by Io
“What have you to say about it, Hades?”
“I don’t need to disown Demeter as a sister. I don’t care for her opinion, because the facts will not change.”
“Demeter, sit! Please, Hades, set aside your pride for a while, or you’ll end up tearing each other’s hair out. Since she lost her daughter, our sister has been pining and crying, and the crops have been affected by so much pain. If we continue like this, soon we will have a famine, and whole villages will be deserted. They will die by the thousands, brother.”
“I don’t see what the problem is.”
“Uh, I forgot who I was speaking to... well, the problem is that we cannot let mortals go prematurely to your kingdom: we need them here, alive and devout. What use is it to be the Heavenly Father, if those who should worship me have become your subjects?”
“Yes, I remember you said something like that, when you divided creation. I had almost forgotten the reasons that led me to accept the Avernus, but now I am clearer than ever about it.”
“I am pleased to hear you are being reasonable. Understand, therefore, that we cannot ignore the pain of a mother who has lost her daughter. If I wanted to reassure Demeter...”
“Zeus, my brother, do you really think Demeter would grasp the cup in that way, as if to keep from flinging it in my face, if my assurances were everything you needed?”
“Women need kindness, Hades. Make an effort.”
“Yes, I suppose that no one knows women as well as you do, brother...”
“Modestly...”
“... but I’m afraid that I must follow my conviction about not insulting the divine intelligence, even if it were that darkened by my sister: I cannot reassure her about anything.”
“Bastard!”
“DEMETER! Hades, what hit you was the hand of a worried mother, at least you can be superior...”
“I consider this slap compensation for having kidnapped Persephone, sister. Don’t you dare more.”
“I will dare much more, if you don’t give me back my daughter! You’re killing her!”
“Come now, Demeter, now let’s not exaggerate... Hades, do something, for the aegis! I cannot hold her all the time!”
“Then don’t. I would not be here if I didn’t want the best for Persephone, who is the best of wives and deserves all possible consideration; if you do not believe anything else, believe at least in this, Demeter.”
“You’ve had little respect for her, until now.”
“Persephone is a creature made of sun, light, spring. Needless for you to lie about this.”
“So you mean divorce her and give her up?”
“I will not repudiate my queen, now or ever.”
“And this is what you call having all possible consideration?”
“That’s why we called Zeus to mediate. If you
had disowned the dishonored daughter, or if I had thrown out a wife reluctantly, it seems to me, we wouldn’t need an impartial third party. What do you say, brother?”
“Well, since the girl will not put any offspring into the world, it could be very easy to pretend that nothing happened, and...”
“Thanks for reminding me that the seed of the god of the Underworld can not generate life, Zeus.”
“Come, come, don’t get annoyed. We’re clarifying everything, and everything must be talked about. Demeter, as you can see, even if Hades could claim any maiden, remaining firm about his decision of wanting Persephone is honorable behavior, you have to agree.”
“You mean a behavior dictated by pride, Zeus. Persephone cannot live in Erebus. She is spring, and if even Hades has noticed, you know very well that the situation is hopeless.”
“Is it so bad, Hades?”
“Otherwise Demeter would not be making so many scenes to get her back, neither would I have accepted this consultation.”
“But you don’t want to give her up!”
“If I give her up, you will give me some mortal suicide as a wife. Persephone is mine. I’ll kill anyone who tries to touch her, and you, too, if you dare again promise her without having the right.”
“Without having the right? But how dare you, you vile piece of...”
“SILENCE, YOU TWO! What kind of situation... let me think! I cannot believe that everything happens for someone as stupid as Persephone, a minor deity who cannot even reveal her own Mysteries!”
“Zeus...”
“Brother!”
“Ah, at least you agree about one thing, I see. A pity she is also
the reason for the dispute. You won’t accept a new bride, Hades? When you have seen the beauty of Helen, who I got from Leda of Sparta...”
“Absolutely not.”
“Demeter, how about another daughter?”
“I hope you’re joking, Zeus. That time I was young and foolish and
intoxicated by barley brew, but if you try to seduce me again I will call Hera, I know this.”
“Yes, just to complete the picture of the disaster... for the Furies! I need to think. I will try to satisfy both of you, but you will accept my decision without question, is that clear?”
“If you can do so in a way that my daughter is returned to the light of the sun...”
“Exclude from the outset that she removes the crown of the Avernus, Zeus.”
“Thank you, my siblings, thank you from my heart. You are really helping me in this task. Let me think!”
I squirmed, while the red heart of the hearth whispered.
There were many voices, one after another, often one over the other, no mortal ear could hear them; it was the crackling of the fire, the warmth that draws man towards it, because even though he is unable to understand it, he knows that it speaks of important things, that you should remain close to.
My father, it seemed, had ordered both of his siblings to bring witnesses; who would not be impartial, but from the two opposing sides a solution would emerge. I listened to Cyane crying recalling that day. Poor Cyane, she seemed to have become the same source that she presided over; she had narcissi in her hair, certainly in my honor, she said that even the loss of the flowers had caused me sorrow, that her soul was torn at the thought of what I was suffering in the kingdom of shadows. Looking closely into the flame, I saw that my mother would not leave her alone with Zeus. He, at least, had the good taste not to ask.
