[Frontispiece: HERA
_from an Ancient Statue now in the Vatican Museum at Rome_]
MYTHS OF HELLAS
OR
GREEK TALES
TOLD IN GERMAN BY
PROFESSOR C. WITT
HEAD MASTER OF THE ALTSTADT GYMNASIUM AT KÖNIGSBERG
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH
(_with the Author's sanction_)
BY
FRANCES YOUNGHUSBAND
_WITH A PREFACE_
BY
ARTHUR SIDGWICK, M.A.
FELLOW AND TUTOR OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD
LATE ASSISTANT-MASTER AT RUGBY SCHOOL
FIFTH EDITION
LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
AND NEW YORK: 15 EAST 16th STREET
1891
_All rights reserved_
PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
LONDON
TO ALL ENGLISH CHILDREN
BUT ESPECIALLY TO C. I. W. AND TO E. R. Y. AND O. Y.
WHOSE PLEASURE IN THESE STORIES
HAS MADE ME WISH
TO BRING THEM WITHIN THE REACH OF OTHER CHILDREN
I DEDICATE THIS TRANSLATION
F. M. Y.
PREFACE.
The following collection of legends about the Greek gods and heroes,
to which I have been asked to write a few words of introduction, is a
translation of a little book by Professor C. Witt which has been
received in Germany with great favour by the public and the press.
This popularity has been due, not merely to the intrinsic beauty of
the stories, but to the skill shown in the selection, and in the
simplicity of the style. The last quality it has been the aim of the
translator to retain in the English version; and the success of the
book in Germany suggests a hope that the translation may become a
favourite in this country.
That there still exists a demand for some such book, notwithstanding
the deserved popularity of Kingsley's 'Heroes,' Cox's Mythological
Tales, and Church's Stories from Greek and Latin Writers, seems to be
shown by the large number of encouraging letters received by the
translator from persons engaged or interested in education.
That Greek stories, simply told, will be acceptable to children,
common sense would tell us, even apart from experience. Children
impartially welcome all tales of incident and wonder, if they can
understand the language in which they are written, and if their
pleasure is not dashed by the medicinal flavour of a moral. And even
a moral will not deter them if it be not too explicit or obtrusive.
Again, from the teacher's point of view as well as the child's, there
seems to be every reason in favour of presenting to them at an early
age the stories of Greek mythology. There is first the obvious fact
that such reading trains and cultivates the imaginative faculties,
and that it is good to vary the 'Arabian Nights' and the German and
Norse fairy-tales with such totally different material as the Greek
stories. There are also other reasons arising from the altered
position of Greek in education.
Without entering on any controverted question, it is clear that even
in classical schools the teaching of Greek will have in the future to
occupy fewer hours, and probably to begin at a later age, than
hitherto. The much greater number of subjects now taught, and
necessarily and rightly taught, makes this inevitable. And if the
same good, or anything like the same good, is to be got out of the
fewer hours, there must be considerable modification of method. And
one obvious modification is, that much which before was taught slowly
and painfully by means of the Greek authors, should be learnt quickly
and pleasurably by means of an English rendering. To take a very
humble example: The present writer would have a much less weary
memory of his early struggles with the 'Alcestis' of Euripides at the
age of twelve, if he had been familiar from the age of six with such
a version of the story as is presented in this volume. In short, to
bring to the study of a language--always a difficult and tedious
business to a beginner--some knowledge of the matter with which the
literature deals, and some interest in the people and their life,
must tend to lighten and shorten the process of learning. And to
this end the following little book is offered as a small contribution.
The aim and hope of the translator may be thus summed up in two or
three words. All children will get pleasure out of these stories,
and that is much. Many children will perhaps get the elements of
culture, and that is more. And some may get at once pleasure,
culture, and a little real preparation for severer studies; and so
receive a benefit, though doubtless of a humbler kind, yet something
like that which Pope's 'Homer' has given to so many generations of
schoolboys.
A. S.
OXFORD: _November_, 1882.
NOTES.
NOTE ON THE SOURCES OF THE STORIES.
The stories have been taken by the Author from many sources, but
chiefly from a Greek writer, Apollodorus, who lived in the second
century B.C., and collected the old mythological tales. A good deal
has also been taken from the poems of Hesiod and Homer, and from the
tragedies of Sophocles; but in these cases it has been necessary to
exercise some care in the selection of what would be suitable for a
book intended to be placed in the hands of children. Several of the
details have been supplied by the ancient works of art which have
come down to us.
NOTE ON THE NAMES OF THE GODS.
As it is probable that many readers will be more familiar with the
Latin names of the gods, whilst the stories in this book, being
derived from Greek sources, give naturally the Greek names, the
following list will perhaps be useful, which shows the corresponding
names of each god in the two languages:--
_Greek._ _Latin._
Aphrodītē. Venus.
Apollon. Apollo.
Artemis. Diana.
Athēnē. Minerva.
Kronos. Saturnus.
Dēmētēr. Ceres.
Dionusos or Bacchos. Bacchus.
Hephaistos. Vulcanus.
Hēra. Iuno.
Hermes. Mercurius.
