Old Greek Folk Stories Told Anew — Josephine Preston Peabody
Old Greek Folk Stories Told Anew, by Josephine Preston Peabody You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title : Old Greek Folk Stories Told Anew Author : Josephine Preston Peabody Release date : November 1, 2005 [eBook #9313] Most recently updated: May 10, 2013 Language : English Other information and formats : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9313 Credits : Text file produced by Juliet Sutherland, Tonya Allen, and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders HTML file produced by David Widger *** START OF Hawthorne, in his Wonder-Book and Tanglewood Tales , has told, in a manner familiar to multitudes of American children and to many more who once were children, a dozen of the old Greek folk stories. They have served to render the persons and scenes known as no classical dictionary would make them known. But Hawthorne chose a few out of the many myths which are constantly appealing to the reader not only of ancient but of modern literature. The group contained in the collection which follows will help to fill out the list; it is designed to serve as a complement to the Wonder-Book and Tanglewood Tales , so that the references to the stories in those collections are brief and allusive only. In order to make the entire series more useful, the index added to this number of the Riverside Literature Series is made to include also the stories contained in the other numbers of the series which contain Hawthorne's two books. Thus the index serves as a tolerably full clue to the best-known characters in Greek mythology. Once upon a time, men made friends with the Earth. They listened to all that woods and waters might say; their eyes were keen to see wonders in silent country places and in the living creatures that had not learned to be afraid. To this wise world outside the people took their joy and sorrow; and because they loved the Earth, she answered them. It was not strange that Pan himself sometimes brought home a shepherd's stray lamb. It was not strange, if one broke the branches of a tree, that some fair life within wept at the hurt. Even now, the Earth is glad with us in springtime, and we grieve for her when the leaves go. But in the old days there was a closer union, clearer speech between men and all other creatures, Earth and the stars about her. Out of the life that they lived together, there have come down to us these wonderful tales; and, whether they be told well or ill, they are too good to be forgotten. CONTENTS PUBLISHERS' NOTE. DETAILED CONTENTS. THE WOOD-FOLK. THE JUDGMENT OF MIDAS PROMETHEUS. THE DELUGE. ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE. ICARUS AND DAEDALUS. PHAETHON. NIOBE. ADMETUS AND THE SHEPHERD. ALCESTIS. APOLLO'S SISTER. THE CALYDONIAN HUNT. ATALANTA'S RACE. ARACHNE. PYRAMUS AND THISBE. PYGMALION AND GALATEA. OEDIPUS. CUPID AND PSYCHE. THE TRIAL OF PSYCHE. STORIES OF THE TROJAN WAR. THE HOUSE OF AGAMEMNON. THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS. DETAILED CONTENTS. THE WOOD-FOLK THE WOOD-FOLK THE JUDGMENT OF MIDAS THE JUDGMENT OF MIDAS PROMETHEUS PROMETHEUS THE DELUGE THE DELUGE ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE ICARUS AND DAEDALUS ICARUS AND DAEDALUS PHAETHON PHAETHON NIOBE NIOBE ADMETUS AND THE SHEPHERD ADMETUS AND THE SHEPHERD ALCESTIS ALCESTIS APOLLO'S SISTER APOLLO'S SISTER I. DIANA AND ACTAEON II. DIANA AND ENDYMION THE CALYDONIAN HUNT THE CALYDONIAN HUNT ATALANTA'S RACE ATALANTA'S RACE ARACHNE ARACHNE PYRAMUS AND THISBE PYRAMUS AND THISBE PYGMALION AND GALATEA PYGMALION AND GALATEA OEDIPUS OEDIPUS CUPID AND PSYCHE CUPID AND PSYCHE THE TRIAL OF PSYCHE THE TRIAL OF PSYCHE STORIES OP THE TROJAN WAR I. THE APPLE OF DISCORD II. THE ROUSING OF THE HEROES III. THE WOODEN HORSE THE HOUSE OF AGAMEMNON THE HOUSE OF AGAMEMNON THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS I. THE CURSE OF POLYPHEMUS II. THE WANDERING OF ODYSSEUS III. THE HOME-COMING THE WOOD-FOLK. Pan led a merrier life than all the other gods together. He was beloved alike by shepherds and countrymen, and by the fauns and satyrs, birds and beasts, of his own kingdom. The care of flocks and herds was his, and for home he had all the world of woods and waters; he was lord of everything out-of-doors! Yet he felt the burden of it no more than he felt the shadow of a leaf when he danced, but spent the days in laughter and music among his fellows. Like him, the fauns and satyrs had furry, pointed ears, and little horns that sprouted above their brows; in fact, they were all enough like wild creatures to seem no strangers to anything untamed. They slept in the sun, piped in the shade, and lived on wild grapes and the nuts that every squirrel was ready to share with them. The woods were never lonely. A man might wander away into those solitudes and think himself friendless; but here and there a river knew, and a tree could tell, a story of its own. Beautiful creatures they were, that for one reason or another had left off human shape. Some had been transformed against their will, that they might do no more harm to their fellow-men. Some were changed through the pity of the gods, that they might share the simple life of Pan, mindless of mortal cares, glad in rain and sunshine, and always close to the heart of the Earth. There was Dryope, for instance, the lotus-tree. Once a careless, happy woman, walking among the trees with her sister Iole and her own baby, she had broken a lotus that held a live nymph hidden, and blood dripped from the wounded plant. Too late, Dryope saw her heedlessness; and there her steps had taken root, and there she had said good-by to her child, and prayed Iole to bring him sometimes to play beneath her shadow. Poor mother-tree! Perhaps she took comfort with the birds and gave a kindly shelter to some nest. There, too, was Echo, once a wood-nymph who angered the goddess Juno with her waste