Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined (Stephen Fry's Great Mythology, #2)

by Stephen Fry

And so the human baby girl grew to be a shy, wild, and swift forest creature. Whether she thought herself a bear or knew her difference at first we cannot know. She might have remained one of those legendary wild children of the woods adopted by animals and unsocialized by her own species—an ancient Greek Kaspar Hauser or Victor of Aveyron, a female Tarzan or Mowgli—were it not that, one day, she was seen and taken by a group of hunters. Luckily for her, they were well-disposed and kindly. They named her Atalanta229 and taught her the secrets of trapping and killing, of shooting with arrows, spears, and slings, coursing, hunting, tracking, and all the arts of venery and the chase. She quickly equaled and surpassed their skill, combining as she did human subtlety with the ferocity and speed of the bear that brought her up. Her supreme swiftness and unmatched ability as a huntress made Atalanta a natural devotee of the goddess of Chastity and the Chase, Artemis, to whom she committed herself, heart and soul.