Aaryalea and Nokoto

Greek mythology- a made up version for English class. This myth is a symbolic representation for why the Greeks supposed that song and dance seemed to go to together. It is about a girl named Aaralayea with so much at stake and a love that she cannot su

Aaryalea and Nokoto

 

            One bright hour, on the night of a full moon, a newborn child entered the world, the stars twinkling on her porcelain forhead.  The child’s name was Aaryalea.  As she sat in her mother’s arms, looking curiously about herself, her mother began to hurry away from the grassy hill on which she had come into creation.  The last memory of her mother that Aaryalea had was the look of fear and revulsion on her face as she dumped Aaryalea at the entrance of a dark cave.  Although Aaryalea was not even a few hours old, she remembered all of this very clearly and was able to wonder why her mother had not wanted her.  In frustration, she began to tap her small legs against the cave wall and move her arms to some unheard rhythm.  Hearing the tapping noise against the cave wall, three old women appeared at the cave entrance.  One was spinning a spindle of yarn.  The second was measuring with an odd piece of tape.  The third cut the yarn of the first.  These old women were the Fates, and gathering Aaraylea in their arms, raised her to womenhood.

            As Aaraylea grew older into childhood, she learned the names of her “family.”  Their names were Klotho, Lakhesis, and Atropos.  However, after the time of her birth, she never saw Atropos again.  After inquiring about the disappearance of the third old women, the other two told her that she would see Atropos again when the time was right.  Aaraylea did not question further but went off to do what she liked to do best.

            In her free time, and there was plenty of it, Aarylea would dance.  At the age of two, she had stood on her two feet for the first time and began to shuffle her feet in complicated leg patterns before she began walking.  At six years she could spin in the air and twist her body like a coiling snake.  She loved to dance more than anything in the world.  As she danced, animals came up to her, each one weaving its own pattern into the dance.  Miraculous of them all was the Nemean lion that was attracted by the dance of Aaryalea and bowed down before her, swishing his tail to the beat of her silent dance, or the golden fleeced sheep that gathered to offer her some of their wool.  The Fates noticed.  The sun, stars, and moon twinkled brighter as Aarylea began to dance, and by the time she was finished, they lit up the entire sky.  Plants grew before their eyes, flowers springing up from the ground in abundance.  Even though her gift was miraculous, Aarylea could not help but notice that something was missing.  She could not think of what though, so she continued to dance.  When Aaraylea turned seventeen, she had also turned the world, making it into a beautiful paradise as the earth watched her dance.  It got to the point where other gods and goddesses started to notice as well.  Hera and Artemis were resentful of Aarylea’s power.  In particular, Apollo was angry.

            Apollo, known as the Dancer, did not like that a mortal could dance better than himself.  He decided that if he could not rule dance, nobody could.  Out of jealousy, he prophesized a terrible fate for Aarylea.  He called upon Hades and struck a bargain with him.  Hades agreed and so the prophecy was set.

The two Fate sisters came together and told Aaraylea the prophecy.  They told her that she must compete with Hades’ son, Nokoto, for dominance of the arts.  If she won, then dance would continue to prevail in the world.  However, if she lost to Nokoto, song would forever triumph in the world and all of dance would die, including Aaraylea.  Upon hearing the news, Aaraylea cried in anguish, causing the sky to storm and rain, flooding the lands.  She could not bear the thought of dance dying.  She thought instead about the contest and grew competitive, focusing all of her thoughts to beating this Nokoto.  Finally drying her eyes, she let the Fates guide her to Mt. Olympus where the competition was to take place in front of the panel of judges.

            She arrived on Mt. Olympus and stepped boldly onto her side of the stadium.  The judges facing her were Hera, Artemis, and Apollo.  Across from Aarylea stood the son of Hades, Nokoto, smiling confidently.  The judges beat a hammer on the table, signaling for them to begin.  Aaraylea’s eyes locked with her opponent and… time stopped.  As Aaraylea stared into Nokotos eyes she saw the dark of night, with stars twinkling around the twilight of his gaze.  Perversely, while Nokoto’s eyes bored into her own, he saw deep pools of green blue centered around burning suns.  As Nokoto began to open his mouth in the purest of all melodies, Aaraylea danced like she never had before.  Aarylea now realized what had been missing- song!  Neither broke eye contact as Aaraylea’s dance and Nokoto’s voice intertwined.  The judges remained spellbound, as if in a trance of some sort and the competition continued for three days, taking all of heaven and earth in a peaceful lull.  When finally the two ended, the judges woke out of their reverie.  They did not remember a second of three days that passed.  Smiling nastily, Apollo was about to raise the hammer to indicate the winner when Nokoto spoke.

“I, as son of Hades, choose Aaraylea to be my bride in the Underworld as an immortal for eternity.” This statement shocked everyone, except for Aaraylea.  She went over to Nokoto and held his hand, sending shockwaves of sound to reverberate off of the walls. 

Apollo was the first to react.  “You, realize, Aaraylea that by marrying Nokoto, you will not be able to return to the living world again.  You will die to enter Hades as Nokoto’s bride and can never leave again.  You must realize that dance will fade in the world with your absence, leaving the world in despair when you leave.”  Aarylea was torn as he said this, but gave into the temptation of Nokoto’s voice singing softly to her.  She nodded and sentenced herself to death.  Apollo hit the panel again and decreed that the contest was no longer to take place.  Aarylea looked around for her two family members to say goodbye for the last time, but only saw one.  With a closer look she realized that it was Atropos.  Atropos guided her and Nokoto back into the Underworld where they stayed together for eternity.  Although Apollo had decreed that Aarylea could no longer visit the world in being, she visited it in her dreams.  Nokoto became the ultimate leader of song, fantasys and dreams and Aaraylea entered the dream world through him.  His voice was the one that called the dead to the Underworld and it was Aarylea that danced alongside them as they made the descent.  Although her power to do great things on earth was gone forever, Aarylea’s presence still lingered.  When the people wanted to get past a Neamon lion, or collect golden wool, all they had to do was dance and they were granted passage.  When a voice sounded around a lonesome campfire, it was not long before the beat of drums sounded and kindled the dance to begin.  As for Aarylea and Nokoto, they lived happily in the midst of dreams and fantasies forever.

 

Author's Note

I just had to make up this untrue Greek myth for English class, but this is only the rough draft. Sorry for typos, there is a lot of incorrect grammar. The myth has to be interesting, make men prevail over women in the end, and has to be made up to explain something- for example, why there are volcanos, for my English class. Just let me know what you think of the story! Thanks!

Reviews

[Conner G]

This was a great story. It actually had me chuckling becuase all I could think of was one part greek myth, one part Step Up. A dance competition in front of the greek gods sounds hilarious to me. The descriptions where great. I didn't see any grammar mistakes. The ending had a great twist that caught me off guard, good job. I cant wait to see some more of your work. This was great, keep it up!

[Yama Eve]

You created a myth that could stand alongside any Greek myth. Your idea is creative and written in a way that feels like it is a story passed on by tongue. I believe you have captured the writing style of the myths which is what makes it feel so original. Lovely ideas. Thanks for sharing.

[Laina Ubern]

Oh my gosh. Um, I feel bad now, about my myth. You are so imaginative! Your descriptions are so colorful. This is perfect because it really does sound like a Greek myth, and its plot is great, too.