call for a +fat slice of fried bacon to begin with." + +Ah, the gluttons and gormandizers! You see how it was with them. In the +loftiest seats of dignity, on royal thrones, they could think of nothing +but their greedy appetite, which was the portion of their nature that +they shared with wolves and swine; so that they resembled those vilest +of animals far more than they did kings,--if, indeed, kings were what +they ought to be. + +But the beautiful woman now clapped her hands; and immediately there +entered a train of two-and-twenty serving-men, bringing dishes of the +richest food, all hot from the kitchen fire, and sending up such a steam +that it hung like a cloud below the crystal dome of the saloon. An equal +number of attendants brought great flagons of wine, of various kinds, +some of which sparkled as it was poured out, and went bubbling down the +throat; while, of other sorts, the purple liquor was so clear that you +could see the wrought figures at the bottom of the goblet. While the +servants supplied the two-and-twenty guests with food and drink, the +hostess and her four maidens went from one throne to another, exhorting +them to eat their fill, and to quaff wine abundantly, and thus to +recompense themselves, at this one banquet, for the many days when they +had gone without a dinner. But, whenever the mariners were not looking +at them (which was pretty often, as they looked chiefly into the basins +and platters), the beautiful woman and her damsels turned aside and +laughed. Even the servants, as they knelt down to present the dishes, +might be seen to grin and sneer, while the guests were helping +themselves to the offered dainties. + +And, once in a while, the strangers seemed to taste something that they +did not like. + +"Here is an odd kind of a spice in this dish," said one. "I can't say it +quite suits my palate. Down it goes, however." + +"Send a good draught of wine down your throat," said his comrade on the +next throne. "That is the stuff to make this sort of cookery relish +well. Though I must needs say, the wine has a queer taste too. But the +more I drink of it the better I like the flavor." + +Whatever little fault they might find with the dishes, they sat at +dinner a prodigiously long while; and it would really have made you +ashamed to see how they swilled down the liquor and gobbled up the food. +They sat on golden thrones, to be sure; but they behaved like pigs in a +sty; and, if they had had their wits about them, they might have guessed +that this was the opinion of their beautiful hostess and her maidens. It +brings a blush into my face to reckon up, in my own mind, what mountains +of meat and pudding, and what gallons of wine, these two-and-twenty +guzzlers and gormandizers ate and drank. They forgot all about their +homes, and their wives and children, and all about Ulysses, and +everything else, except this banquet, at which they wanted to keep +feasting forever. But at length they began to give over, from mere +incapacity to hold any more. + +"That last bit of fat is too much for me," said one. + +"And I have not room for another morsel," said his next neighbor, +heaving a sigh. "What a pity! My appetite is as sharp as ever." + +In short, they all left off eating, and leaned back on their thrones, +with such a stupid and helpless aspect as made them ridiculous to +behold. When their hostess saw this, she laughed aloud; so did her four +damsels; so did the two-and-twenty serving men that bore the dishes, and +their two-and-twenty fellows that poured out the wine. And the louder +they all laughed, the more stupid and helpless did the two-and-twenty +gormandizers look. Then the beautiful woman took her stand in the middle +of the saloon, and stretching out a slender rod (it had been all the +while in her hand, although they never noticed it till this moment), she +turned it from one guest to another, until each had felt it pointed at +himself. Beautiful as her face was, and though there was a smile on it, +it looked just as wicked and mischievous as the ugliest serpent that +ever was seen; and fat-witted as the voyagers had made themselves, they +began to suspect that they had fallen into the power of an evil-minded +enchantress. + +"Wretches," cried she, "you have abused a lady's hospitality; and in +this princely saloon your behavior has been suited to a hogpen. You are +already swine in everything but the human form, which you disgrace, and +which I myself should be ashamed to keep a moment longer, were you to +share it with me. But it will require only the slightest exercise of +magic to make the exterior conform to the hoggish disposition. Assume +your proper shapes, gormandizers, and begone to the sty!" + +Uttering these last words, she waved her wand; and stamping her foot +imperiously, each of the guests was struck aghast at beholding, instead +of his comrades in human shape, one-and-twenty hogs sitting on the same +number of golden thrones. Each man (as he still supposed himself to be) +essayed to give a cry of surprise, but found that he could merely grunt, +and that, in a word, he was just such another beast as his companions. +It looked so intolerably absurd to see hogs on cushioned thrones, that +they made haste to wallow down upon all fours, like other swine. They +tried to groan and beg for mercy, but forthwith emitted the most awful +grunting and squealing that ever came out of swinish throats. They would +have wrung their hands in despair, but, attempting to do so, grew all +the more desperate for seeing themselves squatted on their hams, and +pawing the air with their fore trotters. Dear me! what pendulous ears +they had! what little red eyes, half buried in fat! and what long +snouts, instead of Grecian noses! + +But brutes as they certainly were, they yet had enough of human nature +in them to be shocked at their own hideousness; and, still intending to +groan, they uttered a viler grunt and squeal than before. So harsh and +ear-piercing it was, that you would have fancied a butcher was sticking +his knife into each of their throats, or, at the very least, that +somebody was pulling every hog by his funny little twist of a tail. + +"Begone to your sty!" cried the enchantress, giving them some smart +strokes with her wand; and then she turned to the serving-men, "Drive +out these swine, and throw down some acorns for them to eat." + +The door of the saloon being flung open, the drove of hogs ran in all +directions save the right one, in accordance with their hoggish +perversity, but were finally driven into the back yard of the palace. It +was a sight to bring tears into one's eyes (and I hope none of you will +be cruel enough to laugh at it), to see the poor creatures go snuffing +along, picking up here a cabbage leaf and there a turnip-top, and +rooting their noses in the earth for whatever they could find. In their +sty, moreover, they behaved more piggishly than the pigs that had been +born so; for they bit and snorted at one another, put their feet in the +trough, and gobbled up their victuals in a ridiculous hurry; and, when +there was nothing more to be had, they made a great pile of themselves +among some unclean straw, and fell fast asleep. If they had any human +reason left, it was just enough to keep them wondering when they should +be slaughtered, and what quality of bacon they should make. + +Meantime, as I told you before, Eurylochus had waited, and waited, and +waited, in the entrance-hall of the palace, without being able to +comprehend what had befallen his friends. At last, when the swinish +uproar resounded through the palace, and when he saw the image of a hog +in the marble basin, he thought it best to hasten back to the vessel, +and inform the wise Ulysses of these marvellous occurrences. So he ran +as fast as he could down the steps, and never stopped to draw breath +till he reached the shore. + +"Why do you come alone?" asked King Ulysses, as soon as he saw him. +"Where are your two-and-twenty comrades?" + +At these questions, Eurylochus burst into tears. + +"Alas!" cried he, "I greatly fear that we shall never see one of their +faces again." + +Then he told Ulysses all that had happened, as far as he knew it, and +added that he suspected the beautiful woman to be a vile enchantress, +and the marble palace, magnificent as it looked, to be only a dismal +cavern in reality. As for his companions, he could not imagine what had +become of them, unless they had been given to the swine to be devoured +alive. At this intelligence all the voyagers were greatly affrighted. +But Ulysses lost no time in girding on his sword, and hanging his bow +and quiver over his shoulders, and taking his spear in his right hand. +When his followers saw their wise leader making these preparations, they +inquired whither he was going, and earnestly besought him not to leave +them. + +"You are our king," cried they; "and what is more, you are the wisest +man in the whole world, and nothing but your wisdom and courage can get +us out of this danger. If you desert us, and go to the enchanted palace, +you will suffer the same fate as our poor companions, and not a soul of +us will ever see our dear Ithaca again." + +"As I am your king," answered Ulysses, "and wiser than any of you, it is +therefore the more my duty to see what has befallen our comrades, and +whether anything can yet be done to rescue them. Wait for me here until +to-morrow. If I do not then return, you must hoist sail, and endeavor to +find your way to our native land. For my part, I am answerable for the +fate of these poor mariners, who have stood by my side in battle, and +been so often drenched to the skin, along with me, by the same +tempestuous surges. I will either bring them back with me or perish." + +Had his followers dared, they would have detained him by force. But King +Ulysses frowned sternly on them, and shook his spear, and bade them stop +him at their peril. Seeing him so determined, they let him go, and sat +down on the sand, as disconsolate a set of people as could be, waiting +and praying for his return. + +It happened to Ulysses, just as before, that, when he had gone a few +steps from the edge of the cliff, the purple bird came fluttering +towards him, crying, "Peep, peep, pe--weep!" and using all the art it +could to persuade him to go no farther. + +"What mean you, little bird?" cried Ulysses. "You are arrayed like a +king in purple and gold, and wear a golden crown upon your head. Is it +because I too am a king, that you desire so earnestly to speak with me? +If you can talk in human language, say what you would have me do." + +"Peep!" answered the purple bird, very dolorously. "Peep, peep, +pe--we--ep!" + +Certainly there lay some heavy anguish at the little bird's heart; and +it was a sorrowful predicament that he could not, at least, have the +consolation of telling what it was. But Ulysses had no time to waste in +trying to get at the mystery. He therefore quickened his pace, and had +gone a good way along the pleasant wood-path, when there met him a young +man of very brisk and intelligent aspect, and clad in a rather singular +garb. He wore a short cloak, and a sort of cap that seemed to be +furnished with a pair of wings; and from the lightness of his step, you +would have supposed that there might likewise be wings on his feet. To +enable him to walk still better (for he was always on one journey or +another), he carried a winged staff, around which two serpents were +wriggling and twisting. In short, I have said enough to make you guess +that it was Quicksilver; and Ulysses (who knew him of old, and had +learned a great deal of his wisdom from him) recognized him in a moment. + +"Whither are you going in such a hurry, wise Ulysses?" asked +Quicksilver. "Do you not know that this island is enchanted? The wicked +enchantress (whose name is Circe, the sister of King Æetes) dwells in +the marble palace which you see yonder among the trees. By her magic +arts, she changes every human being into the brute, beast, or fowl whom +he happens most to resemble." + +"That little bird, which met me at the edge of the cliff," exclaimed +Ulysses; "was he a human being once?" + +"Yes," answered Quicksilver. "He was once a king, named Picus, and a +pretty good sort of a king too, only rather too proud of his purple +robe, and his crown, and the golden chain about his neck; so he was +forced to take the shape of a gaudy-feathered bird. The lions, and +wolves, and tigers, who will come running to meet you, in front of the +palace, were formerly fierce and cruel men, resembling in their +dispositions the wild beasts whose forms they now rightfully wear." + +"And my poor companions," said Ulysses. "Have they undergone a similar +change, through the arts of this wicked Circe?" + +"You well know what gormandizers they were," replied Quicksilver; and, +rogue that he was, he could not help laughing at the joke. "So you will +not be surprised to hear that they have all taken the shapes of swine! +If Circe had never done anything worse, I really should not think her so +very much to blame." + +"But can I do nothing to help them?" inquired Ulysses. + +"It will require all your wisdom," said Quicksilver, "and a little of my +own into the bargain, to keep your royal and sagacious self from being +transformed into a fox. But do as I bid you; and the matter may end +better than it has begun." + +While he was speaking, Quicksilver seemed to be in search of something; +he went stooping along the ground, and soon laid his hand on a little +plant with a snow-white flower, which he plucked and smelt of. Ulysses +had been looking at that very spot only just before; and it appeared to +him that the plant had burst into full flower the instant when +Quicksilver touched it with his fingers. + +"Take this flower, King Ulysses," said he. "Guard it as you do your +eyesight; for I can assure you it is exceedingly rare and precious, and +you might seek the whole earth over without ever finding another like +it. Keep it in your hand, and smell of it frequently after you enter the +palace, and while you are talking with the enchantress. Especially when +she offers you food, or a draught of wine out of her goblet, be careful +to fill your nostrils with the flower's fragrance. Follow these +directions, and you may defy her magic arts to change you into a fox." + +Quicksilver then gave him some further advice how to behave, and, +bidding him be bold and prudent, again assured him that, powerful as +Circe was, he would have a fair prospect of coming safely out of her +enchanted palace. After listening attentively, Ulysses thanked his good +friend, and resumed his way. But he had taken only a few steps, when, +recollecting some other questions which he wished to ask, he turned +round again, and beheld nobody on the spot where Quicksilver had stood; +for that winged cap of his, and those winged shoes, with the help of the +winged staff, had carried him quickly out of sight. + +When Ulysses reached the lawn, in front of the palace, the lions and +other savage animals came bounding to meet him, and would have fawned +upon him and licked his feet. But the wise king struck at them with his +long spear, and sternly bade them begone out of his path; for he knew +that they had once been bloodthirsty men, and would now tear him limb +from limb, instead of fawning upon him, could they do the mischief that +was in their hearts. The wild beasts yelped and glared at him, and stood +at a distance while he ascended the palace steps. + +On entering the hall, Ulysses saw the magic fountain in the centre of +it. The up-gushing water had now again taken the shape of a man in a +long, white, fleecy robe, who appeared to be making gestures of welcome. +The king likewise heard the noise of the shuttle in the loom, and the +sweet melody of the beautiful woman's song, and then the pleasant +voices of herself and the four maidens talking together, with peals of +merry laughter intermixed. But Ulysses did not waste much time in +listening to the laughter or the song. He leaned his spear against one +of the pillars of the hall, and then, after loosening his sword in the +scabbard, stepped boldly forward, and threw the folding-doors wide open. +The moment she beheld his stately figure standing in the doorway, the +beautiful woman rose from the loom, and ran to meet him with a glad +smile throwing its sunshine over her face, and both her hands extended. + +"Welcome, brave stranger!" cried she. "We were expecting you." + +And the nymph with the sea-green hair made a courtesy down to the +ground, and likewise bade him welcome; so did her sister with the bodice +of oaken bark, and she that sprinkled dew-drops from her fingers' ends, +and the fourth one with some oddity which I cannot remember. And Circe, +as the beautiful enchantress was called (who had deluded so many persons +that she did not doubt of being able to delude Ulysses, not imagining +how wise he was), again addressed him. + +"Your companions," said she, "have already been received into my palace, +and have enjoyed the hospitable treatment to which the propriety of +their behavior so well entitles them. If such be your pleasure, you +shall first take some refreshment, and then join them in the elegant +apartment which they now occupy. See, I and my maidens have been weaving +their figures into this piece of tapestry." + +She pointed to the web of beautifully woven cloth in the loom. Circe and +the four nymphs must have been very diligently at work since the arrival +of the mariners: for a great many yards of tapestry had now been +wrought, in addition to what I before described. In this new part, +Ulysses saw his two-and-twenty friends represented as sitting on +cushioned and canopied thrones, greedily devouring dainties and +quaffing deep draughts of wine. The work had not yet gone any further. +Oh no, indeed. The enchantress was far too cunning to let Ulysses see +the mischief which her magic arts had since brought upon the +gormandizers. + +"As for yourself, valiant sir," said Circe, "judging by the dignity of +your aspect, I take you to be nothing less than a king. Deign to follow +me, and you shall be treated as befits your rank." + +So Ulysses followed her into the oval saloon, where his two-and-twenty +comrades had devoured the banquet, which ended so disastrously for +themselves. But, all this while, he had held the snow-white flower in +his hand, and had constantly smelt of it while Circe was speaking; and +as he crossed the threshold of the saloon, he took good care to inhale +several long and deep snuffs of its fragrance. Instead of two-and-twenty +thrones, which had before been ranged around the wall, there was now +only a single throne, in the centre of the apartment. But this was +surely the most magnificent seat that ever a king or an emperor reposed +himself upon, all made of chased gold, studded with precious stones, +with a cushion that looked like a soft heap of living roses, and +overhung by a canopy of sunlight which Circe knew how to weave into +drapery. The enchantress took Ulysses by the hand, and made him sit down +upon this dazzling throne. Then, clapping her hands, she summoned the +chief butler. + +"Bring hither," said she, "the goblet that is set apart for kings to +drink out of. And fill it with the same delicious wine which my royal +brother, King Æetes, praised so highly, when he last visited me with my +fair daughter Medea. That good and amiable child! Were she now here, it +would delight her to see me offering this wine to my honored guest." + +But Ulysses, while the butler was gone for the wine, held the snow-white +flower to his nose. + +"Is it a wholesome wine?" he asked. + +At this the four maidens tittered; whereupon the enchantress looked +round at them, with an aspect of severity. + +"It is the wholesomest juice that ever was squeezed out of the grape," +said she; "for, instead of disguising a man, as other liquor is apt to +do, it brings him to his true self, and shows him as he ought to be." + +The chief butler liked nothing better than to see people turned into +swine, or making any kind of a beast of themselves; so he made haste to +bring the royal goblet, filled with a liquid as bright as gold, and +which kept sparkling upward, and throwing a sunny spray over the brim. +But, delightfully as the wine looked, it was mingled with the most +potent enchantments that Circe knew how to concoct. For every drop of +the pure grape-juice there were two drops of the pure mischief; and the +danger of the thing was, that the mischief made it taste all the better. +The mere smell of the bubbles, which effervesced at the brim, was enough +to turn a man's beard into pig's bristles, or make a lion's claws grow +out of his fingers, or a fox's brush behind him. + +"Drink, my noble guest," said Circe, smiling as she presented him with +the goblet. "You will find in this draught a solace for all your +troubles." + +King Ulysses took the goblet with his right hand, while with his left he +held the snow-white flower to his nostrils, and drew in so long a breath +that his lungs were quite filled with its pure and simple fragrance. +Then, drinking off all the wine, he looked the enchantress calmly in the +face. + +"Wretch," cried Circe, giving him a smart stroke with her wand, "how +dare you keep your human shape a moment longer? Take the form of the +brute whom you most resemble. If a hog, go join your fellow-swine in the +sty; if a lion, a wolf, a tiger, go howl with the wild beasts on the +lawn; if a fox, go exercise your craft in stealing poultry. Thou hast +quaffed off my wine, and canst be man no longer." + +But, such was the virtue of the snow-white flower, instead of wallowing +down from his throne in swinish shape, or taking any other brutal form, +Ulysses looked even more manly and king-like than before. He gave the +magic goblet a toss, and sent it clashing over the marble floor, to the +farthest end of the saloon. Then, drawing his sword, he seized the +enchantress by her beautiful ringlets, and made a gesture as if he meant +to strike off her head at one blow. + +"Wicked Circe," cried he, in a terrible voice, "this sword shall put an +end to thy enchantments. Thou shalt die, vile wretch, and do no more +mischief in the world, by tempting human beings into the vices which +make beasts of them." + +The tone and countenance of Ulysses were so awful, and his sword gleamed +so brightly, and seemed to have so intolerably keen an edge, that Circe +was almost killed by the mere fright, without waiting for a blow. The +chief butler scrambled out of the saloon, picking up the golden goblet +as he went; and the enchantress and the four maidens fell on their +knees, wringing their hands, and screaming for mercy. + +"Spare me!" cried Circe,--"spare me, royal and wise Ulysses. For now I +know that thou art he of whom Quicksilver forewarned me, the most +prudent of mortals, against whom no enchantments can prevail. Thou only +couldst have conquered Circe. Spare me, wisest of men. I will show thee +true hospitality, and even give myself to be thy slave, and this +magnificent palace to be henceforth thy home." + +The four nymphs, meanwhile, were making a most piteous ado; and +especially the ocean-nymph, with the sea-green hair, wept a great deal +of salt water, and the fountain-nymph, besides scattering dew-drops from +her fingers' ends, nearly melted away into tears. But Ulysses would not +be pacified until Circe had taken a solemn oath to change back his +companions, and as many others as he should direct, from their present +forms of beast or bird into their former shapes of men. + +"On these conditions," said he, "I consent to spare your life. Otherwise +you must die upon the spot." + +With a drawn sword hanging over her, the enchantress would readily have +consented to do as much good as she had hitherto done mischief, however +little she might like such employment. She therefore led Ulysses out of +the back entrance of the palace, and showed him the swine in their sty. +There were about fifty of these unclean beasts in the whole herd; and +though the greater part were hogs by birth and education, there was +wonderfully little difference to be seen betwixt them and their new +brethren who had so recently worn the human shape. To speak critically, +indeed, the latter rather carried the thing to excess, and seemed to +make it a point to wallow in the miriest part of the sty, and otherwise +to outdo the original swine in their own natural vocation. When men once +turn to brutes, the trifle of man's wit that remains in them adds +tenfold to their brutality. + +The comrades of Ulysses, however, had not quite lost the remembrance of +having formerly stood erect. When he approached the sty, two-and-twenty +enormous swine separated themselves from the herd, and scampered towards +him, with such a chorus of horrible squealing as made him clap both +hands to his ears. And yet they did not seem to know what they wanted, +nor whether they were merely hungry, or miserable from some other cause. +It was curious, in the midst of their distress, to observe them +thrusting their noses into the mire, in quest of something to eat. The +nymph with the bodice of oaken bark (she was the hamadryad of an oak) +threw a handful of acorns among them; and the two-and-twenty hogs +scrambled and fought for the prize, as if they had tasted not so much as +a noggin of sour milk for a twelvemonth. + +"These must certainly be my comrades," said Ulysses. "I recognize their +dispositions. They are hardly worth the trouble of changing them into +the human form again. Nevertheless, we will have it done, lest their bad +example should corrupt the other hogs. Let them take their original +shapes, therefore, Dame Circe, if your skill is equal to the task. It +will require greater magic, I trow, than it did to make swine of them." + +So Circe waved her wand again, and repeated a few magic words, at the +sound of which the two-and-twenty hogs pricked up their pendulous ears. +It was a wonder to behold how their snouts grew shorter and shorter, and +their mouths (which they seemed to be sorry for, because they could not +gobble so expeditiously) smaller and smaller, and how one and another +began to stand upon his hind legs, and scratch his nose with his fore +trotters. At first the spectators hardly knew whether to call them hogs +or men, but by and by came to the conclusion that they rather resembled +the latter. Finally, there stood the twenty-two comrades of Ulysses, +looking pretty much the same as when they left the vessel. + +You must not imagine, however, that the swinish quality had entirely +gone out of them. When once it fastens itself into a person's character, +it is very difficult getting rid of it. This was proved by the +hamadryad, who, being exceedingly fond of mischief, threw another +handful of acorns before the twenty-two newly restored people; whereupon +down they wallowed, in a moment, and gobbled them up in a very shameful +way. Then, recollecting themselves, they scrambled to their feet, and +looked more than commonly foolish. + +"Thanks, noble Ulysses!" they cried. "From brute beasts you have +restored us to the condition of men again." + +"Do not put yourselves to the trouble of thanking me," said the wise +king. "I fear I have done but little for you." + +To say the truth, there was a suspicious kind of a grunt in their +voices, and for a long time afterwards they spoke gruffly, and were apt +to set up a squeal. + +"It must depend on your own future behavior," added Ulysses, "whether +you do not find your way back to the sty." + +At this moment, the note of a bird sounded from the branch of a +neighboring tree. + +"Peep, peep, pe--wee--ep!" + +It was the purple bird, who, all this while, had been sitting over their +heads, watching what was going forward, and hoping that Ulysses would +remember how he had done his utmost to keep him and his followers out of +harm's way. Ulysses ordered Circe instantly to make a king of this good +little fowl, and leave him exactly as she found him. Hardly were the +words spoken, and before the bird had time to utter another "Pe--weep," +King Picus leaped down from the bough of the tree, as majestic a +sovereign as any in the world, dressed in a long purple robe and +gorgeous yellow stockings, with a splendidly wrought collar about his +neck, and a golden crown upon his head. He and King Ulysses exchanged +with one another the courtesies which belong to their elevated rank. But +from that time forth, King Picus was no longer proud of his crown and +his trappings of royalty, nor of the fact of his being a king; he felt +himself merely the upper servant of his people, and that it must be his +lifelong labor to make them better and happier. + +As for the lions, tigers, and wolves (though Circe would have restored +them to their former shapes at his slightest word), Ulysses thought it +advisable that they should remain as they now were, and thus give +warning of their cruel dispositions, instead of going about under the +guise of men, and pretending to human sympathies, while their hearts had +the blood-thirstiness of wild beasts. So he let them howl as much as +they liked, but never troubled his head about them. And, when everything +was settled according to his pleasure, he sent to summon the remainder +of his comrades, whom he had left at the sea-shore. These being +arrived, with the prudent Eurylochus at their head, they all made +themselves comfortable in Circe's enchanted palace, until quite rested +and refreshed from the toils and hardships of their voyage. + + + + +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. + +[Illustration: PROSERPINA + +(From the original in the collection of Mrs. William B. Dinsmore +Staatsburg, New York)] + +"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 sea-weed 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-colored +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 +colors. 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 curvetting 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? Who, 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 lamplight 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 charriot 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 is 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 +sea-shore, 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 neighborhood. 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 farm-house, Ceres +knocked, and called up the weary laborers 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 towards 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 woe-begone 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, +endeavoring 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 splendors 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 heart-strings 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 husbandman +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 neighborhood 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 gripping 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 super-human 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-colored 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 afterwards, 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 afterwards 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 neighborhood 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 +vigor 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." + + + + +The Golden Fleece + + +When Jason, the son of the dethroned King of Iolchos, was a little boy, +he was sent away from his parents, and placed under the queerest +schoolmaster that ever you heard of. This learned person was one of the +people, or quadrupeds, called Centaurs. He lived in a cavern, and had +the body and legs of a white horse, with the head and shoulders of a +man. His name was Chiron; and, in spite of his odd appearance, he was a +very excellent teacher, and had several scholars, who afterwards did him +credit by making a great figure in the world. The famous Hercules was +one, and so was Achilles, and Philoctetes, likewise, and Æsculapius, who +acquired immense repute as a doctor. The good Chiron taught his pupils +how to play upon the harp, and how to cure diseases, and how to use the +sword and shield, together with various other branches of education, in +which the lads of those days used to be instructed, instead of writing +and arithmetic. + +I have sometimes suspected that Master Chiron was not really very +different from other people, but that, being a kind-hearted and merry +old fellow, he was in the habit of making believe that he was a horse, +and scrambling about the school-room on all fours, and letting the +little boys ride upon his back. And so, when his scholars had grown up, +and grown old, and were trotting their grandchildren on their knees, +they told them about the sports of their school-days; and these young +folks took the idea that their grandfathers had been taught their +letters by a Centaur, half man and half horse. Little children, not +quite understanding what is said to them, often get such absurd notions +into their heads, you know. + +Be that as it may, it has always been told for a fact (and always will +be told, as long as the world lasts), that Chiron, with the head of a +schoolmaster, had the body and legs of a horse. Just imagine the grave +old gentleman clattering and stamping into the school-room on his four +hoofs, perhaps treading on some little fellow's toes, flourishing his +switch tail instead of a rod, and, now and then, trotting out of doors +to eat a mouthful of grass! I wonder what the blacksmith charged him for +a set of iron shoes. + +So Jason dwelt in the cave, with this four-footed Chiron, from the time +that he was an infant, only a few months old, until he had grown to the +full height of a man. He became a very good harper, I suppose, and +skilful in the use of weapons, and tolerably acquainted with herbs and +other doctor's stuff, and, above all, an admirable horseman; for, in +teaching young people to ride, the good Chiron must have been without a +rival among schoolmasters. At length, being now a tall and athletic +youth, Jason resolved to seek his fortune in the world, without asking +Chiron's advice, or telling him anything about the matter. This was very +unwise, to be sure; and I hope none of you, my little hearers, will ever +follow Jason's example. But, you are to understand, he had heard how +that he himself was a prince royal, and how his father, King Æson, had +been deprived of the kingdom of Iolchos by a certain Pelias who would +also have killed Jason, had he not been hidden in the Centaur's cave. +And, being come to the strength of a man, Jason determined to set all +this business to rights, and to punish the wicked Pelias for wronging +his dear father, and to cast him down from the throne, and seat himself +there instead. + +With this intention, he took a spear in each hand, and threw a leopard's +skin over his shoulders, to keep off the rain, and set forth on his +travels, with his long yellow ringlets waving in the wind. The part of +his dress on which he most prided himself was a pair of sandals, that +had been his father's. They were handsomely embroidered, and were tied +upon his feet with strings of gold. But his whole attire was such as +people did not very often see; and as he passed along, the women and +children ran to the doors and windows, wondering whither this beautiful +youth was journeying, with his leopard's skin and his golden-tied +sandals, and what heroic deeds he meant to perform, with a spear in his +right hand and another in his left. + +[Illustration: JASON AND HIS TEACHER] + +I know not how far Jason had travelled, when he came to a turbulent +river, which rushed right across his pathway, with specks of white foam +among its black eddies, hurrying tumultuously onward, and roaring +angrily as it went. Though not a very broad river in the dry seasons of +the year, it was now swollen by heavy rains and by the melting of the +snow on the sides of Mount Olympus; and it thundered so loudly, and +looked so wild and dangerous, that Jason, bold as he was, thought it +prudent to pause upon the brink. The bed of the stream seemed to be +strewn with sharp and rugged rocks, some of which thrust themselves +above the water. By and by, an uprooted tree, with shattered branches, +came drifting along the current, and got entangled among the rocks. Now +and then, a drowned sheep, and once the carcass of a cow, floated past. + +In short, the swollen river had already done a great deal of mischief. +It was evidently too deep for Jason to wade, and too boisterous for him +to swim; he could see no bridge; and as for a boat, had there been any, +the rocks would have broken it to pieces in an instant. + +"See the poor lad," said a cracked voice close to his side. "He must +have had but a poor education, since he does not know how to cross a +little stream like this. Or is he afraid of wetting his fine +golden-stringed sandals? It is a pity his four-footed schoolmaster is +not here to carry him safely across on his back!" + +Jason looked round greatly surprised, for he did not know that anybody +was near. But beside him stood an old woman, with a ragged mantle over +her head, leaning on a staff, the top of which was carved into the shape +of a cuckoo. She looked very aged, and wrinkled, and infirm; and yet her +eyes, which were as brown as those of an ox, were so extremely large and +beautiful, that, when they were fixed on Jason's eyes, he could see +nothing else but them. The old woman had a pomegranate in her hand, +although the fruit was then quite out of season. + +"Whither are you going, Jason?" she now asked. + +She seemed to know his name, you will observe; and, indeed, those great +brown eyes looked as if they had a knowledge of everything, whether past +or to come. While Jason was gazing at her, a peacock strutted forward +and took his stand at the old woman's side. + +"I am going to Iolchos," answered the young man, "to bid the wicked King +Pelias come down from my father's throne, and let me reign in his +stead." + +"Ah, well, then," said the old woman, still with the same cracked voice, +"if that is all your business, you need not be in a very great hurry. +Just take me on your back, there's a good youth, and carry me across the +river. I and my peacock have something to do on the other side, as well +as yourself." + +"Good mother," replied Jason, "your business can hardly be so important +as the pulling down a king from his throne. Besides, as you may see for +yourself, the river is very boisterous; and if I should chance to +stumble, it would sweep both of us away more easily than it has carried +off yonder uprooted tree. I would gladly help you if I could; but I +doubt whether I am strong enough to carry you across." + +"Then," said she, very scornfully, "neither are you strong enough to +pull King Pelias off his throne. And, Jason, unless you will help an old +woman at her need, you ought not to be a king. What are kings made for, +save to succor the feeble and distressed? But do as you please. Either +take me on your back, or with my poor old limbs I shall try my best to +struggle across the stream." + +Saying this, the old woman poked with her staff in the river, as if to +find the safest place in its rocky bed where she might make the first +step. But Jason, by this time, had grown ashamed of his reluctance to +help her. He felt that he could never forgive himself, if this poor +feeble creature should come to any harm in attempting to wrestle against +the headlong current. The good Chiron, whether half horse or no, had +taught him that the noblest use of his strength was to assist the weak; +and also that he must treat every young woman as if she were his sister, +and every old one like a mother. Remembering these maxims, the vigorous +and beautiful young man knelt down, and requested the good dame to mount +upon his back. + +"The passage seems to me not very safe," he remarked. "But as your +business is so urgent, I will try to carry you across. If the river +sweeps you away, it shall take me too." + +"That, no doubt, will be a great comfort to both of us," quoth the old +woman. "But never fear. We shall get safely across." + +So she threw her arms around Jason's neck; and lifting her from the +ground, he stepped boldly into the raging and foamy current, and began +to stagger away from the shore. As for the peacock, it alighted on the +old dame's shoulder. Jason's two spears, one in each hand, kept him from +stumbling, and enabled him to feel his way among the hidden rocks; +although, every instant, he expected that his companion and himself +would go down the stream, together with the drift-wood of shattered +trees, and the carcasses of the sheep and cow. Down came the cold, snowy +torrent from the steep side of Olympus, raging and thundering as if it +had a real spite against Jason, or, at all events, were determined to +snatch off his living burden from his shoulders. When he was half-way +across, the uprooted tree (which I have already told you about) broke +loose from among the rocks, and bore down upon him, with all its +splintered branches sticking out like the hundred arms of the giant +Briareus. It rushed past, however, without touching him. But the next +moment, his foot was caught in a crevice between two rocks, and stuck +there so fast, that, in the effort to get free, he lost one of his +golden-stringed sandals. + +At this accident Jason could not help uttering a cry of vexation. + +"What is the matter, Jason?" asked the old woman. + +"Matter enough," said the young man. "I have lost a sandal here among +the rocks. And what sort of a figure shall I cut at the court of King +Pelias, with a golden-stringed sandal on one foot, and the other foot +bare!" + +"Do not take it to heart," answered his companion, cheerily. "You never +met with better fortune than in losing that sandal. It satisfies me that +you are the very person whom the Speaking Oak has been talking about." + +There was no time, just then, to inquire what the Speaking Oak had said. +But the briskness of her tone encouraged the young man; and besides, he +had never in his life felt so vigorous and mighty as since taking this +old woman on his back. Instead of being exhausted, he gathered strength +as he went on; and, struggling up against the torrent, he at last gained +the opposite shore, clambered up the bank, and set down the old dame and +her peacock safely on the grass. As soon as this was done, however, he +could not help looking rather despondently at his bare foot, with only a +remnant of the golden string of the sandal clinging round his ankle. + +"You will get a handsomer pair of sandals by and by," said the old +woman, with a kindly look out of her beautiful brown eyes. "Only let +King Pelias get a glimpse of that bare foot, and you shall see him turn +as pale as ashes, I promise you. There is your path. Go along, my good +Jason, and my blessing go with you. And when you sit on your throne, +remember the old woman whom you helped over the river." + +With these words, she hobbled away, giving him a smile over her shoulder +as she departed. Whether the light of her beautiful brown eyes threw a +glory round about her, or whatever the cause might be, Jason fancied +that there was something very noble and majestic in her figure, after +all, and that, though her gait seemed to be a rheumatic hobble, yet she +moved with as much grace and dignity as any queen on earth. Her peacock, +which had now fluttered down from her shoulder, strutted behind her in +prodigious pomp, and spread out its magnificent tail on purpose for +Jason to admire it. + +When the old dame and her peacock were out of sight, Jason set forward +on his journey. After travelling a pretty long distance, he came to a +town situated at the foot of a mountain, and not a great way from the +shore of the sea. On the outside of the town there was an immense crowd +of people, not only men and women, but children, too, all in their best +clothes, and evidently enjoying a holiday. The crowd was thickest +towards the sea-shore; and in that direction, over the people's heads, +Jason saw a wreath of smoke curling upward to the blue sky. He inquired +of one of the multitude what town it was, near by, and why so many +persons were here assembled together. + +"This is the kingdom of Iolchos," answered the man, "and we are the +subjects of King Pelias. Our monarch has summoned us together, that we +may see him sacrifice a black bull to Neptune, who, they say, is his +Majesty's father. Yonder is the king, where you see the smoke going up +from the altar." + +While the man spoke he eyed Jason with great curiosity; for his garb was +quite unlike that of the Iolchians, and it looked very odd to see a +youth with a leopard's skin over his shoulders, and each hand grasping a +spear. Jason perceived, too, that the man stared particularly at his +feet, one of which, you remember, was bare, while the other was +decorated with his father's golden-stringed sandal. + +"Look at him! only look at him!" said the man to his next neighbor. "Do +you see? He wears but one sandal!" + +Upon this, first one person, and then another, began to stare at Jason, +and everybody seemed to be greatly struck with something in his aspect; +though they turned their eyes much oftener towards his feet than to any +other part of his figure. Besides, he could hear them whispering to one +another. + +"One sandal! One sandal!" they kept saying. "The man with one sandal! +Here he is at last! Whence has he come? What does he mean to do? What +will the king say to the one-sandalled man?" + +Poor Jason was greatly abashed, and made up his mind that the people of +Iolchos were exceedingly ill bred, to take such public notice of an +accidental deficiency in his dress. Meanwhile, whether it were that they +hustled him forward, or that Jason, of his own accord, thrust a passage +through the crowd, it so happened that he soon found himself close to +the smoking altar, where King Pelias was sacrificing the black bull. The +murmur and hum of the multitude, in their surprise at the spectacle of +Jason with his one bare foot, grew so loud that it disturbed the +ceremonies; and the king, holding the great knife with which he was just +going to cut the bull's throat, turned angrily about, and fixed his eyes +on Jason. The people had now withdrawn from around him, so that the +youth stood in an open space near the smoking altar, front to front with +the angry King Pelias. + +"Who are you?" cried the king, with a terrible frown. "And how dare you +make this disturbance, while I am sacrificing a black bull to my father +Neptune?" + +"It is no fault of mine," answered Jason. "Your Majesty must blame the +rudeness of your subjects, who have raised all this tumult because one +of my feet happens to be bare." + +When Jason said this, the king gave a quick, startled glance down at his +feet. + +"Ha!" muttered he, "here is the one-sandalled fellow, sure enough! What +can I do with him?" + +And he clutched more closely the great knife in his hand, as if he were +half a mind to slay Jason instead of the black bull. The people round +about caught up the king's words indistinctly as they were uttered; and +first there was a murmur among them, and then a loud shout. + +"The one-sandalled man has come! The prophecy must be fulfilled!" + +For you are to know that, many years before, King Pelias had been told +by the Speaking Oak of Dodona, that a man with one sandal should cast +him down from his throne. On this account, he had given strict orders +that nobody should ever come into his presence, unless both sandals were +securely tied upon his feet; and he kept an officer in his palace, whose +sole business it was to examine people's sandals, and to supply them +with a new pair, at the expense of the royal treasury, as soon as the +old ones began to wear out. In the whole course of the king's reign, he +had never been thrown into such a fright and agitation as by the +spectacle of poor Jason's bare foot. But, as he was naturally a bold and +hard-hearted man, he soon took courage, and began to consider in what +way he might rid himself of this terrible one-sandalled stranger. + +"My good young man," said King Pelias, taking the softest tone +imaginable, in order to throw Jason off his guard, "you are excessively +welcome to my kingdom. Judging by your dress, you must have travelled a +long distance; for it is not the fashion to wear leopard-skins in this +part of the world. Pray, what may I call your name? and where did you +receive your education?" + +"My name is Jason," answered the young stranger. "Ever since my infancy, +I have dwelt in the cave of Chiron the Centaur. He was my instructor, +and taught me music, and horsemanship, and how to cure wounds, and +likewise how to inflict wounds with my weapons!" + +"I have heard of Chiron the schoolmaster," replied King Pelias, "and how +that there is an immense deal of learning and wisdom in his head, +although it happens to be set on a horse's body. It gives me great +delight to see one of his scholars at my court. But, to test how much +you have profited under so excellent a teacher, will you allow me to ask +you a single question?" + +"I do not pretend to be very wise," said Jason. "But ask me what you +please, and I will answer to the best of my ability." + +Now King Pelias meant cunningly to entrap the young man, and to make him +say something that should be the cause of mischief and destruction to +himself. So with a crafty and evil smile upon his face, he spoke as +follows:-- + +"What would you do, brave Jason," asked he, "if there were a man in the +world, by whom, as you had reason to believe, you were doomed to be +ruined and slain,--what would you do, I say, if that man stood before +you, and in your power?" + +When Jason saw the malice and wickedness which King Pelias could not +prevent from gleaming out of his eyes, he probably guessed that the king +had discovered what he came for, and that he intended to turn his own +words against himself. Still he scorned to tell a falsehood. Like an +upright and honorable prince, as he was, he determined to speak out the +real truth. Since the king had chosen to ask him the question, and since +Jason had promised him an answer, there was no right way, save to tell +him precisely what would be the most prudent thing to do, if he had his +worst enemy in his power. + +Therefore, after a moment's consideration, he spoke up, with a firm and +manly voice. + +"I would send such a man," said he, "in quest of the Golden Fleece!" + +This enterprise, you will understand, was, of all others, the most +difficult and dangerous in the world. In the first place, it would be +necessary to make a long voyage through unknown seas. There was hardly a +hope, or a possibility, that any young man who should undertake this +voyage would either succeed in obtaining the Golden Fleece, or would +survive to return home, and tell of the perils he had run. The eyes of +King Pelias sparkled with joy, therefore, when he heard Jason's reply. + +"Well said, wise man with the one sandal!" cried he. "Go, then, and, at +the peril of your life, bring me back the Golden Fleece." + +"I go," answered Jason, composedly. "If I fail, you need not fear that I +will ever come back to trouble you again. But if I return to Iolchos +with the prize, then, King Pelias, you must hasten down from your lofty +throne, and give me your crown and sceptre." + +"That I will," said the king, with a sneer. "Meantime, I will keep them +very safely for you." + +The first thing that Jason thought of doing, after he left the king's +presence, was to go to Dodona, and inquire of the Talking Oak what +course it was best to pursue. This wonderful tree stood in the centre of +an ancient wood. Its stately trunk rose up a hundred feet into the air, +and threw a broad and dense shadow over more than an acre of ground. +Standing beneath it, Jason looked up among the knotted branches and +green leaves, and into the mysterious heart of the old tree, and spoke +aloud, as if he were addressing some person who was hidden in the depths +of the foliage. + +"What shall I do," said he, "in order to win the Golden Fleece?" + +At first there was a deep silence, not only within the shadow of the +Talking Oak, but all through the solitary wood. In a moment or two, +however, the leaves of the oak began to stir and rustle, as if a gentle +breeze were wandering amongst them, although the other trees of the wood +were perfectly still. The sound grew louder, and became like the roar of +a high wind. By and by, Jason imagined that he could distinguish words, +but very confusedly, because each separate leaf of the tree seemed to be +a tongue, and the whole myriad of tongues were babbling at once. But the +noise waxed broader and deeper, until it resembled a tornado sweeping +through the oak, and making one great utterance out of the thousand and +thousand of little murmurs which each leafy tongue had caused by its +rustling. And now, though it still had the tone of mighty wind roaring +among the branches, it was also like a deep bass voice, speaking, as +distinctly as a tree could be expected to speak, the following words:-- + +"Go to Argus, the ship-builder, and bid him build a galley with fifty +oars." + +Then the voice melted again into the indistinct murmur of the rustling +leaves, and died gradually away. When it was quite gone, Jason felt +inclined to doubt whether he had actually heard the words, or whether +his fancy had not shaped them out of the ordinary sound made by a +breeze, while passing through the thick foliage of the tree. + +But on inquiry among the people of Iolchos, he found that there was +really a man in the city, by the name of Argus, who was a very skilful +builder of vessels. This showed some intelligence in the oak; else how +should it have known that any such person existed? At Jason's request, +Argus readily consented to build him a galley so big that it should +require fifty strong men to row it; although no vessel of such a size +and burden had heretofore been seen in the world. So the head carpenter, +and all his journeymen and apprentices, began their work; and for a good +while afterwards, there they were, busily employed, hewing out the +timbers, and making a great clatter with their hammers; until the new +ship, which was called the Argo, seemed to be quite ready for sea. And, +as the Talking Oak had already given him such good advice, Jason thought +that it would not be amiss to ask for a little more. He visited it +again, therefore, and standing beside its huge, rough trunk, inquired +what he should do next. + +This time, there was no such universal quivering of the leaves, +throughout the whole tree, as there had been before. But after a while, +Jason observed that the foliage of a great branch which stretched above +his head had begun to rustle, as if the wind were stirring that one +bough, while all the other boughs of the oak were at rest. + +"Cut me off!" said the branch, as soon as it could speak +distinctly,--"cut me off! cut me off! and carve me into a figure-head +for your galley." + +Accordingly, Jason took the branch at its word, and lopped it off the +tree. A carver in the neighborhood engaged to make the figure-head. He +was a tolerably good workman, and had already carved several +figure-heads, in what he intended for feminine shapes, and looking +pretty much like those which we see nowadays stuck up under a vessel's +bowsprit, with great staring eyes, that never wink at the dash of the +spray. But (what was very strange) the carver found that his hand was +guided by some unseen power, and by a skill beyond his own, and that his +tools shaped out an image which he had never dreamed of. When the work +was finished, it turned out to be the figure of a beautiful woman with a +helmet on her head, from beneath which the long ringlets fell down upon +her shoulders. On the left arm was a shield, and in its centre appeared +a lifelike representation of the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. +The right arm was extended, as if pointing onward. The face of this +wonderful statue, though not angry or forbidding, was so grave and +majestic, that perhaps you might call it severe; and as for the mouth, +it seemed just ready to unclose its lips, and utter words of the deepest +wisdom. + +Jason was delighted with the oaken image, and gave the carver no rest +until it was completed, and set up where a figure-head has always stood, +from that time to this, in the vessel's prow. + +"And now," cried he, as he stood gazing at the calm, majestic face of +the statue, "I must go to the Talking Oak, and inquire what next to do." + +"There is no need of that, Jason," said a voice which, though it was far +lower, reminded him of the mighty tones of the great oak. "When you +desire good advice, you can seek it of me." + +Jason had been looking straight into the face of the image when these +words were spoken. But he could hardly believe either his ears or his +eyes. The truth was, however, that the oaken lips had moved, and, to all +appearance, the voice had proceeded from the statue's mouth. Recovering +a little from his surprise, Jason bethought himself that the image had +been carved out of the wood of the Talking Oak, and that, therefore, it +was really no great wonder, but on the contrary, the most natural thing +in the world, that it should possess the faculty of speech. It would +have been very odd, indeed, if it had not. But certainly it was a great +piece of good fortune that he should be able to carry so wise a block of +wood along with him in his perilous voyage. + +"Tell me, wondrous image," exclaimed Jason,--"since you inherit the +wisdom of the Speaking Oak of Dodona, whose daughter you are,--tell me, +where shall I find fifty bold youths, who will take each of them an oar +of my galley? They must have sturdy arms to row, and brave hearts to +encounter perils, or we shall never win the Golden Fleece." + +"Go," replied the oaken image,--"go, summon all the heroes of Greece." + +And, in fact, considering what a great deed was to be done, could any +advice be wiser than this which Jason received from the figure-head of +his vessel? He lost no time in sending messengers to all the cities, and +making known to the whole people of Greece, that Prince Jason, the son +of King Æson, was going in quest of the Fleece of Gold, and that he +desired the help of forty-nine of the bravest and strongest young men +alive, to row his vessel and share his dangers. And Jason himself would +be the fiftieth. + +At this news, the adventurous youths, all over the country, began to +bestir themselves. Some of them had already fought with giants, and +slain dragons; and the younger ones, who had not yet met with such good +fortune, thought it a shame to have lived so long without getting +astride of a flying serpent, or sticking their spears into a Chimæra, +or, at least, thrusting their right arms down a monstrous lion's throat. +There was a fair prospect that they would meet with plenty of such +adventures before finding the Golden Fleece. As soon as they could +furbish up their helmets and shields, therefore, and gird on their +trusty swords, they came thronging to Iolchos, and clambered on board +the new galley. Shaking hands with Jason, they assured him that they did +not care a pin for their lives, but would help row the vessel to the +remotest edge of the world, and as much farther as he might think it +best to go. + +Many of these brave fellows had been educated by Chiron, the four-footed +pedagogue, and were therefore old schoolmates of Jason, and knew him to +be a lad of spirit. The mighty Hercules, whose shoulders afterwards held +up the sky, was one of them. And there were Castor and Pollux, the twin +brothers, who were never accused of being chicken-hearted, although they +had been hatched out of an egg; and Theseus, who was so renowned for +killing the Minotaur; and Lynceus, with his wonderfully sharp eyes, +which could see through a millstone, or look right down into the depths +of the earth, and discover the treasures that were there; and Orpheus, +the very best of harpers, who sang and played upon his lyre so sweetly, +that the brute beasts stood upon their hind legs, and capered merrily to +the music. Yes, and at some of his more moving tunes, the rocks +bestirred their moss-grown bulk out of the ground, and a grove of +forest trees uprooted themselves, and, nodding their tops to one +another, performed a country dance. + +One of the rowers was a beautiful young woman, named Atalanta, who had +been nursed among the mountains by a bear. So light of foot was this +fair damsel that she could step from one foamy crest of a wave to the +foamy crest of another, without wetting more than the sole of her +sandal. She had grown up in a very wild way, and talked much about the +rights of women, and loved hunting and war far better than her needle. +But, in my opinion, the most remarkable of this famous company were two +sons of the North Wind (airy youngsters, and of rather a blustering +disposition), who had wings on their shoulders, and, in case of a calm, +could puff out their cheeks, and blow almost as fresh a breeze as their +father. I ought not to forget the prophets and conjurers, of whom there +were several in the crew, and who could foretell what would happen +to-morrow, or the next day, or a hundred years hence, but were generally +quite unconscious of what was passing at the moment. + +Jason appointed Tiphys to be helmsman, because he was a star-gazer, and +knew the points of the compass. Lynceus, on account of his sharp sight, +was stationed as a lookout in the prow, where he saw a whole day's sail +ahead, but was rather apt to overlook things that lay directly under his +nose. If the sea only happened to be deep enough, however, Lynceus could +tell you exactly what kind of rocks or sands were at the bottom of it; +and he often cried out to his companions, that they were sailing over +heaps of sunken treasure, which yet he was none the richer for +beholding. To confess the truth, few people believed him when he said +it. + +Well! But when the Argonauts, as these fifty brave adventurers were +called, had prepared everything for the voyage, an unforeseen difficulty +threatened to end it before it was begun. The vessel, you must +understand, was so long, and broad, and ponderous, that the united force +of all the fifty was insufficient to shove her into the water. Hercules, +I suppose, had not grown to his full strength, else he might have set +her afloat as easily as a little boy launches his boat upon a puddle. +But here were these fifty heroes pushing, and straining, and growing red +in the face, without making the Argo start an inch. At last, quite +wearied out, they sat themselves down on the shore, exceedingly +disconsolate, and thinking that the vessel must be left to rot and fall +in pieces, and that they must either swim across the sea or lose the +Golden Fleece. + +All at once, Jason bethought himself of the galley's miraculous +figure-head. + +"O daughter of the Talking Oak," cried he, "how shall we set to work to +get our vessel into the water?" + +"Seat yourselves," answered the image (for it had known what ought to be +done from the very first, and was only waiting for the question to be +put),--"seat yourselves, and handle your oars, and let Orpheus play upon +his harp." + +Immediately the fifty heroes got on board, and seizing their oars, held +them perpendicularly in the air, while Orpheus (who liked such a task +far better than rowing) swept his fingers across the harp. At the first +ringing note of the music, they felt the vessel stir. Orpheus thrummed +away briskly, and the galley slid at once into the sea, dipping her prow +so deeply that the figure-head drank the wave with its marvellous lips, +and rose again as buoyant as a swan. The rowers plied their fifty oars; +the white foam boiled up before the prow; the water gurgled and bubbled +in their wake; while Orpheus continued to play so lively a strain of +music, that the vessel seemed to dance over the billows by way of +keeping time to it. Thus triumphantly did the Argo sail out of the +harbor, amidst the huzzas and good wishes of everybody except the wicked +old Pelias, who stood on a promontory, scowling at her, and wishing that +he could blow out of his lungs the tempest of wrath that was in his +heart, and so sink the galley with all on board. When they had sailed +above fifty miles over the sea, Lynceus happened to cast his sharp eyes +behind, and said that there was this bad-hearted king, still perched +upon the promontory, and scowling so gloomily that it looked like a +black thunder-cloud in that quarter of the horizon. + +In order to make the time pass away more pleasantly during the voyage, +the heroes talked about the Golden Fleece. It originally belonged, it +appears, to a Boeotian ram, who had taken on his back two children, +when in danger of their lives, and fled with them over land and sea, as +far as Colchis. One of the children, whose name was Helle, fell into the +sea and was drowned. But the other (a little boy, named Phrixus) was +brought safe ashore by the faithful ram, who, however, was so exhausted +that he immediately lay down and died. In memory of this good deed, and +as a token of his true heart, the fleece of the poor dead ram was +miraculously changed to gold, and became one of the most beautiful +objects ever seen on earth. It was hung upon a tree in a sacred grove, +where it had now been kept I know not how many years, and was the envy +of mighty kings, who had nothing so magnificent in any of their palaces. + +If I were to tell you all the adventures of the Argonauts, it would take +me till nightfall, and perhaps a great deal longer. There was no lack of +wonderful events, as you may judge from what you may have already heard. +At a certain island they were hospitably received by King Cyzicus, its +sovereign, who made a feast for them, and treated them like brothers. +But the Argonauts saw that this good king looked downcast and very much +troubled, and they therefore inquired of him what was the matter. King +Cyzicus hereupon informed them that he and his subjects were greatly +abused and incommoded by the inhabitants of a neighboring mountain, who +made war upon them, and killed many people, and ravaged the country. And +while they were talking about it, Cyzicus pointed to the mountain, and +asked Jason and his companions what they saw there. + +"I see some very tall objects," answered Jason; "but they are at such a +distance that I cannot distinctly make out what they are. To tell your +Majesty the truth, they look so very strangely that I am inclined to +think them clouds, which have chanced to take something like human +shapes." + +"I see them very plainly," remarked Lynceus, whose eyes, you know, were +as far-sighted as a telescope. "They are a band of enormous giants, all +of whom have six arms apiece, and a club, a sword, or some other weapon +in each of their hands." + +"You have excellent eyes," said King Cyzicus. "Yes; they are six-armed +giants, as you say, and these are the enemies whom I and my subjects +have to contend with." + +The next day, when the Argonauts were about setting sail, down came +these terrible giants, stepping a hundred yards at a stride, brandishing +their six arms apiece, and looking very formidable, so far aloft in the +air. Each of these monsters was able to carry on a whole war by himself, +for with one of his arms he could fling immense stones, and wield a club +with another, and a sword with a third, while the fourth was poking a +long spear at the enemy, and the fifth and sixth were shooting him with +a bow and arrow. But, luckily, though the giants were so huge, and had +so many arms, they had each but one heart, and that no bigger nor braver +than the heart of an ordinary man. Besides, if they had been like the +hundred-armed Briareus, the brave Argonauts would have given them their +hands full of fight. Jason and his friends went boldly to meet them, +slew a great many, and made the rest take to their heels, so that, if +the giants had had six legs apiece instead of six arms, it would have +served them better to run away with. + +Another strange adventure happened when the voyagers came to Thrace, +where they found a poor blind king, named Phineus, deserted by his +subjects, and living in a very sorrowful way, all by himself. On Jason's +inquiring whether they could do him any service, the king answered that +he was terribly tormented by three great winged creatures, called +Harpies, which had the faces of women, and the wings, bodies, and claws +of vultures. These ugly wretches were in the habit of snatching away his +dinner, and allowing him no peace of his life. Upon hearing this, the +Argonauts spread a plentiful feast on the sea-shore, well knowing, from +what the blind king said of their greediness, that the Harpies would +snuff up the scent of the victuals, and quickly come to steal them away. +And so it turned out; for, hardly was the table set, before the three +hideous vulture women came flapping their wings, seized the food in +their talons, and flew off as fast as they could. But the two sons of +the North Wind drew their swords, spread their pinions, and set off +through the air in pursuit of the thieves, whom they at last overtook +among some islands, after a chase of hundreds of miles. The two winged +youths blustered terribly at the Harpies (for they had the rough temper +of their father), and so frightened them with their drawn swords, that +they solemnly promised never to trouble King Phineus again. + +Then the Argonauts sailed onward, and met with many other marvellous +incidents any one of which would make a story by itself. At one time, +they landed on an island, and were reposing on the grass, when they +suddenly found themselves assailed by what seemed a shower of +steel-headed arrows. Some of them stuck in the ground, while others hit +against their shields, and several penetrated their flesh. The fifty +heroes started up, and looked about them for the hidden enemy, but could +find none, nor see any spot, on the whole island, where even a single +archer could lie concealed. Still, however, the steel-headed arrows came +whizzing among them; and, at last, happening to look upward, they beheld +a large flock of birds, hovering and wheeling aloft, and shooting their +feathers down upon the Argonauts. These feathers were the steel-headed +arrows that had so tormented them. There was no possibility of making +any resistance; and the fifty heroic Argonauts might all have been +killed or wounded by a flock of troublesome birds, without ever setting +eyes on the Golden Fleece, if Jason had not thought of asking the advice +of the oaken image. + +[Illustration: THE ARGONAUTS IN QUEST OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE + +(From the original in the collection of Harry Payne Whitney Esq're, New +York)] + +So he ran to the galley as fast as his legs would carry him. + +"O daughter of the Speaking Oak," cried he, all out of breath, "we need +your wisdom more than ever before! We are in great peril from a flock of +birds, who are shooting us with their steel-pointed feathers. What can +we do to drive them away?" + +"Make a clatter on your shields," said the image. + +On receiving this excellent counsel, Jason hurried back to his +companions (who were far more dismayed than when they fought with the +six-armed giants), and bade them strike with their swords upon their +brazen shields. Forthwith the fifty heroes set heartily to work, banging +with might and main, and raised such a terrible clatter that the birds +made what haste they could to get away; and though they had shot half +the feathers out of their wings, they were soon seen skimming among the +clouds, a long distance off, and looking like a flock of wild geese. +Orpheus celebrated this victory by playing a triumphant anthem on his +harp, and sang so melodiously that Jason begged him to desist, lest, as +the steel-feathered birds had been driven away by an ugly sound, they +might be enticed back again by a sweet one. + +While the Argonauts remained on this island, they saw a small vessel +approaching the shore, in which were two young men of princely demeanor, +and exceedingly handsome, as young princes generally were in those days. +Now, who do you imagine these two voyagers turned out to be? Why, if you +will believe me, they were the sons of that very Phrixus, who, in his +childhood, had been carried to Colchis on the back of the golden-fleeced +ram. Since that time, Phrixus had married the king's daughter; and the +two young princes had been born and brought up at Colchis, and had spent +their play-days in the outskirts of the grove, in the centre of which +the Golden Fleece was hanging upon a tree. They were now on their way to +Greece, in hopes of getting back a kingdom that had been wrongfully +taken from their father. + +When the princes understood whither the Argonauts were going, they +offered to turn back and guide them to Colchis. At the same time, +however, they spoke as if it were very doubtful whether Jason would +succeed in getting the Golden Fleece. According to their account, the +tree on which it hung was guarded by a terrible dragon, who never failed +to devour, at one mouthful, every person who might venture within his +reach. + +"There are other difficulties in the way," continued the young princes. +"But is not this enough? Ah, brave Jason, turn back before it is too +late. It would grieve us to the heart, if you and your nine-and-forty +brave companions should be eaten up, at fifty mouthfuls, by this +execrable dragon." + +"My young friends," quietly replied Jason, "I do not wonder that you +think the dragon very terrible. You have grown up from infancy in the +fear of this monster, and therefore still regard him with the awe that +children feel for the bugbears and hobgoblins which their nurses have +talked to them about. But, in my view of the matter, the dragon is +merely a pretty large serpent, who is not half so likely to snap me up +at one mouthful as I am to cut off his ugly head, and strip the skin +from his body. At all events, turn back who may, I will never see Greece +again unless I carry with me the Golden Fleece." + +"We will none of us turn back!" cried his nine-and-forty brave comrades. +"Let us get on board the galley this instant; and if the dragon is to +make a breakfast of us, much good may it do him." + +And Orpheus (whose custom it was to set everything to music) began to +harp and sing most gloriously, and made every mother's son of them feel +as if nothing in this world were so delectable as to fight dragons, and +nothing so truly honorable as to be eaten up at one mouthful, in case of +the worst. + +After this (being now under the guidance of the two princes, who were +well acquainted with the way), they quickly sailed to Colchis. When the +king of the country, whose name was Æetes, heard of their arrival, he +instantly summoned Jason to court. The king was a stern and +cruel-looking potentate; and though he put on as polite and hospitable +an expression as he could, Jason did not like his face a whit better +than that of the wicked King Pelias, who dethroned his father. + +"You are welcome, brave Jason," said King Æetes. "Pray, are you on a +pleasure voyage?--or do you meditate the discovery of unknown +islands?--or what other cause has procured me the happiness of seeing +you at my court?" + +"Great sir," replied Jason, with an obeisance,--for Chiron had taught +him how to behave with propriety, whether to kings or beggars,--"I have +come hither with a purpose which I now beg your Majesty's permission to +execute. King Pelias, who sits on my father's throne (to which he has no +more right than to the one on which your excellent Majesty is now +seated), has engaged to come down from it, and to give me his crown and +sceptre, provided I bring him the Golden Fleece. This, as your Majesty +is aware, is now hanging on a tree here at Colchis; and I humbly solicit +your gracious leave to take it away." + +In spite of himself, the king's face twisted itself into an angry frown; +for, above all things else in the world, he prized the Golden Fleece, +and was even suspected of having done a very wicked act, in order to get +it into his own possession. It put him into the worst possible humor, +therefore, to hear that the gallant Prince Jason, and forty-nine of the +bravest young warriors of Greece, had come to Colchis with the sole +purpose of taking away his chief treasure. + +"Do you know," asked King Æetes, eying Jason very sternly, "what are the +conditions which you must fulfil before getting possession of the Golden +Fleece?" + +"I have heard," rejoined the youth, "that a dragon lies beneath the tree +on which the prize hangs, and that whoever approaches him runs the risk +of being devoured at a mouthful." + +"True," said the king, with a smile that did not look particularly +good-natured. "Very true, young man. But there are other things as hard, +or perhaps a little harder, to be done, before you can even have the +privilege of being devoured by the dragon. For example, you must first +tame my two brazen-footed and brazen-lunged bulls, which Vulcan, the +wonderful blacksmith, made for me. There is a furnace in each of their +stomachs; and they breathe such hot fire out of their mouths and +nostrils, that nobody has hitherto gone nigh them without being +instantly burned to a small, black cinder. What do you think of this, my +brave Jason?" + +"I must encounter the peril," answered Jason, composedly, "since it +stands in the way of my purpose." + +"After taming the fiery bulls," continued King Æetes, who was determined +to scare Jason if possible, "you must yoke them to a plough, and must +plough the sacred earth in the grove of Mars, and sow some of the same +dragon's teeth from which Cadmus raised a crop of armed men. They are an +unruly set of reprobates, those sons of the dragon's teeth; and unless +you treat them suitably, they will fall upon you sword in hand. You and +your nine-and-forty Argonauts, my bold Jason, are hardly numerous or +strong enough to fight with such a host as will spring up." + +"My master Chiron," replied Jason, "taught me, long ago, the story of +Cadmus. Perhaps I can manage the quarrelsome sons of the dragon's teeth +as well as Cadmus did." + +"I wish the dragon had him," muttered King Æetes to himself, "and the +four-footed pedant, his schoolmaster, into the bargain. Why, what a +foolhardy, self-conceited coxcomb he is! We'll see what my +fire-breathing bulls will do for him. Well, Prince Jason," he continued, +aloud, and as complaisantly as he could, "make yourself comfortable for +to-day, and to-morrow morning, since you insist upon it, you shall try +your skill at the plough." + +While the king talked with Jason, a beautiful young woman was standing +behind the throne. She fixed her eyes earnestly upon the youthful +stranger, and listened attentively to every word that was spoken; and +when Jason withdrew from the king's presence, this young woman followed +him out of the room. + +"I am the king's daughter," she said to him, "and my name is Medea. I +know a great deal of which other young princesses are ignorant, and can +do many things which they would be afraid so much as to dream of. If you +will trust to me, I can instruct you how to tame the fiery bulls, and +sow the dragon's teeth, and get the Golden Fleece." + +"Indeed, beautiful princess," answered Jason, "if you will do me this +service, I promise to be grateful to you my whole life long." + +Gazing at Medea, he beheld a wonderful intelligence in her face. She was +one of those persons whose eyes are full of mystery; so that, while +looking into them, you seem to see a very great way, as into a deep +well, yet can never be certain whether you see into the farthest depths, +or whether there be not something else hidden at the bottom. If Jason +had been capable of fearing anything, he would have been afraid of +making this young princess his enemy; for, beautiful as she now looked, +she might, the very next instant, become as terrible as the dragon that +kept watch over the Golden Fleece. + +"Princess," he exclaimed, "you seem indeed very wise and very powerful. +But how can you help me to do the things of which you speak? Are you an +enchantress?" + +"Yes, Prince Jason," answered Medea, with a smile, "you have hit upon +the truth. I am an enchantress. Circe, my father's sister, taught me to +be one, and I could tell you, if I pleased, who was the old woman with +the peacock, the pomegranate, and the cuckoo staff, whom you carried +over the river; and, likewise, who it is that speaks through the lips of +the oaken image, that stands in the prow of your galley. I am acquainted +with some of your secrets, you perceive. It is well for you that I am +favorably inclined; for, otherwise, you would hardly escape being +snapped up by the dragon." + +"I should not so much care for the dragon," replied Jason, "if I only +knew how to manage the brazen-footed and fiery-lunged bulls." + +"If you are as brave as I think you, and as you have need to be," said +Medea, "your own bold heart will teach you that there is but one way of +dealing with a mad bull. What it is I leave you to find out in the +moment of peril. As for the fiery breath of these animals, I have a +charmed ointment here, which will prevent you from being burned up, and +cure you if you chance to be a little scorched." + +So she put a golden box into his hand, and directed him how to apply the +perfumed unguent which it contained, and where to meet her at midnight. + +"Only be brave," added she, "and before daybreak the brazen bulls shall +be tamed." + +The young man assured her that his heart would not fail him. He then +rejoined his comrades, and told them what had passed between the +princess and himself, and warned them to be in readiness in case there +might be need of their help. + +At the appointed hour he met the beautiful Medea on the marble steps of +the king's palace. She gave him a basket, in which were the dragon's +teeth, just as they had been pulled out of the monster's jaws by Cadmus, +long ago. Medea then led Jason down the palace steps, and through the +silent streets of the city, and into the royal pasture-ground, where the +two brazen-footed bulls were kept. It was a starry night, with a bright +gleam along the eastern edge of the sky, where the moon was soon going +to show herself. After entering the pasture, the princess paused and +looked around. + +"There they are," said she, "reposing themselves and chewing their fiery +cuds in that farthest corner of the field. It will be excellent sport, I +assure you, when they catch a glimpse of your figure. My father and all +his court delight in nothing so much as to see a stranger trying to yoke +them, in order to come at the Golden Fleece. It makes a holiday in +Colchis whenever such a thing happens. For my part, I enjoy it +immensely. You cannot imagine in what a mere twinkling of an eye their +hot breath shrivels a young man into a black cinder." + +"Are you sure, beautiful Medea," asked Jason, "quite sure, that the +unguent in the gold box will prove a remedy against those terrible +burns?" + +"If you doubt it, if you are in the least afraid," said the princess, +looking him in the face by the dim starlight, "you had better never have +been born than go a step nigher to the bulls." + +But Jason had set his heart steadfastly on getting the Golden Fleece; +and I positively doubt whether he would have gone back without it, even +had he been certain of finding himself turned into a red-hot cinder, or +a handful of white ashes, the instant he made a step farther. He +therefore let go Medea's hand, and walked boldly forward in the +direction whither she had pointed. At some distance before him he +perceived four streams of fiery vapor, regularly appearing, and again +vanishing, after dimly lighting up the surrounding obscurity. These, you +will understand, were caused by the breath of the brazen bulls, which +was quietly stealing out of their four nostrils, as they lay chewing +their cuds. + +At the first two or three steps which Jason made, the four fiery streams +appeared to gush out somewhat more plentifully; for the two brazen bulls +had heard his foot-tramp, and were lifting up their hot noses to snuff +the air. He went a little farther, and by the way in which the red vapor +now spouted forth, he judged that the creatures had got upon their feet. +Now he could see glowing sparks, and vivid jets of flame. At the next +step, each of the bulls made the pasture echo with a terrible roar, +while the burning breath, which they thus belched forth, lit up the +whole field with a momentary flash. One other stride did bold Jason +make; and, suddenly, as a streak of lightning, on came these fiery +animals, roaring like thunder, and sending out sheets of white flame, +which so kindled up the scene that the young man could discern every +object more distinctly than by daylight. Most distinctly of all he saw +the two horrible creatures galloping right down upon him, their brazen +hoofs rattling and ringing over the ground, and their tails sticking up +stiffly into the air, as has always been the fashion with angry bulls. +Their breath scorched the herbage before them. So intensely hot it was, +indeed, that it caught a dry tree, under which Jason was now standing, +and set it all in a light blaze. But as for Jason himself (thanks to +Medea's enchanted ointment), the white flame curled around his body, +without injuring him a jot more than if he had been made of asbestos. + +Greatly encouraged at finding himself not yet turned into a cinder, the +young man awaited the attack of the bulls. Just as the brazen brutes +fancied themselves sure of tossing him into the air, he caught one of +them by the horn, and the other by his screwed-up tail, and held them in +a gripe like that of an iron vise, one with his right hand, the other +with his left. Well, he must have been wonderfully strong in his arms, +to be sure. But the secret of the matter was, that the brazen bulls were +enchanted creatures, and that Jason had broken the spell of their fiery +fierceness by his bold way of handling them. And, ever since that time, +it has been the favorite method of brave men, when danger assails them, +to do what they call "taking the bull by the horns"; and to gripe him by +the tail is pretty much the same thing,--that is, to throw aside fear, +and overcome the peril by despising it. + +It was now easy to yoke the bulls, and to harness them to the plough, +which had lain rusting on the ground for a great many years gone by; so +long was it before anybody could be found capable of ploughing that +piece of land. Jason, I suppose, had been taught how to draw a furrow by +the good old Chiron, who, perhaps, used to allow himself to be harnessed +to the plough. At any rate, our hero succeeded perfectly well in +breaking up the greensward; and, by the time that the moon was a quarter +of her journey up the sky, the ploughed field lay before him, a large +tract of black earth, ready to be sown with the dragon's teeth. So Jason +scattered them broadcast, and harrowed them into the soil with a +brush-harrow, and took his stand on the edge of the field, anxious to +see what would happen next. + +"Must we wait long for harvest-time?" he inquired of Medea, who was now +standing by his side. + +"Whether sooner or later, it will be sure to come," answered the +princess. "A crop of armed men never fails to spring up, when the +dragon's teeth have been sown." + +The moon was now high aloft in the heavens, and threw its bright beams +over the ploughed field, where as yet there was nothing to be seen. Any +farmer, on viewing it, would have said that Jason must wait weeks before +the green blades would peep from among the clods, and whole months +before the yellow grain would be ripened for the sickle. But by and by, +all over the field, there was something that glistened in the moonbeams, +like sparkling drops of dew. These bright objects sprouted higher, and +proved to be the steel heads of spears. Then there was a dazzling gleam +from a vast number of polished brass helmets, beneath which, as they +grew farther out of the soil, appeared the dark and bearded visages of +warriors, struggling to free themselves from the imprisoning earth. The +first look that they gave at the upper world was a glare of wrath and +defiance. Next were seen their bright breastplates; in every right hand +there was a sword or a spear, and on each left arm a shield; and when +this strange crop of warriors had but half grown out of the earth, they +struggled,--such was their impatience of restraint,--and, as it were, +tore themselves up by the roots. Wherever a dragon's tooth had fallen, +there stood a man armed for battle. They made a clangor with their +swords against their shields, and eyed one another fiercely; for they +had come into this beautiful world, and into the peaceful moonlight, +full of rage and stormy passions, and ready to take the life of every +human brother, in recompense of the boon of their own existence. + +There have been many other armies in the world that seemed to possess +the same fierce nature with the one which had now sprouted from the +dragon's teeth; but these, in the moonlit field, were the more +excusable, because they never had women for their mothers. And how it +would have rejoiced any great captain, who was bent on conquering the +world, like Alexander or Napoleon, to raise a crop of armed soldiers as +easily as Jason did. + +For a while, the warriors stood flourishing their weapons, clashing +their swords against their shields, and boiling over with the red-hot +thirst for battle. Then they began to shout, "Show us the enemy! Lead us +to the charge! Death or victory! Come on, brave comrades! Conquer or +die!" and a hundred other outcries, such as men always bellow forth on a +battle-field, and which these dragon people seemed to have at their +tongues' ends. At last, the front rank caught sight of Jason, who, +beholding the flash of so many weapons in the moonlight, had thought it +best to draw his sword. In a moment all the sons of the dragon's teeth +appeared to take Jason for an enemy; and crying with one voice, "Guard +the Golden Fleece!" they ran at him with uplifted swords and protruded +spears. Jason knew that it would be impossible to withstand this +bloodthirsty battalion with his single arm, but determined, since there +was nothing better to be done, to die as valiantly as if he himself had +sprung from a dragon's tooth. + +Medea, however, bade him snatch up a stone from the ground. + +"Throw it among them quickly!" cried she. "It is the only way to save +yourself." + +The armed men were now so nigh that Jason could discern the fire +flashing out of their enraged eyes, when he let fly the stone, and saw +it strike the helmet of a tall warrior, who was rushing upon him with +his blade aloft. The stone glanced from this man's helmet to the shield +of his nearest comrade, and thence flew right into the angry face of +another, hitting him smartly between the eyes. Each of the three who had +been struck by the stone took it for granted that his next neighbor had +given him a blow; and instead of running any farther towards Jason, they +began a fight among themselves. The confusion spread through the host, +so that it seemed scarcely a moment before they were all hacking, +hewing, and stabbing at one another, lopping off arms, heads, and legs, +and doing such memorable deeds that Jason was filled with immense +admiration; although, at the same time, he could not help laughing to +behold these mighty men punishing each other for an offence which he +himself had committed. In an incredibly short space of time (almost as +short, indeed, as it had taken them to grow up), all but one of the +heroes of the dragon's teeth were stretched lifeless on the field. The +last survivor, the bravest and strongest of the whole, had just force +enough to wave his crimson sword over his head, and give a shout of +exultation, crying, "Victory! Victory! Immortal fame!" when he himself +fell down, and lay quietly among his slain brethren. + +And there was the end of the army that had sprouted from the dragons +teeth. That fierce and feverish fight was the only enjoyment which they +had tasted on this beautiful earth. + +"Let them sleep in the bed of honor," said the Princess Medea, with a +sly smile at Jason. "The world will always have simpletons enough, just +like them, fighting and dying for they know not what, and fancying that +posterity will take the trouble to put laurel wreaths on their rusty and +battered helmets. Could you help smiling, Prince Jason, to see the +self-conceit of that last fellow, just as he tumbled down?" + +"It made me very sad," answered Jason, gravely. "And, to tell you the +truth, princess, the Golden Fleece does not appear so well worth the +winning, after what I have here beheld." + +"You will think differently in the morning," said Medea. "True, the +Golden Fleece may not be so valuable as you have thought it; but then +there is nothing better in the world; and one must needs have an object, +you know. Come! Your night's work has been well performed; and to-morrow +you can inform King Æetes that the first part of your allotted task is +fulfilled." + +Agreeably to Medea's advice, Jason went betimes in the morning to the +palace of King Æetes. Entering the presence-chamber, he stood at the +foot of the throne, and made a low obeisance. + +"Your eyes look heavy, Prince Jason," observed the king; "you appear to +have spent a sleepless night. I hope you have been considering the +matter a little more wisely, and have concluded not to get yourself +scorched to a cinder, in attempting to tame my brazen-lunged bulls." + +"That is already accomplished, may it please your Majesty," replied +Jason. "The bulls have been tamed and yoked; the field has been +ploughed; the dragon's teeth have been sown broadcast, and harrowed into +the soil; the crop of armed warriors has sprung up, and they have slain +one another, to the last man. And now I solicit your Majesty's +permission to encounter the dragon, that I may take down the Golden +Fleece from the tree, and depart, with my nine-and-forty comrades." + +King Æetes scowled, and looked very angry and excessively disturbed; for +he knew that, in accordance with his kingly promise, he ought now to +permit Jason to win the fleece, if his courage and skill should enable +him to do so. But, since the young man had met with such good luck in +the matter of the brazen bulls and the dragon's teeth, the king feared +that he would be equally successful in slaying the dragon. And +therefore, though he would gladly have seen Jason snapped up at a +mouthful, he was resolved (and it was a very wrong thing of this wicked +potentate) not to run any further risk of losing his beloved fleece. + +"You never would have succeeded in this business, young man," said he, +"if my undutiful daughter Medea had not helped you with her +enchantments. Had you acted fairly, you would have been, at this +instant, a black cinder, or a handful of white ashes. I forbid you, on +pain of death, to make any more attempts to get the Golden Fleece. To +speak my mind plainly, you shall never set eyes on so much as one of its +glistening locks." + +Jason left the king's presence in great sorrow and anger. He could think +of nothing better to be done than to summon together his forty-nine +brave Argonauts, march at once to the grove of Mars, slay the dragon, +take possession of the Golden Fleece, get on board the Argo, and spread +all sail for Iolchos. The success of the scheme depended, it is true, on +the doubtful point whether all the fifty heroes might not be snapped up, +at so many mouthfuls, by the dragon. But, as Jason was hastening down +the palace steps, the Princess Medea called after him, and beckoned him +to return. Her black eyes shone upon him with such a keen intelligence, +that he felt as if there were a serpent peeping out of them; and +although she had done him so much service only the night before, he was +by no means very certain that she would not do him an equally great +mischief before sunset. These enchantresses, you must know, are never to +be depended upon. + +"What says King Æetes, my royal and upright father?" inquired Medea, +slightly smiling. "Will he give you the Golden Fleece, without any +further risk or trouble?" + +"On the contrary," answered Jason, "he is very angry with me for taming +the brazen bulls and sowing the dragon's teeth. And he forbids me to +make any more attempts, and positively refuses to give up the Golden +Fleece, whether I slay the dragon or no." + +"Yes, Jason," said the princess, "and I can tell you more. Unless you +set sail from Colchis before to-morrow's sunrise, the king means to burn +your fifty-oared galley, and put yourself and your forty-nine brave +comrades to the sword. But be of good courage. The Golden Fleece you +shall have, if it lies within the power of my enchantments to get it for +you. Wait for me here an hour before midnight." + +At the appointed hour, you might again have seen Prince Jason and the +Princess Medea, side by side, stealing through the streets of Colchis, +on their way to the sacred grove, in the centre of which the Golden +Fleece was suspended to a tree. While they were crossing the +pasture-ground, the brazen bulls came towards Jason, lowing, nodding +their heads, and thrusting forth their snouts, which, as other cattle +do, they loved to have rubbed and caressed by a friendly hand. Their +fierce nature was thoroughly tamed; and, with their fierceness, the two +furnaces in their stomachs had likewise been extinguished, insomuch that +they probably enjoyed far more comfort in grazing and chewing their cuds +than ever before. Indeed, it had heretofore been a great inconvenience +to these poor animals, that, whenever they wished to eat a mouthful of +grass, the fire out of their nostrils had shrivelled it up, before they +could manage to crop it. How they contrived to keep themselves alive is +more than I can imagine. But now, instead of emitting jets of flame and +streams of sulphurous vapor, they breathed the very sweetest of cow +breath. + +After kindly patting the bulls, Jason followed Medea's guidance into the +grove of Mars, where the great oak-trees, that had been growing for +centuries, threw so thick a shade that the moonbeams struggled vainly to +find their way through it. Only here and there a glimmer fell upon the +leaf-strewn earth, or now and then a breeze stirred the boughs aside, +and gave Jason a glimpse of the sky, lest, in that deep obscurity, he +might forget that there was one, overhead. At length, when they had gone +farther and farther into the heart of the duskiness, Medea squeezed +Jason's hand. + +"Look yonder," she whispered. "Do you see it?" + +Gleaming among the venerable oaks, there was a radiance, not like the +moonbeams, but rather resembling the golden glory of the setting sun. It +proceeded from an object, which appeared to be suspended at about a +man's height from the ground, a little farther within the wood. + +"What is it?" asked Jason. + +"Have you come so far to seek it," exclaimed Medea, "and do you not +recognize the meed of all your toils and perils, when it glitters before +your eyes? It is the Golden Fleece." + +Jason went onward a few steps farther, and then stopped to gaze. Oh, how +beautiful it looked, shining with a marvellous light of its own, that +inestimable prize, which so many heroes had longed to behold, but had +perished in the quest of it, either by the perils of their voyage, or by +the fiery breath of the brazen-lunged bulls. + +"How gloriously it shines!" cried Jason, in a rapture. "It has surely +been dipped in the richest gold of sunset. Let me hasten onward, and +take it to my bosom." + +"Stay," said Medea, holding him back. "Have you forgotten what guards +it?" + +To say the truth, in the joy of beholding the object of his desires, the +terrible dragon had quite slipped out of Jason's memory. Soon, however, +something came to pass that reminded him what perils were still to be +encountered. An antelope, that probably mistook the yellow radiance for +sunrise, came bounding fleetly through the grove. He was rushing +straight towards the Golden Fleece, when suddenly there was a frightful +hiss, and the immense head and half of the scaly body of the dragon was +thrust forth (for he was twisted round the trunk of the tree on which +the fleece hung), and seizing the poor antelope, swallowed him with one +snap of his jaws. + +After this feat, the dragon seemed sensible that some other living +creature was within reach on which he felt inclined to finish his meal. +In various directions he kept poking his ugly snout among the trees, +stretching out his neck a terrible long way, now here, now there, and +now close to the spot where Jason and the princess were hiding behind an +oak. Upon my word, as the head came waving and undulating through the +air, and reaching almost within arm's-length of Prince Jason, it was a +very hideous and uncomfortable sight. The gape of his enormous jaws was +nearly as wide as the gateway of the king's palace. + +"Well, Jason," whispered Medea (for she was ill-natured, as all +enchantresses are, and wanted to make the bold youth tremble), "what do +you think now of your prospect of winning the Golden Fleece?" + +Jason answered only by drawing his sword and making a step forward. + +"Stay, foolish youth," said Medea, grasping his arm. "Do not you see you +are lost, without me as your good angel? In this gold box I have a magic +potion, which will do the dragon's business far more effectually than +your sword." + +The dragon had probably heard the voices; for, swift as lightning, his +black head and forked tongue came hissing among the trees again, darting +full forty feet at a stretch. As it approached, Medea tossed the +contents of the gold box right down the monster's wide open throat. +Immediately, with an outrageous hiss and a tremendous wriggle,--flinging +his tail up to the tip-top of the tallest tree, and shattering all its +branches as it crashed heavily down again,--the dragon fell at full +length upon the ground, and lay quite motionless. + +"It is only a sleeping potion," said the enchantress to Prince Jason. +"One always finds a use for these mischievous creatures, sooner or +later; so I did not wish to kill him outright. Quick! Snatch the prize, +and let us begone. You have won the Golden Fleece." + +Jason caught the fleece from the tree, and hurried through the grove, +the deep shadows of which were illuminated as he passed by the golden +glory of the precious object that he bore along. A little way before +him, he beheld the old woman whom he had helped over the stream, with +her peacock beside her. She clapped her hands for joy, and beckoning him +to make haste, disappeared among the duskiness of the trees. Espying the +two winged sons of the North Wind (who were disporting themselves in the +moonlight, a few hundred feet aloft), Jason bade them tell the rest of +the Argonauts to embark as speedily as possible. But Lynceus, with his +sharp eyes, had already caught a glimpse of him, bringing the Golden +Fleece, although several stone-walls, a hill, and the black shadows of +the grove of Mars intervened between. By his advice, the heroes had +seated themselves on the benches of the galley, with their oars held +perpendicularly, ready to let fall into the water. + +As Jason drew near, he heard the Talking Image calling to him with more +than ordinary eagerness, in its grave, sweet voice:-- + +"Make haste, Prince Jason! For your life, make haste!" + +With one hound he leaped aboard. At sight of the glorious radiance of +the Golden Fleece, the nine-and-forty heroes gave a mighty shout, and +Orpheus, striking his harp, sang a song of triumph, to the cadence of +which the galley flew over the water, homeward bound, as if careering +along with wings! + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales, by +Nathaniel Hawthorne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WONDER BOOK AND TANGLEWOOD TALES *** + +***** This file should be named 35377-8.txt or 35377-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/3/7/35377/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales + For girls and boys + +Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Illustrator: Maxfield Parrish + +Release Date: February 23, 2011 [EBook #35377] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WONDER BOOK AND TANGLEWOOD TALES *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<div class="figright"> +<img src="images/tp.