Twisted Mythology: Three Tales of Greek Mythology Read online

  “My son needs a mother,” he whispered.

  “I could be his mother,” she whispered.

  “You are his mother, my lady.”

  “I am his mother,” she smiled.

  He kissed her again and then said, “I need a wife, my love.”

  He loved her! “I could be your wife.”

  “You are my wife.”

  “I am your wife.”

  He smiled and took his hands from her to take their son –her son!—from her arms. She watched him take the baby to another mortal emerging from the trees. The mortal vanished with the baby as Pirithous quietly returned to her side. He helped her to her feet. “We will be reunited with him soon,” he assured her. He walked around her and untied the knot that secured her dress close to her body and then he slid her other sleeve off her arm. Her dress slid to the ground. The mortal came around to her front and pulled to her to the center of the clearing. He helped to the ground, with her back against the bed of moss on the floor. He settled on his side next to her. He bent down to kiss her again, his hand sliding down her stomach to her leg. She felt him pull her leg to the side. The mortal pulled his lips from her. Smiling, he turned his body so he laid on top of her, his body between her legs.

  She felt his hand slide between them, then pull his linen tunic up. Her body tingled as she felt his bare flesh against hers. Her breathing quickened as his hand moved down again. She felt him move part of his body towards her while he covered her mouth with his free hand. Her eyes widened as she felt a part of him enter her body. She screamed as best she could with her mouth covered. He pulled his hand out from between them and pushed his body against her and further inside her in quick strokes.

  Her hands grabbed at the moss next to her, and she closed her eyes. The pain her body felt was quickly overshadowed by pleasure. She tried to smile beneath the constraints of his hand firmly planted on her lips. She wanted to cry out in joy, but without air, her voice could not be heard. Her eyes shot open as the mortal’s chest lifted off her body. She could see the smile on his face as she looked down at her. He held that position for an instant, and then pulled himself out of her. He rolled off her to the sounds of feet breaking twigs on the forest floor. She watched the prince come into a sitting position before coming to his feet. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two mortal women emerge from the trees, a linen dress in their hands.

  “Help my lady dress,” the mortal prince snapped as he headed towards the trees.

  The two women continued to her side and helped her to her feet; they smiled at her as they slipped the dress over her head and tied a sash around her waist. Taking her hands, they pulled her towards the trees. On the other side, Kore spotted the prince adjusting the straps of a saddle on a horse. He grinned at the sight of her and pulled himself into the saddle before another man came over to help her onto the horse in front of the prince.

  “When will our son be returned to us?” she asked.

  “Do not worry about him, my love,” he told her as the horse surged into motion.

  He had promised that they would be reunited with their son again! She could not think on it further; never before had she been on a horse, much less on one in motion. More times that she could count, she thought she might fall to the ground but Pirithous kept a firm grip around her waist. They traveled long into the day before coming to a rest. Kore could hardly walk when the prince helped her off the horse; she stayed near the mortal prince’s horse while he traversed down the line of horses and servants following them. She looked at the rest of the mortals who had accompanied them this far; her eyes searched for the baby but did not find him among the mortals.

  “Where is our son?” she asked the mortal prince when he came to her side again.

  “Do not worry on him,” the prince snapped. “We have a long journey to undertake. We are only stopping long enough to rest the horses.”

  And true to his word, they resumed their journey a few minutes later. They did not rest to eat and only stopped when the prince decided the horses needed it. Just as the sun began to set, they left the forest behind them. Her mother had never taken her this far from the cottage ever! The further they traveled, the more her thighs burned. Pirithous tightened his grip around her to keep her steady in front of him.

  Near the midnight hour, they found an abandoned building to sleep in; again Kore looked for signs of their son. She had no experience with infants but certainly he would need to eat, wouldn’t he? She walked two steps away from the horse once they pulled her off and collapsed to the floor in agony. She curled up as the tears fell down her face. Her mind tried to drift away, to thoughts of her son –Pirithous had said the boy was her son—in an effort to get her mind off the pain in legs. When thoughts of the child did not help, she tried thinking about her mother.

  Demeter could not think she was still in the forest, could she? Had the goddess of the grain found the basket of mushrooms in the clearing? A scream escaped her throat; she covered her eyes with her hands; her voice still making whimpering sounds. Her heart pounded in her chest, even as the pit of her stomach felt hollow. What would her mother do now that Kore was gone? A hand on her shoulder pushing her to her back prevented the young goddess from thinking more on her mother. She slid her hand off her eyes to see the mortal prince –her husband, she remembered—staring down at her.

  “Spread your legs,” he commanded. “I’m not going to bed you again, woman. I have a salve for your legs.”

  She did as he had ordered and pulled her dress up for him to put the salve on her legs. The moment his hand touched her legs with the cool ointment on his fingers, she cried out. “Quiet,” he told her. “We don’t need to be found.” He finished quickly and then told her to sleep while she could. Kore nodded, closing her eyes as the prince stretched out beside her, his head resting on her chest. Soon she could hear soft snoring from him. She closed her eyes, allowing the sleep to overwhelm her.

