No More Learning

more sacred to the other ; until vulgar commentators explained it entirely away, while Virgil made it the crowning glory of his choral hymn to Hercules.
Around thee, powerless to infect thy soul, Rose, in his crested crowd, the Lerna worm.
Non te rationis egentem Lernaeus turba capitum circumstetit anguis.
And although, in any special toil of the hero's life, the moral interpretation was rarely with definiteness attached to its event, yet in the whole course of the life, not only a symbolical mean ing, but the warrant for the existence of a real spiritual power, was apprehended of all men. Hercules was no dead hero, to be remembered only as a victor over monsters of the past — harm less now as slain. He was the perpetual type and mirror of heroism, and its present and living aid against every ravenous form of human trial and pain.
5. But, if we seek to know more than this and to ascertain the manner in which the story first crystallized into its shape, we shall find ourselves led back generally to one or other of two sources — either to actual historical events, represented by the fancy under figures personifying them ; or else to natural phenomena similarly endowed with life by the imaginative power usually more or less under the influence of terror. The historical myths we must leave the masters of history to follow ; they, and the events they record, being yet involved in great, though attractive and penetrable, mystery. But the stars, and hills, and storms are with us now, as they were with others of old ; and it only needs that we look at them with the earnest ness of those childish eyes to understand the first words spoken of them by the children of men, and then, in all the most beauti ful and enduring myths, we shall find, not only a literal story
of a real person, not only a parallel imagery of moral principle, but an underlying worship of natural phenomena, out of which both have sprung, and in which both forever remain rooted. Thus, from the real sun, rising and setting, — from the real atmosphere, calm in its dominion of unfading blue, and fierce in its descent of tempest, —the Greek forms first the idea of two entirely personal and corporeal gods, whose limbs are clothed in divine flesh, and whose brows are crowned with divine beauty ; yet so real that the quiver rattles at their shoulder, and the
GREEK MYTHS.
353
chariot bends beneath their weight. And, on the other hand, collaterally with these corporeal images, and never for one instant separated from them, he conceives also two omnipresent spiritual influences, of which one illuminates, as the sun, with a constant fire, whatever in humanity is skillful and wise ; and the other, like the living air, breathes the calm of heavenly fortitude, and strength of righteous anger, into every human breast that is pure and brave.
6. Now, therefore, in nearly every myth of importance, you have to discern these three structural parts, —the root and the two branches : the root, in physical existence, sun, or sky, or cloud, or sea ; then the personal incarnation of that, becoming a trusted and companionable deity, with whom you may walk hand in hand, as a child with its brother or its sister ; and, lastly, the moral significance of the image, which is in all the great myths eternally and beneficently true.
7. The great myths ; that is to say, myths made by great people. For the first plain fact about myth making is one which has been most strangely lost sight of, — that you cannot make a myth unless you have something to make it of. You cannot tell a secret which you don't know. If the myth is about the sky, it must have been made by somebody who had looked at the sky. If the myth is about justice and fortitude, it must have been made by some one who knew what it was to be just or patient. According to the quantity of under standing in the person will be the quantity of significance in his fable ; and the myth of a simple and ignorant race must necessarily mean little, because a simple and ignorant race have little to mean. So the great question in reading a story is always, not what wild hunter dreamed, or what childish race first dreaded it ; but what wise man first perfectly told, and what strong people first perfectly lived by it. And the real meaning of any myth is that which it has at the noblest age of the nation among whom it is current. The farther back you pierce, the less significance you will find, until you come to the first narrow thought, which, indeed, contains the germ of the accomplished tradition; but only as the seed contains the flower. As the intelligence and passion of the race develop, they cling to and nourish their beloved and sacred legend ; leaf by leaf it expands under the touch of more pure affections, and more delicate imagination, until at last the perfect fable bourgeons out into symmetry of milky stem and honeyed bell.
354 GREEK MYTHS.
8. But through whatever changes it may pass, remember that our right reading of it is wholly dependent on the mate rials we have in our own minds for an intelligent answering sympathy. If it first arose among a people who dwelt under stainless skies, and measured their journeys by ascending and declining stars, we certainly cannot read their story, if we have never seen anything above us in the day but smoke, nor any thing around us in the night but candles. If the tale goes on to change clouds or planets into living creatures, — to invest them with fair forms and inflame them with mighty passions, —we can only understand the story of the human-hearted things, in so far as we ourselves take pleasure in the perfect- ness of visible form, or can sympathize, by an effort of imagina tion, with the strange people who had other loves than that of wealth, and other interests than those of commerce. And, lastly, if the myth complete itself to the fulfilled thoughts of the nation, by attributing to the gods, whom they have carved out of their fantasy, continual presence with their own souls ; and their every effort for good is finally guided by the sense of the companionship, the praise, and the pure will of immortals, we shall be able to follow them into this last circle of their faith only in the degree in which the better parts of our own beings have been also stirred by the aspects of nature, or strengthened by her laws. It may be easy to prove that the ascent of Apollo in his chariot signifies nothing but the rising of the sun. But what does the sunrise itself signify to us ?
return to frivolous amusement, or fruitless labor, it will, indeed, not be easy for us to conceive the power, over a Greek, of the name of Apollo. But for us also, as for the Greek, the sun rise means daily restoration to the sense of passionate gladness and of perfect life, —— means the thrilling of new strength through every nerve, the shedding over us of better peace than the peace of night, in the power of the dawn, — and the purging of evil vision and fear by the baptism of its dew — the sun itself an influence, to us also, of spiritual good — and becomes thus in reality, not in imagination, to us also, spirit ual power, —we may then soon overpass the narrow limit of conception which kept that power impersonal, and rise with the Greek to the thought of an angel who rejoiced as strong man to run his course, whose voice calling to life and to labor rang round the earth, and whose going forth was to the ends of heaven.
If only languid
a
a
is
a
;
if
if it
if,
BALLADE OF THE MYSTERIOUS HOSTS OF THE FOREST. 355
BALLADE OF THE MYSTERIOUS HOSTS OF THE FOREST.
By THEODORE DE BANVILLE. (Translated by Andrew Lang. )
[Theodore Faullain de Banville, French novelist and poet, was born at Moulins, March 14, 1823 ; died at Paris, March 13, 1891. He was the son of a naval officer ; became a Parisian man of letters. His best-known works were the volumes of poetry, "The Caryatides" (1842), "The Stalactites" (1846), "Odes Funambulesques " (1857), "New Odes Funambulesques " (1868), " Russian Idyls " (1872), and "Thirty-six Merry Ballads" (1873). He wrote also prose tales and sketches; as, "The Poor Mountebanks" (1853), "The Parisians of Paris" (1866), " Tales for Women" (1881), and "The Soul of Paris " (1890). He published his autobiography, " My Recollections," in 1882.
For biography of Andrew Lang, the distinguished scholar, poet, and man of letters, see " Calypso," Vol. 2. ]
Still sing the mocking fairies, as of old, Beneath the shade of thorn and holly tree ;
The west wind breathes upon them pure and cold, And still wolves dread Diana roving free,
In secret woodland with her company.
