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TANGLEWOOD TALES,
GIRLS AND BOYS;
A SECOND WON DEB-BOOK
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.
"ITH FIKB ILLDSTRATIONS.
BOSTON: TICKNOR AND FIELDS
1864.
Entered, according to Act of ConfreM, In the year iNfiS, by
Nathaniel P4WTH0R!fE,
ia tee Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of MaagachusettB
CONTENTS
Paob
THE WAYSIDE — INTRODUCTORY, . . .... 7
I THE MINOTAUR, .... 19
II. THE PYGMIES, 71
III. THE DRAGON'S TEETH, 108
IV. CIRCE'S PALACE, 161
V. THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS, 214
VI THE GOLDEN FLEECE, 279
:t{
THE WAYSIDE.
INTRODUCTORY.
A SHORT time ago, I was favored with a fly- ing visit from my young friend Eustace Bright, whom I had not before met with since quitting the breezy mountains of Berkshire. It being the winter vacation at his college, Eustace was allowing himself a little relaxation, in the hope, he told me, of repairing the inroads which severe application to study had made upon his health ; and I was happy to conclude, from the excellent physical condition in which I saw him, that the remedy had already been attended with very de- sirable success. He had now run up from Bos- ton by the noon train, partly impelled by the friendly regard with which he is pleased to honor me, and partly, as I soon found, on a matter of literary business.
It delighted me to receive Mr. Bright, for the first time, under a roof, though a very humble
(7)
THE WAYSIDE.
one, which I could really call my own. Nor did 1 fail (as is the custom of landed proprietors all about the world) to parade the poor fellow up and down over my half a dozen acres ; secretly rejoicing, nevertheless, that the disarray of the inclement season, and particularly the six inches of snow then upon the gi'ound, prevented him from observing the ragged neglect of soil and shrubbery into which the place has lapsed. It was idle, however, to imagine that an airy guest from Monument Mountain, Bald Summit, and old Graylock, shaggy with primeval forests, could see any thing to admire in my poor little hillside, with its growth of frail and insect- eaten locust trees. Eustace very frankly called the view from my hill top tame ; and so, no doubt, it was, after rough, broken, rugged, head long Berkshire, and especially the northern parts of the county, with which his college residence had made him familiar. But to me there is a peculiar, quiet charm in these broad meadows and gentle eminences. They are better than mountains, because they do not stamp and stereotype themselves into the brain, and thus grow wearisome with the same strong impres-
THE WAYSIDE. ^
sion, repeated day after day. A few summer weeks among mountains, a lifetime among green meadows and placid slopes, with outlines forever new, because continually fading out of the memory — such would be my sober choice.
I doubt whether Eustace did not internally pronounce the whole thing a bore, until I led him to my predecessor's little ruined, rustic summer house, midway on the hillside. It is a mere skeleton of slender, decaying tree trunks, with neither walls nor a roof; nothing but a tracery of branches and twigs, which the next wintry blast will be very likely to scatter in fragments along the terrace. It looks, and is, as evanescent as a dream ; and yet, in its rustic network of boughs, it has somehow en- closed a hint of spiritual beauty, and has be- come a true emblem of the subtile and ethereal mind that planned it. I made Eustace Bright sit down on a snow bank, which had heaped itself over the mossy seat, and gazing through the arched window opposite, he acknowledged that the scene at once grew picturesque.
" Simple as it looks," said he, " this little edifice seems to be the work of magic. It is
10 THE WAYSIDE.
full of suggestiveness, and, in its way, is as good as a cathedral. Ah, it would be just the spot for one to sit in, of a summer afternoon, and tell the children some more of those wild stories from the classic myths I "
" It would, indeed," answered I. " The sum- mer house itself, so airy and so broken, is like one of those old tales, imperfectly remembered ; and these living branches of the Baldwin apple tree, thrusting themselves so rudely in, are like your unwarrantable interpolations. But, by the by, have you added any more legends to the series, since the publication of the Wonder Book ? "
" Many more," said Eustace ; " Primrose, Periwinkle, and the rest of them, allow me no comfort of my life, unless I tell them a story every day or two. 1 have run away from home partly to escape the importunity of those little wretches ! But I have written out six of the new stories, and have brought them for you to look over."
" Are they as good as the first ? " 1 in- quired.
" Better chosen, and better handled," replied
THE WAYSIDE.
n
Eustace Bright. " You will say so when you read them."
" Possibly not," I remarked. " I know, from my own experience, that an author's last work is always his best one, in his own estimate, until it quite loses the red heat of composition. After that, it falls into its true place, quietly enough. But let us adjourn to my study, and examine these new stories. It would hardly be doing yourself justice, were you to bring me acquainted with them, sitting here on this snow bank ! "
So we descended the hill to my small, old cot- tage, and shut ourselves up in the south-eastern room, where the sunshine comes in, warmly and brightly, through the better half of a winter's day. Eustace put his bundle of manuscript into my hands ; and I skimmed through it pretty rapidly, trying to find out its merits and demerits by the touch of my fingers, as a veteran story teller ought to know how to do.
It will be remembered, that Mr. Bright con- descended to avail himself of my literary ex- perience by constituting me editor of the Won- der Book. As he had no reason to complain of
12 THE WAYSIDE.
the reception of that erudite work, by the public, he was now disposed to retain me in a similar position, with respect to the present volume, which he entitled " Tanglewood Tales." Not, as Eustace hinted, that there was any real necessity for my services as introductor, inas- much as his own name had become established, in some good degree of favor, with the literary world. But the connection with myself, he was kind enough to say, had been highly agreeable ; nor was he by any means desirous, as most people are, of kicking away the ladder that had perhaps helped him to reach his present eleva- tion. My young friend was willing, in short, that the fresh verdure of his growing reputation should spread over my straggling and half- naked boughs ; even as I have sometimes thought of training a vine, with its broad leafincss, and purple fruitage, over the worm-eaten posts and rafters of the rustic summer house. I was not insensible to the advantages of his proposal, and gladly assured him of my aeceptance.
Merely from the titles of the stories, I saw at once that the subjects were not less rich than those of the former volume ; nor did I at all
THE WAYSIDE. 13
doubt that Mr. Bright's audacity (so far as that endowment might avail) had enabled him to take full advantage of whatever capabilities they offered. Yet, in spite of my experience of his free way of handling them, I did not quite see, I confess, how he could have obviated all the difficulties in the way of rendering them pre- sentable to children. These old legends, so brimming over with every thing that is most abhorrent to our Christianized moral sense — some of them so hideous, others so melancholy and miserable, amid which the Greek tragedians sought their themes, and moulded them into the sternest forms of grief that ever the world saw ; was such material the stuff that children's playthings should be made of! How were they to be purified ? How was the blessed sunshine to be thrown into them ?
But Eustace told me that these myths were the most singular things in the world, and that he was invariably astonished, whenever he be- gan to relate one, by the readiness with which it adapted itself to the childish purity of his au- ditors. The objectionable characteristics seem to be a parasitical growth, having no essentia]
14 THE WAYSIDE.
connection with the original fable. They fail away, and are thought of no more, the instant he puts his imagination in sympathy with the innocent little circle, whose wide-open eyes are fixed so eagerly upon him. Thus the stories (not by any strained effort of the narrator's, but in harmony with their inherent germ) transform themselves, and reassume the shapes which they might be supposed to possess in the pure childhood of the world. When the first poet or romancer told these marvellous legends, (such is Eustace Bright's opinion,) it was still the Golden Age. Evil had never yet existed ; and sorrow, misfortune, crime, were mere shadows which the mind fancifully created for itself, as a shelter against too sunny realities ; or, at most, but prophetic dreams, to which the dream- er himself did not yield a waking credence. Children are now the only representatives of the men and women of that happy era ; and therefore it is that we must raise the intellect and fancy to the level of childhood, in order to re-create the original myths.
I let the youthful author talk as much and as extravagantly as he pleased, and was glad
THE WAYSIDE. 15
fco see him commencing life with such confi- dence in himself and his performances. A few years will do all that is necessary towards show- ing him the truth in both respects. Meanwhile, it is but right to say, he does really appear to have overcome the moral objections against these fables, although at the expense of such liberties with their structure as must be left to plead their own excuse, without any help from me. Indeed, except that there was a necessity for it, — and that the inner life of the legends cannot be come at save by making them entire- ly one's own property, — there is no defence to be made.
Eustace informed me that he had told his stories to the children in various situations — in the woods, on the shore of the lake, in the dell of Shadow Brook, in the play room, at Tangle- wood fireside, and in a magnificent palace of snow, with ice windows, which he helped his little friends to build. His auditors were even more delighted with the contents of the present volume than with the specimens which have already been given to the world. The classical- ly learned Mr. Pringle, too, had listened to two
16 THE WAYSIDE.
or three of the tales, and censured them even more bitterly than he did The Three Golden Apples ; so that, what with praise, and what with criticism, Eustace Bright thinks that there is good hope of at least as much success with the public as in the case of the Wonder Book.
I made all sorts of inquiries about the chil- dren, not doubting that there would be great eagerness to hear of their welfare, among some good little folks who have written to me, to ask for another volume of myths. They are all, I am happy to say, (unless we except Clover,) in excellent health and spirits. Primrose is now almost a young lady, and, Eustace tells me, is just as saucy as ever. She pretends to consider herself quite beyond the age to be interested by such idle stories as these; but, for all that, whenever a story is to be told. Primrose never fails to be one of the listeners, and to make fun of it w^hen finished. Periwinkle is very much grown, and is expected to shut up her baby house and throw away her doll in a month or two more. Sweet Fern has learned to read and write, and has put on a jacket and pair of pan- taloons — all of which improvements I am sorry
THE WAYSIDE. 17
for. Squash Blossom, Blue Eye, Plantain, and Buttercup have had the scarlet fever, but came eavsily through it. Huckleberry, Milkweed, and Dandelion were attacked with the hooping cough, but bore it bravely, and kept out of doors whenever the sun shone. Cowslip, dur- iKg the autumn, had either the measles, or some eruption that looked very much like it, but was hardly sick a day. Poor Clover has been a good deal troubled with her second teeth, which have made her meagre in aspect and rather fractious in temper; nor, even when she smiles, is the matter much mended, since it discloses a gap just within her lips, almost as wide as the barn door. But all this will pass over, and it is predicted that she will turn out a very pretty girl.
As for Mr. Bright himself, he is now in his senior year at Williams College, and has a pros- pect of graduating with some degree of honor- able distinction at the next commencement. In his oration for the bachelor's degree, he gives me to understand, he will treat of the classical myths, viewed in the aspect of baby stories, and has a great mind to discuss the expediency of 2
18 THH WAYSIDE.
using up the whole of ancient history, for the same purpose. I do not know what he means to do with himself after leaving college, but trust that, by dabbling so early with the danger- ous and seductive business of authorship, he will not be tempted to become an author by profession. If so, I shall be very sorry for the little that I have had to do with the matter, in encouraging these first beginnings.
I wish there were any likelihood of my soon seeing Primrose, Periwinkle, Dandelion, Sweet Fern, Clover, Plantain, Huckleberry, Milkweed, Cowslip, Buttercup, Blue Eye, and Squash Blos- som again. But as I do not know when I shall revisit Tanglewood, and as Eustace Brigh^. probably will not ask me to edit a third Wonder Book, the public of little folks must not expect to hear any more about those dear children from me. Heaven bless them, and every body else, whether grown people or children!
Thb Wayside, Concokd, (Mass.,) March 13, 1853.
THE MINOTAUR. 19
THE MINOTAUE
In the old city of Troezene, at the foot of a lofty mountain, there lived, a very long time ago, a little boy named Theseus. His grand- father. King Pittheus, was the sovereign of that country, and was reckoned a very wise man ; so that Theseus, being brought up in the royal palace, and being naturally a bright lad, could hardly fail of profiting by the old king's instruc- tions. His mother's name was ^thra. As for his father, the boy had never seen him. But, from his earliest remembrance, ^thra used to go with little Theseus into a wood, and sit down upon a moss-grown rock, which was deeply sunken into the earth. Here she often talked with her son about his father, and said that he was called ^geus, and that he was a great king, and ruled over Attica, and dwelt at Athens,
20 THE MINOTAUR.
which was as famous a city as any in the worxd. Theseus was very fond of hearing about King /Egeus, and often asked his good mother iEthra why he did not come and live with them at Troezene.
" Ah, my dear son," answered ^thra, with a sigh, " a monarch has his people to take care of. The men and women over whom he rules are in the place of children to him; and he can sel- dom spare time to love his own children as other parents do. Your father will never be able to leave his kingdom for the sake of seeing his little boy."
"Well, but, dear mother," asked the boy, "why cannot I go to this famous city of Athens, and tell Kins: ^o:eus that I am his son ? "
" That may happen by and by," said ^thra. " Be patient, and we shall see. You are not yet big and strong enough to set out on such an errand."
" And how soon shall I be strcjg enough ?" Theseus persisted in inquiring.
" You are but a tiny boy as yet," replied his mother. " See if you can lift this rock on which we are sitting ? "
THE MINOTAUR. 21
The little fellow had a great opinion of his own strength. So, grasping the rough protuber- ances of the rock, he tugged and toiled amain, and got himself quite out of breath, without being able to stir the heavy stone. It seemed to be rooted into the ground. No wonder he could not move it ; for it would have taken all the force of a very strong man to lift it out of its earthy bed.
His mother stood looking on, with a sad kind of a smUe on her lips and in her eyes, to see the zealous and yet puny efforts of her little boy. She could not help being sorrowful at finding him already so impatient to begin his adventures in the world.
" You see how it is, my dear Theseus," said she. " You must possess far more strength than now before I can trust you to go to Athens, and tell King ^geus that you are his son. But when you can lift this rock, and show me what is hid- den beneath it, I promise you my permission to depart."
Often and often, after this, did Theseus ask his mother whether it was yet time for him to go to Athens ; and still his mother pointed to the
22
THF, MINOTAUR.
rock, and told him that, for years to come, he could not be strong enough to move it. And again and again the rosy-cheeked and curly- headed boy would tug and strain at the huge mass of stone, striving, child as he was, to do what a giant could hardly have done without taking both of his great hands to the task. Meanwhile the rock seemed to be sinking far- ther and farther into the ground. The moss grew over it thicker and thicker, until at last it looked almost like a soft green seat, with only a few gray knobs of granite peeping out. The overhanging trees, also, shed their brown leaves upon it, as often as the autumn came ; and at its base grew ferns and wild flowers, some of which crept quite over its surface. To all ap- pearance, the rock was as firmly fastened as any other portion of the earth's substance.
But, difficult as the matter looked, Theseus was now growing up to be such a vigorous youth, that, in his own opinion, the time would quickly come when he might hope to get the upper hand of this ponderous lump of stone.
" Mother, I do believe it has started I *' cried he, after one of his attempts. " The earth around it is certainly a little cracked!"
THE MINOTAUR. 23
" No, no, child I " his mother hastily answered. " It is not possible you can have moved it, such a boy as you still are I "
Nor would she be convinced, although The- seus showed her the place where he fancied that the stem of a flower had been partly uprooted by the movement of the rock. But ^thra sighed, and looked disquieted ; for, no doubt, she began to be conscious that her son was no longer a child, and that, in a little while hence, she must send him forth among the perils and troubles of the world.
It was not more than a year afterwards when they were again sitting on the moss-covered stone, ^thra had once more told him the oft- repeated story of his father, and how gladly he would receive Theseus at his stately palace, and how he would present him to his courtiers and the people, and tell them that here was the heir of his dominions. The eyes of Theseus glowed with enthusiasm, and he would hardly sit still to hear his mother speak.
'* Dear mother ^thra," he exclaimed, " I never felt half so strong as now! I am no longer a child, nor a boy, nor a mere youth ! I feel my-
2^ THE MINOTAUR.
self a man I It is now time to make one earnest trial to remove the stone."
" Ah, my dearest Theseus," replied his mother, " not yet I not yet! "
" Yes, mother," said he, resolutely, " the time has come I "
Then Theseus bent himself in good earnest to the task, and strained every sinew, with manly strength and resolution. He put his whole brave heart into the effort. He wrestled with the big and sluggish stone, as if it had been a living enemy. He heaved, he lifted, he resolved now to succeed, or else to perish there, and let the rock be his monument forever! ^thra stood gazing at him, and clasped her hands, partly with a mother's pride, and partly with a mother's sorrow.' The great rock stirred! Yes, it was raised slowly from the bedded moss and earth, uprooting the shrubs and flowers along with it, and was turned upon its side. Theseus had conquered I
While taking breath, he looked joyfully at his mother, and she smiled upon him through her tears.
" Yes, Theseus," she said, " the time has come.
THE MINOTAUR. 25
and you must stay no longer at my side I See what King ^geus, your royal father, hift for you, beneath the stone, when he lifted it in his mighty arms, and laid it on the spot whence you have now removed it."
Theseus looked, and saw that the rock had been placed over another slab of stone, contain- ing a cavity within it ; so that it somewhat resembled a roughly-made chest or coffer, of which the upper mass had served as the lid. Within the cavity lay a sword, with a golden hilt, and a pair of sandals.
" That was your father's sword," said ^thra, " and those were his sandals. When he went to be king of Athens, he bade me treat you as a child until you should prove yourself a man by lifting this heavy stone. That task being accom- plished, you are to put on his sandals, in order to follow in your father's footsteps, and to gird on his sword, so that you may fight giants and dragons, as King ^geus did in his youth."
" I wdll set out for Athens this very day I " cried Theseus.
But his mother persuaded him to stay a day or two longer, while she got ready some neces-
26 THE MINOTAUR.
sary articles for his journey. When his grand- father, the wise King Pitthcus, heard that The- seus intended to present himself at his father's palace, he earnestly advised him to get on board of a vessel, and go by sea ; because he might thus arrive within fifteen miles of Athens, with- out either fatigue or danger.
" The roads are very bad by land," quoth the venerable king ; " and they are terribly infested with robbers and monsters. A mere lad, like Theseus, is not fit to be trusted on such a peril- ous journey, all by himself. No, no ; let him go by sea I "
But when Theseus heard of robbers and mon- sters, he pricked up his ears, and was so nuich the more eager to take the road along which they were to be met with. On the third day, therefore, he bade a respectful farewell to his grandfather, thanking him for all his kindness ; and, after affectionately embracing his mother, he set forth, with a good many of her tears glis- tening on his checks, and some, if the truth must be told, that had gushed out of his own eyes. But he let the sun and \\in(l dry Ihem, and walked stoutly on, playing with the golden
THE MINOTAUR. 27
hilt of his sword, and taking very manly strides in his father's sandals.
I cannot stop to tell you hardly any of the ad- ventures that befell Theseus on the road to Athens. It is enough to say, that he quite cleared that part of the country of the robbers, about whom King Pittheus had been so much alarmed. One of these bad people was named Procrustes ; and he was indeed a terrible fellow, and had an ugly way of making fun of the poor travellers who happened to fall into his clutches. In his cavern he had a bed, on which, with great pre- tence of hospitality, he invited his guests to lie down ; but if they happened to be shorter than the bed, this wicked villain stretched them out by main force ; or, if they were too tall, he lopped off their heads or feet, and laughed at what he had done, as an excellent joke. Thus, however weary a man might be, he never liked to lie in the bed of Procrustes. Another of these robbers, named Scinis, must likewise have been a very great scoundrel." He was in the habit of fling- ing his victims off" a high cliff" into the sea ; and, in order to give him exactly his deserts, Theseus tossed him off" the very same place. But if you
28
THE MINOTAUR.
will believe me, the sea would not pollute itself by receiving such a bad person into its bosom ^ neither would the earth, having once got rid of him, consent to take him back ; so that, between the cliff and the sea, Scinis stuck fast in the air, which was forced to bear the burden of his naughtiness.
