 Section 0 of the junior classics volume 3, Tales from Greece and Rome. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Gillian Hendry The junior classics volume 3, Tales from Greece and Rome, edited by William Patton, 1868-1936 Preface Homer, that king of storytellers, traveller and well-loved schoolteacher, is supposed to have lived in Greece about 3,000 years ago. Trained storytellers or bards with extraordinary memories were not rare in that simple age. Many argue that writing for literary purposes was not used by the Greeks at that time, and that Homer recited his tales to groups of friends, to his schoolchildren and at the great yearly festivals. It is amazing what memories people had in the days when there were no books, when there were not a thousand and one things to distract them. Yet we have proof that such memories are possible in our time. About 50 years ago, poor, uneducated, blind Jamie was a well-known character in the town of Sterling in Scotland. He could recite the Bible from beginning to end without mistake, and could even repeat any verse from any part of the Bible. From the mass of old folk tales that he gathered on his travels, Homer, the inspired minstrel, wove one continuous story, the greatest epic poems of all time, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Later one of the Greek chroniclers tells us, Pisistatus edited them with taste and care, in the order in which we have them. Although the world we visit in Homer's pages is a Greek world, it is singularly like our own in many respects. His men and women face the same problems of war and peace, of triumph and defeat, of pleasure and pain, as we do. His soldiers and sailors in the spirits during war might be men of today, and best of all he makes us see, feel, hope, fear, laugh and cry through these marvellous pages, over which for hundreds of years boys and girls of all countries have lingered entranced. The Iliad is the account of the Trojan War. The Odyssey tells of the Grecian hero Ulysses and of his years of wandering and adventure after the fall of Troy, before he finally reaches his home and wife and son in Ithaca. Later Virgil, greatest of Roman poets, in his desire to do for the Latin nation what Homer did for the Greeks, wrote the Iliad. In this he describes the adventures of the Trojan hero Ineas. As you will see, his book is modelled after Homer's even in small details. Homer and Sir Thomas Mallory may be said to have each performed for his native country a somewhat similar task, each of course in his own way. Each retold the current folktales in such a superior manner that his became the accepted version to the practical exclusion of all others, and it is thus in a very real sense that we are indebted to Homer for Ulysses and to Mallory for King Arthur. The old Greek tales at the beginning of the book are from Ovid, 43 BC, Apollodorus, 140 BC and Pindar, 522 BC, and they have been retold in delightful fashion by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Kingsley and Miss Buckley. As the stories from Homer and Virgil in the versions here given can only be looked upon as introductory to more extended reading, and are consequently something with which scholarship can have little if any quarrel, it has seemed desirable to make them as simple and clear as possible. For this reason the Latin names for the gods and goddesses of the Greek mythology have been used throughout. These names have been handed down to us in the works of Shakespeare, Milton, Keats and many others, and usage has made them familiar. Jupiter, Gino, Mars, Diana and Neptune are old friends whose attributes are recognised at once, while to many the Grecian, Zeus, Hera, Ares, Artemis and Poseidon are strangers whose names might have to be looked up in the classical dictionary. With the exception of a word here and there, there has been no editing of the stories, but occasional passages that delayed the movement of a story have been omitted. William Patton, the principal gods and goddesses mentioned in these pages with their Latin and Greek names. Latin, Sebeli, the great mother of the gods, mother of Jupiter and Gino, Greek Rhea. Latin, Saturn, father of Jupiter, the greatest Olympian god of Pluto and of Neptune. The world was divided between the three brothers. Pluto was given the lower world, Neptune the sea, and Jupiter the heavens and upper regions of the air. Greek, Cronus. Latin, Pluto, son of Saturn and Sebeli, king of the lower world. Metals and all the productions of the earth are his gifts. Greek, Aedoneus or Hades. Latin, Proserpina, daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, wife of Pluto and queen of the lower world. Greek, Persephone. The 12 Olympian gods. Latin, Jupiter, the greatest of all, king of heaven. Greek, Zeus. Latin, Juno, wife of Jupiter and queen of heaven. Goddess of love, marriage and births. Greek, Hera. Latin, Mars, son of Jupiter and Juno, god of war. Greek, Ares. Latin, Vulcan, son of Jupiter and Juno, god of fire. Greek, Hephaestus. Latin, Mercury, son of Jupiter and Maya, daughter of Atlas, the messenger of the gods. Greek, Hermes. Latin, Neptune, son of Saturn and Sebeli, god of the sea. Greek, Poseidon. Latin, Minerva, daughter of Jupiter and Metis, protectress of the state and of all useful arts. A friend of the Greeks in the Trojan War. Greek, Athene. Latin, Diana, daughter of Jupiter and Latona, sister of Apollo, generally represented as a huntress. Greek, Artemis. Latin, Apollo, twin brother of Diana, god of prophecy of song and music, the god who gives help and turns away evil. Greek, Apollo. Latin, Vesta, daughter of Saturn and Rhea, goddess of the hearth. Greek, Hestia. Latin, Ceres. Daughter of Saturn and Rhea, goddess of the earth. Greek, Demeter. Latin, Venus, daughter of Jupiter and Dione, though some say she sprang from the foam of the sea. The goddess of love. Greek, Aphrodite. End of section zero. Section one of the junior classics, volume three, Tales from Greece and Rome, edited by William Patton, 1868 to 1936. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Gillian Hendry. Old Greek Tales, part one. How Theseus Slays the Minotaur, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, part one. In the old city of Treason, at the foot of a lofty mountain, there lived a very long time ago, a little boy named Theseus. His grandfather, King Pytheus, was the sovereign of that country, and was reckoned a very wise man. So that Theseus, being brought up in the royal palace, and being naturally a bright lad, could hardly fail of profiting by the old king's instructions. His mother's name was Aethra. As for his father, the boy had never seen him, but from his earliest remembrance, Aethra used to go with little Theseus into a wood, and sit down upon a moss-grown rock, which was deeply sunken into the earth. Here she often talked with her son about his father, and said that he was called Aegeus, and that he was a great king, and ruled over Attica, and dwelt at Athens, which was as famous a city as any in the world. Theseus was very fond of hearing about King Aegeus, and often asked his good mother, Aethra, why he did not come and live with them at Treason. Ah, my dear son, answered Aethra with a sigh. A monarch has his people to take care of, the men and women over whom he rules are in the place of children to him, and he can seldom spare time to love his own children, as other parents do. Your father will never be able to leave his kingdom for the sake of seeing his little boy. Well, but dear mother, asked the boy, why cannot I go