The Wrath of Artemis

Zeus, apart from being the king of the gods, was quite the well known inventor among them. One day, on Olympus, he was hard at work creating a new artwork for the skies. The new adornment was a beautiful rock that would fly across the sky, and nestled closely behind it was a beautiful trail of colors weaved by Athene herself. There was no finer robe to be seen. Zeus decided to call this new creation a “comet.” Now Zeus had a son, Apollo, who ruled the day, and a daughter, Artemis, that ruled the night. Zeus had to choose in whose sky this comet would go. He chose to bestow the new gift on his daughter Artemis whom he favored very much. Apollo became jealous of this new gift given to the night and not the day. What was in the night that should be favored above the day, he wondered. “What is the night compared to the bright and mighty day?!” he exclaimed to Artemis in his rage. Artemis was indignant with her brother for his presumed superiority over the night. “The sun has no need of the night; it is great enough to rule the day and the night!” said Apollo. Artemis, enraged at this, took the stars and the moon from the sky. She placed the moon deep in the sea under the guard of the great titans. She placed the stars into a box and gave it to the Cyclops, who live deep in the earth, for safe keeping.

That day, night never came; Apollo’s sun continued to shine throughout the day and the night. The people became fatigued, their crops would no longer grow correctly, and the earth was scorched by the sun. Without the cover of night or the romance of the stars, the young could not fall in love, and the earth was sent into a great turmoil. Because people could not fall in love under the moon, Aphrodite became very upset and went to Apollo. They knew that they must do something to restore the night. The earth was suffering and the people cried day after day to the gods for help. The outcries disturbed the rest of the gods on Olympus and Zeus demanded that Apollo settle matters with Artemis so peace could return. With the help of Aphrodite, Apollo devised a plan. He called to the fearless Jason and his Argonauts and ordered them to go to the Cyclops and retrieve the stars. He gave to Jason the shadow of the great clouds to serve as a temporary cover to face the Cyclops. Jason and his men voyaged deep into the mountains, into the valleys, then deep into the earth. The bright sun lit the entrance to the cave of the Cyclops but died quickly in its unreachable depths. Jason opened the vial of shadows that further cloaked him and his men as he entered the cave of the Cyclops. As he crept closer, he saw the silver box that must contain the stars at the foot of the bed of a great Cyclops. Four of Jason’s men hid behind the box in wait to carry it away. The Cyclops’ were known for their iron work, and Jason had devised a clever plan to escape their liar with the stars by using this against them. One by one Jason carefully adjusted great slabs of iron around the cave, but the shadows provided by Apollo were transient and quickly growing thin. Jason fled to the mouth of the cave into the daylight just as the last of the shadows were vanishing, but the Cyclops at once saw him. Jason positioned the last piece of iron just as the sun moved into position, reflecting its great light off of the many pieces into the eye of the Cyclops. Blinded by the sun, the Cyclops lost sight of Jason and his men as they quickly stole the box of the stars and ran from the lair of the Cyclops.

Aphrodite appeared to Jason and gave to him many special vials in which he could contain a star. The leaders of the world were summoned and Hermes distributed to each of them vials containing the twinkling stars to be used to softly light their lands at night. Apollo finally was able to drive the sun chariot to its home so that darkness would come. The people hung the vials containing a star on wires above their lands and slept for the first time in months beneath a fake night sky. Artemis stood watching, in the coming darkness that engulfed the earth, and she saw lights begin to sparkle across the lands. Zeus went to his daughter at this display, and asked her to return the moon also, now that she could see how much the people needed the night. Artemis knew that Apollo now understood that the sun could not rule both day and night. She agreed to return the moon and stars to the sky as the defeated Apollo returns to his schedule of running his chariot across the sky to give way, every day, once again to his sister’s night. The nightless days were long remembered on earth. One dark night, when a child, much loved by her father, cried out because she feared the dark; her father remembered the time the stars hung in the vials. He, being a great inventor, set to work the next day pleading with Artemis to help him catch a small bit of starlight in a special vial he had made. Artemis, amused at his request, decided to help him. Soon he found a way to create a synthetic light to keep inside his home to remember these events, and so the light bulb was born.



This was a writing excersize, it's still a little sketchy and needs to be cleaned up, that novice feel. I have another i've always planned to finish, I hope to post it here soon.