25 Orion

Orion was a giant hunter．He was the beautiful son of Poseidon．One day，when hunting in the forest，he caughtsight of Artemis' fair maidens，the seven Pleiades ．Hewas so attracted by their beauty that he started chasing them．Indespair the charming maidens prayed to Artemis for help and were sent up by the goddess to the heavens as a constellation ．Later he fell in love with another maiden，Merope by name，butrash and impatient，he took the maiden by force and enraged her father，King Oenopion of Chios．The king made him drunk and put out his eyes ．Following the sound of the Cyclopes' hammer，he went to Hephaestus，who sent a guide to travel with him to the east，where the sun rose．Exposing his eyeballs to the rays of the sun，he was restored to his eyesight．He became aconstant companion of Artemis and followed the goddess in the chase with his dog Sirius．Apollo did not approve of this love，however．One day he dared his sister to shoot at a dark spo...

24 Ixion

In Thessaly there once lived a king by the name of Ixion．He was both handsome and mighty．He went to woo the beautiful maiden Dia and won her love，but her old father was most reluctant to part with his child．only when Ixionswore to let him have his royal treasure house did the father agree to give the king the hand of Dia in marriage ．Ixion took Dia home with him．But he was in no mood to keep his promise，for a long time passed and no treasure ever came to the old man．Impatient to have his promised wealth，the old father went to seeIxion and gave him no peace，until at last Ixion decided to get ridof him once and for all ．Opening the door of his treasurehouse，he pushed the old man in and there burnt him to death．

Zeus was furious over the terrible deed．The frightened Ixion went up to heaven and asked the father of gods and men torid him of his dishonesty ．His prayers were granted，and hestayed happily for a while in the glorious home of t...

23 Narcissus

Narcissus had a twin sister whom he loved better than anyone else in the world．This sister died when she was young and very beautiful．Narcissus missed her so very much that he wished he might die too．

One day，as he sat on the ground by a spring，looking absently into the water and thinking of his lost sister，he saw a face like hers，looking up at him．It seemed as if his sister had become a water nymph and were actually there in the spring，but she would not speak to him．

Of course the face Narcissus saw was really the reflection of his own face in the water，but he did not know that．In those days there were no clear mirrors like ours；and the idea of one's appearance that could be got from a polished brass shield，for instance，was a very dim one．So Narcissus leaned over the water and looked at the beautiful face so like his sister's，and wondered what it was and whether he should ever see his sister again．

After this，...

22 Daphne

Daphne was a lovely blooming fairy maiden．As she was playing merrily in the woods one day she saw Apollo the sun-god staring at her with more than amazement and ad miration in his eyes．The beaming face of the sun put her to flight．The eager Apollo followed her closely behind，calling out to her to stop．His passion had been lighted by her beauty and grace．He was afraid that this might be the last time he saw her．The quick footed maiden made the best of her legs ，but the passionate Apollo pressed hard upon her ．Through rough fields and pathless woods she ran，but the sound of his pursuing feet ever grew nearer．As he ran he begged his beloved maiden to slow down，for he feared that she might fall and hurt her sparkling skin on the rocky roads．But the escaping maiden never cared so much about that．She even threw one glance back wards ．At last she was quite breathless and cried to her father，a rivergod，for help．No sooner had her prayer been utter...

21 Lotus Eaters

On the tenth day after leaving Troy，Odysseus and his men came to an island，where the people only took lotus fruit and flowers as their food．This plant had such a magic effect on its eaters that it could make them forget their past and produce a dreamy laziness over them．When Odysseus' men arrived，they were kindly invited by the people on the is land to eat the sweet food．Its magic power began to work on the mimmediately．They fell into a deep daydream．They lost all wishes for future，To them the sea and ship appeared dull and hateful．And they were not eager to see wife，child and kingdom．When he saw no trace of his men coming back，Odysseus became suspicious．He set out with some well armed men to find out the truth．It did not take him long to find out the magic effect of the food．Not allowing his followers to touch the plant，he ordered them to drag their lazy friends back to their ship．There he had them tied to the benches until they sl...

