There he was kindly received by Menelaus, the king, and his wife, Fair
Helen.

This queen had been reared as the daughter of Tyndarus and Queen Leda,
but some say that she was the child of an enchanted swan, and there was
indeed a strange spell about her. All the greatest heroes of Greece had
wooed her before she left her father's palace to be the wife of King
Menelaus; and Tyndarus, fearing for her peace, had bound her many
suitors by an oath. According to this pledge, they were to respect her
choice, and to go to the aid of her husband if ever she should be
stolen away from him. For in all Greece there was nothing so beautiful
as the beauty of Helen. She was the fairest woman in the world.

Now thus did Venus fulfil her promise and the shepherd win his reward
with dishonor. Paris dwelt at the court of Menelaus for a long time,
treated with a royal courtesy which he ill repaid. For at length while
the king was absent on a journey to Crete, his guest won the heart of
Fair Helen, and persuaded her to forsake her husband and sail away to
Troy.

King Menelaus returned to find the nest empty of the swan. Paris and
the fairest woman in the world were well across the sea.


II. THE ROUSING OF THE HEROES.

When this treachery came to light, all Greece took fire with
indignation. The heroes remembered their pledge, and wrath came upon
them at the wrong done to Menelaus. But they were less angered with