After these memorable deeds, Theseus heard of an enormous sow, which ran wild, and was the terror of all the farmers round about ; and, as he did not consider himself above doing any- good thing that came in his way, he killed this monstrous creature, and gave the carcass to the poor people for bacon. The great sow had been an awful beast, while ramping about the woods and fields, but was a pleasant object enough when cut up into joints, and smoking on I know not how many dinner tables.
Thus, by the time he reached his journey's end, Theseus had done many valiant feats with his father's golden-hilted sword, and had gained the renown of being one of the bravest young men of the day. His fame travelled faster than he did, and reached Athens before him. As he entered the city, he heard the
THE MINOTAUR. 29
inhabitants talking at the street corners, and saying that Hercules was brave, and Jason too, and Castor and Pollux likewise, but that The- seus, the son of their own king, would turn out as great a hero as the best of them. Theseus Took longer strides on hearing this, and fancied himself sure of a magnificent reception at his father's court, since he came thither with Fame to blow her trumpet before him, and cry to King ^geus, " Behold your son I "
He little suspected, innocent youth that he was, that here, in this very Athens, where his father reigned, a greater danger awaited him than any which he had encountered on the road. Yet this was the truth. You must understand that the father of Theseus, though not very old in years, was almost worn out with the cares of government, and had thus grown aged before his time. His nephews, not expecting him to live a very great while, intended to get all the power of the kingdom into their own hands. But when they heard that Theseus had arrived in Athens, and learned what a gallant young man he was, they saw that he would not be at all the kind of person to let thein steal away his father's
30 THE MINOTAUR.
crown and sceptre, which ought to be his own by right of inheritance. Thus thl*se bad-hearted nephews of King yEgeus, who were the own cousins of Theseus, at once became his enemies. A still more dangerous enemy was Medea, the wicked enchantress ; for she was now the king's wife, and wanted to give the kingdom to her son Medus, instead of letting it be given to the son of ^thra, whom she hated.
It so happened that the king's nephews met Theseus, and found out who he was, just as he reached the entrance of the royal palace. With all their evil designs against him, they pretended to be their cousin's best friends, and expressed great joy at making his acquaintance. They proposed to him that he should come into the king's presence as a stranger, in order to try whether jEgeus would discover in the young man's features any likeness either to himself or his mother ^thra, and thus recognize him for a son. Theseus consented; for he fancied that his father would know him in a moment, by the love that was in his heart. But, w^hile he waited at the door, the nephews ran and told King ^geus that a young man had arrived in Athens,
THE MIN'OTAUK.
31
who, to their certain knowledge, intended to put him to death, and get possession of his royal crown.
" And he is now waiting for admission to your majesty's presence," added they.
" Aha ! " cried the old king, on hearing this. " Why, he must be a very wicked young fellow indeed ! Pray, what would you advise me to do with him ? "
In reply to this question, the wicked Medea put in her word. As I have already told you, she was a famous enchantress. According to some stories, she was in the habit of boiling old people in a large caldron, under pretence of making them young again ; but King^geus, I suppose, did not fancy such an uncomfortable way of growing young, or perhaps was contented to be old, and therefore w^ould never let himself be popped into the caldron. If there were time to spare from more important matters, I should be glad to tell you of Medea's fiery chariot, drawn by winged dragons, in which the enchantress used often to take an airing among the clouds. This chariot, in fact, was the vehicle that first brought her to Athens, where she had done nothing but
32
THE MINOTAUR.
mischief ever since her arrival. But these and many other wonders must be left untold ; and it is enough to say, that Medea, amongst a thou- sand other bad things, knew how to prepare a poison, that was instantly fatal to whomsoever might so much as touch it with his lips.
So, when the king asked what he should do with Theseus, this naughty woman had an answer ready at her tongue's end.
" Leave that to me, please your majesty," she replied. " Only admit this evil-minded young man to your presence, treat him civilly, and in- vite him to drink a goblet of wine. Your ma- jesty is well aware that I sometimes amuse myself with distilling very powerful medicines. Here is one of them in this small phial. As to what it is made of, that is one of my secrets of state. Do but let me put a single droj) into the goblet, and let the young man taste it ; and I will answer for it, he shall quite lay aside the bad designs with which he comes hither."
As she said this, Medea smiled ; but, for all her smiling face, she meant nothing less than to poison the poor innocent Theseus, before his father's eyes. And King /Egeus, like most other
THE MINOTAUR. 33
kings, thought any punishment mild enough for a person who was accused of plotting against his life. He therefore made little or no objec- tion to Medea's scheme, and as soon as the poisonous wine was ready, gave orders that the young stranger should be admitted into his presence. The goblet was set on a table beside the king's throne ; and a fly, meaning just to sip a little from the brim, immediately tumbled into it, dead. Observing this, Medea looked round at the nephews, and smiled again. When Theseus was ushered into the royal apartment, the only object that he seemed to behold was the white-bearded old king. There he sat on his magnificent throne, a dazzling crown on his head, and a sceptre in his hand. His aspect was stately and majestic, although his years and infirmities weighed heavily upon him, as if each year were a lump of lead, and each infirmity a ponderous stone, and all were bundled up together, and laid upon his weary shoulders. The tears both of joy and sorrow sprang into the young man's eyes ; for he thought how sad it was to see his dear father so infirm, and how sweet it would be to support him with
34 THE MINOTALR.
his own youthful strength, and to cheer him up with the alacrity of his loving spirit. When a son takes his father into his warm heart, it renews the old man's youth in a better way than by the heat of Medea's magic caldron. And this was what Theseus resolved to do. He could scarcely wait to see whether King ^Egeus would recognize him, so eager was he to throw himself into his arms.
Advancing to the foot of the throne, he at- tempted to make a little speech, which he had been thinking about, as he came up the stairs. But he was almost choked by a great many tender feelings that gushed out of his heart and swelled into his throat, all struggling to find utterance together. And therefore, unless he could have laid his full, over-brimming heart into the king's hand, poor Theseus knew not what to do or say. The cunning Medea ob- served what was passing in the young man's mind. She was more wicked at that moment than ever she had been before ; for (and it makes me tremble to tell you of it) she did her worst to turn all this unspeakable love with which Theseus was agitated, to his own ruin and destruction.
THE MINOTAUR. 35
''Does your majesty see his confusion?" she whispered in the king's ear. " He is so con- scious of guilt, that he trembles and cannot speak. The wretch lives too long! Quick I )frer him the wine!"
Now King ^geus had been gazing earnestly at the young stranger, as he drew near the throne. There was something, he knew not what, either in his white brow, or in the fine expression of his mouth, or in his beautiful and tender eyes, that made him indistinctly feel as if he had seen this youth before ; as if, indeed, he had trotted him on his knee when a baby, and had beheld him growing to be a stalwart man, while he himself grew old. But Medea guessed how the king felt, and would not suffer him to yield to these natural sensibilities ; although thej^ were the voice of his deepest heart, telling him, as plainly as it could speak, that here was our dear son, and ^thra's son, coming to claim him for a father. The enchantress again whis- pered in the king's ear, and compelled him, by her witchcraft, to see everything under a false aspect.
He made up his mind, therefore, to let Theseus drink off the poisoned wine.
36 THE MINOTAUR.
" Young man," said he, " you are welcome ! I am proud to sjiow hospitality to so heroic a youth. Do me the favor to drink the contents of this goblet. It is brimming over, as you see, with delicious wine, such as I bestow only on those who are worthy of it! None is more wor- thy to quaff it than yourself!"
So saying. King ^geus took the golden gob- let from the table, and was about to offer it to Theseus. But, partly through his infirmities, and partly because it seemed so sad a thing to take away this young man's life, however wicked he might be, and partly, no doubt, because his heart was wiser than his head, and quaked with- in him at the thought of what he was. going to do — for all these reasons, the king's hand trem- bled so much that a great deal of the wine slopped over. In order to strengthen his pur- pose, and fearing lest the whole of the precious poison should be wasted, one of his nephews now whispered to him, —
" Has your majesty any doubt of this stran- ger's guilt? There is the very sword with which he meant to slay you. How sharp, and bright, and terrible it is! Quick.' — let him
THE MINOTAUR. 37
taste the wine ; or perhaps he may do the deed even yet."
At these words, ^geus drove every thought and feeling out of his breast, except the one idea of how justly the young man deserved to be put to death. He sat erect on his throne, and held out the goblet of wine with a steady hand, and bent on Theseus a frown of kingly severity; for, after all, he had too noble a spirit to murder even a treacherous enemy with a deceitful smile upon his face.
" Drink I " said he, in the stern tone with which he was wont to condemn a criminal to be be- headed. " You have well deserved of me such wine as this ! "
Theseus held out his hand to take the wine. But, before he touched it. King ^geus trembled again. His eyes had fallen on the gold-hilted sword that hung at the young man's side. He drew back the goblet.
"That sword!" he exclaimed; "how came you by it?"
" It was my father's sword," replied Theseus, with a tremulous voice. " These were his san- dals. My dear motiher (her name is iEthra) told
38 THE MINOTAUR.
me his story while I was yet a little child. But it is only a month since I grew strong enough to lift the heavy stone, and take the sword and sandals from beneath it, and come to Athens to seek my father.'*
'• My son I my son ! " cried King ^geus, fling- ing away the fatal goblet, and tottering down from the throne to fall into the arms of Theseus. " Yes, these are ^thra's eyes. It is my son."
I have quite forgotten what became of the king's nephews. But when the wicked Medea saw this new turn of affairs, she hurried out of the room, and going to her private chamber, lost no time in setting her enchantments at work. In a few moments, she heard a great noise of hissing snakes outside of the chamber window ; and, behold I there was her fiery chariot, and four huge winged serpents, wriggling and twisting in the air, flourishing their tails higher than the top of the palace, and all ready to set off on an aerial journey. Medea staid only long enough to take her son with her, and to steal the crown jewels, together with the king's best robes, and whatever other valuable things she could lay hands on ; and getting into the chariot, she
THE MINOTAUR.
30
whipped up the snakes, and ascended high over the city.
The king, hearing the hiss of the serpents, scrambled as fast as he could to the window, and bawled out to the abominable enchantress never to come back. The whole people of Athens, too, who had run out of doors to see this wonderful spectacle, set up a shout of joy at the prospect of getting rid of her. Medea, almost bursting with rage, uttered precisely such a hiss as one of her own. snakes, only ten times more venomous and spiteful ; and glaring fierce- ly out of the blaze of the chariot, she shook her hands over the multitude below, as if she were scattering a million of curses among them. In so doing, however, she unintentionally let fall about five hundred diamonds of the first water, together with a thousand great pearls, and two thousand emeralds, rubies, sapphires, opals, and topazes, to which she had helped herself out of the king's strong box. All these came pelting down, like a shower of many-colored hailstones^ upon the heads of grown people and children, who forthwith gathered them up, and carried them back to the palace. But King ^geus told
40
THE MINOTAUR.
them that they were welcome to the whole, and to twice as many more, if he had them, for the sake of his delight at finding his son, and losing the wicked Medea. And, indeed, if you had seen how hateful was her last look, as the flam- ing chariot flew upward, you would not have wondered that both king and people should think her departure a good riddance.
And now Prince Theseus was taken into great favor by his royal father. The old king was never weary of having him sit beside him on his throne, (which was quite wide enough for two,) and of hearing him tell about his dear mother, and his childhood, and his many boyish efforts to lift the ponderous stone. Theseus, however, was much too brave and active a young man to be willing to spend all his time in relating things which had already happened. His ambition was to perform other and more heroic deeds, which should be better worth telling in prose and verse. Nor had he been long in Athens be- fore he caught and chained a terrible mad bull, and made a public show of him, greatly to the wonder and admiration of good King ^geus and his subjects. But pretty soon, he undertook
THE MINOTAUR. 41
an affair that made all his foregone adventures seem like mere boy's play. The occasion of it was as follows : —
One morning, when Prince Theseus awoke, he fancied that he must have had a very sorrowful dream, and that it was still running in his mind, even now that his eyes were open. For it ap- peared as if the air was full of a melancholy wail ; and when he listened more attentively, he could hear sobs, and groans, and screams of woe, mingled with deep, quiet sighs, which came from the king's palace, and from the streets, and from the temples, and from every habitation in the city. And all these mournful noises, issuing out of thousands of separate hearts, unite4 them- selves into the one great sound of affliction,, which had startled Theseus from slumber. He put on his clothes as quickly as he could, (not forgetting his sandals and gold-hilted sword,) and hastening to the king, inquired what it all meant.
" Alas ! my t^on," quoth King ^geus, heaving a long sigh, " here is a very lamentable matter in hand ! This is the wofulest anniversary in the whole year. It is the day when we annually
42 THE MINOTAUR.
draw lots to see which of the youths and maidens of Athens shall go to be devoured by the horrible Minotaur I "
" The Minotaur!" exclaimed Prince Theseus, and like a brave young prince as he was, he put his hand to the hilt of his sword. " What kind of a monster may that be ? Is it not possible, at the risk of one's life, to slay him?"
But King ^geus shook his venerable head, and to convince Theseus that it was quite a hopeless case, he gave him an explanation of the whole affair. It seems that in the Island of Crete there lived a certain dreadful monster, called a Minotaur, which was shaped partly like a man and partly like a bull, and was altogether such a hideous sort of a creature that it is really disasreeable to think of him. K he were suffered to exist at all, it should have been on some desert island, or in the duskiness of some deep cavern, where nobody would ever be tormented by his abominable aspect. But King Minos, who reigned over Crete, laid out a vast deal of money in building a habitation for the Minotaur, and took great care of his health and comfort, merely for mischief's sake. A
THE MIx\OTAUR.
43
few years befor3 this time, there had beea a war between the city of Athens and the island of Crete, in which the Athenians were beaten, and compelled to beg for peace. No peace could they obtain, however, except on condition that they should send seven young men and seven maidens, every year, to be devoured by the pet monster of the cruel King Minos. For three years past, this grievous calamity had been borne. And the sobs, and groans, and shrieks, with which the city was now filled, were caused by the people's woe, because the fatal day had come again, when the fourteen victims were to be chosen by lot ; and the old people feared lest their sons or daughters might be taken, and the youths and damsels dreaded lest they themselves might be destined to glut the ravenous maw of that detestable man- brute.
But when Theseus heard the story, he straight- ened himself up, so that he seemed taller than ever before ; and as for his face, it was indig- nant, despiteful, bold, tender, and compassion- ate, all in one look.
" Let the people of Athens, this year, draw
44 THE MINOTAUR.
lots for only six young men, instead of seven " said he. " I will myself be the seventh ; and let the Minotaur devour me, if he can ! "
" O my dear son," cried King JEgeus, " why should you expose yourself to this horrible fate ? You are a royal prince, and have a right to hold yourself above the destinies of common men."
" It is because I am a prince, your son, and the rightful heir of your kingdom, that I freely take upon me the calamity of your subjects," answered Theseus. " And you, my father, being king over this people, and answerable to Heaven for their welfare, are bound to sacrifice what is dearest to you, rather than that the son or daughter of the poorest citizen should come to any harm."
The old king shed tears, and besought Theseus not to leave him desolate in his old age, more especially as he had but just begun to know the happiness of possessing a good and valiant son. Theseus, however, felt that he was in the right, and therefore would not give up his resolution. But he assured his father that he did not intend to be eaten up, unresistingly, like a sheep, and that, if the Minotaur devoured him, it should
THE MINOTAUR. 45
not be without a battle for his dinner. And finally, since he could not help it, King ^geus consented to let him go. So a vessel was got ready, and rigged with black sails; and Theseus, with six other young men, and seven tender and beautiful damsels, came down to the harbor to embark. A sorrowful multitude accompa- nied them to the shore. There was the poor old king, too, leaning on his son's arm, and looking as if his single heart held aH the grief of Athens.
Just as Prince Theseus was going on board, his father bethought himself of one last word to say.
" My beloved son," said he, grasping the prince's hand, " you observe that the sails of this vessel are black ; as indeed they ought to be, since it goes upon a voyage of sorrow and despair. Now, being weighed down with in- firmities, I know not whether I can survive till ihe vessel shall return. But, as long as I do jive, I shall creep daily to the top of yonder cliff, to watch if there be a sail upon the sea. And, dearest Theseus, if, by some happy chance you should escape the jaws of the Minotaur,
46 THE MINOTATUiw
then tear down those dismal sails, and hoist others that shall be bright as the sunshine. Beholding them on the horizon, myself and all the people will know that you are coming back victorious, and will welcome you with such a festal uproar as Athens never heard before."
Theseus promised that he would do so. Then, going on board, the mariners trimmed the ves- sel's black sails to the wind, which blew faintly off the sltore, being pretty much made up of the sighs that every body kept pouring forth on this melancholy occasion. But by and by, when they had got fairly out to sea, there came a stiff breeze from the north-west, and drove them along as merrily over the white-capped waves as if they had been going on the most delightful errand imaginable. And though it was a sad business enough, I rather question whether fourteen young people, without any old persons to keep them in order, could con- tinue to spend the whole time of the voyage 'n being miserable. There had been some few Jances upon the undulating deck, I suspect, and some hearty bursts of laughter, and othei ach unseasonable merriment among the vie
THE MINOTAUR. 47
tims, before the high, blue mountains of Crete began to show themselves among the far-off clouds. That sight, to be sure, made them all very grave again.
Theseus stood among the sailors, gazing ea- gerly towards the land; although, as yet, it seemed hardly more substantial than the clouds, amidst which the mountains were looming up. Once or twice, he fancied that he saw a glare of some bright object, a long way off, flinging a gleam across the waves.
" Did you see that flash of light ? " he inquired of the master of the vessel.
" No, prince ; but I have seen it before," an- swered the master. " It came from Talus, suppose."
As the ' breeze came fresher just then, the master was busy with trimming his sails, ana had no more time to answer questions. But while the vessel flew faster and faster towards Crete, Theseus was astonished to behold a hu- man figure, gigantic in size, which appeared to be striding, with a measured movement, along the margin of the island. It stepped from cliff to cliff, and sometimes from one headland to
48 THE MINOTAUR.
another, while the sea foamed and thundered on the shore beneath, and dashed its jets of spray- over the giant's feet. What was still more re- markable, whenever the sun shone on this huge figure, it flickered and glimmered ; its vast coun- tenance, too, had a metallic lustre, and threw great flashes of splendor through the air. The folds of its garments, moreover, instead of waving in the wind, fell heavily over its limbs, as if woven of some kind of metal.
The nigher the vessel came, the more Theseus wondered what this immense giant could be, and whether it actually had life or no. For, though it walked, and made other lifelike mo- tions, there yet was a kind of jerk in its gait, which, together with its brazen aspect, caused the young prince to suspect that it was no true giant, but only a wonderful piece of machinery. The figure looked all the more terrible because it carried an enormous brass club on its shoulder.
