Artemis
Oh my, my poor poor
stepdaughter Artemis. I know that at this moment no one can believe I
even muttered the words stepdaughter out of my beautiful and delicate
mouth, but it is true, I acknowledge her. In fact, I take credit for
Artemis' main vice. I mean being the virgin goddess of childbirth is
quite a title! A title that she would have never achieved had it not
been for me. You see, my daughter, Ilithyia is the goddess of
childbirth and we had been out all day running errands, shopping for
baby shower gifts (its a big part of the job!) and silly Ilithya, had
forgotten her Greekberry. Oh my! I'm sorry I bet you don't know what
that is! A Greekberry is like a Blackberry that only gods, goddesses
and those that need to reach us for emergencies have. It is a lot
easier to receive a message or be paged on the Greekberry than having
to send out a messenger to find one of us. She was just about to check
her messages when she realized she left it at home! I told her she
could borrow mine to make sure that no one was in labor but I was out
of battery! I am terrible about charging that thing! Anyway we figured
that if there were some type of emergency that they would send a
messenger out the old fashioned way! We decided to go to this quaint
little island and take a mini-vacation and just mail all of the
presents because we hadn't spent time together in forever! We had a
lovely trip and we squeezed in a few spa days!
By the time we got home people were furious! Obviously, we had no idea
why when we found out that Leto, Zeus' ex-mistress had been ready to
give birth to twins for nine days! Poor poor Leto, she didn't have the
funds to send a messenger for Ilithya because she had to save all of
her money since she was giving birth to two bastard children. Finally
one of her friends had to lend her a golden necklace so she could bribe
the heavenly messenger, Iris and Ilithya finally got the message to go
help Letos. Because of this whole mix up, when Artemis was born she
instantly had that instinct to survive! Artemis was actually born on
the island of Ortygia and then she helped her mother to the island of
Delos and helped her deliver her twin Apollo! It is a great story to
tell but at the same time I feel so sorry for Artemis. She discovered
the first day that she was alive that she had a weak mother and she had
to take care of her! Shouldn't it be the other way around? It really is
quite sad that she had to grow up so quickly but she wouldn't be who
she is today if Ilithyia and I hadn't taken our vacation! Who knows
what would have come of her. She did grow up without a father and her
mother is such a weak role model. Now look at her! She has three?
titles as a goddess, all thanks to me.
"So do you spend a lot of
time with Artemis?"
Well, I see her occasionally
but I never forget her birthday. Every year, I send her a delicate
young animal with a bow as a collar as her gift.
"Correct me if I am wrong
but, isn't Artemis the protectress of young animals?"
I hadn't even thought of
that! Yet another thing I have done for others out of the kindness of
my heart! You are such a great journalist I am learning more about
myself now than ever! I am so glad you pointed that out!
"Haha I guess the story
really is all coming together..."
Author's Note: In the original story, Hera was so jealous of Leto
because she had had an affair with her husband that she kept Ilithyia
away from Deto! Hera was so scared of the change of power that the only
thing she knew to do was to delay Leto from having Artemis and Apollo.
In my version of the story, Hera and Ilithyia went on an innocent
vacation and no one could get in contact with them. It was all a
mistake and she technically couldn't be blamed for any of it. I changed
this because I thought it seemed so like Hera to accidentally take a
vacation and a few spa days with her daughter conveniently around the
time of Leto's due date. I kept the original details of Artemis the
same because it was easy to manipulate the situation. In my story, Hera
takes credit for all of Atremis' achievements so that she can show the
world what a great person she actually is. I hope you all are enjoying
getting to know the real Hera!
Bibliography:
Timelessmyths:
Artemis (Diana)
Wikipedia: Leto: Birth of
Artemis and Apollo
Image Information:
Title: Artemis
Web Source: Epilogue