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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Wonder Book for Girls & Boys, by Nathaniel
+Hawthorne, Illustrated by Walter Crane
+
+
+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 for Girls & Boys
+
+
+Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
+
+
+
+Release Date: May 3, 2010  [eBook #32242]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WONDER BOOK FOR GIRLS & BOYS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by David Edwards, Linda Cantoni, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page
+images generously made available by Internet Archive
+(http://www.archive.org)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
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+      See 32242-h.htm or 32242-h.zip:
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+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32242/32242-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
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+      http://www.archive.org/details/wonderbookforgir00hawt
+
+
+
+
+
+A WONDER BOOK FOR GIRLS & BOYS
+
+[Illustration]
+
+by
+
+NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
+
+With 60 Designs by Walter Crane
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Boston: Houghton
+Mifflin Company
+
+[Illustration: BELLEROPHON ON PEGASVS]
+
+Copyright, 1851, by Nathaniel
+Hawthorne
+
+Copyright, 1879, by Rose Hawthorne
+Lathrop
+
+Copyright, 1883 and 1892, by
+Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
+
+All Rights Reserved
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+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_.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+THE GORGON'S HEAD.
+  TANGLEWOOD PORCH.--Introductory to The Gorgon's Head               1
+  THE GORGON'S HEAD                                                  7
+  TANGLEWOOD PORCH.--After the Story                                39
+
+THE GOLDEN TOUCH.
+  SHADOW BROOK.--Introductory to The Golden Touch                   42
+  THE GOLDEN TOUCH                                                  46
+  SHADOW BROOK.--After the Story                                    69
+
+THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN.
+  TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM.--Introductory to The Paradise
+    of Children                                                     73
+  THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN                                          78
+  TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM.--After the Story                           100
+
+THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES.
+  TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE.--Introductory to The Three
+    Golden Apples                                                  102
+  THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES                                          109
+  TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE.--After the Story                            136
+
+THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER.
+  THE HILL-SIDE.--Introductory to The Miraculous
+    Pitcher                                                        140
+  THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER                                           144
+  THE HILL-SIDE.--After the Story                                  170
+
+THE CHIMÆRA.
+  BALD-SUMMIT.--Introductory to The Chimæra                        172
+  THE CHIMÆRA                                                      176
+  BALD-SUMMIT.--After the Story                                    206
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF DESIGNS
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Half-Title                                                           i
+Frontispiece--Bellerophon on Pegasus.
+Title                                                              iii
+Preface                                                              v
+  Tailpiece                                                         vi
+Contents                                                           vii
+List of Designs                                                     ix
+  Tailpiece                                                          x
+  Headpiece--TANGLEWOOD PORCH                                        1
+THE GORGON'S HEAD--Headpiece                                         7
+Perseus and the Graiæ                                               22
+Perseus armed by the Nymphs                                         26
+Perseus and the Gorgons                                             32
+Perseus showing the Gorgon's Head                                   36
+  Tailpiece                                                         38
+  Headpiece--TANGLEWOOD PORCH, After the Story                      39
+  Tailpiece                                                         41
+  Headpiece--SHADOW BROOK                                           42
+THE GOLDEN TOUCH--Headpiece                                         46
+The Stranger appearing to Midas                                     50
+Midas' Daughter turned to Gold                                      62
+Midas with the Pitcher                                              66
+  Tailpiece                                                         68
+  Headpiece--SHADOW BROOK, After the Story                          69
+  Tailpiece                                                         72
+  Headpiece--TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM                                   73
+  Tailpiece                                                         77
+THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN--Headpiece                                 78
+Pandora wonders at the Box                                          80
+Pandora desires to open the Box                                     86
+Pandora opens the Box                                               92
+  Tailpiece                                                         96
+  Headpiece--TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM, After the Story                 100
+  Headpiece--TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE                                   102
+  Tailpiece                                                        108
+THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES--Headpiece                                 109
+Hercules and the Nymphs                                            112
+Hercules and the Old Man of the Sea                                120
+Hercules and Atlas                                                 126
+  Tailpiece                                                        135
+  Headpiece--TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE, After the Story                  136
+  Tailpiece                                                        139
+  Headpiece--THE HILL-SIDE                                         140
+  Tailpiece                                                        143
+THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER--Headpiece                                  144
+Philemon and Baucis                                                144
+The Strangers in the Village                                       148
+The Strangers entertained                                          158
+  Tailpiece                                                        169
+  Headpiece--THE HILL-SIDE, After the Story                        170
+  Tailpiece                                                        171
+  Headpiece--BALD SUMMIT                                           172
+  Tailpiece                                                        175
+THE CHIMÆRA--Headpiece                                             176
+Bellerophon at the Fountain                                        180
+Bellerophon slays the Chimæra                                      200
+  Tailpiece                                                        205
+  Headpiece--BALD SUMMIT, After the Story                          206
+  Tailpiece                                                        210
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE GORGON'S HEAD
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+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 skillful in the use of
+arms. Long before this time, King Polydectes had seen the two
+strangers--the mother and her child--who had come to his dominions in
+a floating chest. As he was not good and kind, like his brother the
+fisherman, but extremely wicked, he resolved to send Perseus on a
+dangerous enterprise, in which he would probably be killed, and then
+to do some great mischief to Danaë herself. So this bad-hearted king
+spent a long while in considering what was the most dangerous thing
+that a young man could possibly undertake to perform. At last, having
+hit upon an enterprise that promised to turn out as fatally as he
+desired, he sent for the youthful Perseus.
+
+The young man came to the palace, and found the king sitting upon his
+throne.
+
+"Perseus," said King Polydectes, smiling craftily upon him, "you are
+grown up a fine young man. You and your good mother have received a
+great deal of kindness from myself, as well as from my worthy brother
+the fisherman, and I suppose you would not be sorry to repay some of
+it."
+
+"Please your Majesty," answered Perseus, "I would willingly risk my
+life to do so."
+
+"Well, then," continued the king, still with a cunning smile on his
+lips, "I have a little adventure to propose to you; and, as you are a
+brave and enterprising youth, you will doubtless look upon it as a
+great piece of good luck to have so rare an opportunity of
+distinguishing yourself. You must know, my good Perseus, I think of
+getting married to the beautiful Princess Hippodamia; and it is
+customary, on these occasions, to make the bride a present of some
+far-fetched and elegant curiosity. I have been a little perplexed, I
+must honestly confess, where to obtain anything likely to please a
+princess of her exquisite taste. But, this morning, I flatter myself,
+I have thought of precisely the article."
+
+"And can I assist your Majesty in obtaining it?" cried Perseus,
+eagerly.
+
+"You can, if you are as brave a youth as I believe you to be," replied
+King Polydectes, with the utmost graciousness of manner. "The bridal
+gift which I have set my heart on presenting to the beautiful
+Hippodamia is the head of the Gorgon Medusa with the snaky locks; and
+I depend on you, my dear Perseus, to bring it to me. So, as I am
+anxious to settle affairs with the princess, the sooner you go in
+quest of the Gorgon, the better I shall be pleased."
+
+"I will set out to-morrow morning," answered Perseus.
+
+"Pray do so, my gallant youth," rejoined the king. "And, Perseus, in
+cutting off the Gorgon's head, be careful to make a clean stroke, so
+as not to injure its appearance. You must bring it home in the very
+best condition, in order to suit the exquisite taste of the beautiful
+Princess Hippodamia."
+
+Perseus left the palace, but was scarcely out of hearing before
+Polydectes burst into a laugh; being greatly amused, wicked king that
+he was, to find how readily the young man fell into the snare. The
+news quickly spread abroad that Perseus had undertaken to cut off the
+head of Medusa with the snaky locks. Everybody was rejoiced; for most
+of the inhabitants of the island were as wicked as the king himself,
+and would have liked nothing better than to see some enormous mischief
+happen to Danaë and her son. The only good man in this unfortunate
+island of Seriphus appears to have been the fisherman. As Perseus
+walked along, therefore, the people pointed after him, and made
+mouths, and winked to one another, and ridiculed him as loudly as they
+dared.
+
+"Ho, ho!" cried they; "Medusa's snakes will sting him soundly!"
+
+Now, there were three Gorgons alive at that period; and they were the
+most strange and terrible monsters that had ever been since the world
+was made, or that have been seen in after days, or that are likely to
+be seen in all time to come. I hardly know what sort of creature or
+hobgoblin to call them. They were three sisters, and seem to have
+borne some distant resemblance to women, but were really a very
+frightful and mischievous species of dragon. It is, indeed, difficult
+to imagine what hideous beings these three sisters were. Why, instead
+of locks of hair, if you can believe me, they had each of them a
+hundred enormous snakes growing on their heads, all alive, twisting,
+wriggling, curling, and thrusting out their venomous tongues, with
+forked stings at the end! The teeth of the Gorgons were terribly long
+tusks; their hands were made of brass; and their bodies were all over
+scales, which, if not iron, were something as hard and impenetrable.
+They had wings, too, and exceedingly splendid ones, I can assure you;
+for every feather in them was pure, bright, glittering, burnished
+gold, and they looked very dazzlingly, no doubt, when the Gorgons were
+flying about in the sunshine.
+
+But when people happened to catch a glimpse of their glittering
+brightness, aloft in the air, they seldom stopped to gaze, but ran and
+hid themselves as speedily as they could. You will think, perhaps,
+that they were afraid of being stung by the serpents that served the
+Gorgons instead of hair,--or of having their heads bitten off by their
+ugly tusks,--or of being torn all to pieces by their brazen claws.
+Well, to be sure, these were some of the dangers, but by no means the
+greatest, nor the most difficult to avoid. For the worst thing about
+these abominable Gorgons was, that, if once a poor mortal fixed his
+eyes full upon one of their faces, he was certain, that very instant,
+to be changed from warm flesh and blood into cold and lifeless stone!
+
+Thus, as you will easily perceive, it was a very dangerous adventure
+that the wicked King Polydectes had contrived for this innocent young
+man. Perseus himself, when he had thought over the matter, could not
+help seeing that he had very little chance of coming safely through
+it, and that he was far more likely to become a stone image than to
+bring back the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. For, not to speak
+of other difficulties, there was one which it would have puzzled an
+older man than Perseus to get over. Not only must he fight with and
+slay this golden-winged, iron-scaled, long-tusked, brazen-clawed,
+snaky-haired monster, but he must do it with his eyes shut, or, at
+least, without so much as a glance at the enemy with whom he was
+contending. Else, while his arm was lifted to strike, he would stiffen
+into stone, and stand with that uplifted arm for centuries, until
+time, and the wind and weather, should crumble him quite away. This
+would be a very sad thing to befall a young man who wanted to perform
+a great many brave deeds, and to enjoy a great deal of happiness, in
+this bright and beautiful world.
+
+So disconsolate did these thoughts make him, that Perseus could not
+bear to tell his mother what he had undertaken to do. He therefore
+took his shield, girded on his sword, and crossed over from the island
+to the mainland, where he sat down in a solitary place, and hardly
+refrained from shedding tears.
+
+But, while he was in this sorrowful mood, he heard a voice close
+beside him.
+
+"Perseus," said the voice, "why are you sad?"
+
+He lifted his head from his hands, in which he had hidden it, and,
+behold! all alone as Perseus had supposed himself to be, there was a
+stranger in the solitary place. It was a brisk, intelligent, and
+remarkably shrewd-looking young man, with a cloak over his shoulders,
+an odd sort of cap on his head, a strangely twisted staff in his hand,
+and a short and very crooked sword hanging by his side. He was
+exceedingly light and active in his figure, like a person much
+accustomed to gymnastic exercises, and well able to leap or run. Above
+all, the stranger had such a cheerful, knowing, and helpful aspect
+(though it was certainly a little mischievous, into the bargain), that
+Perseus could not help feeling his spirits grow livelier as he gazed
+at him. Besides, being really a courageous youth, he felt greatly
+ashamed that anybody should have found him with tears in his eyes,
+like a timid little schoolboy, when, after all, there might be no
+occasion for despair. So Perseus wiped his eyes, and answered the
+stranger pretty briskly, putting on as brave a look as he could.
+
+"I am not so very sad," said he, "only thoughtful about an adventure
+that I have undertaken."
+
+"Oho!" answered the stranger. "Well, tell me all about it, and
+possibly I may be of service to you. I have helped a good many young
+men through adventures that looked difficult enough beforehand.
+Perhaps you may have heard of me. I have more names than one; but the
+name of Quicksilver suits me as well as any other. Tell me what the
+trouble is, and we will talk the matter over, and see what can be
+done."
+
+The stranger's words and manner put Perseus into quite a different
+mood from his former one. He resolved to tell Quicksilver all his
+difficulties, since he could not easily be worse off than he already
+was, and, very possibly, his new friend might give him some advice
+that would turn out well in the end. So he let the stranger know, in
+few words, precisely what the case was,--how that King Polydectes
+wanted the head of Medusa with the snaky locks as a bridal gift for
+the beautiful Princess Hippodamia, and how that he had undertaken to
+get it for him, but was afraid of being turned into stone.
+
+"And that would be a great pity," said Quicksilver, with his
+mischievous smile. "You would make a very handsome marble statue, it
+is true, and it would be a considerable number of centuries before you
+crumbled away; but, on the whole, one would rather be a young man for
+a few years than a stone image for a great many."
+
+"Oh, far rather!" exclaimed Perseus, with the tears again standing in
+his eyes. "And, besides, what would my dear mother do, if her beloved
+son were turned into a stone?"
+
+"Well, well, let us hope that the affair will not turn out so very
+badly," replied Quicksilver, in an encouraging tone. "I am the very
+person to help you, if anybody can. My sister and myself will do our
+utmost to bring you safe through the adventure, ugly as it now looks."
+
+"Your sister?" repeated Perseus.
+
+"Yes, my sister," said the stranger. "She is very wise, I promise you;
+and as for myself, I generally have all my wits about me, such as they
+are. If you show yourself bold and cautious, and follow our advice,
+you need not fear being a stone image yet awhile. But, first of all,
+you must polish your shield, till you can see your face in it as
+distinctly as in a mirror."
+
+This seemed to Perseus rather an odd beginning of the adventure; for
+he thought it of far more consequence that the shield should be
+strong enough to defend him from the Gorgon's brazen claws, than that
+it should be bright enough to show him the reflection of his face.
+However, concluding that Quicksilver knew better than himself, he
+immediately set to work, and scrubbed the shield with so much
+diligence and good-will, that it very quickly shone like the moon at
+harvest-time. Quicksilver looked at it with a smile, and nodded his
+approbation. Then, taking off his own short and crooked sword, he
+girded it about Perseus, instead of the one which he had before worn.
+
+"No sword but mine will answer your purpose," observed he; "the blade
+has a most excellent temper, and will cut through iron and brass as
+easily as through the slenderest twig. And now we will set out. The
+next thing is to find the Three Gray Women, who will tell us where to
+find the Nymphs."
+
+"The Three Gray Women!" cried Perseus, to whom this seemed only a new
+difficulty in the path of his adventure; "pray who may the Three Gray
+Women be? I never heard of them before."
+
+"They are three very strange old ladies," said Quicksilver, laughing.
+"They have but one eye among them, and only one tooth. Moreover, you
+must find them out by starlight, or in the dusk of the evening; for
+they never show themselves by the light either of the sun or moon."
+
+"But," said Perseus, "why should I waste my time with these Three Gray
+Women? Would it not be better to set out at once in search of the
+terrible Gorgons?"
+
+"No, no," answered his friend. "There are other things to be done,
+before you can find your way to the Gorgons. There is nothing for it
+but to hunt up these old ladies; and when we meet with them, you may
+be sure that the Gorgons are not a great way off. Come, let us be
+stirring!"
+
+Perseus, by this time, felt so much confidence in his companion's
+sagacity, that he made no more objections, and professed himself ready
+to begin the adventure immediately. They accordingly set out, and
+walked at a pretty brisk pace; so brisk, indeed, that Perseus found it
+rather difficult to keep up with his nimble friend Quicksilver. To say
+the truth, he had a singular idea that Quicksilver was furnished with
+a pair of winged shoes, which, of course, helped him along
+marvelously. 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 traveling 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 quarreling.
+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 marvelous 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!"
+
+[Illustration: PERSEVS & THE GRAIÆ]
+
+"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 marvelous
+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 deerskin 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."
+
+[Illustration: PERSEVS ARMED BY THE NYMPHS]
+
+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; for, if one of
+the Gorgons should awake, you are too late!"
+
+"Which shall I strike at?" asked Perseus, drawing his sword and
+descending a little lower. "They all three look alike. All three have
+snaky locks. Which of the three is Medusa?"
+
+It must be understood that Medusa was the only one of these
+dragon-monsters whose head Perseus could possibly cut off. As for the
+other two, let him have the sharpest sword that ever was forged, and
+he might have hacked away by the hour together, without doing them the
+least harm.
+
+"Be cautious," said the calm voice which had before spoken to him.
