Parallel Myths

Subsection 1 Summary: “Greek and Roman Myths of Love”

Note: The Roman poet Ovid is the source for many of the following myths, and so the gods are designated with their Roman rather than Greek names.

Cupid and Psyche

There once lived a king with three daughters. The youngest daughter, Psyche, is so beautiful, kind, and innocent that the entire world soon becomes aware of her, comparing her to Venus (Aphrodite in Greek), the goddess of beauty; over time, people even stop visiting Venus’s temples. Venus grows angry and orders her son, Cupid, to make the ugliest man in the world fall in love with Psyche. Cupid, however, upon seeing Psyche, falls in love with her himself. He says nothing to Venus, who eventually notices that no one has fallen in love with Psyche and she seems destined to never be married. Psyche’s parents seek the advice of the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. Not wishing to anger his sister Venus, Apollo tells Psyche’s parents that their daughter is destined have a “horrible, winged serpent” as a lover and that they must take her to an isolated mountain to meet this serpent (137). Reluctantly, they obey, leaving Psyche on an abandoned mountaintop. Psyche weeps at her fate, but the next morning, she awakens in a beautiful palace surrounded by servants. During the night, she hears her lover’s voice and feels his body—more like a beautiful youth than an ugly serpent. However, she never sees his face, and he tells her she never can, or else he will leave her.

One day, she persuades her lover into letting her sisters visit the palace. They are awed by its splendor and ask her many questions about her lover, but her answers are dodgy and inconsistent. They taunt her with the notion that her lover is indeed a monster, and she is more resolved than ever to see his face. One night, she waits up for him, and when he slips into bed, she fetches a lamp with which to see his face. She is stunned by his beauty, but she spills lamp oil on him, waking him up. He is angry at Psyche for betraying his trust, and he flees the palace to the home of Venus, his mother. When he tells Venus the story, she hates Psyche even more, jealous of her beauty and for having her son as a lover.

Psyche, fearing the wrath of Venus, begs the goddess for mercy, vowing to serve her for the rest of her days. Venus gives Psyche a task: separate poppy, millet, and mustard seeds before nightfall. Realizing the task is impossible, Psyche begins to cry, but the ants, seeing her tears, take pity on her and help her separate the seeds. When Venus sees the task has been completed, she becomes even angrier. That evening, Psyche is forced to sleep on the cold floor with only a morsel of bread to eat. The next morning, Venus orders Psyche to gather some golden fleece from her flock of sacred sheep. The sheep, however, have heads like lions, and Psyche fears she will be torn apart trying to accomplish this task. As she sits by the riverbank, a reed advises her to gather stray fleece left behind in the brambles. She does and has now completed the second task.

Still determined to destroy Psyche, Venus gives her a third task: fill a pitcher from a waterfall on the river Styx. Once again, the task appears impossible. The rocks to the waterfall are too slippery and could easily sweep her away to the land of the dead. A great eagle—likely Jupiter (Zeus in Greek) in disguise—carries her to the waterfall, where she soon completes the third task. Not to be deterred, Venus next sends Psyche to the Underworld to ask Persephone for some of her beauty (all of her scheming has begun to take its toll on Venus’s beauty).

At the border to the Underworld, Psyche has no money to pay Charon, the ferryman, to transport her across the river Styx. However, a guide—likely the god Mercury—gives her a honey cake to pay for passage. Charon takes her across the river, and Persephone gladly gives her some of her beauty. As she leaves the Underworld, however, Psyche’s curiosity gets the better of her, and she opens the box she received. It appears empty, but Psyche falls into a deep sleep. Cupid, having escaped from Venus’s chambers, finds Psyche asleep in the Underworld. He returns the beauty to the box and wakes her with a kiss. As Psyche takes the box to Venus, Cupid asks Jupiter to unite him and Psyche forever. Jupiter grants his wish, Psyche drinks ambrosia, making her immortal, “[a]nd so it was that physical love and the soul were united” (142).

Pyramus and Thisbe

In the city of Babylon, two youths, Pyramus and Thisbe, live next to each other. They soon fall in love, but their parents forbid them from seeing each other. Resolving to defy their parents’ restrictions, they decide to meet under a mulberry tree near the tomb of Nimus even though a fierce lioness guards the tomb. As Thisbe approaches the tomb, she sees the lioness, her jaws dripping with blood. Assuming she has devoured Pyramus, Thisbe runs, dropping her cloak behind her. Pyramus, however, is still alive, but when he sees the lioness standing on Thisbe’s cloak, he also assumes the worst. Overcome with grief, he plunges his dagger into his heart, and his blood stains the berries of the mulberry tree. Thisbe sees the dying Pyramus, and she, too, plunges his dagger into her heart. The gods observe the tragic scene and decree that mulberries shall remain forever red in honor of the ill-fated lovers. They also allow Pyramus and Thisbe to be together for all eternity, despite their mutual suicides.

