Conditions and Terms of Use PREFACE Copyright © Heritage History 2009 The name of this book is borrowed from the Ode in Some rights reserved which Pindar has enshrined the loveliest of fairy stories—the "leaf-fringed legend" of the Pansy Child. The poet was bidden to This text was produced and distributed by Heritage History, an organization prepare that Ode in honour of a friend's victory in the Olympic dedicated to the preservation of classical juvenile history books, and to the Games, and he likens his task to the building of a palace. Golden promotion of the works of traditional history authors. pillars, he says, must bear up the porch of this House of Song, The books which Heritage History republishes are in the public domain and and the glories of the victor shall form those pillars, glittering are no longer protected by the original copyright. They may therefore be reproduced afar in the sumptuous frontal of the fabric. Now, chief among the within the United States without paying a royalty to the author. victor's glories, was his descent from the namesake of the Pansy, the holy Seer of Olympia, and so, through that Golden Porch, The text and pictures used to produce this version of the work, however, are the property of Heritage History and are licensed to individual users with some Pindar leads us into Fairyland. restrictions. These restrictions are imposed for the purpose of protecting the integrity In adding one more to the innumerable collections of of the work itself, for preventing plagiarism, and for helping to assure that stories from the Greek, I have hoped to break fresh ground by compromised or incomplete versions of the work are not widely disseminated. reproducing the myths of Pindar's Odes, as far as possible in a In order to preserve information regarding the origin of this text, a copyright free translation, and with such additions only as were needed to by the author, and a Heritage History distribution date are included at the foot of form a framework. Some of these legends are already wholly or every page of text. We request all electronic and printed versions of this text include partly familiar, but several will be new, I think, to English these markings and that users adhere to the following restrictions. readers. 1) This text may be reproduced for personal or educational purposes as long as It may be said that Greek myths, especially as handled by the original copyright and Heritage History version number are faithfully the poet who wove into them his deepest criticisms of life, are reproduced. misleadingly, if not profanely, entitled fairy tales. 2) You may not alter this text or try to pass off all or any part of it as your own But I would plead that nothing in Greek literature, except work. the stories of Herodotus, is so steeped in the true fairy 3) You may not distribute copies of this text for commercial purposes unless atmosphere as are the myths of Pindar. I need not speak of you have the prior written consent of Heritage History. Aeschylus, the creatures of whose Titanic imagination belong to a universe of their own; but consider, for example, the poet of 4) This text is intended to be a faithful and complete copy of the original the Odyssey. His wonder-world, though real, lies far away; document. However, typos, omissions, and other errors may have occurred during preparation, and Heritage History does not guarantee a perfectly Odysseus, he makes us feel, has only to get back to Ithaca, and reliable reproduction. he has no more chance of encountering a Cyclops or a Laestrygon than you or I have. For Pindar, on the contrary, all Permission to use Heritage History documents or images for commercial Hellas is enchanted ground; it was in Arcadia, in Argos, in his purposes, or more information about our collection of traditional history resources own Thebes, that men of old fought uncanny monsters, can be obtained by contacting us at [email protected] entertained divinity unawares, and learnt Earth's secrets from Original Copyright 1909 by W. M. L. Hutchinson 2 Distributed by Heritage History 2009 talking beasts and birds. What wonder, if for him, living in such And there, 'tis told, he once was found a land, and turning from the upheaval of a new era to gaze On pansy pillow sleeping sound, fondly on an ideal past, that vanished world came alive again! At While the dusky mountain bees least, it is one charm of his story-telling that he seems to be Left for him the clover leas, describing things he saw happen with his own eyes, and another, Left bluebell copse and crocus mead, that the marvels befall quite simply, and, so to speak, On his dreaming lips to feed. intelligibly, in the natural course of events. But, for kisses that they stole, To these essentials of the perfect fairy tale, Pindar adds The wingéd thieves paid wondrous toll, the accepted