<h2><SPAN name="VIII_THE_TERRIBLE_PROPHECY" id="VIII_THE_TERRIBLE_PROPHECY"></SPAN>VIII. THE TERRIBLE PROPHECY.</h2>
<p>While Theseus was reigning over the Athenians, the neighboring throne of
Thebes, in Bœotia, was occupied by King La´ius and Queen Jo-cas´ta.
In those days the people thought they could learn about the future by
consulting the oracles, or priests who dwelt in the temples, and
pretended to give mortals messages from the gods.</p>
<p>Hoping to learn what would become of himself and of his family, Laius
sent rich gifts to the temple at Delphi, asking what would befall him in
the coming years. The messenger soon returned, but, instead of bringing
cheerful news, he tremblingly repeated the oracle's words: "King Laius,
you will have a son who will murder his father, marry his mother, and
bring destruction upon his native city!"</p>
<p>This news filled the king's heart with horror; and when, a few months
later, a son was born to him, he made up his mind to kill him rather
than let him live to commit such fearful crimes. But Laius was too
gentle to harm a babe, and so ordered a servant to carry the child out
of the town and put him to death.</p>
<p>The man obeyed the first part of the king's orders; but when he had come
to a lonely spot on the mountain, he could not make up his mind to kill
the poor little babe. Thinking that the child would soon die if left on
this lonely spot, the servant tied him to a tree, and, going back to the
city, reported that he had gotten rid of him.</p>
<p>No further questions were asked, and all thought that<!-- Page 30 --><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</SPAN></span> the child was
dead. It was not so, however. His cries had attracted the attention of a
passing shepherd, who carried him home, and, being too poor to keep him,
took him to the King of Corinth. As the king had no children, he gladly
adopted the little boy.</p>
<p>When the queen saw that the child's ankles were swollen by the cord by
which he had been hung to the tree, she tenderly cared for him, and
called him Œd´i-pus, which means "the swollen-footed." This nickname
clung to the boy, who grew up thinking that the King and Queen of
Corinth were his real parents.</p>
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