Hermes was still admiring the animal when he discovered the presence of another admirer, hidden away in the shadows. It was a young boy, barely fifteen years old. The boy’s hair bristled. He held a golden bridle in his hand. “How about that!” murmured Hermes. “This is the bridle of Athena’s horse! Why did my sister give her bridle to this child?” He did not have the time to ask himself more questions, for the boy had just come out of the shadows. The horse reared up its head sharply. It shook its mane and neighed violently. Its every muscle was tense, it was about to bolt, when the boy held the golden bridle out to him.
“Pegasus, do not go! I am called Bellerophon. I am the son of the king of Corinth. I have dreamt of you so much, day and night, for such a long time, that Athena took pity on me on account of my passion, and she gave me this bridle of gold, the only harness that you could ever tolerate. Do not go away!” The horse neighed one more time and now it sounded like a neigh of delight. Hermes saw something incredible happen: Pegasus let the child pass the bridle around its neck and it even went down on its knees to allow the boy to climb on its back! A quarter of an hour later, the whole world could see the proud Bellerophon astride Pegasus, turning mad somersaults in the sky. Hermes, a trifle jealous, returned to Olympus without wasting more time.
But Bellerophon, who had succeeded in taming the untameable Pegasus, was drunk with pride. He decided to set himself a new challenge: he was going to kill the Chimera. This was a monster with the body of a goat, a serpent’s tail and a lion’s head. She belched forth flames and everywhere the Chimera went, people died, the flocks disappeared, the fields and the houses burned down. On the back of his winged horse, Bellerophon felt king of the world. He thought himself invincible. He therefore set off immediately.
From the heights of Olympus, leaning against the parapet of the palace terrace, Zeus was observing the earth. By his side, Hermes grumbled:
“I don’t understand why my sister Athena has offered this boy the privilege of being the only one to ride on Pegasus’ back!”
Zeus flashed a smile: “You wouldn’t be jealous now, Hermes? You already have wings on your feet, what need do you have of those of a horse? Stay here with me; we are going to watch from above how Bellerophon will pull through this. You don’t like him? He amuses me. I like men who are audacious. Look, here he is, already approaching the Chimera…”
To be continued…
EPISODE 72
IN WHICH BELLEROPHON IS PUNISHED FOR HIS OVERWEENING PRIDE
Previously: The young Bellerophon has succeeded in taming Pegasus, the winged horse. But today he has set his mind on killing the monstrous Chimera.
The Chimera was drawing closer to Bellerophon, its mouth agape, its tail swishing; slowly the hair on the young man’s head stood up on end. He had just seen her swallow in the fraction of a second an entire herd of well-fattened cows. He had just seen her belch a long burst of flames and set an entire little wood afire. Bellerophon stroked the winged horse’s neck to give himself courage; then he took his spear and made a sign to Pegasus to take off. The monster was utterly surprised to see Pegasus and his rider appear from the sky above. When it received the first spear blow from Bellerophon, it let out a scream of pain, turned towards them a head livid with rage and spewed out fire. With a mighty flapping of his wings, however, Pegasus was already far away in the heavens. The horse nosedived down several times to attack the monster. Bellerophon would plunge his weapon and then he would immediately get himself out of range. The Chimera’s blood flowed liberally, yet she fought relentlessly. That was when the fire disgorged by the monster touched the tip of Bellerophon’s spear, which was covered with lead. This heavy metal melted under the effect of the heat, detached itself from the lance and fell on the Chimera’s head. The piece of lead killed the Chimera clean on the spot. Pegasus turned a joyful somersault in the sky and Bellerophon let out a triumphant yell which rang all the way to Olympus: “I am the strooooooongest!” Zeus placed his hands over his ears and said to Hermes, who was still leaning on his elbows against the parapet next to him: “He does not lack either pluck or courage, but he is beginning to get on my nerves with his presumptuousness.”
