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      Old Greek Stories

      PREFACE

      Perhaps no other stories have ever been told so often or listened to with so much pleasure as the classic tales of ancient Greece. For many ages they have been a source of delight to young people and old, to the ignorant and the learned, to all who love to hear about and contemplate things mysterious, beautiful, and grand. They have become so incorporated into our language and thought, and so interwoven with our literature, that we could not do away with them now if we would. They are a portion of our heritage from the distant past, and they form perhaps as important a part of our intellectual life as they did of that of the people among whom they originated.

      That many of these tales should be read by children at an early age no intelligent person will deny. Sufficient reason for this is to be found in the real pleasure that every child derives from their perusal: and in the preparation of this volume no other reason has been considered. I have here attempted to tell a few stories of Jupiter and his mighty company and of some of the old Greek heroes, simply as stories, nothing more. I have carefully avoided every suggestion of interpretation. Attempts at analysis and explanation will always prove fatal to a child's appreciation and enjoyment of such stories. To inculcate the idea that these tales are merely descriptions of certain natural phenomena expressed in narrative and poetic form, is to deprive them of their highest charm; it is like turning precious gold into utilitarian iron: it is changing a delightful romance into a dull scientific treatise. The wise teacher will take heed not to be guilty of such an error.

      It will be observed that while each of the stories in this volume is wholly independent of the others and may be read without any knowledge of those which precede it, there is nevertheless a certain continuity from the first to the last, giving to the collection a completeness like that of a single narrative. In order that the children of our own country and time may be the better able to read these stories in the light in which they were narrated long ago, I have told them in simple language, keeping the supernatural element as far as possible in the background, and nowhere referring to Jupiter and his mighty company as gods. I have hoped thus to free the narrative still more from everything that might detract from its interest simply as a story.

      J.B.

PERSONS AND PLACES MENTIONED

      Adme'tus

      AEge'an Sea

      AE'geus (jus)

      AEgi'na

      AEscula'pius

      Ae'thra

      Aido'neus

      Alces'tis

      Althe'a

      Andro'geos

      Androm'eda

      Apol'lo

      Araech'ne

      Arca'dia

      Ar'gos

      Ar'gus

      Ariad'ne

      Ar'temis

      A'sia

      Atalan'ta

      Athe'na

      Ath'ens

      At'ropos

      Bac'chus

      Bos'phorus

      Cadme'ia

      Cad'mus

      Cal'ydon

      Cau'casus

      Ce'crops

      Cer'cyon

      Ce'res

      Chei'ron

      Clo'tho

      Coro'nis

      Cran'aë

      Crete

      Cyclo'pes

      Cy'prus

      Dae'dalus

      Dan'aë

      Daph'ne

      De'los

      Del'phi

      Deuca'lion

      Dian'a

      E'gypt

      Eleu'sis

      Epime'theus (thus)

      Euro'pa

      Eu'rope

      Gor'gons

      Greece

      Ha'des

      Härmo'nia

      He'lios

      Hel'las

      Hel'len

      Hel'lenes

      Her'cules

      Ica'rian Sea

      Ic'arus

      I'o

      Iol'cus

      Ju'no

      Ju'piter

      Lab'yrinth

      Lach'esis

      Le'to

      Mars

      Mede'a

      Medu'sa

      Meg'ara

      Meila'nion

      Melea'ger

      Mer'cury

      Miner'va

      Mi'nos

      Min'otaur

      Myce'nae

      Nep'tune

      Nile

      Oe'neus (nus)

      Os'sa

      Pando'ra

      Pärnas'sus

      Par'nes

      Pe'lias

      Pene'us

      Per'dix

      Perigu'ne

      Per'seus (sus)

      Pit'theus

      Plu'to

      Posei'don

      Procrus'tes

      Prome'theus (thus)

      Pros'erpine

      Pyr'rha

      Pyth'ia

      Py'thon

      Saron'ic Sea

      Sat'urn

      Sci'ron

      Sic'ily

      Si'nis

      Tem'pe

      Thebes

      The'seus (sus)

      Thes'saly

      Ti'ryns

      Ti'tans

      Troe'zen

      Ve'nus

      Ves'ta

      Vul'can

      Zeus (zus)

      OLD GREEK STORIES. JUPITER AND HIS MIGHTY COMPANY

      A long time ago, when the world was much younger than it is now, people told and believed a great many wonderful stories about wonderful things which neither you nor I have ever seen. They often talked about a certain Mighty Being called Jupiter, or Zeus, who was king of the sky and the earth; and they said that he sat most of the time amid the clouds on the top of a very high mountain where he could look down and see everything that was going on in the earth beneath. He liked to ride on the storm-clouds and hurl burning thunderbolts right and left among the trees and rocks; and he was so very, very mighty that when he nodded, the earth quaked, the mountains trembled and smoked, the sky grew black, and the sun hid his face.

      Jupiter had two brothers, both of them terrible fellows, but not nearly so great as himself. The name of one of them was Neptune, or Poseidon, and he was the king of the sea. He had a glittering,

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