Page:The Song of the Sirens.djvu/156

 once, and a faint sigh, as it seemed, proceeded even from the great Oaks of Zeus and of Kings. And from the incense which Thessa had offered the smoke rose into the air straight as a peeled wand, forty feet, even fifty feet it rose, and on its blue-gray length against the dark blue sky was not a break or a ripple or an undulation.

Then all the priests sang aloud for joy of the happy augury, and the people shouted mightily.

Then Thessa stood forth and turned her face up to the blue sky and lifted her rosy hands and spread their palms upward and spoke aloud in her thin, clear voice:

"O Zeus, is it your will that I should marry the man of my choice?"

And all the favorable boughs and trees rustled at once.

Then again she asked:

"Is my choice to be binding upon all those who hoped for me and upon my father Polyteles?"

And the answer came as before in all men's sight and hearing.

Then a third time she asked:

"Is it your will that my father and all my former suitors applaud my choice and favor my bridegroom?"

And the ears and eyes of all men recognized the unmistakably emphatic affirmation.

Then Thessa turned and beckoned Dexibios,