No myth-taking!

In a flurry of handing things in and giving presentations, somewhere along the line I forgot the love. No, that's not true, I just slipped into a random quotation from somewhere in my past. I watched too much television as a youth. But I digress.

In a flurry of handing things in and giving presentations, I had forgotten about the myth I wrote for Greek Mythology (CLAS 2005). Can you believe this was an actual assignment? "Write a myth which can be interpreted in two of the ways we've studied." No length requirement? Me like, much much! So, I got it back in the mail (because it's a correspondence course. Note: I don't even care if that's how you spell "correspondence"), and I was pretty terrified because I forgot I had submitted anything, and just why was Laurentian mailing me a big letter?

Anyway, before I continue with the story, I need to thank Luke for letting me run ideas for presentations and papers by him at random moments when I'm sure he's supposed to be working, as was done with this myth. Yay Luke!

So there's this envelope: And in it is my returned myth. And on said myth is a fairly decent mark which I am happy with. So here's the myth:

Legend:

Elephas = Elephants
Pithèkos = Monkeys
Pater Elephantos = Father Elephant
Mèter Elephantos = Mother Elephant
Anthropopithèkos = Ape
Nearos Elephantos = Young Elephant
Andras = Man
Gynaika = Woman
Nipiothèkis = baby monkeys
Pstemata = Bull (ie/ Bull elephant)
Maimou = Monkey
Apo = Under/Sub

**************************************

On an island there lived two tribes of humans; the Elephas and the Pithèkos. While they were both humans, they were of very different races and had very different appearances. The Elephas were very tall and fat. They were slow moving and prone to anger, but when provoked they could charge their enemy at surprising speed. The Elephas were also very intelligent and - despite their bad tempers - seldom resorted to violence because they feared the wrath of the gods, Psemata and Maimou who maintaind the balance of the island. The Elephas were ruled over by a vain king and queen named Pater Elephantos and Mèter Elephantos.

On the other side of the island lived the Pithèkos, a race of small hairy humans with tails. The Pithèkos were very quick and mischievous and they loved to play tricks on the Elephas. The chief of the Pithèkos was Anthropopithèkos, and he was chief because his tail was the longest and most powerful of the tribe. The Elephas and Pithèkos lived on the island in peace, just so long as neither strayed into the others territory.

The Elephas disliked the Pithèkos because they thought of them as loud and dirty, whereas the Elephas viewed bathing as an almost sacred ritual which took place in the same pool every morning without fail, and Mèter Elephantos was always the first into and last out of the bathing pool. Meanwhile, the Pithèkos viewed the Elephas as spoiled brutes who were overly proud. Both tribes had lived on the island for as long as they could remember, and while they did not like their neighbors, both groups were reluctant to leave.

One day a young Elephas named Nearos Elephantos wandered into the Pithèkos territory by accident. For a time she went unnoticed, until she came on Andras, Anthropopithèkos’ son, who was sleeping in the shade. Nearos Elephantos had never seen a Pithèkos before and she did not know what to make of Andras’ long tail. She was very startled by it, thinking it to be a snake and so she took up a branch and smote the Pithèkos’ tail. Andras yelped in pain and when he saw that he was being attacked by an Elephas he quickly scampered to tell Anthropopithèkos about what had happened.

Anthropopithèkos was enraged by the trespassing and attack on one of his own tribe, let alone his own son. Especially insulting was the crippling of Andras’ tail. Without a long and powerful tail, he would be unable to attract a mate, and would be shunned by the other Pithèkos. Andras was renamed Gynaika and sent to care for and raise the young nipiothèkis. Anthropopithèkos cursed the Elephas and immediately began plotting revenge. It was not long before he came up with a plan. Entering the Pithèkos’ holiest temple, he prayed to Psemata and Maimou, the gods of the island. He told them that the Pithèkos had become infested with lice and desperately needed a cure. Psemata and Maimou took pity on the Pithèkos and gave a phial of liquid to Anthropopithèkos. The liquid was to be poured on the lice which would make them shrivel up. Anthropopithèkos thanked and praised the gods and returned to his tribe.

That night Anthropopithèkos crept into the Elephas territory with the phial of liquid that the gods had given him. He swiftly and silently made his way to the bathing pool and poured every last drop into the water. When the phial was empty he ran back to the Pithèkos territory as fast as he could, laughing to himself.

When the sun rose the next morning, as always, Mèter Elephantos woke early and slid comfortably into the warm waters of the bathing pool. All the other Elephas followed suit shortly after and began the ritual of washing every inch of their bodies. Anthropopithèkos and several other Pithèkos watched from the trees, barely able to stifle their laughter. Suddenly Mèter Elephantos shrieked. All the other Elephas turned to see what had happened to their queen and they saw that her skin had become wrinkled all over and was quickly turning a dull shade of grey. A few of the younger Elephas snickered at their queen, and a few others muttered that it served her right for being so vain. But all snickering and muttering quickly stopped when the skin of every single Elephas began to wrinkle and turn grey, from the youngest to the oldest.

Loud bursts of jeering guffaws came from the trees and the Elephas turned to see the Pithèkos rolling with laughter on the branches. Pater Elephantos let out a deafening bellow and charged at the tree in which Anthropopithèkos was sitting. He crashed into the trunk headfirst and with a loud crack the tree split and fell. Pater Elephantos seized Anthropopithèkos and, using all his strength, ripped the tail right off the body of the squirming Pithèkos. Mèter Elephantos who had gone mad from the loss of her beauty, grasped the still writhing tail and stuck it to her face. When the other Elephas saw their king and queen, they too broke down the trees and ripped the tails off of the Pithèkos, putting the severed tails on their faces.

The Pithèkos fled in pain and humiliation back to their territory. Anthropopithèkos ran immediately to the temple and prayed for vengeance from Psemata and Maimou, but they were displeased with the Pithèkos for lying to them and misusing their gift. The gods gave Anthropopithèkos the shameful new name of Apo, and took away the Pithèkos’ ability to speak, so that they could only beat their chests to express their anger. The Apae (as were the followers of Apo called) were also stricken with fleas and the only way to rid themselves of the parasites was to pick them off each other’s heads and eat them.

But the gods were not only angered with the Apae. The Elephas had done unspeakable violence and brought shame on the island and they too were punished. Like the Apae their ability to speak was taken from them and they could only bellow like Pater Elephantos had when he charged into the tree. The mutilated tails that they had taken from the Pithèkos could not be removed from their faces, and they had to walk on all fours to atone for their rage. The Elephas became wary of further tricks from the Apae and so grew enormous ears so that they could hear stifled laughter from nearby trees.

THE END!




























psst....

















"Tails" = penises. GET IT?!?