 section 11 off the junior classics volume 3 tales from Greece and Rome edited by William Patton 1868 to 1936 this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Gillian Hendry the pomegranate seeds by Nathaniel Hawthorne part one mother series was exceedingly fond of her daughter proserpina and seldom let her go alone into the fields but just at the time when my story begins the good lady was very busy because she had the care of the wheat and the Indian corn and the rye and barley and in short of the crops of every kind all over the earth and as the season had thus far been uncommonly backward it was necessary to make the harvest ripe and more speedily than usual so she put on her turban made of poppies a kind of flower which she was always noted for wearing and got into her car drawn by a pair of winged dragons and was just ready to set off dear mother said proserpina I shall be very lonely while you are away may I not run down to the shore and ask some of the scenims to come up out of the waves and play with me yes child answered mother series the scenims are good creatures and will never lead you into any harm but you must take care not to stray away from them nor go wandering about the fields by yourself young girls without their mothers to take care of them are very apt to get into mischief the child promised to be as prudent as if she were a grown-up woman and by the time the winged dragons had whirled the car out of sight she was already on the shore calling to the scenims to come and play with her they knew proserpina's voice and were not long in showing their glistening faces and sea green hair above the water at the bottom of which was their home they brought along with them a great many beautiful shells and sitting down on the moist sand where the surf wave broke over them they visit themselves in making a necklace which they hung around proserpina's neck by way of showing her gratitude the child we sought them to go with her a little way into the field so that they might gather abundance of flowers with which she would make each of her kind playmates a wreath oh no dear proserpina cried the scenims we dare not go with you upon the dry land we are apt to grow faint unless at every breath we can snuff up the salt breeze of the ocean and don't you see how careful we are to let the surf wave break over us every moment or two so as to keep ourselves comfortably moist if it were not for that we should soon look like bunches of uprooted seaweed dried in the sun it is a great pity said proserpina but do you wait for me here and I will run and gather my apron full of flowers and be back again before the surf wave has broken ten times over you I long to make you some wreaths that shall be as lovely as this necklace of many colored shells we will wait then answered the scenims but while you are gone we may as well lie down on a bank of soft sponge under the water the air today is a little too dry for our comfort but we will pop up our heads every few minutes to see if you are coming the young proserpina ran quickly to a spot where only the day before she had seen a great many flowers these however were now a little past their bloom and wishing to give her friends the freshest and loveliest blossoms she strayed farther into the fields and found some that made her scream with delight never had she met with such exquisite flowers before violets so large and fragrant roses with so rich and delicate a blush such superb hyacinths and such aromatic pinks and many others some of which seem to be of new shapes and colors to her three times moreover she could not help thinking that a tuft of most splendid flowers had suddenly sprouted out of the earth before her very eyes as if on purpose to tempt her a few steps farther proserpina's apron was soon filled and brimming over with delightful blossoms she was on the point of turning back in order to rejoin the cenems and sit with them on the moist sands all twining wreaths together but a little farther on what should she behold it was a large shrub completely covered with the most magnificent flowers in the world the darlings cried proserpina and then she thought to herself I was looking at that spot only a moment ago how strange it is that I did not see the flowers the nearest she approached the shrub the more attractive it looked until she came quite close to it and then although its beauty was richer than words can tell she hardly knew whether to like it or not it bore above a hundred flowers of the most brilliant hues and each different from the others but all having a kind of resemblance among themselves which showed them to be sister blossoms but there was a deep glossy luster on the leaves of the shrub and on the petals of the flowers that made proserpina doubt whether they might not be poisonous to tell you the truth foolish as it may seem she was half inclined to turn round and run away what a silly child I am thought she taking courage it is really the most beautiful shrub that ever sprang out of the earth I will pull it up by the roots and carry it home and plant it in my mother's garden holding up her apron full of flowers with her left hand proserpina sees the large shrub with the other and pulled and pulled but was hardly able to loosen the soil about its roots what a deep-rooted planted was again the girl pulled with all her might and observed that the earth began to stir and crack to some distance around the stem she gave another pool but to relax her hold fancying that there was a rumbling sound right beneath her feet did the roots extend down into some enchanted cavern then laughing at herself for so childish a notion she made another effort up came the shrub and proserpina staggered back holding the stem triumphantly in her hand and gazing at the deep hole which its roots had left in the soil much to her astonishment this hole kept spreading wider and wider and growing deeper and deeper until it really seemed to have no bottom and all the while there came a rumbling noise out of its deaths louder and louder and nearer and nearer and sounding like the trample of horses hooves and the rippling of wheels too much frightened to run away she stood straining her eyes into this wonderful cavity and soon saw a team of four sable horses snorting smoke out of their nostrils and tearing their way out of the earth with a splendid golden chariot whirling at their heels they leaped out of the bottomless hole chariot and all and there they were tossing their black mains flourishing their black tails and curving with every one of their hooves off the ground at once close by the spot where proserpina stood in the chariot sat the figure of a man richly dressed with a crown on his head all flaming with diamonds he was of a noble aspect and rather handsome but looked sullen and discontented and he kept rubbing his eyes and shading them with his hand as if he did not live enough in the sunshine to be very fond of its light as soon as this personage saw the affrighted proserpina he beckoned her to come a little nearer do not be afraid said he with as cheerful a smile as he knew how to put on come will not you like to ride a little way with me in my beautiful chariot but proserpina was so alarmed that she wished for nothing but to get out of his reach and no wonder the stranger did not look remarkably good natured in spite of his smile and as for his voice it's tones were deep and stern and sounded as much like the rumbling of an earthquake underground as anything else as is always the case with children in trouble proserpina's first thought was to call for her mother mother mother series cried she all in a tremble come quickly and save me but her voice was too faint for her mother to hear indeed it is probable that series was then a thousand miles off making the corn grow in some far distant country nor could it have availed her poor daughter even had she been within hearing for no sooner did proserpina begin to cry out than the stranger leaped to the ground caught the child in his arms and again mounting his chariot shook the reins and shouted to the four black horses to set off they immediately broke into so swift a gallop that it seemed rather like flying through the air than running along the earth in a moment proserpina lost sight of the pleasant veil of enna in which she had always dwelt another instant and even the summit of mount etna had become so blue in the distance that she could scarcely distinguish it from the smoke that gushed out of its crater but still the poor child screamed and scattered her apron full of flowers along the way and left a long cry trailing behind the chariot and many mothers to whose ears it came ran quickly to see if any mischief had befallen their children but mother series was a great way off and could not hear the cry as they rode on the stranger did his best to soothe her why should you be so frightened my pretty child said he trying to soften his rough voice I promise not to do you any harm what you have been gathering flowers wait till you come to my palace and I will give you a garden full of prettier flowers than those all made of pearls and diamonds and rubies can you guess who I am they call my name Pluto and I am the king of diamonds and all other precious stones every atom of the gold and silver that lies under the earth belongs to me to say nothing of the copper and iron and of the coal mines which supply me with abundance of fuel do you see this splendid crown upon my head you may have it for a plaything oh we shall be very good friends and you will find me more agreeable and you expect when once we get out of this troublesome sunshine let me go home cried preserpina let me go home my home is better than your mother's answered King Pluto it is a palace all made of gold and crystal windows and because there is little or no sunshine there about the apartments are illuminated with diamond lamps you never saw anything half so magnificent as my throne if you like you may sit down on it and be my little queen and I will sit on the footstool I don't care for golden palaces and thrones sobbed preserpina oh my mother my mother carry me back to my mother but King Pluto as he called himself only shouted to his states to go faster pray do not be foolish preserpina said he in rather a sullen tone I offer you my palace and my crown and all the riches that are under the earth and you treat me as if I were doing you an injury the one thing which my palace needs is a merry little maid to run upstairs and down and cheer up the rooms with her smile and this is what you must do for King Pluto never answered preserpina looking as miserable as she could I shall never smile again till you set me down at my mother's door but she might just as well have talked to the wind that whistled past them for Pluto urged on his horses and went faster than ever preserpina continued to cry out and screamed so long and so loudly that her poor little voice was almost screamed away and when it was nothing but a whisper she happened to cast her eyes over a great broad field of waving grain and whom do you think she saw who but mother series making the corn grow and too busy to notice the golden chariot as it went rattling along the child mustered all her strength and gave one more scream but was out of sight before series had time to turn her