Hermes did not reply; he was not even listening to him. His gaze had been drawn to a completely different part of the earth. Instead of following the combat between Bellerophon and the Chimera, Hermes could not take his eyes off a ravishing young girl bathing under a waterfall. The water was streaming down her body and the droplets remained attached to her curly hair like so many pearls. She was humming a tune and the notes rose high in the warm breath of summer, exquisite and pure. Hermes had never felt such an emotion before. He was overwhelmed by it. Astonished by his son’s uncustomary silence, Zeus had turned his head and he was contemplating the sight as well.
“You have good taste, my son,” he said. “She is ravishing.”
Hermes started as though he had been caught red-handed. He stammered: “And… and what… what has happened to Bellerophon?”
Zeus repressed a smile under his beard before answering: “Like many men, alas, he’s lost his good sense. His triumph has gone to his head. Look, he is trying to convince Pegasus to bring him here.”
For the first time, Pegasus was refusing to obey Bellerophon. “Take me to Olympus, my good steed,” he implored. “I have well earned the right to know the house of the gods. You saw how strong I am, didn’t you? I am every bit as good as a god, no?” But Pegasus refused to obey. So Bellerophon ceased to beg and he now commanded: “That’s enough! I demand that you take me to Zeus. I am sufficiently superior to all other men to be the equal of a god. I am entitled to it. I have the golden reins of Athena, you must obey me.” Pegasus cast a very long glance at the young man, a sad, reproachful glance. But he had no choice. He had to obey the reins of Athena. Slowly, the sublime horse ascended into the heaven above. Bellerophon laughed, drunk with joy.
He was still laughing when they reached Olympus. Zeus was watching from high up on the terrace. He let out a sigh and murmured: “What a pity, I had rather taken a liking to him…” Then he shouted with a thunderous voice: “Here is what you get, little man, for daring to compare yourself to the gods!” And the master of Olympus sent his thunderbolt towards the winged horse. The animal jolted aside to avoid the lightning bolt. Bellerophon lost his balance, slipped and went crashing all the way down to the earth. Pegasus let out a long neigh of woe and returned to Zeus’ stables. “Well, the little braggart has now been punished, my son,” said Zeus, turning towards Hermes. But where had Hermes gone? Zeus was all of a sudden alone on the terrace.
Down there, all the way down on earth, Hermes was experiencing his first romance, with the beautiful Antianeira.
To be continued…
EPISODE 73
IN WHICH HERMES LIVES HIS FIRST LOVE
Previously: Bellerophon was so conceited that he thought himself equal to the gods and had demanded that Pegasus take him to Olympus. In order to punish him for his overweening pride, Zeus struck him with his thunderbolt. In the meantime, Hermes has fallen in love for the first time…
Antianeira’s hair attracted Hermes irresistibly. It was like soft, silky moss and Hermes longed to plunge his fingers into it. He had left Olympus in order to get closer to the young girl and since then, hiding behind a tree, he had not stopped observing her. She had finished shaking herself under the waterfall, had wrung her hair dry and had thrown herself down on the tall grass. She was letting herself dry in the sun, sighing with happiness. Hermes was gazing at the little drops shining on her skin like so many sparks of precious stones and he wished this moment might never end.
Yet the chariot of the sun was already completing its course. Evening was falling, Antianeira was shivering. She sprang to her feet. Suddenly Hermes was afraid that she would disappear and the very idea seemed unbearable to him. Without a second thought, he came out of his hiding place. The young girl let out a faint scream of surprise and snatched her tunic smartly to cover her body. “
Do not be afraid,” murmured Hermes. And after that he did not know what to say. He, the great talker, was at a loss for words! Antianeira opened her dark eyes wide but did not say anything either. They both stood there looking at each other. They instantly captured one another’s hearts.
Once their words finally came back to them, neither could tell what they said to each other. Lovers’ words are secret, meant for them alone. No one can share them. No one must hear them.
