'Yes; but once within it, hospitality makes all things

cheerful. But who are these?' and he looked back, and
Theseus also; and far below, along the road which they had

left, came a string of laden asses, and merchants walking by
them, watching their ware.

'Ah, poor souls!' said the stranger. 'Well for them that I
looked back and saw them! And well for me too, for I shall

have the more guests at my feast. Wait awhile till I go down
and call them, and we will eat and drink together the

livelong night. Happy am I, to whom Heaven sends so many
guests at once!'

And he ran back down the hill, waving his hand and shouting,
to the merchants, while Theseus went slowly up the steep

pass.
But as he went up he met an aged man, who had been gathering

driftwood in the torrent-bed. He had laid down his faggot in
the road, and was trying to lift it again to his shoulder.

And when he saw Theseus, he called to him, and said -
'O fair youth, help me up with my burden, for my limbs are

stiff and weak with years.'
Then Theseus lifted the burden on his back. And the old man

blest him, and then looked earnestly upon him, and said -
'Who are you, fair youth, and wherefore travel you this

doleful road?'
'Who I am my parents know; but I travel this doleful road

because I have been invited by a hospitable man, who promises
to feast me, and to make me sleep upon I know not what

wondrous bed.'
Then the old man clapped his hands together and cried -

'O house of Hades, man-devouring! will thy maw never be full?
Know, fair youth, that you are going to torment and to death,

for he who met you (I will requite your kindness by another)
is a robber and a murderer of men. Whatsoever stranger he

meets he entices him hither to death; and as for this bed of
which he speaks, truly it fits all comers, yet none ever rose

alive off it save me.'
'Why?' asked Theseus, astonished.

'Because, if a man be too tall for it, he lops his limbs till
they be short enough, and if he be too short, he stretches

his limbs till they be long enough: but me only he spared,
seven weary years agone; for I alone of all fitted his bed

exactly, so he spared me, and made me his slave. And once I
was a wealthy" target="_blank" title="a.富有的；丰富的">wealthy merchant, and dwelt in brazen-gated Thebes; but

now I hew wood and draw water for him, the torment of all
mortal men.'

Then Theseus said nothing; but he ground his teeth together.
'Escape, then,' said the old man, 'for he will have no pity

on thy youth. But yesterday he brought up hither a young man
and a maiden, and fitted them upon his bed; and the young

man's hands and feet he cut off, but the maiden's limbs he
stretched until she died, and so both perished miserably -

but I am tired of weeping over the slain. And therefore he
is called Procrustes the stretcher, though his father called

him Damastes. Flee from him: yet whither will you flee?
The cliffs are steep, and who can climb them? and there is no

other road.'
But Theseus laid his hand upon the old man's month, and said,

'There is no need to flee;' and he turned to go down the
pass.

'Do not tell him that I have warned you, or he will kill me
by some evil death;' and the old man screamed after him down

the glen; but Theseus strode on in his wrath.
And he said to himself, 'This is an ill-ruled land; when

shall I have done ridding it of monsters?' And as he spoke,
Procrustes came up the hill, and all the merchants with him,

smiling and talking gaily. And when he saw Theseus, he
cried, 'Ah, fair young guest, have I kept you too long

waiting?'
But Theseus answered, 'The man who stretches his guests upon

a bed and hews off their hands and feet, what shall be done
to him, when right is done throughout the land?'

Then Procrustes' countenance changed, and his cheeks grew as
green as a lizard, and he felt for his sword in haste; but

Theseus leapt on him, and cried -
'Is this true, my host, or is it false?' and he clasped

Procrustes round waist and elbow, so that he could not draw
his sword.

'Is this true, my host, or is it false?' But Procrustes
answered never a word.

Then Theseus flung him from him, and lifted up his dreadful
club; and before Procrustes could strike him he had struck,

and felled him to the ground.
And once again he struck him; and his evil soul fled forth,

and went down to Hades squeaking, like a bat into the
darkness of a cave.

Then Theseus stript him of his gold ornaments, and went up to
his house, and found there great wealth and treasure, which

he had stolen from the passers-by. And he called the people
of the country, whom Procrustes had spoiled a long time, and

parted the spoil among them, and went down the mountains, and
away.

And he went down the glens of Parnes, through mist, and
cloud, and rain, down the slopes of oak, and lentisk, and

arbutus, and fragrant bay, till he came to the Vale of
Cephisus, and the pleasant town of Aphidnai, and the home of

the Phytalid heroes, where they dwelt beneath a mighty elm.
And there they built an altar, and bade him bathe in

Cephisus, and offer a yearling ram, and purified him from the
blood of Sinis, and sent him away in peace.

And he went down the valley by Acharnai, and by the silver-
swirling stream, while all the people blessed him, for the

fame of his prowess had spread wide, till he saw the plain of
Athens, and the hill where Athene dwells.

So Theseus went up through Athens, and all the people ran out
to see him; for his fame had gone before him and every one

knew of his mighty deeds. And all cried, 'Here comes the
hero who slew Sinis, and Phaia the wild sow of Crommyon, and

conquered Kerkuon in wrestling, and slew Procrustes the
pitiless.' But Theseus went on sadly and steadfastly, for

his heart yearned after his father; and he said, 'How shall I
deliver him from these leeches who suck his blood?'

So he went up the holy stairs, and into the Acropolis, where
AEgeus' palace stood; and he went straight into AEgeus' hall,

and stood upon the threshold, and looked round.
And there he saw his cousins sitting about the table at the

wine: many a son of Pallas, but no AEgeus among them. There
they sat and feasted, and laughed, and passed the wine-cup

round; while harpers harped, and slave-girls sang, and the
tumblers showed their tricks.

