“As Peleus gazed upon this lovely creature, he heard a voice whispering in his ear.  It was the voice of wise Athena.

“‘Most luckless of mortal men,’ she said, ’there is recompense in store for those who repent of their wrong-doing, and who, leaving the paths of error, turn again to the road of virtue.  The immortals have seen thy sorrow for the evil deeds of thy youth, and they have looked with pity upon thee in thy misfortunes.  And now thy days of exile and of sore punishment are drawing to an end.  Behold the silver-footed Thetis, most beautiful of the nymphs of the sea, whom even the immortals have wooed in vain!  She has been sent to this shore, to be won and wedded by thee.’

“Peleus looked up to see the speaker of these words, but he beheld only a blue cloud resting above the mountain-top; he turned his eyes downward again, and, to his grief, the silver-footed Thetis had vanished in the waves.  All day he sat and waited for her return, but she came not.  When darkness began to fall he sought me in my cave hall, and told me what he had seen and heard; and I taught him how to win the sea nymph for his bride.

“So when the sun again gilded the crags of Pelion, brave Peleus hid himself among the rocks close by the sea-washed shore, and waited for the coming of the silver-footed lady of the sea.  In a little time she rose, beautiful as the star of morning, from the waves.  She sat down upon the beach, and dallied with her golden tresses, and sang sweet songs of a happy land in the depths of the sounding sea.  Peleus, bearing in mind what I had taught him, arose from his hiding-place, and caught the beauteous creature in his arms.  In vain did she struggle to leap into the waves.  Seven times she changed her form as he held her:  by turns she changed into a fountain of water, into a cloud of mist, into a burning flame, and into a senseless rock.  But Peleus held her fast; and she changed then into a tawny lion, and then into a tall tree, and lastly she took her own matchless form again.

“Then Peleus held the lovely Thetis by the hand, and they walked long time together upon the beach, while the birds sang among the trees on Pelion’s leafy slopes, and the dolphins sported in the waters at their feet.  Thus Peleus wooed the silver-footed lady, and won her love, and she promised to be his bride.  Then the immortals were glad; and they fitted up the great cavern on Mount Pelion for a banquet hall, and made therein a wedding feast, such as was never seen before.  The vaulted roof of the cavern was decked with gems which shone like the stars of heaven; a thousand torches, held by lovely mountain nymphs, flamed from the niches in the high walls; and upon the floor of polished marble, tables for a thousand guests were ranged.