sorcery. In a second the serpent had changed its form to that of a
ferocious, roaring bull. It charged upon Hercules with lowered horns.
But the hero was still unvanquished. He seized hold of the bull's horns,
bent its head, gripped its brawny neck and threw it, burying its horns
in the ground. Then he broke off one of the horns with his iron strong
hand and held it up in the air shouting,
"Victory! Dejanira is mine!"
Achelous returned to his own shape and, crying with pain, ran from the
castle grounds where the combat had taken place and did not stop until
he had plunged into a cooling stream. It had been right that Hercules
should triumph, for his was the strength of arm, not of trickery.
The Princess Dejanira came to him and with her the goddess of plenty,
Ceres, to give the conqueror his reward.
Ceres took the great horn which Hercules had torn from Achelous' head
and heaped it full to overflowing with the treasures of the year's
harvest. Ripe grain, purple grapes, rosy apples, plums, nuts,
pomegranates, olives and figs filled the horn and spilled over the edge.
The wood-nymphs and the water-nymphs came and twined the horn with vines
and crimson leaves and the last bright flowers of the year. Then they
carried this first horn of plenty high above their heads and gave it to
Hercules and the beautiful Dejanira as a wedding present. It was the
richest gift the gods could make, that of the year's harvest.
And ever since that long-ago story time of the Greeks, the horn of
plenty has stood for the year's blessing of us.
THE WONDER THE FROGS MISSED
Latona had very wonderful twin babies and the queen of the gods, Juno,
was jealous of her on account of these little ones. Perhaps Juno had the
power to look ahead through the years to the time when Latona's children
should be grown up and take their places with the family of the gods on
Mount Olympus.
Who were these twins? Oh, that is the end of the story.
So Juno, who could work almost any good or evil which she desired,
decreed that this mother should never have any fixed home in which to
bring up her babies. If Latona found a shelter and a cradle for the
twins in the cottage of some hospitable farmer, a drought would descend
at once upon his fields and dry up the harvest, or a hailstorm would
destroy his fruit crop so that there would be no food for the family. If
Latona stopped with the vine dressers, laying her babies in the cool
shade of an arbor while she helped to pick the grapes, a gale might
arise and sweep down upon the vineyard and all would have to flee for
their lives.
She was obliged to wander up and down the land with her little ones,
wrapping her cloak about them to shield them from the weather, and she
grew very weary and despaired of ever raising her little boy and girl to
be the fine man and woman she longed to have them.
One day in the heat of the summer Latona came to the country of Lycia in
Greece and it really seemed as if she could not walk a single step
farther. The babies were heavy and she had found no water for refreshing
herself for a long time. By chance, though, she saw a pool of clear
water just beyond in the hollow of a valley. Some of the country people
of Lycia were there on the edge of the water gathering reeds and fine
willows with which they were weaving baskets for holding fruits. Latona
summoned all her strength and dragged herself to the pool, kneeling down
on the bank to drink and dip up water for cooling the babies' heads.
"Stop!" the rustic people commanded her. "You have no right to touch our
waters!"
"I only wish to drink, kind friends," Latona explained to them. "I
thought that water was free to all, and my mouth is so dry that I can
hardly speak. A drink of water would be nectar to me. The gods give us
as common property the sunshine, the air, and the streams and I would
only share your pool to revive me, not to bathe in it. See how my
babies, too, stretch out their arms to you in pleading!"
It was quite true; Latona's little ones were holding out their arms in
supplication, but the rustics turned their heads away. They did more
than this. They waded into the pool and stirred up the water with their
feet so as to make it muddy and unfit to drink. As they did this they
laughed at Latona's discomfiture and jeered at her sorry plight.
She was a long suffering mother, but she felt as if this unkindness was
more than she could bear. She lifted her hands toward the habitation of
the gods and called to them for help.
"May these rustics who refuse to succor two children of your family be
punished!" Latona begged. "May they never be able to leave this pool
whose clear waters they have defiled!"
The company of the gods, and perhaps Juno also, heard Latona's entreaty
and one of the strangest things of all mythology happened.
