When he entered this palace so full of light, Hermes was very impressed. Helios came at once to greet them. Shimmers of sunlight still clung to his long golden cape. He yawned, and sparks escaped from his mouth. Since Helios travelled across the sky all day long, nothing of what took place on earth escaped his gaze. It was therefore in Zeus’ best interest to treat him well. “Go and rest now, my friend,” the master of the gods said to him, “we are just going to say hello to your little sister.” Zeus and Hermes then entered a room of pink and purple hues. A woman was lying on a couch. As they approached, Hermes discovered a goddess dressed in a yellow gown, her face covered with fresh dew, her fingers a bright pink. Her long hair spread about her, forming a golden crown. Zeus looked at her fondly. “This is Aurora, the rosy-fingered goddess,” he murmured. “She announces the onset of dawn, and takes out her chariot just as her sister sets the moon and before her brother raises the sun.” They observed her for a long moment. The young beauty twitched in her sleep. A fresh smell of lavender and rose filled the room. They did not have the heart to wake her and they went out on the tips of their toes.
Now dark night had fallen, brightened only by the pallor of the moon that Selene was carrying across the world. Hermes was still dazzled by what he had just seen. In the darkness his eyes gleamed with excitement. Then, when they had reached the shore once more, he noticed a strange mountain, a mountain that spat out fire. A tremendous groan seemed to come straight from the earth’s womb. Fiery stones and boiling lava spurted out from inside. Showers of red and yellow sparks burst suddenly in the night. And a thick smoke accompanied this eruption. It was splendid and frightening at the same time. Terribly impressed, Hermes gripped his father’s arm:
“Daddy, what is this?” he stammered.
Zeus did not reply. Hermes felt the ground shake under his feet. Boulders of rock came hurtling down the slopes of that mountain, and went to throw themselves noisily into the sea. The water had turned red and it was scalding hot.
“It is a volcano,” mumbled Zeus.
“But where does it come from? Who is causing such a frightful thing?” asked Hermes.
With a sudden, angry gesture Zeus prised the young man’s fingers from his arm.
“That’s enough for now, we are going back. You don’t need to know all the mysteries of the earth.” Zeus seemed to be very ill at ease. What was taking place under their eyes escaped his control. It did not take more to kindle Hermes’ curiosity. He left his father straight away to go and ask Pausania for the key to this mystery.
To be continued…
EPISODE 13
IN WHICH HERMES MEETS THE HUNDRED-HANDED GIANTS
Previously: Zeus has shown Hermes how the sun and the moon travel across the sky. But he refused to explain the origin of volcanoes, those fire-spitting mountains.
When he returned to Mount Parnassus, Hermes felt a joyful excitement rising up inside him. Old Pausania did not seem surprised to see him arrive.
He knelt beside her and asked: “O nurse, show me once more the mysteries of the universe. What is hidden under the earth behind the volcanoes?”
“In order to understand, my child, you must go back to the time just after the birth of the world. Do you feel you are strong enough to face once more that savage world? Are you ready?”
“Yes,” murmured Hermes passionately, and he laid his head on the nurse’s lap.
When Hermes opened his eyes again, the valley in which he found himself was calm and green with grass. One could hear the warbling of the birds, the crystalline chant of a waterfall and the sweet murmur of the sea nearby. The air was filled with the scent of flowers opening their blossoms for the first time. The universe appeared to be in order. Calm and appeased, finally out of Chaos.
Then all of a sudden, Braoum! Braoum! The ground trembled violently under Hermes’ feet. A great, dull sound was getting closer and closer… Braoum! Braoum! A little frightened, Hermes hid behind a great rock. He had hardly taken cover when three monstrous Giants appeared. They were horrible to look at. They each had fifty heads and a hundred arms. And they thrashed their arms all about them, hitting, knocking, pulling, throwing down everything that lay within their reach! At their passing, they left behind them nothing but ruins. Uprooted trees, trampled grass, torn flowers, stones flung in every direction. It was a gigantic mess. “I present to you Gyges, Briareus and Cottus, the hundred-handed Giants. They are the firstborn of Gaia and Uranus,” whispered Pausania. The young god huddled close to her, much relieved to feel her beside him.