20 Endymion

End ymion was a handsome young shepherd who kept his flocks of sheep on Mt Latmos，Asia Minor ．Living in aquiet，lovely valley，he lived a perfectly peaceful life．Sometimes when his sheep grazed happily on some rich grass around，he would lie down on the meadow and sleep soundly，completely free from worldly griefs and cares．

One clear，bright night，as Artemis drove her carriageacross the heavens，her eyes chanced upon a beautiful youth sleeping in the peaceful valley below．Her heart beat with love and admiration．She came down from her moon carriage and gave a quick but passionate kiss on his face．Even the sleepy End ymion was fascinated at the sight of the fair maiden as heopened his eyes．But the vision disappeared so soon that he regarded the whole scene as a dream．Every night Artemis floated down to steal a kiss from the lips of the sleeping shepherd untilher occasional carelessness of duty caused the suspicion of Zeus．The father of ...

19 Pygmalion

Pygmalion，King of Cyprus，was a famous sculptor．He made an ivory image of a woman so lovely that he fell in love with it．Every day he tried to make Galatea up in gold and purple，for that was the name he had given to this mistress of his heart．He embraced and kissed it，but it remaineda statue．In despair he went to Aphrodite's shrine for help．Offering rich sacrifice and sending up a passionate prayer，he begged the goddess to give him a wife as graceful as Galatea．Back home，he went straight up to the statue．Even as he gazedat it a change came over it．A faint colour appeared on its cheeks，a gleam shone from its eyes and its lips opened into as weet smile．Pygmalion stood speechless when Ualatea began to move towards him．She was simple and sweet and alive！Soon the room was ringing with her sliver voice．The work of his own hands became his wife．

19 皮格马利翁

塞浦路斯的国王皮格马利翁是一位有名的雕塑家。他塑造了一位异...

18 The Golden Fleece

King Athamus of northern Greece had two children， Phrixus and Helle．After he left his first wife and mar ried Ino，a wicked woman，the two children received all the cruel treatment that a stepmother could devise ，At one timethe kingdom was ruined by a famine．Ino persuaded her credulous husband into believing that his son，Phrixus，was the actual cause of the disaster，and should be sacrificed to Zeus to endit．The poor boy was then placed on the altar and was ut tobe knifed when a ram with golden fleece was sent down by thegods and carried off the two children on its back．As they flew over the strait that divides Asia from Europe，Helle，faint at the vast expanse of water below ，fell into the sea and was drowned．Thus the sea of Helle，Hellespont，became the ancient name of the strip of water．Her brother kept on and arrived in Colchis on the eastern shore of the Black Sea．There he sacrificed the ram to Zeus and gave its golden fleece ...

17 The Four Ages

There had been four ages since the human world first cameinto being ．They are the Golden Age，the Silver Age，the Age of Bronze and the Age of Iron．The Golden Agewas the best of all．It was an age when Kronus sat on thethrone．Generous nature met all the needs of men ．There wereno extremes of cold and heat．And the evils of the human worldwere still kept in the cask．Epimetheus guarded the cask and Pandora was not yet made to open．Men lived a happy life．They were forever young．They were always eating richly and knew neither hard labour nor sorrow．When death came it came like apeaceful sleep．And they became good spirits in heaven ．

The Silver Age was one in which the human race was somewhat less valuable in body and mind．The period was of helpless be ginning．It lasted a hundred years．And it was the time of manhood，short and troubled．Men spent in ignorance and evil．They no longer admired the gods and offered no sacrifices．Howev...

16 Hecuba

He cuba's life was one of grief and sorrow．She saw withher own eyes her eldest born Hector killed and insulted by Achilles．She saw her son Polites slain in front of her by Pyrrhus．And she saw her husband，the aged Priam，dragged towards the household altar and ruthlessly butchered there．After the fall of Troy she was carried into slavery ．Shehad the misfortune to witness her daughter Polyxena，her soleconsolation in bondage ，sacrificed at the tomb of Achilles．She had the sad fate to see washed ashore the corpse of her young estson Polydorus，who had been entrusted to the Thracian king for safekeeping．With her fifty children all dead she became thequeen of sorrows from whom no other woman could obtain the crown ．Yet in her distress and despair，she plucked up hercourage to avenge herself upon the Thracian king，who had murdered her son in order to get her son's gold．Later，as Dionysushad prophesied ，she was transformed into a dog with bloodshotey...