to this famous city of Athens and tell King Aegeus, Aegeus, that I am his son? That may happen by and by, said Aethra. Be patient, and we shall see. You are not yet big and strong enough to set out on such an errand. And how soon shall I be strong enough? Theseus persisted in inquiring. You are but a tiny boy as yet, replied his mother. See if you can lift this rock on which we are sitting. The little fellow had a great opinion of his own strength, so grasping the rough protuberances of the rock, he tugged and toiled a mane, and got himself quite out of breath, without being able to stir the heavy stone. It seemed to be rooted into the ground. No wonder he could not move it, for it would have taken all the force of a very strong man to lift it out of its earthy bed. His mother stood, looking on, with a sad kind of a smile on her lips and in her eyes, to see the zealous and yet puny efforts of her little boy. She could not help being sorrowful, but finding him already so impatient to begin his adventures in the world. You see how it is, my dear Theseus, said she. You must possess far more strength than now before I can trust you to go to Athens, and tell King Aegeus that you are his son. But when you can lift this rock and show me what is hidden beneath it, I promise you my permission to depart. Often and often after this did Theseus ask his mother whether it was yet time for him to go to Athens, and still his mother pointed to the rock, and told him that, for years to come, he could not be strong enough to move it. And again and again the rosy-cheeked and curly-headed boy would tug and strain at the huge mass of stone, striving, child as he was, to do what a giant could hardly have done without taking both of his great hands to the task. Meanwhile the rock seemed to be sinking farther and farther into the ground. The moss grew over it thicker and thicker, until at last it looked almost like a soft green seat, with only a few grey knobs of granite peeping out. The overhanging trees also shed their brown leaves upon it, as often as the autumn came, and at its base grew ferns and wildflowers, some of which crept quite over its surface. To all appearance the rock was as firmly fastened as any other portion of the earth's substance. But difficult as the matter looked, Theseus was now growing up to be such a vigorous youth that, in his own opinion, the time would quickly come when he might hope to get the upper hand of this ponderous lump of stone. Mother, I do believe it has started! cried he after one of his attempts. The earth around it is certainly a little cracked. No, no, child, his mother hastily answered, it is not possible you can have moved it, such a boy as you still are. Nor would she be convinced, although Theseus showed her the place where he fancied that the stem of a flower had been partly uprooted by the movement of the rock. But Aethra sighed and looked disquieted, for no doubt she began to be conscious that her son was no longer a child, and that in a little while hence she must send him forth among the perils and troubles of the world. It was not more than a year afterwards when they were again sitting on the moss-covered stone. Aethra had once more told him the oft-repeated story of his father and how gladly he would receive Theseus at his stately palace and how he would present him to his courtiers and the people and tell them that here was the heir of his dominions. The eyes of Theseus glowed with enthusiasm, and he would hardly sit still to hear his mother speak. Dear mother Aethra, he exclaimed, I never felt half so strong as now. I am no longer a child, nor a boy, nor a mere youth. I feel myself a man. It is now time to make one earn his trial to remove the stone. My dearest Theseus, replied his mother, not yet, not yet. Yes, mother, said he, resolutely, the time has come. Then Theseus bent himself in good earnest to the task and strained every sinew with manly strength and resolution. He put his whole brave heart into the effort. He wrestled with the big and sluggish stone as if it had been a living enemy. He heaved, he lifted, he resolved now to succeed or else to perish there and let the rock be his monument forever. Aethra stood gazing at him and clasped her hands, partly with a mother's pride and partly with a mother's sorrow. The great rock stirred. Yes, it was raised slowly from the bedded moss and earth, uprooting the shrubs and flowers along with it and was turned upon its side. Theseus had conquered. While taking breath, he looked joyfully at his mother and she smiled upon him through her tears. Yes, Theseus, she said, the time has come and you must stay no longer at my side. See what King Aegius, your royal father, left for you beneath the stone when he lifted it in his mighty arms and laid it on the spot when you have now removed it. Theseus looked and saw that the rock had been placed over another slab of stone containing a cavity within it so that it somewhat resembled a rough-made chest or coffer of which the upper mass had served as the lid. Within the cavity lay a sword with a golden hilt and a pair of sandals. That was your father's sword, said Aethra, and those were his sandals. When he went to be king of Athens, he begged me treat you as my child until you should prove yourself a man by lifting this heavy stone. That task being accomplished, you are to put on his sandals in order to follow in your father's footsteps and to gird on his sword so that you may fight giants and dragons as King Aegius did in his youth. I will set out for Athens this very day, cried Theseus. But his mother persuaded him to stay a day or two longer while she got ready some necessary articles for his journey. When his grandfather, the wise King Pithius, heard that Theseus intended to present himself at his father's palace, he earnestly advised him to get on board of a vessel and go by sea because he might thus arrive within 15 miles of Athens without either fatigue or danger. The roads are very bad by land, quoth the venerable king, and they are terribly infested with robbers and monsters. A mere lad like Theseus is not fit to be trusted on such a perilous journey all by himself. No, no, let him go by sea. But when Theseus heard of robbers and monsters, he pricked up his ears and was so much the more eager to take the road along which they were to be met with. On the third day, therefore, he bade a respectful farewell to his grandfather, thanking him for all his kindness, and after affectionately embracing his mother, he set forth with a good many of her tears glistening on his cheeks, and some, if the truth must be told, that had gushed out of his own eyes. But he let the sun and wind dry them, and walked stoutly on, playing with the golden hilt of his sword, and taking very manly strides in his father's sandals. I cannot stop to tell you hardly any of the adventures that befell Theseus on the road to Athens. It is enough to say that he quite cleared that part of the country of the robbers about whom King Pithius had been so much alarmed. One of these bad people was named Procrustus, and he was indeed a terrible fellow, and had an ugly way of making fun of the poor travellers who happened to fall into his clutches. In his cavern he had a bed on which, with great pretense of hospitality, he invited his guests to lie down. But if they happened to be shorter than the bed, this wicked villain stretched them out by main force. Or if they were too tall, he lopped off their heads or feet, and laughed at what he had done as an excellent joke. Thus, however weary