  An instant later, she awoke as hands pulled her to her feet. Her eyes shot open; morning had come and the servants were saddling their horses and securing saddlebags to their mounts. Someone shoved her onto the saddle with Pirithous. Before she could search for signs of her son again, they were in motion. She still struggled to stay on the horse, and the pain from riding never seemed to fade as the days melded into one. Each night, Pirithous rubbed the salve into her legs. One night he slid himself inside her before treating her sores; he kept a hand firmly planted on her mouth to keep her from crying out. Her body was so numb from pain she hardly felt it.

  Before she knew it, they had arrived in a city with people rushing to greet him as they entered the square. Voices calling out the name of their prince hit her ears so loudly she could no longer hear the sound of the horse’s hooves hitting the stone beneath them. Her eyes widened at the sight of the number of mortals who crowed the square until the horse could no longer pass through. She had no clue that there were so many mortals in the world.

  Her eyes darted around to see guardsmen pushing their way through the crowd to where they were trapped. When these men reached them, they pushed the mortals aside for Pirithous to command his horse forward once more. The guards made a path to a large structure at the opposite end of the square. She had never seen a building so large in her entire life! But, she reminded herself, her only experience with buildings at all was her mother’s cottage and the outline of the stables in the clearing nearby.

  At the steps of the building, a servant of some kind approached them and took the reins when Pirithous ordered his stead to a complete stop. Pirithous dismounted first and then pulled her from the saddle. The mortal prince turned to the people in the square and raised his hand to them. Their cheers were deafening. Kore watched him smile and felt her lips curl up with his. He pivoted on his heel then and slid an arm around her shoulder. He pushed her inside the building; her legs somehow remained sturdy enough for her to walk.

  Mortals bowed to them as they walked through a large empty room with a
fire pit at the center. He guided her deep into the building to a hallway with doors on both sides. He took her to the far end of the hallway, and with his free hand, he opened the door and escorted her inside. He kissed her and smiled.

  “Welcome home, my princess,” he whispered in her ear.

  A tap on the door took his attention from her. Two mortal stood just outside the door; one was a mortal man with graying brown hair where the other was a mortal female with an equal amount of gray and white in her hair. Both smiled as Pirithous left her side to greet them. He embraced the mortal man first then kissed the hand of the mortal woman.

  “Come inside,” he said to them. “Come meet my bride.”

  The mortal woman rushed inside and wrapped her arms around the young goddess. “She’s lovely, my son. Quite lovely!”

  Once the woman released her, the mortal man approached her with a grin going from one side of his face to the other. He pulled her hand from her side and kissed it. Pirithous came back to her side as the man let go of her hand. The prince again slid an arm around her shoulder.

  “My love, these are my parents,” Pirithous told her. “My father King Ixion of the Lapiths and his wife, Queen Dia. Mother, Father, this is my bride, Kore.”

  “A beautiful name for a beautiful woman,” the King said, the grin still on his face.

  A servant announced himself at the door with a tray of food and drink in his hands. The King and Queen excused themselves as the servant entered. Pirithous directed the servant to a table along the back wall. The servant scampered out quickly, pulling the door shut as he left. The prince left her side to bar the door shut.

  “You must be hungry, my lady,” he said, returning to her side.

  She nodded and allowed him to pull her across the room to the table. Once he helped her to her seat, he handed her one of the goblets. Kore drank nothing until he sat down and took a swallow. Throughout the meal, he only smiled at her between bites of food. The young goddess only ate a few bites as her mind drifted to their son.

  “You promised that we would be reunited with our son, Pirithous,” she said softly.

  The prince came out of his chair and sent the back of his hand across her face. “I told you not to worry. Don’t bring that up again. And don’t speak again unless I give you permission.”

  Chapter 3

  The goddess of the grain had watched her daughter scamper out of the cottage with a smile on her face and a jump in her step. Kore seemed to benefit from not only being rewarded but by being given some time to herself. Demeter had hoped the small reward of being allowed to pick mushrooms in the forest would help her daughter learn to manage her time. There were still chores around the cottage that needed done –some that her precious child had begged to be allowed to do, just once. Demeter had cast the thought of performing those chores aside until Kore returned from the forest. Instead the goddess immersed herself in garden work in the back garden. She hadn’t realized that the noon hour had come and gone until she heard the nymph’s laughter echoing her way.

  Kore should have been home long before the noon hour. The goddess of the grain rushed to her feet and met the nymphs just as they reached the gate. They giggled, shocked, it seemed, that Demeter had come to them instead of the other way around. She demanded to know if they had seen her daughter in the woods. They denied seeing her and immediately concluded it must be some game that Kore was playing. There were no corners of the forest they did not know, they claimed, but the goddess did not care they believed her child was playing just as long as they helped her find her precious Kore.

