ΑΓΓΛΙΚΑ Ε' ΔΗΜ. 5ο Δ.Σ.Κορδελιού-Ευόσμου

The Bee of Wisdom

The great god Zeus was worried. He loved his Titan wife, Metis, because she was very clever and gave him good advice. But Mother Earth had  told him that if Metis ever bore him a son, then Zeus would be overthrown. Now Zeus liked being king of the gods, and he did not want that to happen, so he challenged Metis to a game of shape changing. Metis agreed, and as she turned into a bee and buzzed about the room, he sniffed a great sniff with his right nostril, and sucked Metis up into his head.

There she sat, giving him advice when he needed it, and tickling his brain with her tiny feet when he didn’t. It was rather uncomfortable, but Zeus just had to put up with it. What Zeus didn’t know was that Metis was pregnant when he turned her into a bee. Soon Metis got very bored inside Zeus's head, and she decided to make some things for her new baby. She magicked herself a loom and some thread, and started  to weave a beautiful robe. Thumpety-thump, clickety-click went the loom, and soon Zeus had a headache.

"Stop that!" he grumbled, but Metis carried on. As soon as she had finished the robe, she magicked herself a little hammer and anvil, and started to make a wonderful silver helmet. Bashety-bash, crashety-crash went the hammer.

"Ouch!" roared Zeus, clutching his forehead.

Soon his headache was so bad that he called to his son Hephaestus the blacksmith to help him.

"Hum," said Hephaestus. "You've got something in there. The only "thing to do is to cut it out." So he took his sharpest chisel and split Zeus's head right open down the middle. Out sprang a beautiful goddess, wearing a shimmering silver robe and a winged silver helmet. She kissed Zeus.

"Sorry about the headache," she said. "I'm your daughter Athene." As soon as Zeus had mended his head (with Metis the bee still safely inside). He invited all the gods to a feast to meet his newest daughter. He was very proud of her, and wanted to give her a present.

"I shall make her the goddess of wisdom and give her a city," he decided. "Perhaps that little one down there will do”. Zeus had just chosen the one place which Poseidon wanted to be his city. When Poseidon heard about Zeus's gift to Athene he was very angry. But there was nothing he could do to challenge his powerful brother's decision, so he decided to challenge Athene instead.

"Let us have a competition, dear niece," he said. "We shall both give the people of this place a gift, and they shall decide which is the most useful to them. Whoever wins shall keep the city." Athene agreed at once, and they both flew down to the city, landing on the flat rock the people called the Acropolis.

"My people of Poseidia.'" cried Poseidon. "See what I give you!" And he struck a rock with his trident. A stream of water gushed out and the people rushed forward to taste it.

"Ugh!" they said, spitting and coughing. "What horrible salty water! This is no good to us at all.'"

"My people of Athens!" cried Athene. "See what I give you!" And she pointed her finger at the ground. Up rose a beautiful tree, with silvery leaves and little hard round fruits. The fruits fell into a wooden barrel on the ground, and the people rushed to look in.

"Oh!" they cried in wonder as they scooped out oil and olives.

"How useful! How delicious! Thank you, Athene." Poseidon dived into the sea in a fury, and ever since then, the city of Athens has belonged to the goddess Athene.

Jason Story Part 2: The Impossible Task

The King of Colchis hated strangers. He hated them so much that he killed any who came to his country. But when he heard that Jason and his band of Argonauts had landed on his shores in search of the precious golden fleece, he smiled nastily.         “I shall set this great hero an impossible task, and then I shall kill him and his followers,” he said to his witch-daughter Medea. So the king welcomed Jason and his friends, but when they told him what they had come for he prentended to be surprised.

“Don’t you know that anyone who wants the golden fleece must do something for me first? I have a field that needs ploughing up ad sowing- perhaps you could do that?’ Jason agreed, but he was very surprised when he saw the king’s plough animals, and even more surprised when he saw what he had to sow. The plough was harnessed to two fiery bulls, whose breath burned anyone who came near them, and the seeds in the packet were dragon’s teeth.

“You have till sunset tomorrow,” said the king. Now Hera knew that Jason could never plough and sow the field on his own, so she summoned Aphrodite. “Make the king’s daughter, Medea, fall in love with Jason,” she commanded. “She will know how to help him.” So Aphrodite sent her son Eros to shoot Medea with his little love darts, and soon afterwards Medea sneaked into Jason’s room.

“I love you,” she whispered, “and I can help you. Take this lotion and cover yourself with it. Then you will be able to bear the heat of the bulls’ breath and plough the field.” Jason did just as she said, and then he sowed the dragon’s teeth. Straightaway hundreds of stone soldiers sprang up in neat rows from the ground, but Jason threw a rock at them, and they all began to fight each other. By sunset they were all dead.

The grove was dark and gloomy, but the Golden Fleece shone out like a thousand suns. Quickly Medea began to chant a magic song, and the green scaly dragon which had been sent to guard the fleece closed its huge eyes with a sigh.The king was furious, and he ordered his soldiers to kill Jason and his Argonauts at dawn. But Medea overheard his plan and ran to Jason at once. “You must leave,” she said.  “I will lead you to the sacred grove, and sing the dragon to sleep with my magic while you steal the golden fleece. Then we can escape together.” Jason kissed her, and together they tiptoed out of the palace.

Jason stepped over its gigantic body and ripped the precious fleece from the branch where it hung. A hundred warning bells rang out as Jason and Medea ran for the Argo and they heard the thunder of many feet behind them as the king’s soldiers gave chase. They flung themselves onto the deck, and the Argonauts rowed and rowed until Colchis was left far behind. The golden fleece was rescued at last, and Jason could now go home and claim his throne from his wicked uncle Pelias.