Loud laughed the sons of Pallas, and fast went the wine-cup
round; but Theseus frowned, and said under his breath, 'No

wonder that the land is full of robbers, while such as these
bear rule.'

Then the Pallantids saw him, and called to him, half-drunk
with wine, 'Holla, tall stranger at the door, what is your

will to-day?'
'I come hither to ask for hospitality.'

'Then take it, and welcome. You look like a hero and a bold
warrior; and we like such to drink with us.'

'I ask no hospitality of you; I ask it of AEgeus the king,
the master of this house.'

At that some growled, and some laughed, and shouted, 'Heyday!
we are all masters here.'

'Then I am master as much as the rest of you,' said Theseus,
and he strode past the table up the hall, and looked around

for AEgeus; but he was nowhere to be seen.
The Pallantids looked at him, and then at each other, and

each whispered to the man next him, 'This is a forward
fellow; he ought to be thrust out at the door.' But each

man's neighbour whispered in return, 'His shoulders are
broad; will you rise and put him out?' So they all sat still

where they were.
Then Theseus called to the servants, and said, 'Go tell King

AEgeus, your master, that Theseus of Troezene is here, and
asks to be his guest awhile.'

A servant ran and told AEgeus, where he sat in his chamber
within, by Medeia the dark witch-woman, watching her eye and

hand. And when AEgeus heard of Troezene he turned pale and
red again, and rose from his seat trembling, while Medeia

watched him like a snake.
'What is Troezene to you?' she asked. But he said hastily,

'Do you not know who this Theseus is? The hero who has
cleared the country from all monsters; but that he came from

Troezene, I never heard before. I must go out and welcome
him.'

So AEgeus came out into the hall; and when Theseus saw him,
his heart leapt into his mouth, and he longed to fall on his

neck and welcome him; but he controlled himself, and said,
'My father may not wish for me, after all. I will try him

before I discover myself;' and he bowed low before AEgeus,
and said, 'I have delivered the king's realm from many

monsters; therefore I am come to ask a reward of the king.'
And old AEgeus looked on him, and loved him, as what fond

heart would not have done? But he only sighed, and said -
'It is little that I can give you, noble lad, and nothing

that is worthy of you; for surely you are no mortal man, or
at least no mortal's son.'

'All I ask,' said Theseus, 'is to eat and drink at your
table.'

'That I can give you,' said AEgeus, 'if at least I am master
in my own hall.'

Then he bade them put a seat for Theseus, and set before him
the best of the feast; and Theseus sat and ate so much, that

all the company wondered at him: but always he kept his club
by his side.

But Medeia the dark witch-woman had been watching him all the
while. She saw how AEgeus turned red and pale when the lad

said that he came from Troezene. She saw, too, how his heart
was opened toward Theseus; and how Theseus bore himself

before all the sons of Pallas, like a lion among a pack of
curs. And she said to herself, 'This youth will be master

here; perhaps he is nearer to AEgeus already than mere fancy.
At least the Pallantilds will have no chance by the side of

such as he.'
Then she went back into her chambermodestly, while Theseus

ate and drank; and all the servants whispered, 'This, then,
is the man who killed the monsters! How noble are his looks,

and how huge his size! Ah, would that he were our master's
son!'

But presently Medeia came forth, decked in all her jewels,
and her rich Eastern robes, and looking more beautiful than

the day, so that all the guests could look at nothing else.
And in her right hand she held a golden cup, and in her left

a flask of gold; and she came up to Theseus, and spoke in a
sweet, soft, winning voice -

'Hail to the hero, the conqueror, the unconquered, the
destroyer of all evil things! Drink, hero, of my charmed

cup, which gives rest after every toil, which heals all
wounds, and pours new life into the veins. Drink of my cup,

for in it sparkles the wine of the East, and Nepenthe, the
comfort of the Immortals.'

And as she spoke, she poured the flask into the cup; and the
fragrance of the wine spread through the hall, like the scent

of thyme and roses.
And Theseus looked up in her fair face and into her deep dark

eyes. And as he looked, he shrank and shuddered; for they
were dry like the eyes of a snake. And he rose, and said,

'The wine is rich and fragrant, and the wine-bearer as fair
as the Immortals; but let her pledge me first herself in the

cup, that the wine may be the sweeter from her lips.'
Then Medeia turned pale, and stammered, 'Forgive me, fair

hero; but I am ill, and dare drink no wine.'
And Theseus looked again into her eyes, and cried, 'Thou

shalt pledge me in that cup, or die.' And he lifted up his
brazen club, while all the guests looked on aghast.

Medeia shrieked a fearfulshriek, and dashed the cup to the
ground, and fled; and where the wine flowed over the marble

pavement, the stone bubbled, and crumbled, and hissed, under
the fierce venom of the draught.

But Medeia called her dragonchariot, and sprang into it and
fled aloft, away over land and sea, and no man saw her more.

And AEgeus cried, 'What hast thou done?' But Theseus pointed
to the stone, 'I have rid the land of an enchantment: now I

will rid it of one more.'
And he came close to AEgeus, and drew from his bosom the

sword and the sandals, and said the words which his mother
bade him.

And AEgeus stepped back a pace, and looked at the lad till
his eyes grew dim; and then he cast himself on his neck and

wept, and Theseus wept on his neck, till they had no strength
left to weep more.