The old mother also could not be torn from her beloved son. First she caressed his head, then the cold hands, as though she hoped to call him back to life. Helen too lamented over the dead. “Hector dearest,” she cried, “thou didst love me more than any of my husband’s brothers. What insults I have suffered since the hero brought me to Troy! Thou alone hadst never an unkind word for me. Yea often, when thy mother or one of my sisters-in-law or even their husbands heaped abuse upon me, thou didst mollify the angry ones and make peace. How thy friendly encouragement comforted me! Ah, I shall never hear that dear voice again, and I have no longer a friend in this house, where all turn from me with loathing.” Thus she lamented, and all the women mourned with her. But the venerable Priam now raised his commanding voice and spake. “Ye Trojans, fetch wood into the city and go without fear that the Danæans are lying in wait for you. For Peleus’ son promised with a sacred vow not to raise his hand against us until the twelfth day.” Quickly they yoked oxen and horses to the carts, and on the tenth day, when golden Eos arose, the people all assembled for the funeral obsequies of Hector. With loud lamentations they carried out the corpse and laid it on the high scaffolding, which they set on fire. When the pyre had burnt itself out, they quenched the gleaming embers with red wine. His brothers and the comrades of the hero gathered together the white bones out of the ashes and deposited them in a golden urn, which was placed in the grave and gigantic blocks of stone heaped upon it. The grave mound was raised above it and sentinels were stationed about the place so that the Greeks should not surprise and attack them. After this all the people returned into the city and the solemn funeral feast was held in Priam’s palace. Thus the Trojans paid honor to the body of great Hector. LIFE STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE _Translated from the German by_ GEORGE P. UPTON 44 Volumes Now Ready _American Explorers_ Columbus Francisco Pizarro Cortes Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky, and Other Pre-Columbian Discoverers of America _Historical and Biographical_ Washington Franklin Penn Maximilian Barbarossa William of Orange Maria Theresa The Maid of Orleans Frederick the Great The Little Dauphin Herman and Thusnelda The Swiss Heroes Marie Antoinette’s Youth The Duke of Brittany Louise, Queen of Prussia The Youth of the Great Elector Emperor William First Elizabeth, Empress of Austria Charlemagne Prince Eugene Eugénie, Empress of the French Queen Maria Sophia of Naples Emin Pasha General (“Chinese”) Gordon David Livingstone Stanley’s Journey through the Dark Continent _Musical Biography_