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The Music of the Spheres
The Tales of Lyra
Chapter 2: The Gods of Olympus
Heaven yawned and rolled over in his
high bed. Turning his head, he looked below him and noticed the
beautiful Earth. She was covered with cloudy, translucent veils.
"I am Uranos, the master
of all spirits," he said to her. "Aren't you impressed with my beauty
and richness?" he asked as he showered her with meteors and surrounded
her with jeweled scarves of sparkling stars. She ignored him.
"Aren't you amazed by my
power?" he asked as he commanded crashing storms and flashing bolts
of lightning to explode above her. Again, she ignored him.
"Don't you know I love
you? Won't you love me too?" he asked, begging as warm tears streamed
from his face and fell across her body.
"Yes," she answered. "I will love you."
Earth and Uranos gave birth to many children. First they had twelve
Titans, and named them Oceanus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Theia,
Rhea, Coeus, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys and Kronos.
Then Uranos and Earth had
three one-eyed Cyclopes sons, and named them Brontes, Steropes and
Arges. They made heaven's thunderbolts.
Finally they gave birth
to three sons who each had a hundred arms and fifty heads. They
named them Cottus, Briareos and Gyes, but everyone called them the
Hekatoncheires. These three sons were ugly and frightening and,
when Uranos looked at them, he was ashamed so he hid them deep in
a secret cave.
Earth was very upset when Uranos took her sons away. Time after
time she begged him to bring their sons back, but he refused. Finally
Earth devised a plan. She made a giant sickle and asked her other
children to help her free their brothers. The children were silent
and frightened, but Kronos stepped forward to help his mother. Earth
handed Kronos the sickle and he sat in a hiding place, waiting for
his father.
Night came and Uranos spread his dark robe across Earth. Meanwhile
his son waited with his hand clenched on the giant sickle. As Uranos
lay above the Earth, Kronos lifted the sickle and in one swift movement
severed Heaven's genitals.
Heaven's phallus fell down from the sky and into the sea and, as
it touched the water, white foam spread around it. The waves churned,
mixing and kneading the foam until the soft ivory mass took the
shape of a young woman. The turquoise crest of a high wave became
her eyes. The reflections of the sun upon the sea became her golden
hair. Sitting on a scallop shell, the sea lifted her above the waves
and offered her to the gods, who named her Aphrodite. Eros flew
to join her and Desire followed them both into the far reaches of
heaven. From that day forward, wherever Aphrodite walked, flowers
grew and whenever she passed, lovers smiled.
There were other births besides Aphrodite's, for Night was angry
that Uranos had been killed. She gave birth to Doom, evil Fate,
Age and Death, Sleep with her entire tribe of Dreams, and finally
to Strife. Then Strife gave birth to never-ending Toil, Famine,
Sorrow, Fighting, Murder, Quarrels, Lies, Lawlessness and Ruin.
The world was not the happy place it had been before. It was this
sad world that Kronos began to rule.
Kronos drank from the cup of power with its delicate poison. As
the poison took effect, he saw deception everywhere. In his imagination,
evils lurked, waiting to steal his authority. "A hundred hands can
make them invincible," he thought as he watched the hundred handed
brothers he had just freed. "They are a powerful danger to me,"
he said, and he imprisoned them once again. Then Kronos saw his
one-eyed Cyclopes brothers. "They look at me strangely. I'm sure
they are planning something," he said and he imprisoned the Cyclopes
deep in the cave, too.
Free from fear for a time, Kronos fell asleep and Aphrodite, wishing
to control him, sneaked behind him and caressed the tyrant's head.
"You will love Rhea," the enchantress whispered, and Kronos obeyed.
Kronos awoke from his dream in a sweat for Rhea was giving birth
to their child. "My child will do to me what I did to my father!"
he cried in terror. Kronos watched his child's head slip from its
mother's body and slide from the birth canal, and to his frightened
eyes the umbilical cord changed into a chain.
Rhea turned toward her husband with the baby girl cradled in her
arms. "This is our daughter Hestia," she said softly. Instead of
watching a happy father, she saw him swoop down upon their child
and swallow it whole. "Why did you do it?" Rhea sobbed. Kronos wouldn't
answer. He narrowed his eyes as he turned and walked away.