Persephonē. Proserpina.
Plouton. Pluto.
Poseidon. Neptunus.
Zeūs. Iuppiter.
Also the hero and demi-god Herakles is called Hercules by the Romans.
The young reader will naturally ask why, if the stories are the same,
the names are in most cases so different. And the answer is briefly
this: Each nation had originally its own gods, with different names
and quite different ideas attaching to them. But the Greeks were a
far more gifted and imaginative people than the Romans, and, when
communication was established between the countries, became in many
ways their teachers. Many Romans learned Greek, and the Greek
stories became current. But as the Romans naturally adhered to the
old names of their own gods, there arose in this way an
identification. The old Latin ideas about their gods gave way to, or
were incorporated with, the much richer and more poetical Greek
fancies and traditions; and thus the Greek mythology was almost
bodily adopted by the Roman writers.
For example, the god Saturnus was originally a Latin rustic god,
presiding (as the name shows) over the important work of _sowing_
corn. But when the identification took place, all the stories about
Kronos were gradually attached to him, and thus we find him in the
Roman poets the father of Iuppiter, and the old dispossessed king of
the gods.
In a few cases (as Apollo, Pluto, Bacchus), the name was adopted as
well as the story, the termination being Latinised. Sometimes it was
corrupted, as Proserpina from Persephone; and sometimes a chance
resemblance (as that between the Latin Hercules, originally Herculus,
and the Greek Herakles) determined the identification.
Accordingly when we say, as is often said, that the Greek Artemis
(for example) is 'called Diana in Latin,' we are using language
which, without the above explanation, is liable to mislead the
beginner.
A. S.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I. The Beginning of all Things
II. The Golden Age
III. Prometheus and Epimetheus
IV. Deucalion and Pyrrha
V. The Rape of Persephone
VI. Marpessa
VII. Artemis
VIII. The Giants Otus and Ephialtes
IX. Endymion
X. Io
XI. Danaus and Aegyptus
XII. Phaëthon
XIII. Salmoneus and Sisyphus
XIV. Bellerophon
XV. Daedalus and Icarus
XVI. Europa and Cadmus
XVII. The Building of Thebes
XVIII. Semele
XIX. Dionysus
XX. Melampus and Bias
XXI. Tantalus. Pelops
XXII. Niobe
XXIII. Meleager and Atalanta
XXIV. Admetus and Alcestis
XXV. Perseus
XXVI. Heracles:--
1. The War with the Teleboae
2. The Birth and Youth of Heracles
3. The Madness of Heracles, and his First Six Labours
4. The Last Six Labours
5. The Murder of Iphitus and the Vengeances of Heracles
6. The Marriage of Heracles with Deianira, and his Death
XXVII. The Quest of the Argonauts:--
1. The Golden Fleece
2. The Journey to Colchis
3. The Fight for the Golden Fleece
4. The Journey Home
5. Medea's Revenge
XXVIII. Theseus
XXIX. Oedipus
XXX. The Seven against Thebes
XXXI. The Epigoni
XXXII. Eros and Psyche
{1}
MYTHS OF HELLAS.
I.
THE BEGINNING OF ALL THINGS.
Long ago, in the beginning of time, there was nothing but a huge dark
mass called Chaos. In this Chaos were hidden all things that now
exist, the earth and the sky, light and darkness, fire and water, and
everything else, but they were not yet severed one from the other,
and were so mingled and confused that nothing had a separate form of
its own. After the Chaos had lasted for a long time it parted
asunder, and the earth was divided from the heaven. The sun and the
moon and the stars mounted up above into the sky, but the water and
the stones and the trees liked better to remain below with the earth.
There was a god in the sky called Uranus, and on earth there was a
goddess called Gaea. They became husband and wife, and had several
children, of whom six were ugly and twelve were beautiful. The ugly
ones had, each of them, either a hundred arms, or else only one eye.
Those who had a hundred arms had also fifty heads, and they were as
big as mountains, and very {2} frightful. The others had only one
eye apiece, and it was placed in the middle of their foreheads and
was as large as a cart wheel. But the beautiful brothers and sisters
were formed like men, only they were much larger and grander. Six of
them were gods, and were called Titans; there were also six
goddesses, who were called Titanides.
The gods lived on the summit of a very high mountain called Mount
Olympus, which almost reached the sky, and Uranus was king over them
all. He could not bear the sight of his hundred-armed and one-eyed
children because they were so hideous, so he thrust them into a dark
pit below the earth, called Tartarus, and would not let them come out
of it again. But the mother Gaea loved even her ugly children, and
was angry with Uranus for banishing them into darkness and misery.
And she said to her son Cronus, who was the youngest of the beautiful
gods, that if he would promise to fetch up his hundred-armed and
one-eyed brothers out of Tartarus, she would help him to dethrone
Uranus and himself become king of the gods. Cronus promised that he
would do this, and Gaea created the bright cutting steel, and made
with it a sharp sickle which she gave to her son, and told him to
stab Uranus with it when he was asleep. Cronus did as she desired
him, and thus Uranus lost his kingly power.