Night had fallen. Antianeira had rested her head on Hermes’ shoulder and they were gazing at the stars together. Hermes discovered that all the happy experiences he had known so far were nothing compared to this warmth which burned his body, this tenderness which made his temples vibrate, this desire for her which inhabited him. He could sense Antianeira’s face beside him and it was as though this face had always existed. So this was what they called love. At that moment, Hermes thought of the beautiful Maia, his mother, and of Zeus, his father. And he smiled in the darkness.
The following day, when he returned to Olympus, Hermes found it very difficult to think of anything else besides Antianeira. He got several of the messages that his father had asked him to deliver mixed up. He listened with such a distracted ear to his aunt Hestia that she stopped in the middle of a sentence without him noticing it… He even almost guided to the Underworld the soul of a man who was dying but was not yet dead! His mind was turned wholly towards his beloved. Would she love him for ever? Would he show himself worthy of her love? He discovered a new fear, an unknown one, that of losing this newborn love. For her part, Antianeira too was wholly taken by the thought of Hermes. When she decided to sit down and weave, as she did every day, she broke so many threads that her mother, exasperated, in the end sent her outside. Even the laughter and the games of her companions irritated her. Only the poems which some of them were reciting interested her, because they spoke of the emotions which unsettled the depths of her heart. Antianeira was counting the hours separating her from Hermes.
When, at the end of the day, finally free of their tasks, they rejoined one another, there was the same sense of enchantment. The two lovers never tired of speaking, of telling all about themselves to one another. And this happened each night anew. Little by little, Hermes began to look at the world differently, as though he were seeing it through her eyes. And he found the world even more beautiful. Little by little Antianeira began to look at the world through his eyes. And she found the world even greater.
This is how in the course of time they began to love one another. And this is how they felt the desire to beget a child.
One evening, Antianeira and Hermes had met up again on a beach. The young woman suddenly felt a strange wave rising inside her, a vibration, like someone’s call. Surprised, she caught Hermes’ hand and placed it on her belly.
“But what is the matter?” asked Hermes, bewildered.
“Shhh!” murmured Antianeira without letting go of his hand.
Long moments went by. All of a sudden, something quivered under Hermes’ fingers. A life was signalling to him. Inside Antianeira’s belly a child was moving. Hermes remained petrified. Antianeira on the other hand smiled, happy and confident. Yet he was trembling all over. Inside him a small voice was going mad: “Hermes, Hermes, what is happening here? A dad? Are you going to be a dad?”
To be continued…
EPISODE 74
IN WHICH HERMES BECOMES A DAD
Previously: Hermes has fallen in love for the first time and is having a beautiful romance with young Antianeira. They both desire a child, but Hermes wonders nervously whether he will know how to be a dad.
That morning, Hermes could not stay still. He pushed now one door, now another, entered the palace kitchen, came out again after having pinched a little nectar, bent down over a fountain and drank long gulps of ambrosia. Finally, he went to join his father in the great council hall. He gave a short, embarrassed cough, then asked:
“Hmm, Zeus, you who know everything, could you tell me what it is like to be a dad?” Startled, Zeus looked at his son. He had not noticed him grow up and he was astonished to find now by his side this handsome young man. “Well, well?” said Hermes, growing impatient.
But Zeus did not quite know what to answer… “A dad is, hmm, authority, a great deal of authority,” he said to him. Vexed not to have found the right words, he sent Hermes away: “I have work to do, you know, I don’t have time to chatter, go for a walk!”
Feeling rather snubbed, Hermes came across gentle Hestia in the corridor, the house mistress of the palace. “Hestia, sweet aunt, can you explain to me what it’s like to be a dad?”
But Hestia was swamped. She had a pile of laundry in her arms and merely replied: “A dad? Hmm, it’s a great deal of affection, nothing but affection!”
Hermes, getting more and more disconcerted, ran then into Aphrodite and dared to ask her his question. But the goddess of Beauty broke into a mocking laughter: “Oh look at the great clumsy ninny! I thought you were just having a nice love affair with Antianeira. You ought to know the answer… A dad is just love, nothing but love.” And she left him alone and distraught in the corridor.
