Heroes
by Charles Kingsley
Hypertext Meanings and Commentaries
from the Encyclopedia of the Self
by Mark Zimmerman

PREFACE

MY DEAR CHILDREN,

Some of you have heard already of the old Greeks; and all of
you, as you grow up, will hear more and more of them. Those
of you who are boys will, perhaps, spend a great deal of time
in reading Greek books; and the girls, though they may not
learn Greek, will be sure to come across a great many stories
taken from Greek history, and to see, I may say every day,
things which we should not have had if it had not been for
these old Greeks. You can hardly find a well-written book
which has not in it Greek names, and words, and proverbs; you
cannot walk through a great town without passing Greek
buildings; you cannot go into a well-furnished room without
seeing Greek statues and ornaments, even Greek patterns of
furniture and paper; so strangely have these old Greeks left
their mark behind them upon this modern world in which we now
live. And as you grow up, and read more and more, you will
find that we owe to these old Greeks the beginners of all our
mathematics and geometry - that is, the science and knowledge
of numbers, and of the shapes of things, and of the forces
which make things move and stand at rest; and the beginnings
of our geography and astronomy; and of our laws, and freedom,
and politics - that is, the science of how to rule a country,
and make it peaceful and strong. And we owe to them, too,
the beginning of our logic - that is, the study of words and
of reasoning; and of our metaphysics - that is, the study of
our own thoughts and souls. And last of all, they made their
language so beautiful that foreigners used to take to it
instead of their own; and at last Greek became the common
language of educated people all over the old world, from
Persia and Egypt even to Spain and Britain. And therefore it
was that the New Testament was written in Greek, that it
might be read and understood by all the nations of the Roman
empire; so that, next to the Jews, and the Bible which the
Jews handed down to us, we owe more to these old Greeks than
to any people upon earth.

Now you must remember one thing - that 'Greeks' was not their
real name. They called themselves always 'Hellens,' but the
Romans miscalled them Greeks; and we have taken that wrong
name from the Romans - it would take a long time to tell you
why. They were made up of many tribes and many small
separate states; and when you hear in this book of Minuai,
and Athenians, and other such names, you must remember that
they were all different tribes and peoples of the one great
Hellen race, who lived in what we now call Greece, in the
islands of the Archipelago, and along the coast of Asia Minor
(Ionia, as they call it), from the Hellespont to Rhodes, and
had afterwards colonies and cities in Sicily, and South Italy
(which was called Great Greece), and along the shores of the
Black Sea at Sinope, and Kertch, and at Sevastopol. And
after that, again, they spread under Alexander the Great, and
conquered Egypt, and Syria, and Persia, and the whole East.
But that was many hundred years after my stories; for then
there were no Greeks on the Black Sea shores, nor in Sicily,
or Italy, or anywhere but in Greece and in Ionia. And if you
are puzzled by the names of places in this book, you must
take the maps and find them out. It will be a pleasanter way
of learning geography than out of a dull lesson-book.

Now, I love these old Hellens heartily; and I should be very
ungrateful to them if I did not, considering all that they
have taught me; and they seem to me like brothers, though
they have all been dead and gone many hundred years ago. So
as you must learn about them, whether you choose or not, I
wish to be the first to introduce you to them, and to say,
'Come hither, children, at this blessed Christmas time, when
all God's creatures should rejoice together, and bless Him
who redeemed them all. Come and see old friends of mine,
whom I knew long ere you were born. They are come to visit
us at Christmas, out of the world where all live to God; and
to tell you some of their old fairy tales, which they loved
when they were young like you.'

For nations begin at first by being children like you, though
they are made up of grown men. They are children at first
like you - men and women with children's hearts; frank, and
affectionate, and full of trust, and teachable, and loving to
see and learn all the wonders round them; and greedy also,
too often, and passionate and silly, as children are.

Thus these old Greeks were teachable, and learnt from all the
nations round. From the Phoenicians they learnt
shipbuilding, and some say letters beside; and from the
Assyrians they learnt painting, and carving, and building in
wood and stone; and from the Egyptians they learnt astronomy,
and many things which you would not understand. In this they
were like our own forefathers the Northmen, of whom you love
to hear, who, though they were wild and rough themselves,
were humble, and glad to learn from every one. Therefore God
rewarded these Greeks, as He rewarded our forefathers, and
made them wiser than the people who taught them in everything
they learnt; for He loves to see men and children open-
hearted, and willing to be taught; and to him who uses what
he has got, He gives more and more day by day. So these
Greeks grew wise and powerful, and wrote poems which will
live till the world's end, which you must read for yourselves
some day, in English at least, if not in Greek. And they
learnt to carve statues, and build temples, which are still
among the wonders of the world; and many another wondrous
thing God taught them, for which we are the wiser this day.

For you must not fancy, children, that because these old
Greeks were heathens, therefore God did not care for them,
and taught them nothing.

The Bible tells us that it was not so, but that God's mercy
is over all His works, and that He understands the hearts of
all people, and fashions all their works. And St. Paul told
these old Greeks in after times, when they had grown wicked
and fallen low, that they ought to have known better, because
they were God's offspring, as their own poets had said; and
that the good God had put them where they were, to seek the
Lord, and feel after Him, and find Him, though He was not far
from any one of them. And Clement of Alexandria, a great
Father of the Church, who was as wise as he was good, said
that God had sent down Philosophy to the Greeks from heaven,
as He sent down the Gospel to the Jews.

For Jesus Christ, remember, is the Light who lights every man
who comes into the world. And no one can think a right
thought, or feel a right feeling, or understand the real
truth of anything in earth and heaven, unless the good Lord
Jesus teaches him by His Spirit, which gives man
understanding.

But these Greeks, as St. Paul told them, forgot what God had
taught them, and, though they were God's offspring,
worshipped idols of wood and stone, and fell at last into sin
and shame, and then, of course, into cowardice and slavery,
till they perished out of that beautiful land which God had
given them for so many years.

For, like all nations who have left anything behind them,
beside mere mounds of earth, they believed at first in the
One True God who made all heaven and earth. But after a
while, like all other nations, they began to worship other
gods, or rather angels and spirits, who (so they fancied)
lived about their land. Zeus, the Father of gods and men
(who was some dim remembrance of the blessed true God), and
Hera his wife, and Phoebus Apollo the Sun-god, and Pallas
Athene who taught men wisdom and useful arts, and Aphrodite
the Queen of Beauty, and Poseidon the Ruler of the Sea, and
Hephaistos the King of the Fire, who taught men to work in
metals. And they honoured the Gods of the Rivers, and the
Nymph-maids, who they fancied lived in the caves, and the
fountains, and the glens of the forest, and all beautiful
wild places. And they honoured the Erinnues, the dreadful
sisters, who, they thought, haunted guilty men until their
sins were purged away. And many other dreams they had, which
parted the One God into many; and they said, too, that these
gods did things which would be a shame and sin for any man to
do. And when their philosophers arose, and told them that
God was One, they would not listen, but loved their idols,
and their wicked idol feasts, till they all came to ruin.
But we will talk of such sad things no more.

But, at the time of which this little book speaks, they had
not fallen as low as that. They worshipped no idols, as far
as I can find; and they still believed in the last six of the
ten commandments, and knew well what was right and what was
wrong. And they believed (and that was what gave them
courage) that the gods loved men, and taught them, and that
without the gods men were sure to come to ruin. And in that
they were right enough, as we know - more right even than
they thought; for without God we can do nothing, and all
wisdom comes from Him.

Now, you must not think of them in this book as learned men,
living in great cities, such as they were afterwards, when
they wrought all their beautiful works, but as country
people, living in farms and walled villages, in a simple,
hard-working way; so that the greatest kings and heroes
cooked their own meals, and thought it no shame, and made
their own ships and weapons, and fed and harnessed their own
horses; and the queens worked with their maid-servants, and
did all the business of the house, and spun, and wove, and
embroidered, and made their husbands' clothes and their own.
So that a man was honoured among them, not because he
happened to be rich, but according to his skill, and his
strength, and courage, and the number of things which he
could do. For they were but grown-up children, though they
were right noble children too; and it was with them as it is
now at school - the strongest and cleverest boy, though he be
poor, leads all the rest.

Now, while they were young and simple they loved fairy tales,
as you do now. All nations do so when they are young: our
old forefathers did, and called their stories 'Sagas.'  I
will read you some of them some day - some of the Eddas, and
the Volusp…, and Beowulf, and the noble old Romances. The
old Arabs, again, had their tales, which we now call the
'Arabian Nights.'  The old Romans had theirs, and they called
them 'Fabulae,' from which our word 'fable' comes; but the
old Hellens called theirs 'Muthoi,' from which our new word
'myth' is taken. But next to those old Romances, which were
written in the Christian middle age, there are no fairy tales
like these old Greek ones, for beauty, and wisdom, and truth,
and for making children love noble deeds, and trust in God to
help them through.

Now, why have I called this book 'The Heroes'? Because that
was the name which the Hellens gave to men who were brave and
skilful, and dare do more than other men. At first, I think,
that was all it meant: but after a time it came to mean
something more; it came to mean men who helped their country;
men in those old times, when the country was half-wild, who
killed fierce beasts and evil men, and drained swamps, and
founded towns, and therefore after they were dead, were
honoured, because they had left their country better than
they found it. And we call such a man a hero in English to
this day, and call it a 'heroic' thing to suffer pain and
grief, that we may do good to our fellow-men. We may all do
that, my children, boys and girls alike; and we ought to do
it, for it is easier now than ever, and safer, and the path
more clear. But you shall hear how the Hellens said their
heroes worked, three thousand years ago. The stories are not
all true, of course, nor half of them; you are not simple
enough to fancy that; but the meaning of them is true, and
true for ever, and that is - Do right, and God will help
you.'

