Sheshà smiled.
“Come with me, and, before the games begin, I will show you what I can. First shall you see the temple which encloses one of the Wonders of the World.”
“One of the Seven Wonders?” asked Rachel.
“One of the Seven Wonders,” repeated Sheshà.
In another second, and without knowing how they reached it, the children found themselves standing near a temple in front of which stretched the wood they had seen from the mountain side.
“This is the famous temple of Zeus or—to give him the name more familiar to your ears—of Jupiter Olympius. He it was who, according to the Greeks, first commanded these games—the Olympic Games—to be held. Later you shall behold the great statue it contains. For the moment let us wander a little through this wood, sacred to Jupiter.”
“These are oak trees. It’s an oak wood,” said Rachel, who was wise in knowledge of the country and its trees and flowers.
“Yes, because the oak is the special tree of Jupiter—his sacred tree. Therefore, very rightly, an oak wood stretches before his temple.”
“Oh, there’s a statue!” exclaimed Diana suddenly, pointing to where, between the trees, she had caught sight of a gleam of white.
“There’s a whole line of them,” she went on. “Do let us go and look.”