me sailors and blow them into danger, and she knew that they
especially hated her husband because he had carried her away from the
island where she had watched the Winds at their terrible play. She
begged Ceyx not to go, but he said that it was necessary. Then she
prayed that if he must go he would take her with him, for she could not
bear to remain behind dreading what might happen.

But Ceyx was resolved that Halcyone should not go. The good king longed
to take her with him; no more than she could he smile at the thought of
separation. But he also feared the sea, not on his own account, but for
his dear wife. In spite of her entreaties he remained firm. If all went
well he promised to return in two months' time. But Halcyone knew that
she should never see him again as now he spoke.

The day of separation came. Standing heart-broken upon the shore,
Halcyone watched the vessel sail away into the East, until as a little
speck it dropped below the horizon; then sobbing bitterly she returned
to the palace.

Now the king and his men had completed but half their journey when a
terrible storm arose. The wicked Winds had escaped from the control of
good old AEolus and were rushing down upon the ocean to punish Ceyx for
carrying away the beautiful Halcyone. Fiercely they blew, the lightning
flashed, and the sea ran high; and in the midst of the horrible tumult
the good ship went to the bottom with all on board. Thus the fears of
Halcyone were proved true, and far from his dear wife poor Ceyx perished
in the cruel waves.

That very night when the shipwreck occurred, the sad and fearful
Halcyone, sleeping lonely at home, knew in a dream the very calamity
which had happened. She seemed to see the storm and the shipwreck, and
the form of Ceyx appeared, saying a sad farewell to her. As soon as it
was light she rose and hastened to the seashore, trembling with a
horrible dread. Standing on the very spot whence she had last seen the
fated ship, she looked wistfully over the waste of stormy waters. At
last she spied a dark something tossing on the waves. The object floated
nearer and nearer, until a huge breaker cast before her on the sand the
body of her drowned husband.

"O dearest Ceyx!" she cried. "Is it thus that you return to me?"
Stretching out her arms toward him, she leaped upon the sea wall as if
she would throw herself into the ocean, which advanced and retreated,
seething around his body. But a different fate was to be