eston Peabody

There are so many tales of the vanity of kings and queens that the half of
them cannot be told.

There was Cassiopaeia, queen of AEthiopia, who boasted that her beauty
outshone the beauty of all the sea-nymphs, so that in anger they sent a
horrible sea-serpent to ravage the coast. The king prayed of an oracle to
know how the monster might be appeased, and learned that he must offer up
his own daughter, Andromeda. The maiden was therefore chained to a rock by
the sea-side, and left to her fate. But who should come to rescue her but
a certain young hero, Perseus, who was hastening homeward after a perilous
adventure with the snaky-haired Gorgons. Filled with pity at the story of
Andromeda, he waited for the dragon, met and slew him, and set the maiden
free. As for the boastful queen, the Gods forgave her, and at her death
she was set among the stars. That story ended well.

But there was once a queen of Thebes, Niobe, fortunate above all women,
and yet arrogant in the face of the gods. Very beautiful she was, and
nobly born, but above all things she boasted of her children, for she had
seven sons and seven daughters.

Now there came the day when the people were wont to celebrate the feast of
Latona, mother of Apollo and Diana; and Niobe, as she stood looking upon
the worshipers on their way to the temple, was filled with overweening
pride.

"Why do you worship Latona before me?" she cried out. "What does she
possess that I have not in greater abundance? She has but two children,
while I have seven sons and as many daughters. Nay, if she robbed me out
of envy, I should still be rich. Go back to your houses; you have not eyes
to know the rightful goddess."

Such impiety was enough to frighten any one, and her subjects returned to
their daily work, awestruck and silent.

But Apollo and Diana were filled with wrath at this insult to their divine
mother. Not only was she a great goddess and a power in the heavens, but
during her life on earth she had suffered many hardships for their sake.
The serpent Python had been sent to torment her; and, driven from land to
land, under an evil spell, beset with dangers, she had found no
resting-place but the island of Delos, held sacred ever after to her and
her children. Once she had even been refused water by some churlish
peasants, who could not believe in a goddess if she appeared in humble
guise and travel-worn. But these men were all changed into frogs.

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