d Caeneus carried
a bear cub under each arm, and laughed when they scratched and bit; for
neither tooth nor steel could wound him.

And Cheiron praised them all, each according to his deserts.

Only one walked apart and silent, Asclepius, the too-wise child, with
his bosom full of herbs and flowers, and round his wrist a spotted
snake; he came with downcast eyes to Cheiron, and whispered how he had
watched the snake cast his old skin, and grow young again before his
eyes, and how he had gone down into a village in the vale, and cured a
dying man with a herb which he had seen a sick goat eat.

And Cheiron smiled, and said: "To each Athene and Apollo give some gift,
and each is worthy in his place; but to this child they have given an
honour beyond all honours, to cure while others kill."

Then the lads brought in wood, and split it, and lighted a blazing fire;
and others skinned the deer and quartered them, and set them to roast
before the fire; and while the venison was cooking they bathed in the
snow torrent, and washed away the dust and sweat.

And then all ate till they could eat no more (for they had tasted
nothing since the dawn), and drank of the clear spring water, for wine
is not fit for growing lads. And when the remnants were put away, they
all lay down upon the skins and leaves about the fire, and each took the
lyre in turn, and sang and played with all his heart.

And after a while they all went out to a plot of grass at the cave's
mouth, and there they boxed, and ran, and wrestled, and laughed till the
stones fell from the cliffs.

Then Cheiron took his lyre, and all the lads joined hands; and as he
played, they danced to his measure, in and out, and round and round.
There they danced hand in hand, till the night fell over land and sea,
while the black glen shone with their broad white limbs, and the gleam
of their golden hair.

And the lad danced with them, delighted, and then slept a wholesome
sleep, upon fragrant leaves of bay, and myrtle, and marjoram, and
flowers of thyme; and rose at the dawn, and bathed in the torrent, and
became a schoolfellow to the heroes' sons, and forgot Iolcos, and his
father, and all his former life. But he grew strong, and brave and
cunning, upon the pleasant downs of Pelion, in the keen hungry mountain
air. And he learnt to wrestle, and to box, and to hunt, and to play upon
the harp; and next he learnt to ride, for old Cheiron used to mount him
on his back; and he l