ADMETUS AND THE SHEPHERD
ADMETUS AND THE SHEPHERD
ADMETUS AND THE SHEPHERD
[SIZE=-1]Apollo did not live always free of care, though he was the most [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]glorious of the gods. One day, in anger with the Cyclopes who work at [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]the forges of Vulcan, he sent his arrows after them, to the wrath of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]all the gods, but especially of Zeus. (For the Cyclopes always make his [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]thunderbolts, and make them well.) Even the divine archer could not go [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]unpunished, and as a penalty he was sent to serve some mortal for a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]year. Some say one year and some say nine, but in those days time [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]passed quickly; and as for the gods, they took no heed of it.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Now there was a certain king in Thessaly, Admetus by name, and there [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]came to him one day a stranger, who asked leave to serve about the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]palace. None knew his name, but he was very comely, and moreover, when [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]they questioned him he said that he had come from a position of high [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]trust. So without further delay they made him chief shepherd of the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]royal flocks.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Every day thereafter, he drove his sheep to the banks of the river [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Amphrysus, and there he sat to watch them browse. The country-folk that [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]passed drew near to wonder at him, without daring to ask questions. He [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]seemed to have a knowledge of leech-craft, and knew how to cure the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]ills of any wayfarer with any weed that grew near by; and he would pipe [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]for hours in the sun. A simple-spoken man he was, yet he seemed to know [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]much more than he would say, and he smiled with a kindly mirth when the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]people wished him sunny weather.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Indeed, as days went by, it seemed as if summer had come to stay, and, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]like the shepherd, found the place friendly. Nowhere else were the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]flocks so white and fair to see, like clouds loitering along a bright [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]sky; and sometimes, when he chose, their keeper sang to them. Then the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]grasshoppers drew near and the swans sailed close to the river banks, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and the country-men gathered about to hear wonderful tales of the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]slaying of the monster Python, and of a king with ass's ears, and of a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]lovely maiden, Daphne, who grew into a laurel-tree. In time the rumor [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of these things drew the king himself to listen; and Admetus, who had [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]been to see the world in the ship Argo, knew at once that this was no [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]earthly shepherd, but a god. From that day, like a true king, he [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]treated his guest with reverence and friendliness, asking no questions; [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]and the god was well pleased.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Now it came to pass that Admetus fell in love with a beautiful maiden, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Alcestis, and, because of the strange condition that her father Pelias [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]had laid upon all suitors, he was heavy-hearted. Only that man who [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]should come to woo her in a chariot drawn by a wild boar and a lion [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]might ever marry Alcestis; and this task was enough to puzzle even a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]king.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]As for the shepherd, when he heard of it he rose, one fine morning, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]left the sheep and went his way,--no one knew whither. If the sun had [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]gone out, the people could not have been more dismayed. The king [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]himself went, late in the day, to walk by the river Amphrysus, and [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]wonder if his gracious keeper of the flocks had deserted him in a time [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of need. But at that very moment, whom should he see returning from the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]woods but the shepherd, glorious as sunset, and leading side by side a [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]lion and a boar, as gentle as two sheep! The very next morning, with [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]joy and gratitude, Admetus set out in his chariot for the kingdom of [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Pelias, and there he wooed and won Alcestis, the most loving wife that [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]was ever heard of.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]It was well for Admetus that he came home with such a comrade, for the [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]year was at an end, and he was to lose his shepherd. The strange man [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]came to take leave of the king and queen whom he had befriended.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"Blessed be your flocks, Admetus," he said, smiling. "They shall [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]prosper even though I leave them. And, because you can discern the gods [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]that come to you in the guise of wayfarers, happiness shall never go [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]far from your home, but ever return to be your guest. No man may live [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]on earth forever, but this one gift have I obtained for you. When your [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]last hour draws near, if any one shall be willing to meet it in your [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]stead, he shall die, and you shall live on, more than the mortal length [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]of days. Such kings deserve long life."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]So ended the happy year when Apollo tended sheep.[/SIZE]