Chapter XVI: Europa and Cadmus

In the land of Phenicia which lies in Asia, there was once a king who had a son named Cadmus and a daughter named Europa, and he was both fond and proud of his children, for Cadmus was brave, and Europa was beautiful. One day Europa was by the sea in a meadow full of lovely flowers, when there came a stately bull, who walked round and round her. It was Zeus, who had changed himself into a bull in order to carry off the beautiful maiden to be his wife. At first Europa was afraid of the bull, but he had such nice soft eyes that she could not help being kind to him. She stroked him and made friends with him, and then she gathered some flowers and twined them into a wreath, and when the bull stretched himself on the ground, she climbed on to his back and placed the beautiful wreath round his horns. But he instantly sprang up, and ran away with her so fast that she did not venture to jump off, but could only hold on to his horns and scream with all her might. The people in the field heard her cries, and soon they saw the bull run into the sea with her and swim away. They went and told the old king, and he at once sent off a ship in pursuit, but though it sailed about in all directions, it came {55} back in the evening without having been able to find any trace of Europa. The old king was very much troubled and would neither eat nor drink, and on the third day he called his son Cadmus and commanded him to set out in search of his sister and not to turn back until he had found her.

Cadmus chose companions for his journey, and they launched a ship and sailed away. They passed through many lands inquiring for the beautiful Europa and the bull, but nobody had seen them. At last they came into the land of Greece, and when Cadmus again inquired for his sister, the people told him that he had better go to Delphi and ask the priestess of Apollo about her. The city of Delphi was on Mount Parnassus, the centre of the earth, and there was a temple of Apollo there which was an Oracle or prophetic temple. If anyone wished to know something past or future which he could not find out in any other way, he went to the temple of Apollo and asked the priestess, who was called the Pythia, about it. There was a narrow opening in the floor of the temple which had not been made by man, and which went deep down into the earth. A wonderful odour ascended from the crevice, and a golden three-legged stool, called a Tripod, was placed over the opening. When anyone came to ask a question, the Pythia seated herself upon the Tripod and became inspired by the odour, and the god Apollo directed what she should say in answer, so that her predictions were divine utterances. These predictions were called Oracles.

Cadmus accordingly went to Delphi, and took with him a beautiful golden cup as a present for the god, that {56} he might answer him graciously. There were many costly vessels of gold and silver and other similar things in the temple, which had been given in this way as presents. Cadmus asked the Pythia where Europa had gone, and she answered that it was Zeus who in the form of the bull had carried her away and had hidden her from all men, and that Cadmus was no longer to seek for her, but to follow the white cow and to found a city in the place where she should lie down. She also told him that his father was dead and that a stranger had taken possession of his kingdom.

Cadmus did not understand which was the cow he was to follow, but he left the temple, and when he came outside he saw a spotless white cow who looked at him as if she had been waiting for him. She started off along the road, and he followed her. They walked on all day and all night, and in the morning they found themselves on a beautiful hill with a fertile country all round, and there the cow lay down. Cadmus desired to sacrifice the cow to the gods, and he sent one of his companions to some bushy ground near at hand where he heard a spring bubbling, to draw some water for the sacrifice. But the companion did not come back, so Cadmus sent another, but he did not come back either. Then he went himself, and found a hideous dragon keeping watch by the spring, who had devoured his two companions. The dragon started up with the intention of devouring him also, but Cadmus drew a sharp sword, and thrust it into the neck of the monster with such force that a great stream of blood gushed out and he died. Cadmus was still standing looking at the dragon when the goddess Athene appeared to him and told {57} him that he must take out the dragon's teeth and sow them in the ground, and that from this strange seed there would spring warriors who would help him to build a city and would be his subjects. Then the goddess disappeared, and Cadmus took out the teeth, of which there were a great many, and put them into his helmet; and as he turned away from the spring, he saw a plough standing in the field with two bulls yoked to it. Cadmus drove the plough up and down, and dropped the teeth one by one into the furrows which it had made. For a short time they remained just where he had placed them, but presently they began to disturb the soil by their movements and to rise above it by degrees. First there appeared a row of brazen helmets, and then a row of bearded faces underneath the helmets, and then followed glittering coats of mail, and when the warriors got their arms free, they were able to help themselves completely out, and brushed off the dust that was clinging to them. They were clothed in brass from head to foot, and each held in his right hand a spear, and in his left a shield. Cadmus was afraid of the armed band, and thought of a plan for making them quarrel with one another. He took up a number of little stones and threw them at the newly-born warriors from behind a bush, and as they could not see where the stones came from, each of them thought that his neighbour had struck him, and hit him back again, so that there was soon a fierce battle raging among them, and man after man was killed. When there were only five left, Cadmus stepped forward and proclaimed peace, and said, 'The gods have given you to me as my subjects; let us build a city.' They agreed to do as {58} he said, and built a city on the hill which they called the Cadmea, after Cadmus their king, and by degrees many people came to settle in it. The five warriors who had sprung from the dragon's teeth were called Sparti or Sown Men, and they were the next in power to the king. The gods loved Cadmus, and they gave him a beautiful wife called Harmonia, who was the daughter of Ares, the god of war, and of Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty. All the gods gave costly wedding gifts, and when the marriage was celebrated in the Cadmea, the guests, both gods and men, feasted together.

Zeus had carried Europa across the Mediterranean Sea to the land which lies opposite to Asia, and all the country on this side of the Mediterranean Sea has ever since that time been called Europe.

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