Read Online Monsters of Greek Mythology, Volume Two by Bernard Evslin - Free Book Online Page A

my side before the battle. She wasn’t out of my sight for a second. There was no way she could have gotten to him.”
    â€œCouldn’t she have sent anyone?”
    â€œShe has a daughter,” said Hera. “Impudent, nosy brat. I suppose she could have sent her. But I can’t believe she’d dare to. She knows what would happen if I found out.”
    â€œIf I were you I’d start making it happen,” said Hecate.
    â€œI can’t—not yet.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œWe have no hard evidence of her guilt. If I do dreadful things to her out of mere suspicion there will be an uproar in Heaven. She’s a general favorite up here, you know.”
    â€œI’ll go digging for evidence, My Queen. I’ll visit the grove at Lerna and try to find someone who actually saw the battle.”
    â€œNo people would have been there,” said Hera. “Mortals fled the very name of the Hydra.”
    â€œBirds would have been in the trees or flying overhead,” said Hecate. “Birds make excellent witnesses. And I know how to question them. They trust me because I have wings.”

3
    Flight of the Rainbow
    In a great meadow in Arcadia dwelt a clan of flower nymphs. It was their task to gather wild blossoms and steep them in a vat, making dyes for the rainbow goddess. Iris visited the meadow before every storm, dipped her streamers in the dyes, then, when the storm was finished, flung them across the sky in an arc of colors.
    The flower nymphs were her most trusted friends. She left her child, Iole, in their care. And here the tiny girl had grown into a lovely, long-legged one, supple as a sapling.
    Now, upon this blue and gold day, the nymphs were surprised to see Iris floating down. “Greetings!” one cried. “We did not expect to see you today. The sky is clear and the wind is from the west.”
    â€œAnother kind of storm is brewing,” said Iris. “I’ll explain later, dear friends. Right now I must speak with Iole.”
    She drew her daughter aside. “What is it, Mother?” cried Iole. “You look so serious. Oh, I know, I know!”
    â€œWhat do you know?”
    â€œYou’ve learned that Hera is planning a new peril for Hercules, and you want me to warn him. Well, I’m ready. I’ve been longing to search for him anyway, but had no excuse.”
    â€œWell, my child,” said Iris. “It is we who face peril. Hera suspects that we helped him against the Hydra. We must flee.”
    â€œWhere to?”
    â€œAnywhere … everywhere. She’ll ransack every corner of the earth, and the seas also.”
    â€œBut we move lightly and swiftly, Mother. And know how to melt into thin air or merge with the shadows. So perhaps we can elude her.”
    â€œPerhaps, but we must separate,” said Iris. “If we stay together she’ll surely find us. You go one way and I’ll go the other. And we shall meet in better times, my darling.”
    â€œI’m ready. Farewell.”
    â€œFarewell, lovely child. Kiss me.”
    They embraced. Wept a tear or two. Then smiled bravely at each other, kissed again, and parted.
    Iole fled so lightly over the meadow that the grass didn’t bend beneath her feet. She disappeared into a fringe of trees, singing as she went. Released from her mother’s care, she could now search for her beloved Hercules. And this made her very happy.
    On brass wings Hecate flew back to Olympus, and alighted in the Garden of the Gods. It wanted an hour till dusk—Hera’s time to walk in the garden. And Hecate amused herself by taking a twig and scratching lines in the damp earth. An idea had struck her for a new torment to be called the Marrow Log, and she was sketching its design. When she saw Hera coming she flung the twig away and arose to greet her.
    â€œI’ve done it!” she cried. “I have the proof we need. It was indeed Iris and Iole who betrayed