The Creation of Dolphins

A Greek myth which explains how dolphins were created. This was written for an English project in high school, or was it middle school? I was young, basically.

In Ancient Greece, On Mount Olympus, Zeus and Hera were wed and made King and Queen of Mount Olympus after Zeus overthrew his tyrant father Kronos.  They had several children.  Their children grew.  And then there were problems…

Zeus had fallen in love with Leto, the titan spider goddess and Hera was filled with rage.  When Hera heard the news that Zeus had been hiding his second child with Leto, aside from Apollo for almost six years, she was hardly expected to compose herself.  The child’s name was Artemis, a mere six-year-old, but still highly dangerous.  Apparently, Zeus had given her an unlimited quiver of arrows, amazing skill at hunting and the power of the moon just because the girl asked for them.

Hera, again, was furious.  This emotion gave her the incentive to take control of all of Zeus’s thunderbolts, steal his herd of Cyclops and employ several harpies.  The cyclops were powerful, massive giants with only one visible weakness; a single eye instead of two.  And harpies were just as fearsome, with a hideous yet human face and torso, but the wings and claws of a bird, which aided them in their destruction.  Fierce, cunning and inhumanly quick, they teased and tortured almost everyone they came into contact with.  

Together the group destroyed Zeus’s palace, piece by piece; Hera with Zeus’s thunderbolts, scorching every item of value; the Cyclops with their clubs, destroying divine buildings and the harpies and screeching and clawing at any Olympian who would venture close to the palace.  

Soon, Zeus returned from his godly duties and found the palace in its new state.  The supreme god was so enraged that he didn’t have enough time to escape Hera’s ambush.  The goddess used unbreakable bindings made by the god Hephaestus to bind Zeus around his hands, mouth and ankles.  Then she brought him into the palace, holding him as a prisoner.

Luckily, Artemis was playing outside and both her and her babysitter Hestia noticed Zeus’s kidnapping and, to Hestia’s horror, the destruction of Zeus’s brand new palace.  Quickly, both goddesses went to tell Poseidon about Zeus.  Poseidon went with both goddesses to Mount Olympus to speak to Hera.  As they approached Zeus’s palace, the Harpies tried to attack them as they went nearer.  

Unanimously, they backed up and Poseidon cried to Hera, “We know what you have done to Zeus!  Come out and reason with us like a true Olympian!”

Hera was surprised that they knew about her retribution, but she came out and said to them, “I despise him " that monster!  It is inhuman to be so cold.  But I no longer love him.  Leto can have her pig.  I simply want a beast for my company.  I’ll be happy then.  Give me my beast and then I will free Zeus.”  

Hera then left and her Harpies chased the trio off of Mount Olympus.

Back near the sea, Poseidon, Artemis and Hestia contemplated this strange desire.  They could not simply fight back, because she was so powerful, so appeasing her was their only choice.  

Hestia overlooked the sea and spotted a seal on the rocks.  Poseidon and Artemis agreed that it was a good choice, so again they ventured to Olympia to offer it to Hera.  But the goddess simply waved it away.

Artemis, quite angry about this, suggested a shark.  “They’d have a lot in common,” she sneered.  Poseidon didn’t object and the group made their second offer to Hera.  Again, she waved it away.  “No, no!  Something different!” she said.

So Poseidon tried something different.  He searched the lands and found a beautiful, black thoroughbred horse.  Surely, Hera would accept this animal!  Nevertheless, she didn’t, but she did offer a clue.  “You people don’t understand.  I want a completely new and different beast.  Friendly, playful, wise, beautiful, good at hunting…”  And this time she hurled a few thunderbolts, almost hitting them.

So Poseidon thought of his other offers, the playful seal, the intelligent shark and the beautiful, athletic horse.  Carefully, Poseidon waved his sea trident, merging the three animals together into a grey, fishlike mammal.

Then Hermes came to them and gave the beast the gift of communication by radar, Athena came and gave it wisdom, Aphrodite the gift of caring and beauty and Artemis added the final touches, playfulness, amazing tracking and the wildness of a stallion.  Finally the animal was complete.  

Poseidon escorted Hera to the sea and then the queen saw the wonderful aquatic beast.  Her first reaction was that it was like her own doll from when she was a child, only with fins, thus the name “Dolphin”.  The pair soon learned to be great companions and this helped Hera handle her jealousy problems so that she would never bother Zeus again.  Zeus had affairs with almost every woman in Olympus, even several mortal women, so Hera’s choice was wise.  Later, Poseidon made more than one dolphin and soon they became a breed that is now well known for its beauty, friendliness, and intelligence.

Reviews

[icelandicblue]

This is a lovely story. You may or may not know it but Poseidon is credited for the creation of the horse. There are of course a number of stories of how and why. That is the beauty of Greek Myths. You may want to include something about how Poseidon placed Delphinius among the stars as a constellation called the Dolphin- perhaps the stars could have fallen from the sky into the ocean to create the dolphins. Either way it was a pleasure to read.

[Naomi Bloom]

Thank you for the review! Yes, I did know about Poseidon creating the horse and that sort of inspired this story. I did not know about Delphinus. The stars falling into the ocean is a cool idea; I may use it...

[icelandicblue]

: )- let me know if you change it.

[Naomi Bloom]

Okay. :)