and you must stay no longer at my side! See
what King Aegeus, your royal father, left for
you, beneath the stone, when he lifted it in his
mighty arms, and laid it on the spot whence
V'ou have now removed it."

Theseus looked, and saw that the rock had
been placed over another slab of stone, contain-
ing a cavity within it; so that it somewhat
resembled a roughly-made chest or coffer, of
which the upper mass had served as the lid.
Within the cavity lay a sword, with a golden
hilt, and a pair of sandals.

"That was your father's sword," said Aethra,
"and those were his sandals. When he went to
be king of Athens, he bade me treat you as a
child until you should prove yourself a man by
lifting this heavy stone. That task being accom-
plished, you are to put on his sandals, in order
to follow in your father's footsteps, and to gird
on his sword, so that you may fight giants and
dragons, as King Aegeus did in his youth."

"I will set out for Athens this very day!"
cried Theseus.

But his mother persuaded him to stay a day
or two longer, while she got ready some neces-

[[25]]

p024 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p025w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p026

v?