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h1>A WONDER BOOK</h1> + +<h2>AND</h2> + +<h1>TANGLEWOOD TALES</h1> + +<h2>FOR GIRLS AND BOYS</h2> + +<h2>BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE</h2> + + +<h3>WITH PICTURES BY<br /> +MAXFIELD PARRISH</h3> + +<h3>NEW YORK<br /> +DUFFIELD & COMPANY<br /> +MCMX</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1910, by Duffield & Company</span></h3> + +<h3>THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.</h3> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus1" id="illus1"></a> +<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>JASON AND THE TALKING OAK<br /> +(From the original in the collection of Austin M. Purves, Esqu're +Philadelphia)</h3> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Preface" id="Preface"></a>Preface</h2> + +<p>The author has long been of opinion that many of the classical myths +were capable of being rendered into very capital reading for children. +In the little volume here offered to the public, he has worked up half a +dozen of them, with this end in view. A great freedom of treatment was +necessary to his plan; but it will be observed by every one who attempts +to render these legends malleable in his intellectual furnace, that they +are marvellously independent of all temporary modes and circumstances. +They remain essentially the same, after changes that would affect the +identity of almost anything else.</p> + +<p>He does not, therefore, plead guilty to a sacrilege, in having sometimes +shaped anew, as his fancy dictated, the forms that have been hallowed by +an antiquity of two or three thousand years. No epoch of time can claim +a copyright in these immortal fables. They seem never to have been made; +and certainly, so long as man exists, they can never perish; but, by +their indestructibility itself, they are legitimate subjects for every +age to clothe with its own garniture of manners and sentiment, and to +imbue with its own morality. In the present version they may have lost +much of their classical aspect (or, at all events, the author has not +been careful to preserve it), and have, perhaps, assumed a Gothic or +romantic guise.</p> + +<p>In performing this pleasant task,—for it has been really a task fit for +hot weather, and one of the most agreeable, of a literary kind, which +he ever undertook,—the author has not always thought it necessary to +write downward, in order to meet the comprehension of children. He has +generally suffered the theme to soar, whenever such was its tendency, +and when he himself was buoyant enough to follow without an effort. +Children possess an unestimated sensibility to whatever is deep or high, +in imagination or feeling, so long as it is simple, likewise. It is only +the artificial and the complex that bewilder them.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lenox</span>, <i>July 15, 1851</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#Preface">Preface</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#A_Wonder_Book">A WONDER BOOK</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#THE_GORGONS_HEAD">THE GORGON'S HEAD</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_GOLDEN_TOUCH">THE GOLDEN TOUCH</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_PARADISE_OF_CHILDREN">THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_THREE_GOLDEN_APPLES">THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_MIRACULOUS_PITCHER">THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER</a><br /> +<a href="#THE_CHIMÆRA">THE CHIMÆRA</a><br /><br /> + +<a href="#TANGLEWOOD_TALES">TANGLEWOOD TALES</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#The_Wayside">THE WAYSIDE</a><br /> +<a href="#The_Minotaur">THE MINOTAUR</a><br /> +<a href="#The_Pygmies">THE PYGMIES</a><br /> +<a href="#The_Dragons_Teeth">THE DRAGON'S TEETH</a><br /> +<a href="#Circes_Palace">CIRCE'S PALACE</a><br /> +<a href="#The_Pomegranate_Seeds">THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS</a><br /> +<a href="#The_Golden_Fleece">THE GOLDEN FLEECE</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>Illustrations</h2> + + +<p><a href="#illus1"><span class="smcap">Jason and the Talking Oak</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus2"><span class="smcap">Pandora</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus3"><span class="smcap">Atlas</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus4"><span class="smcap">Bellerophon by the Fountain of Pirene</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus5"><span class="smcap">The Fountain of Pirene</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus6"><span class="smcap">Cadmus Sowing the Dragon's Teeth</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus7"><span class="smcap">Circe's Palace</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus8"><span class="smcap">Proserpina</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus9"><span class="smcap">Jason and his Teacher</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus10"><span class="smcap">The Argonauts in Quest of the Golden Fleece</span></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_Wonder_Book" id="A_Wonder_Book"></a>A Wonder Book</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_GORGONS_HEAD" id="THE_GORGONS_HEAD"></a>THE GORGON'S HEAD</h2> + + +<h3>Tanglewood Porch</h3> + +<h3><i>Introductory to "The Gorgon's Head"</i></h3> + +<p>Beneath the porch of the country-seat called Tanglewood, one fine +autumnal morning, was assembled a merry party of little folks, with a +tall youth in the midst of them. They had planned a nutting expedition, +and were impatiently waiting for the mists to roll up the hill-slopes, +and for the sun to pour the warmth of the Indian summer over the fields +and pastures, and into the nooks of the many-colored woods. There was a +prospect of as fine a day as ever gladdened the aspect of this beautiful +and comfortable world. As yet, however, the morning mist filled up the +whole length and breadth of the valley, above which, on a gently sloping +eminence, the mansion stood.</p> + +<p>This body of white vapor extended to within less than a hundred yards of +the house. It completely hid everything beyond that distance, except a +few ruddy or yellow tree-tops, which here and there emerged, and were +glorified by the early sunshine, as was likewise the broad surface of +the mist. Four or five miles off to the southward rose the summit of +Monument Mountain, and seemed to be floating on a cloud. Some fifteen +miles farther away, in the same direction, appeared the loftier Dome of +Taconic, looking blue and indistinct, and hardly so substantial as the +vapory sea that almost rolled over it. The nearer hills, which bordered +the valley, were half submerged, and were specked with little +cloud-wreaths all the way to their tops. On the whole, there was so +much cloud, and so little solid earth, that it had the effect of a +vision.</p> + +<p>The children above-mentioned, being as full of life as they could hold, +kept overflowing from the porch of Tanglewood, and scampering along the +gravel-walk, or rushing across the dewy herbage of the lawn. I can +hardly tell how many of these small people there were; not less than +nine or ten, however, nor more than a dozen, of all sorts, sizes, and +ages, whether girls or boys. They were brothers, sisters, and cousins, +together with a few of their young acquaintances, who had been invited +by Mr. and Mrs. Pringle to spend some of this delightful weather with +their own children, at Tanglewood. I am afraid to tell you their names, +or even to give them any names which other children have ever been +called by; because, to my certain knowledge, authors sometimes get +themselves into great trouble by accidentally giving the names of real +persons to the characters in their books. For this reason I mean to call +them Primrose, Periwinkle, Sweet Fern, Dandelion, Blue Eye, Clover, +Huckleberry, Cowslip, Squash-Blossom, Milkweed, Plantain, and Buttercup; +although, to be sure, such titles might better suit a group of fairies +than a company of earthly children.</p> + +<p>It is not to be supposed that these little folks were to be permitted by +their careful fathers and mothers, uncles, aunts, or grandparents, to +stray abroad into the woods and fields, without the guardianship of some +particularly grave and elderly person. Oh no, indeed! In the first +sentence of my book, you will recollect that I spoke of a tall youth, +standing in the midst of the children. His name—(and I shall let you +know his real name, because he considers it a great honor to have told +the stories that are here to be printed)—his name was Eustace Bright. +He was a student at Williams College, and had reached, I think, at this +period, the venerable age of eighteen years; so that he felt quite like +a grandfather towards Periwinkle, Dandelion, Huckleberry, +Squash-Blossom, Milkweed, and the rest, who were only half or a third as +venerable as he. A trouble in his eyesight (such as many students think +it necessary to have, nowadays, in order to prove their diligence at +their books) had kept him from college a week or two after the beginning +of the term. But, for my part, I have seldom met with a pair of eyes +that looked as if they could see farther or better than those of Eustace +Bright.</p> + +<p>This learned student was slender, and rather pale, as all Yankee +students are; but yet of a healthy aspect, and as light and active as if +he had wings to his shoes. By the by, being much addicted to wading +through streamlets and across meadows, he had put on cowhide boots for +the expedition. He wore a linen blouse, a cloth cap, and a pair of green +spectacles, which he had assumed, probably, less for the preservation of +his eyes than for the dignity that they imparted to his countenance. In +either case, however, he might as well have let them alone; for +Huckleberry, a mischievous little elf, crept behind Eustace as he sat on +the steps of the porch, snatched the spectacles from his nose, and +clapped them on her own; and as the student forgot to take them back, +they fell off into the grass, and lay there till the next spring.</p> + +<p>Now, Eustace Bright, you must know, had won great fame among the +children, as a narrator of wonderful stories; and though he sometimes +pretended to be annoyed, when they teased him for more, and more, and +always for more, yet I really doubt whether he liked anything quite so +well as to tell them. You might have seen his eyes twinkle, therefore, +when Clover, Sweet Fern, Cowslip, Buttercup, and most of their +playmates, besought him to relate one of his stories, while they were +waiting for the mist to clear up.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Cousin Eustace," said Primrose, who was a bright girl of twelve, +with laughing eyes, and a nose that turned up a little, "the morning is +certainly the best time for the stories with which you so often tire out +our patience. We shall be in less danger of hurting your feelings, by +falling asleep at the most interesting points,—as little Cowslip and I +did last night!"</p> + +<p>"Naughty Primrose," cried Cowslip, a child of six years old; "I did not +fall asleep, and I only shut my eyes, so as to see a picture of what +Cousin Eustace was telling about. His stories are good to hear at night, +because we can dream about them asleep; and good in the morning, too, +because then we can dream about them awake. So I hope he will tell us +one this very minute."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, my little Cowslip," said Eustace; "certainly you shall have +the best story I can think of, if it were only for defending me so well +from that naughty Primrose. But, children, I have already told you so +many fairy tales, that I doubt whether there is a single one which you +have not heard at least twice over. I am afraid you will fall asleep in +reality, if I repeat any of them again."</p> + +<p>"No, no, no!" cried Blue Eye, Periwinkle, Plantain, and half a dozen +others. "We like a story all the better for having heard it two or three +times before."</p> + +<p>And it is a truth, as regards children, that a story seems often to +deepen its mark in their interest, not merely by two or three, but by +numberless repetitions. But Eustace Bright, in the exuberance of his +resources, scorned to avail himself of an advantage which an older +story-teller would have been glad to grasp at.</p> + +<p>"It would be a great pity," said he, "if a man of my learning (to say +nothing of original fancy) could not find a new story every day, year in +and year out, for children such as you. I will tell you one of the +nursery tales that were made for the amusement of our great old +grandmother, the Earth, when she was a child in frock and pinafore. +There are a hundred such; and it is a wonder to me that they have not +long ago been put into picture-books for little girls and boys. But, +instead of that, old gray-bearded grandsires pore over them in musty +volumes of Greek, and puzzle themselves with trying to find out when, +and how, and for what they were made."</p> + +<p>"Well, well, well, well, Cousin Eustace!" cried all the children at +once; "talk no more about your stories, but begin."</p> + +<p>"Sit down, then, every soul of you," said Eustace Bright, "and be all as +still as so many mice. At the slightest interruption, whether from +great, naughty Primrose, little Dandelion, or any other, I shall bite +the story short off between my teeth, and swallow the untold part. But, +in the first place, do any of you know what a Gorgon is?"</p> + +<p>"I do," said Primrose.</p> + +<p>"Then hold your tongue!" rejoined Eustace, who had rather she would have +known nothing about the matter. "Hold all your tongues, and I shall tell +you a sweet pretty story of a Gorgon's head."</p> + +<p>And so he did, as you may begin to read on the next page. Working up his +sophomorical erudition with a good deal of tact, and incurring great +obligations to Professor Anthon, he, nevertheless, disregarded all +classical authorities, whenever the vagrant audacity of his imagination +impelled him to do so.</p> + + +<h3>The Gorgon's Head</h3> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</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 +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.</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,—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!</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 +school-boy, 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,—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,—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?"</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—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.</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 may be 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 honor 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!—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,—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."</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 were 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 mean time, 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,—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 towards 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,—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.</p> + +<p>"Now," whispered Quicksilver, as he hovered by the side of +Perseus,—"now is your time to do the deed! Be quick; or, 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,—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.</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 hundred-fold 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 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 praise-worthy 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.</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 sight-seeing, 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 semicircle round about him. Monarch, counsellors, courtiers, and +subjects, all gazed eagerly towards 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> + + +<h3>Tanglewood Porch</h3> + +<h3><i>After the Story</i></h3> + +<p>"Was not that a very fine story?" asked Eustace.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, yes!" cried Cowslip, clapping her hands.</p> + +<p>"And those funny old women, with only one eye amongst them! I never +heard of anything so strange."</p> + +<p>"As to their one tooth, which they shifted about," observed Primrose, +"there was nothing so very wonderful in that. I suppose it was a false +tooth. But think of your turning Mercury into Quicksilver, and talking +about his sister! You are too ridiculous!"</p> + +<p>"And was she not his sister?" asked Eustace Bright. "If I had thought of +it sooner, I would have described her as a maiden lady, who kept a pet +owl!"</p> + +<p>"Well, at any rate," said Primrose, "your story seems to have driven +away the mist."</p> + +<p>And, indeed, while the tale was going forward, the vapors had been quite +exhaled from the landscape. A scene was now disclosed which the +spectators might almost fancy as having been created since they had last +looked in the direction where it lay. About half a mile distant, in the +lap of the valley, now appeared a beautiful lake, which reflected a +perfect image of its own wooded banks, and of the summits of the more +distant hills. It gleamed in glassy tranquillity, without the trace of a +winged breeze on any part of its bosom. Beyond its farther shore was +Monument Mountain, in a recumbent position, stretching almost across the +valley. Eustace Bright compared it to a huge, headless sphinx, wrapped +in a Persian shawl; and, indeed, so rich and diversified was the +autumnal foliage of its woods, that the simile of the shawl was by no +means too high-colored for the reality. In the lower ground, between +Tanglewood and the lake, the clumps of trees and borders of woodland +were chiefly golden-leaved or dusky brown, as having suffered more from +frost than the foliage on the hill-sides.</p> + +<p>Over all this scene there was a genial sunshine, intermingled with a +slight haze, which made it unspeakably soft and tender. Oh, what a day +of Indian summer was it going to be! The children snatched their +baskets, and set forth, with hop, skip, and jump, and all sorts of +frisks and gambols; while Cousin Eustace proved his fitness to preside +over the party, by outdoing all their antics, and performing several new +capers, which none of them could ever hope to imitate. Behind went a +good old dog, whose name was Ben. He was one of the most respectable and +kind-hearted of quadrupeds, and probably felt it to be his duty not to +trust the children away from their parents without some better guardian +than this feather-brained Eustace Bright.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_GOLDEN_TOUCH" id="THE_GOLDEN_TOUCH"></a>THE GOLDEN TOUCH</h2> + + +<h3>Shadow Brook</h3> + +<h3><i>Introductory to "The Golden Touch"</i></h3> + +<p>At noon, our juvenile party assembled in a dell, through the depths of +which ran a little brook. The dell was narrow, and its steep sides, from +the margin of the stream upward, were thickly set with trees, chiefly +walnuts and chestnuts, among which grew a few oaks and maples. In the +summer time, the shade of so many clustering branches, meeting and +intermingling across the rivulet, was deep enough to produce a noontide +twilight. Hence came the name of Shadow Brook. But now, ever since +autumn had crept into this secluded place, all the dark verdure was +changed to gold, so that it really kindled up the dell, instead of +shading it. The bright yellow leaves, even had it been a cloudy day, +would have seemed to keep the sunlight among them; and enough of them +had fallen to strew all the bed and margin of the brook with sunlight, +too. Thus the shady nook, where summer had cooled herself, was now the +sunniest spot anywhere to be found.</p> + +<p>The little brook ran along over its pathway of gold, here pausing to +form a pool, in which minnows were darting to and fro; and then it +hurried onward at a swifter pace, as if in haste to reach the lake; and, +forgetting to look whither it went, it tumbled over the root of a tree, +which stretched quite across its current. You would have laughed to hear +how noisily it babbled about this accident. And even after it had run +onward, the brook still kept talking to itself, as if it were in a +maze. It was wonder-smitten, I suppose, at finding its dark dell so +illuminated, and at hearing the prattle and merriment of so many +children. So it stole away as quickly as it could, and hid itself in the +lake.</p> + +<p>In the dell of Shadow Brook, Eustace Bright and his little friends had +eaten their dinner. They had brought plenty of good things from +Tanglewood, in their baskets, and had spread them out on the stumps of +trees, and on mossy trunks, and had feasted merrily, and made a very +nice dinner indeed. After it was over, nobody felt like stirring.</p> + +<p>"We will rest ourselves here," said several of the children, "while +Cousin Eustace tells us another of his pretty stories."</p> + +<p>Cousin Eustace had a good right to be tired, as well as the children, +for he had performed great feats on that memorable forenoon. Dandelion, +Clover, Cowslip, and Buttercup were almost most persuaded that he had +winged slippers, like those which the Nymphs gave Perseus; so often had +the student shown himself at the tip-top of a nut-tree, when only a +moment before he had been standing on the ground. And then, what showers +of walnuts had he sent rattling down upon their heads, for their busy +little hands to gather into the baskets! In short, he had been as active +as a squirrel or a monkey, and now, flinging himself down on the yellow +leaves, seemed inclined to take a little rest.</p> + +<p>But children have no mercy nor consideration for anybody's weariness; +and if you had but a single breath left, they would ask you to spend it +in telling them a story.</p> + +<p>"Cousin Eustace," said Cowslip, "that was a very nice story of the +Gorgon's Head. Do you think you could tell us another as good?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, child," said Eustace, pulling the brim of his cap over his eyes, +as if preparing for a nap. "I can tell you a dozen, as good or better, +if I choose."</p> + +<p>"O Primrose and Periwinkle, do you hear what he says?" cried Cowslip, +dancing with delight. "Cousin Eustace is going to tell us a dozen better +stories than that about the Gorgon's Head!"</p> + +<p>"I did not promise you even one, you foolish little Cowslip!" said +Eustace, half pettishly. "However, I suppose you must have it. This is +the consequence of having earned a reputation! I wish I were a great +deal duller than I am, or that I had never shown half the bright +qualities with which nature has endowed me; and then I might have my nap +out, in peace and comfort!"</p> + +<p>But Cousin Eustace, as I think I have hinted before, was as fond of +telling his stories as the children of hearing them. His mind was in a +free and happy state, and took delight in its own activity, and scarcely +required any external impulse to set it at work.</p> + +<p>How different is this spontaneous play of the intellect from the trained +diligence of maturer years, when toil has perhaps grown easy by long +habit, and the day's work may have become essential to the day's +comfort, although the rest of the matter has bubbled away! This remark, +however, is not meant for the children to hear.</p> + +<p>Without further solicitation, Eustace Bright proceeded to tell the +following really splendid story. It had come into his mind as he lay +looking upward into the depths of a tree, and observing how the touch of +Autumn had transmuted every one of its green leaves into what resembled +the purest gold. And this change, which we have all of us witnessed, is +as wonderful as anything that Eustace told about in the story of Midas.</p> + + +<h3>The Golden Touch</h3> + +<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—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 behavior, 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 tip-top 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-humored 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 favor. And what could that +favor 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,—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-humored 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—for so looked the lumps and particles of +gold—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 bed-posts, 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!</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 down +stairs, 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 door-latch (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,—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 splendor, 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 parlor. 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 laborer, 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 color, 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 woful 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 favorite 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-color 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 recognized 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. "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,—the gift of the Golden Touch, or one cup of +clear cold water?"</p> + +<p>"O blessed water!" exclaimed Midas. "It 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 color 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!</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> + + +<h3>Shadow Brook</h3> + +<h3><i>After the Story</i></h3> + +<p>"Well, children," inquired Eustace, who was very fond of eliciting a +definite opinion from his auditors, "did you ever, in all your lives, +listen to a better story than this of 'The Golden Touch'?"</p> + +<p>"Why, as to the story of King Midas," said saucy Primrose, "it was a +famous one thousands of years before Mr. Eustace Bright came into the +world, and will continue to be so as long after he quits it. But some +people have what we may call 'The Leaden Touch,' and make everything +dull and heavy that they lay their fingers upon."</p> + +<p>"You are a smart child, Primrose, to be not yet in your teens," said +Eustace, taken rather aback by the piquancy of her criticism. "But you +well know, in your naughty little heart, that I have burnished the old +gold of Midas all over anew, and have made it shine as it never shone +before. And then that figure of Marygold! Do you perceive no nice +workmanship in that? And how finely I have brought out and deepened the +moral! What say you, Sweet Fern, Dandelion, Clover, Periwinkle? Would +any of you, after hearing this story, be so foolish as to desire the +faculty of changing things to gold?"</p> + +<p>"I should like," said Periwinkle, a girl of ten, "to have the power of +turning everything to gold with my right forefinger; but, with my left +forefinger, I should want the power of changing it back again, if the +first change did not please me. And I know what I would do, this very +afternoon!"</p> + +<p>"Pray tell me," said Eustace.</p> + +<p>"Why," answered Periwinkle, "I would touch every one of these golden +leaves on the trees with my left forefinger, and make them all green +again; so that we might have the summer back at once, with no ugly +winter in the mean time."</p> + +<p>"O Periwinkle!" cried Eustace Bright, "there you are wrong, and would do +a great deal of mischief. Were I Midas, I would make nothing else but +just such golden days as these over and over again, all the year +throughout. My best thoughts always come a little too late. Why did not +I tell you how old King Midas came to America, and changed the dusky +autumn, such as it is in other countries, into the burnished beauty +which it here puts on? He gilded the leaves of the great volume of +Nature."</p> + +<p>"Cousin Eustace," said Sweet Fern, a good little boy, who was always +making particular inquiries about the precise height of giants and the +littleness of fairies, "how big was Marygold, and how much did she weigh +after she was turned to gold?"</p> + +<p>"She was about as tall as you are," replied Eustace, "and, as gold is +very heavy, she weighed at least two thousand pounds, and might have +been coined into thirty or forty thousand gold dollars. I wish Primrose +were worth half as much. Come, little people, let us clamber out of the +dell, and look about us."</p> + +<p>They did so. The sun was now an hour or two beyond its noontide mark, +and filled the great hollow of the valley with its western radiance, so +that it seemed to be brimming with mellow light, and to spill it over +the surrounding hill-sides, like golden wine out of a bowl. It was such +a day that you could not help saying of it, "There never was such a day +before!" although yesterday was just such a day, and to-morrow will be +just such another. Ah, but there are very few of them in a twelvemonth's +circle! It is a remarkable peculiarity of these October days, that each +of them seems to occupy a great deal of space, although the sun rises +rather tardily at that season of the year, and goes to bed, as little +children ought, at sober six o'clock, or even earlier. We cannot, +therefore, call the days long; but they appear, somehow or other, to +make up for their shortness by their breadth; and when the cool night +comes, we are conscious of having enjoyed a big armful of life, since +morning.</p> + +<p>"Come, children, come!" cried Eustace Bright. "More nuts, more nuts, +more nuts! Fill all your baskets; and, at Christmas time, I will crack +them for you, and tell you beautiful stories!"</p> + +<p>So away they went; all of them in excellent spirits, except little +Dandelion, who, I am sorry to tell you, had been sitting on a +chestnut-bur, and was stuck as full as a pincushion of its prickles. +Dear me, how uncomfortably he must have felt!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_PARADISE_OF_CHILDREN" id="THE_PARADISE_OF_CHILDREN"></a>THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN</h2> + + +<h3>Tanglewood Play-Room</h3> + +<h3><i>Introductory to "The Paradise of Children"</i></h3> + +<p>The golden days of October passed away, as so many other Octobers have, +and brown November likewise, and the greater part of chill December, +too. At last came merry Christmas, and Eustace Bright along with it, +making it all the merrier by his presence. And, the day after his +arrival from college, there came a mighty snow-storm. Up to this time, +the winter had held back, and had given us a good many mild days, which +were like smiles upon its wrinkled visage. The grass had kept itself +green, in sheltered places, such as the nooks of southern hill-slopes, +and along the lee of the stone fences. It was but a week or two ago, and +since the beginning of the month, that the children had found a +dandelion in bloom, on the margin of Shadow Brook, where it glides out +of the dell.</p> + +<p>But no more green grass and dandelions now. This was such a snow-storm! +Twenty miles of it might have been visible at once, between the windows +of Tanglewood and the dome of Taconic, had it been possible to see so +far among the eddying drifts that whitened all the atmosphere. It seemed +as if the hills were giants, and were flinging monstrous handfuls of +snow at one another, in their enormous sport. So thick were the +fluttering snow-flakes, that even the trees, midway down the valley, +were hidden by them the greater part of the time. Sometimes, it is +true, the little prisoners of Tanglewood could discern a dim outline of +Monument Mountain, and the smooth whiteness of the frozen lake at its +base, and the black or gray tracts of woodland in the nearer landscape. +But these were merely peeps through the tempest.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the children rejoiced greatly in the snow-storm. They had +already made acquaintance with it, by tumbling heels over head into its +highest drifts, and flinging snow at one another, as we have just +fancied the Berkshire mountains to be doing. And now they had come back +to their spacious play-room, which was as big as the great drawing-room, +and was lumbered with all sorts of playthings, large and small. The +biggest was a rocking-horse, that looked like a real pony; and there was +a whole family of wooden, waxen, plaster, and china dolls, besides +rag-babies; and blocks enough to build Bunker Hill Monument, and +nine-pins, and balls, and humming tops, and battledores, and +grace-sticks, and skipping-ropes, and more of such valuable property +than I could tell of in a printed page. But the children liked the +snow-storm better than them all. It suggested so many brisk enjoyments +for to-morrow, and all the remainder of the winter. The sleigh-ride; the +slides down hill into the valley; the snow-images that were to be shaped +out; the snow-fortresses that were to be built; and the snowballing to +be carried on!</p> + +<p>So the little folks blessed the snow-storm, and were glad to see it come +thicker and thicker, and watched hopefully the long drift that was +piling itself up in the avenue, and was already higher than any of their +heads.</p> + +<p>"Why, we shall be blocked up till spring!" cried they, with the hugest +delight. "What a pity that the house is too high to be quite covered up! +The little red house, down yonder, will be buried up to its eaves."</p> + +<p>"You silly children, what do you want of more snow?" asked Eustace, +who, tired of some novel that he was skimming through, had strolled into +the play-room. "It has done mischief enough already, by spoiling the +only skating that I could hope for through the winter. We shall see +nothing more of the lake till April; and this was to have been my first +day upon it! Don't you pity me, Primrose?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, to be sure!" answered Primrose, laughing. "But, for your comfort, +we will listen to another of your old stories, such as you told us under +the porch, and down in the hollow, by Shadow Brook. Perhaps I shall like +them better now, when there is nothing to do, than while there were nuts +to be gathered, and beautiful weather to enjoy."</p> + +<p>Hereupon, Periwinkle, Clover, Sweet Fern, and as many others of the +little fraternity and cousinhood as were still at Tanglewood, gathered +about Eustace, and earnestly besought him for a story. The student +yawned, stretched himself, and then, to the vast admiration of the small +people, skipped three times back and forth over the top of a chair, in +order, as he explained to them, to set his wits in motion.</p> + +<p>"Well, well, children," said he, after these preliminaries, "since you +insist, and Primrose has set her heart upon it, I will see what can be +done for you. And, that you may know what happy days there were before +snow-storms came into fashion, I will tell you a story of the oldest of +all old times, when the world was as new as Sweet Fern's bran-new +humming-top. There was then but one season in the year, and that was the +delightful summer; and but one age for mortals, and that was childhood."</p> + +<p>"I never heard of that before," said Primrose.</p> + +<p>"Of course, you never did," answered Eustace. "It shall be a story of +what nobody but myself ever dreamed of,—a Paradise of children,—and +how, by the naughtiness of just such a little imp as Primrose here, it +all came to nothing."</p> + +<p>So Eustace Bright sat down in the chair which he had just been skipping +over, took Cowslip upon his knee, ordered silence throughout the +auditory, and began a story about a sad naughty child, whose name was +Pandora, and about her playfellow Epimetheus. You may read it, word for +word, in the pages that come next.</p> + + +<h3>The Paradise of Children</h3> + +<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 labor 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> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus2" id="illus2"></a> +<img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>PANDORA</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<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 she did 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,—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-humor, 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.</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 afterwards, 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 playfellows, 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 a +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,—or else it was her +curiosity that whispered,—</p> + +<p>"Let us out, dear Pandora,—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!—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!"</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 over-ripe, 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 +humor 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.</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,—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.</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—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 swarm 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 afterwards. 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 humor, 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 towards 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 +humor 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,—</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 towards 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-humor 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 colored 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,—"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!"</p> + +<p>"Oh tell us," they exclaimed,—"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—(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 spiritualizes 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> + + +<h3>Tanglewood Play-Room</h3> + +<h3><i>After the Story</i></h3> + +<p>"Primrose," asked Eustace, pinching her ear, "how do you like my little +Pandora? Don't you think her the exact picture of yourself? But you +would not have hesitated half so long about opening the box."</p> + +<p>"Then I should have been well punished for my naughtiness," retorted +Primrose, smartly; "for the first thing to pop out, after the lid was +lifted, would have been Mr. Eustace Bright, in the shape of a Trouble."</p> + +<p>"Cousin Eustace," said Sweet Fern, "did the box hold all the trouble +that has ever come into the world?"</p> + +<p>"Every mite of it!" answered Eustace. "This very snow-storm, which has +spoiled my skating, was packed up there."</p> + +<p>"And how big was the box?" asked Sweet Fern.</p> + +<p>"Why, perhaps three feet long," said Eustace, "two feet wide, and two +feet and a half high."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said the child, "you are making fun of me, Cousin Eustace! I know +there is not trouble enough in the world to fill such a great box as +that. As for the snow-storm, it is no trouble at all, but a pleasure; so +it could not have been in the box."</p> + +<p>"Hear the child!" cried Primrose, with an air of superiority. "How +little he knows about the troubles of this world! Poor fellow! He will +be wiser when he has seen as much of life as I have."</p> + +<p>So saying, she began to skip the rope.</p> + +<p>Meantime, the day was drawing towards its close. Out of doors the scene +certainly looked dreary. There was a gray drift, far and wide, through +the gathering twilight; the earth was as pathless as the air; and the +bank of snow over the steps of the porch proved that nobody had entered +or gone out for a good many hours past. Had there been only one child at +the window of Tanglewood, gazing at this wintry prospect, it would +perhaps have made him sad. But half a dozen children together, though +they cannot quite turn the world into a paradise, may defy old Winter +and all his storms to put them out of spirits. Eustace Bright, moreover, +on the spur of the moment, invented several new kinds of play, which +kept them all in a roar of merriment till bedtime, and served for the +next stormy day besides.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_THREE_GOLDEN_APPLES" id="THE_THREE_GOLDEN_APPLES"></a>THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES</h2> + + +<h3>Tanglewood Fireside</h3> + +<h3><i>Introductory to "The Three Golden Apples"</i></h3> + +<p>The snow-storm lasted another day; but what became of it afterwards, I +cannot possibly imagine. At any rate, it entirely cleared away during +the night; and when the sun arose the next morning, it shone brightly +down on as bleak a tract of hill-country, here in Berkshire, as could be +seen anywhere in the world. The frostwork had so covered the +window-panes that it was hardly possible to get a glimpse at the scenery +outside. But, while waiting for breakfast, the small populace of +Tanglewood had scratched peep-holes with their finger-nails, and saw +with vast delight that—unless it were one or two bare patches on a +precipitous hill-side, or the gray effect of the snow, intermingled with +the black pine forest—all nature was as white as a sheet. How +exceedingly pleasant! And, to make it all the better, it was cold enough +to nip one's nose short off! If people have but life enough in them to +bear it, there is nothing that so raises the spirits, and makes the +blood ripple and dance so nimbly, like a brook down the slope of a hill, +as a bright, hard frost.</p> + +<p>No sooner was breakfast over, than the whole party, well muffled in furs +and woollens, floundered forth into the midst of the snow. Well, what a +day of frosty sport was this! They slid down hill into the valley, a +hundred times, nobody knows how far; and, to make it all the merrier, +upsetting their sledges, and tumbling head over heels, quite as often +as they came safely to the bottom. And, once, Eustace Bright took +Periwinkle, Sweet Fern, and Squash-Blossom, on the sledge with him, by +way of insuring a safe passage; and down they went, full speed. But, +behold, half-way down, the sledge hit against a hidden stump, and flung +all four of its passengers into a heap; and, on gathering themselves up, +there was no little Squash-Blossom to be found! Why, what could have +become of the child? And while they were wondering and staring about, up +started Squash-Blossom out of a snow-bank, with the reddest face you +ever saw, and looking as if a large scarlet flower had suddenly sprouted +up in midwinter. Then there was a great laugh.</p> + +<p>When they had grown tired of sliding down hill, Eustace set the children +to digging a cave in the biggest snow-drift that they could find. +Unluckily, just as it was completed, and the party had squeezed +themselves into the hollow, down came the roof upon their heads, and +buried every soul of them alive! The next moment, up popped all their +little heads out of the ruins, and the tall student's head in the midst +of them, looking hoary and venerable with the snow-dust that had got +amongst his brown curls. And then, to punish Cousin Eustace for advising +them to dig such a tumble-down cavern, the children attacked him in a +body, and so bepelted him with snowballs that he was fain to take to his +heels.</p> + +<p>So he ran away, and went into the woods, and thence to the margin of +Shadow Brook, where he could hear the streamlet grumbling along, under +great overhanging banks of snow and ice, which would scarcely let it see +the light of day. There were adamantine icicles glittering around all +its little cascades. Thence he strolled to the shore of the lake, and +beheld a white, untrodden plain before him, stretching from his own feet +to the foot of Monument Mountain. And, it being now almost sunset, +Eustace thought that he had never beheld anything so fresh and +beautiful as the scene. He was glad that the children were not with him; +for their lively spirits and tumble-about activity would quite have +chased away his higher and graver mood, so that he would merely have +been merry (as he had already been, the whole day long), and would not +have known the loveliness of the winter sunset among the hills.</p> + +<p>When the sun was fairly down, our friend Eustace went home to eat his +supper. After the meal was over, he betook himself to the study, with a +purpose, I rather imagine, to write an ode, or two or three sonnets, or +verses of some kind or other, in praise of the purple and golden clouds +which he had seen around the setting sun. But, before he had hammered +out the very first rhyme, the door opened, and Primrose and Periwinkle +made their appearance.</p> + +<p>"Go away, children! I can't be troubled with you now!" cried the +student, looking over his shoulder, with the pen between his fingers. +"What in the world do you want here? I thought you were all in bed!"</p> + +<p>"Hear him, Periwinkle, trying to talk like a grown man!" said Primrose. +"And he seems to forget that I am now thirteen years old, and may sit up +almost as late as I please. But, Cousin Eustace, you must put off your +airs, and come with us to the drawing-room. The children have talked so +much about your stories, that my father wishes to hear one of them, in +order to judge whether they are likely to do any mischief."</p> + +<p>"Poh, poh, Primrose!" exclaimed the student, rather vexed. "I don't +believe I can tell one of my stories in the presence of grown people. +Besides, your father is a classical scholar; not that I am much afraid +of his scholarship, neither, for I doubt not it is as rusty as an old +case-knife by this time. But then he will be sure to quarrel with the +admirable nonsense that I put into these stories, out of my own head, +and which makes the great charm of the matter for children, like +yourself. No man of fifty, who has read the classical myths in his +youth, can possibly understand my merit as a reinventor and improver of +them."</p> + +<p>"All this may be very true," said Primrose, "but come you must! My +father will not open his book, nor will mamma open the piano, till you +have given us some of your nonsense, as you very correctly call it. So +be a good boy, and come along."</p> + +<p>Whatever he might pretend, the student was rather glad than otherwise, +on second thoughts, to catch at the opportunity of proving to Mr. +Pringle what an excellent faculty he had in modernizing the myths of +ancient times. Until twenty years of age, a young man may, indeed, be +rather bashful about showing his poetry and his prose; but, for all +that, he is pretty apt to think that these very productions would place +him at the tip-top of literature, if once they could be known. +Accordingly, without much more resistance, Eustace suffered Primrose and +Periwinkle to drag him into the drawing-room.</p> + +<p>It was a large, handsome apartment, with a semicircular window at one +end, in the recess of which stood a marble copy of Greenough's Angel and +Child. On one side of the fireplace there were many shelves of books, +gravely but richly bound. The white light of the astral-lamp, and the +red glow of the bright coal-fire, made the room brilliant and cheerful; +and before the fire, in a deep arm-chair, sat Mr. Pringle, looking just +fit to be seated in such a chair, and in such a room. He was a tall and +quite a handsome gentleman, with a bald brow; and was always so nicely +dressed, that even Eustace Bright never liked to enter his presence +without at least pausing at the threshold to settle his shirt-collar. +But now, as Primrose had hold of one of his hands, and Periwinkle of the +other, he was forced to make his appearance with a rough-and-tumble sort +of look, as if he had been rolling all day in a snow-bank. And so he +had.</p> + +<p>Mr. Pringle turned towards the student benignly enough, but in a way +that made him feel how uncombed and unbrushed he was, and how uncombed +and unbrushed, likewise, were his mind and thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Eustace," said Mr. Pringle, with a smile, "I find that you are +producing a great sensation among the little public of Tanglewood, by +the exercise of your gifts of narrative. Primrose here, as the little +folks choose to call her, and the rest of the children, have been so +loud in praise of your stories, that Mrs. Pringle and myself are really +curious to hear a specimen. It would be so much the more gratifying to +myself, as the stories appear to be an attempt to render the fables of +classical antiquity into the idiom of modern fancy and feeling. At +least, so I judge from a few of the incidents which have come to me at +second hand."</p> + +<p>"You are not exactly the auditor that I should have chosen, sir," +observed the student, "for fantasies of this nature."</p> + +<p>"Possibly not," replied Mr. Pringle. "I suspect, however, that a young +author's most useful critic is precisely the one whom he would be least +apt to choose. Pray oblige me, therefore."</p> + +<p>"Sympathy, methinks, should have some little share in the critic's +qualifications," murmured Eustace Bright. "However, sir, if you will +find patience, I will find stories. But be kind enough to remember that +I am addressing myself to the imagination and sympathies of the +children, not to your own."</p> + +<p>Accordingly, the student snatched hold of the first theme which +presented itself. It was suggested by a plate of apples that he happened +to spy on the mantelpiece.</p> + + +<h3>The Three Golden Apples</h3> + +<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> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus3" id="illus3"></a> +<img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>ATLAS</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<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 +upwards, 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,—"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 honor 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 honor, 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 so 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?"</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 sea-shore, 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 sea-faring 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,—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 honor,—and he thanked them, most of all, +for telling him the right way,—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 labor 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.</p> + +<p>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 sea-weed 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-tost 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 towards 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 afterwards, 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 figure-head 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 sea-weed 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 sea-faring 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 humor, will tell you exactly where the garden of the +Hesperides lies."</p> + +<p>"And if the giant happens not to be in the humor," 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 towards 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 disk 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—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.</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 thunderclouds. 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 sea-shore, 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 favor, 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, he 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.</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 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!</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 the 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,—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?"</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,—"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 back-ache. 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 towards 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> + + +<h3>Tanglewood Fireside</h3> + +<h3><i>After the Story</i></h3> + + +<p>"Cousin Eustace," demanded Sweet Fern, who had been sitting at the +story-teller's feet, with his mouth wide open, "exactly how tall was +this giant?"</p> + +<p>"O Sweet Fern, Sweet Fern!" cried the student, "do you think I was +there, to measure him with a yard-stick? Well, if you must know to a +hair's-breadth, I suppose he might be from three to fifteen miles +straight upward, and that he might have seated himself on Taconic, and +had Monument Mountain for a footstool."</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" ejaculated the good little boy, with a contented sort of a +grunt, "that was a giant, sure enough! And how long was his little +finger?"</p> + +<p>"As long as from Tanglewood to the lake," said Eustace.</p> + +<p>"Sure enough, that was a giant!" repeated Sweet Fern, in an ecstasy at +the precision of these measurements. "And how broad, I wonder, were the +shoulders of Hercules?"</p> + +<p>"That is what I have never been able to find out," answered the student. +"But I think they must have been a great deal broader than mine, or than +your father's, or than almost any shoulders which one sees nowadays."</p> + +<p>"I wish," whispered Sweet Fern, with his mouth close to the student's +ear, "that you would tell me how big were some of the oak-trees that +grew between the giant's toes."</p> + +<p>"They were bigger," said Eustace, "than the great chestnut-tree which +stands beyond Captain Smith's house."</p> + +<p>"Eustace," remarked Mr. Pringle, after some deliberation, "I find it +impossible to express such an opinion of this story as will be likely to +gratify, in the smallest degree, your pride of authorship. Pray let me +advise you never more to meddle with a classical myth. Your imagination +is altogether Gothic, and will inevitably Gothicize everything that you +touch. The effect is like bedaubing a marble statue with paint. This +giant, now! How can you have ventured to thrust his huge, +disproportioned mass among the seemly outlines of Grecian fable, the +tendency of which is to reduce even the extravagant within limits, by +its pervading elegance?"</p> + +<p>"I described the giant as he appeared to me," replied the student, +rather piqued. "And, sir, if you would only bring your mind into such a +relation with these fables as is necessary in order to remodel them, you +would see at once that an old Greek had no more exclusive right to them +than a modern Yankee has. They are the common property of the world, and +of all time. The ancient poets remodelled them at pleasure, and held +them plastic in their hands; and why should they not be plastic in my +hands as well?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Pringle could not forbear a smile.</p> + +<p>"And besides," continued Eustace, "the moment you put any warmth of +heart, any passion or affection, any human or divine morality, into a +classic mould, you make it quite another thing from what it was before. +My own opinion is, that the Greeks, by taking possession of these +legends (which were the immemorial birthright of mankind), and putting +them into shapes of indestructible beauty, indeed, but cold and +heartless, have done all subsequent ages an incalculable injury."</p> + +<p>"Which you, doubtless, were born to remedy," said Mr. Pringle, laughing +outright. "Well, well, go on; but take my advice, and never put any of +your travesties on paper. And, as your next effort, what if you should +try your hand on some one of the legends of Apollo?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, sir, you propose it as an impossibility," observed the student, +after a moment's meditation; "and, to be sure, at first thought, the +idea of a Gothic Apollo strikes one rather ludicrously. But I will turn +over your suggestion in my mind, and do not quite despair of success."</p> + +<p>During the above discussion, the children (who understood not a word of +it) had grown very sleepy, and were now sent off to bed. Their drowsy +babble was heard, ascending the staircase, while a northwest-wind roared +loudly among the tree-tops of Tanglewood, and played an anthem around +the house. Eustace Bright went back to the study, and again endeavored +to hammer out some verses, but fell asleep between two of the rhymes.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_MIRACULOUS_PITCHER" id="THE_MIRACULOUS_PITCHER"></a>THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER</h2> + + +<h3>The Hill-Side</h3> + +<h3><i>Introductory to "The Miraculous Pitcher"</i></h3> + +<p>And when, and where, do you think we find the children next? No longer +in the winter-time, but in the merry month of May. No longer in +Tanglewood play-room, or at Tanglewood fireside, but more than half-way +up a monstrous hill, or a mountain, as perhaps it would be better +pleased to have us call it. They had set out from home with the mighty +purpose of climbing this high hill, even to the very tip-top of its bald +head. To be sure, it was not quite so high as Chimborazo, or Mont Blanc, +and was even a good deal lower than old Graylock. But, at any rate, it +was higher than a thousand ant-hillocks, or a million of mole-hills; +and, when measured by the short strides of little children, might be +reckoned a very respectable mountain.</p> + +<p>And was Cousin Eustace with the party? Of that you may be certain; else +how could the book go on a step further? He was now in the middle of the +spring vacation, and looked pretty much as we saw him four or five +months ago, except that, if you gazed quite closely at his upper lip, +you could discern the funniest little bit of a mustache upon it. Setting +aside this mark of mature manhood, you might have considered Cousin +Eustace just as much a boy as when you first became acquainted with him. +He was as merry, as playful, as good-humored, as light of foot and of +spirits, and equally a favorite with the little folks, as he had always +been. This expedition up the mountain was entirely of his contrivance. +All the way up the steep ascent, he had encouraged the elder children +with his cheerful voice; and when Dandelion, Cowslip, and Squash-Blossom +grew weary, he had lugged them along, alternately, on his back. In this +manner, they had passed through the orchards and pastures on the lower +part of the hill, and had reached the wood, which extends thence towards +its bare summit.</p> + +<p>The month of May, thus far, had been more amiable than it often is, and +this was as sweet and genial a day as the heart of man or child could +wish. In their progress up the hill, the small people had found enough +of violets, blue and white, and some that were as golden as if they had +the touch of Midas on them. That sociablest of flowers, the little +Houstonia, was very abundant. It is a flower that never lives alone, but +which loves its own kind, and is always fond of dwelling with a great +many friends and relatives around it. Sometimes you see a family of +them, covering a space no bigger than the palm of your hand; and +sometimes a large community, whitening a whole tract of pasture, and all +keeping one another in cheerful heart and life.</p> + +<p>Within the verge of the wood there were columbines, looking more pale +than red, because they were so modest, and had thought proper to seclude +themselves too anxiously from the sun. There were wild geraniums, too, +and a thousand white blossoms of the strawberry. The trailing arbutus +was not yet quite out of bloom; but it hid its precious flowers under +the last year's withered forest-leaves, as carefully as a mother-bird +hides its little young ones. It knew, I suppose, how beautiful and +sweet-scented they were. So cunning was their concealment, that the +children sometimes smelt the delicate richness of their perfume before +they knew whence it proceeded.</p> + +<p>Amid so much new life, it was strange and truly pitiful to behold, here +and there, in the fields and pastures, the hoary periwigs of dandelions +that had already gone to seed. They had done with summer before the +summer came. Within those small globes of winged seeds it was autumn +now!</p> + +<p>Well, but we must not waste our valuable pages with any more talk about +the spring-time and wild flowers. There is something, we hope, more +interesting to be talked about. If you look at the group of children, +you may see them all gathered around Eustace Bright, who, sitting on the +stump of a tree, seems to be just beginning a story. The fact is, the +younger part of the troop have found out that it takes rather too many +of their short strides to measure the long ascent of the hill. Cousin +Eustace, therefore, has decided to leave Sweet Fern, Cowslip, +Squash-Blossom, and Dandelion, at this point, midway up, until the +return of the rest of the party from the summit. And because they +complain a little, and do not quite like to stay behind, he gives them +some apples out of his pocket, and proposes to tell them a very pretty +story. Hereupon they brighten up, and change their grieved looks into +the broadest kind of smiles.</p> + +<p>As for the story, I was there to hear it, hidden behind a bush, and +shall tell it over to you in the pages that come next.</p> + + +<h3>The Miraculous Pitcher</h3> + +<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 neighbors 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 neighbors 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 towards 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 neighborhood?"</p> + +<p>"Ah!" observed old Philemon, with a quiet and benign smile, "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 neighbors."</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 under garments 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 towards 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 olivewood, 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 afterwards, 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 any one 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 labor, 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 whole 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 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 afterwards, 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 color was that of the +purest and most transparent gold; and it had the odor 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 arbor, 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,—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-humored, 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 neighbors 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,—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 towards 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 towards 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 these kind-hearted old people, "what has become of our +poor neighbors?"</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 neighbors!"</p> + +<p>"All," 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,—"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 +favor you have most at heart, and it is granted."</p> + +<p>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.</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 +towards 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-humored, 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—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.</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,—"Philemon! Baucis! Baucis! Philemon!"—as if one were both and +both were one, and talking 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 afterwards, 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> + +<h3>The Hill-Side</h3> + +<h3><i>After the Story</i></h3> + +<p>"How much did the pitcher hold?" asked Sweet Fern. "It did not hold +quite a quart," answered the student; "but you might keep pouring milk +out of it, till you should fill a hogshead, if you pleased. The truth +is, it would run on forever, and not be dry even at midsummer,—which is +more than can be said of yonder rill, that goes babbling down the +hill-side."</p> + +<p>"And what has become of the pitcher now?" inquired the little boy.</p> + +<p>"It was broken, I am sorry to say, about twenty-five thousand years +ago," replied Cousin Eustace. "The people mended it as well as they +could, but, though it would hold milk pretty well, it was never +afterwards known to fill itself of its own accord. So, you see, it was +no better than any other cracked earthen pitcher."</p> + +<p>"What a pity!" cried all the children at once.</p> + +<p>The respectable dog Ben had accompanied the party, as did likewise a +half-grown Newfoundland puppy, who went by the name of Bruin, because he +was just as black as a bear. Ben, being elderly, and of very circumspect +habits, was respectfully requested, by Cousin Eustace, to stay behind +with the four little children, in order to keep them out of mischief. As +for black Bruin, who was himself nothing but a child, the student +thought it best to take him along, lest, in his rude play with the +other children, he should trip them up, and send them rolling and +tumbling down the hill. Advising Cowslip, Sweet Fern, Dandelion, and +Squash-Blossom to sit pretty still, in the spot where he left them, the +student, with Primrose and the elder children, began to ascend, and were +soon out of sight among the trees.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="THE_CHIMÆRA" id="THE_CHIMÆRA"></a>THE CHIMÆRA</h2> + + + +<h3>Bald-Summit</h3> + +<h3><i>Introductory to "The Chimæra"</i></h3> + +<p>Upward, along the steep and wooded hill-side, went Eustace Bright and +his companions. The trees were not yet in full leaf, but had budded +forth sufficiently to throw an airy shadow, while the sunshine filled +them with green light. There were moss-grown rocks, half hidden among +the old, brown, fallen leaves; there were rotten tree-trunks, lying at +full length where they had long ago fallen; there were decayed boughs, +that had been shaken down by the wintry gales, and were scattered +everywhere about. But still, though these things looked so aged, the +aspect of the wood was that of the newest life; for, whichever way you +turned your eyes, something fresh and green was springing forth, so as +to be ready for the summer.</p> + +<p>At last, the young people reached the upper verge of the wood, and found +themselves almost at the summit of the hill. It was not a peak, nor a +great round ball, but a pretty wide plain, or table-land, with a house +and barn upon it, at some distance. That house was the home of a +solitary family; and often-times the clouds, whence fell the rain, and +whence the snow-storm drifted down into the valley, hung lower than this +bleak and lonely dwelling-place.</p> + +<p>On the highest point of the hill was a heap of stones, in the centre of +which was stuck a long pole, with a little flag fluttering at the end of +it. Eustace led the children thither, and bade them look around, and +see how large a tract of our beautiful world they could take in at a +glance. And their eyes grew wider as they looked.</p> + +<p>Monument Mountain, to the southward, was still in the centre of the +scene, but seemed to have sunk and subsided, so that it was now but an +undistinguished member of a large family of hills. Beyond it, the +Taconic range looked higher and bulkier than before. Our pretty lake was +seen, with all its little bays and inlets; and not that alone, but two +or three new lakes were opening their blue eyes to the sun. Several +white villages, each with its steeple, were scattered about in the +distance. There were so many farm-houses, with their acres of woodland, +pasture, mowing-fields, and tillage, that the children could hardly make +room in their minds to receive all these different objects. There, too, +was Tanglewood, which they had hitherto thought such an important apex +of the world. It now occupied so small a space, that they gazed far +beyond it, and on either side, and searched a good while with all their +eyes, before discovering whereabout it stood.</p> + +<p>White, fleecy clouds were hanging in the air, and threw the dark spots +of their shadow here and there over the landscape. But, by and by, the +sunshine was where the shadow had been, and the shadow was somewhere +else.</p> + +<p>Far to the westward was a range of blue mountains, which Eustace Bright +told the children were the Catskills. Among those misty hills, he said, +was a spot where some old Dutchmen were playing an everlasting game of +nine-pins, and where an idle fellow, whose name was Rip Van Winkle, had +fallen asleep, and slept twenty years at a stretch. The children eagerly +besought Eustace to tell them all about this wonderful affair. But the +student replied that the story had been told once already, and better +than it ever could be told again; and that nobody would have a right to +alter a word of it, until it should have grown as old as "The Gorgon's +Head," and "The Three Golden Apples," and the rest of those miraculous +legends.</p> + +<p>"At least," said Periwinkle, "while we rest ourselves here, and are +looking about us, you can tell us another of your own stories."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Cousin Eustace," cried Primrose, "I advise you to tell us a story +here. Take some lofty subject or other, and see if your imagination will +not come up to it. Perhaps the mountain air may make you poetical, for +once. And no matter how strange and wonderful the story may be, now that +we are up among the clouds, we can believe anything."</p> + +<p>"Can you believe," asked Eustace, "that there was once a winged horse?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said saucy Primrose; "but I am afraid you will never be able to +catch him."</p> + +<p>"For that matter, Primrose," rejoined the student, "I might possibly +catch Pegasus, and get upon his back, too, as well as a dozen other +fellows that I know of. At any rate, here is a story about him; and, of +all places in the world, it ought certainly to be told upon a +mountain-top."</p> + +<p>So, sitting on the pile of stones, while the children clustered +themselves at its base, Eustace fixed his eyes on a white cloud that was +sailing by, and began as follows.</p> + + +<h3>The Chimæra</h3> + +<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 hill-side, 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 hill-side, 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 water-courses 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 vapors, 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 any one that was +fortunate enough to see this wondrous spectacle felt cheerful the whole +day afterwards, 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,—"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!"</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 +afterwards. 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 neighborhood, 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 towards 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> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus4" id="illus4"></a> +<img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>BELLEROPHON BY THE FOUNTAIN OF PIRENE</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<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 afterwards 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 fighting +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 +aerial 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 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.</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,—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 breath, 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 +straight 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 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 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 +towards 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 vapor.</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—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!</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,—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!</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 +towards 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 +Chimera'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 spluttering 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 towards 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 towards 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 aerial 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 gripes 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 aerial steed, higher, higher, higher, above the +mountain-peaks, 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 labor, 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 aerial steed than ever did Bellerophon, and achieved more +honorable deeds than his friend's victory over the Chimæra. For, gentle +and tender as he was, he grew to be a mighty poet!</p> + + +<h3>Bald-Summit</h3> + +<h3><i>After the Story</i></h3> + +<p>Eustace Bright told the legend of Bellerophon with as much fervor and +animation as if he had really been taking a gallop on the winged horse. +At the conclusion, he was gratified to discern, by the glowing +countenances of his auditors, how greatly they had been interested. All +their eyes were dancing in their heads, except those of Primrose. In her +eyes there were positively tears; for she was conscious of something in +the legend which the rest of them were not yet old enough to feel. +Child's story as it was, the student had contrived to breathe through it +the ardor, the generous hope, and the imaginative enterprise of youth.</p> + +<p>"I forgive you, now, Primrose," said he, "for all your ridicule of +myself and my stories. One tear pays for a great deal of laughter."</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Bright," answered Primrose, wiping her eyes, and giving him +another of her mischievous smiles, "it certainly does elevate your +ideas, to get your head above the clouds. I advise you never to tell +another story, unless it be, as at present, from the top of a mountain."</p> + +<p>"Or from the back of Pegasus," replied Eustace, laughing. "Don't you +think that I succeeded pretty well in catching that wonderful pony?"</p> + +<p>"It was so like one of your madcap pranks!" cried Primrose, clapping her +hands. "I think I see you now on his back, two miles high, and with your +head downward! It is well that you have not really an opportunity of +trying your horsemanship on any wilder steed than our sober Davy, or Old +Hundred."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus5" id="illus5"></a> +<img src="images/illus5.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>THE FOUNTAIN OF PIRENE<br /> +(From the original in the collection of Austin M. Purves, Esq're +Philadelphia)</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"For my part, I wish I had Pegasus here, at this moment," said the +student. "I would mount him forthwith, and gallop about the country, +within a circumference of a few miles, making literary calls on my +brother authors. Dr. Dewey would be within my reach, at the foot of +Taconic. In Stockbridge, yonder, is Mr. James, conspicuous to all the +world on his mountain-pile of history and romance. Longfellow, I +believe, is not yet at the Ox-bow, else the winged horse would neigh at +the sight of him. But, here in Lenox, I should find our most truthful +novelist, who has made the scenery and life of Berkshire all her own. On +the hither side of Pittsfield sits Herman Melville, shaping out the +gigantic conception of his 'White Whale,' while the gigantic shape of +Graylock looms upon him from his study-window. Another bound of my +flying steed would bring me to the door of Holmes, whom I mention last, +because Pegasus would certainly unseat me, the next minute, and claim +the poet as his rider."</p> + +<p>"Have we not an author for our next neighbor?" asked Primrose. "That +silent man, who lives in the old red house, near Tanglewood Avenue, and +whom we sometimes meet, with two children at his side, in the woods or +at the lake. I think I have heard of his having written a poem, or a +romance, or an arithmetic, or a school-history, or some other kind of a +book."</p> + +<p>"Hush, Primrose, hush!" exclaimed Eustace, in a thrilling whisper, and +putting his finger on his lip. "Not a word about that man, even on a +hill-top! If our babble were to reach his ears, and happen not to please +him, he has but to fling a quire or two of paper into the stove, and +you, Primrose, and I, and Periwinkle, Sweet Fern, Squash-Blossom, Blue +Eye, Huckleberry, Clover, Cowslip, Plantain, Milkweed, Dandelion, and +Buttercup,—yes, and wise Mr. Pringle, with his unfavorable criticisms +on my legends, and poor Mrs. Pringle, too,—would all turn to smoke, +and go whisking up the funnel! Our neighbor in the red house is a +harmless sort of person enough, for aught I know, as concerns the rest +of the world; but something whispers to me that he has a terrible power +over ourselves, extending to nothing short of annihilation."</p> + +<p>"And would Tanglewood turn to smoke, as well as we?" asked Periwinkle, +quite appalled at the threatened destruction. "And what would become of +Ben and Bruin?"</p> + +<p>"Tanglewood would remain," replied the student, "looking just as it does +now, but occupied by an entirely different family. And Ben and Bruin +would be still alive, and would make themselves very comfortable with +the bones from the dinner-table, without ever thinking of the good times +which they and we have had together!"</p> + +<p>"What nonsense you are talking!" exclaimed Primrose.</p> + +<p>With idle chat of this kind, the party had already begun to descend the +hill, and were now within the shadow of the woods. Primrose gathered +some mountain-laurel, the leaf of which, though of last year's growth, +was still as verdant and elastic as if the frost and thaw had not +alternately tried their force upon its texture. Of these twigs of laurel +she twined a wreath, and took off the student's cap, in order to place +it on his brow.</p> + +<p>"Nobody else is likely to crown you for your stories," observed saucy +Primrose, "so take this from me."</p> + +<p>"Do not be too sure," answered Eustace, looking really like a youthful +poet, with the laurel among his glossy curls, "that I shall not win +other wreaths by these wonderful and admirable stories. I mean to spend +all my leisure, during the rest of the vacation, and throughout the +summer term at college, in writing them out for the press. Mr. J. T. +Fields (with whom I became acquainted when he was in Berkshire, last +summer, and who is a poet, as well as a publisher) will see their +uncommon merit at a glance. He will get them illustrated, I hope, by +Billings, and will bring them before the world under the very best of +auspices, through the eminent house of Ticknor & Co. In about five +months from this moment, I make no doubt of being reckoned among the +lights of this age!"</p> + +<p>"Poor boy!" said Primrose, half aside. "What a disappointment awaits +him!"</p> + +<p>Descending a little lower, Bruin began to bark, and was answered by the +graver bow-wow of the respectable Ben. They soon saw the good old dog, +keeping careful watch over Dandelion, Sweet Fern, Cowslip, and +Squash-Blossom. These little people, quite recovered from their fatigue, +had set about gathering checkerberries, and now came clambering to meet +their playfellows. Thus reunited, the whole party went down through +Luther Butler's orchard, and made the best of their way home to +Tanglewood.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Tanglewood_Tales" id="Tanglewood_Tales"></a>Tanglewood Tales,</h2> + +<h3>For Girls And Boys,</h3> + +<h3>Being A Second Wonder-Book</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="TANGLEWOOD_TALES" id="TANGLEWOOD_TALES"></a>TANGLEWOOD TALES</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="The_Wayside" id="The_Wayside"></a>The Wayside</h2> + + +<h3><i>Introductory</i></h3> + +<p>A short time ago, I was favored with a flying visit from my young friend +Eustace Bright, whom I had not before met with since quitting the breezy +mountains of Berkshire. It being the winter vacation at his college, +Eustace was allowing himself a little relaxation, in the hope, he told +me, of repairing the inroads which severe application to study had made +upon his health; and I was happy to conclude, from the excellent +physical condition in which I saw him, that the remedy had already been +attended with very desirable success. He had now run up from Boston by +the noon train, partly impelled by the friendly regard with which he is +pleased to honor me, and partly, as I soon found, on a matter of +literary business.</p> + +<p>It delighted me to receive Mr. Bright, for the first time, under a roof, +though a very humble one, which I could really call my own. Nor did I +fail (as is the custom of landed proprietors all about the world) to +parade the poor fellow up and down over my half a dozen acres; secretly +rejoicing, nevertheless, that the disarray of the inclement season, and +particularly the six inches of snow then upon the ground, prevented him +from observing the ragged neglect of soil and shrubbery into which the +place has lapsed. It was idle, however, to imagine that an airy guest +from Monument Mountain, Bald-Summit, and old Graylock, shaggy with +primeval forests, could see anything to admire in my poor little +hill-side, with its growth of frail and insect-eaten locust-trees. +Eustace very frankly called the view from my hill-top tame; and so, no +doubt, it was, after rough, broken, rugged, headlong Berkshire, and +especially the northern parts of the county, with which his college +residence had made him familiar. But to me there is a peculiar, quiet +charm in these broad meadows and gentle eminences. They are better than +mountains, because they do not stamp and stereotype themselves into the +brain, and thus grow wearisome with the same strong impression, repeated +day after day. A few summer weeks among mountains, a lifetime among +green meadows and placid slopes, with outlines forever new, because +continually fading out of the memory,—such would be my sober choice.</p> + +<p>I doubt whether Eustace did not internally pronounce the whole thing a +bore, until I led him to my predecessor's little ruined, rustic +summer-house, midway on the hill-side. It is a mere skeleton of slender, +decaying tree-trunks, with neither walls nor a roof; nothing but a +tracery of branches and twigs, which the next wintry blast will be very +likely to scatter in fragments along the terrace. It looks, and is, as +evanescent as a dream; and yet, in its rustic net-work of boughs, it has +somehow enclosed a hint of spiritual beauty, and has become a true +emblem of the subtile and ethereal mind that planned it. I made Eustace +Bright sit down on a snow-bank, which bad heaped itself over the mossy +seat, and gazing through the arched window opposite, he acknowledged +that the scene at once grew picturesque.</p> + +<p>"Simple as it looks," said he, "this little edifice seems to be the work +of magic. It is full of suggestiveness, and, in its way, is as good as a +cathedral. Ah, it would be just the spot for one to sit in, of a summer +afternoon, and tell the children some more of those wild stories from +the classic myths!"</p> + +<p>"It would, indeed," answered I. "The summer-house itself, so airy and so +broken, is like one of those old tales, imperfectly remembered; and +these living branches of the Baldwin apple-tree, thrusting themselves so +rudely in, are like your unwarrantable interpolations. But, by the by, +have you added any more legends to the series, since the publication of +the Wonder Book?"