"Where is the center of the world?"
This is the question which some one asked Jupiter as he sat in his
golden hall. Of course the mighty ruler of earth and sky was too wise to
be puzzled by so simple a thing, but he was too busy to answer it at
once. So he said:
"Come again in one year from to-day, and I will show you the very
place."
Then Jupiter took two swift eagles which could fly faster than the
storm-wind, and trained them till the speed of the one was the same as
that of the other. At the end of the year he said to his servants:
"Take this eagle to the eastern rim of the earth, where the sun rises
out of the sea; and carry his fellow to the far west, where the ocean is
lost in darkness and nothing lies beyond. Then, when I give you the
sign, loosen both at the same moment."
The servants did as they were bidden, and carried the eagles to the
outermost edges of the world. Then Jupiter clapped his hands. The
lightning flashed, the thunder rolled, and the two swift birds were set
free. One of them flew straight back towards the west, the other flew
straight back towards the east; and no arrow ever sped faster from the
bow than did these two birds from the hands of those who had held them.
On and on they went like shooting stars rushing to meet each other; and
Jupiter and all his mighty company sat amid the clouds and watched their
flight. Nearer and nearer they came, but they swerved not to the right
nor to the left. Nearer and nearer--and then with a crash like the
meeting of two ships at sea, the eagles came together in mid-air and
fell dead to the ground.
"Who asked where is the center of the world?" said Jupiter. "The spot
where the two eagles lie--that is the center of the world."
They had fallen on the top of a mountain in Greece which men have ever
since called Parnassus.
"If that is the center of the world," said young Apollo, "then I will
make my home there, and I will build a house in that place, so that my
light may be seen in all lands."
So Apollo went down to Parnassus, and looked about for a spot in which
to lay the foundations of his house. The mountain itself was savage and
wild, and the valley below it was lonely and dark. The few people who
lived there kept themselves hidden among the rocks as if in dread of
some great danger. They told Apollo that near the foot of the mountain
where the steep cliff seemed to be split in two there lived a huge
serpent called the Python. This serpent often seized sheep and cattle,
and sometimes even men and women and children, and carried them up to
his dreadful den and devoured them.
"Can no one kill this beast?" said Apollo.
And they said, "No one; and we and our children and our flocks shall all
be slain by him."
Then Apollo with his silver bow in his hands went up towards the place
where the Python lay. The monster had worn great paths through the grass
and among the rocks, and his lair was not hard to find. When he caught
sight of Apollo, he uncoiled himself, and came out to meet him. The
bright prince saw the creature's glaring eyes and blood-red mouth, and
heard the rush of his scaly body over the stones. He fitted an arrow to
his bow, and stood still. The Python saw that his foe was no common man,
and turned to flee. Then the arrow sped from the bow--and the monster
was dead.
"Here I will build my house," said Apollo.
Close to the foot of the steep cliff, and beneath the spot where
Jupiter's eagles had fallen, he laid the foundations; and soon where had
been the lair of the Python, the white walls of Apollo's temple arose
among the rocks. Then the poor people of the land came and built their
houses near by; and Apollo lived among them many years, and taught them
to be gentle and wise, and showed them how to be happy. The mountain was
no longer savage and wild, but was a place of music and song; the valley
was no longer dark and lonely, but was filled with beauty and light.
"What shall we call our city?" the people asked.
"Call it Delphi, or the Dolphin," said Apollo; "for it was a dolphin
that carried my mother across the sea."