Gods and Heroes; or, The Kingdom of Jupiter — John Shaqi
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
There was a nymph named Clytie, who was so beautiful that Apollo fell
in love with her. She was very proud and glad of being loved by the
god of the Sun, and loved him a great deal more than he loved her.
But she believed that his love was as great as her own: and so she
lived happily for a long time.
But one day, Apollo happened to see a king's daughter, whose name was
Leucothoe. He thought she was the most beautiful creature he had ever
seen: so he fell in love with her, and forgot Clytie as much as if
there was nobody but Leucothoe in the world. Clytie, however, knew
nothing of all this, and only wondered why Apollo never came to see
her any more.
Now the king, whose name was Orchamus, kept his daughter very
strictly: and did not wish her to have anything to do with Apollo. I
suppose he was afraid of Apollo's loving her for a time, and then
leaving her to be miserable and unhappy, as happened to many nymphs
and princesses in those days besides Clytie. So when King Orchamus
found that Apollo was making love to Leucothoe, he shut her up in his
palace, and would not allow her to go out or anybody else to go in.
But Apollo was much too clever to be beaten in that way. He disguised
himself as Leucothoe's own mother, and so came to see her whenever he
pleased, without anybody being anything the wiser. And so everything
went on just as he wished, if it had not been for Clytie, whom he had
treated just as King Orchamus was afraid he would treat Leucothoe.
Clytie wondered why Apollo never came to see her till she could bear
it no longer; and she watched him, to find out what was the reason of
it all. She watched till at last she saw somebody who looked like a
queen go into the palace of King Orchamus. But she knew Apollo much
too well to be taken in by any disguise. She secretly followed him
into the palace, and found him making love to Leucothoe.
In her misery and jealousy, she went straight to King Orchamus, and
told him what she had seen. Perhaps she hoped that the king would send
his daughter away altogether, so that Apollo would then come back to
her. She could not possibly foresee what would really happen. King
Orchamus was so enraged with his daughter for receiving Apollo's
visits against his commands that he ordered Leucothoe to be buried
alive. Of course he could not punish Apollo: because Apollo was a god,
while he was only a king.
Perhaps you will think that Apollo might have managed to save
Leucothoe from such a terrible death as her father had ordered for
her. As he did not, I suppose that King Orchamus had her buried before
anybody could tell the news--at any rate she was dead when Apollo
arrived at her grave. All he could do for her was to show his love and
his sorrow by turning her into a tree from which people take a
sweet-smelling gum called myrrh.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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