seeing thee and hearing thy voice, and so give those who
defend the body of Patroklos a breathing-spell."'

'So she said and departed. Then Achilles arose and went down to the wall
that had been built around the ships. He stood upon the wall and shouted
across the trench, and friends and foes saw him and heard his voice.
Around his head a flame of fire arose such as was never seen before
around the head of a mortal man. And seeing the flame of fire around his
head and hearing his terrible voice the Trojans were affrighted and
stood still. Then the Greeks took up the body of Patroklos and laid it
on a litter and bore it out of the battle.'

XVI

Now Thetis, the mother of Achilles, went to Olympus where the gods have
their dwellings and to the house of Hephaistos, the smith of the gods.
That house shone above all the houses on Olympus because Hephaistos
himself had made it of shining bronze. And inside the house there were
wonders--handmaidens that were not living but that were made out of gold
and made with such wondrous skill that they waited upon Hephaistos and
served and helped him as though they were living maids.'

'Hephaistos was lame and crooked of foot and went limping. He and Thetis
were friends from of old time, for, when his mother would have forsaken
him because of his crooked foot, Thetis and her sister reared him within
one of the Ocean's caves and it was while he was with them that he began
to work in metals. So the lame god was pleased to see Thetis in his
dwelling and he welcomed her and clasped her hand and asked of her what
she would have him do for her.'

'Then Thetis, weeping, told him of her son Achilles, how he had lost his
dear friend and how he was moved to go into the battle to fight with
Hector, and how he was without armour to protect his life, seeing that
the armour that the gods had once given his father was now in the hands
of his foe. And Thetis besought Hephaistos to make new armour for her
son that he might go into the battle.'

'She no sooner finished speaking than Hephaistos went to his work-bench
and set his bellows--twenty were there--working. And the twenty bellows
blew into the crucibles and made bright and hot fires. Then Hephaistos
threw into the fires bronze and tin and silver and gold. He set on the
anvil-stand a great anvil, and took in one hand his hammer and in the
other hand his tongs.'

[Illustration]

'For the armour of Achilles he made first a shield an