</p> + +<p>"Many more," said Eustace; "Primrose, Periwinkle, and the rest of them +allow me no comfort of my life, unless I tell them a story every day or +two. I have run away from home partly to escape the importunity of those +little wretches! But I have written out six of the new stories, and have +brought them for you to look over."</p> + +<p>"Are they as good as the first?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"Better chosen, and better handled," replied Eustace Bright. "You will +say so when you read them."</p> + +<p>"Possibly not," I remarked. "I know, from my own experience, that an +author's last work is always his best one, in his own estimate, until it +quite loses the red heat of composition. After that, it falls into its +true place, quietly enough. But let us adjourn to my study, and examine +these new stories. It would hardly be doing yourself justice, were you +to bring me acquainted with them, sitting here on this snow-bank!"</p> + +<p>So we descended the hill to my small, old cottage, and shut ourselves up +in the southeastern room, where the sunshine comes in, warmly and +brightly, through the better half of a winter's day. Eustace put his +bundle of manuscript into my hands; and I skimmed through it pretty +rapidly, trying to find out its merits and demerits by the touch of my +fingers, as a veteran story-teller ought to know how to do.</p> + +<p>It will be remembered, that Mr. Bright condescended to avail himself of +my literary experience by constituting me editor of the Wonder Book. As +he had no reason to complain of the reception of that erudite work by +the public, he was now disposed to retain me in a similar position, with +respect to the present volume, which he entitled "<span class="smcap">Tanglewood Tales</span>." +Not, as Eustace hinted, that there was any real necessity for my +services as introductor, inasmuch as his own name had become +established, in some good degree of favor, with the literary world. But +the connection with myself, he was kind enough to say, had been highly +agreeable; nor was he by any means desirous, as most people are, of +kicking away the ladder that had perhaps helped him to reach his present +elevation. My young friend was willing, in short, that the fresh verdure +of his growing reputation should spread over my straggling and +half-naked boughs; even as I have sometimes thought of training a vine, +with its broad leafiness, and purple fruitage, over the worm-eaten posts +and rafters of the rustic summer-house. I was not insensible to the +advantages of his proposal, and gladly assured him of my acceptance.</p> + +<p>Merely from the titles of the stories, I saw at once that the subjects +were not less rich than those of the former volume; nor did I at all +doubt that Mr. Bright's audacity (so far as that endowment might avail) +had enabled him to take full advantage of whatever capabilities they +offered. Yet, in spite of my experience of his free way of handling +them, I did not quite see, I confess, how he could have obviated all the +difficulties in the way of rendering them presentable to children. These +old legends, so brimming over with everything that is most abhorrent to +our Christianized moral sense,—some of them so hideous, others so +melancholy and miserable, amid which the Greek tragedians sought their +themes, and moulded them into the sternest forms of grief that ever the +world saw; was such material the stuff that children's playthings should +be made of! How were they to be purified? How was the blessed sunshine +to be thrown into them?</p> + +<p>But Eustace told me that these myths were the most singular things in +the world, and that he was invariably astonished, whenever he began to +relate one, by the readiness with which it adapted itself to the +childish purity of his auditors. The objectionable characteristics seem +to be a parasitical growth, having no essential connection with the +original fable. They fall away, and are thought of no more, the instant +he puts his imagination in sympathy with the innocent little circle, +whose wide-open eyes are fixed so eagerly upon him. Thus the stories +(not by any strained effort of the narrator's, but in harmony with their +inherent germ) transform themselves, and reassume the shapes which they +might be supposed to possess in the pure childhood of the world. When +the first poet or romancer told these marvellous legends (such is +Eustace Bright's opinion), it was still the Golden Age. Evil had never +yet existed; and sorrow, misfortune, crime, were mere shadows which the +mind fancifully created for itself, as a shelter against too sunny +realities; or, at most, but prophetic dreams, to which the dreamer +himself did not yield a waking credence. Children are now the only +representatives of the men and women of that happy era; and therefore it +is that we must raise the intellect and fancy to the level of childhood, +in order to recreate the original myths.</p> + +<p>I let the youthful author talk as much and as extravagantly as he +pleased, and was glad to see him commencing life with such confidence in +himself and his performances. A few years will do all that is necessary +towards showing him the truth in both respects. Meanwhile, it is but +right to say, he does really appear to have overcome the moral +objections against these fables, although at the expense of such +liberties with their structure as must be left to plead their own +excuse, without any help from me. Indeed, except that there was a +necessity for it,—and that the inner life of the legends cannot be come +at save by making them entirely one's own property,—there is no defence +to be made.</p> + +<p>Eustace informed me that he had told his stories to the children in +various situations,—in the woods, on the shore of the lake, in the dell +of Shadow Brook, in the play-room, at Tanglewood fireside, and in a +magnificent palace of snow, with ice windows, which he helped his little +friends to build. His auditors were even more delighted with the +contents of the present volume than with the specimens which have +already been given to the world. The classically learned Mr. Pringle, +too, had listened to two or three of the tales, and censured them even +more bitterly than he did <span class="smcap">The Three Golden Apples</span>; so that, what with +praise, and what with criticism, Eustace Bright thinks that there is +good hope of at least as much success with the public as in the case of +the Wonder Book.</p> + +<p>I made all sorts of inquiries about the children, not doubting that +there would be great eagerness to hear of their welfare among some good +little folks who have written to me, to ask for another volume of myths. +They are all, I am happy to say (unless we except Clover), in excellent +health and spirits. Primrose is now almost a young lady, and, Eustace +tells me, is just as saucy as ever. She pretends to consider herself +quite beyond the age to be interested by such idle stories as these; +but, for all that, whenever a story is to be told, Primrose never fails +to be one of the listeners, and to make fun of it when finished. +Periwinkle is very much grown, and is expected to shut up her baby-house +and throw away her doll in a month or two more. Sweet Fern has learned +to read and write, and has put on a jacket and pair of pantaloons,—all +of which improvements I am sorry for. Squash-Blossom, Blue Eye, +Plantain, and Buttercup have had the scarlet fever, but came easily +through it. Huckleberry, Milkweed, and Dandelion were attacked with the +hooping-cough, but bore it bravely, and kept out of doors whenever the +sun shone. Cowslip, during the autumn, had either the measles, or some +eruption that looked very much like it, but was hardly sick a day. Poor +Clover has been a good deal troubled with her second teeth, which have +made her meagre in aspect and rather fractious in temper; nor, even when +she smiles, is the matter much mended, since it discloses a gap just +within her lips, almost as wide as the barn door. But all this will +pass over, and it is predicted that she will turn out a very pretty +girl.</p> + +<p>As for Mr. Bright himself, he is now in his senior year at Williams +College, and has a prospect of graduating with some degree of honorable +distinction at the next Commencement. In his oration for the bachelor's +degree, he gives me to understand, he will treat of the classical myths, +viewed in the aspect of baby stories, and has a great mind to discuss +the expediency of using up the whole of ancient history for the same +purpose. I do not know what he means to do with himself after leaving +college, but trust that, by dabbling so early with the dangerous and +seductive business of authorship, he will not be tempted to become an +author by profession. If so, I shall be very sorry for the little that I +have had to do with the matter, in encouraging these first beginnings.</p> + +<p>I wish there were any likelihood of my soon seeing Primrose, Periwinkle, +Dandelion, Sweet Fern, Clover, Plantain, Huckleberry, Milkweed, Cowslip, +Buttercup, Blue Eye, and Squash-Blossom again. But as I do not know when +I shall revisit Tanglewood, and as Eustace Bright probably will not ask +me to edit a third Wonder Book, the public of little folks must not +expect to hear any more about those dear children from me. Heaven bless +them, and everybody else, whether grown people or children!</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">The Wayside, Concord, Mass.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>March 13, 1853.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="The_Minotaur" id="The_Minotaur"></a>The Minotaur</h2> + + +<p>In the old city of Trœzene, at the foot of a lofty mountain, there +lived, a very long time ago, a little boy named Theseus. His +grandfather, King Pittheus, was the sovereign of that country, and was +reckoned a very wise man; so that Theseus, being brought up in the royal +palace, and being naturally a bright lad, could hardly fail of profiting +by the old king's instructions. His mother's name was Æthra. As for his +father, the boy had never seen him. But, from his earliest remembrance, +Æthra used to go with little Theseus into a wood, and sit down upon a +moss-grown rock, which was deeply sunk into the earth. Here she often +talked with her son about his father, and said that he was called Ægeus, +and that he was a great king, and ruled over Attica, and dwelt at +Athens, which was as famous a city as any in the world. Theseus was very +fond of hearing about King Ægeus, and often asked his good mother Æthra +why he did not come and live with them at Trœzene.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my dear son," answered Æthra, with a sigh, "a monarch has his +people to take care of. The men and women over whom he rules are in the +place of children to him; and he can seldom spare time to love his own +children as other parents do. Your father will never be able to leave +his kingdom for the sake of seeing his little boy."</p> + +<p>"Well, but, dear mother," asked the boy, "why cannot I go to this famous +city of Athens, and tell King Ægeus that I am his son?"</p> + +<p>"That may happen by and by," said Æthra. "Be patient, and we shall see. +You are not yet big and strong enough to set out on such an errand."</p> + +<p>"And how soon shall I be strong enough?" Theseus persisted in inquiring.</p> + +<p>"You are but a tiny boy as yet," replied his mother. "See if you can +lift this rock on which we are sitting?"</p> + +<p>The little fellow had a great opinion of his own strength. So, grasping +the rough protuberances of the rock, he tugged and toiled amain, and got +himself quite out of breath, without being able to stir the heavy stone. +It seemed to be rooted into the ground. No wonder he could not move it; +for it would have taken all the force of a very strong man to lift it +out of its earthy bed.</p> + +<p>His mother stood looking on, with a sad kind of a smile on her lips and +in her eyes, to see the zealous and yet puny efforts of her little boy. +She could not help being sorrowful at finding him already so impatient +to begin his adventures in the world.</p> + +<p>"You see how it is, my dear Theseus," said she. "You must possess far +more strength than now before I can trust you to go to Athens, and tell +King Ægeus that you are his son. But when you can lift this rock, and +show me what is hidden beneath it, I promise you my permission to +depart."</p> + +<p>Often and often, after this, did Theseus ask his mother whether it was +yet time for him to go to Athens; and still his mother pointed to the +rock, and told him that, for years to come, he could not be strong +enough to move it. And again and again the rosy-cheeked and curly-headed +boy would tug and strain at the huge mass of stone, striving, child as +he was, to do what a giant could hardly have done without taking both of +his great hands to the task. Meanwhile the rock seemed to be sinking +farther and farther into the ground. The moss grew over it thicker and +thicker, until at last it looked almost like a soft green seat, with +only a few gray knobs of granite peeping out. The overhanging trees, +also, shed their brown leaves upon it, as often as the autumn came; and +at its base grew ferns and wild flowers, some of which crept quite over +its surface. To all appearance, the rock was as firmly fastened as any +other portion of the earth's substance.</p> + +<p>But, difficult as the matter looked, Theseus was now growing up to be +such a vigorous youth, that, in his own opinion, the time would quickly +come when he might hope to get the upper hand of this ponderous lump of +stone.</p> + +<p>"Mother, I do believe it has started!" cried he, after one of his +attempts. "The earth around it is certainly a little cracked!"</p> + +<p>"No, no, child!" his mother hastily answered. "It is not possible you +can have moved it, such a boy as you still are!"</p> + +<p>Nor would she be convinced, although Theseus showed her the place where +he fancied that the stem of a flower had been partly uprooted by the +movement of the rock. But Æthra sighed and looked disquieted; for, no +doubt, she began to be conscious that her son was no longer a child, and +that, in a little while hence, she must send him forth among the perils +and troubles of the world.</p> + +<p>It was not more than a year afterwards when they were again sitting on +the moss-covered stone. Æthra had once more told him the oft-repeated +story of his father, and how gladly he would receive Theseus at his +stately palace, and how he would present him to his courtiers and the +people, and tell them that here was the heir of his dominions. The eyes +of Theseus glowed with enthusiasm, and he would hardly sit still to hear +his mother speak.</p> + +<p>"Dear mother Æthra," he exclaimed, "I never felt half so strong as now! +I am no longer a child, nor a boy, nor a mere youth! I feel myself a +man! It is now time to make one earnest trial to remove the stone!"</p> + +<p>"Ah, my dearest Theseus," replied his mother, "not yet! not yet!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, mother," said he, resolutely, "the time has come."</p> + +<p>Then Theseus bent himself in good earnest to the task, and strained +every sinew, with manly strength and resolution. He put his whole brave +heart into the effort. He wrestled with the big and sluggish stone, as +if it had been a living enemy. He heaved, he lifted, he resolved now to +succeed, or else to perish there, and let the rock be his monument +forever! Æthra stood gazing at him, and clasped her hands, partly with a +mother's pride, and partly with a mother's sorrow. The great rock +stirred! Yes, it was raised slowly from the bedded moss and earth, +uprooting the shrubs and flowers along with it, and was turned upon its +side. Theseus had conquered!</p> + +<p>While taking breath, he looked joyfully at his mother, and she smiled +upon him through her tears.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Theseus," she said, "the time has come, and you must stay no +longer at my side! See what King Ægeus, your royal father, left for you, +beneath the stone, when he lifted it in his mighty arms, and laid it on +the spot whence you have now removed it."</p> + +<p>Theseus looked, and saw that the rock had been placed over another slab +of stone, containing a cavity within it; so that it somewhat resembled a +roughly made chest or coffer, of which the upper mass had served as the +lid. Within the cavity lay a sword, with a golden hilt, and a pair of +sandals.</p> + +<p>"That was your father's sword," said Æthra, "and those were his sandals. +When he went to be king of Athens, he bade me treat you as a child until +you should prove yourself a man by lifting this heavy stone. That task +being accomplished, you are to put on his sandals, in order to follow in +your father's footsteps, and to gird on his sword, so that you may fight +giants and dragons, as King Ægeus did in his youth."</p> + +<p>"I will set out for Athens this very day!" cried Theseus.</p> + +<p>But his mother persuaded him to stay a day or two longer, while she got +ready some necessary articles for his journey. When his grandfather, the +wise King Pittheus, heard that Theseus intended to present himself at +his father's palace, he earnestly advised him to get on board of a +vessel, and go by sea; because he might thus arrive within fifteen miles +of Athens, without either fatigue or danger.</p> + +<p>"The roads are very bad by land," quoth the venerable king; "and they +are terribly infested with robbers and monsters. A mere lad, like +Theseus, is not fit to be trusted on such a perilous journey, all by +himself. No, no; let him go by sea!"</p> + +<p>But when Theseus heard of robbers and monsters, he pricked up his ears, +and was so much the more eager to take the road along which they were to +be met with. On the third day, therefore, he bade a respectful farewell +to his grandfather, thanking him for all his kindness, and, after +affectionately embracing his mother, he set forth, with a good many of +her tears glistening on his cheeks, and some, if the truth must be told, +that had gushed out of his own eyes. But he let the sun and wind dry +them, and walked stoutly on, playing with the golden hilt of his sword +and taking very manly strides in his father's sandals.</p> + +<p>I cannot stop to tell you hardly any of the adventures that befell +Theseus on the road to Athens. It is enough to say, that he quite +cleared that part of the country of the robbers, about whom King +Pittheus had been so much alarmed. One of these bad people was named +Procrustes; and he was indeed a terrible fellow, and had an ugly way of +making fun of the poor travellers who happened to fall into his +clutches. In his cavern he had a bed, on which, with great pretence of +hospitality, he invited his guests to lie down; but if they happened to +be shorter than the bed, this wicked villain stretched them out by main +force; or, if they were too long, he lopped off their heads or feet, and +laughed at what he had done, as an excellent joke. Thus, however weary +a man might be, he never liked to lie in the bed of Procrustes. Another +of these robbers, named Scinis, must likewise have been a very great +scoundrel. He was in the habit of flinging his victims off a high cliff +into the sea; and, in order to give him exactly his deserts, Theseus +tossed him off the very same place. But if you will believe me, the sea +would not pollute itself by receiving such a bad person into its bosom, +neither would the earth, having once got rid of him, consent to take him +back; so that, between the cliff and the sea, Scinis stuck fast in the +air, which was forced to bear the burden of his naughtiness.</p> + +<p>After these memorable deeds, Theseus heard of an enormous sow, which ran +wild, and was the terror of all the farmers round about; and, as he did +not consider himself above doing any good thing that came in his way, he +killed this monstrous creature, and gave the carcass to the poor people +for bacon. The great sow had been an awful beast, while ramping about +the woods and fields, but was a pleasant object enough when cut up into +joints, and smoking on I know not how many dinner tables.</p> + +<p>Thus, by the time he had reached his journey's end, Theseus had done +many valiant deeds with his father's golden-hilted sword, and had gained +the renown of being one of the bravest young men of the day. His fame +travelled faster than he did, and reached Athens before him. As he +entered the city, he heard the inhabitants talking at the +street-corners, and saying that Hercules was brave, and Jason too, and +Castor and Pollux likewise, but that Theseus, the son of their own king, +would turn out as great a hero as the best of them. Theseus took longer +strides on hearing this, and fancied himself sure of a magnificent +reception at his father's court, since he came hither with Fame to blow +her trumpet before him, and cry to King Ægeus, "Behold your son!"</p> + +<p>He little suspected, innocent youth that he was, that here, in this +very Athens, where his father reigned, a greater danger awaited him than +any which he had encountered on the road. Yet this was the truth. You +must understand that the father of Theseus, though not very old in +years, was almost worn out with the cares of government, and had thus +grown aged before his time. His nephews, not expecting him to live a +very great while, intended to get all the power of the kingdom into +their own hands. But when they heard that Theseus had arrived in Athens, +and learned what a gallant young man he was, they saw that he would not +be at all the kind of person to let them steal away his father's crown +and sceptre, which ought to be his own by right of inheritance. Thus +these bad-hearted nephews of King Ægeus, who were the own cousins of +Theseus, at once became his enemies. A still more dangerous enemy was +Medea, the wicked enchantress; for she was now the king's wife, and +wanted to give the kingdom to her son Medus, instead of letting it be +given to the son of Æthra, whom she hated.</p> + +<p>It so happened that the king's nephews met Theseus, and found out who he +was, just as he reached the entrance of the royal palace. With all their +evil designs against him, they pretended to be their cousin's best +friends, and expressed great joy at making his acquaintance. They +proposed to him that he should come into the king's presence as a +stranger, in order to try whether Ægeus would discover in the young +man's features any likeness either to himself or his mother Æthra, and +thus recognize him for a son. Theseus consented; for he fancied that his +father would know him in a moment, by the love that was in his heart. +But, while he waited at the door, the nephews ran and told King Ægeus +that a young man had arrived in Athens, who, to their certain knowledge, +intended to put him to death, and get possession of his royal crown.</p> + +<p>"And he is now waiting for admission to your Majesty's presence," added +they.</p> + +<p>"Aha!" cried the old king, on hearing this. "Why, he must be a very +wicked young fellow indeed! Pray, what would you advise me to do with +him?"</p> + +<p>In reply to this question, the wicked Medea put in her word. As I have +already told you, she was a famous enchantress. According to some +stories, she was in the habit of boiling old people in a large caldron, +under pretence of making them young again; but King Ægeus, I suppose, +did not fancy such an uncomfortable way of growing young, or perhaps was +contented to be old, and therefore would never let himself be popped +into the caldron. If there were time to spare from more important +matters, I should be glad to tell you of Medea's fiery chariot, drawn by +winged dragons, in which the enchantress used often to take an airing +among the clouds. This chariot, in fact, was the vehicle that first +brought her to Athens, where she had done nothing but mischief ever +since her arrival. But these and many other wonders must be left untold; +and it is enough to say, that Medea, amongst a thousand other bad +things, knew how to prepare a poison, that was instantly fatal to +whomsoever might so much as touch it with his lips.</p> + +<p>So, when the king asked what he should do with Theseus, this naughty +woman had an answer ready at her tongue's end.</p> + +<p>"Leave that to me, please your Majesty," she replied. "Only admit this +evil-minded young man to your presence, treat him civilly, and invite +him to drink a goblet of wine. Your Majesty is well aware that I +sometimes amuse myself with distilling very powerful medicines. Here is +one of them in this small phial. As to what it is made of, that is one +of my secrets of state. Do but let me put a single drop into the goblet, +and let the young man taste it; and I will answer for it, he shall quite +lay aside the bad designs with which he comes hither."</p> + +<p>As she said this, Medea smiled; but, for all her smiling face, she meant +nothing less than to poison the poor innocent Theseus, before his +father's eyes. And King Ægeus, like most other kings, thought any +punishment mild enough for a person who was accused of plotting against +his life. He therefore made little or no objection to Medea's scheme, +and as soon as the poisonous wine was ready, gave orders that the young +stranger should be admitted into his presence. The goblet was set on a +table beside the king's throne; and a fly, meaning just to sip a little +from the brim, immediately tumbled into it, dead. Observing this, Medea +looked round at the nephews, and smiled again.</p> + +<p>When Theseus was ushered into the royal apartment, the only object that +he seemed to behold was the white-bearded old king. There he sat on his +magnificent throne, a dazzling crown on his head, and a sceptre in his +hand. His aspect was stately and majestic, although his years and +infirmities weighed heavily upon him, as if each year were a lump of +lead, and each infirmity a ponderous stone, and all were bundled up +together, and laid upon his weary shoulders. The tears both of joy and +sorrow sprang into the young man's eyes; for he thought how sad it was +to see his dear father so infirm, and how sweet it would be to support +him with his own youthful strength, and to cheer him up with the +alacrity of his loving spirit. When a son takes his father into his warm +heart, it renews the old man's youth in a better way than by the heat of +Medea's magic caldron. And this was what Theseus resolved to do. He +could scarcely wait to see whether King Ægeus would recognize him, so +eager was he to throw himself into his arms.</p> + +<p>Advancing to the foot of the throne, he attempted to make a little +speech, which he had been thinking about, as he came up the stairs. But +he was almost choked by a great many tender feelings that gushed out of +his heart and swelled into his throat, all struggling to find utterance +together. And therefore, unless he could have laid his full, +over-brimming heart into the king's hand, poor Theseus knew not what to +do or say. The cunning Medea observed what was passing in the young +man's mind. She was more wicked at that moment than ever she had been +before; for (and it makes me tremble to tell you of it) she did her +worst to turn all this unspeakable love with which Theseus was agitated, +to his own ruin and destruction.</p> + +<p>"Does your Majesty see his confusion?" she whispered in the king's ear. +"He is so conscious of guilt, that he trembles and cannot speak. The +wretch lives too long! Quick! offer him the wine!"</p> + +<p>Now King Ægeus had been gazing earnestly at the young stranger, as he +drew near the throne. There was something, he knew not what, either in +his white brow, or in the fine expression of his mouth, or in his +beautiful and tender eyes, that made him indistinctly feel as if he had +seen this youth before; as if, indeed, he had trotted him on his knee +when a baby, and had beheld him growing to be a stalwart man, while he +himself grew old. But Medea guessed how the king felt, and would not +suffer him to yield to these natural sensibilities; although they were +the voice of his deepest heart, telling him, as plainly as it could +speak, that here was his dear son, and Æthra's son, coming to claim him +for a father. The enchantress again whispered in the king's ear, and +compelled him, by her witchcraft, to see everything under a false +aspect.</p> + +<p>He made up his mind, therefore, to let Theseus drink off the poisoned +wine.</p> + +<p>"Young man," said he, "you are welcome! I am proud to show hospitality +to so heroic a youth. Do me the favor to drink the contents of this +goblet. It is brimming over, as you see, with delicious wine, such as I +bestow only on those who are worthy of it! None is more worthy to quaff +it than yourself!"</p> + +<p>So saying, King Ægeus took the golden goblet from the table, and was +about to offer it to Theseus. But, partly through his infirmities, and +partly because it seemed so sad a thing to take away this young man's +life, however wicked he might be, and partly, no doubt, because his +heart was wiser than his head, and quaked within him at the thought of +what he was going to do,—for all these reasons, the king's hand +trembled so much that a great deal of the wine slopped over. In order to +strengthen his purpose, and fearing lest the whole of the precious +poison should be wasted, one of his nephews now whispered to him,—</p> + +<p>"Has your Majesty any doubt of this stranger's guilt? There is the very +sword with which he meant to slay you. How sharp, and bright, and +terrible it is! Quick!—let him taste the wine; or perhaps he may do the +deed even yet."</p> + +<p>At these words, Ægeus drove every thought and feeling out of his breast, +except the one idea of how justly the young man deserved to be put to +death. He sat erect on his throne, and held out the goblet of wine with +a steady hand, and bent on Theseus a frown of kingly severity; for, +after all, he had too noble a spirit to murder even a treacherous enemy +with a deceitful smile upon his face.</p> + +<p>"Drink!" said he, in the stern tone with which he was wont to condemn a +criminal to be beheaded. "You have well deserved of me such wine as +this!"</p> + +<p>Theseus held out his hand to take the wine. But, before he touched it, +King Ægeus trembled again. His eyes had fallen on the gold-hilted sword +that hung at the young man's side. He drew back the goblet.</p> + +<p>"That sword!" he cried; "how came you by it?"</p> + +<p>"It was my father's sword," replied Theseus, with a tremulous voice. +"These were his sandals. My dear mother (her name is Æthra) told me his +story while I was yet a little child. But it is only a month since I +grew strong enough to lift the heavy stone, and take the sword and +sandals from beneath it, and come to Athens to seek my father."</p> + +<p>"My son! my son!" cried King Ægeus, flinging away the fatal goblet, and +tottering down from the throne to fall into the arms of Theseus. "Yes, +these are Æthra's eyes. It is my son."</p> + +<p>I have quite forgotten what became of the king's nephews. But when the +wicked Medea saw this new turn of affairs, she hurried out of the room, +and going to her private chamber, lost no time in setting her +enchantments at work. In a few moments, she heard a great noise of +hissing snakes outside of the chamber window; and, behold! there was her +fiery chariot, and four huge winged serpents, wriggling and twisting in +the air, flourishing their tails higher than the top of the palace, and +all ready to set off on an aerial journey. Medea stayed only long enough +to take her son with her, and to steal the crown jewels, together with +the king's best robes, and whatever other valuable things she could lay +hands on; and getting into the chariot, she whipped up the snakes, and +ascended high over the city.</p> + +<p>The king, hearing the hiss of the serpents, scrambled as fast as he +could to the window, and bawled out to the abominable enchantress never +to come back. The whole people of Athens, too, who had run out of doors +to see this wonderful spectacle, set up a shout of joy at the prospect +of getting rid of her. Medea, almost bursting with rage, uttered +precisely such a hiss as one of her own snakes, only ten times more +venomous and spiteful; and glaring fiercely out of the blaze of the +chariot, she shook her hands over the multitude below, as if she were +scattering a million of curses among them. In so doing, however, she +unintentionally let fall about five hundred diamonds of the first water, +together with a thousand great pearls, and two thousand emeralds, +rubies, sapphires, opals, and topazes, to which she had helped herself +out of the king's strong-box. All these came pelting down, like a shower +of many-colored hailstones, upon the heads of grown people and children, +who forthwith gathered them up and carried them back to the palace. But +King Ægeus told them that they were welcome to the whole, and to twice +as many more, if he had them, for the sake of his delight at finding +his son, and losing the wicked Medea. And, indeed, if you had seen how +hateful was her last look, as the flaming chariot flew upward, you would +not have wondered that both king and people should think her departure a +good riddance.</p> + +<p>And now Prince Theseus was taken into great favor by his royal father. +The old king was never weary of having him sit beside him on his throne +(which was quite wide enough for two), and of hearing him tell about his +dear mother, and his childhood, and his many boyish efforts to lift the +ponderous stone. Theseus, however, was much too brave and active a young +man to be willing to spend all his time in relating things which had +already happened. His ambition was to perform other and more heroic +deeds, which should be better worth telling in prose and verse. Nor had +he been long in Athens before he caught and chained a terrible mad bull, +and made a public show of him, greatly to the wonder and admiration of +good King Ægeus and his subjects. But pretty soon, he undertook an +affair that made all his foregone adventures seem like mere boy's play. +The occasion of it was as follows:—</p> + +<p>One morning, when Prince Theseus awoke, he fancied that he must have had +a very sorrowful dream, and that it was still running in his mind, even +now that his eyes were open. For it appeared as if the air was full of a +melancholy wail; and when he listened more attentively, he could hear +sobs and groans, and screams of woe, mingled with deep, quiet sighs, +which came from the king's palace, and from the streets, and from the +temples, and from every habitation in the city. And all these mournful +noises, issuing out of thousands of separate hearts, united themselves +into the one great sound of affliction, which bad startled Theseus from +slumber. He put on his clothes as quickly as he could (not forgetting +his sandals and gold-hilted sword), and hastening to the king, inquired +what it all meant.</p> + +<p>"Alas! my son," quoth King Ægeus, heaving a long sigh, "here is a very +lamentable matter in hand! This is the wofullest anniversary in the +whole year. It is the day when we annually draw lots to see which of the +youths and maidens of Athens shall go to be devoured by the horrible +Minotaur!"</p> + +<p>"The Minotaur!" exclaimed Prince Theseus; and, like a brave young prince +as he was, he put his hand to the hilt of his sword. "What kind of a +monster may that be? Is it not possible, at the risk of one's life, to +slay him?"</p> + +<p>But King Ægeus shook his venerable head, and to convince Theseus that it +was quite a hopeless case, he gave him an explanation of the whole +affair. It seems that in the island of Crete there lived a certain +dreadful monster, called a Minotaur, which was shaped partly like a man +and partly like a bull, and was altogether such a hideous sort of a +creature that it is really disagreeable to think of him. If he were +suffered to exist at all, it should have been on some desert island, or +in the duskiness of some deep cavern, where nobody would ever be +tormented by his abominable aspect. But King Minos, who reigned over +Crete, laid out a vast deal of money in building a habitation for the +Minotaur, and took great care of his health and comfort, merely for +mischief's sake. A few years before this time, there had been a war +between the city of Athens and the island of Crete, in which the +Athenians were beaten, and compelled to beg for peace. No peace could +they obtain, however, except on condition that they should send seven +young men and seven maidens, every year, to be devoured by the pet +monster of the cruel King Minos. For three years past, this grievous +calamity had been borne. And the sobs, and groans, and shrieks, with +which the city was now filled, were caused by the people's woe, because +the fatal day had come again, when the fourteen victims were to be +chosen by lot; and the old people feared lest their sons or daughters +might be taken, and the youths and damsels dreaded lest they themselves +might be destined to glut the ravenous maw of that detestable man-brute.</p> + +<p>But when Theseus heard the story, he straightened himself up, so that he +seemed taller than ever before; and as for his face, it was indignant, +despiteful, bold, tender, and compassionate, all in one look.</p> + +<p>"Let the people of Athens, this year, draw lots for only six young men, +instead of seven," said he. "I will myself be the seventh; and let the +Minotaur devour me, if he can!"</p> + +<p>"O my dear son," cried King Ægeus, "why should you expose yourself to +this horrible fate? You are a royal prince, and have a right to hold +yourself above the destinies of common men."</p> + +<p>"It is because I am a prince, your son, and the rightful heir of your +kingdom, that I freely take upon me the calamity of your subjects," +answered Theseus. "And you, my father, being king over this people, and +answerable to Heaven for their welfare, are bound to sacrifice what is +dearest to you, rather than that the son or daughter of the poorest +citizen should come to any harm."</p> + +<p>The old king shed tears, and besought Theseus not to leave him desolate +in his old age, more especially as he had but just begun to know the +happiness of possessing a good and valiant son. Theseus, however, felt +that he was in the right, and therefore would not give up his +resolution. But he assured his father that he did not intend to be eaten +up, unresistingly, like a sheep, and that, if the Minotaur devoured him, +it should not be without a battle for his dinner. And finally, since he +could not help it, King Ægeus consented to let him go. So a vessel was +got ready, and rigged with black sails; and Theseus, with six other +young men, and seven tender and beautiful damsels, came down to the +harbor to embark. A sorrowful multitude accompanied them to the shore. +There was the poor old king, too, leaning on his son's arm, and looking +as if his single heart held all the grief of Athens.</p> + +<p>Just as Prince Theseus was going on board, his father bethought himself +of one last word to say.</p> + +<p>"My beloved son," said he, grasping the prince's hand, "you observe that +the sails of this vessel are black; as indeed they ought to be, since it +goes upon a voyage of sorrow and despair. Now, being weighed down with +infirmities, I know not whether I can survive till the vessel shall +return. But, as long as I do live, I shall creep daily to the top of +yonder cliff, to watch if there be a sail upon the sea. And, dearest +Theseus, if by some happy chance you should escape the jaws of the +Minotaur, then tear down those dismal sails, and hoist others that shall +be bright as the sunshine. Beholding them on the horizon, myself and all +the people will know that you are coming back victorious, and will +welcome you with such a festal uproar as Athens never heard before."</p> + +<p>Theseus promised that he would do so. Then, going on board, the mariners +trimmed the vessel's black sails to the wind, which blew faintly off the +shore, being pretty much made up of the sighs that everybody kept +pouring forth on this melancholy occasion. But by and by, when they had +got fairly out to sea, there came a stiff breeze from the northwest, and +drove them along as merrily over the white-capped waves as if they had +been going on the most delightful errand imaginable. And though it was a +sad business enough, I rather question whether fourteen young people, +without any old persons to keep them in order, could continue to spend +the whole time of the voyage in being miserable. There had been some few +dances upon the undulating deck, I suspect, and some hearty bursts of +laughter, and other such unseasonable merriment among the victims, +before the high, blue mountains of Crete began to show themselves among +the far-off clouds. That sight, to be sure, made them all very grave +again.</p> + +<p>Theseus stood among the sailors, gazing eagerly towards the land; +although, as yet, it seemed hardly more substantial than the clouds, +amidst which the mountains were looming up. Once or twice, he fancied +that he saw a glare of some bright object, a long way off, flinging a +gleam across the waves.</p> + +<p>"Did you see that flash of light?" he inquired of the master of the +vessel.</p> + +<p>"No, prince; but I have seen it before," answered the master. "It came +from Talus, I suppose."</p> + +<p>As the breeze came fresher just then, the master was busy with trimming +his sails, and had no more time to answer questions. But while the +vessel flew faster and faster towards Crete, Theseus was astonished to +behold a human figure, gigantic in size, which appeared to be striding +with a measured movement, along the margin of the island. It stepped +from cliff to cliff, and sometimes from one headland to another, while +the sea foamed and thundered on the shore beneath, and dashed its jets +of spray over the giant's feet. What was still more remarkable, whenever +the sun shone on this huge figure, it flickered and glimmered; its vast +countenance, too, had a metallic lustre, and threw great flashes of +splendor through the air. The folds of its garments, moreover, instead +of waving in the wind, fell heavily over its limbs, as if woven of some +kind of metal.</p> + +<p>The nigher the vessel came, the more Theseus wondered what this immense +giant could be, and whether it actually had life or no. For though it +walked, and made other lifelike motions, there yet was a kind of jerk in +its gait, which, together with its brazen aspect, caused the young +prince to suspect that it was no true giant, but only a wonderful piece +of machinery. The figure looked all the more terrible because it carried +an enormous brass club on its shoulder.</p> + +<p>"What is this wonder?" Theseus asked of the master of the vessel, who +was now at leisure to answer him.</p> + +<p>"It is Talus, the Man of Brass," said the master.</p> + +<p>"And is he a live giant, or a brazen image?" asked Theseus.</p> + +<p>"That, truly," replied the master, "is the point which has always +perplexed me. Some say, indeed, that this Talus was hammered out for +King Minos by Vulcan himself, the skilfullest of all workers in metal. +But who ever saw a brazen image that had sense enough to walk round an +island three times a day, as this giant walks round the island of Crete, +challenging every vessel that comes nigh the shore? And, on the other +hand, what living thing, unless his sinews were made of brass, would not +be weary of marching eighteen hundred miles in the twenty-four hours, as +Talus does, without ever sitting down to rest? He is a puzzler, take him +how you will."</p> + +<p>Still the vessel went bounding onward; and now Theseus could hear the +brazen clangor of the giant's footsteps, as he trod heavily upon the +sea-beaten rocks, some of which were seen to crack and crumble into the +foamy waves beneath his weight. As they approached the entrance of the +port, the giant straddled clear across it, with a foot firmly planted on +each headland, and uplifting his club to such a height that its butt-end +was hidden in a cloud, he stood in that formidable posture, with the sun +gleaming all over his metallic surface. There seemed nothing else to be +expected but that, the next moment, he would fetch his great club down, +slam bang, and smash the vessel into a thousand pieces, without heeding +how many innocent people he might destroy; for there is seldom any mercy +in a giant, you know, and quite as little in a piece of brass clockwork. +But just when Theseus and his companions thought the blow was coming, +the brazen lips unclosed themselves, and the figure spoke.</p> + +<p>"Whence come you, strangers?"</p> + +<p>And when the ringing voice ceased, there was just such a reverberation +as you may have heard within a great church bell, for a moment or two +after the stroke of the hammer.</p> + +<p>"From Athens!" shouted the master in reply.</p> + +<p>"On what errand?" thundered the Man of Brass.</p> + +<p>And he whirled his club aloft more threateningly than ever, as if he +were about to smite them with a thunder-stroke right amid-ships, because +Athens, so little while ago, had been at war with Crete.</p> + +<p>"We bring the seven youths and the seven maidens," answered the master, +"to be devoured by the Minotaur!"</p> + +<p>"Pass!" cried the brazen giant.</p> + +<p>That one loud word rolled all about the sky, while again there was a +booming reverberation within the figure's breast. The vessel glided +between the headlands of the port, and the giant resumed his march. In a +few moments, this wondrous sentinel was far away, flashing in the +distant sunshine, and revolving with immense strides around the island +of Crete, as it was his never-ceasing task to do.</p> + +<p>No sooner had they entered the harbor than a party of the guards of King +Minos came down to the water-side, and took charge of the fourteen young +men and damsels. Surrounded by these armed warriors, Prince Theseus and +his companions were led to the king's palace, and ushered into his +presence. Now, Minos was a stern and pitiless king. If the figure that +guarded Crete was made of brass, then the monarch, who ruled over it, +might be thought to have a still harder metal in his breast, and might +have been called a man of iron. He bent his shaggy brows upon the poor +Athenian victims. Any other mortal, beholding their fresh and tender +beauty, and their innocent looks, would have felt himself sitting on +thorns until he had made every soul of them happy, by bidding them go +free as the summer wind. But this immitigable Minos cared only to +examine whether they were plump enough to satisfy the Minotaur's +appetite. For my part, I wish he had himself been the only victim; and +the monster would have found him a pretty tough one.</p> + +<p>One after another, King Minos called these pale, frightened youths and +sobbing maidens to his footstool, gave them each a poke in the ribs with +his sceptre (to try whether they were in good flesh or no), and +dismissed them with a nod to his guards. But when his eyes rested on +Theseus, the king looked at him more attentively, because his face was +calm and brave.</p> + +<p>"Young man," asked he, with his stern voice, "are you not appalled at +the certainty of being devoured by this terrible Minotaur?"</p> + +<p>"I have offered my life in a good cause," answered Theseus, "and +therefore I give it freely and gladly. But thou, King Minos, art thou +not thyself appalled, who, year after year, hast perpetrated this +dreadful wrong, by giving seven innocent youths and as many maidens to +be devoured by a monster? Dost thou not tremble, wicked king, to turn +thine eyes inward on thine own heart? Sitting there on thy golden +throne, and in thy robes of majesty, I tell thee to thy face, King +Minos, thou art a more hideous monster than the Minotaur himself!"</p> + +<p>"Aha! do you think me so?" cried the king, laughing in his cruel way. +"To-morrow, at breakfast-time, you shall have an opportunity of judging +which is the greater monster, the Minotaur or the king! Take them away, +guards; and let this free-spoken youth be the Minotaur's first morsel!"</p> + +<p>Near the king's throne (though I had no time to tell you so before) +stood his daughter Ariadne. She was a beautiful and tender-hearted +maiden, and looked at these poor doomed captives with very different +feelings from those of the iron-breasted King Minos. She really wept, +indeed, at the idea of how much human happiness would be needlessly +thrown away, by giving so many young people, in the first bloom and rose +blossom of their lives, to be eaten up by a creature who, no doubt, +would have preferred a fat ox, or even a large pig, to the plumpest of +them. And when she beheld the brave, spirited figure of Prince Theseus +bearing himself so calmly in his terrible peril, she grew a hundred +times more pitiful than before. As the guards were taking him away, she +flung herself at the king's feet, and besought him to set all the +captives free, and especially this one young man.</p> + +<p>"Peace, foolish girl!" answered King Minos. "What hast thou to do with +an affair like this? It is a matter of state policy, and therefore quite +beyond thy weak comprehension. Go water thy flowers, and think no more +of these Athenian caitiffs, whom the Minotaur shall as certainly eat up +for breakfast as I will eat a partridge for my supper."</p> + +<p>So saying, the king looked cruel enough to devour Theseus and all the +rest of the captives, himself, had there been no Minotaur to save him +the trouble. As he would not hear another word in their favor, the +prisoners were now led away, and clapped into a dungeon, where the +jailer advised them to go to sleep as soon as possible, because the +Minotaur was in the habit of calling for breakfast early. The seven +maidens and six of the young men soon sobbed themselves to slumber! But +Theseus was not like them. He felt conscious that he was wiser and +braver and stronger than his companions, and that therefore he had the +responsibility of all their lives upon him, and must consider whether +there was no way to save them, even in this last extremity. So he kept +himself awake, and paced to and fro across the gloomy dungeon in which +they were shut up.</p> + +<p>Just before midnight, the door was softly unbarred, and the gentle +Ariadne showed herself, with a torch in her hand.</p> + +<p>"Are you awake, Prince Theseus?" she whispered.</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Theseus. "With so little time to live, I do not choose +to waste any of it in sleep."</p> + +<p>"Then follow me," said Ariadne, "and tread softly."</p> + +<p>What had become of the jailer and the guards, Theseus never knew. But +however that might be, Ariadne opened all the doors, and led him forth +from the darksome prison into the pleasant moonlight.</p> + +<p>"Theseus," said the maiden, "you can now get on board your vessel, and +sail away for Athens."</p> + +<p>"No," answered the young man; "I will never leave Crete unless I can +first slay the Minotaur, and save my poor companions, and deliver Athens +from this cruel tribute."</p> + +<p>"I knew that this would be your resolution," said Ariadne. "Come, then, +with me, brave Theseus. Here is your own sword, which the guards +deprived you of. You will need it; and pray Heaven you may use it well."</p> + +<p>Then she led Theseus along by the hand until they came to a dark, shadow +grove, where the moonlight wasted itself on the tops of the trees, +without shedding hardly so much as a glimmering beam upon their pathway. +After going a good way through this obscurity, they reached a high, +marble wall, which was overgrown with creeping plants, that made it +shaggy with their verdure. The wall seemed to have no door, nor any +windows, but rose up, lofty, and massive, and mysterious, and was +neither to be clambered over, nor, so far as Theseus could perceive, to +be passed through. Nevertheless, Ariadne did but press one of her soft +little fingers against a particular block of marble, and, though it +looked as solid as any other part of the wall, it yielded to her touch, +disclosing an entrance just wide enough to admit them. They crept +through, and the marble stone swung back into its place.</p> + +<p>"We are now," said Ariadne, "in the famous labyrinth which Dædalus built +before he made himself a pair of wings, and flew away from our island +like a bird. That Dædalus was a very cunning workman; but of all his +artful contrivances, this labyrinth is the most wondrous. Were we to +take but a few steps from the doorway, we might wander about all our +lifetime, and never find it again. Yet in the very centre of this +labyrinth is the Minotaur; and, Theseus, you must go thither to seek +him."</p> + +<p>"But how shall I ever find him?" asked Theseus, "if the labyrinth so +bewilders me as you say it will?"</p> + +<p>Just as he spoke, they heard a rough and very disagreeable roar, which +greatly resembled the lowing of a fierce bull, but yet had some sort of +sound like the human voice. Theseus even fancied a rude articulation in +it, as if the creature that uttered it were trying to shape his hoarse +breath into words. It was at some distance, however, and he really could +not tell whether it sounded most like a bull's roar or a man's harsh +voice.</p> + +<p>"That is the Minotaur's noise," whispered Ariadne, closely grasping the +hand of Theseus, and pressing one of her own hands to her heart, which +was all in a tremble. "You must follow that sound through the windings +of the labyrinth, and, by and by, you will find him. Stay! take the end +of this silken string; I will hold the other end; and then, if you win +the victory, it will lead you again to this spot. Farewell, brave +Theseus."</p> + +<p>So the young man took the end of the silken string in his left hand, and +his gold-hilted sword, ready drawn from its scabbard, in the other, and +trod boldly into the inscrutable labyrinth. How this labyrinth was built +is more than I can tell you. But so cunningly contrived a mizmaze was +never seen in the world, before nor since. There can be nothing else so +intricate, unless it were the brain of a man like Dædalus, who planned +it, or the heart of any ordinary man; which last, to be sure, is ten +times as great a mystery as the labyrinth of Crete. Theseus had not +taken five steps before he lost sight of Ariadne; and in five more his +head was growing dizzy. But still he went on, now creeping through a low +arch, now ascending a flight of steps, now in one crooked passage and +now in another, with here a door opening before him, and there one +banging behind, until it really seemed as if the walls spun round, and +whirled him round along with them. And all the while, through these +hollow avenues, now nearer, now farther off again, resounded the cry of +the Minotaur; and the sound was so fierce, so cruel, so ugly, so like a +bull's roar, and withal so like a human voice, and yet like neither of +them, that the brave heart of Theseus grew sterner and angrier at every +step; for he felt it an insult to the moon and sky, and to our +affectionate and simple Mother Earth, that such a monster should have +the audacity to exist.</p> + +<p>As he passed onward, the clouds gathered over the moon, and the +labyrinth grew so dusky that Theseus could no longer discern the +bewilderment through which he was passing. He would have felt quite +lost, and utterly hopeless of ever again walking in a straight path, if, +every little while, he had not been conscious of a gentle twitch at the +silken cord. Then he knew that the tender-hearted Ariadne was still +holding the other end, and that she was fearing for him, and hoping for +him, and giving him just as much of her sympathy as if she were close by +his side. Oh, indeed, I can assure you, there was a vast deal of human +sympathy running along that slender thread of silk. But still he +followed the dreadful roar of the Minotaur, which now grew louder and +louder, and finally so very loud that Theseus fully expected to come +close upon him, at every new zigzag and wriggle of the path. And at +last, in an open space, at the very centre of the labyrinth, he did +discern the hideous creature.</p> + +<p>Sure enough, what an ugly monster it was! Only his horned head belonged +to a bull; and yet, somehow or other, he looked like a bull all over, +preposterously waddling on his hind legs; or, if you happened to view +him in another way, he seemed wholly a man, and all the more monstrous +for being so. And there he was, the wretched thing, with no society, no +companion, no kind of a mate, living only to do mischief, and incapable +of knowing what affection means. Theseus hated him, and shuddered at +him, and yet could not but be sensible of some sort of pity; and all the +more, the uglier and more detestable the creature was. For he kept +striding to and fro in a solitary frenzy of rage, continually emitting a +hoarse roar, which was oddly mixed up with half-shaped words; and, after +listening awhile, Theseus understood that the Minotaur was saying to +himself how miserable he was, and how hungry, and how he hated +everybody, and how he longed to eat up the human race alive.</p> + +<p>Ah, the bull-headed villain! And O, my good little people, you will +perhaps see, one of these days, as I do now, that every human being who +suffers anything evil to get into his nature, or to remain there, is a +kind of Minotaur, an enemy of his fellow-creatures, and separated from +all good companionship, as this poor monster was.</p> + +<p>Was Theseus afraid? By no means, my dear auditors. What! a hero like +Theseus afraid! Not had the Minotaur had twenty bull heads instead of +one. Bold as he was, however, I rather fancy that it strengthened his +valiant heart, just at this crisis, to feel a tremulous twitch at the +silken cord, which he was still holding in his left hand. It was as if +Ariadne were giving him all her might and courage; and, much as he +already had, and little as she had to give, it made his own seem twice +as much. And to confess the honest truth, he needed the whole; for now +the Minotaur, turning suddenly about, caught sight of Theseus, and +instantly lowered his horribly sharp horns, exactly as a mad bull does +when he means to rush against an enemy. At the same time, he belched +forth a tremendous roar, in which there was something like the words of +human language, but all disjointed and shaken-to pieces by passing +through the gullet of a miserably enraged brute.</p> + +<p>Theseus could only guess what the creature intended to say, and that +rather by his gestures than his words; for the Minotaur's horns were +sharper than his wits, and of a great deal more service to him than his +tongue. But probably this was the sense of what he uttered:—</p> + +<p>"Ah, wretch of a human being! I'll stick my horns through you, and toss +you fifty feet high, and eat you up the moment you come down."</p> + +<p>"Come on, then, and try it!" was all that Theseus deigned to reply; for +he was far too magnanimous to assault his enemy with insolent language.</p> + +<p>Without more words on either side, there ensued the most awful fight +between Theseus and the Minotaur that ever happened beneath the sun or +moon. I really know not how it might have turned out, if the monster, in +his first headlong rush against Theseus, had not missed him, by a +hair's-breadth, and broken one of his horns short off against the stone +wall. On this mishap, he bellowed so intolerably that a part of the +labyrinth tumbled down, and all the inhabitants of Crete mistook the +noise for an uncommonly heavy thunder-storm. Smarting with the pain, he +galloped around the open space in so ridiculous a way that Theseus +laughed at it, long afterwards, though not precisely at the moment. +After this, the two antagonists stood valiantly up to one another, and +fought sword to horn, for a long while. At last, the Minotaur made a run +at Theseus, grazed his left side with his horn, and flung him down; and +thinking that he had stabbed him to the heart, he cut a great caper in +the air, opened his bull mouth from ear to ear, and prepared to snap his +head off. But Theseus by this time had leaped up, and caught the monster +off his guard. Fetching a sword-stroke at him with all his force, he hit +him fair upon the neck, and made his bull head skip six yards from his +human body, which fell down flat upon the ground.</p> + +<p>So now the battle was ended. Immediately the moon shone out as brightly +as if all the troubles of the world, and all the wickedness and the +ugliness that infest human life, were past and gone forever. And +Theseus, as he leaned on his sword, taking breath, felt another twitch +of the silken cord; for all through the terrible encounter he had held +it fast in his left hand. Eager to let Ariadne know of his success, he +followed the guidance of the thread, and soon found himself at the +entrance of the labyrinth.</p> + +<p>"Thou hast slain the monster," cried Ariadne, clasping her hands.</p> + +<p>"Thanks to thee, dear Ariadne," answered Theseus, "I return victorious."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Ariadne, "we must quickly summon thy friends, and get them +and thyself on board the vessel before dawn. If morning finds thee here, +my father will avenge the Minotaur."</p> + +<p>To make my story short, the poor captives were awakened, and, hardly +knowing whether it was not a joyful dream, were told of what Theseus had +done, and that they must set sail for Athens before daybreak. Hastening +down to the vessel, they all clambered on board, except Prince Theseus, +who lingered behind them, on the strand, holding Ariadne's hand clasped +in his own.</p> + +<p>"Dear maiden," said he, "thou wilt surely go with us. Thou art too +gentle and sweet a child for such an iron-hearted father as King Minos. +He cares no more for thee than a granite rock cares for the little +flower that grows in one of its crevices. But my father. King Ægeus, and +my dear mother, Æthra, and all the fathers and mothers in Athens, and +all the sons and daughters too, will love and honor thee as their +benefactress. Come with us, then; for King Minos will be very angry when +he knows what thou hast done."</p> + +<p>Now, some low-minded people, who pretend to tell the story of Theseus +and Ariadne, have the face to say that this royal and honorable maiden +did really flee away, under cover of the night, with the young stranger +whose life she had preserved. They say, too, that Prince Theseus (who +would have died sooner than wrong the meanest creature in the world) +ungratefully deserted Ariadne, on a solitary island, where the vessel +touched on its voyage to Athens. But, had the noble Theseus heard these +falsehoods, he would have served their slanderous authors as he served +the Minotaur! Here is what Ariadne answered, when the brave Prince of +Athens besought her to accompany him:—</p> + +<p>"No, Theseus," the maiden said, pressing his hand, and then drawing back +a step or two, "I cannot go with you. My father is old, and has nobody +but myself to love him. Hard as you think his heart is, it would break +to lose me. At first King Minos will be angry; but he will soon forgive +his only child; and, by and by, he will rejoice, I know, that no more +youths and maidens must come from Athens to be devoured by the Minotaur. +I have saved you, Theseus, as much for my father's sake as for your own. +Farewell! Heaven bless you!"</p> + +<p>All this was so true, and so maiden-like, and was spoken with so sweet a +dignity, that Theseus would have blushed to urge her any longer. Nothing +remained for him, therefore, but to bid Ariadne an affectionate +farewell, and go on board the vessel, and set sail.</p> + +<p>In a few moments the white foam was boiling up before their prow, as +Prince Theseus and his companions sailed out of the harbor with a +whistling breeze behind them. Talus, the brazen giant, on his +never-ceasing sentinel's march, happened to be approaching that part of +the coast; and they saw him, by the glimmering of the moonbeams on his +polished surface, while he was yet a great way off. As the figure moved +like clockwork, however, and could neither hasten his enormous strides +nor retard them, he arrived at the port when they were just beyond the +reach of his club. Nevertheless, straddling from headland to headland, +as his custom was, Talus attempted to strike a blow at the vessel, and, +overreaching himself, tumbled at full length into the sea, which +splashed high over his gigantic shape, as when an iceberg turns a +somerset. There he lies yet; and whoever desires to enrich himself by +means of brass had better go thither with a diving-bell, and fish up +Talus.</p> + +<p>On the homeward voyage, the fourteen youths and damsels were in +excellent spirits, as you will easily suppose. They spent most of their +time in dancing, unless when the sidelong breeze made the deck slope too +much. In due season, they came within sight of the coast of Attica, +which was their native country. But here, I am grieved to tell you, +happened a sad misfortune.</p> + +<p>You will remember (what Theseus unfortunately forgot) that his father, +King Ægeus, had enjoined it upon him to hoist sunshine sails, instead of +black ones, in case he should overcome the Minotaur, and return +victorious. In the joy of their success, however, and amidst the sports, +dancing, and other merriment, with which these young folks wore away the +time, they never once thought whether their sails were black, white, or +rainbow colored, and, indeed, left it entirely to the mariners whether +they had any sails at all. Thus the vessel returned, like a raven, with +the same sable wings that had wafted her away. But poor King Ægeus, day +after day, infirm as he was, had clambered to the summit of a cliff that +overhung the sea, and there sat watching for Prince Theseus, homeward +bound; and no sooner did he behold the fatal blackness of the sails, +than he concluded that his dear son, whom he loved so much, and felt so +proud of, had been eaten by the Minotaur. He could not bear the thought +of living any longer; so, first flinging his crown and sceptre into the +sea, (useless bawbles that they were to him now!) King Ægeus merely +stooped forward, and fell headlong over the cliff, and was drowned, poor +soul, in the waves that foamed at its base!</p> + +<p>This was melancholy news for Prince Theseus, who, when he stepped +ashore, found himself king of all the country, whether he would or no; +and such a turn of fortune was enough to make any young man feel very +much out of spirits. However, he sent for his dear mother to Athens, +and, by taking her advice in matters of state, became a very excellent +monarch, and was greatly beloved by his people.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="The_Pygmies" id="The_Pygmies"></a>The Pygmies</h2> + + +<p>A great while ago, when the world was full of wonders, there lived an +earth-born Giant named Antæus, and a million or more of curious little +earth-born people, who were called Pygmies. This Giant and these Pygmies +being children of the same mother (that is to say, our good old +Grandmother Earth), were all brethren and dwelt together in a very +friendly and affectionate manner, far, far off, in the middle of hot +Africa. The Pygmies were so small, and there were so many sandy deserts +and such high mountains between them and the rest of mankind, that +nobody could get a peep at them oftener than once in a hundred years. As +for the Giant, being of a very lofty stature, it was easy enough to see +him, but safest to keep out of his sight.</p> + +<p>Among the Pygmies, I suppose, if one of them grew to the height of six +or eight inches, he was reckoned a prodigiously tall man. It must have +been very pretty to behold their little cities, with streets two or +three feet wide, paved with the smallest pebbles, and bordered by +habitations about as big as a squirrel's cage. The king's palace +attained to the stupendous magnitude of Periwinkle's baby-house, and +stood in the centre of a spacious square, which could hardly have been +covered by our hearth-rug. Their principal temple, or cathedral, was as +lofty as yonder bureau, and was looked upon as a wonderfully sublime and +magnificent edifice. All these structures were built neither of stone +nor wood. They were neatly plastered together by the Pygmy workmen, +pretty much like bird's-nests, out of straw, feathers, eggshells, and +other small bits of stuff, with stiff clay instead of mortar; and when +the hot sun had dried them, they were just as snug and comfortable as a +Pygmy could desire.</p> + +<p>The country round about was conveniently laid out in fields, the largest +of which was nearly of the same extent as one of Sweet Fern's +flower-beds. Here the Pygmies used to plant wheat and other kinds of +grain, which, when it grew up and ripened, overshadowed these tiny +people, as the pines, and the oaks, and the walnut and chestnut-trees +overshadow you and me, when we walk in our own tracts of woodland. At +harvest-time, they were forced to go with their little axes and cut down +the grain, exactly as a wood-cutter makes a clearing in the forest; and +when a stalk of wheat, with its overburdened top, chanced to come +crashing down upon an unfortunate Pygmy, it was apt to be a very sad +affair. If it did not smash him all to pieces, at least, I am sure, it +must have made the poor little fellow's head ache. And oh, my stars! if +the fathers and mothers were so small, what must the children and babies +have been? A whole family of them might have been put to bed in a shoe, +or have crept into an old glove, and played at hide-and-seek in its +thumb and fingers. You might have hidden a year-old baby under a +thimble.</p> + +<p>Now these funny Pygmies, as I told you before, had a Giant for their +neighbor and brother, who was bigger, if possible, than they were +little. He was so very tall that he carried a pine-tree, which was eight +feet through the butt, for a walking-stick. It took a far-sighted Pygmy, +I can assure you, to discern his summit without the help of a telescope; +and sometimes, in misty weather, they could not see his upper half, but +only his long legs, which seemed to be striding about by themselves. But +at noonday, in a clear atmosphere, when the sun shone brightly over him, +the Giant Antæus presented a very grand spectacle. There he used to +stand, a perfect mountain of a man, with his great countenance smiling +down upon his little brothers, and his one vast eye (which was as big +as a cart-wheel, and placed right in the centre of his forehead) giving +a friendly wink to the whole nation at once.</p> + +<p>The Pygmies loved to talk with Antæus; and fifty times a day, one or +another of them would turn up his head, and shout through the hollow of +his fists, "Halloo, brother Antæus! How are you, my good fellow?" and +when the small, distant squeak of their voices reached his ear, the +Giant would make answer, "Pretty well, brother Pygmy, I thank you," in a +thunderous roar that would have shaken down the walls of their strongest +temple, only that it came from so far aloft.</p> + +<p>It was a happy circumstance that Antæus was the Pygmy people's friend; +for there was more strength in his little finger than in ten million of +such bodies as theirs. If he had been as ill-natured to them as he was +to everybody else, he might have beaten down their biggest city at one +kick, and hardly have known that he did it. With the tornado of his +breath, he could have stripped the roofs from a hundred dwellings, and +sent thousands of the inhabitants whirling through the air. He might +have set his immense foot upon a multitude; and when he took it up +again, there would have been a pitiful sight, to be sure. But, being the +son of Mother Earth, as they likewise were, the Giant gave them his +brotherly kindness, and loved them with as big a love as it was possible +to feel for creatures so very small. And, on their parts, the Pygmies +loved Antæus with as much affection as their tiny hearts could hold. He +was always ready to do them any good offices that lay in his power; as, +for example, when they wanted a breeze to turn their windmills, the +Giant would set all the sails a-going with the mere natural respiration +of his lungs. When the sun was too hot, he often sat himself down, and +let his shadow fall over the kingdom, from one frontier to the other; +and as for matters in general, he was wise enough to let them alone, and +leave the Pygmies to manage their own affairs,—which, after all, is +about the best thing that great people can do for little ones.</p> + +<p>In short, as I said before, Antæus loved the Pygmies, and the Pygmies +loved Antæus. The Giant's life being as long as his body was large, +while the lifetime of a Pygmy was but a span, this friendly intercourse +had been going on for innumerable generations and ages. It was written +about in the Pygmy histories, and talked about in their ancient +traditions. The most venerable and white-bearded Pygmy had never heard +of a time, even in his greatest of grandfather's days, when the Giant +was not their enormous friend. Once, to be sure (as was recorded on an +obelisk, three feet high, erected on the place of the catastrophe), +Antæus sat down upon about five thousand Pygmies, who were assembled at +a military review. But this was one of those unlucky accidents for which +nobody is to blame; so that the small folks never took it to heart, and +only requested the Giant to be careful forever afterwards to examine the +acre of ground where he intended to squat himself.</p> + +<p>It is a very pleasant picture to imagine Antæus standing among the +Pygmies, like the spire of the tallest cathedral that ever was built, +while they ran about like pismires at his feet; and to think that, in +spite of their difference in size, there were affection and sympathy +between them and him! Indeed, it has always seemed to me that the Giant +needed the little people more than the Pygmies needed the Giant. For, +unless they had been his neighbors and wellwishers, and, as we may say, +his playfellows, Antæus would not have had a single friend in the world. +No other being like himself had ever been created. No creature of his +own size had ever talked with him, in thunder-like accents, face to +face. When he stood with his head among the clouds, he was quite alone, +and had been so for hundreds of years, and would be so forever. Even if +he had met another Giant, Antæus would have fancied the world not big +enough for two such vast personages, and, instead of being friends with +him, would have fought him till one of the two was killed. But with the +Pygmies he was the most sportive, and humorous, and merry-hearted, and +sweet-tempered old Giant that ever washed his face in a wet cloud.</p> + +<p>His little friends, like all other small people, had a great opinion of +their own importance, and used to assume quite a patronizing air towards +the Giant.</p> + +<p>"Poor creature!" they said one to another. "He has a very dull time of +it, all by himself; and we ought not to grudge wasting a little of our +precious time to amuse him. He is not half so bright as we are, to be +sure; and, for that reason, he needs us to look after his comfort and +happiness. Let us be kind to the old fellow. Why, if Mother Earth had +not been very kind to ourselves, we might all have been Giants too."</p> + +<p>On all their holidays, the Pygmies had excellent sport with Antæus. He +often stretched himself out at full length on the ground, where he +looked like the long ridge of a hill; and it was a good hour's walk, no +doubt, for a short-legged Pygmy to journey from head to foot of the +Giant. He would lay down his great hand flat on the grass, and challenge +the tallest of them to clamber upon it, and straddle from finger to +finger. So fearless were they, that they made nothing of creeping in +among the folds of his garments. When his head lay sidewise on the +earth, they would march boldly up, and peep into the great cavern of his +mouth, and take it all as a joke, (as indeed it was meant) when Antæus +gave a sudden snap with his jaws, as if he were going to swallow fifty +of them at once. You would have laughed to see the children dodging in +and out among his hair, or swinging from his beard. It is impossible to +tell half of the funny tricks that they played with their huge comrade; +but I do not know that anything was more curious than when a party of +boys were seen running races on his forehead, to try which of them could +get first round the circle of his one great eye. It was another favorite +feat with them to march along the bridge of his nose, and jump down upon +his upper lip.</p> + +<p>If the truth must be told, they were sometimes as troublesome to the +Giant as a swarm of ants or mosquitoes, especially as they had a +fondness for mischief, and liked to prick his skin with their little +swords and lances, to see how thick and tough it was. But Antæus took it +all kindly enough; although, once in a while, when he happened to be +sleepy, he would grumble out a peevish word or two, like the muttering +of a tempest, and ask them to have done with their nonsense. A great +deal oftener, however, he watched their merriment and gambols until his +huge, heavy, clumsy wits were completely stirred up by them; and then +would he roar out such a tremendous volume of immeasurable laughter, +that the whole nation of Pygmies had to put their hands to their ears, +else it would certainly have deafened them.</p> + +<p>"Ho! ho! ho!" quoth the Giant, shaking his mountainous sides. "What a +funny thing it is to be little! If I were not Antæus, I should like to +be a pygmy, just for the joke's sake."</p> + +<p>The Pygmies had but one thing to trouble them in the world. They were +constantly at war with the cranes, and had always been so, ever since +the long-lived giant could remember. From time to time very terrible +battles had been fought, in which sometimes the little men won the +victory, and sometimes the cranes. According to some historians, the +Pygmies used to go to the battle, mounted on the backs of goats and +rams; but such animals as these must have been far too big for Pygmies +to ride upon; so that, I rather suppose, they rode on squirrel-back, or +rabbit-back, or rat-back, or perhaps got upon hedgehogs, whose prickly +quills would be very terrible to the enemy. However this might be, and +whatever creatures the Pygmies rode upon, I do not doubt that they made +a formidable appearance, armed with sword and spear, and bow and arrow, +blowing their tiny trumpet, and shouting their little war-cry. They +never failed to exhort one another to fight bravely, and recollect that +the world had its eyes upon them; although, in simple truth, the only +spectator was the Giant Antæus, with his one, great, stupid eye, in the +middle of his forehead.</p> + +<p>When the two armies joined battle, the cranes would rush forward, +flapping their wings and stretching out their necks, and would perhaps +snatch up some of the Pygmies crosswise in their beaks. Whenever this +happened, it was truly an awful spectacle to see those little men of +might kicking and sprawling in the air, and at last disappearing down +the crane's long, crooked throat, swallowed up alive. A hero, you know, +must hold himself in readiness for any kind of fate; and doubtless the +glory of the thing was a consolation to him, even in the crane's +gizzard. If Antæus observed that the battle was going hard against his +little allies, he generally stopped laughing, and ran with mile-long +strides to their assistance, flourishing his club aloft and shouting at +the cranes, who quacked and croaked, and retreated as fast as they +could. Then the Pygmy army would march homeward in triumph, attributing +the victory entirely to their own valor, and to the warlike skill and +strategy of whomsoever happened to be captain general; and for a tedious +while afterwards, nothing would be heard of but grand processions, and +public banquets, and brilliant illuminations, and shows of waxwork, with +likenesses of the distinguished officers as small as life.</p> + +<p>In the above-described warfare, if a Pygmy chanced to pluck out a +crane's tail-feather, it proved a very great feather in his cap. Once or +twice, if you will believe me, a little man was made chief ruler of the +nation for no other merit in the world than bringing home such a +feather.</p> + +<p>But I have now said enough to let you see what a gallant little people +these were, and how happily they and their forefathers, for nobody knows +how many generations, had lived with the immeasurable Giant Antæus. In +the remaining part of the story, I shall tell you of a far more +astonishing battle than any that was fought between the Pygmies and the +cranes.</p> + +<p>One day the mighty Antæus was lolling at full length among his little +friends. His pine-tree walking-stick lay on the ground close by his +side. His head was in one part of the kingdom, and his feet extended +across the boundaries of another part; and he was taking whatever +comfort he could get, while the Pygmies scrambled over him, and peeped +into his cavernous mouth, and played among his hair. Sometimes, for a +minute or two, the Giant dropped asleep, and snored like the rush of a +whirlwind. During one of these little bits of slumber, a Pygmy chanced +to climb upon his shoulder, and took a view around the horizon, as from +the summit of a hill; and he beheld something, a long way off, which +made him rub the bright specks of his eyes, and look sharper than +before. At first he mistook it for a mountain, and wondered how it had +grown up so suddenly out of the earth. But soon he saw the mountain +move. As it came nearer and nearer, what should it turn out to be but a +human shape, not so big as Antæus, it is true, although a very enormous +figure, in comparison with Pygmies, and a vast deal bigger than the men +whom we see nowadays.</p> + +<p>When the Pygmy was quite satisfied that his eyes had not deceived him, +he scampered, as fast as his legs would carry him, to the Giant's ear, +and stooping over its cavity, shouted lustily into it,—</p> + +<p>"Halloo, brother Antæus! Get up this minute, and take your pine-tree +walking-stick in your hand. Here comes another Giant to have a tussle +with you."</p> + +<p>"Poh, poh!" grumbled Antæus, only half awake, "None of your nonsense, my +little fellow! Don't you see I'm sleepy. There is not a Giant on earth +for whom I would take the trouble to get up."</p> + +<p>But the Pygmy looked again, and now perceived that the stranger was +coming directly towards the prostrate form of Antæus. With every step he +looked less like a blue mountain, and more like an immensely large man. +He was soon so nigh, that there could be no possible mistake about the +matter. There he was, with the sun flaming on his golden helmet, and +flashing from his polished breastplate; he had a sword by his side, and +a lion's skin over his back, and on his right shoulder he carried a +club, which looked bulkier and heavier than the pine-tree walking-stick +of Antæus.</p> + +<p>By this time, the whole nation of Pygmies had seen the new wonder, and a +million of them set up a shout, all together; so that it really made +quite an audible squeak.</p> + +<p>"Get up, Antæus! Bestir yourself, you lazy old Giant! Here comes another +Giant, as strong as you are, to fight with you."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, nonsense!" growled the sleepy Giant. "I'll have my nap out."</p> + +<p>Still the stranger drew nearer; and now the Pygmies could plainly +discern that if his stature were less lofty than the Giant's, yet his +shoulders were even broader. And, in truth, what a pair of shoulders +they must have been! As I told you, a long while ago, they once upheld +the sky. The Pygmies, being ten times as vivacious as their great +numskull of a brother, could not abide the Giant's slow movements, and +were determined to have him on his feet. So they kept shouting to him, +and even went so far as to prick him with their swords.</p> + +<p>"Get up, get up, get up!" they cried. "Up with you, lazy bones! The +strange Giant's club is bigger than your own, his shoulders are the +broadest, and we think him the stronger of the two."</p> + +<p>Antæus could not endure to have it said that any mortal was half so +mighty as himself. This latter remark of the Pygmies pricked him deeper +than their swords; and, sitting up, in rather a sulky humor, he gave a +gape of several yards wide, rubbed his eye, and finally turned his +stupid head in the direction whither his little friends were eagerly +pointing.</p> + +<p>No sooner did he set eye on the stranger than, leaping on his feet, and +seizing his walking-stick, he strode a mile or two to meet him; all the +while brandishing the sturdy pine-tree, so that it whistled through the +air.</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" thundered the Giant. "And what do you want in my +dominions?"</p> + +<p>There was one strange thing about Antæus, of which I have not yet told +you, lest, hearing of so many wonders all in a lump, you might not +believe much more than half of them. You are to know, then, that +whenever this redoubtable Giant touched the ground, either with his +hand, his foot, or any other part of his body, he grew stronger than +ever he had been before. The Earth, you remember, was his mother, and +was very fond of him, as being almost the biggest of her children; and +so she took this method of keeping him always in full vigor. Some +persons affirm that he grew ten times stronger at every touch; others +say that it was only twice as strong. But only think of it! Whenever +Antæus took a walk, supposing it were but ten miles, and that he stepped +a hundred yards at a stride, you may try to cipher out how much mightier +he was, on sitting down again, than when he first started. And whenever +he flung himself on the earth to take a little repose, even if he got up +the very next instant, he would be as strong as exactly ten just such +giants as his former self. It was well for the world that Antæus +happened to be of a sluggish disposition, and liked ease better than +exercise; for, if he had frisked about like the Pygmies, and touched the +earth as often as they did, he would long ago have been strong enough to +pull down the sky about people's ears. But these great lubberly fellows +resemble mountains, not only in bulk, but in their disinclination to +move.</p> + +<p>Any other mortal man, except the very one whom Antæus had now +encountered, would have been half frightened to death by the Giant's +ferocious aspect and terrible voice. But the stranger did not seem at +all disturbed. He carelessly lifted his club, and balanced it in his +hand, measuring Antæus with his eye from head to foot, not as if +wonder-smitten at his stature, but as if he had seen a great many Giants +before, and this was by no means the biggest of them. In fact, if the +Giant had been no bigger than the Pygmies (who stood pricking up their +ears, and looking and listening to what was going forward), the stranger +could not have been less afraid of him.</p> + +<p>"Who are you, I say?" roared Antæus again. "What's your name? Why do you +come hither? Speak, you vagabond, or I'll try the thickness of your +skull with my walking-stick."</p> + +<p>"You are a very discourteous Giant," answered the stranger, quietly, +"and I shall probably have to teach you a little civility, before we +part. As for my name, it is Hercules. I have come hither because this is +my most convenient road to the garden of the Hesperides, whither I am +going to get three of the golden apples for King Eurystheus."</p> + +<p>"Caitiff, you shall go no farther!" bellowed Antæus, putting on a +grimmer look than before; for he had heard of the mighty Hercules, and +hated him because he was said to be so strong. "Neither shall you go +back whence you came!"</p> + +<p>"How will you prevent me," asked Hercules, "from going whither I +please?"</p> + +<p>"By hitting you a rap with this pine-tree here," shouted Antæus, +scowling so that he made himself the ugliest monster in Africa. "I am +fifty times stronger than you; and, now that I stamp my foot upon the +ground, I am five hundred times stronger! I am ashamed to kill such a +puny little dwarf as you seem to be. I will make a slave of you, and you +shall likewise be the slave of my brethren, here, the Pygmies. So throw +down your club and your other weapons; and as for that lion's skin, I +intend to have a pair of gloves made of it."</p> + +<p>"Come and take it off my shoulders, then," answered Hercules, lifting +his club.</p> + +<p>Then the Giant, grinning with rage, strode towerlike towards the +stranger (ten times strengthened at every step), and fetched a monstrous +blow at him with his pine-tree, which Hercules caught upon his club; and +being more skilful than Antæus, he paid him back such a rap upon the +sconce, that down tumbled the great lumbering man-mountain, flat upon +the ground. The poor little Pygmies (who really never dreamed that +anybody in the world was half so strong as their brother Antæus) were a +good deal dismayed at this. But no sooner was the Giant down, than up he +bounced again, with tenfold might, and such a furious visage as was +horrible to behold. He aimed another blow at Hercules, but struck awry, +being blinded with wrath, and only hit his poor, innocent Mother Earth, +who groaned and trembled at the stroke. His pine-tree went so deep into +the ground, and stuck there so fast, that before Antæus could get it +out, Hercules brought down his club across his shoulders with a mighty +thwack, which made the Giant roar as if all sorts of intolerable noises +had come screeching and rumbling out of his immeasurable lungs in that +one cry. Away it went, over mountains and valleys, and, for aught I +know, was heard on the other side of the African deserts.</p> + +<p>As for the Pygmies, their capital city was laid in ruins by the +concussion and vibration of the air; and, though there was uproar enough +without their help, they all set up a shriek out of three millions of +little throats, fancying, no doubt, that they swelled the Giant's bellow +by at least ten times as much. Meanwhile, Antæus had scrambled upon his +feet again, and pulled his pine-tree out of the earth; and, all a-flame +with fury, and more outrageously strong than ever, he ran at Hercules, +and brought down another blow.</p> + +<p>"This time, rascal," shouted he, "you shall not escape me."</p> + +<p>But once more Hercules warded off the stroke with his club, and the +Giant's pine-tree was shattered into a thousand splinters, most of which +flew among the Pygmies, and did them more mischief than I like to think +about. Before Antæus could get out of the way, Hercules let drive +again, and gave him another knock-down blow, which sent him heels over +head, but served only to increase his already enormous and insufferable +strength. As for his rage, there is no telling what a fiery furnace it +had now got to be. His one eye was nothing but a circle of red flame. +Having now no weapons but his fists, he doubled them up (each bigger +than a hogshead), smote one against the other, and danced up and down +with absolute frenzy, flourishing his immense arms about, as if he meant +not merely to kill Hercules, but to smash the whole world to pieces.</p> + +<p>"Come on!" roared this thundering Giant. "Let me hit you but one box on +the ear, and you'll never have the headache again."</p> + +<p>Now Hercules (though strong enough, as you already know, to hold the sky +up) began to be sensible that he should never win the victory, if he +kept on knocking Antæus down; for, by and by, if he hit him such hard +blows, the Giant would inevitably, by the help of his Mother Earth, +become stronger than the mighty Hercules himself. So, throwing down his +club, with which he had fought so many dreadful battles, the hero stood +ready to receive his antagonist with naked arms.</p> + +<p>"Step forward," cried he. "Since I've broken your pine-tree, we'll try +which is the better man at a wrestling-match."</p> + +<p>"Aha! then I'll soon satisfy you," shouted the Giant; for, if there was +one thing on which he prided himself more than another, it was his skill +in wrestling. "Villain, I'll fling you where you can never pick yourself +up again."</p> + +<p>On came Antæus, hopping and capering with the scorching heat of his +rage, and getting new vigor wherewith to wreak his passion every time he +hopped. But Hercules, you must understand, was wiser than this numskull +of a Giant, and had thought of a way to fight him,—huge, earth-born +monster that he was,—and to conquer him too, in spite of all that his +Mother Earth could do for him. Watching his opportunity, as the mad +Giant made a rush at him, Hercules caught him round the middle with both +hands, lifted him high into the air, and held him aloft overhead.</p> + +<p>Just imagine it, my dear little friends! What a spectacle it must have +been, to see this monstrous fellow sprawling in the air, face downward, +kicking out his long legs and wriggling his whole vast body, like a baby +when its father holds it at arm's-length toward the ceiling.</p> + +<p>But the most wonderful thing was, that, as soon as Antæus was fairly off +the earth, he began to lose the vigor which he had gained by touching +it. Hercules very soon perceived that his troublesome enemy was growing +weaker, both because he struggled and kicked with less violence, and +because the thunder of his big voice subsided into a grumble. The truth +was, that, unless the Giant touched Mother Earth as often as once in +five minutes, not only his overgrown strength, but the very breath of +his life, would depart from him. Hercules had guessed this secret; and +it may be well for us all to remember it, in case we should ever have to +fight a battle with a fellow like Antæus. For these earth-born creatures +are only difficult to conquer on their own ground, but may easily be +managed if we can contrive to lift them into a loftier and purer region. +So it proved with the poor Giant, whom I am really sorry for, +notwithstanding his uncivil way of treating strangers who came to visit +him.