The Adventures of Hermes, God of Thieves Page 17

  “Let us approach,” murmured Pausania. When he discovered the faces of the three old women, Hermes’ surprise was immense: all three had wide-open white eyes—for they were blind. The one who stood up regularly seemed to be the youngest of the three. “She is called Clotho,” Pausania told him. “Look, the long, pointed stick that she is holding is a spindle, a spindle similar to the ones that you have seen on earth in the hands of shepherdesses spinning wool. This spindle too can serve to make yarn, but the yarn that Clotho fabricates is the thread of each man’s life.” Clotho had risen and was pointing with her spindle at a sign engraved on the great wall. Seeing Hermes’ interrogating gaze, Pausania continued with her explanations. “Here is the list of the names of every human being. Once a man comes into the world, his name is engraved on this great wall. And after that Clotho fabricates the thread of his life. She then passes the thread to her sister Lachesis. Look, Lachesis is taking the thread and measuring it with her ruler. She is the one who determines the length of each life. You see, there are some very long threads and also some which are very short.” Hermes did not take his eyes off the thin white fingers of the two sisters. He saw with great emotion the thread of a life being born, he saw it being stretched and stretched until it reached the length chosen by Lachesis. It was then that the third old woman intervened. She was the smallest of the three and yet appeared to be the eldest. Her stern face, her open eyes with their blank stare frightened Hermes. He would have preferred not to look at her any more and yet he could not stop himself from doing so, as though it were impossible to escape the eldest of the three Moirae. “This one is Atropos,” whispered Pausania in his ear. She did not have to explain what Atropos did; Hermes had just understood. Once Clotho had finished spinning a life’s thread, Lachesis measured its length and passed it afterwards to Atropos, who took her long scissors and snipped it. Each time that the cruel scissors of Atropos cut a thread too short, Hermes felt a pinch in his heart.

  The air was glacially cold and Hermes shivered. He stayed there for a very long time looking at the three Moirae spinning the destiny of each man. This was where Atropos had severed with a clean snip of her scissors the so very short thread of Eurydice’s life, a thread too short for her life to continue beyond that accursed day when the snake had bitten her. Hermes would have wanted to go near the wall where all the names of mankind were engraved, but Pausania held him back. “No, don’t go! No one must know the name of a man before the time of his birth! It is time to go back now.” Before leaving, Hermes could not keep himself from reading one name in passing, that of the man whose life-thread Clotho was spinning. He was called Perseus.

  To be continued…

  EPISODE 64

  IN WHICH HERMES CROSSES PATHS WITH PERSEUS

  Previously: Hermes has discovered the three Moirae, those who determine the lives of men. They are three sisters: one spins the thread of life, the other measures it and the third cuts it. The last man whose thread they have fabricated is called Perseus.

  After leaving Pausania, Hermes set off once more for Olympus. He had already been journeying for some time and was flying above the sea when he detected a crate floating on the surface of the waves. Night was falling, and the crate was hardly visible, tossed about as it was by the currents. Hermes was drawn by a strange noise coming from it. It sounded like a child’s laughter. Intrigued, Hermes approached the crate. Imagine his surprise when he heard not one but two human voices coming out of it!

  The first, that of a woman, scolded gently: “You oughtn’t to laugh like this, my son, your grandfather had us thrown into the sea so we would drown!”

  The other voice, that of a child, replied, laughing: “Then, mother, the fish will teach us how to swim! And what is more, didn’t you tell me that Zeus, the god of gods, was my father? He will surely come to our aid.” And the boy dissolved again into laughter.

  Hermes gave a little jump when he heard this. Why didn’t Zeus intervene to save his son in danger? Hermes could well remember that Zeus had promised his wife Hera not to increase the family of the gods any more, yet this was no reason to let this youngster and his mother die.

