a, or Leto, was the goddess of dark nights, and upon her the
mighty Zeus bestowed the doubtful favour of his errant love. Great was
the wrath of Hera, his queen, when she found that she was no longer
the dearest wife of her omnipotent lord, and with furious upbraidings
she banished her rival to earth. And when Latona had reached the place
of her exile she found that the vengeful goddess had sworn that she
would place her everlasting ban upon anyone, mortal or immortal, who
dared to show any kindness or pity to her whose only fault had been
that Zeus loved her. From place to place she wandered, an outcast even
among men, until, at length, she came to Lycia.

One evening, as the darkness of which she was goddess had just begun
to fall, she reached a green and pleasant valley. The soft, cool grass
was a delight to her tired feet, and when she saw the silvery gleam of
water she rejoiced, for her throat was parched and her lips dry and
she was very weary. By the side of this still pond, where the lilies
floated, there grew lithe grey willows and fresh green osiers, and
these were being cut by a crowd of chattering rustics.

Humbly, for many a rude word and harsh rebuff had the dictum of Hera
brought her during her wanderings, Latona went to the edge of the
pond, and, kneeling down, was most thankfully about to drink, when the
peasants espied her. Roughly and rudely they told her to begone, nor
dare to drink unbidden of the clear water beside which their willows
grew. Very pitifully Latona looked up in their churlish faces, and her
eyes were as the eyes of a doe that the hunters have pressed very
hard.

"Surely, good people," she said, and her voice was sad and low, "water
is free to all. Very far have I travelled, and I am aweary almost to
death. Only grant that I dip my lips in the water for one deep
draught. Of thy pity grant me this boon, for I perish of thirst."

Harsh and coarse were the mocking voices that made answer. Coarser
still were the jests that they made. Then one, bolder than his
fellows, spurned her kneeling figure with his foot, while another
brushed before her and stepping into the pond, defiled its clarity by
churning up the mud that lay below with his great splay feet.

Loudly the peasants laughed at this merry jest, and they quickly
followed his lead, as brainless sheep will follow the one that
scrambles through a gap. Soon they were all joyously stamping and
dancing in what had so lately been a pel