“Oineus had gathered in his harvest; and he was glad and thankful in his heart, because his fields had yielded plenteously; his vines had been loaded with purple grapes, and his orchards filled with abundance of pleasant fruit.  Grateful, as men should always be, to the givers of peace and plenty, he held within his halls a harvest festival, to which he invited the brave and beautiful of all the country round.  Happy was this feast, and the hours were bright with smiles and sunshine; and men forgot sorrow and labor, and thought only of the gladness of life.

“Then Oineus took of the first-fruits of his fields and his vineyards and his orchards, and offered them with much thankfulness to the givers of good.  But he forgot to deck the shrine of Artemis with gifts, little thinking that the huntress queen cared for anything which mortal men might offer her.  Ah, woful mistake was that!  For, in her anger at the slight, Artemis sent a savage boar, with ivory tusks and foaming mouth, to overrun the lands of Calydon.  Many a field did the monster ravage, many a tree uproot; and all the growing vines, which late had borne so rich a vintage, were trampled to the ground.

“Sadly troubled was Oineus, and he knew not what to do.  For the fierce beast could not be slain, but with his terrible tusks he had sent many a rash hunter to an untimely death.  Then the young man Meleager said, ’I will call together the heroes of Greece, and we will hunt the boar in the wood of Calydon.’

“So at the call of Meleager, the warriors flocked from every land, to join in the hunt of the fierce wild boar.  Among them came Castor and Pollux, the twin brothers; and Idas, the boaster, the father-in-law of Meleager; and mighty Jason, captain of the Argo; and Atalanta, the swift-footed daughter of Iasus, of Arcadia; and many Acarnanian huntsmen led by the brothers of Queen Althea.  Thither also did I hasten, although men spitefully said that I was far more skilful in taking tame beasts than in slaying wild ones.

“Nine days we feasted in the halls of Oineus; and every day we tried our skill with bows and arrows, and tested the strength of our well-seasoned spears.  On the tenth, the bugles sounded, and hounds and huntsmen gathered in the courtyard of the chief, chafing for the hunt.

“Soon we sallied forth from the town, a hundred huntsmen, with dogs innumerable.  Through the fields and orchards, laid waste by the savage beast, we passed; and Atalanta, keen of sight and swift of foot, her long hair floating in the wind behind her, led all the rest.  It was not long until, in a narrow dell once green with vines and trees, but now strewn thick with withered branches, we roused the fierce creature from his lair.

“At first he fled, followed closely by the baying hounds.  Then suddenly he faced his foes; with gnashing teeth and bloodshot eyes, he charged furiously upon them.  A score of hounds were slain outright; and Cepheus, of Arcadia, rushing blindly onward, was caught by the beast, and torn in pieces by his sharp tusks.  Then swift-footed Atalanta, bounding forward, struck the beast a deadly blow with her spear.  He stopped short, and ceased his furious onslaught.