  Demeter listened to their joyous laughter, following them into the forest. They hopped and jumped over the fallen trees and ran off in four different directions. Partway into the forest, the goddess collapsed to her knees, her hands covering her mouth as her eyes darted from one side of the forest to the other. Her daughter had not returned! Her precious daughter was lost! Where could she have gone? The forest was only so big, after all. Hot tears fell down her face, her heart pounding uncontrollably deep in her chest. Her daughter! Where could her daughter be?

  She should have gone with Kore into the forest. She should not have allowed her daughter to go at all! There were other rewards she could have given her daughter instead of this one. And Kore would still be with her. She should have done the chores with her daughter and not let her go looking or mushrooms all alone. The goddess bent forward, even as the sound of one of the nymphs calling to her reached her ears. Demeter had slowly pushed herself up when the daughter of Oceanus reached her side. The girl had found something.

  Demeter ran with the nymph to a clearing where she found Kore’s basket of mushrooms and her dress in a pile on the forest floor. Someone had lured her daughter here and taken her. But who? Only her kin knew Demeter had chosen this part of the forest to live in. She had done it deliberately, to keep Zeus’ sons from trying to woo her innocent daughter. The goddess screamed, kneeling in front of her daughter’s empty dress.

  That had been nine days ago. Now she sat on a cold rock near a well outside the city of Eleusis. Her tears had dried up long ago. She wrapped her cloak closer to her body as a slight breeze brought the sound of young women’s voices her way. She dared not look their way, or show any interest in them. Her daughter was gone, lost to her, until she found her again. Demeter closed her eyes, picturing her daughter with a smile on her face. She herself knew she could not smile again until she saw her daughter in the flesh again. The goddess opened her eyes to see a mortal girl taking short steps in her direction.

  “Grandmother,” the girl said, “I am Kallidike, daughter of the King Celeus of Eleusis. What do you do there?”

  “I had been attacked by pirates,” the goddess told the girl, “who meant to sell me into slavery. I do not know where I am now and I know no one in this strange land to go to for help. I come from the island of Crete. My lady mother named Theto gave me the name Doso. Do you know, dear maiden, where I might find work as a housekeeper or a nurse.”

  “Any house here in Eleusis will offer you aid, grandmother,” the mortal child said, “but it you wait here so my sisters and I might return to our lady mother Metaneira, who is looking for a nurse to care for our brother.”

  “You are too kind, child,” Demeter replied. “I will wait for you as you have asked me.”

  The goddess clung to her cloak and stayed on the rock as the four mortal girls departed. She shivered in the cold wind. Until her daughter was returned to her, never again would she feel warm. She closed her eyes again. She would see her daughter; Demeter bowed her head, not knowing where to look next for her daughter.

  Too soon, the mortal girls returned to the well with smiles and their faces and news that their mother would see her. Demeter came to her feet and followed the girls to their father’s house in the city. The mortal child Kallidike spoke to her of a boy-child the Queen had borne to her husband; the baby had taken ill, the girl explained.

  Demeter gave the child no indication that she heard anything the girl-child had said as they wound their way through the city streets. Several of the people greeted the girls kindly, but they said not a word to her. The goddess stayed on the path the girls walked to a large building on the opposite side of the city. On the inside, she followed them to their mother’s chambers where a large fire burned. She remembered just how warming her sister Hestia’s could be.

  But Demeter stayed in the threshold, looking in to watch the mortal girls scamper to their mother’s side. Their mother stood form where she had been sitting next to a cradle and turned towards the door. For an instant, Demeter thought she saw the mortal woman’s eyes widen.

  “Please, grandmother,” the Queen said, “enter my chamber and sit yourself on my throne.” Demeter cast her eyes to the floor and took several steps inside but remained just inside the door, even as the whispers around her grew louder. “Iambe,” the Queen commanded, “bring our guest a chair covered in sheepskin.”

  From out of nowhere, a serv
ant came to her side with the chair the Queen had ordered brought. The goddess sat as another servant approached with a goblet of wine. Demeter kept her eyes, unblinking, focused on the stone floor.

  “My Queen,” Demeter said, “I would ask only for barley water flavored with mint.”

  The goddess saw the mortal Queen smile and nod. She closed her eyes for an instant. Nine sunrises had passed since her daughter had vanished! Could it only have been nine days? It felt as if ten thousand summers had passed unnoticed since she had last set eyes upon her daughter. Who had taken her? And where? She had searched all the places she thought her daughter might have gone to no avail. She had found nothing and now she sat here in front of a mortal, begging for the woman’s pitiful notice.

  She opened her eyes again to see a mortal approach with a goblet in her hands. Demeter accepted the drink and cast her eyes again to the floor. Her daughter was gone, nowhere to be found. The voices of the Queen, her daughters and servants were just sounds in her ears, their words held no meaning. They could not help her find her daughter, no mortal any mortal could.

  The servant who had brought her the chair came in front of her, a smile on her face. The words she spoke brought laughter from those around her. Her comments continued; this time with a grin decorating her face from one side to the other. The goddess focused on the mortal woman as she danced in a circle. Her good spirits were infectious –Demeter felt the edges of her lips betray her and curl up.