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The Heavenly Twins, Part 1 · The Golden Porch

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  Section sixteen of The Golden Porch. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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  recordings were in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  visit LibriVox dot org. The Golden Porch by W. M. L.
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  Hutchinson. The Heavenly Twins, Part one. Travelers in the ancient ages told
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  that Laconia was the fairest of all the kingdoms of the South. There you
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  might journey all day through groves of citron and of orange, heavy with shining
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  fruit and sweet with blossom, and rest in the heat of noontide with the
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  leafy sycamore and walnut trees made a pleasant shade on the river banks. And
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  there the nightingale sang all day long in the wayside copses for the flowering myrtles
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  grew so thickly that not a sunbeam could come through to tell her night had
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  gone. But the travelers said that in all Laconia nothing could be seen more
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  beautiful than the maidens of the land, peasant girl or king's daughter. They
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  were all like queens to look upon, tall and stately and marvelous. Fair.
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  Now there were once a maiden called Leda, and she was as far
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  above the rest and beauty, as the moon is brighter than the stars.
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  It was said that the old chieftain her father, came out of the north
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  country to dwell in Laconia. And indeed her golden hair and milk white skin
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  showed plainly that she was of northern race. So there was much murmuring when
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  the king chose her for his bride, instead of taking to a wife a
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  princess of his own kindred. It was whispered among the old folks the bad
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  luck would come of it. It happened, however, that the harvest that
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  year was very great, and the king was at peace with all his neighbors.
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  Moreover, Queen Leda was gentle and gracious to her household, and bountiful
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  to the needy, so that the people began to forgive her for being a
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  foreigner. The next year, in the spring, word came to her husband
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  of a great hunting to be held in the mountains beyond the borders of his
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  kingdom, to which many chiefs and princes were gathering, and he made ready
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  to join them with a goodly company. Very busy were his men, sharpening
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  and burnishing, hunting spears and knives, Seeing to the horses, and to
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  the great Laconian hounds, a famous breed that could pull down wolf and wild
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  boar, and even the mountain bull. Busy too, was the queen,
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  looking well that her women prepared all needful food for the journey, and sorting
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  out coverlets and bedding and garments for the king's use, for he would perhaps
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  be many weeks among the hills. Then, when he was gone, the
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  palace seemed to her silent and empty, and a strange sadness came into her
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  heart. That night she lay long awake, When at last she slept,
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  Her old nurse, who had crept in to watch her, saw the tears
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  stealing down her cheeks. Ailes of my heart, said the old crone,
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  bending over her. Never may the dream come true that you weep to see,
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  nurse said, Lda, starting up. Have I been asleep? Who
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  spoke to me? Just now? Who came and told me? She could
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  say no more? And hid her face in her hands. The old crone
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  made the sign that drives away evil magic. No one has entered my queen,
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  she said, Have I not kept watch at your chamber door? This
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  was some dream? Come Let me hear of it. It may be I
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  can read it for you, and if it bodes misfortune which the gods avert,
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  you shall take counsel of some seer. No no, cried Leda,
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  and wrung her hands to no one. Can I tell it, let me
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  alone, nurse. Nor could the nurse coax her into saying another word,
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  and her silence vexed the old woman, who had no small skill in signs
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  and omens. Next morning, the queen, as was then the custom of
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  queen's herself, gave orders to her women for all the work of the day,
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  And because the time had come round for a great washing of the household
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  linen, she went down to the river to see that they did it properly.
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  The younger handmaids were very merry over this work, which they liked much
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  better than scrubbing and scouring and weaving and spinning indoors. They knelt on the
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  low bank and plunged the clothes into the shallow running water, and some of
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  them tucked up their robes and paddled and to tread the clothes clean on the
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  pebbly river bed, just as highland lassies used to do not so very long
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  ago. The sun was but just risen when they began their work, and
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  all was done before the heat of the day set in. Then they took
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  their pleasant meal of bread and figs and wine in the grassy meadow, and
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  some lay down to rest. But the young girls began a game at ball.
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  Many a happy day had laid as bent in this way in her girlhood,
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  and always till to day she had loved to watch the sport and join
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  in the laughter and singing. But now, because her heart was heavy,
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  she went and sat a little way off from the others, thinking strange thoughts.
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  See, cried a girl presently, as she tossed up the ball.
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  See those two great birds flying overhead. Birds, said you, croaked the
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  old nurse, peering up. Aye. Aye, wild geese most like of
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  your feather, my girl, Well may they flock hither. If the old
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  proverb hold true, your tongue is sharper than your eyes, old woman,
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  laughed another handmaid. For one of those birds is an eagle. Look,
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  sisters, Look how fiercely he chases the other. Round and round they fly,
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  and lower and lower. See the other is wearied out all the beautiful
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  creature. It is as white as snow. It is a swan, said
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  leda coming forward. All now stood still to wash the strange chase. The
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  swan was wearied out, indeed, and its great white wings flapped ever more
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  feebly as it circled downwards, Nearer and nearer it came to the spot where
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  the women stood, till they shrieked and scattered in fear as the huge eagle
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  swooped after it, close to their heads. Only Leda did not move,
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  and just as the beautiful birds sank at her feet, she threw her arms
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  round it with a cry of pity, and shielded it with her mantle from
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  those cruel claws, and strained to tell the eagle did not harm her.
