Page:The Story of the Iliad.djvu/95

Rh among the people. And the cause was this: fair Anteia, that was wife to the King, loved Bellerophon; but he would not hearken to her words; for he was wise and upright of heart. Then Anteia spake falsely to the King, her husband, saying, 'If thou wouldst not die, O King, thou must slay this Bellerophon, for he would have had me love him, only I said him nay.' So she spake, and the King was very wroth when he heard her saying. He slew not Bellerophon, for shame forbade him; but he sent him to Lycia, to the King, the father of Anteia, and with him he sent a token of death, folding it in a tablet, that he might show it to the King and the King might slay him. So Bellerophon journeyed to Lycia, and the gods kept him safely on the way. And when he was come to the land, even to the river of Xanthus, then the King of the country made a great entertainment for him. Nine days he feasted him, slaying on every day an ox. And when the morning of the tenth day was come, he inquired of him his errand, and would see what writing he had brought. And when he had noted the token of death, he sent