HEPHÆSTUS HEPHÆSTUS OR The Soul of the Machine BY E. E. FOURNIER D’ALBE _Author of “Quo Vadimus,” etc._ [Illustration] NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 681 FIFTH AVENUE Copyright, 1925 By E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY _All Rights Reserved_ PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PREFACE The purpose of this little book is to show that one, at least, of the gods of Hellas has survived the flood which swept away the most entertaining company of gods and goddesses ever created by man’s imagination. As I propose to set him in the august place vacated by the death of Zeus, a few biographical details may not be out of place. Hephæstus was the son of Hera (Juno), but not of Zeus (Jupiter). How his mother put him into the world is not precisely known. Neither Zeus nor any other male god had anything to do with it. Yet it would be inappropriate in the case of such a confirmed matron as Hera to speak of parthenogenesis. Some extraordinary event had to take place before the great home-goddess could be driven to spite her lord and master by producing a son without his co-operation. And such an event had indeed occurred, for Zeus had suddenly reverted to one of the oldest forms of propagation known to biology, _viz._, propagation by budding. A fully-armed young goddess, severe of countenance and lithe of limb, had sprung forth from his head, thenceforth and for ever to lead and dominate the world of thought. It was up to Hera to match Pallas Athene by some equally important contribution to the evolution of gods, and so by some mysterious process, into which Greek historians did not care to pry, she produced Hephæstus, whom the Romans called Vulcan, now the only surviving representative of that lively and enterprising clan which once ruled the world from the summit of Mount Olympus. Like many another product of inspiration, Hephæstus was at first regarded as a failure. He was undersized and weak-chested, and Hera had to suffer much from the gibes of her peers and peeresses. So one day she dropped him down the slope of the mountain and he fell into the sea. He was picked up by two of those charming and motherly sea-goddesses which at that time abounded in sea-water, and was brought up in a grotto under the ocean. In return for their kindnesses he made them pretty ornaments of coral and mother-of-pearl.