After having given birth, then, to the mountains, the rivers, the oceans, the plants and the animals, Gaia had continued to populate the universe by coming into union with Uranus. Yet goddess Earth had brought some terrifying creatures into the world.
Hermes cowered behind his rock, hoping with all his heart that he would escape the notice of the hundred-handed Giants. But the three Giants decided to stay right where they were. They had invented a new pastime. Each in turn seized a rock with one of his hands, and hurled it with all his might into the sea. Their arms were so powerful that as it sank into the tide, the rock caused waves many feet high to rise on the water surface. These waves overflowed onto the lands and gobbled up everything that had barely just hatched. The more the showers of sea spray rose high, the more the Giants laughed. The more the sea devastated the earth, the more the Giants rubbed their hands. Nothing gave them greater joy than to spread mayhem with these monstrous tidal waves.
Hermes was a powerless witness to the destruction of this terrestrial harmony. Every rock around him was flying into the ocean. Soon the rock sheltering him would suffer the same fate. Hermes had no intention of finding himself hurled to the very bottom of the ocean, clinging on to his great pebble stone. All of a sudden he had an idea. The Giants were as strong as they were formidably stupid. He took a stone and threw it in the direction of one of Gyges’ numerous heads. Then he immediately hid himself behind the rock.
“Hey!” bellowed the Giant, turning towards his brothers Briareus and Cottus. “Have you gone mad, you two? What are you throwing stones at me for?”
“It isn’t us!” rumbled the other two menacingly.
In no time at all, the three brothers began to pelt one another with stones. A gigantic fight flared up and they knocked themselves senseless. Gyges, Briareus and Cottus had passed out on the ground. Phew! Hermes could now come out of his hiding place. Not so fast! For here was Uranus approaching in his turn, exasperated by the cries of his three sons. When he discovered them lying there senseless, he struck the ground with his foot and the earth opened in two. An enormous chasm appeared. “This is Tartarus,” murmured Pausania in Hermes’ ear, “one of the deepest regions of the Underworld. If you were to throw an enormous rock down this hole, it would take nine days and nine nights for it to touch the bottom…” At that instant, Uranus took hold of his sleeping sons and he hurled them down to the bottom of the chasm one by one. The earth closed back again: the three Giants were the prisoners of the earth’s belly.
It was these terrible monsters, closed up below the earth, who knocked on the walls of their underground prison, shook the ground and caused the mountains to spew. Hermes, however, would soon discover that other creatures, more frightening still, were also kept in the depths of Tartarus.
To be continued…
EPISODE 14
IN WHICH HERMES MEETS THE CYCLOPES
Previously: Thanks to Pausania, Hermes has gone back into the past in order to understand the origin of volcanoes. He has discovered that hundred-handed Giants were confined underground.
In this world at the beginning of time, Hermes went from one discovery to the next. Hermes had been journeying for a long while when he came near a black mountain. A cave had been dug into the mountainside, similar to the one in which Hermes had seen the light of day. Red and orange flashes of light escaped from this cave, followed by showers of sparks. Hermes approached quietly. The more he approached, the more he could hear
muted and regular noises. Pang! Pang! After each noise a shock ran through the mountain. The little god felt very uneasy, yet his curiosity was greater than his fear. At long last he reached the entrance of the cave. Now that he was fairly near, Hermes could also feel waves of burning heat coming forth. He looked inside and what he saw made the hair on his head stand on end.
Three powerful Giants, their bodies half-naked, were bustling about before a gigantic forge. The first was blowing onto a great fire. The second held pieces of metal in the flames with great pliers. The third, armed with an immense hammer, was striking at the metal, which became malleable once it had been heated. His blows were so violent that the mountain quaked. Each time his hammer struck the metal, great showers of sparks spouted forth. The three Giants were sweating.
“Blow harder, Brontes!” cried one of them in a deep voice.
