The Story of Orpheus and Eurydice

 Orpheus was the son of Apollo and Orpheus belonged to the city of Thrace or Thrake.

Apollo is the Greek/Roman God of archery, music, dance, truth and prophecy. Apollo is the twin brother of Goddess Artemis, who is the Goddess of the hunt.

Orpheus’s mother is Calliope. Calliope is called as the chief of all Muses and she is the Muse of Eloquence and Poetry. Muses are inspirational Goddesses to all literature, science and art.

When Orpheus was young his father taught him to play the lyre. Orpheus learnt to play the instrument so well that it was said that nothing could resist Orpheus’s music.

Eurydice was the nymph who was found in pastures and vales.

Orpheus and Eurydice both loved each other. They got married and they had a perfect life.

Hymen was asked to bless the marriage of Orpheus and Eurydice. Hymen is the God of marriage ceremonies and it is believed that if Hymen does not attend any marriage ceremony, then the marriage would be disastrous.

Hymen looked at Orpheus and Eurydice and he became very sad, because he realized immediately that this perfect marriage was not to last.

Unknown of their fate, Eurydice and Orpheus were living happily.

Once after her marriage, Eurydice was in the forest with the other nymphs. She was laughing and running around in the woods when unknowingly she stepped on a serpent there.

The serpent bit Eurydice and she died immediately.

Eurydice’s soul left the body and went to the underworld, which was controlled by Hades.

Hades is the God of the Dead and the king of the underworld. Hades rules the underworld with his wife Persephone. (Persephone is the Goddess of food grains. She is the daughter of Goddess Demeter and Zeus, the king of the Greek Gods.)

Orpheus was heartbroken on seeing his beloved wife dead.

For days, Orpheus was in despair and he played his lyre turning his misery to music, and the music moved everyone and everything around him. The music that Orpheus created was so soulful that even stones melted.

The same thing happened in the opening of the Underworld.

The opening of the Underworld was guarded by huge boulders. But when Orpheus played his lyre, the boulders opened up, letting Orpheus enter the Underworld though he was alive.

There Orpheus continued to play his lyre and charm everyone.

Charon was the ferryman who took the souls to the Underworld through the River Styx and Charon forgot to ask for his payment of a single gold coin from Orpheus when he heard the musical notes from Orpheus’s lyre.

Similarly, Cerberus, the ferocious three headed dog which guarded the Underworld let Orpheus inside.

Orpheus played the lyre before Hades and Persephone.

Hades was mesmerized by the notes and he had the soul of Eurydice brought before Orpheus.

Hades even let Orpheus take Eurydice back to the world of the living, without letting Eurydice drink from the waters of the River Lethe. (In the Underworld, the souls drink from the river of Lethe. Any soul which drinks the water of the River Lethe forgets all about their human life and settles in the Underworld.)

However, Hades imposed a condition.

Orpheus was to lead the way for Eurydice to the land of the living and Orpheus was not supposed to turn back at any point of time until he reached the surface.

Orpheus was overjoyed that he had finally gotten his love back. He walked back to the land of the living and he did not see whether Eurydice was following him or not. He could not turn back, but he kept his faith and kept walking. However, in the Underworld, Orpheus was not able to hear the footsteps of his beloved, following him.

That was when Orpheus had a doubt of whether Hades had kept his word or whether Hades had fooled him.

Orpheus nearly reached the surface, but then he just could not get rid of his doubt of whether Eurydice was actually following him.

Just before reaching the surface, unfortunately Orpheus turned back to see whether Eurydice was following him.

Eurydice had been following Orpheus and she faded as soon as Orpheus turned back.

Orpheus was taken to the land of the living without his wife and his wife was lost to the Underworld forever.

After that, try as he might, Orpheus could not return to the Underworld.

He then played the most beautiful music on his lyre, begging Death to come and take him so that Orpheus could be reunited with his Eurydice forever.

Orpheus was killed by animals in a frenzied mood or most probably Zeus struck Orpheus dead with his lightning staff.

Orpheus’s head was kept alive by the Muses so that it could keep singing melodies and charm people. Orpheus’s lyre was supposedly thrown to the sky to make it a constellation.

