Indeed, as days went by, it seemed as if summer had come to stay, and,
like the shepherd, found the place friendly. Nowhere else were the
flocks so white and fair to see, like clouds loitering along a bright
sky; and sometimes, when he chose, their keeper sang to them. Then the
grasshoppers drew near and the swans sailed close to the river banks,
and the country-men gathered about to hear wonderful tales of the
slaying of the monster Python, and of a king with ass's ears, and of a
lovely maiden, Daphne, who grew into a laurel-tree. In time the rumor
of these things drew the king himself to listen; and Admetus, who had
been to see the world in the ship Argo, knew at once that this was no
earthly shepherd, but a god. From that day, like a true king, he
treated his guest with reverence and friendliness, asking no questions;
and the god was well pleased.

Now it came to pass that Admetus fell in love with a beautiful maiden,
Alcestis, and, because of the strange condition that her father Pelias
had laid upon all suitors, he was heavy-hearted. Only that man who
should come to woo her in a chariot drawn by a wild boar and a lion
might ever marry Alcestis; and this task was enough to puzzle even a
king.

As for the shepherd, when he heard of it he rose, one fine morning, and
left the sheep and went his way,--no one knew whither. If the sun had
gone out, the people could not have been more dismayed. The king
himself went, late in the day, to walk by the river Amphrysus, and
wonder if his gracious keeper of the flocks had deserted him in a time
of need. But at that very moment, whom should he see returning from the
woods but the shepherd, glorious as sunset, and leading side by side a
lion and a boar, as gentle as two sheep! The very next morning, with