It was suggested by a plate of apples that he happened to spy on the mantel-piece . THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES . Did you ever hear of the golden apples , that grew in the garden of the Hesperides ? Ah , those were such apples as would bring a great price , by the bushel , if any of them could be found growing in the orchards of nowadays ! But there is not , I suppose , a graft of that wonderful fruit on a single tree in the wide world . Not so much as a seed of those apples exists any longer . And , even in the old , old , half-forgotten times , before the garden of the Hesperides was overrun with weeds , a great many people doubted whether there could be real trees that bore apples of solid gold upon their branches . All had heard of them , but nobody remembered to have seen any . Children , nevertheless , used to listen , open-mouthed , to stories of the golden apple-tree , and resolved to discover it , when they should be big enough . Adventurous young men , who desired to do a braver thing than any of their fellows , set out in quest of this fruit . Many of them returned no more ; none of them brought back the apples . No wonder that they found it impossible to gather them ! It is said that there was a dragon beneath the tree , with a hundred terrible heads , fifty of which were always on the watch , while the other fifty slept . In my opinion it was hardly worth running so much risk for the sake of a solid golden apple . Had the apples been sweet , mellow , and juicy , indeed that would be another matter . There might then have been some sense in trying to get at them , in spite of the hundred-headed dragon . But , as I have already told you , it was quite a common thing with young persons , when tired of too much peace and rest , to go in search of the garden of the Hesperides . And once the adventure was undertaken by a hero who had enjoyed very little peace or rest since he came into the world . At the time of which I am going to speak , he was wandering through the pleasant land of Italy , with a mighty club in his hand , and a bow and quiver slung across his shoulders . He was wrapt in the skin of the biggest and fiercest lion that ever had been seen , and which he himself had killed ; and though , on the whole , he was kind , and generous , and noble , there was a good deal of the lion 's fierceness in his heart .
As he went on his way , he continually inquired XXXXX that were the right road to the famous garden .
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