The Dog and the Sparrow

 A sheep-dog did not like its master who had ill-treated the animal. Finally, unable to take it anymore, the sheep-dog ran away from home.

As it ran deep into the forest, there it saw a beautiful little sparrow.

“Why are you so sad?” The sparrow asked the sheep-dog.

The sheep-dog told the sparrow all about itself and then sighed unhappily. “I have nothing to eat now. That is why I am so sad.”

The sparrow smiled. “I can solve your problems. Come with me.”

Saying that, the sparrow led the dog to a butcher’s shop. There she sat on the top ledge where the butcher had kept all his meat. The sparrow pecked on the meat there and slowly pushed a large meat piece down without the butcher knowing about it.

The dog ravenously ate the entire piece of meat which had fallen to the ground.

As the dog was still hungry, the sparrow took the dog to another butcher’s shop and repeated the same process.

The dog ate some more meat and it was very happy.

However, now the dog wanted some bread.

The sparrow went to the baker’s shop and pecked two rolls of bread off the ledge in the shop. Finally, the dog was able to eat the bread which had fallen down from the ledge of the baker’s shop.

The sparrow had to repeat it in another baker’s shop and soon the dog was well fed.

Naturally, after that the sheep dog was tired and wanted to sleep.

“I shall sleep here.” The sheep-dog told the sparrow pointing at the centre of the street. “I am very tired.”

“I shall keep a watch, while you sleep, brother.” The Sparrow told the dog.

The dog was asleep in no time.

However, that was when a cartman was driving at full speed across the road. He was carrying two barrels in his carriage which was driven by three horses.

The Sparrow saw this and she yelled. “Carter! Be careful. My Brother Dog is asleep on the road.”

The cartman heard the Sparrow, but he looked contemptuously at the little sparrow. He was sure that the Sparrow could do nothing to him and he drove over the dog who had been sleeping on the streets.

The dog died and the Sparrow was livid with rage.

“I shall make you suffer for this, Carter!” The Sparrow yelled angrily.

The cartman laughed maniacally and drove on, unmindful of anything.

The Sparrow flew to the back of the cartman’s wagon and slowly she pecked at the cork of the barrels holding the wine.

After some time, the Sparrow was able to peck the cork off completely and the wine started leaking from the barrels in the cart.

The cartman had not noticed it and he just drove on.

After driving some more, he saw that his cart was wet and he stopped the cart. He got down and he was shocked to see that the cork had been broken and all the wine had leaked through it.

“It is not yet over, Carter!” The Sparrow called as she sat on the top of the cart.

Angrily, the cartman pulled out his axe and tried to hit the sparrow with his axe.

The bird flew away and the axe hit the cart.

The wily Sparrow sat on the head of one of the horses pulling the carriage and she taunted the cartman further.

Furiously, the cartman aimed his axe at the bird.

Again the cartman missed and he hit his own horse. The horse fell dead immediately.

The bird did the same thing again and soon the cartman lost all his horses.

Unhappily, the cartman went home and told his wife all that had happened.

But his wife had bigger problems.

“There is a tiny sparrow and it has brought many other birds along with it. The birds are all in the barn and eating all our grains!” The wife told the cartman unhappily.

The cartman ran to the barn and he was shocked to see that the birds had already eaten most of his stored grains. He tried shooing them away, but it was too late by then.

A little time later, the sparrow sat inside the house of the cartman.

“It is not over yet, Carter.” The Sparrow told the cartman.

A second later the bird flew as the cartman yelled furiously and an axe landed beside the Sparrow.

The window pane from the house of cartman was broken but nothing happened to the bird.

The Sparrow continued taunting the man and soon the man had broken all his furniture with his own axe.

But finally, the cartman managed to catch the Sparrow.

“Are you going to wring the neck of the bird?” The wife asked the cartman with anxious eyes.

“No.” The cartman said with glee. “I am going to swallow the bird alive, so that it is very painful for it.”

Saying that the cartman swallowed the bird whole.

But the sparrow fought back and came to the mouth of the cartman.

Annoyed, the cartman turns to his wife. “Hit this wretched bird with the axe and kill it.”

The wife tried to hit the bird, but it flew away.

The axe hit the cartman, killing him immediately.

From the Grey Fairy Book by Andrew Lang