Kitap 10
1
Come now, Ganymede. We’ve got there, so you can give me a kiss right away, and you’ll know I’ve no crooked beak now, or sharp claws or wings, as you thought when you took me for a bird.
1
Mister man, weren’t you an eagle just now? Didn’t you swoop down, and carry me away from the middle of my flock? How, then, have your feathers moulted? You look quite different now.
1
It’s no man you see here, my lad, nor eagle either. No, I’m the king of all the gods, but I’ve changed my shape for the moment.
1
What’s that? Are you Pan himself? How is it, then, you’ve no pipe or horns or shaggy legs?
1
Is he your only god?
1
Yes, and we sacrifice one of our best billies to him, taking it to the cave where he has his statue. But you’re just a kidnapper, if you ask me.
2
Tell me, have you never heard the name of Zeus? Never seen his altar on Gargaron A peak on Mount Ida. Cf. Iliad, VIII, 48 and Judgement of the Goddesses, 1 and 5. —the one who sends rain, thunder and lightning?
2
Oh, sir, do you mean you’re the one that poured down that tremendous hailstorm on us the other day, the one they say lives up top and makes all the noise, the one my father sacrificed the ram to? What harm have I done you, mister king of the gods, that you’ve carried me off up here? Perhaps the wolves will fall on my sheep now that they’re unprotected, and tear them to pieces.
2
What? Still worrying about your sheep? You’re an immortal now and will be living up here with us.
2
What’s that? Won’t you be taking me back to Ida today?
2
Of course not. That would mean I’d changed from god to eagle all for nothing.
2
Then my daddy will be looking everywhere for me and getting cross if he doesn’t find me, and I’ll get a thrashing by and by for leaving my flock.
2
How so? Where will he see you?
2
Please don’t go on with it, for I miss him already. If only you take me back, I promise you you’ll get another ram from him, sacrificed as my ransom. We have the three-year-old one, the big one that leads the way to the pasture.