dramatis personae—the brave young prince, the Hallowing with chrism pure wicked king, his foil, and the incomparably beautiful princess. Those baby lips, their rose-red lure. And always, as in fairy tales all the world over, the wicked king Strange the might, as I shall tell, comes to a bad end, while the deserving hero lives happy ever Hidden in that honey-spell! after. For the child, a striping grown, Still would haunt the forest lone, The legends of the Trojan War belong of course to a Musing, ferny ways along, different category, for between the time of Heracles and the time The golden themes of antique song— of Achilles the sun of the fairy age has set. Wars and perilous wanderings, It should perhaps be mentioned that some of the stories Ancient marvels, hero-kings here presented are put together from the myths of several Odes, Vanquishing in dauntless mood and most contain a good deal not to be found in Pindar. But Earth's primaeval dragon-brood, where I have used other sources, or invented details, I have tried All glittering quests, all glories won firstly to introduce no version of a myth not undoubtedly current Since Time's great wheel began to run. in Pindar's day, and secondly, to remember his maxim, that So, like a bee, his aëry thought "disparagement of the gods is a hateful art." Store of secret treasure wrought From every bud and blossom bright In Memory's garden of delight. Many a Summer morn the boy PROEM Ranged the dewy woods in joy; Many an eve sat, half a-dream, He that erst these legends told Where hazels hid a tinkling stream, Sang in far-off days of gold, While softly to its drowsy chime Ere yet from Earth the bright gods went, His lute's low harmonies kept time. or toiling mortals, prison-pent Then, in some divinest hour, Where the frowning cities stand, The magic of the wild-bee dower, Forgot the way to Fairyland. Swift as blaze of slumbering flame, A blissful child, thro' greenwood bowers Sent a rapture thro' his frame. He strayed, amid the April flowers, To the runnel's brink he sprang, Original Copyright 1909 by W. M. L. Hutchinson 3 Distributed by Heritage History 2009 Struck his Dorian lute and sang Such a song, the nightingale Hearing, hushed her plaintive tale; Such a song, the goat-foot Pan TABLE OF CONTENTS Envied once a child of man! Yes, the God whose music thrills PREFACE ................................................................................. 2 Thro' silent places of the hills, The Watcher of the upland flocks PROEM .................................................................................... 3 Who pipes at noon upon the rocks, THE FAVOURITE OF THE GODS ................................................ 5 Tiptoed near, the boughs among, Fain to learn that mortal song, THE PRINCE WHO WAS A SEER............................................. 21 And oft, since then, his reed flung by To carol it in Arcady. PELEUS AND THE SEA-KING'S DAUGHTER ............................ 35 Great Pan is dead; the woodlands hoar Ring to his wild notes no more; THE LAD WITH ONE SANDAL ................................................ 53 And the voice he loved that day THE PANSY BABY ................................................................. 67 Long from Earth has past away. Yet still in this her wintry age THE HEAVENLY TWINS ......................................................... 74 Its honey breathes from PINDAR'Spage, Whereon who looks shall seem to hear THE ISLE OF THE ROSE .......................................................... 85 Its very accents warbling clear Of Thebes or Troy the tale sublime, THE FIRST HORSE ................................................................. 88 Or some green idyll of the prime, THE BUILDERS OF TROY ....................................................... 91 In that sweetest human tongue Moulded when the world was young. Ah, might these dissonant echoes vain Retrieve one cadence of the strain! Original Copyright 1909 by W. M. L. Hutchinson 4 Distributed by Heritage History 2009 CHAPTER I sight of him would be a nine days' wonder, and the folk would begin to think of him as greater and more glorious than a mortal man. THE FAVOURITE OF THE GODS So the golden house was built, and shone like a star on the rocky crest of the mountain. Far below in the city, men I looked up to that glittering speck among the clouds, and said that their great King was neighbour now to the gods above. When Tantalus saw the finished work, his heart swelled with triumph Long, long ago, in an Eastern land, there lived a King and delight; he walked through its marble courts, where who was the richest man in the world. The rivers in his country fountains spouted from the jaws of golden dragons, through ran over golden sands, and their banks sparkled with gems colonnades of silver pillars, shaped like palm trees, with broad instead of pebbles.