=121. Pelops and Hippodamia.=[162] To Pelops, brother of Niobe, Neptune imparted skill in training and driving horses,--and with good effect. For it happened that Pelops fell in love with Hippodamia, daughter of [OE]nomaüs, king of Elis and son of Mars,--a girl of whom it was reported that none could win her save by worsting the father in a chariot race, and that none might fail in that race and come off alive. Since an oracle, too, had warned [OE]nomaüs to beware of the future husband of his daughter, he had provided himself with horses whose speed was like the cyclone. But Pelops, obtaining from Neptune winged steeds, entered the race and won it,--whether by the speed of his horses or by the aid of Hippodamia, who, it is said, bribed her father's charioteer, Myrtilus, to take a bolt out of the chariot of [OE]nomaüs, is uncertain. At any rate, Pelops married Hippodamia. He was so injudicious, however, as to throw Myrtilus into the sea; and from that treachery sprang the misfortunes of the house of Pelops. For Myrtilus, dying, cursed the murderer and his race. [Illustration: FIG. 96. PELOPS WINNING THE RACE, HIPPODAMIA LOOKING ON] FOOTNOTES: [159] § 154. [160] Iliad, 5, 649; Apollodorus, 3, 12, § 7. [161] See Index. [162] Hyginus, Fab. 84, 253; Pindar, Olymp. 1, 114. CHAPTER XI MYTHS OF THE LESSER DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN =122. Myths of Stars and Winds.= The tales of Stars and Winds and the other lesser powers of the celestial regions are closely interwoven. That the winds which sweep heaven should kiss the stars is easy to understand. The stories of Aurora (Eos) and of Aura, of Phosphor and of Halcyone, form, therefore, a ready sequence. [Illustration: FIG. 97. PHOSPHOR, EOS, AND HELIOS (THE SUN) RISING FROM THE SEA] =123. Cephalus and Procris.=[163] Aurora, the goddess of the dawn, fell in love with Cephalus, a young huntsman. She stole him away, lavished her love upon him, tried to content him, but in vain. He cared for his young wife Procris more than for the goddess. Finally, Aurora dismissed him in displeasure, saying, "Go, ungrateful mortal, keep thy wife; but thou shalt one day be sorry that thou didst ever see her again."