Latest / The Golden Porch / The First Horse

Transcript

The First Horse · The Golden Porch

• 0:01
  Section twenty of The Golden Porch. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
• 0:07
  recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 0:12
  visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Larry Wilson. The Golden Porch by W.
• 0:18
  M. L. Hutchinson. The First Horse. There was a king
• 0:23
  of the olden time who heard a prophecy that the child of his only daughter
• 0:28
  would destroy him. This daughter was the loveliest princess in the world, and
• 0:33
  her name was Denay. Her father loved her well, but when he heard
• 0:37
  that prophecy, he shut her up all alone in a brazen tower, and
• 0:42
  let no one come near her except himself, for he thought, my daughter
• 0:47
  shall never marry, lest she have a child who brings me doom. The
• 0:51
  fair young princess was very lonely in her tower all day. She had nothing
• 0:56
  to do but comb her golden hair and spin with silver distaff, and gazed
• 1:02
  through barred casements at the hills and woods where she longed to wander free.
• 1:07
  The stern king forbade her even to show herself on the roof of the tower
• 1:11
  by day, but at night she would often go there to weep and bewail
• 1:15
  her lot under the stars. Now it chanced one midsummer night that the King
• 1:21
  of all the fairies saw her weeping, and heard her saying that she would
• 1:25
  not be so unhappy if only she had one living thing to love and to
• 1:30
  play with in her prison. He took pity on the captive princess, and
• 1:34
  when she lay down to sleep, he came and whispered in her ear,
• 1:38
  Dnay, the fairies have set you a playfellow. Danae awoke and behold a
• 1:45
  shower of gold was falling round her and drifting into a heap upon her bed.
• 1:49
  But when she put out her hands to touch the fairy gold, the
• 1:53
  heap turned into a beautiful little child, whose yellow hair was bright as sunshine.
• 2:00
  Overjoyed, she took him into her arms and hushed him to sleep.
• 2:04
  But she herself could sleep no more that night, for thinking of this wonderful
• 2:07
  gift the fairies had sent her. Next morning, the king came as usual
• 2:13
  to the tower to see how his daughter fared, and found her plain with
• 2:16
  the child. Daughter said he, whose child is this? And how came
• 2:23
  he here? He is mine, said the princess. The fairies have sent
• 2:28
  him to meet in pity for my loneliness. At these words, fear and
• 2:32
  wrath possessed the king, for it seemed to him that this must be the
• 2:37
  child spoken of in the prophecy. Moreover, he did not believe the fairies
• 2:42
  had sent him, but thought that de Nay had, by some means,
• 2:45
  contrived to have him brought into the tower, so that she might rear up
• 2:49
  a child to slay her father and release her. So the cruel king shut
• 2:54
  up the princess and the babe in a great chest and had it thrown into
• 2:59
  the sea, but the gods did not suffer them to perish. The chests
• 3:04
  drifted to an island, where certain fishermen drew it ashore in their nets,
• 3:07
  and, having opened it, ran to tell the king that a lovely lady
• 3:12
  and her child were cast in wondrous wise upon his shores. The island king
• 3:16
  received a Nay with all his kindness, but when he asked her who she
• 3:22
  was, she would only tell him that she was a princess from a far
• 3:24
  country who had escaped from shipwreck in that chest with her little son, for
• 3:30
  she feared the fairy child would be taken from her if she told all the
• 3:34
  truth. Now, because of Darnay's beauty. The island king would fain have
• 3:38
  wedded her, but she would have none of him, saying that all her
• 3:43
  love was given to her son. And when the king saw that his suit
• 3:46
  was vain, he began to hate Perseus, for so the child was called.
• 3:53
  Yet he bided his time until Perseus was grown a lad, and then,
• 3:57
  with a show of friendliness, he said to him, such a noble
• 4:00
  youth as you are should not be content to live in sloth at his mother's
• 4:05
  side, when there are great deeds to be done. I know of an
• 4:11
  adventure that will bring you everlasting fame, if you can brave the peril of
• 4:15
  it. Tell me what it is, said Perseus, For I long to
• 4:19
  win renown. Far in the west, said the king, there dwell three
• 4:26
  wondrous sisters called gorgons, who have the faces and forms of beautiful women,
• 4:31
  but are winged, and instead of tresses, black snakes grow on their heads.
• 4:38
  Two are immortal, but the third, whose name is Medusa, is
• 4:42
  mortal. And to slay that dire creature where a feat worthy of the mightiest
• 4:46
  hero. Forthwith, Perseus was fired with longing to achieve that enterprise, and
• 4:54
  he set out on the quest in which he would have perished, as the
• 4:58
  king hoped, had not a the goddess befriended him. Athena, who loves
• 5:02
  the brave, came to meet the youth as he drew near the lonely western
• 5:05
  mountains where the gorgon's dwealth, and he greeted her without fear, for in
• 5:12
  those days the immortals walked freely among men. Prince, She said, how
• 5:17
  is it you are come without a shield to slay Medusa. I have my
• 5:23
  sword, said Perseus, and why should I need a shield? The goddess
• 5:29
  told him a thing that the king purposely kept hidden from him, namely that
• 5:33
  Medusa's eyes turned all who looked on them to stone. Take my burnish shields,
• 5:40
  she said, and look thereon as on a mirror, while I lead
• 5:44
  you backwards to the gorgons. Shee whom you will see in the shield.
• 5:47
  Sitting between her sisters is Medusa, And by help of that mirror you must
• 5:53
  make shift to smite off her head. Perseus did just as he was bidden,
• 5:59
