This is a story, not only about the golden apples that Heracles brought to his cousin, the king, but of other apples made of the same fairy metal. First of all, however, you shall hear about Heracles and the hidden far-off garden where the apples grew.

When the king told him he must find this garden, and gather some of the glittering fruit from the tree, poor Heracles was in despair, for he knew very well that the appletree had been lost a long, long time ago, and had never been found again. It had been given to Queen Hera as a wedding present, covered, with its crop of gold; and she had put it in the care of some beautiful maidens whose father, Hesperus, carried the evening star to the sky every night in a lantern set with gems. These maidens were called the Hesperides; and, in order that the apples might never be stolen, they had taken the tree far away into Africa, had planted it in a secret garden, and had set a wary dragon to live under the branches and to guard the treasured fruit both day and night.

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📚 Source: Once Upon A Time: Children’s Stories From The Classics (1920?) by Blanche Winder (1866-1930).

Bacchus, of whom you heard in another story, was very powerful and clever and could give to human beings almost any gift for which they asked. No wonder the helmsman was pleased to be under his protection! However, Bacchus had a good deal of mischief in his nature, and here is a tale of a prank he once played upon a rich and greedy king.

The king’s name was Midas. He was very wealthy indeed, but he was a shocking miser. He loved gold for its own sake, not for what he could do with it. He collected as much of it as he could, and he loved to count his coins by the hour together. Some of the treasures in his palace were made of pure gold, and he was never tired of looking at them, and handling them, and wishing from his heart that he owned many more.

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📚 Source: Once Upon A Time: Children’s Stories From The Classics (1920?) by Blanche Winder (1866-1930).

In that far country to which Jason and his band of heroes set off in their great ship with its fifty oars lived a mighty king and his beautiful daughter, Medea. This princess was dark-haired and dark-browed, and her wonderful eyes were as full of mystery as the peat pools which lie black and still on mountain moors. She knew many, many secrets that the earth hid from other people; and she would go fearlessly, at night, through the Enchanted Glade where the golden fleece gave out its mysterious light among the boughs of the oak, and the dragon swayed its high enormous head to and fro between the dim trees and the silver stars.

In the shadowy forests, Medea would wander quite alone, her little white feet without sandals, her long hair streaming about her like a veil. There, in the silence of the woods, she would stand and lift her arms up to the stars, singing softly to the spirits who lived among them. Then she would turn around three times, and, stooping to the stream at her feet, throw water from it, three times, over her head. Last of all, she would give three long, low cries, weird and plaintive, like an owl that called to its mate through the night.

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📚 Source: Once Upon A Time: Children’s Stories From The Classics (1920?) by Blanche Winder (1866-1930).

You have heard that some of the Shining People could be very jealous. Even Zeus himself used to get quite angry if he thought that anyone, whether mortal or Immortal, was receiving too much admiration and praise. So, knowing that a certain man called Prometheus was very great and wise, the king of Olympus kept a careful eye on him and was always ready to interfere if Prometheus in any way usurped the royal power. Prometheus, for his part, was too busy teaching other people all he knew to give much thought to Zeus’s jealousy. He was like a clever giant among men and cared for nothing but making everybody happier and wiser than they had been before.

There was one thing that, above all the rest, Prometheus wanted to present to mankind — and that was the gift of fire. He knew all about it, and the wonderful things that could be done with it. He knew that the sun itself was a ball of this beautiful and flaming mystery, which Apollo drove daily across the sky in his jeweled car drawn by glittering, winged horses. Prometheus knew, too, that there was fire in the high stars, and in the heart of the smoking volcanoes. But on the Earth itself, in the homes and workshops of men, there was no fire; for Zeus hid the secret of it and would never tell any mortal how to produce even one little tongue of living, leaping flame.

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📚 Source: Once Upon A Time: Children’s Stories From The Classics (1920?) by Blanche Winder (1866-1930).

Among the pupils of Chiron was a prince called Jason, who had been put in the care of the wise old centaur when he was not much more than a baby. He had a very wicked uncle, who had stolen the kingdom from Jason’s father and set himself upon the throne. But little Jason was hidden in the forest caves of those strange creatures, the centaurs, who were half horses, half men. There, Chiron played on a golden harp and sang songs about the heroes of the earth. Under his care, Jason grew up strong and fearless, able to wrestle and run and hunt with the best of the young princes. When he had grown into a vigorous youth, Chiron disclosed to him who he was, and said he must go into his own country and recover the lost kingdom for his father.

So one morning Jason set off through the woods, a panther skin thrown over one shoulder, a hunting spear in his right hand. Singing gaily, he strode down the glades until he came to a river, swollen and rapid with rain. On the bank sat a poor, ragged old woman, looking despairingly at the rushing brown water, all creamy with foam. Jason spoke to her kindly, asking if she wanted to get to the other side.


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📚 Source: Once Upon A Time: Children’s Stories From The Classics (1920?) by Blanche Winder (1866-1930).