</p> + +<p>When his strength and breath were quite gone, Hercules gave his huge +body a toss, and flung it about a mile off, where it fell heavily, and +lay with no more motion than a sand-hill. It was too late for the +Giant's Mother Earth to help him now; and I should not wonder if his +ponderous bones were lying on the same spot to this very day, and were +mistaken for those of an uncommonly large elephant.</p> + +<p>But, alas me! What a wailing did the poor little Pygmies set up when +they saw their enormous brother treated in this terrible manner! If +Hercules heard their shrieks, however, he took no notice, and perhaps +fancied them only the shrill, plaintive twittering of small birds that +had been frightened from their nests by the uproar of the battle between +himself and Antæus. Indeed, his thoughts had been so much taken up with +the Giant, that he had never once looked at the Pygmies, nor even knew +that there was such a funny little nation in the world. And now, as he +had travelled a good way, and was also rather weary with his exertions +in the fight, he spread out his lion's skin on the ground, and reclining +himself upon it, fell fast asleep.</p> + +<p>As soon as the Pygmies saw Hercules preparing for a nap, they nodded +their little heads at one another, and winked with their little eyes. +And when his deep, regular breathing gave them notice that he was +asleep, they assembled together in an immense crowd, spreading over a +space of about twenty-seven feet square. One of their most eloquent +orators (and a valiant warrior enough, besides, though hardly so good at +any other weapon as he was with his tongue) climbed upon a toadstool, +and, from that elevated position, addressed the multitude. His +sentiments were pretty much as follows; or, at all events, something +like this was probably the upshot of his speech:—</p> + +<p>"Tall Pygmies and mighty little men! You and all of us have seen what a +public calamity has been brought to pass, and what an insult has here +been offered to the majesty of our nation. Yonder lies Antæus, our great +friend and brother, slain, within our territory, by a miscreant who took +him at disadvantage, and fought him (if fighting it can be called) in a +way that neither man, nor Giant, nor Pygmy ever dreamed of fighting +until this hour. And, adding a grievous contumely to the wrong already +done us, the miscreant has now fallen asleep as quietly as if nothing +were to be dreaded from our wrath! It behooves you, fellow-countrymen, +to consider in what aspect we shall stand before the world, and what +will be the verdict of impartial history, should we suffer these +accumulated outrages to go unavenged.</p> + +<p>"Antæus was our brother, born of that same beloved parent to whom we owe +the thews and sinews, as well as the courageous hearts, which made him +proud of our relationship. He was our faithful ally, and fell fighting +as much for our national rights and immunities as for his own personal +ones. We and our forefathers have dwelt in friendship with him, and held +affectionate intercourse, as man to man, through immemorial generations. +You remember how often our entire people have reposed in his great +shadow, and how our little ones have played at hide-and-seek in the +tangles of his hair, and how his mighty footsteps have familiarly gone +to and fro among us, and never trodden upon any of our toes. And there +lies this dear brother,—this sweet and amiable friend,—this brave and +faithful ally,—this virtuous Giant,—this blameless and excellent +Antæus,—dead! Dead! Silent! Powerless! A mere mountain of clay! Forgive +my tears! Nay, I behold your own! Were we to drown the world with them, +could the world blame us?</p> + +<p>"But to resume: Shall we, my countrymen, suffer this wicked stranger to +depart unharmed, and triumph in his treacherous victory, among distant +communities of the earth? Shall we not rather compel him to leave his +bones here on our soil, by the side of our slain brother's bones, so +that, while one skeleton shall remain as the everlasting monument of our +sorrow, the other shall endure as long, exhibiting to the whole human +race a terrible example of Pygmy vengeance? Such is the question. I put +it to you in full confidence of a response that shall be worthy of our +national character, and calculated to increase, rather than diminish, +the glory which our ancestors have transmitted to us, and which we +ourselves have proudly vindicated in our welfare with the cranes."</p> + +<p>The orator was here interrupted by a burst of irrepressible enthusiasm; +every individual Pygmy crying out that the national honor must be +preserved at all hazards. He bowed, and making a gesture for silence, +wound up his harangue in the following admirable manner:—</p> + +<p>"It only remains for us, then, to decide whether we shall carry on the +war in our national capacity,—one united people against a common +enemy,—or whether some champion, famous in former fights, shall be +selected to defy the slayer of our brother Antæus to single combat. In +the latter case, though not unconscious that there may be taller men +among you, I hereby offer myself for that enviable duty. And, believe +me, dear countrymen, whether I live or die, the honor of this great +country, and the fame bequeathed us by our heroic progenitors, shall +suffer no diminution in my hands. Never, while I can wield this sword, +of which I now fling away the scabbard,—never, never, never, even if +the crimson hand that slew the great Antæus shall lay me prostrate, like +him, on the soil which I give my life to defend."</p> + +<p>So saying, this valiant Pygmy drew out his weapon (which was terrible to +behold, being as long as the blade of a penknife), and sent the scabbard +whirling over the heads of the multitude. His speech was followed by an +uproar of applause, as its patriotism and self-devotion unquestionably +deserved; and the shouts and clapping of hands would have been greatly +prolonged had they not been rendered quite inaudible by a deep +respiration, vulgarly called a snore, from the sleeping Hercules.</p> + +<p>It was finally decided that the whole nation of Pygmies should set to +work to destroy Hercules; not, be it understood, from any doubt that a +single champion would be capable of putting him to the sword, but +because he was a public enemy, and all were desirous of sharing in the +glory of his defeat. There was a debate whether the national honor did +not demand that a herald should be sent with a trumpet, to stand over +the ear of Hercules, and, after blowing a blast right into it, to defy +him to the combat by formal proclamation. But two or three venerable and +sagacious Pygmies, well versed in state affairs, gave it as their +opinion that war already existed, and that it was their rightful +privilege to take the enemy by surprise. Moreover, if awakened, and +allowed to get upon his feet, Hercules might happen to do them a +mischief before he could be beaten down again. For, as these sage +counsellors remarked, the stranger's club was really very big, and had +rattled like a thunderbolt against the skull of Antæus. So the Pygmies +resolved to set aside all foolish punctilios, and assail their +antagonist at once.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, all the fighting men of the nation took their weapons, and +went boldly up to Hercules, who still lay fast asleep, little dreaming +of the harm which the Pygmies meant to do him. A body of twenty thousand +archers marched in front, with their little bows all ready, and the +arrows on the string. The same number were ordered to clamber upon +Hercules, some with spades to dig his eyes out, and others with bundles +of hay, and all manner of rubbish, with which they intended to plug up +his mouth and nostrils, so that he might perish for lack of breath. +These last, however, could by no means perform their appointed duty; +inasmuch as the enemy's breath rushed out of his nose in an obstreperous +hurricane and whirlwind, which blew the Pygmies away as fast as they +came nigh. It was found necessary, therefore, to hit upon some other +method of carrying on the war.</p> + +<p>After holding a council, the captains ordered their troops to collect +sticks, straws, dry weeds, and whatever combustible stuff they could +find, and make a pile of it, heaping it high around the head of +Hercules. As a great many thousand Pygmies were employed in this task, +they soon brought together several bushels of inflammatory matter, and +raised so tall a heap, that, mounting on its summit, they were quite +upon a level with the sleeper's face. The archers, meanwhile, were +stationed within bow-shot, with orders to let fly at Hercules the +instant that he stirred. Everything being in readiness, a torch was +applied to the pile, which immediately burst into flames, and soon waxed +hot enough to roast the enemy, had he but chosen to lie still. A Pygmy, +you know, though so very small, might set the world on fire, just as +easily as a Giant could; so that this was certainly the very best way of +dealing with their foe, provided they could have kept him quiet while +the conflagration was going forward.</p> + +<p>But no sooner did Hercules begin to be scorched, than up he started, +with his hair in a red blaze.</p> + +<p>"What's all this?" he cried, bewildered with sleep, and staring about +him as if he expected to see another Giant.</p> + +<p>At that moment the twenty thousand archers twanged their bowstrings, and +the arrows came whizzing, like so many winged mosquitoes, right into the +face of Hercules. But I doubt whether more than half a dozen of them +punctured the skin, which was remarkably tough, as you know the skin of +a hero has good need to be.</p> + +<p>"Villain!" shouted all the Pygmies at once. "You have killed the Giant +Antæus, our great brother, and the ally of our nation. We declare bloody +war against you and will slay you on the spot."</p> + +<p>Surprised at the shrill piping of so many little voices, Hercules, after +putting out the conflagration of his hair, gazed all round about, but +could see nothing. At last, however, looking narrowly on the ground, he +espied the innumerable assemblage of Pygmies at his feet. He stooped +down, and taking up the nearest one between his thumb and finger, set +him on the palm of his left hand, and held him at a proper distance for +examination. It chanced to be the very identical Pygmy who had spoken +from the top of the toadstool, and had offered himself as a champion to +meet Hercules in single combat.</p> + +<p>"What in the world, my little fellow," ejaculated Hercules, "may you +be?"</p> + +<p>"I am your enemy," answered the valiant Pygmy, in his mightiest squeak. +"You have slain the enormous Antæus, our brother by the mother's side, +and for ages the faithful ally of our illustrious nation. We are +determined to put you to death; and for my own part, I challenge you to +instant battle, on equal ground."</p> + +<p>Hercules was so tickled with the Pygmy's big words and warlike gestures, +that he burst into a great explosion of laughter, and almost dropped the +poor little mite of a creature off the palm of his hand, through the +ecstasy and convulsion of his merriment.</p> + +<p>"Upon my word," cried he, "I thought I had seen wonders before +to-day,—hydras with nine heads, stags with golden horns, six-legged +men, three-headed dogs, giants with furnaces in their stomachs, and +nobody knows what besides. But here, on the palm of my hand, stands a +wonder that outdoes them all! Your body, my little friend, is about the +size of an ordinary man's finger. Pray, how big may your soul be?"</p> + +<p>"As big as your own!" said the Pygmy.</p> + +<p>Hercules was touched with the little man's dauntless courage, and could +not help acknowledging such a brotherhood with him as one hero feels for +another.</p> + +<p>"My good little people," said he, making a low obeisance to the grand +nation, "not for all the world would I do an intentional injury to such +brave fellows as you! Your hearts seem to me so exceedingly great, that, +upon my honor, I marvel how your small bodies can contain them. I sue +for peace, and, as a condition of it, will take five strides, and be out +of your kingdom at the sixth. Good-by. I shall pick my steps carefully, +for fear of treading upon some fifty of you, without knowing it. Ha, ha, +ha! Ho, ho, ho! For once, Hercules acknowledges himself vanquished."</p> + +<p>Some writers say, that Hercules gathered up the whole race of Pygmies in +his lion's skin, and carried them home to Greece, for the children of +King Eurystheus to play with. But this is a mistake. He left them, one +and all, within their own territory, where, for aught I can tell, their +descendants are alive to the present day, building their little houses, +cultivating their little fields, spanking their little children, waging +their little warfare with the cranes, doing their little business, +whatever it may be, and reading their little histories of ancient times. +In those histories, perhaps, it stands recorded, that, a great many +centuries ago, the valiant Pygmies avenged the death of the Giant Antæus +by scaring away the mighty Hercules.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="The_Dragons_Teeth" id="The_Dragons_Teeth"></a>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 sea-shore, 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 neighboring hills.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus6" id="illus6"></a> +<img src="images/illus6.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>CADMUS SOWING THE DRAGON'S TEETH</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<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,—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.</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 +snow-drift, wafted along by the wind. Once be 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 recognized 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—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.</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 +sea-shore, 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 towards 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.</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 sea-faring person in the neighborhood; he had +been brought up with the young princes, 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 labors 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 had 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 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 farm-houses +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 farmer 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 was never 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 neighborhood +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,—"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 neighborhood, 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 colored +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 passer-by 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—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."</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 neighborhood. 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 sat 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—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?"</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,"—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 mother +ever had, and faithful to the 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 +hill-side, 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 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 towards 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 rumor 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 Phœnix and +Cilix, and afterwards 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 hill-side.</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 hill-side, 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 barn-yard; 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 towards 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 pulling 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 neighboring 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 towards 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 neighboring 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,—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."</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 +afterwards, 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 breastplate 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 neighbor 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 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 +battle-field 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 labor, and had sense enough to feel that there was +more true enjoyment in living in peace, and doing good to one's +neighbor, 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 labors, 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 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 behavior, 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 towards 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.</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 twixt +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,—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%;" /> +<h2><a name="Circes_Palace" id="Circes_Palace"></a>Circe's Palace</h2> + + +<p>Some of you have heard, no doubt, of the wise King Ulysses, and how he +went to the siege of Troy, and how, after that famous city was taken and +burned, he spent ten long years in trying to get back again to his own +little kingdom of Ithaca. At one time in the course of this weary +voyage, he arrived at an island that looked very green and pleasant, but +the name of which was unknown to him. For, only a little while before he +came thither, he had met with a terrible hurricane, or rather a great +many hurricanes at once, which drove his fleet of vessels into a strange +part of the sea, where neither himself nor any of his mariners had ever +sailed. This misfortune was entirely owing to the foolish curiosity of +his shipmates, who, while Ulysses lay asleep, had untied some very bulky +leathern bags, in which they supposed a valuable treasure to be +concealed. But in each of these stout bags, King Æolus, the ruler of the +winds, had tied up a tempest, and had given it to Ulysses to keep, in +order that he might be sure of a favorable passage homeward to Ithaca; +and when the strings were loosened, forth rushed the whistling blasts, +like air out of a blown bladder, whitening the sea with foam, and +scattering the vessels nobody could tell whither.</p> + +<p>Immediately after escaping from this peril, a still greater one had +befallen him. Scudding before the hurricane, he reached a place, which, +as he afterwards found, was called Læstrygonia, where some monstrous +giants had eaten up many of his companions, and had sunk every one of +his vessels, except that in which he himself sailed, by flinging great +masses of rock at them, from the cliffs along the shore. After going +through such troubles as these, you cannot wonder that King Ulysses was +glad to moor his tempest-beaten bark in a quiet cove of the green +island, which I began with telling you about. But he had encountered so +many dangers from giants, and one-eyed Cyclopes, and monsters of the sea +and land, that he could not help dreading some mischief, even in this +pleasant and seemingly solitary spot. For two days, therefore, the poor +weather-worn voyagers kept quiet, and either stayed on board of their +vessel, or merely crept along under cliffs that bordered the shore; and +to keep themselves alive, they dug shell-fish out of the sand, and +sought for any little rill of fresh water that might be running towards +the sea.</p> + +<p>Before the two days were spent, they grew very weary of this kind of +life; for the followers of King Ulysses, as you will find it important +to remember, were terrible gormandizers, and pretty sure to grumble if +they missed their regular meals, and their irregular ones besides. Their +stock of provisions was quite exhausted, and even the shell-fish began +to get scarce, so that they had now to choose between starving to death +or venturing into the interior of the island, where, perhaps, some huge +three-headed dragon, or other horrible monster, had his den. Such +misshapen creatures were very numerous in those days; and nobody ever +expected to make a voyage, or take a journey, without running more or +less risk of being devoured by them.</p> + +<p>But King Ulysses was a bold man as well as a prudent one; and on the +third morning he determined to discover what sort of a place the island +was, and whether it were possible to obtain a supply of food for the +hungry mouths of his companions. So, taking a spear in his hand, he +clambered to the summit of a cliff, and gazed round about him. At a +distance, towards the centre of the island, he beheld the stately towers +of what seemed to be a palace, built of snow-white marble, and rising in +the midst of a grove of lofty trees. The thick branches of these trees +stretched across the front of the edifice, and more than half concealed +it, although, from the portion which he saw, Ulysses judged it to be +spacious and exceedingly beautiful, and probably the residence of some +great nobleman or prince. A blue smoke went curling up from the chimney, +and was almost the pleasantest part of the spectacle to Ulysses. For, +from the abundance of this smoke, it was reasonable to conclude that +there was a good fire in the kitchen, and that, at dinner-time, a +plentiful banquet would be served up to the inhabitants of the palace, +and to whatever guests might happen to drop in.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus7" id="illus7"></a> +<img src="images/illus7.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>CIRCE'S PALACE</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>With so agreeable a prospect before him, Ulysses fancied that he could +not do better than to go straight to the palace gate, and tell the +master of it that there was a crew of poor shipwrecked mariners, not far +off, who had eaten nothing for a day or two save a few clams and +oysters, and would therefore be thankful for a little food. And the +prince or nobleman must be a very stingy curmudgeon, to be sure, if, at +least, when his own dinner was over, he would not bid them welcome to +the broken victuals from the table.</p> + +<p>Pleasing himself with this idea, King Ulysses had made a few steps in +the direction of the palace, when there was a great twittering and +chirping from the branch of a neighboring tree. A moment afterwards, a +bird came flying towards him, and hovered in the air, so as almost to +brush his face with its wings. It was a very pretty little bird, with +purple wings and body, and yellow legs, and a circle of golden feathers +round his neck, and on its head a golden tuft, which looked like a +king's crown in miniature. Ulysses tried to catch the bird. But it +fluttered nimbly out of his reach, still chirping in a piteous tone, as +if it could have told a lamentable story, had it only been gifted with +human language. And when he attempted to drive it away, the bird flew no +farther than the bough of the next tree, and again came fluttering about +his head, with its doleful chirp, as soon as he showed a purpose of +going forward.</p> + +<p>"Have you anything to tell me, little bird?" asked Ulysses.</p> + +<p>And he was ready to listen attentively to whatever the bird might +communicate; for at the siege of Troy, and elsewhere, he had known such +odd things to happen, that he would not have considered it much out of +the common run had this little feathered creature talked as plainly as +himself.</p> + +<p>"Peep!" said the bird, "peep, peep, pe—weep!" And nothing else would it +say, but only, "Peep, peep, pe—weep!" in a melancholy cadence, over and +over and over again. As often as Ulysses moved forward, however, the +bird showed the greatest alarm, and did its best to drive him back, with +the anxious flutter of its purple wings. Its unaccountable behavior made +him conclude, at last, that the bird knew of some danger that awaited +him, and which must needs be very terrible, beyond all question, since +it moved even a little fowl to feel compassion for a human being. So he +resolved, for the present, to return to the vessel, and tell his +companions what he had seen.</p> + +<p>This appeared to satisfy the bird. As soon as Ulysses turned back, it +ran up the trunk of a tree, and began to pick insects out of the bark +with its long, sharp bill; for it was a kind of wood-pecker, you must +know, and had to get its living in the same manner as other birds of +that species. But every little while, as it pecked at the bark of the +tree, the purple bird bethought itself of some secret sorrow, and +repeated its plaintive note of "Peep, peep, pe—weep!"</p> + +<p>On his way to the shore, Ulysses had the good luck to kill a large stag +by thrusting his spear into its back. Taking it on his shoulders (for he +was a remarkably strong man), he lugged it along with him, and flung it +down before his hungry companions. I have already hinted to you what +gormandizers some of the comrades of King Ulysses were. From what is +related of them, I reckon that their favorite diet was pork, and that +they had lived upon it until a good part of their physical substance was +swine's flesh, and their tempers and dispositions were very much akin +to the hog. A dish of venison, however, was no unacceptable meal to +them, especially after feeding so long on oysters and clams. So, +beholding the dead stag, they felt of its ribs in a knowing way, and +lost no time in kindling a fire, of drift-wood, to cook it. The rest of +the day was spent in feasting; and if these enormous eaters got up from +table at sunset, it was only because they could not scrape another +morsel off the poor animal's bones.</p> + +<p>The next morning their appetites were as sharp as ever. They looked at +Ulysses, as if they expected him to clamber up the cliff again, and come +back with another fat deer upon his shoulders. Instead of setting out, +however, he summoned the whole crew together, and told them it was in +vain to hope that he could kill a stag every day for their dinner, and +therefore it was advisable to think of some other mode of satisfying +their hunger.</p> + +<p>"Now," said he, "when I was on the cliff yesterday, I discovered that +this island is inhabited. At a considerable distance from the shore +stood a marble palace, which appeared to be very spacious, and had a +great deal of smoke curling out of one of its chimneys."</p> + +<p>"Aha!" muttered some of his companions, smacking their lips. "That smoke +must have come from the kitchen fire. There was a good dinner on the +spit; and no doubt there will be as good a one to-day."</p> + +<p>"But," continued the wise Ulysses, "you must remember, my good friends, +our misadventure in the cavern of one-eyed Polyphemus, the Cyclops! +Instead of his ordinary milk diet, did he not eat up two of our comrades +for his supper, and a couple more for breakfast, and two at his supper +again? Methinks I see him yet, the hideous monster, scanning us with +that great red eye, in the middle of his forehead, to single out the +fattest. And then again only a few days ago, did we not fall into the +hands of the king of the Læstrygons, and those other horrible giants, +his subjects, who devoured a great many more of us than are now left? +To tell you the truth, if we go to yonder palace, there can be no +question that we shall make our appearance at the dinner-table; but +whether seated as guests, or served up as food, is a point to be +seriously considered."</p> + +<p>"Either way," murmured some of the hungriest of the crew, "it will be +better than starvation; particularly if one could be sure of being well +fattened beforehand, and daintily cooked afterwards."</p> + +<p>"That is a matter of taste," said King Ulysses, "and, for my own part, +neither the most careful fattening nor the daintiest of cookery would +reconcile me to being dished at last. My proposal is, therefore, that we +divide ourselves into two equal parties, and ascertain, by drawing lots, +which of the two shall go to the palace, and beg for food and +assistance. If these can be obtained, all is well. If not, and if the +inhabitants prove as inhospitable as Polyphemus, or the Læstrygons, then +there will but half of us perish, and the remainder may set sail and +escape."</p> + +<p>As nobody objected to this scheme, Ulysses proceeded to count the whole +band, and found that there were forty-six men including himself. He then +numbered off twenty-two of them, and put Eurylochus (who was one of his +chief officers, and second only to himself in sagacity) at their head. +Ulysses took command of the remaining twenty-two men, in person. Then, +taking off his helmet, he put two shells into it, on one of which was +written, "Go," and on the other "Stay." Another person now held the +helmet, while Ulysses and Eurylochus drew out each a shell; and the word +"Go" was found written on that which Eurylochus had drawn. In this +manner, it was decided that Ulysses and his twenty-two men were to +remain at the seaside until the other party should have found out what +sort of treatment they might expect at the mysterious palace. As there +was no help for it, Eurylochus immediately set forth at the head of his +twenty-two followers, who went off in a very melancholy state of mind, +leaving their friends in hardly better spirits than themselves.</p> + +<p>No sooner had they clambered up the cliff, than they discerned the tall +marble towers of the palace, ascending, as white as snow, out of the +lovely green shadow of the trees which surrounded it. A gush of smoke +came from a chimney in the rear of the edifice. This vapor rose high in +the air, and, meeting with a breeze, was wafted seaward, and made to +pass over the heads of the hungry mariners. When people's appetites are +keen, they have a very quick scent for anything savory in the wind.</p> + +<p>"That smoke comes from the kitchen!" cried one of them, turning up his +nose as high as he could, and snuffing eagerly. "And, as sure as I'm a +half-starved vagabond, I smell roast meat in it."</p> + +<p>"Pig, roast pig!" said another. "Ah, the dainty little porker! My mouth +waters for him."</p> + +<p>"Let us make haste," cried the others, "or we shall be too late for the +good cheer!"</p> + +<p>But scarcely had they made half a dozen steps from the edge of the +cliff, when a bird came fluttering to meet them. It was the same pretty +little bird, with the purple wings and body, the yellow legs, the golden +collar round its neck, and the crown-like tuft upon its head, whose +behavior had so much surprised Ulysses. It hovered about Eurylochus, and +almost brushed his face with its wings.</p> + +<p>"Peep, peep, pe—weep!" chirped the bird.</p> + +<p>So plaintively intelligent was the sound, that it seemed as if the +little creature were going to break its heart with some mighty secret +that it had to tell, and only this one poor note to tell it with.</p> + +<p>"My pretty bird," said Eurylochus,—for he was a wary person, and let no +token of harm escape his notice,—"my pretty bird, who sent you hither? +And what is the message which you bring?"</p> + +<p>"Peep, peep, pe—weep!" replied the bird, very sorrowfully.</p> + +<p>Then it flew towards the edge of the cliff, and looked round at them, as +if exceedingly anxious that they should return whence they came. +Eurylochus and a few of the others were inclined to turn back. They +could not help suspecting that the purple bird must be aware of +something mischievous that would befall them at the palace, and the +knowledge of which affected its airy spirit with a human sympathy and +sorrow. But the rest of the voyagers, snuffing up the smoke from the +palace kitchen, ridiculed the idea of returning to the vessel. One of +them (more brutal than his fellows, and the most notorious gormandizer +in the whole crew) said such a cruel and wicked thing, that I wonder the +mere thought did not turn him into a wild beast in shape, as he already +was in his nature.</p> + +<p>"This troublesome and impertinent little fowl," said he, "would make a +delicate titbit to begin dinner with. Just one plump morsel, melting +away between the teeth. If he comes within my reach, I'll catch him, and +give him to the palace cook to be roasted on a skewer."</p> + +<p>The words were hardly out of his mouth, before the purple bird flew +away, crying "Peep, peep, pe—weep," more dolorously than ever.</p> + +<p>"That bird," remarked Eurylochus, "knows more than we do about what +awaits us at the palace."</p> + +<p>"Come on, then," cried his comrades, "and we'll soon know as much as he +does."</p> + +<p>The party, accordingly, went onward through the green and pleasant wood. +Every little while they caught new glimpses of the marble palace, which +looked more and more beautiful the nearer they approached it. They soon +entered a broad pathway, which seemed to be very neatly kept, and which +went winding along with streaks of sunshine falling across it, and +specks of light quivering among the deepest shadows that fell from the +lofty trees. It was bordered, too, with a great many sweet-smelling +flowers, such as the mariners had never seen before. So rich and +beautiful they were, that, if the shrubs grew wild here, and were native +in the soil, then this island was surely the flower-garden of the whole +earth; or, if transplanted from some other clime, it must have been from +the Happy Islands that lay towards the golden sunset.</p> + +<p>"There has been a great deal of pains foolishly wasted on these +flowers," observed one of the company; and I tell you what he said, that +you may keep in mind what gormandizers they were. "For my part, if I +were the owner of the palace, I would bid my gardener cultivate nothing +but savory potherbs to make a stuffing for roast meat, or to flavor a +stew with."</p> + +<p>"Well said!" cried the others. "But I'll warrant you there's a +kitchen-garden in the rear of the palace."</p> + +<p>At one place they came to a crystal spring, and paused to drink at it +for want of liquor which they liked better. Looking into its bosom, they +beheld their own faces dimly reflected, but so extravagantly distorted +by the gush and motion of the water, that each one of them appeared to +be laughing at himself and all his companions. So ridiculous were these +images of themselves, indeed, that they did really laugh aloud, and +could hardly be grave again as soon as they wished. And after they had +drank, they grew still merrier than before.</p> + +<p>"It has a twang of the wine-cask in it," said one, smacking his lips.</p> + +<p>"Make haste!" cried his fellows; "we'll find the wine-cask itself at the +palace; and that will be better than a hundred crystal fountains."</p> + +<p>Then they quickened their pace, and capered for joy at the thought of +the savory banquet at which they hoped to be guests. But Eurylochus told +them that he felt as if he were walking in a dream.</p> + +<p>"If I am really awake," continued he, "then, in my opinion, we are on +the point of meeting with some stranger adventure than any that befell +us in the cave of Polyphemus, or among the gigantic man-eating +Læstrygons, or in the windy palace of King Æolus, which stands on a +brazen-walled island. This kind of dreamy feeling always comes over me +before any wonderful occurrence. If you take my advice, you will turn +back."</p> + +<p>"No, no," answered his comrades, snuffing the air, in which the scent +from the palace kitchen was now very perceptible. "We would not turn +back, though we were certain that the king of the Læstrygons, as big as +a mountain, would sit at the head of the table, and huge Polyphemus, the +one-eyed Cyclops, at its foot."</p> + +<p>At length they came within full sight of the palace, which proved to be +very large and lofty, with a great number of airy pinnacles upon its +roof. Though it was now midday, and the sun shone brightly over the +marble front, yet its snowy whiteness, and its fantastic style of +architecture, made it look unreal, like the frostwork on a window-pane, +or like the shapes of castles which one sees among the clouds by +moonlight. But, just then, a puff of wind brought down the smoke of the +kitchen chimney among them, and caused each man to smell the odor of the +dish that he liked best; and, after scenting it, they thought everything +else moonshine, and nothing real save this palace, and save the banquet +that was evidently ready to be served up in it.</p> + +<p>So they hastened their steps towards the portal, but had not got +half-way across the wide lawn, when a pack of lions, tigers, and wolves +came bounding to meet them. The terrified mariners started back, +expecting no better fate than to be torn to pieces and devoured. To +their surprise and joy, however, these wild beasts merely capered around +them, wagging their tails, offering their heads to be stroked and +patted, and behaving just like so many well-bred house-dogs, when they +wish to express their delight at meeting their master, or their master's +friends. The biggest lion licked the feet of Eurylochus; and every other +lion, and every wolf and tiger, singled out one of his two-and-twenty +followers, whom the beast fondled as if he loved him better than a +beef-bone.</p> + +<p>But, for all that, Eurylochus imagined that he saw something fierce and +savage in their eyes; nor would he have been surprised, at any moment, +to feel the big lion's terrible claws, or to see each of the tigers make +a deadly spring, or each wolf leap at the throat of the man whom he had +fondled. Their mildness seemed unreal, and a mere freak; but their +savage nature was as true as their teeth and claws.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the men went safely across the lawn with the wild beasts +frisking about them, and doing no manner of harm; although, as they +mounted the steps of the palace, you might possibly have heard a low +growl, particularly from the wolves; as if they thought it a pity, after +all, to let the strangers pass without so much as tasting what they were +made of.</p> + +<p>Eurylochus and his followers now passed under a lofty portal, and looked +through the open doorway into the interior of the palace. The first +thing that they saw was a spacious hall, and a fountain in the middle of +it, gushing up towards the ceiling out of a marble basin, and falling +back into it with a continual plash. The water of this fountain, as it +spouted upward, was constantly taking new shapes, not very distinctly, +but plainly enough for a nimble fancy to recognize what they were. Now +it was the shape of a man in a long robe, the fleecy whiteness of which +was made out of the fountain's spray; now it was a lion, or a tiger, or +a wolf, or an ass, or, as often as anything else, a hog, wallowing in +the marble basin as if it were his sty. It was either magic or some very +curious machinery that caused the gushing waterspout to assume all +these forms. But, before the strangers had time to look closely at this +wonderful sight, their attention was drawn off by a very sweet and +agreeable sound. A woman's voice was singing melodiously in another room +of the palace, and with her voice was mingled the noise of a loom, at +which she was probably seated, weaving a rich texture of cloth, and +intertwining the high and low sweetness of her voice into a rich tissue +of harmony.</p> + +<p>By and by, the song came to an end; and then, all at once, there were +several feminine voices, talking airily and cheerfully, with now and +then a merry burst of laughter, such as you may always hear when three +or four young women sit at work together.</p> + +<p>"What a sweet song that was!" exclaimed one of the voyagers.</p> + +<p>"Too sweet, indeed," answered Eurylochus, shaking his head. "Yet it was +not so sweet as the song of the Sirens, those birdlike damsels who +wanted to tempt us on the rocks, so that our vessel might be wrecked, +and our bones left whitening along the shore."</p> + +<p>"But just listen to the pleasant voices of those maidens, and that buzz +of the loom, as the shuttle passes to and fro," said another comrade. +"What a domestic, household, homelike sound it is! Ah, before that weary +siege of Troy, I used to hear the buzzing loom and the women's voices +under my own roof. Shall I never hear them again? nor taste those nice +little savory dishes which my dearest wife knew how to serve up?"</p> + +<p>"Tush! we shall fare better here," said another. "But how innocently +those women are babbling together, without guessing that we overhear +them! And mark that richest voice of all, so pleasant and familiar, but +which yet seems to have the authority of a mistress among them. Let us +show ourselves at once. What harm can the lady of the palace and her +maidens do to mariners and warriors like us?"</p> + +<p>"Remember," said Eurylochus, "that it was a young maiden who beguiled +three of our friends into the palace of the king of the Læstrygons, who +ate up one of them in the twinkling of an eye."</p> + +<p>No warning or persuasion, however, had any effect on his companions. +They went up to a pair of folding-doors at the farther end of the hall, +and, throwing them wide open, passed into the next room. Eurylochus, +meanwhile, had stepped behind a pillar. In the short moment while the +folding-doors opened and closed again, he caught a glimpse of a very +beautiful woman rising from the loom, and coming to meet the poor +weather-beaten wanderers, with a hospitable smile, and her hand +stretched out in welcome. There were four other young women, who joined +their hands and danced merrily forward, making gestures of obeisance to +the strangers. They were only less beautiful than the lady who seemed to +be their mistress. Yet Eurylochus fancied that one of them had sea-green +hair, and that the close-fitting bodice of a second looked like the bark +of a tree, and that both the others had something odd in their aspect, +although he could not quite determine what it was, in the little while +that he had to examine them.</p> + +<p>The folding-doors swung quickly back, and left him standing behind the +pillar, in the solitude of the outer hall. There Eurylochus waited until +he was quite weary, and listened eagerly to every sound, but without +hearing anything that could help him to guess what had become of his +friends. Footsteps, it is true, seemed to be passing and repassing in +other parts of the palace. Then there was a clatter of silver dishes, or +golden ones, which made him imagine a rich feast in a splendid +banqueting-hall. But by and by he heard a tremendous grunting and +squealing, and then a sudden scampering, like that of small, hard hoofs +over a marble floor, while the voices of the mistress and her four +handmaidens were screaming all together, in tones of anger and derision. +Eurylochus could not conceive what had happened, unless a drove of swine +had broken into the palace, attracted by the smell of the feast. +Chancing to cast his eyes at the fountain, he saw that it did not shift +its shape, as formerly, nor looked either like a long-robed man, or a +lion, a tiger, a wolf, or an ass. It looked like nothing but a hog, +which lay wallowing in the marble basin, and filled it from brim to +brim.</p> + +<p>But we must leave the prudent Eurylochus waiting in the outer hall, and +follow his friends into the inner secrecy of the palace. As soon as the +beautiful woman saw them, she arose from the loom, as I have told you, +and came forward, smiling, and stretching out her hand. She took the +hand of the foremost among them, and bade him and the whole party +welcome.</p> + +<p>"You have been long expected, my good friends," said she. "I and my +maidens are well acquainted with you, although you do not appear to +recognize us. Look at this piece of tapestry, and judge if your faces +must not have been familiar to us."</p> + +<p>So the voyagers examined the web of cloth which the beautiful woman had +been weaving in her loom; and, to their vast astonishment they saw their +own figures perfectly represented in different colored threads. It was a +lifelike picture of their recent adventures, showing them in the cave of +Polyphemus, and how they had put out his one great moony eye; while in +another part of the tapestry they were untying the leathern bags, puffed +out with contrary winds; and farther on, they beheld themselves +scampering away from the gigantic king of the Læstrygons, who had caught +one of them by the leg. Lastly, there they were, sitting on the desolate +shore of this very island, hungry and downcast, and looking ruefully at +the bare bones of the stag which they devoured yesterday. This was as +far as the work had yet proceeded; but when the beautiful woman should +again sit down at her loom, she would probably make a picture of what +had since happened to the strangers, and of what was now going to +happen.</p> + +<p>"You see," she said, "that I know all about your troubles; and you +cannot doubt that I desire to make you happy for as long a time as you +may remain with me. For this purpose, my honored guests, I have ordered +a banquet to be prepared. Fish, fowl, and flesh, roasted, and in +luscious stews, and seasoned, I trust, to all your tastes, are ready to +be served up. If your appetites tell you it is dinner-time, then come +with me to the festal saloon."</p> + +<p>At this kind invitation, the hungry mariners were quite overjoyed; and +one of them, taking upon himself to be spokesman, assured their +hospitable hostess that any hour of the day was dinner-time with them, +whenever they could get flesh to put in the pot, and fire to boil it +with. So the beautiful woman led the way; and the four maidens (one of +them had sea-green hair, another a bodice of oak bark, a third sprinkled +a shower of water-drops from her fingers' ends, and the fourth had some +other oddity, which I have forgotten), all these followed behind, and +hurried the guests along, until they entered a magnificent saloon. It +was built in a perfect oval, and lighted from a crystal dome above. +Around the walls were ranged two-and-twenty thrones, overhung by +canopies of crimson and gold, and provided with the softest of cushions, +which were tasselled and fringed with gold cord. Each of the strangers +was invited to sit down; and there they were, two-and-twenty +storm-beaten mariners, in worn and tattered garb, sitting on +two-and-twenty canopied thrones, so rich and gorgeous that the proudest +monarch had nothing more splendid in his stateliest hall.</p> + +<p>Then you might have seen the guests nodding, winking with one eye, and +leaning from one throne to another, to communicate their satisfaction in +hoarse whispers.</p> + +<p>"Our good hostess has made kings of us all," said one. "Ha! do you smell +the feast? I'll engage it will be fit to set before two-and-twenty +kings."</p> + +<p>"I hope," said another, "it will be, mainly, good substantial joints, +sirloins, spareribs, and hinder quarters, without too many kickshaws. +If I thought the good lady would not take it amiss, I should call for a +fat slice of fried bacon to begin with."</p> + +<p>Ah, the gluttons and gormandizers! You see how it was with them. In the +loftiest seats of dignity, on royal thrones, they could think of nothing +but their greedy appetite, which was the portion of their nature that +they shared with wolves and swine; so that they resembled those vilest +of animals far more than they did kings,—if, indeed, kings were what +they ought to be.</p> + +<p>But the beautiful woman now clapped her hands; and immediately there +entered a train of two-and-twenty serving-men, bringing dishes of the +richest food, all hot from the kitchen fire, and sending up such a steam +that it hung like a cloud below the crystal dome of the saloon. An equal +number of attendants brought great flagons of wine, of various kinds, +some of which sparkled as it was poured out, and went bubbling down the +throat; while, of other sorts, the purple liquor was so clear that you +could see the wrought figures at the bottom of the goblet. While the +servants supplied the two-and-twenty guests with food and drink, the +hostess and her four maidens went from one throne to another, exhorting +them to eat their fill, and to quaff wine abundantly, and thus to +recompense themselves, at this one banquet, for the many days when they +had gone without a dinner. But, whenever the mariners were not looking +at them (which was pretty often, as they looked chiefly into the basins +and platters), the beautiful woman and her damsels turned aside and +laughed. Even the servants, as they knelt down to present the dishes, +might be seen to grin and sneer, while the guests were helping +themselves to the offered dainties.</p> + +<p>And, once in a while, the strangers seemed to taste something that they +did not like.</p> + +<p>"Here is an odd kind of a spice in this dish," said one. "I can't say it +quite suits my palate. Down it goes, however."</p> + +<p>"Send a good draught of wine down your throat," said his comrade on the +next throne. "That is the stuff to make this sort of cookery relish +well. Though I must needs say, the wine has a queer taste too. But the +more I drink of it the better I like the flavor."</p> + +<p>Whatever little fault they might find with the dishes, they sat at +dinner a prodigiously long while; and it would really have made you +ashamed to see how they swilled down the liquor and gobbled up the food. +They sat on golden thrones, to be sure; but they behaved like pigs in a +sty; and, if they had had their wits about them, they might have guessed +that this was the opinion of their beautiful hostess and her maidens. It +brings a blush into my face to reckon up, in my own mind, what mountains +of meat and pudding, and what gallons of wine, these two-and-twenty +guzzlers and gormandizers ate and drank. They forgot all about their +homes, and their wives and children, and all about Ulysses, and +everything else, except this banquet, at which they wanted to keep +feasting forever. But at length they began to give over, from mere +incapacity to hold any more.</p> + +<p>"That last bit of fat is too much for me," said one.</p> + +<p>"And I have not room for another morsel," said his next neighbor, +heaving a sigh. "What a pity! My appetite is as sharp as ever."</p> + +<p>In short, they all left off eating, and leaned back on their thrones, +with such a stupid and helpless aspect as made them ridiculous to +behold. When their hostess saw this, she laughed aloud; so did her four +damsels; so did the two-and-twenty serving men that bore the dishes, and +their two-and-twenty fellows that poured out the wine. And the louder +they all laughed, the more stupid and helpless did the two-and-twenty +gormandizers look. Then the beautiful woman took her stand in the middle +of the saloon, and stretching out a slender rod (it had been all the +while in her hand, although they never noticed it till this moment), she +turned it from one guest to another, until each had felt it pointed at +himself. Beautiful as her face was, and though there was a smile on it, +it looked just as wicked and mischievous as the ugliest serpent that +ever was seen; and fat-witted as the voyagers had made themselves, they +began to suspect that they had fallen into the power of an evil-minded +enchantress.</p> + +<p>"Wretches," cried she, "you have abused a lady's hospitality; and in +this princely saloon your behavior has been suited to a hogpen. You are +already swine in everything but the human form, which you disgrace, and +which I myself should be ashamed to keep a moment longer, were you to +share it with me. But it will require only the slightest exercise of +magic to make the exterior conform to the hoggish disposition. Assume +your proper shapes, gormandizers, and begone to the sty!"</p> + +<p>Uttering these last words, she waved her wand; and stamping her foot +imperiously, each of the guests was struck aghast at beholding, instead +of his comrades in human shape, one-and-twenty hogs sitting on the same +number of golden thrones. Each man (as he still supposed himself to be) +essayed to give a cry of surprise, but found that he could merely grunt, +and that, in a word, he was just such another beast as his companions. +It looked so intolerably absurd to see hogs on cushioned thrones, that +they made haste to wallow down upon all fours, like other swine. They +tried to groan and beg for mercy, but forthwith emitted the most awful +grunting and squealing that ever came out of swinish throats. They would +have wrung their hands in despair, but, attempting to do so, grew all +the more desperate for seeing themselves squatted on their hams, and +pawing the air with their fore trotters. Dear me! what pendulous ears +they had! what little red eyes, half buried in fat! and what long +snouts, instead of Grecian noses!</p> + +<p>But brutes as they certainly were, they yet had enough of human nature +in them to be shocked at their own hideousness; and, still intending to +groan, they uttered a viler grunt and squeal than before. So harsh and +ear-piercing it was, that you would have fancied a butcher was sticking +his knife into each of their throats, or, at the very least, that +somebody was pulling every hog by his funny little twist of a tail.</p> + +<p>"Begone to your sty!" cried the enchantress, giving them some smart +strokes with her wand; and then she turned to the serving-men, "Drive +out these swine, and throw down some acorns for them to eat."</p> + +<p>The door of the saloon being flung open, the drove of hogs ran in all +directions save the right one, in accordance with their hoggish +perversity, but were finally driven into the back yard of the palace. It +was a sight to bring tears into one's eyes (and I hope none of you will +be cruel enough to laugh at it), to see the poor creatures go snuffing +along, picking up here a cabbage leaf and there a turnip-top, and +rooting their noses in the earth for whatever they could find. In their +sty, moreover, they behaved more piggishly than the pigs that had been +born so; for they bit and snorted at one another, put their feet in the +trough, and gobbled up their victuals in a ridiculous hurry; and, when +there was nothing more to be had, they made a great pile of themselves +among some unclean straw, and fell fast asleep. If they had any human +reason left, it was just enough to keep them wondering when they should +be slaughtered, and what quality of bacon they should make.</p> + +<p>Meantime, as I told you before, Eurylochus had waited, and waited, and +waited, in the entrance-hall of the palace, without being able to +comprehend what had befallen his friends. At last, when the swinish +uproar resounded through the palace, and when he saw the image of a hog +in the marble basin, he thought it best to hasten back to the vessel, +and inform the wise Ulysses of these marvellous occurrences. So he ran +as fast as he could down the steps, and never stopped to draw breath +till he reached the shore.</p> + +<p>"Why do you come alone?" asked King Ulysses, as soon as he saw him. +"Where are your two-and-twenty comrades?"</p> + +<p>At these questions, Eurylochus burst into tears.</p> + +<p>"Alas!" cried he, "I greatly fear that we shall never see one of their +faces again."</p> + +<p>Then he told Ulysses all that had happened, as far as he knew it, and +added that he suspected the beautiful woman to be a vile enchantress, +and the marble palace, magnificent as it looked, to be only a dismal +cavern in reality. As for his companions, he could not imagine what had +become of them, unless they had been given to the swine to be devoured +alive. At this intelligence all the voyagers were greatly affrighted. +But Ulysses lost no time in girding on his sword, and hanging his bow +and quiver over his shoulders, and taking his spear in his right hand. +When his followers saw their wise leader making these preparations, they +inquired whither he was going, and earnestly besought him not to leave +them.</p> + +<p>"You are our king," cried they; "and what is more, you are the wisest +man in the whole world, and nothing but your wisdom and courage can get +us out of this danger. If you desert us, and go to the enchanted palace, +you will suffer the same fate as our poor companions, and not a soul of +us will ever see our dear Ithaca again."</p> + +<p>"As I am your king," answered Ulysses, "and wiser than any of you, it is +therefore the more my duty to see what has befallen our comrades, and +whether anything can yet be done to rescue them. Wait for me here until +to-morrow. If I do not then return, you must hoist sail, and endeavor to +find your way to our native land. For my part, I am answerable for the +fate of these poor mariners, who have stood by my side in battle, and +been so often drenched to the skin, along with me, by the same +tempestuous surges. I will either bring them back with me or perish."</p> + +<p>Had his followers dared, they would have detained him by force. But King +Ulysses frowned sternly on them, and shook his spear, and bade them stop +him at their peril. Seeing him so determined, they let him go, and sat +down on the sand, as disconsolate a set of people as could be, waiting +and praying for his return.</p> + +<p>It happened to Ulysses, just as before, that, when he had gone a few +steps from the edge of the cliff, the purple bird came fluttering +towards him, crying, "Peep, peep, pe—weep!" and using all the art it +could to persuade him to go no farther.</p> + +<p>"What mean you, little bird?" cried Ulysses. "You are arrayed like a +king in purple and gold, and wear a golden crown upon your head. Is it +because I too am a king, that you desire so earnestly to speak with me? +If you can talk in human language, say what you would have me do."</p> + +<p>"Peep!" answered the purple bird, very dolorously. "Peep, peep, +pe—we—ep!"</p> + +<p>Certainly there lay some heavy anguish at the little bird's heart; and +it was a sorrowful predicament that he could not, at least, have the +consolation of telling what it was. But Ulysses had no time to waste in +trying to get at the mystery. He therefore quickened his pace, and had +gone a good way along the pleasant wood-path, when there met him a young +man of very brisk and intelligent aspect, and clad in a rather singular +garb. He wore a short cloak, and a sort of cap that seemed to be +furnished with a pair of wings; and from the lightness of his step, you +would have supposed that there might likewise be wings on his feet. To +enable him to walk still better (for he was always on one journey or +another), he carried a winged staff, around which two serpents were +wriggling and twisting. In short, I have said enough to make you guess +that it was Quicksilver; and Ulysses (who knew him of old, and had +learned a great deal of his wisdom from him) recognized him in a moment.</p> + +<p>"Whither are you going in such a hurry, wise Ulysses?" asked +Quicksilver. "Do you not know that this island is enchanted? The wicked +enchantress (whose name is Circe, the sister of King Æetes) dwells in +the marble palace which you see yonder among the trees. By her magic +arts, she changes every human being into the brute, beast, or fowl whom +he happens most to resemble."</p> + +<p>"That little bird, which met me at the edge of the cliff," exclaimed +Ulysses; "was he a human being once?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Quicksilver. "He was once a king, named Picus, and a +pretty good sort of a king too, only rather too proud of his purple +robe, and his crown, and the golden chain about his neck; so he was +forced to take the shape of a gaudy-feathered bird. The lions, and +wolves, and tigers, who will come running to meet you, in front of the +palace, were formerly fierce and cruel men, resembling in their +dispositions the wild beasts whose forms they now rightfully wear."</p> + +<p>"And my poor companions," said Ulysses. "Have they undergone a similar +change, through the arts of this wicked Circe?"</p> + +<p>"You well know what gormandizers they were," replied Quicksilver; and, +rogue that he was, he could not help laughing at the joke. "So you will +not be surprised to hear that they have all taken the shapes of swine! +If Circe had never done anything worse, I really should not think her so +very much to blame."</p> + +<p>"But can I do nothing to help them?" inquired Ulysses.</p> + +<p>"It will require all your wisdom," said Quicksilver, "and a little of my +own into the bargain, to keep your royal and sagacious self from being +transformed into a fox. But do as I bid you; and the matter may end +better than it has begun."</p> + +<p>While he was speaking, Quicksilver seemed to be in search of something; +he went stooping along the ground, and soon laid his hand on a little +plant with a snow-white flower, which he plucked and smelt of. Ulysses +had been looking at that very spot only just before; and it appeared to +him that the plant had burst into full flower the instant when +Quicksilver touched it with his fingers.</p> + +<p>"Take this flower, King Ulysses," said he. "Guard it as you do your +eyesight; for I can assure you it is exceedingly rare and precious, and +you might seek the whole earth over without ever finding another like +it. Keep it in your hand, and smell of it frequently after you enter the +palace, and while you are talking with the enchantress. Especially when +she offers you food, or a draught of wine out of her goblet, be careful +to fill your nostrils with the flower's fragrance. Follow these +directions, and you may defy her magic arts to change you into a fox."</p> + +<p>Quicksilver then gave him some further advice how to behave, and, +bidding him be bold and prudent, again assured him that, powerful as +Circe was, he would have a fair prospect of coming safely out of her +enchanted palace. After listening attentively, Ulysses thanked his good +friend, and resumed his way. But he had taken only a few steps, when, +recollecting some other questions which he wished to ask, he turned +round again, and beheld nobody on the spot where Quicksilver had stood; +for that winged cap of his, and those winged shoes, with the help of the +winged staff, had carried him quickly out of sight.</p> + +<p>When Ulysses reached the lawn, in front of the palace, the lions and +other savage animals came bounding to meet him, and would have fawned +upon him and licked his feet. But the wise king struck at them with his +long spear, and sternly bade them begone out of his path; for he knew +that they had once been bloodthirsty men, and would now tear him limb +from limb, instead of fawning upon him, could they do the mischief that +was in their hearts. The wild beasts yelped and glared at him, and stood +at a distance while he ascended the palace steps.</p> + +<p>On entering the hall, Ulysses saw the magic fountain in the centre of +it. The up-gushing water had now again taken the shape of a man in a +long, white, fleecy robe, who appeared to be making gestures of welcome. +The king likewise heard the noise of the shuttle in the loom, and the +sweet melody of the beautiful woman's song, and then the pleasant +voices of herself and the four maidens talking together, with peals of +merry laughter intermixed. But Ulysses did not waste much time in +listening to the laughter or the song. He leaned his spear against one +of the pillars of the hall, and then, after loosening his sword in the +scabbard, stepped boldly forward, and threw the folding-doors wide open. +The moment she beheld his stately figure standing in the doorway, the +beautiful woman rose from the loom, and ran to meet him with a glad +smile throwing its sunshine over her face, and both her hands extended.</p> + +<p>"Welcome, brave stranger!" cried she. "We were expecting you."</p> + +<p>And the nymph with the sea-green hair made a courtesy down to the +ground, and likewise bade him welcome; so did her sister with the bodice +of oaken bark, and she that sprinkled dew-drops from her fingers' ends, +and the fourth one with some oddity which I cannot remember. And Circe, +as the beautiful enchantress was called (who had deluded so many persons +that she did not doubt of being able to delude Ulysses, not imagining +how wise he was), again addressed him.</p> + +<p>"Your companions," said she, "have already been received into my palace, +and have enjoyed the hospitable treatment to which the propriety of +their behavior so well entitles them. If such be your pleasure, you +shall first take some refreshment, and then join them in the elegant +apartment which they now occupy. See, I and my maidens have been weaving +their figures into this piece of tapestry."</p> + +<p>She pointed to the web of beautifully woven cloth in the loom. Circe and +the four nymphs must have been very diligently at work since the arrival +of the mariners: for a great many yards of tapestry had now been +wrought, in addition to what I before described. In this new part, +Ulysses saw his two-and-twenty friends represented as sitting on +cushioned and canopied thrones, greedily devouring dainties and +quaffing deep draughts of wine. The work had not yet gone any further. +Oh no, indeed. The enchantress was far too cunning to let Ulysses see +the mischief which her magic arts had since brought upon the +gormandizers.</p> + +<p>"As for yourself, valiant sir," said Circe, "judging by the dignity of +your aspect, I take you to be nothing less than a king. Deign to follow +me, and you shall be treated as befits your rank."</p> + +<p>So Ulysses followed her into the oval saloon, where his two-and-twenty +comrades had devoured the banquet, which ended so disastrously for +themselves. But, all this while, he had held the snow-white flower in +his hand, and had constantly smelt of it while Circe was speaking; and +as he crossed the threshold of the saloon, he took good care to inhale +several long and deep snuffs of its fragrance. Instead of two-and-twenty +thrones, which had before been ranged around the wall, there was now +only a single throne, in the centre of the apartment. But this was +surely the most magnificent seat that ever a king or an emperor reposed +himself upon, all made of chased gold, studded with precious stones, +with a cushion that looked like a soft heap of living roses, and +overhung by a canopy of sunlight which Circe knew how to weave into +drapery. The enchantress took Ulysses by the hand, and made him sit down +upon this dazzling throne. Then, clapping her hands, she summoned the +chief butler.</p> + +<p>"Bring hither," said she, "the goblet that is set apart for kings to +drink out of. And fill it with the same delicious wine which my royal +brother, King Æetes, praised so highly, when he last visited me with my +fair daughter Medea. That good and amiable child! Were she now here, it +would delight her to see me offering this wine to my honored guest."</p> + +<p>But Ulysses, while the butler was gone for the wine, held the snow-white +flower to his nose.</p> + +<p>"Is it a wholesome wine?" he asked.</p> + +<p>At this the four maidens tittered; whereupon the enchantress looked +round at them, with an aspect of severity.</p> + +<p>"It is the wholesomest juice that ever was squeezed out of the grape," +said she; "for, instead of disguising a man, as other liquor is apt to +do, it brings him to his true self, and shows him as he ought to be."</p> + +<p>The chief butler liked nothing better than to see people turned into +swine, or making any kind of a beast of themselves; so he made haste to +bring the royal goblet, filled with a liquid as bright as gold, and +which kept sparkling upward, and throwing a sunny spray over the brim. +But, delightfully as the wine looked, it was mingled with the most +potent enchantments that Circe knew how to concoct. For every drop of +the pure grape-juice there were two drops of the pure mischief; and the +danger of the thing was, that the mischief made it taste all the better. +The mere smell of the bubbles, which effervesced at the brim, was enough +to turn a man's beard into pig's bristles, or make a lion's claws grow +out of his fingers, or a fox's brush behind him.</p> + +<p>"Drink, my noble guest," said Circe, smiling as she presented him with +the goblet. "You will find in this draught a solace for all your +troubles."</p> + +<p>King Ulysses took the goblet with his right hand, while with his left he +held the snow-white flower to his nostrils, and drew in so long a breath +that his lungs were quite filled with its pure and simple fragrance. +Then, drinking off all the wine, he looked the enchantress calmly in the +face.</p> + +<p>"Wretch," cried Circe, giving him a smart stroke with her wand, "how +dare you keep your human shape a moment longer? Take the form of the +brute whom you most resemble. If a hog, go join your fellow-swine in the +sty; if a lion, a wolf, a tiger, go howl with the wild beasts on the +lawn; if a fox, go exercise your craft in stealing poultry. Thou hast +quaffed off my wine, and canst be man no longer."</p> + +<p>But, such was the virtue of the snow-white flower, instead of wallowing +down from his throne in swinish shape, or taking any other brutal form, +Ulysses looked even more manly and king-like than before. He gave the +magic goblet a toss, and sent it clashing over the marble floor, to the +farthest end of the saloon. Then, drawing his sword, he seized the +enchantress by her beautiful ringlets, and made a gesture as if he meant +to strike off her head at one blow.</p> + +<p>"Wicked Circe," cried he, in a terrible voice, "this sword shall put an +end to thy enchantments. Thou shalt die, vile wretch, and do no more +mischief in the world, by tempting human beings into the vices which +make beasts of them."</p> + +<p>The tone and countenance of Ulysses were so awful, and his sword gleamed +so brightly, and seemed to have so intolerably keen an edge, that Circe +was almost killed by the mere fright, without waiting for a blow. The +chief butler scrambled out of the saloon, picking up the golden goblet +as he went; and the enchantress and the four maidens fell on their +knees, wringing their hands, and screaming for mercy.</p> + +<p>"Spare me!" cried Circe,—"spare me, royal and wise Ulysses. For now I +know that thou art he of whom Quicksilver forewarned me, the most +prudent of mortals, against whom no enchantments can prevail. Thou only +couldst have conquered Circe. Spare me, wisest of men. I will show thee +true hospitality, and even give myself to be thy slave, and this +magnificent palace to be henceforth thy home."</p> + +<p>The four nymphs, meanwhile, were making a most piteous ado; and +especially the ocean-nymph, with the sea-green hair, wept a great deal +of salt water, and the fountain-nymph, besides scattering dew-drops from +her fingers' ends, nearly melted away into tears. But Ulysses would not +be pacified until Circe had taken a solemn oath to change back his +companions, and as many others as he should direct, from their present +forms of beast or bird into their former shapes of men.</p> + +<p>"On these conditions," said he, "I consent to spare your life. Otherwise +you must die upon the spot."</p> + +<p>With a drawn sword hanging over her, the enchantress would readily have +consented to do as much good as she had hitherto done mischief, however +little she might like such employment. She therefore led Ulysses out of +the back entrance of the palace, and showed him the swine in their sty. +There were about fifty of these unclean beasts in the whole herd; and +though the greater part were hogs by birth and education, there was +wonderfully little difference to be seen betwixt them and their new +brethren who had so recently worn the human shape. To speak critically, +indeed, the latter rather carried the thing to excess, and seemed to +make it a point to wallow in the miriest part of the sty, and otherwise +to outdo the original swine in their own natural vocation. When men once +turn to brutes, the trifle of man's wit that remains in them adds +tenfold to their brutality.</p> + +<p>The comrades of Ulysses, however, had not quite lost the remembrance of +having formerly stood erect. When he approached the sty, two-and-twenty +enormous swine separated themselves from the herd, and scampered towards +him, with such a chorus of horrible squealing as made him clap both +hands to his ears. And yet they did not seem to know what they wanted, +nor whether they were merely hungry, or miserable from some other cause. +It was curious, in the midst of their distress, to observe them +thrusting their noses into the mire, in quest of something to eat. The +nymph with the bodice of oaken bark (she was the hamadryad of an oak) +threw a handful of acorns among them; and the two-and-twenty hogs +scrambled and fought for the prize, as if they had tasted not so much as +a noggin of sour milk for a twelvemonth.</p> + +<p>"These must certainly be my comrades," said Ulysses. "I recognize their +dispositions. They are hardly worth the trouble of changing them into +the human form again. Nevertheless, we will have it done, lest their bad +example should corrupt the other hogs. Let them take their original +shapes, therefore, Dame Circe, if your skill is equal to the task. It +will require greater magic, I trow, than it did to make swine of them."</p> + +<p>So Circe waved her wand again, and repeated a few magic words, at the +sound of which the two-and-twenty hogs pricked up their pendulous ears. +It was a wonder to behold how their snouts grew shorter and shorter, and +their mouths (which they seemed to be sorry for, because they could not +gobble so expeditiously) smaller and smaller, and how one and another +began to stand upon his hind legs, and scratch his nose with his fore +trotters. At first the spectators hardly knew whether to call them hogs +or men, but by and by came to the conclusion that they rather resembled +the latter. Finally, there stood the twenty-two comrades of Ulysses, +looking pretty much the same as when they left the vessel.</p> + +<p>You must not imagine, however, that the swinish quality had entirely +gone out of them. When once it fastens itself into a person's character, +it is very difficult getting rid of it. This was proved by the +hamadryad, who, being exceedingly fond of mischief, threw another +handful of acorns before the twenty-two newly restored people; whereupon +down they wallowed, in a moment, and gobbled them up in a very shameful +way. Then, recollecting themselves, they scrambled to their feet, and +looked more than commonly foolish.</p> + +<p>"Thanks, noble Ulysses!" they cried. "From brute beasts you have +restored us to the condition of men again."</p> + +<p>"Do not put yourselves to the trouble of thanking me," said the wise +king. "I fear I have done but little for you."</p> + +<p>To say the truth, there was a suspicious kind of a grunt in their +voices, and for a long time afterwards they spoke gruffly, and were apt +to set up a squeal.</p> + +<p>"It must depend on your own future behavior," added Ulysses, "whether +you do not find your way back to the sty."</p> + +<p>At this moment, the note of a bird sounded from the branch of a +neighboring tree.</p> + +<p>"Peep, peep, pe—wee—ep!"</p> + +<p>It was the purple bird, who, all this while, had been sitting over their +heads, watching what was going forward, and hoping that Ulysses would +remember how he had done his utmost to keep him and his followers out of +harm's way. Ulysses ordered Circe instantly to make a king of this good +little fowl, and leave him exactly as she found him. Hardly were the +words spoken, and before the bird had time to utter another "Pe—weep," +King Picus leaped down from the bough of the tree, as majestic a +sovereign as any in the world, dressed in a long purple robe and +gorgeous yellow stockings, with a splendidly wrought collar about his +neck, and a golden crown upon his head. He and King Ulysses exchanged +with one another the courtesies which belong to their elevated rank. But +from that time forth, King Picus was no longer proud of his crown and +his trappings of royalty, nor of the fact of his being a king; he felt +himself merely the upper servant of his people, and that it must be his +lifelong labor to make them better and happier.</p> + +<p>As for the lions, tigers, and wolves (though Circe would have restored +them to their former shapes at his slightest word), Ulysses thought it +advisable that they should remain as they now were, and thus give +warning of their cruel dispositions, instead of going about under the +guise of men, and pretending to human sympathies, while their hearts had +the blood-thirstiness of wild beasts. So he let them howl as much as +they liked, but never troubled his head about them. And, when everything +was settled according to his pleasure, he sent to summon the remainder +of his comrades, whom he had left at the sea-shore. These being +arrived, with the prudent Eurylochus at their head, they all made +themselves comfortable in Circe's enchanted palace, until quite rested +and refreshed from the toils and hardships of their voyage.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="The_Pomegranate_Seeds" id="The_Pomegranate_Seeds"></a>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> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus8" id="illus8"></a> +<img src="images/illus8.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>PROSERPINA<br /> +(From the original in the collection of Mrs. William B. Dinsmore +Staatsburg, New York)</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<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 sea-weed 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-colored +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,—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 +colors. 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 curvetting 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,—"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—and whom do you think she saw? Who, 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 lamplight 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 charriot 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 is 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,—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 +sea-shore, 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 neighborhood. 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 farm-house, Ceres +knocked, and called up the weary laborers 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,—"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 towards 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 woe-begone 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, +endeavoring 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,—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."</p> + +<p>"Hush! Say not such a word!" answered Ceres, indignantly. "What is there +to gratify her heart? What are all the splendors 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 heart-strings 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 husbandman +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—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.</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 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 neighborhood 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 Demophoön out of his +bed of live coals, one of which he was gripping 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 super-human 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 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.</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-colored 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,—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 afterwards, 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 afterwards 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.</p> + +<p>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 neighborhood 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—ah, you laugh, naughty Proserpina—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,—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.</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 +vigor 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—dear +mother, I hope it was no harm—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%;" /> +<h2><a name="The_Golden_Fleece" id="The_Golden_Fleece"></a>The Golden Fleece</h2> + + +<p>When Jason, the son of the dethroned King of Iolchos, was a little boy, +he was sent away from his parents, and placed under the queerest +schoolmaster that ever you heard of. This learned person was one of the +people, or quadrupeds, called Centaurs. He lived in a cavern, and had +the body and legs of a white horse, with the head and shoulders of a +man. His name was Chiron; and, in spite of his odd appearance, he was a +very excellent teacher, and had several scholars, who afterwards did him +credit by making a great figure in the world. The famous Hercules was +one, and so was Achilles, and Philoctetes, likewise, and Æsculapius, who +acquired immense repute as a doctor. The good Chiron taught his pupils +how to play upon the harp, and how to cure diseases, and how to use the +sword and shield, together with various other branches of education, in +which the lads of those days used to be instructed, instead of writing +and arithmetic.</p> + +<p>I have sometimes suspected that Master Chiron was not really very +different from other people, but that, being a kind-hearted and merry +old fellow, he was in the habit of making believe that he was a horse, +and scrambling about the school-room on all fours, and letting the +little boys ride upon his back. And so, when his scholars had grown up, +and grown old, and were trotting their grandchildren on their knees, +they told them about the sports of their school-days; and these young +folks took the idea that their grandfathers had been taught their +letters by a Centaur, half man and half horse. Little children, not +quite understanding what is said to them, often get such absurd notions +into their heads, you know.</p> + +<p>Be that as it may, it has always been told for a fact (and always will +be told, as long as the world lasts), that Chiron, with the head of a +schoolmaster, had the body and legs of a horse. Just imagine the grave +old gentleman clattering and stamping into the school-room on his four +hoofs, perhaps treading on some little fellow's toes, flourishing his +switch tail instead of a rod, and, now and then, trotting out of doors +to eat a mouthful of grass! I wonder what the blacksmith charged him for +a set of iron shoes.</p> + +<p>So Jason dwelt in the cave, with this four-footed Chiron, from the time +that he was an infant, only a few months old, until he had grown to the +full height of a man. He became a very good harper, I suppose, and +skilful in the use of weapons, and tolerably acquainted with herbs and +other doctor's stuff, and, above all, an admirable horseman; for, in +teaching young people to ride, the good Chiron must have been without a +rival among schoolmasters. At length, being now a tall and athletic +youth, Jason resolved to seek his fortune in the world, without asking +Chiron's advice, or telling him anything about the matter. This was very +unwise, to be sure; and I hope none of you, my little hearers, will ever +follow Jason's example. But, you are to understand, he had heard how +that he himself was a prince royal, and how his father, King Æson, had +been deprived of the kingdom of Iolchos by a certain Pelias who would +also have killed Jason, had he not been hidden in the Centaur's cave. +And, being come to the strength of a man, Jason determined to set all +this business to rights, and to punish the wicked Pelias for wronging +his dear father, and to cast him down from the throne, and seat himself +there instead.</p> + +<p>With this intention, he took a spear in each hand, and threw a leopard's +skin over his shoulders, to keep off the rain, and set forth on his +travels, with his long yellow ringlets waving in the wind. The part of +his dress on which he most prided himself was a pair of sandals, that +had been his father's. They were handsomely embroidered, and were tied +upon his feet with strings of gold. But his whole attire was such as +people did not very often see; and as he passed along, the women and +children ran to the doors and windows, wondering whither this beautiful +youth was journeying, with his leopard's skin and his golden-tied +sandals, and what heroic deeds he meant to perform, with a spear in his +right hand and another in his left.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus9" id="illus9"></a> +<img src="images/illus9.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>JASON AND HIS TEACHER</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>I know not how far Jason had travelled, when he came to a turbulent +river, which rushed right across his pathway, with specks of white foam +among its black eddies, hurrying tumultuously onward, and roaring +angrily as it went. Though not a very broad river in the dry seasons of +the year, it was now swollen by heavy rains and by the melting of the +snow on the sides of Mount Olympus; and it thundered so loudly, and +looked so wild and dangerous, that Jason, bold as he was, thought it +prudent to pause upon the brink. The bed of the stream seemed to be +strewn with sharp and rugged rocks, some of which thrust themselves +above the water. By and by, an uprooted tree, with shattered branches, +came drifting along the current, and got entangled among the rocks. Now +and then, a drowned sheep, and once the carcass of a cow, floated past.</p> + +<p>In short, the swollen river had already done a great deal of mischief. +It was evidently too deep for Jason to wade, and too boisterous for him +to swim; he could see no bridge; and as for a boat, had there been any, +the rocks would have broken it to pieces in an instant.</p> + +<p>"See the poor lad," said a cracked voice close to his side. "He must +have had but a poor education, since he does not know how to cross a +little stream like this. Or is he afraid of wetting his fine +golden-stringed sandals? It is a pity his four-footed schoolmaster is +not here to carry him safely across on his back!"</p> + +<p>Jason looked round greatly surprised, for he did not know that anybody +was near. But beside him stood an old woman, with a ragged mantle over +her head, leaning on a staff, the top of which was carved into the shape +of a cuckoo. She looked very aged, and wrinkled, and infirm; and yet her +eyes, which were as brown as those of an ox, were so extremely large and +beautiful, that, when they were fixed on Jason's eyes, he could see +nothing else but them. The old woman had a pomegranate in her hand, +although the fruit was then quite out of season.</p> + +<p>"Whither are you going, Jason?" she now asked.</p> + +<p>She seemed to know his name, you will observe; and, indeed, those great +brown eyes looked as if they had a knowledge of everything, whether past +or to come. While Jason was gazing at her, a peacock strutted forward +and took his stand at the old woman's side.</p> + +<p>"I am going to Iolchos," answered the young man, "to bid the wicked King +Pelias come down from my father's throne, and let me reign in his +stead."</p> + +<p>"Ah, well, then," said the old woman, still with the same cracked voice, +"if that is all your business, you need not be in a very great hurry. +Just take me on your back, there's a good youth, and carry me across the +river. I and my peacock have something to do on the other side, as well +as yourself."</p> + +<p>"Good mother," replied Jason, "your business can hardly be so important +as the pulling down a king from his throne. Besides, as you may see for +yourself, the river is very boisterous; and if I should chance to +stumble, it would sweep both of us away more easily than it has carried +off yonder uprooted tree. I would gladly help you if I could; but I +doubt whether I am strong enough to carry you across."</p> + +<p>"Then," said she, very scornfully, "neither are you strong enough to +pull King Pelias off his throne. And, Jason, unless you will help an old +woman at her need, you ought not to be a king. What are kings made for, +save to succor the feeble and distressed? But do as you please. Either +take me on your back, or with my poor old limbs I shall try my best to +struggle across the stream."</p> + +<p>Saying this, the old woman poked with her staff in the river, as if to +find the safest place in its rocky bed where she might make the first +step. But Jason, by this time, had grown ashamed of his reluctance to +help her. He felt that he could never forgive himself, if this poor +feeble creature should come to any harm in attempting to wrestle against +the headlong current. The good Chiron, whether half horse or no, had +taught him that the noblest use of his strength was to assist the weak; +and also that he must treat every young woman as if she were his sister, +and every old one like a mother. Remembering these maxims, the vigorous +and beautiful young man knelt down, and requested the good dame to mount +upon his back.</p> + +<p>"The passage seems to me not very safe," he remarked. "But as your +business is so urgent, I will try to carry you across. If the river +sweeps you away, it shall take me too."</p> + +<p>"That, no doubt, will be a great comfort to both of us," quoth the old +woman. "But never fear. We shall get safely across."</p> + +<p>So she threw her arms around Jason's neck; and lifting her from the +ground, he stepped boldly into the raging and foamy current, and began +to stagger away from the shore. As for the peacock, it alighted on the +old dame's shoulder. Jason's two spears, one in each hand, kept him from +stumbling, and enabled him to feel his way among the hidden rocks; +although, every instant, he expected that his companion and himself +would go down the stream, together with the drift-wood of shattered +trees, and the carcasses of the sheep and cow. Down came the cold, snowy +torrent from the steep side of Olympus, raging and thundering as if it +had a real spite against Jason, or, at all events, were determined to +snatch off his living burden from his shoulders. When he was half-way +across, the uprooted tree (which I have already told you about) broke +loose from among the rocks, and bore down upon him, with all its +splintered branches sticking out like the hundred arms of the giant +Briareus. It rushed past, however, without touching him. But the next +moment, his foot was caught in a crevice between two rocks, and stuck +there so fast, that, in the effort to get free, he lost one of his +golden-stringed sandals.</p> + +<p>At this accident Jason could not help uttering a cry of vexation.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter, Jason?" asked the old woman.</p> + +<p>"Matter enough," said the young man. "I have lost a sandal here among +the rocks. And what sort of a figure shall I cut at the court of King +Pelias, with a golden-stringed sandal on one foot, and the other foot +bare!"</p> + +<p>"Do not take it to heart," answered his companion, cheerily. "You never +met with better fortune than in losing that sandal. It satisfies me that +you are the very person whom the Speaking Oak has been talking about."</p> + +<p>There was no time, just then, to inquire what the Speaking Oak had said. +But the briskness of her tone encouraged the young man; and besides, he +had never in his life felt so vigorous and mighty as since taking this +old woman on his back. Instead of being exhausted, he gathered strength +as he went on; and, struggling up against the torrent, he at last gained +the opposite shore, clambered up the bank, and set down the old dame and +her peacock safely on the grass. As soon as this was done, however, he +could not help looking rather despondently at his bare foot, with only a +remnant of the golden string of the sandal clinging round his ankle.</p> + +<p>"You will get a handsomer pair of sandals by and by," said the old +woman, with a kindly look out of her beautiful brown eyes. "Only let +King Pelias get a glimpse of that bare foot, and you shall see him turn +as pale as ashes, I promise you. There is your path. Go along, my good +Jason, and my blessing go with you. And when you sit on your throne, +remember the old woman whom you helped over the river."</p> + +<p>With these words, she hobbled away, giving him a smile over her shoulder +as she departed. Whether the light of her beautiful brown eyes threw a +glory round about her, or whatever the cause might be, Jason fancied +that there was something very noble and majestic in her figure, after +all, and that, though her gait seemed to be a rheumatic hobble, yet she +moved with as much grace and dignity as any queen on earth. Her peacock, +which had now fluttered down from her shoulder, strutted behind her in +prodigious pomp, and spread out its magnificent tail on purpose for +Jason to admire it.</p> + +<p>When the old dame and her peacock were out of sight, Jason set forward +on his journey. After travelling a pretty long distance, he came to a +town situated at the foot of a mountain, and not a great way from the +shore of the sea. On the outside of the town there was an immense crowd +of people, not only men and women, but children, too, all in their best +clothes, and evidently enjoying a holiday. The crowd was thickest +towards the sea-shore; and in that direction, over the people's heads, +Jason saw a wreath of smoke curling upward to the blue sky. He inquired +of one of the multitude what town it was, near by, and why so many +persons were here assembled together.</p> + +<p>"This is the kingdom of Iolchos," answered the man, "and we are the +subjects of King Pelias. Our monarch has summoned us together, that we +may see him sacrifice a black bull to Neptune, who, they say, is his +Majesty's father. Yonder is the king, where you see the smoke going up +from the altar."</p> + +<p>While the man spoke he eyed Jason with great curiosity; for his garb was +quite unlike that of the Iolchians, and it looked very odd to see a +youth with a leopard's skin over his shoulders, and each hand grasping a +spear. Jason perceived, too, that the man stared particularly at his +feet, one of which, you remember, was bare, while the other was +decorated with his father's golden-stringed sandal.