Helia

“ Helia and Ethel were amazed at the grandeur of the sight, and at the loving ardor of the crowd, in whose eyes, too, the flame seemed burning. Their own beauty struck everybody; surely the new duchess would be the most popular that Morgania had ever known, to judge from the delirious enthusiasm let loose by her presence. ”

“ Instinctively, Helia turned her head. She saw only the waste sea and the great marvelous sky, with its depths of purple and gold, and immense crimson cloud forming an arch above her.
When Helia first appeared, the people had given a great cry, and then there was silence. A thrill ran through the multitude. “Who is coming thus from the open sea? What wonderful being have our cries of terror awakened?”
They saw the superb maiden issuing from the waves and bringing back in her arms the little Duke Adalbert, Morgania’s hope. What if it were she—Morgana!—bringing back fortune and the future? ”

“ Helia appeared to Miss Rowrer as the splendid flowering of the Louvre, personifying in herself all the masterpieces heaped up beneath their feet—all that men have loved and made divine in marble or on canvas. At her feet roses and fuchsias breathed forth their fragrance, sweet as the Attic breeze. ”

“ Besides, the voyage will do so much good to Sœurette. Come—you’ll be at home!” 383
Helia had accepted. To travel with Phil would be to lengthen her torture; but, at least, she would see him.
At first, amid all these marble statues and bronze reliefs, Helia felt herself intimidated, habituated as she was to the coarsely painted scene-canvases and papier-mâché bronzes. But Ethel treated her as an equal—Ethel, who had the art to be respected without being unapproachable.
“Ask them to come up,” Ethel said to Suzanne. “It’s the finest hour of the day.” ”

“ The public laughed.
Helia made a sign and looked to the trapezes oscillating. Suddenly, to a joyous strain, she leaped forward. The orchestra seemed to uphold her in her flight. Nothing could be more graceful than the pose of her skirt, which fluttered from her ankles like a pair of wings. Then Helia leaped to the second trapeze just as the two bars almost touched. Her hand grasped the steel tube with a sudden effort, which 180 her art concealed. Then, letting go, she continued her dizzy balancing and leaped to the third trapeze, as calm as Fortune on her Wheel. ”

“ Oh, what a dog’s life! How could a man like Phil live with falsehood in his heart, and never a word of excuse? She would have given him up, she would have understood! She was not made for him; so be it. Phil could not give Miss Rowrer a rival like Helia—no! He had only to ask her pardon to obtain it—a kind word, and a kiss, and good-by. But no! there was not even that. Ah, Phil, Phil; he did not even take the trouble to give her back her word!
“‘Help me!’ he cried”
Helia’s fever had passed, and her dreams were calmed. ”

“ Helia and Sœurette retired.
Without, everything was in shadow. A dense crowd thronged the jetty. The searchlight of the yacht threw its rays upon the shore and brought out here and there white minarets and roofs and domes. A swarm of people—men, women, and children—half blinded by the light, stared at the yacht. The shining of their eyes could be seen; here there was the glitter of a poniard-handle, and there the glow of silver buckles. There were men in great drugget cloaks over their white fustanelle, and women clad in long red garments, which fell straight as on figures in shrines. ”

“ Phil, with his false promises, is worthy of you! Two men spoiled, one assassin, and a dying woman—look at your work, M. Caracal!”
The “subtle observer,” a poor human rag blown down by a breath, collapsed into a chair.
The great window still threw its burning glow upon the throne. The marble ancestors, dimly lighted, seemed to lift their heads to curse the feeble duke. They formed a circle round the hall and the throne where Helia was resting—Helia, brave as Rhodaïs, intrepid as Thilda, invulnerable as Bertha—Helia, the Morgana announced and foretold. The duke was pale and grave. ”

“ Morgana was building her palaces in the heavenly azure. Golden darts across battlemented clouds were driving away the birds of night. The sun rose up, enormous in size. In front of the yacht the city, with its minarets and domes, showed like a vision of the Orient. The castle, scarcely outlined, seemed floating above the waters.
“Brave Helia! the heavens are celebrating her—how splendid the mirage is, grandma!” said Ethel.
“You see, Ethel,” Mrs. Rowrer remarked, “mirages are not easily appreciated with glasses. At my age I perceive rather the chill of the mist.” ”