+"One of the Gorgons is stirring in her sleep, and is just about to
+turn over. That is Medusa. Do not look at her! The sight would turn
+you to stone! Look at the reflection of her face and figure in the
+bright mirror of your shield."
+
+Perseus now understood Quicksilver's motive for so earnestly
+exhorting him to polish his shield. In its surface he could safely
+look at the reflection of the Gorgon's face. And there it was,--that
+terrible countenance,--mirrored in the brightness of the shield, with
+the moonlight falling over it, and displaying all its horror. The
+snakes, whose venomous natures could not altogether sleep, kept
+twisting themselves over the forehead. It was the fiercest and most
+horrible face that ever was seen or imagined, and yet with a strange,
+fearful, and savage kind of beauty in it. The eyes were closed, and
+the Gorgon was still in a deep slumber; but there was an unquiet
+expression disturbing her features, as if the monster was troubled
+with an ugly dream. She gnashed her white tusks, and dug into the sand
+with her brazen claws.
+
+The snakes, too, seemed to feel Medusa's dream, and to be made more
+restless by it. They twined themselves into tumultuous knots, writhed
+fiercely, and uplifted a hundred hissing heads, without opening their
+eyes.
+
+"Now, now!" whispered Quicksilver, who was growing impatient. "Make a
+dash at the monster!"
+
+"But be calm," said the grave, melodious voice at the young man's
+side. "Look in your shield, as you fly downward, and take care that
+you do not miss your first stroke."
+
+[Illustration: PERSEVS & THE GORGONS]
+
+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 marvelous things that befell
+Perseus, on his way homeward; such as his killing a hideous
+sea-monster, just as it was on the point of devouring a beautiful
+maiden; nor how he changed an enormous giant into a mountain of stone,
+merely by showing him the head of the Gorgon. If you doubt this
+latter story, you may make a voyage to Africa, some day or other, and
+see the very mountain, which is still known by the ancient giant's
+name.
+
+Finally, our brave Perseus arrived at the island, where he expected to
+see his dear mother. But, during his absence, the wicked king had
+treated Danaë so very ill that she was compelled to make her escape,
+and had taken refuge in a temple, where some good old priests were
+extremely kind to her. These praiseworthy priests, and the
+kind-hearted fisherman, who had first shown hospitality to Danaë and
+little Perseus when he found them afloat in the chest, seem to have
+been the only persons on the island who cared about doing right. All
+the rest of the people, as well as King Polydectes himself, were
+remarkably ill-behaved, and deserved no better destiny than that which
+was now to happen.
+
+Not finding his mother at home, Perseus went straight to the palace,
+and was immediately ushered into the presence of the king. Polydectes
+was by no means rejoiced to see him; for he had felt almost certain,
+in his own evil mind, that the Gorgons would have torn the poor young
+man to pieces, and have eaten him up, out of the way. However, seeing
+him safely returned, he put the best face he could upon the matter and
+asked Perseus how he had succeeded.
+
+"Have you performed your promise?" inquired he. "Have you brought me
+the head of Medusa with the snaky locks? If not, young man, it will
+cost you dear; for I must have a bridal present for the beautiful
+Princess Hippodamia, and there is nothing else that she would admire
+so much."
+
+"Yes, please your Majesty," answered Perseus, in a quiet way, as if it
+were no very wonderful deed for such a young man as he to perform. "I
+have brought you the Gorgon's head, snaky locks and all!"
+
+"Indeed! Pray let me see it," quoth King Polydectes. "It must be a
+very curious spectacle, if all that travelers 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.
+
+[Illustration: PERSEVS SHOWING THE GORGON'S HEAD]
+
+On a platform, within full view of the balcony, sat the mighty King
+Polydectes, amid his evil counselors, and with his flattering
+courtiers in a semicircle round about him. Monarch, counselors,
+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 counselors 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 counselors, 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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+TANGLEWOOD PORCH
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE GOLDEN TOUCH
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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 persuaded that
+he had winged slippers, like those which the Nymphs gave Perseus; so
+often had the student shown himself at the tiptop 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
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+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 tiptop of enjoyment would never be
+reached, unless the whole world were to become his treasure-room, and
+be filled with yellow metal which should be all his own.
+
+Now, I need hardly remind such wise little people as you are, that in
+the old, old times, when King Midas was alive, a great many things
+came to pass, which we should consider wonderful if they were to
+happen in our own day and country. And, on the other hand, a great
+many things take place nowadays, which seem not only wonderful to us,
+but at which the people of old times would have stared their eyes out.
+On the whole, I regard our own times as the strangest of the two; but,
+however that may be, I must go on with my story.
+
+Midas was enjoying himself in his treasure-room, one day, as usual,
+when he perceived a shadow fall over the heaps of gold; and, looking
+suddenly up, what should he behold but the figure of a stranger,
+standing in the bright and narrow sunbeam! It was a young man, with a
+cheerful and ruddy face. Whether it was that the imagination of King
+Midas threw a yellow tinge over everything, or whatever the cause
+might be, he could not help fancying that the smile with which the
+stranger regarded him had a kind of golden radiance in it. Certainly,
+although his figure intercepted the sunshine, there was now a brighter
+gleam upon all the piled-up treasures than before. Even the remotest
+corners had their share of it, and were lighted up, when the stranger
+smiled, as with tips of flame and sparkles of fire.
+
+As Midas knew that he had carefully turned the key in the lock, and
+that no mortal strength could possibly break into his treasure-room,
+he, of course, concluded that his visitor must be something more than
+mortal. It is no matter about telling you who he was. In those days,
+when the earth was comparatively a new affair, it was supposed to be
+often the resort of beings endowed with supernatural power, and who
+used to interest themselves in the joys and sorrows of men, women, and
+children, half playfully and half seriously. Midas had met such beings
+before now, and was not sorry to meet one of them again. The
+stranger's aspect, indeed, was so good-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."
+
+[Illustration: THE STRANGER APPEARING TO MIDAS]
+
+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 crystal turned out to be plates of yellow metal, and, of
+course, were worthless as spectacles, though valuable as gold. It
+struck Midas as rather inconvenient that, with all his wealth, he
+could never again be rich enough to own a pair of serviceable
+spectacles.
+
+"It is no great matter, nevertheless," said he to himself, very
+philosophically. "We cannot expect any great good, without its being
+accompanied with some small inconvenience. The Golden Touch is worth
+the sacrifice of a pair of spectacles, at least, if not of one's very
+eyesight. My own eyes will serve for ordinary purposes, and little
+Marygold will soon be old enough to read to me."
+
+Wise King Midas was so exalted by his good fortune, that the palace
+seemed not sufficiently spacious to contain him. He therefore went
+downstairs, and smiled, on observing that the balustrade of the
+staircase became a bar of burnished gold, as his hand passed over it,
+in his descent. He lifted the 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 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!
+
+[Illustration: MIDAS' DAVGHTER TVRNED TO GOLD]
+
+Yes, there she was, with the questioning look of love, grief, and
+pity, hardened into her face. It was the prettiest and most woeful
+sight that ever mortal saw. All the features and tokens of Marygold
+were there; even the beloved little dimple remained in her golden
+chin. But the more perfect was the resemblance, the greater was the
+father's agony at beholding this golden image, which was all that was
+left him of a daughter. It had been a 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
+fullness 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 marvelous
+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!"
+
+[Illustration: MIDAS WITH THE 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
+marvelous 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!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SHADOW BROOK AFTER THE STORY
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+"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 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!
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+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 quarreled among
+themselves; neither had they any crying fits; nor, since time first
+began, had a single one of these little mortals ever gone apart into a
+corner, and sulked. Oh, what a good time was that to be alive in! The
+truth is, those ugly little winged monsters, called Troubles, which
+are now almost as numerous as mosquitoes, had never yet been seen on
+the earth. It is probable that the very greatest disquietude which a
+child had ever experienced was Pandora's vexation at not being able to
+discover the secret of the mysterious box.
+
+This was at first only the faint shadow of a Trouble; but, every day,
+it grew more and more substantial, until, before a great while, the
+cottage of Epimetheus and Pandora was less sunshiny than those of the
+other children.
+
+"Whence can the box have come?" Pandora continually kept saying to
+herself and to Epimetheus. "And what in the world can be inside of
+it?"
+
+"Always talking about this box!" said Epimetheus, at last; for he had
+grown extremely tired of the subject. "I wish, dear Pandora, you would
+try to talk of something else. Come, let us go and gather some ripe
+figs, and eat them under the trees, for our supper. And I know a vine
+that has the sweetest and juiciest grapes you ever tasted."
+
+"Always talking about grapes and figs!" cried Pandora, pettishly.
+
+"Well, then," said Epimetheus, who was a very good-tempered child,
+like a multitude of children in those days, "let us run out and have a
+merry time with our playmates."
+
+"I am tired of merry times, and don't care if I never have any more!"
+answered our pettish little Pandora. "And, besides, I never do have
+any. This ugly box! I am so taken up with thinking about it all the
+time. I insist upon your telling me what is inside of it."
+
+[Illustration: PANDORA WONDERS AT THE BOX]
+
+"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 just 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 skillfullest 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.
+
+[Illustration: PANDORA DESIRES TO OPEN THE BOX]
+
+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.
+
+[Illustration: PANDORA OPENS THE BOX]
+
+"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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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
+
+[Illustration]
+
+TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE
+
+INTRODUCTORY TO THE 3 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 frost-work 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 woolens, 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, halfway 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 tiptop 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 semi-circular 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 mantel-piece.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+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 traveler, what do you want there?"
+
+"A certain king, who is my cousin," replied he, "has ordered me to get
+him three of the golden apples."
+
+"Most of the young men who go in quest of these apples," observed
+another of the damsels, "desire to obtain them for themselves, or to
+present them to some fair maiden whom they love. Do you, then, love
+this king, your cousin, so very much?"
+
+"Perhaps not," replied the stranger, sighing. "He has often been
+severe and cruel to me. But it is my destiny to obey him."
+
+"And do you know," asked the damsel who had first spoken, "that a
+terrible dragon, with a hundred heads, keeps watch under the golden
+apple-tree?"
+
+"I know it well," answered the stranger, calmly. "But, from my cradle
+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 traveler 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!"
+
+[Illustration: HERCVLES & THE NYMPHS]
+
+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 traveler 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 traveled 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?"
+
+[Illustration: HERCVLES & THE OLD MAN OF THE SEA]
+
+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
+marvelous 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 marvelous
+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
+travelers 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.
+
+[Illustration: HERCVLES AND ATLAS]
+
+Meanwhile, the bright cup continued to float onward, and finally
+touched the strand. Just then a breeze wafted away the clouds from
+before the giant's visage, and Hercules beheld it, with all its
+enormous features; eyes each of them as big as yonder lake, a nose a
+mile long, and a mouth of the same width. It was a countenance
+terrible from its enormity of size, but disconsolate and weary, even
+as you may see the faces of many people, nowadays, who are compelled
+to sustain burdens above their strength. What the sky was to the
+giant, such are the cares of earth to those who let themselves be
+weighed down by them. And whenever men undertake what is beyond the
+just measure of their abilities, they encounter precisely such a doom
+as had befallen this poor giant.
+
+Poor fellow! He had evidently stood there a long while. An ancient
+forest had been growing and decaying around his feet; and oak-trees,
+of six or seven centuries old, had sprung from the acorn, and forced
+themselves between his toes.
+
+The giant now looked down from the far height of his great eyes, and,
+perceiving Hercules, roared out, in a voice that resembled thunder,
+proceeding out of the cloud that had just flitted away from his face.
+
+"Who are you, down at my feet there? And whence do you come, in that
+little cup?"
+
+"I am Hercules!" thundered back the hero, in a voice pretty nearly or
+quite as loud as the giant's own. "And I am seeking for the garden of
+the Hesperides!"
+
+"Ho! ho! ho!" roared the giant, in a fit of immense laughter. "That is
+a wise adventure, truly!"
+
+"And why not?" cried Hercules, getting a little angry at the giant's
+mirth. "Do you think I am afraid of the dragon with a hundred heads!"
+
+Just at this time, while they were talking together, some black clouds
+gathered about the giant's middle, and burst into a tremendous storm
+of thunder and lightning, causing such a pother that Hercules found it
+impossible to distinguish a word. Only the giant's immeasurable legs
+were to be seen, standing up into the obscurity of the tempest; and,
+now and then, a momentary glimpse of his whole figure, mantled in a
+volume of mist. He seemed to be speaking, most of the time; but his
+big, deep, rough voice chimed in with the reverberations of the
+thunder-claps, and rolled away over the hills, like them. Thus, by
+talking out of season, the foolish giant expended an incalculable
+quantity of breath, to no purpose; for the thunder spoke quite as
+intelligibly as he.
+
+At last, the storm swept over, as suddenly as it had come. And there
+again was the clear sky, and the weary giant holding it up, and the
+pleasant sunshine beaming over his vast height, and illuminating it
+against the background of the sullen thunder-clouds. So far above the
+shower had been his head, that not a hair of it was moistened by the
+rain-drops!
+
+When the giant could see Hercules still standing on the 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!
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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 that 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 remodeled 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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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 halfway
+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 tiptop 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 farther? 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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+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 traveler 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!"
+
+[Illustration: PHILEMON & BAVCIS]
+
+"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 traveler 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
+traveler 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 travelers, 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 travelers 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.
+
+[Illustration: THE STRANGERS IN THE VILLAGE]
+
+Both of the travelers 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 traveler, 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 traveler'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 traveler 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
+traveler. "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 olive-wood, and had something like a
+little pair of wings near the top. Two snakes, carved in the wood,
+were represented as twining themselves about the staff, and were so
+very skillfully 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
+marvelous, 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 traveler 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 traveler 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 travelers 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 traveler. "So, if
+you call me Quicksilver, the name will fit tolerably well."
+
+"Quicksilver? Quicksilver?" repeated Philemon, looking in the
+traveler'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 traveler 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
+travelers. 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 travelers 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!"
+
+[Illustration: THE STRANGERS ENTERTAINED]
+
+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
+traveler, 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 traveler 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 traveler, 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 traveler'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 traveler, 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 traveler, 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!"
+
+"Ah," cried Baucis, shuddering, "I would not, for the world, put one
+of them on the gridiron!"
+
+"No," added Philemon, making a wry face, "we could never relish them!"
+
+"As for you, good Philemon," continued the elder traveler,--"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 marvelous 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 marveling 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 traveler, 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!
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE HILL-SIDE
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE CHIMÆRA
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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 oftentimes 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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE CHIMÆRA
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+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 marvelous 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 plow 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 up him 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."
+
+[Illustration: BELLEROPHON AT THE FOVNTAIN]
+
+"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 marvelous
+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.
+
+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 marvelous 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 traveled 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 therein.
+
+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 marvelous 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 marvelous 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 Chimæra's headlong rush, and thus the battle have been ended
+before it was well begun. But the winged horse was not to be caught
+so. In the twinkling of an eye he was up aloft, halfway 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 three-fold 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.
+
+[Illustration: BELLEROPHON SLAYS THE CHIMÆRA]
+
+"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 marvelous
+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!
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+BALD SUMMIT
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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."
