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The Isle of the Rose · The Golden Porch

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  Section nineteen of The Golden Porch. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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  recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Christine Rutger, The Golden Porch by W.
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  M. L. Hutchinson. The Isle of the Rose, Chapter one.
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  In the days when the world began, there was an isle of the
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  sea where the first roses bloomed wild on the first rose trees that ever grew
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  from its mountain peaks down to the very margin of the sparkling waves. The
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  isle glowed with their crimson blossoms all the year, for in those days Earth
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  had perpetual spring. But this rose embowered land was like a fair garden haunted
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  by deadly serpents. For the folk who dwelt in it were all wizards and
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  warlocks. They were not as other men, but could change their shape to
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  what they pleased, and they had the evil eye, which has power to
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  blight every living thing it looks upon. The People of the neighboring isles and
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  coastlins lived in continual dread of that tribe of sorcerers who were named the Telshians,
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  because in the malice of their black hearts. They would sink ships by
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  their enchantments, and come flying on the wings of the wind to blast crops
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  or bewitch cattle by their baleful glance. In that far off time, Zeus
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  and his brethren were yet unborn, and Cronos, the old sky god,
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  was king over all. Now, Earth, the mother of gods and men,
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  prophesied to Cronos that one of his own children would drive him from his
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  heavenly throne. Therefore he sought to destroy them at their birth. But Rhea,
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  his wife, hid them all as soon as they were born, and
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  put stones, wrapped in swaddling bands in to their cradles, which Cronos cast
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  into a pit of darkness in mistake for his children. The youngest born was
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  Zeus, and him his goddess mother carried secretly to a cave on a lonely
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  mountain, where the fairies of the rocks nursed him, and the wild men
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  of the woods kept up a din of knights with drums and cymbals, lest
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  Cronos should hear his baby cries. And when the young god grew to his
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  full strength, he brought Earth's prophecy to pass for he drove his father from
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  the sky to the sunset aisles at the world's end, and sat upon his
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  throne. That so same day, certain ancient women, lame and limping,
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  stood before the throne, and Zeus asked them who they were. We are
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  the prayers of men, they answered, sent up from earth to call down
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  vengeance on the evil Telshenes, who by fall magic lay waste feels and vineyards,
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  and strike dead the first lings of the flocks. We are lame,
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  like all our sisterhood, and hobble slowly on our errands. Yet of all
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  messengers we are the surest in the end. Then the wrath of Zeus was
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  kindled against that wizard folk, and he hurled down red hot thunderbolts and rained
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  a great rain upon the sea, till its waters boiled like a cauldron and
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  broke in monstrous billows over the ale of the telshens. The bed of the
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  deep rocked and heaved, where the thunderbolts crashed upon it through the seething waters.
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  And in that shock, the foundations of the aisle crumbled beneath it and
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  sank, with all its roses fathoms down under the waves. So perished the
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  telshens. Yet there were some of them who, by their art had foreknowledge
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  of the coming doom, and fled betimes to another land, where, for
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  fear of Zeus they wrought evil no more, but won a great name for
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  skill in the working of iron, which they, of all mortals first found
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  a way to forge and temper. Now, Zeus kept for himself the kingdom
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  of the sky, and gave his brother Poseidon dominion over the seas and rivers.
