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THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Mrs. Bartlett 
 Heard 
 
a? T 
 
 >iS 
 
<bttion 
 
 THE 
 
 COMPLETE WORKS OF NATHANIEL 
 
 HAWTHORNE, WITH INTRODUCTORY 
 
 NOTES BY GEORGE PARSONS 
 
 LATHROP 
 
 AND ILLUSTRATED WITH 
 
 Etchings by Blum, Church, Dielman, Gifford, Shirlaw, 
 and Turner 
 
 IN THIRTEEN VOLUMES 
 VOLUME IV. 
 
A WONDER-BOOK 
 
 TANGLEWOOD TALES, AND 
 
 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR 
 
 BY 
 
 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 aatfamfttre \&res&, Camfcrtlrg* 
 1891 
 
IviOFFITT-UGL 
 
 Copyright, 1850, 1851, and 1858, 
 Bv NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. 
 
 Copyright, 1878, 1879, and 1881, 
 BY ROSE HAWTHORNE LATIIROP 
 
 Copyright, 1883, 
 Br IIOUGHTON, MIFFL1N & CO. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 The Riverside. Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A, 
 Electrotyped and Printed by II. 0. lloughton & Company. 
 
A/ 
 
 It? 3 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 A WONDER-BOOK FOR GIRLS AND BOYS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE 9 
 
 PREFACE 13 
 
 THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 TANGLEWOOD PORCH. Introductory to "The Gorgon s 
 
 Head" 15 
 
 THE GORGON S HEAD 21 
 
 TANGLEWOOD PORCH. After the Story .... 49 
 
 THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 
 
 SHADOW BROOK. Introductory to " The Golden Touch " . 51 
 
 THE GOLDEN TOUCH 55 
 
 SHADOW BROOK. After the Story 75 
 
 THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM. Introductory to " The Paradise 
 
 of Children" 78 
 
 THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN 82 
 
 TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM. After the Story . . .102 
 
 THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 
 
 TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE. Introductory to "The Three 
 
 Golden Apples" 104 
 
 THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES 110 
 
 TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE. After the Story . . .134 
 
 THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 
 
 THE Hi LL-SIDE. Introductory to "The Miraculous Pitcher" 137 
 THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER ...... 140 
 
 THE HILL-SIDE. After the Story 163 
 
vi CONTENTS 
 
 PAOK 
 
 THE CHIMERA. 
 
 BALD- SUMMIT. Introductory to " The Chimaera " . . 16* 
 
 THE CHIMERA 168 
 
 BALD-SUMMIT. After the Story 195 
 
 TANGLEWOOD TALES. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE 201 
 
 THE WAYSIDE. Introductory 205 
 
 THE MINOTAUR 213 
 
 THE PYGMIES 247 
 
 THE DRAGON S TEETH 271 
 
 CIRCE S PALACE 306 
 
 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS 341 
 
 THE GOLDEN FLEECE 379 
 
 THE WHOLE HISTORY OF GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE 425 
 
 PREFACE 429 
 
 PART I 431 
 
 PART II 496 
 
 PART III ,565 
 
A WONDER-BOOK 
 FOR GIRLS AND BOYS. 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 THE WONDER-BOOK. 
 
 EVEN from the data to be obtained by a perusal of 
 his works, the general reader will be likely to infer 
 that Hawthorne took a vital interest in child-life ; and 
 in his published Note-Books are found many brief 
 memoranda which indicate his disposition to write for 
 children. After he married and had begun to rear 
 a family of his own, this interest of his in the ear 
 liest developments of mind and character became, nat 
 urally, much more active. He was accustomed to ob 
 serve his children very closely. There are private 
 manuscripts still extant, which present exact records 
 of what his young son and elder daughter said or 
 did, from hour to hour ; the father seating himself in 
 their play-room and patiently noting all that passed. 
 
 To this habit of watchful and sympathetic scrutiny 
 we may attribute in part the remarkable felicity, the 
 fortunate ease of adaptation to the immature under 
 standing, and the skilful appeal to fresh imaginations, 
 which characterize his stories for the young. Natural 
 tact and insight prompted, faithful study from the real 
 assisted, these productions. 
 
 While still living at Lenox, and soon after publish 
 ing " The House of the Seven Gables," he sketched as 
 follows, in a letter to Mr. James T. Fields, May 23, 
 
10 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 1851, his plan for the work which this note accom 
 panies : 
 
 " 1 mean to write, within six weeks or two months 
 next ensuing, a book of stories made up of classical 
 myths. The subjects are : The Story of Midas, with 
 his Golden Touch, Pandora s Box, The Adventure of 
 Hercules in quest of the Golden Apples, Bellerophon 
 and the Chimaera, Baucis and Philemon, Perseus and 
 Medusa ; these, I think, will be enough to make up a 
 volume. As a framework, I shall have a young col 
 lege-student telling these stories to his cousins and 
 brothers and sisters, during his vacations, sometimes 
 at the fireside, sometimes in the woods and dells. Un 
 less I greatly mistake, these old fictions will work up 
 admirably for the purpose ; and I shall aim at substi 
 tuting a tone in some degree Gothic or romantic, or 
 any such tone as may best please myself, instead of 
 the classic coldness which is as repellant as the touch 
 of marble." 
 
 With such precision as to time did he carry out this 
 scheme, that on the 15th of July he wrote the Preface 
 to the completed volume. It was unusual, however, 
 for him to work with such rapidity, or indeed to write 
 at all in the summer season ; and this exertion, com 
 ing so soon after his work upon the romance, may 
 have had something to do with increasing a languor 
 which he had already begun to feel, and inducing him 
 to remove from Lenox in the autumn. While he re 
 mained in Berkshire he had more or less literary com 
 panionship, which is alluded to in the Note-Books and 
 also in the closing chapter of the " Wonder-Book," 
 where he likewise refers thus to himself : 
 
 " fc Have we not an author for our next neighbor ? 
 asked Primrose. That silent man, who lives in the 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 11 
 
 old red house near Tanglewood Avenue, and whom we 
 sometimes meet, with two children at his side, in the 
 woods or at the lake. I think I have heard of his hav 
 ing written a poem, or a romance, or an arithmetic, or 
 a school-history, or something of that kind. 
 
 The manuscript of the " Wonder- Book " is the only 
 one of Hawthorne s completed books which, in its 
 original form, is owned by any member of his family. 
 The book was written on thin blue paper of rather 
 large size, and on both sides of the pages. Scarcely a 
 correction or an erasure occurs, from the beginning to 
 the end; and wherever an alteration was made, the 
 after-thought was evidently so swift that the author 
 did not stop to blot, for the word first written is merely 
 smeared into illegibility and another substituted for it. 
 It appears to be certain that, although Hawthorne 
 meditated long over what he intended to do and came 
 rather slowly to the point of publication, yet when the 
 actual task of writing was begun it proceeded rapidly 
 and with very little correction ; and in most cases 
 probably very little re-drafting was done. His private 
 correspondence exhibits the same easy flow of composi 
 tion, in sentences of notable finish ; offering a marked 
 contrast, for example, to the habit of the historian 
 Motley, who even in his letters expunged words on 
 every page. 
 
 The " Wonder-Book " proved to be a financial as 
 well as literary success, and was presently translated 
 
 and published in Germany. 
 
 G.P.L. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE author has long been of opinion that many of 
 the classical myths were capable of being rendered 
 into very capital reading for children. In the little 
 volume here offered to the public, he has worked up 
 half a dozen of them, with this end in view. A great 
 freedom of treatment was necessary to his plan ; but 
 it will be observed by every one who attempts to ren 
 der these legends malleable in his intellectual furnace, 
 that they are marvellously independent of all tempo 
 rary modes and circumstances. They remain essen 
 tially the same, after changes that would affect the 
 identity of almost anything else. 
 
 He does not, therefore, plead guilty to a sacrilege, 
 in having sometimes shaped anew, as his fancy dic 
 tated, the forms that have been hallowed by an antiq 
 uity of two or three thousand years. No epoch of time 
 can claim a copyright in these immortal fables. They 
 seem never to have been made ; and certainly, so long 
 as man exists, they can never perish ; but, by their in 
 destructibility itself, they are legitimate subjects for 
 every age to clothe with its own garniture of manners 
 and sentiment, and to imbue with its own morality. 
 In the present version they may have lost much of 
 their classical aspect (or, at all events, the author has 
 not been careful to preserve it), and have, perhaps, 
 assumed a Gothic or romantic guise. 
 
14 PREFACE. 
 
 In performing this pleasant task, for it has been 
 really a task fit for hot weather, and one of the most 
 agreeable, of a literary kind, which he ever undertook, 
 the author has not always thought it necessary to 
 write downward, in order to meet the comprehension 
 of children. He has generally suffered the theme to 
 soar, whenever such was its tendency, and when he 
 himself was buoyant enough to follow without an ef 
 fort. Children possess an unestimated sensibility to 
 whatever is deep or high, in imagination or feeling, so 
 long as it is simple, likewise. It is only the artificial 
 and the complex that bewilder them. 
 LENOX, July 15, 1851. 
 
THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 
 TANGLEWOOD PORCH. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY TO " THE GORGON S HEAD." 
 
 BENEATH the porch of the country-seat called Tan- 
 glewood, one fine autumnal morning, was assembled 
 a merry party of little folks, with a tall youth in the 
 midst of them. They had planned a nutting expedi 
 tion, and were impatiently waiting for the mists to roll 
 up the hill-slopes, and for the sun to pour the warmth 
 of the Indian summer over the fields and pastures, and 
 into the nooks of the many-colored woods. There was 
 a prospect of as fine a day as ever gladdened the as 
 pect of this beautiful and comfortable world. As yet, 
 however, the morning mist filled up the whole length 
 and breadth of the valley, above which, on a gently 
 sloping eminence, the mansion stood. 
 
 This body of white vapor extended to within less 
 than a hundred yards of the house. It completely hid 
 everything beyond that distance, except a few ruddy 
 or yellow tree-tops, which here and there emerged, and 
 were glorified by the early sunshine, as was likewise 
 the broad surface of the mist. Four or five miles off 
 to the southward rose the summit of Monument Moun 
 tain, and seemed to be floating on a cloud. Some fif- 
 
16 TANGLEWOOD PORCH. 
 
 teen miles farther away, in the same direction, ap 
 peared the loftier Dome of Taconic, looking blue and 
 indistinct, and hardly so substantial as the vapory sea 
 that almost rolled over it. The nearer hills, which 
 bordered the valley, were half submerged, and were 
 specked with little cloud-wreaths all the way to their 
 tops. On the whole, there was so much cloud, and so 
 little solid earth, that it had the effect of a vision. 
 
 The children above-mentioned, being as full of life 
 as they could hold, kept overflowing from the porch of 
 Tanglewood, and scampering along the gravel- walk, or 
 rushing across the dewy herbage of the lawn. I can 
 hardly tell how many of these small people there were ; 
 not less then nine or ten, however, nor more than a 
 dozen, of all sorts, sizes, and ages, whether girls or 
 boys. They were brothers, sisters, and cousins, to 
 gether with a few of their young acquaintances, who 
 had been invited by Mr. and Mrs. Pringle to spend 
 some of this delightful weather with their own chil 
 dren, at Tanglewood. I am afraid to tell you their 
 names, or even to give them any names which other 
 children have ever been called by ; because, to my cer 
 tain knowledge, authors sometimes get themselves into 
 great trouble by accidentally giving the names of real 
 persons to the characters in their books. For this rea 
 son, I mean to call them Primrose, Periwinkle, Sweet 
 Fern, Dandelion, Blue Eye, Clover, Huckleberry, Cow 
 slip, Squash-Blossom, Milkweed, Plantain, and Butter 
 cup ; although, to be sure, such titles might better 
 suit a group of fairies than a company of earthly chil 
 dren. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that these little folks were 
 to be permitted by their careful fathers and mothers, 
 uncles, aunts, or grandparents, to stray abroad into 
 
TANGLEWOOD PORCH. 17 
 
 the woods and fields, without the guardianship of some 
 particularly grave and elderly person. Oh no, indeed! 
 In the first sentence of my book, you will recollect that 
 I spoke of a tall youth, standing in the midst of the 
 children. His name (and I shall let you know his 
 real name, because he considers it a great honor to 
 have told the stories that are here to be printed) 
 his name was Eustace Bright. He was a student at 
 Williams College, and had reached, I think, at this 
 period, the venerable age of eighteen years ; so that 
 he felt quite like a grandfather towards Periwinkle, 
 Dandelion, Huckleberry, Squash-Blossom, Milkweed, 
 and the rest, who were only half or a third as vener 
 able as he. A trouble in his eyesight (such as many 
 students think it necessary to have, nowadays, in order 
 to prove their diligence at the*ir books) had kept him 
 from college a week or two after the beginning of the 
 term. But, for my part, I have seldom met with a 
 pair of eyes that looked as if they could see farther or 
 better than those of Eustace Bright. 
 
 This learned student was slender, and rather pale, 
 as all Yankee students are ; but yet of a healthy as 
 pect, and as light and active as if he had wings to his 
 shoes. By the by, being much addicted to wading 
 through streamlets and across meadows, he had put on 
 cowhide boots for the expedition. He wore a linen 
 blouse, a cloth cap, and a pair of green spectacles, 
 which he had assumed, probably, less for the preserva 
 tion of his eyes than for the dignity that they imparted 
 to his countenance. In either case, however, he might 
 as well have let them alone ; for Huckleberry, a mis 
 chievous little elf, crept behind Eustace as he sat on 
 the steps of the porch, snatched the spectacles from his 
 nose, and clapped them on her own ; and as the stu- 
 
 VOL. IV. 2 
 
13 TANGLEWOOD PORCH. 
 
 dent forgot to take them back, they fell off into the 
 grass, and lay there till the next spring. 
 
 Now, Eustace Bright, you must know, had won great 
 fame among the children, as a narrator of wonderful 
 stories ; and though he sometimes pretended to be an 
 noyed, when they teased him for more, and more, and 
 always for more, yet I really doubt whether he liked 
 anything quite so well as to tell them. You might 
 have seen his eyes twinkle, therefore, when Clover, 
 Sweet Fern, Cowslip, Buttercup, and most of their 
 playmates, besought him to relate one of his stories, 
 while they were waiting for the mist to clear up. 
 
 " Yes, Cousin Eustace," said Primrose, who was a 
 bright girl of twelve, with laughing eyes, and a nose 
 that turned up a little, " the morning is certainly the 
 best time for the stories with which you so often tire 
 out our patience. We shall be in less danger of hurt 
 ing your feelings, by falling asleep at the most in 
 teresting points, as little Cowslip and I did last 
 night ! " 
 
 " Naughty Primrose," cried Cowslip, a child of six 
 years old ; " I did not fall asleep, and I only shut my 
 eyes, so as to see a picture of what Cousin Eustace was 
 telling about. His stories are good to hear at night, 
 because we can dream about them asleep ; and good in 
 the morning, too, because then we can dream about 
 them awake. So I hope he will tell us one this very 
 minute." 
 
 " Thank you, my little Cowslip," said Eustace ; 
 <w certainly you shall have the best story I can think 
 of, if it were only for defending me so well from that 
 naughty Primrose. But, children, I have already told 
 you so many fairy tales, that I doubt whether there is 
 a single one which you have not heard at least twice 
 
TANGLEWOOD PORCH. 19 
 
 over. I am afraid you will fall asleep in reality, if \ 
 repeat any of them again." 
 
 " No, no, no ! " cried Blue Eye, Periwinkle, Plan 
 tain, and half a dozen others. " We like a story all 
 the better for having heard it two or three times be 
 fore." 
 
 And it is a truth, as regards children, that a story 
 seems often to deepen its mark in their interest, not 
 merely by two or three, but by numberless repetitions. 
 But Eustace Bright, in the exuberance of his re 
 sources, scorned to avail himself of an advantage 
 which an older story-teller would have been glad to 
 grasp at. 
 
 " It would be a great pity," said he, " if a man of 
 my learning (to say nothing of original fancy) could 
 not find a new story every day, year in and year out, 
 for children such as you. I will tell you one of the 
 nursery tales that were made for the amusement of 
 our great old grandmother, the Earth, when she was a 
 child in frock and pinafore. There are a hundred 
 such ; and it is a wonder to me that they have not 
 long ago been put into picture-books for little girls 
 and boys. But, instead of that, old gray -bearded 
 grandsires pore over them in musty volumes of Greek, 
 and puzzle themselves with trying to find out when, 
 and how, and for what they were made." 
 
 44 Well, well, well, well, Cousin Eustace ! " cried all 
 the children at once ; " talk no more about your sto 
 ries, but begin." 
 
 44 Sit down, then, every soul of you," said Eustace 
 Bright, 44 and be all as still as so many mice. At the 
 slightest interruption, whether from great, naughty 
 Primrose, little Dandelion, or any other, I shall bite 
 the story short off between my teeth, and swallow the 
 
20 TANGLEWOOD PORCH. 
 
 untold part. But, in the first place, do any of you 
 know what a Gorgon is ? " 
 
 " I do," said Primrose. 
 
 " Then hold your tongue ! " rejoined Eustace, who 
 had rather she would have known nothing about the 
 matter. " Hold all your tongues, and I shall tell you 
 a sweet pretty story of a Gorgon s head." 
 
 And so he did, as you may begin to read on the 
 next page. Working up his sophomorical erudition 
 with a good deal of tact, and incurring great obliga 
 tions to Professor Anthon, he, nevertheless, disre 
 garded all classical authorities, whenever the vagrant 
 audacity of his imagination impelled him to do so. 
 
THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 
 PERSEUS was the son of Danae, who was the 
 daughter of a king. And when Perseus was a very 
 little boy, some wicked people put his mother and 
 himself into a chest, and set them afloat upon the sea. 
 The wind blew freshly, and drove the chest away from 
 the shore, and the uneasy billows, tossed it up and 
 down ; while Danae clasped her child closely to her 
 bosom, and dreaded that some big wave would dash 
 its foamy crest over them both. The chest sailed on, 
 however, and neither sank nor was upset ; until, when 
 night was coming, it floated so near an island that it 
 got entangled in a fisherman s nets, and was drawn 
 out high and dry upon the sand. The island was 
 called Seriphus, and it was reigned over by King 
 Polydectes, who happened to be the fisherman s 
 brother. 
 
 This fisherman, I am glad to tell you, was an ex 
 ceedingly humane and upright man. He showed great 
 kindness to Danae and her little boy ; and continued 
 to befriend them, until Perseus had grown to be a 
 handsome youth, very strong and active, and skilful 
 in the use of arms. Long before this time, King 
 Polydectes had seen the two strangers the mother 
 and her child who had come to his dominions in a 
 floating chest. As he was not good and kind, like his 
 brother the fisherman, but extremely wicked, he re 
 solved to send Perseus on a dangerous enterprise, in 
 which he would probably be killed, and then to do 
 
22 THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 
 some great mischief to Danae herself. So this bad- 
 hearted king spent a long while in considering what 
 was the most dangerous thing that a young man could 
 possibly undertake to perform. At last, having hit 
 upon an enterprise that promised to turn out as fa 
 tally as he desired, he sent for the youthful Perseus. 
 
 The young man came to the palace, and found the 
 king sitting upon his throne. 
 
 " Perseus," said King Polydectes, smiling craftily 
 upon him, " you are grown up a fine young man. You 
 and your good mother have received a great deal of 
 kindness from myself, as well as from my worthy 
 brother the fisherman, and I suppose you would not 
 be sorry to repay some of it." 
 
 " Please your Majesty," answered Perseus, " I 
 would willingly risk my life to do so." 
 
 " Well, then," continued the king, still with a cun 
 ning smile on his lips, " I have a little adventure to 
 propose to you ; and, as you are a brave and enterpris 
 ing youth, you will doubtless look upon it as a great 
 piece of good luck to have so rare an opportunity of 
 distinguishing yourself. You must know, my good 
 Perseus, I think of getting married to the beautiful 
 Princess Hippodamia ; and it is customary, on these 
 occasions, to make the bride a present of some far 
 fetched and elegant curiosity. I have been a little 
 perplexed, I must honestly confess, where to obtain 
 anything likely to please a princess of her exquisite 
 taste. But, this morning, I flatter myself, I have 
 thought of precisely the article." 
 
 " And can I assist your Majesty in obtaining it ? " 
 cried Perseus, eagerly. 
 
 " You can, if you are as brave a youth as I believe 
 you to be," replied King Polydectes, with the utmost 
 
THE GORGON S HEAD. 23 
 
 graciousness of manner. " The bridal gift which I 
 have set my heart on presenting to the beautiful Hip- 
 poclamia is the head of the Gorgon Medusa with the 
 snaky locks ; and I depend on you, my dear Perseus, 
 to bring it to me. So, as I am anxious to settle affairs 
 with the princess, the sooner you go in quest of the 
 Gorgon, the better I shall be pleased." 
 
 u I will set out to-morrow morning," answered 
 Perseus. 
 
 " Pray do so, my gallant youth," rejoined the king* 
 " And, Perseus, in cutting off the Gorgon s head, be 
 careful to make a clean stroke, so as not to injure its 
 appearance. You must bring it home in the very best 
 condition, in order to suit the exquisite taste of the 
 beautiful Princess Hippodamia." 
 
 Perseus left the palace, but was scarcely out of 
 hearing before Polydectes burst into a laugh ; being 
 greatly amused, wicked king that he was, to find how 
 readily the young man fell into the snare. The news 
 quickly spread abroad that Perseus had undertaken to 
 cut off the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. 
 Everybody was rejoiced ; for most of the inhabitants 
 of the island were as wicked as the king himself, and 
 would have liked nothing better than to see some 
 enormous mischief happen to Danae and her son. 
 The only good man in this unfortunate island of Seri- 
 phus appears to have been the fisherman. As Perseus 
 walked along, therefore, the people pointed after him, 
 and made mouths, and winked to one another, and 
 ridiculed him as loudly as they dared. 
 
 " Ho, ho ! " cried they ; " Medusa s snakes will sting 
 him soundly ! " 
 
 Now, there were three Gorgons alive at that period; 
 and they were the most strange and terrible monsters 
 
24 THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 
 that had ever been since the world was made, or that 
 have been seen in after days, or that are likely to be 
 seen in all time to come. I hardly know what sort of 
 creature or hobgoblin to call them. They were three 
 sisters, and seem to have borne some distant resem 
 blance to women, but were really a very frightful and 
 mischievous species of dragon. It is, indeed, difficult 
 to imagine what hideous beings these three sisters 
 were. Why, instead of locks of hair, if you can be 
 lieve me, they had each of them a hundred enormous 
 snakes growing on their heads, all alive, twisting, 
 wriggling, curling, and thrusting out their venomous 
 tongues, with forked stings at the end ! The teeth 
 of the Gorgons were terribly long tusks ; their hands 
 were made of brass ; and their bodies were all over 
 scales, which, if not iron, were something as hard and 
 impenetrable. They had wings, too, and exceedingly 
 splendid ones, I can assure you ; for every feather in 
 them was pure, bright, glittering, burnished gold, and 
 they looked very dazzlingly, no doubt, when the Gor- 
 gons were flying about in the sunshine. 
 
 But when people happened to catch a glimpse of 
 their glittering brightness, aloft in the air, they sel 
 dom stopped to gaze, but ran and hid themselves as 
 speedily as they could. You will think, perhaps, that 
 they were afraid of being stung by the serpents that 
 served the Gorgons instead of hair, or of having 
 their heads bitten off by their ugly tusks, or of be 
 ing torn all to pieces by their brazen claws. Well, to 
 be sure, these were some of the dangers, but by no 
 means the greatest, nor the most difficult to avoid. 
 For the worst thing about these abominable Gorgons 
 was, that, if once a poor mortal fixed his eyes full 
 upon one of their faces, he was certain, that very in- 
 
THE GORGON S HEAD. 25 
 
 stant to be changed from warm flesh and blood into 
 cold and lifeless stone ! 
 
 Thus, as you will easily perceive, it was a very dan 
 gerous adventure that the wicked King Polydectes had 
 contrived for this innocent young man. Perseus him 
 self, when he had thought over the matter, could not 
 help seeing that he had very little chance of coming 
 safely through it, and that he was far more likely to 
 become a stone image than to bring back the head of 
 Medusa with the snaky locks. For, not to speak of 
 other difficulties, there was one which it would have 
 puzzled an older man than Perseus to get over. Not 
 only must he fight with and slay this golden-winged, 
 iron-scaled, long-tusked, brazen-clawed, snaky-haired 
 monster, but he must do it with his eyes shut, or, at 
 least, without so much as a glance at the enemy with 
 whom he was contending. Else, while his arm was 
 lifted to strike, he would stiffen into stone, and stand 
 with that uplifted arm for centuries, until time, and 
 the wind and weather, should crumble him quite away. 
 This would be a very sad thing to befall a young man 
 who wanted to perform a great many brave deeds, and 
 to enjoy a great deal of happiness, in this bright and 
 beautiful world. 
 
 So disconsolate did these thoughts make him, that 
 Perseus could not bear to tell his mother what he had 
 undertaken to do. He therefore took his shield, girded 
 in his sword, and crossed over from the island to the 
 mainland, where he sat down in a solitary place, and 
 hardly refrained from shedding tears. 
 
 But, while he was in this sorrowful mood, he heard 
 a voice close beside him. 
 
 " Perseus," said the voice, " why are you sad ? " 
 
 He lifted his head from his hands, in which he had 
 
26 THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 
 hidden it, and, behold ! all alone as Perseus had sup 
 posed himself to be, there was a stranger in the soli 
 tary place, It was a brisk, intelligent, and remarka 
 bly shrewd-looking young man, with a cloak over his 
 shoulders, an odd sort of cap on his head, a strangely 
 twisted staff in his hand, and a short and very crooked 
 sword hanging by his side. He was exceedingly light 
 and active in his figure, like a person much accustomed 
 to gymnastic exercises, and well able to leap or run. 
 Above all, the stranger had such a cheerful, knowing, 
 and helpful aspect (though it was certainly a little 
 mischievous, into the bargain), that Perseus could not 
 help feeling his spirits grow livelier as he gazed at 
 him. Besides, being really a courageous youth, he felt 
 greatly ashamed that anybody should have found him 
 with tears in his eyes, like a timid little school -boy, 
 when, after all, there might be no occasion for despair. 
 So Perseus wiped his eyes, and answered the stranger 
 pretty briskly, putting on as brave a look as he could. 
 
 " I am not so very sad," said he, " only thoughtful 
 about an adventure that I have undertaken." 
 
 " Oho ! " answered the stranger. " Well, tell rne 
 all about it, and possibly I may be of service to you. 
 I have helped a good many young men through adven 
 tures that looked difficult enough beforehand. Per 
 haps you may have heard of me. I have more names 
 than one ; but the name of Quicksilver suits me a; 
 well as any other. Tell me what the trouble is, and wu 
 will talk the matter over, and see what can be done." 
 
 The stranger s words and manner put Perseus into 
 quite a different mood from his former one. He re 
 solved to tell Quicksilver all his difficulties, since he 
 could not easily be worse off than he already was, and, 
 very possibly, his new friend might give him some ad- 
 
THE GORGON S HEAD. 27 
 
 vice that would turn out well in the end. So he 
 let the stranger know, in few words, precisely what 
 the case was, how that King Polydectes wanted the 
 head of Medusa with the snaky locks as a bridal gift 
 for the beautiful Princess Hippodamia, and how that 
 he had undertaken to get it for him, but was afraid of 
 being turned into stone. 
 
 "And that would be a great pity," said Quicksilver, 
 with his mischievous smile. " You would make a very 
 handsome marble statue, it is true, and it would be a 
 considerable number of centuries before you crumbled 
 away ; but, 011 the whole, one would rather be a young 
 man for a few years, than a stone image for a great 
 many." 
 
 "Oh, far rather! " exclaimed Perseus, with the tears 
 again standing in his eyes. " And, besides, what 
 would my dear mother do, if her beloved son were 
 turned into a stone ? " 
 
 " Well, well, let us hope that the affair will not turn 
 out so very badly," replied Quicksilver, in an encour 
 aging tone. " I am the very person to help you, if 
 anybody can. My sister and myself will do our ut 
 most to bring you safe through the adventure, ugly as 
 it now looks." 
 
 " Your sister ? " repeated Perseus. 
 
 " Yes, my sister," said the stranger. " She is very 
 wise, I promise you ; and as for myself, I generally 
 have all my wits about me, such as they are. If you 
 show yourself bold and cautious, and follow our advice, 
 you need not fear being a stone image yet awhile. 
 But, first of all, you must polish your shield, till you 
 can see your face in it as distinctly as in a mirror." 
 
 This seemed to Perseus rather an odd beginning of 
 the adventure ; for he thought it of far more conse- 
 
28 THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 
 quence that the shield should be strong enough to de 
 fend him from the Gorgon s brazen claws, than that 
 it should be bright enough to show him the reflection 
 of his face. However, concluding that Quicksilver 
 knew better than himself, he immediately set to work, 
 and scrubbed the shield with so much diligence and 
 good-will, that it very quickly shone like the moon at 
 harvest-time. Quicksilver looked at it with a smile, 
 and nodded his approbation. Then, taking off his 
 own short and crooked sword, he girded it about Per 
 seus, instead of the one which he had before worn. 
 
 " No sword but mine will answer your purpose," ob 
 served he ; " the blade has a most excellent temper, 
 and will cut through iron and brass as easily as through 
 the slenderest twig. And now we will set out. The 
 next thing is to find the Three Gray Women, who will 
 tell us where to find the Nymphs." 
 
 " The Three Gray Women ! " cried Perseus, to 
 whom this seemed only a new difficulty in the path of 
 his adventure ; " pray who may the Three Gray Wo 
 men be? I never heard of them before." 
 
 " They are three very strange old ladies," said 
 Quicksilver, laughing. " They have but one eye 
 among them, and only one tooth. Moreover, you 
 must find them out by starlight, or in the dusk of the 
 evening ; for they never show themselves by the light 
 either of the sun or moon." 
 
 " But," said Perseus, " why should I waste my time 
 with these Three Gray Women ? Would it not be 
 better to set out at once in search of the terrible Gor- 
 gons?" 
 
 " No, no," answered his friend. " There are other 
 things to be done, before you can find your way to 
 the Gorgons. There is nothing for it but to hunt up 
 
THE GORGON S HEAD. 29 
 
 ihese old ladies ; and when we meet with them, you 
 oiay be sure that the Gorgons are not a great way off. 
 Come, let us be stirring ! " 
 
 Perseus, by this time, felt so much confidence in his 
 companion s sagacity, that he made no more objections, 
 and professed himself ready to begin the adventure im 
 mediately. They accordingly set out, and walked at a 
 pretty brisk pace ; so brisk, indeed, that Perseus found 
 it rather difficult to keep up with his nimble friend 
 Quicksilver. To say the truth, he had a singular idea 
 that Quicksilver was furnished with a pair of winged 
 ohoes, which, of course, helped him along marvel 
 lously. And then, too, when Perseus looked sideways 
 at him, out of the corner of his eye, he seemed to see 
 wings on the side of his head ; although, if he turned 
 a full gaze, there were no such things to be perceived, 
 but only an odd kind of cap. But, at all events, the 
 Twisted staff was evidently a great convenience to 
 Quicksilver, and enabled him to proceed so fast, that 
 Perseus, though a remarkably active young man, be 
 gan to be out of breath. 
 
 " Here ! " cried Quicksilver, at last, for he knew 
 well enough, rogue that he was, how hard Perseus 
 found it to keep pace with him, " take you the staff, 
 for you need it a great deal more than I. Are there 
 no better walkers than yourself in the island of Seri- 
 phus ? " 
 
 " I could walk pretty well," said Perseus, glancing 
 slyly at his companion s feet, " if I had only a pair of 
 winged shoes." 
 
 " We must see about getting you a pair," answered 
 Quicksilver. 
 
 But the staff helped Perseus along so bravely, that 
 he no longer felt the slightest weariness. In fact, the 
 
80 THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 
 stick seemed to be alive in his hand, and to lend some 
 of its life to Perseus. He and Quicksilver now walked 
 onward at their ease, talking very sociably together ; 
 and Quicksilver told so many pleasant stories about 
 his former adventures, and how well his wits had served 
 him on various occasions, that Perseus began to think 
 him a very wonderful person. He evidently knew the 
 world ; and nobody is so charming to a young man as 
 a friend who has that kind of knowledge. Perseus 
 listened the more eagerly, in the hope of brightening 
 his own wits by what he heard. 
 
 At last, he happened to recollect that Quicksilver 
 had spoken of a sister, who was to lend her assistance 
 in the adventure which they were now bound upon. 
 
 " Where is she ? " he inquired. " Shall we not 
 meet her soon ? " 
 
 "All at the proper time," said his companion. 
 "But this sister of mine, you must understand, is 
 quite a different sort of character from myself. She 
 is very grave and prudent, seldom smiles, never 
 laughs, and makes it a rule not to utter a word un 
 less she has something particularly profound to say. 
 Neither will she listen to any but the wisest conversa 
 tion." 
 
 " Dear me ! " ejaculated Perseus ; "I shall be afraid 
 to say a syllable." 
 
 " She is a very accomplished person, I assure you," 
 continued Quicksilver, " and has all the arts and 
 sciences at her fingers ends. In short, she is so im 
 moderately wise, that many people call her wisdom 
 personified. But, to tell you the truth, she has hardly 
 vivacity enough for my taste ; and I think you would 
 scarcely find her so pleasant a travelling companion 
 as myself. She has her good points, nevertheless; 
 
THE GORGON S HEAD. 31 
 
 and you will find the benefit of them, in your en 
 counter with the Gorgons." 
 
 By this time it had grown quite dusk. They were 
 now come to a very wild and desert place, overgrown 
 with shaggy bushes, and so silent and solitary that 
 nobody seemed ever to have dwelt or journeyed there. 
 All was waste and desolate, in the gray twilight, 
 which grew every moment more obscure. Perseus 
 looked about him, rather disconsolately, and asked 
 Quicksilver whether they had a great deal farther 
 to go. 
 
 " Hist ! hist ! " whispered his companion. " Make 
 no noise! This is just the time and place to meet the 
 Three Gray Women. Be careful that they do not see 
 you before you see them ; for, though they have but a 
 single eye among the three, it is as sharp-sighted as 
 half a dozen common eyes." 
 
 " But what must I do," asked Perseus, " when we 
 meet them?" 
 
 Quicksilver explained to Perseus how the Three 
 Gray Women managed with their one eye. They 
 were in the habit, it seems, of changing it from one to 
 another, as if it had been a pair of spectacles, or 
 which would have suited them better a quizzing- 
 glass. When one of the three had kept the eye a 
 certain time, she took it out of the socket and passed 
 it to one of her sisters, whose turn it might happen to 
 be, and who immediately clapped it into her own 
 head, and enjoyed a peep at the visible world. Thus 
 it will easily be understood that only one of the Three 
 Gray Women could see, while the other two were in 
 utter darkness ; and, moreover, at the instant when 
 the eye was passing from hand to hand, neither of the 
 poor old ladies was able to see a wink. I have heard 
 
32 THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 
 of a great many strange things, in my day, and have 
 witnessed not a few ; but none, it seems to rne, that 
 can compare with the oddity of these Three Gray 
 Women, all peeping through a single eye. 
 
 So thought Perseus, likewise, and was so astonished 
 that he almost fancied his companion was joking with 
 him, and that there were no such old women in the 
 world. 
 
 " You will soon find whether I tell the truth or no," 
 observed Quicksilver. " Hark ! hush ! hist ! hist ! 
 There they come, now ! " 
 
 Perseus looked earnestly through the dusk of the 
 evening, and there, sure enough, at no great distance 
 off, he descried the Three Gray Women. The light 
 being so faint, he could not well make out what sort 
 of figures they were ; only he discovered that they 
 had long gray hair ; and, as they came nearer, he saw 
 that two of them had but the empty socket of an eye, 
 in the middle of their foreheads. But, in the middle 
 of the third sister s forehead, there was a very large, 
 bright, and piercing eye, which sparkled like a great 
 diamond in a ring ; and so penetrating did it seem to 
 be, that Perseus could not help thinking it must pos 
 sess the gift of seeing in the darkest midnight just as 
 perfectly as at noonday. The sight of three persons 
 eyes was melted and collected into that single one. 
 
 Thus the three old dames got along about as com 
 fortably, upon the whole, as if they could all see at 
 once. She who chanced to have the eye in her fore 
 head led the other two by the hands, peeping sharply 
 about her, all the while ; insomuch that Perseus 
 dreaded lest she should see right through the thick 
 clump of bushes behind which he and Quicksilver had 
 hidden themselves. My stars ! it was positively terri 
 ble to be within reach of so very sharp an eye ! 
 
THE GORGON S HEAD. 33 
 
 But, before they reached the clump of bushes, one 
 of the Three Gray Women spoke. 
 
 " Sister ! Sister Scarecrow ! " cried she, " you have 
 had the eye long enough. It is my turn now ! " 
 
 " Let me keep it a moment longer, Sister Night 
 mare," answered Scarecrow. "I thought I had a 
 glimpse of something behind that thick bush." 
 
 " Well, and what of that ? " retorted Nightmare, 
 peevishly. " Can t I see into a thick bush as easily a* 
 yourself ? The eye is mine as well as yours ; and I 
 know the use of it as well as you, or may be a little 
 better. I insist upon taking a peep immediately ! " 
 
 But here the third sister, whose name was Shake- 
 joint, began to complain, and said that it was her turn 
 to have the eye, and that Scarecrow and Nightmare 
 wanted to keep it all to themselves. To end the dis 
 pute, old Dame Scarecrow took the eye out of her 
 forehead, and held it forth in her hand. 
 
 "Take it, one of you," cried she, "and quit this 
 foolish quarrelling. For my part, I shall be glad of a 
 little thick darkness. Take it quickly, however, or I 
 must clap it into my own head again ! " 
 
 Accordingly, both Nightmare and Shake joint put 
 out their hands, groping eagerly to snatch the eye out 
 of the hand of Scarecrow. But, being both alike blind, 
 they could not easily find where Scarecrow s hand 
 was ; and Scarecrow, being now just as much in the 
 dark as Shake joint and Nightmare, could not at once 
 meet either of their hands, in order to put the eye 
 into it. Thus (as you will see, with half an eye, my 
 wise little auditors), these good old dames had fallen 
 into a strange perplexity. For, though the eye shone 
 and glistened like a star, as Scarecrow held it out, yet 
 the Gray Women caught not the least glimpse of its 
 
 VOL. IV. 3 
 
34 THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 
 light, and were all three in utter darkness, from too 
 impatient a desire to see. 
 
 Quicksilver was so much tickled at beholding Shake- 
 joint and Nightmare both groping for the eye, and 
 each finding fault with Scarecrow and one another, 
 that he could scarcely help laughing aloud. 
 
 u Now is your time ! " he whispered to Perseus 
 " Quick, quick ! before they can clap the eye into 
 either of their heads. Rush out upon the old ladies, 
 and snatch it from Scarecrow s hand ! " 
 
 In an instant, while the Three Gray Women were 
 still scolding each other, Perseus leaped from behind 
 the clump of bushes, and made himself master of the 
 prize. The marvellous eye, as he held it in his hand, 
 shone very brightly, and seemed to look up into his 
 face with a knowing air, and an expression as if it 
 would have winked, had it been provided with a pair 
 of eyelids for that purpose. But the Gray Women 
 knew nothing of what had happened ; and, each sup 
 posing that one of her sisters was in possession of the 
 eye, they began their quarrel anew. At last, as Per 
 seus did not wish to put these respectable dames to 
 greater inconvenience than was really necessary, he 
 thought it right to explain the matter. 
 
 " My good ladies," said he, " pray do not be angry 
 with one another. If anybody is in fault, it is myself ; 
 for I have the honor to hold your very brilliant and 
 excellent eye in my own hand ! " 
 
 "You! you have our eye! And who are you?" 
 screamed the Three Gray Women, all in a breath ; for 
 they were terribly frightened, of course, at hearing a 
 strange voice, and discovering that their eyesight had 
 got into the hands of they could not guess whom. 
 " Oh, what shall we do, sisters ? what shall we do ? We 
 
THE GORGON S HEAD. 35 
 
 are all in the dark ! Give us our eye ! Give us our 
 one, precious, solitary eye ! You have two of your 
 own ! Give us our eye ! " 
 
 " Tell them," whispered Quicksilver to Perseus, 
 " that they shall have back the eye as soon as they 
 direct you where to find the Nymphs who have the 
 flying slippers, the magic wallet, and the helmet of 
 darkness." 
 
 " My dear, good, admirable old ladies," said Per 
 seus, addressing the Gray Women, " there is no occa 
 sion for putting yourselves into such a fright. I am 
 by no means a bad young man. You shall have back 
 your eye, safe and sound, and as bright as ever, the 
 moment you tell me where to find the Nymphs." 
 
 " The Nymphs ! Goodness me ! sisters, what Nymphs 
 does he mean ? " screamed Scarecrow. " There are a 
 great many Nymphs, people say ; some that go a hunt 
 ing in the woods, and some that live inside of trees, 
 and some that have a comfortable home in fountains 
 of water. We know nothing at all about them. We 
 are three unfortunate old souls, that go wandering 
 about in the dusk, and never had but one eye amongst 
 us, and that one you have stolen away. Oh, give it 
 back, good stranger ! whoever you are, give it back ! " 
 
 All this while the Three Gray Women were grop 
 ing with their outstretched hands, and trying their 
 utmost to get hold of Perseus. But he took good care 
 to keep out of their reach. 
 
 " My respectable dames," said he, for his mother 
 had taught him always to use the greatest civility, 
 * 4 1 hold your eye fast in my hand, and shall keep it 
 safely for you, until you please to tell me where to 
 find these Nymphs. The Nymphs, I mean, who keep 
 the enchanted wallet, the flying slippers, and the what 
 is it? the helmet of invisibility." 
 
36 THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 
 " Mercy on us, sisters ! what is the young man talk 
 ing about ? " exclaimed Scarecrow, Nightmare, and 
 Shake joint, one to another, with great appearance of 
 astonishment. " A pair of flying slippers, quoth he ! 
 His heels would quickly fly higher than his head, if 
 he were silly enough to put them on. And a helmet 
 of invisibility ! How could a helmet make him in 
 visible, unless it were big enough for him to hide un 
 der it ? And an enchanted wallet ! What sort of a 
 contrivance may that be, I wonder? No, no, good 
 stranger ! we can tell you nothing of these marvellous 
 things. You have two eyes of your own, and we 
 have but a single one amongst us three. You can 
 find out such wonders better than three blind old crea 
 tures, like us." 
 
 Per sens,- hearing them talk in this way, began really 
 to think that the Gray Women knew nothing of the 
 matter ; and, as it grieved him to have put them to so 
 much trouble, he was just on the point of restoring 
 their eye and asking pardon for his rudeness in snatch 
 ing it away. But Quicksilver caught his hand. 
 
 " Don t let them make a fool of you ! " said he. 
 " These Three Gray Women are the only persons in 
 the world that can tell you where to find the Nymphs ; 
 and, unless you get that information, you will never 
 succeed in cutting off the head of Medusa with the 
 snaky locks. Keep fast hold of the eye, and all will 
 go well." 
 
 As it turned out, Quicksilver was in the right. 
 There are but few things that people prize so much as 
 they do their eyesight ; and the Gray Women valued 
 their single eye as highly as if it had been half a 
 dozen, which was the number they ought to have had. 
 Finding that there was no other way of recovering it, 
 
THE GORGON S HEAD. 37 
 
 they at last toid Perseus what he wanted to know. No 
 sooner had they done so, than he immediately, and 
 with the utmost respect, clapped the eye into the va 
 cant socket in one of their foreheads, thanked them 
 for their kindness, and bade them farewell. Before 
 the young man was out of hearing, however, they had 
 got into a new dispute, because he happened to have 
 given the eye to Scarecrow, who had already taken her 
 turn of it when their trouble with Perseus commenced. 
 
 It is greatly to be feared that the Three Gray 
 Women were very much in the habit of disturbing 
 their mutual harmony by bickerings of this sort; 
 which was the more pity, as they could not conven 
 iently do without one another, and were evidently in 
 tended to be inseparable companions. As a general 
 rule, I would advise all people, whether sisters or 
 brothers, old or young, who chance to have but one 
 eye amongst them, to cultivate forbearance, and not 
 all insist upon peeping through it at once. 
 
 Quicksilver and Perseus, in the mean time, were 
 making the best of their way in quest of the Nymphs. 
 The old darnes had given them such particular direc 
 tions, that they were not long in finding them out. 
 They proved to be very different persons from Night 
 mare, Shakejoint, and Scarecrow ; for, instead of be 
 ing old, they were young and beautiful ; and instead 
 of one eye amongst the sisterhood, each Nymph had 
 two exceedingly bright eyes of her own, with which 
 she looked very kindly at Perseus. They seemed to 
 be acquainted with Quicksilver ; and, when he told 
 them the adventure which Perseus had undertaken, 
 they made no difficulty about giving him the valuable 
 articles that were in their custody. In the first place, 
 they brought out what appeared to be a small purse, 
 
38 THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 
 made of deer skin, and curiously embroidered, and bade 
 him be sure and keep it safe. This was the magic 
 wallet. The Nymphs next produced a pair of shoes, 
 or slippers, or sandals, with a nice little pair of wings 
 at the heel of each. 
 
 " Put them on, Perseus," said Quicksilver. u You 
 will find yourself as light-heeled as you can desire for 
 the remainder of our journey." 
 
 So Perseus proceeded to put one of the slippers 
 on, while he laid the other on the ground by his side. 
 Unexpectedly, however, this other slipper spread its 
 wings, fluttered up off the ground, and would proba 
 bly have flown away, if Quicksilver had not made a 
 leap, and luckily caught it in the air. 
 
 " Be more careful," said he, as he gave it back to 
 Perseus. "It would frighten the birds, up aloft, if 
 they should see a flying slipper amongst them." 
 
 When Perseus had got on both of these wonderful 
 slippers, he was altogether too buoyant to tread on 
 earth. Making a step or two, lo and behold ! upward 
 he popped into the air, high above the heads of Quick 
 silver and the Nymphs, and found it very difficult to 
 clamber down again. Winged slippers, and all such 
 high-flying contrivances, are seldom quite easy to 
 manage until one grows a little accustomed to them. 
 Quicksilver laughed at his companion s involuntary 
 activity, and told him that he must not be in so des 
 perate a hurry, but must wait for the invisible helmet. 
 
 The good-natured Nymphs had the helmet, with its 
 dark tuft of waving plumes, all in readiness to put 
 upon his head. And now there happened about as 
 wonderful an incident as anything that I have yet 
 told you. The instant before the helmet was put on, 
 there stood Perseus, a beautiful young man, with 
 
THE GORGON S HEAD. 39 
 
 golden ringlets and rosy cheeks, the crooked sword by 
 his side, and the brightly polished shield upon his 
 arm, a figure that seemed all made up of courage, 
 sprightliness, and glorious light. But when the hel 
 met had descended over his white brow, there was no 
 longer any Perseus to be seen ! Nothing but empty 
 air ! Even the helmet, that covered him with its in 
 visibility, had vanished ! 
 
 " Where are you, Perseus? " asked Quicksilver. 
 
 " Why, here, to be sure ! " answered Perseus, very 
 quietly, although his voice seemed to come out of the 
 transparent atmosphere. "Just where I was a mo 
 ment ago. Don t you see me ? " 
 
 " No, indeed ! " answered his friend. " You are 
 hidden under the helmet. But, if I cannot see you, 
 neither can the Gorgons. Follow me, therefore, and 
 we will try your dexterity in using the winged slip 
 pers." 
 
 With these words, Quicksilver s cap spread its 
 wings, as if his head were about to fly away from his 
 shoulders ; but his whole figure rose lightly into the 
 air, and Perseus followed. By the time they had as 
 cended a few hundred feet, the young man began to 
 feel what a delightful thing it was to leave the dull 
 earth so far beneath him, and to be able to flit about 
 like a bird. 
 
 It was now deep night. Perseus looked upward, 
 and saw the round, bright, silvery moon, and thought 
 that he should desire nothing better than to soar up 
 thither, and spend his life there. Then he looked 
 downward again, and saw the earth, with its seas and 
 lakes, and the silver courses of its rivers, and its 
 snowy mountain-peaks, and the breadth of its fields, 
 and the dark cluster of its woods, and its cities of 
 
40 THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 
 white marble ; and, with the moonshine sleeping over 
 the whole scene, it was as beautiful as the moon or 
 any star could be. And, among other objects, he saw 
 the island of Seriphus, where his dear mother was. 
 Sometimes he and Quicksilver approached a cloud, 
 that, at a distance, looked as if it were made of fleecy 
 silver ; although, when they plunged into it, they 
 found themselves chilled and moistened with gray 
 mist. So swift was their flight, however, that, in an 
 instant, they emerged from the cloud into the moon 
 light again. Once, a high-soaring eagle flew right 
 against the invisible Perseus. The bravest sights were 
 the meteors, that gleamed suddenly out, as if a bonfire 
 had been kindled in the sky, and made the moonshine 
 pale for as much as a hundred miles around them. 
 
 As the two companions flew onward, Perseus fancied 
 that he could hear the rustle of a garment close by his 
 side ; and it was on the side opposite to the one where 
 he beheld Quicksilver, yet only Quicksilver was visible. 
 
 " Whose garment is this," inquired Perseus, " that 
 keeps rustling close beside me in the breeze ? " 
 
 " Oh, it is my sister s ! " answered Quicksilver. 
 " She is coming along with us, as I told you she 
 would. We could do nothing without the help of my 
 sister. You have no idea how wise she is. She has 
 such eyes, too ! W^hy, she can see you, at this mo 
 ment, just as distinctly as if you were not invisible ; 
 and I 11 venture to say, she will be the first to dis 
 cover the Gorgon s." 
 
 By this time, in their swift voyage through the air, 
 they had come within sight of the great ocean, and 
 were soon flying over it. Far beneath them, the 
 waves tossed themselves tumultuously in mid-sea, or 
 rolled a white surf-line upon the long beaches, or 
 
THE GORGON S HEAD. 41 
 
 foamed against the rocky cliffs, with a roar that was 
 thunderous, in the lower world ; although it became a 
 gentle murmur, like the voice of a baby half asleep, 
 before it reached the ears of Perseus. Just then a 
 voice spoke in the air close by him. It seemed to be 
 a woman s voice, and was melodious, though not ex 
 actly what might be called sweet, but grave and mild. 
 
 " Perseus," said the voice, " there are the Gorgons." 
 
 " Where ? " exclaimed Perseus. " I cannot see 
 them." 
 
 " On the shore of that island beneath you," replied 
 the voice. " A pebble, dropped from your hand, would 
 strike in the midst of them." 
 
 " I told you she would be the first to discover them," 
 said Quicksilver to Perseus. " And there they are ! " 
 
 Straight downward, two or three thousand feet be 
 low him, Perseus perceived a small island, with the sea 
 breaking into white foam all around its rocky shore, 
 except on one side, where there was a beach of snowy 
 sand. He descended towards it, and, looking earnestly 
 at a cluster or heap of brightness, at the foot of a pre 
 cipice of black rocks, behold, there were the terrible 
 Gorgons ! They lay fast asleep, soothed by the thun 
 der of the sea ; for it required a tumult that would 
 have deafened everybody else to lull such fierce crea 
 tures into slumber. The moonlight glistened on their 
 steely scales, and on their golden wings, which drooped 
 idly over the sand. Their brazen claws, horrible to 
 look at, were thrust out, and clutched the wave-beaten 
 fragments of rock, while the sleeping Gorgons dreamed 
 of tearing some poor mortal all to pieces. The snakes 
 that served them instead of hair seemed likewise to be 
 asleep ; although, now and then, one would writhe, 
 and lift its head, and thrust out its forked tongue, 
 
42 THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 
 emitting a drowsy hiss, and then let itself subside 
 among its sister snakes. 
 
 The Gorgons were more like an awful, gigantic kind 
 of insect, immense, golden-winged beetles, or dragon- 
 flies, or things of that sort, at once ugly and beau 
 tiful, than like anything else ; only that they were 
 a thousand and a million times as big. And, with all 
 this, there was something partly human about them, 
 too. Luckily for Perseus, their faces were completely 
 hidden from him by the posture in which they lay ; 
 for, had he but looked one instant at them, he would 
 have fallen heavily out of the air, an image of sense 
 less stone. 
 
 " Now," whispered Quicksilver, as he hovered by the 
 side of Perseus, " now is your time to do the deed ! 
 Be quick ; for, if one of the Gorgons should awake, 
 you are too late ! " 
 
 " Which shall I strike at ? " asked Perseus, draw 
 ing his sword and descending a little lower. " They 
 all three look alike. All three have snaky locks. 
 Which of the three is Medusa ? " 
 
 It must be understood that Medusa was the only 
 one of these dragon-monsters whose head Perseus could 
 possibly cut off. As for. the other two, let him have 
 the sharpest sword that ever was forged, and he might 
 have hacked away by the hour together, without doing 
 them the least harm. 
 
 " Be cautiou3," said the calm voice which had before 
 spoken to him. " One of the Gorgons is stirring in 
 her sleep, and is just about to turn over. That is 
 Medusa. Do not look at her ! The sia*ht would turn 
 
 c? 
 
 you to stone ! Look at the reflection of her face and 
 figure in the bright mirror of your shield." 
 
 Perseus now understood Quicksilver s motive for so 
 
THE GORGON S HEAD. 43 
 
 earnestly exhorting him to polish his shield. In its 
 surface he could safely look at the reflection of the Gor 
 gon s face. And there it was, that terrible counte 
 nance, mirrored in the brightness of the shield, with 
 the moonlight falling over it, and displaying all its 
 horror. The snakes, whose venomous natures could 
 not altogether sleep, kept twisting themselves over the 
 forehead. It was the fiercest and most horrible face 
 that ever was seen or imagined, and yet with a strange, 
 fearful, and savage kind of beauty in it. The eyes 
 were closed, and the Gorgon was still in a deep slum 
 ber ; but there was an unquiet expression disturbing 
 her features, as if the monster was troubled with an 
 ugly dream. She gnashed her white tusks, and dug 
 into the sand with her brazen claws. 
 
 The snakes, too, seemed to feel Medusa s dream, and 
 to be made more restless by it. They twined them 
 selves into tumultuous knots, writhed fiercely, and up 
 lifted a hundred hissing heads, without opening their 
 eyes. 
 
 " Now, now ! " whispered Quicksilver, who was grow 
 ing impatient. " Make a dash at the monster ! " 
 
 " But be calm," said the grave, melodious voice, at 
 the young man s side. " Look in your shield, as you 
 fly downward, and take care that you do not miss your 
 first stroke." 
 
 Perseus flew cautiously downward, still keeping his 
 eyes on Medusa s face, as reflected in his shield. The 
 nearer he came, the more terrible did the snaky visage 
 and metallic body of the monster grow. At last, when 
 he found himself hovering over her within arm s length, 
 Perseus uplifted his sword, while, at the same instant, 
 each separate snake upon the Gorgon s head stretched 
 threateningly upward, and Medusa unclosed her eyes. 
 
44 THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 
 But she awoke too late. The sword was sharp ; the 
 stroke fell like a lightning-flash ; and the head of the 
 wicked Medusa tumbled from her body I 
 
 "Admirably done!" cried Quicksilver. "Make 
 haste, and clap the head into your magic wallet." 
 
 To the astonishment of Perseus, the small, embroi 
 dered wallet, which he had hung about his neck, and 
 which had hitherto been no bigger than a purse, grew 
 all at once large enough to contain Medusa s head 
 As quick as thought, he snatched it up, with the snakes 
 still writhing upon it, and thrust it in. 
 
 " Your task is done," said the calm voice. " Now 
 fly ; for the other Gorgons will do their utmost to take 
 vengeance for Medusa s death." 
 
 It was, indeed, necessary to take flight ; for Perseus 
 had not done the deed so quietly but that the clash of 
 his sword, and the hissing of the snakes, and the thump 
 of Medusa s head as it tumbled upon the sea-beaten 
 sand, awoke the other two monsters. There they sat, 
 for an instant, sleepily rubbing their eyes with their 
 brazen fingers, while all the snakes on their heads 
 reared themselves on end with surprise, and with ven 
 omous malice against they knew not what. But when 
 the Gorgons saw the scaly carcass of Medusa, head 
 less, and her golden wings all ruffled, and half spread 
 out on the sand, it was really awful to hear what yells 
 and screeches they set up. And then the snakes ! 
 They sent forth a hundred-fold hiss, with one consent, 
 and Medusa s snakes answered them out of the magic 
 \vallet. 
 
 No sooner were the Gorgons broad awake than they 
 hurtled upward into the air, brandishing their brass 
 talons, gnashing their horrible tusks, and flapping their 
 huge wings so wildly, that some of the golden feathers 
 
THE GORGON S HEAD. 45 
 
 were shaken out, and floated down upon the shore. And 
 there, perhaps, those very feathers lie scattered, till 
 this day. Up- rose the Gorgons, as I tell you, staring 
 horribly about, in hopes of turning somebody to stone. 
 Had Perseus looked them in the face, or had he fallen 
 into their clutches, his poor mother would never have 
 kissed her boy again ! But he took good care to turn 
 his eyes another way ; and, as he wore the helmet of 
 invisibility, the Gorgons knew not in what direction 
 to follow him ; nor did he fail to make the best use of 
 the winged slippers, by soaring upward a perpendicu 
 lar mile or so. At that height, when the screams of 
 those abominable creatures sounded faintly beneath 
 him, he made a straight course for the island of Seri- 
 phus, in order to carry Medusa s head to King Poly- 
 dectes. 
 
 I have no time to tell you of several marvellous 
 things that befell Perseus, on his way homeward ; such 
 as his killing a hideous sea-monster, just as it was on 
 the point of devouring a beautiful maiden ; nor how 
 he changed an enormous giant into a mountain of 
 stone, merely by showing him the head of the Gorgon. 
 If you doubt this latter story, you may make a voy 
 age to Africa, some day or other, and see the very 
 mountain, which is still known by the ancient giant s 
 name. 
 
 Finally, our brave Perseus arrived at the island, 
 where he expected to see his dear mother. But, dur 
 ing his absence, the wicked king had treated Danae 
 so very ill that she was compelled to make her escape, 
 and had taken refuge in a temple, where some good 
 old priests were extremely kind to her. These praise 
 worthy priests, and the kind-hearted fisherman, who 
 had first shown hospitality to Danae and little Perseus 
 
46 THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 
 when he found them afloat in the chest, seem to have 
 been the only persons on the island who cared about 
 doing right. All the rest of the people, as well as 
 King Polydectes himself, were remarkably ill-behaved, 
 and deserved no better destiny than that which was 
 now to happen. 
 
 Not finding his mother at home, Perseus went 
 straight to the palace, and was immediately ushered 
 into the presence of the king. Polydectes was by no 
 means rejoiced to see him ; for he had felt almost cer 
 tain, in his own evil mind, that the Gorgons would 
 have torn the poor young man to pieces, and have 
 eaten him up, out of the way. However, seeing him 
 safely returned, he put the best face he could upon the 
 matter and asked Perseus how he had succeeded. 
 
 " Have you performed your promise ? " inquired he. 
 " Have you brought me the head of Medusa with the 
 snaky locks ? If not, young man, it will cost you dear ; 
 for I must have a bridal present for the beautiful Prin 
 cess Hippodamia, and there is nothing else that she 
 would admire so much." 
 
 " Yes, please your Majesty," answered Perseus, in a 
 quiet way, as if it were no very wonderful deed for 
 such a young man as he to perform. " I have brought 
 you the Gorgon s head, snaky locks and all ! " 
 
 " Indeed ! Pray let me see it," quoth King Poly 
 dectes. " It must be a very curious spectacle, if all 
 that travellers tell about it be true ! " 
 
 "Your Majesty is in the right," replied Perseus. 
 "It is really an object that will be pretty certain to 
 fix the regards of all who look at it. And, if your 
 Majesty think fit, I would suggest that a holiday be 
 proclaimed, and that all your Majesty s subjects be 
 summoned to behold this wonderful curiosity. Few of 
 
THE GORGON S HEAD. 47 
 
 them, I imagine, have seen a Gorgon s head before, 
 and perhaps never may again ! " 
 
 The king well knew that his subjects were an idle 
 set of reprobates, and very fond of sight-seeing, as idle 
 persons usually are. So he took the young man s ad 
 vice, and sent out heralds and messengers, in all di 
 rections, to blow the trumpet at the street-corners, and 
 in the market-places, and wherever two roads met, and 
 summon everybody to court. Thither, accordingly, 
 came a great multitude of good-for-nothing vagabonds, 
 all of whom, out of pure love of mischief, would have 
 been glad if Perseus had met with some ill-hap in his 
 encounter with the Gorgons. If there were any better 
 people in the island (as I really hope there may have 
 been, although the story tells nothing about any such), 
 they stayed quietly at home, minding their business, 
 and taking care of their little children. Most of the 
 inhabitants, at all events, ran as fast as they could to 
 the palace, and shoved, and pushed, and elbowed one 
 another, in their eagerness to get near a balcony, on 
 which Perseus showed himself, holding the embroi 
 dered wallet in his hand. 
 
 On a platform, within full view of the balcony, sat 
 the mighty King Polydectes, amid his evil counsellors, 
 and with his flattering courtiers in a semicircle round 
 about him. Monarch, counsellors, courtiers, and sub 
 jects, all gazed eagerly towards Perseus. 
 
 " Show us the head ! Show us the head ! " shouted 
 the people ; and there was a fierceness in their cry as 
 if they would tear Perseus to pieces, unless he should 
 satisfy them with what he had to show. " Show us 
 the head of Medusa with the snaky locks! " 
 
 A feeling of sorrow and pity came over the youthful 
 Perseus. 
 
48 THE GORGON S HEAD. 
 
 " O King Polydectes," cried he, " and ye many 
 people, I am very loath to show you the Gorgon s 
 head ! " 
 
 " Ah, the villain and coward ! " yelled the people, 
 more fiercely than before. " He is making game of 
 us ! He has no Gorgon s head ! Show us the head, 
 if you have it, or we will take your own head for a 
 football ! " 
 
 The evil counsellors whispered bad advice in the 
 king s ear ; the courtiers murmured, with one consent, 
 that Perseus had shown disrespect to their royal lord 
 and master ; and the great King Polydectes himself 
 waved his hand, and ordered him, with the stern, deep 
 voice of authority, on his peril, to produce the head. 
 
 " Show me the Gorgon s head, or I will cut off your 
 own ! " 
 
 And Perseus sighed. 
 
 " This instant," repeated Polydectes, " or you die ! " 
 
 " Behold it, then ! " cried Perseus, in a voice like 
 the blast of a trumpet. 
 
 And, suddenly holding up the head, not an eyelid 
 had time to wink before the wicked King Polydectes, 
 his evil counsellors, and all his fierce subjects were no 
 longer anything but the mere images of a monarch 
 and his people. They were all fixed, forever, in the 
 look and attitude of that moment ! At the first 
 glimpse of the terrible head of Medusa, they whitened 
 into marble ! And Perseus thrust the head back into 
 his wallet, and went to tell his dear mother that she 
 need no longer be afraid of the wicked King Poly 
 dectes. 
 
TANGLEWOOD PORCH. 
 
 AFTER THE STORY. 
 
 " WAS not that a very fine story ? " asked Eustace. 
 
 " Oh yes, yes ! " cried Cowslip, clapping her hands. 
 "And those funny old women, with only one eye 
 amongst them ! I never heard of anything so 
 strange." 
 
 " As k> their one tooth, which they shifted about," 
 observed Primrose, " there was nothing so very won 
 derful in that. I suppose it was a false tooth. But 
 think of your turning Mercury into Quicksilver, and 
 talking about his sister ! You are too ridiculous ! " 
 
 " And was she not his sister ? " asked Eustace 
 Bright. " If I had thought of it sooner, I would 
 have described her as a maiden lady, who kept a pet 
 owl ! " 
 
 " Well, at any rate," said Primrose, " your story 
 seems to have driven away the mist." 
 
 And, indeed, while the tale was going forward, the 
 vapors had been quite exhaled from the landscape. A 
 scene was now disclosed which the spectators might 
 almost fancy as having been created since they had 
 last looked in the direction where it lay. About half 
 a mile distant, in the lap of the valley, now appeared 
 a beautiful lake, which reflected a* perfect image of its 
 own wooded banks, and of the summits of the more 
 distant hills. It gleamed in glassy tranquillity, with 
 out the trace of a winged breeze on any part of its 
 
 VOL. iv. 4 
 
50 TANGLEWOOD PORCH. 
 
 bosom. Beyond its farther shore was Monument 
 Mountain, in a recumbent position, stretching almost 
 across the valley. Eustace Bright compared it to a 
 huge, headless sphinx, wrapped in a Persian shawl ; 
 and, indeed, so rich and diversified was the autumnal 
 foliage of its woods, that the simile of the shawl was 
 by no means too high-colored for the reality. In the 
 lower ground, between Tangle wood and the lake, the 
 clumps of trees and borders of woodland were chiefly 
 golden-leaved or dusky brown, as having suffered more 
 from frost than the foliage on the hill-sides. 
 
 Over all this scene there was a genial sunshine, in 
 termingled with a slight haze, which made it unspeak 
 ably soft and tender. Oh, what a day of Indian sum 
 mer was it going to be ! The children snatched their 
 baskets, and set forth, with hop, skip, and jump, and 
 all sorts of frisks and gambols ; while Cousin Eustace 
 proved his fitness to preside over the party, by outdo 
 ing all their antics, and performing several new capers, 
 which none of them could ever hope to imitate. Be 
 hind went a good old dog, whose name was Ben. He 
 was one of the most respectable and kind-hearted of 
 quadrupeds, and probably felt it to be his duty not to 
 trust the children away from their parents without 
 some better guardian than this feather-brained Eus 
 tace Bright. 
 
THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 
 
 SHADOW BROOK. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY TO " THE GOLDEN TOUCH." 
 
 AT noon, our juvenile party assembled in a dell, 
 through the depths of which ran a little brook. The 
 dell was narrow, and its steep sides, from the margin 
 of the stream upward, were thickly set with trees, 
 chiefly walnuts and chestnuts, among which grew a 
 few oaks and maples. In the summer time, the shade 
 of so many clustering branches, meeting and inter 
 mingling across the rivulet, was deep enough to pro 
 duce a noontide twilight. Hence came the name of 
 Shadow Brook. But now, ever since autumn had 
 crept into this secluded place, all the dark verdure 
 was changed to gold, so that it really kindled up the 
 dell, instead of shading it. The bright yellow leaves, 
 even had it been a cloudy day, would have seemed to 
 keep the sunlight among them ; and enough of them 
 had fallen to strew all the bed and margin of the 
 brook with sunlight, too. Thus the shady nook, where 
 summer had cooled herself, was now the sunniest spot 
 anywhere to be found. 
 
 The little brook ran along over its pathway of gold, 
 here pausing to form a pool, in which minnows were 
 darting to and fro ; and then it hurried onward at a 
 
52 SHADOW BROOK 
 
 swifter pace, as if in haste to reach the lake ; and, for 
 getting to look whither it went, it tumbled over the 
 root of a tree, which stretched quite across its current. 
 You would have laughed to hear how noisily it bab 
 bled about this accident. And even after it had run 
 onward, the brook still kept talking to itself, as if it 
 were in a maze. It was wonder-smitten, I suppose, at 
 finding its dark dell so illuminated, and at hearing 
 the prattle and merriment of so many children. So 
 it stole away as quickly as it could, and hid itself in 
 the lake. 
 
 In the dell of Shadow Brook, Eustace Bright and 
 his little friends had eaten their dinner. They had 
 brought plenty of good things from Tanglewood, in 
 their baskets, and had spread them out on the stumps 
 of trees, and on mossy trunks, and had feasted mer 
 rily, and made a very nice dinner indeed. After it 
 was over, nobody felt like stirring. 
 
 " We will rest ourselves here," said several of the 
 children, " while Cousin Eustace tells us another of 
 his pretty stories." 
 
 Cousin Eustace had a good right to be tired, as well 
 as the children, for he had performed great feats on 
 that memorable forenoon. Dandelion, Clover, Cow 
 slip, and Buttercup were almost persuaded that he had 
 winged slippers, like those which the Nymphs gave 
 Perseus ; so often had the student shown himself at 
 the tiptop of a nut-tree, when only a moment before 
 he had been standing on the ground. And then, what 
 showers of walnuts had he sent rattling down upon 
 their heads, for their busy little hands to gather into 
 the baskets! In short, he had been as active as a 
 squirrel or a monkey, and now, flinging himself down 
 on the yellow leaves, seemed inclined to take a little 
 rest. 
 
SHADOW BROOK. 53 
 
 But children have no mercy nor consideration for 
 anybody s weariness ; and if you had but a single 
 breath left, they would ask you to spend it in telling 
 them a story. 
 
 " Cousin Eustace," said Cowslip, " that was a very 
 nice story of the Gorgon s Head. Do you think you 
 could tell us another as good ? " 
 
 " Yes, child," said Eustace, pulling the brim of his 
 cap over his eyes, as if preparing for a nap. " I can 
 tell you a dozen, as good or better, if I choose." 
 
 " O Primrose and Periwinkle, do you hear what he 
 says ? " cried Cowslip, dancing with delight. " Cousin 
 Eustace is going to tell us a dozen better stories than 
 that about the Gorgon s Head ! " 
 
 " I did not promise you even one, you foolish little 
 Cowslip ! " said Eustace, half pettishly. " However, I 
 suppose you must have it. This is the consequence of 
 having earned a reputation ! I wish I were a great 
 deal duller than I am, or that I had never shown half 
 the bright qualities with which nature has endowed 
 me ; and then I might have my nap out, in peace and 
 comfort ! " 
 
 But Cousin Eustace, as I think I have hinted be 
 fore, was as fond of telling his stories as the children 
 of hearing them. His mind was in a free and happy 
 state, and took delight in its own activity, and scarcely 
 required any external impulse to set it at work. 
 
 How different is this spontaneous play of the intel 
 lect from the trained diligence of maturer years, when 
 toil has perhaps grown easy by long habit, and the 
 day s work may have become essential to the day s 
 comfort, although the rest of the matter has bubbled 
 away ! This remark, however, is not meant for the 
 children to hear. 
 
64 SHADOW BROOK. 
 
 Without further solicitation, Eustace Bright pro 
 ceeded to tell the following really splendid story. It 
 had come into his mind as he lay looking upward into 
 the depths of a tree, and observing how the touch of 
 Autumn had transmuted every one of its green leaves 
 into what resembled the purest gold. And this 
 change, which we have all of us witnessed, is as won 
 derful as anything that Eustace told about in the story 
 of Midas. 
 
THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 
 
 ONCE upon a time, there lived a very rich man, and 
 a king besides, whose name was Midas ; and he had 
 a little daughter, whom nobody but myself ever heard 
 of, and whose name I either never knew, or have en 
 tirely forgotten. So, because I love odd names for 
 little girls, I choose to call her Marygold. 
 
 This King Midas was fonder of gold than of any 
 thing else in the world. He valued his royal crown 
 chiefly because it was composed of that precious metal. 
 If he loved anything better, or half so well, it was the 
 one little maiden who played so merrily around her 
 father s footstool. But the more Midas loved his 
 daughter, the more did he desire and seek for wealth. 
 He thought, foolish man ! that the best thing he could 
 possibly do for this dear child would be to bequeath 
 her the immensest pile of yellow, glistening coin, that 
 had ever been heaped together since the world was 
 made. Thus, he gave all his thoughts and all his time 
 to this one purpose. If ever he happened to gaze for 
 an instant at the gold-tinted clouds of sunset, he wished 
 that they were real gold, and that they could be 
 squeezed safely into his strong box. When little 
 Marygold ran to meet him, with a bunch of buttercups 
 and dandelions, he used to say, " Poh, poh, child ! If 
 these flowers were as golden as they look, they would 
 be worth the plucking ! " 
 
 And yet, in his earlier days, before he was so en 
 tirely possessed of this insane desire for riches, King 
 
56 THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 
 
 Midas had shown a great taste for flowers. He had 
 planted a garden, in which grew the biggest and beau- 
 tifullest and sweetest roses that any mortal ever saw 
 or smelt. These roses were still growing in the gar 
 den, as large, as lovely, and as fragrant, as when 
 Midas used to pass whole hours in gazing at them, 
 and inhaling their perfume. But now, if he looked 
 at them at all, it was only to calculate how much the 
 garden would be worth if each of the innumerable rose- 
 petals were a thin plate of gold. And though he once 
 was fond of music (in spite of an idle story about his 
 ears, which were said to resemble those of an ass), the 
 only music for poor Midas, now, was the chink of one 
 coin against another. 
 
 At length (as people always grow more and more 
 foolish, unless they take care to grow wiser and wiser), 
 Midas had got to be so exceedingly unreasonable, that 
 he could scarcely bear to see or touch any object that 
 was not gold. He made it his custom, therefore, to 
 pass a large portion of every day in a dark and dreary 
 apartment, under ground, at the basement of his pal 
 ace. It was here that he kept his wealth. To this 
 dismal hole for it was little better than a dun 
 geon Midas betook himself, whenever he wanted 
 to be particularly happy. Here, after carefully lock 
 ing the door, he would take a bag of gold coin, or a 
 gold cup as big as a washbowl, or a heavy golden 
 bar, or a peck-measure of gold-dust, and bring them 
 from the obscure corners of the room into the one 
 bright and narrow sunbeam that fell from the dun 
 geon-like window. He valued the sunbeam for no 
 other reason but that his treasure would not shine 
 without its help. And then would he reckon over the 
 coins in the bag ; toss up the bar, and catch it as it 
 
THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 57 
 
 came down ; sift the gold-dust through his fingers ; 
 look at the funny image of his own face, as reflected 
 in the burnished circumference of the cup ; and whis 
 per to himself, " O Midas, rich King Midas, what a 
 happy man art thou ! " But it was laughable to see 
 how the image of his face kept grinning at him, out 
 of the polished surface of the cup. It seemed to be 
 aware of his foolish behavior, and to have a naughty 
 inclination to make fun of him. 
 
 Midas called himself a happy man, but felt that he 
 was not yet quite so happy as he might be. The very 
 tiptop of enjoyment would never be reached, unless 
 the whole world were to become his treasure-room, and 
 be filled with yellow metal which should be all his 
 own. 
 
 Now, I need hardly remind such wise little people 
 as you are, that in the old, old times, when King Mi 
 das was alive, a great many things came to pass, 
 which we should consider wonderful if they were to 
 happen in our own day and country. And, on the 
 other hand, a great many things take place nowadays, 
 which seem not only wonderful to us, but at which the 
 people of old times would have stared their eyes out. 
 On the whole, I regard our own times as the strangest 
 of the two ; but, however that may be, I must go on 
 v/ith my story. 
 
 Midas was enjoying himself in his treasure-room, 
 one day, as usual, when he perceived a shadow fall 
 over the heaps of gold ; and, looking suddenly up, 
 what should he behold but the figure of a stranger, 
 standing in the bright and narrow sunbeam ! It 
 was a young man, with a cheerful and ruddy face. 
 Whether it was that the imagination of King Midas 
 threw a yellow tinge over everything, or whatever the 
 
58 THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 
 
 cause might be, he could not help fancying that the 
 smile with which the stranger regarded him had a 
 kind of golden radiance in it. Certainly, although 
 his figure intercepted the sunshine, there was now a 
 brighter gleam upon all the piled-up treasures than be 
 fore. Even the remotest corners had their share of 
 it, and were lighted up, when the stranger smiled, as 
 with tips of flame and sparkles of fire. 
 
 As Midas knew that he had carefully turned the 
 key - in the lock, and that no mortal strength could 
 possibly break into his treasure-room, he, of course, 
 concluded that his visitor must be something more 
 than mortal. It is no matter about telling you who 
 he was. In those days, when the earth was com 
 paratively a new affair, it was supposed to be often 
 the resort of beings endowed with supernatural power, 
 and who used to interest themselves in the joys and 
 sorrows of men, women, and children, half playfully 
 and half seriously. Midas had met such beings before 
 now, and was not sorry to meet one of them again. 
 The stranger s aspect, indeed, was so good-humored 
 and kindly, if not beneficent, that it would have been 
 unreasonable to suspect him of intending any mischief. 
 It was far more probable that he came to do Midas a 
 favor. And what could that favor be, unless to multi 
 ply his heaps of treasure ? 
 
 The stranger gazed about the room ; and when his 
 lustrous smile had glistened upon all the golden ob 
 jects that were there, he turned again to Midas. 
 
 " You are a wealthy man, friend Midas ! " he ob 
 served. " I doubt whether any other four walls, on 
 earth, contain so much gold as you have contrived to 
 pile up in this room." 
 
 " I have done pretty well, pretty well," answered 
 
THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 59 
 
 Midas, in a discontented tone. " But, after all, it is 
 but a trifle, when you consider that it has taken me 
 my whole life to get it together. If one could live a 
 thousand years, he might have time to grow rich ! " 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed the stranger. " Then you are 
 not satisfied?" 
 
 Midas shook his head. 
 
 " And pray what would satisfy you ? " asked the 
 stranger. " Merely for the curiosity of the thing, I 
 should be glad to know." 
 
 Midas paused and meditated. He felt a presenti 
 ment that this stranger, with such a golden lustre in 
 his good-humored smile, had come hither with both 
 the power and the purpose of gratifying his utmost 
 wishes. Now, therefore, was the fortunate moment, 
 when he had but to speak, and obtain whatever possi 
 ble, or seemingly impossible thing, it might come into 
 his head to ask. So he thought, and thought, and 
 thought, and heaped up one golden mountain upon 
 another, in his imagination, without being able to im 
 agine them big enough. At last, a bright idea oc 
 curred to King Midas. It seemed really as bright as 
 the glistening metal which he loved so much. 
 
 Raising his head, he looked the lustrous stranger in 
 the face. 
 
 " Well, Midas," observed his visitor, " I see that 
 you have at length hit upon something that will satisfy 
 you. Tell me your wish." 
 
 " It is only this," replied Midas. " I am weary of 
 collecting my treasures with so much trouble, and be 
 holding the heap so diminutive, after I have done my 
 best. I wish everything that I touch to be changed 
 to gold ! " 
 
 The stranger s smile grew so very broad, that it 
 
60 THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 
 
 seemed to fill the room like an outburst of the sun, 
 gleaming into a shadowy dell, where the yellow au 
 tumnal leaves for so looked the lumps and particles 
 of gold lie strewn in the glow of light. 
 
 " The Golden Touch!" exclaimed he. "You cer 
 tainly deserve credit, friend Midas, for striking out so 
 brilliant a conception. But are you quite sure that 
 this will satisfy you ? " 
 
 " How could it fail? " said Midas. 
 
 " And will you never regret the possession of it ? " 
 
 " What could induce me?" asked Midas. " I ask 
 nothing else, to render me perfectly happy." 
 
 " Be it as you wish, then," replied the stranger, 
 waving his hand in token of farewell. " To-morrow, 
 at sunrise, you will find yourself gifted with the 
 Golden Touch." 
 
 The figure of the stranger then became exceedingly 
 bright, and Midas involuntarily closed his eyes. On 
 opening them again, he beheld only one yellow sun 
 beam in the room, and, all around him, the glistening 
 of the precious metal which he had spent his life in 
 hoarding up. 
 
 Whether Midas slept as usual that night, the story 
 does not say. Asleep or awake, however, his mind 
 was probably in the state of a child s, to whom a beau 
 tiful new plaything has been promised in the morning, 
 At any rate, day had hardly peeped over the hills, 
 when King Midas was broad awake, and, stretching 
 his arms out of bed, began to touch the objects that 
 were within reach. He was anxious to prove whether 
 the Golden Touch had really come, according to the 
 stranger s promise. So he laid his finger on a chair 
 by the bedside, and on various other things, but was 
 grievously disappointed to perceive that they remained 
 
THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 61 
 
 of exactly the same substance as before. Indeed, he 
 felt very much afraid that he had only dreamed about 
 the lustrous stranger, or else that the latter had been 
 making game of him. And what a miserable affair 
 would it be, if, after all his hopes, Midas must content 
 himself with what little gold he could scrape together 
 by ordinary means, instead of creating it by a touch ! 
 
 All this while, it was only the gray of the morning, 
 with but a streak of brightness along the edge of the 
 sky, where Midas could not see it. He lay in a very 
 disconsolate mood, regretting the downfall of his 
 hopes, and kept growing sadder and sadder, until the 
 earliest sunbeam shone through the window, and 
 gilded the ceiling over his head. It seemed to Midas 
 that this bright yellow sunbeam was reflected in rather 
 a singular way on the white covering of the bed. 
 Looking more closely, what was his astonishment and 
 delight, when he found that this linen fabric had 
 been transmuted to what seemed a woven texture of 
 the purest and brightest gold! The Golden Touch 
 had come to him with the first sunbeam ! 
 
 Midas started up, in a kind of joyful frenzy, and 
 ran about the room, grasping at everything that hap 
 pened to be in his way. He seized one of the bed 
 posts, and it became immediately a fluted golden 
 pillar. He pulled aside a window-curtain, in order to 
 admit a clear spectacle of the wonders which he was 
 performing ; and the tassel grew heavy in his hand, 
 a mass of gold. He took up a book from the table. 
 At his first touch, it assumed the appearance of such a 
 splendidly bound and gilt-edged volume as one often 
 meets with, nowadays ; but, on running his fingers 
 through the leaves, behold ! it was a bundle of thin 
 golden plates, in which all the wisdom of the book 
 
62 THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 
 
 had grown illegible. He hurriedly put on his clothes, 
 and was enraptured to see himself in a magnificent 
 suit of gold cloth, which retained its flexibility and 
 softness, although it burdened him a little with its 
 weight. He drew out his handkerchief, which little 
 Marygold had hemmed for him. That was likewise 
 gold, with the dear child s neat and pretty stitches 
 running all along the border, in gold thread ! 
 
 Somehow or other, this last transformation did not 
 quite please King Midas. He would rather that his 
 little daughter s handiwork should have remained just 
 the same as when she climbed his knee and put it into 
 his hand. 
 
 But it was not worth while to vex himself about a 
 trifle. Midas now took his spectacles from his pocket, 
 and put them on his nose, in order that he might see 
 more distinctly what he was about. In those days, 
 spectacles for common people had not been invented, 
 but were already worn by kings ; else, how could 
 Midas have had any? To his great perplexity, how 
 ever, excellent as the glasses were, he discovered that 
 he could not possibly see through them. But this was 
 the most natural thing in the world ; for, on taking 
 them off, the transparent crystals turned out to be 
 plates of yellow metal, and, of course, were worthless 
 as spectacles, though valuable as gold. It struck 
 Midas as rather inconvenient that, with all his wealth, 
 he could never again be rich enough to own a pair of 
 serviceable spectacles. 
 
 " It is no great matter, nevertheless," said ho to 
 himself, very philosophically. " We cannot expect 
 any great good, without its being accompanied with 
 some small inconvenience. The Golden Touch is 
 worth the sacrifice of a pair of spectacles, at least, if 
 
THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 63 
 
 not of one s very eyesight. My own eyes will serve 
 for ordinary purposes, and little Marygold will soon 
 be old enough to read to me." 
 
 Wise King Midas was so exalted by his good for 
 tune, that the palace seemed not sufficiently spacious 
 to contain him. He therefore went down stairs, and 
 smiled, on observing that the balustrade of the stair 
 case became a bar of burnished gold, as his hand 
 passed over it, in his descent. He lifted the door- 
 latch (it was brass only a moment ago, but golden 
 when his fingers quitted it), and emerged into the 
 garden. Here, as it happened, he found a great num 
 ber of beautiful roses in full bloom, and others in all 
 the stages of lovely bud and blossom. Very delicious 
 was their fragrance in the morning breeze. Their 
 delicate blush, was one of the fairest sights in the 
 world ; so gentle, so modest, and so full of sweet 
 tranquillity, did these roses seem to be. 
 
 But Midas knew a way to make them far more 
 precious, according to his way of thinking, than roses 
 had ever been before. So he took great pains in 
 going from bush to bush, and exercised his magic 
 touch most indef atigably ; until every individual 
 flower and bud, and even the worms at the heart 
 of some of them, were changed to gold. By the 
 time this good work was completed, King Midas 
 was summoned to breakfast ; and as the morning air 
 had given him an excellent appetite, he made haste 
 back to the palace. 
 
 What was usually a king s breakfast in the days of 
 Midas, I really do not know, and cannot stop now to 
 investigate. To the best of rny belief, however, on 
 this particular morning, the breakfast consisted of hot 
 cakes, some nice little brook trout, roasted potatoes, 
 
64 THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 
 
 fresh boiled eggs, and coffee, for King Midas himself, 
 and a bowl of bread and milk for his daughter Mary- 
 gold. At all events, this is a breakfast fit to set be 
 fore a king; and, whether he had it or not, King 
 Midas could not have had a better. 
 
 Little Marygold had not yet made her appearance. 
 Her father ordered her to be called, and, seating him 
 self at table, awaited the child s coming, in order to 
 begin his own breakfast. To do Midas justice, he 
 really loved his daughter, and loved her so much the 
 more this morning, on account of the good fortune 
 which had befallen him. It was not a great while be 
 fore he heard her coming along the passageway cry 
 ing bitterly. This circumstance surprised him, because 
 Marygold was one of the cheerfullest little people 
 whom you would see in a summer s day, and hardly 
 shed a thimbleful of tears in a twelvemonth. When 
 Midas heard her sobs, he determined to put little Ma 
 rygold into better spirits, by an agreeable surprise ; 
 so, leaning across the table, he touched his daughter s 
 bowl (which was a China one, with pretty figures all 
 around it), and transmuted it to gleaming gold. 
 
 Meanwhile, Marygold slowly and disconsolately 
 opened the door, and showed herself with her apron 
 at her eyes, still sobbing as if her heart would break. 
 
 " How now, my little lady ! " cried Midas. " Pray 
 what is the matter with you, this bright morning ? " 
 
 Marygold, without taking the apron from her eyes, 
 held out her hand, in which was one of the roses which 
 Midas had so recently transmuted. 
 
 u Beautiful ! " exclaimed her father. " And what 
 is there in this magnificent golden rose to make you 
 
 cry? 
 
 Ah, dear father ! " answered the child, as well aa 
 
THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 65 
 
 her sobs would let her ; " it is not beautiful, but the 
 ugliest flower that ever grew ! As soon as I was dressed 
 I ran into the garden to gather some roses for you ; 
 because I know you like them, and like them the bet 
 ter when gathered by your little daughter. But, oh 
 dear, dear me ! What do you think has happened ? 
 Such a misfortune ! All the beautiful roses, that 
 smelled so sweetly and had so many lovely blushes, 
 are blighted and spoilt ! They are grown quite yel 
 low, as you see this one, and have no longer any fra 
 grance ! A\ hat can have been the matter with them ? " 
 
 " Poh, my dear little girl, pray don t cry about 
 it ! " said Midas, who was ashamed to confess that he 
 himself had wrought the change which so greatly af 
 flicted her. " Sit down and eat your bread and milk ! 
 You will find it easy enough to exchange a golden 
 rose like that (which will last hundreds of years) for 
 an ordinary one which would wither in a day." 
 
 " I don t care for such roses as this ! " cried Mary- 
 gold, tossing it contemptuously away. " It has no 
 smell, and the hard petals prick my nose ! " 
 
 The child now sat down to table, but was so occu 
 pied with her grief for the blighted roses that she did 
 not even notice the wonderful transmutation of her 
 China bowl. Perhaps this was all the better ; for 
 Mary gold was accustomed to take pleasure in looking 
 at the queer figures, and strange trees and houses, that 
 were painted on the circumference of the bowl ; and 
 these ornaments were now entirely lost in the yellow 
 hue of the metal. 
 
 Midas, meanwhile, had poured out a cup of coffee, 
 and, as a matter of course, the coffee-pot, whatever 
 metal it may have been when he took it up, was gold 
 when he set it down. He thought to himself, that it 
 
 VOL. IV. 5 
 
66 THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 
 
 was rather an extravagant style of splendor, in a king 
 of his simple habits, to breakfast off a service of gold, 
 and began to be puzzled with the difficulty of keeping 
 his treasures safe. The cupboard and the kitchen 
 would no longer be a secure place of deposit for arti 
 cles so valuable as golden bowls and coffee-pots. 
 
 Amid these thoughts, he lifted a spoonful of coffee 
 to his lips, and, sipping it, was astonished to perceive 
 that, the instant his lips touched the liquid, it became 
 molten gold, and, the next moment, hardened into a 
 lump ! 
 
 " Ha ! " exclaimed Midas, rather aghast. 
 
 44 What is the matter, father ? " asked little Mary- 
 gold, gazing at him, with the tears still standing in her 
 eyes. 
 
 " Nothing, child, nothing ! " said Midas. " Eat your 
 milk, before it gets quite cold." 
 
 He took one of the nice little trouts on his plate, 
 and, by way of experiment, touched its tail with his 
 finger. To his horror, it was immediately transmuted 
 from an admirably fried brook-trout into a gold-fish, 
 though not one of those gold-fishes which people often 
 keep in glass globes, as ornaments for the parlor. 
 No ; but it was really a metallic fish, and looked as if 
 it had been very cunningly made by the nicest gold 
 smith in the world. Its little bones were now golden 
 wires ; its fins and tail were thin plates of gold ; and 
 there were the marks of the fork in it, and all the de 
 licate, frothy appearance of a nicely fried fish, exactly 
 imitated in metal. A very pretty piece of work, as 
 you may suppose ; only King Midas, just at that mo 
 ment, would much rather have had a real trout in his 
 dish than this elaborate and valuable imitation of one. 
 
 " I don t quite see," thought he to himself, " how I 
 am to get any breakfast ! " 
 
THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 67 
 
 He took one of the smoking-hot cakes, and had 
 scarcely broken it, when, to his cruel mortification, 
 though, a moment before, it had been of the whitest 
 wheat, it assumed the yellow hue of Indian meal. 
 To say the truth, if it had really been a hot Indian 
 cake, Midas would have prized it a good deal more 
 than he now did, when its solidity and increased 
 weight made him too bitterly sensible that it was gold. 
 Almost in despair, he helped himself to a boiled egg, 
 which immediately underwent a change similar to 
 those of the trout and the cake. The egg, indeed, 
 might have been mistaken for one of those which 
 the famous goose, in the story-book, was in the habit 
 of laying ; but King Midas was the only goose that 
 had had anything to do with the matter. 
 
 " Well, this is a quandary ! " thought he, leaning 
 back in his chair, and looking quite enviously at little 
 Marygold, who was now eating her bread and milk 
 with great satisfaction. " Such a costly breakfast be 
 fore me, and nothing that can be eaten ! " 
 
 Hoping that, by dint of great dispatch, he might 
 avoid what he now felt to be a considerable inconven 
 ience, King Midas next snatched a hot potato, and at 
 tempted to cram it into his mouth, and swallow it in a 
 hurry. But the Golden Touch was too nimble for him. 
 He found his mouth full, not of mealy potato, but of 
 solid metal, which so burnt his tongue that he roared 
 aloud, and, jumping up from the table, began to dance 
 and stamp about the room, both with pain and affright. 
 
 " Father, dear father ! " cried little Marygold, who 
 was a very affectionate child, "pray what is the matter? 
 Have you burnt your mouth ? " 
 
 " Ah, dear child," groaned Midas, dolefully, " I 
 don t know what is to become of your poor father ! 
 
68 THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 
 
 And, truly, my dear little folks, did you ever hear of 
 such a pitiable case in all your lives ? Here was liter 
 ally the richest breakfast that could be set before a 
 king, and its very richness made it absolutely good 
 for nothing. The poorest laborer, sitting down to his 
 crust of bread and cup of water, was far better off 
 than King Midas, whose delicate food was really worth 
 its weight in gold. And what was to be done ? Al 
 ready, at breakfast, Midas was excessively hungry. 
 Would he be less so by dinner-time ? And how rav 
 enous would be his appetite for supper, which must 
 undoubtedly consist of the same sort of indigestible 
 dishes as those now before him ! How many days, 
 think you, would he survive a continuance of this rich 
 fare? 
 
 These reflections so troubled wise King Midas, that 
 he began to doubt whether, after all, riches are the one 
 desirable thing in the world, or even the most desir 
 able. But this was only a passing thought. So fas 
 cinated was Midas with the glitter of the yellow metal, 
 that he would still have refused to give up the Golden 
 Touch for so paltry a consideration as a breakfast. 
 Just imagine what a price for one meal s victuals ! It 
 would have been the same as paying millions and mill 
 ions of money (and as many millions more as would 
 take forever to reckon up) for some fried trout, an 
 egg, a potato, a hot cake, and a cup of coffee ! 
 
 " It would be quite too dear," thought Midas. 
 
 Nevertheless, so great was his hunger, and the per 
 plexity of his situation, that he again groaned aloud, 
 and very grievously too. Our pretty Marygold could 
 endure it no longer. She sat, a moment, gazing at 
 her father, and trying, with all the might of her little 
 wits, to find out what was the matter with him. Then. 
 
THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 69 
 
 with a sweet and sorrowful impulse to comfort him, she 
 started from her chair, and, running to Midas, threw 
 her arms aft ectionately about his knees. He bent down 
 and kissed her. He felt that his little daughter s love 
 was worth a thousand times more than he had gained 
 by the Golden Touch. 
 
 " My precious, precious Marygold ! " cried he. 
 
 But Marygold made 110 answer. 
 
 Alas, what had he done ? How fatal was the gift 
 which the stranger bestowed ! The moment the lips 
 of Midas touched Marygold s forehead, a change had 
 taken place. Her sweet, rosy face, so full of affection 
 as it had been, assumed a glittering yellow color, with 
 yello\v tear-drops congealing on her cheeks. Her 
 beautiful brown ringlets took the same tint. Her soft 
 and tender little form grew hard and inflexible within 
 her father s encircling arms. Oh, terrible misfortune ! 
 The victim of his insatiable desire for wealth, little 
 Marygold was a human child no longer, but a golden 
 statue ! 
 
 Yes, there she was, with the questioning look of love, 
 grief, and pity, hardened into her face. It was the 
 prettiest and most woful sight that ever mortal saw. 
 All the features and tokens of Marygold were there , 
 even the beloved little dimple remained in her golden 
 chin. But, the more perfect was the resemblance, the 
 greater was the father s agony at beholding this golden 
 image, which was all that was left him of a daughter. 
 It had been a favorite phrase of Midas, whenever he 
 felt particularly fond of the child, to say that she was 
 worth her weight in gold. And now the phrase had 
 become literally true. And now, at last, when it was 
 too late, he felt how infinitely a warm and tender heart, 
 that loved him, exceeded in value all the wealth that 
 could be piled up betwixt the earth and sky ! 
 
70 THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 
 
 It would be too sad a story, if I were to tell you how 
 Midas, in the fulness of all his gratified desires, began 
 to wring his hands and bemoan himself ; and how he 
 could neither bear to look at Marygold, nor yet to look 
 away from her. Except when his eyes were fixed on 
 the image, he could not possibly believe that she was 
 changed to gold. But, stealing another glance, there 
 was the precious little figure, with a yellow tear-drop 
 on its yellow cheek, and a look so piteous and tender, 
 that it seemed as if that very expression must needs 
 soften the gold, and make it flesh again. This, how 
 ever, could not be. So Midas had only to wring his 
 hands, and to wish that he were the poorest man in 
 the wide world, if the loss of all his wealth might 
 bring back the faintest rose-color to his dear child s 
 face. 
 
 While he was in this tumult of despair, he suddenly 
 beheld a stranger standing near the door. Midas bent 
 down his head, without speaking ; for he recognized 
 the same figure which had appeared to him, the day 
 before, in the treasure-room, and had bestowed on him 
 this disastrous faculty of the Golden Touch. The 
 stranger s countenance still wore a smile, which seemed 
 to shed a yellow lustre all about the room, and gleamed 
 on little Marygold s image, and on the other objects 
 that had been transmuted by the touch of Midas. 
 
 " Well, friend Midas," said the stranger, " pray how 
 do you succeed with the Golden Touch ? " 
 
 Midas shook his head. 
 
 " I am very miserable," said he. 
 
 " Very miserable, indeed ! " exclaimed the stranger. 
 " And how happens that ? Have I not faithfully kept 
 my promise with you ? Have you not everything that 
 your heart desired? " 
 
THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 71 
 
 " Gold is not everything," answered Midas. " And 
 I have lost all that my heart really cared for." 
 
 "Ah! So you have made a discovery, since yes 
 terday ? " observed the stranger. " Let us see, then. 
 Which of these two things do you think is really worth 
 the most, the gift of the Golden Touch, or one cup 
 of clear cold water ? " 
 
 " O blessed water ! " exclaimed Midas. " It will 
 never moisten my parched throat again ! " 
 
 " The Golden Touch," continued the stranger, " or 
 a crust of bread ? " 
 
 " A piece of bread," answered Midas, " is worth all 
 the gold on earth! " 
 
 " The Golden Touch," asked the stranger, " or your 
 own little Marygold, warm, soft, and loving as she was 
 an hour ago ? " 
 
 " Oh my child, my dear child ! " cried poor Midas, 
 wringing his hands. " I would not have given that 
 one small dimple in her chin for the power of chang 
 ing this whole big earth into a solid lump of gold ! " 
 
 " You are wiser than you were, King Midas ! " said 
 the stranger, looking seriously at him. " Your own 
 heart, I perceive, has not been entirely changed from 
 flesh to gold. Were it so, your case, would indeed be 
 desperate. But you appear to be still capable of under 
 standing that the commonest things, such as lie within 
 everybody s grasp, are more valuable than the riches 
 which so many mortals sigh and struggle after. Tell 
 me, now, do you sincerely desire to rid yourself of this 
 Golden Touch?" 
 
 " It is hateful to me ! " replied Midas. 
 
 A fly settled on his nose, but immediately fell to the 
 floor ; for it, too, had become gold. Midas shuddered. 
 
 " Go, then," said the strangor u and plunge into the 
 
72 THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 
 
 river that glides past the bottom of your garden. Take 
 likewise a vase of the same water, and sprinkle it over 
 any object that you may desire to change back again 
 from gold into its former substance. If you do this in 
 earnestness and sincerity, it may possibly repair the 
 mischief which your avarice has occasioned." 
 
 King Midas bowed low; and when he lifted his 
 head, the lustrous stranger had vanished. 
 
 You will easily believe that Midas lost no time in 
 snatching up a great earthen pitcher (but, alas me ! 
 it was no longer earthen after he touched it), and has 
 tening to the river-side. As he scampered along, and 
 forced his way through the shrubbery, it was positively 
 marvellous to see how the foliage turned yellow behind 
 him, as if the autumn had been there, and nowhere 
 else. On reaching the river s brink, he plunged head 
 long in, without waiting so much as to pull off his 
 shoes. 
 
 " Poof ! poof ! poof ! " snorted King Midas, as his 
 head emerged out of the water. " Well ; this is really 
 a refreshing bath, and I think it must have quite 
 washed away the Golden Touch. And now for filling 
 my pitcher ! " 
 
 As he dipped the pitcher into the water, it glad 
 dened his very heart to see it change from gold into 
 the same good, honest earthen vessel which it had 
 been before he touched it. He was conscious, also, of 
 a change within himself. A cold, hard, and heavy 
 weight seemed to have gone out of his bosom. No 
 doubt, his heart had been gradually losing its human 
 substance, and transmuting itself into insensible metal, 
 but had now softened back again into flesh. Perceiv 
 ing a violet, that grew on the bank of the river, Midas 
 touched it with his finger, and was overjoyed to find 
 
THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 73 
 
 that the delicate flower retained its purple hue, in 
 stead of undergoing a yellow blight. The curse of 
 the Golden Touch had, therefore, really been removed 
 from him. 
 
 King Midas hastened back to the palace ; and, I 
 suppose, the servants knew not what to make of it 
 when they saw their royal master so carefully bringing 
 home an earthen pitcher of water. But that water, 
 which was to undo all the mischief that his folly had 
 wrought, was more precious to Midas than an ocean of 
 molten gold could have been. The first thing he did,, 
 as you need hardly be told, was to sprinkle it by hand- 
 fuls over the golden figure of little Marygold. 
 
 No sooner did it fall on her than you would have 
 laughed to see how the rosy color came back to the 
 dear child s cheek! and how she began to sneeze and 
 sputter ! and how astonished she was to find her 
 self dripping wet, and her father still throwing more 
 water over her ! 
 
 " Pray do not, dear father ! " cried she. " See how 
 you have wet my nice frock, which I put on only this 
 morning ! " 
 
 For Marygold did not know that she had been a lit 
 tle golden statue ; nor could she remember anything 
 that had happened since the moment when she ran 
 with outstretched arms to comfort poor King Midas. 
 
 Her father did not think it necessary to tell his be 
 loved child how very foolish he had been, but contented 
 himself with showing how much wiser he had now 
 grown. For this purpose, he led little Marygold into 
 the garden, where he sprinkled all the remainder of the 
 water over the rose-bushes, and with such good effect 
 that above five thousand roses recovered their beautiful 
 bloom. There were two circumstances, however, which, 
 
74 THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 
 
 as long as he lived, used to put King Midas in mind 
 of the Golden Touch. One was, that the sands of the 
 river sparkled like gold ; the other, that little Mary- 
 gold s hair had now a golden tinge, which he had never 
 observed in it before she had been transmuted by the 
 effect of his kiss. This change of hue was really an 
 improvement, and made Marygold s hair richer than 
 in her babyhood. 
 
 When King Midas had grown quite an old man, and 
 used to trot Marygold s children on his knee, he was 
 fond of telling them this marvellous story, pretty much 
 as I have now told it to you. And then would he 
 stroke their glossy ringlets, and tell them that their 
 hair, likewise, had a rich shade of gold, which they had 
 inherited from their mother. 
 
 " And to tell you the truth, my precious little folks," 
 quoth King Midas, diligently trotting the children all 
 the while, " ever since that morning, I have hated the 
 very sight of all other gold, save this ! " 
 
SHADOW BROOK. 
 
 AFTER THE STORY. 
 
 * 4 WELL, children," inquired Eustace, who was very 
 fond of eliciting a definite opinion from his auditors, 
 " did you ever, in all your lives, listen to a better story 
 than this of The Golden Touch ? " 
 
 " Why, as to the story of King Midas," said saucy 
 Primrose, " it was a famous one thousands of years be 
 fore Mr. Eustace Bright came into the world, and will 
 continue to be so as long after he quits it. But some 
 people have what we may call 4 The Leaden Touch, 
 and make everything dull and heavy that they lay 
 their fingers upon." 
 
 " You are a smart child, Primrose, to be not yet in 
 your teens," said Eustace, taken rather aback by the 
 piquancy of her criticism. " But you well know, in 
 your naughty little heart, that I have burnished the 
 old gold of Midas all over anew, and have made it 
 shine as it never shone before. And then that figure 
 of Marygold ! Do you perceive no nice workmanship 
 in that? And how finely I have brought out and 
 deepened the moral ! What say you, Sweet Fern, 
 Dandelion, Clover, Periwinkle ? Would any of you, 
 after hearing this story, be so foolish as to desire the 
 faculty of changing things to gold ? " 
 
 " I should like," said Periwinkle, a girl of ten, " to 
 have the power of turning everything to gold with my 
 right forefinger ; but, with my left forefinger, I should 
 
76 SHADOW BROOK. 
 
 want the power of changing it back again, if the first 
 change did not please me. And I know what I would 
 do, this very afternoon ! " 
 
 " Pray tell me," said Eustace. 
 
 "Why," answered Periwinkle, " I would touch every 
 one of these golden leaves on the trees with my left 
 forefinger, and make them all green again ; so that we 
 might have the summer back at once, with no ugly 
 winter in the mean time." 
 
 " O Periwinkle ! " cried Eustace Bright, " there you 
 are wrong, and would do a great deal of mischief. 
 Were I Midas, I would make nothing else but just 
 such golden days as these over and over again, all the 
 year throughout. My best thoughts always come a 
 little too late. Why did not I tell you how old King 
 Midas came to America, and changed the dusky au 
 tumn, such as it is in other countries, into the bur 
 nished beauty which it here puts on ? He gilded the 
 leaves of the great volume of Nature." 
 
 " Cousin Eustace," said Sweet Fern, a good little 
 boy, who was always making particular inquiries about 
 the precise height of giants and the littleness of fai 
 ries, " how big was Marygold, and how much did she 
 weigh after she was turned to gold ? " 
 
 " She was about as tall as you are," replied Eus 
 tace, " and, as gold is very heavy, she weighed at least 
 two thousand pounds, and might have been coined into 
 thirty or forty thousand gold dollars. I wish Prim 
 rose were worth half as much. Come, little people, 
 let us clamber out of the dell, and look about us." 
 
 They did so. The sun was now an hour or two be 
 yond its noontide mark, and filled the great hollow of 
 the valley with its western radiance, so that it seemed 
 to be brimming with mellow light, and to spill it over 
 
SHADOW BROOK. 77 
 
 the surrounding hill-sides, like golden wine out of a 
 bowl. It was such a day that you could not help say 
 ing of it, " There never was such a day before ! " al 
 though yesterday was just such a day, and to-morrow 
 will be just such another. Ah, but there are very few 
 of them in a twelvemonth s circle ! It is a remark 
 able peculiarity of these October days, that each of 
 them seems to occupy a great deal of space, although 
 the sun rises rather tardily at that season of the year, 
 and goes to bed, as little children ought, at sober six 
 o clock, or even earlier. We cannot, therefore, call 
 the days long ; but they appear, somehow or other, to 
 make up for their shortness by their breadth ; and 
 when the cool night comes, we are conscious of having 
 enjoyed a big armful of life, since morning. 
 
 " Come, children, come ! " cried Eustace Bright. 
 " More nuts, more nuts, more nuts ! Fill all your bas 
 kets ; and, at Christmas time, I will crack them for 
 you, and tell you beautiful stories ! " 
 
 So away they went ; all of them in excellent spirits, 
 except little Dandelion, who, I am sorry to tell you, 
 had been sitting on a chestnut-bur, and was stuck as 
 full as a pincushion of its prickles. Dear me, how un 
 comfortably he must have felt ! 
 
THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY TO " THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN." 
 
 THE golden days of October passed away, as so 
 many other Octobers have, and brown November like 
 wise, and the greater part of chill December, too. At 
 last came merry Christmas, and Eustace Bright along 
 with it, making it all the merrier by his presence. 
 And, the day after his arrival from college, there came 
 a mighty snow-storm. Up to this time, the winter 
 had held back, and had given us a good many mild 
 days, which were like smiles upon its wrinkled visage. 
 The grass had kept itself green, in sheltered places, 
 such as the nooks of southern hill-slopes, and along 
 the lee of the stone fences. It was but a week or two 
 ago, and since the beginning of the month, that the 
 children had found a dandelion in bloom, on the mar 
 gin of Shadow Brook, where it glides out of the dell. 
 
 But no more green grass and dandelions now. This 
 was such a snow-storm ! Twenty miles of it might 
 have been visible at once, between the windows of 
 Tanglewood and the dome of Taconic, had it been 
 possible to see so far among the eddying drifts that 
 whitened all the atmosphere. It seemed as if the 
 hills were giants, and were flinging monstrous hand- 
 fuls of snow at one another, in their enormous sport 
 
TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM. 79 
 
 So thick were the fluttering snow-flakes, that even the 
 trees, midway down the valley, were hidden by them 
 the greater part of the time. Sometimes, it is true, 
 the little prisoners of Tanglewood could discern a dim 
 outline of Monument Mountain, and the smooth white 
 ness of the frozen lake at its base, and the black or 
 gray tracts of woodland in the nearer landscape. But 
 these were merely peeps through the tempest. 
 
