Читать книгу Artemis - Jean Shinoda Bolen - Страница 15

One day when Meleager is out hunting, he hears the sound of a large animal and sees that it is a bear—a worthy trophy for him. With his strong arm and bow, he sends an arrow into the bear, wounding it badly, but not fatally. The bear, in pain and loosing blood, instinctively goes in the direction of its den, away from Calydon. Meleager follows, intent on bringing the bear down. The bear plunges through the brush and trees, hour after hour, mile after mile, losing blood and getting weaker as the day goes on. Finally, at the foothill of a mountain, the bear collapses.

Meleager has just caught up with the bear, when he sees a woman coming down the mountain toward him. He is immediately enthralled. She is everything that the girls he knows at court are not. She is as beautiful as any creature in nature—sun-tanned, long-haired, long-limbed, graceful, athletic—his dream girl!

“I am Meleager,” he tells her. “I killed this bear, and I will give his pelt to you as a trophy!”

“I am Atalanta,” she replies. “That bear is my brother, and now I will kill you!”

Atalanta rushes at him with killing on her mind. But Meleager, now smitten, has love on his. They are evenly matched and it seems as if they wrestle for hours.

Outdoors in the mountain air, with the smell of crushed grasses under them, both perspire as they wrestle, skin to skin. Atalanta's focus shifts to being in this totally new experience. This is the first time she has wrestled with a human being like herself—the first time she has felt skin rather than fur. The embrace begins with her wanting to kill Meleager, and him holding her to prevent it. As they struggle in this embrace, however, new feelings and curiosity arise in her.

However it happens, Meleager and Atalanta become a couple. Soon they become famous. Seen hunting together, they are a handsome pair, each as striking as the other in appearance and in skill. Meleager's mother seethes when she learns about the relationship. Atalanta is totally inappropriate for her son! She is truly a nobody, a rustic with no known family, and totally without social graces. Definitely not a proper young woman to become queen someday.

Meanwhile, the king has a major problem on his hands—a huge boar sent to devastate his kingdom by an outraged goddesss. He brought this on his kingdom by neglecting to honor Artemis in the yearly rites. Meleager's new girlfriend is probably not as much of a concern to him as the destruction caused by this creature.