a man might be, he never liked to lie in the bed of Procrustus. Another of these robbers, named Skinnis, must likewise have been a very great scoundrel. He was in the habit of flinging his victims off a high cliff into the sea, and in order to give him exactly his desserts, Theseus tossed him off the very same place. But, if you will believe me, the sea would not pollute itself by receiving such a bad person into its bosom. Neither would the earth, having one skirt rid of him, consent to take him back. So that between the cliff and the sea, Skinnis stuck fast in the air, which was forced to bear the burden of his naughtiness. After these memorable deeds, Theseus heard of an enormous sow which ran wild and was the terror of all the farmers round about. And as he did not consider himself above doing any good thing that came in his way, he killed this monstrous creature and gave the carcass to the poor people for bacon. The great sow had been an awful beast while ramping about the woods and fields, but was a pleasant object enough when cut up into joints and smoking on, I know not, how many dinner tables. Thus by the time he reached his journey's end, Theseus had done many valiant feats with his father's golden-hilted sword and had gained the renown of being one of the bravest young men of the day. His fame travelled faster than he did and reached Athens before him. As he entered the city, he heard the inhabitants talking at the street corners and saying that Hercules was brave and Jason too and Castor and Pollux likewise, but that Theseus, the son of their own king, would turn out as great a hero as the best of them. Theseus took longer strides on hearing this and fancied himself sure of a magnificent reception at his father's court as he came thither with fame to blow her trumpet before him and cry to King Aegis, Behold your son! He little suspected, innocent youth that he was, that here in this very Athens where his father reigned, a greater danger awaited him than any which he had encountered on the road, yet this was the truth. He must understand that the father of Theseus, though not very old in years, was almost worn out with the cares of government and had thus grown aged before his time. His nephews, not expecting him to live a very great while, intended to get all the power of the kingdom into their own hands. But when they heard that Theseus had arrived in Athens and learned what a gallant young man he was, they saw that he would not be at all the kind of person to let them steal away his father's crown and scepter, which ought to be his own by right of inheritance. Thus these bad-hearted nephews of King Aegis who were the own cousins of Theseus, at once became his enemies. A still more dangerous enemy was Medea, the wicked enchantress, for she was now the king's wife and wanted to give the kingdom to her son, Midas, instead of letting it be given to the son of Aethra whom she hated. It so happened that the king's nephews met Theseus and found out who he was just as he reached the entrance of the royal palace. With all their evil designs against him, they pretended to be their cousin's best friends and expressed great joy at making his acquaintance. They proposed to him that he should come into the king's presence as a stranger in order to try whether Aegis would discover in the young man's features any likeness either to himself or his mother Aethra and thus recognize him for a son. Theseus consented, for he fancied that his father would know him in a moment by the love that was in his heart. But while he waited at the door, the nephews ran and told King Aegis that a young man had arrived in Athens who, to their certain knowledge, intended to put him to death and get possession of his royal crown. And he is now waiting for admission to Your Majesty's presence, added they. Aha! cried the old king on hearing this. Why, he must be a very wicked young fellow indeed. Prey, what would you advise me to do with him? In reply to this question, the wicked Medea put in her word. As I have already told you, she was a famous enchantress. According to some stories, she was in the habit of boiling old people in a large cauldron under pretense of making them young again. But King Aegis, I suppose, did not fancy such an uncomfortable way of growing young or perhaps was contented to be old and therefore would never let himself be popped into the cauldron. If there were time to spare from more important matters, I should be glad to tell you of Medea's fiery chariot drawn by winged dragons in which the enchantress used often to make an airing among the clouds. This chariot, in fact, was the vehicle that first brought her to Athens where she had done nothing but mischief ever since her arrival. But these and many other wonders must be left untold and it is enough to say that Medea, amongst a thousand other bad things, knew how to prepare a poison that was instantly fatal to whomsoever might so much as touch it with his lips. So when the king asked what he should do with Theseus, this naughty woman had an answer ready at her tongue's end. Leave that to me, please, Your Majesty," she replied. Only admit this evil-minded young man to your presence. Treat him civilly and invite him to drink a goblet of wine. Your Majesty is well aware that I sometimes amuse myself with distilling very powerful medicines. Here is one of them in this small file. As to what it is made of, that is one of my secrets of state. Do but let me put a single drop into the goblet and let the young man taste it, and I shall answer for it. He shall quite lay aside the bad designs with which he comes hither. As she said this, Medea smiled. But for all her smiling face, she meant nothing less than to poison the poor innocent Theseus before his father's eyes. And King Aegeus, like most other kings, thought any punishment mild enough for a person who was accused of plotting against his life. He therefore made little or no objection to Medea's scheme, and as soon as the poisonous wine was ready, gave orders that the young stranger should be admitted into his presence. The goblet was set on a table beside the king's throne, and a fly, meaning just to sip a little from the brim, immediately tumbled into it dead. Observing this, Medea looked round at the nephews and smiled again. When Theseus was ushered into the royal apartment, the only object that he seemed to behold was the white-bearded old king. There he sat on his magnificent throne, a dazzling crown on his head and a scepter in his hand. His aspect was stately and majestic, although his years and infirmities weighed heavily upon him, as if each year were a lump of lead and each infirmity a ponderous stone, and all were bundled up together and laid upon his weary shoulders. The tears both of joy and sorrow sprang into the young man's eyes, for he thought how sad it was to see his dear father so infirm, and how sweet it would be to support him with his own youthful strength, and to cheer him up with the alacrity of his loving spirit. When a son takes his father into his warm heart, it renews the old man's youth in a better way than by the heat of Medea's magic cauldron. And this was what Theseus resolved to do. He could scarcely wait to see whether King Igeus would recognise him, so eager was he to throw himself into his arms. Advancing to the foot of the throne, he attempted to make a little speech, which he had been thinking about as he came up the stairs, but he was almost choked by a great many tender feelings that gushed out of his heart and swelled into his