A great number of other Mighty Beings lived with Jupiter amid the clouds
on the mountain top,--so many that I can name a very few only. There
was Venus, the queen of love and beauty, who was fairer by far than any
woman that you or I have ever seen. There was Athena, or Minerva, the
queen of the air, who gave people wisdom and taught them how to do very
many useful things. There was Juno, the queen of earth and sky, who sat
at the right hand of Jupiter and gave him all kinds of advice. There was
Mars, the great warrior, whose delight was in the din of battle. There
was Mercury, the swift messenger, who had wings on his cap and shoes,
and who flew from place to place like the summer clouds when they are
driven before the wind. There was Vulcan, a skillful blacksmith, who had
his forge in a burning mountain and wrought many wonderful things of
iron and copper and gold. And besides these, there were many others
about whom you will learn by and by, and about whom men told strange and
beautiful stories.

They lived in glittering, golden mansions, high up among the clouds--so
high indeed that the eyes of men could never see them. But they could
look down and see what men were doing, and oftentimes they were said to
leave their lofty homes and wander unknown across the land or over the
sea.

And of all these Mighty Folk, Jupiter was by far the mightiest.

[Illustration]




THE GOLDEN AGE.