e
courtiers shouted, "Long live our gracious princess! Long live
Rhampsinitus and his son-in-law Ladronius!" The royal minstrel brought his
harp and sang a solemn chant, all about the beauty of the princess and the
bravery of Ladronius; and the maids of honor performed a graceful dance to
the music, winding wreaths of lotus flowers about the bride and
bridegroom. As the music ceased, the venerable High Priest of Ra, a tall
old man with his head clean-shaven, came forward to bless and anoint them,
and to tell how he had foreseen it all from the beginning.

So Ladronius and the beautiful princess were married, and, though it is
not in the story, there can be no doubt that they lived very happily for
the rest of their lives.

ARION AND THE DOLPHIN

Retold by G. H. Boden and W. Barrington d'Almeida

It happened once upon a time, in the olden days, that a young man,
Periander of Corinth, started from a port in the south of Greece to sail
to Miletus. Being caught in a storm, the boat was carried out of her
course as far as the island of Lesbos, where she stayed for several days,
in order that the damage caused by the storm might be repaired. In the
mean time Periander landed, and occupied himself in wandering about the
island and watching the inhabitants. In his wanderings, he came one
evening upon a group of men and women, the sight of whom made him pause
with a longing to join them. They had been working hard all day, gathering
the grapes, and pressing them in big, wooden vats, to extract the wine for
which Lesbos was famous; and now, in the beautiful autumn evening, they
were making merry after their labors.

No wonder Periander stayed to watch them, for they made a very pretty
picture,--the handsome youths, with their bronzed faces and strong, fine
limbs; the women with their gay dresses and bare feet, that seemed to have
been made for dancing; the vine-clad hill at the back, and, over it all,
the glow of the setting sun. In the centre of the dancers sat a boy,
playing upon a small lute with seven strings. To this accompaniment the
dancers chanted a song in praise of Dionysus, the god of the vine.
Gradually the music went faster and faster; and faster and faster the feet
of the dancers sped over the ground, until they were all out of breath,
and lay laughing on the grass.

Then, as the boy struck another chord, all laughter was hushed, and he
began to sing; it was a simple, plaintive little song, but there w