Cronus now ruled over the world in his father's stead, and the other
gods had to obey him. He took one of the Titanides called Rhea to be
his wife, and made her the queen. He also fetched up his ugly
brothers from Tartarus, but he soon became afraid of them and drove
them back into the dark pit. The {3} mother Gaea now saw how little
she had gained by her treachery to her husband, and she told Cronus
that he should lose his kingly power through one of his children just
as Uranus had done. This frightened him so much that whenever Rhea
had a child, he took it and swallowed it. He swallowed five of them
in this way, and poor Rhea was very sad because she had no children
left. Then Gaea told her, next time she had a child, to take a stone
and wrap it in swaddling clothes and give it to Cronus to swallow as
if it were the baby, but keep the real child in some safe place till
it was grown up. Rhea did so, and Cronus swallowed the stone she
gave him, thinking it was the little boy that had just been born, but
Rhea hid the child in a cave in the island of Crete where a beautiful
goat named Amalthea nourished him with her milk. And there were
armed men there, who, whenever the baby cried, danced about and
clashed their shields and spears together as if they were treading a
war-dance for their own amusement, but it was really to prevent
Cronus from hearing the crying. The boy was named Zeus, and in a
year he was quite grown up, and was the most beautiful and most
powerful of all the gods. When Cronus was asleep, Rhea used to go to
the cave and talk to him.
At last the time came when Zeus was to wage war against his father,
and then Gaea gave her daughter Rhea a bowl containing a sweet
medicine for Cronus to drink. Rhea went to her husband and said,
'The mother Gaea is no longer angry with you, and she has sent you
this sweet drink.' Cronus took the bowl and drank it up; it tasted
very nice, but after he had {4} swallowed it he began to feel very
uncomfortable, and presently he was sick. Then out came the stone
and the children that he had swallowed, the youngest first, and the
eldest last; there were two gods and three goddesses, and they were
all quite grown up. The names of the gods were Poseidon and Pluto,
and the names of the goddesses were Hera, Demeter, and Hestia.
Then the young gods made war against the old ones, and they sent for
the hundred-armed and one-eyed monsters out of Tartarus, that they
might help them. The One-eyed were very skilful at smith's work, and
they were so grateful to Zeus for setting them free that they forged
for him valuable weapons, thunder and lightning. The old gods took
their stand on Mount Othrys, and the young ones on Mount Olympus, and
between them was a wide far-stretching valley where they fought.
When there was a battle the whole earth resounded at the tread of the
gods. The Hundred-armed always threw a hundred pieces of rock at
once, and Zeus hurled thunderbolt after thunderbolt, till the woods
were in flames and the rivers boiled. The war lasted for ten years,
but at last the young gods triumphed. They thrust their enemies into
Tartarus, and set the Hundred-armed and the One-eyed to keep guard
over them.
Zeus was now the king of the gods, and he married his sister Hera and
made her the queen. He also gave an empire to each of his brothers:
all the sea was made subject to Poseidon, and Pluto became king of
the Lower World, where the dead are. These gods had children, who
were also gods, and had each their part in the government of the
universe. The good goat {5} Amalthea was already dead, but Zeus
honoured her by making one of her horns a wonder, which became famous
all over the world. Whoever had it might wish for anything he liked
to eat or drink, and immediately it was there; and for this reason it
was called the Horn of Plenty, because it produced in abundance
everything that could be desired in the way of food.
The mother Gaea had planned the overthrow of Cronus because he had
driven back his hundred-armed and one-eyed brothers into Tartarus.
But she found herself worse off than ever, for the only result of her
revenge was that now her beautiful children were imprisoned instead
of the ugly ones. This made her very angry with the young gods, and
she could not bear to see them powerful and happy. So she brought
into the world some hideous monsters to make war against the young
gods. They were called Giants, and had enormous strength and
courage. They tore up masses of rock and dashed them up into the air
till the vault of heaven rang again, but the gods only laughed at it,
for the stones were powerless to hurt them by the time they had
reached so great a height, and there was no mountain high enough for
the Giants to climb from it to the top of Mount Olympus.
The Giants went on in this way for a long time, but they found that,
do what they would, they could not inflict any injury upon the gods,
and only got laughed at for their pains, so they resolved to try
another plan. They made up their minds to build a ladder by which
they might climb up to the abode of the gods, and they set to work to
uproot a mountain called Ossa, and roll it on to the top of another
mountain called {6} Pelion. But whilst they were doing this, Zeus
hurled a mighty thunderbolt against Ossa and made it fall down again,
and the gods rushed down to the earth to fight the Giants, shouting
their war-cry. The fight lasted for a whole day, for the Giants were
very strong, but at last the gods gained the victory, and they
crushed each of the Giants beneath a huge mountain, which did not
kill him, but prevented his ever getting up again. One of them tried
to escape over the Mediterranean Sea, but the goddess Athene, who was
the daughter of Zeus, tore off a great three-cornered piece of land
and threw it after him. It hit him just as he was in the middle of
the sea, and he fell down and was buried beneath it. After some time
the land became covered with forests and cities, and it is now called
the Island of Sicily. Every now and then the Giants turn on one side
beneath their mountains, and then people say, 'It is an earthquake';
and sometimes they become quite furious with impatience, and then
their fiery breath bursts through the mountains and puffs out molten
iron and stones.
