WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.440 The Calydonian Boar-hunt 00:00:04.440 --> 00:00:06.460 In the land of Calydon, 00:00:06.460 --> 00:00:09.720 the queen had gone into labour. 00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:13.150 As she lay on her bed, surrounded by servants, 00:00:13.150 --> 00:00:15.580 she had a vision. 00:00:15.580 --> 00:00:21.350 She saw three hideous sisters: the Fates. 00:00:21.350 --> 00:00:25.050 The first spins out the thread of a mortal’s life, 00:00:25.050 --> 00:00:27.100 the second measures out its length 00:00:27.100 --> 00:00:34.640 and the third cuts the thread and ends the life. 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:36.700 The moment the queen gave birth, 00:00:36.700 --> 00:00:39.580 the second Fate cackled. 00:00:39.580 --> 00:00:42.140 ‘You see that burning log? 00:00:42.140 --> 00:00:44.670 The moment the fire has destroyed it, 00:00:44.670 --> 00:00:47.050 her child will die.’ 00:00:47.050 --> 00:00:49.560 And then the sisters were gone. 00:00:49.560 --> 00:00:50.720 The queen leant forward. 00:00:50.720 --> 00:00:52.810 She plucked the log from the flames. 00:00:52.810 --> 00:00:57.230 She doused it and threw it into a battered bronze box. 00:00:57.230 --> 00:01:03.240 She told no one what she had seen and done. 00:01:03.240 --> 00:01:09.470 The first to hold the baby boy was not the king but the queen’s two brothers. 00:01:09.470 --> 00:01:11.410 Her parents had died long ago. 00:01:11.410 --> 00:01:14.240 Her brothers had reared her from a child; 00:01:14.240 --> 00:01:19.450 they were as dear to her as her own life. 00:01:19.450 --> 00:01:25.470 She named the boy Meleager and he was unstoppable. 00:01:25.470 --> 00:01:28.060 Again and again he fought and won. 00:01:28.060 --> 00:01:35.690 Against impossible odds he knew no fear. 00:01:35.690 --> 00:01:40.000 There came to the forest of Calydon a monstrous beast, 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:49.160 a boar the size of a bull with bristles as jagged as daggers and tusks as sharp as swords. 00:01:49.160 --> 00:01:53.360 In those times, champions walked the earth; 00:01:53.360 --> 00:01:58.680 brave, brutal, reckless men eager to win fame. 00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:01.240 The king of Calydon sent out word: 00:02:01.240 --> 00:02:03.480 here was a proper challenge. 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:13.320 The man courageous and resourceful enough to best this beast would win the right to be called ‘Hero’. 00:02:13.320 --> 00:02:15.260 Many men answered the call, 00:02:15.260 --> 00:02:19.830 among them warlike Peleus, Achilles’ father, 00:02:19.830 --> 00:02:24.150 and stern Jason of Iolcus and Theseus of Athens; 00:02:24.150 --> 00:02:27.470 great men skilled in battle. 00:02:27.470 --> 00:02:32.250 Of course Prince Meleager was to lead the chase. 00:02:32.250 --> 00:02:34.480 The morning of the hunt arrived. 00:02:34.480 --> 00:02:36.380 Meleager sighed. 00:02:36.380 --> 00:02:41.610 His tiresome windbag uncles insisted on coming along. 00:02:41.610 --> 00:02:44.250 The young heroes were eager for the off, 00:02:44.250 --> 00:02:45.550 teasing one another. 00:02:45.550 --> 00:02:47.840 A forest of flashing blades, 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:51.530 these two doddery fools were holding them back, 00:02:51.530 --> 00:02:54.540 telling them how to hunt. 00:02:54.540 --> 00:02:58.400 Meleager only tolerated them for the sake of his mother. 00:02:58.400 --> 00:02:59.820 The hounds were baying, 00:02:59.820 --> 00:03:01.150 straying at the leash. 00:03:01.150 --> 00:03:06.840 Just as they were about to set off they heard the sound of a trumpet from the palace. 00:03:06.840 --> 00:03:08.560 A servant came running. 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:11.670 He swallowed, looked at the company anxiously. 