head King Pluto had taken a road which now began to grow excessively gloomy it was bordered on each side with rocks and prespices between which the rumbling of the chariot wheels was reverberated with a noise like rolling thunder the trees and bushes that grew in the crevices of the rocks had very dismal foliage and by and by although it was hardly known the air became obscured with a grey twilight the black horses had rushed along so swiftly that they were already beyond the limits of the sunshine but the duskier it grew the more did Pluto's visage assume an air of satisfaction after all he was not an ill-looking person especially when he left off twisting his features into a smile that did not belong to them proserpina peaked at his face through the gathering dusk and hope that he might not be so very wicked as she at first thought him this twilight is truly refreshing said King Pluto after being so tormented with that ugly and impertinent glare of the sun how much more agreeable is lamp light or torch light more particularly when reflected from diamonds it will be a magnificent sight when we get to my palace is it much farther asked preserpina and will you carry me back when I have seen it we will talk of that by and by answered Pluto we are just entering my dominions do you see that tall gateway before us when we pass those gates we are at home and there lies my faithful mastiff at the threshold Cerberus Cerberus come hither my good dog so saying Pluto pulled at the reins and stopped the chariot right between the tall massive pillars of the gateway the mastiff of which he had spoken got up from the threshold and stood on his hind legs so as to put his fore paws on the chariot wheel but my stars what a strange dog it was why he was a big rough ugly looking monster with three separate heads and each of them fiercer than the two others but fiercer they were King Pluto pattyed them all he seemed as fond of his three headed dog as if it had been a sweet little spaniel with silken ears and curly tail Cerberus on the other hand was evidently rejoiced to see his master and expressed his attachment as other dogs do by wagging his tail at a great rate for serpents eyes being drawn to it by its brisk motion she saw that this tail was neither more nor less than a live dragon with fiery eyes and fangs that had a very poisonous aspect and while the three headed Cerberus was fawning so lovingly on King Pluto there was the dragon tail wagging against its will and looking as cross and ill natured as you can imagine on its own separate account will the dog bite me asked proserpina shrinking closer to Pluto what an ugly creature he is oh never fear answered her companion he never harms people unless they try to enter my dominions without being sent for or to get away when I wish to keep them here down Cerberus now my pretty proserpina we will drive on on went the chariot and King Pluto seemed greatly pleased to find himself once more in his own kingdom he drew proserpina's attention to the rich veins of gold that were to be seen among the rocks and pointed to several places where one stroke of a pickaxe would loosen a bushel of diamonds all along the road indeed there were sparkling gems which would have been of inestimable value above ground but which were here reckoned of the meaner sort and hardly worth a beggars stooping for not far from the gateway they came to a bridge which seemed to be built of iron Pluto stopped the chariot and bad proserpina look at the stream which was gliding so lazily beneath it never in her life has she beheld so torpid so black so muddy looking a stream its waters reflected no images of anything that was on the banks and it moved as sluggishly as if it had quite forgotten which way it ought to flow and had rather stagnate than flow either one way or the other this is a rather leafy observed King Pluto is it not a very pleasant stream I think it a very dismal one said proserpina it suits my taste however answered Pluto who was apt to be sullen when anybody disagreed with him at all events its water has won very excellent quality for a single draft of it makes people forget every care and sorrow that has hitherto tormented them only sip a little of it my dear proserpina and you will instantly cease to grieve for your mother and will have nothing in your memory that can prevent your being perfectly happy in my palace I will send for some in a golden goblet the moment we arrive oh no no no cried proserpina weeping afresh I had a thousand times rather be miserable with remembering my mother than be happy in forgetting her that dear dear mother I never never will forget her we shall see said King Pluto you do not know what fine times we will have in my palace here we are just at the portal these pillars are solid gold I assure you he alighted from the chariot and taking proserpina in his arms carried her up a lofty flight of steps into the great hall of the palace it was splendidly illuminated by means of large precious stones of various hues which seemed to burn like so many lamps and glowed with a hundredfold radiance all through the vast apartment and yet there was a kind of gloom in the midst of this enchanted light nor was there a single object in the hall that was really agreeable to behold except the little proserpina herself a lovely child with one earthly flower which she had not let fall from her hand it is my opinion that even king Pluto had never been happy in his palace and that this was the true reason why he had stolen away proserpina in order that he might have something to love instead of cheating his heart any longer with this tiresome magnificence and though he pretended to dislike the sunshine of the upper world yet the effect of the child's presence bedimmed as she was by her tears was as if a faint and watery sunbeam had somehow or other found its way into the enchanted hall Pluto now summoned his domestics and bad them lose no time in preparing a most sumptuous banquet and above all things not to fail of setting a golden beaker of the water of leafy by proserpina's plate i will neither drink that nor anything else said proserpina nor will i taste a morsel of food even if you keep me forever in your palace i should be sorry for that replied king Pluto patting her cheek for he really wished to be kind if he had only known how you are a spoiled child i perceive my little proserpina but when you see the nice things which my cook will make for you your appetite will quickly come again then sending for the head cook he gave strict orders that all sorts of delicacies such as young people are usually fond of should be set before proserpina he had a secret motive in this for you are to understand it is a fixed law that when persons are carried off to the land of magic if they once taste any food there they can never get back to their friends now if king Pluto had been cunning enough to offer proserpina some fruit or bread and milk which was the simple fare to which the child had always been accustomed it is very probable that she would soon have been tempted to eat it but he left the matter entirely to his cook who like all other cooks considered nothing fit to eat unless it were rich pastry or highly seasoned meat or spiced sweet cakes things which proserpina's mother had never given her and the smell of which quite took away her appetite instead of sharpening it but my story must now clamber out of king pluto's dominions and see what mother series has been about since she was bereft of her daughter we had a glimpse of her as you remember half hidden among the waving grain while the four black steeds were swiftly whirling along the chariot in which her beloved proserpina was so unwillingly born away you recollect too the loud scream which proserpina gave just when the chariot was out of sight of all the child's outcries this last shriek was the only one that reached the ears of mother series she had mistaken the rumbling of the chariot wheels for a peel of thunder and imagined that a shower was coming up and that it would assist her in making the corn grow but at the sound of proserpina's shriek she started and looked about in every direction not knowing whence it came but feeling almost certain that it was her daughter's voice it seemed so unaccountable however that the girl should have strayed over so many lands and seas which she herself could not have traversed without the aid of her winged dragons that the good series tried to believe that it must be the child of some other parent and not her own darling proserpina who had uttered this lamentable cry nevertheless it troubled her with a vast many tender fears such as are ready to bestow themselves in every mother's heart when she finds it necessary to go away from her dear children without leaving them under the care of some maiden aunt or other such faithful guardian so she quickly left the field in which she had been so busy and as her work was not half done the grain looked next day as if it needed both sun and rain and as if it were blighted in the ear and had something the matter with its roots the pair of dragons must have had very nimble wings for in less than an hour mother series had alighted at the door of her home and found it empty knowing however that the child was fond of sporting on the seashore she hastened there as fast as she could and there beheld the wet faces of the poor sea nymphs peeping over a wave all this while the good creatures had been waiting on the bank of sponge and once every half minute or so had popped up their four heads above water to see if their playmate were yet coming back when they saw mother series they sat down on the crest of the surf wave and let it toss them ashore at her feet where is proserpina cried series where is my child tell me you naughty sea nymphs have you enticed her under the sea oh no good mother series said the innocent sea nymphs tossing back their green ringlets and looking her in the face we should never dream of such a thing proserpina has been at play with us it is true but she left us a long while ago meaning only to run a little way upon the dry land and gather some flowers for a reef this was early in the day and we have seen nothing of her since series scarcely waited to hear what the nymphs had to say before she hurried off to make inquiries all through the neighborhood but nobody told her anything that could enable the poor mother to guess what had become of proserpina a fisherman it is true had noticed her little footprints in the sand as he went homeward along the beach with a basket of fish a rustic had seen the child stooping to gather flowers several persons had heard either the rattling of chariot wheels or the rumbling of distant thunder and one old woman while plucking vervein and catnip had heard a scream but supposed it to be some childish nonsense and therefore did not take the trouble to look up the stupid people it took them such a tedious while to tell them nothing that they knew that it was dark night before mother series found out that she must seek her daughter elsewhere so she lighted a torch and set forth resolving never to come back until proserpina was discovered in her haste and trouble of mind she quite forgot her car and the winged dragons or it may be she thought that she could follow up the search more thoroughly on