After the Giants were conquered, Gaea created a truly terrific being,
far worse than they had been. She brought him out of a great crack
that she made in the earth, and she called her son Typhöeus and was
quite pleased to see how hideous he was, for she thought that such a
monstrous creature would surely be able to conquer the young gods.
He could see over the tops of the highest mountains, and when he
stretched out his hands they reached right round the world. He had a
hundred heads, each of them with a different kind of voice, so that
he could speak like a {7} man, bellow like a bull, roar like a lion,
bark like a dog, and hiss like a snake. All the other gods were
afraid of him and hid themselves, but Zeus armed himself with
thunderbolts and went out to fight him. Typhöeus threw large masses
of rock at him, and screamed with all his hundred mouths at once, but
Zeus scorched him with lightning, till at last bright flames burst
out all over the giant's body. Then Typhöeus howled and dashed
himself to the ground, rolling over and over to try and put out the
flames, but he could not succeed in doing so, for Zeus went on
hurling thunderbolts at him, and the trees all round became red hot.
At last Gaea began to fear that the whole earth would melt, and so
she seized Typhöeus and flung him down into Tartarus, where he died.
After this Gaea gave up fighting with the young gods, for she knew
that they were stronger than she was, but it was a very long time
before she really made friends with them.
{8}
II.
THE GOLDEN AGE.
It was during the time when Cronus was reigning over the gods that
men were first created, and this was called the Golden Age. In the
Golden Age it was always springtime, and beautiful flowers blossomed
the whole year round in the woods and meadows. It was not necessary
for men to labour at tilling the ground, for the earth brought forth
of itself everything they could possibly require: apples and melons
and grapes and other fruits grew wild everywhere, and in the brooks
there flowed a delicious kind of water that tasted like milk. Men,
too, were good and happy, and they all lived for a long time, for
three hundred years and more, and did not get old and grey, but
always remained young. They had no need of houses, but lived out of
doors with the beautiful earth for a carpet and the sky for a roof.
Neither were there any distinctions such as we have now between rich
and poor, or the upper and lower classes, but all were equal and
lived together as friends. When they had lived for a long time and
had had enough of life, they fell into a deep sleep and never woke
again: that was their death.
The Golden Age came to an end at last, but those who had lived during
that time became guardian spirits who still wander unseen over the
earth and kind to us who are now alive.
{9}
III.
PROMETHEUS AND EPIMETHEUS.
After the Golden Age was over, the world went on just as it does now;
summer and winter followed each other, and there were times of bad
weather as well as of bright sunshine; there were also many people
who had not everything they wanted, but were obliged to struggle
against hunger and cold and other evils. But they were happy and
contented, and had still a spark of the god-like spirit left in them,
so that under the pressure of need they learnt all kinds of useful
arts.
There were two brothers of the race of the gods, whose father had
been a Titan and had fought against Zeus. These brothers were kind
to men and lived among them; one of them was called Prometheus, or
the Fore-thinker, because he was always looking forward and planning
for the future; and the other was called Epimetheus, or the
Afterthinker, because he never thought seriously about things till
they had already taken place. Zeus had not gifted men with fire, but
Prometheus foresaw that by the help of fire they would be able to
make out of bronze and iron many useful tools and weapons which would
add to their comfort. So he begged Zeus to give it to them, but Zeus
said, 'They will become too clever, and at last they will think {10}
themselves equal to the gods.' Prometheus thought it would be a
noble thing to scorn the anger of Zeus and bring down fire to the
earth in order to benefit mankind, and though he knew that Zeus would
punish him severely for doing so, he was willing to bear that. He
took a reed in which there was a great deal of pith of the same kind
that still grows in warm countries and is used for fuel, and he
climbed up to the sun with this reed in his hand, and held it in the
blaze till it caught fire and burned like tinder. Then he came down
to earth again, and made a fire which gave out warmth and a clear
blaze, so that all men wondered at it. And when it was dark Zeus
looked down upon the earth. There appeared to be a great many stars
there, but the lights which he saw were not stars,--they were the
flickering fires that men had kindled, and Zeus knew it, and was
very, very angry.
Now at that time there were no such things as diseases and cares
among men, so Zeus resolved to send them these unwelcome guests,
because they had obtained fire against his will. The god Hephaestus
fashioned a marvellously beautiful woman out of clay, and Zeus gave
life to her, and the other gods endowed her with many of those gifts
that call forth the love of men. They gave her goodly gifts
indeed--good-nature, pleasant speech, and skill in many arts, but no
one gave her an honourable, straightforward mind. The gods called
her Pandora, or the All-gifted, because they had all brought her some
gift. Hermes, the messenger of the gods, took her to Epimetheus and
said, 'Zeus sends this beautiful woman to be your wife.' Prometheus
had warned his brother not to {11} accept any gift from Zeus, because
he knew that he would act treacherously, but when Epimetheus saw the
lovely woman, he forgot that she had come from Zeus and took her home
to live with him. Pandora showed him a golden casket which she said
contained her dowry, and as he was very anxious to see the precious
jewels he expected to find in it, he begged her to open it. But when
she had taken off the lid, instead of any jewels, there were a number
of winged figures inside with corpse-like faces who struggled out and
flew about all over the world: these were the diseases and cares that
Zeus had said he would send. They fly into the houses of men and
nestle beside them without anyone being able to see or hear them come
in. Even now it often happens that when a man is seated at dinner
with his guests, well and happy, one of the diseases flies in without
any one knowing it, and in the night it seizes upon him and puts an
end to all his enjoyment. Zeus had meant to send into the world a
still worse fellow, called Foreboding, so that men might know all
their troubles beforehand, and thus lose all pleasure in life.