“Clench your pliers more tightly, Arges!” shouted the other.
“Strike harder, Steropes!” yelled the third in the midst of the racket surrounding them. The fire glow lit up the cave walls. Little by little, the fiery metal took the shape of a shield.
It was at this point that one of the Giants lifted his head in order to mop away the sweat running down his face. And Hermes discovered to his horror that he had but a single eye in the middle of his face—an enormous and monstrous eye which seemed sharp enough to see things very, very far away. “These are the Cyclopes, also the sons of Gaia and Uranus,” murmured Pausania.
Suddenly there was silence. Steropes had paused his work. With one gesture of his hand, he had signalled to his brothers to stop working as well. The Cyclops began to sniff at everything, probing everything with his gaze, every nook and cranny of the cave. “I sense a strange smell,” he rumbled, “a smell I do not recognize. Someone has come in here.” Hermes was trying to make himself really small so that he might avoid detection. The Cyclops went towards the cave entrance where Hermes was hiding. His solitary eye swept across the tiniest crack in the rocks. Nothing could escape his gaze. Hermes was caught in a corner. When he discovered Hermes, the Cyclops let out a roar and pounced on him.
“What are you doing here?” he cried, seizing him between two fingers. “I shall roast you in our furnace for having dared to come here and disturb our work!”
Hermes shut his eyes for an instant. Then he mustered all his courage and, choosing his words with the utmost care, he gave the following reply:
“Dear and venerable Cyclops, I have come to admire your prodigious work. I have come so that I may tell everyone of the wonders that you create. I have come so that I may sing your praises everywhere in the universe.” These flatteries, however, seemed to have no effect on the Cyclops, who was holding Hermes precariously suspended over the fire, ready to drop him at any moment right in the middle of the flames.
At that instant a thick fog invaded the cave, enshrouding everything in a grey veil. Taken aback and feeling anxious, the Cyclopes began to whimper like babies. For once deprived of their sight, they become fragile and defenceless. Steropes had set Hermes down on the ground once more, and he was desperately rubbing his eye so he could see something, anything. Suddenly a formidable force lifted the Cyclopes up in the air. They let out a great scream. The earth split open, and they were hurled to the bottom of a hole, together with the fire of their forge. Steropes, Brontes and Arges had just gone to join their brothers, the hundred-handed Giants, in the Tartarus.
Uranus, for it was he once more, had stopped his three other sons from causing damage on earth. Satisfied, the god of the Sky left the Cyclopes’ cave. The fog melted away.
Hermes approached the chasm. There was but a narrow crack left. Hermes now understood that the red lava coming out of the volcanoes came from there. And that this lava arose from the fury of the Giants and the Cyclopes, who were shut up below the earth. He had had the answer to his question; he could now leave the past and return home.
To be continued…
EPISODE 15
IN WHICH HERA GIVES BIRTH TO A MONSTROUS BABY
Previously: Hermes has discovered that the Giants and the Cyclopes had been shut up in the bowels of the earth at the birth of the world. And that it is they who cause the volcanoes to spit. Now he is off again and on his way to Olympus.
Hermes returned quickly to Olympus; perhaps his father needed him. By carrying the messages of Zeus, the young god knew everything, was involved in everything and was having great fun. Once his missions were accomplished, Hermes never grew tired of fluttering about in the heavens. He loved being carried off by the wind, or plunging into the clouds. He also did not hesitate to descend frequently down to earth to give his mother a kiss. He always became very emotional when he approached the cave where he had first seen the light of day. His mother Maia would appear on the threshold, and it would be as though a sun had risen. At such moments the messenger of the gods felt himself becoming a small child again, and he would run to nestle in Maia’s arms. He would leave his head resting on his mother’s shoulder for a long time. She was proud of him. After a final kiss, Hermes would return to Olympus feeling carefree.
