THE DOMESTIC SWAN. 



127 



The transformation of Cycnus into a swan 

 is very entertaining : *— 



When Phaeton, the well-known incendiary, 

 had burnt down every corn-rick in mother 

 Earth s farm-yard, and placed her own beloved 

 person in danger of immediate suffocation, 



■ " neque enim tolerare vaporem 



Ulterius potuit," 



Jupiter felled him dead into the river Po ; a 

 somewhat milder punishment than if he had 

 sent him to Norfolk Island for life. His poor 

 sisters wept so intensely at having lost him 

 for ever, that they became trees (probably 

 weeping willows), and actually took root in the 

 ground. His near relative, Cycnus, too, was so 

 stupefied at what had happened, that he could 

 no longer perform the duties of his royal sta- 

 tion. He left his throne and all its pleasures, 

 and became a voluntary wanderer on the banks 

 of that river into which the dead body of 

 Phaeton had fallen. Its banks and its trees, 

 some of which had so lately been Phaeton's 

 own sisters, resounded far and near with his 

 doleful lamentations. One morning, on awaking 

 from sleep, he found that he had lost his usual 

 voice, and that he could only squeak. Soon 



