The Heroes | Page 3

taught
them, and, though they were God's offspring, worshipped idols of wood
and stone, and fell at last into sin and shame, and then, of course, into
cowardice and slavery, till they perished out of that beautiful land
which God had given them for so many years.
For, like all nations who have left anything behind them, beside mere
mounds of earth, they believed at first in the One True God who made
all heaven and earth. But after a while, like all other nations, they began
to worship other gods, or rather angels and spirits, who (so they fancied)
lived about their land. Zeus, the Father of gods and men (who was
some dim remembrance of the blessed true God), and Hera his wife,
and Phoebus Apollo the Sun-god, and Pallas Athene who taught men
wisdom and useful arts, and Aphrodite the Queen of Beauty, and
Poseidon the Ruler of the Sea, and Hephaistos the King of the Fire,
who taught men to work in metals. And they honoured the Gods of the
Rivers, and the Nymph-maids, who they fancied lived in the caves, and
the fountains, and the glens of the forest, and all beautiful wild places.
And they honoured the Erinnues, the dreadful sisters, who, they
thought, haunted guilty men until their sins were purged away. And
many other dreams they had, which parted the One God into many; and
they said, too, that these gods did things which would be a shame and
sin for any man to do. And when their philosophers arose, and told

them that God was One, they would not listen, but loved their idols,
and their wicked idol feasts, till they all came to ruin. But we will talk
of such sad things no more.
But, at the time of which this little book speaks, they had not fallen as
low as that. They worshipped no idols, as far as I can find; and they
still believed in the last six of the ten commandments, and knew well
what was right and what was wrong. And they believed (and that was
what gave them courage) that the gods loved men, and taught them, and
that without the gods men were sure to come to ruin. And in that they
were right enough, as we know-- more right even than they thought; for
without God we can do nothing, and all wisdom comes from Him.
Now, you must not think of them in this book as learned men, living in
great cities, such as they were afterwards, when they wrought all their
beautiful works, but as country people, living in farms and walled
villages, in a simple, hard-working way; so that the greatest kings and
heroes cooked their own meals, and thought it no shame, and made
their own ships and weapons, and fed and harnessed their own horses;
and the queens worked with their maid-servants, and did all the
business of the house, and spun, and wove, and embroidered, and made
their husbands' clothes and their own. So that a man was honoured
among them, not because he happened to be rich, but according to his
skill, and his strength, and courage, and the number of things which he
could do. For they were but grown-up children, though they were right
noble children too; and it was with them as it is now at school--the
strongest and cleverest boy, though he be poor, leads all the rest.
Now, while they were young and simple they loved fairy tales, as you
do now. All nations do so when they are young: our old forefathers did,
and called their stories 'Sagas.' I will read you some of them some
day--some of the Eddas, and the Voluspa, and Beowulf, and the noble
old Romances. The old Arabs, again, had their tales, which we now call
the 'Arabian Nights.' The old Romans had theirs, and they called them
'Fabulae,' from which our word 'fable' comes; but the old Hellens called
theirs 'Muthoi,' from which our new word 'myth' is taken. But next to
those old Romances, which were written in the Christian middle age,
there are no fairy tales like these old Greek ones, for beauty, and
wisdom, and truth, and for making children love noble deeds, and trust
in God to help them through.

Now, why have I called this book 'The Heroes'? Because that was the
name which the Hellens gave to men who were brave and skilful, and
dare do more than other men. At first, I think, that was all it meant: but
after a time it came to mean something more; it came to mean men who
helped their country; men in those old times, when the country was
half-wild, who killed fierce beasts and evil men, and drained swamps,
and founded