The Portland daily press., 1881-05-07
Amid An their cups that freely flow'd,
Their reveIry and mirth,
A youthful lord taxed Valentine
With base and dnphtfll birth >,

Some young Corinthian told Gdipus that be
was not the Kings son. This set the favored
youth a thinking, and he determined to 90 TO
Delphi, and consult the great oracle of all, in
order 10 ascertain who was his father. The
oracle, instead of telling him-as an honest.
straightforward oracle would have dope-that
Lalus was his parent and that he should give
Thebes wide berth, proceeded, after the usual
fashion OF oracles OF all ages, to deal trickiIy
with MIN, saying: You mnst not 60 back to
to your country, for should you do so, your
destiny wonld be to kill your father and to wed
your mother" Gdipus, who was green
enough to swallow anything that an oracle
might say 1t was verdancy not peculiarly
us, put belonged to the time-decided not TO
go back to Corinth, the only country he had
ever known; for no amount of money would
have tempted him to run the chance of hurt
ing the good Polybus, the only father he knew.
80 ne departed from Delphi. by the road that
have slowly winked as it saw him take that
line OF country. go it, young man. it said:
but go which way you will, you will 90 to the
devil such is is life, as governed by Fate"
Alier wnlcn cheeriul observation, it may have
soothed-itself with pipe Of the best Virginia.
On arriving at the spot where the road to the
two countries forked, whom should QSdiDus
fall in with but King Laius who was taking a
drive In his chariot? A quarrel happened be-
tween ne 1--WE parties, concerning the right of
way; and i'll the row that followed Gdipus was
SO unlucky as to kill Laius. Thus he had so
early accomplished half his evil destiny with.
out knowing it. Subsequently he went to
Ihebes, which he found in woful state.
Creon, brother of Jocasta, had become King:
but the gods had sent the Sphinx to plague the
Thebans. She-for the Sphinx was feminine
had woman's face, birds wings and a
lions breast feet, and tail; and she had been
supplied by the Muses. with riddles; and with
special conundrum, for the annoyance and
the annihilation of the Thebans 1t
was this: What animal is that which goes on
four feet in the morning, on two at noon, and
on three at night?" Another reporter who
prooaoiy mad interviewed the lady, gives it
thus: What is that which has one voice. is
fonr-footed, two-footed, and at last three-foot-
ed?" Whatever the wording of the riddle. il
was beyond the persimmon OF such numbskulls
as the BGotians to solve it,; and as the penalty
OF failure was to be killed and eaten, the
Sphinx had her larder constantly supplied
with the freshest flesh. She had "located,
herself on Mount Phicium, where her toll-gate
was established, and there she gobbled up The
bans, without distinction of rank, or are. or
sex, or even party. As usual, an oracle was
consulted, who said that, until the riddle
should be solved, the Sphinx must be consid-
cred as permanent institution. AT length
she deyoured Hemon, the Kings son, where
upon h,ng Creon, whose feelings had become
too much for him, caused it to be proclaimed
that he would give his throne, and the hand of
his sister. the widowed Jocasta, Queen Dowa-
ger,) to the solver Of the riddle. Gdipus, who
nad Oeen Dldipg his time, and looking quietly
about him for an investment of his mental cap
ital, volunteered to settle the hash with the
Sphinx, saying that that was his mission He
waited on the puzzling devourer Immediately.
and said: "Old girl. you think you are amaz-
ingly clever, because you gull these dull The
bans. who are regular know-nothings; but I'd
have you to know that went to Corinth when
was very young and there went through all
the courses OF study. and was graduated with
all the honors; and now am geing to take the
conceit out OF you, and draw those teeth with
which you have chawed up so many poor Boz.
otians, who never did you any harm" We can
suppose, II we are fond of suppositions, that
the Sphinx-who knew as well as t'other
Sphinx Queen Elizabetb) handsome man
when she saw him, and liked him we'll enough
to eat him-here had touch Of pity, she hav-
ing just breakfasted on fat BGotian Alder
man, and being in the placid state of mind
that follows from full stomach, demonstrated
with the youth, telling him he'd better depart
in peace If he did not wish to be torn In pieces
young man, said she, "if you persist in your
foolish purpose, you will get yourself into such