throat, all struggling to find utterance together. And therefore, unless he could have laid his full, over-brimming heart into the King's hand, Theseus knew not what to do or say. The cunning Medea observed what was passing in the young man's mind. She was more wicked at that moment than ever she had been before. For, and it makes me tremble to tell you of it, she did her worst to turn all this unspeakable love with which Theseus was agitated to his own ruin and destruction. Does your Majesty see his confusion? She whispered in the King's ear. He is so conscious of guilt that he trembles and cannot speak. The wretch lives too long. Quick, offer him the wine. Now King Theseus had been gazing earnestly at the young stranger as he drew near the throne. There was something he knew not what either in his white brow or in the fine expression of his mouth or in his beautiful and tender eyes that made him indistinctly feel as if he had seen this youth before, as if indeed he had trotted him on his knee when a baby and had beheld him growing to be a stalwart man while he himself grew old. But Medea guessed how the King felt and would not suffer him to yield to these natural sensibilities, although they were the voice of his deepest heart, telling him as plainly as it could speak that here was our dear son and Ethra's son coming to claim him for a father. The entrantress again whispered in the King's ear and compelled him by her witchcraft to see everything under a false aspect. He made up his mind, therefore, to let Theseus drink off the poisoned wine. Young man, said he, you are welcome. I am proud to show hospitality to so heroic a youth. Do me the favour to drink the contents of this goblet. It is brimming over, as you see, with delicious wine, such as I bestow only on those who are worthy of it. None is more worthy to quaff it than yourself. So saying, King Theseus took the golden goblet from the table and was about to offer it to Theseus, but partly through his infirmities and partly because it seemed so sad a thing to take away this young man's life, however wicked he might be, and partly no doubt because his heart was wiser than his head and quaked within him at the thought of what he was going to do. For all these reasons the king's hand trembled so much that a great deal of the wine slopped over. In order to strengthen his purpose and fearing lest the whole of the precious poison should be wasted, one of his nephews now whispered to him, Has your majesty any doubt of this stranger's guilt? There is the very sword with which he meant to slay you. How sharp and bright and terrible it is. Take, let him taste the wine, or perhaps he may do the deed even yet. At these words Egeus drove every thought and feeling out of his breast, except the one idea how justly the young man deserved to be put to death. He sat erect on his throne and held out the goblet of wine with a steady hand and bent on Theseus a frown of kingly severity. For after all he had too noble a spirit to murder even a treacherous enemy with a deceitful smile upon his face. Drink, said he, in this downtone with which he was want to condemn a criminal to be beheaded. You have well deserved of me such wine as this. Theseus held out his hand to take the wine. But before he touched it King Egeus trembled again. His eyes had fallen on the gold-hilted sword that hung at the young man's side. He drew back the goblet. That's sword, he exclaimed. How came you by it? It was my father's sword, replied Theseus with a tremulous voice. These were his sandals. My dear mother, her name is Aethra, told me his story while I was yet a little child. But it is only a month since I grew strong enough to lift the heavy stone and take the sword and sandals from beneath it and come to Athens to seek my father. My son, my son! cried King Egeus, flinging away the fatal goblet and tottering down from the throne to fall into the arms of Theseus. Yes, these are Aethra's eyes. It is my son! I have quite forgotten what became of the king's nephews. But when the wicked Medea saw this new turn of affairs, she hurried out of the room and, going to her private chamber, lost no time in setting her enchantments at work. In a few moments, she heard a great noise of hissing snakes outside of the chamber window. And behold, there was her fiery chariot and four huge-winged serpents, wriggling and twisting in the air, flourishing their tails higher than the top of the palace and all ready to set off on an aerial journey. Medea stayed only long enough to take her son with her and to steal the crown jewels, together with the king's best robes and whatever other valuable things she could lay her hands on. And getting into the chariot, she whipped up the snakes and ascended high over the city. The king, hearing the hiss of the serpents, scrambled as best as he could to the window and bawled out to the abominable enchantress, never to come back. The whole people of Athens, too, who had run out of doors to see this wonderful spectacle, set up a shout of joy at the prospect of getting rid of her. Medea, almost bursting with rage, uttered precisely such a hiss as one of her own snakes, only ten times more venomous and spiteful. And glaring fiercely out of the blaze of her chariot, she shook her hands over the multitude below as if she were scattering a million of curses among them. In so doing, however, she unintentionally let fall about five hundred diamonds of the first water, together with a thousand great perils and two thousand emeralds, rubies, sapphires, opals and topazes, to which she had helped herself out of the king's strongbox. All these came pelting down like a shower of many-coloured hailstones upon the heads of grown people and children who forthwith gathered them up and carried them back to the palace. But King Aegeus told them that they were welcome to the whole and to twice as many more if he had them for the sake of his delight at finding his son and losing the wicked Medea. And indeed, if you had seen how hateful was her last look as the flaming chariot flew upward, you would not have wondered that both King and people should think her departure a good riddance. And now Prince Thesias was taken into great favour by his royal father. The old king was never weary of having him sit beside him on his throne, which was quite wide enough for two, and of hearing him tell about his dear mother and his childhood and his many boyish efforts to lift the ponderous stone. Thesias however was much too brave and active a young man to be willing to spend all his time in relating things which had already happened. His ambition was to perform other and more heroic deeds which should be better worth telling in prose and verse. Nor had he been long in Athens before he caught and chained a terrible mad bool and made a public show of him, greatly to the wonder and admiration of good King Egeus and his subjects. But pretty soon he undertook an affair that made all his foregone adventures seem like mere boys play. The occasion of it was as follows. One morning, when Prince Thesias awoke, he fancied that he must have had a very sorrowful dream and that it was still running in his mind even though that his eyes were open. For it appeared as if the air was full of a melancholy wail, and when he listened more attentively he could hear sobs and groans and screams of woe mingled with deep, quiet sighs which came from the King's palace and from the streets and from the temples and from every habitation in the city. And all these mournful noises issuing out of thousands