The rustics tried to leave the pool and return to their basket-making,
but they discovered that their feet had suddenly grown flat and
shapeless and were stuck fast in the mud. They called for help, but
their voices were harsh, their throats bloated, and their mouths had
stretched so that they were unable to form words. Their necks had
disappeared and their heads, with great bulging eyes, were joined to
their backs. Their flesh was turned to thick green skin and they could
not stand erect.
It was as Latona had asked. These boorish, unseeing country clowns would
never leave the slimy water into which they had stepped, for the gods
had changed them into the first frogs.
"This is indeed a terrible punishment for so slight an offence as
ridiculing a stranger," the people of Lycia said to each other as they
visited the pools and rivers during the seasons that followed and
listened to the continual, hoarse croaking of the frogs. The river god,
Peneus, knew them also and so did the lovely nymph, Daphne, his
daughter, who was never happier than when she was flying on her fairy
like feet, her soft green garments fluttering about her, along the edge
of some stream.
Daphne was more like a spirit of the woods than a girl. She would rather
live within the shadow of leaves than under a palace roof, and she liked
better to follow the deer and gather wild flowers than to have any
intercourse with the boys and girls of the villages. But she was
unmatched by the most beautiful daughter of all Greece, her long hair
flung loose like a veil over her shoulders, her eyes as soft and shining
as stars, and her body as graceful and well moulded as some rare vase.
At that time a strange youth was seen to haunt the forests and banks of
the river god. He was as fair and well shaped as Daphne, and there was
also something unusual about him. Whenever he was seen, there seemed to
be more light along the paths where he walked. He made the daytime
brighter and the gold rays of the sun shine more gloriously. When this
youth stopped for a while with a shepherd, no wolves attacked the flock,
and he kept herds safe from the mountain lions. He had made a lyre for
himself, a musical instrument of many tuneful strings that had not been
heard in Greece before. He was touching the strings into a song about
the pastures and the woods in the spring one day when he suddenly saw
the nymph, Daphne.
He had seen her before moving like a green bough blown by the wind along
the shores of many waters. He thought that he had never seen so
beautiful a creature or one so much to be desired, but whenever Daphne
caught a glimpse of this strange, strong youth, she was frightened and
was at once off and away. Now, though, he was determined to pursue
Daphne and catch her. He dropped his lyre and ran after her, but she
eluded him, running more swiftly than the wind.
"Stay, daughter of Peneus," he called. "Do not fly from me as a dove
flies from a hawk. I am no rude peasant, but one of the gods and I know
all things, present or future. It is for love that I pursue you, and I
am miserable in the fear that you may fall and hurt yourself on these
stones and I shall have been the cause of your hurt. Pray run slower and
I will follow more slowly!"
But Daphne was deaf to the youth's entreating words. On she sped, the
wind blowing her green garments, and her hair streaming loosely behind
her. It was, at last, like the fleet running hound pursuing the hare;
the youth was swifter and gained on her. His panting breath touched her
neck. In her terror she did not stop to understand that he pursued her
only because he loved her so much and that he would not do her any harm.
At last she came to the edge of a stream.
On one side of Daphne were the croaking frogs and the water reeds and
the deeper waters beyond. On the other side was her pursuer. Daphne
called to her father, the river god,
"Help me, Peneus! Open the earth to take me into it out of sight and
sound!"
But the god of light and music knew what was better far for Daphne than
this. He touched her fair form and it stiffened and her feet stood
firmly upon the bank of the stream. Her body was suddenly enclosed in
tender bark and her hair became leaves. Her arms were long, drooping
branches and her face changed to the form of a tree top. There had
never been a tree like the one into which Daphne was transformed, the
green laurel tree.
The young god looked at her and saw how fair a work of his hands was
this changing of a nymph. The tree would never fade, but would stretch
its green top up toward the sky to feel the light that he would pour
down on it. When the wind touched the laurel's leaves they would sing as
his lyre sang.
"Come and see what beauty I have given to the nymph, Daphne, whom I
loved," he called, and out of the forest came a brave young huntress, a
deer walking quite unafraid at her side. It was Diana, his sister, and
she hung her quiver of arrows on the laurel tree and led the deer to a
shelter underneath its branches.
"This shall be my tree," he said putting his hands on the laurel. "I
will wear it for my crown, and when the great Roman conquerors lead
their troops to the Capitol in triumphal pomp it shall be woven into
wreaths for their brows. As eternal youth is mine, the laurel shall
always be green and its leaves shall never wither."