foot at all events this was the way in which she began her sorrowful journey holding her torch before her and looking carefully at every object along the path and as it happened she had not gone far before she found one of the magnificent flowers which grew on the shrub that proserpina had pulled up ha thought mother series examining it by torchlight here is mischief in this flower the earth did not produce it by any hemp of mine nor of its own accord it is the work of enchantment and is therefore poisonous and perhaps it has poisoned my poor child but she put the poisonous flower in her bosom not knowing whether she might ever find any other memorial of proserpina all night long at the door of every cottage and farmhouse series knocked and called up the weary laborers to inquire if they had seen her child and they stood gaping and half asleep at the threshold and answered her pityingly and besought her to come in and rest at the portal of every palace too she made so loud a summons that the menials hurried to throw open the gate thinking that it must be some great king or queen who would demand a banquet for supper and a stately chamber to repose in and when they saw only a sad and anxious woman with a torch in her hand and a wreath of withered poppies on her head they spoke rudely and sometimes threatened to set the dogs upon her but nobody had seen proserpina nor could give mother series the least hint which way to seek her thus passed the night and still she continued her search without sitting down to rest or stopping to take food or even remembering to put out the torch although first the rosy dawn and then the glad light of the morning sun made its red flame look thin and pale but i wonder what sort of stuff this torch was made of for it burned dimly through the day and at night was as bright as ever and never was extinguished by the rain or wind in all the weary days and nights while series was searching for proserpina it was not merely of human beings that she asked tidings of her daughter in the woods and by the streams she met creatures of another nature who used in those old times to haunt the pleasant and solitary places and were very sociable with persons who understood their language and customs as mother series did sometimes for instance she tapped with her finger against the knotted trunk of a majestic oak and immediately its root bark would cleave us under and forth would step a beautiful maiden who was the hammer dried off the oak dwelling inside of it and sharing its long life and rejoicing when its green leaves sported with the breeze but not one of these leafy damsels had seen proserpina then going a little further series would perhaps come to a fountain gushing out of a pebbly hollow in the earth and would dabble with her hand in the water behold up through its sandy and pebbly bed along with the fountain's gush a young woman with dripping hair would arise and stand gazing at mother series half out of the water and undulating up and down with its ever restless motion but when the mother asked whether her poor lost child had stopped to drink out of the fountain the niad with weeping eyes for these water nymphs had tears to spare for everybody's grief would answer no in a murmuring voice which was just like the murmur of the stream often likewise she encountered fawns who looked like sunburnt country people except that they had hairy ears and little horns upon their foreheads and the hinder legs of goats on which they gambled merrily about the woods and fields they were a frolksam kind of creature but grew as sad as their cheerful dispositions would allow when series inquired for her daughter and they had no good news to tell but sometimes she came suddenly upon a rude gang of satters who had faces like monkeys and horses tails behind them and who were generally dancing in a very boisterous manner with shouts of noisy laughter when she stopped to question them they would only laugh the louder and make new merriment out of the lone woman's distress how unkind of those ugly satters and once while crossing a solitary sheep pasture she saw a personage named Pan sitting at the foot of a tall rock and making music on a shepherd's flute he too had horns and hairy ears and goats feet but being acquainted with Miller series he answered her question as civilly as he knew how and invited her to taste some milk and honey out of a wooden bowl but neither could Pan tell her what had become of proserpina any better than the rest of these wild peoples and thus mother series went wandering about for nine long days and nights finding no trace of proserpina unless it were now and then a withered flower and these she picked up and put in her bosom because she fancied that they might have fallen from the poor child's hand all day she travelled onward through the hot sun and at night again the flame of the torch would redden and gleam along the pathway and she continued her search by its light without ever sitting down to rest on the tenth day she chanced to a spy the mouth of a cavern within which though it was bright noon everywhere else there would have been only a dusky twilight but it so happened that a torch was burning there it flickered and struggled with the duskiness but could not half light up the gloomy cavern with all its melancholy glimmer series was resolved to leave no spot without a search so she peeped into the entrance of the cave and lighted it up a little more by holding her own torch before her in so doing she caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a woman sitting on the brown leaves of the last autumn a great heap of which had been swept into the cave by the wind this woman if women it were was by no means so beautiful as many of her sex for her head they tell me was shaped very much like a dog's and by way of ornament she wore a wreath of snakes around it but mother series the moment she saw her knew that this was an odd kind of a person who put all her enjoyment in being miserable and never would have a word to say to other people unless they were as melancholy and wretched as she herself delighted to be i am wretched enough now thought poor series to talk with this melancholy hecatee where she ten times sadder than ever she was yet so she stepped into the cave and sat down on the withered leaves by the dog-headed woman's side in all the world since her daughter's loss she had found no other companion oh hecatee said she if ever you lose a daughter you will know what sorrow is tell me for pity's sake have you seen my poor child proserpina pass by the mouth of your cavern no answered hecatee in a cracked voice and sighing betwixt every word or two no mother series i have seen nothing of your daughter but my ears you must know are made in such a way that all cries of distress and a fright all over the world are pretty sure to find their way to them and nine days ago as i sat in my cave making myself very miserable i heard the voice of a young girl shrieking as if in great distress something terrible has happened to the child you may rest assured as well as i could judge a dragon or some other cruel monster was carrying her away you killed me by saying so cried series almost ready to faint where was the sound and which way did it seem to go it passed very swiftly along said hecatee and at the same time there was a heavy rumbling of wheels towards the eastward i can tell you nothing more except that in my honest opinion you will never see your daughter again the best advice i can give you is to take up your abode in this cavern where we will be the two most wretched women in the world not yet dark hecatee replied series but do you first come with your torch and help me to seek for my lost child and when there shall be no more hope of finding her if that black day is ordained to come then if you will give me room to fling myself down either on these withered leaves or on the naked rock i will show you what it is to be miserable but until i know that she has perished from the face of the earth i will not allow myself space even to grieve the dismal hecatee did not much like the idea of going abroad into the sunny world but then she reflected that the sorrow of the disconsolate series would be like a gloomy twilight round about them both let the sunshine ever so brightly and that therefore she might enjoy her bad spirits quite as well as if she were to stay in the cave so she finally consented to go and they set out together both carrying torches although it was broad daylight and clear sunshine the torchlight seemed to make a gloom so that the people whom they met along the road could not very distinctly see their figures and indeed if they once caught a glimpse of hecatee with the wreath of snakes around her forehead they generally thought it prudent to run away without waiting for a second glance as the pair traveled along in this woe begone manner a thought struck series there is one person she exclaimed who must have seen my poor child and can doubtless tell what has become of her why did not i think of him before it is Phoebus what said hecatee the young man that always sits in the sunshine oh pray do not think of going near him he is a gay light frivolous young fellow and will only smile in your face and besides there is such a glare of the sun about him that he will quite blind my poor eyes which i have almost wept away already you have promised to be my companion answered series come let us make haste or the sunshine will be gone and Phoebus along with it accordingly they went along in quest of Phoebus both of them sighing grievously and hecatee to say the truth making a great deal worse lamentation than series for all the pleasure she had you know lay in being miserable and therefore she made the most of it by and by after a pretty long journey they arrived at the sunniest spot in the whole world there they beheld a beautiful young man with long curling ringlets which seemed to be made of golden sunbeams his garments were like light summer clouds and the expression of his face was so exceedingly vivid that hecatee held her hands before her eyes muttering that he ought to wear a black veil Phoebus for this was the very person whom they were seeking and a liar in his hands and was making its cords tremble with sweet music at the same time singing a most exquisite song which he had recently composed for besides a great many other accomplishments this young man was renowned for his admirable poetry as series and her dismal companion approached him Phoebus smiled on them so cheerfully that hecatee's wreath of snakes gave a spiteful hiss and hecatee heartily wished herself back in her cave but as for series she was too earnest in her grief either to know or care whether Phoebus smiled or frowned Phoebus exclaimed she I am in great trouble and have come to you for assistance can you tell me what has become of my dear child proserpina proserpina proserpina did you call her name answered Phoebus endeavouring to recollect for there was such a continual flow of pleasant ideas in his mind that he was apt to forget what had happened no longer than yesterday ah yes I remember her now a very lovely child indeed I am happy to tell you my dear madam that I did see the little proserpina not many days ago you may make yourself perfectly easy about her she is safe and