Now it happened one summer that the vineyards of Calydon were fuller of
grapes than they had ever been before, and there was so much wheat in
the fields that the people did not know what to do with it.
"I will tell you what to do," said King OEneus. "We will have a
thanksgiving day, and we will give some of the grain and some of the
fruit to the Mighty Beings who sit among the clouds on the mountain top.
For it is from them that the sunshine and the fair weather and the moist
winds and the warm rains have come; and without their aid we could never
have had so fine a harvest."
The very next day the king and the people of Calydon went out into the
fields and vineyards to offer up their thank offerings. Here and there
they built little altars of turf and stones and laid dry grass and twigs
upon them; and then on top of the twigs they put some of the largest
bunches of grapes and some of the finest heads of wheat, which they
thought would please the Mighty Beings who had sent them so great
plenty.
There was one altar for Ceres, who had shown men how to sow grain, and
one for Bacchus, who had told them about the grape, and one for
wing-footed Mercury, who comes in the clouds, and one for Athena, the
queen of the air, and one for the keeper of the winds, and one for the
giver of light, and one for the driver of the golden sun car, and one
for the king of the sea, and one--which was the largest of all--for
Jupiter, the mighty thunderer who sits upon the mountain top and rules
the world. And when everything was ready, King OEneus gave the word, and
fire was touched to the grass and the twigs upon the altars; and the
grapes and the wheat that had been laid there were burned up. Then the
people shouted and danced, for they fancied that in that way the thank
offerings were sent right up to Ceres and Bacchus and Mercury and Athena
and all the rest. And in the evening they went home with glad hearts,
feeling that they had done right.
But they had forgotten one of the Mighty Beings. They had not raised any
altar to Diana, the fair huntress and queen of the woods, and they had
not offered her a single grape or a single grain of wheat. They had not
intended to slight her; but, to tell the truth, there were so many
others that they had never once thought about her.
I do not suppose that Diana cared anything at all for the fruit or the
grain; but it made her very angry to think that she should be forgotten.
"I'll show them that I am not to be slighted in this way," she said.
All went well, however, until the next summer; and the people of Calydon
were very happy, for it looked as though there would be a bigger harvest
than ever.
"I tell you," said old King OEneus, looking over his fields and his
vineyards, "it pays to give thanks. We'll have another thanksgiving as
soon as the grapes begin to ripen."
But even then he did not think of Diana.
The very next day the largest and fiercest wild boar that anybody had
ever seen came rushing out of the forest. He had two long tusks which
stuck far out of his mouth on either side and were as sharp as knives,
and the stiff bristles on his back were as large and as long as knitting
needles. As he went tearing along towards Calydon, champing his teeth
and foaming at the mouth, he was a frightful thing to look at, I tell
you. Everybody fled before him. He rushed into the wheat fields and tore
up all the grain; he went into the vineyards and broke down all the
vines; he rooted up all the trees in the orchards; and, when there was
nothing else to do, he went into the pasture lands among the hills and
killed the sheep that were feeding there. He was so fierce and so fleet
of foot that the bravest warrior hardly dared to attack him. His thick
skin was proof against arrows and against such spears as the people of
Calydon had; and I do not know how many men he killed with those
terrible razor tusks of his. For weeks he had pretty much his own way,
and the only safe place for anybody was inside of the walls.
When he had laid waste the whole country he went back into the edge of
the forest; but the people were so much afraid of him that they lived in
dread every day lest he should come again and tear down the gates of the
city.
"We must have forgotten somebody when we gave thanks last year," said
King OEneus. "Who could it have been?"
And then he thought of Diana.
"Diana, the queen of the chase," said he, "has sent this monster to
punish us for forgetting her. I am sure that we shall remember her now
as long as we live."
Then he sent messengers into all the countries near Calydon, asking the
bravest men and skillfullest hunters to come at a certain time and help
him hunt and kill the great wild boar. Very many of these men had been
with Meleager in that wonderful voyage in search of the Golden Fleece,
and he felt sure they would come.