希腊神话

[fengza]

泰索尼斯
Every day, when Helios drove his wonderful horses andhis fiery carriage across the sky, it was Aurora who opened the gates of pearl and drew back the dark curtains of the night; for Aurora was the goddess of the dawn .She was so beautiful that the whole sky became pink with pleasure when she appeared in the east.
On the earth lived a man called Tithonus, who loved Aurora so well that he never failed to leave his bed while it was still dark, to watch for her coming. Aurora loved Tithonus too, and one day she flew to the king of the gods, and begged of him that Tithonus might be given a cup of magic liquid , and so becomeliving forever.
Zeus allowed this request, and Aurora took Tithonus up to Mount Olympus to live in her golden house.
The goddess had forgotten to ask that Tithonus might never grow old. Therefore, the time came when gray hairs could beseen among his golden curls . Aurora was kind to him in spite of this, and continued to give him beautiful clothes, and to feed him on the food of the gods. Still, Tithonus grew older and older, and in time, after several hundred years, he was so old thathe could not move at all. Little was left of him but his voice , and even that had grown high and thin. Then he was so weakthat he had to be shut up in a room, for safekeeping. Aurorafelt so sorry to see him become weaker and weaker in this way that she changed him into a little insect, and sent him down to the earth again, where men called him the grasshopper.
Very glad to be free and active once more, Tithonus jumped about in the fields all day, chirping happily to Aurora.

[fengza]

雅典娜
On one occasion Zeus suffered a bad headache. All the gods, including Apollo, the god of medicine , had trieduselessly to offer an effective treatment . Then the father of gods and men asked Hephaestus to open his head. This the god of the fire did. To the wonder of all the Olympians, agoddess, well-grown and full-armed, came out of Zeus' head. The goddess was giving off light and splendor. She was Athena, goddess of wisdom and knowledge and patroness of Athens .
The story of Athena becoming patron goddess of Athensconcerns the struggle between the goddess and Poseidon. When the city of Athens was first built by a Phoenician , both Poseidon and Athena competed for the honour of naming it. It wasthen agreed that whoever offered the most useful object for men would become the patron of the city. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and produced a horse, whereas Athena had an olive tree to present, a symbol of peace and plenty. As the horse was regarded as struggle and sorrow, Athens was named after the goddess, who soon took the city under her protection.
Athena was the goddess of arts and crafts and woman' shandi work. She was so skilled with her hands that she toleratedno challenge to her skill in this respect . A Lydian maid, Arachne by name, did not seem to think much of Athena's skill, for she frequently talked big that she could beat the goddess if she had the chance to do so. The goddess was quite angry. Dressed up as an old woman, she went to advise Arachne to bemodest. But the ignorant crafts woman bravely asked the goddess herself to come down and compete with her. At this the goddess took off her disguise and accepted the competition. The two women immediately set about making different designs. While the goddess worked on the story of her rivalry with Poseidon, Arachne began to make a delicate web. When both pieces were finished, Arachne saw, to her surprise, that she had been beaten, for the goddess' design was infinitely better. She felt soshamed that she tied a piece of silk to hang herself. But Just before she breathed her last breath the goddess changed her into aspider and let her weave forever.

[fengza]

