Then Admetus made answer, “Fear not, it shall be as thou wilt.  I could not find other wife fair and well born and true as thou.  Never more shall I gather revellers in my palace, or crown my head with garlands, or hearken to the voice of music.  Never shall I touch the harp or sing to the Libyan flute.  And some cunning craftsman shall make an image fashioned like unto thee, and this I will hold in my arms and think of thee.  Cold comfort indeed, yet that shall ease somewhat of the burden of my soul.  But oh! that I had the voice and melody of Orpheus, for then had I gone down to Hell and persuaded the Queen thereof or her husband with my song to let thee go; nor would the watch-dog of Pluto, nor Charon that ferrieth the dead, have hindered me but that I had brought thee to the light.  But do thou wait for me there, for there will I dwell with thee; and when I die they shall lay me by thy side, for never was wife so true as thou.”

Then said Alcestis, “Take these children as a gift from me, and be as a mother to them.”

“O me!” he cried, “what shall I do, being bereaved of thee?”

And she said, “Time will comfort thee; the dead are as nothing.”

But he said, “Nay, but let me depart with thee.”

But the Queen made answer, “’Tis enough that I die in thy stead.”

And when she had thus spoken she gave up the ghost.

Then the King said to the old men that were gathered together to comfort him, “I will see to this burial.  And do ye sing a hymn as is meet to the god of the dead.  And to all my people I make this decree:  that they mourn for this woman, and clothe themselves in black, and shave their heads, and that such as have horses cut off their manes, and that there be not heard in the city the voice of the flute or the sound of the harp for the space of twelve months.”

Then the old men sang the hymn as they had been bidden.  And when they had finished, it befell that Hercules, who was on a journey, came to the palace and asked whether King Admetus was sojourning there.

And the old men answered, “’Tis even so, Hercules.  But what, I pray thee, bringeth thee to this land?”

“I am bound on an errand for King Eurystheus; even to bring back to him horses of King Diomed.”

“How wilt thou do this?  Dost thou not know this Diomed?”

“I know nought of him, nor of his land.”

“Thou wilt not master him or his horses without blows.”

“Even so, yet I may not refuse the tasks that are set to me.”

“Thou art resolved then to do this thing or to die?”

“Ay; and this is not the first race that I have run.”

“Thou wilt not easily bridle these horses.”

“Why not?  They breathe not fire from their nostrils.”

“No, but they devour the flesh of men.”

“What sayest thou?  This is the food of wild beasts, not of horses.”

“Yet ’tis true.  Thou wilt see their mangers foul with blood.”