Brick Greek Myths Page 9

  Heracles then had his son betrothed to the beautiful Iole.

  But Heracles was still dying. An oracle came to him and told him that he would die on Mount Oeta, so he set off for the peak.

  He had his friends help him build a great funeral pyre right at the top of the mountain.

  Then he climbed onto the pyre.

  A bolt of lightning struck the wooden structure and set it ablaze!

  A cloud floated from the heavens and surrounded the pyre. The cloud took Heracles and brought him up to Olympus. When the fire had finished burning, his friends searched the ashes, but his bones were nowhere to be found.

  When Heracles arrived in Olympus, the other gods welcomed him as a hero and gave him the gift of immortality. They also allowed him a place in the circle of the gods.

  Hera reconciled with him, putting an end to their bitter conflict.

  As a sign of her goodwill, she allowed Heracles to take her daughter Hebe, the goddess of everlasting life, as his Olympian wife. Thus ended the adventures of the great hero Heracles.

  Jason and the Golden Fleece

  Once there was a country called Iolcus, ruled by a king named Aeson and his queen Alcimede. They had a young son named Jason who was to inherit his father’s throne.

  Aeson’s stepbrother, Pelias, had a thirst for power and wanted the throne for himself.

  So he challenged King Aeson to a fight. Pelias beat his brother soundly.

  Then he took his brother’s crown and usurped the throne.

  To prevent any challengers from threatening his rule, Pelias had Aeson thrown in prison and ordered much of his family to be killed.

  Obsessed with retaining his ill-gotten throne, Pelias consulted an oracle. The seer told him that a man with one sandal would finish him.

  Meanwhile, Alcimede was able to escape Pelias’s wrath, fleeing into the wilderness with her child clutched tightly in her arms.

  In the woods she met the wise centaur Chiron. Alcimede was very concerned for the safety of her child, but Chiron promised to keep Jason safe. With many tears, Alcimede gave her child over to the centaur to raise the boy and be his mentor.

  True to his word, Chiron kept the boy safe from Pelias and taught him many skills with weapons and battle tactics.

  Under Chiron’s care and instruction, Jason grew into a smart and strong young man. The centaur taught him all that he needed to know to be a great warrior. So once he was old enough, Jason decided to return to his home in Iolcus.

  Jason set out for Iolcus, but he had not gone far before he came to a strong and perilous river.

  Looking along the river bank, he saw an old woman nearby who was trying to cross the river. He gallantly offered to help her across.

  He put the old woman onto his back and began to make his way across the rushing river.

  As he went, the current pulled at one of his sandals, sweeping it off his foot and sending it floating away from him on the swiftly moving water.

  They arrived at the other side of the river safely, and Jason helped the woman off his back. When he turned to look at her, she had transformed, and now looked young and radiantly beautiful. She was the goddess Hera.

  Hera told Jason that she hated Pelias, because he paid tribute and worshipped all of the gods except for her. But Hera was pleased with Jason for helping her, so from this point on, he would travel with her blessing.

  After continuing on his journey, Jason soon arrived at the gates of Iolcus.

  Seeing that he wore only one sandal, the man at the gate ran to tell Pelias that a stranger with one sandal had arrived.

  Jason went to the throne room to meet with Pelias and demanded that the false king give him back the kingdom that was rightfully his.

  Wicked Pelias told Jason he could have his kingdom if he brought him the Golden Fleece of a magical ram owned by Zeus. Pelias thought that this would be a good way to get rid of the young man, since he believed the task was impossible.

  Jason gathered a crew of strong, brave men to join him on his quest.

  The great hero Heracles himself even joined them on the journey.

  Together they boarded a ship, called the Argo, and set out on their journey. The group of men would come to be called the Argonauts.

  Their first stop was on an island called Lemnos, which was inhabited only by women. These women had neglected their prayers to Aphrodite, and as punishment the goddess cursed them, making them smell foul and making their faces ugly until their husbands did not want to look on them. Furious at the rejection, the women killed their husbands while they slept, and from then on there had been no men on the island. The Argonauts did not visit long.

  Next they sailed the Argo to Samothrace, where an ancient group of gods called the Kabeiroi greeted them warmly and offered them food and hospitality. They rested and celebrated before moving on with their journey.

  Their next stop was on the island of Thrace, where they found a blind prophet named Phineas imprisoned.

  Phineas was plagued by vicious harpies, who would steal or destroy any food the old man had.

  The Argonauts took up arms against the monsters and battled them,

  slaying them both and rescuing the seer.

