Page 78 - SpringBoard_ELA_Grade7_Flipbook

aCTIvITy 1.11
continued
armor with a helmet of tinted crystal against the glare. The sun chariot was an open shell of gold. Each wheel was the flat round disk of the sun as it is seen in the sky. And Phaethon looked very tiny as he stood in the chariot. The reins were thick as bridge cables, much too large for him to hold, so Apollo tied them around his waist. Then Apollo stood at the head of the team gentling the horses speaking softly to them, calling them by name — Pyrocis,9 Eous,10 Aethon,11 Phlegon.12
56 “Good lads, good horses, go easy today, my swift ones. Go at a slow trot and do not leave the path. You have a new driver today.”
57 The great horses dropped their heads to his shoulder and whinnied softly, for they loved him. Phaethon saw the flame of their breath play about his head, saw Apollo’s face shining out of the flame. But he was not harmed, for he was a god and could not be hurt by physical things.
Chunk 7
58 He came to Phaethon and said, “Listen to me, son. You are about to start a
terrible journey. Now, by the obedience you owe me as a son, by the faith you owe a god, by my oath that cannot be broken, and your pride that will not bend, I put this rule upon you: Keep the middle way. Too high and the earth will freeze, too low and it will burn. Keep the middle way. Give the horses their heads; they know the path, the blue middle course of day. Drive them not too high nor too low, but above all, do not stop. Or you will fire the air about you where you stand, charring the earth and blistering the sky. Do you heed me?”
59 “I do, I do!” cried Phaethon. “Stand away, sire! The dawn grows old and day must begin! Go, horses, go!”
60 And Apollo stood watching as the horses of the sun went into a swinging trot, pulling behind them the golden chariot, climbing the first eastern steep of the sky.
61 At first things went well. The great steeds trotted easily along their path
across the high blue meadow of the sky. And Phaethon thought to himself, “I can’t understand why my father was making such a fuss. This is easy. For me, anyway. Perhaps I’m a natural-born coachman though . . .”
62 He looked over the edge of the chariot. He saw tiny houses down below and specks of trees. And the dark blue puddle of the sea. The coach was trundling across the sky. The great sun wheels were turning, casting light, warming and brightening the earth, chasing all the shadows of night.
63 “Just imagine,” Phaethon thought, “how many people now are looking up at the sky, praising the sun, hoping the weather stays fair. How many people are watching me, me, me . . . ?” Then he thought, “But I’m too small to see. They can’t even see the coach or the horses — only the great wheel. We are too far and the light is too bright. For all they know, it is Apollo making his usual run. How can they know it’s me,
me, me? How will my mother know, and my sisters? They would be so proud. And Epaphus — above all, Epaphus — how will he know? I’ll come home tomorrow after this glorious journey and tell him what I did and he will laugh at me and tell me I’m lying, as he did before. And how shall I prove it to him? No, this must not be. I must show him that it is I driving the chariot of the sun — I alone. Apollo said not to come
9 Pyrocis [pï rō´ chis] 10 Eous [e’ us]
11 Aethon [a’ thon]
12 Phlegon [fle´ gon]
My Notes
Unit 1 • The Choices We Make 51
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