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diff --git a/old/myths10.txt b/old/myths10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a8b9c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/myths10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4641 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Classic Myths, by Retold by Mary Catherine Judd + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Classic Myths + +Author: Retold by Mary Catherine Judd + +Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9855] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 24, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLASSIC MYTHS *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Tonya Allen +and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +CLASSIC MYTHS + +Retold By + +MARY CATHERINE JUDD +Principal of the Lincoln School +Minneapolis Minn. + +ILLUSTRATED BY + +ANGUS MAC DONALL +with drawings entirely from classic sources + + + + +PREFACE + + +The very cordial reception given this little book by teachers and +children, both in school and out of school, has tempted me carefully to +revise the stories, omitting some and adding others, in the hope of +making the book still more welcome and more helpful. The illustrations +in the present edition are all from classic sources, and reproduce for +the reader something of the classic idea and the classic art. + +The book was originally prepared as an aid in Nature Study, and this +thought has been retained in the present edition. By reading these myths +the child will gain in interest and sympathy for the life of beast, +bird, and tree; he will learn to recognize those constellations which +have been as friends to the wise men of many ages. Such an acquaintance +will broaden the child's life and make him see more quickly the true, +the good, and the beautiful in the world about him. + +MARY CATHERINE JUDD. + +_Minneapolis, October, 1901_. + + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + +How the Horses of the Sun Ran Away _Greek_ +Woden, God of the Northern Sky _Norse_ +Jupiter, God of the Southern Sky _Roman_ +Diana, Queen of the Moon _Greek_ +Jack and Jill on the Moon Mountains _Norse_ +The Man in the Moon _German_ +A Story of an Evening Star _Greek_ +The Giant with a Belt of Stars _Greek_ +The Great Bear in the Sky _Greek_ +Castor and Pollux, the Starry Twins _Greek_ +The Milky Way _Russian_ +How Fire Came to Earth _Greek_ +Beyond the Fire Island _Russian_ +A Legend of the North Wind _Norse_ +Orpheus, the South Wind _Greek_ +The Little Wind-god _Greek_ +The Voices of Nature _Finnish_ +A Bag of Winds _Greek_ +Echo, the Air Maiden _Greek_ +Iris, the Rainbow Princess _Greek_ +The Thunder-god and His Brother _Norse_ +Neptune, King of the Seas _Greek_ +Why Rivers Have Golden Sands _Greek_ +Old Grasshopper Gray _Greek_ +Where the Frogs Came from _Roman_ +The Birds with Arrow Feathers _Greek_ +Why the Partridge Stays Near the Ground _Greek_ +Juno's Bird, the Peacock, _Roman_ +The Gift of the Olive Tree, _Greek_ +The Linden and the Oak, _Greek_ +The Little Maiden Who Became a Laurel Tree _Greek_ +The Lesson of the Leaves _Roman_ +The Legend of the Seed _Greek_ +The Girl Who Was Changed into a Sunflower _Greek_ +Why the Narcissus Grows by the Water _Greek_ +The Legend of the Anemone _Greek_ +The Mistletoe _Norse_ +The Forget-me-not _German_ +Pegasus, The Horse With Wings _Greek_ +Suggestions to Teachers +A Bibliography +A Pronouncing Index + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Thor, with His Red-hot Hammer, frontispiece +Phaeton Falling from the Chariot +Woden +Frigga, the Mother of the Gods +Jupiter and His Eagle +The Head of Jupiter +Diana +The Man in the Moon +The Man in the Moon +Venus +Orion with His Club +The Great Bear in the Sky +The Great Bear and the Little Bear +Castor and Pollux +Minerva +Boreas, the God of the North Wind +Tower of the Winds at Athens +Orpheus +Mercury +Ulysses +Cover of a Drinking Cup +Iris +The Head of Iris +Neptune +A Greek Coin +Silenus Holding Bacchus +Aurora, the Goddess of the Dawn +Latona +Jason +Castor, the Horse-Tamer +Pollux, the Master of the Art of Boxing +Daedalus and Icarus Making Their Wings +Juno and Her Peacock +Athena +Minerva +Daphne +A Sibyl +Ceres +Apollo +Narcissus +Adonis and Aphrodite +Woden on the Throne +Bellerophon and Pegasus + + + +[Illustration: THOR, WITH HIS RED-HOT HAMMER] + + + +HOW THE HORSES OF THE SUN RAN AWAY + +_Greek_ + + +Phaeton was the child of the Sun-god, Apollo. + +"Mother Clymene," said the boy one day, "I am going to visit my +father's palace." + +"It is well," she answered. "The land where the Sun rises is not far +from this. Go and ask a gift from him." + +That night Phaeton bound his sandals more tightly, and, wrapping a +thicker silken robe about him, started for the land of Sunrise, +sometimes called India by mankind. + +Many nights and many days he traveled, but his sandals never wore out +nor did his robe make him too hot or too cold. + +At last, as he climbed the highest mountain peak of all the earth, he +saw the glittering columns of his father's palace. As he came nearer he +found that they were covered with millions of precious stones and inlaid +with gold. When he started to climb the numberless stairs, the silver +doors of the palace flew open, and he saw the wonderful ivory ceiling +and the walls of the long hall. + +He was glad that the steps were many and he looked long at the pictures +carved on the walls by an immortal artist. + +There were pictures of both land and sea. On the right was earth with +its towns, forests, and rivers, and the beings that live in each. On the +left was the ocean with its mermaids sporting among the waves, riding on +the backs of fishes, or sitting on the rocks drying their sea-green +hair. Their faces were alike, yet not alike, as sisters ought to be. + +Up, up the hundreds of steps he climbed, never wearied. On the ceiling +of this marvelous hall he could see carved the stars of heaven. On the +silver doors were the twelve strange beings of the sky, formed of stars; +six on each door. + +The last step was reached. Outside the sky was dark, but at the doorway +Phaeton stopped, for the light from his father was more than he could +bear. There sat Apollo, dressed in crimson, on a throne which glittered +with diamonds. On his right hand and on his left stood the Days, bright +with hope; and the Months, hand in hand with the Days, seemed listening +to what the Years were whispering to them. + +Phaeton saw there the four seasons. Spring, young and lovely, came +first, her head crowned with flowers. Next came Summer, with her robe of +roses thrown loosely about her and a garland of ripe wheat upon her +head. Then came merry Autumn, his feet stained with grape juice; and +last, icy Winter, with frosty beard and hair, and Phaeton shivered as he +looked at him. Dazzled by the light, and startled to find himself in +such a presence, he stood still. + +The Sun, seeing him with the eye that sees everything, asked: + +"Why are you here?" + +"Apollo, my father, grant me one request, that I may prove to mortals +that you are my father." + +Apollo laid aside his dazzling crown of rays, clasped Phaeton in his +arms and said: + +"Brave son, ask what you will, the gift is yours." + +Quicker than a flash from his father's crown came the question +from Phaeton: + +"Will you let me for one day drive your chariot?" + +Foolish father, foolish son! Apollo shook his head three times in +warning. + +"I have spoken rashly. This one thing no mortal can achieve. Nor can any +immortal save myself hold in the horses that draw the fiery car of day. +It is not honor, but death you ask. Change your wish." + +Phaeton answered: + +"My mother taught me that my father always kept his promises." + +"It is even so, rash boy. If you do not change, neither can I. Bring the +chariot of the Sun." + +The daring child stood beside the glorious car that was higher than +his head. His eyes flashed bright as the diamonds that studded the +back of the golden chariot. The golden axle gleamed through the silver +spokes, for the chariot was made of naught but gold and silver and +precious stones. + +Then Early Dawn threw open the purple doors of the eastern sky. The +stars, answering the signal of the Day Star, slowly passed from sight, +followed by their marshal. + +The Hours obeyed Apollo's orders, and, harnessing the horses, led out +the wondrous creatures and fastened them to the chariot. + +Apollo bathed Phaeton's face with ointment, and taking up the crown of +shining rays, fastened it on the rash boy's head. + +With a sigh, he said: + +"My son, you will at least take my advice in one thing: spare the whip +and hold tight the lines. You will see the marks of the wheels where I +have gone before, and they will guide. Go not too high or you will burn +the heavens, nor too low or you will set your mother's home, the earth, +on fire. The middle course is best. Take the reins, or, if even now you +will change your wish, abide here, and yield the car to me." + +Phaeton leaped into the golden chariot, and with a proud smile thanked +his father. Then he gave the word to the horses. + +They darted forward through the morning clouds with the fury of a +tempest. Men on the earth thought it was noonday and tried to do double +their daily work. The fiery horses soon found their load was light, and +that the hands on the reins were frail. They dashed aside from their +path, until the fierce heat made the Great and the Little Bear long to +plunge into the sea. + +Poor Phaeton, looking down on the earth, grew pale and shook with +terror. He wished that he had never seen these shining steeds, had never +sought the palace of the Sun, and that he had never held his father to +that rash promise. + +Diana, who drives the chariot of the Moon, heard the mad racket in the +sky, and shooting her arrows at the frightened horses, turned them aside +in time to prevent them from dashing her own silver car to pieces. + +Earth cried for clouds and rain. The people of Africa became black +because of the terrible heat. Streams dried up, mountains burned, and +the River Nile hid his head forever in a desert. At last Earth cried in +a husky voice to Jupiter, the ruler of the gods: + +"What have I done that this punishment should come? Slay me, or save my +people from this burning!" + +[Illustration: PHAETON FALLING FROM THE CHARIOT] + +Jupiter, from his seat in the thunderclouds, saw the danger the +heavens and the earth were in, and hurled his lightnings at the rash +driver. Phaeton fell dead from the chariot. From morning till night, +and from that night till morning, he fell like a shooting star, and +sank at last into an Italian river. His sisters trembled so at his +fall and wept so bitterly that they changed into poplar trees upon the +river banks. Even to this day they mourn for him and tremble at the +least breeze from heaven. Apollo's horses, calmed by Jupiter's voice, +finally found the track. When evening came they entered the western +gates of the sky and were taken back, by way of the north, to their +stalls near Apollo's palace. + + + + +WODEN, GOD OF THE NORTHERN SKY + +_Norse_ + + +Little Hilda Peterson sat by a table in her mother's room studying her +spelling lesson. Suddenly she startled her mother by giving the table a +sharp rap with her pencil and saying: + +"What a queer name for a day! Why didn't the people who named the days +give them numbers instead of names? I can never remember how to spell +Wednesday. What is the use of the third letter in it?" + +"My little girl, when you have finished your lesson I will tell you a +story; then I think you will always remember where the fourth day got +its name." + +It did not take Hilda many minutes to finish her studying, with the +promise of a story before her. + +This is the old Norse tale her mother told: + +"Long years ago, before our fatherland, Norway, became a Christian +country, our people were taught that they must worship many gods. Nearly +all of these they feared; a very few they loved. The greatest was Woden. +When little children looked at the moon and stars, they were told that +Woden made them. When they asked about the clouds, everyone said, 'Woden +made them.' + +[Illustration: WODEN] + +"In the spring they were told that Woden made the leaves come and the +flowers open. No one knew the true God then. Everyone said that Woden +lived in a beautiful city in the sky, north of our own Northland. All +the houses there were gold and silver, and the most splendid one was +Woden's royal palace. This was called Valhalla. To reach it one had to +ride or walk the whole length of the rainbow, as it arched from land to +land. But there was a sharp-eyed watchman at the gate who stopped anyone +who had no right to cross that seven-hued bridge. + +"In Valhalla, Woden's people were always happy. They were never sick; +they never died. There were no little girls and no little boys in this +golden palace, only soldiers; and some of these were women! Woden +often sent his shield-maidens, as they were called, to battlefields to +carry to Valhalla the souls of brave men. When the choosers of the +slain rode through the air, their glittering, shining robes and +spears, and their swift horses made a strange, bright light in the +North. People called it Northern Lights, but Woden knew it was his +Valkyrias. Did you ever see them? + +"In another palace of gold in this beautiful city of the northern sky +were Woden's wife and family. This palace was called Fensalir. Woden's +wife was Frigga and his eldest son was Thor. I must tell you about this +son. Thor owned three precious things. Can you guess what they were? + +"One was a red-hot iron hammer. When he threw it at a mountain the rocks +split open wide and all the Frost Giants who lived within the rocks and +upon the mountain were killed. + +"The second thing was a wonderful belt. When he put it on he was twice +as strong as before. + +"The third was a pair of iron gloves. When he put these on he could +throw his hammer twice as far. + +"There is a story told of how Thor once threw his hammer so far that it +could not return as it had always done. It fell near an immense giant +who seized it and hid it half a mile deep under the rocks. Thor sent the +God of Fire to win it back, but the cruel giant would not give it up +unless Thor would bring Freya, the loveliest of the goddesses, to marry +him. But Freya refused to go and live with a fierce giant. + +"Thor wanted his hammer. At last the God of Fire, who had seen this +giant, told Thor to dress himself like Freya and to put on a heavy veil. +He did this and the two gods rode far away, on the rays of the setting +sun, to recover the lost hammer. + +"When the giant saw them he took them to his house. At supper time he +wondered how a goddess could eat so much, for Thor devoured eight great +salmon and a whole roasted ox. Then he wondered how she could drink so +much, for Thor drank three hogsheads of honey wine. Then the giant +pulled the heavy veil aside and wondered what made her eyes like +fireballs. The God of Fire explained everything, for Thor would not +speak. Then the hammer was asked for. It was laid in the mock bride's +lap. As soon as Thor had it in his hand he stood up, slew all the giants +and utterly destroyed the wicked town. Then he went back to Fensalir and +told Frigga, his mother, how he had recovered his hammer. + +"Frigga was as powerful as Woden or Thor. All things which Woden had +made obeyed her, nor dared harm anything when she forbade them. It may +be she did not know of the lost hammer or she would have saved Thor his +long journey. + +"Frigga was one of the most beautiful creatures the world has ever +known. No picture was ever so perfect and beautiful as she. Her robes +were lovelier than those of any other goddess. Sometimes they were of +gold and scarlet, sometimes of purest white, and many times of modest +green. She loved to spin, and no spider ever spun so fine a thread as +she on her spinning wheel. She worked so faithfully that Woden +changed the wheel into shining stars, and when you look up at Orion +again remember that the Norse people called that constellation +Frigga's distaff. + +"And now, Hilda, these three, Woden, Thor, and Frigga, still live upon +our earth and are bound by loving ties. Strange to say, however, they +can never meet again, for only one comes to earth at a time. At +midnight, Woden, the father, leaves, and Thor, his son, stays with us +till another midnight. Then Frigga, the mother, comes for a single day, +but she never can see again her son nor her husband. + +[Illustration: FRIGGA, THE MOTHER OF THE GODS] + +"Does Hilda guess what my story means?" + +"I am not quite sure, mother; help me a little bit." + +"In my story, Hilda, I told for whom three days of our week are named. +Can you tell which days?" + +"Why, mother, is that it? I know one, that is Woden's day, or Wednesday. +Yes, there is Thor's day, or Thursday, but what is the other?" + +"Didn't I tell you the mother never could see again her son or her +husband? Do you see the meaning now?" + +"Oh, I know! Friday is beautiful Frigga's day." + +"Yes, you have guessed the three, Hilda. Now, do you see that Thor's day +comes when Woden's day goes? And as soon as Thor's day is over, then +comes Frigga's day. They come to earth, but never meet." + +"Why, how queer it all is! When I say the names of the days of the week, +it will seem as if you were telling me the story again." + +"And now a little more, Hilda. Do you remember the colors of the robes +that Frigga wore?" + +"You said she wore green or white robes, or sometimes scarlet and gold. +Her dresses must have been very beautiful." + +"Look out of the window Hilda. What color is the lawn?" + +"Why, the grass makes it green." + +"What color will it be in winter?" + +"Why, white with snow, of course." + +"And in the fall, Hilda?" + +"Oh, I know now what you mean by Frigga is the ground, isn't she?" + +"Not the ground, but the earth. Woden, with his one all-seeing eye and +his mantle of blue and gray, is the sky, and Thor, with his streaming +red beard and his crashing hammer, is the thunder." + +"Oh, mother, how strange it is that such a story should come just from +the word Wednesday! I am glad that I am a Norwegian." + + + +JUPITER, GOD OF THE SOUTHERN SKY + +_Roman_ + + +"Why do they call the eagle Jupiter's bird, Miss Folsom?" + +"Where did you ever hear it called that, Mary?" + +"It was in a book from which our teacher was reading a story to-day. She +let me take the book and there was a fine picture of an eagle on the +first page and it was marked 'Jupiter's bird.' I never knew exactly who +Jupiter was. Was he a real person, Miss Folsom?" + +"He was one of the three great gods whom the Romans used to believe in, +Mary. They thought he ruled the sky and everything in it, and all living +things on earth, both the gods and the men. His bird was the eagle, +which carried the lightning in its claws. At Jupiter's command +thunderbolts dashed against the hardest rocks and broke them into +powder. No one dared to disobey him but his wife, Juno, and sometimes +even she had to suffer for doing so. + +"Jupiter's father was Saturn, who was kind and good in every way but +one. He did not love his children, and, at the end of each year, one +went away never to return. Jupiter, in some way, was stronger than the +rest and refused to go when the order came. He even fought with the +messenger and made him beg for mercy. + +[Illustration: JUPITER AND HIS EAGLE] + +[Illustration: THE HEAD OF JUPITER. From a Greek Coin of about 280 B.C.] + +Then Jupiter sent this messenger to Saturn, who agreed to bring back to +life Jupiter's brothers and sisters. They all rose up and sent Saturn +away forever, and gave the kingdom to the three bravest sons. Neptune +took the ocean, Pluto the center of the earth, and Jupiter the skies. +They reigned until men had learned wisdom and had become too wise to be +ruled by so many gods. + +"Now Jupiter is the name of the largest planet, and when you see a great +beautiful star in the sky, shining almost like the moon, you may be sure +it is Jupiter. You can fancy he is looking down to see if Neptune is +holding his unruly winds and waves in check, or if Pluto is still +keeping guard over the watch-fires in the center of the earth. + +"So Jupiter still reigns, but no one now is afraid of his power." + +"How wicked of Saturn to put away his children! How could he?" + +"Saturn is the same as old Father Time, Mary. Doesn't he put away one of +his children every twelve months?" + +"Oh, is that what it means?" + +"Year after year goes away, never to return." + +"How could Saturn bring them back, then?" + +"I don't know what that part of the story means. Maybe we will find out +sometime. But can you think of any day of the week that might be named +after Saturn?" + +"Why, Saturday! surely that is the one, isn't it?" + +"Yes, and the weeks never return either, do they, Mary?" + + + + +DIANA, QUEEN OF THE MOON + +_Greek_ + + +"When we were at grandpa's last summer, we used to stay out so long, +playing under the trees in the dooryard, that nearly every night we +saw the moon. + +"Sometimes it was big and round, and sometimes it looked like grandpa's +sickle, only it had no handle. + +"And you ought to have heard the queer stories aunt Hattie told about +the moon. Some of the stories were very funny, and some were very +beautiful. + +"Let's find a window where we can see the moon and then tell stories +about it. Come, boys," and little Jack led the way. + +"Here is a grand place to sit, Charlie. Right here, all of us together +on this sofa, and you must tell us a story." + +So Charlie began: + +"This is one of the stories I like best; maybe you won't, though. + +"Apollo, the god of the sun, had a twin sister named Diana. Apollo liked +to hunt with his golden bow and arrow, and his sister loved him so much +that she was always with him. He taught her how to use the bow and arrow +as well as he could himself. Sometimes their mother would set up a +target for them, and she was just as proud of Diana's quick eyes as of +Apollo's strong hand, for no matter what they aimed at, Diana could +shoot as well as Apollo. By and by, when Apollo had grown too old for +idle sport, he was given the sun to rule over, and Diana begged for +something just as grand to do. 