FARLEY COURT,

ADVENT, 1855.

STORY I. - PERSEUS

PART I - HOW PERSEUS AND HIS MOTHER CAME TO SERIPHOS

ONCE upon a time there were two princes who were twins.
Their names were Acrisius and Proetus, and they lived in the
pleasant vale of Argos, far away in Hellas. They had
fruitful meadows and vineyards, sheep and oxen, great herds
of horses feeding down in Lerna Fen, and all that men could
need to make them blest: and yet they were wretched, because
they were jealous of each other. From the moment they were
born they began to quarrel; and when they grew up each tried
to take away the other's share of the kingdom, and keep all
for himself. So first Acrisius drove out Proetus; and he
went across the seas, and brought home a foreign princess for
his wife, and foreign warriors to help him, who were called
Cyclopes; and drove out Acrisius in his turn; and then they
fought a long while up and down the land, till the quarrel
was settled, and Acrisius took Argos and one half the land,
and Proetus took Tiryns and the other half. And Proetus and
his Cyclopes built around Tiryns great walls of unhewn stone,
which are standing to this day.

But there came a prophet to that hard-hearted Acrisius and
prophesied against him, and said, 'Because you have risen up
against your own blood, your own blood shall rise up against
you; because you have sinned against your kindred, by your
kindred you shall be punished. Your daughter Danae shall
bear a son, and by that son's hands you shall die. So the
Gods have ordained, and it will surely come to pass.'

And at that Acrisius was very much afraid; but he did not
mend his ways. He had been cruel to his own family, and,
instead of repenting and being kind to them, he went on to be
more cruel than ever: for he shut up his fair daughter Danae
in a cavern underground, lined with brass, that no one might
come near her. So he fancied himself more cunning than the
Gods: but you will see presently whether he was able to
escape them.

Now it came to pass that in time Danae bore a son; so
beautiful a babe that any but King Acrisius would have had
pity on it. But he had no pity; for he took Danae and her
babe down to the seashore, and put them into a great chest
and thrust them out to sea, for the winds and the waves to
carry them whithersoever they would.

The north-west wind blew freshly out of the blue mountains,
and down the pleasant vale of Argos, and away and out to sea.
And away and out to sea before it floated the mother and her
babe, while all who watched them wept, save that cruel
father, King Acrisius.

So they floated on and on, and the chest danced up and down
upon the billows, and the baby slept upon its mother's
breast: but the poor mother could not sleep, but watched and
wept, and she sang to her baby as they floated; and the song
which she sang you shall learn yourselves some day.

And now they are past the last blue headland, and in the open
sea; and there is nothing round them but the waves, and the
sky, and the wind. But the waves are gentle, and the sky is
clear, and the breeze is tender and low; for these are the
days when Halcyone and Ceyx build their nests, and no storms
ever ruffle the pleasant summer sea.

And who were Halcyone and Ceyx? You shall hear while the
chest floats on. Halcyone was a fairy maiden, the daughter
of the beach and of the wind. And she loved a sailor-boy,
and married him; and none on earth were so happy as they.
But at last Ceyx was wrecked; and before he could swim to the
shore the billows swallowed him up. And Halcyone saw him
drowning, and leapt into the sea to him; but in vain. Then
the Immortals took pity on them both, and changed them into
two fair sea-birds; and now they build a floating nest every
year, and sail up and down happily for ever upon the pleasant
seas of Greece.

So a night passed, and a day, and a long day it was for
Danae; and another night and day beside, till Danae was faint
with hunger and weeping, and yet no land appeared. And all
the while the babe slept quietly; and at last poor Danae
drooped her head and fell asleep likewise with her cheek
against the babe's.

After a while she was awakened suddenly; for the chest was
jarring and grinding, and the air was full of sound. She
looked up, and over her head were mighty cliffs, all red in
the setting sun, and around her rocks and breakers, and
flying flakes of foam. She clasped her hands together, and
shrieked aloud for help. And when she cried, help met her:
for now there came over the rocks a tall and stately man, and
looked down wondering upon poor Danae tossing about in the
chest among the waves.

He wore a rough cloak of frieze, and on his head a broad hat
to shade his face; in his hand he carried a trident for
spearing fish, and over his shoulder was a casting-net; but
Danae could see that he was no common man by his stature, and
his walk, and his flowing golden hair and beard; and by the
two servants who came behind him, carrying baskets for his
fish. But she had hardly time to look at him, before he had
laid aside his trident and leapt down the rocks, and thrown
his casting-net so surely over Danae and the chest, that he
drew it, and her, and the baby, safe upon a ledge of rock.

Then the fisherman took Danae by the hand, and lifted her out
of the chest, and said -

'O beautiful damsel, what strange chance has brought you to
this island in so flail a ship? Who are you, and whence?
Surely you are some king's daughter; and this boy has
somewhat more than mortal.'

And as he spoke he pointed to the babe; for its face shone
like the morning star.

But Danae only held down her head, and sobbed out -

'Tell me to what land I have come, unhappy that I am; and
among what men I have fallen!'

And he said, 'This isle is called Seriphos, and I am a
Hellen, and dwell in it. I am the brother of Polydectes the
king; and men call me Dictys the netter, because I catch the
fish of the shore.'

Then Danae fell down at his feet, and embraced his knees, and
cried -

'Oh, sir, have pity upon a stranger, whom a cruel doom has
driven to your land; and let me live in your house as a
servant; but treat me honourably, for I was once a king's
daughter, and this my boy (as you have truly said) is of no
common race. I will not be a charge to you, or eat the bread
of idleness; for I am more skilful in weaving and embroidery
than all the maidens of my land.'

And she was going on; but Dictys stopped her, and raised her
up, and said -

'My daughter, I am old, and my hairs are growing gray; while
I have no children to make my home cheerful. Come with me
then, and you shall be a daughter to me and to my wife, and
this babe shall be our grandchild. For I fear the Gods, and
show hospitality to all strangers; knowing that good deeds,
like evil ones, always return to those who do them.'

So Danae was comforted, and went home with Dictys the good
fisherman, and was a daughter to him and to his wife, till
fifteen years were past.

PART II - HOW PERSEUS VOWED A RASH VOW

FIFTEEN years were past and gone, and the babe was now grown
to be a tall lad and a sailor, and went many voyages after
merchandise to the islands round. His mother called him
Perseus; but all the people in Seriphos said that he was not
the son of mortal man, and called him the son of Zeus, the
king of the Immortals. For though he was but fifteen, he was
taller by a head than any man in the island; and he was the
most skilful of all in running and wrestling and boxing, and
in throwing the quoit and the javelin, and in rowing with the
oar, and in playing on the harp, and in all which befits a
man. And he was brave and truthful, gentle and courteous,
for good old Dictys had trained him well; and well it was for
Perseus that he had done so. For now Danae and her son fell
into great danger, and Perseus had need of all his wit to
defend his mother and himself.

I said that Dictys' brother was Polydectes, king of the
island. He was not a righteous man, like Dictys; but greedy,
and cunning, and cruel. And when he saw fair Danae, he
wanted to marry her. But she would not; for she did not love
him, and cared for no one but her boy, and her boy's father,
whom she never hoped to see again. At last Polydectes became
furious; and while Perseus was away at sea he took poor Danae
away from Dictys, saying, 'If you will not be my wife, you
shall be my slave.'  So Danae was made a slave, and had to
fetch water from the well, and grind in the mill, and perhaps
was beaten, and wore a heavy chain, because she would not
marry that cruel king. But Perseus was far away over the
seas in the isle of Samos, little thinking how his mother was
languishing in grief.

Now one day at Samos, while the ship was lading, Perseus
wandered into a pleasant wood to get out of the sun, and sat
down on the turf and fell asleep. And as he slept a strange
dream came to him - the strangest dream which he had ever had
in his life.

There came a lady to him through the wood, taller than he, or
any mortal man; but beautiful exceedingly, with great gray
eyes, clear and piercing, but strangely soft and mild. On
her head was a helmet, and in her hand a spear. And over her
shoulder, above her long blue robes, hung a goat-skin, which
bore up a mighty shield of brass, polished like a mirror.
She stood and looked at him with her clear gray eyes; and
Perseus saw that her eye-lids never moved, nor her eyeballs,
but looked straight through and through him, and into his
very heart, as if she could see all the secrets of his soul,
and knew all that he had ever thought or longed for since the
day that he was born. And Perseus dropped his eyes,
trembling and blushing, as the wonderful lady spoke.

'Perseus, you must do an errand for me.'

'Who are you, lady? And how do you know my name?'

'I am Pallas Athene; and I know the thoughts of all men's
hearts, and discern their manhood or their baseness. And
from the souls of clay I turn away, and they are blest, but
not by me. They fatten at ease, like sheep in the pasture,
and eat what they did not sow, like oxen in the stall. They
grow and spread, like the gourd along the ground; but, like
the gourd, they give no shade to the traveller, and when they
are ripe death gathers them, and they go down unloved into
hell, and their name vanishes out of the land.

'But to the souls of fire I give more fire, and to those who
are manful I give a might more than man's. These are the
heroes, the sons of the Immortals, who are blest, but not
like the souls of clay. For I drive them forth by strange
paths, Perseus, that they may fight the Titans and the
monsters, the enemies of Gods and men. Through doubt and
need, danger and battle, I drive them; and some of them are
slain in the flower of youth, no man knows when or where; and
some of them win noble names, and a fair and green old age;
but what will be their latter end I know not, and none, save
Zeus, the father of Gods and men. Tell me now, Perseus,
which of these two sorts of men seem to you more blest?'

