Text 1 ORPHEUS Orpheus with his lute made trees, And the mountain tops that freeze, Bow themselves when he did sing; To his music plants and flowers Ever sprung, as sun and showers There had made a lasting spring. Everything that heard him play, Even the billows of the sea, In sweet music is such art, Killing care and grief of heart Fall asleep, or hearing, die. In a pleasant valley in Thrace, among springing flowers and the happy songs of the birds, lived Orpheus, the first and greatest of musicians. He was the son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope. His father gave him a lyre and taught him how to play upon it, which he did to such perfection that nothing could withstand the charm of his music. By his wonderful playing he so charmed the hearts of men that they forgot their angry passions and evil desires and became gentle little children. Even rocks and trees would leave their resting place and come near to listen, while wild beasts became tame and harmless under the spell of his music. Well into his youth he had mastered the lyre and his melodious voice attracted audiences from near and afar. It was at one such gathering of humans and beasts that his eyes fell on a wood nymph. The girl was called Eurydice, she was beautiful and shy. She had been drawn to Orpheus enamored by his voice and such was the spell of beauty in music and appearance that neither could cast their eyes off each other. Soon they felt dearly in love, unable to spend a single moment apart. After a while, they decided to get married. Their life was a bright and wonderful one, with the music of Orpheus running through it like a magical thread, till a sudden and terrible thing happened. Eurydice, treading unwittingly on a serpent, was bitten in the foot, and, in spite of all that Orpheus and the nymphs could do, after a few hours of suffering, she died, and her spirit fed to the Underworld, where Pluto the king and Persephone his young queen ruled over those who had died and been carried to Hades. Now indeed were the days darkened for Orpheus. After the death of his beloved wife, he was no more the same carefree person he used to be. Nothing, not even his beloved lyre, could drag him from the depths of sorrow into which he had fallen, and at length, despairing of ever finding happiness without Eurydice, he had a great but yet crazy idea: he decided to go to Underworld and try to get his wife back. Apollo, his father, would talk to the king of the Underworld, to accept him and hear his plea. Armed with his weapons, the lyre and voice, Orpheus approached Hades and demanded entry into the Underworld. Standing in front of the rulers of the dead, Orpheus said why he was there. He played his lyre and sang out to King Pluto and Queen Persephone that Eurydice was returned to him. Not even the most stone -hearted of people or Gods could have neglected the hurt in his voice. Pluto openly wept, Persephone's heart melted and even Cerberus, the gigantic three-headed hound guarding the entry to the Underworld, covered his many ears with his paws and howled in despair. The voice of Orpheus was so moving that Pluto promised to this desperate man that Eurydice would follow him to the Upper World, the world of the living, However, he warned Orpheus that for no reason must he look back while his wife was still in the dark, for that would undo everything he hoped for. He should wait for Eurydice to get into the light before he looked at her. With great faith in his heart and joy in his song, Orpheus began his journey out of the Underworld, joyful that he would once again be reunited with his love. As Orpheus was reaching the exit of the Underworld, he could hear the footfalls of his wife approaching him. He wanted to turn around and hug her immediately but managed to control his feeling. As his was approaching the exit, his heart was beating faster and faster. The moment he stepped on the world of the living, he Eurydice before she was once again drawn back into the Underworld, her arms stretching out toward him longingly but helplessly. Too late he remembered Pluto's words. When Orpheus turned his head, Eurydice was still in the dark, she hadn't seen the sun and, as the king had warned him, his sweet wife was drowned back to the dark world of the dead. Waves of anguish and despair swept over him and shuddering with grief he approached the Underworld again but this time, he was denied entry the gates were standing shut and god Hermes, sent by Zeus, wouldn’t let him in. Orpheus had to return alone- -but not to the happy valley. That, without his bride, he could not bear, and he retired to the hills alone, where, for a few months, the sad songs of his lute could be heard. The heart-broken musician was wandering disoriented, day after day, night after night, in total despair. He could find no consolation in anything. His songs were no more joyful but extremely sad. His only comfort was to lay on a huge rock and feel the caress of the breeze, his only vision were the open skies. Then that stopped, and no one knew what happened to Orpheus. Some say he was killed by a band of Thracian dancing-women because he would not play merry music to them- -he whose heart had no joy left in it- -but at the last he and his Eurydice were untied for ever in the Kingdom of the Dead. Reading Comprehension Circle the letter of the best answer.