玛彭莎
Marpessa was the only daughter of King Evenus. She was noble and graceful. From her childhood she was trained by her father like a young hero and was not allowed tohave any thought of love and marriage. To deal with the crowdof men who now rushed into his palace, the king proposed that aman have to beat him in a carriage race to win his daughter. Death would be the penalty for the loser . The king was sure of his victory, for his horses came from Ares' stables . Manyyoung princes lost their lives.
Last came Idas, prince of Messenia. He was not discouragedby the fate of those men, because he had Poseidon on his side. Granting his prayers, the seagod had given him two fleet horses and advised him to take his reward as soon as he won therace and flee from the king's attack . He did as he had been told, and King Evenus, lost his own daughter, his only hope inlife, drowned himself in a river.
Idas and Marpessa presently arrived at a riverside, where ldas put down his beloved to enjoy a bit of rest and food and drink. They spent the night in a temple nearby. When morning came, Idas found that Marpessa had been stolen by Apollo. Heran after the immortal god-Apollo, feeling quite ready to fightand die for his love. Apollo held his unescapable arrows . Idaswent forward with his sword. The duel was about to start whensuddenly they heard a thunderbolt round about, and Zeus himself arrived to stop the unequal contest. He gave the maiden thechoice between immorality and eternal glory on one side and onthe other a mortal life of faithful love mixed with endless caresand griefs . Fearing infidelity on part of a god , Mar pessa turned down the sweet promises of Apollo and chose for hercompanion in life one capable of a like fate. Apollo left in badspirits; Idas felt on top of the world .

[fengza]

尼俄伯
Niobe, the queen of Thebes, had indeed good reason to beproud of her herself . Both her father and mother were gods. Her husband was a capable and outstanding musician. And she was both wealthy and powerful. But what madeher the happiest lady in the world was her fourteen children, seven manly sons and seven beautiful daughters. They were allso strong and fair that the whole world looked upon them with admiration.
It happened at the time that every spring the Theban womengathered at the temple of Leto to offer flowers at the altars of the great mother. She had given birth to two grand children, Apollo and Artemis. Her women showed a great deal of loyaltyand respect to her. This made Niobe jealous and angry. Whenthe nuns of Leto called the women again to the sacred place ofthe mistress of Zeus one spring, Niobe decided to put an end to the foolish act forever. In her pretty flowing robe she came to the women and blamed the crowd for their mad faith in a goddess. They had never seen this goddess. Niobe declared herselfnobler and greater, and demanded to be admired in place of Leto, who, she said, was no more than a poor mother of twochildren. The frightened women were loyal to the queen, and left the sacred place in silence. Leto was neglected.
Standing on top of a hill overlooking Thebes , Leto saw allthis and was ready to pay back. She found out Apollo and Artemis and told them the story. Before long, the impatient Apollo arrived outside Thebes in hidden clouds. The seven sonsof Niobe were playing on the ground, two riding horses and two wrestling while the other princes happily stood by. Appllo heldout his bow. One by one the princes fell under his accurateshooting. Even the youngest, who prayed for mercy, was not spared.
Niobe was greatly changed. She was all sorrow and grief, but her rude spirit was not put down. She came to the dead bodies of her sons with her daughters and let out a torrent of impolite words at Leto and her children. This time it was Artemls' turn to draw her bowstring . Almost in a twinkling of an eye all the seven lively daughters fell, turning in their blood, and soon stopped to breathe. Nio be became numb of feeling . She sat among the fourteen dead bodies, motionless, her eyes blank, her tears rolling down her cold face. Her bitter anger had turned her into a stone! Later, a gust of wind swept her to her homeland in Asia, where she could still be seen sitting on top of ahill, tears of bitterness streaming out of her strong eyes.

[fengza]

