BIRD LEGEND AND LIFE 



troubled wife, sends her messenger, Iris, to the great god, 

 Somnus, asking that a vision, in the form of Ceyx, be sent 

 to Ilalcyone to tell of the dread happening. Hearing her 

 message, Somnus sends his messenger to do her bidding. In 

 the form of her loved one, Morpheus leans over the bed of 

 the sleeping Halcyone and tells her of all the circumstances 

 of the wreck — ^how, to the last, the thoughts of her loved one 

 had been with her, and how all that was mortal of him would 

 come back to her on the waves. 



Crying out: "Ceyx is dead! This it was that my pre- 

 saging mind foreboded," her cries awake her. The night is 

 spent in grief and tortures of the mind. When the first light 

 of day appears she hastens to the shore that she may be there 

 ready to receive her returning Ceyx. Before her mind passes 

 every scene of their life together. It was here that this oc- 

 curred, and here that — and here that he gave her his last kiss. 

 With such mixed pleasure and torture she awaits his coming. 

 As with many prayers she begs that her life may be taken, 

 that her spirit may be with his, she looks out across the waters 

 and searches every wave for the loved form. 



The gods take pity on her. Borne by the waves, the 

 dead form is coming, and, seeing it in the distance, a shudder 

 runs through her frame as she reaches out her arms, which 

 take the shape of wings, bearing her to him. She is no longer 

 a woman, but a bird — the halcyon. Ceyx, too, takes on this 

 form and rises from the waves to meet her, and they fly away 

 together across the water, there to make a home on its bosom. 

 No more will they be separated. During the building of 

 their home and the time for its enjoyment, beautiful days are 

 given them, days when the waves are still and only gentle 

 zephyrs stir the air, and the whole world is bathed in warm, 

 golden light — ^halcyon days. 



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