Greece -- History -- Juvenile fiction; Twins -- Juvenile fiction
"A portent, Madam," said Melas with solemnity. "This ram, born on your
husband's farm, is a prodigy, it has but one horn. I have brought it to
you, that the omen might be interpreted. I trust it may prove a favorable
one."
Telesippe looked at the lamb and turned pale. She struck her hands
together. The porter and another slave at once appeared.
"Go to the temple and bring Lampon, the priest," she said to the slave;
and to the porter she added, "and you, the moment the priest arrives,
call your master."
The slave instantly disappeared, and the porter went back to his post by
the entrance. Although Telesippe was evidently disturbed and anxious
about the portent, she now turned her attention to the basket, which Dion
and Daphne had placed before her, and when their luncheon had been taken
out, she called a slave woman and gave the fowl and the eggs and cheese
into her care.
The three boys, meanwhile, crowded around Melas and the lamb and asked
questions of all sorts about it and about the farm. It seemed but a short
time when the porter opened the door once more and ushered in the priest.
The Twins had never seen a priest, since there were none on the island,
and they looked with awe upon this man who could read omens and interpret
dreams. He was a tall, spare man with piercing dark eyes. He was dressed
in a long white robe, and wore a wreath of laurel upon his brow, and his
black hair fell over his neck in long, straggling locks.
No sooner had he entered the court and taken his place beside the
altar than the blue curtains of a door at the right parted and a tall
noble-looking man entered the room. Dion and Daphne knew at once that it
must be Pericles. No other man, they thought, could look so majestic.
Their knees shook under them, and they felt just as you would feel if you
were suddenly to meet the President of the United States. Pericles was
not alone. A man also tall, and wearing a long white cloak, followed
him through the curtains and joined the group about the altar.
"The Stranger!" gasped Daphne to Dion in a whisper. "Don't you remember?
He said he knew Pericles!"
The Stranger spoke to Melas and laid his hand playfully upon the heads of
the Twins.
"These are old friends of mine," he said to Pericles. "I stayed at their
house one night last spring."
Pericles had already greeted the priest. Now he smiled pleasantly at the
children, and spoke to Melas.
"I hear a miracle has occurred on my farm," he said.
For answer Melas showed the lamb, which now began to jump and wriggle in
his arms.
"There can be no doubt that the portent concerns the Great Archon," said
the priest solemnly. "See how the ram leaps the moment he appears!"
Pericles beckoned to the Stranger. "What do you think of this,
Anaxagoras?" he said, smiling.
"I am no soothsayer," answered the Stranger, smiling too. "The priest is
the one to expound the riddle."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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