</p> + +<p>"Look at him! only look at him!" said the man to his next neighbor. "Do +you see? He wears but one sandal!"</p> + +<p>Upon this, first one person, and then another, began to stare at Jason, +and everybody seemed to be greatly struck with something in his aspect; +though they turned their eyes much oftener towards his feet than to any +other part of his figure. Besides, he could hear them whispering to one +another.</p> + +<p>"One sandal! One sandal!" they kept saying. "The man with one sandal! +Here he is at last! Whence has he come? What does he mean to do? What +will the king say to the one-sandalled man?"</p> + +<p>Poor Jason was greatly abashed, and made up his mind that the people of +Iolchos were exceedingly ill bred, to take such public notice of an +accidental deficiency in his dress. Meanwhile, whether it were that they +hustled him forward, or that Jason, of his own accord, thrust a passage +through the crowd, it so happened that he soon found himself close to +the smoking altar, where King Pelias was sacrificing the black bull. The +murmur and hum of the multitude, in their surprise at the spectacle of +Jason with his one bare foot, grew so loud that it disturbed the +ceremonies; and the king, holding the great knife with which he was just +going to cut the bull's throat, turned angrily about, and fixed his eyes +on Jason. The people had now withdrawn from around him, so that the +youth stood in an open space near the smoking altar, front to front with +the angry King Pelias.</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" cried the king, with a terrible frown. "And how dare you +make this disturbance, while I am sacrificing a black bull to my father +Neptune?"</p> + +<p>"It is no fault of mine," answered Jason. "Your Majesty must blame the +rudeness of your subjects, who have raised all this tumult because one +of my feet happens to be bare."</p> + +<p>When Jason said this, the king gave a quick, startled glance down at his +feet.</p> + +<p>"Ha!" muttered he, "here is the one-sandalled fellow, sure enough! What +can I do with him?"</p> + +<p>And he clutched more closely the great knife in his hand, as if he were +half a mind to slay Jason instead of the black bull. The people round +about caught up the king's words indistinctly as they were uttered; and +first there was a murmur among them, and then a loud shout.</p> + +<p>"The one-sandalled man has come! The prophecy must be fulfilled!"</p> + +<p>For you are to know that, many years before, King Pelias had been told +by the Speaking Oak of Dodona, that a man with one sandal should cast +him down from his throne. On this account, he had given strict orders +that nobody should ever come into his presence, unless both sandals were +securely tied upon his feet; and he kept an officer in his palace, whose +sole business it was to examine people's sandals, and to supply them +with a new pair, at the expense of the royal treasury, as soon as the +old ones began to wear out. In the whole course of the king's reign, he +had never been thrown into such a fright and agitation as by the +spectacle of poor Jason's bare foot. But, as he was naturally a bold and +hard-hearted man, he soon took courage, and began to consider in what +way he might rid himself of this terrible one-sandalled stranger.</p> + +<p>"My good young man," said King Pelias, taking the softest tone +imaginable, in order to throw Jason off his guard, "you are excessively +welcome to my kingdom. Judging by your dress, you must have travelled a +long distance; for it is not the fashion to wear leopard-skins in this +part of the world. Pray, what may I call your name? and where did you +receive your education?"</p> + +<p>"My name is Jason," answered the young stranger. "Ever since my infancy, +I have dwelt in the cave of Chiron the Centaur. He was my instructor, +and taught me music, and horsemanship, and how to cure wounds, and +likewise how to inflict wounds with my weapons!"</p> + +<p>"I have heard of Chiron the schoolmaster," replied King Pelias, "and how +that there is an immense deal of learning and wisdom in his head, +although it happens to be set on a horse's body. It gives me great +delight to see one of his scholars at my court. But, to test how much +you have profited under so excellent a teacher, will you allow me to ask +you a single question?"</p> + +<p>"I do not pretend to be very wise," said Jason. "But ask me what you +please, and I will answer to the best of my ability."</p> + +<p>Now King Pelias meant cunningly to entrap the young man, and to make him +say something that should be the cause of mischief and destruction to +himself. So with a crafty and evil smile upon his face, he spoke as +follows:—</p> + +<p>"What would you do, brave Jason," asked he, "if there were a man in the +world, by whom, as you had reason to believe, you were doomed to be +ruined and slain,—what would you do, I say, if that man stood before +you, and in your power?"</p> + +<p>When Jason saw the malice and wickedness which King Pelias could not +prevent from gleaming out of his eyes, he probably guessed that the king +had discovered what he came for, and that he intended to turn his own +words against himself. Still he scorned to tell a falsehood. Like an +upright and honorable prince, as he was, he determined to speak out the +real truth. Since the king had chosen to ask him the question, and since +Jason had promised him an answer, there was no right way, save to tell +him precisely what would be the most prudent thing to do, if he had his +worst enemy in his power.</p> + +<p>Therefore, after a moment's consideration, he spoke up, with a firm and +manly voice.</p> + +<p>"I would send such a man," said he, "in quest of the Golden Fleece!"</p> + +<p>This enterprise, you will understand, was, of all others, the most +difficult and dangerous in the world. In the first place, it would be +necessary to make a long voyage through unknown seas. There was hardly a +hope, or a possibility, that any young man who should undertake this +voyage would either succeed in obtaining the Golden Fleece, or would +survive to return home, and tell of the perils he had run. The eyes of +King Pelias sparkled with joy, therefore, when he heard Jason's reply.</p> + +<p>"Well said, wise man with the one sandal!" cried he. "Go, then, and, at +the peril of your life, bring me back the Golden Fleece."</p> + +<p>"I go," answered Jason, composedly. "If I fail, you need not fear that I +will ever come back to trouble you again. But if I return to Iolchos +with the prize, then, King Pelias, you must hasten down from your lofty +throne, and give me your crown and sceptre."</p> + +<p>"That I will," said the king, with a sneer. "Meantime, I will keep them +very safely for you."</p> + +<p>The first thing that Jason thought of doing, after he left the king's +presence, was to go to Dodona, and inquire of the Talking Oak what +course it was best to pursue. This wonderful tree stood in the centre of +an ancient wood. Its stately trunk rose up a hundred feet into the air, +and threw a broad and dense shadow over more than an acre of ground. +Standing beneath it, Jason looked up among the knotted branches and +green leaves, and into the mysterious heart of the old tree, and spoke +aloud, as if he were addressing some person who was hidden in the depths +of the foliage.</p> + +<p>"What shall I do," said he, "in order to win the Golden Fleece?"</p> + +<p>At first there was a deep silence, not only within the shadow of the +Talking Oak, but all through the solitary wood. In a moment or two, +however, the leaves of the oak began to stir and rustle, as if a gentle +breeze were wandering amongst them, although the other trees of the wood +were perfectly still. The sound grew louder, and became like the roar of +a high wind. By and by, Jason imagined that he could distinguish words, +but very confusedly, because each separate leaf of the tree seemed to be +a tongue, and the whole myriad of tongues were babbling at once. But the +noise waxed broader and deeper, until it resembled a tornado sweeping +through the oak, and making one great utterance out of the thousand and +thousand of little murmurs which each leafy tongue had caused by its +rustling. And now, though it still had the tone of mighty wind roaring +among the branches, it was also like a deep bass voice, speaking, as +distinctly as a tree could be expected to speak, the following words:—</p> + +<p>"Go to Argus, the ship-builder, and bid him build a galley with fifty +oars."</p> + +<p>Then the voice melted again into the indistinct murmur of the rustling +leaves, and died gradually away. When it was quite gone, Jason felt +inclined to doubt whether he had actually heard the words, or whether +his fancy had not shaped them out of the ordinary sound made by a +breeze, while passing through the thick foliage of the tree.</p> + +<p>But on inquiry among the people of Iolchos, he found that there was +really a man in the city, by the name of Argus, who was a very skilful +builder of vessels. This showed some intelligence in the oak; else how +should it have known that any such person existed? At Jason's request, +Argus readily consented to build him a galley so big that it should +require fifty strong men to row it; although no vessel of such a size +and burden had heretofore been seen in the world. So the head carpenter, +and all his journeymen and apprentices, began their work; and for a good +while afterwards, there they were, busily employed, hewing out the +timbers, and making a great clatter with their hammers; until the new +ship, which was called the Argo, seemed to be quite ready for sea. And, +as the Talking Oak had already given him such good advice, Jason thought +that it would not be amiss to ask for a little more. He visited it +again, therefore, and standing beside its huge, rough trunk, inquired +what he should do next.</p> + +<p>This time, there was no such universal quivering of the leaves, +throughout the whole tree, as there had been before. But after a while, +Jason observed that the foliage of a great branch which stretched above +his head had begun to rustle, as if the wind were stirring that one +bough, while all the other boughs of the oak were at rest.</p> + +<p>"Cut me off!" said the branch, as soon as it could speak +distinctly,—"cut me off! cut me off! and carve me into a figure-head +for your galley."</p> + +<p>Accordingly, Jason took the branch at its word, and lopped it off the +tree. A carver in the neighborhood engaged to make the figure-head. He +was a tolerably good workman, and had already carved several +figure-heads, in what he intended for feminine shapes, and looking +pretty much like those which we see nowadays stuck up under a vessel's +bowsprit, with great staring eyes, that never wink at the dash of the +spray. But (what was very strange) the carver found that his hand was +guided by some unseen power, and by a skill beyond his own, and that his +tools shaped out an image which he had never dreamed of. When the work +was finished, it turned out to be the figure of a beautiful woman with a +helmet on her head, from beneath which the long ringlets fell down upon +her shoulders. On the left arm was a shield, and in its centre appeared +a lifelike representation of the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. +The right arm was extended, as if pointing onward. The face of this +wonderful statue, though not angry or forbidding, was so grave and +majestic, that perhaps you might call it severe; and as for the mouth, +it seemed just ready to unclose its lips, and utter words of the deepest +wisdom.</p> + +<p>Jason was delighted with the oaken image, and gave the carver no rest +until it was completed, and set up where a figure-head has always stood, +from that time to this, in the vessel's prow.</p> + +<p>"And now," cried he, as he stood gazing at the calm, majestic face of +the statue, "I must go to the Talking Oak, and inquire what next to do."</p> + +<p>"There is no need of that, Jason," said a voice which, though it was far +lower, reminded him of the mighty tones of the great oak. "When you +desire good advice, you can seek it of me."</p> + +<p>Jason had been looking straight into the face of the image when these +words were spoken. But he could hardly believe either his ears or his +eyes. The truth was, however, that the oaken lips had moved, and, to all +appearance, the voice had proceeded from the statue's mouth. Recovering +a little from his surprise, Jason bethought himself that the image had +been carved out of the wood of the Talking Oak, and that, therefore, it +was really no great wonder, but on the contrary, the most natural thing +in the world, that it should possess the faculty of speech. It would +have been very odd, indeed, if it had not. But certainly it was a great +piece of good fortune that he should be able to carry so wise a block of +wood along with him in his perilous voyage.</p> + +<p>"Tell me, wondrous image," exclaimed Jason,—"since you inherit the +wisdom of the Speaking Oak of Dodona, whose daughter you are,—tell me, +where shall I find fifty bold youths, who will take each of them an oar +of my galley? They must have sturdy arms to row, and brave hearts to +encounter perils, or we shall never win the Golden Fleece."</p> + +<p>"Go," replied the oaken image,—"go, summon all the heroes of Greece."</p> + +<p>And, in fact, considering what a great deed was to be done, could any +advice be wiser than this which Jason received from the figure-head of +his vessel? He lost no time in sending messengers to all the cities, and +making known to the whole people of Greece, that Prince Jason, the son +of King Æson, was going in quest of the Fleece of Gold, and that he +desired the help of forty-nine of the bravest and strongest young men +alive, to row his vessel and share his dangers. And Jason himself would +be the fiftieth.</p> + +<p>At this news, the adventurous youths, all over the country, began to +bestir themselves. Some of them had already fought with giants, and +slain dragons; and the younger ones, who had not yet met with such good +fortune, thought it a shame to have lived so long without getting +astride of a flying serpent, or sticking their spears into a Chimæra, +or, at least, thrusting their right arms down a monstrous lion's throat. +There was a fair prospect that they would meet with plenty of such +adventures before finding the Golden Fleece. As soon as they could +furbish up their helmets and shields, therefore, and gird on their +trusty swords, they came thronging to Iolchos, and clambered on board +the new galley. Shaking hands with Jason, they assured him that they did +not care a pin for their lives, but would help row the vessel to the +remotest edge of the world, and as much farther as he might think it +best to go.</p> + +<p>Many of these brave fellows had been educated by Chiron, the four-footed +pedagogue, and were therefore old schoolmates of Jason, and knew him to +be a lad of spirit. The mighty Hercules, whose shoulders afterwards held +up the sky, was one of them. And there were Castor and Pollux, the twin +brothers, who were never accused of being chicken-hearted, although they +had been hatched out of an egg; and Theseus, who was so renowned for +killing the Minotaur; and Lynceus, with his wonderfully sharp eyes, +which could see through a millstone, or look right down into the depths +of the earth, and discover the treasures that were there; and Orpheus, +the very best of harpers, who sang and played upon his lyre so sweetly, +that the brute beasts stood upon their hind legs, and capered merrily to +the music. Yes, and at some of his more moving tunes, the rocks +bestirred their moss-grown bulk out of the ground, and a grove of +forest trees uprooted themselves, and, nodding their tops to one +another, performed a country dance.</p> + +<p>One of the rowers was a beautiful young woman, named Atalanta, who had +been nursed among the mountains by a bear. So light of foot was this +fair damsel that she could step from one foamy crest of a wave to the +foamy crest of another, without wetting more than the sole of her +sandal. She had grown up in a very wild way, and talked much about the +rights of women, and loved hunting and war far better than her needle. +But, in my opinion, the most remarkable of this famous company were two +sons of the North Wind (airy youngsters, and of rather a blustering +disposition), who had wings on their shoulders, and, in case of a calm, +could puff out their cheeks, and blow almost as fresh a breeze as their +father. I ought not to forget the prophets and conjurers, of whom there +were several in the crew, and who could foretell what would happen +to-morrow, or the next day, or a hundred years hence, but were generally +quite unconscious of what was passing at the moment.</p> + +<p>Jason appointed Tiphys to be helmsman, because he was a star-gazer, and +knew the points of the compass. Lynceus, on account of his sharp sight, +was stationed as a lookout in the prow, where he saw a whole day's sail +ahead, but was rather apt to overlook things that lay directly under his +nose. If the sea only happened to be deep enough, however, Lynceus could +tell you exactly what kind of rocks or sands were at the bottom of it; +and he often cried out to his companions, that they were sailing over +heaps of sunken treasure, which yet he was none the richer for +beholding. To confess the truth, few people believed him when he said +it.</p> + +<p>Well! But when the Argonauts, as these fifty brave adventurers were +called, had prepared everything for the voyage, an unforeseen difficulty +threatened to end it before it was begun. The vessel, you must +understand, was so long, and broad, and ponderous, that the united force +of all the fifty was insufficient to shove her into the water. Hercules, +I suppose, had not grown to his full strength, else he might have set +her afloat as easily as a little boy launches his boat upon a puddle. +But here were these fifty heroes pushing, and straining, and growing red +in the face, without making the Argo start an inch. At last, quite +wearied out, they sat themselves down on the shore, exceedingly +disconsolate, and thinking that the vessel must be left to rot and fall +in pieces, and that they must either swim across the sea or lose the +Golden Fleece.</p> + +<p>All at once, Jason bethought himself of the galley's miraculous +figure-head.</p> + +<p>"O daughter of the Talking Oak," cried he, "how shall we set to work to +get our vessel into the water?"</p> + +<p>"Seat yourselves," answered the image (for it had known what ought to be +done from the very first, and was only waiting for the question to be +put),—"seat yourselves, and handle your oars, and let Orpheus play upon +his harp."</p> + +<p>Immediately the fifty heroes got on board, and seizing their oars, held +them perpendicularly in the air, while Orpheus (who liked such a task +far better than rowing) swept his fingers across the harp. At the first +ringing note of the music, they felt the vessel stir. Orpheus thrummed +away briskly, and the galley slid at once into the sea, dipping her prow +so deeply that the figure-head drank the wave with its marvellous lips, +and rose again as buoyant as a swan. The rowers plied their fifty oars; +the white foam boiled up before the prow; the water gurgled and bubbled +in their wake; while Orpheus continued to play so lively a strain of +music, that the vessel seemed to dance over the billows by way of +keeping time to it. Thus triumphantly did the Argo sail out of the +harbor, amidst the huzzas and good wishes of everybody except the wicked +old Pelias, who stood on a promontory, scowling at her, and wishing that +he could blow out of his lungs the tempest of wrath that was in his +heart, and so sink the galley with all on board. When they had sailed +above fifty miles over the sea, Lynceus happened to cast his sharp eyes +behind, and said that there was this bad-hearted king, still perched +upon the promontory, and scowling so gloomily that it looked like a +black thunder-cloud in that quarter of the horizon.</p> + +<p>In order to make the time pass away more pleasantly during the voyage, +the heroes talked about the Golden Fleece. It originally belonged, it +appears, to a Bœotian ram, who had taken on his back two children, +when in danger of their lives, and fled with them over land and sea, as +far as Colchis. One of the children, whose name was Helle, fell into the +sea and was drowned. But the other (a little boy, named Phrixus) was +brought safe ashore by the faithful ram, who, however, was so exhausted +that he immediately lay down and died. In memory of this good deed, and +as a token of his true heart, the fleece of the poor dead ram was +miraculously changed to gold, and became one of the most beautiful +objects ever seen on earth. It was hung upon a tree in a sacred grove, +where it had now been kept I know not how many years, and was the envy +of mighty kings, who had nothing so magnificent in any of their palaces.</p> + +<p>If I were to tell you all the adventures of the Argonauts, it would take +me till nightfall, and perhaps a great deal longer. There was no lack of +wonderful events, as you may judge from what you may have already heard. +At a certain island they were hospitably received by King Cyzicus, its +sovereign, who made a feast for them, and treated them like brothers. +But the Argonauts saw that this good king looked downcast and very much +troubled, and they therefore inquired of him what was the matter. King +Cyzicus hereupon informed them that he and his subjects were greatly +abused and incommoded by the inhabitants of a neighboring mountain, who +made war upon them, and killed many people, and ravaged the country. And +while they were talking about it, Cyzicus pointed to the mountain, and +asked Jason and his companions what they saw there.</p> + +<p>"I see some very tall objects," answered Jason; "but they are at such a +distance that I cannot distinctly make out what they are. To tell your +Majesty the truth, they look so very strangely that I am inclined to +think them clouds, which have chanced to take something like human +shapes."</p> + +<p>"I see them very plainly," remarked Lynceus, whose eyes, you know, were +as far-sighted as a telescope. "They are a band of enormous giants, all +of whom have six arms apiece, and a club, a sword, or some other weapon +in each of their hands."</p> + +<p>"You have excellent eyes," said King Cyzicus. "Yes; they are six-armed +giants, as you say, and these are the enemies whom I and my subjects +have to contend with."</p> + +<p>The next day, when the Argonauts were about setting sail, down came +these terrible giants, stepping a hundred yards at a stride, brandishing +their six arms apiece, and looking very formidable, so far aloft in the +air. Each of these monsters was able to carry on a whole war by himself, +for with one of his arms he could fling immense stones, and wield a club +with another, and a sword with a third, while the fourth was poking a +long spear at the enemy, and the fifth and sixth were shooting him with +a bow and arrow. But, luckily, though the giants were so huge, and had +so many arms, they had each but one heart, and that no bigger nor braver +than the heart of an ordinary man. Besides, if they had been like the +hundred-armed Briareus, the brave Argonauts would have given them their +hands full of fight. Jason and his friends went boldly to meet them, +slew a great many, and made the rest take to their heels, so that, if +the giants had had six legs apiece instead of six arms, it would have +served them better to run away with.</p> + +<p>Another strange adventure happened when the voyagers came to Thrace, +where they found a poor blind king, named Phineus, deserted by his +subjects, and living in a very sorrowful way, all by himself. On Jason's +inquiring whether they could do him any service, the king answered that +he was terribly tormented by three great winged creatures, called +Harpies, which had the faces of women, and the wings, bodies, and claws +of vultures. These ugly wretches were in the habit of snatching away his +dinner, and allowing him no peace of his life. Upon hearing this, the +Argonauts spread a plentiful feast on the sea-shore, well knowing, from +what the blind king said of their greediness, that the Harpies would +snuff up the scent of the victuals, and quickly come to steal them away. +And so it turned out; for, hardly was the table set, before the three +hideous vulture women came flapping their wings, seized the food in +their talons, and flew off as fast as they could. But the two sons of +the North Wind drew their swords, spread their pinions, and set off +through the air in pursuit of the thieves, whom they at last overtook +among some islands, after a chase of hundreds of miles. The two winged +youths blustered terribly at the Harpies (for they had the rough temper +of their father), and so frightened them with their drawn swords, that +they solemnly promised never to trouble King Phineus again.</p> + +<p>Then the Argonauts sailed onward, and met with many other marvellous +incidents any one of which would make a story by itself. At one time, +they landed on an island, and were reposing on the grass, when they +suddenly found themselves assailed by what seemed a shower of +steel-headed arrows. Some of them stuck in the ground, while others hit +against their shields, and several penetrated their flesh. The fifty +heroes started up, and looked about them for the hidden enemy, but could +find none, nor see any spot, on the whole island, where even a single +archer could lie concealed. Still, however, the steel-headed arrows came +whizzing among them; and, at last, happening to look upward, they beheld +a large flock of birds, hovering and wheeling aloft, and shooting their +feathers down upon the Argonauts. These feathers were the steel-headed +arrows that had so tormented them. There was no possibility of making +any resistance; and the fifty heroic Argonauts might all have been +killed or wounded by a flock of troublesome birds, without ever setting +eyes on the Golden Fleece, if Jason had not thought of asking the advice +of the oaken image.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus10" id="illus10"></a> +<img src="images/illus10.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>THE ARGONAUTS IN QUEST OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE<br /> +(From the original in the collection of Harry Payne Whitney Esq're, New York)</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>So he ran to the galley as fast as his legs would carry him.</p> + +<p>"O daughter of the Speaking Oak," cried he, all out of breath, "we need +your wisdom more than ever before! We are in great peril from a flock of +birds, who are shooting us with their steel-pointed feathers. What can +we do to drive them away?"</p> + +<p>"Make a clatter on your shields," said the image.</p> + +<p>On receiving this excellent counsel, Jason hurried back to his +companions (who were far more dismayed than when they fought with the +six-armed giants), and bade them strike with their swords upon their +brazen shields. Forthwith the fifty heroes set heartily to work, banging +with might and main, and raised such a terrible clatter that the birds +made what haste they could to get away; and though they had shot half +the feathers out of their wings, they were soon seen skimming among the +clouds, a long distance off, and looking like a flock of wild geese. +Orpheus celebrated this victory by playing a triumphant anthem on his +harp, and sang so melodiously that Jason begged him to desist, lest, as +the steel-feathered birds had been driven away by an ugly sound, they +might be enticed back again by a sweet one.</p> + +<p>While the Argonauts remained on this island, they saw a small vessel +approaching the shore, in which were two young men of princely demeanor, +and exceedingly handsome, as young princes generally were in those days. +Now, who do you imagine these two voyagers turned out to be? Why, if you +will believe me, they were the sons of that very Phrixus, who, in his +childhood, had been carried to Colchis on the back of the golden-fleeced +ram. Since that time, Phrixus had married the king's daughter; and the +two young princes had been born and brought up at Colchis, and had spent +their play-days in the outskirts of the grove, in the centre of which +the Golden Fleece was hanging upon a tree. They were now on their way to +Greece, in hopes of getting back a kingdom that had been wrongfully +taken from their father.</p> + +<p>When the princes understood whither the Argonauts were going, they +offered to turn back and guide them to Colchis. At the same time, +however, they spoke as if it were very doubtful whether Jason would +succeed in getting the Golden Fleece. According to their account, the +tree on which it hung was guarded by a terrible dragon, who never failed +to devour, at one mouthful, every person who might venture within his +reach.</p> + +<p>"There are other difficulties in the way," continued the young princes. +"But is not this enough? Ah, brave Jason, turn back before it is too +late. It would grieve us to the heart, if you and your nine-and-forty +brave companions should be eaten up, at fifty mouthfuls, by this +execrable dragon."</p> + +<p>"My young friends," quietly replied Jason, "I do not wonder that you +think the dragon very terrible. You have grown up from infancy in the +fear of this monster, and therefore still regard him with the awe that +children feel for the bugbears and hobgoblins which their nurses have +talked to them about. But, in my view of the matter, the dragon is +merely a pretty large serpent, who is not half so likely to snap me up +at one mouthful as I am to cut off his ugly head, and strip the skin +from his body. At all events, turn back who may, I will never see Greece +again unless I carry with me the Golden Fleece."</p> + +<p>"We will none of us turn back!" cried his nine-and-forty brave comrades. +"Let us get on board the galley this instant; and if the dragon is to +make a breakfast of us, much good may it do him."</p> + +<p>And Orpheus (whose custom it was to set everything to music) began to +harp and sing most gloriously, and made every mother's son of them feel +as if nothing in this world were so delectable as to fight dragons, and +nothing so truly honorable as to be eaten up at one mouthful, in case of +the worst.</p> + +<p>After this (being now under the guidance of the two princes, who were +well acquainted with the way), they quickly sailed to Colchis. When the +king of the country, whose name was Æetes, heard of their arrival, he +instantly summoned Jason to court. The king was a stern and +cruel-looking potentate; and though he put on as polite and hospitable +an expression as he could, Jason did not like his face a whit better +than that of the wicked King Pelias, who dethroned his father.</p> + +<p>"You are welcome, brave Jason," said King Æetes. "Pray, are you on a +pleasure voyage?—or do you meditate the discovery of unknown +islands?—or what other cause has procured me the happiness of seeing +you at my court?"</p> + +<p>"Great sir," replied Jason, with an obeisance,—for Chiron had taught +him how to behave with propriety, whether to kings or beggars,—"I have +come hither with a purpose which I now beg your Majesty's permission to +execute. King Pelias, who sits on my father's throne (to which he has no +more right than to the one on which your excellent Majesty is now +seated), has engaged to come down from it, and to give me his crown and +sceptre, provided I bring him the Golden Fleece. This, as your Majesty +is aware, is now hanging on a tree here at Colchis; and I humbly solicit +your gracious leave to take it away."</p> + +<p>In spite of himself, the king's face twisted itself into an angry frown; +for, above all things else in the world, he prized the Golden Fleece, +and was even suspected of having done a very wicked act, in order to get +it into his own possession. It put him into the worst possible humor, +therefore, to hear that the gallant Prince Jason, and forty-nine of the +bravest young warriors of Greece, had come to Colchis with the sole +purpose of taking away his chief treasure.</p> + +<p>"Do you know," asked King Æetes, eying Jason very sternly, "what are the +conditions which you must fulfil before getting possession of the Golden +Fleece?"</p> + +<p>"I have heard," rejoined the youth, "that a dragon lies beneath the tree +on which the prize hangs, and that whoever approaches him runs the risk +of being devoured at a mouthful."</p> + +<p>"True," said the king, with a smile that did not look particularly +good-natured. "Very true, young man. But there are other things as hard, +or perhaps a little harder, to be done, before you can even have the +privilege of being devoured by the dragon. For example, you must first +tame my two brazen-footed and brazen-lunged bulls, which Vulcan, the +wonderful blacksmith, made for me. There is a furnace in each of their +stomachs; and they breathe such hot fire out of their mouths and +nostrils, that nobody has hitherto gone nigh them without being +instantly burned to a small, black cinder. What do you think of this, my +brave Jason?"</p> + +<p>"I must encounter the peril," answered Jason, composedly, "since it +stands in the way of my purpose."</p> + +<p>"After taming the fiery bulls," continued King Æetes, who was determined +to scare Jason if possible, "you must yoke them to a plough, and must +plough the sacred earth in the grove of Mars, and sow some of the same +dragon's teeth from which Cadmus raised a crop of armed men. They are an +unruly set of reprobates, those sons of the dragon's teeth; and unless +you treat them suitably, they will fall upon you sword in hand. You and +your nine-and-forty Argonauts, my bold Jason, are hardly numerous or +strong enough to fight with such a host as will spring up."</p> + +<p>"My master Chiron," replied Jason, "taught me, long ago, the story of +Cadmus. Perhaps I can manage the quarrelsome sons of the dragon's teeth +as well as Cadmus did."</p> + +<p>"I wish the dragon had him," muttered King Æetes to himself, "and the +four-footed pedant, his schoolmaster, into the bargain. Why, what a +foolhardy, self-conceited coxcomb he is! We'll see what my +fire-breathing bulls will do for him. Well, Prince Jason," he continued, +aloud, and as complaisantly as he could, "make yourself comfortable for +to-day, and to-morrow morning, since you insist upon it, you shall try +your skill at the plough."</p> + +<p>While the king talked with Jason, a beautiful young woman was standing +behind the throne. She fixed her eyes earnestly upon the youthful +stranger, and listened attentively to every word that was spoken; and +when Jason withdrew from the king's presence, this young woman followed +him out of the room.</p> + +<p>"I am the king's daughter," she said to him, "and my name is Medea. I +know a great deal of which other young princesses are ignorant, and can +do many things which they would be afraid so much as to dream of. If you +will trust to me, I can instruct you how to tame the fiery bulls, and +sow the dragon's teeth, and get the Golden Fleece."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, beautiful princess," answered Jason, "if you will do me this +service, I promise to be grateful to you my whole life long."</p> + +<p>Gazing at Medea, he beheld a wonderful intelligence in her face. She was +one of those persons whose eyes are full of mystery; so that, while +looking into them, you seem to see a very great way, as into a deep +well, yet can never be certain whether you see into the farthest depths, +or whether there be not something else hidden at the bottom. If Jason +had been capable of fearing anything, he would have been afraid of +making this young princess his enemy; for, beautiful as she now looked, +she might, the very next instant, become as terrible as the dragon that +kept watch over the Golden Fleece.</p> + +<p>"Princess," he exclaimed, "you seem indeed very wise and very powerful. +But how can you help me to do the things of which you speak? Are you an +enchantress?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Prince Jason," answered Medea, with a smile, "you have hit upon +the truth. I am an enchantress. Circe, my father's sister, taught me to +be one, and I could tell you, if I pleased, who was the old woman with +the peacock, the pomegranate, and the cuckoo staff, whom you carried +over the river; and, likewise, who it is that speaks through the lips of +the oaken image, that stands in the prow of your galley. I am acquainted +with some of your secrets, you perceive. It is well for you that I am +favorably inclined; for, otherwise, you would hardly escape being +snapped up by the dragon."</p> + +<p>"I should not so much care for the dragon," replied Jason, "if I only +knew how to manage the brazen-footed and fiery-lunged bulls."</p> + +<p>"If you are as brave as I think you, and as you have need to be," said +Medea, "your own bold heart will teach you that there is but one way of +dealing with a mad bull. What it is I leave you to find out in the +moment of peril. As for the fiery breath of these animals, I have a +charmed ointment here, which will prevent you from being burned up, and +cure you if you chance to be a little scorched."</p> + +<p>So she put a golden box into his hand, and directed him how to apply the +perfumed unguent which it contained, and where to meet her at midnight.</p> + +<p>"Only be brave," added she, "and before daybreak the brazen bulls shall +be tamed."</p> + +<p>The young man assured her that his heart would not fail him. He then +rejoined his comrades, and told them what had passed between the +princess and himself, and warned them to be in readiness in case there +might be need of their help.</p> + +<p>At the appointed hour he met the beautiful Medea on the marble steps of +the king's palace. She gave him a basket, in which were the dragon's +teeth, just as they had been pulled out of the monster's jaws by Cadmus, +long ago. Medea then led Jason down the palace steps, and through the +silent streets of the city, and into the royal pasture-ground, where the +two brazen-footed bulls were kept. It was a starry night, with a bright +gleam along the eastern edge of the sky, where the moon was soon going +to show herself. After entering the pasture, the princess paused and +looked around.</p> + +<p>"There they are," said she, "reposing themselves and chewing their fiery +cuds in that farthest corner of the field. It will be excellent sport, I +assure you, when they catch a glimpse of your figure. My father and all +his court delight in nothing so much as to see a stranger trying to yoke +them, in order to come at the Golden Fleece. It makes a holiday in +Colchis whenever such a thing happens. For my part, I enjoy it +immensely. You cannot imagine in what a mere twinkling of an eye their +hot breath shrivels a young man into a black cinder."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure, beautiful Medea," asked Jason, "quite sure, that the +unguent in the gold box will prove a remedy against those terrible +burns?"</p> + +<p>"If you doubt it, if you are in the least afraid," said the princess, +looking him in the face by the dim starlight, "you had better never have +been born than go a step nigher to the bulls."</p> + +<p>But Jason had set his heart steadfastly on getting the Golden Fleece; +and I positively doubt whether he would have gone back without it, even +had he been certain of finding himself turned into a red-hot cinder, or +a handful of white ashes, the instant he made a step farther. He +therefore let go Medea's hand, and walked boldly forward in the +direction whither she had pointed. At some distance before him he +perceived four streams of fiery vapor, regularly appearing, and again +vanishing, after dimly lighting up the surrounding obscurity. These, you +will understand, were caused by the breath of the brazen bulls, which +was quietly stealing out of their four nostrils, as they lay chewing +their cuds.</p> + +<p>At the first two or three steps which Jason made, the four fiery streams +appeared to gush out somewhat more plentifully; for the two brazen bulls +had heard his foot-tramp, and were lifting up their hot noses to snuff +the air. He went a little farther, and by the way in which the red vapor +now spouted forth, he judged that the creatures had got upon their feet. +Now he could see glowing sparks, and vivid jets of flame. At the next +step, each of the bulls made the pasture echo with a terrible roar, +while the burning breath, which they thus belched forth, lit up the +whole field with a momentary flash. One other stride did bold Jason +make; and, suddenly, as a streak of lightning, on came these fiery +animals, roaring like thunder, and sending out sheets of white flame, +which so kindled up the scene that the young man could discern every +object more distinctly than by daylight. Most distinctly of all he saw +the two horrible creatures galloping right down upon him, their brazen +hoofs rattling and ringing over the ground, and their tails sticking up +stiffly into the air, as has always been the fashion with angry bulls. +Their breath scorched the herbage before them. So intensely hot it was, +indeed, that it caught a dry tree, under which Jason was now standing, +and set it all in a light blaze. But as for Jason himself (thanks to +Medea's enchanted ointment), the white flame curled around his body, +without injuring him a jot more than if he had been made of asbestos.</p> + +<p>Greatly encouraged at finding himself not yet turned into a cinder, the +young man awaited the attack of the bulls. Just as the brazen brutes +fancied themselves sure of tossing him into the air, he caught one of +them by the horn, and the other by his screwed-up tail, and held them in +a gripe like that of an iron vise, one with his right hand, the other +with his left. Well, he must have been wonderfully strong in his arms, +to be sure. But the secret of the matter was, that the brazen bulls were +enchanted creatures, and that Jason had broken the spell of their fiery +fierceness by his bold way of handling them. And, ever since that time, +it has been the favorite method of brave men, when danger assails them, +to do what they call "taking the bull by the horns"; and to gripe him by +the tail is pretty much the same thing,—that is, to throw aside fear, +and overcome the peril by despising it.</p> + +<p>It was now easy to yoke the bulls, and to harness them to the plough, +which had lain rusting on the ground for a great many years gone by; so +long was it before anybody could be found capable of ploughing that +piece of land. Jason, I suppose, had been taught how to draw a furrow by +the good old Chiron, who, perhaps, used to allow himself to be harnessed +to the plough. At any rate, our hero succeeded perfectly well in +breaking up the greensward; and, by the time that the moon was a quarter +of her journey up the sky, the ploughed field lay before him, a large +tract of black earth, ready to be sown with the dragon's teeth. So Jason +scattered them broadcast, and harrowed them into the soil with a +brush-harrow, and took his stand on the edge of the field, anxious to +see what would happen next.</p> + +<p>"Must we wait long for harvest-time?" he inquired of Medea, who was now +standing by his side.</p> + +<p>"Whether sooner or later, it will be sure to come," answered the +princess. "A crop of armed men never fails to spring up, when the +dragon's teeth have been sown."</p> + +<p>The moon was now high aloft in the heavens, and threw its bright beams +over the ploughed field, where as yet there was nothing to be seen. Any +farmer, on viewing it, would have said that Jason must wait weeks before +the green blades would peep from among the clods, and whole months +before the yellow grain would be ripened for the sickle. But by and by, +all over the field, there was something that glistened in the moonbeams, +like sparkling drops of dew. These bright objects sprouted higher, and +proved to be the steel heads of spears. Then there was a dazzling gleam +from a vast number of polished brass helmets, beneath which, as they +grew farther out of the soil, appeared the dark and bearded visages of +warriors, struggling to free themselves from the imprisoning earth. The +first look that they gave at the upper world was a glare of wrath and +defiance. Next were seen their bright breastplates; in every right hand +there was a sword or a spear, and on each left arm a shield; and when +this strange crop of warriors had but half grown out of the earth, they +struggled,—such was their impatience of restraint,—and, as it were, +tore themselves up by the roots. Wherever a dragon's tooth had fallen, +there stood a man armed for battle. They made a clangor with their +swords against their shields, and eyed one another fiercely; for they +had come into this beautiful world, and into the peaceful moonlight, +full of rage and stormy passions, and ready to take the life of every +human brother, in recompense of the boon of their own existence.</p> + +<p>There have been many other armies in the world that seemed to possess +the same fierce nature with the one which had now sprouted from the +dragon's teeth; but these, in the moonlit field, were the more +excusable, because they never had women for their mothers. And how it +would have rejoiced any great captain, who was bent on conquering the +world, like Alexander or Napoleon, to raise a crop of armed soldiers as +easily as Jason did.</p> + +<p>For a while, the warriors stood flourishing their weapons, clashing +their swords against their shields, and boiling over with the red-hot +thirst for battle. Then they began to shout, "Show us the enemy! Lead us +to the charge! Death or victory! Come on, brave comrades! Conquer or +die!" and a hundred other outcries, such as men always bellow forth on a +battle-field, and which these dragon people seemed to have at their +tongues' ends. At last, the front rank caught sight of Jason, who, +beholding the flash of so many weapons in the moonlight, had thought it +best to draw his sword. In a moment all the sons of the dragon's teeth +appeared to take Jason for an enemy; and crying with one voice, "Guard +the Golden Fleece!" they ran at him with uplifted swords and protruded +spears. Jason knew that it would be impossible to withstand this +bloodthirsty battalion with his single arm, but determined, since there +was nothing better to be done, to die as valiantly as if he himself had +sprung from a dragon's tooth.</p> + +<p>Medea, however, bade him snatch up a stone from the ground.</p> + +<p>"Throw it among them quickly!" cried she. "It is the only way to save +yourself."</p> + +<p>The armed men were now so nigh that Jason could discern the fire +flashing out of their enraged eyes, when he let fly the stone, and saw +it strike the helmet of a tall warrior, who was rushing upon him with +his blade aloft. The stone glanced from this man's helmet to the shield +of his nearest comrade, and thence flew right into the angry face of +another, hitting him smartly between the eyes. Each of the three who had +been struck by the stone took it for granted that his next neighbor had +given him a blow; and instead of running any farther towards Jason, they +began a fight among themselves. The confusion spread through the host, +so that it seemed scarcely a moment before they were all hacking, +hewing, and stabbing at one another, lopping off arms, heads, and legs, +and doing such memorable deeds that Jason was filled with immense +admiration; although, at the same time, he could not help laughing to +behold these mighty men punishing each other for an offence which he +himself had committed. In an incredibly short space of time (almost as +short, indeed, as it had taken them to grow up), all but one of the +heroes of the dragon's teeth were stretched lifeless on the field. The +last survivor, the bravest and strongest of the whole, had just force +enough to wave his crimson sword over his head, and give a shout of +exultation, crying, "Victory! Victory! Immortal fame!" when he himself +fell down, and lay quietly among his slain brethren.</p> + +<p>And there was the end of the army that had sprouted from the dragons +teeth. That fierce and feverish fight was the only enjoyment which they +had tasted on this beautiful earth.</p> + +<p>"Let them sleep in the bed of honor," said the Princess Medea, with a +sly smile at Jason. "The world will always have simpletons enough, just +like them, fighting and dying for they know not what, and fancying that +posterity will take the trouble to put laurel wreaths on their rusty and +battered helmets. Could you help smiling, Prince Jason, to see the +self-conceit of that last fellow, just as he tumbled down?"</p> + +<p>"It made me very sad," answered Jason, gravely. "And, to tell you the +truth, princess, the Golden Fleece does not appear so well worth the +winning, after what I have here beheld."</p> + +<p>"You will think differently in the morning," said Medea. "True, the +Golden Fleece may not be so valuable as you have thought it; but then +there is nothing better in the world; and one must needs have an object, +you know. Come! Your night's work has been well performed; and to-morrow +you can inform King Æetes that the first part of your allotted task is +fulfilled."</p> + +<p>Agreeably to Medea's advice, Jason went betimes in the morning to the +palace of King Æetes. Entering the presence-chamber, he stood at the +foot of the throne, and made a low obeisance.</p> + +<p>"Your eyes look heavy, Prince Jason," observed the king; "you appear to +have spent a sleepless night. I hope you have been considering the +matter a little more wisely, and have concluded not to get yourself +scorched to a cinder, in attempting to tame my brazen-lunged bulls."</p> + +<p>"That is already accomplished, may it please your Majesty," replied +Jason. "The bulls have been tamed and yoked; the field has been +ploughed; the dragon's teeth have been sown broadcast, and harrowed into +the soil; the crop of armed warriors has sprung up, and they have slain +one another, to the last man. And now I solicit your Majesty's +permission to encounter the dragon, that I may take down the Golden +Fleece from the tree, and depart, with my nine-and-forty comrades."</p> + +<p>King Æetes scowled, and looked very angry and excessively disturbed; for +he knew that, in accordance with his kingly promise, he ought now to +permit Jason to win the fleece, if his courage and skill should enable +him to do so. But, since the young man had met with such good luck in +the matter of the brazen bulls and the dragon's teeth, the king feared +that he would be equally successful in slaying the dragon. And +therefore, though he would gladly have seen Jason snapped up at a +mouthful, he was resolved (and it was a very wrong thing of this wicked +potentate) not to run any further risk of losing his beloved fleece.</p> + +<p>"You never would have succeeded in this business, young man," said he, +"if my undutiful daughter Medea had not helped you with her +enchantments. Had you acted fairly, you would have been, at this +instant, a black cinder, or a handful of white ashes. I forbid you, on +pain of death, to make any more attempts to get the Golden Fleece. To +speak my mind plainly, you shall never set eyes on so much as one of its +glistening locks."</p> + +<p>Jason left the king's presence in great sorrow and anger. He could think +of nothing better to be done than to summon together his forty-nine +brave Argonauts, march at once to the grove of Mars, slay the dragon, +take possession of the Golden Fleece, get on board the Argo, and spread +all sail for Iolchos. The success of the scheme depended, it is true, on +the doubtful point whether all the fifty heroes might not be snapped up, +at so many mouthfuls, by the dragon. But, as Jason was hastening down +the palace steps, the Princess Medea called after him, and beckoned him +to return. Her black eyes shone upon him with such a keen intelligence, +that he felt as if there were a serpent peeping out of them; and +although she had done him so much service only the night before, he was +by no means very certain that she would not do him an equally great +mischief before sunset. These enchantresses, you must know, are never to +be depended upon.</p> + +<p>"What says King Æetes, my royal and upright father?" inquired Medea, +slightly smiling. "Will he give you the Golden Fleece, without any +further risk or trouble?"</p> + +<p>"On the contrary," answered Jason, "he is very angry with me for taming +the brazen bulls and sowing the dragon's teeth. And he forbids me to +make any more attempts, and positively refuses to give up the Golden +Fleece, whether I slay the dragon or no."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Jason," said the princess, "and I can tell you more. Unless you +set sail from Colchis before to-morrow's sunrise, the king means to burn +your fifty-oared galley, and put yourself and your forty-nine brave +comrades to the sword. But be of good courage. The Golden Fleece you +shall have, if it lies within the power of my enchantments to get it for +you. Wait for me here an hour before midnight."</p> + +<p>At the appointed hour, you might again have seen Prince Jason and the +Princess Medea, side by side, stealing through the streets of Colchis, +on their way to the sacred grove, in the centre of which the Golden +Fleece was suspended to a tree. While they were crossing the +pasture-ground, the brazen bulls came towards Jason, lowing, nodding +their heads, and thrusting forth their snouts, which, as other cattle +do, they loved to have rubbed and caressed by a friendly hand. Their +fierce nature was thoroughly tamed; and, with their fierceness, the two +furnaces in their stomachs had likewise been extinguished, insomuch that +they probably enjoyed far more comfort in grazing and chewing their cuds +than ever before. Indeed, it had heretofore been a great inconvenience +to these poor animals, that, whenever they wished to eat a mouthful of +grass, the fire out of their nostrils had shrivelled it up, before they +could manage to crop it. How they contrived to keep themselves alive is +more than I can imagine. But now, instead of emitting jets of flame and +streams of sulphurous vapor, they breathed the very sweetest of cow +breath.</p> + +<p>After kindly patting the bulls, Jason followed Medea's guidance into the +grove of Mars, where the great oak-trees, that had been growing for +centuries, threw so thick a shade that the moonbeams struggled vainly to +find their way through it. Only here and there a glimmer fell upon the +leaf-strewn earth, or now and then a breeze stirred the boughs aside, +and gave Jason a glimpse of the sky, lest, in that deep obscurity, he +might forget that there was one, overhead. At length, when they had gone +farther and farther into the heart of the duskiness, Medea squeezed +Jason's hand.</p> + +<p>"Look yonder," she whispered. "Do you see it?"</p> + +<p>Gleaming among the venerable oaks, there was a radiance, not like the +moonbeams, but rather resembling the golden glory of the setting sun. It +proceeded from an object, which appeared to be suspended at about a +man's height from the ground, a little farther within the wood.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Jason.</p> + +<p>"Have you come so far to seek it," exclaimed Medea, "and do you not +recognize the meed of all your toils and perils, when it glitters before +your eyes? It is the Golden Fleece."</p> + +<p>Jason went onward a few steps farther, and then stopped to gaze. Oh, how +beautiful it looked, shining with a marvellous light of its own, that +inestimable prize, which so many heroes had longed to behold, but had +perished in the quest of it, either by the perils of their voyage, or by +the fiery breath of the brazen-lunged bulls.</p> + +<p>"How gloriously it shines!" cried Jason, in a rapture. "It has surely +been dipped in the richest gold of sunset. Let me hasten onward, and +take it to my bosom."</p> + +<p>"Stay," said Medea, holding him back. "Have you forgotten what guards +it?"</p> + +<p>To say the truth, in the joy of beholding the object of his desires, the +terrible dragon had quite slipped out of Jason's memory. Soon, however, +something came to pass that reminded him what perils were still to be +encountered. An antelope, that probably mistook the yellow radiance for +sunrise, came bounding fleetly through the grove. He was rushing +straight towards the Golden Fleece, when suddenly there was a frightful +hiss, and the immense head and half of the scaly body of the dragon was +thrust forth (for he was twisted round the trunk of the tree on which +the fleece hung), and seizing the poor antelope, swallowed him with one +snap of his jaws.</p> + +<p>After this feat, the dragon seemed sensible that some other living +creature was within reach on which he felt inclined to finish his meal. +In various directions he kept poking his ugly snout among the trees, +stretching out his neck a terrible long way, now here, now there, and +now close to the spot where Jason and the princess were hiding behind an +oak. Upon my word, as the head came waving and undulating through the +air, and reaching almost within arm's-length of Prince Jason, it was a +very hideous and uncomfortable sight. The gape of his enormous jaws was +nearly as wide as the gateway of the king's palace.</p> + +<p>"Well, Jason," whispered Medea (for she was ill-natured, as all +enchantresses are, and wanted to make the bold youth tremble), "what do +you think now of your prospect of winning the Golden Fleece?"</p> + +<p>Jason answered only by drawing his sword and making a step forward.</p> + +<p>"Stay, foolish youth," said Medea, grasping his arm. "Do not you see you +are lost, without me as your good angel? In this gold box I have a magic +potion, which will do the dragon's business far more effectually than +your sword."</p> + +<p>The dragon had probably heard the voices; for, swift as lightning, his +black head and forked tongue came hissing among the trees again, darting +full forty feet at a stretch. As it approached, Medea tossed the +contents of the gold box right down the monster's wide open throat. +Immediately, with an outrageous hiss and a tremendous wriggle,—flinging +his tail up to the tip-top of the tallest tree, and shattering all its +branches as it crashed heavily down again,—the dragon fell at full +length upon the ground, and lay quite motionless.</p> + +<p>"It is only a sleeping potion," said the enchantress to Prince Jason. +"One always finds a use for these mischievous creatures, sooner or +later; so I did not wish to kill him outright. Quick! Snatch the prize, +and let us begone. You have won the Golden Fleece."</p> + +<p>Jason caught the fleece from the tree, and hurried through the grove, +the deep shadows of which were illuminated as he passed by the golden +glory of the precious object that he bore along. A little way before +him, he beheld the old woman whom he had helped over the stream, with +her peacock beside her. She clapped her hands for joy, and beckoning him +to make haste, disappeared among the duskiness of the trees. Espying the +two winged sons of the North Wind (who were disporting themselves in the +moonlight, a few hundred feet aloft), Jason bade them tell the rest of +the Argonauts to embark as speedily as possible. But Lynceus, with his +sharp eyes, had already caught a glimpse of him, bringing the Golden +Fleece, although several stone-walls, a hill, and the black shadows of +the grove of Mars intervened between. By his advice, the heroes had +seated themselves on the benches of the galley, with their oars held +perpendicularly, ready to let fall into the water.</p> + +<p>As Jason drew near, he heard the Talking Image calling to him with more +than ordinary eagerness, in its grave, sweet voice:—</p> + +<p>"Make haste, Prince Jason! For your life, make haste!"</p> + +<p>With one hound he leaped aboard. At sight of the glorious radiance of +the Golden Fleece, the nine-and-forty heroes gave a mighty shout, and +Orpheus, striking his harp, sang a song of triumph, to the cadence of +which the galley flew over the water, homeward bound, as if careering +along with wings!</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales, by +Nathaniel Hawthorne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WONDER BOOK AND TANGLEWOOD TALES *** + +***** This file should be named 35377-h.htm or 35377-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/3/7/35377/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales + For girls and boys + +Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Illustrator: Maxfield Parrish + +Release Date: February 23, 2011 [EBook #35377] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WONDER BOOK AND TANGLEWOOD TALES *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + A WONDER BOOK + + AND + + TANGLEWOOD TALES + + FOR GIRLS AND BOYS + + BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE + + + WITH PICTURES BY + MAXFIELD PARRISH + + NEW YORK + DUFFIELD & COMPANY + MCMX + + COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY DUFFIELD & COMPANY + + THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. + + + + +[Illustration: JASON AND THE TALKING OAK + +(From the original in the collection of Austin M. Purves, Esqu're +Philadelphia)] + + + + +Preface + +The author has long been of opinion that many of the classical myths +were capable of being rendered into very capital reading for children. +In the little volume here offered to the public, he has worked up half a +dozen of them, with this end in view. A great freedom of treatment was +necessary to his plan; but it will be observed by every one who attempts +to render these legends malleable in his intellectual furnace, that they +are marvellously independent of all temporary modes and circumstances. +They remain essentially the same, after changes that would affect the +identity of almost anything else. + +He does not, therefore, plead guilty to a sacrilege, in having sometimes +shaped anew, as his fancy dictated, the forms that have been hallowed by +an antiquity of two or three thousand years. No epoch of time can claim +a copyright in these immortal fables. They seem never to have been made; +and certainly, so long as man exists, they can never perish; but, by +their indestructibility itself, they are legitimate subjects for every +age to clothe with its own garniture of manners and sentiment, and to +imbue with its own morality. In the present version they may have lost +much of their classical aspect (or, at all events, the author has not +been careful to preserve it), and have, perhaps, assumed a Gothic or +romantic guise. + +In performing this pleasant task,--for it has been really a task fit for +hot weather, and one of the most agreeable, of a literary kind, which +he ever undertook,--the author has not always thought it necessary to +write downward, in order to meet the comprehension of children. He has +generally suffered the theme to soar, whenever such was its tendency, +and when he himself was buoyant enough to follow without an effort. +Children possess an unestimated sensibility to whatever is deep or high, +in imagination or feeling, so long as it is simple, likewise. It is only +the artificial and the complex that bewilder them. + +LENOX, _July 15, 1851_. + + + + +Contents + + +A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys + + +The Gorgon's Head + +The Golden Touch + +The Paradise of Children + +The Three Golden Apples + +The Miraculous Pitcher + +The Chimaera + + +Tanglewood Tales + + +The Wayside--_Introductory_ + +The Minotaur + +The Pygmies + +The Dragon's Teeth + +Circe's Palace + +The Pomegranate Seeds + +The Golden Fleece + + + + +Illustrations + + +JASON AND THE TALKING OAK + +PANDORA + +ATLAS + +BELLEROPHON BY THE FOUNTAIN OF PIRENE + +THE FOUNTAIN OF PIRENE + +CADMUS SOWING THE DRAGON'S TEETH + +CIRCE'S PALACE + +PROSERPINA + +JASON AND HIS TEACHER + +THE ARGONAUTS IN QUEST OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE + + + + +A Wonder Book + + + + +THE GORGON'S HEAD + + +Tanglewood Porch + +_Introductory to "The Gorgon's Head"_ + +Beneath the porch of the country-seat called Tanglewood, one fine +autumnal morning, was assembled a merry party of little folks, with a +tall youth in the midst of them. They had planned a nutting expedition, +and were impatiently waiting for the mists to roll up the hill-slopes, +and for the sun to pour the warmth of the Indian summer over the fields +and pastures, and into the nooks of the many-colored woods. There was a +prospect of as fine a day as ever gladdened the aspect of this beautiful +and comfortable world. As yet, however, the morning mist filled up the +whole length and breadth of the valley, above which, on a gently sloping +eminence, the mansion stood. + +This body of white vapor extended to within less than a hundred yards of +the house. It completely hid everything beyond that distance, except a +few ruddy or yellow tree-tops, which here and there emerged, and were +glorified by the early sunshine, as was likewise the broad surface of +the mist. Four or five miles off to the southward rose the summit of +Monument Mountain, and seemed to be floating on a cloud. Some fifteen +miles farther away, in the same direction, appeared the loftier Dome of +Taconic, looking blue and indistinct, and hardly so substantial as the +vapory sea that almost rolled over it. The nearer hills, which bordered +the valley, were half submerged, and were specked with little +cloud-wreaths all the way to their tops. On the whole, there was so +much cloud, and so little solid earth, that it had the effect of a +vision. + +The children above-mentioned, being as full of life as they could hold, +kept overflowing from the porch of Tanglewood, and scampering along the +gravel-walk, or rushing across the dewy herbage of the lawn. I can +hardly tell how many of these small people there were; not less than +nine or ten, however, nor more than a dozen, of all sorts, sizes, and +ages, whether girls or boys. They were brothers, sisters, and cousins, +together with a few of their young acquaintances, who had been invited +by Mr. and Mrs. Pringle to spend some of this delightful weather with +their own children, at Tanglewood. I am afraid to tell you their names, +or even to give them any names which other children have ever been +called by; because, to my certain knowledge, authors sometimes get +themselves into great trouble by accidentally giving the names of real +persons to the characters in their books. For this reason I mean to call +them Primrose, Periwinkle, Sweet Fern, Dandelion, Blue Eye, Clover, +Huckleberry, Cowslip, Squash-Blossom, Milkweed, Plantain, and Buttercup; +although, to be sure, such titles might better suit a group of fairies +than a company of earthly children. + +It is not to be supposed that these little folks were to be permitted by +their careful fathers and mothers, uncles, aunts, or grandparents, to +stray abroad into the woods and fields, without the guardianship of some +particularly grave and elderly person. Oh no, indeed! In the first +sentence of my book, you will recollect that I spoke of a tall youth, +standing in the midst of the children. His name--(and I shall let you +know his real name, because he considers it a great honor to have told +the stories that are here to be printed)--his name was Eustace Bright. +He was a student at Williams College, and had reached, I think, at this +period, the venerable age of eighteen years; so that he felt quite like +a grandfather towards Periwinkle, Dandelion, Huckleberry, +Squash-Blossom, Milkweed, and the rest, who were only half or a third as +venerable as he. A trouble in his eyesight (such as many students think +it necessary to have, nowadays, in order to prove their diligence at +their books) had kept him from college a week or two after the beginning +of the term. But, for my part, I have seldom met with a pair of eyes +that looked as if they could see farther or better than those of Eustace +Bright. + +This learned student was slender, and rather pale, as all Yankee +students are; but yet of a healthy aspect, and as light and active as if +he had wings to his shoes. By the by, being much addicted to wading +through streamlets and across meadows, he had put on cowhide boots for +the expedition. He wore a linen blouse, a cloth cap, and a pair of green +spectacles, which he had assumed, probably, less for the preservation of +his eyes than for the dignity that they imparted to his countenance. In +either case, however, he might as well have let them alone; for +Huckleberry, a mischievous little elf, crept behind Eustace as he sat on +the steps of the porch, snatched the spectacles from his nose, and +clapped them on her own; and as the student forgot to take them back, +they fell off into the grass, and lay there till the next spring. + +Now, Eustace Bright, you must know, had won great fame among the +children, as a narrator of wonderful stories; and though he sometimes +pretended to be annoyed, when they teased him for more, and more, and +always for more, yet I really doubt whether he liked anything quite so +well as to tell them. You might have seen his eyes twinkle, therefore, +when Clover, Sweet Fern, Cowslip, Buttercup, and most of their +playmates, besought him to relate one of his stories, while they were +waiting for the mist to clear up. + +"Yes, Cousin Eustace," said Primrose, who was a bright girl of twelve, +with laughing eyes, and a nose that turned up a little, "the morning is +certainly the best time for the stories with which you so often tire out +our patience. We shall be in less danger of hurting your feelings, by +falling asleep at the most interesting points,--as little Cowslip and I +did last night!" + +"Naughty Primrose," cried Cowslip, a child of six years old; "I did not +fall asleep, and I only shut my eyes, so as to see a picture of what +Cousin Eustace was telling about. His stories are good to hear at night, +because we can dream about them asleep; and good in the morning, too, +because then we can dream about them awake. So I hope he will tell us +one this very minute." + +"Thank you, my little Cowslip," said Eustace; "certainly you shall have +the best story I can think of, if it were only for defending me so well +from that naughty Primrose. But, children, I have already told you so +many fairy tales, that I doubt whether there is a single one which you +have not heard at least twice over. I am afraid you will fall asleep in +reality, if I repeat any of them again." + +"No, no, no!" cried Blue Eye, Periwinkle, Plantain, and half a dozen +others. "We like a story all the better for having heard it two or three +times before." + +And it is a truth, as regards children, that a story seems often to +deepen its mark in their interest, not merely by two or three, but by +numberless repetitions. But Eustace Bright, in the exuberance of his +resources, scorned to avail himself of an advantage which an older +story-teller would have been glad to grasp at. + +"It would be a great pity," said he, "if a man of my learning (to say +nothing of original fancy) could not find a new story every day, year in +and year out, for children such as you. I will tell you one of the +nursery tales that were made for the amusement of our great old +grandmother, the Earth, when she was a child in frock and pinafore. +There are a hundred such; and it is a wonder to me that they have not +long ago been put into picture-books for little girls and boys. But, +instead of that, old gray-bearded grandsires pore over them in musty +volumes of Greek, and puzzle themselves with trying to find out when, +and how, and for what they were made." + +"Well, well, well, well, Cousin Eustace!" cried all the children at +once; "talk no more about your stories, but begin." + +"Sit down, then, every soul of you," said Eustace Bright, "and be all as +still as so many mice. At the slightest interruption, whether from +great, naughty Primrose, little Dandelion, or any other, I shall bite +the story short off between my teeth, and swallow the untold part. But, +in the first place, do any of you know what a Gorgon is?" + +"I do," said Primrose. + +"Then hold your tongue!" rejoined Eustace, who had rather she would have +known nothing about the matter. "Hold all your tongues, and I shall tell +you a sweet pretty story of a Gorgon's head." + +And so he did, as you may begin to read on the next page. Working up his +sophomorical erudition with a good deal of tact, and incurring great +obligations to Professor Anthon, he, nevertheless, disregarded all +classical authorities, whenever the vagrant audacity of his imagination +impelled him to do so. + + +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 +school-boy, 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 may be 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 honor 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 were 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 mean time, 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 towards 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; or, 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 hundred-fold 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 praise-worthy 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 sight-seeing, 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 semicircle round about him. Monarch, counsellors, courtiers, and +subjects, all gazed eagerly towards 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. + + +Tanglewood Porch + +_After the Story_ + +"Was not that a very fine story?" asked Eustace. + +"Oh yes, yes!" cried Cowslip, clapping her hands. + +"And those funny old women, with only one eye amongst them! I never +heard of anything so strange." + +"As to their one tooth, which they shifted about," observed Primrose, +"there was nothing so very wonderful in that. I suppose it was a false +tooth. But think of your turning Mercury into Quicksilver, and talking +about his sister! You are too ridiculous!" + +"And was she not his sister?" asked Eustace Bright. "If I had thought of +it sooner, I would have described her as a maiden lady, who kept a pet +owl!" + +"Well, at any rate," said Primrose, "your story seems to have driven +away the mist." + +And, indeed, while the tale was going forward, the vapors had been quite +exhaled from the landscape. A scene was now disclosed which the +spectators might almost fancy as having been created since they had last +looked in the direction where it lay. About half a mile distant, in the +lap of the valley, now appeared a beautiful lake, which reflected a +perfect image of its own wooded banks, and of the summits of the more +distant hills. It gleamed in glassy tranquillity, without the trace of a +winged breeze on any part of its bosom. Beyond its farther shore was +Monument Mountain, in a recumbent position, stretching almost across the +valley. Eustace Bright compared it to a huge, headless sphinx, wrapped +in a Persian shawl; and, indeed, so rich and diversified was the +autumnal foliage of its woods, that the simile of the shawl was by no +means too high-colored for the reality. In the lower ground, between +Tanglewood and the lake, the clumps of trees and borders of woodland +were chiefly golden-leaved or dusky brown, as having suffered more from +frost than the foliage on the hill-sides. + +Over all this scene there was a genial sunshine, intermingled with a +slight haze, which made it unspeakably soft and tender. Oh, what a day +of Indian summer was it going to be! The children snatched their +baskets, and set forth, with hop, skip, and jump, and all sorts of +frisks and gambols; while Cousin Eustace proved his fitness to preside +over the party, by outdoing all their antics, and performing several new +capers, which none of them could ever hope to imitate. Behind went a +good old dog, whose name was Ben. He was one of the most respectable and +kind-hearted of quadrupeds, and probably felt it to be his duty not to +trust the children away from their parents without some better guardian +than this feather-brained Eustace Bright. + + + + +THE GOLDEN TOUCH + + +Shadow Brook + +_Introductory to "The Golden Touch"_ + +At noon, our juvenile party assembled in a dell, through the depths of +which ran a little brook. The dell was narrow, and its steep sides, from +the margin of the stream upward, were thickly set with trees, chiefly +walnuts and chestnuts, among which grew a few oaks and maples. In the +summer time, the shade of so many clustering branches, meeting and +intermingling across the rivulet, was deep enough to produce a noontide +twilight. Hence came the name of Shadow Brook. But now, ever since +autumn had crept into this secluded place, all the dark verdure was +changed to gold, so that it really kindled up the dell, instead of +shading it. The bright yellow leaves, even had it been a cloudy day, +would have seemed to keep the sunlight among them; and enough of them +had fallen to strew all the bed and margin of the brook with sunlight, +too. Thus the shady nook, where summer had cooled herself, was now the +sunniest spot anywhere to be found. + +The little brook ran along over its pathway of gold, here pausing to +form a pool, in which minnows were darting to and fro; and then it +hurried onward at a swifter pace, as if in haste to reach the lake; and, +forgetting to look whither it went, it tumbled over the root of a tree, +which stretched quite across its current. You would have laughed to hear +how noisily it babbled about this accident. And even after it had run +onward, the brook still kept talking to itself, as if it were in a +maze. It was wonder-smitten, I suppose, at finding its dark dell so +illuminated, and at hearing the prattle and merriment of so many +children. So it stole away as quickly as it could, and hid itself in the +lake. + +In the dell of Shadow Brook, Eustace Bright and his little friends had +eaten their dinner. They had brought plenty of good things from +Tanglewood, in their baskets, and had spread them out on the stumps of +trees, and on mossy trunks, and had feasted merrily, and made a very +nice dinner indeed. After it was over, nobody felt like stirring. + +"We will rest ourselves here," said several of the children, "while +Cousin Eustace tells us another of his pretty stories." + +Cousin Eustace had a good right to be tired, as well as the children, +for he had performed great feats on that memorable forenoon. Dandelion, +Clover, Cowslip, and Buttercup were almost most persuaded that he had +winged slippers, like those which the Nymphs gave Perseus; so often had +the student shown himself at the tip-top of a nut-tree, when only a +moment before he had been standing on the ground. And then, what showers +of walnuts had he sent rattling down upon their heads, for their busy +little hands to gather into the baskets! In short, he had been as active +as a squirrel or a monkey, and now, flinging himself down on the yellow +leaves, seemed inclined to take a little rest. + +But children have no mercy nor consideration for anybody's weariness; +and if you had but a single breath left, they would ask you to spend it +in telling them a story. + +"Cousin Eustace," said Cowslip, "that was a very nice story of the +Gorgon's Head. Do you think you could tell us another as good?" + +"Yes, child," said Eustace, pulling the brim of his cap over his eyes, +as if preparing for a nap. "I can tell you a dozen, as good or better, +if I choose." + +"O Primrose and Periwinkle, do you hear what he says?" cried Cowslip, +dancing with delight. "Cousin Eustace is going to tell us a dozen better +stories than that about the Gorgon's Head!" + +"I did not promise you even one, you foolish little Cowslip!" said +Eustace, half pettishly. "However, I suppose you must have it. This is +the consequence of having earned a reputation! I wish I were a great +deal duller than I am, or that I had never shown half the bright +qualities with which nature has endowed me; and then I might have my nap +out, in peace and comfort!" + +But Cousin Eustace, as I think I have hinted before, was as fond of +telling his stories as the children of hearing them. His mind was in a +free and happy state, and took delight in its own activity, and scarcely +required any external impulse to set it at work. + +How different is this spontaneous play of the intellect from the trained +diligence of maturer years, when toil has perhaps grown easy by long +habit, and the day's work may have become essential to the day's +comfort, although the rest of the matter has bubbled away! This remark, +however, is not meant for the children to hear. + +Without further solicitation, Eustace Bright proceeded to tell the +following really splendid story. It had come into his mind as he lay +looking upward into the depths of a tree, and observing how the touch of +Autumn had transmuted every one of its green leaves into what resembled +the purest gold. And this change, which we have all of us witnessed, is +as wonderful as anything that Eustace told about in the story of Midas. + + +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 behavior, 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 tip-top 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-humored 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 favor. And what could that +favor 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-humored 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 bed-posts, 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 down +stairs, 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 door-latch (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 splendor, 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 parlor. 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 laborer, 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 color, 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 woful 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 favorite 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-color 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 recognized 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. "It 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 color 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!" + + +Shadow Brook + +_After the Story_ + +"Well, children," inquired Eustace, who was very fond of eliciting a +definite opinion from his auditors, "did you ever, in all your lives, +listen to a better story than this of 'The Golden Touch'?" + +"Why, as to the story of King Midas," said saucy Primrose, "it was a +famous one thousands of years before Mr. Eustace Bright came into the +world, and will continue to be so as long after he quits it. But some +people have what we may call 'The Leaden Touch,' and make everything +dull and heavy that they lay their fingers upon." + +"You are a smart child, Primrose, to be not yet in your teens," said +Eustace, taken rather aback by the piquancy of her criticism. "But you +well know, in your naughty little heart, that I have burnished the old +gold of Midas all over anew, and have made it shine as it never shone +before. And then that figure of Marygold! Do you perceive no nice +workmanship in that? And how finely I have brought out and deepened the +moral! What say you, Sweet Fern, Dandelion, Clover, Periwinkle? Would +any of you, after hearing this story, be so foolish as to desire the +faculty of changing things to gold?" + +"I should like," said Periwinkle, a girl of ten, "to have the power of +turning everything to gold with my right forefinger; but, with my left +forefinger, I should want the power of changing it back again, if the +first change did not please me. And I know what I would do, this very +afternoon!" + +"Pray tell me," said Eustace. + +"Why," answered Periwinkle, "I would touch every one of these golden +leaves on the trees with my left forefinger, and make them all green +again; so that we might have the summer back at once, with no ugly +winter in the mean time." + +"O Periwinkle!" cried Eustace Bright, "there you are wrong, and would do +a great deal of mischief. Were I Midas, I would make nothing else but +just such golden days as these over and over again, all the year +throughout. My best thoughts always come a little too late. Why did not +I tell you how old King Midas came to America, and changed the dusky +autumn, such as it is in other countries, into the burnished beauty +which it here puts on? He gilded the leaves of the great volume of +Nature." + +"Cousin Eustace," said Sweet Fern, a good little boy, who was always +making particular inquiries about the precise height of giants and the +littleness of fairies, "how big was Marygold, and how much did she weigh +after she was turned to gold?" + +"She was about as tall as you are," replied Eustace, "and, as gold is +very heavy, she weighed at least two thousand pounds, and might have +been coined into thirty or forty thousand gold dollars. I wish Primrose +were worth half as much. Come, little people, let us clamber out of the +dell, and look about us." + +They did so. The sun was now an hour or two beyond its noontide mark, +and filled the great hollow of the valley with its western radiance, so +that it seemed to be brimming with mellow light, and to spill it over +the surrounding hill-sides, like golden wine out of a bowl. It was such +a day that you could not help saying of it, "There never was such a day +before!" although yesterday was just such a day, and to-morrow will be +just such another. Ah, but there are very few of them in a twelvemonth's +circle! It is a remarkable peculiarity of these October days, that each +of them seems to occupy a great deal of space, although the sun rises +rather tardily at that season of the year, and goes to bed, as little +children ought, at sober six o'clock, or even earlier. We cannot, +therefore, call the days long; but they appear, somehow or other, to +make up for their shortness by their breadth; and when the cool night +comes, we are conscious of having enjoyed a big armful of life, since +morning. + +"Come, children, come!" cried Eustace Bright. "More nuts, more nuts, +more nuts! Fill all your baskets; and, at Christmas time, I will crack +them for you, and tell you beautiful stories!" + +So away they went; all of them in excellent spirits, except little +Dandelion, who, I am sorry to tell you, had been sitting on a +chestnut-bur, and was stuck as full as a pincushion of its prickles. +Dear me, how uncomfortably he must have felt! + + + + +THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN + + +Tanglewood Play-Room + +_Introductory to "The Paradise of Children"_ + +The golden days of October passed away, as so many other Octobers have, +and brown November likewise, and the greater part of chill December, +too. At last came merry Christmas, and Eustace Bright along with it, +making it all the merrier by his presence. And, the day after his +arrival from college, there came a mighty snow-storm. Up to this time, +the winter had held back, and had given us a good many mild days, which +were like smiles upon its wrinkled visage. The grass had kept itself +green, in sheltered places, such as the nooks of southern hill-slopes, +and along the lee of the stone fences. It was but a week or two ago, and +since the beginning of the month, that the children had found a +dandelion in bloom, on the margin of Shadow Brook, where it glides out +of the dell. + +But no more green grass and dandelions now. This was such a snow-storm! +Twenty miles of it might have been visible at once, between the windows +of Tanglewood and the dome of Taconic, had it been possible to see so +far among the eddying drifts that whitened all the atmosphere. It seemed +as if the hills were giants, and were flinging monstrous handfuls of +snow at one another, in their enormous sport. So thick were the +fluttering snow-flakes, that even the trees, midway down the valley, +were hidden by them the greater part of the time. Sometimes, it is +true, the little prisoners of Tanglewood could discern a dim outline of +Monument Mountain, and the smooth whiteness of the frozen lake at its +base, and the black or gray tracts of woodland in the nearer landscape. +But these were merely peeps through the tempest. + +Nevertheless, the children rejoiced greatly in the snow-storm. They had +already made acquaintance with it, by tumbling heels over head into its +highest drifts, and flinging snow at one another, as we have just +fancied the Berkshire mountains to be doing. And now they had come back +to their spacious play-room, which was as big as the great drawing-room, +and was lumbered with all sorts of playthings, large and small. The +biggest was a rocking-horse, that looked like a real pony; and there was +a whole family of wooden, waxen, plaster, and china dolls, besides +rag-babies; and blocks enough to build Bunker Hill Monument, and +nine-pins, and balls, and humming tops, and battledores, and +grace-sticks, and skipping-ropes, and more of such valuable property +than I could tell of in a printed page. But the children liked the +snow-storm better than them all. It suggested so many brisk enjoyments +for to-morrow, and all the remainder of the winter. The sleigh-ride; the +slides down hill into the valley; the snow-images that were to be shaped +out; the snow-fortresses that were to be built; and the snowballing to +be carried on! + +So the little folks blessed the snow-storm, and were glad to see it come +thicker and thicker, and watched hopefully the long drift that was +piling itself up in the avenue, and was already higher than any of their +heads. + +"Why, we shall be blocked up till spring!" cried they, with the hugest +delight. "What a pity that the house is too high to be quite covered up! +The little red house, down yonder, will be buried up to its eaves." + +"You silly children, what do you want of more snow?" asked Eustace, +who, tired of some novel that he was skimming through, had strolled into +the play-room. "It has done mischief enough already, by spoiling the +only skating that I could hope for through the winter. We shall see +nothing more of the lake till April; and this was to have been my first +day upon it! Don't you pity me, Primrose?" + +"Oh, to be sure!" answered Primrose, laughing. "But, for your comfort, +we will listen to another of your old stories, such as you told us under +the porch, and down in the hollow, by Shadow Brook. Perhaps I shall like +them better now, when there is nothing to do, than while there were nuts +to be gathered, and beautiful weather to enjoy." + +Hereupon, Periwinkle, Clover, Sweet Fern, and as many others of the +little fraternity and cousinhood as were still at Tanglewood, gathered +about Eustace, and earnestly besought him for a story. The student +yawned, stretched himself, and then, to the vast admiration of the small +people, skipped three times back and forth over the top of a chair, in +order, as he explained to them, to set his wits in motion. + +"Well, well, children," said he, after these preliminaries, "since you +insist, and Primrose has set her heart upon it, I will see what can be +done for you. And, that you may know what happy days there were before +snow-storms came into fashion, I will tell you a story of the oldest of +all old times, when the world was as new as Sweet Fern's bran-new +humming-top. There was then but one season in the year, and that was the +delightful summer; and but one age for mortals, and that was childhood." + +"I never heard of that before," said Primrose. + +"Of course, you never did," answered Eustace. "It shall be a story of +what nobody but myself ever dreamed of,--a Paradise of children,--and +how, by the naughtiness of just such a little imp as Primrose here, it +all came to nothing." + +So Eustace Bright sat down in the chair which he had just been skipping +over, took Cowslip upon his knee, ordered silence throughout the +auditory, and began a story about a sad naughty child, whose name was +Pandora, and about her playfellow Epimetheus. You may read it, word for +word, in the pages that come next. + + +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 labor 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. + +[Illustration: PANDORA] + +"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 she did 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-humor, 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 afterwards, 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 playfellows, 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 a +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 over-ripe, 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 +humor 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 swarm 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 afterwards. 