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aCTIvITy 1.11
continued
Chunk 2
7 “Without my father there would be no day. It would always be night. Each
morning he hitches up his horses and drives the golden chariot of the sun across the sky. And that is day time. Then he dives into the ocean stream and boards a golden ferryboat and sails back to his eastern palace. That time is called night.”
My Notes
8 “Sometimes I visit my father,” said Epaphus,3 the other boy. “I sit on
Olympus4 with him, and he teaches me things and gives me presents. Know what he gave me last time? A little thunderbolt just like his—and he taught me how to throw it. I killed three vultures, scared a fishing boat, started a forest fire. Next time I go, I’ll throw it at more things. Do you visit your father?”
9 Phaethon never had. But he could not bear to tell Epaphus. “Certainly,” he said, “very often. I go to the eastern palace, and he teaches me things too.”
10 “What kind of things? Has he taught you to drive the horses of the sun?”
11 “Oh, yes. He taught me to handle their reins and how to make them go and
how to make them stop. And they’re huge horses. Tall as this mountain. They breathe fire.”
12 “I think you’re making it all up,” said Epaphus. “I can tell. I don’t even believe there is a sun chariot. There’s the sun, look at it. It’s not a chariot.”
13 “Oh, what you see is just one of the wheels,” said Phaethon. “There’s another wheel on the other side. The body of the chariot is slung between them. That is where the driver stands and whips his horses. You cannot see it because your eyes are too small, and the glare is too bright.”
14 “Well,” said Epaphus, “Maybe it is a chariot, but I still don’t believe your father lets you drive it. In fact, I don’t believe you’ve been to the palace of the sun. I doubt that Apollo would know you if he saw you. Maybe he isn’t even your father. People like to say they’re descended from the gods, of course. But how many of us are there, really?”
3 Epaphus [ә pā´ fәs]
4 Olympus [ō lim´ pәs]: A mountain in Greece where ancient gods were said to live
Unit 1 • The Choices We Make 47
descended: related to by blood or family name
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