Have you ever heard of Dante's Inferno? If not, then you are in
for an extra-special treat. During the 12th century a man by the name
of
Dante Alighieri wrote a poem about his own trip into the Inferno,
a.k.a. Hell. He was guided by the Roman poet Virgil through a large
part of it. Dante describes what he saw there, from the entrance all
the way through the nine circles of hell to the boss himself, Satan.
This is a fantastic poem, a must-read if you have never had the chance
to read it.
In my storybook the main character will be a descendant of Dante
Alighieri named Alexander Alighieri. When Alexander was a younger man,
he, like his ancestor, found a way into the inferno himself. Like
Dante, Alexander was vague about how he found his way into the inferno.
Alexander's kids and other relatives heard tales of his Inferno
journey, but Alexander would never comment on it and always seemed to
change the subject. Recently, though, Alexander passed away. He was an
old man who lived a long full life. Alexanders family figured the
secrets of his adventure died with him until they found an old tape
recorder. On the tape he left a series of recordings explaining part of
what he saw in the Inferno and who he met. The reasoning behind the
whole tape recording
business
is that Alexander never spoke about what
he had seen nor did he want to discuss it. He left the tapes of what he
had seen so he would not be bombarded with questions.
Both Dante and Alexander went into the Inferno, but Alexander's
trip was much stranger because of whom he saw there and the stories he
heard. Dante going into the Inferno was a pioneer of sorts, but when
Alexander went in, he had an idea of where to go because of Dante.
Alexander met some surprising heroes while in the Inferno - heroes who
may just shock your socks off. Would you believe that Alexander, in the
worst place possible, met people we admire and revere? We never think
of heroes ending up in the Inferno, because, well, they are heroes -
they did good deeds. But not all heroes always did good things.
Now let me turn it over to our deceased Inferno explorer, Alexander
Alighieri. Remember these are tape recordings, so you obviously cannot
ask questions.
(Pushes play on the little black tape recorder.) “Hello there, my name
is Alexander Alighieri." (The recorded voice sounds gravelly.) " I
recorded this tape before I passed because I felt you needed some
questions answered. Yes, I am related to the great Dante Alighieri. He
is my ancestor. Dante made the epic trip into the Inferno or, as we
know it today, Hell. In the adventure Dante went on, he ventured to the
nine different circles of Hell. While there Dante saw what happens to
sinners in the Inferno. Well, some years ago when I was a much younger
man, I made a similar trip myself. While traveling through the Inferno,
I ran into some unlikely characters, people we would not dream would be
in the Inferno. Would you believe me if I say I saw Robin Hood there?
Or even Hercules? Well, I did indeed meet them and I got to hear how
they ended up in such a horrible place. I am going to tell you what
they told me about how and why they are to spend an eternity in the
raging Inferno. If you would rather not hear the truth about your
heroes, then my best advice is to turn this off and walk away. These
stories are not for the weak-stomached. Do not say I didn't warn you.
Our first story takes place in the circle of greed. In the the
circle we
will run into a legendary hero. A man who we always knew stood up for
the less fortunate and fought the evil dictator that ruled over them.
This man, as I learned. He is not who we always thought he was. I shall
let
him show his true colors or should I say color. After that, we well
vist
with a man of giant strenth. He made some mistakes and now lives with
the
consequences of his actions. Lasty, we have a
ladies man. A guy that made
ladies swoon and never ran from a challenge. He hunted down one of the
rarest objects on earth. He ruined his life for the pursuit of passion.