My mother said it was obvious that it was a despicable act of violence. My mother had always told me she was attacked in that wheat field. Maybe she thought it was more honorable to tell me this, instead of admitting that it was a lightness, for her part, and as the fire began to talk again, I wondered how I could have believe it. Knowing that my mother had not been raped was, for me, really a relief; for years I had felt guilty the fact of existence, and the only consolation was that most of the gods and demigods had come to the world in the same way.
To have been generated in joy and not in suffering unburdened me. But Demeter, Mother Earth, was as proud as the other children of Cronus: to talk about an hour of revelry and madness must have seemed more insulting than to tell me that she had been taken by force.
The pride, the accursed divine pride.
All my troubles were caused by it, and the ridiculous thing was that I was the only one to have ever set it aside. I was beginning to wonder if it was a mistake.
The red heart of the fire went black, as the cloak of Hades. I leaned close enough to feel the skin stretch because of the heat, my mind in turmoil.
“Oh, finally someone who is not one of Demeter’s yelping nymphs. You can leave, Hades, I believe that your servant will speak more freely without your killing eyes on his neck. Your name, my good man?”
“Ascalafo, at your service, supreme Zeus. I am one of the gardeners at the Catactonio court.”
“Tell me what you saw.”
“I do not presume to know anything about my queen, oh Highest. I had the honor of seeing her only rarely walk in the gardens of the palace. My divine ruler does not allow her to leave the
palace alone.”
“He is holding her prisoner, then?”
“The queen sits on the throne and always has an adequate escort for her rank, Allfather.”
“Hmmm, it could mean everything or nothing. All right, let’s not digress. I want to know about the health of this daughter whose marriage offends the goddess of fertility and the harvest. Well?”
“The queen is always kind to everyone and denies no one a smile, great Zeus. And yet, if indeed the humble opinion of this gardener with calloused hands can affect the divine plan, I must tell you that I saw her when she had just arrived, fresh as a daffodil freshly picked, with cheeks the color of apricots and arms rosy as the dawn. She shone like spring.”
“Yes, I admit that I understand Hades’ obsession for her. And now?”
“I have not seen her after the episode with the pomegranate, my lord.”
“Tell me.”
“The queen was walking in the vegetable garden under the balconies of the royal chambers, on the arm of her husband. Always beautiful, high Zeus, this I could not even deny to save my life; but pale and thin as a reed, eyes bigger than ever for a face carved by slow exhaustion. Even this could never be denied, and that my sovereign forgive me.”
“Your sovereign is the first to confirm it. So Persephone is weakening, without light or ambrosia. In the Afterlife she will find little, I suppose.”
“My king insisted that she eat, and when they walked by, although I was prostrated as was my duty, I heard him clearly say that even immortals could live well, without nourishment. The queen answered him in a very sharp tone.”
“She asked Hades to take her back to her mother?”
“No one, to my knowledge, has ever heard a word about this, oh Highest. Neither did I, that day. If I can make a comparison that is not very respectful, but that might clarify my thinking...”
“Go ahead, I love the disrespectful comparisons, especially about issues that cause me such solemn headaches.”
“Here, having to explain her behavior, it was capricious and whimsical like that of a pregnant woman.”
“Now that’s amusing! You know who her husband is, of?”
“I spoke of a disrespectful comparison in this matter, and if my divine king was present, I would never have dared...”
“Uh, that Persephone has found the best pastime trying to give pleasure to my brother? If this is so, better to get back under her mother’s skirts, before Hades turns her into pieces transforms her into a sterile plantation of mint.”
“Supreme Zeus, never insinuate that the queen... the divine Persephone has always held the most dignified and regal behavior, has brought honor to Erebus and all of us who have the privilege of being governed by her!”
“Calm down, my good man. I see that your fear has disappeared, if it goes against your loyalty to the monarch who has brought you here, and you have my praise for this. Well, Persephone is crazy like all women, pregnant or not, and then what?”
“And then, oh Highness, the king offered her a pomegranate, because she might find her appetite again by eating something fresh and she lives well in the Avernus. In obedience, the Queen tasted a few seeds, but suddenly turned pale and fainted. His Majesty held her up and brought her back to the court, I ran ahead to prepare the maids, and then I went back to my duties.”
“She felt sick just because she ate a few pomegranate seeds, then?”
“This is what I saw with my own eyes, oh Thunderer.”
“Fantastic.” The queen of the Avernus who dies of consumption if she touches the food in the Avernus. The food of the dead, the goddess of spring! And now what shall I do? It’s almost the planting season, and Demeter, instead of blessing the fields, goes about beating her breast and lamenting. Females!”
I got up, with caution because my knees were stiff. I frowned when I heard them popping, and I let out a long sigh of disappointment.
That talkative Ascalafo, damn him! Luckily, he is a loyal subject of the Avernus!
