in portions of them, and especially
some of the independent shorter stories, are well adapted to use in
reading-classes at school. Of the seventeen stories herein presented,
nine are from the "Golden Age," four from "Siegfried," and four from
"Roland." They are, for the most part, episodes, complete in
themselves, and connected only by a slender thread with the main
narrative. Their intrinsic value is in no way diminished by being thus
separated from their former setting, and each tale being independent of
the others, they lend themselves more readily to the demands of the
schoolroom.

It is well to observe that in no case have I endeavored to repeat the
story in its exact original form. To have done so would have defeated
the purpose in view; for without proper adaptation such stories are
usually neither interesting nor intelligible to children. I have
therefore recast and rearranged, using my own words, and adding here a
touch of color and here a fanciful idea, as the narrative has seemed to
permit or as my audience of school children may demand. Nevertheless,
in the end, the essential features of each tale--those which give it
value in its original form--remain unchanged.

CONTENTS

How Apollo Came to Parnassus
The Hunt in the Wood of Calydon
The Choice of Hercules
Alpheus and Arethusa
The Golden Apple
Paris and Oenone
Hesione
Paris and Helen
Iphigenia
The Hoard of the Elves
The Forging of Balmung
Idun and Her Apples
The Doom of the Mischief-maker
The Hunt in the Wood of Puelle
Ogier the Dane and the Fairies
How Charlemagne Crossed the Alps
What Happened at Roncevaux

HOW APOLLO CAME TO PARNASSUS

A very long time ago, Apollo was born in the island of Delos. When the
glad news of his birth was told, Earth smiled, and decked herself with
flowers; the nymphs of Delos sang songs of joy that were heard to the
utmost bounds of Greece; and choirs of white swans flew seven times
around the island, piping notes of praise to the pure being who had
come to dwell among men. Then Zeus looked down from high Olympus, and
crowned the babe with a golden head-band, and put into his hands a
silver bow and a sweet-toned lyre such as no man had ever seen; and he
gave him a team of white swans to drive, and bade him go forth to teach
men the things which are right and good, and to make light that which
is hidden in darkness.

So Apollo arose, beautiful as the morning sun