'Such work is too hard for my brave +girl,' her mother would say, but at last Apollo said he would help her, +and so she was given the moon to rule over." + +[Illustration: DIANA. From a statue in the Louvre, Paris] + +"Why, Charlie, how queer that sounds, for you know the sun does help the +moon to shine," said Jack. + +"Keep still, Jack; it is almost nine o'clock, and I can't stop to talk +about the queer part; you must just watch for that," and Charlie went on +with the story. + +"Diana was as grand and proud, driving the silver chariot of the moon, +as Apollo in his gold chariot of the sun. Sometimes, when her work was +over, she left the moon and came to earth again to hunt. She would call +her friends, the maidens she used to play with, and away they would go, +each with a silver bow in hand and a quiver full of arrows fastened at +their backs. + +"One day, while they were hunting, they heard strange dogs in the woods. +Each one of the girl hunters hid behind a tree and waited. Diana ran +from her tree to a cave so that she could not be found. At last a +foolish hunter came in sight. He seemed to act as if he knew he ought +not to be there, and he wandered from left to right, as if he had never +hunted before. Then he started for the very cave where Diana was hiding, +for he knew by the willows a spring was there." + +"Oh, my!" said Jack. + +"Yes, he started for Diana's cave, but the minute he was near enough he +felt a splash of water that seemed to cover him from head to foot and he +heard Diana say: + +"'Now go and tell, if you can, that you have seen Diana.' + +"Poor fellow! He could not move. As he stood there he found his arms +were changing to the straight fore legs of a deer. Horns came out of his +head, his brown eyes grew bigger, and so did his ears, and in a few +minutes even his own dogs did not know him. He bounded away, but his pet +hounds sprang at him and caught him. + +"Diana and her friends were miles away, and no one could save the poor +fellow from the fate of a hunted deer." + +"Oh, I think Diana was cruel," said Jack. + +"I thought it served him right, when I heard it," Charlie said. "He knew +he had no right in Diana's forest, and she can't hunt in the moon, for +they say there are neither trees nor animals there." + + + + +JACK AND JILL ON THE MOON MOUNTAINS + +_Norse_ + + + "Jack and Jill + Went up the hill + To get a pail of water; + Jack fell down + And broke his crown + And Jill came tumbling after." + + +That is what your father and mother used to say when they were children. +So did your grandfather and grandmother when they were little, and for +hundreds of years children have laughed at poor Jack and Jill's mishaps. +Now, I will tell you how the story first began. + +In Norway, people used to believe that the chariot of the moon was +driven by a glorious youth, Mani. He was lonely in heaven. One night a +little boy on earth was sent by his parents to a well to get a pail of +water. This boy's name was Hjuki. He asked his sister Bil to go with +him. They had to carry with them the big bucket fastened to a long +pole, for there was no well-sweep. They thrust the pole, with the +bucket at the end of it, into the water, and, as they were both busy +straining every muscle to raise the bucket, Mani stood beside them and +helped them. + +To the children he looked like a friendly lad and they were glad +of his help. + +Bil balanced the pail on the pole and together they started to carry the +water home. + +The weight was so great on Hjuki's shoulder, for he tried to take the +heavier end, that he stumbled and down they both went. + +Mani wanted the children's company and so picked them up and carried +them through the sky to the mountains of the moon. There you can see +them when the moon is full, wandering about, seeking to return, falling +and going out of sight, just as they did on earth. + +They still carry the bucket and the pole, hoping yet dreading to meet +their parents. They fear that their parents think they ran away from +their task. But try as hard as they can, Mani keeps them from finding +the way back to earth. + + + + +THE MAN IN THE MOON + +_German_ + + +More than a thousand years ago, on a Sunday morning in the early fall, +an old German woodman told his wife, Gretchen, that he was going after +fagots. She begged him not to go, for it was Sunday and they did not +need the wood. The old man only laughed at her, and trudged away into +the forest where no one could see him. + +[Illustration: THE MAN IN THE MOON. From an old painting.] + +He cut his bundle of fagots, piled them together, tied them with a stout +band, and throwing them over his shoulder, started homeward. Then he +noticed that the wild creatures, that had never stirred as he entered +the woods before, were now afraid of him. The birds fluttered away with +a whirring noise, and an old mother hare, which he knew very well, made +wonderful leaps to get herself and family out of his sight. Even a bear +ran from him, instead of attacking him. + +Soon he met a stranger with a sad, stern face, who stopped him. + +"Don't you know that this is Sunday on earth, when all must rest +from work?" + +"Whether it is Sunday on earth or Monday in heaven, it is all the same +to me," laughed the old man. + +"Then carry your bundle forever, and as you do not care for Sunday on +earth, you shall have a long Monday in heaven, where you shall be a +warning to all Sabbath-breakers evermore." + +Then the old man found himself swiftly rising in the air. Quick as a +thought he was landed in the moon, where his wife saw him as she stood +outside her door that night to watch for his coming. There he still +stands bearing his fagots, and as all days are Mondays in the moon, he +can never Break Sunday Again. + +[Illustration: THE MAN IN THE MOON. From a seal dated 1335. +The legend says "I will teach thee, Walter, why I carry thorns in +the moon"] + + + + +A STORY OF AN EVENING STAR + +_Greek_ + + +"Every night, mother, I see a beautiful star in the sky so different +from the others. It comes first and shines so bright that it seems as if +it were the loveliest star in the whole sky. Won't you watch for it +to-night with me?" + +The mother smiled, for she thought she knew which one of the stars Mamie +would point out. Sure enough, that night as they both sat in the hammock +watching the sunset, out came the very star she expected. In a moment +Mamie saw it and nearly fell out of the hammock as she screamed and +clapped her hands. + +"There it is, mamma! There it is! I know it because it looks straight at +me. It knows me, I believe, for it never trembles a bit, like the other +stars! Did you ever see such a lovely one?" + +Her mother smiled an odd little smile. + +"What makes you laugh at me, mother? I know you are laughing, by the +corners of your mouth; they go up so queerly. Tell me." + +"Why, Mamie, that is Venus you are watching. I have watched her every +year since I first found her long ago." + +"Venus? Who is Venus, mother? And what makes you call a star _her_? I +didn't know a star could have a name. Who named her? Did you, mother? +What made you call her Venus?" + +"Seems to me you ask a great many questions, little girl. Which one +shall I answer first?" + +"Did you name my star yourself?" + +"No, Mamie, it was named hundreds of years ago when many stars had names +given them. You know people have watched and studied the stars almost +since the world began." + +"And was Venus a little girl or a woman? I know she must have been +lovely or they would never have given her name to my star." + +"Your star, as you call it, Mamie, is at present the evening star. +By and by it will be the morning star. I will tell you where it +got its name. + +"Venus was a lovely woman, but she never was a little girl. The old, old +story books say that one day as some people were walking by the sea they +saw a rose-tinted shell rise on the crest of the wave. This great shell +opened, and beautiful Venus, clothed in raiment like sea-foam when the +sun shines on it, stepped out upon the waters. The people watching were +not surprised when they saw a sunset cloud sail down and take her to the +edge of the western sky, where the ruby gates opened and she passed +through to the world of the gods. That was her home. Whenever she wished +to return to earth she came in a silver chariot drawn by snow-white +swans. Her head was always wreathed with roses and myrtles. White doves +carried her messages. Her dress is of the finest silk, the color of the +pink sea-shell." + +"Why, mamma, you say _is_! Do you mean Venus is still alive?" + +[Illustration: VENUS. From the statue in the Louvre, Paris] + +"No, dear, she never was alive. It is only one of the many beautiful +myths that people used to believe two thousand years ago. But artists +love to paint pictures as beautiful as Venus was thought to be, and +there are many lovely statues of her. Sometimes it almost seems as if +she must have been alive. When we go to the art gallery, see if you can +find a Venus. + +"But say good-night to your star, for it is late. Some time you will +miss her and find another in her place. Tell me, dear, when the new +star comes." + +"Oh, I am going to watch every night, mamma. Will the new one +have a name?" + +"Yes, but I'm not going to tell you its name or its story till it +comes." + + + + +THE GIANT WITH A BELT OF STARS + +_Greek_ + + +It is an easy matter for any one to find the three great stars in the +sky that are arranged in a row, like three great diamonds sparkling on +the front of a mammoth crown. They shine out, clear and bright, whenever +Diana takes her silver bow, which we call the moon, and goes to hunt in +her secret fields or forests. These three stars have been called Orion's +Belt for thousands of years, and for ages children and grown people have +watched for their coming after the sun has gone below the horizon. + +The story told of Orion by the ancient Greeks has been repeated by some +of our poets, and Henry W. Longfellow has written in his own beautiful +way of this same famous Greek hunter who never knew fear. Perhaps you +will be more interested in his poem after you have read this short +account of the mighty giant whose belt of stars is longer than other +giants were tall. + +Orion was the son of Neptune, the god of the sea. His father gave him +power to walk upon the water or to wade in the deepest ocean without +drowning. You know that if he had the power of walking in such places, +he did not need to swim, and his steps were so long that he could walk +much faster than his swiftest enemy could run. + +[Illustration: ORION WITH HIS CLUB] + +Orion was very fond of hunting, and wore, as his mantle or robe, the +tawny skin of a huge lion he had slain. His club and his sword were his +only weapons, and he needed no others, for his long arms helped him to +strike before he himself could be hurt. Once he was made blind, but as +he wandered by the seashore the music of the singing waves which were +his father's home gave him comfort and led him to a friend who guided +him to Apollo. One bright sunbeam from Apollo's crown touched Orion's +eyes and they saw more clearly than ever before. Nearly everything was +Orion's friend, for with his great strength he was always ready to help +those who could not help themselves. But he was so huge that many who +did not know him were afraid, and one day the Pleiads, daughters of +Atlas, saw him coming and they fled away so fast that they were changed +into doves. You can find the place where they alighted in the sky, just +ahead of Orion. He still follows them, and his dog Sirius, who carries +the famous dog star, is close at his side; but the Pleiads never allow +Orion to overtake them in their long journey through the regions of the +sky. The Pleiads are so beautiful that you must learn to find them, and +this cluster of six twinkling stars, "a swarm of fireflies tangled in a +silver braid," will guide you in finding the belt of the mighty hunter +Orion, the giant of the heavens. Four other very brilliant stars mark +his shoulders and his knees. + + + + +THE GREAT BEAR IN THE SKY + +_Greek_ + + +"Oh mother, what do you think? Last night that English boy, Charlie +Thornton, asked me if I knew where Charles' Wain was, and when I said I +didn't know, what do you suppose he showed me? Why, nothing but the Big +Dipper up there among the stars. I told him he was mistaken and that +nobody ever called it the odd name he had for it. But he said his mother +called it that, and he wouldn't give it up. Wasn't that queer?" + +"Why, no, Ralph, I don't think it was strange that he called it as his +mother had taught him. That is exactly what you do. Many English people +call it Charles' Wain. Wain means wagon, and it does look a little like +a cart or wagon." + +"I don't think it does, not the least bit. It looks just like a big +dipper, and like nothing else." + +"Why, you silly boy! What would you think if I should tell you that ever +so many people call it the Great Bear?" + +"Why, that is queerer yet. Can you see a bear up there in the sky? Maybe +when it thunders it is the Great Bear growling!" and Ralph jumped off +the porch and rolled on the grass, laughing at his discovery. + +[Illustration: THE GREAT BEAR IN THE SKY] + +In a moment a thought seemed to come to him, and springing up, he ran to +his mother's chair on the porch and said: "Mother, is there any story +about the Great Bear? How did it get up there among the stars? Is the +North Star the Bear's eye? Does his nose always point to the North Star, +the same as the two pointers in the Big Dipper?" + +"Now, my boy, you will be surprised again when I tell you that there are +two bears in the sky, the Great Bear and the Little Bear. The wonderful +North Star is in the tip of the tail of the Little Bear." + +"Now, I know there is a story about them, just as there was about those +three beautiful ones you showed me in Orion's belt. You told me about +Orion, now you will tell me about the two bears, won't you?" + +"It is a sad story, Ralph, and you know you don't like sad stories. But +I will tell it to you, and sometime, in the years to come, you may read +it in a language that is as old as the story. + +"Near a beautiful city on the other side of the world was a large +forest. The trees in this forest were very tall, and their branches so +thick that they made a roof over the ground below. One could wander for +miles and miles in the shade of this forest and never find a house, or +any living creatures but the birds and wild animals. + +"Once on a time some hunters came back, after having been gone many +days, and said that away in the heart of the forest they had had a +glimpse of a beautiful snow-white bear. Not one of them had been able +to get a shot at it with his arrows, and some thought it was only a +dream. The story spread throughout the city, and all the boys and young +hunters were anxious for a chance to win so fine a prize as the +snow-white skin. Not for himself, oh, no, for whoever brought it home +must hang it in the temple. + +"One brave young hunter said, 'I am going into the heart of the forest. +I will take only the bravest with me, and I will never return without +the prize.' + +"This young man was dearly loved by everyone. His mother had left him +when he was only a few years old, and gone, no one knew where. He was +cared for by his uncle, and grew up, hoping each year his mother would +return. He took long journeys trying to learn if she were still alive, +but no one could ever tell him a word about her. These journeys had made +him very bold and brave, and there was no cave so dark, nor mountain so +high, but that he would search it in the hope of finding his mother. + +"He found six young hunters ready to go with him into the heart of the +forest. They looked very fine in their bright, shining hunting-suits, +with their bows and arrows, and every one wished them success. + +"They wasted no time in the pleasant fields outside, but started for the +dark, sunless forest. It was slow work picking their way through the +tangled bushes growing under the trees, and it took many days to reach +the place described by the hunters who had told them the story of the +strange white bear. + +"'Whoever sees it first must call to the others. It may be that this is +enchanted ground, and something dreadful will happen to the one who is +alone,' said the leader of the hunting party. + +"'It is well said,' they all agreed. In the heart of this wild forest +they wandered, shooting the strange birds they saw there, and saving the +long feathers and wings, to bring home after the hunt was over. + +"One day the leader of the hunt chased a wonderful bird for hours from +tree to tree, riding beneath the branches, trying to get a shot. + +"At last, just as he had his arrow in his bow, ready to aim, his horse +reared and nearly threw him backward to the ground. There, beside him, +stood the snow-white bear. + +"Its two fore paws were stretched out to meet him, and its eyes seemed +full of the love he used to see in his mother's eyes. It was a beautiful +sight, and the arrow meant for the bird shot upward into the sky, +harming no one, but bearing the next words of the hunter as a message to +the great Jupiter. + +"'O, my mother, let me live forever with you!' exclaimed the hunter, as +his strong arms were clasped about the white bear's neck. + +"'My mother is found!' he shouted, and Echo repeated over and over, +'Found! Found!' until the six fellow hunters came to where the mother +and her son were standing, gazing with loving eyes toward Mount Olympus, +the home of their gods. + +"The winged arrow had taken its flight to Jupiter and the son's prayer +was answered. + +[Illustration: THE GREAT BEAR AND THE LITTLE BEAR. From an old wood cut.] + +"Jupiter's lightnings flashed and the six hunters saw their strong +leader change into the Great Bear, and gently guide his mother, the +Little Bear, to her home in the sky. He took his place near her, at +Jupiter's command, and now follows wherever she leads. He points forever +to her and to the North Star which she keeps. Those who watch this +unchanging beacon among the stars sometimes remember that the people of +long ago thought that it was placed there to tell them of the unchanging +love of mothers." + +"Oh, I knew there was a story. It came out all right at last, and that +takes the sad part away." + +Then Ralph whispered, "We know it was only a myth, don't we?" + + + + +CASTOR AND POLLUX, THE STARRY TWINS + +_Greek_ + + +Among the star pictures in the sky may be found one called Gemini, or +the Twins. The ancient Greeks used to believe that twin brothers named +Castor and Pollux had been really placed in the sky. They once lived in +Sparta; their mother was the lovely Leda, and one of their sisters was +the beautiful Helen, whose capture caused the famous Trojan war. + +These brothers were as devoted to each other as twins are said to be, +and one was never seen without the other being near. Their love for +their sisters was very great, and once when Helen was captured by two +noted warriors, these twin brothers of hers found her and brought her +safely back to their mother's house. + +[Illustration: CASTOR AND POLLUX] + +Castor was very fond of horses. He could tame the wildest one that was +ever caught, and lead it about like a pet dog as soon as his magic touch +had taught its fiery spirit that he was its master. He could ride better +than any one in the kingdom, for no horse had ever thrown him. + +Pollux was just as famous in boxing and wrestling. He taught young men +many tricks with the hand and foot, and was the leader in all games. + +The two brothers were proud to be allowed to go with the other heroes in +quest of the golden fleece. When the sweet music of Orpheus stilled the +wild storm that arose on the sea and threatened to wreck the Argo, stars +appeared upon the heads of Castor and Pollux, for their great love for +each other was known to the Olympian gods who had sent the storm. + +When the curious flames, that sometimes during storms play about the +masts and sails of a ship, were seen on other ships after this voyage +of the Argo, the sailors would always cry out, "See the stars of Castor +and Pollux!" + +Their love for each other made them more famous than anything else. When +at last Castor was slain in a great battle, Pollux prayed Jupiter to let +them be again united. The prayer was granted. Not long after this, the +poets tell us, the star picture of the Twins was discovered in the sky, +and there the two loving brothers stay forever watching the earth to see +if they may help others to be faithful to the end. + + + + +THE MILKY WAY + +_Russian_ + + +Soon after the world was made, God created a beautiful maiden and gave +her charge of all the birds beneath the heavens. Her name was Lindu. Her +father's name was Uko. She knew all the birds of passage, and where they +should go in autumn, and she sent each flock on its way. + +Lindu cared for the birds tenderly, like a mother for her children, and +gave them help whenever it was possible. She sent the stormy wind to +blow dust into the eyes of the fierce hunters when they were seeking to +slay her pets. It was not surprising that all the world loved her, and +those who dwelt in the sky most of all. + +The North Star wished to make her his wife. He drove up to Uko's palace +with a dusky coach drawn by six black horses, and in the coach were ten +fine presents. But Lindu did not love him. + +"You always stay in one place, and cannot stir from it," said she. "Go +back to your watch-tower." + +Then came the Moon drawn in a silver coach by ten gray horses, and the +Moon brought twenty presents. But Lindu did not love the Moon. + +"You change your face too often and not your path, and that will never +suit me," she said. + +So the Moon drove away wearing his