"We found Epimenedes' reasoning sound, and decided to execute this plan the
next morning. I must admit though, I had my doubts. I slept little that night,
arising with the dawn. I found that I was not alone either: There was not a member of the
council who was not present that morning, unless they were already dead of plague. As the
grey of the dawn sky faded, Epimenedes came up the hill toward us, leading the stonemasons of
Athens. He knelt by the gate of the sheep pen and prayed toward Olympus in a loud
voice. "Oh god whose name we do not know, have mercy on us despite our
ignorance. If you are willing to sspare us, we ask for this sign. Oh Unknown
God, when we release these sheep, we ask that they will lie down and rest rather than
grazing. If you will grant us this simple sign, we will worship you as great among the gods,
and beg you to lift this cursed plague." When he finished, Epimenedes arose, and quickly
loosed the latch on the sheep pen.
The tension and doubt in the air were almost palpable. We were not
all shepherds, but every man here had watched sheep before, and we knew that when a sheep was hungry,
it would never lay down to rest, for sheep only eat and graze while standing. In addition,
having been penned all night, these sheep were in noneed of rest. However, we watched
on. Honestly, what could we do otherwise?
Despite my hope, it still made my mouth fall open like a surprised youth's when
the first sheep went no more than a hundred cubits from the pen and lay down in the grass, never taking a
mouthful of it. My astonishment only grew as the second, then the third, then the fourth
followed suit. Soon all twenty sheep were settled in the grass,
dozing. Epimenedes fell again to his knees in prayer again, this time quietly thanking the
unknown god who would save us. He was not alone, as many other fell to theirs knees as
well. I signalled the stonemasons and the few council members still standing. We
quickly assembled altars by each sheep. Each altar was crafted by one craftsman, and each
mason worked in solitude, never looking at the work his fellows were doing. It was another
astonishment to us when we realized that each altar, while not identical, was comprised of twelve cut
stones, and dressed with a three-pointed capstone. We sacrificed the sheep on the altars, one
on each, rejoicing at the power and mercy of this new god. Returning home, we began to
spread the news to all who would listen that the plague was over, that we had found a merciful god to heal
our land because of our humility and prayers.