海伦
Helen was the most beautiful woman of the world. She was an infamous lady. She lighted the flames of the Trojan war and brought extreme destruction on the city ofTroy. Helen was the daughter of Zeus. Helen's matchless beauty and charms drew towards her many heroes from all parts of Greece.
When still small she was carried off by Theseus, who wished to have a divine wife . But she was rescued later by her brother Castor, and brought back to her native land. Her stepfather married her to Menelaus, king of Sparta.
Nothing of importance had happened to her married life until Paris came to visit Sparta. Helen was attracted by Paris' lovelyface. They stole one another's love in the absence of Menelausand then eloped on board a ship to Troy. Helen left her young daughter behind. To get Helen back, the Greek army sailedacross and laid a long siege to the city of Troy .
Helen was quietly weaving her story into a web of goldencarpet one day when she was called up the city walls of Troy tolook at the fighting between Menelaus and Paris. Menelaus was determined to kill Paris in the battle. Sitting by the side of King Priam, she told the chiefs of the Greek side to him. Tears of love filled up her eyes when she saw her first husband down below. After Paris fled the field she had the feelings of love and scorn. She encouraged Hector and Paris to take the field again and sincerely mourned the death of the true hero Hector. But whenOdysseus and Diomedes came in disguise to steal the Palladium, she helped them to do so as much as she could. After Paris diedin battle she became the wife of another son of Priam.
In the meantime Menelaus was anxiously searching for Helen in the ruined palaces of Troy. Aphrodite had made Helenmore beautiful, so that, when he finally found her trembling in acorner, Menelaus was most unwilling to bring his sword downon her charming face. Menelaus felt secretly overjoyed to have his wife back again. Following Menelaus through the ruins of the city, Helen felt ashamed of her impure behaviour. And she was truly scared at the terrible fate she was to have in the Greek Camp.
Once more her beauty saved her. No one could bring him self to thrust his sword into such a charming and graceful lady. In the tent of Menelaus she threw herself at the feet of the Spartanking, asking for forgiveness . Moved by the scene, Menelaushelped her up and let her forget the past. He held her in his armswhile she had tears of grief and happiness. The pair loved eachother like before and vanished in the far west.

[fengza]

特修斯
Just as Heracles was the chief hero of Peloponnesus, soTheseus was the most famous halfgod of Attlca. His father was king Aegeus of Athens and his mother a princessof Troezen. When he was still an infant his father left him in thecare of his mother and went back to his own kingdom. Before he left, Aegeus buried his sword and sandals under a hugestone, and told his mother to direct him to Athens as soon as he was big enough to lift the rock and take the hidden gifts with him. At the age of sixteen he became a strong young man, intelligent and with lots of nerve. Taking the sword from under the rock, he joyfully set out to look for his father. It was a journey of adventures. But he cleared the roads of various monsters hemet and appeared harmless in his father's palace at Athens. Little did he suspect that here would be an attempt on his life there.
King Aegeus had recently married Medea, a bad woman. She was anxious to have the Athenian throne for her own child. She had persuaded the king to poison the newcomer at a feast. As the feast was in progress, King Aegeus saw Theseus' sword and recognized his son in the young man . Quickly pushing the poisoned cup aside, he took his son in his arms and declared himhis successor. Thus troubled by her own evil designs, Mede fledin her dragondrawn carriage, never to return. for a time Theseus stayed with his father at Athens. When the Cretan bull escaped into the area of Marathon he set out alone to fight with thebeast and offered it up as a sacrifice to the gods.
At this time the clty of Athens was bothered by the respectit had promised to pay to King Minos of Crete . The Cretanshad come to attack Athens, and the gods had ordered that the Athenians would have to meet the demand of the and Cretan king that seven boys and seven girls be sent to Crete every year to feed the half man, half bull Minotaur. Determined to kill the Minotaur and save his people from further grief, The seus decided to go asone of the fourteen chosen victims. Before he left he promised his father that if he succeeded in his work he would change the black sails of his ships to white ones. He went, and with the help of princess Ariadne of Crete, he killed the Minotaur and carried the Princess with him on his way back. At Naxos he left the girl in her own care. For when he neared Athens he forgot to put up the promised white sails, and his anxious father, standing on a hill-top, saw the black sails, threw himself down into the sea in despair. So stricken with grief was The seus that he never recovered from regret. He succeeded his father as king, and introduced many good measures to improve the life of his people. To rid his kingdom of the threat by the Amazons, he led an expedition into the woman country and took its queen prisoner. The queen, Antiope by name, ws in fact so passionately in love with him that she agreed to marry him. At a later date the Amazons came to lay attack on Athens on the excuse of recovering their queen. In the battle that followed, the queen was wounded by a chance arrow and died, leaving Theseus a sad widower.
Theseus' friendship with Pirithous, king of the Lapithae, grew from a dramatic beginning. Pirithous was invading Attica and The seus was marching his men out to meet him. In the first personal encounter between the two heroes each was so filled with admiration for the other that they both laid down their weapons and became faithful friends.
At the wedding of Pirithous, to which Theseus and Heracleswere invited, a number of horsemen present were angry with the shining beauty of the bride, so that they attempted to take herby force. Both The seus and Heracles were enraged at their wildbehaviour . In what was known as the coldblooded fight between the horsemen and the Lapithae they beat the horsemen and saved the bride. But she did not have long to live.
Both The seus and Pirithous were full of the ambition of marrying a lady of holy birth. At one time they got Helen by force, she was the beautiful daughter of Zeus, but as she was not yet of marriageable age, The seus left her with his mother. Later she was rescued by her brothers, Castor and Pollux. Soproud were the two friends that they were now planning to invade the lower world and carry Persephone up by force, for Pirithous was eager for her beauty. They went, but they found it impossible to get out again. One of them, Pirithous, was bound toa turning wheel while The seus himself was chained to a rock. If it had not been for Heracles, who came in for Cerberus, Theseus would never have been able to return to the upper air again.
When he returned to Athens he was quite old and unhappy with life. As king he acted like a tyrant and went successfully away from his people. He was sent away to the island of Scyros, where he fell into sea from a cliff. Nothing more was heard ofhim until the battle of Marathon centuries later. When the Athenians saw a mighty soldier leading them in their ruthless attackagainst the invading Persians, they recognized him as The seus and after the war they devoted a grand temple to his memory and offered sacrifice at his altar.

