“Here am I, dear Bellerophon!” said the child, softly.

For the little boy had spent day after day on the margin of Pirene, waiting for his friend to come back; but when he perceived Bellerophon descending through the clouds, mounted on the winged horse, he had shrunk back into the shrubbery.  He was a delicate and tender child, and dreaded lest the old man and the country fellow should see the tears gushing from his eyes.

“Thou hast won the victory,” said he, joyfully, running to the knee of Bellerophon, who still sat on the back of Pegasus.  “I knew thou wouldst.”

“Yes, dear child!” replied Bellerophon, alighting from the winged horse.  “But if thy faith had not helped me, I should never have waited for Pegasus, and never have gone up above the clouds, and never have conquered the terrible Chimaera.  Thou, my beloved little friend, hast done it all.  And now let us give Pegasus his liberty.”

So he slipped off the enchanted bridle from the head of the marvellous steed.

“Be free, forevermore, my Pegasus!” cried he, with a shade of sadness in his tone.  “Be as free as thou art fleet!”

But Pegasus rested his head on Bellerophon’s shoulder, and would not be persuaded to take flight.

“Well then,” said Bellerophon, caressing the airy horse, “thou shalt be with me as long as thou wilt; and we will go together, forthwith, and tell King Iobates that the Chimaera is destroyed.”

Then Bellerophon embraced the gentle child, and promised to come to him again, and departed.  But, in after years, that child took higher flights upon the aerial steed than ever did Bellerophon, and achieved more honourable deeds than his friend’s victory over the Chimaera.  For, gentle and tender as he was, he grew to be a mighty poet!

CHAPTER IV

THE GOLDEN TOUCH

Once upon a time, there lived a very rich man, and a king besides, whose name was Midas; and he had a little daughter, whom nobody but myself ever heard of, and whose name I either never knew, or have entirely forgotten.  So, because I love odd names for little girls, I choose to call her Marygold.

This King Midas was fonder of gold than of anything else in the world.  He valued his royal crown chiefly because it was composed of that precious metal.  If he loved anything better, or half so well, it was the one little maiden who played so merrily around her father’s footstool.  But the more Midas loved his daughter, the more did he desire and seek for wealth.  He thought, foolish man! that the best thing he could possibly do for this dear child would be to bequeath her the immensest pile of yellow, glistening coin, that had ever been heaped together since the world was made.  Thus, he gave all his thoughts and all his time to this one purpose.  If ever he happened to gaze for an instant at the gold-tinted clouds of sunset, he wished that they were real gold, and that they could be squeezed safely into his strong box.  When little Marygold ran to meet him, with a bunch of buttercups and dandelions, he used to say, “Poh, poh, child!  If these flowers were as golden as they look, they would be worth the plucking!”