Kinard Mythology Anthology Volume III

by Kinard Middle School

“What do ya think you are doing, bud?” the largest narwhal said. Then, a whiff caught his senses. This was not a narwhal hovering in the water before him, but a horse with a narwhal body.

  “ Easy, pretty pony! You think you can just show up here, and kill one of my friends like that?” he said, “I don’t think so! Vinnie! Get him.”

 

  Both large narwhals charged Gizmo, and started to stab him with their tusks.

 

  Poseidon heard the commotion from Mount Olympus. Angrily, he guessed what had happened. But because he had really like Gizmo, he took miraculous mercy on him. With a snap of his fingers, Gizmo was instantly washed up onto the shore, as a horse once again.

  When Gizmo woke up, he realized he could breath, and that he was no longer surrounded by water, but by air. It almost felt like, oh no….. Gizmo was once again a horse. But why did his head still feel heavy? When Gizmo looked up, he saw a small, white horn sticking up out of his forehead, just like when he was a narwhal. Gizmo was very sad, but slightly relieved at the same time.

 

  When he looked up, a beautiful maiden shining like a star, stood before him.

 

  “Who are you?” wondered aloud Gizmo.

 

  “I am Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. I am here to comfort you, the poor, handsome thing. You have gone through so much suffering, and deserve a bit of love.” cooed the maiden.

 

  Aphrodite stroked and fed Gizmo ambrosia and nectar, foods only the gods got to enjoy. She longed to take him home with her, but she new that it would only lead to trouble. Instead, she settled on a different idea.

 

  “I will make your beautiful horn magic, and give you the gift of everlasting life, young stallion. Then nobody will dare to harm you,” sweetly said Aphrodite. And with that, she cast her fingers upon his horn, and a golden spark steadily flowed from it. Gizmo also felt new energy flow through his exhausted body.

 

  “Thank you, kind goddess!” neighed Gizmo, and she smiled. The refreshed stallion ran through the woods to try out his new magic.

 

  Once in the woods, he came across a sad young filly. He trotted up to her to see what was wrong. Right away, he noticed her leg was twisted in a weird angle.

 

  “Are you okay little one, what happened?” he gently asked.

  The young horse sadly looked up at Gizmo, slightly confused by his horn, but blinded to questions from pain.

 

  “I wanted to fly, like a bird, but when I jumped, i fell and hit the ground.” she whimpered.

 

  Understanding for the fully filled his heart, and he decided to do something, something that would do good. He hopped with exhilaration at the idea.

 

  “I have magic in this strange horn, you see. I could make you fly!” he suggested.

 

  Disbelief shone from her eyes, and she lost the little trust she had in him.

 

  “ How do I know if this is not some sort of trick?” she hesitated.

 

  Gizmo instantly started to prove his magic real. He faced a flower, who had not yet blossomed, and put his horn to work. After a few moments, the flower slowly started to open it’s pastel pink petals, now bursting with life. Eventually, the young bud had now opened it’s pollen to the world.

 

  The speechless foal stared in amazement. She filled with hope at the performance.

 

  “ Please, do it,” was her response.

 

  At those words Gizmo pointed his horn at the filly, and put all his energy into the difficult task. Steadily, small feathers appeared on the mare’s back, then grew larger, and larger, until the filly in front of him shone two glorious wings sprouting from her back. Gizmo was surprised even with his own work, and filled with pride.

 

  “How could I ever thank you!” whinnied the filly.

 

  As she used her powerful wings to lift her into the air, the young mare slowly started to fly off. But before he lost sight of her Gizmo called her a question.

 

  “What is your name?”

 

  In the distance, he heard what sounded like the name “Pegasus.” He grinned to himself and started to continue his trot through the forest.

 

  Gizmo was never to be seen, or heard from again. People tried to catch him, and use him for his magic. Yet, they would always return from their mission submitted and empty handed. Some said that Gizmo returned to the herd of mustangs and still romes with them today, others say that he used his magic to turn back into a narwhal, and spend his days swimming with the fish. After time, Gizmo was nicknamed, the “unicorn,” and earned the love of all children throughout the world.

  In the end, Gizmo realized though, that you don’t have to become something else to do great things, but just be happy.

