Hyde greek indd

FAVORITE GREEK MYTHS

VARVAKEION STATUETTE
Antique copy of the Athena of Phidias
National Museum, Athens

FAVORITE
GREEK MYTHS
BY
LILIAN STOUGHTON HYDE
YESTERDAY’S CLASSICS
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH

CAROLINA

Cover and arrangement © 2008 Yesterday’s Classics, LLC.
Th is edition, first published in 2008 by Yesterday’s Classics, an imprint of Yesterday’s Classics, LLC, is an unabridged republication of the work originally published by DC. Heath and Company in 1904. For the complete listing of the books that are published by Yesterday’s Classics, please visit www.yesterdaysclassics.com. Yesterday’s Classics is the publishing arm of the Baldwin Online Children’s Literature Project which presents the complete text of hundreds of classic books for children at www.mainlesson.com.
ISBN-10: ISBN Yesterdays Classics, LLC PO Box 3418 Chapel Hill, NC 27515

PREFACE
In the preparation of this book, the aim has been to present in a manner suited to young readers the Greek myths that have been world favorites through the centuries, and that have in some measure exercised a formative influence on literature and the fine arts in many countries. While a knowledge of these myths is undoubtedly necessary to a clear understanding of much in literature and the arts, yet it is not for this reason alone that they have been selected the myths that have appealed to the poets, the painters, and the sculptors for so many ages are the very ones that have the greatest depth of meaning, and that are the most beautiful and the best worth telling. Moreover, these myths appeal strongly to the child-mind, and should be presented while the young imagination can make them live. In childhood they will be enjoyed as stories but in later years they will be understood as the embodiment of spiritual truths.

CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Prometheus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How Troubles Came into the World . . . . . . The Great Deluge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Apollo and Daphne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How Apollo Got his Lyre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mercury and Argus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ceres and Proserpine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phaethon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
Clytie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Seven Sisters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Endymion’s Sleep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Why Cadmus Founded a City . . . . . . . . . . . . Echo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Narcissus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Hyacinthus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Perseus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Arachne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

Jason and the Golden Fleece . . . . . . . . . . . .82
Hylas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
Procne and Philomela . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Bellerophon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Tithonus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Comatas and the Honey-Bees . . . . . . . . . . . Adonis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . King Midas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The King and the Oak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Juno and Halcyone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hercules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Theseus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Philemon and Baucis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Orpheus and Eurydice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ganymede . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Bag of Winds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Circe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Arion and the Dolphin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Psyche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pronouncing and Explanatory Guide . . . 221

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