'Tis thought the peasants' hovels know her rite When now the wolds are bathed in silver light,
And first the moonrise breaks the dusky gray ; Then down the dells, with blown soft hair and bright,
And through the dim wood, Dian thrids her way.
With waterweeds twined in their locks of gold The strange cold forest fairies dance in glee ;
Sylphs overtimorous and overbold
Haunt the dark hollows where the dwarf may be, The wild red dwarf, the nixies' enemy :
Then, 'mid their mirth, and laughter, and affright, The sudden goddess enters, tall and white,
With one long sigh for summers passed away ; The swift feet tear the ivy nets outright,
And through the dim wood Dian thrids her way.
She gleans her sylvan trophies ; down the wold She hears the sobbing of the stags that flee,
Mixed with the music of the hunting rolled : But her delight is all in archery,
And naught of ruth and pity wotteth she
More than the hounds that follow on the flight ;
35G
THE LABORS OF HERCULES.
The tall nymph draws a golden bow of might, And thick she rains the gentle shafts that slay,
She tosses loose her locks upon the night,
And Dian through the dim wood thrids her way.
Envoi.
Prince, let us leave the din, the dust, the spite,
The gloom and glare of towns, the plague, the blight ;
Amid the forest leaves and fountain spray There is the mystic home of our delight,
And through the dim wood Dian thrids her way.
THE LABORS OF HERCULES. By Sib GEORGE W. COX (rewritten).
Deceived by the evil advice of Ate, the "mischief-maker of the gods, Jupiter said to Juno his queen, This day a child shall be born of the race of Perseus, who shall be the mightiest of all on earth. " He meant his son Hercules ; but Juno had a crafty trick in her mind to lay a heavy curse on that son, whom naturally she hated for his being such. She asked Jupi ter if what he had just said should surely be so, and he gave the nod which meant the vow that could not be recalled ; then she went to the Fates and induced them to have Eurystheus born first, so that he should be the one mortal more powerful than Hercules, though he was a weak, jealous, and spiteful man.
So the lot was fixed that all his life long Hercules should toil at the will of a mean and envious master. He was matchless in strength, courage, and beauty ; but he was to have neither profit nor comfort from them till he should pass from the land of mortals. But Jupiter was enraged at the ruin of his plans for the child by Juno's plot ; he cast forth Ate from the halls of Olympus and forbade her to dwell again among the gods, and ordained that Hercules should dwell with the gods in Olympus as soon as his days of toils on earth were ended.
So Hercules grew up in the house of Amphitryon husband of Alcmena, the mother of the baby demigod), full of beauty and wonderful might. One day, as he lay sleeping, two huge serpents came into the chamber, twisted their coils round
(the
THE LABORS OF HERCULES. 357
the cradle, and gazed on him with their cold, glassy eyes, till the sound of their hissing woke him; but instead of being frightened, he stretched out his little arms, caught hold of the serpents' necks, and strangled them to death. All knew by this sign that he was to have terrible struggles with the evil things of the world, but was to come off the victor.
As he grew up, no one could compare with him for strength of arm and swiftness of foot, in taming horses, or in wrestling. The best men in Argos were his teachers ; and the wise cen taur Chiron was his friend, and taught him always to help the weak and take their part against any who oppressed them. For all his great strength, none were more gentle than Hercu les ; none more full of pity for those bowed down by pain and labor.
But it was bitter to him that he must spend his life slaving for Eurystheus, while others were rich in joy and pleasures, feasts and games. One day, thinking of these things, he sat down by the wayside where two paths met, in a lonely valley far from the dwellings of men. Suddenly lifting up his eyes, he saw two women coming toward him, each from a different road. Both were fair to look upon : but one had a soft and gentle face, and was clad in pure white. The other looked boldly at Hercules ; her face was ruddier, and her eyes shone with a hot and restless glitter ; her thin, embroidered robe, streaming in long folds from her shoulders, clung about her voluptuous figure, revealing more than it hid. With a quick and eager step she hastened to him, so as to be the first to
I know, man of toils and grief, that your heart is sad within you, and that you know not which way to turn. Come with me, and I will lead you on a soft
speak. And she said : "
and pleasant road, where no storms shall vex you and no sor rows shall trouble you. You shall never hear of wars or fight ing ; sickness and pain shall not come near you : but you shall feast all day long at rich banquets and listen to the songs of minstrels. You shall not want for sparkling wine, soft robes, or pleasant couches ; you shall not lack the delights of love, for the bright eyes of maidens shall look gently upon you, and their song shall lull you to sleep. "
Hercules said : " You promise me pleasant things, lady, and I am sorely pressed down by a hard master. What is your name ? "
" My friends," said she, " call me Pleasure ; those who look
358 THE LABORS OF HERCULES.
Then the other said : " Hercules, I too know who you are and the doom laid on you, and how you have toiled and endured even from childhood ; that is the very reason I feel sure you will give me your love. If you do so, men will speak of your good deeds in future times, and my name will be still more exalted. But I have no fine words to cheat you with. Noth ing good is ever reached, nothing great is ever won, without toil. If you seek for fruit from the earth, you must tend and till it ; if you would have the favor of the gods, you must come before them with prayers and offerings ; if you long for the love of men, you must do them good. " "
on me with disfavor have given me more than one bad name and an ill repute, but they speak falsely. "
You see, Hercules, that Virtue seeks to lead you on a long and weary path ; but
Then the other broke in and said :
my broad and easy road leads quickly to happiness. "
" Virtue answered with a flash of anger in her pure eyes : Wretched thing, what good thing have you to give, and what pleasure can you feel, who know not what it is to toil ? Your
lusts are satiated, your taste is dulled into indifference or nau sea. You drink the wine before you are thirsty, and fill your self with dainties before you are hungry. Though you are numbered among the immortals, the gods have cast you forth out of heaven, and good men scorn you. The sweetest of all sounds, when a man's heart praises him, you have never heard ; the sweetest of all sights, when a man looks on his good deeds, you have never seen. Those who bow down to you are weak and feeble in youth, and wretched and loathsome in old age. But I dwell with the gods in heaven, and with good men on the earth ; and without me nothing good can be done or thought. More than all others I am honored by the gods and cherished by the men who love me. In peace and in war, in health and in sickness, I am the aid of all who seek me ; and my help never fails. My children know the purest of all pleasures, when the hour of rest comes after the toil of day. In youth they are strong, and their limbs are quick with health ; in old age they look back upon a happy life ; and when they lie down to the sleep of death, their name is cherished among men for
their good and useful deeds. Love me, therefore, Hercules, and obey my words, and when your labors are ended you shall dwell with me in the home of the immortal gods. "
Hercules bowed his head and swore to follow Virtue's counsels,
THE LABORS OF HERCULES. 359
and went forth with a good courage to his labor and suffering. He lived and wrought in many lands to obey Eurystheus' orders. He did good deeds for men; but he gained nothing by them except the love of the gentle Iole. Far away in CEchalia, where the sun rises from the eastern sea, he saw the maiden in the halls of Eurytus, and sought to win her love. But Jupiter's vow to Juno gave him no rest. Eurystheus sent him to other lands, and he saw the maiden no more.