+
+"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 the 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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
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+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Wonder Book for Girls &amp; Boys, by Nathaniel
+Hawthorne, Illustrated by Walter Crane</h1>
+<pre>
+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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: A Wonder Book for Girls &amp; Boys</p>
+<p>Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne</p>
+<p>Release Date: May 3, 2010  [eBook #32242]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WONDER BOOK FOR GIRLS &amp; BOYS***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>E-text prepared by David Edwards, Linda Cantoni,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net/c/">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br />
+    from page images generously made available by<br />
+    Internet Archive<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.archive.org/">http://www.archive.org</a>)</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;" cellpadding="10">
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Note:
+    </td>
+    <td>
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/wonderbookforgir00hawt">
+      http://www.archive.org/details/wonderbookforgir00hawt</a>
+	</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="407" height="600" alt="Cover: A WONDER BOOK FOR GIRLS &amp; BOYS" title="Cover: A WONDER BOOK FOR GIRLS &amp; BOYS" />
+</p>
+
+<p class="centertbp"><a href="#CONTENTS">CONTENTS</a><br />
+<a href="#LIST_OF_DESIGNS">LIST OF DESIGNS</a></p>
+
+<p class="centerbp"><a name="HALF" id="HALF"></a>
+<img src="images/halftitle.jpg" width="254" height="183" alt="Half-Title: A WONDER BOOK FOR GIRLS &amp; BOYS" title="Half-Title: A WONDER BOOK FOR GIRLS &amp; BOYS" />
+</p>
+
+<p class="centerbp"><a name="FRONT" id="FRONT"></a>
+<img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width="392" height="600" alt="BELLEROPHON ON PEGASVS" title="BELLEROPHON ON PEGASVS" />
+</p>
+
+<p class="centertbp"><a name="TITLE" id="TITLE"></a>
+<img src="images/title.jpg" width="394" height="600" alt="title page" title="title page" />
+</p>
+
+
+<div class="bbox">
+<h1>A WONDER<br />
+BOOK FOR<br />
+GIRLS &amp; BOYS</h1>
+
+<h2>BY NATHANIEL<br />
+HAWTHORNE<br />
+<br />
+WITH 60 DESIGNS<br />
+BY WALTER CRANE</h2>
+
+<h3>BOSTON: HOUGHTON<br />
+MIFFLIN COMPANY</h3>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p class="centertp">
+COPYRIGHT, 1851, BY NATHANIEL<br />
+HAWTHORNE<br />
+<br />
+COPYRIGHT, 1879, BY ROSE HAWTHORNE<br />
+LATHROP<br />
+<br />
+COPYRIGHT, 1883 AND 1892, BY<br />
+HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN &amp; CO.</p>
+
+<p class="center">ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">-v-</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="centerbp"><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>
+<img src="images/preface.jpg" width="616" height="185" alt="PREFACE" title="PREFACE" />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">-vi-</a></span> 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,&mdash;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,&mdash;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 style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Lenox</span>, <i>July 15</i>, 1851.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_01" id="TAIL_01"></a>
+<img src="images/tail01.jpg" width="269" height="212" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">-vii-</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="centerbp"><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>
+<img src="images/contents.jpg" width="617" height="181" alt="CONTENTS" title="CONTENTS" />
+</p>
+
+
+<table style="width: 95%" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="contents">
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="right"><span class="sm">PAGE</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_GORGONS_HEAD_1">THE GORGON'S HEAD.</a></td><td class="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Tanglewood Porch.</span>&mdash;Introductory to The Gorgon's Head</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">The Gorgon's Head</span></span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_7'>7</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Tanglewood Porch.</span>&mdash;After the Story</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_39'>39</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_GOLDEN_TOUCH_1">THE GOLDEN TOUCH.</a></td><td class="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Shadow Brook.</span>&mdash;Introductory to The Golden Touch</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_42'>42</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">The Golden Touch</span></span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_46'>46</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Shadow Brook.</span>&mdash;After the Story</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_69'>69</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_PARADISE_OF_CHILDREN_1">THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN.</a></td><td class="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Tanglewood Play-Room.</span>&mdash;Introductory to The Paradise of Children</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_73'>73</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">The Paradise of Children</span></span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_78'>78</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Tanglewood Play-Room.</span>&mdash;After the Story</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_100'>100</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_THREE_GOLDEN_APPLES_1">THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES.</a></td><td class="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Tanglewood Fireside.</span>&mdash;Introductory to The Three Golden Apples</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_102'>102</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">The Three Golden Apples</span></span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_109'>109</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Tanglewood Fireside.</span>&mdash;After the Story</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_136'>136</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_MIRACULOUS_PITCHER_1">THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER.</a></td><td class="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">The Hill-Side.</span>&mdash;Introductory to The Miraculous Pitcher</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_140'>140</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">The Miraculous Pitcher</span></span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_144'>144</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">The Hill-Side.</span>&mdash;After the Story</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_170'>170</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_CHIMAERA_1">THE CHIMÆRA.</a></td><td class="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Bald-Summit.</span>&mdash;Introductory to The Chimæra</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_172'>172</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">The Chimæra</span></span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_176'>176</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Bald-Summit.</span>&mdash;After the Story</span></td><td class="right"><a href='#Page_206'>206</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">-ix-</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="centerbp"><a name="LIST_OF_DESIGNS" id="LIST_OF_DESIGNS"></a>
+<img src="images/designs.jpg" width="613" height="187" alt="LIST OF DESIGNS" title="LIST OF DESIGNS" />
+</p>
+
+
+<table style="width: 95%" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="list of designs">
+<tr><td><a href="#HALF">Half-Title</a></td><td class="right">i</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#FRONT">Frontispiece&mdash;Bellerophon on Pegasus.</a></td><td class="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#TITLE">Title</a></td><td class="right">iii</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#PREFACE">Preface</a></td><td class="right">v</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_01">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">vi</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#CONTENTS">Contents</a></td><td class="right">vii</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#LIST_OF_DESIGNS">List of Designs</a></td><td class="right">ix</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_02">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">x</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#THE_GORGONS_HEAD_1">Headpiece&mdash;<span class="smcap">Tanglewood Porch</span></a></span></td><td class="right">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_GORGONS_HEAD_2">THE GORGON'S HEAD&mdash;Headpiece</a></td><td class="right">7</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#PERSEUS_01">Perseus and the Graiæ</a></td><td class="right">22</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#PERSEUS_02">Perseus armed by the Nymphs</a></td><td class="right">26</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#PERSEUS_03">Perseus and the Gorgons</a></td><td class="right">32</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#PERSEUS_04">Perseus showing the Gorgon's Head</a></td><td class="right">36</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_03">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">38</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TANGLEWOOD_PORCH">Headpiece&mdash;<span class="smcap">Tanglewood Porch</span>, After the Story</a></span></td><td class="right">39</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_04">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">41</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#THE_GOLDEN_TOUCH_1">Headpiece&mdash;<span class="smcap">Shadow Brook</span></a></span></td><td class="right">42</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_GOLDEN_TOUCH_2">THE GOLDEN TOUCH&mdash;Headpiece</a></td><td class="right">46</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#MIDAS_01">The Stranger appearing to Midas</a></td><td class="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#MIDAS_02">Midas' Daughter turned to Gold</a></td><td class="right">62</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#MIDAS_03">Midas with the Pitcher</a></td><td class="right">66</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_05">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">68</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#SHADOW_BROOK_AFTER_THE_STORY">Headpiece&mdash;<span class="smcap">Shadow Brook</span>, After the Story</a></span></td><td class="right">69</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_06">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">72</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#THE_PARADISE_OF_CHILDREN_1">Headpiece&mdash;<span class="smcap">Tanglewood Play-Room</span></a></span></td><td class="right">73</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_07">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">77</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_PARADISE_OF_CHILDREN_2">THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN&mdash;Headpiece</a></td><td class="right">78</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#PANDORA_01">Pandora wonders at the Box</a></td><td class="right">80</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#PANDORA_02">Pandora desires to open the Box</a></td><td class="right">86</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#PANDORA_03">Pandora opens the Box</a></td><td class="right">92</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_08">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">96<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">-x-</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TANGLEWOOD_PLAY-ROOM">Headpiece&mdash;<span class="smcap">Tanglewood Play-Room</span>, After the Story</a></span></td><td class="right">100</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#THE_THREE_GOLDEN_APPLES_1">Headpiece&mdash;<span class="smcap">Tanglewood Fireside</span></a></span></td><td class="right">102</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_09">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">108</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_THREE_GOLDEN_APPLES_2">THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES&mdash;Headpiece</a></td><td class="right">109</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#HERCULES_01">Hercules and the Nymphs</a></td><td class="right">112</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#HERCULES_02">Hercules and the Old Man of the Sea</a></td><td class="right">120</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#HERCULES_03">Hercules and Atlas</a></td><td class="right">126</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_10">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">135</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TANGLEWOOD_FIRESIDE">Headpiece&mdash;<span class="smcap">Tanglewood Fireside</span>, After the Story</a></span></td><td class="right">136</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_11">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">139</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#THE_MIRACULOUS_PITCHER_1">Headpiece&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Hill-Side</span></a></span></td><td class="right">140</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_12">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">143</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_MIRACULOUS_PITCHER_2">THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER&mdash;Headpiece</a></td><td class="right">144</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#PHILEMON_01">Philemon and Baucis</a></td><td class="right">144</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#PHILEMON_02">The Strangers in the Village</a></td><td class="right">148</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#PHILEMON_03">The Strangers entertained</a></td><td class="right">158</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_13">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">169</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#THE_HILL-SIDE">Headpiece&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Hill-Side</span>, After the Story</a></span></td><td class="right">170</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_14">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">171</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#THE_CHIMAERA_1">Headpiece&mdash;<span class="smcap">Bald Summit</span></a></span></td><td class="right">172</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_15">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">175</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_CHIMAERA_2">THE CHIMÆRA&mdash;Headpiece</a></td><td class="right">176</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#BELLEROPHON_01">Bellerophon at the Fountain</a></td><td class="right">180</td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#BELLEROPHON_02">Bellerophon slays the Chimæra</a></td><td class="right">200</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_16">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">205</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#BALD_SUMMIT">Headpiece&mdash;<span class="smcap">Bald Summit</span>, After the Story</a></span></td><td class="right">206</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#TAIL_17">Tailpiece</a></span></td><td class="right">210</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_02" id="TAIL_02"></a>
+<img src="images/tail02.jpg" width="152" height="149" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">-1-</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="THE_GORGONS_HEAD_1" id="THE_GORGONS_HEAD_1"></a>
+<img src="images/gorgon01top.jpg" width="620" height="264" alt="THE GORGON&#39;S HEAD, TANGLEWOOD PORCH" title="THE GORGON&#39;S HEAD, TANGLEWOOD PORCH" />
+<img src="images/gorgon01bot.jpg" width="232" height="221" alt="B" title="B" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="orange">INTRODUCTORY TO<br />
+THE GORGON&#8217;S HEAD</span></p>
+
+
+<p>ENEATH 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">-2-</a></span> 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 Prim<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">-3-</a></span>rose, 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&mdash;(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)&mdash;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">-4-</a></span> 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,&mdash;as little
+Cowslip and I did last night!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">-5-</a></span></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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">-6-</a></span> 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>
+
+
+
+<hr class="med" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">-7-</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="THE_GORGONS_HEAD_2" id="THE_GORGONS_HEAD_2"></a>
+<img src="images/gorgon02top.jpg" width="612" height="270" alt="THE GORGON&#39;S HEAD" title="THE GORGON&#39;S HEAD" />
+<img src="images/gorgon02bot.jpg" width="232" height="226" alt="P" title="P" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>ERSEUS 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">-8-</a></span> continued to befriend them, until Perseus had grown to be a
+handsome youth, very strong and active, and skillful in the use of
+arms. Long before this time, King Polydectes had seen the two
+strangers&mdash;the mother and her child&mdash;who had come to his dominions in
+a floating chest. As he was not good and kind, like his brother the
+fisherman, but extremely wicked, he resolved to send Perseus on a
+dangerous enterprise, in which he would probably be killed, and then
+to do some great mischief to 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">-9-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">-10-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">-11-</a></span> bodies were all over
+scales, which, if not iron, were something as hard and impenetrable.
+They had wings, too, and exceedingly splendid ones, I can assure you;
+for every feather in them was pure, bright, glittering, burnished
+gold, and they looked very dazzlingly, no doubt, when the Gorgons were
+flying about in the sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>But when people happened to catch a glimpse of their glittering
+brightness, aloft in the air, they seldom stopped to gaze, but ran and
+hid themselves as speedily as they could. You will think, perhaps,
+that they were afraid of being stung by the serpents that served the
+Gorgons instead of hair,&mdash;or of having their heads bitten off by their
+ugly tusks,&mdash;or of being torn all to pieces by their brazen claws.
+Well, to be sure, these were some of the dangers, but by no means the
+greatest, nor the most difficult to avoid. For the worst thing about
+these abominable Gorgons was, that, if once a poor mortal fixed his
+eyes full upon one of their faces, he was certain, that very instant,
+to be changed from warm flesh and blood into cold and lifeless stone!</p>
+
+<p>Thus, as you will easily perceive, it was a very dangerous adventure
+that the wicked King Polydectes had contrived for this innocent young
+man. Perseus himself, when he had thought over the matter, could not
+help seeing that he had very little chance of coming safely through
+it, and that he was far more likely to become a stone image than to
+bring back the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. For, not to speak
+of other difficulties, there was one which it would have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">-12-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">-13-</a></span> and active in his figure, like a person much
+accustomed to gymnastic exercises, and well able to leap or run. Above
+all, the stranger had such a cheerful, knowing, and helpful aspect
+(though it was certainly a little mischievous, into the bargain), that
+Perseus could not help feeling his spirits grow livelier as he gazed
+at him. Besides, being really a courageous youth, he felt greatly
+ashamed that anybody should have found him with tears in his eyes,
+like a timid little schoolboy, when, after all, there might be no
+occasion for despair. So Perseus wiped his eyes, and answered the
+stranger pretty briskly, putting on as brave a look as he could.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not so very sad," said he, "only thoughtful about an adventure
+that I have undertaken."</p>
+
+<p>"Oho!" answered the stranger. "Well, tell me all about it, and
+possibly I may be of service to you. I have helped a good many young
+men through adventures that looked difficult enough beforehand.
+Perhaps you may have heard of me. I have more names than one; but the
+name of Quicksilver suits me as well as any other. Tell me what the
+trouble is, and we will talk the matter over, and see what can be
+done."</p>
+
+<p>The stranger's words and manner put Perseus into quite a different
+mood from his former one. He resolved to tell Quicksilver all his
+difficulties, since he could not easily be worse off than he already
+was, and, very possibly, his new friend might give him some advice
+that would turn out well in the end. So he let the stranger know, in
+few words, precisely what the case was,&mdash;how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">-14-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">-15-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">-16-</a></span> 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
+marvelously. And then, too, when Perseus looked sideways at him, out
+of the corner of his eye, he seemed to see wings on the side of his
+head; although if he turned a full gaze, there were no such things to
+be perceived, but only an odd kind of cap. But, at all events, the
+twisted staff was evidently a great convenience to Quicksilver, and
+enabled him to proceed so fast, that Perseus, though a remarkably
+active young man, began to be out of breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Here!" cried Quicksilver, at last,&mdash;for he knew well enough, rogue
+that he was, how hard Perseus found it to keep pace with him,&mdash;"take
+you the staff, for you need it a great deal more than I. Are there no
+better walkers than yourself in the island of Seriphus?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">-17-</a></span></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."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">-18-</a></span></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 traveling 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">-19-</a></span> from
+one to another, as if it had been a pair of spectacles, or&mdash;which
+would have suited them better&mdash;a quizzing-glass. When one of the three
+had kept the eye a certain time, she took it out of the socket and
+passed it to one of her sisters, whose turn it might happen to be, and
+who immediately clapped it into her own head, and enjoyed a peep at
+the visible world. Thus it will easily be understood that only one of
+the Three Gray Women could see, while the other two were in utter
+darkness; and, moreover, at the instant when the eye was passing from
+hand to hand, neither of the poor old ladies was able to see a wink. I
+have heard of a great many strange things, in my day, and have
+witnessed not a few; but none, it seems to me, that can compare with
+the oddity of these Three Gray Women, all peeping through a single
+eye.</p>
+
+<p>So thought Perseus, likewise, and was so astonished that he almost
+fancied his companion was joking with him, and that there were no such
+old women in the world.</p>
+
+<p>"You will soon find whether I tell the truth or no," observed
+Quicksilver. "Hark! hush! hist! hist! There they come, now!"</p>
+
+<p>Perseus looked earnestly through the dusk of the evening, and there,
+sure enough, at no great distance off, he descried the Three Gray
+Women. The light being so faint, he could not well make out what sort
+of figures they were; only he discovered that they had long gray hair;
+and, as they came nearer, he saw that two of them had but the empty
+socket of an eye, in the middle of their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">-20-</a></span> 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!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">-21-</a></span></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 quarreling.
+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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">-22-</a></span> 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 marvelous 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 class="centertbp"><a name="PERSEUS_01" id="PERSEUS_01"></a>
+<img src="images/perseus1.jpg" width="400" height="600" alt="PERSEVS &amp; THE GRAIÆ" title="PERSEVS &amp; THE GRAIÆ" />
+</p>
+
+<p>"Tell them," whispered Quicksilver to Perseus,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">-23-</a></span> "that they shall
+have back the eye as soon as they direct you where to find the Nymphs
+who have the flying slippers, the magic wallet, and the helmet of
+darkness."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, good, admirable old ladies," said Perseus, addressing the
+Gray Women, "there is no occasion for putting yourselves into such a
+fright. I am by no means a bad young man. You shall have back your
+eye, safe and sound, and as bright as ever, the moment you tell me
+where to find the Nymphs."</p>
+
+<p>"The Nymphs! Goodness me! sisters, what Nymphs does he mean?" screamed
+Scarecrow. "There are a great many Nymphs, people say; some that go
+a-hunting in the woods, and some that live inside of trees, and some
+that have a comfortable home in fountains of water. We know nothing at
+all about them. We are three unfortunate old souls, that go wandering
+about in the dusk, and never had but one eye amongst us, and that one
+you have stolen away. Oh, give it back, good stranger!&mdash;whoever you
+are, give it back!"</p>
+
+<p>All this while the Three Gray Women were groping with their
+outstretched hands, and trying their utmost to get hold of Perseus.