"What is this wonder?" Theseus asked of the master of the vessel, who was now at leisure to answer him.
" It is Talus, the Man of Brass," said the master.
THE MINOTAUR. 49
" And is he a live giant, or a brazen image ? " asked Theseus.
" That, truly," replied the master, " is the point which has always perplexed me. Some say, indeed, that this Talus was hammered out for King Minos by Vulcan himself, the skilfulest of all workers in metal. But who ever saw a brazen image that had sense enough to walk round an island three times a day, as this giant walks round the Island of Crete, challenging every vessel that comes nigh the shore ? And, on the other hand, what living thing, unless his sinews were made of brass, would not be weary of marching eighteen hundred miles in the twenty-four hours, as Talus does, without ever sitting down to rest? He is a puzzler, take him how you will."
Still the vessel went bounding onward ; and now Theseus could hear the brazen clangor of the giant's footsteps, as he trod heavily upon the sea-beaten rocks, aome of which were seen to crack and crumble into the foamy waves be- neath his weight. As they approached the en- trance of the port, the giant straddled clear across it, with a foot firmly planted on each 4
50 THE MINOTAUR.
headland, and uplifting his club to such a height that its but-end was hidden in a cloud, he stood in that formidable posture, with the sun gleam- ing all over his metallic surface. There seemed nothing else to be expected but that, the next moment, he would fetch his great club down, slam bang, and smash the vessel into a thousand pieces, without heeding how many innocent people he might destroy ; for there is seldom any mercy in a giant, you know, and quite as little in a piece of brass clockwork. But just when Theseus and his companions thought the blow was coming, the brazen lips unclosed themselves, and the figure spoke.
" Whence come you, strangers ? "
And when the ringing voice ceased, there was just such a reverberation as you may have heard within a great church bell, for a moment or two after the stroke of the hammer.
" From Athens! " shouted the master in reply.
" On what errand ? " thundered the Man of Brass.
And he whirled his club aloft more threaten- ingly than ever, as if he were about to smite them with a thunderstroke right amidships, be-
THE MINOTAUR.
51
cause Atliens, so little while ago, had been at war with Crete.
" We bring the seven youths and the seven maidens," answered the master, " to be devoured by the Minotaur ! "
" Pass ! " cried the brazen giant.
That one loud word ri^ed all about the sky, while again there was a booming reverberation within the figure's breast. The vessel glided between the headlands of the port, and the giant resumed his march. In a few moments, this wondrous sentinel was far away, flashing in the distant sunshine, and revolving with im- mense strides around the Island of Crete, as it was his never-ceasing task to do.
No sooner had they entered the harbor than a party of the guards of King Minos came down to the water side, and took charge of the four- teen young men and damsels. Surrounded by these armed warriors, Prince Theseus and his companions were led to the king's palace, and ashered into his presence. Now, Minos was a stern and pitiless king. If the figure that guarded Crete was made of brass, then the mon- arch, who ruled over it, might be thought to
52 THE MINOTAUR.
have a still harder metal in his breast, a/.d might have been called a man of iron. He bent his shaggy brows upon the poor Athenian victims. Any other mortal, beholding their fresh and ten- der beauty, and their innocent looks, would have felt himself sitting on thorns until he had made every soul of them happy, by bidding them go free as the summer wind. But this immitigable Minos cared only to examine whether they were plump enough to satisfy the Minotaur's appetite. For my part, I wish he himself had been the only victim ; and the monster would have found him a pretty tough one.
One after another. King Minos called these pale, frightened youths and sobbing maidens to his footstool, gave them each a poke in the ribs with his sceptre, (to try whether they were in good flesh or no,) and dismissed them with a nod to his guards. But when his eyes rested on Theseus, the king looked at him more atten- tively, because his face was calm and brave.
" Young man," asked he, with his stern voice, " are you not appalled at the certainty of being devoured by this terrible Minotaur ? "
" I have offered my life in a good cause,"
THE MINOTAUR. 53
answered Theseus, " and therefore I give it freely and gladly. But thou, King Minos, art thou not thyself appalled, who, year after year, hast perpetrated this dreadful wrong, by giving seven innocent youths and as many maidens to be devoured by a monster ? Dost thou not tremble, wicked king, to turn thine eyes inward on thine own heart ? Sitting there on thy golden throne, and in thy robes of majesty, I tell thee to thy face, King Minos, thou art a more hideous monster than the Minotaur himself I"
" Aha ! do you think me so ? " cried the king, laughing in his cruel way. " To-morrow, at breakfast time, you shall have an opportuni- ty of judging which is the greater monster, the Minotaur or the king I Take them away, guards ; and let this free-spoken youth be the Minotaur's first morsel ! "
Near the king's throne (though I had no time to tell you so before) stood his daughter Ariadne. She was a beautiful and tender-heart- ed maiden, and looked at these poor doomed captives with very different feeHngs from those of the iron-breasted King Minos. She really wept, indeed, at the idea of how much human
M THE MINOTAUR.
happiness would be needlessly thrown away, by giving so many young people, in the first bloom and rose blossom of their lives, to be eaten up by a creature who, no doubt, would have pre- ferred a fat ox, or even a large pig, to the plumpest of them. And when she beheld the brave, spirited figure of Prince Theseus bearing himself so calmly in his terrible peril, she grew a hundred times more pitiful than before. As the guards were taking him away, she flung herself at the king's feet, and besought him to set all the captives free, and especially this one young man.
" Peace, foolish girl I " answered King Minos. " What hast thou to do with an affair like this? It is a matter of state policy, and therefore quite beyond thy weak comprehension. Go water thy flowers, and think no more of these Athe- nian caitifls, whom the Minotaur shall as cer- tainly eat up for breakfast as I will eat a par- tridge for my sapper."
So saying, the king looked cruel enough to devour Theseus and all the rest of the captives, himself, had there been no Minotaur to save him the trouble. As he would hear not another
THE MINOTAUR. 55
word in their favor, the prisoners were now leJ away, and clapped into a dungeon, where the jailer advised them to go to sleep as soon as possible, because the Minotaur was in the habit of calling for breakfast early. The seven maid- ens and six of the young men soon sobbed themselves to slumber. But Theseus was not like them. He felt conscious that he was wiser, and braver, and stronger than his companions, and that therefore he had the responsibility of all their lives upon him, and must consider whether there was no way to save them, even in this last extremity. So he kept himself awake, and paced to and fro across the gloomy dungeon in which they were shut up.
Just before midnight, the door was softly un- barred, and the gentle Ariadne showed herself, with a torch in her hand.
"Are you awake, Prince Theseus?" she whispered.
" Yes," answered Theseus. " With so little time to live, I do not choose to waste any of it in sleep."
" Then follow me," said Ariadne, " and tread softly."
56
THE MINOTAUR.
What had become of the jailer and the guards, Theseus never knew. But, however that might be, Ariadne opened all the doors, and led him forth from the darksome prison into the pleasant moonlight.
"Theseus," said the maiden, "you can now get on board your vessel, and sail away for Athens."
" No," answered the young man ; " I will never leave Crete unless I can first slay the Minotaur, and save my poor companions, and deliver Athens from this cruel tribute."
" I knew that this would be your resolution," said Ariadne. " Come, then, with me, brave Theseus. Here is your own sword, which the guards deprived you of. You will need it ; and pray Heaven you may use it well."
Then she led Theseus along by the hand un- til they came to a dark, shadowy grove, where the moonlight wasted itself on the tops of the trees^ without shedding hardly so much as a glimmering beam upon their pathway. After going a good way through this obscurity, they reached a high, marble wall, which was over- grown with cr jcping plants, that made it shaggy
THE MINOTAUR. 57
with their verdure. The wall seemed to have no door, nor any windows, but rose up, lofty, and massive, and mysterious, and was neither to be clambered over, nor, so far as Theseus could perceive, to be passed through. Neverthe- less, Ariadne did but press one of her soft little fingers against a particular block of marble, and, though it looked as solid as any other part of the wall, it yielded to her touch, disclosing an entrance just wide enough to admit them. They crept through, and the marble stone swung back into its place.
" We are now," said Ariadne, " in the famous labyrinth which Dajdalus built before he made himself a pair of wings, and flew away from our island like a bird. That Daedalus was a very cunning workman; but of all his artful con- trivances, this labyrinth is the most wondrous. Were we to take but a few steps from the door- way, we might wander about all our lifetime, and never find it again. Yet in the very centre of this labyrinth is the Minotaur; and, Theseus, you must go thither to seek him."
*' But how shall I ever find him," asked The- seus, "if the labyrinth so bewilders me as yoa say it will ? "
58
THE MINOTAUR.
Just as he spoke, they heard a rough and very disagreeable roar, which greatly resembled the lowing of a fierce bull, but yet had some sort of sound like the human voice. Theseus even fan- cied a rude articulation in it, as if the creature that uttered it were trying to shape his hoarse breath into words. It was at some distance, however, and he really could not tell whether it sounded most like a bull's roar or a man's harsh voice.
*' That is the Minotaur's noise," whispered Ariadne, closely grasping the hand of Theseus, and pressing one of her own hands to her heart, which was all in a tremble. " You must follow that sound through the windings of the labyrinth, and, by and by, you will find him. Stay ! take the end of this silken string ; I will hold the other end ; and then, if you win the victory, it will lead you again to this spot. Farewell, brave Theseus."
So the young man took the end of the silken string in his left hand, and his gold-hilted sword, ready drawn from its scabbard, in the other, and trod boldly into the inscrutable labyrinth. How this labyrinth was built is more than I can tell you. But so cunningly contrived a mizmaze
THE MINOTAUR. 59
was never seen in the world, before nor since. There can be nothing else so intricate, unless it were the brain of a man like Dsedalus, who planned it, or the heart of any ordinary man ; which last, to be sure, is ten times as great a mystery as the labyrinth of Crete. Theseus had not taken five steps before he lost sight of Ari- adne ; and in five more his head was growing dizzy. But still he went on, now creeping through a low arch, now ascending a flight of steps, now in one crooked passage, and now in another, with here a door opening before him, and there one banging behind, until it really seemed as if the walls spun round, and whirled him round along with them. And all the while, through these hollow avenues, now nearer, now farther off again, resounded the cry of the Mino- taur; and the sound was so fierce, so cruel, so ugly, so like a bull's roar, and withal so like a human voice, and yet like neither of them, that the brave heart of Theseus grew sterner and angrier at every step ; for he felt it an insult to the moon and sky, and to our affectionate and simple Mother Earth, that such a monster should have the audacity to exist.
60
THE MINOTAUR.
As he passed onward, the c.ouds gathered over the moon, and the labyrinth grew so dusky that Theseus could no longer discern the bewil- derment through w^hich he was passing. Ho would have felt quite lost, and utterly hopeless of ever again walking in a straight path, if, every little while, he had not been conscious of a gentle twitch at the silken cord. Then he knew that the tender-hearted i riadne was still holding the other end, and that she was fearing for him, and hoping for him, and giving him just as much of her sympathy as if she were close by his side. O, indeed, I can assure you, there was a vast deal of human sympathy run- ning along that slender thread of silk. But still he followed the dreadful roar of the Minotaur, which now grew louder and louder, and finally so very loud that Theseus fully expected to come close upon him, at every new zigzag and wriggle of the path. And at last, in an open space, at the very centre of the labyrinth, he did discern the hideous creature.
Sure enough, what an ugly monster it was! Only his horned head belonged to a bnll ; and yet, somehow or other, \\ki looked like a bull all
THE MINOTAUR. 61
over, preposterously waddling on his hind legs ; or, if you happened to view him in anothei way, he seemed wholly a man, and all the more mon- strous for being so. And there he was, the wretched thing, with no society, no companion, no kind of a mate, living only to do mischief, and incapable of knowing what affection means Theseus hated him, and shuddered at him, and yet could not but be sensible of some sort of pity ; and all the rnore, the uglier and more de- testable the creature was. For he kept striding to and fro, in a solitary frenzy of rage, continu- ally emitting a hoarse roar, which was oddly mixed up with half-shaped words; and, after listening a while, Theseus understood that the Minotaur was saying to himself how miserable he was, and how hungry, and how he hated every body, and how he longed to eat up the human race alive.
Ah, the bull-headed villain ! And O, my good little people, you will perhaps see, one of these days, as I do now, that every human being who suffers any thing evil to get into his nature, or to remain there, is a kind of Minotaur, an ene- my of his fellow-creatures, and separated from
62 THE MINOTAUR.
all good companionship, as this poor monster was.
Was Theseus afraid ? By no means, my dear auditors. What I a hero like Theseus afraid I Not had the Minotaur had twenty bull heads instead of one. Bold as he was, however, I rather fancy that it strengthened his valiant heart, just at this crisis, to feel a tremulous twitch at the silken cord, which he was still hold- ing in his left hand. It was as if Ariadne were giving him all her might and courage ; and, much as he already had, and little as she had to give, it made his own seem twice as much. And to confess the honest truth, he needed the whole ; for now the Minotaur, turning suddenly about, caught sight of Theseus, and instantly lowered his horribly sharp horns, exactly as a mad bull does when he means to rush against an enemy. At the same time, he belched forth a tremendous roar, in which there was some- thing like the words of human language, but all disjointed and shaken to pieces by passing through the gullet of a miserably enraged brute.
Theseus could only guess what the creature intended to say, and that ratlier by his gestures
THE* MINOTAUR. 63
than his words ; for the Minotaur's horns were sharper than his wits, and of a gi-eat deal more s'^rvice to him than his tongue. But probably this was the sense of what he uttered : —
" Ah, wretch of a human being ! I'll stick my horns tlirough you, and toss you fifty feet high, and eat you up the moment you come down."
" Come on, then, and try it ! " was all that Theseus deigned to reply ; for he was far too magnanimous to assault his enemy with inso- lent language.
Without more words on either side, there en- sued the most awful fight between Theseus and the Minotaur that ever happened beneath the sun or moon. I really know not how it might have turned out, if the monster, in his first head- long rush against Theseus, had not missed him, by a hair's breadth, and broken one of his horns short off" against the stone wall. On this mis- hap, he bellowed so intolerably that a part of the labyrinth tumbled down, and all the in- habitants of Crete mistook the noise for an uncommonly heavy thunder storm. Smarting with the pain, he galloped around the open space in so ridiculous a way that Theseus
64
THE MINOTAUR.
laughed at it, long afterwards, though not pre fiisely at the moment. After this, the two an tagonists stood valiantly up to one another, and fought, sword to horn, for a long while. At last, the Minotaur made a run at Theseus, gi'azed his left side with his horn, and flung him down ; and thinking that he had stabbed him to the heart, he cut a great caper in the air, opened his bull mouth from ear to ear, and prepared to snap his head off. But Theseus by this time had leaped up, and caught the monster off his guard. Fetching a sword stroke at him with all his force, he hit him fair upon the neck, and made his bull head skip six yards from his hu- man body, which fell down flat upon the ground. So now the battle was ended. Immediately the moon shone out as brightly as if all the troubles of the world, and all the wickedness and the ugliness that infest human life, were past and gone forever. And Theseus, as he leaned on his sword, taking breath, felt another twitch of the silken cord ; for all through the terrible encounter, he had held it fast in his left hand. Eager to let Ariadne know of his success, he followed the guidance of the thread, and
^ET^^.
Theseus and the Minotaur. p. 64,
THE MINOTAUR. 65
soun found himself at the entrance of the labyrinth.
" Thou hast slain the monster," cried AriadnCj clasping her hands.
" Thanks to thee, dear Ariadne," answered Theseus, " I return victorious."
" Then," said Ariadne, " we must quickly summon thy friends, and get them and thyself on board the vessel before dawn. If morning finds thee here, my father will avenge the Minotaur."
To make my story short, the poor captives were awakened, and, hardly knowing whether it was not a joyful dream, were told of what Theseus had done, and that they must set sail for Athens before daybreak. Hastening down to the vessel, they all clambered on board, ex- cept Prince Theseus, who lingered behind them, on the strand, holding Ariadne's hand clasped in his own.
" Dear maiden," said he, " thou wilt surely go with us. Thou art too gentle and sweet a child for such an iron-hearted father as King Minos. He cares no more for thee than a granite rock cares for the little flower that " 5
66 THE MINOTAUR.
grows in one of its crevices. But my father, King ^geus, and my dear mother, ^Ethra, and all the fathers and mothers in Athens, and all the sons and daughters too, will love and honor thee as their benefactress. Come with us, then ; for King Minos will be very angiy when he knows what thou hast done."
Now, some low-minded people, who pretend to tell the story of Theseus and Ariadne, have the face to say that this royal and honorable maiden did really flee away, under cover of the night, with the young stranger whose life she had preserved. They say, too, that Prince Theseus (who would have died sooner than wrong the meanest creature in the world) un- gratefully deserted Ariadne, on a solitary island, where the vessel touched on its voyage to Athens. But, had the noble Theseus heard these falsehoods, he would have served their slanderous authors as he served the Minotaur! Here is what Ariadne answered, when the brave prince of Athens besought her to accompany him : —
" No, Theseus," the maiden said, pressing his hand, and then drawing back a step or two.
THE MINOTAUR. 67
" I cannot go with you. My father is old, and has nobody but myself to love him. Hard as you think his heart is, it would break to lose me. At first, King Minos will be angry ; but he will soon forgive his only child ; and, by and by, he will rejoice, I know, that no more youths and maidens must come from Athens to be devoured by the Minotaur. I have saved you, Theseus, as much for my father's sake as for your own. Farewell! Heaven bless you!"
All this was so true, and so maiden-like, and was spoken with so sweet a dignity, that The- seus would have blushed to urge her any longer. Nothing remained for him, therefore, but to bid Ariadne an affectionate farewell, and to go on board the vessel, and set sail.
In a few moments the white foam was boil- ing up before their prow, as Prince Theseus and his companions sailed out of the harbor, with a whistling breeze behind them. Talus, the brazen giant, on his never-ceasing sentinel's march, happened to be approaching that part of the coast; and they saw him, by the glimmer- ing of the moonbeams on his polished surface, while he was yet a great way off. As the
68 THE MINOTAUR.
figure moved like clockwork, however, and could neither hasten his enormous strides nor retard them, he arrived at the port when they were just beyond the reach of his club. Neverthe- less, straddling from headland to headland, as his custom was, Talus attempted to strike a blow at the vessel, and, overreaching himself, tumbled at full length into the sea, which splashed high over his gigantic shape, as when an iceberg turns a somerset. There he lies yet ; and whoever desires to enrich himself by means of brass had better go thither with a diving bell, and fish up Talus.
On the homeward voyage, the fourteen youths and damsels were in excellent spirits, as you will easily suppose. They spent most of their time in dancing, unless when the sidelong breeze made the deck slope too much. In due season, they came within sight of the coast of Attica, which was their native country. But licre, I am grieved to tell you, happened a sad misfortune.
