Page:Lovers Legends - The Gay Greek Myths.pdf/35

Hippodamia was desperate. It was past time for her to wed, 50 day and night she dreamt about it. Time and again she begged her father for her freedom, crying hot tears. At first the old king refused outright, but in the end he relented, he offered her a bargain: He would give her in marriage to anyone who asked. First, however, the man had to race him to Poseidon's temple in Corinth. The suitor was to take up Hippodamia in his chariot and gallop away. Oinomaus would sacrifice a ram to Zeus and, afterward, give chase. If the suitor won, the girl and the throne of Pisa were his. But if the king ever caught up, the man's blood would slake 60 the thirsty earth, and that of his horses too. Oinomaus had

21