+But he took good care to keep out of their reach.</p>
+
+<p>"My respectable dames," said he,&mdash;for his mother had taught him always
+to use the greatest civility,&mdash;"I hold your eye fast in my hand, and
+shall keep it safely for you, until you please to tell me where to
+find these Nymphs. The Nymphs, I mean, who keep the enchanted wallet,
+the flying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">-24-</a></span> slippers, and the&mdash;what is it?&mdash;the helmet of
+invisibility."</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy on us, sisters! what is the young man talking about?" exclaimed
+Scarecrow, Nightmare, and Shakejoint, one to another, with great
+appearance of astonishment. "A pair of flying slippers, quoth he! His
+heels would quickly fly higher than his head, if he 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 marvelous
+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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">-25-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">-26-</a></span> 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 deerskin 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 class="centertbp"><a name="PERSEUS_02" id="PERSEUS_02"></a>
+<img src="images/perseus2.jpg" width="407" height="600" alt="PERSEVS ARMED BY THE NYMPHS" title="PERSEVS ARMED BY THE NYMPHS" />
+</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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">-27-</a></span> behold! upward he popped into the air, high above the heads of
+Quicksilver and the Nymphs, and found it very difficult to clamber
+down again. Winged slippers, and all such high-flying contrivances,
+are seldom quite easy to manage until one grows a little accustomed to
+them. Quicksilver laughed at his companion's involuntary activity, and
+told him that he must not be in so desperate a hurry, but must wait
+for the invisible helmet.</p>
+
+<p>The good-natured Nymphs had the helmet, with its dark tuft of waving
+plumes, all in readiness to put upon his head. And now there happened
+about as wonderful an incident as anything that I have yet told you.
+The instant before the helmet was put on, there stood Perseus, a
+beautiful young man, with golden ringlets and rosy cheeks, the crooked
+sword by his side, and the brightly polished shield upon his arm,&mdash;a
+figure that seemed all made up of courage, sprightliness, and glorious
+light. But when the helmet had descended over his white brow, there
+was no longer any Perseus to be seen! Nothing but empty air! Even the
+helmet, that covered him with its invisibility, had vanished!</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you, Perseus?" asked Quicksilver.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, here, to be sure!" answered Perseus, very quietly, although his
+voice seemed to come out of the transparent atmosphere. "Just where I
+was a moment ago. Don't you see me?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed!" answered his friend. "You are hidden under the helmet.
+But, if I cannot see you, neither can the Gorgons. Follow me,
+there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">-28-</a></span>fore, 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">-29-</a></span> 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."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">-30-</a></span></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,&mdash;immense, golden-winged beetles,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">-31-</a></span> or dragon-flies, or things
+of that sort,&mdash;at once ugly and beautiful,&mdash;than like anything else;
+only that they were a thousand and a million times as big. And, with
+all this, there was something partly human about them, too. Luckily
+for Perseus, their faces were completely hidden from him by the
+posture in which they lay; for, had he but looked one instant at them,
+he would have fallen heavily out of the air, an image of senseless
+stone.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," whispered Quicksilver, as he hovered by the side of
+Perseus,&mdash;"now is your time to do the deed! Be quick; for, if one of
+the Gorgons should awake, you are too late!"</p>
+
+<p>"Which shall I strike at?" asked Perseus, drawing his sword and
+descending a little lower. "They all three look alike. All three have
+snaky locks. Which of the three is Medusa?"</p>
+
+<p>It must be understood that Medusa was the only one of these
+dragon-monsters whose head Perseus could possibly cut off. As for the
+other two, let him have the sharpest sword that ever was forged, and
+he might have hacked away by the hour together, without doing them the
+least harm.</p>
+
+<p>"Be cautious," said the calm voice which had before spoken to him.
+"One of the Gorgons is stirring in her sleep, and is just about to
+turn over. That is Medusa. Do not look at her! The sight would turn
+you to stone! Look at the reflection of her face and figure in the
+bright mirror of your shield."</p>
+
+<p>Perseus now understood Quicksilver's motive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">-32-</a></span> for so earnestly
+exhorting him to polish his shield. In its surface he could safely
+look at the reflection of the Gorgon's face. And there it was,&mdash;that
+terrible countenance,&mdash;mirrored in the brightness of the shield, with
+the moonlight falling over it, and displaying all its horror. The
+snakes, whose venomous natures could not altogether sleep, kept
+twisting themselves over the forehead. It was the fiercest and most
+horrible face that ever was seen or imagined, and yet with a strange,
+fearful, and savage kind of beauty in it. The eyes were closed, and
+the Gorgon was still in a deep slumber; but there was an unquiet
+expression disturbing her features, as if the monster was troubled
+with an ugly dream. She gnashed her white tusks, and dug into the sand
+with her brazen claws.</p>
+
+<p>The snakes, too, seemed to feel Medusa's dream, and to be made more
+restless by it. They twined themselves into tumultuous knots, writhed
+fiercely, and uplifted a hundred hissing heads, without opening their
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, now!" whispered Quicksilver, who was growing impatient. "Make a
+dash at the monster!"</p>
+
+<p>"But be calm," said the grave, melodious voice at the young man's
+side. "Look in your shield, as you fly downward, and take care that
+you do not miss your first stroke."</p>
+
+<p class="centertbp"><a name="PERSEUS_03" id="PERSEUS_03"></a>
+<img src="images/perseus3.jpg" width="409" height="600" alt="PERSEVS &amp; THE GORGONS" title="PERSEVS &amp; THE GORGONS" />
+</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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">-33-</a></span> 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 ruf<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">-34-</a></span>fled, 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 marvelous 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">-35-</a></span> 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 praiseworthy priests, and the
+kind-hearted fisherman, who had first shown hospitality to Danaë and
+little Perseus when he found them afloat in the chest, seem to have
+been the only persons on the island who cared about doing right. All
+the rest of the people, as well as King Polydectes himself, were
+remarkably ill-behaved, and deserved no better destiny than that which
+was now to happen.</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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">-36-</a></span> 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 travelers 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">-37-</a></span> 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 class="centertbp"><a name="PERSEUS_04" id="PERSEUS_04"></a>
+<img src="images/perseus4.jpg" width="401" height="600" alt="PERSEVS SHOWING THE GORGON&#39;S HEAD" title="PERSEVS SHOWING THE GORGON&#39;S HEAD" />
+</p>
+
+<p>On a platform, within full view of the balcony, sat the mighty King
+Polydectes, amid his evil counselors, and with his flattering
+courtiers in a semicircle round about him. Monarch, counselors,
+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 counselors whispered bad advice in the king's ear; the
+courtiers murmured, with one consent, that Perseus had shown
+disrespect to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">-38-</a></span> 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 counselors, 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>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_03" id="TAIL_03"></a>
+<img src="images/tail03.jpg" width="331" height="189" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="med" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">-39-</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="centerbp"><a name="TANGLEWOOD_PORCH" id="TANGLEWOOD_PORCH"></a>
+<img src="images/gorgon03.jpg" width="615" height="268" alt="TANGLEWOOD PORCH, AFTER THE STORY" title="TANGLEWOOD PORCH, AFTER THE STORY" />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">&#8220;W</span>AS not that a very fine story?" asked Eustace.</p>
+
+<p>"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."</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 land<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">-40-</a></span>scape. 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">-41-</a></span> 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>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_04" id="TAIL_04"></a>
+<img src="images/tail04.jpg" width="188" height="99" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">-42-</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="THE_GOLDEN_TOUCH_1" id="THE_GOLDEN_TOUCH_1"></a>
+<img src="images/golden01top.jpg" width="619" height="273" alt="THE GOLDEN TOVCH, SHADOW BROOK" title="THE GOLDEN TOVCH, SHADOW BROOK" />
+<img src="images/golden01bot.jpg" width="252" height="220" alt="A" title="A" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="orange">INTRODUCTORY TO<br />
+THE GOLDEN TOUCH</span></p>
+
+
+<p>T 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">-43-</a></span> 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 persuaded that
+he had winged slippers, like those which the Nymphs gave Perseus; so
+often had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">-44-</a></span> the student shown himself at the tiptop 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">-45-</a></span> 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">-46-</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="med" />
+
+<p><a name="THE_GOLDEN_TOUCH_2" id="THE_GOLDEN_TOUCH_2"></a>
+<img src="images/golden02top.jpg" width="617" height="275" alt="THE GOLDEN TOVCH" title="THE GOLDEN TOUCH" />
+<img src="images/golden02bot.jpg" width="235" height="222" alt="O" title="O" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>NCE 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">-47-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">-48-</a></span> ground, at
+the basement of his palace. It was here that he kept his wealth. To
+this dismal hole&mdash;for it was little better than a dungeon&mdash;Midas
+betook himself, whenever he wanted to be particularly happy. Here,
+after carefully locking the door, he would take a bag of gold coin, or
+a gold cup as big as a washbowl, or a heavy golden bar, or a
+peck-measure of gold-dust, and bring them from the obscure corners of
+the room into the one bright and narrow sunbeam that fell from the
+dungeon-like window. He valued the sunbeam for no other reason but
+that his treasure would not shine without its help. And then would he
+reckon over the coins in the bag; toss up the bar, and catch it as it
+came down; sift the gold-dust through his fingers; look at the funny
+image of his own face, as reflected in the burnished circumference of
+the cup; and whisper to himself, "O Midas, rich King Midas, what a
+happy man art thou!" But it was laughable to see how the image of his
+face kept grinning at him, out of the polished surface of the cup. It
+seemed to be aware of his foolish 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 tiptop of enjoyment would never be
+reached, unless the whole world were to become his treasure-room, and
+be filled with yellow metal which should be all his own.</p>
+
+<p>Now, I need hardly remind such wise little people as you are, that in
+the old, old times, when King Midas was alive, a great many things
+came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">-49-</a></span> 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 sup<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">-50-</a></span>posed 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,&mdash;pretty well," answered Midas, in a
+discontented tone. "But, after all, it is but a trifle, when you
+consider that it has taken me my whole life to get it together. If one
+could live a thousand years, he might have time to grow rich!"</p>
+
+<p>"What!" exclaimed the stranger. "Then you are not satisfied?"</p>
+
+<p>Midas shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"And pray what would satisfy you?" asked the stranger. "Merely for the
+curiosity of the thing, I should be glad to know."</p>
+
+<p class="centertbp"><a name="MIDAS_01" id="MIDAS_01"></a>
+<img src="images/midas1.jpg" width="397" height="600" alt="THE STRANGER APPEARING TO MIDAS" title="THE STRANGER APPEARING TO MIDAS" />
+</p>
+
+<p>Midas paused and meditated. He felt a presentiment that this stranger,
+with such a golden<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">-51-</a></span> 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&mdash;for so looked the lumps and particles of
+gold&mdash;lie strewn in the glow of light.</p>
+
+<p>"The Golden Touch!" exclaimed he. "You certainly deserve credit,
+friend Midas, for striking out so brilliant a conception. But are you
+quite sure that this will satisfy you?"</p>
+
+<p>"How could it fail?" said Midas.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">-52-</a></span></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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">-53-</a></span> 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,&mdash;a mass of gold. He took up a book from the table. At his first
+touch, it assumed the appearance of such a splendidly bound and
+gilt-edged volume as one often meets with, nowadays; but, on running
+his fingers through the leaves, behold! it was a bundle of thin golden
+plates, in which all the wisdom of the book had grown illegible. He
+hurriedly put on his clothes, and was enraptured to see himself in a
+magnifi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">-54-</a></span>cent 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 crystal 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">-55-</a></span> Touch is worth
+the sacrifice of a pair of spectacles, at least, if not of one's very
+eyesight. My own eyes will serve for ordinary purposes, and little
+Marygold will soon be old enough to read to me."</p>
+
+<p>Wise King Midas was so exalted by his good fortune, that the palace
+seemed not sufficiently spacious to contain him. He therefore went
+downstairs, and smiled, on observing that the balustrade of the
+staircase became a bar of burnished gold, as his hand passed over it,
+in his descent. He lifted the 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">-56-</a></span> 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">-57-</a></span> "Pray what is the matter with
+you, this bright morning?"</p>
+
+<p>Marygold, without taking the apron from her eyes, held out her hand,
+in which was one of the roses which Midas had so recently transmuted.</p>
+
+<p>"Beautiful!" exclaimed her father. "And what is there in this
+magnificent golden rose to make you cry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, dear father!" answered the child, as well as her sobs would let
+her; "it is not beautiful, but the ugliest flower that ever grew! As
+soon as I was dressed I ran into the garden to gather some roses for
+you; because I know you like them, and like them the better when
+gathered by your little daughter. But, oh dear, dear me! What do you
+think has happened? Such a misfortune! All the beautiful roses, that
+smelled so sweetly and had so many lovely blushes, are blighted and
+spoilt! They are grown quite yellow, as you see this one, and have no
+longer any fragrance! What can have been the matter with them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Poh, my dear little girl,&mdash;pray don't cry about it!" said Midas, who
+was ashamed to confess that he himself had wrought the change which so
+greatly afflicted her. "Sit down and eat your bread and milk! You will
+find it easy enough to exchange a golden rose like that (which will
+last hundreds of years) for an ordinary one which would wither in a
+day."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care for such roses as this!" cried Marygold, tossing it
+contemptuously away. "It has no smell, and the hard petals prick my
+nose!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">-58-</a></span></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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">-59-</a></span> 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 lay<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">-60-</a></span>ing; but
+King Midas was the only goose that 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">-61-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">-62-</a></span> 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 class="centertbp"><a name="MIDAS_02" id="MIDAS_02"></a>
+<img src="images/midas2.jpg" width="404" height="600" alt="MIDAS&#39; DAVGHTER TVRNED TO GOLD" title="MIDAS&#39; DAVGHTER TVRNED TO GOLD" />
+</p>
+
+<p>Yes, there she was, with the questioning look of love, grief, and
+pity, hardened into her face. It was the prettiest and most woeful
+sight that ever mortal saw. All the features and tokens of Marygold
+were there; even the beloved little dimple remained in her golden
+chin. But the more perfect was the resemblance, the greater was the
+father's agony at beholding this golden image, which was all that was
+left him of a daughter. It had been a 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">-63-</a></span> 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
+fullness 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?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">-64-</a></span></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,&mdash;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">-65-</a></span> 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 marvelous
+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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">-66-</a></span> 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 class="centertbp"><a name="MIDAS_03" id="MIDAS_03"></a>
+<img src="images/midas3.jpg" width="393" height="600" alt="MIDAS WITH THE PITCHER" title="MIDAS WITH THE 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!&mdash;and how astonished she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">-67-</a></span> 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
+marvelous 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">-68-</a></span> 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>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_05" id="TAIL_05"></a>
+<img src="images/tail05.jpg" width="186" height="160" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="med" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">-69-</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="SHADOW_BROOK_AFTER_THE_STORY" id="SHADOW_BROOK_AFTER_THE_STORY"></a>
+<img src="images/golden03top.jpg" width="615" height="271" alt="SHADOW BROOK, AFTER THE STORY" title="SHADOW BROOK, AFTER THE STORY" />
+<img src="images/golden03bot.jpg" width="243" height="219" alt="W" title="W" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+<p>ELL, 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 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">-70-</a></span> 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?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">-71-</a></span></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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">-72-</a></span> 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>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_06" id="TAIL_06"></a>
+<img src="images/tail06.jpg" width="238" height="114" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">-73-</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="THE_PARADISE_OF_CHILDREN_1" id="THE_PARADISE_OF_CHILDREN_1"></a>
+<img src="images/paradise01top.jpg" width="625" height="277" alt="THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN" title="THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN" />
+<img src="images/paradise01bot.jpg" width="236" height="224" alt="T" title="T" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="green">TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM.<br />
+INTRODUCTORY TO THE<br />
+PARADISE OF CHILDREN</span></p>
+
+
+<p>HE 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">-74-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">-75-</a></span>
+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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">-76-</a></span> 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,&mdash;a Paradise of children,&mdash;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">-77-</a></span> child, whose name
+was Pandora, and about her playfellow Epimetheus.</p>
+
+<p>You may read it, word for word, in the pages that come next.</p>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_07" id="TAIL_07"></a>
+<img src="images/tail07.jpg" width="249" height="153" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="med" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">-78-</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="THE_PARADISE_OF_CHILDREN_2" id="THE_PARADISE_OF_CHILDREN_2"></a>
+<img src="images/paradise02top.jpg" width="607" height="264" alt="THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN" title="THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN" />
+<img src="images/paradise02bot.jpg" width="234" height="225" alt="L" title="L" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>ONG, 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,&mdash;</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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">-79-</a></span></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 quarreled 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">-80-</a></span> that the very greatest disquietude which a
+child had ever experienced was Pandora's vexation at not being able to
+discover the secret of the mysterious box.</p>
+
+<p>This was at first only the faint shadow of a Trouble; but, every day,
+it grew more and more substantial, until, before a great while, the
+cottage of Epimetheus and Pandora was less sunshiny than those of the
+other children.</p>
+
+<p>"Whence can the box have come?" Pandora continually kept saying to
+herself and to Epimetheus. "And what in the world can be inside of
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Always talking about this box!" said Epimetheus, at last; for he had
+grown extremely tired of the subject. "I wish, dear Pandora, you would
+try to talk of something else. Come, let us go and gather some ripe
+figs, and eat them under the trees, for our supper. And I know a vine
+that has the sweetest and juiciest grapes you ever tasted."</p>
+
+<p>"Always talking about grapes and figs!" cried Pandora, pettishly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then," said Epimetheus, who was a very good-tempered child,
+like a multitude of children in those days, "let us run out and have a
+merry time with our playmates."</p>
+
+<p>"I am tired of merry times, and don't care if I never have any more!"