You will remember (what Theseus unfortu- nately forgot) that his father. King iEgeus, had enjoined it upon him to hoist sunshiny
THE MINOTAUR. 69
sails, instead of blade ones, in case he should overcome the Minotaur, and return victorious. In the joy of their success, however, and amidst the sports, dancing, and other merriment, with which these young folks wore away the time, they never once thought whether their sails were black, white, or rainbow colored, and, in- deed, left it entirely to the mariners whether they had any sails at all. Thus the vessel returned, like a raven, with the same sable wings that had wafted her away. But poor King ^geus, day after day, infirm as he was, had clambered to the summit of a cliff that overhung the sea, and there sat watching for Prince Theseus, homeward bound ; and no sooner did he be- hold the fatal blackness of the sails, than he concluded that his dear son, whom he loved so much, and felt so proud of, had been eaten by the Minotaur. He could not bear the thought of living any longer ; so, first flinging his crown and sceptre into the sea, (useless bawbles that they were to him now !) King -^geus merely stooped forward, and fell head- long over the cliff, and was drowned, poor soul, in the waves that foamed at its base !
70 THE MINOTAUR.
This was melancholy news for Prince Theseus, who, when he stepped ashore, found himself king of all the country, whether he would or no ; and such a turn of fortune was enough to make any young man feel very much out of spirits. However, he sent for his dear mother to Athens, and, by taking her advice in mat- ters of state, became a very excellent monarch, and was greatly beloved by his people.
THE PYGMIES. 71
THE PYGMIES.
A GREAT while ago, when the world was fulJ of wonders, there lived an earth-born Giant, named Antaeus, and a million or more of curious little earth-born people, who were called Pyg- mies. This Giant and these Pygmies being chil- dren of the same mother, (that is to say, our good old Grandmother Earth,) were all brethren, and dwelt together in a very friendly and affec- tionate manner, far, far off, in the middle of hot Africa. The Pygmies were so small, and there were so many sandy deserts and such high mountains between them and the rest of man- kind, that nobody could get a peep at them oftener than once in a hundred years. As for the Giant, being of a very lofty stature, it was easy enough to S3e him, but safest to keep out of his sight.
72 THE PYGMIES.
Among the Pygmies, I suppose, J one of them grew to the height of six or eight inches, he was reckoned a prodigiously tall man. It must have been very pretty to behold their little cities, with streets two or three feet wide, paved with the smallest pebbles, and bordered by habitations about as big as a squirrel's cage. The king's palace attained to the stupendous magnitude of Periwinkle's baby house, and stood in the centre of a spacious square, which could hardly have been covered by our hearth rug. Their prin- cipal temple, or cathedral, was as lofty as yon- der bureau, and was looked upon as a wonder- fully sublime and magnificent edifice. All these structures were built neither of stone nor wood. They were neatly plastered together by the Pyg- my workmen, pretty much like birds' nests, out of straw, feathers, egg shells, and other small bits of stuff, with stiff" clay instead of mortar : and when the hot sun had dried them, they were just as snug and comfortable as a Pygmy could desire.
The country round about was conveniently laid out in fields, the largest of which was nearly of the same extent as one of Sweet Fern's flower
THE PYGM ES. 73
beds. Here the Pygmies used to plant wheat and other kinds of grain, which, when it grew up and ripened, overshadowed these tiny people, as the pines, and the oaks, and the walnut and chestnut trees overshadow you and me, when we walk in our own tracts of woodland. At harvest time, they were forced to go with their little axes and cut down the grain, exactly as a woodcutter makes a clearing in the forest; and when a stalk of wheat, with its overburdened top, chanced to come crashing down upon an unfortunate Pygmy, it was apt to be a very sad affair. If it did not smash him all to pieces, at least, I am sure, it must have made the poor little fellow's head ache. And O, my stars ! if the fathers and mothers were so small, what must the children and babies have been ? A whole family of them might have been put to bed in a shoe, or have crept into an old glove, and played at hide and seek in its thumb and fingers. You might have hidden a year-old baby under a thimble.
Now these funny Pygmies, as I told you be- fore, had a Giant for their neighbor and brother, who was bigger, if possible, than they were little.
74 THE PVG.NlIES.
He was so very tall tha': he carried a pine tree, which was eight feet through the but, for a walk- ing ytick. It took a far-sighted Pygmy, I can assure you, to discern his summit without the help of a telescope ; and sometimes, in misty weather, they could not see his upper half, but only his long legs, which seemed to be striding about by themselves. But at noonday, in a clear atmosphere, when the sun shone brightly over him, the Giant Antaeus presented a ver}" grand spectacle. There he used to stand, a per- fect mountain of a man, with his great counte- nance smiling down upon his little brothers, and his one vast eye (which was as big as a cart wheel, and placed right in the centre of his fore- head) giving a friendly wink to the whole nation at once.
The Pygmies loved to talk with Antaeus ; and fifty times a day, one or another of them would turn up his head, and shout through the hollow of his fists, " Halloo, brother Antaeus I How are you, my good fellow ? " And when the small, distant squeak of their voices reached his ear, the Giant would make answer, " Pretty well, brother Pygmy, I thank you," in a thun-
THE PYGMIES. 75
dei'ous roar that would have shaken down the. walls of their strongest temple, only that it came from so far aloft.
It was a happy circumstance that Antaeus was the Pygmy people's friend ; for there was more strength in his little finger than in ten mil- lion of such bodies as this. If he had been as ill natured to them as he was to every body else, he might have beaten down their biggest city at one kick, and hardly have known that he did it. With the tornado of his breath, he could have stripped the roofs from a hundred dwellings, and sent thousands of the inhabitants whirling through the air. Ke might have set his im- mense foot upon a multitude ; and when he took it up again, there would have been a pitiful si^ht, to be sure. But, being the son of Mother Earth, as they likewise were, the Giant gave them his brotherly kindness, and loved them with as big a love as it was possible to feel for, creatures so very small. And, on their parts, the Pygmies loved Antaeus with as much affec- tion as their tiny hearts could hold. He was always ready to do them any good offices that lay in his power ; as for example, when they
76 THE PYGMIES.
wanted a brteze to turn their wind mills, the Giant would set all the sails a-going with the mere natural respiration of his lungs. When the sun was too hot, he often sat himself down, and let his shadow fall over the kingdom, from one frontier to the other ; and as for matters in general, he was wise enough to let them alone, and leave the Pygmies to manage their own affairs — which, after all, is about the best thing that great people can do for little ones.
In short, as I said before, Antaeus loved the Pygmies, and the Pygmies loved Antaeus. The Giant's life being as long as his body was large, while the lifetime of a Pygmy was but a span, this friendly intercourse had been going on for innumerable generations and ages. It was written about in the Pygmy histories, and talked about in their ancient traditions. The most venerable and white-bearded Pygmy had never heard of a time, even in his greatest of grandfather's days, when the Giant was not their enormous friend. Once, to be sure, (as was recorded on an obelisk, three feet high, erected on the place of the Catastrophe, ) Antaeus sat down upon about five thousand Pygmies,
THE PYGMIES. 77
who were assembled at a military review. But this was one of those unlucky accidents for which nobody is to blame ; so that the small folks never took it to heart, and only requested the Giant to be careful forever afterwards to examine the acre of ground where he in- tended to squat himself.
It is a very pleasant picture to imagine Antaeus standing among the Pygmies, like the spire of the tallest cathedral that ever was built, while they ran about like pismires at his feet ; and to think that, in spite of their difference in size, there were affection and sympathy be- tween them and him ! Indeed, it has always seemed to me that the Giant needed the little people more than the Pygmies needed the Giant. For, unless they had been his neigh- bors and well wishers, and, as we may say, his playfellows, Antseus would not have had a single friend in the world. No other being like . himself had ever been created. No creature of his own size had ever talked with him, in thun- der-like accents, face to face. When he stood with his head among the clouds, he was quite alone, and had been so for hundreds of years,
78 " THE PYGMIES.
and woa?d be so forever. Even if he had nnet another Giant, Antaeus would Jiave fancied the world not big enough for two such vast person- ages, and, instead of being friends with hinn, would have fought him till one of the two was ]diled. But with the Pygmies he was the most sportive, and humorous, and merry-hearted, and sweet-tempered old Giant that ever washed his face in a wet cloud.
His little friends, like all other small people, had a great opinion of their own importance, and used to assume quite a patronizing air towards the Giant.
"Poor creature I" they said one to another. " He has a very dull time of it, all by himself; and we ought not to grudge wasting a little of our precious time to amuse him. He is not half so brigiit as we are, to be sure ; and, for that reason, he needs us to look after his comfort and happiness. Let us be kind to the old fel- low. Why, if Mother Earth had not been very kind to ourselves, we might all have been Giants too."
On all their holidays, the Pygmies had ex- cellent sport with Antaeus He often stretched
THE PYGMIES. 79
himself out at full length on the ground, where he looked like the long ridge of a hill ; and it vvas a good hour's walk, no doubt, for a short- legged Pygmy to journey from head to foot of the Giant. He would lay down his great hand tlat on the grass, and challenge the tallest of them to clamber upon it, and straddle from finger to finger. So fearless were they, that they made nothing of creeping in among the folds of his garments. When his head lay side wise on the earth, they would march boldly up, and peep into the great cavern of his mouth, and take it all as a joke (as indeed it was meant) when Antaeus gave a sudden snap with his jaws, as if he were going to swallow fifty of them at once. You would have laughed to see the children dodging in and out among his hair, or swinging from his beard. It is impossible to tell half of the funny tricks that they played with their huge comrade ; but I do not know that any thing was more curious than when a party of boys were seen running races on his forehead, to try which of them could get first round the circle of his one great eye. It was another favorite feat with them to march along
80 THE PYGMIES.
the bridge of his nose, and jump down upon hia upper lip.
If the truth must be told, they were sometimes as troublesome to the Giant as a swarm of ants or mosquitoes, especially as they had a fondness for mischief, and liked to prick his skin with their little swords and lances, to see how thick and tough it was. But Antaeus took it all kind- ly enough ; although, once in a while, when he happened to be sleepy, he would gi'umble out a peevish word or two, like the muttering of a tempest, and ask them to have done with their nonsense. A great deal oftener, however, he watched their merriment and gambols until his huge, heavy, clumsy wits were completely stirred up by them ; and then would he roar out such a tremendous volume of immeasura- ble laughter, that the whole nation of Pygmies had to put their hands to tlieir ears, else it would certainly have deafened them.
" Ho! hoi ho!" quoth the Giant, shaking his mountainous sides. " What a funny thing it is to be little ! If I were not Anta-us, I should like to be a Pygmy, just for the joke's sake."
The Pygmies had but one thing to trouble
THE PYGMIES. 81
them in the world. They were co./istantly at war with the cranes, and had always been so, ever since the long-lived Giant could remember. From time to time, very terrible battles had been fought, in which sometimes the little men won the victory, and sometimes the cranes. Accord- ing to some historians, the Pygmies used to go to the battle, mounted on the backs of goats and rams; but such animals as these must have been far too big for Pygmies to ride upon ; so that, I rather suppose, they rode on squirrelback, or rab- bitback, or ratback, or perhaps got upon hedge- hogs, whose prickly quills would be very terrible to the enemy. However this might be, and whatever creatures the Pygmies rode upon, I do not doubt that they made a formidable appear- ance, armed with sw^ord and spear, and bow and arrow, blowing their tiny trumpet, and shouting their little war cry. They never failed to exhort one another to fight bravely, and recollect that the world had its eyes upon them ; although, in simple truth, the only spectator was the Giant Antaeus, with his one, great, stupid eye, in the middle of his forehead.
When the two armies joined battle, the cranes 6
82 . THE PYGMIES.
would rush forward, flapping their wings and stretching out their necks, and would perhaps snatch up some of the Pygmies crosswise in their beaks. Whenever this happened, it was truly an awful spectacle to see those little men of might kicking and sprawling in the air, and at last disappearing down the crane's long, crooked throat, swallowed up alive. A hero, you know, must hold himself in readiness for any kind of fate ; and doubtless the glory of the thing was a consolation to him, even in the crane's ejizzard. If Antaeus observed that the battle was going hard against his little allies, hev generally stopped laughing, and ran with mile-long strides to their assistance, flourishing his club aloft and shouting at the cranes, who quacked and croaked, and retreated as fast as they could. Then the Pygmy army would march homeward in triumph, attributing the vic- tory entirely to their own valor, and to the war- like skill and strategy of whomsoever happened to be captain general; and for a tedious while afterwards, nothing would be heard of but grand processions, and public banquets, and brilliant illuminations, and shows of waxwork, with like-
THE PYGMIES. 83
nesses of the distinguished officers, as small as life.
In the above-described warfare, if a Pygmy chanced to pluck out a crane's tail feather, it proved a very great feather in his cap. Once or twice, if you will believe me, a little man was made chief ruler of the nation for no other merit in the world than bringing home such a feather.
But I have now said enough to let you see what a gallant little people these were, and how happily they and their forefathers, for nobody knows how many generations, had. lived with the immeasurable Giant Antaeus. In the remaining part of the story, I shall tell you of a far more astonishing battle than any that was fought be- tween the Pygmies and the cranes.
One day the mighty Antaeus was lolling at full length among his little friends. His pine tree walking stick lay on the ground, close by his side. His head was in one part of the kingdom, and his feet extended across the boundaries of an- other part ; and he was taking whatever comfort he could get, while the Pygmies scrambled over him, and peeped into his cavernous mouth, and
84 THE PYGMIES.
played among his hair. Sometimes, for a min- ute or two, the Giant dropped asleep, and snored like the rush of a whirlwind. During one of these little bits of slumber, a Pygmy chanced to climb upon his shoulder, and took a view around the horizon, as from the summit of a hill ; and he beheld something, a long way off, w^hich madf him rub the bright specks of his eyes, and loci^ sharper than before. At first he mistook it for a mountain, and wondered how it had grown up so suddenly out of the earth. But soon he saw the mountain move. As it came nearer and nearer, what should it turn out to be but a hu- man shape, not so big as Antaeus, it is true, although a very enormous figure, in comparison with Pygmies, and a vast deal bigger than the men whom we see nowadays.
When the Pygmy was quite satisfied that his eyes had not deceived him, he scampered, as fast as his legs would carry him, to the Giant's ear, and stooping over its cavity, shouted lustily into it, —
" Halloo, brother Antteus ! Get up this min- ute, and take your pine tree walking stick in your hand. Here comes another Giant to havr a tussle with you."
THE PYGMIES.
85
"Poll, pohl" grumbled Antaeus, only half awake. " None of your nonsense, my little fel- low I Don't you see I'm sleepy. There is not a Giant on earth for whom I would take the trouble to get up."
But the Pygmy looked again, and now per- ceived that the stranger was coming directly towards the prostrate form of Antaeus. With every step, he looked less like a blue mSlmtain, and more like an immensely large man. He was soon so nigh, that there could be no possi- ble mistake about the matter. There he was, with the sun flaming on his golden helmet, and flashing from his polished breastplate; he had a sword by his side, and a lion's skin over his back, and on his right shoulder he carried a club, which looked bulkier and heavier than the pine- tree walking stick of Antaeus.
By this time, the whole nation of Pygmies had seen the new wonder, and a million of them set up a shout, all together; so that it really made quite an audible squeak.
" Get up, Antaeus I Bestir yourself, you lazy old Giant! Here comes another Giant, as strong as you are, to fight with you."
86 THE PYGMIES.
"Nonsense, nonsensel" growled the sleepy Giant. " I'll have my nap out, come who
may."
Still the stranger drew nearer; and now the Pygmies could plainly discern that, if his stature were less lofty than the Giant's, yet his shoul- ders were even broader. And, in truth, what a pair of shoulders they must have been I As I told you, a long while ago, they once upheld the sky. The Pygmies, being ten times as viva- cious as their great numskull of a brother, could not abide the Giant's slow movements, and were determined to have him on his feet. So they kept shouting to him, and even went so far as to prick him with their swords.
" Get up, get up, get up I " they cried. " Up with you, lazy bones I The strange Giant's club is bigger than your own, his shoulders are the broadest, and we think him the stronger of the two."
Antaeus could not endure to have it said that any mortal was half so mighty as himself. This latter remark of the Pygmies pricked him deeper than their swords; and, sitting up, in rather a sulky humor, he gave a gape of several yards
THE PYGMIES.
87
wide, rubbed his eyes, and finally turned his stupid head in the direction whither his little friends were eagerly pointing.
No sooner did he set eyes on the stranger, than, leaping on his feet, and seizing his walking stick, he strode a mile or two to meet him ; all the while brandishing the sturdy pine tree, so that it whistled through the air.
" Who are you?" thundered the Giant. "And what do you want in my dominions ? "
There was one strange thing about Antaeus, of which I have not yet told you, lest, hearing of so many wonders all in a lump, you might not believe much more than half of them. You are to know, then, that whenever this redoubtable Giant touched the ground, either with his hand, his foot, or any other part of his body, he grew stronger than ever he had been before. The Earth, you remember, was his mother, and was very fond of him, as being almost the biggest of her children ; and so she took this method of keeping him always in full vigor. Some per- sons affirm that he grew ten times stronger at every touch ; others say that it was only twice as strong. But only think of it! Whenever
88 THE PYGMIES.
Antaeus took a walk, supposing it were but ten miles, and that he stepped a hundred yards at a stride, you may try to cipher out how much mightier he was, on sitting down again, than when he first started. And whenever he flung himself on the earth to take a little repose, even if he got up the very next instant, he would be as strong as exactly ten just such giants as his former self. It was well for the world that An- taeus happened to be of a sluggish disposition, and liked ease better than exercise ; for, if he had frisked about like the Pygmies, and touched the earth as often as they did, he would long ago have been strong enough to pull down the sky about people's ears. But these great lub- berly fellows resemble mountains, not only, in bulk, but in their disinclination to move.
Any other mortal man, except the very one whom Antseus had now encountered, would have been half frightened to death by the Giant's ferocious aspect and terrible voice. But the ir^tranger did not seem at all disturbed. He care- lessly lifted his club, and balanced it in his hand, measuring Antaeus with his eye, from head to foot, not as if wonder-smitten at his stature, but
THE PYGMIES. 89
as if he had seen a great many Giants before, and this was by no means the biggest of them. In fact, if the Giant had been no bigger than the Pygmies, (who stood pricking up their ears, and looking and listening to what was going forward,) the stranger could not have been less afraid of him.
" Who are you, I say?'^ roared Antaeus again. " What's your name? Why do you come hith- er? Speak, you vagabond, or I'll try the thick- ness of your skull with my walking stick."
" You are a very discourteous Giant," an- swered the stranger, quietly, " and I shall proba- bly have to teach you a little civility, before we part. As for my name, it is Hercules. I have come hither because this is my most convenient road to the garden of the Hesperides, whither 1 am going to get three of the golde*n apples for King Eurystheus."
" Caitiff, you shall go no farther ! " bellowed Antaeus, putting on a grimmer look than be- fore ; for he had heard of the mighty Hercules, and hated him because he was said to be so strong. " Neither shall you go back whence you came ! "
90 THE PYGMIES.
*' How will you prevent me," asked Hercules, " from going whither I please ? "
" By hitting you a rap with this pine tree here," shouted Antaeus, scowling so that he made himself the ugliest monster in Africa. " I am fifty times stronger than you ; and, now that I stamp my foot upon the ground, I am five hundred times stronger I I am ashamed to kill such a puny little dwarf as you seem to be. I will make a slave of you, and you shall like- wise be the slave of my brethren, here, the Pygmies. So throw down your club and your other weapons ; and as for that lion's skin, I intend to have a pair of gloves made of it."