 Nevertheless, the children rejoiced greatly in the 
 snow-storm. They had already made acquaintance 
 with it, by tumbling heels over head into its highest 
 drifts, and flinging snow at one another, as we have 
 just fancied the Berkshire mountains to be doing. 
 And now they had come back to their spacious play 
 room, which was as big as the great drawing-room, 
 and was lumbered with all sorts of playthings, large 
 and small. The biggest was a rocking-horse, that 
 looked like a real pony ; and there was a whole fam 
 ily of wooden, waxen, plaster, and china dolls, besides 
 rag-babies ; and blocks enough to build Bunker Hill 
 Monument, and nine-pins, and balls, and humming- 
 tops, and battledores, and grace-sticks, and skipping- 
 ropes, and more of such valuable property than I 
 could tell of in a printed page. But the children 
 liked the snow-storm better than them all. It sug 
 gested so many brisk enjoyments for to-morrow, and 
 all the remainder of the winter. The sleigh-ride ; the 
 slides down hill into the valley ; the snow-images that 
 were to be shaped out ; the snow-fortresses that were 
 to be built ; and the snowballing to be carried on ! 
 
 So the little folks blessed the snow-storm, and were 
 glad to see it come thicker and thicker, and watched 
 hopefully the long drift that was piling itself up in 
 the avenue, and was already higher than any of their 
 heads. 
 
80 TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM. 
 
 " Why, we shall be blocked up till spring ! " cried 
 they, with the hugest delight. " What a pity that the 
 house is too high to be quite covered up ! The little 
 red house, down yonder, will be buried up to its 
 eaves." 
 
 " You silly children, what do you want of more 
 snow ? " asked Eustace, who, tired of some novel that 
 he was skimming through, had strolled into the play 
 room. " It has done mischief enough already, by 
 spoiling the only skating that I could hope for through 
 the winter. We shall see nothing more of the lake 
 till April ; and this was to have been my first day 
 upon it ! Don t you pity me, Primrose ? " 
 
 " Oh, to be sure ! " answered Primrose, laughing. 
 " But, for your comfort, we will listen to another of 
 your old stories, such as you told us under the porch, 
 and down in the hollow, by Shadow Brook. Perhaps 
 I shall like them better now, when there is nothing to 
 do, than while there were nuts to be gathered, and 
 beautiful weather to enjoy." 
 
 Hereupon, Periwinkle, Clover, Sweet Fern, and as 
 many others of the little fraternity and cousinhood 
 as were still at Tanglewood, gathered about Eustace, 
 and earnestly besought him for a story. The student 
 yawned, stretched himself, and then, to the vast ad 
 miration of the small people, skipped three times back 
 and forth over the top of a chair, in order, as he ex 
 plained to them, to set his wits in motion. 
 
 " Well, well, children," said he, after these prelimi 
 naries, " since you insist, and Primrose has set her 
 heart upon it, I will see what can be done for you. 
 And, that you may know what happy days there were 
 before snow-storms came into fashion, I will tell you a 
 story of the oldest of all old times, when the world 
 
TANGLE WOOD PLAY-ROOM. 81 
 
 was as new as Sweet Fern s bran-new humming-top. 
 There was then but one season in the year, and that 
 was the delightful summer ; and but one age for mor 
 tals, and that was childhood." 
 
 " I never heard of that before," said Primrose. 
 
 " Of course, you never did," answered Eustace. 
 " It shall be a story of what nobody but myself ever 
 dreamed of, a Paradise of children, and how, by 
 the naughtiness of just such a little imp as Primrose 
 here, it all came to nothing." 
 
 So Eustace Bright sat down in the chair which he 
 had just been skipping over, took Cowslip upon his 
 knee, ordered silence throughout the auditory, and be 
 gan a story about a sad naughty child, whose name 
 was Pandora, and about her playfellow Epimetheus. 
 You may read it, word for word, in the pages that 
 come next. 
 
THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 LONG, long ago, when this old world was in its 
 tender infancy, there was a child, named Epimetheus, 
 who never had either father or mother ; and, that he 
 might not be lonely, another child, fatherless and 
 motherless like himself, was sent from a far country, 
 to live with him, and be his playfellow and helpmate. 
 Her name was Pandora. 
 
 The first thing that Pandora saw, when she entered 
 the cottage where Epimetheus dwelt, was a great box. 
 And almost the first question which she put to him, 
 after crossing the threshold, was this, 
 
 u Epimetheus, what have you in that box ? " 
 
 " My dear little Pandora," answered Epimetheus, 
 " that is a secret, and you must be kind enough not to 
 ask any questions about it. The box was left here to 
 be kept safely, and I do not myself know what it con 
 tains." 
 
 " But who gave it to you ? " asked Pandora. " And 
 where did it come from ? " 
 
 " That is a secret, too," replied Epimetheus. 
 
 "How provoking ! " exclaimed Pandora, pouting 
 her lip. " I wish the great ugly box were out of the 
 way ! " 
 
 " Oh come, don t think of it any more," cried Epime 
 theus. " Let us run out of doors, and have some nice 
 play with the other children." 
 
 It is thousands of years since Epimetheus and Pan 
 dora were alive ; and the world, nowadays, is a very 
 
THE PARADISE .OF CHILDREN. 83 
 
 different sort of thing from what it was in their time. 
 Then, everybody was a child. There needed no 
 fathers and mothers to take care of the children ; be 
 cause there was no danger, nor trouble of any kind, 
 and no clothes to be mended, and there was always 
 plenty to eat and drink. Whenever a child wanted 
 his dinner, he found it growing on a tree ; and, if he 
 looked at the tree in the morning, he could see the ex 
 panding blossom of that night s supper ; or, at even 
 tide, he saw the tender bud of to-morrow s breakfast. 
 It was a very pleasant life indeed. No labor to be 
 done, no tasks to be studied ; nothing but sports and 
 dances, and sweet voices of children talking, or carol 
 ling like birds, or gushing out in merry laughter, 
 throughout the livelong day. 
 
 What was most wonderful of all, the children never 
 quarrelled among themselves ; neither had they any 
 crying fits ; nor, since time first began, had a single 
 one of these little mortals ever gone apart into a cor 
 ner, and sulked. Oh, what a good time was that to be 
 alive in ? The truth is, those ugly little winged mon 
 sters, called Troubles, which are now almost as nu 
 merous as mosquitoes, had never yet been seen on the 
 earth. It is probable that the very greatest dis 
 quietude which a child had ever experienced was Pan 
 dora s vexation at not being able to discover the secret 
 of the mysterious box. 
 
 This was at first only the faint shadow of a Trouble ; 
 but, every day, it grew more and more substantial, 
 until, before a great while, the cottage of Epimetheus 
 and Pandora was less sunshiny than those of the other 
 children. 
 
 " Whence can the box have come ? " Pandora con 
 tinually kept saying to herself and to Epimetheus. 
 " And what in the world can be inside of it ? " 
 
84 THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 * Always talking about this box ! " said Epimetheus, 
 at last ; for he had grown extremely tired of the sub 
 ject. " I wish, dear Pandora, you would try to talk 
 of something else. Come, let us go and gather some 
 ripe figs, and eat them under the trees, for our supper. 
 And I know a vine that has the sweetest and juiciest 
 grapes you ever tasted." 
 
 " Alsvays talking about grapes and figs ! " cried 
 Pandora, pettishly. 
 
 " Well, then," said Epimetheus, who was a very 
 good-tempered child, like a multitude of children in 
 those days, " let us run out and have a merry time 
 with our playmates." 
 
 " I am tired of merry times, and don t care if I 
 never have any more ! " answered our pettish little 
 Pandora. " And, besides, I never do have any. This 
 ugly box ! I am so taken up with thinking about it 
 all the time. I insist upon your telling me what is 
 inside of it." 
 
 " As I have already said, fifty times over, I do not 
 know ! " replied Epimetheus, getting a little vexed. 
 " How, then, can I tell you what is inside ? " 
 
 " You might open it," said Pandora, looking side* 
 ways at Epimetheus, " and then we could see for our 
 selves." 
 
 " Pandora, what are you thinking of ? " exclaimed 
 Epimetheus. 
 
 And his face expressed so much horror at the idea 
 of looking into a box, which had been confided to him 
 on the condition of his never opening it, that Pandora 
 thought it best not to suggest it any more. Still, how 
 ever, she could not help thinking and talking about 
 the box. 
 
 " At least, said she, " you can tell me how it came 
 here." 
 
THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 85 
 
 " It was left at the door," replied Epimetheus, 
 " just before you came, by a person who looked very 
 smiling and intelligent, and who could hardly forbear 
 laughing as he put it down. He was dressed in an 
 odd kind of a cloak, and had on a cap that seemed to 
 be made partly of feathers, so that it looked almost as 
 if it had wings." 
 
 " What sort of a staff had he ? " asked Pandora. 
 
 "Oh, the most curious staff you ever saw ! " cried 
 Epimetheus. "It was like two serpents twisting 
 around a stick, and was carved so naturally that I, at 
 first, thought the serpents were alive." 
 
 " I know him," said Pandora, thoughtfully. No 
 body else has such a staff. It was Quicksilver ; and 
 he brought me hither, as well as the box. No doubt 
 he intended it for me ; and, most probably, it contains 
 pretty dresses for me to wear, or toys for you and me 
 to play with, or something very nice for us both to 
 eat!" 
 
 " Perhaps so," answered Epimetheus, turning away. 
 " But until Quicksilver comes back and tells us so, we 
 have neither of us any right to lift the lid of the box." 
 
 " What a dull boy he is ! " muttered Pandora, as 
 Epimetheus left the cottage. " I do wish he had a 
 little more enterprise ! " 
 
 For the first time since her arrival, Epimetheus had 
 gone out without asking Pandora to accompany him. 
 He went to gather figs and grapes by himself, or to 
 seek whatever amusement he could find, in other soci 
 ety than his little playfellow s. He was tired to death 
 of hearing about the box, and heartily wished that 
 Quicksilver, or whatever was the messenger s name, 
 had left it at some other child s door, where Pandora 
 would never have set eyes on it. So perseveringly as 
 
86 THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 she did babble about this one thing ! The box, the 
 box, and nothing but the box ! It seemed as if the 
 box were bewitched, and as if the cottage were not 
 big enough to hold it, without Pandora s continually 
 stumbling over it, and making Epimetheus stumble 
 over it likewise, and bruising all four of their shins. 
 
 Well, it was really hard that poor Epimetheus 
 should have a box in his ears from morning till night ; 
 especially as the little people of the earth were so un 
 accustomed to vexations, in those happy days, that 
 they knew not how to deal with them. Thus, a small 
 vexation made as much disturbance then, as a far big 
 ger one would in our own times. 
 
 After Epimetheus was gone, Pandora stood gazing 
 at the box. She had called it ugly, above a hundred 
 times ; but, in spite of all that she had said against it, 
 it was positively a very handsome article of furniture, 
 and would have been quite an ornament to any room 
 in which it should be placed. It was made of a beau 
 tiful kind of wood, with dark and rich veins spreading 
 over its surface, which was so highly polished that lit 
 tle Pandora could see her face in it. As the child had 
 no other looking-glass, it is odd that she did not value 
 the box, merely on this account. 
 
 The edges and corners of the box were carved with 
 most wonderful skill. Around the margin there were 
 figures of graceful men and women, and the prettiest 
 children ever seen, reclining or sporting amid a pro 
 fusion of flowers and foliage ; and these various ob 
 jects were so exquisitely represented, and were wrought 
 together in such harmony, that flowers, foliage, and 
 human beings seemed to combine into a wreath of 
 mingled beauty. But here and there, peeping forth 
 from behind the carved foliage, Pandora once or twice 
 
THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 87 
 
 fancied that she saw a face not so lovely, or something 
 or other that was disagreeable, and which stole the 
 beauty out of all the rest. Nevertheless, on looking 
 more closely, and touching the spot with her finger, 
 she could discover nothing of the kind. Some face, 
 that was really beautiful, had been made to look ugly 
 by her catching a sideway glimpse at it. 
 
 The most beautiful face of all was done in what is 
 called high relief, in the centre of the lid. There was 
 nothing else, save the dark, smooth richness of the 
 polished wood, and this one face in the centre, with a 
 garland of flowers about its brow. Pandora had 
 looked at this face a great many times, and imagined 
 that the mouth could smile if it liked, or be grave 
 when it chose, the same as any living mouth. The 
 features, indeed, all wore a very lively and rather 
 mischievous expression, which looked almost as if it 
 needs must burst out of the carved lips, and utter it 
 self in words. 
 
 Had the mouth spoken, it would probably have been 
 something like this : 
 
 44 Do not be afraid, Pandora ! What harm can 
 there be in opening the box ? Never mind that poor, 
 simple Epimetheus ! You are wiser than he, and have 
 ten times as much spirit. Open the box, and see if 
 you do not find something very pretty ! " 
 
 The box, I had almost forgotten to say, was fas 
 tened ; not by a lock, nor by any other such contri 
 vance, but by a very intricate knot of gold cord. 
 There appeared to be no end to this knot, and no be 
 ginning. Never was a knot so cunningly twisted, nor 
 with so many ins and outs, which roguishly defied the 
 skilfullest fingers to disentangle them. And yet, by 
 the very difficulty that there was in it, Pandora was 
 
88 THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 the more tempted to examine the knot, and just see 
 how it was made. Two or three times, already, she 
 had stooped over the box, and taken the knot between 
 her thumb and forefinger, but without positively try 
 ing to undo it. 
 
 "I really believe," said she to herself, "that I begin 
 to see how it was done. Nay, perhaps I could tie it 
 up again, after undoing it. There would be no harm 
 in that, surely. Even Epimetheus would not blame 
 me for that. I need not open the box, and should 
 not, of course, without the foolish boy s consent, even 
 if the knot were untied," 
 
 It might have been better for Pandora if she had 
 had a little work to do, or anything to employ her 
 mind upon, so as not to be so constantly thinking of 
 this one subject. But children led so easy a life, be 
 fore any Troubles came into the world, that they had 
 really a great deal too much leisure. They could not 
 be forever playing at hide-and-seek among the flower- 
 shrubs, or at blind-man s-buff with garlands over their 
 eyes, or at whatever other games had been found out, 
 while Mother Earth was in her babyhood. When life 
 is all sport, toil is the real play. There was absolutely 
 nothing to do. A little sweeping and dusting about 
 the cottage, I suppose, and the gathering of fresh 
 flowers (which were only too abundant everywhere), 
 and arranging them in vases, and poor little Pan 
 dora s day s work was over. And then, for the rest of 
 the day, there was the box! 
 
 After all, I am not quite sure that the box was not 
 a blessing to her in its way. It supplied her with such 
 a variety of ideas to think of, and to talk about, when 
 ever she had anybody to listen ! When she was in 
 good-humor, she could admire the bright polish of its 
 
THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 89 
 
 sides, and the rich border of beautiful faces and foli 
 age that ran all around it. Or, if she chanced to be 
 ill-tempered, she could give it a push, or kick it with 
 her naughty little foot. And many a kick did the box 
 (but it was a mischievous box, as we shall see, and 
 deserved all it got) many a kick did it receive. 
 But, certain it is, if it had not been for the box, our 
 active-minded little Pandora would not have known 
 half so well how to spend her time as she now did. 
 
 For it was really an endless employment to guess 
 what was inside. What could it be, indeed ? Just 
 imagine, my little hearers, how busy your wits would 
 be, if there were a great box in the house, which, as 
 you might have reason to suppose, contained some 
 thing new and pretty for your Christmas or New- 
 Year s gifts. Do you think that you should be less 
 curious than Pandora? If you were left alone with 
 the box, might you not feel a little tempted to lift the 
 lid? But you would not do it. Oh, fie! No, no! 
 Only, if you thought there were toys in it, it would be 
 so very hard to let slip an opportunity of taking just 
 one peep ! I know not whether Pandora expected any 
 toys ; for none had yet begun to be made, probably, in 
 those days, when the world itself was one great play 
 thing for the children that dwelt upon it. But Pan 
 dora was convinced that there was something very 
 beautiful and valuable in the box ; and therefore she 
 felt just as anxious to take a peep as any of these 
 little girls, here around me, would have felt. And, 
 possibly, a little more so ; but of that I am not quite 
 so certain. 
 
 On this particular day, however, which we have so 
 long been talking about, her curiosity grew so much 
 greater than it usually was, that, at last, she ap- 
 
90 THE PARADISE OF CHILDREX. 
 
 proached the box. She was more than half deter 
 mined to open it, if she coidd. Ah. naughty Pan 
 dora ! 
 
 First, however, she tried to lift it. It was heavy ; 
 quite too heavy for the slender strength of a child, 
 like Pandora. She raised one end of the box a few 
 inches from the floor, and let it fall again, with a 
 pretty loud thump. A moment afterwards, she al 
 most fancied that she heard something stir inside of 
 the box. She applied her ear as closely as possible, 
 and listened. Positively, there did seem to be a kind 
 of stifled murmur, within ! Or was it merely the 
 singing in Pandora s ears ? Or cotdd it be the beat 
 ing of her heart ? The child coidd not quite satisfy 
 herself whether she had heard anything or no. But, 
 at all events, her curiosity was stronger than ever. 
 
 As she drew back her head, her eyes fell upon the 
 knot of gold cord. 
 
 4i It must have been a very ingenious person who 
 tied this knot," said Pandora to herself. "But I think 
 I could untie it nevertheless. I am resolved, at least, 
 to find the two ends of the cord." 
 
 So she took the golden knot in her fingers, and 
 pried into its intricacies as sharply as she coidd. Al 
 most without intending it. or quite knowing what she 
 was about, she was soon busily engaged in attempting 
 to undo it. Meanwhile, the bright sunshine came 
 through the open window : as did likewise the merry 
 voices of the children, playing at a distance, and per 
 haps the voice of Epimetheus among them. Pandora 
 stopped to listen. TV hat a beautiful day it was ! 
 Would it not be wiser, if she were to let the trouble 
 some knot alone, and think no more about the box, 
 but run and join her little playfellows, and be happy ? 
 
THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 91 
 
 All this time, however, her fingers were half un 
 consciously busy with the knot : and happening to 
 glance at the flower-wreathed face on the lid of the 
 enchanted box, she seemed to perceive it slyly grin 
 ning at her. 
 
 i% That face looks very mischievous," thought Pan 
 dora. " I wonder whether it smiles because I am do- 
 
 e 
 
 run awav 
 
 But just then, by the merest accident, she gave the 
 knot a kind of a twist, which produced a wonderful 
 result. The gold cord untwined itself, as if by magic, 
 and left the box without a fastening. 
 
 " This is the strangest thing I ever knew ! " said 
 Pandora. " What will Epinietheus say ? And how 
 can I possibly tie it up again ? " 
 
 She made one or two attempts to restore the knot, 
 but soon found it quite beyond her skill. It had dis 
 entangled itself so suddenly that she could not in the 
 least remember how the strings had been doubled into 
 one another : and when she tried to recollect the shape 
 and appearance of the knot, it seemed to have gone 
 entirely out of her mind. Nothing was to be done, 
 therefore, but to let the box remain as it was until 
 Epinietheus should come in. 
 
 "But," said Pandora, " when he finds the knot un 
 tied, he will know that I have done it. How shall I 
 make him believe that I have not looked into the 
 box?" 
 
 And then the thought came into her naughty little 
 heart, that, since she would be suspected of having 
 looked into the box, she might just as well do so at 
 once. Oh, very naughty and very foolish Pandora ! 
 You should have thought only of doing what was 
 
92 THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 right, and of leaving undone what was wrong, and not 
 of what your playfellow Epimetheus would have said or 
 believed. And so perhaps she might, if the enchanted 
 face on the lid of the box had not looked so bewitch- 
 ingly persuasive at her, and if she had not seemed 
 to hear, more distinctly, than before, the murmur of 
 small voices within. She could not tell whether it 
 was fancy or no ; but there was quite a little tumult 
 of whispers in her ear, or else it was her curiosity 
 that whispered, 
 
 " Let us out, dear Pandora, pray let us out ! 
 We will be such nice pretty playfellows for you ! 
 Only let us out ! " 
 
 " What can it be ? " thought Pandora. " Is there 
 something alive in the box? Well! yes! I am 
 resolved to take just one peep ! Only one peep ; and 
 then the lid shall be shut down as safely as ever ! 
 There cannot possibly be any harm in just one little 
 peep ! " 
 
 But it is now time for us to see what Epimetheus 
 was doing. 
 
 This was the first time, since his little playmate had 
 come to dwell with him, that he had attempted to en 
 joy any pleasure in which she did not partake. But 
 nothing went right ; nor was he nearly so happy as on 
 other days. He could not find a sweet grape or a ripe 
 fig (if Epimetheus had a fault, was a little too much 
 fondness for figs) ; or, if ripe at all, they wero over 
 ripe, and so sweet as to be cloying. There was no 
 mirth in his heart, such as usually made his voice 
 gush out, of its own accord, and swell the merriment 
 of his companions. In short, he grew so uneasy and 
 discontented, that the other children could not imag 
 ine what was the matter with Epimetheus. Neither 
 
THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 93 
 
 did he himself know what ailed him, any better than 
 they did. For you must recollect that, at the time we 
 are speaking of, it was everybody s nature, and con 
 stant habit, to be happy. The world had not yet 
 learned to be otherwise. Not a single soul or body, 
 since these children were first sent to enjoy them 
 selves on the beautiful earth, had ever been sick or 
 out of sorts. 
 
 At length, discovering that, somehow or other, he 
 put a stop to all the play, Epimetheus judged it best 
 to go back to Pandora, who was in a humor better 
 suited to his own. But, with a hope of giving her 
 pleasure, he gathered some flowers, and made them 
 into a wreath, which he meant to put upon her head. 
 The flowers were very lovely, roses, and lilies, and 
 orange-blossoms, and a great many more, whiyh left a 
 trail of fragrance behind, as Epimetheus carried them 
 along ; and the wreath was put together with as much 
 skill as could reasonably be expected of a boy. The 
 fingers of little girls, it has always appeared to me, 
 are the fittest to twine flower-wreaths ; but boys could 
 do it, in those days, rather better than they can now. 
 
 And here I must mention that a great black cloud 
 had been gathering in the sky, for some time past, al 
 though it had not yet overspread the sun. But, just 
 as Epimetheus reached the cottage door, this cloud be 
 gan to intercept the sunshine, and thus to make a sud 
 den and sad obscurity. 
 
 He entered softly ; for he meant, if possible, to steal 
 behind Pandora, and fling the wreath of flowers over 
 her head, before she should be aware of his approach. 
 But, as it happened, there was no need of his treading 
 so very lightly. He might have trod as heavily as he 
 pleased, as heavily as a grown man, - as heavily, 
 
94 THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 I was going to say, as an elephant, without much 
 probability of Pandora s hearing his footsteps. She 
 was too intent upon her purpose. At the moment of 
 his entering the cottage, the naughty child had put her 
 hand to the lid, and was on the point of opening the 
 mysterious box. Epimetheus beheld her. If he had 
 cried out, Pandora would probably havef withdrawn her 
 hand, and the fatal mystery of the box might never 
 have been known. 
 
 But Epimetheus himself, although he said very little 
 about it, had his own share of curiosity to know what 
 was inside. Perceiving that Pandora was resolved to 
 find out the secret, he determined that his playfellow 
 should not be the only wise person in the cottage. 
 And if there were anything pretty or valuable in the 
 box, he meant to take half of it to himself. Thus, 
 after all his sage speeches to Pandora about restrain 
 ing her curiosity, Epimetheus turned out to be quite 
 as foolish, and nearly as much in fault, as she. So, 
 whenever we blame Pandora for what happened, we 
 must not forget to shake our heads at Epimetheus 
 likewise. 
 
 As Pandora raised the lid, the cottage grew very 
 dark and dismal ; for the black cloud had now swept 
 quite over the sun, and seemed to have buried it alive. 
 There had, for a little while past, been a low growling 
 and muttering, which all at once broke into a heavy 
 peal of thunder. But Pandora, heeding nothing of all 
 this, lifted the lid nearly upright, and looked inside. 
 It seemed as if a sudden swarm of winged creatures 
 brushed past her, taking flight out of the box, while, 
 at the same instant, she heard the voice of Epimetheus, 
 with a lamentable tone, as if he were in pain. 
 
 " Oh, I am stung ! " cried he. " I am stung J 
 
THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 95 
 
 Naughty Pandora I why have you opened this wicked 
 box?" 
 
 Pandora let fall the lid, and, starting up, looked 
 about her, to see what had befallen Epimetheus. The 
 thunder-cloud had so darkened the room that she could 
 not very clearly discern what was in it. But she heard 
 a disagreeable buzzing, as if a great many huge flies, 
 or gigantic mosquitoes, or those insects which we call 
 dor-bugs, and pinching-dogs, were darting about. And, 
 as her eyes grew more accustomed to the imperfect 
 light, she saw a crowd of ugly little shapes, with bats 
 wings, looking abominably spiteful, and armed with 
 terribly long stings in their tails. It was one of these 
 that had stung Epimetheus. Nor was it a great while 
 before Pandora herself began to scream, in no less 
 pain and affright than her playfellow, and making a 
 vast deal more hubbub about it. An odious little 
 monster had settled on her forehead, and would have 
 stung her I know not how deeply, if Epimetheus had 
 not run and brushed it away. 
 
 Now, if you wish to know what these ugly things 
 might be, which had made their escape out of the box, 
 I must tell you that they were the whole family of 
 earthly Troubles. There were evil Passions ; there 
 were a great many species of Cares ; there were more 
 than a hundred and fifty Sorrows ; there were Dis 
 eases, in a vast number of miserable and painful 
 shapes ; there were more kinds of Naughtiness than it 
 would be of any use to talk about. In short, every 
 thing that has since afflicted the souls and bodies of 
 mankind had been shut up in the mysterious box, and 
 given to Epimetheus and Pandora to be kept safely, 
 in order that the happy children of the world might 
 never be molested by them. Had they been faithful 
 
96 THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN-. 
 
 to their trust, all would have gone well. No grown 
 person would ever have been sad, nor any child have 
 had cause to shed a single tear, from that hour until 
 this moment. 
 
 But and you may see by this how a wrong act of 
 any one mortal is a calamity to the whole world by 
 Pandora s lifting the lid of that miserable box, and by 
 the fault of Epimetheus, too, in not preventing her, 
 these Troubles have obtained a foothold among us, 
 and do not seem very likely to be driven away in a 
 hurry. For it was impossible, as you will easily guess, 
 that the two children should keep the ugly swarm in 
 their own little cottage. On the contrary, the first 
 thing that they did was to fling open the doors and 
 windows, in hopes of getting rid of them ; and, sure 
 enough, away flew the winged Troubles all abroad, 
 and so pestered and tormented the small people, every 
 where about, that none of them so much as smiled for 
 many days afterwards. And, what was very singular, 
 all the flowers and dewy blossoms on earth, not one of 
 which had hitherto faded, now began to droop and 
 shed their leaves, after a day or two. The children, 
 moreover, who before seemed immortal in their child 
 hood, now grew older, day by day, and came soon to 
 be youths and maidens, and men and women by and 
 by, and aged people, before they dreamed of such a 
 thing. 
 
 Meanwhile, the naughty Pandora, and hardly less 
 naughty Epimetheus, remained in their cottage. Both 
 of them had been grievously stung, and were in a good 
 deal of pain, which seemed the more intolerable to 
 them, because it was the very first pain that had ever 
 been felt since the world began. Of course, they were 
 entirely unaccustomed to it, and could have no idea 
 
THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 97 
 
 what it meant. Besides all this, they were in exceed 
 ingly bad humor, both with themselves and with one 
 another. In order to indulge it to the utmost, Epi- 
 metheus sat down sullenly in a corner with his back 
 towards Pandora ; while Pandora flung herself upon 
 the floor and rested her head on the fatal and abom 
 inable box. She was crying bitterly, and sobbing as 
 if her heart would break. 
 
 Suddenly there was a gentle little tap on the inside 
 of the lid. 
 
 " What can that be ? " cried Pandora, lifting her 
 head. 
 
 But either Epimetheus had not heard the tap, or 
 was too much out of humor to notice it. At any rate, 
 he made no answer. 
 
 " You are very unkind," said Pandora, sobbing 
 anew, " not to speak to me ! " 
 
 Again the tap ! It sounded like the tiny knuckles 
 of a fairy s hand, knocking lightly and playfully on 
 the inside of the box. 
 
 " Who are you ? " asked Pandora, with a little of 
 her former curiosity. " Who are you, inside of this 
 naughty box ? " 
 
 A sweet little voice spoke from within, 
 
 " Only lift the lid, and you shall see." 
 
 "No, no," answered Pandora, again beginning to 
 sob, " I have had enough of lifting the lid ! You are 
 inside of the box, naughty creature, and there you shall 
 stay ! There are plenty of your ugly brothers and 
 sisters already flying about the world. You need 
 never think that I shall be so foolish as to let you 
 out ! " 
 
 She looked towards Epimetheus, as she spoke, per 
 haps expecting that he would commend her for her 
 
 VOL. IV. 7 
 
98 THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 wisdom. But the sullen boy only muttered that she 
 was wise a little too late. 
 
 44 Ah," said the sweet little voice again, " you had 
 much better let me out. I am not like those naughty 
 creatures that have stings in their tails. They are no 
 brothers and sisters of mine, as you would see at once, 
 if you were only to get a glimpse of me. Come, come, 
 my pretty Pandora ! I am sure you will let me out ! " 
 
 And, indeed, there was a kind of cheerful witchery 
 in the tone, that made it almost impossible to refuse 
 anything which this little voice asked. Pandora s 
 heart had insensibly grown lighter, at every word that 
 came from within the box. Epimetheus, too, though 
 still in the corner, had turned half round, and seemed 
 to be in rather better spirits than before. 
 
 " My dear Epimetheus," cried Pandora, " have you 
 heard this little voice ? " 
 
 "Yes, to be sure I have," answered he, but in no 
 very good -humor as yet. " And what of it ? " 
 
 " Shall I lift the lid again ? " asked Pandora. 
 
 "Just as you please," said Epimetheus. "You have 
 done so much mischief already, that perhaps you may 
 as well do a little more. One other Trouble, in such 
 a swarm as you have set adrift about the world, can 
 make no very great difference." 
 
 "You might speak a little more kindly! " murmured 
 Pandora, wiping her eyes. 
 
 " Ah, naughty boy ! " cried the little voice within 
 the box, in an arch and laughing tone. " He knows 
 he is longing to see me. Come, my dear Pandora, 
 lift up the lid. I am in a great hurry to comfort you. 
 Only let me have some fresh air, and you shall soon 
 see that matters are not quite so dismal as you think 
 them ! " 
 
THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 99 
 
 " Epimetheus," exclaimed Pandora, " come what 
 may, I am resolved to open the box ! " 
 
 " And, as the lid seems very heavy," cried Epime 
 theus, running across the room, " I will help you ! " 
 
 So, with one consent, the two children again lifted 
 the lid. Out flew a sunny and smiling little person 
 age, and hovered about the room, throwing a light 
 wherever she went. Have you never made the sun 
 shine dance into dark corners, by reflecting it from 
 a bit of looking-glass ? Well, so looked the winged 
 cheerfulness of this fairy-like stranger, amid the gloom 
 of the cottage. She flew to Epimetheus, and laid the 
 least touch of her finger on the inflamed spot where 
 the Trouble had stung him, and immediately the an 
 guish of it was gone. Then she kissed Pandora on 
 the forehead, and her hurt was cured likewise. 
 
 After performing these good offices, the bright 
 stranger fluttered sportively over the children s heads, 
 and looked so sweetly at them, that they both began 
 to think it not so very much amiss to have opened the 
 box, since, otherwise, their cheery guest must have 
 been kept a prisoner among those naughty imps with 
 stings in their tails. 
 
 " Pray, who are you, beautiful creature ? " inquired 
 Pandora. 
 
 " I am to be called Hope ! " answered the sunshiny 
 figure. " And because I am such a cheery little body, 
 I was packed into the box, to make amends to the hu 
 man race for that swarm of ugly Troubles, which was 
 destined to be let loose among them. Never fear ! we 
 shall do pretty well in spite of them all." 
 
 " Your wings are colored like the rainbow ! " ex 
 claimed Pandora. " How very beautiful ! " 
 
 " Yes, they are like the rainbow," said Hope, " be- 
 
100 THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 cause, glad as my nature is, I am partly made of tears 
 as well as smiles." 
 
 " And will you stay with us," asked Epimetheus, 
 " forever and ever ? " 
 
 " As long as you need me," said Hope, with her 
 pleasant smile, "and that will be as long as yc L . 
 live in the world, I promise never to desert you. 
 There may come times and seasons, now and then, 
 \ r hen you will think that I have utterly vanished. 
 But again, and again, and again, when perhaps you 
 least dream of it, you shall see the glimmer of my 
 wings on the ceiling of your cottage. Yes, my dear 
 children, and I know something very good and beauti 
 ful that is to be given you hereafter ! " 
 
 " Oh tell us," they exclaimed, " tell us what it 
 is!" 
 
 " Do not ask me," replied Hope, putting her finger 
 on her rosy mouth. " But do not despair, even if it 
 should never happen while you live on this earth. 
 Trust in my promise, for it is true." 
 
 " We do trust you ! " cried Epimetheus and Pan 
 dora, both in one breath. 
 
 And so they did ; and not only they, but so has 
 everybody trusted Hope, that has since been alive. 
 And to tell you the truth, I cannot help being glad 
 (though, to be sure, it was an uncommonly naughty 
 thing for her to do) but I cannot help being glad 
 that our foolish Pandora peeped into the box. No 
 doubt no doubt the Troubles are still flying about 
 the world, and have increased in multitude, rather 
 than lessened, and are a very ugly set of imps, and 
 carry most venomous stings in their tails. I have felt 
 them already, and expect to feel them more, as I grow 
 older. But then that lovely and lightsome little figure 
 
THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN. 101 
 
 of Hope! What in the world could we do without 
 her? Hope spiritualizes the earth; Hope makes it 
 always new ; and, even in the earth s best and brightest 
 aspect, Hope shows it to be only the shadow of an in 
 finite bliss hereafter ! 
 
TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM. 
 
 AFTER THE STORY. 
 
 " PKIMROSE," asked Eustace, pinching her ear, 
 " how do you like my little Pandora ? Don t you 
 think her the exact picture of yourself? But you 
 would not have hesitated half so long about opening 
 the box." 
 
 " Then I should have been well punished for my 
 naughtiness," retorted Primrose, smartly ; " for the 
 first thing to pop out, after the lid was lifted, would 
 have been Mr. Eustace Bright, in the shape of a 
 Trouble." 
 
 " Cousin Eustace," said Sweet Fern, " did the box 
 hold all the Double that has ever come into the 
 world?" 
 
 " Every mite of it ! " answered Eustace. " This 
 very snow-storm, which has spoiled my skating, was 
 packed up there." 
 
 " And how big was the box ? " asked Sweet Fern. 
 
 " Why, perhaps three feet long," said Eustace, 
 " two feet wide, and two feet and a half high." 
 
 " Ah," said the child, " you are making fun of me, 
 Cousin Eustace ! I know there is not trouble enough 
 in the world to fill such a great box as that. As for 
 the snow-storm, it is no trouble at all, but a pleasure ; 
 so it could not have been in the box." 
 
 " Hear the child ! " cried Primrose, with an air of 
 superiority. " How little he knows about the troubles 
 
TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM. 103 
 
 of this world ! Poor fellow ! He will be wiser when 
 he has seen as much of life as I have." 
 
 So saying, she began to skip the rope. 
 
 Meantime, the day was drawing towards its close. 
 Out of doors the scene certainly looked dreary. There 
 was a gray drift, far and wide, through the gathering 
 twilight ; the earth was as pathless as the air ; and the 
 bank of snow over the steps of the porch proved that 
 nobody had entered or gone out for a good many 
 hours past. Had there been only one child at the 
 window of Tanglewood, gazing at this wintry prospect, 
 it would perhaps have made him sad. But half a 
 dozen children together, though they cannot quite 
 turn the world into a paradise, may defy old Winter 
 and all his storms to put them out of spirits. Eustace 
 Bright, moreover, on the spur of the moment, invented 
 several new kinds of play, which kept them all in a 
 roar of merriment till bedtime, and served for the 
 next stormy day besides. 
 
THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 
 
 TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY TO " THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES." 
 
 THE snow-storm lasted another day ; but what be^ 
 came of it afterwards, I cannot possibly imagine. At 
 any rate, it entirely cleared away during the night ; 
 and when the sun arose the next morning, it shone 
 brightly down on as bleak a tract of hill-country, here 
 in Berkshire, as could be seen anywhere in the world. 
 The frost-work had so covered the window-panes that 
 it was hardly possible to get a glimpse at the scenery 
 outside. But, while waiting for breakfast, the small 
 populace of Tangiewood had scratched peep-holes with 
 their finger-nails, and saw with vast delight that 
 unless it were one or two bare patches on a precipitous 
 hill-side, or the gray effect of the snow, intermingled 
 with the black pine forest all nature was as white 
 as a sheet. How exceedingly pleasant ! And, to 
 make it all the better, it was cold enough to nip one s 
 nose short off! If people have but life enough in 
 them to bear it, there is nothing that so raises the 
 spirits, and makes the blood ripple and dance so 
 nimbly, like a brook down the slope of a hill, as a 
 bright, hard frost. 
 
 No sooner was breakfast over, than the whole party, 
 
TANGLE WOOD FIRESIDE. 105 
 
 well muffled in furs and woollens, floundered forth 
 into the midst of the snow. Well, what a day of 
 frosty sport was this! They slid down hill into the 
 valley, a hundred times, nobody knows how far ; and, 
 to make it all the merrier, upsetting their sledges, and 
 tumbling head over heels, quite as often as they came 
 safely to the bottom. And, once, Eustace Bright took 
 Periwinkle, Sweet Fern, and Squash-Blossom, on the 
 sledge with him, by way of insuring a safe passage; 
 and down they went, full speed. But, behold, half 
 way down, the sledge hit against a hidden stump, and 
 flung all four of its passengers into a heap ; and, on 
 gathering themselves up, there was no little Squash- 
 Blossom to be found ! Why, what could have become 
 of the child? And while they were wondering and 
 staring about, up started Squash-Blossom out of a 
 snow-bank, with the reddest face you ever saw, and 
 looking as if a large scarlet flower had suddenly 
 sprouted up in midwinter. Then there was a great 
 laugh. 
 
 When they had grown tired of sliding down hill, 
 Eustace set the children to digging a cave in the 
 biggest snow-drift that they could find. Unluckily, 
 just as it was completed, and the party had squeezed 
 themselves into the hollow, down came the roof upon 
 their heads, and buried every soul of them alive ! The 
 next moment, up popped all their little heads out of 
 the ruins, and the tall student s head in the midst of 
 them, looking hoary and venerable with the snow-dust 
 that had got amongst his brown curls. And then, to 
 punish Cousin Eustace for advising them to dig such 
 a tumble-down cavern, the children attacked him in a 
 body, and so bepelted him with snowballs that he was 
 fain to take to his heels. 
 
106 TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE. 
 
 So lie ran away, and went into the woods, and 
 thence to the margin of Shadow Brook, where he could 
 hear the streamlet grumbling along, under great over 
 hanging banks of snow and ice, which would scarcely 
 let it see the light of day. There were adamantine 
 icicles glittering around all its little cascades. Thence 
 he strolled to the shore of the lake, and beheld a 
 white, untrodden plain before him, stretching from his 
 own feet to the foot of Monument Mountain. And, 
 it being now almost sunset, Eustace thought that he 
 had never beheld anything so fresh and beautiful as 
 the scene. He was glad that the children were not 
 with him ; for their lively spirits and tumble-about 
 activity would quite have chased away his higher and 
 graver mood, so that he would merely have been 
 merry (as he had already been, the whole day long), 
 and would not have known the loveliness of the winter 
 sunset among the hills. 
 
 When the sun was fairly down, our friend Eustace 
 went home to eat his supper. After the meal was 
 over, he betook himself to the study, with a purpose, I 
 rather imagine, to write an ode, or two or three son 
 nets, or verses of some kind or other, in praise of the 
 purple and golden clouds which he had seen around 
 the setting sun. But, before he had hammered out 
 the very first rhyme, the door opened, and Primrose 
 and Periwinkle made their appearance. 
 
 " Go away, children ! I can t be troubled with you 
 now ! " cried the student, looking over his shoulder, 
 with the pen between his fingers. " What in the , 
 world do you want here ? I thought you were all in 
 bed ! " 
 
 " Hear him, Periwinkle, trying to talk like a grown 
 man ! " said Primrose. " And he seems to forget that 
 
TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE. 107 
 
 I am now thirteen years old, and may sit up almost as 
 late as I please. But, Cousin Eustace, you must put 
 off your airs, and come with us to the drawing-room. 
 The children have talked so much about your stories, 
 that my father wishes to hear one of them, in order 
 to judge whether they are likely to do any mischief." 
 
 " Poh, poh, Primrose ! " exclaimed the student, 
 rather vexed. " I don t believe I can tell one of my 
 stories in the presence of grown people. Besides, your 
 father is a classical scholar ; not that I am much afraid 
 of his scholarship, neither, for I doubt not it is as 
 rusty as an old case-knife by this time. But then h 
 will be sure to quarrel with the admirable nonsense 
 that I put into these stories, out of my own head, and 
 which makes the great charm of the matter for chil 
 dren, like yourself. No man of fifty, who has read 
 the classical myths in his youth, can possibly under 
 stand my merit as a reinventor and improver of 
 them." 
 
 " All this may be very true," said Primrose, " but 
 come you must ! My father will not open his book, 
 nor will mamma open the piano, till you have given us 
 some of your nonsense, as you very correctly call it. 
 So be a good boy, and come along." 
 
 Whatever he might pretend, the student was rather 
 glad than otherwise, on second thoughts, to catch at 
 the opportunity of proving to Mr. Pringle what an 
 excellent faculty he had in modernizing the myths of 
 ancient times. Until twenty years of age, a young 
 man may, indeed, be rather bashful about showing his 
 poetry and his prose ; but, for all that, he is pretty 
 apt to think that these very productions would place 
 him at the tiptop of literature, if once they could be 
 known. Accordingly, without much more resistance, 
 
108 TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE. 
 
 Eustace suffered Primrose and Periwinkle to drag him 
 into the drawing-room. 
 
 It was a large, handsome apartment, with a semicir 
 cular window at one end, in the recess of which stood a 
 marble copy of Greenough s Angel and Child. On one 
 side of the fireplace there were many shelves of books, 
 gravely but richly bound. The white light of the astral- 
 lamp, and the red glow of the bright coal-fire, made 
 the room brilliant and cheerful ; and before the fire, 
 in a deep arm-chair, sat Mr. Pringle, looking just fit 
 to be seated in such a chair, and in such a room. He 
 ^vas a tall and quite a handsome gentleman, with a 
 bald brow ; and was always so nicely dressed, that even 
 Eustace Bright never liked to enter his presence with 
 out at least pausing at the threshold to settle his shirt- 
 collar. But now, as Primrose had hold of one of his 
 hands, and Periwinkle of the other, he was forced to 
 make his appearance with a rough-and-tumble sort of 
 look, as if he had been rolling all day in a snow-bank. 
 And so he had. 
 
 Mr. Pringle turned towards the student benignly 
 enough, but in a way that made him feel how uncombed 
 and unbrushed he was, and how uncombed and un- 
 brushed, likewise, were his mind and thoughts. 
 
 " Eustace," said Mr. Pringle, with a smile, " I find 
 that you are producing a great sensation among the 
 little public of Tanglewood, by the exercise of your 
 gifts of narrative. Primrose here, as the little folks 
 choose to call her, and the rest of the children, have 
 been so loud in praise of your stories, that Mrs. Pringle 
 and myself are really curious to hear a specimen. It 
 would be so much the more gratifying to myself, as 
 the stories appear to be an attempt to render the fables 
 of classical antiquity into the idiom of modern fancy 
 
TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE. 109 
 
 and feeling-. At least, so I judge from a few of the 
 incidents which have come to me at second hand." 
 
 " You are not exactly the auditor that I should have 
 chosen, sir," oberved the student, " for fantasies of this 
 nature." 
 
 " Possibly not," replied Mr. Pringle. " I suspect, 
 however, that a young author s most useful critic is 
 precisely the one whom he would be least apt to choose. 
 Pray oblige me, therefore." 
 
 " Sympathy, methinks, should have some little share 
 in the critic s qualifications," murmured Eustace Bright. 
 " However, sir, if you will find patience, I will find 
 stories. But be kind enough to remember that I am 
 addressing myself to the imagination and sympathies 
 of the children, not to your own." 
 
 Accordingly, the student snatched hold of the first 
 theme which presented itself. It was suggested by a 
 plate of apples that he happened to spy on the mantel 
 piece. 
 
THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 
 
 DID you ever hear of the golden apples, that grew 
 in the garden of the Hesperides ? Ah, those were such 
 apples as would bring a great price, by the bushel, 
 if any of them could be found growing in the or 
 chards of nowadays ! But there is not, I suppose, a 
 graft of that wonderful fruit on a single tree in the 
 wide world. Not so much as a seed of those apples 
 exists any longer. 
 
 And, even in the old, old, half-forgotten times, be 
 fore the garden of the Hesperides was overrun with 
 weeds, a great many people doubted whether there 
 could be real trees that bore apples of solid gold upon 
 their branches. All had heard of them, but nobody 
 remembered to have seen any. Children, nevertheless, 
 used to listen, open-mouthed, to stories of the golden 
 apple-tree, and resolved to discover it, when they 
 should be big enough. Adventurous young men, who 
 desired to do a braver thing than any of their fellows, 
 set out in quest of this fruit. Many of them returned 
 no more ; none of them brought back the apples. No 
 wonder that they found it impossible to gather them ! 
 It is said that there was a dragon beneath the tree, 
 with a hundred terrible heads, fifty of which were al 
 ways on the watch, while the other fifty slept. 
 
 In my opinion it was hardly worth running so much 
 risk for the sake of a solid golden apple. Had the 
 apples been sweet, mellow, and juicy, indeed that 
 would be another matter. There might then have been 
 
THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. Ill 
 
 some sense in trying to get at them, in spite of the 
 hundred-headed dragon. 
 
 But, as I have already told you, it was quite a com 
 mon thing with young persons, when tired of too much 
 peace and rest, to go in search of the garden of the 
 Hesperides. And once the adventure was undertaken 
 by a hero who had enjoyed very little peace or rest 
 since he came into the world. At the time of which I 
 am going to speak, he was wandering through the pleas 
 ant land of Italy, with a mighty club in his hand, and 
 a bow and quiver slung across his shoulders. He was 
 wrapt in the skin of the biggest and fiercest lion that 
 ever had been seen, and which he himself had killed ; 
 and though, on the whole, he was kind, and generous, 
 and noble, there was a good deal of the lion s fierce 
 ness in his heart. As he went on his way, he contin 
 ually inquired whether that were the right road to the 
 famous garden. But none of the country people knew 
 anything about the matter, and many looked as if they 
 would have laughed at the question, if the stranger 
 had not carried so very big a club. 
 
 So he journeyed on and on, still making the same 
 inquiry, until, at last, he came to the brink of a river 
 where some beautiful young women sat twining wreaths 
 of flowers. 
 
 " Can you tell me, pretty maidens," asked the stran 
 ger, " whether this is the right way to the garden of 
 the Hesperides ? " 
 
 The young women had been having a fine time to 
 gether, weaving the flowers into wreaths, and crowning 
 one another s heads. And there seemed to be a kind 
 of magic in the touch of their fingers, that made the 
 flowers more fresh and dewy, and of brighter hues, and 
 sweeter fragrance, while they played with them, than 
 
112 THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 
 
 even when they had been growing on their native stems. 
 But, on hearing the stranger s question, they dropped 
 all their flowers on the grass, and gazed at him with 
 astonishment. 
 
 " The garden of the Hesperides ! cried one. " We 
 thought mortals had been weary of seeking it, after so 
 many disappointments. And pray, adventurous trav 
 eller, what do you want there ? " 
 
 " A certain king, who is my cousin," replied he, 
 " has ordered me to get him three of the golden ap 
 ples." 
 
 " Most of the young men who go in quest of these 
 apples," observed another of the damsels, " desire to 
 obtain them for themselves, or to present them to some 
 fair maiden whom they love. Do you, then, love this 
 king, your cousin, so very much ? " 
 
 " Perhaps not," replied the stranger, sighing. " He 
 has often been severe and cruel to me. But it -is my 
 destiny to obey him." 
 
 " And do you know," asked the damsel who had 
 first spoken, " that a terrible dragon, with a hundred 
 heads, keeps watch under the golden apple-tree ? " 
 
 " I know it well," answered the stranger, calmly. 
 " But, from my cradle upwards, it has been my busi 
 ness, and almost my pastime, to deal with serpents 
 and dragons." 
 
 The young women looked at his massive club, and 
 at the shaggy lion s skin which he wore, and likewise 
 at his heroic limbs and figure ; and they whispered to 
 each other that the stranger appeared to be one who 
 might reasonably expect to perform deeds far beyond 
 the might of other men. But, then, the dragon with a 
 hundred heads ! What mortal, even if he possessed a 
 hundred lives, could hope to escape the fangs of such 
 
THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 113 
 
 a monster ? So kind-hearted were the maidens, that 
 they could not bear to see this brave and handsome 
 traveller attempt what was so very dangerous, and de 
 vote himself, most probably, to become a meal for the 
 dragon s hundred ravenous mouths. 
 
 " Go back," cried they all, " go back to your own 
 home ! Your mother, beholding you safe and sound, 
 will shed tears of joy ; and what can she do more, 
 should you win ever so great a victory ? No matter 
 for the golden apples ! No matter for the king, your 
 cruel cousin ! We do not wish the dragon with the 
 hundred heads to eat you up ! " 
 
 The stranger seemed to grow impatient at these 
 remonstrances. He carelessly lifted his mighty club, 
 and let it fall upon a rock that lay half buried in the 
 earth, near by. With the force of that idle blow, the 
 great rock was shattered all to pieces. It cost the 
 stranger no more effort to achieve this feat of a giant s 
 strength than for one of the young maidens to touch 
 her sister s rosy cheek with a flower. 
 
 " Do you not believe," said he, looking at the dam 
 sels with a smile, " that such a blow would have 
 crashed one of the dragon s hundred heads ? " 
 
 Then he sat down on the grass, and told them the 
 story of his life, or as much of it as he could remem 
 ber, from the day when he was first cradled in a war 
 rior s brazen shield. While he lay there, two immense 
 serpents came gliding over the floor, and opened their 
 hideous jaws to devour him ; and he, a baby of a few 
 months old, had griped one of the fierce snakes in each 
 of his little fists, and strangled them to death. When 
 he was but a stripling, he had killed a huge lion, al 
 most as big as the one whose vast and shaggy hide he 
 now wore upon his shoulders. The next thing that he 
 
 VOL. IV. 8 
 
114 THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 
 
 had done was to fight a battle with an ugly sort of 
 monster, called a hydra, which had no less than nine 
 heads, and exceedingly sharp teeth in every one. 
 
 " But the dragon of the Hesperides, you know," 
 observed one of the damsels, " has a hundred heads ! " 
 
 " Nevertheless," replied the stranger, " I would 
 rather fight two such dragons than a single hydra. 
 For, as fast as I cut off a head, two others grew in its 
 place ; and, besides, there was one of the heads that 
 could not possibly be killed, but kept biting as fiercely 
 as ever, long after it was cut off. So I was forced to 
 bury it under a stone, where it is doubtless alive to 
 this very day. But the hydra s body, and its eight 
 other heads, will never do any further mischief." 
 
 The damsels, judging that the story was likely to 
 last a good while, had been preparing a repast of bread 
 and grapes, that the stranger might refresh himself in 
 the intervals of his talk. They took pleasure in help 
 ing him to this simple food ; and, now and then, one 
 of them would put a sweet grape between her rosy 
 lips, lest it should make him bashful to eat alone. 
 
 The traveller proceeded to tell how he had chased a 
 very swift stag, for a twelvemonth together, without 
 ever stopping to take breath, and had at last caught it 
 by the antlers, and carried it home alive. And he had 
 fought with a very odd race of people, half horses and 
 half men, and had put them all to death, from a sense 
 of duty, in order that their ugly figures might never 
 be seen any more. Besides all this, he took to him 
 self great credit for having cleaned out a stable. 
 
 " Do you call that a wonderful exploit ? " asked one 
 of the young maidens, with a smile. " Any clown in 
 the country has done as much ! " 
 
 " Had it been an ordinary stable," replied the stran- 
 
THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 115 
 
 ger, " I should not have mentioned it. But this was 
 so gigantic a task that it would have taken me all my 
 life to perform it, if I had not luckily thought of turn 
 ing the channel of a river through the stable-door. 
 That did the business in a very short time ! " 
 
 Seeing how earnestly his fair auditors listened, he 
 next told them how he had shot some monstrous birds, 
 and had caught a wild bull alive and let him go again, 
 and had tamed a number of very wild horses, and had 
 conquered Hippolyta, the warlike queen of the Ama 
 zons. He mentioned, likewise, that he had taken off 
 Hip poly ta s enchanted girdle, and had given it to the 
 daughter of his cousin, the king. 
 
 " Was it the girdle of Venus," inquired the prettiest 
 of the damsels, " which makes women beautiful ? " 
 
 "No," answered the stranger. "It had formerly 
 been the sword-belt of Mars ; and it can only make 
 the wearer valiant and courageous." 
 
 " An old sword-belt ! " cried the damsel, tossing her 
 head. " Then I should not care about having it ! " 
 
 " You are right," said the stranger. 
 
 Going on with his wonderful narrative, he informed 
 the maidens that as strange an adventure as ever hap 
 pened was when he fought with Geryon, the six-legged 
 man. This was a very odd and frightful sort of figure, 
 as you may well believe. Any person, looking at his 
 tracks in the sand or snow, would suppose that three 
 sociable companions had been walking along together. 
 On hearing his footsteps at a little distance, it was 
 no more than reasonable to judge that several people 
 must be coming. But it was only the strange man Ge 
 ryon clattering onward, with his six legs ! 
 
 Six legs, and one gigantic body ! Certainly, he 
 must have been a very queer monster to look at ; and, 
 my starr,. what a waste of shoe-leather ! 
 
116 THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 
 
 When the stranger had finished the story of his ad 
 ventures, he looked around at the attentive faces of 
 the maidens. 
 
 " Perhaps you may have heard of me before," said 
 he, modestly. " My name is Hercules ! " 
 
 " We had already guessed it," replied the maidens ; 
 " for your wonderful deeds are known all over the 
 world. We do not think it strange, any longer, that 
 you should set out in quest of the golden apples of the 
 Hesperides. Come, sisters, let us crown the hero with 
 flowers ! " 
 
 Then they flung beautiful wreaths over his stately 
 head and mighty shoulders, so that the lion s skin was 
 almost entirely covered with roses. They took posses 
 sion of his ponderous club, and so entwined it about 
 with the brightest, softest, and most fragrant blos 
 soms, that not a finger s breadth of its oaken sub 
 stance could be seen. It looked all like a huge bunch 
 of flowers. Lastly, they joined hands, and danced 
 around him, chanting words which became poetry of 
 their own accord, and grew into a choral song, in 
 honor of the illustrious Hercules. 
 
 And Hercules was rejoiced, as any other hero would 
 have been, to know that these fair young girls had 
 heard of the valiant deeds which it had cost him so 
 much toil and clanger to achieve. But, still, he was 
 not satisfied. He could not think that what he had 
 already done was worthy of so much honor, while 
 there remained any bold or difficult adventure to be 
 undertaken. 
 
 " Dear maidens," said he, when they paused to 
 take breath, " now that you know my name, will you 
 not tell me how I am to reach the garden of the Hes 
 perides ? " 
 
THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 117 
 
 u Ah ! must you go so soon ? " they exclaimed. 
 " You that have performed so many wonders, and 
 spent such a toilsome life cannot you content your 
 self to repose a little while on the margin of this 
 peaceful river ? " 
 
 Hercules shook his head. 
 
 " I must depart now," said he. 
 
 " We will then give you the best directions we can, * 
 replied the damsels. " You must go to the sea-shore, 
 and find out the Old One, and compel him to inform 
 you where the golden apples are to be found." 
 
 " The Old One ! " repeated Hercules, laughing at 
 this odd name. " And, pray, who may the Old One 
 be?" 
 
 " Why, the Old Man of the Sea, to be sure ! " an 
 swered one of the damsels. " He has fifty daughters, 
 whom some people call very beautiful ; but we do not 
 think it proper to be acquainted with them, because 
 they have sea-green hair, and taper away like fishes. 
 You must talk with this Old Man of the Sea. He is 
 a sea-faring person, and knows all about the garden 
 of the Hesperides ; for it is situated in an island which 
 he is often in the habit of visiting." 
 
 Hercules then asked whereabouts the Old One was 
 most likely to be met with. When the damsels had 
 informed him, he thanked them for all their kindness, 
 for the bread and grapes with which they had fed 
 him, the lovely flowers with which they had crowned 
 him, and the songs and dances wherewith they had 
 done him honor, and he thanked them, most of all, 
 for telling him the right way, and immediately set 
 forth upon his journey. 
 
 But, before he was out of hearing, one of the 
 maidens called after him. 
 
118 THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 
 
 " Keep fast hold of the Old One, when you catch 
 him ! " cried she, smiling, and lifting her finger to 
 make the caution more impressive. " Do not be as 
 tonished at anything that may happen. Only hold 
 him fast, and he will tell you what you wish to know." 
 
 Hercules again thanked her, and pursued his way, 
 while the maidens resumed their pleasant labor of 
 making flower-wreaths. They talked about the hero, 
 long after he was gone. 
 
 " We will crown him with the loveliest of our gar 
 lands," said they, " when he returns hither with the 
 three golden apples, after slaying the dragon with a 
 hundred heads." 
 
 Meanwhile, Hercules travelled constantly onward, 
 over hill and dale, and through the solitary woods. 
 Sometimes he swung his club aloft, and splintered a 
 mighty oak with a downright blow. His mind was so 
 full of the giants and monsters with whom it was the 
 business of his life to fight, that perhaps he mistook 
 the great tree for a giant or a monster. And so eager 
 was Hercules to achieve what he had undertaken, that 
 he almost regretted to have spent so much time with 
 the damsels, wasting idle breath upon the story of 
 his adventures. But thus it always is with persons 
 who are destined to perform great things. What they 
 have already done seems less than nothing. What 
 they have taken in hand to do seems worth toil, dan 
 ger, and life itself. 
 
 Persons who happened to be passing through the 
 forest must have been affrighted to see him smite the 
 trees with his great club. With but a single blow, 
 the trunk was riven as by the stroke of lightning, and 
 the broad boughs came rustling and crashing down. 
 
 Hastening forward, without ever pausing or looking 
 
THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 119 
 
 behind, he by and by heard the sea roaring at a dis 
 tance. At this sound, he increased his speed, and 
 soon came to a beach, where the great surf-waves tum 
 bled themselves upon the hard sand, in a long line of 
 snowy foam. At one end of the beach, however, there 
 was a pleasant spot, where some green shrubbery 
 clambered up a cliff, making its rocky face look soft 
 and beautiful. A carpet of verdant grass, largely in 
 termixed with sweet-smelling clover, covered the nar 
 row space between the bottom of the cliff and the sea. 
 And what should Hercules espy there, but an old man, 
 fast asleep ! 
 
 But was it really and truly an old man ? Certainly, 
 at first sight, it looked very like one ; but, on closer 
 inspection, it rather seemed to be some kind of a crea 
 ture that lived in the sea. For, on his legs and arms 
 there were scales, such as fishes have ; he was web- 
 footed and web-fingered, after the fashion of a duck ; 
 and his long beard, being of a greenish tinge, had more 
 the appearance of a tuft of sea-weed than of an ordi 
 nary beard. Have you never seen a stick of timber, 
 that has been long tossed about by the waves, and has 
 got all overgrown with barnacles, and, at last drifting 
 ashore, seems to have been thrown up from the very 
 deepest bottom of the sea. Well, the old man would 
 have put you in mind of just such a wave-tost spar ! 
 But Hercules, the instant he set eyes on this strange 
 figure, was convinced that it could be no other than 
 the Old One, who was to direct him on his way. 
 
 Yes, it was the selfsame Old Man of the Sea whom 
 the hospitable maidens had talked to him about. 
 Thanking his stars for the lucky accident of finding 
 the old fellow asleep, Hercules stole on tiptoe towards 
 him, and caught him by the arm and leg. 
 
120 THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 
 
 " Tell me," cried he, before the Old One was well 
 awake, " which is the way to the garden of the Hes- 
 perides ? " 
 
 As you may easily imagine, the Old Man of the 
 Sea awoke in a fright. But his astonishment could 
 hardly have been greater than was that of Hercules, 
 the next moment. For, all of a sudden, the Old One 
 seemed to disappear out of his grasp, and he found 
 himself holding a stag by the fore and hind leg ! But 
 still he kept fast hold. Then the stag disappeared, 
 and in its stead there was a sea-bird, fluttering and 
 screaming, while Hercules clutched it by the wing and 
 claw! But the bird 2ould not get away. Immedi 
 ately afterwards, there was an ugly three-headed dog, 
 which growled and barked at Hercules, and snapped 
 fiercely at the hands by which he held him ! But 
 Hercules would not let him go. In another minute, 
 instead of the three-headed dog, what should appear 
 but Geryon, the six-legged man-monster, kicking at 
 Hercules with five of his legs, in order to get the re 
 maining one at liberty ! But Hercules held on. By 
 and by, no Geryon was there, but a huge snake, like 
 one of those which Hercules had strangled in his baby 
 hood, only a hundred times as big ; and it twisted and 
 twined about the hero s neck and body, and threw its 
 tail high into the air, and opened its deadly jaws as if 
 to devour him outright ; so that it was really a very 
 terrible spectacle ! But Hercules was no whit dis 
 heartened, and squeezed the great snake so tightly 
 that he soon began to hiss with pain. 
 
 You must understand that the Old Man of the Sea, 
 though he generally looked so much like the wave- 
 beaten figure-head of a vessel, had the power of as 
 suming any shape he pleased. When he found himself 
 
THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 121 
 
 so roughly seized by Hercules, he had been in hopes of 
 putting him into such surprise and terror, by these 
 magical transformations, that the hero would be glad 
 to let him go. If Hercules had relaxed his grasp, the 
 Old One would certainly have plunged down to the 
 very bottom of the sea, whence he would not soon 
 have given himself the trouble of coming up, in order 
 to answer any impertinent questions. Ninety-nine 
 people out of a hundred, I suppose, would have been 
 frightened out of their wits by the very first of his 
 ugly shapes, and would have taken to their heels at 
 once. For, one of the hardest things in this world is, 
 to see the difference between real dangers and imagi 
 nary ones. 
 
 But, as Hercules held on so stubbornly, and only 
 squeezed the Old One so much the tighter at every 
 change of shape, and really put him to no small tor 
 ture, he finally thought it best to reappear in his own 
 figure. So there he was again, a fishy, scaly, web- 
 footed sort of personage, with something like a tuft of 
 sea-weed at his chin. 
 
 " Pray, what do you want with me ? " cried the Old 
 One, as soon as he could take breath ; for it is quite a 
 tiresome affair to go through so many false shapes. 
 " Why do you squeeze me so hard ? Let me go, this 
 moment, or I shall begin to consider you an extremely 
 uncivil person ! " 
 
 " My name is Hercules ! " roared the mighty 
 stranger. " And you will never get out of my clutch, 
 until you tell me the nearest way to the garden of the 
 Hesperides ! " 
 
 When the old fellow heard who it was that had 
 caught him, he saw, with half an eye, that it would be 
 necessary to tell him everything that he wanted to 
 
122 THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 
 
 know. The Old One was an inhabitant of the sea, 
 you must recollect, and roamed about everywhere, like 
 other sea -faring people. Of course, he had often 
 heard of the fame of Hercules, and of the wonderful 
 things that he was constantly performing, in various 
 parts of the earth, and how determined he always was 
 to accomplish whatever he undertook. He therefore 
 made no more attempts to escape, but told the hero 
 how to find the garden of the Hesperides, and like 
 wise warned him of many difficulties which must be 
 overcome, before he could arrive thither. 
 
 "You must go on, thus and thus," said the Old 
 Man of the Sea, after taking the points of the com 
 pass, " till you come in sight of a very tall giant, who 
 holds the sky on his shoulders. And the giant, if he 
 happens to be in the humor, will tell you exactly 
 where the garden of the Hesperides lies." 
 
 " And if the giant happens not to be in the hu 
 mor," remarked Hercules, balancing his club on the 
 tip of his finger, " perhaps I shall find means to per 
 suade him ! " 
 
 Thanking the Old Man of the Sea, and begging his 
 pardon for having squeezed him so roughly, the hero 
 resumed his journey. He met with a great many 
 strange adventures, which would be well worth your 
 hearing, if I had leisure to narrate them as minutely 
 as they deserve. 
 
 It was in this journey, if I mistake not, that he en 
 countered a prodigious giant, who was so wonderfully 
 contrived by nature, that, every time he touched the 
 earth, he became ten times as strong as ever he had 
 been before. His name was Antaeus. You may see, 
 plainly enough, that it was a very difficult business 
 to fight with such a fellow ; for, as often as he got a 
 
THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 1*23 
 
 knock-down blow, up he started again, stronger, fiercer, 
 and abler to use his weapons, than if his enemy had 
 let him alone. Thus, the harder Hercules pounded 
 the giant with his club, the further he seemed from 
 winning the victory. I have sometimes argued with 
 such people, but never fought with one. The only 
 way in which Hercules found it possible to finish the 
 battle, was by lifting Anta3us off his feet into the air, 
 and squeezing, and squeezing, and squeezing him, un 
 til, finally, the strength was quite squeezed out of his 
 enormous body. 
 
 When this affair was finished, Hercules continued 
 his travels, and went to the land of Egypt, where he 
 was taken prisoner, and would have been put to death, 
 if he had not slain the king of the country, and made 
 his escape. Passing through the deserts of Africa, 
 and going as fast as he could, he arrived at last on 
 the shore of the great ocean. And here, unless he 
 could walk on the crests of the billows, it seemed as 
 if his journey must needs be at an end. 
 
 Nothing was before him, save the foaming, dash 
 ing, measureless ocean. But, suddenly, as he looked 
 towards the horizon, he saw something, a great way 
 off, which he had not seen the moment before. It 
 gleamed very brightly, almost as you may have be 
 held the round, golden disk of the sun, when it rises 
 or sets over the edge of the world. It evidently drew 
 nearer ; for, at every instant, this wonderful object be 
 came larger and more lustrous. At length, it had 
 come so nigh that Hercules discovered it to be an im 
 mense cup or bowl, made either of gold or burnished 
 brass. How it had got afloat upon the sea is more 
 than I can tell you. There it was, at all events, rolling 
 on the tumultuous billows, which tossed it up and down, 
 
124 THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 
 
 and heaved their foamy tops against its sides, but with 
 out ever throwing their spray over the brim. 
 
 "I have seen many giants, in my time," thought 
 Hercules, " but never one that would need to drink 
 his wine out of a cup like this ! 
 
 And, true enough, what a cup it must have been ! 
 It was as large as large but, in short, I am afraid 
 to say how immeasurably large it was. To speak 
 within bounds, it was ten times larger than a great 
 mill-wheel ; and, all of metal as it was, it floated over 
 the heaving surges more lightly than an acorn-cup 
 ad own the brook. The waves tumbled it onward, 
 until it grazed against the shore, within a short dis 
 tance of the spot where Hercules was standing. 
 
 As soon as this happened, he knew what was to be 
 done ; for he had not gone through so many remark 
 able adventures without learning pretty well how to 
 conduct himself, whenever anything came to pass a 
 little out of the common rule. It was just as clear as 
 daylight that this marvellous cup had been set adrift 
 by some unseen power, and guided hitherward, in 
 order to carry Hercules across the sea, on his way to 
 the garden of the Hesperides. Accordingly, without 
 a moment s delay, he clambered over the brim, and 
 slid down on the inside, where, spreading out his lion s 
 skin, he proceeded to take a little repose. He had 
 scarcely rested, until now, since he bade farewell to 
 the damsels on the margin of the river. The waves 
 dashed, with a pleasant and ringing sound, against the 
 circumference of the hollow cup ; it rocked lightly to 
 and fro, and the motion was so soothing that it speed 
 ily rocked Hercules into an agreeable slumber. 
 
 His nap had probably lasted a good while, when 
 the cup chanced to graze against a rock, and, in con- 
 
THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 125 
 
 sequence, immediately resounded and reverberated 
 through its golden or brazen substance, a hundred 
 times as loudly as ever you heard a church-bell. The 
 noise awoke Hercules, who instantly started up and 
 gazed around him, wondering whereabouts he was. 
 He was not long in discovering that the cup had floated 
 across a great part of the sea, and was approaching 
 the shore of what seemed to be an island. And, on 
 that island, what do you think he saw ? 
 
 No ; you will never guess it, not if you were to try 
 fifty thousand times ! It positively appears to me 
 that this was the most marvellous spectacle that had 
 ever been seen by Hercules, in the whole course of his 
 wonderful travels and adventures. It was a greater 
 marvel than the hydra with nine heads, which kept 
 growing twice as fast as they were cut off ; greater 
 than the six-legged man-monster ; greater than An 
 taeus ; greater than anything that was ever beheld by 
 anybody, before or since the days of Hercules, or than 
 anything that remains to be beheld, by travellers in 
 all time to come. It was a giant I 
 
 But such an intolerably big giant ! A giant as tall 
 as a mountain ; so vast a giant, that the clouds rested 
 about his midst, like a girdle, and hung like a hoary 
 beard from his chin, and flitted before his huge eyes, 
 so that he could neither see Hercules nor the golden 
 cup in which he was voyaging. And, most wonderful 
 of all, the giant held up his great hands and appeared 
 to support the sky, which, so far as Hercules could 
 discern through the clouds, was resting upon his head ! 
 This does really seem almost too much to believe. 
 
 Meanwhile, the bright cup continued to float on 
 ward, and finally touched the strand. Just then a 
 breeze wafted away the clouds from before the giant s 
 
126 THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 
 
 visasre. and Hercules beheld it. with all its enormons 
 features : eyes each of them as big as yonder lake, a 
 nose a mile long, and a mouth of the same width. It 
 was a countenance terrible from its enormity of size, 
 but disconsolate and weary, even as you may see the 
 faces of many people, nowadays, who are compelled to 
 sustain burdens above their strength. What the sky 
 was to the giant, such are the cares of earth to those 
 who let themselves be weighed down by them. And 
 whenever men undertake what is beyond the just meas 
 ure of their abilities, they encounter precisely such a 
 doom as had befallen this poor giant. 
 
 Poor fellow ! He had evidently stood there a long 
 while. An ancient forest had been growing and decay 
 ing around his feet ; and oak-trees, of six or seven 
 centuries oil. had sprung from the acorn, and forced 
 themselves between his toes. 
 
 The giant now looked down from the far height of 
 his great eyes. and. perceiving Hercules, roared out. in 
 a voice that resembled thunder, proceeding out of the 
 cloud that had just flitted away from his face. 
 
 Who are you. down at my feet there ? And 
 whence do you come, in that little cup ? " 
 
 I am Hercules ! " thundered back the hero, in a 
 voice pretty nearly or quite as loud as the giant s own. 
 
 And I am seeking for the garden of the Hesper- 
 i t 
 ides . 
 
 Ho ! ho ! ho ! " roared the giant, in a fit of im 
 mense laughter. That is a wise adventure, truly ! " 
 
 And why not ? " cried Hercules, getting a little 
 anjrry at the giant s mirth. Do you think I am 
 afraid of the dragon with a hundred heads ! " 
 
 Just at this time, while they were talking together, 
 some black clouds gathered about the giant s middle, 
 
THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 127 
 
 and burst into a tremendous storm of thunder and 
 lightning, causing such a pother that Hercules found 
 it impossible to distinguish a word. Only the giant s 
 immeasurable legs were to be seen, standing up into 
 the obscurity of the tempest ; and, now and then, a 
 momentary glimpse of his whole figure, mantled in a 
 volume of mist. He seemed to be speaking, most of 
 the time ; but his big, deep, rough voice chimed in 
 with the reverberations of the thunder-claps, and rolled 
 away over the hills, like them. Thus, by talking out 
 of season, the foolish giant expended an incalculable 
 quantity of breath, to no purpose ; for the thunder 
 spoke quite as intelligibly as he. 
 
 At last, the storm swept over, as suddenly as it had 
 come. And there again was the clear sky, and the 
 weary giant holding it up, and the pleasant sunshine 
 beaming over his vast height, and illuminating it 
 against the background of the sullen thunder-clouds. 
 So far above the shower had been his head, that not a 
 hair of it was moistened by the rain-drops ! 
 
 When the giant could see Hercules still standing on 
 the sea-shore, he roared out to him anew. 
 
 " I am Atlas, the mightiest giant in the world ! 
 And I hold the sky upon my head ! " 
 
 " So I see," answered Hercules. " But, can you 
 show me the way to the garden of the Hesperides ? " 
 
 " What do you want there ? " asked the giant. 
 
 " I want three of the golden apples," shouted Her 
 cules, "for my cousin, the king." 
 
 " There is nobody but myself," quoth the giant, 
 " that can go to the garden of the Hesperides, and 
 gather the golden apples. If it were not for this lit 
 tle business of holding up the sky, I would make half 
 a dozen steps across the sea, and get them for you." 
 
128 THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 
 
 " You are very kind," replied Hercules. " And 
 cannot you rest the sky upon a mountain ? " 
 
 " None of them are quite high enough," said Atlas, 
 shaking his head. " But, if you were to take your 
 stand on the summit of that nearest one, your head 
 would be pretty nearly on a level with mine. You 
 seem to be a fellow of some strength. What if you 
 should take my burden on your shoulders, while I do 
 your errand for you ? " 
 
 Hercules, as you must be careful to remember, was 
 a remarkably strong man ; and though it certainly re 
 quires a great deal of muscular power to uphold the 
 sky, yet, if any mortal could be supposed capable of 
 such an exploit, he was the one. Nevertheless, it 
 seemed so difficult an undertaking, that, for the first 
 time in his life, he hesitated. 
 
 " Is the sky very heavy ? " he inquired. 
 
 " Why, not particularly so, at first," answered the 
 giant, shrugging his shoulders. u But it gets to be a 
 little burdensome, after a thousand years ! " 
 
 " And how long a time," asked the hero, " will it 
 take you to get the golden apples? " 
 
 " Oh, that will be done in a few moments," cried 
 Atlas. " I shall take ten or fifteen miles at a stride, 
 and be at the garden and back again before your 
 shoulders begin to ache." 
 
 " Well, then," answered Hercules, " I will climb 
 the mountain behind you there, and relieve you of your 
 burden." 
 
 The truth is, Hercules had a kind heart of his own, 
 and considered that he should be doing the giant a 
 favor, by allowing him this opportunity for a ramble. 
 And, besides, he thought that it would be still more 
 for his own glory, if he could boast of upholding the 
 
THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 129 
 
 sky, than merely to do so ordinary a thing as to con 
 quer a dragon with a hundred heads. Accordingly, 
 without more words, the sky was shifted from the 
 shoulders of Atlas, and placed upon those of Her 
 cules. 
 
 When this was safely accomplished, the first thing 
 that the giant did was to stretch himself; and you 
 may imagine what a prodigious spectacle he was then. 
 Next, he slowly lifted one of his feet out of the forest 
 that had grown up around it ; then, the other. Then, 
 all at once, he began to caper, and leap, and dance, 
 for joy at his freedom ; flinging himself nobody knows 
 how high into the air, and floundering down again 
 with a shock that made the earth tremble. Then he 
 laughed Ho ! ho ! ho ! with a thunderous roar that 
 was echoed from the mountains, far and near, as if 
 they and the giant had been so many rejoicing brothers. 
 When his joy had a little subsided, he stepped into 
 the sea ; ten miles at the first stride, which brought 
 him midleg deep ; and ten miles at the second, when 
 the water came just above his knees ; and ten miles 
 more at the third, by which he was immersed nearly 
 to his waist. This was the greatest depth of the sea. 
 
 Hercules watched the giant, as he still went onward; 
 for it was really a wonderful sight, this immense hu 
 man form, more than thirty miles off, half hidden in 
 the ocean, but with his upper half as tall, and misty, 
 and blue, as a distant mountain. At last the gigantic 
 shape faded entirely out of view. And now Hercules 
 began to consider what he should do, in case Atlas 
 should be drowned in the sea, or if he were to be stung 
 to death by the dragon with the hundred heads, which 
 guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides. If any 
 such misfortune were to happen, how could he ever 
 
130 THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 
 
 get rid of the sky ? And, by the by, its weight began 
 already to be a little irksome to his head and shoul 
 ders. 
 
 " I really pity the poor giant," thought Hercules. 
 " If it wearies me so much in ten minutes, how must it 
 have wearied him in a thousand years ! " 
 
 my sweet little people, you have no idea what a 
 weight there was in that same blue sky, which looks 
 so soft and aerial above our heads ! And there, too, 
 was the bluster of the wind, and the chill and watery 
 clouds, and the blazing sun, all taking their turns to 
 make Hercules uncomfortable ! He began to be afraid 
 that the giant would never come back. He gazed 
 wistfully at the world beneath him, and acknowledged 
 to himself that it was a far happier kind of life to be 
 a shepherd at the foot of a mountain, than to stand on 
 its dizzy summit, and bear up the firmament with his 
 might and main. For, of course, as you will easily 
 understand, Hercules had an immense responsibility 
 on his mind, as well as a weight on his head and 
 shoulders. Why, if he did not stand perfectly still, 
 and keep the sky immovable, the sun would perhaps 
 be put ajar ! Or, after nightfall, a great many of the 
 stars might be loosened from their places, and shower 
 down, like fiery rain, upon the people s heads ! And 
 how ashamed would the hero be, if, owing to his un 
 steadiness beneath its weight, the sky should crack, 
 and show a great fissure quite across it ! 
 
 1 know not how long it was before, to his unspeak 
 able joy, he beheld the huge shape of the giant, like a 
 cloud, on the far-off edge of the sea. At his nearer 
 approach, Atlas held up his hand, in which Hercules 
 could perceive three magnificent golden apples, as big 
 as pumpkins, all hanging from one branch. 
 
THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 131 
 
 "lam glad to see you again," shouted Hercules, 
 when the giant was within hearing. " So you- have 
 got the golden apples ? " 
 
 " Certainly, certainly," answered Atlas ; " and very 
 fair apples they are. I took the finest that grew on 
 the tree, I assure you. Ah ! it is a beautiful spot, 
 that garden of the Hesperides. Yes ; and the dragon 
 with a hundred heads is a sight worth any man s see 
 ing. After all, you had better have gone for the ap 
 ples yourself." 
 
 " No matter," replied Hercules. " You have had a 
 pleasant ramble, and have done the business as well as 
 I could. I heartily thank you for your trouble. And 
 now, as I have a long way to go, and am rather in 
 haste, and as the king, my cousin, is anxious to re 
 ceive the golden apples, will you be kind enough to 
 take the sky off my shoulders again ? " 
 
 "Why, as to that," said the giant, chucking the 
 golden apples into the air twenty miles high, or there 
 abouts and catching them as they came down, " as 
 to that, my good friend, I consider you a little un 
 reasonable. Cannot I carry the golden apples to the 
 king, your cousin, much quicker than you could ? As 
 his majesty is in such a hurry to get them, I promise 
 you to take my longest strides. And, besides, I have 
 no fancy for burdening myself with the sky, just 
 now." 
 
 Here Hercules grew impatient, and gave a great 
 shrug of his shoulders. It being now twilight, you 
 might have seen two or three stars tumble out of their 
 places. Everybody on earth looked upward in af 
 fright, thinking that .the sky might be going to fall 
 next. 
 
 " Oh, that will never do ! " cried Giant Atlas, with 
 
132 THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 
 
 a great roar of laughter. " I have not let fall so many 
 stars within the last five centuries. By the time you 
 have stood there as long as I did, you will begin to 
 learn patience ! " 
 
 " What ! " shouted Hercules, very wrathfully, " do 
 you intend to make me bear this burden forever ? " 
 
 " We will see about that, one of these days," an 
 swered the giant. " At all events, you ought not to 
 complain, if you have to bear it the next hundred 
 years, or perhaps the next thousand. I bore it a good 
 while longer, in spite of the back-ache. Well, then, 
 after a thousand years, if I happen to feel in the mood, 
 we may possibly shift about again. You are certainly 
 a very strong man, and can never have a better op 
 portunity to prove it. Posterity will talk of you, I 
 warrant it ! " 
 
 " Pish ! a fig for its talk ! " cried Hercules, with an 
 other hitch of his shoulders. " Just take the sky upon 
 your head one instant, will you ? I want to make a 
 cushion of my lion s skin, for the weight to rest upon. 
 It really chafes me, and will cause unnecessary incon 
 venience in so many centuries as I am to stand here." 
 
 " That s no more than fair, and I 11 do it ! " quoth 
 the giant ; for he had no unkind feeling towards Her 
 cules, and was merely acting with a too selfish consid 
 eration of his own ease. " For just five minutes, 
 then, I 11 take back the sky. Only for five minutes, 
 recollect ! I have no idea of spending another thou 
 sand years as I spent the last. Variety is the spice of 
 life, say I." 
 
 Ah, the thick-witted old rogue of a giant ! He 
 threw down the golden apples, and received back the 
 sky, from the head and shoulders of Hercules, upon 
 his own, where it rightly belonged. And Herculea 
 
THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES. 133 
 
 picked up the three golden apples, that were as big or 
 bigger than pumpkins, and straightway set out on his 
 journey homeward, without paying the slightest heed 
 to the thundering tones of the giant, who bellowed after 
 him to come back. Another forest sprang up around 
 his feet, and grew ancient there ; and again might be 
 seen oak-trees, of six or seven centuries old, that had 
 waxed thus aged betwixt his enormous toes. 
 
 And there stands the giant to this day ; or, at any 
 rate, there stands a mountain as tall as he, and which 
 bears his name ; and when the thunder rumbles about 
 its summit, we may imagine it to be the voice of Giant 
 Atlas, bellowing after Hercules ! 
 
TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE. 
 
 AFTER THE STORY. 
 
 " COUSIN EUSTACE," demanded Sweet Fern, who 
 had been sitting at the story-teller s feet, with his 
 mouth wide open, " exactly how tall was this giant? " 
 
 " O Sweet Fern, Sweet Fern ! " cried the student. 
 " do you think I was there, to measure him with a 
 yard-stick? Well, if you must know to a hair s- 
 breadth, I suppose he might be from three to fifteen 
 miles straight upward, and that he might have seated 
 himself on Taconic, and had Monument Mountain for 
 a footstool." 
 
 " Dear me ! " ejaculated the good little boy, with a 
 contented sort of a grunt, "that was a giant, sure 
 enough I And how long was his little finger? " 
 
 "As long as from Tanglewood to the lake," said 
 Eustace. 
 
 44 Sure enough, that was a giant ! " repeated Sweet 
 Fern, in an ecstasy at the precision of these measure 
 ments. " And how broad, I wonder, were the shoul 
 ders of Hercules? " 
 
 " That is what I have never been able to find out," 
 answered the student. " But I think they must have 
 been a great deal broader than mine, or than your 
 father s, or than almost any shoulders which one sees 
 nowadays." 
 
 " I wish," whispered Sweet Fern, with his mouth 
 close to the student s ear, "that you would tell me 
 
TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE. 135 
 
 how big were some of the oak-trees that grew between 
 the giant s toes." 
 
 " They were bigger," said Eustace, " than the great 
 chestnut-tree which stands beyond Captain Smith s 
 house." 
 
 " Eustace," remarked Mr. Pringle, after some de 
 liberation, " I find it impossible to express such an 
 opinion of this story as will be likely to gratify, in the 
 smallest degree, your pride of authorship. Pray let 
 me advise you never more to meddle with a classical 
 myth. Your imagination is altogether Gothic, and 
 will inevitably Gothicize everything that you touch. 
 The effect is like bedaubing a marble statue with 
 paint. This giant, now ! How can you have ven 
 tured to thrust his huge, disproportioned mass among 
 the seemly outlines of Grecian fable, the tendency of 
 which is to reduce even the extravagant within limits, 
 by its pervading elegance ? " 
 
 " I described the giant as he appeared to me," re 
 plied the student, rather piqued. " And, sir, if you 
 would only bring your mind into such a relation with 
 these fables as is necessary in order to remodel them, 
 you would see at once that an old Greek had no more 
 exclusive right to them than a modern Yankee has. 
 They are the common property of the world, and of 
 all time. The ancient poets remodelled them at 
 pleasure, and held them plastic in their hands ; and 
 why should they not be plastic in my hands as well ? " 
 
 Mr. Pringle could not forbear a smile. 
 
 " And besides," continued Eustace, " the moment 
 you put any warmth of heart, any passion or affection, 
 any human or divine morality, into a classic mould, 
 you make it quite another thing from what it was be 
 fore. My own opinion is, that the Greeks, by taking 
 
136 TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE. 
 
 possession of these legends (which were the immemo 
 rial birthright of mankind), and putting them into 
 shapes of indestructible beauty, indeed, but cold and 
 heartless, have done all subsequent ages an incalcu 
 lable injury." 
 
 " Which you, doubtless, were born to remedy," said 
 Mr. Pringle, laughing outright. " Well, well, go on ; 
 but take my advice, and never put any of your traves 
 ties on paper. And, as your next effort, what if you 
 should try your hand on some one of the legends of 
 Apollo?" 
 
 " Ah, sir, you propose it as an impossibility," ob 
 served the student, after a moment s meditation ; 
 " and, to be sure, at first thought, the idea of a Gothic 
 Apollo strikes one rather ludicrously. But I will turn 
 over your suggestion in my mind, and do not quite 
 despair of success." 
 
 During the above discussion, the children (who un 
 derstood not a word of it) had grown very sleepy, and 
 were now sent off to bed. Their drowsy babble was 
 heard, ascending the staircase, while a northwest-wind 
 roared loudly among the tree-tops of Tanglewood, and 
 played an anthem around the house. Eustace Bright 
 went back to the study, and again endeavored to ham 
 mer out some verses, but fell asleep between two of 
 the rhymes. 
 
THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 
 
 THE HILL-SIDE. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY TO "THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER." 
 
 AND when, and where, do you think we find the 
 children next ? No longer in the winter-time, but in 
 the merry month of May. No longer in Tanglewood 
 play-room, or at Tanglewood fireside, but more than 
 half-way up a monstrous hill, or a mountain, as per 
 haps it would be better pleased to have us call it. 
 They had set out from home with the mighty purpose 
 of climbing this high hill, even to the very tiptop of 
 its bald head. To be sure, it was not quite so high as 
 Chimborazo, or Mont Blanc, and was even a good 
 deal lower than old Graylock. But, at any rate, it 
 was higher than a thousand ant-hillocks, or a million 
 of mole-hills ; and, when measured by the short strides 
 of little children, might be reckoned a very respectable 
 mountain. 
 
 , And was Cousin Eustace with the party ? Of that 
 you may be certain ; else how could the book go on a 
 step further ? He was now in the middle of the spring 
 vacation, and looked pretty much as we saw him four 
 or five months ago, except that, if you gazed quite 
 closely at his upper lip, you could discern the funniest 
 little bit of a mustache upon it. Setting aside this 
 
138 THE HILL-SIDE. 
 
 mark of mature manhood, you might have considered 
 Cousin Eustace just as much a boy as when you first 
 became acquainted with him. He was as merry, as 
 playful, as good-humored, as light of foot and of spir 
 its, and equally a favorite with the little folks, as he 
 had always been. This expedition up the mountain 
 was entirely of his contrivance. All the way up the 
 steep ascent, he had encouraged the elder children 
 with his cheerful voice ; and when Dandelion, Cow 
 slip, and Squash-Blossom grew weary, he had lugged 
 them along, alternately, on his back. In this manner, 
 they had passed through the orchards and pastures on 
 the lower part of the hill, and had readied the wood, 
 which extends thence towards its bare summit. 
 
 The month of May, thus far, had been more amia 
 ble than it often is, and this was as sweet and genial 
 a day as the heart of man or child could wish. In 
 their progress up the hill, the small people had found 
 enough of violets, blue and white, and some that were 
 as golden as if they had the touch of Midas on them. 
 That sociablest of flowers, the little Houstonia, was 
 very abundant. It is a flower that never lives alone, 
 but which loves its own kind, and is always fond of 
 dwelling with a great many friends and relatives 
 around it. Sometimes you see a family of them, cov 
 ering a space no bigger than the palm of your hand ; 
 and sometimes a large community, whitening a whole 
 tract of pasture, and all keeping one another in cheer 
 ful heart and life. 
 
 Within the verge of the wood there were colum 
 bines, looking more pale than red, because they were 
 so modest, and had thought proper to seclude them, 
 selves too anxiously from the sun. There were wild 
 geraniums, too, and a thousand white blossoms of the 
 
THE HILL-SIDE. 139 
 
 strawberry. The trailing arbutus was not yet quite 
 out of bloom ; but it hid its precious flowers under the 
 last year s withered forest-leaves, as carefully as a 
 mother-bird hides its little young ones. It knew, I 
 suppose, how beautiful and sweet-scented they were. 
 So cunning was their concealment, that the children 
 sometimes smelt the delicate richness of their perfume 
 before they knew whence it proceeded. 
 
 Amid so much new life, it was strange and truly 
 pitiful to behold, here and there, in the fields and 
 pastures, the hoary periwigs of dandelions that had 
 already gone to seed. They had done with summer 
 before the summer came. Within those small globes 
 of winged seeds it was autumn now ! 
 
 Well, but we must not waste our valuable pages 
 with any more talk about the spring-time and wild 
 flowers. There is something, we hope, more interest 
 ing to be talked about. If you look at the group of 
 children, you may see them all gathered around Eus 
 tace Bright, who, sitting on the stump of a tree, seems 
 to be just beginning a story. The fact is, the younger 
 part of the troop have found out that it takes rather 
 too many of their short strides to measure the long as 
 cent of the hill. Cousin Eustace, therefore, has de 
 cided to leave Sweet Fern, Cowslip, Squash-Blossom, 
 and Dandelion, at this point, midway up, until the re 
 turn of the rest of the party from the summit. And 
 because they complain a little, and do not quite like to 
 stay behind, he gives them some apples out of his 
 pocket, and proposes to tell them a very pretty story. 
 Hereupon they brighten up, and change their grieved 
 looks into the broadest kind of smiles. 
 
 As for the story, I was there to hear it, hidden be 
 hind a bush, and shall tell it over to you in the pages 
 that come next. 
 
THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 
 
 ONE evening, in times long- ago, old Philemon and 
 his old wife Baucis sat at their cottage-door, enjoying 
 the calm and beautiful sunset. They had already 
 eaten their frugal supper, and intended now to spend 
 a quiet hour or two before bedtime. So they talked 
 together about their garden, and their cow, and their 
 bees, and their grapevine, which clambered over the 
 cottage-wall, and on which the grapes were beginning 
 to turn purple. But the rude shouts of children, and 
 the fierce barking of dogs, in the village near at hand, 
 grew louder and louder, until, at last, it was hardly 
 possible for Baucis and Philemon to hear each other 
 speak. 
 
 " Ah, wife," cried Philemon, " I fear some poor 
 traveller is seeking hospitality among our neighbors 
 yonder, and, instead of giving him food and lodging, 
 they have set their dogs at him, as their custom is ! " 
 
 u Well-a-day ! " answered old Baucis, "I do wish 
 our neighbors felt a little more kindness for their fel 
 low-creatures. And only think of bringing up their 
 children in this naughty way, and patting them on the 
 head when they fling stones at strangers ! " 
 
 " Those children will never come to any good," 
 said Philemon, shaking his white head. " To tell you 
 the truth, wife, I should not wonder if some terrible 
 thing were to happen to all the people in the village^ 
 unless they mend their manners. But, as for you and 
 me, so long as Providence affords us a crust of bread, 
 
THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 141 
 
 let us be ready to give half to any poor, homeless 
 stranger, that may come along and need it." 
 
 " That s right, husband ! " said Baucis. " So we 
 will ! " 
 
 These old folks, you must know, were quite poor, 
 and had to work pretty hard for a living. Old Phile 
 mon toiled diligently in his garden, while Baucis was 
 always busy with her distaff, or making a little butter 
 and cheese with their cow s milk, or doing one thing 
 and another about the cottage. Their food was sel 
 dom anything but bread, milk, and vegetables, with 
 sometimes a portion of honey from their beehive, and 
 now and then a bunch of grapes, that had ripened 
 against the cottage wall. But they were two of the 
 kindest old people in the world, and would cheerfully 
 have gone without their dinners, any day, rather than 
 refuse a slice of their brown loaf, a cup of new milk, 
 and a spoonful of honey, to the weary traveller who 
 might pause before their door. They felt as if such 
 guests had a sort of holiness, and that they ought, 
 therefore, to treat them better and more bountifully 
 than their own selves. 
 
 Their cottage stood on a rising ground, at some 
 short distance from a village, which lay in a hollow 
 valley, that was about half a mile in breadth. This 
 valley, in past ages, when the world was new, had 
 probably been the bed of a lake. There, fishes had 
 glided to and fro in the depths, and water-weeds had 
 grown along the margin, and trees and hills had seen 
 their reflected images in the broad and peaceful mir 
 ror. But, as the waters subsided, men had cultivated 
 the soil, and built houses on it, so that it was now a 
 fertile spot, and bore no traces of the ancient lake, ex 
 cept a very small brook, which meandered through the 
 
142 THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 
 
 midst of the village, and supplied the inhabitants with 
 water. The valley had been dry land so long, that 
 oaks had sprung up, and grown great and high, and 
 perished with old age, and been succeeded by others, 
 as tall and stately as the first. Never was there a 
 prettier or more fruitful valley. The very sight of the 
 plenty around them should have made the inhabitants 
 kind and gentle, and ready to show their gratitude to 
 Providence by doing good to their fellow-creatures. 
 
 But, we are sorry to say, the people of this lovely 
 village were not worthy to dwell in a spot on which 
 Heaven had smiled so beneficently. They were a very 
 selfish and hard-hearted people, and had no pity for 
 the poor, nor sympathy with the homeless. They 
 would only have laughed, had anybody told them that 
 human beings owe a debt of love to one another, be 
 cause there is no other method of paying the debt of 
 love and care which all of us owe to Providence. You 
 will hardly believe what I am going to tell you. These 
 naughty people taught their children to be no better 
 than themselves, and used to clap their hands, by way 
 of encouragement, when they saw the little boys and 
 girls run after some poor stranger, shouting at his 
 heels, and pelting him with stones. They kept large 
 and fierce dogs, and whenever a traveller ventured to 
 show himself in the village street, this pack of disa 
 greeable curs scampered to meet him, barking, snarl 
 ing, and showing their teeth. Then they would seize 
 him by his leg, or by his clothes, just as it happened ; 
 and if he were ragged when he came, he was generally 
 a pitiable object before he had time to run away. This 
 was a very terrible thing to poor travellers, as you may 
 suppose, especially when they chanced to be siok, or 
 feeble, or lame, or old. Such persons (if they once 
 
THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 143 
 
 knew how badly these unkind people, and their un 
 kind children and curs, were in the habit of behav 
 ing) would go miles and miles out of their way, rather 
 than try to pass through the village again. 
 
 What made the matter seem worse, if possible, was 
 that when rich persons came in their chariots, or rid 
 ing 011 beautiful horses, with their servants in rich liv 
 eries attending on them, nobody could be more civil 
 and obsequious than the inhabitants of the village. 
 They would take off their hats, and make the hum 
 blest bows you ever saw. If the children were rude, 
 they were pretty certain to get their ears boxed ; and 
 as for the dogs, if a single cur in the pack presumed 
 to yelp, his master instantly beat him with a club, and 
 tied him up without any supper. This would have 
 been all very well, only it proved that the villagers 
 cared much about the money that a stranger had in 
 his pocket, and nothing whatever for the human soul, 
 which lives equally in the beggar and the prince. 
 
 So now you can understand why old Philemon 
 spoke so sorrowfully, when he heard the shouts of the 
 children and the barking of the dogs, at the farther 
 extremity of the village street. There was a confused 
 din, which lasted a good while, and seemed to pass 
 quite through the breadth of the valley. 
 
 " I never heard the dogs so loud ! " observed the 
 good old man. 
 
 " Nor the children so rude ! " answered his good old 
 wife. 
 
 They sat shaking their heads, one to another, while 
 the noise came nearer and nearer ; until, at the foot of 
 the little eminence on which their cottage stood, they 
 saw two travellers approaching on foot. Close behind 
 them came the fierce dogs, snarling at their very heels. 
 
144 THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 
 
 A little farther off, ran a crowd of children, who sent 
 up shrill cries, and flung stones at the two strangers, 
 with all their might. Once or twice, the younger of 
 the two men (he was a slender and very active figure) 
 turned about and drove back the dogs with a staff 
 which he carried in his hand. His companion, who 
 was a very tall person, walked calmly along, as if dis 
 daining to notice either the naughty children, or the 
 pack of curs, whose manners the children seemed to 
 imitate. 
 
 Both of the travellers were very humbly clad, and 
 looked as if they might not have money enough in 
 their pockets to pay for a night s lodging. And this, 
 I am afraid, was the reason why the villagers had al 
 lowed their children and dogs to treat them so rudely. 
 
 " Come, wife," said Philemon to Baucis, " let us go 
 and meet these poor people. No doubt, they feel al 
 most too heavy-hearted to climb the hill." 
 
 " Go you and meet them," answered Baucis, " while 
 I make haste within doors, and see whether we can get 
 them anything for supper. A comfortable bowl of 
 bread and milk would do wonders towards raising 
 their spirits." 
 
 Accordingly, she hastened into the cottage. Phile 
 mon, on his part, went forward, and extended his 
 hand with so hospitable an aspect that there was no 
 need of saying what nevertheless he did say, in the 
 heartiest tone imaginable, 
 
 " Welcome, strangers ! welcome ! " 
 
 " Thank you ! " replied the younger of the two, in a 
 lively kind of way, notwithstanding his weariness and 
 trouble. " This is quite another greeting than wa 
 have met with yonder in the village. Pray, why do 
 you live in such a bad neighborhood ? " 
 
THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 145 
 
 " Ah ! " observed old Philemon, with a quiet and 
 benign smile, " Providence put me here, I hope, among 
 other reasons, in order that I may make you what 
 amends I can for the inhospitality of my neighbors." 
 
 " Well said, old father I " cried the traveller, laugh 
 ing ; " and, if the truth must be told, my companion 
 and myself need some amends. Those children (the 
 little rascals !) have bespattered us finely with their 
 mud-balls ; and one of the curs has torn my cloak, 
 which was ragged enough already. But I took him 
 across the muzzle with my staff ; and I think you 
 may have heard him yelp, even thus far off." 
 
 Philemon was glad to see him in such good spirits ; 
 nor, indeed, would you have fancied, by the traveller s 
 look and manner, that he was weary with a long day s 
 journey, besides being disheartened by rough treat 
 ment at the end of it. He was dressed in rather an 
 odd way, with a sort of cap on his head, the brim of 
 which stuck out over both ears. Though it was a 
 summer evening, he wore a cloak, which he kept wrapt 
 closely about him, perhaps because his under garments 
 were shabby. Philemon perceived, too, that he had 
 on a singular pair of shoes ; but, as it was now grow 
 ing dusk, and as the old man s eyesight was none the 
 sharpest, he could not precisely tell in what the 
 strangeness consisted. One thing, certainly, seemed 
 queer. The traveller was so wonderfully light and 
 active, that it appeared as if his feet sometimes rose 
 from the ground of their own accord, or could only be 
 kept down by an effort. 
 
 " I used to be light-footed, in my youth," said Phile 
 mon to the traveller. " But I always found my feet 
 grow heavier towards nightfall." 
 
 "There is nothing like a good staff to help one 
 
 VOL. IV. 10 
 
146 THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 
 
 along," answered the stranger ; " and I happen to hare 
 an excellent one, as you see." 
 
 This staff, in fact, was the oddest-looking staff that 
 Philemon had ever beheld. It was made of olive- 
 wood, and had something like a little pair of wings 
 near the top. Two snakes, carved in the wood, were 
 represented as twining themselves about the staff, and 
 were so very skilfully executed that old Philemon 
 (whose eyes, you know, were getting rather dim) al 
 most thought them alive, and that he could see them 
 wriggling and twisting. 
 
 " A curious piece of work, sure enough ! " said he. 
 " A staff with wings ! It would be an excellent kind 
 of stick for a little boy to ride astride of ! " 
 
 By this time, Philemon and his two guests had 
 reached the cottage door. 
 
 " Friends," said the old man, " sit down and rest 
 yourselves here on this bench. My good wife Baucis 
 has gone to see what you can have for supper. We 
 are poor folks ; but you shall be welcome to whatever 
 we have in the cupboard." 
 
 The younger stranger threw himself carelessly on 
 the bench, letting his staff fall, as he did so. And 
 here happened something rather marvellous, though 
 trifling enough, too. The staff seemed to get up from 
 the ground of its own accord, and, spreading its little 
 pair of wings, it half hopped, half flew, and leaned 
 itself against the wall of the cottage. There it stood 
 quite still, except that the snakes continued to wriggle. 
 But, in my private opinion, old Philemon s eyesight 
 had been playing him tricks again. 
 
 Before he could ask any questions, the elder stran 
 ger drew his attention from the wonderful staff, by 
 speaking to him. 
 
THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 147 
 
 " Was there not," asked the stranger, in a remarka 
 bly deep tone of voice, " a lake, in very ancient times, 
 covering the spot where now stands yonder village ? " 
 
 " Not in my day, friend," answered Philemon ; 
 " and yet I am an old man, as you see. There were 
 always the fields and meadows, just as they are now, 
 and the old trees, and the little stream murmuring 
 through the midst of the valley. My father, nor his 
 father before him, ever saw it otherwise, so far as I 
 know ; and doubtless it will still be the same, when 
 old Philemon shall be gone and forgotten ! " 
 
 " That is more than can be safely foretold," ob 
 served the stranger ; and there was something very 
 stern in his deep voice. He shook his head, too, so 
 that his dark and heavy curls were shaken with the 
 movement. " Since the inhabitants of yonder village 
 have forgotten the affections arid sympathies of their 
 nature, it were better that the lake should be rippling 
 over their dwellings again ! " 
 
 The traveller looked so stern, that Philemon was 
 really almost frightened ; the more so, that, at his 
 frown, the twilight seemed suddenly to grow darker, 
 and that, when he shook his head, there was a roll as 
 of thunder in the air. 
 
 But, in a moment afterwards, the stranger s face be 
 came so kindly and mild, that the old man quite for 
 got his terror. Nevertheless, he could not help feeling 
 that this elder traveller must be no ordinary person 
 age, although he happened now to be attired so hum 
 bly and to be journeying on foot. Not that Philemon 
 fancied him a prince in disguise, or any character of 
 that sort ; but rather some exceedingly wise man, who 
 went about the world in this poor garb, despising 
 wealth and all worldly objects, and seeking everywhere 
 
148 THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 
 
 to add a mite to his wisdom. This idea appeared the 
 more probable, because, when Philemon raised his eyes 
 to the stranger s face, he seemed to see more thought 
 there, in one look, than he could have studied out in a 
 lifetime. 
 
 While Baucis was getting the supper, the travellers 
 both began to talk very sociably with Philemon. The 
 younger, indeed, was extremely loquacious, and made 
 such shrewd and witty remarks, that the good old man 
 continually burst out a-laughing, and pronounced him 
 the merriest fellow whom he had seen for many a day. 
 
 "Pray, my young friend," said he, as they grew 
 familiar together, " what may I call your name ? " 
 
 " Why, I am very nimble, as you see," answered the 
 traveller. " So, if you call me Quicksilver, the name 
 will fit tolerably well." 
 
 "Quicksilver? Quicksilver?" repeated Philemon, 
 looking in the traveller s face, to see if he were mak 
 ing fun of him. " It is a very odd name ! And your 
 companion there? Has he as strange a one?" 
 
 " You must ask the thunder to tell it you ! " replied 
 Quicksilver, putting on a mysterious look. " No other 
 voice is loud enough." 
 
 This remark, whether it were serious or in jest, 
 might have caused Philemon to conceive a very great 
 awe of the elder stranger, if, on venturing to gaze at 
 him, he had not beheld so much beneficence in his 
 visage. But, undoubtedly, here was the grandest fig 
 ure that ever sat so humbly beside a cottage door. 
 When the stranger conversed, it was with gravity, and 
 in such a way that Philemon felt irresistibly moved 
 to tell him everything which he had most at heart. 
 This is always the feeling that people have, when they 
 meet with any one wise enough to comprehend all their 
 good and evil, and to despise not a tittle of it. 
 
THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER, 149 
 
 But Philemon, simple and kind-hearted old man 
 that he was, had not many secrets to disclose. He 
 talked, however, quite garrulously, about the events 
 of his past life, in the whole course of which he had 
 never been a score of miles from this very spot. His 
 wife Baucis and himself had dwelt in the cottage from 
 their youth upward, earning their bread by honest la 
 bor, always poor, but still contented. He told what 
 excellent butter and cheese Baucis mads, and how nice 
 were the vegetables which he raised in his garden. 
 He said, too, that, because they loved one another so 
 very much, it was the wish of both that death might 
 not separate them, but that they should die, as they 
 had lived, together. 
 
 As the stranger listened, a smile beamed over his 
 countenance, and made its expression as sweet as it 
 was grand. 
 
 " You are a good old man," said he to Philemon, 
 "and you have a good old wife to be your helpmeet. 
 It is fit that your wish be granted." 
 
 And it seemed to Philemon, just then, as if the sun 
 set clouds threw up a bright flash from the west, and 
 kindled a sudden light in the sky. 
 
 Baucis had now got supper ready, and, coming to 
 the door, began to make apologies for the poor fare 
 which she was forced to set before her guests. 
 
 " Had we known you were coming," said she, " my 
 good man and myself would have gone without a mor 
 sel, rather than you should lack a better supper. But 
 I took the most part of to-day s milk to make cheese ; 
 and our last loaf is already half eaten. Ah me ! I 
 never feel the sorrow of being poor, save when a poor 
 traveller knocks at our door." 
 
 " All will be very well ; do not trouble yourself, my 
 
150 THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 
 
 good dame," replied the elder stranger, kindly. " An 
 honest, hearty welcome to a guest works miracles with 
 the fare, and is capable of turning the coarsest food to 
 nectar and ambrosia." 
 
 "A welcome you shall have," cried Baucis, u and 
 likewise a little honey that we happen to have left, 
 and a bunch of purple grapes besides." 
 
 " Why, Mother Baucis, it is a feast ! " exclaimed 
 Quicksilver, laughing, "an absolute feast! and you 
 shall see how bravely I will play my part at it ! I 
 think I never felt hungrier in my life." 
 
 "Mercy on us! " whispered Baucis to her husband. 
 u If the young man has such a terrible appetite, I am 
 afraid there will not be half enough supper ! 
 
 They all went into the cottage. 
 
 And now, my little auditors, shall I tell you some 
 thing that will make you open your eyes very wide ? 
 It is really one of the oddest circumstances in the 
 whole story. Quicksilver s staff, you recollect, had 
 set itself up against the wall of the cottage. Well ; 
 when its master entered the door, leaving this wonder 
 ful staff behind, what should it do but immediately 
 spread its little wings, and go hopping and fluttering 
 up the door steps ! Tap, tap, went the staff, on the 
 kitchen floor ; nor did it rest until it had stood itself 
 on end, with the greatest gravity and decorum, beside 
 Quicksilver s chair. Old Philemon, however, as well 
 as his wife, was so taken up in attending to their 
 guests, that no notice was given to what the staff had 
 been about. 
 
 As Baucis had said, there was but a scanty supper 
 for two hungry travellers. In the middle of the table 
 was the remnant of a brown loaf, with a piece of 
 cheese on one side of it, and a dish of honeycomb on 
 
THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 151 
 
 the other. There was a pretty good bunch of grapes 
 for each of the guests. A moderately sized earthen 
 pitcher, nearly full of milk, stood at a corner of the 
 board ; and when Baucis had filled two bowls, and set 
 them before the strangers, only a little milk remained 
 in the bottom of the pitcher. Alas ! it is a very sad 
 business, when a bountiful heart finds itself pinched 
 and squeezed among narrow circumstances. Poor 
 Baucis kept wishing that she might starve for a week 
 to come, if it were possible, by so doing, to provide 
 these hungry folks a more plentiful supper. 
 
