Dear Gali,
Oh thank you I'd love to hear it!!!! Can't wait In the meantime where are you Robert?! Yes more lais more lais!!
Lots of Love
Seamistress

Dear Knowflakes

I'm sorry I have neglected this dear and precious thread for so long but I promise to awake the myths we all know and love. Since there's so much talk of tarot at the moment I thought perhaps I'd narrate the story of Icarus and Daedalus as found in the Mythic Tarot (told in wands).

Daedalus was one of the smartest men in the world, so smart that King Minos of Crete employed him to design a labyrinth so confusing that not even he himself could escape. Daedalus did as his king bid him and so that was where the legendary Minotaur lived. A half human, half bull son of the Minos' wife, Queen Pasiphae when she hid in a wooden cow which Zeus saw, who then turned himself into a bull.. and you know the rest.
Due to a covenant made between Minos and Aegeus (King of Athens), several children were sent from Athens each year to Crete and fed to the Minotaur by throwing the children into the maze. In order to stop this, Theseus, Aegeus' son went to Crete to stop this slaughter. Disguised as a child who would enter the maze he immediately caught the attention of Minos' daughter Ariadne who went to Daedalus and begged him to show Theseus a way out of the maze. Daedalus went to Theseus with a ball of twine and told him to attach it to the entrance and unroll it as he walks through the maze so he knows how to get to the beginning again. Using this method Theseus was able to kill the Minotaur and he took Ariadne back with him.
When Minos heard that Daedalus had betrayed him, he locked him and his son Icarus in the maze that no one could escape. However Daedalus had an idea, he gathered enough feathers, wood and wax to make himself and Icarus a pair of wings to fly out. Before leaving Daedalus warned Icarus not to go too high in the sky or the Sun would melt the wax and not to go too low or the sea would dampen his feathers and he would drown. Unfortunately being a boy and unwilling to listen, Icarus flew all over the sky eventually the Sun would melt his wings and he would plummet to the sea and smash against a group of rocks. Overcome with grief, Daedalus still continued onto Cumae in Naples and from there to Sicily where he worked for the King.
Minos grew angrier and plotted his revenge as he sailed to Sicily. Once received by the king of Sicily, Minos proposed a contest with a reward to anyone who could thread a spiral shell. Daedalus, unaware that King Minos had arranged this contest, entered the competition. He got a piece of thread which he attached to an ant. He put the ant on the larger opening of the shell and let it walk the whole way into the smaller opening at the bottom. Once Minos saw this he knew it was Daedalus and wanted to kill him. Before he could he was slain himself.
And so Daedalus lived his years out on the island of Sicily happily as a carpenter for the King. There he built for the King many things including a golden honeycomb for the temple of Aphrodite on Mount Eryx. His name, Daedalus means artful, quite appropriate don't you think?

continue the mythical dreaming

Lots of Love
Seamistress

Nice! Way to go Seamistress!

Beautifully told, Seamistress! I've always thought the story of Icarus in particular is one of the most poignant and profound tales in all of mythology.

What Greg said! Wow, I absolutely ADORE this myth and always have. What a treat. Thank you for reviving this thread, Seamistress. It is just what I needed. Now we HAVE to entice Sir Robert back. Maybe we should call that mysterious phone number???
Anyway, thanks AGAIN Seamistress.

~Gal

!!! !!!

Lots of Love
Seamistress

Dearest Seamistress ...

Thank you ever so much ... now that is so refreshing and I am glad you are back with your magic ...

More myths, please, please, please ...

Love
druid

Dearest druid,

it shall be done!