in excellent hands oh where is my dear child cried series clasping her hands and flinging herself at his feet why said Phoebus and as he spoke he kept touching his lyre so as to make a thread of music run in and out among his words as the little damsel was gathering flowers and she has really a very exquisite taste for flowers she was suddenly snatched up by King Pluto and carried off to his dominions I have never been in that part of the universe but the royal palace I am told is built in a very noble style of architecture and of the most splendid and costly materials gold diamonds pearls and all manner of precious stones will be your daughter's ordinary play things I recommend to you my dear lady to give yourself no uneasiness proserpina's sense of beauty will be duly gratified and even in spite of the lack of sunshine she will need a very enviable life say not such a word answered series indignantly what is there to gratify her heart what are all the splendors you speak of without affection I must have her back again will you go with me Phoebus to demand my daughter of this wicked Pluto excuse me replied Phoebus with an elegant obeisance I certainly wish you success and regret that my own affairs are so immediately pressing that I cannot have the pleasure of attending you besides I am not upon the best of terms with King Pluto to tell you the truth his three-headed mastiff would never let me pass the gateway for I should be compelled to take a sheaf of sunbeams along with me and those you know are forbidden things in Pluto's kingdom ah Phoebus said series with bitter meaning in her words you have a harp instead of a heart farewell will you not stay a moment asked Phoebus and hear me turn the pretty and touching story of proserpina into extemporary verses but series shook her head and hastened away along with Hecatee Phoebus who as I have told you was an exquisite poet forthwith began to make an ode about the poor mother's grief and if we were to judge of his sensibility by this beautiful production he must have been endowed with a very tender heart but when a poet gets into the habit of using his heartstrings to make chords for his lyre he may thumb upon them as much as he will without any great pain to himself accordingly though Phoebus sang a very sad song he was as merry all the while as were the sunbeams amid which he dwelt end of section 11 section 12 of the junior classics volume three tales from Greece and Rome edited by William Patton 1868 to 1936 this Libri Vox recording is in the public domain recording by Gillian Hendry the pomegranate seeds by Nathaniel Hawthorne part two poor mother series had now found out what had become of her daughter but was not a bit happier than before her case on the contrary looked more desperate than before as long as proserpina was above ground there might have been hopes of regaining her but now that the poor child was shut up within the iron gates of the king of the mines at the threshold of which lay the three-headed Cerberus there seemed no possibility of her ever making her escape the dismal hekatee who loved to take the darkest few of things told series that she had better come with her to the cavern and spend the rest of her life in being miserable series answered that hekatee was welcome to go back there herself but that for her part she would wonder about the earth in quest of the entrance to king Pluto's dominions and hekatee took her at her word and hurried back to her beloved cave frightening a great many little children with a glimpse of her dog's face as she went poor mother series it is melancholy to think of her pursuing her toilsome way all alone and holding up that never dying torch the flame of which seemed an emblem of the grief and hope that burned together in her heart so much did she suffer that though her aspect had been quite youthful when her troubles began she grew to look like an elderly person in a very brief time she cared not how she was dressed nor had she ever thought of flinging away the wreath of withered poppies which she put on the very morning of proserpina's disappearance she roamed about in so wild a way and with her hair so dishevelled that people took her for some distracted creature and never dreamed that this was mother series who had the oversight of every seed which the husband when planted nowadays she gave herself no trouble about seed time nor harvest but left the farmers to take care of their own affairs and the crops to fade or flourish as the case might be there was nothing now in which series seemed to feel an interest unless when she saw children at play or gathering flowers along the wayside then indeed she would stand and gaze at them with tears in her eyes the children too appeared to have a sympathy with her grief and would cluster themselves in a little group about her knees and look up wistfully in her face and series after giving them a kiss all round would lead them to their homes and advise their mothers never to let them stray out of sight for if they do said she it may happen to you as it has to me that the iron hearted king pluto will take a liking to your darlings and snatch them up in his chariot and carry them away one day during her pilgrimage in quest of the entrance to pluto's kingdom she came to the palace of king celias who reigned at elusas ascending a lofty flight of steps she entered the portal and found the royal household in very great alarm about the queen's baby the infant it seems was sickly being troubled with its teeth i suppose and would take no food and was all the time mourning with pain the queen her name was mitanera was desirous of finding a nurse and when she beheld a woman of matronly aspect coming up the palace steps she thought in her own mind that here was the very person whom she needed so queen mitanera ran to the door with the poor wailing baby in her arms and besought series to take charge of it or at least to tell her what would do it good will you trust the child entirely to me asked series yes and gladly to answered the queen if you will devote all your time to him for i can see that you have been a mother you are right said series i once had a child of my own well i will be the nurse of this poor sickly boy but beware i warn you that you do not interfere with any kind of treatment which i may judge proper for him if you do so the poor infant must suffer for his mother's folly then she kissed the child and it seemed to do him good for he smiled and nestled closely into her bosom so mother series set her torch in a corner where it kept burning all the while and took up her abode in the palace of king cilius as nurse to the little prince dim of fallon she treated him as if he were her own child and allowed neither the king nor the queen to say whether he should be bathed in warm or cold water or what he should eat or how often he should take the air or when he should be put to bed you would hardly believe me if i were to tell you how quickly the baby prince cut rid of his ailments and grew fat and rosy and strong and how he had two rows of ivory teeth in less time than any other little fellow before or since instead of the palest and wretchedest and puneist imp in the world as his own mother confessed him to be when series first took him in charge he was now a strapping baby crying laughing kicking up his heels and rolling from one end of the room to the other all the good women of the neighborhood crowded to the palace and held up their hands in unutterable amazement at the beauty and wholesomeness of this darling little prince their wonder was the greater because he was never seen to taste any food not even so much as a cup of milk pray nurse the queen kept saying how is it that you make the child thrive so i was a mother once series always replied and having nursed my own child i know what other children need but queen met an era as was very natural had a great curiosity to know precisely what the nurse did to her child one night therefore she hit herself in the chamber where series and the little prince were accustomed to sleep there was a fire in the chimney and it had now crumbled into great coals and embers which laid glowing on the hearth with a blaze flickering up now and then and flinging a warm and ruddy light upon the walls series sat before the hearth with the child in her lap and the firelight making her shadow dance upon the ceiling overhead she undressed the little prince and bathed him all over with some fragrant liquid out of a vase the next thing she did was to rake back the red embers and make a hollow place among them just where the backlog had been at last while the baby was crowing and clapping its fat little hands and laughing in the nurse's face just as you may have seen your little brother or sister do before going into its warm bath series suddenly laid him all naked as he was in the hollow among the red hot embers she then raked the ashes over him and turned quietly away you may imagine if you can how queen met an era shrieked thinking nothing less than that her dear child would be burned to a cinder she burst forth from her hiding place and running to the hearth raked open the fire and snatched up poor little prince dimofon out of his bed of live coals one of which he was gripping in each of his fists he immediately set up a grievous cry as babies are apt to do when rudely startled out of a sound sleep to the queen's astonishment and joy she could perceive no token of the child's being injured by the hot fire in which he had lain she now turned to mother series and asked her to explain the mystery foolish woman answered series did you not promise to entrust this poor infant entirely to me you little know the mischief you have done him had you left him to my care he would have grown up like a child of celestial birth endowed with superhuman strength and intelligence and would have lived forever do you imagine that earthly children are to become immortal without being tempered to it in the fiercest heat of the fire but you have ruined your own son for though he will be a strong man and a hero in his day yet on account of your folly he will grow old and finally die like the sons of other women the weak tenderness of his mother has cost the poor boy an immortality farewell saying these words she kissed the little prince demophon and sighed to think what he had lost and took her departure without heeding queen metanera who entreated her to remain and cover up the child among the hot embers as often as she pleased her baby he never slept so warmly again while she dwelt in the king's palace mother series had been so continually occupied with taking care of the young prince that her heart was a little lightened of its grief for proserpina but now having nothing else to busy herself about she became just as wretched as before at length in her despair she came to the dreadful resolution that not a stock of grain nor a blade of grass not a potato nor a turnip nor any other vegetable that was good for man or beast to eat should be suffered to grow until her daughter were restored she even forbade the flowers to bloom lest somebody's heart should be cheered by their beauty now as not so much as a head of asparagus ever presumed to poke itself out of the ground without the special permission of series you may conceive what a terrible