burden of his song was love--how love, if it were but strong and pure, could conquer the whole world and accomplish deeds undreamt of. As Admetus listened, the tumult of his heart was stilled, and once again the flower of hope sprang up in his breast--not the phantom flower that springs from idle dreams, but the bright living flower whose roots are firmly planted in the will to do and dare all things to win the promised prize. When the herdsman had ended his song, he laid aside his lyre and gazed at Admetus. "Dost thou love this maiden with all thy heart and soul, Admetus?" he asked. "I would face the whole world to win her," said he. "Wouldst thou lay down thy life for her?" "Why ask so poor a sacrifice? My life without her would be a thing of nought." [Illustration: From the shadow of the trees came the strange herdsman, playing on his lyre.] Again the herdsman gazed at him, and seemed to read his inmost soul. "In sooth, I verily believe that, were death now to face thee, thou wouldst gladly die for her. Go forth, then, and win thy bride, and I will help thee all I can. If thou fulfil the first part of the test, I will see to it that thou fail not in the second." "Master," cried Admetus, "what meanest thou?" "Go thou and enter the lists for Alcestis, and show thyself the best man in the field that day. When they hail thee victor, and bid thee come to fetch away thy bride, as her father willed, answer boldly that the next day at noon thou wilt come in a chariot drawn by a lion and a boar to bear her away to thine own land. Then do thou hasten alone to the wood that lies on the road to Pheræ, five miles from Iolchos, and there, by the temple of Hecate, wilt thou find me and the chariot ready harnessed. Believest thou that I can do this thing?" "O master, do I not see before me the lion lying tamely by the sheep and the wolf by the side of the lamb? How can I doubt thy power?" "So be it, then. One word of counsel would I give thee: in the day of thy triumph forget not the gods." "From my youth upwards have I honoured the gods, O stranger. How, then, in the day of my triumph, should I forget them?"