The sun began to sink behind the hills and the youth saw the light fade
in terror. He could give the laurel the brightness of day but he had no
power to keep it safe through the darkness of night. Just then a silver
ball appeared in the purple sky rising higher and higher and sending
down long white beams to brighten the dusk.
"Diana, see, there is a light in the evening sky!" the youth exclaimed,
but his sister had disappeared. Diana, the huntress, was now Diana, the
moon, the queen of the darkness and shedding her light on the laurel
tree that her brother, Apollo, the god of the sun, loved so much.
The frogs along the river bank croaked harshly and could not understand
any of these wonders that had come to pass right beside them. They had
missed a wonder when they were rustics, too. There are some people like
that. They, too, would see only a ragged, weary stranger with her tired
babies, not worth the trouble of helping, when those little ones might
be an Apollo and a Diana, the gods of the day and the night.
WHEN PHAETON'S CHARIOT RAN AWAY.
"You are only boasting, Phaeton. I don't believe for a moment that your
father is Apollo, the god of light," Cycnus, one of his schoolmates,
said to the lad who had just made this proud statement.
"It is true," Phaeton replied. "You won't believe me because I am alone
here in Greece, cared for by one of the nymphs and learning the lessons
that all Greek boys do. I shall show you, though. I will take my way to
the home of the gods and present myself to my father."
That was indeed a bold plan on the part of this youth who had not been
beyond the shores of his native land in all his life. But Phaeton set
out at once for India, since that was the place where the sun which
lighted Greece seemed to rise. He felt sure that he would find Apollo at
the palace of the Sun, so he did not stop until he had climbed mountains
and then beyond and higher through the steeps of the clouds. Suddenly he
was obliged to stop, covering his eyes with his hands to shut out the
brilliant light that dazzled him. There, in front of Phaeton, reared
aloft on shining columns, stood the palace of the Sun.
It glittered with gold and precious stones, and Phaeton made his way
inside through heavy doors of solid silver. He had heard of the
beautiful workmanship of Vulcan who had designed Apollo's palace, but
when he stood beneath the polished ivory ceilings of the throne room it
was more wonderful than anything he had ever imagined.
Apollo, in a royal purple robe, sat on the throne that was as bright as
if it had been cut from a solid diamond, and about him stood his
attendants who helped him in making the earth a pleasant, fruitful
habitation for men. On Apollo's right hand and on his left stood the
Days, the Months, and the Years, and at regular intervals the Hours.
Spring was there, her head crowned with flowers, and Summer who wore a
garland formed of spears of ripened grain. Autumn stood beside Apollo,
his feet stained with the juice of the grape, and there was icy Winter,
his hair stiffened with hoar frost. There was nothing hidden from Apollo
in the whole world and he saw Phaeton the instant he entered the hall.
"What is your errand here, rash lad?" he asked sternly.
Phaeton went closer and knelt at the foot of the throne.
"Oh, my father, light of the boundless world!" he said. "I want to be
known as your son. Give me some proof by which I can show mortals and
the gods as well that I am not of the earth but have a place with you on
Mount Olympus!"
Apollo was pleased with the pleading of the youth and, laying aside the
crown of bright beams that he wore on his head, stretched out his arms
and embraced Phaeton.
"My son, you do not deserve to be disowned," he said. "To put an end to
your doubts ask whatever favor you like of me and the gift shall be
yours."
It was wonderful; Phaeton had never, in his dreams even, expected so
great a boon as this. But he was as reckless and ambitious as many a boy
of to-day who fancies himself able to carry on his father's work without
all the skill and experience which earned his success. He knew at once
the desire that was closest to his heart.
"For one day only, father, let me drive your chariot?" Phaeton begged.
Apollo drew back in dismay.
"I spoke rashly," he said. "That is the one request I ought to refuse
you. It is not a safe adventure or suited to your youth and strength,
Phaeton. Your arms are mortal and you ask what is beyond mortal's power.
You aspire to do that which even the gods can not accomplish. No one but
myself, not even Jupiter whose terrible right arm hurls the thunderbolts
and the lightning, may drive the flaming chariot of day."
