Niobe

　　Niobe，the queen of Thebes，had indeed good reason to be proud of her herself ．Both her father and mother were gods．Her husband was a capable and outstanding musician．And she was both wealthy and powerful．But what made her the happiest lady in the world was her fourteen children，seven manly sons and seven beautiful daughters．They were allso strong and fair that the whole world looked upon them with admiration．

　　It happened at the time that every spring the Theban women gathered at the temple of Leto to offer flowers at the altars of the great mother．She had given birth to two grand children，Apollo and Artemis．Her women showed a great deal of loyalty and respect to her．This made Niobe jealous and angry．When the nuns of Leto called the women again to the sacred place of the mistress of Zeus one spring，Niobe decided to put an end to the foolish act forever．In her pretty flowing robe she came to the women and blamed the crowd for their mad faith in a goddess．They had never seen this goddess．Niobe declared herself nobler and greater，and  demanded to be admired in place of Leto，who，she said，was no more than a poor mother of two children．The frightened women were loyal to the queen，and left the sacred place in silence．Leto was neglected．

　　Standing on top of a hill overlooking Thebes ，Leto saw all this and was ready to pay back．She found out Apollo and Artemis and told them the story．Before long，the impatient Apollo arrived outside Thebes in hidden clouds．The seven sons of Niobe were playing on the ground，two riding horses and two wrestling while the other princes happily stood by．Appllo held out his bow．One by one the princes fell under his accurate shooting．Even the youngest，who prayed for mercy，was not spared．

　　Niobe was greatly changed．She was all sorrow and grief，but her rude spirit was not put down．She came to the dead bodies of her sons with her daughters and let out a torrent of impolite words at Leto and her children．This time it was Artemls' turn to draw her bowstring ．Almost in a twinkling of an eye all the seven lively daughters fell，turning in their blood，and soon stopped to breathe．Niobe became numb of feeling ．She sat among the fourteen dead bodies，motionless，her eyes blank，her tears rolling down her cold face．Her bitter anger had turned her into a stone！Later，a gust of wind swept her to her homeland in Asia，where she could still be seen sitting on top of a hill，tears of bitterness streaming out of her strong eyes．

　　底比斯王后尼俄伯的確該為自己感到驕傲。她的雙親都是神，她的丈夫是位無(wú)所不能出類(lèi)撥萃的音樂(lè)家。她自己也是既有錢(qián)又有勢(shì)。但真正使她成為世界上最幸福的女人的卻是她那14個(gè)孩子，七位是擁有男子漢氣概的小王子，七位是俏麗貌美的小公主。他們都是既強(qiáng)壯又俊俏，全世界都對(duì)他們贊不絕口。

　　故事是這樣發(fā)生的。每年春天底比斯城的婦女都要聚集在雷托的廟宇，向這位偉大母親的祭壇奉獻(xiàn)鮮花。她哺育了兩位高貴的兒女，阿波羅和阿耳特彌斯。婦女們都對(duì)她異常地忠誠(chéng)和尊敬。這使尼俄伯妒忌不已，頗感憤怒。這年春天，當(dāng)雷托廟里的尼姑再次召集婦女們前往這位宙斯夫人所居住過(guò)的圣地時(shí)，尼俄伯決定永遠(yuǎn)終止這種愚蠢的行徑。她披著那件柔軟耀眼的長(zhǎng)袍，走向人群，責(zé)備他們對(duì)女神的狂妄崇拜。她們還從未見(jiàn)過(guò)這位女神呢。尼俄伯聲稱她自己比雷托更高貴更偉大；她命令人們應(yīng)當(dāng)尊敬她，而不是雷托。她說(shuō)雷托不過(guò)是兩個(gè)孩子的窮母親而已。驚恐的人們出于對(duì)王后忠誠(chéng)，都默默地離開(kāi)了。雷托被撂到了一邊。

　　雷托此時(shí)正站在山頂上俯視底比斯城，當(dāng)她看到這一幕，她決心要“以牙還牙”。她找到阿波羅和阿耳特彌斯，將事情一五一十地告訴了他們。很快，性急的阿波羅借著云彩的掩護(hù)來(lái)到了底比斯城外。尼俄伯的七個(gè)小王子正在玩耍，兩個(gè)在騎馬，兩個(gè)在摔跤，其余的笑嘻嘻地圍在邊上看。阿波羅抽出了弓箭。七位王子一個(gè)個(gè)地倒在他那百發(fā)百中的箭下，即使那位最小的王子，雖然他請(qǐng)求寬恕，也沒(méi)能幸免。

　　尼俄伯變了許多。她萬(wàn)分的悲哀和傷心，但是她粗魯?shù)谋拘圆](méi)有消失。她帶著七位公主來(lái)到王子們的尸體旁，滔滔不絕地痛罵著雷托和她的孩子。這次輪到了阿耳特彌斯特抽出了弓箭，一眨眼工夫，七個(gè)活潑可愛(ài)的公主都倒下了，在血泊中掙扎，很快就停止了呼吸。尼俄伯呆了。她一動(dòng)不動(dòng)地坐在14具尸體中間，目光漠然，淚水順著她冰涼的臉龐往下流。她那悲痛欲絕的憤怒竟將她化作一塊石頭！后來(lái)，一陣風(fēng)將她送回到她的家鄉(xiāng)亞洲。至今人們?nèi)阅芤?jiàn)到她坐在山頂上，凄涼的眼中流淌出痛苦的淚水。

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