“ Now that he was a man, just when he had fallen in love with a young girl whom no one could approach, unless with a pure conscience—it was now that Poufaille would bring him down to the ground, reproaching him with having proved false to an oath,—with having been cowardly and mean, as if he had taken up with Helia to amuse himself with her and then cast her away! ”

“ Helias of La Flèche. Helias now becomes the hero of the Cenomannian tale. He is one of the men of his time of whom we can get the clearest idea. We see him alike in his recorded acts and in his elaborately drawn portrait; and by the light of the two we can hail in him the very noblest type of the age and class to which he belonged. We see in him a no less worthy defender of the freedom of Maine than Harold was of the freedom of England. ”

“ But now it was full day and the sun was lighting up the studio. Phil’s memories faded little by little, scattered by the early morning cries of Paris. The shrill piping of the wandering plumber awakened him with a start just as he was dropping off into real sleep and seeing in his dream Helia soar through a strange world amid heavenly splendors.
“Here’s the morning paper, M. Longwill,” said the old concierge, who came up with the mail; but he stopped short with open mouth at the sight of Phil’s costume. To dress one’s self like that! Etait-il Dieu possible! ”

“ Phil frowned.
“I’m not making any allusions,” said Poufaille.
“I should hope not,” said Phil.
“I am only telling you the truth,” Poufaille declared; “and I am glad to have said it. I can breathe better now. It’s true! It turned my blood to hear Suzanne telling it, with Helia so sad. When I think that you used to be so rigid about such things—and now you act just like the others! What’s the difference between you and Socrate? For a man who is always quoting the Bible and setting himself up as an example—you’re a bad one, that’s all!” ”

“ Suzanne added quickly, as she saw Poufaille clenching his fist at the remembrance of the rejected potatoes, as painful to him as the stolen share of glory. Poufaille went back to work with a heavy sigh.
“Besides,” Suzanne went on, “you know I’m not so stuck on Phil myself any more, and I wish he were here, to tell him what I think of his way of acting toward Helia. I wouldn’t hide the truth from him; and I’d like to know if he’d answer as he used to do in his attic—‘I’m not that kind of a man!’ Ah!” Suzanne continued, “you’re all the same, you men! You’re not worth the rope to hang you!” ”

“ But even Caracal would have to confess himself beaten by a Duke of Morgania parading with a circus star—that would be Parisian enough! He would no longer accuse him of inheriting the prejudices of Morgania, nor of believing in the predictions of the mad old witch!
The duke blushed at his own scruples. He envied Caracal’s effrontery.
“It is true,” he said to himself, “I have been below the mark all through. For a grand seigneur like me to be as timid as a college-boy is absurd. Helia ought to be for me simply an episode—a pastime—and nothing more.” ”

“ The biographer of the Bishop (Vet. An. 291) is of course much more angry with Helias, and seems quite to misconceive the state of things. Very soon after the death of the Conqueror, Helias seizes Ballon and makes war on Le Mans; “Surrexit quidam nobilis adolescens, qui erat de genere Cenomannensium consulum, Helias nomine, et cœpit calumniari ipsum comitatum, ingressusque castrum quod Baledonem nominant, regionem undique devastabat, maximeque adversus civitatis habitatores, qui ei viriliter resistebant, multis insidiis assiduisque deprædationibus grassabatur.” ”

“ There is a remarkable difference of tone between Orderic and the Biographer of the Bishops of Le Mans in their way of speaking of Helias. That the Count should be blamed for making Bishop Howel a prisoner (see p. 198) is in no way wonderful; the thing to be noticed is the way in which he several times speaks of Helias during the episcopate of Hildebert; still more remarkable is the way in which Hildebert speaks himself. Orderic always puts the acts of Helias in the best light ”