But Hercules kept up a good heart, and the glory of his great deeds became spread abroad through all the earth. Minstrels sang how he slew the monsters and savage beasts who vexed the sons of men ; how he smote the Hydra in the land of Lerna, and the wild boar which haunted the groves of Erymanthus, and the Harpies who lurked in the swamps of Stymphalus. They told how he traveled far away to the land of the setting sun, where Eurystheus bade him pluck the golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides : how over hill and dale, across marsh and river, through thicket and forest, he came to the western sea, and crossed to the African land where Atlas lifts up his white head to the high heaven; how he smote the dragon which guarded the brazen gates, and brought the apples to King Eurystheus. They sang of his weary journey when he roamed through the land of the Ethiopians and came to the wild and desolate heights of Caucasus ; how he saw a giant form high on the naked rock, and the vulture which gnawed the Titan's heart with its beak ; how he slew the bird, and smote off the cruel chains, and set Prometheus free. They sang how Eurystheus laid on him a fruitless task, by sending him down to the dark land of King Hades to bring up the monster Cerberus ; how upon the shore of the gloomy Acheron he found the mighty hound who guards the home of Hades and Persephone, seized him and brought him to Eurystheus. They sang of the days when he worked in the land of Queen Omphale beneath the Libyan sun ; how he destroyed the walls of Ilion when Laome- don was king ; how he was bid to cleanse the vast stables where King Augeas had kept a thousand horses for thirty years with out removing a spadeful of the filth, and accomplished the task by turning a river through them ; and how he went to Calydon and wooed and won Dejanira, the daughter of the chieftain (Eneus.
He dwelt a long time in Calydon, and the people there loved him for his kindly deeds. But one day he accidentally killed
360 THE LABORS OF HERCULES.
with his spear the boy Eunomus. The father held no grudge against Hercules, knowing that he did not intend the death ; but Hercules was so grieved for the death that he left the country, and went again on his travels. On the banks of the Evenus he wounded with a poisoned arrow the centaur Nessus, for attempting to assault Dejanira. As the poison ran through the centaur's veins, he was frenzied with a desire to revenge himself on Hercules ; and under guise of forgiveness and good will to Dejanira, he advised her to fill a shell with his blood, and if ever she lost the love of Hercules, to spread it on a robe for him to wear, and the love would return.
So Nessus died ; and Hercules went to the land of Trachis, and there Dejanira remained while he journeyed to the far East. Years passed, and he did not return. At last news came of great deeds he had done in distant lands ; among them that he had slain Eurytus, the king of CEchalia, and taken a willing captive his daughter Iole, the most beautiful maiden in the land.
Then the words of Nessus came back to Dejanira: she thought Hercules' love had gone from her, and to win it back she smeared a richly embroidered robe with the centaur's blood, and with a message full of heartfelt love and honor sent it to him to wear. The messenger found him offering sacrifice to his father Jupiter, and gave him the robe in token of Dejanira's love. Hercules wrapped it round him, and stood by the altar while the black smoke rolled up toward heaven. Presently the vengeance of Nessus was accomplished : the poison began to burn fiercely through Hercules' veins. He strove in vain to tear off the robe : it had become as part of his own skin, and he only tore pieces out of his own flesh in the attempt ; as he writhed in agony, the blood poured from his body in streams.
Then the maiden Iole came to his side, and sought to soothe his agony with her gentle hands and to cheer him with pitying words. Then once more his face flushed with a deep joy, and his eye glanced with a pure light, as in the days of his young might ; and he said : " Ah, Iole, my first and best love, your voice is my comfort as I sink down into the sleep of death. I loved you in my morning time ; but Fate would not give you to me for a companion in my long wanderings. But I will waste none of my short final happiness in grieving now : you are with me to be the last thing I see or hear or think of in life. "
HYMN OF APOLLO. 361
Then he made them carry him to the high crest of Mount (Eta and gather wood. When all was ready, he lay down to rest on the huge pyre, and they kindled it. The shades were dark ening the sky, but Hercules tried still to pierce them with his eyes to gaze on Iole's face and cheer her in her sorrow. " Weep not, Iole," he said ; "my labors are done, and now is the time for rest. I shall see you again in the land where night never comes. "
Darker and darker grew the evening shades ; and only the blazing of the funeral pile on the mountain top pierced the black ness of the gloom. Then a thundercloud came down from heaven and its bolt crashed through the air. So Jupiter carried his child home, and the halls of Olympus were opened to wel come the hero, who rested at last from his matchless labors.
HYMN OF APOLLO. By PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.
[Percy Btsbhe Shelley, English poet, was born in Sussex, August 4, 1792, and educated at Eton and at University College, Oxford, whence he was expelled for a tract on the "Necessity of Atheism. " His first notable poem, "Queen Mab," was privately printed in 1813. He succeeded to his father's estate in 1815. " Alastor " was completed in 1816 ; " The Revolt of Islam," " Rosalind and Helen," and "Julian and Maddalo," in 1818; "Prometheus Unbound," "The Cenci," "The Coliseum," "Peter Bell the Third," and the "Mask of Anarchy," in 1819 ; " CEdipus Tyrannus " and the " Witch of Atlas," in 1820 ; "Epipsychidion," "The Defense of Poetry," "Adonais," and "Hellas," in 1822. He was drowned at sea July 8, 1822. ]
The sleepless Hours who watch me as I lie, Curtained with star-inwoven tapestries
From the broad moonlight of the sky,
Fanning the busy dreams from my dim eyes, Waken me when their Mother, the gray Dawn,
Tells them that dreams and that the moon is gone.
Then I arise, and, climbing heaven's blue dome, I walk over the mountains and the waves,
Leaving my robe upon the ocean foam ; —
My footsteps pave the clouds with fire ; the caves
Are filled with my bright presence ; and the air Leaves the green Earth to my embraces bare.
362
THE GOLDEN APPLES.
The sunbeams are my shafts, with which I kill Deceit, that loves the night and fears the day ;
All men who do or even imagine ill
Fly me, and from the glory of my ray
Good minds and open actions take new might, Until diminished by the reign of Night.
I feed the clouds, the rainbows, and the flowers, With their ethereal colors ; the moon's globe,
And the pure stars in their eternal bowers,
Are cinctured with my power as with a robe ;
Whatever lamps on earth or heaven may shine Are portions of one power which is mine.
I stand at noon upon the peak of heaven ; Then with unwilling steps I wander down
Into the clouds of the Atlantic even ;
For grief that I depart they weep and frown.
What look is more delightful than the smile
With which I soothe them from the western isle ?
I am the eye with which the universe Beholds itself, and knows itself divine ;
All harmony of instrument or verse, All prophecy, all medicine, are mine,
All light of Art or Nature ; — to my song Victory and praise in its own right belong.