  How Tigers Came to Be

  By:Zane Kondratieff

  A long time ago in ancient Greece there was a warrior named Tirion. He was strong and powerful, and he led an entire army. And no one was ever brave enough to fight him, for he was famous for being so strong that no one could beat him in combat. He and his army had started to conquer more and more land until he had conquered all the area that became Greece. Greece then became a great city with temples, houses, wonderful architecture, art, and many more great things. Tirion became more and more proud of himself. Eventually, he became so full of himself began to call himself a god. After a long time of his talk the people of ancient Greece began to call him a god. They even said he was greater than Zeus.

  Then one day, Zeus came in human form and asked Tirion, “Are you truly a god? Are you really better than the great Zeus?”

  “I am, I am Tirion the one who conquered all this sacred land,”

  Then Zeus suddenly revealed himself to Tirion, “I am Zeus the head of the gods, if you truly are a god and a better one than I am prove it to me!” Zeus roared like a lion.

  “And I know just how you will do it, a god would be able to kill the Chimera, the Nian, and the Hydra. But no mortal ever has,” said Zeus. “If you cannot do this then I will send you straight to the underworld for disobeying a god.”

  “I’ll do it,” Tirion said confidently.

  Tirion took his army with him after he had Zeus’s permission, for entire armies had tried to vanquish the Chimera before never succeeding. When they neared its birthplace, they all looked over the massive hill, the only thing between them and this infamous beast.

  Tirion then devised a plan but his men became unsure of what to do. Half of them charged the beast. Tirion cried out but it was too late the beast saw them and immediately the lion head devoured some of them while the dragon head burned all the remaining men. Tirion knew had to save the other half of his men. He sprinted out and threw the carcass of an entire cow to the lion head. The lion head began to eat but the dragon and goat needed food too so they all began fighting over the meat Tirion had given them. The rest of the army along with Tirion watched until the beast had fought so much it was on the brink of exhaustion. It then fell over and went to sleep then the men came out of hiding and stabbed each of the heads. After the defeat of the chimera, the men were in high spirits except those who had lost friends for half of the army was destroyed in just one battle.

  Next, the men marched to the home of the Nian. Unfortunately for them, the nian was smarter than the Chimera. The closer they got the closer they were to the sea and soon enough they could taste the salty air.

  Using its magic, the nian crept behind the remaining force and stole five men at a time until only five men along with Tirion were left. Since they were in the front, they never noticed the nian stealing his men away until it had stolen all but six. After that, they were aware of it so it did not try to take any more men instead it confronted them directly. Next, Tirion
had an idea he told his men to keep it busy while he ran off into the trees. He quickly took two huge ropes and tied them to the tops of two trees about 20 feet away from each other. He then pulled them so the trees were bent then he took the rope and made a loop each end. He took a small vine and tied the two loops together and then set it down and covered it with leaves. Then he set his bow in a nearby bush and ran back out he told his men fighting the nian to follow him. They all ran behind the bush and when the nian came running after them Tirion picked up his bow.

  Right when the beasts two front legs where in the loops, Tirion shot the vine and the two trees pulled the rope tight and the loops pulled up the nian hanging by his two front legs. The nian struggled but the ropes were too thick and tight. It eventually stopped. When one man approached it, the nian breathed fire on him and burned him. So, Tirion saw that by cutting one rope it would fling the beast into the ocean so he dived in and cut the rope quickly. The two trees straightened out flinging the nian into ocean never to be seen here again.

  After the nian was taken care of Tirion with four men out of the 5,000 men he had headed to the cave of the legendary Hydra. When they reached the rocky territory of the hydra the air began to smell of rotting flesh, probably from the hydra’s last victims.

  This time Tirion didn’t want to lose any men so he immediately stopped and made a plan with his men, he would need every single one of their help. They climbed to the top of the cave and made sure he would smell their scent. But they each set up rows of boulders on top of the cave. They heard him coming then two heads poked out and all the boulders came down. Tirion saw what they were doing the hydra was much smarter than it looked the two heads were destroyed under tons of boulders but the hydra did that on purpose.

  It was now aware of where they were. The hydra ran out and devoured all his men but one. As fast as a cheetah they scrambled up the rocky cliff side but still the hydra caught his last man and ate him whole. Now it was Tirion’s turn there was no way he could get out of this situation it was the end. The hydra picked him up and shook him so his weapons fell out of his belt he could do nothing. For the first time, Tirion felt helpless in the last 10 seconds before he was dropped into one of the head’s mouth, he prayed to Zeus but Zeus was unforgiving to Tirion and thought he deserved this punishment.