"Why is it so difficult a task?" Phaeton asked, determined not to give
up.
Apollo explained to him with great patience.
"It is a difficult track to keep through the skies," he said. "The
beginning of the way is so steep that the horses, even when they are
fresh in the morning, can hardly be urged to climb it. Then comes the
middle of the course, so high up in the heavens and so narrow that I
myself can scarcely look below without giddiness at the earth and its
waters. The last part of the course descends rapidly and calls for most
expert driving. Add to all this the constant, dizzy turning of the sky
with its sea of stars. I must be always on my guard lest their movement,
which sweeps everything along with it, should hurry me or throw me out
of my course. If I lend you my chariot, what can you, a boy, do? Can you
keep the road with all the spheres in the universe revolving around
you?"
"I am sure that I can, father," Phaeton replied boldly. "What you say,
of course, does not deter me from starting along it. I have a strong arm
and a steady eye for driving. There is no danger other than this on the
way, is there?" he asked.
"There are greater dangers," Apollo said. "Do you expect to pass cool
forests and white cities, the abodes of the gods, and palaces, and
temples on the way? The road goes through the domain of frightful
monsters. You must run the gauntlet of the Archer's arrows and pass by
the horns of the Bull. The Lion's jaws will be open to devour you, the
Scorpion will stretch out its tentacles for you, and the great Crab its
claws. And you will find it no easy feat to manage the horses, their
breasts so full of fire that they breathe it out in flame through their
nostrils. I can scarcely hold them myself when they are unruly and
resist the reins."
"I have driven a chariot at the games of Athens," Phaeton boasted, "when
wild beasts were close to the arena, and my steeds were most
unmanageable."
Apollo made one last plea.
"Look the universe over, my son," he entreated, "and choose whatever is
most precious in the earth or on the sea. This will I give you in proof
that you are my son, but take back your other, rash request."
"I have only one wish, to drive the chariot of the Sun," Phaeton
answered stubbornly.
There was but one course left then for Apollo, because a god could never
break his promise. Without a word he led Phaeton to the great stable
where he kept his lofty chariot.
The chariot was a gift of Vulcan to Apollo, and made of gold. The axle
was of gold, the pole and wheels also of gold, and the spokes of the
brightest silver. There were rows of chrysolites and diamonds along the
seat that reflected the rays of the sun. Apollo ordered the Hours to
harness the horses and they led the steeds, full fed with ambrosia, from
the stalls, and attached the reins. As Phaeton, full of pride, watched
he saw that Dawn had thrown open the purple gates of the east and his
pathway, strewn with roses, stretched before him. He seated himself in
the chariot and took the reins.
Apollo anointed his son's face with a powerful unguent that would make
it possible for him to endure the flaming heat of the sun. He set the
rays of light on his head and said sorrowfully,
"If you will be so rash, I beg of you to hold the reins more tightly
than you ever did before and spare the whip. The horses go fast enough
of their own accord, and the difficulty is to hold them in. You are not
to take the direct road, but turn to the left. You will see the marks of
my wheels and these will guide you. Go not too high, or you will set the
heavenly dwellings on fire, or so low as to burn the earth, but keep to
the middle course which is best. Night is just passing out of the
western gates so you can delay no longer. Start the chariot, and may
your chance work better for you than you have planned."
Phaeton stood up in the gilded chariot, lifted the reins, and was off
like a dart.
In an instant the snorting, fiery horses discovered that they were
carrying a lighter load than usual and they dashed through the clouds as
if the chariot had been empty. It reeled and was tossed about like a
ship at sea without ballast. The bars of the sky were let down and the
limitless plain of the universe lay before the horses. They left
Apollo's travelled course and Phaeton was powerless to guide them. He
looked down at the earth so far below him, and he grew pale and his
knees shook with terror. He turned his eyes on the trackless heavens in
front of him and was even more terrified to see the huge forms among
which he rode as if he was driven by a tempest; the Archer, the Great
Bear, the Lion and the Crab. All those monsters of whom Apollo had
warned him were there, and others too.