of separate hearts united themselves into one great sound of affliction which had startled Thesias from slumber. He put on his clothes as quickly as he could not forgetting his sandals and gold-hilted sword and hastening to the King inquired what it all meant. Alas, my son! Quoth King Egeus, leaving a long sigh. A very lamentable matter in hand. This is the woefulest anniversary in the whole year. It is the day when we annually draw lots to see which of the youths and maidens of Athens shall go to be devoured by the horrible Minotaur. The Minotaur exclaimed Thesias and like a brave young prince as he was he put his hand to the hilt of his sword. What kind of a monster may that be? Is it not possible at the risk of one's life to slay him? But King Egeus shook his venerable head and to convince Thesias that it was quite a hopeless case he gave him an explanation of the whole affair. It seems that in the island of Crete there lived a certain dreadful monster called a Minotaur who was shaped partly like a man and partly like a bull and was altogether such a hideous sort of a creature that it is really disagreeable to think of him. If he were suffered to exist at all it should have been on some desert island or in the duskiness of some deep cavern where no one would ever be tormented by his abominable aspect. But King Minus, who reigned over Crete laid out a vast deal of money in building a habitation for the Minotaur and took great care of his health and comfort merely for mischief's sake. A few years before this time there had been a war between the city of Athens and the island of Crete in which the Athenians were beaten and compelled to beg for peace. No peace could they obtain, however, except on condition that they should send seven young men and seven maidens every year to be devoured by the pet monster of the cruel King Minus. For three years past this grievous calamity had been born and the sobs and groans and shrieks with which the city was now filled were caused by the people's woe because the fatal day had come again when the 14 victims were to be chosen by lot and the old people feared lest their sons or daughters might be taken and the youths and damsels dreaded lest they themselves might be destined to glut the ravenous maw of that detestable man brute. But when Theseus heard the story he straightened himself up so that he seemed taller than ever before and as for his face it was indignant, despiteful, bold, tender and compassionate all in one look. Let the people of Athens this year draw lots for only six young men instead of seven, said he. I will myself be the seventh and let the Minotaur devour me if he can. Oh, my dear son! cried King Aegeus. Why should you expose yourself to this horrible fate? You are a royal prince and have a right to hold yourself above the destinies of common men. It is because I am a prince, your son and the rightful heir of your kingdom that I freely take upon me the calamity of your subjects, answered Theseus. And you, my father, being king over this people and answerable to heaven for their welfare, are bound to sacrifice what is dearest to you rather than that the son or daughter of the poorest citizen should come to any harm. The old king shed tears and besought Theseus not to leave him desolate in his old age more especially as he had but just begun to know the happiness of possessing a good and valiant son. Theseus, however, felt that he was in the right and therefore would not give up his resolution. But he assured his father that he did not intend to be eaten up unresistingly like a sheep, and that if the Minotaur devoured him it should not be without a battle for his dinner. And finally, since he could not help it King Aegeus consented to let him go so a vessel was got ready and rigged with black sails and Theseus, with six other young men and seven tender and beautiful damsels came down to the harbour to embark. A sorrowful multitude accompanied them to the shore. There was the poor old king too leaning on his son's arm and looking as if his single heart held all the grief of Athens. Just as Prince Theseus was going on board his father bethought himself of one last word to say My beloved son said he grasping the prince's hand you observe that the sails of this vessel are black as indeed they ought to be since it goes upon a voyage of sorrow and despair. Now, being weighed down with infirmities I know not whether I can survive till the vessel shall return but as long as I do live I shall creep daily to the top of yonder cliff to watch if there be a sail upon the sea. And dearest Theseus if by some happy chance you should escape the jaws of the Minotaur then tear down those dismal sails and hoist others that shall be bright as the sunshine. Beholding them on the horizon myself and all the people will know that you are coming back victorious and will welcome you with such a festal uproar as Athens never heard before. Theseus promised that he would do so then going on board the mariners trimmed the vessel's to the wind which blew faintly off the shore being pretty much made up of the size that everybody kept pouring forth on this melancholy occasion. But by and by when they had got fairly out to sea there came a stiff breeze from the north west and drove them along as merrily over the white capped waves as if they had been going on the most delightful errand imaginable. And though it was a sad business enough I rather question whether fourteen young people without any old persons to keep them in order could continue to spend the whole time with their voyage in being miserable. There had been some few dances upon the undulating deck I suspect and some hearty bursts of laughter and other such unseasonable merriment among the victims before the high blue mountains of Crete began to show themselves among the far off clouds that sight to be sure made them all very grave again. End of section one. Section two of the junior classics volume three Tales from Greece and Rome edited by William Patton 1868 to 1936 This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Jillian Hendry Old Greek Tales Part two How Theseus Slays the Minotaur by Nathaniel Hawthorne Part two Theseus stood among the sailors gazing eagerly towards the land although as yet it seemed hardly more substantial than the clouds amidst which the mountains were looming up. Once or twice he fancied that he saw a glare of some bright object a long way off flinging a gleam across the waves. Did you see that flash of light he inquired of the master of the vessel? Not all prints but I have seen it before answered the master it came from Talus I suppose. As the breeze came fresher just then the master was busy with trimming his sails and had no more time to answer questions. But while the vessel flew faster and faster towards Crete Theseus was astonished to behold a human figure gigantic in size which appeared to be striding with a measured movement along the margin of the island. It stepped from cliff to cliff and sometimes from one headland to another while the sea foamed and thundered on the shore beneath and dashed its jets of spray over the giant's feet. What was still more remarkable whenever the sun shone on this huge figure it flickered and glimmered. Its vast countenance too had a metallic luster and through great flashes of thunder through the air the folds of its garments moreover instead of waving in the wind fell heavily over its limbs as if woven of some kind of metal. The nier the vessel came the more Theseus wondered what this immense giant could be and