Then Perseus answered boldly: 'Better to die in the flower
of youth, on the chance of winning a noble name, than to live
at ease like the sheep, and die unloved and unrenowned.'

Then that strange lady laughed, and held up her brazen
shield, and cried: 'See here, Perseus; dare you face such a
monster as this, and slay it, that I may place its head upon
this shield?'

And in the mirror of the shield there appeared a face, and as
Perseus looked on it his blood ran cold. It was the face of
a beautiful woman; but her cheeks were pale as death, and her
brows were knit with everlasting pain, and her lips were thin
and bitter like a snake's; and instead of hair, vipers
wreathed about her temples, and shot out their forked
tongues; while round her head were folded wings like an
eagle's, and upon her bosom claws of brass.

And Perseus looked awhile, and then said: 'If there is
anything so fierce and foul on earth, it were a noble deed to
kill it. Where can I find the monster?'

Then the strange lady smiled again, and said: 'Not yet; you
are too young, and too unskilled; for this is Medusa the
Gorgon, the mother of a monstrous brood. Return to your
home, and do the work which waits there for you. You must
play the man in that before I can think you worthy to go in
search of the Gorgon.'

Then Perseus would have spoken, but the strange lady
vanished, and he awoke; and behold, it was a dream. But day
and night Perseus saw before him the face of that dreadful
woman, with the vipers writhing round her head.

So he returned home; and when he came to Seriphos, the first
thing which he heard was that his mother was a slave in the
house of Polydectes.

Grinding his teeth with rage, he went out, and away to the
king's palace, and through the men's rooms, and the women's
rooms, and so through all the house (for no one dared stop
him, so terrible and fair was he), till he found his mother
sitting on the floor, turning the stone hand-mill, and
weeping as she turned it. And he lifted her up, and kissed
her, and bade her follow him forth. But before they could
pass out of the room Polydectes came in, raging. And when
Perseus saw him, he flew upon him as the mastiff flies on the
boar. 'Villain and tyrant!' he cried; 'is this your respect
for the Gods, and thy mercy to strangers and widows? You
shall die!'  And because he had no sword he caught up the
stone hand-mill, and lifted it to dash out Polydectes'
brains.

But his mother clung to him, shrieking, 'Oh, my son, we are
strangers and helpless in the land; and if you kill the king,
all the people will fall on us, and we shall both die.'

Good Dictys, too, who had come in, entreated him. 'Remember
that he is my brother. Remember how I have brought you up,
and trained you as my own son, and spare him for my sake.'

Then Perseus lowered his hand; and Polydectes, who had been
trembling all this while like a coward, because he knew that
he was in the wrong, let Perseus and his mother pass.

Perseus took his mother to the temple of Athene, and there
the priestess made her one of the temple-sweepers; for there
they knew she would be safe, and not even Polydectes would
dare to drag her away from the altar. And there Perseus, and
the good Dictys, and his wife, came to visit her every day;
while Polydectes, not being able to get what he wanted by
force, cast about in his wicked heart how he might get it by
cunning.

Now he was sure that he could never get back Danae as long as
Perseus was in the island; so he made a plot to rid himself
of him. And first he pretended to have forgiven Perseus, and
to have forgotten Danae; so that, for a while, all went as
smoothly as ever.

Next he proclaimed a great feast, and invited to it all the
chiefs, and landowners, and the young men of the island, and
among them Perseus, that they might all do him homage as
their king, and eat of his banquet in his hall.

On the appointed day they all came; and as the custom was
then, each guest brought his present with him to the king:
one a horse, another a shawl, or a ring, or a sword; and
those who had nothing better brought a basket of grapes, or
of game; but Perseus brought nothing, for he had nothing to
bring, being but a poor sailor-lad.

He was ashamed, however, to go into the king's presence
without his gift; and he was too proud to ask Dictys to lend
him one. So he stood at the door sorrowfully, watching the
rich men go in; and his face grew very red as they pointed at
him, and smiled, and whispered, 'What has that foundling to
give?'

Now this was what Polydectes wanted; and as soon as he heard
that Perseus stood without, he bade them bring him in, and
asked him scornfully before them all, 'Am I not your king,
Perseus, and have I not invited you to my feast? Where is
your present, then?'

Perseus blushed and stammered, while all the proud men round
laughed, and some of them began jeering him openly. 'This
fellow was thrown ashore here like a piece of weed or drift-
wood, and yet he is too proud to bring a gift to the king.'

'And though he does not know who his father is, he is vain
enough to let the old women call him the son of Zeus.'

And so forth, till poor Perseus grew mad with shame, and
hardly knowing what he said, cried out, - 'A present! who are
you who talk of presents? See if I do not bring a nobler one
than all of yours together!'

So he said boasting; and yet he felt in his heart that he was
braver than all those scoffers, and more able to do some
glorious deed.

'Hear him! Hear the boaster! What is it to be?' cried they
all, laughing louder than ever.

Then his dream at Samos came into his mind, and he cried
aloud, 'The head of the Gorgon.'

He was half afraid after he had said the words for all
laughed louder than ever, and Polydectes loudest of all.

'You have promised to bring me the Gorgon's head? Then never
appear again in this island without it. Go!'

Perseus ground his teeth with rage, for he saw that he had
fallen into a trap; but his promise lay upon him, and he went
out without a word.

Down to the cliffs he went, and looked across the broad blue
sea; and he wondered if his dream were true, and prayed in
the bitterness of his soul.

'Pallas Athene, was my dream true? and shall I slay the
Gorgon? If thou didst really show me her face, let me not
come to shame as a liar and boastful. Rashly and angrily I
promised; but cunningly and patiently will I perform.'

But there was no answer, nor sign; neither thunder nor any
appearance; not even a cloud in the sky.

And three times Perseus called weeping, 'Rashly and angrily I
promised; but cunningly and patiently will I perform.'

Then he saw afar off above the sea a small white cloud, as
bright as silver. And it came on, nearer and nearer, till
its brightness dazzled his eyes.

Perseus wondered at that strange cloud, for there was no
other cloud all round the sky; and he trembled as it touched
the cliff below. And as it touched, it broke, and parted,
and within it appeared Pallas Athene, as he had seen her at
Samos in his dream, and beside her a young man more light-
limbed than the stag, whose eyes were like sparks of fire.
By his side was a scimitar of diamond, all of one clear
precious stone, and on his feet were golden sandals, from the
heels of which grew living wings.

They looked upon Perseus keenly, and yet they never moved
their eyes; and they came up the cliffs towards him more
swiftly than the sea-gull, and yet they never moved their
feet, nor did the breeze stir the robes about their limbs;
only the wings of the youth's sandals quivered, like a hawk's
when he hangs above the cliff. And Perseus fell down and
worshipped, for he knew that they were more than man.

But Athene stood before him and spoke gently, and bid him
have no fear. Then -

'Perseus,' she said, 'he who overcomes in one trial merits
thereby a sharper trial still. You have braved Polydectes,
and done manfully. Dare you brave Medusa the Gorgon?'

And Perseus said, 'Try me; for since you spoke to me in Samos
a new soul has come into my breast, and I should be ashamed
not to dare anything which I can do. Show me, then, how I
can do this!'

'Perseus,' said Athene, 'think well before you attempt; for
this deed requires a seven years' journey, in which you
cannot repent or turn back nor escape; but if your heart
fails you, you must die in the Unshapen Land, where no man
will ever find your bones.'

'Better so than live here, useless and despised,' said
Perseus. 'Tell me, then, oh tell me, fair and wise Goddess,
of your great kindness and condescension, how I can do but
this one thing, and then, if need be, die!'

Then Athene smiled and said -

'Be patient, and listen; for if you forget my words, you will
indeed die. You must go northward to the country of the
Hyperboreans, who live beyond the pole, at the sources of the
cold north wind, till you find the three Gray Sisters, who
have but one eye and one tooth between them. You must ask
them the way to the Nymphs, the daughters of the Evening
Star, who dance about the golden tree, in the Atlantic island
of the west. They will tell you the way to the Gorgon, that
you may slay her, my enemy, the mother of monstrous beasts.
Once she was a maiden as beautiful as morn, till in her pride
she sinned a sin at which the sun hid his face; and from that
day her hair was turned to vipers, and her hands to eagle's
claws; and her heart was filled with shame and rage, and her
lips with bitter venom; and her eyes became so terrible that
whosoever looks on them is turned to stone; and her children
are the winged horse and the giant of the golden sword; and
her grandchildren are Echidna the witch-adder, and Geryon the
three-headed tyrant, who feeds his herds beside the herds of
hell. So she became the sister of the Gorgons, Stheino and
Euryte the abhorred, the daughters of the Queen of the Sea.
Touch them not, for they are immortal; but bring me only
Medusa's head.'

'And I will bring it!' said Perseus; 'but how am I to escape
her eyes? Will she not freeze me too into stone?'

'You shall take this polished shield,' said Athene, 'and when
you come near her look not at her herself, but at her image
in the brass; so you may strike her safely. And when you
have struck off her head, wrap it, with your face turned
away, in the folds of the goat-skin on which the shield
hangs, the hide of Amaltheie, the nurse of the AEgis-holder.
So you will bring it safely back to me, and win to yourself
renown, and a place among the heroes who feast with the
Immortals upon the peak where no winds blow.'

Then Perseus said, 'I will go, though I die in going. But
how shall I cross the seas without a ship? And who will show
me my way? And when I find her, how shall I slay her, if her
scales be iron and brass?'

