Page:The Story of the Iliad.djvu/336

292, his comrade, also Ajax, the son of Telamon, and Epeüs. And first Epeüs cast it, and all the Greeks laughed, for he cast it not far, for all that he was so strong; and after him Leonteus made trial of it, and next Ajax, overpassing the marks of them that had gone before. But when Polypœtes stood up, lo! he cast it as far beyond the others as a herdsman flings his staff among his herd. And all the people shouted, and the comrades of Polypœtes rose up and bare the prize to the ships.

And after this the archers contended together, and the prize for the first was ten axes of iron, with an edge on either side; and for the second ten axes also, but having one edge only. Now the two that strove were Teucer, who was the brother of Ajax the Greater, and Meriones, who was the comrade of King Idomeneus of Crete. The mark that was set for them was the mast of a ship which Achilles had set up far off in the sands by the sea, to the top whereof he had bound a wood-dove, having a cord about its foot. And the lot fell to Teucer that he should shoot the first, and he shot, drawing the bow mightily; but he