  and with eyes still fixed on the bright shield, he cut off Medusa's
• 6:02
  head at one blow. Then the other two gorgons rose on their great wings
• 6:06
  into the air and hovered above their dead sister, shrilling out a weird lament.
• 6:13
  There was strange beauty in that mournful strain. Tears filled the eyes of
• 6:17
  Perseus as he listened to it, Nor did Athena herself hear it unmoved,
• 6:24
  and in after time she devised the first flute that she might imitate the gorgon's
• 6:29
  wailing tones, and taught Mortals to play thereon the tune which is still called
• 6:34
  Medusa's Dirge. But now as the gorgons sang, Perseus saw a wondrous sight.
• 6:42
  Forth from the ground where Medusa's blood lay in a dark pool, sprang
• 6:46
  a four legged creature, the like of which neither he nor any man had
• 6:50
  ever seen. For twas the first horse, Perseus ran to the beautiful prancing
• 6:56
  beast to seize him by the main, But the first horse had wings,
• 7:00
  and straightway he soared aloft and passed from sight. Then Athena took Medusa's head
• 7:06
  and fixed it in the center of her shield, and she covered it with
• 7:10
  her veil. Take this home with you, she said to Perseus, and
• 7:15
  use it as you shall see need. But remember that to look on it
• 7:19
  is death. Now when Perseus came home, he found that the island king
• 7:25
  had bound Denay in chains and cast her into a dungeon because she would not
• 7:30
  wed him. So he uncovered the shield and brandished it before the eyes of
• 7:34
  the king and his servants, and they were tuned to stone. After that
• 7:40
  he achieved many adventures by help of the Gorgon Shield, before Athena took it
• 7:46
  to herself again because the power of it was too great to be left in
• 7:49
  mortal keeping. And in the end he slew Denay's father. Yet he did
• 7:55
  that by mischance. Thus the prophecy was fulfilled, and there thereafter Denay and
• 8:01
  her fairy child lived happy to their lives end. But now hear the story
• 8:05
  of the first horse. That day he was born from Gorgon's blood. He
• 8:09
  flew over land and sea to a high mountain nigh to a city called Corinth.
• 8:16
  There was no water on the mountain for him to drink, but he
• 8:18
  stamped with his shining hoof upon the ground, and a clear spring gushed forth.
• 8:24
  This was seen by certain woodcutters, who went hastily to the city and
• 8:28
  told the king that a marvelous beast had appeared on the mountain. Then the
• 8:33
  king's son, whose name was Bellerophon, went to hunt the beast. But
• 8:37
  when he saw the first horse, he wished to take him alive, for
• 8:41
  he seemed as gentle as he was beautiful, and showed no fear of man.
• 8:46
  But the horse, though he let Bellerophon come nearer and stroke his neck,
• 8:50
  broke away whenever he tried to hold him or to jump on his back,
• 8:56
  Till at last the king's son went home discouraged, and the people of
• 9:00
  Corinth called the strange new creature Pegasus, which means well spring in their language,
• 9:05
  because he made the water flow. Now, Bellerophon thought for many days
• 9:09
  how he might catch the horse and tame him, and at length he asked
• 9:13
  the seer of the city what to do, saying, if I could but
• 9:18
  master this Pegasus, he would carry me swifter than the wind. My counsel
• 9:24
  is, said the seer, Let you go this night to the temple of
• 9:28
  Athena and pray the goddess to help you. Then lie down to sleep on
• 9:33
  the altar, and it may be she will show you some device in a
• 9:37
  dream. Bellerophon followed his council, and scarcely had he fallen asleep when Athena
• 9:43
  appeared to him in a dream and said, away, King's son of Corinth,
• 9:48
  Behold, I bring you a golden charm which will tame Pegasus as soon
• 9:54
  as you bind it about his jaws. And when you are lord of him,
• 9:58
  offer a white bull to Poseidon, the earth shaking God, and hanging
• 10:03
  up the charm over my althar. For we two in love to this city,
• 10:07
  sent the first horse hither to be the servant of man. Bellerophon awoke,
• 10:13
  and he was alone, but he knew he had had a true vision.
• 10:16
  For behold, a golden thing lay beside him, the like of which
• 10:20
  was never seen on earth before. He showed it to the seer and told
• 10:24
  the vision, And then joyfully he hastened to the mountain with the charm.
• 10:28
  Pegasus stood still as though enchanted, while he slipped it over his head and
• 10:33
  between his teeth, and from that moment the King's son could guide him at
• 10:37
  will. Thus, ever after, Corinth had renowned as the place where the
• 10:43
  first horse was tamed by help of the first bit and bridle, and two
• 10:46
  memorials of the wonder remained there till later ages. Even the fountain Peren which
• 10:52
  Pegasus made to flow from the hillside, and that golden gift of Athena,
• 10:56
  which Bellerophon, as she bade him, dedicate it in her temple. Now
• 11:01
  Bellerophon rode his winged steed far and wide, over land and sea, wherever
• 11:07
  he heard of monsters to be slain, are wicked kings to be overthrown.
• 11:11
  And he ridded the earth of many such, shooting his arrows upon them from
• 11:16
  the bosom of the air. But at last, in the pride of his
• 11:20
  heart, he boasted that he would mount up to heaven and enter the abode
• 11:24
  of the gods. And so he came to no good end, For Zeus
• 11:28
  caused a gadfly to sting Pegasus as he soared upward, and his sudden plunge
• 11:33
  through Bellerophon from his back. No mortal eye saw rider or horse again.
• 11:39
  And of the rash prince's fate, those who were wisest spoke the least.
• 11:43
  But of Pegasus, it was told that he rested thenceforth in those shining stalls
• 11:48
  where the horses of the gods feed from golden mangers. End of Section twenty