Foreboding was in the casket with the others, but when Pandora took
off the lid, he was in such a hurry to get out that his wings caught
in the inner edge of the casket, and when Pandora shut down the lid
again she did not see that he was left behind. If Foreboding had
come into the world, everyone would have known in childhood of the
diseases and troubles in store for him in his old age, and would thus
have lost all his spirits, even in his days of health.
Thus did Zeus punish men by sending disease and {12} care among them;
but for Prometheus, who had taken the fire to them, he reserved a far
severer punishment. He commanded two gods to carry him to Mount
Caucasus, and the god Hephaestus, who was an excellent smith, bound
him to a rock with strong iron chains so that he could neither move
hand nor foot; but Hephaestus did so very unwillingly, for it seemed
to him that Prometheus had done a great and god-like thing in braving
the wrath of Zeus. Every morning a huge eagle came and pecked open
the body of Prometheus and ate his liver, and every night the liver
grew again and the body healed over it. Prometheus suffered
inexpressible agony, but he never would beg for mercy from Zeus nor
say that he was sorry for having brought down the fire, for he was
still of the same mind about it.
But after many years had passed, there came a great hero named
Heracles, who shot the eagle with his bow and arrow and delivered
Prometheus. Prometheus was now free, but he was still obliged to
wear on his finger a ring of the chain with which he had been bound
to remind him of his punishment, and from that time it has always
been the custom for people to wear rings as reminders.
{13}
IV.
DEUCALION AND PYRRHA.
After disease and care had come into the world, men became unkind and
unfriendly; instead of peace there was now constant war, and murder
and theft were more common every day. The gods were much displeased
at these crimes, and Zeus said he would destroy the whole race of men
by a great flood. There were, however, one man and one woman,
Deucalion and Pyrrha, who took no part in the crimes that were
committed, but who lived peacefully and uprightly, fearing the gods.
Deucalion was the son of Prometheus, who knew everything that the
gods had resolved upon though he was chained to Mount Caucasus, and
when the great flood was about to take place, he advised Deucalion to
provide against it by building a chest that could float on the water,
so that when the flood began, he and his wife might take shelter in
it.
Then a mighty rain poured down from heaven which lasted for nine days
and nine nights. The valleys were soon filled with water, and the
people fled for safety to the tops of the highest mountains; but the
flood rose higher and higher till at last the waves washed right over
the mountains, so that the people perished miserably in the water.
The great chest {14} floated about on the top of the waves, and
Deucalion and Pyrrha who were safely shut up inside it, could hear
the pouring rain and the cries of the drowning people. When they
were all drowned, the rain ceased and the waters began to abate, and
on the next day the bottom of the chest grated against dry land.
Then Deucalion burst it open, and he and Pyrrha came out into the
sunshine, but all they could see was a wide stretch of sea with only
the tops of the highest mountains standing out above it. The
mountain where the chest had stranded was called Parnassus, and was
specially dedicated to the gods. Before this time Zeus had once
wanted to know where the middle of the earth was, and had let fly two
doves at the same moment from the two ends of the world to see where
they would meet: they met on Mount Parnassus, and thus it was proved
beyond a doubt, that this mountain must be the centre of the earth.
Deucalion and Pyrrha were now the only ones remaining of the whole
human race, and it was on account of their piety that Zeus had
allowed them to save themselves instead of destroying them with the
others. The waters abated until they no longer covered the earth,
and then the grass and flowers and trees bloomed forth again as they
do in spring, and Zeus sent Hermes, the messenger of the gods, to
tell Deucalion and Pyrrha that they might ask for anything they
pleased, and he would grant it. They determined to ask that there
might again be men on the earth, and Hermes told them to go into the
valley where there were a great many stones lying, and to take up the
stones and throw them over their shoulders. They did {15} so, and
this was what happened: every stone that Deucalion threw became a
man, and every stone that Pyrrha threw became a woman. Deucalion was
their king, and he taught them to cultivate the land, and many other
useful arts. And after some time had passed the whole earth was
filled with people as before, and no one would have known that the
great Flood had ever taken place.
{16}
V.
THE RAPE OF PERSEPHONE.