THE GOLDEN APPLES. By WILLIAM MORRIS. (From " The Earthly Paradise. ")
[William Morris, English poet and art reformer, was born March 24, 1834 ; educated at Oxford, and was one of the Preraphaelites. His best-known poem is "The Earthly Paradise"; he has also written "The Defense of Guinevere," "The Life and Death of Jason," "Sigurd the Volsung," "The Fall of the Niblungs," and smaller ones. In prose he wrote " The House of the Wolfings," "The Glittering Plain," etc. He founded a manufactory of house hold decorations to reform public taste, and a printing house for artistic typog raphy. He was also a fervent Socialist. He died October 3, 1896. ]
As many as the leaves fall from the tree, From the world's life the years are fallen away Since King Eurystheus sat in majesty
In fair Mycenae ; midmost of whose day
It once befell that in a quiet bay
THE GOLDEN APPLES.
A ship of Tyre was swinging nigh the shore, Her folk for sailing handling rope and oar.
863
Fresh was the summer morn, a soft wind stole
Down from the sheep-browsed slopes the cliffs that crowned, And ruffled lightly the long gleaming roll
Of the peaceful sea, and bore along the sound
Of shepherd folk and sheep and questing hound;
For in the first dip of the hillside there
Lay bosomed 'mid its trees a homestead fair.
Amid regrets for last night, when the moon, Risen on the soft dusk, shone on maidens' feet Brushing the gold-heart lilies to the tune
Of pipes complaining, o'er the grass down-beat That mixed with dewy flowers its odor sweet, The shipmen labored, till the sail unfurled Swung round the prow to meet another world.
But ere the anchor had come home, a shout
Rang from the strand, as though the ship were hailed. Whereat the master bade them stay, in doubt
That they without some needful thing had sailed ; When, lo ! from where the cliffs' steep gray sides failed Into a ragged, stony slip, came twain
Who seemed in haste the ready keel to gain.
Soon they drew nigh, and he who first came down Unto the surf was a man huge of limb,
Gray-eyed, with crisp-curled hair 'twixt black and brown ; Who had a lion's skin cast over him,
So wrought with gold that the fell showed but dim Betwixt the threads, and in his hand he bore
A mighty club with bands of steel done o'er.
Panting there followed him a gray old man, Bearing a long staff, clad in gown of blue, Feeble of aspect, hollow-cheeked, and wan, Who, when unto his fellow's side he drew,
Said faintly : "Now, do that which thou shouldst do; This is the ship. " Then in the other's eye
A smile gleamed, and he spake out merrily :
" Masters, folk tell me that ye make for Tyre, And after that still nearer to the sun ;
And since Fate bids me look to die by fire,
THE GOLDEN APPLES.
Fain am I, ere my worldly day be done,
To know what from earth's hottest can be won ; And this old man, my kinsman, would with me. How say ye, will ye bear us o'er the sea ? "
"What is thy name ? " the master said : "And know That we are merchants, and for naught give naught ; What wilt thou pay ? — thou seem'st full rich, I trow. " The old man muttered, stooped adown and caught
At something in the sand : " E'en so I thought," The younger said, " when I set out from home — As to my name, perchance in days to come
"Thou shalt know that — but have heed, take this toy_. And call me the Strong Man. " And as he spake
The master's deep brown eyes 'gan gleam with joy,
For from his arm a huge ring did he take,
And cast it on the deck, where it did break A water jar, and in the wet shards lay Golden, and gleaming like the end of day.
But the old man held out a withered hand, Wherein there shone two pearls most great and fair, And said, "If any nigher I might stand,
Then mightst thou see the things I give thee here — And for name — a many names I bear,
But call me Shepherd of the Shore this tide,
And for more knowledge with a good will bide. "
From one to the other turned the master's eyes ; The Strong Man laughed as at some hidden jest, And wild doubts in the shipman's heart did rise ; But thinking on the thing, he deemed it best
To bid them come aboard, and take such rest As they might have of the untrusty sea, 'Mid men who trusty fellows still should be.
Then no more words the Strong Man made, but straight Caught up the elder in his arms, and so,
Making no whit of all that added weight,
Strode to the ship, right through the breakers low,
And catching at the rope that they did throw Out toward his hand, swung up into the ship : Then did the master let the hawser slip.
THE GOLDEN APPLES.
The shapely prow cleft the wet mead and green, And wondering drew the shipmen round to gaze Upon those limbs, the mightiest ever seen;
And many deemed it no light thing to face
The splendor of his eyen, though they did blaze With no wrath now, no hate for them to dread, As seaward 'twixt the summer isles they sped.
Freshened the wind, but ever fair it blew
Unto the southeast ; but as failed the land,
Unto the plunging prow the Strong Man drew, And, silent, gazing with wide eyes did stand,
As though his heart found rest ; but 'mid the band Of shipmen in the stern the old man sat,
Telling them tales that no man there forgat.
As one who had beheld, he told them there Of the sweet singer, who, for his song's sake,
The dolphins back from choking death did bear ; How in the mid sea did the vine outbreak
O'er that ill bark when Bacchus 'gan to wake ; How anigh Cyprus, ruddy with the rose
The cold sea grew as any June-loved close ;
While on the flowery shore all things alive Grew faint with sense of birth of some delight, And the nymphs waited trembling there, to give Glad welcome to the glory of that sight :
He paused then, ere he told how, wild and white, Rose ocean, breaking o'er a race accurst,
A world once good, now come unto its worst.
And then he smiled, and said, " And yet ye won, Ye men, and tremble not on days like these,
Nor think with what a mind Prometheus' son Beheld the last of the torn reeling trees
From high Parnassus : slipping through the seas
Ye never think, ye men folk, how ye seem
From down below through the green waters' gleam. "
Dusk was it now when these last words he said, And little of his visage might they see,
But o'er their hearts stole vague and troublous dread, They knew not why ; yet ever quietly
They sailed that night; nor might a morning be
THE GOLDEN APPLES.
Fairer than was the next morn; and they went Along their due course after their intent.
The fourth day, about sunrise, from the mast The watch cried out he saw Phoenician land ; Whereat the Strong Man on the elder cast
A look askance, and he straight took his stand Anigh the prow, and gazed beneath his hand Upon the low sun and the scarce-seen shore,
Till cloud flecks rose, and gathered and drew o'er.
The morn grown cold ; then small rain 'gan to fall, And all the wind dropped dead, and hearts of men Sank, and their bark seemed helpless now and small ; Then suddenly the wind 'gan moan again ;
Sails flapped, and ropes beat wild about ; and then
Down came the great east wind; and the ship ran Straining, heeled o'er, through seas all changed and wan.
Westward, scarce knowing night from day, they drave Through sea and sky grown one ; the Strong Man wrought With mighty hands, and seemed a god to save ;
But on the prow, heeding all weather naught,
The elder stood, nor any prop he sought,
But swayed to the ship's wallowing, as on wings He there were set above the wrack of things.
And westward still they drave ; and if they saw Land upon either side, as on they sped,
'Twas but as faces in a dream may draw
Anigh, and fade, and leave naught in their stead ; And in the shipmen's hearts grew heavy dread
To sick despair ; they deemed they should drive on Till the world's edge and empty space were won.
