uch where his young queen lay, and held her cold hand in his own. The
day passed, and night came, but he would not leave her. All through the
dark hours he sat there alone. The morning dawned, but he did not want
to see the light.

At last the sun began to rise in the east, and then Admetus was
surprised to feel the hand which he held growing warm. He saw a red
tinge coming into the pale cheeks of Alcestis.

A moment later the fair lady opened her eyes and sat up, alive and well
and glad.

How was it that Alcestis had been given back to life?

When she died and left her body, the Shadow Leader, who knows no pity,
led her, as he led all others, to the cheerless halls of Proserpine, the
queen of the Lower World.

"Who is this who comes so willingly?" asked the pale-faced queen.

And when she was told how Alcestis, so young and beautiful, had given
her life to save that of her husband, she was moved with pity; and she
bade the Shadow Leader take her back again to the joy and sunlight of
the Upper World.

So it was that Alcestis came to life; and for many years she and Admetus
lived in their little kingdom not far from the sea; and the Mighty Ones
on the mountain top blessed them; and, at last, when they had become
very old, the Shadow Leader led them both away together.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

CADMUS AND EUROPA.

I. THE BULL.

In Asia there lived a king who had two children, a boy and a girl. The
boy's name was Cadmus, and the girl's name was Europa. The king's
country was a very small one. He could stand on his house top and see
the whole of it. On one side of it there were mountains, and on the
other side was the sea. The king thought that it was the center of the
world, and he did not know much about other lands and people.

Yet he was very happy in his own little kingdom, and very fond of his
children. And he had good reason to be proud of them; for Cadmus grew up
to be the bravest young man in the land, and Europa to be the fairest
maiden that had ever been seen. But sad days came to them all at last.

One morning Europa went out into a field near the seashore to pick
flowers. Her father's cattle were in the field, grazing among the sweet
clover. They were all very tame, and Europa knew every one of them by
name. The herdsman was lying in the shade under a tree, trying to make
music on a little flute of straw. Europa had played in the field a
thousand times before, and no one had eve