calamity had here fallen upon the earth the husband men plowed and planted as usual but there lay the rich black furrows all as barren as a desert of sand the pastures looked as brown in the sweet month of june as ever they did in chill november the rich man's broad acres and the cottagers small garden patch were equally blighted every little girl's flower bed showed nothing but dry stocks the old people shook their white heads and said that the earth had grown aged like themselves and was no longer capable of wearing the warm smile of summer on its face it was really piteous to see the poor starving cattle and sheep how they followed behind series lowing and pleading as if their instinct taught them to expect help from her and everybody that was acquainted with her power besought her to have mercy on the human race and at all events to let the grass grow but mother series though naturally often affectionate disposition was now inexorable never said she if the earth is ever again to see any verger it must first grow along the path which my daughter will tread in coming back to me finally as there seemed to be no other remedy our old friend quicksilver was sent post haste to king pluto in hopes that he might be persuaded to undo the mischief he had done and to set everything right again by giving up proserpina quicksilver accordingly made the best of his way to the great gate took a flying leap right over the three-headed mastiff and stood at the door of the palace in an inconceivably short time the servants knew him both by his face and garb for his short cloak and his winged cap and shoes and his snaky staff had often been seen thereabouts in times gone by he requested to be shown immediately into the king's presence and pluto who heard his voice from the top of the stairs and who loved to recreate himself with quicksilver's merry talk called out to him to come up and while they settled their business together we must inquire what proserpina has been doing ever since we saw her last the child had declared as you may remember that she would not taste a mouthful of food as long as she should be compelled to remain in king pluto's palace how she contrived to maintain her resolution and at the same time to keep herself tolerably plump and rosy is more than i can explain but some young ladies i'm given to understand possess the faculty of living on air and proserpina seemed to have possessed it too at any rate it was now six months since she left the outside of the earth and not a morsel so far as the attendants were able to testify had yet passed between her teeth this was the more creditable to proserpina in as much as king pluto had caused her to be tempted day after day with all manner of sweet meats and richly preserved fruits and delicacies of every sort such as young people are generally most fond of but her good mother had often told her of the hurtfulness of these things and for that reason alone if there had been no other she would have resolutely refused to taste them all this time being of a cheerful and active disposition the little damsel was not quite so unhappy as you may have supposed the immense palace had a thousand rooms and was full of beautiful and wonderful objects there was a never-ceasing gloom it is true which half hid itself among the innumerable pillars gliding before the child as she wandered among them and treading stealthily behind her in the echo of her footsteps neither was all the dazzle of the precious stones which flamed with their own light worth one gleam of natural sunshine nor could the most brilliant of the many colored gems which proserpina had for playthings lie with the simple beauty of the flowers she used to gather but still wherever the girl went among those gilded halls and chambers it seemed as if she carried nature and sunshine along with her and as if she scattered dewy blossoms on her right hand and on her left after proserpina came the palace was no longer the same abode of stately artifice and dismal magnificence as it had before been the inhabitants all felt this and king pluto more than any of them my own little proserpina he used to say i wish you could like me a little better we gloomy and cloud-natured persons have often as warm hearts at bottom as those of a more cheerful character if you would only stay with me of your own accord it would make me happier than the possession of a hundred such palaces as this ah said proserpina you should have tried to make me like you before carrying me off and the best thing you can do now is to let me go again then i might remember you sometimes and think that you were as kind as you knew how to be perhaps two one day or other i might come back and pay you a visit no no answered pluto with his gloomy smile i will not trust you for that you are too fond of living in the broad sunlight and gathering flowers what an idle and childish taste that is are not these gems which i have ordered to be dug for you and which are richer than any in my crown are they not prettier than a violet not half so pretty said proserpina snatching the gems from pluto's hand and fleeing them to the other end of the hall oh my sweet violets shall i never see you again and then she burst into tears but young people's tears have very little saltness or acidity in them and do not inflame the eyes so much as those of grown persons so that it is not to be wondered at if a few moments afterwards proserpina was sporting through the hall almost as merely as she and the four scenims had sported along the edge of the surf wave king pluto gazed after her and wished that he too was a child and little proserpina when she turned about and beheld this great king standing in his splendid hall and looking so grand and so melancholy and so lonesome was smitten with a kind of pity she ran back to him and for the first time in all her life put her small soft hand in his i love you a little whispered she looking up in his face do you indeed my dear child cried pluto bending his dark face down to kiss her but proserpina shrank away from the kiss for though his features were noble they were very dusky and grim well i have not deserved it of you after keeping you a prisoner for so many months and starving you besides are you not terribly hungry is there nothing which i can get you to eat in asking this question the king of the mines had a very cunning purpose for you will recollect if proserpina tasted a morsel of food in his dominions she would never afterwards be at liberty to quit them no indeed said proserpina your headcook is always baking and stewing and roasting and rolling out paste and contriving one dish after another which he imagines may be to my liking but he might just as well save himself the trouble poor fact little man that he is i have no appetite for anything in the world unless it were a slice of bread of my mother's own baking or a little fruit out of her garden when pluto heard this he began to see that he had mistaken the best method of tempting proserpina to eat the cooks made dishes and artificial dainties were not half so delicious in the good child's opinion as the simple fare to which mother series had accustomed her wondering that he had never thought of this before the king now sent one of his trusty attendants with a large basket to get some of the finest and richest pears peaches and plums which could anywhere be found in the upper world unfortunately however this was during the time when series had forbidden any fruits or vegetables to grow and after seeking all over the earth king pluto's servant found only a single pomegranate and that so dried up as to be not worth eating nevertheless since there was no better to be had he brought this dry old withered pomegranate home to the palace put it on a magnificent golden salver and carried it up to proserpina now it happened curiously enough that just as the servant was bringing the pomegranate into the back door of the palace our friend quick silver had gone up the front steps on his earn to get proserpina away from king pluto as soon as proserpina saw the pomegranate on the golden salver she told the servant he had better take it away again i shall not touch it i assure you said she if i were ever so hungry i should never think of eating such a miserable dry pomegranate as that it is the only one in the world said the servant he set down the golden salver with the wisened pomegranate upon it and left the room when he was gone proserpina could not help coming close to the table and looking at this poor specimen of dried fruit with a great deal of eagerness for to say the truth on seeing something that suited her taste she felt all the six months appetite taking possession of her at once to be sure it was a very wretched looking pomegranate and seemed to have no more juice in it than an oyster shell but there was no choice of such things in king pluto's palace this was the first fruit she had seen there and the last she was ever likely to see and unless she ate it up immediately it would grow drier than it already was and be wholly unfit to eat at least i may smell it thought proserpina so she took up the pomegranate and applied it to her nose and somehow or other being in such close neighborhood to her mouth the fruit found its way into that little red cave dear me what an everlasting pity before proserpina knew what she was about her teeth had actually bitten it off their own accord just as this fatal deed was done the door of the apartment opened and in came king pluto followed by quicksilver who had been urging him to let his little prisoner go at the first noise of their entrance proserpina withdrew the pomegranate from her mouth but quicksilver whose eyes were very keen and his wits the sharpest that ever anybody had perceived that the child was a little confused and seeing the empty salver he suspected that she had been taking a sly nibble of something or other as for honest pluto he never guessed at the secret my little proserpina said the king sitting down and affectionately drawing her between his knees here is quicksilver who tells me that a great many misfortunes have befallen innocent people on account of my detaining you in my dominions to confess the truth i myself had already reflected that it was an unjustifiable act to take you away from your good mother but then you must consider my dear child that this vast palace is apt to be gloomy although the precious stones certainly shine very bright and that i am not of the most cheerful disposition and that therefore it was a natural thing enough to seek the society of some merrier creature than myself i hoped you would take my crown for a plaything and me ah you laugh naughty proserpina me grim as i am for a playmate it was a silly expectation not so extremely silly whispered proserpina you have really amused me very much sometimes thank you said king pluto rather dryly but i can see plainly enough that you think my palace and dusky prison and me the iron hearted keeper of it and an iron heart i should surely have if i could detain you here any longer my poor child when it is now six months since you tasted food i give you your liberty go with quicksilver hasten home to your dear mother now although you may not have supposed it proserpina found it impossible to take leave of poor king pluto without some regrets and