Dryope would have hastened from the spot, but the displeasure of the nymph had fallen upon her. While protesting her innocence, she began to put forth branches and leaves. Praying her husband to see that no violence was done to her, to remind their child that every flower or bush might be a goddess in disguise, to bring him often to be nursed under her branches, and to teach him to say "My mother lies hid under this bark,"--the luckless woman assumed the shape of a lotus. =138. Rh[oe]cus.=[178] The Hamadryads could appreciate services as well as punish injuries. Hear now this fairy legend of old Greece, As full of freedom, youth, and beauty still, As the immortal freshness of that grace Carved for all ages on some Attic frieze.[179] Rh[oe]cus, happening to see an oak just ready to fall, propped it up. The nymph, who had been on the point of perishing with the tree, expressed her gratitude to him and bade him ask what reward he would. Rh[oe]cus boldly asked her love, and the nymph yielded to his desire. At the same time charging him to be mindful and constant, she promised to expect him an hour before sunset and, meanwhile, to communicate with him by means of her messenger,--a bee: Now, in those days of simpleness and faith, Men did not think that happy things were dreams Because they overstepped the narrow bourn Of likelihood, but reverently deemed Nothing too wondrous or too beautiful To be the guerdon of a daring heart. So Rh[oe]cus made no doubt that he was blest, And all along unto the city's gate Earth seemed to spring beneath him as he walked, The clear, broad sky looked bluer than its wont, And he could scarce believe he had not wings, Such sunshine seemed to glitter through his veins Instead of blood, so light he felt and strange. But the day was past its noon. Joining some comrades over the dice, Rh[oe]cus forgot all else. A bee buzzed about his ear. Impatiently he brushed it aside: Then through the window flew the wounded bee, And Rh[oe]cus, tracking him with angry eyes, Saw a sharp mountain peak of Thessaly Against the red disk of the setting sun,-- And instantly the blood sank from his heart....