y her
own son when out hunting. He is the Little Bear, with the pole star in
his tail, and she is the Great Bear, always circling round him, and, as
the Greeks used to say, never dipping her muzzle into the ocean, because
she is so far north that she never sets.

This story of Perseus is a very old one, which all nations have loved to
tell, though with different names. You will be amused to think that the
old Cornish way of telling it is found in "Jack the Giant-Killer," who
had seven-leagued boots and a cap of mist, and delivered fair ladies from
their cruel foes.

[Picture: Cyclopean Wall]

CHAP. V.--THE LABOURS OF HERCULES.

[Picture: Decorative chapter heading]

One morning Jupiter boasted among the gods in Olympus that a son would
that day be born in the line of Perseus, who would rule over all the
Argives. Juno was angry and jealous at this, and, as she was the goddess
who presided over the births of children, she contrived to hinder the
birth of the child he intended till that day was over, and to hasten that
of another grandson of the great Perseus. This child was named
Eurystheus, and, as he had been born on the right day, Jupiter was forced
to let him be king of Argos, Sparta, and Mycenae, and all the Dorian
race; while the boy whom he had meant to be the chief was kept in
subjection, in spite of having wonderful gifts of courage and strength,
and a kind, generous nature, that always was ready to help the weak and
sorrowful.

[Picture: Virtue and Vice]

His name was Alcides, or Hercules, and he was so strong at ten months
old, that, with his own hands, he strangled two serpents whom Juno sent
to devour him in his cradle. He was bred up by Chiron, the chief of the
Centaurs, a wondrous race of beings, who had horses' bodies as far as the
forelegs, but where the neck of the horse would begin had human breasts
and shoulders, with arms and heads. Most of them were fierce and savage;
but Chiron was very wise and good, and, as Jupiter made him immortal, he
was the teacher of many of the great Greek heroes. When Hercules was
about eighteen, two maidens appeared to him--one in a simple white dress,
grave, modest and seemly; the other scarcely clothed, but tricked out in
ornaments, with a flushed face, and bold, roving eyes. The first told
him that she was Virtue, and that, if he would follow her, she would lead
him through many ha