Myths That Every Child Should Know | Page 7

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 danger to achieve. But still he was not
satisfied. He could not think that what he had already done was worthy
of so much honour, 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 Hesperides?"
"Ah! must you go to soon?" they exclaimed. "You--that have
performed so many wonders, and spent such a toilsome life--cannot
you content yourself 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 seashore, 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!" answered 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 seafaring 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 honour--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.
"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 astonished 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 labour of making flower wreaths. They talked
about the hero long after he was gone.
"We will crown him with the loveliest of our garlands," 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, danger, 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 behind, he by and
by heard the sea roaring at a distance. At this sound, he increased his
speed, and soon came to a beach, where the great surf waves tumbled
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 intermixed with
sweet-smelling clover, covered the narrow 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 creature