Page:Lovers Legends - The Gay Greek Myths.pdf/31

 Rh bearded god, and hung on his every word. In no time at all his skill as charioteer outshone that of any other man. P oseidon kept the boy close. At feast times, Pelops was always there by his side; filling the god's cup with nectar, pouring for the guests as well. And his own father,}} Tantalus, was one of the regulars. But he sipped only a portion of his nectar – the rest he smuggled out.

Any man who thinks to fool the gods' eyes with his doings makes a big mistake. Tantalus' thefts caught up with him in the end, and the anger of Zeus deceived fell like a thunderbolt upon the king and all his kin. The lord of gods laid utter waste to Sipylus. He razed the city to the ground and cast Tantalus into the deepest pit of Hades, doomed him to eternal hunger and thirst. Zeus also made Pelops pay for his father's crimes. He yanked him out of Poseidon's arms, stripped him of immortality and chased him from Olympus, sending him back to the fleeting destiny of the human race.

The people of Sipylus, however, remembered their beloved king when they rebuilt their city. They raised up a great tomb for Tantalus on the side of the holy mountain, and often came to pay him homage. And when Pelops made it back from Olympus, they seated him on the throne and named him ruler in his father's place. 17