In this opener, Calliope sings a song that describes how Venus made her son Cupid shoot an arrow into the heart of Dis so that he would fall in love with Proserpine, who is coincidentally his niece. I was a little confused what Venus' motive for doing this was. She talked about expanding her kingdom, but I wasn't clear on how having Cupid play matchmaker would do this for her.
Calliope's song continues here. Proserpine is described in her peaceful little glade before she is swept up and carried away by Dis in his dark chariot. On the journey to the underworld, a nymph tries to stop Dis, but has no success. The nymph was deeply saddened and melted away to nothingness. At some point, a boy is turned into a lizard...I didn't know what to make of that. Ceres begins searching for her daughter and when she finds Proserpine's ribbon by the water, she understands what has happened. Ceres is angry and lashes out at the earth.
Ceres meets a woman by the water and the woman begs Ceres not to scorn the earth because of the incident. She witnessed the incident and she assures Ceres that the earth was unwilling to yield for Dis. With this, Ceres goes to Jupiter and begs for a way to get Proserpine back. At first, Jupiter tries to convince Ceres that things aren't so bad, but when he sees that she's not going to have it, he makes a deal.
"If you have such a great desire to separate them, Proserpine shall return to heaven, but on only one condition, that no food has touched her lips, since that is the law, decreed by the Fates."
Ceres thinks everything is great. She's confident that Proserpine will return soon...but unfortunately this proves to be a misconception. Proserpine broke her fast and ate a pomegranate, which means she won't be allowed to leave. The person who witnessed her eating this fruit was turned into a bird, by the sounds of it something between and owl and a vulture. Jupiter sees that he must step in, so he allows Proserpine to return to earth for half of the year and and spend the other half in the underworld.
The theme of transformations in continued into this story. Minerva comes to Arachne is disguise and tries to give her advice, but Arachne sees an old woman that she doesn't have the time to listen to. Arachne is too prideful. The two prepare to have a weave-off. Arachne is very skilled in weaving, but Minerva is a goddess, so...it could be anybody's game.
Most of this story is spent describing the scenes that each woman has woven. I didn't find that part especially interesting and I don't have much to say about that. Arachne's creation is better, which makes Minerva jealous and angry. She tears the piece up and hit Arachne. For some reason, Arachne goes to hang herself, but Minerva turns her into a spider instead.
This is the story of another prideful woman. Basically, Niobe thinks really highly of herself and she refuses to worship the goddess Latona. In her pride, Niobe ignorantly believe that she is above harm and her wealth will protect her.
"My riches make me safe. I am greater than any whom Fortune can harm, and though she could take much away, she would leave me much more. Surely my comforts banish fear."
Latona is rightfully angry and begins to plan her revenge on Niobe. All of Niobe's children are struck down, one by one. Niobe begs to keep her youngest daughter, but her requests are in vain. She had seen seven children killed. I found this story sad. The children were all killed for something their mother said, so they had no control over their fates and they didn't really deserve to die just to tach Niobe a lesson.
In this story, more people are transformed into animals. First, the story explains that many are afraid of Latona for her power and wrath. The story goes on to tell of a time when Latona tried to drink from a pool of water and was turned away. She asked why this was and explained that nature should be for everybody's use. Still, the people did not respect Latona's wishes. They jumped around in the water and made the pool murky.With that, she cursed them to live in the swamp forever and turned them into frogs.
This story was really bizarre to me. Marysas is punished because apparently he's not allowed to be playing the flute. He is skinned alive.
"As he screams, the skin is flayed from the surface of his body, no part is untouched. Blood flows everywhere, the exposed sinews are visible, and the trembling veins quiver, without skin to hide them: you can number the internal organs, and the fibres of the lungs, clearly visible in his chest."
A stream is created and named after him.
When your marriage begins because of a 'bird omen', you know you're going to have a rough time of things.At first, things seem pretty okay. Procne misses her sister, so she asks if her sister can come visit. Her husband Tereus sails off to pick up her sister, Philomela, and deeply lusts after her in the process.
Tereus wins Philomela and Procne's father's trust, and Philomela is allowed to visit. Not long after their ship departs, Tereus overtakes and rapes Philomela. She screams and yells at him, calling him a traitor and promising to make sure that the world knows what he has done to her. Tereus then cut Philomela's tongue out and returned to Procne, telling her that her sister had died.
Philomela is imprisoned. She is resourceful, and even thought she can't talk, she manages to weave a scene that explains her story. Philomela sends this depiction to Procne. Procne finds where her sister is being held and the two are reunited, but it's not a joyful reunion. Procne feels responsible for what happened to her sister and vows to do whatever to takes to make Tereus pay. Procne drags off and kills her own son with the help of Philomela. Itys, her dead son, is served to Tereus at the feast. Philomela throws Itys' head at Tereus. All three of them are turned into birds.
There was a lot going on in this story. Jason is hunting for the golden fleece, and Medea falls in love with him. Medea spends a lot of time contemplating what her love for Jason will cost her - she would have to leave her family and her native country. Most of the story is just her turning over her options, and in the end she decides to go for it.
Medea confesses her love to Jason and he takes it well, agreeing to marry her. Jason goes on to fight a bunch of things, including a dragon. He planted teeth from the dragon into the ground and they magically grew into soldiers. There is a big fight scene then Jason accomplishes his final task - putting the dragon to sleep so that he can retrieve the golden fleece. Medea helps him with magic.
Jason's father is old and on the verge of death. Jason asks Medea to cast a spell on his father to extend his life. It's quite a process, but Medea is able to do so. She collects herbs and magical things from all over the land and readies he spell to help Aeson.
After nine days and nights, Medea returns with all of her ingredients and begins to concoct something in her cauldron. It seemed to be a very elaborate creation and the ingredients are detailed, but I don't really think specific ingredients are relevant to anything. When the potion is finished brewing, Medea makes her move.
"As soon as she saw this, Medea unsheathed a knife, and cut the old man’s throat, and letting the old blood out, filled the dry veins with the juice. When Aeson had absorbed it, part through his mouth, and part through the wound, the white of his hair and beard quickly vanished, and a dark colour took its place. At a stroke his leanness went, and his pallor and dullness of mind. The deep hollows were filled with rounded flesh, and his limbs expanded. Aeson marvelled, recalling that this was his self of forty years ago."
This scene surprised me. I thought she might make him drink the potion or even pour the potion over him, but I didn't expect her to replace his blood with the potion. That seems a bit extreme, but hey. It seemed to work for her.
