n the twelfth day he
would let me depart. So he and his sons brought many gifts, rich and
beautiful, and laid them at my feet--a fair mantle, and a doublet, and
a talent of fine gold, and a sword with a silver-studded hilt, and a
drinking-cup richly engraved that I might remember them when I pour
libations to the gods.

"Take these gifts," said Priam, "as tokens of our friendship for you,
and not only for you, but for all who dwell in distant Greece. For we
too are the children of the immortals. Our mighty ancestor, Dardanus,
was the son of Zeus. He it was who built Dardania on the slopes of
Ida, where the waters gush in many silvery streams from underneath the
rocky earth.

"A grandson of Dardanus was Ilus, famous in song and story, and to him
was born Laomedon, who in his old age became my father. He, though my
sire, did many unwise things, and brought sore distress upon the people
of this land.

"One day Apollo and Poseidon came to Troy, disguised as humble
wayfarers seeking some employment. This they did because so ordered by
mighty Zeus.

"'What can you do?' asked my father, when the two had told their wishes.

"Poseidon answered, 'I am a builder of walls.'

"And Apollo answered, 'I am a shepherd, and a tender of herds.'

"'It is well,' answered Laomedon. 'The wall-builder shall build a wall
around this Troy so high and strong that no enemy can pass it. The
shepherd shall tend my herds of crook-horned kine on the wooded slopes
of Ida. If at the end of a twelvemonth, the wall be built, and if the
cattle thrive without loss of one, then I will pay you your hire: a
talent of gold, two tripods of silver, rich robes, and armor such as
heroes wear.'

"So the two served my father through the year for the hire which he had
promised. Poseidon built a wall, high and fair, around the city; and
Apollo tended the shambling kine, and lost not one. But when they
claimed their hire, Laomedon drove them away with threats, telling them
that he would bind their feet and hands together, and sell them as
slaves into some distant land, having first sheared off their ears with
his sharp sword. And they went away with angry hearts, planning in
their minds how they might avenge themselves.

"Back to his watery kingdom, and his golden palace beneath the sea,
went great Poseidon. He harnessed his steeds to his chariot, and rode
forth upon the waves. He loosed the winds from their prison house, and
sent them raging