Hyacinthus

Hyacinthus was a beautiful Greek boy who was greatlyloved by Apollo，Apollo often laid aside his golden lyreand his arrows，and came down from Mount Olympus to Join Hyacinthus in his boyish games．The two were often busy all day long，following the huntingdogs over the mountains or setting fish nets in the river or playing at various games．

Their favourite exercise was the throwing of the discus ．The discus was a heavy metal plate about a foot across， whichwas thrown somewhat as the round ring is thrown．One dayApollo threw the discus first，and sent it whirling high up amongthe clouds for the god had great strength．It came down in afine，strong curve，and Hyacinthus ran to pick it up．Then as it fell on the hard earth，the discus bounded up again and struck the boy a cruel blow on his white forehead．

Apollo turned as pale as Hyacinthus，but he could not undo what had been done．He could only hold his friend in hisarms，and see his head bend down like ...

Echo

Echo was a nymph who talked too much．She was very fond of having the last words．One day she sPoke rudely to the great Hera，who said that for this offence Echo should never use her voice again，unless to repeat what she hadjust heard，but since she was very fond of last words，she might repeat the last words of others．This was almost as bad as if Hera had changed her into a parrot．Echo was very much ashamed，and hid herself in the forest．

Narcissus，a young man who had hair as yellow as gold an deyes as blue as the sky，——a very rare thing in Greece，where most people were very dark，——used to hunt in the forest where Echo was hiding．As she was looking out shyly from somecave or from behind a great tree，Echo often saw Narcissus，andshe admired him very much．

One say Narcissus became separated from his friends，andhearing something rustle among the leaves，he called out，“Who's here？”

“Here，” answered Echo．

“Here I am．Come！”said Na...

Thisbe

thisbe was a Babylonian maid．From her childhood sheloved Pyramus who lived in the nearby house．But as thetwo families were not on good terms they were not al

lowed to meet one another．All they could do was to stand oneach side of the wall and hear one another's loving voice． Movedby the young lovers， Aphrodite decided to give them help． Oneday to the joyful surprise of the pair， there appeared in the partywall a tiny crack through which they could speak to each otherin a low voice and even exchange sweet kisses．As love's flameburnt ever hotter the lovers agreed to meet each other under awhite mulberry tree in the woods outside the city．Night came．Thisbe stole out and arrived first at the meeting-place．She was just looking around for her lover when a lioness appeared．The sight of the bloody jaws of the beast was enough to send the screaming girl running ， leaving her veil behind． The lioness did not care to chase， but cut the veil and made it dirt with...

Aphrodite(Venus)

Aphrodite was the goddess of extreme beauty．Her birthwas a mysterious one．On one of those days when the

Olympians had begun to enjoy power in the universe，the floating bubbles of the sea glowed with holy brightness．Out of the wave rose a fair and lovely maiden，shining forth warmth and charm．She was then taken by the ocean fairy maiden to Cyprus which became her sacred island．Her beauty was beyond description，and she was rightly called the Beautiful．Over her deathles shead was a golden crown，her eyes were deep and soft，and herbrows warm．Her long halr flowed over her dellcate neck and white bosom ．Her slender fingers and rosy-white feet all added to her attractive grace and elegance ．Her slim lily form of a figure caused both the enthusiastic admiration of the gods and the burning jealousy of the goddess when she first took her place on Olympus．

She was appointed goddess of Love and Marriage．Sitting inher carriage drawn by sparrows，dove...

Poseidon（Neptune）

Poseidon was son of Kronus and Rhea，and brother ofZeus．After the war with the Titans，he became the mighty and majestic god of the sea，ruling all the water saround the earth．He was considered to have the greatest power next to Zeus ．Poseidon ruled his kingdom with cold shaking．He could call up all the big winds and stir up or calm down the stormy oceans． with a trident in his hand ，he flew across the waves in a carriage drawn by horses with bronze hoofs and golden hairs．Although he had a seat on Olympus，he lived，most of the time，in his shining golden palace in the deeps of the oceans．

Poseidon was ambitious and aggressive ．Unhappy with the part of power given to him，he planned to throw down Zeus from his high position．The plan did not come off，and he was senta way to serve a human being on earth． with the help of Apollo he built the famous walls of Troy for king Laomed on．On one occasion he argued with Athena over the naming of the ne...

