Greek mythology and heroic legends

Author: Zheng Zhenduo / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features:
1. At the beginning of ancient times, there was a king named Aeolus who ruled over Thessaly, a region known for producing fine horses. He had seven sons, and according to the customs of the time, they were all scattered to seek their happiness in various parts of the world. He also had five beautiful daughters, all of whom married princes from neighboring kingdoms. All of Aeolus's children became prosperous and famous wherever they went; the gods initially helped him and his sons because he was the son of the righteous Deucalion. However, some of them grew arrogant due to their wealth and were wrathed by the gods, leading to their downfall. There is no time to narrate the stories of all of Aeolus's descendants, but only those of the immortal heroes who were sung about by Greek bards.
2. The two sons of Aloeus, Aeolus's daughter Canace, had an extraordinary love for the sea from a young age. Many times, while playing with her companions in the palace gardens, she would seize the opportunity to leave them and wander alone on the shore, gazing dreamily at the green waves rolling forward and backward. Her heart would drift away with the surging seawater. When she grew into a woman, the magic of the sea made her feel the roar of the waves as if a lover were whispering softly and tenderly in her ear. One day, her heart filled with an unnamed longing, she bent down and immersed her white arms in the rippling tide, as if she longed to embrace the blue saltwater in her arms. Suddenly, she realized that there were arms in the sea welcoming her, and another heart beating against her chest. She sank into a happy dream. When Canace regained her senses, she found herself lying alone on the shore. The twilight quickly enveloped everything, pushing and leaping foam like ghostly white waves around her feet. Under the vast, darkening sea waves, she could still hear the sound of four horses galloping and see a chariot with a tall figure inside. He seemed taller than ordinary people, holding a massive trident high in his hand, shining like moonlight in the twilight. At that moment, she realized that the one with her was Poseidon himself, and she returned to her father's palace with joy and trembling.
Not long after, the king married Canace to a brave chieftain named Aloeus. But when she gave birth to her first two sets of twins, rumors soon spread that the twins were born by a god. Because the two sets of twins were extraordinarily alike, no one could distinguish between them. Their bodies were enormous, and their strength was immense; they grew far faster than other children, as their bodies widened by an elbow each year and grew taller by a fathom each year. Moreover, they possessed a fierce, restless, and unruly spirit. Thus, Aloeus and his people feared these huge children so much that he quietly resolved to kill them before things got worse. But Canace, guessing his intentions from something he happened to say, cried out for his mercy and confessed that though they were not his children, they were indeed Poseidon's. Hearing this, Aloeus feared the wrath of the sea king and dared not harm them. The two children were named Otus and Ephialtes, and they were raised in the king's palace for nine years, being called Aloeus's sons and taking his name. But by the time they were nine years old, they were already nine elbows wide and nine fathoms tall. At that time, Otus and Ephialtes believed themselves so great and powerful that they could stand shoulder to shoulder with the gods. Thus, they foolishly challenged the gods. Because the rest of humanity seemed to them like insignificant ants—so it was true—they had no choice but to seek opponents in the heavens to fight.
Now, after winning a battle, their hearts grew even more proud. When the god of war, Ares, heard them boast that they would fight each god on Mount Olympus one by one, he came down to meet them with his weapons. Otus and Ephialtes dragged the war god from his chariot, broke his spear as if it were a reed, and bound his hands and feet with bronze chains. Then, they threw the furious Ares into the underground dungeon of Aloeus's palace. He lay there helplessly until Hermes secretly entered the dungeon at night and freed him.
Meanwhile, these two arrogant brothers ran to the mountains of Thessaly, threatening loudly that they would uproot Mount Ossa and pile it on top of the lush Pelion Mountain to reach the heavens. They foolishly did not know that Zeus's fiery lightning would turn them to dust! But Poseidon saved them from this fate. Just as Zeus raised his hand to hurl lightning, he stopped it, pleading for his unruly sons. Zeus agreed, and Poseidon quickly rushed down the valley of Mount Ossa, standing solemnly before them to reveal that he was their true father and forbade them from challenging the gods again to avoid self-destruction.
At this time, the twin giants obeyed their divine father's words, but soon forgot his warning and plotted to humiliate the gods of Mount Olympus by abducting two goddesses to be their wives. Otus said he wanted only the goddess Hera as his wife, while Ephialtes chose the huntress goddess Artemis, having once seen her beauty shining in the forests of Thessaly. The brothers drew lots to decide which goddess they should abduct first. The result was Artemis. They searched everywhere for her, finding all the places she loved. Their search was not in vain, because Artemis had discovered their evil plan. She appeared before them in the Phocis Valley near the sea and had a cruel revenge in mind.
The two twin brothers saw her and shouted, rushing forward. The goddess ran away like a deer, leaping over mountains and valleys in front of them, but she kept turning back to make sure they did not lose her. They ran after her, always a spear's length behind, unable to catch up. They chased her all the way to the seashore. Artemis still ran like a silver arrow, but she took the land route, while her pursuers ran on the waves, just as lightly as she, because all Poseidon's sons possessed this ability. Thus, they arrived at the wooded coast of Naxos. But just as Otus and Ephialtes caught up with her there, the goddess vanished. They saw a white deer instead, which ran into the green forest. Their desire to capture this white deer was so strong that they forgot everything else. They chased it for a while, losing it in the thickets. They began to search like hunting dogs. Suddenly, they both saw the white deer standing before them, looking at them, but they did not notice that it was their own brother standing in front of them! Otus and Ephialtes threw their spears at the same time, but in that instant, the white deer disappeared, and the twin giants struck each other, being struck by their own spears.
At this moment, Artemis reappeared, walked closer to them, and smiled coldly as she watched them die, telling them herself how she had deceived them. But it was too late. She said, "I think I have avenged myself, Aloeus's sons. You have avenged the humiliation you brought upon me. Not only are you dead, but you have also killed each other with your own hands, the brothers you loved." (P22-26)