Baucis and Philemon

To get a true sense of the behavior of the mortals, Jupiter and Mercury disguise themselves as beggars and enter the city of Phrygia, but not one door is opened in charity or hospitality. Finally, they come to the tiny home of Baucis and Philemon, who are quite poor themselves but offer everything they have to the ragged strangers. As the gods partake of the elderly couple’s hospitality, the wine flows endlessly, and the food never runs out. The couple is mystified. When the gods reveal themselves, Baucis and Philemon “fell to the ground in reverence” (144). In anger at Phrygia’s lack of hospitality, Jupiter floods the fields, killing Baucis and Philemon’s neighbors. The couple’s hut, however, remains dry and transforms into a beautiful marble temple, and the gods designate Baucis and Philemon high priest and priestess. They care for the temple for many years until they become too old to fulfill their duties. Jupiter then turns them into an oak tree with two entwined trunks so they may be together forever.

Vertumnus and Pomona

A beautiful wood nymph named Pomona lives among the grapevines and apple trees. She has many suitors, but she is more interested in the orchards than in love. Vertumnus, who is “partly immortal,” pursues her relentlessly, giving her gifts that she accepts without thanks. Vertumnus then disguises himself as a shepherd, and Pomona scorns his lack of sophistication. Next, he assumes the guise of an old woman, and Pomona is actually gracious. He tells the nymph that she is the most beautiful flower in the orchard, and he kisses her. She is repulsed, but Vertumnus, pointing to the grapevines growing on the trellis, notes how the vines and the trellis are interdependent. Pomona wishes to run away, but Venus tells the young nymph that Vertumnus is her true love and they are fated to be married. Pomona sees little choice, so she complies, and over time she does indeed fall in love with him. Vertumnus’s illustration of the trellis and grapevine proves true: Two lovers are incomplete without one another.

Apollo and Daphne

Daphne, daughter of the river god Peneus, is a free-spirited wood nymph, more interested in hunting and fishing than in love. Apollo, upon seeing Daphne, falls deeply in love with her, but she is indifferent to his overtures. Relationships with gods can be complicated, after all. Utterly obsessed, Apollo chases her through the forest. Knowing she cannot outrun the god, Daphne is terrified and asks Peneus to save her. Her feet become tree roots and her arms branches; she turns into a laurel tree, which has become the sacred tree of Apollo.

Subsection 2 Summary: “Two Peruvian Love Stories”

Coniraya and Cavillaca

Coniraya, an ancient divine spirit (huaca), comes to earth disguised as a poor shepherd. Some see him as a mere peasant, but others see through the façade to the wise teacher underneath. He falls in love with Cavillaca, another huaca “of the highest lineage” (148). Thinking Coniraya beneath her, she ignores him, so he transforms himself into a bird and his sperm into a lucma fruit, Cavillaca’s favorite. When she eats it, she becomes pregnant, giving birth to a son. As a virgin, she knows this must be the work of another huaca, so she summons them all to find out the identity of the father. Not one of the huacas admits to being the father, but Cavillaca’s son, recognizing his true father, crawls to Coniraya, who is still in his shepherd guise. Cavillaca runs away in outrage.

Coniraya still loves Cavillaca, and he asks the animals to help him find her. First, he asks the condor, and because he tells the truth, Coniraya blesses him, allowing him to fly and nest higher than any other bird. Next, he asks the fox, but the fox lies, telling him Cavillaca passed through many days before. Coniraya knows this is a lie, so he curses the fox, and to this day, the Andean people consider the fox a bad omen. He then asks the puma, who tells the truth—that he saw Cavillaca only recently. As a reward, Coniraya blesses the puma, designating it the “executioner of evildoers” (148-49). He then meets a group of parrots who only repeat his questions, so he curses them with loud voices to make them easier to hunt. When he finally reaches the sea, he finds that Cavillaca and his son have been turned to stone by the goddess Urpi-Huachac. As revenge, he makes love to one of her daughters and releases all of her sacred fish into the ocean.

