the battered gates and
the crumbling wall the Acarnanian hosts were driven. A panic seized
upon them. They turned and fled, and not many of them escaped the
swords of Meleager's men.

"Again there was peace in Calydon, and the orchards of King Oineus
blossomed and bore fruit as of old; but the gifts and large rewards
which the elders had promised to Meleager were forgotten. He had saved
his country, but his countrymen were ungrateful.

"Meleager again laid aside his war gear, and sought the quiet of his
own home and the cheering presence of fair Cleopatra. For the
remembrance of his mother's curse and his country's ingratitude weighed
heavily on his mind, and he cared no longer to mingle with his fellow
men.

"Then it was that Althea's hatred of her son waxed stronger, and she
thought of the half-burned brand which she had hidden, and of the words
which the Fatal Sisters had spoken so many years before.

"'He is no longer my son,' said she, 'and why should I withhold the
burning of the brand? He can never again bring comfort to my heart;
for the blood of my brothers, whom I loved, is upon his head.'

"And she took the charred billet from the place where she had hidden
it, and cast it again into the flames. And as it slowly burned away,
so did the life of Meleager wane. Lovingly he bade his wife farewell;
softly he whispered a prayer to the unseen powers above; and as the
flickering flames of the fatal brand died into darkness, he gently
breathed his last.

"Then sharp-toothed remorse seized upon Althea, and the mother love
which had slept in her bosom was reawakened. Too late, also, the folk
of Calydon remembered who it was that had saved them from slavery and
death. Down into the comfortless halls of Hades, Althea hastened to
seek her son's forgiveness. The loving heart of Cleopatra, surcharged
with grief, was broken; and her gentle spirit fled to the world of
shades to meet that of her hero-husband. Meleager's sisters would not
be consoled, so great was the sorrow which had come upon them; and they
wept and lamented day and night, until kind Artemis in pity for their
youth changed them into the birds which we call Meleagrides."

[1]Autolycus was a famous mountain chief who lived in rude state on the
slopes of Parnassus and was noted for his courage and cunning. He was
the grandfather of Odysseus (Ulysses), to whom the story is supposed to
have been related.

THE CHOICE OF HERCULES

When