[fengza]

海尔墨斯与阿刚斯
Argus was a watchman with a hundred eyes, set in a circleall around his head. When he slept, he closed only two eyes at a time; the other ninetyeight were always wideopen. So it could not have been easy to steal away anything that Argus was watching.
Now it happened that Hera, the wife of Zeus, was very jealous of a beautiful rivernymph, called Io. Zeus, in order to saveIo from the jealous anger of Hera, changed her into a whiteheifer . Hera, suspecting that the white heifer was really Io, setArgus with his hundred eyes to watch her.
Poor Io was very unhappy. Her father, the rivergod, did not know her, neither did her sisternymphs; but they used topat the white heifer and give it grass from their hands. At last Iowrote her name with her hoof in the sands of the river bank, and then her father and sisters knew that the pretty white heifer was their own Io.
She had no sooner revealed herself to her family in this way than Argus drove her away to a field that lay far back from theriver , where the rivergod and the nymphs could not come, and then set himself down on the top of a high hill, meaning to watch her more closely than ever.
Zeus felt sorry for Io, still he did not dare to change herback into her natural form while Argus was watching her. But remembering how Hermes, when he was less than a day old, had stolen away the cattle of Apollo, he now set this prince ofthieves, this mischie flowing Hermes , to steal Io away from Argus.
Hermes thought there could be no better fun. He laid asidehis winged cap and his winged shoes , and dressed like the shepherds in that country, He carried his golden stick in his hand, and as he walked along, played carelessly on a shepherd's pipe; then, finding a few goats feeding at the side of the road, hedrove them slowly before him.
Argus found his watch rather dull, and was glad enough to talk to any one who happened to pass by. He was very glad when he saw Hermes coming with the goats, and he invited the pretended shepherd to come and sit by him, under the trees in the shade, and play on his pipe and tell stories.
Hermes sat down on a stone by the side of Argus, and began to play very softly, so softly that the music was like the sighing of the wind through the branches of the trees. The day was warm, and it was quiet. Two of Argus's eyes soon closed. The others might have remained open if there had not been asleepy magic in Hermes' piping. The soft notes came gently, slower and slower, and one after another Argus' other eyes began to close, till only two remained open. These two eyes werevery bright; they fairly twinkled, and they kept their watch onIo through all Hermes' playing. Then Hermes began to tell stories, and at last the two twinkling eyes closed, like the others. Argus, with all his hundred eyes closed, was fast asleep. To make him sleep more heavily, Hermes just touched him lightly with the dream-giving stick, and then he successfully led Ioaway.
Hera was very angry when she found that her wonder ful watch man had slept at his post, slept with all his eyes at once. She said he did not deserve to have so many eyes, if he could notkeep some of them open. So she took all of his hundred eyesaway from him, and set them in the tail of her pet peacock , who was very proud to wear them. Ever since that day all peacocks have had eyes in their tails.