" Come and take it off my shoulders, then," answered Hercules, lifting his club.
Then the Giant, grinning with rage, strode tower-like towards the stranger, (ten times strengthened at every step,) and fetched a mon- strous blow at him with his pine tree, which Hercules caught upon his club ; and being more skilful than Antaeus, he paid him back such a rap upon the sconce, that down tumbled the great lumbering man-mountain, flat upon the ground. The poor little Pygmies (who really
THE PYGMIES. 91
never dreamed that any body in the world was half so .strong as their brother Antaeus) were a good deal dismayed at this. But no sooner was the Giant down, than up he bounced again, with tenfold might, and such a furious visage as was horrible to behold. He aimed another blow at Hercules, but struck awry, being blinded with wrath, and only hit his poor innocent Mother Earth, who groaned and trembled at the stroke. His pine tree went so deep into the ground, and stuck there so fast, that, before Antaeus could get it out, Hercule&i brought down his club across his shoulders with a mighty thwack, which made the Giant roar as if all sorts of intolerable noises had come screeching and rumbling out of his immeas- urable lungs in that one cry. Away it went, over mountains and valleys, and, for aught 1 know, was heard on the other side of the African deserts.
As for the Pygmiss, their capital city was laid in ruins by the concussion and vibration of the air; and, though there was uproar enough without their help, they all set up a shriek out of three millions of little throats, fancying,
92 THE PYGM'ES.
no doubt, that they swelled the Giant's bellow by at least ten times as much. Meanwhile, Antaeus had scrambled upon his feet again, and pulled his pine tree out of the earth ; and, all a-flame with fury, and more outrageously strong than ever, he ran at Hercules, and brought down another blow.
" This time, rascal," shouted he, " you shall not escape me."
But once more Hercules warded off the stroke with his club, and the Giant's pine tree was shattered into a thousand splinters, most of which flew among the Pygmies, and did them more mischief than I like to think about. Before Antaeus could get out of the way, Hercules let drive again, and gave him another knock-down blow, which sent him heels over head, but served only to increase his already enormous and insufferable strength. As for his rage, there is no telling what a fiery furnace it had now got to be. His one eye v^as nothing but a circle of red flame. Having now no weapons but his fists, he doubled them up, (each bigger than a hogshead,) smote one against the other, and danced up and down
THE PYGMIES.
93
with absolute frenzy, flourishing his immense arms about, as if he meant not merely to kill Hercules, but to smash the whole world to pieces.
" Come on ! " roared this thundering Giant. " Let me hit you but one box on the ear, and you'll never have the headache again."
Now Hercules (though strong enough, as you already know, to hold the sky up) began to be sensible that he should never win the victory, if he kept on knocking Antaeus down ; for, by and by, if he hit him such hard blows, the Giant would inevitably, by the help of his Mother Earth, become stronger than the mighty Her- cules himself. So, throwing down his club, with which he had fought so many dreadful battles, the hero stood ready to receive his antagonist with naked arn>s.
*' Step forward," cried he. " Since I've bro- ken your pine tree, we'll try which is the bet- ter man at a wrestling match."
" Aha I then I'll soon satisfy you," shouted the Giant ; for, if there was one thing on which he prided himself more than another, it was his skill in wrestling. " Villain, I'll fling
94- THE PYGMIES.
you where you can never pick yourself up again."
On came Antaeus, hopping and capering with the scorching heat of his rage, and getting new vigor wherewith to wreak his passion, every time he hopped. But Hercules, you must un- derstand, was wiser than this numskull of a Giant, and had thought of a way to fight him, — huge, earth-born monster that he was. — and to conquer him too, in spite of all that his Mother Earth could do for him. Watching his opportunity, as the mad Giant made a rush at him, Hercules caught him round the middle with both hands, lifted him high into i:he air, and held him aloft overhead.
Just imagine it, my dear little friends I What a spectacle it must have been, to see this mon- strous fellow sprawUng in the air, face down- ward, kicking out his long legs and wriggling his whole vast body, like a baby when its father holds it at arm's length towards the ceiling.
But the most wonderful thing was, that, as soon as Antaeus was fairly off the earth, he began to lose the vigor which he had gained by touching it. Hercules very soon perceived
THE PYGMIES. 95
that his troublesome enemy was growing weak- er, both because he struggled and kicked with less violence, and because the thunder of his big voice subsided into a grumble. The truth was, that, unless the Giant touched Mother Earth as often as once in five minutes, not only his over- grown strength, but the very breath of his life, would depart from him. Hercules had guessed this secret ; and it may be well for us all to remember it, in case we shovild ever have to fight a battle with a fellow like Antseus. For these earth-born creatures are only difficult to conquer on their own ground, but may easily be managed if we can contrive to lift them into a loftier and purer region. So it proved with the poor Giant, whom I am really a little sorry for, notwithstanding his uncivil way of treating strangers, who came to visit him.
When his sti*ength and breath were quite gone, Hercules gave his huge body a toss, and. flung it about a mile off*, where it fell heavily, and lay with no more motion than a sand hill. It was too late for the Giant's Mother Earth to help him now ; and I should not wonder if hia
96 THE PYGMIES.
ponderous bones were lying on the same spot to this very day, and were mistaken for those of an uncommonly large elephant.
But, alas me I What a wailing did the poor little Pygmies set up when they saw their enor- mous brother treated in this 'terrible manner ! If Hercules heard their shrieks, however, he took no notice, and perhaps fancied them only the shrill, plaintive twittering of small birds that had been frightened from their nests by the uproar of the battle between himself and An- taeus. Indeed, his thoughts had been so much taken up with the Giant, that he had never once looked at the Pygmies, nor even knew that there was such a funny little nation in the world. And now, as he had travelled a good way, and was also rather weaxy with his exertions in the fight, he spread out his lion's skin on the ground, and reclining himself upon it, felffast asleep.
As soon as the Pygmies saw Hercules pre- paring for a nap, they nodded their little heads at one another, and winked with their little eyes. And when his deep, regular breathing gave them notice that he was asleep, they assembled
THE PYGMIES. 97
together in an immense crowd, spreading over a space of about twenty-seven feet square. One of their most eloquent orators (and a valiant warrior enough, besides, though hardly so good at any other weapon as he was with his tongue) climbed upon a toadstool, and, from that ele- vated position, addressed the multitude. His sentiments were pretty much as follows; or, at all events, something like this was probably the upshot of his speech : —
"Tall Pygmies and mighty little men! Yoii and all of us have seen what a public calamity has been brought to pass, and what an insult has here been offered to the majesty of our nation. Yonder lies Antasus, our great friend and brother, slain, within our territory, by a miscreant who took him at disadvantage, and fought him (if fighting it can be called) in a way that neither man, nor Giant, nor Pygmy ever dreamed of fighting, until this hour. And, adding a grievous contumely to the wrong already done us, the miscreant has now fallen asleep as quietly as if nothing were to be dreaded from our wrath ! It behooves you, fellow-countrymen, to consider in what aspect we shall stand before the world, 7
98 THE PYGMIES.
and what will be the verdict of impartial history, should we suffer these accumulated outrages to go unavenged.
" AntEEUs was our brother, born of that same beloved parent to whom we owe the thews and sinews, as well as the courageous hearts, which made him proud of our relationship. He was our faithful ally, and fell lighting as much for our national rights and immunities as for his own personal ones. We and our forefathers have dwelt in friendship with him, and held affectionate intercourse, as man to man, through immemorial generations. You remember how often our entire people have reposed in his great shadow, and how our little ones have played at hide and seek in the tangles of his hair, and how his mighty footsteps have familiarly gone to and fro among us, and never trodden upon any of our toes. And there lies this dear brother — this sweet and amiable friend — this brave anc faithful ally — this virtuous Giant — this blame less and excellent Antaeus — dead ! Dead ! Si lent I Powerless ! A mere mountain of clay Forgive my tears ! Nay, I behold your own Were we to drown the world with them could the world blame us ?
THE PYGMIES. 99
' But to resume : Shall we, my countrymen, suffer this wicked stranger to depart unharmed, and triumph in his treacherous victory, among distant communities of the earth ? Shall we not rather compel him to leave his bones here on our soil, by the side of our slain brother's bones ? so that, while one skeleton shall remain as the ever- lasting monument of our sorrow, the other shall endure as long, exhibiting to the whole human race a terrible example of Pygmy vengeance! Such is the question/ I put it to you in full con- fidence of a response that shall be worthy of our national character, and calculated to increase, rather than diminish, the glory which our ances- tors have transmitted to us, and which we our- selves have proudly vindicated in our warfare with the cranes."
The orator was here interrupted by a burst of irrepressible enthusiasm ; every individual Pygmy crying out that the national honor must be preserved at all hazards. He bowed, and making a gesture for silence, wound up his ha- rangue in the following admirable manner: —
" It only remains for us, then, to decide wheth- er we shall carry on the war in our national
100
THE PYGMIES.
capacity, — one united people against a common enemy, — or whether some champion, famous in former fights, shall be selected to defy the slayer of our brother Antaeus to single combat. In the latter case, though not unconscious that there may be taller men among you, I hereby offer myself for that enviable duty. And, believe me, dear countrymen, whether I live or die, the honor of this great country, and the fame be- queathed us by our heroic progenitors, shall suffer no diminution in my hands. Never, while I can wield this sword, of which I now fling away the scabbard — never, never, never, even if the crimson hand that slew the great Antaeus shall lay me prostrate, like him, on the soil which I give my life to defend."
So saying, this valiant Pygmy drew out his weapon, (which was terrible to behold, being as long as the blade of a penknife,) and sent the scabbard whirling over the heads of the multi- tude. His speech was followed by an uproar of applause, as its patriotism and self-devotion unquestionably deserved ; and the shouts and clapping of hands would have been greatly pro- longed, had they lot been rendered quite inaudi-
THE PYGMIES. 101
ble by a deep respiration, vulgarly called a snore, from the sleeping Hercules.
It was finally decided that the whole nation of Pygmies should set to work to destroy Her- cules ; not, be it understood, from any doubt that a single champion would be capable of putting him to the sword, but because he was a public enemy, and all were desirous of sharing in the glory of his defeat. There was a debate w^hether the national honor did not demand that a herald should be sent with a trumpet, to stand over the ear of Hercules, and, after blow- ing a blast right into it, to defy him to the com- bat by formal proclamation. But two or three venerable and sagacious Pygmies, well versed in state affairs, gave it as their opinion that war already existed, and that it was their rightful privilege to take the enemy by surprise. More- over, if awakened, and allowed to get upon his feet, Hercules might happen to do them a mis- chief before he could be beaten down again. For, as these sage counsellors remarked, the stranger's club was really very big, and had rat- tled like a thunderbolt against the skull of An- taeus. So the Pygmies resolved to set aside all
102 THE PYGMIES.
foolish punctilios, and assail their antagonist at once.
Accordingly, all the fighting men of the na- tion took their weapons, and went boldly up to Hercules, who still lay fast asleep, little dreaming of the harm which the Pygmies meant to do him. A body of twenty thousand archers marched in front, with their little bows all ready, and the arrows on the string. The same number were ordered to clamber upon Hercules, some with spades, to dig his eyes out, and others with bundles of hay, and all manner of rubbish, with which they intended to plug up his mouth and nostrils, so that he might perish for lack of breath. These last, however, could by no means perform their appointed duty ; inasmuch as the enemy's breath rushed out of his nose in an ob- streperous hurricane and whirlwind, which blew the Pygmies away as fast as they came nigh. It was found necessary, therefore, to hit upon some other method of carrying on the war.
After holding a council, the captains ordered their troops to collect sticks, straws, dry weeds, and whatever combustible stuff they could find, and make a pile of it, heaping it high around
THE PYGMIES. 108
the head of Hercules. As a great many thou- sand Pygmies were employed in this task, they soon brought together several bushels of inflam- matory matter, and raised so tall a heap, that, mounting on its summit, they were quite upon a level with the sleeper's face. The archers, meanwhile, were stationed within bow shot, with orders to let fly at Hercules the instant that he ^stirred. Every thing being in readiness, a torch was applied to the pile, which immediately burst into flames, and soon waxed hot enough to roast the enemy, had he but chosen to lie still. A Pygmy, you know, though so very small, might set the world on fire, just as easily as a Giant could ; so that this was certainly the very best way of dealing with their foe, provided they could have kept him quiet while the conflagra- tion was going forward.
But no sooner did Hercules begin to be scorched, than up he started, with his hair in a red blaze.
"What's all this?" he cried, bewildered with sleep, and staring about him as if he expected to see another Giant.
At that moment the twenty thousand archers
104 THE PYGMIES.
twanged their bowstrings, and the arrows came whizzing, like so many winged mosquitoes, right into the face of Hercules. But I doubt whether more than half a dozen of them punctured the skin, which was remarkably tough, as you know the skin of a hero has good need to be.
"Villain I" shouted all the Pygmies at once. " You have killed the Giant Antaeus, our great brother, and the ally of our nation. We declare bloody war against you, and will slay you on the spot."
Surprised at the shrill piping of so many little voices, Hercules, after putting out the conflagra- tion of his hair, gazed all round about, but could see nothing. At last, however, looking narrowly on the ground, he espied the innumer- able assemblage of Pygmies at his feet. He stooped down, and taking up the nearest one be- tween his thumb and finger, set him on the palm of his left hand, and held him at a proper dis- tance for examination. It chanced to be the very identical Pygmy who had spoken from the top of the toadstool, and had offered him- self as a champion to meet Hercules in single combat.
THE PYGMIES. 105
" What in the world, my little fellow," ejacu- fated Hercules, " may you be ?"
" I am your enemy," answered the valiant Pygmy, in his mightiest squeak. " You have slain the enormous Antagus, our brother by the mother's side, and for ages the faithful ally of our illustrious nation. We are determined to put you to death ; and for my own part, I chal- lenge you to instant battle, on equal ground."
Hercules was so tickled with the Pygmy's big words and warlike gestures, that he burst into a great explosion of laughter, and almost dropped the poor little mite of a creature off the palm of his hand, through the ecstasy and convulsion of his merriment.
" Upon my word," cried he, " I thought I had seen wonders before to-day — hydras with nine heads, stags with golden horns, six-legged men, three-headed dogs, giants with furnaces in their stomachy, and nobody knows what besides. But here, on the palm of my hand, stands a wonder that outdoes them all ! Your body, my little friend, is about the size of an ordinary man's fin- ger. Pray, how big may your soul be ? "
" As big as your own ! " said the Pygmy,
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THE PYGMIES
Hercules was touched with the little man's dauntless courage, and could not help acknowl- edging such a brotherhood with him as one hero feels for another.
" My good little people," said he, making a low obeisance to the grand nation, " not for all the world would I do an intentional injury to such brave fellows as you I Your hearts seem to me so exceedingly great, that, upon my honor, I marvel how your small bodies can contain them. I sue for peace, and, as a condition of it, will take five strides, and be out of your king- dom at the sixth. Good by. I shall pick my steps carefully, for fear of treading upon some fif- ty of you, without knowing it. Ha, ha, ha I Ho, ho, hoi For once, Hercules acknowledges him- self vanquished."
Some writers say, that Hercules gathered up the whole race of Pygmies in his lion's skin, and carried them home to Greece, for the children of King Eurystheus to play with. But this is a mistake. He left them, one and all, within their own territory, where, for aught I can tell, their descendants are alive to the present day, build- ing their little houses, cultivating their little
THE PYGMIES. 107
fields, spanking their little children, waging their little warfare with the cranes, doing their little business, whatever it may be, and reading their little histories of ancient times. In those his- tories, perhaps, it stands recorded, that, a great many centuries ago, the valiant Pygmies avenged the death of the Giant Antasus by scaring away the mighty Hercules,
JOS THE PRaGON's teeth.
THE DEAGON'S TEETH
Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, the three sons of King Agenor, and their little sister Europa, (who was a very beautiful child,) were at play togeth- er, near the sea shore, in their father's kingdom of Phoenicia. They had rambled to some dis- tance from the palace where their parents dwelt, and were now in a verdant meadow, on one side of which lay the sea, all sparkling and dimpling in the sunshine, and murmuring gently against the beach. The three boys were very happy, gathering flowers, and twining them into gar- lands, with which they adorned the little Europa. Seated on the grass, the child was almost hid- den under an abundance of buds and blossoms, whence her rosy face peeped merrily out, and, as Cadmus said, was the prettiest of all the flowers.
Just then, there came a splendid butterfly,
THE dragon's teeth. 109
fluttering along the meadow; and Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix set off in pursuit of it, crying out that it was a flower with wings. Europa^ who was a little wearied with playing all day long, did not chase the butterfly with her broth- ers, but sat still where they had left her, and dosed her eyes. For a while, she listened to the pleasant murmur of the sea, which was like a voice saying "Hush!" and bidding her go to sleep. But the pretty child, if she slept at all, could not have slept more than a moment, when she heard something trample on the grass, not far from her, and peeping out from the heap of flowers, beheld a snow-white bull.
And whence could this bull have come ? Eur ropa and her brothers had been a long time playing in the meadow, and had seen no cattle, nor other living thing, either there or on the neighboring hills.
" Brother Cadmus ! " cried Europa, starting up out of the midst of the roses and lilies. " Phoe- nix ! Cilix ! Where are you all ? Help ! Help ! Come and drive away this bull I"
But her brothers were too far off* to hear; especially as the fright took away Europa's
110 THE dragon's teeth.
voice, and hindered her from calling very loudly So there she stood, with her pretty mouth wide open, as pale as the white lilies that were twisted among the other flowers in her garlands.
Nevertheless, it was the suddenness with which she had perceived the bull, rather than any thing frightful in his appearance, that caused Europa so much alarm. On looking at him more attentively, she began to see that he was a beautiful animal, and even fancied a par- ticularly amiable expression in his face. As for his breath, — the breath of cattle, you know, is always sweet, — it was as fragrant as if he had been grazing on no other food than rosebuds, or, at least, the most delicate of clover blossoms. Never before did a bull have such bright and tender eyes, and such smooth horns of ivory, as this one. And the bull ran little races, and capered sportively around the child ; so that she quite forgot how big and strong he was, and, from the gentleness and playfulness of his ac- tions, soon came to consider him as innocent a creature as a pet lamb.
Thus, frightened as she at first was, you might by and by have seen Europa stroking the
Ill
bull s forehead with her small white hand, and taking the garlands off her own head to hang them on his neck and ivory horns. Then she pulled up some blades .of grass, and he ate them out of her hand, not as if he were hungry, but because be wanted to be friends with the child, and took pleasure in eating what she had touched. Well, my stars! was there ever such a gentle, sweet, pretty, and amiable creature as this bull, and ever such a nice playmate for a little girl?
When the animal saw, (for the bull had so much intelligence that it is really wonderful to think of,) when he saw that Europa was no longer afraid of him, he grew overjoyed, and could hardly contain himself for delight. He frisked about the meadow, now here, now there, making sprightly leaps, with as little effort as a bird expends in hopping from twig to twig. In- deed, his motion was as light as if he were flying through the air, and his hoofs seemed hardly to leave their print in the grassy soil over which he trod. With his spotless hue, he resembled a snow drift, wafted along by the wind. Once he galloped so far away that Europa feared lest
112 THE dragon's teeth.
she might never see him again ; so, setting up her childish voice, she called him l^ack.
