Hero Tales

by James Baldwin

  PARIS AND CENONE

  RELATED BY CHEIRON THE CENTAUR

  "On the other side of the sea there stands a city, rich and mighty, thelike of which there is none in Greece. The name of this city is Troy,although its inhabitants call it Ilios. There an old man, named Priam,rules over a happy and peace-loving people. He dwells in a greatpalace of polished marble, on a hill overlooking the plain; and hisgranaries are stored with corn, and his flocks and herds are pasturedon the hills and mountain slopes behind the city.

  "Many sons has King Priam; and they are brave and noble youths, wellworthy of such a father. The eldest of these sons is Hector, who, theTrojans hope, will live to bring great honor to his native land.

  "Just before the second son was born, a strange thing troubled thefamily of old Priam. The queen dreamed that her babe had turned into afirebrand, which burned up the walls and the high towers of Troy, andleft but smouldering ashes where once the proud city stood. She toldthe king her dream; and when the child was born, they called asoothsayer, who could foresee the mysteries of the future, and theyasked him what the vision meant.

  "'It means,' said he, 'that this babe, if he lives, shall be afirebrand in Troy, and shall turn its walls and its high towers intoheaps of smouldering ashes.'

  "'But what shall be done with the child, that he may not do thisterrible thing?' asked Priam, greatly sorrowing, for the babe was verybeautiful.

  "'Do not suffer that he shall live,' answered the soothsayer.

  "Priam, the gentlest and most kind-hearted of men, could not bear toharm the babe. So he called his master shepherd, and bade him take thehelpless child into the thick woods, which grow high up on the slopesof Mount Ida, behind the city, and there to leave him alone. The wildbeasts that roam among those woods, he thought, would doubtless findhim, or, in any case, he could not live long without care andnourishment; and thus the dangerous brand would be quenched while yetit was scarcely a spark.

  "The shepherd did as he was bidden, although it cost his heart many asharp pang thus to deal barbarously with the innocent. He laid thesmiling infant, wrapped in its broidered tunic, close by the foot of anoak, and then hurried away that he might not hear its cries.

  "But the nymphs who haunt the woods and groves, saw the babe, andpitied its helplessness, and cared for it so that it did not die. Somebrought it yellow honey from the stores of the wild bees; some fed itwith milk from the white goats that pastured on the mountain side; andothers stood as sentinels around it, guarding it from the wolves andbears.

  "Thus five days passed, and then the shepherd, who could not forget thebabe, came cautiously to the spot to see if, mayhap, even its broideredcloak had been spared by the beasts. Sorrowful and shuddering heglanced toward the foot of the tree. To his surprise, the babe wasstill there; it looked up and smiled, and stretched its fat handstoward him. The shepherd's heart would not let him turn away thesecond time. He took the child in his arms, and carried it to his ownhumble home in the valley, where he cared for it and brought it up ashis own son.

  "The boy grew to be very tall and very handsome; and he was so brave,and so helpful to the shepherds around Mount Ida, that they called himAlexandros, or the helper of men; but his foster-father named himParis. As he tended his sheep in the mountain dells, he met Oenone,the fairest of the river maidens, guileless and pure as the waters ofthe stream by whose banks she loved to wander. Day after day he satwith her in the shadow of her woodland home, and talked of innocenceand beauty, and of a life of sweet contentment, and of love; and themaiden listened to him with wide-open eyes and a heart full oftrustfulness and faith.

  "By and by, Paris and Oenone were wedded; and their little cottage inthe mountain glen was the fairest and happiest spot in Ilios. The dayssped swiftly by, and neither of them dreamed that any sorrow was instore for them; and to Oenone her shepherd husband was all the world,because he was so noble and brave and handsome and gentle.

  "One warm summer afternoon, Paris sat in the shade of a tree at thefoot of Mount Ida, while his flocks were pasturing upon the hillsidebefore him. The bees were humming lazily among the flowers; thecicadas were chirping among the leaves above his head; and now and thena bird twittered softly among the bushes behind him. All else wasstill, as if enjoying to the full the delicious calm of that pleasantday.

  "Paris was fashioning a slender reed into a shepherd's flute; whileOenone, sitting in the deeper shadows of some clustering vines, wasbusy with some simple piece of needlework.

  "A sound as of sweet music caused the young shepherd to raise his eyes.Before him stood the four immortals, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, andHermes the messenger; their faces shone with a dazzling radiance, andthey were fairer than any tongue can describe. At their feet rareflowers sprang up, crocuses and asphodels and white lilies; and the airwas filled with the odor of orange blossoms. Paris, scarce knowingwhat he did, arose to greet them. No handsomer youth ever stood in thepresence of beauty. Straight as a mountain pine was he; a leopard-skinhung carelessly upon his shoulders; his head was bare, but his locksclustered round his temples in sunny curls, and formed fit frameworkfor his fair brows.