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  Up he soared into the sky. Higher and higher he flew, till he
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  was seen no more. Now all the women had fled towards the palace,
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  for they made certain that the eagle would kill the queen with one blow of
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  his beak. And even the old nurse had hobbled off as fast as she
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  could for terror. Leda was left alone with the swan on the river bank.
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  She drew her mantle off the trimling bird and stroked its head and smoothed
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  its silvery wings, and told it was safe for the eagle was gone,
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  It seemed to understand her and came closer to her side, looking into her
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  face with its lustrous eyes. Beautiful swan, she said, why have you
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  lingered in our country when winter has gone? Always when the summer is over,
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  we see our brothers and sisters come flocking from over the mountains, and
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  they live all winter in the reed beds of our river. But they fly
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  back in the spring to their own land, the far north land that was
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  once my father's home. Lady said, the swan far is that land,
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  but not so far as mine. Farther than ever swan has flown, Have
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  I journeyed to look on one who is whiter than any swan? Then Lada
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  trembled very much, for she knew that this was not a real swan,
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  and that the gods could take any shape that pleased them when they came among
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  men. And she bowed herself humbly before the great bird. O, my
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  lord, she said, be gracious to your handmaid. If indeed I speak
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  to one of the blessed gods, tell me I pray by what name may
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  I call you? This? She said, because the immortals were most particular
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  about being called by their right names. Fear nothing. Sweet Leda said the
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  swan, as for my name, I am he whose servant is the eagle,
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  and I bade him chase me in this shape to your feet, that
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  I might learn if you are as kind as you are fair. Then Leyda
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  knew that King Zeus himself talked with her, and she was the more afraid.
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  But the swan bent his arching neck and laid his head gently on her
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  arm. Because you did not fear to save the hunted bird, he said,
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  ask what you will, and I will do it. Leda remembered her
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  dream, and the tears sprang to her eyes. Gracious Zeus, she said,
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  I know not what to ask. I have everything a queen can wish
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  for, except children. And if you had come to me only yesterday,
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  that is the gift I would have chosen. But last night I had a
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  cruel dream. I thought I stood before the holy temple at Delphi, waiting
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  while my husband inquired of the oracle children should be born to us. Then
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  a veiled messenger came out and said to me, the priestess has spoken,
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  Twin children shall be born to King sa and Darius, an only son and
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  an only daughter. And they shall both be slain while he yet lives.
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  At these words, I awoke weeping, and my nurse asked me my dream.
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  But I dare not tell it to any one, for if the people
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  hear of it, they will say, this is what comes of the king
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  nearing an outlander. And if my husband hears of it, his heart will
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  be turned from me, because I bring this evil on his house. Alas
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  Alas the king should go down to his grave childless and leave no son to
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  sit upon his throne. And I have heard, almightiest of the gods,
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  that even you cannot turn away their doom from hapless mortals. You have heard,
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  truly, lady, the Swan answered, for a law that cannot be
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  broken governs all things in earth and heaven. Great is the power of the
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  gods, But it is not like the power of the sea, whose terrible
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  waves cannot pass their appointed bounds. Yet with our help, the thing that
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  must come to pass may bring with it more good than evil. So now
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  take comfort, and when your children come, the Swan's gifts shall come with
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  them. But remember that you tell no one whence it came, nor who
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  it was you save from the eagle, So saying he flapped his broad wings
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  as if to fly softly, they brushed across the eyes, and that instant
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  she fell asleep. Meanwhile, the women who had rushed home to the palace
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  crying that the queen was killed, came back with guards and serving men to
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  look for her, and were very much astonished because they could see no trace
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  of her stranger. Still, they could not find the spot where they had
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  left her. The flat and grassy bank where they had spread the linen to
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  dry was just as they had left it. But a little way upstream where
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  the queen had stood, they saw instead of level meadow, a bed of
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  tall wreaths and rushes. We are bewitched, they cried. Yonder, just
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  where the river makes a bend is the very spot where the swan alighted.
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  But the men mocked them and said, are you all crazy with fright?
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  You silly wenches? What did you play ball in a reed bed? Come
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  show us where you left our mistress, or will be the worse for you
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  now. The old nurse had followed the others, crying and lamenting, and
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  expecting every moment to see her lady lying dead. But when she saw the
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  rushes waving where no rushes had been it came into her mind that this might
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  be the water fairies doing. These fairies, who were called naiads in those
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  days, are the gentlest and kindest of all. The tree fairies are kind
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  hearted too, but rather changeable, for their timber depends a good deal on
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  the weather, and they delight in helping mortals in distress. One reason is
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  that many of them were once mortals themselves, who fell into the water or
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  jumped in to get away from some enemy, and so were drowned. The
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  old nurse thought that one of them had most likely made the rushes spring up
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  to hide Leda and the swan from the eagle, and she was very nearly
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  right. Only the naid had done it to make a bower for Leda while
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  she rested. So the old kront went boldly forward and pushed aside the screen
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  of rushes, and there, with joy and wonder, they saw their queen
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  lying fast asleep, looking, as the old nurse said, just like a
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  snow white swan in its nest among the reeds. Weeks went by and months
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  went by, and still King Tindareus did not come home from the hunting.