The Ship of Heroes

Jason Story Part 1: The Ship of Heroes

King Pelias of Iolcus had a nephew called Jason, a strong, handsome
young man who had been hidden in Chirοn's cave since he was a
child to keep him safe from his enemies. He was the true heir to the throne of lolcus, and one day he decided to go and take his kingdom back from his wicked uncle. As he walked down the slopes of the mountain, he came to a river, where an old woman stood looking feebly at the foaming waters.

"Can I help you across, my lady?" he said politely. The old woman jumped on to his back without a word, and they set off As Jason got further and further into the middle of the river, the old woman seemed to get heavier and heavier, until he was sinking into the mud at every step. As he struggled to reach the other side the sticky mud sucked one of his sandals off, and it was lost forever. Jason set the old lady down on the bank, and as he did so he gasped. There in front of his eyes was the goddess Hera, revealed in all her glory.

"You are a good boy to carry such a heavy load without complaining; she said. "I shall certainly help you to get your throne back." And she disappeared.

Jason limped into the palace, one sandal on and one sandal off His Uncle Pelias noticed him at once and turned pale with horror. An oracle had once told him that a boy with one sandal would overthrow him, so he knew just who Jason was.

However, he smiled sweetly and embraced his nephew, shouting orders for a great feast to be prepared. "Now, dear boy, he said. "You must certainly have your throne back, for I have 1' reigned long enough. But first you must do a heroic deed to prove that you can be a good king to our people." Then he told Jason that he must go

and fetch the magical golden fleece from the land of Colchis.

"When the fleece hangs in the throne room of Iolcus, then the crown will be yours;' he said. What Pelias didn't say was that the fleece was  guarded by a fierce dragon which never slept. Jason gathered together all his old school friends, and together they built a wonderful ship which they called the Argo, with seeing eyes in the prow and fifty oars.

Before they set off they gave sacrifices to all the gods and goddesses, making sure that no one was left out or offended, and when the Argo sailed, she was full of fifty heroes, all ready for any kind of adventure. Heracles was there, with his friends Admetus and Hylas. Atalanta the huntress came, and so did Orpheus the poet and Castor and Polydeuces, the sons of Leda and Zeus. They called themselves the Argonauts, and Jason was their leader and captain.

The Argonauts sailed east, on and on, until they landed in a strange country to ask the way. All the people there were smiling and contented, except for the king, who was so thin and bony that he looked as if he might fall apart at any moment.

"Whatever is the matter?" asked Jason. The king explained that every night and morning he tried to eat, but as soon as the food was set on the table three revolting fat bird-women flew down and ate what was on his plate.

"They call themselves Harpies, and whatever they don't eat they sit in and make a mess of, so that it can't be touched;' he whispered weakly. "None of my people can get rid of them, and believe me, we've tried!"

Jason and the Argonauts were hungry themselves, so they told the king to lay on a feast for that night. As soon as the disgusting Harpies swooped into the room, Calaϊs and Zetes, the sons of the North Wind, flew into the air with swords and sticks and chased and whipped the Harpies until they screamed and begged for their lives. The Argonauts laughed and cheered as they sat down to their dinner, and the king laughed with them as he stuffed food into his poor starved stomach. The Harpies never came back, and the Argonauts got back into Argo and they sailed towards Colchis.

Jason and the Golden Fleece

The myth of Jason and the search for the Golden Fleece (Χρυσόμαλλον Δέρας) originated
in Asia Minor. The Golden Fleece may represent the king because Jason needed to find it to return the throne
to its proper ruler.

Jason’s father, Aeson, was the rightful king of Thessaly, but his half-brother, Pelias, imprisoned
Aeson in a power grab. Pelias feared that he would be overthrown and ordered all his halfbrother’s
relatives to be killed. Jason was a baby at the time and was saved by some fastthinking
women and quickly left the kingdom to be raised by Chiron, a friendly centaur.
An oracle (one who predicts the future) told Pelias he should be afraid of a man with one sandal.
Many years later, as Jason was returning to the kingdom to claim the throne, he lost one sandal in the river. He was brought to
the king as a man wearing only one sandal.  Afraid for his throne, Pelias told Jason he would have to find and bring back the
Golden Fleece. Pelias believed Jason could not succeed in taking the Golden Fleece from the dragon and would die in the
pursuit.
Jason assembled a group of about 50 sailors (the Argonauts) and a huge ship called the Argo (above and right) and sailed toward Colchis to find the Golden Fleece.
The journey of Jason and the Argonauts was filled with adventure. They stopped at several islands along the way, causing trouble on some and being helpful on others. On Salmydessus, for example, the king was slowly being starved to death by Harpies, creatures with the bodies of birds and heads of women. Two Argonauts (children of the North Wind) chased the Harpies far away so they could never hurt the king again. To thank him, King Phineas told Jason how to get to the kingdom of Colchis and gave him the secret of passing through the Symplegades, two rock cliffs that clashed
together and crushed any ship attempting to sail between them. In Colchis, Jason met King Aeetes. Aeetes did not welcome Jason. He gave Jason three very difficult tasks before Jason could get to the golden Fleece.

The three tasks were too hard for Jason. So, the goddess Hera arranged for the king’s daughter, Medea, to help him with the tasks through her magical powers. First, he had to yoke two fire-breathing oxen together and plow a field. Medea gave him a special salve that coated his skin and protected him from burning in the flames. Second, he had to plant dragon’s teeth in the field. The dragon’s teeth grew up to be armed warriors, and Medea told him how to defeat them.
Third came the challenge of getting past the sleepless dragon that protected the fleece. At the tree where the fleece was hung,
Medea put the dragon to sleep with an herbal potion. Jason grabbed the Golden Fleece, and he and Medea ran to the Argo
and sailed for home.

Easter Customs in Greece!!!