guish to the children of men;
my olive-tree is the sign of peace and plenty, of health and strength,
and the pledge of happiness and freedom. Shall not, then, the city of
Erechtheus be called after my name?"

Then with one accord rose the voices of the gods in the air, as they
cried out, "The gift of Athene is the best which may be given to the
sons of men; it is the token that the city of Erechtheus shall be
greater in peace than in war, and nobler in its freedom than its
power. Let the city be called Athens."

Then Zeus, the mighty son of Kronos, bowed his head in sign of
judgment that the city should be called by the name of Athene. From
his head the immortal locks streamed down, and the earth trembled
beneath his feet as he rose from his golden throne to return to the
halls of Olympos. But still Athene stood gazing over the land which
was now her own; and she stretched out her spear towards the city of
Erechtheus, and said: "I have won the victory, and here shall be my
home. Here shall my children grow up in happiness and freedom, and
hither shall the sons of men come to learn of law and order. Here
shall they see what great things may be done by mortal hands when
aided by the gods who dwell on Olympos, and when the torch of freedom
has gone out at Athens, its light shall be handed on to other lands,
and men shall learn that my gift is still the best, and they shall say
that reverence for law and freedom of thought and deed has come to
them from the city of Erechtheus, which bears the name of Athene."

MEDUSA.

In the far western land, where the Hesperides guard the golden apples
which Gaia gave to the lady Here, dwelt the maiden Medusa, with her
sisters Stheino and Euryale, in their lonely and dismal home. Between
them and the land of living men flowed the gentle stream of ocean, so
that only the name of the Gorgon sisters was known to the sons of men,
and the heart of Medusa yearned in vain to see some face which might
look on her with love and pity, for on her lay the doom of death, but
her sisters could neither grow old nor die. For them there was nothing
fearful in the stillness of their gloomy home, as they sat with stern,
unpitying faces, gazing on the silent land beyond the ocean stream.
But Medusa wandered to and fro, longing to see something new in a home
to which no change ever came, and her heart pined for lack of those
things which gladden the souls of mortal men. For where she dwelt
there was ne