Clash of the Titans Read Online Free PDF Page B

of this Calibos again and again. I cannot do so any longer. He has exhausted my patience and spat on my charity."
    "One more time," she pleaded desperately.
    "Impossible!" He waved angrily and thunder echoed through the halls of Olympus. "Calibos has had every advantage a mortal could ask for. As patron goddess of the wealthy city of Joppa you have spoiled and indulged him since birth, Thetis. Perhaps that is part of the trouble. Mortals seem to turn out better when compelled to earn their fame and wealth.
    "You gave him the Wells of the Moon near Joppa to rule. No lusher place existed on Earth, and what has he done with this gift? Hunted down and destroyed every living creature of beauty for sport and personal pleasure."
    "He has always been high-strung."
    "That hardly excuses turning a paradise into a wilderness. He even dared to trap and kill the sacred herd of flying horses who dwelt there. For their meat!" The massive head shook slowly in disbelief. "One of the wonders of the Earth, obliterated to sate the palate of a single perverse gourmand, for such is what Calibos fancies himself. He left only the stallion Pegasus; because of him the race of men will not know the beauty nor have the services of the race of flying horses.
    "Well, my dear Thetis, he has fancied himself too much. He thinks himself handsome and intelligent as a god. Even if it were not for his other repulsive crimes, this blasphemous assumption alone would be sufficient to damn him.
    "It is for this and many other obscenities that he must be punished."
    "No . . . be merciful, Father Zeus. Do not kill him."
    "I do not intend to kill him, but not out of mercy. His noisome habits and likes disfigure his mind and thoughts. So then I command that his form be changed to reflect his thoughts. He shall become abhorrent to human sight."
    Carefully he set the statuette of Calibos on the floor of the amphitheater of life.
    Zeus glared at it, his eyes glowing as he pronounced his verdict. "He will be shunned by all, forced to live as an outcast in swamps and vile places. No longer master of the Wells of the Moon he shall henceforth be Lord of the Marshes. He will be transformed into a mockery of man. Let his own cruelty be mirrored by his appearance. Let him appear as his own thoughts reveal him to be!"
    A different thunder rumbled around them. The figurine shimmered and shifted, its outline contorting beneath a baleful light. What finally coalesced might once have been a man. Now it sported a horribly deformed face topped with horns, a lizard's tail, one cloven foot: the reptilian part of Calibos's nature had flowed out of his mind to wash over and alter his body.
    "This is my judgment." Zeus turned away from the amphitheater to place the distorted figure of Calibos back into its niche.
    Thetis gazed down at the floor, unable to look any longer at the deformed statuette. She knew full well Calibos's crimes and sins, but if he was guilty, then at least some of the fault was her own.
    Nevertheless, she knew he was not, could not be wholly evil. If he was damned, it was by being part mortal. She would not abandon her son, not even at the risk of facing Zeus's wrath.
    "I implore you to reconsider, Father Zeus. Calibos was to marry the Princess Andromeda, heiress to Queen Cassiopeia of Joppa. He would rule all Joppa and Phoenicia."
    "I will not stand in the way of an honest marriage," said Zeus formally. "Let the princess look on him now, as he truly is. Let her see his thoughts reflected in his face. If she still desires to marry him, then let it be so." He smiled thinly.
    Turning away from them, he strode implacable from the sanctuary.
    Hera moved to comfort the distraught Thetis, putting a reassuring hand on the sea goddess's arm. "Be comforted, my dear." She looked after her departing husband. "He can be as unpredictable as he can be vengeful. He may yet change his mind and give Calibos back his former shape."
    "Never." Thetis's anger was subdued but no less deep