Then the young man spoke: 'These sandals of mine will bear
you across the seas, and over hill and dale like a bird, as
they bear me all day long; for I am Hermes, the far-famed
Argus-slayer, the messenger of the Immortals who dwell on
Olympus.'

Then Perseus fell down and worshipped, while the young man
spoke again:

'The sandals themselves will guide you on the road, for they
are divine and cannot stray; and this sword itself, the
Argus-slayer, will kill her, for it is divine, and needs no
second stroke. Arise, and gird them on, and go forth.'

So Perseus arose, and girded on the sandals and the sword.

And Athene cried, 'Now leap from the cliff and be gone.'

But Perseus lingered.

'May I not bid farewell to my mother and to Dictys? And may
I not offer burnt-offerings to you, and to Hermes the far-
famed Argus-slayer, and to Father Zeus above?'

'You shall not bid farewell to your mother, lest your heart
relent at her weeping. I will comfort her and Dictys until
you return in peace. Nor shall you offer burnt-offerings to
the Olympians; for your offering shall be Medusa's head.
Leap, and trust in the armour of the Immortals.'

Then Perseus looked down the cliff and shuddered; but he was
ashamed to show his dread. Then he thought of Medusa and the
renown before him, and he leaped into the empty air.

And behold, instead of falling he floated, and stood, and ran
along the sky. He looked back, but Athene had vanished, and
Hermes; and the sandals led him on northward ever, like a
crane who follows the spring toward the Ister fens.

PART III - HOW PERSEUS SLEW THE GORGON

SO Perseus started on his journey, going dry-shod over land
and sea; and his heart was high and joyful, for the winged
sandals bore him each day a seven days' journey.

And he went by Cythnus, and by Ceos, and the pleasant
Cyclades to Attica; and past Athens and Thebes, and the
Copaic lake, and up the vale of Cephissus, and past the peaks
of OEta and Pindus, and over the rich Thessalian plains, till
the sunny hills of Greece were behind him, and before him
were the wilds of the north. Then he passed the Thracian
mountains, and many a barbarous tribe, Paeons and Dardans and
Triballi, till he came to the Ister stream, and the dreary
Scythian plains. And he walked across the Ister dry-shod,
and away through the moors and fens, day and night toward the
bleak north-west, turning neither to the right hand nor the
left, till he came to the Unshapen Land, and the place which
has no name.

And seven days he walked through it, on a path which few can
tell; for those who have trodden it like least to speak of
it, and those who go there again in dreams are glad enough
when they awake; till he came to the edge of the everlasting
night, where the air was full of feathers, and the soil was
hard with ice; and there at last he found the three Gray
Sisters, by the shore of the freezing sea, nodding upon a
white log of drift-wood, beneath the cold white winter moon;
and they chaunted a low song together, 'Why the old times
were better than the new.'

There was no living thing around them, not a fly, not a moss
upon the rocks. Neither seal nor sea-gull dare come near,
lest the ice should clutch them in its claws. The surge
broke up in foam, but it fell again in flakes of snow; and it
frosted the hair of the three Gray Sisters, and the bones in
the ice-cliff above their heads. They passed the eye from
one to the other, but for all that they could not see; and
they passed the tooth from one to the other, but for all that
they could not eat; and they sat in the full glare of the
moon, but they were none the warmer for her beams. And
Perseus pitied the three Gray Sisters; but they did not pity
themselves.

So he said, 'Oh, venerable mothers, wisdom is the daughter of
old age. You therefore should know many things. Tell me, if
you can, the path to the Gorgon.'

Then one cried, 'Who is this who reproaches us with old age?'  
And another, 'This is the voice of one of the children of
men.'

And he, 'I do not reproach, but honour your old age, and I am
one of the sons of men and of the heroes. The rulers of
Olympus have sent me to you to ask the way to the Gorgon.'

Then one, 'There are new rulers in Olympus, and all new
things are bad.'  And another, 'We hate your rulers, and the
heroes, and all the children of men. We are the kindred of
the Titans, and the Giants, and the Gorgons, and the ancient
monsters of the deep.'  And another, 'Who is this rash and
insolent man who pushes unbidden into our world?'  And the
first, 'There never was such a world as ours, nor will be; if
we let him see it, he will spoil it all.'

Then one cried, 'Give me the eye, that I may see him;' and
another, 'Give me the tooth, that I may bite him.'  But
Perseus, when he saw that they were foolish and proud, and
did not love the children of men, left off pitying them, and
said to himself, 'Hungry men must needs be hasty; if I stay
making many words here, I shall be starved.'  Then he stepped
close to them, and watched till they passed the eye from hand
to hand. And as they groped about between themselves, he
held out his own hand gently, till one of them put the eye
into it, fancying that it was the hand of her sister. Then
he sprang back, and laughed, and cried -

'Cruel and proud old women, I have your eye; and I will throw
it into the sea, unless you tell me the path to the Gorgon,
and swear to me that you tell me right.'

Then they wept, and chattered, and scolded; but in vain.
They were forced to tell the truth, though, when they told
it, Perseus could hardly make out the road.

'You must go,' they said, 'foolish boy, to the southward,
into the ugly glare of the sun, till you come to Atlas the
Giant, who holds the heaven and the earth apart. And you
must ask his daughters, the Hesperides, who are young and
foolish like yourself. And now give us back our eye, for we
have forgotten all the rest.'

So Perseus gave them back their eye; but instead of using it,
they nodded and fell fast asleep, and were turned into blocks
of ice, till the tide came up and washed them all away. And
now they float up and down like icebergs for ever, weeping
whenever they meet the sunshine, and the fruitful summer and
the warm south wind, which fill young hearts with joy.

But Perseus leaped away to the southward, leaving the snow
and the ice behind: past the isle of the Hyperboreans, and
the tin isles, and the long Iberian shore, while the sun rose
higher day by day upon a bright blue summer sea. And the
terns and the sea-gulls swept laughing round his head, and
called to him to stop and play, and the dolphins gambolled up
as he passed, and offered to carry him on their backs. And
all night long the sea-nymphs sang sweetly, and the Tritons
blew upon their conchs, as they played round Galataea their
queen, in her car of pearled shells. Day by day the sun rose
higher, and leaped more swiftly into the sea at night, and
more swiftly out of the sea at dawn; while Perseus skimmed
over the billows like a sea-gull, and his feet were never
wetted; and leapt on from wave to wave, and his limbs were
never weary, till he saw far away a mighty mountain, all
rose-red in the setting sun. Its feet were wrapped in
forests, and its head in wreaths of cloud; and Perseus knew
that it was Atlas, who holds the heavens and the earth apart.

He came to the mountain, and leapt on shore, and wandered
upward, among pleasant valleys and waterfalls, and tall trees
and strange ferns and flowers; but there was no smoke rising
from any glen, nor house, nor sign of man.

At last he heard sweet voices singing; and he guessed that he
was come to the garden of the Nymphs, the daughters of the
Evening Star.

They sang like nightingales among the thickets, and Perseus
stopped to hear their song; but the words which they spoke he
could not understand; no, nor no man after him for many a
hundred years. So he stepped forward and saw them dancing,
hand in hand around the charmed tree, which bent under its
golden fruit; and round the tree-foot was coiled the dragon,
old Ladon the sleepless snake, who lies there for ever,
listening to the song of the maidens, blinking and watching
with dry bright eyes.

Then Perseus stopped, not because he feared the dragon, but
because he was bashful before those fair maids; but when they
saw him, they too stopped, and called to him with trembling
voices -

'Who are you? Are you Heracles the mighty, who will come to
rob our garden, and carry off our golden fruit?'  And he
answered -

'I am not Heracles the mighty, and I want none of your golden
fruit. Tell me, fair Nymphs, the way which leads to the
Gorgon, that I may go on my way and slay her.'

'Not yet, not yet, fair boy; come dance with us around the
tree in the garden which knows no winter, the home of the
south wind and the sun. Come hither and play with us awhile;
we have danced alone here for a thousand years, and our
hearts are weary with longing for a playfellow. So come,
come, come!'

'I cannot dance with you, fair maidens; for I must do the
errand of the Immortals. So tell me the way to the Gorgon,
lest I wander and perish in the waves.'

Then they sighed and wept; and answered - 'The Gorgon! she
will freeze you into stone.'

'It is better to die like a hero than to live like an ox in a
stall. The Immortals have lent me weapons, and they will
give me wit to use them.'

Then they sighed again and answered, 'Fair boy, if you are
bent on your own ruin, be it so. We know not the way to the
Gorgon; but we will ask the giant Atlas, above upon the
mountain peak, the brother of our father, the silver Evening
Star. He sits aloft and sees across the ocean, and far away
into the Unshapen Land.'

So they went up the mountain to Atlas their uncle, and
Perseus went up with them. And they found the giant
kneeling, as he held the heavens and the earth apart.

They asked him, and he answered mildly, pointing to the sea-
board with his mighty hand, 'I can see the Gorgons lying on
an island far away, but this youth can never come near them,
unless he has the hat of darkness, which whosoever wears
cannot be seen.'

Then cried Perseus, 'Where is that hat, that I may find it?'

But the giant smiled. 'No living mortal can find that hat,
for it lies in the depths of Hades, in the regions of the
dead. But my nieces are immortal, and they shall fetch it
for you, if you will promise me one thing and keep your
faith.'

Then Perseus promised; and the giant said, 'When you come
back with the head of Medusa, you shall show me the beautiful
horror, that I may lose my feeling and my breathing, and
become a stone for ever; for it is weary labour for me to
hold the heavens and the earth apart.'

Then Perseus promised, and the eldest of the Nymphs went
down, and into a dark cavern among the cliffs, out of which
came smoke and thunder, for it was one of the mouths of Hell.