a good deal of compunction for not telling him about the pomegranate she even shed a tear or two thinking how lonely and cheerless the great palace would seem to him with all its ugly glare of artificial light after she herself is one little ray of natural sunshine whom he had stolen to be sure but only because he valued her so much after she should have departed i know not how many kind things she might have said to the disconsolate king of the mines had not quicksilver hurried her away come along quickly whispered he in her ear or his majesty may change his royal mind and take care above all things that you say nothing of what was brought to you on the golden salver in a very short time they had passed the great gateway leaving the three-headed Cerberus barking and yelping and growling with threefold din behind them and emerged upon the surface of the earth it was delightful to behold as proserpina hastened along how the path grew verdant behind and on either side of her wherever she set her blessed foot there was at once a dewy flower the violets gushed up along the wayside the grass and the grain began to sprout with tenfold vigor and luxuriance to make up for the dreary months that had been wasted in barrenness the starved cattle immediately set to work grazing after their long fast and ate enormously all day and got up at midnight to eat more but i can assure you it was a busy time of year with the farmers when they found the summer coming upon them with such a rush nor must i forget to say that all the birds in the whole world hopped about upon the newly blossoming trees and sang together in a prodigious ecstasy of joy mother series had returned to her deserted home and was sitting disconsolately on the doorstep with her torch burning in her hand she had been idly watching the flame for some moments passed when all at once it flickered and went out what does this mean thought she it was an enchanted torch and should have kept burning till my child came back lifting her eyes she was surprised to see a sudden verger flashing over the brown and barren fields exactly as you might have observed a golden hue gleaming far and wide across a landscape from the just risen sun does the earth disobey me exclaimed mother series indignantly does it presume to be green when i have bidden it be barren until my daughter shall be restored to my arms then open your arms dear mother cried a well-known voice and take your little daughter into them and proserpina came running and found herself upon her mother's bosom their mutual transport is not to be described the grief of their separation had caused both of them to shed a great many tears and now they shed a great many more because their joy could not so well express itself in any other way when their hearts had grown a little more quiet mother series looked anxiously at proserpina my child said she did you taste any food while you were in king pluto's palace dearest mother answered proserpina i will tell you the whole truth until this very morning not a morsel of food had passed my lips but today they brought me a pomegranate a very dry one it was and all shriveled up till there was little left of it but seeds and skin and having seen no fruit for so long a time and being faint with hunger i was tempted just to bite it the instant i tasted it king pluto and quicksilver came into the room i had not swallowed a morsel but dear mother i hope it was no harm but six of the pomegranate seeds i am afraid remained in my mouth unfortunate child and miserable me exclaimed series for each of those six pomegranate seeds you must spend one month of every year in king pluto's palace you are but half restored to your mother only six months with me and six with that good for nothing king of darkness do not speak so harshly of poor king pluto said proserpina kissing her mother he has some very good qualities and i really think i can bear to spend six months in his palace if he will only let me spend the other six with you he certainly did very wrong to carry me off but then as he says it was but a dismal sort of life for him to live in that great gloomy place all alone and it has made a wonderful change in his spirits to have a little girl to run upstairs and down there is some comfort in making him so happy and so upon the whole dearest mother let us be thankful that he is not to keep me the whole year round end of section 12 section 13 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 tales of the Trojan War from Homer the Trojan War by Thomas Bullfinch Minerva was the goddess of wisdom but on one occasion she did a very foolish thing she entered into competition with Juno and Venus for the prize of beauty at the marriage of Pilius and Thetis all the gods and goddesses were invited with the exception of Eris or discord enraged at her exclusion the goddess threw a golden apple among the guests with the inscription for the fairest thereupon Juno, Venus and Minerva each claimed the apple Jupiter not willing to decide in so delicate a matter sent the goddesses to Mount Ida where the beautiful shepherd Paris was tending his flocks and to him was committed the decision the goddesses accordingly appeared before him Juno promised him power and riches Minerva glory and renown in war and Venus the fairest of women for his wife each attempting to bias his decision in her own favour Paris decided in favour of Venus and gave her the golden apple thus making the two other goddesses his enemies under the protection of Venus Paris sailed to Greece and was hospitably received by Menelaus king of Sparta now Helen the wife of Menelaus was the very woman whom Venus had destined for Paris the most beautiful women in the world she had been sought as a bride by numerous suitors and before her decision was made known they all at the suggestion of Ulysses one of their number took an oath that they would defend her from all injury and avenge her cause if necessary she chose Menelaus and was living with him happily when Paris became their guest Paris aided by Venus persuaded her to elope with him and carried her to Troy whence arose the famous Trojan war the subject of the greatest poems of antiquity those of Homer and Virgil Menelaus called upon his brother Chieftains of Greece to fulfill their pledge and join him in his efforts to recover his wife most of them came forward but Ulysses who had married Penelope and was very happy with his wife and child had no wish to embark in such a troublesome affair either for hung back and Palamides was sent to urge him when Palamides arrived at Ithaca Ulysses pretended to be mad he yoked an ass and an ox together to the plow and began to sow salt Palamides to try him placed the infant Telemachus before the plow whereupon the father turned the plow aside showing plainly that he was no madman and after that could no longer refuse to fulfill his promise being now gained for the undertaking he lent his aid to bring in other chiefs especially Achilles this hero was the son of that Thetis at whose marriage the apple of discord had been thrown among the goddesses Thetis was herself one of the immortals a cenymph and knowing that her son was fated to perish before Troy if he went on the expedition she endeavored to prevent his going she sent him away to the court of king like comedies and induced him to conceal himself in the disguise of a maiden among the daughters of the king Ulysses hearing he was there went disguised as a merchant to the palace and offered for sale female ornaments among which he had placed some arms while the king's daughters were engrossed with the other contents of the merchant's pack Achilles handled the weapons and thereby betrayed himself to the keen eye of Ulysses who found no great difficulty in persuading him to disregard his mother's prudent councils and join his countrymen in the war Priam was king of Troy and Paris the shepherd was his son Paris had been brought up in obscurity because there were certain ominous forebodings connected with him from his infancy that he would be the ruin of the state these forebodings seemed at length likely to be realized for the grecian ornament now in preparation was the greatest that had ever been fitted out Agamemnon king of Mycenae and brother of the injured Menelaus was chosen commander in chief Achilles was their most illustrious warrior after him ranked Ajax gigantic in size and of great courage but dull of intellect Diomedi second only to Achilles in all the qualities of a hero Ulysses famous for his sagacity and Nestor the oldest of the grecian chiefs and one to whom they all looked up for council but Troy was no feeble enemy Priam the king was now old but he had been a wise prince and had strengthened his state by good government at home and numerous alliances with his neighbours but the principal stay and support of his throne was his son Hector one of the noblest characters painted by heathen antiquity he felt from the first presentiment of the fall of his country but still persevered in his heroic resistance yet by no means justified the wrong which brought this danger upon her he was united in marriage with Andromache and as a husband and father his character was not less admirable than as a warrior the principal leaders on the side of the Trojans the side Hector were Ineos and Deifemus Gluckus and Sarpedal end of section 13 section 14 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 the quarrel of the chiefs by Alfred J Church for nine years and more the Greeks besieged the city of Troy being many in number and having strong and valiant chiefs they pressed the men of the city very hard so that these dirt not go outside the walls they might have taken it without further loss but that there arose a deadly strife between two of the great chiefs Agamemnon king of Mycenae who was sovereign lord of all the host and Achilles who was the bravest and most valiant man therein the Greeks having been away from home many years were in great want of many things so it was their custom to leave a part of the army to watch the city and to send a part to plunder such towns in the country round about as they knew to be friendly to the men of Troy or as they thought to contain good store of provision or treasure are not all these they were want to say towns of the barbarians and therefore lawful pray to men that are Greeks now among the towns with which they dealt in this fashion was Crisa which was sacred to Apollo who had a great temple therein and a priest fearing the anger of the gods the Greeks had not harmed the temple or the priest but they had carried off with other prisoners the priest's daughter Crisaus by name these and the rest of the spoil they divided among the kings of whom there were many in the army each ruling his own people now king Agamemnon as being sovereign lord went not with the army at such times but stayed behind having charge of the siege that it should not be neglected yet he always received as was fitting a share of the spoil this time the Greeks gave him with other things the maiden Crisaus next day there came to the camp the priest Crises wishing to ransom his daughter much gold he brought and he had on his head the priest's crown that men might reverence him the more he went to all the chiefs making his prayer that they would take the gold and give him back his