GREEK GOD
GOD OF THE SILVER FRUIT

Long before you or me or anyone else

remember, live with the Mighty People at the top of a mountain

a beautiful and gentle woman named Leto. So fair and gentle he is

jupiter loved him and made him his wife. But when

Juno, the queen of the earth and sky, heard this, she was furious; and she

expel Leto from the mountain and ask all things big and small refuse to

helping him. So Leto escaped like a wild deer from the land

land and could not find a place to rest. She can't

stop, because then the ground will tremble under his feet, and the stones

I'll scream, "Come! come on!" and the birds and

animals and trees and men will join in the cry

that; and no one in the whole wide land felt pity

to him.

One day he came to the sea, and when he

fleeing along the shore, he raised his hand and called out

Neptune was great to help him. Neptune, king of the sea, heard it

and be nice to him. He sent a big fish, called

dolphins, to take him away from the cruel land; and fish, and,

with Leto sitting on his wide back, swimming through the waves to Delos,

a small island that floats on the water like a boat. Over there

the gentle woman found rest and home; for the place belonged

Neptune, and Juno's cruel words were not obeyed there. Neptune

put four marble pillars under the island so that the pole can rest

to them; and he fastened them, with a great chain

get to the bottom of the sea, so the waves will never move it.

Twins were born to Leto di

Delos. One of them was the boy he called Apollo, who

another girl he named Artemis, or Diana. When the news

their birth was brought to Jupiter and the Mighty People on the mountaintop, all over the world

happy world. The sun danced on the water, and the geese sang flying

seven times around the island of Delos. The moon bent over to kiss

the babies in their cribs; and Juno forgot his anger, and asked

all things on earth and in the sky to be kind to Leto.

Both kids grew up very fast. Apollo

being tall and strong and graceful; her face was as bright as light

the sun; and he brings joy and joy wherever he is

go awayl. Jupiter gives him a pair of geese and a golden chariot, which carries him

across the sea and land wherever he wanted to go; and he gave him

the lute in which he plays the sweetest music ever heard, and the bow

silver with a sharp arrow that never misses the target. When

Apollo went out into the world, and the people found out about him, he was called

by some Bearers of Light, by others Masters of Song, and by others

the Lord of the Silver Bow.

Diana was also tall and

graceful, and very handsome. He likes to wander in the woods with

her servant, called an angel; she takes care of shy deer and ungodly creatures

a helpless living among the trees; and he loved to hunt wolves

and bears and other wild animals. He was loved and feared

every land, and Jupiter makes her the queen of green forests and pursuits.

"Where is the center of the world?"

This is a question someone asked

to Jupiter as she sat in her golden hall. Of course the ruler of the earth

and the mighty sky is too wise to be confused by that which

it was so simple, but he was too busy to answer it at once. So then

he said:

"Come back in a year from day

here, and I'll show you the place."

Then Jupiter took two quick eagles

it can fly faster than a hurricane wind, and train them up to speed

one is the same as the other. At the end of the year he said to

his servant:

"Bring this eagle to the eastern edge of the earth, where

the sun rises from the sea; and take his companion to the far west, where the sea

lost in the darkness and nothing outside. Then, when I

give you a sign, loosen both at the same time."

The servants did as they were told,

and bring the eagle to the outer end of the world. Then Jupiter clapped

hand. Lightning snatched, thunder boomed, and the two birds were quick

acquitted. One of them flew straight back to the west, which

another flew straight back to the east; and no arrows shot out

faster than the bow than these two birds from their hands

holding it.

They went away like shooting stars

the ones rushing to meet each other; and Jupiter and all his company

the mighty sat in the clouds and watched the flight

them. The closer they come, but they do not turn to the right

or to the left. Closer and closer - and then by collision

like the meeting of two ships at sea, eagles come together in the air and

fall dead to the ground.

"Who asked where the center was

the world?" jupiter. "The place where the two eagles are

lay—it's the center of the world."

They fell on a mountain top in Greece

it has since been called Parnassus by man.

"If it is the center of the world" said

Young Apollo, "then I will make my home there, and I will

building a house in that place, so that my light can be seen in all

country."

So Apollo went to Parnassus, and searched

a place to lay the foundations of his home. The mountain itself is wild and

wild, and the valley below was quiet and dark. Some people who stay

there hid themselves among the rocks as if afraid of danger

large. They told Apollo that near the foot of the mountain where

the steep cliff seemed to split in two, lived a large snake

called Python. These snakes often catch sheep and cows, and sometimes

even men and women and children, and bring it to its nest

horrible and eat it.

