Orpheus and Eurydice
As his complaining family shuffled into his house,
Grandpa Patheman grew tired of their lust for electricity. After
hearing his fourteen year-old grandson talk about how he could not text
message his girlfriend –terms foreign to Grandpa– he called everyone
together in front of the fire, as he took his seat on his trusty old
barcalounger and spoke out. “Now ya’ll just have a seat.”
Shocked by the
change from his cool demeanor, everyone sat down quick. Grandpa went
on.
“I’ve been listening to ya’ll whine since you got here, and frankly
I’ve had enough. You take for granted all this technology and you’ve
become slaves to your own inventions. Now I’m going to tell you what it
meant to go without, what it meant to suffer, but you’ll see that
suffering is not all bad. It builds character, it builds strength, and
it makes success that much sweeter.”
“Now, Billy, so you can’t send your little girlfriend an instant text
message? You know, boy, back in my day, a young man actually had to go
out and meet his girl face to face,” Grandpa said, chiding him. “Well,
that’s all beside the point, because now I’m going to tell ya’ll the
story of Orpheus. You see, Billy, this was in the time of ancient
Greece, long before TV and internet. It was a time when they took
things like love very seriously. So pay attention; you might learn
something.” So Grandpa began to tell the story to his reluctant
audience.
“Now Orpheus was a musician, in fact, he was the greatest musician in
the world. He could even charm the rocks and, not to mention, the
women,”
Grandpa said with a grin. “Well, anyway, Orpheus had just married
Eurydice, a pretty little thing whom he loved deeply. But it's all
downhill from here. You see, Eurydice was a nymph, one of those singing
ladies
of the forest, and so after her wedding, her and the nymphs went out to
dance and sing in the forest, but as they were carrying on, Eurydice
ran
across a snake and was bitten. After that… she died.”
With this, Grandpa snapped everyone’s attention to the story. “Yep, ol’
Eurydice died right there on her wedding night, and you can bet your
britches that Orpheus was real torn up about it. He was devastated. But
he decided that he was going to win her back or die trying. So it was
that Orpheus set off down into the underworld to rescue Eurydice and
bring her back.
“Now you see, this was no easy task, nor did Orpheus lack courage. He
went down there only with his lyre, because he was confident in his
abilities. So down he went. Now to get into the Underworld, he had to
go over the river Styx and then get past Cerberus, the ferocious, giant
three-headed dog that guarded the gates to Hades. Can’t you just
picture it, Billy, the fear in him as he faced this giant beast with
only his lyre and song? ... But he did, and in spite of his fear, he
played on for the sake of love and made it inside.”
“Now, as I said, Orpheus is the best musician in the world, so he
starts
to play and sing to Hades and Queen Persephone, the gods of the
underworld; 'Hear me oh God and
Goddess, I haven't come here for the secrets of the dead, or to fight
against the beasts of hell. I've come here in the name of Love, who is
more powerful than Death. Eurydice died before her time, and you know
this. Since all are destined to come here, let me take her back for
now, and return at the time of fate. I beg you. If you don't let me
take her back, then you'll have two new souls this day, because I'm not
going back without her.'
"Now then, would any of you be that bold… would you, Billy? Would you
be
willing to give the death god an ultimatum and put your life on the
line for the one you love? I bet you'd rather just send a text or
an e-mail huh?" Grandpa said in a mocking way.
As they contemplated this, Grandpa continued. "Well, with his song
–which
was much prettier than my old voice can describe– Orpheus moved all the
creatures and spirits of the underworld to tears. It even moved the
cold heart within the Hades and his bride, Persephone. They agreed to
let Orpheus take
Eurydice back, but only on the condition that he not look back to see
her until they return to the overworld."
On this note, Grandpa pauses
and looks in the fire with remembrance in his glance. Before too long,
Billy interrupted him saying impatiently "Well, Grandpa, what happens
next? Do they make it?!?" Grandpa turned back to Billy with kind old
eyes and softer tone, saying, "No, Billy, they don't make it. Whether
through the god’s trick, or human longing, when they were getting close
to the end
of their voyage, Orpheus lost his senses, looked back, and lost
Eurydice forever. Orpheus could just hear her fleeting voice say
'Farewell', as she was blown back to the underworld and her spirit was
taken away with the wind."
At this point, the family had all been moved by Grandpa's story,
especially Billy. "But Grandpa, what did he do?” said Billy. “You said
that suffering made success sweeter, but he failed. So what's the
point?"
Grandpa continued to rock back and forth, and only after a
moment looked at Billy. He then slowly began to speak. "Well, success
always comes at the end. Watch out when it comes too soon. Anyway,
Orpheus played music alone by the entrance, until some Furies tried to
seduce him. After a long effort, though, he refused and so they tore
him
to pieces in their rage, and so finally Orpheus returned to the
underworld. In this way, Orpheus finally got to reunite
with Eurydice, something he longed for more than his own life. In fact
in the underworld, he would always look at her, knowing now that he had
no fear of ever losing her again."
On to
Aeneas...
Back to Cover...
Intro...
Author's
note: I took some of the elements from the Orpheus myth
and
streamlined them. For example, it is not clear that Orpheus actually
put
Cerberus to sleep in some versions of the myth, but I decided to add it
here. Also, I left out part of the story at the end to give it an
abrupt, grandpa-style ending. Originally, on the festival of Bacchus,
Thracian maidens try to seduce Orphues. Then they throw rocks and
stones at
him when he rebukes them, but the projectiles also get charmed by his
music. Finally, they tear him to pieces and throw him in the river and
the river sings with music thereafter.
If you like this story, there are many
different works of literature and music that retell it. I would
especially recommend listening to Gluck's opera Orfeo ed
Euridice. There is a really tense score when
Orpheus goes down to the gates of the Underworld and is first refused
entrance by the furies who guard the gate. I actually listened to that
part right before I wrote this to get in the zone. I don't listen to a
lot of opera, but I had a class that showed this scene and the music
really captures everything so well. Other than that, I stuck to the
original tale but also chose parts of different versions as they fit
with my story.
Image: Orpheus
and Eurydice
by George Frederick Watts. Web Source: Classic
Reproductions
Bibliography:
"Orpheus and
Euridice." Bulfinch, Thomas. Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of
Fable or Stories of Gods and Heroes. 1855. Sacred Texts
Archive
"Orpheus." Wikipedia.
Accessed: 4 Oct. 2008