00:03:11.670 --> 00:03:16.540 ‘Your highness: another to join the company.’ 00:03:16.540 --> 00:03:20.690 The hunters looked and gasped. 00:03:20.690 --> 00:03:25.290 She was graceful as a deer, beautiful. 00:03:25.290 --> 00:03:27.140 But she held a bow; 00:03:27.140 --> 00:03:31.450 she wore a quiver of deadly arrows. 00:03:31.450 --> 00:03:34.510 ‘I am the daughter of the king of Argos. 00:03:34.510 --> 00:03:37.980 My name is Atalanta.’ 00:03:37.980 --> 00:03:46.370 She locked Prince Meleager with her gaze and it was as if the champions no longer existed. 00:03:46.370 --> 00:03:48.740 He was rooted to the spot. 00:03:48.740 --> 00:03:50.700 He couldn’t speak. 00:03:50.700 --> 00:03:54.750 She was extraordinary. 00:03:54.750 --> 00:03:56.930 This was too much for his uncles. 00:03:56.930 --> 00:03:59.040 ‘You are not meant for this place. 00:03:59.040 --> 00:04:02.300 Get back to the kitchen where you belong.’ 00:04:02.300 --> 00:04:07.320 Still lost in her eyes, Meleager said, 00:04:07.320 --> 00:04:11.640 ‘To whom do we pray for a successful hunt? 00:04:11.640 --> 00:04:14.440 It is to a goddess: 00:04:14.440 --> 00:04:17.070 Artemis.’ 00:04:17.070 --> 00:04:19.130 The uncles bristled. 00:04:19.130 --> 00:04:19.990 ‘Careful. 00:04:19.990 --> 00:04:22.150 You have some respect for your elders.’ 00:04:22.150 --> 00:04:26.330 ‘I’d rather have her on this hunt than you,’ said Meleager. 00:04:26.330 --> 00:04:27.770 The brothers were furious. 00:04:27.770 --> 00:04:30.160 ‘If you were not our sister’s son, 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:34.280 we’d split you in two for that remark.’ 00:04:34.280 --> 00:04:36.190 Now they saw the queen approaching. 00:04:36.190 --> 00:04:37.790 The brothers slunk back. 00:04:37.790 --> 00:04:41.180 She threw her arms around her son’s neck. 00:04:41.180 --> 00:04:45.030 The other champions marvelled at her calm. 00:04:45.030 --> 00:04:49.920 It was as if her son were about to take a stroll through the palace gardens, 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:53.460 not do battle with a monster. 00:04:53.460 --> 00:04:59.870 It was as if he had a charmed life. 00:04:59.870 --> 00:05:03.110 The forest stank of boar. 00:05:03.110 --> 00:05:10.840 Alert, watchful, they slipped silently from dappled shadow to dappled shadow. 00:05:10.840 --> 00:05:12.480 They made no sound. 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:15.440 They spoke only with gesture. 00:05:15.440 --> 00:05:21.680 The fleetest of foot, the most graceful, was Princess Atalanta; 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:26.250 her every step was a dance. 00:05:26.250 --> 00:05:29.580 Meleager found it hard to remember he was on a hunt. 00:05:29.580 --> 00:05:32.560 His eyes kept straying back to her. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:36.960 Now she had an arrow notched to her bow. 00:05:36.960 --> 00:05:39.660 Meleager saw signs of the boar: 00:05:39.660 --> 00:05:43.750 uprooted trees, trampled bracken. 00:05:43.750 --> 00:05:46.350 Where were the birds? 00:05:46.350 --> 00:05:48.880 So silent was this forest, 00:05:48.880 --> 00:05:52.270 he became aware of the rasp of his own breath, 00:05:52.270 --> 00:05:55.590 the beating of his own heart. 00:05:55.590 --> 00:05:57.610 The hounds ahead were whimpering. 00:05:57.610 --> 00:06:02.030 The champions lifted their spears aloft. 00:06:02.030 --> 00:06:06.360 Prince Ancaeus was at the far end of the line. 00:06:06.360 --> 00:06:09.530 He would have made a fine king. 00:06:09.530 --> 00:06:12.360 He was not impetuous like the others; 00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:17.110 he had only joined this hunt to please his father. 00:06:17.110 --> 00:06:18.440 Movement ahead. 