There were once two lovers; the daughter of a shepherd who lived in a small cottage on a hill, and a young man who was said to be of divine parentage. In a time where Gods and mortals alike would walk the earth, the boy’s immortal father had sent him to a small village to live with his mortal mother. His father believed that here he would learn hard work and sacrifice, and though he toiled ceaselessly and cared for his mother, from the moment he saw his true love, his heart was devoted only to her.
The lovers spent their days walking in the woods together, and their nights sleeping in each other’s arms. If ever the fates chose to separate them, they would write long letters to one another, letters filled with passion and promises of a shared future.
The young man wanted desperately to marry his love, but as he was only half-mortal, he knew he must seek permission from the Gods to marry a mortal woman. And so he began a long journey to the land of his fathers in hopes of securing their blessing.
When he arrived, he found his father delighted with the news of his intention to marry his true love. The old and wise God believed his son had learned the value of hardship and poverty, and had overcome them to find love in a sometimes cruel mortal world. The young man hastened to return to his lover, and marry her as soon as he did so.
On the night he planned to begin his return journey, the young man was approached by his father’s brother, the God of the Underworld and death. The God offered his congratulations to his young nephew, wishing him luck in his imminent marriage. As a token of this congratulatory spirit, the wily God offered his nephew a gift. The young man was told to choose from three glittering lengths of golden thread, to give to his true love to wear on their wedding day. Blinded by happiness, the young man readily accepted the gift, taking the first golden thread gratefully from his uncle’s hand.
But the God of the Underworld was jealous and cunning, and all was not as it seemed. As soon as his hand closed around the golden thread, the young man knew he had been tricked. The three threads offered to him had in fact been the Three Legendary Stories, disguised by his uncle. These three stories, passed between the Gods since the beginning of time, were known to be so beautiful, that they could only be heard by divine ears. If a mortal heard any of the three tales, he or she would surely die. As soon as the golden thread had touched his skin, the young man had been infused with the knowledge of the story, and wept at its staggering beauty.
Being only half-mortal, the young man could survive hearing the story, but he knew the same would not be true of the woman he hoped to marry. At first, the young man believed that his uncle had meant for him to gift the thread to his true love, which would have killed her, and was relieved that he had known of the Legendary Stories and was able to prevent this. But as he quitted the land of the Gods in anger and made his way back to his village, he realised with horror and dread, the true intention of the God of the Underworld.
The young man knew all at once that he could never marry one who had not heard the beautiful story. Just the thought of not sharing it with his lover filled his heart with sadness and despair. He knew that he could not return to the young woman, for he could not trust himself to keep the story from her if he did. He had no choice but to remain in the land of the Gods, doomed to watch over his true love from afar.
The young woman waited in nervous excitement for the return of her beloved. But as day sunk into night, and rose out of it once more, he still had not returned.
The young woman never lost hope that her true love would one day return to her. She never married, or loved again, believing that if she did not see him in this life, they would surely meet in the next. And the young man watched in sadness, as his lover grew old, and finally died, never knowing why he had not returned.
Rh. April 2011.
[I dreamed this story a couple of weeks ago and wrote it up properly upon the request of someone who liked it. I think I've been taking my Greek Myths class a little too seriously].
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