 And, since the supper was so exceedingly small, she 
 could not help wishing that their appetites had not 
 been quite so large. Why, at> their very first sitting 
 down, the travellers both drank off all the milk in . 
 their two bowls, at a draught. 
 
 "A little more milk, kind Mother Baucis, if you 
 please," said Quicksilver. "The day has been hot, 
 and I am very much athirst." 
 
 " Now, my dear people," answered Baucis, in great 
 confusion, " I am so sorry and ashamed ! But the 
 truth is, there is hardly a drop more milk in the 
 pitcher. O husband ! husband ! why did n t we go 
 without our supper ? " 
 
 " Why, it appears to me," cried Quicksilver, start 
 ing up from table and taking the pitcher by the han 
 dle, " it really appears to me that matters are not quite 
 so bad as you represent them. Here is certainly more 
 milk in the pitcher." 
 
 So saying, and to the vast astonishment of Baucis, 
 he proceeded to fill, not only his own bowl, but his 
 companion s likewise, from the pitcher, that was sup 
 posed to be almost empty. The good woman could 
 scarcely believe her eyes. She had certainly poured 
 
152 THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 
 
 out nearly all the milk, and had peeped in afterwards, 
 and seen the bottom of the pitcher, as she set it down 
 upon the table. 
 
 " But I am old," thought Baucis to herself, " and 
 apt to be forgetful. I suppose I must have made a 
 mistake. At all events, the pitcher cannot help being 
 empty now, after filling the bowls twice over." 
 
 " What excellent milk ! " observed Quicksilver, 
 after quaffing the contents of the second bowl. " Ex 
 cuse me, my kind hostess, but I must really ask you 
 for a little more." 
 
 Now Baucis had seen, as plainly as she could see 
 anything, that Quicksilver had turned the pitcher up 
 side down, and consequently had poured out every 
 drop of milk, in filling the last bowl. Of course, 
 there could not possibly be any left. However, in 
 order to let him know precisely how the case was, she 
 lifted the pitcher, and made a gesture as if pouring 
 milk into Quicksilver s bowl, but without the remotest 
 idea that any milk would stream forth. What was 
 her surprise, therefore, when such an abundant cascade 
 fell bubbling into the bowl, that it was immediately 
 filled to the brim, and overflowed upon the table ! The 
 two snakes that were twisted about Quicksilver s staff 
 (but neither Baucis nor Philemon happened to observe 
 this circumstance) stretched out their heads, and be 
 gan to lap up the spilt milk. 
 
 And then what a delicious fragrance the milk had ! 
 It seemed as if Philemon s only cow must have pas 
 tured, that day, on the richest herbage that could be 
 found anywhere in the world. I only wish that each 
 of you, my beloved little souls, could have a bowl of 
 such nice milk, at supper-time ! 
 
 "And now a slice of your brown loaf, Mother 
 
THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 153 
 
 Baucis," said Quicksilver, " and a little of that 
 honey ! " 
 
 Baucis cut him a slice, accordingly ; and though the 
 loaf, when she and her husband ate of it, had been 
 rather too dry and crusty to be palatable, it was now as 
 light and moist as if but a few hours out of the oven. 
 Tasting a crumb, which had fallen on the table, she 
 found it more delicious than bread ever was before, 
 and could hardly believe that it was a loaf of her own 
 kneading and baking. Yet, what other loaf could it 
 possibly be ? 
 
 But, oh the honey ! I may just as well let it alone, 
 without trying to describe how exquisitely it smelt and 
 looked. Its color was that of the purest and most 
 transparent gold ; and it had the odor of a thousand 
 flowers; but of such flowers as never grew in an 
 earthly garden, and to seek which the bees must have 
 flown high above the clouds. The wonder is, that, 
 after alighting on a flower-bed of so delicious fra 
 grance and immortal bloom, they should have been 
 content to fly down again to their hive in Philemon s 
 garden. Never was such honey tasted, seen, or smelt. 
 The perfume floated around the kitchen, and made 
 it so delightful, that, had you closed your eyes, you 
 would instantly have forgotten the low ceiling and 
 smoky walls, and have fancied yourself in an arbor, 
 with celestial honeysuckles creeping over it. 
 
 Although good Mother Baucis was a simple old 
 dame, she could not but think that there was some 
 thing rather out of the common way, in all that had 
 been going on. So, after helping the guests to bread 
 and honey, and laying a bunch of grapes by each of 
 their plates, she sat down by Philemon, and told him 
 what she had seen, in a whisper. 
 
154 THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 
 
 " Did you ever hear the like ? " asked she. 
 
 "No, I never did," answered Philemon, with a 
 smile. " And I rather think, my dear old wife, you 
 have been walking about in a sort of a dream. If I 
 had poured out the milk, I should have seen through 
 the business at once. There happened to be a little 
 more in the pitcher than you thought, that is all." 
 
 " Ah, husband," said Baucis, " say what you will, 
 these are very uncommon people." 
 
 " Well, well," replied Philemon, still smiling, " per 
 haps they are. They certainly do look as if they had 
 seen better days ; and I am heartily glad to see them 
 making so comfortable a supper." 
 
 Each of the guests had now taken his bunch of 
 grapes upon his plate. Baucis (who rubbed her eyes, 
 in order to see the more clearly) was of opinion that 
 the clusters had grown larger and richer, and that 
 each separate grape seemed to be on the point of 
 bursting with ripe juice. It was entirely a mystery 
 to her how such grapes could ever have been produced 
 from the old stunted vine that climbed against the 
 cottage wall. 
 
 " Very admirable grapes these ! " observed Quick 
 silver, as he swallowed one after another, without ap 
 parently diminishing his cluster. " Pray, my good 
 host, whence did you gather them ? " 
 
 " From my own vine," answered Philemon. " You 
 may see one of its branches twisting across the window, 
 yonder. But wife and I never thought the grapes very 
 fine ones." 
 
 " I never tasted better," said the guest. " Another 
 cup of this delicious milk, if you please, and I shall 
 then have supped better than a prince." 
 
 This time, old Philemon bestirred himself, and took 
 
THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 155 
 
 up the pitcher ; for he was curious to discover whether 
 there was any reality in the marvels which Baucis had 
 whispered to him. He knew that his good old wife 
 was incapable of falsehood, and that she was seldom 
 mistaken in what she supposed to be true ; but this 
 was so very singular a case, that he wanted to see into 
 it with his own eyes. On taking up the pitcher, there 
 fore, he slyly peeped into it, and was fully satisfied 
 that it contained not so much as a single drop. All at 
 once, however, he beheld a little white fountain, which 
 gushed up from the bottom of the pitcher, and speed 
 ily filled it to the brim with foaming and deliciously 
 fragrant milk. It was lucky that Philemon, in his 
 surprise, did not drop the miraculous pitcher from his 
 hand. 
 
 " Who are ye, wonder-working strangers ! " cried 
 he, even more bewildered than his wife had been. 
 
 "Your guests, my good Philemon, and your friends," 
 replied the elder traveller, in his mild, deep voice, that 
 had something at once sweet and awe-inspiring in it. 
 " Give me likewise a cup of the milk ; and may your 
 pitcher never be empty for kind Baucis and yourself, 
 any more than for the needy wayfarer ! " 
 
 The supper being now over, the strangers requested 
 to be shown to their place of repose. The old people 
 would gladly have talked with them a little longer, and 
 have expressed the wonder which they felt, and their 
 delight at finding the poor and meagre supper prove 
 so much better and more abundant than they hoped. 
 But the elder traveller had inspired them with such 
 reverence, that they dared not ask him any questions. 
 And when Philemon drew Quicksilver aside, and in 
 quired how under the sun a fountain of milk could 
 have got into an old earthen pitcher, this latter person 
 age pointed to his staff. 
 
156 THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 
 
 " There is the whole mystery of the affair," quoth 
 Quicksilver ; " and if you can make it out, I 11 thank 
 you to let me know. I can t tell what to make of my 
 staff. It is always playing such odd tricks as this ; 
 sometimes getting me a supper, and, quite as often, 
 stealing it away. If I had any faith in such nonsense, 
 I should say the stick was bewitched ! " 
 
 He said no more, but looked so slyly in their faces, 
 that they rather fancied he was laughing at them. The 
 magic staff went hopping at his heels, as Quicksilver 
 quitted the room. When left alone, the good old 
 couple spent some little time in conversation about the 
 events of the evening, and then lay down on the floor, 
 and fell fast asleep. They had given up their sleep 
 ing-room to the guests, and had no other bed for 
 themselves, save these planks, which I wish had been 
 as soft as their own hearts. 
 
 The old man and his wife were stirring, betimes, in 
 the morning, and the strangers likewise arose with the 
 sun, and made their preparations to depart. Philemon 
 hospitably entreated them to remain a little longer, 
 until Baucis could milk the cow, and bake a cake upon 
 the hearth, and, perhaps, find them a few fresh eggs, 
 for breakfast. The guests, however, seemed to think 
 it better to accomplish a good part of their journey 
 before the heat of the day should come on. They, 
 therefore, persisted in setting out immediately, but 
 asked Philemon and Baucis to walk forth with them 
 a short distance, and show them the road which they 
 were to take. 
 
 So they all four issued from the cottage, chatting to 
 gether like old friends. It was very remarkable, in 
 deed, how familiar the old couple insensibly grew with 
 the elder traveller, and how their good and simple spir- 
 
THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 157 
 
 its melted into his, even as two drops of water would 
 melt into the illimitable ocean. And as for Quicksil 
 ver, with his keen, quick, laughing 1 wits, he appeared 
 to discover every little thought that but peeped into 
 their minds, before they suspected it themselves. They 
 sometimes wished, it is true, that lie had not been quite 
 so quick-witted, and also that he would fling away his 
 staff, which looked so mysteriously mischievous, with 
 the snakes always writhing about it. But then, again, 
 Quicksilver showed himself so very good-humored, 
 that they would have been rejoiced to keep him in their 
 cottage, staff, snakes, and all, every day, and the whole 
 day long. 
 
 " Ah me ! Well-a-day ! " exclaimed Philemon, when 
 they had walked a little way from their door. " If our 
 neighbors only knew what a blessed thing it is to show 
 hospitality to strangers, they would tie up all their 
 dogs, and never allow their children to fling another 
 stone." 
 
 " It is a sin and shame for them to behave so, 
 that it is ! " cried good old Baucis, vehemently. " And 
 I mean to go this very day, and tell some of them 
 what naughty people they are ! " 
 
 " I fear," remarked Quicksilver, slyly smiling, " that 
 you will find none of them at home." 
 
 The elder traveller s brow, just then, assumed such 
 a grave, stern, and awful grandeur, yet serene withal, 
 that neither Baucis nor Philemon dared to speak a 
 word. They gazed reverently into his face, as if they 
 had been gazing at the sky. 
 
 " When men do not feel towards the humblest stran 
 ger as if he were a brother," said the traveller, in tones 
 so deep that they sounded like those of an organ, " they 
 are unworthy to exist on earth, which was created aa 
 the abode of a great human brotherhood \ " 
 
158 THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 
 
 " And, by the by, my dear old people," cried Quick 
 silver, with the liveliest look of fun and mischief in 
 his eyes, " where is this same village that you talk 
 about? On which side of us does it lie ? Methinks 
 I do not see it hereabouts." 
 
 Philemon and his wife turned towards the valley, 
 where, at sunset, only the day before, they had seen 
 the meadows, the houses, the gardens, the clumps of 
 trees, the wide, green-margined street, with children 
 playing in it, and all the tokens of business, enjoy 
 ment, and prosperity. But what was their astonish 
 ment ! There was no longer any appearance of a vil 
 lage ! Even the fertile vale, in the hollow of which it 
 lay, had ceased to have existence. In its stead, they 
 beheld the broad, blue surface of a lake, which filled 
 the great basin of the valley from brim to brim, and re 
 flected the surrounding hills in its bosom with as tran 
 quil an image as if it had been there ever since the 
 creation of the world. For an instant, the lake re 
 mained perfectly smooth. Then, a little breeze sprang 
 up, and caused the water to dance, glitter, and sparkle 
 in the early sunbeams, and to dash, with a pleasant 
 rippling murmur, against the hither shore. 
 
 The lake seemed so strangely familiar, that the old 
 couple were greatly perplexed, and felt as if they could 
 only have been dreaming about a village having lain 
 there. But, the next moment, they remembered the 
 vanished dwellings, and the faces and characters of 
 the inhabitants, far too distinctly for a dream. The 
 village had been there yesterday, and now was gone ! 
 
 " Alas ! " cried these kind-hearted old people, " what 
 has become of our poor neighbors ? " 
 
 " They exist no longer as men and women," said the 
 elder traveller, in his grand and deep voice, while a 
 
THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 159 
 
 roll of thunder seemed to echo it at a distance. " There 
 was neither use nor beauty in such a life as theirs ; for 
 they never softened or sweetened the hard lot of mor 
 tality by the exercise of kindly affections between man 
 and man. They retained no image of the better life 
 in their bosoms ; therefore, the lake, that was of old ; 
 has spread itself forth again, to reflect the sky ! " 
 
 "And as for those foolish people," said Quicksilver, 
 with his mischievous smile, " they are all transformed 
 to fishes. There needed but little change, for they 
 were already a scaly set of rascals, and the coldest- 
 blooded beings in existence. So, kind Mother Baucis, 
 whenever you or your husband have an appetite for a 
 dish of broiled trout, he can throw in a line, and pull 
 out half a dozen of your old neighbors ! " 
 
 " Ah," cried Baucis, shuddering, " I would not, for 
 the world, put one of them on the gridiron ! " 
 
 " No," added Philemon, making a wry face, " we 
 could never relish them ! " 
 
 " As for you, good Philemon," continued the elder 
 traveller, " and you, kind Baucis, you, with your 
 scanty means, have mingled so much heartfelt hospi 
 tality with your entertainment of the homeless stranger, 
 that the milk became an inexhaustible fount of nec 
 tar, and the brown loaf and the honey were ambrosia. 
 Thus, the divinities have feasted, at your board, off 
 the same viands that supply their banquets on Olym 
 pus. You have done well, my dear old friends. Where 
 fore, request whatever favor you have most at heart, 
 and it is granted." 
 
 Philemon and Baucis looked at one another, and 
 then, I know not which of the two it was who 
 spoke, but that one uttered the desire of both their 
 hearts. 
 
160 THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 
 
 " Let us live together, while we live, and leave the 
 world at the same instant, when we die ! For we have 
 always loved one another ! " 
 
 " Be it so ! " replied the stranger, with majestic 
 kindness. " Now, look towards your cottage ! " 
 
 They did so. But what was their surprise on be 
 holding a tall edifice of white marble, with a wide- 
 open portal, occupying the spot where their humble 
 residence had so lately stood ! 
 
 " There is your home," said the stranger, beneficently 
 smiling on them both. " Exercise your hospitality in 
 yonder palace as freely as in the poor hovel to which 
 you welcomed us last evening." 
 
 The old folks fell on their knees to thank him ; but, 
 behold ! neither he nor Quicksilver was there. 
 
 So Philemon and Baucis took up their residence in 
 the marble palace, and spent their time, with vast sat 
 isfaction to themselves, in making everybody jolly and 
 comfortable who happened to pass that way. The 
 milk-pitcher, I must not forget to say, retained its mar 
 vellous quality of being never empty, when it was de 
 sirable to have it full. Whenever an honest, good- 
 humored, and free-hearted guest took a draught from 
 this pitcher, he invariably found it the sweetest and 
 most invigorating fluid that ever ran clown his throat. 
 
 & O 
 
 But, if a cross and disagreeable curmudgeon happened 
 to sip, he was pretty certain to twist his visage into a 
 hard knot, and pronounce it a pitcher of sour milk ! 
 
 Thus the old couple lived in their palace a great, great 
 while, and grew older and older, and very old indeed. 
 At length, however, there came a summer morning 
 when Philemon and Baucis failed to make their ap 
 pearance, as on other mornings, with one hospitable 
 smile overspreading both their pleasant faces, to invite 
 
THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 161 
 
 the guests of over-night to breakfast. The guests 
 searched everywhere, from top to bottom of the spa 
 cious palace, and all to no purpose. But, after a great 
 deal of perplexity, they espied, in front of the portal, 
 two venerable trees, which nobody could remember to 
 have seen there the day before. Yet there they stood, 
 with their roots fastened deep into the soil, and a huge 
 breadth of foliage overshadowing the whole front of 
 the edifice. One was an oak, and the other a linden- 
 tree. Their boughs it was strange and beautiful to 
 see were intertwined together, and embraced one 
 another, so that each tree seemed to live in the other 
 tree s bosom much more than in its own. 
 
 While the guests were marvelling how these trees, 
 that must have required at least a century to grow, 
 could have come to be so tall and venerable in a sin 
 gle night, a breeze sprang up, and set their intermin 
 gled boughs astir. And then there was a deep, broad 
 murmur in the air, as if the two mysterious trees were 
 speaking. 
 
 " I am old Philemon ! " murmured the oak. 
 
 " I am old Baucis ! " murmured the linden-tree. 
 
 But, as the breeze grew stronger, the trees both 
 spoke at once, " Philemon ! Baucis ! Baucis ! Phil 
 emon ! " as if one were both and both were one, and 
 talking together in the depths of their mutual heart. 
 It was plain enough to perceive that the good old 
 vouple had renewed their age, and were now to spend 
 a quiet and delightful hundred years or so, Philemon 
 as an oak, and Baucis as a linden-tree. And oh, what 
 a hospitable shade did they fling around them. When 
 ever a wayfarer paused beneath it, he heard a pleasant 
 whisper of the leaves above his head, and wondered 
 
 VOL. IV. 11 
 
162 THE MIRACULOUS PITCHER. 
 
 how the sound should so much resemble words like 
 these : 
 
 " Welcome, welcome, dear traveller, welcome ! " 
 And some kind soul, that knew what would have 
 pleased old Baucis and old Philemon best, built a cir 
 cular seat around both their trunks, where, for a great 
 while afterwards, the weary, and the hungry, and the 
 thirsty used to repose themselves, and quaff milk abun 
 dantly out of the miraculous pitcher. 
 
 And I wish, for all our sakes, that we had the 
 pitcher here now ! 
 
THE HILL-SIDE- 
 
 AFTER THE STORY, 
 
 " How much did the pitcher hold ? " asked Sweet 
 Fern. 
 
 " It did not hold quite a quart," answered the stu 
 dent ; " but you might keep pouring milk out of it, 
 till you should fill a hogshead, if you pleased. The 
 truth is, it would run on forever, and not be dry even 
 at midsummer, which is more than can be said of 
 yonder rill, that goes babbling down the hill-side." 
 
 " And what has become of the pitcher now ? " in 
 quired the little boy. 
 
 " It was broken, I am sorry to say, about twenty- 
 five thousand years ago," replied Cousin Eustace. 
 " The people mended it as well as they could, but, 
 though it would hold milk pretty well, it was never 
 afterwards known to fill itself of its own accord. So, 
 you see, it was no better than any other cracked 
 earthen pitcher." 
 
 " What a pity ! " cried all the children at once. 
 
 The respectable dog Ben had accompanied the par 
 ty, as did likewise a half-grown Newfoundland pup 
 py, who went by the name of Bruin, because he was 
 just as black as a bear. Ben, being elderly, and of 
 very circumspect habits, was respectfully requested, 
 by Cousin Eustace, to stay behind with the four little 
 children, in order to keep them out of mischief. As 
 for black Bruin, who was himself nothing but a child, 
 
164 THE HILL-SIDE. 
 
 the student thought it best to take him along, lest, in 
 his rude play with the other children, he should trip 
 them up, and send them rolling and tumbling down 
 the hill. Advising Cowslip, Sweet Fern, Dandelion, 
 and Squash-Blossom to sit pretty still, in the spot 
 where he left them, the student, with Primrose and 
 the elder children, began to ascend, and were soon out 
 of sight among the trees. 
 
THE CHIMERA. 
 
 BALD-SUMMIT. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY TO "THE CHIMERA." 
 
 UPWARD, along the steep and wooded hill-side, went 
 Eustace Bright and his companions. The trees were 
 not yet in full leaf, but had budded forth sufficiently 
 to throw an airy shadow, while the sunshine filled 
 them with green light. There were moss-grown rocks, 
 half hidden among the old, brown, fallen leaves ; there 
 were rotten tree-trunks, lying at full length where 
 they had long ago fallen ; there were decayed boughs, 
 that had been shaken down by the wintry gales, and 
 were scattered everywhere about. But still, though 
 these things looked so aged, the aspect of the wood 
 was that of the newest life ; for, whichever way you 
 turned your eyes, something fresh and green was 
 springing forth, so as to be ready for the summer. 
 
 At last, the young people reached the upper verge 
 of the wood, and found themselves almost at the sum 
 mit of the hill. It was not a peak, nor a great round 
 ball, but a pretty wide plain, or table-land, with a 
 house and barn upon it, at some distance. That house 
 was the home of a solitary family ; and oftentimes the 
 clouds, whence fell the rain, and whence the snow 
 storm drifted down into the valley, hung lower than 
 this bleak and lonely dwelling-place. 
 
166 BALD-SUMMIT. 
 
 On the highest point of the hill was a heap of 
 stones, in the centre of which was stuck a long pole, 
 with a little flag fluttering at the end of it. Eustace 
 led the children thither, and bade them look around, 
 and see how large a tract of our beautiful world they 
 could take in at a glance. And their eyes grew wider 
 as they looked. 
 
 Monument Mountain, to the southward, was still in 
 the centre of the scene, but seemed to have sunk and 
 subsided, so that it was now but an undistinguished 
 member of a large family of hills. Beyond it, the 
 Taconic range looked higher and bulkier than before. 
 Our pretty lake was seen, with all its little bays and 
 inlets ; and not chat alone, but two or three new lakes 
 were opening their blue eyes to the sun. Several white 
 villages, each with its steeple, were scattered about in 
 the distance. There were so many farm-houses, with 
 their acres of woodland, pasture, mowing-fields, and 
 tillage, that the children could hardly make room in 
 their minds to receive all these different objects. 
 There, too, was Tanglewood, which they had hitherto 
 thought such an important apex of the world. It nov/ 
 occupied so small a space, that they gazed far beyond 
 it, and on either side, and searched a good while 
 with all their eyes, before discovering whereabout it 
 stood. 
 
 White, fleecy clouds were hanging in the air, and 
 threw the dark spots of their shadow here and there 
 over the landscape. But, by and by, the sunshine was 
 where the shadow had been, and the shadow was some 
 where else. 
 
 Far to the westward was a range of blue mountains, 
 which Eustace Bright told the children were the Cats- 
 kills. Among those misty hills, he said, was a spot 
 
BALD-SUMMIT. 167 
 
 where some old Dutchmen were playing an everlasting 
 game of ninepins, and where an idle fellow, whose 
 name was Rip Van Winkle, had fallen asleep, and 
 slept twenty years at a stretch. The children eagerly 
 besought Eustace to tell them all about this wonder 
 ful affair. But the student replied that the story had 
 been told once already, and better than it ever could 
 be told again ; and that nobody would have a right to 
 alter a word of it, until it should have grown as old 
 as " The Gorgon s Head," and " The Three Golden 
 Apples," and the rest of those miraculous legends. 
 
 " At least," said Periwinkle, " while we rest our 
 selves here, and are looking about us, you can tell us 
 another of your own stories." 
 
 " Yes, Cousin Eustace," cried Primrose, " I advise 
 you to tell us a story here. Take some lofty subject 
 or other, and see if your imagination will not come up 
 to it. Perhaps the mountain air may make you poet 
 ical, for once. And no matter how strange and won 
 derful the story may be, now that we are up among 
 the clouds, we can believe anything." 
 
 " Can you believe," asked Eustace, " that there was 
 once a winged horse ? " 
 
 " Yes," said saucy Primrose ; " but I am afraid you 
 will never be able to catch him." 
 
 " For that matter, Primrose," rejoined the student, 
 w I might possibly catch Pegasus, and get upon his 
 back, too, as well as a dozen other fellows that I know 
 of. At any rate, here is a story about him ; and, of 
 all places in the world, it ought certainly to be told 
 upon a mountain-top." 
 
 So, sitting on the pile of stones, while the children 
 clustered themselves at its base, Eustace fixed his 
 eyes on a white cloud that was sailing by, and began 
 as follows. 
 
THE CHIMERA. 
 
 ONCE, in the old, old times (for all the strange 
 things which I tell you about happened long before 
 anybody can remember), a fountain gushed out of a 
 hill-side, in the marvellous land of Greece. And, for 
 aught I know, after so many thousand years, it is still 
 gushing out of the very selfsame spot. At any rate, 
 there was the pleasant fountain, welling freshly forth 
 and sparkling adown the hill-side, in the golden sunset, 
 when a handsome young man named Bellerophon drew 
 near its margin. In his hand he held a bridle, studded 
 with brilliant gems, and adorned with a golden bit. 
 Seeing an old man, and another of middle age, and a 
 little boy, near the fountain, and likewise a maiden, 
 who was dipping up some of the water in a pitcher, he 
 paused, and begged that he might refresh himself with 
 a draught. 
 
 " This is very delicious water," he said to the 
 maiden as he rinsed and filled her pitcher, after drink 
 ing out of it. " Will you be kind enough to tell me 
 whether the fountain has any name ? " 
 
 " Yes ; it is called the Fountain of Pirene," an 
 swered the maiden ; and then she added, " My grand 
 mother has told me that this clear fountain was once a 
 beautiful woman ; and when her son was killed by the 
 arrows of the huntress Diana, she melted all away into 
 tears. And so the water, which you find so cool and 
 sweet, is the sorrow of that poor mother s heart ! " 
 
 " I should not have dreamed," observed the young 
 
THE CHIMERA. 169 
 
 stranger, "that so clear a well-spring, with its gush 
 and gurgle, and its cheery dance out of the shade 
 into the sunlight, had so much as one tear-drop in its 
 bosom ! And this, then, is Pirene ? I thank you, 
 pretty maiden, for telling me its name. I have come 
 from a far-away country to find this very spot." 
 
 A middle-aged country fellow (he had driven his 
 cow to drink out of the spring) stared hard at young 
 Bellerophon, and at the handsome bridle which he car 
 ried in his hand. 
 
 " The water-courses must be getting low, friend, in 
 your part of the world," remarked he, " if you come 
 so far only to find the Fountain of Pirene. But, pray, 
 have you lost a horse ? I see you carry the bridle in 
 your hand ; and a very pretty one it is with that 
 double row of bright stones upon it. If the horse was 
 as fine as the bridle, you are much to be pitied for los 
 ing him." 
 
 " I have lost no horse," said Bellerophon, with a 
 smile. " But I happen to be seeking a very famous 
 one, which, as wise people have informed me, must be 
 found hereabouts, if anywhere. Do you know whether 
 the winged horse Pegasus still haunts the Fountain of 
 Pirene, as he used to do in your forefathers days ? " 
 
 But then the country fellow laughed. 
 
 Some of you, my little friends, have probably heard 
 that this Pegasus was a snow-white steed, with beauti 
 ful silvery wings, who spent most of his time on the 
 summit of Mount Helicon. He was as wild, and as 
 sWitt, and as buoyant, in his flight through the air, as 
 any eagle that ever soared into the clouds. There was 
 nothing else like him in the world. He had no mate ; 
 he never had been backed or bridled by a master ; and, 
 for many a long year, he led a solitary and a happy 
 life. 
 
170 THE CHIMERA. 
 
 Oh, how fine a thing it is to be a winged horse I 
 Sleeping at night, as he did, on a lofty mountain-top, 
 and passing the greater part of the day in the air, 
 Pegasus seemed hardly to be a creature of the earth. 
 Whenever he was seen, up very high above people s 
 heads, with the sunshine on his silvery wings, you 
 would have thought that he belonged to the sky, and 
 that, skimming a little too low, he had got astray 
 among our mists and vapors, and was seeking his way 
 back again. It was very pretty to behold him plunge 
 into the fleecy bosom of a bright cloud, and be lost in 
 it, for a moment or two, and then break forth from 
 the other side. Or, in a sullen rain-storm, when there 
 was a gray pavement of clouds over the whole sky, it 
 would sometimes happen that the winged horse de 
 scended right through it, and the glad light of the 
 upper region would gleam after him. In another in 
 stant, it is true, both Pegasus and the pleasant light 
 would be gone away together. But any one that was 
 fortunate enough to see this wondrous spectacle felt 
 cheerful the whole day afterwards, and as much longer 
 as the storm lasted. 
 
 In the summer-time, and in the beautifullest of 
 weather, Pegasus often alighted on the solid earth, 
 and, closing his silvery wings, would gallop over hill 
 and dale for pastime, as fleetly as the wind. Oftener 
 than in any other place, he had been seen near the 
 Fountain of Pirene, drinking the delicious water, or 
 rolling himself upon the soft grass of the margin. 
 Sometimes, too (but Pegasus was very dainty in his 
 food), he would crop a few of the clover-blossoms that 
 happened to be sweetest. 
 
 To the Fountain of Pirene, therefore, people s great 
 grandfathers had been in the habit of going (as long 
 
THE CHIMERA. 171 
 
 as they were youthful, and retained their faith in 
 winged horses), in hopes of getting a glimpse at the 
 beautiful Pegasus. But, of late years, he had been 
 very seldom seen. Indeed, there were many of the 
 country folks, dwelling within half an hour s walk of 
 the fountain, who had never beheld Pegasus, and did 
 not believe that there was any such creature in ex 
 istence. The country fellow to whom Bellerophon was 
 speaking chanced to be one of those incredulous per 
 sons. 
 
 And that was the reason why he laughed. 
 
 " Pegasus, indeed ! " cried he, turning up his nose 
 as high as such a flat nose could be turned up, 
 " Pegasus, indeed I A winged horse, truly ! Why, 
 friend, are you in your senses ? Of what use would 
 wings be to a horse ? Could he drag the plough so 
 well, think you ? To be sure, there might be a little 
 saving in the expense of shoes ; but then, how would 
 a man like to see his horse flying out of the stable 
 window ? yes, or whisking him up above the clouds, 
 when he only wanted to ride to mill ? No, no ! I 
 don t believe in Pegasus. There never was such a ri 
 diculous kind of a horse-fowl made ! " 
 
 " I have some reason to think otherwise," said Bel 
 lerophon, quietly. 
 
 And then he turned to an old, gray man, who was 
 leaning on a staff, and listening very attentively, with 
 his head stretched forward, and one hand at his ear, 
 because, for the last twenty years, he had been getting 
 rather deaf. 
 
 "And what say you, venerable sir?" inquired he. 
 " In your younger days, I should imagine, you must 
 frequently have seen the winged steed ! " 
 
 " Ah, young stranger, my memory is very poor ! " 
 
172 THE CHIMERA. 
 
 said the aged man. " When I was a lad, if I remem 
 ber rightly, I used to believe there was such a horse, 
 and so did everybody else. But, nowadays, I hardly 
 know what to think, and very seldom think about the 
 winged horse at all. If I ever saw the creature, it was 
 a long, long while ago ; and, to tell you the truth, I 
 doubt whether I ever did see him. One day, to be 
 sure, when I was quite a youth, I remember seeing 
 some hoof-tramps round about the brink of the foun 
 tain. Pegasus might have made those hoof -marks ; 
 and so might some other horse/ 
 
 " And have you never seen him, my fair maiden ? " 
 asked Bellerophon of the girl, who stood with the 
 pitcher on her head, while this talk went on. " You 
 certainly could see Pegasus, if anybody can, for your 
 eyes are very bright." 
 
 " Once I thought I saw him," replied the maiden, 
 with a smile and a blush. " It was either Pegasus, 
 or a large white bird, a very great way up in the air. 
 And one other time, as I was coming to the fountain 
 with my pitcher, I heard a neigh. Oh, such a brisk 
 and melodious neigh as that was ! My very heart 
 leaped with delight at the sound. But it startled me. 
 nevertheless ; so that I ran home without filling my 
 pitcher." 
 
 " That was truly a pity ! " said Bellerophon. 
 
 And he turned to the child, whom I mentioned at 
 the beginning of the story, and who was gazing at 
 him, as children are apt to gaze at strangers, with his 
 rosy mouth wide open. 
 
 " Well, my little fellow," cried Bellerophon, play 
 fully pulling one of his curls, " I suppose you have 
 often seen the winged horse." 
 
 "That I have," answered the child, very readily. 
 " I saw him yesterday, and many times before." 
 
THE CHIMERA. 173 
 
 "You are a fine little man!" said Bellerophon, 
 drawing the child closer to him. " Come, tell me all 
 about it." 
 
 " Why," replied the child, " I often come here to 
 sail little boats in the fountain, and to gather pretty 
 pebbles out of its basin. And sometimes, when I look 
 down into the water, I see the image of the winged 
 horse, in the picture of the sky that is there. I wish 
 he would come down, and take me on his back, and 
 let me ride him up to the moon ! But, if I so much 
 as stir to look at him, he flies far away out of sight." 
 
 And Bellerophon put his faith in the child, who 
 had seen the image of Pegasus in the water, and in 
 the maiden, who had heard him neigh so melodiously, 
 rather than in the middle-aged clown, who believed 
 only in cart-horses, or in the old man who had for 
 gotten the beautiful things of his yo*uth. 
 
 Therefore, he haunted about the Fountain of Pirene 
 for a great many days afterwards. He kept contin 
 ually on the watch, looking upward at the sky, or else 
 down into the water, hoping forever that he should see 
 either the reflected image of the winged horse, or the 
 marvellous reality. He held the bridle, with its bright 
 gems and golden bit, always ready in his hand. The 
 rustic people, who dwelt in the neighborhood, and 
 drove their cattle to the fountain to drink, would often 
 laugh at poor Bellerophon, and sometimes take him 
 pretty severely to task. They told him that an able- 
 bodied young man, like himself, ought to have better 
 business than to be wasting his time in such an idle 
 pursuit. They offered to sell him a horse, if he 
 wanted one ; and when Bellerophon declined the pur 
 chase, they tried to drive a bargain with him for his 
 fine bridle. 
 
174 THE CHIMERA. 
 
 Even the country boys thought him so very foolish, 
 that they used to have a great deal of sport about him, 
 and were rude enough not to care a fig, although Bel- 
 lerophon saw and heard it. One little urchin, for ex 
 ample, would play Pegasus, and cut the oddest imag 
 inable capers, by way of flying ; while one of his 
 schoolfellows would scamper after him, holding forth 
 a twist of bulrushes, which was intended to represent 
 Bellerophon s ornamental bridle. But the gentle 
 child, who had seen the picture of Pegasus in the 
 water, comforted the young stranger more than all the 
 naughty boys could torment him. The dear little fel 
 low, in his play-hours, often sat down beside him, and, 
 without speaking a word, would look down into the 
 fountain and up towards the sky, with so innocent a 
 faith, that Bellerophon could not help feeling encour 
 aged. 
 
 Now you will, perhaps, wish to be told why it was 
 that Bellerophon had undertaken to catch the winged 
 horse. And we shall find no better opportunity to 
 speak about this matter than while he is waiting for 
 Pegasus to appear. 
 
 If I were to relate the whole of Bellerophon s pre 
 vious adventures, they might easily grow into a very 
 long story. It will be quite enough to say, that, in a 
 certain country of Asia, a terrible monster, called a 
 Chimsera, had made its appearance, and was doing 
 more mischief than could be talked about between 
 now and sunset. According to the best accounts 
 which I have been able to obtain, this Chimsera was 
 nearly, if not quite, the ugliest and most poisonous 
 creature, and the strangest and unaccountablest, and 
 the hardest to fight with, and the most difficult to run 
 away from, that ever came out of the earth s inside. 
 
THE CHIMERA. 175 
 
 It had a tail like a boa-constrictor ; its body was like 
 I do not care what ; and it had three separate heads, 
 one of which was a lion s, the second a goat s, and the 
 third an abominably great snake s. And a hot blast 
 of fire came flaming out of each of its three mouths ! 
 Being an earthly monster, I doubt whether it had any 
 wings ; but, wings or no, it ran like a goat and a lion, 
 and wriggled along like a serpent, and thus contrived 
 to make about as much speed as all the three together. 
 
 Oh, the mischief, and mischief, and mischief that 
 this naughty creature did ! With its flaming breath, 
 it could set a forest on fire, or burn up a field of grain, 
 or, for that matter, a village, with all its fences and 
 houses. It laid waste the whole country round about, 
 and used to eat up people and animals alive, and cook 
 them afterwards in the burning oven of its stomach. 
 Mercy on us, little children, I hope neither you nor 1 
 will ever liappen to meet a Chimaera ! 
 
 While the hateful beast (if a beast we can anywise 
 call it) was doing all these horrible things, it so 
 chanced that Bellerophon came to that part of the 
 world, on a visit to the king. The king s name was 
 lobates, and Lycia was the country which he ruled 
 over. Bellerophon was one of the bravest youths in 
 the world, and desired nothing so much as to do some 
 valiant and beneficent deed, such as would make all 
 mankind admire and love him. In those days, the 
 only way for a young man to distinguish himself was 
 by fighting battles, either with the enemies of his 
 country, or with wicked giants, or with troublesome 
 dragons, or with wild beasts, when he could find 
 nothing more dangerous to encounter. King lobates, 
 perceiving the courage of his youthful visitor, pro 
 posed to him to go and fight the Chimera, which 
 
176 THE CHIMERA. 
 
 everybody else was afraid of, and which, unless it 
 should be soon killed, was likely to convert Lycia into 
 a desert. Bellerophon hesitated not a moment, but 
 assured the king that he would either slay this dreaded 
 Chimsera, or perish in the attempt. 
 
 But, in the first place, as the monster was so pro 
 digiously swift, he bethought himself that he should 
 never win the victory by fighting on foot. The wisest 
 thing he could do, therefore, was to get the very best 
 and fleetest horse that could anywhere be found. And 
 what other horse, in all the world, was half so fleet as 
 the marvellous horse Pegasus, who had wings as well 
 as legs, and was even more active in the air than on 
 the earth ? To be sure, a great many people denied 
 that there was any such horse with wings, and said 
 that the stories about him were all poetry and non 
 sense. But, wonderful as it appeared, Bellerophon 
 believed that Pegasus was a real steed, and hoped that 
 he himself might be fortunate enough to find him ; 
 and, once fairly mounted on his back, he would be 
 able to fight the Chimera at better advantage. 
 
 And this was the purpose with which he had trav 
 elled from Lycia to Greece, and had brought the beau 
 tifully ornamented bridle in his hand. It was an en 
 chanted bridle. If he could only succeed in putting 
 the golden bit into the mouth of Pegasus, the winged 
 horse would be submissive, and would own Bellero 
 phon for his master, and fly whithersoever he might 
 choose to turn the rein. 
 
 But, indeed, it was a weary and anxious time, while 
 Bellerophon waited and waited for Pegasus, in hopes 
 that he would come and drink at the Fountain of 
 Pirene. lie was afraid lest King lobates should im 
 agine that he had fled from the Chimaera. It pained 
 
THE CHIMERA. 177 
 
 him, too, to think how much mischief the monster was 
 doing, while he himself, instead of fighting with it, 
 was compelled to sit idly poring over the bright waters 
 of Pirene, as they gushed out of the sparkling sand. 
 And as Pegasus came thither so seldom in these latter 
 years, and scarcely alighted there more than once in a 
 lifetime, Bellerophon feared that he might grow an 
 old man, and have no strength left in his arms nor 
 courage in his heart, before the winged horse would 
 appear. Oh, how heavily passes the time, while an ad 
 venturous youth is yearning to do his part in life, and 
 to gather in the harvest of his renown ! How hard a 
 lesson it is to wait ! Our life is brief, and how much 
 of it is spent in teaching us only this ! 
 
 Well was it for Bellerophon that the gentle child 
 had grown so fond of him, and was never weary of 
 keeping him company. Every morning the child gave 
 him a new hope to put in his bosom, instead of yester 
 day s withered one. 
 
 " Dear Bellerophon," he would cry, looking up hope 
 fully into his face, " I think we shall see Pegasus to 
 day!" 
 
 And, at length, if it had not been for the little boy s 
 unwavering faith, Bellerophon would have given up 
 all hope, and would have gone back to Lycia, and 
 have done his best to slay the Chimsera without the 
 help of the winged horse. And in that case poor Bel 
 lerophon would at least have been terribly scorched 
 by the creature s breath, and would most probably 
 have been killed and devoured. Nobody should ever 
 try to fight an earth-born Chimaera, unless he can first 
 get upon the back of an aerial steed. 
 
 One morning the child spoke to Bellerophon even 
 more hopefully than usual. 
 
 VOL. IV. 12 
 
178 THE CHIMERA. 
 
 " Dear, dear Belleroplion," cried he, " I know not 
 why it is, but I feel as if we should certainly see Pega 
 sus to-day ! 
 
 And all that day he would not stir a step from Bel- 
 lerophon s side ; so they ate a crust of bread together, 
 and drank some of the water of the fountain. In the 
 afternoon, there they sat, and Belleroplion had thrown 
 his arm around the child, who likewise had put one of 
 his little hands into Bellerophon s. The latter was 
 lost in his own tliQiights, and was fixing his eyes va 
 cantly on the trunks of the trees that overshadowed 
 the fountain, and on the grapevines that clambered 
 up among their branches. But the gentle child was 
 gazing down into the water ; he was grieved, for Bel- 
 lerophoii s sake, that the hope of another day should 
 be deceived, like so many before it ; and two or three 
 quiet tear-drops fell from his eyes, and mingled with 
 what were said to be the many tears of Pirene, when 
 she wept for her slain children. 
 
 But, when he least thought of it, Bellerophon felt 
 the pressure of the child s little hand, and heard a soft, 
 almost breathless, whisper. 
 
 " See there, dear Bellerophon ! There is an image 
 in the water ! " 
 
 The young man looked down into the dimpling mir 
 ror of the fountain, and saw what he took to be the 
 reflection of a bird which seemed to be flying at a 
 great height in the air, with a gleam of sunshine on its 
 snowy or silvery wings. 
 
 44 What a splendid bird it must be ! " said he. " And 
 how very large it looks, though it must really be fly 
 ing higher than the clouds ! " 
 
 " It makes me tremble ! " whispered the child. " I 
 am afraid to look up into the air ! It is very beautiful, 
 
THE CHIMERA. 179 
 
 and yet I dare only look at its image in the water. 
 Dear Bellerophon, do you not see that it is no bird ? 
 It is the winged horse Pegasus ! " 
 
 Bellerophoii s heart began to throb ! He gazed 
 keenly upward, but could not see the winged crea 
 ture, whether bird or horse ; because, just then, it had 
 plunged into the fleecy depths of a summer cloud. It 
 was but a moment, however, before the object reap 
 peared, sinking lightly down out of the cloud, al 
 though still at a vast distance from the earth. Beller 
 ophon caught the child in his arms, and shrank back 
 with him, so that they were both hidden among the 
 thick shubbery which grew all around the fountain. 
 Not that he was afraid of any harm, but he dreaded 
 lest, if Pegasus caught a glimpse of them, he would 
 fly far away, and alight in some inaccessible moun 
 tain-top. For it was really the winged horse. After 
 they had expected him so long, he was coming to quench 
 his thirst with the water of Pirene. 
 
 Nearer and nearer came the aerial wonder, flying in 
 great circles, as you may have seen a dove when about 
 to alight. Downward came Pegasus, in those wide, 
 sweeping circles, which grew narrower, and narrower 
 still, as he gradually approached the earth. The 
 nigher the view of him, the more beautiful he was, 
 and the more marvellous the sweep of his silvery 
 wings. At last, with so light a pressure as hardly to 
 bend the grass about the fountain, or imprint a hoof- 
 tramp in the sand of its margin, he alighted, and, 
 stooping his wild head, began to drink. He drew in 
 the water, with long and pleasant sighs, and tranquil 
 pauses of enjoyment ; and then another draught, and 
 another, and another. For, nowhere in the world, or 
 up among the clouds, did Pegasus love any water as 
 
180 THE CHIMERA. 
 
 he loved this of Pirene. And when his thirst was 
 slaked, he cropped a few of the honey-blossoms of the 
 clover, delicately tasting them, but not caring to make 
 a hearty meal, because the herbage, just beneath the 
 clouds, on the lofty sides of Mount Helicon, suited his 
 palate better than this ordinary grass. 
 
 After thus drinking to his heart s content, and in 
 his dainty fashion, condescending to take a little food, 
 the winged horse began to caper to and fro, and dance 
 as it were, out of mere idleness and sport. There 
 never was a more playful creature made than this very 
 Pegasus. So there he frisked, in a way that it de 
 lights me to think about, fluttering his great wings as 
 lightly as ever did a linnet, and running little races, 
 half on earth and half in air, and which I know not 
 whether to call a flight or a gallop. When a creature 
 is perfectly able to fly, he sometimes chooses to run, 
 just for the pastime of the thing ; and so did Pegasus, 
 although it cost him some little trouble to keep his 
 hoofs so near the ground. Bellerophon, meanwhile, 
 holding the child s hand, peeped forth from the shrub 
 bery, and thought that never was any sight so beauti 
 ful as this, nor ever a horse s eyes so wild and spirited 
 as those of Pegasus. It seemed a sin to think of brid 
 ling him and riding on his back. 
 
 Once or twice, Pegasus stopped, and snuffed the 
 air, pricking up his ears, tossing his head, and turning 
 it on all sides, as if he partly suspected some mischief 
 or other. Seeing nothing, however, and hearing no 
 sound, he soon began his antics again. 
 
 At length, not that he was weary, but only idle 
 and luxurious, Pegasus folded his wings, and lay 
 down on the soft green turf. But, being too full of 
 aerial life to remain quiet for many moments together, 
 
THE CHIMERA. 181 
 
 he soon rolled over on his back, with his four slender 
 legs in the air. It was beautiful to see him, this one 
 solitary creature, whose mate had never been created, 
 but who needed 110 companion, and, living a great 
 many hundred years, was as happy as the centuries 
 were long. The more he did such things as mortal 
 horses are accustomed to do, the less earthly and the 
 more wonderful he seemed. Bellerophon and the 
 child almost held their breath, partly from a delight 
 ful awe, but still more because they dreaded lest the 
 slightest stir or murmur should send him up, with the 
 speed of an arrow-flight, into the farthest blue of the 
 sky. 
 
 Finally, when he had had enough of rolling over 
 and over, Pegasus turned himself about, and, indo 
 lently, like any other horse, put out his fore legs, in 
 order to rise from the ground ; and Bellerophon, who 
 had guessed that lie would do so, darted suddenly 
 from the thicket, and leaped astride of his back. 
 
 Yes, there he sat, on the back of the winged horse ! 
 
 But what a bound did Pegasus make, when, for the 
 first time, he felt the weight of a mortal man upon 
 his loins ! A bound, indeed ! Before he had time to 
 draw a breath, Bellerophon found himself five hundred 
 feet aloft, and still shooting upward, while the winged 
 horse snorted and trembled with terror and anger. 
 Upward he went, up, up, up, until he plunged into 
 the cold misty bosom of a cloud, at which, only a little 
 while before, Bellerophon had been gazing, and fancy 
 ing it a very pleasant spot. Then again, out of the 
 heart of the cloud, Pegasus shot down like a thunder 
 bolt, as if he meant to dash both himself and his 
 rider headlong against a rock. Then he went through 
 about a thousand of the wildest caprioles that had 
 ever been performed either by a bird or a horse. 
 
182 THE CHIMERA. 
 
 I cannot tell you half that he did. He skimmed 
 straight forward, and sideways, and backward. He 
 reared himself erect, with his fore legs on a wreath of 
 mist, and his hind legs on nothing at all. He flung 
 out his heels behind, and put down his head between 
 his legs, with his wings pointing right upward. At 
 about two miles height above the earth, he turned a 
 somerset, so that Bellerophon s heels were where his 
 head should have been, and he seemed to look down 
 into the sky, instead of up. He twisted his head 
 about, and, looking Bellerophon in the face, with fire 
 flashing from his eyes, made a terrible attempt to 
 bite him. He fluttered his pinions so wildly that one 
 of the silver feathers was shaken out, and floating 
 earthward, was picked up by the child, who kept it as 
 long as he lived, in memory of Pegasus and Bellero 
 phon. 
 
 But the latter (who, as you may judge, was as good 
 a horseman as ever galloped) had been watching his 
 opportunity, and at last clapped the golden bit of the 
 enchanted bridle between the winged steed s jaws. 
 No sooner was this done, than Pegasus became as 
 manageable as if he had taken food, all his life, out of 
 Bellerophon s hand. To speak what I really feel, it 
 was almost a sadness 1 to see so wild a creature grow 
 suddenly so tame. And Pegasus seemed to feel it so, 
 likewise. He looked round to Bellerophon, with the 
 tears in his beautiful eyes, instead of the fire that so 
 recently flashed from them. But when Bellerophon 
 patted his head, and spoke a few authoritative, yet 
 kind and soothing words, another look came into the 
 eyes of Pegasus ; for he was glad at heart, after so 
 many lonely centuries, to have found a companion 
 and a master. 
 
THE CHIMERA. 183 
 
 Thus it always is with winged horses, and with all 
 such wild and solitary creatures. If you can catch and 
 overcome them, it is the surest way to win their love. 
 
 While Pegasus had been doing his utmost to shake 
 Bellerophon off his back, he had flown a very long 
 distance ; and they had come within sight of a lofty 
 mountain by the time the bit was in his mouth. 
 Bellerophon had seen this mountain before, and knew 
 it to be Helicon, on the summit of which was the 
 winged horse s abode. Thither (after looking gently 
 into his rider s face, as if to ask leave) Pegasus now 
 flew, and, alighting, waited patiently until Bellero 
 phon should please to dismount. The young man, ac 
 cordingly, leaped from his steed s back, but still held 
 him fast by the bridle. Meeting his eyes, however, 
 he was so affected by the gentleness of his aspect, and 
 by the thought of the free life which Pegasus had 
 heretofore lived, that he could not bear to keep him a 
 a prisoner, if he really desired his liberty. 
 
 Obeying this generous impulse he slipped the en 
 chanted bridle off the head of Pegasus, and took the 
 bit from his mouth. 
 
 " Leave me, Pegasus ! " said he. "Either leave me, 
 or love me." 
 
 In an instant, the winged horse shot almost out of 
 sight, soaring straight upward from the summit of 
 Mount Helicon. Being long after sunset, it was now 
 twilight on the mountain-top, and dusky evening over 
 all the country round about. But Pegasus flew so high 
 that he overtook the departed day, and was bathed in 
 the upper radiance of the sun. Ascending higher and 
 higher, he looked like a bright speck, and, at last, 
 could no longer be seen in the hollow waste of the 
 sky. And Bellerophon was afraid that he should 
 
184 THE CHIMJERA. 
 
 never behold him more. But, while he was lamenting 
 his own folly, the bright speck reappeared, and drew 
 nearer and nearer, until it descended lower than the 
 sunshine ; and, behold, Pegasus had come back ! 
 After this trial there was no more fear of the winged 
 horse s making his escape. He and Bellerophon were 
 friends, and put loving faith in one another. 
 
 That night they lay down and slept together, with 
 Bellerophon s arm about the neck of Pegasus, not as 
 a caution, but for kindness. And they awoke at peep 
 of day, and bade one another good morning, each in 
 his own language. 
 
 In this manner, Bellerophon and the wondrous 
 steed spent several days, and grew better acquainted 
 and fonder of each other all the time. They went on 
 long aerial journeys, and sometimes ascended so high 
 that the earth looked hardly bigger than the moon. 
 They visited distant countries, and amazed the in 
 habitants, who thought that the beautiful young man, 
 on the back of the winged horse, must have come 
 down out of the sky. A thousand miles a day was no 
 more than an easy space for the fleet Pegasus to pass 
 over. Bellerophon was delighted with this kind of 
 life, and would have liked nothing better than to live 
 always in the same way, aloft in the clear atmosphere ; 
 for it was always sunny weather up there, however 
 cheerless and rainy it might be in the lower region. 
 But he could not forget the horrible Chimaera, which 
 he had promised King lobates to slay. So, at last, 
 when he had become well accustomed to feats of horse 
 manship in the air, and could manage Pegasus with 
 the least motion of his hand, and had taught him to 
 obey his voice, he determined to attempt the per 
 formance of this perilous adventure. 
 
THE CHIMERA. 185 
 
 At daybreak, therefore, as soon as he unclosed his 
 eyes, he gently pinched the winged horse s ear, in order 
 to arouse him. Pegasus immediately started from the 
 ground, and pranced about a quarter of a mile aloft, 
 and made a grand sweep around the mountain-top, by 
 way of showing that he was wide awake, and ready for 
 any kind of an excursion. During the whole of this 
 little flight, he uttered a loud, brisk, and melodious 
 neigh, and finally came down at Bellerophon s side, as 
 lightly as ever you saw a sparrow hop upon a twig. 
 
 " Well done, dear Pegasus ! well done, my sky-skim 
 mer ! " cried Bellerophon, fondly stroking the horse s 
 neck. u And now, my fleet and beautiful friend, we 
 must break our fast. To-day we are to fight the terri 
 ble Chimaera." 
 
 As soon as they had eaten their morning meal, and 
 drank some sparkling water from a spring called Hip- 
 pocrene, Pegasus held out his head, of his own accord, 
 so that his master might put on the bridle. Then, 
 with a great many playful leaps and airy caper ings, 
 he showed his impatience to be gone ; while Bellero 
 phon was girding on his sword, and hanging his shield 
 about his neck, and preparing himself for battle. 
 When everything was ready, the rider mounted, and 
 (as was his custom, when going a long distance) as 
 cended five miles perpendicularly, so as the better to 
 see whither he was directing his course. He then 
 turned the head of Pegasus towards the east, and set 
 out for Lycia. In their flight they overtook an eagle, 
 and came so nigh him, before he could get out of their 
 way, that Bellerophon might easily have caught him 
 by the leg. Hastening onward at this rate, it was still 
 early in the forenoon when they beheld the lofty moun 
 tains of Lycia, with their deep and shaggy valleys. If 
 
186 THE CHIMERA. 
 
 Bellerophon had been told truly, it was in one of those 
 dismal valleys that the hideous Chimaera had taken up 
 its abode. 
 
 Being now so near their journey s end, the winged 
 horse gradually descended with his rider ; and they 
 took advantage of some clouds that were floating over 
 the mountain-tops, in order to conceal themselves. 
 Hovering on the upper surface of a cloud, and peep 
 ing over its edge, Bellerophon had a pretty distinct 
 view of the mountainous part of Lycia, and could look 
 into all its shadowy vales at once. At first there ap 
 peared to be nothing remarkable. It was a wild, sav 
 age, and rocky tract of high and precipitous hills. In 
 the more level part of the country, there were the ruins 
 of houses that had been burnt, and, here and there, the 
 carcasses of dead cattle, strewn about the pastures 
 where they had been feeding. 
 
 " The Chimaera must have done this mischief," 
 thought Bellerophon. " But where can the monster 
 be?" 
 
 As I have already "said, there was nothing remark 
 able to be detected, at first sight, in any of the valleys 
 and dells that lay among the precipitous heights of the 
 mountains. Nothing at all ; unless, indeed, it were 
 three spires of black smoke, which issued from what 
 seemed to be the mouth of a cavern, and clambered 
 sullenly into the atmosphere. Before reaching the 
 mountain-top, these three black smoke-wreaths mingled 
 themselves into one. The cavern was almost directly 
 beneath the winged horse and his rider, at the distance 
 of about a thousand feet. The smoke, as it crept 
 heavily upward, had an ugly, sulphurous, stifling 
 scent, which caused Pegasus to snort and Bellerophon 
 to sneeze. So disagreeable was it to the marvellous 
 
THE CHIMERA. 187 
 
 steed (who was accustomed to breathe only the purest 
 air), that he waved his wings, and shot half a mile out 
 of the range of this offensive vapor. 
 
 But, on looking behind him, Bellerophon saw some 
 thing that induced him first to draw the bridle, and 
 then to turn Pegasus about. He made a sign, which 
 the winged horse understood, and sunk slowly through 
 the air, until his hoofs were scarcely more than a 
 man s height above the rocky bottom of the valley. 
 In front, as far off as you could throw a stone, was 
 the cavern s mouth, with the three smoke-wreaths ooz 
 ing out of it. And what else did Bellerophon behold 
 there ? 
 
 There seemed to be a heap of strange and terrible 
 creatures curled up within the cavern. Their bodies 
 lay so close together, that Bellerophon could not dis 
 tinguish them apart ; but, judging by their heads, one 
 of these creatures was a huge snake, the second a 
 fierce lion, and the third an ugly goat. The lion and 
 the goat were asleep ; the snake was broad awake, and 
 kept staring around him with a great pair of fiery 
 eyes. But and this was the most wonderful part 
 of the matter the three spires of smoke evidently 
 issued from the nostrils of these three heads ! So 
 strange was the spectacle, that, though Bellerophon 
 had been all along expecting it, the truth did not im 
 mediately occur to him, that here was the terrible 
 three-headed Chimaera. He had found out the Chi- 
 maera s cavern. The snake, the lion, and the goat, as 
 he supposed them to be, were not three separate crea 
 tures, but one monster ! 
 
 The wicked, hateful thing ! Slumbering as two 
 thirds of it were, it still held, in its abominable claws, 
 the remnant of an unfortunate lamb, or possibly 
 
188 THE 
 
 (but I hate to think so) it was a dear little boy, 
 which its three mouths had been gnawing, before two 
 of them fell asleep ! 
 
 All at once, Bellerophoii started as from a dream, 
 and knew it to be the Chimsera. Pegasus seemed to 
 know it, at the same instant, and sent forth a neigh, 
 that sounded like the call of a trumpet to battle. At 
 this sound the three heads reared themselves erect, and 
 belched out great flashes of flame. Before Bellerophon 
 had time to consider what to do next, the monster 
 flung itself out of the cavern and sprung straight to 
 wards him, with its immense claws extended, and its 
 snaky tail twisting itself venomously behind. If Peg 
 asus had not been as nimble as a bird, both he and his 
 rider would have been overthrown by the Chimasra s 
 headlong rush, and thus the battle have been ended 
 before it was well begun. But the winged horse was 
 not to be caught so. In the twinkling of an eye he 
 was up aloft, half-way to the clouds, snorting with 
 anger. He shuddered, too, not with aifright, but with 
 utter disgust at the loathsomeness of this poisonous 
 thing with three heads. 
 
 The Chimera, on the other hand, raised itself up so 
 as to stand absolutely on the tip-end of its tail, with 
 its talons pawing fiercely in the air, and its three heads 
 spluttering fire at Pegasus and his rider. My stars, 
 how it roared, and hissed, and bellowed ! Bellerophon, 
 meanwhile, was fitting his shield on his arm, and draw- 
 ing his sword. 
 
 " Now, my beloved Pegasus," he whispered in the 
 winged horse s ear, " thou must help me to slay this 
 insufferable monster ; or else thou shalt fly back to 
 thy solitary mountain-peak without thy friend Bel 
 lerophon, For either the Chimsera dies, or its three 
 
THE CHIMERA. 189 
 
 mouths shall gnaw this head of mine, which has slum 
 bered upon thy neck ! " 
 
 Pegasus whinnied, and, turning back his head, 
 rubbed his nose tenderly against his rider s cheek. It 
 was his way of telling him that, though he had wings 
 and was an immortal horse, yet he would perish, if it 
 were possible for immortality to perish, rather than 
 leave Bellerophon behind. 
 
 " I thank you, Pegasus," answered Bellerophon. 
 " Now, then, let us make a dash at the monster ! " 
 
 Uttering these words, he shook the bridle ; and Peg 
 asus darted down aslant, as swift as the flight of an 
 arrow, right towards the Chimera s threefold head, 
 which, all this time, was poking itself as high as it 
 could into the air. As he came within arm s-length, 
 Bellerophon made a cut at the monster, but was car 
 ried onward by his steed, before he could see whether 
 the blow had been successful. Pegasus continued his 
 course, but soon wheeled round, at about the same dis 
 tance from the Chimaera as before. Bellerophon then 
 perceived that he had cut the goat s head of the 
 monster almost off, so that it dangled downward by 
 the skin, and seemed quite dead. 
 
 But, to make amends, the snake s head and the 
 lion s head had taken all the fierceness of the dead 
 one into themselves, and spit flame, and hissed, and 
 roared, with a vast deal more fury than before. 
 
 " Never mind, my brave Pegasus ! " cried Bellero 
 phon. " With another stroke like that, we will stop 
 either its hissing or its roaring." 
 
 And again he shook the bridle. Dashing aslant- 
 wise, as before, the winged horse made another arrow- 
 flight towards the Chimera, and Bellerophon aimed 
 another downright stroke at one of the two remaining 
 
190 THE CHIMERA. 
 
 heads, as he shot by. But this time, neither he nor 
 Pegasus escaped so well as at first. With one of its 
 claws, the Chimaera had given the young man a deep 
 scratch in his shoulder, and had slightly damaged the 
 left wing of the flying steed with the other. On his 
 part, Bellerophon had mortally wounded the lion s 
 head of the monster, insomuch that it now hung down 
 ward, with its fire almost extinguished, and sending 
 out gasps of thick black smoke. The snake s head, 
 however (which was the only one now left), was twice 
 as fierce and venomous as ever before. It belched 
 forth shoots of fire five hundred yards long, and 
 emitted hisses so loud, so harsh, and so ear-piercing, 
 that King lobates heard them, fifty miles off, and 
 trembled till the throne shook under him. 
 
 " Well-a-day ! " thought the poor king ; " the Chi- 
 ma?ra is certainly coming to devour me ! " 
 
 Meanwhile Pegasus had again paused in the air, 
 and neighed angrily, while sparkles of a pure crystal 
 flame darted out of his eyes. How unlike the lurid 
 fire of the Chimaera ! The aerial steed s spirit was all 
 aroused, and so was that of Bellerophon. 
 
 " Dost thou bleed, my immortal horse ? " cried the 
 young man, caring less for his own hurt than for the 
 anguish of this glorious creature, that ought never to 
 have tasted pain. " The execrable Chimaera shall pay 
 for this mischief with his last head ! " 
 
 Then he shook the bridle, shouted loudly, and 
 guided Pegasus, not aslantwise as before, but straight 
 at the monster s hideous front. So rapid was the 
 onset, that it seemed but a dazzle and a flash before 
 Bellerophon was at close gripes with his enemy. 
 
 The Chimaera, by this time, after losing its second 
 head, had got into a red-hot passion of pain and ram- 
 
THE CHIMERA. 191 
 
 pant rage. It so flounced about, half on earth and 
 partly in the air, that it was impossible to say which 
 element it rested upon. It opened its snake-jaws to 
 such an abominable width, that Pegasus might almost, 
 I was going to say, have flown right down its throat, 
 wings outspread, rider and all ! At their approach it 
 shot out a tremendous blast of its fiery breath, and en 
 veloped Bellerophon and his steed in a perfect atmos 
 phere of flame, singeing the wings of Pegasus, scorch 
 ing off one whole side of the young man s golden 
 ringlets, and making them both far hotter than was 
 comfortable, from head to foot. 
 
 But this was nothing to what followed. 
 
 When the airy rush of the winged horse had 
 brought him within the distance of a hundred yards, 
 the Chimera gave a spring, and flung its huge, awk 
 ward, venomous, and utterly detestable carcass right 
 upon poor Pegasus, clung round him with might and 
 main, and tied up its snaky tail into a knot ! Up 
 flew the aerial steed, higher, higher, higher, above the 
 mountain-peaks, above the clouds, and almost out of 
 siii ht of the solid earth. But still the earth-born 
 
 o 
 
 monster kept its hold, and was borne upward, along 
 with the creature of light and air. Bellerophon, mean 
 while, turning about, found himself face to face with 
 the ugly grimness of the Chimera s visage, and could 
 only avoid being scorched to death, or bitten right in 
 twain, by holding up his shield. Over the upper edge 
 of the shield, he looked sternly into the savage eyes of 
 the monster. 
 
 But the Chimaera was so mad and wild with pain, 
 that it did not guard itself so well as might else have 
 been the case. Perhaps, after all, the best way to fight 
 a Chimera is by getting as close to it as you can. In 
 
192 THE CHIMERA. 
 
 its efforts to stick its horrible iron claws into its enemy, 
 the creature left its own breast quite exposed ; and per 
 ceiving this, Bellerophon thrust his sword up to the 
 hilt into its cruel heart. Immediately the snaky tail 
 untied its knot. The monster let go its hold of Pega 
 sus, and fell from that vast height, downward ; while 
 the fire within its bosom, instead of being put out, 
 burned fiercer than ever, and quickly began to con 
 sume the dead carcass. Thus it fell out of the sky, all 
 a-flame, and (it being nightfall before it reached the 
 earth) was mistaken for a shooting star or a comet. 
 But, at early sunrise, some cottagers were going to 
 their day s labor, and saw, to their astonishment, that 
 several acres of ground were strewn with black ashes. 
 In the middle of a field, there was a heap of whitened 
 bones, a great deal higher than a haystack. Nothing 
 else was ever seen of the dreadful Chimsera ! 
 
 And when Bellerophon had won the victory, he bent 
 forward and kissed Pegasus, while the tears stood in 
 his eyes. 
 
 "Back now, my beloved steed ! " said he. " Back 
 to the Fountain of Pirene ! " 
 
 Pegasus skimmed through the air, quicker than ever 
 he did before, and reached the fountain in a very short 
 time. And there he found the old man leaning on his 
 staff, and the country fellow watering his cow, and the 
 pretty maiden filling her pitcher. 
 
 " I remember now," quoth the old man, " I saw this 
 winged horse once before, when I was quite a lad. But 
 he was ten times handsomer in those days." 
 
 " I own a cart-horse, worth three of him ! " said the 
 country fellow. " If this pony were mine, the first 
 tiling I should do would be to clip his wings ! " 
 
 But the poor maiden said nothing, for she had al 
 
THE CHIMERA. 193 
 
 ways the luck to be afraid at the wrong time. So 
 she ran away, and let her pitcher tumble down, and 
 broke it. 
 
 "Where is the gentle child," asked Bellerophon, 
 " who used to keep me company, and never lost his 
 faith, and never was weary of gazing into the foun 
 tain?" 
 
 " Here am I, dear Bellerophon ! " said the child, 
 softly. 
 
 For the little boy had spent day after day, on the 
 margin of Pirene, waiting for his friend to come back ; 
 but when he perceived Bellerophon descending through 
 the clouds, mounted on the winged horse, he had 
 shrunk back into the shrubbery. He was a delicate 
 and tender child, and dreaded lest the old man and 
 the country fellow should see the tears gushing from 
 his eyes. 
 
 " Thou hast won the victory," said he, joyfully, run 
 ning to the knee of Bellerophon, who still sat on the 
 back of Pegasus. " I knew thou wouldst." 
 
 " Yes, dear child ! " replied Bellerophon, alighting 
 from the winged horse. " But if thy faith had not 
 helped me, I should never have waited for Pegasus, 
 and never have gone up above the clouds, and never 
 have conquered the terrible Chimaera. Thou, my be 
 loved little friend, hast done it all. And now let us 
 give Pegasus his liberty." 
 
 So he slipped off the enchanted bridle from the head 
 of the marvellous steed. 
 
 "Be free, forevermore, my Pegasus ! " cried he, with 
 a shade of sadness in his tone. " Be as free as thou 
 art fleet ! " 
 
 But Pegasus rested his head on Bellerophon s shoul 
 der, and would not be persuaded to take flight. 
 
 VOL. IV. 13 
 
194 THE CHIMERA. 
 
 " Well then," said Bellerophon, caressing the airy 
 horse, " thou shalt be with me, as long as thou wilt ; 
 and we will go together, forthwith, and tell King lo- 
 bates that the Chimasra is destroyed." 
 
 Then Bellerophon embraced the gentle child, and 
 promised to come to him again, and departed. But, in 
 after years, that child took higher flights upon the 
 aerial steed than ever did Bellerophon, and achieved 
 more honorable deeds than his friend s victory over 
 the Chimsera. For, gentle and tender as he was, he 
 grew to be a mighty poet ! 
 
BALD-SUMMIT. 
 
 AFTER THE STORY. 
 
 EUSTACE BRIGHT told the legend of Bellerophon 
 with as much fervor and animation as if he had really 
 been taking a gallop on the winged horse. At the con 
 clusion, he was gratified to discern, by the glowing 
 countenances of his auditors, how greatly they had 
 been interested. All their eyes were dancing in their 
 heads, except those of Primrose. In her eyes there 
 were positively tears ; for she was conscious of some 
 thing in the legend which the rest of them were not 
 yet old enough to feel. Child s story as it was, the 
 student had contrived to breathe through it the ardor, 
 the generous hope, and the imaginative enterprise of 
 youth. 
 
 " I forgive you, now, Primrose," said he, " for all 
 your ridicule of myself and my stories. One tear pays 
 for a great deal of laughter." 
 
 "Well, Mr. Bright," answered Primrose, wiping 
 her eyes, and giving him another of her mischievous 
 smiles, " it certainly does elevate your ideas, to get 
 your head above the clouds. I advise you never to 
 tell another story, unless it be, as at present, from the 
 top of a mountain." 
 
 " Or from the back of Pegasus," replied Eustace, 
 laughing. " Don t you think that I succeeded pretty 
 well in catching that wonderful pony ? " 
 
 " It was so like one of your madcap pranks ! " 
 
196 BALD-SUMMIT. 
 
 cried Primrose, clapping her hands. " I think I see 
 you now on his back, two miles high, and with your 
 head downward ! It is well that you have not really 
 an opportunity of trying your horsemanship on any 
 wilder steed than our sober Davy, or Old Hundred." 
 
 For my part, I wish I had Pegasus here, at this 
 moment," said the student. " I would mount him 
 forthwith, and gallop about the country, within a cir 
 cumference of a few miles, making literary calls on 
 my brother-authors. Dr. Dewey would be within my 
 reach, at the foot of Taconic. In Stockbridge, yonder, 
 is Mr. James, conspicuous to all the world on his 
 mountain-pile of history and romance. Longfellow, I 
 believe, is not yet at the Ox-bow, else the winged 
 horse would neigh at the sight of him. But, here in 
 Lenox, I should find our most truthful novelist, who 
 has made the scenery and life of Berkshire all her 
 own. On the hither side of Pittsfield sits Herman 
 Melville, shaping out the gigantic conception of his 
 4 White Whale, while the gigantic shape of Graylock 
 looms upon him from his study-window. Another 
 bound of my flying steed would bring me to the door 
 of Holmes, whom I mention last, because Pegasus 
 would certainly unseat me, the next minute, and claim 
 the poet as his rider." 
 
 " Have we not an author for our next neighbor ? " 
 asked Primrose. " That silent man, who lives in the 
 old red house, near Tanglewood Avenue, and whom we 
 sometimes meet, with two children at his side, in the 
 woods or at the lake. I think I have heard of his 
 having written a poem, or a romance, or an arithme 
 tic, or a school-history, or some other kind of a book." 
 
 " Hush, Primrose, hush ! " exclaimed Eustace, in a 
 thrilling whisper, and putting his finger on his lip. 
 
BALD-SUMMIT. 197 
 
 " Not a word about that man, even on a hill-top ! If 
 our babble were to reach his ears, and happen not to 
 please him, he has but to fling a quire or two of paper 
 into the stove, and you, Primrose, and I, and Peri 
 winkle, Sweet Fern, Squash-Blossom, Blue Eye, Huck 
 leberry, Clover, Cowslip, Plantain, Milkweed, Dande 
 lion, and Buttercup, yes, and wise Mr. Pringle, 
 with his unfavorable criticisms on my legends, and 
 poor Mrs. Pringle, too, would all turn to smoke, 
 and go whisking up the funnel ! Our neighbor in the 
 red house is a harmless sort of person enough, for 
 aught I know, as concerns the rest of the world ; but 
 something whispers to me that he has a terrible power 
 over ourselves, extending to nothing short of annihi 
 lation." 
 
 " And would Tanglewood turn to smoke, as well as 
 we? " asked Periwinkle, quite appalled at the threat 
 ened destruction. " And what would become of Ben 
 and Bruin?" 
 
 " Tanglewood would remain," replied the student, 
 " looking just as it does now, but occupied by an en 
 tirely different family. And Ben and Bruin would be 
 still alive, and would make themselves very comforta 
 ble with the bones from the dinner-table, without ever 
 thinking of the good times which they and we have 
 had together ! " 
 
 " What nonsense you are talking ! " exclaimed 
 Primrose. 
 
 With idle chat of this kind, the party had already 
 begun to descend the hill, and were now within the 
 shadow of the woods. Primrose gathered some moun 
 tain-laurel, the leaf of which, though of last year s 
 growth, was still as verdant and elastic as if the frost 
 and thaw had not alternately tried their force upon its 
 
198 BALD-SUMMIT. 
 
 texture. Of these twigs of laurel she twined a wreath, 
 and took off the student s cap, in order to place it on 
 his brow. 
 
 " Nobody else is likely to crown you for your sto 
 ries," observed saucy Primrose, " so take this from 
 me." 
 
 " Do not be too sure," answered Eustace, looking 
 really like a youthful poet, with the laurel among his 
 glossy curls, " that I shall not win other wreaths by 
 these wonderful and admirable stories. I mean to 
 spend all my leisure, during the rest of the vacation, 
 and throughout the summer term at college, in writing 
 them out for the press. Mr. J. T. Fields (with whom 
 I became acquainted when he was in Berkshire, last 
 summer, and who is a poet, as well as a publisher) 
 will see their uncommon merit at a glance. He will 
 get them illustrated, I hope, by Billings, and will 
 bring them before the world under the very best of 
 auspices, through the eminent house of TICKNOR & 
 Co. In about five months from this moment, I mako 
 no doubt of being reckoned among the lights of the 
 age!" 
 
 " Poor boy ! " said Primrose, half aside. " What a 
 disappointment awaits him ! " 
 
 Descending a little lower, Bruin began to bark, and 
 was answered by the graver bow-wow of the respecta 
 ble Ben. They soon saw the good old dog, keeping 
 careful watch over Dandelion, Sweet Fern, Cowslip, 
 and Squash-Blossom. These little people, quite recov 
 ered from their fatigue, had set about gathering check- 
 erberries, and now came clambering to meet their play 
 fellows. Thus reunited, the whole party went down 
 through Luther Butler s orchard, and made the best 
 of their way home to Tanglewood. 
 
TANGLEWOOD TALES, 
 
 FOR GIRLS AND BOYS. 
 BEING A SECOND WONDER-BOOK. 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 TANGLEWOOD TALES. 
 
 HAWTHORNE S first " Wonder Book " was so well 
 received, that he was induced to undertake another 
 within eighteen months from the time of finishing the 
 first. To this new volume, made up in the same way 
 of Greek myths retold with a modern, free, half real 
 istic and half fanciful tone, he gave the name " Tan 
 gle wood Tales." The previous series having been 
 ostensibly narrated by one Eustace Bright, among the 
 hills of Berkshire, these additional stories in the like 
 vein were represented as having been brought by Eus 
 tace Bright to Hawthorne, at his new home, The 
 Wayside, in Concord. 
 
 This place Hawthorne had bought and moved into, 
 early in the summer of 1852, after finishing "The 
 Blithedale Eomance " at West Newton, during the 
 preceding winter. 1 Some slight references to it are 
 made in the Introduction headed " The Wayside," 
 where " my predecessor s little ruined, rustic summer- 
 house, midway on the hill-side," is mentioned. The 
 predecessor was Mr. A. Bronson Alcott, one of the so- 
 called Transcendental school of thinkers, the intimate 
 friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the father of 
 
 1 For a detailed account of The Wayside, the prefatory note to 
 Septimius Felton, in this edition of the works, may be consulted. 
 
202 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 Miss Louisa M. Alcott, since become one of the most 
 popular of writers for children. This summer-house, 
 therefore, becomes to the mind a sort of station be 
 tween the new generation and the old, a link between 
 Hawthorne in his capacity of tale-teller to the little 
 folks of America, and the woman who, at that time a 
 child, has in later years assembled from the young 
 people a vast audience of her own. The romancer 
 speaks of this rustic structure in a letter to George 
 William Curtis, dated July 14, 1852 : - 
 
 " Mr. Alcott expended a good deal of taste and 
 some money (to no great purpose) in forming the hill 
 side behind the house into terraces, and building ar 
 bors and summer-houses of rough stems and branches 
 and trees, on a system of his own. They must have 
 been very pretty in their day, and are so still, although 
 much decayed, and shattered more and more by every 
 breeze that blows." 
 
 No vestige of this sylvan edifice now remains. 
 
 Prior to his return to Concord and installation at 
 The Wayside, Hawthorne had contemplated giving up 
 that humble abode at Lenox, which, in a letter to 
 George William Curtis, he had called u the ugliest 
 little old red farm-house you ever saw," and renting 
 the country-seat of Mrs. Fanny Kemble, in thb same 
 vicinity. But as I have mentioned in the Introductory 
 Note prefixed to the " Wonder-Book," he had already 
 begun to languish somewhat in the inland air of the 
 Berkshire Valley ; added to which was the not alto 
 gether favorable influence of the striking scenery in 
 that picturesque mountain-district. In October, 1851, 
 he wrote from Lenox to a friend : " We shall leave 
 here (with much joy) on the first day of December." 
 
 The sojourn at West Newton, however, served only 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 203 
 
 Co occupy the interval between Lenox and his settle 
 ment at Concord. After he had arrived at the latter 
 place, he wrote to Horatio Bridge (October 13, 1852): 
 " In a day or two I intend to begin a new romance, 
 which, if possible, I intend to make more genial than 
 the last." The "last" was "The Blithedale Ro 
 mance ; " but of the newly projected work here men 
 tioned we find no further trace, and it is impossible to 
 conjecture what scheme for a fresh work of fiction was 
 then occupying the author s mind. The " campaign " 
 Life of Franklin Pierce had already been produced 
 after his coming to The Wayside, and he was appar 
 ently free to turn his attention to this projected ro 
 mance ; but instead of pursuing the design, whatever 
 it may have been, he took up the composition of the 
 "Tanglewood Tales," which were completed in the 
 early spring of 1853. On the 13th of March, that 
 year, he wrote the preface for them. Ten days later 
 his appointment to the consulate at Liverpool by 
 President Pierce was confirmed by the Senate of the 
 United States. 
 
 G. P. L. 
 
THE WAYSIDE. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 A SHORT time ago, I was favored with a flying visit 
 from my young friend Eustace Bright, whom I had 
 not before met with since quitting the breezy moun 
 tains of Berkshire. It being the winter vacation at 
 his college, Eustace was allowing himself a little re 
 laxation, in the hope, he told me, of repairing the in 
 roads which severe application to study had made 
 upon his health ; and I was happy to conclude, from 
 the excellent physical condition in which I saw him, 
 that the remedy had already been attended with very 
 desirable success. He had now run up from Boston 
 by the noon train, partly impelled by the friendly re 
 gard with which he is pleased to honor me, and 
 partly, as I soon found, on a matter of literary busi 
 ness. 
 
 It delighted me to receive Mr. Bright, for the first 
 time, under a roof, though a very humble one, which 
 I could really call my own. Nor did I fail (as is the 
 custom of landed proprietors all about the world) to 
 parade the poor fellow up and down over my half a 
 dozen acres ; secretly rejoicing, nevertheless, that the 
 disarray of the inclement season, and particularly the 
 six inches of snow then upon the ground, prevented 
 him from observing the ragged neglect of soil and 
 shrubbery into which the place has lapsed. It was 
 idle, however, to imagine that an airy guest from 
 
206 THE WAYSIDE. 
 
 Monument Mountain, Bald-Summit, and old Gray- 
 lock, shaggy with primeval forests, could see anything 
 to admire in my poor little hill-side, with its growth 
 of frail and insect-eaten locust-trees. Eustace very 
 frankly called the view from my hill-top tame ; and 
 so, no doubt, it was, after rough, broken, rugged, head 
 long Berkshire, and especially the northern parts of 
 the county, with which his college residence had made 
 him familiar. But to me there is a peculiar, quiet 
 charm in these broad meadows and gentle eminences. 
 They are better than mountains, because they do not 
 stamp and stereotype themselves into the brain, and 
 thus grow wearisome with the same strong impres 
 sion, repeated day after day. A few summer weeks 
 among mountains, a lifetime among green meadows 
 and placid slopes, with outlines forever new, because 
 continually fading out of the memory, such would 
 be my sober choice. 
 
 I doubt whether Eustace did not internally pro 
 nounce the whole thing a bore, until I led him to my 
 predecessor s little ruined, rustic summer-house, mid 
 way on the hill-side. It is a mere skeleton of slender, 
 decaying tree-trunks, with neither walls nor a roof ; 
 nothing but a tracery of branches and twigs, which 
 the next wintry blast will be very likely to scatter in 
 fragments along the terrace. It looks, and is, as evan 
 escent as a dream ; and yet, in its rustic net-work of 
 boughs, it has somehow enclosed a hint of spiritual 
 beauty, and has become a true emblem of the subtile 
 and ethereal mind that planned it. I made Eustace 
 Bright sit down on a snow-bank, which had heaped it 
 self over the mossy seat, and gazing through the arched 
 window opposite, he acknowledged that the scene at 
 once grew picturesque. 
 
THE WAYSIDE. 207 
 
 " Simple as it looks," said he, " this little edifice 
 seems to be the work of magic. It is full of sugges- 
 tiveness, and, in its way, is as good as a cathedral. 
 Ah, it would be just the spot for one to sit in, of a 
 summer afternoon, and tell the children some more 
 of those wild stories from the classic myths ! " 
 
 " It would, indeed," answered I. " The summer- 
 house itself, so airy and so broken, is like one of those 
 old tales, imperfectly remembered ; and these living 
 branches of the Baldwin apple-tree, thrusting them 
 selves so rudely in, are like your unwarrantable inter 
 polations. But, by the by, have you added any more 
 legends to the series, since the publication of the 
 Wonder Book?" 
 
 " Many more," said Eustace ; " Primrose, Peri 
 winkle, and the rest of them allow me no comfort of 
 my life, unless I tell them a story every day or two. I 
 have run away from home partly to escape the impor 
 tunity of those little wretches ! But I have written 
 out six of the new stories, and have brought them for 
 you to look over." 
 
 " Are they as good as the first ? " I inquired. 
 
 " Better chosen, and better handled," replied Eus 
 tace Bright. " You will say so when you read them." 
 
 " Possibly not," I remarked. " I know, from my 
 own experience, that an author s last work is always 
 his best one, in his own estimate, until it quite loses 
 the red heat of composition. After that, it falls into 
 its true place, quietly enough. But let us adjourn to 
 my study, and examine these new stories. It would 
 hardly be doing yourself justice, were you to bring 
 me acquainted with them, sitting here on this snow 
 bank!" 
 
 So we descended the hill to niy small, old cottage, 
 
208 THE WAYSIDE. 
 
 and shut ourselves up in the southeastern room, where 
 the sunshine comes in, warmly and brightly, through 
 the better half of a winter s day. Eustace put his 
 bundle of manuscript into my hands ; and I skimmed 
 through it pretty rapidly, trying to find out its merits 
 and demerits by the touch of my fingers, as a veteran 
 story-teller ought to know how to do. 
 
 It will be remembered, that Mr. Bright conde 
 scended to avail himself of my literary experience by 
 constituting me editor of the Wonder Book. As he 
 had no reason to complain of the reception of that 
 erudite work by the public, he was now disposed to re 
 tain me in a similar position, with respect to the pres 
 ent volume, which he entitled " TANGLEWOOD TALES." 
 Not, as Eustace hinted, that there was any real neces 
 sity for my services as introductor, inasmuch as his 
 own name had become established, in some good de 
 gree of favor, with the literary world. But the con 
 nection with myself, he was kind enough to say, had 
 been highly agreeable ; nor was he by any means de 
 sirous, as most people are, of kicking away the ladder 
 that had perhaps helped him to reach his present ele 
 vation. My young friend was willing, in short, that 
 the fresh verdure of his growing reputation should 
 spread over my straggling and half - naked boughs ; 
 even as I have sometimes thought of training a vine, 
 with its broad leafiness, and purple fruitage, over 
 the worm-eaten posts and rafters of the rustic sum 
 mer-house. I was not insensible to the advantages of 
 his proposal, and gladly assured him of my accept 
 ance. 
 
 Merely from the titles of the stories, I saw at once 
 that the subjects were not less rich than those of the 
 former volume ; nor did I at all doubt that Mr, 
 
THE WAYSIDE. 209 
 
 Bright s audacity (so far as that endowment might 
 avail) had enabled him to take full advantage of what 
 ever capabilities they offered. Yet, in spite of my ex 
 perience of his free way of handling them, I did not 
 quite see, I confess, how he could have obviated all 
 the difficulties in the way of rendering them present 
 able to children. These old legends, so brimming 
 over with everything that is most abhorrent to our 
 Christianized moral sense, some of them so hideous, 
 others so melancholy and miserable, amid which the 
 Greek tragedians sought their themes, and moulded 
 them into the sternest forms of grief that ever the 
 world saw ; was such material the stuff that children s 
 playthings should be made of ! How were they to be 
 purified ? How was the blessed sunshine to be thrown 
 into them ? 
 
 But Eustace told me that these myths were the most 
 singular things in the world, and that he was invariably 
 astonished, whenever he began to relate one, by the 
 readiness with which it adapted itself to the childish 
 purity of his auditors. The objectionable characteris 
 tics seem to be a parasitical growth, having no essen 
 tial connection with the original fable. They fall 
 away, and are thought of no more, the instant he puts 
 his imagination in sympathy with the innocent little 
 circle, whose wide-open eyes are fixed so eagerly upon 
 him. Thus the stories (not by any strained effort of 
 the narrator s, but in harmony with their inherent 
 germ) transform themselves, and reassume the shapes 
 i which they might be supposed to possess in the pure 
 childhood of the world. When the first poet or ro 
 mancer told these marvellous legends (such is Eustace 
 Bright s opinion), it was still the Golden Age. Evil 
 had never yet existed ; and sorrow, misfortune, crime, 
 
 VOL. iv. 14 
 
210 THE WAYSIDE. 
 
 were mere shadows which the mind fancifully created 
 for itself, as a shelter against too sunny realities ; or, 
 at most, but prophetic dreams, to which the dreamer 
 himself did not yield a waking credence. Children 
 are now the only representatives of the men and 
 women of that happy era ; and therefore it is that we 
 must raise the intellect and fancy to the level of child 
 hood, in order to re-create the original myths. 
 
 I let the youthful author talk as much and as extrav 
 agantly as he pleased, and was glad to see him com 
 mencing life with such confidence in himself and his 
 performances. A few years will do all that is neces 
 sary towards showing him the truth in both respects. 
 Meanwhile, it is but right to say, he does really appear 
 to have overcome the moral objections against these 
 fables, although at the expense of such liberties with 
 their structure as must be left to plead their own ex 
 cuse, without any help from me. Indeed, except that 
 there was a necessity for it, and that the inner life 
 of the legends cannot be come at save by making them 
 entirely one s own property, there is no defence to 
 be made. 
 
 Eustace informed me that he had told his stories to 
 the children in various situations, in the woods, on 
 the shore of the lake, in the dell of Shadow Brook, in 
 the play-room, at Tanglewood fireside, and in a mag 
 nificent palace of snow, with ice windows, which he 
 helped his little friends to build. His auditors were 
 even more delighted with the contents of the present 
 volume than with the specimens which have already 
 been given to the world. The classically learned Mr. 
 Pringle, too, had listened to two or three of the tales, 
 and censured them even more bitterly than he did THE 
 THREE GOLDEN APPLES ; so that, what with praise, 
 
THE WAYSIDE. 211 
 
 and what with criticism, Eustace Bright thinks that 
 there is good hope of at least as much success with the 
 public as in the case of the Wonder Book. 
 
 I made all sorts of inquiries about the children, not 
 doubting that there would be great eagerness to hoar 
 of their welfare among some good little folks who have 
 written to me, to ask for another volume of myths. 
 They are all, I am happy to say (unless we except 
 Clover), in excellent health and spirits. Primrose is 
 now almost a young lady, and, Eustace tells me, is 
 just as saucy as ever. She pretends to consider her 
 self quite beyond the age to be interested by such idle 
 stories as these ; but, for all that, whenever a story is 
 to be told, Primrose never fails to be one of the listen 
 ers, and to make fun of it when finished. Periwinkle 
 is very much grown, and is expected to shut up her 
 baby-house and throw away her doll in a month or 
 two more. Sweet Fern has learned to read and write, 
 and has put on a jacket and pair of pantaloons, all 
 of which improvements I am sorry for. Squash-Blos- 
 sorn, Blue Eye, Plantain, and Buttercup have had the 
 scarlet fever, but came easily through it. Huckle 
 berry, Milkweed, and Dandelion were attacked with 
 the hooping-cough, but bore it bravely, and kept out 
 of doors whenever the sun shone. Cowslip, during the 
 autumn, had either the measles, or some eruption that 
 looked very much like it, but^was hardly sick a day. 
 Poor Clover has been a good deal troubled with her 
 second teeth, which have made her meagre in aspect 
 and rather fractious in temper ; nor, even when she 
 smiles, is the matter much mended, since it discloses a 
 gap just within her lips, almost as wide as the barn 
 door. But all this will pass over, and it is predicted 
 that she will turn out a very pretty girl. 
 
212 THE WAYSIDE. 
 
 As for Mr. Bright himself, he is now in his senior 
 year at Williams College, and has a prospect of grad 
 uating with some degree of honorable distinction at 
 the next Commencement. In his oration for the bach 
 elor s degree, he gives me to understand, he will treat 
 of the classical myths, viewed in the aspect of baby 
 stories, and has a great mind to discuss the expediency 
 of using up the whole of ancient history for the same 
 purpose. I do not know what he means to do with 
 himself after leaving college, but trust that, by dab 
 bling so early with the dangerous and seductive busi 
 ness of authorship, he will not be tempted to become 
 an author by profession. If so, I shall be very sorry 
 for the little that I have had to do with the matter, in 
 encouraging these first beginnings. 
 
 I wish there were any likelihood of my soon seeing 
 Primrose, Periwinkle, Dandelion, Sweet Fern, Clover, 
 Plantain, Huckleberry, Milkweed, Cowslip, Buttercup, 
 Blue Eye, and Squash-Blossom again. But as I do 
 not know when I shall revisit Tanglewood, and as 
 Eustace Bright probably will not ask ,me to edit a 
 third Wonder Book, the public of little folks must 
 not expect to hear any more about those dear chil 
 dren from me. Heaven bless them, and everybody 
 else, whether grown people or children ! 
 
 THE WAYSIDE, CONCORD, MASS., 
 March 13, 1853. 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 
 
 IN the old city of Troezene, at the foot of a lofty 
 mountain, there lived, a very long time ago, a little 
 boy named Theseus. His grandfather, King Pittheus, 
 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 in 
 structions. His mother s name was ^Ethra. As for 
 his father, the boy had never seen him. But, from 
 his earliest remembrance, 2Ethra 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 ^Egeus, 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 
 yEgeus, and often asked his good mother ^Ethra why 
 he did not come and live with them at Troezene. 
 
 " Ah, my dear son," answered ^Ethra, 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 uEgeus that I am his son ? " 
 
214 THE MINOTAUR, 
 
 41 That may happen by and by," said 2Ethra. " 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?" The 
 seus 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 sit- 
 ting?" 
 
 The little fellow had a great opinion of his own 
 strength. So, grasping the rough protuberances of 
 the rock, he tugged and toiled amain, 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 at finding him already so impa 
 tient 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 ^Egeus 
 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 Ath 
 ens ; 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 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 215 
 
 do what a giant could hardly have done without 
 taking* both of his great hands to the task. Mean 
 while 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 gray 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 wild flowers, 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 ^Ethra 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. ^Ethra 
 had once more told him the oft-repeated story of his 
 
216 THE MINOTAUR. 
 
 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 ^Ethra," 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 earnest trial to remove the 
 stone." 
 
 u Ah, 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 lift 
 ed, he resolved now to succeed, or else to perish there, 
 and let the rock be his monument forever ! .^Ethra 
 stood gazing at him, and clasped her hands, partly 
 with a mother s pride, and partly with a mother s sor 
 row. 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 
 ^Egeus, your royal father, left for you, beneath the 
 stone, when he lifted it in his mighty arms, and laid it 
 on the spot whence you have now removed it," 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 217 
 
 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 roughly 
 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 ^Ethra, " and 
 those were his sandals. When he went to be kino- of 
 
 O 
 
 Athens, he bade me treat you as a 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 foot 
 steps, and to gird on his sword, so that you may fight 
 giants and dragons, as King ^Egeus 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 
 Pittheus, heard that Theseus intended to present him 
 self 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 fifteen miles of Athens, with 
 out either fatigue or danger. 
 
 " The roads are very bad by land," quoth the venera 
 ble 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 fare 
 well to his grandfather, thanking him for all lu s kind- 
 
218 THE MINOTAUR. 
 
 ness, 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 adven 
 tures 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 Pittheus had 
 been so much alarmed. One of these bad people was 
 named Procrustes ; and he was indeed a terrible fellow, 
 and had an ugly way of making fun of the poor trav 
 ellers who happened to fall into his clutches. In his 
 cavern he had a bed, on which, with great pretence 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 long, 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 Procrustes. Another of these rob 
 bers, named Scinis, 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 deserts, 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 
 once got rid of him, consent to take him back ; so 
 that, between the cliff and the sea, Scinis stuck fast in 
 the air, which was forced to bear the burden of his 
 naughtiness. 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 219 
 
 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 con 
 sider 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 be 
 ing 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 in 
 habitants 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, since he came thither with Fame to 
 blow her trumpet before him, and cry to King ^Egeus, 
 "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 en 
 countered on the road. Yet this was the truth. You 
 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 
 
220 THE MINOTAUR. 
 
 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 sceptre, which ought to be his 
 own by right of inheritance. Thus these bad-hearted 
 nephews of King ^Egeus, 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 Medus, instead of letting it be 
 given to the son of ^Ethra, whom she hated. 
 
 It so happened that the king s nephews met The 
 seus, 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 cous 
 in 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 2Egeus would discover in the 
 young man s features any likeness either to himself or 
 his mother ^Ethra, 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 neph 
 ews ran and told King ^Egeus that a young man had 
 arrived in Athens, who, to their certain knowledge, in 
 tended to put him to death, and get possession of his 
 royal crown. 
 
 " And he is now waiting for admission to your Maj 
 esty s presence," added they. 
 
 " Aha ! " cried the old king, on hearing this. 
 " Why, he must be a very wicked young fellow in 
 deed ! Pray, what would you advise me to do with 
 him ? " 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 221 
 
 In reply to this question, the wicked Medea put in 
 her word. As I have already told you, she was a fa 
 mous enchantress. According to some stories, she 
 was in the habit of boiling old people in a large cal 
 dron, under pretence of making them young again ; 
 but King ^Egeus, I suppose, did not fancy such an un 
 comfortable way of growing young, or perhaps was 
 contented to be old, and therefore would never let 
 himself be popped into the caldron. 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 take 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 whomso 
 ever 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 re 
 plied. " 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 phial. 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 
 will answer for it, he shall quite lay aside the bad de 
 signs with which he comes hither." 
 
222 THE MINOTAUR. 
 
 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 ^Egeus, like most other kings, thought any 
 punishment mild enough for a person who was ac 
 cused 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 shoidd 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 apart 
 ment, the only object that he seemed to behold was 
 the white-bearded old king. There he sat on his mag 
 nificent throne, a dazzling crown on his head, and a 
 sceptre in his hand. His aspect was stately and ma 
 jestic, although his years and infirmities weighed heav 
 ily upon him, as if each year were a lump of lead, and 
 each infirmity a ponderous stone, and all were bun 
 dled 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 caldron. And this was 
 what Theseus resolved to do. He could scarcely wait 
 to see whether King ^Egeus would recognize him, so 
 eager was he to throw himself into his arms. 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 223 
 
 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 strug 
 gling to find utterance together. And therefore, un 
 less he could have laid his full, over-brimming heart 
 into the king s hand, poor 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 de 
 struction. 
 
 " Does your Majesty see his confusion ? " she whis 
 pered 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 .^Egeus 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 deep 
 est heart, telling him, as plainly as it could speak, that 
 here was his dear son, and ^Ethra s son, coming to 
 claim him for a father. The enchantress again whis 
 pered in the king s ear, and compelled him, by her 
 witchcraft, to see everything under a false aspect. 
 
224 THE MINOTAUR. 
 
 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 favor 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 ^Egeus 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 ! Quick ! let him taste the wine ; or perhaps he 
 may do the deed even yet." 
 
 At these words, JEgeus drove every thought and 
 feeling out of his breast, except the one idea of 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 de 
 ceitful smile upon his face. 
 
 " Drink ! " said he, in the stern tone with which 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 225 
 
 he was wont 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 sword ! " he cried ; " 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 ^Ethra) 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 ^Ethra 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 en 
 chantments 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 jour 
 ney. 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 hands on ; and getting into the 
 chariot, she whipped up the snakes, and ascended high 
 over the city. 
 
 VOL. IV. 15 
 
226 THE MINOTAUR. 
 
 The king, hearing the hiss of the serpents, scrambled 
 as fast 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 
 the 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 unintention 
 ally let fall about five hundred diamonds of the first 
 water, together with a thousand great pearls, and two 
 thousand emeralds, rubies, sapphires, opals, and to 
 pazes, to which she had helped herself out of the king s 
 strong-box. All these came pelting down, like a shower 
 of many-colored hailstones, upon the heads of grown 
 people and children, who forthwith gathered them up 
 and carried them back to the palace. But Kin^r ^Ewus 
 
 -i- O O 
 
 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 peo 
 ple should think her departure a good riddance. 
 
 And now Prince Theseus was taken into great favor 
 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. The 
 seus, however, was much too brave and active a young 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 227 
 
 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 bull, and made a public show 
 of him, greatly to the wonder and admiration of good 
 King .ZEgeus and his subjects. But pretty soon, he 
 undertook an affair that made all his foregone adven 
 tures seem like mere boy s play. The occasion of it 
 was as follows : 
 
 One morning, when Prince Theseus awoke, he fancied 
 that he must have had a very sorrowful dream, and 
 that it was still running in his mind, even now 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 thou 
 sands of separate hearts, united themselves into the 
 one great sound of affliction, which had startled. The 
 seus 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 I my son," quoth King ^Egeus, heaving a long 
 sigh, " here is a very lamentable matter in hand ! This 
 is the wof idlest 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 de 
 voured by the horrible Minotaur ! " 
 
 " The Minotaur ! " exclaimed Prince Theseus ; and, 
 
228 THE MINOTAUR. 
 
 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 Theseus 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 dread 
 ful monster, called a Minotaur, which was shaped 
 partly like a man and partly like a bull, and was al 
 together such a hideous sort of a creature that it is 
 really disagreeable to think of him. If he were suf 
 fered to exist at all, it should have been on some desert 
 island, or in the duskiness of some deep cavern, where 
 nobody would ever be tormented by his abominable 
 aspect. But King Minos, 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 Minos. For three years 
 past, this grievous calamity had been borne. 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 fourteen vic 
 tims 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 them 
 selves might be destined to glut the ravenous maw oi 
 that detestable man-brute. 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 229 
 
 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 de 
 vour me, if he can ! " 
 
 " O my dear son," cried King ^Egeus, " 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 pos 
 sessing 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 JEgeus con 
 sented 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 harbor to embark. A sorrowful 
 
230 THE MINOTAUR. 
 
 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 sur 
 vive 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 sun 
 shine. Beholding them on the horizon, myself and all 
 the people will know that you are coming back victo 
 rious, 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 black 
 sails to the wind, which blew faintly off the shore, be 
 ing pretty much made up of the sighs 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 northwest, 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 Vhether fourteen young people, with 
 out any old persons to keep them in order, could con 
 tinue to spend the whole time of the voyage in being 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 231 
 
 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. 
 
 Theseus stood among the sailors, gazing eagerly to 
 wards the land ; although, as yet, it seemed hardly 
 more substantial than the clouds, amidst which the 
 mountains were looming up. Once or twice, he fan 
 cied 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. 
 
 " No, prince ; 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 aston 
 ished 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 be 
 neath, 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 glim 
 mered ; its vast countenance, too, had a metallic lustre, 
 and threw great flashes of splendor through the air. 
 The folds of its garments, moreover, instead of wav 
 ing in the wind, fell heavily over its limbs, as if woven 
 of some kind of metal. 
 
232 THE MINOTAUR. 
 
 The nigher the vessel came, the more Theseus won 
 dered what this immense giant could be, and whether 
 it actually had life or no. For though it walked, and 
 made other lifelike motions, there yet was a kind of 
 jerk in its gait, which, together 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 Minos by 
 Vulcan himself, the skilfullest of all workers in metal. 
 But who ever 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 eigh 
 teen hundred miles in the twenty-four hours, as Talus 
 does, without ever sitting down to rest ? He is a puz 
 zler, take him how you will." 
 
 Still the vessel went bounding onward ; and now 
 Theseus could hear the brazen clangor of 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 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 238 
 
 it, with a foot firmly planted on each headland, and 
 uplifting his club to such a height that its but-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 clock 
 work. But just when Theseus and his companions 
 thought the blow was coming, the brazen lips unclosed 
 themselves, and the figure spoke. 
 
 " Whence 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 amidships, because Athens, so 
 little while ago, had been at war with Crete. 
 
 " We bring the seven youths and the seven maid 
 ens," answered the master, " to be devoured by the 
 Minotaur ! " 
 
 " Pass ! " cried the brazen giant. 
 
 That one loud word rolled all about the sky, while 
 again there was a booming reverberation within the 
 figure s breast. The vessel glided between the head 
 lands 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 
 
234 THE MINOTAUR. 
 
 with immense strides around the island of Crete, as it 
 was his never-ceasing task to do. 
 
 No sooner had they entered the harbor than a party 
 of the guards of King Minos came down to the water 
 side, 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, Minos 
 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 immiti 
 gable Minos 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 Minos called these pale, 
 frightened youths and sobbing maidens to his foot 
 stool, gave them each a poke in the ribs with his 
 sceptre (to try whether they were in good flesh or no), 
 and dismissed 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 ? " 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 235 
 
 " I have offered my life in a good cause," answered 
 Theseus, " and therefore I give it freely and gladly. 
 But thou, King Minos, art thou not thyself appalled, 
 who, year after year, hast perpetrated this dreadful 
 wrong, by giving seven innocent youths and as many 
 maidens to be devoured by a monster ? Dost 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, I tell thee to thy face, 
 King Minos, thou art a more hideous monster than 
 the Minotaur himself ! " 
 
 "Aha! do you think me so?" cried the king, 
 laughing in his cruel way. " To-morrow, 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, and looked 
 at these poor doomed captives with very different feel 
 ings from those of the iron-breasted King Minos. 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 cap 
 tives free, and especially this one young man. 
 
236 THE MINOTAUR, 
 
 " Peace, foolish girl ! " answered King Minos. 
 " What hast thou 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 caitiffs, whom the 
 Minotaur shall as 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. As 
 he would hear not another word in their favor, the 
 prisoners were now led away, and clapped into a dun 
 geon, where the jailer advised them to go to sleep as 
 soon as possible, because the Minotaur was in the 
 habit of calling for breakfast early. The seven maid 
 ens 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 re 
 sponsibility of all their lives upon Mm, and must con 
 sider 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 him forth from 
 the darksome prison into the pleasant moonlight. 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 237 
 
 " 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 shed 
 ding hardly so much as a glimmering beam upon their 
 pathway. After going a good way through this ob 
 scurity, they reached a high, marble wall, which was 
 overgrown with creeping plants, that made it shaggy 
 with their verdure. The wall seemed to have no door, 
 nor any windows, but rose up, lofty, and massive, and 
 mysterious, and was neither to be clambered 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 laby 
 rinth which Daedalus built before he made himself a 
 pair of wings, and flew away from our island like a 
 bird. That Daedalus was a very cunning workman ; 
 but of all his artful contrivances, this labyrinth is the 
 most wondrous. Were we to take but a few steps from 
 
238 THE MINOTAUR. 
 
 the doorway, we might wander 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 thither 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 dis 
 agreeable roar, which greatly resembled the lowing of 
 a fierce bull, but yet had some sort of sound like the 
 human voice. Theseus even fancied a rude articula 
 tion 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 s 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 } T OU 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 a mizmaze was never seen in the world, be 
 fore nor since. There can be nothing else so intricate, 
 unless it were the brain of a man like Daedalus, who 
 planned it, or the heart of any ordinary man ; which 
 last, to be sure, is ten times as great a mystery as the 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 239 
 
 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 
 banging 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 farther 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 withal so like a human voice, 
 and yet like neither of them, that the brave heart of 
 Theseus grew sterner and angrier at every step ; for 
 he felt it an insult to the moon and sky, and to our af 
 fectionate and simple Mother Earth, that such a mon 
 ster 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, h.e 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 hop 
 ing for him, and giving him just as much of her sym 
 pathy as if she were close by his side. Oh, indeed, I 
 can assure you, there was a vast deal of human sym 
 pathy 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. 
 
240 THE MINOTAUR. 
 
 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 a bull ; and yet, somehow 
 or other, he looked like a bull all over, preposterously 
 waddling on his hind legs ; or, if you happened 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 compan 
 ion, no kind of a mate, living only to do mischief, and 
 incapable of knowing what affection means. Theseus 
 hated him, and shuddered at him, and yet could not 
 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 
 awhile, Theseus understood that the Minotaur was say 
 ing to himself how miserable he was, and how hungry, 
 and how he hated everybody, and how he longed to 
 eat up the human race alive. 
 
 Ah, the bull-headed villain ! And O, my good lit 
 tle people, you will perhaps see, one of these days, as 
 I do now, that every human being who suffers any 
 thing 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. 
 
 Was Theseus afraid ? By no means, my dear audi 
 tors. What ! a hero like Theseus afraid ! Not had the 
 Minotaur had twenty 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 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 241 
 
 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 
 lowered 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 : 
 
 "Ah, wretch of a human being! I ll stick my 
 horns through you, and toss you fifty feet high, and 
 eat you up the moment you come down." 
 
 " Come on, then, and try it ! " was all that Theseus 
 deigned 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 Mino 
 taur that ever happened beneath the sun or moon. I 
 really 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 
 
 VOL. IV. 16 
 
242 THE MINOTAUR. 
 
 of Crete mistook the noise for an uncommonly heavy 
 thunder-storm. 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 antago 
 nists stood valiantly up to one another, and fought 
 sword to horn, for a long while. At last, the Mino 
 taur made a run at Theseus, grazed his left side with 
 his horn, and flung him down ; and thinking that he 
 had stabbed him to the heart, he cut a great caper in 
 the air, opened 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 as if all the troubles of the 
 world, and all the wickedness and the ugliness that 
 infest human life, were past 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. 
 
 " Thou hast 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." 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 243 
 
 To make my 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 day 
 break. Hastening down to the vessel, they all clam 
 bered 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 Minos. He cares no more 
 for thee than a granite rock cares for the little flower 
 that grows in one of its crevices. But my father, 
 King ^Egeus, and my dear mother, ^Ethra, and all the 
 fathers and mothers in Athens, and all the sons and 
 daughters too, will love and honor thee as their bene 
 factress. Come with us, then ; for King Minos will 
 be very angry when he knows what thou hast done." 
 
 Now, some low-minded people, who pretend to tell 
 the story of Theseus and Ariadne, have the face to 
 say that this royal and honorable maiden did really 
 flee away, under cover of the night, with the young 
 stranger whose life she had preserved. They say, too, 
 that Prince Theseus (who would have died sooner 
 than wrong the meanest creature in the world) un 
 gratefully 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 an 
 swered, 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 
 
244 THE MINOTAUR. 
 
 with you. My father is old, and has nobody but my 
 self 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, and was 
 spoken with so sweet a dignity, that Theseus would 
 have blushed to urge her any longer. Nothing re 
 mained for him, therefore, but to bid Ariadne an af 
 fectionate farewell, and 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 compan 
 ions sailed out of the harbor with a whistling breeze 
 behind them. Talus, the brazen giant, on his never- 
 ceasing sentinel s march, happened to be approaching 
 that part of the coast , and they saw him, by the glim 
 mering of the moonbeams on his polished surface, 
 while he was yet a great way off. As the figure moved 
 like clock-work, however, and could neither hasten his 
 enormous strides nor retard 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 gi 
 gantic shape, as when an iceberg turns a somerset. 
 There he lies yet ; and whoever desires to enrich him 
 self by means of brass had better go thither with a 
 diving-bell, and fish up Talus. 
 
