A Book of Myths, by Jean Lang - Umnet

ATALANTA
Atalanta, daughter of the king of Arcadia, returned sad at heart to her
own land. Only as comrades, as those against whose skill in the chase
she was wont to pit her own skill, had she looked upon men. But
Meleager, the hero who loved her and her fair honour more than life
itself, and whose love had made him haste in all his gallant strength and
youthful beauty to the land of the Shades, was one to touch her as never
before had she been touched. Her father, proud of her triumph in
Calydon, again besought her to marry one of her many noble suitors.
"If indeed they love me as thou sayest," said Atalanta to her father,
"then must they be ready to face for my sake even the loss of dear life
itself. I shall be the prize of him who outruns me in a foot-race. But he
who tries and fails, must pay to Death his penalty."
Thereafter, for many days, a strange sight was to be seen in Arcadia.
For one after another the suitors came to race with the maiden whose
face had bewitched them, though truly the race was no more fair to him
who ran than would be a race with Death. No mortal man was as fleet
as Atalanta, who had first raced with the wild things of the mountains
and the forests, and who had dared at last to race with the winds and
leave even them behind. To her it was all a glorious game. Her
conquest was always sure, and if the youths who entered in the contest
cared to risk their lives, why should they blame her? So each day they
started, throbbing hope and fierce determination to win her in the heart
of him who ran--fading hope and despairing anger as he saw her
skimming ahead of him like a gay-hued butterfly that a tired child
pursues in vain. And each day, as the race ended, another man paid the
price of his defeat.
Daily, amongst those who looked on, stood her cousin Milanion. He
would fain have hated Atalanta for her ruthlessness and her joyousness
as he saw his friends die for her sake, yet daily her beauty, her purity,
and her gallant unconsciousness took a firmer hold upon his heart. To
himself he vowed that he would win Atalanta, but not without help