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When the Pelasgians had thus slain their children and their women,
the earth refused to bring forth its fruits for them, and their wives
bore fewer children, and their flocks and herds increased more slowly
than before, till at last, sore pressed by famine and bereavement,
they sent men to Delphi, and begged the god to tell them how they
might obtain deliverance from their sufferings. The Pythoness
answered that "they must give the Athenians whatever satisfaction they
might demand." Then the Pelasgians went to Athens and declared
their wish to give the Athenians satisfaction for the wrong which they
had done to them. So the Athenians had a couch prepared in their
townhall, and adorned it with the fairest coverlets, and set by its
side a table laden with all manner of good things, and then told the
Pelasgians they must deliver up their country to them in a similar
condition. The Pelasgians answered and said, "When a ship comes
with a north wind from your country to ours in a single day, then will
we give it up to you." This they said because they knew that what
they required was impossible, for Attica lies a long way to the south
of Lemnos.
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