The Junior Classics, Volume 3: Tales from Greece and Rome
General
The Junior Classics, Volume 3: Tales from Greece and Rome
Children's literature; Mythology, Classical -- Juvenile literature
But the Argonauts went eastward, and out into the open sea, which we now
call the Black Sea, but it was called the Euxine then. No Greek had ever
crossed it, and all feared that dreadful sea, and its rocks, and shoals,
and fogs, and bitter freezing storms; and they told strange stories of
it, some false and some half true, how it stretched northward to the ends
of the earth, and the sluggish Putrid Sea, and the everlasting night, and
the regions of the dead. So the heroes trembled, for all their courage,
as they came into that wild Black Sea, and saw it stretching out before
them, without a shore, as far as eye could see.
And first Orpheus spoke, and warned them, “We shall come now to the
wandering blue rocks; my mother warned me of them, Calliope, the immortal
muse.”
Soon they saw the blue rocks shining like spires and castles of gray
glass, while an ice-cold wind blew from them and chilled the heroes’
hearts. As they neared they could see them heaving, as they rolled upon
the long set waves, crashing and grinding together, till the roar went up
to heaven. The sea sprang up in spouts between them, and swept round them
in white sheets of foam; but their heads swung nodding high in air, while
the wind whistled shrill among the crags.
The heroes’ hearts sank within them, and they lay upon their oars in
fear; but Orpheus called to Tiphys the helmsman, “Between them we must
pass; so look ahead for an opening, and be brave, for Juno is with us.”
But Tiphys the cunning helmsman stood silent, clenching his teeth, till
he saw a heron come flying mast-high toward the rocks, and hover a while
before them, as if looking for a passage through. Then he cried, “Juno
has sent us a pilot; let us follow the cunning bird.”
Then the heron flapped to and fro a moment, till he saw a hidden gap,
and into it he rushed like an arrow, while the heroes watched what would
befall. And the blue rocks clashed together as the bird flew swiftly
through; but they struck but a feather from his tail, and then rebounded
apart at the shock.
Then Tiphys cheered the heroes, and they shouted; and the oars bent
like withes beneath their strokes as they rushed between those toppling
ice-crags and the cold blue lips of death. And ere the rocks could meet
again they had passed them, and were safe out in the open sea.
After that they sailed on wearily along the Asian coast, by the Black
Cape and Thyneis, where the hot stream of Thymbris falls into the sea,
and Sangarius, whose waters float on the Euxine, till they came to Wolf
the river, and to Wolf the kindly king. And there died two brave heroes,
Idmon and Tiphys the wise helmsman; one died of an evil sickness, and one
a wild boar slew. So the heroes heaped a mound above them, and set upon
it an oar on high, and left them there to sleep together, on the far-off
Lycian shore. But Idas killed the boar, and avenged Tiphys; and Ancaios
took the rudder and was helmsman, and steered them on toward the east.
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