daughter they all spake him fair and would have done what he wished except Agamemnon get the out gray beard he cried in great wrath let me not find thee lingering now by the ships neither coming hither again or it shall be the worse for thee for all thy priesthood and as for thy daughter I shall carry her away to Argos when I shall have taken this city of Troy then the old man went out hastily in great fear and trouble and he walked in his sorrow by the shore of the sounding sea and prayed to his god Apollo hear me god of the silver bow if I have built thee a temple and offered thee the fat of many bullocks and rams hear me and avenge me on these Greeks and Apollo heard him he was angry that men had so dishonoured his priest and came down from the top of Olympus where he dwelt dreadful was the rattle of his arrows as he advanced and his presence was as the night coming over the sky he shot the arrows of death first at the dogs and the mules and then at the men and soon all along the shore rolled the black smoke from the piles of wood on which they burnt the bodies of the dead on the tenth day Achilles who was the bravest and strongest of all the Greeks called the people to an assembly when they were gathered together he stood up among them and spoke to Agamemnon surely it were better to return home than that we should all perish here by the plague come let us ask some prophet or priest or dreamer of dreams why it is that Apollo is so wroth with us then stood up Calthus best of Sears who knew what had been and what was and what was to come and speak Achilles though bidst me tell the people why Apollo is wroth with them lo I tell thee but thou must first swear to stand by me for I know that what I shall say will anger King Agamemnon and it goes ill with common men when kings are angry speak out thou wise man cried Achilles for I swear by Apollo that while I live no one shall lay hands on thee no not Agamemnon though he be sovereign Lord of the Greeks then the prophet took heart and speak it is on behalf of his priest that Apollo is wroth for he came to ransom his daughter but Agamemnon would not let the maiden go now then he must send her back to Crisa without ransom and with her a hundred beasts for sacrifice so that the plague may be stayed then Agamemnon stood up in a fury his eyes blazing like fire never he cried has thou spoken good concerning me ill prophet that thou art and now thou tellest me to give up this maiden I will do it for I would not that the people should perish only take care ye Greeks that there be a share of the spoil for me for it would ill be seen the lord of all the host that he alone should be without his share nay my lord Agamemnon cried Achilles thou art too eager for gain we have no treasures out of which we may make up thy loss for what we got out of the towns we have either sold or divided nor would it be fitting that the people should give back what has been given to them give up the maiden then without conditions and when we shall have taken this city of Troy we will repay thee three and fourfold nay great Achilles said Agamemnon thou shalt not cheat me thus if the Greeks will give me such a share as I should have well and good but if not I will take one for myself whether it be from thee or from Ajax or from Ulysses for my share I will have but of this hereafter now let us see that this maiden be sent back let them get ready a ship and put her therein and with her a hundred victims and let some chief go with the ship and see that all things be rightly done then cried Achilles and his face was black as a thunderstorm surely thou art altogether shameless and greedy and in truth an ill ruler of men no quarrel have I with the Trojans they never harried oxen or sheep of mine but I have been fighting in thy cause and that of thy brother Menelaus not carest thou for that thou leaveest me to fight and sitist in thy tent at ease but when the spoil is divided thine is always the lion's share small indeed is my part a little thing but dear and this forsooth thou wilt take away now am I resolved to go home small booty wilt thou get then me thinks and King Agamemnon answered go and thy mermidons with thee I have other chieftains as good as thou art and ready as thou art not to pay me due respect I hate thee with thy savage bloodthirsty ways and as for the matter of the spoil know that I will take thy share the girl bruceus and fetch her myself if need be that all may know that I am sovereign lord here in the hosts of the Greeks then Achilles was mad with anger and he thought in his heart shall I arise and slay this ktiff or shall I keep down the wrath of my breast and as he thought he laid his hand on his sword hilt and had half drawn his sword from the scabbard when low the goddess Minerva stood before him for Juno who loved both this chieftain and that had sent her and caught him by the long locks of his yellow hair but Achilles marveled much to feel the mighty grasp and turned and looked and knew the goddess but no one else in the assembly might see her then his eyes flashed with fire and he cried art thou come child of Jupiter to see the insolence of Agamemnon of a truth I think that he will perish for his folly but Minerva said nay but I am come to stay thy wrath use bitter words if thou wilt but put up thy sword in its sheath and strike him not of a truth I tell thee that for this insolence of today he will bring thee hereafter splendid gifts threefold and fourfold for all that he may take away then Achilles answered I shall abide by thy command for it is ever better for a man to obey the immortal gods and as he spake he laid his heavy hand upon the hilt and thrust back the sword into the scabbard and Minerva went her way to Olympus then he turned him to King Agamemnon and spake again drunkard with the eyes of a dog and the heart of a deer never fighting in the front of the battle nor daring to lie in the ambush to is a puny race thou rulest or this had been thy last wrong and as for me here is this scepter once it was the branch of a tree but a cunning craftsman bound it with bronze to be the sign of the lordship which Jupiter gives to kings as surely as it shall never again have bark or leaves or shoot so surely shall the Greeks one day miss Achilles when they fall in heaps before the dreadful Hector and thou shalt eat thy heart to think that thou hast wronged the bravest of thy host and as he spake he dashed his scepter on the ground and sat down and on the other side Agamemnon sat in furious anger then Nestor rose an old man of a hundred years and more and counseled peace let them listen he said to his council great chiefs in the old days with whom no man now alive would dare to fight had listened let not Agamemnon take away from the bravest of the Greeks the prize of war let not Achilles though he was mightier in battle than all other men content with Agamemnon who was sovereign lord of all the hosts of Greece but he spake in vain for Agamemnon answered Nestor thou speakest well and peace is good but this fellow would lord it over all and he must be taught that there is one here at least who is better than he and Achilles said I were a slave and a coward if I owned thee as my lord not so play the master over others but think not to master me as for the prize which the Greeks gave me let them do as they will they gave it let them take it away but if thou dares to touch odd that is mine own that our thy lifeblood shall redden on my spear then the assembly was dismissed Crisius was sent to her home with due offerings to the god the wise Ulysses going with her and all the people purified themselves and the plague was stayed but king Agamemnon would not go back from his purpose so he called to him the heralds Talthybius and Euribides and said heralds go to the tents of Achilles and fetch the maiden Briseus but if he will not let her go say that I will come myself with many others to fetch her so will it be the worst for him sorely against their will the heralds went along the seashore they walked till they came to the tents of Achilles there they found him sitting but stood silent in awe and fear Achilles spied them and cried aloud come near ye heralds messengers of gods and men it is no fault of yours that you are common such an errand then he turned to patroclus his dearest friend and said bring the maiden from her tent and let the heralds lead her away but let them be witnesses before gods and men and before this evil minded king against the day when he shall have sore need of me to save his host from destruction fool that he is who thinks not of the past nor of the future that his people may be safe then patroclus brought forth the maiden from her tent and gave her to the heralds and they led her away but it was sorely against her will that she went Achilles went apart from his comrades and sat upon the seashore falling into a great passion of tears and stretching out his hands with loud prayer to his mother who indeed was a goddess of the sea thetus by name she heard him where he sat in the depths by her father the old god of the sea and rose you would have thought it a mist rising from the waves and came to where he sat weeping and stroked him with her hand and called him by his name what ails thee my son she said then he told her the story of his wrong and when he had ended he said go I pray thee to the top of Olympus to the palace of Jupiter often have I heard the boast how long ago thou didst help him when the other gods would have bound him fetching briarius of the hundred hands who sat by him so that the gods feared to touch him go now and call these things to his mind and pray him that he help the sons of Troy and give them victory in the battle so that the Greeks as they flee before them may have joy of this king of theirs who has done such wrong to the bravest of his host and his mother answered him surely thine is an evil lot my son thy life is short and it should of right be without tears and full of joy but now it seems to me to be both short and sad I will go as thou sayest to Olympus to the palace of Jupiter but not now for he has gone and the other gods with him to a 12 days feast with the pious Ethiopians but when he comes back I will entreat and persuade him and do thou sit still nor go forth to battle when the 12 days were passed Thetis went to the top of Olympus to the palace of Jupiter and made her prayer to him he was loath to grant it for he knew that it would anger his wife Juno who loved the Greeks and hated the sons of Troy yet he could not refuse her and promised that it should be as she wished and to make his word the sureer he nodded his awful head and with the nod all Olympus was shaken that night Jupiter took counsel with himself how he might best work his will he called to him a dream and said dream go to the tent of Agamemnon and tell him to set his army in a ray against Troy for the gods are now of one mind and the day of doom is come for the city so he shall take it and gain eternal glory for himself so the dream went to the tent of Agamemnon and it took the shape of Nestor the old chief whom the king honored more than all beside then the false Nestor spoke sleep as thou Agamemnon it is not for kings to sleep all through the night for they must take thought for many and have many cares listen now to the words of Jupiter set the