saddest face. Scarcely had the Moon +gone before the Sun drove up. He rode in a golden coach drawn by twenty +gold-red horses, and he brought thirty presents with him. But all his +grandeur went for nothing with Lindu, for she said: + +"I do not love you. You follow the same track day by day, just like +the Moon. I love the changing seasons, the changing winds, anything +that changes." + +At that the gold-red horses leaped away and Lindu was alone with +her birds. + +At length the Northern Light came from his home in the midnight land in +a diamond coach drawn by a thousand white horses. He was so grand that +Lindu went to the door to meet him. His servants carried a whole +coach-load of gold and silver, pearls and jewels into her house. She +loved this bright suitor at once. + +"You do not travel the same path all the time like the others. You set +out when you wish and rest when it pleases you. Each time you wear a new +robe, and each time you ride in a new coach with new horses. You shall +be my bridegroom." + +And Lindu's choice was made. + +The news was sent throughout the world, and guests came from the four +sides of the sky and of the earth to greet Lindu and the Northern Light. +It was agreed that the wedding should be when the birds flew south. Back +to his home in the midnight land went the Northern Light, knowing that +Lindu loved him best. + +The torrent which fell half a thousand feet over the mountain side sent +Lindu her bridal veil. The Frost King sent her laces so fine that a +breath of summer air would have destroyed them, and they were stored +away in a block of ice for safe keeping. The birds brought her robes of +butterfly wings softer than silk and more beautiful than velvet. Her +sandals were from the wings of the honey bee, stronger than reindeer +skin, and fleeter than a chamois' foot. + +Spring passed away. Summer came and went. The birds flew south, and +Lindu waited for the Northern Light's return. Snow sparkled on the +earth, but no hoof-beat of his thousand white horses broke the stillness +of the midnight air. Spring came, but never the Northern Light. + +Then Lindu began to weep, and from her tears sprang the little brooks in +the valleys of Earth. The birds flew about her head and rested on her +shoulders. They tried to caress her in a hundred ways, but Lindu did not +heed them. Then they flew away and wandered in strange places, building +nests where no nests were ever seen before. Many an egg was lost and +many a nestling stolen because Lindu was not near to help her birds. + +At last Uko heard their sad songs and then saw his daughter's grief. +Uko's heart was always merry and his hands so full of work that he had +not noticed Lindu's trouble. He ordered the Four Winds to lift her +gently and bring her to him in his sky palace. + +She dressed herself in her bridal veil, her frosted laces, and robes of +butterfly wings, and the four strong Winds lifted her from the ground. +The song-birds of Earth gathered about her and sang their sweetest +songs. With her white bridal veil streaming far out on the air and a +happy smile on her lips, Lindu sailed across the sky to Uko's palace. +There she lives now, happy as her father Uko. Her white veil spreads +from one end of the heavens to the other, and whoever lifts his eyes to +the Milky Way beholds the maiden in her bridal robes. + +From there she directs her birds. From there she waves her white hand in +greeting to the Northern Light as his thousand horses leap through the +sky. She has forgotten his unkindness and her sorrow. The Northern Light +still loves her, but is so changeful that he can never keep a promise. +Uko has given Lindu her station in the heavens and her work. Forever +beautiful and forever young, never changing, she forever smiles at the +changeful Northern Light. + + + + +HOW FIRE CAME TO EARTH + +_Greek_ + + +Once the earth was but a ball of dead, cold rock and barren sand. Once +the waters were nothing but a mass of icy waves. + +Two great giants, Titans the Greeks called them, were given the task of +making the earth what it had been planned to be. + +Epimetheus and Prometheus were the names of these giants. Epimetheus +took upon himself the task of making the lower animals and man. +Prometheus overlooked the work and gave hints if he saw that anything +was lacking. + +Epimetheus made the fishes. He set them afloat in the water, and taught +them to swim. He made the lion and gave it courage. He gave wings to the +bird and showed it how to fly swiftly through the air. He covered the +crab with its shell and taught it how to creep. + +Man came last. Epimetheus had nothing to give him. Claws, wings, shelly +covering, fur, everything had been bestowed on the creatures which he +had made first. Epimetheus saw how weak man was with all the fierce +animals around him. He went to Prometheus for help, and said: + +"I have clothed this last creature which I have made with robes from the +garments the immortals have cast aside. The thorns cannot tear him, but +the wild beast can take his life in a moment. Help me to make him +conqueror of everything in earth and sea and sky." + +[Illustration: MINERVA] + +Prometheus sought Minerva for wisdom. She gave him a golden torch, whose +wood was cut from the pines that grew nearest heaven on the earth's +highest peak, and said: + +"Follow what this branch of pine is seeking. It will take and hold the +gift reserved for man." + +When Prometheus grasped the torch, it leaped upward through the sky past +the pale, cold moon; past flashing stars; upward, till the torch and its +bearer stood in the high heavens by the burning chariot of the sun. + +The pine kissed the leaping flames and a fire was kindled in its own +heart. Prometheus sprang backward from the sun chariot, and, bearing +the flaming torch in his hands, brought down to man, from the sun, the +gift of fire. + +No creature but man can possess or use this gift. Man would not part +with it for all the treasures below the earth's surface, nor for all the +gifts that birds, beasts, and fishes can boast. + +With fire, weapons are made that can subdue the strongest beast that +ever fought for its life. Tools with which man tills the earth and +blasts the rock are made with the aid of fire. With fire man warms his +dwelling. While the wild creatures shiver in the ice and snow man makes +summer within the four walls of his home. + +Man walks the earth a conqueror, but should the gift of fire be taken +from him, how would he then teach the lower animals that he is their +master? Having this gift he excels all other creatures. Without it he +would be poor indeed. + +Go where you will, the gift Prometheus brought is known to the race to +whom it was given. There is no savage so ignorant but that he has the +art of making fire. + +Fire gleams from the eyeballs of the beasts when they are in anger, but +this fire is cold compared with the burning blaze of wood and coal. + +No beast will attack mankind when protected by a blazing torch. The gift +of Prometheus shows the wisdom of Minerva. + + + + +BEYOND THE FIRE ISLAND + +_Russian_ + + +Once there was a man who decided to take a journey to the uttermost end +of the world where it touches the sky. He thought he could reach that +point only by sea, but being tired of the water decided to travel on the +wings of an eagle. A raven told him better, however, for the nights are +months long in the far Northland and the eagle loves the sunlight. + +Then this man, who was a king, gave orders to fell the greatest oak tree +in his three kingdoms. Olaf the Brave undertook this task. The oak tree +was very large and neither sun, moon, nor stars could shine between its +leaves, they were so close together. The king commanded that deep-sea +sailing ships should be made from its trunk, warships from its crown, +merchant ships from its branches, children's boats from the splinters, +and maidens' rowing boats from the chips. + +But the wise men of Norway and Finland assembled and gave the king +advice. They told him that it was no use building a wooden ship, for the +spirits of the Northern Lights would set it on fire. Then the king made +a ship of silver. The whole of the ship--planking, deck, masts, and +chains--was of silver, and he named his vessel "The Flyer." + +Then--for this was ages ago--he provided golden armor for himself, +silver armor for his nobles, iron for the crew, copper for the old men, +and steel for the wise men. + +When everything was ready, he and his sailors set out for Finland. But +they soon turned and headed "The Flyer" to the far north. The Great Bear +in the sky guided them. + +At the helm of the ship was a wise pilot who knew all languages and +the speech of birds and beasts. The winds of Finland were angry +because he slighted their country, and a great storm arose and blew +the ship out of her course. The birds sang to the helmsman and told +him by their song that his ship was being driven on the bleak and +desolate coast of Lapland. + +The king and his bold comrades succeeded in landing in Lapland, but +could find no people. At last a sailor discovered a house. In it +dwelt a wise man and his daughter. The king asked the wise man the +way to the end of the world. The wise man answered that he had asked +a vain question. + +"The sea has no end, and those who go westward have found their death in +the Fire Island. Turn homeward and live," said the wise man. + +The king only answered by asking the wise Lapp if he would be their +guide to the Fire Island. He consented and went aboard the ship. His +name was Varrak. + +He steered the boat due north for thirty days and thirty nights. The +first danger they met was a great whirlpool, whose center was a vast +hole into which had been drawn many a brave ship. Varrak threw overboard +a small barrel wrapped in red cloth and trimmed with many red streamers, +but with a rope attached to it. A whale swallowed this bait and then +tried to escape as he felt the rope pulling him. In his flight he towed +the ship to a safe place in the open sea. + +This brought them far westward and at last they came within sight of the +Island of Fire. Iceland, men call it now, but surely it has as much fire +as ice. From the middle of this Iceland they could see great pillars of +flame and vast clouds of smoke ascending into the air. + +Varrak warned the king of his danger, but was commanded to run the boat +ashore. Those who explored the land found a vast mountain casting up +flames and another mountain pouring out smoke. Soon the party came +across great spouting fountains of boiling water, and they found the +ground beneath their feet to be burning lava. + +The son of Sulev, who was leading this exploring party, wandered through +snow-fields covered with ashes. A shower of red-hot stones warned him +that he was near the volcano. Going too close to this burning mountain, +his hair and eyebrows were singed and his clothing took fire. He rolled +in the snow and saved himself. + +Then the son of Sulev thought it best to go back to the ship. Calling +his party together, he found that the youngest, the yellow-haired boy +who was cupbearer to the king, was gone. The birds told the helmsman, +the wise Lapp, that the lad had made friends with the water-sprites +beyond the snow mountains and would never return. + +The winds drove the ship about for many days till she grounded again on +a strange shore. + +Another party of nobles and sailors went to search this country. Being +tired, they lay down under an ash tree and fell asleep. The people in +this land were giants, and a giant's daughter found them. They were so +very small to the giant child that she picked them up and put them in +her apron, and carried them home to her father. + +"Look at these strange creatures, father," she said. "I found them +asleep under a head of cabbage in our garden. What are they?" + +The giant knew them to be men from the east. Now the east has always +been noted for its wisdom, so he questioned these men with riddles. + +"What walks along the grass, steps on the edge of the fence, and walks +along the sides of the reeds?" he asked. + +"The bee," answered the wise man of the party. + +"What drinks from the brooks and wells, and from the stones on +the bank?" + +"The rainbow," replied the wise man. + +Then the giant told his little daughter to put the strangers back +exactly where she had found them. But the wise man asked her to carry +them to the ship just for fun. She leaned over the vessel like a vast +cloud and shook them out of her white apron upon the deck. Then with one +long breath she blew the ship four miles out to sea. The king shouted +back his thanks. + +But that wind blew northwest instead of north. The cold was intense and +they watched from midnight to midnight the combats in the air between +the spirits of the Northern Lights. The sailors were frightened, but the +king was pleased. He was farther north than ever before. + +The helmsman warned them that they were approaching another shore. No +birds welcomed them or sang them the name of the country. Men dressed in +the skins of dogs and bears met them as they landed, and took them to +their homes on sledges of ice drawn by dogs. Their houses were of blocks +of ice and snow, and their talk sounded like dogs barking. + +The king did not like these people, for their land was cold. The wise +man told him again that his search was an idle one. The end of the world +was not for mortal eyes to see. At last the king believed him and sailed +homeward. No man to this day has been able to find the far north, the +end of the world. + + + + +A LEGEND OF THE NORTH WIND + +_Norse_ + + +North Wind likes a bit of fun as dearly as a boy does, and it is with +boys he likes best to romp and play. + +One day North Wind saw a brave little fellow eating his lunch under a +tree. Just as he went to bite his bread, North Wind blew it out of his +hand and swept away everything else that he had brought for his lunch. + +"You hateful North Wind!" cried the little fellow. "Give me back my +supper. I'm so hungry." + +[Illustration: BOREAS, THE GOD OF THE NORTH WIND] + +Now North Wind, like all brave beings, is noble, and so he tried to make +up for the mischief he had done. + +"Here, take this tablecloth," said North Wind, "and, in whatever house +you stay, spread it on the table; then wish, and you shall have +everything you wish for to eat." + +"All right!" said the boy, and he took the tablecloth and ran as fast as +he could to the first house, which proved to be an inn. + +"I have enough to pay for lodging, so I'll stay all night," he said +to himself. + +"Bring me a table," he ordered the innkeeper, as he went to his room. + +"Ha! ha!" laughed the innkeeper. "You mean bring me a supper." + +"No, I don't. I want only a table and that right quick. I'm hungry." + +The innkeeper brought the table, but, after the door was shut, he +watched through the keyhole to see what would happen. + +"Beans, bread, and bacon," ordered the boy, as he spread out his +tablecloth. On came beans, bread, and bacon through the open window, +whirled in by North Wind. Smoking hot they all were, too, for the dishes +were tightly covered. After supper was over, the boy went sound asleep. + +North Wind did not waken him as the innkeeper took the table and the +table-cloth and carried them down-stairs. Next morning the boy was +hungry again, but there was no tablecloth and so no breakfast. + +"You are a cheat, North Wind; you have taken back your tablecloth." + +[Illustration: TOWER OF THE WINDS AT ATHENS] + +"No," said North Wind, "that is not the way I do." But the boy did not +get his tablecloth. + +After a time North Wind met him again out under the trees. + +"This time I will give you a sheep," he said. "Each time that you rub +his wool, out will drop a gold piece. Take care of him." + +The boy ran back and found the sheep at the door of the stable, behind +the inn. He caught the sheep by a strap which was around its neck, and +led it slowly up the stairs of the inn, to the room from which the +tablecloth had disappeared the night before. + +As the boy was hungry for his breakfast, he obeyed North Wind's command +and patted the sheep upon its back. A gold piece fell out of its fleece +upon the floor. + +"Good old North Wind!" said the boy. "Here's my breakfast and some +hay for my sheep. Come breakfast, come hay," and through the open +window came first a bundle of hay, and then a fine breakfast for the +hungry boy. After breakfast the boy paid for a week's lodging with +the gold piece. + +He slept soundly that night with his sheep for his pillow, and the next +night also, but the third morning when the boy awoke, his head lay upon +the floor and the sheep was gone. + +Perhaps too many gold pieces had been seen in the boy's hand, for he had +patted his sheep very often. + +He accused North Wind again. "You have taken back your sheep. I don't +like you. You are as cold-hearted as you can be." + +But North Wind said nothing. He put a queer stick into a bag and +gave it to the boy and told him to go back and lock his door as +tightly as before. + +"Talk to the bag," he said, "and guard it as carefully as if there was a +jewel in it." + +That night the boy was wakened out of his soundest sleep by screams for +help in his room. There was the innkeeper running about, and that queer +stick was pounding him, first on the head, then on the feet, then on his +back, then in his face. + +"Help! help!" he cried. + +"Give me back my sheep," said the boy. + +"Get it; it is hidden in the barn," said the innkeeper. + +The boy went out and found his sheep in the barn and drove it away as +fast as he could, but he forgot about the innkeeper, and, maybe, that +stick is pounding him to this day. + + + + +ORPHEUS, THE SOUTH WIND + +_Greek_ + + +In the land of Thrace there lived, years ago, one who was called +Orpheus. He was the sweetest singer ever known. His voice was low and +soft. + +When men heard this voice all anger ceased, and their thoughts were +thoughts of peace. Even wild animals were tamed. + +Orpheus went into the woods one day and took nothing but his harp with +him. + +No quiver of arrows was on his back, nor hunting spear at his side. + +He sang and sang till the birds flew down on the ground about him, and +seemed to think that a creature with such a voice must be merely another +kind of bird. + +[Illustration: ORPHEUS. Showing his broken harp] + +A wild cat came creeping slyly between the trees, trying to catch the +little feathered listeners. Orpheus took his lute and played upon it, +and the wild cat became as tame as the birds. They all followed Orpheus +farther into the forest. + +Soon, from behind a rock, a tiger sprang to attack the wild cat. The +birds and the wild cat called to Orpheus. When he saw the trouble he +took his harp again, and while he sang the tiger came trembling and +purring to his feet and the birds, the wild cat, and the tiger followed +Orpheus still farther into the forest. + +He sat down by a tree to rest and the bees came and showed him where +their honey was hidden in the tree. He fed his friends, and then he and +the tiger led the way to a river where there was the purest water. + +Tall trees bent low before him, and young trees tore themselves from the +ground and followed in his train. + +Foul waters parted so that Orpheus and his band might pass through +unharmed; they knew no longer any evil thing. + +Before they reached the river of pure water, to which the tiger was +leading them, a lion, fierce with anger, sprang madly at his old enemy. +Orpheus took his harp and played so wonderfully that the pine trees +sighed with sorrow, and the lion, loosing his hold on the tiger, +followed the sweet singer of Thrace. At the river the birds, the wild +cat, the tiger, and the lion drank together with Orpheus, with not one +thought of hurting one another. + +"We are tired," said the birds. "Let us stay here by this river," and +Orpheus agreed. The birds flew to the trees, while the others tried to +rest on the huge rocks by the shore, but these were jagged and rough. +They would give no rest to any one. + +Then Orpheus began to play, and the hardest rocks were stirred. They +rolled over and over into the river, and in their places the softest +beds of white sand were ready for all. Orpheus rested, with the lion and +the tiger for his night-watchers, and the wild cat asleep in the tree +with the birds. + +In the morning the harp sounded again, and the strange company wandered +away, happy to be near the music. The three wild beasts fed together on +the river grasses and forgot that they had been life-long enemies. + +Orpheus had said, before he came into the wood, that he was tired of men +and their quarrels; that wild beasts were easier to tame than angry men; +and so he found it during these two days in the forest. + +He took his harp and played and sang a sweet, wild song of love and +peace, and overhead the leaves and branches of the oaks danced for joy +of living. Not one growl, not one quarrel was heard where even the +echoes of the music went. The very rocks answered the voice of Orpheus, +and everything was at peace. + +Then came the sound of the hunting dogs. The lion raised his shaggy +head, but put it down again. Savage light came again into the eyes of +the tiger and of the wild cat. The dogs came nearer. Orpheus played on +his lute and the dogs came and lay down at his feet, and the hunters +went home without their prey. + +That night Orpheus led the birds and beasts all back to the places +where he had found them, and went home to live once more in his cave +in Thrace. + +For years hunters told, over their camp-fires, strange stories of a +tiger and a lion who lived together in the deep forest; of a wild cat +with eyes like a pet fawn; and of birds whose songs were so sweet that +wild beasts grew tame as they listened. + +Sometimes, even in these days, it seems as if Orpheus were +singing again. + +When the wind stirs, there comes sweet music. The pine trees sigh, the +leaves and branches of the forest trees dance as in the days when +Orpheus first went into the woods of Thrace. + +When the south wind blows, earth's voices become low and sweet, and the +birds sing soft melodies to greet its coming. + +Old books tell us that Orpheus was really the south wind itself. + + + + +THE LITTLE WIND-GOD + +_Greek_ + + +"What is it in the thermometer that shines so, mother?" + +"Oh, that is quicksilver, Ethel. See the line of silver run up the tube +while I hold it in my hand." + +"Quicksilver? I should think it was quick! See it run back, now the +tube is cool. But father called it something else the other night. +What was it?" + +"Oh, yes; he called it mercury, my dear. It is named after one of the +gods the Greeks used to worship, their swift wind-god, Mercury. We read +of him in many old stories. He was so quick that he became a messenger +boy for the other gods." + +"Oh, I like those old myths. Tell me about Mercury. I am going to +name my dove after him, for it takes messages for me. Tell me a long +one, please." + +"Well, my dear, Mercury is also the name of the planet that will soon be +our evening star. And, Ethel, if I tell you this story now, you must +tell it to me sometime when we watch his beautiful namesake in the sky. +Will you try to remember it?" + +"Oh, yes, indeed, I'll remember. I love the stories about the stars. It +makes them seem so real. I know Venus and Jupiter, and Mars with his red +eye, and now I am going to have another friend among them. Oh, I am glad +I asked about that quicksilver," and Ethel settled down on a footstool +at her mother's feet. + +This is the story Mrs. Brown told Ethel: + +"In the days when the earth was young, a little baby lay alone in its +cradle in a beautiful cave in a mountain side. This baby was Mercury. +His mother had left him because someone had called her away for a +moment, but for some reason she stayed an hour. + +"As soon as she had gone, this wee baby turned over, lifted his head, +and, seeing the door of the cave ajar, put out his hand. Touching the +sides of the cradle, he sprang out like a boy ten years old. Slipping +through the doorway, Mercury ran quickly down to the river bank near his +home. A river tortoise was in his way. His tiny toes tripped over it and +he fell. Vexed to be stopped by such a slow, clumsy creature, Mercury +dashed it on a rock and killed it. Then he threw it into the river and +watched the fish feed on its flesh. It seemed but a minute before the +empty shell drifted to his feet. Mercury picked it up and felt sorry for +what he had done. + +"'I will make this shell live forever,' he said. 