There once, in the city of Corinth lived a man named Bellerophon. Many people said he was the son of Poseidon (the god of the sea). He had heard of a horse with wings and could fly. He longed to ride it and that is all he wanted to do. Pegasus had great wings, alabaster feathers and he also had vanes of gold. Pegasus was born when Perseus had slain Medusa and her blood mixed with the earth and Pegasus was born. Athena was the one who caught tamed Pegasus. A mortal had never ridden the horse before. Bellerophon was getting very thin because he would not eat because of his desire to ride the horse. He decided to go to Polyidus for advice and Polyidus told him to go to the temple of Athena and sleep. He said that the goddess would talk to him while he slept.
Bellerophon went to the temple and he slept. While he slept he dreamed that Athena stood before him, she was holding a golden bridle. She handed him the bridle and said,” You are my brother Poseidon’s son. I will let you ride the winged horse, you will need this bridle for Pegasus to let you ride.” He took the bridle and fell asleep again. In the morning Bellerophon went to the pasture where people said Pegasus was seen. Pegasus was there waiting for him. When he touched the horse it didn’t even twitch. Pegasus let Bellerophon bridle him and they were off. They flew high over the tops of mountains. It was like nothing Bellerophon had ever felt. The wings of Pegasus moved very smoothly and they glided all the way to another city. There they met a young boy who wanted to ride Pegasus and jumped up to touch him. But Bellerophon was too selfish and kicked the boy off the edge of the building he was standing on. The boy I immediately died. Bellerophon was very sorry and he decides to go to King Proteus of Tiryns, to forgive him of his sins. The guards let Bellerophon in with out even questioning him because he had Pegasus and they thought he was a god. The king greeted him with respect and let him eat at his royal table and Bellerophon became the king’s guest.
Bellerophon stayed at the castle for many weeks and Pegasus roamed the grass out side the large stone wall. While he was with them the queen fell in love with him. One evening, the queen tried to kiss Bellerophon but turned his head. She said that he would be sorry and she went to her husband and told him an awful lie. She said that Bellerophon had taken hold of her with out her permission. The king was furious and wanted Bellerophon killed immediately. So the king, instead of hanging him, sent him with a letter to King Iobates that said to kill whoever carried this message. Bellerophon thought that it was a very important letter so he took Pegasus to the king. When they arrived the king was so pleased to see Pegasus that he refused to read the letter for a whole week. When he finally did read the letter he was very surprised. He told Bellerophon what the letter said and Bellerophon was shocked. The king thought so much of him that he gave him a task to do instead. The task was to defeat the mighty Chimaera that bothered the people of the kings land. Bellerophon took on that challenged and went to find the Chimaera with a suit of armor and a long metal pole with a ball of lead on the end. The Chimaera was a monster with a lion head and front paws, a goat head and a goat body and also had a serpent for a tail. The monster breathed fire. Bellerophon found him in a cave above the ocean. They fought for a very long time. The lion head kept diving for Bellerophon’s throat while the goat and the serpent lashed at his arms and legs. Bellerophon came up with a great idea. He dodged another bite and shoved the lead ball down the Chimaera’s throat and the lead melted from the heat, melting the monsters heart. Bellerophon was told he would not die and he flew back home to Corinth. There he kept Pegasus as a pet. He was very pleased with himself.