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 humor, 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 towards 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 +humor 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 towards 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-humor 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 colored 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 spiritualizes 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! + + +Tanglewood Play-Room + +_After the Story_ + +"Primrose," asked Eustace, pinching her ear, "how do you like my little +Pandora? Don't you think her the exact picture of yourself? But you +would not have hesitated half so long about opening the box." + +"Then I should have been well punished for my naughtiness," retorted +Primrose, smartly; "for the first thing to pop out, after the lid was +lifted, would have been Mr. Eustace Bright, in the shape of a Trouble." + +"Cousin Eustace," said Sweet Fern, "did the box hold all the trouble +that has ever come into the world?" + +"Every mite of it!" answered Eustace. "This very snow-storm, which has +spoiled my skating, was packed up there." + +"And how big was the box?" asked Sweet Fern. + +"Why, perhaps three feet long," said Eustace, "two feet wide, and two +feet and a half high." + +"Ah," said the child, "you are making fun of me, Cousin Eustace! I know +there is not trouble enough in the world to fill such a great box as +that. As for the snow-storm, it is no trouble at all, but a pleasure; so +it could not have been in the box." + +"Hear the child!" cried Primrose, with an air of superiority. "How +little he knows about the troubles of this world! Poor fellow! He will +be wiser when he has seen as much of life as I have." + +So saying, she began to skip the rope. + +Meantime, the day was drawing towards its close. Out of doors the scene +certainly looked dreary. There was a gray drift, far and wide, through +the gathering twilight; the earth was as pathless as the air; and the +bank of snow over the steps of the porch proved that nobody had entered +or gone out for a good many hours past. Had there been only one child at +the window of Tanglewood, gazing at this wintry prospect, it would +perhaps have made him sad. But half a dozen children together, though +they cannot quite turn the world into a paradise, may defy old Winter +and all his storms to put them out of spirits. Eustace Bright, moreover, +on the spur of the moment, invented several new kinds of play, which +kept them all in a roar of merriment till bedtime, and served for the +next stormy day besides. + + + + +THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES + + +Tanglewood Fireside + +_Introductory to "The Three Golden Apples"_ + +The snow-storm lasted another day; but what became of it afterwards, I +cannot possibly imagine. At any rate, it entirely cleared away during +the night; and when the sun arose the next morning, it shone brightly +down on as bleak a tract of hill-country, here in Berkshire, as could be +seen anywhere in the world. The frostwork had so covered the +window-panes that it was hardly possible to get a glimpse at the scenery +outside. But, while waiting for breakfast, the small populace of +Tanglewood had scratched peep-holes with their finger-nails, and saw +with vast delight that--unless it were one or two bare patches on a +precipitous hill-side, or the gray effect of the snow, intermingled with +the black pine forest--all nature was as white as a sheet. How +exceedingly pleasant! And, to make it all the better, it was cold enough +to nip one's nose short off! If people have but life enough in them to +bear it, there is nothing that so raises the spirits, and makes the +blood ripple and dance so nimbly, like a brook down the slope of a hill, +as a bright, hard frost. + +No sooner was breakfast over, than the whole party, well muffled in furs +and woollens, floundered forth into the midst of the snow. Well, what a +day of frosty sport was this! They slid down hill into the valley, a +hundred times, nobody knows how far; and, to make it all the merrier, +upsetting their sledges, and tumbling head over heels, quite as often +as they came safely to the bottom. And, once, Eustace Bright took +Periwinkle, Sweet Fern, and Squash-Blossom, on the sledge with him, by +way of insuring a safe passage; and down they went, full speed. But, +behold, half-way down, the sledge hit against a hidden stump, and flung +all four of its passengers into a heap; and, on gathering themselves up, +there was no little Squash-Blossom to be found! Why, what could have +become of the child? And while they were wondering and staring about, up +started Squash-Blossom out of a snow-bank, with the reddest face you +ever saw, and looking as if a large scarlet flower had suddenly sprouted +up in midwinter. Then there was a great laugh. + +When they had grown tired of sliding down hill, Eustace set the children +to digging a cave in the biggest snow-drift that they could find. +Unluckily, just as it was completed, and the party had squeezed +themselves into the hollow, down came the roof upon their heads, and +buried every soul of them alive! The next moment, up popped all their +little heads out of the ruins, and the tall student's head in the midst +of them, looking hoary and venerable with the snow-dust that had got +amongst his brown curls. And then, to punish Cousin Eustace for advising +them to dig such a tumble-down cavern, the children attacked him in a +body, and so bepelted him with snowballs that he was fain to take to his +heels. + +So he ran away, and went into the woods, and thence to the margin of +Shadow Brook, where he could hear the streamlet grumbling along, under +great overhanging banks of snow and ice, which would scarcely let it see +the light of day. There were adamantine icicles glittering around all +its little cascades. Thence he strolled to the shore of the lake, and +beheld a white, untrodden plain before him, stretching from his own feet +to the foot of Monument Mountain. And, it being now almost sunset, +Eustace thought that he had never beheld anything so fresh and +beautiful as the scene. He was glad that the children were not with him; +for their lively spirits and tumble-about activity would quite have +chased away his higher and graver mood, so that he would merely have +been merry (as he had already been, the whole day long), and would not +have known the loveliness of the winter sunset among the hills. + +When the sun was fairly down, our friend Eustace went home to eat his +supper. After the meal was over, he betook himself to the study, with a +purpose, I rather imagine, to write an ode, or two or three sonnets, or +verses of some kind or other, in praise of the purple and golden clouds +which he had seen around the setting sun. But, before he had hammered +out the very first rhyme, the door opened, and Primrose and Periwinkle +made their appearance. + +"Go away, children! I can't be troubled with you now!" cried the +student, looking over his shoulder, with the pen between his fingers. +"What in the world do you want here? I thought you were all in bed!" + +"Hear him, Periwinkle, trying to talk like a grown man!" said Primrose. +"And he seems to forget that I am now thirteen years old, and may sit up +almost as late as I please. But, Cousin Eustace, you must put off your +airs, and come with us to the drawing-room. The children have talked so +much about your stories, that my father wishes to hear one of them, in +order to judge whether they are likely to do any mischief." + +"Poh, poh, Primrose!" exclaimed the student, rather vexed. "I don't +believe I can tell one of my stories in the presence of grown people. +Besides, your father is a classical scholar; not that I am much afraid +of his scholarship, neither, for I doubt not it is as rusty as an old +case-knife by this time. But then he will be sure to quarrel with the +admirable nonsense that I put into these stories, out of my own head, +and which makes the great charm of the matter for children, like +yourself. No man of fifty, who has read the classical myths in his +youth, can possibly understand my merit as a reinventor and improver of +them." + +"All this may be very true," said Primrose, "but come you must! My +father will not open his book, nor will mamma open the piano, till you +have given us some of your nonsense, as you very correctly call it. So +be a good boy, and come along." + +Whatever he might pretend, the student was rather glad than otherwise, +on second thoughts, to catch at the opportunity of proving to Mr. +Pringle what an excellent faculty he had in modernizing the myths of +ancient times. Until twenty years of age, a young man may, indeed, be +rather bashful about showing his poetry and his prose; but, for all +that, he is pretty apt to think that these very productions would place +him at the tip-top of literature, if once they could be known. +Accordingly, without much more resistance, Eustace suffered Primrose and +Periwinkle to drag him into the drawing-room. + +It was a large, handsome apartment, with a semicircular window at one +end, in the recess of which stood a marble copy of Greenough's Angel and +Child. On one side of the fireplace there were many shelves of books, +gravely but richly bound. The white light of the astral-lamp, and the +red glow of the bright coal-fire, made the room brilliant and cheerful; +and before the fire, in a deep arm-chair, sat Mr. Pringle, looking just +fit to be seated in such a chair, and in such a room. He was a tall and +quite a handsome gentleman, with a bald brow; and was always so nicely +dressed, that even Eustace Bright never liked to enter his presence +without at least pausing at the threshold to settle his shirt-collar. +But now, as Primrose had hold of one of his hands, and Periwinkle of the +other, he was forced to make his appearance with a rough-and-tumble sort +of look, as if he had been rolling all day in a snow-bank. And so he +had. + +Mr. Pringle turned towards the student benignly enough, but in a way +that made him feel how uncombed and unbrushed he was, and how uncombed +and unbrushed, likewise, were his mind and thoughts. + +"Eustace," said Mr. Pringle, with a smile, "I find that you are +producing a great sensation among the little public of Tanglewood, by +the exercise of your gifts of narrative. Primrose here, as the little +folks choose to call her, and the rest of the children, have been so +loud in praise of your stories, that Mrs. Pringle and myself are really +curious to hear a specimen. It would be so much the more gratifying to +myself, as the stories appear to be an attempt to render the fables of +classical antiquity into the idiom of modern fancy and feeling. At +least, so I judge from a few of the incidents which have come to me at +second hand." + +"You are not exactly the auditor that I should have chosen, sir," +observed the student, "for fantasies of this nature." + +"Possibly not," replied Mr. Pringle. "I suspect, however, that a young +author's most useful critic is precisely the one whom he would be least +apt to choose. Pray oblige me, therefore." + +"Sympathy, methinks, should have some little share in the critic's +qualifications," murmured Eustace Bright. "However, sir, if you will +find patience, I will find stories. But be kind enough to remember that +I am addressing myself to the imagination and sympathies of the +children, not to your own." + +Accordingly, the student snatched hold of the first theme which +presented itself. It was suggested by a plate of apples that he happened +to spy on the mantelpiece. + + +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?" + +[Illustration: ATLAS] + +"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 +upwards, 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 honor 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 honor, 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 so 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 sea-shore, 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 sea-faring 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 honor,--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 labor 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 sea-weed 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-tost 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 towards 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 afterwards, 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 figure-head 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 sea-weed 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 sea-faring 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 humor, will tell you exactly where the garden of the +Hesperides lies." + +"And if the giant happens not to be in the humor," 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 towards 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 disk 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 thunderclouds. 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 sea-shore, 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 favor, 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, he 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 the 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 back-ache. 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 towards 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! + + +Tanglewood Fireside + +_After the Story_ + + +"Cousin Eustace," demanded Sweet Fern, who had been sitting at the +story-teller's feet, with his mouth wide open, "exactly how tall was +this giant?" + +"O Sweet Fern, Sweet Fern!" cried the student, "do you think I was +there, to measure him with a yard-stick? Well, if you must know to a +hair's-breadth, I suppose he might be from three to fifteen miles +straight upward, and that he might have seated himself on Taconic, and +had Monument Mountain for a footstool." + +"Dear me!" ejaculated the good little boy, with a contented sort of a +grunt, "that was a giant, sure enough! And how long was his little +finger?" + +"As long as from Tanglewood to the lake," said Eustace. + +"Sure enough, that was a giant!" repeated Sweet Fern, in an ecstasy at +the precision of these measurements. "And how broad, I wonder, were the +shoulders of Hercules?" + +"That is what I have never been able to find out," answered the student. +"But I think they must have been a great deal broader than mine, or than +your father's, or than almost any shoulders which one sees nowadays." + +"I wish," whispered Sweet Fern, with his mouth close to the student's +ear, "that you would tell me how big were some of the oak-trees that +grew between the giant's toes." + +"They were bigger," said Eustace, "than the great chestnut-tree which +stands beyond Captain Smith's house." + +"Eustace," remarked Mr. Pringle, after some deliberation, "I find it +impossible to express such an opinion of this story as will be likely to +gratify, in the smallest degree, your pride of authorship. Pray let me +advise you never more to meddle with a classical myth. Your imagination +is altogether Gothic, and will inevitably Gothicize everything that you +touch. The effect is like bedaubing a marble statue with paint. This +giant, now! How can you have ventured to thrust his huge, +disproportioned mass among the seemly outlines of Grecian fable, the +tendency of which is to reduce even the extravagant within limits, by +its pervading elegance?" + +"I described the giant as he appeared to me," replied the student, +rather piqued. "And, sir, if you would only bring your mind into such a +relation with these fables as is necessary in order to remodel them, you +would see at once that an old Greek had no more exclusive right to them +than a modern Yankee has. They are the common property of the world, and +of all time. The ancient poets remodelled them at pleasure, and held +them plastic in their hands; and why should they not be plastic in my +hands as well?" + +Mr. Pringle could not forbear a smile. + +"And besides," continued Eustace, "the moment you put any warmth of +heart, any passion or affection, any human or divine morality, into a +classic mould, you make it quite another thing from what it was before. +My own opinion is, that the Greeks, by taking possession of these +legends (which were the immemorial birthright of mankind), and putting +them into shapes of indestructible beauty, indeed, but cold and +heartless, have done all subsequent ages an incalculable injury." + +"Which you, doubtless, were born to remedy," said Mr. Pringle, laughing +outright. "Well, well, go on; but take my advice, and never put any of +your travesties on paper. And, as your next effort, what if you should +try your hand on some one of the legends of Apollo?" + +"Ah, sir, you propose it as an impossibility," observed the student, +after a moment's meditation; "and, to be sure, at first thought, the +idea of a Gothic Apollo strikes one rather ludicrously. But I will turn +over your suggestion in my mind, and do not quite despair of success." + +During the above discussion, the children (who understood not a word of +it) had grown very sleepy, and were now sent off to bed. Their drowsy +babble was heard, ascending the staircase, while a northwest-wind roared +loudly among the tree-tops of Tanglewood, and played an anthem around +the house. Eustace Bright went back to the study, and again endeavored +to hammer out some verses, but fell asleep between two of the rhymes. + + + + +THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER + + +The Hill-Side + +_Introductory to "The Miraculous Pitcher"_ + +And when, and where, do you think we find the children next? No longer +in the winter-time, but in the merry month of May. No longer in +Tanglewood play-room, or at Tanglewood fireside, but more than half-way +up a monstrous hill, or a mountain, as perhaps it would be better +pleased to have us call it. They had set out from home with the mighty +purpose of climbing this high hill, even to the very tip-top of its bald +head. To be sure, it was not quite so high as Chimborazo, or Mont Blanc, +and was even a good deal lower than old Graylock. But, at any rate, it +was higher than a thousand ant-hillocks, or a million of mole-hills; +and, when measured by the short strides of little children, might be +reckoned a very respectable mountain. + +And was Cousin Eustace with the party? Of that you may be certain; else +how could the book go on a step further? He was now in the middle of the +spring vacation, and looked pretty much as we saw him four or five +months ago, except that, if you gazed quite closely at his upper lip, +you could discern the funniest little bit of a mustache upon it. Setting +aside this mark of mature manhood, you might have considered Cousin +Eustace just as much a boy as when you first became acquainted with him. +He was as merry, as playful, as good-humored, as light of foot and of +spirits, and equally a favorite with the little folks, as he had always +been. This expedition up the mountain was entirely of his contrivance. +All the way up the steep ascent, he had encouraged the elder children +with his cheerful voice; and when Dandelion, Cowslip, and Squash-Blossom +grew weary, he had lugged them along, alternately, on his back. In this +manner, they had passed through the orchards and pastures on the lower +part of the hill, and had reached the wood, which extends thence towards +its bare summit. + +The month of May, thus far, had been more amiable than it often is, and +this was as sweet and genial a day as the heart of man or child could +wish. In their progress up the hill, the small people had found enough +of violets, blue and white, and some that were as golden as if they had +the touch of Midas on them. That sociablest of flowers, the little +Houstonia, was very abundant. It is a flower that never lives alone, but +which loves its own kind, and is always fond of dwelling with a great +many friends and relatives around it. Sometimes you see a family of +them, covering a space no bigger than the palm of your hand; and +sometimes a large community, whitening a whole tract of pasture, and all +keeping one another in cheerful heart and life. + +Within the verge of the wood there were columbines, looking more pale +than red, because they were so modest, and had thought proper to seclude +themselves too anxiously from the sun. There were wild geraniums, too, +and a thousand white blossoms of the strawberry. The trailing arbutus +was not yet quite out of bloom; but it hid its precious flowers under +the last year's withered forest-leaves, as carefully as a mother-bird +hides its little young ones. It knew, I suppose, how beautiful and +sweet-scented they were. So cunning was their concealment, that the +children sometimes smelt the delicate richness of their perfume before +they knew whence it proceeded. + +Amid so much new life, it was strange and truly pitiful to behold, here +and there, in the fields and pastures, the hoary periwigs of dandelions +that had already gone to seed. They had done with summer before the +summer came. Within those small globes of winged seeds it was autumn +now! + +Well, but we must not waste our valuable pages with any more talk about +the spring-time and wild flowers. There is something, we hope, more +interesting to be talked about. If you look at the group of children, +you may see them all gathered around Eustace Bright, who, sitting on the +stump of a tree, seems to be just beginning a story. The fact is, the +younger part of the troop have found out that it takes rather too many +of their short strides to measure the long ascent of the hill. Cousin +Eustace, therefore, has decided to leave Sweet Fern, Cowslip, +Squash-Blossom, and Dandelion, at this point, midway up, until the +return of the rest of the party from the summit. And because they +complain a little, and do not quite like to stay behind, he gives them +some apples out of his pocket, and proposes to tell them a very pretty +story. Hereupon they brighten up, and change their grieved looks into +the broadest kind of smiles. + +As for the story, I was there to hear it, hidden behind a bush, and +shall tell it over to you in the pages that come next. + + +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 neighbors 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 neighbors 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 towards 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 neighborhood?" + +"Ah!" observed old Philemon, with a quiet and benign smile, "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 neighbors." + +"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 under garments 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 towards 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 olivewood, 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 afterwards, 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 any one 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 labor, 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 whole 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 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 afterwards, 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 color was that of the +purest and most transparent gold; and it had the odor 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 arbor, 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-humored, 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 neighbors 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 towards 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 towards 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 these kind-hearted old people, "what has become of our +poor neighbors?" + +"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 neighbors!" + +"All," 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 +favor 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 +towards 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-humored, 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 talking 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 afterwards, 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! + +The Hill-Side + +_After the Story_ + +"How much did the pitcher hold?" asked Sweet Fern. "It did not hold +quite a quart," answered the student; "but you might keep pouring milk +out of it, till you should fill a hogshead, if you pleased. The truth +is, it would run on forever, and not be dry even at midsummer,--which is +more than can be said of yonder rill, that goes babbling down the +hill-side." + +"And what has become of the pitcher now?" inquired the little boy. + +"It was broken, I am sorry to say, about twenty-five thousand years +ago," replied Cousin Eustace. "The people mended it as well as they +could, but, though it would hold milk pretty well, it was never +afterwards known to fill itself of its own accord. So, you see, it was +no better than any other cracked earthen pitcher." + +"What a pity!" cried all the children at once. + +The respectable dog Ben had accompanied the party, as did likewise a +half-grown Newfoundland puppy, who went by the name of Bruin, because he +was just as black as a bear. Ben, being elderly, and of very circumspect +habits, was respectfully requested, by Cousin Eustace, to stay behind +with the four little children, in order to keep them out of mischief. As +for black Bruin, who was himself nothing but a child, the student +thought it best to take him along, lest, in his rude play with the +other children, he should trip them up, and send them rolling and +tumbling down the hill. Advising Cowslip, Sweet Fern, Dandelion, and +Squash-Blossom to sit pretty still, in the spot where he left them, the +student, with Primrose and the elder children, began to ascend, and were +soon out of sight among the trees. + + +THE CHIMAERA + + +Bald-Summit + +_Introductory to "The Chimaera"_ + +Upward, along the steep and wooded hill-side, went Eustace Bright and +his companions. The trees were not yet in full leaf, but had budded +forth sufficiently to throw an airy shadow, while the sunshine filled +them with green light. There were moss-grown rocks, half hidden among +the old, brown, fallen leaves; there were rotten tree-trunks, lying at +full length where they had long ago fallen; there were decayed boughs, +that had been shaken down by the wintry gales, and were scattered +everywhere about. But still, though these things looked so aged, the +aspect of the wood was that of the newest life; for, whichever way you +turned your eyes, something fresh and green was springing forth, so as +to be ready for the summer. + +At last, the young people reached the upper verge of the wood, and found +themselves almost at the summit of the hill. It was not a peak, nor a +great round ball, but a pretty wide plain, or table-land, with a house +and barn upon it, at some distance. That house was the home of a +solitary family; and often-times the clouds, whence fell the rain, and +whence the snow-storm drifted down into the valley, hung lower than this +bleak and lonely dwelling-place. + +On the highest point of the hill was a heap of stones, in the centre of +which was stuck a long pole, with a little flag fluttering at the end of +it. Eustace led the children thither, and bade them look around, and +see how large a tract of our beautiful world they could take in at a +glance. And their eyes grew wider as they looked. + +Monument Mountain, to the southward, was still in the centre of the +scene, but seemed to have sunk and subsided, so that it was now but an +undistinguished member of a large family of hills. Beyond it, the +Taconic range looked higher and bulkier than before. Our pretty lake was +seen, with all its little bays and inlets; and not that alone, but two +or three new lakes were opening their blue eyes to the sun. Several +white villages, each with its steeple, were scattered about in the +distance. There were so many farm-houses, with their acres of woodland, +pasture, mowing-fields, and tillage, that the children could hardly make +room in their minds to receive all these different objects. There, too, +was Tanglewood, which they had hitherto thought such an important apex +of the world. It now occupied so small a space, that they gazed far +beyond it, and on either side, and searched a good while with all their +eyes, before discovering whereabout it stood. + +White, fleecy clouds were hanging in the air, and threw the dark spots +of their shadow here and there over the landscape. But, by and by, the +sunshine was where the shadow had been, and the shadow was somewhere +else. + +Far to the westward was a range of blue mountains, which Eustace Bright +told the children were the Catskills. Among those misty hills, he said, +was a spot where some old Dutchmen were playing an everlasting game of +nine-pins, and where an idle fellow, whose name was Rip Van Winkle, had +fallen asleep, and slept twenty years at a stretch. The children eagerly +besought Eustace to tell them all about this wonderful affair. But the +student replied that the story had been told once already, and better +than it ever could be told again; and that nobody would have a right to +alter a word of it, until it should have grown as old as "The Gorgon's +Head," and "The Three Golden Apples," and the rest of those miraculous +legends. + +"At least," said Periwinkle, "while we rest ourselves here, and are +looking about us, you can tell us another of your own stories." + +"Yes, Cousin Eustace," cried Primrose, "I advise you to tell us a story +here. Take some lofty subject or other, and see if your imagination will +not come up to it. Perhaps the mountain air may make you poetical, for +once. And no matter how strange and wonderful the story may be, now that +we are up among the clouds, we can believe anything." + +"Can you believe," asked Eustace, "that there was once a winged horse?" + +"Yes," said saucy Primrose; "but I am afraid you will never be able to +catch him." + +"For that matter, Primrose," rejoined the student, "I might possibly +catch Pegasus, and get upon his back, too, as well as a dozen other +fellows that I know of. At any rate, here is a story about him; and, of +all places in the world, it ought certainly to be told upon a +mountain-top." + +So, sitting on the pile of stones, while the children clustered +themselves at its base, Eustace fixed his eyes on a white cloud that was +sailing by, and began as follows. + + +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 hill-side, 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 hill-side, 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 water-courses 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 vapors, 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 any one that was +fortunate enough to see this wondrous spectacle felt cheerful the whole +day afterwards, 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 +afterwards. 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 neighborhood, 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 towards 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. + +[Illustration: BELLEROPHON BY THE FOUNTAIN OF PIRENE] + +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 afterwards 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 fighting +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 breath, 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 +straight 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! 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 +towards 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 vapor. + +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 +towards 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 +Chimera'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 spluttering 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 towards 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 towards 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-peaks, 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 labor, 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 +honorable deeds than his friend's victory over the Chimaera. For, gentle +and tender as he was, he grew to be a mighty poet! + + +Bald-Summit + +_After the Story_ + +Eustace Bright told the legend of Bellerophon with as much fervor and +animation as if he had really been taking a gallop on the winged horse. +At the conclusion, he was gratified to discern, by the glowing +countenances of his auditors, how greatly they had been interested. All +their eyes were dancing in their heads, except those of Primrose. In her +eyes there were positively tears; for she was conscious of something in +the legend which the rest of them were not yet old enough to feel. +Child's story as it was, the student had contrived to breathe through it +the ardor, the generous hope, and the imaginative enterprise of youth. + +"I forgive you, now, Primrose," said he, "for all your ridicule of +myself and my stories. One tear pays for a great deal of laughter." + +"Well, Mr. Bright," answered Primrose, wiping her eyes, and giving him +another of her mischievous smiles, "it certainly does elevate your +ideas, to get your head above the clouds. I advise you never to tell +another story, unless it be, as at present, from the top of a mountain." + +"Or from the back of Pegasus," replied Eustace, laughing. "Don't you +think that I succeeded pretty well in catching that wonderful pony?" + +"It was so like one of your madcap pranks!" cried Primrose, clapping her +hands. "I think I see you now on his back, two miles high, and with your +head downward! It is well that you have not really an opportunity of +trying your horsemanship on any wilder steed than our sober Davy, or Old +Hundred." + +[Illustration: THE FOUNTAIN OF PIRENE + +(From the original in the collection of Austin M. Purves, Esq're +Philadelphia)] + +"For my part, I wish I had Pegasus here, at this moment," said the +student. "I would mount him forthwith, and gallop about the country, +within a circumference of a few miles, making literary calls on my +brother authors. Dr. Dewey would be within my reach, at the foot of +Taconic. In Stockbridge, yonder, is Mr. James, conspicuous to all the +world on his mountain-pile of history and romance. Longfellow, I +believe, is not yet at the Ox-bow, else the winged horse would neigh at +the sight of him. But, here in Lenox, I should find our most truthful +novelist, who has made the scenery and life of Berkshire all her own. On +the hither side of Pittsfield sits Herman Melville, shaping out the +gigantic conception of his 'White Whale,' while the gigantic shape of +Graylock looms upon him from his study-window. Another bound of my +flying steed would bring me to the door of Holmes, whom I mention last, +because Pegasus would certainly unseat me, the next minute, and claim +the poet as his rider." + +"Have we not an author for our next neighbor?" asked Primrose. "That +silent man, who lives in the old red house, near Tanglewood Avenue, and +whom we sometimes meet, with two children at his side, in the woods or +at the lake. I think I have heard of his having written a poem, or a +romance, or an arithmetic, or a school-history, or some other kind of a +book." + +"Hush, Primrose, hush!" exclaimed Eustace, in a thrilling whisper, and +putting his finger on his lip. "Not a word about that man, even on a +hill-top! If our babble were to reach his ears, and happen not to please +him, he has but to fling a quire or two of paper into the stove, and +you, Primrose, and I, and Periwinkle, Sweet Fern, Squash-Blossom, Blue +Eye, Huckleberry, Clover, Cowslip, Plantain, Milkweed, Dandelion, and +Buttercup,--yes, and wise Mr. Pringle, with his unfavorable criticisms +on my legends, and poor Mrs. Pringle, too,--would all turn to smoke, +and go whisking up the funnel! Our neighbor in the red house is a +harmless sort of person enough, for aught I know, as concerns the rest +of the world; but something whispers to me that he has a terrible power +over ourselves, extending to nothing short of annihilation." + +"And would Tanglewood turn to smoke, as well as we?" asked Periwinkle, +quite appalled at the threatened destruction. "And what would become of +Ben and Bruin?" + +"Tanglewood would remain," replied the student, "looking just as it does +now, but occupied by an entirely different family. And Ben and Bruin +would be still alive, and would make themselves very comfortable with +the bones from the dinner-table, without ever thinking of the good times +which they and we have had together!" + +"What nonsense you are talking!" exclaimed Primrose. + +With idle chat of this kind, the party had already begun to descend the +hill, and were now within the shadow of the woods. Primrose gathered +some mountain-laurel, the leaf of which, though of last year's growth, +was still as verdant and elastic as if the frost and thaw had not +alternately tried their force upon its texture. Of these twigs of laurel +she twined a wreath, and took off the student's cap, in order to place +it on his brow. + +"Nobody else is likely to crown you for your stories," observed saucy +Primrose, "so take this from me." + +"Do not be too sure," answered Eustace, looking really like a youthful +poet, with the laurel among his glossy curls, "that I shall not win +other wreaths by these wonderful and admirable stories. I mean to spend +all my leisure, during the rest of the vacation, and throughout the +summer term at college, in writing them out for the press. Mr. J. T. +Fields (with whom I became acquainted when he was in Berkshire, last +summer, and who is a poet, as well as a publisher) will see their +uncommon merit at a glance. He will get them illustrated, I hope, by +Billings, and will bring them before the world under the very best of +auspices, through the eminent house of Ticknor & Co. In about five +months from this moment, I make no doubt of being reckoned among the +lights of this age!" + +"Poor boy!" said Primrose, half aside. "What a disappointment awaits +him!" + +Descending a little lower, Bruin began to bark, and was answered by the +graver bow-wow of the respectable Ben. They soon saw the good old dog, +keeping careful watch over Dandelion, Sweet Fern, Cowslip, and +Squash-Blossom. These little people, quite recovered from their fatigue, +had set about gathering checkerberries, and now came clambering to meet +their playfellows. Thus reunited, the whole party went down through +Luther Butler's orchard, and made the best of their way home to +Tanglewood. + + + + +Tanglewood Tales, + +For Girls And Boys, + +Being A Second Wonder-Book + + + + +TANGLEWOOD TALES + + + + +The Wayside + + +_Introductory_ + +A short time ago, I was favored with a flying visit from my young friend +Eustace Bright, whom I had not before met with since quitting the breezy +mountains of Berkshire. It being the winter vacation at his college, +Eustace was allowing himself a little relaxation, in the hope, he told +me, of repairing the inroads which severe application to study had made +upon his health; and I was happy to conclude, from the excellent +physical condition in which I saw him, that the remedy had already been +attended with very desirable success. He had now run up from Boston by +the noon train, partly impelled by the friendly regard with which he is +pleased to honor me, and partly, as I soon found, on a matter of +literary business. + +It delighted me to receive Mr. Bright, for the first time, under a roof, +though a very humble one, which I could really call my own. Nor did I +fail (as is the custom of landed proprietors all about the world) to +parade the poor fellow up and down over my half a dozen acres; secretly +rejoicing, nevertheless, that the disarray of the inclement season, and +particularly the six inches of snow then upon the ground, prevented him +from observing the ragged neglect of soil and shrubbery into which the +place has lapsed. It was idle, however, to imagine that an airy guest +from Monument Mountain, Bald-Summit, and old Graylock, shaggy with +primeval forests, could see anything to admire in my poor little +hill-side, with its growth of frail and insect-eaten locust-trees. +Eustace very frankly called the view from my hill-top tame; and so, no +doubt, it was, after rough, broken, rugged, headlong Berkshire, and +especially the northern parts of the county, with which his college +residence had made him familiar. But to me there is a peculiar, quiet +charm in these broad meadows and gentle eminences. They are better than +mountains, because they do not stamp and stereotype themselves into the +brain, and thus grow wearisome with the same strong impression, repeated +day after day. A few summer weeks among mountains, a lifetime among +green meadows and placid slopes, with outlines forever new, because +continually fading out of the memory,--such would be my sober choice. + +I doubt whether Eustace did not internally pronounce the whole thing a +bore, until I led him to my predecessor's little ruined, rustic +summer-house, midway on the hill-side. It is a mere skeleton of slender, +decaying tree-trunks, with neither walls nor a roof; nothing but a +tracery of branches and twigs, which the next wintry blast will be very +likely to scatter in fragments along the terrace. It looks, and is, as +evanescent as a dream; and yet, in its rustic net-work of boughs, it has +somehow enclosed a hint of spiritual beauty, and has become a true +emblem of the subtile and ethereal mind that planned it. I made Eustace +Bright sit down on a snow-bank, which bad heaped itself over the mossy +seat, and gazing through the arched window opposite, he acknowledged +that the scene at once grew picturesque. + +"Simple as it looks," said he, "this little edifice seems to be the work +of magic. It is full of suggestiveness, and, in its way, is as good as a +cathedral. Ah, it would be just the spot for one to sit in, of a summer +afternoon, and tell the children some more of those wild stories from +the classic myths!" + +"It would, indeed," answered I. "The summer-house itself, so airy and so +broken, is like one of those old tales, imperfectly remembered; and +these living branches of the Baldwin apple-tree, thrusting themselves so +rudely in, are like your unwarrantable interpolations. But, by the by, +have you added any more legends to the series, since the publication of +the Wonder Book?" + +"Many more," said Eustace; "Primrose, Periwinkle, and the rest of them +allow me no comfort of my life, unless I tell them a story every day or +two. I have run away from home partly to escape the importunity of those +little wretches! But I have written out six of the new stories, and have +brought them for you to look over." + +"Are they as good as the first?" I inquired. + +"Better chosen, and better handled," replied Eustace Bright. "You will +say so when you read them." + +"Possibly not," I remarked. "I know, from my own experience, that an +author's last work is always his best one, in his own estimate, until it +quite loses the red heat of composition. After that, it falls into its +true place, quietly enough. But let us adjourn to my study, and examine +these new stories. It would hardly be doing yourself justice, were you +to bring me acquainted with them, sitting here on this snow-bank!" + +So we descended the hill to my small, old cottage, and shut ourselves up +in the southeastern room, where the sunshine comes in, warmly and +brightly, through the better half of a winter's day. Eustace put his +bundle of manuscript into my hands; and I skimmed through it pretty +rapidly, trying to find out its merits and demerits by the touch of my +fingers, as a veteran story-teller ought to know how to do. + +It will be remembered, that Mr. Bright condescended to avail himself of +my literary experience by constituting me editor of the Wonder Book. As +he had no reason to complain of the reception of that erudite work by +the public, he was now disposed to retain me in a similar position, with +respect to the present volume, which he entitled "TANGLEWOOD TALES." +Not, as Eustace hinted, that there was any real necessity for my +services as introductor, inasmuch as his own name had become +established, in some good degree of favor, with the literary world. But +the connection with myself, he was kind enough to say, had been highly +agreeable; nor was he by any means desirous, as most people are, of +kicking away the ladder that had perhaps helped him to reach his present +elevation. My young friend was willing, in short, that the fresh verdure +of his growing reputation should spread over my straggling and +half-naked boughs; even as I have sometimes thought of training a vine, +with its broad leafiness, and purple fruitage, over the worm-eaten posts +and rafters of the rustic summer-house. I was not insensible to the +advantages of his proposal, and gladly assured him of my acceptance. + +Merely from the titles of the stories, I saw at once that the subjects +were not less rich than those of the former volume; nor did I at all +doubt that Mr. Bright's audacity (so far as that endowment might avail) +had enabled him to take full advantage of whatever capabilities they +offered. Yet, in spite of my experience of his free way of handling +them, I did not quite see, I confess, how he could have obviated all the +difficulties in the way of rendering them presentable to children. These +old legends, so brimming over with everything that is most abhorrent to +our Christianized moral sense,--some of them so hideous, others so +melancholy and miserable, amid which the Greek tragedians sought their +themes, and moulded them into the sternest forms of grief that ever the +world saw; was such material the stuff that children's playthings should +be made of! How were they to be purified? How was the blessed sunshine +to be thrown into them? + +But Eustace told me that these myths were the most singular things in +the world, and that he was invariably astonished, whenever he began to +relate one, by the readiness with which it adapted itself to the +childish purity of his auditors. The objectionable characteristics seem +to be a parasitical growth, having no essential connection with the +original fable. They fall away, and are thought of no more, the instant +he puts his imagination in sympathy with the innocent little circle, +whose wide-open eyes are fixed so eagerly upon him. Thus the stories +(not by any strained effort of the narrator's, but in harmony with their +inherent germ) transform themselves, and reassume the shapes which they +might be supposed to possess in the pure childhood of the world. When +the first poet or romancer told these marvellous legends (such is +Eustace Bright's opinion), it was still the Golden Age. Evil had never +yet existed; and sorrow, misfortune, crime, were mere shadows which the +mind fancifully created for itself, as a shelter against too sunny +realities; or, at most, but prophetic dreams, to which the dreamer +himself did not yield a waking credence. Children are now the only +representatives of the men and women of that happy era; and therefore it +is that we must raise the intellect and fancy to the level of childhood, +in order to recreate the original myths. + +I let the youthful author talk as much and as extravagantly as he +pleased, and was glad to see him commencing life with such confidence in +himself and his performances. A few years will do all that is necessary +towards showing him the truth in both respects. Meanwhile, it is but +right to say, he does really appear to have overcome the moral +objections against these fables, although at the expense of such +liberties with their structure as must be left to plead their own +excuse, without any help from me. Indeed, except that there was a +necessity for it,--and that the inner life of the legends cannot be come +at save by making them entirely one's own property,--there is no defence +to be made. + +Eustace informed me that he had told his stories to the children in +various situations,--in the woods, on the shore of the lake, in the dell +of Shadow Brook, in the play-room, at Tanglewood fireside, and in a +magnificent palace of snow, with ice windows, which he helped his little +friends to build. His auditors were even more delighted with the +contents of the present volume than with the specimens which have +already been given to the world. The classically learned Mr. Pringle, +too, had listened to two or three of the tales, and censured them even +more bitterly than he did THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES; so that, what with +praise, and what with criticism, Eustace Bright thinks that there is +good hope of at least as much success with the public as in the case of +the Wonder Book. + +I made all sorts of inquiries about the children, not doubting that +there would be great eagerness to hear of their welfare among some good +little folks who have written to me, to ask for another volume of myths. +They are all, I am happy to say (unless we except Clover), in excellent +health and spirits. Primrose is now almost a young lady, and, Eustace +tells me, is just as saucy as ever. She pretends to consider herself +quite beyond the age to be interested by such idle stories as these; +but, for all that, whenever a story is to be told, Primrose never fails +to be one of the listeners, and to make fun of it when finished. +Periwinkle is very much grown, and is expected to shut up her baby-house +and throw away her doll in a month or two more. Sweet Fern has learned +to read and write, and has put on a jacket and pair of pantaloons,--all +of which improvements I am sorry for. Squash-Blossom, Blue Eye, +Plantain, and Buttercup have had the scarlet fever, but came easily +through it. Huckleberry, Milkweed, and Dandelion were attacked with the +hooping-cough, but bore it bravely, and kept out of doors whenever the +sun shone. Cowslip, during the autumn, had either the measles, or some +eruption that looked very much like it, but was hardly sick a day. Poor +Clover has been a good deal troubled with her second teeth, which have +made her meagre in aspect and rather fractious in temper; nor, even when +she smiles, is the matter much mended, since it discloses a gap just +within her lips, almost as wide as the barn door. But all this will +pass over, and it is predicted that she will turn out a very pretty +girl. + +As for Mr. Bright himself, he is now in his senior year at Williams +College, and has a prospect of graduating with some degree of honorable +distinction at the next Commencement. In his oration for the bachelor's +degree, he gives me to understand, he will treat of the classical myths, +viewed in the aspect of baby stories, and has a great mind to discuss +the expediency of using up the whole of ancient history for the same +purpose. I do not know what he means to do with himself after leaving +college, but trust that, by dabbling so early with the dangerous and +seductive business of authorship, he will not be tempted to become an +author by profession. If so, I shall be very sorry for the little that I +have had to do with the matter, in encouraging these first beginnings. + +I wish there were any likelihood of my soon seeing Primrose, Periwinkle, +Dandelion, Sweet Fern, Clover, Plantain, Huckleberry, Milkweed, Cowslip, +Buttercup, Blue Eye, and Squash-Blossom again. But as I do not know when +I shall revisit Tanglewood, and as Eustace Bright probably will not ask +me to edit a third Wonder Book, the public of little folks must not +expect to hear any more about those dear children from me. Heaven bless +them, and everybody else, whether grown people or children! + + THE WAYSIDE, CONCORD, MASS. + + _March 13, 1853._ + + + + +The Minotaur + + +In the old city of Troezene, at the foot of a lofty mountain, there +lived, a very long time ago, a little boy named Theseus. His +grandfather, King Pittheus, was the sovereign of that country, and was +reckoned a very wise man; so that Theseus, being brought up in the royal +palace, and being naturally a bright lad, could hardly fail of profiting +by the old king's instructions. His mother's name was AEthra. As for his +father, the boy had never seen him. But, from his earliest remembrance, +AEthra used to go with little Theseus into a wood, and sit down upon a +moss-grown rock, which was deeply sunk into the earth. Here she often +talked with her son about his father, and said that he was called AEgeus, +and that he was a great king, and ruled over Attica, and dwelt at +Athens, which was as famous a city as any in the world. Theseus was very +fond of hearing about King AEgeus, and often asked his good mother AEthra +why he did not come and live with them at Troezene. + +"Ah, my dear son," answered AEthra, with a sigh, "a monarch has his +people to take care of. The men and women over whom he rules are in the +place of children to him; and he can seldom spare time to love his own +children as other parents do. Your father will never be able to leave +his kingdom for the sake of seeing his little boy." + +"Well, but, dear mother," asked the boy, "why cannot I go to this famous +city of Athens, and tell King AEgeus that I am his son?" + +"That may happen by and by," said AEthra. "Be patient, and we shall see. +You are not yet big and strong enough to set out on such an errand." + +"And how soon shall I be strong enough?" Theseus persisted in inquiring. + +"You are but a tiny boy as yet," replied his mother. "See if you can +lift this rock on which we are sitting?" + +The little fellow had a great opinion of his own strength. So, grasping +the rough protuberances of the rock, he tugged and toiled amain, and got +himself quite out of breath, without being able to stir the heavy stone. +It seemed to be rooted into the ground. No wonder he could not move it; +for it would have taken all the force of a very strong man to lift it +out of its earthy bed. + +His mother stood looking on, with a sad kind of a smile on her lips and +in her eyes, to see the zealous and yet puny efforts of her little boy. +She could not help being sorrowful at finding him already so impatient +to begin his adventures in the world. + +"You see how it is, my dear Theseus," said she. "You must possess far +more strength than now before I can trust you to go to Athens, and tell +King AEgeus that you are his son. But when you can lift this rock, and +show me what is hidden beneath it, I promise you my permission to +depart." + +Often and often, after this, did Theseus ask his mother whether it was +yet time for him to go to Athens; and still his mother pointed to the +rock, and told him that, for years to come, he could not be strong +enough to move it. And again and again the rosy-cheeked and curly-headed +boy would tug and strain at the huge mass of stone, striving, child as +he was, to do what a giant could hardly have done without taking both of +his great hands to the task. Meanwhile the rock seemed to be sinking +farther and farther into the ground. The moss grew over it thicker and +thicker, until at last it looked almost like a soft green seat, with +only a few gray knobs of granite peeping out. The overhanging trees, +also, shed their brown leaves upon it, as often as the autumn came; and +at its base grew ferns and wild flowers, some of which crept quite over +its surface. To all appearance, the rock was as firmly fastened as any +other portion of the earth's substance. + +But, difficult as the matter looked, Theseus was now growing up to be +such a vigorous youth, that, in his own opinion, the time would quickly +come when he might hope to get the upper hand of this ponderous lump of +stone. + +"Mother, I do believe it has started!" cried he, after one of his +attempts. "The earth around it is certainly a little cracked!" + +"No, no, child!" his mother hastily answered. "It is not possible you +can have moved it, such a boy as you still are!" + +Nor would she be convinced, although Theseus showed her the place where +he fancied that the stem of a flower had been partly uprooted by the +movement of the rock. But AEthra sighed and looked disquieted; for, no +doubt, she began to be conscious that her son was no longer a child, and +that, in a little while hence, she must send him forth among the perils +and troubles of the world. + +It was not more than a year afterwards when they were again sitting on +the moss-covered stone. AEthra had once more told him the oft-repeated +story of his father, and how gladly he would receive Theseus at his +stately palace, and how he would present him to his courtiers and the +people, and tell them that here was the heir of his dominions. The eyes +of Theseus glowed with enthusiasm, and he would hardly sit still to hear +his mother speak. + +"Dear mother AEthra," he exclaimed, "I never felt half so strong as now! +I am no longer a child, nor a boy, nor a mere youth! I feel myself a +man! It is now time to make one earnest trial to remove the stone!" + +"Ah, my dearest Theseus," replied his mother, "not yet! not yet!" + +"Yes, mother," said he, resolutely, "the time has come." + +Then Theseus bent himself in good earnest to the task, and strained +every sinew, with manly strength and resolution. He put his whole brave +heart into the effort. He wrestled with the big and sluggish stone, as +if it had been a living enemy. He heaved, he lifted, he resolved now to +succeed, or else to perish there, and let the rock be his monument +forever! AEthra stood gazing at him, and clasped her hands, partly with a +mother's pride, and partly with a mother's sorrow. The great rock +stirred! Yes, it was raised slowly from the bedded moss and earth, +uprooting the shrubs and flowers along with it, and was turned upon its +side. Theseus had conquered! + +While taking breath, he looked joyfully at his mother, and she smiled +upon him through her tears. + +"Yes, Theseus," she said, "the time has come, and you must stay no +longer at my side! See what King AEgeus, your royal father, left for you, +beneath the stone, when he lifted it in his mighty arms, and laid it on +the spot whence you have now removed it." + +Theseus looked, and saw that the rock had been placed over another slab +of stone, containing a cavity within it; so that it somewhat resembled a +roughly made chest or coffer, of which the upper mass had served as the +lid. Within the cavity lay a sword, with a golden hilt, and a pair of +sandals. + +"That was your father's sword," said AEthra, "and those were his sandals. +When he went to be king of Athens, he bade me treat you as a child until +you should prove yourself a man by lifting this heavy stone. That task +being accomplished, you are to put on his sandals, in order to follow in +your father's footsteps, and to gird on his sword, so that you may fight +giants and dragons, as King AEgeus did in his youth." + +"I will set out for Athens this very day!" cried Theseus. + +But his mother persuaded him to stay a day or two longer, while she got +ready some necessary articles for his journey. When his grandfather, the +wise King Pittheus, heard that Theseus intended to present himself at +his father's palace, he earnestly advised him to get on board of a +vessel, and go by sea; because he might thus arrive within fifteen miles +of Athens, without either fatigue or danger. + +"The roads are very bad by land," quoth the venerable king; "and they +are terribly infested with robbers and monsters. A mere lad, like +Theseus, is not fit to be trusted on such a perilous journey, all by +himself. No, no; let him go by sea!" + +But when Theseus heard of robbers and monsters, he pricked up his ears, +and was so much the more eager to take the road along which they were to +be met with. On the third day, therefore, he bade a respectful farewell +to his grandfather, thanking him for all his kindness, and, after +affectionately embracing his mother, he set forth, with a good many of +her tears glistening on his cheeks, and some, if the truth must be told, +that had gushed out of his own eyes. But he let the sun and wind dry +them, and walked stoutly on, playing with the golden hilt of his sword +and taking very manly strides in his father's sandals. + +I cannot stop to tell you hardly any of the adventures that befell +Theseus on the road to Athens. It is enough to say, that he quite +cleared that part of the country of the robbers, about whom King +Pittheus had been so much alarmed. One of these bad people was named +Procrustes; and he was indeed a terrible fellow, and had an ugly way of +making fun of the poor travellers who happened to fall into his +clutches. In his cavern he had a bed, on which, with great pretence of +hospitality, he invited his guests to lie down; but if they happened to +be shorter than the bed, this wicked villain stretched them out by main +force; or, if they were too long, he lopped off their heads or feet, and +laughed at what he had done, as an excellent joke. Thus, however weary +a man might be, he never liked to lie in the bed of Procrustes. Another +of these robbers, named Scinis, must likewise have been a very great +scoundrel. He was in the habit of flinging his victims off a high cliff +into the sea; and, in order to give him exactly his deserts, Theseus +tossed him off the very same place. But if you will believe me, the sea +would not pollute itself by receiving such a bad person into its bosom, +neither would the earth, having once got rid of him, consent to take him +back; so that, between the cliff and the sea, Scinis stuck fast in the +air, which was forced to bear the burden of his naughtiness. + +After these memorable deeds, Theseus heard of an enormous sow, which ran +wild, and was the terror of all the farmers round about; and, as he did +not consider himself above doing any good thing that came in his way, he +killed this monstrous creature, and gave the carcass to the poor people +for bacon. The great sow had been an awful beast, while ramping about +the woods and fields, but was a pleasant object enough when cut up into +joints, and smoking on I know not how many dinner tables. + +Thus, by the time he had reached his journey's end, Theseus had done +many valiant deeds with his father's golden-hilted sword, and had gained +the renown of being one of the bravest young men of the day. His fame +travelled faster than he did, and reached Athens before him. As he +entered the city, he heard the inhabitants talking at the +street-corners, and saying that Hercules was brave, and Jason too, and +Castor and Pollux likewise, but that Theseus, the son of their own king, +would turn out as great a hero as the best of them. Theseus took longer +strides on hearing this, and fancied himself sure of a magnificent +reception at his father's court, since he came hither with Fame to blow +her trumpet before him, and cry to King AEgeus, "Behold your son!" + +He little suspected, innocent youth that he was, that here, in this +very Athens, where his father reigned, a greater danger awaited him than +any which he had encountered on the road. Yet this was the truth. You +must understand that the father of Theseus, though not very old in +years, was almost worn out with the cares of government, and had thus +grown aged before his time. His nephews, not expecting him to live a +very great while, intended to get all the power of the kingdom into +their own hands. But when they heard that Theseus had arrived in Athens, +and learned what a gallant young man he was, they saw that he would not +be at all the kind of person to let them steal away his father's crown +and sceptre, which ought to be his own by right of inheritance. Thus +these bad-hearted nephews of King AEgeus, who were the own cousins of +Theseus, at once became his enemies. A still more dangerous enemy was +Medea, the wicked enchantress; for she was now the king's wife, and +wanted to give the kingdom to her son Medus, instead of letting it be +given to the son of AEthra, whom she hated. + +It so happened that the king's nephews met Theseus, and found out who he +was, just as he reached the entrance of the royal palace. With all their +evil designs against him, they pretended to be their cousin's best +friends, and expressed great joy at making his acquaintance. They +proposed to him that he should come into the king's presence as a +stranger, in order to try whether AEgeus would discover in the young +man's features any likeness either to himself or his mother AEthra, and +thus recognize him for a son. Theseus consented; for he fancied that his +father would know him in a moment, by the love that was in his heart. +But, while he waited at the door, the nephews ran and told King AEgeus +that a young man had arrived in Athens, who, to their certain knowledge, +intended to put him to death, and get possession of his royal crown. + +"And he is now waiting for admission to your Majesty's presence," added +they. + +"Aha!" cried the old king, on hearing this. "Why, he must be a very +wicked young fellow indeed! Pray, what would you advise me to do with +him?" + +In reply to this question, the wicked Medea put in her word. As I have +already told you, she was a famous enchantress. According to some +stories, she was in the habit of boiling old people in a large caldron, +under pretence of making them young again; but King AEgeus, I suppose, +did not fancy such an uncomfortable way of growing young, or perhaps was +contented to be old, and therefore would never let himself be popped +into the caldron. If there were time to spare from more important +matters, I should be glad to tell you of Medea's fiery chariot, drawn by +winged dragons, in which the enchantress used often to take an airing +among the clouds. This chariot, in fact, was the vehicle that first +brought her to Athens, where she had done nothing but mischief ever +since her arrival. But these and many other wonders must be left untold; +and it is enough to say, that Medea, amongst a thousand other bad +things, knew how to prepare a poison, that was instantly fatal to +whomsoever might so much as touch it with his lips. + +So, when the king asked what he should do with Theseus, this naughty +woman had an answer ready at her tongue's end. + +"Leave that to me, please your Majesty," she replied. "Only admit this +evil-minded young man to your presence, treat him civilly, and invite +him to drink a goblet of wine. Your Majesty is well aware that I +sometimes amuse myself with distilling very powerful medicines. Here is +one of them in this small phial. As to what it is made of, that is one +of my secrets of state. Do but let me put a single drop into the goblet, +and let the young man taste it; and I will answer for it, he shall quite +lay aside the bad designs with which he comes hither." + +As she said this, Medea smiled; but, for all her smiling face, she meant +nothing less than to poison the poor innocent Theseus, before his +father's eyes. And King AEgeus, like most other kings, thought any +punishment mild enough for a person who was accused of plotting against +his life. He therefore made little or no objection to Medea's scheme, +and as soon as the poisonous wine was ready, gave orders that the young +stranger should be admitted into his presence. The goblet was set on a +table beside the king's throne; and a fly, meaning just to sip a little +from the brim, immediately tumbled into it, dead. Observing this, Medea +looked round at the nephews, and smiled again. + +When Theseus was ushered into the royal apartment, the only object that +he seemed to behold was the white-bearded old king. There he sat on his +magnificent throne, a dazzling crown on his head, and a sceptre in his +hand. His aspect was stately and majestic, although his years and +infirmities weighed heavily upon him, as if each year were a lump of +lead, and each infirmity a ponderous stone, and all were bundled up +together, and laid upon his weary shoulders. The tears both of joy and +sorrow sprang into the young man's eyes; for he thought how sad it was +to see his dear father so infirm, and how sweet it would be to support +him with his own youthful strength, and to cheer him up with the +alacrity of his loving spirit. When a son takes his father into his warm +heart, it renews the old man's youth in a better way than by the heat of +Medea's magic caldron. And this was what Theseus resolved to do. He +could scarcely wait to see whether King AEgeus would recognize him, so +eager was he to throw himself into his arms. + +Advancing to the foot of the throne, he attempted to make a little +speech, which he had been thinking about, as he came up the stairs. But +he was almost choked by a great many tender feelings that gushed out of +his heart and swelled into his throat, all struggling to find utterance +together. And therefore, unless he could have laid his full, +over-brimming heart into the king's hand, poor Theseus knew not what to +do or say. The cunning Medea observed what was passing in the young +man's mind. She was more wicked at that moment than ever she had been +before; for (and it makes me tremble to tell you of it) she did her +worst to turn all this unspeakable love with which Theseus was agitated, +to his own ruin and destruction. + +"Does your Majesty see his confusion?" she whispered in the king's ear. +"He is so conscious of guilt, that he trembles and cannot speak. The +wretch lives too long! Quick! offer him the wine!" + +Now King AEgeus had been gazing earnestly at the young stranger, as he +drew near the throne. There was something, he knew not what, either in +his white brow, or in the fine expression of his mouth, or in his +beautiful and tender eyes, that made him indistinctly feel as if he had +seen this youth before; as if, indeed, he had trotted him on his knee +when a baby, and had beheld him growing to be a stalwart man, while he +himself grew old. But Medea guessed how the king felt, and would not +suffer him to yield to these natural sensibilities; although they were +the voice of his deepest heart, telling him, as plainly as it could +speak, that here was his dear son, and AEthra's son, coming to claim him +for a father. The enchantress again whispered in the king's ear, and +compelled him, by her witchcraft, to see everything under a false +aspect. + +He made up his mind, therefore, to let Theseus drink off the poisoned +wine. + +"Young man," said he, "you are welcome! I am proud to show hospitality +to so heroic a youth. Do me the favor to drink the contents of this +goblet. It is brimming over, as you see, with delicious wine, such as I +bestow only on those who are worthy of it! None is more worthy to quaff +it than yourself!" + +So saying, King AEgeus took the golden goblet from the table, and was +about to offer it to Theseus. But, partly through his infirmities, and +partly because it seemed so sad a thing to take away this young man's +life, however wicked he might be, and partly, no doubt, because his +heart was wiser than his head, and quaked within him at the thought of +what he was going to do,--for all these reasons, the king's hand +trembled so much that a great deal of the wine slopped over. In order to +strengthen his purpose, and fearing lest the whole of the precious +poison should be wasted, one of his nephews now whispered to him,-- + +"Has your Majesty any doubt of this stranger's guilt? There is the very +sword with which he meant to slay you. How sharp, and bright, and +terrible it is! Quick!--let him taste the wine; or perhaps he may do the +deed even yet." + +At these words, AEgeus drove every thought and feeling out of his breast, +except the one idea of how justly the young man deserved to be put to +death. He sat erect on his throne, and held out the goblet of wine with +a steady hand, and bent on Theseus a frown of kingly severity; for, +after all, he had too noble a spirit to murder even a treacherous enemy +with a deceitful smile upon his face. + +"Drink!" said he, in the stern tone with which he was wont to condemn a +criminal to be beheaded. "You have well deserved of me such wine as +this!" + +Theseus held out his hand to take the wine. But, before he touched it, +King AEgeus trembled again. His eyes had fallen on the gold-hilted sword +that hung at the young man's side. He drew back the goblet. + +"That sword!" he cried; "how came you by it?" + +"It was my father's sword," replied Theseus, with a tremulous voice. +"These were his sandals. My dear mother (her name is AEthra) told me his +story while I was yet a little child. But it is only a month since I +grew strong enough to lift the heavy stone, and take the sword and +sandals from beneath it, and come to Athens to seek my father." + +"My son! my son!" cried King AEgeus, flinging away the fatal goblet, and +tottering down from the throne to fall into the arms of Theseus. "Yes, +these are AEthra's eyes. It is my son." + +I have quite forgotten what became of the king's nephews. But when the +wicked Medea saw this new turn of affairs, she hurried out of the room, +and going to her private chamber, lost no time in setting her +enchantments at work. In a few moments, she heard a great noise of +hissing snakes outside of the chamber window; and, behold! there was her +fiery chariot, and four huge winged serpents, wriggling and twisting in +the air, flourishing their tails higher than the top of the palace, and +all ready to set off on an aerial journey. Medea stayed only long enough +to take her son with her, and to steal the crown jewels, together with +the king's best robes, and whatever other valuable things she could lay +hands on; and getting into the chariot, she whipped up the snakes, and +ascended high over the city. + +The king, hearing the hiss of the serpents, scrambled as fast as he +could to the window, and bawled out to the abominable enchantress never +to come back. The whole people of Athens, too, who had run out of doors +to see this wonderful spectacle, set up a shout of joy at the prospect +of getting rid of her. Medea, almost bursting with rage, uttered +precisely such a hiss as one of her own snakes, only ten times more +venomous and spiteful; and glaring fiercely out of the blaze of the +chariot, she shook her hands over the multitude below, as if she were +scattering a million of curses among them. In so doing, however, she +unintentionally let fall about five hundred diamonds of the first water, +together with a thousand great pearls, and two thousand emeralds, +rubies, sapphires, opals, and topazes, to which she had helped herself +out of the king's strong-box. All these came pelting down, like a shower +of many-colored hailstones, upon the heads of grown people and children, +who forthwith gathered them up and carried them back to the palace. But +King AEgeus told them that they were welcome to the whole, and to twice +as many more, if he had them, for the sake of his delight at finding +his son, and losing the wicked Medea. And, indeed, if you had seen how +hateful was her last look, as the flaming chariot flew upward, you would +not have wondered that both king and people should think her departure a +good riddance. + +And now Prince Theseus was taken into great favor by his royal father. +The old king was never weary of having him sit beside him on his throne +(which was quite wide enough for two), and of hearing him tell about his +dear mother, and his childhood, and his many boyish efforts to lift the +ponderous stone. Theseus, however, was much too brave and active a young +man to be willing to spend all his time in relating things which had +already happened. His ambition was to perform other and more heroic +deeds, which should be better worth telling in prose and verse. Nor had +he been long in Athens before he caught and chained a terrible mad bull, +and made a public show of him, greatly to the wonder and admiration of +good King AEgeus and his subjects. But pretty soon, he undertook an +affair that made all his foregone adventures seem like mere boy's play. +The occasion of it was as follows:-- + +One morning, when Prince Theseus awoke, he fancied that he must have had +a very sorrowful dream, and that it was still running in his mind, even +now that his eyes were open. For it appeared as if the air was full of a +melancholy wail; and when he listened more attentively, he could hear +sobs and groans, and screams of woe, mingled with deep, quiet sighs, +which came from the king's palace, and from the streets, and from the +temples, and from every habitation in the city. And all these mournful +noises, issuing out of thousands of separate hearts, united themselves +into the one great sound of affliction, which bad startled Theseus from +slumber. He put on his clothes as quickly as he could (not forgetting +his sandals and gold-hilted sword), and hastening to the king, inquired +what it all meant. + +"Alas! my son," quoth King AEgeus, heaving a long sigh, "here is a very +lamentable matter in hand! This is the wofullest anniversary in the +whole year. It is the day when we annually draw lots to see which of the +youths and maidens of Athens shall go to be devoured by the horrible +Minotaur!" + +"The Minotaur!" exclaimed Prince Theseus; and, like a brave young prince +as he was, he put his hand to the hilt of his sword. "What kind of a +monster may that be? Is it not possible, at the risk of one's life, to +slay him?" + +But King AEgeus shook his venerable head, and to convince Theseus that it +was quite a hopeless case, he gave him an explanation of the whole +affair. It seems that in the island of Crete there lived a certain +dreadful monster, called a Minotaur, which was shaped partly like a man +and partly like a bull, and was altogether such a hideous sort of a +creature that it is really disagreeable to think of him. If he were +suffered to exist at all, it should have been on some desert island, or +in the duskiness of some deep cavern, where nobody would ever be +tormented by his abominable aspect. But King Minos, who reigned over +Crete, laid out a vast deal of money in building a habitation for the +Minotaur, and took great care of his health and comfort, merely for +mischief's sake. A few years before this time, there had been a war +between the city of Athens and the island of Crete, in which the +Athenians were beaten, and compelled to beg for peace. No peace could +they obtain, however, except on condition that they should send seven +young men and seven maidens, every year, to be devoured by the pet +monster of the cruel King Minos. For three years past, this grievous +calamity had been borne. And the sobs, and groans, and shrieks, with +which the city was now filled, were caused by the people's woe, because +the fatal day had come again, when the fourteen victims were to be +chosen by lot; and the old people feared lest their sons or daughters +might be taken, and the youths and damsels dreaded lest they themselves +might be destined to glut the ravenous maw of that detestable man-brute. + +But when Theseus heard the story, he straightened himself up, so that he +seemed taller than ever before; and as for his face, it was indignant, +despiteful, bold, tender, and compassionate, all in one look. + +"Let the people of Athens, this year, draw lots for only six young men, +instead of seven," said he. "I will myself be the seventh; and let the +Minotaur devour me, if he can!" + +"O my dear son," cried King AEgeus, "why should you expose yourself to +this horrible fate? You are a royal prince, and have a right to hold +yourself above the destinies of common men." + +"It is because I am a prince, your son, and the rightful heir of your +kingdom, that I freely take upon me the calamity of your subjects," +answered Theseus. "And you, my father, being king over this people, and +answerable to Heaven for their welfare, are bound to sacrifice what is +dearest to you, rather than that the son or daughter of the poorest +citizen should come to any harm." + +The old king shed tears, and besought Theseus not to leave him desolate +in his old age, more especially as he had but just begun to know the +happiness of possessing a good and valiant son. Theseus, however, felt +that he was in the right, and therefore would not give up his +resolution. But he assured his father that he did not intend to be eaten +up, unresistingly, like a sheep, and that, if the Minotaur devoured him, +it should not be without a battle for his dinner. And finally, since he +could not help it, King AEgeus consented to let him go. So a vessel was +got ready, and rigged with black sails; and Theseus, with six other +young men, and seven tender and beautiful damsels, came down to the +harbor to embark. A sorrowful multitude accompanied them to the shore. +There was the poor old king, too, leaning on his son's arm, and looking +as if his single heart held all the grief of Athens. + +Just as Prince Theseus was going on board, his father bethought himself +of one last word to say. + +"My beloved son," said he, grasping the prince's hand, "you observe that +the sails of this vessel are black; as indeed they ought to be, since it +goes upon a voyage of sorrow and despair. Now, being weighed down with +infirmities, I know not whether I can survive till the vessel shall +return. But, as long as I do live, I shall creep daily to the top of +yonder cliff, to watch if there be a sail upon the sea. And, dearest +Theseus, if by some happy chance you should escape the jaws of the +Minotaur, then tear down those dismal sails, and hoist others that shall +be bright as the sunshine. Beholding them on the horizon, myself and all +the people will know that you are coming back victorious, and will +welcome you with such a festal uproar as Athens never heard before." + +Theseus promised that he would do so. Then, going on board, the mariners +trimmed the vessel's black sails to the wind, which blew faintly off the +shore, being pretty much made up of the sighs that everybody kept +pouring forth on this melancholy occasion. But by and by, when they had +got fairly out to sea, there came a stiff breeze from the northwest, and +drove them along as merrily over the white-capped waves as if they had +been going on the most delightful errand imaginable. And though it was a +sad business enough, I rather question whether fourteen young people, +without any old persons to keep them in order, could continue to spend +the whole time of the voyage in being miserable. There had been some few +dances upon the undulating deck, I suspect, and some hearty bursts of +laughter, and other such unseasonable merriment among the victims, +before the high, blue mountains of Crete began to show themselves among +the far-off clouds. That sight, to be sure, made them all very grave +again. + +Theseus stood among the sailors, gazing eagerly towards the land; +although, as yet, it seemed hardly more substantial than the clouds, +amidst which the mountains were looming up. Once or twice, he fancied +that he saw a glare of some bright object, a long way off, flinging a +gleam across the waves. + +"Did you see that flash of light?" he inquired of the master of the +vessel. + +"No, prince; but I have seen it before," answered the master. "It came +from Talus, I suppose." + +As the breeze came fresher just then, the master was busy with trimming +his sails, and had no more time to answer questions. But while the +vessel flew faster and faster towards Crete, Theseus was astonished to +behold a human figure, gigantic in size, which appeared to be striding +with a measured movement, along the margin of the island. It stepped +from cliff to cliff, and sometimes from one headland to another, while +the sea foamed and thundered on the shore beneath, and dashed its jets +of spray over the giant's feet. What was still more remarkable, whenever +the sun shone on this huge figure, it flickered and glimmered; its vast +countenance, too, had a metallic lustre, and threw great flashes of +splendor through the air. The folds of its garments, moreover, instead +of waving in the wind, fell heavily over its limbs, as if woven of some +kind of metal. + +The nigher the vessel came, the more Theseus wondered what this immense +giant could be, and whether it actually had life or no. For though it +walked, and made other lifelike motions, there yet was a kind of jerk in +its gait, which, together with its brazen aspect, caused the young +prince to suspect that it was no true giant, but only a wonderful piece +of machinery. The figure looked all the more terrible because it carried +an enormous brass club on its shoulder. + +"What is this wonder?" Theseus asked of the master of the vessel, who +was now at leisure to answer him. + +"It is Talus, the Man of Brass," said the master. + +"And is he a live giant, or a brazen image?" asked Theseus. + +"That, truly," replied the master, "is the point which has always +perplexed me. Some say, indeed, that this Talus was hammered out for +King Minos by Vulcan himself, the skilfullest of all workers in metal. +But who ever saw a brazen image that had sense enough to walk round an +island three times a day, as this giant walks round the island of Crete, +challenging every vessel that comes nigh the shore? And, on the other +hand, what living thing, unless his sinews were made of brass, would not +be weary of marching eighteen hundred miles in the twenty-four hours, as +Talus does, without ever sitting down to rest? He is a puzzler, take him +how you will." + +Still the vessel went bounding onward; and now Theseus could hear the +brazen clangor of the giant's footsteps, as he trod heavily upon the +sea-beaten rocks, some of which were seen to crack and crumble into the +foamy waves beneath his weight. As they approached the entrance of the +port, the giant straddled clear across it, with a foot firmly planted on +each headland, and uplifting his club to such a height that its butt-end +was hidden in a cloud, he stood in that formidable posture, with the sun +gleaming all over his metallic surface. There seemed nothing else to be +expected but that, the next moment, he would fetch his great club down, +slam bang, and smash the vessel into a thousand pieces, without heeding +how many innocent people he might destroy; for there is seldom any mercy +in a giant, you know, and quite as little in a piece of brass clockwork. +But just when Theseus and his companions thought the blow was coming, +the brazen lips unclosed themselves, and the figure spoke. + +"Whence come you, strangers?" + +And when the ringing voice ceased, there was just such a reverberation +as you may have heard within a great church bell, for a moment or two +after the stroke of the hammer. + +"From Athens!" shouted the master in reply. + +"On what errand?" thundered the Man of Brass. + +And he whirled his club aloft more threateningly than ever, as if he +were about to smite them with a thunder-stroke right amid-ships, because +Athens, so little while ago, had been at war with Crete. + +"We bring the seven youths and the seven maidens," answered the master, +"to be devoured by the Minotaur!" + +"Pass!" cried the brazen giant. + +That one loud word rolled all about the sky, while again there was a +booming reverberation within the figure's breast. The vessel glided +between the headlands of the port, and the giant resumed his march. In a +few moments, this wondrous sentinel was far away, flashing in the +distant sunshine, and revolving with immense strides around the island +of Crete, as it was his never-ceasing task to do. + +No sooner had they entered the harbor than a party of the guards of King +Minos came down to the water-side, and took charge of the fourteen young +men and damsels. Surrounded by these armed warriors, Prince Theseus and +his companions were led to the king's palace, and ushered into his +presence. Now, Minos was a stern and pitiless king. If the figure that +guarded Crete was made of brass, then the monarch, who ruled over it, +might be thought to have a still harder metal in his breast, and might +have been called a man of iron. He bent his shaggy brows upon the poor +Athenian victims. Any other mortal, beholding their fresh and tender +beauty, and their innocent looks, would have felt himself sitting on +thorns until he had made every soul of them happy, by bidding them go +free as the summer wind. But this immitigable Minos cared only to +examine whether they were plump enough to satisfy the Minotaur's +appetite. For my part, I wish he had himself been the only victim; and +the monster would have found him a pretty tough one. + +One after another, King Minos called these pale, frightened youths and +sobbing maidens to his footstool, gave them each a poke in the ribs with +his sceptre (to try whether they were in good flesh or no), and +dismissed them with a nod to his guards. But when his eyes rested on +Theseus, the king looked at him more attentively, because his face was +calm and brave. + +"Young man," asked he, with his stern voice, "are you not appalled at +the certainty of being devoured by this terrible Minotaur?" + +"I have offered my life in a good cause," answered Theseus, "and +therefore I give it freely and gladly. But thou, King Minos, art thou +not thyself appalled, who, year after year, hast perpetrated this +dreadful wrong, by giving seven innocent youths and as many maidens to +be devoured by a monster? Dost thou not tremble, wicked king, to turn +thine eyes inward on thine own heart? Sitting there on thy golden +throne, and in thy robes of majesty, I tell thee to thy face, King +Minos, thou art a more hideous monster than the Minotaur himself!" + +"Aha! do you think me so?" cried the king, laughing in his cruel way. +"To-morrow, at breakfast-time, you shall have an opportunity of judging +which is the greater monster, the Minotaur or the king! Take them away, +guards; and let this free-spoken youth be the Minotaur's first morsel!" + +Near the king's throne (though I had no time to tell you so before) +stood his daughter Ariadne. She was a beautiful and tender-hearted +maiden, and looked at these poor doomed captives with very different +feelings from those of the iron-breasted King Minos. She really wept, +indeed, at the idea of how much human happiness would be needlessly +thrown away, by giving so many young people, in the first bloom and rose +blossom of their lives, to be eaten up by a creature who, no doubt, +would have preferred a fat ox, or even a large pig, to the plumpest of +them. And when she beheld the brave, spirited figure of Prince Theseus +bearing himself so calmly in his terrible peril, she grew a hundred +times more pitiful than before. As the guards were taking him away, she +flung herself at the king's feet, and besought him to set all the +captives free, and especially this one young man. + +"Peace, foolish girl!" answered King Minos. "What hast thou to do with +an affair like this? It is a matter of state policy, and therefore quite +beyond thy weak comprehension. Go water thy flowers, and think no more +of these Athenian caitiffs, whom the Minotaur shall as certainly eat up +for breakfast as I will eat a partridge for my supper." + +So saying, the king looked cruel enough to devour Theseus and all the +rest of the captives, himself, had there been no Minotaur to save him +the trouble. As he would not hear another word in their favor, the +prisoners were now led away, and clapped into a dungeon, where the +jailer advised them to go to sleep as soon as possible, because the +Minotaur was in the habit of calling for breakfast early. The seven +maidens and six of the young men soon sobbed themselves to slumber! But +Theseus was not like them. He felt conscious that he was wiser and +braver and stronger than his companions, and that therefore he had the +responsibility of all their lives upon him, and must consider whether +there was no way to save them, even in this last extremity. So he kept +himself awake, and paced to and fro across the gloomy dungeon in which +they were shut up. + +Just before midnight, the door was softly unbarred, and the gentle +Ariadne showed herself, with a torch in her hand. + +"Are you awake, Prince Theseus?" she whispered. + +"Yes," answered Theseus. "With so little time to live, I do not choose +to waste any of it in sleep." + +"Then follow me," said Ariadne, "and tread softly." + +What had become of the jailer and the guards, Theseus never knew. But +however that might be, Ariadne opened all the doors, and led him forth +from the darksome prison into the pleasant moonlight. + +"Theseus," said the maiden, "you can now get on board your vessel, and +sail away for Athens." + +"No," answered the young man; "I will never leave Crete unless I can +first slay the Minotaur, and save my poor companions, and deliver Athens +from this cruel tribute." + +"I knew that this would be your resolution," said Ariadne. "Come, then, +with me, brave Theseus. Here is your own sword, which the guards +deprived you of. You will need it; and pray Heaven you may use it well." + +Then she led Theseus along by the hand until they came to a dark, shadow +grove, where the moonlight wasted itself on the tops of the trees, +without shedding hardly so much as a glimmering beam upon their pathway. +After going a good way through this obscurity, they reached a high, +marble wall, which was overgrown with creeping plants, that made it +shaggy with their verdure. The wall seemed to have no door, nor any +windows, but rose up, lofty, and massive, and mysterious, and was +neither to be clambered over, nor, so far as Theseus could perceive, to +be passed through. Nevertheless, Ariadne did but press one of her soft +little fingers against a particular block of marble, and, though it +looked as solid as any other part of the wall, it yielded to her touch, +disclosing an entrance just wide enough to admit them. They crept +through, and the marble stone swung back into its place. + +"We are now," said Ariadne, "in the famous labyrinth which Daedalus built +before he made himself a pair of wings, and flew away from our island +like a bird. That Daedalus was a very cunning workman; but of all his +artful contrivances, this labyrinth is the most wondrous. Were we to +take but a few steps from the doorway, we might wander about all our +lifetime, and never find it again. Yet in the very centre of this +labyrinth is the Minotaur; and, Theseus, you must go thither to seek +him." + +"But how shall I ever find him?" asked Theseus, "if the labyrinth so +bewilders me as you say it will?" + +Just as he spoke, they heard a rough and very disagreeable roar, which +greatly resembled the lowing of a fierce bull, but yet had some sort of +sound like the human voice. Theseus even fancied a rude articulation in +it, as if the creature that uttered it were trying to shape his hoarse +breath into words. It was at some distance, however, and he really could +not tell whether it sounded most like a bull's roar or a man's harsh +voice. + +"That is the Minotaur's noise," whispered Ariadne, closely grasping the +hand of Theseus, and pressing one of her own hands to her heart, which +was all in a tremble. "You must follow that sound through the windings +of the labyrinth, and, by and by, you will find him. Stay! take the end +of this silken string; I will hold the other end; and then, if you win +the victory, it will lead you again to this spot. Farewell, brave +Theseus." + +So the young man took the end of the silken string in his left hand, and +his gold-hilted sword, ready drawn from its scabbard, in the other, and +trod boldly into the inscrutable labyrinth. How this labyrinth was built +is more than I can tell you. But so cunningly contrived a mizmaze was +never seen in the world, before nor since. There can be nothing else so +intricate, unless it were the brain of a man like Daedalus, who planned +it, or the heart of any ordinary man; which last, to be sure, is ten +times as great a mystery as the labyrinth of Crete. Theseus had not +taken five steps before he lost sight of Ariadne; and in five more his +head was growing dizzy. But still he went on, now creeping through a low +arch, now ascending a flight of steps, now in one crooked passage and +now in another, with here a door opening before him, and there