'I do not mean to be +cruel to earth's creatures.' + +"Quick as a thought he bored nine holes in each side, and taking the +lacings from his tiny sandals, he split them and strung them into the +holes in the shell. + +"Drawing his little hand across the strings, there came the sweetest +sounds, and the first harp on earth was made. He was so pleased that he +hid it under his white dress until he came to some thick reeds by the +river, and there he laid it safely away. + +"Running swiftly homeward, he came softly through the narrow opening, +back into his own room, and, creeping into his cradle, he cuddled down +and went to sleep." + +"Why, mother, he was so little! Only a baby; how could he?" + +"The old myth says he was only three days old when he did this, but +remember, this is like a fairy story, and Mercury was the son of the +great Jupiter. But let me tell the rest. When his mother came back, +she was frightened to think he had been alone an hour, but he was +sleeping so sweetly when she looked at him that she felt he had not +been harmed. The mother never dreamed when she saw the open sandals +that he had been away." + +"But the harp, mother; didn't she ever find that?" + +"No, you know the little rogue had hidden the harp in the reeds by the +river. Another day he ran away and got into worse trouble than he +expected, for he dared to steal some of Apollo's cattle. They were +beautiful snow-white creatures, feeding in the violet meadows of the +sky. As he saw them drifting slowly toward him, the mischief in him made +him drive these gentle creatures into the sea, and, being tired and +hungry, he tore the last one to pieces and fed on it. + +"Though this mischief-maker walked backward to his home, trying to +deceive any who would hunt for him, Apollo found him out. When the +sun-god saw him lying there, a helpless baby in a cradle, Mercury almost +made him think that he had not done the wrong. But at last even +Mercury's mother believed him guilty, for the proofs brought were many, +and Apollo came to take him away. Then the little wind-god took from +under his cradle-clothes the harp which he had hidden there, and +breathed upon it. Apollo was charmed by the melody and could only say: + +"'Give me that, and I will not ask for my stolen cattle.' + +[Illustration: MERCURY. From a statue in Florence, Italy.] + +"That was just what Mercury wished. He quickly handed him the tortoise +shell. In Apollo's hands it made still sweeter music, for everything +Apollo did was best. + +"So nimble Mercury was free. When the child was a few months older, +Apollo chose him for his messenger. He gave him a cap with wings at +either side, and winged sandals. In his hands he always carried a winged +wand with two serpents crossed and recrossed upon it. You have surely +seen his picture, Ethel?" + +"Oh, yes. Down at the art store there is a little statue of him. I can +remember, this story always." + + + + +THE VOICES OF NATURE + +_Finnish_ + + +Vanemuine, the god of song, dwelt on the Hill of Taara. But he grew +tired of living in Finland and of his beautiful hill, so he sent word +for all things to come to him to receive the language they were to speak +before he went away to his palace in the sky. As they gathered around +him, he opened his lips and sang so sweetly, so softly, that the murmur +of his harp strings seemed almost harsh as compared with the music of +his rich voice. + +The wandering winds who listened afar off caught and remembered only the +loudest tones. The sacred stream that flows so softly around the Hill of +Taara chose for its language the rustling of the silken garments which +moved upon his shoulders as he played. + +The listening trees of the forest heard the rushing of his flowing +mantle as he descended from his throne on the crest of the hill; and +ever since, this has been the language of the tree-tops. If one will sit +on the mossy bank of a little brook near by a full-leaved forest, he may +even now fancy that Vanemuine is come again to earth. + +Some of the larger creatures took up the deeper tones of the heavy harp +strings, and their language is now full of these sounds. Others loved +the melody of the lighter strings, and this softer music is ever in +their voices. + +In his great joy Vanemuine sang songs never before heard on the earth, +and the listening nightingale caught their meaning, never to forget. +When you hear the nightingale pour out its song in the dusk of evening +hours, you hear an echo of the song the nightingale heard upon the +Hill of Taara. + +Vanemuine sang of love and of the beautiful springtime. The happy lark +heard and understood, and the sweetest tones of the song she sings over +and over with each returning morning. As she soars higher and higher +into the clear air, she sings her song, trying to tell the whole world +of the love and beauty of which she heard so long ago. + +While everything else was being made so happy, the poor fishes were +having a sad time. They could not leave the water to go to the Hill of +Taara, but they stretched their heads out of the brooks and rivers to +their very eyes, yet kept their ears under. So they saw Vanemuine, the +song-god, move his lips, but heard nothing, and they did as he did and +made no sound. To this day the poor, dumb fishes move their lips, but +speak no language. + +Only the men and women who stood close around the Hill of Taara +understood everything that was sung. That is why human voices more than +any others can thrill us and make us see the beautiful and true. + +Vanemuine sang of the glory of heaven and of the beauty of earth. He +sang of the flowing waters and of the rustling leaves. He sang of the +joys and the sorrows that come to all people, to children and parents, +to the rich and to the poor. If we listen to the songs sung to-day, with +open ears and expectant hearts, we may hear all that Vanemuine sang so +long ago upon the Hill of Taara. + +When Vanemuine's songs had been heard by all the world, he rose on the +wings of the winds and went far into cloudland to his golden palace in +the sky. There he still sings his wonderful songs for those who are +greater than mankind. + +To this very day the people of Finland think they can sometimes hear +Vanemuine's voice when the forest trees sigh in the wind, or the water +in the river softly laps against its rocky shore. Perhaps--who +knows?--we may hear him, too, if we listen well! + + + + +A BAG OF WINDS + +_Greek_ + + +"Oh, Grace, do see that man with all those little balloons! Don't they +look like a bunch of big cherries?" + +"Yes, they do, Carrie, but cherries are all of one color, and some of +his balloons are red and some are blue. Oh, here is one that has burst. +See, it is only a little rubber sack that was once full of air." + +"That makes me think, Carrie, of a story I read the other day about a +bag of winds. It was about the King of the Winds and his kindness. It +was this way: + +"Once a man named Ulysses was sailing over a great sea, and he came to +an island. He and his sailors were so tired and hungry that they +stopped for food and rest. The King of the Winds--his name was +Aeolus--was very kind to them, and they feasted for fifteen days; then +they had to go forward on their journey again. King Aeolus thought so +much of Ulysses that he told him that he would see that he had good +sailing weather all the way home, if Ulysses would promise to take +charge of what he would give him. + +[Illustration: ULYSSES. Making an offering of wine.] + +"King Aeolus went alone to the great cave in the mountains where he kept +the four strong winds and some of the weaker ones. He pounded on the +door with his heavy key to let them know he was there, and that they +must wait his call. Then he unlocked the door and let out the strong +East Wind, but caught the others in a great bag made of a whole ox-hide. +This he tied with a stout cord, and the East Wind took it on his +shoulders and carried it to the boat that was about to sail. + +"Then King Aeolus told Ulysses how to fasten it to the mast, and the East +Wind had great frolics with the queer bag in which were his brothers. + +"King Aeolus told Ulysses never to sleep unless his faithful watchman was +guarding this treasure. Ulysses thanked him and promised faithfully. +Such beautiful weather had never been known before for so long a time. +The East Wind had no one to quarrel with, and the boat flew like a bird +for nine long days. + +"The captain grew weary the tenth night and went to sleep while his +watchman was off duty. That was just the chance the sailors wanted. +Slyly up to the mast crept a strong sailor, thinking he would cut down +this treasure which he thought was gold. As soon as the string snapped, +he found out his mistake, and so did everyone in the boat. + +"The mighty North Wind felt the loosening strings and rising from the +corner of the ox-hide bag, into which he had been thrust, rushed past +his brothers and escaped first into the open air. The West Wind came +after, screaming hoarsely, while the South Wind, roused to anger by +such rough treatment, whistled fiercely as his brother, North Wind, +grappled with him. The clouds were twisted into curious shapes as the +winds wrestled above the sea. The strong East Wind strove to drive +back the West Wind, but found that nine days of rest had given his +brother great strength, and the waves rose like mountains under their +feet. For seven hours the winds fought, while the waters were black, +for not one star dared to watch the battle. The boat of Ulysses was +tossed like a seaweed, and the sailors longed for the sunlight that +they might see if the storm had taken anyone from the ship. When the +light came and the fury of the winds grew less, it was found that not +one sailor had been lost; not even the traitor who had cut down the +bag. His punishment was to live. + +"The boat drifted back to the land of King Aeolus, and Ulysses begged +for help. 'I cannot help you,' he said. 'You have done this by your +carelessness, and you must now toil at the oars, as before, while I seek +my lost winds.' + +"When the winds were tired with their roaming, they came back and were +willing to be led to their cave, but the stout ox-hide bag was lost, and +King Aeolus never made another." + + + + +ECHO, THE AIR MAIDEN + +_Greek_ + + +"Grace, you should not try to have the last word. It is a bad habit to +get into. Shut your lips and run into another room if you can't stop +yourself by any other means." + +"Why, auntie, what a funny way to cure me! But I don't see that I need +any such thing. Johnny was in the wrong and he knows it." + +"You see, you are having the last word now. Do you remember what you +heard out by the great rocks the day of the picnic?" + +"Oh, that echo! Wasn't it perfect! I said, 'come here,' and it +answered, 'here,' just as plainly as one of the girls, and we talked +with it ever so long." + +"Can you call it answering, Grace? Think what it really did." + +"Oh, I know now, but I don't like to tell, because--because it seems a +little as you say I do." + +"Yes, Grace, and I am going to tell you a story about the very first +echo. Please try to remember it and shut your lips and run away whenever +you feel like having the last word. Will you, dear?" + +"I'll remember the story, anyway," said Grace, as she cuddled down on a +footstool at the feet of her aunt. + +"This is a sad little story," said her Aunt Kate to her, "and I'm glad +it is only a story. + +"The first echo was a pretty girl who had only one fault--she would talk +too much. She not only talked too much and sometimes, I fear, too loud, +but when others tried to say a word, she would begin again and try to +outdo them. She loved to tease and to vex people. Still, she was so +beautiful that no one could bear to punish her. + +"One day Queen Juno came down to earth (you see, Grace, this is one of +the old myths) and saucy Echo dared to torment even her. Juno had left +her throne in the sky to search for someone Echo knew. + +"'Where is he, Echo?' Juno asked. + +"'Is he Echo? Oh, no, I am Echo. Did you want me?' the saucy girl +answered. + +"'How dare you do it?' Juno said. + +"'Dare you do it? Oh, yes, I dare do anything. Tell me what to do.' + +"'You have dared too much already, silly child, and for punishment you +shall lose the use of that tongue of yours, except for the one purpose +of answering back. You shall still have the last word, but never again +shall you speak first.' + +"Just then Iris, Juno's maid of honor, came with a shining car drawn by +two peacocks, and away they both went over the rainbow bridge back to +Juno's throne. + +"Echo in her sorrow ran and hid herself in a cavern. + +[Illustration: From the cover of a drinking cup. Echo is seen in the +branches. Pan is sitting on the rock.] + +"She wandered from cave to cave and rock to rock, always answering back +when those who tried to find her called, but never able to tell where +she was. She grew thinner and thinner, till at last nothing was left of +her but her voice. + +"That she will always keep, and try as hard as you may, you can never +have the last word with Echo." + + + + +IRIS, THE RAINBOW PRINCESS + +_Greek_ + + +Queen Juno was the wife of Jupiter, the great king. She lived with her +husband in one of the cloud palaces of the sky, lighted by the moon and +stars at night and the sun by day. + +Juno had many followers who were ready to do her bidding, but she loved +best of all her beautiful maid of honor, the princess Iris. No one dared +to use the rainbow but Iris, to whom it had been given by Jupiter. +Whenever Iris was in haste to obey Queen Juno's orders, down from the +palace she would sail in a chariot drawn by two peacocks, and if she +wished she might ride all the way over the rainbow. + +[Illustration: IRIS. From an ancient fresco.] + +Think of the beautiful Iris, wrapped in a fleecy cloud, gliding over +this wonderful path in the heavens! Wouldn't it have been a lovely +sight to see? + +Once Juno sent her all the way to Dreamland to bring to Halcyone, +the daughter of Aeolus, a dream of her husband, who was far away on +the ocean. + +Iris loved to help poor mortals, and tears filled her eyes when she +heard how this lonely woman longed to see the one she loved so well. + +The clouds caught the tears from the eyes of Iris, and quickly made +ready for her the glorious rainbow bridge, reaching from Dreamland to +the wonderful Garden of the Gods. + +She wrapped herself in a cloud chosen from the sunset and, stepping into +her chariot, gave the signal to her birds and drove swiftly down, down +to the dim country of the King of Sleep. + +Before she could reach the entrance to his palace, she had to drive +through field after field of poppies, red as the sunset she had just +left in the sky, for poppies give sleep to the people of Dreamland. + +Somnus, the King of Sleep, lived in a deep, still cave, so dark that he +had never seen the rainbow or the sun. There was no gate; soft black +plumes and curtains served as doors. Here in the heart of Dreamland Iris +saw all about her strange, beautiful dreams. + +There were dreams for children of toys and candies and plays; dreams for +men and women of all that they had ever wished for; dreams, dreams, +everywhere. But Iris did not like darkness any better than you and I do, +and she quickly gave an order for the King of Sleep to send the best +dream possible to the anxious Halcyone. Then back she drove over the +rainbow bridge, up, up to the bright palace in the clouds. + +[Illustration: THE HEAD OF IRIS. From a frieze on the Parthenon.] + +As soon as she had left the rainbow's track it faded away, but, even +before it was out of sight, a dream of her husband had come to Halcyone, +and Iris was happy. + +Iris loved the water best of all things on earth. She always wore a +chain of raindrops for pearls, and a cloud for a robe. She had an army +of soldiers by each river bank. Men called the soldiers plants, but +their swords were always drawn for Iris, and their stately heads were +adorned with her favorite colors. + +When you see a group of plants clustered at the water's edge, with their +sword-like leaves pointing to the sky, and their great blue flowers +looking like a crown, remember that is the flower Iris loved. + + + + +THE THUNDER-GOD AND HIS BROTHER + +_Norse_ + + +Tiu, Ziu, or Tyr, were three names for one of Woden's sons. Tiu was +the brother of Thor, and his mother, Frigga, was always proud of his +courage in war and of his skill and strength in battle. The soldiers +of the Northland cried to him for help as often as they did to his +father, Woden. + +Tiu's sign was a sword, and the brave old kings of Norway and their +followers used to engrave his name upon their bright steel blades that +they might please the great warrior who lived in Asgard. It was +thought that if Tiu saw his name written in the strange Runic letters +he would give his help to the man who honored that name and keep his +good sword sharp. + +Thor and Tiu went, in the olden time, to the house of a giant to secure +a large kettle which was in the giant's house. + +Thor's goats drew with magic swiftness the chariot in which the two +rode, and Thor and Tiu arrived at the house in a few moments. + +The giant's wife hid the two huge visitors under one of the many +caldrons she had in her kitchen. When her husband came he broke all the +kettles but one by just glancing at them. He welcomed his visitors in a +very grim way and ordered them to be seated at the table with him. Thor +ate so much that the giant grew angry, but Thor told him he would repay +all by bringing him fish from the sea the next day. + +Thor caught two whales and carried them to the giant's house, as he had +promised. The giant laughingly said that he would give him one of the +kettles if he could carry it. Tin tried twice and failed, but Thor, +putting on his magic belt, lifted the kettle and set it on his head +like a cap. + +Then the goats took the two sons of Woden back to their home in Asgard. + +If anyone should tell you that the giant was winter, and his kettles the +strangely shaped icebergs of the arctic North, would you believe it? +Thor was the god of thunder riding in the clouds with his brother, the +god of bravery and of the strong winds. + +Tiu's name has been given to the day before Woden's day, and when +Tuesday comes, try to be as true, brave, and swift as Tiu, the +son of Woden. + + + + +NEPTUNE, KING OF THE SEAS + +_Greek_ + + +"Mother, when papa came back from South America, he told us a queer +story about the sailors dressing up in masks. What holiday was it? And +what did they do it for?" + +"That must have been, Charlie, when the ship crossed the line, or the +equator, as you call it in the geography class. I remember his telling +about King Neptune and his trident." + +[Illustration: NEPTUNE] + +"What did the sailors do, mother?" + +"Why, one dressed to represent Neptune, a famous ocean god, and the rest +masked as his followers. They were given presents by the passengers on +the ship, and it was a grand holiday." + +"But who is King Neptune, and where does this ocean god live, mother?" + +"People used to believe that Neptune was really king of all the waters +on the earth, Charlie. Doesn't that seem strange? I'll tell you a story +that I heard about Neptune and some of the other gods whom the Greeks +used to worship. Perhaps you will find more stories about him sometime." + +"Wait a minute, mother, till I get that easy chair for you. Now we are +ready to begin." + +"Once on a time, Juno, the wife of Jupiter, while watching from the sky, +saw some ships on