od and he climbed upon it.
There he stayed with the flaming robe burning into him, and he begged
of those who passed to fire the pile that his end might come more
quickly.

None would fire the pile. But at last there came that way a young
warrior named Philoctetes, and Heracles begged of him to fire the pile.
Philoctetes, knowing that it was the will of the gods that Heracles
should die that way, lighted the pile. For that Heracles bestowed upon
him his great bow and his unerring arrows. And it was this bow and
these arrows, brought from Philoctetes, that afterward helped to take
Priam's city.

The pile that Heracles stood upon was fired. High up, above the sea,
the pile burned. All who were near that burning fled--all except Iole,
that childlike maiden. She stayed and watched the flames mount up and
up. They wrapped the sky, and the voice of Heracles was heard calling
upon Zeus. Then a great chariot came and Heracles was borne away to
Olympus. Thus, after many labors, Heracles passed away, a mortal
passing into an immortal being in a great burning high above the sea.

V. ADMETUS

I

It happened once that Zeus would punish Apollo, his son. Then he
banished him from Olympus, and he made him put off his divinity and
appear as a mortal man. And as a mortal Apollo sought to earn his bread
amongst men. He came to the house of King Admetus and took service with
him as his herdsman.

For a year Apollo served the young king, minding his herds of black
cattle. Admetus did not know that it was one of the immortal gods who
was in his house and in his fields. But he treated him in friendly
wise, and Apollo was happy whilst serving Admetus.

Afterward people wondered at Admetus's ever-smiling face and
ever-radiant being. It was the god's kindly thought of him that gave
him such happiness. And when Apollo was leaving his house and his
fields he revealed himself to Admetus, and he made a promise to him
that when the god of the Underworld sent Death for him he would have
one more chance of baffling Death than any mortal man.

That was before Admetus sailed on the Argo with Jason and the
companions of the quest. The companionship of Admetus brought happiness
to many on the voyage, but the hero to whom it gave the most happiness
was Heracles. And often Heracles would have Admetus beside him to tell
him about the radiant god Apollo, whose bow and arrows Heracles had
been given.

After that voyage and after the hunt in Cal