[fengza]

阿克里西俄斯
Acrisius, king of Argos, was Hypermnestra' s grandson. He had one beautiful daughter, Danae by name. So much did he love her that he decided not to remarry after the death of his wife. But one day an oracle from Delphi prophesied that he would be killed by the son of Danae. He felt so upset that his love suddenly changed to fear and hatred. To avoid the disaster he built a tall bronze tower, wherein he shut Danaeup with her nurse. he kept the key of the tower himself, and left only the roof open for Danae to take an occasional look at the blue sky above. One bright sunny morning Danae felt a childish joy at the sight of the clear, blue sky and longed for freedom when a golden shower of sunlight shot through the open roof and spread all over her. A wave of happiness spread all over her, and Zeus himself stood before her in his splendour and won her.
Some time later, a guard came rushing into King Acrisius' palace and told the astonished king that Danae had given birth toa son. The baby was called Perseus. Acrisius decided that both mother and son must die if he wanted to live himself. Very soon he had a great chest built, where he put Danae and her son, and then set it adrift on the sea . Answering the sad prayers of the poor mother, Zeus had the chest swept onto the land of the Seriphos. Polydectes, king of the country, treated them at first with kindness, but afterwards with cruelty. When Perseus was grown up, Polydectes sent him to kill Medusa.
Medusa had been a beautiful maiden, but as she once violated Athena' s temple in Lybia the goddess changed her beautifulhair into snakes and her body into that of a monster. So ugly and terrible was she that anyone looking on her face was immediatelyturned to stone. But Athena and other gods came to help Perseus. Athena lent him her brightly polished shield in which she warned him to look at the reflection of Medusa only; Hades gave him his helmet which made its wearer invisible; and Hermesoffered him his winged shoes so that he could travel fast overlong distances. From the gods he also took a sword and a magic wallet.
Acting on the advice of Athena, Perseus travelled west and first sought out the three grey women, known as the Graeae whok new the whereabouts of Medusa. These women had one toothand one eye between them, so Perseus grabbed the tooth and theeye from them and forced them to tell him the truth. This the grey women did, and one night while flying across the sky theyoung man found Medusa sleeping on a rock. Flying down, hestruck off the head of Medusa and turned back to the land where he had left his mother.

[fengza]

