“We give you a fair choice,” said the captain brutally.  “Either leap into the sea at once, or kill yourself in some other way, and we will bury you decently on shore.”

Abandoning his vain appeals for mercy, Arion begged them, as a last favor, to let him sing once more before he died.

“That we will not refuse,” the captain answered; “though, if you think to move us by your wailing, let me tell you that you waste your breath!” In reality, he was not displeased to have an opportunity of hearing the most famous singer in the world.

Arion put on his sacred robes, in which he used to sing in the temple of Apollo, and taking his lute he stepped firmly to the prow of the vessel.  There he stood, pale and calm, in the silvery light of the moon, his fair hair playing with the wind, while the little waves lifted themselves to look at him, and then ran playfully into the shadow of the boat, to dash their heads against the beams and be broken into spray.  The sailors were awed in spite of themselves, as that beautiful voice rose on the breeze.  He sang the old song which he had sung in the Lesbian vineyards when Periander saw him first.  And when he came to the last lines,—­

  “Life is but a drop in the deep,
  Soon we wake from the last, lone sleep,
     And meet again,”

Arion leapt over the side of the vessel, just as he was.

The captain, fearing that some of the crew might be moved to lend him assistance, gave the order to make all speed ahead.  Had he waited, he might have seen a most wonderful sight.  For, as Arion fell into the sea, the water seemed to become alive beneath him, and he felt it lifting him up, and carrying him rapidly away from the ship.  Then he discovered that he was seated astride on a great, black fish, which was swimming very rapidly on the top of the water, and he knew it must be a dolphin, which had been attracted by his singing; for the dolphins, unlike most things that live in the sea, have sharp ears, and are very fond of music.  He touched his lute, to see if the strings had suffered from the water, and, as he did so, the great back quivered beneath him.  Finding, therefore, that the dolphin liked the music, and thinking that he owed it some return for saving his life, Arion began to sing, and sang song after song; whenever he stopped, the dolphin ceased from swimming, as if to inquire the reason; and when Arion began again, the dolphin bounded through the water with great strokes of his broad tail.  A strange sight it must have been, had there been any one there to see!  But the dolphin went straight across the open sea, where no ships were to be seen; for the sailors of that day did not care to lose sight of the coast, but would sail all the way round a large bay rather than straight across it.  So it was that Arion came to Taenarus in Greece, without having been seen by any man.  The dolphin took him close to the shore, where he bade it good-by, and watched it swim away disconsolately.