The goddess Demeter had a daughter named Persephone, who lived in the
island of Sicily. Her mother had given her several maidens to be her
playfellows, and she herself often came down from Mount Olympus to
see her daughter. The maidens played and danced together, or
wandered about over the hills and valleys looking for beautiful
flowers, and were as happy as the days were long. One day whilst
they were all scattered about looking for flowers, it happened that
Persephone strayed away from the others and was quite alone. Then
suddenly the earth opened beside her, and out of it there came a
chariot drawn by fierce coal-black horses, in which was a man with a
pale face and a black beard and a golden circlet round his hair. He
put out his hand and took hold of the beautiful Persephone, and drew
her into the chariot beside him. She screamed out to her companions,
but it was of no use, for the man with the pale face and the black
beard held her fast, and the horses ran like lightning till very soon
they had disappeared under the earth and she could no longer be seen
or heard. Her companions had heard her cries and they ran to look
for {17} her, but they could not tell what had become of her.
Now when Demeter found that her daughter had been carried off she was
very much distressed, and she lighted a torch and wandered all over
the world trying to find her. She lit up every cranny and cavern
with her torch, and climbed all the highest mountains, asking gods
and men if they had seen her child, but no trace of her could she
find.
I must tell you that the pale dark man was the god Pluto, the king of
the Lower World. It was so dismal down there that no woman would
consent to be his wife, so he made up his mind to carry off the
beautiful Persephone by force, and Zeus had given him leave to do
this, but he did not tell Demeter about it. Demeter wandered about
for a whole year, growing every day sadder and sadder, till at last
the sun-god, Helios, took pity on her. Helios could see everything
that happened on the earth, and he had been looking on when Pluto ran
away with Persephone, so he told Demeter that her daughter was in the
Lower World, and that the gods knew all about it and allowed it.
Then Demeter was angry with Zeus and the other gods for having given
her so much pain, and she refused to live with them any longer, but
remained on earth among men.
The gods were sorry for this, for they honoured and loved Demeter, so
after a little while Zeus proposed that a council of all the gods
should be held, and that they should judge between Demeter and Pluto.
A day was appointed, and they all came together, Demeter and Pluto
among the rest; and it was decided that if {18} Persephone had as yet
eaten nothing since she left the earth she should return to her
mother, but that otherwise she should remain in the Lower World. Now
Persephone had been so sad in the Lower World that during all this
time she had neither eaten nor drunk anything but once. This was one
day when, as she was walking by the side of the river that flows
through the Lower World and came to some pomegranate trees laden with
beautiful red fruit, she plucked a pomegranate and ate it; and Pluto
told this in the assembly of the gods, hoping that it would make good
his claim to keep her. But the gods decreed that as she had eaten
nothing but a pomegranate in the Lower World she should not remain
there altogether, but only for a third of the year, and that during
the remaining two thirds she should be allowed to live on the earth.
So it was arranged in this way: as long as the ears of corn were
below the ground, Persephone had to remain in the Lower World with
her husband, but as soon as the blades appeared above the soil, she
too came up into the sunlight to her mother.
At this time corn was already growing upon the earth, for Demeter had
created it for the use of men, and she often wore a wreath of
wheat-ears round her head. But when she was wandering over the earth
looking for her daughter, she found that no one understood the best
means of making it grow, and as she knew that men would be more
peaceful and friendly if they cultivated the ground and surrounded
themselves with beautiful plants, she determined to teach them how to
do so. Demeter loved all men, but most of all a man named
Triptolemus, and she gave him a {19} chariot drawn by two winged
dragons, and put into his hand a quantity of corn, which she told him
to strew over the earth. Triptolemus flew through the air in his
chariot, scattering the grains of corn as he went; and then there
fell a gentle rain which made them sink into the ground, so that they
became firmly rooted, and soon shot forth little blades. The people
were much pleased when the corn grew up and ripened, and Triptolemus
taught them all that he had learnt from Demeter about the best way of
cultivating it and turning it to good account. Soon there were
fields of waving corn all over the earth, and instead of always going
out hunting, men tilled the ground and waited for the harvest. When
it was ripe, they raised altars of earth and green grass, and laid
the fresh ears upon them us a thank-offering to the gods for having
sent rain and sunshine to make the corn grow. Demeter especially was
held in great honour, and they prayed to her when they sowed their
crops.
{20}
VI.
MARPESSA.
There was once a king of Greece named Evenus, who had a beautiful
daughter called Marpessa. There was also a brave and noble hero
called Idas, and he came one day to the king and asked him to let him
have Marpessa for his wife. Marpessa would have been quite willing
to agree to this, but the old king was very selfish, and he said that
he would not let his daughter leave him to marry anyone. So Idas had
to go away with a heavy heart, but the sea-god Poseidon was his
friend, and he gave him a wonderful chariot in which to carry off the
beautiful Marpessa by stealth. The chariot was drawn by very swift
horses, and it had wings on both sides which flapped as the horses
ran, so that nothing on earth could go faster than this chariot.
One day when Marpessa went to the well to draw water, she found Idas
waiting there for her in the winged chariot, and she got up beside
him and drove away. The old king saw them go, and he was very angry
and said that he would fetch back Marpessa and kill Idas. He had the
swiftest team of horses in the whole country, and he drove them
furiously along the track of the other chariot, but even at their
utmost speed {21} they could not go fast enough to please him. At
last he came to a river, and then he knew that it was hopeless to
pursue his daughter and Idas any further, and he stabbed the horses
and broke the chariot to pieces, and then he threw himself into the
river and was drowned.
