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______________________ Atalanta learned the language but not the ways of humans. In honor of her bear-mother, she ran every day. She would never succeed at cooking and sewing, but she found her place as a messenger and ran between villages. Rumors spread. She was Word travels. King lasus heard stories of an amazing young woman who looked exactly like the wife he lost so many years before. He knew she was his daughter and he wanted her back. He invited her home and, in her grief and loneliness, she went. The king was delighted. A dowry was no longer of concern. The marriage of a beautiful daughter, who was also a legend, would be a marriage of kingdoms. Iasus asked Atalanta to choose a husband. She refused. He pleaded. Finally she said, “I will race any man you choose. If he wins, I will marry. If he loses, he will give up his life.” She thought that such a contract would assure there would be no suitors. She was wrong. Young men ran and young men died. If the consequences had been less, she would have raced every man in the kingdom and the kingdoms beyond. She could not break her vow and lose, not even to save a life
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That cave was the home of great mother bear whose expectations were not as narrow as King Iasus’, and who claimed the babe as her own. Atalanta grew up with the bears. She learned to be fast and fierce. She raced with the deer and tussled with her bear-cub brother. She loved her bear-mother and accepted that she herself was different from those she called family. When she was seven and ever so confident, she ran far into the woods and encountered a new kind of animal – two-legged, pale, hairless, the kind of face that she had seen when she looked into still water. The hunting party saw her too; a naked, dirty little girl with wild blond hair. They decided to capture her...for her own good of course. Isn't that what you would do?
something to talk about. At fourteen, she knew it was time to leave. She heard about a great oracle and went to find the place of temples of magic and mystery. She dedicated herself to the goddess of the wild, and vowed never to marry, always to run, and never to betray the power of her swiftness no matter the gift she might gain by being so untrue to herself. With the dedicants of Artemis she learned the ways of a mystical life. Fleet-footed huntress, she brought home game in honor of the goddess. When a mighty Caledonian boar was ravaging the countryside, a request for help was sent to the temple. Atalanta answered the villagers' prayers in a form that confounded their expectations. They wanted her advice but not her skills. For a woman to take part in the hunting party was heresy. Meleager, leader of his clan, was a handsome man. 
Strong and fair, he invited Atalanta to join the hunt. The old men protested. Meleager stood his ground. Atalanta tracked the boar and threw the spear that drew first blood. Meleager killed the boar, brought home the prize and offered the skin – the honor of the hunt – to Atalanta. His uncles were outraged and challenged him to battle. Meleager didn't want to fight but his uncles would not accept peace. He fought. He won. He killed his mother's brothers. His uncles dead, his future vanished. Meleager’s mother, with great ceremony, laid the log of his life on the fire. In so doing, she ended her son's life. Atalanta, who knew loss well, grieved as she had never grieved before. 
and end a travesty. During this time she met Hippomenes, the finest athlete in the country. He became her dearest friend, the keeper of her heart. The story ends when she must race Hippomenes, her companion and lover. He cannot refuse the challenge, the chance to be with his one great love. She cannot race and cause his death. Sometimes when there is no mortal solution, the immortals become involved. Prayer, smoke, golden apples that are other than they appear to be, a race, a vow…all I will tell you is this: For us it has been established, beyond all doubt, that all sincere requests will be answered, but the form is always unexpected.