the sea beneath her. + +"After looking closely, she found they were the seven ships of Aeneas, +who was trying to reach the land of Italy and was now only a few miles +from its shore. + +"Juno, for reasons of her own, did not want Aeneas to reach the land. +Knowing something must be done in the shortest possible time she went to +King Aeolus and asked his help. She promised him all manner of beautiful +gifts if he would only send his winds against the ships of Aeneas. + +"King Aeolus knew he was doing wrong, but he would not refuse Juno. He +went to the mountain cave where he kept the storm winds, and, taking his +heavy war spear, burst open the massive door of the cavern and let all +the mad crew out at once. + +"The storm they made was terrible. Great waves like mountains came +sweeping over the land, carrying trees and everything away. + +"The ships of Aeneas were only playthings in such a hurricane, and the +winds seemed to know for what they had been let loose. + +"The great cables that fastened heavy anchors to the ships were snapped +like stalks of corn. The winds roared like wild animals. The sky was as +black as night, and great waterspouts went whirling by like huge tops +set spinning by the blasts. + +"One fierce wind blew against the ship of Aeneas and overturned it. + +"A whirlwind caught three other ships and tossed them lightly on the +great rocks, on the shore. Another whirlwind sent three more ships into +the terrible quicksands and they were swallowed up. + +"Aeneas, swimming in the water, saw around him his trusty sailors +clinging, like himself, to broken planks and pieces of timber. All about +them floated concave shields, outspread mantles, and overturned helmets. +Treasures, too, in the shape of precious home gifts, and robes covered +with jewels, drifted past them. + +"But the only thing anyone wanted then was life, and it seemed as if the +winds and waters were ready and able to destroy every man of them. + +"Aeneas called to Neptune, king of the seas, and Neptune heard him and +came riding up out of the bottom of the ocean. + +"He held his golden-maned horses firmly in check, while his voice roared +over the waters, asking: + +"'What is this, you winds, that you dare to trouble earth and sky +without leave from me? Who let you free from your rock prison?' + +"The waves were afraid and quieted down. The clouds scattered like +naughty children caught in mischief. The winds flew home and, hurrying +back into their cave, blew the door tight-shut with a bang. Then +everybody waited to see what King Neptune would do. + +"He ordered some of his ocean train to pry the three ships off the +rocks, but they could not, and he had to help them with his trident, or +three-pointed spear. Then King Neptune opened the quicksands and the +other three ships sailed out on the water again. + +"Neptune knew Aeneas was a brave man and always quick to answer a call +for help, so the boat of Aeneas had been taken care of first, and he and +his men were put back safely into it. + +[Illustration: A GREEK COIN. Made about 510 B.C. representing Neptune, +or Poseidon, as the Greeks called him] + +"King Neptune, seeing everything was quiet again, showed Aeneas a +beautiful harbor where he and his sailors could rest. The brazen-hoofed +steeds that drew Neptune's chariot were tossing their heads and growing +restive. So Neptune called his followers, and in a flash they all +disappeared into the depths of the sea. + +"Jupiter, ruler of the sky, praised Neptune for his skill in checking +the furious winds and maddened waves, and Pluto, ruler of the center of +the earth, said he was proud to call him brother." + +"Well, that must have made King Aeolus ashamed of himself. Don't you +think so, mother?" + + + + +WHY RIVERS HAVE GOLDEN SANDS + +_Greek_ + + +Once a poor peasant named Gordius thought he would give himself and his +family a holiday in the city. He had no horses, but his yoke of oxen +could draw the heavy wagon very well. He fastened them to his cart and, +putting in his wife and boy, climbed in himself. + +When near the city, the capital of Phrygia, he thought it would look +better for him to walk and drive his oxen. This he did. As he approached +the city he heard a great noise in the marketplace. He hurried his oxen +to find out what it was all about. He had to jump into his wagon to +avoid the crowd that was following him, and so drove to a great oak in +the public square. + +Such a welcome as this poor countryman had! + +"Here comes our king!" was the cry from everyone. "We were told he +should come this day in a wagon drawn by oxen, and here he is!" + +Gordius could not believe what he heard. But the chief men brought the +crown and put it on his head and declared him king, and he agreed to do +his best to deserve the honor. + +The oak near which he had stopped was in front of a temple. Gordius gave +away his oxen and, taking a heavy rope, tied his wagon with a tremendous +knot to the oak. The priest came out and declared that whoever in times +to come should be able to untie that knot would be king of all Asia. No +one ever did untie it. But Alexander the Great came to Phrygia many +years after and, failing to untie it, he took his sword and dealt the +rope such a blow that one stroke cut through the magic knot. + +A short time after he left Phrygia all Asia owned Alexander the Great as +king, and maybe that was the way the knot was to be undone. Anyway, he +did not give it up, and that is a good thing for us to remember. Cut the +Gordian knots if they will not be untied. + +The little boy who rode in the wagon with Gordius was Midas. After his +father Gordius died, Midas was chosen King of Phrygia. He was kind and +just to the people, as Gordius must have been, or they would not have +chosen his son Midas to be their king. + +[Illustration: Silenus Holding Bacchus. From a statue in Rome] + +One day while Midas was king some peasants found an old man wandering +about in the woods. The forest was strange to him and he had lost his +way. Midas knew him as soon as the peasants had brought him to the +king's palace. It was Silenus, a teacher whose fame had gone through all +the world. Midas treated Silenus with the greatest respect. For ten days +there was feasting and games in the palace in honor of Silenus. On the +eleventh day Midas took him back to the house of his greatest pupil. +This pupil was more than mortal, so the story goes. His name was +Bacchus. Midas told him all about the finding of Silenus, and Silenus +told all about the pleasant time he had at the king's palace. Then the +wonderful Bacchus told Midas he might have anything he should wish for +as a reward. + +Now Gordius, his father, had always wished for more money, though he had +been made king and there was more gold for him and his good queen to +spend than you would think he could manage. Midas, too, had wished for +money. Yet all his life, since that lucky wagon ride, Midas had seen +riches and jewels enough to make him grow tired of such things. But, no; +when Bacchus asked him what he would have, Midas said, "Let everything I +touch turn into gold." + +If you had been there and could have had your choice, what would you +have wished for? Can you tell? Never wish for anything quite so foolish +as King Midas did, for see what trouble it made him. + +After making the wish, King Midas leaped into his chariot to return +home. As soon as his feet touched the chariot floor, it turned into +solid gold. The reins in his hands became gold. He returned to his +palace and the people thought it must be Apollo come to earth, +everything was so glorious. His wife met him in the palace halls. One +touch and she was turned into a golden statue. No help, no rescue! Midas +went out into his garden and reached for the fruit that hung on the +trees. Nothing but gold after he had touched it. Gold, gold, gold! How +he hated the sight of it! His food and drink were gold. His friends, his +home, even his pillow was cold hard gold. + +In a few hours he raised his arms, glittering with cloth of gold, +in prayer, beseeching Bacchus to take his gift away. Bacchus was +kind and said: + +"Go to the river Pactolus, find its fountain head, plunge in, and when +your body is covered your fault will be washed away." + +Poor King Midas did just as he was told. When he touched the water the +strange power went into the river. The river sands changed into gold, +and to this day grains of gold are found by the river Pactolus. + +After that, Midas lived in the country and dressed as plainly as the +poorest peasant. He was so thankful to be free from his terrible gift +that he never wanted anyone to remind him of the time when everything +he touched turned to gold. But even in the country, the yellow plums, +pears, and apples reminded Midas of the fruit he had touched in his +own garden. + +In autumn, when golden leaves are falling everywhere and the grain is +waving in the field, one may fancy King Midas is in our own land. + + + + +OLD GRASSHOPPER GRAY + +_Greek_ + + + "O, grasshopper, grasshopper gray, + Give me molasses and then hop away." + + +That is what Bessie Allen said to the little creature she held between +her thumb and fingers. Did you ever say that rhyme? I should not wonder +if you had said it an hundred times. + +The grasshopper in Bessie's fingers seemed very ready to give her brown +molasses from his little mouth and then she let him hop away while she +went to catch another. She did not want that molasses; all she wanted +was the fun of catching the little "hoppity-hops," as she sometimes +called them. + +"Come, catch me! I'm a hopper," called her five-year-old brother Willie. +And she saw the little fellow hopping through the grass. + +Bessie had so much fun trying to catch this new "grasshopper gray," that +she forgot all about the little creatures she had been pinching. + +At last she had her arms around her brother Willie. + +"Now you are caught," she said. "Give me some molasses." + +And then they both laughed so hard that their mother heard as she came +to the door to look for them. + +That night their mother said to their father: + +"I have a new name for Willie." + +"What is it?" asked their father. + +"Tithonus," said their mother. + +[Illustration: AURORA, THE GODDESS OF THE DAWN. From a painting on an +old vase.] + +"When I was in school one of my lessons was about the beautiful goddess +Aurora. She was said to open the rosy gates of dawn with her own +fingers, so that the wonderful horses of Apollo might pass through to +follow their shining track through the sky. She was so beautiful that +Tithonus, who lived on the earth, always watched for the sunrise, that +he might see Aurora. After a while she began to watch for him, too. She +looked down every morning on the wakening world and found that he was +almost the only one among mortals who enjoyed the glorious colors Apollo +painted in the sky with his arrows of light. One morning she dared to +sing to him, and then he answered that it was Aurora, and not Apollo, +for whom he was watching each morning at sunrise. She loved him for this +and became his wife. + +"Being a goddess, she could live for ever, and she wanted Tithonus to +live forever, too. The gods and goddesses never drink wine or water, but +ambrosia from golden goblets. She brought a golden goblet of ambrosia to +Tithonus on the earth, and, after he had taken a drink, told him the +happy news that now he should live forever. But she had forgotten to ask +of the gods for him the gift of eternal youth. + +"For many years they loved each other dearly. Then Aurora saw that +Tithonus was growing into a little old man. + +"When he was one hundred years old he was shrunken to the size of a +boy of ten. + +"When he was two hundred years old he was no larger than a baby, only he +was very lively, and could run as fast as a man. + +"When he was three hundred years old Aurora could scarcely find him, +save as his song told her where he was. With his head bent down to the +ground he did not look like a man, and he made his home by the dusty +roadside. But every sunrise he sat upon the tallest spear of grass he +could find and chirped to Aurora as she opened the gates of dawn for +Apollo. After years and years Aurora forgot all about the little gray +grasshopper, but I don't think Tithonus has forgotten her, for he and +all his grasshopper friends chirp the same song as when he first came to +live among them." + +"Poor old Tithonus!" said Bessie. + +"Why, no," said her father; "mother said he could never die. Maybe it +was Tithonus who gave you molasses to-day. Yes, perhaps that was +ambrosia instead of molasses that the gray grasshopper dropped from +his lips." + +"Oh, don't tell any more!" laughed both Willie and Bessie. "We won't +catch another grasshopper." + + + + +WHERE THE FROGS CAME FROM + +_Roman_ + + +You see the sun every bright day, don't you? + +And you see the moon every moonshiny night. + +Now, listen, and I'll tell you a story about their mother. No, not about +their mother, but about the mother of the god of the sun, and of the +goddess of the moon, whose names were Apollo and Diana. + +It is about Apollo's and Diana's mother this story is to be. + +Once when they were little twin babies their mother was in great +trouble. She had to wander around and around, and get food and drink +wherever she could find them. + +One day she went to a pond for water, for the people in the houses were +cross and would not give her any. + +And just think of it! These people, careless about soiling their green +coats and white vests, ran down to the pond ahead of her, jumped in and +stirred the water so that it was black with mud. + +And they called out, "Come and drink, Latona! Come and drink water, pure +and sweet, Latona!" + +[Illustration: LATONA. Fleeing with her children] + +This the cruel people did until Latona and her babies were so tired and +thirsty they could wait no longer. + +"Why do you abuse us?" she said; "you have plenty of water in +your wells. Can you not see how these poor babies reach out their +hands to you?" + +But the rude people were jealous of the beautiful woman and her lovely +twins, and only stirred the water till it was blacker, and cried the +more, until they were fairly hoarse: + +"Come and drink! Come and drink!" + +Latona put her two babies down on the warm grass. Then she looked +straight into the blue sky, and raising her hands said: + +"May you never quit that pond in all your lives, neither you nor your +children!" + +The story is that Jupiter heard her, and that these cruel people never +came out of the water again. They grew very small; their green coats and +white vests turned into skin, and their children wear to-day the same +kind of suits their parents wore that day they waded into the pool. +Though they have the whole pond to themselves, they croak away until +their mouths have grown wide and ugly, as mockingly as did their +forefathers at Latona. + +"Come and drink!" But who wants to drink out of a frog pond? + +Little heathen boys, who believed this story, used to pelt frogs with +stones, and there are some boys now who act just like those foolish +little heathen. + + + + +THE BIRDS WITH ARROW FEATHERS + +_Greek_ + + +There is an old story that tells how a man named Jason went on a long +journey in search of a golden fleece. + +He fitted up a great boat, and the bravest and strongest men of his +country offered to go with him. + +[Illustration: JASON. Putting on his sandals. From a Greek statue.] + +They had no ships like ours, in those days, and when the sails were not +filled with wind, every man took an oar, and, with twenty oars or more +on each side, the boat was made to move through the waves very swiftly. + +The heroes in Jason's boat had all won fame before they started out on +this voyage, and many were already warm friends. There was the great +Hercules, and Orpheus, the sweet singer; Castor, who could tame the +wildest horses, and his twin brother Pollux, who was the greatest boxer +the world has ever seen, or perhaps ever will see. + +[Illustration: CASTOR, THE HORSE-TAMER; POLLUX, THE MASTER OF THE ART +OF BOXING. From a Greek coin.] + +These and many others sat side by side in this boat, which Jason called +the Argo. Many strange things happened to them on their voyage after the +golden fleece. One was when they were attacked by birds. They saw many +new countries also, and one day the Argo sailed by a very strange island +where nearly all the people lived underground. These people never plowed +their land with the strong oxen, nor planted seed, nor reaped harvests. +They had no flocks of woolly sheep, nor herds of cattle. + +All day long they worked away under the surface of the earth, digging +and digging at great black stones they found there. Then they sold these +stones or rocks to people in other countries, and so bought bread for +themselves. + +These people, with their black faces and grimy hands, left their work +for a little while when someone told them of the beautiful boat that was +in sight. They looked very strange to those in the ship, for no one in +the land from which the Argo came worked under the ground. In that happy +realm everyone lived in the sunshine and worked in the open fields. But +after a while the Argo sailed away from this home of the underground +people and on beyond. Suddenly the sky was darkened and great flocks of +giant birds flew thick and fast above them. Then the wind changed and +the frightened rowers had to take the oars. + +The sky grew black as night. Down shot a feather from one of the birds. +It struck one of the rowers on the left shoulder and he dropped his oar, +for the pain was like a spear-thrust. Down sped another arrow feather, +so pointed and sharp that another rower who was hit had to drop his oar. +Thicker and faster came these arrow feathers upon the bare heads and +naked shoulders of the men at the oars. + +The best archers shot back at the birds with their sharpest-pointed +arrows, but not a bird was harmed. + +"What shall we do?" shouted the men still at the oars. + +"You will never kill those birds," said one who had seen their +feather arrows before. "All that you can do is to cover your heads +and let us, who are too badly hurt for rowing, help cover your +shoulders with our shields." + +Then those at the oars put on their shining helmets; those who did not +row held up the great war shields over them. The boat looked as if it +had a roof. Down on the helmets came the feathers, so sharp that many of +them made holes in the shining metal. Down on the shields they pelted, +till it seemed as if the sky was raining drops of lead. The birds +themselves came no nearer. But oh, their feather arrows were enough to +frighten even these bravest of men. + +The rowers worked as hard and as steadily as they could, and after a +while they were out of reach of the terrible feathers. + +The strange part of it all was that they never could find one of those +sharp-pointed arrows with which the birds had shot them. + +When the sun came out they were in a safe harbor. They looked and +looked, but not a feather was to be found. One man declared that he knew +the feathers were white. + +"But the birds were black," said all the rest. "How could the arrows be +white when even the sun was darkened by the black-winged creatures?" + +How the dispute was settled I do not know, for the sharp-pointed +feathers had melted all away, like hailstones from dark storm-clouds. It +is certain, however, that the men never found any of the arrows with +which they had been shot. + + + + +WHY THE PARTRIDGE STAYS NEAR THE GROUND + +_Greek_ + + +Daedalus was a skillful workman in many ways. One of the first things he +did to make himself famous was to build a maze. It had so many winding +walks and crooked paths that anyone who walked in ten steps without a +guide never could get out unaided. + +He built this maze for his king, but before many years he offended the +king in some way and was locked up in a high tower. In the roof of the +tower were hundreds of doves, and as they flew back and forth, +Daedalus said: + +"My king rules the land and the sea, but not the air. I will try that +way of escape." + +So he set to work to make wings for himself. He shaped two great frames +and covered them with feathers. The largest plumes he sewed on with +thread, and the smaller ones he fastened with wax. + +Icarus, his son, stood and looked on, catching any of the feathers the +wind tried to blow away. He troubled his father much, however, by taking +the wax and making little balls, which he tossed about the room. + +The keeper of the tower thought the wise man very silly to spend his +time making blankets of feathers, Daedalus never let the keeper of the +tower see how he curved and pointed the corners of his frames. The +keeper told how foolish the wise man had grown from being shut up so +long; how he spent his time gathering feathers to make great blankets. +The people pitied him, not knowing that this very punishment was giving +Daedalus another chance to make himself famous. + +One dark night Daedalus fastened the broad wings to his shoulders, and +jumping from the window found he could sail like a dove, but he could +not carry his boy. Back he flew and, folding his wings, slipped into the +window. Now he must make a pair for Icarus. + +[Illustration: DAEDALUS AND ICARUS MAKING THEIR WINGS. From a bas-relief +in Rome.] + +Soon this second pair was done, but the little fellow had to be taught +like a young bird how to use them. Many a time if Daedalus had not +caught him on his own great wings, Icarus would have gone tumbling heels +over head, down, down to the foot of the tower. + +Finally, Icarus, too, could sail like a pigeon, and if the night had not +been so dark it would have been great fun to see these two new birds fly +out of that tower window. + +Keeping their wings so close to each other that they almost touched, +they flew away over houses and fields. Before the sun came out, Daedalus +told his boy to be careful to keep near him. "Don't fly too near the +sun, for the heat will melt the wax, nor too low, for the damp