where the griffins, with lion bodies and eagle wings, guard the golden
treasures of the North.

In these mountains, the North Wind has his home; and from his deep
caves he now and then comes forth, chilling with his cold and angry
breath the orchards and the fair fields of Greece, and bringing death
and dire disasters In his train. But northward this blustering Boreas
cannot blow, for the heaven-towering mountains stand like a wall
against him, and drive him back. Hence it is that beyond these
mountains the storms of winter never come, but one happy springtime
runs through all the year. There the flowers bloom, and the grain
ripens, and the fruits drop mellowing to the earth, and the red wine is
pressed from the luscious grape, every day the same.

The Hyperboreans who dwell in that favored land know neither pain nor
sickness, nor wearying labor nor eating care; but their youth is as
unfading as the springtime, and old age with its wrinkles and its
sorrows is evermore a stranger to them. The spirit of evil, which
would lead all men to err, has never found entrance among them, and
they are free from vile passions and unworthy thoughts; and among them
there is neither war, nor wicked deeds, nor fear of the avenging
Furies, for their hearts are pure and clean, and never burdened with
the love of self.

When the swan team of silver-bowed Apollo had carried him over the
Snowy Mountains, they alighted in the Hyperborean land. And the people
welcomed Apollo with shouts of joy and songs of triumph, as one for
whom they had long been waiting. He took up his abode there, and dwelt
with them one whole year, delighting them with his presence, and ruling
over them as their king. But when twelve moons had passed, he