As Theseus was skirting the valley along the foot of a lofty mountain, a
very tall and strong man came down to meet him, dressed in rich
garments. On his arms were golden bracelets, and round his neck a collar
of jewels. He came forward, bowing courteously, held out both his hands,
and spoke:--
[Illustration: CHARLES KINGSLEY]
“Welcome, fair youth, to these mountains; happy am I to have met you!
For what is greater pleasure to a good man than to entertain strangers?
But I see that you are weary. Come up to my castle, and rest yourself
awhile.”
“I give you thanks,” said Theseus; “but I am in haste to go up the
valley.”
“Alas! you have wandered far from the right way, and you cannot reach
the end of the valley to-night, for there are many miles of mountain
between you and it, and steep passes, and cliffs dangerous after
nightfall. It is well for you that I met you, for my whole joy is to
find strangers, and to feast them at my castle, and hear tales from them
of foreign lands. Come up with me and eat the best of venison, and drink
the rich red wine, and sleep upon my famous bed, of which all travellers
say that they never saw the like. For whatsoever the stature of my
guest, however tall or short, that bed fits him to a hair, and he
sleeps on it as he never slept before.”
And he laid hold on Theseus’s hands, and would not let him go.
Theseus wished to go forward, but he was ashamed to seem churlish to so
hospitable a man; and he was curious to see that wondrous bed; and
besides, he was hungry and weary. Yet he shrank from the man, he knew
not why; for though his voice was gentle and fawning, it was dry and
husky, and though his eyes were gentle, they were dull and cold like
stones. But he consented, and went with the man up a glen which led from
the road, under the dark shadow of the cliffs.
As they went up, the glen grew narrower, and the cliffs higher and
darker, and beneath them a torrent roared, half seen between bare
limestone crags. Around them was neither tree nor bush, while from the
white peaks of the mountain the snow-blasts swept down the glen, cutting
and chilling, till a horror fell on Theseus as he looked round at that
doleful place. He said at last, “Your castle stands, it seems, in a
dreary region.”
“Yes; but once within it, hospitality makes all things cheerful. But who
are these?” and he looked back, and Theseus also. Far below, along the
road which they had left, came a string of laden beasts, and merchants
walking by them.
“Ah, poor souls!” said the stranger. “Well for them that I looked back
and saw them! And well for me, too, for I shall have the more guests at
my feast. Wait awhile till I go down and call them, and we shall eat and
drink together the livelong night. Happy am I, to whom Heaven sends so
many guests at once!”
He ran back down the hill, waving his hand and shouting to the
merchants, while Theseus went slowly up the steep path. But as he went
up he met an aged man, who had been gathering driftwood in the torrent
bed. He had laid down his fagot in the road, and was trying to lift it
again to his shoulder. When he saw Theseus, he called to him and said,--
“O fair youth, help me up with my burden, for my limbs are stiff and
weak with years.”
Then Theseus lifted the burden on his back. The old man blessed him, and
then looked earnestly upon him and said,--
“Who are you, fair youth, and wherefore travel you this doleful road?”
“Who I am my parents know; but I travel this doleful road because I have
been invited by a hospitable man, who promises to feast me and to make
me sleep upon I know not what wondrous bed.”