The Book of Stories for the Story-teller Part 31

_Rhoecus_[21]

f.a.n.n.y E. COE

Long ago there lived a Grecian youth named Rhoecus. Just outside the city where Rhoecus dwelt was a wood. This wood was very old. Some said there were oaks in the forest that had been growing for a thousand years.

[Footnote 21: Based upon the story of James Russell Lowell's poem of the same name.]

One day Rhoecus was pa.s.sing through the wood. Before him he saw a n.o.ble oak about to fall. He ran and propped its mossy trunk with great branches that he took from the ground.

As he was turning away, he heard a soft voice say, "Rhoecus." There beside the tree stood a beautiful dryad.

"I am the spirit of this tree," she said. "As long as it lives, I live. When it falls, I die. You, Rhoecus, have just saved my life.

Ask what you will and it is yours."

Rhoecus gazed at the dryad with wonder and awe. "You are the fairest being I have ever seen. Give me your love," he cried.

"You shall have it, Rhoecus," replied the dryad sadly. "Meet me here an hour before the sunset."

With a happy heart and a gay step Rhoecus went on his way to the town. He had won a most beautiful bride. To celebrate his joy, he thought he would play a game of dice with his friends.

The game took all his thought, for he was most unlucky. He lost once, twice, and even a third time. He forgot all about the dryad. The sun sank lower and lower and still he played on.

At last a bee entered the window and brushed against his forehead.

Rhoecus shook it off. Again and again the bee returned. At last Rhoecus, in anger, struck the little creature and wounded it. Away flew the bee and Rhoecus, looking after it, saw the red sun setting over the trees of the thousand-year-old forest. He was too late!

Through the city and out of its gates he rushed. He sped across the plain and entered the wood. At the tree no fair dryad awaited him. But he heard a voice saying sadly, "Ah, Rhoecus, you forgot your promise to me. You drove away with a cruel blow my little messenger who sought to remind you of me. Because you have been harsh to the little bee, your punishment is this: You shall never see me again."

"Ah, no! sweet spirit," cried Rhoecus. "Forgive me this once. I will never sin again."

"Alas! it cannot be. Farewell," sighed the dryad. And Rhoecus saw her no more.

In that hour he changed from a happy youth to a sad and lonely man.

All his life he longed to see the dryad whom he had lost for ever.

_King Solomon and the Ants_

FLORA J. COOKE

One morning the Queen of Sheba started back to her home in the South.

King Solomon and all his court went with her to the gates of the city.

It was a glorious sight. The King and Queen rode upon white horses.

The purple and scarlet coverings of their followers glittered with silver and gold.

The King looked down and saw an ant hill in the path before them.

"See yonder little people," he said; "do you hear what they are saying as they run about so wildly?

"They say, 'Here comes the King men call wise, and good, and great. He will trample us under his cruel feet.'"

"They should be proud to die under the feet of such a King," said the Queen. "How dare they complain!"

"Not so, great Queen," replied the King.

He turned his horse aside and all his followers did the same.

When the great company had pa.s.sed, there was the ant hill unharmed in the path.

The Queen said, "Happy, indeed, must be your people, wise King. I shall remember the lesson. He only is n.o.ble and great who cares for the helpless and weak."

_The Story of Pegasus_

f.a.n.n.y E. COE

Long ago in Greece there lived a young man named Bellerophon.

Bellerophon was brave; he was handsome; he was kind-hearted.

Nearly everyone loved Bellerophon; but there was one man who did not like him. This was the King of the country in which Bellerophon lived.

The King was jealous. He saw how everyone, rich and poor, high and low, loved Bellerophon. He feared that they might want to have Bellerophon for their King. So he thought, "I must send this young man away."

He wrote letters to his wife's father, the King of Lycia. These letters he sent by Bellerophon.

The King of Lycia welcomed Bellerophon to his court. For nine days there was feasting, and Bellerophon won everyone's heart by his wit and grace.

On the tenth day he gave his letters to the King. The King opened them and read. Then his face changed. He went into the next room and bowed his head upon his hands. He was greatly troubled. His son-in-law had asked that Bellerophon should be killed.

"But he has just eaten my bread," said the King of Lycia. "He is my guest. I cannot kill him." He thought for some time and then spoke again: "I will not kill him myself. I will send him to fight the Chimaera."

Now the Chimaera was a terrible monster that roamed the fields of Lycia. It had the body of a lion and it had three heads. These heads were those of a lion, a goat, and a dragon. With its fiery breath the Chimaera burned up everything that came near it.

Bellerophon was troubled when he heard the orders of the King of Lycia. He went to ask the advice of the wisest man of that country.

The wise man said: "Bellerophon, if you can ride Pegasus, you will kill the Chimaera easily."

"What is Pegasus?" said Bellerophon.

"Pegasus is a winged horse. His home is on Mount Olympus. But no one has tamed him except Athene, the G.o.ddess of wisdom. I should ask her help."