  Winds ever stronger and more violent agitated the sea. Each wave threatened to sink the crate in which the child and his mother were locked up. Hermes had to act fast. He decided to warn his uncle Poseidon about this. Poseidon agreed to intervene right away, and two of his servants, two Tritons, half-men, half-fish, emerged from the ocean depths and pulled the crate away from the storm. While the Tritons were towing the crate towards the shore, Hermes listened to what the mother and the child were saying to each other. From the depths of the crate, a lullaby rose softly. Hermes was touched to hear the mother sing like this to put her child to sleep. He thought of his own mother, Maia, and tears came to his eyes. “Sleep well, my little Perseus,” murmured the mother. Perseus? So this, then, was Perseus! Hermes smiled into the night.

  Rosy-fingered Aurora came at last and chased away the night. The Tritons deposited the wooden crate on a beach and disappeared. Hermes went to knock at the door of a fisherman’s house not too far away from this beach. A good man called Dictys lived there with his wife, both left childless. Awakened by the noise, Dictys and his wife were astonished to find no one at their doorstep. Yet they immediately saw the crate and they went quickly to open it. Dictys broke it with his axe and watched with surprise as a young woman and her child emerged from it.

  “I am called Danae, and this is Perseus,” she said in a trembling voice.

  “Welcome to our house,” said the fisherman’s wife. “Come and revive yourselves and stay for as long as you like.” The child sprang to his feet and burst into laughter.

  “How the deuce did you come to find yourselves imprisoned in that crate?” asked the old fisherman, once the young woman and her son had warmed themselves up again.

  Danae gave a faint smile: “It’s quite hard to believe this,” she murmured, “but it is my own father, Acrisius, who is to blame for this. The oracles had predicted to him that I would have a son who would one day kill him. So he locked me up in a tower of bronze, without either doors or windows. But this tower also had no roof, so that I might have some air and light. And one day, seeing my sadness and my misery, Zeus paid me a visit under the guise of a rain of gold. This is how my son was conceived, a real joy to me, such a merry, happy child, Oh, if only you knew! At first, my father did not notice anything. Then one day he heard Perseus’ laughter echo against the bronze and he discovered his grandson’s existence. Seething with rage, he had us locked up in this wooden crate and thrown in the open sea, as far as possible from every shore.”

  Hermes had heard it all. He could feel his anger rising against Acrisius. “Another old king who clings to his crown no matter what it takes,” he thought. In the poor fisherman’s house there were peals of laughter. It was Perseus, who was having fun playing with the cat.

  Hermes went away telling himself that the boy should be left to grow in peace. Yet he promised himself to take Perseus under his protection. Because he could already foresee that a life of exceptional adventures lay in store for him.

  To be continued…

  EPISODE 65

  IN WHICH PERSEUS PUTS HIMSELF IN A PERILOUS POSITION

  Previously: Hermes saved young Perseus and his mother from the waters when they had been locked up in a wooden crate and thrown into the sea by Perseus’ own grandfather. Both the mother and the child have been received into the home of a fisherman and his wife.

  The years have passed, Perseus has grown. He has become a handsome young man, strong and brave. On this island, however, where he had been so warmly welcomed, an enemy is lying in wait for him. The king of the island has fallen in love with his mother, the beautiful Danae. This king is a brute and Danae does not want to be his wife. She refuses to marry him, claiming that she must stay with her son to look after him. King Polydectes, however, has no intention of giving up on this marriage. So he decides to get rid of Perseus. He invite
s him to dine at the palace, planning to set a trap for him.