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  But as for the earth, he portioned it out by lot among the
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  other gods. But it so chanced that Helios, the sun god, was
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  not present with the rest at the drawing of lots, and thus no land
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  was allotted for him to call his own. Pure and holy was that light
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  giving God. And when next he came into the heavenly halls, it grieved
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  the immortals that they had forgotten him and left him portionless. Then Zeus would
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  have cast lots again, but Helios said, nay, king of us,
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  all of that there is no need for. As I journey from east to
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  west in my flaming car, I have looked down into the deeps of the
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  sea, and have seen a fair isle growing up under the waves. As
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  it were a rose upon its stem. Let that isle be my portion when
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  it rises into upper air. And bid the three weird sisters, whose word
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  is law in earth and heaven, promise with a binding oath that it shall
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  be made my heritage forever. Sozus called the three weird sisters, and they
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  came and stood before him, gray haired women robed in gray. Now they
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  were older than time and the beginning of things. Yet none who looked on
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  their calm faces could tell if they were old or young. The first sister
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  was winding black threads and white threads on a spindle. The second was spinning
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  with a gold distaff. The third had in her hand a pair of shears,
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  and the threads were the lives of men, which, when the second
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  sister had spun to the length ordained for them, the third cut short with
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  her glittering shears. Zeus bade them swear as Helios desired, and they said,
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  we will swear by the loathly water, for that great oath binds all
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  the everlasting gods. Forthwith, Zeus sent Iris, his messenger, to fetch
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  some of that water which rises in a fountain called sticks, that is to
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  say, hateful and falls down a cleft of the earth into the underworld.
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  Colder than ice is the loathly water, and deadly to drink, and the
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  strongest vessel cannot contain it, for its shivers even iron to pieces. But
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  the gods know that the only cup which can hold it is an ass's hoof,
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  And in such a cup Iris brought it to the three sisters. Then
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  the second sister held the cup on high and swore by the loathly water that
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  Helios should be lord of the isle from the day it arose out of the
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  waves to the end of time. And she poured out the water on the
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  ground, for she it is who gives to all that live, both gods
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  and men their share of good and evil, But the other two have power
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  in the hour of birth and of death. It was the sunken land of
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  the Telshens that Helios had marked, springing upwards like a tree from its root
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  in the ocean floor. And not many times did he journey round the sky
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  before it shone green as emerald on the silver breast of the sea. The
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  sun god poured down his keenest rays on the hills and vales, until the
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  salt ooze of the deep was dried up from their leafy thickets. Once blossoming
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  with a million roses. Those flowers had perished in the waves. But a
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  fairer flower lay in the midst of the wild briar coverts, a sleeping maiden
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  with cheeks like rose leaves, and hair golden as the rose's heart. Helius
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  beheld her in joy and wonder, and hastened his fiery footed horses westward that
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  he might visit this treasure of his isle, when he had stabled them in
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  his ocean palace. Then in the purple twilight, he came to the bower
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  where the maiden lay, still sleeping, and awoke her with a kiss,
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  and her eyes opened from a slumber of years to behold that radiant God.
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  For she was the fairy of the first rose trees, who had slept an
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  enchanted sleep ever since the sea closed over the Telshen's Isle. In all the
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  earth, Helios, the all seeing, had seen nothing so lovely as her
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  face. And he promised, if she would be his bride, to make
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  her queen of his sea born land and call it by her name. And
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  from that hour to this it has been called the Isle of the Rose.
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  But at first she wept because all her flowers were drowned, and where her
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  tears fell they became white roses, and the white roses she kissed and turned
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  red. Seven sons were born to Helios and the Rose Fairy, who,
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  when they were grown to manhood, gathered a folk together from overseas and builded
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  a fair city on a hill of the isle. Then they said to their
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  father, we would have a temple in the high place of our city,
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  according to the custom of men, wherein one of the mortals may abide and
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  bless us as his own people. And we know this land is yours forever.
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  Therefore, in your honor, we will build the temple. But Helius
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  forbade them, and said, it is not for me, who day by
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  day must guide the chariot of the sun, to dwell in any temple made
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  with hands. I will teach you what you must do to win a divine
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  guardian for your city. There is a rumor in heaven of a prophecy uttered
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  by Mother Earth, that a new goddess will be born ere long, whose
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  mighty power will prosper with boundless wealth and glory. The city she chooses for
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  her abode, and it is foretold that she will choose the city of those
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  who first honor her with a burnt sacrifice. So now build a temple even
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  as you desire, and be ready when you hear tidings of such a birth,
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  to offer a sacrifice forthwith to the new immortal the seventh. The princes
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  did as they were bidden, and they laid wood on the altar of the
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  temple, ready to be kindled when the time came. Now it befell.
