THE CHIMERA. 209

spent several days, and grew better acquainted and fonder
of each other, all the time. They went on long aerial
journeys, and sometimes ascended so high that the earth
looked hardly bigger than—the moon. They visited dis-
tant countries, and amazed the inhabitants, who thought
that the beautiful young man, on the back of the winged
horse, must have come down out of the sky. A thou-
sand miles a day was no more than an easy space for the.
fleet Pegasus to pass over. Bellerophon was delighted
with this kind of life, and would have liked nothing bet-
ter than to live always in the same way, aloft in the clear
atmosphere; for it was always sunny weather up there,
however cheerless and rainy it might be in the lower
region. But he could not forget the horrible Chimera,
which he had promised King Iobates to slay. So, at last,
when he had become well accustomed to feats of horse-
manship in the air, and could manage Pegasus with the
least motion of his hand, and had taught him to obey his
voice, he determined to attempt the performance of this
perilous adventure.

At daybreak, therefore, as soon as he unclosed his
eyes, he gently pinched the winged horse’s ear, in order
to arouse him. Pegasus immediately started from the
ground, and pranced about a quarter of a mile aloft, and
made a grand sweep around the mountain-top, by way of
showing that he was wide awake, and ready for any kind
of an excursion. During the whole of this little flight,
he uttered a loud, brisk, and melodious neigh, and finally
come down at Bellerophon’s side, as lightly as ever you

saw a sparrow hop upon a twig.
N