  That evening, Perseus is among the first guests to arrive at the palace. All the young men on the island had been invited and they rejoiced in advance at the idea of having a really good time. Perseus’ good looks did not pass unnoticed. The maidservants whispered with admiration as he passed and the young man noted this with pleasure. Because he really liked to please and to be noticed. The more the evening progressed, the more Perseus talked and laughed loud. The wine flowed in currents and he never ceased to drink, and to drink even more. Presiding at the banquet, at the centre of the table, the king did not take his eyes off Perseus. Soon, the king rose and asked for everyone’s silence. “Dear friends,” he began, “it is with great pleasure that I welcome each of you in my house. Amuse yourselves well! I would like to thank all those of you who have brought me gifts. You, Lycos, for this magnificent black horse which is pawing the ground outside my door. You, Nepumenus, for this splendid grey mare. And you, Aristos, for this golden-eyed colt, which shall be the pride of my stables.” The king addressed himself in turn to all the guests present around the table. Most of them, knowing his passion for horses, had offered him a new one.

  The others had brought him gems or precious objects. As he heard the list of gifts, Perseus began to blush. He was too poor; he had come empty-handed. His turn was about to come and he felt crushed by shame. So as not to lose face, the proud young man leapt into the middle of the room before his name had even been pronounced. Wine and the thrill of the moment were making his head spin.

  He shouted: “I, Perseus, the son of Danae, shall bring you the most extraordinary gift of all. I shall offer you the head of Medusa, the terrible Gorgon.”

  A murmur ran through the assembled guests. The Gorgons were three monstrous creatures who spread the reign of terror. These three repugnant sisters had, instead of hair, a multitude of serpents swarming on their heads. Above all, however, they transformed into stone any man who dared to look at them, even if it were only for an instant.

  The king was delighted: his trap had worked. He had had strong hopes that Perseus, exasperated, would do something foolish. He said, smiling:

  “Very well, my dear Perseus. Leave then at once and fetch me that Gorgon’s head.”

  Perseus had made himself the centre of everyone’s attention. Yet he had also just thrown himself into an adventure fraught with danger, for no one had ever come out alive from an encounter with the Gorgon.

  Perseus went outside. The cold night wind lashed his face. Little by little he regained his spirits. His pride had made him throw himself right into the wolf’s mouth. Without some help from the gods, he would never be able to pull through this one. He had been walking along the beach with his head bowed for quite some time, when someone laid a hand on his shoulder. It was Hermes, who had come to offer his assistance to his young protégé.

  “I am Hermes, your half-brother,” the god said to him.

  “I could tell,” replied Perseus, “there is no one else but you who wears a winged helmet and sandals.”

  They both sat on a rock. “I heard everything. Do you know where the Gorgons live?” asked Hermes.

  Perseus shook his head mournfully: “Not even that!” he sighed.

  “Well, in that case, you must first meet the Graeae. They are their sisters. They, and they alone, know where the Gorgons live. But be very careful, for they are as formidable themselves.” As he leant over Perseus, Hermes really looked like an older brother advising the younger one. The moon was shedding a white light on them.

  “You… will you come with me?” stammered Perseus, his voice hesitant all of a sudden. Nothing remained any more of the young braggart who had been boasting a few hours earlier in the king’s palace.

  Hermes smiled. He had not forgotten the laughter of the child shut up in the crate. “Yes,” he replied, “I will accompany you.”

  They both decided to wait for dawn before setting out. They lay on the sand, huddling close to each other, and tried to get some rest.

  To be continued…

  EPISODE 66

  IN WHICH PERSEUS MEETS THREE HORRID OLD WOMEN

  Previously: Perseus has promised a king that he would bring back to him the head of the Gorgon Medusa, a terrible monster with a head bristling with snakes. Hermes has come to join him and offer him his help.

  Perseus’ meeting with Hermes had bolstered up his spirits, and he came to the mountain where the three Graeae lived feeling confident. The air was scalding hot and a cloud of dust rose at each step he took. The closer he approached, the more the landscape turned grey. The rays of the sun did not reach into this sinister region. The journey was long and painful. Yet each time he hesitated about which path to follow, Hermes would point him in the right direction. When he arrived at the cave of the three old women, he hid himself not too far from the entrance and waited. Soon he saw them appear. One could just barely make out their forms in the flickering light of a candle that one of them was carrying. They were horrible to look at. Their skin was yellow and wrinkled, like old crumpled paper. Their white hair fell in disarray over their shoulders, like skeins of string. And a foul smell exuded from their bodies, a smell of withered flowers and mustiness which stung one’s throat.