whether it actually had life or no for though it walked and made other life-like motions there yet was a kind of jerk in its gait with its brazen aspect caused the young prince to suspect that it was no true giant but only a wonderful piece of machinery the figure looked all the more terrible because it carried an enormous brass club on its shoulder What is this wonder Theseus asked of the master of the vessel who was now at leisure to answer him It is Talus the man of brass said the master and is he a live giant or a brazen image? asked Theseus That truly replied the master is the point which has always perplexed me Some say indeed that this Talus was hammered out for King Minus by Vulcan himself the skillfulist of all workers in metal but whoever saw a brazen image that had sense enough to walk round an island three times a day as this giant walks round the island of Crete challenging every vessel that comes nigh the shore and on the other hand what living thing unless his sinews were made of brass would not be weary of marching 1800 miles in the 24 hours as Talus does without ever sitting down to rest he is a puzzler take him how you will Still the vessel went bounding onward and now Theseus could hear the brazen clanger the giant's footsteps as he trod heavily upon the sea beaten rocks some of which were seen to crack and crumble into the foamy waves beneath his weight as they approached the entrance of the port the giant straddled clear across it with a foot firmly planted on each headland and uplifting his club to such a height that its butt end was hidden in a cloud he stood in that formidable posture with the sun gleaming all over his metallic surface there seemed nothing else to be expected but that the next moment he would fetch his great club down slam bang and smash the vessel into a thousand pieces without heeding how many innocent people he might destroy for there is seldom any mercy in a giant you know and quite as little in a piece of brass clockwork but just when Theseus and his companions thought the blow was coming the brazen lips unclosed themselves and the figure spoke winds come you strangers and when the ringing voice ceased there was just such a reverberation as you may have heard within a great church bell for a moment or two after the stroke of the hammer from Athens shouted the master in reply on what errand thundered the man of brass and he whirled his club aloft more threateningly than ever as if he were about to smite them with a thunder stroke right amid ships because Athens so little while ago had been at war with Crete we bring the seven youths and the seven maidens answered the master to be devoured by the Minotaur haas cried the brazen giant that one loud word rolled all about the sky and again there was a booming reverberation within the figure's breast the vessel glided between the headlands of the port and the giant resumed his march in a few moments this wondrous sentinel was far away flashing in the distant sunshine and revolving with immense strides around the island of Crete as it was his never ceasing task to do no sooner had they entered the harbour than a party of the guards of King Minus on the waterside and took charge of the fourteen young men and damsels surrounded by these armed warriors Prince Theseus and his companions were led to the king's palace and ushered into his presence now Minus was a stern and pitiless king if the figure that guarded Crete was made of brass then the monarch who ruled over it might be thought to have a still harder metal in his breast and might have been called a man of iron he bent his shaggy brows upon the poor Athenian victims any other mortal beholding their fresh and tender beauty and their innocent looks would have felt himself sitting on thorns until he had made every soul of them happy by bidding them go free as the summer wind but this immeasurable Minus cared only to examine whether they were plump enough to satisfy the Minotaur's appetite for my part I wish he himself had been the only victim and the monster would have found him a pretty tough one one after another King Minus called these pale frightened youths and sobbing maidens to his footstool gave them each a poke in the ribs with his zeptor to try whether they were in good flesh or no and dismiss them with a nod to his guards but when his eyes rested on Theseus the king looked at him more attentively because his face was calm and brave young man asked he with his stern voice are you not appalled at the certainty of being devoured by this terrible Minotaur I have offered my life in a good cause answered Theseus and therefore I give it freely and gladly but thou King Minus art thou not thyself appalled who year after year has perpetrated this dreadful wrong by giving seven innocent youths and as many maidens to be devoured by a monster doth thou not tremble wicked King to turn thine eyes inward on thine own heart sitting there on thy golden throne and in thy robes of majesty might tell thee to thy face King Minus thou art a more hideous monster than the Minotaur himself aha do you think me so cried the King laughing in his cruel way tomorrow at breakfast time you shall have an opportunity of judging which is the greater monster the Minotaur or the King take them away guards and let this free spoken youth be the Minotaur's first morsel near the King's throne though I had no time to tell you so before stood his daughter Ariadne she was a beautiful and tender hearted maiden with these poor doomed captives with very different feelings from those of the iron-breasted King Minus she really wept indeed at the idea of how much human happiness would be needlessly thrown away by giving so many young people in the first bloom and rose blossom of their lives to be eaten up by a creature who no doubt would have preferred a fat ox or even a large pig to the plumpest of them and when she beheld the brave spirited figure of Prince Theseus bearing himself so calmly in his terrible peril she grew a hundred times more pitiful than before as the guards were taking him away she flung herself at the King's feet and besought him to set all the captives free and especially this one young man peace foolish girl answered King Minus what has though to do with an affair like this it is a matter of state policy and therefore quite beyond thy weak comprehension go water thy flowers and think no more of these Athenian catefs whom the Minotaur shall certainly eat up for breakfast as I will eat a partridge for my supper so saying the King looked cruel enough to devour Theseus and all the rest of the captives himself had there been no Minotaur to save him the trouble he would hear not another word in their favour the prisoners were now led away and clapped into a dungeon where the jailer advised to go to sleep as soon as possible because the Minotaur was in the habit of calling for breakfast early the seven maidens and six of the young men soon sobbed themselves to slumber but Theseus was not like them he felt conscious that he was wiser and braver and stronger than his companions and that therefore he had the responsibility of all their lives upon him and must consider whether there was no way to save them even in this last extremity so he kept himself awake and paced to and fro across the gloomy dungeon in which they were shut up just before midnight the door was softly unbarred and the gentle Ariadne showed herself with a torch in her hand Are you awake Prince Theseus she whispered Yes, answered Theseus with so little time to live I do not choose to waste