***
Angustia awoke the next day to find that all of the magistrate’s poultry had disappeared. The magistrate angrily maintained that a jealous youth had stolen them and sent his guards to search the town for the missing birds. Viton, however, felt differently.
“Dear sir,” the young man said. “My presence here has obviously offended some god. It would be wrong for me to stay.”
“Son, do not believe such superstitions,” the magistrate put his hand on Viton’s shoulder. “Don’t let this poor mannered prank rob you of your bride.”
But Viton could not be deterred and he returned to his hometown that day.
Over the next months, three more young men came to court the magistrate’s beautiful daughter and all three were mysteriously ordered away. When the magistrate refused to send the suitors away half his goats were lost, then his barn was burned, and finally his best horse was taken.
“Finding a son-in-law will ruin me!” the magistrate groaned in despair. The townspeople, who loved the magistrate and his family, urged him not to receive any more suitors.
“Do not endure more hardships,” they beseeched him. “Your daughter’s beauty has caught the attention of the gods. You must appease them and learn what fate has been assigned to young Pulchra.”
“I will not be bullied by some jealous prankster,” scowled the magistrate, but his son Fortis pleaded with him.
“Father, we have always known Pulchra to be extraordinary,” he entreated. “If you will not seek the will of the gods at least allow me to make an attempt. Our family cannot afford to anger them further.”
The magistrate reluctantly agreed and Fortis, along with two attendants, went into the forest to offer prayers and holocausts. They hiked up the side of the mountain and built a fire on a stone outcropping. Fortis slaughtered the goats he had brought for the sacrifice and placed them in the flames along with a sack of wheat. As they burned he prayed.
“Great gods of the earth and the sky, mighty spirits who weave the fates of men, accept my offering and hear my plea. You have always smiled on my sister, Pulchra, giving her beauty and fortune. Now she is of age to take a husband. I believe you are the ones who have sent away each of her suitors thus far. If my prayers have pleased you, send me the name of the man my sister is to wed.”