lf ready to fly at him and tear him to pieces.
Then Orpheus took down his harp and began to play upon its golden
strings. And the dog, Kerberos (for that was his name), growled and
snarled and showed the great white teeth which were in his three
mouths, but he could not help hearing the sweet music, and he wondered
why it was that he did not wish any more to tear Orpheus in pieces.
Very soon the music made him quiet and still, and at last it lulled
him to sleep, and only his heavy breathing told that there was any dog
there. So when Kerberos had gone to sleep, Orpheus passed by him and
came up to the gate, and he found it wide open, for it had come open
of its own accord while he was singing. And he was glad when he saw
this, for he thought that now he should see Eurydike.

So he went on and on a long way, until he came to the palace of the
King, and there were guards placed before the door who tried to keep
him from going in, but Orpheus played upon his harp, and then they
could not help letting him go.

[Illustration: ERATE (_Muse of the Lute_).]

So he went into the great hall, where he saw the King and Queen
sitting on a throne, and as Orpheus came near, the King called out to
him with a loud and terrible voice, "Who are you, and how dare you to
come here? Do you not know that no one is allowed to come here till
after they are dead? I will have you chained and placed in a dungeon,
from which you will never be able to get out." Then Orpheus said
nothing, but he took his golden harp in his hand and began to sing
more sweetly and gently than ever, because he knew that, if he liked
to do so, the King could let him see Eurydike again. And as he sang,
the face of the King began to look almost glad, and his anger passed
away, and he began to feel how much happier it must be to be gentle
and loving than to be angry and cruel. Then the King said, "You have
made me feel happy with your sweet music, although I have never felt
happy before; and now tell me why you have come, because you must want
something or other, for, otherwise, no one would come, before he was
dead, to this sad and gloomy land of which I am the King." Then
Orpheus said, "O King, give me back my dear Eurydike, and let her go
from this gloomy place and live with me on the bright earth again." So
the King said that she should go. And the King said to Orpheus, "I
have given you what you wanted, because you sang so sweetly, and when
you go back to the ear