In this manner, Bellerophon and the wondrous steed spent several days, and grew better acquainted and fonder of each other all the time.  They went on long aerial journeys, and sometimes ascended so high that the earth looked hardly bigger than—­the moon.  They visited distant countries, and amazed the inhabitants, who thought that the beautiful young man, on the back of the winged horse, must have come down out of the sky.  A thousand miles a day was no more than an easy space for the fleet Pegasus to pass over.  Bellerophon was delighted with this kind of life, and would have liked nothing better than to live always in the same way, aloft in the clear atmosphere; for it was always sunny weather up there, however cheerless and rainy it might be in the lower region.  But he could not forget the horrible Chimaera, which he had promised King Iobates to slay.  So, at last, when he had become well accustomed, to feats of horsemanship in the air, and could manage Pegasus with the least motion of his hand, and had taught him to obey his voice, he determined to attempt the performance of this perilous adventure.

At daybreak, therefore, as soon as he unclosed his eyes, he gently pinched the winged horse’s ear, in order to arouse him.  Pegasus immediately started from the ground, and pranced about a quarter of a mile aloft, and made a grand sweep around the mountain-top, by way of showing that he was wide awake, and ready for any kind of an excursion.  During the whole of this little flight, he uttered a loud, brisk, and melodious neigh, and finally came down at Bellerophon’s side, as lightly as ever you saw a sparrow hop upon a twig.

“Well done, dear Pegasus I well done, my sky-skimmer!” cried Bellerophon, fondly stroking the horse’s neck.  “And now, my fleet and beautiful friend, we must break our fast.  To-day we are to fight the terrible Chimaera.”

As soon as they had eaten their morning meal, and drank some sparkling water from a spring called Hippocrene, Pegasus held out his head, of his own accord, so that his master might put on the bridle.  Then, with a great many playful leaps and airy caperings, he showed his impatience to be gone; while Bellerophon was girding on his sword, and hanging his shield about his neck, and preparing himself for battle.  When everything was ready, the rider mounted, and (as was his custom, when going a long distance) ascended five miles perpendicularly, so as the better to see whither he was directing his course.  He then turned the head of Pegasus toward the east, and set out for Lycia.  In their flight they overtook an eagle, and came so nigh him, before he could get out of their way, that Bellerophon might easily have caught him by the leg.  Hastening onward at this rate, it was still early in the forenoon when they beheld the lofty mountains of Lycia, with their deep and shaggy valleys.  If Bellerophon had been told truly, it was in one of those dismal valleys that the hideous Chimaera had taken up its abode.