But 'neath the Strong Man's eyes e'en as they might They toiled on still ; and he sang to the wind,
And spread his arms to meet the waters white,
As o'er the deck they tumbled, making blind
The brine-drenched shipmen ; nor with eye unkind He gazed up at the lightning ; nor would frown When o'er the wet waste Jove's bolt rattled down.
And they, who at the last had come to think
Their guests were very gods, with all their fear Feared naught belike that their good ship would sink
THE GOLDEN APPLES.
Amid the storm ; but rather looked to hear
The last moan of the wind that them should bear Into the windless stream of ocean gray,
Where they should float till dead was every day.
Yet their fear mocked them ; for the storm 'gan die About the tenth day, though unto the west
They drave on still ; soon fair and quietly
The morn would break ; and though amid their rest Naught but long evil wandering seemed the best
That they might hope for ; still, despite their dread, Sweet was the quiet sea and goodlihead
Of the bright sun at last come back again ; And as the days passed, less and less fear grew, If without cause, till faded all their pain ;
And they 'gan turn unto their guests anew,
Yet durst ask naught of what that evil drew Upon their heads ; or of returning speak. Happy they felt, but listless, spent, and weak.
And now as at the first the elder was,
And sat and told them tales of yore agone ;
But ever the Strong Man up and down would pass About the deck, or on the prow alone
Would stand and stare out westward ; and still on Through a fair summer sea they went, nor thought
Of what would come when these days turned to naught.
And now when twenty days were well passed o'er They made a new land ; cloudy mountains high
Rose from the sea at first ; then a green shore
Spread fair below them : as they drew anigh
No sloping, stony strand could they espy,
And no surf breaking ; the green sea and wide Wherethrough they slipped was driven by no tide.
Dark fell ere they might set their eager feet
Upon the shore ; but night-long their ship lay
As in a deep stream, by the blossoms sweet
That flecked the grass whence flowers ne'er passed away. But when the cloud-barred east brought back the day, And turned the western mountain tops to gold,
Fresh fear the shipmen in their bark did hold.
THE GOLDEN APPLE*
For as a dream seemed all ; too fair for those Who needs must die ; moreover they could see,
A furlong off, 'twixt apple tree and rose,
A brazen wall that gleamed out wondrously
In the young sun, and seemed right long to be ;
And memory of all marvels lay upon
Their shrinking hearts now this sweet place was won.
But when unto the nameless guests they turned, Who stood together nigh the plank shot out Shoreward, within the Strong Man's eyes there burned A wild light, as the other one in doubt
He eyed a moment ; then with a great shout Leaped into the blossomed grass ; the echoes rolled Back from the hills, harsh still and overbold.
Slowly the old man followed him, and still
The crew held back : they knew now they were brought Over the sea the purpose to fulfill
Of these strange men ; and in their hearts they thought, " Perchance we yet shall live, meddling naught
With dreams, we bide here till these twain come back But prying eyes the fire blast seldom lack. "
Yet 'mongst them were two fellows bold and young, Who, looking each upon the other's face,
Their hearts to meet the unknown danger strung,
And went ashore, and at gentle pace
Followed the strangers, who unto the place
Where the wall gleamed had turned peace and desire Mingled together in their hearts, as nigher
They drew unto that wall, and dulled their fear Fair wrought was, as though with bricks of brass And images upon its face there were,
Stories of things long while come to pass
Nor that alone — as looking in glass
Its maker knew the tales of what should be,
And wrought them there for bird and beast to see.
So on they went the many birds sang sweet
Through all that blossomed thicket from above,
And unknown flowers bent down before their feet
The very air, cleft by the gray-winged dove,
Throbbed with sweet scent, and smote their souls with love.
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THE GOLDEN APPLES.
Slowly they went till those twain stayed before A strangely wrought and iron-covered door.
They stayed, too, till o'er noise of wind, and bird, And falling flower, there rang a mighty shout
As the Strong Man his steel-bound club upreared, And drave it 'gainst the hammered iron stout,
Where 'neath his blows flew bolt and rivet out,
Till shattered on the ground the great door lay,
And into the guarded place bright poured the day.
The Strong Man entered, but his fellow stayed Leaning against a tree trunk as they deemed.
They faltered now, and yet all things being weighed Went on again ; and thought they must have dreamed Of the old man, for now the sunlight streamed
Full on the tree he had been leaning on, And him they saw not go, yet was he gone :
Only a slim green lizard flitted there
Amidst the dry leaves ; him they noted naught,
But, trembling, through the doorway 'gan to peer,
And still of strange and dreadful saw not aught,
Only a garden fair beyond all thought.
And there, 'twixt sun and shade, the Strong Man went On some long-sought-for end belike intent.
They 'gan to follow down a narrow way
Of greensward that the lilies trembled o'er,
And whereon thick the scattered rose leaves lay ; But a great wonder weighed upon them sore,
And well they thought they should return no more ; Yet scarce a pain that seemed ; they looked to meet Before they died things strange and fair and sweet.
So still to right and left the Strong Man thrust The blossomed boughs, and passed on steadily,
As though his hardy heart he well did trust,
Till in a while he gave a joyous cry,
And hastened on, as though the end drew nigh ; And women's voices then they deemed they heard, Mixed with a noise that made desire afeard.
Yet through sweet scents and sounds on did they bear Their panting hearts, till the path ended now
In a wide space of green ; a streamlet clear
THE GOLDEN APPLES.
From out a marble basin there did flow,
And close by that a slim-trunked tree did grow, And on a bough low o'er the water cold
There hung three apples of red-gleaming gold.
About the tree, new risen e'en now to meet
The shining presence of that mighty one,
Three damsels stood, naked from head to feet
Save for the glory of their hair, where sun
And shadow flickered, while the wind did run
Through the gray leaves o'erhead, and shook the grass Where nigh their feet the wandering bee did pass.
But 'midst their delicate limbs and all around
The tree roots, gleaming blue black could they see The spires of a great serpent, that, enwound
About the smooth bole, looked forth threateningly, With glittering eyes and raised crest, o'er the three Fair heads fresh crowned, and hissed above the speech Wherewith they murmured softly each to each.
Now the Strong Man amid the green space stayed, And, leaning on his club, with eager eyes
But brow yet smooth, in voice yet friendly said :
" O daughters of old Hesperus the Wise,
Well have ye held your guard here ; but time tries The very will of gods, and to my hand
Must give this day the gold fruit of your land. "
Then spake the first maid — sweet as the west wind Amidst of summer noon her sweet voice was :
" Ah, me ! what knows this place of changing mind
Of men or gods ? here shall long ages pass,
And clean forget thy feet upon the grass,
Thy hapless bones amid the fruitful mold ; "
Look at thy death envenomed swift and cold !
Hiding new flowers, the dull coils, as she spake, Moved near her limbs : but then the second one,
In such a voice as when the morn doth wake
To song of birds, said, " When the world foredone Has moaned its last, still shall we dwell alone Beneath this bough, and have no tales to tell
Of things deemed great that on the earth befell. "
THE GOLDEN APPLES.