00:06:18.440 --> 00:06:23.100 He lifted his axe and it was over. 00:06:23.100 --> 00:06:27.360 One moment he was the handsome heir to a throne, 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:30.810 a picture of physical perfection. 00:06:30.810 --> 00:06:37.440 The next moment he was a mangled mess of blood and bowels. 00:06:37.440 --> 00:06:41.100 The screams of Ancaeus unmanned the champions. 00:06:41.100 --> 00:06:42.570 It was pandemonium. 00:06:42.570 --> 00:06:44.200 They took aim at anything. 00:06:44.200 --> 00:06:48.790 Every snapped twig, every glimpsed movement brought arrows. 00:06:48.790 --> 00:06:52.460 In the chaos many a champion killed another. 00:06:52.460 --> 00:06:54.540 The old uncles were barking orders. 00:06:54.540 --> 00:06:57.240 Meleager cast about – where was Atalanta? 00:06:57.240 --> 00:07:01.360 She emerged, smiling, out of the undergrowth ahead of him, 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:04.220 pursued by an abomination. 00:07:04.220 --> 00:07:07.720 It came like a boulder hurled by a catapult, 00:07:07.720 --> 00:07:10.910 smashing trees, tossing hounds, 00:07:10.910 --> 00:07:13.600 broad as a house, quick as thought, 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:17.340 its dripping tusks as long as a man’s arm. 00:07:17.340 --> 00:07:19.620 Meleager saw it stumble – 00:07:19.620 --> 00:07:21.090 there was blood in its eyes. 00:07:21.090 --> 00:07:23.090 The beast was blind! 00:07:23.090 --> 00:07:28.250 The feathered tail of an arrow was emerging from between the boars’ ears. 00:07:28.250 --> 00:07:30.960 Meleager scrambled up a tree, along a branch. 00:07:30.960 --> 00:07:33.110 He dropped onto the beast’s back. 00:07:33.110 --> 00:07:35.660 He plunged his blade between the bristles, 00:07:35.660 --> 00:07:37.040 through the coarse hide, 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:39.800 and severed its spine. 00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:43.310 The boar squealed, snorted, thrashed and reared. 00:07:43.310 --> 00:07:45.000 Meleager leapt clear. 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.590 The air was black with nets and spears and arrows. 00:07:49.590 --> 00:07:52.860 Now the monster sinks to its knees. 00:07:52.860 --> 00:07:57.370 The champions surround it, hacking, stabbing. 00:07:57.370 --> 00:08:05.990 The monster slumps with a sigh and it is still. 00:08:05.990 --> 00:08:09.610 Men hobbled shame-faced out of the undergrowth. 00:08:09.610 --> 00:08:13.100 They were astonished to find Meleager unharmed. 00:08:13.100 --> 00:08:16.700 One of the uncles stepped forward, kicked the carcass. 00:08:16.700 --> 00:08:19.050 ‘Huh! You call yourselves heroes? 00:08:19.050 --> 00:08:21.340 Bragging babies! 00:08:21.340 --> 00:08:24.590 Your knees buckled at the first sign of danger. 00:08:24.590 --> 00:08:28.740 If it weren’t for Meleager you’d all be dead.’ 00:08:28.740 --> 00:08:30.770 ‘And her.’ 00:08:30.770 --> 00:08:33.320 ‘What?’ said the other uncle. 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:35.420 ‘And her,’ said Meleager. 00:08:35.420 --> 00:08:37.910 ‘You see the arrow there, between the ears? 00:08:37.910 --> 00:08:40.280 She drew first blood. 00:08:40.280 --> 00:08:41.870 To hold your nerve, 00:08:41.870 --> 00:08:47.800 to loose an arrow and strike your target before the charge of that thing! 00:08:47.800 --> 00:08:52.040 The pelt and tusks belong to her.’ 00:08:52.040 --> 00:08:55.890 Princess Atalanta stepped forward to claim her prize. 00:08:55.890 --> 00:08:57.520 The uncles shoved her. 00:08:57.520 --> 00:08:58.990 ‘Stop this nonsense. 00:08:58.990 --> 00:09:01.160 No one knows whose arrow that is. 00:09:01.160 --> 00:09:02.550 No one saw. 00:09:02.550 --> 00:09:04.640 All of us were loosing shafts, 00:09:04.640 --> 00:09:10.480 but all of us saw you climb and leap and strike with no thought for your safety. 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:12.650 The prize is yours.’ 