As Patrick sits and
wonders about the next story Grandpa is going to tell, he
starts to rub his eyes a bit and yawns. Grandpa looks at him and
smiles. This is when he knows this will be the last story of the
night.
“You’re starting to look a
little tired there, Patrick,” Grandpa said.
“Me?” said Patrick.
“Tired? No way. I’m not one bit tired.”
“Are you sure?” Grandpa
asked. “I can wait and tell you the last story
another time.”
“No, Grandpa! You have to
tell me this next story!” said Patrick with a big
smile on his face. The excitement was written all over him, even
though
the bags under his eyes were getting a little bigger each minute.
“OK, my grandson, let’s
begin,” said Grandpa with a smile.
“For his third labor,
Eurystheus made Heracles capture the Cretan Bull,”
Grandpa began.
“What is the Cretan Bull,
Grandpa?” Patrick asked.
“That’s a very good
question,” Grandpa said. "But before I get to
that, the bull lived on the island, Crete, which is a big island that
is part
of Greece. Before the beast became a ravaging creature that
roamed the
land, the Cretan Bull was known as the creature that carried Europa,
who was a
beautiful woman abducted by Zeus. Zeus is one of the most famous
gods in
all of mythology because he is the king of the gods. Zeus used
the bull
to bring Europa to him. The bull started out as an innocent
creature
until someone came and bothered it; now at this point in the story, the
bull
had been causing destruction on the island of Crete. Heracles
knew this
would be a challenge just by seeing what the countryside became after
the bull
rampaged through it."
“But I still don’t
understand why the bull was so angry,” said Patrick.
“Well, it’s complicated, but
King Minos of Crete tried to prove he was worthy
of the kingdom to Poseidon, the god of the sea, who at this point was a
very important god,
so he
had to sacrifice a bull,” said Grandfather. “Minos was supposed
to
sacrifice the Cretan Bull, but instead he sacrificed a different one,
but that
made Poseidon upset. Since Poseidon saw that he didn’t sacrifice
the
right bull, he turned the tame, gentle bull into a menace and it
ravaged the
country.”
“Oh, I see now,” said
Patrick.
"At this point, Heracles set
forth to Crete to capture the bull as
Eurystheus told him to do so. He went to King Minos and he gave
Heracles
permission to capture the bull. Minos told him it was causing
great
problems in the country, and by problems he meant the countryside was
falling
apart
and people who lived in it were losing their homes, their crops, and
some
of them even lost their lives. So Heracles went to face the
bull. He snuck
behind
the bull and WHACK! Out of nowhere and without the bull knowing,
Heracles
jumped out and tackled it. They wrestled each other until finally
the
bull gave up; Heracles tussled him until he could slam him in to the
ground. Without any hesitation, Heracles carried the bull to
Eurystheus. But believe it or not, Eurytheus let the bull go
right as
Heracles got there.”
“So Heracles never killed
it?” asked Patrick.
“No, he was told to just
bring the bull to Eurystheus, not kill it,” said
Grandpa.
“Well, why did Eurystheus
just let it go?” asked Patrick.
“The look in the bull's eyes
was so frightening Eurytheus couldn't take it, but
no worries because later on an Athenian hero, Theseus, killed the
Cretan Bull,”
said Grandpa.
“Oh wow! How did
that happen?” Patrick asked.
Grandpa laughed and looked
at the time. “Patrick, look what time it is,”
he began. “We’ve stayed up much too late to tell more stories.”
He smiled
at Patrick.
“Well, then can you tell me
some stories about Theseus next time?” Patrick
asked. “He sounds very heroic to me.”
“Of course, my dear
grandson, but for now you must get some rest,” said Grandpa.
“Alright, thanks for telling
me those great stories, Grandpa,” said
Patrick. “I love hearing you stories,” he said with a yawn.
“And I love telling them to
you, my boy,” Grandpa said with a grin.
“Goodnight, Patrick, sweet dreams.”
“Goodnight, Grandpa,”
Patrick replied.
So later that night Patrick
dreamt of the great Heracles and his labors he
completed, just as Grandpa told him. The next morning, when he
woke, he
couldn’t wait to hear more.
Author's Note: To give
some general idea that the story was coming to an
end, I decided to incorporate context clues throughout the beginning of
it; for
example, Patrick starts to rub his eyes and yawns a little bit, and
Grandpa can
sense how tired he really is. In mythological context Heracles actually
fought
against the Cretan Bull for his seventh labor. The Cretan Bull
was known
primarily for carrying Europa, who was a beautiful mortal woman, to
Zeus who
seduced her. According to the source, the Cretan Bull was also
known as
the creature that fathered the Minotaur. The Minotaur was a
creature with
physical features of a man and a bull. The body was of a human
and the
head was of a bull. I also purposely chose this story because
Eurystheus
released the bull once Heracles brought it to him. After the bull
is
released it was captured and killed by Theseus, who is another hero
like Heracles
was. He also faces some difficult objectives as he goes through
the six
entrances to the underworld. I thought this was a good way to end
the
night with the stories to introduce a new hero so Patrick would have a
new hero
to look forward to hearing about.