The Marble Wolf

Phocus, son of King Aeacus and the sea-nymph Psamathe, had won all the prizes at the Games. His beaten half-brothers, Telamon and Peleus, complained jealously afterwards.

Telamon grumbled as his slave massaged him: 'It's always the same! Phocus always wins! This must stop!' Peleus, rubbing his body with perfumed oil, silently agreed.

Next day, as the three athletes were training, Telamon threw a stone at Phocus's head. He fell down dead. The brothers hid the body and returned to the palace.

Aeacus sent soldiers to search for his missing son. They quickly found the corpse, and the culprits too. Everyone knew they were jealous, and no one believed their story that it was an accident. The king sadly banished his sons. Watched by their angry stepmohter, Psamathe, they went to seek their fortunes separately.

Peleus, who had to leave behind his lovely wife and his son, Achilles, was sorry about his part in the crime. When he reached the kingdom of Trachinia, he decided not to say why he had been exiled. Leaving his herd of oxen outside the town, Peleus asked the king if he could stay. 'Your name is famous,' said the king, 'Make this your home.'

One hot day, the herdsman led Peleus's oxen to the sea-shore, near a temple dedicated to the sea-god Nereus and his daughters, the Nereids. Among the Nereids were Psamathe, Peleus's stepmother, and his wife, Thetis. As the oxen entered the cool water a great wolf attacked them, its mouth red with blood. Some shepherds who tried to save them met the same fate. The terrified herdsman ran to find Peleus.

The king of Trachinia at once ordered his men to arms. He wanted to lead them himself, but his wife begged him not to risk his life. Peleus explained, 'This wolf has come against me alone, because I have wronged a Nereid! Let me ask her for mercy!'

The king and Peleus climbed to the top of a lighthouse that overlooked the shore, and saw the monstrous wolf killing its prey. Peleus stretched out his hands to the sea, begging his stepmother to stop, but she was deaf to his prayers.

The wild beast ravened on. Peleus called his wife Thetis: 'Sea-goddess, ask your sister for her pardon!' At last Psamathe took pity, and tried to call the wolf off, but it would not obey. As it bit another victim's neck, the angry goddess turned it to marble. For years to come, the shepherds feared that menacing marble wolf on the beach.