THE WINGED HORSE OF THE MUSES 6 1 



weeks ago I noticed that a great change had come 

 over him, for he no longer showed me the kind at- 

 tention which I had learned to expect of him. The 

 queen, too, seemed to have become my enemy, 

 and treated me with the haughtiest disdain. In- 

 deed, I began to suspect that she was urging her 

 husband to put me out of the way, and I should 

 not have been surprised if he had banished me 

 from his court. I was, of course, uncomfortable, 

 and was trying to think of some excuse for leav- 

 ing Tiryns, when the king, very early one morn- 

 ing, called me into his private chamber. He held 

 in his hand a wooden tablet, sealed with his own 

 signet, and he seemed to be greatly excited about 

 something. 



" ' Bellerophon,' he said, ' I have written on 

 this tablet a letter of very great importance, 

 which I wish to send to my father-in-law. King 

 lobates, of Lycia, beyond the sea. You are the 

 only man whom I can trust to carry this letter, 

 and so I beg that you will get ready to go at once. 

 A ship is in the harbor already manned for the 

 voyage, and the wind is fair. Before the sun 

 rises you may be well out at sea.' 



" I took the tablet and embarked, as he wished, 

 without so much as bidding good-by to any of 



