Page:The Story of the Iliad.djvu/47

Rh remember—all whom death hath not carried away—what befell in Aulis when the host was gathered to make war on Troy, and we were sacrificing to the immortal gods under a fair plane tree by a spring,—ye remember, I say, how a great serpent, fiery red and horrible to behold, glided from beneath the altar, and darted to the tree. There on the topmost bough was a sparrow's brood, crouching beneath the leaves. Eight were they in all, and the mother was the ninth. These the serpent devoured, one by one, twittering piteously; and the mother flew around, crying for her children. Her last he caught by the wing, twisting himself about. And when he had devoured the brood and the mother, the god that sent him made the sign yet more manifest, turning him into stone. Then Calchas said, as we stood wondering: 'Why are ye silent? It is to us this portent hath been sent. As the snake hath eaten the brood of eight and the mother the ninth, so for nine years shall we make war in the land whither we go, and in the tenth we shall take the fair city of Troy.' So he spake; and, without doubt, his words