

She turned into a hawk and flew away. he turned into a hawk and flew
after her. She flew over the lake and dived in and became a fish. He became
a fish and swam after her. She climbed on the bank, and became a sepent
and wriggled away. He changed him self into a serpant, and wiggled after
her, and caught her.After he left her, he hearda bird cry and a fish leap,
and those wild sounds combined to become a prophecy which rattling leaves
echoed "Oh, Zeus, Metis will bear a child, a girl. But if she bears again,
it will be a son who will dispose you as you deposed Cronos."The next day
Zeus walded in his garden again, and found Metis. this time she didn't
flee. He spoke softly to her, and smiled. She came to him. Suddenly. He
opened his mouth and swallowed her.That afternoon he suffered a headache
- the worse heardache anyone, god or mortal, had suffered since the beging
of time. It was exactly as if someone were inside him with a spear, thrusting
at all the soft places in his head. He shouted for Hephaetsus, who came
rudhing up with hammer and wedge. Zeus put his head on the anvil, and Hephaestus
split the might skull. then he leaped back,
frightened, because out of the head sprang a tall madien in armor,
holding a lond spear.
This was Athene, the gray-eyes, the wide browed. The manner of her birth gave he r domain over activites. It was she who taught man how to use tools.. She taught his to invent the ax, the plow, and the ox-yoke, the wheel, and the sail. She taught his wife to spin and weave. She concocted the science of numbers and taught it to man - but never to women. She hates Ares, and took great pleasure in thwarting him on the feild of battle. For all his might strength, she often beat him, because she was a mistress of strategy. Before a battle, captions pray ed to her for tactics. Before trial, judges prayed to her for wisdom. It was she who stated that compassion was the best part of wisdome. The other gods didn't know what shemean by this, but some men understood, and were grateful. All in all, she was perhaps the best-loved god in the Panthenon. The people of Athens named their beautiful city after her.There are many stories about Athene - about her skill in battle, her wisdom, and her kindness, but, like the other gods she is also very jealous. One of the best stories is that of Arachne.




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