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  Word came that he had sworn friendship with another prince who had saved his life
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  from a savage boar, and was gone to help him win back his kingdom
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  from a usurper. All this time, lady kept the swan secret, as
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  he had bidden her, and when the old nurse questioned her about what had
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  happened, she only smiled and spoke of something else. So the old crone
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  told the other women that the naid had hidden the queen by enchantment in the
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  nick of time, and they all believed her, and often threw flowers and
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  cakes into the river to please that good fairy. At last news was brought
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  to the palace that the king had helped his friend to win a great victory
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  and was coming home with much spoil. Already, said the messenger, he
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  was near at hand, and in two days time he would enter the city.
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  That same night, the queen had a little son and a little daughter,
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  and they were put to sleep into ivory cradles beside their mother's bed.
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  Before sunrise next morning, she was awakened by a sound like the flapping of
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  wings. She looked round and saw nothing. Only on the ledge of the
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  open window lay a white feather. Then she leaned down and peeped into the
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  cradles, and there beside each baby was a swan's egg among the pillows.
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  That is the gift, she thought, But what can be the use of
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  it? And she took one of the eggs in her hand to look at
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  it. Instantly, the shell cracked in two, and she saw inside it
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  the loveliest baby, like a little doll. The tiny creature stretched out its
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  arms to her and smiled. Then, quickly as you can blow a bubble,
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  it grew in her hand till it was as large as other babies.
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  Full of wonder, she took the egg from the other cradle, and the
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  same thing happened. The two swan children were as like as two peas,
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  only the one she had taken from her little son's cradle was a baby boy,
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  and the other was a baby girl. Leida knew that directly, because
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  all new babies suck their thumbs if they are boys, and their fingers if
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  they are girls. Then Lyda began to think hard how she might keep the
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  wonderful present without telling who had sent it. Now, every one in the
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  palace was so busy getting ready for the king's home coming that only the old
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  nurse could be spared to wait on the queen, so no one else knew
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  yet of her having twins. Laa resolved to show the old woman the swan
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  babies at once and make her promise to give out that they also were the
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  queen's children. I will bring them up as my own, she said to
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  herself, And so even if my two poor little ones must die untimely,
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  the King and I will not be left childless in our old age. As
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  she gave thanks to Zeus for her gift, quickly came the old nurse at
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  her lady's call, and loud were her cries of wonder. When she saw
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  the swan babies. She willingly promised never to tell anyone they were not the
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  king's children, for she said, one never knows what may happen, and
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  a king with one son is like a ship with one anchor. But when
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  she asked eagerly if Leeda had seen nothing and heard nothing of these babies coming,
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  the Queen only said they were here when I awoke. The old crone
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  was very shrewd and terribly inquisitive. And she thought to herself, the queen
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  knows more than she will tell me, or why is she not more astonished
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  at this marvelous thing. She does not seem to think it the least surprising
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  to wake up and find four babes instead of two. Something for sure has
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  troubled her since that dream she had. And I shall have no rest till
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  I find out what all this means. So thinking, she began prying round
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  the room and soon found two things that made her more curious than ever.
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  On the window sill was a white swan's feather, and under the cradle of
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  the girl babies was the broken shell of a swan's egg. Leeda had hidden
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  the other in her bed, but this one had fallen to the floor,
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  and she forgot it. The cunning old crone said nothing, but the moment
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  Leeda's back was turned, she picked up both egg shells and feather and hid
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  them in her coffer. Some day, she thought, these tokens may bring
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  to light the truth. A happy man was King Tendareus when he saw those
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  lovely children, and they pleased him more than all the treasures he brought home
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  with him. As time went on, the two little princes grew up to
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  be the handsomest and bravest lads that ever were seen in Laconia, and the
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  two little princesses were the talk of the whole kingdom for their beauty. One
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  of these maidens was dark eyed and dark haired, and her name was Clytemnestra.
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  The other, who was called Helen, was so enchanting in her loveliness
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  that no one could refuse use her anything, and everybody spoiled her. Strangely
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  enough, although she was one of the Swan children, she had the same
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  violet eyes and golden hair as Leda. The two princesses were sought in marriage
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  by so many king's sons that their father feared to bestow them on any lest
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  the others should take offense and make war upon him. Therefore, he invited
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  all the suitors to a wedding feast, and said to them, princes,
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  my daughters shall make their own choice from among you, but first you shall
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  take an oath that whoever they choose, all the rest of you will fight
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  for my sons in law if ever they are in need of help. All
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  the suitors agreed to this condition, and thus King Tyndareus made sure allies for
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  himself and his family. The princesses were brought into the hall to see their
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  suitors, and they chose the two sons of a king named Atreus, and
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  were married that same day with great pomp and splendor. Now what befall them
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  afterwards is the most famous of all stories. But here we bid them farewell,
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  for this tale is about their brothers. End of section sixteen, read
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  by Stephanie J.