In Arcadia there is a little mountain stream called Alpheus. It flowsthrough woods and meadows and among the hills for many miles, and thenit sinks beneath the rocks. Farther down the valley it rises again,and dancing and sparkling, as if in happy chase of something, ithurries onward towards the plain; but soon it hides itself a secondtime in underground caverns, making its way through rocky tunnels wherethe light of day has never been. Then at last it gushes once more fromits prison chambers; and, flowing thence with many windings through thefields of Elis, it empties its waters into the sea.
Years ago there was no river Alpheus; the channel through which itflows had not then been hollowed out, and rank grass and tall bendingreeds grew thick where now its waters sparkle brightest. It was thenthat a huntsman, bearing the name of Alpheus, ranged through the woods,and chased the wild deer among the glades and glens of sweet Arcadia.Far away by the lonely sea dwelt his fair young wife, and his lovelybabe Orsilochus; but dearer than home or wife or babe to Alpheus, wasthe free life of the huntsman among the mountain solitudes. For heloved the woods and the blue sky and the singing birds, and the frailflowers upon the hillside; and he longed to live among them always,where his ears could listen to their music, and his eyes look upontheir beauty.
"O Artemis, huntress queen!" he cried, "I ask but one boon of thee.Let me ramble forever among these happy scenes!"
Artemis heard him, and answered his prayer. For, as he spoke, a brightvision passed before him. A sweet-faced maiden went tripping down thevalley, culling the choicest flowers, and singing of hope and joy andthe blessedness of a life pure and true. It was Arethusa, the Arcadiannymph, by some supposed to be a daughter of old Nereus, the elder ofthe sea.
Then Alpheus heard no more the songs of the birds, or the music of thebreeze; he saw no longer the blue sky above him, or the nodding flowersat his feet: he was blind and deaf to all the world, save only thebeautiful nymph. Arethusa was the world to him.
He reached out his arms to catch her; but, swifter than a frighteneddeer, she fled down the valley, through deep ravines and grassy gladesand rocky caverns underneath the hills, and out into the grassymeadows, and across the plains of Elis, to the sounding sea. AndAlpheus followed, forgetful of everything but the fleeing vision.When, at length, he reached the sea, he looked back; and, lo! he was nolonger a huntsman, but a river doomed to meander forever among thescenes, for love of which he had forgotten his wife and his babe andthe duties of life. It was thus that Artemis answered his prayer.
And men say that Arethusa, the nymph, was afterwards changed into afountain; and that to this day, in the far-off island of Ortygia, thatfountain gushes from the rocks in an unfailing, crystal stream. ButOrsilochus, the babe forgotten by his father, grew to manhood, and incourse of time became the king of the seafaring people of Messene.