any of it in sleep Then follow me said Ariadne and tread softly what had become of the jailer and the guards Theseus never knew but however that might be Ariadne opened all the doors and led them forth from the dark some prison into the pleasant moonlight Theseus said the maiden you can now get on board your vessel and sail away for Athens No, answered the young man I will never leave Crete unless I can first slay the Minotaur and save my poor companions and deliver Athens from this cruel tribute I knew that this would be your resolution said Ariadne Come then with me brave Theseus Here is your own sword which the guards deprived you of you will need it and pray heaven you may use it well Then she led Theseus along by the hand until they came to a dark shadowy grove where the moonlight wasted itself on the tops of the trees without shedding hardly so much as a glimmering beam upon their pathway After going a good way through this obscurity they reached a high marble wall which was overgrown with creeping plants that made it shaggy with their verger The wall seemed to have no door nor any windows but rose up lofty and massive and mysterious and was neither to be clamoured over nor so far as Theseus could perceive to be passed through Nevertheless, Ariadne did but press one of her soft little fingers against a particular block of marble and though it looked as solid as any other part of the wall it yielded to her touch disclosing an entrance just wide enough to admit them They crept through and the marble stone swung back into its place We are now said Ariadne in the famous labyrinth which Deedalus built before he made himself a pair of wings and flew away from our island like a bird That Deedalus was a very cunning workman but of all his artful contrivances this labyrinth is the most wondrous Where we to take but a few steps away we might wonder about all our lifetime and never find it again Yet in the very centre of this labyrinth is the Minotaur and Theseus you must go there to seek him But how shall I ever find him asked Theseus if the labyrinth so bewilders me as you say it will Just as he spoke they heard a rough and very disagreeable roar which greatly resembled the loying of a fine bull but yet had some sort of sound like the human voice Theseus even fancied a rude articulation in it as if the creature that uttered it were trying to shape his hoarse breath into words it was at some distance however and he really could not tell whether it sounded most like a bull's roar or a man's harsh voice That is the Minotaur noise whispered Ariadne closely grasping the hand of Theseus and pressing one of her own hands to her heart which was all in a tremble You must follow that sound through the windings of the labyrinth and by and by you will find him Stay, take the end of this silken string I will hold the other end and then if you win the victory it will lead you again to this spot Farewell brave Theseus So the young man took the end of the silken string in his left hand and his gold-hilted sword ready drawn from its scabbard in the other and trod boldly into the inscrutable labyrinth How this labyrinth was built is more than I can tell you but so cunningly contrived Amismes was never seen in the world before nor since There can be nothing else so intricate unless it were the brain of a man like Deedalus who planned it or the heart of an ordinary man which last to be sure is ten times as great a mystery as the labyrinth of Crete Theseus had not taken five steps before he lost sight of Ariadne and in five more his head was growing dizzy but still he went on now creeping through a low arch now ascending a flight of steps now in one crooked passage and now in another with here a door opening before him and there one hanging behind until it really seemed as if the walls spun round and whirled him round along with them and all the while through these hollow avenues now nearer, now further off again resounded the cry of the Minotaur and the sound was so fierce so cruel so ugly so like a bull's roar and with all so like a human voice and yet like neither of them that the brave heart of Theseus grew sterner and angrier at every step he felt it an insult to the moon and sky and to our affectionate and simple mother earth that such a monster should have the audacity to exist as he passed onward the clouds gathered over the moon and the labyrinth grew so dusky that Theseus could no longer discern the bewilderment through which he was passing he would have felt quite lost and utterly hopeless of ever again walking in a straight path if every little while he had not been conscious of a gentle twitch at the silken cord then he knew that the tender-hearted Ariadne was still holding the other end and that she was fearing for him and hoping for him and giving him just as much of her sympathy as if she were close by his side oh indeed I can assure you there was a vast deal of human sympathy running along that slender thread of silk but still he followed the dreadful roar of the Minotaur which now grew louder and louder and finally so very loud that Theseus fully expected to come close upon him at every new zigzag and wriggle of the path and at last in an open space at the very centre of the labyrinth he did discern the hideous creature sure enough what an ugly monster it was only his horned head belonged to Abul and yet somehow or other Abul all over preposterously waddling on his hind legs or if you happen to view him in another way he seemed wholly a man and all the more monstrous for being so and there he was the wretched thing with no society, no companion no kind of a mate living only to do mischief and incapable of knowing what affection means Theseus hated him and shuddered at him but be sensible of some sort of pity and all the more the uglier and more detestable the creature was for he kept striding to and fro in a solitary frenzy of rage continually emitting a hoarse roar which was oddly mixed up with half-shaped words and after listening a while Theseus understood that the Minotaur was saying to himself how miserable he was and how hungry and how he longed to eat up the human race alive ah the bull-headed villain and oh my good little people you will perhaps see one of these days as I do now that every human being who suffers anything evil to get into his nature or to remain there is a kind of Minotaur an enemy of his fellow creatures and separated from all good companionship as this poor monster was Theseus afraid by no means my dear auditors what? a hero like Theseus afraid? not had the Minotaur had 20 bull heads instead of one bold as he was however I rather fancy that it strengthened his valiant heart just at this crisis to feel a tremulous twitch at the silken cord which he was still holding in his left hand it was as if Ariadne were giving him all her might and courage and much as he already had and little as she had to give it made his own seem twice as much and to confess the honest truth he needed the whole for now the Minotaur turning suddenly about caught sight of Theseus and instantly lured his horribly sharp horns exactly as a mad bull does when he means to rush against an enemy at the same time he belched forth a tremendous roar in which there was something like the words of human language but all disjointed and shaken to pieces by passing through the gullet of a miserably enraged brute Theseus could only guess what the creature intended to say and that rather by his gestures than his words for the Minotaur's horns were sharper than his wits and of a great deal more