When he had first arrived at Zeus’ palace, Hermes had discovered right away that he had to be wary of the white-armed Hera, Zeus’ wife. This beautiful yet haughty goddess always carried herself with her chin tilted upwards and her eyes launched flares, as though she were permanently ready to attack. Everything about her revealed her pride, her nobility, but also her hardness. Hermes often found her unfair towards the maidservants, whom she scolded for no reason. Each time a matter was discussed by the council of the gods, Hera always proposed some course of punishment. She never excused nor understood a wrong. She guarded her authority jealously. As a matter of fact, everything in her character was founded on jealousy. Hera envied the other goddesses, whose beauty might rival her own. She detested the children that Zeus had had with other women he had loved. And, above all, she hated the women with whom Zeus fell in love.
Hermes had been living on Olympus for quite some time, when Hera became pregnant for the first time. She waited for the arrival of this baby with immense joy, for Olympus was peopled with children that Zeus had had with other women. This time it was she who would bring a new god into the world. She hoped he would be more magnificent than all the others. She dreamt of a total triumph. The more her belly became round, the more her character softened. She had stopped quarrelling with each and all, and as the time for this birth approached, a joyful bubbliness reigned in the palace. “If he is a boy, he shall be called Hephaestus, the radiant one!” she declared some days before she gave birth to the child. Hera was sure that she was going to have the most beautiful baby in the universe.
The day of the birth had arrived. The entire palace was full of expectation for the happy event and Hera had been surrounded by people throughout the whole day. Poseidon, one of the brothers of Zeus, had come expressly from the ocean depths. A host of gods and goddesses had dropped their occupations in order to be present at such an exceptional occasion. Yet the baby took its time coming, and all had retired to their apartments.
In the middle of the night, great cries were heard at last. Yet they were neither cries of joy, nor those of a newborn: they were Hera’s howls of rage. All the gods and goddesses rushed to her side. Inside her room, Hera had her back turned, and was looking fixedly out of the window. The nymphs who had helped the queen of the gods give birth to her baby were crying, crouching at the feet of the bed. Trembling, Zeus went closer to the bundle of swaddling clothes that enveloped the baby and which had been placed on the bed. He leant over it, separated the folds and recoiled, bewildered. An expression of horror appeared on his face. Poseidon approached in turn; he bent down over the child and burst into roaring laughter. He took the newborn and brandished it towards the crowd, without stopping his cruel laugh. The baby, a little boy, was revoltingly ugly. Instead of the most beautiful baby on Olympus, Hera had just given birth to a monster.
Hermes could not lift his eyes off the lit
tle deformed body. A heavy silence had succeeded the offensive laughter of Poseidon. Suddenly, as though it had understood that it was not the baby everyone had desired, the infant began to cry. His wailings hurt one’s ears. Hera then had a sudden fit of rage. She threw herself upon the child, seized it by one leg and hurled it through the open window all the way down from the top of Olympus, howling: “You are not worthy to live in our midst, Hephaestus!” No one had had time to make a single move to stop her. The misshapen baby had been excluded from the kingdom of the gods.
The gods looked at one another, but they did not react. Hermes had rushed to the window. He observed the baby’s long fall with horror. He saw the baby disappear into the sea far down below. Tears welled up in Hermes’ eyes. How could such violence, such wickedness exist? Without waiting a single moment, he left to go and find Pausania.
To be continued…
EPISODE 16
IN WHICH A CONSPIRACY IS PLOTTED AGAINST URANUS
Previously: Hera has brought into the world Hephaestus, a baby so ugly that she has hurled it out through the window, all the way down from the top of Olympus. Having witnessed this drama, Hermes can no longer make sense of things. He seeks to find out where violence comes from.
When he arrived at the home of the old nurse, Hermes’ face was clouded with torment. He recounted hurriedly to Pausania the scene that he had just witnessed. He spoke fast, now sitting down, now standing up, and getting more and more restive. To calm him down, Pausania said to him: “Didn’t you learn from my sister Roxanne how to read the future? This is the time to use your knowledge.” And so Hermes threw his little round pebbles into the water. He peered down to study the course traced by the pebbles, as Roxanne had taught him. And this is what he saw.
The Adventures of Hermes, God of Thieves Page 4
