The Forty-Sixth Night

  

Nick’s first words, upon arriving on Saturday night, were:

— So… today is when the story finally ends?

— Perhaps, I said. It is a long tale, after all. I told you of Medusa’s birth, and how, at her death, she gave life to the giant Chrysaor and to his brother, the winged horse Pegasus—both her children by the god Poseidon. Chrysaor married and begot a dreadful and far-reaching lineage of monsters. Pegasus, meanwhile, flew between heaven and earth, delivering to Zeus in the sky the thunderbolts and lightning that Hephaestus forged for him on earth.

“Then entered the scene the young and beautiful Bellerophon, falsely accused by a queen of wishing to violate her. Unwilling to kill his own guest, King Proteus sent Bellerophon to his father-in-law, Iobates, king of Lycia, charging him with delivering a sealed message:

“’Do me the favor of killing Bellerophon, violator of my wife, your daughter.’

“Unaware that he was carrying his own death sentence, Bellerophon traveled to Lycia and handed the tablet to King Iobates.

“But it pleased great Destiny that Iobates did not read the fatal message at once. Instead, taken by Bellerophon’s charm, he entertained him for nine whole days.

— “Entertained him?” Nick repeated, pointedly.

— Continuing the story, I said, firmly but with humor, only after nine days did Iobates take up the tablet. Upon reading it, he, like Proteus, feared the Erinyes—the three monstrous sisters who pursued hosts who mistreated their guests. They were dreadful, fury streaming from their eyes like black tears.

“And so Iobates conceived a plan: rather than killing his guest himself, he would send him on an impossible mission—to slay the Chimera.

“Do you recall the children of Chrysaor, the grandchildren of Medusa—Echidna and Typhon? The Chimera was one of them: a fire-breathing monster, made of lion, goat, and serpent. She ravaged the region of Caria nearby, laying waste to cattle and people alike to satisfy her hunger for warm flesh.

“Bellerophon was a true man and accepted the challenge of freeing his host’s land from such a creature.

“On his way to Caria, he met the seer Polyeidus. They sat together to eat, and Bellerophon told him of his mission. Upon hearing it, Polyeidus fell into a trance and saw Bellerophon victorious—but riding Pegasus.

“— But where will I find the winged horse? Bellerophon asked.

“— Pegasus serves high Zeus, replied the seer. You must ask the gods where to find him. Turn aside from your path in that direction and you will find a temple of Athena. Go there and pray.

“Thus Bellerophon did. He spent the night in Athena’s temple and slept there. Athena appeared to him and presented to the brave youth his father: Poseidon, lord of horses, father of Pegasus and great-great-grandfather of the Chimera.

“— Go, my son, said the god, and take your half-brother Pegasus. He awaits you outside. Here—take my trident. Its power will not fail you, for the Chimera must be stopped.

“Bellerophon left the temple, mounted the winged steed, and together they flew toward Caria.

“There stood the terrible monster—enormous, a bestial convulsion of shapes and devastating muscle. The fire spewed from her three maws heated the air beyond endurance. She was swift as a lion, sinuous as a serpent, and stubborn as a goat. Fixing her attention on Bellerophon, she reared and bucked, giving the youth no chance to strike with his father’s trident.

“Desperate, unable to approach the beast, Bellerophon looked to the high sky and saw the face of his cousin Athena. He rose toward her. The face vanished, and when he looked again, the Chimera seemed to have forgotten the hero, pausing to rest from battle. Bellerophon guided Pegasus downward like a dart, and at the right moment hurled the trident. It shattered the Chimera’s spine. She gave a horrific cry of pain and, after a thousand convulsions, died.

“Poseidon returned to reclaim his trident, and freed of it, the Chimera vanished in a ball of fire.

“Father and son exchanged a wave—the god proud of his brave child—and Bellerophon returned to the court of Iobates.

“But Iobates was still resolved to kill the young hero, and so he sent him alone to fight the enemies of the land: the Solymi, who lived in the mountains near Lycia.

“Bellerophon went with Pegasus and defeated them all, reducing them to vassals of Iobates.

“But Iobates was still resolved to kill the young hero, and so he sent him alone to fight the warrior Amazons.

“Bellerophon went with Pegasus and defeated them all, reducing them too to vassals of Iobates.

“Yet Iobates persisted, and finally sent his entire army against the hero. In horror, he saw the god Poseidon rise from the earth and command the river Xanthus, which flowed through the plains of Lycia, to flood the land and drown the whole army.

“At last Iobates understood the divine protection surrounding Bellerophon. Falling to his knees, he begged forgiveness, showed him the tablet sent by Proteus, and, to prove his repentance, gave him the hand of his youngest daughter, Philonoe, and half his kingdom.

“If Bellerophon’s heart rejoiced in his gracious wife, fair of body and soul, it also churned with hatred for Proteus and his wife.

“With Pegasus, he returned to the court of Proteus, pretending to be in love with the queen and promising to carry her away to his palace, where they would live happily ever after.

“Infatuated by the affection of so handsome and gallant a hero, she agreed. She abandoned her husband and mounted the winged horse. They took flight, and from on high Bellerophon cast her into the sea, where the adulteress drowned.

“Immediately, the hero returned to Proteus’s throne, told him what he had done, and declared himself satisfied: his enemy was dead, and the man who had sought his death now mourned.

“Bellerophon returned home, where he lived happily for many, many years, becoming the father of two sons and two daughters, all beautiful.

“This lasted until the day vanity bit him. Poets sang of his deeds, his kingdom prospered, and he began to believe he had the right to enter Olympus and join his father Poseidon.

“His heart poisoned by pride, one day he mounted Pegasus and set out to climb the distance to the home of the gods. Zeus, father of gods, seeing the arrogant audacity of his nephew, sent a gadfly to torment Pegasus.

Driven mad by the insect, Pegasus bucked and bucked until Bellerophon fell to the ground and died.

Zeus then took the valiant horse and placed him in the heavens as one of the constellations. The same fate befell the beautiful Andromeda, along with her mother Cassiopeia and her husband Perseus.

— Man… that’s a pretty stupid way for Bellerophon to die, Nick complained.

— Some say he did not die from the fall, I replied, which would be yet another heroic feat, but that he was left crippled and blind, dying old, alone, and in misery. Be that as it may, all agree that his tomb stood in the citadel of Tlos, in Lycia.

— Greek imagination was kinda wild, huh? said Nick. Everybody’s related to everybody else—monsters, humans, all mixed together. But yeah… they’re beautiful stories.

— What pleases me most is how they interweave, I said. I did not truly tell the stories of Perseus and Bellerophon, but rather the story of Medusa and her two sons, Pegasus and Chrysaor. I did not touch upon the full dramas of Perseus and Bellerophon—only their encounters with Medusa and Pegasus.

— I really loved it, my friend, Nick said. Totally worth the wait for the ending. Some other day I’ll want more—but right now, it’s time to head back to my little crash pad.