THE MINOTAUR. 245 
 
 On the homeward voyage, the fourteen youths and 
 damsels were in excellent spirits, as you will easily sup 
 pose. They spent most of their time in dancing, un 
 less when the sidelong 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 grieved to tell you, happened a sad misfor 
 tune. 
 
 You will remember (what Theseus unfortunately 
 forgot) that his father, King 2Egeus, had enjoined it 
 upon him to hoist sunshine 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 colored, 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 
 2Egeus, day after day, infirm 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 black 
 ness 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 sceptre into the sea, (useless bawbles that 
 they were to him now !) King ^Egeus merely stooped 
 forward, and fell headlong over the cliff, and was 
 drowned, poor soul, in the waves that foamed at its 
 base ! 
 
 This was melancholy news for Prince Theseus, who, 
 
246 THE MINOTAUR. 
 
 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 mat 
 ters of state, became a very excellent monarch, and 
 was greatly beloved by his people. 
 
THE PYGMIES. 
 
 A GREAT while ago, when the world was full of 
 wonders, there lived an earth-born Giant named An- 
 teeus, and a million or more of curious little earth-born 
 people, who were called Pygmies. This Giant and 
 these Pygmies being children of the same mother (that 
 is to say, our good old Grandmother Earth), were all 
 brethren and dwelt together in a very friendly and af 
 fectionate manner, far, far off, in the middle of hot 
 Africa. The Pygmies were so small, and there were 
 so many sandy deserts and such high mountains be 
 tween them and the rest of mankind, that nobody 
 could get a peep at them oftener than once in a hun 
 dred years. As for the Giant, being of a very lofty 
 stature, it was easy enough to see him, but safest to 
 keep out of his sight. 
 
 Among the Pygmies, I suppose, if one of them grew 
 to the height of six or eight inches, he was reckoned 
 a prodigiously tall man. It must have been very 
 pretty to behold their little cities, with streets two or 
 three feet wide, paved with the smallest pebbles, and 
 bordered by habitations about as big as a squirrel s 
 cage. The king s palace attained to the stupendous 
 magnitude of Periwinkle s baby-house, and stood in 
 the centre of a spacious square, which could hardly 
 have been covered by our hearth-rug. Their principal 
 temple, or cathedral, was as lofty as yonder bureau, 
 and was looked upon as a wonderfully sublime and 
 magnificent edifice. All these structures were built 
 
248 THE PYGMIES. 
 
 neither of stone nor wood. They were neatly plas 
 tered together by the Pygmy workmen, pretty much 
 like bird s-nests, out of straw, feathers, eggshells, and 
 other small bits of stuff, with stiff clay instead of mor 
 tar ; and when the hot sun had dried them, they were 
 just as snug and comfortable as a Pygmy could de 
 sire. 
 
 The country round about was conveniently laid out 
 in fields, the largest of which was nearly of the same 
 extent as one of Sweet Fern s flower-beds. Here the 
 Pygmies used to plant wheat and other kinds of grain, 
 which, when it grew up and ripened, overshadowed 
 these tiny people, as the pines, and the oaks, and the 
 walnut and chestnut - trees overshadow you and me, 
 when we walk in our own tracts of woodland. At 
 harvest-time, they were forced to go with their little 
 axes and cut down the grain, exactly as a wood-cutter 
 makes a clearing in the forest ; and when a stalk of 
 wheat, with its overburdened top, chanced to come 
 crashing down upon an unfortunate Pygmy, it was 
 apt to be a very sad affair. If it did not smash him 
 all to pieces, at least, I am sure, it must have made the 
 poor little fellow s head ache. And oh, my stars ! if 
 the fathers and mothers were so small, what must 
 the children and babies have been? A whole family 
 of them might have been put to bed in a shoe, or have 
 crept into an old glove, and played at hide-and-seek 
 in its thumb and fingers. You might have hidden a 
 year-old baby under a thimble. 
 
 Now these funny Pygmies, as I told you before, had 
 a Giant for their neighbor and brother, who was big 
 ger, if possible, than they were little. He was so very 
 tall that he carried a pine-tree, which was eight feet 
 through the but, for a walking-stick. It took a far- 
 
THE PYGMIES. 249 
 
 sighted Pygmy, I can assure you, to discern his summit 
 without the help of a telescope ; and sometimes, in 
 misty weather, they could not see his upper half, but 
 only his long legs, which seemed to be striding about 
 by themselves. But at noonday, in a clear atmosphere, 
 when the sun shone brightly over him, the Giant 
 Antaeus presented a very grand spectacle. There he 
 used to stand, a perfect mountain of a man, with his 
 great countenance smiling down upon his little broth 
 ers, and his one vast eye (which was as big as a cart 
 wheel, and placed right in the centre of his forehead) 
 giving a friendly wink to the whole nation at once. 
 
 The Pygmies loved to talk with Antaeus ; and fifty 
 times a day, one or another of them would turn up his 
 head, and stout through the hollow of his fists, " Hal 
 loo, brother Antaeus ! How are you, my good fellow ? " 
 and when the small, distant squeak of their voices 
 reached his ear, the Giant would make answer, " Pretty 
 well, brother Pygmy, I thank you," in a thunderous 
 roar that would have shaken down the walls of their 
 strongest temple, only that it came from so far aloft. 
 
 It was a happy circumstance that Antaeus was the 
 Pygmy people s friend ; for there was more strength 
 in his little finger than in ten million of such bodies 
 as theirs. If he had been as ill-natured to them as he 
 was to everybody else, he might have beaten down 
 their biggest city at one kick, and hardly have known 
 that he did it. With the tornado of his breath, he 
 could have stripped the roofs from a hundred dwell 
 ings, and sent thousands of the inhabitants whirling 
 through the air. He might have set his immense foot 
 upon a multitude; and when he took it up again, 
 there would have been a pitiful sight, to be sure. 
 But, being the son of Mother Earth, as they likewise 
 
250 THE PYGMIES. 
 
 were, the Giant gave them his brotherly kindness, and 
 loved them with as big a love as it was possible to 
 feel for creatures so very small. And, on their parts, 
 the Pygmies loved Antseus with as much affection as 
 their tiny hearts could hold. He was always ready 
 to do them any good offices that lay in his power ; as, 
 for example, when they wanted a breeze to turn their 
 windmills, the Giant would set all the sails a-going 
 with the mere natural respiration of his lungs. When 
 the sun was too hot, he often sat himself down, and 
 let his shadow fall over the kingdom, from one fron 
 tier to the other; and as for matters in general, he 
 was wise enough to let them alone, and leave the Pyg 
 mies to manage their own affairs, which, after all, 
 is about the best thing that great people, can do for 
 little ones. 
 
 In short, as I said before, Antaeus loved the Pyg 
 mies, and the Pygmies loved Antaeus. The Giant s 
 life being as long as his body was large, while the 
 lifetime of a Pygmy was but a span, this friendly in 
 tercourse had been going on for innumerable gener 
 ations and ages. It was written about in the Pygmy 
 histories, and talked about in their ancient traditions. 
 The most venerable and white - bearded Pygmy had 
 never heard of a time, even in his greatest of grand 
 father s days, when the Giant was not their enormous 
 friend. Once, to be sure (as was recorded on an ob 
 elisk, three feet high, erected on the place of the ca 
 tastrophe), Antaeus sat down upon about five thousand 
 Pygmies, who were assembled at a military review. 
 But this was one of those unlucky accidents for which 
 nobody is to blame ; so that the small folks never took 
 it to heart, and only requested the Giant to be careful 
 forever afterwards to examine the acre of ground 
 where he intended to squat himself. 
 
THE PYGMIES. 251 
 
 It is a very pleasant picture to imagine Antaeus 
 standing among the Pygmies, like the spire of the 
 tallest cathedral that ever was built, while they ran 
 about like pismires at his feet ; and to think that, in 
 spite of their difference in size, there were affection 
 and sympathy between them and him ! Indeed, it has 
 always seemed to me that the Giant needed the lit 
 tle people more than the Pygmies needed the Giant. 
 For, unless they had been his neighbors and well- 
 wishers, and, as we may say, his playfellows, Antaeus 
 would not have had a single friend in the world. No 
 other being like himself had ever been created. No 
 creature of his own size had ever talked with him, in 
 thunder -like accents, face to face. When he stood 
 with his head among the clouds, he was quite alone, 
 and had been so for hundreds of years, and would be 
 so forever. Even if he had met another Giant, An 
 taeus would have fancied the world not big enough 
 for two such vast personages, and, instead of being 
 friends with him, would have fought him till one of 
 the two was killed. But with the Pygmies he was the 
 most sportive, and humorous, and merry-hearted, and 
 sweet-tempered old Giant that ever washed his face in 
 a wet cloud. 
 
 His little friends, like all other small people, had a 
 great opinion of their own importance, and used to 
 assume quite a patronizing air towards the Giant. 
 
 " Poor creature ! " they said one to another. " He 
 has a very dull time of it, all by himself; and we 
 ought not to grudge wasting a little of our precious 
 time to amuse him. He is not half so bright as we 
 are, to be sure ; and, for that reason, he needs us to 
 look after his comfort and happiness. Let us be kind 
 to the old fellow. Why, if Mother Earth had not 
 
252 THE PYGMIES. 
 
 been very kind to ourselves, we might all have been 
 Giants too." 
 
 On all their holidays, the Pygmies had excellent 
 sport with Antaeus. He often stretched himself out 
 at full length on the ground, where he looked like the 
 long ridge of a hill ; and it was a good hour s walk, 
 no doubt, for a short-legged Pygmy to journey from 
 head to foot of the Giant. He would lay down his 
 great hand flat on the grass, and challenge the tallest 
 of them to clamber upon it, and straddle from finger 
 to finger. So fearless were they, that they made 
 nothing of creeping in among the folds H: his gar 
 ments. When his head lay side wise on the earth, 
 they would inarch boldly up, and peep into the great 
 cavern of his mouth, and take it all as a joke (as in 
 deed it was meant) when AntaBus gave a sudden snap 
 with his jaws, as if he were going to swallow fifty of 
 them at once. You would have laughed to see the 
 children dodging in and out among his hair, or swing 
 ing from his beard. It is impossible to tell half of 
 the funny tricks that they played with their huge 
 comrade ; but I do not know that anything was more 
 curious than when a party of boys were seen running 
 races on his forehead, to try which of them could get 
 first round the circle of his one great eye. It was 
 another favorite feat with them to march along the 
 bridge of his nose, and jump down upon his upper 
 
 HP. 
 
 If the truth must be told, they were sometimes as 
 troublesome to the Giant as a swarm of ants or mos 
 quitoes, especially as they had a fondness for mischief, 
 and liked to prick his skin with their little swords and 
 lances, to see how thick and tough it was. But An- 
 tasus took it all kindly enough ; although, once in a 
 
THE PYGMIES. 253 
 
 while, when he happened to be sleepy, he would grum 
 ble out a peevish word or two, like the muttering of a 
 tempest, and ask them to have done with their non 
 sense. A great deal oftener, however, he watched 
 their merriment and gambols until his huge, heavy, 
 clumsy wits were completely stirred up by them ; and 
 then would he roar out such a tremendous volume of 
 immeasurable laughter, that the whole nation of Pyg 
 mies had to put their hands to their ears, else it would 
 certainly have deafened them. 
 
 " Ho ! ho ! ho ! " quoth the Giant, shaking his 
 mountainous sides. " What a funny thing it is to be 
 little ! If I were not Anta3us, I should like to be a 
 pygmy, just for the joke s sake." 
 
 The Pygmies had but one thing to trouble them in 
 the world. They were constantly at war with the 
 cranes, and had always been so, ever since the long- 
 lived giant could remember. From time to time very 
 terrible battles had been fought, in which sometimes 
 the little men won the victory, and sometimes the 
 cranes. According to some historians, the Pygmies 
 used to go to the battle, mounted on the backs of goats 
 and rams ; but such animals as these must have been 
 far too big for Pygmies to ride upon ; so that, I rather 
 suppose, they rode on squirrel-back, or rabbit-back, 
 or rat-back, or perhaps got upon hedgehogs, whose 
 prickly quills would be very terrible to the enemy. 
 However this might be, and whatever creatures the 
 Pygmies rode upon, I do not doubt that they made a 
 formidable appearance, armed with sword and spear, 
 and bow and arrow, blowing their tiny trumpet, and 
 shouting their little war-cry. They never failed to 
 exhort one another to fight bravely, and recollect that 
 the world had its eyes upon them ; although, in simple 
 
254 THE PYGMIES. 
 
 truth, the only spectator was the Giant Antaeus, with 
 his one, great, stupid eye, in the middle of his fore 
 head. 
 
 When the two armies joined battle, the cranes 
 would rush forward, flapping their wings and stretch 
 ing out their necks, and would perhaps snatch up some 
 of the Pygmies crosswise in their beaks. Whenever 
 this happened, it was truly an awful spectacle to see 
 those little men of might kicking and sprawling in the 
 air, and at last disappearing down the crane s long, 
 crooked throat, swallowed up alive. A hero, you 
 know, must hold himself in readiness for any kind of 
 fate ; and doubtless the glory of the thing was a con 
 solation to him, even in the crane s gizzard. If An 
 taeus observed that the battle was going hard against 
 his little allies, he generally stopped laughing, and ran 
 with mile-long strides to their assistance, flourishing 
 his club aloft and shouting at the cranes, who quacked 
 and croaked, and retreated as fast as they could. 
 Then the Pygmy army would march homeward in tri 
 umph, attributing the victory entirely to their own 
 valor, and to the warlike skill and strategy of whom 
 soever happened to be captain general ; and for a 
 tedious while afterwards, nothing would be heard of 
 but grand processions, and public banquets, and bril 
 liant illuminations, and shows of waxwork, with like 
 nesses of the distinguished officers as small as life. 
 
 In the above-described warfare, if a Pygmy chanced 
 to pluck out a crane s tail-feather, it proved a very 
 great feather in his cap. Once or twice, if you will 
 believe me, a little man was made chief ruler of the 
 nation for no other merit in the world than bringing 
 home such a feather. 
 
 But I have now said enough to let you see what a 
 
THE PYGMIES. 255 
 
 gallant little people these were, and how happily they 
 and their forefathers, for nobody knows how many 
 generations, had lived with the immeasurable Giant 
 Antaeus. In the remaining part of the story, I shall 
 tell you of a far more astonishing battle than any that 
 was fought between the Pygmies and the cranes. 
 
 One day the mighty Anta3us was lolling at full 
 length among his little friends. His pine-tree walk 
 ing-stick lay on the ground close by his side. His 
 head was in one part of the kingdom, and his feet ex 
 tended across the boundaries of another part ; and he 
 was taking whatever comfort he could get, while the 
 Pygmies scrambled over him, and peeped into his cav 
 ernous mouth, arid played among his hair. Some 
 times, for a minute or two, the Giant dropped asleep, 
 and snored like the rush of a whirlwind. During one 
 of these little bits of slumber, a Pygmy chanced to 
 climb upon his shoulder, and took a view around the 
 horizon, as from the summit of a hill ; and he beheld 
 something, a long way off, which made him rub the 
 bright specks of his eyes, and look sharper than be 
 fore. At first he mistook it for a mountain, and 
 wondered how it had grown up so suddenly out of the 
 earth. But soon he saw the mountain move. As it 
 came nearer and nearer, what should it turn out to be 
 but a human shape, not so big as Anta3us, it is true, 
 although a very enormous figure, in comparison with 
 Pygmies, and a vast deal bigger than the men whom 
 we see nowadays. 
 
 When the Pygmy was quite satisfied that his eyes 
 Had not deceived him, he scampered, as fast as his legs 
 would carry him, to the Giant s ear, and stooping over 
 its cavity, shouted lustily into it, 
 
 " Halloo, brother Antaeus ! Get up this minute, 
 
256 THE PYGMIES. 
 
 and take your pine-tree walking-stick in your hand. 
 Here comes another Giant to have a tussle with you. 1 
 
 " Poh, poh ! " grumbled Antaeus, only half awake, 
 " None of your nonsense, my little fellow ! Don t you 
 see I m sleepy. There is not a Giant on earth for 
 whom I would take the trouble to get up." 
 
 But the Pygmy looked again, and now perceived 
 that the stranger was coming directly towards the 
 prostrate form of Antaeus. With every step he looked 
 less like a blue mountain, and more like an immensely 
 large man. He was soon so nigh, that there could be 
 no possible mistake about the matter. There he was, 
 with the sun flaming on his golden helmet, and flash 
 ing from his polished breastplate ; he had a sword by 
 his side, and a lion s skin over his back, and on his 
 right shoulder he carried a club, which looked bulkier 
 and heavier than the pine-tree walking-stick of An 
 taeus. 
 
 By this time, the whole nation of Pygmies had seen 
 the new wonder, and a million of them set up a shout, 
 all together ; so that it really made quite an audible 
 squeak. 
 
 " Get up, Anta3us ! Bestir yourself, you lazy old 
 Giant ! Here comes another Giant, as strong as you 
 are, to fight with you." 
 
 " Nonsense, nonsense ! " growled the sleepy Giant. 
 " I 11 have my nap out, come who may." 
 
 Still the stranger drew nearer ; and now the Pyg 
 mies could plainly discern that, if his stature were less 
 lofty than the Giant s, yet his shoulders were even 
 broader. And, in truth, what a pair of shoulders they 
 must have been ! As I told you, a long while ago, 
 they once upheld the sky. The Pygmies, being ten 
 times as vivacious as their great numskull of a brother, 
 
THE PYGMIES. 257 
 
 could not abide the Giant s slow movements, and were 
 determined to have him on his feet. So they kept 
 shouting to him, and even went so far as to prick him 
 with their swords. 
 
 " Get up, get up, get up ! " they cried. " Up with 
 you, lazy bones ! The strange Giant s club is bigger 
 than your own, his shoulders are the broadest, and we 
 think him the stronger of the two." 
 
 Antaeus could not endure to have it said that any 
 mortal was half so mighty as himself. This latter re 
 mark of the Pygmies pricked him deeper than their 
 swords ; and, sitting up, in rather a sulky humor, he 
 gave a gape of several yards wide, rubbed his eye, and 
 finally turned his stupid head in the direction whither 
 his little friends were eagerly pointing. 
 
 No sooner did he set eye on the stranger than, leap 
 ing on his feet, and seizing his walking-stick, he strode 
 a mile or two to meet him ; all the while brandishing 
 the sturdy pine-tree, so that it whistled through the 
 air. 
 
 "Who are you?" thundered the Giant. "And 
 what do you want in my dominions ?" 
 
 There was one strange thing about Antaeus, of which 
 I have not yet told you, lest, hearing of so many won 
 ders all in a lump, you might not believe much more 
 than half of them. You are to know, then, that when 
 ever this redoubtable Giant touched the ground, either 
 with his hand, his foot, or any other part of his body, 
 he grew stronger than ever he had been before. The 
 Earth, you remember, was his mother, and was very 
 fond of him, as being almost the biggest of her chil 
 dren ; and so she took this method of keeping him al 
 ways in full vigor. Some persons affirm that he grew 
 
 ten times stronger at every touch: others say that it was 
 VOL. iy. 17 
 
258 THE PYGMIES. 
 
 only twice as strong. But only think of it ! When 
 ever Antaeus took a walk, supposing it were but ten 
 miles, and that he stepped a hundred yards at a stride, 
 you may try to cipher out how much mightier he was, 
 on sitting down again, than when he first started. 
 And whenever he flung himself on the earth to take a 
 little repose, even if he got up the very next instant, 
 he would be as strong as exactly ten just such giants 
 as his former self. It was well for the world that 
 Antaeus happened to be of a sluggish disposition, and 
 liked ease better than exercise ; for, if he had frisked 
 about like the Pygmies, and touched the earth as often 
 as they did, he would long ago have been strong 
 enough to pull down the sky about people s ears. But 
 these great lubberly fellows resemble mountains, not 
 only in bulk, but in their disinclination to move. 
 
 Any other mortal man, except the very one whom 
 Antaeus had now encountered, would have been half 
 frightened to death by the Giant s ferocious aspect 
 and terrible voice. But the stranger did not seem at 
 all disturbed. He carelessly lifted his club, and bal 
 anced it in his hand, measuring Antaeus with his eye 
 from head to foot, not as if wonder-smitten at his stat 
 ure, but as if he had seen a great many Giants before, 
 and this was by no means the biggest of them. In 
 fact, if the Giant had been no bigger than the Pyg 
 mies (who stood pricking up their ears, and looking 
 and listening to what was going forward), the stranger 
 could not have been less afraid of him. 
 
 "Who are you, I say?" roared Antaeus again. 
 " What s your name ? Why do you come hither ? 
 Speak, you vagabond, or I 11 try the thickness of your 
 skull with my walking-stick." 
 
 " You are a very discourteous Giant," answered the 
 
THE PYGMIES. 259 
 
 stranger, quietly, " and I shall probably have to teach 
 you a little civility, before we part. As for my name, 
 it is Hercules. I have come hither because this is my 
 most convenient road to the garden of the Hesperides, 
 whither I am going to get three of the golden apples 
 for King Eurystheus." 
 
 " Caitiff, you shall go no farther ! " bellowed An 
 taeus, putting on a grimmer look than before ; for he 
 had heard of the mighty Hercules, and hated him be 
 cause he was said to be so strong. " Neither shall 
 you go back whence you came ! " 
 
 " How will you prevent me," asked Hercules, 
 " from going whither I please ? " 
 
 "By hitting you a rap with this pine-tree here," 
 shouted Antseus, scowling so that he made himself the 
 ugliest monster in Africa. " I am fifty times stronger 
 than you ; and, now that I stamp my foot upon the 
 ground, I am five hundred times stronger ! I am 
 ashamed to kill such a puny little dwarf as you seem 
 to be. I will make a slave of you, and you shall like 
 wise be the slave of my brethren, here, the Pygmies. 
 So throw down your club and your other weapons ; 
 and as for that lion s skin, I intend to have a pair of 
 gloves made of it." 
 
 " Come and take it off my shoulders, then," an 
 swered Hercules, lifting his club. 
 
 Then the Giant, grinning with rage, strode tower- 
 like towards the stranger (ten times strengthened at 
 every step), and fetched a monstrous blow at him 
 with his pine-tree, which Hercules caught upon his 
 club ; and being more skilful than Antaeus, he paid 
 him back such a rap upon the sconce, that down tum 
 bled the great lumbering man-mountain, flat upon the 
 ground. The poor little Pygmies (who really never 
 
260 THE PYGMIES. 
 
 dreamed that anybody in the world was half so strong 
 as their brother Antaeus) were a good deal dismayed 
 at this. But no sooner was the Giant down, than up 
 he bounced again, with tenfold might, and such a furi 
 ous visage as was horrible to behold. He aimed an 
 other blow at Hercules, but struck awry, being blinded 
 with wrath, and only hit his poor, innocent Mother 
 Earth, who groaned and trembled at the stroke. His 
 pine-tree went so deep into the ground, and stuck there 
 so fast, that before Antaeus could get it out, Hercules 
 brought down his club across his shoulders with a 
 mighty thwack, which made the Giant roar as if all 
 sorts of intolerable noises had come screeching and 
 rumbling out of his immeasurable lungs in that one 
 cry. Away it went, over mountains and valleys, and, 
 for aught I know, was heard on the other side of the 
 African deserts. 
 
 As for the Pygmies, their capital city was laid in 
 ruins by the concussion and vibration of the air ; and, 
 though there was uproar enough without their help, 
 they all set up a shriek out of three millions of little 
 throats, fancying, no doubt, that they swelled the Gi 
 ant s bellow by at least ten times as much. Mean 
 while, Antaeus had scrambled upon his feet again, and 
 pulled his pine-tree out of the earth ; and, all a-flame 
 with fury, and more outrageously strong than ever, he 
 ran at Hercules, and brought down another blow. 
 
 " This time, rascal," shouted he, " you shall not es 
 cape me." 
 
 But once more Hercules warded off the stroke with 
 his club, and the Giant s pine-tree was shattered into 
 a thousand splinter?, most of which flew among the 
 Pygmies, and did them more mischief than I like to 
 think about. Before Antaeus could get out of the 
 
THE PYGMIES. 261 
 
 way, Hercules let drive again, and gave him another 
 knock-down blow, which sent him heels over head, but 
 served only to increase his already enormous and in 
 sufferable strength. As for his rage, there is no tell 
 ing what a fiery furnace it had now got to be. His 
 one eye was nothing but a circle of red flame. Hav 
 ing now no weapons but his fists, he doubled them up 
 (each bigger than a hogshead), smote one against the 
 other, and danced up and down with absolute frenzy, 
 flourishing his immense arms about, as if he meant not 
 merely to kill Hercules, but to smash the whole world 
 to pieces. 
 
 " Come on ! " roared this thundering Giant. " Let 
 me hit you but one box on the ear, and you 11 never 
 have the headache again." 
 
 Now Hercules (though strong enough, as you al 
 ready know, to hold the sky up) began to be sensible 
 that he should never win the victory, if he kept on 
 knocking Antaeus down ; for, by and by, if he hit him 
 such hard blows, the Giant would inevitably, by the 
 help of his Mother Earth, become stronger than the 
 mighty Hercules himself. So, throwing down his 
 club, with which he had fought so many dreadful bat 
 tles, the hero stood ready to receive his antagonist 
 with naked arms. 
 
 " Step forward," cried he. " Since I ve broken 
 your pine-teee, we 11 try which is the better man at a 
 wrestling-match." 
 
 u Aha ! then I 11 soon satisfy you," shouted the 
 Giant ;, for, if there was one thing on which he prided 
 himself more than another, it was his skill in wrest 
 ling. " Villain, I 11 fling you where you can never 
 pick yourself up again." 
 
 On came Anta3us,, hopping and capering with the 
 
262 THE PYGMIES. 
 
 scorching heat of his rage, and getting new vigor 
 wherewith to wreak his passion, every time he hopped. 
 But Hercules, you must understand, was wiser than 
 this numskull of a Giant, and had thought of a way to 
 fight him, huge, earth-born monster that he was, 
 and to conquer him too, in spite of all that his Mother 
 Earth could do for him. Watching his opportunity, 
 as the mad Giant made a rush at him, Hercules caught 
 him round the middle with both hands, lifted him high 
 into the air, and held him aloft overhead. 
 
 Just imagine it, my dear little friends ! What a 
 spectacle it must have been, to see this monstrous fel 
 low sprawling in the air, face downward, kicking out 
 his long legs and wriggling his whole vast body, like a 
 baby when its father holds it at arm s-length towards 
 the ceiling. 
 
 But the most wonderful thing was, that, as soon as 
 Antaeus was fairly off the earth, he began to lose the 
 vigor which he had gained by touching it. Hercules 
 very soon perceived that his troublesome enemy was 
 growing weaker, both because he struggled and kicked 
 with less violence, and because the thunder of his big 
 voice subsided into a grumble. The truth was, that, 
 unless the Giant touched Mother Earth as often as 
 once in five minutes, not only his overgrown strength, 
 but the very breath of his life, would depart from him. 
 Hercules had guessed this secret ; and it may be well 
 for us all to remember it, in case we should ever have 
 to fight a battle with a fellow like Antaeus. For these 
 earth-born creatures are only difficult to conquer on 
 their own ground, but may easily be managed if we 
 can contrive to lift them into a loftier and purer re 
 gion. So it proved with the poor Giant, whom I am 
 really a little sorry for, notwithstanding his uncivil 
 way of treating strangers who came to visit him. 
 
THE PYGMIES. 263 
 
 When his strength and breath were quite gone, 
 Hercules gave his huge body a toss, and flung it about 
 a mile off, where it fell heavily, and lay with no more 
 motion than a sand-hill. It was too late for the Gi 
 ant s Mother Earth to help him now ; and I should 
 not wonder if his ponderous bones were lying on the 
 same spot to this very day, and were mistaken for 
 those of an uncommonly large elephant. 
 
 But, alas me ! What a wailing did the poor little 
 Pygmies set up when they saw their enormous brother 
 treated in this terrible manner ! If Hercules heard 
 their shrieks, however, he took no notice, and perhaps 
 fancied them only the shrill, plaintive twittering of 
 small birds that had been frightened from their nests 
 by the uproar of the battle between himself and An 
 taeus. Indeed, his thoughts had been so much taken 
 up with the Giant, that he had never once looked at 
 the Pygmies, nor even knew that there was such a 
 funny little nation in the world. And now, as he had 
 travelled a good way, and was also rather weary with 
 his exertions in the fight, he spread out his lion s 
 skin on the ground, and reclining himself upon it, fell 
 fast asleep. 
 
 As soon as the Pygmies saw Hercules preparing for 
 a nap, they nodded their little heads at one another, 
 and winked with their little eyes. And when his 
 deep, regular breathing gave them notice that he was 
 asleep, they assembled together in an immense crowd, 
 spreading over a space of about twenty-seven feet 
 square. One of their most eloquent orators (and a 
 valiant warrior enough, besides, though hardly so good 
 at any other weapon as he was with his tongue) 
 climbed upon a toadstool, and, from that elevated po 
 sition, addressed the multitude. His sentiments were 
 
264 THE PYGMIES. 
 
 pretty much as follows ; or, at all events, something 
 like this was probably the upshot of his speech : 
 
 " Tall Pygmies and mighty little men ! You and 
 all of us have seen what a public calamity has been 
 brought to pass, and what an insult has here been of 
 fered to the majesty of our nation. Yonder lies An 
 taeus, our great friend and brother, slain, within our 
 territory, by a miscreant who took him at disadvan 
 tage, and fought him (if fighting it can be called) in 
 a way that neither man, nor Giant, nor Pygmy ever 
 dreamed of fighting until this hour. And, adding a 
 grievous contumely to the wrong already done us, the 
 miscreant has now fallen asleep as quietly as if noth 
 ing were to be dreaded from our wrath ! It behooves 
 you, fellow-countrymen, to consider in what aspect we 
 shall stand before the world, and what will be the ver 
 dict of impartial history, should we suffer these accu 
 mulated outrages to go unavenged. 
 
 " Antasus was our brother, born of that same be 
 loved parent to whom we owe the thews and sinews, as 
 well as the courageous hearts, which made him proud 
 of our relationship. He was our faithful ally, and fell 
 fighting as much for our national rights and immuni 
 ties as for his own personal ones. We and our fore 
 fathers have dwelt in friendship with him, and held 
 affectionate intercourse, as man to man, through im 
 memorial generations. You remember how often our 
 entire people have reposed in his great shadow, and 
 how our little ones have played at hide-and-seek in 
 the tangles of his hair, and how his mighty footsteps 
 have familiarly gone to and fro among us, and never 
 trodden upon any of our toes. And there lies this 
 dear brother, this sweet and amiable friend, this 
 brave and faithful ally, this virtuous Giant, thia 
 
THE PYGMIES. 265 
 
 blameless and excellent Antseus, - dead ! Dead ! 
 Silent ! Powerless ! A mere mountain of clay ! For 
 give my tears ! Nay, I behold your own ! Were we 
 to drown the world with them, could the world blame 
 us? 
 
 " But to resume : Shall we, my countrymen, suffer 
 this wicked stranger to depart unharmed, and triumph 
 in his treacherous victory, among distant communities 
 of the earth? Shall we not rather compel him to 
 leave his bones here on our soil, by the side of our 
 slain brother s bones, so that, while one skeleton shall 
 remain as the everlasting monument of our sorrow, 
 the other shall endure as long, exhibiting to the whole 
 human race a terrible example of Pygmy vengeance ? 
 Such is the question. I put it to you in full confi 
 dence of a response that shall be worthy of our na 
 tional character, and calculated to increase, rather 
 than diminish, the glory which our ancestors have 
 transmitted to us, and which we ourselves have proudly 
 vindicated in our warfare with the cranes." 
 
 The orator was here interrupted by a burst of irre 
 pressible enthusiasm ; every individual Pygmy crying 
 out that the national honor must be preserved at all 
 hazards. He bowed, and making a gesture for silence, 
 wound up his harangue in the following admirable 
 manner : 
 
 " It only remains for us, then, to decide whether we 
 shall carry on the war in our national capacity, one 
 united people against a common enemy, or whether 
 some champion, famous in former fights, shall be se 
 lected to defy the slayer of our brother Antaeus to 
 single combat. In the latter case, though not un 
 conscious that there may be taller men among you, I 
 hereby offer myself for that enviable duty. And, be- 
 
266 THE PYGMIES. 
 
 lieve me, dear countrymen, whether I live or die, the 
 honor of this great country, and the fame bequeathed 
 us by our heroic progenitors, shall suffer no diminu 
 tion in my hands. Never, while I can wield this 
 sword, of which I now fling away the scabbard, 
 never, never, never, even if the crimson hand that 
 slew the great Antaeus shall lay me prostrate, like him, 
 on the soil which I give my life to defend." 
 
 So saying, this valiant Pygmy drew out his weapon 
 (which was terrible to behold, being as long as the 
 blade of a penknife), and sent the scabbard whirling 
 over the heads of the multitude. His speech was fol 
 lowed by an uproar of applause, as its patriotism and 
 self-devotion unquestionably deserved ; and the shouts 
 and clapping of hands woidd have been greatly pro 
 longed had they not been rendered quite inaudible by 
 a deep respiration, vulgarly called a snore, from the 
 sleeping Hercules. 
 
 It was finally decided that the whole nation of Pyg 
 mies should set to work to destroy Hercules ; not, be 
 it understood, from any doubt that a single champion 
 woidd be capable of putting him to the sword, but be 
 cause he was a public enemy, and all were desirous of 
 sharing in the glory of his defeat. There was a de 
 bate whether the national honor did not demand that 
 a herald should be sent with a trumpet, to stand over 
 the ear of Hercules, and, after blowing a blast right 
 into it, to defy him to the combat by formal proclama 
 tion. But two or three venerable and sagacious Pyg 
 mies, well versed in state affairs, gave it as their opin 
 ion that war already existed, and that it was their 
 rightful privilege to take the enemy by surprise. 
 Moreover, if awakened, and allowed to get upon his 
 feet, Hercules might happen to do them a mischief 
 
THE PYGMIES. 267 
 
 before he could be beaten down again. For, as these 
 sage counsellors remarked, the stranger s club was 
 really very big, and had rattled like a thunderbolt 
 against the skull of Antaeus. So the Pygmies re 
 solved to set aside all foolish punctilios, and assail 
 their antagonist at once. 
 
 Accordingly, all the fighting men of the nation took 
 their weapons, and went boldly up to Hercules, who 
 still lay fast asleep, little dreaming of the harm which 
 the Pygmies meant to do him. A body of twenty 
 thousand archers marched in front, with their little 
 bows all ready, and the arrows on the string. The 
 same number were ordered to clamber upon Hercules, 
 some with spades to dig his eyes out, and others with 
 bundles of hay, and all manner of rubbish, with which 
 they intended to plug up his mouth and nostrils, so 
 that he might perish for lack of breath. These last, 
 however, could by no means perform their appointed 
 duty ; inasmuch as the enemy s breath rushed out of 
 his nose in an obstreperous hurricane and whirlwind, 
 which blew the Pygmies away as fast as they came 
 nigh. It was found necessary, therefore, to hit upon 
 some other method of carrying on the war. 
 
 After holding a council, the captains ordered their 
 troops to collect sticks, straws, dry weeds, and what 
 ever combustible stuff they coidd find, and make a pile 
 of it, heaping it high around the head of Hercules. As 
 a great many thousand Pygmies were employed in this 
 task, they soon brought together several bushels of in 
 flammatory matter, and raised so tall a heap, that, 
 mounting on its summit, they were quite upon a level 
 with the sleeper s face. The archers, meanwhile, were 
 stationed within bow -shot, with orders to let fly at 
 Hercules the instant that he stirred. Everything be- 
 
268 THE PYGMIES. 
 
 ing in readiness, a torch was applied to the pile, which 
 immediately burst into flames, and soon waxed hot 
 enough to roast the enemy, had he but chosen to lie 
 still. A Pygmy, you know, though so very small, 
 might set the world on fire, just as easily as a Giant 
 could ; so that this was certainly the very best way of 
 dealing with their foe, provided they could have kept 
 him quiet while the conflagration was going forward. 
 
 But no sooner did Hercules begin to be scorched, 
 than up he started, with his hair in a red blaze. 
 
 " AY hat s all this ? " he cried, bewildered with sleep, 
 and staring about him as if he expected to see another 
 Giant. 
 
 At that moment the twenty thousand archers 
 twanged their bowstrings, and the arrows came whiz 
 zing, like so many winged mosquitoes, right into the 
 face of Hercules. But I doubt whether more than 
 half a dozen of them punctured the skin, which was 
 remarkably tough, as you know the skin of a hero has 
 good need to be. 
 
 " Villain ! " shouted all the Pygmies at once. " You 
 have killed the Giant Antaeus, our great brother, and 
 the ally of our nation. "We declare bloody war against 
 you and will slay you on the spot." 
 
 Surprised at the shrill piping of so many little 
 voices, Hercules, after putting out the conflagration of 
 his hair, gazed all round about, but could see nothing. 
 At last, however, looking narrowly on the ground, he 
 espied the innumerable assemblage of Pygmies at his 
 feet. He stooped down, and taking up the nearest 
 one between his thumb and finger, set him on the palm 
 of his left hand, and held him at a proper distance 
 for examination. It chanced to be the very identical 
 Pygmy who had spoken from the top of the toadstool, 
 
THE PYGMIES. 269 
 
 and had offered himself as a champion to meet Her 
 cules in single combat. 
 
 " What in the world, my little fellow, ejaculated 
 Hercules, " may you be ? " 
 
 44 1 am your enemy," answered the valiant Pygmy, 
 in his mightiest squeak. " You have slain the enor 
 mous Antaeus, our brother by the mother s side, and 
 for ages the faithful ally of our illustrious nation. 
 We are determined to put you to death ; and for my 
 own part, I challenge you to instant battle, on equal 
 ground." 
 
 Hercules was so tickled with the Pygmy s big words 
 and warlike gestures, that he burst into a great explo 
 sion of laughter, and almost dropped the poor little 
 mite of a creature off the palm of his hand, through 
 the ecstasy and convulsion of his merriment. 
 
 " Upon my word," cried he, " I thought I had seen 
 wonders before to-day, hydras with nine heads, stags 
 with golden horns, six-legged men, three-headed dogs, 
 giants with furnaces in their stomachs, and nobody 
 knows what besides. But here, on the palm of my 
 hand, stands a wonder that outdoes them all ! Your 
 body, mv little friend, is about the size of an ordinary 
 man s finger. Pray, how big may your soul be ? " 
 
 " As big as your own ! " said the Pygmy. 
 
 Hercules was touched with the little man s daunt 
 less courage, and could not help acknowledging such 
 a brotherhood with him as one hero feels for another. 
 
 " My good little people," said he, making a low obei 
 sance to the grand nation, " not for all the world 
 would I do an intentional injury to such brave fellows 
 as you ! Your hearts seem to me so exceedingly great, 
 that, upon my honor, I marvel how your small bodies 
 can contain them. I sue for peace, and, as a condi- 
 
270 THE PYGMIES. 
 
 tion of it, will take five strides, and be out of your 
 kingdom at the sixth. Good-by. I shall pick my steps 
 carefully, for fear of treading upon some fifty of you, 
 without knowing it. Ha, ha, ha ! Ho, ho, ho ! For 
 once, Hercules acknowledges himself vanquished." 
 
 Some writers say, that Hercules gathered up the 
 whole race of Pygmies in his lion s skin, and carried 
 them home to Greece, for the children of King Eurys- 
 theus to play with. But this is a mistake. He left 
 them, one and all, within their own territory, where, 
 for aught I can tell, their descendants are alive to the 
 present day, building their little houses, cultivating 
 their little fields, spanking their little children, wag 
 ing their little warfare with the cranes, doing their 
 little business, whatever it may be, and reading their 
 little histories of ancient times. In those histories, 
 perhaps, it stands recorded, that, a great many centu 
 ries ago, the valiant Pygmies avenged the death of the 
 Giant Antaeus by scaring away the mighty Hercules. 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 CADMUS, Phoenix, and Cilix, the three sons of King 
 Agenor, and their little sister Europa (who was a very 
 beautiful child) were at play together, near the sea 
 shore, in their father s kingdom of Phoenicia. They 
 had rambled to some distance from the palace where 
 their parents dwelt, and were now in a verdant mead 
 ow, on one side of which lay the sea, all sparkling 
 and dimpling in the sunshine, and murmuring gently 
 against the beach. The three boys were very happy, 
 gathering flowers, and twining them into garlands, 
 with which they adorned the little Europa. Seated 
 on the grass, the child was almost hidden under an 
 abundance of buds and blossoms, whence her rosy face 
 peeped merrily out, and, as Cadmus said, was the pret 
 tiest of all the flowers. 
 
 Just then, there came a splendid butterfly, fluttering 
 along the meadow ; and Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix 
 set off in pursuit of it, crying out that it was a flower 
 with wings. Europa, who was a little wearied with 
 playing all day long, did not chase the butterfly with 
 her brothers, but sat still where they had left her, and 
 closed her eyes. For a while, she listened to the pleas 
 ant murmur of the sea, which was like a voice say 
 ing " Hush ! " and bidding her go to sleep. But the 
 pretty child, if she slept at all, could not have slept 
 more than a moment, when she heard something tram 
 ple on the grass, not far from her, and peeping out 
 from the heap of flowers, beheld a snow-white bull. 
 
272 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 And whence could this bull have come ? Europa 
 and her brothers had been a long time playing in the 
 meadow, and had seen no cattle, nor other living thing, 
 either there or on the neighboring hills. 
 
 " Brother Cadmus ! " cried Europa, starting up out 
 of the midst of the roses and lilies. " Phoenix ! Cilix ! 
 Where are you all ? Help ! Help ! Come and drive 
 away this bull ! " 
 
 But her brothers were too far off to hear ; especially 
 as the fright took away Europa s voice, and hindered 
 her from calling very loudly. So there she stood, with 
 her pretty mouth wide open, as pale as the white lilies 
 that were twisted among the other flowers in her gar 
 lands. 
 
 Nevertheless, it was the suddenness with which she 
 had perceived the bull, rather than anything frightful 
 in his appearance, that caused Europa so much alarm. 
 On looking art him more attentively, she began to see 
 that he was a beautiful animal, and even fancied a 
 particularly amiable expression in his face. As for 
 his breath, the breath of cattle, you know, is always 
 sweet, it was as fragrant as if he had been grazing 
 on no other food than rosebuds, or, at least, the most 
 delicate of clover-blossoms. Never before did a bull 
 have such bright and tender eyes, and such smooth 
 horns of ivory, as this one. And the bull ran little 
 races, and capered sportively around the child ; so that 
 she quite forgot how big and strong he was, and, from 
 the gentleness and playfulness of his actions, soon 
 came to consider him as innocent a creature as a pet 
 lamb. 
 
 Thus, frightened as she at first was, you might by 
 and by have seen Europa stroking the bull s fore 
 head with her small white hand, .and taking the gur 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 273 
 
 lands off her own head to hang them on his neck and 
 ivory horns. Then she pulled up some blades of grass, 
 and he ate them out of her hand, not as if he were 
 hungry, but because he wanted to be friends with 
 the child, and took pleasure in eating what she had 
 touched. Well, my stars ! was there ever such a gen 
 tle, sweet, pretty, and amiable creature as this bull, 
 and ever such a nice playmate for a little girl ? 
 
 When the animal saw (for the bull had so much in 
 telligence that it is really wonderful to think of), when 
 he saw that Europa was no longer afraid of him, he 
 grew overjoyed, and could hardly contain himself for 
 delight. He frisked about the meadow, now here, now 
 there, making sprightly leaps, with as little effort as a 
 bird expends in hopping from twig to twig. Indeed, 
 his motion was as light as if he were flying through 
 the air, and his hoofs seemed hardly to leave their 
 print in the grassy soil over which he trod. With his 
 spotless hue, he resembled a snow-drift, wafted along 
 by the wind. Once he galloped so far away that Eu 
 ropa feared lest she might never see him again ; so, 
 setting up her childish voice, she called him back. 
 
 " Come back, pretty creature ! " she cried. " Here 
 is a nice clover-blossom." 
 
 And then it was delightful to witness the gratitude 
 of this amiable bull, and how he was so full of joy and 
 thankfulness that he capered higher than ever. He 
 came running, and bowed his head before Europa, as 
 if he knew her to be a king s daughter, or else recog 
 nized the important truth that a little girl is every 
 body s queen. And not only did the bull bend his 
 neck, he absolutely knelt down at her feet, and made 
 such intelligent nods, and other inviting gestures, that 
 
 VOL. IV. 18 
 
274 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 Europa understood what he meant just as well as if he 
 had put it in so many words. 
 
 " Come, dear child," was what he wanted to say, 
 u let me give you a ride on my back." 
 
 At the first thought of such a thing, Europa drew 
 back. But then she considered in her wise little head 
 that there could be no possible harm in taking just 
 one gallop on the back of this docile and friendly ani 
 mal, who would certainly set her down the very in 
 stant she desired it. And how it would surprise her 
 brothers to see her riding across the green meadow ! 
 And what merry times they might have, either taking 
 turns for a gallop, or clambering on the gentle crea 
 ture, all four children together, and careering round 
 the field with shouts of laughter that would be heard 
 as far off as King Agenor s palace ! 
 
 " I think I will do it," said the child to herself. 
 
 And, indeed, why not ? She cast a glance around, 
 and caught a glimpse of Cadmus, Phoanix, and Cilix, 
 who were still in pursuit of the butterfly, almost at the 
 other end of the meadow. It would be the quickest 
 way of rejoining them, to get upon the white bull s 
 back. She came a step nearer to him, therefore ; and 
 sociable creature that he was he showed so much 
 joy at this mark of her confidence, that the child could 
 not find it in her heart to hesitate any longer. Mak 
 ing one bound (for this little princess was as active 
 as a squirrel), there sat Europa on the beautiful bull, 
 holding an ivory horn in each hand, lest she should 
 fall off. 
 
 " Softly, pretty bull, softly ! " she said, rather 
 frightened at what she had done. " Do not gallop 
 too fast." 
 
 Having got the child on his back, the animal gave 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 275 
 
 a leap into the air, and came down so like a feather 
 that Europa did not know when his hoofs touched the 
 ground. He then began a race to that part of the 
 flowery plain where her three brothers were, and 
 where they had just caught their splendid butterfly. 
 Europa screamed with delight; and Phoenix, Cilix, 
 and Cadmus stood gaping at the spectacle of their sis 
 ter mounted on a white bull, not knowing whether to 
 be frightened or to wish the same good luck for them 
 selves. The gentle and innocent creature (for who 
 could possibly doubt that he was so?) pranced round 
 among the children as sportively as a kitten. Europa 
 all the while looked down upon her brothers, nodding 
 and laughing, but yet with a sort of stateliness in her 
 rosy little face. As the bull wheeled about to take 
 another gallop across the meadow, the child waved her 
 hand, and said, " Good-by," playfully pretending that 
 she was now bound on a distant journey, and might 
 not see her brothers again for nobody could tell how 
 long. 
 
 " Good-by," shouted Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, 
 all in one breath. 
 
 But, together with her enjoyment of the sport, 
 there was still a little remnant of fear in the child s 
 heart ; so that her last look at the three boys was a 
 troubled one, and made them feel as if their dear sis 
 ter were really leaving them forever. And what do 
 you think the snowy bull did next ? Why, he set off, 
 as swift as the wind, straight down to the sea-shore, 
 scampered across the sand, took an airy leap, and 
 plunged right in among the foaming billows. The 
 white spray rose in a shower over him and little Eu 
 ropa, and fell spattering down upon the water. 
 
 Then what a scream of terror did the poor child 
 
276 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 send forth! The three brothers screamed manfully, 
 likewise, and ran to the shore as fast as their legs 
 would carry them, with Cadmus at their head. But 
 it was too late. When they reached the margin of 
 the sand, the treacherous animal was already far away 
 in the wide blue sea, with only his snowy head and 
 tail emerging, and poor little Europa between them, 
 stretching out one hand towards her dear brothers, 
 while she grasped the bull s ivory horn with the other. 
 And there stood Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, gazing 
 at this sad spectacle, through their tears, until they 
 could no longer distinguish the bull s snowy head from 
 the white-capped billows that seemed to boil up out of 
 the sea s depths around him. Nothing more was ever 
 seen of the white bull, nothing more of the beauti 
 ful child. 
 
 This was a mournful story, as you may well think, 
 for the three boys to carry home to their parents. 
 King Agenor, their father, was the ruler of the whole 
 country ; but he loved his little daughter Europa bet 
 ter than his kingdom, or than all his other children, 
 or than anything else in the world. Therefore, when 
 Cadmus and his two brothers came crying home, and 
 told him how that a white bull had carried off their 
 sister, and swam with her over the sea, the king was 
 quite beside himself with grief and rage. Although 
 it was now twilight, and fast growing dark, he bade 
 them set out instantly in search of her. 
 
 " Never shall you see my face again," he cried, 
 kk unless you bring me back my little Europa, to glad 
 den me with her smiles and her pretty ways. Begone, 
 and enter my presence no more, till you come leading 
 her by the hand." 
 
 As King Agenor said this, his eyes flashed fire (for 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 277 
 
 he was a very passionate king), and he looked so ter 
 ribly angry that the poor boys did not even venture to 
 ask for their suppers, but slunk away out of the pal 
 ace, and only paused on the steps a moment to consult 
 whither they should go first. While they were stand 
 ing there, all in dismay, their mother, Queen Tele- 
 phassa (who happened not to be by when they told 
 the story to the king), came hurrying after them, and 
 said that she too would go in quest of her daughter. 
 
 " Oh no, mother ! " cried the boys. " The night is 
 dark, and there is no knowing what troubles and perils 
 we may meet with." 
 
 " Alas ! my dear children," answered poor Queen 
 Telephassa, weeping bitterly, "that is only another 
 reason why I should go with you. If I should lose 
 you, too, as well as my little Europa, what would be 
 come of me ? " 
 
 " And let me go likewise ! " said their playfellow 
 Thasus, who came running to join them. 
 
 Thasus was the son of a seafaring person in the 
 neighborhood ; he had been brought up with the 
 young princes, and was their intimate friend, and 
 loved Europa very much ; so they consented that he 
 should accompany them. The whole party, there 
 fore, set forth together ; Cadmus, Phcenix, Cilix, and 
 Thasus clustered round Queen Telephassa, grasping 
 her skirts, and begging her to lean upon their shoul 
 ders whenever she felt weary. In this manner they 
 went down the palace steps, and began a journey 
 which turned out to be a great deal longer than they 
 dreamed of. The last that they saw of King Agenor, 
 he came to the door, with a servant holding a torch 
 beside him, and called after them into the gathering 
 darkness : 
 
278 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 " Remember ! Never ascend these steps again with 
 out the child ! " 
 
 "Never! " sobbed Queen Telephassa; and the three 
 brothers and Thasus answered, "Never! Never! 
 Never! Never!" 
 
 And they kept their word. Year after year King 
 Agenor sat in the solitude of his beautiful palace, lis 
 tening in vain for their returning footsteps, hoping to 
 hear the familiar voice of the queen, and the cheerful 
 talk of his sons and their playfellow Thasus, entering 
 the door together, and the sweet, childish accents of 
 little Europa in the midst of them. But so long a 
 time went by, that, at last, if they had really come, 
 the king would not have known that this was the voice 
 of Telephassa, and these the younger voices that used 
 to make such joyful echoes when the children were 
 playing about the palace. We must now leave King 
 Agenor to sit on his throne, and must go along with 
 Queen Telephassa and her four youthful companions. 
 
 They went on and on, and travelled a long way, and 
 passed over mountains and rivers, and sailed over seas. 
 Here, and there, and everywhere, they made continual 
 inquiry if any person could tell them what had become 
 of Europa. The rustic people, of whom they asked 
 this question, paused a little while from their labors 
 in the field, and looked very much surprised. They 
 thought it strange to behold a woman in the garb of a 
 queen (for Telephassa, in her haste, had forgotten to 
 take off her crown and her royal robes), roaming 
 about the country, with four lads around her, on such 
 an errand as this seemed to be. But nobody could 
 give them any tidings of Europa ; nobody had seen a 
 little girl dressed like a princess, and mounted on a 
 snow-white bull, which galloped as swiftly as the wind. 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 279 
 
 I cannot tell you how long Queen Telephassa, and 
 Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, her three sons, and 
 Thasus, their playfellow, went wandering along the 
 highways and bypaths, or through the pathless wilder 
 nesses of the earth, in this manner. But certain it is, 
 that, before they reached any place of rest, their splen 
 did garments were quite worn out. They all looked 
 very much travel-stained, and would have had the dust 
 of many countries on their shoes, if the streams, 
 through which they waded, had not washed it all 
 away. When they had been gone a year, Telephassa 
 threw away her crown, because it chafed her forehead. 
 
 " It has given me many a headache," said the poor 
 queen, " and it cannot cure my heartache." 
 
 As fast as their princely robes got torn and tat 
 tered, they exchanged them for such mean attire as 
 ordinary people wore. By and by they came to have 
 a wild and homeless aspect ; so that you would much 
 sooner have taken them for a gypsy family than a 
 queen and three princes, and a young nobleman, who 
 had once a palace for their home, and a train of ser 
 vants to do their bidding. The four boys grew up 
 to be tall young men, with sunburnt faces. Each of 
 them girded on a sword, to defend themselves against 
 the perils of the way. When the husbandmen, at 
 whose farm-houses they sought hospitality, needed 
 their assistance in the harvest-field, they gave it wil 
 lingly ; and Queen Telephassa (who had done no work 
 in her palace, save to braid silk threads with golden 
 ones) came behind them to bind the sheaves. If pay 
 ment was offered, they shook their heads, and only 
 asked for tidings of Europa. 
 
 "There are bulls enough in my pasture," the old 
 farmers would reply ; " but I never heard of one like 
 
280 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 this you tell me of. A snow-white bull with a little 
 princess on his back ! Ho ! ho ! I ask your pardon, 
 good folks ; but there never was such a sight seen 
 hereabouts." 
 
 At last, when his upper lip began to have the down 
 on it, Phoenix grew weary of rambling hither and 
 thither to no purpose. So, one day, when they hap 
 pened to be passing through a pleasant and solitary 
 tract of country, he sat himself down on a heap of 
 moss. 
 
 " I can go no farther," said Phcenix. u It is a mere 
 foolish waste of life, to spend it, as we do, in always 
 wandering up and down, and never coming to any 
 home at nightfall. Our sister is lost, and never will 
 be found. She probably perished in the sea ; or, to 
 whatever shore the white bull may have carried her, 
 it is now so many years ago, that there would be nei 
 ther love nor acquaintance between us should we meet 
 again. My father has forbidden us to return to his 
 palace ; so I shall build me a hut of branches, and 
 dwell here." 
 
 " Well, son Phoenix," said Telephassa, sorrowfully, 
 " you have grown to be a man, and must do as you 
 judge best. But, for my part, I will still go in quest 
 of my poor child." 
 
 "And we three will go along with you ! " cried Cad 
 mus and Cilix, and their faithful friend Thasus. 
 
 But, before setting out, they all helped Phoenix to 
 build a habitation. When completed, it was a sweet 
 rural bower, roofed overhead with an arch of living 
 boughs. Inside there were two pleasant rooms, one 
 of which had a soft heap of moss for a bed, while the 
 other was furnished with a rustic seat or two, curiously 
 fashioned out of the crooked roots of trees. So com- 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 281 
 
 fortable and homelike did it seem, that Telephassa 
 and her three companions could not help sighing, to 
 think that they must still roam about the world, in 
 stead of spending the remainder of their lives in some 
 such cheerful abode as they had here built for Phoenix. 
 But, when they bade him farewell, Phoenix shed tears, 
 and probably regretted that he was no longer to keep 
 them company. 
 
 However, he had fixed upon an admirable place to 
 dwell in. And by and by there came other people, 
 who chanced to have no homes ; and, seeing how pleas 
 ant a spot it was, they built themselves huts in the 
 neighborhood of Phoenix s habitation. Thus, before 
 many years went by, a city had grown up there, in the 
 centre of which was seen a stately palace of marble, 
 wherein dwelt Phoenix, clothed in a purple robe, and 
 wearing a golden crown upon his head. For the inhab 
 itants of the new city, finding that he had royal blood 
 in his veins, had chosen him to be their king. The 
 very first decree of state which King Phoenix issued 
 was, that if a maiden happened to arrive in the king 
 dom, mounted on a snow-white bull, and calling her 
 self Europa, his subjects should treat her with the 
 greatest kindness and respect, and immediately bring 
 her to the palace. You may see, by this, that Phoe 
 nix s conscience never quite ceased to trouble him, for 
 giving up the quest of his dear sister, and sitting him 
 self down to be comfortable, while his mother and her 
 companions went onward. 
 
 But often and often, at the close of a weary day s 
 journey, did Telephassa and Cadmus, Cilix and Tha- 
 sus, remember the pleasant spot in which they had 
 left Phoenix. It was a sorrowful prospect for these 
 wanderers, that on the morrow they must again set 
 
282 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 forth, and that, after many nightfalls, they would per 
 haps be no nearer the close of their toilsome pilgrim 
 age than now. These thoughts made them all melan 
 choly at times, but appeared to torment Cilix more 
 than the rest of the party. At length, one morning, 
 when they were taking their staffs in hand to set out, 
 he thus addressed them : 
 
 " My dear mother, and you good brother Cadmus, 
 and my friend Thasus, methinks we are like people 
 in a dream. There is no substance in the life which 
 we are leading. It is such a dreary length of time 
 since the white bull carried off my sister Europa, that 
 I have quite forgotten how she looked, and the tones 
 of her voice, and, indeed, almost doubt whether such 
 a little girl ever lived in the world. And whether she 
 once lived or no, I am convinced that she no longer 
 survives, and that therefore it is the merest folly to 
 waste our own lives and happiness in seeking her. 
 Were we to find her, she would now be a woman 
 grown, and would look upon us all as strangers. So, 
 to tell you the truth, I have resolved to take up my 
 abode here ; and I entreat you, mother, brother, and 
 friend, to follow my example." 
 
 " Not I, for one," said Telephassa ; although the 
 poor queen, firmly as she spoke, was so travel-worn 
 that she could hardly put her foot to the ground, 
 " not I, for one ! In the depths of my heart, little 
 Europa is still the rosy child who ran to gather flowers 
 so many years ago. She has not grown to woman 
 hood, nor forgotten me. At noon, at night, journey 
 ing onward, sitting down to rest, her childish voice is 
 always in my ears, calling, ; Mother ! mother I Stop 
 here who may, there is no repose for me." 
 
 " Nor for me," said Cadmus, " while my dear mother 
 pleases to go onward." 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 283 
 
 And the faithful Thasus, too, was resolved to bear 
 them company. They remained with Cilix a few days, 
 however, and helped him to build a rustic bower, re 
 sembling the one which they had formerly built for 
 Phcenix. 
 
 When they were bidding him farewell, Cilix burst 
 into tears, and told his mother that it seemed just as 
 melancholy a dream to stay there, in solitude, as to go 
 onward. If she really believed that they would ever 
 find Europa, he was willing to continue the search with 
 them, even now. But Telephassa bade him remain 
 there, and be happy, if his own heart would let him. 
 So the pilgrims took their leave of him, and departed, 
 and were hardly out of sight before some other wan 
 dering people came along that way, and saw Cilix s 
 habitation, and were greatly delighted with the ap 
 pearance of the place. There being abundance of un 
 occupied ground in the neighborhood, these strangers 
 built huts for themselves, and were soon joined by a 
 multitude of new settlers, who quickly formed a city. 
 In the middle of it was seen a magnificent palace of 
 colored marble, on the balcony of which, every noon 
 tide, appeared Cilix, in a long purple robe, and with a 
 jewelled crown upon his head ; for the inhabitants, 
 when they found out that he was a king s son, had con 
 sidered him the fittest of all men to be a king him-, 
 self. 
 
 One of the first acts of King Cilix s government 
 was to send out an expedition, consisting of a grave 
 ambassador and an escort of bold and hardy young 
 men, with orders to visit the principal kingdoms of 
 the earth, and inquire whether a young maiden had 
 passed through those regions, galloping swiftly on a 
 white bull. It is, therefore, plain to my mind, that 
 
284 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 Cilix secretly blamed himself for giving up the search 
 for Europa, as long as he was able to put one foot be 
 fore the other. 
 
 As for Telephassa, and Cadmus, and the good Tha- 
 sns, it grieves me to think of them, still keeping up 
 that weary pilgrimage. The two young men did their 
 best for the poor queen, helping her over the rough 
 places, often carrying her across rivulets in their faith 
 ful arms, and seeking to shelter her at nightfall, even 
 when they themselves lay on the ground. Sad, sad it 
 was to hear them asking of every passer-by if he had 
 seen Europa, so long after the white bull had carried 
 her away. But, though the gray years thrust them 
 selves between, and made the child s figure dim in 
 their remembrance, neither of these true-hearted three 
 ever dreamed of giving up the search. 
 
 One morning, however, poor Thasus found that he 
 had sprained his ankle, and could not possibly go a 
 step farther. 
 
 " After a few days, to be sure," said he, mournfully, 
 " I might make shift to hobble along with a stick. 
 But that would only delay you, and perhaps hinder 
 you from finding dear little Europa, after all your 
 pains and trouble. Do you go forward, therefore, my 
 beloved companions, and leave me to follow as I may." 
 
 " Thou hast been a true friend, dear Thasus," said 
 Queen Telephassa, kissing his forehead. " Being nei 
 ther my son, nor the brother of our lost Europa, thou 
 hast shown thyself truer to me and her than Phoenix 
 and Cilix did, whom we have left behind us. With 
 out thy loving help, and that of my son Cadmus, my 
 limbs could not have borne me half so far as this. 
 Now, take thy rest, and be at peace. For and it is 
 the first time I have owned it to myself I begin to 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 285 
 
 question whether we shall ever find my beloved daugh 
 ter in this world." 
 
 Saying this, the poor queen shed tears, because it 
 was a grievous trial to the mother s heart to confess 
 that her hopes were growing faint. From that day 
 forward, Cadmus noticed that she never travelled with 
 the same alacrity of spirit that had heretofore sup 
 ported her. Her weight was heavier upon his arm. 
 
 Before setting out, Cadmus helped Thasus build a 
 bower ; while Telephassa, being too infirm to give any 
 great assistance, advised them how to fit it up and fur 
 nish it, so that it might be as comfortable as a hut of 
 branches could. Thasus, however, did not spend all 
 his days in this green bower. For it happened to him, 
 as to Phoenix and Cilix, that other homeless people 
 visited the spot and liked it, and built themselves hab 
 itations in the neighborhood. So here, in the course 
 of a few years, was another thriving city with a red 
 freestone palace in the centre of it, where Thasus sat 
 upon a throne, doing justice to the people, with a pur 
 ple robe over his shoulders, a sceptre in his hand, and 
 a crown upon his head. The inhabitants had made 
 him king, not for the sake of any royal blood (for 
 none was in his veins), but because Thasus was an up 
 right, true-hearted, and courageous man, and therefore 
 fit to rule. 
 
 But, when the affairs of his kingdom were all set 
 tled, King Thasus laid aside his purple robe, and 
 crown, and sceptre, and bade his worthiest subject dis 
 tribute justice to the people in his stead. Then, grasp 
 ing the pilgrim s staff that had supported him so long, 
 he set forth again, hoping still to discover some hoof- 
 mark of the snow-white bull, some trace of the van 
 ished child. He returned, after a lengthened absence, 
 
286 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 and sat down wearily upon his throne. To his latest 
 hour, nevertheless, King Thasus showed his true- 
 hearted remembrance of Europa, by ordering that a 
 fire should always be kept burning in his palace, and 
 a bath steaming hot, and food ready to be served up, 
 and a bed with snow-white sheets, in case the maiden 
 should arrive, and require immediate refreshment. 
 And though Europa never came, the good Thasus had 
 the blessings of many a poor traveller, who profited by 
 the food and lodging which were meant for the little 
 playmate of the king s boyhood. 
 
 Telephassa and Cadmus were now pursuing their 
 weary way, with no companion but each other. The 
 queen leaned heavily upon her son s arm, and could 
 walk only a few miles a day. But for all her weak 
 ness and weariness, she would not be persuaded to 
 give up the search. It was enough to bring tears into 
 the eyes of bearded men to hear the melancholy tone 
 with which she inquired of every stranger whether he 
 could tell her any news of the lost child. 
 
 " Have you seen a little girl no, no, I mean a 
 young maiden of full growth passing by this way, 
 mounted on a snow-white bull, which gallops as swiftly 
 as the wind?" 
 
 " We have seen no such wondrous sight," the peo 
 ple would reply ; and very often, taking Cadmus aside, 
 they whispered to him, " Is this stately and sad-look 
 ing woman your mother? Surely she is not in her 
 right mind ; and you ought to take her home, and 
 make her comfortable, and do your best to get this 
 dream out of her fancy." 
 
 " It is no dream, said Cadmus. " Everything else 
 is a dream, save that." 
 
 But, one day, Talephassa seemed feebler than usual. 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 287 
 
 and leaned almost her whole weight on the arm of Cad 
 mus, and walked more slowly than ever before. At 
 last they reached a solitary spot, where she told her 
 son that she must needs lie down, and take a good, 
 long rest. 
 
 " A good, long rest ! " she repeated, looking Cad 
 mus tenderly in the face, " a good, long rest, thou 
 dearest one ! " 
 
 " As long as you please, dear mother," answered 
 Cadmus. 
 
 Telephassa bade him sit down on the turf beside 
 her, and then she took his hand. 
 
 " My son," said she, fixing her dim eyes most lov 
 ingly upon him, " this rest that I speak of will be very 
 long indeed ! You must not wait till it is finished. 
 Dear Cadmus, you do not comprehend me. You must 
 make a grave here, and lay your mother s weary frame 
 into it. My pilgrimage is over." 
 
 Cadmus burst into tears, and, for a long time, re 
 fused to believe that his dear mother was now to be 
 taken from him. But Telephassa reasoned with him, 
 and kissed him, and at length made him discern that 
 it was better for her spirit to pass away out of the toil, 
 the weariness, the grief, and disappointment which had 
 burdened her on earth, ever since the child was lost. 
 He therefore repressed his sorrow, and listened to her 
 last words. 
 
 " Dearest Cadmus," said she, " thou hast been the 
 truest son that ever mother had, and faithful to the 
 very last. Who else would have borne with my in 
 firmities as thou hast ! It is owing to thy care, thou 
 tenderest child, that my grave was not dug long years 
 ago, in some valley, or on some hill-side, that lies far, 
 far behind us. It is enough. Thou shalt wander no 
 
288 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 more on this hopeless search. But when thou hast laid 
 thy mother in the earth, then go, my son, to Delphi, 
 and inquire of the oracle what thou shalt do next." 
 
 " O mother, mother," cried Cadmus, " couldst thou 
 but have seen my sister before this hour ! " 
 
 " It matters little now," answered Telephassa, and 
 there was a smile upon her face. " I go now to the 
 better world, and, sooner or later, shall find my daugh 
 ter there." 
 
 I will not sadden you, my little hearers, with telling 
 how Telephassa died and was buried, but will only 
 say, that her dying smile grew brighter, instead of 
 vanishing from her dead face ; so that Cadmus felt 
 convinced that, at her very first step into the better 
 world, she had caught Europa in her arms. He planted 
 some flowers on his mother s grave, and left them to 
 grow there, and make the place beautiful, when he 
 should be far away. 
 
 After performing this last sorrowful duty, he set 
 forth alone, and took the road towards the famous 
 oracle of Delphi, as Telephassa had advised him. On 
 his way thither, he still inquired of most people whom 
 he met whether they had seen Europa ; for, to say the 
 truth, Cadmus had grown so accustomed to ask the 
 question, that it came to his lips as readily as a re 
 mark about the weather. He received various an 
 swers. Some told him one thing, and some another. 
 Among the rest, a mariner affirmed, that, many years 
 before, in a distant country, he had heard a rumor 
 about a white bull, which came swimming across the 
 sea with a child on his back, dressed up in flowers 
 that were blighted by the sea-water. He did not know 
 what had become of the child or the bull ; and Cad> 
 nms suspected, indeed, by a queer twinkle in the mari- 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 289 
 
 ner s eyes, that he was putting a joke upon him, and 
 had never really heard anything about the matter. 
 
 Poor Cadmus found it more wearisome to travel 
 alone than to bear all his dear mother s weight while 
 she had kept him company. His heart, you will un 
 derstand, was now so heavy that it seemed impossible, 
 sometimes, to carry it any farther. But his limbs 
 were strong and active, and well accustomed to ex 
 ercise. He walked swiftly along, thinking of King 
 Agenor and Queen Telephassa, and his brothers, and 
 the friendly Thasus, all of whom he had left behind 
 him, at one point of his pilgrimage or another, and 
 never expected to see them any more. Full of these 
 remembrances, he came within sight of a lofty moun 
 tain, which the people thereabouts told him was called 
 Parnassus. On the slope of Mount Parnassus was the 
 famous Delphi, whither Cadmus was going. 
 
 This Delphi was supposed to be the very midmost 
 spot of the whole world. The place of the oracle was 
 a certain cavity in the mountain - side, over which, 
 when Cadmus came thither, he found a rude bower of 
 branches. It reminded him of those which he had 
 helped to build for Phoenix and Cilix, and afterwards 
 for Thasus. In later times, when multitudes of people 
 came from great distances to put questions to the ora 
 cle, a spacious temple of marble was erected over the 
 spot. But in the days of Cadmus, as I have told you, 
 there was only this rustic bower, with its abundance 
 of green foliage, and a tuft of shrubbery, that ran wild 
 over the mysterious hole in the hill-side. 
 
 When Cadmus had thrust a passage through the 
 tangled boughs, and made his way into the bower, he 
 did not at first discern the half -hidden cavity. But 
 soon he felt a cold stream of air rushing out of it, with 
 
 VOL. iv. 19 
 
290 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 so much force that it shook the ringlets on his cheek. 
 Pulling away the shrubbery which clustered over the 
 hole, he bent forward, and spoke in a distinct but rev 
 erential tone, as if addressing some unseen personage 
 inside of the mountain. 
 
 " Sacred oracle of Delphi," said he, " whither shall 
 I go next in quest of my dear sister Europa ? " 
 
 There was at first a deep silence, and then a rushing 
 sound, or a noise like a long sigh, proceeding out of 
 the interior of the earth. This cavity, you must know, 
 was looked upon as a sort of fountain of truth, which 
 sometimes gushed out in audible words ; although, for 
 the most part, these words were such a riddle that 
 they might just as well have stayed at the bottom of 
 the hole. But Cadmus was more fortunate than many 
 others who went to Delphi in search of truth. By and 
 by, the rushing noise began to sound like articulate 
 language. It repeated, over and over again, the fol 
 lowing sentence, which, after all, was so like the vague 
 whistle of a blast of air, that Cadmus really did not 
 quite know whether it meant anything or not : 
 
 " Seek her no more ! Seek her no more ! Seek her 
 no more ! " 
 
 " What, then, shall I do? " asked Cadmus. 
 
 For, ever since he was a child, you know, it had 
 been the great object of his life to find his sister. 
 From the very hour that he left following the butterfly 
 in the meadow, near his father s palace, he had done 
 his best to follow Europa, over land and sea. And 
 now, if he must give up the search, he seemed to have 
 no more business in the world. 
 
 But again the sighing gust of air grew into some 
 thing like a hoarse voice. 
 
 " Follow the cow ! " it said. " Follow the cow , 
 Follow the cow 1 " 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 291 
 
 And when these words had been repeated until Cad 
 mus was tired of hearing them (especially as he could 
 not imagine what cow it was, or why he was to follow 
 her), the gusty hole gave vent to another sentence. 
 
 " Where the stray cow lies down, there is your 
 home." 
 
 These words were pronounced but a single time, and 
 died away into a whisper before Cadmus was fully sat 
 isfied that he had caught the meaning. He put other 
 questions, but received no answer; only the gust of 
 wind sighed continually out of the cavity, and blew 
 the withered leaves rustling along the ground before 
 it. 
 
 " Did there really come any words out of the hole ? " 
 thought Cadmus ; " or have I been dreaming all this 
 while ? " 
 
 He turned away from the oracle, and thought him 
 self no wiser than when he came thither. Caring little 
 what might happen to him, he took the first path that 
 offered itself, and went along at a sluggish pace ; for, 
 haA 7 ing no object in view, nor any reason to go one 
 way more than another, it would certainly have been 
 foolish to make haste. Whenever he met anybody, 
 the old question was at his tongue s end : 
 
 " Have you seen a beautiful maiden, dressed like a 
 king s daughter, and mounted on a snow-white bull, 
 that gallops as swiftly as the wind ? " 
 
 But, remembering what the oracle had said, he only 
 half uttered the words, and then mumbled the rest in 
 distinctly ; and from his confusion, people must have 
 imagined that this handsome young man had lost his 
 wits. 
 
 I know not how far Cadmus had gone, nor could he 
 himself have told you, when, at no great distance be- 
 
1292 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 fore him, he beheld a brindled cow. She was lying 
 down by the wayside, and quietly chewing her cud ; 
 nor did she take any notice of the young man until he 
 had approached pretty nigh. Then, getting leisurely 
 upon her feet, and giving her head a gentle toss, she 
 began to move along at a moderate pace, often paus 
 ing just long enough to crop a mouthful of grass. 
 Cadmus loitered behind, whistling idly to himself, and 
 scarcely noticing the cow ; until the thought occurred 
 to him, whether this could possibly be the animal 
 which, according to the oracle s response, was to serve 
 him for a guide. But he smiled at himself for fancy 
 ing such a thing. He could not seriously think that 
 this was the cow, because she went along so quietly, 
 behaving just like any other cow. Evidently she nei 
 ther knew nor cared so much as a wisp of hay about 
 Cadmus, and was only thinking how to get her living 
 along the wayside, where the herbage was green and 
 fresh. Perhaps she was going home to be milked. 
 
 " Cow, cow, cow ! " cried Cadmus. " Hey, Brindle, 
 hey ! Stop, my good cow." 
 
 He wanted to come up with the cow, so as to ex 
 amine her, and see if she would appear to know him, 
 or whether there were any peculiarities to distinguish 
 her from a thousand other cows, whose only business 
 is to fill the milk -pail, and sometimes kick it over. 
 But still the brindled cow trudged on, whisking her 
 tail to keep the flies away, and taking as little notice 
 of Cadmus as she well could. If he walked slowly, 
 so did the cow, and seized the opportunity to graze. 
 If he quickened his pace, the cow went just so much 
 the faster ; and once, when Cadmus tried to catch her 
 by running, she threw out her heels, stuck her tail 
 straight on ond, and set off at a gallop, looking as 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 293 
 
 queerly as cows generally do, while putting themselves 
 to their speech 
 
 When Cadmus saw that it was impossible to come 
 up with her, he walked on moderately, as before. The 
 cow, too, went leisurely on, without looking behind. 
 Wherever the grass was greenest, there she nibbled a 
 mouthful or two. Where a brook glistened brightly 
 across the path, there the cow drank, and breathed a 
 comfortable sigh, and drank again, and trudged on 
 ward at the pace that best suited herself and Cadmus. 
 
 " I do believe," thought Cadmus, " that this may 
 be the cow that was foretold me. If it be the one, I 
 suppose she will lie down somewhere hereabouts." 
 
 Whether it were the oracular cow or some other 
 one, it did not seem reasonable that she should travel 
 a great way farther. So, whenever they reached a 
 particularly pleasant spot on a breezy hill-side, or in 
 a sheltered vale, or flowery meadow, on the shore of 
 a calm lake, or along the bank of a clear stream, Cad 
 mus looked eagerly around to see if the situation would 
 suit him for a home. But still, whether he liked the 
 place or no, the brindled cow never offered to lie down. 
 On she went at the quiet pace of a cow going home 
 ward to the barn-yard ; and, every moment, Cadmus 
 expected to see a milkmaid approaching with a pail, 
 or a herdsman running to head the stray animal, and 
 turn her back towards the pasture. But no milkmaid 
 came ; no herdsman drove her back ; and Cadmus fol 
 lowed the stray Brindle till he was almost ready to 
 drop down with fatigue. 
 
 " O brindled cow," cried he, in a tone of despair, 
 " do you never mean to stop ? " 
 
 He had now grown too intent on following her to 
 think of lagging behind, however long the way, and 
 
294 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 whatever might be his fatigue. Indeed, it seemed as if 
 there were something about the animal that bewitched 
 people. Several persons who happened to see the brin 
 dled cow, and Cadmus following behind, began to 
 trudge after her, precisely as he did. Cadmus was 
 glad of somebody to converse with, and therefore 
 talked very freely to these good people. He told them 
 all his advent-ures, and how he had left King Agenor 
 in his palace, and Phoenix at one place, and Cilix at 
 another, and Thasus at a third, and his dear mother, 
 Queen Telephassa, under a flowery sod ; so that now 
 he was quite alone, both friendless and homeless. He 
 mentioned, likewise, that the oracle had bidden him 
 be guided by a cow, and inquired of the strangers 
 whether they supposed that this brindled animal could 
 be the one. 
 
 " Why, t is a very wonderful affair," answered one 
 of his new companions. " I am pretty well acquainted 
 with the ways of cattle, and I ne.ver knew a cow, of her 
 own accord, to go so far without stopping. If my legs 
 will let me, I 11 never leave following the beast till 
 she lies down." 
 
 " Nor I ! " said a second. 
 
 " Nor I ! " cried a third. " If she goes a hundred 
 miles farther, I m determined to see the end of it." 
 
 The secret of it was, you must know, that the cow 
 was an enchanted cow, and that, without their being 
 conscious of it, she threw some of her enchantment 
 over everybody that took so much as half a dozen 
 steps behind her. They could not possibly help fol 
 lowing her, though, all the time, they fancied them 
 selves doing it of their own accord. The cow was by 
 no means very nice in choosing her path ; so that 
 sometimes they had to scramble over rocks, or wade 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 295 
 
 through mud and mire, and were all in a terribly be 
 draggled condition, and tired to death, and very hun 
 gry, into the bargain. What a weary business it was ! 
 But still they kept trudging stoutly forward, and 
 talking as they went. The strangers grew very fond 
 of Cadmus, and resolved never to leave him, but to 
 help him build a city wherever the cow might lie down, 
 In the centre of it there should be a noble palace, in 
 which Cadmus might dwell, and be their king, with a 
 throne, a crown and sceptre, a purple robe, and every 
 thing else that a king ought to have ; for in him there 
 was the royal blood, and the royal heart, and the head 
 that knew how to rule. 
 
 While they were talking of these schemes, and be 
 guiling the tediousness of the way with laying out the 
 plan of the new city, one of the company happened to 
 look at the cow. 
 
 " Joy ! joy ! " cried he, clapping his hands. " Brin- 
 dle is going to lie down." 
 
 They all looked ; and, sure enough, the cow had 
 stopped, and was staring leisurely about her, as other 
 cows do when on the point of lying clown. And slowly, 
 slowly did she recline herself on the soft grass, first 
 bending her fore legs, and then crouching her hind 
 ones. When Cadmus and his companions came up 
 with her, there was the brindled cow taking her ease, 
 chewing her cud, and looking them quietly in the face ; 
 vis if this was just the spot she had been seeking for, 
 and as if it were all a matter of course. 
 
 " This, then," said Cadmus, gazing around him, 
 " this is to be my home." 
 
 It was a fertile and lovely plain, with great trees 
 flinging their sun-speckled shadows over it, and hills 
 fencing it in from the rough weather. At no great 
 
296 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 distance, they beheld a river gleaming in the sunshine. 
 A home feeling stole into the heart of poor Cadmus. 
 He was very glad to know that here he might awake 
 in the morning, without the necessity of putting on 
 his dusty sandals to travel farther and farther. The 
 days and the years would pass over him, and find him 
 still in this pleasant spot. If he could have had his 
 brothers with him, and his friend Thasus, and could 
 have seen his dear mother under a roof of his own, he 
 might here have been happy, after all their disappoint 
 ments. Some day or other, too, his sister Europa 
 might have come quietly to the door of his home, and 
 smiled round upon the familiar faces. But, indeed, 
 since there was no hope of regaining the friends of his 
 boyhood, or ever seeing his dear sister again, Cadmus 
 resolved to make himself happy with these new com 
 panions, who had grown so fond of him while follow 
 ing the cow. 
 
 " Yes, my friends," said he to them, " this is to be 
 our home. Here we will build our habitations. The 
 brindled cow, which has led us hither, will supply us 
 with milk. We will cultivate the neighboring soil, 
 and lead an innocent and happy life." 
 
 His companions joyfully assented to this plan ; and, 
 in the first place, being very hungry and thirsty, they 
 looked about them for the means of providing a com 
 fortable meal. Not far oif, they saw a tuft of trees, 
 which appeared as if there might be a spring of water 
 beneath them. They went thither to fetch some, leav 
 ing Cadmus stretched on the ground along with the 
 brindled cow ; for, now that he had found a place of 
 rest, it seemed as if all the weariness of his pilgrimage, 
 ever since he left King Agenor s palace, had fallen 
 upon him at once. But his new friends had nor long 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 297 
 
 been gone, when he was suddenly startled by cries, 
 shouts, and screams, and the noise of a terrible strug 
 gle, and in the midst of it all, a most awful hissing, 
 which went right through his ears like a rough saw. 
 
 Running towards the tuft of trees, he beheld the 
 head and fiery eyes of an immense serpent or dragon, 
 with the widest jaws that ever a dragon had, and a 
 vast many rows of horribly sharp teeth. Before Cad 
 mus could reach the spot, this pitiless reptile had killed 
 his poor companions, and was busily devouring them, 
 making but a mouthful of each man. 
 
 It appears that the fountain of water was enchanted, 
 and that the dragon had been set to guard it, so that 
 no mortal might ever quench his thirst there. As the 
 neighboring inhabitants carefully avoided the spot, it 
 was now a long time (not less than a hundred years, 
 or thereabouts) since the monster had broken his fast ; 
 and, as was natural enough, his appetite had grown to 
 be enormous, and was not half satisfied by the poor 
 people whom he had just eaten up. When he caught 
 sight of Cadmus, therefore, he set up another abomi 
 nable hiss, and flung back his immense jaws, until his 
 mouth looked like a great red cavern, at the farther 
 end of which were seen the legs of his last victim, 
 whom he had hardly had time to swallow. 
 
 But Cadmus was so enraged at the destruction of 
 his friends, that he cared neither for the size of the 
 dragon s jaws nor for his hundreds of sharp teeth. 
 Drawing his sword, he rushed at the monster, and 
 flung himself right into his cavernous mouth. This 
 bold method of attacking him took the dragon by sur 
 prise ; for, in fact, Cadmus had leaped so far down 
 into his throat, that the rows of terrible teeth could 
 not close upon him, nor do him the least harm in the 
 
298 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 world. Thus, though the struggle was a tremendous 
 one, and though the dragon shattered the tuft of trees 
 into small splinters by the lashing of his tail, yet, as 
 Cadmus was all the while slashing and stabbing at his 
 very vitals, it was not long before the scaly wretch be 
 thought himself of slipping away. He had not gone 
 his length, however, when the brave Cadmus gave him 
 a sword-thrust that finished the battle ; and, creeping 
 out of the gateway of the creature s jaws, there he be 
 held him still wriggling his vast bulk, although there 
 was no longer life enough in him to harm a little 
 child. 
 
 But do not you suppose that it made Cadmus sor 
 rowful to think of the melancholy fate which had be 
 fallen those poor, friendly people, who had followed 
 the cow along with him ? It seemed as if he were 
 doomed to lose everybody whom he loved, or to see 
 them perish in one way or another. And here he was, 
 after all his toils and troubles, in a solitary place, with 
 not a single human being to help him build a hut. 
 
 " What shall I do ? " cried he aloud. " It were 
 better for me to have been devoured by the dragon, as 
 my poor companions were." 
 
 " Cadmus," said a voice, but whether it came 
 from above or below him, or whether it spoke within 
 his own breast, the young man could not tell, " Cad 
 mus, pluck out the dragon s teeth, and plant them in 
 the earth." 
 
 This was a strange thing to do ; nor was it very 
 easy, I should imagine, to dig out all those deep-rooted 
 fangs from the dead dragon s jaws. But Cadmus 
 toiled and tugged, and after pounding the monstrous 
 head almost to pieces with a great stone, he at last 
 collected as many teeth as might have filled a bushe] 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 299 
 
 or two. The next thing was to plant them. This, 
 likewise, was a tedious piece of work, especially as 
 Cadmus was already exhausted with killing the dragon 
 and knocking his head to pieces, and had nothing to 
 dig the earth with, that I know of, unless it were his 
 sword-blade. Finally, however, a sufficiently large 
 tract of ground was turned up, and sown with this 
 new kind of seed ; although half of the dragon s teeth 
 still remained to be planted some other day. 
 
 Cadmus, quite out of breath, stood leaning upon his 
 sword, and wondering what was to happen next. He 
 had waited but a few moments, when he began to see 
 a sight, which was as great a marvel as the most mar 
 vellous thing I ever told you about. 
 
 The sun was shining slantw se over the field, and 
 showed all the moist, dark jil just like any other 
 newly planted piece of ground All at once, Cadmus 
 fancied he saw something glisten very brightly, first at 
 one spot, then at another, and then at a hundred and a 
 thousand spots together. Soon he perceived them to 
 be the steel heads of spears, sprouting up everywhere 
 like so many stalks of grain, and continually growing 
 taller and taller. Next appeared a vast number of 
 bright sword-blades, thrusting themselves up in the 
 same way. A moment afterwards, the whole surface 
 of the ground was broken up by a multitude of pol 
 ished brass helmets, coming up like a crop of enor 
 mous beans. So rapidly did they grow, that Cadmus 
 now discerned the fierce countenance of a man be 
 neath every one. In short, before he had time to 
 think what a wonderfid affair it was, he beheld an 
 abundant harvest of what looked like human beings, 
 armed with helmets and breastplates, shields, swords 
 and spears ; and before they were well out of the 
 
300 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 earth, they brandished their weapons, and clashed 
 them one against another, seeming to think, little 
 while as they had yet lived, that they had wasted too 
 much of life without a battle. Every tooth of the 
 dragon had produced one of these sons of deadly 
 mischief. 
 
 Up sprouted, also, a great many trumpeters ; and 
 with the first breath that they drew, they put their 
 brazen trumpets to their lips, and sounded a tremen 
 dous and ear-shattering blast ; so that the whole space, 
 just now so quiet and solitary, reverberated with the 
 clash and clang of arms, the bray of warlike music, 
 and the shouts of angry men. So enraged did they 
 all look, that Cadmus fully expected them to put the 
 whole world to the sword. How fortunate would it be 
 for a great conqueror, if he could get a bushel of the 
 dragon s teeth to sow ! 
 
 " Cadmus," said the same voice which he had before 
 heard, "throw a stone into the midst of the armed 
 men." 
 
 So Cadmus seized a large stone, and, flinging it into 
 the middle of the earth army, saw it strike the breast 
 plate of a gigantic and fierce-looking warrior. Tin me 
 diately on feeling the blow, he seemed to take it for 
 granted that somebody had struck him ; and, uplifting 
 his weapon, he smote his next neighbor a blow that 
 cleft his helmet asunder, and stretched him on the 
 ground. In an instant, those nearest the fallen war 
 rior began to strike at one another with their swords 
 and stab with their spears. The confusion spread 
 wider and wider. Each man smote down his brother, 
 and was himself smitten down before he had time to 
 exult in his victory. The trumpeters, all the while, 
 blew their blasts shriller and shriller ; each soldie? 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 301 
 
 shouted a battle-cry and often fell with it on his lips. 
 It was the strangest spectacle of causeless wrath, and 
 of mischief for no good end, that had ever been wit 
 nessed ; but, after all, it was neither more foolish nor 
 more wicked than a thousand battles that have since 
 been fought, in which men have slain their brothers 
 with just as little reason as these children of the drag 
 on s teeth. It ought to be considered, too, that the 
 dragon people were made for nothing else ; whereas 
 other mortals were born to love and help one an 
 other. 
 
 Well, this memorable battle continued to rage until 
 the ground was strewn with helmeted heads that had 
 been cut off. Of all the thousands that began the 
 fight, there were only five left standing. These now 
 rushed from different parts of the field, and, meeting 
 in the middle of it, clashed their swords, and struck at 
 each other s hearts as fiercely as ever. 
 
 " Cadmus," said the voice again, " bid those five 
 warriors sheathe their swords. They will help you 
 to build the city." 
 
 Without hesitating an instant, Cadmus stepped for 
 ward, with the aspect of a king and a leader, and ex 
 tending his drawn sword amongst them, spoke to the 
 warriors in a stern and commanding voice. 
 
 " Sheathe your weapons ! " said he. 
 
 And forthwith, feeling themselves bound to obey 
 him, the five remaining sons of the dragon s teeth 
 made him a military salute with their swords, returned 
 them to the scabbards, and stood before Cadmus in a 
 rank, eyeing him as soldiers eye their captain, while 
 awaiting the word of command. 
 
 These five men had probably sprung from the big 
 gest of the dragon s teeth, and were the boldest and 
 
302 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 strongest of the whole army. They were almost 
 giants, indeed, and had good need to be so, else they 
 never could have lived through so terrible a fight. 
 They still had a very furious look, and, if Cadmus 
 happened to glance aside, would glare at one another, 
 with fire flashing out of their eyes. It was strange, 
 too, to observe how the earth, out of which they had 
 so lately grown, was incrusted, here and there, on 
 their bright breastplates, and even begrimed their 
 faces, just as you may have seen it clinging to beets 
 and carrots when pulled out of their native soil. Cad 
 mus hardly knew whether to consider them as men, 
 or some odd kind of vegetable ; although, on the 
 whole, he concluded that there was human nature in 
 them, because they were so fond of trumpets and 
 weapons, and so ready to shed blood. 
 
 They looked him earnestly in the face, waiting for 
 his next order, and evidently desiring no other em 
 ployment than to follow him from one battle-field to 
 another, all over the wide world. But Cadmus was 
 wiser than these earth-born creatures, with the drag 
 on s fierceness in them, and knew better how to use 
 their strength and hardihood. 
 
 " Come ! " said he. " You are sturdy fellows. 
 Make yourselves useful! Quarry some stones with 
 those great swords of yours, and help me to build a 
 city." 
 
 The five soldiers grumbled a little, and muttered 
 that it was their business to overthrow cities, not to 
 build them up. But Cadmus looked at them with a 
 stern eye, and spoke to them in a tone of authority, 
 so that they knew him for their master, and never 
 again thought of disobeying his commands. They set 
 to work in good earnest, and toiled so diligently, that, 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 303 
 
 in a very short time, a city began to make its appear 
 ance. At first, to be sure, the workmen showed a 
 quarrelsome disposition. Like savage beasts, they 
 would doubtless have done one another a mischief, if 
 Cadmus had not kept watch over them and quelled 
 the fierce old serpent that lurked in their hearts, when 
 he saw it gleaming out of their wild eyes. But, in 
 course of time, they got accustomed to honest labor, 
 and had sense enough to feel that there was more true 
 enjoyment in living at peace, and doing good to one s 
 neighbor, than in striking at him with a two-edged 
 sword. It may not be too much to hope that the rest 
 of mankind will by and by grow as wise and peaceable 
 as these five earth-begrimed warriors, who sprang from 
 the dragon s teeth. 
 
 And now the city was built, and there was a home 
 in it for each of the workmen. But the palace of 
 Cadmus was not yet erected, because they had left it 
 till the last, meaning to introduce all the new improve 
 ments of architecture, and make it very commodious, 
 as well as stately and beautiful. After finishing the 
 rest of their labors, they all went to bed betimes, in 
 order to rise in the gray of the morning, and get at 
 least the foundation of the edifice laid before night 
 fall. But, when Cadmus arose, and took his way 
 towards the site where the palace was to be built, fol 
 lowed by his five sturdy workmen marching all in a 
 row, what do you think he saw ? 
 
 What should it be but the most magnificent palace 
 that had ever been seen in the world ? It was built of 
 marble and other beautiful kinds of stone, and rose 
 high into the air, with a splendid dome and a portico 
 along the front, and carved pillars, and everything else 
 that befitted the habitation of a mighty king. It had 
 
304 THE DRAGON S TEETH. 
 
 grown up out of the earth in almost as short a time as 
 it had taken the armed host to spring from the drag 
 on s teeth ; and what made the matter more strange, 
 no seed of this stately edifice had ever been planted. 
 
 When the five workmen beheld the dome, with the 
 morning sunshine making it look golden and glorious, 
 they gave a great shout. 
 
 u Long live King Cadmus," they cried, " in his 
 beautiful palace." 
 
 And the new king, with his five faithful followers at 
 his heels, shouldering their pickaxes and marching in 
 a rank (for they still had a soldier-like sort of behav 
 ior, as their nature was), ascended the palace steps. 
 Halting at the entrance, they gazed through a long 
 vista of lofty pillars that were ranged from end to end 
 of a great hall. At the farther extremity of this hall, 
 approaching slowly towards him, Cadmus beheld a 
 female figure, wonderfully beautiful, and adorned with 
 a royal robe, and a crown of diamonds over her golden 
 ringlets, and the richest necklace that ever a queen 
 wore. His heart thrilled with delight. He fancied it 
 his long-lost sister Europa, now grown to womanhood, 
 coming to make him happy, and to repay him, with 
 her sweet sisterly affection, for all those weary wan 
 derings in quest of her since he left King Agenor s 
 palace, for the tears that he had shed, on parting 
 with Phoenix, and Cilix, and Thasus, for the heart- 
 breakings that had made the whole world seem dismal 
 to him over his dear mother s grave. 
 
 But, as Cadmus advanced to meet the beautiful 
 stranger, he saw that her features were unknown to 
 him, although, in the little time that it required to 
 tread along the hall, he had already felt a sympathy 
 betwixt himself and her. 
 
THE DRAGON S TEETH. 305 
 
 " No, Cadmus," said the same voice that had spoken 
 to him in the field of the armed men, " this is not that 
 dear sister Europa whom you have sought so faithfully 
 all over the wide world. This is Harmonia, a daugh 
 ter of the sky, who is given you instead of sister, and 
 brothers, and friend, and mother. You will find all 
 those dear ones in her alone." 
 
 So King Cadmus dwelt in the palace, with his new 
 friend Harmonia, and found a great deal of comfort 
 in his magnificent abode, but would doubtless have 
 found as much, if not more, in the humblest cottage 
 by the wayside. Before many years went by, there 
 was a group of rosy little children (but how they 
 came thither has always been a mystery to me) sport 
 ing in the great hall, and on the marble steps of the 
 palace, and running joyfully to meet King Cadmus 
 when affairs of state left him at leisure to play with 
 them. They called him father, and Queen Harmonia 
 mother. The five old soldiers of the dragon s teeth 
 grew very fond of these small urchins, and were never 
 weary of showing them how to shoulder sticks, flourish 
 wooden swords, and march in military order, blowing 
 a penny trumpet, or beating an abominable rub-a-dub 
 upon a little drum. 
 
 But King Cadmus, lest there should be too much of 
 the dragon s tooth in his children s disposition, used to 
 find time from his kingly duties to teach them their 
 ABC,- which he invented for their benefit, and for 
 which many little people, I am afraid, are not half so 
 grateful to him as they ought to be. 
 
 voi* iv. 20 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 SOME of you have heard, no doubt, of the wise 
 King Ulysses, and how he went to the siege of Troy, 
 and how, after that famous city was taken and burned, 
 he spent ten long years in trying to get back again to 
 his own little kingdom of Ithaca. At one time in the 
 course of this weary voyage, he arrived at an island 
 that looked very green and pleasant, but the name of 
 which was unknown to him. For, only a little while 
 before he came thither, he had met with a terrible 
 hurricane, or rather a great many hurricanes at once, 
 which drove his fleet of vessels into a strange part of 
 the sea, where neither himself nor any of his mariners 
 had ever sailed. This misfortune was entirely owing 
 to the foolish curiosity of his shipmates, who, while 
 Ulysses lay asleep, had untied some very bulky leathern 
 bags, in which they supposed a valuable treasure to 
 be concealed. But in each of these stout bags, King 
 2Eolus, the ruler of the winds, had tied up a tempest, 
 and had given it to Ulysses to keep, in order that he 
 might be sure of a favorable passage homeward to 
 Ithaca ; and w r hen the strings were loosened, forth 
 rushed the whistling blasts, like air out of a blown 
 bladder, whitening the sea with foam, and scattering 
 the vessels nobody could tell whither. 
 
 Immediately after escaping from this peril, a still 
 greater one had befallen him. Scudding before the 
 hurricane, he reached a place, which, as he afterwards 
 found, was called Laestrygonia, where some monstrous 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 307 
 
 giants had eaten up many of his companions, and had 
 sunk every one of his vessels, except that in which 
 he himself sailed, by flinging great masses of rock 
 at them, from the cliffs along the shore. After going 
 through such troubles as these, you cannot wonder 
 that King Ulysses was glad to moor his tempest- 
 beaten bark in a quiet cove of the green island, which 
 I began with telling you about. But he had encoun 
 tered so many dangers from giants, and one-eyed Cy 
 clopes, and monsters of the sea and land, that he 
 could not help dreading some mischief, even in this 
 pleasant and seemingly solitary spot. For two days, 
 therefore, the poor weather-worn voyagers kept quiet, 
 and either stayed on board of their vessel, or merely 
 crept along under cliffs that bordered the shore ; and 
 to keep themselves alive, they dug shell-fish out of the 
 sand, and sought for any little rill of fresh water that 
 might be running towards the sea. 
 
 Before the two days were spent, they grew very 
 weary of this kind of life ; for the followers of King 
 Ulysses, as you will find it important to remember, 
 were terrible gormandizers, and pretty sure to grum 
 ble if they missed their regular meals, and their irreg 
 ular ones besides. Their stock of provisions was quite 
 exhausted, and even the shell-fish began to get scarce, 
 so that they had now to choose between starving to 
 death or venturing into the interior of the island, 
 where, perhaps, some huge three-headed dragon, or 
 other horrible monster, had his den. Such misshapen 
 creatures were very numerous in those days ; and no 
 body ever expected to make a voyage, or take a jour 
 ney, without running more or less risk of being de 
 voured by them. 
 
 But King Ulysses was a bold man as well as a pru 
 
308 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 dent one ; and on the third morning he determined 
 to discover what sort of a place the island was, and 
 whether it were possible to obtain a supply of food for 
 the hungry mouths of his companions. So, taking a 
 spear in his hand, he clambered to the summit of a 
 cliff, and gazed round about him. At a distance, to 
 wards the centre of the island, he beheld the stately 
 towers of what seemed to be a palace, built of snow- 
 white marble, and rising in the midst of a grove 
 of lofty trees. The thick branches of these trees 
 stretched across the front of the edifice, and more 
 than half concealed it, although, from the portion 
 which he saw, Ulysses judged it to be spacious and 
 exceedingly beautiful, and probably the residence of 
 some great nobleman or prince. A blue smoke went 
 curling up from the chimney, and was almost the 
 pleasantest part of the spectacle to Ulysses. For, 
 from the abundance of this smoke, it was reasonable 
 to conclude that there was a^good fire in the kitchen, 
 and that, at dinner-time, a plentiful banquet would be 
 served up to the inhabitants of the palace, and to 
 whatever guests might happen to drop in. 
 
 With so agreeable a prospect before him, Ulysses 
 fancied that he could not do better than to go straight 
 to the palace gate, and tell the master of it that there 
 was a crew of poor shipwrecked mariners, not far off, 
 who had eaten nothing for a day or two save a few 
 clams and oysters, and would therefore be thankful 
 for a little food. And the prince or nobleman must 
 be a very stingy curmudgeon, to be sure, if, at least, 
 when his own dinner was over, he would not bid them 
 welcome to the broken victuals from the table. 
 
 Pleasing himself with this idea, King Ulysses had 
 made a few steps in the direction of the palace, when 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 309 
 
 there was a great twittering and chirping from the 
 branch of a neighboring tree. A moment afterwards, 
 a bird came flying towards him, and hovered in the 
 air, so as almost to brush his face with its wings. It 
 was a very pretty little bird, with purple wings and 
 body, and yellow legs, and a circle of golden feathers 
 round its neck, and on its head a golden tuft, which 
 looked like a king s crown in miniature. Ulysses 
 tried to catch the bird. But it fluttered nimbly out 
 of his reach, still chirping in a piteous tone, as if it 
 could have told a lamentable story, had it only been 
 gifted with human language. And when he attempted 
 to drive it away, the bird flew no farther than the 
 bough of the next tree, and again came fluttering 
 about his head, with its doleful chirp, as soon as he 
 showed a purpose of going forward. 
 
 " Have you anything to tell me, little bird ? " asked 
 Ulysses. 
 
 And he was ready to listen attentively to whatever 
 the bird might communicate ; for at the siege of Troy, 
 and elsewhere, he had known such odd things to 
 happen, that he would not have considered it much 
 out of the common run had this little feathered crea 
 ture talked as plainly as himself. 
 
 " Peep ! " said the bird, " peep, peep, pe weep ! " 
 And nothing else would it say, but only, " Peep, peep, 
 pe weep! " in a melancholy cadence, and over and 
 over and over again. As often as Ulysses moved for 
 ward, however, the bird showed the greatest alarm, 
 and did its best to drive him back, with the anxious 
 flutter of its purple wings. Its unaccountable be 
 havior made him conclude, at last, that the bird knew 
 of some danger that awaited him, and which must 
 needs be very terrible, beyond all question, since it 
 
810 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 moved even a little fowl to feel compassion for a 
 human being. So lie resolved, for the present, to 
 return to the vessel, and tell his companions what he 
 had seen. 
 
 This appeared to satisfy the bird. As soon as 
 Ulysses turned back, it ran up the trunk of a tree, 
 and began to pick insects out of the bark with its 
 long, sharp bill ; for it was a kind of woodpecker, you 
 must know, and had to get. its living in the same 
 manner as other birds of that species. But every 
 little while, as it pecked at the bark of the tree, the 
 purple bird bethought itself of some secret sorrow, 
 and repeated its plaintive note of " Peep, peep, pe 
 weep ! " 
 
 On his way to the shore, Ulysses had the good luck 
 to kill a large stag by thrusting his spear into its 
 back. Taking it on his shoulders (for he was a re 
 markably strong man), he lugged it along with him, 
 and flung it down before his hungry companions. I 
 have already hinted to you what gormandizers some 
 of the comrades of King Ulysses were. From what 
 is related of them, I reckon that their favorite diet 
 was pork, and that they had lived upon it until a good 
 part of their physical substance was swine s flesh, and 
 their tempers and dispositions were very much akin 
 to the hog. A dish of venison, however, was no unac 
 ceptable meal to them, especially after feeding so long 
 on oysters and clams. So, beholding the dead stag, 
 they felt of its ribs in a knowing way, and lost no 
 time in kindling a fire, of drift-wood, to cook it. The 
 rest of the day was spent in feasting ; and if these 
 enormous eaters got up from table at sunset, it was 
 only because they could not scrape another morsel oft 
 the poor animal s bones. 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 311 
 
 I he next morning their appetites were as sharp as 
 ever. They looked at Ulysses, as if they expected him 
 to clamber up the cliff again, and come back with 
 another fat deer upon his shoulders. Instead of 
 setting out, however, he summoned the whole crew 
 together, and told them it was in vain to hope that 
 he could kill a stag every day for their dinner, and 
 therefore it was advisable to think of some other mode 
 of satisfying their hunger. 
 
 "Now," said he, "when I was on the cliff yester 
 day, I discovered that this island is inhabited. At a 
 considerable distance from the shore stood a marble 
 palace, which appeared to be very spacious, and had 
 a great deal of smoke curling out of one of its 
 chimneys." 
 
 " Aha ! " muttered some of his companions, smack 
 ing their lips. " That smoke must have come from 
 the kitchen fire. There was a good dinner on the 
 spit ; and no doubt there will be as good a one to- 
 day." 
 
 " But," continued the wise Ulysses, " you must re 
 member, rny good friends, our misadventure in the 
 cavern of one-eyed Polyphemus, the Cyclops ! Instead 
 of his ordinary milk diet, did he not eat up two of 
 our comrades for his supper, and a couple more for 
 breakfast, and two at his supper again ? Methinks I 
 see him yet, the hideous monster, scanning us with 
 that great red eye, in the middle of his forehead, to 
 single out the fattest. And then again only a few 
 days ago, did we not fall into the hands of the king 
 of the Laestrygons, and those other horrible giants, his 
 subjects, who devoured a great many more of us than 
 are now left ? To tell you the truth, if we go to yonder 
 palace, there can be no question that we shall make our 
 
312 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 appearance at the dinner-table ; but whether seated as 
 guests, or served up as food, is a point to be seriously 
 considered." 
 
 " Either way," murmured some of the hungriest of 
 the crew, " it will be better than starvation ; particu 
 larly if one could be sure of being well fattened be 
 forehand, and daintily cooked afterwards." 
 
 " That is a matter of taste," said King Ulysses, 
 " and, for my own part, neither the most careful fat 
 tening nor the daintiest of cookery would reconcile 
 me to being dished at last. My proposal is, therefore, 
 that we divide ourselves into two equal parties, and 
 ascertain, by drawing lots, which of the two shall go 
 to the palace, and beg for food and assistance. If 
 these can be obtained, all is well. If not, and if the 
 inhabitants prove as inhospitable as Polyphemus, or 
 the La3strygons, then there will but half of us perish, 
 and the remainder may set sail and escape." 
 
 As nobody objected to this scheme, Ulysses pro 
 ceeded to count the whole band, and found that there 
 were forty-six men including himself. He then num 
 bered off twenty -two of them, and put Eurylochus 
 (who was one of his chief officers, and second only to 
 himself in sagacity) at their head. Ulysses took com 
 mand of the remaining twenty-two men, in person. 
 Then, taking off his helmet, he put two shells into it, 
 on one of which was written, " Go," and on the other 
 " Stay." Another person now held the helmet, while 
 Ulysses and Eurylochus drew out each a shell ; and 
 the word " Go " was found written on that which 
 Eurylochus had drawn. In this manner, it was de 
 cided that Ulysses and his twenty-two men were to re 
 main at the seaside until the other party should have 
 found out what sort of treatment they might expect at 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 313 
 
 the mysterious palace. As there was no help for it, 
 Euryloclms immediately set forth at the head of his 
 twenty-two followers, who went off in a very melan 
 choly state of mind, leaving their friends in hardly 
 better spirits than themselves. 
 
 No sooner had they clambered up the cliff, than 
 they discerned the tall marble towers of the palace, 
 ascending, as white as snow, out of the lovely green 
 shadow of the trees which surrounded it. A gush of 
 smoke came from a chimney in the rear of the edifice. 
 This vapor rose high in t the air, and, meeting with a 
 breeze, was wafted seaward, and made to pass over the 
 heads of the hungry mariners. When people s appe 
 tites are keen, they have a very quick scent for any 
 thing savory in the wind. 
 
 " That smoke comes from the kitchen ! " cried one 
 of them, turning up his nose as high as he could, and 
 snuffing eagerly. " And, as sure as I m a half -starved 
 vagabond, I smell roast meat in it." 
 
 " Pig, roast pig ! " said another. " Ah, the dainty 
 little porker ! My mouth waters for him." 
 
 " Let us make haste," cried the others, " or we shall 
 be too late for the good cheer ! " 
 
 But scarcely had they made half a dozen steps from 
 the edge of the cliff, when a bird came fluttering to 
 meet them. It was the same pretty little bird, with 
 the purple wings and body, the yellow legs, the golden 
 collar round its neck, and the crown-like tuft upon its 
 head, whose behavior had so much surprised Ulysses. 
 It hovered about Eurylochus, and almost brushed his 
 face with its wings. 
 
