Beware Of Greeks by Paul Curtis (english novels for students TXT) 📕

his people were not at all well disposed to strangers
And because of the fleece were suspicious of newcomers

King Aeetes had taken a disliking to Jason on first sight
And did not intend losing what Aeetes saw as his by right
And he was telling Jason this and that he should have known
That King Aeetes considered the Golden Fleece to be his own

Aeetes was about to eject Jason from Colchis unceremoniously
When his daughter Medea reminded Aeetes about hospitality
Medea was motivated by love thanks to the god’s intervention
Hera persuaded Aphrodite to intervene on the behalf of Jason

After the Goddess of Love had struck Medea with a passion
King Aeetes then calmed down considerably in regard to Jason
The moment she first saw him Medea was completely smitten
And the king suddenly became suspiciously reasonable then

Of course Jason could have the Fleece that was no trouble
Aeetes couldn't imagine why he had been so inhospitable
All he required of Jason just as a simple good faith token
Were a small number of farmyard chores to be undertaken

There were two bulls stood in the adjacent pasture grazing
Jason should catch them and harness them ready for plowing
Then plough the field, sow it and reap the harvest in a day
That done King Aeetes would give the Golden Fleece his way

The bulls were a bit unusual in that their feet were a hazard
Made of brass sharp enough to rip a man from gullet to gizzard
And then of course there was the matter of the Bulls bad breath
In point of fact it didn’t smell they just breathed flames of death

Medea was a famous sorceress and famed for magic potions
She gave Jason salves that he smeared on like body lotions
This protected him against the brazen hooves and fiery death
So he could approach the bulls with out fearing their breath

Disregarding the flames that danced all about his shoulders
And avoiding the hooves he managed to harness the creatures
This done he set quickly about the task of plowing the field
Then this was followed by sowing the seeds he had to yield

What Jason did not know, as he was Gaily sowing the seed
Was that the crop he was sowing was very strange indeed
Aeetes had given Jason dragon's teeth to scatter all about
As soon as they were planted in soil they began to sprout

Jason had sowed the field and turned to complete his test
And was shocked to discover what crop he must harvest
Each seed had produced a fearsome fully armed warrior
Jason must now reap what he sowed to complete his chore

As Jason prepared to do battle his discomfort was hard to hide
The king’s daughter Medea hurried across the field to his side
This time there were no magic potion's salves or embrocations
But Medea merely gave Jason a basic psychology suggestion

Jason was sensible enough to recognize a good piece advice
And used her suggestion by employing the simple device
Jason picked up a rock and threw it at the closest warrior
This warrior then turned to his left and accusing the soldier

Jason managed to get each seed man to turn on its brother
Until he had all the warriors in the army fighting each other
Jason had completed the harvest by means of the slaughter
With the assistance of Medea king Aeetes young daughter

So Jason With more than a little help from the forces divine
The strange harvest was brought in well before the deadline
Aeetes had to agree to let the Golden Fleece go to the Argo
But he confided in Medea he had no intention of doing so

And Medea, still entranced by the Goddess of Love Aphrodite
Confided in turn in Jason about he fathers intended treachery
Under cover of darkness to the temple grove she led Jason
Where the Fleece was nailed to a tree and guarded by a dragon

It was at midnight when they crept into Ares sacred precinct
And quickly drawing his sword was our hero’s first instinct
But Medea very wisely restrained the impetuous hero Jason
And she used her powers as a sorceress to distract the dragon

While Medea held the fearsome dragon completely spell bound
Jason crept to the tree and removed the fleece without a sound
Once he had the prize they made off together with the Fleece
Eluding pursuit they set sail at once for the journey back to Greece

So the hero Jason had succeeded in the great heroic quest and thus
He returned with his golden prize to reclaim the throne of Iolcus
But although Jason had actually sworn to love and honor Medea
Our fickle hero jilted and abandoned the lovely Medea for another


THE NINE MUSES OF THE ARTS – MELPOMÈNE (MUSE OF TRAGEDY)

The nine muses
Daughters of Zeus
Inspiring of mortals
And nurturers of the arts
The fifth was,
The divine Melpomène,
The one that is melodious,
Was firstly the muse of singing
To celebrate with dance and song
Then she became the muse of tragedy
And hid behind a tragic mask
A knife or club in her hand
Creator of beautiful lyrical phrases
Melpomène muse of Horace