"No one can kill an animal

And they said, "No one; and

we and our children and our livestock will all be killed by it."

Then Apollo with a silver bow in his hand

go to the place where Python is lying. The monster has gone through the road

a large footpath through the grass and between the rocks, and the nest

not hard to find. When he saw Apollo, he broke free, and

come out to see him. The intelligent prince saw the creature's glaring eyes

and a blood-red mouth, and heard the roar of his scaly body above

rock. He put an arrow into his bow, and stood still. Python

seeing that his enemy was not an ordinary person, and turned to run away

selves. Then an arrow shot from his bow—and the monster died.

"Here I will build a house

me," said Apollo.

Near the foot of a steep cliff, and below the spot

jupiter's eagle falls, he lays his foundation; and soon where the nest is

Python, the white walls of the temple of Apollo appear among the rocks. Then

the poor people of the land came and built their houses in the

nearby; and Apollo stayed among them for many years, and

teach them to be gentle and wise, and show them

how they become happy. The mountain was no longer wild and wild,

but it became a place of music and song; the valley was no longer dark and

it was quiet, but filled with beauty and light.

"What we call a city

we?" people ask.

"Call it Delphi, please,

or Dolphins" said Apollo; "Because they are dolphins

who took my mother across the sea."

In the Valley of Tempe, located far to the north

Delphi, there lived a young girl named Daphne. He is that child

strange, wild and shy like a fawn, and as fast as a deer that forages

the plains. But he's as fair and good as the day in June, and

no one knows him but to love him.

Daphne spent most of her time in

fields and forests, with birds, flowers, and trees; and he was the most

love to walk along the banks of the Peneus River, and listen to the ripples of water

when flowing between reeds or on top of a pebble

glowed. Very often he would sing and talk to the river

it was as if it were a living being, and could hear it; and he

imagining that it understood what he was saying, and that it was whispering

many wonderful secrets to him in return. The good guys who

the most familiar said:

"He is a tributary."

"Yes, dear river" he said,

"let me be your son."

The river smiled and answered him in a way

which he himself could understand; and always, after that, he called it

"Father of Peneus."

One day when the sun was shining warmly, and

the air was filled with the scent of flowers, Daphne wandered further away from the river

than he ever did before. He passed through the forest

shady and climbing a hill, from the top he could see Father Peneus

lying white and clean and smiling in the valley below. At

behind it are other hills, and then green slopes and peaks

the great Ossa Mountain Forest. Ah, if he could only climb to the top

Ossa, he might have a view of the sea, and the other mountains in the

nearby, and the twin peaks of Mount Parnassus, far, far south!

"Goodbye, Father Peneus,"

said. "I will climb the mountain; but I will soon

back."

The river smiled, and Daphne ran forward, and,

climb one hill after another, and wonder why the big mountain is

it still looks so far away. Gradually he reached the foot of the forested slope

where there is a beautiful waterfall and the land is filled with thousands of flowers

beautiful; and he sat there for a moment to rest. Then

from the forest at the top of the hill above, there was the sound of the most beautiful music

ever heard. He stood up and listened. Someone is playing

the harp, and someone's singing. He was terrified; and still

the music was so mesmerizing that he could not run away.

Then, suddenly, the voice stopped, and

a young man, tall and beautiful and with a face as bright as the morning sun,

down from the hillside towards him.

"Daphne!" he said; but

he did not stop to listen. He turned and ran away

like a terrified deer, back to the Tempe Valley.

"Daphne!" exclaim youth

that's. He did not know that it was Apollo, the Lord of the Bow

Silver; he only knew that the stranger was following him, and he ran

as fast as the legs of his fleet could carry. No young man ever

spoke to him earlier, and his voice filled his heart with fear.

"She was the prettiest girl ever

I see," Apollo said to himself. "If I only

I could see his face again and talk to him, how happy he was

me." i."

Through the brakes, through the brier, through the rocks

and the tree trunk fell, down a steep slope, across a mountain stream, and,

jumping, flying, panting, Daphne ran. He didn't see

even behind him, but he heard Apollo's swift footsteps

coming always closer; he heard the crackling of a hanging silver bow

on his shoulder; he heard his breath, he was so close

with him. Finally he was in a valley where the land was smooth and more

it was easy to run, but its strength was fast

leave him. However, right in front of him, lay a river, white and

smiling in the sun. She stretched out her hand and cried:

"O Father Peneus,

save me!"

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