These chariots were drawn by horses of celestial breed, which could whirl them to and fro between heaven and earth, through the yielding air, or skim with them along the surface of the sea, without wetting the axle. They were only used on occasions of taking a long journey, as when Hera professes that she is going to the end of the earth to make up the quarrel between Okeanos and Tethys; or on occasions in which the gods wished to appear with state and magnificence. On ordinary occasions the gods moved by the aid of their golden shoes; when at home in their houses, they, like the men of those ages, went bare-foot. The Greeks tell almost innumerable stories of their gods, and their adventures, love-escapades and wars. Some are wonderfully beautiful, others humble or grotesque. Their heroes come in for a share of the honors paid the gods. We can compare these stories with the legends of other nations, and see the wondrous resemblance between them. SPECIMEN STORIES FROM GREEK MYTHOLOGY. It will be possible to introduce but a few of the very many Greek legends and myths. We choose to give a few fully, rather than to give many imperfectly. HERMES AND APOLLO. Hermes was born of the mountain-nymph, Maia, in a cavern of Mount Kylléné, in Arcadia. He had scarcely been laid in his cradle, when he got up and set off for Pieria, to steal cows from Apollo. As he was going out he met a tortoise, which he caught up and carried back to the cave; when, quick as thought, he killed the animal, took out the flesh, adapted reeds and strings to the shell, and formed from it the Phormin or Lyre, on which he immediately played with perfect skill. He then laid it up in his cradle, and resumed his journey. He arrived by sunset in Pieria, where the oxen of the gods fed under the care of Apollo. He forthwith separated fifty cows from the herd and drove them away, contriving to make them go backwards; and throwing away his sandals, bound branches of myrtle and tamarisk under his feet, that the herdsman-god might have no clew by which to trace his cattle. As he passed by Onchéstos in Bæotia, he saw an old man engaged in planting his vineyard, whom he strictly charged not to tell what he had seen. He then pursued his way by shady hills, resounding vales and flowery plains, and as the moon was rising arrived with his booty on the banks of the Alpheios in the Peloponnése. He there fed and stalled his kine, made a fire, killed, cut up, and dressed two of them, and even made black puddings of their blood, and then thriftily spread their skins to dry on a rock. He burned the heads and feet, and put out the fire, effacing all signs of it, and flung his twig-sandals into the river. With daybreak he slank home and stole into his cradle, not unobserved by his mother, who reproached him with his deeds; but he replied that he was resolved by his actions to procure admission for her and himself to the assembly of the gods.