And Perseus and the Nymphs sat down seven days, and waited
trembling, till the Nymph came up again; and her face was
pale, and her eyes dazzled with the light, for she had been
long in the dreary darkness; but in her hand was the magic
hat.

Then all the Nymphs kissed Perseus, and wept over him a long
while; but he was only impatient to be gone. And at last
they put the hat upon his head, and he vanished out of their
sight.

But Perseus went on boldly, past many an ugly sight, far away
into the heart of the Unshapen Land, beyond the streams of
Ocean, to the isles where no ship cruises, where is neither
night nor day, where nothing is in its right place, and
nothing has a name; till he heard the rustle of the Gorgons'
wings and saw the glitter of their brazen talons; and then he
knew that it was time to halt, lest Medusa should freeze him
into stone.

He thought awhile with himself, and remembered Athene's
words. He rose aloft into the air, and held the mirror of
the shield above his head, and looked up into it that he
might see all that was below him.

And he saw the three Gorgons sleeping as huge as elephants.
He knew that they could not see him, because the hat of
darkness hid him; and yet he trembled as he sank down near
them, so terrible were those brazen claws.

Two of the Gorgons were foul as swine, and lay sleeping
heavily, as swine sleep, with their mighty wings outspread;
but Medusa tossed to and fro restlessly, and as she tossed
Perseus pitied her, she looked so fair and sad. Her plumage
was like the rainbow, and her face was like the face of a
nymph, only her eyebrows were knit, and her lips clenched,
with everlasting care and pain; and her long neck gleamed so
white in the mirror that Perseus had not the heart to strike,
and said, 'Ah, that it had been either of her sisters!'

But as he looked, from among her tresses the vipers' heads
awoke, and peeped up with their bright dry eyes, and showed
their fangs, and hissed; and Medusa, as she tossed, threw
back her wings and showed her brazen claws; and Perseus saw
that, for all her beauty, she was as foul and venomous as the
rest.

Then he came down and stepped to her boldly, and looked
steadfastly on his mirror, and struck with Herpe stoutly
once; and he did not need to strike again.

Then he wrapped the head in the goat-skin, turning away his
eyes, and sprang into the air aloft, faster than he ever
sprang before.

For Medusa's wings and talons rattled as she sank dead upon
the rocks; and her two foul sisters woke, and saw her lying
dead.

Into the air they sprang yelling and looked for him who had
done the deed. Thrice they swung round and round, like hawks
who beat for a partridge; and thrice they snuffed round and
round, like hounds who draw upon a deer. At last they struck
upon the scent of the blood, and they checked for a moment to
make sure; and then on they rushed with a fearful howl, while
the wind rattled hoarse in their wings.

On they rushed, sweeping and flapping, like eagles after a
hare; and Perseus' blood ran cold, for all his courage, as he
saw them come howling on his track; and he cried, 'Bear me
well now, brave sandals, for the hounds of Death are at my
heels!'

And well the brave sandals bore him, aloft through cloud and
sunshine, across the shoreless sea; and fast followed the
hounds of Death, as the roar of their wings came down the
wind. But the roar came down fainter and fainter, and the
howl of their voices died away; for the sandals were too
swift, even for Gorgons, and by nightfall they were far
behind, two black specks in the southern sky, till the sun
sank and he saw them no more.

Then he came again to Atlas, and the garden of the Nymphs;
and when the giant heard him coming he groaned, and said,
'Fulfil thy promise to me.'  Then Perseus held up to him the
Gorgon's head, and he had rest from all his toil; for he
became a crag of stone, which sleeps for ever far above the
clouds.

Then he thanked the Nymphs, and asked them, 'By what road
shall I go homeward again, for I wandered far round in coming
hither?'

And they wept and cried, 'Go home no more, but stay and play
with us, the lonely maidens, who dwell for ever far away from
Gods and men.'

But he refused, and they told him his road, and said, 'Take
with you this magic fruit, which, if you eat once, you will
not hunger for seven days. For you must go eastward and
eastward ever, over the doleful Lybian shore, which Poseidon
gave to Father Zeus, when he burst open the Bosphorus and the
Hellespont, and drowned the fair Lectonian land. And Zeus
took that land in exchange, a fair bargain, much bad ground
for a little good, and to this day it lies waste and desert
with shingle, and rock, and sand.'

Then they kissed Perseus, and wept over him, and he leapt
down the mountain, and went on, lessening and lessening like
a sea-gull, away and out to sea.

PART IV - HOW PERSEUS CAME TO THE AETHIOPS

SO Perseus flitted onward to the north-east, over many a
league of sea, till he came to the rolling sand-hills and the
dreary Lybian shore.

And he flitted on across the desert: over rock-ledges, and
banks of shingle, and level wastes of sand, and shell-drifts
bleaching in the sunshine, and the skeletons of great sea-
monsters, and dead bones of ancient giants, strewn up and
down upon the old sea-floor. And as he went the blood-drops
fell to the earth from the Gorgon's head, and became
poisonous asps and adders, which breed in the desert to this
day.

Over the sands he went, - he never knew how far or how long,
feeding on the fruit which the Nymphs had given him, till he
saw the hills of the Psylli, and the Dwarfs who fought with
cranes. Their spears were of reeds and rushes, and their
houses of the egg-shells of the cranes; and Perseus laughed,
and went his way to the north-east, hoping all day long to
see the blue Mediterranean sparkling, that he might fly
across it to his home.

But now came down a mighty wind, and swept him back southward
toward the desert. All day long he strove against it; but
even the winged sandals could not prevail. So he was forced
to float down the wind all night; and when the morning dawned
there was nothing to be seen, save the same old hateful waste
of sand.

And out of the north the sandstorms rushed upon him, blood-
red pillars and wreaths, blotting out the noonday sun; and
Perseus fled before them, lest he should be choked by the
burning dust. At last the gale fell calm, and he tried to go
northward again; but again came down the sandstorms, and
swept him back into the waste, and then all was calm and
cloudless as before. Seven days he strove against the
storms, and seven days he was driven back, till he was spent
with thirst and hunger, and his tongue clove to the roof of
his mouth. Here and there he fancied that he saw a fair
lake, and the sunbeams shining on the water; but when he came
to it it vanished at his feet, and there was nought but
burning sand. And if he had not been of the race of the
Immortals, he would have perished in the waste; but his life
was strong within him, because it was more than man's.

Then he cried to Athene, and said -

'Oh, fair and pure, if thou hearest me, wilt thou leave me
here to die of drought? I have brought thee the Gorgon's
head at thy bidding, and hitherto thou hast prospered my
journey; dost thou desert me at the last? Else why will not
these immortal sandals prevail, even against the desert
storms? Shall I never see my mother more, and the blue
ripple round Seriphos, and the sunny hills of Hellas?'

So he prayed; and after he had prayed there was a great
silence.

The heaven was still above his head, and the sand was still
beneath his feet; and Perseus looked up, but there was
nothing but the blinding sun in the blinding blue; and round
him, but there was nothing but the blinding sand.

And Perseus stood still a while, and waited, and said,
'Surely I am not here without the will of the Immortals, for
Athene will not lie. Were not these sandals to lead me in
the right road? Then the road in which I have tried to go
must be a wrong road.'

Then suddenly his ears were opened, and he heard the sound of
running water.

And at that his heart was lifted up, though he scarcely dare
believe his ears; and weary as he was, he hurried forward,
though he could scarcely stand upright; and within a bowshot
of him was a glen in the sand, and marble rocks, and date-
trees, and a lawn of gay green grass. And through the lawn a
streamlet sparkled and wandered out beyond the trees, and
vanished in the sand.

The water trickled among the rocks, and a pleasant breeze
rustled in the dry date-branches and Perseus laughed for joy,
and leapt down the cliff, and drank of the cool water, and
ate of the dates, and slept upon the turf, and leapt up and
went forward again: but not toward the north this time; for
he said, 'Surely Athene hath sent me hither, and will not
have me go homeward yet. What if there be another noble deed
to be done, before I see the sunny hills of Hellas?'

So he went east, and east for ever, by fresh oases and
fountains, date-palms, and lawns of grass, till he saw before
him a mighty mountain-wall, all rose-red in the setting sun.

Then he towered in the air like an eagle, for his limbs were
strong again; and he flew all night across the mountain till
the day began to dawn, and rosy-fingered Eos came blushing up
the sky. And then, behold, beneath him was the long green
garden of Egypt and the shining stream of Nile.

And he saw cities walled up to heaven, and temples, and
obelisks, and pyramids, and giant Gods of stone. And he came
down amid fields of barley, and flax, and millet, and
clambering gourds; and saw the people coming out of the gates
of a great city, and setting to work, each in his place,
among the water-courses, parting the streams among the plants
cunningly with their feet, according to the wisdom of the
Egyptians. But when they saw him they all stopped their
work, and gathered round him, and cried -

'Who art thou, fair youth? and what bearest thou beneath thy
goat-skin there? Surely thou art one of the Immortals; for
thy skin is white like ivory, and ours is red like clay. Thy
hair is like threads of gold, and ours is black and curled.
Surely thou art one of the Immortals;' and they would have
worshipped him then and there; but Perseus said -

'I am not one of the Immortals; but I am a hero of the
Hellens. And I have slain the Gorgon in the wilderness, and
bear her head with me. Give me food, therefore, that I may
go forward and finish my work.'

Then they gave him food, and fruit, and wine; but they would
not let him go. And when the news came into the city that
the Gorgon was slain, the priests came out to meet him, and
the maidens, with songs and dances, and timbrels and harps;
and they would have brought him to their temple and to their
king; but Perseus put on the hat of darkness, and vanished
away out of their sight.

