Favorite Greek Myths (Yesterday's Classics) by Lilian Stoughton Hyde Read Free Book Online Page A

become a water-nymph and were actually there in the spring, but she would not speak to him.
    Of course the face Narcissus saw was really the reflection of his own face in the water, but he did not know that. In those days there were no clear mirrors like ours; and the idea of one's appearance that could be got from a polished brass shield, for instance, was a very dim one. So Narcissus leaned over the water and looked at the beautiful face so like his sister's, and wondered what it was and whether he should ever see his sister again.
    After this, he came back to the spring day after day and looked at the face he saw there, and mourned for his sister until, at last, the gods felt sorry for him and changed him into a flower.
    This flower was the first narcissus. All the flowers of this family, when they grow by the side of a pond or a stream, still bend their beautiful heads and look at the reflection of their own faces in the water.

Hyacinthus

    H YACINTHUS was a beautiful Greek boy who was greatly loved by Apollo. Apollo often laid aside his golden lyre and his arrows, and came down from Mount Olympus to join Hyacinthus in his boyish occupations. The two were often busy all day long, following the hunting-dogs over the mountains or setting fish nets in the river or playing at various games.
    Their favorite exercise was the throwing of the discus. The discus was a heavy metal plate about a foot across, which was thrown somewhat as the quoit is thrown. One day Apollo threw the discus first, and sent it whirling high up among the clouds, for the god had great strength. It came down in a fine, strong curve, and Hyacinthus ran to pick it up. Then, as it fell on the hard earth, the discus bounded up again and struck the boy a cruel blow on his white forehead.
    Apollo turned as pale as Hyacinthus, but he could not undo what had been done. He could only hold his friend in his arms, and see his head droop like a lily on a broken stem, while the purple blood from his wound was staining the earth.
    There was still one way by which Apollo could make Hyacinthus live, and this was to change him into a flower. So, quickly, before it was too late, he whispered over him certain words the gods knew, and Hyacinthus became a purple flower, a flower of the color of the blood that had flowed from his forehead. As the flower unfolded, it showed a strange mark on its petals, which looked like the Greek words meaning woe! woe!
    Apollo never forgot his boy friend; but sang about him to the accompaniment of his wonderful lyre till the name of Hyacinthus was known and loved all over Greece.

Perseus

I
Perseus and the Medusa
    A CRISIUS, the king of Argos, was once very much frightened by a saying of the oracle of Apollo, at Delphi. This oracle had said that King Acrisius would be killed by his own grandson. Now King Acrisius had only one child, a daughter, Danaë, and to prevent the saying of the oracle from coming true, he caused Danaë to be shut up in a strong, brass tower.
    Nevertheless, when the spring came and the power of the sun grew greater, when trees began to put out their young leaves or their fuzzy yellow flowers, and when young lambs were bleating in the fields, the news reached King Acrisius that a golden child had been born in the tower.
    The golden child was a beautiful baby with blue eyes, a clear white skin, and golden rings of soft hair, all of which the Greeks thought very wonderful.
    King Acrisius was quite beside himself with fright when he heard this piece of news, and he immediately commanded that Danaë and her golden child should be put into a brass-bound chest and allowed to float out to sea.
    So Danaë and her baby drifted slowly out to the great sea, where they had only gulls and a few smaller sea-birds for company. The waves rocked the chest gently, and the golden-haired baby slept in his mother's arms, and did not know that there was anything to fear; but Danaë thought of strong winds and high waves, and of sharks and