  Next, Tirion was dropped into the mouth of the head. He was being mauled by the giant sharp teeth he was bleeding all over and knew he had received many injuries. Suddenly, he noticed something shiny stuck in between two of the teeth. Tirion felt the part that was sticking out, it felt like a leather handle. It was an axe. He grabbed the handle but he was being swallowed but he held on with all his might he finally pulled it out of the giant tooth.

  Then Tirion took it and slammed it into the roof of the mouth. He hit it so hard it’s skull cracked in half and the head fell down dead then using almost all  his strength he crawled out. He noticed the only thing holding up the cave entrance, which the hydra’s heads were directly under, was a dead hollowed out tree then with all his might he threw the axe into the tree breaking it in two with the tree broken the cave collapsed right on top of the hydra. Tirion made sure it was dead then he passed out.

  When he awoke again, he felt he could walk so he got up and went to Olympus to talk to Zeus.

  “Zeus how dare you leave me to die when I pleaded for help. I did all that you asked even when you rebuke me and now I am scarred everywhere and will never be able to function the same again!” yelled Tirion to Zeus.

  “You did do all that I asked of you and for that you shall be rewarded but for your disrespect to me and all of the gods. I will also punish you. I will first turn you into an orange beast and you will have black stripes from your scars and to remember your battles. You will also have sharp teeth and claws to represent your power when you conquered all of Greece. You shall also be immortal and I will name your species Tiger,” Said Zeus.

  “So be it,” replied Tirion and he was turned into the first tiger.

  Battle of the Supernaturals

  By: Ben Kosacz

  Once upon a time, on top of the mighty mountain named Mt. Olympus rested the kingdom of the Greek gods. Their palace was built upon the columns of the strongest stones anyone had ever heard of which were decorated by the finest artists in Greece with lush landscapes carved into them.

  The god of the sky, Zeus, sat on his golden laced throne of power and wielded his lightning bolt in his hand. He zapped tiny mortals whenever he chose at an attempt to cure his boredom but was never satisfied enough.

  He questioned Poseidon, his brother and god of the seas, while slumped in his chair, “What can I do up here? Being a sky god sure is boring, ugh.”

  Poseidon laughed. “Of course there is something to do,” he said. “We can play games, drink sweet lemonade, uhhh, we can play games.”

  “You already said that,” Zeus responded while rolling his eyes.

  “Oh. Oops. I guess there really isn’t much stuff to do here.”

  “I wonder what our lonely brother Hades is doing. He must also be bored down there watching the dead and dreary people of the Underworld.”

  Hades, god of the Underworld, sat in his throne of bones and drank wine out of his silver goblet lined with amethyst. The screams of the tortured didn’t seem to have fazed or disturbed his relaxation. How queer. And scary, too.

  Meanwhile in Rome, the Roman gods sat in their pretty palace. It sat in the Valley of the Gods which was expected. The palace was painted red, green, and yellow to attract everyone’s attention. It was a strongly obnoxious sight. A fountain spurted out water. It dripped, dripped, and still dripped until time itself ended. Plink plop. Jupiter, the Roman god of the sky, laid in his bed and slept. Neptune, the Roman equivalent of Poseidon, slept, too.

  The hall of the gods was filled with snoring supernaturals. It was as loud as a jet engine.

  Pluto, the lord of the Underworld, yawned of boredom. Somnus watched over him, preparing to put the man to sleep just like the other gods.

  Pluto looked above him. “Hey!”he yelled furiously.

  “Uh-oh,”  thought startled Somnus as he retreated away.

  Pluto raced to the other gods and told every Roman god to follow him to chase Somnus. He told them.about how Somnus pranked them.

  “That insolent fool! Let’s get him!” yelled Pluto.

  For many days and nights, the furious gods chased Somnus. He led them all the way from the Roman Empire over to Greece.

  Finally, he stopped. Somnus laid down at the base of Mt. Olympus to take a rest, ironically. Little did he know that this was the home of the great Greek gods.

  Zeus looked down and saw what looked like a human. He obviously decided to zap him with his lightning bolt. Zap!

  “Hey!” yelped the disturbed Somnus.

  “What? How did you not die?” yelled the vexed Zeus down from the never ending mountain.

  “I’m a god, idiot!”

  “Come up here and show yourself.”