GREEK MYTH’S – PHRIXUS AND THE GOLDEN RAM

One day in Colchis appeared a man called Phrixus
With his sister Helle he had traveled from Iolcus
This in itself was nothing unusual or worth mention
Apart from his unorthodox mode of transportation
For he arrived on the back of a golden flying ram
Saved from sacrifice and carried off by the lamb
Helle, sister of Phrixus never completed the journey
As she had fallen from the ram's back into the sea
In A narrow passage of water they came to call
The Hellespont in memory of her most tragic fall
But Phrixus arrived in Colchis safely from Greece
And sacrificed the ram to the gods and hung its fleece


CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – SPHINX

There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon
And the black fearful eyed Echidne, Half serpent, half woman
The Sphinx was the bizarre result of this most Unnatural union
And it had the body of a lion and the upper parts of a woman
She also had the wings of an eagle as well as the tail of a serpent
And guarding the entrance to Thebes was how Her time was spent
Any traveler who wanted to enter Thebes had to first get past her
And to do that She would ask them a riddle that they had to figure
If the travelers were able to figure out the riddle they had to try
They would pass safely by and she would by her own hand die
But if they were unable to figure out the riddle they were given
They would not pass safely by and she would devour them then
Then One day on the road to Thebes the Sphinx met with Oedipus
And the Sphinx duly set him her complex riddle, which went thus
'So what creature walks on four in the morning on two by day
And on three in the evening?' you must answer to pass by this way
Oedipus thought for a while, and then said the answer was known
'It is a man. When he’s a baby, he crawls on four, When full grown
He walks on two, and when he is an old man, he leans on a staff.'
With that said she let out a terrible scream like an hysterical laugh
Then the Sphinx threw herself to her death from atop the Acropolis
And wise Oedipus was then granted entrance to Thebes forthwith

THE NINE MUSES OF THE ARTS – POLYHYMNIA (MUSE OF HYMNS)

The nine muses
Daughters of Zeus
Inspiring of mortals
And nurturers of the arts
The sixth was,
The divine Polyhymnia,
The one of many hymns,
Was the Muse of sacred poetry and sacred hymns
Of eloquence and pantomime
In her long cloak and classical pose
Polyhymnia was a serious, pensive and meditative muse


HERO’S OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – HERACLES

The son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene was Heracles
And his twin by Alcmene and Amphitryon was Iphicles
Hera, the wife of Zeus was jealous of his last mortal son
And she decided on a path to vent her hate and anger on
So while he was still an infant Hera, wanting him dead
Sent a pair of serpents to kill him as he slept in his bed
But to Hera’s disappointment things didn’t go as planned
Heracles was found with a strangled serpent in each hand

Heracles is known as the strongest by far of all mortals
Stronger then many of the gods and victorious in battles
But offsetting his strength was a lack not of intelligence
But he did lack wisdom and had very little common sense
And it was his quick temper that often left him undone
Once when he was too hot he threaten to shoot at the sun
His pride was easily offended and held grudges at length
And his appetites for life were as great as his strength

If he held grudges, he would still do anything for a friend
Once his anger passed he was his fiercest critic in the end
He was too strong for anyone to force on him at any time
Any kind of a punishment no matter how bad the crime
That he was willing to do the most severe penance shows
That he had a fundamental sense of justice that he chose
During his many punishments Heracles shows us at length
Patience, fortitude and endurance as heroic as his strength

Many of the great deeds of Heracles occurred more or less
While doing a penance for acts of anger or carelessness
As a man His first heroic deed was the killing of a lion
Which had been savaging the countryside from Cithaeron
And then he defeated Erginus, who was the one exacting
An unjustified annual tribute from Creon the Theban king
In gratitude Creon the Theban king offered to the victor
Heracles the hand in marriage his young daughter Megara

Lycus tried to seize the throne when Creon died years later
But Heracles soon put an end to that by killing the usurper
But in the rejoicing that follows, taking a hand again is Hera
Acting with anger and hatred that had never relented in her
She struck Heracles with a fit of madness at the celebration
And in a rage he killed both Megara and their three children
The Delphic oracle decided as punishment for these murders
Heracles is ordered to perform as penance Twelve Labors

So not for the first time that he had to atone for his crimes
Since he had come of age Heracles had proved many times
His unerring marksmanship with bow and arrow and spear
A possessor of superhuman strength and a champion wrestler
He needed all of these for the labors set by one of his family
His cousin Eurystheus, who was king of Tiryns and Mycenae
By rights, Heracles should have had the crown upon his head
But Hera had tricked Zeus into crowning Eurystheus instead

To begin his labors Heracles had to kill the Nemean lion firstly
This he did by strangling the beast with his bare hands only