Then spake the third, in voice as of the flute That wakes the maiden to her wedding morn :
" If any god should gain our golden fruit,
Its curse would make his deathless life forlorn. Lament thou, then, that ever thou wert born ;
Yet all things, changed by joy or loss or pain,
To what they were shall change and change again. "
" So be it," he said, " the Fates that drive me on Shall slay me or shall save ; blessing or curse
That followeth after when the thing is won
Shall make my work no better now nor worse ;
And if it be that the world's heart must nurse
Hatred against me, how then shall I "
choose
To leave or take ? — let your dread servant loose !
E'en therewith, like a pillar of black smoke, Swift, shifting ever, drave the worm at him ;
In deadly silence now that nothing broke,
Its folds were writhing round him trunk and limb, Until his glittering gear was naught but dim
E'en in that sunshine, while his head and side And breast the fork-tongued, pointed muzzle tried.
Closer the coils drew, quicker all about
The forked tongue darted, and yet stiff he stood, E'en as an oak that sees the straw flare out
And lick its ancient bole for little good :
Until the godlike fury of his mood
Burst from his heart in one great shattering cry, And rattling down the loosened coils did lie ;
And from the torn throat and crushed dreadful head Forth flowed a stream of blood along the grass ;
Bright in the sun he stood above the dead,
Panting with fury ; yet as ever was
The wont of him, soon did his anger pass, And with a happy smile at last he turned To where the apples o'er the water burned.
Silent and moveless ever stood the three ;
No change came o'er their faces, as his hand
Was stretched aloft unto the sacred tree ;
Nor shrank they aught aback, though he did stand So close that tresses of their bright hair, fanned
THE GOLDEN APPLES.
By the sweet garden breeze, lay light on him,
And his gold fell brushed by them breast and limb.
He drew adown the wind-stirred bough, and took The apples thence ; then let it spring away,
And from his brow the dark hair backward shook, And said : " O sweet, O fair, and shall this day
A curse upon my life henceforward lay — This day alone ? Methinks of coming life Somewhat I know, with all its loss and strife.
" But this I know, at least : the world shall wend Upon its way, and, gathering joy and grief
And deeds done, bear them with it to the end ;
So shall though lie as last year's leaf
Lies 'neath a summer tree, at least receive My life gone by, and store with the gain That men alive call striving, wrong, and pain.
" So for my part rather bless than curse, And bless this fateful land good be with
Nor for this deadly thing's death worse, Nor for the lack of gold still shall ye sit Watching the swallow o'er the daisies flit
Still shall your wandering limbs ere day done Make dawn desired by the sinking sun.
" And now, behold in memory of all this Take ye this girdle that shall waste and fade As fadeth not your fairness and your bliss, That when hereafter 'mid the blossoms laid Ye talk of days and men now nothing made, Ye may remember how the Theban man,
The son of Jove, came o'er the waters wan. "
Their faces changed not aught for all they heard; As though all things now fully told out were,
They gazed upon him without any word
Ah craving kindness, hope, or loving care,
Their fairness scarcely could have made more fair, As with the apples folded in his fell
He went, to do more deeds for folk to tell.
Now as the girdle on the ground was cast, Those fellows turned and hurried toward the door And as across its broken leaves they passed
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THE GOLDEN APPLES. 373
The old man saw they not, e'en as before ;
But an unearthed blind mole bewildered sore Was wandering there in fruitless, aimless wise, That got small heed from their full-sated eyes.
Swift gat they to their anxious folk ; nor had More time than just to say, "Be of good cheer, For in our own land may we yet be glad,"
When they beheld the guests a drawing near ; And much bewildered the two fellows were
To see the old man, and must even deem
That they should see things stranger than a dream.
" But when they were aboard the elder cried, Up sails, my masters, fair now is the wind ;
Nor good it is too long here to abide,
Lest what ye may not loose your souls should bind. " And as he spake, the tall trees left behind
Stirred with the rising land wind, and the crew, Joyous thereat, the hawsers shipward drew.
Swift sped the ship, and glad at heart were all, And the Strong Man was merry with the rest, And from the elder's lips no word did fall
That did not seem to promise all the best ;
Yet with a certain awe were men oppressed, And felt as if their inmost hearts were bare, And each man's secret babbled through the air.
Still oft the old man sat with them and told Tales of past time, as on the outward way ;
And now would they the face of him behold
And deem it changed ; the years that on him lay Seemed to grow naught, and no more wan and gray He looked, but ever glorious, wise and strong,
As though no lapse of time for him were long.
At last, when six days through the kindly sea Their keel had slipped, he said : " Come hearken now, For so it is that things fare wondrously
E'en in these days ; and I a tale can show
That, told by you unto your sons shall grow
A marvel of the days that are to come :
Take heed and tell it when ye reach your home.
THE GOLDEN APPLES.
" Yet living in the world a man there is
Men call the Theban King Amphitryon's son, Although perchance a greater sire was his ;
But certainly his lips have hung upon
Alcmena's breasts : great deeds this man hath won Already, for his name is Hercules,
And e'en ye Asian folk have heard of these.
" Now ere the moon, this eve in his last wane, Was born, this Hercules, the fated thrall
Of King Eurystheus, was straight bid to gain Gifts from a land whereon no foot doth fall
Of mortal man, beyond the misty wall
Of unknown waters ; pensively he went
Along the sea on his hard life intent.
" And at the dawn he came into a bay
Where the sea, ebbed far down, left wastes of sand, Walled from the green earth by great cliffs and gray ; Then he looked up, and wondering there did stand, For strange things lay in slumber on the strand ; Strange counterparts of what the firm earth hath
Lay scattered all about his weary path :
" Sea lions and sea horses and sea kine,
Sea boars, sea men strange skinned, of wondrous hair And in their midst a man who seemed divine
For changeless eld, and round him women fair,
Clad in the sea webs glassy green and clear,
With gems on head and girdle, limb and breast,
Such as earth knoweth not among her best.
" A moment at the fair and wondrous sight He stared ; then, since the heart in him was good, He went about with careful steps and light
Till o'er the sleeping sea god now he stood ;
And if the white-foot maids had stirred his blood As he passed by, now other thoughts had place Within his heart when he beheld that face.
" For Nereus now he knew, who knows all things , And to himself he said, ' If I prevail,
Better than by some god-wrought eagle wings
Shall I be holpen ; ' then he cried out : ' Hail,
O Nereus ! lord of shifting hill and dale !
THE GOLDEN APPLES. 375
Arise and wrestle ; I am Hercules !
Not soon now shalt thou meet the ridgy seas. '
" And mightily he cast himself on him;
And Nereus cried out shrilly ; and straightway
That sleeping crowd, fair maid with half-hid limb, Strange man and green-haired beast, made no delay, But glided down into the billows gray,
And, by the lovely sea embraced, were gone,
While they two wrestled on the sea strand lone.
" Soon found the sea god that his bodily might Was naught in dealing with Jove's dear one there ; And soon he 'gan to use his magic sleight:
Into a lithe leopard, and a hugging bear,
He turned him ; then the smallest fowl of air
The straining arms of Hercules must hold,
And then a mud-born wriggling eel and cold.
