• Transcript

    Book 1, Chapter Five: Spear-won Land, Pages 85 and 86


    So, my friends, day becomes night
    and in the span of a sparrow’s slumber, comes the day of the race.
    Excitement is the mood of the hippodrome,
    hyped by the presence of many young noble athletes, including sparkling Alexander,
    and the drama of a freshly-born rivalry.

    Between nine charioteers, lots are drawn.
    The first track is given to rival king Nicolaos, the second to a son of a satrap,
    and so forth (their names are not relevant to us in this day and age in which I’m telling you this story),
    the eighth to our prince Alexander,
    and the last to a youth, son of a general.

    To be granted the eighth place in the race is no wound, if not for the mocking theatrics of Nicolaos and his companion.
    Oh! The blood in Alexander’s heart, it boils.

    Then a jovial voice comes,
    together with a pat on Alexander’s shoulder.
    “Hey, lad!” cheers Laomedon, brilliant victor of last chapter’s race, and now Alexander’s companion.
    “You’ll do great!
    Don’t you worry!”

    Chapter Five 085-086
    Posted on January 11, 2022 by Reimena Yee

    Happy 2022!! I am back… fashionably a week later. I went all in on my vacation and didn’t draw any pages at all during it. So haha, yeah anyway, no regrets.

    Footnotes:

    Charioteer of Delphi – a bronze statue of a chariot racer and his outfit.

    The ancient Olympic Games featured events like disk throwing, long jump, javelin throwing, chariot-racing (two and four horses), wrestling, boxing, and wrestling-boxing.  I referenced several pottery art for the little figures on the left page.

    So what the racers are doing here is that they are drawing lots for lane placement. It’s not specified what receptacle they use to keep lots in.

    And to note, for the pedantic, on the most egregious error of who gets to be a chariot racer – I know!! I’m just adapting what the Alexander Romance says. The entire point of this chapter and the last is… well, you have to see for yourself.

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