and went to bury him on Pelion; but Zeus took him up among the stars, to
live forever, grand and mild, low down in the far southern sky.

And in time the heroes died, all but Nestor the silver-tongued old man;
and left behind them valiant sons, but not so great as they had been.
Yet their fame, too, lives till this day; for they fought at the ten
years' siege of Troy; and their story is in the book which we call
Homer, in two of the noblest songs on earth; the Iliad, which tells us
of the siege of Troy, and Achilles's quarrel with the kings; and the
Odyssey, which tells the wanderings of Odysseus, through many lands for
many years; and how Alcinous sent him home at last, safe to Ithaca his
beloved island, and to Penelope his faithful wife, and Telemachus his
son, and Euphorbus the noble swineherd, and the old dog who licked his
hand and died.




CHAPTER XI

THE GIANT BUILDER


Ages and ages ago, when the world was first made, the gods decided to
build a beautiful city high above the heavens, the most glorious and
wonderful city that ever was known. Asgard was to be its name, and it
was to stand on Ida Plain under the shade of Yggdrasil, the great tree
whose roots were underneath the earth.

First of all they built a house with a silver roof, where there were