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
And now the city was built, and there was a home in it for each of the
workmen. But the palace of Cadmus was not yet erected, because they
had left it till the last, meaning to introduce all the new
improvements of architecture, and make it very commodious, as well as
stately and beautiful. After finishing the rest of their labors, they
all went to bed betimes, in order to rise in the gray of the morning,
and to get at least the foundation of the edifice laid before
nightfall. But, when Cadmus arose and took his way towards the site
where the palace was to be built, followed by his five sturdy workmen
marching all in a row, what do you think he saw?
What should it be but the most magnificent palace that had ever been
seen in the world? It was built of marble and other beautiful kinds of
stone, and rose high into the air, with a splendid dome and a portico
along the front, and carved pillars, and everything else that befitted
the habitation of a mighty king. It had grown up out of the earth in
almost as short a time as it had taken the armed host to spring from
the dragon's teeth; and what made the matter more strange, no seed of
the stately edifice had ever been planted.
When the five workmen beheld the dome, with the morning sunshine
making it look golden and glorious, they gave a great shout.
"Long live King Cadmus," they cried, "in his beautiful palace!"
And the new king, with his five faithful followers at his heels,
shouldering their pickaxes and marching in a rank (for they still had
a soldier-like sort of behavior, as their nature was), ascended the
palace steps. Halting at the entrance, they gazed through a long vista
of lofty pillars that were ranged from end to end of a great hall. At
the farther extremity of this hall, approaching slowly towards him,
Cadmus beheld a female figure, wonderfully beautiful, and adorned with
a royal robe, and a crown of diamonds over her golden ringlets, and
the richest necklace that ever a queen wore. His heart thrilled with
delight. He fancied it his long-lost sister Europa, now grown to
womanhood, coming to make him happy, and to repay him, with her sweet
sisterly affection, for all those weary wanderings in quest of her
since he left King Agenor's palace--for the tears that he had shed, on
parting with Phoenix and Cilix--for the heartbreakings that had made
the whole world seem dismal to him over his dear mother's grave.
But, as Cadmus advanced to meet the beautiful stranger, he saw that
her features were unknown to him, although, in the little time that it
required to tread along the hall, he had already felt a sympathy
betwixt himself and her.
"No, Cadmus," said the same voice that had spoken to him in the field
of the armed men, "this is not that dear sister Europa whom you have
sought so faithfully all over the wide world. This is Harmonia, a
daughter of the sky, who is given you instead of sister, and brothers,
and mother. You will find all those dear ones in her alone."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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