" Then as the firm hands mastered this, forth brake A sudden rush of waters all around,
Blinding and choking : then a thin green snake
With golden eyes ; then o'er the shell-strewn ground Forth stole a fly, the least that may be found ;
Then earth and heaven seemed wrapped in one huge flame, But from the midst thereof a voice there came :
"'Kinsman and stout heart, thou hast won the day, Nor to my grief : what wouldst thou have of me ? ' And therewith to an old man small and gray
Faded the roaring flame, who wearily
Sat down upon the sand and said, ' Let be !
I know thy tale ; worthy of help thou art ; Come now, a short way hence will there depart
" ' A ship of Tyre for the warm southern seas, Come we aboard ; according to my will
Her way shall be. ' Then up rose Hercules, Merry of face, though hot and panting still ;
But the fair summer day his heart did fill With all delight ; and so forth went the twain, And found those men desirous of all gain.
" Ah, for these gainful men — somewhat indeed Their sails are rent, their bark beat ; kin and friend Are wearying for them ; yet a friend in need
THE GOLDEN APPLES.
They yet shall gain, if at their journey's end, Upon the last ness where the wild goats wend To lick the salt-washed stones, a house they raise Bedight with gold in kindly Nereus' praise. "
Breathless they waited for these latest words, That like the soft wind of the gathering night
Were grown to be : about the mast flew birds
Making their moan, hovering long-winged and white ; And now before their straining anxious sight
The old man faded out into the air,
And from his place flew forth a sea mew fair.
Then to the Mighty Man, Alcmena's son,
With yearning hearts they turned till he should speak. And he spake softly : " Naught ill have ye done
In helping me to find what I did seek :
The world made better by me knows if weak
My hand and heart are : but now, light the fire
Upon the prow and worship the gray sire. "
So did they ; and such gifts as there they had Gave unto Nereus ; yea, and sooth to say,
Amid the tumult of their hearts made glad,
Had honored Hercules in e'en such way ; "
But he laughed out amid them, and said, Nay, Not yet the end is come ; nor have I yet
Bowed down before vain longing and regret.
" It may be — who shall tell, when I go back There whence I came, and looking down behold
The place that my once eager heart shall lack,
And all my dead desires a lying cold,
But I may have the might then to enfold
The hopes of brave men in my heart ? — but long life Lies before first with its change and wrong. "
So fair along the watery ways they sped
In happy wise, nor failed of their return ;
Nor failed in ancient Tyre the ways to tread, Teaching their tale to whomsoe'er would learn,
Nor failed at last the flesh of beasts to burn
In Nereus' house, turned toward the bright day's end On the last ness, round which the wild goats wend.
ODE ON A GRECIAN URN. 377
ODE ON A GRECIAN URN. By JOHN KEATS.
[John Keats : An English poet, sometimes called " The Poets' Poet "; born at Moorsfield, London, October 31, 1795 ; died at Rome, Italy, February 23, 1821. His first poem, " Endymion," was issued when he was twenty-three. It has beautiful passages, but the story is very difficult to follow, and is mainly a vehicle for luscious verbal music. Its promise was more than fulfilled in his second volume, published in 1820, and containing many noble sonnets, the im mortal "Ode on a Grecian Urn," "The Eve of St. Agnes," etc. His highest flight was reached in the sublime " Hyperion," but he had no constructive im agination and let it drop after the first canto. He had enormous effect on the coming poets of his time, and Tennyson was his thoroughgoing disciple. The " Love Letters to Fanny Brawne " appeared in 1878 ; his " Letters to his Family and Friends " in 1891. ]
Thou still unravished bride of quietness, Thou foster child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme :
What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady ?
What men or gods are these ? What maidens loath ?
What mad pursuit ? What struggle to escape ? What pipes and timbrels ? What wild ecstasy ?
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter ; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on ;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endeared, Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone :
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal — yet, do not grieve ; She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair !
Ah, happy, happy boughs ! that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu ;
And, happy melodist, unwearied, Forever piping songs forever new ;
More happy love ! more happy, happy love ! Forever warm and still to be enjoyed,
Forever panting, and forever young ;
878
HYMN TO MINERVA.
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloyed,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.
Who are these coming to the sacrifice ?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest ?
What little town by river or seashore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn ? And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be ; and not a soul to tell Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.
O Attic shape ! Fair attitude ! with brede Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed ; Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity : Cold Pastoral !
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
" Beauty is truth, truth beauty," — that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
HYMN TO MINERVA.
Attributed to Homer; Translated by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.
1 sing the glorious power with azure eyes,
Athenian Pallas, tameless, chaste, and wise, Tritogenia, town-preserving maid,
Revered and mighty from his awful head
Whom Jove brought forth, in warlike armor dressed, Golden, all radiant. Wonder strange possessed
The everlasting Gods that shape to see,
Shaking a javelin keen, impetuously
Rush from the crest of aegis-bearing Jove. Fearfully heaven was shaken, and did move Beneath the might of the cerulean-eyed ;
Earth dreadfully resounded, far and wide ;
And, lifted from his depths, the Sea swelled high
THE GORGON'S HEAD.
379
In purple billows ; the tide suddenly
Stood still; and great Hyperion's Son long time Checked his swift steeds : till, where she stood sublime, Pallas from her immortal shoulders threw
The arms divine. Wise Jove rejoiced to view.
Child of the aegis bearer, hail to thee !
Nor thine nor others' praise shall unremembered be.
THE GORGON'S HEAD. By NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.
[Nathaniel Hawthorne : American story-writer ; born at Salem, Mass. , July 4, 1804; died at Plymouth, N. H. , May 19, 1864. His official positions, in the customhouse at Salem and as United States consul at Liverpool, furnished him with many opportunities for the study of human nature. His literary popularity was of slow growth, but was founded on"the eternal verities. His most famous novels are "The Scarlet Letter," 1850; The House of the Seven Gables," 1851; " The Blithedale Romance," 1852; "The Marble Faun," 1860; " Septimius Felton," posthumous. He wrote a great number of short stories, inimitable in style and full of weird imagination. "Twice-told Tales," first series, appeared in 1837; "The Snow Image and Other Twice-told Tales," in 1852 ; " Tanglewood Tales," in 1853. ]
Perseus was the son of Danae, who was the daughter of a king, and when Perseus was a very little boy some wicked people put his mother and himself into a chest and set them afloat upon the sea. The wind blew freshly and drove the chest away from the shore, and the uneasy billows tossed it up and down, while Danae clasped her child closely to her bosom, and dreaded that some big wave would dash its foamy crest over them both. The chest sailed on, however, and neither sank nor was upset, until, when night was coming, it floated so near an island that it got entangled in a fisherman's nets and was drawn out high and dry upon the sand. The island was called Seriphus, and it was reigned over by King Polydectes, who happened to be the fisherman's brother.