Phaeton wished he had never left the earth, never made so bold a request
of his father. He lost his self command and could not tell whether to
draw the reins tightly or let them loose. He forgot the names of the
steeds. At last, as he saw the Scorpion directly in his path, its two
great arms extended and its fangs reeking with poison, he lost all his
courage and the reins dropped from his hands. As the horses felt their
loosened harness, they dashed away headlong into unknown regions of the
sky, now up in high heaven among the stars and then hurling the chariot
down almost to the earth.
The mountain tops took fire and the clouds began to smoke. Plants
withered, the leafy branches of the trees burned, the harvests blazed
and the fields were parched with heat. The whole world was on fire.
Great cities perished with their beautiful towers and high walls, and
entire nations with all their people were reduced to ashes. It is said
that the river Nile fled away and hid its head in the desert where it
still lies concealed. The earth cracked and the sea shrank. Dry plains
lay where there had been oceans before and the mountains that had been
covered by the sea lifted up their heads and became islands. Even
Neptune, the god of the sea, was driven back by the heat when he tried
to lift his head above the surface of the waters, and the Earth looked
up to Mount Olympus and called to Jupiter for help.
It was indeed time for the gods to act. Jupiter mounted to the tall
tower where he kept his forked lightnings and from which he spread the
rain clouds over the earth. He tossed his thunderbolts right and left
and, brandishing a dart of lightning in his right hand, he aimed it at
Phaeton and threw it, tossing him from his chariot down, down through
space. The charioteer fell in a trail of fire like a shooting star. One
of the great rivers of the earth received him and tried to cool his
burning frame, but he was never again to see the palace of the Sun. His
recklessness had brought him, not honor, but destruction.
Phaeton's friend, Cycnus, stood beside the bank of the river mourning
for him and even plunged beneath the surface of the water to see if he
could bring him back to the earth. But this angered the gods and they
changed Cycnus to the swan who floats always on the water, continually
thrusting its head down as if it were still looking for the fated
charioteer of the skies.
Even the sea shell tells the story of Phaeton. Hold it to your ear and
listen to its plaintive singing of the lad who lost a place in the
palace of the sun because he drove the chariot of light for his own
pride and without thought of others.
WHEN APOLLO WAS HERDSMAN.
Apollo had incurred the anger of his father, Jupiter, and for the very
good reason that this god of light had interfered with Jupiter's will.
It was Jupiter's privilege to throw thunderbolts about whenever he
wished and to strike down anyone he chose. He kept the Cyclopes busy
night and day forging his bolts down under the mountains so that he
might have a never-failing supply. One day a thunderbolt directed by
Jove hit Aesculapius, a man of the Greeks who could heal almost any
sickness among mortals by means of his herbs. Apollo looked upon this
physician as an adopted son, because his art of healing brought so much
joy and light to men. He resented the injury done him by Jupiter's hand
and he did what even mortals do when they are angry; Apollo vented his
wrath on whoever was handiest. He aimed his arrows at those innocent
workmen, the Cyclopes, and wounded several.
Jupiter could not have his authority put aside in this way and he knew
that he must punish Apollo. So he commanded him to descend to the earth
and offer his services as herdsman to Admetus, the king of Thessaly.
It was very humble work for a god to wear a shepherd's dark cloak and
pasture his flocks in the meadows outside of Thessaly, particularly a
god who was used to living in the sumptuous palace of the sun. Apollo's
slender hands were little suited to the work of ploughing, sowing and
reaping, but he took excellent care of his ewes and lambs and grew to
enjoy his task. In his leisure time he found an empty tortoise-shell and
stretched some cords tightly across it. Then he ran his slender finger
tips across the cords and drew from them most beautiful music. That was
the first lute, and Apollo played on it every day. King Admetus heard
his music and came out to listen to the tunes his herdsman played,
sitting beside Apollo on a mossy bank, but he looked very sorrowful. The
sweet strains seemed to have no power to cheer him, or even rouse him
from his sadness.
"Why do you mourn, O King?" Apollo asked Admetus at last.
"I long for the hand of the fair Alcestis, the princess of a neighboring
kingdom, that I may make her my queen," King Admetus explained, "but she
has expressed a strange desire. She demands that her suitor appear
before her in a chariot drawn by lions and bears in which she will ride
home with him. In no other way will Alcestis come to my court and it is
impossible for me to harness wild beasts to any one of my chariots."