" Come back, pretty creatm-e ! " she cried. " Here is a nice clover blossom."
And then it was delightful to witness the gratitude of this amiable bull, and how he was so full of joy and thankfulness that he capered higher than ever. He came running, and bowed his head before Europa, as if he knew her to be a king's daughter, or else recognized the impor- tant truth that a little girl is every body's queen. And not only did the bull bend his neck, he absolutely knelt down at her feet, and made such intelligent nods, and other inviting gestures, that Europa understood what he meant just as well as if he had put it in so many words.
" Come, dear child," was what he wanted to say, " let me give you a ride on my back."
At the first thought of such a thing, Europa drew back. But then she considered in her wise little head that there could be no possi- ble harm in taking just one gallop on the back of this docile and friendly animal, who would certainly set her down the very instant she de- sired it. And how it would surprise her brothers
THE dragon's teeth. 113
to see her riding across the green meadow ! And what merry times they might have, either taking turns for a gallop, or clambering on the gentle creature, all four children together, and careering round the field with shouts of laughter that would be heard as far off as King Agcnor's palace !
" I think I will do it," said the child to herself.
And, indeed, why not? She cast a glance around, and caught a glimpse of Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, who were still in pursuit of the but- terfly, almost at the other end of the meadow. It would be the quickest way of rejoining them, to get upon the white bull's back. She came a step nearer to him therefore ; and — sociable creature that he was — he showed so much joy at this mark of her confidence, that the child could not find in her heart to hesitate any longer. Making one bound, (for this little princess was as active as a squirrel,) there sat Europa on the beautiful bull, holding an ivory horn in each hand, lest she should fall off.
" Softly, pretty bull, softly I " she said, rather frightened at what she had done. " Do ilot gal- lop too fast."
. 8
114 THK DRAGONS TEETH.
Having got the child on his back, the animal gave a leap into the air, and came down so like a feather that Em*opa did not know when his hoofs touched the ground. He then began a race to that part of the flowery plain where her three brothers were, and where they had just caught their splendid butterfly. Europa screamed with delight; and Phoenix, Cilix, and Cadmus stood gaping at the spectacle of their sister mounted on a w^hite bull, not knowing whether to be frightened or to wish the same good luck for themselves. The gentle and innocent crea- ture (for who could possibly doubt that he was so ?) pranced round among the children as spor- tively as a kitten. Europa all the while looked down upon her brothers, nodding and laughing, but yet with a sort of stateliness in her rosy little face. As the bull wheeled about to take another gallop across the meadow, the child waved her hand, and said, " Good by," playfully pretend- ing that she was now bound on a distant jour- ney, and might not see her brothers again for nobody could tell how long.
" Good by," shouted Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, all in one breath.
Europa and the Bull. P H*-
115
But, together with her enjoyment of the sport, there was still a little remnant of fear in the child's heart; so that her last look at the three boys was a troubled one, and made them feel as if their dear sister were really leaving them for- ever. And what do you think the *snowy bull did next ? Why, he set off, as swift as the wind, straight down to the sea shore, scampered across the sand, took an airy leap, and plunged right in among the foaming billows. The white spray rose in a shower over him and little Europa, and fell spattering down upon the water.
Then w^hat a scream of terror did the poor child send forth ! The three brothers screamed man- fully, likewise, and ran to the shore as fast as their legs would carry them, with Cadmus at their head. But it was too late. When they reached the margin of the sand, the treacherous animal was already far away in the wide blue sea, with only his snowy head and tail emerging, and poor little Europa between them, stretching out one hand towards her dear brothers, while she grasped the bull's ivory horn with the other. And there stood Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, gazing at this sad spectacle, through their tears,
116 THE dragon's teeth.
until they could no longer distinguish the bill's snowy head from the white-capped billows that seenned to boil up out of the sea's depths around him. Nothing more was ever seen of the white bull — nothing more of the beautiful child.
This was^ a mournful story, as you may well think, for the three boys to carry home to their parents. King Agenor, their father, was the ruler of the whole country ; but he loved his little daughter Europa better than his kingdom, or than all his other children, or than any thing else in the world. Therefore, when Cadmus and his two brothers came crying home, and told him how that a wiiite bull had carried off their sister, and swam with her over the sea, the king was quite beside himself with grief and rage. Al- though it was now twilight, and fast growing dark, he bade them set out instantly in search of her.
" Never shall you see my face again," he cried, *' unless you bring me back my little Europa, to gladden me with her smiles and her ]:retty ways. Begone, and enter my presence no more, till you come leading her by the hand."
As King Agenor said this, his eyes flashed lire,
THE dragon's teeth. 117
(for he was a very passionate king,) and he looked so terribly angry that the poor boys did not even venture to ask for their suppers, but slunk away out of the palace, and only paused on the steps a moment to consult whither they should go first. While they were standing there, all in dismay, their mother, Queen Telephassa, (who happened not to be by when they told the story to the king,) came hurrying after them, and said that she too would go in quest of her daughter.
" O, no, mother I " cried the boys. " The night is dark, and there is no knowing what troubles and perils we may meet with."
" Alas ! my dear children," answered poor Queen Telephassa, weeping bitterly, "that is only another reason why I should go with you. If I should lose you, too, as well as my little Europa, what would become of me ! "
" And let me go likewise ! " said their playfel- low Thasus, who came running to join them.
Thasus was the son of a seafaring person in the neighborhood ; he had been brought up with the young princes, and was their intimate friend, and loved Europa very much ; so they consented that he should accompany them. The whole
118
party, therefore, set forth together. Cadmus, Phoenix, Cilix, and Thasus clustered round Queen Telephassa, grasping her skirts, and beg- ging her to lean upon their shoulders, whenever she felt weary. In this manner they went down the palace steps, and began a journey, which turned out to be a great deal longer than they dreamed of. The last that they saw of King Agenor, he came to the door, with a servant holding a torch beside him, and called after them into the gathering darkness : —
" Remember I Never ascend these steps again without the child ! "
" Never ! " sobbed Queen Telephassa ; and the three brothers and Thasus answered, " Never ! Never ! Never ! Never ! "
And they kept their word. Year after year, King Agenor sat in the solitude of his beautiful palace, listening in vain for their returning foot- steps, hoping to hear the familiar voice of the queen, and the cheerful talk of his sons and their playfellow Thasus, entering the door together, and the sweet, childish accents of little Europa in the midst of them. But so long a time went by, that, at last, if they had really come, the kin^
THE dragon's teeth. 119
would not have known that this was the voice, of Telephassa, and these the younger voices that used to make such joyful echoes, when the chil- dren were playing about the palace. We must now leave King Agenor to sit on his throne, and must go along with Queen Telephassa and her four youthful companions.
They went on and on, and travelled a long way, and passed over mountains and rivers, and sailed over seas. Here, and there, and every where, they made continual inquiry if any person could tell them what had become of Europa. The rustic people, of whom they asked this ques- tion, paused a little while from their labors in the -field, and looked very much surprised. They thought it strange to behold a woman in the garb of a queen, (for Telephassa, in her haste, had forgotten to take off her crown and her royal robes,) roaming about the country, with four lads around her, on such an errand as this seemed to be. But nobody could give them any tidings of Europa ; nobody had seen a little girl dressed like a princess, and mounted on a snow-white bull, which galloped as swiftly as the wind.
I cannot tell you how long Queen Telephassa,
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and Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, her three sons, and Thasus, their playfellow, went wandering along the highways and bypaths, or through the pathless wildernesses of the earth, in this manner. But certain it is, that, before they reached any place of rest, their splendid garments were quite worn out. They all looked very much travel- stained, and would have had the dust of many countries on their shoes, if the streams, through which they waded, had not washed it all away. When they had been gone a year, Telephassa threw away her crown, because it chafed her forehead.
" It has given me many a headache," said the poor queen, " and it cannot cure my heartache."
As fast as their princely robes got torn and tattered, they exchanged them for such mean attire as ordinary people wore. By and by, they came to have a wild and homeless aspect ; so that you would much sooner have taken them for a gypsy family than a queen and three princes, and a young nobleman, who had once a palace for their home, and a train of servants to do their bidding. The four boys grew up to be tall young men, with sunburnt faces. Each
THE dragon's teeth. 121
of them girded on a sword, to defend them- selves against the perils of the way. When the husbandmen, at whose farm houses they sought hospitality, needed their assistance in the harvest field, they gave it willingly ; and Queen Tele- phassa (who had done no w^ork in her palace, save to braid silk threads with golden ones) came behind them to bind the sheaves. If pay- ment w^as offered, they shook their heads, and only asked for tidings of Europa.
'' There are bulls enough in my pasture," the old farmers would reply ; " but I never heard of one like this you tell me of. A snow-white bull with a little princess on his back I Ho ! ho I I ask your pardon, good folks ; but there never was such a sight seeir hereabouts."
At last, when his upper lip began to have the down on it. Phoenix grew weary of rambling hither and thither to no purpose. So, one day, when they happened to be passing through a pleasant and solitary tract of country, he sat himself down on a heap of moss.
" I can go no farther," said Phoenix. " It is a more foolish waste of life, to spend it, as we do, in always wandering up and down, and never
122 THE dragon's tekth.
coming to any home at nightfall. Our sister is lost, and never will be found. She probably perished in the sea ; or, to whatever shore the white bull may have carried her, it is now so many years ago, that there would be neither love nor acquaintance between us, should we meet again. My father has forbidden us to re- turn to his palace; so I shall build me a hut of branches, and dwell here."
" Well, son Phoenix," said Telephassa, sorrow- fully, " you have grown to be a man, and must do as you judge best. But, for my part, I will still go in quest of my poor child."
" And we three will go along with you I " cried Cadmus and Cilix, and their faithful fricfid Thasus.
But, before setting out, they all helped Phoe- nix to build a habitation. When completed, it was a sweet rural bower, roofed overhead with an arch of living boughs. Inside there were two pleasant rooms, one of which had a soft heap of moss for a bed, while the other was furnished with a rustic seat or two, curiously fashioned out of the crooked roots of trees. So corpfortable and home-like did it seem, that
TflE DRAGON S TEETH. 123
Telephassa and her three companions could not help sighing, to think that they must still mam about the world, instead of spending the remain- der of their lives in some such cheerful abode as they had here built for Phoenix. But, when they bade him farewell. Phoenix shed tears, and probably regretted that he was no longer to keep them company.
However, he had fixed upon an admirable place to dwell in. And by and by there came other people, who chanced to have no homes : and, seeing how pleasant a spot it was, they built themselves huts in the neighborhood of Phoenix's habitation. Thus, before many years went by, a city had grown up there, in the cen- tre of which was seen a stately palace of marble, wherein dwelt Phoenix, clothed in a purple robe, and wearing a golden crown upon his head. For the inhabitants of the new city, finding that he had royal blood in his veins, had chosen him to be their king. The very first decree of state which King Phoenix issued was, that, if a maiden happened to arrive in the kingdom, mounted on a snow-white bull, and calling her- self Europa. his subjects should treat her with
124 THE dragon's tleth.
the greatest kindness and respect, and infime- diately bring her to the palace. You may see, by this, that Phoenix's conscience never quite ceased to trouble him, for giving up the quest of his dear sister, and sitting himself down to be comfortable, while his mother and her compan- ions went onward.
But often and often, at the close of a weary day's journey, did Telephassa and Cadmus, Ci- lix and Thasus, remember the pleasant spot in which they had left Phoenix. It was a sorrow- ful prospect for these wanderers, that on the morrow they must again set forth, and that, after many nightfalls, they would perhaps be no nearer the close of their toilsome pilgrimage than now. These thoughts made them all melan- choly at times, but appeared to torment Cilix more than the rest of the party. At length, one morning, when they were taking their staffs in hand to set out, he thus addressed them : —
" My dear mother, and you good brother Cad- mus, and my friend Thasus, methinks we are like people in a dream. There is no substance in the life which we are leading. It is such a
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 125
dreary length of time since the white bull carried oft" my sister Eiiropa, that I have quite forgotten how she looked, and the tones of her voice, and, indeed, almost doubt whether such a little girl ever lived in the world. And whether she once lived or no, I am convinced that she no longer survives, and that therefore it is the merest folly to waste our own lives and happiness in seeking her. Were we to find her, she would now be a woman grown, and would look upon us all as strangers. So, to tell you the truth, I have re- solved to take up my abode here ; and I entreat you, mother, brother, and friend, to follow my example."
" Not I, for one," said Telephassa ; although the poor queen, firmly as she spoke, was so travel- worn that she could hardly put her foot to the ground. " Not I for one ! In the depths of my heart, little Europa is still the rosy child who ran to gather flowers so many years ago. She has not grown to womanhood, nor forgotten me. At noon, at night, journeying onward, sitting down to rest, her childish voice is always in my ears, calling 'Mother! mother I ' Stop here who may, there is no repose for rne."
126 THE dragon's teeth.
" Nor for me," said Cadmus, " while my deaf mother pleases to go onward."
And the faithful Thasus, too, was resolved to bear them company. They remained with Cilix a few days, however, and helped him to build a rustic bower, resembling the one which they had formerly built for Phoenix.
When they were bidding him farewell, Cilix burst into tears, and told his mother that it seemed just as melancholy a dream to stay there, in solitude, as to go onward. If she really be- lieved that they would ever find Europa, he was willing to continue the search with them, even now. But Telephassa bade him remain there, and be happy, if his own heart would let him. So the pilgrims took their leave of him, and departed, and were hardly out of sight before some other wandering people came along that way, and saw Cilix's habitation, and were greatly delighted with the appearance of the place. There being abundance of unoccupied ground in the neigh- borhood, these strangers built huts for themselves, and were soon joined by a multitude of new set- tlers, who quickly formed a city. In the middle of it was seen a magnificent palace of colored
THE dragon's teeth. 127
marble, on the balcony of which, every noontide, appeared Cilix, in a long purple robe, and with a jewelled crow^n upon his head ; for the inhabit- ants, when they found out that he was a king's son, had considered him the fittest of all men to be a king himself.
One of the first acts of King Cilix's govern- ment w^as to send out an expedition, consisting of a grave ambassador and an escort of bold and hardy young men, with orders to visit the prin- cipal kingdoms of the earth, and inquire whether a young maiden had passed through those re- gions, galloping swiftly on a white bull. It is, therefore, plain to my mind, that Cilix secretly blamed himself for giving up the search for Eu- ropa, as long as he was able to put one foot before the other.
As for Telephassa, and Cadmus, and the good Thasus, it grieves me to think of them, still keep- ing up that weary pilgrimage. The two young men did their best for the poor queen, helping her over the rough places, often carrying her across rivulets in their faithful arms, and seeking to shelter her at nightfall, even wdien they them- selves lay on the ground. Sad, sad it was to
128
liear them asking of every passer by if he had seen Enropa, so long after the white bull had carried her away. But, though the gray years thrust themselves between, and made the child's figure dim in their remembrance, neither of these true-hearted three ever dreamed of giving up the search.
One morning, however, poor Thasus found that he had sprained his ankle, and could not possibly go a step farther.
" After a few days, to be sure," said he, mourn- fully, "I might make shift to hobble along with a stick. But that w^ould only delay you, and perhaps hinder you from finding dear little Eu- ropa, after all your pains and trouble. Do you go forward, therefore, my beloved (;ompanions, and leave me to follow as I may."
" Thou hast been a true friend, dear Thasus," said Queen Telephassa, kissing his forehead. ♦' Being neither my son, nor the brother of our lost Europa, thou hast shown thyself truer to me and her than Phoenix and Cilix did, w^hom we have left behind us. Without thy loving help, and that of my son Cadmus, my limbs could not have borne me half so far as this. Now,
THE dragon's teeth. 129
take thy rest, and be at peace. For — and it is the first time I have owned it to myself-— I begin to question whether we shall ever find my be- loved daughter in this world."
Saying this, the poor queen shed tears, because it was a grievous trial to the mother's heart to confess that her hopes were growing faint. From that day forward, Cadmus noticed that she never travelled with the same alacrity of spirit that had heretofore supported her. Her weight was heav- ier upon his arm.
Before setting out, Cadmus helped Thasus build a bower ; while Telephassa, being too in- firm to give any great assistance, advised them how to fit it up and furnish it, so that it might be as comfortable as a hut of branches could. Thasus, however, did not spend all his days in this green bower. For it happened to him, as to Phoenix and Cilix, that other homeless people visited the spot, and liked it, and built them- selves habitations in the neighborhood. So here, in the course of a few years, was another thriv- ing city, with a red freestone palace in the centre of it, where Thasus sat upon a throne, doing justice to the people, with a purple robe over his 9
130 THE dragon's TEKTH.
■^ shoulders, a sceptre in his hand, and a crown upon his head. The inhabitants had made him king, not for the sake of any royal blood, (for none was in his veins,) but because Thasus was an upright, true-hearted, and courageous man, and therefore fit to rule.
But, when the affairs of his kingdom were all settled. King Thasus laid aside his purple robe, and crown, and sceptre, and bade his worthiest subject distribute justice to the people in his stead. Then, grasping the pilgrim's staff that had supported him so long, he set forth again, hoping still to discover some hoof mark of the snow-white bull, some trace of the vanished child. He returned, after a lengthened absence, and sat down wearily upon his throne. To his latest hour, nevertheless. King Thasus showed his true-hearted remembrance of Europa, by or- dering that a fire should always be kept burning in his palace, and a bath steaming hot, and food ready to be served up, and a bed with snow- white sheets, in case the maiden should arrive, ana require immediate refreshment. And though Europa never came, the good Thasus had the blessings of many a poor traveller, who profited
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by the food and lodging which were meant for b the little playmate of the king'y boyhood.
Telephassa and Cadmus were now pursuing their weary way, with no companion but each other. The queen leaned heavily upon her son's arm, and could walk only a few miles a day. But for all her weakness and weariness, she would not be persuaded to give up the search. It was enough to bring tears into the eyes of bearded men to hear the melancholy tone with which she inquired of every stranger whether he could tell her any news of the lost child.
" Have you seen a little girl — no, no, I mean a young maiden of full growth — passing by this way, mounted on a snow-white bull, which gal- lops as swiftly as the wind ? "
" We have seen no such wondrous sight," the people would reply; and very often, taking Cad- mus aside, they whispered to him, " Is this stately and sad-looking woman your mother? Surely she is not in her right mind; and you ought to take her home, and make her comfort- able, and do your best to get this dream out of her fancy."
" It is no dream," said Cadmus. " Every thing else is a dream, save that."
132 THE dragon's teeth.
But, one day, Telephassa seemed feebler than usual, and leaned almost her whole weight on the arm of Cadmus, and walked more slowly than ever before. At last they reached a soli- tary spot, where she told her son that she must needs lie down, and take a good, long rest.
"A good, long rest!" she repeated, looking Cadmus tenderly in the face. " A good, long rest, thou dearest one ! "
" As long as you please, dear mother," an- swered Cadmus.
Telephassa bade him sit down on the turf beside her, and then she took his hand.