will wet +the feathers. Keep close to me." + +When the morning dawned they saw the men plowing in the fields stop work +to look at them. Shepherds left their flocks and ran miles to see where +those strange birds were going. No one could tell who they were. It was +grand to be so free and to fly so swiftly. + +An eagle saw them and flew near. They felt the breeze from his powerful +wings, and swifter went their own. The eagle, frightened, turned and +mounted toward the sun. Icarus forgot his father's warning and followed. +Daedalus flew on and on, thinking his boy was beside him. Up, up went +Icarus swifter than the eagle and swept proudly past him toward the sun. +The next instant he felt his wings loosen and droop. + +Just then, Daedalus, who was miles away, turned his head, for he heard +the boy call him. + +"Icarus, Icarus, where are you?" his father shouted. There was no +answer, but the mass of feathers in the blue sea below told the story. +Flying down, Daedalus searched till he found the body, and, tenderly +laying it in the earth he wept that he had ever thought of wings. + +The land where this happened was wild, and only savage beasts lived in +it, so Daedalus flew away to Sicily. There he built a temple and on its +walls hung up his wings forever. + +He became so proud of his own success that he believed no one else +could invent anything. He was willing, though, to teach others all he +knew, and sister, living near, sent her son, Perdix, to him to learn +what he could. + +This boy was quick to see, to hear, and to learn, and he could invent +things himself. + +One day when Daedalus was slowly cutting through a log with an ax, the +boy showed him how much quicker he could do it with a saw he had made. +No one had ever heard of a saw before, and Daedalus was angry. + +"Who told you how to make this?" he asked. + +"I brought home yesterday the backbone of a great fish cast up by the +sea, and I made this like it, but of iron; that is all," said Perdix. + +Another time Daedalus was trying to draw a perfect circle. Thirteen +times he tried and failed. + +"Take my irons, if you will not be angry with me," said Perdix, and he +handed him a pair of compasses. + +Here again was something no man had ever seen. But Daedalus, instead of +being proud of his nephew, was angrier than before. + +"You will be claiming that you are greater than Daedalus, who first +sailed through the air, ungrateful boy," said his uncle. + +"I have only tried to help you," answered Perdix. + +Not long after this, when the two were in a tall building, Daedalus gave +Perdix a push that sent him headlong toward the ground. The goddess +Minerva, who loves learning, saw him falling and changed him into a +partridge before he touched the earth. Unlike Daedalus, he has always +kept his wings. + +Perdix, the partridge, builds his nest low on the ground and stays in +low branches. Perhaps he is afraid he may not be saved from another fall +if he goes again into high places. + + + + +JUNO'S BIRD, THE PEACOCK + +_Roman_ + + +"Oh, isn't it a pity the peacock doesn't know that he can't sing? Why +doesn't he stop that fearful screeching?" + +Little Katie put her hands over her ears to keep out the sound. + +[Illustration: JUNO AND HER PEACOCK. From an ancient fresco] + +"You know the peacock was once an animal that hasn't a very sweet +voice," said Jack. + +"No, I don't know, but Charlie Green's pet donkey makes a better noise +than this bird. There, I am glad he has stopped." + +"Shall I tell you a story?" asked Jack. + +"Once upon a time a donkey felt that he was much abused just because his +coat was rough and his face and shape were so homely; so he begged of +Jupiter to make him into something beautiful. In a short time he was +changed into a peacock and, looking down upon his fine feathers, began +to sing. But, oh, the trouble he was in then! He had forgotten to have +his voice changed, too, and it was the same old donkey voice that he had +always had." + +"That's a funny story, Jack. It seems to me that mother told us that a +long time ago." + +"Then I know another story of how the eyes came into the peacock's +feathers." + +"You are a queer boy, Jack. Those eyes were always there." + +"Oh, no, they were not, Kate. You watch the young peacock chickens, +and I'll prove my story, or part of it, anyway. Don't you remember +that at first they are a dull brown, and then, when they are about a +year old, they begin to show a little green? They are three years old +before the eyes begin to show in the feathers. You are a queer girl to +forget that." + +"Well, tell your story, and I will see if it is a good one." So +Jack began: + +"Argus was a watchman. His great eyes were like green balls, but with +fifty little eyes in each. Yes, he had a hundred eyes, and never more +than two went to sleep at once. He could see even better in the night +than in the daytime, so he was a fine watchman. + +"Once Argus was told to watch a certain prisoner who could not be shut +in a room, but had to be left in a field. Not once was he to lose sight +of this prisoner. If he did, every one of his hundred eyes would be +taken from him. + +"Day and night Argus watched, never sleeping except with two eyes at a +time. He was as faithful as fifty soldiers. + +"But he loved music, and the friends of the prisoner knew it. So they +sent some one to him who could play upon the harp and sing, thinking +that perhaps Argus might be charmed to sleep. + +"This player's name was Mercury, and he was so quick that some thought +he wore wings on his feet. If he did wear them, he could take them off +when he liked, for he was just a plain shepherd in a sheepskin coat and +sheepskin sandals when Argus saw him. + +"If he had come with a spear, or with bow and arrow, Argus would have +been ready to keep him out, but Mercury was too bright for that. + +"No, he was just a plain shepherd, and he sat down in a field near the +one Argus was in, to watch his sheep. While he sat there, he played such +sweet music that Argus said, 'Bring your sheep into my field and we will +watch together.' + +"That was just what Mercury had planned. So he was not very long in +getting his sheep into the field with Argus. There the two lay in the +shade of the trees and told stories, and Mercury played and watched the +green eyes of Argus, while Argus watched the prisoner. + +"One night Mercury played so softly, so sweetly, that for one minute +every one of the hundred green eyes of Argus closed, the watchman +nodded, and in that minute Mercury struck him on the neck and cut off +his head. Then the prisoner was free. Juno took the green eyes of Argus +and put them on her pet bird, the peacock." + +"Oh, Jack, I don't believe a word of it." + +"I don't, either," said Jack, "but these stories are both more than two +thousand years old, and I shouldn't wonder if some one did believe them +a long time ago." + + + + +THE GIFT OF THE OLIVE TREE + +_Greek_ + + +"Has everything a name, father?" asked a wide-awake boy one day. + +"Everything I know of has a name," answered the father. + +"What is the name of this stone, then?" + +"The name of the stone you have just picked up happens to be granite." + +"I believe you made that up, father, just because I asked you so +quickly. Really is it granite? Has a rock a name?" + +"Why, certainly, my boy. It seems strange that a boy of ten does not +know granite when he sees it." + +"But you lived in the country, father, when you were a boy, and I +have been here hardly a month. Oh, here is another kind of stone; +what is this?" + +The father cracked the bit of rock so as to get a fresh surface and +then answered: + +"Common white quartz, Harold. You are giving me easy specimens, which is +lucky for both of us." + +"Why, father, where did you learn all their names?" + +"I don't know all their names. I know only the most common ones. To find +the names of some kinds of rock or stone I should need quite an outfit, +such as you may have seen in the high-school laboratory." + +"Do all the flowers have names, too, father?" + +"Harold, if you could find a flower that has not been named you would +become quite famous. The flower probably would be named after you. Think +of that! There is something to work for; and you were wishing only last +night that you could be a famous man." + +"Where did all the flowers get their names? Did the teachers name them?" + +"Oh, I suspect the teachers named some, and many people helped them. I +don't believe I ever stopped to think that it is curious that everything +on the earth and in the sea and in the sky is named. You are a very +thoughtful boy, Harold. Ask all the questions you please." + +This praise from his quiet father made Harold happier than anything in +the world. He was silent a moment, but then asked: + +"Have the stars names, too, father? I mean all of them. I know those +large ones have, for you told me." + +"Yes, Harold, every star has a name of some kind. Some of them have only +a letter or a number. But that answers for a name, you know." + +"And all the animals, and all the birds, and all the beetles, and all +the--everything! I'll have to go to school just all my life!" + +And then Mr. Hadley laughed aloud. + +"To-day, father, in the geography class, I learned about many cities, +and there are more in the large geography. Do you know how any of the +cities got their names?" + +"What country were you studying about to-day, Harold?" + +"It was about Greece, and some of the cities had such long hard names +that I can't remember them. Oh, yes, now I remember Athens. Why, father, +you were there once, for I have heard you tell about Greece; and one of +the pictures in the parlor is named 'In Athens.' Do tell me something +about the place, for I can't make it seem like a real city like New York +or Chicago." + +"Do you like olives, Harold?" + +"Yes, indeed, I do, and you like olive oil. Oh, of course, olives grow +in Greece. I couldn't think what made you ask such a queer question. Now +tell me about Greece, won't you, please? Is it a beautiful country?" + +"Yes, and I'll tell you a tale of the sea, of olives, and of Athens, all +in one. You remember that beautiful head of Minerva, which is near my +book-shelf, do you not? Minerva has another name. She is often called +Athena. She was known to the ancient people of Greece as the goddess of +wisdom and learning. Can you remember the name of the king of the sea?" + +[Illustration: ATHENA. From a Greek statue.] + +"Neptune, father. You have his picture, too, haven't you?" + +"Yes, Harold, but now you must learn the name by which the Greeks called +him. It was Poseidon. The story goes that Athena and Poseidon were each +very anxious to name a certain city in Greece. + +"Jupiter said that he would let the one who brought the greatest gift to +the people have the honor of naming the place. And then such strife +began as you can hardly imagine. Poseidon put his wits at work and +called together all his friends for counsel. At last his gift was ready +for the day on which they were to appear before Jupiter. + +"Minerva, as she was the goddess of wisdom, needed no such help as +Poseidon had asked and received. Her plans were ready in a moment and +she was waiting for the great day. + +"When that day came all the people of the nameless city gathered +together to see what was to be brought them. As they were seated on the +side of mountain, on the top of which stood Jupiter, King Poseidon +appeared on the plain before them, leading a wonderful black horse. It +was covered with gold armor. It pawed the ground and stamped with its +hoofs, and looked like the leader of a grand army. The people shouted +and would have declared for Poseidon without waiting for his rival, but +Jupiter quieted them. + +[Illustration: MINERVA. From a Roman statue.] + +"Then the goddess came forward on the plain. She was beautiful, tall, +stately. She seemed to be holding something very small in her hand. She +opened her hand before the people and commanded a gardener to dig a hole +in the earth at her feet. Into this hole she dropped the small something +which was in her hand. As soon as the earth was over it, tiny leaves +came out. Then it grew instantly into a tree covered with silver-gray +leaves. Its trunk grew larger and larger. It seemed to touch the skies +It was filled with fruit. She showed them how to extract the oil. She +showed them how to use the fruit. + +"The horse neighed and pawed, and Poseidon laughed at the woman's gift. +'Here is war, glory, and power!' he cried. + +"'Here is life, peace, and plenty!' said the goddess. + +"'The city shall be named Athena' came from Jupiter on the mountain top. + +"And so the city of Athens was named and the people loved Athena for her +gift of the olive tree." + + + + +THE LINDEN AND THE OAK + +_Greek_ + + +Two grand trees stood on a hill near a lake. One was an oak with wide +branches. The other was a linden. + +"Man and wife," the people called them, and when asked why, said, +"Because it is true. Once they could walk around and talk. Now they +stand there side by side forever. But you can hear them whisper to each +other sometimes." + +And if asked, "Who were they?" even the little children would say, "Why, +Philemon and Baucis." + +Many children had these names in those days, and knew the story of the +two trees well, for there were none like them anywhere else in the land. + +It was said that these two people who lived in such strange form were +once a poor old couple, and their home was a wretched house in the +valley. Simple, honest, and quiet, they had little to do with their +bustling neighbors. + +One evening two strangers walked into the village, and stopping at the +first house to ask for food, were sent away in a hurry. + +"We work for a living and have nothing for those who don't. Go away." + +They were told the same at the next house, and at the next, all down the +street. Tired and hungry, they neared the cottage where Philemon and +Baucis lived. + +"I will try here," said the shorter of the two strangers. The other +was silent. + +But before they reached the door, Philemon came to meet them. And Baucis +placed the best chairs for them as they entered, first spreading over +the chairs pieces of cloth she had woven. + +"You are hungry," she said, and she went to the fire-place and uncovered +the few coals she had saved in the ashes for her morning fire. On these +she put sticks and dry bark, and with all her little strength, blew hard +on them, and the fire began to burn. + +On a hook over the fire she hung a small iron kettle, and getting ready +the beans her husband had brought in from their little garden, she put +them in to stew. All this she did eagerly, as if the strangers were +invited friends. While his wife set the table, Philemon brought a bowl +of water for the guests to bathe their hands. As one leg of the table +was too short, Baucis put a flat shell under to make it level with the +rest. Tired and trembling, she set out a few rude dishes. They were her +best. She added the pitcher of milk Philemon had bought for their own +meal, and when the beans were cooked, everything was ready. For dessert, +she had apples and wild honey. + +Drawing a bench to the table, she laid on it a thin cushion made soft +with dried seaweed, and then called the strangers. The smiles and gentle +welcome of the two old people made the meal seem like a feast. + +The strangers were very thirsty, but each time Baucis poured out a cup +of milk the pitcher filled again. + +"You are people from the skies, and not men!" the old couple cried, and +fell on their knees and begged the strangers to forgive them for their +poor meal. + +"Why did you come to us? Others could have done so much better." + +"You have done the best you could; who could do better than that?" said +the tall one. "Come with us," and he led them to the top of the hill. + +Then he stretched out his hand toward the village, and they saw it sink +down, down out of sight, and the river came rushing in, and the place +was a lake. Nothing could be seen but the house they had just left. It +stood on the shore of the lake. Its timbers were growing higher and +higher, and the yellow straw that thatched the roof changed to shining +gold. It was now a beautiful temple. + +"Ask of me anything you wish and I will give it to you," said the tall +one. + +"I know now you are Jupiter," said Philemon. "Let us take care of your +temple while we live, and when it is time for us to leave it let us go +together. Let not one be taken and the other left." + +Philemon and Baucis cared for the beautiful temple for years. Feeling +old and weary, they went to the top of the hill one day to say good-by +to all things. As they stood there they saw each other change, one into +this oak and the other into this linden. + +"Good-by," they said together, as the bark grew up over their lips. + +No tree has so strong and true a heart as the oak, and in the leafy +linden hundreds of birds sing and are happy. + + + + +THE LITTLE MAIDEN WHO BECAME A LAUREL TREE + +_Greek_ + + +Cupid was a beautiful little boy. Between the wings on his shoulders he +always carried a quiver full of tiny arrows. Bow in hand, he started out +every morning ready, like any boy, for mischief. One day he came to +drink from a fountain with some thirsty doves who were his friends. + +Apollo saw the little fellow and, to tease him, asked: + +"What do you carry arrows for, saucy boy? It is for great gods like +myself to do that. My arrow shot the terrible python, the serpent of +darkness. What can _you_ do?" + +"Apollo may hit serpents, but I will hit Apollo," said Cupid, and taking +out two tiny arrows, one of gold and one of lead, he touched their +points together and then shot the golden one straight into Apollo. + +Quick as a flash of Apollo's sun-crown, Cupid shot the other, the leaden +one, into a river cloud he saw floating by. In it he knew Daphne, the +daughter of the river, was hidden. The leaden arrow hit her true, but +she drifted away on the swift breeze. + +Apollo, the sun-god, can see through everything except fog and mist, but +as Daphne fled he caught one glimpse of her face, and Cupid laughed to +see how his arrow did its work. His arrows never kill; sometimes, +indeed, they make life happier. Apollo now loved Daphne more than +anything else on earth. Daphne was more afraid of him than of anything +else in the sky. + +On flew Daphne, hoping her misty cloud would hide her till she could +reach her river home. On flew Apollo, begging her to stop for fear his +arrows might hurt her. His great arrows of sunlight must do their work +even if his friends should perish by them. + +As they neared the river he saw her face again. She sank on the river +bank. She was faint and he would comfort her but she cried to her +father, the river, "O father, help!" The earth opened, and before +Apollo could reach her he saw her waving hair change into glistening +leaves. Her arms became branches. Her skin changed to dainty bark, and +her face to a tree-top whose pink flowers show, even yet, the beauty of +Daphne's cheek. Apollo reached out and gathered the leaves and made +them into a crown. + +[Illustration: DAPHNE. Changing into a laurel tree. From an old painting] + +"This tree shall be called laurel, and it shall be mine," he said. "I +cannot grow old and the leaves of this tree shall be always green. +Daphne has won the race against Apollo, the wreath of these leaves shall +be her gift and mine to the bravest in every race. Kings and captains +shall be proud to wear it." + +Apollo hid his face for days behind dark clouds. Heavy rains fell. The +immortal gods cannot weep, but these great drops seemed like tears for +lost Daphne. + +Even saucy Cupid mourned, and he did not dare go out till the storms +were over, for fear Apollo's grief would spoil his wings. + +In cold northern lands you can find Daphne's tree in greenhouses among +the roses and lilies. And if you ask for Daphne, the gardener will point +her out, for he calls the tree by her name. + + + + +THE LESSON OF THE LEAVES + +_Roman_ + + +In a cave by the seashore lived an old, old woman. This very old woman +was also very wise. + +She remembered everything that had ever happened and she knew almost +everything that was going to happen in her country. + +She lived in Italy and was called the Sibyl. + +One day a man named Aeneas came to her cave to question her. She was +very kind to him. She even took him far down into the center of the +earth, Pluto's kingdom, to see those whom Pluto had carried away. + +When they came back, Aeneas said he would build a temple to her and have +gifts brought to her. She had so much power and was so wise he felt sure +she must be more than mortal. But she would not let Aeneas build the +temple. Instead she told him her story. It was this: + +"Apollo saw me when I was young, and told me to ask him for any gift I +would have. We were standing on the seashore. I stooped down and filled +my hand with the white sand at our feet. + +"'Give me as many birthdays as there are grains of sand in my hand, O +Apollo!' I said. + +"'It is granted,' said Apollo. But, in my foolishness, I forgot to ask +for everlasting youth. + +"When one hundred grains of sand had slipped away from the glass in +which I placed them all, I was old. My youth was gone. + +"Seven hundred grains have slipped through now. I have counted the rest. +I shall yet see three hundred springs and three hundred harvests; then +the Sibyl will be no more. My body has shriveled. Soon I shall be only a +warning voice to the children of men, but I shall live till the grains +are gone from that glade. While my voice lasts men will respect my +sayings. As long as I live, I will strive to help the human race." + +Aeneas went with her into the cave. The leaves were thick on the floor. +The Sibyl picked them up and wrote with an eagle's quill on each. + +She let him read as many as he wished. He found some of them were +warnings to his friends. Some were for people he had never seen. The +Sibyl placed them in rows on the ledges of rock inside the cavern. + +A fierce wind blew into the cave and