希腊神话

[fengza]

伊克西翁
In Thessaly there once lived a king by the name of Ixion. He was both handsome and mighty. He went to woo the beautiful maiden Dia and won her love, but her old father was most reluctant to part with his child. only when Ixionswore to let him have his royal treasure house did the father agree to give the king the hand of Dia in marriage . Ixion took Dia home with him. But he was in no mood to keep his promise, for a long time passed and no treasure ever came to the old man. Impatient to have his promised wealth, the old father went to seeIxion and gave him no peace, until at last Ixion decided to get ridof him once and for all . Opening the door of his treasurehouse, he pushed the old man in and there burnt him to death.
Zeus was furious over the terrible deed. The frightened Ixion went up to heaven and asked the father of gods and men torid him of his dishonesty . His prayers were granted, and hestayed happily for a while in the glorious home of the gods, There his lecherous eyes fell on Hera, whose radiant beautyfascinated his heart. Forgetting Dia at home, he planned for Hera to elope with him. Seeing all this, Zeus sent a cloud in the form of Hera to Ixion. The impious king made love to the shade and made it the mother of the centaurs . The infuriated Zeuscast Ixion down to Hades and had him bound to a wheel of fire, which, forever revolving, racked and tore his body in its unbroken swift revolutions.

[fengza]

奥利安
Orion was a giant hunter. He was the beautiful son of Poseidon. One day, when hunting in the forest, he caughtsight of Artemis' fair maidens, the seven Pleiades . Hewas so attracted by their beauty that he started chasing them. Indespair the charming maidens prayed to Artemis for help and were sent up by the goddess to the heavens as a constellation . Later he fell in love with another maiden, Merope by name, butrash and impatient, he took the maiden by force and enraged her father, King Oenopion of Chios. The king made him drunk and put out his eyes . Following the sound of the Cyclopes' hammer, he went to Hephaestus, who sent a guide to travel with him to the east, where the sun rose. Exposing his eyeballs to the rays of the sun, he was restored to his eyesight. He became aconstant companion of Artemis and followed the goddess in the chase with his dog Sirius. Apollo did not approve of this love, however. One day he dared his sister to shoot at a dark spot moving in the sea. Little did she suspect that she was aiming herarrow at Orion, for the dark spot turned out to be the head of Orion swimming in the ocean. Artemis was extremely sad. As she could not pull him back from the grasp of Death she sent him up to the sky as a constellation, with his hunting dog Sirius be sidehim.

[fengza]

坦塔罗斯
Tantalus was the rich and mighty king of Lydia. Son ofZeus by a fairy maiden, he was greatly favored by the gods. He was invited to share wine and food with them at their banquets, and he was let into their secrets . But ever the latter end of joy is woe . Either because he had stolen wine orgave away the secrets of Zeus, or because he had become so proud as to test the gods by serving up the flesh of his son Pelopsto them, he incurred the wrath of Zeus and was hurled down to the everlasting darkness of Tartarus . There he was made tostand up to his chin in a little lake, with clusters of luscious fruits hanging over and around his head. He strove eternally to drink the ever-evading water and to clutch at the delicious fruits which were ever tossed out of his reach by blasts of wind. Thus he was doomed to endure endless burning thirst and bitter hunger in the world of the shades. The whole occurrence has given rise to the expression"tantalizing", meaning somethng inplain view but unattainable

[fengza]

阿卡同
When she was tired with hunting Artemis used to take abath in a little mountain spring. One hot summer afternoon she was playing in the cool, quiet water with hermaidens when she heard a rustle behind the bushes . She feltquite angry to find that a young hunter was peeping admiringlyat her naked body . Her maidens gave a sharp cry and crowded around the goddess. But young Actaeon had seen the huntress.
Actaeon loved the hunting. He had been searching the woods every day. On this particular afternoon he felt so tired with running about that he, by accident, came over to the springin search of water. He was thus surprised to find Artemisba thing. The angry goddess was not to be calmed. She splashed water in the hunter's face. As soon as the water drops fell on Actaeon, he was changed into a stag . Just at that moment he heard the barking of his team of fifty hunting dogs. They were coming up to him. He was suddenly seized with fear , and presently ran away. The dogs, all driven mad by the goddess, ran after him closely. Running as fast as his legs could carry him, Actaeon was soon out of breath . Feeling certain that he 1was to die, he dropped to the ground and made no further attempt to get up. The dogs came nearer to their former masterand tore him to pleces.

