"There is a cavern somewhere on Mount Pelion larger by far and a
thousand times more beautiful than this; but its doorway is hidden to
mortals, and but few men have ever stood beneath its vaulted roof. In
that cavern the ever-living ones who oversee the affairs of men, once
held high carnival; for they had met there at the marriage feast of
King Peleus, and the woods and rocks of mighty Pelion echoed with the
sound of their merry-making. But wherefore should the marriage feast
of a mortal be held in such a place and with guests so noble and so
great? I will tell you.
"After Peleus had escaped from a plot which some wicked men had made
for his destruction, he dwelt long time with me, who am his
grandfather. But the days seemed long to him, thus shut out from
fellowship with men, and the sun seemed to move slowly in the heavens;
and often he would walk around to the other side of the mountain, and
sitting upon a great rock, he would gaze for long hours upon the purple
waters of the sea. One morning as thus he sat, he saw the sea nymph
Thetis come up out of the waves and walk upon the shore beneath him.
Fairer than a dream was she--more beautiful than any picture of nymph
or goddess. She was clad in a robe of green silk, woven by the sea
maidens in their watery grottoes; and there was a chaplet of pearls
upon her head, and sandals of sparkling silver were upon her feet.
"As Peleus gazed upon this lovely creature, he heard a voice whispering
in his ear. It was the voice of wise Athena.
"'Most luckless of mortal men,' she said, 'there is recompense in store
for those who repent of their wrong-doing, and who, leaving the paths
of error, turn again to the road of virtue. The immortals have seen
thy sorrow for the evil deeds of thy youth, and they have looked with
pity upon thee in thy misfortunes. And now thy days of exile and of
sore punishment are drawing to an end. Behold the silver-footed
Thetis, most beautiful of the nymphs of the sea, whom even the
immortals have wooed in vain! She has been sent to this shore, to be
won and wedded by thee.'
"Peleus looked up to see the speaker of these words, but he beheld only
a blue cloud resting above the mountain-top; he turned his eyes
downward again, and, to his grief, the silver-footed Thetis had
vanished in the waves. All day he sat and waited for her return, but
she came not. When darkness began to fall he sought me in my cave
hall, and told me what he had seen and heard; and I taught him how to
win the sea nymph for his bride.
"So when the sun again gilded the crags of Pelion, brave Peleus hid
himself among the rocks close by the sea-washed shore, and waited for
the coming of the silver-footed lady of the sea. In a little time she
rose, beautiful as the star of morning, from the waves. She sat down
upon the beach, and dallied with her golden tresses, and sang sweet
songs of a happy land in the depths of the sounding sea. Peleus,
bearing in mind what I had taught him, arose from his hiding-place, and
caught the beauteous creature in his arms. In vain did she struggle to
leap into the waves. Seven times she changed her form as he held her:
by turns she changed into a fountain of water, into a cloud of mist,
into a burning flame, and into a senseless rock. But Peleus held her
fast; and she changed then into a tawny lion, and then into a tall
tree, and lastly she took her own matchless form again.
"Then Peleus held the lovely Thetis by the hand, and they walked long
time together upon the beach, while the birds sang among the trees on
Pelion's leafy slopes, and the dolphins sported in the waters at their
feet. Thus Peleus wooed the silver-footed lady, and won her love, and
she promised to be his bride. Then the immortals were glad; and they
fitted up the great cavern on Mount Pelion for a banquet hall, and made
therein a wedding feast, such as was never seen before. The vaulted
roof of the cavern was decked with gems which shone like the stars of
heaven; a thousand torches, held by lovely mountain nymphs, flamed from
the niches in the high walls; and upon the floor of polished marble,
tables for a thousand guests were ranged.
