all she could to prevent this prophecy from
coming true.

She first carried Achilles, when but a baby, to the river Styx, for it
was said that those who bathed in its waters could never be wounded.

Afraid to let go of her child for fear he might drown, but anxious to
make sure that the waters should touch every part of him, the mother
plunged him into the rushing tide, holding him fast by one heel.

This she held so tight that the waters never even wet it; and it was
only long after, when too late to remedy it, that an oracle told her
that Achilles could be wounded in his heel, which the waters of the Styx
had not touched. As soon as this good mother heard the first news of the
coming war, her heart was troubled; for she knew that Achilles, who was
now a young man, would want to join the army, and she was afraid of
losing him.

To prevent his hearing anything about the war, she persuaded him to
visit the King of Scyros. There, under pretext of a joke, he was induced
to put on girl's clothes, and to pretend that he was a woman.

The Greeks, after hearing the oracle's words, sent messengers for
Achilles; but they could not find him, as he had left home, and no one
would tell them where he had gone. As it was of no use to set out
without him, according to the oracle's answer, which they thoroughly
believed, the army lingered at Aulis in despair.

Ulysses, seeing that they would never start unless Achilles were found,
now offered to go and get him. Disguised as a peddler, with a pack upon
his back, he went first to Achilles' home, where the chattering maids
told him all he wished to know, and thence he went to the Island of
Scyros.

Achilles was so well disguised that Ulysses could not tell him from the
king's daughters and their maids: so he made use of a trick to find him
out. Among the trinkets in his pack, he put a sword of fine workmanship,
and, entering the palace, spread out his wares before the admiring
maidens. They all gathered about him; but, while the real girls went
into raptures over his ornaments, Achilles grasped the sword, drew it
from the scabbard, carefully tested the blade, and swung it with a
strong arm.

Of course, Ulysses then easily saw that he was not a girl, and, slipping
up to him, managed to whisper news of the coming war, and won his
promise to join the army at Aulis in a few days.

XV. THE SACRIFICE OF IPHIGENIA.

True to his promise, Achilles soon came to Aulis with his we