phon, and sometimes take him pretty
severely to task. They told him that an able-bodied young man, like
himself, ought to have better business than to be wasting his time in
such an idle pursuit. They offered to sell him a horse, if he wanted
one; and when Bellerophon declined the purchase, they tried to drive a
bargain with him for his fine bridle.

Even the country boys thought him so very foolish, that they used to
have a great deal of sport about him, and were rude enough not to care
a fig, although Bellerophon saw and heard it. One little urchin, for
example, would play Pegasus, and cut the oddest imaginable capers, by
way of flying; while one of his schoolfellows would scamper after him,
holding forth a twist of bulrushes, which was intended to represent
Bellerophon's ornamental bridle. But the gentle child, who had seen
the picture of Pegasus in the water, comforted the young stranger more
than all the naughty boys could torment him. The dear little fellow,
in his play-hours, often sat down beside him, and, without speaking a
word, would look down into the fountain and up towards the sky, with
so innocent a faith, that Bellerophon could not help feeling
encouraged.

Now you will, perhaps, wish to be told why it was that Bellerophon had
undertaken to catch the winged horse. And we shall find no better
opportunity to speak about this matter than while he is waiting for
Pegasus to appear.

If I were to relate the whole of Bellerophon's previous adventures,
they might easily grow into a very long story. It will be quite enough
to say, that, in a certain country of Asia, a terrible monster, called
a Chimaera, had made its appearance, and was doing more mischief than
could be talked about between now and sunset. According to the best
accounts which I have been able to obtain, this Chimaera was nearly, if
not quite, the ugliest and most poisonous creature, and the strangest
and unaccountablest, and the hardest to fight with, and the most
difficult to run away from, that ever came out of the earth's inside.
It had a tail like a boa-constrictor; its body was like I do not care
what; and it had three separate heads, one of which was a lion's, the
second a goat's, and the third an abominably great snake's. And a hot
blast of fire came flaming out of each of its three mouths! Being an
earthly monster, I doubt whether it had any wings; but, wings or no,
it ran like a goat and a lion, and wriggled along like a serpent, and