one +banging behind, until it really seemed as if the walls spun round, and +whirled him round along with them. And all the while, through these +hollow avenues, now nearer, now farther off again, resounded the cry of +the Minotaur; and the sound was so fierce, so cruel, so ugly, so like a +bull's roar, and withal so like a human voice, and yet like neither of +them, that the brave heart of Theseus grew sterner and angrier at every +step; for he felt it an insult to the moon and sky, and to our +affectionate and simple Mother Earth, that such a monster should have +the audacity to exist. + +As he passed onward, the clouds gathered over the moon, and the +labyrinth grew so dusky that Theseus could no longer discern the +bewilderment through which he was passing. He would have felt quite +lost, and utterly hopeless of ever again walking in a straight path, if, +every little while, he had not been conscious of a gentle twitch at the +silken cord. Then he knew that the tender-hearted Ariadne was still +holding the other end, and that she was fearing for him, and hoping for +him, and giving him just as much of her sympathy as if she were close by +his side. Oh, indeed, I can assure you, there was a vast deal of human +sympathy running along that slender thread of silk. But still he +followed the dreadful roar of the Minotaur, which now grew louder and +louder, and finally so very loud that Theseus fully expected to come +close upon him, at every new zigzag and wriggle of the path. And at +last, in an open space, at the very centre of the labyrinth, he did +discern the hideous creature. + +Sure enough, what an ugly monster it was! Only his horned head belonged +to a bull; and yet, somehow or other, he looked like a bull all over, +preposterously waddling on his hind legs; or, if you happened to view +him in another way, he seemed wholly a man, and all the more monstrous +for being so. And there he was, the wretched thing, with no society, no +companion, no kind of a mate, living only to do mischief, and incapable +of knowing what affection means. Theseus hated him, and shuddered at +him, and yet could not but be sensible of some sort of pity; and all the +more, the uglier and more detestable the creature was. For he kept +striding to and fro in a solitary frenzy of rage, continually emitting a +hoarse roar, which was oddly mixed up with half-shaped words; and, after +listening awhile, Theseus understood that the Minotaur was saying to +himself how miserable he was, and how hungry, and how he hated +everybody, and how he longed to eat up the human race alive. + +Ah, the bull-headed villain! And O, my good little people, you will +perhaps see, one of these days, as I do now, that every human being who +suffers anything evil to get into his nature, or to remain there, is a +kind of Minotaur, an enemy of his fellow-creatures, and separated from +all good companionship, as this poor monster was. + +Was Theseus afraid? By no means, my dear auditors. What! a hero like +Theseus afraid! Not had the Minotaur had twenty bull heads instead of +one. Bold as he was, however, I rather fancy that it strengthened his +valiant heart, just at this crisis, to feel a tremulous twitch at the +silken cord, which he was still holding in his left hand. It was as if +Ariadne were giving him all her might and courage; and, much as he +already had, and little as she had to give, it made his own seem twice +as much. And to confess the honest truth, he needed the whole; for now +the Minotaur, turning suddenly about, caught sight of Theseus, and +instantly lowered his horribly sharp horns, exactly as a mad bull does +when he means to rush against an enemy. At the same time, he belched +forth a tremendous roar, in which there was something like the words of +human language, but all disjointed and shaken-to pieces by passing +through the gullet of a miserably enraged brute. + +Theseus could only guess what the creature intended to say, and that +rather by his gestures than his words; for the Minotaur's horns were +sharper than his wits, and of a great deal more service to him than his +tongue. But probably this was the sense of what he uttered:-- + +"Ah, wretch of a human being! I'll stick my horns through you, and toss +you fifty feet high, and eat you up the moment you come down." + +"Come on, then, and try it!" was all that Theseus deigned to reply; for +he was far too magnanimous to assault his enemy with insolent language. + +Without more words on either side, there ensued the most awful fight +between Theseus and the Minotaur that ever happened beneath the sun or +moon. I really know not how it might have turned out, if the monster, in +his first headlong rush against Theseus, had not missed him, by a +hair's-breadth, and broken one of his horns short off against the stone +wall. On this mishap, he bellowed so intolerably that a part of the +labyrinth tumbled down, and all the inhabitants of Crete mistook the +noise for an uncommonly heavy thunder-storm. Smarting with the pain, he +galloped around the open space in so ridiculous a way that Theseus +laughed at it, long afterwards, though not precisely at the moment. +After this, the two antagonists stood valiantly up to one another, and +fought sword to horn, for a long while. At last, the Minotaur made a run +at Theseus, grazed his left side with his horn, and flung him down; and +thinking that he had stabbed him to the heart, he cut a great caper in +the air, opened his bull mouth from ear to ear, and prepared to snap his +head off. But Theseus by this time had leaped up, and caught the monster +off his guard. Fetching a sword-stroke at him with all his force, he hit +him fair upon the neck, and made his bull head skip six yards from his +human body, which fell down flat upon the ground. + +So now the battle was ended. Immediately the moon shone out as brightly +as if all the troubles of the world, and all the wickedness and the +ugliness that infest human life, were past and gone forever. And +Theseus, as he leaned on his sword, taking breath, felt another twitch +of the silken cord; for all through the terrible encounter he had held +it fast in his left hand. Eager to let Ariadne know of his success, he +followed the guidance of the thread, and soon found himself at the +entrance of the labyrinth. + +"Thou hast slain the monster," cried Ariadne, clasping her hands. + +"Thanks to thee, dear Ariadne," answered Theseus, "I return victorious." + +"Then," said Ariadne, "we must quickly summon thy friends, and get them +and thyself on board the vessel before dawn. If morning finds thee here, +my father will avenge the Minotaur." + +To make my story short, the poor captives were awakened, and, hardly +knowing whether it was not a joyful dream, were told of what Theseus had +done, and that they must set sail for Athens before daybreak. Hastening +down to the vessel, they all clambered on board, except Prince Theseus, +who lingered behind them, on the strand, holding Ariadne's hand clasped +in his own. + +"Dear maiden," said he, "thou wilt surely go with us. Thou art too +gentle and sweet a child for such an iron-hearted father as King Minos. +He cares no more for thee than a granite rock cares for the little +flower that grows in one of its crevices. But my father. King AEgeus, and +my dear mother, AEthra, and all the fathers and mothers in Athens, and +all the sons and daughters too, will love and honor thee as their +benefactress. Come with us, then; for King Minos will be very angry when +he knows what thou hast done." + +Now, some low-minded people, who pretend to tell the story of Theseus +and Ariadne, have the face to say that this royal and honorable maiden +did really flee away, under cover of the night, with the young stranger +whose life she had preserved. They say, too, that Prince Theseus (who +would have died sooner than wrong the meanest creature in the world) +ungratefully deserted Ariadne, on a solitary island, where the vessel +touched on its voyage to Athens. But, had the noble Theseus heard these +falsehoods, he would have served their slanderous authors as he served +the Minotaur! Here is what Ariadne answered, when the brave Prince of +Athens besought her to accompany him:-- + +"No, Theseus," the maiden said, pressing his hand, and then drawing back +a step or two, "I cannot go with you. My father is old, and has nobody +but myself to love him. Hard as you think his heart is, it would break +to lose me. At first King Minos will be angry; but he will soon forgive +his only child; and, by and by, he will rejoice, I know, that no more +youths and maidens must come from Athens to be devoured by the Minotaur. +I have saved you, Theseus, as much for my father's sake as for your own. +Farewell! Heaven bless you!" + +All this was so true, and so maiden-like, and was spoken with so sweet a +dignity, that Theseus would have blushed to urge her any longer. Nothing +remained for him, therefore, but to bid Ariadne an affectionate +farewell, and go on board the vessel, and set sail. + +In a few moments the white foam was boiling up before their prow, as +Prince Theseus and his companions sailed out of the harbor with a +whistling breeze behind them. Talus, the brazen giant, on his +never-ceasing sentinel's march, happened to be approaching that part of +the coast; and they saw him, by the glimmering of the moonbeams on his +polished surface, while he was yet a great way off. As the figure moved +like clockwork, however, and could neither hasten his enormous strides +nor retard them, he arrived at the port when they were just beyond the +reach of his club. Nevertheless, straddling from headland to headland, +as his custom was, Talus attempted to strike a blow at the vessel, and, +overreaching himself, tumbled at full length into the sea, which +splashed high over his gigantic shape, as when an iceberg turns a +somerset. There he lies yet; and whoever desires to enrich himself by +means of brass had better go thither with a diving-bell, and fish up +Talus. + +On the homeward voyage, the fourteen youths and damsels were in +excellent spirits, as you will easily suppose. They spent most of their +time in dancing, unless when the sidelong breeze made the deck slope too +much. In due season, they came within sight of the coast of Attica, +which was their native country. But here, I am grieved to tell you, +happened a sad misfortune. + +You will remember (what Theseus unfortunately forgot) that his father, +King AEgeus, had enjoined it upon him to hoist sunshine sails, instead of +black ones, in case he should overcome the Minotaur, and return +victorious. In the joy of their success, however, and amidst the sports, +dancing, and other merriment, with which these young folks wore away the +time, they never once thought whether their sails were black, white, or +rainbow colored, and, indeed, left it entirely to the mariners whether +they had any sails at all. Thus the vessel returned, like a raven, with +the same sable wings that had wafted her away. But poor King AEgeus, day +after day, infirm as he was, had clambered to the summit of a cliff that +overhung the sea, and there sat watching for Prince Theseus, homeward +bound; and no sooner did he behold the fatal blackness of the sails, +than he concluded that his dear son, whom he loved so much, and felt so +proud of, had been eaten by the Minotaur. He could not bear the thought +of living any longer; so, first flinging his crown and sceptre into the +sea, (useless bawbles that they were to him now!) King AEgeus merely +stooped forward, and fell headlong over the cliff, and was drowned, poor +soul, in the waves that foamed at its base! + +This was melancholy news for Prince Theseus, who, when he stepped +ashore, found himself king of all the country, whether he would or no; +and such a turn of fortune was enough to make any young man feel very +much out of spirits. However, he sent for his dear mother to Athens, +and, by taking her advice in matters of state, became a very excellent +monarch, and was greatly beloved by his people. + + + + +The Pygmies + + +A great while ago, when the world was full of wonders, there lived an +earth-born Giant named Antaeus, and a million or more of curious little +earth-born people, who were called Pygmies. This Giant and these Pygmies +being children of the same mother (that is to say, our good old +Grandmother Earth), were all brethren and dwelt together in a very +friendly and affectionate manner, far, far off, in the middle of hot +Africa. The Pygmies were so small, and there were so many sandy deserts +and such high mountains between them and the rest of mankind, that +nobody could get a peep at them oftener than once in a hundred years. As +for the Giant, being of a very lofty stature, it was easy enough to see +him, but safest to keep out of his sight. + +Among the Pygmies, I suppose, if one of them grew to the height of six +or eight inches, he was reckoned a prodigiously tall man. It must have +been very pretty to behold their little cities, with streets two or +three feet wide, paved with the smallest pebbles, and bordered by +habitations about as big as a squirrel's cage. The king's palace +attained to the stupendous magnitude of Periwinkle's baby-house, and +stood in the centre of a spacious square, which could hardly have been +covered by our hearth-rug. Their principal temple, or cathedral, was as +lofty as yonder bureau, and was looked upon as a wonderfully sublime and +magnificent edifice. All these structures were built neither of stone +nor wood. They were neatly plastered together by the Pygmy workmen, +pretty much like bird's-nests, out of straw, feathers, eggshells, and +other small bits of stuff, with stiff clay instead of mortar; and when +the hot sun had dried them, they were just as snug and comfortable as a +Pygmy could desire. + +The country round about was conveniently laid out in fields, the largest +of which was nearly of the same extent as one of Sweet Fern's +flower-beds. Here the Pygmies used to plant wheat and other kinds of +grain, which, when it grew up and ripened, overshadowed these tiny +people, as the pines, and the oaks, and the walnut and chestnut-trees +overshadow you and me, when we walk in our own tracts of woodland. At +harvest-time, they were forced to go with their little axes and cut down +the grain, exactly as a wood-cutter makes a clearing in the forest; and +when a stalk of wheat, with its overburdened top, chanced to come +crashing down upon an unfortunate Pygmy, it was apt to be a very sad +affair. If it did not smash him all to pieces, at least, I am sure, it +must have made the poor little fellow's head ache. And oh, my stars! if +the fathers and mothers were so small, what must the children and babies +have been? A whole family of them might have been put to bed in a shoe, +or have crept into an old glove, and played at hide-and-seek in its +thumb and fingers. You might have hidden a year-old baby under a +thimble. + +Now these funny Pygmies, as I told you before, had a Giant for their +neighbor and brother, who was bigger, if possible, than they were +little. He was so very tall that he carried a pine-tree, which was eight +feet through the butt, for a walking-stick. It took a far-sighted Pygmy, +I can assure you, to discern his summit without the help of a telescope; +and sometimes, in misty weather, they could not see his upper half, but +only his long legs, which seemed to be striding about by themselves. But +at noonday, in a clear atmosphere, when the sun shone brightly over him, +the Giant Antaeus presented a very grand spectacle. There he used to +stand, a perfect mountain of a man, with his great countenance smiling +down upon his little brothers, and his one vast eye (which was as big +as a cart-wheel, and placed right in the centre of his forehead) giving +a friendly wink to the whole nation at once. + +The Pygmies loved to talk with Antaeus; and fifty times a day, one or +another of them would turn up his head, and shout through the hollow of +his fists, "Halloo, brother Antaeus! How are you, my good fellow?" and +when the small, distant squeak of their voices reached his ear, the +Giant would make answer, "Pretty well, brother Pygmy, I thank you," in a +thunderous roar that would have shaken down the walls of their strongest +temple, only that it came from so far aloft. + +It was a happy circumstance that Antaeus was the Pygmy people's friend; +for there was more strength in his little finger than in ten million of +such bodies as theirs. If he had been as ill-natured to them as he was +to everybody else, he might have beaten down their biggest city at one +kick, and hardly have known that he did it. With the tornado of his +breath, he could have stripped the roofs from a hundred dwellings, and +sent thousands of the inhabitants whirling through the air. He might +have set his immense foot upon a multitude; and when he took it up +again, there would have been a pitiful sight, to be sure. But, being the +son of Mother Earth, as they likewise were, the Giant gave them his +brotherly kindness, and loved them with as big a love as it was possible +to feel for creatures so very small. And, on their parts, the Pygmies +loved Antaeus with as much affection as their tiny hearts could hold. He +was always ready to do them any good offices that lay in his power; as, +for example, when they wanted a breeze to turn their windmills, the +Giant would set all the sails a-going with the mere natural respiration +of his lungs. When the sun was too hot, he often sat himself down, and +let his shadow fall over the kingdom, from one frontier to the other; +and as for matters in general, he was wise enough to let them alone, and +leave the Pygmies to manage their own affairs,--which, after all, is +about the best thing that great people can do for little ones. + +In short, as I said before, Antaeus loved the Pygmies, and the Pygmies +loved Antaeus. The Giant's life being as long as his body was large, +while the lifetime of a Pygmy was but a span, this friendly intercourse +had been going on for innumerable generations and ages. It was written +about in the Pygmy histories, and talked about in their ancient +traditions. The most venerable and white-bearded Pygmy had never heard +of a time, even in his greatest of grandfather's days, when the Giant +was not their enormous friend. Once, to be sure (as was recorded on an +obelisk, three feet high, erected on the place of the catastrophe), +Antaeus sat down upon about five thousand Pygmies, who were assembled at +a military review. But this was one of those unlucky accidents for which +nobody is to blame; so that the small folks never took it to heart, and +only requested the Giant to be careful forever afterwards to examine the +acre of ground where he intended to squat himself. + +It is a very pleasant picture to imagine Antaeus standing among the +Pygmies, like the spire of the tallest cathedral that ever was built, +while they ran about like pismires at his feet; and to think that, in +spite of their difference in size, there were affection and sympathy +between them and him! Indeed, it has always seemed to me that the Giant +needed the little people more than the Pygmies needed the Giant. For, +unless they had been his neighbors and wellwishers, and, as we may say, +his playfellows, Antaeus would not have had a single friend in the world. +No other being like himself had ever been created. No creature of his +own size had ever talked with him, in thunder-like accents, face to +face. When he stood with his head among the clouds, he was quite alone, +and had been so for hundreds of years, and would be so forever. Even if +he had met another Giant, Antaeus would have fancied the world not big +enough for two such vast personages, and, instead of being friends with +him, would have fought him till one of the two was killed. But with the +Pygmies he was the most sportive, and humorous, and merry-hearted, and +sweet-tempered old Giant that ever washed his face in a wet cloud. + +His little friends, like all other small people, had a great opinion of +their own importance, and used to assume quite a patronizing air towards +the Giant. + +"Poor creature!" they said one to another. "He has a very dull time of +it, all by himself; and we ought not to grudge wasting a little of our +precious time to amuse him. He is not half so bright as we are, to be +sure; and, for that reason, he needs us to look after his comfort and +happiness. Let us be kind to the old fellow. Why, if Mother Earth had +not been very kind to ourselves, we might all have been Giants too." + +On all their holidays, the Pygmies had excellent sport with Antaeus. He +often stretched himself out at full length on the ground, where he +looked like the long ridge of a hill; and it was a good hour's walk, no +doubt, for a short-legged Pygmy to journey from head to foot of the +Giant. He would lay down his great hand flat on the grass, and challenge +the tallest of them to clamber upon it, and straddle from finger to +finger. So fearless were they, that they made nothing of creeping in +among the folds of his garments. When his head lay sidewise on the +earth, they would march boldly up, and peep into the great cavern of his +mouth, and take it all as a joke, (as indeed it was meant) when Antaeus +gave a sudden snap with his jaws, as if he were going to swallow fifty +of them at once. You would have laughed to see the children dodging in +and out among his hair, or swinging from his beard. It is impossible to +tell half of the funny tricks that they played with their huge comrade; +but I do not know that anything was more curious than when a party of +boys were seen running races on his forehead, to try which of them could +get first round the circle of his one great eye. It was another favorite +feat with them to march along the bridge of his nose, and jump down upon +his upper lip. + +If the truth must be told, they were sometimes as troublesome to the +Giant as a swarm of ants or mosquitoes, especially as they had a +fondness for mischief, and liked to prick his skin with their little +swords and lances, to see how thick and tough it was. But Antaeus took it +all kindly enough; although, once in a while, when he happened to be +sleepy, he would grumble out a peevish word or two, like the muttering +of a tempest, and ask them to have done with their nonsense. A great +deal oftener, however, he watched their merriment and gambols until his +huge, heavy, clumsy wits were completely stirred up by them; and then +would he roar out such a tremendous volume of immeasurable laughter, +that the whole nation of Pygmies had to put their hands to their ears, +else it would certainly have deafened them. + +"Ho! ho! ho!" quoth the Giant, shaking his mountainous sides. "What a +funny thing it is to be little! If I were not Antaeus, I should like to +be a pygmy, just for the joke's sake." + +The Pygmies had but one thing to trouble them in the world. They were +constantly at war with the cranes, and had always been so, ever since +the long-lived giant could remember. From time to time very terrible +battles had been fought, in which sometimes the little men won the +victory, and sometimes the cranes. According to some historians, the +Pygmies used to go to the battle, mounted on the backs of goats and +rams; but such animals as these must have been far too big for Pygmies +to ride upon; so that, I rather suppose, they rode on squirrel-back, or +rabbit-back, or rat-back, or perhaps got upon hedgehogs, whose prickly +quills would be very terrible to the enemy. However this might be, and +whatever creatures the Pygmies rode upon, I do not doubt that they made +a formidable appearance, armed with sword and spear, and bow and arrow, +blowing their tiny trumpet, and shouting their little war-cry. They +never failed to exhort one another to fight bravely, and recollect that +the world had its eyes upon them; although, in simple truth, the only +spectator was the Giant Antaeus, with his one, great, stupid eye, in the +middle of his forehead. + +When the two armies joined battle, the cranes would rush forward, +flapping their wings and stretching out their necks, and would perhaps +snatch up some of the Pygmies crosswise in their beaks. Whenever this +happened, it was truly an awful spectacle to see those little men of +might kicking and sprawling in the air, and at last disappearing down +the crane's long, crooked throat, swallowed up alive. A hero, you know, +must hold himself in readiness for any kind of fate; and doubtless the +glory of the thing was a consolation to him, even in the crane's +gizzard. If Antaeus observed that the battle was going hard against his +little allies, he generally stopped laughing, and ran with mile-long +strides to their assistance, flourishing his club aloft and shouting at +the cranes, who quacked and croaked, and retreated as fast as they +could. Then the Pygmy army would march homeward in triumph, attributing +the victory entirely to their own valor, and to the warlike skill and +strategy of whomsoever happened to be captain general; and for a tedious +while afterwards, nothing would be heard of but grand processions, and +public banquets, and brilliant illuminations, and shows of waxwork, with +likenesses of the distinguished officers as small as life. + +In the above-described warfare, if a Pygmy chanced to pluck out a +crane's tail-feather, it proved a very great feather in his cap. Once or +twice, if you will believe me, a little man was made chief ruler of the +nation for no other merit in the world than bringing home such a +feather. + +But I have now said enough to let you see what a gallant little people +these were, and how happily they and their forefathers, for nobody knows +how many generations, had lived with the immeasurable Giant Antaeus. In +the remaining part of the story, I shall tell you of a far more +astonishing battle than any that was fought between the Pygmies and the +cranes. + +One day the mighty Antaeus was lolling at full length among his little +friends. His pine-tree walking-stick lay on the ground close by his +side. His head was in one part of the kingdom, and his feet extended +across the boundaries of another part; and he was taking whatever +comfort he could get, while the Pygmies scrambled over him, and peeped +into his cavernous mouth, and played among his hair. Sometimes, for a +minute or two, the Giant dropped asleep, and snored like the rush of a +whirlwind. During one of these little bits of slumber, a Pygmy chanced +to climb upon his shoulder, and took a view around the horizon, as from +the summit of a hill; and he beheld something, a long way off, which +made him rub the bright specks of his eyes, and look sharper than +before. At first he mistook it for a mountain, and wondered how it had +grown up so suddenly out of the earth. But soon he saw the mountain +move. As it came nearer and nearer, what should it turn out to be but a +human shape, not so big as Antaeus, it is true, although a very enormous +figure, in comparison with Pygmies, and a vast deal bigger than the men +whom we see nowadays. + +When the Pygmy was quite satisfied that his eyes had not deceived him, +he scampered, as fast as his legs would carry him, to the Giant's ear, +and stooping over its cavity, shouted lustily into it,-- + +"Halloo, brother Antaeus! Get up this minute, and take your pine-tree +walking-stick in your hand. Here comes another Giant to have a tussle +with you." + +"Poh, poh!" grumbled Antaeus, only half awake, "None of your nonsense, my +little fellow! Don't you see I'm sleepy. There is not a Giant on earth +for whom I would take the trouble to get up." + +But the Pygmy looked again, and now perceived that the stranger was +coming directly towards the prostrate form of Antaeus. With every step he +looked less like a blue mountain, and more like an immensely large man. +He was soon so nigh, that there could be no possible mistake about the +matter. There he was, with the sun flaming on his golden helmet, and +flashing from his polished breastplate; he had a sword by his side, and +a lion's skin over his back, and on his right shoulder he carried a +club, which looked bulkier and heavier than the pine-tree walking-stick +of Antaeus. + +By this time, the whole nation of Pygmies had seen the new wonder, and a +million of them set up a shout, all together; so that it really made +quite an audible squeak. + +"Get up, Antaeus! Bestir yourself, you lazy old Giant! Here comes another +Giant, as strong as you are, to fight with you." + +"Nonsense, nonsense!" growled the sleepy Giant. "I'll have my nap out." + +Still the stranger drew nearer; and now the Pygmies could plainly +discern that if his stature were less lofty than the Giant's, yet his +shoulders were even broader. And, in truth, what a pair of shoulders +they must have been! As I told you, a long while ago, they once upheld +the sky. The Pygmies, being ten times as vivacious as their great +numskull of a brother, could not abide the Giant's slow movements, and +were determined to have him on his feet. So they kept shouting to him, +and even went so far as to prick him with their swords. + +"Get up, get up, get up!" they cried. "Up with you, lazy bones! The +strange Giant's club is bigger than your own, his shoulders are the +broadest, and we think him the stronger of the two." + +Antaeus could not endure to have it said that any mortal was half so +mighty as himself. This latter remark of the Pygmies pricked him deeper +than their swords; and, sitting up, in rather a sulky humor, he gave a +gape of several yards wide, rubbed his eye, and finally turned his +stupid head in the direction whither his little friends were eagerly +pointing. + +No sooner did he set eye on the stranger than, leaping on his feet, and +seizing his walking-stick, he strode a mile or two to meet him; all the +while brandishing the sturdy pine-tree, so that it whistled through the +air. + +"Who are you?" thundered the Giant. "And what do you want in my +dominions?" + +There was one strange thing about Antaeus, of which I have not yet told +you, lest, hearing of so many wonders all in a lump, you might not +believe much more than half of them. You are to know, then, that +whenever this redoubtable Giant touched the ground, either with his +hand, his foot, or any other part of his body, he grew stronger than +ever he had been before. The Earth, you remember, was his mother, and +was very fond of him, as being almost the biggest of her children; and +so she took this method of keeping him always in full vigor. Some +persons affirm that he grew ten times stronger at every touch; others +say that it was only twice as strong. But only think of it! Whenever +Antaeus took a walk, supposing it were but ten miles, and that he stepped +a hundred yards at a stride, you may try to cipher out how much mightier +he was, on sitting down again, than when he first started. And whenever +he flung himself on the earth to take a little repose, even if he got up +the very next instant, he would be as strong as exactly ten just such +giants as his former self. It was well for the world that Antaeus +happened to be of a sluggish disposition, and liked ease better than +exercise; for, if he had frisked about like the Pygmies, and touched the +earth as often as they did, he would long ago have been strong enough to +pull down the sky about people's ears. But these great lubberly fellows +resemble mountains, not only in bulk, but in their disinclination to +move. + +Any other mortal man, except the very one whom Antaeus had now +encountered, would have been half frightened to death by the Giant's +ferocious aspect and terrible voice. But the stranger did not seem at +all disturbed. He carelessly lifted his club, and balanced it in his +hand, measuring Antaeus with his eye from head to foot, not as if +wonder-smitten at his stature, but as if he had seen a great many Giants +before, and this was by no means the biggest of them. In fact, if the +Giant had been no bigger than the Pygmies (who stood pricking up their +ears, and looking and listening to what was going forward), the stranger +could not have been less afraid of him. + +"Who are you, I say?" roared Antaeus again. "What's your name? Why do you +come hither? Speak, you vagabond, or I'll try the thickness of your +skull with my walking-stick." + +"You are a very discourteous Giant," answered the stranger, quietly, +"and I shall probably have to teach you a little civility, before we +part. As for my name, it is Hercules. I have come hither because this is +my most convenient road to the garden of the Hesperides, whither I am +going to get three of the golden apples for King Eurystheus." + +"Caitiff, you shall go no farther!" bellowed Antaeus, putting on a +grimmer look than before; for he had heard of the mighty Hercules, and +hated him because he was said to be so strong. "Neither shall you go +back whence you came!" + +"How will you prevent me," asked Hercules, "from going whither I +please?" + +"By hitting you a rap with this pine-tree here," shouted Antaeus, +scowling so that he made himself the ugliest monster in Africa. "I am +fifty times stronger than you; and, now that I stamp my foot upon the +ground, I am five hundred times stronger! I am ashamed to kill such a +puny little dwarf as you seem to be. I will make a slave of you, and you +shall likewise be the slave of my brethren, here, the Pygmies. So throw +down your club and your other weapons; and as for that lion's skin, I +intend to have a pair of gloves made of it." + +"Come and take it off my shoulders, then," answered Hercules, lifting +his club. + +Then the Giant, grinning with rage, strode towerlike towards the +stranger (ten times strengthened at every step), and fetched a monstrous +blow at him with his pine-tree, which Hercules caught upon his club; and +being more skilful than Antaeus, he paid him back such a rap upon the +sconce, that down tumbled the great lumbering man-mountain, flat upon +the ground. The poor little Pygmies (who really never dreamed that +anybody in the world was half so strong as their brother Antaeus) were a +good deal dismayed at this. But no sooner was the Giant down, than up he +bounced again, with tenfold might, and such a furious visage as was +horrible to behold. He aimed another blow at Hercules, but struck awry, +being blinded with wrath, and only hit his poor, innocent Mother Earth, +who groaned and trembled at the stroke. His pine-tree went so deep into +the ground, and stuck there so fast, that before Antaeus could get it +out, Hercules brought down his club across his shoulders with a mighty +thwack, which made the Giant roar as if all sorts of intolerable noises +had come screeching and rumbling out of his immeasurable lungs in that +one cry. Away it went, over mountains and valleys, and, for aught I +know, was heard on the other side of the African deserts. + +As for the Pygmies, their capital city was laid in ruins by the +concussion and vibration of the air; and, though there was uproar enough +without their help, they all set up a shriek out of three millions of +little throats, fancying, no doubt, that they swelled the Giant's bellow +by at least ten times as much. Meanwhile, Antaeus had scrambled upon his +feet again, and pulled his pine-tree out of the earth; and, all a-flame +with fury, and more outrageously strong than ever, he ran at Hercules, +and brought down another blow. + +"This time, rascal," shouted he, "you shall not escape me." + +But once more Hercules warded off the stroke with his club, and the +Giant's pine-tree was shattered into a thousand splinters, most of which +flew among the Pygmies, and did them more mischief than I like to think +about. Before Antaeus could get out of the way, Hercules let drive +again, and gave him another knock-down blow, which sent him heels over +head, but served only to increase his already enormous and insufferable +strength. As for his rage, there is no telling what a fiery furnace it +had now got to be. His one eye was nothing but a circle of red flame. +Having now no weapons but his fists, he doubled them up (each bigger +than a hogshead), smote one against the other, and danced up and down +with absolute frenzy, flourishing his immense arms about, as if he meant +not merely to kill Hercules, but to smash the whole world to pieces. + +"Come on!" roared this thundering Giant. "Let me hit you but one box on +the ear, and you'll never have the headache again." + +Now Hercules (though strong enough, as you already know, to hold the sky +up) began to be sensible that he should never win the victory, if he +kept on knocking Antaeus down; for, by and by, if he hit him such hard +blows, the Giant would inevitably, by the help of his Mother Earth, +become stronger than the mighty Hercules himself. So, throwing down his +club, with which he had fought so many dreadful battles, the hero stood +ready to receive his antagonist with naked arms. + +"Step forward," cried he. "Since I've broken your pine-tree, we'll try +which is the better man at a wrestling-match." + +"Aha! then I'll soon satisfy you," shouted the Giant; for, if there was +one thing on which he prided himself more than another, it was his skill +in wrestling. "Villain, I'll fling you where you can never pick yourself +up again." + +On came Antaeus, hopping and capering with the scorching heat of his +rage, and getting new vigor wherewith to wreak his passion every time he +hopped. But Hercules, you must understand, was wiser than this numskull +of a Giant, and had thought of a way to fight him,--huge, earth-born +monster that he was,--and to conquer him too, in spite of all that his +Mother Earth could do for him. Watching his opportunity, as the mad +Giant made a rush at him, Hercules caught him round the middle with both +hands, lifted him high into the air, and held him aloft overhead. + +Just imagine it, my dear little friends! What a spectacle it must have +been, to see this monstrous fellow sprawling in the air, face downward, +kicking out his long legs and wriggling his whole vast body, like a baby +when its father holds it at arm's-length toward the ceiling. + +But the most wonderful thing was, that, as soon as Antaeus was fairly off +the earth, he began to lose the vigor which he had gained by touching +it. Hercules very soon perceived that his troublesome enemy was growing +weaker, both because he struggled and kicked with less violence, and +because the thunder of his big voice subsided into a grumble. The truth +was, that, unless the Giant touched Mother Earth as often as once in +five minutes, not only his overgrown strength, but the very breath of +his life, would depart from him. Hercules had guessed this secret; and +it may be well for us all to remember it, in case we should ever have to +fight a battle with a fellow like Antaeus. For these earth-born creatures +are only difficult to conquer on their own ground, but may easily be +managed if we can contrive to lift them into a loftier and purer region. +So it proved with the poor Giant, whom I am really sorry for, +notwithstanding his uncivil way of treating strangers who came to visit +him. + +When his strength and breath were quite gone, Hercules gave his huge +body a toss, and flung it about a mile off, where it fell heavily, and +lay with no more motion than a sand-hill. It was too late for the +Giant's Mother Earth to help him now; and I should not wonder if his +ponderous bones were lying on the same spot to this very day, and were +mistaken for those of an uncommonly large elephant. + +But, alas me! What a wailing did the poor little Pygmies set up when +they saw their enormous brother treated in this terrible manner! If +Hercules heard their shrieks, however, he took no notice, and perhaps +fancied them only the shrill, plaintive twittering of small birds that +had been frightened from their nests by the uproar of the battle between +himself and Antaeus. Indeed, his thoughts had been so much taken up with +the Giant, that he had never once looked at the Pygmies, nor even knew +that there was such a funny little nation in the world. And now, as he +had travelled a good way, and was also rather weary with his exertions +in the fight, he spread out his lion's skin on the ground, and reclining +himself upon it, fell fast asleep. + +As soon as the Pygmies saw Hercules preparing for a nap, they nodded +their little heads at one another, and winked with their little eyes. +And when his deep, regular breathing gave them notice that he was +asleep, they assembled together in an immense crowd, spreading over a +space of about twenty-seven feet square. One of their most eloquent +orators (and a valiant warrior enough, besides, though hardly so good at +any other weapon as he was with his tongue) climbed upon a toadstool, +and, from that elevated position, addressed the multitude. His +sentiments were pretty much as follows; or, at all events, something +like this was probably the upshot of his speech:-- + +"Tall Pygmies and mighty little men! You and all of us have seen what a +public calamity has been brought to pass, and what an insult has here +been offered to the majesty of our nation. Yonder lies Antaeus, our great +friend and brother, slain, within our territory, by a miscreant who took +him at disadvantage, and fought him (if fighting it can be called) in a +way that neither man, nor Giant, nor Pygmy ever dreamed of fighting +until this hour. And, adding a grievous contumely to the wrong already +done us, the miscreant has now fallen asleep as quietly as if nothing +were to be dreaded from our wrath! It behooves you, fellow-countrymen, +to consider in what aspect we shall stand before the world, and what +will be the verdict of impartial history, should we suffer these +accumulated outrages to go unavenged. + +"Antaeus was our brother, born of that same beloved parent to whom we owe +the thews and sinews, as well as the courageous hearts, which made him +proud of our relationship. He was our faithful ally, and fell fighting +as much for our national rights and immunities as for his own personal +ones. We and our forefathers have dwelt in friendship with him, and held +affectionate intercourse, as man to man, through immemorial generations. +You remember how often our entire people have reposed in his great +shadow, and how our little ones have played at hide-and-seek in the +tangles of his hair, and how his mighty footsteps have familiarly gone +to and fro among us, and never trodden upon any of our toes. And there +lies this dear brother,--this sweet and amiable friend,--this brave and +faithful ally,--this virtuous Giant,--this blameless and excellent +Antaeus,--dead! Dead! Silent! Powerless! A mere mountain of clay! Forgive +my tears! Nay, I behold your own! Were we to drown the world with them, +could the world blame us? + +"But to resume: Shall we, my countrymen, suffer this wicked stranger to +depart unharmed, and triumph in his treacherous victory, among distant +communities of the earth? Shall we not rather compel him to leave his +bones here on our soil, by the side of our slain brother's bones, so +that, while one skeleton shall remain as the everlasting monument of our +sorrow, the other shall endure as long, exhibiting to the whole human +race a terrible example of Pygmy vengeance? Such is the question. I put +it to you in full confidence of a response that shall be worthy of our +national character, and calculated to increase, rather than diminish, +the glory which our ancestors have transmitted to us, and which we +ourselves have proudly vindicated in our welfare with the cranes." + +The orator was here interrupted by a burst of irrepressible enthusiasm; +every individual Pygmy crying out that the national honor must be +preserved at all hazards. He bowed, and making a gesture for silence, +wound up his harangue in the following admirable manner:-- + +"It only remains for us, then, to decide whether we shall carry on the +war in our national capacity,--one united people against a common +enemy,--or whether some champion, famous in former fights, shall be +selected to defy the slayer of our brother Antaeus to single combat. In +the latter case, though not unconscious that there may be taller men +among you, I hereby offer myself for that enviable duty. And, believe +me, dear countrymen, whether I live or die, the honor of this great +country, and the fame bequeathed us by our heroic progenitors, shall +suffer no diminution in my hands. Never, while I can wield this sword, +of which I now fling away the scabbard,--never, never, never, even if +the crimson hand that slew the great Antaeus shall lay me prostrate, like +him, on the soil which I give my life to defend." + +So saying, this valiant Pygmy drew out his weapon (which was terrible to +behold, being as long as the blade of a penknife), and sent the scabbard +whirling over the heads of the multitude. His speech was followed by an +uproar of applause, as its patriotism and self-devotion unquestionably +deserved; and the shouts and clapping of hands would have been greatly +prolonged had they not been rendered quite inaudible by a deep +respiration, vulgarly called a snore, from the sleeping Hercules. + +It was finally decided that the whole nation of Pygmies should set to +work to destroy Hercules; not, be it understood, from any doubt that a +single champion would be capable of putting him to the sword, but +because he was a public enemy, and all were desirous of sharing in the +glory of his defeat. There was a debate whether the national honor did +not demand that a herald should be sent with a trumpet, to stand over +the ear of Hercules, and, after blowing a blast right into it, to defy +him to the combat by formal proclamation. But two or three venerable and +sagacious Pygmies, well versed in state affairs, gave it as their +opinion that war already existed, and that it was their rightful +privilege to take the enemy by surprise. Moreover, if awakened, and +allowed to get upon his feet, Hercules might happen to do them a +mischief before he could be beaten down again. For, as these sage +counsellors remarked, the stranger's club was really very big, and had +rattled like a thunderbolt against the skull of Antaeus. So the Pygmies +resolved to set aside all foolish punctilios, and assail their +antagonist at once. + +Accordingly, all the fighting men of the nation took their weapons, and +went boldly up to Hercules, who still lay fast asleep, little dreaming +of the harm which the Pygmies meant to do him. A body of twenty thousand +archers marched in front, with their little bows all ready, and the +arrows on the string. The same number were ordered to clamber upon +Hercules, some with spades to dig his eyes out, and others with bundles +of hay, and all manner of rubbish, with which they intended to plug up +his mouth and nostrils, so that he might perish for lack of breath. +These last, however, could by no means perform their appointed duty; +inasmuch as the enemy's breath rushed out of his nose in an obstreperous +hurricane and whirlwind, which blew the Pygmies away as fast as they +came nigh. It was found necessary, therefore, to hit upon some other +method of carrying on the war. + +After holding a council, the captains ordered their troops to collect +sticks, straws, dry weeds, and whatever combustible stuff they could +find, and make a pile of it, heaping it high around the head of +Hercules. As a great many thousand Pygmies were employed in this task, +they soon brought together several bushels of inflammatory matter, and +raised so tall a heap, that, mounting on its summit, they were quite +upon a level with the sleeper's face. The archers, meanwhile, were +stationed within bow-shot, with orders to let fly at Hercules the +instant that he stirred. Everything being in readiness, a torch was +applied to the pile, which immediately burst into flames, and soon waxed +hot enough to roast the enemy, had he but chosen to lie still. A Pygmy, +you know, though so very small, might set the world on fire, just as +easily as a Giant could; so that this was certainly the very best way of +dealing with their foe, provided they could have kept him quiet while +the conflagration was going forward. + +But no sooner did Hercules begin to be scorched, than up he started, +with his hair in a red blaze. + +"What's all this?" he cried, bewildered with sleep, and staring about +him as if he expected to see another Giant. + +At that moment the twenty thousand archers twanged their bowstrings, and +the arrows came whizzing, like so many winged mosquitoes, right into the +face of Hercules. But I doubt whether more than half a dozen of them +punctured the skin, which was remarkably tough, as you know the skin of +a hero has good need to be. + +"Villain!" shouted all the Pygmies at once. "You have killed the Giant +Antaeus, our great brother, and the ally of our nation. We declare bloody +war against you and will slay you on the spot." + +Surprised at the shrill piping of so many little voices, Hercules, after +putting out the conflagration of his hair, gazed all round about, but +could see nothing. At last, however, looking narrowly on the ground, he +espied the innumerable assemblage of Pygmies at his feet. He stooped +down, and taking up the nearest one between his thumb and finger, set +him on the palm of his left hand, and held him at a proper distance for +examination. It chanced to be the very identical Pygmy who had spoken +from the top of the toadstool, and had offered himself as a champion to +meet Hercules in single combat. + +"What in the world, my little fellow," ejaculated Hercules, "may you +be?" + +"I am your enemy," answered the valiant Pygmy, in his mightiest squeak. +"You have slain the enormous Antaeus, our brother by the mother's side, +and for ages the faithful ally of our illustrious nation. We are +determined to put you to death; and for my own part, I challenge you to +instant battle, on equal ground." + +Hercules was so tickled with the Pygmy's big words and warlike gestures, +that he burst into a great explosion of laughter, and almost dropped the +poor little mite of a creature off the palm of his hand, through the +ecstasy and convulsion of his merriment. + +"Upon my word," cried he, "I thought I had seen wonders before +to-day,--hydras with nine heads, stags with golden horns, six-legged +men, three-headed dogs, giants with furnaces in their stomachs, and +nobody knows what besides. But here, on the palm of my hand, stands a +wonder that outdoes them all! Your body, my little friend, is about the +size of an ordinary man's finger. Pray, how big may your soul be?" + +"As big as your own!" said the Pygmy. + +Hercules was touched with the little man's dauntless courage, and could +not help acknowledging such a brotherhood with him as one hero feels for +another. + +"My good little people," said he, making a low obeisance to the grand +nation, "not for all the world would I do an intentional injury to such +brave fellows as you! Your hearts seem to me so exceedingly great, that, +upon my honor, I marvel how your small bodies can contain them. I sue +for peace, and, as a condition of it, will take five strides, and be out +of your kingdom at the sixth. Good-by. I shall pick my steps carefully, +for fear of treading upon some fifty of you, without knowing it. Ha, ha, +ha! Ho, ho, ho! For once, Hercules acknowledges himself vanquished." + +Some writers say, that Hercules gathered up the whole race of Pygmies in +his lion's skin, and carried them home to Greece, for the children of +King Eurystheus to play with. But this is a mistake. He left them, one +and all, within their own territory, where, for aught I can tell, their +descendants are alive to the present day, building their little houses, +cultivating their little fields, spanking their little children, waging +their little warfare with the cranes, doing their little business, +whatever it may be, and reading their little histories of ancient times. +In those histories, perhaps, it stands recorded, that, a great many +centuries ago, the valiant Pygmies avenged the death of the Giant Antaeus +by scaring away the mighty Hercules. + + + + +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 sea-shore, 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 neighboring hills. + +[Illustration: CADMUS SOWING THE DRAGON'S TEETH] + +"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 +snow-drift, wafted along by the wind. Once be 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 recognized 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 +sea-shore, 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 towards 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 sea-faring person in the neighborhood; he had +been brought up with the young princes, 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 labors 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 had 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 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 farm-houses +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 farmer 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 was never 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 neighborhood +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 neighborhood, 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 colored +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 passer-by 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 neighborhood. 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 sat 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 mother +ever had, and faithful to the 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 +hill-side, 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 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 towards 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 rumor 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 afterwards 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 hill-side. + +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 hill-side, 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 barn-yard; 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 towards 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 pulling 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 neighboring 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 towards 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 neighboring 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 +afterwards, 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 breastplate 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 neighbor 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 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 +battle-field 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 labor, and had sense enough to feel that there was +more true enjoyment in living in peace, and doing good to one's +neighbor, 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 labors, 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 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 behavior, 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 towards 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 twixt +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. + + + + +Circe's Palace + + +Some of you have heard, no doubt, of the wise King Ulysses, and how he +went to the siege of Troy, and how, after that famous city was taken and +burned, he spent ten long years in trying to get back again to his own +little kingdom of Ithaca. At one time in the course of this weary +voyage, he arrived at an island that looked very green and pleasant, but +the name of which was unknown to him. For, only a little while before he +came thither, he had met with a terrible hurricane, or rather a great +many hurricanes at once, which drove his fleet of vessels into a strange +part of the sea, where neither himself nor any of his mariners had ever +sailed. This misfortune was entirely owing to the foolish curiosity of +his shipmates, who, while Ulysses lay asleep, had untied some very bulky +leathern bags, in which they supposed a valuable treasure to be +concealed. But in each of these stout bags, King AEolus, the ruler of the +winds, had tied up a tempest, and had given it to Ulysses to keep, in +order that he might be sure of a favorable passage homeward to Ithaca; +and when the strings were loosened, forth rushed the whistling blasts, +like air out of a blown bladder, whitening the sea with foam, and +scattering the vessels nobody could tell whither. + +Immediately after escaping from this peril, a still greater one had +befallen him. Scudding before the hurricane, he reached a place, which, +as he afterwards found, was called Laestrygonia, where some monstrous +giants had eaten up many of his companions, and had sunk every one of +his vessels, except that in which he himself sailed, by flinging great +masses of rock at them, from the cliffs along the shore. After going +through such troubles as these, you cannot wonder that King Ulysses was +glad to moor his tempest-beaten bark in a quiet cove of the green +island, which I began with telling you about. But he had encountered so +many dangers from giants, and one-eyed Cyclopes, and monsters of the sea +and land, that he could not help dreading some mischief, even in this +pleasant and seemingly solitary spot. For two days, therefore, the poor +weather-worn voyagers kept quiet, and either stayed on board of their +vessel, or merely crept along under cliffs that bordered the shore; and +to keep themselves alive, they dug shell-fish out of the sand, and +sought for any little rill of fresh water that might be running towards +the sea. + +Before the two days were spent, they grew very weary of this kind of +life; for the followers of King Ulysses, as you will find it important +to remember, were terrible gormandizers, and pretty sure to grumble if +they missed their regular meals, and their irregular ones besides. Their +stock of provisions was quite exhausted, and even the shell-fish began +to get scarce, so that they had now to choose between starving to death +or venturing into the interior of the island, where, perhaps, some huge +three-headed dragon, or other horrible monster, had his den. Such +misshapen creatures were very numerous in those days; and nobody ever +expected to make a voyage, or take a journey, without running more or +less risk of being devoured by them. + +But King Ulysses was a bold man as well as a prudent one; and on the +third morning he determined to discover what sort of a place the island +was, and whether it were possible to obtain a supply of food for the +hungry mouths of his companions. So, taking a spear in his hand, he +clambered to the summit of a cliff, and gazed round about him. At a +distance, towards the centre of the island, he beheld the stately towers +of what seemed to be a palace, built of snow-white marble, and rising in +the midst of a grove of lofty trees. The thick branches of these trees +stretched across the front of the edifice, and more than half concealed +it, although, from the portion which he saw, Ulysses judged it to be +spacious and exceedingly beautiful, and probably the residence of some +great nobleman or prince. A blue smoke went curling up from the chimney, +and was almost the pleasantest part of the spectacle to Ulysses. For, +from the abundance of this smoke, it was reasonable to conclude that +there was a good fire in the kitchen, and that, at dinner-time, a +plentiful banquet would be served up to the inhabitants of the palace, +and to whatever guests might happen to drop in. + +[Illustration: CIRCE'S PALACE] + +With so agreeable a prospect before him, Ulysses fancied that he could +not do better than to go straight to the palace gate, and tell the +master of it that there was a crew of poor shipwrecked mariners, not far +off, who had eaten nothing for a day or two save a few clams and +oysters, and would therefore be thankful for a little food. And the +prince or nobleman must be a very stingy curmudgeon, to be sure, if, at +least, when his own dinner was over, he would not bid them welcome to +the broken victuals from the table. + +Pleasing himself with this idea, King Ulysses had made a few steps in +the direction of the palace, when there was a great twittering and +chirping from the branch of a neighboring tree. A moment afterwards, a +bird came flying towards him, and hovered in the air, so as almost to +brush his face with its wings. It was a very pretty little bird, with +purple wings and body, and yellow legs, and a circle of golden feathers +round his neck, and on its head a golden tuft, which looked like a +king's crown in miniature. Ulysses tried to catch the bird. But it +fluttered nimbly out of his reach, still chirping in a piteous tone, as +if it could have told a lamentable story, had it only been gifted with +human language. And when he attempted to drive it away, the bird flew no +farther than the bough of the next tree, and again came fluttering about +his head, with its doleful chirp, as soon as he showed a purpose of +going forward. + +"Have you anything to tell me, little bird?" asked Ulysses. + +And he was ready to listen attentively to whatever the bird might +communicate; for at the siege of Troy, and elsewhere, he had known such +odd things to happen, that he would not have considered it much out of +the common run had this little feathered creature talked as plainly as +himself. + +"Peep!" said the bird, "peep, peep, pe--weep!" And nothing else would it +say, but only, "Peep, peep, pe--weep!" in a melancholy cadence, over and +over and over again. As often as Ulysses moved forward, however, the +bird showed the greatest alarm, and did its best to drive him back, with +the anxious flutter of its purple wings. Its unaccountable behavior made +him conclude, at last, that the bird knew of some danger that awaited +him, and which must needs be very terrible, beyond all question, since +it moved even a little fowl to feel compassion for a human being. So he +resolved, for the present, to return to the vessel, and tell his +companions what he had seen. + +This appeared to satisfy the bird. As soon as Ulysses turned back, it +ran up the trunk of a tree, and began to pick insects out of the bark +with its long, sharp bill; for it was a kind of wood-pecker, you must +know, and had to get its living in the same manner as other birds of +that species. But every little while, as it pecked at the bark of the +tree, the purple bird bethought itself of some secret sorrow, and +repeated its plaintive note of "Peep, peep, pe--weep!" + +On his way to the shore, Ulysses had the good luck to kill a large stag +by thrusting his spear into its back. Taking it on his shoulders (for he +was a remarkably strong man), he lugged it along with him, and flung it +down before his hungry companions. I have already hinted to you what +gormandizers some of the comrades of King Ulysses were. From what is +related of them, I reckon that their favorite diet was pork, and that +they had lived upon it until a good part of their physical substance was +swine's flesh, and their tempers and dispositions were very much akin +to the hog. A dish of venison, however, was no unacceptable meal to +them, especially after feeding so long on oysters and clams. So, +beholding the dead stag, they felt of its ribs in a knowing way, and +lost no time in kindling a fire, of drift-wood, to cook it. The rest of +the day was spent in feasting; and if these enormous eaters got up from +table at sunset, it was only because they could not scrape another +morsel off the poor animal's bones. + +The next morning their appetites were as sharp as ever. They looked at +Ulysses, as if they expected him to clamber up the cliff again, and come +back with another fat deer upon his shoulders. Instead of setting out, +however, he summoned the whole crew together, and told them it was in +vain to hope that he could kill a stag every day for their dinner, and +therefore it was advisable to think of some other mode of satisfying +their hunger. + +"Now," said he, "when I was on the cliff yesterday, I discovered that +this island is inhabited. At a considerable distance from the shore +stood a marble palace, which appeared to be very spacious, and had a +great deal of smoke curling out of one of its chimneys." + +"Aha!" muttered some of his companions, smacking their lips. "That smoke +must have come from the kitchen fire. There was a good dinner on the +spit; and no doubt there will be as good a one to-day." + +"But," continued the wise Ulysses, "you must remember, my good friends, +our misadventure in the cavern of one-eyed Polyphemus, the Cyclops! +Instead of his ordinary milk diet, did he not eat up two of our comrades +for his supper, and a couple more for breakfast, and two at his supper +again? Methinks I see him yet, the hideous monster, scanning us with +that great red eye, in the middle of his forehead, to single out the +fattest. And then again only a few days ago, did we not fall into the +hands of the king of the Laestrygons, and those other horrible giants, +his subjects, who devoured a great many more of us than are now left? +To tell you the truth, if we go to yonder palace, there can be no +question that we shall make our appearance at the dinner-table; but +whether seated as guests, or served up as food, is a point to be +seriously considered." + +"Either way," murmured some of the hungriest of the crew, "it will be +better than starvation; particularly if one could be sure of being well +fattened beforehand, and daintily cooked afterwards." + +"That is a matter of taste," said King Ulysses, "and, for my own part, +neither the most careful fattening nor the daintiest of cookery would +reconcile me to being dished at last. My proposal is, therefore, that we +divide ourselves into two equal parties, and ascertain, by drawing lots, +which of the two shall go to the palace, and beg for food and +assistance. If these can be obtained, all is well. If not, and if the +inhabitants prove as inhospitable as Polyphemus, or the Laestrygons, then +there will but half of us perish, and the remainder may set sail and +escape." + +As nobody objected to this scheme, Ulysses proceeded to count the whole +band, and found that there were forty-six men including himself. He then +numbered off twenty-two of them, and put Eurylochus (who was one of his +chief officers, and second only to himself in sagacity) at their head. +Ulysses took command of the remaining twenty-two men, in person. Then, +taking off his helmet, he put two shells into it, on one of which was +written, "Go," and on the other "Stay." Another person now held the +helmet, while Ulysses and Eurylochus drew out each a shell; and the word +"Go" was found written on that which Eurylochus had drawn. In this +manner, it was decided that Ulysses and his twenty-two men were to +remain at the seaside until the other party should have found out what +sort of treatment they might expect at the mysterious palace. As there +was no help for it, Eurylochus immediately set forth at the head of his +twenty-two followers, who went off in a very melancholy state of mind, +leaving their friends in hardly better spirits than themselves. + +No sooner had they clambered up the cliff, than they discerned the tall +marble towers of the palace, ascending, as white as snow, out of the +lovely green shadow of the trees which surrounded it. A gush of smoke +came from a chimney in the rear of the edifice. This vapor rose high in +the air, and, meeting with a breeze, was wafted seaward, and made to +pass over the heads of the hungry mariners. When people's appetites are +keen, they have a very quick scent for anything savory in the wind. + +"That smoke comes from the kitchen!" cried one of them, turning up his +nose as high as he could, and snuffing eagerly. "And, as sure as I'm a +half-starved vagabond, I smell roast meat in it." + +"Pig, roast pig!" said another. "Ah, the dainty little porker! My mouth +waters for him." + +"Let us make haste," cried the others, "or we shall be too late for the +good cheer!" + +But scarcely had they made half a dozen steps from the edge of the +cliff, when a bird came fluttering to meet them. It was the same pretty +little bird, with the purple wings and body, the yellow legs, the golden +collar round its neck, and the crown-like tuft upon its head, whose +behavior had so much surprised Ulysses. It hovered about Eurylochus, and +almost brushed his face with its wings. + +"Peep, peep, pe--weep!" chirped the bird. + +So plaintively intelligent was the sound, that it seemed as if the +little creature were going to break its heart with some mighty secret +that it had to tell, and only this one poor note to tell it with. + +"My pretty bird," said Eurylochus,--for he was a wary person, and let no +token of harm escape his notice,--"my pretty bird, who sent you hither? +And what is the message which you bring?" + +"Peep, peep, pe--weep!" replied the bird, very sorrowfully. + +Then it flew towards the edge of the cliff, and looked round at them, as +if exceedingly anxious that they should return whence they came. +Eurylochus and a few of the others were inclined to turn back. They +could not help suspecting that the purple bird must be aware of +something mischievous that would befall them at the palace, and the +knowledge of which affected its airy spirit with a human sympathy and +sorrow. But the rest of the voyagers, snuffing up the smoke from the +palace kitchen, ridiculed the idea of returning to the vessel. One of +them (more brutal than his fellows, and the most notorious gormandizer +in the whole crew) said such a cruel and wicked thing, that I wonder the +mere thought did not turn him into a wild beast in shape, as he already +was in his nature. + +"This troublesome and impertinent little fowl," said he, "would make a +delicate titbit to begin dinner with. Just one plump morsel, melting +away between the teeth. If he comes within my reach, I'll catch him, and +give him to the palace cook to be roasted on a skewer." + +The words were hardly out of his mouth, before the purple bird flew +away, crying "Peep, peep, pe--weep," more dolorously than ever. + +"That bird," remarked Eurylochus, "knows more than we do about what +awaits us at the palace." + +"Come on, then," cried his comrades, "and we'll soon know as much as he +does." + +The party, accordingly, went onward through the green and pleasant wood. +Every little while they caught new glimpses of the marble palace, which +looked more and more beautiful the nearer they approached it. They soon +entered a broad pathway, which seemed to be very neatly kept, and which +went winding along with streaks of sunshine falling across it, and +specks of light quivering among the deepest shadows that fell from the +lofty trees. It was bordered, too, with a great many sweet-smelling +flowers, such as the mariners had never seen before. So rich and +beautiful they were, that, if the shrubs grew wild here, and were native +in the soil, then this island was surely the flower-garden of the whole +earth; or, if transplanted from some other clime, it must have been from +the Happy Islands that lay towards the golden sunset. + +"There has been a great deal of pains foolishly wasted on these +flowers," observed one of the company; and I tell you what he said, that +you may keep in mind what gormandizers they were. "For my part, if I +were the owner of the palace, I would bid my gardener cultivate nothing +but savory potherbs to make a stuffing for roast meat, or to flavor a +stew with." + +"Well said!" cried the others. "But I'll warrant you there's a +kitchen-garden in the rear of the palace." + +At one place they came to a crystal spring, and paused to drink at it +for want of liquor which they liked better. Looking into its bosom, they +beheld their own faces dimly reflected, but so extravagantly distorted +by the gush and motion of the water, that each one of them appeared to +be laughing at himself and all his companions. So ridiculous were these +images of themselves, indeed, that they did really laugh aloud, and +could hardly be grave again as soon as they wished. And after they had +drank, they grew still merrier than before. + +"It has a twang of the wine-cask in it," said one, smacking his lips. + +"Make haste!" cried his fellows; "we'll find the wine-cask itself at the +palace; and that will be better than a hundred crystal fountains." + +Then they quickened their pace, and capered for joy at the thought of +the savory banquet at which they hoped to be guests. But Eurylochus told +them that he felt as if he were walking in a dream. + +"If I am really awake," continued he, "then, in my opinion, we are on +the point of meeting with some stranger adventure than any that befell +us in the cave of Polyphemus, or among the gigantic man-eating +Laestrygons, or in the windy palace of King AEolus, which stands on a +brazen-walled island. This kind of dreamy feeling always comes over me +before any wonderful occurrence. If you take my advice, you will turn +back." + +"No, no," answered his comrades, snuffing the air, in which the scent +from the palace kitchen was now very perceptible. "We would not turn +back, though we were certain that the king of the Laestrygons, as big as +a mountain, would sit at the head of the table, and huge Polyphemus, the +one-eyed Cyclops, at its foot." + +At length they came within full sight of the palace, which proved to be +very large and lofty, with a great number of airy pinnacles upon its +roof. Though it was now midday, and the sun shone brightly over the +marble front, yet its snowy whiteness, and its fantastic style of +architecture, made it look unreal, like the frostwork on a window-pane, +or like the shapes of castles which one sees among the clouds by +moonlight. But, just then, a puff of wind brought down the smoke of the +kitchen chimney among them, and caused each man to smell the odor of the +dish that he liked best; and, after scenting it, they thought everything +else moonshine, and nothing real save this palace, and save the banquet +that was evidently ready to be served up in it. + +So they hastened their steps towards the portal, but had not got +half-way across the wide lawn, when a pack of lions, tigers, and wolves +came bounding to meet them. The terrified mariners started back, +expecting no better fate than to be torn to pieces and devoured. To +their surprise and joy, however, these wild beasts merely capered around +them, wagging their tails, offering their heads to be stroked and +patted, and behaving just like so many well-bred house-dogs, when they +wish to express their delight at meeting their master, or their master's +friends. The biggest lion licked the feet of Eurylochus; and every other +lion, and every wolf and tiger, singled out one of his two-and-twenty +followers, whom the beast fondled as if he loved him better than a +beef-bone. + +But, for all that, Eurylochus imagined that he saw something fierce and +savage in their eyes; nor would he have been surprised, at any moment, +to feel the big lion's terrible claws, or to see each of the tigers make +a deadly spring, or each wolf leap at the throat of the man whom he had +fondled. Their mildness seemed unreal, and a mere freak; but their +savage nature was as true as their teeth and claws. + +Nevertheless, the men went safely across the lawn with the wild beasts +frisking about them, and doing no manner of harm; although, as they +mounted the steps of the palace, you might possibly have heard a low +growl, particularly from the wolves; as if they thought it a pity, after +all, to let the strangers pass without so much as tasting what they were +made of. + +Eurylochus and his followers now passed under a lofty portal, and looked +through the open doorway into the interior of the palace. The first +thing that they saw was a spacious hall, and a fountain in the middle of +it, gushing up towards the ceiling out of a marble basin, and falling +back into it with a continual plash. The water of this fountain, as it +spouted upward, was constantly taking new shapes, not very distinctly, +but plainly enough for a nimble fancy to recognize what they were. Now +it was the shape of a man in a long robe, the fleecy whiteness of which +was made out of the fountain's spray; now it was a lion, or a tiger, or +a wolf, or an ass, or, as often as anything else, a hog, wallowing in +the marble basin as if it were his sty. It was either magic or some very +curious machinery that caused the gushing waterspout to assume all +these forms. But, before the strangers had time to look closely at this +wonderful sight, their attention was drawn off by a very sweet and +agreeable sound. A woman's voice was singing melodiously in another room +of the palace, and with her voice was mingled the noise of a loom, at +which she was probably seated, weaving a rich texture of cloth, and +intertwining the high and low sweetness of her voice into a rich tissue +of harmony. + +By and by, the song came to an end; and then, all at once, there were +several feminine voices, talking airily and cheerfully, with now and +then a merry burst of laughter, such as you may always hear when three +or four young women sit at work together. + +"What a sweet song that was!" exclaimed one of the voyagers. + +"Too sweet, indeed," answered Eurylochus, shaking his head. "Yet it was +not so sweet as the song of the Sirens, those birdlike damsels who +wanted to tempt us on the rocks, so that our vessel might be wrecked, +and our bones left whitening along the shore." + +"But just listen to the pleasant voices of those maidens, and that buzz +of the loom, as the shuttle passes to and fro," said another comrade. +"What a domestic, household, homelike sound it is! Ah, before that weary +siege of Troy, I used to hear the buzzing loom and the women's voices +under my own roof. Shall I never hear them again? nor taste those nice +little savory dishes which my dearest wife knew how to serve up?" + +"Tush! we shall fare better here," said another. "But how innocently +those women are babbling together, without guessing that we overhear +them! And mark that richest voice of all, so pleasant and familiar, but +which yet seems to have the authority of a mistress among them. Let us +show ourselves at once. What harm can the lady of the palace and her +maidens do to mariners and warriors like us?" + +"Remember," said Eurylochus, "that it was a young maiden who beguiled +three of our friends into the palace of the king of the Laestrygons, who +ate up one of them in the twinkling of an eye." + +No warning or persuasion, however, had any effect on his companions. +They went up to a pair of folding-doors at the farther end of the hall, +and, throwing them wide open, passed into the next room. Eurylochus, +meanwhile, had stepped behind a pillar. In the short moment while the +folding-doors opened and closed again, he caught a glimpse of a very +beautiful woman rising from the loom, and coming to meet the poor +weather-beaten wanderers, with a hospitable smile, and her hand +stretched out in welcome. There were four other young women, who joined +their hands and danced merrily forward, making gestures of obeisance to +the strangers. They were only less beautiful than the lady who seemed to +be their mistress. Yet Eurylochus fancied that one of them had sea-green +hair, and that the close-fitting bodice of a second looked like the bark +of a tree, and that both the others had something odd in their aspect, +although he could not quite determine what it was, in the little while +that he had to examine them. + +The folding-doors swung quickly back, and left him standing behind the +pillar, in the solitude of the outer hall. There Eurylochus waited until +he was quite weary, and listened eagerly to every sound, but without +hearing anything that could help him to guess what had become of his +friends. Footsteps, it is true, seemed to be passing and repassing in +other parts of the palace. Then there was a clatter of silver dishes, or +golden ones, which made him imagine a rich feast in a splendid +banqueting-hall. But by and by he heard a tremendous grunting and +squealing, and then a sudden scampering, like that of small, hard hoofs +over a marble floor, while the voices of the mistress and her four +handmaidens were screaming all together, in tones of anger and derision. +Eurylochus could not conceive what had happened, unless a drove of swine +had broken into the palace, attracted by the smell of the feast. +Chancing to cast his eyes at the fountain, he saw that it did not shift +its shape, as formerly, nor looked either like a long-robed man, or a +lion, a tiger, a wolf, or an ass. It looked like nothing but a hog, +which lay wallowing in the marble basin, and filled it from brim to +brim. + +But we must leave the prudent Eurylochus waiting in the outer hall, and +follow his friends into the inner secrecy of the palace. As soon as the +beautiful woman saw them, she arose from the loom, as I have told you, +and came forward, smiling, and stretching out her hand. She took the +hand of the foremost among them, and bade him and the whole party +welcome. + +"You have been long expected, my good friends," said she. "I and my +maidens are well acquainted with you, although you do not appear to +recognize us. Look at this piece of tapestry, and judge if your faces +must not have been familiar to us." + +So the voyagers examined the web of cloth which the beautiful woman had +been weaving in her loom; and, to their vast astonishment they saw their +own figures perfectly represented in different colored threads. It was a +lifelike picture of their recent adventures, showing them in the cave of +Polyphemus, and how they had put out his one great moony eye; while in +another part of the tapestry they were untying the leathern bags, puffed +out with contrary winds; and farther on, they beheld themselves +scampering away from the gigantic king of the Laestrygons, who had caught +one of them by the leg. Lastly, there they were, sitting on the desolate +shore of this very island, hungry and downcast, and looking ruefully at +the bare bones of the stag which they devoured yesterday. This was as +far as the work had yet proceeded; but when the beautiful woman should +again sit down at her loom, she would probably make a picture of what +had since happened to the strangers, and of what was now going to +happen. + +"You see," she said, "that I know all about your troubles; and you +cannot doubt that I desire to make you happy for as long a time as you +may remain with me. For this purpose, my honored guests, I have ordered +a banquet to be prepared. Fish, fowl, and flesh, roasted, and in +luscious stews, and seasoned, I trust, to all your tastes, are ready to +be served up. If your appetites tell you it is dinner-time, then come +with me to the festal saloon." + +At this kind invitation, the hungry mariners were quite overjoyed; and +one of them, taking upon himself to be spokesman, assured their +hospitable hostess that any hour of the day was dinner-time with them, +whenever they could get flesh to put in the pot, and fire to boil it +with. So the beautiful woman led the way; and the four maidens (one of +them had sea-green hair, another a bodice of oak bark, a third sprinkled +a shower of water-drops from her fingers' ends, and the fourth had some +other oddity, which I have forgotten), all these followed behind, and +hurried the guests along, until they entered a magnificent saloon. It +was built in a perfect oval, and lighted from a crystal dome above. +Around the walls were ranged two-and-twenty thrones, overhung by +canopies of crimson and gold, and provided with the softest of cushions, +which were tasselled and fringed with gold cord. Each of the strangers +was invited to sit down; and there they were, two-and-twenty +storm-beaten mariners, in worn and tattered garb, sitting on +two-and-twenty canopied thrones, so rich and gorgeous that the proudest +monarch had nothing more splendid in his stateliest hall. + +Then you might have seen the guests nodding, winking with one eye, and +leaning from one throne to another, to communicate their satisfaction in +hoarse whispers. + +"Our good hostess has made kings of us all," said one. "Ha! do you smell +the feast? I'll engage it will be fit to set before two-and-twenty +kings." + +"I hope," said another, "it will be, mainly, good substantial joints, +sirloins, spareribs, and hinder quarters, without too many kickshaws. +If I thought the good lady would not take it amiss, I should call for a +fat slice of fried bacon to begin with." + +Ah, the gluttons and gormandizers! You see how it was with them. In the +loftiest seats of dignity, on royal thrones, they could think of nothing +but their greedy appetite, which was the portion of their nature that +they shared with wolves and swine; so that they resembled those vilest +of animals far more than they did kings,--if, indeed, kings were what +they ought to be. + +But the beautiful woman now clapped her hands; and immediately there +entered a train of two-and-twenty serving-men, bringing dishes of the +richest food, all hot from the kitchen fire, and sending up such a steam +that it hung like a cloud below the crystal dome of the saloon. An equal +number of attendants brought great flagons of wine, of various kinds, +some of which sparkled as it was poured out, and went bubbling down the +throat; while, of other sorts, the purple liquor was so clear that you +could see the wrought figures at the bottom of the goblet. While the +servants supplied the two-and-twenty guests with food and drink, the +hostess and her four maidens went from one throne to another, exhorting +them to eat their fill, and to quaff wine abundantly, and thus to +recompense themselves, at this one banquet, for the many days when they +had gone without a dinner. But, whenever the mariners were not looking +at them (which was pretty often, as they looked chiefly into the basins +and platters), the beautiful woman and her damsels turned aside and +laughed. Even the servants, as they knelt down to present the dishes, +might be seen to grin and sneer, while the guests were helping +themselves to the offered dainties. + +And, once in a while, the strangers seemed to taste something that they +did not like. + +"Here is an odd kind of a spice in this dish," said one. "I can't say it +quite suits my palate. Down it goes, however." + +"Send a good draught of wine down your throat," said his comrade on the +next throne. "That is the stuff to make this sort of cookery relish +well. Though I must needs say, the wine has a queer taste too. But the +more I drink of it the better I like the flavor." + +Whatever little fault they might find with the dishes, they sat at +dinner a prodigiously long while; and it would really have made you +ashamed to see how they swilled down the liquor and gobbled up the food. +They sat on golden thrones, to be sure; but they behaved like pigs in a +sty; and, if they had had their wits about them, they might have guessed +that this was the opinion of their beautiful hostess and her maidens. It +brings a blush into my face to reckon up, in my own mind, what mountains +of meat and pudding, and what gallons of wine, these two-and-twenty +guzzlers and gormandizers ate and drank. They forgot all about their +homes, and their wives and children, and all about Ulysses, and +everything else, except this banquet, at which they wanted to keep +feasting forever. But at length they began to give over, from mere +incapacity to hold any more. + +"That last bit of fat is too much for me," said one. + +"And I have not room for another morsel," said his next neighbor, +heaving a sigh. "What a pity! My appetite is as sharp as ever." + +In short, they all left off eating, and leaned back on their thrones, +with such a stupid and helpless aspect as made them ridiculous to +behold. When their hostess saw this, she laughed aloud; so did her four +damsels; so did the two-and-twenty serving men that bore the dishes, and +their two-and-twenty fellows that poured out the wine. And the louder +they all laughed, the more stupid and helpless did the two-and-twenty +gormandizers look. Then the beautiful woman took her stand in the middle +of the saloon, and stretching out a slender rod (it had been all the +while in her hand, although they never noticed it till this moment), she +turned it from one guest to another, until each had felt it pointed at +himself. Beautiful as her face was, and though there was a smile on it, +it looked just as wicked and mischievous as the ugliest serpent that +ever was seen; and fat-witted as the voyagers had made themselves, they +began to suspect that they had fallen into the power of an evil-minded +enchantress. + +"Wretches," cried she, "you have abused a lady's hospitality; and in +this princely saloon your behavior has been suited to a hogpen. You are +already swine in everything but the human form, which you disgrace, and +which I myself should be ashamed to keep a moment longer, were you to +share it with me. But it will require only the slightest exercise of +magic to make the exterior conform to the hoggish disposition. Assume +your proper shapes, gormandizers, and begone to the sty!" + +Uttering these last words, she waved her wand; and stamping her foot +imperiously, each of the guests was struck aghast at beholding, instead +of his comrades in human shape, one-and-twenty hogs sitting on the same +number of golden thrones. Each man (as he still supposed himself to be) +essayed to give a cry of surprise, but found that he could merely grunt, +and that, in a word, he was just such another beast as his companions. +It looked so intolerably absurd to see hogs on cushioned thrones, that +they made haste to wallow down upon all fours, like other swine. They +tried to groan and beg for mercy, but forthwith emitted the most awful +grunting and squealing that ever came out of swinish throats. They would +have wrung their hands in despair, but, attempting to do so, grew all +the more desperate for seeing themselves squatted on their hams, and +pawing the air with their fore trotters. Dear me! what pendulous ears +they had! what little red eyes, half buried in fat! and what long +snouts, instead of Grecian noses! + +But brutes as they certainly were, they yet had enough of human nature +in them to be shocked at their own hideousness; and, still intending to +groan, they uttered a viler grunt and squeal than before. So harsh and +ear-piercing it was, that you would have fancied a butcher was sticking +his knife into each of their throats, or, at the very least, that +somebody was pulling every hog by his funny little twist of a tail. + +"Begone to your sty!" cried the enchantress, giving them some smart +strokes with her wand; and then she turned to the serving-men, "Drive +out these swine, and throw down some acorns for them to eat." + +The door of the saloon being flung open, the drove of hogs ran in all +directions save the right one, in accordance with their hoggish +perversity, but were finally driven into the back yard of the palace. It +was a sight to bring tears into one's eyes (and I hope none of you will +be cruel enough to laugh at it), to see the poor creatures go snuffing +along, picking up here a cabbage leaf and there a turnip-top, and +rooting their noses in the earth for whatever they could find. In their +sty, moreover, they behaved more piggishly than the pigs that had been +born so; for they bit and snorted at one another, put their feet in the +trough, and gobbled up their victuals in a ridiculous hurry; and, when +there was nothing more to be had, they made a great pile of themselves +among some unclean straw, and fell fast asleep. If they had any human +reason left, it was just enough to keep them wondering when they should +be slaughtered, and what quality of bacon they should make. + +Meantime, as I told you before, Eurylochus had waited, and waited, and +waited, in the entrance-hall of the palace, without being able to +comprehend what had befallen his friends. At last, when the swinish +uproar resounded through the palace, and when he saw the image of a hog +in the marble basin, he thought it best to hasten back to the vessel, +and inform the wise Ulysses of these marvellous occurrences. So he ran +as fast as he could down the steps, and never stopped to draw breath +till he reached the shore. + +"Why do you come alone?" asked King Ulysses, as soon as he saw him. +"Where are your two-and-twenty comrades?" + +At these questions, Eurylochus burst into tears. + +"Alas!" cried he, "I greatly fear that we shall never see one of their +faces again." + +Then he told Ulysses all that had happened, as far as he knew it, and +added that he suspected the beautiful woman to be a vile enchantress, +and the marble palace, magnificent as it looked, to be only a dismal +cavern in reality. As for his companions, he could not imagine what had +become of them, unless they had been given to the swine to be devoured +alive. At this intelligence all the voyagers were greatly affrighted. +But Ulysses lost no time in girding on his sword, and hanging his bow +and quiver over his shoulders, and taking his spear in his right hand. +When his followers saw their wise leader making these preparations, they +inquired whither he was going, and earnestly besought him not to leave +them. + +"You are our king," cried they; "and what is more, you are the wisest +man in the whole world, and nothing but your wisdom and courage can get +us out of this danger. If you desert us, and go to the enchanted palace, +you will suffer the same fate as our poor companions, and not a soul of +us will ever see our dear Ithaca again." + +"As I am your king," answered Ulysses, "and wiser than any of you, it is +therefore the more my duty to see what has befallen our comrades, and +whether anything can yet be done to rescue them. Wait for me here until +to-morrow. If I do not then return, you must hoist sail, and endeavor to +find your way to our native land. For my part, I am answerable for the +fate of these poor mariners, who have stood by my side in battle, and +been so often drenched to the skin, along with me, by the same +tempestuous surges. I will either bring them back with me or perish." + +Had his followers dared, they would have detained him by force. But King +Ulysses frowned sternly on them, and shook his spear, and bade them stop +him at their peril. Seeing him so determined, they let him go, and sat +down on the sand, as disconsolate a set of people as could be, waiting +and praying for his return. + +It happened to Ulysses, just as before, that, when