Half a Hundred Hero Tales of Ulysses and The Men of Old
General
Half a Hundred Hero Tales of Ulysses and The Men of Old
Mythology, Classical -- Juvenile literature
But do not you suppose that it made Cadmus sorrowful to think of the
melancholy fate which had befallen those poor, friendly people, who
had followed the cow along with him? It seemed as if he were doomed to
lose everybody whom he loved, or to see them perish in one way or
another. And here he was, after all his toils and troubles, in a
solitary place, with not a single human being to help him build a hut.
"What shall I do?" cried he aloud. "It were better for me to have been
devoured by the dragon, as my poor companions were."
"Cadmus," said a voice--but whether it came from above or below him,
or whether it spoke within his own breast, the young man could not
tell--"Cadmus, pluck out the dragon's teeth, and plant them in the
earth."
This was a strange thing to do; nor was it very easy, I should
imagine, to dig out all those deep-rooted fangs from the dead dragon's
jaws. But Cadmus toiled and tugged, and after pounding the monstrous
head almost to pieces with a great stone, he at last collected as many
teeth as might have filled a bushel or two. The next thing was to
plant them. This, likewise, was a tedious piece of work, especially as
Cadmus was already exhausted with killing the dragon and knocking his
head to pieces, and had nothing to dig the earth with, that I know of,
unless it were his sword-blade. Finally, however, a sufficiently large
tract of ground was turned up, and sown with this new kind of seed;
although half of the dragon's teeth still remained to be planted some
other day.
Cadmus, quite out of breath, stood leaning upon his sword, and
wondering what was to happen next. He had waited but a few moments
when he began to see a sight which was as great a marvel as the most
marvelous thing I ever told you about.
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account