Lots of Love
Seamistress

Dear Knowflakes

Well I thought I'd give you some more myths on Greek literature, not only because I like giving it to you but also because tomorrow's my end of year exam and I could really use the revision so . . . . . I bring you Euripedes' The Bacchae. Now I warn you this is a gross play, so much so that not many people liked Euripedes. His characters were below human moral and generally he was not a popular guy. Twice he had to come on stage during the performances of his plays to explain to the audience why he had put a certain scene into his plays, that's how much the public didn't like him. Eventually the poor fella went into voluntary exile in Macedonia. The Bacchae was the last play he wrote and was put on stage in Athens shortly after his death.
The Bacchae revolves around the god Dionysus. I think that Dionysus is a Gemini, he had both female and male personalities and besides being the god of wine, he also controlled the mind. The Dionysic festivals were obviously held in honour of him.
Dionysus was born of Semele and Zeus. Semele was a mortal woman and once Hera (Zeus' wife) discovered that she bore Zeus' son she plotted against Semele. She told her to ask Zeus to show himself to her in his full glory, his full glory being lightning and so she was scorched to death. Lesson to all; never mess with Hera! When Zeus saw what he had done he took the unborn child and placed it in his thigh using it as a womb until the child was ready to be born. That's why people say that Dionysus was twice born, once taken from his mother and once born from Zeus' thigh. Twisted family I know .
Anyway no one believed that Dionysus was really a god let alone that Semele slept with Zeus so Dionysus swore to wreak vengeance on the town of Thebes (Semele's hometown). At the time the king was Cadmus, his daughter Aguaë had a son called Pentheus, he was generally a ruler of Thebes too. The play was set around the time when the annual Bacchic festival was held; the women of Thebes had become possessed by Dionysus and had run mad into the hills of Cithaeron to worship their new god. Among them was Aguaë. When Pentheus heard of this ill news he gathered his men and prepared to bring down the women of Thebes and curse this man who called himself the god Dionysus.
As you can imagine, Dionysus was not thrilled to be thought of as a mere man so he also sought revenge on Pentheus. Disguising himself as a mortal, Dionysus ensured the capture of himself and sought the opportunity to speak to Pentheus. Always talking in riddle and never letting his true identity slip Dionysus managed to trick Pentheus and slowly drive him mad. Luring him to want to see his mother and her acts upon Mount Cithaeron, Dionysus convinces Pentheus to dress in women's clothing! Dionysus does not make a man immediately go mad, he slowly hypnotises them in a bewitching manner.
So once Pentheus was under Dionysus' spell the two went up to Mount Cithaeron. Unaware that he was with Dionysus, Pentheus climbed a tree to get a closer look at the women when lo and behold comes Dionysus' voice in its full glory telling the mesmerised women of Pentheus' presence in the hills. They immediately look up in the tree and there he is shaking like a mouse. All the savage women gather round shaking the tree to and fro until Pentheus finally falls from his perch. The women then step aside as Aguaë, the leader of the pack steps up to Pentheus and not realising it is his son she rips his body to shreds! Soon the whole gang joined in, tearing his limbs off while he is still alive and eating at his flesh! Because they are in a trance they don't realise that this is a man and believe it is a mountain lion.
Once the feast is over Aguaë walks down from the mountain holding Pentheus' head in her hands, excited to show her father Cadmus what she had hunted. At the door of the palace the mourning Cadmus has received the rest of Pentheus' body while Aguaë walks in still mesmerised. She shows Cadmus what she has killed and he is absolutely horrified when he sees his grandson's face! Soon Aguaë comes to and realises what she has done, naturally she is extremely shocked at what she has done and leaves Thebes going into voluntary exile.
It seems the audience is at this point persuaded to hate the god Dionysus as he coolly says to Cadmus and Aguaë that what he did avenge himself and now all of Thebes will know he is a god. The last paragraph in the play is spoken by a chorus and is a very strong warning to mankind:

quote:

---

"Gods manifest themselves in many forms,
Bring many matters to surprising ends;
The things we thought would happen do not happen;
The unexpected God makes possible:
And that is what has happened here today."

---

Lots of Love
Seamistress

Thanks, Seamistress -- beautifully told, as usual. (Although not exactly a beautiful tale!) I've missed your myths, hope the end of class doesn't mean your interest will wane, you're a great storyteller!

!!! !!!

I am very new to this site and I have enjoyed reading what was here but I have a question for anyone who might know has anyone ever heard of a roc it is a mythical bird of enormous size and strength but my knowledge ends there so if anyone has anymore info on it would you please let me know many thanks take care be well

Oh thanks you guys! You are so sweet

Dear Greg,
Not a chance! I still love these myths

Dear Essence,

Lots of Love
Seamistress

Welcome clearseas

Yes I've heard of the roc. It was an Arabian mythological bird that was absolutely huge. The myth is thought to be related from other cultures such as Turkish, Egyptian and Babylonian. It's found in the Sinbad stories and transported him to the valley of diamonds.

THE GIANT ROC

Sinbad had many adventures in his life, his second voyage upon a ship took him far to an isle which was rich with harvest. Sinbad and his crew decided to sleep here for the night, but when Sinbad woke up he found that his crew was gone and his ship was sailing far off into the distance. He climbed up a tree to see if there was anyone on this island that could help him escape but all he could see was a white speck. He decided to go and explore this speck and found it to be a huge oval object, white and smooth. There were no openings inside and he was puzzled as to who would build such a building on this island. Suddenly the sky grew dark as a shadow hovered over Sinbad and he saw it was a roc. A large bird that could easily eat elephants! The white thing was actually its egg.
Sinbad came up with a plan, he tied himself to the roc's leg with his turban and waited for the bird to fly off to take him to another destination. Soon enough the roc was off into the sky flying at such heights with such speed the Sinbad fainted. When he awoke he found that he was in another place and the roc was eating up a large serpent. He quickly untied himself from the roc and it flew away with the serpent in its mouth. When Sinbad looked around he was amazed. There were diamonds absolutely everywhere and he knew that he was in the Valley of Diamonds. In the distance he saw a whole pile of large serpents such as the roc had eaten. They were huge! Large enough to eat elephants. For the night Sinbad found himself a small cave and put a stone boulder in the entrance to stop the snakes from coming in. They soon hunted him down and were outside his cave all night hissing at him so that he could not get to sleep! As daybreak came the snakes all slithered away and Sinbad came out again.
As he stepped back onto the diamonds he saw chunks of raw meat being thrown down to where he was. He remembered that merchants used to throw down meat to the diamonds so that the eagles from the steep cliffs would swoop down to grab it and while doing so they would grab a small amount of diamonds in their claws and bring it back up to their nests in the clifs.
Sinbad took a few large diamonds and placed them in his pouch then once again took off his turban and attached himself to a piece of meat waiting for an eagle to take him up. An eagle soon came and he was flown up to the cliffs. When the merchants saw him they were scared and started yelling at him, calling him a thief and diamond stealer. Sinbad explained his situation and showed how many diamonds he had collected. The merchants took him to the head merchant of that particular nest and Sinbad presented him with his large and priceless diamonds. The head merchant looked at his collection of which Sinbad was offering to him and he took the smallest diamond there. "This is enough to suffice me for the rest of my life," the head merchant said and he let Sinbad return to his land and from there he continued on more journeys to Balsora and Baghdad. And that is the story of the roc

Lots of Love
Seamistress