hilt of his sword, and taking very manly strides
in bis father's sandals.

I cannot stop to tell you hardly any of the ad-
ventures that befell Theseus on the road to
Athens. It is enough to say, that he quite cleared
that part of the country of the robbers, about
whom King Pittheus had been so much alarmed.
One of these bad people was named Procrustes;
and he was indeed a terrible fellow, and had
an ugly way of making fun of the poor travellers
who happened to fall into his clutches. In his
cavern he had a bed, on which, with great pre-
tence of hospitality, he invited his guests to lie
down; but if they happened to be shorter than
the bed, this wicked villain stretched them out by
main force; or, if they were too tall, he lopped
off their heads or feet, and laughed at what he
had done, as an excellent joke. Thus, however
weary a man might be, he never liked to lie in
the bed of Procrustes. Another of these robbers,
named Scinis, must likewise have been a very
great scoundrel. He was in the habit of fling-
ing his victims off a hign cliff into the sea; and,
in order to give him exactly his deserts, Theseus
tossed him off the very same place. But if you

[[27]]

p026 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p027w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p028

v?