Every day，when Helios drove his wonderful horses andhis fiery carriage across the sky，it was Aurora who opened the gates of pearl and drew back the dark curtains of the night；for Aurora was the goddess of the dawn .She was so beautiful that the whole sky became pink with pleasure when she appeared in the east．
On the earth lived a man called Tithonus，who loved Aurora so well that he never failed to leave his bed while it was still dark，to watch for her coming．Aurora loved Tithonus too，and one day she flew to the king of the gods，and begged of him that Tithonus might be given a cup of magic liquid ，and so becomeliving forever．
Zeus allowed this request， and Aurora took Tithonus up to Mount Olympus to live in her golden house.
The goddess had forgotten to ask that Tithonus might never grow old．Therefore，the time came when gray hairs could beseen among his golden curls . Aurora was kind to him in spite of this，and continued to give him beautiful clothes，and to feed him on the food of the gods．Still， Tithonus grew older and older，and in time，after several hundred years，he was so old thathe could not move at all．Little was left of him but his voice ，and even that had grown high and thin． Then he was so weakthat he had to be shut up in a room，for safekeeping．Aurorafelt so sorry to see him become weaker and weaker in this way that she changed him into a little insect，and sent him down to the earth again，where men called him the grasshopper．
Very glad to be free and active once more，Tithonus jumped about in the fields all day，chirping happily to Aurora.
