Pegasus and
Bellerophon: Two
Best
Friends Forever
When Emma and Charolette's
dad looked down, he saw that his finger was closest to the story about
Pegasus and he began to read.
There
once was a magical free-spirited horse named Pegasus.
"Yes! This is my story. I'm so glad you picked this one, Daddy,"
Charolette exclaimed.
"He didn't mean to pick that one, Charolette. His finger just
happened to be closer to that one," Emma said smugly.
"No fighting, girls. Emma, I'll read your story tomorrow night.
Alright, back to the story," said their dad. Without even missing a
beat, he just
continued on.
Pegasus
never
had to do anything that he did not want to do. So every day he
would
wake up and go swimming in all of the beautiful lakes around his
home.
Then he would fly up and around the mountains and stretch his wings and
let them dry. After all this hard work and exercise he would go
back
toward the lake and nibble at some grass for a snack. Pegasus did
the
same thing day in and day out.
" I bet he is bored and sad, Dad. He needs a friend to play with
him," Emma said.
One day as he was doing his
routine, Pegasus
thought to himself, "Man, I wish I had a friend to go on cool
adventures
with and to just hang out with me." Pegasus wanted this so badly
that
he started praying to Zeus. Every day Pegasus would thank Zeus
for
all
the wonderful things that he had blessed him with, but he would end
with how lonely and sad it was to always be by himself.
Meanwhile, in a town called Lycia, a
man named Bellerophon had gone
there looking for adventure. The town of Lycia had a
monster known as a Chimera. A Chimera is a monster with the head
of a lion and the tail of a dragon. Every night the Chimera would
sweep down upon the town and carry off women, children, and livestock
to eat as its dinner. The people of Lycia lived in constant fear
and needed a hero to slay the Chimera.
"Daddy, that monster sounds really scary. What if it comes here
and wants to gobble me up for dinner?" Emma exclaimed, looking really
worried.
"Let's just read on and see what happens," said the dad calmly.
Bellerophon was up for the challenge
of slaying the Chimera. He
decided to meet with the wisest man in Lycia, Polyidus, before he went
on his mission. Polyidus told Bellerophon of the magical horse
Pegasus. Polyidus said that without the help of Pegasus,
Bellerophon would fail at his quest. Polyidus suggested that
Bellerophon go spend the night in Athena's temple and offer her many
gifts. In return, the goddess might be tempted to tell
Bellerophon how to catch and tame Pegasus.
Bellerophon decided to take his
advice. He went to Athena's
temple, armed with many gifts which he laid before her statue.
That night while Bellerophon was sleeping, he had a dream about
Athena. In his dream, Athena gave him a golden bridle and
instructions on how to find Pegasus. The next morning Bellerophon
found a golden bridle lying beside him. He knew that his dream
was real. He left in a hurry to find Pegasus.
"I wish I could be a goddess, Dad. Can I be Athena this
Halloween?" Charolette asked excitedly.
"We'll see, hon. We'll probably have to have your mom make that
costume," Dad answered.
Pegasus had finished his snack
and was about to take a
drink of water, when he noticed a man staring into the lake.
Pegasus
wondered if this man was the friend that he had been wishing for, or
whether he could be here in order to hurt him. Pegasus decided
to step out and
see.
The man looked away from the lake and at the shiny silvery horse who
came out of the forest.
"Hey,
little guy.
Come on. It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," Bellerophon
coaxed.
Pegasus
then realized
that Bellerophon
was there to be his friend. Pegasus walked slowly out and kneeled
down so that he would not scare away his new friend. Bellerophon
came up and started to pet Pegasus.
"Would
you like to be my new friend? We could go on many cool
adventures! I
have always wondered what it would be like to fly. Man, this is
going
to be so fun," Bellerophon
exclaimed.
Pegasus nodded his head
in agreement. Bellerophon put on the golden bridle so that way he
could ride Pegasus.
"Alright, our first adventure is to
kill the Chimera," Bellerophon
informed Pegasus.
Pegasus nodded his head and became
really excited. Bellerophon
hopped up on Pegasus's back and guided them to the ledge where the
Chimera lived. The only weapon Bellerophon brought was a
spear. As soon as he saw the Chimera, he charged at it. The
Chimera became angry at Bellerophon and exhaled a puff of fire.
Pegasus ran backward to get away from the burning breath. Before
the Chimera had time to breathe more fire at them, Pegasus started
running towards the Chimera and Bellerophon drove the spear right
through the Chimera's heart, killing it instantly.
"Aww man! That was so close," Charolette said.
"Yeah, I thought that Bellerophon and Pegasus were going to die," Emma
chimed in.
The Dad put the book back on the shelf and tucked each of his
daughters in .
"Good night, girls. Sleep well," he said as he shut off the light
and closed the door behind him.
Author's
Notes: I decided
to
tell the story of how Pegasus and Bellerophon
become friends. I put my own twist on how
they met though. I have Pegasus being a lonely horse who needed a
friend, and
when Bellerophon
shows up they become friends. In the traditional myth, Bellerophon
capturing a wild Pegasus. I chose the adventure of the Chimera
because
I felt that it was the most exciting. I also like the Chimera
because
it is part dragon. I tried to keep this portion of the story as
accurate as I could. I did not change the ending
because I like that Bellerophon
and Pegasus defeat the Chimera. In
most stories the "good" guys always win, and those are the kind of
stories that I like. I decided to try and keep the
frame-tale in the story. I can remember being young and
interrupting my
dad every time I thought of something to say, so I added that in
here.
I kept the main characters the same. The wise man Polyidus
told Bellerophon
what to do to make sure that he could get Pegasus, and that way Bellerophon
would be successful in defeating the Chimera.
Chapter 2: Buraq
and Muhammad
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Introduction
Image
Information: Pegasus
and Bellerophon from a Website
Bibliography: Wikipedia
and Theoi