" My son," said she, fixing her dim eyes most lovingly upon him, " this rest that I speak of will be very long indeed ! You must not wait till it is finished. Dear Cadmus, you do not comprehend me. You must make a grave here, and lay your mother's weary frame into it. My pilgrimage is over."
Cadmus burst into tears, and, for a long time, refused to believe that his dear mother was now to be taken from him. But Telephassa reasoned with him, and kissed him, and at length made him discern that it was better for her spirit to
THE dragon's teeth. 133
pass away out of the toil, the weariness, the grief, and disappointment which had burdened her on earth, ever since the child was lost. He therefore repressed his sorrow, and listened to her last words.
" Dearest Cadmus," said she, " thou hast been the truest son that ever mother had, and faithful to the very last. Who else would have borne with my infirmities as thou hast ! It is owing to thy care, thou tenderest child, that my grave was not dug long years ago, in some valley or on some hillside, that lies far, far behind us. It is enough. Thou shalt wander no more on this hopeless search. But, when thou hast laid thy mother in the earth, then go, my son, to Delphi, and inquire of the oracle what thou shalt do next."
" O mother, mother," cried Cadmus, " couldst thou but have seen my sister before this hour!"
" It matters little now," answered Telephassa, and there was a smile upon her face. " I go now to the better world, and, sooner or later, shall find my daughter there."
I will not sadden you, my little hearers, with telling how Telephassa died and was buried, but
134 THE dragon's teeth.
will only say, that her dying smile grew brighter, instead of vanishing from her dead face ; so that Cadmus felt convinced that, at her very first step into the better world, she had caught Eu- ropa in her arms. He planted some flowers on his mother's gi*ave, and left tliem to grow there, and make the place beautiful, when he should be far away.
After performing this last sorrowful duty, he set forth alone, and took the road towards the famous oracle of Delphi, as Telephassa had ad- vised him. On his way thither, he still inquired of most people whom he met whether they had seen Europa; for, to ?'^y the truth, Cadmus had grown so accustomed to ask the question, that it came to his lips as readily as a remark about the weather. He received various answers. Some told him one thing, and some another. Among the rest, a mariner affirmed, that, many years before, in a distant country, he had heard a ru- mor about a white bull, which came swimming across the sea with a child on his back, dressed up in flowers that were blighted by the sea water. He did not know what had become of the child or the bull ; and Cadmus suspected,
135
indeed, by a queer twinkle in the mariner's eyes, that he was putting a joke upon him, and had never really heard any thing about the matter.
Poor Cadmus found it more wearisome to travel alone than to bear all his dear mother's weight, while she had kept him company. His heart, you will understand, was now so heavy that it seemed impossible, sometimes, to carry it any farther. But his limbs were strong and active, and well accustomed to exercise. He walked swiftly along, thinking of King Agenor and Queen Telephassa, and his brothers, and the friendly Thasus, all of whom he had left behind him, at one point of his pilgrimage or another, and never expected to see them any more. Full of these remembrances, he came within sight of a lofty mountain, which the people thereabouts told him was called Parnassus. On the slope of Mount Parnassus was the famous Delphi, whither Cadmus was going.
This Delphi was supposed to be the very mid- most spot of the whole world. The place of the oracle was a certain cavity in the mountain side, over which, when Cadmus came thither, he found a rude bower of branches. It reminded him of
136
THE DRAGON S TEETH.
those which he had helped to build for Phoenix and Cilix, and afterwards for Thasus. In later times, when multitudes of people came from great distances to put questions to the oracle, a spacious temple of marble was erected over the spot. But in the days of Cadmus, as I have told you, there was only this rustic bower, with its abun- dance of green foliage, and a tuft of shrubbery, that ran wild over the mysterious hole in the hillside. ' «
When Cadmus had thrust a passage through the tangled boughs, and made his way into the bower, he did not at first discern the half-hidden cavity. But soon he felt a cold stream of air rushing out of it, with so much force that it shook the ringlets on his cheek. Pulling away the shrubbery which clustered over the hole, he bent forward, and spoke in a distinct but rev- erential tone, as if addressing some unseen per- sonage inside of the mountain.
" Sacred oracle of Delphi," said he, " whither shall I go next in quest of my dear sister Eu- ropa?"
There was at first a deep silence, and then a rushing sound, or a noise like a long sigh.
THE dragon's teeth. 137
proceeding out of the interior of the earth. This cavity, you must know, was looked upon as a sort of fountain of truth, which sometimes gushed out in audible words; although, for the most part, these words were such a riddle that they might just as well have staid at the bottom of the hole. But Cadmus was more fortunate than many others who went to Delphi in search of truth. By and by, the rushing noise began to sound like articulate language. It repeated, over and over again, the following sentence, which, after all, was so like the vague whistle of a blast of air, that Cadmus really did not quite know whether it meant any thing or not: —
" Seek her no more ! Seek her no more I Seek her no more I "
" What, then, shall I do ?" asked Cadmus.
For, ever since he was a child, you know, it had been the great object of his life to find his sister. From the very hour that he left follow- ing the butterfly in the meadow, near his father's palace, he had done his best to follow Europa, over land and sea. And now, if he must give up the search, he seemed to have no more busi- ness in the world.
138 THE DPAGOn's teeth.
But again the sighing gust of air grew into something like a hoarse voice.
"Follow the cowl" it said. " Follow the cow! Follow the cowl"
And when these words had been repeated until Cadmus was tired of hearing them, (es- pecially as he could not imagine what cow it was, or why he was to follow her.) the gusty hole gave vent to another sentence.
" Where the stray cow lies down, {here is your home."
These words were pronounced but a single time, and died away into a whisper before Cad- mus was fully satisfied that he had caught the meaning. He put other questions, but received no answer; only the gust of wind sighed con- tinually out of the cavity, and blew the withered leaves rustling along the ground before it.
" Did there really come any words out of the hole?" thought Cadmus; "or have I been dreaming all this while ? "
He turned away from the oracle, and thought himself no wiser than when he came thither. Caring little what might happen to him, he took the first path that offered itself, and went along
139
at a sluggish pace ; for, having no object in view, nor any reason to go one way more than an- other, it would certainly have been foolish to make haste. Whenever he met any body, the old question was at his tongue's end : —
" Have you seen a beautiful maiden, dressed like a king's daughter, and mounted on a snow- white bull, that gallops as swiftly as the wind?"
But, remembering what the oracle had said, he only half uttered the words, and then mum- bled the rest indistinctly; and from his confu- sion, people must have imagined that this hand- some young man had lost his wits.
I know not how far Cadmus had gone, nor could he himself have told you, when, at no great distance before him, he beheld a brindled cow. She was lying down by the wayside, and quietly chewing her cud ; nor did she take any notice of the young man until he had approached pretty nigh. Then, getting leisurely upon her feet, and giving her head a gentle toss, she began to move along at a moderate pace, often paus- ing just long enough to crop a mouthful of grass. Cadmus loitered behind, whistling idly to him- self, and scarcely noticing the cow; until the
140
thought occurred to him, whether this could pos sibly be the animal which, according to the ora- cle's response, was to serve him for a guide. But he smiled at himself for fancying such a thing. He could not seriously think that this was the cow, because she went along so quietly, behaving just like any other cow. Evidently she neither knew nor cared so much as a wisp of hay about Cadmus, and was only thinking how to get her living along the wayside, where the herbage was green and fresh. Perhaps she was going home to be milked.
"Cow, cow, cow!" cried Cadmus. "Hey, Brindle, hey ! Stop, my good cow."
He wanted to come up with the cow, so as to examine her, and see if she would appear to know him, or whether there were any peculiar- ities to distinguish her from a thousand other cows, whose only business is to fill the milk pail, and sometimes kick it over. But still the brin- dled cow trudged on, whisking her tail to keep the flies away, and taking as little notice of Cad- mus as she well could. If he walked slowly, so did the cow, and seized the opportunity to graze. Tf he (juiclvoncd his pace, the cow went just so
THE dragon's teeth. 141
much the faster ; and once, when Cadmus tried to catch her by running, she threw out her heels, stuck her tail straight on end, and set off at a gallop, looking as queerly as cows generally do, while putting themselves to their speed.
When Cadmus saw that*it was impossible to come up with her, he walked on moderately, as before. The cow, too, went leisurely on, without looking behind. Wherever the grass was green- est, there she nibbled a mouthful or two. Where a brook glistened brightly across the path, there the cow drank, and breathed a comfortable sigh, and drank again, and trudged onward at the pace that best suited herself and Cadmus.
"I do believe," thought Cadmus, "that this may be the cow that was foretold me. If it be the one, I suppose she will lie down somewhere hereabouts."
Whether it were the oracular cow or some other one, it did not seem reasonable that she should travel a great way farther. So, whenever they reached a particularly pleasant spot on a breezy hillside, or in a sheltered vale, or flowery meadow, on the shore of a calm lake, or along the bank of a clear stream, Cadmus looked
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eagerly around to see if the situation would suit hinri for a home. But still, whether he liked the place or no, the brindled cow never offered to lie down. On she went at the quiet pace of a cow going homeward to the barn yard ; and, every moment, Cadmus expected to see a milkmaid ap- proaching with a pail, or a herdsman running to head the stray animal, and turn her back towards the pasture. But no milkmaid came ; no herds- man drove her back ; and Cadmus followed the stray Brindle till he was almost ready to drop down with fatigue.
" O, brindled cow," cried he, in a tone of de- spair, "do you never mean to stop?"
He had now grown too intent on following her to think of lagging behind, however long the way, and whatever might be his fatigue. Indeed, it seemed as if there were something about the animal that bewitched people. Several persons who happened to see the brindled cow, and Cadmus following behind, began to trudge after her, precisely as he did. Cadmus was glad of somebody to converse with, and therefore talked very freely to these good people. He told them all his adventures, and how he had left
.43
King Agenor in his palace, and Phoenix at one place, and Cilix at another, and Thasus at a third, and his dear mother. Queen Telephassa, under a flowery sod ; so that now he was quitf alone, both friendless and homeless. He men- tioned, likewise, that the oracle had bidden him be guided by a cow, and inquired of the stran- gers whether they supposed that this brindled animal could be the one.
" Why, 'tis a very wonderful affair," answered one of his new companions. " I am pretty well acquainted with the ways of cattle, and I never knew a cow, of her own accord, to go so far with- out stopping. If my legs will let me, I'll never leave following the beast till she lies down."
" Nor II" said a second.
" Nor I ! " cried a third. " If she goes a hun- dred miles farther, I'm determined to see the end of it."
The secret of it was, you must know, that the cow was an enchanted cow, and that, without their being conscious of it, she threw some of her enchantment over every body that took so much as half a dozen steps behind her. They could not possibly help following her, though, all the
144 THE dragon's teeth. '
time, they fancied themselves doing it of theii own accord. The cow was by no means very nice in choosing her path ; so that sometimes they had to scramble over rocks, or wade through mud and mire, and were all in a terribly bedrag- gled condition, and tired to death, and very hungry, into the bargain. What a weary busi- ness it was!
But still they kept trudging stoutly forward, and talking as they went. The strangers grew very fond of Cadmus, and resolved never to leave him, but to help him build a city wherever the cow might lie down. In the centre of it there should be a noble palace, in which Cadmus might dwell, and be their king, with a throne, a crown, and sceptre, a purple robe, and every thing else that a king ought to have ; for in him there was the royal blood, and the royal heart, and the head that knew how to rule.
While they were talking of these schemes, and beguiling the tediousness of the way with laying out the plan of the new city, one of the company happened to look at the cow.
"Joy! joy !" cried he, clapping his hands. " Brindle is going to lie down."
THE dragon's teeth. 145
They all looked ; and, sure enough, the cow had stopped, and was staring leisurely about her, as other cows do when on the point of lying down. And slowly, slowly did she recline her- self on the soft grass, first bending her fore legs, and then crouching her hind ones. When Cad- mus and his companions came up with her, there was the brindled cow taking her ease, chewing her cad, and looking them quietly in the face ; as if this was just the spot she had been seeking for, and as if it were all a matter of course.
" This, then," said Cadmus, gazing around him, " this is to be my home."
It was a fertile and lovely plain, with great trees flinging their sun-speckled shadows over it, and hills fencing it in from the rough weather. At no great distance, they beheld a river gleam- ing in the sunshine. A home feeling stole into the heart of poor Cadmus. He was very glad to know that here he might awake in the morn- ing, without the necessity of putting on his dusty sandals to travel farther and farther. The days and the years would pass over him, and find him still in this pleasant spot. If he could 10
146
have had his brothers with him, and hi« friend Thasus, and could have seen his dear mother under a roof of his own, he might here have been happy, after all their disappointments. Some day or other, too, his sister Europa might have come quietly to the door of his home, and smiled round upon the familiar faces. But, in- deed, since there was no hope of regaining the friends of his boyhood, or ever seeing his dear sister again, Cadmus resolved to make himself happy with these new companions, who had grown so fond of him while following the cow.
" Yes, my friends," said he to them, " this is to be our home. Here we will build our habita- tions. The brindled cow, which has led us hither, will supply us with milk. We will culti- vate the neighboring soil, and lead an innocent and happy life."
His companions joyfully assented to this plan ; and, in the first place, being very hungry and thirsty, they looked about them for the means of providing a comfortable meal. Not far off, they saw a tuft of trees, which appeared as if there might be a spring of water beneath them. They went thither to fetch some, leaving Cadmusi
THE dragon's teeth. 147
stretched on the ground along with the brindled cow ; for, now that he had found a place of rest, it seemed as if all the weariness of his pilgrim- age, ever since he left King Agenor's palace, had fallen upon him at once. But his new friends had not long been gone, when he was suddenly startled by cries, shouts, and screams, and the noise of a terrible struggle, and in the midst of it all, a most awful hissing, which went right through his ears like a rough saw.
Running towards the tuft of trees, he beheld the head and fiery eyes of an immense serpent or dragon, with the widest jaws that ever a dragon had, and a vast many rows of horribly sharp teeth. Before Cadmus could reach the spot, this pitiless reptile had killed his poor companions, and was busily devouring themj making but a mouthful of each man.
It appears that the fountain of water was en- chanted, and that the dragon had been set to guard it, so that no mortal might ever quench his thirst there. As the neighboring inhabitants carefully avoided the spot, it was now a long time (not less than a hundred years, or there- abouts) since the monster had broken his fast ;
148 THE dragon's teeth.
and, as was natural enough, his appetite had grown to be enormous, and was not half satisfied by the poor people whom he had just eaten up. When he caught sight of Cadmus, therefore, he ser up another abominable hiss, and flung back his immense jaws, until his mouth looked like a great red cavern, at the farther end of which were seen the legs of his last victim, whom he had hardly had time to swallow.
But Cadmus was so enraged at the destruc- tion of his friends, that he cared neither for the size of the dragon's jaws nor for his hundreds of sharp teeth. Drawing his sword, he rushed at the monster, and flung himself right into his cavernous mouth. This bold method of attack- ing him took the dragon by surprise ; for, in fact, Cadmus had leaped so fai down into liis throat, that the rows of terrible teeth could not close upon him, nor do him the least harm in the world. Thus, though the struggle was a tre- mendous one, and though the dragon shattered the tuft of trees into small splinters by the lash- ing of his tail, yet, as Cadmus was all the while slashing and stabbing at his very vitals, it waa not long before the scaly wretch bethought
THE dragon's teeth. 149
himself of slipping away. He had not gone his length, however, when the brave Cadmus gave him a sword thrust that finished the battle; and, creeping out of the gateway of the creature's jaws, there he beheld him still wriggling his vast bulk, although there was no longer life enough in him to harm a little child.
But do not you suppose that it made Cadmus sorrowful to think of the melancholy fate which had befallen those poor, friendly people, who had followed the cow along with him ? It seemed as if he were doomed to lose every body whom he loved, or to see them perish in one way or another. And here he was, after all his toils and troubles, in a solitary place, with not a single human being to help him build a hut.
" What shall I do?" cried he aloud. " It were better for me to have been devoured by the dragon, as my poor companions were."
" Cadmus," said a voice — but whether it came from above or below him, or whether it spoke within his own breast, the young man could not tell — " Cadmus, pluck out the drag- en's teeth, and plant them in the earth."
This was a strange thing to do ; nor was it
150 THE dragon's teeth.
very easy, I should imagine, to dig out all those deep-rooted fangs from the dead dragon's jaws. But Cadmus toiled and tugged, and after pound- ing the monstrous head almost to pieces with a great stone, he at last collected as many teeth as might have filled a bushel or two. The next thing was to plant them. This, likewise, was a tedious piece of work, especially as Cadmus was already exhausted with killing the dragon and knocking his head to pieces, and had nothing to dig the earth with, that I know of, unless it were his sword blade. Finally, however, a sufficiently large tract of gi'ound was turned up, and sown with this new kind of seed ; although half of the dragon's teeth still remained to be planted some other day.
Cadmus, quite out of breath, stood leaning upon his sword, and wondering what was to happen next. He had waited but a few mo- ments, when he began to see a sight, which was as great a marvel as the most marvellous thing I ever told you about.
The sun was shining slantwise over the field, and showed all the moist, dark soil, just like any other newly-planted ])iece of ground. All at
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once, Cadmus fancied he saw something glisten very brightly, first at one spot, then at another, and then at a hundred and a thousand spots together. Soon he perceived them to be the steel heads of spears, sprouting up every where like so many stalks of grain, and continually growing taller and taller. Next appeared a vast number of bright sword blades, thrusting them- selves up in the same way. A moment after- wards, the whole surface of the ground was broken by a multitude of polished brass hel- mets, coming up like a crop of enormous beans. So rapidly did they grow, that Cadmus now dis- cerned the fierce countenance of a man beneath every one. In short, before he had time to think what a wonderful affair it was, he beheld an abundant harvest of what looked like human beings, armed w^ith helmets and breastplates, shields, swords, and spears ; and before they were well out of the earth, they brandished their weapons, and clashed them one against another, seeming to think, little while as they had yet lived, that they had wasted too much of life without a battle. Every tooth of the dragon had produced one of these sons of deadly mischief.
152 THE dragon's teeth.
Up sprouted, also, a great many trumpeters ; and with the first breath that they drew, they put their brazen trumpets to their lips, and sounded a tremendous and ear-shattering blast ; so that the whole space, just now so quiet and solitary, reverberated with the clash and clang of arms, the bray of w^arlike music, and the shouts of angi'y men. So enraged did they all look, that Cadmus fully expected them to put the whole world to the sword. How fortunate would it be for a great conqueror, if he could get a bushel of the dragon's teeth to sow!
" Cadmus,-' said the same voice which he had before heard, " throw a stone into the midst of the armed men."
So Cadmus seized a large stone, and, flinging it into the middle of the earth army, saw it strike the breastplate of a gigantic and fierce-looking warrior. Immediately on feeling the blow, he seemed to take it for granted that somebody had struck him ; and, uplifting his weapon, he smote his next neighbor a blow that cleft his helmet asunder, and stretched him on the ground. In an instant, those nearest the fallen warrior began to strike at one another with their swoids^
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and stab with their spears. The confusion spread wider and wider. Each man smote down his brother, and was himself smitten down before he had time to exult in his victory. The trumpeters, all the while, blew their blasts shriller and shriller ; each soldier shouted a battle cry, and often fell with it on his lips. It was the strangest spectacle of causeless wrath, and of mischief for no good end, that had ever been witnessed ; but, after all, it was neither more foolish nor more wicked than a thousand battles that have since been fought, in which men have slain their brothers with just as little reason as these children of the dragon's teeth. It ought to be considered, too, that the dragon people w^ere made for nothing else ; whereas other mortals were born to love and help one another.
