SWIFT AND OLD-GOLD 179 



and Peleus, who was then too old to be handsome, 

 had no easy time of it in the winning of her. 



The wedding was the grandest ever known, for 

 there were gods and heroes among the guests; 

 and the wedding presents, which were brought 

 from land and sea and sky, were such as were 

 never seen before or since. According to the cus- 

 tom of the time, the finest of these gifts were 

 nominally for the bridegroom; but I have little 

 doubt that had it not been for the sake of the 

 beautiful bride they would not have been given. 

 Among these gifts was a suit of well-wrought 

 armor with a wooden tablet attached to it upon 

 which was written : " This is from the gods." 

 There was also an ashen spear of great weight 

 which Cheiron, the Centaur, had cut and shaped 

 from a tree that grew on the topmost crag of 

 Mount Pelion. But the last and best of all were 

 two peerless war steeds called Balios (Swift) and 

 Xanthos (Old^Gold), the gift of the mighty sea- 

 king Poseidon. 



Both of these horses were of the same height, 

 both were of the same perfect shape, and they 

 moved together as if they had but one mind. 

 Their color was that of old gold finely burnished, 

 and their long manes, which were like silk for: 



