The Horn Of Plenty

: CHRISTMAS DAY
: Good Stories For Great Holidays

BY OVID (ADAPTED)



Aeneus, King of Aetolia, had a daughter whose name was Deianira. So

beautiful was the maiden that her fame spread throughout the world, and

many princes came to woo her. Among these were two strangers, who drove

all the other suitors from the hall of King Aeneus.



One was Hercules, huge of limb and broad of shoulder. He was clad in

the skins of beasts, and carried in his han
a knotted club. His tangled

hair hung down upon his brawny neck, and his fierce eyes gleamed from

behind his shaggy brows.



The other stranger was Achelous, god of the Calydonian River. Slender

and graceful was he, and clad in flowing green raiment. In his hand

he carried a staff of plaited reeds, and on his head was a crown of

water-lilies. His voice was soft and caressing, like the gentle murmur

of summer brooks.



"O King Aeneus," said Achelous, standing before the throne, "behold I

am the King of Waters. If thou wilt receive me as thy son-in-law I will

make the beautiful Deianira queen of my river kingdom."



"King Aeneus," said the mighty Hercules, stepping forward, "Deianira is

mine, and I will not yield her to this river-god."



"Impertinent stranger!" cried Achelous, turning toward the hero, while

his voice rose till it sounded like the thunder of distant cataracts,

and his green garment changed to the blackness of night,--"impertinent

stranger! how darest thou claim this maiden,--thou who hast mortal blood

in thy veins! Behold me, the god Achelous, the powerful King of the

Waters! I wind with majesty through the rich lands of my wide realms. I

make all fields through which I flow beautiful with grass and flowers.

By my right divine I claim this maiden."



But with scowling eye and rising wrath Hercules made answer. "Thou

wouldst fight with words, like a woman, while I would win by my

strength! My right hand is better than my tongue. If thou wouldst have

the maiden, then must thou first overcome me in combat."



Thereupon Achelous threw off his raiment and began to prepare himself

for the struggle. Hercules took off his garment of beasts' skins, and

cast aside his club. The two then anointed their bodies with oil, and

threw yellow sand upon themselves.



They took their places, they attacked, they retired, they rushed again

to the conflict. They stood firm, and they yielded not. Long they

bravely wrestled and fought; till at length Hercules by his might

overcame Achelous and bore him to the ground. He pressed him down, and,

while the fallen river-god lay panting for breath, the hero seized him

by the neck.



Then did Achelous have recourse to his magic arts. Transforming himself

into a serpent he escaped from the hero. He twisted his body into

winding folds, and darted out his forked tongue with frightful hissings.



But Hercules laughed mockingly, and cried out: "Ah, Achelous! While yet

in my cradle I strangled two serpents! And what art thou compared to the

Hydra whose hundred heads I cut off? Every time I cut of I one head two

others grew in its place. Yet did I conquer that horror, in spite of its

branching serpents that darted from every wound! Thinkest thou, then,

that I fear thee, thou mimic snake?" And even as he spake he gripped, as

with a pair of pincers, the back of the river-god's head.



And Achelous struggled in vain to escape. Then, again having recourse to

his magic, he became a raging bull, and renewed the fight. But Hercules,

that mighty hero, threw his huge arms over the brawny neck of the bull,

and dragged him about. Then seizing hold of his horns, he bent his head

to one side, and bearing down fastened them into the ground. And that

was not enough, but with relentless hand he broke one of the horns, and

tore it from Achelous's forehead.



The river-god returned to his own shape. He roared aloud with rage and

pain, and hiding his mutilated head in his mantle, rushed from the hall

and plunged into the swirling waters of his stream.



Then the goddess of Plenty, and all the Wood-Nymphs and Water-Nymphs

came forward to greet the conqueror with song and dance. They took

the huge horn of Achelous and heaped it high with the rich and glowing

fruits and flowers of autumn. They wreathed it with vines and with

clustering grapes, and bearing it aloft presented it to Hercules and his

beautiful bride Deianira.



And ever since that day has the Horn of Plenty gladdened men's hearts at

Harvest-Time.



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