Therefore the Egyptians looked long for his return, but in
vain, and worshipped him as a hero, and made a statue of him
in Chemmis, which stood for many a hundred years; and they
said that he appeared to them at times, with sandals a cubit
long; and that whenever he appeared the season was fruitful,
and the Nile rose high that year.

Then Perseus went to the eastward, along the Red Sea shore;
and then, because he was afraid to go into the Arabian
deserts, he turned northward once more, and this time no
storm hindered him.

He went past the Isthmus, and Mount Casius, and the vast
Serbonian bog, and up the shore of Palestine, where the dark-
faced AEthiops dwelt.

He flew on past pleasant hills and valleys, like Argos
itself, or Lacedaemon, or the fair Vale of Tempe. But the
lowlands were all drowned by floods, and the highlands
blasted by fire, and the hills heaved like a babbling
cauldron, before the wrath of King Poseidon, the shaker of
the earth.

And Perseus feared to go inland, but flew along the shore
above the sea; and he went on all the day, and the sky was
black with smoke; and he went on all the night, and the sky
was red with flame.

And at the dawn of day he looked toward the cliffs; and at
the water's edge, under a black rock, he saw a white image
stand.

'This,' thought he, 'must surely be the statue of some sea-
God; I will go near and see what kind of Gods these
barbarians worship.'

So he came near; but when he came, it was no statue, but a
maiden of flesh and blood; for he could see her tresses
streaming in the breeze; and as he came closer still, he
could see how she shrank and shivered when the waves
sprinkled her with cold salt spray. Her arms were spread
above her head, and fastened to the rock with chains of
brass; and her head drooped on her bosom, either with sleep,
or weariness, or grief. But now and then she looked up and
wailed, and called her mother; yet she did not see Perseus,
for the cap of darkness was on his head.

Full of pity and indignation, Perseus drew near and looked
upon the maid. Her cheeks were darker than his were, and her
hair was blue-black like a hyacinth; but Perseus thought, 'I
have never seen so beautiful a maiden; no, not in all our
isles. Surely she is a king's daughter. Do barbarians treat
their kings' daughters thus? She is too fair, at least, to
have done any wrong I will speak to her.'

And, lifting the hat from his head, he flashed into her
sight. She shrieked with terror, and tried to hide her face
with her hair, for she could not with her hands; but Perseus
cried -

'Do not fear me, fair one; I am a Hellen, and no barbarian.
What cruel men have bound you? But first I will set you
free.'

And he tore at the fetters, but they were too strong for him;
while the maiden cried -

'Touch me not; I am accursed, devoted as a victim to the sea-
Gods. They will slay you, if you dare to set me free.'

'Let them try,' said Perseus; and drawing, Herpe from his
thigh, he cut through the brass as if it had been flax.

'Now,' he said, 'you belong to me, and not to these sea-Gods,
whosoever they may be!'  But she only called the more on her
mother.

'Why call on your mother? She can be no mother to have left
you here. If a bird is dropped out of the nest, it belongs
to the man who picks it up. If a jewel is cast by the
wayside, it is his who dare win it and wear it, as I will win
you and will wear you. I know now why Pallas Athene sent me
hither. She sent me to gain a prize worth all my toil and
more.'

And he clasped her in his arms, and cried, 'Where are these
sea-Gods, cruel and unjust, who doom fair maids to death? I
carry the weapons of Immortals. Let them measure their
strength against mine! But tell me, maiden, who you are, and
what dark fate brought you here.'

And she answered, weeping -

"I am the daughter of Cepheus, King of Iopa, and my mother is
Cassiopoeia of the beautiful tresses, and they called me
Andromeda, as long as life was mine. And I stand bound here,
hapless that I am, for the sea-monster's food, to atone for
my mother's sin. For she boasted of me once that I was
fairer than Atergatis, Queen of the Fishes; so she in her
wrath sent the sea-floods, and her brother the Fire King sent
the earthquakes, and wasted all the land, and after the
floods a monster bred of the slime, who devours all living
things. And now he must devour me, guiltless though I am -
me who never harmed a living thing, nor saw a fish upon the
shore but I gave it life, and threw it back into the sea; for
in our land we eat no fish, for fear of Atergatis their
queen. Yet the priests say that nothing but my blood can
atone for a sin which I never committed.'

But Perseus laughed, and said, 'A sea-monster? I have fought
with worse than him: I would have faced Immortals for your
sake; how much more a beast of the sea?'

Then Andromeda looked up at him, and new hope was kindled in
her breast, so proud and fair did he stand, with one hand
round her, and in the other the glittering sword. But she
only sighed, and wept the more, and cried -

'Why will you die, young as you are? Is there not death and
sorrow enough in the world already? It is noble for me to
die, that I may save the lives of a whole people; but you,
better than them all, why should I slay you too? Go you your
way; I must go mine.'

But Perseus cried, 'Not so; for the Lords of Olympus, whom I
serve, are the friends of the heroes, and help them on to
noble deeds. Led by them, I slew the Gorgon, the beautiful
horror; and not without them do I come hither, to slay this
monster with that same Gorgon's head. Yet hide your eyes
when I leave you, lest the sight of it freeze you too to
stone.'

But the maiden answered nothing, for she could not believe
his words. And then, suddenly looking up, she pointed to the
sea, and shrieked -

'There he comes, with the sunrise, as they promised. I must
die now. How shall I endure it? Oh, go! Is it not dreadful
enough to be torn piece-meal, without having you to look on?'  
And she tried to thrust him away.

But he said, 'I go; yet promise me one thing ere I go: that
if I slay this beast you will be my wife, and come back with
me to my kingdom in fruitful Argos, for I am a king's heir.
Promise me, and seal it with a kiss.'

Then she lifted up her face, and kissed him; and Perseus
laughed for joy, and flew upward, while Andromeda crouched
trembling on the rock, waiting for what might befall.

On came the great sea-monster, coasting along like a huge
black galley, lazily breasting the ripple, and stopping at
times by creek or headland to watch for the laughter of girls
at their bleaching, or cattle pawing on the sand-hills, or
boys bathing on the beach. His great sides were fringed with
clustering shells and sea-weeds, and the water gurgled in and
out of his wide jaws, as he rolled along, dripping and
glistening in the beams of the morning sun.

At last he saw Andromeda, and shot forward to take his prey,
while the waves foamed white behind him, and before him the
fish fled leaping.

Then down from the height of the air fell Perseus like a
shooting star; down to the crests of the waves, while
Andromeda hid her face as he shouted; and then there was
silence for a while.

At last she looked up trembling, and saw Perseus springing
toward her; and instead of the monster a long black rock,
with the sea rippling quietly round it.

Who then so proud as Perseus, as he leapt back to the rock,
and lifted his fair Andromeda in his arms, and flew with her
to the cliff-top, as a falcon carries a dove?

Who so proud as Perseus, and who so joyful as all the AEthiop
people? For they had stood watching the monster from the
cliffs, wailing for the maiden's fate. And already a
messenger had gone to Cepheus and Cassiopoeia, where they sat
in sackcloth and ashes on the ground, in the innermost palace
chambers, awaiting their daughter's end. And they came, and
all the city with them, to see the wonder, with songs and
with dances, with cymbals and harps, and received their
daughter back again, as one alive from the dead.

Then Cepheus said, 'Hero of the Hellens, stay here with me
and be my son-in-law, and I will give you the half of my
kingdom.'

'I will be your son-in-law,' said Perseus, 'but of your
kingdom I will have none, for I long after the pleasant land
of Greece, and my mother who waits for me at home.'

Then Cepheus said, 'You must not take my daughter away at
once, for she is to us like one alive from the dead. Stay
with us here a year, and after that you shall return with
honour.'  And Perseus consented; but before he went to the
palace he bade the people bring stones and wood, and built
three altars, one to Athene, and one to Hermes, and one to
Father Zeus, and offered bullocks and rams.

And some said, 'This is a pious man;' yet the priests said,
'The Sea Queen will be yet more fierce against us, because
her monster is slain.'  But they were afraid to speak aloud,
for they feared the Gorgon's head. So they went up to the
palace; and when they came in, there stood in the hall
Phineus, the brother of Cepheus, chafing like a bear robbed
of her whelps, and with him his sons, and his servants, and
many an armed man; and he cried to Cepheus -

'You shall not marry your daughter to this stranger, of whom
no one knows even the name. Was not Andromeda betrothed to
my son? And now she is safe again, has he not a right to
claim her?'

But Perseus laughed, and answered, 'If your son is in want of
a bride, let him save a maiden for himself. As yet he seems
but a helpless bride-groom. He left this one to die, and
dead she is to him. I saved her alive, and alive she is to
me, but to no one else. Ungrateful man! have I not saved
your land, and the lives of your sons and daughters, and will
you requite me thus? Go, or it will be worse for you.'  But
all the men-at-arms drew their swords, and rushed on him like
wild beasts.

Then he unveiled the Gorgon's head, and said, 'This has
delivered my bride from one wild beast: it shall deliver her
from many.'  And as he spoke Phineus and all his men-at-arms
stopped short, and stiffened each man as he stood; and before
Perseus had drawn the goat-skin over the face again, they
were all turned into stone.

Then Persons bade the people bring levers and roll them out;
and what was done with them after that I cannot tell.

So they made a great wedding-feast, which lasted seven whole
days, and who so happy as Perseus and Andromeda?

