nderings he found his
way at one time into Egypt, and to the dominions of Agenor,--and there
he saw Agenor's beautiful daughter, Europa. He immediately determined
to make her his bride; and to secure this object he assumed the form
of a very finely shaped and beautiful bull, and in this guise joined
himself to Agenor's herds of cattle. Europa soon saw him there. She
was much pleased with the beauty of his form, and finding him gentle
and kind in disposition, she approached him, patted his glossy neck
and sides, and in other similar ways gratified the prince by marks of
her admiration and pleasure. She was at length induced by some secret
and magical influence which the prince exerted over her, to mount upon
his back, and allow herself to be borne away. The bull ran with his
burden to the shore, and plunged into the waves. He swam across the
sea to Crete,[A] and there, resuming his proper form, he made the
princess his bride.

[Footnote A: See Map, p. 30.]

Agenor and Telephassa, when they found that their daughter was gone,
were in great distress, and Agenor immediately determined to send his
sons on an expedition in pursuit of her. The names of his sons were
Cadmus, Phoenix, Cylix, Thasus, and Phineus. Cadmus, as the oldest
son, was to be the director of the expedition. Telephassa, the mother,
resolved to accompany them, so overwhelmed was she with affliction at
the loss of her daughter. Agenor himself was almost equally oppressed
with the calamity which had over whelmed them, and he charged his sons
never to come home again until they could bring Europa with them.

Telephassa and her sons wandered for a time in the countries east of
the Mediterranean sea, without being able to obtain any tidings of the
fugitive. At length they passed into Asia Minor, and from Asia Minor
into Thrace, a country lying north of the Egean Sea. Finding no traces
of their sister in any of these countries, the sons of Agenor became
discouraged, and resolved to make no farther search; and Telephassa,
exhausted with anxiety and fatigue, and now overwhelmed with the
thought that all hope must be finally abandoned, sank down and died.

[Illustration: THE JOURNEYING OF CADMUS.]

Cadmus and his brothers were much affected at their mother's death.
They made arrangements for her burial, in a manner befitting her high
rank and station, and when the funeral solemnities had been performed,
Cadmus repaired to the oracle at Delphi, which was situated