Idas was far on in front, and he thought there was no fear now of
anyone attempting to interfere between him and the beautiful
Marpessa. But there was a mighty god named Apollo, who loved
Marpessa, and was not willing that Idas should have her for his wife,
for he wanted to marry her himself. He was very beautiful in face
and in form, and had the appearance of a youth just reaching the age
of manhood. He was the brother of Artemis the goddess of the woods,
and carried a bow of pure silver, while round his neck there hung a
golden quiver full of arrows, and he could always hit whatever he
aimed at, even if it were many miles off. He came and seized the
horses' bridle, and said to Idas that he must either give up the
maiden or else fight with him. Idas was very brave and was always
quite ready to fight, and he at once jumped down from the chariot and
prepared to begin the struggle. But at that moment there fell a
thunderbolt on the ground between them, and they heard the voice of
Zeus calling to them, and saying, 'The maiden shall decide.'
So Marpessa had to choose between a god and a hero, and she looked
down and thought for a moment. Then she raised her eyes and held out
her hand to Idas, and said, 'When I am old, you will be old also, and
will honour me and take care of me, but {22} Apollo always remains
young, and in my old age he would thrust me away and would take
another wife.' So Marpessa made her choice and preferred to marry
the hero Idas, and Apollo bad to go away without her.
{23}
VII.
ARTEMIS
Artemis was the goddess of the woods. She was the daughter of Zeus
and of the goddess Leto, who had gone through many troubles before
Artemis was born. For Zeus had married the beautiful Leto secretly,
and when Hera heard of it she was very angry, and drove her away from
Mount Olympus. Leto took shelter on the earth, but Hera commanded
the earth to deny her rest, and whenever she lay down it began to
tremble under her and quaked horribly. She fled like a hunted deer
from one end of the world to the other, till after long wanderings
she came to the floating island of Delos over which the earth had no
power, and here at last she could rest. The island was not fixed to
the bottom of the sea, and the waves played roughly with it and
tossed it about, so the sea-god Poseidon, who was sorry for Leto,
caused four granite pillars to spring up and hold it fast, and ever
since that time it has stood perfectly still. Leto had two children,
a boy and a girl, and Zeus named them Apollo and Artemis. After the
children were born, Hera became kinder, and allowed Leto to come back
to Mount {24} Olympus, and desired the earth to give her rest
wherever she wished. The island of Delos was ever afterwards held in
great esteem by the Greeks, and they came from long distances in
beautifully decked ships to honour the island by offering sacrifices
upon it.
Artemis was a glorious goddess, and she chose the woods for her
dominion, and the chase for her occupation. She delighted in
wandering through the forests with the nymphs who attended her,
killing wolves and wild-boars. But she was kind to the tame animals
that she met, and stroked and petted them. Her favourite creatures
were some beautiful hinds, and she punished anyone who killed them.
Artemis towered a head above all her nymphs, and she was also easily
to be recognised by her godlike beauty, and by her golden bow and
quiver of golden arrows. In the evening she often laid aside her
weapons and danced in the moonlight with her maidens; their light
footsteps did not even bend the grass, only the next morning, traces
of them could be seen in the dew. Often too, when the chase led them
past a clear forest lake overshadowed by sweet-smelling trees, they
undressed and bathed in the pleasant pool, and the nymphs splashed
about in the water and had all kinds of games. Artemis did not
marry, for she said she would neither be the wife of a god nor of a
man, but would always have her home in the forest among her nymphs.
There was once a hunter named Actaeon, who loved hunting better than
anything else, and who honoured Artemis, the goddess of the chase,
above all other gods and goddesses. He had fifty splendid hounds who
were very fond of their master, and in the morning when he came out
of his house they used to crowd {25} round him barking for joy and
licking his hands; he had given each of them a special name, and he
patted them and talked to them as if they could understand him. They
always went out hunting with him, and chased the wild animals which
he shot with his arrows. One day Actaeon was out hunting, and it was
so hot that about noon he gave his dogs a rest and let them go to
sleep, whilst he himself strolled about among the cool bushes looking
for a spring where he might quench his thirst. Presently he heard a
splashing of water and the laughter of maidens' voices, and going a
little nearer, he pushed aside the branch of a tree and beheld the
glorious goddess and her nymphs in the bath. He could not turn away
his eyes, and for a little while Artemis did not notice him, but when
she looked up and saw the hunter who had so forgotten himself, her
eyes filled with anger at his having dared to watch her. She raised
her beautiful hand, and in a moment Actaeon was changed into a stag
with long light feet and branching horns, but still able to think
like a man. He shuddered and rushed away to the place where he had
left his dogs; they awoke, but they did not know him, and gave chase
to him. He tried to make them understand by looking back and calling
to them, but no words would come out of his mouth, only a sound like
the cry of a stag, and at last they overtook him and tore him to
pieces. Thus he was miserably killed by his own dogs, as a
punishment for not having turned away his eyes when he came upon the
severe goddess at her bath. The dogs wandered for a long time
through the forest looking for their master, pining {26} because they
could not find him, and refusing to eat. But there was a skilled
artist who took pity on them, and he made an image of clay so exactly
like Actaeon, that the dogs thought it was their master himself, and
were comforted.
