At last the sun came rising up out of his place, like a fire spreading far and wide over the mountains and forests; he rises up, his head passes through the noose, and it takes in more and more of his body, until his fore-paws pass through; then the ropes are pulled tight, and the monster begins to struggle and roll himself about, whilst the snare jerks backward and forward as he struggles. Ah! is he not held fast in the ropes of his enemies! Then forth rushes that bold hero, Maui-tiki-tiki-o-Taranga, with his enchanted weapon. Alas! the sun screams aloud; he roars; Maui strikes him fiercely with many blows; they hold him for a long time; at last they let him go, and then weak from wounds the sun creeps slowly along its course. Then men learned the second name of the sun, for in its agony the sun screamed out: “Why am I thus smitten by you! oh, man! do you know what you are doing? Why should you wish to kill Tama-nui-te-Ra?” At last they let him go. Oh, then, Tama-nui-te-Ra went very slowly and feebly on his course. THE INFANT HERACLES (_Greek_) When Heracles (Roman, Hercules) was a very wee child, not more than ten months old, he performed a marvellous feat which was a worthy sample of the vast labors he was to accomplish during his life. His mother, Alcmena, took him and his younger brother, Iphicles, gave them both their bath and their evening feast of milk, and then tucked them safely away in their cradle, which was not an ordinary one by any means, but a magnificent bronze shield which their father, Amphitryon, had taken from his fallen enemy, Pterelaus. Then the mother stroked her little children’s heads, and said to them: “Sleep, my little ones, a light delicious sleep; sleep, soul of mine, two brothers, babes unharmed; blessed be your sleep, and blessed may ye come to the dawn.”[10] And as she spoke she rocked the huge shield back and forth, and soon they both fell asleep. But just at midnight, when the constellation of the Great Bear wheeled round toward the constellation of Orion that shows his mighty shoulder, Hera (Roman, Juno) sent forth two horrible monsters, two snakes with bristling coils of azure—she urged them against the broad threshold of the house door, intending that they should devour the young child Heracles. Then the serpents crawled, writhing along the ground, and ever from their eyes shone a baleful fire as they came, and they spat out their deadly venom. But when with their flickering tongues they were drawing near the children, then Alcmena’s dear babes wakened, by the will of Zeus that knows all things, and there was a bright light in the chamber.