carried the written leaves away. + +"Save them, O Sibyl!" cried Aeneas. + +[Illustration: A SIBYL. From a Roman statue.] + +"My work is to write, Aeneas. I am no man's slave. If he wishes his leaf, +he must come for it before the wind takes it away. There are thousands +of leaves not written upon yet. But no man may have a second leaf. He +must be here on time." + +"One leaf, one life!" said Aeneas. "I see your meaning, O Sibyl, and go +about my work. My ship shall sail to-day. Each day shall bring me nearer +my journey's end, and when I reach my home the leaves on my forest trees +shall teach me your lesson over again. I will rise early each day and be +the first in all things. Even the winds shall not be quicker than I am +in the work it is my duty to do. Farewell." + +Here is another story which is told of the Sibyl. It shows that she +could write on something beside leaves. + +She appeared one day at the king's palace gate with a heavy burden on +her back. The keeper let her in. + +With a guard on either side the Sibyl was shown into the presence +of the king. + +The burden proved to be nine large books closely written. She offered +them for sale at an enormous price. The king refused to pay it. The +Sibyl only smiled and threw three of the books into the open fire. The +king had wished to own those three, for he knew that future events were +written in them. + +"I have now six books and the price is the same as for the nine. Does +the king want them?" The king hesitated. While he was thinking what to +do, the little old woman threw three more into the fire. + +"I have now three books and the price is the same as for the nine. Does +the king want them?" And the king said, "Yes," without a minute's +waiting, and took the books. + +The little old woman vanished. Her thousand years were nearly gone, but +her voice was still heard when people visited her cave. + +The king searched the three books and found that all things concerning +his city, Rome, were foretold in them for hundreds of years. Perhaps +many wars and troubles would have been saved if he had bought all the +books instead of only three. + +It is usually best to decide a matter quickly when one knows that +nothing can be gained by waiting. + + + + +THE LEGEND OF THE SEED + +_Greek_ + + +Once upon a time the earth was so very young and the people upon it so +pure and good that they could hear the morning stars as they sang +together. It was during the Golden Age, as it is now called, that one +morning in the early springtime a little group of girls were playing +together and gathering wild flowers. + +One of these girls was named Proserpina. She was the merriest of them +all, though her dress was of the plainest brown. Her little feet danced +everywhere and her little fingers seemed to touch the flowers as lightly +as the butterfly that flitted by her. + +Carelessly she danced close to a great opening in the ground. Looking +down she saw a yellow daffodil growing on the edge. Leaning over to pick +it, she felt herself caught by her dress, and the next minute found +herself sailing far down into the earth through the great crevice. She +was in a chariot drawn by black horses, which were driven by a driver +who seemed to be both deaf and dumb. He neither answered when she +pleaded with him to take her back, nor even seemed to hear her. + +The girls who were left gathering wild flowers had missed +Proserpina almost the moment she was out of sight, but no one knew +what had happened. + +"Come back! come back!" the girls called, but no answer came up from the +great opening or from the forest near them. Only Echo marked their cry +of "Proserpina, oh, Proserpina, come back!" "She has vanished," the +girls whispered. "I always felt as though she had wings beneath that +plain brown dress she wore," said one. + +"But who can tell Queen Ceres, her mother?" they asked one another. + +No one could go alone, so they all went together to Queen Ceres and told +her what had happened. + +[Illustration: CERES. From a painting in Pompeii.] + +The good queen wept bitterly. That day she laid aside her regal robes +and began her search for Proserpina. Up and down the world went this +royal mother seeking for her lost daughter. At last she came to the land +of King Celeus. When Ceres reached his land she was so ragged and poor +that she was glad to earn money by taking care of the king's baby son. +As nurse to the little prince, Queen Ceres was almost comforted. + +Because she was the goddess of the wheat and the fruits, the crops upon +the land of King Celeus, while she was there, were very wonderful. In +the land near Mount Aetna, where Proserpina had been lost, no rain fell +and no corn nor apples grew. + +Juno sent Iris down to earth to beg of Ceres to give rain to the +suffering people of her own home. Ceres said no rain should fall till +Proserpina came back to her mother. One day as Ceres was weeping by a +fountain her tears fell into the springing water, and, as they did so, +she heard a silvery voice: + +"Why do you grieve, Queen Ceres?" said the water sprite or nymph. + +"Proserpina, my beautiful daughter, is gone from me," said Ceres. "I +have sought everywhere on the earth for her. I cannot find my daughter." + +"Listen to me," said the voice from the fountain. "I have seen her. She +is not on the earth; she is in the earth. She is in the palace of King +Pluto, who rules below. I saw her as I ran with a river through Pluto's +kingdom. She longs to come back to you." + +Queen Ceres was like a stone for a time after she heard the story told +by the murmuring waters of the fountain. + +Proserpina alive and longing for her! It did not seem true, but she +would know soon. Taking back the little prince to his mother, she hid +herself in a forest, called for her chariot, and, when it came, drove +straight to the top of Mount Olympus, where Jupiter sat on his +shining throne. + +She begged of him to command his brother Pluto to return her +daughter to her. + +"It is granted on one condition; that is, that Proserpina has never +tasted food nor drink since she has been beneath the earth." + +Mercury, the wing-footed messenger, and Flora, the goddess of Spring, +sought the center of the earth to bring back Proserpina to Ceres. + +Pluto loved his stolen prize as much as Queen Ceres did; and, being +unhappy because she refused to eat, succeeded at last in making her +taste one of the beautiful pomegranates that are both food and drink. + +Even while she was tasting it Mercury and Flora stood at Pluto's gate +with the command to return her to Ceres. What was to be done? Mercury, +quick-witted as well as quick-footed, decided that if she dwelt with +Ceres for half the year and with Pluto the other half, Jupiter's +commands would be satisfied. This proved to be as Jupiter wished. + +So, arrayed in shining green, Proserpina swiftly set out with Flora and +Mercury to find Queen Ceres. Ceres saw her the minute her bright head +appeared above the brown earth and knew her through her disguise. You +remember when Proserpina was taken she wore a plain brown suit. + +They lived together, the mother and daughter, through the bright spring +days and the warm summer weather. When autumn came Proserpina donned her +brown suit again and Pluto claimed her. There, in his underground realm, +she reigns all the cold winter months. She is happy now because Queen +Ceres is happy. The mother knows that when spring breathes over the +earth again Proserpina will come back to her. + +Can you guess who Proserpina is? You have seen her a thousand times. +Yes, and when you see her next you will say how strange that the Greeks +could tell such a story of only a little brown seed. + + + + +THE GIRL WHO WAS CHANGED INTO A SUNFLOWER + +_Greek_ + + +Years ago there was a beautiful girl who lived near a large garden. This +girl's name was Clytie. She had wonderful golden hair and big brown +eyes, and she was tall and slender. + +Clytie stood in this large garden one day, watching her pet doves as +they flew about in the sky, when she caught a glimpse of the sun chariot +of Apollo. She even had a glimpse of Apollo himself, as he guided his +wonderful horses along their course, which was the circle of the +heavens. There were many fleecy clouds in the sky, and one had veiled +the burning sunlight from the eyes of Clytie, or she would never have +been able to see the sight, which only the eyes of Jupiter's eagle may +endure and not become blind. + +After this the foolish girl went every day into the garden and, staring +up into the sky, tried to see Apollo once more. Every day for more than +thirty days she went into the garden. Her mother often told her that she +would make Apollo angry, for he shines brightly so as to hide himself +from people on the earth. + +"Clytie! Clytie!" her mother would call, "come in and take your sewing." + +[Illustration: APOLLO. From a statue in Rome.] + +But Clytie never would obey. Sometimes she would answer: + +"Oh, mother, let me stay. He was so beautiful. I have no heart +for work." + +Apollo saw the foolish girl day after day and he became out of +patience with her. + +"Mortal maidens must obey their mothers," he said, and a burning +sun-arrow fell on Clytie's bright head. + +Such a strange change came upon Clytie from that moment. Her brown +eyes grew larger. Her golden hair stood straight out around them, and +her pretty clothing changed into great heart-shaped leaves which clung +to a stiff stalk. Her feet grew firmly into the ground, and the ten +little toes changed into ten strong roots that went creeping +everywhere for water. + +When Clytie's mother called again no answer came and she found, in going +into the garden, a flower in place of her child. + +And now Clytie always stares at the sun all day long. In the morning her +face is toward the east, and at night it is toward the west. + +Did you ever think that the sunflower was once a lovely girl? + + + + +WHY THE NARCISSUS GROWS BY THE WATER + +_Greek_ + + +Down in the heart of the woods there was a clear spring with water like +silver. No shepherds ever brought their flocks there to drink, no lions +nor other wild beasts came in the night time. No leaves nor branches +fell into it, but the green grass grew around it all the year, and the +rocks kept it from the sun. + +One day a boy hunter found it, and, being thirsty, he stooped down to +drink. As he bent he saw, for the first time in his life, his own fair +face, and did not know who it was. + +He thought it must be a water fairy, and he put his lips to the water, +but as soon as their touch disturbed the surface, away went the +shadow-face from out of his sight. + +"Nothing has escaped me yet, and here I shall stay till this +curly-haired creature comes out of the water," he said. "See its shining +eyes and smiling mouth!" + +He forgot his hunt, he forgot everything but to watch for this water +sprite. When the moon and stars came out, there it was just the same +as in the sunshine, and so he lingered from day to night and from +night to day. + +He saw the face in the water grow thinner day by day, but never thought +of himself. At last he was too weak to watch any longer. His face was as +white as the whitest lily, and his yellow hair fell over his hollow +cheeks. With a sigh his breath floated away, his head dropped on the +green grass, and there was no longer any face in the water. + +[Illustration: NARCISSUS. From a painting from Pompeii.] + +The fairies came out of the woods and would have covered him with +earth, but, looking for him, they found nothing but a lovely flower, +gazing with bended head into the silver spring, just as the boy +hunter had done. + +The fairies told the story to a little child, and she told it to her +father and mother. When they found this spring in the heart of the woods +they called the flower growing beside it Narcissus, after the boy hunter +who had perished watching his own face in the silver water. + + + + +THE LEGEND OF THE ANEMONE + +_Greek_ + + +Just see the basketful of anemones we got down in the glen! They were as +thick there as they could be. We picked and picked and it didn't seem to +make a bit of difference, there were so many left. Aren't they lovely?" + +"They are dainty little flowers, boys. Where did you say you +found them?" + +"On the low land in the glen by the brook. There were great trees on +both sides of the glen, and it was so still the little brook and the +waterfall sounded as loud as a big river. How we wished you were there!" + +"What else did you find besides the windflowers, or anemones, boys?" + +"Here's a little moss and a few blood-root flowers, and Will Johnson +carried home a big bouquet of wild bleeding-hearts." + +"That makes me think, Charlie, of a myth there is about the first +anemones." + +"A myth? What is that, mother? Oh, I know, John," said Charlie; "it is +one of those stories that people used to believe just as we used to +believe in Santa Claus. He's a myth, you know, and now you please keep +still and maybe mother has time to tell us about the first anemones. I +like myths." + +"This is a hunting story, so I know you will like it, boys. + +"But just think of hunting with bow and arrows and spears! Would you +like that?" + +"Yes, yes!" shouted both the boys. + +"Well, years ago in the Golden Age when the world was young there lived +a Greek hunter whose name was Adonis. He was tall and straight and +handsome. His friends thought it a great pity that he should spend his +time in the woods, with only his dogs for company. Away he would go day +after day with his arrows at his back and his spear at his side. His +dogs were fierce and would attack any creature. His horse was as brave +as he. His friends begged him to wait till he was older and stronger +before he went into the deep forests, but he never waited. He had killed +bears, wolves, and lions. Why should he wait? + +[Illustration: ADONIS AND APHRODITE (Aphrodite is the Greek name +of Venus.)] + +"But the wild hog is fiercer than the tiger. One spring morning while +hunting in the forest, Adonis wounded two. Leaving his dogs to worry one +while he killed the other, he got off his horse, and, running, threw his +spear at the hog. Its thick hide was tough and the spear fell to the +ground. He drew out an arrow, but before he could place it in the bow, +the ugly beast had caught him with its horrid tusks. + +"He tore away and, bleeding at every step, bounded down a hillside +toward a brook to bathe his wounds. But the savage beast reached it as +soon as he. A flock of white swans that had been drinking from the +brook, rose on their strong wings and, flying straight to their +mistress, Venus, told the story. + +"Back they brought her in her silver chariot, sailing so steadily +that, from the silver cup of nectar she brought with her, not a drop +was spilled. + +"'Adonis! Adonis!' cried Venus. + +"There was nothing but drops of blood on the grass to tell her where he +had been. It was all that was left of the handsome hunter. + +"Venus sprinkled some of the nectar on these drops and, in an hour, tiny +flower buds showed their heads. Then she drove sadly home. Soft winds +blew the tiny buds open, and at night blew them away. So people called +them wind-flowers, or anemones. And they believe that the pink and +purple which colored them came from the heart of Adonis." + +"But why didn't tiger-lilies or some other big and showy flowers come, +not these pretty little things?" + +"I don't know, John; go and ask Venus." + + + + +THE MISTLETOE + +_Norse_ + + +Baldur, the youngest brother of Thor, was called The Beautiful. His +thoughts were so kind and his ways so pleasant that all who lived in +Asgard, the home of the Norse gods, loved him. + +Baldur's days were the happiest of all in Asgard, but when he slept his +dreams were so strange that his nights were often unhappy. + +He feared danger. So Frigga, his mother, who was the wife of Woden, went +to the sea and made it promise that no water should drown Baldur. + +She went to the stones and made them promise not to harm her son. + +Everything promised to let no evil come upon Baldur the Beautiful. + +Iron and all the other metals, rocks, and trees all promised. Birds, +beasts, and creeping things all agreed to help and never to hurt +Frigga's youngest son. + +Woden, his father, went to ask a wise old woman what his son's dreams +meant. She was dead, and Woden had to go to the center of the universe +to find her. She gave him what help she could, and Woden and Frigga felt +that now nothing could hurt their child. + +The other gods that lived in Asgard knew that Baldur was safe from +all harm. But to prove this and to have a little fun among +themselves, they would sometimes use him as a mark at which to throw +their spears or darts. + +Setting Baldur in the middle of the ring, these gods of Asgard would +each throw something at him. + +If a stone struck him it would only glance off and never hurt. No arrow +could pierce his skin. Nothing harmed him, and Baldur would smile as +they played their rough play, for he knew that no one of them would work +him any ill. + +But Loki was different from all the others in Asgard. He could not +endure to have Baldur so loved, and wished that some one could harm +him. At last Loki dressed himself up as an old woman and went to +Frigga's palace. Kind Frigga took the old woman by the hand and brought +her into Fensalir. + +Loki, in the shape of the old woman, pretended to be very friendly. + +"Do you know what the gods are doing to Baldur when you are not by?" +Loki asked. + +"Yes, they are proving that all things have kept their promise not to +hurt my boy." + +"What!" said the old woman, "have all things promised not to hurt +Baldur?" + +"All things," said Frigga. "All but one little plant that grows on the +eastern side of Valhalla. It is called the mistletoe. It is so weak and +small that I did not ask it to join with the others. I thought it could +harm no one." + +The old woman left Fensalir. In a few moments Loki appeared on the +eastern side of Valhalla and plucked a bit of mistletoe from an old oak +that shaded Woden's palace. No one saw him, for he was as sly as a fox +and as tricky. Hiding the mistletoe in his hand, he hurried back to the +circle of gods who were seated around Baldur. + +One god who was blind sat outside the ring. + +"Why don't you join in the sport?" asked the wicked Loki. + +"I cannot see where Baldur is; and nothing could or would harm anyone so +good," said the blind god. + +"I will show you where to sit and you shall have this little sprig that +is in my hand to throw. You must not be left out of the sport because +you are blind," and Loki handed the mistletoe to him. + +The others welcomed the blind god to the ring and made him happy by +telling him that Baldur smiled at all of their strokes. + +"Let me throw next," said Hodur, the blind god. Loki stood by him and +directed his hand as Hodur threw the mistletoe. + +Poor Baldur! The mistletoe pierced his heart through and through. He +fell backward dead. + +Hodur was wild with grief. The other gods knew that the treacherous Loki +had done it, and did not blame Hodur. Frigga asked which of the gods +would dare to ride to Loki's home to bring Baldur back. + +Hermod, called the nimble, an older brother of Baldur, said he would go. + +Woden, his father, told him to take the horse Sleipnir. Sleipnir had +never carried any one but Woden himself. He had twice as many legs as +any other horse. He made eight tracks instead of four. + +Hermod mounted Sleipnir and rode fast for nine days and nine nights +until he came to the land of Death, where Loki loved to stay. + +Hela, who ruled there, said Baldur might return if all things above +mourned for him. + +[Illustration: WODEN ON THE THRONE. Thor on the left, Freya on the +right, holding mistletoe. Loki at the bottom, suffering for the murder +of Baldur. From an ancient bas-relief.] + +Hermod rode back and asked all things if Baldur should return. All +begged for Baldur but one old hag, who sat on the side of a mountain. +Everything else wept for Baldur. Tears stood on the rocks about her as +we have seen drops of water on the hardest rock in early morning; the +leaves of the trees shed tears of grief. This old hag refused to weep. +Baldur could not return. + +After the test was over, the gods believed that the old creature on the +mountain side was Loki disguised in this way. It must have been the evil +Loki, for nothing else could have been so cruel. + +Loki met his punishment at last, but that did not save Baldur the +Beautiful, the golden-haired god, whom his blind brother, dwelling in +darkness, slays again at every even fall. + + + + +THE FORGET-ME-NOT + +_German_ + + +There is a legend connected with the name of the little blue +forget-me-not which everyone loves so much. + +It is said that a boy and a girl were walking by a river that flows into +the Rhine. The girl saw a lovely flower growing just by the water's +edge. The bank of the river was steep and the water swift. + +"Oh, the beautiful flower!" she cried. + +"I will get it for you," said the boy. He sprang over the side of the +steep bank and, catching hold of the shrubs and bushes, made his way to +the place where the flower grew. + +He tried to tear the plant from the earth with both hands, hoping to get +it all for her who was watching him from the bank above. + +The stem broke and, still clasping the flower, he fell backward into the +rushing stream. + +"Forget me not!" he cried to her as the waters bore him down to the +falls below. She never did forget her blue-eyed friend who had lost his +life trying to get her a flower. + +"Forget me not!" she would say over and over until her friends called +the little blue flower by this name. + +Now these blossoms are called forget-me-nots all over the world. And +whether this story is true or only a legend, the dear little flower +could not have a prettier name. + + + + +PEGASUS, THE HORSE WITH WINGS + +_Greek_ + + +There is an old myth of a winged horse. Would you like to hear +it? Listen. + +This wonderful horse was under the care of the nine Muses. These nine +fair daughters