+answered our pettish little Pandora. "And, besides, I never do have
+any. This ugly box! I am so taken up with thinking about it all the
+time. I insist upon your telling me what is inside of it."</p>
+
+<p class="centertbp"><a name="PANDORA_01" id="PANDORA_01"></a>
+<img src="images/pandora1.jpg" width="396" height="600" alt="PANDORA WONDERS AT THE BOX" title="PANDORA WONDERS AT THE BOX" />
+</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">-81-</a></span></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 just 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">-82-</a></span>
+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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">-83-</a></span> 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">-84-</a></span></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:&mdash;</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 skillfullest 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">-85-</a></span> and forefinger, but without positively trying to
+undo it.</p>
+
+<p>"I really believe," said she to herself, "that I begin to see how it
+was done. Nay, perhaps I could tie it up again, after undoing it.
+There would be no harm in that, surely. Even Epimetheus would not
+blame me for that. I need not open the box, and should not, of course,
+without the foolish boy's consent, even if the knot were untied."</p>
+
+<p>It might have been better for Pandora if she had had a little work to
+do, or anything to employ her mind upon, so as not to be so constantly
+thinking of this one subject. But children led so easy a life, before
+any Troubles came into the world, that they had really a great deal
+too much leisure. They could not be forever playing at hide-and-seek
+among the flower-shrubs, or at blind-man's-buff with garlands over
+their eyes, or at whatever other games had been found out, while
+Mother Earth was in her babyhood. When life is all sport, toil is the
+real play. There was absolutely nothing to do. A little sweeping and
+dusting about the cottage, I suppose, and the gathering of fresh
+flowers (which were only too abundant everywhere), and arranging them
+in vases,&mdash;and poor little Pandora's day's work was over. And then,
+for the rest of the day, there was the box!</p>
+
+<p>After all, I am not quite sure that the box was not a blessing to her
+in its way. It supplied her with such a variety of ideas to think of,
+and to talk about, whenever she had anybody to listen!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">-86-</a></span> 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&mdash;(but it was a mischievous box, as we shall see, and deserved all
+it got)&mdash;many a kick did it receive. But, certain it is, if it had not
+been for the box, our active-minded little Pandora would not have
+known half so well how to spend her time as she now did.</p>
+
+<p class="centertbp"><a name="PANDORA_02" id="PANDORA_02"></a>
+<img src="images/pandora2.jpg" width="400" height="600" alt="PANDORA DESIRES TO OPEN THE BOX" title="PANDORA DESIRES TO OPEN THE BOX" />
+</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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">-87-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">-88-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">-89-</a></span> knot, it seemed to have gone entirely out of her
+mind. Nothing was to be done, therefore, but to let the box remain as
+it was until Epimetheus should come in.</p>
+
+<p>"But," said Pandora, "when he finds the knot untied, he will know that
+I have done it. How shall I make him believe that I have not looked
+into the box?"</p>
+
+<p>And then the thought came into her naughty little heart, that, since
+she would be suspected of having looked into the box, she might just
+as well do so at once. Oh, very naughty and very foolish Pandora! You
+should have thought only of doing what was right, and of leaving
+undone what was wrong, and not of what your playfellow Epimetheus
+would have said or believed. And so perhaps she might, if the
+enchanted face on the lid of the box had not looked so bewitchingly
+persuasive at her, and if she had not seemed to hear, more distinctly
+than before, the murmur of small voices within. She could not tell
+whether it was fancy or no; but there was quite a little tumult of
+whispers in her ear,&mdash;or else it was her curiosity that whispered,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Let us out, dear Pandora,&mdash;pray let us out! We will be such nice
+pretty playfellows for you! Only let us out!"</p>
+
+<p>"What can it be?" thought Pandora. "Is there something alive in the
+box? Well!&mdash;yes!&mdash;I am resolved to take just one peep! Only one peep;
+and then the lid shall be shut down as safely as ever! There cannot
+possibly be any harm in just one little peep!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">-90-</a></span></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,&mdash;roses,
+and lilies, and orange-blossoms, and a great many more, which left a
+trail of fragrance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">-91-</a></span> behind, as Epimetheus carried them along; and the
+wreath was put together with as much skill as could reasonably be
+expected of a boy. The fingers of little girls, it has always appeared
+to me, are the fittest to twine flower-wreaths; but boys could do it,
+in those days, rather better than they can now.</p>
+
+<p>And here I must mention that a great black cloud had been gathering in
+the sky, for some time past, although it had not yet overspread the
+sun. But, just as Epimetheus reached the cottage door, this cloud
+began to intercept the sunshine, and thus to make a sudden and sad
+obscurity.</p>
+
+<p>He entered softly; for he meant, if possible, to steal behind Pandora,
+and fling the wreath of flowers over her head, before she should be
+aware of his approach. But, as it happened, there was no need of his
+treading so very lightly. He might have trod as heavily as he
+pleased,&mdash;as heavily as a grown man,&mdash;as heavily, I was going to say,
+as an elephant,&mdash;without much probability of Pandora's hearing his
+footsteps. She was too intent upon her purpose. At the moment of his
+entering the cottage, the naughty child had put her hand to the lid,
+and was on the point of opening the mysterious box. Epimetheus beheld
+her. If he had cried out, Pandora would probably have withdrawn her
+hand, and the fatal mystery of the box might never have been known.</p>
+
+<p>But Epimetheus himself, although he said very little about it, had his
+own share of curiosity to know what was inside. Perceiving that
+Pandora was resolved to find out the secret, he determined<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">-92-</a></span> 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 class="centertbp"><a name="PANDORA_03" id="PANDORA_03"></a>
+<img src="images/pandora3.jpg" width="408" height="600" alt="PANDORA OPENS THE BOX" title="PANDORA OPENS THE BOX" />
+</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
+pinch<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">-93-</a></span>ing-dogs, were darting about. And, as her eyes grew more
+accustomed to the imperfect light, she saw a crowd of ugly little
+shapes, with bats' wings, looking abominably spiteful, and armed with
+terribly long stings in their tails. It was one of these that had
+stung Epimetheus. Nor was it a great while before Pandora herself
+began to scream, in no less pain and affright than her playfellow, and
+making a vast deal more hubbub about it. An odious little monster had
+settled on her forehead, and would have stung her I know not how
+deeply, if Epimetheus had not run and brushed it away.</p>
+
+<p>Now, if you wish to know what these ugly things might be, which had
+made their escape out of the box, I must tell you that they were the
+whole family of earthly Troubles. There were evil Passions; there were
+a great many species of Cares; there were more than a hundred and
+fifty Sorrows; there were Diseases, in a vast number of miserable and
+painful shapes; there were more kinds of Naughtiness than it would be
+of any use to talk about. In short, everything that has since
+afflicted the souls and bodies of mankind had been shut up in the
+mysterious box, and given to Epimetheus and Pandora to be kept safely,
+in order that the happy children of the world might never be molested
+by them. Had they been faithful to their trust, all would have gone
+well. No grown person would ever have been sad, nor any child have had
+cause to shed a single tear, from that hour until this moment.</p>
+
+<p>But&mdash;and you may see by this how a wrong act of any one mortal is a
+calamity to the whole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">-94-</a></span> world&mdash;by Pandora's lifting the lid of that
+miserable box, and by the fault of Epimetheus, too, in not preventing
+her, these Troubles have obtained a foothold among us, and do not seem
+very likely to be driven away in a hurry. For it was impossible, as
+you will easily guess, that the two children should keep the ugly
+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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">-95-</a></span> 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,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Only lift the lid, and you shall see."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," answered Pandora, again beginning to sob, "I have had enough
+of lifting the lid! You are inside of the box, naughty creature, and
+there you shall stay! There are plenty of your ugly brothers and
+sisters already flying about the world. You need never think that I
+shall be so foolish as to let you out!"</p>
+
+<p>She looked 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">-96-</a></span></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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">-97-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">-98-</a></span> 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,&mdash;"and
+that will be as long as you live in the world,&mdash;I promise never to
+desert you. There may come times and seasons, now and then, when you
+will think that I have utterly vanished. But again, and again, and
+again, when perhaps you least dream of it, you shall see the glimmer
+of my wings on the ceiling of your cottage. Yes, my dear children, and
+I know something very good and beautiful that is to be given you
+hereafter!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, tell us," they exclaimed,&mdash;"tell us what it is!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do not ask me," replied Hope, putting her finger on her rosy mouth.
+"But do not despair, even if it should never happen while you live on
+this earth. Trust in my promise, for it is true."</p>
+
+<p>"We do trust you!" cried Epimetheus and Pandora, both in one breath.</p>
+
+<p>And so they did; and not only they, but so has everybody trusted Hope,
+that has since been alive. And to tell you the truth, I cannot help
+being glad&mdash;(though, to be sure, it was an un<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">-99-</a></span>commonly naughty thing
+for her to do)&mdash;but I cannot help being glad that our foolish Pandora
+peeped into the box. No doubt&mdash;no doubt&mdash;the Troubles are still flying
+about the world, and have increased in multitude, rather than
+lessened, and are a very ugly set of imps, and carry most venomous
+stings in their tails. I have felt them already, and expect to feel
+them more, as I grow older. But then that lovely and lightsome little
+figure of Hope! What in the world could we do without her? Hope
+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>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_08" id="TAIL_08"></a>
+<img src="images/tail08.jpg" width="286" height="150" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="med" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">-100-</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="TANGLEWOOD_PLAY-ROOM" id="TANGLEWOOD_PLAY-ROOM"></a>
+<img src="images/paradise03top.jpg" width="611" height="267" alt="TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM" title="TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM" />
+<img src="images/paradise03bot.jpg" width="234" height="218" alt="P" title="P" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="dgreen">AFTER THE STORY</span></p>
+
+
+<p>RIMROSE," 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."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">-101-</a></span></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 />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">-102-</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="THE_THREE_GOLDEN_APPLES_1" id="THE_THREE_GOLDEN_APPLES_1"></a>
+<img src="images/apples01top.jpg" width="616" height="269" alt="THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES, TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE, INTRODVCTORY TO THE 3 GOLDEN APPLES" title="THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES, TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE, INTRODUCTORY TO THE 3 GOLDEN APPLES" />
+<img src="images/apples01bot.jpg" width="234" height="223" alt="T" title="T" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+<p>HE 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 frost-work 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&mdash;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&mdash;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">-103-</a></span>
+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 woolens, 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, halfway 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">-104-</a></span> 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">-105-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">-106-</a></span> 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 tiptop 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 semi-circular 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">-107-</a></span>
+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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">-108-</a></span> 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 mantel-piece.</p>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_09" id="TAIL_09"></a>
+<img src="images/tail09.jpg" width="203" height="124" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="med" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">-109-</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="THE_THREE_GOLDEN_APPLES_2" id="THE_THREE_GOLDEN_APPLES_2"></a>
+<img src="images/apples02top.jpg" width="619" height="267" alt="THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES" title="THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES" />
+<img src="images/apples02bot.jpg" width="234" height="235" alt="D" title="D" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>ID 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 won<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">-110-</a></span>der 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">-111-</a></span> 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 traveler, what do you want there?"</p>
+
+<p>"A certain king, who is my cousin," replied he, "has ordered me to get
+him three of the golden apples."</p>
+
+<p>"Most of the young men who go in quest of these apples," observed
+another of the damsels, "desire to obtain them for themselves, or to
+present them to some fair maiden whom they love. Do you, then, love
+this king, your cousin, so very much?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps not," replied the stranger, sighing. "He has often been
+severe and cruel to me. But it is my destiny to obey him."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">-112-</a></span></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 traveler attempt what was so very
+dangerous, and devote himself, most probably, to become a meal for the
+dragon's hundred ravenous mouths.</p>
+
+<p>"Go back," cried they all,&mdash;"go back to your own home! Your mother,
+beholding you safe and sound, will shed tears of joy; and what can she
+do more, should you win ever so great a victory? No matter for the
+golden apples! No matter for the king, your cruel cousin! We do not
+wish the dragon with the hundred heads to eat you up!"</p>
+
+<p class="centertbp"><a name="HERCULES_01" id="HERCULES_01"></a>
+<img src="images/hercules1.jpg" width="400" height="600" alt="HERCVLES &amp; THE NYMPHS" title="HERCVLES &amp; THE NYMPHS" />
+</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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">-113-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">-114-</a></span> 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 traveler 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!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">-115-</a></span></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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">-116-</a></span> 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">-117-</a></span></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&mdash;that have performed
+so many wonders, and spent such a toilsome life&mdash;cannot you content
+yourself to repose a little while on the margin of this peaceful
+river?"</p>
+
+<p>Hercules shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"I must depart now," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"We will then give you the best directions we can," replied the
+damsels. "You must go to the 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,&mdash;for the bread and grapes with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">-118-</a></span> 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,&mdash;and he thanked them, most
+of all, for telling him the right way,&mdash;and immediately set forth upon
+his journey.</p>
+
+<p>But, before he was out of hearing, one of the maidens called after
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep fast hold of the Old One, when you catch him!" cried she,
+smiling, and lifting her finger to make the caution more impressive.
+"Do not be astonished at anything that may happen. Only hold him fast,
+and he will tell you what you wish to know."</p>
+
+<p>Hercules again thanked her, and pursued his way, while the maidens
+resumed their pleasant 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 traveled 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">-119-</a></span> 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 appear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">-120-</a></span>ance 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 class="centertbp"><a name="HERCULES_02" id="HERCULES_02"></a>
+<img src="images/hercules2.jpg" width="411" height="600" alt="HERCVLES &amp; THE OLD MAN OF THE SEA" title="HERCVLES &amp; THE OLD MAN OF THE SEA" />
+</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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">-121-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">-122-</a></span>
+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 like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">-123-</a></span>wise
+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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">-124-</a></span> 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">-125-</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I have seen many giants, in my time," thought Hercules, "but never
+one that would need to drink his wine out of a cup like this!"</p>
+
+<p>And, true enough, what a cup it must have been! It was as large&mdash;as
+large&mdash;but, in short, I am afraid to say how immeasurably large it
+was. To speak within bounds, it was ten times larger than a great
+mill-wheel; and, all of metal as it was, it floated over the heaving
+surges more lightly than an acorn-cup adown the brook. The waves
+tumbled it onward, until it grazed against the shore, within a short
+distance of the spot where Hercules was standing.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as this happened, he knew what was to be done; for he had not
+gone through so many remarkable adventures without learning pretty
+well how to conduct himself, whenever anything came to pass a little
+out of the common rule. It was just as clear as daylight that this
+marvelous 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">-126-</a></span></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 marvelous
+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
+travelers 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">-127-</a></span> 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 class="centertbp"><a name="HERCULES_03" id="HERCULES_03"></a>
+<img src="images/hercules3.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="HERCVLES AND ATLAS" title="HERCVLES AND ATLAS" />
+</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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">-128-</a></span> in a voice pretty nearly or
+quite as loud as the giant's own. "And I am seeking for the garden of
+the Hesperides!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ho! ho! ho!" roared the giant, in a fit of immense laughter. "That is
+a wise adventure, truly!"</p>
+
+<p>"And why not?" cried Hercules, getting a little angry at the giant's
+mirth. "Do you think I am afraid of the dragon with a hundred heads!"</p>
+
+<p>Just at this time, while they were talking together, some black clouds
+gathered about the giant's middle, and burst into a tremendous storm
+of thunder and lightning, causing such a pother that Hercules found it
+impossible to distinguish a word. Only the giant's immeasurable legs
+were to be seen, standing up into the obscurity of the tempest; and,
+now and then, a momentary glimpse of his whole figure, mantled in a
+volume of mist. He seemed to be speaking, most of the time; but his
+big, deep, rough voice chimed in with the reverberations of the
+thunder-claps, and rolled away over the hills, like them. Thus, by
+talking out of season, the foolish giant expended an incalculable
+quantity of breath, to no purpose; for the thunder spoke quite as
+intelligibly as he.</p>
+
+<p>At last, the storm swept over, as suddenly as it had come. And there
+again was the clear sky, and the weary giant holding it up, and the
+pleasant sunshine beaming over his vast height, and illuminating it
+against the background of the sullen thunder-clouds. So far above the
+shower had been his head, that not a hair of it was moistened by the
+rain-drops!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">-129-</a></span></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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">-130-</a></span></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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">-131-</a></span>
+laughed&mdash;Ho! ho! ho!&mdash;with a thunderous roar that was echoed from the
+mountains, far and near, as if they and the giant had been so many
+rejoicing brothers. When his joy had a little subsided, he stepped
+into the sea; ten miles at the first stride, which brought him midleg
+deep; and ten miles at the second, when the water came just above his
+knees; and ten miles more at the third, by which he was immersed
+nearly to his waist. This was the greatest depth of the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Hercules watched the giant, as he still went onward; for it was really
+a wonderful sight, this immense human form, more than thirty miles
+off, half hidden in the ocean, but with his upper half as tall, and
+misty, and blue, as a distant mountain. At last the gigantic shape
+faded entirely out of view. And now Hercules began to consider what he
+should do, in case Atlas should be drowned in the sea, or if he were
+to be stung to death by the dragon with the hundred heads, which
+guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides. If any such misfortune
+were to happen, how could he ever get rid of the sky? And, by the by,
+its weight began already to be a little irksome to his head and
+shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"I really pity the poor giant," thought Hercules. "If it wearies me so
+much in ten minutes, how must it have wearied him in a thousand
+years!"</p>
+
+<p>O my sweet little people, you have no idea what a weight there was in
+that same blue sky, which looks so soft and aerial above our heads!
