A Fable, from the German of Lessing.
Originally published in Tinsley's Magazine (Tinsley Bros.) vol.1 #5 (Dec 1867).
I.
Grim Pluto spake to Hermes, swift of speed,
Who stood beside the Hades throne:
'Some more effective Furies here we need,
For these are old and hardly worth their feed:
We might as well have none!
Go, Hermes; search about the upper earth,
As well thou knowest how;
Find three strong females there of well-tried worth,
And fetch them here below.'
II.
So earthward Mercury took wing
To find three Furies for Hell's king.
III.
High up on Olympus the stately queen Juno
Spake low in her Iris's ear:
'Ecoutez, dear Iris! I fancy that you know
How best to obtain me what very few do know
The way to, because it's so dear.
I wish you to fly through Olympus's portals,
And seek me out quickly from feminine mortals
Just two or three maidens exceedingly strict.
I want to defy that detestable Venus,
Who boasts, when there's any debating between us,
That all human females obey her—Jove, screen us!
So just two or three
Find, and bring them to me.
And mind they are carefully picked.'
IV.
So Iris went.
The time she spent!
She peeped in every corner:
But all in vain;
She came again,
And Venus, gentle scorner,
Had still the best, for all alone she came,
And Juno's visage fell with wrath and shame.
V.
'O Chastity! O Virtue! Juno cried.
'Can this indeed be so?'
'Goddess,' the radiant messenger replied,
'I heard below
Of three strict maidens of most virtuous fame,
Whom no man ever had the power to move,
Who stifled in their hearts the slightest flame—
The slightest spark of love.
But out, alas! I was not soon enough.'
'Not soon enough?' said Juno. 'How?'
'The swift-foot Hermes just had borne them off,
And carried them below.
King Pluto wanted them, I hear.'
'King Pluto? How could that be, dear?
For what could Pluto want these virtuous three?'
'For Furies!' answered Iris blushingly.