  “It is my turn to look! Pass me the eye!” said one of them in a harsh, metallic voice.

  “No! It’s my turn!” replied the other old woman, in an equally rasping tone.

  “I am hungry, so give me the tooth!” cried the third sister.

  Perseus then saw the one who had spoken first take out her solitary tooth and hand it to her sister. In the meantime, the second removed her solitary eye and passed it to the third sister. The three sisters shared a single eye and a single tooth among them. Perseus observed the three old women playing this game of pass the parcel; then he did as Hermes advised. As one of them was removing her eye to give it to one of the other two, he leapt forward and snatched the eye. The three Graeae could no longer see a thing! They began to shout and argue among themselves to find out which had taken the eye, but Perseus interrupted them and said in a strong voice: “It is I, Perseus, who holds your eye. If you wish me to give it back to you, show me the way that will lead me to your sisters the Gorgons.” After a moment of bewilderment, the Graeae gave him all the directions he needed to reach the den where their horrible sisters were hiding. Perseus hesitated as to whether he ought to give them back the eye. Yet he had promised and he had to keep his word. He returned the eye to them and departed immediately.

  Hermes had left him a little earlier and Perseus was now travelling alone.

  “Well done, Perseus, continue like this, I am proud of you and I will help you too.”

  Who was speaking like this in Perseus’ ear? Where did this congratulatory voice come from? Surprised, the young man stopped walking. He said rather nervously:

  “But… But who are you? Show yourself!”

  He heard a little laughter. Then a woman appeared on his path. She bore a helmet and a spear and she stood proudly erect in her armour. Perseus recognized immediately the goddess Athena.

  “You are a brave young man,” she said. “I know that my brother Hermes protects you but I would like to help you as well. After all, we all have the same father, don’t we?” Intimidated by the great goddess, Perseus gave no answer. She approached him and held her shield out to him. “You know this already: any person who meets Medusa’s gaze is transformed into stone. Take my shield. When you are in the presence of Medusa, turn the shield towards you, and use it as a mirror. You will be able to see her reflection on it. In this way, you can fight her without ever looking at her straight in the face.”

  Perseus took Athena’s shield. It shone like the sun. When he lifted up his dazzled head to thank the goddess, she had already vanished…

  To be continued…

  EPISODE 67

  IN WHICH PERSEUS FACES THE GORGONS

  Previously: Perseus has used his cunning and has suc
ceeded in finding out where the Gorgons are hiding. Athena has offered him her shield so that he may confront Medusa without looking at her straight in the face.

  Perseus was walking sure-footed towards the den of the three monsters, but Hermes did not feel so easy in his mind. That’s why he had gone away: to seek help. Soon enough, he rejoined Perseus along the way, carrying a huge sack on his shoulder.

  Hermes asked him: “Are you quite sure that you have everything you need in order to win?”

  With the insouciance of his youth, Perseus answered: “Oh, well, we’ll see when we get there!”

  Hermes shook his head unhappily and sat on a rock. All of a sudden he, the spirited and impulsive young god, was feeling much more sensible than Perseus. “Perhaps as a result of learning more things and of discovering the world,” he mulled, “I am becoming a little wiser?” He took the sack he had been carrying on his shoulder and threw it over to the young man. “Catch this bag, you might need it. You will find inside the helmet which makes one invisible, the one belonging to my uncle Hades, the king of the Underworld. I borrowed it from him. There is also a long and mighty sword, a sword so sturdy that even the Gorgons’ thick, hard skin will not be able to withstand it. As for the sack itself, it is magical: it takes the form of whatever you slip inside it.” Then he slowly took off his shoes and held out the winged sandals to Perseus. “I will lend these to you as well. You can return everything to me later.”