{27}
VIII.
THE GIANTS OTUS AND EPHIALTES.
There was once a woman who had so great a love for the sea that she
was never tired of looking at it. One day, as she was sitting on the
shore, the god Poseidon came driving over the waves in his chariot,
for the sea was subject to him. When he saw the beautiful woman who
was gazing at it so tenderly, a great love for her sprang up in his
heart, and he took her to be his wife. Sometime afterwards she had
two children, called Otus and Ephialtes, and by the time they were a
year old they were two yards in height and a yard in width. Every
year the children grew two yards in height and a yard in width, so
that when they were nine years old they were so big and strong that
they could tear up the largest oak trees and break them in two across
their knees. But they were ignorant and foolish, and instead of
honouring the gods, they made a silly plan to get up to Mount
Olympus, where the gods lived, and overturn everything that they had
arranged. They settled that Hera, the queen of the gods, should be
the wife of Otus, and that Artemis, the goddess of the woods, should
be the wife of Ephialtes, and that the other gods should be loaded
with chains and imprisoned in dark caves; and they said they would
change everything on the earth, {28} and throw all the mountains into
the sea till it was choked up, and then make rivers flow where there
had been land before.
The gods could hear this foolish talk, for the giants' voices were as
loud as the most tremendous gale, and Ares, the god of war, armed
himself and went out to fight them. But the giants were stronger
than he, and they fastened him to the ground with two iron rings
round his body, attached to chains which they held in their hands and
pulled whenever he tried to get up, so that he could not move without
great pain. They gave him nothing to eat or drink, and at mid-day
the sun beat down upon his face and scorched him with its heat. None
of the gods dared to try and free Ares by force, so Zeus commanded
Hermes, the Messenger, to get him away by stealth. Hermes was the
most cunning of all the gods, and at night, when the giants were
asleep, he went and drew Ares out of the iron rings so cautiously
that they made no noise, and the giants did not awake. The two gods
then ran away, and the next morning the giants saw that their rings
were empty, which made them very angry.
They went on for some time in their old way, boasting of all the
wonderful things they were going to do, till one day the goddess
Artemis changed herself into a little white doe. The giants were
lying in the forest side by side, with their great hunting spears in
their hands, when the little doe came running out of the wood and
passed right between them. They both raised their spears at the same
moment and threw them at her, but she was so swift that they did not
hit her,--instead of that each giant was stabbed by his brother's
spear, and they both bled to death.
{29}
IX.
ENDYMION.
As long as Zeus was with the gods on Mount Olympus, Hera, the queen
of the gods, was his wife, but from time to time he came to live on
the earth for a little while, and then he married a noble and
beautiful woman who was his wife whilst he remained among men.
Once Zeus married a very beautiful princess whom he loved dearly, and
they had a little boy named Endymion. When Endymion had grown up to
be a young man, his father told him that he might wish for whatever
he liked and he would grant it. Endymion might have chosen to become
a mighty king, but he had no desire for anything of the sort.
Instead of that, his wish was that he might go to sleep and never
wake again, but always have pleasant dreams. And Zeus granted him
what he asked. There was a lonely valley which no one ever came
near. Soft green grass grew there, and sweet-smelling flowers, and
there were shady trees, with birds singing and making their nests
among the branches, and a brook flowing through it that chattered
pleasantly night and day. Endymion lay down under a tree beside the
brook and went to sleep, and he never grew any older, but slept on
for ever, dreaming happily, immortal like the gods.
{30}
Now there was a mild, gentle goddess, the goddess of the moon, whose
name was Selene. As she passed along the heaven with the little
stars by her side, she used to look down upon Endymion lying asleep,
and she gazed at the beautiful son of Zeus until she felt a deep love
for him spring up in her heart, so that he was continually in her
thoughts. She shed her softest and mildest rays upon him, and then
Endymion dreamt more happily than ever. It was like no other love,
for she could neither speak to him nor caress him, she could only
look at him from a distance; but she has always remained true to him,
and has never loved another as she loved the sleeping Endymion.
{31}
X.
IO
There was once a princess named Io, whose father was king of the town
of Argos, in Greece. Zeus loved Io because she was fair and gentle,
and he often came down to earth in order to be with her. But Hera
was angry with Zeus for going away from her, and one day when he went
to see the beautiful Io, she followed him. Then Zeus changed Io into
a white cow, and pretended that he had only come to look at the cow.
But Hera knew it was Io, and she begged him so earnestly to make her
a present of the cow that he could not refuse. Hera gave the white
cow into the charge of the watchman Argus, who had a hundred eyes
that slept by turns so that half of them were always on the watch.
He took her to a sacred grove and tied her to an olive tree, and then
he climbed a little hill that was close by, and sat there day and
night watching her. Io ate grass and flowers when she was hungry,
but she was very sad and lowed mournfully, for she longed to see her
father and her playfellows again.