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The Music of the Spheres
The Tales of Lyra
Chapter 4: Orpheus
Orpheus strummed his lyre and sang about
Eros creating the universe from chaos. He sang about the birth of
the gods and their battles for power and, whenever he sang, men
and women rested from their work and children sang words they couldn't
pronounce. However, it was always the young women who followed him.
Bewitched by his voice, the women fell in love with him. "Marry
me, Orpheus," they called out as he passed. No matter how many called
to him, or how beautiful or persistent they were, Orpheus did not
notice, for his heart was full with the love of Eurydice and, in
time, he married her.
It was not long after they married that Eurydice took a shortcut
home from the market. The path was through a field of high grass
where a poisonous snake hid. He bit her on the ankle and she died.
Orpheus sobbed as he placed his wife's body on the funeral pyre.
He cried as the flames' gentle tongues delicately consumed all that
was dear to him, and he sat for days until the embers died and the
south wind quietly scattered her ashes. Orpheus became a man without
purpose and without hope and the south wind grew misty eyed as she
watched him. "You poor man. I cannot bear to watch you this way,"
Auster said. "I spread her ashes so I feel responsible. Go to Hades
and bring her back." For the first time since her death, Orpheus
brightened. Armed only with his lyre, he set out for the Land of
the Dead.
When he reached the river Styx, Orpheus saw the spirits of the dead
waiting in line for their trip across to Hades. He stepped into
line behind them. Charon, the ferryman, welcomed each soul aboard,
but he passed Orpheus, saying, "Only the dead are allowed." Charon
stepped back to his boat. "The ferry is about to leave," he said.
"Are there any more dead souls bound for Hades?"
"Kind sir, you who control the passage of death. I have come to
retrieve my wife, for my life is nothing without her." Orpheus looked
so pitiful that Charon brought the young man aboard.
As Orpheus stepped down upon the Land of the Dead, he saw the Gates
of Hades. Cerberus, the three headed hound of Hell, guarded the
gate. With his three mouthfuls of sharp teeth, he growled his warning
to stay away.
"You cannot frighten me," Orpheus calmly sang and strummed his lyre
as he stared at the six eyes of Cerberus. "I am in the land of my
beloved. If I am to die, I will join her again. How can that frighten
me?"
Cerberus stopped growling and whimpered as he lay down, cradling
his heads between his paws and wagging his tail in time to the rhythm.
Orpheus held out his hand, gently touching the gates of Hell. They
opened for him.
Sulfur stung his nostrils and made his eyes tear. As he wiped his
eyes and grew accustomed to the bitter air, he stepped into the
smoky world where a red haze cast its glow upon bodies hopelessly
trying to complete impossible tasks. He strummed his lyre and began
to sing, "As long as you struggle, then struggle you will. Your
struggle is just in your mind." As he sang, Sisyphus sat upon his
stone, Ixion's wheel stopped and Tantalus ignored the receding wave.
Orpheus continued walking until the red haze cleared and the walls
of Hades rose up and opened into the garden of the Elysian Fields,
where heroes, killed in battle, rested from their wounds. "Be proud
of your life and of your heroic death," he sang to their souls and
they let go of their sadness. Then he continued through the flower
covered hillsides of the Mourning Fields, where the dead children
sat and cried. "You innocent ones, do not be sad, for you will come
to live another day," he sang to them as they gathered around him,
laughing and smiling again.
"What is happening to my kingdom?" Hades asked Persephone as they
took an evening stroll. "Everyone has stopped their jobs." As they
continued their walk, they heard the music. "Why are you disrupting
my kingdom?" Hades said, stopping Orpheus in mid-song.
Orpheus kneeled at Hades' feet and began to sing. "Hades took the
one he loved. He could not live without her. She brought life to
the land of death, for there she is his queen. He also took the
one I love. I cannot live without her. If he will not give her back,
he must take me as well."
Persephone cried. Even the humorless eyes of Hades welled with tears.
"Bring Eurydice," Hades commanded his guards. Hades turned to Orpheus.
"She may return to the world of the living under one condition only,"
he said. "You cannot look at her until you arrive back in the upper
world." Orpheus nodded in agreement and turned his back as Eurydice
walked to his side. She grasped his hand and as he squeezed her
fingers, the warmth returned to her body and she returned to life.
Orpheus thanked Hades and he and Eurydice started on their long
journey home.
"The snakebite must still be affecting her," he thought as he felt
her limping behind him. He walked slowly, carefully placing each
foot on the steep path and waiting for her to place her feet before
he took his next step. The trail was long and seemed to take an
eternity, but he knew they were almost back in the upper world.
The ground beneath his feet crumbled and he watched rocks fall endlessly
down deep crevices on either side of the path. "This is a very steep
and treacherous part of the path," he said to her, "be very careful."
His hands shook nervously, but he grasped her fingers tightly as
he led his wife through the dangers.
Eurydice hesitated on a step and Orpheus panicked, turning to see
if she was safe. His eyes met hers and he realized what he had done
as her hand slipped away and she died a second time. "I will always
love you," she called out to him. It was barely a whisper when it
reached her husband's ears for she receded to the clutches of Hades
once again and all that remained was the glow of the red mist.
He crossed the river Styx to return to the land of the living. "What
am I doing? I must go back to her," he said frantically. "Please,
take me back. I must stay with my wife," he said to Charon, the
ferryman. It was no use. Charon refused to take him back again.
For a week he sat weeping on the banks of the Styx and refused to
eat or sleep or care for himself. His body and clothes were dirty
and he lost all interest in life. Finally he left the river and
returned to the upper world.
Three years passed and Orpheus continued to mourn Eurydice's death.
He sang again and the children followed him through the streets,
but he took no joy in it. The young women tried to woo him, but
they received no encouragement. In the three years since her death
the situation hadn't changed but, by now, there were some women
in Thrace who were impatient.
"His wife is dead," one said.
"I have loved him for years," another sobbed.
They drank some wine. "I cook him a dinner every few days," said
a third. They drank still more.
"I sew his clothes and cut his hair," told the fourth. The more
that gathered, the more they all drank.
More women came and the more that came the angrier they grew. "He
has a good living, he could support one of us." They drank more.
Finally, in their drunken rage, the Thracian women found Orpheus
and they tore him limb from limb.
"Oh Zeus, what can we do?" The Muses cried. "Our Orpheus is dead
and our music is gone. Please, Zeus, give us something to remember
him by."
While the Muses collected the scattered parts of Orpheus' body and
held a memorial ceremony for him, Zeus took Orpheus' lyre and placed
it high in heaven. The lyre ignited in the sky and became stars.
"I will call these stars Lyra. Everyone who hears the songs of Orpheus
will remember them and tell them to their children," Zeus said.
"The stories will live forever and will be known as the Orphic myths
in his honor. My poor little Muses, do not be sad for Orpheus. He
was rejoined with his love, and his instrument of song became immortal."
Tales of
the Immortal Night ©2003, J.J. Kuhl
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