HERACLES AND ATLAS.
(ATLAS IS SUPPORTING THE SKY UPON HIS SHOULDERS)
Eurystheus pursued the children of Heracles and drove them out of the kingdom. He even made war upon Athens because that city had received them. He was slain in this war; and then the kingdom belonged to Hyllus, eldest son of Heracles; that is, it would belong to him if he could take it. It seemed as if there would have to be a great deal of hard fighting before the matter was settled; but finally both sides agreed that Hyllus and the champion among his enemies should meet in single combat. If Hyllus won, he was to have the kingdom; but if the champion won, Hyllus and his friends must wait for a hundred years before trying again to seize the crown. All the men on both sides stood watching eagerly; but soon the sons of Heracles were sad enough, for Hyllus was slain. They kept their promise, and neither they nor their children nor their grandchildren made any attempt to seize the kingdom. At last, however, the hundred years had come to an end, and the three great-great-grandsons of Heracles, or the Heraclidæ as they were called, set out with their friends to regain the lands that belonged to their family. This time they were successful, and their expedition is called the Return of the Heraclidæ.
Summary
In early Greece many questions of children were answered by stories. Some of the stories were:—
The Home of the King of the Gods.
Phaëthon and the Chariot of the Sun-God.
The Cyclopean Walls.
Deucalion and Pyrrha.
Theseus and the Minotaur.
Europa and the White Bull.
Œdipus and the Sphinx.
Heracles and his Twelve Labors.
Suggestions For Written Work
One of the poplar trees by Eridanus tells a child the story Phaëthon.
Europa tells about her playing with the white bull.
Write a story of some one of Heracles's exploits.
In the Days of Myths (Continued)
With hundreds of such stories as these, the children hardly needed books of fairy tales, even if there had been any in those days. But I fancy that the tales they liked best were of wonderful voyages said to have been made long before their fathers or grandfathers or great-grandfathers could remember. One of these was known as the Quest of the Golden Fleece. This fleece had been hung in a grove in Colchis (see map, p. 195), a country a long way from Greece; and more than one young hero had said to himself, "How I wish I could win it!" The difficulty was that it was guarded by a fire-breathing dragon, which never fell asleep for even a moment; and many a brave man, who was ready to fight with two or three or even four or five stout warriors, did not like to run the risk of being turned into a cinder.
JASON CLAIMING HIS KINGDOM.
Now there was a young man named Jason, who was heir to a kingdom in Thessaly. His uncle Pelias was to hold it for him until the boy had grown up; and when Jason, a brave, stalwart young man, appeared at court and said that he had come to take possession of his throne, the uncle set his wits to work to find some way of continuing to hold it. He pretended to be very ready to give it up. "But you are a young man," said he, "and before you settle down to the cares of a kingdom, should you not like to win a little glory? How would it please you to engage in Home wonderful adventure, so that your subjects may tell of your achievements hundreds of years after you are dead?" Pelias saw Jason's eyes sparkle, and the wily king then spoke of the quest of the fleece as the most glorious adventure one could engage in. Jason was delighted at the thought, and set to work at once to prepare a vessel that would hold fifty men. This itself was an amazing undertaking, for the boats of those days were only little canoes made by hollowing out trunks of tree The vessel was named the Argo, for Argus, its builder, and the fifty young men who sailed away in it were called the Argonauts.
THE ARGONAUTS IN THE ARGO.
When they were ready, the shores were crowded with people watching to see them start. King Pelias was there, of course. He pretended to be troubled because his nephew was going on so dangerous an expedition; but all the time he was saying to himself, "He'll never, never, never come back, and the kingdom will be mine."
The fifty young men were soon out of sight, and many were the adventures that they met before they came to the kingdom of Colchis. Once there, Jason went straight to King Æetes and told him that he had come for the fleece. Now, in order to get this treasure, Æetes had murdered the one to whom it belonged, and he had no idea of losing it. He was as wily an old ruler, however, as King Pelias, and he did not refuse to give it up. "It is only fair, though," he said to Jason, "that you should do two little favors for me first, and then you are welcome to fight the dragon and carry away the fleece—and the grove, too, if you will." The two little favors were to yoke to the plough two fire breathing bulls, and to plant the teeth of a dragon that Cadmus, a hero who lived long before this time, had slain.
Just as in the case of the Minotaur, so there was here also a princess who was much in love with the hero of the adventure, and she gave Jason a charm that made the bulls as gentle as lambs. They were soon yoked to the plough, and Jason was ready for the second trial, the sowing of the dragon's teeth. He knew very well what would happen, but he went on as quietly as if he had been sowing corn. In less time than it takes to tell the story, every tooth had sprung up, not as corn, however, but as an armed man, who stood for a moment growling savagely and looking about for some one to kill. The instant the men caught sight of Jason, they drew their swords and rushed fiercely upon him. Before this the princess Medea had told him how to save himself, and so he caught up a stone and threw it among the furious warriors. Each one thought his neighbor had struck him, and in a minute they were all fighting wildly. In another minute every one of them was dead.
JASON AND MEDEA.
After Jason's practice with the fire-breathing bulls, he might have been able to get the better of even the dragon that guarded the fleece; but he thought it was better to sprinkle it with the magic potion that Medea had prepared. In a moment it was sound asleep, and it was the easiest thing in the world to take down the fleece from the tree on which it hung. He was too wise to go to King Æetes to say farewell, and he hastened away to his own kingdom as fast as oars and sails would carry him.
Another old story, the most famous of all, is of the war with Troy. It began because of Helen, the most beautiful woman Greece. She had a great many suitors, and her father made them all take an oath that whomsoever she chose for a husband they would protect and help if he was ever in trouble. She chose Menelaus, king of Sparta, and for several years all went on happily. At length Paris, son of the king of Troy, came to visit Sparta, and when he went home he carried Helen with him. Now was the time for the other princes to help Menelaus, but some of them would far rather have stayed at home. Odysseus, for instance, did not wish to go, and he thought he could escape by pretending to be insane. He yoked an ox and an ass together, and began to sow salt. He was soon found out, however; for when his baby son was laid on the ground before the plough, he turned aside much too carefully for an insane man.