Ollantay and Cusicollur

Ollantay is a noble warrior, but he breaks a sacred taboo by falling in love with Cusicollur, the great Inca’s daughter. They visit a priest to be secretly married, but the priest cannot marry a “commoner” to a daughter of the Inca. Cusicollur argues that the greater sin is keeping them apart. Later, Cusicollur learns she is pregnant, and her father sends her away to the temple of the sun. She gives birth to a daughter, Yma Sumac, but the child is taken from her to be raised by the priestesses separately. Meanwhile, the Inca sentences Ollantay to death. The Inca’s soldiers pursue Ollantay and his men. They fight, and Ollantay’s soldiers are victorious, although the Empire’s general, Rumanahui, ambushes Ollantay and takes him prisoner. On the road back, the great Inca dies, and his son, Cusicollur’s brother and Ollantay’s childhood friend, assumes the throne. Hoping for a reprieve, Ollantay is told that, despite their friendship, the new Inca must carry out his father’s orders. In his defense, Ollantay argues that gods decide who loves whom, not man, and therefore he is fated to marry Cusicollur. His words persuade the Inca, and he revokes the death sentence. Ollantay and Cusicollur are married, and Ollantay is named the Inca’s chief general.

Subsection 3 Summary: “Angus Og (Scotland and Ireland)”

Angus Og, the Gaelic god of love, is forever youthful and in love. The song of the birds that flutter around his head makes people fall in love. Angus falls desperately in love with a girl, Caer, but neither his mother, Boanna, nor the Supreme Being, Dagda, can find her. Finally, Bov the Red, who knows all mysteries, finds her at the Lake of the Dragon’s Mouth. When Bov takes Angus to see his love, he finds 150 beautiful maidens around the lake, all walking in pairs tethered by chains of pure gold. The tallest of these is Caer. Angus wants to run off with her, but Bov warns that it’s not so easy to separate her from her pair. Since Caer is a daughter of a prince of Connacht, Angus visits the king and queen of the province to ask for their help, but they are powerless. When Angus approaches Caer’s father to ask for his daughter’s hand, he refuses, saying that Caer is a woman only six months of the year (the other six, she is a swan, as are the other maidens around the lake). On the feast of Samhain, Angus goes to the lake and asks Caer, now a swan, to marry him. When he speaks his name, he is also transformed into a swan, and he and Caer live together for all time.

Subsection 4 Summary: “Algon and the Sky-Girl (Algonquin Indian)”

Algon, a great hunter, finds circle patterns cut into the grass, and so he hides, hoping to discover the cause. He sees a “willow basket” descending from the sky bearing 12 woman; he instantly falls in love with the youngest and most beautiful. Algon approaches the women, but they are startled, and the basket bears them away into the sky. After trying and failing three more times, he turns himself into a mouse and hides in a hollow log with a family of other mice. When the women return to sing and dance in the prairie, the mice run among them. The women stomp on them, killing all but Algon, who returns to his human form and carries the beautiful maiden off to his village. Over time, she falls in love with him, and they have a son, but she eventually grows homesick. She builds another basket and places her son in it, and they fly off together to her home in the sky. For years, Algon sits in the grass circles, awaiting the return of his wife and son.

Meanwhile, Algon’s son reaches maturity, and he begins to ask questions about his father. These questions make Sky-Girl miss Algon, and so she asks her chief permission to return to earth. He consents, on the condition that she return with him along with the “identifying features of each of the earth animals” (154). They return, and Algon is ecstatic to see them again. As bidden, he gathers features of various animals: a bear claw, a feather from various birds, racoon’s teeth, deer horns. They return to Sky-country, and the Sky chief divides these tokens among his people; Algon and Sky-Girl keep the falcon feather for themselves, and in time, they become falcons, forever journeying between earth and sky.

Subsection 1 Summary: “Morality Tales from the Mahabharata (India)”

The Virtue of Compassion

A hunter goes out in search of antelope. He brings with him a bow and a quiver full of poison arrows. He spots a herd of antelope, but all of his shots miss their target. One arrow, however, strikes an ancient tree, the home of a wise old parrot. Soon, the tree withers, but the parrot refuses to leave the only home it has ever known. The sky god, Indra, decides to visit the parrot in the form of a Brahman. He asks the parrot why it doesn’t leave the dying tree, and the parrot replies that it cannot leave the friend that has sheltered it and given it food its whole life. Indra is touched by the parrot’s loyalty and restores life to the tree, claiming: “I have brought the tree back to life, but it is really you, the faithful parrot, that kept it alive” (156).