  "Hermes spoke first: 'Paris, we have come to seek thy help; there isstrife among the folk who dwell on Mount Olympus. Here are Hera,Athena, and Aphrodite, each claiming to be the fairest, and eachclamoring for this prize, this golden apple. Now we pray that you willjudge this matter, and give the apple to the one whom you may deem mostbeautiful.'

  "Then Hera began her plea at once: 'I know that I am fairest,' shesaid, 'for I am queen, and mine it is to rule among gods and men. Giveme the prize, and you shall have wealth, and a kingdom, and greatglory; and men in aftertimes shall sing your praises.'

  "And Paris was half tempted to give the apple, without further ado, toHera, the proud queen. But gray-eyed Athena spoke: 'There is that,fair youth, which is better than riches or honor or great glory.Listen to me, and I will give thee wisdom and a pure heart; and thylife shall be crowned with peace, and sweetened with love, and madestrong by knowledge. And though men may not sing of thee inafter-times, thou shall find lasting happiness in the answer of a goodconscience towards all things."

  "Then Oenone whispered from her place among the leaves, 'Give the prizeto Athena; she is the fairest.' And Paris would have placed the goldenapple in her hand, had not Aphrodite stepped quickly forward, and inthe sweetest, merriest tones, addressed him.

  "'You may look at my face, and judge for yourself as to whether I amfair,' said she laughing, and tossing her curls. 'All I shall say isthis: Give me the prize, and you shall have for your wife the mostbeautiful woman in the world.'

  "The heart of Oenone stood still as Paris placed the apple inAphrodite's hand; and a nameless dread came over her, as if the earthwere sinking beneath her feet. But the next moment the blood came backto her cheeks, and she breathed free and strong again; for she heardParis say, 'I have a wife, Oenone, who to me is the loveliest ofmortals, and I care not for your offer; yet I give to you the apple,for I know that you are the fairest among the deathless ones who liveon high Olympus.'"

  "On the very next day it happened that King Priam sat thoughtfully inhis palace, and all his boys and girls--nearly fifty in number--wereabout him. His mind turned sadly to the little babe whom he had sentaway, many years ago, to die alone on wooded Ida. And he said tohimself, 'The child has been long dead, and yet no feast has been givento the gods that they may make his little spirit glad in the shadowyland of Hades. This must not be neglected longer. Within three days afeast must be made, and we will hold games in his honor.'

  "Then he called his servants, and bade them go to the pastures on MountIda, and choose from the herds that were there the fattest andhandsomest bull, to be given as a prize to the winner in the games.And he proclaimed through all Ilios, that on the third day there wouldbe a great feast in his palace, and games would be held in honor of thelittle babe who had died twenty years before.

  "Now, when the servants came to Mount Ida, t
hey chose a bull for whichParis had long cared, and which he loved more than any other. Heprotested and would not let the beast be driven from the pasture untilit was agreed that he might go to the city with it and contend in thegames for the prize. But Oenone, the river nymph, wept and prayed himnot to go.

  "'Leave not the pleasant pasture lands of Ida, even for a day,' saidshe; 'for my heart tells me that you will not return.'

  "'Think not so, my fair one,' said Paris. 'Did not Aphrodite promisethat the most beautiful woman in the world shall be my wife? And whois more beautiful than my own Oenone? Dry now your tears; for when Ihave won the prizes in the games I will come back to you, and neverleave you again.'

  "Then the grief of Oenone waxed still greater. 'If you will go,' shecried, 'then hear my warning! Long years shall pass ere you shall comeagain to wooded Ida, and the hearts which now are young shall grow oldand feeble by reason of much sorrow. Cruel war and many dire disastersshall overtake you, and death shall be nigh unto you; and then Oenone,although long forgotten by you, will hasten to your side, to help andto heal and to forgive, that so the old love may live again. Farewell!'

  "Then Paris kissed his wife, and hastened, light of heart, to Troy.How could it be otherwise but that, in the games which followed, thehandsome young shepherd should carry off all the prizes?

  "'Who are you?' asked the king.

  "'My name is Paris,' answered the shepherd, 'and I feed the flocks andherds on wooded Ida.'

  "Then Hector, full of wrath because of his own failure to win a prize,came forward to dispute with Paris.

  "'Stand there, Hector,' cried old Priam; 'stand close to the youngshepherd, and let us look at you!' Then turning to the queen, heasked, 'Did you ever see two so nearly alike? The shepherd is fairerand of slighter build, it is true; but they have the same eye, the samefrown, the same smile, the same motion of the shoulders, the same walk.Ah, what if the young babe did not die after all?'

  "Then Priam's daughter, Cassandra, who had the gift of prophecy, criedout, 'Oh, blind of eye and heart, that you cannot see in this youngshepherd the child whom you sent to sleep the sleep of death on Ida'swooded slopes!'

  "And so it came about, that Paris was taken into his father's house,and given the place of honor which was his by right. And he forgotOenone, his fair young wife, and left her to pine in loneliness amongthe woods and in the narrow dells of sunny Ida."