satisfy him but learning to be a pilot on a Mississippi steamboat; he was on the river for four years. There are many other romantic and adventurous stories for us to read. Make sure that the author knows and understands what he is writing about, otherwise it is seldom worth while to spend much time in reading his book. Stories of romance and adventure ought always to be brave and fearless, kind and generous, pure and light-hearted. They ought to make us feel that it is worth while to go on an adventure. When these things are true of a book, we can spend many happy hours with its hero, no matter where he rides, or sails, or flies. There are three books, the work of authors who belong to our own time, that we should not miss reading. First comes Rudyard Kipling's glorious story of a boy in India called _Kim_; then the poet Masefield's story of _Sard Harker_ and of the sea and South America; and, last of the three, a fine story of the woods and rivers of the far north, called _The Living Forest_, written by a Canadian artist, Arthur Heming. {83} PART III SONGS OF HEROES, MYTHS, FAIRY TALES AND MARVELS {85} CHAPTER XIII THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY--GREEK HEROES--TANGLEWOOD TALES--THE WONDER BOOK Once upon a time, nearly three thousand years ago, a poet in a song which he sang of heroes described the making of a suit of armour. The poet's name was Homer. His poem is called _The Iliad_. Some day possibly you will read for yourselves _The Iliad_ in the original Greek, for Homer was a Greek. There are many good translations, both in poetry and prose. The beautiful translation known as _The Iliad of Homer_, done into English prose by Andrew Lang, Walter Leaf and Ernest Myers, is one of the best translations for our present purpose. In Homer's day people believed in the existence of many gods, some more important and others of less consequence. These gods, both men and women, imagined by the Greeks, were like human beings, only more powerful and more beautiful. But they were not any better than ordinary men and women. Indeed, the gods of the Greeks were often bad-tempered, jealous, cruel, and faithless. The Greeks imagined that their gods had favourites among men and women. When a battle was raging, the gods were supposed to help one side or the other; and in _The Iliad_ you may read how Aphrodite helped her favourite, Paris, how {86} Poseidon was on the side of the Achaians, and Apollo aided Hector. The most powerful and important gods, of whom the greatest was Zeus, lived on Mount Olympus. But the Greeks believed that the sea, rivers, streams, springs, hillsides, and trees, were the dwelling-places of various deities or gods.