
A Foolish Wish
My brother is punctual as always. He collects me every day to ride with him in his chariot. After such a long time and endless hours spent together spying on humanity, we haven’t much to say to each other anymore.
He doesn’t ask me about my doomed love affairs. We dissected them completely in the past. He has even stopped blaming me for not taking his advice each time a new prospective lover came on the scene.
He wasn’t impressed with my sudden decision to wed the king’s brother so long ago. Yes, I’m headstrong and volatile but at that time I just wanted to settle and be happy. My chosen groom was so handsome and valiant, what could have gone wrong?
Everybody who counted attended our wedding. As a gift, one of the guests offered to grant me a wish which would come true. I did ask and he complied.
Enough of my musing now. My thoughts and regrets are the same each day, I reflect, as my brother’s chariot alights by my home again. Now, I go check on my husband. It’s the same story with him too. He just sits there, drooling away in his bed, his body an ocean of wrinkles, his skin fragile as paper. He doesn’t recognise me anymore. I can’t help feeling angry and guilty at the same time.
I’m guilty for abandoning him, like a discarded and broken toy, now that he’s lost his youth and comeliness. I have locked him away, day after day in this forgotten room, far from my shame.
I’m angry at myself for my stupidity because I squandered my wish.
They call me rosy-fingered Eos, while I prefer to be called Dawn. I’m a goddess in my own right. Yet, ultimately, I’m just as foolish as any human, because I didn’t think it through properly and asked for the wrong thing on that fateful day.
I wished for my husband’s immortality, without asking for his eternal youth. Now I’m shackled to an old codger I can’t love anymore for the rest of forever!
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleI loved this read Greene (is it alright if I call you by your first name?) The story branches out, but when the end comes, it all falls together. I loved this story. Thank You.
Of course it is! I am so happy you liked it! She might be a goddess but she is also someone who didn’t think things through so she is like us: very human…
At least she eventually took pity on him and turned him into a cicada. Eos certainly did well in this competition. As I mentioned to Eric, I’d originally intended writing about Eos, but Prometheus shoved her out of the way to make way for himself as my main protagonist. There are certainly a lot of interesting aspects of the myth around Eos to be explored and you did a nice job with… Read more »
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleNo divorces or retirement homes for those Olympians! I guess the cicada solution was a good one for this mismatched couple…Zeus, the Olympians’ playboy, reminds me of characters present in other cultures e.g. the djins in the 1001 nights. I believe there is a grain of truth in every legend…
Absolutely loved this story, Greene. The build-up and allusion to Homer’s Odyssey worked a treat. Couldn’t help but lookup Eos on Wiki. My gosh, what a stunner! It’s clear by the comments that yourself, Carrie and Eric read widely. I wasn’t aware of the cicada bit. And that last line, it cracked me right up. Got to have a sense of humour when dealing with the gods.
Thank you so much Andrew, you are very kind. The Odyssey is one of my favourite Classics: the first documented travel and adventure book. I love to laugh and make others laugh with me. As Oscar Wilde said ‘Imagination is a quality that was given to man to compensate for what he is not. The sense of humour was given to console him from what he is.’ I guess that like Oscar, I… Read more »
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