This fisherman, I am glad to tell you, was an exceedingly humane and upright man. He showed great kindness to Danae and her little boy, and continued to befriend them until Per seus had grown to be a handsome youth, very strong and active and skillful in the use of arms. Long before this time King Polydectes had seen the two strangers — the mother and her
380 THE GORGON'S HEAD.
child — who had come to his dominions in a floating chest. As he was not good and kind like his brother the fisherman, but extremely wicked, he resolved to send Perseus on a dangerous enterprise in which he would probably be killed, and then to do some great mischief to Danae herself. So this bad-hearted king spent a long while in considering what was the most dan gerous thing that a young man could possibly undertake to perform. At last, having hit upon an enterprise that promised to turn out as fatally as he desired, he sent for the youthful Perseus.
The young man came to the palace, and found the king sitting upon his throne.
" Perseus," said King Polydectes, smiling craftily upon him, "you are grown up a fine young man. You and your good mother have received a great deal of kindness from myself, as well as from my worthy brother the fisherman, and I suppose you would not be sorry to repay some of it. "
"Please, your majesty," answered Perseus, "I would will ingly risk my life to do so. "
" Well, then," continued the king, still with a cunning smile on his lips, " I have a little adventure to propose to you ; and, as you are a brave and enterprising youth, you will doubtless look upon it as a great piece of good luck to have so rare an opportunity of distinguishing yourself. You must know, my good Perseus, I think of getting married to the beautiful Prin cess Hippodamia, and it is customary on these occasions to make the bride a present of some far-fetched and elegant curi osity. I have been a little perplexed, I must honestly confess, where to obtain anything likely to please a princess of her exquisite taste. But this morning, I flatter myself, I have thought of precisely the article. " "
cried
" You can, if you are as brave a youth as I believe you to be," replied King Polydectes, with the utmost graciousness of manner. " The bridal gift which I have set my heart on pre senting to the beautiful Hippodamia is the head of the Gorgon Medusa with the snaky locks, and I depend on you, my dear Perseus, to bring it to me. So, as I am anxious to settle affairs with the princess, the sooner you go in quest of the Gorgon the better I shall be pleased. "
" And can I assist your majesty in obtaining it ? Perseus, eagerly.
" I will set out to-morrow morning," answered Perseus.
The Gorgon's Head
THE GORGON'S HEAD. 381
" Pray do so, my gallant youth," rejoined the king. " And, Perseus, in cutting off the Gorgon's head be careful to make a clean stroke, so as not to injure its appearance. You must bring it home in the very best condition in order to suit the exquisite taste of the beautiful Princess Hippodamia. "
Perseus left the palace, but was scarcely out of hearing before Polydectes burst into a laugh, being greatly amused, wicked king that he was, to find how readily the young man fell into the snare. The news quickly spread abroad that Per seus had undertaken to cut off the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. Everybody was rejoiced, for most of the inhabit
ants of the island were as wicked as the king himself, and would have liked nothing better than to see some enormous mischief happen to Danae and her son. The only good man in this unfortunate island of Seriphus appears to have been the fisherman. As Perseus walked along, therefore, the people pointed after him, and made mouths, and winked to one another, and ridiculed him as loudly as they dared.
" Ho, ho ! " cried they ; " Medusa's snakes will sting him soundly ! "
Now, there were three Gorgons alive at that period, and they were the most strange and terrible monsters that had ever been seen since the world was made, or that have been seen in after days, or that are likely to be seen in all time to come. I hardly know what sort of creature or hobgoblin to call them. They were three sisters, and seem to have borne some distant resemblance to woman, but were really a very frightful and mischievous species of dragon. It is indeed difficult to imagine what hideous beings these three sisters were. Why, instead of locks of hair, if you can believe me, they had each of them a hundred enormous snakes growing on their heads, all alive, twisting, wriggling, curling, and thrusting out their venomous tongues with forked stings at the end. The teeth of the Gor gons were terribly long tusks ; their hands were made of brass ; and their bodies were all over scales, which, if not iron, were something as hard and impenetrable. They had wings, too, and exceedingly splendid ones, I can assure you, for every feather in them was pure, bright, glittering, burnished gold, and they looked very dazzling, no doubt, when the Gorgons were flying about in the sunshine.
But when people happened to catch a glimpse of their glit tering brightness aloft in the air, they seldom stopped to gaze,
382 THE GORGON'S HEAD.
but ran and hid themselves as speedily as they could. You will think, perhaps, that they were afraid of being stung by the serpents that served the Gorgons instead of hair, or of hav ing their heads bitten off by their ugly tusks, or of being torn all to pieces by their brazen claws. Well, to be sure, these were some of the dangers, but by no means the greatest nor the most difficult to avoid. For the worst thing about these abominable Gorgons was that if once a poor mortal fixed his eyes full upon one of their faces, he was certain that very instant to be changed from warm flesh and blood into cold and lifeless stone.
Thus, as you will easily perceive, it was a very dangerous adventure that the wicked King Polydectes had contrived for this innocent young man. Perseus himself, when he had thought over the matter, could not help seeing that he had very little chance of coming safely through and that he was far more likely to become stone image than to bring back the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. For, not to speak of other difficulties, there was one which would have puzzled an older man than Perseus to get over. Not only must he fight with and slay this golden-winged, iron-scaled, long-tusked, brazen-clawed, snaky-haired monster, but he must do with his eyes shut, or at least without so much as a glance at the enemy with whom he was contending. Else, while his arm was lifted to strike, he would stiffen into stone, and stand with that uplifted arm for centuries, until time and the wind and weather should crumble him quite away. This would be very sad thing to befall young man who wanted to perform great many brave deeds and to enjoy a great deal of happiness in this bright and beautiful world.
So disconsolate did these thoughts make him that Perseus could not bear to tell his mother what he had undertaken to do. He therefore took his shield, girded on his sword, and crossed over from the island to the mainland, where he sat down in a solitary place and hardly refrained from shedding tears.
But while he was in this sorrowful mood he heard voice close beside him. "
" Perseus," said the voice, "why are you sad?
He lifted his head from his hands, in which he had hidden it, and, behold all alone as Perseus had supposed himself to be, there was stranger in the solitary place. It was brisk, intelligent, and remarkably shrewd-looking young man, with
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THE GORGON'S HEAD.
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a cloak over his shoulders, an odd sort of cap on his head, a strangely twisted staff in his hand, and a short and very crooked sword hanging by his side. He was exceeding light and active in his figure, like a person much accustomed to gym nastic exercises and well able to leap or run. Above all, the stranger had such a cheerful, knowing, and helpful aspect (though it was certainly a little mischievous into the bargain) that Perseus could not help feeling his spirits grow livelier as he gazed at him. Besides, being really a courageous youth, he felt greatly ashamed that anybody should have found him with tears in his eyes, like a timid little schoolboy, when, after all, there might be no occasion for despair. So Perseus wiped his eyes and answered the stranger pretty briskly, putting on as brave a look as he could.
" I am not so very sad," said he ; " only thoughtful about an adventure that I have undertaken. "
" Oho ! " answered the stranger. " Well, tell me all about it, and possibly I may be of service to you.