俄狄浦斯
A prophet warned King Laius of The bes that because he had married his cousin Jocasta, he would be killed by hisson. To avoid the disaster, he ordered his loyal she pherdto kill his newborn baby son. The goodhearted slave, however, could not bring himself to do the evil deed. He pierced the baby' s feet and tied them with ropes. Then he turned the baby over to the care of a fellow shepherd who happened to be the servant of the king of Corinth. The child was given the name of Oedipus, He was brought up by the childless royal couple as their sonand successor. The prince had never doubted that the king wasnot his real father until one day he heard others talking about his parentage. Deeply troubled, he went to Delphi to require about his birth. There he was warned by Apollo not to return to his native country, because, should he do so , he would kill his father and marry his mother. The frightened young man turned his back on Corinth, determined not to return while his supposed parents lived.
Oedipus had not gone far on his way to The bes when he sawa cart coming towards him. The man sitting in the cart, angry at the young man in the way, whipped him on the face with anoath . Oedipus jumped onto the cart and killed him in his anger. of the five servants who followed their master on foot, only oneescaped narrowly. Little did Oedipus think that the man sitting in the cart was King Laicus, his father. Presently the young manar rived in the kingdom of The bes. Round about this time, the The bans were troubled by a woman headed monster, called Sphinx, who produced a riddle to them. The crown and the hand of the widow queen were offered to anyone who could solve the riddle. Oedipus met Sphinx on a cliff. To the monster' s riddle, "What animal walks on four legs in the morning, on two atnoon, and on three at night?"he offered the answer, "Man, Who creeps in infancy, walks upright in manhood, and supportshis steps with a staff in old age. " Thus, Sphinx threw herselfdown into the valley. Oedipus became king of Thebes and husband of the queen, his mother.
For a long time after this event, Oedipus lived in honour and prosperity. Four unnatural children came out of this odd marriage, two sons and two daughters. Then the sad thing came. Aplague raged throughout the land . Every family was affected, and not a day went by without new death. A prophet warnedthat the trouble would not be removed until the murderer of the former king Laius was driven out of the country. An old blindseer, Tiresias by name, was brought before the king and, outraged by the kings impolite language, declared that Oedipus himself was the hunted murderer. The king was shocked and annoyed. He called the The ban and Corinthian shepherds to provethe truth. As the two old shepherds had been concerned in his adoption as an infant, the truth finally became known. The queen hanged herself. Oedipus put out of his own eyes with apin, so that he might not look on the sun again. he was driven out of the kingdom and wandered from one city to another, untilhe found protection in King Theseus' Athens. There at the signal of Zeus' thunder, he mysteriously ended his poor earthlylife.

[fengza]

阿基里斯
Achilles felt proud of his parentage. His grandfather was noted for his justice and uprightness and became a judge in Hades after death. His father Peleus was a brave warrior and later married the beautiful sea goddess, Thet is. At the wedding of Peleus and the sea goddess, to which most of the gods were invited, the goddess of discord, Eris, feeling angry atnot being invited, threw among the guests a golden apple bearing the words"For the fairest" and stirred up a bitter quarrel whichled in the end to the Trojan war.
Thetis loved her son very much. When Achilles was still ababy, Thet is was shocked by a prophecy that her son would diein war. To save her son, the sea goddess dipped her baby in the waters of Styx which could protect the human body from the fire and sword. But as the heel by which she held him was dry it became the one mortal spot in the whole body of Achilles. Thus the expression"the heel of Achilles" has come to mean"a weak spot". Achilles spent a great part of his boyhood in the woods with the wise old centaur, Chiron, who taught him the gentlearts as well as war affairs, and prepared him well for a short but brilliant career.
When fighters all over Greece flew to arms against Troy, aprophet foretold that Achilles was sure not to return from thewar. Determined to keep her son from the disaster, Thet is sent young Achilles to the court of the king of Scyros, where he worked in disguise as one of the handmaids waiting on the princess of Scyros . For a time trick worked. Messenger after messenger came, but all left without him. One day, a peddlar appeared in the palace, bringing with him a wide variety of womanish small things. There was, however, also a sword amongsuch goods. Whereas most of the ladies stared at the silks and veils, one of them eagerly grabbed the sword and joyfully played with it. At this the peddlar threw off his disguise and came out with his true identity. The artful Odysseus had come to fetch the hero to Aulis, where Greek ships had been waiting for both a fair wind and Achilles. Odysseus had not laboured in vain . Duringan attack on the walls of Troy, Achilles caught the sight of the beauty of Polyxena, daughter of Priam. He was so attracted bythe grace of the princess that he asked Priam to give him the hand of Polyxena in marriage . He worked hard for the peacebet ween the two sides. When his efforts proved useless, he obtained a promise from Priam that the marriage would be held after the war. Just as Achilles turned to leave, the faithless Paris took out a poisoned arrow and shot at his heel from behind. Before Achilles breathed his last, he left his armour in his will to the bravest of the Greek heroes. This gave rise to such a fiercecon test between Ajax and Odysseus. As a result the armour was adjudged to Odysseus . So sad and desperate was Polyxena at Achilles' death she committed suicide in front of his magnificent tomb.