Hero Tales

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Baldwin James. Hero Tales

INTRODUCTION

HOW APOLLO CAME TO PARNASSUS

THE HUNT IN THE WOOD OF CALYDON

THE CHOICE OF HERCULES

ALPHEUS AND ARETHUSA

THE GOLDEN APPLE

PARIS AND CENONE

HESIONE

PARIS AND HELEN

IPHIGENIA

THE HOARD OF THE ELVES

THE FORGING OF BALMUNG

IDUN AND HER APPLES

THE DOOM OF THE MISCHIEF-MAKER

THE HUNT IN THE WOOD OF PUELLE

OGIER THE DANE AND THE FAIRIES

HOW CHARLEMAGNE CROSSED THE ALPS

WHAT HAPPENED AT RONCEVAUX

VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES

Отрывок из книги

A very long time ago, Apollo was born in the island of Delos. When the glad news of his birth was told, Earth smiled, and decked herself with flowers; the nymphs of Delos sang songs of joy that were heard to the utmost bounds of Greece; and choirs of white swans flew seven times around the island, piping notes of praise to the pure being who had come to dwell among men. Then Zeus looked down from high Olympus, and crowned the babe with a golden head-band, and put into his hands a silver bow and a sweet-toned lyre such as no man had ever seen; and he gave him a team of white swans to drive, and bade him go forth to teach men the things which are right and good, and to make light that which is hidden in darkness.

So Apollo arose, beautiful as the morning sun, and journeyed through many lands, seeking a dwelling place. He stopped for a time at the foot of Mount Olympus, and played so sweetly upon his lyre that Zeus and all his court were entranced. Then he wandered up and down through the whole length of the Thessalian land; but nowhere could he find a spot in which he was willing to dwell. At length he climbed into his car, and bade his swan team fly with him to the country of the Hyperboreans beyond the far-off northern mountains. Forthwith they obeyed; and through the pure regions of the upper air they bore him, winging their way ever northward. They carried him over many an unknown land, and on the seventh day they came to the Snowy Mountains where the griffins, with lion bodies and eagle wings, guard the golden treasures of the North.

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But as yet there were no priests in Apollo's temple; and he pondered, long doubting, as to whom he should choose. One day he stood upon the mountain's topmost peak, whence he could view all Greece and the seas around it. Far away in the south, he spied a little ship sailing from Crete to sandy Pylos; and the men who were on board were Cretan merchants.

"These men shall serve in my temple!" he cried.

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