"When the wedding feast was ready, all those who live on high Olympus,
and all the immortals who dwell upon the earth, came to rejoice with
King Peleus and his matchless bride; and they brought rich presents for
the bridegroom, such as were never given to another man. One gave him
a suit of armor, rich and fair, a wonder to behold, which lame Vulcan
with rare skill had wrought and fashioned. One bestowed on him the
peerless horses, Ballos and Xanthos, and a deftly wrought chariot with
trimmings of gold. And I, one of the least of the guests, gave him an
ashen spear which I had cut on the mountain top and fashioned with my
own hands.
"At the tables sat Zeus, the father of gods and men; and his wife, the
white-armed Hera; and smile-loving Aphrodite; and gray-eyed Athena; and
all the wisest and the fairest of the immortals. The nymphs of the sea
danced in honor of Thetis their sister; and the Muses sang their
sweetest songs; and Apollo played upon the lyre. The Fates, too, were
there: sad Clotho, twirling her spindle; unloving Lachesis, with
wrinkled lips ready to speak the fatal word; and pitiless Atropos,
holding in her hand the unsparing shears. And around the table passed
the youthful and joy-giving Hebe, pouring out rich draughts of nectar
for the guests.
"But there was one among all the immortals who had not been invited to
the wedding; it was Eris, the daughter of War and Hate. Her scowling
features, and her hot and hasty manners, were ill suited to grace a
feast where all should be mirth and gladness; yet in her evil heart she
planned to be avenged for the slight which had been put upon her.
While the merry-making was at its height, and the company were
listening to the music from Apollo's lyre, she came unseen into the
hall, and threw a golden apple upon the table. No one knew whence the
apple came; but on it were written these words, 'FOR THE FAIREST.'
"'To whom does it belong?' asked Zeus, stroking his brows in sad
perplexity.
"The music ceased, and mirth and jollity fled at once from the banquet.
The torches, which lit up the scene, flickered and smoked; the lustre
of the gems in the vaulted roof was dimmed; dark clouds canopied the
great hall: for Eris had taken her place at the table, uninvited and
unwelcome though she was.
"'The apple belongs to me,' said Hera, trying to snatch it; 'for I am
the queen, and gods and men honor me as having no peer on earth.'
"'Not so!' cried red-lipped Aphrodite. 'With me dwell Love and Joy;
and not only do gods and men sing my praises, but all nature rejoices
in my presence. The apple is mine, and I will have it!'
"Then Athena joined in the quarrel. 'What is it to be a queen,' said
she, 'if at the same time one lacks that good temper which sweetens
life? What is it to have a handsome form and face, while the mind is
uncouth and ill-looking? Beauty of mind is better than beauty of face;
for the former is immortal, while the latter fades and dies. Hence no
one has a better right than I to be called the fairest.'
"Then the strife spread among the guests in the hall, each taking sides
with the one he loved best; and, where peace and merriment had reigned,
now hot words and bitter wrangling were heard. And had not Zeus bidden
them keep silence, thus putting an end to the quarrel, all Pelion would
have been rent, and the earth shaken to its centre in the mellay that
would have followed.
"'Let us waste no words over this matter,' he said. 'It is not for the
immortals to say who of their number is most beautiful. But on the
slopes of Mount Ida, far across the sea, the fairest of the sons of
men--Paris, a prince of Troy--keeps his flocks; let him judge who is
fairest, and let the apple be hers to whom he gives it.'
"Then Hermes, the swift-footed messenger, arose, and led the three
goddesses over sea and land to distant Mount Ida, where Paris, with no
thought of the wonderful life which lay before him, piped on his
shepherd's reeds, and tended his flock of sheep."
[1]Cheiron the Centaur lived in a cavern on Mount Pelion and was
reputed to be the wisest of mortals. All the young heroes of the time,
Jason, Achilles, and others, were his pupils and spent their boyhood
with him. He is sometimes represented as having the head of a man and
the body of a horse; but it is probable that he was only one of a race
of men noted for their skill in horsemanship. This story is supposed
to have been related by him to young Odysseus (Ulysses), who visited
him in his cavern.