he had gone a few +steps from the edge of the cliff, the purple bird came fluttering +towards him, crying, "Peep, peep, pe--weep!" and using all the art it +could to persuade him to go no farther. + +"What mean you, little bird?" cried Ulysses. "You are arrayed like a +king in purple and gold, and wear a golden crown upon your head. Is it +because I too am a king, that you desire so earnestly to speak with me? +If you can talk in human language, say what you would have me do." + +"Peep!" answered the purple bird, very dolorously. "Peep, peep, +pe--we--ep!" + +Certainly there lay some heavy anguish at the little bird's heart; and +it was a sorrowful predicament that he could not, at least, have the +consolation of telling what it was. But Ulysses had no time to waste in +trying to get at the mystery. He therefore quickened his pace, and had +gone a good way along the pleasant wood-path, when there met him a young +man of very brisk and intelligent aspect, and clad in a rather singular +garb. He wore a short cloak, and a sort of cap that seemed to be +furnished with a pair of wings; and from the lightness of his step, you +would have supposed that there might likewise be wings on his feet. To +enable him to walk still better (for he was always on one journey or +another), he carried a winged staff, around which two serpents were +wriggling and twisting. In short, I have said enough to make you guess +that it was Quicksilver; and Ulysses (who knew him of old, and had +learned a great deal of his wisdom from him) recognized him in a moment. + +"Whither are you going in such a hurry, wise Ulysses?" asked +Quicksilver. "Do you not know that this island is enchanted? The wicked +enchantress (whose name is Circe, the sister of King AEetes) dwells in +the marble palace which you see yonder among the trees. By her magic +arts, she changes every human being into the brute, beast, or fowl whom +he happens most to resemble." + +"That little bird, which met me at the edge of the cliff," exclaimed +Ulysses; "was he a human being once?" + +"Yes," answered Quicksilver. "He was once a king, named Picus, and a +pretty good sort of a king too, only rather too proud of his purple +robe, and his crown, and the golden chain about his neck; so he was +forced to take the shape of a gaudy-feathered bird. The lions, and +wolves, and tigers, who will come running to meet you, in front of the +palace, were formerly fierce and cruel men, resembling in their +dispositions the wild beasts whose forms they now rightfully wear." + +"And my poor companions," said Ulysses. "Have they undergone a similar +change, through the arts of this wicked Circe?" + +"You well know what gormandizers they were," replied Quicksilver; and, +rogue that he was, he could not help laughing at the joke. "So you will +not be surprised to hear that they have all taken the shapes of swine! +If Circe had never done anything worse, I really should not think her so +very much to blame." + +"But can I do nothing to help them?" inquired Ulysses. + +"It will require all your wisdom," said Quicksilver, "and a little of my +own into the bargain, to keep your royal and sagacious self from being +transformed into a fox. But do as I bid you; and the matter may end +better than it has begun." + +While he was speaking, Quicksilver seemed to be in search of something; +he went stooping along the ground, and soon laid his hand on a little +plant with a snow-white flower, which he plucked and smelt of. Ulysses +had been looking at that very spot only just before; and it appeared to +him that the plant had burst into full flower the instant when +Quicksilver touched it with his fingers. + +"Take this flower, King Ulysses," said he. "Guard it as you do your +eyesight; for I can assure you it is exceedingly rare and precious, and +you might seek the whole earth over without ever finding another like +it. Keep it in your hand, and smell of it frequently after you enter the +palace, and while you are talking with the enchantress. Especially when +she offers you food, or a draught of wine out of her goblet, be careful +to fill your nostrils with the flower's fragrance. Follow these +directions, and you may defy her magic arts to change you into a fox." + +Quicksilver then gave him some further advice how to behave, and, +bidding him be bold and prudent, again assured him that, powerful as +Circe was, he would have a fair prospect of coming safely out of her +enchanted palace. After listening attentively, Ulysses thanked his good +friend, and resumed his way. But he had taken only a few steps, when, +recollecting some other questions which he wished to ask, he turned +round again, and beheld nobody on the spot where Quicksilver had stood; +for that winged cap of his, and those winged shoes, with the help of the +winged staff, had carried him quickly out of sight. + +When Ulysses reached the lawn, in front of the palace, the lions and +other savage animals came bounding to meet him, and would have fawned +upon him and licked his feet. But the wise king struck at them with his +long spear, and sternly bade them begone out of his path; for he knew +that they had once been bloodthirsty men, and would now tear him limb +from limb, instead of fawning upon him, could they do the mischief that +was in their hearts. The wild beasts yelped and glared at him, and stood +at a distance while he ascended the palace steps. + +On entering the hall, Ulysses saw the magic fountain in the centre of +it. The up-gushing water had now again taken the shape of a man in a +long, white, fleecy robe, who appeared to be making gestures of welcome. +The king likewise heard the noise of the shuttle in the loom, and the +sweet melody of the beautiful woman's song, and then the pleasant +voices of herself and the four maidens talking together, with peals of +merry laughter intermixed. But Ulysses did not waste much time in +listening to the laughter or the song. He leaned his spear against one +of the pillars of the hall, and then, after loosening his sword in the +scabbard, stepped boldly forward, and threw the folding-doors wide open. +The moment she beheld his stately figure standing in the doorway, the +beautiful woman rose from the loom, and ran to meet him with a glad +smile throwing its sunshine over her face, and both her hands extended. + +"Welcome, brave stranger!" cried she. "We were expecting you." + +And the nymph with the sea-green hair made a courtesy down to the +ground, and likewise bade him welcome; so did her sister with the bodice +of oaken bark, and she that sprinkled dew-drops from her fingers' ends, +and the fourth one with some oddity which I cannot remember. And Circe, +as the beautiful enchantress was called (who had deluded so many persons +that she did not doubt of being able to delude Ulysses, not imagining +how wise he was), again addressed him. + +"Your companions," said she, "have already been received into my palace, +and have enjoyed the hospitable treatment to which the propriety of +their behavior so well entitles them. If such be your pleasure, you +shall first take some refreshment, and then join them in the elegant +apartment which they now occupy. See, I and my maidens have been weaving +their figures into this piece of tapestry." + +She pointed to the web of beautifully woven cloth in the loom. Circe and +the four nymphs must have been very diligently at work since the arrival +of the mariners: for a great many yards of tapestry had now been +wrought, in addition to what I before described. In this new part, +Ulysses saw his two-and-twenty friends represented as sitting on +cushioned and canopied thrones, greedily devouring dainties and +quaffing deep draughts of wine. The work had not yet gone any further. +Oh no, indeed. The enchantress was far too cunning to let Ulysses see +the mischief which her magic arts had since brought upon the +gormandizers. + +"As for yourself, valiant sir," said Circe, "judging by the dignity of +your aspect, I take you to be nothing less than a king. Deign to follow +me, and you shall be treated as befits your rank." + +So Ulysses followed her into the oval saloon, where his two-and-twenty +comrades had devoured the banquet, which ended so disastrously for +themselves. But, all this while, he had held the snow-white flower in +his hand, and had constantly smelt of it while Circe was speaking; and +as he crossed the threshold of the saloon, he took good care to inhale +several long and deep snuffs of its fragrance. Instead of two-and-twenty +thrones, which had before been ranged around the wall, there was now +only a single throne, in the centre of the apartment. But this was +surely the most magnificent seat that ever a king or an emperor reposed +himself upon, all made of chased gold, studded with precious stones, +with a cushion that looked like a soft heap of living roses, and +overhung by a canopy of sunlight which Circe knew how to weave into +drapery. The enchantress took Ulysses by the hand, and made him sit down +upon this dazzling throne. Then, clapping her hands, she summoned the +chief butler. + +"Bring hither," said she, "the goblet that is set apart for kings to +drink out of. And fill it with the same delicious wine which my royal +brother, King AEetes, praised so highly, when he last visited me with my +fair daughter Medea. That good and amiable child! Were she now here, it +would delight her to see me offering this wine to my honored guest." + +But Ulysses, while the butler was gone for the wine, held the snow-white +flower to his nose. + +"Is it a wholesome wine?" he asked. + +At this the four maidens tittered; whereupon the enchantress looked +round at them, with an aspect of severity. + +"It is the wholesomest juice that ever was squeezed out of the grape," +said she; "for, instead of disguising a man, as other liquor is apt to +do, it brings him to his true self, and shows him as he ought to be." + +The chief butler liked nothing better than to see people turned into +swine, or making any kind of a beast of themselves; so he made haste to +bring the royal goblet, filled with a liquid as bright as gold, and +which kept sparkling upward, and throwing a sunny spray over the brim. +But, delightfully as the wine looked, it was mingled with the most +potent enchantments that Circe knew how to concoct. For every drop of +the pure grape-juice there were two drops of the pure mischief; and the +danger of the thing was, that the mischief made it taste all the better. +The mere smell of the bubbles, which effervesced at the brim, was enough +to turn a man's beard into pig's bristles, or make a lion's claws grow +out of his fingers, or a fox's brush behind him. + +"Drink, my noble guest," said Circe, smiling as she presented him with +the goblet. "You will find in this draught a solace for all your +troubles." + +King Ulysses took the goblet with his right hand, while with his left he +held the snow-white flower to his nostrils, and drew in so long a breath +that his lungs were quite filled with its pure and simple fragrance. +Then, drinking off all the wine, he looked the enchantress calmly in the +face. + +"Wretch," cried Circe, giving him a smart stroke with her wand, "how +dare you keep your human shape a moment longer? Take the form of the +brute whom you most resemble. If a hog, go join your fellow-swine in the +sty; if a lion, a wolf, a tiger, go howl with the wild beasts on the +lawn; if a fox, go exercise your craft in stealing poultry. Thou hast +quaffed off my wine, and canst be man no longer." + +But, such was the virtue of the snow-white flower, instead of wallowing +down from his throne in swinish shape, or taking any other brutal form, +Ulysses looked even more manly and king-like than before. He gave the +magic goblet a toss, and sent it clashing over the marble floor, to the +farthest end of the saloon. Then, drawing his sword, he seized the +enchantress by her beautiful ringlets, and made a gesture as if he meant +to strike off her head at one blow. + +"Wicked Circe," cried he, in a terrible voice, "this sword shall put an +end to thy enchantments. Thou shalt die, vile wretch, and do no more +mischief in the world, by tempting human beings into the vices which +make beasts of them." + +The tone and countenance of Ulysses were so awful, and his sword gleamed +so brightly, and seemed to have so intolerably keen an edge, that Circe +was almost killed by the mere fright, without waiting for a blow. The +chief butler scrambled out of the saloon, picking up the golden goblet +as he went; and the enchantress and the four maidens fell on their +knees, wringing their hands, and screaming for mercy. + +"Spare me!" cried Circe,--"spare me, royal and wise Ulysses. For now I +know that thou art he of whom Quicksilver forewarned me, the most +prudent of mortals, against whom no enchantments can prevail. Thou only +couldst have conquered Circe. Spare me, wisest of men. I will show thee +true hospitality, and even give myself to be thy slave, and this +magnificent palace to be henceforth thy home." + +The four nymphs, meanwhile, were making a most piteous ado; and +especially the ocean-nymph, with the sea-green hair, wept a great deal +of salt water, and the fountain-nymph, besides scattering dew-drops from +her fingers' ends, nearly melted away into tears. But Ulysses would not +be pacified until Circe had taken a solemn oath to change back his +companions, and as many others as he should direct, from their present +forms of beast or bird into their former shapes of men. + +"On these conditions," said he, "I consent to spare your life. Otherwise +you must die upon the spot." + +With a drawn sword hanging over her, the enchantress would readily have +consented to do as much good as she had hitherto done mischief, however +little she might like such employment. She therefore led Ulysses out of +the back entrance of the palace, and showed him the swine in their sty. +There were about fifty of these unclean beasts in the whole herd; and +though the greater part were hogs by birth and education, there was +wonderfully little difference to be seen betwixt them and their new +brethren who had so recently worn the human shape. To speak critically, +indeed, the latter rather carried the thing to excess, and seemed to +make it a point to wallow in the miriest part of the sty, and otherwise +to outdo the original swine in their own natural vocation. When men once +turn to brutes, the trifle of man's wit that remains in them adds +tenfold to their brutality. + +The comrades of Ulysses, however, had not quite lost the remembrance of +having formerly stood erect. When he approached the sty, two-and-twenty +enormous swine separated themselves from the herd, and scampered towards +him, with such a chorus of horrible squealing as made him clap both +hands to his ears. And yet they did not seem to know what they wanted, +nor whether they were merely hungry, or miserable from some other cause. +It was curious, in the midst of their distress, to observe them +thrusting their noses into the mire, in quest of something to eat. The +nymph with the bodice of oaken bark (she was the hamadryad of an oak) +threw a handful of acorns among them; and the two-and-twenty hogs +scrambled and fought for the prize, as if they had tasted not so much as +a noggin of sour milk for a twelvemonth. + +"These must certainly be my comrades," said Ulysses. "I recognize their +dispositions. They are hardly worth the trouble of changing them into +the human form again. Nevertheless, we will have it done, lest their bad +example should corrupt the other hogs. Let them take their original +shapes, therefore, Dame Circe, if your skill is equal to the task. It +will require greater magic, I trow, than it did to make swine of them." + +So Circe waved her wand again, and repeated a few magic words, at the +sound of which the two-and-twenty hogs pricked up their pendulous ears. +It was a wonder to behold how their snouts grew shorter and shorter, and +their mouths (which they seemed to be sorry for, because they could not +gobble so expeditiously) smaller and smaller, and how one and another +began to stand upon his hind legs, and scratch his nose with his fore +trotters. At first the spectators hardly knew whether to call them hogs +or men, but by and by came to the conclusion that they rather resembled +the latter. Finally, there stood the twenty-two comrades of Ulysses, +looking pretty much the same as when they left the vessel. + +You must not imagine, however, that the swinish quality had entirely +gone out of them. When once it fastens itself into a person's character, +it is very difficult getting rid of it. This was proved by the +hamadryad, who, being exceedingly fond of mischief, threw another +handful of acorns before the twenty-two newly restored people; whereupon +down they wallowed, in a moment, and gobbled them up in a very shameful +way. Then, recollecting themselves, they scrambled to their feet, and +looked more than commonly foolish. + +"Thanks, noble Ulysses!" they cried. "From brute beasts you have +restored us to the condition of men again." + +"Do not put yourselves to the trouble of thanking me," said the wise +king. "I fear I have done but little for you." + +To say the truth, there was a suspicious kind of a grunt in their +voices, and for a long time afterwards they spoke gruffly, and were apt +to set up a squeal. + +"It must depend on your own future behavior," added Ulysses, "whether +you do not find your way back to the sty." + +At this moment, the note of a bird sounded from the branch of a +neighboring tree. + +"Peep, peep, pe--wee--ep!" + +It was the purple bird, who, all this while, had been sitting over their +heads, watching what was going forward, and hoping that Ulysses would +remember how he had done his utmost to keep him and his followers out of +harm's way. Ulysses ordered Circe instantly to make a king of this good +little fowl, and leave him exactly as she found him. Hardly were the +words spoken, and before the bird had time to utter another "Pe--weep," +King Picus leaped down from the bough of the tree, as majestic a +sovereign as any in the world, dressed in a long purple robe and +gorgeous yellow stockings, with a splendidly wrought collar about his +neck, and a golden crown upon his head. He and King Ulysses exchanged +with one another the courtesies which belong to their elevated rank. But +from that time forth, King Picus was no longer proud of his crown and +his trappings of royalty, nor of the fact of his being a king; he felt +himself merely the upper servant of his people, and that it must be his +lifelong labor to make them better and happier. + +As for the lions, tigers, and wolves (though Circe would have restored +them to their former shapes at his slightest word), Ulysses thought it +advisable that they should remain as they now were, and thus give +warning of their cruel dispositions, instead of going about under the +guise of men, and pretending to human sympathies, while their hearts had +the blood-thirstiness of wild beasts. So he let them howl as much as +they liked, but never troubled his head about them. And, when everything +was settled according to his pleasure, he sent to summon the remainder +of his comrades, whom he had left at the sea-shore. These being +arrived, with the prudent Eurylochus at their head, they all made +themselves comfortable in Circe's enchanted palace, until quite rested +and refreshed from the toils and hardships of their voyage. + + + + +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. + +[Illustration: PROSERPINA + +(From the original in the collection of Mrs. William B. Dinsmore +Staatsburg, New York)] + +"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 sea-weed 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-colored +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 +colors. 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 curvetting 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? Who, 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 lamplight 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 charriot 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 is 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 +sea-shore, 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 neighborhood. 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 farm-house, Ceres +knocked, and called up the weary laborers 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 towards 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 woe-begone 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, +endeavoring 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 splendors 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 heart-strings 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 husbandman +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 Demophoon. 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 neighborhood 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 Demophoon out of his +bed of live coals, one of which he was gripping 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 super-human 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 Demophoon, 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-colored 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 afterwards, 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 afterwards 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 neighborhood 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 +vigor 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." + + + + +The Golden Fleece + + +When Jason, the son of the dethroned King of Iolchos, was a little boy, +he was sent away from his parents, and placed under the queerest +schoolmaster that ever you heard of. This learned person was one of the +people, or quadrupeds, called Centaurs. He lived in a cavern, and had +the body and legs of a white horse, with the head and shoulders of a +man. His name was Chiron; and, in spite of his odd appearance, he was a +very excellent teacher, and had several scholars, who afterwards did him +credit by making a great figure in the world. The famous Hercules was +one, and so was Achilles, and Philoctetes, likewise, and AEsculapius, who +acquired immense repute as a doctor. The good Chiron taught his pupils +how to play upon the harp, and how to cure diseases, and how to use the +sword and shield, together with various other branches of education, in +which the lads of those days used to be instructed, instead of writing +and arithmetic. + +I have sometimes suspected that Master Chiron was not really very +different from other people, but that, being a kind-hearted and merry +old fellow, he was in the habit of making believe that he was a horse, +and scrambling about the school-room on all fours, and letting the +little boys ride upon his back. And so, when his scholars had grown up, +and grown old, and were trotting their grandchildren on their knees, +they told them about the sports of their school-days; and these young +folks took the idea that their grandfathers had been taught their +letters by a Centaur, half man and half horse. Little children, not +quite understanding what is said to them, often get such absurd notions +into their heads, you know. + +Be that as it may, it has always been told for a fact (and always will +be told, as long as the world lasts), that Chiron, with the head of a +schoolmaster, had the body and legs of a horse. Just imagine the grave +old gentleman clattering and stamping into the school-room on his four +hoofs, perhaps treading on some little fellow's toes, flourishing his +switch tail instead of a rod, and, now and then, trotting out of doors +to eat a mouthful of grass! I wonder what the blacksmith charged him for +a set of iron shoes. + +So Jason dwelt in the cave, with this four-footed Chiron, from the time +that he was an infant, only a few months old, until he had grown to the +full height of a man. He became a very good harper, I suppose, and +skilful in the use of weapons, and tolerably acquainted with herbs and +other doctor's stuff, and, above all, an admirable horseman; for, in +teaching young people to ride, the good Chiron must have been without a +rival among schoolmasters. At length, being now a tall and athletic +youth, Jason resolved to seek his fortune in the world, without asking +Chiron's advice, or telling him anything about the matter. This was very +unwise, to be sure; and I hope none of you, my little hearers, will ever +follow Jason's example. But, you are to understand, he had heard how +that he himself was a prince royal, and how his father, King AEson, had +been deprived of the kingdom of Iolchos by a certain Pelias who would +also have killed Jason, had he not been hidden in the Centaur's cave. +And, being come to the strength of a man, Jason determined to set all +this business to rights, and to punish the wicked Pelias for wronging +his dear father, and to cast him down from the throne, and seat himself +there instead. + +With this intention, he took a spear in each hand, and threw a leopard's +skin over his shoulders, to keep off the rain, and set forth on his +travels, with his long yellow ringlets waving in the wind. The part of +his dress on which he most prided himself was a pair of sandals, that +had been his father's. They were handsomely embroidered, and were tied +upon his feet with strings of gold. But his whole attire was such as +people did not very often see; and as he passed along, the women and +children ran to the doors and windows, wondering whither this beautiful +youth was journeying, with his leopard's skin and his golden-tied +sandals, and what heroic deeds he meant to perform, with a spear in his +right hand and another in his left. + +[Illustration: JASON AND HIS TEACHER] + +I know not how far Jason had travelled, when he came to a turbulent +river, which rushed right across his pathway, with specks of white foam +among its black eddies, hurrying tumultuously onward, and roaring +angrily as it went. Though not a very broad river in the dry seasons of +the year, it was now swollen by heavy rains and by the melting of the +snow on the sides of Mount Olympus; and it thundered so loudly, and +looked so wild and dangerous, that Jason, bold as he was, thought it +prudent to pause upon the brink. The bed of the stream seemed to be +strewn with sharp and rugged rocks, some of which thrust themselves +above the water. By and by, an uprooted tree, with shattered branches, +came drifting along the current, and got entangled among the rocks. Now +and then, a drowned sheep, and once the carcass of a cow, floated past. + +In short, the swollen river had already done a great deal of mischief. +It was evidently too deep for Jason to wade, and too boisterous for him +to swim; he could see no bridge; and as for a boat, had there been any, +the rocks would have broken it to pieces in an instant. + +"See the poor lad," said a cracked voice close to his side. "He must +have had but a poor education, since he does not know how to cross a +little stream like this. Or is he afraid of wetting his fine +golden-stringed sandals? It is a pity his four-footed schoolmaster is +not here to carry him safely across on his back!" + +Jason looked round greatly surprised, for he did not know that anybody +was near. But beside him stood an old woman, with a ragged mantle over +her head, leaning on a staff, the top of which was carved into the shape +of a cuckoo. She looked very aged, and wrinkled, and infirm; and yet her +eyes, which were as brown as those of an ox, were so extremely large and +beautiful, that, when they were fixed on Jason's eyes, he could see +nothing else but them. The old woman had a pomegranate in her hand, +although the fruit was then quite out of season. + +"Whither are you going, Jason?" she now asked. + +She seemed to know his name, you will observe; and, indeed, those great +brown eyes looked as if they had a knowledge of everything, whether past +or to come. While Jason was gazing at her, a peacock strutted forward +and took his stand at the old woman's side. + +"I am going to Iolchos," answered the young man, "to bid the wicked King +Pelias come down from my father's throne, and let me reign in his +stead." + +"Ah, well, then," said the old woman, still with the same cracked voice, +"if that is all your business, you need not be in a very great hurry. +Just take me on your back, there's a good youth, and carry me across the +river. I and my peacock have something to do on the other side, as well +as yourself." + +"Good mother," replied Jason, "your business can hardly be so important +as the pulling down a king from his throne. Besides, as you may see for +yourself, the river is very boisterous; and if I should chance to +stumble, it would sweep both of us away more easily than it has carried +off yonder uprooted tree. I would gladly help you if I could; but I +doubt whether I am strong enough to carry you across." + +"Then," said she, very scornfully, "neither are you strong enough to +pull King Pelias off his throne. And, Jason, unless you will help an old +woman at her need, you ought not to be a king. What are kings made for, +save to succor the feeble and distressed? But do as you please. Either +take me on your back, or with my poor old limbs I shall try my best to +struggle across the stream." + +Saying this, the old woman poked with her staff in the river, as if to +find the safest place in its rocky bed where she might make the first +step. But Jason, by this time, had grown ashamed of his reluctance to +help her. He felt that he could never forgive himself, if this poor +feeble creature should come to any harm in attempting to wrestle against +the headlong current. The good Chiron, whether half horse or no, had +taught him that the noblest use of his strength was to assist the weak; +and also that he must treat every young woman as if she were his sister, +and every old one like a mother. Remembering these maxims, the vigorous +and beautiful young man knelt down, and requested the good dame to mount +upon his back. + +"The passage seems to me not very safe," he remarked. "But as your +business is so urgent, I will try to carry you across. If the river +sweeps you away, it shall take me too." + +"That, no doubt, will be a great comfort to both of us," quoth the old +woman. "But never fear. We shall get safely across." + +So she threw her arms around Jason's neck; and lifting her from the +ground, he stepped boldly into the raging and foamy current, and began +to stagger away from the shore. As for the peacock, it alighted on the +old dame's shoulder. Jason's two spears, one in each hand, kept him from +stumbling, and enabled him to feel his way among the hidden rocks; +although, every instant, he expected that his companion and himself +would go down the stream, together with the drift-wood of shattered +trees, and the carcasses of the sheep and cow. Down came the cold, snowy +torrent from the steep side of Olympus, raging and thundering as if it +had a real spite against Jason, or, at all events, were determined to +snatch off his living burden from his shoulders. When he was half-way +across, the uprooted tree (which I have already told you about) broke +loose from among the rocks, and bore down upon him, with all its +splintered branches sticking out like the hundred arms of the giant +Briareus. It rushed past, however, without touching him. But the next +moment, his foot was caught in a crevice between two rocks, and stuck +there so fast, that, in the effort to get free, he lost one of his +golden-stringed sandals. + +At this accident Jason could not help uttering a cry of vexation. + +"What is the matter, Jason?" asked the old woman. + +"Matter enough," said the young man. "I have lost a sandal here among +the rocks. And what sort of a figure shall I cut at the court of King +Pelias, with a golden-stringed sandal on one foot, and the other foot +bare!" + +"Do not take it to heart," answered his companion, cheerily. "You never +met with better fortune than in losing that sandal. It satisfies me that +you are the very person whom the Speaking Oak has been talking about." + +There was no time, just then, to inquire what the Speaking Oak had said. +But the briskness of her tone encouraged the young man; and besides, he +had never in his life felt so vigorous and mighty as since taking this +old woman on his back. Instead of being exhausted, he gathered strength +as he went on; and, struggling up against the torrent, he at last gained +the opposite shore, clambered up the bank, and set down the old dame and +her peacock safely on the grass. As soon as this was done, however, he +could not help looking rather despondently at his bare foot, with only a +remnant of the golden string of the sandal clinging round his ankle. + +"You will get a handsomer pair of sandals by and by," said the old +woman, with a kindly look out of her beautiful brown eyes. "Only let +King Pelias get a glimpse of that bare foot, and you shall see him turn +as pale as ashes, I promise you. There is your path. Go along, my good +Jason, and my blessing go with you. And when you sit on your throne, +remember the old woman whom you helped over the river." + +With these words, she hobbled away, giving him a smile over her shoulder +as she departed. Whether the light of her beautiful brown eyes threw a +glory round about her, or whatever the cause might be, Jason fancied +that there was something very noble and majestic in her figure, after +all, and that, though her gait seemed to be a rheumatic hobble, yet she +moved with as much grace and dignity as any queen on earth. Her peacock, +which had now fluttered down from her shoulder, strutted behind her in +prodigious pomp, and spread out its magnificent tail on purpose for +Jason to admire it. + +When the old dame and her peacock were out of sight, Jason set forward +on his journey. After travelling a pretty long distance, he came to a +town situated at the foot of a mountain, and not a great way from the +shore of the sea. On the outside of the town there was an immense crowd +of people, not only men and women, but children, too, all in their best +clothes, and evidently enjoying a holiday. The crowd was thickest +towards the sea-shore; and in that direction, over the people's heads, +Jason saw a wreath of smoke curling upward to the blue sky. He inquired +of one of the multitude what town it was, near by, and why so many +persons were here assembled together. + +"This is the kingdom of Iolchos," answered the man, "and we are the +subjects of King Pelias. Our monarch has summoned us together, that we +may see him sacrifice a black bull to Neptune, who, they say, is his +Majesty's father. Yonder is the king, where you see the smoke going up +from the altar." + +While the man spoke he eyed Jason with great curiosity; for his garb was +quite unlike that of the Iolchians, and it looked very odd to see a +youth with a leopard's skin over his shoulders, and each hand grasping a +spear. Jason perceived, too, that the man stared particularly at his +feet, one of which, you remember, was bare, while the other was +decorated with his father's golden-stringed sandal. + +"Look at him! only look at him!" said the man to his next neighbor. "Do +you see? He wears but one sandal!" + +Upon this, first one person, and then another, began to stare at Jason, +and everybody seemed to be greatly struck with something in his aspect; +though they turned their eyes much oftener towards his feet than to any +other part of his figure. Besides, he could hear them whispering to one +another. + +"One sandal! One sandal!" they kept saying. "The man with one sandal! +Here he is at last! Whence has he come? What does he mean to do? What +will the king say to the one-sandalled man?" + +Poor Jason was greatly abashed, and made up his mind that the people of +Iolchos were exceedingly ill bred, to take such public notice of an +accidental deficiency in his dress. Meanwhile, whether it were that they +hustled him forward, or that Jason, of his own accord, thrust a passage +through the crowd, it so happened that he soon found himself close to +the smoking altar, where King Pelias was sacrificing the black bull. The +murmur and hum of the multitude, in their surprise at the spectacle of +Jason with his one bare foot, grew so loud that it disturbed the +ceremonies; and the king, holding the great knife with which he was just +going to cut the bull's throat, turned angrily about, and fixed his eyes +on Jason. The people had now withdrawn from around him, so that the +youth stood in an open space near the smoking altar, front to front with +the angry King Pelias. + +"Who are you?" cried the king, with a terrible frown. "And how dare you +make this disturbance, while I am sacrificing a black bull to my father +Neptune?" + +"It is no fault of mine," answered Jason. "Your Majesty must blame the +rudeness of your subjects, who have raised all this tumult because one +of my feet happens to be bare." + +When Jason said this, the king gave a quick, startled glance down at his +feet. + +"Ha!" muttered he, "here is the one-sandalled fellow, sure enough! What +can I do with him?" + +And he clutched more closely the great knife in his hand, as if he were +half a mind to slay Jason instead of the black bull. The people round +about caught up the king's words indistinctly as they were uttered; and +first there was a murmur among them, and then a loud shout. + +"The one-sandalled man has come! The prophecy must be fulfilled!" + +For you are to know that, many years before, King Pelias had been told +by the Speaking Oak of Dodona, that a man with one sandal should cast +him down from his throne. On this account, he had given strict orders +that nobody should ever come into his presence, unless both sandals were +securely tied upon his feet; and he kept an officer in his palace, whose +sole business it was to examine people's sandals, and to supply them +with a new pair, at the expense of the royal treasury, as soon as the +old ones began to wear out. In the whole course of the king's reign, he +had never been thrown into such a fright and agitation as by the +spectacle of poor Jason's bare foot. But, as he was naturally a bold and +hard-hearted man, he soon took courage, and began to consider in what +way he might rid himself of this terrible one-sandalled stranger. + +"My good young man," said King Pelias, taking the softest tone +imaginable, in order to throw Jason off his guard, "you are excessively +welcome to my kingdom. Judging by your dress, you must have travelled a +long distance; for it is not the fashion to wear leopard-skins in this +part of the world. Pray, what may I call your name? and where did you +receive your education?" + +"My name is Jason," answered the young stranger. "Ever since my infancy, +I have dwelt in the cave of Chiron the Centaur. He was my instructor, +and taught me music, and horsemanship, and how to cure wounds, and +likewise how to inflict wounds with my weapons!" + +"I have heard of Chiron the schoolmaster," replied King Pelias, "and how +that there is an immense deal of learning and wisdom in his head, +although it happens to be set on a horse's body. It gives me great +delight to see one of his scholars at my court. But, to test how much +you have profited under so excellent a teacher, will you allow me to ask +you a single question?" + +"I do not pretend to be very wise," said Jason. "But ask me what you +please, and I will answer to the best of my ability." + +Now King Pelias meant cunningly to entrap the young man, and to make him +say something that should be the cause of mischief and destruction to +himself. So with a crafty and evil smile upon his face, he spoke as +follows:-- + +"What would you do, brave Jason," asked he, "if there were a man in the +world, by whom, as you had reason to believe, you were doomed to be +ruined and slain,--what would you do, I say, if that man stood before +you, and in your power?" + +When Jason saw the malice and wickedness which King Pelias could not +prevent from gleaming out of his eyes, he probably guessed that the king +had discovered what he came for, and that he intended to turn his own +words against himself. Still he scorned to tell a falsehood. Like an +upright and honorable prince, as he was, he determined to speak out the +real truth. Since the king had chosen to ask him the question, and since +Jason had promised him an answer, there was no right way, save to tell +him precisely what would be the most prudent thing to do, if he had his +worst enemy in his power. + +Therefore, after a moment's consideration, he spoke up, with a firm and +manly voice. + +"I would send such a man," said he, "in quest of the Golden Fleece!" + +This enterprise, you will understand, was, of all others, the most +difficult and dangerous in the world. In the first place, it would be +necessary to make a long voyage through unknown seas. There was hardly a +hope, or a possibility, that any young man who should undertake this +voyage would either succeed in obtaining the Golden Fleece, or would +survive to return home, and tell of the perils he had run. The eyes of +King Pelias sparkled with joy, therefore, when he heard Jason's reply. + +"Well said, wise man with the one sandal!" cried he. "Go, then, and, at +the peril of your life, bring me back the Golden Fleece." + +"I go," answered Jason, composedly. "If I fail, you need not fear that I +will ever come back to trouble you again. But if I return to Iolchos +with the prize, then, King Pelias, you must hasten down from your lofty +throne, and give me your crown and sceptre." + +"That I will," said the king, with a sneer. "Meantime, I will keep them +very safely for you." + +The first thing that Jason thought of doing, after he left the king's +presence, was to go to Dodona, and inquire of the Talking Oak what +course it was best to pursue. This wonderful tree stood in the centre of +an ancient wood. Its stately trunk rose up a hundred feet into the air, +and threw a broad and dense shadow over more than an acre of ground. +Standing beneath it, Jason looked up among the knotted branches and +green leaves, and into the mysterious heart of the old tree, and spoke +aloud, as if he were addressing some person who was hidden in the depths +of the foliage. + +"What shall I do," said he, "in order to win the Golden Fleece?" + +At first there was a deep silence, not only within the shadow of the +Talking Oak, but all through the solitary wood. In a moment or two, +however, the leaves of the oak began to stir and rustle, as if a gentle +breeze were wandering amongst them, although the other trees of the wood +were perfectly still. The sound grew louder, and became like the roar of +a high wind. By and by, Jason imagined that he could distinguish words, +but very confusedly, because each separate leaf of the tree seemed to be +a tongue, and the whole myriad of tongues were babbling at once. But the +noise waxed broader and deeper, until it resembled a tornado sweeping +through the oak, and making one great utterance out of the thousand and +thousand of little murmurs which each leafy tongue had caused by its +rustling. And now, though it still had the tone of mighty wind roaring +among the branches, it was also like a deep bass voice, speaking, as +distinctly as a tree could be expected to speak, the following words:-- + +"Go to Argus, the ship-builder, and bid him build a galley with fifty +oars." + +Then the voice melted again into the indistinct murmur of the rustling +leaves, and died gradually away. When it was quite gone, Jason felt +inclined to doubt whether he had actually heard the words, or whether +his fancy had not shaped them out of the ordinary sound made by a +breeze, while passing through the thick foliage of the tree. + +But on inquiry among the people of Iolchos, he found that there was +really a man in the city, by the name of Argus, who was a very skilful +builder of vessels. This showed some intelligence in the oak; else how +should it have known that any such person existed? At Jason's request, +Argus readily consented to build him a galley so big that it should +require fifty strong men to row it; although no vessel of such a size +and burden had heretofore been seen in the world. So the head carpenter, +and all his journeymen and apprentices, began their work; and for a good +while afterwards, there they were, busily employed, hewing out the +timbers, and making a great clatter with their hammers; until the new +ship, which was called the Argo, seemed to be quite ready for sea. And, +as the Talking Oak had already given him such good advice, Jason thought +that it would not be amiss to ask for a little more. He visited it +again, therefore, and standing beside its huge, rough trunk, inquired +what he should do next. + +This time, there was no such universal quivering of the leaves, +throughout the whole tree, as there had been before. But after a while, +Jason observed that the foliage of a great branch which stretched above +his head had begun to rustle, as if the wind were stirring that one +bough, while all the other boughs of the oak were at rest. + +"Cut me off!" said the branch, as soon as it could speak +distinctly,--"cut me off! cut me off! and carve me into a figure-head +for your galley." + +Accordingly, Jason took the branch at its word, and lopped it off the +tree. A carver in the neighborhood engaged to make the figure-head. He +was a tolerably good workman, and had already carved several +figure-heads, in what he intended for feminine shapes, and looking +pretty much like those which we see nowadays stuck up under a vessel's +bowsprit, with great staring eyes, that never wink at the dash of the +spray. But (what was very strange) the carver found that his hand was +guided by some unseen power, and by a skill beyond his own, and that his +tools shaped out an image which he had never dreamed of. When the work +was finished, it turned out to be the figure of a beautiful woman with a +helmet on her head, from beneath which the long ringlets fell down upon +her shoulders. On the left arm was a shield, and in its centre appeared +a lifelike representation of the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. +The right arm was extended, as if pointing onward. The face of this +wonderful statue, though not angry or forbidding, was so grave and +majestic, that perhaps you might call it severe; and as for the mouth, +it seemed just ready to unclose its lips, and utter words of the deepest +wisdom. + +Jason was delighted with the oaken image, and gave the carver no rest +until it was completed, and set up where a figure-head has always stood, +from that time to this, in the vessel's prow. + +"And now," cried he, as he stood gazing at the calm, majestic face of +the statue, "I must go to the Talking Oak, and inquire what next to do." + +"There is no need of that, Jason," said a voice which, though it was far +lower, reminded him of the mighty tones of the great oak. "When you +desire good advice, you can seek it of me." + +Jason had been looking straight into the face of the image when these +words were spoken. But he could hardly believe either his ears or his +eyes. The truth was, however, that the oaken lips had moved, and, to all +appearance, the voice had proceeded from the statue's mouth. Recovering +a little from his surprise, Jason bethought himself that the image had +been carved out of the wood of the Talking Oak, and that, therefore, it +was really no great wonder, but on the contrary, the most natural thing +in the world, that it should possess the faculty of speech. It would +have been very odd, indeed, if it had not. But certainly it was a great +piece of good fortune that he should be able to carry so wise a block of +wood along with him in his perilous voyage. + +"Tell me, wondrous image," exclaimed Jason,--"since you inherit the +wisdom of the Speaking Oak of Dodona, whose daughter you are,--tell me, +where shall I find fifty bold youths, who will take each of them an oar +of my galley? They must have sturdy arms to row, and brave hearts to +encounter perils, or we shall never win the Golden Fleece." + +"Go," replied the oaken image,--"go, summon all the heroes of Greece." + +And, in fact, considering what a great deed was to be done, could any +advice be wiser than this which Jason received from the figure-head of +his vessel? He lost no time in sending messengers to all the cities, and +making known to the whole people of Greece, that Prince Jason, the son +of King AEson, was going in quest of the Fleece of Gold, and that he +desired the help of forty-nine of the bravest and strongest young men +alive, to row his vessel and share his dangers. And Jason himself would +be the fiftieth. + +At this news, the adventurous youths, all over the country, began to +bestir themselves. Some of them had already fought with giants, and +slain dragons; and the younger ones, who had not yet met with such good +fortune, thought it a shame to have lived so long without getting +astride of a flying serpent, or sticking their spears into a Chimaera, +or, at least, thrusting their right arms down a monstrous lion's throat. +There was a fair prospect that they would meet with plenty of such +adventures before finding the Golden Fleece. As soon as they could +furbish up their helmets and shields, therefore, and gird on their +trusty swords, they came thronging to Iolchos, and clambered on board +the new galley. Shaking hands with Jason, they assured him that they did +not care a pin for their lives, but would help row the vessel to the +remotest edge of the world, and as much farther as he might think it +best to go. + +Many of these brave fellows had been educated by Chiron, the four-footed +pedagogue, and were therefore old schoolmates of Jason, and knew him to +be a lad of spirit. The mighty Hercules, whose shoulders afterwards held +up the sky, was one of them. And there were Castor and Pollux, the twin +brothers, who were never accused of being chicken-hearted, although they +had been hatched out of an egg; and Theseus, who was so renowned for +killing the Minotaur; and Lynceus, with his wonderfully sharp eyes, +which could see through a millstone, or look right down into the depths +of the earth, and discover the treasures that were there; and Orpheus, +the very best of harpers, who sang and played upon his lyre so sweetly, +that the brute beasts stood upon their hind legs, and capered merrily to +the music. Yes, and at some of his more moving tunes, the rocks +bestirred their moss-grown bulk out of the ground, and a grove of +forest trees uprooted themselves, and, nodding their tops to one +another, performed a country dance. + +One of the rowers was a beautiful young woman, named Atalanta, who had +been nursed among the mountains by a bear. So light of foot was this +fair damsel that she could step from one foamy crest of a wave to the +foamy crest of another, without wetting more than the sole of her +sandal. She had grown up in a very wild way, and talked much about the +rights of women, and loved hunting and war far better than her needle. +But, in my opinion, the most remarkable of this famous company were two +sons of the North Wind (airy youngsters, and of rather a blustering +disposition), who had wings on their shoulders, and, in case of a calm, +could puff out their cheeks, and blow almost as fresh a breeze as their +father. I ought not to forget the prophets and conjurers, of whom there +were several in the crew, and who could foretell what would happen +to-morrow, or the next day, or a hundred years hence, but were generally +quite unconscious of what was passing at the moment. + +Jason appointed Tiphys to be helmsman, because he was a star-gazer, and +knew the points of the compass. Lynceus, on account of his sharp sight, +was stationed as a lookout in the prow, where he saw a whole day's sail +ahead, but was rather apt to overlook things that lay directly under his +nose. If the sea only happened to be deep enough, however, Lynceus could +tell you exactly what kind of rocks or sands were at the bottom of it; +and he often cried out to his companions, that they were sailing over +heaps of sunken treasure, which yet he was none the richer for +beholding. To confess the truth, few people believed him when he said +it. + +Well! But when the Argonauts, as these fifty brave adventurers were +called, had prepared everything for the voyage, an unforeseen difficulty +threatened to end it before it was begun. The vessel, you must +understand, was so long, and broad, and ponderous, that the united force +of all the fifty was insufficient to shove her into the water. Hercules, +I suppose, had not grown to his full strength, else he might have set +her afloat as easily as a little boy launches his boat upon a puddle. +But here were these fifty heroes pushing, and straining, and growing red +in the face, without making the Argo start an inch. At last, quite +wearied out, they sat themselves down on the shore, exceedingly +disconsolate, and thinking that the vessel must be left to rot and fall +in pieces, and that they must either swim across the sea or lose the +Golden Fleece. + +All at once, Jason bethought himself of the galley's miraculous +figure-head. + +"O daughter of the Talking Oak," cried he, "how shall we set to work to +get our vessel into the water?" + +"Seat yourselves," answered the image (for it had known what ought to be +done from the very first, and was only waiting for the question to be +put),--"seat yourselves, and handle your oars, and let Orpheus play upon +his harp." + +Immediately the fifty heroes got on board, and seizing their oars, held +them perpendicularly in the air, while Orpheus (who liked such a task +far better than rowing) swept his fingers across the harp. At the first +ringing note of the music, they felt the vessel stir. Orpheus thrummed +away briskly, and the galley slid at once into the sea, dipping her prow +so deeply that the figure-head drank the wave with its marvellous lips, +and rose again as buoyant as a swan. The rowers plied their fifty oars; +the white foam boiled up before the prow; the water gurgled and bubbled +in their wake; while Orpheus continued to play so lively a strain of +music, that the vessel seemed to dance over the billows by way of +keeping time to it. Thus triumphantly did the Argo sail out of the +harbor, amidst the huzzas and good wishes of everybody except the wicked +old Pelias, who stood on a promontory, scowling at her, and wishing that +he could blow out of his lungs the tempest of wrath that was in his +heart, and so sink the galley with all on board. When they had sailed +above fifty miles over the sea, Lynceus happened to cast his sharp eyes +behind, and said that there was this bad-hearted king, still perched +upon the promontory, and scowling so gloomily that it looked like a +black thunder-cloud in that quarter of the horizon. + +In order to make the time pass away more pleasantly during the voyage, +the heroes talked about the Golden Fleece. It originally belonged, it +appears, to a Boeotian ram, who had taken on his back two children, +when in danger of their lives, and fled with them over land and sea, as +far as Colchis. One of the children, whose name was Helle, fell into the +sea and was drowned. But the other (a little boy, named Phrixus) was +brought safe ashore by the faithful ram, who, however, was so exhausted +that he immediately lay down and died. In memory of this good deed, and +as a token of his true heart, the fleece of the poor dead ram was +miraculously changed to gold, and became one of the most beautiful +objects ever seen on earth. It was hung upon a tree in a sacred grove, +where it had now been kept I know not how many years, and was the envy +of mighty kings, who had nothing so magnificent in any of their palaces. + +If I were to tell you all the adventures of the Argonauts, it would take +me till nightfall, and perhaps a great deal longer. There was no lack of +wonderful events, as you may judge from what you may have already heard. +At a certain island they were hospitably received by King Cyzicus, its +sovereign, who made a feast for them, and treated them like brothers. +But the Argonauts saw that this good king looked downcast and very much +troubled, and they therefore inquired of him what was the matter. King +Cyzicus hereupon informed them that he and his subjects were greatly +abused and incommoded by the inhabitants of a neighboring mountain, who +made war upon them, and killed many people, and ravaged the country. And +while they were talking about it, Cyzicus pointed to the mountain, and +asked Jason and his companions what they saw there. + +"I see some very tall objects," answered Jason; "but they are at such a +distance that I cannot distinctly make out what they are. To tell your +Majesty the truth, they look so very strangely that I am inclined to +think them clouds, which have chanced to take something like human +shapes." + +"I see them very plainly," remarked Lynceus, whose eyes, you know, were +as far-sighted as a telescope. "They are a band of enormous giants, all +of whom have six arms apiece, and a club, a sword, or some other weapon +in each of their hands." + +"You have excellent eyes," said King Cyzicus. "Yes; they are six-armed +giants, as you say, and these are the enemies whom I and my subjects +have to contend with." + +The next day, when the Argonauts were about setting sail, down came +these terrible giants, stepping a hundred yards at a stride, brandishing +their six arms apiece, and looking very formidable, so far aloft in the +air. Each of these monsters was able to carry on a whole war by himself, +for with one of his arms he could fling immense stones, and wield a club +with another, and a sword with a third, while the fourth was poking a +long spear at the enemy, and the fifth and sixth were shooting him with +a bow and arrow. But, luckily, though the giants were so huge, and had +so many arms, they had each but one heart, and that no bigger nor braver +than the heart of an ordinary man. Besides, if they had been like the +hundred-armed Briareus, the brave Argonauts would have given them their +hands full of fight. Jason and his friends went boldly to meet them, +slew a great many, and made the rest take to their heels, so that, if +the giants had had six legs apiece instead of six arms, it would have +served them better to run away with. + +Another strange adventure happened when the voyagers came to Thrace, +where they found a poor blind king, named Phineus, deserted by his +subjects, and living in a very sorrowful way, all by himself. On Jason's +inquiring whether they could do him any service, the king answered that +he was terribly tormented by three great winged creatures, called +Harpies, which had the faces of women, and the wings, bodies, and claws +of vultures. These ugly wretches were in the habit of snatching away his +dinner, and allowing him no peace of his life. Upon hearing this, the +Argonauts spread a plentiful feast on the sea-shore, well knowing, from +what the blind king said of their greediness, that the Harpies would +snuff up the scent of the victuals, and quickly come to steal them away. +And so it turned out; for, hardly was the table set, before the three +hideous vulture women came flapping their wings, seized the food in +their talons, and flew off as fast as they could. But the two sons of +the North Wind drew their swords, spread their pinions, and set off +through the air in pursuit of the thieves, whom they at last overtook +among some islands, after a chase of hundreds of miles. The two winged +youths blustered terribly at the Harpies (for they had the rough temper +of their father), and so frightened them with their drawn swords, that +they solemnly promised never to trouble King Phineus again. + +Then the Argonauts sailed onward, and met with many other marvellous +incidents any one of which would make a story by itself. At one time, +they landed on an island, and were reposing on the grass, when they +suddenly found themselves assailed by what seemed a shower of +steel-headed arrows. Some of them stuck in the ground, while others hit +against their shields, and several penetrated their flesh. The fifty +heroes started up, and looked about them for the hidden enemy, but could +find none, nor see any spot, on the whole island, where even a single +archer could lie concealed. Still, however, the steel-headed arrows came +whizzing among them; and, at last, happening to look upward, they beheld +a large flock of birds, hovering and wheeling aloft, and shooting their +feathers down upon the Argonauts. These feathers were the steel-headed +arrows that had so tormented them. There was no possibility of making +any resistance; and the fifty heroic Argonauts might all have been +killed or wounded by a flock of troublesome birds, without ever setting +eyes on the Golden Fleece, if Jason had not thought of asking the advice +of the oaken image. + +[Illustration: THE ARGONAUTS IN QUEST OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE + +(From the original in the collection of Harry Payne Whitney Esq're, New +York)] + +So he ran to the galley as fast as his legs would carry him. + +"O daughter of the Speaking Oak," cried he, all out of breath, "we need +your wisdom more than ever before! We are in great peril from a flock of +birds, who are shooting us with their steel-pointed feathers. What can +we do to drive them away?" + +"Make a clatter on your shields," said the image. + +On receiving this excellent counsel, Jason hurried back to his +companions (who were far more dismayed than when they fought with the +six-armed giants), and bade them strike with their swords upon their +brazen shields. Forthwith the fifty heroes set heartily to work, banging +with might and main, and raised such a terrible clatter that the birds +made what haste they could to get away; and though they had shot half +the feathers out of their wings, they were soon seen skimming among the +clouds, a long distance off, and looking like a flock of wild geese. +Orpheus celebrated this victory by playing a triumphant anthem on his +harp, and sang so melodiously that Jason begged him to desist, lest, as +the steel-feathered birds had been driven away by an ugly sound, they +might be enticed back again by a sweet one. + +While the Argonauts remained on this island, they saw a small vessel +approaching the shore, in which were two young men of princely demeanor, +and exceedingly handsome, as young princes generally were in those days. +Now, who do you imagine these two voyagers turned out to be? Why, if you +will believe me, they were the sons of that very Phrixus, who, in his +childhood, had been carried to Colchis on the back of the golden-fleeced +ram. Since that time, Phrixus had married the king's daughter; and the +two young princes had been born and brought up at Colchis, and had spent +their play-days in the outskirts of the grove, in the centre of which +the Golden Fleece was hanging upon a tree. They were now on their way to +Greece, in hopes of getting back a kingdom that had been wrongfully +taken from their father. + +When the princes understood whither the Argonauts were going, they +offered to turn back and guide them to Colchis. At the same time, +however, they spoke as if it were very doubtful whether Jason would +succeed in getting the Golden Fleece. According to their account, the +tree on which it hung was guarded by a terrible dragon, who never failed +to devour, at one mouthful, every person who might venture within his +reach. + +"There are other difficulties in the way," continued the young princes. +"But is not this enough? Ah, brave Jason, turn back before it is too +late. It would grieve us to the heart, if you and your nine-and-forty +brave companions should be eaten up, at fifty mouthfuls, by this +execrable dragon." + +"My young friends," quietly replied Jason, "I do not wonder that you +think the dragon very terrible. You have grown up from infancy in the +fear of this monster, and therefore still regard him with the awe that +children feel for the bugbears and hobgoblins which their nurses have +talked to them about. But, in my view of the matter, the dragon is +merely a pretty large serpent, who is not half so likely to snap me up +at one mouthful as I am to cut off his ugly head, and strip the skin +from his body. At all events, turn back who may, I will never see Greece +again unless I carry with me the Golden Fleece." + +"We will none of us turn back!" cried his nine-and-forty brave comrades. +"Let us get on board the galley this instant; and if the dragon is to +make a breakfast of us, much good may it do him." + +And Orpheus (whose custom it was to set everything to music) began to +harp and sing most gloriously, and made every mother's son of them feel +as if nothing in this world were so delectable as to fight dragons, and +nothing so truly honorable as to be eaten up at one mouthful, in case of +the worst. + +After this (being now under the guidance of the two princes, who were +well acquainted with the way), they quickly sailed to Colchis. When the +king of the country, whose name was AEetes, heard of their arrival, he +instantly summoned Jason to court. The king was a stern and +cruel-looking potentate; and though he put on as polite and hospitable +an expression as he could, Jason did not like his face a whit better +than that of the wicked King Pelias, who dethroned his father. + +"You are welcome, brave Jason," said King AEetes. "Pray, are you on a +pleasure voyage?--or do you meditate the discovery of unknown +islands?--or what other cause has procured me the happiness of seeing +you at my court?" + +"Great sir," replied Jason, with an obeisance,--for Chiron had taught +him how to behave with propriety, whether to kings or beggars,--"I have +come hither with a purpose which I now beg your Majesty's permission to +execute. King Pelias, who sits on my father's throne (to which he has no +more right than to the one on which your excellent Majesty is now +seated), has engaged to come down from it, and to give me his crown and +sceptre, provided I bring him the Golden Fleece. This, as your Majesty +is aware, is now hanging on a tree here at Colchis; and I humbly solicit +your gracious leave to take it away." + +In spite of himself, the king's face twisted itself into an angry frown; +for, above all things else in the world, he prized the Golden Fleece, +and was even suspected of having done a very wicked act, in order to get +it into his own possession. It put him into the worst possible humor, +therefore, to hear that the gallant Prince Jason, and forty-nine of the +bravest young warriors of Greece, had come to Colchis with the sole +purpose of taking away his chief treasure. + +"Do you know," asked King AEetes, eying Jason very sternly, "what are the +conditions which you must fulfil before getting possession of the Golden +Fleece?" + +"I have heard," rejoined the youth, "that a dragon lies beneath the tree +on which the prize hangs, and that whoever approaches him runs the risk +of being devoured at a mouthful." + +"True," said the king, with a smile that did not look particularly +good-natured. "Very true, young man. But there are other things as hard, +or perhaps a little harder, to be done, before you can even have the +privilege of being devoured by the dragon. For example, you must first +tame my two brazen-footed and brazen-lunged bulls, which Vulcan, the +wonderful blacksmith, made for me. There is a furnace in each of their +stomachs; and they breathe such hot fire out of their mouths and +nostrils, that nobody has hitherto gone nigh them without being +instantly burned to a small, black cinder. What do you think of this, my +brave Jason?" + +"I must encounter the peril," answered Jason, composedly, "since it +stands in the way of my purpose." + +"After taming the fiery bulls," continued King AEetes, who was determined +to scare Jason if possible, "you must yoke them to a plough, and must +plough the sacred earth in the grove of Mars, and sow some of the same +dragon's teeth from which Cadmus raised a crop of armed men. They are an +unruly set of reprobates, those sons of the dragon's teeth; and unless +you treat them suitably, they will fall upon you sword in hand. You and +your nine-and-forty Argonauts, my bold Jason, are hardly numerous or +strong enough to fight with such a host as will spring up." + +"My master Chiron," replied Jason, "taught me, long ago, the story of +Cadmus. Perhaps I can manage the quarrelsome sons of the dragon's teeth +as well as Cadmus did." + +"I wish the dragon had him," muttered King AEetes to himself, "and the +four-footed pedant, his schoolmaster, into the bargain. Why, what a +foolhardy, self-conceited coxcomb he is! We'll see what my +fire-breathing bulls will do for him. Well, Prince Jason," he continued, +aloud, and as complaisantly as he could, "make yourself comfortable for +to-day, and to-morrow morning, since you insist upon it, you shall try +your skill at the plough." + +While the king talked with Jason, a beautiful young woman was standing +behind the throne. She fixed her eyes earnestly upon the youthful +stranger, and listened attentively to every word that was spoken; and +when Jason withdrew from the king's presence, this young woman followed +him out of the room. + +"I am the king's daughter," she said to him, "and my name is Medea. I +know a great deal of which other young princesses are ignorant, and can +do many things which they would be afraid so much as to dream of. If you +will trust to me, I can instruct you how to tame the fiery bulls, and +sow the dragon's teeth, and get the Golden Fleece." + +"Indeed, beautiful princess," answered Jason, "if you will do me this +service, I promise to be grateful to you my whole life long." + +Gazing at Medea, he beheld a wonderful intelligence in her face. She was +one of those persons whose eyes are full of mystery; so that, while +looking into them, you seem to see a very great way, as into a deep +well, yet can never be certain whether you see into the farthest depths, +or whether there be not something else hidden at the bottom. If Jason +had been capable of fearing anything, he would have been afraid of +making this young princess his enemy; for, beautiful as she now looked, +she might, the very next instant, become as terrible as the dragon that +kept watch over the Golden Fleece. + +"Princess," he exclaimed, "you seem indeed very wise and very powerful. +But how can you help me to do the things of which you speak? Are you an +enchantress?" + +"Yes, Prince Jason," answered Medea, with a smile, "you have hit upon +the truth. I am an enchantress. Circe, my father's sister, taught me to +be one, and I could tell you, if I pleased, who was the old woman with +the peacock, the pomegranate, and the cuckoo staff, whom you carried +over the river; and, likewise, who it is that speaks through the lips of +the oaken image, that stands in the prow of your galley. I am acquainted +with some of your secrets, you perceive. It is well for you that I am +favorably inclined; for, otherwise, you would hardly escape being +snapped up by the dragon." + +"I should not so much care for the dragon," replied Jason, "if I only +knew how to manage the brazen-footed and fiery-lunged bulls." + +"If you are as brave as I think you, and as you have need to be," said +Medea, "your own bold heart will teach you that there is but one way of +dealing with a mad bull. What it is I leave you to find out in the +moment of peril. As for the fiery breath of these animals, I have a +charmed ointment here, which will prevent you from being burned up, and +cure you if you chance to be a little scorched." + +So she put a golden box into his hand, and directed him how to apply the +perfumed unguent which it contained, and where to meet her at midnight. + +"Only be brave," added she, "and before daybreak the brazen bulls shall +be tamed." + +The young man assured her that his heart would not fail him. He then +rejoined his comrades, and told them what had passed between the +princess and himself, and warned them to be in readiness in case there +might be need of their help. + +At the appointed hour he met the beautiful Medea on the marble steps of +the king's palace. She gave him a basket, in which were the dragon's +teeth, just as they had been pulled out of the monster's jaws by Cadmus, +long ago. Medea then led Jason down the palace steps, and through the +silent streets of the city, and into the royal pasture-ground, where the +two brazen-footed bulls were kept. It was a starry night, with a bright +gleam along the eastern edge of the sky, where the moon was soon going +to show herself. After entering the pasture, the princess paused and +looked around. + +"There they are," said she, "reposing themselves and chewing their fiery +cuds in that farthest corner of the field. It will be excellent sport, I +assure you, when they catch a glimpse of your figure. My father and all +his court delight in nothing so much as to see a stranger trying to yoke +them, in order to come at the Golden Fleece. It makes a holiday in +Colchis whenever such a thing happens. For my part, I enjoy it +immensely. You cannot imagine in what a mere twinkling of an eye their +hot breath shrivels a young man into a black cinder." + +"Are you sure, beautiful Medea," asked Jason, "quite sure, that the +unguent in the gold box will prove a remedy against those terrible +burns?" + +"If you doubt it, if you are in the least afraid," said the princess, +looking him in the face by the dim starlight, "you had better never have +been born than go a step nigher to the bulls." + +But Jason had set his heart steadfastly on getting the Golden Fleece; +and I positively doubt whether he would have gone back without it, even +had he been certain of finding himself turned into a red-hot cinder, or +a handful of white ashes, the instant he made a step farther. He +therefore let go Medea's hand, and walked boldly forward in the +direction whither she had pointed. At some distance before him he +perceived four streams of fiery vapor, regularly appearing, and again +vanishing, after dimly lighting up the surrounding obscurity. These, you +will understand, were caused by the breath of the brazen bulls, which +was quietly stealing out of their four nostrils, as they lay chewing +their cuds. + +At the first two or three steps which Jason made, the four fiery streams +appeared to gush out somewhat more plentifully; for the two brazen bulls +had heard his foot-tramp, and were lifting up their hot noses to snuff +the air. He went a little farther, and by the way in which the red vapor +now spouted forth, he judged that the creatures had got upon their feet. +Now he could see glowing sparks, and vivid jets of flame. At the next +step, each of the bulls made the pasture echo with a terrible roar, +while the burning breath, which they thus belched forth, lit up the +whole field with a momentary flash. One other stride did bold Jason +make; and, suddenly, as a streak of lightning, on came these fiery +animals, roaring like thunder, and sending out sheets of white flame, +which so kindled up the scene that the young man could discern every +object more distinctly than by daylight. Most distinctly of all he saw +the two horrible creatures galloping right down upon him, their brazen +hoofs rattling and ringing over the ground, and their tails sticking up +stiffly into the air, as has always been the fashion with angry bulls. +Their breath scorched the herbage before them. So intensely hot it was, +indeed, that it caught a dry tree, under which Jason was now standing, +and set it all in a light blaze. But as for Jason himself (thanks to +Medea's enchanted ointment), the white flame curled around his body, +without injuring him a jot more than if he had been made of asbestos. + +Greatly encouraged at finding himself not yet turned into a cinder, the +young man awaited the attack of the bulls. Just as the brazen brutes +fancied themselves sure of tossing him into the air, he caught one of +them by the horn, and the other by his screwed-up tail, and held them in +a gripe like that of an iron vise, one with his right hand, the other +with his left. Well, he must have been wonderfully strong in his arms, +to be sure. But the secret of the matter was, that the brazen bulls were +enchanted creatures, and that Jason had broken the spell of their fiery +fierceness by his bold way of handling them. And, ever since that time, +it has been the favorite method of brave men, when danger assails them, +to do what they call "taking the bull by the horns"; and to gripe him by +the tail is pretty much the same thing,--that is, to throw aside fear, +and overcome the peril by despising it. + +It was now easy to yoke the bulls, and to harness them to the plough, +which had lain rusting on the ground for a great many years gone by; so +long was it before anybody could be found capable of ploughing that +piece of land. Jason, I suppose, had been taught how to draw a furrow by +the good old Chiron, who, perhaps, used to allow himself to be harnessed +to the plough. At any rate, our hero succeeded perfectly well in +breaking up the greensward; and, by the time that the moon was a quarter +of her journey up the sky, the ploughed field lay before him, a large +tract of black earth, ready to be sown with the dragon's teeth. So Jason +scattered them broadcast, and harrowed them into the soil with a +brush-harrow, and took his stand on the edge of the field, anxious to +see what would happen next. + +"Must we wait long for harvest-time?" he inquired of Medea, who was now +standing by his side. + +"Whether sooner or later, it will be sure to come," answered the +princess. "A crop of armed men never fails to spring up, when the +dragon's teeth have been sown." + +The moon was now high aloft in the heavens, and threw its bright beams +over the ploughed field, where as yet there was nothing to be seen. Any +farmer, on viewing it, would have said that Jason must wait weeks before +the green blades would peep from among the clods, and whole months +before the yellow grain would be ripened for the sickle. But by and by, +all over the field, there was something that glistened in the moonbeams, +like sparkling drops of dew. These bright objects sprouted higher, and +proved to be the steel heads of spears. Then there was a dazzling gleam +from a vast number of polished brass helmets, beneath which, as they +grew farther out of the soil, appeared the dark and bearded visages of +warriors, struggling to free themselves from the imprisoning earth. The +first look that they gave at the upper world was a glare of wrath and +defiance. Next were seen their bright breastplates; in every right hand +there was a sword or a spear, and on each left arm a shield; and when +this strange crop of warriors had but half grown out of the earth, they +struggled,--such was their impatience of restraint,--and, as it were, +tore themselves up by the roots. Wherever a dragon's tooth had fallen, +there stood a man armed for battle. They made a clangor with their +swords against their shields, and eyed one another fiercely; for they +had come into this beautiful world, and into the peaceful moonlight, +full of rage and stormy passions, and ready to take the life of every +human brother, in recompense of the boon of their own existence. + +There have been many other armies in the world that seemed to possess +the same fierce nature with the one which had now sprouted from the +dragon's teeth; but these, in the moonlit field, were the more +excusable, because they never had women for their mothers. And how it +would have rejoiced any great captain, who was bent on conquering the +world, like Alexander or Napoleon, to raise a crop of armed soldiers as +easily as Jason did. + +For a while, the warriors stood flourishing their weapons, clashing +their swords against their shields, and boiling over with the red-hot +thirst for battle. Then they began to shout, "Show us the enemy! Lead us +to the charge! Death or victory! Come on, brave comrades! Conquer or +die!" and a hundred other outcries, such as men always bellow forth on a +battle-field, and which these dragon people seemed to have at their +tongues' ends. At last, the front rank caught sight of Jason, who, +beholding the flash of so many weapons in the moonlight, had thought it +best to draw his sword. In a moment all the sons of the dragon's teeth +appeared to take Jason for an enemy; and crying with one voice, "Guard +the Golden Fleece!" they ran at him with uplifted swords and protruded +spears. Jason knew that it would be impossible to withstand this +bloodthirsty battalion with his single arm, but determined, since there +was nothing better to be done, to die as valiantly as if he himself had +sprung from a dragon's tooth. + +Medea, however, bade him snatch up a stone from the ground. + +"Throw it among them quickly!" cried she. "It is the only way to save +yourself." + +The armed men were now so nigh that Jason could discern the fire +flashing out of their enraged eyes, when he let fly the stone, and saw +it strike the helmet of a tall warrior, who was rushing upon him with +his blade aloft. The stone glanced from this man's helmet to the shield +of his nearest comrade, and thence flew right into the angry face of +another, hitting him smartly between the eyes. Each of the three who had +been struck by the stone took it for granted that his next neighbor had +given him a blow; and instead of running any farther towards Jason, they +began a fight among themselves. The confusion spread through the host, +so that it seemed scarcely a moment before they were all hacking, +hewing, and stabbing at one another, lopping off arms, heads, and legs, +and doing such memorable deeds that Jason was filled with immense +admiration; although, at the same time, he could not help laughing to +behold these mighty men punishing each other for an offence which he +himself had committed. In an incredibly short space of time (almost as +short, indeed, as it had taken them to grow up), all but one of the +heroes of the dragon's teeth were stretched lifeless on the field. The +last survivor, the bravest and strongest of the whole, had just force +enough to wave his crimson sword over his head, and give a shout of +exultation, crying, "Victory! Victory! Immortal fame!" when he himself +fell down, and lay quietly among his slain brethren. + +And there was the end of the army that had sprouted from the dragons +teeth. That fierce and feverish fight was the only enjoyment which they +had tasted on this beautiful earth. + +"Let them sleep in the bed of honor," said the Princess Medea, with a +sly smile at Jason. "The world will always have simpletons enough, just +like them, fighting and dying for they know not what, and fancying that +posterity will take the trouble to put laurel wreaths on their rusty and +battered helmets. Could you help smiling, Prince Jason, to see the +self-conceit of that last fellow, just as he tumbled down?" + +"It made me very sad," answered Jason, gravely. "And, to tell you the +truth, princess, the Golden Fleece does not appear so well worth the +winning, after what I have here beheld." + +"You will think differently in the morning," said Medea. "True, the +Golden Fleece may not be so valuable as you have thought it; but then +there is nothing better in the world; and one must needs have an object, +you know. Come! Your night's work has been well performed; and to-morrow +you can inform King AEetes that the first part of your allotted task is +fulfilled." + +Agreeably to Medea's advice, Jason went betimes in the morning to the +palace of King AEetes. Entering the presence-chamber, he stood at the +foot of the throne, and made a low obeisance. + +"Your eyes look heavy, Prince Jason," observed the king; "you appear to +have spent a sleepless night. I hope you have been considering the +matter a little more wisely, and have concluded not to get yourself +scorched to a cinder, in attempting to tame my brazen-lunged bulls." + +"That is already accomplished, may it please your Majesty," replied +Jason. "The bulls have been tamed and yoked; the field has been +ploughed; the dragon's teeth have been sown broadcast, and harrowed into +the soil; the crop of armed warriors has sprung up, and they have slain +one another, to the last man. And now I solicit your Majesty's +permission to encounter the dragon, that I may take down the Golden +Fleece from the tree, and depart, with my nine-and-forty comrades." + +King AEetes scowled, and looked very angry and excessively disturbed; for +he knew that, in accordance with his kingly promise, he ought now to +permit Jason to win the fleece, if his courage and skill should enable +him to do so. But, since the young man had met with such good luck in +the matter of the brazen bulls and the dragon's teeth, the king feared +that he would be equally successful in slaying the dragon. And +therefore, though he would gladly have seen Jason snapped up at a +mouthful, he was resolved (and it was a very wrong thing of this wicked +potentate) not to run any further risk of losing his beloved fleece. + +"You never would have succeeded in this business, young man," said he, +"if my undutiful daughter Medea had not helped you with her +enchantments. Had you acted fairly, you would have been, at this +instant, a black cinder, or a handful of white ashes. I forbid you, on +pain of death, to make any more attempts to get the Golden Fleece. To +speak my mind plainly, you shall never set eyes on so much as one of its +glistening locks." + +Jason left the king's presence in great sorrow and anger. He could think +of nothing better to be done than to summon together his forty-nine +brave Argonauts, march at once to the grove of Mars, slay the dragon, +take possession of the Golden Fleece, get on board the Argo, and spread +all sail for Iolchos. The success of the scheme depended, it is true, on +the doubtful point whether all the fifty heroes might not be snapped up, +at so many mouthfuls, by the dragon. But, as Jason was hastening down +the palace steps, the Princess Medea called after him, and beckoned him +to return. Her black eyes shone upon him with such a keen intelligence, +that he felt as if there were a serpent peeping out of them; and +although she had done him so much service only the night before, he was +by no means very certain that she would not do him an equally great +mischief before sunset. These enchantresses, you must know, are never to +be depended upon. + +"What says King AEetes, my royal and upright father?" inquired Medea, +slightly smiling. "Will he give you the Golden Fleece, without any +further risk or trouble?" + +"On the contrary," answered Jason, "he is very angry with me for taming +the brazen bulls and sowing the dragon's teeth. And he forbids me to +make any more attempts, and positively refuses to give up the Golden +Fleece, whether I slay the dragon or no." + +"Yes, Jason," said the princess, "and I can tell you more. Unless you +set sail from Colchis before to-morrow's sunrise, the king means to burn +your fifty-oared galley, and put yourself and your forty-nine brave +comrades to the sword. But be of good courage. The Golden Fleece you +shall have, if it lies within the power of my enchantments to get it for +you. Wait for me here an hour before midnight." + +At the appointed hour, you might again have seen Prince Jason and the +Princess Medea, side by side, stealing through the streets of Colchis, +on their way to the sacred grove, in the centre of which the Golden +Fleece was suspended to a tree. While they were crossing the +pasture-ground, the brazen bulls came towards Jason, lowing, nodding +their heads, and thrusting forth their snouts, which, as other cattle +do, they loved to have rubbed and caressed by a friendly hand. Their +fierce nature was thoroughly tamed; and, with their fierceness, the two +furnaces in their stomachs had likewise been extinguished, insomuch that +they probably enjoyed far more comfort in grazing and chewing their cuds +than ever before. Indeed, it had heretofore been a great inconvenience +to these poor animals, that, whenever they wished to eat a mouthful of +grass, the fire out of their nostrils had shrivelled it up, before they +could manage to crop it. How they contrived to keep themselves alive is +more than I can imagine. But now, instead of emitting jets of flame and +streams of sulphurous vapor, they breathed the very sweetest of cow +breath. + +After kindly patting the bulls, Jason followed Medea's guidance into the +grove of Mars, where the great oak-trees, that had been growing for +centuries, threw so thick a shade that the moonbeams struggled vainly to +find their way through it. Only here and there a glimmer fell upon the +leaf-strewn earth, or now and then a breeze stirred the boughs aside, +and gave Jason a glimpse of the sky, lest, in that deep obscurity, he +might forget that there was one, overhead. At length, when they had gone +farther and farther into the heart of the duskiness, Medea squeezed +Jason's hand. + +"Look yonder," she whispered. "Do you see it?" + +Gleaming among the venerable oaks, there was a radiance, not like the +moonbeams, but rather resembling the golden glory of the setting sun. It +proceeded from an object, which appeared to be suspended at about a +man's height from the ground, a little farther within the wood. + +"What is it?" asked Jason. + +"Have you come so far to seek it," exclaimed Medea, "and do you not +recognize the meed of all your toils and perils, when it glitters before +your eyes? It is the Golden Fleece." + +Jason went onward a few steps farther, and then stopped to gaze. Oh, how +beautiful it looked, shining with a marvellous light of its own, that +inestimable prize, which so many heroes had longed to behold, but had +perished in the quest of it, either by the perils of their voyage, or by +the fiery breath of the brazen-lunged bulls. + +"How gloriously it shines!" cried Jason, in a rapture. "It has surely +been dipped in the richest gold of sunset. Let me hasten onward, and +take it to my bosom." + +"Stay," said Medea, holding him back. "Have you forgotten what guards +it?" + +To say the truth, in the joy of beholding the object of his desires, the +terrible dragon had quite slipped out of Jason's memory. Soon, however, +something came to pass that reminded him what perils were still to be +encountered. An antelope, that probably mistook the yellow radiance for +sunrise, came bounding fleetly through the grove. He was rushing +straight towards the Golden Fleece, when suddenly there was a frightful +hiss, and the immense head and half of the scaly body of the dragon was +thrust forth (for he was twisted round the trunk of the tree on which +the fleece hung), and seizing the poor antelope, swallowed him with one +snap of his jaws. + +After this feat, the dragon seemed sensible that some other living +creature was within reach on which he felt inclined to finish his meal. +In various directions he kept poking his ugly snout among the trees, +stretching out his neck a terrible long way, now here, now there, and +now close to the spot where Jason and the princess were hiding behind an +oak. Upon my word, as the head came waving and undulating through the +air, and reaching almost within arm's-length of Prince Jason, it was a +very hideous and uncomfortable sight. The gape of his enormous jaws was +nearly as wide as the gateway of the king's palace. + +"Well, Jason," whispered Medea (for she was ill-natured, as all +enchantresses are, and wanted to make the bold youth tremble), "what do +you think now of your prospect of winning the Golden Fleece?" + +Jason answered only by drawing his sword and making a step forward. + +"Stay, foolish youth," said Medea, grasping his arm. "Do not you see you +are lost, without me as your good angel? In this gold box I have a magic +potion, which will do the dragon's business far more effectually than +your sword." + +The dragon had probably heard the voices; for, swift as lightning, his +black head and forked tongue came hissing among the trees again, darting +full forty feet at a stretch. As it approached, Medea tossed the +contents of the gold box right down the monster's wide open throat. +Immediately, with an outrageous hiss and a tremendous wriggle,--flinging +his tail up to the tip-top of the tallest tree, and shattering all its +branches as it crashed heavily down again,--the dragon fell at full +length upon the ground, and lay quite motionless. + +"It is only a sleeping potion," said the enchantress to Prince Jason. +"One always finds a use for these mischievous creatures, sooner or +later; so I did not wish to kill him outright. Quick! Snatch the prize, +and let us begone. You have won the Golden Fleece." + +Jason caught the fleece from the tree, and hurried through the grove, +the deep shadows of which were illuminated as he passed by the golden +glory of the precious object that he bore along. A little way before +him, he beheld the old woman whom he had helped over the stream, with +her peacock beside her. She clapped her hands for joy, and beckoning him +to make haste, disappeared among the duskiness of the trees. Espying the +two winged sons of the North Wind (who were disporting themselves in the +moonlight, a few hundred feet aloft), Jason bade them tell the rest of +the Argonauts to embark as speedily as possible. But Lynceus, with his +sharp eyes, had already caught a glimpse of him, bringing the Golden +Fleece, although several stone-walls, a hill, and the black shadows of +the grove of Mars intervened between. By his advice, the heroes had +seated themselves on the benches of the galley, with their oars held +perpendicularly, ready to let fall into the water. + +As Jason drew near, he heard the Talking Image calling to him with more +than ordinary eagerness, in its grave, sweet voice:-- + +"Make haste, Prince Jason! For your life, make haste!" + +With one hound he leaped aboard. At sight of the glorious radiance of +the Golden Fleece, the nine-and-forty heroes gave a mighty shout, and +Orpheus, striking his harp, sang a song of triumph, to the cadence of +which the galley flew over the water, homeward bound, as if careering +along with wings! + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales, by +Nathaniel Hawthorne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WONDER BOOK AND TANGLEWOOD TALES *** + +***** This file should be named 35377.txt or 35377.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/3/7/35377/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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