Well, this memorable battle continued to rage until the ground was strewn with helmeted heads that had been cut off. Of all the thou- sands that began the fight, there w^ere only five left standing. These now rushed from different parts of the field, and, meeting in the middle of it, clashed their swords, and struck at each other's hearts as fiercely as ever.
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" Cadmus," said the voice again, •• bid those five warriors sheathe their swords. They will help you to build the city."
Without hesitating an instant, Cadmus stepped forward, with the aspect of a king and a leader, and extending his drawn sword amongst them, spoke to the warriors in a stern and command- ing voice.
" Sheathe your weapons I"' said he.
And forthwith, feeling themselves bound to obey him, the five remaining sons of the drag- on's teeth made him a military salute with their swords, returned them to the scabbards, and stood before Cadmus in a rank, eying him as soldiers eye their captain, while awaiting the word of command.
These five men had probably sprung from the biggest of the dragon's teeth, and were the bold- est and strongest of the whole army. They were almost giants indeed, and had good need to be so, else they never could have lived through so terrible a fight. They still had a very furious look, and, if Cadmus happened to glance aside, would glare at one another, with fire flashing out of their eyes. It was strange, too, to ob-
155
serve how the earth, out of which they had so lately grown, was incrusted, here and there, on their bright breastplates, and even begrimed their faces; just as you may have seen it clinging to beets and carrots, when pulled out of their native soil. Cadmus hardly knew whether to consider them as men, or some odd kind of vegetable; although, on the whole, he concluded that there was human nature in them, because they were 60 fond of trumpets and weapons, and so ready to shed blood.
They looked him earnestly in the face, wait- ing for his next order, and evidently desiring no other employment than to follow him from one battle field to another, all over the wide world. But Cadmus was wiser than these earth-born creatures, with the dragon's fierceness in them, and knew better how to use their strength and hardihood.
" Come ! " said he. " You are sturdy fellows. Make yourselves useful ! Quarry some stones with those great swords of yours, and help me to build a city."
The five soldiers grumbled a little, and mut- tered that it was their business to overthrow
156 THE dragon's teeth.
cities, not to build them up. But Cadmus looked at them with a stern eye, and spoke to them in a tone of authority, so that they knew him for their master, and never again thought of disobeying his commands. They set to work in good earnest, and toiled so diligently, that, in a very short time, a city began to make its appear- ance. At first, to be sure, the workmen showed a quarrelsome disposition. Like savage beasts, they would doubtless have done one another a mischief, if Cadmus had not kept watch over them, and quelled the fierce old serpent that lurked in their hearts, when he saw it gleaming out of their wild eyes. But, in course of time, they got accustomed to honest labor, and had sense enough to feel that there was more true enjoyment in living at peace, and doing good to one's neighbor, than in striking at him with a two-edged sword. It may not be too much to hope that the rest of mankind will by and by grow as wise and peaceable as these five earth- begrimed warriors, who sprang from the drag- on's teeth.
And now the city was built, and there was a home in it for each of the workmen. But the
THE dragon's teeth. 157
palace of Cadmus was not yet erected, because they had left it till the last, meaning to introduce all the new improvements of architecture, and make it very commodious, as well as stately and beautiful. After finishing the rest of their labors, they all went to bed betimes, in order to rise in the gray of the morning, and get at least the foundation of the edifice laid before nightfall. But, when Cadmus arose, and took his way to- wards the site where the palace was to be built, followed by his five sturdy workmen marching all in a row, what do you think he saw ?
What should it be but the most magnificent palace that had ever been seen in the world. It was built of marble and other beautiful kinds of stone, and rose high into the air, with a splendid dome and a portico along the front, and carved pillars, and every thing else that befitted the habitation of a mighty king. It had grown up out of the earth in almost as short a time as it had taken the armed host to spring from the dragon's teeth ; and what made the matter more strange, no seed of this stately edifice had ever been planted.
When the five workmen beheld the dome, with
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the morning sunshine making it look golden and glorious, they gave a great shout.
" Long live King Cadmus," they cried, " in his beautiful palace."
And the new king, with his five faithful follow- ers at his heels, shouldering their pickaxes and marching in a rank, (for they still had a soldierlike sort of behavior, as their nature was,) ascended the palace steps. Halting at the entrance, they gazed through a long vista of lofty pillars, that were ranged from end to end of a great hall. At the farther extremity of this hall, approaching slowly towards him, Cadmus beheld a female figure, wonderfully beautiful, and adorned with a royal robe, and a crown of diamonds over her golden ringlets, and the richest necklace that ever a queen wore. His heart thrilled with de- light. He fancied it his long-lost sister Europa, now grown to womanhood, coming to make him happy, and to repay him with her sweet sisterly aflfection, for all those weary wanderings in quest of her since he left King Agenor's palace — for the tears that he had shed, on parting with Phoenix, and Cilix, and Thasus — for the heart- breakings that had made the whole world seem dismal to him over his dear mother's grave.
THE dragon's teeth. 159
But, as Cadmus advanced to meet the beauti- ful stranger, he saw that her features were un- known to him, although, in the little time that it required to tread along the hall, he had already felt a sympathy betwixt himself and her.
" No, Cadmus," said the same voice that had spoken to him in the field of the armed men, " this is not that dear sister Europa whom you have sought so faithfully all over the wide world. This is Harmonia, a daughter of the sky, who is given you instead of sister, and brothers, and friend, and mother. You will find all thos^. dear ones in her alone."
So King Cadmus dwelt in the paiace, with his new friend Harmonia, and found a great deal of comfort in his magnificent abode, but would doubtless have found as much, if not more, in the humblest cottage by the wayside. Before many years went by, there was a group of rosy little children (but how they came thither has always been a mystery to me) sporting in the great hall, and on the marble steps of the palace, and running joyfully to meet King Cadmus when affairs of state left him at leisure to play with them. They called him father, and Queen
160 THE DRAGOxN's teeth.
Harmonia mother. The five old soldiers of the dragon's teeth grew very fond of these small urchins, and were never weary of showing them how to shoulder sticks, flourish wooden swords, and march in military order, blowing a penny trumpet, or beating an abominable rub-a-dub upon a little drum.
But King Cadmus, lest there should be too much of the dragon's tooth in his children's dis- position, used to find time from his kingly duties to teach them their ABC — which he invented for their benefit, and for which many little peo- ple, 1 am afraid, are not half so grateful to him as they ought to be.
CIRCE'S PALACE. lUl
CIRCE'S PALACE.
Some of you have heard, no doubt, of the wise King Ulysses, and how he went to the siege of Troy, and how, after that famous city was taken and burned, he spent ten long years in trying to get back again to his own little kingdom of Ithaca. At one time in the course of this weary voyage, he arrived at an island that looked very green and pleasant, but the name of which w^a3 unknown to him. For, only a little while before he came thither, he had met with a terrible hurri- cane, or rather a great many hurricanes at once, which drove his fleet of vessels into a strange part of the sea, where neither himself nor any of his mariners had ever sailed. This misfortune was entirely owing to the foolish curiosity of his ship- mates, who, while Ulysses lay asleep, had untied some very bulky leathern bags, in which they 11
162 circe's pat ace.
supposed a valuable treasure to be concealed. But in each of these stout bags, King ^olus, the ruler of the winds, had tied up a tempest, and had given it to Ulysses to keep, in order that he might be sure of a favorable passage home- ward to Ithaca ; and when the strings were loosened, forth rushed the whistling blasts, like air out of a blown bladder, whitening the sea with foam, and scattering the vessels nobody could tell whither.
Immediately after escaping from this peril, a still greater one had befallen him. Scudding be- fore the hurricane, he reached a place, which, as he afterwards found, was called Lasstrygonia, where some monstrous giants had eaten up many of his companions, and had sunk every one of his vessels, except that in which he himself sailed, by flinging great masses of rock at them, from the cliffs along the shore. After going through such troubles as these, you cannot wonder that King Ulysses was glaci to moor his tempest- beaten bark in a quiet cove of the green island, which I began with telling you about. But he had encountered so many dangers from giants, and one-eyed Cyclopes, dnd monsters of the sea
circe's palace. • 163
and land, that he could not help dreading some mischief, even in this pleasant and seemingly solitary spot. For two days, therefore, the poor weather-worn voyagers kept quiet, and either staid on board of their vessel, or merely crept along under the cliffs that bordered the shore ; and to keep themselves alive, they dug shellfish out of the sand, and sought for any little rill of fresh water that might be running towards the sea. Before the two days were spent, they grew very weary of this kind of life ; for the followers of King Ulysses, as you will find it important to remember, were terrible gormandizers, and pretty sure to grumble if they missed their regular meals, and their irregular ones besides. Their stock of provisions was quite exhausted, and even the shellfish began to get scarce, so that they had now to choose between starving to death or venturing into the interior of the island, where perhaps some huge three-headed dragon, or other horrible monster, had his den. Such misshapen creatures were very numerous in those *da^s ; and nobody ever expected to make a voyage, or take a journey, without running more or less risk of being devoured by them.
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But King Ulysses was a bold man as well as a prudent one ; and on the third morning he determined to discover what sort of a place the island was, and whether it were possible to ob- tain a supply of food for the hungry mouths of his companions. So, taking a spear in his hand, he clambered to the summit of a cliff, and gazed round about him. At a distance, towards the centre of the island, he beheld the stately towers of what seemed to be a palace, built of snow-white marble, and rising in the midst of a grove of lofty trees. The thick branches of these trees stretched across the front of the edifice, and more than half concealed it, although, from the portion which he saw, Ulysses judged it to be spacious and exceedingly beautiful, and probably the residence of some great nobleman or prince. A blue smoke went curling up from the chimney, and was almost the pleasantest part of the spec- tacle to Ulysses. For, from the abundance of this smoke, it was reasonable to conclude that there was a good fire in the kitchen, and that, at dinner time, a plentiful banquet would be served up to the inhabitants of the palace, and to what* ever guests might happen to drop in.
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With so agreeable a prospect before him; Ulysses fancied that he could not do better than to go straight to the palace gate, and tell the master of it that there was a crew of poor ship- wrecked mariners, not far off, who had eaten nothing for a day or two, save a few clams and oysters, and would therefore be thankful for a little food. And the prince or nobleman must be a very stingy curmudgeon, to be sure, if, at least, when his own dinner was over, he would not bid them welcome to the broken victuals from the table.
Pleasing himself with this idea. King Ulysses had made a few steps in the direction of the palace, when there was a great twittering and chirping from the branch of a neighboring tree. A moment afterwards, a bird came flying to- wards him, and hovered in the air, so as al- most to brush his face with its wins^s. It was a very pretty little bird, with purple wings and body, and yellow legs, and a circle of golden feathers round its neck, and on its head a golden tuft, which looked like a king's crown in minia- ture. Ulysses tried to catch the bird. But it fluttered nimbly out of his reach, still chirping
166 circe's palace.
in a piteous tone, as if it could have told a lamentable story, had it only been gifted with human language. And when he attempted to drive it away, the bird flew no farther than the bough of the next tree, and again came fluttering about his head, with its doleful chirp, as soon as he showed a purpose of going forward.
" Have you any thing to tell me, little bird ? " asked Ulysses.
And he was ready to listen attentively to whatever the bird might communicate ; for, at the siege of Troy, and elsewhere, he had known such odd things to happen, that he would not have considered it much out of the common run had this little feathered creature talked as plainly as himself.
"Peep!" said the bird, "peep, peep, pe — weep I " And nothing else would it say, but only, " Peep, peep, pe — weep ! " in a melan- choly cadence, and over and over and over again. As often as Ulysses moved forward, however, the bird showed the greatest alarm, and did its best to drive him back, with the anxious flutter of its purple wings. Its unaccountable behavior made him conclude, at last, that the
167
bird knew of some danger that awaited him, and which must needs be very terrible, beyond all question, since it moved even a little fowl to feel compassion for a human being. So he re- solved, for the present, to return to the vessel, and tell his companions what he had seen.
This appeared to satisfy the bird. As soon as Ulysses turned back, it ran up the trunk of a tree, and began to pick insects out of the bark with its long, sharp bill ; for it was a kind of woodpecker, you must know, and had to get its living in the same manner as other birds of that species. But every little while, as it pecked at the bark of the tree, the purple bird bethought itself of some secret sorrow, and repeated its plaintive note of " Peep, peep, pe — weep ! "
On his way to the shore, Ulysses had the good luck to kill a large stag by thrusting his spear into its back. Taking it on his shoulders, (for he was a remarkably strong man,) he lugged it along with him, and flung it down before his hungry companions. I have already hinted to you what gormandizers some of the comrades of King Ulysses were. From what is related of them, I reckon that their favorite diet wag
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pork, and that they had lived upon it until a good part of their physical substance was swine's flesh, and their tempers and dispositions were very much akin to the hog. A dish of venison, however, was no unacceptable meal to them, especially after feeding so long on oysters and clams. So, beholding the dead stag, they felt of its ribs, in a knowing way, and lost no time in kindling a fire, of driftwood, to cook it. The rest of the day was spent in feasting ; and if these enormous eaters got up from table at sun- set, it was only because they could not scrape another morsel off the poor animal's bones.
The next morning, their appetites were as sharp as ever. They looked at Ulysses, as if they expected him to clamber up the cliff' again, and come back with another fat deer upon his shoulders. Instead of setting out, however, he summoned the whole crew together, and told them it was in vain to hope that he could kill a stag every day for their dinner, and therefore it was advisable to think of some other mode of satisfying their hunger.
" Now," said he, " when I was on the cliff, yesterday, I discovered that this island is inhab-
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ited. At a considerable distance from the shore stood a marble palace, which appeared to be very spacious, and had a great deal of smoke curling out of one of its chimneys."
"Aha!" muttered some of his companions, smacking their lips. *' That smoke must have come from the kitchen fire. There was a good dinner on the spit ; and no doubt there will be as good a one to-day."
" But, " continued the wise Ulysses, " you must remember, my good friends, our misadventure in the cavern of one-eyed Polyphemus, the Cyclops I Instead of his ordinary milk diet, did he not eat up two of our comrades for his supper, and a couple more for breakfast, and two at his supper again ? Methinks I see him yet, the hideous monster, scanning us with that great red eye, in the middle of his forehead, to single out the fat- test. And then, again, only a few days ago, did we not fall into the hands of the king of the Lsestrygons, and those other horrible giants, his subjects, who devoured a great many more of us than are now left ? To tell you the truth, if we go to yonder palace, there can be no question that we shall make our appearance at the dinner
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table ; but whether seated as guests, or served up as food, is a point to be seriously considered." •
'• Either way," murmured some of the hun- griest of the crew, " it will be better than starva- tion ; particularly if one could be sure of being well fattened beforehand, and daintily cooked afterwards."
<' That is a matter of taste," said King Ulys- ses, " and, for my own part, neither the most careful fattening nor the daintiest of cookery would reconcile me to being dished at last. My proposal is, therefore, that we divide ourselves into two equal parties, and ascertain, by draw- ing lots, which of the two shall go to the palace, and beg for food and assistance. If these can be obtained, all is well. If not, and if the in- habitants prove as inhospitable as Polyphemus, or the Laestrygons, then there will but half of us perish, and the remainder may set sail and escape."
As nobody objected to this scheme, Ulysses proceeded to count the whole band, and found that there were forty-six men, including himself. He then numbered off twenty-two of them, and put Eurylochus (who was one of his chief offi-
171
cers, and second only to himself in sagacity) at their head. Ulysses took command of the re- maining twenty-two men, in person. Then, tak- ing off his helmet, he put two shells into it, on one of which was written, " Go," and on the other, " Stay." Another person now held the helmet, while Ulysses and Eurylochus drew out each a shell; and the word " Go" was found written on that which Eurylochus had drawn. In this manner, it was decided that Ulysses and his twenty-two men were to remain at the sea- side until the other party should have found out what sort of treatment they might expect at the mysterious palace. As there was no help for it, Eurylochus immediately set forth at the head of his twenty-two followers, who went off in a very melancholy state of mind, leaving their friends in hardly better spirits than themselves.
No sooner had they clambered up the cliff, than they discerned the tall marble towers of the palace, ascending, as white as snow, out of the lovely green shadow of the trees which sur- rounded it. A gush of smoke came from a chim- ney in the rear of the edifice. This vapor rose high in the air, and, meeting with a breeze, was
172 circe's palace.
wafted seaward, and made to pass over the heads of the hungry mariners. When people's appe- tites are keen, they have a very quick scent for any thing savory in the wind.
" That smoke comes from the kitchen ! " cried one of them, turning up his nose as high as he could, and snuffing eagerly. " And, as sure as I'm a half-starved vagabond, I smell roast meat in it."
"Pig, roast pig!" said another. "Ah, the dainty little porker ! My mouth waters for him."
" Let us make haste," cried the others, " or we shall be too late for the good cheer I "
But scarcely had they made half a dozen steps from the edge of the cliff, when a bird came flut- tering to meet them. It was the same pretty little bird, with the purple wings and body, the yellow legs, the golden collar round its neck, and the crown-like tuft upon its head, whose behavior had so much surprised Ulysses. It hovered about Eurylochus, and almost brushed his face with its wings.
" Peep, peep, pe — weep!" chirped the bird.
So plaintively intelligent was the sound, that
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it seemed as if the little creature were going to break its heart with some mighty secret that it had to tell, and only this one poor note to tell it with.
" My pretty bird," said Eurylochus, — for he w^as a wary person, and let no token of harm es- cape his notice, — " my pretty bird, who sent you hither ? And what is the message which you bring?"
"Peep, peep, pe — weep I" replied the bird, very sorrowfully.
Then it flew towards the edge of the cliff, and looked round at them, as if exceedingly anxious that they should return whence they came. Eurylochus and a few of the others were inclined to turn back. They could not help sus- pecting that the purple bird must be aware of something' mischievous that would befall them at the palace, and the knowledge of which af- fected its airy spirit with a human sympathy and sorrow. But the rest of the voyagers, snuffing up the smoke from the palace kitchen, ridicuh^d the idea of returning to the vessel. One of them (more brutal than his fellows, and the most no- torious gormandizer in the whole crew) said such
in
a cruel and wicked thing, that I wonder the mere thought did not turn him into a wild beast, in shape, as he already was in his nature.
" This troublesome and impertinent little fowl," said he, " would make a delicate titbit to begin dinner with. Just one plump morsel, melting away between the teeth. If he comes within my reach, I'll catch him, and give him to the palace cook to be roasted on a skewer."
The words were hardly out of his mouth, be- fore the purple bird flew away, crying, " Peep, peep, pe — weep," more dolorously than ever.
" That bird," remarked Eurylochus, " knows more than we do about what awaits us at the palace."
" Come on, then," cried his comrades, " and we'll soon know as much as he does."
The party, accordingly, went onward through the green and pleasant wood. Every little while they caught new glimpses of the marble pal- ace, which looked more and more beautiful the nearer they approached it. They soon entered a broad pathway, which seemed to be very neat- ly kept, and