+And there, too, was the bluster of the wind, and the chill and watery
+clouds, and the blazing sun,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">-132-</a></span> 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;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">-133-</a></span> and the dragon
+with a hundred heads is a sight worth any man's seeing. After all, you
+had better have gone for the apples yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"No matter," replied Hercules. "You have had a pleasant ramble, and
+have done the business as well as I could. I heartily thank you for
+your trouble. And now, as I have a long way to go, and am rather in
+haste,&mdash;and as the king, my cousin, is anxious to receive the golden
+apples,&mdash;will you be kind enough to take the sky off my shoulders
+again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, as to that," said the giant, chucking the golden apples into the
+air twenty miles high, or thereabouts, and catching them as they came
+down,&mdash;"as to that, my good friend, I consider you a little
+unreasonable. Cannot I carry the golden apples to the king, your
+cousin, much quicker than you could? As his majesty is in such a hurry
+to get them, I promise you to take my longest strides. And, besides, I
+have no fancy for burdening myself with the sky, just now."</p>
+
+<p>Here Hercules grew impatient, and gave a great shrug of his shoulders.
+It being now twilight, you might have seen two or three stars tumble
+out of their places. Everybody on earth looked upward in affright,
+thinking that the sky might be going to fall next.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that will never do!" cried Giant Atlas, with a great roar of
+laughter. "I have not let fall so many stars within the last five
+centuries. By the time you have stood there as long as I did, you will
+begin to learn patience!"</p>
+
+<p>"What!" shouted Hercules, very wrathfully,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">-134-</a></span> "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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">-135-</a></span> 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>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_10" id="TAIL_10"></a>
+<img src="images/tail10.jpg" width="275" height="155" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="med" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">-136-</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="TANGLEWOOD_FIRESIDE" id="TANGLEWOOD_FIRESIDE"></a>
+<img src="images/apples03top.jpg" width="615" height="275" alt="TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE, AFTER THE STORY" title="TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE, AFTER THE STORY" />
+<img src="images/apples03bot.jpg" width="279" height="260" alt="C" title="C" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>OUSIN 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 that 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">-137-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">-138-</a></span> 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 remodeled 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">-139-</a></span> 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>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_11" id="TAIL_11"></a>
+<img src="images/tail11.jpg" width="255" height="88" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">-140-</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="THE_MIRACULOUS_PITCHER_1" id="THE_MIRACULOUS_PITCHER_1"></a>
+<img src="images/pitcher01top.jpg" width="619" height="271" alt="THE MIRACVLOVS PITCHER, THE HILL-SIDE, INTRODVCTORY TO THE MIRACVLOVS PITCHER" title="THE MIRACVLOVS PITCHER, THE HILL-SIDE, INTRODVCTORY TO THE MIRACVLOVS PITCHER" />
+<img src="images/pitcher01bot.jpg" width="237" height="222" alt="A" title="A" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>ND 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 halfway
+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 tiptop 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 farther? He was now in the middle
+of the spring vacation, and looked pretty much as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">-141-</a></span> 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, whiten<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">-142-</a></span>ing 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">-143-</a></span> 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>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_12" id="TAIL_12"></a>
+<img src="images/tail12.jpg" width="216" height="155" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="med" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">-144-</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="THE_MIRACULOUS_PITCHER_2" id="THE_MIRACULOUS_PITCHER_2"></a>
+<img src="images/pitcher02top.jpg" width="620" height="275" alt="THE MIRACVLOVS PITCHER" title="THE MIRACVLOVS PITCHER" />
+<img src="images/pitcher02bot.jpg" width="240" height="226" alt="O" title="O" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>NE 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 traveler 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 class="centertbp"><a name="PHILEMON_01" id="PHILEMON_01"></a>
+<img src="images/philemon1.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="PHILEMON &amp; BAVCIS" title="PHILEMON &amp; BAVCIS" />
+</p>
+
+<p>"Well-a-day!" answered old Baucis, "I do wish our neighbors felt a
+little more kindness for their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">-145-</a></span> 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 traveler 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">-146-</a></span></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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">-147-</a></span> 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
+traveler 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 travelers, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">-148-</a></span>
+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 travelers 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 class="centertbp"><a name="PHILEMON_02" id="PHILEMON_02"></a>
+<img src="images/philemon2.jpg" width="400" height="600" alt="THE STRANGERS IN THE VILLAGE" title="THE STRANGERS IN THE VILLAGE" />
+</p>
+
+<p>Both of the travelers were very humbly clad,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">-149-</a></span> 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,&mdash;</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 traveler, laughing; "and, if the
+truth must be told, my companion and myself need some amends. Those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">-150-</a></span>
+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 traveler'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 traveler 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
+traveler. "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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">-151-</a></span> olive-wood, and had something like a
+little pair of wings near the top. Two snakes, carved in the wood,
+were represented as twining themselves about the staff, and were so
+very skillfully 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
+marvelous, 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 re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">-152-</a></span>markably 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 traveler 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 traveler 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
+dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">-153-</a></span>guise, 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 travelers 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 traveler. "So, if
+you call me Quicksilver, the name will fit tolerably well."</p>
+
+<p>"Quicksilver? Quicksilver?" repeated Philemon, looking in the
+traveler'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 benefi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">-154-</a></span>cence 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">-155-</a></span></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 traveler 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
+circum<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">-156-</a></span>stances 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
+travelers. 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">-157-</a></span> very first sitting down, the travelers 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."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">-158-</a></span></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 class="centertbp"><a name="PHILEMON_03" id="PHILEMON_03"></a>
+<img src="images/philemon3.jpg" width="394" height="600" alt="THE STRANGERS ENTERTAINED" title="THE STRANGERS ENTERTAINED" />
+</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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">-159-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">-160-</a></span> through the
+business at once. There happened to be a little more in the pitcher
+than you thought,&mdash;that is all."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, husband," said Baucis, "say what you will, these are very
+uncommon people."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well," replied Philemon, still smiling, "perhaps they are. They
+certainly do look as if they had seen better days; and I am heartily
+glad to see them making so comfortable a supper."</p>
+
+<p>Each of the guests had now taken his bunch of grapes upon his plate.
+Baucis (who rubbed her eyes, in order to see the more clearly) was of
+opinion that the clusters had grown larger and richer, and that each
+separate grape seemed to be on the point of bursting with ripe juice.
+It was entirely a mystery to her how such grapes could ever have been
+produced from the old stunted vine that climbed against the cottage
+wall.</p>
+
+<p>"Very admirable grapes these!" observed Quicksilver, as he swallowed
+one after another, without apparently diminishing his cluster. "Pray,
+my good host, whence did you gather them?"</p>
+
+<p>"From my own vine," answered Philemon. "You may see one of its
+branches twisting across the window, yonder. But wife and I never
+thought the grapes very fine ones."</p>
+
+<p>"I never tasted better," said the guest. "Another cup of this
+delicious milk, if you please, and I shall then have supped better
+than a prince."</p>
+
+<p>This time, old Philemon bestirred himself, and took up the pitcher;
+for he was curious to discover whether there was any reality in the
+marvels which Baucis had whispered to him. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">-161-</a></span> 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
+traveler, 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 traveler 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">-162-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">-163-</a></span> 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 traveler, 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,&mdash;that it is!" cried good
+old Baucis, vehemently. "And I mean to go this very day, and tell some
+of them what naughty people they are!"</p>
+
+<p>"I fear," remarked Quicksilver, slyly smiling, "that you will find
+none of them at home."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">-164-</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The elder traveler'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 traveler, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">-165-</a></span> 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 traveler, 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!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">-166-</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ah," cried Baucis, shuddering, "I would not, for the world, put one
+of them on the gridiron!"</p>
+
+<p>"No," added Philemon, making a wry face, "we could never relish them!"</p>
+
+<p>"As for you, good Philemon," continued the elder traveler,&mdash;"and you,
+kind Baucis,&mdash;you, with your scanty means, have mingled so much
+heartfelt hospitality with your entertainment of the homeless
+stranger, that the milk became an inexhaustible fount of nectar, and
+the brown loaf and the honey were ambrosia. Thus, the divinities have
+feasted, at your board, off the same viands that supply their banquets
+on Olympus. You have done well, my dear old friends. Wherefore,
+request whatever favor you have most at heart, and it is granted."</p>
+
+<p>Philemon and Baucis looked at one another, and then,&mdash;I know not which
+of the two it was who spoke, but that one uttered the desire of both
+their hearts.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us live together, while we live, and leave the world at the same
+instant, when we die! For we have always loved one another!"</p>
+
+<p>"Be it so!" replied the stranger, with majestic kindness. "Now, look
+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."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">-167-</a></span></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 marvelous 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">-168-</a></span> the whole front
+of the edifice. One was an oak, and the other a linden-tree. Their
+boughs&mdash;it was strange and beautiful to see&mdash;were intertwined
+together, and embraced one another, so that each tree seemed to live
+in the other tree's bosom much more than in its own.</p>
+
+<p>While the guests were marveling how these trees, that must have
+required at least a century to grow, could have come to be so tall and
+venerable in a single night, a breeze sprang up, and set their
+intermingled boughs astir. And then there was a deep, broad murmur in
+the air, as if the two mysterious trees were speaking.</p>
+
+<p>"I am old Philemon!" murmured the oak.</p>
+
+<p>"I am old Baucis!" murmured the linden-tree.</p>
+
+<p>But, as the breeze grew stronger, the trees both spoke at
+once,&mdash;"Philemon! Baucis! Baucis! Philemon!"&mdash;as if one were both and
+both were one, and 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:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Welcome, welcome, dear traveler, 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">-169-</a></span>
+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>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_13" id="TAIL_13"></a>
+<img src="images/tail13.jpg" width="242" height="143" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="med" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">-170-</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="THE_HILL-SIDE" id="THE_HILL-SIDE"></a>
+<img src="images/pitcher03top.jpg" width="613" height="278" alt="THE HILL-SIDE, AFTER THE STORY" title="THE HILL-SIDE, AFTER THE STORY" />
+<img src="images/pitcher03bot.jpg" width="243" height="228" alt="H" title="H" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>OW much did the pitcher hold?" asked Sweet Fern.</p>
+
+<p>"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,&mdash;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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">-171-</a></span> 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>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_14" id="TAIL_14"></a>
+<img src="images/tail14.jpg" width="292" height="115" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">-172-</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="THE_CHIMAERA_1" id="THE_CHIMAERA_1"></a>
+<img src="images/chimaera01top.jpg" width="620" height="274" alt="THE CHIMÆRA, BALD SVMMIT" title="THE CHIMÆRA, BALD SVMMIT" />
+<img src="images/chimaera01bot.jpg" width="244" height="223" alt="U" title="U" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="sgray">INTRODUCTORY TO<br />
+THE CHIMÆRA</span></p>
+
+
+<p>PWARD, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">-173-</a></span> table-land, with
+a house and barn upon it, at some distance. That house was the home of
+a solitary family; and oftentimes 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">-174-</a></span></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?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">-175-</a></span></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>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_15" id="TAIL_15"></a>
+<img src="images/tail15.jpg" width="387" height="80" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="med" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">-176-</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="THE_CHIMAERA_2" id="THE_CHIMAERA_2"></a>
+<img src="images/chimaera02top.jpg" width="610" height="270" alt="THE CHIMÆRA" title="THE CHIMÆRA" />
+<img src="images/chimaera02bot.jpg" width="270" height="230" alt="O" title="O" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>NCE, 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 marvelous 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?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">-177-</a></span></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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">-178-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">-179-</a></span> 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,&mdash;"Pegasus, indeed! A winged horse,
+truly!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">-180-</a></span> Why, friend, are you in your senses? Of what use would wings
+be to a horse? Could he drag the plow so well, think you? To be sure,
+there might be a little saving in the expense of shoes; but then, how
+would a man like to see his horse flying out of the stable
+window?&mdash;yes, or whisking up him 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 class="centertbp"><a name="BELLEROPHON_01" id="BELLEROPHON_01"></a>
+<img src="images/bellerophon1.jpg" width="393" height="600" alt="BELLEROPHON AT THE FOVNTAIN" title="BELLEROPHON AT THE FOVNTAIN" />
+</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">-181-</a></span></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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">-182-</a></span> 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 marvelous
+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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">-183-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">-184-</a></span> heads, one of which was a lion's, the
+second a goat's, and the third an abominably great snake's. And a hot
+blast of fire came flaming out of each of its three mouths! Being an
+earthly monster, I doubt whether it had any wings; but, wings or no,
+it ran like a goat and a lion, and wriggled along like a serpent, and
+thus contrived to make about as much speed as all the three together.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, the mischief, and mischief, and mischief that this naughty
+creature did! With its flaming breath, it could set a forest on fire,
+or burn up a field of grain, or, for that matter, a village, with all
+its fences and houses. It laid waste the whole country round about,
+and used to eat up people and animals alive, and cook them 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, per<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">-185-</a></span>ceiving 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 marvelous 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 traveled 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 therein.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">-186-</a></span></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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">-187-</a></span> 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">-188-</a></span></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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">-189-</a></span></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 marvelous 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">-190-</a></span> call a flight or a gallop. When a creature is
+perfectly able to fly, he sometimes chooses to run, just for the
+pastime of the thing; and so did Pegasus, although it cost him some
+little trouble to keep his hoofs so near the ground. Bellerophon,
+meanwhile, holding the child's hand, peeped forth from the shrubbery,
+and thought that never was any sight so beautiful as this, nor ever a
+horse's eyes so wild and spirited as those of Pegasus. It seemed a sin
+to think of bridling him and riding on his back.</p>
+
+<p>Once or twice, Pegasus stopped, and snuffed the air, pricking up his
+ears, tossing his head, and turning it on all sides, as if he partly
+suspected some mischief or other. Seeing nothing, however, and hearing
+no sound, he soon began his antics again.</p>
+
+<p>At length&mdash;not that he was weary, but only idle and luxurious&mdash;Pegasus
+folded his wings, and lay down on the soft green turf. But, being too
+full of 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">-191-</a></span> 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 be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">-192-</a></span>hind, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">-193-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">-194-</a></span> 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&mdash;the moon. They visited distant
+countries, and amazed the inhabitants, who thought that the beautiful
+young man, on the back of the winged horse, must have come down out of
+the sky. A thousand miles a day was no more than an easy space for the
+fleet Pegasus to pass over. Bellerophon was delighted with this kind
+of life, and would have liked nothing better than to live always in
+the same way, aloft in the clear atmosphere; for it was always sunny
+weather up there, however cheerless and rainy it might be in the lower
+region. But he could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">-195-</a></span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">-196-</a></span> 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 re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">-197-</a></span>markable 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 marvelous 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">-198-</a></span> huge snake, the second a fierce
+lion, and the third an ugly goat. The lion and the goat were asleep;
+the snake was broad awake, and kept staring around him with a great
+pair of fiery eyes. But&mdash;and this was the most wonderful part of the
+matter&mdash;the three spires of smoke evidently issued from the nostrils
+of these three heads! So strange was the spectacle, that, though
+Bellerophon had been all along expecting it, the truth did not
+immediately occur to him, that here was the terrible three-headed
+Chimæra. He had found out the Chimæra's cavern. The snake, the lion,
+and the goat, as he supposed them to be, were not three separate
+creatures, but one monster!</p>
+
+<p>The wicked, hateful thing! Slumbering as two thirds of it were, it
+still held, in its abominable claws, the remnant of an unfortunate
+lamb,&mdash;or possibly (but I hate to think so) it was a dear little
+boy,&mdash;which its three mouths had been gnawing, before two of them fell
+asleep!</p>
+
+<p>All at once, Bellerophon started as from a dream, and knew it to be
+the Chimæra. Pegasus seemed to know it, at the same instant, and sent
+forth a neigh, that sounded like the call of a trumpet to battle. At
+this sound the three heads reared themselves erect, and belched out
+great flashes of flame. Before Bellerophon had time to consider what
+to do next, the monster flung itself out of the cavern and sprung
+straight 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">-199-</a></span> he and his rider would have been overthrown by
+the Chimæra's headlong rush, and thus the battle have been ended
+before it was well begun. But the winged horse was not to be caught
+so. In the twinkling of an eye he was up aloft, halfway 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">-200-</a></span> of an arrow, right towards the
+Chimæra's three-fold 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">-201-</a></span> 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 class="centertbp"><a name="BELLEROPHON_02" id="BELLEROPHON_02"></a>
+<img src="images/bellerophon2.jpg" width="400" height="600" alt="BELLEROPHON SLAYS THE CHIMÆRA" title="BELLEROPHON SLAYS THE CHIMÆRA" />
+</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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">-202-</a></span> 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 hor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">-203-</a></span>rible 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."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">-204-</a></span></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."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">-205-</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So he slipped off the enchanted bridle from the head of the marvelous
+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>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_16" id="TAIL_16"></a>
+<img src="images/tail16.jpg" width="306" height="171" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="med" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">-206-</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="BALD_SUMMIT" id="BALD_SUMMIT"></a>
+<img src="images/chimaera03top.jpg" width="609" height="275" alt="BALD SVMMIT, AFTER THE STORY" title="BALD SVMMIT, AFTER THE STORY" />
+<img src="images/chimaera03bot.jpg" width="238" height="220" alt="E" title="E" class="splitl" />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>USTACE 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">-207-</a></span> 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>
+
+<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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">-208-</a></span> 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,&mdash;yes, and wise Mr. Pringle, with
+his unfavorable criticisms on my legends, and poor Mrs. Pringle,
+too,&mdash;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 stu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">-209-</a></span>dent, "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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">-210-</a></span> the eminent house of <span class="smcap">Ticknor &amp; Co.</span> In about five
+months from this moment, I make no doubt of being reckoned among the
+lights of the 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>
+
+<p class="centertp"><a name="TAIL_17" id="TAIL_17"></a>
+<img src="images/tail17.jpg" width="278" height="202" alt="tailpiece" title="tailpiece" />
+</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/backcover.jpg" width="402" height="600" alt="Back cover: Wonder Book, Hawthorne" title="back cover: Wonder Book, Hawthorne" />
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WONDER BOOK FOR GIRLS &amp; BOYS***</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Wonder Book for Girls & Boys, by Nathaniel
+Hawthorne, Illustrated by Walter Crane
+
+
+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 for Girls & Boys
+
+
+Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
+
+
+
+Release Date: May 3, 2010  [eBook #32242]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WONDER BOOK FOR GIRLS & BOYS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by David Edwards, Linda Cantoni, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page
+images generously made available by Internet Archive
+(http://www.archive.org)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the lovely original illustrations
+      and decorations in color.
