is chariot on its
all-conquering round, he saw the boy. Hyacinthus was as fair to look
upon as the fairest of women, yet he was not only full of grace, but
was muscular, and strong as a straight young pine on Mount Olympus
that fears not the blind rage of the North Wind nor the angry tempests
of the South.

When Apollo had spoken with him he found that the face of Hyacinthus
did not belie the heart within him, and gladly the god felt that at
last he had found the perfect companion, the ever courageous and
joyous young mate, whose mood was always ready to meet his own. Did
Apollo desire to hunt, with merry shout Hyacinthus called the hounds.
Did the great god deign to fish, Hyacinthus was ready to fetch the
nets and to throw himself, whole-souled, into the great affair of
chasing and of landing the silvery fishes. When Apollo wished to climb
the mountains, to heights so lonely that not even the moving of an
eagle's wing broke the everlasting stillness, Hyacinthus--his strong
limbs too perfect for the chisel of any sculptor worthily to
reproduce--was ready and eager for the climb. And when, on the
mountain top, Apollo gazed in silence over illimitable space, and
watched the silver car of his sister Diana rising slowly into the deep
blue of the sky, silvering land and water as she passed, it was never
Hyacinthus who was the first to speak--with words to break the spell
of Nature's perfect beauty, shared in perfect companionship. There
were times, too, when Apollo would play his lyre, and when naught but
the music of his own making could fulfil his longing. And when those
times came, Hyacinthus would lie at the feet of his friend--of the
friend who was a god--and would listen, with eyes of rapturous joy, to
the music that his master made. A very perfect friend was this friend
of the sun-god.

Nor was it Apollo alone who desired the friendship of Hyacinthus.
Zephyrus, god of the South Wind, had known him before Apollo crossed
his path and had eagerly desired him for a friend. But who could stand
against Apollo? Sulkily Zephyrus marked their ever-ripening
friendship, and in his heart jealousy grew into hatred, and hatred
whispered to him of revenge. Hyacinthus excelled at all sports, and
when he played quoits it was sheer joy for Apollo, who loved all
things beautiful, to watch him as he stood to throw the disc, his taut
muscles making him look like Hermes, ready to spurn the cumbering
earth from off his feet. Further even