 " Peep, peep, pe weep ! " chirped the bird. 
 
 So plaintively intelligent was the sound, that it 
 seemed as if the little creature were going to break its 
 
314 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 heart with some mighty secret that it had to tell, and 
 only this one poor note to tell it with. 
 
 44 My pretty bird," said Eurylochus, for he was a 
 wary person, and let no token of harm escape his no 
 tice, " my pretty bird, who sent you hither ? And 
 what is the message which you bring ? " 
 
 " Peep, peep, pe weep ! " replied the bird, very 
 sorrowfully. 
 
 Then it flew towards the edge of the cliff, and looked 
 round at them, as if exceedingly anxious that they 
 should return whence they came. Eurylochus and a 
 few of the others were inclined to turn back. They 
 could not help suspecting that the purple bird must 
 be aware of something mischievous that would befall 
 them at the palace, and the knowledge of which af 
 fected its airy spirit with a human sympathy and sor 
 row. But the rest of the voyagers, snuffing up the 
 smoke from the palace kitchen, ridiculed the idea of 
 returning to the vessel. One of them (more brutal 
 than his fellows, and the most notorious gormandizer 
 in the whole crew) said such a cruel and wicked thing, 
 that I wonder the mere thought did not turn him into 
 a wild beast in shape, as he already was in his nature. 
 
 kt This troublesome and impertinent little fowl," 
 said he, "would make a delicate titbit to begin dinner 
 with. Just one plump morsel, melting away between 
 the teeth. If he comes within my reach, I 11 catch 
 him, and give him to the palace cook to be roasted on 
 a skewer." 
 
 The words were hardly out of his mouth, before the 
 purple bird flew away, crying " Peep, peep, pe 
 weep," more dolorously than ever. 
 
 " That bird," remarked Eurylochus, " knows more 
 than we do about what awaits us at the palace." 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 316 
 
 " Come on, then," cried his comrades, " and we U 
 soon know as much as he does." 
 
 The party, accordingly, went onward through the 
 green and pleasant wood. Every little while they 
 caught new glimpses of the marble palace, which 
 looked more and more beautiful the nearer they ap 
 proached it. They soon entered a broad pathway, 
 which seemed to be very neatly kept, and which went 
 winding along with streaks of sunshine falling across 
 it, and specks of light quivering among the deepest 
 shadows that fell from the lofty trees. It was bor 
 dered, too, with a great many sweet-smelling flowers, 
 such as the mariners had never seen before. So rich 
 and beautiful they were, that, if the shrubs grew wild 
 here, and were native in the soil, then this island was 
 surely the flower-garden of the whole earth ; or, if 
 transplanted from some other clime, it must have been 
 from the Happy Islands that lay towards the golden 
 sunset. 
 
 " There has been a great deal of pains foolishly 
 wasted on these flowers," observed one of the com 
 pany ; and I tell you what he said, that you may keep 
 in mind what gormandizers they were. 41 For my part, 
 if I were the owner of the palace, I would bid my gar 
 dener cultivate nothing but savory potherbs to make 
 a stuffing for roast meat, or to flavor a stew with." 
 
 " Well said ! " cried the others. " But I 11 warrant 
 you there s a kitchen-garden in the rear of the palace." 
 
 At one place they came to a crystal spring, and 
 paused to drink at it for want of liquor which they 
 liked better. Looking into its bosom, they beheld 
 their own faces dimly reflected, but so extravagantly 
 distorted by the gush and motion of the water, that 
 each one of them appeared to be laughing at himself 
 
816 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 and all his companions. So ridiculous were these im 
 ages of themselves, indeed, that they did really laugh 
 aloud, and could hardly be grave again as soon as they 
 wished. And after they had drank, they grew still 
 merrier than before. 
 
 "It has a twang of the wine-cask in it," said one, 
 smacking his lips. 
 
 " Make haste ! " cried his fellows ; " we 11 find the 
 wine-cask itself at the palace ; and that will be better 
 than a hundred crystal fountains." 
 
 Then they quickened their pace, and capered for 
 joy at the thought of the savory banquet at which they 
 hoped to be guests. But Eurylochus told them that 
 he felt as if he were walking in a dream. 
 
 " If I am really awake," continued he, " then, in 
 my opinion, we are on the point of meeting with some 
 stranger adventure than any that befell us in the cave 
 of Polyphemus, or among the gigantic man-eating 
 LaBstrygons, or in the windy palace of King ^Eolus, 
 which stands on a brazen-walled island. This kind of 
 dreamy feeling always -comes over me before any won 
 derful occurrence. If you take my advice, you will 
 turn back." 
 
 " No, no," answered his comrades, snuffing the air, 
 in which the scent from the palace kitchen was now 
 very perceptible. " We would not turn back, though 
 we were certain that the king of the Lsestrygons, as 
 big as a mountain, would sit at the head of the table, 
 and huge Polyphemus, the one-eyed Cyclops, at its 
 foot." 
 
 At length they came within full sight of the palace, 
 which proved to be very large and lofty, with a great 
 number of airy pinnacles upon its roof. Though it 
 was now midday, and the sun shone brightly over the 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 317 
 
 marble front, yet its snowy whiteness, and its fantas 
 tic style of architecture, made it look unreal, like the 
 frostwork on a window-pane, or like the shapes of cas 
 tles which one sees among the clouds by moonlight. 
 But, just then, a puff of wind brought down the smoke 
 of the kitchen chimney among them, and caused each 
 man to smell the odor of the dish that he liked best ; 
 and, after scenting it, they thought everything else 
 moonshine, and nothing real save this palace, and 
 save the banquet that was evidently ready to be served 
 up in it. 
 
 So they hastened their steps towards the portal, but 
 had not got half-way across the wide lawn, when a 
 pack of lions, tigers, and wolves came bounding to 
 meet them. The terrified mariners started back, ex 
 pecting no better fate than to be torn to pieces and 
 devoured. To their surprise and joy, however, these 
 wild beasts merely capered around them, wagging 
 their tails, offering their heads to be stroked and pat 
 ted, and behaving just like so many well-bred house 
 dogs, when they wish to express their delight at meet 
 ing their master, or their master s friends. The big 
 gest lion licked the feet of Eurylochus ; and every 
 other lion, and every wolf and tiger, singled out one 
 of his two-and-twenty followers, whom the beast fon 
 dled as if he loved him better than a beef-bone. 
 
 But, for all that, Eurylochus imagined that he saw 
 something fierce and savage in their eyes ; nor would 
 he have been surprised, at any moment, to feel the big 
 lion s terrible claws, or to see each of the tigers make 
 a deadly spring, or each wolf leap at the throat of the 
 man whom he had fondled. Their mildness seemed 
 unreal, and a mere freak ; but their savage nature 
 was as true as their teeth and claws. 
 
318 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 Nevertheless, the men went safely across the lawn 
 with the wild beasts frisking about them, and doing 
 no manner of harm ; although, as they mounted the 
 steps of the palace, you might possibly have heard 
 a low growl, particularly from the wolves ; as if they 
 thought it a pity, after all, to let the strangers pass 
 without so much as tasting what they were made of. 
 
 Eurylochus and his followers now passed under a 
 lofty portal, and looked through the open doorway 
 into the interior of the palace. The first thing that 
 they saw was a spacious hall, and a fountain in the 
 middle of it, gushing up towards the ceiling out of a 
 marble basin, and falling back into it with a continual 
 plash. The water of this fountain, as it spouted up 
 ward, was constantly taking new shapes, not very dis 
 tinctly, but plainly enough for a nimble fancy to rec 
 ognize what they were. Now it was the shape of a 
 man in a long robe, the fleecy whiteness of which was 
 made out of the fountain s spray ; now it was a lion, 
 or a tiger, or a wolf, or an ass, or, as often as any 
 thing else, a hog, wallowing in the marble basin as if 
 it were his sty. It was either magic or some very cu 
 rious machinery that caused the gushing waterspout 
 to assume all these forms. But, before the strangers 
 had time to look closely at this wonderful sight, their 
 attention was drawn off by a very sweet and agreeable 
 sound. A woman s voice was singing melodiously in 
 another room of the palace, and with her voice was 
 mingled the noise of a loom, at which she was proba 
 bly seated, weaving a rich texture of cloth, and inter 
 twining the high and low sweetness of her voice into 
 a rich tissue of harmony. 
 
 By and by, the song came to an end ; and then, all 
 at once, there were several feminine voices, talking 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 319 
 
 airily and cheerfully, with now and then a merry burst 
 of laughter, such as you may always hear when three 
 or four young women sit at work together. 
 
 44 What a sweet song that was ! " exclaimed one of 
 the voyagers. 
 
 " Too sweet, indeed," answered Eurylochus, shak 
 ing his head. " Yet it was not so sweet as the song 
 of the Sirens, those birdlike damsels who wanted to 
 tempt us on the rocks, so that our vessel might be 
 wrecked, and our bones left whitening along the 
 shore." 
 
 " But just listen to the pleasant voices of those 
 maidens, and that buzz of the loom, as the shuttle 
 passes to and fro," said another comrade. " What a 
 domestic, household, homelike sound it is ! Ah, be 
 fore that weary siege of Troy, I used to hear the buz 
 zing loom and the women s voices under my own roof. 
 Shall I never hear them again ? nor taste those nice 
 little savory dishes which my dearest wife knew how 
 to serve up ? " 
 
 " Tush ! we shall fare better here," said another. 
 " But how innocently those women are babbling to 
 gether, without guessing that we overhear them ! And 
 mark that richest voice of all, so pleasant and famil 
 iar, but which yet seems to have the authority of a 
 mistress among them. Let us show ourselves at once. 
 What harm can the lady of the palace and her maid 
 ens do to mariners and warriors like us? " 
 
 " Remember," said Eurylochus, " that it was a 
 young maiden who beguiled three of our friends into 
 the palace of the king of the Laestrygons, who ate up 
 one of them in the twinkling of an eye." 
 
 No warning or persuasion, however, had any effect 
 on his companions. They went up to a pair of folding- 
 
320 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 doors at the farther end of the hall, and, throwing 
 them wide open, passed into the next room. Eury- 
 lochus, meanwhile, had stepped behind a pillar. In 
 the short moment while the folding-doors opened and 
 closed again, he caught a glimpse of a very beautiful 
 woman rising from the loom, and coming to meet 
 the poor weather-beaten wanderers, with a hospitable 
 smile, and her hand stretched out in welcome. There 
 were four other young women, who joined their hands 
 and danced merrily forward, making gestures of obei 
 sance to the strangers. They were only less beautiful 
 than the lady who seemed to be their mistress. Yet 
 Eurylochus fancied that one of them had sea-green 
 hair, and that the close-fitting bodice of a second 
 looked like the bark of a tree, and that both the oth 
 ers had something odd in their aspect, although he 
 could not quite determine what it was, in the little 
 while that he had to examine them. 
 
 The folding-doors swung quickly back, and left him 
 standing behind the pillar, in the solitude of the outer 
 hall. There Eurylochus waited until he was quite 
 weary, and listened eagerly to every sound, but with 
 out hearing anything that could help him to guess 
 what had become of his friends. Footsteps, it is true, 
 seemed to be passing and repassing in other parts of 
 the palace. Then there was a clatter of silver dishes, 
 or golden ones, which made him imagine a rich feast 
 in a splendid banqueting-hall. But by and by he 
 heard a tremendous grunting and squealing, and then 
 a sudden scampering, like that of small, hard hoofs 
 over a marble floor, while the voices of the mistress 
 and her four handmaidens were screaming all to 
 gether, in tones of anger and derision. Eurylochus 
 could not conceive what had happened, unless a drove 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 of swine had broken into the palace, attracted by the 
 smell of the feast. Chancing to cast his eyes at the 
 fountain, he saw that it did not shift its shape, as for 
 merly, nor looked either like a long-robed man, or a 
 lion, a tiger, a wolf, or an ass. It looked like nothing 
 but a hog, which lay wallowing in the marble basin, 
 and filled it from brim to brim. 
 
 But we must leave the prudent Eurylochus waiting 
 in the outer hall, and follow his friends into the inner 
 secrecy of the palace. As soon as the beautiful woman 
 saw them, she arose from the loom, as I have told you, 
 and came forward, smiling, and stretching out her 
 hand. She took the hand of the foremost among 
 them, and bade him and the whole party welcome. 
 
 " You have been long expected, my good friends," 
 said she. " I and my maidens are well acquainted 
 with you, although you do not appear to recognize us. 
 Look at this piece of tapestry, and judge if your faces 
 must not have been familiar to us." 
 
 So the voyagers examined the web of cloth which 
 the beautiful woman had been weaving in her loom ; 
 and, to their vast astonishment they saw their own fig 
 ures perfectly represented in different colored threads. 
 It was a lifelike picture of their recent adventures, 
 showing them in the cave of Polyphemus, and how 
 they had put out his one great moony eye ; while in 
 another part of the tapestry they were untying the 
 leathern bags, puffed out with contrary winds ; and 
 farther on, they beheld themselves scampering away 
 from the gigantic king of the Laestrygons, who had 
 caught one of them by the leg. Lastly, there they 
 were, sitting on the desolate shore of this very island, 
 hungry and downcast, and looking ruefully at the 
 bare bones of the stag which they devoured yesterday. 
 
 VOL. IV. 21 
 
322 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 This was far as the work hail yet proceeded : Imt when 
 the beautiful woman should again sit down at her 
 loom, she would probably make u picture of what had 
 since happened to the strangers, and of what was now 
 going to happen. 
 
 " You see," she said, " that I know all about your 
 troubles ; and you cannot doubt that I desire to make 
 you happy for as long a time as you may remain with 
 me. For this purpose, my honored guests, I have or 
 dered a banquet to be prepared. Fish, fowl, and flesh, 
 roasted, and in luscious stews, and seasoned, I trust, 
 to all your tastes, are ready to be served up. If your 
 appetites tell you it is dinner-time, then come with me 
 to the festal saloon." 
 
 At this kind invitation, the hungry mariners svere 
 quite overjoyed : and one of them, taking upon him 
 self to be spokesman, assured their hospitable hostess 
 that any hour of the day was dinner-time with them, 
 whenever they could get flesh to put in the pot, and 
 fire to boil it with. So the beautiful woman led the 
 way : and the four maidens (one of them had sea- 
 green hair, another a bodice of oak bark, a third 
 sprinkled a shower of water-drops from her fingers 
 ends, and the fourth had some other oddity, which I 
 have forgotten^), all these followed behind, and hur 
 ried the guests along, until they entered a magnificent 
 saloon. It was built in a perfect oval, and lighted 
 from a crystal dome above. Around the walls were 
 ranged two-and-twenty thrones, overhung by canopies 
 of crimson and gold, and provided with the softest 
 of cushions, which were tasselled and fringed with 
 gold cord. Each of the strangers was invited to sit 
 down ; and there they were, two-and-twenty storm- 
 beaten mariners, in worn and tattered garb, sitting 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 323 
 
 on two-and-twenty cushioned and canopied thrones, so 
 rich and gorgeous that the proudest monarch had 
 nothing more splendid in his stateliest hall. 
 
 Then you might have seen the guests nodding, 
 winking with one eye, and leaning from one throne to 
 another, to communicate their satisfaction in hoarse 
 whispers. 
 
 " Our good hostess has made kings of us alL," said 
 one. " Ha ! do you smell the feast ? I 11 engage it 
 will be fit to set before two-and-twenty kings." 
 
 " I hope," said another, " it will be, mainly, good 
 substantial joints, sirloins, spareribs, and hinder quar 
 ters, without too many kickshaws. If I thought the 
 good lady would not take it amiss. I should call for a 
 fat slice of fried bacon to begin with." 
 
 Ah, the gluttons and gormandizers ! You see how 
 it was with them. In the loftiest seats of dignity, on 
 royal thrones, they could think of nothing but their 
 greedy appetite, which was the portion of their nature 
 that they shared with wolves and swine ; so that they 
 resembled those vilest of animals far more than they 
 did kings, if, indeed, kings were what they ought 
 to be. 
 
 fc But the beautiful woman now clapped her hands ; 
 and immediately there entered a train of two-and- 
 twenty serving-men, bringing dishes of the richest 
 food, all hot from the kitchen fire, and sending up 
 such a stearn that it hung like a cloud below the crys 
 tal dome of the saloon. An equal number of attend 
 ants brought great flagons of wine, of various kinds, 
 some of which sparkled as it was poured out, and 
 went bubbling down the throat ; while, of other sorts, 
 the purple liquor was so clear that you could see the 
 wrought figures at the bottom of the goblet. While 
 
324 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 the servants supplied the two-and-twenty guests with 
 food and drink, the hostess and her four maidens went 
 from one throne to another, exhorting them to eat 
 their fill, and to quaff wine abundantly, and thus to 
 recompense themselves, at this one banquet, for the 
 many days when they had gone without a dinner. But, 
 whenever the mariners were not looking at them 
 
 O 
 
 (which was pretty often, as they looked chiefly into 
 the basins and platters), the beautiful woman and her 
 damsels turned aside and laughed. Even the servants, 
 as they knelt down to present the dishes, might be 
 seen to grin and sneer, while the guests were helping 
 themselves to the offered dainties. 
 
 And, once in a while, the strangers seemed to taste 
 something that they did not like. 
 
 " Here is an odd kind of a spice in this dish," said 
 one. " I can t say it quite suits my palate. Down it 
 goes, however." 
 
 " Send a good draught of wine down your throat," 
 said his comrade on the next throne. " That is the 
 stuff to make this sort of cookery relish well. Though 
 I must needs say, the wine has a queer taste too. But 
 the more I drink of it the better I like the flavor." 
 
 Whatever little fault they might find with the dishes, 
 they sat at dinner a prodigiously long while ; and it 
 would really have made you ashamed to see how they 
 swilled down the liquor and gobbled up the food. They 
 sat on golden thrones, to be sure ; but they behaved 
 like pigs in a sty ; and, if they had had their wits 
 about them, they might have guessed that this was the 
 opinion of their beautiful hostess and her maidens. It 
 brings a blush into my face to reckon up, in my own 
 mind, what mountains of meat and pudding, and what 
 gallons of wine, these two-and-twenty guzzlers and gor 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 325 
 
 tnandizers ate and drank. They forgot all about their 
 homes, and their wives and children, and all about 
 Ulysses, and everything else, except this banquet, at 
 which they wanted to keep feasting forever. But at 
 length they began to give over, from mere incapacity 
 to hold any more. 
 
 " That last bit of fat is too much for me," said onec 
 
 " And I have not room for another morsel," said his 
 next neighbor, heaving a sigh. " What a pity ! My 
 appetite is as sharp as ever." 
 
 In short, they all left off eating, and leaned back on 
 their thrones, with such a stupid and helpless aspect 
 as made them ridiculous to behold. When their hostess 
 saw this, she laughed aloud ; so did her four damsels ; 
 so did the two-and-twenty serving men that bore the 
 dishes, and their two-and-twenty fellows that poured 
 out the wine. And the loader they all laughed, the 
 more stupid and helpless did the two-and-twenty gor 
 mandizers look. Then the beautiful woman took her 
 stand in the middle of the saloon, and stretching out a 
 slender rod (it had been all the while in her hand, al 
 though they never noticed it till this moment), she 
 turned it from one guest to another, until each had felt 
 it pointed at himself. Beautiful as her face was, and 
 though there was a smile on it, it looked just as wicked 
 and mischievous as the ugliest serpent that ever was 
 seen ; and fat-witted as the voyagers had made them 
 selves, they began to suspect that they had fallen into 
 the power of an evil-minded enchantress. 
 
 " Wretches," cried she, " you have abused a lady s 
 hospitality ; and in this princely saloon your behavior 
 has been suited to a hogpen. You are already swine 
 in everything but the human form, which you disgrace, 
 und which I myself should be ashamed to keep a mo- 
 
326 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 ment longer, were you to share it with me. But it 
 will require only the slightest exercise of magic to 
 make the exterior conform to the hoggish disposition. 
 Assume your proper shapes, gormandizers, and begone 
 to the sty ! " 
 
 Uttering these last words, she waved her wand ; and 
 stamping her foot imperiously, each of the guests was 
 struck aghast at beholding, instead of his comrades in 
 human shape, one-and-twenty hogs sitting on the same 
 number of golden thrones. Each man (as he still sup 
 posed himself to be) essayed to give a cry of surprise, 
 but found that he could merely grunt, and that, in a 
 word, he was just such another beast as his compan 
 ions. It looked so intolerably absurd to see hogs on 
 cushioned thrones, that they made haste to wallow 
 down upon all fours, like other swine. They tried to 
 groan and beg for mercy, but forthwith emitted the 
 most awf nl grunting and squealing that ever came out 
 of swinish throats. They would have wrung their 
 hands in despair, but, attempting to do so, grew all 
 the more desperate for seeing themselves squatted on 
 their hams, and pawing the air with their fore trotters. 
 Dear me ! what pendulous ears they had ! what little 
 red eyes, half buried in fat ! and what long snouts, 
 instead of Grecian noses ! 
 
 But brutes as they certainly were, they yet had 
 enough of human nature in them to be shocked at their 
 own hideousness ; and, still intending to groan, they 
 uttered a viler grunt and squeal than before. So 
 harsh and ear-piercing it was, that you would have 
 fancied a butcher was sticking his knife into each of 
 their throats, or, at the very least, that somebody was 
 pulling every hog by his funny little twist of a tail. 
 
 " Begone to your sty ! " cried the enchantress, giv 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 327 
 
 ing them some smart strokes with her wand ; and then 
 she turned to the serving-men, " Drive out these swine, 
 and throw down some acorns for them to eat." 
 
 The door of the saloon being flung open, the drove 
 of hogs ran in all directions save the right one, in ac 
 cordance with their hoggish perversity, but were finally 
 driven into the back yard of the palace. It was a 
 sight to bring tears into one s eyes (and I hope none 
 of you will be cruel enough to laugh at it), to see the 
 poor creatures go snuffing along, picking up here a 
 cabbage leaf and there a turnip-top, and rooting their 
 noses in the earth for whatever they could find. In 
 their sty, moreover, they behaved more piggishly than 
 the pigs that had been born so ; for they bit and 
 snorted at one another, put their feet in the trough, 
 and gobbled up their victuals in a ridiculous hurry ; 
 and, when there was nothing more to be had, they 
 made a great pile of themselves among some unclean 
 straw, and fell fast asleep. If they had any human 
 reason left, it was just enough to keep them wondering 
 when they should be slaughtered, and what quality of 
 bacon they should make. 
 
 Meantime, as I told you before, Eurylochus had 
 waited, and waited, and waited, in the entrance-hall 
 of the palace, without being able to comprehend what 
 had befallen his friends. At last, when the swinish 
 uproar resounded through the palace, and when he saw 
 the image of a hog in the marble basin, he thought 
 it best to hasten back to the vessel, and inform the 
 wise Ulysses of these marvellous occurrences. So he 
 ran as fast as he could down the steps, and never 
 stopped to draw breath till he reached the shore. 
 
 " Why do you come alone ? " asked King Ulysses, 
 as soon as he saw him. * Where are your two and- 
 twenty comrades ? " 
 
328 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 At these questions, Euryloclms burst into tears. 
 
 " Alas ! " cried he, " I greatly fear that we shall 
 never see one of their faces again." 
 
 Then he told Ulysses all that had happened, as far 
 as he knew it, and added that he suspected the beau 
 tiful woman to be a vile enchantress, and the marble 
 palace, magnificent as it looked, to be only a dismal cav 
 ern in reality. As for his companions, he could not 
 imagine what had become of them, unless they had 
 been given to the swine to be devoured alive. At this 
 intelligence all the voyagers were greatly affrighted. 
 But Ulysses lost no time in girding on his sword, and 
 hanging his bow and quiver over his shoulders, and 
 taking a spear in his right hand. When his followers 
 saw their wise leader making these preparations, they 
 inquired whither he was going, and earnestly besought 
 him not to leave them. 
 
 " You are our king," cried they ; " and what is 
 more, you are the wisest man in the whole world, and 
 nothing but your wisdom and courage can get us out 
 of this danger. If you desert us, and go to the en 
 chanted palace, you will suffer the same fate as our 
 poor companions, and not a soul of us will ever see 
 our dear Ithaca again." 
 
 " As I am your king," answered Ulysses, " and 
 wiser than any of you, it is therefore the more my duty 
 to see what has befallen our comrades, and whether 
 anything can yet be done to rescue them. Wait for 
 me here until to-morrow. If I do not then return, 
 you must hoist sail, and endeavor to find your way to 
 our native land. For my part, I am answerable for 
 the fate of these poor mariners, who have stood by 
 my side in battle, and been so often drenched to the 
 skin, along with me, by the same tempestuous surges. 
 I will either bring them back with me or perish." 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 329 
 
 Had his followers dared, they would have detained 
 him by force. But King Ulysses frowned sternly on 
 them, and shook his spear, and bade them stop him at 
 their peril. Seeing him so determined, they let him 
 go, and sat down on the sand, as disconsolate a set of 
 people as could be, waiting and praying for his re- 
 turn. 
 
 It happened to Ulysses, just as before, that, when 
 he had gone a few steps from the edge of the cliff, 
 the purple bird came fluttering towards him, crying, 
 " Peep, peep, pe weep ! " and using all the art it 
 could to persuade him to go no farther. 
 
 " What mean you, little bird ? " cried Ulysses. 
 " You are arrayed like a king in purple and gold, and 
 wear a golden crown upon your head. Is it because I 
 too am a king, that you desire so earnestly to speak 
 with me ? If you can talk in human language, say 
 what you would have me do." 
 
 44 Peep ! " answered the purple bird, very dolorously. 
 44 Peep, peep, pe we ep ! " 
 
 Certainly there lay some heavy anguish at the little 
 bird s heart ; and it was a sorrowful predicament that 
 he could not, at least, have the consolation of telling 
 what it was. But Ulysses had no time to waste in 
 trying to get at the mystery. He therefore quickened 
 his pace, and had gone a good way along the pleasant 
 wood-path, when there met him a young man of very 
 brisk and intelligent aspect, and clad in a rather sin 
 gular garb. He wore a short cloak, and a sort of cap 
 that seemed to be furnished with a pair of wings ; and 
 from the lightness of his step, you would have sup 
 posed that there might likewise be wings on his feet. 
 To enable him to walk still better (for he was always 
 on one journey or another), he carried a winged staff, 
 
330 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 around which two serpents were wriggling and twist 
 ing. In short, I have said enough to make you guess 
 that it was Quicksilver ; and Ulysses (who knew him 
 of old, and had learned a great deal of his wisdom 
 from him) recognized him in a moment. 
 
 " Whither are you going in such a hurry, wise Ulys 
 ses ?" asked Quicksilver. " Do you not know that 
 this island is enchanted ? The wicked enchantress 
 (whose name is Circe, the sister of King ^Eetes) 
 dwells in the marble palace which you see yonder 
 among the trees. By her magic arts, she changes 
 every human being into the brute, beast, or fowl whom 
 he happens most to resemble." 
 
 " That little bird, which met me at the edge of the 
 cliff," exclaimed Ulysses ; " was he a human being 
 once ? " 
 
 u Yes," answered Quicksilver. " He was once a 
 king, named Picus, and a pretty good sort of a king 
 too, only rather too proud of his purple robe, and his 
 crown, and the golden chain about his neck ; so he 
 was forced to take the shape of a gaudy-feathered 
 bird. The lions, and wolves, and tigers, who will 
 come running to meet you, in front of the palace, were 
 formerly fierce and cruel men, resembling in their dis 
 positions the wild beasts whose forms they now right 
 fully wear." 
 
 " And my poor companions," said Ulysses. " Have 
 they undergone a similar change, through the arts of 
 this wicked Circe ? " 
 
 tu You well know what gormandizers they were," 
 replied Quicksilver ; and, rogue that he was, he could 
 not help laughing at the joke. " So you will not be 
 surprised to hear that they have all taken the shapes 
 of swine ! If Circe had never done anything worse, 
 I really should not think her so very much to blame." 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 331 
 
 " But can I do nothing to help them ? " inquired 
 Ulysses. 
 
 " It will require all your wisdom," said Quicksilver, 
 " and a little of my own into the bargain, to keep your 
 royal and sagacious self from being transformed into 
 a fox. But do as I bid you ; and the matter may end 
 better than it has begun." 
 
 While he was speaking, Quicksilver seemed to be 
 in search of something ; he went stooping along the 
 ground, and soon laid his hand on a little plant with 
 a snow-white flower, which he plucked and smelt of. 
 Ulysses had been looking at that very spot only just 
 before ; and it appeared to him that the plant had 
 burst into full flower the instant when Quicksilver 
 touched it with his ringers. 
 
 " Take this flower, King Ulysses," said he. " Guard 
 it as you do your eyesight ; for I can assure you it is 
 exceedingly rare and precious, and you might seek the 
 whole earth over without ever finding another like it. 
 Keep it in your hand, and smell of it frequently after 
 you enter the palace, and while you are talking with 
 the enchantress. Especially when she offers you food, 
 or a draught of wine out of her goblet, be careful to 
 fill your nostrils with the flower s fragrance. Follow 
 these directions, and you may defy her magic arts to 
 change you into a fox." 
 
 Quicksilver then gave him some further advice how 
 to behave, and, bidding him be bold and prudent, 
 again assured him that, powerful as Circe was, ho 
 would have a fair prospect of coming safely out of her 
 enchanted palace. After listening attentively, Ulysses 
 thanked his good friend, and resumed his way. But 
 he had taken only a few steps, when, recollecting some 
 other questions which he wished to ask, he turned 
 
332 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 round again, and beheld nobody on the spot where 
 Quicksilver had stood ; for that winged cap of his, 
 and those winged shoes, with the help of the winged 
 staff, had carried him quickly out of sight. 
 
 When Ulysses reached the lawn, in front of the pal 
 ace, the lions and other savage animals came bound 
 ing to meet him, and would have fawned upon him 
 and licked his feet. But the wise king struck at them 
 with his long spear, and sternly bade them begone out 
 of his path : for he knew that they had once been 
 bloodthirsty men, and would now tear him limb from 
 limb, instead of fawning upon him, could they do the 
 mischief that was in their hearts. The wild beasts 
 yelped and glared at him, and stood at a distance 
 while he ascended the palace steps. 
 
 On entering the hall, Ulysses saw the magic foun 
 tain in the centre of it. The up-gushing water had 
 now again taken the shape of a man in a long, white, 
 fleecy robe, who appeared to be making gestures of 
 welcome. The king likewise heard the noise of the 
 shuttle in the loon", and the sweet melody of the beau 
 tiful woman s song, and then the pleasant voices of 
 herself and the four maidens talking together, with 
 peals of merry laughter intermixed. But Ulysses did 
 not waste much time in listening to the laughter or 
 the song. He leaned his spear against one of the pil 
 lars of the hall, and then, after loosening his sword in 
 the scabbard, stepped boldly forward, and threw the 
 folding-doors wide open. The moment she beheld his 
 stately figure standing in the doorway, the beautiful 
 woman rose from the loom, and ran to meet him with 
 a glad smile throwing its sunshine over her face, and 
 both her hands extended. 
 
 " Welcome, brave stranger 1 " cried she. " We were 
 expecting you." 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 333 
 
 And the nymph with the sea-green hair made a 
 courtesy down to the ground, and likewise bade him 
 welcome ; so did her sister with the bodice of oaken 
 bark, and she that sprinkled dew-drops from her fin 
 gers ends, and the fourth one with some oddity which 
 I cannot remember. And Circe, as the beautiful en 
 chantress was called (who had deluded so many per 
 sons that she did not doubt of being able to delude 
 Ulysses, not imagining how wise he was), again ad 
 dressed him. 
 
 "Your companions," said she, "have already been 
 received into my palace, and have enjoyed the hospi 
 table treatment to which the propriety of their behav 
 ior so well entitles them. If such be your pleasure, 
 you shall first take some refreshment, and then join 
 them in the elegant apartment which they now oc 
 cupy. See, I and my maidens have been weaving 
 their figures into this piece of tapestry." 
 
 She pointed to the web of beautifully woven cloth 
 in the loom. Circe and the four nymphs must have 
 been very diligently at work since the arrival of the 
 mariners ; for a great many yards of tapestry had now 
 been wrought, in addition to what I before described. 
 In this new part, Ulysses saw his two - and - twenty 
 friends represented as sitting on cushioned and cano 
 pied thrones, greedily devouring dainties and quaffing 
 deep draughts of wine. The work had not yet gone 
 any further. Oh no, indeed. The enchantress was far 
 too cunning to let Ulysses see the mischief which her 
 magic arts had since brought upon the gormandizers. 
 
 " As for yourself, valiant sir," said Circe, " judging 
 by the dignity of your aspect, I take you to be nothing 
 less than a king. Deign to follow me, and you shall 
 be treated as befits your rank." 
 
334 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 So Ulysses followed her into the oval saloon, where 
 his two-antl-twenty comrades had devoured the ban 
 quet, which ended so disastrously for themselves. But, 
 all this while, he had held the snow-white flower in his 
 hand, and had constantly smelt of it while Circe was 
 speaking ; and as he crossed the threshold of the sa 
 loon, he took good care to inhale several long and 
 deep snuffs of its fragrance. Instead of two-and- 
 twenty thrones, which had before been ranged around 
 the wall, there was now only a single throne, in the 
 centre of the apartment. But this was surely the 
 most magnificent seat that ever a king or an emperor 
 reposed himself upon, all made of chased gold, studded 
 with precious stones, with a cushion that looked like 
 a soft heap of living roses, and overhung by a canopy 
 of sunlight which Circe knew how to weave into dra 
 pery. The enchantress took Ulysses by the hand, 
 and made him sit down upon this dazzling throne. 
 Then, clapping her hands, she summoned the chief 
 butler. 
 
 " Bring hither," said she, " the goblet that is set 
 apart for kings to drink out of. And fill it with the 
 same delicious wine which my royal brother, King 
 ./Eetes, praised so highly, when he last visited me with 
 my fair daughter Medea. That good and amiable 
 child ! Were she now here, it would delight her to 
 see me offering this wine to my honored guest." 
 
 But Ulysses, while the butler was gone for the wine, 
 held the snow-white flower to his nose. 
 
 " Is it a wholesome wine ? " he asked. 
 
 At this the four maidens tittered ; whereupon the 
 enchantress looked round at them, with an aspect of 
 severity. 
 
 " It is the wholesomest juice that ever was squeezed 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 335 
 
 out of the grape," said she ; " for, instead of disguis 
 ing a man, as other liquor is apt to do, it brings him 
 to his true self, and shows him as he ought to be." 
 
 The chief butler liked nothing better than to see 
 people turned into swine, or making any kind of a 
 beast of themselves ; so he made haste to bring the 
 royal goblet, filled with a liquid as bright as gold, and 
 which kept sparkling upward, and throwing a sunny 
 spray over the brim. But, delightfully as the wine 
 looked, it was mingled with the most potent enchant 
 ments that Circe knew how to concoct. For every 
 drop of the pure grape-juice there were two drops of 
 the pure mischief ; and the danger of the thing was, 
 that the mischief made it taste all the better. The 
 mere smell of the bubbles, which effervesced at the 
 brim, was enough to turn a man s beard into pig s 
 bristles, or make a lion s claws grow out of his fingers, 
 or a fox s brush behind him. 
 
 " Drink, my noble guest," said Circe, smiling as 
 she presented him with the goblet. " You will find 
 in this draught a solace for all your troubles." 
 
 King Ulysses took the goblet with his right hand, 
 while with his left he held the snow-white flower to his 
 nostrils, and drew in so long a breath that his lungs 
 were quite filled with its pure and simple fragrance. 
 Then, drinking off all the wine, he looked the enchan 
 tress calmly in the face. 
 
 " Wretch," cried Circe, giving him a smart stroke 
 with her wand, " how dare you keep your human shape 
 a moment longer ? Take the form of the brute whom 
 you most resemble. If a hog, go join your fellow- 
 swine in the sty ; if a lion, a wolf, a tiger, go howl 
 with the wild beasts on the lawn ; if a fox, go exercise 
 your craft in stealing poultry. Thou hast quaffed off 
 my wine, and canst be man no longer." 
 
336 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 But, such was the virtue of the snow-white flower, 
 instead of wallowing down from his throne in swinish 
 shape, or taking any other brutal form, Ulysses looked 
 even more manly and king-like than before. Pie gave 
 the magic goblet a toss, and sent it clashing over the 
 marble floor, to the farthest end of the saloon. Then 5 
 drawing his sword, he seized the enchantress by her 
 beautiful ringlets, and made a gesture as if he meant 
 to strike off her head at one blow. 
 
 " Wicked Circe," cried he, in a terrible voice, " this 
 sword shall put an end to thy enchantments. Thou 
 shalt die, vile wretch, and do no more mischief in the 
 world, by tempting human beings into the vices which 
 make beasts of them." 
 
 The tone and countenance of Ulysses were so awful, 
 and his sword gleamed so brightly, and seemed to have 
 so intolerably keen an edge, that Circe was almost 
 killed by the mere fright, without waiting for a blow. 
 The chief butler scrambled out of the saloon, picking 
 up the golden goblet as he went ; and the enchantress 
 and the four maidens fell on their knees, wringing 
 their hands, and screaming for mercy. 
 
 " Spare me ! " cried Circe, " spare me, royal and 
 wise Ulysses. For now I know that thou art he of 
 whom Quicksilver forewarned me, the most prudent of 
 mortals, against whom no enchantments can prevail, 
 Thou only couldst have conquered Circe. Spare me, 
 wisest of men. I will show thee true hospitality, and 
 even give myself to be thy slave, and this magnificent 
 palace to be henceforth thy home." 
 
 The four nymphs, meanwhile, were making a most 
 piteous ado ; and especially the ocean-nymph, with the 
 sea-green hair, wept a great deal of salt water, and the 
 fountain-nymph, besides scattering dew-drops from her 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 337 
 
 finger s ends, nearly melted away into tears. But Ulys 
 ses would not be pacified until Circe had taken a sol 
 emn oath to change back his companions, and as many 
 others as he should direct, from their present forms of 
 beast or bird into their former shapes of men. 
 
 " On these conditions," said he, " I consent to spare 
 your life. Otherwise you must die upon the spot." 
 
 With a drawn sword hanging over her, the enchan 
 tress would readily have consented to do as much good 
 as she had hitherto done mischief, however little she 
 might like such employment. She therefore led Ulys 
 ses out of the back entrance of the palace, and showed 
 him the swine in their sty. There were about fifty of 
 these unclean beasts in the whole herd ; and though 
 the greater part were hogs by birth and education, 
 there was wonderfully little difference to be seen be 
 twixt them and their new brethren who had so recently 
 worn the human shape. To speak critically, indeed, 
 the latter rather carried the thing to excess, and seemed 
 to make it a point to wallow in the miriest part of the 
 sty, and otherwise to outdo the original swine in their 
 own natural vocation. When men once turn to brutes, 
 the trifle of man s wit that remains in them adds ten 
 fold to their brutality. 
 
 The comrades of Ulysses, however, had not quite 
 lost the remembrance of having formerly stood erect. 
 When he approached the sty, two-and-twenty enormous 
 swine separated themselves from the herd, and scam 
 pered towards him, with such a chorus of horrible 
 squealing as made him clap both hands to his ears. 
 And yet they did not seem to know what they wanted, 
 nor whether they were merely hungry, or miserable 
 from some other cause. It was curious, in the midst 
 of their distress, to observe them thrusting their noses 
 
 VOL. iv. 23 
 
338 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 into the mire, in quest of something to eat. The 
 nymph with the bodice of oaken bark (she was the 
 hamadryad of an oak) threw a handful of acorns 
 among them ; and the two-and-twenty hogs scrambled 
 and fought for the prize, as if they had tasted not so 
 much as a noggin of sour milk for a twelvemonth. 
 
 " These must certainly be my comrades," said Ulys 
 ses. " I recognize their dispositions. They are hardly 
 worth the trouble of changing them into the human 
 form again. Nevertheless, we will have it done, lest 
 their bad example should corrupt the other hogs. Let 
 them take their original shapes, therefore, Dame 
 Circe, if your skill is equal to the task. It will re 
 quire greater magic, I trow, than it did to make swine 
 of them." 
 
 So Circe waved her wand again, and repeated a 
 few magic words, at the sound of which the two-and- 
 twenty hogs pricked up their pendulous ears. It was 
 a wonder to behold how their snouts grew shorter 
 and shorter, and their mouths (which they seemed to 
 be sorry for, because they could not gobble so expedi- 
 tiously) smaller and smaller, and how one and another 
 began to stand upon his hind legs, and scratch his 
 nose with his fore trotters. At first the spectators 
 hardly knew whether to call them hogs or men, but by 
 and by came to the conclusion that they rather resem 
 bled the latter. Finally, there stood the twenty-two 
 comrades of Ulysses, looking pretty much the same as 
 when they left the vessel. 
 
 You must not imagine, however, that the swinish 
 quality had entirely gone out of them. When once it 
 fastens itself into a person s character, it is very diffi 
 cult getting rid of it. This was proved by the hama 
 dryad, who, being exceedingly fond of mischief, threw 
 
CIRCE S PALACE. 339 
 
 another handful of acorns before the twenty -two newly 
 restored people ; whereupon down they wallowed, in a 
 moment, and gobbled them up in a very shameful way. 
 Then, recollecting themselves, they scrambled to their 
 feet, and looked more than commonly foolish. 
 
 " Thanks, noble Ulysses!" they cried. "From 
 brute beasts you have restored us to the condition of 
 men again." 
 
 " Do not put yourselves to the trouble of thanking 
 me," said the wise king. " I fear I have done but lit 
 tle for you." 
 
 To say the truth, there was a suspicious kind of a 
 grunt in their voices, and for a long time afterwards 
 they spoke gruffly, and were apt to set up a squeal. 
 
 "It must depend on your own future behavior," 
 added Ulysses, " whether you do not find your way 
 back to the sty." 
 
 At this moment, the note of a bird sounded from 
 the branch of a neighboring tree. 
 
 " Peep, peep, pe wee ep ! " 
 
 It was the purple bird, who, all this while, had been 
 sitting over their heads, watching what was going for 
 ward, and hoping that Ulysses would remember how 
 he had done his utmost to keep him and his followers 
 out of harm s way. Ulysses ordered Circe instantly 
 to make a king of this good little fowl, and leave him 
 exactly as she found him. Hardly were the words 
 spoken, and before the bird had time to utter another 
 "Pe weep," King Picus leaped down from the 
 bough of the tree, as majestic a sovereign as any in 
 the world, dressed in a long purple robe and gorgeous 
 yellow stockings, with a splendidly wrought collar 
 about his neck, and a golden crown upon his head. 
 He and King Ulysses exchanged with one another the 
 
340 CIRCE S PALACE. 
 
 courtesies which belong to their elevated rank. But 
 from that time forth, King Picus was no longer proud 
 of his crown and his trappings of royalty, nor of the 
 fact of his being a king ; he felt himself merely the 
 upper servant of his people, and that it must be his 
 lifelong labor to make them better and happier. 
 
 As for the lions, tigers, and wolves (though Circe 
 ivould have restored them to their former shapes at his 
 slightest word), Ulysses thought it advisable that they 
 should remain as they now were, and thus give warn 
 ing of their cruel dispositions, instead of going about 
 under the guise of men, and pretending to human 
 sympathies, while their hearts had the blood-thirstiness 
 of wild beasts. So he let them howl as much as they 
 liked, but never troubled his head about them. And, 
 when everything was settled according to his pleasure, 
 he sent to summon the remainder of his comrades, 
 whom he had left at the sea-shore. These being ar 
 rived, with the prudent Eurylochus at their head, they 
 all made themselves comfortable in Circe s enchanted 
 palace, until quite rested and refreshed from the toils 
 and hardships of their voyage. 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 MOTHER CERES was exceedingly fond of her daugh 
 ter 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 ripen 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 sea-nymphs to come up 
 out of the waves and play with me ? " 
 
 " Yes, child," answered Mother Ceres. " The sea- 
 nymphs 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 drag 
 ons had whirled the car out of sight, she was already 
 on the shore, calling to the sea-nymphs to come and 
 play with her. They knew Proserpina s voice, and 
 
342 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 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 
 busied themselves in making a necklace, which they 
 hung round Proserpina s neck. By way of showing 
 her gratitude, the child besought them to go with her 
 a little way into the fields, 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 sea-nymphs ; 
 "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 com 
 fortably moist ? If it were not for that, we should 
 soon look like bunches of uprooted sea-weed 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 neck 
 lace of many-colored shells." 
 
 " We will wait, then," answered the sea-nymphs. 
 " But while you are gone, we may as well lie down on 
 a bank of soft sponge, under the water. The air to 
 day 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 flow- 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 343 
 
 ers. 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 de 
 light. 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 seemed to be of new shapes and colors. Two 
 or 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. Proser 
 pina s apron was soon filled and brimming over with 
 delightful blossoms. She was on the point of turning 
 back in order to rejoin the sea-nymphs, 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 nearer she approached the shrub, the more at 
 tractive 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 hav 
 ing a kind of resemblance among themselves, which 
 showed them to be sister blossoms. But there was a 
 deep, glossy lustre on the leaves of the shrub, and on 
 the petals of the flowers, that made Proserpina doubt 
 
344 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 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 seized 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 plant it 
 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 
 pull, but relaxed 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 depths, louder 
 and louder, and nearer and nearer, and sounding like 
 the tramp of horses hoofs and the rattling 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 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 345 
 
 leaped out of the bottomless hole, chariot and all ; and 
 there they were, tossing their black manes, flourishing 
 their black tails, and curvetting with every one of 
 their hoofs 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 discon 
 tented ; 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 Pro 
 serpina, 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, its tones were 
 deep and stern, and sounded as much like the rum 
 bling of an earthquake under ground as anything else. 
 As is always the case with children in trouble, Proser 
 pina s first thought was to call for her mother. 
 
 " Mother, Mother Ceres ! " cried she, all in a trem 
 ble. " Come quickly and save me." 
 
 But her voice was too faint for her mother to hear. 
 Indeed, it is most probable that Ceres was then a thou 
 sand miles off, making the corn grow in some far-dis 
 tant 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 
 
346 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 arms, and again mounting the 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 vale 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 
 Ceres 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 we 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 than you 
 expect, when once we get out of this troublesome sun 
 shine," 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 347 
 
 " Let me go home ! " cried Proserpina, " let me 
 go home ! " 
 
 " My home is better than your mother s," answered 
 King Pluto. " It is a palace, all made of gold, with 
 crystal windows ; and because there is little or no 
 sunshine thereabouts, 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 or 
 the footstool." 
 
 " I don t care for golden palaces and thrones," 
 sobbed Proserpina. " Oh, my mother, my mother ! 
 Carry me back to my mother ! 
 
 But King Pluto, as he called himself, only shouted 
 to his steeds to go faster. 
 
 " Pray do not be foolish, Proserpina," 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 up stairs and down, and cheer up the 
 rooms with her smile. And this is what you must do 
 for King Pluto." 
 
 " Never ! " answered Proserpina, looking as misera 
 ble 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. Proserpina con 
 tinued 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, 
 
348 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 but Mother Ceres, 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 Ceres 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 precipices, 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 noon, 
 the air became obscured with a gray 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 as 
 sume 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 peeped at his face through the gathering 
 dusk, and hoped that he might not be so very wicked 
 as she at first thought him. 
 
 " Ah, this twilight is truly refreshing," said King 
 Pluto, " after being so tormented with that ugly and 
 impertinent glare of the sun. How much more agree 
 able is lamplight or torchlight, more particularly when 
 reflected from diamonds ! It will be a magnificent 
 sight when we get to my palace." 
 
 " Is it much farther?" asked Proserpina. "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 faithfu] 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 849 
 
 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 hinder 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, fierce as they were, King Pluto patted 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 
 hair. Cerberus, on the other hand, was evidently re 
 joiced to see his master, and expressed his attachment, 
 as other dogs do, by wagging his tail at a great rate. 
 Proserpina s eyes being drawn to it by its brisk mo 
 tion, 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 look 
 ing as cross and ill-natured as you can imagine, on its 
 own separate account. 
 
 " Will the dog bite me ? " asked Proserpina, shrink 
 ing 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 do 
 minions 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 
 
350 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 gold that were to be seen among the rocks, and 
 pointed to several places where one stroke of a pick 
 axe 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 beggar s stooping for. 
 
 Not far from the gateway, they came to a bridge, 
 which seemed to be built of iron. Pluto stopped the 
 chariot, and bade Proserpina look at the stream which 
 was gliding so lazily beneath it. Never in her life had 
 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 the river Lethe," 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 one very excel 
 lent quality ; for a single draught of its makes people 
 forget every care and sorrow that has hitherto tor 
 mented them. Only sip a little of it, my dear Proser 
 pina, 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 re 
 membering my mother, than be happy in forgetting 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 351 
 
 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 illu 
 minated by means of large precious stones, of various 
 hues, which seemed to burn like so many lamps, and 
 glowed with a hundred-fold 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 Pro 
 serpina, in order that he might have something to love, 
 instead of cheating his heart any longer with this tire 
 some magnificence. And, though he pretended to dis 
 like 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 some 
 how or other found its way into the enchanted hall. 
 
 Pluto now summoned his domestics, and bade 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 Lethe 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." 
 
352 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 " 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, 1 
 perceive, my little Proserpina ; but when you see the 
 nice things which my cook will make for you, your ap 
 petite will quickly come again." 
 
 Then, sending for the head cook, he gave strict or 
 ders 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 under 
 stand, 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 Pro 
 serpina some fruit, or bread and milk (which was the 
 simple fare to which the child had always been accus 
 tomed), it is very probable that she would soon have 
 been tempted to eat it. But he left the matter en 
 tirely 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 Ceres 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 borne away. You rec 
 ollect, 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 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 353 
 
 only one that reached the ears of Mother Ceres. She 
 had mistaken the rumbling of the chariot-wheels for a 
 peal of thunder, and imagined that a shower was com 
 ing 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 unac 
 countable, 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 drag 
 ons), that the good Ceres 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 bestir 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 Ceres had 
 alighted at the door of her home, and found it empty. 
 Knowing, however, that the child was fond of sporting 
 on the sea-shore, she hastened thither 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 
 
 vol.. iv. 23 
 
354 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 coming back. When they saw Mother Ceres, they sat 
 down on the crest of the surf wave, and let it toss them 
 ashore at her feet. 
 
 ; Where is Proserpina? " cried Ceres. " Where is 
 my child ? Tell me, you naughty sea-nymphs, have 
 you enticed her under the sea? " 
 
 %i Oh no, good Mother Ceres," said the innocent sea- 
 nymphs, tossing back their green ringlets, and looking 
 her in the face. We never should 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 wreath. This was early in the day, and 
 we have seen nothing of her since." 
 
 Ceres 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 any 
 thing 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 vervain 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 the nothing that they knew, that 
 it was dark night before Mother Ceres 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 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 355 
 
 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 hei 
 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 Ceres, examining it by 
 torchlight. " Here is mischief in this flower ! The 
 earth did not produce it by any help 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 memo 
 rial of Proserpina. 
 
 All night long, at the door of every cottage and 
 farm-house, Ceres 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 Pro 
 serpina, nor could give Mother Ceres the least hint 
 which way to seek her Thus passed the night : and 
 
356 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 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 Ceres was seeking 
 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 
 Ceres did. Sometimes, for instance, she tapped with 
 her finger against the knotted trunk of a majestic oak ; 
 and immediately its rude bark would cleave asunder, 
 and forth would step a beautiful maiden, who was the 
 hamadryad of the oak, dwelling inside of it, and shar 
 ing 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 
 farther, Ceres 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 foun 
 tain s gush, a young woman with diipping hair would 
 arise, and stand gazing at Mother Ceres, 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 naiad, with weeping eyes (for these 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 357 
 
 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 fauns, 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 gambolled 
 merrily about the woods and fields. They were a 
 frolicsome kind of creature, but grew as sad as their 
 cheerful dispositions would allow when Ceres inquired 
 for her daughter, and they had no good news to tell. 
 But sometimes she came suddenly upon a rude gang 
 of satyrs, 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 
 satyrs ! And once, while crossing a solitary sheep- 
 pasture, she saw a personage named Pan, seated at the 
 foot of a tall rock, and making music on a shepherd s 
 flute. He, too, had horns, and hairy ears, and goat s 
 feet ; but, being acquainted with Mother Ceres, he an 
 swered her question as civilly as he knew how, and in 
 vited her to taste some milk and honey out of a wooden 
 bowl. But neither could Pan tell her what had be 
 come of Proserpina, any better than the rest of these 
 wild people. 
 
 And thus Mother Ceres went wandering about for 
 nine long days and nights, finding no trace of Proser 
 pina, 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 her poor 
 child s hand. All day she travelled onward through 
 
358 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 the hot sun ; and at night, again, the flame of the 
 torch would redden and gleam along the pathway, and 
 the continued her search by its light, without ever sit 
 ting down to rest. 
 
 On the tenth day, she chanced to espy 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 burn 
 ing there. It flickered, and struggled with the duski 
 ness, but could not half light up the gloomy cavern 
 with all its melancholy glimmer. Ceres 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 woman 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 Ceres, 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 de 
 lighted to be. 
 
 " I am wretched enough now," thought poor Ceres, 
 " to talk with this melancholy Hecate, were 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. 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 359 
 
 "O Hecate," 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 Hecate, in a cracked voice, and 
 sighing betwixt every word or two, " no, Mother 
 Ceres, 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 affright, 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 misera 
 ble, 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 kill me by saying so," cried Ceres, almost 
 ready to faint. " Where was the sound, and which 
 way did it seem to go ? " 
 
 " It passed very swiftly along," said Hecate, " 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 Hecate," replied Ceres. " 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 my 
 self 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 
 
360 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 of the earth, I will not allow myself space even to 
 grieve." 
 
 The dismal Hecate did not much like the idea of 
 going abroad into the sunny world. But then she re 
 flected that the sorrow of the disconsolate Ceres would 
 be like a gloomy twilight round about them both, let 
 the sun shine 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, al 
 though it was broad daylight and clear sunshine. The 
 torchlight seemed to make a gloom ; so that the peo 
 ple whom they met along the road could not very dis 
 tinctly see their figures ; and, indeed, if they once 
 caught a glimpse of Hecate, with the wreath of snakes 
 round her forehead, they generally thought it prudent 
 to run away, without waiting for a second glance. 
 
 As the pair travelled along in this woe-begone man 
 ner, a thought struck Ceres. 
 
 " 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 be 
 fore ? It is Phoebus." 
 
 " What," said Hecate, " 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 
 Ceres. " Come, let us make haste, or the sunshine 
 will be gone, and Phcebus along with it." 
 
 Accordingly, they went along in quest of Phcebus. 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 361 
 
 both of them sighing grievously, and Hecate, to say 
 the truth, making a great deal worse lamentation than 
 Ceres ; 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 ar 
 rived at the sunniest spot in the whole world. There 
 they beheld a beautiful young man, with long, curl 
 ing ringlets, which seemed to be made of golden sun 
 beams ; his garments were like light summer clouds ; 
 and the expression of his face was so exceedingly 
 vivid, that Hecate held her hands before her eyes, 
 muttering that he ought to wear a black veil. Phcebus 
 (for this was the very person whom they were seeking) 
 had a lyre in his hands, and was making its chords 
 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 Ceres and her dismal companion approached 
 him, Phcebus smiled on them so cheerfully that Hec 
 ate s wreath of snakes gave a spiteful hiss, and Hec 
 ate heartily wished herself back in her cave. But as 
 for Ceres, 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, endeavoring 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 
 ago 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 
 
362 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 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 Ceres, clasp 
 ing 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 ex 
 quisite 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 man 
 ner of precious stones will be your daughter s ordi 
 nary playthings. 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 lead a very enviable life." 
 
 " Hush ! Say not such a word ! " answered Ceres, 
 indignantly. "What is there to gratify her heart? 
 What are all the splendors you speak of, without af 
 fection ? I must have her back again. Will you go 
 with me, Phcebus, to demand my daughter of this 
 wicked Pluto ? " 
 
 " Pray excuse me," replied Phoebus, with an ele 
 gant obeisance. " I certainly wish you success, and 
 regret that my own affairs are so immediately press 
 ing 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." 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 363 
 
 " Ah, Phoebus," said Ceres, with bitter meaning in 
 her words, " you have a harp instead of a heart. 
 Farewell." 
 
 " Will not you stay a moment," asked Phoebus, 
 " and hear me turn the pretty and touching story of 
 Proserpina into extemporary verses ? " 
 
 But Ceres shook her head, and hastened away, 
 along with Hecate. 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 heart 
 strings to make chords for his lyre, he may thrum 
 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. 
 
 Poor Mother Ceres had now found out what had be 
 come of her daughter, but was not a whit happier than 
 before. Her case, on the contrary, looked more des 
 perate than ever. 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 Hecate, who loved to take the darkest view of 
 things, told Ceres that she had better come with her 
 to the cavern, and spend the rest of her life in being 
 miserable. Ceres answered that Hecate was welcome 
 to go back thither herself, but that, for her part, she 
 would wander about the earth in quest of the entrance 
 to King Pluto s dominions. And Hecate took her at 
 
364 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 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 Ceres ! 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 morn 
 ing 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 Ceres, who had 
 the oversight of every seed which the husbandman 
 planted. Nowadays, however, she gave herself no 
 trouble about seed-time nor harvest, but left the far 
 mers 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 Ceres seemed to feel an in 
 terest, unless when she saw children at play, or gath 
 ering 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 Ceres, 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 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 365 
 
 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 en 
 trance to Pluto s kingdom, she came to the palace of 
 King Celeus, who reigned at Eleusis. 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 110 
 food, and was all the time moaning with pain. The 
 queen her name was Metanira 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 per 
 son whom she needed. So Queen Metanira ran to 
 the door, with the poor wailing baby in her arms, and 
 besought Ceres 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 
 Ceres. 
 
 " Yes, and gladly too," 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 Ceres. "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 bo 
 som. 
 
 So Mother Ceres set her torch in a corner (where 
 it kept burning all the while), and took up her abode 
 
366 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 in the palace of King Celeus, as nurse to the little 
 Prince Demophoon. 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 how 
 quickly the baby prince got 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 puniest imp in the world (as his own 
 mother confessed him to be when Ceres first took him 
 in charge), he was now a strapping baby, crowing, 
 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," Ceres always replied ; " and 
 having nursed my own child, I know what other chil 
 dren need." 
 
 But Queen Metanira, as was very natural, had a 
 great curiosity to know precisely what the nurse did 
 to her child. One night, therefore, she hid herself in 
 the chamber where Ceres 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 lay glowing on the hearth, with a blaze flicker- 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 367 
 
 ing up now and then, and flinging a warm and ruddy 
 light upon the walls. Ceres sat before the hearth with 
 the child in her lap, and the firelight making her 
 shadow dance upon the ceiling overhead. She un 
 dressed 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 clap 
 ping 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), Ceres sud 
 denly 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 Metanira 
 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 
 Demophoon out of his bed of live coals, one of which 
 he was griping 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 Ceres, and asked 
 her to explain the mystery. 
 
 " Foolish woman," answered Ceres, " did you not 
 promise to intrust 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 for- 
 
368 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 ever. Do you imagine that earthly children are to be 
 come 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 Be 
 rn opho on, and sighed to think what he had lost, and 
 took her departure without heeding Queen Metanira, 
 who entreated her to remain, and cover up the child 
 among the hot embers as often as she pleased. Poor 
 baby ! He never slept so warmly again. 
 
 While she dwelt in the king s palace, Mother Ceres 
 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 stalk 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 re 
 stored. 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 
 especial permission of Ceres, you may conceive what 
 a terrible calamity had here fallen upon the earth. 
 The husbandmen ploughed 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 Novem- 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 369 
 
 ber. The rich man s broad acres and the cottager s 
 small garden-patch were equally blighted. Every little 
 girl s flower-bed showed nothing but dry stalks. 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 
 Ceres, lowing and bleating, 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 Ceres, though naturally of 
 an affectionate disposition, was now inexorable. 
 
 " Never," said she. " If the earth is ever again to 
 see any verdure, 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 accord 
 ingly 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 there 
 abouts 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 settle 
 
 VOL. iv. 24 
 
870 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 their business together, we must inquire what Proser 
 pina 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 la 
 dies, I am given to understand, possess the faculty of 
 living on air, and Proserpina seems 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, inasmuch 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 reso 
 lutely refused to taste them. 
 
 All this time, being of a cheerful and active disposi 
 tion, the little damsel was not quite so unhappy as you 
 may have supposed. The immense palace had a thou 
 sand 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 brill 
 iant of the many-colored gems, which Proserpina had 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 371 
 
 for playthings, vie 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 that it had before been. The in 
 habitants 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 cloudy-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 hun 
 dred 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. Per 
 haps, too, one day or other, I might come back, and 
 pay you a visit." 
 
 " No, no," answered Pluto, with his gloomy smile, 
 u I will not trust you for that. You are too fond of 
 living in the broad daylight, 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 flinging them to the 
 other end of the hall. " Oh my sweet violets, shall I 
 never see you again ? " 
 
372 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 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 merrily as she and the four sea- 
 nymphs 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 melan 
 choly, 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 Proser 
 pina shrank away from the kiss, for though his fea 
 tures 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 Pro 
 serpina tasted a morsel of food in his dominions, she 
 would never afterwards be at liberty to quit them. 
 
 " No, indeed," said Proserpina. " Your head cook 
 is always baking, and stewing, and roasting, and roll 
 ing out paste, and contriving one dish or another, 
 which he imagines may be to my liking. But he 
 might just as well save himself the trouble, poor, fat 
 little man that he is. I have no appetite for anything 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 373 
 
 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 cook s made dishes and artificial dainties 
 were not half so delicious, in the good child s opinion, 
 as the simple fare to which Mother Ceres had accus 
 tomed her. Wondering that he had never thought of 
 it before, the king now sent one of his trusty attend 
 ants, with a large basket, to get some of the finest and 
 juiciest pears, peaches, and plums which could any 
 where be found in the upper world. Unfortunately, 
 however, this was during the time when Ceres 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 magnifi 
 cent 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 Quicksilver had gone up 
 the front steps, on his errand 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 wizened 
 
874 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 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-look 
 ing 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 everlast 
 ing pity! Before Proserpina knew what she was 
 about, her teeth had actually bitten it, of their own 
 accord. Just as this fatal deed was done, the door of 
 the apartment opened, and in came King Pluto, fol 
 lowed 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, 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 375 
 
 " 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 for 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 a 
 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, Pro 
 serpina found it impossible to take leave of poor King 
 Pluto without some regrets, and a good deal of com 
 punction 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, his 
 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 
 
376 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 many kind things she might have said to the discon 
 solate 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 you on the golden salver." 
 
 In a very short time, they had passed the great 
 gate-way (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 bar 
 renness. 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 Ceres 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 past, 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 
 mv child came back." 
 
THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 377 
 
 Lifting her eyes, she was surprised to see a sudden 
 verdure flashing over the brown and barren fields, ex 
 actly as you may have observed a golden hue gleam 
 ing far and wide across the landscape, from the just 
 risen sun. 
 
 " Does the earth disobey me ? " exclaimed Mother 
 Ceres, 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 flung 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 Ceres 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 to-day, 
 they brought me a pomegranate (a very dry one it 
 was, and all shrivelled 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 swal 
 lowed a morsel ; but dear mother, I hope it was no 
 harm but six of the pomegranate seeds, I am afraid, 
 remained in my mouth." 
 
378 THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS. 
 
 " Ah, unfortunate child, and miserable me ! " ex 
 claimed Ceres. " 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 1 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 up 
 stairs 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." 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 WHEN Jason, the son of the dethroned King of 
 lolchos, was a little boy, he was sent away from his 
 parents, and placed under the queerest schoolmaster 
 that ever you heard of. This learned person was one 
 of the people, or quadrupeds, called Centaurs. He 
 lived in a cavern, and had the body and legs of a 
 white horse, with the head and shoulders of a man. 
 His name was Chiron ; and, in spite of his odd ap 
 pearance, he was a very excellent teacher, and had 
 several scholars, who afterwards did him credit by 
 making a great figure in the world. The famous Her 
 cules was one, and so was Achilles, and Philoctetes, 
 likewise, and .ZEsculapius, who acquired immense re 
 pute as a doctor. The good Chiron taught his pupils 
 how to play upon the harp, and how to cure diseases, 
 and how to use the sword and shield, together with va 
 rious other branches of education, in which the lads 
 of those days used to be instructed, instead of writing 
 and arithmetic. 
 
 I have sometimes suspected that Master Chiron was 
 not really very different from other people, but that, 
 being a kind-hearted and merry old fellow, he was in 
 the habit of making believe that he was a horse, and 
 scrambling about the school-room on all fours, and let 
 ting the little boys ride upon his back. And so, when 
 his scholars had grown up, and grown old, and were 
 trotting their grandchildren on their knees, they told 
 them about the sports of their school-days ; and these 
 
380 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 young 1 folks took the idea that their grandfathers had 
 been taught their letters by a Centaur, half man and 
 half horse. Little children, not quite understanding 
 what is said to them, often get such absurd notions 
 into their heads, you know. 
 
 Be that as it may, it has always been told for a fact 
 (and always will be told, as long as the world lasts), 
 that Chiron, with the head of a schoolmaster, had the 
 body and legs of a horse. Just imagine the grave old 
 gentleman clattering and stamping into the school 
 room on his four hoofs, perhaps treading on some lit 
 tle fellow s toes, flourishing his switch tail instead of a 
 rod, and, now and then, trotting out of doors to eat a 
 mouthful of grass ! I wonder what the blacksmith 
 charged him for a set of iron shoes. 
 
 So Jason dwelt in the cave, with this four-footed 
 Chiron, from the time that he was an infant, only a 
 few months old, until he had grown to the full height 
 of a man. He became a very good harper, I suppose, 
 and skilful in the use of weapons, and tolerably ac 
 quainted with herbs and other doctor s stuff, and, above 
 all, an admirable horseman; for, in teaching young 
 people to ride, the good Chiron must have been without 
 a rival among schoolmasters. At length, being now a 
 tall and athletic youth, Jason resolved to seek his 
 fortune in the world, without asking Chiron s advice, 
 or telling him anything about the matter. This was 
 very unwise, to be sure ; and I hope none of you, my 
 little hearers, will ever follow Jason s example. But, 
 you are to understand, he had heard how that he him 
 self was a prince royal, and how his father, King 
 ^Eson, had been deprived of the kingdom of lolchos 
 by a certain Pelias, who would also have killed Jason, 
 had he not been hidden in the Centaur s cave. 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 381 
 
 being come to the strength of a man, Jason deter 
 mined to set all this business to rights, and to punish 
 the wicked Pelias for wronging his dear father, and 
 to cast him down from the throne, and seat himself 
 there instead. 
 
 With this intention, he took a spear in each hand, 
 and threw a leopard s skin over his shoulders, to keep 
 off the rain, and set forth on his travels, with his long 
 yellow ringlets waving in the wind. The part of his 
 dress on which he most prided himself was a pair of 
 sandals, that had been his father s. They were hand 
 somely embroidered, and were tied upon his feet with 
 strings of gold. But his whole attire was such as peo 
 ple did not very often see ; and as he passed along, 
 the women and children ran to the doors and windows, 
 wondering whither this beautiful youth was journey 
 ing, with his leopard s skin and his golden-tied san 
 dals, and what heroic deeds he meant to perform, with 
 a spear in his right hand and another in his left. 
 
 I know not how far Jason had travelled, when he 
 came to a turbulent river, which rushed right across 
 his pathway, with specks of white foam among its 
 black eddies, hurrying tumultuously onward, and roar 
 ing angrily as it went. Though not a very broad river 
 in the dry seasons of the year, it was now swollen by 
 heavy rains and by the melting of the snow on the 
 sides of Mount Olympus ; and it thundered so loudly, 
 and looked so wild and dangerous, that Jason, bold as 
 he was, thought it prudent to pause upon the brink. 
 The bed of the stream seemed to be strewn with sharp 
 and rugged rocks, some of which thrust themselves 
 above the water. By and by, an uprooted tree, with 
 shattered branches, came drifting along the current, 
 and got entangled among the rocks. Now and then, 
 
882 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 a drowned sheep, and once the carcass of a cow, 
 floated past. 
 
 In short, the swollen river had already done a great 
 deal of mischief. It was evidently too deep for Jason 
 to wade, and too boisterous for him to swim ; he could 
 see no bridge ; and as for a boat, had there been any, 
 the rocks would have broken it to pieces in an instant. 
 
 " See the poor lad," said a cracked voice close to 
 his side. " He must have had but a poor education, 
 since he does not know how to cross a little stream 
 like this. Or is he afraid of wetting his fine golden - 
 stringed sandals ? It is a pity his four-footed school 
 master is not here to carry him safely across on his 
 back ! " 
 
 Jason looked round greatly surprised, for he did 
 not know that anybody was near. But beside him 
 stood an old woman, with a ragged mantle over her 
 head, leaning on a staff, the top of which was carved 
 into the shape of a cuckoo. She looked very aged, 
 and wrinkled, and infirm ; and yet her eyes, which 
 were as brown as those of an ox, were so extremely 
 large and beautiful, that, when they were fixed on 
 Jason s eyes, he could see nothing else but them. The 
 old woman had a pomegranate in her hand, although 
 the fruit was then quite out of season. 
 
 " Whither are you going, Jason ? " she now asked. 
 
 She seemed to know his name, you will observe ; 
 and, indeed, those great brown eyes looked as if they 
 had a knowledge of everything, whether past or to 
 come. While Jason was gazing at her, a peacock 
 strutted forward and took his stand at the old woman s 
 side. 
 
 " I am going to lolchos," answered the young man, 
 " to bid the wicked King Pelias come down from my 
 father s throne, and let me reign in his stead." 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 385 
 
 " Ah, well, then," said the old woman, still with the 
 same cracked voice, " if that is all your business, you 
 need not be in a very great hurry. Just take me on 
 your back, there s a good youth, and carry me across 
 the river. I and my peacock have something to do on 
 the other side, as well as yourself." 
 
 " Good mother," replied Jason, " your business can 
 hardly be so important as the pulling down a king 
 from his throne. Besides, as you may see for your 
 self, the river is very boisterous ; and if I should 
 chance to stumble, it would sweep both of us away 
 more easily than it has carried off yonder uprooted 
 tree. I would gladly help you if I could ; but I doubt 
 whether I am strong enough to carry you across." 
 
 " Then," said she, very scornfully, " neither are you 
 strong enough to pull King Pelias off his throne. 
 And, Jason, unless you will help an old woman at her 
 need, you ought not to be a king. What are kings 
 made for, save to succor the feeble and distressed? 
 But do as you please. Either take me on your back, 
 or with my poor old limbs I shall try my best to 
 struggle across the stream." 
 
 Saying this, the old woman poked with her staff in 
 the river, as if to find the safest place in its rocky bed 
 where she might make the first step. But Jason, by 
 this time, had grown ashamed of his reluctance to help 
 her. He felt that he could never forgive himself, if 
 this poor feeble creature should come to any harm in 
 attempting to wrestle against the headlong current. 
 The good Chiron, whether half horse or no, had 
 taught him that the noblest use of his strength was to 
 assist the weak ; and also that he must treat every 
 young woman as if she were his sister, and every old 
 one like a mother. Remembering these maxims, the 
 
384 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 vigorous and beautiful young man knelt down, and re 
 quested the good dame to mount upon his back. 
 
 "The passage seems to me not very safe," he re 
 marked. " But as your business is so urgent, I will 
 try to carry you across. If the river sweeps you 
 away, it shall take me too." 
 
 " That, no doubt, will be a great comfort to both of 
 us," quoth the old woman. " But never fear. We 
 shall get safely across." 
 
 So she threw her arms around Jason s neck ; and 
 lifting her from the ground, he stepped boldly into the 
 raging and foamy current, and began to stagger away 
 from the shore. As for the peacock, it alighted on 
 the old dame s shoulder. Jason s two spears, one in 
 each hand, kept him from stumbling, and enabled him 
 to feel his way among the hidden rocks ; although, 
 every instant, he expected that his companion and 
 himself would go down the stream, together with the 
 drift-wood of shattered trees, and the carcasses of the 
 sheep and cow. Down came the cold, snowy torrent 
 from the steep side of Olympus, raging and thunder 
 ing as if it had a real spite against Jason, or, at all 
 events, were determined to snatch off his living bur 
 den from his shoulders. When he was half-way 
 across, the uprooted tree (which I have already told 
 you about) broke loose from among the rocks, and 
 bore down upon him, with all its splintered branches 
 sticking out like the hundred arms of the giant Bria- 
 reus. It rushed past, however, without touching him. 
 But the next moment, his foot was caught in a erevice 
 between two rocks, and stuck there so fast, that, in 
 the effort to get free, he lost one of his golden-stringed 
 sandals. 
 
 At this accident Jason could not help uttering a 
 cry of vexation. 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 385 
 
 " What is the matter, Jason ? " asked the old woman. 
 
 " Matter enough," said the young man. " I have 
 lost a sandal here among the rocks. And what sort 
 of a figure shall I cut at the court of King Pelias, 
 with a golden-stringed sandal on one foot, and the 
 other foot bare ! " 
 
 " Do not take it to heart," answered his companion, 
 cheerily. " You never met with better fortune than 
 in losing that sandal. It satisfies me that you are the 
 very person whom the Speaking Oak has been talking 
 about." 
 
 There was no time, just then, to inquire what the 
 Speaking Oak had said. But the briskness of her 
 tone encouraged the young man ; and besides, he had 
 never in his life felt so vigorous and mighty as since 
 taking this old woman on his back. Instead of being 
 exhausted, he gathered strength as he went on ; and, 
 struggling up against the torrent, he at last gained the 
 opposite shore, clambered up the bank, and set down 
 the old dame and her peacock safely on the grass. As 
 soon as this was done, however, he could not help look 
 ing rather despondently at his bare foot, with only a 
 remnant of the golden string of the sandal clinging 
 round his ankle. 
 
 " You will get a handsomer pair of sandals by and 
 by," said the old woman, with a kindly look out of her 
 beautiful brown eyes. " Only let King Pelias get a 
 glimpse of that bare foot, and you shall see him turn 
 as pale as ashes, I promise you. There is your path. 
 Go along, my good Jason, and my blessing go with 
 you. And when you sit on your throne, remember the 
 old woman whom you helped over the river." 
 
 With these words, she hobbled away, giving him a 
 smile over her shoulder as she departed. Whether 
 
 VOL. iv. 25 
 
386 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 the light of her beautiful brown eyes threw a glory 
 round about her, or whatever the cause might be, Jason 
 fancied that there was something very noble and ma 
 jestic in her figure, after all, and that, though her gait 
 seemed to be a rheumatic hobble, yet she moved with 
 as much grace and dignity as any queen on earth. 
 Her peacock, which had now fluttered down from her 
 shoulder, strutted behind her in prodigious pomp, and 
 spread out its magnificent tail on purpose for Jason to 
 admire it. 
 
 When the old dame and her peacock were out of 
 sight, Jason set forward on his journey. After travel 
 ling a pretty long distance, he came to a town situated 
 at the foot of a mountain, and not a great way from 
 the shore of the sea. On the outside of the town 
 there was an immense crowd of people, not only men 
 and women, but children, too, all in their best clothes, 
 and evidently enjoying a holiday. The crowd was 
 thickest towards the sea-shore ; and in that direction, 
 over the people s heads, Jason saw a wreath of smoke 
 curling upward to the blue sky. He inquired of one 
 of the multitude what town it was, near by, and why 
 so many persons were here assembled together. 
 
 " This is the kingdom of lolchos," answered the 
 man, " and we are the subjects of King Pelias. Our 
 monarch has summoned us together, that we may see 
 him sacrifice a black bull to Neptune, who, they say, 
 is his Majesty s father. Yonder is the king, where 
 ,you see the smoke going up from the altar." 
 
 While the man spoke he eyed Jason with great cu 
 riosity ; for his garb was quite unlike that of the 
 lolchians, and it looked very odd to see a youth with 
 a leopard s skin over his shoulders, and each hand 
 grasping a spear. Jason perceived, too, that the man 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 387 
 
 stared particularly at his feet, one of which, you re 
 member, was bare, while the other was decorated with 
 his father s golden-stringed sandal. 
 
 " Look at him ! only look at him ! " said the man 
 to his next neighbor. " Do you see ? He wears but 
 one sandal ! " 
 
 Upon this, first one person, and then another, began 
 to stare at Jason, and everybody seemed to be greatly 
 struck with something in his aspect ; though they 
 turned their eyes much oftener towards his feet than 
 to any other part of his figure. Besides, he could hear 
 them whispering to one another. 
 
 " One sandal ! One sandal ! " they kept saying. 
 " The man with one sandal ! Here he is at last ! 
 Whence has he come ? What does he mean to do ? 
 What will the king say to the one-sandalled man ? " 
 
 Poor Jason was greatly abashed, and made up his 
 mind that the people of lolchos were exceedingly ill 
 bred, to take such public notice of an accidental de 
 ficiency in his dress. Meanwhile, whether it were that 
 they hustled him forward, or that Jason, of his own 
 accord, thrust a passage through the crowd, it so hap 
 pened that he soon found himself close to the smoking 
 altar, where King Pelias was sacrificing the black bull. 
 The murmur and hum of the multitude, in their sur 
 prise at the spectacle of Jason with his one bare foot, 
 grew so loud that it disturbed the ceremonies ; and the 
 king, holding the great knife with which he was just 
 going to cut the bull s throat, turned angrily about, 
 and fixed his eyes on Jason. The people had now 
 withdrawn from around him, so that the youth stood 
 in an open space near the smoking altar, front to front 
 with the angry King Pelias. 
 
 " Who are you ? " cried the king, with a terrible 
 
388 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 frown. " And how dare you make this disturbance, 
 while I am sacrificing a black bull to my father Nep 
 tune ? " 
 
 " It is no fault of mine," answered Jason. " Your 
 Majesty must blame the rudeness of your subjects, 
 who have raised all this tumult because one of my feet 
 happens to be bare." 
 
 When Jason said this, the king gave a quick, 
 startled glance down at his feet. 
 
 " Ha ! " muttered he, " here is the one-sandalled 
 fellow, sure enough ! What can I do with him ? " 
 
 And he clutched more closely the great knife in his 
 hand, as if he were half a mind to slay Jason instead 
 of the black bull. The people round about caught 
 up the king s words indistinctly as they were uttered ; 
 and first there was a murmur among them, and then a 
 loud shout. 
 
 " The one-sandalled man has come ! The prophecy 
 must be fulfilled!" 
 
 For you are to know that, many years before, King 
 Pelias had been told by the Speaking Oak of Dodona, 
 that a man with one sandal should cast him down 
 from his throne. On this account, he had given strict 
 orders that nobody should ever come into his presence, 
 unless both sandals were securely tied upon his feet ; 
 and he kept an officer in his palace, whose sole busi 
 ness it was to examine people s sandals, and to supply 
 them with a new pair, at the expense of the royal 
 treasury, as soon as the old ones began to wear out. 
 In the whole course of the king s reign, he had never 
 been thrown into such a fright and agitation as by the 
 spectacle of poor Jason s bare foot. But, as he was 
 naturally a bold and hard-hearted man, he soon took 
 courage, and began to consider in what way he might 
 rid himself of this terrible one-sandalled stranger. 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 389 
 
 " My good young man," said King Pelias, taking 
 the softest tone imaginable, in order to throw Jason 
 oft his guard, " you are excessively welcome to my 
 kingdom. Judging by your dress, you must have 
 travelled a long distance ; for it is not the fashion to 
 wear leopard-skins in this part of the world. Pray 
 what may I call your name ? and where did you re 
 ceive your education ? " 
 
 " My name is Jason," answered the young stranger. 
 " Ever since my infancy, I have dwelt in the cave of 
 Chiron the Centaur. He was my instructor, and 
 taught me music, and horsemanship, and how to cure 
 wounds, and likewise how to inflict wounds with my 
 weapons ! " 
 
 " I have heard of Chiron the schoolmaster," replied 
 King Pelias, " and how that there is an immense deal 
 of learning and wisdom in his head, although it hap 
 pens to be set on a horse s body. It gives me great 
 delight to see one of his scholars at my court. But, 
 to test how much you have profited under so excellent 
 a teacher, will you allow me to ask you a single ques 
 tion?" 
 
 "I do not pretend to be very wise," said Jason. 
 44 But ask me what you please, and I will answer to 
 the best of my ability." 
 
 Now King Pelias meant cunningly to entrap the 
 young man, and to make him say something that 
 should be the cause of mischief and destruction to 
 himself. So with a crafty and evil smile upon his 
 face, he spoke as follows : 
 
 " What would you do, brave Jason," asked he, " if 
 there were a man in the world, by whom, as you had 
 reason to believe, you were doomed to be ruined and 
 slain, what would you do, I say, if that man stood 
 before you, and in your power ? " 
 
390 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 When Jason saw the malice and wickedness which 
 King Pelias could not prevent from gleaming out of 
 his eyes, he probably guessed that the king had dis 
 covered what he came for, and that he intended to 
 turn his own words against himself. Still he scorned 
 to tell a falsehood. Like an upright and honorable 
 prince, as he was, he determined to speak out the real 
 truth, Since the king had chosen to ask him the ques 
 tion, and since Jason had promised him an answer, 
 there was no right way, save to tell him precisely what 
 would be the most prudent thing to do, if he had his 
 worst enemy in his power. 
 
 Therefore, after a moment s consideration, he spoke 
 up, with a firm and manly voice. 
 
 " I would send such a man," said he, " in quest of 
 the Golden Fleece ! " 
 
 This enterprise, you will understand, was, of all 
 others, the most difficult and dangerous in the world. 
 In the first place, it would be necessary to make a 
 long voyage through unknown seas. There was hardly 
 a hope, or a possibility, that any young man who 
 should undertake this voyage would either succeed in 
 obtaining the Golden Fleece, or would survive to re 
 turn home, and tell of the perils he had run. The 
 eyes of King Pelias sparkled with joy, therefore, when 
 he heard Jason s reply. 
 
 " Well said, wise man with the one sandal ! " cried 
 he. " Go, then, and, at the peril of your life, bring 
 me back the Golden Fleece." 
 
 " I go," answered Jason, composedly. " If I fail, 
 you need not fear that I will ever come back to 
 trouble you again. But if I return to lolchos with 
 the prize, then, King Pelias, you must hasten down 
 from your lofty throne, and give me your crown and 
 sceptre." 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 391 
 
 " That I will," said the king, with a sneer. " Mean 
 time, I will keep them very safely for you." 
 
 The first thing that Jason thought of doing, after 
 he left the king s presence, was to go to Dodona, and 
 inquire of the Talking Oak what course it was best to 
 pursue. This wonderful tree stood in the centre of an 
 ancient wood. Its stately trunk rose up a hundred 
 feet into the air, and threw a broad and dense shadow 
 over more than an acre of ground. Standing beneath 
 it, Jason looked up among the knotted branches and 
 green leaves, and into the mysterious heart of the old 
 tree, and spoke aloud, as if he were addressing some 
 person who was hidden in the depths of the foliage. 
 
 " What shall I do," said he, " in order to win the 
 Golden Fleece?" 
 
 At first there was a deep silence, not only within 
 the shadow of the Talking Oak, but all through the 
 solitary wood. In a moment or two, however, the 
 leaves of the oak began to stir and rustle, as if a 
 gentle breeze were wandering amongst them, although 
 the other trees of the wood were perfectly still. The 
 sound grew louder, and became like the roar of a 
 high wind. By and by, Jason imagined that he could 
 distinguish words, but very confusedly, because each 
 separate leaf of the tree seemed to be a tongue, and 
 the whole myriad of tongues were babbling at once. 
 But the noise waxed broader and deeper, until it re 
 sembled a tornado sweeping through the oak, and 
 making one great utterance out of the thousand and 
 thousand of little murmurs which each leafv tongue 
 had caused by its rustling. And now, though it still 
 had the tone of mighty wind roaring among the 
 branches, it was also like a deep bass voice, speaking, 
 as distinctly as a tree could be expected to speak, the 
 following words : 
 
892 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 " Go to Argus, the ship-builder, and bid him build 
 a galley with fifty oars." 
 
 Then the voice melted again into the indistinct 
 murmur of the rustling leaves, and died gradually 
 away. When it was quite gone, Jason felt inclined 
 to doubt whether he had actually heard the words, or 
 whether his fancy had not shaped them out of the or 
 dinary sound made by a breeze, while passing through 
 the thick foliage of the tree. 
 
 But on inquiry among the people of lolchos, he 
 found that there was really a man in the city, by the 
 name of Argus, who was a very skilful builder of ves 
 sels. This showed some intelligence in the oak ; else 
 how should it have known that any such person ex 
 isted ? At Jason s request, Argus readily consented 
 to build him a galley so big that it should require fifty 
 strong men to row it ; although no vessel of such a 
 size and burden had heretofore been seen in the world. 
 So the head carpenter, and all his journeymen and 
 apprentices, began their work ; and for a good while 
 afterwards, there they were, busily employed, hewing 
 out the timbers, and making a great clatter with their 
 hammers ; until the new ship, which was called the 
 Argo, seemed to be quite ready for sea. And, as the 
 Talking Oak had already given him such good advice, 
 Jason thought that it would not be amiss to ask for a 
 little more. He visited it again, therefore, and stand 
 ing beside its huge, rough trunk, inquired what he 
 should do next. 
 
 This time, there was no such universal quivering 
 of the leaves, throughout the whole tree, as there had 
 been before. But after a while, Jason observed that 
 the foliage of a great branch which stretched above 
 his head had begun to rustle, as if the wind were 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 stirring that one bough, while all the other boughs of 
 the oak were at rest. 
 
 " Cut me off ! " said the branch, as soon as it could 
 speak distinctly, --"cut me off! cut me off! and 
 carve me into a figure-head for your galley." 
 
 Accordingly, Jason took the branch at its word, and 
 lopped it off the tree. A carver in the neighborhood 
 engaged to make the figure-head. He was a tolerably 
 good workman, and had already carved several figure 
 heads, in what he intended for feminine shapes, and 
 looking pretty much like those which we see nowadays 
 stuck up under a vessel s bowsprit, with great staring 
 eyes, that never wink at the dash of the spray. But 
 (what was very strange) the carver found that his 
 hand was guided by some unseen power, and by a skill 
 beyond his own, and that his tools shaped out an 
 image which he had never dreamed of. When the 
 work was finished, it turned out to be the figure of 
 a beautiful woman with a helmet on her head, from 
 beneath which the long ringlets fell down upon her 
 shoulders. On the left arm was a shield, and in its 
 centre appeared a lifelike representation of the head 
 of Medusa with the snaky locks. The right arm was 
 extended, as if pointing onward. The face of this 
 wonderful statue, though not angry or forbidding, was 
 so grave and majestic, that perhaps you might call it 
 severe ; and as for the mouth, it seemed just ready 
 to unclose its lips, and utter words of the deepest 
 wisdom. 
 
 Jason was delighted with the oaken image, and gave 
 the carver no rest until it was completed, and set up 
 where a figure-head has always stood, from that time 
 to this, in the vessel s prow 
 
 "And now," "ried he, as he stood gazing at the 
 
394 TUB GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 calm, majestic face of the statue, " I must go to the 
 Talking Oak, and inquire what next to do." 
 
 "There is no need of that, Jason," said a voice 
 which, though it was far lower, reminded him of the 
 mighty tones of the great oak. " When you desire 
 good advice, you can seek it of me." 
 
 Jason had been looking straight into the face of the 
 image when these words were spoken. But he could 
 hardly believe either his ears or his eyes. The truth 
 was, however, that the oaken lips had moved, and, to 
 all appearance, the voice had proceeded from the stat 
 ue s mouth. Recovering a little from his surprise , 
 Jason bethought himself that the image had been 
 carved out of the wood of the Talking Oak, and that, 
 therefore, it was really no great wonder, but on the 
 contrary, the most natural thing in the world, that it 
 should possess the faculty of speech. It would have 
 been very odd, indeed, if it had not. But certainly it 
 was a great piece of good fortune that he should be 
 able to carry so wise a block of wood along with him 
 in his perilous voyage. 
 
 " Tell me, wondrous image," exclaimed Jason, 
 " since you inherit the wisdom of the Speaking Oak 
 of Dodona, whose daughter you are, tell me, where 
 shall I find fifty bold youths, who will take each of 
 them an oar of my galley ? They must have sturdy 
 arms to row, and brave hearts to encounter perils, or 
 we shall never win the Golden Fleece." 
 
 " Go," replied the oaken image, "go, summon all 
 the heroes of Greece." 
 
 And, in fact, considering what a great deed was to 
 be done, could any advice be wiser than this which 
 Jason received from the figure-head of his vessel ? He 
 lost no time in sending messengers to all the cities, 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 395 
 
 and making known to the whole people of Greece, that 
 Prince Jason, the son of King ^Eson, was going in 
 quest of the Fleece of Gold, and that he desired the 
 help of forty-nine of the bravest and strongest young 
 men alive, to row his vessel and share his dangers,. 
 And Jason himself would be the fiftieth. 
 
 At this news, the adventurous youths, all over the 
 country, began to bestir themselves. Some of them 
 had already fought with giants, and slain dragons; 
 and the younger ones, who had not yet met with such 
 good fortune, thought it a shame to have lived so long 
 without getting astride of a flying serpent, or stick 
 ing their spears into a Chimsera, or, at least, thrust 
 ing their right arms down a monstrous lion s throat. 
 There was a fair prospect that they would meet with 
 plenty of such adventures before finding the Golden 
 Fleece. As soon as they could furbish up their hel 
 mets and shields, therefore, and gird on their trusty 
 swords, they came thronging to lolchos, and clambered 
 on board the new galley. Shaking hands with Jason, 
 they assured him that they did not care a pin for their 
 lives, but would help row the vessel to the remotest 
 edge of the world, and as much farther as he might 
 think it best to go. 
 
 Many of these brave fellows had been educated by 
 Chiron, the four-footed pedagogue, and were therefore 
 old schoolmates of Jason, and knew him to be a lad 
 of spirit. The mighty Hercules, whose shoulders af 
 terwards held up the sky, was one of them. And 
 there were Castor and Pollux, the twin brothers, who 
 were never accused of being chicken-hearted, although 
 they had been hatched out of an egg ; and Theseus, 
 who was so renowned for killing the Minotaur ; and 
 Lynceus. with his wonderfully sharp eyes, which could 
 
396 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 see through a millstone, or look right down into the 
 depths of the earth, and discover the treasures that 
 were there ; and Orpheus, the very best of harpers, 
 who sang and played upon his lyre so sweetly, that 
 the brute beasts stood upon their hind legs, and ca 
 pered merrily to the music. Yes, and at some of his 
 more moving tunes, the rocks bestirred their moss- 
 grown bulk out of the ground, and a grove of forest 
 trees uprooted themselves, and, nodding their tops to 
 one another, performed a country dance. 
 
 One of the rowers was a beautiful young woman, 
 named Atalanta, who had been nursed among the 
 mountains by a bear. So light of foot was this fair 
 damsel that she could step from one foamy crest of a 
 wave to the foamy crest of another, without wetting 
 more than the sole of her sandal. She had grown up 
 in a very wild way, and talked much about the rights of 
 women, and loved hunting and war far better than her 
 needle. But, in my opinion, the most remarkable of 
 this famous company were two sons of the North Wind 
 (airy youngsters, and of rather a blustering disposi 
 tion), who had wings on their shoulders, and, in case 
 of a calm, could puff out their cheeks, and blow almost 
 as fresh a breeze as their father. I ought not to forget 
 the prophets and conjurers, of whom there were sev 
 eral in the crew, and who could foretell what would 
 happen to-morrow, or the next day, or a hundred years 
 hence, but were generally quite unconscious of what 
 was passing at the moment. 
 
 Jason appointed Tiphys to be helmsman, because 
 he was a star-gazer, and knew the points of the com 
 pass. Lynceus, on account of his sharp sight, was 
 stationed as a lookout in the prow, where he saw a 
 whole day s sail ahead, but was rather apt to overlook 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 397 
 
 things that lay directly under his nose. If the sea 
 only happened to be deep enough, however, Lynceus 
 could tell you exactly what kind of rocks or sands 
 were at the bottom of it ; and he often cried out to 
 his companions, that they were sailing over heaps of 
 sunken treasure, which yet he was none the richer for 
 beholding. To confess the truth, few people believed 
 him when he said it. 
 
 Well ! But when the Argonauts, as these fifty brave 
 adventurers were called, had prepared everything for 
 the voyage, an unforeseen difficulty threatened to end 
 it before it was begun. The vessel, you must under 
 stand, was so long, and broad, and ponderous, that 
 the united force of all the fifty was insufficient to 
 shove her into the water. Hercules, I suppose, had 
 not grown to his full strength, else he might have set 
 her afloat as easily as a little boy launches his boat 
 upon a puddle. But here were these fifty heroes push 
 ing, and straining, and growing red in the face, with 
 out making the Argo start an inch. At last, quite 
 wearied out, they sat themselves down on the shore, 
 exceedingly disconsolate, and thinking that the vessel 
 must be left to rot and fall in pieces, and that they 
 must either swim across the sea or lose the Golden 
 Fleece. 
 
 All at once, Jason bethought himself of the galley s 
 miraculous figure-head. 
 
 " O daughter of the Talking Oak," cried he, " how 
 shall we set to work to get our vessel into the water ? " 
 
 " Seat yourselves," answered the image (for it had 
 known what ought to be done from the very first, and 
 was only waiting for the question to be put), " seat 
 yourselves, and handle your oars, and let Orpheus 
 play upon his harp." 
 
398 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 Immediately the fifty heroes got on board, and seiz 
 ing their oars, held them perpendicularly in the air, 
 while Orpheus (who liked such a task far better than 
 rowing) swept his fingers across the harp. At the 
 first ringing note of the music, they felt the vessel stir, 
 Orpheus thrummed away briskly, and the galley slid 
 at once into the sea, dipping her prow so deeply that 
 the figure-head drank the wave with its marvellous 
 lips, and rose again as buoyant as a swan. The row 
 ers plied their fifty oars ; the white foam boiled up 
 before the prow ; the water gurgled and bubbled in 
 their wake ; while Orpheus continued to play so lively 
 a strain of music, that the vessel seemed to dance over 
 the billows by way of keeping time to it. Thus tri 
 umphantly did the Argo sail out of the harbor, amidst 
 the huzzas and good wishes of everybody except the 
 wicked old Pelias, who stood on a promontory, scowl 
 ing at her, and wishing that he could blow out of his 
 lungs the tempest of wrath that was in his heart, and 
 so sink the galley with all on board. When they had 
 sailed above fifty miles over the sea, Lynceus happened 
 to cast his sharp eyes behind, and said that there was 
 this bad-hearted king, still perched upon the promon 
 tory, and scowling so gloomily that it looked like a 
 black thunder-cloud in that quarter of the horizon. 
 
 In order to make the time pass away more pleas 
 antly during the voyage, the heroes talked about the 
 Golden Fleece. It originally belonged, it appears, to 
 a Boeotian ram, who had taken on his back two chil 
 dren, when in danger of their lives, and fled with them 
 over land and sea, as far as Colchis. One of the chil 
 dren, whose name was Ilelle, fell into the sea and was 
 drowned. But the other (a little boy, named Phrixus) 
 was brought safe ashore by the faithful ram, who, how- 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 399 
 
 ever, was so exhausted that he immediately lay down 
 and died. In memory of this good deed, and as a 
 token of his true heart, the fleece of the poor dead 
 ram was miraculously changed to gold, and became 
 one of the most beautiful objects ever seen on earth. 
 It was hung upon a tree in a sacred grove, where it 
 had now been kept I know not how many years, and 
 was the envy of mighty kings, who had nothing so 
 magnificent in any of their palaces. 
 
 If I were to tell you all the adventures of the Argo 
 nauts, it would take me till nightfall, and perhaps a 
 great deal longer. There was no lack of wonderful 
 events, as you may judge from what you may have al 
 ready heard. At a certain island they were hospitably 
 received by King Cyzicus, its sovereign, who made a 
 feast for them, and treated them like brothers. But 
 the Argonauts saw that this good king looked down 
 cast and very much troubled, and they therefore in 
 quired of him what was the matter. King Cyzicus 
 hereupon informed them that he and his subjects were 
 greatly abused and incommoded by the inhabitants of 
 a neighboring mountain, who made war upon them, 
 and killed many people, and ravaged the country. 
 And while they were talking about it, Cyzicus pointed 
 to the mountain, and asked Jason and his companions 
 what they saw there. 
 
 " I see some very tall objects," answered Jason ; 
 " but they are at such a distance that I cannot dis 
 tinctly make out what they are. To tell your Majesty 
 the truth, they look so very strangely that I am in 
 clined to think them clouds, which have chanced to 
 take something like human shapes." 
 
 " I see them very plainly," remarked Lynceus, whose 
 eyes, you know, were as far-sighted as a telescope. 
 
400 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 " They are a band of enormous giants, all of whom 
 have six arms apiece, and a club, a sword, or some 
 other weapon in each of their hands." 
 
 " You have excellent eyes," said King Cyzicus. 
 " Yes ; they are six-armed giants, as you say, and these 
 are the enemies whom I and my subjects have to con 
 tend with." 
 
 The next day, when the Argonauts were about set 
 ting sail, down came these terrible giants, stepping a 
 hundred yards at a stride, brandishing their six arms 
 apiece, and looking very formidable, so far aloft in 
 the air. Each of these monsters was able to carry on 
 a whole war by himself, for with one of his arms he 
 could fling immense stones, and wield a club with an 
 other, and a sword with a third, while the fourth was 
 poking a long spear at the enemy, and the fifth and 
 sixth were shooting him with a bow and arrow. But, 
 luckily, though the giants were so huge, and had so 
 many arms, they had each but one heart, and that no 
 bigger nor braver than the heart of an ordinary man. 
 Besides, if they had been like the hundred-armed Bri- 
 areus, the brave Argonauts would have given them 
 their hands full of fight. Jason and his friends went 
 
 O 
 
 boldly to meet them, slew a great many, and made 
 the rest take to their heels, so that, if the giants had 
 had six legs apiece instead of six arms, it would have 
 served them better to run away with. 
 
 Another strange adventure happened when the voy 
 agers came to Thrace, where they found a poor blind 
 king, named Phineus, deserted by his subjects, and 
 living in a very sorrowful way, all by himself. On 
 Jason s inquiring whether they could do him any 
 service, the king answered that he was terribly tor 
 mented by three great winged creatures, called Har- 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 401 
 
 pies, which had the faces of women, and the wings, 
 bodies, and claws of vultures. These ugly wretches 
 were in the habit of snatching away his dinner, and 
 allowed him no peace of his life. Upon hearing this, 
 the Argonauts spread a plentiful feast on the sea 
 shore, well knowing, from what the blind king said of 
 their greediness, that the Harpies would snuff up the 
 scent of the victuals, and quickly come to steal them 
 away. And so it turned out ; for, hardly was the ta 
 ble set, before the three hideous vulture women came 
 flapping their wings, seized the food in their talons, 
 and flew off as fast as they could. But the two sons 
 of the North Wind drew their swords, spread their 
 pinions, and set off through the air in pursuit of the 
 thieves, whom they at last overtook among some isl 
 ands, after a chase of hundreds of miles. The two 
 winged youths blustered terribly at the Harpies (for 
 they had the rough temper of their father), and so 
 frightened them with their drawn swords, that they 
 solemnly promised never to trouble King Phineus 
 again. 
 
 Then the Argonauts sailed onward, and met with 
 many other marvellous incidents any one of which 
 would make a story by itself. At one time, they 
 landed on an island, and were reposing on the grass, 
 when they suddenly found themselves assailed by 
 what seemed a shower of steel-headed arrows. Some 
 of them stuck in the ground, while others hit against 
 their shields, and several penetrated their flesh. The 
 fifty heroes started up, and looked about them for the 
 hidden enemy, but could find none, nor see any spot, 
 on the whole island, where even a single archer could 
 lie concealed. Still, however, the steel-headed arrows 
 came whizzing among them; and, at last, happening 
 
402 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 to look upward, they beheld a large flock of birds, 
 hovering and wheeling aloft, and shooting their feath 
 ers down upon the Argonauts. These feathers were 
 the steel-headed arrows that had so tormented them. 
 There was no possibility of making any resistance ; 
 and the fifty heroic Argonauts might all have been 
 killed or wounded by a flock of troublesome birds, 
 without ever setting eyes on the Golden Fleece, if 
 Jason had not thought of asking the advice of the 
 oaken image. 
 
 So he ran to the galley as fast as his legs would 
 carry him. 
 
 " O daughter of the Speaking Oak," cried he, all 
 out of breath, "we need your wisdom more than ever 
 before ! We are in great peril from a flock of birds, 
 who are shooting us with their steel-pointed feathers. 
 What can we do to drive them away ? " 
 
 " Make a clatter on your shields," said the image. 
 
 On receiving this excellent counsel, Jason hurried 
 back to his companions (who were far more dismayed 
 than when they fought with the six-armed giants), and 
 bade them strike with their swords upon their brazen 
 shields. Forthwith the fifty heroes set heartily to 
 work, banging with might and main, and raised such 
 a terrible clatter that the birds made what haste they 
 could to get away ; and though they had shot half the 
 feathers out of their wings, they were soon seen skim 
 ming among the clouds, a long distance off, and look 
 ing like a flock of wild geese. Orpheus celebrated 
 this victory by playing a triumphant anthem on his 
 harp, and sang so melodiously that Jason begged him 
 to desist, lest, as the steel-feathered birds had been 
 driven away by an ugly sound, they might be enticed 
 back again by a sweet one. 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 403 
 
 While the Argonauts remained on this island, they 
 saw a small vessel approaching the shore, in which 
 were two young men of princely demeanor, and ex 
 ceedingly handsome, as young princes generally were 
 in those days. Now, whom do you imagine these two 
 voyagers turned out to be ? Why, if you will believe 
 me, they were the sons of that very Phrixus, who, in 
 his childhood, had been carried to Colchis on the back 
 of the golden-fleeced ram. Since that time, Phrixus 
 had married the king s daughter ; and the two young 
 princes had been born and brought up at Colchis, and 
 had spent their play-days in the outskirts of the grove, 
 in the centre of which the Golden Fleece was hanging 
 upon a tree. They were now on their way to Greece, 
 in hopes of getting back a kingdom that had been 
 wrongfully taken from their father. 
 
 When the princes understood whither the Argonauts 
 were going, they offered to turn back and guide them 
 to Colchis. At the same time, however, they spoke as 
 if it were very doubtful whether Jason would succeed 
 in getting the Golden Fleece. According to their ac 
 count, the tree on which it hung was guarded by a ter 
 rible dragon, who never failed to devour, at one mouth 
 ful, every person who might venture within his reach. 
 
 " There are other difficulties in the way," continued 
 the young princes. " But is not this enough ? Ah, 
 brave Jason, turn back before it is too late. It would 
 grieve us to the heart, if you and your nine-and-forty 
 brave companions should be eaten up, at fifty mouth- 
 fuls, by this execrable dragon." 
 
 " My young friends," quietly replied Jason, " I do 
 not wonder that you think the dragon very terrible. 
 You have grown up from infancy in the fear of this 
 monster, and therefore still regard him with the awe 
 
404 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 that children feel for the bugbears and hobgoblins 
 which their nurses have talked to them about. But, 
 in my view of the matter, the dragon is merely a 
 pretty large serpent, who is not half so likely to snap 
 me up at one mouthful as I am to cut off his ugly 
 head, and strip the skin from his body. At all events, 
 turn back who may, I will never see Greece again un 
 less I carry with me the Golden Fleece." 
 
 " We will none of us turn back ! " cried his nine- 
 and-forty brave comrades. " Let us get on board the 
 galley this instant ; and if the dragon is to make a 
 breakfast of us, much good may it do him." 
 
 And Orpheus (whose custom it was to set every 
 thing to music) began to harp and sing most glori 
 ously, and made every mother s son of them feel as 
 if nothing in this world were so delectable as to fight 
 dragons, and nothing so truly honorable as to be eaten 
 up at one mouthful, in case of the worst. 
 
 After this (being now under the guidance of the 
 two princes, who were well acquainted with the way), 
 they quickly sailed to Colchis. When the king of the 
 country, whose name was ^etes, heard of their arri 
 val, he instantly summoned Jason to court. The king 
 was a stern and cruel-looking potentate ; and though 
 he put on as polite and hospitable an expression as he 
 could, Jason did not like his face a whit better than 
 that of the wicked King Pelias, who dethroned his 
 father. 
 
 " You are welcome, brave Jason," said King ^etes. 
 "Pray, are you on a pleasure voyage? or do you 
 meditate the discovery of unknown islands? or what 
 other cause has procured me the happiness of seeing 
 you at my court ? " 
 
 " Great sir," replied Jason, with an obeisance, 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 405 
 
 for Chiron had taught him how to behave with propri 
 ety, whether to kings or beggars, "I have come 
 hither with a purpose which I now beg your Majesty s 
 permission to execute. King Pelias, who sits on my 
 father s throne (to which he has no more right than 
 to the one on which your excellent Majesty is now 
 seated), has engaged to come down from it, and to 
 give me his crown and sceptre, provided I bring him 
 the Golden Fleece. This, as your Majesty is aware, is 
 now hanging on a tree here at Colchis ; and I humbly 
 solicit your gracious leave to take it away." 
 
 In spite of himself, the king s face twisted itself 
 into an angry frown ; for, above all things else in the 
 world, he prized the Golden Fleece, and was even sus 
 pected of having done a very wicked act, in order to 
 get it into his own possession. It put him into the 
 worst possible humor, therefore, to hear that the gal 
 lant Prince Jason, and forty-nine of the bravest young- 
 warriors of Greece, had come to Colchis with the sole 
 purpose of taking away his chief treasure. 
 
 " Do you know," asked King ^Eetes, eying Jason 
 very sternly, "what are the conditions which you must 
 fulfil before getting possession of the Golden Fleece ? " 
 
 " I have heard," rejoined the youth, " that a dragon 
 lies beneath the tree on which the prize hangs, and 
 that whoever approaches him runs the risk of being 
 devoured at a mouthful." 
 
 "True," said the king, with a smile that did not 
 look particularly good-natured. "Very true, young 
 man. But there are other things as hard, or perhaps 
 a little harder, to be done, before you can even have 
 the privilege of being devoured by the dragon. For 
 example, you must first tame my two brazen-footed 
 and brazen-lunged bulls, which Vulcan, the wonderful 
 
406 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 blacksmith, made for me. There is a furnace in each 
 of their stomachs : and they breathe such hot fire out 
 of their mouths and nostrils, that nobody has hitherto 
 gone nigh them without being instantly burned to a 
 small, black cinder. What do you think of this, my 
 brave Jason ? " 
 
 " I must encounter the* peril," answered Jason, com 
 posedly, " since it stands in the way of my purpose." 
 
 "After taming the fiery bulls," continued King 
 ^Eetes, who was determined to scare Jason if possible, 
 "you must yoke them to a plough, and must plough 
 the sacred earth in the grove of Mars, and sow some 
 of the same dragon s teeth from which Cadmus raised 
 a crop of armed men. They are an unruly set of rep 
 robates, those sons of the dragon s teeth ; and unless 
 you treat them suitably, they will fall upon you sword 
 in hand. You and your nine-and-forty Argonauts, my 
 bold Jason, are hardly numerous or strong enough to 
 fight with such a host as will spring up." 
 
 "My master Chiron," replied Jason, "taught me, 
 long ago, the story of Cadmus. Perhaps I can man 
 age the quarrelsome sons of the dragon s teeth as well 
 as Cadmus did." 
 
 " I wish the dragon had him," muttered King 
 2Eetes to himself, " and the four - footed pedant, his 
 schoolmaster, into the bargain. Why, what a fool 
 hardy, self -conceited coxcomb he is ! We 11 see what 
 my fire-breathing bulls will do for him. Well, Prince 
 Jason." he continued, aloud, and as complaisantly as 
 he could, " make yourself comfortable for to-day, and 
 to-morrow morning, since you insist upon it, you shall 
 try your skill at the plough." 
 