battle in array against Troy for the gods are now of one mind and the day of doom is come for the city and thou shalt take it and gain eternal glory for thyself and Agamemnon believed the dream and knew not the purpose of Jupiter in bidding him go forth to battle so he rose from his bed and dawned his tunic and over it a great cloak fastened the sandals on his feet hung from his shoulders his mighty silver studied sword and took in his right hand the great scepter of his house which was the token of his sovereignty over all the Greeks then he went forth and first took counsel with the chiefs and afterwards called the people to the assembly after the assembly the shrill-voiced heralds called the host to the battle as is the flare of a great fire when a wood is burning on a hilltop so was the flash of their arms and their armor as they thronged to the field and as the countless flocks of wild geese or cranes or swans now wheel and now settle in the great asian marsh by the stream of kaester or as the bees swarm in the spring when the milkpales are full so thick the Greeks thronged to the battle in the great plain by the banks of this commander many nations were there and many chiefs and the bravest and strongest of all was Ajax son of Telemon and the best horses were the horses of Humilus but there was none that could compare with Achilles and the horses of Achilles bravest man and swiftest states only Achilles sat apart and would not go to the battle and on the other side the sons of Troy and their allies came forth from the gates of the city with the most famous of their chiefs so the battle was set in a ray and the two hosts stood over against each other end of section 14 section 15 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 the fight between Paris and Menelaus by Alfred J church they were now about to fight when from the ranks of the Trojans Paris rushed forth he had a panther's skin over his shoulders and a bow and a sword and in either hand a spear and he called aloud to the Greeks that they should send forth their bravest to fight with them when Menelaus saw him he was glad for he said that now he should avenge himself on the man who had done him such wrong so a lion is glad when being sorely hungry he finds a stag or a wild goat he devours it and will not be driven from it by dogs or hunters he leapt from his chariot and rushed to meet his enemy but Paris having done evil and being therefore a coward in his heart was afraid when he saw Menelaus and fled back into the ranks of his comrades just as a man steps back in haste when unawares he comes upon a snake Hector saw him and rebuked him fair art thou to look upon Paris but nothing worth surely the Greeks will scorn us if they think that thou art our bravest warrior because thou art of stately presence thou art a coward and yet thou dearest to go across the sea and carry off the fair Helen why does thou not stand and abide the onset of her husband and see what manner of man he is little would thy harp and thy long locks and thy fair face avail when thou wert lying in the dust a craven race are the sons of Troy or they would have stoned thee or this then Paris answered thou speakest well Hector and thy rebuke is just as for thee thy heart is like iron ever set on battle yet our beauty and love also the gifts of the gods and not to be despised but now set Menelaus and me in the midst and let us fight man to man for the fair Helen and for all her possessions and if he prevail over me let him take her and them and depart and the Greeks with him but ye shall dwell in peace but if I prevail they shall depart without her then Hector was glad and going before the Trojan ranks holding his spear by the middle he kept them back the Greeks would have thrown spears and stones at him only Agamemnon cried aloud and said hold Hector has somewhat to say to us then Hector said here Trojans and Greeks what Paris saith let all besides lay their arms upon the ground and let Menelaus and me fight for the fair Helen and all her wealth and let him that is the better keep her and them but the rest shall dwell in peace then Menelaus said the word pleases me well let us fight together and let us make agreement with oath and sacrifice and because the sons of Priam are men of fraud and violence let Priam himself come so they sent a herald to King Priam but he sat on the wall with the old men and as they talked the fair Helen came near and they said what wonder that men should suffer much for such a woman for indeed she is divinely fair yet let her depart in the ships nor bring a curse on us and our children but Priam called to her come near my daughter tell me about these old friends of line for it is not thou it is the gods who have brought about all this trouble but tell me who is this warrior that I see so fair and strong there are others even ahead taller than he but none of such majesty and Helen answered ah my father would that I had died before I left husband and child to follow thy son but as for this warrior he is Agamemnon a good king and brave soldier and my brother-in-law in the old days happy Agamemnon said Priam to rule over so many never saw I such an army gather together not even when I went to help the Phrygians when they were assembled on the banks of the Sangerus against the Amazons but who's this that I see not so tall as Agamemnon but of broader shoulders his arms lie upon the ground and he is walking through the ranks of his men just as some great ram walks through a flock of sheep this said Helen is Ulysses of Ithaca who is better in craft and council than all other men she's well spoken lady said Antonor well I remember Ulysses when he came hither on an embassy about thee with the brave Menelaus my guests they were and I knew them well and I remember how in the assembly of the Trojans when both were standing Menelaus was the taller but when they sat Ulysses was the more majestic to behold and when they rose to speak Menelaus said few words but said them wisely and well and Ulysses you had thought him a full so stiffly he held his scepter and so downcast were his eyes but as soon as he began oh the mighty voice and the words thick as the falling snow then Prim said who is that stalwart hero so tall and strong over topping all by head and shoulders that said Helen is mighty Ajax the bulwark of the Greeks and next to him is Edomeneus often has Menelaus had him as his guest in the old days when he came from Crete as for the other chiefs I see and could name them all but I miss my own dear brothers Caster Temer of Horses and Pollux the mighty boxer either they came not from Sparta or having come shun the meeting of men for shame of me she knew not that they were sleeping their last sleep far away in their dear fatherland and when they had ended talking the heralds came and told King Prim that the armies called for him so he went and Antonor with him and he on the one side for the Trojans and King Agamemnon for the Greeks made a covenant with sacrifice that Paris and Menelaus should fight together and that the fair Helen with all her treasures should go with him who should win Hector and Ulysses marked out a space for the fight and Hector shook two pebbles in a helmet looking away as he shook them that he whose pebble leapt forth the first should be the first to throw his spear and it so befell that the lot of Paris leapt forth first the two warriors armed themselves and came forth into the space and stood over against each other brandishing their spears with hate in their eyes then Paris through his spear it struck the shield of Menelaus but pierced it not for the spear point was bent back then Menelaus prayed to Jupiter grant father Jupiter that I may avenge myself on Paris who has done me this wrong so shall men in after time fear to do wrong to their host so speaking he cast his long shafted spear it struck the shield of Paris and pierced it through and passed through the corset and through the tunic close to the loin but Paris shrank aside and the spear wounded him not then Menelaus drew his silver study sword and struck a mighty blow on the top of the helmet of Paris but the sword broke in four pieces in his hand then he cried in his wrath oh Jupiter most mischief loving of the gods my spear I cast in vain and now my sword is broken then he rushed forward and seized Paris by the helmet and dragged him towards the host of the Greeks and truly he had taken him but Venus loosed the strap that was beneath his chin and the helmet came off in his hand and Menelaus whirled it among the Greeks and charged with another spear in his hand but Venus snatched Paris away covering him with a mist and put him down in his chamber in Troy then Menelaus looked for him everywhere but no one could tell him where he might be no son of Troy would have hidden him out of kindness for all hated him as death then King Agamemnon said now ye sons of Troy it is for you to give back the fair Helen and her wealth and to pay me besides so much as may be fitting for all my cost and trouble but it was not the will of the gods that the sons of Troy should do this so Minerva took upon herself the shape of Leodicus son of Antonor and went to Pandoras son of Lycaon where he stood among his men then the false Leodicus said Pandoras there's thou aim an arrow at Menelaus truly the Trojans would love thee well and Paris best of all if they could see Menelaus slain by an arrow from thy bow aim then but first pray to Apollo and thou that thou wilt offer a hundred beasts when thou returnest to thy city Zilea now Pandoras had a bow made of the horns of a wild goat which he had slain 16 palms long they were and a cunning workman had made them smooth and put a tip of gold whereon to fasten the bowstring and Pandoras strung his bow his comrades hiding him with their shields then he took an arrow from his quiver and laid it on the bowstring and drew the string to his breast till the arrowhead touched the bow and let fly right well aimed was the dart but it was not the will of heaven that it should slay Menelaus it struck him indeed and passed through the belt and through the corset and through the girdle and pierced the skin sword is made was king Agamemnon to see the blood sword is made also was the brave Menelaus till he spied the barb of the arrow and knew that the wound was not deep but Agamemnon cried it was in an evil hour for thee my brother that I made a covenant with these false sons of Troy right well indeed I know that oath and sacrifice are not in vain but will have vengeance at the last Troy shall fall but woe is me if thou should die Menelaus for the Greeks will straight go back to their fatherland and the fair Helen will be left a boast to the sons of Troy and I shall have great shame when one of them shall say as he leaps on the tomb of the brave Menelaus surely the great Agamemnon has avenged himself well for he brought an army hither but now has gone back to his home but left Menelaus here may the earth swallow me up before that day nay said Menelaus fear not for the arrow has but grazed the skin then king Agamemnon bad fetched the physician so the herald fetched Macaon the physician and Macaon came and drew forth the arrow and when he had wiped away the blood he put healing drugs upon the wound which Chiron the wise healer had given to his father. End of section 15