Now, not very far from the land of Arcadia there was a little city named
Calydon. It lay in the midst of rich wheat fields and fruitful
vineyards; but beyond the vineyards there was a deep dense forest where
many wild beasts lived. The king of Calydon was named OEneus, and he
dwelt in a white palace with his wife Althea and his boys and girls. His
kingdom was so small that it was not much trouble to govern it, and so
he spent the most of his time in hunting or in plowing or in looking
after his grape vines. He was said to be a very brave man, and he was
the friend of all the great heroes of that heroic time.
The two daughters of OEneus and Althea were famed all over the world for
their beauty; and one of them was the wife of the hero Hercules, who
had freed Prometheus from his chains, and done many other mighty deeds.
The six sons of OEneus and Althea were noble, handsome fellows; but the
noblest and handsomest of them all was Meleager, the youngest.
When Meleager was a tiny babe only seven days old, a strange thing
happened in the white palace of the king. Queen Althea awoke in the
middle of the night, and saw a fire blazing on the hearth. She wondered
what it could mean; and she lay quite still by the side of the babe, and
looked and listened. Three strange women were standing by the hearth.
They were tall, and two of them were beautiful, and the faces of all
were stern. Althea knew at once that they were the Fates who give gifts
of some kind to every child that is born, and who say whether his life
shall be a happy one or full of sadness and sorrow.
"What shall we give to this child?" said the eldest and sternest of the
three strangers. Her name was Atropos, and she held a pair of sharp
shears in her hand.
"I give him a brave heart," said the youngest and fairest. Her name was
Clotho, and she held a distaff full of flax, from which she was spinning
a golden thread.
"And I give him a gentle, noble mind," said the dark-haired one, whose
name was Lachesis. She gently drew out the thread which Clotho spun, and
turning to stern Atropos, said: "Lay aside those shears, sister, and
give the child your gift."
"I give him life until this brand shall be burned to ashes," was the
answer; and Atropos took a small stick of wood and laid it on the
burning coals.
The three sisters waited till the stick was ablaze, and then they were
gone. Althea sprang up quickly. She saw nothing but the fire on the
hearth and the stick burning slowly away. She made haste to pour water
upon the blaze, and when every spark was put out, she took the charred
stick and put it into a strong chest where she kept her treasures, and
locked it up.
"I know that the child's life is safe," she said, "so long as that stick
is kept unburned."
And so, as the years went by, Meleager grew up to be a brave young man,
so gentle and noble that his name became known in every land of Greece.
He did many daring deeds and, with other heroes, went on a famous voyage
across the seas in search of a marvelous fleece of gold; and when he
returned to Calydon the people declared that he was the worthiest of the
sons of OEneus to become their king.