Once upon a time, in an era where gods walked among men and men walked among gods, a girl was guardian of the stars. Her skin was coppery and her eyes were wide emeralds. Her long strands of spun obsidian hung down to her knees and the threads seemed to float on the curling breezes. Her dress, like her hair, brushed her knees. As dark as onyx, it shimmered like the night sky. She glowed like the moon, a silvery halo encompassing her whole being.
This girl—whose name was Astraea—rode on the back of a great bear when she graced the land. When she took to the skies, her companion was a magnificent phoenix. She spent her days in night and she spent her nights casting stars into the black sea. Standing on her phoenix’s back, she played her harp
…show more content…
No lightning, no thunder. Simply rain. Drenched with sky water, she rushed into the cave to find Thallo seated on one of the mineral benches crying her soul out.
Astraea held Thallo until she calmed a bit, the storm outside lightening up as well. “What’s bothering you, Thal?”
Thallo straightened to look directly at Astraea. “I miss you during the day. I’m all alone without my sister and you are only around at night.”
“I would be here during the days but I have heard stories of some of my predecessors attempting to walk in daylight. The sun burned them to ashes. I really don’t want that to happen to me.”
“I can’t help missing you, Astra. It is so lonely here without you.”
Astraea fell silent, pondering the words her best and only friend just uttered. An idea began to blossom in her mind. She was unsure of if it would work, yet deep down she knew it had to. She decided to work when Thallo was out getting food or new candles.
When her work was done she arranged to meet Thallo where they first happened upon each other so many months ago. Astraea, suppressing her eagerness, guided a blindfolded Thallo to their cave. Standing just beyond the threshold, Astraea removed the cloth, giving back Thallo’s ability to
Lucie Brock-Broido’s “The Halo That Would Not Light” is a poem about the loss of childhood and its inevitable end. When one is born “the (raptor’s) beak (lets) loose of you” (ll 1-2), and drops your tiny body into the “scarab-colored hollow” (ll 3-4). The raptor letting the tiny body loose into the scarab colored hollow alludes to the old nursery stories of the stork delivering babies in cribs for their new families. When children are young they often have positive outlooks on the world and believe that everything is possible, like the magic in the “hollow hat” (l 13) or the “cardboard box” (l 5). They believe strongly in all in possible wonders of the world and it isn't until their “endless childhood” is finally “done” that they loose the
Mythology is a key part of many of Zora Neale Hurston’s short stories and novels. She researched the stories of her home town and many other areas of the world. Hurston used this knowledge of myths and stories to help her carry them on to later generations in a form that almost everybody could relate to. Through out all of Zora Neale Hurston’s stories, mythology has been a crucial keystone. Her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, has been influenced by three different ancient myths: the myths of Ezili Freda, Osiris and Isis, and Aphrodite and Adonis.
Frankel, Valerie Estelle. From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine's Journey through Myth and Legend. Jefferson, NC: McFarland &, 2010. Print.
"What, exactly, did you think you were doing?" Reinhardt's calm, but stern voice filtered in through the haze surrounding her head.
all of her anxious feelings left her body and she felt safe. Temple decided to build her own
A remarkable writer, that went by the name Ursula K. Le Guin, wrote an amazing short story called "Gwilan’s Harp.” Gwilan’s Harp focused on a girl, a girl with a gift. “She was young; her hands were iron and her
“Yes…and when it gets light we will pack everything up all nice and neat, like nothing happened.”
Euripidies, Medea. ""Into realms of the semi-celestials": from mortal to mythic in The Awakening." Galegroup.net. 2005. Web. 3 Jan. 2010. .
The dragon breathed down fire and rocks came crashing down. Audra was concerned for a moment, worried the actors might get injured, then realized she’d become so swept up in the story that it wasn’t real rocks that fell, but gray cloth fashioned into
As she inched through the tunnel, the Locket around her neck began to get heavier and warmer. Suddenly she fell as she reached the end of the log tunnel. Leonna got up to a sitting position, grabbed the locket, and opened it.
Lies, Betty Bonham. "The Wise Goddess Athena." Earth's Daughters: Stories of Women in Classical Mythology. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Resources, 1999. Print.
The thunder is now distant and passing away. The storm outside turns into soft, lighter rain, symbolic of the storm ending.
Theogony, by the Boeotian Hesiod, reveals the history of the Cosmos from its creation. The timeline and births of each cosmic entity are disclosed, along with all the tantalizing interactions these deities converse in, culminating in the rule of Zeus. The early parts of the poem revolve around Gaia, an anthropomorphized entity that is the physical presence on which all life resides on and also the mother to the first generation of gods. Gaia is instrumental in orchestrating the first succession of Gods, but a question is asked of whether Gaia’s actions throughout the poem are fundamentally weak or strong. This paper will argue that Gaia is a fundamentally strong character that is crucial to the creation and formation of the cosmos through
The lights were what intrigued me. In my earliest memories, only the moon illuminated the darkness, a hole of light punched into the black, velvety night. Its light shone on the red, course sand of our hometown, the Arizonian soil rich with the memories of the ancient tribal footprints that had once walked upon it. I can’t remember the first time that I ever noticed the lights, but I can remember the first time I noticed my people’s reaction to them. The constant scorn and bitterness led me to conclude that I was to stay away from this new place, but I knew that I could never completely ignore the new spectacle, even after my father sat down with me to give me that first order.
Imagine a young girl; the harsh African sun is kissing her bronzed skin. The warm golden sand tickles her petite and tattered feet. The immense gold earrings she wears beats against her slender neck. Her stature is of a queen, yet she walks to an uncertain death. She stands in front of a small hut, or a tent. She glances back and sees the majestic sun that had once kissed her neck now set and somewhat leave her abandoned. She exists alone in front of that diminutive hut or tent and out comes a man. He is exhausted and is ready to go home to his companion and his supper. He looks a bit annoyed that she has come so late. His hands are stained with a ruby tint and his clothes the same. He motions the young girl in. Hesitantly, she makes small and meager steps to the entranceway. She steps into a minute room with little or no lighting. She stares upon two women and a rusty table that holds the screams of the girls that went before her. The man motions her to sit in the table. She slowly places her body on the stained and rusty table. She is a bit afraid that the table will not hold under her weight; nevertheless, she is held up. The man places his cold and clammy hands on her collarbone and pushes her back to the table. As she lies there she looks to her left and sees his instruments; a bloody and rusty razor blade.