40 Baucis and Philemon

As was the common practice with the gods of Olympus，Zeus and Hermes were visiting the world in disguise．One day they came to a village．At a thousand house sthey knocked，and a thousand times they were refused rest and food and drink．At last they arrived at a humble cottage，where the old couple Baucis and her husband Philemon lived．Poor but at peace with world，they made the best of what life could offer them ，and felt truly grateful to the gods above．When the two travellers entered the hut，the old couple were glad with lively happiness．They offered their guests their best seat，and immediately set about preparing dinner for them．With no small difficulty they made fire，brought in a fresh cabbage，cut a fat piece of their long kept meat and put them over the fire to cook．The one single goose they were ready to kill for the visitors，but it was saved at the last minute by the guests．The dining bench was a makeshift ，poor a...

39. Callisto

In the charming followers of Artemis there was a beautifulfairy maiden called Callis to．Zeus loved her passionately and often sought her company．Before the year was out she bore him a son，Arcas by name．He later became the ancestor of the Archadians．Zeus' frequent absences from Mt Olympus caused Hera's suspicions ．In time the vengeful queen discovered the truth and drew up an effective plan of paying back．One day Callisto suddenly found herself changed into a bear，with monstrous jaws and bloodshot eyes ．Still she remained human in heart．She immediately left her son and went into hidingin the forest．

Years passed．Little Arcas had grown into a young man．Hewas hunting merrily in the woods one day when a large grey bearsuddenly appeared before him．Both were amazed，he terrified at the sight of the frightening bear．The bear recognized that the young hunter was her own son．The young hunter aimed his spear at the slowly approaching bear and was abou...

38 The Apple of Discord

The wedding of Peleus and the sea-goddess Thetis wereheld and all gods were invited．But the absence of one goddess was clearly noticeable．It was Erls，the goddess of discord．As she planted seeds of discord wherever she went，it was natural that her presence at the ceremony was not desirable．She had good reason to feel angry．So she decided to make fun ofthe group at the party．Eris slipped into the hall after the couple left and rolled on the floor a golden apple ，having the words，“For the fairest”．It caused a violent quarrel among the three goddesses，Hera，Athena and Aphrodite．Zeus found it advisable to send them before a shepherd boy on Mt Ida，Paris by name，for judge ment．Hermes，the messenger，took the apple in his hand and led the goddesses away．

Paris was son of Priam，king of Troy．As his mother dreamed at his birth that she was bearing a piece of burning wood，the babe was regarded as representing the destruction of the cit...

37 Phaeton

Phaeton was the son of Apollo by Clymene．The mother had filled the lad's head with so many stories of his father's glory that the youth was quite proud．Wher ever he went he told those stories again and again until everybody was tired of him．On one occasion，when one of his playmates asked him to show his skill of coming down from sky，he felt quite hard to do it．He came back to his mother and told the unhappy event in tears．Unable to do anything for him，she sent her soneast wards to pray to Apollo for help．

The sungod graciously received his son and heard the story with interest．Then he took an oath by the Styx ，ready to give help according to the boy's request．But he was surprised to hear that the boy's hope was to drive his fiery carriage．He told his son of the dangers on the way，but failed to stop him fromthe try．As the god had sworn by the Styx there was no going back on his word．In his desperate effort to avoid disaster，Apollo warned his s...

36 Tiresias

Tiresias was a blind，darkseeing prophet of Thebes．Hewas struck with blindness in his youth，because he had spied unwittingly on the goddess Athena．He was wandering in the woods one day when quite unexpectedly he saw anaked maiden bathing in a placid lake ．Little did he know that he had offended the virgin goddess．Taken unaware and scarlet with wrath，the goddess exclaimed that whoever had the boldness to steal a glance at her naked body was doomed to perpetual blindness．But when she learned later that the offence was unintentional ，it was too late for her to take back what she had said．Taking pity on the poor youth for the loss of his sight，she obtained from Zeus an exceptional long life for him，and from Apollo a divine power of prophecy．Besides，she provided him with a marvellous sharpness of ear，so that he could under stand the voices of all birds．And she filled his mind with mystic knowledge of things past and of things to come．In short shegave h...