[fengza]

阿特拉斯和珀尔修斯
After the killing of Medusa, Perseus, carrying her head with him, flew far and wide, over land and sea. As night came on, he reached the western limit of the earth , where the sun goes down. Here he would gladly have rested till morning. It was the kingdom of King Atlas, who was bigger than all other men. He was rich in flocks and herds and had no neighbor or rival to invade his country. But his chiefpride was in his gardens, whose fruit was of gold, hanging fromg olden branches, half hid with golden leaves. Perseus said tohim, "I come as a guest. I claim Zeus for my father and I killedMedusa. I seek rest and food. "But Atlas remembered that anancient prophecy had warned him that a son of Zeus should one day rob him of his golden apples . So he answered, "Go away! Or neither your false claims of glory or parentage shall protect you" ; and he attempted to drive him out. Perseus, finding thegiant too strong for him, said, "Since you value my friendship solittle, please accept a gift"; and turning his face away, he heldup Medusa's head. Atlas was changed into stone. His beard and hair became forests, his arms and shoulders cliffs, his head asummit, and his bones rocks. Each part increased till he becamea mountain, and(such was the pleasure of the gods）heaven with all its stars rests upon his shoulders.

[fengza]

拉俄达弥亚
When the Greek ships reached the Trojan land at the outbreak of the war, a prophet declared that the first Greek setting foot on the enemy soil was doomed to die . Protesilaus, a Greek chief, seeing that there was a gooddeal of hesitation among his comrades, leapt overboard and fellinstantly, pierced through by Hector's spear . When his wife Laodamia heard of this she was simply inconsolable . She offered rich sacrifice to the gods and begged Zeus to restore herslaughtered lord to her. Moved by her fidelity , Zeus sent Hermes to escort the shade of Protesilaus back to the upper air tostay with his wife for three hours. Laodamia's joy knew nobounds when she held her slain lord once more in her arms. Protesilaus told her the story of his selfsacrifice, and Laodamiawas happy to become a bride for a second time. However, shegave a sharp cry when she saw Hermes coming at the fixed hourto take Protesilaus back to the lower world. So sad was she at the second parting that she died of grief not long after. The pairwere reunited in Hades.

[fengza]

阿瑞塞莎
Arethusa was once a fairy maiden huntress. She carriedbow and arrows for Artemis in her hunting. She was sodevoted to her work that she cared for neither admirationnor love. One sunny summer day, she felt hot and found a coolstream quite attractive. She jumped into the delightful streamand happily started swimming. Presently she heard a bubbling in the stream and was surprised to find it was the thunderingvoice of the rivergod Alpheus. The maiden made for the shore and, fully naked, started running away. Taking a human form, the river-god followed closely in pursuit . Onward they spedover hill and valley, across dark heights and over broad plains, until the waters of the western sea lay stretched out right before them . Helplessly the exhausted Arethusa cried to her patronessfor help. Artemis instantly cast a cloud over her body, but the pigheaded Alpheus was not to be tricked. Then a cold sweatbroke from the maiden's arms and legs. The drops of water fellfrom all over her body. She had been turned into a spring! Alpheus recognized her new form and presently took his formershape to join with Arethusa and enjoy her company. Artemisthen broke the ground and Arethusa sank down and flowed all the way through the under world from Southern Greece to Sicily . She rose up again at Syracuse, only to find that therivergod had endured the darkness of the lower world andturned up as a stream as well. Mixing his waves with hers, hegained her love in the end.

