【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 nd then to the west。 and after many days you shall e to the great river Nile. There you shall again bee a maiden, but fairer and more beautiful than before。 and you shall bee the wife of the king of that land, and shall give birth to a son, from whom shall spring the hero who will break my chains and set me free. As for me, I bide in patience the day which not even Zeus can hasten or delay. Farewell!”Poor Io would have spoken, but she could not. Her sorrowful eyes looked once more at the suffering hero on the peak, and then she turned and began her long and tiresome journey to the land of the Nile.Ages passed, and at last a great hero whose name was Hercules came to the land of the Caucasus. In spite of Zeus’ dread thunderbolts and fearful storms of snow and sleet, he climbed the rugged mountain peak.He slew the fierce eagles that had so long tormented the helpless prisoner on those craggy heights。 and with a mighty blow, he broke the fetters of Prometheus and set the grand old hero free.“I knew that you would e.” said Prometheus. “Ten generations ago I spoke of you to Io, who was afterwards the queen of the land of the Nile.”“And Io,” said Hercules, “was the mother of the race from which I am sprung.”II. The Story of Io1. Changing Io into a White CowIn the town of Argos there lived a maiden named Io. She was so fair and good that all who knew her loved her, and said that there was no one like her in the whole world. When Zeus, in his home in the clouds, heard of her, he came down to Argos to see her.She pleased him so much, and was so kind and wise, that he came back the next day and the next and the next。 and by and by he stayed in Argos all the time so that he might be near her. She did not know who he was. But thought that he was a prince from some faroff land。 for he came in the guise of a young man, and did not look like the great king of earth and sky that he was.But Hera (Juno), the queen who lived with Zeus and shared his throne in the midst of the clouds, did not love Io at all.When she heard why Zeus stayed from home so long, she made up her mind to do the fair girl all the harm that she could。 and one day she went down to Argos to try what could be done.Zeus saw her while she was yet a great way off, and he knew why she had e. So, to save Io from her, he changed the maiden to a white cow. He thought that when Hera had gone back home, it would not be hard to give Io her own form again.But when the queen saw the cow, she knew that it was Io.“Oh, what a fine cow you have there!” she said. “Give her to me, good Zeus, give her to me!”Zeus did not like to do this。 but she coaxed so hard that at last he gave up, and let her have the cow for her own. He thought that it would not be long till he could get her away from the queen, and change her to a girl once more.But Hera was too wise to trust him. She took the cow by her horns, and led her out of the town.“Now, my sweet maid,” she said, “I will see that you stay in this shape as long as you live.”Then she gave the cow in charge of a strange watchman named Argus, who had, not two eyes only, as you and I have, but ten times ten. And Argus led the cow to a grove, and tied her by a long rope to tree, where she had to stand and eat grass, and cry, “Moo! Moo!” from morn till night。 and when the sun had set, and it was dark, she lay down on the cold ground and wept, and cried, “Moo! Moo!” till she fell asleep.2. Argus and PeacockBut no kind friend heard her, and no one came to help her。 for none but Zeus and Hera knew that the white cow who stood in the grove was Io, whom all the world loved.Day in and day out, Argus, who was all eyes, sat on a hill close by and kept watch。 and you could not say that he went to sleep at all, for while half of his eyes were shut, the other half were wide awake, and thus they slept and watched by turns.Zeus was grieved when he saw to what a hard life Io had been doomed, and he tried to think of some plan to set her free.One day he called sly Hermes, who had wings on his shoes, and bade him go and lead the cow away from the grove where she was kept.Hermes went down and stood near the foot of the hill where Argus sat, and began to play sweet tunes on his flute. This was just what the strange watchman liked to hear。 and so he called to Hermes, and asked him to e up and sit by his side and play still other tunes.Hermes did as he wished, and played such strains of sweet music as no one in all the world has heard from that day to this.And as he played, queer old Argus lay down upon the grass and listened, and thought that he had not had so great a treat in all his life. But by and by those sweet sounds wrapped him in so strange a spell that all his eyes closed at once, and he fell into a deep sleep.This was just what Hermes wished. It was not a brave thing to do, and yet he drew a long, sharp knife from his belt and cut off the head of poor Argus while he slept. Then he ran down the hill to loose the cow and lead her to the town.But Hera had seen him kill her watchman, and she met him on the road. She cried out to him and told him to let the cow go。 and her face was so full of wrath that, as soon as he saw her, he turned and fled, and left poor Io to her fate.Hera was so much grieved when she saw Argus stretched dead in the grass on the hilltop, that she took his hundred eyes and set them in the tail of a peacock。 and there you may still se them to this day.III. The Flood and the Creation of Humans1. The Flood: Destroying All HumansIn those very early times there was a man named Deucalion, and he was the son of Prometheus. He was only a mon man and not a Titan like his great father, and yet he was known far and wide for his good deeds and the uprightness of his life. His wife’s name was Pyrrha, and she was one of the fairest of the daughters of men.After Zeus had bound Prometheus on Mount Caucasus and had sent diseases and cares into the