One bright morning, a little baby woke very early, wondering what in the world had climbed into his cradle. Opening his eyes, he saw two enormous serpents that were just going to eat him up, while his nurse sat by, stiff with horror. But this extraordinary baby only gave a shout of amusement, caught the snakes, one in each hand, as if they had been paper toys, and strangled them to death. Then he sat up on his pillows and looked around complacently; while his mother, who had darted in, shrieked for help, and his father rushed through the doorway, brandishing his
sword.

The baby, whose name was Heracles, grew up, and, as was only to be expected, turned out to be the strongest man in the whole world. When he was a boy, his parents sent him into the woods to the school of Chiron, the wise old centaur, who taught him that he must always use his strength right. However, in spite of this, Heracles sometimes did wrong things. He had a very hot temper; and, when he was in a rage, would strike the people who vexed him. He even killed some of them with his heavy fist or did them serious harm in other ways. And at last the Immortals —who loved this strong man and wished him to become a true hero— told him that he could only gain forgiveness for his acts of passion and fury if he became the slave of his cousin, the king, and did whatever that monarch commanded him.

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📚 Source: Once Upon A Time: Children’s Stories From The Classics (1920?) by Blanche Winder (1866-1930).

In one of the countries which Perseus had passed as he flew to the land of the Gorgons lived a king and queen who had a most beautiful daughter, called Andromeda. They loved her better than anything in the world, and the queen was so proud of her that she said she was fairer than all the fairies of the mountains and the nymphs of the sea put together. This boast was overheard by the sea nymphs, and they were very angry indeed. So they persuaded Poseidon, who was king of the sea, just as Zeus was king of Olympus, to send a great monster, like a scaly water dragon, out of the caves at the bottom of the ocean, to eat up everybody it could catch and hold in its terrible claws.

One night, therefore, a sad outcry was heard among the fishermen on the beach. They said that, as they were setting their nets, they had seen the king of the sea serpents come swirling out of the waves in the moonlight, and return to the sea, carrying a fair maiden in its wicked mouth. This happened again the next night, and the next, and the next.

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📚 Source: Once Upon A Time: Children’s Stories From The Classics (1920?) by Blanche Winder (1866-1930).

One of the handsomest, cleverest, and bravest princes of those wonderful days was called Theseus. His father, who was a great king, was obliged to leave his little son to be brought up entirely by the queen, while he himself went away to rule over his kingdom of Athens. But, before he started, he lifted a big rock and placed his sword and sandals beneath it. Then he told the queen that, as soon as Theseus was big and strong enough to raise the stone, he must take the sword in his hand, fasten the sandals on his feet, and set off to join his royal father at the court in the city.

Well, little Theseus grew up, and one day his mother led him to the stone and asked him if he thought he could lift it. Easily the young prince raised the big rock — and there lay the sword and sandals! Delighted at her son's strength, the queen told him why they had been left there, and to whom they belonged. So Theseus fastened the sword to his side, the sandals on his feet, and set off immediately, as his father had commanded.

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📚 Source: Once Upon A Time: Children’s Stories From The Classics (1920?) by Blanche Winder (1866-1930).

Photograph by Rama, Wikimedia Commons, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr

Beautiful Aphrodite, the queen of love, traveled over the sea and through the sky every day of her life, looking for princes and princesses, or shepherds and shepherdesses, who wanted her help. When she went across the sea, she sailed in the great silver shell which had first carried her to land, while blue and green water nymphs sometimes played about her and sometimes rode on their dolphins, laughing and singing, with the foam sparkling like diamonds in their long hair; Tritons, too, swam like mermen through the water, blowing trumpets made of shells.

When Aphrodite traveled in the air, the procession was more wonderful still. She had a golden chariot drawn by four white doves, harnessed with strings of emeralds and rubies and pearls; and hundreds of little birds flew around it in a cloud, singing with all their might. With her in the chariot went Cupid, who, as you know, could sometimes look like a fairy prince, and sometimes like a little laughing child. But, whether he was a prince or a tiny boy, he always had his beautiful wings on his shoulders and carried his bow and arrows, which he used whenever his mother told him so to do.

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📚 Source: Once Upon A Time: Children’s Stories From The Classics (1920?) by Blanche Winder (1866-1930).

Among the Immortals were several people of whom you have not yet heard, but about whom many songs were sung and numberless tales told, not only by the shepherds of the mountain pastures, but by the huntsmen who rode with their hounds through the leafy woods, in pursuit of the wild deer.

First of all were the Centaurs, marvelous creatures who were half horses, half men. Very wild they were, very strong, and gay, and free. They lived in the green glades of the deep forests, and sometimes the sound of their galloping might be heard in the hush of the noonday heat; or, under the starlight, a glimpse caught of their eyes that shone like glow worms, and of their tossing manes of human hair. How startled anyone who saw them must have been! For they had strange men’s faces with which they could peer through the branches; yet, when they took to flight, their four hoofs might clearly be seen kicking up the grass and moss as they sped away!

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📚 Source: Once Upon A Time: Children’s Stories From The Classics (1920?) by Blanche Winder (1866-1930).