people cried aloud in their distress, and cursed the mighty walls and
the high towers which had been reared by the unpaid labors of Poseidon;
and my father sat upon his high seat, and trembled because of the
calamities which his own deeds had brought upon his people.

"At last, after many humbler victims had perished, the lot fell upon
the fairest of my sisters, Hesione, my father's best-loved daughter.
In sorrow we arrayed her in garments befitting one doomed to an
untimely death; and when we had bidden her a last farewell, we gave her
to the heralds and the priests to lead forth to the place of sacrifice.

"Just then, however, a noble stranger, taller and more stately than any
man in Troy, came down the street. Fair-haired and blue-eyed, handsome
and strong, he seemed a very god to all who looked upon him. Over his
shoulder he wore the tawny skin of a lion, while in his hand he carried
a club most wonderful to behold. And the people, as he passed, prayed
him that he would free our city from the monster that was robbing us of
our loved ones.

"'I know that thou art a god!' cried my father, when he saw the
stranger. 'I pray thee, save my daughter, who even now is being led
forth to a cruel death!'

"'You make mistake,' answered the fair stranger. 'I am not one of the
gods. My name is Hercules, and like you I am mortal. Yet I may help
you in this your time of need.'

"Now, in my father's stables there were twelve fair steeds, the best
that the earth ever knew. So light of foot were they, that when they
bounded over the land, they might run upon the topmost ears of ripened