 While the king talked with Jason, a beautiful 
 young woman was standing behind the throne. She 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE 407 
 
 fixed her eyes earnestly upon the youthful stranger, 
 and listened attentively to every word that was spo 
 ken ; and when Jason withdrew from the king s pres 
 ence, this young woman followed him out of the room. 
 
 " I am the king s daughter," she said to him, " and 
 my name is Medea. I know a great deal of which 
 other young princesses are ignorant, and can do many 
 things which they would be afraid so much as to 
 dream of. If you will trust to me, I can instruct you 
 how to tame the fiery bulls, and sow the dragon s 
 teeth, and get the Golden Fleece." 
 
 "Indeed, beautiful princess," answered Jason, "if 
 you will do me this service, I promise to be grateful to 
 you my whole life long." 
 
 Gazing at Medea, he beheld a wonderful intelli 
 gence in her face. She was one of those persons 
 whose eyes are full of mystery ; so that, while looking 
 into them, you seem to see a very great way, as into 
 a deep well, yet can never be certain whether you see 
 into the farthest depths, or whether there be not some 
 thing else hidden at the bottom. If Jason had been 
 capable of fearing anything, he would have been afraid 
 of making this young princess his enemy ; for, beau 
 tiful as she now looked, she might, the very next in 
 stant, become as terrible as the dragon that kept watch 
 over the Golden Fleece. 
 
 " Princess," he exclaimed, " you seem indeed very 
 wise and very powerful. But how can you help me to 
 do the things of which you speak ? Are you an en 
 chantress ? " 
 
 " Yes, Prince Jason," answered Medea, with a 
 smile, "you have hit upon the truth. I am an en 
 chantress. Circe, my father s sister, taught me to be 
 one, and I could tell you, if I pleased, who was the old 
 
408 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 woman with the peacock, the pomegranate, and the 
 cuckoo staff, whom you carried over the river ; and, 
 likewise, who it is that speaks through the lips of the 
 oaken image, that stands in the prow of your galley. 
 I am acquainted with some of your secrets, you per 
 ceive. It is well for you that I am favorably in* 
 clined ; for, otherwise, you would hardly escape being 
 snapped up by the dragon." 
 
 "I should not so much care for the dragon," replied 
 Jason, "if I only knew how to manage the brazen- 
 footed and fiery-lunged bulls." 
 
 " If you are as brave as I think you, and as you 
 have need to be," said Medea, " your own bold heart 
 will teach you that there is but one way of dealing 
 with a mad bull. What it is I leave you to find out 
 in the moment of peril. As for the fiery breath of 
 these animals, I have a charmed ointment here, which 
 will prevent you from being burned up, and cure you 
 if you chance to be a little scorched." 
 
 So she put a golden box into his hand, and directed 
 him how to apply the perfumed unguent which it con 
 tained, and where to meet her at midnight. 
 
 " Only be brave," added she, " and before daybreak 
 the brazen bulls shall be tamed." 
 
 The young man assured her that his heart would 
 not fail him. He then rejoined his comrades, and 
 told them what had passed between the princess and 
 himself, and warned them to be in readiness in case 
 there might be need of their help. 
 
 At the appointed hour he met the beautiful Medea 
 on the marble steps of the king s palace. She gave 
 him a basket, in which were the dragon s teeth, just 
 as they had been pulled out of the monster s jaws by 
 Cadmus, long ago. Medea then led Jason down the 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 409 
 
 palace steps, and through the silent streets of the city, 
 and into the royal pasture-ground, where the two bra 
 zen-footed bulls were kept. It was a starry night, 
 with a bright gleam along the eastern edge of the sky, 
 where the moon was soon going to show herself. After 
 entering the pasture, the princess paused and looked 
 around. 
 
 "There they are," said she, "reposing themselves 
 and chewing their fiery cuds in that farthest corner of 
 the field. It will be excellent sport, I assure you, 
 when they catch a glimpse of your figure. My father 
 and all his court delight in nothing so much as to see 
 a stranger trying to yoke them, in order to come at 
 the Golden Fleece. It makes a holiday in Colchis 
 whenever such a thing happens. For my part, I en 
 joy it immensely. You cannot imagine in what a mere 
 twinkling of an eye their hot breath shrivels a young 
 man into a black cinder." 
 
 " Are you sure, beautiful Medea," asked Jason, 
 " quite sure, that the unguent in the gold box will 
 prove a remedy against those terrible burns ? " 
 
 " If you doubt, if you are in the least afraid," said 
 the princess, looking him in the face by the dim star 
 light, " you had better never have been born than go 
 a step nigher to the bulls." 
 
 But Jason had set his heart steadfastly on getting 
 the Golden Fleece ; and I positively doubt whether he 
 would have gone back without it, even had he been 
 certain of finding himself turned into a red-hot cinder, 
 or a handful of white ashes, the instant he made a 
 step farther. He therefore let go Medea s hand, and 
 walked boldly forward in the direction whither she 
 had pointed. At some distance before him he per 
 ceived four streams of fiery vapor, regularly appear- 
 
410 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 ing, and again vanishing, after dimly lighting up the 
 surrounding obscurity. These, you will understand, 
 were caused by the breath of the brazen bulls, which 
 was quietly stealing out of their four nostrils, as they 
 lay chewing their cuds. 
 
 At the first two or three steps which Jason made, 
 the four fiery streams appeared to gush out some 
 what more plentifully ; for the two brazen bulls had 
 heard his foot-tramp, and were lifting up their hot 
 noses to snuff the air. He went a little farther, and 
 by the way in which the red vapor now spouted forth, 
 he judged that the creatures had got upon their feet. 
 Now he could see glowing sparks, and vivid jets of 
 flame. At the next step, each of the bulls made the 
 pasture echo with a terrible roar, while the burning 
 breath, which they thus belched forth, lit up the whole 
 field with a momentary flash. One other stride did 
 bold Jason make ; and, suddenly, as a streak of light 
 ning, on came these fiery animals, roaring like thun 
 der, and sending out sheets of white flame, which so 
 kindled up the scene that the young man could discern 
 every object more distinctly than by daylight. Most 
 distinctly of all he saw the two horrible creatures gal 
 loping right down upon him, their brazen hoofs rat 
 tling and ringing over the ground, and their tails 
 sticking up stiffly into the air, as has always been the 
 fashion with angry bulls. Their breath scorched the 
 hebage before them. So intensely hot it was, indeed, 
 that it caught a dry tree, under which Jason was now 
 standing, and set it all in a light blaze. But as for 
 Jason himself (thanks to Medea s enchanted oint 
 ment), the white flame curled around his body, with 
 out injuring him a jot more than if he had been made 
 of asbestos. 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 411 
 
 Greatly encouraged at finding himself not yet turned 
 into a cinder, the young man awaited the attack of the 
 bulls. Just as the brazen brutes fancied themselves 
 sure of tossing him into the air, he caught one of them 
 by the horn, and the other by his screwed-up tail, and 
 held them in a gripe like that of an iron vice, one with 
 his right hand, the other with his left. Well, he must 
 have been wonderfully strong in his arms, to be sure. 
 But the secret of the matter was, that the brazen bulls 
 were enchanted creatures, and that Jason had broken 
 the spell of their fiery fierceness by his bold way of 
 handling them. And, ever since that time, it has been 
 the favorite method of brave men, when danger assails 
 them, to do what they call " taking the bull by the 
 horns " ; and to gripe him by the tail is pretty much 
 the same thing, that is, to throw aside fear, and 
 overcome the peril by despising it. 
 
 It was now easy to yoke the bulls, and to harness 
 them to the plough, which had lain rusting on the 
 ground for a great many years gone by ; so long was 
 it before anybody could be found capable of plough 
 ing that piece of land. Jason, I suppose, had been 
 taught how to draw a furrow by the good old Chiron, 
 who, perhaps, used to allow himself to be harnessed to 
 the plough. At any rate, our hero succeeded perfectly 
 well in breaking up the greensward ; and, by the time 
 that the moon was a quarter of her journey up the 
 sky, the ploughed field lay before him, a large tract of 
 black earth, ready to be sown with the dragon s teeth. 
 So Jason scattered them broadcast, and harrowed them 
 into the soil with a brush-harrow, and took his stand 
 on the edge of the field, anxious to see what would 
 happen next. 
 
 " Must we wait long for harvest-time ? " he inquired 
 of Medea, who was now standing by his side. 
 
412 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 " Whether sooner or later, it will be sure to come," 
 answered the princess. " A crop of armed men never 
 fails to spring up, when the dragon s teeth have been 
 sown." 
 
 The moon was now high aloft in the heavens, and 
 threw its bright beams over the ploughed field, where 
 as yet there was nothing to be seen. Any farmer, on 
 viewing it, would have said that Jason must wait weeks 
 before the green blades would peep from among the 
 clods, and whole months before the yellow grain would 
 be ripened for the sickle. But by and by, all over the 
 field, there was something that glistened in the moon 
 beams, like sparkling drops of dew. These bright ob 
 jects sprouted higher, and proved to be the steel heads 
 of spears. Then there was a dazzling gleam from a 
 vast number of polished brass helmets, beneath which, 
 as they grew farther out of the soil, appeared the dark 
 and bearded visages of warriors, struggling to free 
 themselves from the imprisoning earth. The first 
 look that they gave at the upper world was a glare 
 of wrath and defiance. Next were seen their bright 
 breastplates ; in every right hand there was a sword 
 or a spear, and on each left arm a shield; and when 
 this strange crop of warriors had but half grown out 
 of the earth, they struggled, such was their impa 
 tience of restraint, and, as it were, tore themselves 
 up by the roots. Wherever a dragon s tooth had 
 fallen, there stood a man armed for battle. They 
 made a clangor with their swords against their shields, 
 and eyed one another fiercely ; for they had come into 
 this beautiful world, and into the peaceful moonlight, 
 full of rage and stormy p assions, and ready to take the 
 life of every human brother, in recompense of the boon 
 of their own existence. 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 413 
 
 There have been many other armies in the world 
 that seemed to possess the same fierce nature with the 
 one which had now sprouted from the dragon s teeth ; 
 but these, in the moonlit field, were the more excusa 
 ble, because they never had women for their mothers. 
 And how it would have rejoiced any great captain, 
 who was bent on conquering the world, like Alexander 
 or Napoleon, to raise a crop of armed soldiers as easily 
 as Jason did ! 
 
 For a while, the warriors stood flourishing their 
 weapons, clashing their swords against their shields, 
 and boiling over with the red-hot thirst for battle. 
 Then they began to shout, " Show us the enemy ! 
 Lead us to the charge ! Death or victory ! Come on, 
 brave comrades ! Conquer or die ! " and a hundred 
 other outcries, such as men always bellow forth on a 
 battle-field, and which these dragon people seemed to 
 have at their tongues ends. At last, the front rank 
 caught sight of Jason, who, beholding the flash of so 
 many weapons in the moonlight, had thought it best 
 to draw his sword. In a moment all the sons of the 
 dragon s teeth appeared to take Jason for an enemy ; 
 and crying with one voice, " Guard the Golden Fleece ! " 
 they ran at him with uplifted swords and protruded 
 spears. Jason, knew that it would be impossible to 
 withstand this bloodthirsty battalion with his single 
 arm, but determined, since there was nothing better 
 to be done, to die as valiantly as if he himself had 
 sprung from a dragon s tooth. 
 
 Medea, however, bade him snatch up a stone from 
 the ground. 
 
 " Throw it among them quickly ! " cried she. " It 
 is the only way to save yourself." 
 
 The armed men were now so nigh that Jason could 
 
414 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 discern the fire flashing out of their enraged eyes, 
 when he let fly the stone, and saw it strike the helmet 
 of a tall warrior, who was rushing upon him with his 
 blade aloft. The stone glanced from this man s hel 
 met to the shield of his nearest comrade, and thence 
 flew right into the angry face of another, hitting him 
 smartly between the eyes. Each of the three who had 
 been struck by the stone took it for granted that his 
 next neighbor had given him a blow ; and instead of 
 running any farther towards Jason, they began a fight 
 among themselves. The confusion spread through the 
 host, so that it seemed scarcely a moment before they 
 were all hacking, hewing, and stabbing at one another, 
 lopping off arms, heads, and legs, and doing such mem 
 orable deeds that Jason was filled with immense ad 
 miration ; although, at the same time, he could not 
 help laughing to behold these mighty men punishing 
 each other for an offence which he himself had com 
 mitted. In an incredibly short space of time (almost 
 as short, indeed, as it had taken them to grow up), 
 all but one of the heroes of the dragon s teeth were 
 stretched lifeless on the field. The last survivor, the 
 bravest and strongest of the whole, had just force 
 enough to wave his crimson sword over his head, and 
 give a shout of exultation, crying, " Victory ! Victory ! 
 Immortal fame ! " when he himself fell down, and lay 
 quietly among his slain brethren. 
 
 And there was the end of the army that had sprouted 
 from the dragon s teeth. That fierce and feverish 
 fight was the only enjoyment which they had tasted 
 on this beautiful earth. 
 
 " Let them sleep in the bed of honor," said the Prin 
 cess Medea, with a sly smile at Jason. " The world 
 will always have simpletons enough, just like them, 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 415 
 
 fighting and dying for they know not what, and fancy 
 ing that posterity will take the trouble to put laurel 
 wreaths on their rusty and battered helmets. Could 
 you help smiling, Prince Jason, to see the self-conceit 
 of that last fellow, just as he tumbled down ? " 
 
 " It made me very sad," answered Jason, gravely. 
 " And, to tell you the truth, princess, the Golden 
 Fleece does not appear so well worth the winning, 
 after what I have here beheld." 
 
 " You will think differently in the morning," said 
 Medea. " True, the Golden Fleece may not be so val 
 uable as you have thought it ; but then there is noth 
 ing better in the world ; and one must needs have an 
 object, you know. Come ! Your night s work has 
 been well performed ; and to-morrow you can inform 
 King ^Eetes that the first part of your alloted task is 
 fulfilled." 
 
 Agreeably to Medea s advice, Jason went betimes in 
 the morning to the palace of King ^Eetes. Entering 
 the presence-chamber, he stood at the foot of the 
 throne, and made a low obeisance. 
 
 " Your eyes look heavy, Prince Jason," observed 
 the king ; " you appear to have spent a sleepless night. 
 I hope you have been considering the matter a little 
 more wisely, and have concluded not to get yourself 
 scorched to a cinder, in attempting to tame my brazen- 
 lunged bulls." 
 
 "That is already accomplished, may it please your 
 Majesty," replied Jason. " The bulls have been tamed 
 and yoked ; the field has been ploughed ; the dragon s 
 teeth have been sown broadcast, and harrowed into 
 the soil ; the crop of armed warriors has sprung up, 
 and they have slain one another, to the last man. And 
 now I solicit your Majesty s permission to encounter 
 
416 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 the dragon, that I may take down the Golden Fleece 
 from the tree, and depart, with my nine-and-forty 
 comrades." 
 
 King 2Eetes scowled, and looked very angry and ex 
 cessively disturbed ; for he knew that, in accordance 
 with his kingly promise, he ought now to permit Jason 
 to win the fleece, if his courage and skill should ena 
 ble him to do so. But, since the young man had met 
 with such good luck in the matter of the brazen bulls 
 and the dragon s teeth, the king feared that he would 
 be equally successful in slaying the dragon. And 
 therefore, though he would gladly have seen Jason 
 snapped up at a mouthful, he was resolved (and it 
 was a very wrong thing of this wicked potentate) not 
 to run any further risk of losing his beloved fleece. 
 
 " You never would have succeeded in this business, 
 young man," said he, " if my undutiful daughter Me 
 dea had not helped you with her enchantments. Had 
 you acted fairly, you would have been, at this instant, 
 a black cinder, or a handful of white ashes. I forbid 
 you, on pain of death, to make any more attempts to 
 get the Golden Fleece. To speak my mind plainly, 
 you shall never set eyes on so much as one of its glis 
 tening locks." 
 
 Jason left the king s presence in great sorrow and 
 anger. He could think of nothing better to be done 
 than to summon together his forty-nine brave Argo 
 nauts, march at once to the grove of Mars, slay the 
 dragon, take possession of the Golden Fleece, get on 
 board the Argo, and spread all sail for lolchos. The 
 success of the scheme depended, it is true, on the 
 doubtful point whether all the fifty heroes might not 
 be snapped up, at so many mouthfuls, by the dragon. 
 But, as Jason was hastening down the palace steps, 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 417 
 
 the Princess Medea called after him, and beckoned 
 him to return. Her black eyes shone upon him with 
 such a keen intelligence, that he felt as if there were 
 a serpent peeping out of them ; and although she had 
 done him so much service only the night before, he 
 was by no means very certain that she would not do 
 him an equally great mischief before sunset. These 
 enchantresses, you must know, are never to be de 
 pended upon. 
 
 "What says King ^Eetes, my royal and upright 
 father ? " inquired Medea, slightly smiling. " Will 
 he give you the Golden Fleece, without any further 
 risk or trouble ? " 
 
 " On the contrary," answered Jason, " he is very 
 angry with me for taming the brazen bulls and sowing 
 the dragon s teeth. And he forbids me to make any 
 more attempts, and positively refuses to give up the 
 Golden Fleece, whether I slay the dragon or no." 
 
 "Yes, Jason," said the princess, "and I can tell 
 you more. Unless you set sail from Colchis before 
 to-morrow s sunrise, the king means to burn your 
 fifty-oared galley, and put yourself and your forty- 
 nine brave comrades to the sword. But be of good 
 courage. The Golden Fleece you shall have, if it lies 
 within the power of my enchantments to get it for 
 you. Wait for me here an hour before midnight." 
 
 At the appointed hour, you might again have seen 
 Prince Jason and the Princess Medea, side by side, 
 stealing through the streets of Colchis, on their way 
 to the sacred grove, in the centre of which the Gol 
 den Fleece was suspended to a tree. While they were 
 crossing the pasture - ground, the brazen bulls came 
 towards Jason, lowing, nodding their heads, and 
 thrusting forth their snouts, which, as other cattle do, 
 
 *o 
 VOL. iv. 27 
 
418 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 they loved to have rubbed and caressed by a friendly 
 hand. Their fierce nature was thoroughly tamed ; 
 and, with their fierceness, the two furnaces in their 
 stomachs had likewise been extinguished, insomuch 
 that they probably enjoyed far more comfort in graz 
 ing and chewing their cuds than ever before. In 
 deed, it had heretofore been a great inconvenience to 
 these poor animals, that, whenever they wished to eat 
 a mouthful of grass, the fire out of their nostrils had 
 shrivelled it up, before they could manage to crop it. 
 How they contrived to keep themselves alive is more 
 than I can imagine. But now, instead of emitting 
 jets of flame and streams of sulphurous vapor, they 
 breathed the very sweetest of cow breath. 
 
 After kindly patting the bulls, Jason followed Me 
 dea s guidance into the grove of Mars, where the great 
 oak-trees, that had been growing for centuries, threw 
 so thick a shade that the moonbeams struggled vainly 
 to find their way through it. Only here and there a 
 glimmer fell upon the leaf-strewn earth, or now and 
 then a breeze stirred the boughs aside, and gave Ja 
 son a glimpse of the sky, lest, in that deep obscurity, 
 he might forget that there was one, overhead. At 
 length, when they had gone farther and farther into 
 the heart of the duskiness, Medea squeezed Jason s 
 hand. 
 
 " Look yonder," she whispered. " Do you see it ? " 
 
 Gleaming among the venerable oaks, there was a 
 radiance, not like the moonbeams, but rather resem 
 bling the golden glory of the setting sun. It pro 
 ceeded from an object, which appeared to be sus 
 pended at about a man s height from the ground, a 
 little farther within the wood. 
 
 " What is it ? " asked Jason. 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 419 
 
 " Have you come so far to seek it," exclaimed Me 
 dea, "and do you not recognize the meed of all your 
 toils and perils, when it glitters before your eyes? It 
 is the Golden Fleece." 
 
 Jason went onward a few steps farther, and then 
 stopped to gaze. Oh, how beautiful it looked, shining 
 with a marvellous light of its own, that inestimable 
 prize, which so many heroes had longed to behold, but 
 had perished in the quest of it, either by the perils 
 of their voyage, or by the fiery breath of the brazen- 
 lunged bulls. 
 
 " How gloriously it shines ! " cried Jason, in a rap 
 ture. " It has surely been dipped in the richest gold 
 of sunset. Let me hasten onward, and take it to my 
 bosom." 
 
 " Stay," said Medea, holding him back. " Have 
 you forgotten what guards it? " 
 
 To say the truth, in the joy of beholding the object 
 of his desires, the terrible dragon had quite slipped 
 out of Jason s memory. Soon, hdwever, something 
 came to pass that reminded him what perils were still 
 to be encountered. An antelope, that probably mis 
 took the yellow radiance for sunrise, came bounding 
 fleetly through the grove. He was rushing straight 
 towards the Golden Fleece, when suddenly there was 
 a frightful hiss, and the immense head and half the 
 scaly body of the dragon was thrust forth (for he was 
 twisted round the trunk of the tree on which the fleece 
 hung), and seizing the poor antelope, swallowed him 
 with one snap of his jaws. 
 
 After this feat, the dragon seemed sensible that 
 some other living creature was within reach on which 
 he felt inclined to finish his meal. In various direc 
 tions he kept poking his ugly snout among the trees, 
 
420 THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 
 
 stretching out his neck a terrible long way, now 
 now there, and now close to the spot where Jason and 
 the princess were hiding behind an oak. Upon my 
 word, as the head came waving and undulating through 
 the air, and reaching almost within arm s-length of 
 Prince Jason, it was a very hideous and uncomfortable 
 sight. The gape of his enormous jaws was nearly as 
 wide as the gateway of the king s palace. 
 
 " Well, Jason," whispered Medea (for she was ill- 
 natured, as all enchantresses are, and wanted to make 
 the bold youth tremble), " what do you think now of 
 your prospect of winning the Golden Fleece ? " 
 
 Jason answered only by drawing his sword and 
 making a step forward. 
 
 " Stay, foolish youth," said Medea, grasping his 
 arm. " Do not you see you are lost, without me as 
 your good angel ? In this gold box I have a magic 
 potion, which will do the dragon s business far more 
 effectually than your sword." 
 
 The dragon had probably heard the voices ; for, 
 swift as lightning, his black head and forked tongue 
 came hissing among the trees again, darting full forty 
 feet at a stretch. As it approached, Medea tossed the 
 contents of the gold box right down the monster s wide 
 open throat. Immediately, with an outrageous hiss 
 and a tremendous wriggle, flinging his tail up to 
 the tip-top of the tallest tree, and shattering all its 
 branches as it crashed heavily clown again, the 
 dragon fell at full length upon the ground, and lay 
 quite motionless. 
 
 " It is only a sleeping potion," said the enchan 
 tress to Prince Jason. " One always finds a use for 
 these mischievous creatures, sooner or later ; so I did 
 not wish to kill him outright. Quick ! Snatch the 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 421 
 
 prize, and let us begone. You have won the Golden 
 Fleece." 
 
 Jason caught the fleece from the tree, and hurried 
 through the grove, the deep shadows of which were 
 illuminated as he passed by the golden glory of the 
 precious object that he bore along. A little way be 
 fore him, he beheld the old woman whom he had 
 helped over the stream, with her peacock beside her. 
 She clapped her hands for joy, and beckoning him to 
 make haste, disappeared among the duskiness of the 
 trees. Espying the two winged sons of the North 
 Wind (who were disporting themselves in the moon 
 light, a few hundred feet aloft), Jason bade them tell 
 the rest of the Argonauts to embark as speedily as 
 possible. But Lynceus, with his sharp eyes, had al 
 ready caught a glimpse of him, bringing the Golden 
 Fleece, although several stone- walls, a hill, and the 
 black shadows of the grove of Mars intervened be 
 tween. By his advice, the heroes had seated them 
 selves on the benches of the galley, with their oars 
 held perpendicularly, ready to let fall into the water. 
 
 As Jason drew near, he heard the Talking Image 
 calling to him with more than ordinary eagerness, in 
 its grave, sweet voice : 
 
 " Make haste, Prince Jason ! For your life, make 
 haste ! " 
 
 With one bound he leaped aboard. At sight of the 
 glorious radiance of the Golden Fleece, the nine-and- 
 forty heroes gave a mighty shout, and Orpheus, strik 
 ing his harp, sang a song of triumph, to the cadence 
 of which the galley flew over the water, homeward 
 bound, as if careering along with wings I 
 
THE WHOLE HISTORY 
 
 GRANDFATHERS CHAIR. 
 
 COMPLETE IN THREE PARTS 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 IN a letter which Hawthorne addressed to Long 
 fellow at the time of publishing the " Twice-Told 
 Tales," he said, speaking of his life up to that time 
 and his future prospects : 
 
 " I have now, or shall soon have, a sharper spur to 
 exertion, which I lacked at an earlier period ; for I 
 see little prospect but that I shall have to scribble for 
 a living. But this troubles me much less than you 
 would suppose. I can turn my pen to all sorts of 
 drudgery, such as children s books, etc." 
 
 Precisely what the " sharper spur " was can be con 
 jectured only ; but it is not unlikely that thoughts of 
 marriage had already entered his mind, for certainly 
 within the term of two years following he had made 
 that matrimonial engagement which was destined to 
 be carried out in a life-long union of great happiness. 
 He had already, in writing " Peter Parley s History " 
 for Goodrich, demonstrated his fitness for supplying 
 youthful minds with simple and entertaining litera 
 ture. It should seem that, having learned something 
 from his experience with Goodrich, corroborative of 
 Virgil s Sic vos non vobis, he determined to exercise 
 
426 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 for his own benefit the faculty of writing for children, 
 which he had thus developed, and had shown himself 
 conscious of in the Longfellow letter just quoted. Ac 
 cordingly, between the time of issuing his collected 
 stories and the date of his Brook Farm episode, he 
 produced a number of brief narratives, the subjects 
 of which were drawn from those old New England 
 
 o 
 
 annals which some of his tales and other detached 
 papers to say nothing of the local coloring in " The 
 Scarlet Letter " show him to have conned over so 
 thoroughly. 
 
 These little stories, connected by dialogue, and by a 
 pleasant fiction concerning an old chair supposed to 
 have figured in the various historical scenes depicted, 
 were first published in diminutive volumes, each one 
 of the three parts appearing separately. 
 
 In the prefatory note to the " Twice-Told Tales " 
 the editor has related how Mrs. Hawthorne, before 
 her marriage, drew an illustration for " The Gentle 
 Boy," which was engraved and printed with a special 
 edition of that story. Extracts from his letters to 
 her, written at Salem, during an absence from Brook 
 Farm in September, 1841, l indicate that a series of 
 illustrations for the " Grandfather s Chair " stories 
 was contemplated ; and presumably she was to fur 
 nish the sketches. Hawthorne there offers a number 
 of suggestions for the drawings, that indirectly dis 
 close the vividness and completeness with which he 
 had imagined the scenes described. He proposes as 
 themes for the artist s pencil, Master Cheever s old- 
 fashioned school, the Acadians, the Earl of London s 
 military council at Boston, and Liberty Tree. The 
 reader will find it interesting to refer to these pas- 
 1 See American Note-Books, September U-16, 1841. 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 427 
 
 sages ; but the pictorial project was, apparently, aban 
 doned. 
 
 To the literary student " Grandfather s Chair " pre 
 sents two points deserving notice : one, the fact that 
 the incident of Endicott s cutting the red cross from 
 the banner of England, which furnished the motive 
 for a Twice-Told Tale, is here treated in a manner 
 quite different ; the other, that the exile of the Aca- 
 dians is chosen by Hawthorne as one of the occur 
 rences likely to appeal to his youthful audience. It 
 will be remembered by every one acquainted with re 
 cent American literary history, that Hawthorne sur 
 rendered to Longfellow the story which formed the 
 groundwork of " Evangeline." This story was told to 
 Hawthorne in October, 1839, 1 just at the period when 
 he was writing " Grandfather s Chair." Perhaps the 
 editor may be pardoned if he here remarks that he 
 has often been skeptical as to the indifference, which 
 it has sometimes been alleged that Hawthorne dis 
 played towards the pathetic tradition which prompted 
 " Evangeline ; " and that the romancer should, at the 
 very time of hearing the story, have been engaged in 
 treating the exile of the Acadian s with a sympathy so 
 unmistakable, as is shown even in his brief child s 
 story, tends to confirm this skepticism. Longfellow 
 had done Hawthorne a great kindness by noticing fa 
 vorably in the " North American Review " his friend s 
 " Twice-Told Tales." It seems probable enough that 
 Hawthorne, on seeing how much the Evangeline anec 
 dote struck his friend the poet, resolved to yield it up 
 at once, without betraying any intention he may have 
 had of utilizing it himself. 
 
 No further comment is required on the contents of 
 1 See American Note-Books, October 24, of that year. 
 
428 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 this collection ; unless it be that the " The Pine-Tree 
 Shillings," by the universal currency which they have 
 enjoyed in school-readers and elsewhere, ought effec 
 tually to dispel the frequently expressed opinion that 
 Hawthorne failed to attain general popularity. 
 
 G. P. L. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IN writing this ponderous tome, the author s desire 
 has been to describe the eminent characters and re 
 markable events of our annals in such a form and 
 style that the YOUNG may make acquaintance with 
 them of their own accord. For this purpose, while 
 ostensibly relating the adventures of a chair, he has 
 endeavored to keep a distinct and unbroken thread of 
 authentic history. The chair is made to pass from one 
 to another of those personages of whom he thought it 
 most desirable for the young reader to have vivid and 
 familiar ideas, and whose lives and actions would best 
 enable him to give picturesque sketches of the times. 
 On its sturdy oaken legs it trudges diligently from one 
 scene to another, and seems always to thrust itself in 
 the way, with most benign complacency, whenever an 
 historical personage happens to be looking round for 
 a seat. 
 
 There is certainly no method by which the shadowy 
 outlines of departed men and women can be made to 
 assume the hues of life more effectually than by con 
 necting their images with the substantial and homely 
 reality of a fireside chair. It causes us to feel at once 
 that these characters of history had a private and fa 
 miliar existence, and were not wholly contained within 
 that cold array of outward action which we are com 
 pelled to receive as the adequate representation of 
 
430 PREFACE. 
 
 their lives. If this impression can be given, much is 
 accomplished. 
 
 Setting aside Grandfather and his auditors, and ex 
 cepting the adventures of the chair, which form the 
 machinery of the work, nothing in the ensuing pages 
 can be termed fictitious. The author, it is true, has 
 sometimes assumed the license of filling up the outline 
 of history with details for which he has none but im 
 aginative authority, but which, he hopes, do not violate 
 nor give a false coloring to the truth. He believes 
 that, in this respect, his narrative will not be found to 
 convey ideas and impressions of which the reader may 
 hereafter find it necessary to purge his mind. 
 
 The author s great doubt is, whether he has suc 
 ceeded in writing a book which will be readable by 
 the class for whom he intends it. To make a lively 
 and entertaining narrative for children, with such un- 
 malleable material as is presented by the sombre, 
 stern, and rigid characteristics of the Puritans and 
 their descendants, is quite as difficult an attempt as 
 to manufacture delicate playthings out of the granite 
 rocks on which New England is founded. 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 PART I. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GRANDFATHER had been sitting in his old arm-chair 
 all that pleasant afternoon, while the children were 
 pursuing their various sports far off or near at hand. 
 Sometimes you would have said, " Grandfather is 
 asleep " ; but still, even when his eyes were closed, his 
 thoughts were with the young people, playing among 
 the flowers and shrubbery of the garden. 
 
 He heard the voice of Laurence, who had taken pos 
 session of a heap of decayed branches which the gar 
 dener had lopped from the fruit-trees, and was build- 
 ing a little hut for his cousin Clara and himself. He 
 heard Clara s gladsome voice, too, as she weeded and 
 watered the flower-bed which had been given her for 
 her own. He could have counted every footstep that 
 Charley took, as he trundled his wheelbarrow along 
 the gravel-walk. And though Grandfather was old 
 and gray-haired, yet his heart leaped with joy when 
 ever little Alice came fluttering, like a butterfly, into 
 the room. She had made each of the children her 
 playmate in turn, and now made Grandfather her 
 playmate too, and thought him the merriest of them 
 all. 
 
 At last the children grew weary of their sports ; 
 
432 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 because a summer afternoon is like a long lifetime to 
 the young. So they came into the room together, and 
 clustered round Grandfather s great chair. Little 
 Alice, who was hardly five years old, took the priv 
 ilege of the youngest, and climbed his knee. It was 
 a pleasant thing to behold that fair and golden-haired 
 child in the lap of the old man, and to think that, dif 
 ferent as they were, the hearts of both could be glad 
 dened with the same joys. 
 
 " Grandfather," said little Alice, laying her head 
 back upon his arm, " I am very tired now. You must 
 tell me a story to make me go to sleep." 
 
 " That is not what story - tellers like," answered 
 Grandfather, smiling. " They are better satisfied 
 when they can keep their auditors awake." 
 
 " But here are Laurence, and Charley, and I," 
 cried cousin Clara, who was twice as old as little 
 Alice. " We will all three keep wide awake. And 
 pray, Grandfather, tell us a story about this strange- 
 looking old chair." 
 
 Now, the chair in which Grandfather sat was made 
 of oak, which had grown dark with age, but had been 
 rubbed and polished till it shone as bright as mahog 
 any. It was very large and heavy, and had a back 
 that rose high above Grandfather s white head. This 
 back was curiously carved in open work, so as to rep 
 resent flowers, and foliage, and other devices, which 
 the children had often gazed at, but could never un 
 derstand what they meant. On the very tip-top of the 
 chair, over the head of Grandfather himself, was a 
 likeness of a lion s head, which had such a savage grin 
 that you would almost expect to hear it growl and 
 snarl. 
 
 The children had seen Grandfather sitting in this 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 433 
 
 chair ever since they could remember anything. Per 
 haps the younger of them supposed that he and the 
 chair had come into the world together, and that both 
 had always been as old as they were now. At this 
 time, however, it happened to be the fashion for la 
 dies to adorn their drawing-rooms with the oldest and 
 oddest chairs that could be found. It seemed to cou 
 sin Clara that, if these ladies could have seen Grand 
 father s old chair, they would have thought it worth 
 all the rest together. She wondered if it were not 
 even older than Grandfather himself, and longed to 
 know all about its history. 
 
 "Do, Grandfather, talk to us about this chair," she 
 repeated. 
 
 " Well, child," said Grandfather, patting Clara s 
 cheek, u I can tell you a great many stories of my 
 chair. Perhaps your cousin Laurence would like to 
 hear them too. They would teach him something 
 about the history and distinguished people of his 
 country which he has never read in any of his school- 
 books." 
 
 Cousin Laurence was a boy of twelve, a bright 
 scholar, in whom an early thoughtfulness and sensi 
 bility began to show themselves. His young fancy 
 kindled at the idea of knowing all the adventures of 
 this venerable chair. He looked eagerly in Grand 
 father s face ; and even Charley, a bold, brisk, restless 
 little fellow of nine, sat himself down on the carpet, 
 and resolved to be quiet for at least ten minutes, should 
 the story last so long. 
 
 Meantime, little Alice was already asleep ; so Grand 
 father, being much pleased with such an attentive audi 
 ence, began to talk about matters that happened long 
 ago. 
 
 VOL. IV. 28 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 BUT before relating the adventures of the chair, 
 Grandfather found it necessary to speak of circum 
 stances that caused the first settlement of New Eng 
 land. For it will soon be perceived that the story of 
 this remarkable chair cannot be told without telling a 
 great deal of the history of the country. 
 
 So Grandfather talked about the Puritans, as those 
 persons were called who thought it sinful to practise 
 the religious forms and ceremonies which the Church 
 of England had borrowed from the Roman Catholics. 
 These Puritans suffered so much persecution in Eng 
 land, that, in 1607, many of them went over to Hol 
 land, and lived ten or twelve years at Amsterdam and 
 Leyden. But they feared that, if they continued there 
 much longer, they should cease to be English, and 
 should adopt all the manners, and ideas, and feelings 
 of the Dutch. For this and other reasons, in the year 
 1620 they embarked on board of the ship Mayflower, 
 and crossed the ocean, to the shores of Cape Cod. 
 There they made a settlement, and called it Plymouth, 
 which, though now a part of Massachusetts, was for a 
 long time a colony by itself. And thus was formed 
 the earliest settlement of the Puritans in America. 
 
 Meantime, those of the Puritans who remained in 
 England continued to suffer grievous persecution on 
 account of their religious opinions. They began to 
 look around them for some spot where they might wor 
 ship God, not as the king and bishops thought fit, but 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 435 
 
 according to the dictates of their own consciences. 
 When their brethren had gone from Holland to Amer 
 ica, they bethought themselves that they likewise might 
 find refuge from persecution there. Several gentlemen 
 among them purchased a tract of country on the coast 
 of Massachusetts Bay, and obtained a charter from 
 King Charles, which authorized them to make laws for 
 the settlers. In the year 1628 they sent over a few 
 people, with John Endicott at their head, to commence 
 a plantation at Salem. Peter Palfrey, Roger Conant, 
 and one or two more had built houses there in 1626, 
 and may be considered as the first settlers of that 
 ancient town. Many other Puritans prepared to fol 
 low Endicott. 
 
 " And now we come to the chair, my dear children," 
 said Grandfather. " This chair is supposed to have 
 been made of an oak-tree which grew in the park of 
 the English Earl of Lincoln between two and three 
 centuries ago. In its younger days it used, probably, 
 to stand in the hall of the earl s castle. Do not you 
 see the coat of arms of the family of Lincoln carved 
 in the open work of the back ? But when his daugh 
 ter, the Lady Arbella, was married to a certain Mr. 
 Johnson, the earl gave her this valuable chair." 
 
 " Who was Mr. Johnson ? " inquired Clara, 
 
 " He was a gentleman of great wealth, who agreed 
 with the Puritans in their religious opinions," an 
 swered Grandfather. "And as his belief was the 
 same as theirs, he resolved that he would live and die 
 with them. Accordingly, in the month of April, 1630, 
 he left his pleasant abode and all his comforts in Eng 
 land, and embarked, with Lady Arbella, on board of 
 a ship bound for America." 
 
 As Grandfather was frequently impeded by the 
 
436 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR, 
 
 questions and observations of his young auditors, we 
 deem it advisable to omit all such prattle as is not 
 essential to the story. We have taken some pains to 
 find out exactly what Grandfather said, and here offer 
 to our readers, as nearly as possible in his own words, 
 the story of 
 
 THE LADY ARBELLA. 
 
 The ship in which Mr. Johnson and his lady em 
 barked, taking Grandfather s chair along with them, 
 was called the Arbella, in honor of the lady herself. 
 A fleet of ten or twelve vessels, with many hundred 
 passengers, left England about the same time ; for a 
 multitude of people, who were discontented with the 
 king s government and oppressed by the bishops, were 
 flocking over to the New World. One of the vessels 
 in the fleet was that same Mayflower which had carried 
 the Puritan Pilgrims to Plymouth. And now, my 
 children, I would have you fancy yourselves in the 
 cabin of the good ship Arbella; because, if you could 
 behold the passengers aboard that vessel, you would 
 feel what a blessing and honor it was for New Eng 
 land to have such settlers. They were the best men 
 and women of their day. 
 
 Among the passengers was John Winthrop, who had 
 sold the estate of his forefathers, and was going to 
 prepare a new home for his wife and children in the 
 wilderness. He had the king s charter in his keeping, 
 and was appointed the first governor of Massachusetts. 
 Imagine him a person of grave and benevolent aspect, 
 dressed in a black velvet suit, with a broad ruff around 
 his neck, and a peaked beard upon his chin. There 
 was likewise a minister of the gospel whom the Eng 
 lish bishops had forbidden to preach, but who knew 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 437 
 
 that he should have liberty both to prea3h and pray 
 in the forests of America. He wore a black cloak, 
 called a Geneva cloak, and had a black velvet cap, 
 fitting close to his head, as was the fashion of almost 
 all the Puritan clergymen. In their company came 
 Sir Richard Saltonstall, who had been one of the five 
 first projectors of the new colony. He soon returned 
 to his native country. But his descendants still remain 
 in New England ; and the good old family name is as 
 much respected in our days as it was in those of Sir 
 Richard. 
 
 Not only these, but several other men of wealth and 
 pious ministers were in the cabin of the Arbella. One 
 had banished himself forever from the old hall where 
 his ancestors had lived for hundreds of years. An 
 other had left his quiet parsonage, in a country town 
 of England. Others had come from the Universities 
 of Oxford or Cambridge, where they had gained great 
 fame for their learning. And here they all were, toss 
 ing upon the uncertain and dangerous sea, and bound 
 for a home that was more dangerous than even the 
 sea itself. In the cabin, likewise, sat the Lady Ar 
 bella in her chair, with a gentle and sweet expression 
 on her face, but looking too pale and feeble to endure 
 the hardships of the wilderness. 
 
 Every morning and evening the Lady Arbella gave 
 up her great chair to one of the ministers, who took 
 his place in it and read passages from the Bible to his 
 companions. And thus, with prayers, and pious con 
 versation, and frequent singing of hymns, which the 
 breezes caught from their lips and scattered far over 
 the desolate waves, they prosecuted their voyage, and 
 sailed into the harbor of Salem in the month of June. 
 
 At that period there were but six or eight dwellings 
 
438 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 in the town ; and these were miserable hovels, with 
 roofs of straw and wooden chimneys. The passengers 
 in the fleet either built huts with bark and branches 
 of trees, or erected tents of cloth till they could pro 
 vide themselves with better shelter. Many of them 
 went to form a settlement at Charlestown. It was 
 thought fit that the Lady Arbella should tarry in 
 Salem for a time : she was probably received as a 
 guest into the family of John Endicott. He was the 
 chief person in the plantation, and had the only com 
 fortable house which the new-comers had beheld since 
 they left England. So now, children, you must imag 
 ine Grandfather s chair in the midst of a new scene. 
 
 Suppose it a hot summer s day, and the lattice-win 
 dows of a chamber in Mr. Endicott s house thrown 
 wide open. The Lady Arbella, looking paler than she 
 did on shipboard, is sitting in her chair and thinking 
 mournfully of far-off England. She rises and goes to 
 the window. There, amid patches of garden ground 
 and cornfield, she sees the few wretched hovels of the 
 settlers, with the still ruder wigwams and cloth tents 
 of the passengers who had arrived in the same fleet 
 with herself. Far and near stretches the dismal forest 
 of pine-trees, which throw their black shadows over 
 the whole land, and likewise over the heart of this 
 poor lady. 
 
 All the inhabitants of the little village are busy. 
 One is clearing a spot on the verge of the forest for 
 his homestead ; another is hewing the trunk of a fallen 
 pine-tree, in order to build himself a dwelling ; a third 
 is hoeing in his field of Indian corn. Here comes a 
 huntsman out of the woods, dragging a bear which he 
 has shot, and shouting to the neighbors to lend him a 
 hand. There goes a man to the sea-shore, with a 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 439 
 
 spade and a bucket, to dig a mess of clams, which 
 were a principal article of food with the first settlers. 
 Scattered here and there are two or three dusky fig 
 ures, clad in mantles of fur, with ornaments of bone 
 hanging from their ears, and the feathers of wild birds 
 in their coal-black hair. They have belts of shell- 
 work slung across their shoulders, and are armed with 
 bows and arrows and flint-headed spears. These are 
 an Indian sagamore and his attendants, who have 
 come to gaze at the labors of the white men. And 
 now rises a cry that a pack of wolves have seized a 
 young calf in the pasture ; and every man snatches up 
 his gun or pike and runs in chase of the marauding 
 beasts. 
 
 Poor Lady Arbella watches all these sights, and 
 feels that this New World is fit only for rough and 
 hardy people. None should be here but those who 
 can struggle with wild beasts and wild men, and can 
 toil in the heat or cold, and can keep their hearts firm 
 against all difficulties and dangers. But she is not 
 one of these. Her gentle and timid spirit sinks within 
 her ; and, turning away from the window, she sits 
 down in the great chair and wonders whereabouts in 
 the wilderness her friends will dig her grave. 
 
 Mr. Johnson had gone, with Governor Winthrop 
 and most of the other other passengers, to Boston, 
 where he intended to build a house for Lady Arbella 
 and himself. Boston was then covered with wild 
 woods, and had fewer inhabitants, even, than Salem. 
 During her husband s absence, poor Lady Arbella felt 
 herself growing ill, and was hardly able to stir from the 
 great chair. Whenever John Endicott noticed her de 
 spondency, he doubtless addressed her with words of 
 comfort. " Cheer up, my good lady ! " he would say. 
 
440 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 " In a little time, you will love this rude life of the 
 wilderness as I do." But Endicott s heart was as bold 
 and resolute as iron, and he could not understand why 
 a woman s heart should not be of iron too. 
 
 Still, however, he spoke kindly to the lady, and 
 then hastened forth to till his cornfield and set out 
 fruit-trees, or to bargain with the Indians for furs, or 
 perchance to oversee the building of a fort. Also, be 
 ing a magistrate, he had often to punish some idler or 
 evil doer, by ordering him to be set in the stocks or 
 scourged at the whipping-post. Often, too, as was the 
 custom of the times, he and Mr. Higginson, the minis 
 ter of Salem, held long religious talks together. Thus 
 John Endicott was a man of multifarious business, 
 and had no time to look back regretfully to his native 
 land. He felt himself fit for the New World and for 
 the work that he had to do, and set himself resolutely 
 to accomplish it. 
 
 What a contrast, my dear children, between this 
 bold, rough, active man, and the gentle Lady Arbella, 
 who was facling away, like a pale English flower, in 
 the shadow of the forest ! And now the great chair 
 was often empty, because Lady Arbella grew too weak 
 to arise from bed. 
 
 Meantime, her husband had pitched upon a spot for 
 their new home. He returned from Boston to Salem, 
 travelling through the woods on foot, and leaning on 
 his pilgrim s staff. His heart yearned within him ; 
 for he was eager to tell his wife of the new home 
 which he had chosen. But when he beheld her pale 
 and hollow cheek, and found how her strength was 
 wasted, he must have known that her appointed home 
 was in a better land. Happy for him then happy 
 both for him and her if they remembered that there 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 441 
 
 was a path to heaven, as well from this heathen wil 
 derness as from the Christian land whence they had 
 come. And so, in one short month from her arrival, 
 the gentle Lady Arbella faded away and died. They 
 dug a grave for her in the new soil, where the roots 
 of the pine-trees impeded their spades ; and when her 
 bones had rested there nearly two hundred years, and 
 a city had sprung up around them, a church of stone 
 was built upon the spot. 
 
 Charley, almost at the commencement of the fore 
 going narrative, had galloped away, with a prodigious 
 clatter, upon Grandfather s stick, and was not yet re 
 turned. So large a boy should have been ashamed to 
 ride upon a stick. But Laurence and Clara had lis 
 tened attentively, and were affected by this true story 
 of the gentle lady who had come so far to die so soon. 
 Grandfather had supposed that little Alice was asleep ; 
 but towards the close of the story, happening to look 
 down upon her, he saw that her blue eyes were wide 
 open, and fixed earnestly upon his face. The tears 
 had gathered in them, like dew upon a delicate flower ; 
 but when Grandfather ceased to speak, the sunshine of 
 her smile broke forth again. 
 
 " Oh, the lady must have been so glad to get to 
 heaven ! " exclaimed little Alice. 
 
 " Grandfather, what became of Mr. Johnson ? " 
 asked Clara. 
 
 " His heart appears to have been quite broken," an 
 swered Grandfather ; " for he died at Boston within a 
 month after the death of his wife. He was buried in 
 the very same tract of ground where he had intended 
 to build a dwelling for Lady Arbella and himself. 
 Where their house would have stood, there was his 
 grave." 
 
442 OR A NDFA THER S CHA IR. 
 
 " I never heard anything so melancholy," said Clara. 
 
 " The people loved and respected Mr. Johnson so 
 much," continued Grandfather, " that it was the last 
 request of many of them, when they died, that they 
 might be buried as near as possible to this good man s 
 grave. And so the field became the first burial-ground 
 in Boston. When you pass through Tremont Street, 
 along by King s Chapel, you see a burial-ground, con 
 taining many old grave-stones and monuments. That 
 was Mr. Johnson s field." 
 
 " How sad is the thought," observed Clara, " that 
 one of the first things which the settlers had to do, 
 when they came to the New World, was to set apart a 
 burial-ground ! " 
 
 " Perhaps," said Laurence, " if they had found no 
 need of burial-grounds here, they would have been 
 glad, after a few years, to go back to England." 
 
 Grandfather looked at Laurence, to discover whether 
 he knew how profound and true a thing he had said 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 NOT long after Grandfather had told the story of 
 his great chair, there chanced to be a rainy day. Our 
 friend Charley, after disturbing the household with 
 beat of drum and riotous shouts, races up and down 
 the staircase, overturning of chairs, and much other 
 uproar, began to feel the quiet and confinement within 
 doors intolerable. But as the rain came clown in a 
 flood, the little fellow was hopelessly a prisoner, and 
 now stood with sullen aspect at a window, wondering 
 whether the sun itself were not extinguished by so 
 much moisture in the sky. 
 
 Charley had already exhausted the less eager activity 
 of the other children ; and they had betaken them 
 selves to occupations that did not admit of his com 
 panionship. Laurence sat in a recess near the book 
 case, reading, not for the first time, the Midsummer 
 Night s Dream. Clara was making a rosary of beads 
 for a little figure of a Sister of Charity, who was to 
 attend the Bunker Hill fair and lend her aid in erect 
 ing- the Monument. Little Alice sat on Grandfather s 
 
 O 
 
 footstool, with a picture-book in her hand ; and, for 
 every picture, the child was telling Grandfather a 
 story. She did not read from the book (for little 
 Alice had not much skill in reading), but told the 
 story out of her own heart and mind. 
 
 Charley was too big a boy, of course, to care any 
 thing about little Alice s stories, although Grandfather 
 appeared to listen with a good deal of interest. Often, 
 
444 GRANDPA THER CHA IR. 
 
 in a young child s ideas and fancies, there is some 
 thing which it requires the thought of a lifetime to 
 comprehend. But Charley was of opinion that, if a 
 story must be told, it had better be told by Grandfather 
 than little Alice. 
 
 " Grandfather, I want to hear more about your 
 chair," said he. 
 
 Now, Grandfather remembered that Charley had 
 galloped away upon a stick in the midst of the narra 
 tive of poor Lady Arbella, and I know not whether 
 he would have thought it worth while to tell another 
 story merely to gratify such an inattentive auditor as 
 Charley. But Laurence laid down his book and sec 
 onded the request. Clara drew her chair nearer to 
 Grandfather; and little Alice immediately closed her 
 picture - book and looked up into his face. Grand 
 father had not the heart to disappoint them. 
 
 He mentioned several persons who had a share in 
 the settlement of our country, and who would be well 
 worthy of remembrance, if we could find room to tell 
 about them all. Among the rest, Grandfather spoke 
 of the famous Hugh Peters, a minister of the gospel, 
 who did much good to the inhabitants of Salem. Mr. 
 Peters afterwards went back to England, and was 
 chaplain to Oliver Cromwell ; but Grandfather did 
 not tell the children what became of this upright and 
 zealous man at last. In fact, his auditors were grow 
 ing impatient to hear more about the history of the 
 chair. 
 
 u After the death of Mr. Johnson," said he, " Grand 
 father s chair came into the possession of Roger Wil 
 liams. He was a clergyman, who arrived at Salem, 
 and settled there in 1631. Doubtless the good man 
 has spent many a studious hour in this old chair, either 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 445 
 
 penning a sermon or reading some abstruse book of 
 theology, till midnight came upon him unawares. At 
 that period, as there were few lamps or candles to be 
 had, people used to read or work by the light of pitch- 
 pine torches. These supplied the place of the 4 mid 
 night oil to the learned men of New England." 
 
 Grandfather went on to talk about Roger Williams, 
 and told the children several particulars, which we 
 have not room to repeat. One incident, however, 
 which was connected with his life, must be related, be 
 cause it will give the reader an idea of the opinions 
 and feelings of the first settlers of New England. It 
 was as follows : 
 
 THE RED CROSS. 
 
 While Roger Williams sat in Grandfather s chair 
 at his humble residence in Salem, John Endicott 
 would often come to visit him. As the clergy had 
 great influence in temporal concerns, the minister and 
 magistrate would talk over the occurrences of the day, 
 and consult how the people might be governed accord 
 ing to scriptural laws. 
 
 One thing especially troubled them both. In the 
 old national banner of England, under which her sol 
 diers have fought for hundreds of years, there is a red 
 cross, which has been there ever since the days when 
 England was in subjection to the pope. The cross, 
 though a holy symbol, was abhorred by the Puritans, 
 because they considered it a relic of popish idolatry. 
 Now, whenever the train-band of Salem was mustered, 
 the soldiers, with Endicott at their head, had no other 
 flag to march under than this same old papistical ban 
 ner of England, with the red cross in the midst of it. 
 The bannei of the red cross, likewise, was flying on 
 
446 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 the walls of the fort of Salem ; and a similar one was 
 displayed in Boston Harbor, from the fortress on Cas 
 tle Island. 
 
 " I profess, Brother Williams," Captain Endicott 
 would say, after they had been talking of this matter, 
 " it distresses a Christian man s heart to see this idola 
 trous cross flying over our heads. A stranger, behold 
 ing it, would think that we had undergone all our 
 hardships and dangers, by sea and in the wilderness, 
 only to get new dominions for the Pope of Rome." 
 
 " Truly, good Mr. Endicott," Roger Williams would 
 answer, " you speak as an honest man and Protestant 
 Christian should. For mine own part, were it my 
 business to draw a sword, I should reckon it sinful to 
 fight under such a banner. Neither can I, in my pul 
 pit, ask the blessing of Heaven upon it." 
 
 Such, probably, was the way in which Roger Wil 
 liams and John Endicott used to talk about the ban 
 ner of the red cross. Endicott, who was a prompt 
 and resolute man, soon determined that Massachusetts, 
 if she could not have a banner of her own, should at 
 least be delivered from that of the Pope of Rome. 
 
 Not long afterwards there was a military muster at 
 Salem. Every able-bodied man in the town and 
 neighborhood was there. All were well armed, with 
 steel caps upon their heads, pla,tes of iron upon their 
 breasts and at their backs, and gorgets of steel around 
 their necks. When the sun shone upon these ranks 
 of iron-clad men, they flashed and blazed with a splen 
 dor that bedazzled the wild Indians who had corne 
 out of the woods to gaze at them. The soldiers had 
 long pikes, swords, and muskets, which were fired with 
 matches, and were almost as heavy as a small cannon. 
 
 These men had mostly a stern and rigid aspect. To 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 447 
 
 judge by their looks, you might have supposed that 
 there was as much iron in their hearts as there was 
 upon their heads and breasts. They were all devoted 
 Puritans, and of the same temper as those with whom 
 Oliver Cromwell afterwards overthrew the throne of 
 England. They hated all the relics of popish super 
 stition as much as Endicott himself ; and yet over 
 their heads was displayed the banner of the red cross. 
 
 Endicott was the captain of the company. While 
 the soldiers were expecting his orders to begin their 
 exercise, they saw him take the banner in one hand, 
 holding his drawn sword in the other. Probably he 
 addressed them in a speech, and explained how horri 
 ble a thing it was that men, who had fled from popish 
 idolatry into the wilderness, should be compelled to 
 fight under its symbols here. Perhaps he concluded 
 his address somewhat in the following style : 
 
 " And now, fellow-soldiers, you see this old banner 
 of England. Some of you, I doubt not, may think it 
 treason for a man to lay violent hands upon it. But 
 whether or no it be treason to man, I have good assur 
 ance in my conscience that it is no treason to God. 
 Wherefore, I have resolved that we will rather be 
 God s soldiers than soldiers of the Pope of Rome ; and 
 in that mind I now cut the papal cross out of this 
 banner." 
 
 And so he did. And thus, in a province belonging 
 to the crown of England, a captain was found bold 
 enough to deface the king s banner with his sword. 
 
 When Winthrop and the other wise men of Massa 
 chusetts heard of it they were disquieted, being afraid 
 that Endicott s act would bring great trouble upon 
 himself and them. An account of the matter was car 
 ried to King Charles ; but he was then so much en- 
 
448 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 grossed by dissensions with his people that he had 
 no leisure to punish the offender. In other times, it 
 might have cost Endicott his life, and Massachusetts 
 her charter. 
 
 "I should like to know, Grandfather," said Lau= 
 rence, when the story was ended, "whether, when 
 Endicott cut the red cross out of the banner, he meant 
 to imply that Massachusetts was independent of Eng 
 land?" 
 
 " A sense of the independence of his adopted coun 
 try must have been in that bold man s heart," an 
 swered Grandfather; "but I doubt whether he had 
 given the matter much consideration except in its re 
 ligious bearing. However, it was a very remarkable 
 affair, and a very strong expression of Puritan char 
 acter." 
 
 Grandfather proceeded to speak further of Roger 
 Williams, and of other persons who sat in the great 
 chair, as will be seen in the following chapter. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " ROGER WILLIAMS," said Grandfather, " did not 
 keep possession of the chair a great while. His opin 
 ions of civil and religious matters differed, in many 
 respects, from those of the rulers and clergymen of 
 Massachusetts. Now, the wise men of those days be 
 lieved that the country could not be safe unless all the 
 inhabitants thought and felt alike." 
 
 u Does anybody believe so in our days, Grand 
 father? " asked Laurence. 
 
 " Possibly there are some who believe it," said 
 Grandfather ; " but they have not so much power to 
 act upon their belief as the magistrates and ministers 
 had in the days of Roger Williams. They had the 
 power to deprive this good man of his home, and to 
 send him out from the midst of them in search of a 
 new place of rest. He was banished in 1634, and 
 went first to Plymouth colony ; but as the people there 
 held the same opinions as those of Massachusetts, he 
 was not suffered to remain among them. However, 
 the wilderness was wide enough ; so Roger Williams 
 took his staff and travelled into the forest and made 
 treaties with the Indians, and began a plantation which 
 he called Providence." 
 
 " I have been to Providence on the railroad," said 
 Charley. " It is but a two-hours ride." 
 
 " Yes, Charley," replied Grandfather ; " but when 
 Roger Williams travelled thither, over hills and val 
 leys, and through the tangled woods, and across 
 
 VOL. iv. 29 
 
450 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 swamps and streams, it was a journey of several days. 
 Well, his little plantation is now grown to be a pop 
 ulous city ; and the inhabitants have a great venera 
 tion for Roger Williams. His name is familiar in the 
 mouths of all, because they see it on their bank-bills. 
 How it would have perplexed this good clergyman if 
 he had been told that he should give his name to the 
 ROGER WILLIAMS BANK ! " 
 
 " When he was driven from Massachusetts," said 
 Laurence, " and began his journey into the woods, he 
 must have felt as if he were burying himself forever 
 from the sight and knowledge of men. Yet the whole 
 country has now heard of him, and will remember him 
 forever." 
 
 " Yes," answered Grandfather ; " it often happens 
 that the outcasts of one generation are those who are 
 reverenced as the wisest and best of men by the next. 
 The securest fame is that which comes after a man s 
 death. But let us return to our story. When Roger 
 Williams was banished, he appears to have given the 
 chair to Mrs. Anne Hutchinson. At all events, it was 
 in her possession in 1637. She was a very sharp-wit 
 ted and well-instructed lady, and was so conscious of 
 her own wisdom and abilities that she thought it a 
 pity that the world should not have the benefit of 
 them. She therefore used to hold lectures in Boston 
 once or twice a week, at which most of the women at 
 tended. Mrs. Hutchinson presided at these meetings, 
 sitting with great state and dignity in Grandfather s 
 chair." 
 
 " Grandfather, was it positively this very chair ? " 
 demanded Clara, laying her hand upon its carved el 
 bow. 
 
 " Why not, my dear Clara ? " said G i andfather. 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 451 
 
 " Well, Mrs. Hutchinson s lectures soon caused a 
 great disturbance ; for the ministers of Boston did not 
 think it safe and proper that a woman should publicly 
 instruct the people in religious doctrines. Moreover, 
 she made the matter worse by declaring that the Rev. 
 Mr. Cotton was the only sincerely pious and holy cler 
 gyman in New England. Now, the clergy of those 
 days had quite as much share in the government of 
 the country, though indirectly, as the magistrates them 
 selves ; so you may imagine what a host of powerful 
 enemies were raised up against Mrs. Hutchinson. A 
 synod was convened ; that is to say, an assemblage of 
 all the ministers in Massachusetts. They declared 
 that there were eighty -two erroneous opinions on re 
 ligious subjects diffused among the people, and that 
 Mrs. Hutchinson s opinions were of the number." 
 
 " If they had eighty -two wrong opinions," observed 
 Charley, " I don t see how they could have any right 
 ones." 
 
 " Mrs. Hutchinson had many zealous friends and 
 converts," continued Grandfather. u She was favored 
 by young Henry Vane, who had come over from Eng 
 land a year or two before, and had since been chosen 
 governor of the colony, at the age of twenty-four. But 
 Winthrop and most of the other leading men, as well 
 as the ministers, felt an abhorrence of her doctrines. 
 Thus two opposite parties were formed ; and so fierce 
 were the dissensions that it was feared the consequence 
 would be civil war and bloodshed. But Winthrop 
 and the ministers being the most powerful, they dis 
 armed and imprisoned Mrs. Hutchinson s adherents. 
 She, like Roger Williams, was banished." 
 
 " Dear Grandfather, did they drive the poor woman 
 into the woods ? " exclaimed little Alice, who contrived 
 
452 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 to feel a human interest even in these discords of po 
 lemic divinity. 
 
 " They did, my darling," replied Grandfather; " and 
 the end of her life was so sad you must not hear it. 
 At her departure, it appears, from the best authori 
 ties, that she gave the great chair to her friend Henry 
 Vane. He was a young man of wonderful talents and 
 great learning, who had imbibed the religious opinions 
 of the Puritans, and left England with the intention 
 of spending his life in Massachusetts. The people 
 chose him governor ; but the controversy about Mrs, 
 Hutchinson, and other troubles, caused him to leave 
 the country in 1637. You may read the subsequent 
 events of his life in the History of England." 
 
 " Yes, Grandfather," cried Laurence ; " and we may 
 read them better in Mr. Upham s biography of Vane. 
 And what a beautiful death he died, long afterwards ! 
 beautiful, though it was on a scaffold." 
 
 " Many of the most beautiful deaths have been 
 there," said Grandfather. " The enemies of a great 
 and good man can in no other way make him so glo 
 rious as by giving him the crown of martyrdom." 
 
 In order that the children might fully understand 
 the all-important history of the chair, Grandfather now 
 thought fit to speak of the progress that was made in 
 settling several colonies. The settlement of Plymouth, 
 in 1620, has already been mentioned. In 1635 Mr. 
 Hooker and Mr. Stone, two ministers, went on foot 
 from Massachusetts to Connecticut, through the path 
 less woods, taking their whole congregation along 
 with them. They founded the town of Hartford. In 
 1638 Mr. Davenport, a very celebrated minister, went, 
 with other people, and began a plantation at New 
 Haven. In the same year, some persons who had 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 453 
 
 been persecuted in Massachusetts went to the Isle of 
 Rhodes, since called Rhode Island, and settled there. 
 About this time, also, many settlers had gone to 
 Maine, and were living without any regular govern 
 ment. There were likewise settlers near Piscataqua 
 River, in the region which is now called New Hamp- 
 ihire. 
 
 Thus, at various points along the coast of New Eng 
 land, there were communities of Englishmen. Though 
 these communities were independent of one another, 
 yet they had a common dependence upon England ; 
 and, at so vast a distance from their native home, the 
 inhabitants must all have felt like brethren. They 
 were fitted to become one united people at a future 
 period. Perhaps their feelings of brotherhood were 
 the stronger because different nations had formed set 
 tlements to the north and to the south. In Canada 
 and Nova Scotia were colonies of French. On the 
 banks of the Hudson River was a colony of Dutch, 
 who had taken possession of that region many years 
 before, and called it New Netherlands. 
 
 Grandfather, for aught I know, might have gone on 
 to speak of Maryland and Virginia; for the good old 
 gentleman really seemed to suppose that the whole sur 
 face of the United States was not too broad a founda 
 tion to place the four legs of his chair upon. But, 
 happening to glance at Charley, he perceived that this 
 naughty boy was growing impatient and meditating 
 another ride upon a stick. So here, for the present, 
 Grandfather suspended the history of his chair. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE children had now learned to look upon the 
 chair with an interest which was almost the same as 
 if it were a conscious being, and could remember the 
 many famous people whom it had held within its arms. 
 
 Even Charley, lawless as he was, seemed to feel that 
 this venerable chair must not be clambered upon nor 
 overturned, although he had no scruple in taking such 
 liberties with every other chair in the house. Clara 
 treated it with still greater reverence, often taking oc 
 casion to smooth its cushion, and to brush the dust 
 from the carved flowers and grotesque figures of its 
 oaken back and arms. Laurence would sometimes sit 
 a whole hour, especially at twilight, gazing at the chair, 
 and, by the spell of his imaginations, summoning up 
 its ancient occupants to appear in it again. 
 
 Little Alice evidently employed herself in a similar 
 way ; for once when Grandfather had gone abroad, the 
 child was heard talking with the gentle Lady Arbella, 
 as if she were still sitting in the chair. So sweet a 
 child as little Alice may fitly talk with angels, such as 
 the Lady Arbella had long since become. 
 
 Grandfather was soon importuned for more stories 
 about the chair. He had no difficulty in relating them , 
 for it really seemed as if every person noted in our 
 early history had, on some occasion or other, found 
 repose within its comfortable arms. If Grandfather 
 took pride in anything, it was in being the possessor 
 of such an honorable and historic elbow-chair. 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 455 
 
 " I know not precisely who next got possession of 
 the chair after Governor Vane went back to England," 
 said Grandfather. " But there is reason to believe 
 that President Dunster sat in it, when he held the first 
 Commencement at Harvard College. You have often 
 heard, children, how careful our forefathers were to 
 give their young people a good education. They had 
 scarcely cut down trees enough to make room for their 
 own dwellings before they began to think of establish 
 ing a college. Their principal object was, to rear up 
 pious and learned ministers ; and hence old writers 
 call Harvard College a school of the prophets." 
 
 " Is the college a school of the prophets now ? " 
 asked Charley. 
 
 " It is a long while since I took my degree, Charley. 
 You must ask some of the recent graduates," answered 
 Grandfather. " As I was telling you, President Dun 
 ster sat in Grandfather s chair in 1642, when he con 
 ferred the degree of bachelor of arts on nine young 
 men. They were the first in America who had re 
 ceived that honor. And now, my dear auditors, I must 
 confess that there are contradictory statements and 
 some uncertainty about the adventures of the chair for 
 a period of almost ten years. Some say that it was 
 occupied by your own ancestor, William Hawthorne, 
 first Speaker of the House of Representatives. I have 
 nearly satisfied myself, however, that, during most of 
 this questionable period, it was literally the chair of 
 state. It gives me much pleasure to imagine that sev 
 eral successive governors of Massachusetts sat in it at 
 the council board." 
 
 " But, Grandfather," interposed Charley, who was 
 a matter-of-fact little person, "what reason have you 
 to imagine so ? " 
 
456 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 " Pray do imagine it, Grandfather," said Laurence. 
 
 " With Charley s permission, I will," replied Grand 
 father, smiling. " Let us consider it settled, therefore, 
 that Y/inthrop, Bellingham, Dudley, and Endicott, 
 each of them, when chosen governor, took his seat in 
 our great chair on election day. In this chair, like 
 wise, did those excellent governors preside while hold 
 ing consultations with the chief councillors of the 
 province, who were styled assistants. The governor 
 sat in this chair, too, whenever messages were brought 
 to him from the chamber of representatives." 
 
 And here Grandfather took occasion to talk rather 
 tediously about the nature and forms of government 
 that established themselves, almost spontaneously, in 
 Massachusetts and the other New England colonies. 
 Democracies were the natural growth of the New 
 World. As to Massachusetts, it was at first intended 
 that the colony should be governed by a council in 
 London. But in a little while the people had the 
 whole power in their own hands, and chose annually 
 the governor, the councillors, and the representatives. 
 The people of Old England had never enjoyed any 
 thing like the liberties and privileges which the set 
 tlers of New England now possessed. And they did 
 not adopt these modes of government after long study, 
 but in simplicity, as if there were no other way for 
 people to be ruled. 
 
 " But, Laurence," continued Grandfather, " when 
 you want instruction on these points, you must seek it 
 in Mr. Bancroft s History. I am merely telling the 
 history of a chair. To proceed. The period during 
 which the governors sat in our chair was not very full 
 of striking incidents. The province was now estab 
 lished on a secure foundation ; but it did not increase 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 457 
 
 so rapidly as at first, because the Puritans were no 
 longer driven from England by persecution. How 
 ever, there was still a quiet and natural growth. The 
 Legislature incorporated towns, and made new pur 
 chases of lands from the Indians. A very memorable 
 event took place in 1643. The colonies of Massachu 
 setts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven formed 
 a union, for the purpose of assisting each other in dif 
 ficulties, for mutual defence against their enemies. 
 They called themselves the United Colonies of New 
 England." 
 
 " Were they under a government like that of the 
 United States ? " inquired Laurence. 
 
 " No," replied Grandfather ; " the different colonies 
 did not compose one nation together ; it was merely 
 a confederacy among the governments. It somewhat 
 resembled the league of the Amphictyons, which you 
 remember in Grecian history. But to return to our 
 chair. In 1644 it was highly honored ; for Governor 
 Endicott sat in it when he gave audience to an ambas 
 sador from the French governor of Acadia, or Nova 
 Scotia. A treaty of peace between Massachusetts and 
 the French colony was then signed." 
 
 u Did England allow Massachusetts to make war 
 and peace with foreign countries ? " asked Laurence. 
 
 " Massachusetts and the whole of New England was 
 then almost independent of the mother country," said 
 Grandfather. " There was now a civil war in Eng 
 land ; and the king, as you may well suppose, had his 
 hands full at home, and could pay but little attention 
 to these remote colonies. When the Parliament got 
 the power into their hands, they likewise had enough 
 to do in keeping down the Cavaliers. Thus New Eng 
 land, like a young and hardy lad whose father and 
 
458 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 mother neglect it, was left to take care of itself. In 
 1646 King Charles was beheaded. Oliver Cromwell 
 then became Protector of England ; and as he was a 
 Puritan himself, and had risen by the valor of the 
 English Puritans, he showed himself a loving and in 
 dulgent father to the Puritan colonies in America." 
 
 O 
 
 Grandfather might have continued to talk in this 
 dull manner nobody knows how long ; but suspecting 
 that Charley would find the subject rather dry, he 
 looked sidewise at that vivacious little fellow, and saw 
 him give an involuntary yawn. Whereupon Grand 
 father proceeded with the history of the chair, and re 
 lated a very entertaining incident, which will be found 
 in the next chapter. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " ACCORDING to the most authentic records, my dear 
 children," said Grandfather, " the chair, about this 
 time, had the misfortune to break its leg. It was 
 probably on account of this accident that it ceased to 
 be the seat of the governors of Massachusetts ; for, 
 assuredly, it would have been ominous of evil to the 
 commonwealth if the chair of state had tottered upon 
 three legs. Being therefore sold at auction, alas ! 
 what a vicissitude for a chair that had figured in such 
 high company! our venerable friend was knocked 
 down to a certain Captain John Hull. This old gen 
 tleman, on carefully examining the maimed chair, dis 
 covered that its broken leg might be clamped with 
 iron and made as serviceable as ever." 
 
 " Here is the very leg that was broken ! " exclaimed 
 Charley, throwing himself down on the floor to look 
 at it. u And here are the iron clamps. How well it 
 was mended ! " 
 
 When they had all sufficiently examined the broken 
 leg, Grandfather told them a story about Captain 
 John Hull and 
 
 THE PINE-TREE SHILLINGS. 
 
 The Captain John Hull aforesaid was the mint-mas 
 ter of Massachusetts, and coined all the money that 
 was made there. This was a new line of business ; 
 for, in the earlier days of the colony, the current coin 
 age consisted of gold and silver money of England, 
 
460 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 Portugal, and Spain. These coins being scarce, the 
 people were often forced to barter their commodities 
 instead of selling them. 
 
 For instance, if a man wanted to buy a coat, he per 
 haps exchanged a bear-skin for it. If he wished for 
 a barrel of molasses, he might purchase it with a pile 
 of pine boards. Musket-bullets were used instead of 
 farthings. The Indians had a sort of money, called 
 wampum, which was made of clam-shells ; and this 
 strange sort of specie was likewise taken in payment 
 of debts by the English settlers. Bank-bills had never 
 been heard of. There was not money enough of any 
 kind, in many parts of the country, to pay the salaries 
 of the ministers ; so that they sometimes had to take 
 quintals of fish, bushels of corn, or cords of wood, in 
 stead of silver or gold. 
 
 As the people grew more numerous, and their trade 
 one with another increased, the want of current 
 money was still more sensibly felt. To supply the 
 demand, the General Court passed a law for establish 
 ing a coinage of shillings, sixpences, and threepences. 
 Captain John Hull was appointed to manufacture 
 this money, and was to have about one shilling out of 
 every twenty to pay him for the trouble of making 
 them. 
 
 Hereupon all the old silver in the colony was handed 
 over to Captain John Hull. The battered silver cans 
 and tankards, I suppose, and silver buckles, and bro 
 ken spoons, and silver buttons of worn-out coats, and 
 silver hilts of swords that had figured at court, all 
 such curious old articles were doubtless thrown into 
 the melting-pot together. But by far the greater part 
 of the silver consisted of bullion from the mines of 
 South America, which the English buccaneers who 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHATR. 461 
 
 were little better than pirates had taken from the 
 Spaniards, and brought to Massachusetts. 
 
 All this old and new silver being melted down and 
 coined, the result was an immense amount of splendid 
 shillings, sixpences, and threepences. Each had the 
 date, 1652, on the one side, and the figure of a pine- 
 tree on the other. Hence they were called pine-tree 
 shillings. And for every twenty shillings that he 
 coined, you will remember, Captain John Hull was 
 entitled to put one shilling into his own pocket. 
 
 The magistrates soon began to suspect that the mint- 
 master would have the best of the bargain. They of 
 fered him a large sum of money if he would but give 
 up that twentieth shilling which he was continually 
 dropping into his own pocket. But Captain Hull de 
 clared himself perfectly satisfied with the shilling. 
 And well he might be ; for so diligently did he labor, 
 that, in a few years, his pockets, his money-bags, and 
 his strong box were overflowing with pine-tree shil 
 lings. This was probably the case when he came into 
 possession of Grandfather s chair ; and, as he had 
 worked so hard al; the mint, it was certainly proper 
 that he should have a comfortable chair to rest him 
 self in. 
 
 When the mint-master had grown very rich, a young 
 man, Samuel Sewell by name, came a-courting to his 
 only daughter. His daughter whose name I do not 
 know, but we will call her Betsey was a fine, hearty 
 damsel, by no means so slender as some young ladies 
 of our own days. On the contrary, having always fed 
 heartily on pumpkin-pies, doughnuts, Indian puddings, 
 and other Puritan dainties, she was as round and 
 plump as a pudding herself. With this round, rosy 
 Miss Betsey did Samuel Sewell fall in love. As he 
 
4<5 2 GRAXDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 was a young man of good character, industrious in his 
 business, and a member of the church, the mint-master 
 very readily gave his consent, 
 
 Yes. you may take her." said he. in his rough way, 
 and you "11 find her a heavy burden enough ! " 
 
 On the wedding day. we may suppose that honest 
 John Hull dressed himself in a plum-colored coat, all 
 the buttons of which were made of pine-tree shilling^ 
 The buttons of his waistcoat were sixpences ; and the 
 knees of his small-clothes were buttoned with silver 
 threepences. Thus attired, he sat with great dignity 
 in Grandfather s chair ; and. being a portly old gentle 
 man, he completely filled it from elbow to elbow. On 
 the opposite side of the room, between her bridemaids, 
 sat Miss Betsey. She was blushing with all her might, 
 and looked like a full-blown peony, or a great red 
 apple. 
 
 There, too. was the bridegroom, dressed in a fine 
 purple coat and gold-lace waistcoat, with as much other 
 finery as the Puritan laws and customs would allow 
 him to put on. His hair was cropped close to his 
 head, because Governor Endicott n*ad forbidden any 
 man to wear it below the ears. But he was a very 
 personable young man ; and so thought the bridemaids 
 and Miss Betsey herself. 
 
 The mint-master also was pleased with his new son- 
 in-law ; especially as he had courted Miss Betsey out 
 of pure love, and had said nothing at all about her 
 portion. So, when the marriage ceremony was over, 
 Captain Hull whispered a word to two of his men-ser 
 vants, who immediately went out, and soon returned, 
 lugging in a large pair of scales. They were such a 
 pair as wholesale merchants use for weighing bulky 
 commodities ; and quite a bulky commodity was now 
 to be weighed in them. 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 463 
 
 " Daughter Betsey." said the mint-master. " get into 
 one side of these scales." 
 
 Miss Betsey or Mrs. Sewell, as we must now call 
 her did as she was bid. like a dutiful child, without 
 any question of the why and wherefore. But what her 
 father could mean, unless to make her husband pay for 
 her by the pound (in which case she would have been 
 a dear bargain ). she had not the least idea. 
 
 " And now/ said honest John Hull to the servants. 
 " bring that box hither." 
 
 The box to which the mint-master pointed was a 
 huge, square, iron-bound, caken chest ; it was big 
 enough, my children, for all four of you to play at 
 hide-and-seek in. The servants tugged with might 
 and main, but could not lift this enormous receptacle, 
 and were finally obliged to drag it across the floor. 
 Captain Hull then took a key from his girdle, un 
 locked the chest, and lifted its ponderous lid. Be 
 hold ! it was full to the brim of bright pine-tree shil 
 lings, fresh from the mint : and Samuel Sewell began 
 to think that his father-in-law had got possession of 
 all the money in the Massachusetts treasury. But it 
 was only the mint-master s honest share of the coin 
 age. 
 
 Then the servants, at Captain Hull s command, 
 heaped double handfuls of shillings into one side of 
 the scales, while Betsey remained in the other. Jingle, 
 jingle, went the shillings, as handful after handful was 
 thrown in. till, plump and ponderous as she was, they 
 fairly weighed the young lady from the floor. 
 
 " There, son Sewell ! " cried the honest mint-master, 
 resuming his seat in Grandfather s chair. * take these 
 shillings for iny daughter s portion. Use her kindly, 
 and thank Heaven for her. It is not every wife that s 
 worth her weight in silver ! " 
 
464 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 The children laughed heartily at this legend, and 
 would hardly be convinced but that Grandfather had 
 made it out of his own head. He assured them faith 
 fully, however, that he had found it in the pages of a 
 grave historian, and had merely tried to tell it in a 
 somewhat funnier style. As for Samuel Sewell, he 
 afterwards became chief justice of Massachusetts. 
 
 " Well, Grandfather," remarked Clara, " if wedding 
 portions nowadays were paid as Miss Betsey s was, 
 young ladies would not pride themselves upon an airy 
 figure, as many of them do." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WHEN his little audience next assembled round the 
 chair, Grandfather gave them a doleful history of the 
 Quaker persecution, which began in 1656, and raged 
 for about three years in Massachusetts. 
 
 He told them how, in the first place, twelve of the 
 converts of George Fox, the first Quaker in the world, 
 had come over from England. They seemed to be im 
 pelled by an earnest love for the souls of men, and 
 a pure desire to make known what they considered a 
 revelation from Heaven. But the rulers looked upon 
 them as plotting the downfall of all government and 
 religion. They were banished from the colony. In a 
 little while, however, not only the first twelve had re 
 turned, but a multitude of other Quakers had come to 
 rebuke the rulers and to preach against the priests and 
 steeple-houses. 
 
 Grandfather described the hatred and scorn with 
 which these enthusiasts were received. They were 
 thrown into dungeons ; they were beaten with many 
 stripes, women as well as men ; they were driven forth 
 into the wilderness, and left to the tender mercies of 
 wild beasts and Indians. The children were amazed 
 to hear that the more the Quakers were scourged, and 
 imprisoned, and banished, the more did the sect in 
 crease, both by the influx of strangers and by con 
 verts from among the Puritans. But Grandfather 
 told them that God had put something into the soul 
 
 VOL. IV. 30 
 
466 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 of man, which always turned the cruelties of the per 
 secutor to nought. 
 
 He went on to relate that, in 1659, two Quakers, 
 named William Robinson and Marmaduke Stephen- 
 son, were hanged at Boston. A woman had been sen 
 tenced to die with them, but was reprieved on condi 
 tion of her leaving the colony. Her name was Mary 
 Dyer. In the year 1660 she returned to Boston, al 
 though she knew death awaited her there ; and, if 
 Grandfather had been correctly informed, an incident 
 had then taken place which connects her with our 
 story. This Mary Dyer had entered the mint-master s 
 dwelling, clothed in sackcloth and ashes, and seated 
 herself in our great chair with a sort of dignity and 
 state. Then she proceeded to deliver what she called 
 a message from Heaven, but in the midst of it they 
 dragged her to prison. 
 
 "And was she executed ? " asked Laurence. 
 
 " She was," said Grandfather. 
 
 " Grandfather," cried Charley, clinching his fist, 
 " I would have fought for that poor Quaker woman ! " 
 
 " Ah, but if a sword had been drawn for her," said 
 Laurence, " it would have taken away all the beauty 
 of her death." 
 
 It seemed as if hardly any of the preceding stories 
 had thrown such an interest around Grandfather s 
 chair as did the fact that the poor, persecuted, wander 
 ing Quaker woman had rested in it for a moment. 
 The children were so much excited that Grandfather 
 found it necessary to bring his account of the persecu 
 tion to a close. 
 
 " In 1660, the same year in which Mary Dyer was 
 executed," said he, " Charles II. was restored to the 
 throne of his fathers. This king had many vices ; but 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 467 
 
 he would not permit blood to be shed, under pretence 
 of religion, in any part of his dominions. The Quak 
 ers in England told him what had been done to their 
 brethren in Massachusetts ; and he sent orders to 
 Governor Endicott to forbear all such proceedings in 
 future. And so ended the Quaker persecution, one 
 of the most mournful passages in the history of oui 
 forefathers." 
 
 Grandfather then told his auditors, that, shortly 
 after the above incident, the great chair had been 
 given by the mint-master to the Rev. Mr. John Eliot. 
 He was the first minister of Roxbury. But besides 
 attending to the pastoral duties there, he learned the 
 language of the red men, and often went into the 
 woods to preach to them. So earnestly did he labor 
 for their conversion that he has always been called the 
 apostle to the Indians. The mention of this holy man 
 suggested to Grandfather the propriety of giving a 
 brief sketch of the history of the Indians, so far as 
 they were connected with the English colonists. 
 
 A short period before the arrival of the first Pil 
 grims at Plymouth there had been a very grievous 
 plague ^rnong the red men ; and the sages and minis 
 ters of that day were inclined to the opinion that Prov 
 idence had sent this mortality in order to make room 
 for the settlement of the English. But I know not 
 why we should suppose that an Indian s life is less 
 precious, in the eye of Heaven, than that of a white 
 man. Be that as it may, death had certainly been 
 very busy with the savage tribes. 
 
 In many places the English found the wigwams de 
 serted and the cornfields growing to waste, with none 
 to harvest the grain. There were heaps of earth also, 
 which, being dug open, proved to be Indian graves, 
 
468 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 containing bows and flint-headed spears and arrows , 
 for the Indians buried the dead warrior s weapons 
 along with him. In some spots there were skulls and 
 other human bones lying unburied. In 1633, and the 
 year afterwards, the small-pox broke out among the 
 Massachusetts Indians, multitudes of whom died by 
 this terrible disease of the Old World. These mis 
 fortunes made them far less powerful than they had 
 formerly been. 
 
 For nearly half a century after the arrival of the 
 English the red men showed themselves generally in 
 clined to peace and amity. They often made submis 
 sion when they might have made successful war. The 
 Plymouth settlers, led by the famous Captain Miles 
 Standish, slew some of them, in 1623, without any very 
 evident necessity for so doing. In 1636, and the fol 
 lowing year, there was the most dreadful war that had 
 yet occurred between the Indians and the English. 
 The Connecticut settlers, assisted by a celebrated In 
 dian chief named Uncas, bore the brunt of this war, 
 with but little aid from Massachusetts. Many hun 
 dreds of the hostile Indians were slain or burned in 
 their wigwams. Sassacus, their sachem, fled^ to an 
 other tribe, after his own people were defeated ; but 
 he was murdered by them, and his head was sent to 
 his English enemies. 
 
 From that period down to the time of King Philip s 
 War, which will be mentioned hereafter, there was not 
 much trouble with the Indians. But the colonists were 
 always on their guard, and kept their weapons ready 
 for the conflict. 
 
 " I have sometimes doubted," said Grandfather, 
 when he had told these things to the children, "I 
 have sometimes doubted whether there was more than 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 469 
 
 a single man among our forefathers, who realized that 
 an Indian possesses a mind, and a heart, and an im 
 mortal soul. That single man was John Eliot. All 
 the rest of the early settlers seemed to think that the 
 Indians were an inferior race of beings, whom the 
 Creator had merely allowed to keep possession of this 
 beautiful country till the white men should be in want 
 of it." 
 
 " Did the pious men of those days never try to 
 make Christians of them? " asked Laurence. 
 
 " Sometimes, it is true," answered Grandfather, 
 " the magistrates and ministers would talk about civi 
 lizing and converting the red people. But, at the bot 
 tom of their hearts, they would have had almost as 
 much expectation of civilizing the wild bear of the 
 woods and making him fit for paradise. They felt no 
 faith in the success of any such attempts, because they 
 had no love for the poor Indians. Now, Eliot was 
 full of love for them ; and therefore so full of faith 
 and hope that he spent the labor of a lifetime in their 
 behalf." 
 
 * I would have conquered them first, and then con 
 verted them," said Charley. 
 
 " Ah, Charley, there spoke the very spirit of our 
 forefathers ! " replied Grandfather. " But Mr. Eliot 
 had a better spirit. He looked upon them as his 
 brethren. He persuaded as many of them as he could 
 to leave off their idle and wandering habits, and to 
 build houses and cultivate the earth, as the English 
 did. He established schools among them and taught 
 many of the Indians how to read. He taught them, 
 likewise, how to pray. Hence they were called 4 pray 
 ing Indians. Finally, having spent the best years 
 of his life for their good, Mr. Eliot resolved to spend 
 the remainder in doing them a yet greater benefit." 
 
470 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 " I know what that was ! " cried Laurence. 
 
 " He sat down in his study," continued Grandfather, 
 " and began a translation of the Bible into the Indian 
 tongue. It was while he was engaged in this pious 
 work that the mint-master gave him our great chair. 
 His toil needed it and deserved it." 
 
 " O Grandfather, tell us all about that Indian 
 Bible ! " exclaimed Laurence. " I have seen it in the 
 library of the AthenaBum ; and the tears came into my 
 eyes to think that there were no Indians left to read 
 it." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 As Grandfather was a great admirer of the apostle 
 Eliot, he was glad to comply with the earnest request 
 which Laurence had made at the close of the last 
 chapter. So he proceeded to describe how good Mr. 
 Eliot labored, while he was at work upon 
 
 THE INDIAN BIBLE. 
 
 My dear children, what a task would you think it, 
 even with a long lifetime before you, were you bidden 
 to copy every chapter, and verse, and word in yonder 
 family Bible ! Would not this be a heavy toil ? But 
 if the task were, not to write off the English Bible, but 
 to learn a language utterly unlike all other tongues, 
 a language which hitherto had never been learned, 
 except by the Indians themselves, from their mothers 
 lips, a language never written, and the strange 
 words of which seemed inexpressible by letters, if 
 the task were, first to learn this new variety of speech, 
 and then to translate the Bible into it, and to do it so 
 carefully that not one idea throughout the holy book 
 should be changed, what would induce you to un 
 dertake this toil ? Yet this was what the apostle Eliot 
 did. 
 
 It was a mighty work for a man, now growing old, 
 to take upon himself. And what earthly reward could 
 he expect from it ? None ; no reward on earth. But 
 he believed that the red men were the descendants of 
 those lost tribes of Israel of whom history has been 
 
472 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 able to tell us nothing for thousands of years. He 
 hoped that God had sent the English across the ocean, 
 Gentiles as they were, to enlighten this benighted por 
 tion of his once chosen race. And when he should be 
 summoned hence, he trusted to meet blessed spirits 
 in another world, whose bliss would have been earned 
 by his patient toil in translating the word of God. 
 This hope and trust were far dearer to him than any 
 thing that earth could offer. 
 
 Sometimes, while thus at work, he was visited by 
 learned men, who desired to know what literary un 
 dertaking Mr. Eliot had in hand. They, like him 
 self, had been bred in the studious cloisters of a uni 
 versity, and were supposed to possess all the erudition 
 which mankind has hoarded up from age to age. 
 Greek and Latin were as familiar to them as the bab 
 ble of their childhood. Hebrew was like their mother 
 tongue. They had grown gray in study ; their eyes 
 were bleared with poring over print and manuscript 
 by the light of the midnight lamp. 
 
 And yet, how much had they left unlearned ! Mr. 
 Eliot would put into their hands some of the pages 
 which he had been writing ; and behold ! the gray- 
 headed men stammered over the long, strange words, 
 like a little child in his first attempts to read. Then 
 would the apostle call to him an Indian boy, one of 
 his scholars, and show him the manuscript which had 
 so puzzled the learned Englishmen. 
 
 " Read this, my child," would he say ; " these are 
 some brethren of mine, who would fain hear the sound 
 of thy native tongue." 
 
 Then would the Indian boy cast his eyes over the 
 mysterious page, and read it so skilfully that it sounded 
 like wild music. It seemed as if the forest leaves were 
 
GRA NDFA THER 5 CHA TR. 473 
 
 singing in the ears of his auditors, and as if the roar 
 of distant streams were poured through the young 
 Indian s voice. Such were the sounds amid which the 
 language of the red man had been formed ; and they 
 were still heard to echo in it. 
 
 The lesson being over, Mr. Eliot would give the In 
 dian boy an apple or a cake, and bid him leap forth 
 into the open air which his free nature loved. The 
 apostle was kind to children, and even shared in their 
 sports sometimes. And when his visitors had bidden 
 him farewell, the good man turned patiently to his 
 toil again. 
 
 No other Englishman had ever understood the In 
 dian character so well, nor possessed so great an influ 
 ence over the New England tribes, as the apostle did. 
 His advice and assistance must often have been valua 
 ble to his countrymen in their transactions with the 
 Indians. Occasionally, perhaps, the governor and 
 some of the councillors came to visit Mr. Eliot. Per 
 chance they were seeking some method to circumvent 
 the forest people. They inquired, it may be, how they 
 could obtain possession of such and such a tract of 
 their rich land. Or they talked of making the Indians 
 their servants ; as if God had destined them for per 
 petual bondage to the more powerful white man. 
 
 Perhaps, too, some warlike captain, dressed in his 
 buff coat, with a corselet beneath it, accompanied the 
 governor and councillors. Laying his hand upon his 
 sword hilt, he would declare, that the only method of 
 dealing with the red men was to meet them with the 
 sword drawn and the musket presented. 
 
 But the apostle resisted both the craft of the politi 
 cian and the fierceness of the warrior. 
 
 " Treat these sons of the forest as men and breth- 
 
474 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 ren," he would say ; " and let us endeavor to make 
 them Christians. Their forefathers were of that chos 
 en race whom God delivered from Egyptian bondage. 
 Perchance he has destined us to deliver the children 
 from the more cruel bondage of ignorance and idola 
 try. Chiefly for this end, it may be, we were directed 
 across the ocean." 
 
 When these other visitors were gone, Mr. Eliot 
 bent himself again over the half-written page. He 
 dared hardly relax a moment from his toil. He felt 
 that, in the book which he was translating, there was 
 a deep human as well as heavenly wisdom, which 
 would of itself suffice to civilize and refine the savage 
 tribes. Let the Bible be diffused among them, and 
 all earthly good would follow. But how slight a con 
 sideration was this, when he reflected that the eternal 
 welfare of a whole race of men depended upon his ac 
 complishment of the task which he had set himself ! 
 What if his hands should be palsied? What if his 
 mind should lose its vigor ? What if death should 
 come upon him ere the work were done ? Then must 
 the red man wander in the dark wilderness of hea 
 thenism forever. 
 
 Impelled by such thoughts as these, he sat writing 
 in the great chair when the pleasant summer breeze 
 came in through his open casement ; and also when 
 the fire of forest logs sent up its blaze and smoke, 
 through the broad stone chimney, into the wintry air. 
 Before the earliest bird sang in the morning the apos 
 tle s lamp was kindled ; and, at midnight, his weary 
 head was not yet upon its pillow. And at length, 
 leaning back in the great chair, he could say to him 
 self, with a holy triumph, " The work is finished ! " 
 
 It was finished. Here was a Bible for the Indians, 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 475 
 
 Those long-lost descendants of the ten tribes of Israel 
 would now learn the history of their forefathers. That 
 grace which the ancient Israelites had forfeited was 
 offered anew to their children. 
 
 There is no impiety in believing that, when his long 
 life was over, the apostle of the Indians was welcomed 
 to the celestial abodes by the prophets of ancient days 
 and by those earliest apostles and evangelists who had 
 drawn their inspiration from the immediate presence 
 of the Saviour. They first had preached truth and 
 salvation to the world. And Eliot, separated from 
 them by many centuries, yet full of the same spirit, 
 had borne the like message to the New World of the 
 west. Since the first days of Christianity, there has 
 been no man more worthy to be numbered in the 
 brotherhood of the apostles than Eliot. 
 
 " My heart is not satisfied to think," observed Lau 
 rence, " that Mr. Eliot s labors have done no good ex 
 cept to a few Indians of his own time. Doubtless he 
 would not have regretted his toil, if it were the means 
 of saving but a single soul. But it is a grievous thing 
 to me that he should have toiled so hard to translate 
 the Bible, and now the language and the people are 
 gone ! The Indian Bible itself is almost the only relic 
 of both." 
 
 "Laurence," said his Grandfather, "if ever you 
 should doubt that man is capable of disinterested zeal 
 for his brother s good, then remember how the apostle 
 Eliot toiled. And if you should feel your own self- 
 interest pressing upon your heart too closely, then 
 think of Eliot s Indian Bible. It is good for the 
 world that such a man has lived and left this emblem 
 of his life." 
 
476 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 The tears gushed into the eyes of Laurence, and he 
 acknowledged that Eliot had not toiled in vain. Lit 
 tle Alice put up her arms to Grandfather, and drew 
 down his white head beside her own golden locks. 
 
 u Grandfather," whispered she, u I want to kiss 
 good Mr. Eliot ! " 
 
 And, doubtless, good Mr. Eliot would gladly re 
 ceive the kiss of so sweet a child as little Alice, and 
 would think it a portion of his reward in heaven. 
 
 Grandfather now observed that Dr. Francis had 
 written a very beautiful Life of Eliot, which he ad 
 vised Laurence to peruse. He then spoke of King 
 Philip s War, which began in 1675, and terminated 
 with the death of King Philip, in the following year. 
 Philip was a proud, fierce Indian, whom Mr. Eliot 
 had vainly endeavored to convert to the Christian 
 faith. 
 
 " It must have been a great anguish to the apostle," 
 continued Grandfather, " to hear of mutual slaughter 
 and outrage between his own countrymen and those 
 for whom he felt the affection of a father. A few 
 of the praying Indians joined the followers of King 
 Philip. A greater number fought on the side of the 
 English. In the course of the war the little commu 
 nity of red people whom Mr. Eliot had begun to civ 
 ilize was scattered, and probably never was restored 
 to a flourishing condition. But his zeal did not grow 
 cold ; and only about five years before his death he 
 took great pains in preparing a new edition of the In 
 dian Bible." 
 
 " I do wish, Grandfather," cried Charley, " you 
 would tell us all about the battles in King Philip s 
 War." 
 
 " Oh no ! " exclaimed Clara. *" Who wants to hear 
 about tomahawks and scalping-knives ? " 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 477 
 
 "No, Charley," replied Grandfather, "I have no 
 time to spare in talking about battles. You must be 
 content with knowing that it was the bloodiest war 
 that the Indians had ever waged against the white 
 men ; and that, at its close, the English set King 
 Philip s head upon a pole." 
 
 "Who was the captain of the English?" asked 
 Charley. 
 
 " Their most noted captain was Benjamin -Church, 
 a very famous warrior," said Grandfather. " But 
 I assure you, Charley, that neither Captain Church, 
 nor any of the officers and soldiers who fought in 
 King Philip s War, did anything a thousandth part 
 so glorious as Mr. Eliot did when he translated the 
 Bible for the Indians." 
 
 "Let Laurence be the apostle," said Charley to 
 himself, " and I will be the captain." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE children were now accustomed to assemble 
 round Grandfather s chair at all their unoccupied mo 
 ments ; and often it was a striking picture to behold 
 the white-headed old sire, with this flowery wreath of 
 young people around him. When he talked to them, 
 it was the past speaking to the present, or rather to 
 the future, for the children were of a generation 
 which had not become actual. Their part in life, thus 
 far, was only to be happy and to draw knowledge from 
 a thousand sources. As yet, it was not their time 
 to do. 
 
 Sometimes, as Grandfather gazed at their fair, un 
 worldly countenances, a mist of tears bedimmed his 
 spectacles. He almost regretted that it was necessary 
 for them to know anything of the past or to provide 
 aught for the future. He could have wished that they 
 might- be always the happy, youthful creatures who 
 had hitherto sported around his chair, without inquir 
 ing whether it had a history. It grieved him to think 
 that his little Alice, who was a flower bud fresh from 
 paradise, must open her leaves to the rough breezes of 
 the world, or ever open them in any clime. So sweet 
 a child she was, that it seemed fit her infancy should 
 be immortal. 
 
 But such repinings were merely flitting shadows 
 across the old man s heart. He had faith enough to 
 believe, and wisdom enough to know, that the bloom 
 of the flower would be even holier and happier than 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 479 
 
 its bud. Even within himself, though Grandfather 
 was now at that period of life when the veil of mor 
 tality is apt to hang heavily over the soul, still, in 
 his inmost being he was conscious of something that 
 he would not have exchanged for the best happiness 
 of childhood. It was a bliss to which every sort of 
 earthly experience all that he had enjoyed, or suf 
 fered, or seen, or heard, or acted, with the breedings 
 of his soul upon the whole had contributed some 
 what. In the same manner must a bliss, of which 
 now they could have no conception, grow up within 
 these children, and form a part of their sustenance 
 for immortality. 
 
 So Grandfather, with renewed cheerfulness, contin 
 ued his history of the chair, trusting that a profounder 
 wisdom than his own would extract, from these flowers 
 and weeds of Time, a fragrance that might last beyond 
 all time. 
 
 At this period of the story Grandfather threw a 
 glance backward as far as the year 1660. He spoke 
 of the ill-concealed reluctance with which the Puritans 
 in America had acknowledged the sway of Charles II. 
 on his restoration to his father s throne. When death 
 had stricken Oliver Cromwell, that mighty protector 
 had no sincerer mourners than in New England. The 
 new king had been more than a year upon the throne 
 before his accession was proclaimed in Boston, although 
 the neglect to perform the ceremony might have sub 
 jected the rulers to the charge of treason. 
 
 During the reign of Charles II., however, the 
 American colonies had but little reason to complain 
 of harsh or tyrannical treatment. But when Charles 
 died, in 1685, and was succeeded by his brother 
 James, the patriarchs of New England began to trem- 
 
480 GRANDFATHERS CHAIR. 
 
 "ble. King James was a bigoted Roman Catholic, and 
 was known to be of an arbitrary temper. It was 
 feared by all Protestants, and chiefly by the Puritans, 
 that he would assume despotic power and attempt to 
 establish popery throughout his dominions. Our fore 
 fathers felt that they had no security either for their 
 religion or their liberties. 
 
 The result proved that they had reason for their ap 
 prehensions. King James caused the charters of all 
 the American colonies to be taken away. The old 
 charter of Massachusetts, which the people regarded 
 as a holy thing and as the foundation of all their lib 
 erties, was declared void. The colonists were now no 
 longer freemen ; they were entirely dependent on the 
 king s pleasure. At first, in 1685, King James ap 
 pointed Joseph Dudley, a native of Massachusetts, to 
 be president of New England. But soon afterwards 
 Sir Edmund Andros, an officer of the English army, 
 arrived, with a commission to be governor-general of 
 New England and New York. 
 
 The king had given such powers to Sir Edmund 
 Andros that there was now no liberty, nor scarcely 
 any law, in the colonies over which he ruled. The 
 inhabitants were not allowed to choose representa 
 tives, and consequently had no voice whatever in the 
 government, nor control over the measures that were 
 adopted. The councillors with whom the governor 
 consulted on matters of state were appointed by him 
 self. This sort of government was no better than an 
 absolute despotism. 
 
 "The people suffered much wrong while Sir Ed 
 mund Andros ruled over them," continued Grand- 
 father ; " and they were apprehensive of much more. 
 He had brought some soldiers with him from England, 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 481 
 
 who took possession of the old fortress on Castle Isl 
 and and of the fortification on Fort Hill. Sometimes 
 it was rumored that a general massacre of the inhab 
 itants was to be perpetrated by these soldiers. There 
 were reports, too, that all the ministers were to be 
 slain or imprisoned." 
 
 " For what? " inquired Charley. 
 
 " Because they were the leaders of the people, Char 
 ley," said Grandfather. " A minister was a more for 
 midable man than a general in those days. Well, 
 while these things were going on in America, King 
 James had so misgoverned the people of England that 
 they sent over to Holland for the Prince of Orange. 
 He had married the king s daughter, and was there 
 fore considered to have a claim to the crown. On his 
 arrival in England, the Prince of Orange was pro 
 claimed king, by the name of William III. Poor old 
 King James made his escape to France." 
 
 Grandfather told how, at the first intelligence of the 
 landing of the Prince of Orange in England, the peo 
 ple of Massachusetts rose in their strength and over 
 threw the government of Sir Edmund Andros. He, 
 with Joseph Dudley, Edmund Randolph, and his other 
 principal adherents, was thrown into prison. Old 
 Simon Bradstreet, who had been governor when King 
 James took away the charter, was called by the people 
 to govern them again. 
 
 "Governor Bradstreet was a venerable old man, 
 nearly ninety years of age," said Grandfather. " He 
 came over with the first settlers, and had been the in 
 timate companion of all those excellent and famous 
 men who laid the foundation of our country. They 
 were all gone before him to the grave, and Bradstreet 
 was the last of the Puritans." 
 
 VOL. iv. 31 
 
482 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 Grandfather paused a moment and smiled, as if he 
 had something very interesting to tell his auditors. 
 He then proceeded : 
 
 " And now, Laurence, now, Clara, now, Char 
 ley, now, my dear little Alice, what chair do 
 you think had been placed in the council chamber, 
 for old Governor Bradstreet to take his seat in? 
 Would you believe that it was this very chair in 
 which Grandfather now sits, and of which he is tell 
 ing you the history ? " 
 
 " I am glad to hear it, with all my heart ! " cried 
 Charley, after a shout of delight. " I thought Grand 
 father had quite forgotten the chair." 
 
 44 It was a solemn and affecting sight," said Grand 
 father, " when this venerable patriarch, with his white 
 beard flowing down upon his breast, took his seat in 
 his chair of state. Within his remembrance, and even 
 since his mature age, the site where now stood the 
 populous town had been a wild and forest-covered 
 peninsula. The province, now so fertile and spotted 
 with thriving villages, had been a desert wilderness. 
 He was surrounded by a shouting multitude, most of 
 whom had been born in the country which he had 
 helped to found. They were of one generation, and 
 he of another. As the old man looked upon them, 
 and beheld new faces everywhere, he must have felt 
 that it was now time for him to go whither his breth 
 ren had gone before him." 
 
 " Were the former governors all dead and gone ? " 
 asked Laurence. 
 
 " All of them," replied Grandfather. " Winthrop 
 had been dead forty years. Endicott died, a very old 
 man, in 1665. Sir Henry Vane was beheaded, in 
 London, at the beginning of the reign of Charles IL 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 483 
 
 And Haynes, Dudley, Bellingham, and Leverett, who 
 had all been governors of Massachusetts, were now 
 likewise in their graves. Old Simon Bradstreet was 
 the sole representative of that departed brotherhood. 
 There was no other public man remaining to connect 
 the ancient system of government and manners with 
 the new system which was about to take its place. 
 The era of the Puritans was now completed." 
 
 " I am sorry for it ! " observed Laurence ; " for 
 though they were so stern, yet it seems to me that 
 there was something warm and real about them. I 
 think, Grandfather, that each of these old governors 
 should have his statue set up in our State House, 
 sculptured out of the hardest of New England gran 
 ite." 
 
 " It would not be amiss, Laurence," said Grand 
 father ; " but perhaps clay, or some other perishable 
 material, might suffice for some of their successors. 
 But let us go back to our chair. It was occupied by 
 Governor Bradstreet from April, 1689, until May, 
 1692. Sir William Phipps then arrived in Boston 
 with a new charter from King William and a com 
 mission to be governor." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 "AND what became of the chair?" inquired Clara. 
 
 " The outward aspect of our chair," replied Grand 
 father, " was now somewhat the worse for its long 1 and 
 arduous services. It was considered hardly magnifi 
 cent enough to be allowed to keep its place in the 
 council chamber of Massachusetts. In fact, it was 
 banished as an article of useless lumber. But Sir 
 William Phipps happened to see it, and, being much 
 pleased with its construction, resolved to take the good 
 old chair into his private mansion. Accordingly, with 
 his own gubernatorial hands, he repaired one of its 
 arms, which had been slightly damaged." 
 
 " Why, Grandfather, here is the very arm ! " inter 
 rupted Charley, in great wonderment. " And did Sir 
 William Phipps put in these screws with his own 
 hands ? I am sure he did it beautifully ! But how 
 came a governor to know how to mend a chair ? " 
 
 " I will tell you a story about the early life of Sir 
 William Phipps," said Grandfather. " You will then 
 perceive that he well knew how to use his hands." 
 
 So Grandfather related the wonderful and true tale 
 of 
 
 THE SUNKEN TREASURE. 
 
 Picture to yourselves, my dear children, a hand 
 some, old-fashioned room, with a large, open cupboard 
 at one end, in which is displayed a magnificent gold 
 cup, with some other splendid articles of gold and 
 silver plate. Tn another part of the room, opposite to 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 485 
 
 a tall looking-glass, stands our beloved chair, newly 
 polished, and adorned with a gorgeous cushion of 
 crimson velvet tufted with gold. 
 
 In the chair sits a man of strong and sturdy frame, 
 whose face has been roughened by northern tempests 
 and blackened by the burning sun of the West Indies. 
 He wears an immense periwig, flowing down over his 
 shoulders. His coat has a wide embroidery of golden 
 foliage ; and his waistcoat, likewise, is all flowered over 
 and bedizened with gold. His red, rough hands, which 
 have done many a good day s work with the hammer 
 and adze, are half covered by the delicate lace ruffles 
 at his wrists. On a table lies his silver-hilted sword ; 
 and in a corner of the room stands his gold-headed 
 cane, made of a beautifully polished West India wood. 
 
 Somewhat such an aspect as this did Sir William 
 Phipps present when he sat in Grandfather s chair 
 after the king had appointed him governor of Massa 
 chusetts. Truly there was need that the old chair 
 should be varnished and decorated with a crimson 
 cushion, in order to make it suitable for such a magnif 
 icent-looking personage. 
 
 But Sir William Phipps had not always worn a 
 gold-embroidered coat, nor always sat so much at his 
 ease as he did in Grandfather s chair. He was a poor 
 man s son, and was born in the province of Maine, 
 where he used to tend sheep upon the hills in his boy 
 hood and youth. Until he had grown to be a man, he 
 did not even know how to read and write. Tired of 
 tending sheep, he next apprenticed himself to a ship- 
 carpenter, and spent about four years in hewing the 
 crooked limbs of oak-trees into knees for vessels. 
 
