te a crust of bread together, and drank some of the water of the
fountain. In the afternoon, there they sat, and Bellerophon had thrown
his arm around the child, who likewise had put one of his little hands
into Bellerophon's. The latter was lost in his own thoughts, and was
fixing his eyes vacantly on the trunks of the trees that overshadowed
the fountain, and on the grapevines that clambered up among their
branches. But the gentle child was gazing down into the water; he was
grieved, for Bellerophon's sake, that the hope of another day should
be deceived, like so many before it; and two or three quiet tear-drops
fell from his eyes, and mingled with what were said to be the many
tears of Pirene, when she wept for her slain children.

But, when he least thought of it, Bellerophon felt the pressure of the
child's little hand, and heard a soft, almost breathless, whisper.

"See there, dear Bellerophon! There is an image in the water!"

The young man looked down into the dimpling mirror of the fountain,
and saw what he took to be the reflection of a bird which seemed to be
flying at a great height in the air, with a gleam of sunshine on its
snowy or silvery wings.

"What a splendid bird it must be!" said he. "And how very large it
looks, though it must really be flying higher than the clouds!"

"It makes me tremble!" whispered the child. "I am afraid to look up
into the air! It is very beautiful, and yet I dare only look at its
image in the water. Dear Bellerophon, do you not see that it is no
bird? It is the winged horse Pegasus!"

Bellerophon's heart began to throb! He gazed keenly upward, but could
not see the winged creature, whether bird or horse; because, just
then, it had plunged into the fleecy depths of a summer cloud. It was
but a moment, however, before the object reappeared, sinking lightly
down out of the cloud, although still at a vast distance from the
earth. Bellerophon caught the child in his arms, and shrank back with
him, so that they were both hidden among the thick shrubbery which
grew all around the fountain. Not that he was afraid of any harm, but
he dreaded lest, if Pegasus caught a glimpse of them, he would fly far
away, and alight in some inaccessible mountain-top. For it was really
the winged horse. After they had expected him so long, he was coming
to quench his thirst with the water of Pirene.

Nearer and nearer came the aerial wonder, flying in great circles, as
you may have seen a dove