everyone loves apollo

"What is it?" Apollo asked curiously.He regretted it as soon as he said it. Isn't this an obvious admission that he is still interested in talking about love?It sounds like a shame.

Hermes didn't smile, and rarely said seriously: "It's a princess, a very beautiful princess."

When Apollo heard the word "princess", some bad memories were immediately aroused, and his eyebrows frowned.

"Hey, brother, don't be like this," cried Hermes. "Believe me, you will succeed this time."

"why?"

Hermes said while recalling: "I also heard about this from Ares. A few days ago, the princess' father, a king named Oenos, presented Ares with a batch of good A sacrifice, begging him to lend him the chariot. Oh, this request is actually quite excessive. How can a god of war chariot be lent to a mortal? But for the sake of the sacrifice, Ares Out of curiosity, I asked him what he was doing with the chariot. As a result, guess what he said?"

Apollo thought for a while, then shook his head: "I can't guess."

Hermes continued: "He said, his daughter is very beautiful, and many young people come from all over the world to propose marriage. But he doesn't want to marry his daughter at all, but he can't refuse them clearly—these But they are all the kings and princes of various city-states. It is too offensive to directly refuse. He thought for a long time, and finally came up with a way, which is to let these people compete with him, and see whose chariot runs faster and wins. , you can marry his daughter, but if you lose, you will be killed by him on the spot."

Having said that, without going any further, Apollo can also guess the purpose of the king borrowing the chariot, and continued: "So he borrowed the chariot from Ares, so that he can defeat all marriage proposals." the ones."

Hermes nodded, and said: "Ares thought about it, and he thinks this is a good idea. Oh, you know, he always likes to see those outstanding young people who are pretentious are defeated by his spear. Now, lending out the chariot drawn by the horses that are as fast as the wind is tantamount to killing them with the king's hand, so he simply granted his wish. As for the princess..."

Hermes blinked, with an ambiguous expression on his face, "My name is Marpesa, I heard she looks really good-looking, no worse than Aphrodite. Brother, as long as you win Oenos, The princess is yours."

Apollo was a little tempted immediately, but the biggest problem was: "Ares' horse is so powerful, I can't win even if I want to."

In fact, he himself owns a cart, but the animals that pull the cart are special, not war horses or other beasts, but a few white swans.Although their flying postures are extremely elegant and their tempers are docile, it has to be said that they are really not suitable for rough work like pulling a cart.Not to mention the slow speed, he turned his head while flying, combing the feathers on his body with his beak, for fear that flying too fast would make those hairs messy.

This is why most of the time, Apollo would rather fly in the air by himself than take a car.

"Don't worry, brother," Hermes had thought about it a long time ago, "I can teach you a method, so that you can defeat that old guy with the most ordinary carriage. In this way, even if he is in his heart No matter how unwilling, I can only marry my daughter to you."

"I didn't say I was going to pursue that princess." Apollo snorted, "But your method is a bit interesting. Since you want to talk, then I'll just listen to it."

Hermes said: "It's actually very simple. As you know, that guy Ares likes to fight, and he often beats his enemies to pieces. Sometimes, they even just see him from a distance, listen When he heard the rumbling sound of the God of War chariot, he turned around and ran away in fright. At this time, Ares had a little trouble trying to catch up with them quickly. So he asked the goddess of fate for some divine fruits, and put them in the In the bag, hung on the neck of the horse, and fed to his horses when needed, after they finished eating, their energy and speed would skyrocket, several times as much as usual, so that he could catch up with those cowards Catch them before you retreat back to the walls."

Apollo didn't hear right: "But if they run faster, wouldn't I be even more unable to catch up?"

"No, the effect of the divine fruit can only last for a short time. After that, they will be so weak that they can't walk on the ground, let alone run. It will take a long time to slow down. Come here." Hermes smiled, dispelling his worries with one sentence.

This method is not bad. Apollo thought about it and couldn't find any faults. If he had done a good job before the game, the king would only take the lead temporarily, and the final victory still belonged to him.

So as soon as Hermes left the Temple of Light, Apollo couldn't wait to leave the gate of Olympus and went straight to the city-state where Princess Marpesa was.

The sun was shining, and the contest between the king and the suitors was in full swing.On the high stands, Princess Marpesa sat.She was as beautiful as the rumors said, and she had a good temperament.Apollo was happy with that.

It's just that the princess doesn't seem very happy.She gazed unblinkingly at the young man who fell beneath her father's spear, her face full of sorrow and concern.

It seemed that she was not on her father's side.