“Authority, affection, love,” he muttered, “I will never know…”
At that moment the nymphs who accompanied Artemis, the goddess of Birth, came running. Hermes followed them as fast as he could. When he reached the earth, Antianeira was lying there on a bed of moss and fern. Her hair spread in a crown around her head, and the pallor of her face, the blackness of her eyes and the bright red of her lips moved Hermes deeply once more. By her side, with her back turned, stood Artemis. She turned round, holding in her hands two tiny children. She held them out to Hermes, saying: “Here are your sons!” Hermes gave a little jump: two babies! Antianeira had just brought into the world two babies! Artemis smiled and said to him: “Well, yes, they are twins, like Apollo and me!” Trembling, Hermes took the babies in his arms. The eyes of the child he was holding in his right arm sought his gaze. They found it. “He shall be called Echion,” said Artemis. Hermes then turned his gaze towards the baby placed in his left arm. The child’s eyes sought his gaze. They found it. “This one will be called Eurytus,” said Artemis. Hermes turned from one child to the other and a great lump of emotion rose in his throat. So he, Zeus’ little troublemaker, had become a father in his turn.
The two babies began all of a sudden to cry. Yet, and this was the incredible thing, their wailing was not ear-splitting, like the wailing of newborns—no, they were crying as though they were telling a story. They were crying as though they were already singing their story. Hermes knelt beside Antianeira. He delicately placed the twins in the cavity of her arms, accompanied his gesture with a kiss on her forehead and then he went away.
He needed to regain his inner calm. He needed to think. “I am a dad, I am a dad,” he kept repeating to himself as he walked. “Am I the same person? Am I someone else?” Suddenly he was seized by a great anxiety. “But from now on I am responsible for them! What life will my children have? Oh, that nothing bad may ever happen to them!” With questions rioting in his head, Hermes came before a fountain. He bent down, picked up some pebbles and threw them into the water, just as the nurse had taught him to do, in order to read what would happen in Echion’s and Eurytus’ future.
Hermes stayed for a long time bent over the fountain. When he lifted his head up again, a smile had burgeoned on his lips. He had just learnt that Echion and Eurytus would take part in one of the greatest adventures of their time, the quest undertaken by a certain Jason for the Golden Fleece. He was proud to have discovered that such a future awaited his little ones. But already he was feeling anxious for them because of the dangers they would have to face. He had truly become a dad. And who was this Jason, that adventurer whom his sons were soon going to follow? And why did he wish to seize this Golden Fleece? Hermes promised himself that he would find out.
To be continued…
EPISODE 75
IN WHICH HE
RMES MAKES ENQUIRIES ABOUT JASON
Previously: Hermes has just become the father of two boys, Echion and Eurytus. He discovers that his sons will participate in Jason’s expedition to conquer the Golden Fleece and he decides to find out a bit more about this Jason.
Hermes set off on his quest for Jason and it wasn’t long before he picked up his trail. There was someone called Chiron who lived up on a mountain. He had a body half-man, half-horse, because he was a Centaur. What is more, he was the oldest and the wisest of the Centaurs. He was so knowledgeable that the most prestigious kings had chosen him as tutor for their sons. He was a person of great renown. Not only did Chiron teach his students music, poetry and all the arts, but he also taught them how to be just men, good and brave. He made them into great future kings. There was among his pupils a young man who seemed to manifest exceptional talents; and that was Jason.
As he approached the cave where Chiron lived, Hermes discovered an astonishing scene. Five young boys were training in wrestling. They were scantily dressed, for all that the mountain was covered in snow. They rolled themselves in the snow as if they had been fighting on grass. Now and then Chiron would interpose in a loud voice: “Do not take advantage of your adversary’s weakness, let him get up before resuming the fighting,” he said to one. “No foul play, respect the rules of the game,” he would tell another. Hermes observed them for a long moment, fascinated by the teacher’s methods. He taught his students to respect one another, as well as to have confidence in themselves.
The Adventures of Hermes, God of Thieves Page 19