Once upon a time, there was a great king. He had a very beautiful daughter called Atalanta. Atalanta was very attractive and very strong and she could run very fast. She could run faster than any man in any country.
But she did not want to marry. She said, “I shall not be happy as a wife. I want to run over the hills. I want to run faster than the fastest horse; I want to run faster than birds can fly. There is no man whom I want to marry.”
Her father said, “You must marry. Say what man you will marry. Will you marry a King?—or a Prince?—or a great soldier?”
Atalanta said, “I will marry a man who can run faster than I can. When a man says that he wants to make me his wife, I will run with him. I will marry a man who runs faster than I can run; but you must kill any man who cannot run as fast as I can. ”
Atalanta was very beautiful, so many princes and great men came. A man named Hippomenes1 saw them running, he said, “Why do they do this foolish thing? Do they want to be killed because they cannot run as fast as that woman? There are other women; they can ask some other woman to be a wife, they will not die because she answers ‘NO.’ These men who run with Atalanta are fools!”
Then Atalanta came out of the house to run. He saw how beautiful she was. He said, “I will marry Atalanta—or I will die!”
He saw the other men run. They ran very fast. But Atalanta was like a bird flying. The men were far behind.
Then Hippomenes said, “How can I run as fast as Atalanta? How can I be first when I run with her?”
He went to Aphrodite2. Aphrodite was the Goddess of Love. Hippomenes went to Aphrodite where she was sitting in her garden. He said, “ I love Atalanta. I want to marry her. She will marry a man who runs faster than she runs—but no other man. How can I be first when I run with her? Help me, Aphrodite! You are the Goddess of Love; and I love Atalanta.”
Aphrodite said, “I will help you.” Then she took three golden apples from the tree in her garden and gave them to Hippomenes. She said, “Throw an apple in front of Atalanta when she runs. Then she will stop and take it up. You will run on, and so you will come first.”
Hippomenes took the three golden apples and went to the King and said, “I want to marry Atalanta.”
The King said, “Foolish man, many men have wanted to marry her, but they could not run faster than she, so they are dead. Do you want to die?”
Hippomenes answered, “I will marry Atalanta, or die!”
So next day Hippomenes went out to the field and stood there. Then Atalanta came out from the house. She looked at Hippomenes, and she thought, “I do not want this man to die: he is handsome and good. I do not want to run with him.” She said to her father, “Tell him to go away, I do not want to run with him.” But Hippomenes answered, “She has said it, she must do what she has said. She has said, ‘I will marry the man who runs faster than I.’ Come now! Run!”
Atalanta ran. Hippomenes ran. He ran very fast: he was the fastest runner of all the men in that country. But Atalanta ran faster. She was in front of him, and he was behind—far behind.
Then Hippoinenes threw one of the golden apples. It went over the head of Atalanta and fell in front of her. She looked at it. She stopped and took it up—and Hip pomenes ran on. Atalanta was behind him now. She looked up; she saw him in front, and she ran faster than the fastest bird. She was near him! She was in front of him! He was behind her again—far behind.
He threw another apple, over her head, and it fell at her feet. She stopped. She took it up and looked at it—a beautiful golden apple. She hid it in her clothes with the other apple. But Hippomenes had run on. He was in front.
Atalanta ran again...Hippomenes was behind her...Then Hippomenes thought, “I have one more golden apple. I will not throw it over her head; I will throw it to the side. She must go to the side to take it up, and I shall get far in front of her. Or she will see it, and not take it up because it has fallen to the side. Then she will go on, and I shall die, as the other men have died.”
He threw the apple. It did not fall in front of Atalanta, but at the side. She saw it. She thought “I will not stop to take that golden apple; it is far away at the side. He will run on and be first.” Then she thought, “He is strong and beautiful and good, and I do not want him to die.” She went to the side and took up the apple. Hippomenes ran on. He was not running fast now. Atalanta saw him in front. She thought, “Poor man! I can run now, like a bird flying, and he will be far behind. But I do not want to.”
So she ran on, but she did not run very fast. Hippomenes was first.
Hippomenes married Atalanta. The story says that Hippomenes did not thank Aphrodite for what she had done to help him, and so she changed him and Atalanta into a lion and lioness3 in the forest. But I think that he did thank Aphrodite, and that they lived happily ever after.
1． Hippomenes n． 希波墨涅斯 (希腊神话人物)
2． Aphrodite n． 阿佛洛狄特 (希腊神话中的爱与美的女神，相当于罗马神话中的维纳斯)
3． lioness n． 母狮