 In 1673, when he was twenty-two years old, he came 
 to Boston, and soon afterwards was married to a widow 
 
486 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 lady, who had property enough to set him up in busi 
 ness. It was not long, however, before he lost all the 
 money that he had acquired by his marriage, and be 
 came a poor man again. Still he was not discouraged. 
 He often told his wife that, some time or other, he 
 should be very rich, and would build a " fair brick 
 house " in the Green Lane of Boston. 
 
 Do not suppose, children, that he had been to a for 
 tune-teller to inquire his destiny. It was his own 
 energy and spirit of enterprise, and his resolution to 
 lead an industrious life, that made him look forward 
 with so much confidence to better days. 
 
 Several years passed away, and William Phipps had 
 not yet gained the riches which he promised to himself. 
 During this time he had begun to follow the sea for a 
 living. In the year 1684 he happened to hear of a 
 Spanish ship which had been cast away near the Ba 
 hama Islands, and which was supposed to contain a 
 great deal of gold and silver. Phipps went to the 
 place in a small vessel, hoping that he should be able 
 to recover some of the treasure from the wreck. He 
 did not succeed, however, in fishing up gold and silver 
 enough to pay the expenses of his voyage. 
 
 But, before he returned, he was told of another 
 Spanish ship, or galleon, which had been cast away 
 near Porto de la Plata. She had now lain as much 
 as fifty years beneath the waves. This old ship had 
 been laden with immense wealth ; and, hitherto, no 
 body had thought of the possibility of recovering any 
 part of it from the deep sea which was rolling and 
 tossing it about. But though it was now an old story, 
 and the most aged people had almost forgotten that 
 such a vessel had been wrecked, William Phipps re 
 solved that the sunken treasure should again be brought 
 to light. 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 487 
 
 He went to London and obtained admittance to 
 King James, who had not yet been driven from his 
 throne. He told the king of the vast wealth that was 
 lying at the bottom of the sea. King James listened 
 with attention, and thought this a fine opportunity to 
 fill his treasury with Spanish gold. He appointed 
 William Phipps to be captain of a vessel, called the 
 Rose Algier, carrying eighteen guns and ninety-five 
 men. So now he was Captain Phipps of the English 
 navy. 
 
 Captain Phipps sailed from England in the Rose 
 Algier, and cruised for nearly two years in the West 
 Indies, endeavoring to find the wreck of the Spanish 
 ship. But the sea is so wide and deep that it is no 
 easy matter to discover the exact spot where a sunken 
 vessel lies. The prospect of success seemed very small ; 
 and most people would have thought that Captain 
 Phipps was as far from having money enough to build 
 a " fair brick house " as he was while he tended sheep. 
 
 The seamen of the Rose Algier became discouraged, 
 and gave up all hope of making their fortunes by dis 
 covering the Spanish wreck. They wanted to compel 
 Captain Phipps to turn pirate. There was a much 
 better prospect, they thought, of growing rich by plun 
 dering vessels which still sailed in the sea than by 
 seeking for a ship that had lain beneath the waves 
 full half a century. They broke out in open mutiny ; 
 but were finally mastered by Phipps, and compelled to 
 obey his orders. It would have been dangerous, how 
 ever, to continue much longer at sea with such a crew 
 of mutinous sailors ; and, besides, the Rose Algier was 
 leaky and unseaworthy. So Captain Phipps judged 
 it best to return to England. 
 
 Before leaving the West Indies, he met with a Span- 
 
488 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 iard, an old man, who remembered the wreck of the 
 Spanish ship, and gave him directions how to find the 
 very spot. It was on a reef of rocks, a few leagues 
 from Porto de la Plata. 
 
 On his arrival in England, therefore, Captain Phipps 
 solicited the king to let him have another vessel and 
 send him back again to the West Indies. But King 
 James, who had probably expected that the Rose Al- 
 gier would return laden with gold, refused to have 
 anything more to do with the affair. Phipps might 
 never have been able to renew the search if the Duke 
 of Albemarle and some other noblemen had not lent 
 their assistance. They fitted out a ship, and gave the 
 command to Captain Phipps. He sailed from Eng 
 land, and arrived safely at Porto de la Plata, where 
 he took an adze and assisted his men to build a large 
 boat. 
 
 The boat was intended for the purpose of going closer 
 to the reef of rocks than a large vessel could safely 
 venture. When it was finished, the captain sent sev 
 eral men in it to examine the spot where the Spanish 
 ship was said to have been wrecked. They were ac 
 companied by some Indians, who were skilful divers, 
 and could go down a great way into the depths of the 
 sea. 
 
 The boat s crew proceeded to the reef of rocks, and 
 rowed round and round it a great many times. They 
 gazed down into the water, which was so transparent 
 that it seemed as if they could have seen the gold and 
 silver at the bottom, had there been any of those pre 
 cious metals there. Nothing, however, could they see ; 
 nothing more valuable than a curious sea shrub, which 
 was growing beneath the water, in a crevice of the 
 reef of rocks. It flaunted to and fro with the swell 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 489 
 
 and reflux of the waves, and looked as bright and 
 beautiful as if its leaves were gold. 
 
 44 We won t go back empty-handed," cried an Eng 
 lish sailor ; and then he spoke to one of the Indian 
 divers. " Dive down and bring me that pretty sea 
 shrub there. That s the only treasure we shall find." 
 
 Down plunged the diver, and soon rose dripping from 
 the water, holding the sea shrub in his hand. .But he 
 had learned some news at the bottom of the sea. 
 
 44 There are some ship s guns," said he, the moment 
 he had drawn breath, 44 some great cannon, among the 
 rocks, near where the shrub was growing." 
 
 No sooner had he spoken than the English sailors 
 knew that they had found the very spot where the 
 Spanish galleon had been wrecked, so many years be 
 fore. The other Indian divers immediately plunged 
 over the boat s side and swam headlong down, grop 
 ing among the rocks and sunken cannon. In a few 
 moments one of them rose above the water with a 
 heavy lump of silver in his arms. The single lump 
 was worth more than a thousand dollars. The sailors 
 took it into the boat, and then rowed back as speedily 
 as they could, being in haste to inform Captain Phipps 
 of their good luck. 
 
 But, confidently as the captain had hoped to find 
 the Spanish wreck, yet, now that it was really found, 
 the news seemed too good to be true. He could not 
 believe it till the sailors showed him the lump of 
 silver. 
 
 44 Thanks be to God ! " then cries Captain Phipps. 
 " We shall every man of us make our fortunes ! " 
 
 Hereupon the captain and all the crew set to work, 
 with iron rakes and great hooks and lines, fishing for 
 gold and silver at the bottom of the sea. Up came 
 
490 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 the treasure in abundance. Now they beheld a table 
 of solid silver, once the property of an old Spanish 
 grandee. Now they found a sacramental vessel, which 
 had been destined as a gift to some Catholic church. 
 Now they drew up a golden cup, fit for the King of 
 Spain to drink his wine out of. Perhaps the bony 
 hand of its former owner had been grasping the pre 
 cious cup, and was drawn up along with it. Now their 
 rakes or fishing-lines were loaded with masses of silver 
 bullion. There were also precious stones among the 
 treasure, glittering and sparkling, so that it is a won 
 der how their radiance could have been concealed. 
 
 There is something sad and terrible in the idea of 
 snatching all this wealth from the devouring ocean, 
 which had possessed it for such a length of years. It 
 seems as if men had no right to make themselves rich 
 with it. It ought to have been left with the skeletons 
 of the ancient Spaniards, who had been drowned when 
 the ship was wrecked, and whose bones were now scat 
 tered among the gold and silver. 
 
 But Captain Phipps and his crew were troubled 
 with no such thoughts as these. After a day or two 
 they lighted on another part of the wreck, where they 
 found a great many bags of silver dollars. But nobody 
 could have guessed that these were money-bags. By 
 remaining so long in the salt water, they had become 
 covered over with a crust which had the appearance of 
 stone, so that it was necessary to break them in pieces 
 with hammers and axes. When this was done, a 
 stream of silver dollars gushed out upon the deck of 
 the vessel. 
 
 The whole value of the recovered treasure, plate, 
 bullion, precious stones, and all, was estimated at more 
 than two millions of dollars. It was dangerous even 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 491 
 
 to look at such a vast amount of wealth. A sea-cap 
 tain, who had assisted Phipps in the enterprise, utterly 
 lost his reason at the sight of it. He died two years 
 afterwards, still raving about the treasures that lie at 
 the bottom of the sea. It would have been better for 
 this man if he had left the skeletons of the shipwrecked 
 Spaniards in quiet possession of their wealth. 
 
 Captain Phipps and his men continued to fish up 
 plate, bullion, and dollars, as plentifully as ever, till 
 their provisions grew short. Then, as they could not 
 feed upon gold and silver any more than old King 
 Midas could, they found it necessary to go in search 
 of better sustenance. Phipps resolved to return to 
 England. He arrived there in 1687, and was received 
 with great joy by the Duke of Albemarle and other 
 English lords who had fitted out the vessel. Well 
 they might rejoice ; for they took by far the greater 
 part of the treasure to themselves. 
 
 The captain s share, however, was enough to make 
 him comfortable for the rest of his days. It also ena 
 bled him to fulfil his promise to his wife, by build 
 ing a " fair brick house " in the Green Lane of Boston. 
 The Duke of Albemarle sent Mrs. Phipps a magnifi 
 cent gold cup, worth at least five thousand dollars. 
 Before Captain Phipps left London, King James made 
 him a knight ; so that, instead of the obscure ship- 
 carpenter who had formerly dwelt among them, the 
 inhabitants of Boston welcomed him on his return as 
 tiie rich and famous Sir ^\ illiam Phipps. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 " SIR WILLIAM PHIPPS, " continued Grandfather, 
 " was too active and adventurous a man to sit still in 
 the quiet enjoyment of his good fortune. In the year 
 1690 he went on a military expedition against the 
 French colonies in America, conquered the whole prov 
 ince of Acadia, and returned to Boston with a great 
 deal of plunder." 
 
 " Why, Grandfather, he was the greatest man that 
 ever sat in the chair ! " cried Charley. 
 
 " Ask Laurence what he thinks," replied Grand 
 father, with a smile. " Well, in the same year, Sir 
 William took command of an expedition against Que 
 bec, but did not succeed in capturing the city. In 
 1692, being then in London, King William III. ap 
 pointed him governor of Massachusetts. And now, 
 my dear children, having followed Sir William Phipps 
 through all his adventures and hardships till we find 
 him comfortably seated in Grandfather s chair, we will 
 here bid him farewell. May he be as hap^v in ruling 
 a people as he was while he tended sheep ! " 
 
 Charley, whose fancy had been greatly taken by the 
 adventurous disposition of Sir William Phipps, was 
 eager to know how he had acted and what happened 
 to him while he held the office of governor. But 
 Grandfather had made up his mind to tell no more 
 stories for the present. 
 
 " Possibly, one of these days, I may go on with the 
 adventures of the chair," said he. " But its history 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 493 
 
 becomes very obscure just at this point ; and I must 
 search into some old books and manuscripts before 
 proceeding further. Besides, it is now a good time 
 to pause in our narrative ; because the new charter, 
 which Sir William Phipps brought over from Eng 
 land, formed a very important epoch in the history of 
 the province." 
 
 " Really, Grandfather," observed Laurence, " this 
 seems to be the most remarkable chair in the" world. 
 Its history cannot be told without intertwining it with 
 the lives of distinguished men and the great events 
 that have befallen the country." 
 
 " True, Laurence," replied Grandfather, smiling ; 
 44 we must write a book with some such title as this : 
 MEMOIRS OF MY OWN TIMES, BY GRANDFATHER S 
 CHAIR." 
 
 44 That would be beautiful ! " exclaimed Laurence, 
 clapping his hands. 
 
 " But, after all," continued Grandfather, " any other 
 old chair, if it possessed memory and a hand to write 
 its recollections, could record stranger stories than any 
 that I have told you. From generation to generation, 
 a chair sits familiarly in the midst of human interests, 
 and is witness to the most secret and confidential in 
 tercourse that mortal man can hold with his fellow. 
 The human heart may best be read in the fireside 
 chair. And as to external events, Grief and Joy keep 
 a continual vicissitude around it and within it. Now 
 we see the glad face and glowing form of Joy, sitting 
 merrily in the old chair, and throwing a warm fire 
 light radiance over all the household. Now, while we 
 thought not of it, the dark-clad mourner, Grief, has 
 stolen into the place of Joy, but not to retain it long. 
 The imagination can hardly grasp so wide a subject 
 as is embraced in the experience of a family chair." 
 
494 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 " It makes my breath flutter, my heart thrill, to 
 think of it," said Laurence. " Yes, a family chair 
 must have a deeper history than a chair of state." 
 
 " Oh yes ! " cried Clara, expressing a woman s feel 
 ing on the point in question ; " the history of a coun 
 try is not nearly so interesting as that of a single fam 
 ily would be." 
 
 " But the history of a country is more easily told," 
 said Grandfather. " So, if we proceed with our narra 
 tive of the chair, I shall still confine myself to its con 
 nection with public events." 
 
 Good old Grandfather now rose and quitted the 
 room, while the children remained gazing at the chair. 
 Laurence, so vivid was his conception of past times, 
 would hardly have deemed it strange if its former oc 
 cupants, one after another, had resumed the seat which 
 they had each left vacant such a dim length of years 
 ago. 
 
 First, the gentle and lovely Lady Arbella would 
 have been seen in the old chair, almost sinking out of 
 its arms for very weakness ; then Roger Williams, in 
 his cloak and band, earnest, energetic, and benevo 
 lent ; then the figure of Anne Hutchinson, with the 
 like gesture as when she presided at the assemblages 
 of women; then the dark, intellectual face of Vane, 
 " young in years, but in sage counsel old." Next 
 would have appeared the successive governors, Win- 
 throp, Dudley, Bellingham, and Endicott, who sat in 
 the chair while it was a chair of state. Then its 
 ample seat would have been pressed by the comfort 
 able, rotund corporation of the honest mint-master. 
 Then the half-frenzied shape of Mary Dyer, the per 
 secuted Quaker woman, clad in sackcloth and ashes, 
 would have rested in it for a moment. Then the holy, 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 495 
 
 apostolic form of Eliot would have sanctified it. Then 
 would have arisen, like the shade of departed Puritan 
 ism, the venerable dignity of the white-bearded Gov 
 ernor Brad street. Lastly, on the gorgeous crimson 
 cushion of Grandfather s chair, would have shone the 
 purple and golden magnificence of Sir William Phipps. 
 
 But all these, with the other historic personages, in 
 the midst of whom the chair had so often stood, had 
 passed, both in substance and shadow, from the scene 
 of ages. Yet here stood the chair, with the old Lin 
 coln coat of arms, and the oaken flowers and foliage, 
 and the fierce lion s head at the summit, the whole, 
 apparently, in as perfect preservation as when it had 
 first been placed in the Earl of Lincoln s hall. And 
 what vast changes of society and of nations had been 
 wrought by sudden convulsions or by slow degrees 
 since that era ! 
 
 " This chair had stood firm when the thrones of 
 kings were overturned ! " thought Laurence. " Its 
 oaken frame has proved stronger than many frames of 
 government ! " 
 
 More the thoughtful and imaginative boy might 
 have mused ; but now a large yellow cat, a great 
 favorite with all the children, leaped in at the open 
 window. Perceiving that Grandfather s chair was 
 empty, and having often before experienced its com 
 forts, puss laid herself quietly down upon the cushion. 
 Laurence, Clara, Charley, and little Alice all laughed 
 at the idea of such a successor to the worthies of old 
 times. 
 
 " Pussy," said little Alice, putting out her hand, 
 into which the cat laid a velvet paw, " you look very 
 wise. Do tell us a story about GRANDFATHER S 
 CHAIR ! " 
 
PART II. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " O GRANDFATHER, dear Grandfather," cried little 
 Alice, " pray tell us some more stories about your 
 chair ! " 
 
 How long a time had fled since the children had 
 felt any curiosity to hear the sequel of this venerable 
 chair s adventures ! Summer was now past and gone, 
 and the better part of autumn likewise. Dreary, chill 
 November was howling out of doors, and vexing the 
 atmosphere with sudden showers of wintry rain, or 
 sometimes with gusts of snow, that rattled like small 
 pebbles against the windows. 
 
 When the weather began to grow cool, Grandfather s 
 chair had been removed from the summer parlor into 
 a smaller and snugger room. It now stood by the 
 side of a bright, blazing, wood-fire. Grandfather loved 
 a wood-fire far better than a grate of glowing anthra 
 cite, or than the dull heat of an invisible furnace, 
 which seems to think that it has done its duty in 
 merely warming the house. But the wood-fire is a 
 kindly, cheerful, sociable spirit, sympathizing with 
 mankind, and knowing that to create warmth is but 
 one of the good offices which are expected from it- 
 Therefore it dances on the hearth, and laughs broadly 
 throughout the room, and plays a thousand antics, and 
 throws a joyous glow over all the faces that encircle 
 it. 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 497 
 
 In the twUight of the evening the fire grew brighter 
 and more cheerful. And thus, perhaps, there was 
 something- in Grandfather s heart that cheered him 
 
 O 
 
 most with its warmth and comfort in the gathering 
 twilight of old age. He had been gazing at the red 
 embers as intently as if his past life were all pictured 
 there, or as if it were a prospect of the future world, 
 when little Alice s voice aroused him. " Dear Grand 
 father," repeated the little girl, more earnestly, "do 
 talk to us again about your chair." 
 
 Laurence, and Clara, and Charley, and little Alice 
 had been attracted to other objects for two cr three 
 months past. They had sported in the gladsome sun 
 shine of the present, and so had forgotten the shadowy 
 region of the past, in the midst of which stood Grand 
 father s chair. But now, in the autumnal twilight, 
 illuminated by the flickering blaze of the wood-fire, 
 they looked at the old chair, and thought that it had 
 never before worn such an interesting aspect. There 
 it stood in the venerable majesty of more than two 
 hundred years. The light from the hearth quivered 
 upon the flowers and foliage that were wrought into 
 its oaken back ; and the lion s head at the summit 
 seemed almost to move its jaws and shake its mane. 
 
 "Does little Alice speak for all of you?" asked 
 Grandfather. " Do you wish me to go on with the 
 adventures of the chair ? " 
 
 " Oh yes, yes, Grandfather ! " cried Clara. " The 
 dear old chair ! How strange that we should have 
 forgotten it so long ! " 
 
 " Oh, pray begin, Grandfather," said Laurence, " for 
 I think, when we talk about old times, it should be in 
 the early evening, before the candles are lighted. The 
 shapes of the famous persons who once sat in the 
 
 voi,. iv. 32 
 
498 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 chair will be more apt to come back, and be seen 
 among us, in this glimmer and pleasant gloom, than 
 they would in the vulgar daylight. And, besides, we 
 can make pictures of all that you tell us among the 
 glowing embers and white ashes." 
 
 Our friend Charley, too, thought the evening the 
 best time to hear Grandfather s stories, because he 
 could not then be playing out of doors. So finding 
 his young auditors unanimous in their petition, the 
 good old gentleman took up the narrative of the his 
 toric chair at the point where he had dropped it. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 " You recollect, my dear children," said Grand 
 father, " that we took leave of the chair in 1692, while 
 it was occupied by Sir William Phipps. This- fortu 
 nate treasure-seeker, you will remember, had come over 
 from England, with King William s commission, to 
 be governor of Massachusetts. Within the limits of 
 this province were now included the old colony of 
 Plymouth and the territories of Maine and Nova 
 Scotia. Sir William Phipps had likewise brought a 
 new charter from the king, which served instead of a 
 constitution, and set forth the method in which the 
 province was to be governed." 
 
 " Did the new charter allow the people all their 
 former liberties ? " inquired Laurence. 
 
 " No," replied Grandfather. " Under the first char 
 ter, the people had been the source of all power. Win- 
 throp, Endicott, Bradstreet, and the rest of them had 
 been governors by the choice of the people, without 
 any interference of the king. But henceforth the 
 governor was to hold his station solely by the king s 
 appointment and during his pleasure ; and the same 
 was the case with the lieutenant-governor and some 
 other high officers. The people, however, were still 
 allowed to choose representatives ; and the governor s 
 council was chosen by the General Court." 
 
 " Would the inhabitants have elected Sir William 
 Phipps," asked Laurence, " if the choice of governor 
 had been left to them ? " 
 
500 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 " He might probably have been a successful candi 
 date," answered Grandfather ; " for his adventures 
 and military enterprises had gained him a sort of re 
 nown, which always goes a great way with the people. 
 And he had many popular characteristics, being a 
 kind, warm-hearted man, not ashamed of his low origin 
 nor haughty in his present elevation. Soon after his 
 arrival, he proved that he did not blush to recognize 
 his former associates." 
 
 " How was that ? " inquired Charley. 
 
 " He made a grand festival at his new brick house," 
 said Grandfather, " and invited all the ship-carpenters 
 of Boston to be his guests. At the head of the table, 
 in our great chair, sat Sir William Phipps himself, 
 treating these hard-handed men as his brethren, crack 
 ing jokes with them, and talking familiarly about old 
 times. I know not whether he wore his embroidered 
 dress ; but I rather choose to imagine that he had on 
 a suit of rough clothes, such as he used to labor in 
 while he was Phipps the ship-carpenter." 
 
 " An aristocrat need not be ashamed of the trade," 
 observed Laurence ; " for the Czar Peter the Great 
 once served an apprenticeship to it." 
 
 " Did Sir William Phipps make as good a governor 
 as he was a ship-carpenter ? " asked Charley. 
 
 " History says but little about his merits as a ship- 
 carpenter," answered Grandfather ; " but, as a gov 
 ernor, a great deal of fault was found with him. Al 
 most as soon as he assumed the government, he be- 
 i came engaged in a very frightful business, which might 
 1 have perplexed a wiser and better cultivated head than 
 his. This was the witchcraft delusion." 
 
 And here Grandfather gave his auditors such de 
 tails of this melancholy affair as he thought it fit for 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 501 
 
 them to know. They shuddered to hear that a frenzy, 
 which led to the death of many innocent persons, had 
 originated in the wicked arts of a few children. They 
 belonged to the Rev. Mr. Parris, minister of Salem. 
 These children complained of being pinched and pricked 
 with pins, and otherwise tormented by the shapes of 
 men and women, who were supposed to have power to 
 haunt them invisibly, both in darkness and daylight. 
 Often in the midst of their family and friends the 
 children would pretend to be seized with strange con 
 vulsions, and would cry out that the witches were 
 afflicting them. 
 
 These stories spread abroad, and caused great tu 
 mult and alarm. From the foundation of New Eng 
 land, it had been the custom of the inhabitants, in all 
 matters of doubt and difficulty, to look to their minis 
 ters for counsel. So they did now ; but, unfortunately, 
 the ministers and wise men were more deluded than 
 the illiterate people. Cotton Mather, a very learned 
 and eminent clergyman, believed that the whole coun 
 try was full of witches and wizards, who had given up 
 their hopes of heaven, and signed a covenant with the 
 evil one. 
 
 Nobody could be certain that his nearest neighbor 
 or most intimate friend was not guilty of this imag 
 inary crime. The number of those who pretended to 
 be afflicted by witchcraft grew daily more numerous ; 
 and they bore testimony against many of the best and 
 worthiest people. A minister, named George Bur 
 roughs, was among the accused. In the months of 
 August and September, 1692, he and nineteen other 
 innocent men and women were put to death. The 
 place of execution was a high hill, on the outskirts of 
 Salem ; so that many of the sufferers, as they stood 
 
502 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 beneath the gallows, could discern their own habita 
 tions in the town. 
 
 The martyrdom of these guiltless persons seemed 
 only to increase the madness. The afflicted now grew 
 bolder in their accusations. Many people of rank and 
 wealth were either thrown into prison or compelled to 
 flee for their lives. Among these were two sons of old 
 Simon Bradstreet, the last of the Puritan governors. 
 Mr. Willard, a pious minister of Boston, was cried out 
 upon as a wizard in open court. Mrs. Hale, the wife 
 of the minister of Beverly, was likewise accused. 
 Philip English, a rich merchant of Salem, found it 
 necessary to take flight, leaving his property and busi 
 ness in confusion. But a short time afterwards, the 
 Salem people were glad to invite him back. 
 
 " The boldest thing that the accusers did," contin 
 ued Grandfather, " was to cry out against the govern 
 or s own beloved wife. Yes, the lady of Sir William 
 Phipps was accused of being a witch and of flying 
 through the air to attend witch-meetings. When the 
 governor heard this he probably trembled, so that our 
 great chair shook beneath him." 
 
 " Dear Grandfather," cried little Alice, clinging 
 closer to his knee, " is it true that witches ever come 
 in the night-time to frighten little children ? " 
 
 " No, no, dear little Alice," replied Grandfather. 
 " Even if there were any witches, they would flee away 
 from the presence of a pure-hearted child. But there 
 are none ; and our forefathers soon became convinced 
 that they had been led into a terrible delusion. All 
 the prisoners on account of witchcraft were set free. 
 But the innocent dead could not be restored to life ; 
 and the hill where they were executed will always re 
 mind people of the saddest and most humiliating pas 
 sage in our history." 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 503 
 
 Grandfather then said that the next remarkable 
 event, while Sir William Phipps remained in the 
 chair, was the arrival at Boston of an English fleet 
 in 1693. It brought an army which was intended for 
 the conquest of Canada. But a malignant disease, 
 more fatal than the small-pox, broke out among the 
 soldiers and sailors, and destroyed the greater part of 
 them. The infection spread into the town of Boston, 
 and made much havoc there. This dreadful sfckness 
 caused the governor and Sir Francis Wheeler, who 
 was commander of the British forces, to give up all 
 thoughts of attacking Canada. 
 
 " Soon after this," said Grandfather, " Sir William 
 Phipps quarrelled with the captain of an English 
 frigate, and also with the collector of Boston. Being 
 a man of violent temper, he gave each of them a sound 
 beating with his cane." 
 
 " He was a bold fellow," observed Charley, who was 
 himself somewhat addicted to a similar mode of set 
 tling disputes. 
 
 " More bold than wise," replied Grandfather ; " for 
 complaints were carried to the king, and Sir William 
 Phipps was summoned to England to make the best 
 answer he could. Accordingly he went to London, 
 where, in 1695, he was seized with a malignant fever, 
 of which he died. Had he lived longer, he would 
 probably have gone again in search of sunken treas 
 ure. He had heard of a Spanish ship, which was cast 
 away in 1502, during the lifetime of Columbus. Bo- 
 vadilla, Roldan, and many other Spaniards were lost 
 in her, together with the immense wealth of which 
 they had robbed the South American kings." 
 
 " Why, Grandfather ! " exclaimed Laurence, " what 
 magnificent ideas the governor had ! Only think of 
 
504 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 recovering all that old treasure which had lain almost 
 two centuries under the sea ! Methinks Sir William 
 Phipps ought to have been buried in the ocean when 
 he died, so that he might have gone down among the 
 sunken ships and cargoes of treasure which he was al 
 ways dreaming about in his lifetime." 
 
 " He was buried in one of the crowded cemeteries of 
 London," said Grandfather. " As he left no children, 
 his estate was inherited by his nephew, from whom is 
 descended the present Marquis of Normandy. The 
 noble Marquis is not aware, perhaps, that the pros 
 perity of his family originated in the successful enter 
 prise of a New England ship-carpenter." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 " AT the death of Sir William Phipps," proceeded 
 Grandfather, " our chair was bequeathed to Mr. Eze- 
 kiel Cheever, a famous schoolmaster in Boston: This 
 old gentleman came from London in 1637, and had 
 been teaching school ever since ; so that there were 
 now aged men, grandfathers like myself, to whom 
 Master Cheever had taught their alphabet. He was 
 a person of venerable aspect, and wore a long white 
 beard." 
 
 " Was the chair placed in his school? " asked Char 
 ley. 
 
 " Yes, in his school," answered Grandfather ; " and 
 we may safely say that it had never before been re 
 garded with such awful reverence, no, not even when 
 the old governors of Massachusetts sat in it. Even 
 you, Charley, my boy, would have felt some respect 
 for the chair if you had seen it occupied by this fa 
 mous schoolmaster." 
 
 And here grandfather endeavored to give his au 
 ditors an idea how matters were managed in schools 
 above a hundred years ago. As this will probably be 
 an interesting subject to our readers, we shall make a 
 separate sketch of it, and call it 
 
 THE OLD-FASHIONED SCHOOL. 
 
 Now, imagine yourselves, my children, in Master 
 Ezekiel Cheever s school-room. It is a large, dingy 
 room, with a sanded floor, and is lighted by windows 
 
506 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 that turn on hinges and have little diamond-shaped 
 panes of glass. The scholars sit on long benches, with 
 desks before them. At one end of the room is a great 
 fireplace, so very spacious that there is room enough 
 for three or four boys to stand in each of the chimney 
 corners. This was the good old fashion of fireplaces 
 when there was wood enough in the forests to keep 
 people warm without their digging into the bowels of 
 the earth for coal. 
 
 It is a winter s day when we take our peep into the 
 school-room. See what great logs of wood have been 
 rolled into the fireplace, and what a broad, bright 
 blaze goes leaping up the chimney ! And every few 
 moments a vast cloud of smoke is puffed into the 
 room, which sails slowly over the heads of the schol- 
 irs, until it gradually settles upon the walls and ceil 
 ing. They are blackened with the smoke of many 
 years already. 
 
 Next look at our old historic chair ! It is placed, 
 you perceive, in the most comfortable part of the room, 
 where the generous glow of the fire is sufficiently felt 
 without being too intensely hot. How stately the old 
 chair looks, as if it remembered its many famous occu 
 pants, but yet were conscious that a greater man is 
 sitting in it now ! Do you see the venerable school 
 master, severe in aspect, with a black skullcap on his 
 head, like an ancient Puritan, and the snow of his 
 white beard drifting down to his very girdle ? What 
 boy would dare to play, or whisper, or even glance 
 aside from his book, while Master Cheever is on the 
 lookout behind his spectacles ? For such offenders, 
 if any such there be, a rod of birch is hanging over 
 the fireplace, and a heavy ferule lies on the master s 
 desk. 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 507 
 
 And now school is begun. What a murmur of mul 
 titudinous tongues, like the whispering leaves of a 
 wind-stirred oak, as the scholars con over their various 
 tasks ! Buzz ! buzz ! buzz ! Amid just such a mur 
 mur has Master Cheever spent above sixty years ; and 
 long habit has made it as pleasant to him as the hum 
 of a beehive when the insects are busy in the sunshine. 
 
 Now a class in Latin is called to recite. Forth steps 
 a row of queer-looking little fellows, wearing "bquare- 
 skirted coats and small-clothes, with buttons at the 
 knee. They look like so many grandfathers in their 
 second childhood. These lads are to be sent to Cam 
 bridge and educated for the learned professions. Old 
 Master Cheever has lived so long, and seen so many 
 generations of school-boys grow up to be men, that 
 now he can almost prophesy what sort of a man each 
 boy will be. One urchin shall hereafter be a doctor, 
 and administer pills and potions, and stalk gravely 
 through life, perfumed with assafoetida. Another 
 shall wrangle at the bar, and fight his way to wealth 
 and honors, and, in his declining age, shall be a wor 
 shipful member of his Majesty s council. A third 
 and he is the master s favorite shall be a worthy 
 successor to the old Puritan ministers now in their 
 graves ; he shall preach with great unction and effect, 
 and leave volumes of sermons, in print and manuscript, 
 for the benefit of future generations. 
 
 But, as they are merely school-boys now, their busi 
 ness is to construe Virgil. Poor Virgil ! whose verses, 
 which he took so much pains to polish, have been 
 misscanned, and misparsed, and misinterpreted by so 
 many generations of idle school -boys. There, sit 
 down, ye Latinists. Two or three of you, I fear, are 
 doomed to feel the master s ferule. 
 
508 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 Next comes a class in arithmetic. These boys are 
 to be the merchants, shopkeepers, and mechanics of 
 a future period. Hitherto they have traded only in 
 marbles and apples. Hereafter some will send vessels 
 to England for broadcloths and all sorts of manufac 
 tured wares, and to jthe West Indies for sugar, and 
 rum, and coffee. Others will stand behind counters, 
 and measure tape, and ribbon, and cambric by the 
 yard. Others will upheave the blacksmith s hammer, 
 or drive the plane over the carpenter s bench, or take 
 the lapstone and the awl and learn the trade of shoe- 
 making. Many will follow the sea, and become bold, 
 rough sea-captains. 
 
 This class of boys, in short, must supply the world 
 with those active, skilful hands, and clear, sagacious 
 heads, without which the affairs of life would be 
 thrown into confusion by the theories of studious and 
 visionary men. Wherefore, teach them their multi 
 plication-table, good Master Cheever, and whip them 
 well when they deserve it ; for much of the country s 
 welfare depends on these boys. 
 
 But, alas ! while we have been thinking of other 
 matters, Master Cheever s watchful eye has caught 
 two boys at play. Now we shall see awful times. The 
 two malefactors are summoned before the master s 
 chair, wherein he sits with the terror of a judge upon 
 his brow. Our old chair is now a judgment-seat. Ah, 
 Master Cheever has taken down that terrible birch 
 rod ! Short is the trial, the sentence quickly passed, 
 and now the judge prepares to execute it in person. 
 Thwack ! thwack ! thwack ! In these good old times, 
 a schoolmaster s blows were well laid on. 
 
 See, the birch rod has lost several of its twigs, and 
 will hardly serve for another execution. Mercy on 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 509 
 
 us, what a bellowing the urchins make ! My ears are 
 almost deafened, though the clamor comes through the 
 far length of a hundred and fifty years. There, go to 
 your seats, poor boys ; and do not cry, sweet little 
 Alice, for they have ceased to feel the pain a long 
 time since. 
 
 And thus the forenoon passes away. Now it is 
 twelve o clock. The master looks at his great silver 
 watch, and then, with tiresome deliberation, puts the 
 ferule into his desk. The little multitude await the 
 word of dismissal with almost irrepressible impa 
 tience. 
 
 " You are dismissed," says Master Cheever. 
 
 The boys retire, treading softly until they have 
 passed the threshold ; but, fairly out of the school 
 room, lo, what a joyous shout ! what a scampering and 
 trampling of feet I what a sense of recovered freedom 
 expressed in the merry uproar of all their voices! 
 What care they for the ferule and birch rod now? 
 Were boys created merely to study Latin and arith 
 metic ? No ; the better purposes of their being are to 
 sport, to leap, to run, to shout, to slide upon the ice, to 
 snowball. 
 
 Happy boys ! Enjoy your playtime now, and come 
 again to study and to feel the birch rod and the ferule 
 to-morrow ; not till to-morrow ; for to-day is Thursday 
 lecture ; and, ever since the settlement of Massachu 
 setts, there has been no school on Thursday after 
 noons. Therefore sport, boys, while you may, for the 
 morrow cometh, with the birch rod and the ferule; 
 and after that another morrow, with troubles of its 
 own. 
 
 Now the master has set everything to rights, and is 
 ready to go home to dinner. Yet he goes reluctantly. 
 
510 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 The old man has spent so much of his life in the 
 smoky, noisy, buzzing school-room, that, when he has 
 a holiday, he feels as if his place were lost and him 
 self a stranger in the world. But forth he goes ; and 
 there stands our old chair, vacant and solitary, till 
 good Master Cheever resumes his seat in it to-morrow 
 morning. 
 
 u Grandfather," said Charley, " I wonder whether 
 the boys did not use to upset the old chair when the 
 schoolmaster was out." 
 
 "There is a tradition," replied Grandfather, "that 
 one of its arms was dislocated in some such manner. 
 But I cannot believe that any school-boy would behave 
 so naughtily." 
 
 As it was now later than little Alice s usual bed 
 time, Grandfather broke off his narrative, promising 
 to talk more about Master Cheever and his scholars 
 some other evening. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ACCORDINGLY, the next evening, Grandfather re 
 sumed the history of his beloved chair. 
 
 " Master Ezekiel Cheever," said he, " died in 1707, 
 after having taught school about seventy years. It 
 would require a pretty good scholar in arithmetic to 
 tell how many stripes he had inflicted, and how many 
 birch rods he had worn out, during all that time, in 
 his fatherly tenderness for his pupils. Almost all the 
 great men of that period, and for many years back, 
 had been whipped into eminence by Master Cheever. 
 Moreover, he had written a Latin Accidence, which 
 was used in schools more than half a century after his 
 deaih ; so that the good old man, even in his grave, 
 was still the cause of trouble and stripes to idle school 
 boys." 
 
 Grandfather proceeded to say, that, when Master 
 Cheever died, he bequeathed the chair to the most 
 learned man that was educated at his school, or that 
 had ever been born in America. This was the re 
 nowned Cotton Mather, minister of the Old North 
 Church in Boston. 
 
 " And author of the Magnalia, Grandfather, which 
 we sometimes see you reading," said Laurence. 
 
 " Yes, Laurence," replied Grandfather. " The Mag. 
 nalia is a strange, pedantic history, in which true 
 events and real personages move before the reader 
 with the dreamy aspect which they wore in Cotton 
 Mather s singular mind. This huge volume, however, 
 
512 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 was written and published before our chair came into 
 his possession. But, as he was the author of more 
 books than there are days in the year, we may con 
 clude that he wrote a great deal while sitting in this 
 chair." 
 
 " I am tired of these schoolmasters and learned 
 men," said Charley. " I wish some stirring man, that 
 knew how to do something in the world, like Sir 
 William Phipps, would sit in the chair." 
 
 " Such men seldom have leisure to sit quietly in a 
 chair," said Grandfather. "We must make the best 
 of such people as we have." 
 
 As Cotton Mather was a very distinguished man, 
 Grandfather took some pains to give the children a 
 lively conception of his character. Over the door of 
 his library were painted these words, BE SHORT, as 
 a warning to visitors that they must not do the world 
 so much harm as needlessly to interrupt this great 
 man s wonderful labors. On entering the room you 
 would probably behold it crowded, and piled, and 
 heaped with books. There were huge, ponderous 
 folios, and quartos, and little duodecimos, in English, 
 Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldaic, and all other lan 
 guages that either originated at the confusion of Babel 
 or have since come into use. 
 
 All these books, no doubt, were tossed about in con 
 fusion, thus forming a visible emblem of the manner 
 in which their contents were crowded into Cotton 
 Mather s brain. And in the middle of the room stood 
 a table, on which, besides printed volumes, were 
 strewn manuscript sermons, historical tracts, and po 
 litical pamphlets, all written in such a queer, blind, 
 crabbed, fantastical hand, that a writing-master would 
 have gone raving mad at the sight of them. By this 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 513 
 
 table stood Grandfather s chair, which seemed to have 
 contracted an air of deep erudition, as if its cushion 
 were stuffed with Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and 
 other hard matters. 
 
 In this chair, from one year s end to another, sat 
 that prodigious bookworm, Cotton Mather, sometimes 
 devouring a great book, and sometimes scribbling one 
 as big. In Grandfather s younger days there used to 
 be a wax figure of him in one of the Boston museums, 
 representing a solemn, darked - visaged person, in a 
 minister s black gown, and with a black-letter volume 
 before him. 
 
 " It is difficult, my children," observed Grandfather, 
 " to make you understand such a character as Cotton 
 Mather s, in whom there was so much good, and yet 
 so many failings and frailties. Undoubtedly he was a 
 pious man. Often he kept fasts ; and once, for three 
 whole days, he allowed himself not a morsel of food, 
 but spent the time in prayer and religious meditation. 
 Many a live-long night did he watch and pray. These 
 fasts and vigils made him meagre and haggard, and 
 probably caused him to appear as if he hardly be 
 longed to the world." 
 
 " Was not the witchcraft delusion partly caused by 
 Cotton Mather ? " inquired Laurence. 
 
 " He was the chief agent of the mischief," answered 
 Grandfather ; " but we will not suppose that he acted 
 otherwise than conscientiously. He believed that 
 there were evil spirits all about the world. Doubtless 
 he imagined that they were hidden in the corners and 
 crevices of his library, and that they peeped out from 
 among the leaves of many of his books, as he turned 
 them over, at midnight. He supposed that these un 
 lovely demons were everywhere, in the sunshine as 
 
 VOL. iv. 83 
 
514 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 well as in the darkness, and that they were hidden 
 in men s hearts, and stole into their most secret 
 thoughts." 
 
 Here Grandfather was interrupted by little Alice, 
 who hid her face in his lap, and murmured a wish that 
 he would not talk any more about Cotton Mather and 
 the evil spirits. Grandfather kissed her, and told her 
 that angels were the only spirits whom she had any 
 thing to do with. He then spoke of the public affairs 
 of the period. 
 
 A new war between France and England had broken 
 out in 1702, and had been raging ever since. In the 
 course of it, New England suffered much injury from 
 the French and Indians, who often came through the 
 woods from Canada and assaulted the frontier towns. 
 Villages were sometimes burned, and the inhabitants 
 slaughtered, within a day s ride of Boston. The peo 
 ple of New England had a bitter hatred against the 
 French, not only for the mischief which they did with 
 their own hands, but because they incited the Indians 
 to hostility. 
 
 The New-Englanders knew that they could never 
 dwell in security until the provinces of France should 
 be subdued and brought under the English govern 
 ment. They frequently, in time of war, undertook 
 military expeditions against Acadia and Canada, and 
 sometimes besieged the fortresses by which those ter 
 ritories were defended. But the most earnest wish of 
 their hearts was to take Quebec, and so get possession 
 of the whole province of Canada. Sir William Phipps 
 had once attempted it, but without success. 
 
 Fleets and soldiers were often sent from England to 
 assist the colonists in their warlike undertakings. In 
 1710 Port Royal, a fortress of Acadia, was taken by 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 515 
 
 the English. The next year, in the month of June, a 
 fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker, 
 arrived in Boston Harbor. On board of this fleet was 
 the English General Hill, with seven regiments of 
 soldiers, who had been fighting under the Duke of 
 Marlborough in Flanders. The government of Mas 
 sachusetts was called upon to find provisions for the 
 army and fleet, and to raise more men to assist in 
 taking Canada. 
 
 What with recruiting and drilling of soldiers, there 
 was now nothing but warlike bustle in the streets of 
 Boston. The drum and fife, the rattle of arms, and 
 the shouts of boys were heard from morning till night. 
 In about a month the fleet set sail, carrying four regi 
 ments from New England and New York, besides the 
 English soldiers. The whole army amounted to at 
 least seven thousand men. They steered for the 
 mouth of the river St. Lawrence. 
 
 " Cotton Mather prayed most fervently for their 
 success," continued Grandfather, " both in his pulpit 
 and when he kneeled down in the solitude of his 
 library, resting his face on our old chair. But Provi 
 dence ordered the result otherwise. In a few weeks 
 tidings were received that eight or nine of the vessels 
 had been wrecked in the St. Lawrence, and that above 
 a thousand drowned soldiers had been washed ashore 
 on the banks of that mighty river. After this mis 
 fortune Sir Hovenden Walker set sail for England ; 
 and many pious people began to think it a sin even to 
 wish for the conquest of Canada." 
 
 " I would never give it up so," cried Charley. 
 
 " Nor did they, as we shall see," replied Grand 
 father. " However, no more attempts were made 
 during this war, which came to a close in 1713. The 
 
516 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 people of New England were probably glad of some 
 repose ; for their young men had been made soldiers, 
 till many of them were fit for nothing else. And those 
 who remained at home had been heavily taxed to pay 
 for the arms, ammunition, fortifications, and all the 
 other endless expenses of a war. There was great need 
 of the prayers of Cotton Mather and of all pious men, 
 not only on account of the sufferings of the people, 
 but because the old moral and religious character of 
 New England was in danger of being utterly lost." 
 
 " How glorious it would have been," remarked Lau 
 rence, " if our forefathers could have kept the country 
 unspotted with blood ! " 
 
 " Yes," said Grandfather : " but there was a stern, 
 warlike spirit in them from the beginning. They 
 seem never to have thought of questioning either the 
 morality or piety of war." 
 
 The next event which Grandfather spoke of was 
 one that Cotton Mather, as well as most of the other 
 inhabitants of New England, heartily rejoiced at. 
 This was the accession of the Elector of Hanover to 
 the throne of England, in 1714, on the death of Queen 
 Anne. Hitherto the people had been in continual 
 dread that the male line of the Stuarts, who were de 
 scended from the beheaded King Charles and the ban 
 ished King James, would be restored to the throne. 
 In that case, as the Stuart family were Roman Catho 
 lics, it was supposed that they would attempt to es 
 tablish their own religion throughout the British do 
 minions. But the Elector of Hanover and all his race 
 were Protestants ; so that now the descendants of the 
 old Puritans were relieved from many fears and dis 
 quietudes. 
 
 " The importance of this event," observed Grand- 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAJR. 517 
 
 father, " was a thousand times greater than that of a 
 Presidential election in our own days. If the people 
 dislike their President, they may get rid of him in 
 four years ; whereas a dynasty of kings may wear the 
 crown for an unlimited period." 
 
 The German elector was proclaimed king from the 
 balcony of the town-house in Boston, by the title of 
 George I. ; while the trumpets sounded, and the peo 
 ple cried amen. That night the town was illuminated ; 
 and Cotton Mather threw aside book and pen, and 
 left Grandfather s chair vacant, while he walked hither 
 and thither to witness the rejoicings. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 " COTTON MATHER," continued Grandfather, "was 
 a bitter enemy to Governor Dudley; and nobody 
 exulted more than he when that crafty politician 
 was removed from the government, and succeeded by 
 Colonel Shute. This took place in 1716. The new 
 governor had been an officer in the renowned Duke of 
 Marlborough s army, and had fought in some of the 
 great battles in Flanders." 
 
 " Now I hope," said Charley, " we shall hear of his 
 doing great things." 
 
 " I am afraid you will be disappointed, Charley," 
 answered Grandfather. 6 It is true that Colonel 
 Shute had probably never led so unquiet a life while 
 fighting the French as he did now, while governing 
 this province of Massachusetts Bay. But his troubles 
 consisted almost entirely of dissensions with the Legis 
 lature. The king had ordered him to lay claim to a 
 fixed salary ; but the representatives of the people in 
 sisted upon paying him only such sums from year to 
 year as they saw fit." 
 
 Grandfather here explained some of the circum 
 stances that made the situation of a colonial governor 
 so difficult and irksome. There was not the same 
 feeling towards the chief magistrate now that had ex 
 isted while he was chosen by the free suffrages of the 
 people. It was felt that as the king appointed the 
 governor, and as he held his office during the king s 
 pleasure, it would be his great object to please the 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 519 
 
 king. But the people thought that a governor ought 
 to have nothing in view but the best interests of those 
 whom he governed. 
 
 " The governor," remarked Grandfather, " had two 
 masters to serve, the king who appointed him ; and 
 the people, on whom he depended for his pay. Few 
 men in this position would have ingenuity enough to 
 satisfy either party. Colonel Shute, though a good- 
 natured, well-meaning man, succeeded so ill with the 
 people, that, in 1722, he suddenly went away to Eng 
 land and made complaint to King George. In the 
 mean time Lieutenant-Governor Dummer directed the 
 affairs, of the province, and carried on a long and 
 bloody war with the Indians." 
 
 " But where was our chair all this time ? " asked 
 Clara. 
 
 " It still remained in Cotton Mather s library," re 
 plied Grandfather ; " and I must not omit to tell you 
 an incident which is very much to the honor of this 
 celebrated man. It is the more proper, too, that you 
 should hear it, because it will show you what a terrible 
 calamity the small-pox was to our forefathers. The 
 history of the province (and, of course, the history 
 of our chair) would be incomplete without particular 
 mention of it." 
 
 Accordingly Grandfather told the children a story, 
 to which, for want of a better title, we shall give that 
 of 
 
 THE REJECTED BLESSING. 
 
 One day, in 1721, Doctor Cotton Mather sat in his 
 library reading a book that had been published by the 
 Royal Society of London. But every few moments 
 he laid the book upon the table, and leaned back in 
 Grandfather s chair with an aspect of deep care and 
 
520 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 disquietude. There were certain things which trou 
 bled him exceedingly, so that he could hardly fix his 
 thoughts upon what he read. 
 
 It was now a gloomy time in Boston. That terrible 
 disease, the small-pox, had recently made its appear 
 ance in the town. Ever since the first settlement of 
 the country this awful pestilence had come at inter 
 vals, and swept away multitudes of the inhabitants. 
 Whenever it commenced its ravages, nothing seemed 
 to stay its progress until there were no more victims 
 for it to seize upon. Oftentimes hundreds of people 
 at once lay groaning with its agony ; and when it de 
 parted, its deep footsteps were always to be traced in 
 many graves. 
 
 The people never felt secure from this calamity. 
 Sometimes, perhaps, it was brought into the country 
 by a poor sailor, who had caught the infection in for 
 eign parts, and came hither to die and to be the cause 
 of many deaths. Sometimes, no doubt, it followed in 
 the train of the pompous governors when they came 
 over from England. Sometimes the disease lay hid 
 den in the cargoes of ships, among silks, and brocades, 
 and other costly merchandise which was imported for 
 the rich people to wear. And sometimes it started up 
 seemingly of its own accord, and nobody could tell 
 whence it came. The physician, being called to attend 
 the sick person, would look at him, and say, " It is 
 the small-pox ! Let the patient be carried to the hos 
 pital." 
 
 And now this dreadful sickness had shown itself 
 again in Boston. Cotton Mather was greatly afflicted 
 for the sake of the whole province. lie had children, 
 too, who were exposed to the danger. At that very 
 moment he heard the voice of his youngest son, for 
 whom his heart was moved with apprehension. 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 521 
 
 " Alas ! I fear for that poor child," said Cotton 
 Mather to himself. " What shall I do for my son 
 Samuel?" 
 
 Again he attempted to drive away these thoughts 
 by taking up the book which he had been reading. 
 And now, all of a sudden, his attention became fixed. 
 The book contained a printed letter that an Italian 
 physician had written upon the very subject about 
 which Cotton Mather was so anxiously meditating. 
 He ran his eye eagerly over the pages ; and, behold ! 
 a method was disclosed to him by which the small-pox 
 might be robbed of its worst terrors. Such a method 
 was known in Greece. The physicians of Turkey, too, 
 those long-bearded Eastern sages, had been acquainted 
 with it for many years. The negroes of Africa, igno 
 rant as they were, had likewise practised it, and thus 
 had shown themselves wiser than the white men. 
 
 " Of a truth," ejaculated Cotton Mather, clasping 
 his hands and looking up to heaven, " it was a merci 
 ful Providence that brought this book under mine eye. 
 I will procure a consultation of physicians, and see 
 whether this wondrous inoculation may not stay the 
 progress of the destroyer." 
 
 So he arose from Grandfather s chair and went out 
 of the library. Near the door he met his son Samuel, 
 who seemed downcast and out of spirits. The boy 
 had heard, probably, that some of his playmates were 
 taken ill with the small-pox. But, as his father looked 
 cheerfully at him, Samuel took courage, trusting that 
 either the wisdom of so learned a minister would find 
 some remedy for the danger, or else that his prayers 
 would secure protection from on high. 
 
 Meanwhile Cotton Mather took his staff and three- 
 cornered hat and walked about the streets, calling at 
 
522 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 the houses of all the physicians in Boston. They were 
 a very wise fraternity ; and their huge wigs, and black 
 dresses, and solemn visages made their wisdom appear 
 even profounder than it was. One after another he 
 acquainted them with the discovery which he had hit 
 upon. 
 
 But the grave and sagacious personages would 
 scarcely listen to him. The oldest doctor in town con 
 tented himself with remarking that no such thing as 
 inoculation was mentioned by Galen or Hippocrates ; 
 and it was impossible that modern physicians should 
 be wiser than those old sages. A second held up his 
 hands in dumb astonishment and horror at the mad 
 ness of what Cotton Mather proposed to do. A third 
 told him, in pretty plain terms, that he knew not what 
 he was talking about. A fourth requested, in the 
 name of the whole medical fraternity, that Cotton 
 Mather would confine his attention to people s souls, 
 and leave the physicians to take care of their bodies. 
 
 In short, there was but a single doctor among them 
 all who would grant the poor minister so much as a 
 patient hearing. This was Doctor Zabdiel Boylston, 
 He looked into the matter like a man of sense, and 
 finding, beyond a doubt, that inoculation had rescued 
 many from death, he resolved to try the experiment in 
 his own family. 
 
 And so he did. But when the other physicians 
 heard of it they arose in great fury and began a war 
 of words, written, printed, and spoken, against Cotton 
 Mather and Doctor Boylston. To hear them talk, you 
 would have supposed that these two harmless and be 
 nevolent men had plotted the ruin of the country. 
 
 The people, also, took the alarm. Many, who 
 thought themselves more pious than their neighbors, 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR, 528 
 
 contended that, if Providence had ordained them to 
 die of the small-pox, it was sinful to aim at preventing 
 it. The strangest reports were in circulation. Some 
 said that Doctor Boylston had contrived a method for 
 conveying the gout, rheumatism, sick-headache, asthma, 
 and all other diseases from one person to another, and 
 diffusing them through the whole community. Others 
 flatly affirmed that the evil one had got possession of 
 Cotton Mather, and was at the bottom of the whole 
 business. 
 
 You must observe, children, that Cotton Mather s 
 fellow-citizens were generally inclined to doubt the 
 wisdom of any measure which he might propose to 
 them. They recollected how he had led them astray 
 in the old witchcraft delusion ; and now, if he thought 
 and acted ever so wisely, it was difficult for him to get 
 the credit of it. 
 
 The people s wrath grew so hot at his attempt to 
 guard them from the small-pox that he could not walk 
 the streets in peace. Whenever the venerable form 
 of the old minister, meagre and haggard with fasts 
 and vigils, was seen approaching, hisses were heard, 
 and shouts of derision, and scornful and bitter laugh 
 ter. The women snatched away their children from 
 his path, lest he should do them a mischief. Still, 
 however, bending his head meekly, and perhaps stretch 
 ing out his hands to bless those who reviled him, he 
 pursued his way. But the tears came into his eyes 
 to think how blindly the people rejected the means of 
 safety that were offered them. 
 
 Indeed, there were melancholy sights enough in the 
 streets of Boston to draw forth the tears of a compas 
 sionate man. Over the door of almost every dwelling 
 a red flag was fluttering in the air. This was the sig- 
 
524 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 nal that the small-pox had entered the house and at 
 tacked some member of the family ; or perhaps the 
 whole family, old and young, were struggling at once 
 with the pestilence. Friends and relatives, when they 
 met one another in the streets, would hurry onward 
 without a grasp of the hand or scarcely a word of 
 greeting, lest they should catch or communicate the 
 contagion ; and often a coffin was borne hastily along. 
 
 " Alas ! alas ! " said Cotton Mather to himself, 
 " what shall be done for this poor, misguided people ? 
 Oh that Providence would open their eyes, and enable 
 them to discern good from evil ! " 
 
 So furious, however, were the people, that they 
 threatened vengeance against any person who should 
 dare to practise inoculation, though it were only in his 
 own family. This was a hard case for Cotton Mather, 
 who saw no other way to rescue his poor child Samuel 
 from the disease. But he resolved to save him, even 
 if his house should be burned over his head. 
 
 " I will not be turned aside," said he. " My towns 
 men shall see that I have faith in this thing, when I 
 make the experiment on my beloved son, whose life is 
 dearer to me than my own. And when I have saved 
 Samuel, peradventure they will be persuaded to save 
 themselves." 
 
 Accordingly Samuel was inoculated ; and so was 
 Mr. Walter, a son-in-law of Cotton Mather. Doctor 
 Boylston, likewise, inoculated many persons ; and while 
 hundreds died who had caught the contagion from 
 the garments of the sick, almost all were preserved 
 who followed the wise physician s advice. 
 
 But the people were not yet convinced of their mis 
 take. One night a destructive little instrument, called 
 a hand-grenade, was thrown into Cotton Mather s win- 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 525 
 
 dow, and rolled under Grandfather s chair. It was 
 supposed to be filled with gunpowder, the explosion 
 of which would have blown the poor minister to atoms. 
 But the best informed historians are of opinion that 
 the grenade contained only brimstone and assafcetida, 
 and was meant to plague Cotton Mather with a very 
 evil perfume. 
 
 This is no strange thing in human experience. Men 
 who attempt to do the world more good than the world 
 is able entirely to comprehend are almost invariably 
 held in bad odor. But yet, if the wise and good man 
 can wait awhile, either the present generation or pos 
 terity will do him justice. So it proved in the case 
 which we have been speaking of. In after years, when 
 inoculation was universally practised, and thousands 
 were saved from death by it, the people remembered 
 old Cotton Mather, then sleeping in his grave. They 
 acknowledged that the very thing for which they had 
 so reviled and persecuted him was the best and wisest 
 thing he ever did. 
 
 " Grandfather, this is not an agreeable story," ob 
 served Clara. 
 
 " No, Clara," replied Grandfather. " But it is right 
 that you should know what a dark shadow this disease 
 threw over the times of our forefathers. And now, if 
 you wish to learn more about Cotton Mather, you must 
 read his biography, written by Mr. Peabody, of Spring 
 field. You will find it very entertaining and instruc 
 tive ; but perhaps the writer is somewhat too harsh in 
 his judgment of this singular man. He estimates him 
 fairly, indeed, and understands him well ; but he un 
 riddles his character rather by acuteness than by sym 
 pathy. Now, his life should have been written by 
 
526 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 one who, knowing all his faults, would nevertheless 
 love him." 
 
 So Grandfather made an end of Cotton Mather, tell 
 ing his auditors that he died in 1728, at the age of 
 sixty-five, and bequeathed the chair to Elisha Cooke. 
 This gentleman was a famous advocate of the people s 
 rights. 
 
 The same year William Burnet, a son of the cele 
 brated Bishop Burnet, arrived in Boston with the com 
 mission of governor. He was the first that had been 
 appointed since the departure of Colonel Shute. Gov 
 ernor Burnet took up his residence with Mr. Cooke 
 while the Province House was undergoing repairs. 
 During this period he was always complimented with 
 a seat in Grandfather s chair ; and so comfortable did 
 he find it, that, on removing to the Province House, he 
 could not bear to leave it behind him. Mr. Cooke, 
 therefore, requested his acceptance of it. 
 
 " I should think," said Laurence, " that the people 
 would have petitioned the king always to appoint a 
 native-born New-Englander to govern them." 
 
 " Undoubtedly it was a grievance," answered Grand 
 father, " to see men placed in this station who perhaps 
 had neither talents nor virtues to fit them for it, and 
 who certainly could have no natural affection for the 
 country. The king generally bestowed the governor 
 ships of the American colonies upon needy noblemen, 
 or hangers-on at court, or disbanded officers. The 
 people knew that such persons would be very likely to 
 make the good of the country subservient to the wishes 
 of the king. The Legislature, therefore, endeavored 
 to keep as much power as possible in their own hands, 
 by refusing to settle a fixed salary upon the governors. 
 It was thought better to pay them according to their 
 deserts." 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 527 
 
 " Did Governor Burnet work well for his money ? " 
 asked Charley. 
 
 Grandfather could not help smiling at the simplicity 
 of Charley s question. Nevertheless, it put the matter 
 in a very plain point of view. 
 
 He then described the character of Governor Bur- 
 net, representing him as a good scholar, possessed of 
 much ability, and likewise of unspotted integrity. His 
 story affords a striking example how unfortunate it is 
 for a man, who is placed as ruler over a country, to be 
 compelled to aim at anything but the good of the 
 people. Governor Burnet was so chained down by his 
 instructions from the king that he could not act as he 
 might otherwise have wished. Consequently, his whole 
 term of office was wasted in quarrels with the Legis 
 lature. 
 
 "I am afraid, children," said Grandfather, "that 
 Governor Burnet found but little rest or comfort in 
 our old chair. Here he used to sit, dressed in a coat 
 which was made of rough, shaggy cloth outside, but 
 of smooth velvet within. It was said that his own 
 character resembled that coat ; for his outward man 
 ner was rough, but his inward disposition soft and 
 kind. It is a pity that such a man could not have 
 been kept free from trouble. But so harassing were 
 his disputes with the representatives of the people that 
 he fell into a fever, of which he died in 1729. The 
 Legislature had refused him a salary while alive ; but 
 they appropriated money enough to give him a splendid 
 and pompous funeral." 
 
 And now Grandfather perceived that little Alice 
 had fallen fast asleep, with her head upon his foot 
 stool. Indeed, as Clara observed, she had been sleep 
 ing from the time of Sir Hovenden Walker s expedition 
 
528 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 against Quebec until the death of Governor Burnet, 
 a period of about eighteen years. And yet, after so 
 long a nap, sweet little Alice was a golden-haired child 
 of scarcely five years old. 
 
 " It puts me in mind," said Laurence, " of the story 
 of the enchanted princess, who slept many a hundred 
 years, and awoke as young and beautiful as ever." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A FEW evenings afterwards, cousin Clara happened 
 to inquire of Grandfather whether the old chair had 
 never been present at a ball. At the same time little 
 Alice brought forward a doll, with whom she had been 
 holding a long conversation. 
 
 " See, Grandfather ! " cried she. " Did such a pretty 
 lady as this ever sit in your great chair ? " 
 
 These questions led Grandfather to talk about the 
 fashions and manners which now began to be intro 
 duced from England into the provinces. The simplic 
 ity of the good old Puritan times was fast disappear 
 ing. This was partly owing to the increasing number 
 and wealth of the inhabitants, and to the additions 
 which they continually received by the arrival and 
 settlement of people from beyond the sea. 
 
 Another cause of a pompous and artificial mode of 
 life, among those who could afford it, was, that the 
 example was set by the royal governors. Under the 
 old charter, the governors were the representatives of 
 the people, and therefore their way of living had prob 
 ably been marked by a popular simplicity. But now, 
 as they represented the person of the king, they thought 
 it necessary to preserve the dignity of their station by 
 the practice of high and gorgeous ceremonials. And, 
 besides, the profitable offices under the government 
 were filled by men who had lived in London, and had 
 there contracted fashionable and luxurious habits of 
 living which they would not now lay aside. The 
 
 VOL. iv. 84 
 
530 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 wealthy people of the province imitated them ; and 
 thus began a general change in social life. 
 
 " So, my dear Clara," said Grandfather, " after our 
 chair had entered the Province House, it must often 
 have been present at balls and festivals ; though I 
 cannot give you a description of any particular one. 
 But I doubt not that they were very magnificent ; and 
 slaves in gorgeous liveries waited on the guests, and 
 offered them wine in goblets of massive silver." 
 
 " Were there slaves in those days ! " exclaimed 
 Clara. 
 
 " Yes, black slaves and white," replied Grandfather. 
 " Our ancestors not only brought negroes from Africa, 
 but Indians from South America, and white people 
 from Ireland. These last were sold, not for life, but 
 for a certain number of years, in order to pay the ex 
 penses of their voyage across the Atlantic. Nothing 
 was more common than to see a lot of likely Irish 
 girls advertised for sale in the newspapers. As for 
 the little negro babies, they were offered to be given 
 away like young kittens." 
 
 " Perhaps Alice would have liked one to play with, 
 instead of her doll," said Charley, laughing. 
 
 But little Alice clasped the waxen doll closer to her 
 bosom. 
 
 " Now, as for this pretty doll, my little Alice," said 
 Grandfather, " I wish you could have seen what splen 
 did dresses the ladies wore in those times. They had 
 silks, and satins, and damasks, and brocades, and 
 high head-dresses, and all sorts of fine things. And 
 they used to wear hooped petticoats of such enormous 
 size that it was quite a journey to walk round them." 
 
 " And how did the gentlemen dress ? " asked Char- 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 531 
 
 " With full as much magnificence as the ladies," an 
 swered Grandfather. " For their holiday suits they 
 had coats of figured velvet, crimson, green, blue, and 
 all other gay colors, embroidered with gold or silver 
 lace. Their waistcoats, which were five times as large 
 as modern ones, were very splendid. Sometimes the 
 whole waistcoat, which came down almost to the 
 knees, was made of gold brocade." 
 
 " Why, the wearer must have shone like a golden 
 image ! " said Clara. 
 
 " And then," continued Grandfather, " they wore 
 various sorts of periwigs, such as the tie, the Spencer, 
 the brigadier, the major, the Albemarle, the Ramillies, 
 the feather -top, and the full bottom. Their three- 
 cornered hats were laced with gold or silver. They 
 had shining buckles at the knees of their small 
 clothes, and buckles likewise in their shoes. They 
 wore swords with beautiful hilts, either of silver, or 
 sometimes of polished steel, inlaid with gold." 
 
 " Oh, I should like to wear a sword ! " cried Char- 
 ley. 
 
 " And an embroidered crimson velvet coat," said 
 Clara, laughing, " and a gold brocade waistcoat down 
 to your knees ! " 
 
 " And knee-buckles and shoe-buckles," said Lau 
 rence, laughing also. 
 
 "And a periwig," added little Alice, soberly, not 
 knowing what was the article of dress which she rec 
 ommended to our friend Charley. 
 
 Grandfather smiled at the idea of Charley s sturdy 
 little figure in such a grotesque caparison. He then 
 went on with the history of the chair, and told the 
 children that, in 1730, King George II. appointed 
 Jonathan Belcher to be governor of Massachusetts in 
 
532 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 place of the deceased Governor Burnet. Mr. Belcher 
 was a native of the province, but had spent much of 
 his life in Europe. 
 
 The new governor found Grandfather s chair in the 
 Province House. He was struck with its noble and 
 stately aspect, but was of opinion that age and hard 
 services had made it scarcely so fit for courtly com 
 pany as when it stood in the Earl of Lincoln s hall. 
 Wherefore, as Governor Belcher was fond of splen 
 dor, he employed a skilful artist to beautify the chair. 
 This was done by polishing and varnishing it, and by 
 gilding the carved work of the elbows, and likewise 
 the oaken flowers of the back. The lion s head now 
 shone like a veritable lump of gold. Finally Governor 
 Belcher gave the chair a cushion of blue damask, with 
 a rich golden fringe. 
 
 " Our good old chair being thus glorified," pro 
 ceeded Grandfather, " it glittered with a great deal 
 more splendor than it had exhibited just a century 
 before, when the Lady Arbella brought it over from 
 England. Most people mistook it for a chair of the 
 latest London fashion. And this may serve for an 
 example, that there is almost always an old and time- 
 worn substance under all the glittering show of new 
 invention." 
 
 " Grandfather, I cannot see any of the gilding," re 
 marked Charley, who had been examining the chair 
 very minutely. 
 
 " You will not wonder that it has been rubbed off," 
 replied Grandfather, " when you hear all the adven 
 tures that have since befallen the chair. Gilded it 
 was ; and the handsomest room in the Province House 
 was adorned by it." 
 
 There was not much to interest the children in what 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 533 
 
 happened during the years that Governor Belcher re 
 mained in the chair. At first, like Colonel Shute and 
 Governor Burnet, he was engaged in disputing with 
 the Legislature about his salary. But, as he found it 
 impossible to get a fixed sum, he finally obtained the 
 king s leave to accept whatever the Legislature chose 
 to give him. And thus the people triumphed, after 
 this long contest for the privilege of expending their 
 own money as they saw fit. 
 
 The remainder of Governor Belcher s term of office 
 was principally taken up in endeavoring to settle the 
 currency. Honest John Hull s pine-tree shillings had 
 long ago been worn out, or lost, or melted down 
 again ; and their place was supplied by bills of paper 
 or parchment, which were nominally valued at three 
 pence and upwards. The value of these bills kept 
 continually sinking, because the real hard money 
 could not be obtained for them. They were a great 
 deal worse than the old Indian currency of clam-shells. 
 These disorders of the circulating medium were a 
 source of endless plague and perplexity to the rulers 
 and legislators, not only in Governor Belcher s days, 
 but for many years before and afterwards. 
 
 Finally the people suspected that Governor Belcher 
 was secretly endeavoring to establish the Episcopal 
 mode of worship in the provinces. There was enough 
 of the old Puritan spirit remaining to cause most of 
 the true sons of New England to look with horror 
 upon such an attempt. Great exertions were made to 
 induce the king to remove the governor. Accordingly, 
 in 1740, he was compelled to resign his office, and 
 Grandfather s chair into the bargain, to Mr. Shirley. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " WILLIAM SHIRLEY," said Grandfather, " had 
 come from England a few years before, and begun to 
 practise law in Boston. You will think, perhaps, that, 
 as he had been a lawyer, the new governor used to sit 
 in our great chair reading heavy law-books from morn 
 ing till night. On the contrary, he was as stirring 
 and active a governor as Massachusetts ever had. 
 Even Sir William Phipps hardly equalled him. The 
 first year or two of his administration was spent in 
 tr}dng to regulate the currency. But in 1744, after a 
 peace of more than thirty years, war broke out between 
 France and England." 
 
 " And I suppose," said Charley, u the governor went 
 to take Canada." 
 
 " Not exactly, Charley," said Grandfather ; " though 
 you j have made a pretty shrewd conjecture. He 
 planned, in 1745, an expedition against Louisburg. 
 This was a fortified city, on the island of Cape Bret 
 on, near Nova Scotia. Its walls were of immense 
 height and strength, and were defended by hundreds 
 of heavy cannon. It was the strongest fortress which 
 the French possessed in America ; and if the king of 
 France had guessed Governor Shirley s intentions, he 
 would have sent all the ships he could muster to pro 
 tect it." 
 
 As the siege of Louisburg was one of the most re 
 markable events that ever the inhabitants of New 
 England were engaged in, Grandfather endeavored to 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 535 
 
 give his auditors a lively idea of the spirit with which 
 they set about it. We shall call his description 
 
 THE PROVINCIAL MUSTER. 
 
 The expedition against Louisburg first began to be 
 thought of in the month of January. From that time 
 the governor s chair was continually surrounded by 
 councillors, representatives, clergymen, captains, pilots, 
 and all manner of people, with whom he consulted 
 about this wonderful project. 
 
 First of all, it was necessary to provide men and 
 arms. The Legislature immediately sent out a huge 
 quantity of paper-money, with which, as if by magic 
 spell, the governor hoped to get possession of all the 
 old cannon, powder and balls, rusty swords and mus 
 kets, and everything else that would be serviceable in 
 killing Frenchmen. Drums were beaten in all the 
 villages of Massachusetts to enlist soldiers for the 
 service. Messages were sent to the other governors of 
 New England, and to New York and Pennsylvania, 
 entreating them to unite in this crusade against the 
 French. All these provinces agreed to give what as 
 sistance they could. 
 
 But there was one very important thing to be de 
 cided. Who shall be the general of this great army ? 
 Peace had continued such an unusual length of time, 
 that there was now less military experience among the 
 colonists than at any former period. The old Puritans 
 had always kept their weapons bright, and were never 
 destitute of warlike captains who were skilful in as 
 sault or defence. But the swords of their descendants 
 had grown rusty by disuse. There was nobody in New 
 England that knew anything about sieges or any other 
 regular fighting. The only persons at all acquainted 
 
536 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 with warlike business were a few elderly men, who had 
 hunted Indians through the underbrush of the forest 
 in old Governor Dummer s war. 
 
 In this dilemma Governor Shirley fixed upon a 
 wealthy merchant, named William Pepperell, who was 
 pretty well known and liked among the people. As 
 to military skill, he had no more of it than his neigh 
 bors. But, as the governor urged him very press- 
 ingly, Mr. Pepperell consented to shut up his ledger, 
 gird on a sword, and assume the title of general. 
 
 Meantime, what a hubbub was raised by this scheme ! 
 Rub-a-dub-dub ! rub-a-dub-dub ! The rattle of drums, 
 beaten out of all manner of time, was heard above 
 every other sound. 
 
 Nothing now was so valuable as arms, of whatever 
 style and fashion they might be. The bellows blew, 
 and the hammer clanged continually upon the anvil, 
 while the blacksmiths were repairing the broken weap 
 ons of other wars. Doubtless some of the soldiers 
 lugged out those enormous, heavy muskets which used 
 to be fired, with rests, in the time of the early Puri 
 tans. Great horse-pistols, too, were found, which would 
 go off with a bang like a cannon. Old cannon, with 
 touchholes almost as big as their muzzles, were looked 
 upon as inestimable treasures. Pikes which, perhaps, 
 had been handled by Miles Standish s soldiers, now 
 made their appearance again. Many a young man 
 ransacked the garret and brought forth his great 
 grandfather s sword, corroded with rust and stained 
 with the blood of King Philip s War. 
 
 Never had there been such an arming as this, when 
 a people, so long peaceful, rose to the war with the best 
 weapons that they could lay their hands upon. And 
 still the drums were heard rub-a-dub-dub ! rub-a-* 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 537 
 
 dub-dub ! in all the towns and villages ; and louder 
 and more numerous grew the trampling footsteps of 
 the recruits that marched behind. 
 
 And now the army began to gather into Boston. 
 Tall, lanky, awkward fellows came in squads, and com 
 panies, and regiments, swaggering along, dressed in 
 their brown homespun clothes and blue yarn stock 
 ings. They stooped as if they still had hold of the 
 plough-handles, and marched without any time or tune. 
 Hither they came, from the cornfields, from the clear 
 ing in the forest, from the blacksmith s forge, from the 
 carpenter s workshop, and from the shoemaker s seat. 
 They were an army of rough faces and sturdy frames. 
 A trained officer of Europe would have laughed at 
 them till his sides had ached. But there was a spirit 
 in their bosoms which is more essential to soldiership 
 than to wear red coats and march in stately ranks to 
 the sound of regular music. 
 
 Still was heard the beat of the drum, rub-a-dub- 
 dub ! And now a host of three or four thousand men 
 had found their way to Boston. Little quiet was there 
 then ! Forth scampered the school-boys, shouting be 
 hind the drums. The whole town, the whole land, 
 was on fire with war. 
 
 After the arrival of the troops, they were probably 
 reviewed upon the Common. We may imagine Gov 
 ernor Shirley and General Pepperell riding slowly 
 along the line, while the drummers beat strange old 
 tunes, like psalm-tunes, and all the officers and soldiers 
 put on their most warlike looks. It would have been 
 a terrible sight for the Frenchmen, could they but 
 have witnessed it ! 
 
 At length, on the 24th of March, 1745, the army 
 gave a parting shout, and set sail from Boston in ten 
 
538 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 or twelve vessels which had been hired by the gov 
 ernor. A few days afterwards an English fleet, com 
 manded by Commodore Peter Warren, sailed also for 
 Lonisburg to assist the provincial army. So now, 
 after all this bustle of preparation, the town and prov 
 ince were left in stillness and repose. 
 
 But stillness and repose, at such a time of anxious 
 expectation, are hard to bear. The hearts of the old 
 people and women sunk within them when they re 
 flected what perils they had sent their sons, and hus 
 bands, and brothers to encounter. The boys loitered 
 heavily to school, missing the rub-a-dub-dub and the 
 trampling march, in the rear of which they had so 
 lately run and shouted. All the ministers prayed 
 earnestly in their pulpits for a blessing on the army 
 of New England. In every family, when the good 
 man lifted up his heart in domestic worship, the bur 
 den of his petition was for the safety of those dear 
 ones who were fighting under the walls of Louisburg. 
 
 Governor Shirley all this time was probably in an 
 ecstasy of impatience. He could not sit still a mo 
 ment. He found no quiet, not even in Grandfather s 
 chair ; but hurried to and fro, and up and down the 
 staircase of the Province House. Now he mounted to 
 the cupola and looked seaward, straining his eyes to 
 discover if there were a sail upon the horizon. Now 
 he hastened down the stairs, and stood beneath the 
 portal, on the red free-stone steps, to receive some 
 mud-bespattered courier, from whom he hoped to hear 
 tidings of the army. A few weeks after the depar 
 ture of the troops, Commodore Warren sent a small 
 vessel to Boston with two French prisoners. One of 
 them was Monsieur Bouladrie, who had been com 
 mander of a battery outside of the walls of Louisburg. 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 539 
 
 The other was the Marquis de la Maison Forte, cap 
 tain of a French frigate which had been taken by 
 Commodore Warren s fleet. These prisoners assured 
 Governor Shirley that the fortifications of Louisburg 
 were far too strong ever to be stormed by the provin 
 cial army. 
 
 Day after day and week after week went on. The 
 people grew almost heart-sick with anxiety ; for the 
 flower of the country was at peril in this adventurous 
 expedition. It was now daybreak on the morning of 
 the 3d of July. 
 
 But hark ! what sound is this ? The hurried clang 
 of a bell ! There is the Old North pealing suddenly 
 out! there the Old South strikes in! now the peal 
 comes from the church in Brattle Street! the bells of 
 nine or ten steeples are all flinging their iron voices at 
 once upon the morning breeze ! Is it joy, or alarm ? 
 There goes the roar of a cannon too ! A royal salute 
 is thundered forth. And now we hear the loud exult 
 ing shout of a multitude assembled in the street. 
 Huzza ! huzza ! Louisburg has surrendered ! Huzza ! 
 
 " O Grandfather, how glad I should have been to 
 live in those times ! " cried Charley. " And what re 
 ward did the king give to General Pepperell and Gov 
 ernor Shirley ? " 
 
 " He made Pepperell a baronet ; so that he was 
 now to be called Sir William Pepperell," replied 
 Grandfather. u He likewise appointed both Pepperell 
 and Shirley to be colonels in the royal army. These 
 rewards, and higher ones, were well deserved ; for this 
 was the greatest triumph that the English met with in 
 the whole course of that war. General Pepperell be 
 came a man of great fame. I have seen a full-length 
 
540 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 portrait of him, representing him in a splendid scarlet 
 uniform, standing before the walls of Louisburg, while 
 several bombs are falling through the air." 
 
 " But did the country gain any real good by the 
 conquest of Louisburg?" asked Laurence. u Or was 
 all the benefit reaped by Pepperell and Shirley? " 
 
 " The English Parliament," replied Grandfather, 
 " agreed to pay the colonists for all the expenses of 
 the siege. Accordingly, in 1749, two hundred and 
 fifteen chests of Spanish dollars and one hundred 
 casks of copper coin were brought from England to 
 Boston. The whole amount was about a million of 
 dollars. Twenty-seven carts and trucks carried this 
 money from the wharf to the provincial treasury. 
 Was not this a pretty liberal reward ? " 
 
 " The mothers of the young men who were killed 
 at the siege of Louisburg would not have thought it 
 so," said Laurence. 
 
 " No, Laurence," rejoined Grandfather ; "and every 
 warlike achievement involves an amount of physical 
 and moral evil, for which all the gold in the Spanish 
 mines would not be the slightest recompense. But 
 we are to consider that this siege was one of the oc 
 casions on which the colonists tested their ability for 
 war, and thus were prepared for the great contest of 
 the Revolution. In that point of view, the valor of 
 our forefathers was its own reward." 
 
 Grandfather went on to say that the success of the 
 expedition against Louisburg induced Shirley and 
 Pepperell to form a scheme for conquering Canada. 
 This plan, however, was not carried into execution. 
 
 In the year 1746 great terror was excited by the 
 arrival of a formidable French fleet upon the coast. 
 It was commanded by the Duke d Anville, and con- 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 541 
 
 sistecl of forty ships of war, besides vessels with sol 
 diers on board. With this force the French intended 
 to retake Louisburg, and afterwards to ravage the 
 whole of New England. Many people were ready to 
 give np the country for lost. 
 
 But the hostile fleet met with so many disasters and 
 losses by storm and shipwreck, that the Duke d An- 
 ville is said to have poisoned himself in despair.^ The 
 officer next in command threw himself upon his sword 
 and perished. Thus deprived of their commanders, 
 the remainder of the ships returned to France. This 
 was as great a deliverance for New England as that 
 which Old England had experienced in the days of 
 Queen Elizabeth, when the Spanish Armada was 
 wrecked upon her coast. 
 
 " In 1747," proceeded Grandfather, "Governor Shir 
 ley was driven from the Province House, not by a 
 hostile fleet and army, but by a mob of the Boston 
 people. They were so incensed at the conduct of the 
 British Commodore Knowles, who had impressed some 
 of their fellow-citizens, that several thousands of them 
 surrounded the council chamber and threw stones and 
 brickbats into the windows. The governor attempted 
 to pacify them; but not succeeding, he thought it 
 necessary to leave the town and take refuge within 
 the walls of Castle William. Quiet was not restored 
 until Commodore Knowles had sent back the impressed 
 men. This affair was a flash of spirit that might have 
 warned the English not to venture upon any oppres 
 sive measures against their colonial brethren." 
 
 Peace being declared between France and England 
 in 1748, the governor had now an opportunity to sit 
 at his ease in Grandfather s chair. Such repose, how 
 ever, appears not to have suited his disposition ; for 
 
542 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 in the following year he went to England, and thence 
 was despatched to France on public business. Mean 
 while, as Shirley had not resigned his office, Lieu 
 tenant-Go vernor Phipps acted as chief magistrate in 
 his stead. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 IN the early twilight of Thanksgiving Eve came 
 Laurence, and Clara, and Charley, and little Alice 
 hand in hand, and stood in a semicircle round Errand- 
 father s chair. They had been joyous throughout that 
 day of festivity, mingling together in all kinds of play, 
 so that the house had echoed with their airy mirth. 
 
 Grandfather, too, had been happy though not mirth 
 ful. He felt that this was to be set down as one of 
 the good Thanksgivings of his life. In truth, all his 
 former Thanksgivings had borne their part in the 
 present one ; for his years of infancy, and youth, and 
 manhood, with their blessings and their griefs, had 
 flitted before him while he sat silently in the great 
 chair. Vanished scenes had been pictured in the 
 air. The forms of departed friends had visited him. 
 Voices to be heard no more on earth had sent an echo 
 from the infinite and the eternal. These shadows, if 
 such they were, seemed almost as real to him as what 
 was actually present, as the merry shouts and laugh 
 ter of the children, as their figures, dancing like 
 sunshine before his eyes. 
 
 He.feit that the past was not taken from him. The 
 happiness of former days was a possession forever. 
 And there was something in the mingled sorrow of his 
 lifetime that became akin to happiness, after being 
 long treasured in the depths of his heart. There it 
 underwent a change, and grew more precious than 
 pure gold. 
 
544 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 And now came the children, somewhat aweary with 
 their wild play, and sought the quiet enjoyment of 
 Grandfather s talk. The good old gentleman rubbed 
 his eyes and smiled round upon them all. He was 
 glad, as most aged people are, to find that he was yet 
 of consequence, and could give pleasure to the world. 
 After being so merry all day long, did these children 
 desire to hear his sober talk ? Oh, then, old Grand 
 father had yet a place to fill among living men, or 
 at least among boys and girls ! 
 
 " Begin quick, Grandfather," cried little Alice ; 
 " for pussy wants to hear you." 
 
 And truly our yellow friend, the cat, lay upon the 
 hearth rug, basking in the warmth of the fire, pricking 
 up her ears, and turning her head from the children to 
 Grandfather, and from Grandfather to the children, as 
 if she felt herself very sympathetic with them all. A 
 loud purr, like the singing of a tea-kettle or the hum of 
 a spinning-wheel, testified that she was as comfortable 
 and happy as a cat could be. For puss had feasted ; 
 and therefore, like Grandfather and the children, had 
 kept a good Thanksgiving. 
 
 " Does pussy want to hear me ? " said Grandfather, 
 smiling. " Well, we must please pussy, if we can." 
 
 And so he took up the history of the chair from the 
 epoch of the peace of 1748. By one of the provisions 
 of the treaty, Louisburg, which the New-Englanders 
 had been at so much pains to take, was restored to the 
 Kins 1 of France. 
 
 O 
 
 The French were afraid that, unless their colonies 
 should be better defended than heretofore, another 
 war might deprive them of the whole. Almost as 
 soon as peace was declared, therefore, they began to 
 build strong fortifications in the interior of North 
 
GRANDFATHERS CHAIR. 545 
 
 America. It was strange to behold these warlike cas 
 tles on the banks of solitary lakes and far in the midst 
 of woods. The Indian, paddling his birch canoe on 
 Lake Champlain, looked up at the high ramparts of 
 Ticonderoga, stone piled on stone, bristling with can 
 non, and the white flag of France floating above. 
 There were similar fortifications on Lake Ontario, and 
 near the great Falls of Niagara, and at the sources of 
 the Ohio River. And all around these forts and 
 castles lay the eternal forest, and the roll of the drum 
 died away in those deep solitudes. 
 
 The truth was, that the French intended to build 
 forts all the way from Canada to Louisiana. They 
 would then have had a wall of military strength at the 
 back of the English settlements so as completely to 
 hem them in. The King of England considered the 
 building of these forts as a sufficient cause of war, 
 which was accordingly commenced in 1754. 
 
 "Governor Shirley," said Grandfather, "had re 
 turned to Boston in 1753. While in Paris he had 
 married a second wife, a young French girl, and now 
 brought her to the Province House. But when war 
 was breaking out it was impossible for such a bustling 
 man to stay quietly at home, sitting in our old chair, 
 with his wife and children round about him. He 
 therefore obtained a command in the English forces." 
 
 " And what did Sir William Pepperell do ? " asked 
 Charley. 
 
 " He stayed at home," said Grandfather, " and was 
 general of the militia. The veteran regiments of the 
 English army which were now sent across the Atlantic 
 would have scorned to fight under the orders of an old 
 American merchant. And now began what aged peo 
 ple call the old French War. It would be going too 
 
 VOL. iv. 35 
 
546 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 far astray from the history of our chair to tell you one 
 half of the battles that were fought. I cannot even 
 allow myself to describe the bloody defeat of General 
 Braddock, near the sources of the Ohio River, in 1755. 
 But I must not omit to mention that, when the Eng 
 lish general was mortally wounded and his army 
 routed, the remains of it were preserved by the skill 
 and valor of GEORGE WASHINGTON." 
 
 At the mention of this illustrious name the children 
 started as if a sudden sunlight had gleamed upon the 
 history of their country, now that the great deliverer 
 had arisen above the horizon. 
 
 Among all the events of the old French War, Grand 
 father thought that there was none more interesting 
 than the removal of the inhabitants of Acadia. From 
 the first settlement of this ancient province of the 
 French, in 1604, until the present time, its people 
 could scarcely ever know what kingdom held domin 
 ion over them. They were a peaceful race, taking 
 no delight in warfare, and caring nothing for military 
 renown. And yet, in every war, their region was 
 infested with iron-hearted soldiers, both French and 
 English, who fought one another for the privilege of 
 ill treating these poor, harmless Acadians. Some 
 times the treaty of peace made them subjects of one 
 king, sometimes of another. 
 
 At the peace of 1748 Acadia had been ceded to Eng 
 land. But the French still claimed a large portion of 
 it, and built forts for its defence. In 1755 these forts 
 were taken, and the whole of Acadia was conquered 
 by three thousand men from Massachusetts, under the 
 command of General Winslow. The inhabitants were 
 accused of supplying the French with provisions, and 
 of doing other things that violated their neutrality. 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 547 
 
 " These accusations were probably true," observed 
 Grandfather ; " for the Acadians were descended from 
 the French, and had the same friendly feelings towards 
 them that the people of Massachusetts had for the 
 English. But their punishment was severe. The Eng 
 lish determined to tear these poor people from their 
 native homes and scatter them abroad." 
 
 The Acadians were about seven thousand in num 
 ber. A considerable part of them were made pris 
 oners, and transported to the English colonies. All 
 their dwellings and churches were burned, their cat 
 tle were killed, and the whole country was laid waste, 
 so that none of them might find shelter or food in 
 their old homes after tjie departure of the English. 
 One thousand of the prisoners were sent to Massachu 
 setts ; and Grandfather allowed his fancy to follow 
 them thither, and tried to give his auditors an idea 
 of their situation. 
 
 We shall call this passage the story of 
 
 THE ACADIAN EXILES. 
 
 A sad day it was for the poor Acadians when the 
 armed soldiers drove them, at the point of the bayonet, 
 down to the sea-shore. Very sad were they, likewise, 
 while tossing upon the ocean in the crowded transport 
 vessels. But methinks it must have been sadder still 
 when they were landed on the Long Wharf in Boston, 
 and left to themselves on a foreign strand. 
 
 Then, probably, they huddled together and looked 
 into one another s faces for the comfort which was not 
 there. Hitherto they had been confined on board of 
 separate vessels, so that they could not tell whether 
 their relatives and friends were prisoners along with 
 them. But now, at least, they could tell that many 
 had been left behind or transported to other regions. 
 
548 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 Now a desolate wife might be heard calling for her 
 husband. He, alas ! had gone, she knew not whither ; 
 or perhaps had fled into the woods of Acadia, and had 
 now returned to weep over the ashes of their dwelling t 
 
 An aged widow was crying out in a querulous, lam 
 entable tone for her son, whose affectionate toil had 
 supported her for many a year. He was not in the 
 crowd of exiles ; and what could this aged widow do 
 but sink down and die? Young men and maidens, 
 whose hearts had been torn asunder by separation, had 
 hoped, during the voyage, to meet their beloved ones 
 at its close. Now they began to feel that they were 
 separated forever. And perhaps a lonesome little girl, 
 a golden-haired child of five years old, the very picture 
 of our little Alice, was weeping and wailing for her 
 mother, and found not a soul to give her a kind word. 
 
 Oh, how many broken bonds of affection were here ! 
 Country lost, friends lost, their rural wealth of 
 cottage, field, and herds all lost together ! Every tie 
 between these poor exiles and the world seemed to be 
 cut off at once. They must have regretted that they 
 had not died before their exile ; for even the English 
 would not have been so pitiless as to deny them graves 
 in their native soil. The dead were happy ; for they 
 were not exiles ! 
 
 While they thus stood upon the wharf, the curios 
 ity and inquisitiveness of the New England people 
 would naturally lead them into the midst of the poor 
 Acadians. Prying busybodies thrust their heads into 
 the circle wherever two or three of the exiles were con 
 versing together. How puzzled did they look at the 
 outlandish sound of the French tongue ! There were 
 seen the New England women, too. They had just 
 come out of their warm, safe homes, where everything 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 549 
 
 was regular and comfortable, and where their hus 
 bands and children would be with them at nightfall. 
 Surely they could pity the wretched wives and mothers 
 of Acadia ! Or did the sign of the cross which the 
 Acadians continually made upon their breasts, and 
 which was abhorred by the descendants of the Puri 
 tans, did that sign exclude all pity ? 
 
 Among the spectators, too, was the noisy brood of 
 Boston school-boys, who came running, with laughter 
 and shouts, to gaze at this crowd of oddly dressed for 
 eigners. At first they danced and capered around 
 them, full of merriment and mischief. But the de 
 spair of the Acadians soon had its effect upon these 
 thoughtless lads, and melted them into tearful sym 
 pathy. 
 
 At a little distance from the throng might be seen 
 the wealthy and pompous merchants whose warehouses 
 stood on Long Wharf. It was difficult to touch these 
 rich men s hearts ; for they had all the comforts of 
 the world at their command ; and when they walked 
 abroad their feelings were seldom moved, except by 
 the roughness of the pavement irritating their gouty 
 toes. Leaning upon their gold-headed canes, they 
 watched the scene with an aspect of composure. But 
 let us hope they distributed some of their superfluous 
 coin among these hapless exiles to purchase food and 
 a night s lodging. 
 
 After standing a long time at the end of the wharf, 
 gazing seaward, as if to catch a glimpse of their lost 
 Acadia, the strangers began to stray into the town. 
 
 They went, we will suppose, in parties and groups, 
 here a hundred, there a score, there ten, there three or 
 four, who possessed some bond of unity among them 
 selves. Here and there, was one, who, utterly deso- 
 
550 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 late, stole away by himself, seeking no companion 
 ship. 
 
 Whither did they go ? I imagine them wandering 
 about the streets, telling the townspeople, in outland 
 ish, unintelligible words, that no earthly affliction ever 
 equalled what had befallen them. Man s brotherhood 
 with man was sufficient to make the New-Englanders 
 understand this language. The strangers wanted food. 
 Some of them sought hospitality at the doors of the 
 stately mansions which then stood in the vicinity of 
 Hanover Street and the North Square. Others were 
 applicants at the humble wooden tenements, where 
 dwelt the petty shopkeepers and mechanics. Pray 
 Heaven that no family in Boston turned one of these 
 poor exiles from their door ! It would be a reproach 
 upon New England, a crime worthy of heavy retri 
 bution, if the aged women and children, or even 
 the strong men, were allowed to feel the pinch of hun 
 ger. 
 
 Perhaps some of the Acadians, in their aimless wan 
 derings through the town, found themselves near a 
 large brick edifice, which was fenced in from the street 
 by an iron railing, wrought with fantastic figures. 
 They saw a flight of red freestone steps ascending to 
 a portal, above which was a balcony and balustrade. 
 Misery and desolation give men the right of free pas 
 sage everywhere. Let us suppose, then, that they 
 mounted the flight of steps and passed into the Prov 
 ince House. Making their way into one of the apart 
 ments, they beheld a richly-clad gentleman, seated in a 
 stately chair, with gilding upon the carved work of its 
 back, and a gilded lion s head at the summit. This 
 was Governor Shirley, meditating upon matters of 
 war and state, in Grandfather s chair ! 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 551 
 
 If such an incident did happen, Shirley, reflecting 
 what a ruin of peaceful and humble hopes had been 
 wrought by the cold policy of the statesman and the 
 iron hand of the warrior, might have drawn a deep 
 moral from it. It should have taught him that the 
 poor man s hearth is sacred, and that armies and 
 nations have no right to violate it. It should have 
 made him feel that England s triumph and increased 
 dominion could not compensate to mankind nor -atone 
 to Heaven for the ashes of a single Acadian cottage. 
 But it is not thus that statesmen and warriors mor 
 alize. 
 
 " Grandfather," cried Laurence, with emotion trem 
 bling in his voice, " did iron-hearted War itself ever 
 do so hard and cruel a thing as this before ? " 
 
 " You have read in history, Laurence, of whole 
 regions wantonly laid waste," said Grandfather. " In 
 the removal of the Acadians, the troops were guilty of 
 no cruelty or outrage, except what was inseparable 
 from the measure." 
 
 Little Alice, whose eyes had all along been brim 
 ming full of tears, now burst forth a-sobbing ; for 
 Grandfather had touched her sympathies more than he 
 intended. 
 
 " To think of a whole people homeless in the world ! " 
 said Clara, with moistened eyes. " There never was 
 anything so sad ! " 
 
 " It was their own fault ! " cried Charley, energeti 
 cally. " Why did not they fight for the country where 
 they were born. Then, if the worst had happened to 
 them, they could only have been killed and buried 
 there. They would not have been exiles then." 
 
 "Certainly their lot was as hard as death," said 
 Grandfather. " All that could be done for them in 
 
552 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 the English provinces was, to send them to the alms- 
 houses, or bind them out to taskmasters. And this 
 was the fate of persons who had possessed a comfort- 
 ble property in their native country. Some of them 
 found means to embark for France ; but though it was 
 the land of their forefathers, it must have been a for 
 eign land to them. Those who remained behind al 
 ways cherished a belief that the King of France would 
 never make peace with England till his poor Acadians 
 were restored to their country and their homes." 
 
 " And did he ?" inquired Clara. 
 
 " Alas ! my dear Clara," said Grandfather, "it is 
 improbable that the slightest whisper of the woes of 
 Acadia ever reached the ears of Louis XV. The ex 
 iles grew old in the British provinces, and never saw 
 Acadia again. Their descendants remain among us to 
 this day. They have forgotten the language of their 
 ancestors, and probably retain no tradition of their 
 misfortunes. But, methinks, if I were an American 
 poet, I would choose Acadia for the subject of my 
 song." 
 
 Since Grandfather first spoke these words, the most 
 famous of American poets has drawn sweet tears from 
 all of us by his beautiful poem Evangeline. 
 
 And now, having thrown a gentle gloom around the 
 Thanksgiving fireside by a story that made the chil 
 dren feel the blessing of a secure and peaceful hearth, 
 Grandfather put off the other events of the old French 
 War till the next evening. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 IN the twilight of the succeeding eve, when the red 
 beams of the fire were dancing upon the wall, the chil 
 dren besought Grandfather to tell them what had next 
 happened to the old chair. 
 
 " Our chair, said Grandfather, " stood all this 
 time in the Province House. But Governor Shirley 
 had seldom an opportunity to repose within its arms. 
 He was leading his troops through the forest, or sail 
 ing in a flat-boat on Lake Ontario, or sleeping in his 
 tent, while the awful cataract of Niagara sent its 
 roar through his dreams. At one period, in the early 
 part of the war, Shirley had the chief command of all 
 the king s forces in America." 
 
 " Did his young wife go with him to the war ? " 
 asked Clara. 
 
 " I rather imagine," replied Grandfather, " that she 
 remained in Boston. This lady, I suppose, had our 
 chair all to herself, and used to sit in it during those 
 brief intervals when a young Frenchwoman can be 
 quiet enough to sit in a chair. The people of Massa 
 chusetts were never fond of Governor Shirley s young 
 French wife. They had a suspicion that she betrayed 
 the military plans of the English to the generals of 
 the French armies." 
 
 " And was it true ? " inquired Clara. 
 
 " Probably not," said Grandfather. " But the mere 
 suspicion did Shirley a great deal of harm. Partly, 
 perhaps, for this reason, but much more on account of 
 
554 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 his inefficiency as a general, he was deprived of his 
 command in 1756, and recalled to England. He 
 never afterwards made any figure in public life." 
 
 As Grandfather s chair had no locomotive proper 
 ties, and did not even run on castors, it cannot be sup 
 posed to have marched in person to the old French 
 War. But Grandfather delayed its momentous history 
 while he touched briefly upon some of the bloody bat>= 
 ties, sieges, and onslaughts, the tidings of which kept 
 continually coming to the ears of the old inhabitants 
 of Boston. The woods of the North were populous 
 with righting men. All the Indian tribes uplifted 
 their tomahawks, and took part either with the French 
 or English. The rattle of musketry and roar of can 
 non disturbed the ancient quiet of the forest, and ac 
 tually drove the bears and other wild beasts to the 
 more cultivated portion of the country in the vicinity 
 of the seaports. The children felt as if they were 
 transported back to those forgotten times, and that the 
 couriers from the army, with the news of a battle lost 
 or won, might even now be heard galloping through 
 the streets. Grandfather told them about the battle 
 of Lake George in 1755, when the gallant Colonel 
 Williams, a Massachusetts officer, was slain, with 
 many of his countrymen. But General Johnson and 
 General Lyman, with their army, drove back the en 
 emy and mortally wounded the French leader, who 
 was called the Baron Dieskau. A gold watch, pilfered 
 from the poor baron, is still in existence, and still 
 marks each moment of time without complaining of 
 weariness, although its hands have been in motion 
 ever since the hour of battle. 
 
 In the first years of the war there were many dis 
 asters on the English side. Among these was the loss 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 555 
 
 of Fort Oswego in 1756, and of Fort William Henry 
 in the following year. But the greatest misfortune 
 that befell the English during the whole war was the 
 repulse of General Abercrombie, with his army, from 
 the ramparts of Ticonderoga in 1758. He attempted 
 to storm the walls ; but a terrible conflict ensued, in 
 which more than two thousand Englishmen and New- 
 Englanders were killed or wounded. The slain sol 
 diers now lie buried around that ancient fortress. 
 When the plough passes over the soil, it turns up here 
 and there a mouldering bone. 
 
 Up to this period, none of the English generals had 
 shown any military talent. Shirley, the Earl of Lon 
 don, and General Abercrombie had each held the chief 
 command at different times ; but not one of them had 
 won a single important triumph for the British arms. 
 This ill success was not owing to the want of means ; 
 for, in 1758, General Abercrombie had fifty thousand 
 soldiers under his command. But the French general, 
 the famous Marquis de Montcalm, possessed a great 
 genius for war, and had something within him that 
 taught him how battles were to be won. 
 
 At length, in 1759, Sir Jeffrey Amherst was ap 
 pointed commander-in-chief of all the British forces in 
 America. He was a man of ability and a skilful sol 
 dier. A plan was now formed for accomplishing that 
 object which had so long been the darling wish of the 
 New-Englanders, and which their fathers had so many 
 times attempted. This was the conquest of Canada. 
 
 Three separate armies were to enter Canada from 
 different quarters. One of the three, commanded by 
 General Prideaux, was to embark on Lake Ontario 
 and proceed to Montreal. The second, at the head of 
 which was Sir Jeffrey Amherst himself, was destined 
 
556 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 to reach the river St. Lawrence, by the way of Lake 
 Champlain, and then go down the river to meet the 
 third army. This last, led by General Wolfe, was to 
 enter the St. Lawrence from the sea and ascend the 
 river to Quebec. It is to Wolfe and his army that 
 England owes one of the most splendid triumphs evei? 
 written in her history. 
 
 Grandfather described the siege of Quebec, and told 
 how Wolfe led his soldiers up a rugged and lofty prec 
 ipice, that rose from the shore of the river to the 
 plain on which the city stood. This bold adventure 
 was achieved in the darkness of night. At daybreak 
 tidings were carried to the Marquis de Montcalm that 
 the English army was waiting to give him battle on 
 the Plains of Abraham. This brave French general or 
 dered his drums to strike up, and immediately marched 
 to encounter Wolfe. 
 
 He marched to his own death. The battle was the 
 most fierce and terrible that had ever been fought in 
 America. General Wolfe was at the head of his sol 
 diers, and, while encouraging them onward, received 
 a mortal wound. He reclined against a stone in the 
 agonies of death ; but it seemed as if his spirit could 
 not pass away while the fight yet raged so doubtfully. 
 Suddenly a shout came pealing across the battle-field. 
 " They flee ! they flee ! " and, for a moment, Wolfe 
 lifted his languid head. " Who flee ? " he inquired. 
 u The French," replied an officer. " Then I die satis 
 fied ! " said Wolfe, and expired in the arms of victory. 
 
 " If ever a warrior s death were glorious, Wolfe s 
 was so," said Grandfather ; and his eye kindled, though 
 he was a man of peaceful thoughts and gentle spirit. 
 " His life-blood streamed to baptize the soil which he 
 had added to the dominion of Britain. His dying 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 557 
 
 breath was mingled with his army s shout of vic 
 tory." 
 
 " Oh, it was a good death to die ! " cried Charley, 
 with glistening eyes. "Was it not a good death, Lau 
 rence ? " 
 
 Laurence made no reply ; for his heart burned 
 within him, as the picture of Wolfe, dying on the 
 blood-stained field of victory, arose to his imagination ; 
 and yet he had a deep inward consciousness thai, after 
 all, there was a truer glory than could thus be won. 
 
 " There were other battles in Canada after Wolfe s 
 victory," resumed Grandfather ; " but we may consider 
 the old French War as having terminated with this 
 great event. The treaty of peace, however, was not 
 signed until 1763. The terms of the treaty were very 
 disadvantageous to the French ; for all Canada, and 
 all Acadia, and the Island of Cape Breton, in short, 
 all the territories that France and England had been 
 fighting about for nearly a hundred years, were sur 
 rendered to the English." 
 
 " So now, at last," said Laurence, " New England 
 had gained her wish. Canada was taken." 
 
 " And now there was nobody to fight with but the 
 Indians," said Charley. 
 
 Grandfather mentioned two otlfer important events. 
 The first was the great fire of Boston in 1760, when 
 the glare from nearly three hundred buildings, all in 
 flames at once, shone through the windows of the Prov 
 ince House, and threw a fierce lustre upon the gilded 
 foliage and lion s head of our old chair. The second 
 event was the proclamation, in the same year, of 
 George III. as King of Great Britain. The blast of 
 the trumpet sounded from the balcony of the Town 
 House, and awoke the echoes far and wide, as if to 
 challenge all mankind to dispute King George s title. 
 
558 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 Seven times, as the successive monarchs of Britain 
 ascended the throne, the trumpet peal of proclamation 
 had been heard by those who sat in our venerable 
 chair. But when the next king put on his father s 
 crown, no trumpet peal proclaimed it to New England. 
 Long before that day America had shaken off the 
 royal government. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Now that Grandfather had fought through the old 
 French War, in which our chair made no very distin 
 guished figure, he thought it high time to tell tfc chil 
 dren some of the more private history of that praise 
 worthy old piece of furniture. 
 
 " In 1757," said Grandfather, " after Shirley had 
 been summoned to England, Thomas Pownall was ap 
 pointed governor of Massachusetts. He was a gay 
 and fashionable English gentleman, who had spent 
 much of his life in London, but had a considerable ac 
 quaintance with America. The new governor appears 
 to have taken no active part in the war that was going 
 on ; although, at one period, he talked of marching 
 against the enemy at the head of his company of ca 
 dets. But, on the whole, he probably concluded that 
 it was more befitting a governor to remain quietly in 
 our chair, reading the newspapers and official docu 
 ments." 
 
 " Did the people like Pownall? " asked Charley. 
 
 " They found no fault with him," replied Grand 
 father. " It was no time to quarrel with the governor 
 when the utmost harmony was required in order to de 
 fend the country against the French. But Pownall 
 did not remain long in Massachusetts. In 1759 he 
 was sent to be governor of South Carolina. In thus 
 exchanging one government for another, I suppose he 
 felt no regret, except at the necessity of leaving Grand 
 father s chair behind him." 
 
560 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 " He might have taken it to South Carolina," ob 
 served Clara. 
 
 " It appears to me," said Laurence, giving the rein 
 to his fancy, " that the fate of this ancient chair was, 
 somehow or other, mysteriously connected with the 
 fortunes of old Massachusetts. If Governor Pownall 
 had put it aboard the vessel in which he sailed for 
 South Carolina, she would probably have lain wind- 
 bound in Boston Harbor. It was ordained that the 
 chair should not be taken away. Don t you think so, 
 Grandfather ? " 
 
 " It was kept here for Grandfather and me to sit in 
 together," said little Alice, " and for Grandfather to 
 tel] stories about." 
 
 " And Grandfather is very glad of such a compan 
 ion and such a theme," said the old gentleman, with a 
 smile. " Well, Laurence, if our oaken chair, like the 
 wooden palladium of Troy, was connected with the 
 country s fate, yet there appears to have been no su 
 pernatural obstacle to its removal from the Province 
 House. In 1760 Sir Francis Bernard, who had been 
 governor of New Jersey, was appointed to the same of 
 fice in Massachusetts. He looked at the old chair, and 
 thought it quite too shabby to keep company with a 
 new set of mahogany chairs and an aristocratic sofa 
 which had just arrived from London. He therefore 
 ordered it to be put away in the garret." 
 
 The children were loud in their exclamations against 
 this irreverent conduct of Sir Francis Bernard. But 
 Grandfather defended him as well as he could. He 
 observed that it was then thirty years since the chair 
 had been beautified by Governor Belcher. Most of 
 the gilding was worn off by the frequent scourings 
 which it had undergone beneath the hands of a black 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 561 
 
 slave. The damask cushion, once so splendid, was 
 now squeezed out of all shape, and absolutely in tat 
 ters, so many were the ponderous gentlemen who had 
 deposited their weight upon it during these thirty 
 years. 
 
 Moreover, at a council held by the Earl of London 
 with the governors of New England in 1757, his lord 
 ship, in a moment of passion, had kicked over the 
 chair with his military boot. By this unprovokod and 
 unjustifiable act, our venerable friend had suffered a 
 fracture of one of its rungs. 
 
 " But," said Grandfather, " our chair, after all, was 
 not destined to spend the remainder of it days in the 
 inglorious obscurity of a garret. Thomas Hutchinson, 
 lieutenant-governor of the province, was told of Sir 
 Francis Bernard s design. This gentleman was more 
 familiar with the history of New England than any 
 other man alive. He knew all the adventures and 
 vicissitudes through which the old chair had passed, 
 and could have told as accurately as your own Grand 
 father who were the personages that had occupied it. 
 Often, while visiting at the Province House, he had 
 eyed the chair with admiration, and felt a longing de 
 sire to become the possessor of it. He now waited 
 upon Sir Francis Bernard, and easily obtained leave 
 to carry it home." 
 
 " And I hope," said Clara, " he had it varnished and 
 gilded anew." 
 
 " No," answered Grandfather. " What Mr. Hutch 
 inson desired was, to restore the chair as much as pos 
 sible to its original aspect, such as it had appeared 
 when it was first made out of the Earl of Lincoln s 
 oak-tree. For this purpose he ordered it to be well 
 scoured with soap and sand and polished with wax, 
 
 VOL. iv. 36 
 
562 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 and then provided it with a substantial leather cush 
 ion. When all was completed to his mind he sat down 
 in the old chair, and began to write his History of 
 Massachusetts." 
 
