Tales of the Greek Heroes by Roger Lancelyn Green

Author:Roger Lancelyn Green
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780141329024
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2009-02-12T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

THE STORY OF ADMETUS

Oh, a House that loves the stranger,

And a House for ever free!

And Apollo, the Song‐changer,

Was a herdsman in thy fee;

Yea, a‐piping he was found

Where the upland valleys wound,

To the kine from out the manger

And the sheep from off the lea,

And love was upon Othrys at the sound.

EURIPIDES

Alcestis (Translated by Gilbert Murray)

11

In the days when Heracles was still living happily at Thebes, there was a beautiful Princess called Alcestis who was the daughter of Pelias, King of Iolcus. She was so beautiful that many princes came to ask her hand in marriage and Pelias, who did not wish to anger the rest by choosing one of them, said that he would only give her to the man who could yoke a wild boar and a lion to his chariot and drive safely round the race‐course.

Of all the young princes, Admetus of Pherae was the bravest and most handsome, and Alcestis loved him alone. But her father would not let them marry unless Admetus fulfilled the condition which he had made.

Now just before he came to woo Alcestis, a strange herdsman had come to him and begged to serve him for one year without wages. Admetus readily agreed to this, and being a good and amiable prince he treated his servant kindly and well. The herdsman served faithfully, and the herds of Admetus grew and prospered in the most remarkable way: for not one of his livestock died or was killed by wild beasts during that year, and all the cows had twin calves, and gave cream instead of milk.

One day, when the year was nearing its end, Admetus went up on to Mount Othrys to seek his herdsman, and saw a strange sight. In a green valley shaded by pine trees the herdsman sat playing on his pipes more sweetly than any mortal minstrel; and as he played the streaky‐golden lynxes and the tawny‐coated lions, drawn by his music, came and rubbed their heads against him, while the shy fawns danced and frisked in and out of the shadows, fearing neither the lions nor the man who piped to them so magically.

Admetus stood at the edge of the glade overcome with awe and wonder, and seeing him the herdsman smiled, and said:

‘Prince Admetus, do not be afraid nor surprised at what you see, for now that my servitude is almost ended I can tell you that I am none other than Apollo, the Immortal son of Zeus. Listen, and I will tell you how it comes about that I, an Immortal, am servant to a mortal man.

‘My son Asclepius, whose mother was the mortal woman Coronis, by my will and with the aid of wise Chiron the Centaur, became the greatest healer and the most expert in the knowledge of medicine that the world has known. So skilled did he become that at length he discovered how to bring the dead to life – if only he could use his arts at the very moment of death.

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