King Priam received me kindly, and, when he understood my errand, left naught undone to help me forward with my wishes.  Ten days I abode as a guest in his halls, and when I would return to Greece he pressed me to tarry yet a month in Troy.  But the winds were fair, and the oracles promised a pleasant voyage, and I begged that on the twelfth day he would let me depart.  So he and his sons brought many gifts, rich and beautiful, and laid them at my feet—­a fair mantle, and a doublet, and a talent of fine gold, and a sword with a silver-studded hilt, and a drinking-cup richly engraved that I might remember them when I pour libations to the gods.

“Take these gifts,” said Priam, “as tokens of our friendship for you, and not only for you, but for all who dwell in distant Greece.  For we too are the children of the immortals.  Our mighty ancestor, Dardanus, was the son of Zeus.  He it was who built Dardania on the slopes of Ida, where the waters gush in many silvery streams from underneath the rocky earth.

“A grandson of Dardanus was Ilus, famous in song and story, and to him was born Laomedon, who in his old age became my father.  He, though my sire, did many unwise things, and brought sore distress upon the people of this land.

“One day Apollo and Poseidon came to Troy, disguised as humble wayfarers seeking some employment.  This they did because so ordered by mighty Zeus.

“‘What can you do?’ asked my father, when the two had told their wishes.

“Poseidon answered, ‘I am a builder of walls.’

“And Apollo answered, ‘I am a shepherd, and a tender of herds.’

“‘It is well,’ answered Laomedon.  ’The wall-builder shall build a wall around this Troy so high and strong that no enemy can pass it.  The shepherd shall tend my herds of crook-horned kine on the wooded slopes of Ida.  If at the end of a twelvemonth, the wall be built, and if the cattle thrive without loss of one, then I will pay you your hire:  a talent of gold, two tripods of silver, rich robes, and armor such as heroes wear.’

“So the two served my father through the year for the hire which he had promised.  Poseidon built a wall, high and fair, around the city; and Apollo tended the shambling kine, and lost not one.  But when they claimed their hire, Laomedon drove them away with threats, telling them that he would bind their feet and hands together, and sell them as slaves into some distant land, having first sheared off their ears with his sharp sword.  And they went away with angry hearts, planning in their minds how they might avenge themselves.

“Back to his watery kingdom, and his golden palace beneath the sea, went great Poseidon.  He harnessed his steeds to his chariot, and rode forth upon the waves.  He loosed the winds from their prison house, and sent them raging over the sea.  The angry waters rushed in upon the land; they covered the pastures and the rich plain of Troy, and threatened even to beat down the walls which their king had built.