Chapter I: Front Matter

_Life Stories for Young People_

GODS AND HEROES

_Translated and adapted from the German of
Ferdinand Schmidt and Carl Friedrich Becker_

BY
GEORGE P. UPTON
_Author of "Musical Memories," "Standard Operas," etc.
Translator of "Memories," "Immensee," etc._

WITH FRONTISPIECE

CHICAGO
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1912

Copyright
A. C. McClurg & Co.
1912
Published September, 1912

THE·PLIMPTON·PRESS
[W·D·O]
NORWOOD·MASS·U·S·A

Translator's Preface

In a rare little volume in my possession, written by William Sheldon, F.A.S., and published by Isaiah Thomas, Jr., at Worcester, Mass., in 1810, over a century ago, the author introduces his "History of the Heathen Gods and Heroes of Antiquity" in the following quaint manner: "People of weak minds and of little learning, who have tasted the Pierian spring but not drunk deep at it, when they read an account of the Heathen Gods and Goddesses and of the images dedicated to them, and hear that the heathens were Idolators, or worshippers of Images, give credit to these stories, without any further inquiry or trouble. It may not, therefore, be unnecessary to inform persons of this description, that the people of all the nations which ever existed under heaven have believed that there existed one God, who is Almighty and the Maker of all things. But there have been people who believed also in inferior or subordinate gods, who were agents or mediators between God and man; and who were employed in carrying on the works of Providence and of the creation or Nature."

This quaint effort to show the impropriety of treating any description of religion with unnecessary disrespect applies to this volume, which the translator has adapted from the German. Our old author might have added to his statement that there is rare beauty and fascination in many of these Grecian myths and that many a one has wished with Wordsworth that he might

"Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea,
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn."

The old gods and minor deities in these "short stories" also appeal to us by their human qualities, and many an important moral lesson may be read in the fate of unfortunate minor deities who offended the higher gods. The sketches are in story form and are told in a refined and entertaining manner. Several of the higher gods and goddesses are not included in this volume, as they appear most interesting in the other volumes in this series--"Achilles," "Ulysses," "Argonauts' Expedition and Labors of Hercules."

G. P. U.

Chicago, _May_, 1912.

Contents

Chapter Page
I Prometheus 13
II Deucalion and Pyrrha 25
III Hermes (Mercury) 33
IV Phaëthon 39
V Orpheus 49
VI Atalanta 53
VII Tantalus 57
VIII Salmoneus, Sisyphus, Ixion, and Phlegyas 61
IX Niobe 65
X Bellerophon 73
XI Perseus 77
XII Cadmus 83
XIII Dionysus (Bacchus) 89
XIV Actæon 95
XV Dædalus and Icarus 101
XVI Philemon and Baucis 109
XVII Arachne 115
XVIII Hyacinthus 121

_The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea,
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn._
Wordsworth

Gods and Heroes