what he had done.

"'I will make this shell live forever,' he said. 'I do not mean to be
cruel to earth's creatures.'

"Quick as a thought he bored nine holes in each side, and taking the
lacings from his tiny sandals, he split them and strung them into the
holes in the shell.

"Drawing his little hand across the strings, there came the sweetest
sounds, and the first harp on earth was made. He was so pleased that he
hid it under his white dress until he came to some thick reeds by the
river, and there he laid it safely away.

"Running swiftly homeward, he came softly through the narrow opening,
back into his own room, and, creeping into his cradle, he cuddled down
and went to sleep."

"Why, mother, he was so little! Only a baby; how could he?"

"The old myth says he was only three days old when he did this, but
remember, this is like a fairy story, and Mercury was the son of the
great Jupiter. But let me tell the rest. When his mother came back,
she was frightened to think he had been alone an hour, but he was
sleeping so sweetly when she looked at him that she felt he had not
been harmed. The mother never dreamed when she saw the open sandals
that he had been away."

"But the harp, mother; didn't she ever find that?"