of Jupiter taught men all that is known of music, poetry, +history, and the stars. It was said and believed that they helped people +to remember what they taught. + +And now even their names are forgotten except by the few who love to +remember the things others forget. + +One beautiful summer morning this winged horse appeared at the fountain +of the Muses on Mount Helicon. The laughing Thalia, the Muse of Comedy, +saw him as she dropped from the sky. Dancing Terpsichore tried to take +him by the mane, but the white wings flashed in her face and the +wonderful steed was gone before she had touched him. + +Urania, the Muse who loved the heavens, believed that he was from some +star world. + +Clio, the Muse of History, knew that no such creature had ever lived on +earth before. + +They all watched for his return. The next morning he was seen again at +the fountain; after that he came every day. The Muses named him Pegasus. + +"We know that there is a work for all created things. What can his be?" +the sisters asked one another. + +Sure enough his work came at last. + +In a distant land was a brave young soldier named Bellerophon. He was so +bold, so fearless, and so handsome that those who ought to have been his +friends became jealous of him. That means trouble, you know. + +Bellerophon wished to travel. His king gave him letters on parchment to +take to King Iobates of Lycia. + +The king did not read the letters for ten days after Bellerophon came to +Lycia. During those ten days there was feasting and dancing in honor of +the new guest. + +After the feasts of welcome were over, King Iobates read the letters and +found that the one who sent them wanted Bellerophon punished for certain +misdeeds which people said he had done. + +It was a sharp trick to send such letters by the very person who was to +be punished. King Iobates was puzzled as to what to do. + +Then some of his wise men told him of the terrible chimera that was in +the west of his kingdom. This strange creature had the head of a lion, +the body of a goat, and the tail of a crocodile. Its breath was flames +of fire, so the peasants said. Nobody dared to attack it. + +"Just the thing," said Iobates to himself, and sent for Bellerophon. + +"You are the one to rid my country of this terrible monster. Do you dare +to try such a task?" + +Brave Bellerophon answered, "I have no fear; my heart is pure; my +strength is as the strength of ten. I will go." + +[Illustration: BELLEROPHON AND PEGASUS. At the Fountain of the Muses on +Mount Helicon.] + +That night he slept in the temple of Minerva, the wise goddess. He +dreamed that Minerva brought him a golden bridle and told him to go to +the fountain of Pirene and find Pegasus. + +When he awoke the golden bridle was in his hand. + +He went to the fountain and there he saw Pegasus drinking. Bellerophon +held up the bridle and for the first time Pegasus was caught. + +The brave soldier leapt on the winged horse's back and Pegasus struck +his hoofs once against the earth, and then sprang lightly towards the +sky. He spread his wings and the nine Muses saw him sailing in the air +with a rider on his back. + +"He has found his work," said Clio. + +Bellerophon could see over all the land. He found the terrible chimera +and slew it. For all its strange shape and fearful looks, it was not +such a fierce animal as he had feared. + +Pegasus took his rider quickly back to King Iobates' palace and then +vanished. He was found the next morning by the nine Muses drinking at +their fountain. + +Bellerophon was given another hard task to do when the king found that +he had lived through his first. + +Pegasus came at his call, and with his help everything was easy. + +But as soon as one work was done King Iobates found another. + +Bellerophon suspected nothing, and went bravely out to help his +friend the king. + +At last King Iobates said he had nothing more for him to do. After a +time Bellerophon married the king's daughter and lived quietly at +home in Lycia. + +Pegasus, the pet of the nine Muses, became so gentle that he would let +them soar to the skies on his back, but no mortal save Bellerophon dared +to touch him. + +Bellerophon, having no more great earthly tasks to do, called his winged +steed one morning and dared to attempt to guide him to Mount Olympus, +011 whose lofty top sat the great Jupiter on his throne in the clouds. + +Jupiter, seeing him coming, sent a single gadfly to sting the tender +skin of Pegasus. The gadfly dealt a cruel blow and proud Pegasus thought +Bellerophon had dared to strike him. + +He reared upon his haunches and sent Bellerophon reeling downward to +earth, the victim of a selfish wish to outdo others. Bellerophon fell +upon a rocky field far from any city. His fall made him both lame and +blind. Separated from his friends he wandered alone, living as best he +could, and it is not known what became of him. His winged steed fled to +the fountain on Mount Helicon, but never again came at his call. He +could not forget the sharp sting of the gadfly. + +Some have fancied that those who love the Muses see him even in these +days, and that the flash of his golden bridle is caught by a gifted few +once in each century. + + + + +SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS + + +In the earlier ages everything in nature had its myth. We have been too +practical and too full of haste in these latter days to listen to nature +or to myths, but let us inspire the children to do so. Who among us has +not regretted his lack of knowledge of some mythical person, in song, +picture, or story? + +The greater number of ways in which a truth is presented to the child, +the stronger the impression that truth makes upon him. Music, painting, +sculpture, architecture, and language, written or spoken, have each told +the story of the sun and its glorious power over earthly creatures. + +Each nation has its myth concerning the sun's personality. Some may have +adapted or adopted those of other nations; some may have originated +their own theory to explain the origin of the heat and light which come +from the apparent ruler of the skies. The myth is preserved through the +ages, and the child in the school perceives its beauty, while he +understands as well as his teacher its impossibility. + +Let the plain scientific truths of the latest researches be given +first. Then the fable, or folklore, or former explanation which once +vouched for the origin of the sun, moon, or stars, or other natural +objects, seems to the children like their own childish fancies about +things unknown. + +The story should follow, if possible, a tale or lesson on the subject of +the myth. If the children have already had the scientific truths given +them, then the myth serves as a reminder of facts already learned. + +The special directions are merely suggestive. Teachers will supplement +them or substitute others at their pleasure. + + + +SUGGESTIONS FOR THE LESSON ON PHAETON. + + +Secure, if possible, before the reading of the story of Phaeton, a good +plaster cast or marble bust of Apollo, or some reproduction of the +Aurora of Guido Reni. Show a picture of the temple of Apollo, if one can +be obtained; let the children understand how much a part of the life of +the Greek was this belief in Apollo's power and Apollo's beauty. The +child will then begin to understand how much the ancients strove after +beauty in all things. + +The Indian, African, and Chinese all have their stories of the origin +of light and heat, and history and geography may assist in this lesson +on Phaeton. + +Sprinkle water on the window sill, and notice its disappearance, +caused by the heat of sunshine or of the room. Ask for the reason of a +similar loss of water in the street, road, or river. What is the sun's +color? What is the color of fire? What is the sun's effect on ice and +snow, on vegetable and animal life? Does it work quietly? Is great +power usually quiet? + +Lower the shades in the schoolroom. Why is it dark? Close the eyes. Why +is it dark? What is darkness? What causes dark or dull days? What shapes +do clouds take? Are they ever like horses, cattle, sheep, or swans? Is +the sun somewhere always shining? Are clouds like curtains? Paint or +draw a sunrise or sunset. + +Notice a rainbow, when possible, and form one with a prism in the +schoolroom. What colors of the prism are shown most in sunset or +sunrise? Are all shown each time? How many have seen the same colors on +a soap bubble or elsewhere? Mention some other name of the sun, as Sol; +the derivation of Sunday; the effect of the sun on the seasons. Describe +spring, summer, autumn, and winter as persons. Is the sun king of the +hours, the days, the months, and the years? Did the ancients know the +real truth concerning the distance, size, and nightly disappearance of +the sun? Where is the Great Bear? The Little Bear? Do you think the +ancient Greeks really believed the story of Phaeton? + +Reproduce it orally after reading. + +_Each myth may be developed in a similar way_. + + + + +A BIBLIOGRAPHY. + + +The following list is given as containing many books which will be +helpful for reference or study, as indicating the sources of myths and +the customs of the ancients, and as supplying an extended account of any +mythical person or object referred to in this volume. + +While each book is considered valuable, those marked with a star are +especially compact, concise, and helpful to readers who can have access +to but few books, and that by purchase. + + +GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHS. + +"Age of Fable," compiled by Thomas Bulfinch. +_McKay, Philadelphia_ $1 25 + +"Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, +Mythology, and Geography." _D. Appleton +& Co., New York_. Half morocco 6 00 + +"The Mythology of Greece and Rome," with +special reference to its use in art, Oscar +Seeman. _American Book Company, New +York_ 60 + +"Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature +and Antiquities," edited by Harry Thurston +Peck. _Harper Bros., New York_, 1 vol. 6 00 +2 vols. 7 00 + +"Seiffert's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities," +from the German of Oskar Seiffert. +_The Macmillan Co., New York_ 3 00 + +"Makers," by John Fiske. +_Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston_ 2 00 + +"The Classic Myths in English Literature," +by C.M. Gayley. _Ginn & Co., Boston_ 1 50 + +"Myths of Greece and Rome," narrated with +special reference to literature and art, by +H.A. Guerber. _American Book Company, +New York_ 1 50 + +"The Heroes," by Charles Kingsley. Several +publishers; various prices. + +"The Queen of the Air," by John Ruskin. +Several publishers; various prices. + + + +NORSE MYTHS. + + +"Myths of Northern Lands," by H.A. Guerber. +_American Book Company, New York_ 1 50 + +"Norse Mythology, or the Religion of Our +Forefathers," by R.B. Anderson. _Scott, +Foresman & Co., Chicago_ 2 50 + +"Dr. Wilhelm Wagner's Asgard and the Gods, +a Manual of Norse Mythology," edited by +W.W. Macdowall. _Sonnenshein & Co., +London, England_ 2 00 + + +RUSSIAN MYTHS. + +"The Hero of Esthonia," and other studies in +the romantic literature of that country, +compiled by W.F. Kirby. _John C. Nimmo, +London, England._ 2 vols. 6 00 + +"Selections from the Kalevala, the Epic Poem +of Finland." _Henry Holt, New York_ 1 50 + +This epic is in the same measure as Longfellow's +"Hiawatha," and is interesting to all those +who enjoy that poem. + + +OLDEST EGYPTIAN TALES. + +"Egyptian Tales, Translated from the Papyri." +_Frederick A. Stokes & Co., New York._ +2 vols., each 1 50 + +These tales are interesting from their evident +antiquity and from the insight they give as to +ancient Egyptian customs. + + + + +A PRONOUNCING INDEX + + +The following key explains the symbols which +are used in the pronouncing index to indicate +the pronunciation of the words. It is based +upon the 1900 edition of Webster's International +Dictionary: + +a- _as in_ fate. +a- _as in_ pref' ace. +a- _as in_ add. +a- _as in_ air. +a- _as in_ far. +a- _as in_ grass. +a- _as in_ all. + +e- _as in_ eve. +e- _as in_ e-vent'. +e- _as in_ end. +e- _as in_ her. + +i- _as in_ ice. +i- _as in_ i-de' a. +i- _as in_ pin. + +o- _as in_ row. +o- _as in_ o-bey'. +o- _as in_ not. +o- _as in_ lord. + +u- _as in_ use. +u- _as in_ u-nite'. +u- _as in_ up. +u- _as in_ furl. +u- _as in_ rude. +u- _as in_ full. + +y- _as in_ fly. +y- _as in_ pit' y. + +oo- _as in_ moon. +oo- _as in_ good. +ou- _as in_ out. +oi- _as in_ oil. +n=ng _as in_ ink. + + +Silent letters are italicized. Certain vowels, as _a_ +and _e_, when obscured, are also italicized. + + +A + +_Adonis_ (a do' nis). A youth famed for his beauty + and beloved by Venus. +_Aeneas_ (e ne' as). A valiant Trojan warrior. +_Aeolus_ (e' o lus). The king of the winds. +_Aetna_ (et'na). The chief mountain in Sicily and + highest volcano in Europe. It figures in Greek + mythology as the burning mountain. +_ambrosia_ (am bro' zha). The fabled food of the gods, + which conferred immortality upon those who + partook of it. +_Ammon_ (am' mun). The Egyptian Jupiter, or supreme god. +_ancient_ (an' shent). Old; antique. +_anemone_ (a nem' o ne) The windflower. +_Antaeus _(an te' us). The son of the sea and earth, or + of Neptune and Terra. +_Apollo_ (a pol' lo). The god of the sun. +_Ares_ (a' rez). The Greek name for Mars. +_Argo_ (ar' go). The ship in which Jason sailed. +_Argus_ (ar' gus). A mythical person with a hundred + eyes, set by Juno to watch Io. +_Asgard_ (as' gard). The home of the Northern gods. +_Athena_ (a the' na). The Greek name for Minerva. +_Athens_ (ath' enz). A city in Greece. +_Atlas_ (at' las). The giant who bears up the sky on + his shoulders. +_Aurora_ (a ro' ra). The goddess of the dawn. + +B + +_Bacchus_ (bak' kus). The god of wine. +_Baldur_ (bal'der). Son of Woden and brother of + Thor. The god of summer. +_Baucis_ (ba' sis). The wife of Philemon. +_Bellerophon_ (bel ler' o fon). The son of Glaucus. The + youth who slew the chimera. +_Briareus_ (bri a' re us). A famous giant, fabled to + have a hundred arms. +_Byrgir_ (byr' gir). The well to which Hjuki went for water. + +C + +_Cadmus_ (kad' mus). Son of a king of Phoenicia, said + to be the inventor of letters. +_caldron_ (kal' drun). A large metal kettle. +_Castor_ (kas' tor). Twin brother of Pollux, noted for +his skill in managing horses. +_Celeus_ (se' le us). A king of Eleusis, father of + Triptolemus. He gave a kind reception to Ceres, + who taught his son the cultivation of the earth. +_Ceres_ (se' rez). The goddess of grains and fruits. +_chamois_ (sham' my). A small species of antelope of + remarkable agility. +_chimera_ (ki me' ra). A fabulous monster in Lycia, + which was slain by Bellerophon. +_Clio_ (kli' o). The muse of history. +_Clymene_ (kli me' ne). Mother of Phaeton. +_Clytie_ (kli' ti e). The maiden who was changed into + a sunflower. +_Cupid_ (ku' pid). The god of love, possessing eternal + youth, son of Mars and Venus. + +D + +_Daedalus_ (ded' a lus). The builder of the Cretan labyrinth. +_Daphne_ (daf' ne). A nymph beloved by Apollo. +_Diana_ (di a' na). Goddess of the moon, twin sister + of Apollo. +_dolphin_ (dol' fin). Large sea fish. + +E + +_Echo_ (ek' o). A nymph who pined away until nothing + was left but her voice. +_Epimetheus_ (ep' i me' the us). The Titan who made + man and the lower animals. + +F + +_fagots_ (fag' utz). Twigs. +_Fensalir_ (fen sa ler'). The home of Frigga. +_forget-me-not_ (for get'-me-not). A small herb bearing + a blue flower, and considered the emblem of + fidelity. +_Frigga_ (frig' ga). The supreme goddess of the Northland, + wife of Woden. + +G + +_Gemini_ (jem' i ni). A constellation containing the + two bright stars, Castor and Pollux. +_Gordius_ (gor' di us). A peasant who, by direction of + an oracle, was proclaimed King of Phrygia. +_Great Bear_ (great bear). The name often given to + the stars forming the Big Dipper, or Charles' + Wain. + +H + +_Halcyone_ (hal si' o ne). A daughter of Aeolus, who, + for love of her drowned husband, threw herself + into the sea and was changed into the kingfisher. +_Hela_ (hel' a). The ruler of the land of death. +_Helicon_ (hel' i kon). Famous mountain of Greece. +_Hercules_ (her' ku lez). The most famous hero of + Greek mythology, son of Zeus or Jupiter. +_Hermod_ (her' mod). A hero of Norse mythology, + and a brother of Baldur. +_Hjuki_ (ju' ki). Jack, the boy who went with Bil, or + Jill, for water. +_Hodur_ (ho' der). The blind god who threw the fatal + branch of mistletoe at Baldur. The god of winter. + +_I_ + +_Icarus_ (ik' a rus). A son of Daedalus. +_Iobates_ (i ob' a tez). The King of Lycia. +_Iris_ (i' ris). Juno's maid, a personification of the + rainbow. + +J + +_Jason_ (ja' sun). A prince of Thessaly, who brought + away from Colchis the golden fleece. +_Juno_ (ju' no). The wife of Jupiter. +_Jupiter_ (ju' pi ter). In Roman mythology, the supreme + god of heaven. + +L + +_laboratory_ (lab' o ra to ry). The workroom of a chemist. +_Latin_ (lat' in). The language of the ancient Romans. +_Latona_ (la to' na). The wife of Jupiter and the + mother of Apollo and Diana. +_Leda_ (le' da). The mother of Castor and Pollux, and + of Helen of Troy. +_Lindu_ (lin' du). A maiden who had charge of the + birds, identified with the Milky Way. +_Loki_ (lo' ki). The god who caused Hodur to throw +the fatal branch of mistletoe at Baldur. The god of fire. + +M + +_Mani_ (ma' ni). The Norse god of the moon. +_Mars_ (marz). The Roman god of war. +_Mercury_ (mer' ku ry). The Roman god of commerce + and gain. Personification of the wind, which + fills the sails of merchant-vessels. +_Midas_ (mi' das). Son of Gordius and King of Phrygia. +_Minerva_ (mi ner' va). The goddess of wisdom. +_Mount Olympus_ (o lim' pus). The home of Jupiter + and the Greek gods. + +N + +_Narcissus_ (nar sis' sus). A beautiful youth, who was + changed into the flower narcissus. +_nectar_ (nek' ter). The drink of the gods. +_Neptune_ (nep' tune). The ruler of the sea. +_Norwegian_ (nor we' ji an). A native of Norway. + +O + +_Odin_ (o' din). The same as Woden. +_Olympian_ (o lim' pi an). Pertaining to Olympus, the + seat of the gods. +_Orion_ (o ri' on). A giant hunter, whose name was + given to a constellation. +_Orpheus_ (or' fe us). A poet and musician, who with + his sweet lyre charmed the very rocks and trees + to follow him. + +P + +_Pactolus_ (pak to' lus). A river of Lydia. +_Pegasus_ (peg' a sus). A winged horse belonging to + Apollo and the Muses. +_Perdix_ (per' diks). The nephew of Daedalus; changed + by Athena into a partridge. +_Phaeton_ (fa' e ton). A son ot Apollo. +_Phenice_ (fe ni' se). Phoenicia; Tyre and Sidon; a + land west of Palestine. +_Philemon_ (fi le' mun). An aged Phrygian, the husband + of Baucis. +_Phrygia_ (frij' i a). A country of Asia Minor. +_Pirene_ (pi re' ne). The fountain at which Pegasus + could be found. +_Pleiades_ (ple' ya dez). The seven daughters of Atlas. + Made by Jupiter a constellation in the sky. +_Pluto_ (plu' to). The god of the lower world, or Hades. +_Pollux_ (pol' luks). A famous pugilist, and twin + brother of Castor. +_Poseidon_ (po sei' don). The Greek name of Neptune. +_Prometheus_ (pro me' the us). The Titan who gave + fire to man. +_Proserpina_ (pro ser' pi na). The daughter of Ceres. +_python_ (py' thon). A mythical serpent killed near +Delphi by Apollo. + +R + +_realm_ (realm). Kingdom. +_reigned_ (rand). Ruled; governed. +_Runic_ (ru' nik). Pertaining to the letters called + "runes," belonging to the language of the ancient + Norsemen. + +S + +_sandal_ (san' dal). A kind of shoe consisting of a sole + strapped to the foot. +_Saturn_ (sat' urn). The father of Jupiter, Neptune, + and Pluto. +_Scandinavian_ (skan di na' vi an). Of or pertaining + to Scandinavia; that is, Sweden, Norway, and + Denmark. +_Sibyl_ (sib' il). A woman supposed to be endowed + with a spirit of prophecy. +_Sicily_ (sis' i ly). The largest island in the Mediterranean + Sea. +_Silenus_ (si le' nus). The foster-father of Bacchus. +_Sleipnir_ (slap' ner). The swift eight-legged horse of + Odin. +_Sonmus_ (som' nus). The king of sleep. +_Sparta_ (spar' ta). Ancient city of Greece. + +T + +_Taara_ (taa' ra.). The mythical home of Vanemuine. +_Terpsichore_ (terp sik' o re). The muse who presided + over dancing. +_Terra_ (ter' ra). The personification of earth. +_Thalia_ (tha li' a). The muse of joy. +_Thebes_ (thebz). Greek city now called Thion; birth-place + of Hercules. Also name of Egyptian city. +_Thor_ (thor). The Norse god of thunder. +_Thrace_ (tras). A region in Southeastern Europe, + with varying boundaries. In early times it was + regarded as the entire region north of Greece. +_Titans_ (ti' tanz). Primeval giants, children of heaven + and earth. +_Tithonus_ (ti tho' nus). The husband of Aurora; + changed into a grasshopper. +_tortoise_ (tor' tis). A kind of turtle. +_trident_ (tri' dent). A spear with three prongs--the + common attribute of Neptune. +_Trojan_ (tro' jan). Of or pertaining to ancient Troy. + +U + +_Uko_ (u' ko). The father of Lindu; also spelled Ukko. +_Ulysses_ (u lis' sez). The King of Ithaca. +_Urania_ (u ra' ni a). The muse of astronomy. + +V + +_Valkyrias_ (val kir' i as). Woden's shield-maidens + who presided over battlefields and marked those + who were to be slain. +_Valhalla_ (val hal' la). The Norse heaven. +_Vanemuine_ (va nem' u en). A god of Finland. +_Varrak_ (var' rak). A Laplander. +_Venus_ (ve' nus). A Roman goddess of love and beauty. + +W + +_Woden_ (wo' den). In Norse myths the supreme god + of heaven; also spelled Odin. + +Z + +_Zeus_ (zus). Greek name for Jupiter. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Classic Myths, by Retold by Mary Catherine Judd + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLASSIC MYTHS *** + +This file should be named myths10.txt or myths10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, myths11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, myths10a.txt + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Tonya Allen +and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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