But on the eighth night Perseus dreamed a dream; and he saw
standing beside him Pallas Athene, as he had seen her in
Seriphos, seven long years before; and she stood and called
him by name, and said -

'Perseus, you have played the man, and see, you have your
reward. Know now that the Gods are just, and help him who
helps himself. Now give me here Herpe the sword, and the
sandals, and the hat of darkness, that I may give them back
to their owners; but the Gorgon's head you shall keep a
while, for you will need it in your land of Greece. Then you
shall lay it up in my temple at Seriphos, that I may wear it
on my shield for ever, a terror to the Titans and the
monsters, and the foes of Gods and men. And as for this
land, I have appeased the sea and the fire, and there shall
be no more floods nor earthquakes. But let the people build
altars to Father Zeus, and to me, and worship the Immortals,
the Lords of heaven and earth.'

And Perseus rose to give her the sword, and the cap, and the
sandals; but he woke, and his dream vanished away. And yet
it was not altogether a dream; for the goat-skin with the
head was in its place; but the sword, and the cap, and the
sandals were gone, and Perseus never saw them more.

Then a great awe fell on Perseus; and he went out in the
morning to the people, and told his dream, and bade them
build altars to Zeus, the Father of Gods and men, and to
Athene, who gives wisdom to heroes; and fear no more the
earthquakes and the floods, but sow and build in peace. And
they did so for a while, and prospered; but after Perseus was
gone they forgot Zeus and Athene, and worshipped again
Atergatis the queen, and the undying fish of the sacred lake,
where Deucalion's deluge was swallowed up, and they burnt
their children before the Fire King, till Zeus was angry with
that foolish people, and brought a strange nation against
them out of Egypt, who fought against them and wasted them
utterly, and dwelt in their cities for many a hundred years.

PART V - HOW PERSEUS CAME HOME AGAIN

AND when a year was ended Perseus hired Phoenicians from
Tyre, and cut down cedars, and built himself a noble galley;
and painted its cheeks with vermilion, and pitched its sides
with pitch; and in it he put Andromeda, and all her dowry of
jewels, and rich shawls, and spices from the East; and great
was the weeping when they rowed away. But the remembrance of
his brave deed was left behind; and Andromeda's rock was
shown at Iopa in Palestine till more than a thousand years
were past.

So Perseus and the Phoenicians rowed to the westward, across
the sea of Crete, till they came to the blue AEgean and the
pleasant Isles of Hellas, and Seriphos, his ancient home.

Then he left his galley on the beach, and went up as of old;
and he embraced his mother, and Dictys his good foster-
father, and they wept over each other a long while, for it
was seven years and more since they had met.

Then Perseus went out, and up to the hall of Polydectes; and
underneath the goat-skin he bore the Gorgon's head.

And when he came into the hall, Polydectes sat at the table-
head, and all his nobles and landowners on either side, each
according to his rank, feasting on the fish and the goat's
flesh, and drinking the blood-red wine. The harpers harped,
and the revellers shouted, and the wine-cups rang merrily as
they passed from hand to hand, and great was the noise in the
hall of Polydectes.

Then Persons stood upon the threshold, and called to the king
by name. But none of the guests knew Perseus, for he was
changed by his long journey. He had gone out a boy, and he
was come home a hero; his eye shone like an eagle's, and his
beard was like a lion's beard, and he stood up like a wild
bull in his pride.

But Polydectes the wicked knew him, and hardened his heart
still more; and scornfully he called -

'Ah, foundling! have you found it more easy to promise than
to fulfil?'

'Those whom the Gods help fulfil their promises; and those
who despise them, reap as they have sown. Behold the
Gorgon's head!'

Then Perseus drew back the goat-skin, and held aloft the
Gorgon's head.

Pale grew Polydectes and his guests as they looked upon that
dreadful face. They tried to rise up from their seats: but
from their seats they never rose, but stiffened, each man
where he sat, into a ring of cold gray stones.

Then Perseus turned and left them, and went down to his
galley in the bay; and he gave the kingdom to good Dictys,
and sailed away with his mother and his bride.

And Polydectes and his guests sat still, with the wine-cups
before them on the board, till the rafters crumbled down
above their heads, and the walls behind their backs, and the
table crumbled down between them, and the grass sprung up
about their feet: but Polydectes and his guests sit on the
hillside, a ring of gray stones until this day.

But Perseus rowed westward toward Argos, and landed, and went
up to the town. And when he came, he found that Acrisius his
grandfather had fled. For Proetus his wicked brother had
made war against him afresh; and had come across the river
from Tiryns, and conquered Argos, and Acrisius had fled to
Larissa, in the country of the wild Pelasgi.

Then Perseus called the Argives together, and told them who
he was, and all the noble deeds which he had done. And all
the nobles and the yeomen made him king, for they saw that he
had a royal heart; and they fought with him against Argos,
and took it, and killed Proetus, and made the Cyclopes serve
them, and build them walls round Argos, like the walls which
they had built at Tiryns; and there were great rejoicings in
the vale of Argos, because they had got a king from Father
Zeus.

But Perseus' heart yearned after his grandfather, and he
said, 'Surely he is my flesh and blood, and he will love me
now that I am come home with honour: I will go and find him,
and bring him home, and we will reign together in peace.'

So Perseus sailed away with his Phoenicians, round Hydrea and
Sunium, past Marathon and the Attic shore, and through
Euripus, and up the long Euboean sea, till he came to the
town of Larissa, where the wild Pelasgi dwelt.

And when he came there, all the people were in the fields,
and there was feasting, and all kinds of games; for
Teutamenes their king wished to honour Acrisius, because he
was the king of a mighty land.

So Perseus did not tell his name, but went up to the games
unknown; for he said, 'If I carry away the prize in the
games, my grandfather's heart will be softened toward me.'

So he threw off his helmet, and his cuirass, and all his
clothes, and stood among the youths of Larissa, while all
wondered at him, and said, 'Who is this young stranger, who
stands like a wild bull in his pride? Surely he is one of
the heroes, the sons of the Immortals, from Olympus.'

And when the games began, they wondered yet more; for Perseus
was the best man of all at running, and leaping, and
wrestling and throwing the javelin; and he won four crowns,
and took them, and then he said to himself, 'There is a fifth
crown yet to be won: I will win that, and lay them all upon
the knees of my grandfather.'

And as he spoke, he saw where Acrisius sat, by the side of
Teutamenes the king, with his white beard flowing down upon
his knees, and his royal staff in his hand; and Perseus wept
when he looked at him, for his heart yearned after his kin;
and he said, 'Surely he is a kingly old man, yet he need not
be ashamed of his grandson.'

Then he took the quoits, and hurled them, five fathoms beyond
all the rest; and the people shouted, 'Further yet, brave
stranger! There has never been such a hurler in this land.'

Then Perseus put out all his strength, and hurled. But a
gust of wind came from the sea, and carried the quoit aside,
and far beyond all the rest; and it fell on the foot of
Acrisius, and he swooned away with the pain.

Perseus shrieked, and ran up to him; but when they lifted the
old man up he was dead, for his life was slow and feeble.

Then Perseus rent his clothes, and cast dust upon his head,
and wept a long while for his grandfather. At last he rose,
and called to all the people aloud, and said -

'The Gods are true, and what they have ordained must be. I
am Perseus, the grandson of this dead man, the far-famed
slayer of the Gorgon.'

Then he told them how the prophecy had declared that he
should kill his grandfather, and all the story of his life.

So they made a great mourning for Acrisius, and burnt him on
a right rich pile; and Perseus went to the temple, and was
purified from the guilt of the death, because he had done it
unknowingly.

Then he went home to Argos, and reigned there well with fair
Andromeda; and they had four sons and three daughters, and
died in a good old age.

And when they died, the ancients say, Athene took them up
into the sky, with Cepheus and Cassiopoeia. And there on
starlight nights you may see them shining still; Cepheus with
his kingly crown, and Cassiopoeia in her ivory chair,
plaiting her star-spangled tresses, and Perseus with the
Gorgon's head, and fair Andromeda beside him, spreading her
long white arms across the heaven, as she stood when chained
to the stone for the monster.

All night long, they shine, for a beacon to wandering
sailors; but all day they feast with the Gods, on the still
blue peaks of Olympus.

STORY II. - THE ARGONAUTS

PART I - HOW THE CENTAUR TRAINED THE HEROES ON PELION

I HAVE told you of a hero who fought with wild beasts and
with wild men; but now I have a tale of heroes who sailed
away into a distant land, to win themselves renown for ever,
in the adventure of the Golden Fleece.

Whither they sailed, my children, I cannot clearly tell. It
all happened long ago; so long that it has all grown dim,
like a dream which you dreamt last year. And why they went I
cannot tell: some say that it was to win gold. It may be
so; but the noblest deeds which have been done on earth have
not been done for gold. It was not for the sake of gold that
the Lord came down and died, and the Apostles went out to
preach the good news in all lands. The Spartans looked for
no reward in money when they fought and died at Thermopylae;
and Socrates the wise asked no pay from his countrymen, but
lived poor and barefoot all his days, only caring to make men
good. And there are heroes in our days also, who do noble
deeds, but not for gold. Our discoverers did not go to make
themselves rich when they sailed out one after another into
the dreary frozen seas; nor did the ladies who went out last
year to drudge in the hospitals of the East, making
themselves poor, that they might be rich in noble works. And
young men, too, whom you know, children, and some of them of
your own kin, did they say to themselves, 'How much money
shall I earn?' when they went out to the war, leaving wealth,
and comfort, and a pleasant home, and all that money can
give, to face hunger and thirst, and wounds and death, that
they might fight for their country and their Queen? No,
children, there is a better thing on earth than wealth, a
better thing than life itself; and that is, to have done
something before you die, for which good men may honour you,
and God your Father smile upon your work.