  Phineas was grateful to the men for freeing him. In return for his rescue, he told the Argonauts where to find the Golden Fleece. The fleece is to be found in Colchis, but to get there they must pass through the treacherous Symplegades, or “clashing rocks,” that guarded the entrance to the Black Sea.

  Phineas then prophesied that Jason would be the first man to successfully navigate through the Symplegades.

  Armed with new information, the men returned to the Argo and set sail.

  True to Phineas’s prediction, Jason made his way through the Symplegades safely.

  When they reached Colchis, Jason went to see the ruler, who was called King Aietes. Jason asked him directly if he would give him the Golden Fleece.

  King Aietes agreed to give him the fleece as soon as Jason performed several superhuman tasks for him.

  Aietes’s daughter, Medea, had watched with interest as Jason spoke with her father. She came to him and offered to help him with the challenges her father had planned, but in return, she wanted Jason to marry her. He agreed.

  Jason’s first task was to feed a fire-breathing bull. Medea accompanied him, and together they finished the job quickly.

  Next he was ordered to plow a field and plant dragon’s teeth. Medea joined him and warned him that when planted, the teeth would grow into dangerous phantom warriors.

  Thanks to Medea’s warning, Jason was not caught unawares, and he defeated the warriors swiftly.

  Back at the castle, Aietes spoke to his daughter and told her about his final plan to get rid of Jason. He would hold a great feast in the young man’s honor, and when he was distracted, kill him.

  Medea betrayed her father. She went to Jason to warn him of Aietes’s plan.

  She then told Jason where he could find the Golden Fleece: nailed to a tree and guarded by a vicious monster. Together, they went to fetch the prize.

  Medea used her skill in witchcraft to create a sleeping potion and used it to put the creature guarding the fleece to sleep.

  While it dozed, Jason walked past and took the Golden Fleece from the tree. Then, with the fleece in hand, Jason, Medea, and the Argonauts returned to the ship and departed before King Aietes could stop them.

  Their return journey did not go smoothly, and the Argo was caught in a terrible storm. The sea surged and the wind howled as the storm threatened to tear the ship to pieces. The crew was sure they would die, and they began to pray to Apollo to protect them.

  As the next crack of lightning lit the sky, the crew saw that they had come to an island.

  They landed and there found a powerful nymph who helped to quell the storm, allowing them to continue safely on their way home.

  At long last they arrived back at the docks of Iolcus, rejoicing to have finished their quest safely and successf
ully.

  But Iolcus had not been peaceful in their absence: Jason learned that King Pelias had killed his father.

  Alcimede, his mother, had died of heartbreak at the loss of her husband.

  He presented the Golden Fleece to the king, but it was no use.

  Pelias refused to honor his promise and give up the throne.

  So Medea used her witchcraft, casting a spell to put Pelias into a very deep sleep.

  When his daughters came to see him, Medea told them that he had died and that the only way to bring him back to life was to boil him.

  They followed her instructions and put him into the royal bath.

  They filled the bath with boiling water, killing the cruel king once and for all.

  Jason and Medea lived happily for some time, exchanging their life of adventure for a more domestic existence. They married and had several children.

  But one day the powerful king of Corinth offered to Jason the king’s own daughter in marriage.

  Jason accepted and sent Medea away from him. She was filled with a terrible murderous rage.

  In revenge, she killed Jason’s betrothed, then slaughtered her and Jason’s children in cold blood.

  Jason was destroyed by grief, and he became a wanderer, walking aimlessly across the earth.

  In his travels he came upon a beached ship and realized it was the Argo. He sat under its mast to think a while and fell asleep.

  As he was sleeping, a great beam fell from the upper parts of the decaying ship and landed on Jason, killing him.

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  Amanda Brack is a freelance illustrator who loves dogs of all shapes and sizes, old horror movies, and homemade smoothies. She spent most of her childhood with her brothers constructing expansive Lego towns and fighting over the best bricks. She graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and is currently living near Boston, Massachusetts.

  Monica Sweeney works in publishing and is also pursuing her master’s degree. She enjoys reading anything from Middle English to graphic novels, restaurant-hopping, old movie theaters, and Cape Cod beaches. She is writing partners with Becky Thomas and is the coauthor of Brick Shakespeare: The Tragedies, Brick Shakespeare: The Comedies, and Brick Fairytales. Monica lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

  Becky Thomas is a nerdy lady who enjoys reading, writing, and playing board games. She loves Jane Austen and superhero comic books. She is the coauthor, with John McCann and Monica Sweeney, of Brick Shakespeare: The Tragedies, Brick Shakespeare: The Comedies, and Brick Fairytales. She lives with her husband, Patrick, and their cats, Leo and Leia, in Burlington, Massachusetts.

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