The King, the Hawk, and the Pigeon

A pigeon is being chased by a hawk. Fearing for his life, the pigeon asks for help from King Vrishadarbha, who vows to give him sanctuary. Then the hawk approaches the king and asks him to hand over the pigeon so he doesn’t starve. Reluctant to do so, the king agrees to donate his own flesh to the hawk equal in weight to the pigeon. He weighs the pigeon and begins cutting off pieces of his own flesh, but each time he does, the pigeon weighs more. This continues until the king is little more than a skeleton. The gods, having watched the whole scene, are moved by the king’s compassion. They rain nectar down upon his palace and restore his body to full health. Indra carries him to heaven in his chariot, proclaiming, “He who puts himself at risk to help another is truly a friend of the gods” (158).

Gautama and the Elephant

A sage named Gautama finds an orphaned baby elephant and cares for it until it is fully grown. Watching this, Indra comes to the earth in the form of a king and tries to take the elephant, arguing that such a magnificent beast should be the property of a king. Gautama counters that he views the elephant not as property but as a companion. Indra tries all manner of persuasion—money, cattle, maidens—but Gautama refuses to part with his elephant. Indra even threatens to bring his case to Brahma the Creator, but Gautama replies that Brahma, more than anyone, understands the power of love. He sees through Indra’s disguise as the god who “tests the wise” (159). Thus revealed, Indra offers Gautama any reward for his loyalty, but Gautama only wants to remain with his elephant. Years later, as Gautama is near death, Indra takes him and his elephant to live together in heaven.

Subsection 2 Summary: “Anansi the Spider (West Africa)”

Anansi and the Ear of Corn

Anansi, once a human and now in spider form, asks God for an ear of corn, promising to repay him with 100 servants. God gives him the corn, and Anansi travels to a village where he asks for shelter for the night. He tells the villagers that he carries a sacred ear of corn from God and he needs to keep it safe. During the night, he feeds the corn to the chickens. In the morning, Anansi cries out that his corn was stolen and that God will surely bring down his wrath upon the village. The villagers give him a whole bushel of corn as compensation. Back on the road, Anansi trades the bushel for a chicken, and when he comes to the next village, he asks for shelter, for he carries a “sacred” chicken. The village throws him a great feast and provides him a house in which to sleep. During the night, Anansi kills the chicken and smears its blood and feathers on the door of the chief’s house. The next morning, Anansi warns the village that God will punish them for killing his sacred chicken, and the village offers him 10 sheep in exchange. Once again on the road, Anansi encounters a group of men carrying a corpse back to their village for a proper burial. He trades the sheep for the corpse and continues on his way. At the next village, Anansi claims he is carrying a son of God, sleeping, and they need a place to rest. Again, Anansi is treated like royalty and given shelter for the night. The next morning, Anansi asks for help waking the son of God. The villagers beat drums and pound on the corpse’s chest, to no avail. Anansi cries that they have killed the son of God and He will surely destroy the world. Terrified, the villagers offer Anansi 100 of their finest men as slaves to appease God. Thus, Anansi turned one ear of corn into 100 servants.

How Anansi “Tricked” God

Growing tired of Anansi’s boasting, God gives him a sack and tells him to bring back the “something” that God is thinking of. Puzzled, Anansi asks the birds for advice. They don’t know what God is thinking, but they each give him a feather to allow him to fly. He creates a beautiful feather cape and flies to heaven, perching on a branch near God’s house. No one in heaven, including God, can identify this strange “bird.” Someone suggests asking Anansi, but the consensus is that he will be difficult to find since God has sent him on an impossible task: to bring to Him the sun and the moon in a sack. The python advises him to collect the sun in the west while it sleeps and the moon in the east. He does so, and God is so impressed by his cleverness, he makes Anansi his earthly “captain.”

Anansi and the Chameleon

Anansi is rich and owns the most bountiful fields in the village, while the Chameleon is poor, his fields dry and dusty. One year, rain falls on the Chameleon’s fields, making them plentiful, while Anansi’s fields remain dry. Anansi offers to buy the Chameleon’s fields, but he refuses. When Anansi tries to steal Chameleon’s crops, Chameleon chases him away, but Anansi sues him for possession of the land. The chief asks Chameleon for proof that the fields are his, but since chameleons leave no footprints, he cannot offer any. Anansi, on the other hand, shows the chief his footprints all over the fields as proof, and the chief awards the fields to him.

Chameleon then digs a vast underground cavern, its size disguised by a small entrance hole. He makes himself a cloak of vines and flies and walks down the road until he finds Anansi. Anansi sees the cloak—shining in many colors—and offers to buy it. Chameleon agrees on the condition that Anansi fill his little hole with food. Anansi likewise agrees, giving the cloak to the chief as a gift. He then sets out fill the hole with food, but after weeks, the hole is still not full. Anansi realizes he has been tricked. Around the same time, the chief is walking with the cloak when the vines break, releasing all the flies and leaving the chief naked. Furious with Anansi, he orders Chameleon’s fields returned to him and the best of Anansi’s fields as well. That year, all of Chameleon’s fields receive copious amounts of rain, making him the richest in the village.