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  While all the gods sat in council one day and talked together after their manner
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  about the affairs of mortals, that Zeus fell deep into thought, pondering how
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  he might rule his kingdom for the best. Then on a sudden his brain
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  throbbed with mighty pangs, and he cried aloud in his anguish to Hephestus,
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  the lamesmith of the gods. Take your ax, Hephestus, and cleave open
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  my head lest it burst in pieces. For this pain is as it were
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  a live thing, struggling to come forth straightway. Hephestus heaved up his axe
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  and cleft the head of Zeus, and behold, a thick cloud of fiery
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  vapor rose up from the wound. Like a pillar of smoke. But even
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  as the astonished gods looked upon it, its form was changed to the likeness
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  of a woman of tall stature and glorious aspect, wearing a crested helm and
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  brandishing a spear. And she sprang down in the midst of them, uttering
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  a great war whoop. At that cry, the heavens trembled, and the
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  earth was shaken, and the gods themselves shuddered on their golden thrones, and
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  the four winds carried the tidings east and west, and south and north.
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  That a new goddess was born into the world, the daughter of Zeus,
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  without a mother. The seven sons of Helios no sooner heard it than they
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  took offerings of all the first fruits of their land, and hastened to the
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  temple they had built, which crowned the hill whereon their city stood. But
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  in their haste they forgot one thing. When they had laid the sacrifice on
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  the altar, they found too late that none of them had brought fire to
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  kindle the wood, and so they left the offering there unburnt, praying the
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  daughter of Zeus to accept it with favor, and went their way Meanwhile,
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  the men of another city, though they knew not the prophecy concerning the goddess,
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  were zealous to do her honor as soon as they heard the wondrous tale
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  of her birth, being indeed the most pious folk in all the world,
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  and after the sons of Helios, they were the first of mankind to offer
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  her sacrifice, nor did they neglect to burn it with fire. Therefore,
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  the daughter of Zeus came to abide in their city and was its mighty defender
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  ever after. And because she loved it exceedingly, she made it more glorious
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  than any other city has been or will be. And from its name,
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  which was Athens, she took her own great name of Athena. Nevertheless,
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  the gods was not unmindful of the prayer of the seven Princes, whose sacrifice
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  was the first, although it was imperfect, and she asked Zeus to reward
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  them for honoring her with some gift that would make their city flourish. So
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  Zeus, for her sake, snowed golden snow upon the isle of the Rose,
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  which sprinkled all the hills with glittery flakes and filled the valleys with dazzling
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  drifts. Till the sun God's children and their people were weary of gathering it,
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  and their storehouses were full to overflowing with the wondrous treasure. After this,
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  Athena herself appeared to the seven princes, fair and terrible in her shining
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  armor, and said to them, my father has recompensed your good intent towards
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  me with showers of gold. But I will give you a gift far above
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  wealth, even the gift of wisdom. For I have wisdom beyond all the
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  immortals except King Zus, because I was born from his brain, and I
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  can bestow it on whomsoever I will. Now, then you shall become wiser
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  than the wisest seers, and have such knowledge of all arts and handicrafts,
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  that you shall work greater wonders by pure skill than ever the Telshenes did in
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  this isle by unhallowed wizardry. And as the goddess promised, so it was.
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  The children of Helios became master workers in every craft than known among men,
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  and of many more. They were the first inventors. No such skillful
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  shipwrights ever lived before, no such cunning artificers in metal, no such marvelous
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  builders of masonry. But most of all their fame went abroad for works which
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  all who beheld them deemed things done by witchcraft. For there was no shape
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  of man, or beast or bird, but they could make an image of
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  it sulton or graven, so perfectly that it seemed alive. Report of these
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  marvels and their boundless wealth, drew strangers from all lands to the Isle of
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  the Rose, until the seven Princes were forced to build other cities, also
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  because of the multitude of their folk. So in the after time the land
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  of the First Roses, the Sun God's chosen heritage, became the home of
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  a great people, and its name was famous in all the earth for their
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  riches and for those same arts which the seven sons of Helios learned by the
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  grace of Athena. End of Section nineteen