  Somnus rolled his eyes, “Fine, whatever.”

  As Somnus flew up to the summit of the mountain, Zeus stood there waiting.

 

  “You look like Hypnos,” said Zeus.

 

  “Who is Hypnos? I am Somnus, the Roman god of sleep. And you are…”

 

  “I am Zeus, king of the gods and Greek lord of the sky. Duh.”

 

  “But, there are only Roman gods, Greek gods don’t exist.”

 

  “Clearly, you are wrong and I am right because it’s the other way around.”

 

  “Nu-uh!”

 

  “Ya-huh!”

 

  As the the two gods bickered and babbled like baboons, the Roman gods soon caught up and saw Somnus on the mountain. They also flew up to him and the other muscular man. The gods quickly forgot that they were pursuing Somnus by the sight of him arguing with the strange man.<
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  “Woah! There are more of you?” shouted the perplexed Zeus.

 

  “What’s all of the commotion?” shouted Poseidon who was followed by the other 11 Greek gods.

 

  “I was just telling this ‘Roman god’ that only Greek gods exist,” responded Zeus in an annoyed tone.

 

  “I was telling your friend Zeus here that Roman gods are the only gods,” said Somnus.

 

  “Ya! He’s right!” cheered the other 11 Roman gods who were behind him.”

 

  “Well then,” pronounced Ares, the Greek god of war, “there is only one way to settle this. War!”

  “Ares is right, for once. We must fight each other. In the end, only one group of the gods will win and the other group will be dead,” said Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom.

 

  The two powerful forces met each other at the field of grass below Mt. Olympus. Once all of them were suited in armor and ready to fight, they charged at each other. Their battle cries rang through the air. Swords hit shields and arrows flew into armor.

  Day and night, the gods continued to battle. Many were getting tired, but they never gave up. The sun heated and reflected off their heavy armor. Sweat dripped from their bodies.There was never any significant progress made since they were all gods. Ichor, the golden blood of the gods, stained the grass and dirt around in the battlefield.

  The gods each fought their counterpart. Zeus took on Jupiter, Poseidon battled Neptune, Hades and Pluto jousted at each other, and so on.

  They were angry at the fact that they had another god that was able to take their place. But they weren’t just angry. They felt scared. Scared to admit that they had to accept that they can’t be the only gods. Scared to accept that both forces can have peace and happiness.

  Only two gods were able to find unity and accord with each other. They were never given attention, but they didn’t care. Dionysus and Bacchus, the gods of wine and the vine, had mostly taken their spots in the palace, also. They never married and never cared. They never got the gods to discontinue their fury with each other. That was something they did care about. In fact, it was almost the only thing they cared about. Their names were Hestia and Vesta, goddesses of the hearth, home, and family.

  “Stop!” yelled Hestia and Vesta. The women stood on the mountain top, overlooking the battle. They decided not to fight because there was no point.

  “What is the point of fighting when we are all gods. We can’t die. Ever. We are immortal,” pointed out Vesta rubbing her soft shawl.

  “Isn’t it your job to be the wise one Athena?” said Hestia accusingly.

  “Uhh… My bad,” said Athena guiltily.

  “Only joking,” responded the chuckling Hestia. “I say we all gather around a big fire in the Greek god’s palace. Hebe said she was happy to serves us as long as were stopped fighting,” said Hestia.

 

  “Fine,” said all the gods while rolling their eyes except for Mars and Ares who were the gods of war.

 

  “No! We want to keep fighting.” they said stubbornly.

 

  “Alright, see you later,” said Vesta while smiling for she knew they would want to come in eventually after they smelled the sweet ambrosia.

 

  While the rest of the gods sat down inside drinking golden nectar and eating ambrosia, Ares and Mars soon got lonely while fighting in the cold, dark night. The two of them grudgingly walked in through the castle doors.

 

  ‘We knew you would come in,” said Vesta.

 

  “Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” said Ares acting childish.

 

  The hall of the gods were filled with laughter and rejoice. Most of them were hazy from the thick, honeyed nectar, too. But that didn’t stop them from partying hard.

 

  By morning, all of them were out cold. Although, this time it wasn’t Somnus’ fault for he himself was snoring like a roaring lion.

 

  By noon, the gods woke up and the Romans were on their way home. The gods would meet again soon, though. But for a different reason. A reason that decided if their reign over the Earth would come to an end or not. That is a story for another time.