pack, into the courtyard of King Lycomedes. The girls heard
that a pedlar had come, and out they all ran, Achilles with the rest to
watch the pedlar undo his pack. Each chose what she liked best: one took
a wreath of gold; another a necklace of gold and amber; another earrings;
a fourth a set of brooches, another a dress of embroidered scarlet cloth;
another a veil; another a pair of bracelets; but at the bottom of the
pack lay a great sword of bronze, the hilt studded with golden nails.
Achilles seized the sword. "This is for me!" he said, and drew the sword
from the gilded sheath, and made it whistle round his head.

"You are Achilles, Peleus' son!" said Ulysses; "and you are to be the
chief warrior of the Achaeans," for the Greeks then called themselves
Achaeans. Achilles was only too glad to hear these words, for he was
quite tired of living among maidens. Ulysses led him into the hall where
the chiefs were sitting at their wine, and Achilles was blushing like any
girl.

"Here is the Queen of the Amazons," said Ulysses--for the Amazons were a
race of warlike maidens--"or rather here is Achilles, Peleus' son, with
sword in hand." Then they all took his hand, and welcomed him, and he
was clothed in man's dress, with the sword by his side, and presently
they sent him back with ten ships to his home. There his mother, Thetis,
of the silver feet, the goddess of the sea, wept over him, saying, "My
child, thou hast the choice of a long and happy and peaceful life here
with me, or of a brief time of war and undying renown. Never shall I see
thee again in Argos if thy choice is for war." But Achilles chose to die
young, and to be famous as long as the world stands. So his father gave
him fifty ships, with Patroclus, who was older than he, to be his friend,
and with an old man, Phoenix, to advise him; and his mother gave him the
glorious armour that the God had made for his father, and the heavy ashen
spear that none but he could wield, and he sailed to join the host of the
Achaeans, who all praised and thanked Ulysses that had found for them
such a prince. For Achilles was the fiercest fighter of them all, and
the swiftest-footed man, and the most courteous prince, and the gentlest
with women and children, but he was proud and high of heart, and when he
was angered his anger was terrible.

The Trojans would have had no chance against the Greeks if only the men
of the city of Troy had fought to keep Helen of the f