ut it
was also the custom, if the lover did some very brave and useful action,
to reward him with the hand of his lady, and Aegeus had his opportunity.
A fleet of pirates landed at Troezene and attacked the town, but Aegeus
fought so bravely and led the men of Pittheus so well, that he not only
slew the pirate chief, and defeated his men, but also captured some of
his ships, which were full of plunder, gold, and bronze, and iron, and
slaves. With this wealth Aegeus paid the bride price, as it was called,
for Aethra, and they were married. Pittheus thought himself a lucky man,
for he had no son, and here was a son-in-law who could protect his
little kingdom, and wear the crown when he himself was dead.

Though Pittheus was believed to be very wise, in this matter he was very
foolish. He never knew who Aegeus really was, that is the king of Athens,
nor did poor Aethra know. In a short time Aegeus wearied of beautiful
Aethra, who continued to love him dearly. He was anxious also to return
to his kingdom, for he heard that his brother Pallas and his many sons
were governing badly; and he feared that Pallas might keep the crown for
himself, so he began to speak mysteriously to Aethra, talking about a
long and dangerous journey which he was obliged to make, for secret
reasons, and from which he might never return alive. Aethra wept
bitterly, and sometimes thought, as people did in these days, that the
beautiful stranger might be no man, but a god, and that he might return
to Olympus, the home of the gods, and forget her; for the gods never
tarried long with the mortal women who loved them.

At last Aegeus took Aethra to a lonely glen in the woods, where, beside
a little mountain stream, lay a great moss-grown boulder that an
earthquake, long ago, had shaken from the rocky cliff above. 'The time
is coming,' said Aegeus 'when you and I must part, and only the gods can
tell when we shall meet again! It may be that you will bear a child,
and, if he be a boy, when he has come to his strength you must lead him
to this great stone, and let no man or woman be there but you two only.
You must then bid him roll away the stone, and, if he has no strength to
raise it, so must it be. But if he can roll it away, then let him take
such things as he finds there, and let him consider them well, and do
what the gods put into his heart.'

Thus Aegeus spoke, and on the dawn of the third night after this day,
when Aethra awoke from sleep, she d