+      See 32242-h.htm or 32242-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32242/32242-h/32242-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32242/32242-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      http://www.archive.org/details/wonderbookforgir00hawt
+
+
+
+
+
+A WONDER BOOK FOR GIRLS & BOYS
+
+[Illustration]
+
+by
+
+NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
+
+With 60 Designs by Walter Crane
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Boston: Houghton
+Mifflin Company
+
+[Illustration: BELLEROPHON ON PEGASVS]
+
+Copyright, 1851, by Nathaniel
+Hawthorne
+
+Copyright, 1879, by Rose Hawthorne
+Lathrop
+
+Copyright, 1883 and 1892, by
+Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
+
+All Rights Reserved
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+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_.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+THE GORGON'S HEAD.
+  TANGLEWOOD PORCH.--Introductory to The Gorgon's Head               1
+  THE GORGON'S HEAD                                                  7
+  TANGLEWOOD PORCH.--After the Story                                39
+
+THE GOLDEN TOUCH.
+  SHADOW BROOK.--Introductory to The Golden Touch                   42
+  THE GOLDEN TOUCH                                                  46
+  SHADOW BROOK.--After the Story                                    69
+
+THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN.
+  TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM.--Introductory to The Paradise
+    of Children                                                     73
+  THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN                                          78
+  TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM.--After the Story                           100
+
+THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES.
+  TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE.--Introductory to The Three
+    Golden Apples                                                  102
+  THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES                                          109
+  TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE.--After the Story                            136
+
+THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER.
+  THE HILL-SIDE.--Introductory to The Miraculous
+    Pitcher                                                        140
+  THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER                                           144
+  THE HILL-SIDE.--After the Story                                  170
+
+THE CHIMAERA.
+  BALD-SUMMIT.--Introductory to The Chimaera                        172
+  THE CHIMAERA                                                     176
+  BALD-SUMMIT.--After the Story                                    206
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF DESIGNS
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Half-Title                                                           i
+Frontispiece--Bellerophon on Pegasus.
+Title                                                              iii
+Preface                                                              v
+  Tailpiece                                                         vi
+Contents                                                           vii
+List of Designs                                                     ix
+  Tailpiece                                                          x
+  Headpiece--TANGLEWOOD PORCH                                        1
+THE GORGON'S HEAD--Headpiece                                         7
+Perseus and the Graiae                                               22
+Perseus armed by the Nymphs                                         26
+Perseus and the Gorgons                                             32
+Perseus showing the Gorgon's Head                                   36
+  Tailpiece                                                         38
+  Headpiece--TANGLEWOOD PORCH, After the Story                      39
+  Tailpiece                                                         41
+  Headpiece--SHADOW BROOK                                           42
+THE GOLDEN TOUCH--Headpiece                                         46
+The Stranger appearing to Midas                                     50
+Midas' Daughter turned to Gold                                      62
+Midas with the Pitcher                                              66
+  Tailpiece                                                         68
+  Headpiece--SHADOW BROOK, After the Story                          69
+  Tailpiece                                                         72
+  Headpiece--TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM                                   73
+  Tailpiece                                                         77
+THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN--Headpiece                                 78
+Pandora wonders at the Box                                          80
+Pandora desires to open the Box                                     86
+Pandora opens the Box                                               92
+  Tailpiece                                                         96
+  Headpiece--TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM, After the Story                 100
+  Headpiece--TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE                                   102
+  Tailpiece                                                        108
+THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES--Headpiece                                 109
+Hercules and the Nymphs                                            112
+Hercules and the Old Man of the Sea                                120
+Hercules and Atlas                                                 126
+  Tailpiece                                                        135
+  Headpiece--TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE, After the Story                  136
+  Tailpiece                                                        139
+  Headpiece--THE HILL-SIDE                                         140
+  Tailpiece                                                        143
+THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER--Headpiece                                  144
+Philemon and Baucis                                                144
+The Strangers in the Village                                       148
+The Strangers entertained                                          158
+  Tailpiece                                                        169
+  Headpiece--THE HILL-SIDE, After the Story                        170
+  Tailpiece                                                        171
+  Headpiece--BALD SUMMIT                                           172
+  Tailpiece                                                        175
+THE CHIMAERA--Headpiece                                            176
+Bellerophon at the Fountain                                        180
+Bellerophon slays the Chimaera                                      200
+  Tailpiece                                                        205
+  Headpiece--BALD SUMMIT, After the Story                          206
+  Tailpiece                                                        210
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE GORGON'S HEAD
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+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 skillful in the use of
+arms. Long before this time, King Polydectes had seen the two
+strangers--the mother and her child--who had come to his dominions in
+a floating chest. As he was not good and kind, like his brother the
+fisherman, but extremely wicked, he resolved to send Perseus on a
+dangerous enterprise, in which he would probably be killed, and then
+to do some great mischief to Danae herself. So this bad-hearted king
+spent a long while in considering what was the most dangerous thing
+that a young man could possibly undertake to perform. At last, having
+hit upon an enterprise that promised to turn out as fatally as he
+desired, he sent for the youthful Perseus.
+
+The young man came to the palace, and found the king sitting upon his
+throne.
+
+"Perseus," said King Polydectes, smiling craftily upon him, "you are
+grown up a fine young man. You and your good mother have received a
+great deal of kindness from myself, as well as from my worthy brother
+the fisherman, and I suppose you would not be sorry to repay some of
+it."
+
+"Please your Majesty," answered Perseus, "I would willingly risk my
+life to do so."
+
+"Well, then," continued the king, still with a cunning smile on his
+lips, "I have a little adventure to propose to you; and, as you are a
+brave and enterprising youth, you will doubtless look upon it as a
+great piece of good luck to have so rare an opportunity of
+distinguishing yourself. You must know, my good Perseus, I think of
+getting married to the beautiful Princess Hippodamia; and it is
+customary, on these occasions, to make the bride a present of some
+far-fetched and elegant curiosity. I have been a little perplexed, I
+must honestly confess, where to obtain anything likely to please a
+princess of her exquisite taste. But, this morning, I flatter myself,
+I have thought of precisely the article."
+
+"And can I assist your Majesty in obtaining it?" cried Perseus,
+eagerly.
+
+"You can, if you are as brave a youth as I believe you to be," replied
+King Polydectes, with the utmost graciousness of manner. "The bridal
+gift which I have set my heart on presenting to the beautiful
+Hippodamia is the head of the Gorgon Medusa with the snaky locks; and
+I depend on you, my dear Perseus, to bring it to me. So, as I am
+anxious to settle affairs with the princess, the sooner you go in
+quest of the Gorgon, the better I shall be pleased."
+
+"I will set out to-morrow morning," answered Perseus.
+
+"Pray do so, my gallant youth," rejoined the king. "And, Perseus, in
+cutting off the Gorgon's head, be careful to make a clean stroke, so
+as not to injure its appearance. You must bring it home in the very
+best condition, in order to suit the exquisite taste of the beautiful
+Princess Hippodamia."
+
+Perseus left the palace, but was scarcely out of hearing before
+Polydectes burst into a laugh; being greatly amused, wicked king that
+he was, to find how readily the young man fell into the snare. The
+news quickly spread abroad that Perseus had undertaken to cut off the
+head of Medusa with the snaky locks. Everybody was rejoiced; for most
+of the inhabitants of the island were as wicked as the king himself,
+and would have liked nothing better than to see some enormous mischief
+happen to Danae and her son. The only good man in this unfortunate
+island of Seriphus appears to have been the fisherman. As Perseus
+walked along, therefore, the people pointed after him, and made
+mouths, and winked to one another, and ridiculed him as loudly as they
+dared.
+
+"Ho, ho!" cried they; "Medusa's snakes will sting him soundly!"
+
+Now, there were three Gorgons alive at that period; and they were the
+most strange and terrible monsters that had ever been since the world
+was made, or that have been seen in after days, or that are likely to
+be seen in all time to come. I hardly know what sort of creature or
+hobgoblin to call them. They were three sisters, and seem to have
+borne some distant resemblance to women, but were really a very
+frightful and mischievous species of dragon. It is, indeed, difficult
+to imagine what hideous beings these three sisters were. Why, instead
+of locks of hair, if you can believe me, they had each of them a
+hundred enormous snakes growing on their heads, all alive, twisting,
+wriggling, curling, and thrusting out their venomous tongues, with
+forked stings at the end! The teeth of the Gorgons were terribly long
+tusks; their hands were made of brass; and their bodies were all over
+scales, which, if not iron, were something as hard and impenetrable.
+They had wings, too, and exceedingly splendid ones, I can assure you;
+for every feather in them was pure, bright, glittering, burnished
+gold, and they looked very dazzlingly, no doubt, when the Gorgons were
+flying about in the sunshine.
+
+But when people happened to catch a glimpse of their glittering
+brightness, aloft in the air, they seldom stopped to gaze, but ran and
+hid themselves as speedily as they could. You will think, perhaps,
+that they were afraid of being stung by the serpents that served the
+Gorgons instead of hair,--or of having their heads bitten off by their
+ugly tusks,--or of being torn all to pieces by their brazen claws.
+Well, to be sure, these were some of the dangers, but by no means the
+greatest, nor the most difficult to avoid. For the worst thing about
+these abominable Gorgons was, that, if once a poor mortal fixed his
+eyes full upon one of their faces, he was certain, that very instant,
+to be changed from warm flesh and blood into cold and lifeless stone!
+
+Thus, as you will easily perceive, it was a very dangerous adventure
+that the wicked King Polydectes had contrived for this innocent young
+man. Perseus himself, when he had thought over the matter, could not
+help seeing that he had very little chance of coming safely through
+it, and that he was far more likely to become a stone image than to
+bring back the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. For, not to speak
+of other difficulties, there was one which it would have puzzled an
+older man than Perseus to get over. Not only must he fight with and
+slay this golden-winged, iron-scaled, long-tusked, brazen-clawed,
+snaky-haired monster, but he must do it with his eyes shut, or, at
+least, without so much as a glance at the enemy with whom he was
+contending. Else, while his arm was lifted to strike, he would stiffen
+into stone, and stand with that uplifted arm for centuries, until
+time, and the wind and weather, should crumble him quite away. This
+would be a very sad thing to befall a young man who wanted to perform
+a great many brave deeds, and to enjoy a great deal of happiness, in
+this bright and beautiful world.
+
+So disconsolate did these thoughts make him, that Perseus could not
+bear to tell his mother what he had undertaken to do. He therefore
+took his shield, girded on his sword, and crossed over from the island
+to the mainland, where he sat down in a solitary place, and hardly
+refrained from shedding tears.
+
+But, while he was in this sorrowful mood, he heard a voice close
+beside him.
+
+"Perseus," said the voice, "why are you sad?"
+
+He lifted his head from his hands, in which he had hidden it, and,
+behold! all alone as Perseus had supposed himself to be, there was a
+stranger in the solitary place. It was a brisk, intelligent, and
+remarkably shrewd-looking young man, with a cloak over his shoulders,
+an odd sort of cap on his head, a strangely twisted staff in his hand,
+and a short and very crooked sword hanging by his side. He was
+exceedingly light and active in his figure, like a person much
+accustomed to gymnastic exercises, and well able to leap or run. Above
+all, the stranger had such a cheerful, knowing, and helpful aspect
+(though it was certainly a little mischievous, into the bargain), that
+Perseus could not help feeling his spirits grow livelier as he gazed
+at him. Besides, being really a courageous youth, he felt greatly
+ashamed that anybody should have found him with tears in his eyes,
+like a timid little schoolboy, when, after all, there might be no
+occasion for despair. So Perseus wiped his eyes, and answered the
+stranger pretty briskly, putting on as brave a look as he could.
+
+"I am not so very sad," said he, "only thoughtful about an adventure
+that I have undertaken."
+
+"Oho!" answered the stranger. "Well, tell me all about it, and
+possibly I may be of service to you. I have helped a good many young
+men through adventures that looked difficult enough beforehand.
+Perhaps you may have heard of me. I have more names than one; but the
+name of Quicksilver suits me as well as any other. Tell me what the
+trouble is, and we will talk the matter over, and see what can be
+done."
+
+The stranger's words and manner put Perseus into quite a different
+mood from his former one. He resolved to tell Quicksilver all his
+difficulties, since he could not easily be worse off than he already
+was, and, very possibly, his new friend might give him some advice
+that would turn out well in the end. So he let the stranger know, in
+few words, precisely what the case was,--how that King Polydectes
+wanted the head of Medusa with the snaky locks as a bridal gift for
+the beautiful Princess Hippodamia, and how that he had undertaken to
+get it for him, but was afraid of being turned into stone.
+
+"And that would be a great pity," said Quicksilver, with his
+mischievous smile. "You would make a very handsome marble statue, it
+is true, and it would be a considerable number of centuries before you
+crumbled away; but, on the whole, one would rather be a young man for
+a few years than a stone image for a great many."
+
+"Oh, far rather!" exclaimed Perseus, with the tears again standing in
+his eyes. "And, besides, what would my dear mother do, if her beloved
+son were turned into a stone?"
+
+"Well, well, let us hope that the affair will not turn out so very
+badly," replied Quicksilver, in an encouraging tone. "I am the very
+person to help you, if anybody can. My sister and myself will do our
+utmost to bring you safe through the adventure, ugly as it now looks."
+
+"Your sister?" repeated Perseus.
+
+"Yes, my sister," said the stranger. "She is very wise, I promise you;
+and as for myself, I generally have all my wits about me, such as they
+are. If you show yourself bold and cautious, and follow our advice,
+you need not fear being a stone image yet awhile. But, first of all,
+you must polish your shield, till you can see your face in it as
+distinctly as in a mirror."
+
+This seemed to Perseus rather an odd beginning of the adventure; for
+he thought it of far more consequence that the shield should be
+strong enough to defend him from the Gorgon's brazen claws, than that
+it should be bright enough to show him the reflection of his face.
+However, concluding that Quicksilver knew better than himself, he
+immediately set to work, and scrubbed the shield with so much
+diligence and good-will, that it very quickly shone like the moon at
+harvest-time. Quicksilver looked at it with a smile, and nodded his
+approbation. Then, taking off his own short and crooked sword, he
+girded it about Perseus, instead of the one which he had before worn.
+
+"No sword but mine will answer your purpose," observed he; "the blade
+has a most excellent temper, and will cut through iron and brass as
+easily as through the slenderest twig. And now we will set out. The
+next thing is to find the Three Gray Women, who will tell us where to
+find the Nymphs."
+
+"The Three Gray Women!" cried Perseus, to whom this seemed only a new
+difficulty in the path of his adventure; "pray who may the Three Gray
+Women be? I never heard of them before."