“ There is certainly such a feeling in the passage (see p. 287) where he speaks of Helias as flying, “saluti suæ consulens,” while Orderic rather describes him as swept away in a general flight. But this tone lasts only through the year 1099. When Helias comes back in 1100, all seems to be made up again; we now hear (Vet. An. 309, 311) of the “liberalitas” of the “liberalis comes;” the Normans are “hostes” and Helias brings back peace. That is to say, as the story shows, the Count and the Bishop were again reconciled, and the Biographer follows the lead of the Bishop. ”

“ The classic fable of Helios sailing in his golden vessel deserves notice in connexion with the myth of Helias. That the sun and moon travel in boats of silver or gold is an idea common to many mythologies. At first sight it seems probable that Helias is identical with Helios; but the difficulty of explaining how this classic deity should have become localized in Brabant is insurmountable, and I prefer the derivation of the name Helias from the Keltic appellation of the swan.
The necessity of the knight leaving his bride the moment she inquired his race connects this story with the Grail myth. ”

“ Helias was helpless in the hands of Robert of Bellême. The tale which follows is picturesque in itself, and it is specially valuable as throwing light on the mixed character of the Red King. With all his evil deeds, he was at least not the worst man with whom we have to do. We now see what mere chivalry could do and what it could not do. It could not raise a man 225 to the level of Helias; but it kept him from sinking to the level of Robert of Bellême. Helias surrendered to the King. Helias was far too important a captive to be left to die a lingering death in the dungeons of Robert. ”

“ And the bard, who was never better pleased than when recounting some wonderful tale, sat down in the midships, where the oarsmen could readily hear him, and told the strange story of Phaethon, the rash son of Helios Hyperion.
"Among the immortals who give good gifts to men, there is no one more kind than Helios, the bestower of light and heat. Every morning when the Dawn with her rosy fingers illumes the eastern sky, good Helios rises from his golden couch, and from their pasture calls his milk-white steeds. ”

“ For she [101] is very near to Helios, and when she pursues the same course as he and approaches him, she fills the skies with fair weather and gives generative power to the earth: for she herself takes thought for the continuous birth of living things. And though of that continuous birth King Helios is the primary creative cause, yet Aphrodite is the joint cause with him, she who enchants our souls with her charm and sends down to earth from the upper air rays of light most sweet and stainless, aye, more lustrous than gold itself. ”

“ But as he wept and implored Helios replied, “Nay, thou art young and not yet initiated. Return therefore to thine own people that thou mayst be initiated and thereafter dwell on earth in safety. For return thou must, and and cleanse away all impiety and invoke me to aid thee, and Athene and the other gods.” When Helios had said this the youth remained silent. Then mighty Helios led him to a high peak whose upper region was filled with light but the lower with the thickest mist imaginable, through which, as through water, the light of the rays of King Helios penetrated but faintly. ”

“ When ten days were passed she met Hekate, and asked her about her child; but Hekate said, "I heard her voice, as she cried out when some one seized her; but I did not see it with my eyes, and so I know not where she is gone." Then she went to Helios, and said to him, "O Helios, tell me about my child. Thou seest everything on the earth, sitting in the bright sun." Then Helios said to Demeter, "I pity thee for thy great sorrow, and I will tell thee the truth. It is Hades who has taken away Persephone to be his wife in the dark and gloomy land which lies beneath in the earth." ”

“ XXXI. TO HELIOS
(ll. 1-16) 2534 And now, O Muse Calliope, daughter of Zeus, begin to sing of glowing Helios whom mild-eyed Euryphaessa, the far-shining one, bare to the Son of Earth and starry Heaven. For Hyperion wedded glorious Euryphaessa, his own sister, who bare him lovely children, rosy-armed Eos and rich-tressed Selene and tireless Helios who is like the deathless gods. As he rides in his chariot, he shines upon men and deathless gods, and piercingly he gazes with his eyes from his golden helmet. ”

“ And the women! white-armed Briseïs, motherly Hecuba, Andromache and gentle Cressida, Chryseïs, grave Cassandra, Penelope, Polyxena, Iphigenia, the lithe, dark-eyed beauty of Myrine the Amazon, and the golden radiance of Helen, her face like noon sunlight—Helen of Sparta, for whose sake the Greeks are forever named Hellenes, at whose shrine all men worship, and shall worship so long as beauty endures—these came into the high-roofed hall ”