Gods and Heroes; or, The Kingdom of JupiterFrancillon, R. E. (Robert Edward)
General
Gods and Heroes; or, The Kingdom of Jupiter
Francillon, R. E. (Robert Edward)
Mythology, Classical -- Juvenile literature
As for Apollo, he kept on growing handsomer and stronger until he
became a god--the most glorious of all the gods in the sky. Jupiter
made him the god of the Sun, and made his sister, Diana, goddess of
the Moon. He was also the god of all beautiful and useful things: of
music, painting, poetry, medicine. Several names were given to him.
One of his names is "Phœbus," which means bright and splendid like
the sun. "Apollo" means "the Destroyer": people must guess for
themselves why he was called "the Destroyer."
In pictures and statues he is always made graceful, beautiful, and
young. He has no hair on his face, but wears long waving hair.
Sometimes he carries a lyre--a sort of small harp--and sometimes a
bow. Very often he wears a wreath of laurel. You must take a great
deal of notice of Apollo, or Phœbus, because he is the most famous
of all the gods next to Jupiter. It will help you to know him if you
think of him as always beautiful, wise, and bright, but rather cruel
and hard.
PART II.--THE FLAYED PIPER; OR, THE STORY OF MARSYAS.
The men who filled the earth after the Great Flood were a great deal
cleverer than people are now. A king's son named Cadmus invented the
alphabet--which is, perhaps, the most wonderful thing in the world.
And when he wanted to build the city of Thebes, he got a great
musician, named Amphion, to play to the stones and trees, so that
they, by dancing to his tunes, built themselves into walls and houses
without the help of any masons or carpenters. At last men became so
wonderfully clever in everything, that a physician named Æsculapius,
who was a son of Apollo, found out how to bring back dead people to
life again.
But when Jupiter heard that Æsculapius had really made a dead man
live, he was angry, and rather frightened too. For he thought, "If men
know how to live forever, they will become as great and as wise as the
gods, and who knows what will happen then?" So he ordered the Cyclopes
to make him a thunderbolt, and he threw it down from heaven upon
Æsculapius and killed him. No other man knew the secret of Æsculapius,
and it died with him.
But Apollo was very fond and proud of his son, and was in a great
rage with Jupiter for having killed him. He could not punish Jupiter,
but he took his bow and arrows and shot all the Cyclopes who had made
the thunderbolt.
Then it was Jupiter's turn to be angry with Apollo for killing his
servants, who had only done what they were told to do. He sentenced
him to be banished from the sky for nine years.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account