That's right, although the king doesn't want his daughter to marry.But the princess herself certainly hoped to marry a handsome prince.In this way, she certainly has no objection to the marriage, as long as she wins the king.

The game went on for several games in a row, and Apollo stood in the crowd watching, watching with fear.

Ares's horses and chariots are really extraordinary. If it weren't for the skills taught by Hermes, I am afraid that he would not be able to win this game anyway.But now, Apollo smiled smugly, turned and walked to the city, he was going to buy an ordinary carriage, and prepared to challenge the king tomorrow.

After Apollo bought the car, he had another good night's sleep. In the early morning, when the rosy fingertips of the goddess of dawn had not touched the sky, he got up, ready to slip under the cover of the last twilight. Go to the king's stables and find Ares' chariot and horse.

He wanted to get the divine fruit in advance, smashed it, and mixed it into the feed.

Through today's observations, he found that before each game, the king would ask the groom to feed the four horses well before letting them go.This habit just gave Apollo an opportunity.

From the time point of view, it is just right to take medicine before the game.After all, if the war horse eats too early, its legs will already be weak before it goes on the field.

Dawn is the time when the guards are most confused.Take advantage of this opportunity, get the magic fruit, and you will be sure to win the daytime game.

With such wishful thinking, Apollo avoided everyone's eyes and ears and went all the way to the stable.

On the field yesterday, the princess seemed to have seen him, and smiled at him with joy and worry in her eyes. Does this mean that the princess is interested in him?She was happy that he could participate in the competition, but at the same time, she was very worried, for fear that he would lose to her father.Very good, the two are happy, and there is an order from her father, this lover can't run away.

Apollo thought happily while looking for horses and chariots everywhere.

The stables in the palace are very large, and there are horses of various colors next to each other.Chariots of different sizes were parked densely outside.Apollo swept across the entire space like the wind, but looked over one by one, but couldn't find Ares's things.

His horse and chariot are bright fiery red, very conspicuous, there is no reason to admit his mistake.

With doubts, Apollo searched carefully three times.

However, no, still no.

Not only are there no horses and carts, but there is not even a guard guarding them.

Logically speaking, it shouldn't be such a valuable thing.

unless……

The chariots and horses are not here at all.

But not here, where can it be?

Otherwise, ask a guard or slave in the palace.

Apollo made up his mind and went outside.

Unexpectedly, just as he walked out of the stable, he heard a sharp shout from outside: "It's no good, the princess has been robbed——"

Immediately afterwards, there was a burst of chaotic footsteps, coming from various rooms, all running towards one direction.One after another, figures flashed past.

Apollo stood on the spot, stunned for two seconds, before reacting, he was furious in his heart: "Who? Which guy? How dare you rob a woman from the God of Light?"

He followed the crowd and quickly ran towards the princess' bedroom.

The servants and guards in the palace were in a panic, and they didn't notice the addition of a stranger, so he followed the crowd and went straight to the princess' bedroom.

The king was so angry that his face turned red. While cursing, he put Ares' horse on the chariot and was ready to set off.In the sky above, another chariot was leaving at a fast speed.There were two people standing in the car, a man and a woman.

Don't think about it, the people in the car must have hijacked the princess, but it's a little far away, so it's not clear which shameless god it is.

The king himself drove Ares's chariot and set off, and the horses spread their hooves and rushed into the sky.

Apollo didn't have time to think about it, so he jumped up, right on top of the chariot.

The crowd on the ground let out bursts of exclamations, but their voices were soon lost, only the whistling wind and the neighing of war horses.

The king noticed the existence of Apollo, and just regarded it as another suitor. In order to recover the princess, he adopted this bold and risky method.Thinking that Apollo did not pose any threat to him, not to mention that he was obsessed with recovering his beloved daughter, so he turned a blind eye to him.

Ares' horse galloped through the clouds like the wind, much faster than Apollo himself.

However, the speed of the chariot in front was faster, it was like lightning in the hands of Zeus.The king chased him for a long time, but the distance became farther and farther.

Oenos lost his beloved daughter, beat his chest and feet, yelled a few times, called his daughter's name, and jumped off the chariot.

Apollo didn't expect the king to be so violent, and before he could stop him, his figure disappeared under layers of white clouds.

He was dumbfounded, and he didn't expect that the chariot in front of him could hardly see the shadow. He was anxious, and suddenly remembered the magic fruit that Hermes had said.

At a critical moment, why not give it a try?Even if he will go limp afterwards, he can still catch up before then.