Old Greek Stories. James Baldwin
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FLOOD. THE STORY OF IO. THE WONDERFUL WEAVER. THE LORD OF THE SILVER BOW. ADMETUS AND ALCESTIS. CADMUS AND EUROPA. THE QUEST OF MEDUSA'S HEAD. THE STORY OF ATALANTA THE HORSE AND THE OLIVE THE ADVENTURES OF THESEUS. THE WONDERFUL ARTISAN. THE CRUEL TRIBUTE. PERSONS AND PLACES MENTIONED. Adme'tus AEge'an Sea AE'geus (jus) AEgi'na AEscula'pius Ae'thra Aido'neus Alces'tis Althe'a Andro'geos Androm'eda Apol'lo Araech'ne Arca'dia Ar'gos Ar'gus Ariad'ne Ar'temis A'sia Atalan'ta Athe'na Ath'ens At'ropos Bac'chus Bos'phorus Cadme'ia Cad'mus Cal'ydon Cau'casus Ce'crops Cer'cyon Ce'res Chei'ron Clo'tho Coro'nis Cran'aë Crete Cyclo'pes Cy'prus Dae'dalus Dan'aë Daph'ne De'los Del'phi Deuca'lion Dian'a E'gypt Eleu'sis Epime'theus (thus) Euro'pa Eu'rope Gor'gons Greece Ha'des Härmo'nia He'lios Hel'las Hel'len Hel'lenes Her'cules Ica'rian Sea Ic'arus I'o Iol'cus Ju'no Ju'piter Lab'yrinth Lach'esis Le'to Mars Mede'a Medu'sa Meg'ara Meila'nion Melea'ger Mer'cury Miner'va Mi'nos Min'otaur Myce'nae Nep'tune Nile Oe'neus (nus) Os'sa Pando'ra Pärnas'sus Par'nes Pe'lias Pene'us Per'dix Perigu'ne Per'seus (sus) Pit'theus Plu'to Posei'don Procrus'tes Prome'theus (thus) Pros'erpine Pyr'rha Pyth'ia Py'thon Saron'ic Sea Sat'urn Sci'ron Sic'ily Si'nis Tem'pe Thebes The'seus (sus) Thes'saly Ti'ryns Ti'tans Troe'zen Ve'nus Ves'ta Vul'can Zeus (zus)
OLD GREEK STORIES.
JUPITER AND HIS MIGHTY COMPANY.
A long time ago, when the world was much younger than it is now, people told and believed a great many wonderful stories about wonderful things which neither you nor I have ever seen. They often talked about a certain Mighty Being called Jupiter, or Zeus, who was king of the sky and the earth; and they said that he sat most of the time amid the clouds on the top of a very high mountain where he could look down and see everything that was going on in the earth beneath. He liked to ride on the storm-clouds and hurl burning thunderbolts right and left among the trees and rocks; and he was so very, very mighty that when he nodded, the earth quaked, the mountains trembled and smoked, the sky grew black, and the sun hid his face.
Jupiter had two brothers, both of them terrible fellows, but not nearly so great as himself. The name of one of them was Neptune, or Poseidon, and he was the king of the sea. He had a glittering, golden palace far down in the deep sea-caves where the fishes live and the red coral grows; and whenever he was angry the waves would rise mountain high, and the storm-winds would howl fearfully, and the sea would try to break over the land; and men called him the Shaker of the Earth.
The other brother of Jupiter was a sad pale-faced being, whose kingdom was underneath the earth, where the sun never shone and where there was darkness and weeping and sorrow all the time. His name was Pluto, or Aidoneus, and his country was called the Lower World, or the Land of Shadows, or Hades. Men said that whenever any one died, Pluto would send his messenger, or Shadow Leader, to carry that one down into his cheerless kingdom; and for that reason they never spoke well of him, but thought of him only as the enemy of life.
A great number of other Mighty Beings lived with Jupiter amid the clouds on the mountain top,-so many that I can name a very few only. There was Venus, the queen of love and beauty, who was fairer by far than any woman that you or I have ever seen. There was Athena, or Minerva, the queen of the air, who gave people wisdom and taught them how to do very many useful things. There was Juno, the queen of earth and sky, who sat at the right hand of Jupiter and gave him all kinds of advice. There was Mars, the great warrior, whose delight was in the din of battle. There was Mercury, the swift messenger, who had wings on his cap and shoes, and who flew from place to place like the summer clouds when they are driven before the wind. There was Vulcan, a skillful blacksmith, who had his forge in a burning mountain and wrought many wonderful things of iron and copper and gold. And besides these, there were many others about whom you will learn by and by, and about whom men told strange and beautiful stories.
They lived in glittering, golden mansions, high up among the clouds-so high indeed that the eyes of men could never see them. But they could look down and see what men were doing, and oftentimes they were said to leave their lofty homes and wander unknown across the land or over the sea.
And of all these Mighty Folk, Jupiter was by far the mightiest.
THE GOLDEN AGE.
Jupiter and his Mighty Folk had not always dwelt amid the clouds on the mountain top. In times long past, a wonderful family called Titans had lived there and had ruled over all the world. There were twelve of them-six brothers and six sisters-and they said that their father was the Sky and their mother the Earth. They had the form and looks of men and women, but they were much larger and far more beautiful.
The name of the youngest of these Titans was Saturn; and yet he was so very old that men often called him Father Time. He was the king of the Titans, and so, of course, was the king of all the earth besides.
Men were never so happy as they were during Saturn's reign. It was the true Golden Age then. The springtime lasted all the year. The woods and meadows were always full of blossoms, and the music of singing birds was heard every day and every hour. It was summer and autumn, too, at the same time. Apples and figs and oranges always hung ripe from the trees; and there were purple grapes on the vines, and melons and berries of every kind, which the people had but to pick and eat.
Of course nobody had to do any kind of work in that happy time. There was no such thing as sickness or sorrow or old age. Men and women lived for hundreds and hundreds of years and never became gray or wrinkled or lame, but were always handsome and young. They had no need of houses, for there were no cold days nor storms nor anything to make them afraid.
Nobody was poor, for everybody had the same precious things-the sunlight, the pure air, the wholesome water of the springs, the grass for a carpet, the blue sky for a roof, the fruits and flowers of the woods and meadows. So, of course, no one was richer than another, and there was no money, nor any locks or bolts; for everybody was everybody's friend, and no man wanted to get more of anything than his neighbors had.
When these happy people had lived long enough they fell asleep, and their bodies were seen no more. They flitted away through the air, and over the mountains, and across the sea, to a flowery land in the distant west. And some men say that, even to this day, they are wandering happily hither and thither about the earth, causing babies to smile in their cradles, easing the burdens of the toilworn and sick, and blessing mankind everywhere.
What a pity it is that this Golden Age should have come to an end! But it was Jupiter and his brothers who brought about the sad change.
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