Spartan Read Online Free PDF Page B

for me like the other mornings?’
    ‘I didn’t want you asking questions in front of your mother.’
    ‘So, she’s not to know about any of this?’
    ‘No, your mother knew well where I took you last night and what you saw, but she mustn’t know anything else. A woman’s heart can be easily troubled. Now follow me,’ he
said, starting up along the path again, covering the bow with his cape. They walked along together until the boy broke the silence.
    ‘Why did you take that bow, grandfather? Why do you keep it hidden?’
    ‘The first question is reasonable. The second is only silly, Talos.’
    ‘All right, the Helots are forbidden to carry weapons. This is a weapon.’
    ‘Let’s say, a very unusual weapon.’
    ‘Right, but will you at least answer the first question I asked you?’
    ‘Yes, son, you have a right to the answer,’ said Kritolaos, stopping in the middle of the path. Krios had already understood where they were headed, and stubbornly continued to drive
the sheep in the direction of the small grassy clearing near the high spring. ‘I want you to learn to handle this weapon with the same skill as the great Ulysses.’
    ‘But how could that ever be, grandfather? You are so old and I—’
    ‘You must only believe in yourself,’ reprimanded Kritolaos. ‘As for me, don’t think I’ve become this old doing nothing.’
    They had reached the small grassy clearing where the flock was already grazing under Krios’ vigilant eye. Kritolaos looked around; his gaze searched the peaks of the surrounding hills to
assure himself that they were completely alone. He threw his cape to the ground and held out the bow to Talos.
    ‘So I’m too old, is that it?’ he asked with a smile. ‘Listen well, greenhorn,’ he continued, winking, ‘who taught the great Achilles to use his
weapons?’
    ‘Old Khiron, the centaur, if I’m not mistaken.’
    ‘That’s exactly right; and who taught the great Ulysses to use his bow?’
    ‘The father of his father in the forests of Epeiros.’
    ‘Good!’ laughed the old man, satisfied. ‘I thought that as your beard was sprouting, your mind was going soft. As you can see, it’s the old man’s experience that
allows an ignorant and presumptuous young one to become a man worthy of his name.’
    Talos rubbed his chin; it seemed too much to call those sparse little hairs a beard. He gripped the bow firmly in both hands with a suddenly serious expression.
    ‘Not like that, by Hercules! That’s not the stick you use to push the goats into their pen. Pay attention: look here, this part covered with silver is the handgrip, which must be
grasped firmly in your left hand.’ The boy nodded, imitating what he was taught.
    ‘Very good,’ continued the old man. ‘With your right hand you must pull taut the cord that will shoot the arrow forward.’
    ‘But there is no cord here,’ protested the puzzled boy.
    ‘Of course not! If there were, this weapon wouldn’t be worth anything. The bowstring is attached only at the moment when you want to use the bow, and then must be taken off again. If
this weren’t done, the bow would become curved and lose all of its flexibility, and thus its power. Don’t worry, here’s the bowstring,’ he said, rummaging in his pack.
‘It’s made of corded gut. I’ve been preparing it myself for many weeks without your knowing.
    ‘Now we shall attach it to the bow. Watch carefully: you prop one end of the bow on the ground behind your left leg, being sure to keep it in a vertical position with your left hand. Like
this, you hook the cord to the ring at the bottom, and then attach the other end to the hook that’s jutting out on the top part of the bow.’
    ‘But it won’t reach!’
    ‘Of course it doesn’t reach. If it did, the bow wouldn’t have any force. It would be too flexible, and your arm wouldn’t be long enough to string it. To be able to hook
the cord, you have to curve the bow with all your strength, leaning