THE WINCED HORSE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19418, 28 August 1926, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE WINCED HORSE

TOLD BY MONA GORDON.

There was a beautiful mountain in Greece called Helicon, whose top WV S covered with snow, hut lower down wfcrv green fields full of wild flowers. On tUu , mountain there was a clear spring called | vthe Fountain of Pirene. ! In the daytime, when shepherds were | watching their sheep in the fields, the waters of this fountain sparkled in the •Sjin, and there was nothing wonderful ahv\ut it- f* ut at ni ? llt wllen t ' le stars ■ l werft. shining and all the shepherds had I gone home, then Pegasus, the winged | horse, would sometimes come and drink ' there. fcle was the most beautiful horse that i has ewr beeft, tor he was snow-white all | over, atod he If ad great silver wings. He j could fly more >swiftiy than a bird. Very j few people had' ever seen him; and he ! was so shy thay. no one could possibly get near enough to catch him. I Now at .thai tryne there was a terrible | dra.gon that lived .across the sea in Asia. It had three heads}, and a serpent s tail, and when it bmaithed, lire and smoke came oftt, of its mouths. This creature ' was so horVjble ana! so fierce thai no one : could kill it; ,and foV a long time it had • been turning c*A>Untry lived ! into a bare de&prt\. Ihe king of this i country would have >(ii>ne anything to put !an end to it, but could not. So lie sent a youth '.Bellerophon to do it for him. Now Bellorophon not possibly go near the dragon withv being killed or burned by its broath,, but he suddenly thought of Pegasus! Lv only he could get the winged horse he ijvould be able to strike at the monster \from above, and fly off into the air if fye missed. But how was he to catch t\>£ beautiful horse? For many nights he wandered about Mount Helicon, but Pegas'JM was not tc be found. Once he though he saw the gleam of silver wings; but nO, it was only the moonlight shining on a of snow. The meadows, the rl Cowers ~nd the fountains never once brought him down from the skies. Pegasus might be up 3inong the stars, or I carrying the lightning for Zeus, father of the gods, hut he was not to be found on his favourite mountain. Sad and disappointed, Bellerophon went down. He was so tired that he slept all night in a white marble temple which the Greeks had built for Athena. There he dreamed that Athena came to him and gave him a golden bridle. And next morning, when he woke np, there was the bridle by his side, just like the one in his dream ! He took it up, and it glittered so that Bellerophon was sure it was good enough for such a lovely horse as Pega;ns. That very night he went ,up again to Mount Helicon; and he had not been waiting very long before Pegasus came and bent his snowy neck to drink at the fountain. Bellerophon slipped the bridle over his head and got on to his back. Pegasus was quite, tame for he knew it was Athena's bridle; and Bellerophon sat there between his silver wings, and they flew and flew for miles. Never before had anyone ridden such a wonderful horse. But Bellerophon had not forgotten the dragon, which I foreot to tell yon was < called the Chimera. He guided Pegasus toward that desolate country where the monster lived, and soon they were hoverint? just above it. There it lay, every (fne of its three heads spitting fire. Pegasus snorted with fear for ho had never seen anything so horrible. Bat Bellerophon spoke to him and told ( him not to be afraid; and then straight down they plunged, until they were quite near the dragon. Bellerophon struck at one of its heads, and up they soared again into the sky. The Ghimaira let out a roar of anger and pain, and spit fire and smoke; but after a while he was quiet, and down came Pegasus again till he was near enough for Bellerophon to strike off another head. . By this time Pegasus had had his wings singed. He not and perspiring, and : Bellerophon could hardly make the brave j horse go down again. But he spoke to < him and told him not to be afraid, for there was only one more head left, and then the Chimrera would be dead. Down j they camo again, and the dragon's last ! ■ head was cut off. There lay the great ! creature, a mass of pain,, and, when the ' fire and sinoke had cleared away, Bellerophon saw \that it was dead. After this,. Bellerophon went for many more rides \on the winged horse, for ( Pegasus was quite tame and could do anything for his master. Bellerophon married I the daughter of the king who sent him j out to kill the Chinuera, and he was a I very happy man, ; ] But one' day he thought he would fly up to heaven, for there was nowhere that j Pegasus could not carry him. When they got very high up, ZeuS saw him, and he sent a thunderbolt which struck Bellerophon, and he fell off on to the earth i again. Pegasus went flying on until he came to Olympus, the home of all the - gods, and no one has ever seen or ridden j him since. , j