I wondered if it would have been such a great wickedness, for my part, to turn him into an owl, the same as the one that had looked at me from the branches, that evil day. One ugly, gray ugly owl with stupid round eyes and especially without the indiscreet tongue...
The red heart of the fire continued to whisper. My father talked to my mother, and then, separately, with Hades, to convince at least one of them to give up on me.
The flames crackled.
“She’s a dishonored daughter, Demeter. What would you do now? After the episode of Theseus and Pirithous, no one would marry a woman who has gone to bed with Hades, with the threat of eternal damnation over their head.”
“The dishonor inflicted on the virtuous falls on those who inflict it, not on those who suffer, Zeus. My daughter languishes in an abyss that removes air and health, and it is my duty to help her, as it is yours. Persephone is the spring, precious to gods and mortals. Oh are you trying to tell me that your sons are worthless bastards, born from camp whores?”
“Well, not all, but...”
“Please?”
“Nothing nothing. In short, it is not a matter of honor, will you
just save her. What a great thing is a mother’s love!”
The red became black.
“You’re my brother, and a third of the world is yours. You are not inferior in any way, I don’t believe that you intend to ignore this. If you want a divine wife, choose the one you prefer, but if your choice fall on a mortal, consider that she is already deified. She will still have a better fiber than that silly fool without Mysteries, who dies if she can’t smell her little flowers!”
“I have already chosen the one I prefer. All women have to leave their mother when they take a husband. Should I be outdone by any mortal, and bend to the will of my sister?”
“To repudiate a useless wife does not mean to fold, Hades.”
“Persephone is not a useless wife and I begin to find this irritating that you insist in insulting her, Zeus.”
“Ah, perfect! It is not a matter of honor, but of love, even for you. How much love is on the air!”
Both had indisputable rights over my person. Zeus was trying to decide who, between the god of the Underworld and the goddess of crops, would have been a less dangerous enemy, but he could not decide. They were both notable deities.
It seemed that I was the only one not to have any rights over me.
“If only you would deign to ask my opinion!”
I considered they should have, but it came out in a shrill tone like an annoyed child. Hestia, after smiling one last time from the fireplace, turned her eyes to the curtains that separated the private chamber from the rest of the royal apartments.
“Be brave, my niece. Be courageous in the way you choose, and do not waver, or it will be worse.”
Instead I vacillated, and a lot, because I felt steps coming.
“What choice do I have?”
But it was a rhetorical question, which did not need an answer. Mine was not the fear of indecision: it was the fear of the conflict that would be unleashed if the rights of others clashed with what I knew I had to do.
If only we were mortals, I thought. Mortals sometimes surprise us: for this, and not because they don’t believe they can return from the dead, they are mortals. The gods, however, were immovable like the weather.
They had to obliterate him, Time, so that the world could begin to exist. This was the merit of my father, from whom all his rights descended.
Zeus had fought because ours was to begin, because we all could exist. He was the Heavenly Father because, without him, we would never have started the era of the Olympians. And I, although I did not seem to be important to him, I was his daughter.
The drapes were thrown back, so strongly that they remained partially open. Hades entered, the helmet of invisibility under his arm, his cloak rippled behind him, and faded into the dark.
He was not alone.
I knew his companion. He had brown hai
r rebellious hair, the athletic body of a young man who always ran, beautiful regular features, a fine diplomatic smile. On his head
he wore a petasos, the typical hat of the traveler, and in his hand he was holding a stick, on which wound round, or perhaps they were being born, two live snakes. The forked tongues darted while they moved their wedge-shaped heads, to find me. I saw the clear eyes, and the black slit of the vertical pupil, while I knew they were there for me.
The boots of the guest were trimmed with tiny white wings. I said, without smiling: “I bid you welcome Hermes, divine messenger. Your
presence honors us.” I turned to Hades, without waiting for him to speak: “the conditions, therefore, have been set?” Now his silence spoke to me more than his words. Yes,
the conditions had been set. Behind me, the fire was burning its inextinguishable flame
without wood, heat in the cold of the Underworld.
“They were already what they are. Demeter dispensed life, Hades ruled death. My father tore Time, so it would start to flow.
I thought of Hestia, the goddess who had saved them all, and that in doing so, had made the world what it was. Now it was up to me. I also was what I was.
I’m prepared for anything, I thought, and in effect I was.
If only to be prepared would make things easier. If only it was the slightest bit useful.
The Goddess Cut in Half
Now I ask you, mortals, to make an effort of imaginative.
You know what conditions my father set down to please both his brother and his sister. You know that his decision was that I stayed in the Avernus over the winter, and on the Earth for those summer months.
“Demeter only wants your own good, dear sister.” Explained Hermes, with great affection in his voice. I still don’t know how I managed not to slap him. “And the inability to guarantee affliction, as it affects the whole world. You are needed, on the surface.”
The words of the psychopomp reverberated on the obsidian ceilings and ended. Hades was silent, his black cloak closed in front, in total immobility, made of rigidity. It was impossible to understand what he was thinking. I realized, with some surprise, that I no longer cared about anything. I was too busy dealing with what I thought.