A while later Rhea gave birth to another daughter. "Demeter," she
whispered to her baby, "I hope you'll be safe." Kronos grabbed the
baby and swallowed her whole, just as he had with the first. Through
the passing years Rhea gave birth to a third daughter named Hera,
then a son named Poseidon and another son named Hades. Each time
Kronos stole the baby from its mother--then he ate it. Never once
would he tell her why.
When Rhea discovered she was pregnant once again, she asked her
mother Earth to help her save her child. Earth remembered her own
sorrow when her husband hid her sons, so Earth said, "go to the
forest of Mount Aegeum in Crete. I will prepare a cave for you there.
Don't worry. I will take care of everything."
Rhea immediately left for Crete and shortly gave birth to a boy
named Zeus. She rocked gently as she nursed him, and as she rocked
her anger toward her husband grew. "How dare Kronos deny me my other
children!" she cried. "Mother Earth, what can I do to get my children
back?"
"Your son will help you," whispered Earth, "but that will take time.
For now, you must return to Kronos and pretend nothing has changed.
Here, wrap this rock in a blanket. Pretend it is your child and
offer it to him." Rhea obeyed her mother and returned to Kronos,
presenting him with the wrapped rock. Without even opening the blanket
to look at his son, Kronos swallowed it whole. Rhea watched silently
and no emotion registered upon her face. She knew that she would
win; all she needed was patience.
Meanwhile, back in Crete, Earth took care of her grandson. Zeus
drank goat's milk and it made him grow quickly. He soon became a
strong warrior and was ready to help his mother. When the time had
come, mother Earth hypnotized her son Kronos with the sounds of
cooing birds and sighing winds. Then she drugged him with the strong
perfume of a thousand intoxicating spring flowers. His head spun
and Kronos fell to his knees while his stomach churned. He vomited
up all of his children. First came the stone, which he had swallowed
last, next came Hades, the youngest, then Poseidon, Hera, Demeter,
and finally Hestia.
"Come Zeus," Rhea called to her son. "It is time to fight your father."
Zeus joined his sisters and brothers, and they called themselves
Olympians. The Titans took Kronos' side as they all grabbed their
weapons, facing off for the fight. The war went on for ten years
with no end in sight and, since both sides were equal, it looked
to mother Earth like the fight would continue forever unless she
took action.
Earth went to her cave where she had hidden thunder and lightning
when Kronos imprisoned her Cyclopes sons. She filled her arms with
the bolts and carried them up into the sunlight, where she dropped
them in a pile. They shook the ground when they fell and, as the
ground shook, the great borders of the earth opened and her Cyclopes
sons stepped free from their prison. Earth handed them their weapons
and said, "Take these to your nephew Zeus and help him win this
war." As the Cyclopes seized their weapons, the earth rumbled and
shook and Mt. Olympus reeled from its foundation while the sea pounded
against its shores. Thunder filled the air while fiery bolts of
red lightning split the thick, black clouds. Heaven shook and groaned,
while the roar of both armies reached to the edge of the universe
in a rumbling clash of a battle-cry.
High upon Mount Olympus, an angry Zeus hurled his new lightning
bolts thick and fast against the earth where the bolts exploded
in flames. As the forests crackled they shot sparks high into the
sky and the winds blew the flames into fiery walls, which surrounded
the Titans. Sparks filled the upper atmosphere and glowed like the
blinding sun while Zeus' thunderous war drums echoed against the
mountain ranges of earth in a deafening pounding.
Suddenly, Earth burst open with streams of red-hot molten lava.
Cottus, Briareos and Gyes, her hundred handed sons, rose from the
center of the flow. They hurled a never-ending stream of rocks with
their three hundred arms as the sky turned dark from the hailstorm
of missiles. It was too much for the Titans. One by one, they surrendered
as the Olympians bound them in chains the Cyclopes had forged at
the core of the earth. The shackled Titans marched in single file
to the end of the world. Zeus led them behind the wall that rims
the globe and Poseidon slammed the bronze gates shut. Gyes, Cottus
and Briareos stood tall, spreading their arms in victory across
the entrance so their prisoners could never leave.
Then the three Olympian brothers divided the universe and shared
power equally, for each had his own kingdom. Zeus cracked his mighty
thunderbolt amid the gleaming galaxies of his heavenly domain, and
Poseidon conjured storms and creatures from his kingdom beneath
the sea, while Hades, with all the earthly treasures of gold and
jewels, controlled the carnal minds in death.
Tales of
the Immortal Night ©2003, J.J. Kuhl
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