 " Oh, that was a bright thought in Mr. Hutchinson ! " 
 exclaimed Laurence. " And no doubt the dim figures 
 of the former possessors of the chair flitted around him 
 as he wrote, and inspired him with a knowledge of all 
 that they had done and suffered while on earth." 
 
 " Why, my dear Laurence," replied Grandfather, 
 smiling, "if Mr. Hutchinson was favored with any 
 such extraordinary inspiration, he made but a poor 
 use of it in his history ; for a duller piece of compo 
 sition never came from any man s pen. However, he 
 was accurate, at least, though far from possessing the 
 brilliancy or philosophy of Mr. Bancroft." 
 
 " But if Hutchinson knew the history of the chair," 
 rejoined Laurence, " his heart must have been stirred 
 by it." 
 
 " It must, indeed," said Grandfather. " It would 
 be entertaining and instructive, at the present day, to 
 imagine what were Mr. Hutchinson s thoughts as he 
 looked back upon the long vista of events with which 
 this chair was so remarkably connected." 
 
 And Grandfather allowed his fancy to shape out an 
 image of Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, sitting in 
 an evening reverie by his fireside, and meditating on 
 the changes that had slowly passed around the chair. 
 
 A devoted monarchist, Hutchinson would heave no 
 sigh for the subversion of the original republican gov 
 ernment, the purest that the world had seen, with 
 which the colony began its existence. While rever 
 encing the grim and stern old Puritans as the found 
 ers of his native land, he would not wish to recall them 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 563 
 
 from their graves, nor to awaken again that king-re 
 sisting spirit which he imagined to be laid asleep with 
 them forever. Winthrop, Dudley, Bellingham, Endi- 
 cott, Leverett, and Bradstreet, all these had had 
 their day. Ages might come and go, but never again 
 would the people s suffrages place a republican gov 
 ernor in their ancient chair of state. 
 
 Coming down to the epoch of the second charter, 
 Hutchinson thought of the ship - carpenter Phipps, 
 springing from the lowest of the people and attaining 
 to the loftiest station in the land. But he smiled to 
 perceive that this governor s example would awaken 
 no turbulent ambition in the lower orders ; for it was 
 a king s gracious boon alone that made the ship-car 
 penter a ruler. Hutchinson rejoiced to mark the grad 
 ual growth of an aristocratic class, to whom the com 
 mon people, as in duty bound, were learning humbly 
 to resign the honors, emoluments, and authority of 
 state. He saw or else deceived himself that, 
 throughout this epoch, the people s disposition to self- 
 government had been growing weaker through long 
 disuse, and now existed only as a faint traditionary 
 feeling. 
 
 The lieutenant-governor s reverie had now come 
 down to the period at which he himself was sitting 
 in the historic chair. He endeavored to throw his 
 glance forward over the coming years. There, prob 
 ably, he saw visions of hereditary rank for himself 
 and other aristocratic colonists. He saw the fertile 
 fields of New England proportioned out among a few 
 great landholders, and descending by entail from gen 
 eration to generation. He saw the people a race of 
 tenantry, dependent on their lords. He saw stars, 
 garters, coronets, and castles. 
 
564 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 " But," added Grandfather, turning to Laurence, 
 " the lieutenant-governor s castles were built nowhere 
 but among the red embers of the fire before which he 
 was sitting. And, just as he had constructed a baro 
 nial residence for himself and his posterity, the fire 
 rolled down upon the hearth and crumbled it to ashes ! " 
 
 Grandfather now looked at his watch, which hung 
 within a beautiful little ebony temple, supported by 
 four Ionic columns. He then laid his hand on the 
 golden locks of little Alice, whose head had sunk down 
 upon the arm of our illustrious chair. 
 
 " To bed, to bed, dear child ! " said he. " Grand 
 father has put you to sleep already by his stories about 
 these FAMOUS OLD PEOPLE." 
 
PART III. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ON the evening of New- Year s Day Grandfather was 
 walking to and fro across the carpet, listening to the 
 rain which beat hard against the curtained windows. 
 The riotous blast shook the casement as if a strong 
 man were striving to force his entrance into the com- 
 
 O 
 
 fortable room. With every puff of the wind the fire 
 leaped upward from the hearth, laughing and rejoicing 
 at the shrieks of the wintry storm. 
 
 Meanwhile Grandfather s chair stood in its custom 
 ary place by the fireside. The bright blaze gleamed 
 upon the fantastic figures of its oaken back, and shone 
 through the open work, so that a complete pattern was 
 thrown upon the opposite side of the room. Some 
 times, for a moment or two, the shadow remained im 
 movable, as if it were painted on the wall. Then all 
 at once it began to quiver, and leap, and dance with a 
 frisky motion. Anon, seeming to remember that these 
 antics were unworthy of such a dignified and venerable 
 chair, it suddenly stood still. But soon it began to 
 dance anew. 
 
 " Only see how Grandfather s chair is dancing ! " 
 cried little Alice. 
 
 And she ran to the wall and tried to catch hold of 
 the flickering shadow; for, to children of five years 
 old, a shadow seems almost as real as a substance. 
 
 " I wish," said Clara, " Grandfather would sit down 
 in the chair and finish its history." 
 
566 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 If the children had been looking at Grandfather, 
 they would have noticed that he paused in his walk 
 across the room when Clara made this remark. The 
 kind old gentleman was ready and willing to resume 
 his stories of departed times. But he had resolved to 
 wait till his auditors should request him to proceed, in 
 order that they might find the instructive history of 
 the chair a pleasure, and not a task. 
 
 " Grandfather," said Charley, " I am tired to death 
 of this dismal rain and of hearing the wind roar in 
 the chimney. I have had no good time all day. It 
 would be better to hear stories about the chair than to 
 sit doing nothing and thinking of nothing." 
 
 To say the truth, our friend Charley was very much 
 out of humor with the storm, because it had kept him 
 all day within doors, and hindered him from making 
 a trial of a splendid sled, which Grandfather had 
 given him for a New- Year s gift. As all sleds, nowa 
 days, must have a name, the one in question had been 
 honored with the title of Grandfather s chair, which 
 was painted in golden letters on each of the sides. 
 Charley greatly admired the construction of the new 
 vehicle, and felt certain that it would outstrip any 
 other sled that ever dashed adown the long slopes of 
 the Common. 
 
 As for Laurence, he happened to be thinking, just 
 at this moment, about the history of the chair. Kind 
 old Grandfather had made him a present of a volume 
 of engraved portraits, representing the features of em 
 inent and famous people of all countries. Among 
 them Laurence found several who had formerly oc 
 cupied our chair or been connected with its adven 
 tures. While Grandfather walked to and fro across 
 the room, the imaginative boy was gazing at the hi*- 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 567 
 
 toric chair. He endeavored to summon up the por 
 traits which he had seen in his volume, and to place 
 them, like living figures, in the empty seat. 
 
 " The old chair has begun another year of its exist 
 ence, to-day," said Laurence. " We must make haste, 
 or it will have a new history to be told before we finish 
 the old one." 
 
 " Yes, my children," replied Grandfather, with a 
 smile and a sigh, " another year has been added to 
 those of the two centuries and upward which have 
 passed since the Lady Arbella brought this chair over 
 from England. It is three times as old as your Grand 
 father ; but a year makes no impression on its oaken 
 frame, while it bends the old man nearer and nearer 
 to the earth ; so let me go on with my stories while I 
 may." 
 
 Accordingly Grandfather came to the fireside and 
 seated himself in the venerable chair. The lion s head 
 looked down with a grimly good-natured aspect as the 
 children clustered around the old gentleman s knees. 
 It almost seemed as if a real lion were peeping over 
 the back of the chair, and smiling at the group of 
 auditors with a sort of lion-like complaisance. Little 
 Alice, whose fancy often inspired her with singular 
 ideas, exclaimed that the lion s head was nodding at 
 her, and that it looked as if it were going to open its 
 wide jaws and tell a story. 
 
 But as the lion s head appeared to be in no haste to 
 speak, and as there was no record or tradition of its 
 having spoken during the whole existence of the chair, 
 Grandfather did not consider it worth while to wait. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 " CHARLEY, my boy," said Grandfather, " do you 
 remember who was the last occupant of the chair ? * 
 
 " It was Lieutenant - Governor Hutchinson," an 
 swered Charley. " Sir Francis Bernard, the new gov 
 ernor, had given him the chair, instead of putting it 
 away in the garret of the Province House. And when 
 we took leave of Hutchinson he was sitting by his 
 fireside, and thinking of the past adventures of the 
 chair and of what was to come." 
 
 " Very well," said Grandfather ; " and you recol 
 lect that this was in 1763, or thereabouts, at the close 
 of the old French War. Now, that you may fully 
 comprehend the remaining adventures of the chair, I 
 must make some brief remarks on the situation and 
 character of the New England colonies at this period." 
 
 So Grandfather spoke of the earnest loyalty of our 
 fathers during the old French War, and after the con 
 quest of Canada had brought that war to a triumphant 
 close. 
 
 The people loved and reverenced the King of Eng 
 land even more than if the ocean had not rolled its 
 waves between him and them ; for, at the distance of 
 three thousand miles, they could not discover his bad 
 qualities and imperfections. Their love was increased 
 by the dangers which they had encountered in order to 
 heighten his glory and extend his dominion. Through 
 out the war the American colonists had fought side by 
 side with the soldiers of Old England ; and nearly 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 569 
 
 thirty thousand young men had laid down their lives 
 for the honor of King George. And the survivors 
 loved him the better because they had done and suf 
 fered so much for his sake. 
 
 But there were some circumstances that caused 
 America to feel more independent of England than 
 at an earlier period. Canada and Acadia had now 
 become British provinces ; and our fathers were no 
 longer afraid of the bands of French and Indians who 
 used to assault them in old times. For a century and 
 a half this had been the great terror of New England. 
 Now the old French soldier was driven from the North 
 forever. And even had it been otherwise, the English 
 colonies were growing so populous and powerful that 
 they might have felt fully able to protect themselves 
 without any help from England. 
 
 There were thoughtful and sagacious men, who be 
 gan to doubt whether a great country like America 
 would always be content to remain under the govern 
 ment of an island three thousand miles away. This 
 was the more doubtful, because the English Parlia 
 ment had long ago made laws which were intended to 
 be very beneficial to England at the expense of Amer 
 ica. By these laws the colonists were forbidden to 
 manufacture articles for their own use, or to carry on 
 trade with any nation but the English. 
 
 "Now," continued Grandfather, "if King George 
 III. and his counsellors had considered these things 
 wisely, they would have taken another course than 
 they did. But when they saw how rich and populous 
 the colonies had grown, their first thought was how 
 they might make more profit out of them than hereto 
 fore. England was enormously in debt at the close 
 of the old French War ; and it was pretended that this 
 
570 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 debt had been contracted for the defence of the Amer 
 ican colonies, and that, therefore, a part of it ought to 
 be paid by them." 
 
 " Why, this was nonsense ! " exclaimed Charley. 
 " Did not our fathers spend their lives, and their 
 money too, to get Canada for King George ? " 
 
 " True, they did," said Grandfather ; " and they 
 told the English rulers so. But the king and his min 
 isters would not listen to good advice. In 1765 the 
 British Parliament passed a Stamp Act." 
 
 " What was that ? " inquired Charley. 
 
 " The Stamp Act," replied Grandfather, " was a 
 law by which all deeds, bonds, and other papers of 
 the same kind were ordered to be marked with the 
 king s stamp ; and without this mark they were de 
 clared illegal and void. Now, in order to get a blank 
 sheet of paper with the king s stamp upon it, people 
 were obliged to pay threepence more than the actual 
 value of the paper. And this extra sum of threepence 
 was a tax, and was to be paid into the king s treas 
 ury." 
 
 " I am sure threepence was not worth quarrelling 
 about ! " remarked Clara. 
 
 " It was not for threepence, nor for any amount of 
 money, that America quarrelled with England," re 
 plied Grandfather ; " it was for a great principle. The 
 colonists were determined not to be taxed except by 
 their own representatives. They said that neither the 
 king and Parliament, nor any other power on earth, 
 had a right to take their money out of their pockets 
 unless they freely gave it. And, rather than pay 
 threepence when it was unjustly demanded, they re 
 solved to sacrifice all the wealth of the country, and 
 their lives along with it. They therefore made a most 
 stubborn resistance to the Stamp Act." 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 571 
 
 " That was noble ! " exclaimed Laurence. " I un 
 derstand how it was. If they had quietly paid the tax 
 of threepence, they would have ceased to be freemen, 
 and would have become tributaries of England. And 
 so they contended about a great question of right and 
 wrong, and put everything at stake for it." 
 
 " You are right, Laurence," said Grandfather, " and 
 it was really amazing and terrible to see what a change 
 came over the aspect of the people the mome nt the 
 English Parliament had passed this oppressive act. 
 The former history of our chair, my children, has 
 given you some idea of what a harsh, unyielding, stern 
 set of men the old Puritans were. For a good many 
 years back, however, it had seemed as if these charac 
 teristics were disappearing. But no sooner did Eng 
 land offer wrong to the colonies than the descendants 
 of the early settlers proved that they had the same 
 kind of temper as their forefathers. The moment be 
 fore, New England appeared like a humble and loyal 
 subject of the crown ; the next instant, she showed the 
 grim, dark features of an old king-resisting Puritan." 
 
 Grandfather spoke briefly of the public measures 
 that were taken in opposition to the Stamp Act. As 
 this law affected all the American colonies alike, it 
 naturally led them to think of consulting together in 
 order to procure its repeal. For this purpose the Leg 
 islature of Massachusetts proposed that delegates from 
 every colony should meet in Congress. Accordingly 
 nine colonies, both .Northern and Southern, sent dele 
 gates to the city of New York. 
 
 "And did they consult about going to war with 
 England ? " asked Charley. 
 
 "No, Charley," answered Grandfather; "a great 
 deal of talking was yet to be done before England 
 
572 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 and America could come to blows. The Congress 
 stated the rights and grievances of the colonists. They 
 sent a humble petition to the king, and a memorial to 
 the Parliament, beseeching that the Stamp Act might 
 be repealed. This was all that the delegates had it 
 in their power to do." 
 
 " They might as well have stayed at home, then," 
 said Charley. 
 
 " By no means," replied Grandfather. " It was a 
 most important and memorable event, this first com 
 ing together of the American people by their repre 
 sentatives from the North and South. If England 
 had been wise, she would have trembled at the first 
 word that was spoken in such an assembly." 
 
 These remonstrances and petitions, as Grandfather 
 observed, were the work of grave, thoughtful, and pru 
 dent men. Meantime the young and hot-headed peo 
 ple went to work in their own way. It is probable 
 that the petitions of Congress would have had little or 
 no effect on the British statesmen if the violent deeds 
 of the American people had not shown how much ex 
 cited the people were. LIBERTY TREE was soon heard 
 of in England. 
 
 " What was Liberty Tree ? " inquired Clara. 
 
 " It was an old elm-tree," answered Grandfather, 
 " which stood near the corner of Essex Street, op 
 posite the Boylston Market. Under the spreading 
 branches of this great tree the people used to assemble 
 whenever they wished to express their feelings and 
 opinions. Thus, after a while, it seemed as if the lib 
 erty of the country was connected with Liberty Tree." 
 
 " It was glorious fruit for a tree to bear," remarked 
 Laurence. 
 
 " It bore strange fruit, sometimes," said Grand 
 
GRANDFATHER^ CHAIR. 573 
 
 father. " One morning in August, 1765, two figures 
 were found hanging on the sturdy branches of Liberty 
 Tree. They were dressed in square-skirted coats and 
 small-clothes ; and, as their wigs hung down over their 
 faces, they looked like real men. One was intended 
 to represent the Earl of Bute, who was supposed to 
 have advised the king to tax America. The other was 
 meant for the effigy of Andrew Oliver, a gentleman 
 belonging to one of the most respectable families in 
 Massachusetts." 
 
 " What harm had he done ? " inquired Charley. 
 
 " The king had appointed him to be distributor of 
 the stamps," answered Grandfather. " Mr. Oliver 
 would have made a great deal of money by this busi 
 ness. But the people frightened him so much by 
 hanging him in effigy, and afterwards by breaking 
 into his house, that he promised to have nothing to do 
 with the stamps. And all the king s friends through 
 out America were compelled to make the same prom 
 ise." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 " LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON," Continued 
 
 Grandfather, "now began to be unquiet in our old 
 chair. He had formerly been much respected and be 
 loved by the people, and had often proved himself a 
 friend to their interests. But the time was come when 
 he could not be a friend to the people without ceasing 
 to be a friend to the king. It was pretty generally 
 understood that Hutchinson would act according to 
 the king s wishes, right or wrong, like most of the 
 other gentlemen who held offices under the crown. 
 Besides, as he was brother-in-law of Andrew Oliver, 
 the people now felt a particular dislike to him." 
 
 " I should think," said Laurence, " as Mr. Hutch 
 inson had written the history of our Puritan fore 
 fathers, he would have known what the temper of the 
 people was, and so have taken care not to wrong 
 them." 
 
 " He trusted in the might of the King of England," 
 replied Grandfather, " and thought himself safe under 
 the shelter of the throne. If no dispute had arisen 
 between the king and the people, Hutchinson would 
 have had the character of a wise, good, and patriotic 
 magistrate. But, from the time that he took part 
 against the rights of his country, the people s love and 
 respect were turned to scorn and hatred, and he never 
 had another hour of peace." 
 
 In order to show what a fierce and dangerous spirit 
 was now aroused among the inhabitants, Grandfather 
 related a passage from history which we shall call 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 575 
 
 THE HUTCHINSON MOB. 
 
 On the evening of the 26th of August, 1765, a bon 
 fire was kindled in King Street. It flamed high up 
 ward, and threw a ruddy light over the front of the 
 Town House, on which was displayed a carved repre 
 sentation of the royal arms. The gilded vane of the 
 cupola glittered in the blaze. The kindling of this 
 bonfire was the well-known signal for the populace of 
 Boston to assemble in the street. 
 
 Before the tar - barrels, of which the bonfire was 
 made, were half burned out, a great crowd had come 
 together. They were chiefly laborers and seafaring 
 men, together with many young apprentices, and all 
 those idle people about town who are ready for any 
 kind of mischief. Doubtless some school-boys were 
 among them. 
 
 While these rough figures stood round the blazing 
 bonfire, you might hear them speaking bitter words 
 against the high officers of the province. Governor 
 Bernard, Hutchinson, Oliver, Storey, Hallowell, and 
 other men whom King George delighted to honor, 
 were reviled as traitors to the country. Now and 
 then, perhaps, an officer of the crown passed along 
 the street, wearing the gold-laced hat, white wig, and 
 embroidered waistcoat which were the fashion of the 
 day. But when the people beheld him they set up a 
 wild and angry howl ; and their faces had an evil as 
 pect, which was made more terrible by the flickering 
 blaze of the bonfire. 
 
 " I should like to throw the traitor right into that 
 blaze ! " perhaps one fierce rioter would say. 
 
 " Yes ; and all his brethren too ! " another might 
 reply ; " and the governor and old Tommy Hutchin 
 son into the hottest of it ! " 
 
576 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 " And the Earl of Bute along with them ! " mut 
 tered a third ; " and burn the whole pack of them 
 under King George s nose ! No matter if it singed 
 him ! " 
 
 Some such expressions as these, either shouted aloud 
 or muttered under the breath, were doubtless heard in 
 King Street. The mob, meanwhile, were growing 
 fiercer and fiercer, and seemed ready even to set the 
 town on fire for the sake of burning the king s friends 
 out of house and home. And yet, angry as they were, 
 they sometimes broke into a loud roar of laughter, as 
 if mischief and destruction were their sport. 
 
 But we must now leave the rioters for a time, and 
 take a peep into the lieutenant-governor s splendid 
 mansion. It was a large brick house, decorated with 
 Ionic pilasters, and stood in Garden Court Street, near 
 the North Square. 
 
 While the angry mob in King Street were shouting 
 his name, Lieutenant-Govern or Hutchinson sat quietly 
 in Grandfather s chair, unsuspicious of the evil that 
 was about to fall upon his head. His beloved family 
 were in the room with him. He had thrown off his 
 embroidered coat and powdered wig, and had on a 
 loose-flowing gown and purple-velvet cap. He had 
 likewise laid aside the cares of state and all the 
 thoughts that had wearied and perplexed him through 
 out the day. 
 
 Perhaps, in the enjoyment of his home, he had for 
 gotten all about the Stamp Act, and scarcely remem 
 bered that there was a king, across the ocean, who had 
 resolved to make tributaries of the New-Englanders. 
 Possibly, too, he had forgotten his own ambition, and 
 would not have exchanged his situation, at that mo 
 ment, to be governor, or even a lord. 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 577 
 
 The wax candles were now lighted, and showed a 
 handsome room, well provided with rich furniture. 
 On the walls hung the pictures of Hutchinson s ances 
 tors, who had been eminent men in their day, and were 
 honorably remembered in the history of the country. 
 Every object served to mark the residence of a rich, 
 aristocratic gentleman, who held himself high above 
 the common people, and could have nothing to fear 
 from them. In a corner of the room, thrown care 
 lessly upon a chair, were the scarlet robes of the chief 
 justice. This high office, as well as those of lieuten 
 ant-governor, councillor, and judge of probate, was 
 filled by Hutchinson. 
 
 Who or what could disturb the domestic quiet of 
 such a great and powerful personage as now sat in 
 Grandfather s chair ? 
 
 The lieutenant-governor s favorite daughter sat by 
 his side. She leaned on the arm of our great chair, 
 and looked up affectionately into her father s face, re 
 joicing to perceive that a quiet smile was on his lips. 
 But suddenly a shade came across her countenance. 
 She seemed to listen attentively, as if to catch a dis 
 tant sound. 
 
 " What is the matter, my child ? " inquired Hutch 
 inson. 
 
 " Father, do not you hear a tumult in the streets ? " 
 said she. 
 
 The lieutenant-governor listened. But his ears were 
 duller than those of his daughter ; he could hear noth 
 ing more terrible than the sound of a summer breeze, 
 sighing among the tops of the elm-trees. 
 
 " No, foolish child ! " he replied, playfully patting 
 her cheek. "There is no tumult. Our Boston mobs 
 
 VOL. iv. 37 
 
578 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 are satisfied with what mischief they have already 
 done. The king s friends need not tremble." 
 
 So Hutchinson resumed his pleasant and peaceful 
 meditations, and again forgot that there were any 
 troubles in the world. But his family were alarmed, 
 and could not help straining their ears to catch the 
 slightest sound. More and more distinctly they heard 
 shouts, and then the trampling of many feet. While 
 they were listening, one of the neighbors rushed 
 breathless into the room. 
 
 " A mob ! a terrible mob ! " cried he. " They have 
 broken into Mr. Storey s house, and into Mr. Hallo- 
 well s, and have made themselves drunk with the liq 
 uors in his cellar ; and now they are coming hither, as 
 wild as so many tigers. Flee, lieutenant-governor, for 
 your life ! for your life ! " 
 
 "Father, dear father, make haste!" shrieked his 
 children. 
 
 But Hutchinson would not hearken to them. He 
 was an old lawyer ; and he could not realize that the 
 people would do anything so utterly lawless as to as 
 sault him in his peaceful home. He was one of King 
 George s chief officers ; and it would be an insult and 
 outrage upon the king himself if the lieutenant-gov 
 ernor should suffer any wrong. 
 
 " Have no fears on my account," said he. " I am 
 perfectly safe. The king s name shall be my protec 
 tion." 
 
 Yet he bade his family retire into one of the neigh 
 boring houses. His daughter would have remained ; 
 but he forced her away. 
 
 The huzzas and riotous uproar of the mob were now 
 heard, close at hand. The sound was terrible, and 
 struck Hutchinson with the same sort of dread as if 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 579 
 
 an enraged wild beast had broken loose and were roar 
 ing for its prey. He crept softly to the window. 
 There he beheld an immense concourse of people, fill 
 ing all the street and rolling onward to his house. It 
 was like a tempestuous flood, that had swelled beyond 
 its bounds and would sweep everything before it. 
 Hutchinson trembled ; he felt, at that moment, that 
 the wrath of the people was a thousand-fold more ter 
 rible than the wrath of a king. 
 
 That was a moment when a loyalist and an aristo 
 crat like Hutchinson might have learned how power 
 less are kings, nobles, and great men, when the low 
 and humble range themselves against them. King 
 George could do nothing for his servant now. Had 
 King George been there he could have done nothing 
 for himself. If Hutchinson had understood this les 
 son, and remembered it, he need not, in after years, 
 have been an exile from his native country, nor finally 
 have laid his bones in a distant land. 
 
 There was now a rush against the doors of the 
 house. The people sent up a hoarse cry. At this in 
 stant the lieutenant-governor s daughter, whom he had 
 supposed to be in a place of safety, ran into the room 
 and threw her arms around him. She had returned 
 by a private entrance. 
 
 " Father, are you mad ? " cried she. " Will the 
 king s name protect you now? Come with me, or 
 they will have your life." 
 
 "True," muttered Hutchinson to himself; "what 
 care these roarers for the name of king ? I must flee, 
 or they will trample me down on the floor of my own 
 dwelling." 
 
 Hurrying away, he and his daughter made their es 
 cape by the private passage at the moment when the 
 
580 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 rioters broke into the house. The foremost of them 
 rushed up the staircase, and entered the room which 
 Hutchinson had just quitted. There they beheld our 
 good old chair facing them with quiet dignity, while 
 the lion s head seemed to move its jaws in the unsteady 
 light of their torches. Perhaps the stately aspect of 
 our venerable friend, which had stood firm through a, 
 century and a half of trouble, arrested them for an 
 instant. But they were thrust forward by those be 
 hind, and the chair lay overthrown. 
 
 Then began the work of destruction. The carved 
 and polished mahogany tables were shattered with 
 heavy clubs and hewn to splinters with axes. The 
 marble hearths and mantel-pieces were broken. The 
 volumes of Hutchin son s library, so precious to a stu 
 dious man, were torn out of their covers, and the 
 leaves sent flying out of the windows. Manuscripts, 
 containing secrets of our country s history, which are 
 now lost forever, were scattered to the winds. 
 
 The old ancestral portraits, whose fixed counte 
 nances looked down on the wild scene, were rent from 
 the walls. The mob triumphed in their downfall and 
 destruction, as if these pictures of Hutchinson s fore 
 fathers had committed the same offences as their de 
 scendant. A tall looking-glass, which had hitherto 
 presented a reflection of the enraged and drunken 
 multitude, was now smashed into a thousand frag 
 ments. We gladly dismiss the scene from the mirror 
 of our fancy. 
 
 Before morning dawned the walls of the house were 
 all that remained. The interior was a dismal scene of 
 ruin. A shower pattered in at the broken windows ; 
 and when Hutchinson and his family returned, they 
 stood shivering in the same room where the last even 
 ing had seen them so peaceful and happy. 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 581 
 
 " Grandfather," said Laurence, indignantly, " if the 
 people acted in this manner, they were not worthy of 
 even so much liberty as the King of England was 
 willing to allow them." 
 
 " It was a most unjustifiable act, like many other 
 popular movements at that time," replied Grandfather. 
 " But we must not decide against the justice of the 
 people s cause merely because an excited mob was 
 guilty of outrageous violence. Besides, all these 
 things were done in the first fury of resentment. Af 
 terwards the people grew more calm, and were more 
 influenced by the counsel of those wise and good men 
 who conducted them safely and gloriously through the 
 Revolution." 
 
 Little Alice, with tears in her blue eyes, said that 
 she hoped the neighbors had not let Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor Hutchinson and his family be homeless in the 
 street, but had taken them into their houses and been 
 kind to them. Cousin Clara, recollecting the perilous 
 situation of our beloved chair, inquired what had be 
 come of it. 
 
 " Nothing was heard of our chair for some time af 
 terwards," answered Grandfather. " One day in Sep 
 tember, the same Andrew Oliver, of whom I before 
 told you, was summoned to appear at high noon under 
 Liberty Tree. This was the strangest summons that 
 had ever been heard of ; for it was issued in the name 
 of the whole people, who thus took upon themselves 
 the authority of a sovereign power. Mr. Oliver dared 
 not disobey. Accordingly, at the appointed hour he 
 went, much against his will, to Liberty Tree." 
 
 Here Charley interposed a remark that poor Mr. 
 Oliver found but little liberty under Liberty Tree. 
 Grandfather assented. 
 
582 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 "It was a stormy day," continued he. "The equi 
 noctial gale blew violently, and scattered the yellow 
 leaves of Liberty Tree all along the street. Mr. Oli 
 ver s wig was dripping with water-drops; and he 
 probably looked haggard, disconsolate, and humbled 
 to the earth. Beneath the tree, in Grandfather s 
 chair, our own venerable chair, sat Mr. Richard 
 Dana, a justice of the peace. He administered an 
 oath to Mr. Oliver that he would never have anything 
 to do with distributing the stamps. A vast concourse 
 of people heard the oath, and shouted when it was 
 taken." 
 
 " There is something grand in this," said Laurence. 
 " I like it, because the people seem to have acted with 
 thoughtf ulness and dignity ; and this proud gentleman, 
 one of his Majesty s high officers, was made to feel 
 that King George could not protect him in doing 
 wrong." 
 
 " But it was a sad day for poor Mr. Oliver," ob 
 served Grandfather. " From his youth upward it had 
 probably been the great principle of his life to be 
 faithful and obedient to the king. And now, in his 
 old age, it must have puzzled and distracted him to 
 find the sovereign people setting up a claim to his 
 faith and obedience." 
 
 Grandfather closed the evening s conversation by 
 saying that the discontent of America was so great, 
 that, in 1766, the British Parliament was compelled 
 to repeal the Stamp Act. The people made great 
 rejoicings, but took care to keep Liberty Tree well 
 pruned and free from caterpillars and canker-worms. 
 They foresaw that there might yet be occasion foi 
 them to assemble under its far-projecting shadow. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE next evening, Clara, who remembered that our 
 chair had been left standing in the rain under Liberty 
 Tree, earnestly besought Grandfather to tell when and 
 where it had next found shelter. Perhaps she was 
 afraid that the venerable chair, by being exposed to 
 the inclemency of a September gale, might get the 
 rheumatism in its aged joints. 
 
 "The chair," said Grandfather, "after the ceremony 
 of Mr. Oliver s oath, appears to have been quite for 
 gotten by the multitude. Indeed, being much bruised 
 and rather rickety, owing to the violent treatment it 
 had suffered from the Hutchinson mob, most people 
 would have thought that its days of usefulness were 
 over. Nevertheless, it was conveyed away under cover 
 of the night and committed to the care of a skilful 
 joiner. He doctored our old friend so successfully, 
 that, in the course of a few days, it made its appear 
 ance in the public room of the British Coffee House, 
 in King Street." 
 
 " But why did not Mr. Hutchinson get possession 
 of it again ? " inquired Charley. 
 
 "I know not," answered Grandfather, "unless he 
 considered it a dishonor and disgrace to the chair to 
 have stood under Liberty Tree. At all events, he suf 
 fered it to remain at the British Coffee House, which 
 was the principal hotel in Boston. It could not pos 
 sibly have found a situation where it would be more 
 in the midst of business and bustle, or would witness 
 
584 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 more important events, or be occupied by a greater 
 variety of persons." 
 
 Grandfather went on to tell the proceedings of the 
 despotic king and ministry of England after the repeal 
 of the Stamp Act. They could not bear to think that 
 their right to tax America should be disputed by the 
 people. In the year 1767, therefore, they caused Par 
 liament to pass an act for laying a duty on tea and 
 some other articles that were in general use. Nobody 
 could now buy a pound of tea without paying a tax to 
 King George. This scheme was pretty craftily con 
 trived ; for the women of America were very fond of 
 tea, and did not like to give up the use of it. 
 
 But the people were as much opposed to this new 
 act of Parliament as they had been to the Stamp Act. 
 England, however, was determined that they should 
 submit. In order to compel their obedience, two reg 
 iments, consisting of more than seven hundred British 
 soldiers, were sent to Boston. They arrived in Sep 
 tember, 1768, and were landed on Long Wharf. 
 Thence they marched to the Common with loaded 
 muskets, fixed bayonets, and great pomp and parade. 
 So now, at last, the free town of Boston was guarded 
 and overawed by redcoats as it had been in the days 
 of old Sir Edmund Andros. 
 
 In the month of November more regiments arrived. 
 There were now four thousand troops in Boston. The 
 Common was whitened with their tents. Some of the 
 soldiers were lodged in Faneuil Hall, which the inhab 
 itants looked upon as a consecrated place, because it 
 had been the scene of a great many meetings in favor 
 of liberty. One regiment was placed in the Town 
 House, which we now call the Old State House. Tho 
 lower floor of this edifice had hitherto been used by 
 
GRA NDFA THER S CHA IR. 585 
 
 the merchants as an exchange. In the upper stories 
 were the chambers of the judges, the representatives, 
 and the governor s council. The venerable councillors 
 could not assemble to consult about the welfare of the 
 province without being challenged by sentinels and 
 passing among the bayonets of the British soldiers. 
 
 Sentinels likewise were posted at the lodgings of 
 the officers in many parts of the town. When the 
 inhabitants approached they were greeted by the sharp 
 question, " Who goes there ? " while the rattle of the 
 soldier s musket was heard as he presented it against 
 their breasts. There was no quiet even on the sab 
 bath day. The pious descendants of the Puritans 
 were shocked by the uproar of military music ; the 
 drum, fife, and bugle drowning the holy organ peal 
 and the voices of the singers. It would appear as if 
 the British took every method to insult the feelings of 
 the people. 
 
 " Grandfather," cried Charley, impatiently, " the 
 people did not go to fighting half soon enough ! These 
 British redcoats ought to have been driven back to 
 their vessels the very moment they landed on Long 
 Wharf/ 
 
 " Many a hot-headed young man said the same as 
 you do, Charley," answered Grandfather. " But the 
 elder and wiser people saw that the time was not yet 
 come. Meanwhile, let us take another peep at our old 
 chair." 
 
 " Ah, it drooped its head, I know," said Charley, 
 " when it saw how the province was disgraced. Its 
 old Puritan friends never would have borne such do- 
 ings." 
 
 " The chair," proceeded Grandfather, " was now 
 continually occupied by some of the high tories, as 
 
586 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 the king s friends were called, who frequented the 
 British Coffee House. Officers of the Custom House, 
 too, which stood on the opposite side of King Street, 
 often sat in the chair wagging their tongues against 
 John Hancock." 
 
 " Why against him ? " asked Charley. 
 
 " Because he was a great merchant and contended 
 against paying duties to the king," said Grandfather. 
 
 " Well, frequently, no doubt, the officers of the 
 British regiments, when not on duty, used to fling 
 themselves into the arms of our venerable chair. 
 Fancy one of them, a red-nosed captain in his scarlet 
 uniform, playing with the hilt of his sword, and mak 
 ing a circle of his brother officers merry with ridicu 
 lous jokes at the expense of the poor Yankees. And 
 perhaps he would call for a bottle of wine, or a steam 
 ing bowl of punch, and drink confusion to all rebels." 
 
 " Our grave old chair must have been scandalized 
 at such scenes," observed Laurence ; " the chair that 
 had been the Lady Arbella s, and which the holy 
 apostle Eliot had consecrated." 
 
 " It certainly was little less than sacrilege," replied 
 Grandfather ; " but the time was coming when even 
 the churches, where hallowed pastors had long preached 
 the word of God, were to be torn down or desecrated 
 by the British troops. Some years passed, however, 
 before such things were done." 
 
 Grandfather now told his auditors that, in 1760, Sir 
 Francis Bernard went to England after having been 
 governor of Massachusetts ten years. He was a gentle 
 man of many good qualities, an excellent scholar, and 
 a friend to learning. But he was naturally of an ar 
 bitrary disposition ; and he had been bred at the Uni 
 versity of Oxford, where young men were taught that 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 587 
 
 the divine right of kings was the only thing to be re 
 garded in matters of government. Such ideas were ill 
 adapted to please the people of Massachusetts. They 
 rejoiced to get rid of Sir Francis Bernard, but liked 
 his successor, Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, no 
 better than himself. 
 
 About this period the people were much incensed at 
 an act committed by a person who held an office in 
 the Custom House. Some lads, or young men*, were 
 snowballing his windows. He fired a musket at them, 
 and killed a poor German boy, only, eleven years old. 
 This event made a great noise in town and country, 
 and much increased the resentment that was already 
 felt against the servants of the crown. 
 
 " Now, children," said Grandfather, " I wish to 
 make you comprehend the position of the British 
 troops in King Street. This is the same which we 
 now call State Street. On the south side of the Town 
 House, or Old State House, was what military men 
 call a court of guard, defended by two brass cannons, 
 which pointed directly at one of the doors of the above 
 edifice. A large party of soldiers were always sta 
 tioned in the court of guard. The Custom House 
 stood at a little distance down King Street, nearly 
 where the Suffolk Bank now stands, and a sentinel 
 was continually pacing before its front." 
 
 " I shall remember this to-morrow," said Charley ; 
 " and I will go to State Street, so as to see exactly 
 where the British troops were stationed." 
 
 " And before long," observed Grandfather, " I shall 
 have to relate an event which made King Street sadly 
 famous on both sides of the Atlantic. The history of 
 our chair will soon bring us to this melancholy busi- 
 
588 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 Here Grandfather described the state of things 
 which arose from the ill will that existed between the 
 inhabitants and the redcoats. The old and sober part 
 of the townspeople were very angry at the government 
 for sending soldiers to overawe them. But those gray- 
 headed men were cautious, and kept their thoughts 
 and feelings in their own breasts, without putting 
 themselves in the way of the British bayonets. 
 
 The younger people, however, could hardly be kept 
 within such prudent limits. They reddened with wrath 
 at the very sight of a soldier, and would have been 
 willing to come to blows with them at any moment. 
 For it was their opinion that every tap of a British 
 drum within the peninsula of Boston was an insult to 
 the brave old town. 
 
 " It was sometimes the case," continued Grand 
 father, " that affrays happened between such wild 
 young men as these and small parties of the soldiers. 
 No weapons had hitherto been used except fists or 
 cudgels. But when men have loaded muskets in their 
 hands, it is easy to foretell that they will soon be 
 turned against the bosoms of those who provoke their 
 anger." 
 
 " Grandfather," said little Alice, looking fearfully 
 into his face, " your voice sounds as though you were 
 going to tell us something awful ! " 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 LITTLE ALICE, by her last remark, proved herself a 
 good judge of what was expressed by the tones of 
 Grandfather s voice. He had given the above descrip 
 tion of the enmity between the townspeople and the 
 soldiers in order to prepare the minds of his auditors 
 for a very terrible event. It was one that did more 
 to heighten the quarrel between England and Amer 
 ica than anything that had yet occurred. 
 
 Without further preface, Grandfather began the 
 story of 
 
 THE BOSTON MASSACRE. 
 
 It was now the 3d of March, 1770. The sunset 
 music of the British regiments was heard as usual 
 throughout the town. The shrill fife and rattling drum 
 awoke the echoes in King Street, while the last ray of 
 sunshine was lingering on the cupola of the Town 
 House. And now all the sentinels were posted. One 
 of them marched up and down before the Custom 
 House, treading a short path through the snow, and 
 longing for the time when he would be dismissed to 
 the warm fireside of the guard room. Meanwhile 
 Captain Preston was, perhaps, sitting in our great 
 chair before the hearth of the British Coffee House. 
 In the course of the evening there were two or three 
 slight commotions, which seemed to indicate that 
 trouble was at hand. Small parties of young men 
 .stood at the corners of the streets or walked along the 
 
590 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 narrow pavements. Squads of soldiers who were dis 
 missed from duty passed by them, shoulder to shoul 
 der, with the regular step which they had learned at 
 the drill. Whenever these encounters took place, it 
 appeared to be the object of the young men to treat 
 the soldiers with as much incivility as possible. 
 
 " Turn out, you lobsterbacks ! " one would say. 
 " Crowd them off the sidewalks ! " another would cry. 
 " A redcoat has no right in Boston streets ! " 
 
 " O, you rebel rascals ! " perhaps the soldiers would 
 reply, glaring fiercely at the young men. " Some day 
 or other we 11 make our way through Boston streets at 
 the point of the bayonet ! " 
 
 Once or twice such disputes as these brought on a 
 scuffle ; which passed off, however, without attracting 
 much notice. About eight o clock, for some unknown 
 cause, an alarm-bell rang loudly and hurriedly. 
 
 At the sound many people ran out of their houses, 
 supposing it to be an alarm of fire. But there were 
 no flames to be seen, nor was there any smell of smoke 
 in the clear, frosty air ; so that most of the townsmen 
 went back to their own firesides and sat talking with 
 their wives and children about the calamities of the 
 times. Others wLo were younger and less prudent re 
 mained in the streets ; for there seems to have been a 
 presentiment that some strange event was on the eve 
 of taking place. 
 
 Later in the evening, not far from nine o clftck, sev 
 eral young men passed by the Town House and walked 
 down King Street. The sentinel was still on his post 
 in front of the Custom House, pacing to and fro ; 
 while, as he turned, a gleam of light from some neigh 
 boring window glittered on the barrel of his musket. 
 At no great distance were the barracks and the guard 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 591 
 
 house, where his comrades were probably telling stories 
 of battle and bloodshed. 
 
 Down towards the Custom House, as I told you, 
 came a party of wild young men. When they drew 
 near the sentinel he halted on his post, and took his 
 musket from his shoulder, ready to present the bayonet 
 at their breasts. 
 
 " Who goes there ? " he cried, in the gruff, peremp 
 tory tones of a soldier s challenge. 
 
 The young men, being Boston boys, felt as if they 
 had a right to walk their own streets without being ac 
 countable to a British redcoat, even though he chal 
 lenged them in King George s name. They made 
 some rude answer to the sentinel. There was a dis 
 pute, or perhaps a scuffle. Other soldiers heard the 
 noise, and ran hastily from the barracks to assist their 
 comrades. At the same time many of the townspeople 
 rushed into King Street by various avenues, and gath 
 ered in a crowd round about the Custom House. It 
 seemed wonderful how such a multitude had started 
 up all of a sudden. 
 
 The wrongs and insults which the people had been 
 suffering for many months now kindled them into a 
 rage. They threw snowballs and lumps of ice at the 
 soldiers. As the tumult grew louder it reached the 
 
 O 
 
 ears of Captain Preston, the officer of the day. He 
 immediately ordered eight soldiers of the main guard 
 to take their muskets and follow him. They marched 
 across the street, forcing their way roughly through 
 the crowd, and pricking the townspeople with their 
 bayonets. 
 
 A gentleman (it was Henry Knox, afterwards gen 
 eral of the American artillery) caught Captain Pres 
 ton s arm. 
 
592 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 " For Heaven s sake, sir," exclaimed he, " take heed 
 what you do, or there will be bloodshed." 
 
 " Stand aside ! " answered Captain Preston, haught 
 ily. " Do not interfere, sir. Leave me to manage the 
 affair." 
 
 Arriving at the sentinel s post, Captain Preston 
 drew up his men in a semicircle, with their faces to 
 the crowd and their rear to the Custom House. When 
 the people saw the officer and beheld the threatening 
 attitude with which the soldiers fronted them, their 
 ra<re became almost uncontrollable. 
 
 O 
 
 " Fire, you lobsterbacks ! " bellowed some. 
 
 " You dare not fire, you cowardly redcoats ! " cried 
 others. 
 
 " Rush upon them ! " shouted many voices. " Drive 
 the rascals to their barracks ! Down with them ! 
 Down with them ! Let them fire if they dare ! " 
 
 Amid the uproar, the soldiers stood glaring at the 
 people with the fierceness of men whose trade was to 
 shed blood. 
 
 Oh, what a crisis had now arrived ! Up to this 
 very moment, the angry feelings between England and 
 America might have been pacified. England had but 
 to stretch out the hand of reconciliation, and acknowl 
 edge that she had hitherto mistaken her rights, but 
 would do so no more. Then the ancient bonds of 
 brotherhood would again have been knit together as 
 firmly as in old times. The habit of loyalty, which 
 had grown as strong as instinct, was not utterly over 
 come. The perils shared, the victories won, in the old 
 French War, when the soldiers of the colonies fought 
 side by side with their comrades from beyond the sea, 
 were unforgotten yet. England was still that beloved 
 country which the colonists called their home. King 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 593 
 
 George, though he had frowned upon America, was 
 still reverenced as a father. 
 
 But should the king s soldiers shed one drop of 
 American blood, then it was a quarrel to the death. 
 Never, never would America rest satisfied until she 
 had torn down the royal authority and trampled it in 
 the dust. 
 
 " Fire, if you dare, villains ! " hoarsely shouted the 
 people, while the muzzles of the muskets were turned 
 upon them. " You dare not fire ! " 
 
 They appeared ready to rush upon the levelled bay 
 onets. Captain Preston waved his sword, and uttered 
 a command which could not be distinctly heard amid 
 the uproar of shouts that issued from a hundred throats. 
 But his soldiers deemed that he had spoken the fatal 
 mandate, " Fire! " The flash of their muskets lighted 
 up the streets, and the report rang loudly between the 
 edifices. It was said, too, that the figure of a man, 
 with a cloth hanging down over his face, was seen to 
 step into the balcony of the Custom House and dis 
 charge a musket at the crowd. 
 
 A gush of smoke had overspread the scene. It rose 
 heavily, as if it were loath to reveal the dreadful spec 
 tacle beneath it. Eleven of the sons of New England 
 lay stretched upon the street. Some, sorely wounded, 
 were struggling to rise again. Others stirred not nor 
 groaned ; for they were past all pain. Blood was 
 streaming upon the snow; and that purple stain in 
 the midst of King Street, though it melted away in the 
 next day s sun, was never forgotten nor forgiven by 
 the people. 
 
 Grandfather was interrupted by the violent sobs of 
 little Alice. In his earnestness he had neglected to 
 
594 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 soften down the narrative so that it might not terrify 
 the heart of this unworldly infant. Since Grandfather 
 began the history of our chair, little Alice had listened 
 to many tales of war. But probably the idea had 
 never really impressed itself upon her mind that men 
 have shed the blood of their fellow-creatures. And 
 now that this idea was forcibly presented to her, it 
 affected the sweet child with bewilderment and horror. 
 
 " I ought to have remembered our dear little Alice," 
 said Grandfather reproachfully to himself. " Oh, what 
 a pity ! Her heavenly nature has now received its first 
 impression of earthly sin and violence. Well, Clara, 
 take her to bed and comfort her. Heaven grant that 
 she may dream away the recollection of the Boston 
 massacre ! " 
 
 " Grandfather," said Charley, when Clara and little 
 Alice had retired, " did not the people rush upon the 
 soldiers and take revenge ? " 
 
 " The town drums beat to arms," replied Grand 
 father, " the alarm-bells rang, and an immense multi 
 tude rushed into King Street. Many of them had 
 weapons in their hands. The British prepared to de 
 fend themselves. A whole regiment was drawn up 
 in the street, expecting an attack ; for the townsmen 
 appeared ready to throw themselves upon the bayo 
 nets." 
 
 " And how did it end ? " asked Charley. 
 
 " Governor Hutchinson hurried to the spot," said 
 Grandfather, "and besought the people to have pa 
 tience, promising that strict justice should be done. 
 A day or two afterward the British troops were with 
 drawn from town and stationed at Castle William. 
 Captain Preston and the eight soldiers were tried for 
 murder. But none of them were found guilty. The 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 595 
 
 judges told the jury that the insults and violence which 
 had been offered to the soldiers justified them in firing 
 at the mob." 
 
 " The Kevolution," observed Laurence, who had said 
 but little during the evening, " was not such a calm, 
 majestic movement as I supposed. I do not love to 
 hear of mobs and broils in the street. These things 
 were unworthy of the people when they had such a 
 great object to accomplish." 
 
 " Nevertheless, the world has seen no grander move 
 ment than that of our Revolution from first to last," 
 said Grandfather. " The people, to a man, were full 
 of a great and noble sentiment. True, there may be 
 much fault to find with their mode of expressing this 
 sentiment ; but they knew no better ; the necessity was 
 upon them to act out their feelings in the best manner 
 they could. We must forgive what was wrong in their 
 actions, and look into their hearts and minds for the 
 honorable motives that impelled them." 
 
 " And I suppose," said Laurence, " there were men 
 who knew how to act worthily of what they felt." 
 
 " There were many such," replied Grandfather ; " and 
 we will speak of some of them hereafter." 
 
 Grandfather here made a pause. That night Charley 
 had a dream about the Boston massacre, and thought 
 that he himself was in the crowd and struck down 
 Captain Preston with a great club. Laurence dreamed 
 that he was sitting in our great chair, at the window 
 of the British Coffee House, and beheld the whole 
 scene which Grandfather had described. It seemed to 
 him, in his dream, that, if the townspeople and the 
 soldiers would but have heard him speak a single 
 word, all the slaughter might have been averted. But 
 there was such an uproar that it drowned his voice. 
 
596 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 The next morning the two boys went together to 
 State Street and stood on the very spot where the first 
 blood of the Re volution "had been shed. The Old State 
 House was still there, presenting almost the same 
 aspect that it had worn on that memorable evening, 
 one-and-seventy years ago. It is the sole remaining 
 witness of the Boston massacre. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE next evening the astral lamp was lighted earlier 
 than usual, because Laurence was very much engaged 
 in looking over the collection of portraits which had 
 been his New- Year s gift from Grandfather. 
 
 Among them he found the features of more than 
 one famous personage who had been connected with, 
 the adventures of our old chair. Grandfather bade 
 him draw the table nearer to the fireside ; and they 
 looked over the portraits together, while Clara and 
 Charley likewise lent their attention. As for little 
 Alice, she sat in Grandfather s lap, and seemed to see 
 the very men alive whose faces were there represented. 
 
 Turning over the volume, Laurence came to the 
 portrait of a stern, grim-looking man, in plain attire, 
 of much more modern fashion than that of the old 
 Puritans. But the face might well have befitted one 
 of those iron-hearted men. Beneath the portrait was 
 the name of Samuel Adams. 
 
 " He was a man of great note in all the doings that 
 brought about the Revolution," said Grandfather. " His 
 character was such, that it seemed as if one of the an- . 
 cient Puritans had been sent back to earth to animate 
 the people s hearts with the same abhorrence of tyr 
 anny that had distinguished the earliest settlers. He 
 was as religious as they, as stern and inflexible, and 
 as deeply imbued with democratic principles. He, 
 better than any one else, may be taken as a represen 
 tative of the people of New England, and of the spirit 
 
598 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR, 
 
 with which they engaged in the Revolutionary struggle. 
 He was a poor man, and earned his bread by a humble 
 occupation ; but with his tongue and pen he made the 
 King of England tremble on his throne. Remember 
 him, my children, as one of the strong men of our 
 country." 
 
 "Here is one whose looks show a very different 
 character," observed Laurence, turning to the portrait 
 of John Hancock. " I should think, by his splendid 
 dress and courtly aspect, that he was one of the king s 
 friends." 
 
 u There never was a greater contrast than between 
 Samuel Adams and John Hancock," said Grandfather. 
 " Yet they were of the same side in politics, and had 
 an equal agency in the Revolution. Hancock was 
 born to the inheritance of the largest fortune in New 
 England. His tastes and habits were aristocratic. He 
 loved gorgeous attire, a splendid mansion, magnificent 
 furniture, stately festivals, and all that was glittering 
 and pompous in external things. His manners were 
 so polished that there stood not a nobleman at the 
 footstool of King George s throne who was a more 
 skilful courtier than John Hancock might have been. 
 Nevertheless, he in his embroidered clothes, and Sam 
 uel Adams in his threadbare coat, wrought together 
 in the cause of liberty. Adams acted from pure and 
 rigid principle. Hancock, though he loved his coun 
 try, yet thought quite as much of his own popularity 
 as he did of the people s rights. It is remarkable that 
 these two men, so very different as I describe them, 
 were the only two exempted from pardon by the king s 
 proclamation." 
 
 On the next leaf of the book was the portrait of 
 General Joseph Warren. Charley recognized the 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 599 
 
 name, and said that here was a greater man than 
 either Hancock or Adams. 
 
 " Warren was an eloquent and able patriot," replied 
 Grandfather. " He deserves a lasting memory for his 
 zealous efforts in behalf of liberty. No man s voice 
 was more powerful in Faneuil Hall than Joseph War 
 ren s. If his death had not happened so early in the 
 contest, he would probably have gained a high name 
 as a soldier." 
 
 The next portrait was a venerable man, who held 
 his thumb under his chin, and, through his spectacles, 
 appeared to be attentively reading a manuscript. 
 
 " Here we see the most illustrious Boston boy that 
 ever lived," said Grandfather. " This is Benjamin 
 Franklin. But I will not try to compress into a few 
 sentences the character of the sage, who, as a Freinjh- 
 man expressed it, snatched the lightning from the sky 
 and the sceptre from a tyrant. Mr. Sparks must help 
 you to the knowledge of Franklin." 
 
 The book likewise contained portraits of James Otis 
 and Josiah Quincy. Both of them, Grandfather ob 
 served, were men of wonderful talents and true patri 
 otism. Their voices were like the stirring tones of a 
 trumpet arousing the country to defend its freedom. 
 Heaven seemed to have provided a greater number of 
 eloquent men than had appeared at any other period, 
 in order that the people might be fully instructed as 
 to their wrongs and the method of resistance. 
 
 " It is marvellous," said Grandfather, " to see how 
 many powerful writers, orators, and soldiers started up 
 just at the time when they were wanted. There was a 
 man for every kind of work. It is equally wonderful 
 that men of such different characters were all made 
 to unite in the one object of establishing the freedom 
 
600 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 and independence of America, There was an over 
 ruling Providence above them." 
 
 " Here was another great man," remarked Lau 
 rence pointing to the portrait of John Adams. 
 
 " Yes ; an earnest, warm-tempered, honest, and most 
 able man," said Grandfather. " At the period of 
 which we are now speaking he was a lawyer in Bos 
 ton. He was destined in after years to be ruler over 
 the whole American people, whom he contributed so 
 much to form into a nation." 
 
 Grandfather here remarked that many a New-Eng- 
 lander, who had passed his boyhood and youth in ob 
 scurity, afterward attained to a fortune which he never 
 could have foreseen even in his most ambitious dreams. 
 John Adams, the second President of the United 
 Spates and the equal of crowned kings, was once a 
 schoolmaster and country lawyer. Hancock, the first 
 signer of the Declaration of Independence, served his 
 apprenticeship with a merchant. Samuel Adams, af 
 terwards governor of Massachusetts, was a small 
 tradesman and a tax-gatherer. General Warren was 
 a physician, General Lincoln a farmer, and General 
 Knox a bookbinder. General Nathaniel Greene, the 
 best soldier, except Washington, in the Revolutionary 
 army, was a Quaker and a blacksmith. All these be 
 came illustrious men, and can never be forgotten in 
 American history. 
 
 " And any boy who is born in America may look 
 forward to the same things," said our ambitious friend 
 Charley. 
 
 After these observations, Grandfather drew the book 
 of portraits towards him and showed the children sev 
 eral British peers and members of Parliament who 
 had exerted themselves either for or against the rights 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 601 
 
 of America. There were the Earl of Bute, Mr. Gren- 
 ville, and Lord North. These were looked upon as 
 deadly enemies to our country. 
 
 Among the friends of America was Mr. Pitt, after 
 ward Earl of Chatham, who spent so much of his won 
 drous eloquence in endeavoring to warn England of 
 the consequences of her injustice. He fell down on 
 the floor of the House of Lords after uttering almost 
 his dying words in defence of our privileges as free 
 men. There was Edmund Burke, one of the wisest 
 men and greatest orators that ever the world produced. 
 There was Colonel Barr, who had been among our 
 fathers, and knew that they had courage enough to die 
 for their rights. There was Charles James Fox, who 
 never rested until he had silenced our enemies in the 
 House of Commons. 
 
 " It is very remarkable to observe how many of the 
 ablest orators in the British Parliament were favor 
 able to America," said Grandfather. " We ought to 
 remember these great Englishmen with gratitude ; for 
 their speeches encouraged our fathers almost as much 
 as those of our own orators in Faneuil Hall and under 
 Liberty Tree. Opinions which might have been re 
 ceived with doubt, if expressed only by a native Amer 
 ican, were set down as true, beyond dispute, when they 
 came from the lips of Chatham, Burke, Barre, or Fox." 
 
 u But, Grandfather," asked Laurence, " were there 
 no able and eloquent men in this country who took 
 the part of King George ? " 
 
 " There were many men of talent who said what 
 they could in defence of the king s tyrannical pro 
 ceedings," replied Grandfather. " But they had the 
 worst side of the argument, and therefore seldom said 
 anything worth remembering. Moreover, their hearts 
 
602 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 were faint and feeble ; for they felt that the people 
 scorned and detested them. They had no friends, no 
 defence, except in the bayonets of the British troops. 
 A blight fell upon all their faculties, because they 
 were contending against the rights of their own na 
 tive land." 
 
 " What were the names of some of them ? " inquired 
 Charley. 
 
 " Governor Hutchinson, Chief Justice Oliver, Judge 
 Auchmuty, the Rev. Mather Byles, and several other 
 clergymen, were among the most noted loyalists," an 
 swered Grandfather. 
 
 " I wish the people had tarred and feathered every 
 man of them ! " cried Charley. 
 
 " That wish is very wrong, Charley," said Grand 
 father. " You must not think that there is no integ 
 rity and honor except among those who stood up for 
 the freedom of America. For aught I know, there 
 was quite as much of these qualities on one side as on 
 the other. Do you see nothing admirable in a faith 
 ful adherence to an unpopular cause ? Can you not 
 respect that principle of loyalty which made the roy 
 alists give up country, friends, fortune, everything, 
 rather than be false to their king? It was a mistaken 
 principle ; but many of them cherished it honorably, 
 and were martyrs to it." 
 
 " Oh, I was wrong ! " said Charley, ingenuously. 
 " And I would risk my life rather than one of those 
 good old royalists should be tarred and feathered." 
 
 " The time is now come when we may judge fairly 
 of them," continued Grandfather. " Be the good and 
 true men among them honored ; for they were as much 
 our countrymen as the patriots were. And, thank 
 Heaven, our country need not be ashamed of her sons, 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 603 
 
 - of most of them at least, whatever side they took 
 in the Revolutionary contest." 
 
 Among the portraits was one of King George III. 
 Little Alice clapped her hands, and seemed pleased 
 with the bluff good-nature of his physiognomy. But 
 Laurence thought it strange that a man with such a 
 face, indicating hardly a common share of intellect, 
 should have had influence enough on human affairs to 
 convulse the world with war. Grandfather observed 
 that this poor king had always appeared to him one of 
 the most unfortunate persons that ever lived. He was 
 so honest and conscientious, that, if he had been only a 
 private man, his life would probably have been blame 
 less and happy. But his was that worst of fortunes, 
 to be placed in a station far beyond his abilities. 
 
 " And so," said Grandfather, " his life, while he re 
 tained what intellect Heaven had gifted him with, was 
 one long mortification. At last he grew crazed with 
 care and trouble. For nearly twenty years the mon 
 arch of England was confined as a madman. In his 
 old age, too, God took away his eyesight ; so that his 
 royal palace was nothing to him but a dark, lonesome 
 prison-house." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 "OUR old chair," resumed Grandfather, u did not 
 now stand in the midst of a gay circle of British 
 officers. The troops, as I told you, had been removed 
 to Castle William immediately after the Boston mas 
 sacre. Still, however, there were many tories, cus 
 tom house officers, and Englishmen who used to 
 assemble in the British Coffee House and talk over 
 the affairs of the period. Matters grew worse and 
 worse ; and in 1773 the people did a deed which 
 incensed the king and ministry more than any of 
 their former doings." 
 
 Grandfather here described the affair, which is 
 known by the name of the Boston Tea Party. The 
 Americans, for some time past, had left off import 
 ing tea, on account of the oppressive tax. The East 
 India Company, in London, had a large stock of tea 
 on hand, which they had expected to sell to the 
 Americans, but could find no market for it. But, 
 after a while, the government persuaded this company 
 of merchants to send the tea to America. 
 
 "How odd it is," observed Clara, u that the lib 
 erties of America should have had anything to do 
 with a cup of tea ! " 
 
 Grandfather smiled, and proceeded with his nar 
 rative. When the people of Boston heard that several 
 cargoes of tea were coming across the Atlantic, they 
 held a great many meetings at Faneuil Hall, in the 
 Old South Church, and under Liberty Tree. In the 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 605 
 
 midst of their debates, three ships arrived in the 
 harbor with the tea on board. The people spent more 
 than a fortnight in consulting what should be done. 
 At last, on the 16th of December, 17 7 3, they demanded 
 of Governor Hutchinson that he should immediately 
 send the ships back to England. 
 
 The governor replied that the ships must not leave 
 the harbor until the custom house duties upon the tea 
 should be paid. Now, the payment of theso duties 
 was the very thing against which the people had set 
 their faces ; because it was a tax unjustly imposed 
 upon America by the English government. Therefore, 
 in the dusk of the evening, as soon as Governor 
 Hutchinson s reply was received, an immense crowd 
 hastened to Griffin s Wharf, where the tea-ships lay. 
 The place is now called Liverpool Wharf. 
 
 " When the crowd reached the wharf," said Grand 
 father, " they saw that a set of wild-looking figures 
 were already on board of the ships. You would have 
 imagined that the Indian warriors of old times had 
 come back again ; for they wore the Indian dress, and 
 had their faces covered with red and black paint, like 
 the Indians when they go to war. These grim figures 
 hoisted the tea-chests on the decks of the vessels, 
 broke them open, and threw all the contents into the 
 harbor." 
 
 " Grandfather," said little Alice, " I suppose Indians 
 don t love tea ; else they would never waste it so." 
 
 " They were not real Indians, my child," answered 
 Grandfather. " They were white men in disguise ; be 
 cause a heavy punishment would have been inflicted 
 on them if the king s officers had found who they were. 
 But it was never known. From that day to this, 
 though the matter has been talked of by all the world, 
 
606 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 nobody can tell the names of those Indian figures. 
 Some people say that there were very famous men 
 among them, who afterwards became governors and 
 generals. Whether this be true I cannot tell." 
 
 When tidings of this bold deed were carried to 
 England, King George was greatly enraged. Parlia 
 ment immediately passed an act, by which all vessels 
 were forbidden to take in or discharge their cargoes 
 at the port of Boston. In this way they expected to 
 ruin all the merchants, and starve the poor people, by 
 depriving them of employment. At the same time 
 another act was passed, taking away many rights and 
 privileges which had been granted in the charter of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 Governor Hutchinson, soon afterward, was sum 
 moned to England, in order that he might give his 
 advice about the management of American affairs. 
 General Gage, an officer of the old French War, 
 and since commander-in-chief of the British forces in 
 America, was appointed governor in his stead. One 
 of his first acts was to make Salem, instead of Boston, 
 the metropolis of Massachusetts, by summoning the 
 General Court to meet there. 
 
 According to Grandfather s description, this was the 
 most gloomy time that Massachusetts had ever seen. 
 The people groaned under as heavy a tyranny as in 
 the days of Sir Edmund Andros. Boston looked as 
 if it were afflicted with some dreadful pestilence, 
 so sad were the inhabitants, and so desolate the streets. 
 There was no cheerful hum of business. The mer 
 chants shut up their warehouses, and the laboring men 
 stood idle about the wharves. But all America felt 
 interested in the good town of Boston ; and contribu 
 tions were raised, in many places, for the relief of the 
 poor inhabitants. 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR 607 
 
 " Our dear old chair ! " exclaimed Clara. " How 
 dismal it must have been now! " 
 
 " Oh," replied Grandfather, " a gay throng of offi 
 cers had now come back to the British Coffee House ; 
 so that the old chair had no lack of mirthful company. 
 Soon after General Gage became governor a great 
 many troops had arrived, and were encamped upon 
 the Common. Boston was now a garrisoned and for 
 tified town ; for the general had built a battery across 
 the Neck, on the road to Roxbury, and placed guards 
 for its defence. Everything looked as if a civil war 
 were close at hand." 
 
 " Did the people make ready to fight ? " asked Char 
 ley. 
 
 "A Continental Congress assembled at Philadel 
 phia," said Grandfather, " and proposed such meas 
 ures as they thought most conducive to the public 
 good. A Provincial Congress was likewise chosen in 
 Massachusetts. They exhorted the people to arm and 
 discipline themselves. A great number of minute- 
 men were enrolled. The Americans called them min 
 ute-men, because they engaged to be ready to fight at 
 a minute s warning. The English officers laughed, 
 and said that the name was a very proper one, because 
 the minute-men would run away the minute they saw 
 the enemy. Whether they would fight or run was soon 
 to be proved." 
 
 Grandfather told the children that the first open 
 resistance offered to the British troops, in the province 
 of Massachusetts, was at Salem. Colonel Timothy 
 Pickering, with thirty or forty militia-men, prevented 
 the English colonel, Leslie, with four times as many 
 regular soldiers, from taking possession of some mili 
 tary stores. No blood was shed on this occasion ; but 
 soon afterward it began to flow. 
 
608 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 General Gage sent eight hundred soldiers to Con 
 cord, about eighteen miles from Boston, to destroy 
 some ammunition and provisions which the colonists 
 had collected there. They set out on their march on 
 the evening of the 18th of April, 1775. The next 
 morning, the general sent Lord Percy with nine hun 
 dred men to strengthen the troops that had gone be 
 fore. All that day the inhabitants of Boston heard 
 various rumors. Some said that the British were mak 
 ing great slaughter among our countrymen. Others 
 affirmed that every man had turned out with his mus 
 ket, and that not a single soldier would ever get back 
 to Boston. 
 
 " It was after sunset," continued Grandfather, " when 
 the troops, who had marched forth so proudly, were 
 seen entering Charlestown. They were covered with 
 dust, and so hot and weary that their tongues hung 
 out of their mouths. Many of them were faint with 
 wounds. They had not all returned. Nearly three 
 hundred were strewn, dead or dying, along the road 
 from Concord. The yeomanry had risen upon the 
 invaders and driven them back." 
 
 " Was this the battle of Lexington ? " asked Char 
 ley. 
 
 " Yes," replied Grandfather ; " it was so called, be 
 cause the British, without provocation, had fired upon 
 a party of minute-men, near Lexington meeting-house, 
 and killed eight of them. That fatal volley, which 
 was fired by order of Major Pitcairn, began the war 
 of the Revolution." 
 
 About this time, if Grandfather had been correctly 
 informed, our chair disappeared from the British Cof 
 fee House. The manner of its departure cannot be 
 satisfactorily ascertained. Perhaps the keeper of the 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 Coffee House turned it out of doors on account of its 
 old-fashioned aspect. Perhaps he sold it as a curios 
 ity. Perhaps it was taken, without leave, by some 
 person who regarded it as public property because it 
 had once figured under Liberty Tree. Or perhaps the 
 old chair, being of a peaceable disposition, had made 
 use of its four oaken legs and run away from the seat 
 of war. 
 
 " It would have made a terrible clattering over the 
 pavement," said Charley, laughing. 
 
 " Meanwhile," continued Grandfather, " during the 
 mysterious non-appearance of our chair, an army of 
 twenty thousand men had started up and come to the 
 siege of Boston. General Gage and his troops were 
 cooped up within the narrow precincts of the penin 
 sula. On the 17th of June, 1775, the famous battle of 
 Bunker Hill was fought. Here General Warren fell. 
 The British got the victory, indeed, but with the loss 
 of more than a thousand officers and men." 
 
 " O Grandfather," cried Charley, " you must tell 
 us about that famous battle." 
 
 " No, Charley," said Grandfather, " I am not like 
 other historians. Battles shall not hold a prominent 
 place in the history of our quiet and comfortable old 
 chair. But to-morrow evening, Laurence, Clara, and 
 yourself, and dear little Alice too, shall visit the Dio 
 rama of Bunker Hill. There you shall see the whole 
 business, the burning of Charlestown and all, with 
 your own eyes, and hear the cannon and musketry 
 with your own ears." 
 
 VOL. iv. 39 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE next evening but one, when the children had 
 given Grandfather a full account of the Diorama of 
 Bunker Hill, they entreated him not to keep them 
 any longer in suspense about the fate of his chair. 
 The reader will recollect that, at the last accounts, it 
 had trotted away upon its poor old legs nobody knew 
 whither. But, before gratifying their curiosity, Grand 
 father found it necessary to say something about pub 
 lic events. 
 
 The Continental Congress, which was assembled at 
 Philadelphia, was composed of delegates from all the 
 colonies. They had now appointed George Washing 
 ton, of Virginia, to be commander-in-chief of all the 
 American armies. He was, at that time, a member of 
 Congress ; but immediately left Philadelphia, and be 
 gan his journey to Massachusetts. On the 3d of July, 
 1775, he arrived at Cambridge, and took command of 
 the troops which were besieging General Gage. 
 
 " O Grandfather," exclaimed Laurence, " it makes 
 my heart throb to think what is coming now. We 
 are to see General Washington himself." 
 
 The children crowded around Grandfather and 
 looked earnestly into his face. Even little Alice opened 
 her sweet blue eyes, with her lips apart, and almost 
 held her breath to listen ; so instinctive is the rever 
 ence of childhood for the father of his country. Grand 
 father paused a moment ; for he felt as if it might be 
 irreverent to introduce the hallowed shade of Washing- 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 611 
 
 ton into a history where an ancient elbow-chair occupied 
 the most prominent place. However, he determined to 
 proceed with his narrative, and speak of the hero when 
 it was needful, but with an unambitious simplicity. 
 
 So Grandfather told his auditors, that, on General 
 Washington s arrival at Cambridge, his first care was 
 to reconnoitre the British troops with his spy-glass, and 
 to examine the condition of his own army. IJe found 
 that the American troops amounted to about fourteen 
 thousand men. They were extended all round the 
 peninsula of Boston, a space of twelve miles, from the 
 high grounds of Roxbury 011 the right to Mystic River 
 on the left. Some were living in tents of sail-cloth, 
 some in shanties rudely constructed of boards, some in 
 huts of stone or turf with curious windows and doors 
 of basket-work. 
 
 In order to be near the centre and oversee the 
 whole of this wide-stretched army, the commander-in- 
 chief made his headquarters at Cambridge, about half 
 a mile from the colleges. A mansion-house, which 
 perhaps had been the country seat of some tory gen 
 tleman, was provided for his residence. 
 
 " When General Washington first entered this man 
 sion," said Grandfather, "he was ushered up the stair 
 case and shown into a handsome apartment. He sat 
 down in a large chair, which was the most conspicuous 
 object in the room. The noble figure of Washington 
 would have done honor to a throne. As he sat there, 
 with his hand resting on the hilt of his sheathed 
 sword, which was placed between his knees, his whole 
 aspect well befitted the chosen man on whom his 
 country leaned for the defence of her dearest rights. 
 America seemed safe under his protection. His face 
 was grander than any sculptor had ever wrought in 
 
612 GRANDFATHER S C PI AIR. 
 
 marble ; none could behold him without awe and rev* 
 erence. Never before had the lion s head at the sum 
 mit of the chair looked down upon such a face and 
 form as Washington s." 
 
 " Why, Grandfather ! " cried Clara, clasping her 
 hands in amazement, " was it really so? Did General 
 Washington sit in our great chair ? " 
 
 " I knew how it would be," said Laurence ; " I fore 
 saw it the moment Grandfather began to speak." 
 
 Grandfather smiled. But, turning from the per 
 sonal and domestic life of the illustrious leader, he 
 spoke of the methods which Washington adopted to 
 win back the metropolis of New England from the 
 British. 
 
 The army, when he took command of it, was with 
 out any discipline or order. The privates considered 
 themselves as good as their officers; and seldom 
 thought it necessary to obey their commands, unless 
 they understood the why and wherefore. Moreover, 
 they were enlisted for so short a period, that, as soon 
 as they began to be respectable soldiers, it was time to 
 discharge them. Then came new recruits, who had to 
 be taught their duty before they could be of any ser 
 vice. Such was the army with which Washington had 
 to contend against more than twenty veteran British 
 regiments. 
 
 Some of the men had no muskets, and almost all 
 were without bayonets. Heavy cannon, for battering 
 the British fortifications, were much wanted. There 
 was but a small quantity of powder and ball, few tools 
 to build intrenchments with, and a great deficiency of 
 provisions and clothes for the soldiers. Yet, in spite 
 of these perplexing difficulties, the eyes of the whole 
 people were fixed on General Washington, expecting 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 613 
 
 him to undertake some great enterprise against the 
 hostile army. 
 
 The first thing that he found necessary was to bring 
 his own men into better order and discipline. It is 
 wonderful how soon he transformed this rough mob of 
 country people into the semblance of a regular army. 
 One of Washington s most invaluable characteristics 
 was the faculty of bringing order out of confusion. 
 All business with which he had any concern seemed 
 to regulate itself as if by magic. The influence of 
 his mind was like light gleaming through an unshaped 
 world. It was this faculty, more than any other, that 
 made him so fit to ride upon the storm of the Revolu 
 tion when everything was unfixed and drifting about 
 in a troubled sea. 
 
 " Washington had not been long at the head of the 
 army," proceeded Grandfather, "before his soldiers 
 thought as highly of him as if he had led them to a 
 hundred victories. They knew that he was the very 
 man whom the country needed, and the only one who 
 could bring them safely through the great contest 
 against the might of England. They put entire con 
 fidence in his courage, wisdom, and integrity." 
 
 " And were they not eager to follow him against the 
 British?" asked Charley. 
 
 " Doubtless they would have gone whithersoever his 
 sword pointed the way," answered Grandfather ; " and 
 Washington was anxious to make a decisive assault 
 upon the enemy. But as the enterprise was very haz 
 ardous, he called a council of all the generals in the 
 army. Accordingly they came from their different 
 posts, and were ushered into the reception-room. The 
 cominander-in-chief arose from our great chair to greet 
 them." 
 
614 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 " What were their names ? " asked Charley. 
 
 " There was General Artemas Ward," replied 
 Grandfather, "a lawyer by profession. He had 
 commanded the troops before Washington s arrival. 
 Another was General Charles Lee, who had been a 
 colonel in the English army, and was thought to pos 
 sess vast military science. He came to the council, 
 followed by two or three dogs which were always at 
 his heels. There was General Putnam, too, who was 
 known all over New England by the name of Old 
 Put." 
 
 "Was it he who killed the wolf?" inquired Char 
 ley. 
 
 " The same," said Grandfather ; " and he had done 
 good service in the old French War. His occupation 
 was that of a farmer ; but he left his plough in the 
 furrow at the news of Lexington battle. Then there 
 was General Gates, who afterward gained great re 
 nown at Saratoga, and lost it again at Camden. Gen 
 eral Greene, of Rhode Island, was likewise at the 
 council. Washington soon discovered him to be one 
 of the best officers in the army." 
 
 When the generals were all assembled, Washington 
 consulted them about a plan for storming the English 
 batteries. But it was their unanimous opinion that 
 so perilous an enterprise ought not to be attempted. 
 The army, therefore, continued to besiege Boston, pre 
 venting the enemy from obtaining supplies of provi 
 sions, but without taking any immediate measures to 
 get possession of the town. In this manner the sum 
 mer, autumn, and winter passed away. 
 
 "Many a night, doubtless," said Grandfather, 
 "after Washington had been all day on horseback, 
 galloping from one post of the army to another, he 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 615 
 
 used to sit in our great chair, rapt in earnest thought, 
 Had you seen him, you might have supposed that his 
 whole mind was fixed on the blue china tiles which 
 adorned the old-fashioned fireplace. But, in reality, 
 he was meditating how to capture the British army, 
 or drive it out of Boston. Once, when there was a 
 hard frost, he formed a scheme to cross the Charles 
 River on the ice. But the other generals could not 
 be persuaded that there was any prospect of success." 
 
 " What were the British doing all this time ? " in 
 quired Charley. 
 
 " They lay idle in the town," replied Grandfather. 
 " General Gage had been recalled to England, and 
 was succeeded by Sir William Howe. The British 
 army and the inhabitants of Boston were now in great 
 distress. Being shut up in the town so long, they had 
 consumed almost all their provisions and burned up 
 all their fuel. The soldiers tore down the Old North 
 Church, and used its rotten boards and timbers for 
 firewood. To heighten their distress, the small-pox 
 broke out. They probably lost far more men by cold, 
 hunger, and sickness than had been slain at Lexington 
 and Bunker Hill." 
 
 " What a dismal time for the poor women and chil 
 dren ! " exclaimed Clara. 
 
 " At length," continued Grandfather, " in March, 
 1776, General Washington, who had now a good sup 
 ply of powder, began a terrible cannonade and bom 
 bardment from Dorchester Heights. One of the can 
 non-balls which he fired into the town struck the tower 
 of the Brattle Street Church, where it may still be 
 seen. Sir William Howe made preparations to cross 
 over in boats and drive the Americans from their bat 
 teries, but was prevented by a violent gale and storm. 
 
616 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 General Washington next erected a battery on Nook s 
 Hill, so near the enemy that it was impossible for 
 them to remain in Boston any longer." 
 
 " Hurrah ! Hurrah ! " cried Charley, clapping his 
 hands triumphantly. " I wish I had been there to see 
 how sheepish the Englishmen looked." 
 
 And as Grandfather thought that Boston had never 
 witnessed a more interesting period than this, when 
 the royal power was in its death agony, he determined 
 to take a peep into the town and imagine the feelings 
 of those who were quitting it forever. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " ALAS for the poor tories ! " said Grandfather. 
 " Until the very last morning after Washington s 
 troops had shown themselves on Nook s Hill, these 
 unfortunate persons could not believe that the auda 
 cious rebels, as they called the Americans, would ever 
 prevail against King George s army. But when they 
 saw the British soldiers preparing to embark on board 
 of the ships of war, then they knew that they had lost 
 their country. Could the patriots have known how 
 bitter were their regrets, they would have forgiven 
 them all their evil deeds, and sent a blessing after 
 them as they sailed away from their native shore." 
 
 In order to make the children sensible of the piti 
 able condition of these men, Grandfather singled out 
 Peter Oliver, chief justice of Massachusetts under the 
 crown, and imagined him walking through the streets 
 of Boston on the morning before he left it forever. 
 
 This effort of Grandfather s fancy may be called 
 
 THE TORY S FAREWELL. 
 
 Old Chief Justice Oliver threw on his red cloak, 
 and placed his three-cornered hat on the top of his 
 white wig. In this garb he intended to go forth and 
 take a parting look at objects that had been familiar 
 to him from his youth. Accordingly, he began his 
 walk in the north part of the town, and soon came to 
 Faneuil Hall. This edifice, the cradle of liberty, had 
 been used by the British officers as a playhouse. 
 
618 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 " Would that I could see its walls crumble to dust ! " 
 thought the chief justice ; and, in the bitterness of his 
 heart, he shook his fist at the famous hall. " There 
 began the mischief which now threatens to rend asun 
 der the British empire. The seditious harangues of 
 demagogues in Faneuil Hall have made rebels of a 
 loyal people and deprived me of my country." 
 
 He then passed through a narrow avenue and found 
 himself in King Street, almost on the very spot which, 
 six years before, had been reddened by the blood of 
 the Boston massacre. The chief justice stepped cau 
 tiously, and shuddered, as if he were afraid that, even 
 now, the gore of his slaughtered countrymen might 
 stain his feet. 
 
 Before him rose the Town House, on the front of 
 which were still displayed the royal arms. Within 
 that edifice he had dispensed justice to the people in 
 the days when his name was never mentioned without 
 honor. There, too, was the balcony whence the trum 
 pet had been sounded and the proclamation read to 
 an assembled multitude, whenever a new king of Eng 
 land ascended the throne. 
 
 "I remember I remember," said Chief Justice 
 Oliver to himself, " when his present most sacred Maj 
 esty was proclaimed. Then how the people shouted ! 
 Each man would have poured out his life-blood to keep 
 a hair of King George s head from harm. But now 
 there is scarcely a tongue in all New England that 
 does not imprecate curses on his name. It is ruin and 
 disgrace to love him. Can it be possible that a few 
 fleeting years have wrought such a change ? " 
 
 It did not occur to the chief justice that nothing but 
 the most grievous tyranny could so soon have changed 
 the people s hearts. Hurrying from the spot, he 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 619 
 
 entered Cornhill, as the lower part of Washington 
 Street was then called. Opposite to the Town House 
 was the waste foundation of the Old North Church. 
 The sacrilegious hands of the British solders had torn 
 it down, and kindled their barrack fires with the frag 
 ments. 
 
 Farther on he passed beneath the tower of the Old 
 South. The threshold of this sacred edifice was worn 
 by the iron tramp of horses feet ; for the interior had 
 been used as a riding-school and rendezvous for a regi 
 ment of dragoons. As the chief justice lingered an in 
 stant at the door a trumpet sounded within, and the 
 regiment came clattering forth and galloped down the 
 street. They were proceeding to the place of embar 
 kation. 
 
 " Let them go ! " thought the chief justice, with 
 somewhat of an old Puritan feeling in his breast. 
 " No good can come of men who desecrate the house 
 of God." 
 
 He went on a few steps farther, and paused before 
 the Province House. No range of brick stores had 
 then sprung up to hide the mansion of the royal gov 
 ernors from public view. It had a spacious court 
 yard, bordered with trees, and enclosed with a wrought- 
 iron fence. On the cupola that surmounted the edi 
 fice was the gilded figure of an Indian chief, ready to 
 let fly an arrow from his bow. Over the wide front 
 door was a balcony, in which the chief justice had 
 often stood when the governor and high officers of the 
 province showed themselves to the people. 
 
 While Chief Justice Oliver gazed sadly at the Prov 
 ince House, before which a sentinel was pacing, the 
 double leaves of the door were thrown open, and Sir 
 William Howe made his appearance. Behind him 
 
620 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 came a throng of officers, whose steel scabbards clat 
 tered against the stones as they hastened down the 
 court-yard. Sir William Howe was a dark-complex 
 ioned man, stern and haughty in his deportment. He 
 stepped as proudly in that hour of defeat as if he 
 were going to receive the submission of the rebel gen 
 eral. 
 
 The chief justice bowed and accosted him. 
 
 " This is a grievous hour for both of us, Sir Wil 
 liam," said he. 
 
 " Forward ! gentlemen," said Sir William Howe to 
 the officers who attended him ; " we have no time to 
 hear lamentations now." 
 
 And, coldly bowing, he departed. Thus the chief 
 justice had a foretaste of the mortifications which the 
 exiled New-Englanders afterwards suffered from the 
 haughty Britons. They were despised even by that 
 country which they had served more faithfully than 
 their own. 
 
 A still heavier trial awaited Chief Justice Oliver, as 
 he passed onward from the Province House. He was 
 recognized by the people in the street. They had long 
 known him as the descendant of an ancient and hon 
 orable family. They had seen him sitting in his scar 
 let robes upon the judgment-seat. All his life long, 
 either for the sake of his ancestors or on account of 
 his own dignified station and unspotted character, he 
 had been held in high respect. The old gentry of the 
 province were looked upon almost as noblemen while 
 Massachusetts was under royal government. 
 
 But now all hereditary reverence for birth and rank 
 was gone. The inhabitants shouted in derision when 
 they saw the venerable form of the old chief justice. 
 They laid the wrongs of the country and their own 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 621 
 
 sufferings during the siege their hunger, cold, and 
 sickness partly to his charge and to that of his 
 brother Andrew and his kinsman Hutchinson. It was 
 by their advice that the king had acted in all the co 
 lonial troubles. But the day of recompense was come. 
 
 " See the old tory ! " cried the people, with bitter 
 laughter. " He is taking his last look at us. Let 
 him show his white wig among us an hour hence, and 
 we 11 give him a coat of tar and feathers ! " 
 
 The chief justice, however, knew that he need fear 
 no violence so long as the British troops were in pos 
 session of the town. But, alas ! it was a bitter thought 
 that he should leave no loving memory behind him. 
 His forefathers, long after their spirits left the earth, 
 had been honored in the affectionate remembrance of 
 the people. But he, who would henceforth be dead to 
 his native land, would have no epitaph save scornful 
 and vindictive words. The old man wept. 
 
 " They curse me, they invoke all kinds of evil on 
 my head ! " thought he, in the midst of his tears. 
 " But, if they could read my heart, they would know 
 that I love New England well. Heaven bless her, 
 and bring her again under the rule of our gracious 
 king ! A blessing, too, on these poor, misguided peo 
 ple ! " 
 
 The chief justice flung out his hands with a gesture, 
 as if he were bestowing a parting benediction on his 
 countrymen. He had now reached the southern por 
 tion of the town, and was far within the range of can 
 non-shot from the American batteries. Close beside 
 him was the broad stump of a tree, which appeared to 
 have been recently cut down. Being weary and heavy 
 at heart, he was about to sit down upon the stump. 
 
 Suddenly it flashed upon his recollection that this 
 
622 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 was the stump of Liberty Tree ! The British soldiers 
 had cut it down, vainly boasting that they could as 
 easily overthrow the liberties of America. Under its 
 shadowy branches, ten years before, the brother of 
 Chief Justice Oliver had been compelled to acknowl 
 edge the supremacy of the people by taking the oath 
 which they prescribed. This tree was connected with 
 all the events that had severed America from Eng 
 land. 
 
 " Accursed tree ! " cried the chief justice, gnashing 
 his teeth ; for anger overcame his sorrow. " Would 
 that thou hadst been left standing till Hancock, 
 Adams, and every other traitor, were hanged upon 
 thy branches ! Then fitly mightest thou have been 
 hewn down and cast into the flames/ 
 
 He turned back, hurried to Long Wharf without 
 looking behind him, embarked with the British troops 
 for Halifax, and never saw his country more. Through 
 out the remainder of his days Chief Justice Oliver 
 was agitated with those same conflicting emotions that 
 had tortured him while taking his farewell walk 
 through the streets of Boston. Deep love and fierce 
 resentment burned in one flame within his breast. 
 Anathemas struggled with benedictions. He felt as 
 if one breath of his native air would renew his life, 
 yet would have died rather than breathe the same air 
 with rebels. And such likewise were the feelings of 
 the other exiles, a thousand in number, who departed 
 with the British army. Were they not the most un 
 fortunate of men ? 
 
 " The misfortunes of those exiled tories," observed 
 Laurence, " must have made them think of the poor 
 exiles of Acadia." 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 623 
 
 " They had a sad time of it, I suppose," said Char 
 ley. " But I choose to rejoice with the patriots, rather 
 than be sorrowful with the tories. Grandfather, what 
 did General Washington do now ? " 
 
 "As the rear of the British army embarked from 
 the wharf," replied Grandfather, " General Washing 
 ton s troops marched over the Neck, through the forti 
 fication gates, and entered Boston in triumph. And 
 now, for the first time since the Pilgrims landed, 
 Massachusetts was free from the dominion of Eng 
 land. May she never again be subjected to foreign 
 rule, never again feel the rod of oppression ! " 
 
 " Dear Grandfather," asked little Alice, " did Gen 
 eral Washington bring our chair back to Boston ? " 
 
 " I know not how long the chair remained at Cam 
 bridge," said Grandfather. " Had it stayed there till 
 this time, it could not have found a better or more ap 
 propriate shelter. The mansion which General Wash 
 ington occupied is still standing, and his apartments 
 have since been tenanted by several eminent men. 
 Governor Everett, while a professor in the University, 
 resided there. So at an after period did Mr. Sparks, 
 whose invaluable labors have connected his name with 
 the immortality of Washington. And at this very 
 time a venerable friend and contemporary of your 
 Grandfather, after long pilgrimages beyond the sea, 
 has set up his staff of rest at Washington s headquar 
 ters." 
 
 "You mean Professor Longfellow, Grandfather," 
 said Laurence. "Oh, how I should love to see the 
 author of those beautiful VOICES OF THE NIGHT ! " 
 
 " We will visit him next summer," answered Grand 
 father, "and take Clara and little Alice with us, 
 and Charley, too, if he will be quiet." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 WHEN Grandfather resumed his narrative the next 
 evening, he told the children that he had some diffi 
 culty in tracing the movements of the chair during a 
 short period after General Washington s departure 
 from Cambridge. 
 
 Within a few months, however, it made its appear 
 ance at a shop in Boston, before the door of which was 
 seen a striped pole. In the interior was displayed a 
 stuffed alligator, a rattlesnake s skin, a bundle of In 
 dian arrows, an old-fashioned matchlock gun, a walk 
 ing-stick of Governor Winthrop s, a wig of old Cotton 
 Mather s, and a colored print of the Boston massacre. 
 In short, it was a barber s shop, kept by a Mr. Pierce, 
 who prided himself on having shaved General Wash 
 ington, Old Put, and many other famous persons. 
 
 u This was not a very dignified situation for our ven 
 erable chair," continued Grandfather; " but, you know, 
 there is no better place for news than a barber s shop. 
 All the events of the Revolutionary War were heard 
 of there sooner than anywhere else. People used to 
 sit in the chair, reading the newspaper, or talking, and 
 waiting to be shaved, while Mr. Pierce, with his scis 
 sors and razor, was at work upon the heads or chins 
 of his other customers." 
 
 " I am sorry the chair could not betake itself to 
 some more suitable place of refuge," said Laurence. 
 " It was old now, and must have longed for quiet. Be 
 sides, after it had held Washington in its arms, it 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 625 
 
 ought not to have been compelled to receive all the 
 world. It should have been put into the pulpit of the 
 Old South Church, or some other consecrated place." 
 
 " Perhaps so," answered Grandfather. " But the 
 chair, in the course of its varied existence, had grown 
 so accustomed to general intercourse with society, that 
 I doubt whether it would have contented itself in the 
 pulpit of the Old South. There it would have stood 
 solitary, or with no livelier companion than tne silent 
 organ, in the opposite gallery, six days out of seven. 
 I incline to think that it had seldom been situated 
 more to its mind than on the sanded floor of the snug 
 little barber s shop." 
 
 Then Grandfather amused his children and himself 
 with fancying all the different sorts of people who had 
 occupied our chair while they awaited the leisure of 
 the barber. 
 
 There was the old clergyman, such as Dr. Chauncey, 
 wearing a white wig, which the barber took from his 
 head and placed upon a wig-block. Half an hour, per 
 haps, was spent in combing and powdering this rever 
 end appendage to a clerical skull. There, too, were 
 officers of the continental army, who required their 
 hair to be pomatumed and plastered, so as to give 
 them a bold and martial aspect. There, once in a 
 while, was seen the thin, care-worn, melancholy visage 
 of an old tory, with a wig that, in times long past, had 
 perhaps figured at a Province House ball. And there, 
 not unfrequently, sat the rough captain of a privateer, 
 just returned from a successful cruise, in which he had 
 captured half a dozen richly laden vessels belonging to 
 King George s subjects. And sometimes a rosy little 
 school-boy climbed into our chair, and sat staring, with 
 wide-open eyes, at the alligator, the rattlesnake, and 
 
 40 
 
626 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 the other curiosities of the barber s shop. His mother 
 had sent him, with sixpence in his hand, to get his 
 glossy curls cropped off. The incidents of the Revo 
 lution plentifully supplied the barber s customers with 
 topics of conversation. They talked sorrowfully of 
 the death of General Montgomery and the failure of 
 our troops to take Quebec ; for the New-Englanders 
 were now as anxious to get Canada from the English 
 as they had formerly been to conquer it from the 
 French. 
 
 " But very soon," said Grandfather, " came news 
 from Philadelphia, the most important that America 
 had ever heard of. On the 4th of July, 1776, Con 
 gress had signed the Declaration of Independence. 
 The thirteen colonies were now free and independent 
 States. Dark as our prospects were, the inhabitants 
 welcomed these glorious tidings, and resolved to per 
 ish rather than again bear the yoke of England." 
 
 " And I would perish, too ! " cried Charley. 
 
 " It was a great day, a glorious deed ! " said Lau 
 rence, coloring high with enthusiasm. " And, Grand 
 father, I love to think that the sages in Congress 
 showed themselves as bold and true as the soldiers in 
 the field ; for it must have required more courage to 
 sign the Declaration of Independence than to fight the 
 enemy in battle." 
 
 Grandfather acquiesced in Laurence s view of the 
 matter. He then touched briefly and hastily upon the 
 prominent events of the Revolution. The thunder 
 storm of war had now rolled southward, and did not 
 again burst upon Massachusetts, where its first fury 
 had been felt. But she contributed her full share to 
 the success of the contest. Wherever a battle was 
 fought, whether at Long Island, White Plains, Tren- 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 627 
 
 ton, Princeton, Brandywine, or Germantown, some 
 of her brave sons were found slain upon the field. 
 
 In October, 1777, General Burgoyne surrendered 
 his army, at Saratoga, to the American general, Gates. 
 The captured troops were sent to Massachusetts. Not 
 long afterwards Dr. Franklin and other American com 
 missioners made a treaty at Paris, by which France 
 bound herself to assist our countrymen. The gallant 
 Lafayette was already fighting for our freedom by the 
 side of Washington. In 1778 a French fleet, com 
 manded by Count d Estaing, spent a considerable time 
 in Boston Harbor. It marks the vicissitudes of hu 
 man affairs, that the French, our ancient enemies, 
 should come hither as comrades and brethren, and that 
 kindred England should be our foe. 
 
 " While the war was raging in the Middle and 
 Southern States," proceeded Grandfather, " Massa 
 chusetts had leisure to settle a new constitution of 
 government instead of the royal charter. This was 
 done in 1780. In the same year John Hancock, who 
 had been president of Congress, was chosen governor 
 of the State. He was the first whom the people had 
 elected since the days of old Simon Bradstreet." 
 
 " But, Grandfather, who had been governor since 
 the British were driven away ? " inquired Laurence. 
 " General Gage and Sir William Howe were the last 
 whom you have told us of." 
 
 " There had been no governor for the last four 
 years," replied Grandfather. " Massachusetts had 
 been ruled by the Legislature, to whom the people 
 paid obedience of their own accord. It is one of the 
 most remarkable circumstances in our history, that, 
 when the charter government was overthrown by the 
 war, no anarchy nor the slightest confusion ensued. 
 
628 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 This was a great honor to the people. But now Han 
 cock was proclaimed governor by sound of trumpet ; 
 and there was again a settled government." 
 
 Grandfather again adverted to the progress of the 
 war. In 1781 General Greene drove the British from 
 the Southern States. In October of the same year 
 General Washington compelled Lord Cornwallis to 
 surrender his army, at Yorktown, in Virginia. This 
 was the last great event of the Revolutionary contest. 
 King George and his ministers perceived that all the 
 might of England could not compel America to renew 
 her allegiance to the crown. After a great deal of dis 
 cussion, a treaty of peace was signed in September, 
 1783. 
 
 " Now, at last," said Grandfather, " after weary 
 years of war, the regiments of Massachusetts returned 
 in peace to their families. Now the stately and dig 
 nified leaders, such as General Lincoln and General 
 Knox, with their powdered hair and their uniforms of 
 blue and buff, were seen moving about the streets." 
 
 44 And little boys ran after them, I suppose," re 
 marked Charley ; " and the grown people bowed re 
 spectfully." 
 
 44 They deserved respect ; for they were good men 
 as well as brave," answered Grandfather. 44 Now, too, 
 the inferior officers and privates came home to seek 
 some peaceful occupation. Their friends remembered 
 them as slender and smooth-cheeked young men ; but 
 they returned with the erect and rigid mien of disci 
 plined soldiers. Some hobbled on crutches and wooden 
 legs ; others had received wounds, which were still 
 rankling in their breasts. Many, alas ! had fallen in 
 battle, and perhaps were left unburied on the bloody 
 field." 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 629 
 
 " The country must have been sick of war," ob 
 served Laurence. 
 
 "One would have thought so," said Grandfather. 
 "Yet only two or three years elapsed before the folly 
 of some misguided men caused another mustering of 
 soldiers. This affair was called Shays s war, because 
 a Captain Shays was the chief leader of the insur 
 gents." 
 
 " O Grandfather, don t let there be anothei war ! " 
 cried little Alice, piteously. 
 
 Grandfather comforted his dear little girl by assur 
 ing her that there was no great mischief done. Shays s 
 war happened in the latter part of 1786 and the be 
 ginning of the following year. Its principal cause was 
 the badness of times. The State of Massachusetts, in 
 its public capacity, was very much in debt. So like 
 wise were many of the people. An insurrection took 
 place, the object of which seems to have been to in 
 terrupt the course of law and get rid of debts and 
 taxes. 
 
 James Bowdoin, a good and able man, was now gov 
 ernor of Massachusetts. He sent General Lincoln, at 
 the head of four thousand men, to put down the in 
 surrection. This general, who had fought through 
 several hard campaigns in the Revolution, managed 
 matters like an old soldier, and totally defeated the 
 rebels at the expense of very little blood. 
 
 " There is but one more public event to be recorded 
 in the history of our chair," proceeded Grandfather. 
 " In the year 1794 Samuel Adams was elected gov 
 ernor of Massachusetts. I have told you what a dis 
 tinguished patriot he was, and how much he resembled 
 the stern old Puritans. Could the ancient freemen of 
 Massachusetts who lived in the days of the first charter 
 
630 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 have arisen from their graves, they would probably 
 have voted for Samuel Adams to be governor." 
 
 " Well, Grandfather, I hope he sat in our chair," 
 said Clara. 
 
 "He did," replied Grandfather. 4k He had long 
 been in the habit of visiting the barber s shop, where 
 our venerable chair, philosophically forgetful of its 
 former dignities, had now spent nearly eighteen not 
 uncomfortable years. Such a remarkable piece of 
 furniture, so evidently a relic of long-departed times, 
 could not escape the notice of Samuel Adams. He 
 made minute researches into its history, and ascer 
 tained what a succession of excellent and famous peo 
 ple had occupied it." 
 
 44 How did he find it out ? " asked Charley ; " for I 
 suppose the chair could not tell its own history." 
 
 44 There used to be a vast collection of ancient let 
 ters and other documents in the tower of the Old 
 South Church," answered Grandfather. 44 Perhaps the 
 history of our chair was contained among these. At 
 all events, Samuel Adams appears to have been well 
 acquainted with it. When he became governor, he 
 felt that he could have no more honorable seat than 
 that which had been the ancient chair of state. He 
 therefore purchased it for a trifle, and filled it wor 
 thily for three years as governor of Massachusetts." 
 
 " And what next? " asked Charley. 
 
 44 That is all," said Grandfather, heaving a sigh ; 
 for he could not help being a little sad at the thought 
 that his stories must close here. " Samuel Adams died 
 in 1803, at the age of above threescore and ten. He 
 was a great patriot, but a poor man. At his death he 
 left scarcely property enough to pay the expenses of 
 his funeral. This precious chair, among his other ef- 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 631 
 
 fects, was sold at auction ; and your Grandfather, who 
 was then in the strength of his years, became the 
 purchaser." 
 
 Laurence, with a mind full of thoughts that strug 
 gled for expression but could find none, looked stead 
 fastly at the chair. 
 
 He had now learned all its history, yet was not sat 
 isfied. 
 
 " Oh, how I wish that the chair could speak ! cried 
 he. " After its long intercourse with mankind, 
 after looking upon the world for ages, what lessons 
 of golden wisdom it might utter ! It might teach a 
 private person how to lead a good and happy life, or a 
 statesman how to make his country prosperous." 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 GRANDFATHER was struck by Laurence s idea that 
 the historic chair should utter a voice, and thus pour 
 forth the collected wisdom of two centuries. The old 
 gentleman had once possessed no inconsiderable share 
 of fancy ; and even now its fading sunshine occasion 
 ally glimmered among his more sombre reflections. 
 
 As the history of his chair had exhausted all his 
 facts, Grandfather determined to have recourse to 
 fable. So, after warning the children that they must 
 not mistake this story for a true one, he related what 
 we shall call 
 
 Laurence and Clara, where were you last night? 
 Where were you, Charley, and dear little Alice ? You 
 had all gone to rest, and left old Grandfather to med 
 itate alone in his great chair. The lamp had grown 
 so dim that its light hardly illuminated the alabaster 
 shade. The wood-fire had crumbled into heavy em 
 bers, among which the little flames danced, and quiv 
 ered, and sported about like fairies. 
 
 And here sat Grandfather all by himself. He knew 
 that it was bedtime ; yet he could not help longing to 
 hear your merry voices, or to hold a comfortable chat 
 with some old friend ; because then his pillow would 
 be visited by pleasant dueams. But, as neither chil 
 dren nor friends were at hand, Grandfather leaned 
 back in the great chair and closed his eyes, for the 
 sake of meditating more profoundly. 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 633 
 
 And, when Grandfather s meditations had grown 
 very profound indeed, he fancied that he heard a 
 sound over his head, as if somebody were preparing to 
 speak. 
 
 " Hem! " it said, in a dry, husky tone. " H-e-m ! 
 Hem ! " 
 
 As Grandfather did not know that any person was 
 in the room, he started up in great surprise, and 
 peeped hither and thither, behind the chair, and into 
 the recess by the fireside, and at the dark nook yon 
 der near the bookcase. Nobody could he see. 
 
 " Poh ! " said Grandfather to himself, " I must have 
 been dreaming." 
 
 But, just as he was going to resume his seat, Grand 
 father happened to look at the great chair. The rays 
 of firelight were flickering upon it in such a manner 
 that it really seemed as if its oaken frame were all 
 alive. What ! did it not move its elbow ? There, 
 too ! It certainly lifted one of its ponderous fore legs, 
 as if it had a notion of drawing itself a little nearer to 
 the fire. Meanwhile the lion s head nodded at Grand 
 father with as polite and sociable a look as a lion s 
 visage, carved in oak, could possibly be expected to 
 assume. Well, this is strange ! 
 
 " Good evening, my old friend," said the dry arid 
 husky voice, now a little clearer than before. " We 
 have been intimately acquainted so long that I think 
 it high time we have a chat together." 
 
 Grandfather was looking straight at the lion s head, 
 and could not be mistaken in supposing that it moved 
 its lips. So here the mystery was all explained. 
 
 " I was not aware," said Qrandfather, with a civil 
 salutation to his oaken companion, " that you possessed 
 the faculty of speech. Otherwise I should often have 
 
634 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 been glad to converse with such a solid, useful, and 
 substantial if not brilliant member of society." 
 
 " Oh ! " replied the ancient chair, in a quiet and 
 easy tone, for it had now cleared its throat of the dust 
 of ages, " I am naturally a silent and incommunica 
 tive sort of character. Once or twice in the course of 
 a century I unclose my lips. When the gentle Lady 
 Arbella departed this life I uttered a groan. When 
 the honest mint-master weighed his plump daughter 
 against the pine-tree shillings I chuckled audibly at 
 the joke. When old Simon Bradstreet took the place 
 of the tyrant Andros I joined in the general huzza, and 
 capered on my wooden legs for joy. To be sure, the 
 by-standers were so fully occupied with their own feel 
 ings that my sympathy was quite unnoticed." 
 
 " And have you often held a private chat with your 
 friends ? " asked Grandfather. 
 
 " Not often," answered the chair. " I once talked 
 with Sir William Phipps, and communicated my ideas 
 about the witchcraft delusion. Cotton Mather had 
 several conversations with me, and derived great ben 
 efit from my historical reminiscences. In the days of 
 the Stamp Act I whispered in the ear of Hutchinson, 
 bidding him to remember what stock his countrymen 
 were descended of, and to think whether the spirit 
 of their forefathers had utterly departed from them. 
 The last man whom I favored with a colloquy was that 
 stout old republican, Samuel Adams." 
 
 " And how happens it," inquired Grandfather, " that 
 there is no record nor tradition of your conversational 
 abilities? It is an uncommon thing to meet with a 
 chair that can talk." 
 
 " Why, to tell you the truth," said the chair, giving 
 itself a hitch nearer to the hearth, " I am not apt to 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 635 
 
 choose the most suitable moments for unclosing my 
 lips. Sometimes I have inconsiderately begun to speak, 
 when my occupant, lolling back in my arms, was in 
 clined to take an after-dinner nap. Or perhaps the 
 impulse to talk may be felt at midnight, when the 
 lamp burns dim and the fire crumbles into decay, and 
 the studious or thoughtful man finds that his brain is 
 in a mist. Oftenest I have unwisely uttered my wis 
 dom in the ears of sick persons, when the inquietude 
 of fever made them toss about upon my cushion. And 
 so it happens, that though my words make a pretty 
 strong impression at the moment, yet my auditors in 
 variably remember them only as a dream. I should 
 not wonder if you, my excellent friend, were to do the 
 same to-morrow morning." 
 
 " Nor I either," thought Grandfather to himself. 
 
 However, he thanked this respectable old chair for be 
 ginning the conversation, and begged to know whether 
 it had anything particular to communicate. 
 
 " I have been listening attentively to your narrative 
 of my adventures," replied the chair ; " and it must be 
 owned that your correctness entitles you to be held up 
 as a pattern to biographers. Nevertheless, there are 
 a few omissions which I should be glad to see supplied. 
 For instance, you make no mention of the good knight 
 Sir Richard Saltonstall, nor of the famous Hugh 
 Peters, nor of those old regicide judges, Whalley, 
 Goffe, and Dixwell. Yet I have borne the weight of 
 all those distinguished characters at one time or an 
 other." 
 
 Grandfather promised amendment if ever he should 
 have an opportunity to repeat his narrative. The good 
 old chair, which still seemed to retain a due regard for 
 outward appearance, then reminded him how long a 
 
636 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 
 time had passed since it had been provided with a new 
 cushion. It likewise expressed the opinion that the 
 oaken figures on its back would show to much better 
 advantage by the aid of a little varnish. 
 
 " And I have had a complaint in this joint," con 
 tinued the chair, endeavoring to lift one of its legs, 
 " ever since Charley trundled his wheelbarrow against 
 me." 
 
 " It shall be attended to," said Grandfather. " And 
 now, venerable chair, I have a favor to solicit. During 
 an existence of more than two centuries you have had 
 a familiar intercourse with men who were esteemed the 
 wisest of their day. Doubtless, with your capacious 
 understanding, you have treasured up many an invalu 
 able lesson of wisdom. You certainly have had time 
 enough to guess the riddle of life. Tell us, poor mor 
 tals, then, how we may be happy." 
 
 The lion s head fixed its eyes thoughtfully upon the 
 fire, and the whole chair assumed an aspect of deep 
 meditation. Finally it beckoned to Grandfather with 
 its elbow, and made a step sideways towards him, as 
 if it had a very important secret to communicate. 
 
 " As long as I have stood in the midst of human af 
 fairs," said the chair, with a very oracular enunciation, 
 " I have constantly observed that JUSTICE, TRUTH, 
 and LOVE are the chief ingredients of every happy 
 life." 
 
 " Justice, Truth, and Love ! " exclaimed Grand 
 father. " We need not exist two centuries to find 
 out that these qualities are essential to our happiness. 
 This is no secret. Every human being is born with 
 the instinctive knowledge of it." 
 
 " Ah ! " cried the chair, drawing back in surprise. 
 " From what I have observed of the dealings of man 
 
GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 63T 
 
 with man, and nation with nation, I never should have 
 suspected that they knew this all-important secret. 
 And, with this eternal lesson written in your soul, do 
 you ask me to sift new wisdom for you out of my 
 petty existence of two or three centuries ? " 
 
 " But, my dear chair " said Grandfather. 
 
 " Not a word more," interrupted the chair ; " here I 
 close my lips for the next hundred years. At the end 
 of that period, if I shall have discovered any new pre 
 cepts of happiness better than what Heaven has al 
 ready taught you, they shall assuredly be given to the 
 world." 
 
 In the energy of its utterance the oaken chair seemed 
 to stamp its foot, and trod (we hope unintentionally) 
 upon Grandfather s toe. The old gentleman started, 
 and found that he had been asleep in the great chair, 
 and that his heavy walking-stick had fallen down 
 across his foot. 
 
 " Grandfather," cried little Alice, clapping her 
 hands, "you must dream a new dream every night 
 about our chair ! " 
 
 Laurence, and Clara, and Charley said the same. 
 But the good old gentleman shook his head, and de 
 clared that here ended the history, real or fabulous, of 
 GRANDFATHER S CHAIR. 
 

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