Therefore we will believe - why should we not? - of these
same Argonauts of old, that they too were noble men, who
planned and did a noble deed; and that therefore their fame
has lived, and been told in story and in song, mixed up, no
doubt, with dreams and fables, and yet true and right at
heart. So we will honour these old Argonauts, and listen to
their story as it stands; and we will try to be like them,
each of us in our place; for each of us has a Golden Fleece
to seek, and a wild sea to sail over ere we reach it, and
dragons to fight ere it be ours.

And what was that first Golden Fleece? I do not know, nor
care. The old Hellens said that it hung in Colchis, which we
call the Circassian coast, nailed to a beech-tree in the war-
God's wood; and that it was the fleece of the wondrous ram
who bore Phrixus and Helle across the Euxine sea. For
Phrixus and Helle were the children of the cloud-nymph, and
of Athamas the Minuan king. And when a famine came upon the
land, their cruel step-mother Ino wished to kill them, that
her own children might reign, and said that they must be
sacrificed on an altar, to turn away the anger of the Gods.
So the poor children were brought to the altar, and the
priest stood ready with his knife, when out of the clouds
came the Golden Ram, and took them on his back, and vanished.
Then madness came upon that foolish king, Athamas, and ruin
upon Ino and her children. For Athamas killed one of them in
his fury, and Ino fled from him with the other in her arms,
and leaped from a cliff into the sea, and was changed into a
dolphin, such as you have seen, which wanders over the waves
for ever sighing, with its little one clasped to its breast.

But the people drove out King Athamas, because he had killed
his child; and he roamed about in his misery, till he came to
the Oracle in Delphi. And the Oracle told him that he must
wander for his sin, till the wild beasts should feast him as
their guest. So he went on in hunger and sorrow for many a
weary day, till he saw a pack of wolves. The wolves were
tearing a sheep; but when they saw Athamas they fled, and
left the sheep for him, and he ate of it; and then he knew
that the oracle was fulfilled at last. So he wandered no
more; but settled, and built a town, and became a king again.

But the ram carried the two children far away over land and
sea, till he came to the Thracian Chersonese, and there Helle
fell into the sea. So those narrow straits are called
'Hellespont,' after her; and they bear that name until this
day.

Then the ram flew on with Phrixus to the north-east across
the sea which we call the Black Sea now; but the Hellens call
it Euxine. And at last, they say, he stopped at Colchis, on
the steep Circassian coast; and there Phrixus married
Chalciope, the daughter of Aietes the king; and offered the
ram in sacrifice; and Aietes nailed the ram's fleece to a
beech, in the grove of Ares the war-God.

And after awhile Phrixus died, and was buried, but his spirit
had no rest; for he was buried far from his native land, and
the pleasant hills of Hellas. So he came in dreams to the
heroes of the Minuai, and called sadly by their beds, 'Come
and set my spirit free, that I may go home to my fathers and
to my kinsfolk, and the pleasant Minuan land.'

And they asked, 'How shall we set your spirit free?'

'You must sail over the sea to Colchis, and bring home the
golden fleece; and then my spirit will come back with it, and
I shall sleep with my fathers and have rest.'

He came thus, and called to them often; but when they woke
they looked at each other, and said, 'Who dare sail to
Colchis, or bring home the golden fleece?'  And in all the
country none was brave enough to try it; for the man and the
time were not come.

Phrixus had a cousin called AEson, who was king in Iolcos by
the sea. There he ruled over the rich Minuan heroes, as
Athamas his uncle ruled in Boeotia; and, like Athamas, he was
an unhappy man. For he had a step-brother named Pelias, of
whom some said that he was a nymph's son, and there were dark
and sad tales about his birth. When he was a babe he was
cast out on the mountains, and a wild mare came by and kicked
him. But a shepherd passing found the baby, with its face
all blackened by the blow; and took him home, and called him
Pelias, because his face was bruised and black. And he grew
up fierce and lawless, and did many a fearful deed; and at
last he drove out AEson his step-brother, and then his own
brother Neleus, and took the kingdom to himself, and ruled
over the rich Minuan heroes, in Iolcos by the sea.

And AEson, when he was driven out, went sadly away out of the
town, leading his little son by the hand; and he said to
himself, 'I must hide the child in the mountains; or Pelias
will surely kill him, because he is the heir.'

So he went up from the sea across the valley, through the
vineyards and the olive groves, and across the torrent of
Anauros, toward Pelion the ancient mountain, whose brows are
white with snow.

He went up and up into the mountain, over marsh, and crag,
and down, till the boy was tired and footsore, and AEson had
to bear him in his arms, till he came to the mouth of a
lonely cave, at the foot of a mighty cliff.

Above the cliff the snow-wreaths hung, dripping and cracking
in the sun; but at its foot around the cave's mouth grew all
fair flowers and herbs, as if in a garden, ranged in order,
each sort by itself. There they grew gaily in the sunshine,
and the spray of the torrent from above; while from the cave
came the sound of music, and a man's voice singing to the
harp.

Then AEson put down the lad, and whispered -

'Fear not, but go in, and whomsoever you shall find, lay your
hands upon his knees, and say, "In the name of Zeus, the
father of Gods and men, I am your guest from this day
forth."'

Then the lad went in without trembling, for he too was a
hero's son; but when he was within, he stopped in wonder to
listen to that magic song.

And there he saw the singer lying upon bear-skins and
fragrant boughs: Cheiron, the ancient centaur, the wisest of
all things beneath the sky. Down to the waist he was a man,
but below he was a noble horse; his white hair rolled down
over his broad shoulders, and his white beard over his broad
brown chest; and his eyes were wise and mild, and his
forehead like a mountain-wall.

And in his hands he held a harp of gold, and struck it with a
golden key; and as he struck, he sang till his eyes
glittered, and filled all the cave with light.

And he sang of the birth of Time, and of the heavens and the
dancing stars; and of the ocean, and the ether, and the fire,
and the shaping of the wondrous earth. And he sang of the
treasures of the hills, and the hidden jewels of the mine,
and the veins of fire and metal, and the virtues of all
healing herbs, and of the speech of birds, and of prophecy,
and of hidden things to come.

Then he sang of health, and strength, and manhood, and a
valiant heart; and of music, and hunting, and wrestling, and
all the games which heroes love: and of travel, and wars,
and sieges, and a noble death in fight; and then he sang of
peace and plenty, and of equal justice in the land; and as he
sang the boy listened wide-eyed, and forgot his errand in the
song.

And at the last old Cheiron was silent, and called the lad
with a soft voice.

And the lad ran trembling to him, and would have laid his
hands upon his knees; but Cheiron smiled, and said, 'Call
hither your father AEson, for I know you, and all that has
befallen, and saw you both afar in the valley, even before
you left the town.'

Then AEson came in sadly, and Cheiron asked him, 'Why camest
you not yourself to me, AEson the AEolid?'

And AEson said -

'I thought, Cheiron will pity the lad if he sees him come
alone; and I wished to try whether he was fearless, and dare
venture like a hero's son. But now I entreat you by Father
Zeus, let the boy be your guest till better times, and train
him among the sons of the heroes, that he may avenge his
father's house.'

Then Cheiron smiled, and drew the lad to him, and laid his
hand upon his golden locks, and said, 'Are you afraid of my
horse's hoofs, fair boy, or will you be my pupil from this
day?'

'I would gladly have horse's hoofs like you, if I could sing
such songs as yours.'

And Cheiron laughed, and said, 'Sit here by me till sundown,
when your playfellows will come home, and you shall learn
like them to be a king, worthy to rule over gallant men.'

Then he turned to AEson, and said, 'Go back in peace, and
bend before the storm like a prudent man. This boy shall not
cross the Anauros again, till he has become a glory to you
and to the house of AEolus.'

And AEson wept over his son and went away; but the boy did
not weep, so full was his fancy of that strange cave, and the
centaur, and his song, and the playfellows whom he was to
see.

Then Cheiron put the lyre into his hands, and taught him how
to play it, till the sun sank low behind the cliff, and a
shout was heard outside.

And then in came the sons of the heroes, AEneas, and
Heracles, and Peleus, and many another mighty name.

And great Cheiron leapt up joyfully, and his hoofs made the
cave resound, as they shouted, 'Come out, Father Cheiron;
come out and see our game.'  And one cried, 'I have killed
two deer;' and another, 'I took a wild cat among the crags;'
and Heracles dragged a wild goat after him by its horns, for
he was as huge as a mountain crag; and Coeneus carried a
bear-cub under each arm, and laughed when they scratched and
bit, for neither tooth nor steel could wound him.

And Cheiron praised them all, each according to his deserts.

Only one walked apart and silent, Asclepius, the too-wise
child, with his bosom full of herbs and flowers, and round
his wrist a spotted snake; he came with downcast eyes to
Cheiron, and whispered how he had watched the snake cast its
old skin, and grow young again before his eyes, and how he
had gone down into a village in the vale, and cured a dying
man with a herb which he had seen a sick goat eat.

And Cheiron smiled, and said, 'To each Athene and Apollo give
some gift, and each is worthy in his place; but to this child
they have given an honour beyond all honours, to cure while
others kill.'

Then the lads brought in wood, and split it, and lighted a
blazing fire; and others skinned the deer and quartered them,
and set them to roast before the fire; and while the venison
was cooking they bathed in the snow-torrent, and washed away
the dust and sweat.

And then all ate till they could eat no more (for they had
tasted nothing since the dawn), and drank of the clear spring
water, for wine is not fit for growing lads. And when the
remnants were put away, they all lay down upon the skins and
leaves about the fire, and each took the