service to him than his tongue but probably this was the sense of what he uttered like a wretch of a human being I'll stick my horns through you and toss you 50 feet high and eat you up the moment you come down come on then and try it was all that Theseus did to reply for he was far too magnanimous to assault his enemy with insolent language without more words on either side there ensued the most awful fight between Theseus and the Minotaur that ever happened beneath the sun or moon I know not how it might have turned out if the monster in his first headlong rush against Theseus had not missed him by a hair's breadth and broken one of his horns short off against the stone wall on this mishap he bellowed so intolerably that a part of the labyrinth tumbled down and all the inhabitants of Crete mistook the noise for an uncommonly heavy thunderstorm Smarting with the pain he galloped around the open space in so ridiculous a way that Theseus laughed at it long afterwards though not precisely at the moment after this the two antagonists stood valiantly up to one another and fought sword to horn for a long while at last the Minotaur made a run at Theseus grazed his left side with his horn and fung him down and thinking that he had stabbed him to the heart he cut a great caper in the air in his bull mouth from ear to ear and prepared to snap his head off but Theseus by this time had leaped up and caught the monster off his guard fetching a sword stroke at him with all his force he hit him fair upon the neck and made his bull head skip six yards from his human body which fell down flat upon the ground so now the battle was ended immediately the moon shone out as brightly with all the troubles of the world and all the wickedness and the ugliness that infest human life were passed and gone forever and Theseus as he leaned on his sword taking breath felt another twitch of the silken cord for all through the terrible encounter he had held it fast in his left hand eager to let Ariadne know of his success he followed the guidance of the thread and soon found himself at the entrance of the labyrinth that was slain the monster cried Ariadne clasping her hands thanks to thee dear Ariadne answered Theseus I return victorious then said Ariadne we must quickly summon thy friends and get them and thyself on board the vessel before dawn if morning finds thee here my father will avenge the Minotaur to make the story short the poor captives were awakened and hardly knowing whether it was not a joyful dream were told of what Theseus had done and that they must set sail for Athens before daybreak hastening down to the vessel they all clambered on board except Prince Theseus who lingered behind them on the strand holding Ariadne's hand clasped in his own dear maiden said he thou wilt surely go with us thou art too gentle and sweet a child for such an iron-hearted father as King Minus he cares no more for thee and a granite rock cares for the little flower that grows in one of its crevices but my father King Aegeus and my dear mother Aethra and all the fathers and mothers in Athens and all the sons and daughters too will love and honour thee as their benefactress come with us then for King Minus will be very angry when he knows what thou has done now some low-minded people tend to tell the story of Theseus and Ariadne have the face to say that this royal and honourable maiden did really flee away undercover of the night with the young stranger whose life she had preserved they say too that Prince Theseus, who could have died sooner than wrong the meanest creature in the world ungratefully deserted Ariadne on a solitary island where the vessel touched on its voyage to Athens but had the noble Theseus heard these falsehoods he would have served their slanderous authors as he served the Minotaur here is what Ariadne answered when the brave Prince of Athens besought her to accompany him No Theseus the maiden said pressing his hand and then drawing back a step or two I cannot go with you my father is old and has nobody but myself to love him hard as you think his heart is it would break to lose me at first King Minos will be angry but he will soon forgive his only child and by and by he will rejoice I know that no more youths and maidens must come from Athens to be devoured by the Minotaur I have saved you Theseus as much for my father's sake as for your own Farewell, heaven bless you all this was so true and so maiden like spoken with so sweet a dignity that Theseus would have blushed to urge her any longer nothing remained for him therefore but to bid Ariadne an affectionate farewell and to go on board the vessel and set sail in a few moments the white foam was boiling up before their prow as Prince Theseus and his companions sailed out of the harbour with a whistling breeze behind them Talus the brazen giant on his never ceasing sentinels march happened to be approaching that part of the coast and they saw him by the glimmering of the moonbeams on his polished surface while he was yet a great way off as the figure moved like clockwork however and could neither hasten his enormous strides nor returned them he arrived at the port when they were just beyond the reach of his club nevertheless straddling from headland to headland as his custom was Talus attempted to strike a blow at the vessel and overreaching himself tumbled at full length into the sea which splashed high over his gigantic shape as when an iceberg turns a summer set there he lies yet and whoever desires to enrich himself by means of brass had better go thither with a diving bell and fish up Talus on the homeward voyage the fourteen youths and damsels were in excellent spirits as you will easily suppose they spent most of their time in dancing unless when the side long breeze made the deck slope too much in due season they came within sight of the coast of Attica which was their native country but here I am grave to tell you happened a sad misfortune you will remember what Theseus unfortunately forgot that his father King Aegeus had enjoined it upon him to hoist sunshiny sails instead of black ones in case he should overcome the Minotaur and return victorious in the joy of their success however and amidst the sports dancing and other merriment with which these young folks wore away the time they never once thought whether their sails were black, white or rainbow coloured and indeed left it entirely to the mariners whether they had any sails at all thus the vessel returned like a raven with the same sable wings that had wafted her away but poor King Aegeus day after day in firm as he was had clambered to the summit of a cliff that overhung the sea and there sat watching for Prince Theseus, homeward bound and no sooner did he behold the fatal blackness of the sails than he concluded that his dear son whom he loved so much and felt so proud of had been eaten by the Minotaur he could not bear the thought of living any longer so first flinging his crown and scepter into the sea useless bobbles that they were to him now King Aegeus merely stooped forward and fell headlong over the cliff and was drowned poor soul in the waves that formed at its base this was melancholy news for Prince Theseus who when he stepped ashore found himself king of all the country whether he would or no and such a turn of fortune was enough to make any young man feel very much out of spirits however he sent for his dear mother to Athens and by taking her advice in matters of state became a very excellent monarch and was greatly beloved by his people End of section 2