Amber, or the Swan (2)

As a matter of fact, I did visit those parts not long ago (on another errand, to be sure); and as I had to go up the Eridanus, I kept a sharp lookout, but neither poplars nor amber were to be seen. Indeed, the very name of Phaethon was unknown to the natives. At any rate, when I went into the matter and inquired when we should reach the poplars—"the amber-poplars,”—the boatmen laughed and asked me to tell them more plainly what I meant. So I told them the story: that Phaethon was the child of the Sun, and that on coming of age he asked his father to let him drive the car and “do just one day” himself; his father consented, and he was thrown from the car and killed. “And his sisters,” said I, “out of