A WONDER-BOOK
instead of being put out, burned fiercer than ever, and quickly began to consume the dead carcass. Thus it fell out of the sky, all a-flame, and (it being nightfall before it reached the earth) was mistaken for a shooting star or a comet. But, at early sunrise, some cottagers were going to their day’s labour, and saw, to their astonishment, that several acres of ground were strewn with black ashes. In the middle of a field, there was a heap of whitened bones, a great deal higher than a haystack. Nothing else was ever seen of the dreadful Chimæra!
And when Bellerophon had won the victory, he bent forward and kissed Pegasus, while the tears stood in his eyes.
‘Back now, my beloved steed!’ said he. ‘Back to the Fountain of Pirene!’
Pegasus skimmed through the air, quicker than ever he did before, and reached the fountain in a very short time. And there he found the old man leaning on his staff, and the country fellow watering his cow, and the pretty maiden filling her pitcher.
‘I remember now,’ quoth the old man, ‘I saw this winged horse once before, when I was quite a lad. But he was ten times handsomer in those days.’
‘I own a cart-horse, worth three of him!’ said the country fellow. ‘If this pony were mine, the first thing I should do would be to clip his wings!’
But the poor maiden said nothing, for she had always the luck to be afraid at the wrong time. So she ran away, and let her pitcher tumble down, and broke it.
‘Where is the gentle child,’ asked Bellerophon, ‘who used to keep me company, and never lost his faith, and never was weary of gazing into the fountain?’
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