Until this very morning , not a morsel of food had passed my lips . But to-day , they brought me a pomegranate -LRB- a very dry one it was , and all shriveled up , till there was little left of it but seeds and skin -RRB- , and having seen no fruit for so long a time , and being faint with hunger , I was tempted just to bite it . The instant I tasted it , King Pluto and Quicksilver came into the room . I had not swallowed a morsel ; but -- dear mother , I hope it was no harm -- but six of the pomegranate seeds , I am afraid , remained in my mouth . '' `` Ah , unfortunate child , and miserable me ! '' exclaimed Ceres . `` For each of those six pomegranate seeds you must spend one month of every year in King Pluto 's palace . You are but half restored to your mother . Only six months with me , and six with that good-for-nothing King of Darkness ! '' `` Do not speak so harshly of poor King Pluto , '' said Prosperina , kissing her mother . `` He has some very good qualities ; and I really think I can bear to spend six months in his palace , if he will only let me spend the other six with you . He certainly did very wrong to carry me off ; but then , as he says , it was but a dismal sort of life for him , to live in that great gloomy place , all alone ; and it has made a wonderful change in his spirits to have a little girl to run up stairs and down . There is some comfort in making him so happy ; and so , upon the whole , dearest mother , let us be thankful that he is not to keep me the whole year round . '' THE GOLDEN FLEECE . When Jason , the son of the dethroned King of Iolchos , was a little boy , he was sent away from his parents , and placed under the queerest schoolmaster that ever you heard of . This learned person was one of the people , or quadrupeds , called Centaurs . He lived in a cavern , and had the body and legs of a white horse , with the head and shoulders of a man . His name was Chiron ; and , in spite of his odd appearance , he was a very excellent teacher , and had several scholars , who afterwards did him credit by making a great figure in the world . The famous Hercules was one , and so was Achilles , and Philoctetes likewise , and Aesculapius , who acquired immense repute as a doctor . The good Chiron taught his pupils how to play upon the harp , and how to cure diseases , and how to use the sword and shield , together with various other branches of education , in which the lads of those days used to be instructed , instead of writing and arithmetic .
I have sometimes suspected that Master XXXXX was not really very different from other people , but that , being a kind-hearted and merry old fellow , he was in the habit of making believe that he was a horse , and scrambling about the schoolroom on all fours , and letting the little boys ride upon his back .
Aesculapius Chiron FLEECE Iolchos King Philoctetes left morning pomegranate quadrupeds