John H. Haaren’s Complete Famous Men Series. John H. Haaren

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СКАЧАТЬ that he was coming. So when he arrived they gave him welcome and agreed to lend him their magic treasures.

      “The distance across the sea to the home of the Gorgons is great,” said one of the nymphs to Perseus. “Take therefore these winged sandals of gold. With them you can fly through the air like an eagle.”

      “The Gorgon’s head,” said another of the nymphs, “must be kept in this magic wallet, lest you look upon the terrible face and be turned to stone.”

      “To get near the Gorgons,” added the third, “you must wear this cap of darkness, so that you may see without being seen.”

      The hero then slung the wallet over his shoulder, put the sandals upon his feet, and the cap upon his head, and vanished. As swift as lightning, he crossed the dark waters and reached the home of the Gorgons. They were all asleep. Without looking at them Perseus held up the shield of Minerva and saw reflected upon it the frowning face of Medusa. With one blow from the sword of Mercury he struck off her head, and without looking at it placed it within his wallet. Then he hurried away from the weird place.

      The other Gorgons awoke at once and followed him in furious haste; but as he wore his cap of darkness they could not see him, and with his sandal wings he flew so fast that he was soon too far for them to follow.

      II

      As he was flying along the coast of Africa he heard the sound of weeping. He looked down and saw a beautiful girl chained to a rock at the water’s edge. Hastening to her, he took off his cap of darkness that she might see him and exclaimed, “Fair maiden, why are you chained to this rock?”

      “Alas!” she said, “I have been offered as a sacrifice to Neptune. You cannot save me, however much you want to.”

      Her words made Perseus the more determined to help her. “Why is Neptune angry?” he asked. “And who has dared to treat you so cruelly?”

      “I am Andromeda, daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, king and queen of this land,” replied the maiden. “My mother boasted that I was more beautiful than any nymph in Neptune’s palace. Her pride enraged Neptune so that he raised great storms and sent a terrible monster to devour our people. The priests said that if I were offered to him the rest of the people would be spared.”

      Then with the sword of light Perseus cut the chain which bound Andromeda to the rock. At this moment the monster, huge and ugly, came plowing through the water. Perseus could not be seen because he had put on his cap of darkness, and before the creature could harm the maiden its head was cut off by the sword of light.

      On his swift-winged sandals Perseus, with Andromeda in his arms, now flew to the palace of Cepheus and Cassiopeia.

      There had been many glad weddings before that of Perseus and Andromeda, but none was ever more joyful. For he was admired as a wonderful hero, and everyone loved the girl who had been willing to give her life to save her people.

      After the wedding Perseus went back to Seriphos, taking Andromeda with him. When he reached the island Polydectes was in his palace feasting, and Perseus hastened at once to the banquet hall and said to the king:

      “See! I have brought that which you desired.”

      With these words he held up the head of the Gorgon. The king and his courtiers gave one look and were instantly turned to stone.

      The Gorgon’s head had now done its work; so Perseus carried it to a temple of Minerva and there offered it to the goddess. Ever after she wore it upon her shield, and its snaky ringlets and frowning face are to be seen upon her statues. The sword of light was given back to Mercury, who also returned the winged sandals, the magic wallet and the cap of darkness to the Hesperides. III

      You will remember that Argos was the birthplace of Perseus, and to that city he now returned, taking Andromeda with him. His grandfather, who was still king of Argos, remembered the oracle that he should die by the hand of Danaë’s son and was much alarmed, but Perseus quieted the fears of the king and the two became very good friends. While playing quoits one day, however, Perseus accidentally hit his grandfather with a quoit. The wound caused the old king’s death. And thus, as the Greeks used to say, “What had been fated came to pass.”

      Perseus was overwhelmed with sorrow. He could not bear to live any longer at Argos and therefore gave his kingdom to a kinsman of his, in exchange for the kingdom of Tiryns.

      At Tiryns he ruled long and wisely. The gods gave him and Andromeda a glorious place among the stars after their death. With Cepheus and Cassiopeia they can still be seen in the skies not far from where the Great Bear shines.

      Hercules and His Labors

      I

      Greatest of all the heroes of Greece was Herakles, or Hercules, who was born in Thebes, the city of Cadmus. His mother was one of the descendants of Perseus and his father was Jupiter.

      Juno, the queen of the gods, hated Hercules. When he was only a baby in the cradle she sent two large serpents to devour him. He grasped the throat of each serpent with his tiny fingers and choked both to death.

      When he had grown to manhood he was forced by the will of the gods to become the slave of a hard-hearted cousin of his named Eurystheus, who was king of Mycenæ.

      Eurystheus set twelve tasks for Hercules. The first was to kill the Nemean lion. This was a ferocious animal that lived in the forest of Nemea and ate a child or a grown person every two or three days. Its skin was so tough that nothing could pierce it, but Hercules drove the lion before him into a cave and, following boldly, grasped the beast about the neck and choked it to death. That done, he stripped off its skin, which he ever after wore as a cloak.

      When the Nemean lion had been killed Eurystheus said to Hercules, “You must now kill the hydra that lives in the marsh of Lerna. “

      This hydra was a nine-headed water serpent whose very breath was poisonous. It was hard to kill the creature because as soon as one head was cut off two others at once sprang up in its place. This task might have proved too much for Hercules if a friend had not prevented new heads from growing by burning each neck with a firebrand the instant that Hercules cut off the head.

      The third of Hercules’ tasks was to bring to Eurystheus the stag with golden horns that was sacred to Diana. It lived in southern Greece in the woods of Arcadia. It had brazen feet and could run so fast that Hercules had to chase it for a whole year before he caught it.

      “Now,” said Eurystheus, “you must kill the boar that roams on the slopes of Mount Erymanthus.” This creature laid waste the farmers’ fields of barley and wheat at the foot of the mountain. Hercules captured the brute in a net and killed it.

      The next command of Eurystheus to Hercules was, “Clean the Augean stables.”

      The Augean stables belonged to Augeas, one of the kings of Greece. As three thousand oxen were kept in them, and as they had not been cleaned for thirty years, they were filthy. Hercules cleaned them in one day. He dug a great ditch as far as the stables and turned into it the waters of two swift rivers.

      II

      As soon as this was done Eurystheus said, “you must now kill the birds of Lake Stymphalus.” Instead of wings of feathers these birds had wings of arrows which darted out and shot any one who passed by. Their claws and beaks were of brass, and they fed on human flesh. Hercules killed СКАЧАТЬ