How Anansi Became a Spider

Once, when Anansi—still in human form—sees a ram eating in his fields, he kills it with a rock. When he realizes he has killed the king’s prize ram, he ties the ram’s body to a tree and tells a spider that he has discovered a tree rich with nuts. The spider immediately goes to find the tree. Anansi then tells the king the spider has killed his prize ram; as evidence, the ram is tied to the tree where the spider is spinning webs. The king is enraged, and he offers Anansi a reward for the information. Anansi then warns the spider of the king’s anger and suggests he plead with him for mercy. When the king tells his wife what happened, she says the spider must be innocent—a small spider could never hoist a huge ram into a tree, nor could its web ever bear the ram’s weight. Realizing Anansi’s deception, the king orders him brought before his court. Anansi, not knowing the king is on to him, asks for his reward. In anger, the king kicks Anansi so hard that he breaks into many pieces and transforms into a spider.

Subsection 3 Summary: “Greek Morality Tales”

Icarus and Daedalus

When Daedalus, “the greatest builder of all time” (165), helps Theseus escape from his labyrinth, and Theseus flees Crete with King Minos’s daughter, Ariadne, the king locks Daedalus in a high tower with his son Icarus. Daedalus gathers bird feathers and beeswax and builds an enormous set of wings with which to escape. Icarus, being lighter than his father, agrees to test the wings. Daedalus warns his son not to fly to low (he might drown in the ocean) or too high (the sun would melt the beeswax). Icarus tests the wings and finds flying exhilarating, so much so that he forgets his father’s advice and flies too close to the sun. The wax melts, the wings fall apart, and Icarus plunges to his death.

Arachne

Arachne is the finest weaver and spinner in all of Greece. When she boasts that her cloth is finer even than that of Athena (the patroness of weavers and spinners), the goddess grows angry. Athena comes to earth and challenges Arachne to a spinning contest. She finds the mortal’s work impressive indeed, but her arrogance in Athena’s presence becomes too much, and the goddess turns Arachne into a spider. Thus, she can spend the rest of her days spinning to her heart’s content.

Midas

When Dionysus’s son, Silenus, stumbles into a whirlpool (drunk, as usual), he nearly drowns, but he is saved by King Midas. In gratitude, Dionysus grants him a wish. King Midas wishes for everything he touches to turn to gold. While at first, Midas enjoys his new power, soon his food and even his daughter turn to gold. He fears he will starve. Feeling pity for the king and believing he has learned his lesson, Dionysus removes the golden touch.

In another Midas tale, the king attends a musical contest between Apollo and the mortal Marsyas. The judge, a river god, deems Apollo the winner, but Midas contests the decision, claiming the mortal is a match for Apollo. Angered by the king’s challenge, Apollo turns Midas’s ears into those of an ass. Midas conceals his shameful secret by wearing a cap; only his barber knows the truth, and Midas swears him to secrecy. Unable to keep the secret any longer, the barber whispers it into the river. When a reed grows, it echoes the secret to the whole world, and Midas has the barber killed for violating their agreement.

Narcissus

Narcissus, a young man possessed of great beauty, must never be allowed to see his own reflection, foretells the seer Teiresias, if he wants to live a long life. One of the many under the spell of Narcissus’s beauty is Echo, a nymph cursed by Hera to only repeat what she’s heard. As Narcissus calls to Echo, Echo repeats his calls, causing him to pursue her. When he finally sees Echo, Narcissus judges her not worthy of him, another in a long line of rejected suitors. One such suitor is Ameinius, who kills himself after being spurned. He calls on the gods to avenge his death, a call the gods are happy to answer. They are quite tired of Narcissus’s vanity and cruelty to others. When Narcissus sits by a riverbank and gazes at his reflection in the water, he is so in love with his own image that he leans over to kiss his reflection, falls in, and drowns.

Tantalus

King Tantalus enjoys the favor of the gods and dines with them, feasting on nectar and ambrosia. Trying to impress his neighbors, he invites the gods to his house for dinner, but he discovers later he doesn’t have enough food. He then kills his son and makes him into stew, claiming it is goat meat. The gods are not fooled by this deception. As punishment, they take away his kingdom, and Zeus kills him. In the Underworld, Tantalus is tied to a tree, unable to eat its fruit or drink the water just below his chin, both “tantalizingly” out of reach.