+
+"They are three very strange old ladies," said Quicksilver, laughing.
+"They have but one eye among them, and only one tooth. Moreover, you
+must find them out by starlight, or in the dusk of the evening; for
+they never show themselves by the light either of the sun or moon."
+
+"But," said Perseus, "why should I waste my time with these Three Gray
+Women? Would it not be better to set out at once in search of the
+terrible Gorgons?"
+
+"No, no," answered his friend. "There are other things to be done,
+before you can find your way to the Gorgons. There is nothing for it
+but to hunt up these old ladies; and when we meet with them, you may
+be sure that the Gorgons are not a great way off. Come, let us be
+stirring!"
+
+Perseus, by this time, felt so much confidence in his companion's
+sagacity, that he made no more objections, and professed himself ready
+to begin the adventure immediately. They accordingly set out, and
+walked at a pretty brisk pace; so brisk, indeed, that Perseus found it
+rather difficult to keep up with his nimble friend Quicksilver. To say
+the truth, he had a singular idea that Quicksilver was furnished with
+a pair of winged shoes, which, of course, helped him along
+marvelously. 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 traveling 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 quarreling.
+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 marvelous 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!"
+
+[Illustration: PERSEVS & THE GRAIAE]
+
+"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 marvelous
+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 deerskin 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."
+
+[Illustration: PERSEVS ARMED BY THE NYMPHS]
+
+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; for, if one of
+the Gorgons should awake, you are too late!"
+
+"Which shall I strike at?" asked Perseus, drawing his sword and
+descending a little lower. "They all three look alike. All three have
+snaky locks. Which of the three is Medusa?"
+
+It must be understood that Medusa was the only one of these
+dragon-monsters whose head Perseus could possibly cut off. As for the
+other two, let him have the sharpest sword that ever was forged, and
+he might have hacked away by the hour together, without doing them the
+least harm.
+
+"Be cautious," said the calm voice which had before spoken to him.
+"One of the Gorgons is stirring in her sleep, and is just about to
+turn over. That is Medusa. Do not look at her! The sight would turn
+you to stone! Look at the reflection of her face and figure in the
+bright mirror of your shield."
+
+Perseus now understood Quicksilver's motive for so earnestly
+exhorting him to polish his shield. In its surface he could safely
+look at the reflection of the Gorgon's face. And there it was,--that
+terrible countenance,--mirrored in the brightness of the shield, with
+the moonlight falling over it, and displaying all its horror. The
+snakes, whose venomous natures could not altogether sleep, kept
+twisting themselves over the forehead. It was the fiercest and most
+horrible face that ever was seen or imagined, and yet with a strange,
+fearful, and savage kind of beauty in it. The eyes were closed, and
+the Gorgon was still in a deep slumber; but there was an unquiet
+expression disturbing her features, as if the monster was troubled
+with an ugly dream. She gnashed her white tusks, and dug into the sand
+with her brazen claws.
+
+The snakes, too, seemed to feel Medusa's dream, and to be made more
+restless by it. They twined themselves into tumultuous knots, writhed
+fiercely, and uplifted a hundred hissing heads, without opening their
+eyes.
+
+"Now, now!" whispered Quicksilver, who was growing impatient. "Make a
+dash at the monster!"
+
+"But be calm," said the grave, melodious voice at the young man's
+side. "Look in your shield, as you fly downward, and take care that
+you do not miss your first stroke."
+
+[Illustration: PERSEVS & THE GORGONS]
+
+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 marvelous things that befell
+Perseus, on his way homeward; such as his killing a hideous
+sea-monster, just as it was on the point of devouring a beautiful
+maiden; nor how he changed an enormous giant into a mountain of stone,
+merely by showing him the head of the Gorgon. If you doubt this
+latter story, you may make a voyage to Africa, some day or other, and
+see the very mountain, which is still known by the ancient giant's
+name.
+
+Finally, our brave Perseus arrived at the island, where he expected to
+see his dear mother. But, during his absence, the wicked king had
+treated Danae so very ill that she was compelled to make her escape,
+and had taken refuge in a temple, where some good old priests were
+extremely kind to her. These praiseworthy priests, and the
+kind-hearted fisherman, who had first shown hospitality to Danae and
+little Perseus when he found them afloat in the chest, seem to have
+been the only persons on the island who cared about doing right. All
+the rest of the people, as well as King Polydectes himself, were
+remarkably ill-behaved, and deserved no better destiny than that which
+was now to happen.
+
+Not finding his mother at home, Perseus went straight to the palace,
+and was immediately ushered into the presence of the king. Polydectes
+was by no means rejoiced to see him; for he had felt almost certain,
+in his own evil mind, that the Gorgons would have torn the poor young
+man to pieces, and have eaten him up, out of the way. However, seeing
+him safely returned, he put the best face he could upon the matter and
+asked Perseus how he had succeeded.
+
+"Have you performed your promise?" inquired he. "Have you brought me
+the head of Medusa with the snaky locks? If not, young man, it will
+cost you dear; for I must have a bridal present for the beautiful
+Princess Hippodamia, and there is nothing else that she would admire
+so much."
+
+"Yes, please your Majesty," answered Perseus, in a quiet way, as if it
+were no very wonderful deed for such a young man as he to perform. "I
+have brought you the Gorgon's head, snaky locks and all!"
+
+"Indeed! Pray let me see it," quoth King Polydectes. "It must be a
+very curious spectacle, if all that travelers 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.
+
+[Illustration: PERSEVS SHOWING THE GORGON'S HEAD]
+
+On a platform, within full view of the balcony, sat the mighty King
+Polydectes, amid his evil counselors, and with his flattering
+courtiers in a semicircle round about him. Monarch, counselors,
+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 counselors 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 counselors, 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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+TANGLEWOOD PORCH
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE GOLDEN TOUCH
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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 persuaded that
+he had winged slippers, like those which the Nymphs gave Perseus; so
+often had the student shown himself at the tiptop 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
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+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 tiptop of enjoyment would never be
+reached, unless the whole world were to become his treasure-room, and
+be filled with yellow metal which should be all his own.
+
+Now, I need hardly remind such wise little people as you are, that in
+the old, old times, when King Midas was alive, a great many things
+came to pass, which we should consider wonderful if they were to
+happen in our own day and country. And, on the other hand, a great
+many things take place nowadays, which seem not only wonderful to us,
+but at which the people of old times would have stared their eyes out.
+On the whole, I regard our own times as the strangest of the two; but,
+however that may be, I must go on with my story.
+
+Midas was enjoying himself in his treasure-room, one day, as usual,
+when he perceived a shadow fall over the heaps of gold; and, looking
+suddenly up, what should he behold but the figure of a stranger,
+standing in the bright and narrow sunbeam! It was a young man, with a
+cheerful and ruddy face. Whether it was that the imagination of King
+Midas threw a yellow tinge over everything, or whatever the cause
+might be, he could not help fancying that the smile with which the
+stranger regarded him had a kind of golden radiance in it. Certainly,
+although his figure intercepted the sunshine, there was now a brighter
+gleam upon all the piled-up treasures than before. Even the remotest
+corners had their share of it, and were lighted up, when the stranger
+smiled, as with tips of flame and sparkles of fire.
+
+As Midas knew that he had carefully turned the key in the lock, and
+that no mortal strength could possibly break into his treasure-room,
+he, of course, concluded that his visitor must be something more than
+mortal. It is no matter about telling you who he was. In those days,
+when the earth was comparatively a new affair, it was supposed to be
+often the resort of beings endowed with supernatural power, and who
+used to interest themselves in the joys and sorrows of men, women, and
+children, half playfully and half seriously. Midas had met such beings
+before now, and was not sorry to meet one of them again. The
+stranger's aspect, indeed, was so good-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."
+
+[Illustration: THE STRANGER APPEARING TO MIDAS]
+
+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 crystal turned out to be plates of yellow metal, and, of
+course, were worthless as spectacles, though valuable as gold. It
+struck Midas as rather inconvenient that, with all his wealth, he
+could never again be rich enough to own a pair of serviceable
+spectacles.
+
+"It is no great matter, nevertheless," said he to himself, very
+philosophically. "We cannot expect any great good, without its being
+accompanied with some small inconvenience. The Golden Touch is worth
+the sacrifice of a pair of spectacles, at least, if not of one's very
+eyesight. My own eyes will serve for ordinary purposes, and little
+Marygold will soon be old enough to read to me."
+
+Wise King Midas was so exalted by his good fortune, that the palace
+seemed not sufficiently spacious to contain him. He therefore went
+downstairs, and smiled, on observing that the balustrade of the
+staircase became a bar of burnished gold, as his hand passed over it,
+in his descent. He lifted the 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 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!
+
+[Illustration: MIDAS' DAVGHTER TVRNED TO GOLD]
+
+Yes, there she was, with the questioning look of love, grief, and
+pity, hardened into her face. It was the prettiest and most woeful
+sight that ever mortal saw. All the features and tokens of Marygold
+were there; even the beloved little dimple remained in her golden
+chin. But the more perfect was the resemblance, the greater was the
+father's agony at beholding this golden image, which was all that was
+left him of a daughter. It had been a 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
+fullness 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 marvelous
+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!"
+
+[Illustration: MIDAS WITH THE 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
+marvelous 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!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SHADOW BROOK AFTER THE STORY
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+"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 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!
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+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 quarreled among
+themselves; neither had they any crying fits; nor, since time first
+began, had a single one of these little mortals ever gone apart into a
+corner, and sulked. Oh, what a good time was that to be alive in! The
+truth is, those ugly little winged monsters, called Troubles, which
+are now almost as numerous as mosquitoes, had never yet been seen on
+the earth. It is probable that the very greatest disquietude which a
+child had ever experienced was Pandora's vexation at not being able to
+discover the secret of the mysterious box.
+
+This was at first only the faint shadow of a Trouble; but, every day,
+it grew more and more substantial, until, before a great while, the
+cottage of Epimetheus and Pandora was less sunshiny than those of the
+other children.
+
+"Whence can the box have come?" Pandora continually kept saying to
+herself and to Epimetheus. "And what in the world can be inside of
+it?"
+
+"Always talking about this box!" said Epimetheus, at last; for he had
+grown extremely tired of the subject. "I wish, dear Pandora, you would
+try to talk of something else. Come, let us go and gather some ripe
+figs, and eat them under the trees, for our supper. And I know a vine
+that has the sweetest and juiciest grapes you ever tasted."
+
+"Always talking about grapes and figs!" cried Pandora, pettishly.
+
+"Well, then," said Epimetheus, who was a very good-tempered child,
+like a multitude of children in those days, "let us run out and have a
+merry time with our playmates."
+
+"I am tired of merry times, and don't care if I never have any more!"
+answered our pettish little Pandora. "And, besides, I never do have
+any. This ugly box! I am so taken up with thinking about it all the
+time. I insist upon your telling me what is inside of it."
+
+[Illustration: PANDORA WONDERS AT THE BOX]
+
+"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 just 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 skillfullest 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.
+
+[Illustration: PANDORA DESIRES TO OPEN THE BOX]
+
+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.
+
+[Illustration: PANDORA OPENS THE BOX]
+
+"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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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
+
+[Illustration]
+
+TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE
+
+INTRODUCTORY TO THE 3 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 frost-work 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 woolens, 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, halfway 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 tiptop 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 semi-circular 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 mantel-piece.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+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 traveler, what do you want there?"
+
+"A certain king, who is my cousin," replied he, "has ordered me to get
+him three of the golden apples."
+
+"Most of the young men who go in quest of these apples," observed
+another of the damsels, "desire to obtain them for themselves, or to
+present them to some fair maiden whom they love. Do you, then, love
+this king, your cousin, so very much?"
+
+"Perhaps not," replied the stranger, sighing. "He has often been
+severe and cruel to me. But it is my destiny to obey him."
+
+"And do you know," asked the damsel who had first spoken, "that a
+terrible dragon, with a hundred heads, keeps watch under the golden
+apple-tree?"
+
+"I know it well," answered the stranger, calmly. "But, from my cradle
+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 traveler 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!"
+
+[Illustration: HERCVLES & THE NYMPHS]
+
+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 traveler 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 traveled 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?"
+
+[Illustration: HERCVLES & THE OLD MAN OF THE SEA]
+
+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
+marvelous 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 marvelous
+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
+travelers 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.
+
+[Illustration: HERCVLES AND ATLAS]
+
+Meanwhile, the bright cup continued to float onward, and finally
+touched the strand. Just then a breeze wafted away the clouds from
+before the giant's visage, and Hercules beheld it, with all its
+enormous features; eyes each of them as big as yonder lake, a nose a
+mile long, and a mouth of the same width. It was a countenance
+terrible from its enormity of size, but disconsolate and weary, even
+as you may see the faces of many people, nowadays, who are compelled
+to sustain burdens above their strength. What the sky was to the
+giant, such are the cares of earth to those who let themselves be
+weighed down by them. And whenever men undertake what is beyond the
+just measure of their abilities, they encounter precisely such a doom
+as had befallen this poor giant.
+
+Poor fellow! He had evidently stood there a long while. An ancient
+forest had been growing and decaying around his feet; and oak-trees,
+of six or seven centuries old, had sprung from the acorn, and forced
+themselves between his toes.
+
+The giant now looked down from the far height of his great eyes, and,
+perceiving Hercules, roared out, in a voice that resembled thunder,
+proceeding out of the cloud that had just flitted away from his face.
+
+"Who are you, down at my feet there? And whence do you come, in that
+little cup?"
+
+"I am Hercules!" thundered back the hero, in a voice pretty nearly or
+quite as loud as the giant's own. "And I am seeking for the garden of
+the Hesperides!"
+
+"Ho! ho! ho!" roared the giant, in a fit of immense laughter. "That is
+a wise adventure, truly!"
+
+"And why not?" cried Hercules, getting a little angry at the giant's
+mirth. "Do you think I am afraid of the dragon with a hundred heads!"
+
+Just at this time, while they were talking together, some black clouds
+gathered about the giant's middle, and burst into a tremendous storm
+of thunder and lightning, causing such a pother that Hercules found it
+impossible to distinguish a word. Only the giant's immeasurable legs
+were to be seen, standing up into the obscurity of the tempest; and,
+now and then, a momentary glimpse of his whole figure, mantled in a
+volume of mist. He seemed to be speaking, most of the time; but his
+big, deep, rough voice chimed in with the reverberations of the
+thunder-claps, and rolled away over the hills, like them. Thus, by
+talking out of season, the foolish giant expended an incalculable
+quantity of breath, to no purpose; for the thunder spoke quite as
+intelligibly as he.
+
+At last, the storm swept over, as suddenly as it had come. And there
+again was the clear sky, and the weary giant holding it up, and the
+pleasant sunshine beaming over his vast height, and illuminating it
+against the background of the sullen thunder-clouds. So far above the
+shower had been his head, that not a hair of it was moistened by the
+rain-drops!
+
+When the giant could see Hercules still standing on the 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!
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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 that 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 remodeled 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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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 halfway
+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 tiptop 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 farther? 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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+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 traveler 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!"
+
+[Illustration: PHILEMON & BAVCIS]
+
+"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 traveler 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
+traveler 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 travelers, 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 travelers 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.
+
+[Illustration: THE STRANGERS IN THE VILLAGE]
+
+Both of the travelers 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 traveler, 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 traveler'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 traveler 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
+traveler. "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 olive-wood, and had something like a
+little pair of wings near the top. Two snakes, carved in the wood,
+were represented as twining themselves about the staff, and were so
+very skillfully 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
+marvelous, 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 traveler 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 traveler 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 travelers 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 traveler. "So, if
+you call me Quicksilver, the name will fit tolerably well."
+
+"Quicksilver? Quicksilver?" repeated Philemon, looking in the
+traveler'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 traveler 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
+travelers. 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 travelers 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!"
+
+[Illustration: THE STRANGERS ENTERTAINED]
+
+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
+traveler, 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 traveler 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 traveler, 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 traveler'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 traveler, 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 traveler, 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!"
+
+"Ah," cried Baucis, shuddering, "I would not, for the world, put one
+of them on the gridiron!"
+
+"No," added Philemon, making a wry face, "we could never relish them!"
+
+"As for you, good Philemon," continued the elder traveler,--"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 marvelous 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 marveling 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 traveler, 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!
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE HILL-SIDE
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE CHIMAERA
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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 oftentimes 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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE CHIMAERA
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+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 marvelous 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 plow 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 up him 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."
+
+[Illustration: BELLEROPHON AT THE FOVNTAIN]
+
+"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 marvelous
+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.
+
+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 marvelous 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 traveled 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 therein.
+
+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 marvelous 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 marvelous 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 Chimaera's headlong rush, and thus the battle have been ended
+before it was well begun. But the winged horse was not to be caught
+so. In the twinkling of an eye he was up aloft, halfway 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 three-fold 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.
+
+[Illustration: BELLEROPHON SLAYS THE CHIMAERA]
+
+"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 marvelous
+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!
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+BALD SUMMIT
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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."
+
+"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 the 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.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
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