"I hear that you are planning to make your town become a great city,"
said Neptune, "and I have come to help you. Give my name to the place,
and let me be your protector and patron, and the wealth of the whole
world shall be yours. Ships from every land shall bring you merchandise
and gold and silver; and you shall be the masters of the sea."

"My uncle makes you fair promises," said Athena; "but listen to me.
Give my name to your city, and let me be your patron, and I will give
you that which gold cannot buy: I will teach you how to do a thousand
things of which you now know nothing. I will make your city my favorite
home, and I will give you wisdom that shall sway the minds and hearts of
all men until the end of time."

The king bowed, and turned to the people, who had all crowded into the
market place. "Which of these mighty ones shall we elect to be the
protector and patron of our city?" he asked. "Neptune offers us wealth;
Athena promises us wisdom. Which shall we choose?"

"Neptune and wealth!" cried many.

"Athena and wisdom!" cried as many others.

At last when it was plain that the people could not agree, an old man
whose advice was always heeded stood up and said:

"These mighty ones have only given us promises, and they have promised
things of which we are ignorant. For who among us knows what wealth is
or what wisdom is? Now, if they would only give us some real gift, right
now and right here, which we can see and handle, we should know better
how to choose."

"That is true! that is true!" cried the people.

"Very well, then," said the strangers, "we will each give you a gift,
right now and right here, and then you may choose between us."

Neptune gave the first gift. He stood on the highest point of the hill
where the rock was bare, and bade the people see his power. He raised
his three-pointed spear high in the air, and then brought it down with
great force. Lightning flashed, the earth shook, and the rock was split
half way down to the bottom of the hill. Then out of the yawning crevice
there sprang a wonderful creature, white as milk, with long slender
legs, an arching neck, and a mane and tail of silk.

The people had never seen anything like it before, and they thought it a
new kind of bear or wolf or wild boar that had come out of the rock to
devour them. Some of them ran and hid in their houses, while others
climbed upon the wall, and still others grasped their weapons in alarm.
But when