THE WINGED HORSE OF THE MUSES 63 



very pale, and he staggered as if he would fall. 

 Then he left the room very quickly, and I did not 

 see him again until this morning, when he called 

 me into his council-chamber. I was surprised to 

 notice how haggard and worn he was, and how 

 very old he seemed to have become within the 

 past three days. 



" ' Young man,' he said, speaking rather 

 sharply, I thought, — ' Young man, they tell me 

 that you are brave and fond of hunting wild 

 beasts, and that you are anxious to win fame by 

 doing some daring deed. I have word, only this 

 morning, that the people who live on the other 

 side of the northern mountains are in great dread 

 of a strange animal that comes out of the caves 

 and destroys their flocks, and sometimes carries 

 their children off to its lair. Some say it is a lion, 

 some a dragon, and some laugh at the whole af- 

 fair and call it a goat. I think myself that it 

 must be the very same beast that infested the 

 mountain valleys some years ago, and was called 

 by our wise men a Chimaera ; and for the sake of 

 the good people whom it annoys, I should like to 

 have it killed. Every one to whom I have spoken 

 about it, however, is afraid to venture into its 

 haunts.' 



