Whenever Iris was in haste to obey Queen Juno's orders, down from the
palace she would sail in a chariot drawn by two peacocks, and if she
wished she might ride all the way over the rainbow.
[Illustration: IRIS. From an ancient fresco.]
Think of the beautiful Iris, wrapped in a fleecy cloud, gliding over
this wonderful path in the heavens! Wouldn't it have been a lovely
sight to see?
Once Juno sent her all the way to Dreamland to bring to Halcyone,
the daughter of Aeolus, a dream of her husband, who was far away on
the ocean.
Iris loved to help poor mortals, and tears filled her eyes when she
heard how this lonely woman longed to see the one she loved so well.
The clouds caught the tears from the eyes of Iris, and quickly made
ready for her the glorious rainbow bridge, reaching from Dreamland to
the wonderful Garden of the Gods.
She wrapped herself in a cloud chosen from the sunset and, stepping into
her chariot, gave the signal to her birds and drove swiftly down, down
to the dim country of the King of Sleep.
Before she could reach the entrance to his palace, she had to drive
through field after field of poppies, red as the sunset she had just
left in the sky, for poppies give sleep to the people of Dreamland.
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