chin.
“Dorieus hasn’t harmed me,” said Tanakil defensively, “so don’t insult him with your cruel insinuations. He has behaved in every way as a man of noble birth should behave toward a woman.”
I was about to express my belief when Dorieus exclaimed, “Where in Hades have you been, you stony-hearted wretches? I don’t know why I should have such friends and shield them in battle when they desert me at the very moment when I need them most.”
“Yes,” asked Tanakil, “where have you been hiding? I am suffering keenly because of a few missing teeth although I hadn’t even thought of them until Dorieus pointed out that I have no other flaws. Tyrrhenian physicians are said to make teeth of ivory which they fasten with gold bands. I am not worried about my back teeth, for the more good food one eats the faster they wear down, so that bad teeth are actually an indication of good birth. But that doesn’t console me since I lack a few front teeth as well. Now I dare not even speak before Dorieus except with my mouth covered.”
Dorieus slapped his cup down so hard that it cracked. “Stop harping about your teeth, my pet! Can’t you talk about anything else? I only mentioned them because I saw you lying with your mouth open when I awakened at noon. In fact, I meant only well when I said that you had no other flaws, for many a woman at your age has even fewer teeth.”
Tanakil began to weep noisily, smearing the color on her sunken cheeks. “Now you are complaining about my age, although you didn’t care last night.”
“Silence, woman!” roared Dorieus, the veins at his temples bulging. “I can stand no more. If you continue I shall leave the house and it will be your fault if I kill every Himeran who crosses my path.”
He clutched his head and moaned, “Friends, friends, why did you ever desert me! My head is on fire, my stomach aches and my limbs are helpless. I have been vomiting all day and only now have I been able to eat a few simple mouthfuls.”
Mikon worriedly tried his head, rolled up his eyelids, studied his eyes and throat and pressed his stomach. While Dorieus was groaning I extended the golden chain to Tanakil with the hope that it would compensate for the damage we had done.
She accepted the chain readily and placed it around her neck. “I am not a petty woman,” she said. “What good are riches if one cannot hold a banquet for one’s friends? It is true that the vases you broke were valuable, but all vases break in time. I don’t think that even my household god was insulted, for early this morning I gave him new clothes and burned incense before him. So I suffered no damage and accept your beautiful gift merely not to displease you. The only harm that has resulted from your visit is the fact that one of the girls who entertained you has been struck dumb.”
Mikon and I glanced guiltily at each other, for neither of us remembered exactly what had happened. Mikon presumed that the girl had been frightened by my violent goat dance, but it turned out that the girl in question was the one Mikon had carried into the garden. Mikon declared that the girl must have slept on the dewy grass and that this had caused her throat to swell. At least, he didn’t remember having done anything to hurt her.
Tanakil replied that the matter was serious and reflected unfavorably on our reputations as strangers. “Himerans are a superstitious people,” she said. “Also I and my house will fall under a shadow because of this incident, for everyone knows that a person who suddenly loses his power of speech is bewitched, unless of course he has unwittingly hurt some excessively sensitive god.”
Mikon became agitated like all men who are conscious of their guilt. “The only god we could have hurt was the foam-born, but by her magic belt I swear that we honored her in every way that I learned on Aphrodite’s sacrificial ship, and the girl certainly did not lose her speech during that time.
“Dorieus hasn’t harmed me,” said Tanakil defensively, “so don’t insult him with your cruel insinuations. He has behaved in every way as a man of noble birth should behave toward a woman.”
I was about to express my belief when Dorieus exclaimed, “Where in Hades have you been, you stony-hearted wretches? I don’t know why I should have such friends and shield them in battle when they desert me at the very moment when I need them most.”
“Yes,” asked Tanakil, “where have you been hiding? I am suffering keenly because of a few missing teeth although I hadn’t even thought of them until Dorieus pointed out that I have no other flaws. Tyrrhenian physicians are said to make teeth of ivory which they fasten with gold bands. I am not worried about my back teeth, for the more good food one eats the faster they wear down, so that bad teeth are actually an indication of good birth. But that doesn’t console me since I lack a few front teeth as well. Now I dare not even speak before Dorieus except with my mouth covered.”
Dorieus slapped his cup down so hard that it cracked. “Stop harping about your teeth, my pet! Can’t you talk about anything else? I only mentioned them because I saw you lying with your mouth open when I awakened at noon. In fact, I meant only well when I said that you had no other flaws, for many a woman at your age has even fewer teeth.”
Tanakil began to weep noisily, smearing the color on her sunken cheeks. “Now you are complaining about my age, although you didn’t care last night.”
“Silence, woman!” roared Dorieus, the veins at his temples bulging. “I can stand no more. If you continue I shall leave the house and it will be your fault if I kill every Himeran who crosses my path.”
He clutched his head and moaned, “Friends, friends, why did you ever desert me! My head is on fire, my stomach aches and my limbs are helpless. I have been vomiting all day and only now have I been able to eat a few simple mouthfuls.”
Mikon worriedly tried his head, rolled up his eyelids, studied his eyes and throat and pressed his stomach. While Dorieus was groaning I extended the golden chain to Tanakil with the hope that it would compensate for the damage we had done.
She accepted the chain readily and placed it around her neck. “I am not a petty woman,” she said. “What good are riches if one cannot hold a banquet for one’s friends? It is true that the vases you broke were valuable, but all vases break in time. I don’t think that even my household god was insulted, for early this morning I gave him new clothes and burned incense before him. So I suffered no damage and accept your beautiful gift merely not to displease you. The only harm that has resulted from your visit is the fact that one of the girls who entertained you has been struck dumb.”
Mikon and I glanced guiltily at each other, for neither of us remembered exactly what had happened. Mikon presumed that the girl had been frightened by my violent goat dance, but it turned out that the girl in question was the one Mikon had carried into the garden. Mikon declared that the girl must have slept on the dewy grass and that this had caused her throat to swell. At least, he didn’t remember having done anything to hurt her.
Tanakil replied that the matter was serious and reflected unfavorably on our reputations as strangers. “Himerans are a superstitious people,” she said. “Also I and my house will fall under a shadow because of this incident, for everyone knows that a person who suddenly loses his power of speech is bewitched, unless of course he has unwittingly hurt some excessively sensitive god.”
Mikon became agitated like all men who are conscious of their guilt. “The only god we could have hurt was the foam-born, but by her magic belt I swear that we honored her in every way that I learned on Aphrodite’s sacrificial ship, and the girl certainly did not lose her speech during that time.
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