00:09:12.650 --> 00:09:15.100 ‘That is my arrow,’ 00:09:15.100 --> 00:09:16.930 said Princess Atalanta. 00:09:16.930 --> 00:09:18.720 ‘You say.’ 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:20.770 Meleager took her hand. 00:09:20.770 --> 00:09:22.680 He led her toward his uncles. 00:09:22.680 --> 00:09:24.640 ‘The prize is hers.’ 00:09:24.640 --> 00:09:27.740 ‘You- you are a love sick boy. 00:09:27.740 --> 00:09:29.850 You are blinded by her beauty. 00:09:29.850 --> 00:09:35.150 Do you think we will stand by and let you give the glory to some…girl?’ 00:09:35.150 --> 00:09:38.180 The uncle drew his dagger and lunged at her. 00:09:38.180 --> 00:09:40.920 He staggered, gasped. 00:09:40.920 --> 00:09:42.540 He fell to his knees. 00:09:42.540 --> 00:09:47.510 He put his hands to his split belly but it was no use. 00:09:47.510 --> 00:09:54.420 The red torrent found its course between his fingers. 00:09:54.420 --> 00:09:56.180 ‘What have you done?’ 00:09:56.180 --> 00:10:01.450 The other uncle drew his blade and fell beside his brother. 00:10:01.450 --> 00:10:03.660 Meleager stood over them, 00:10:03.660 --> 00:10:05.390 his chest heaving, 00:10:05.390 --> 00:10:07.940 his weapon dripping. 00:10:07.940 --> 00:10:11.970 The champions were dumbfounded, astonished. 00:10:11.970 --> 00:10:14.490 In the palace the queen heard a commotion. 00:10:14.490 --> 00:10:16.560 A messenger came running from the forest; 00:10:16.560 --> 00:10:18.770 he was ashen, trembling with shock. 00:10:18.770 --> 00:10:19.880 The queen screamed: 00:10:19.880 --> 00:10:21.550 something awful had occurred. 00:10:21.550 --> 00:10:22.810 She fled from the news. 00:10:22.810 --> 00:10:25.520 She scurried to her bed chamber and there was a fire, 00:10:25.520 --> 00:10:27.210 a fire burning in the hearth. 00:10:27.210 --> 00:10:29.590 She lunged for the battered bronze box, 00:10:29.590 --> 00:10:33.230 she lifted the lid - 00:10:33.230 --> 00:10:36.110 the blackened log was still there. 00:10:36.110 --> 00:10:40.410 Her son was safe. 00:10:40.410 --> 00:10:44.050 The servant was at the door. 00:10:44.050 --> 00:10:47.100 He would not meet her eye. 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:48.400 ‘What do you want? 00:10:48.400 --> 00:10:50.890 What is the matter?’ 00:10:50.890 --> 00:10:55.630 ‘There has been a great tragedy.’ 00:10:55.630 --> 00:10:58.670 ‘For some other mother.’ 00:10:58.670 --> 00:11:03.880 ‘Your highness. Your brothers…’ 00:11:03.880 --> 00:11:07.080 She dropped the box. 00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:10.540 ‘The boar killed my brothers?’ 00:11:10.540 --> 00:11:13.100 ‘No, your highness. 00:11:13.100 --> 00:11:17.730 Your son killed your brothers.’ 00:11:17.730 --> 00:11:19.630 ‘What?’ 00:11:19.630 --> 00:11:21.780 She had no parents. 00:11:21.780 --> 00:11:25.570 Her brothers had been everything to her. 00:11:25.570 --> 00:11:30.600 Now her son had slaughtered them. 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:35.820 She stared at the log in the box. 00:11:35.820 --> 00:11:42.410 In the forest, Meleager turned to Atalanta. 00:11:42.410 --> 00:11:45.290 ‘You are the one. 00:11:45.290 --> 00:11:50.460 I have waited for a wife and you have come.’ 00:11:50.460 --> 00:11:51.940 He took her hand. 00:11:51.940 --> 00:11:53.790 She smiled. 00:11:53.790 --> 00:11:56.650 ‘If you would marry me, 00:11:56.650 --> 00:11:59.700 I would marry you.’ 00:11:59.700 --> 00:12:01.900 Meleager frowned. 00:12:01.900 --> 00:12:06.150 She said, ‘What is wrong?’ 00:12:06.150 --> 00:12:09.580 He said, ‘My mouth. 00:12:09.580 --> 00:12:12.470 It tastes of ash. 00:12:12.470 --> 00:12:13.900 I’m so hot.’ 00:12:13.900 --> 00:12:19.740 He fell, gasping, writhing, clawing the air. 00:12:19.740 --> 00:12:21.890 In her bedroom, 00:12:21.890 --> 00:12:27.540 his mother watched the log burn.