[fengza]

阿尔特弥斯
Apollo drove his golden carriage across the heavens during the day, admired as the sun-god. Artemis also raced across the sky in solemn style at night, respected as the moon-goddess. Sitting in an airy carriage drawn by milk white horses, "the queen of wide air" gave off silver light all over the sleeping world below. Though she remained single all her life, the maiden heart of the goddess was at least for once excited as she saw the beautiful youth Endymion sleeping.
She was pure and fair and calm. She was the example of maiden modesty and grace. Just as Apollo represents manly beauty, so Artemis stands for feminine purity and virginity . As their patron goddess she took it as her duty to protect marrying girls and young women in trouble. It was her altar that those maidens turned for love and happiness.
The twin sister of Apollo was also the goddess of hunting and wild life . Dressed in a short hunting-suit coming up to the knee and followed by a team of noisy lovely fairy maidens, Artemis had always her bow of pearl and shining arrow with her and travelled in the woods in search of wild animals. When she felt hot and tired she would retire to a spring to take a bath. It was here that young Actaeon accidentally came and suffered cruel treatment at the hands of the goddess. Indeed, the goddesscould be thoroughly heartless and stopped to be lovely as soon as the bad side of her nature got the upper hand in her. The sadthing of Niobe was just a case in point.

[fengza]

海尔墨斯
Immediately after he was born, Hermes was appointed godof thieves at Olympus. And a thief he became when he was barely a few hours old. Feeling hungry, the infant left his cradle after nightfall to hunt for food. He chanced uponApollo's oxen grazing on a meadow and drove a number ofthese animals away, tying tree branches around the feet of thecattle to make their footsteps dim. He killed two of these oxenand had a magnificent dinner. Then he slipped back into his littlebed in his mother's house. When Apollo came to question himHermes pretended to be innocent. The angry sungod draggedhim up to Olympus, where he was accused of the stealing andmade to return the cattle to their master. In reconciliation little Hermes gave Apollo the lyre he had made out of a tortoise shell, and Apollo was so pleased with the gift that he presented his little brother with a magic stick. The stick could pacify hostileforces.
In due time Hermes was appointed messenger of Zeus andthe gods. The gods equipped him with a pair of winged sandalsand winged cap to enable him to travel swifter than sight. It was Hermes who took the messages of Zeus to the world below.
Hermes was a patron of travellers. His busts and statueswere set up as dividing marks at crossroads or street corners toguide passersby. The Hermes, as these statues were called, were regarded as sacred, and their mutilation was sacrilegiousand punishable by death. The destruction of the numerous Hermes within the city of Athens caused a terrible excitement amongits citizens that it might be no exaggeration to state that itchanged the whole course of historic development of Athens .

[fengza]

维纳斯和阿多尼斯
Aphrodite loved Adonis more than she did anybody else, for he was a brisk, lovely young hunter. She gave up herhome at Olympus and took to the woods. In the woods she dressed herself up like a huntress and kept the youth company all day long. With him she wandered through grounds andgroves and over hills and valleys. She cheered hunting dogs andpursued animals of a harmless sort. They had a great time together. However, she warned him many times not to chase wild beasts like lions and wolves, but the young man just laughed at the idea.
One day, after warning him thus, she left for Olympus inher carriage. Quite by chance Adonis' hunting dogs found aboar, which roused Adonis to enthusiasm. He hit the beast with an arrow, but the boar, turning on him, buried its white tusk deep into his tender side and trampled him to death. When Aphrodite came back to find her lover cold in death, she burst into a passion of tears . Unable to take him back from the lower world, she sprinkled wine on Adonls' blood and turned it into anemone, a delicate purple flower.
Aphrodite was not calmed down yet. In grief and despair she flew to Zeus and begged Zeus' sympathy. Hades was by no means prepared to meet her request. After much dispute anagreement was worked out under which Adonis was to spend half the year above ground with Aphrodite, but the remaining six months in the Elysian Fields. Therefore, in spring time Adonis came back to the loving embrace of Aphrodite , but when winter came he had to return most reluctantly to Hades.