[I owe an apology to the few scholars who may happen to read this
hasty jeu d'esprit, for the inconsistent method in which I have
spelt Greek names. The rule which I have tried to follow has been
this: when the word has been hopelessly Latinised, as 'Phoebus'
has been, I have left it as it usually stands; but in other cases I
have tried to keep the plain Greek spelling, except when it would
have seemed pedantic, or when, as in the word 'Tiphus,' I should
have given an altogether wrong notion of the sound of the word. It
has been a choice of difficulties, which has been forced on me by
our strange habit of introducing boys to the Greek myths, not in
their original shape, but in a Roman disguise.]



STORY I.--PERSEUS




PART I--HOW PERSEUS AND HIS MOTHER CAME TO SERIPHOS



Once upon a time there were two princes who were twins. Their
names were Acrisius and Proetus, and they lived in the pleasant
vale of Argos, far away in Hellas. They had fruitful meadows and
vineyards, sheep and oxen, great herds of horses feeding down in