William Morris: The Earthly Paradise: Atalanta's Race But with no sound he raised aloft his hand, And thence what seemed a ray of light there flew And past the maid rolled along the sand; Then trembling she her feet together drew And in her heart a strong desire there grew To have the toy; some god she thought had given That gift to her, to make of earth a heaven. Milanion had prayed to Venus fora method to win the race with Atalanta and she had told him to throw down a golden apple which would distract her and enable him too win the race and thus her hand. The illustration was not used but this would seem to be a later drawing, indicating that the subject continued to be of interest.