Apollo had to be cleansed from the sin of the shed blood of Python. After all, he himself cleanses the people who committed murder. By decision of Zeus, he retired to Thessaly to the beautiful and noble king Admetus. There he tended the king's flocks and with this service he atoned for his sin. When Apollo played a reed flute or a golden harp in the pasture, wild animals came out of the forest, enchanted by his playing. Panthers and fierce lions walked peacefully among the herds. Deer and chamois came running to the sound of the flute. Peace and joy reigned all around. Prosperity entered the house of Admet; no one had such fruits; his horses and herds were the best in all of Thessaly. All this was given to him by the golden-haired god. Apollo helped Admetus get the hand of the daughter of King Iolcus Pelias, Alcesta. Her father promised to give her as a wife only to someone who would be able to harness a lion and a bear to his chariot. Then Apollo endowed his favorite Admetus with invincible power, and he fulfilled this task of Pelias. Apollo served with Admetus for eight years and, having completed his sin-atonement service, returned to Delphi.
Apollo lives in Delphi during the spring and summer. When autumn comes, the flowers wither and the leaves on the trees turn yellow, when the cold winter is already close, covering the top of Parnassus with snow, then Apollo, in his chariot drawn by snow-white swans, is carried away to the land of the Hyperboreans, which knows no winter, to the land of eternal spring. He lives there all winter. When everything in Delphi turns green again, when flowers bloom under the life-giving breath of spring and cover the valley of Chris with a colorful carpet, golden-haired Apollo returns to Delphi on his swans to prophesy to people the will of the thunderer Zeus. Then in Delphi they celebrate the return of the soothsayer god Apollo from the country of the Hyperboreans. All spring and summer he lives in Delphi, he also visits his homeland Delos, where he also has a magnificent sanctuary.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru