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Seventh Century, BCE, Greece, near the village of Sasidava in the region of Thrace…

Ari walked out of the shack she and her mother and brother called home, and stared over the small meadow leading out to a bluff overlooking the beach beyond. She eyed the small kids and their doe mommas. Her brother Leander was sitting on the bluff watching his nearby charges enjoying the grass. It was almost uncanny how the goats never strayed from his reach even while unbridled.

“Maybe they know I will never harm them,” he had told his sister. “Cheese and milk enough to have and to sell keep them away from the cleaver.” The he-kids would all grow up and be sold or even given away to a family with the assurance they would be kept from harm. Ari did not have the heart to tell Leander that good things do not always follow good intentions; and that even an Uncle or a cousin can lie.

Even over the stretch of meadow, she could still hear Leander humming to himself. The gods must have a muse looking over him. Today it must be Euterpe whispering in his ear. Ari listened carefully, and her love grew immediately fearful and protective. At almost seventeen, his voice was still high and gentle. The boys in the village left no day without teasing Leander, and she wondered if her brother was destined to be deemed strange.

“Careful, Ariadne, or Lea will steal your intended! Spiros might even take that ‘sister’ of yours to bed instead of you!” one of the older boys said with a leer across his face. Ari of course knew of boys who might like other boys; she had a cousin in Capidava like that and no one worried about him.

She nevertheless feared what these boys in their village would do to her brother, and she fell to her knees by the home; lifting her clasped hands over her head in prayer.

“Oh, Athena! My brother Leander is so simple and gentle and has not the wisdom to heed the harsh words of his friends. I fear that his looks and voice will be the death of him! Send a Muse to counsel and guide him in how he should go? Oh blessed Hera? Save my brother from harm?” Ariadne fell to the ground and wept.

High above the mortal plain, two women looked down on the prostrate girl and then down at the innocent boy. He was so gentle and both women immediately took pity on him and his sister.

“She has asked for a Muse.” Hera said with a wry smile. She and even Athena at times could be capricious in dispensing mercy, but both women clasped each other’s hands.

“Young, wise, brave Ariadne of Sasidava? Protector of your gentle brother Leander? You shall have…” Hera paused and mouthed a few words. Athena nodded and both women spoke at once.

“You shall have all Nine Muses.”

No thunderclap or bolt of lightning came. No storm clouds fading to gentle rain. Just a calm breeze that quickly traversed the distance; quickly followed by the appearance of a figure standing next to Ariadne’s prostrate form. The fierce but beautiful woman leaned down and massaged the girl’s neck.

“Ariadne? Daughter of Helen... Take my hand?” Ari stood up and did exactly as she was told; such was the faith she had in the Gods that her prayers were answered.

“Oh, beautiful lady? Are you here for my brother?”

“On a manner of speaking, child, I am here for you both.” She patted Ari on the hand and drew a bit closer.

“I am here for you, so that you may be here for Leander. Let’s go over and begin!”

Ari gripped the woman’s hand as they began walking over to where Leander had begun to gather the doe goats and kids.

“You know my name, oh beautiful lady. May I ask you yours?”

“Of course, you may. I am known as Euterpe.” She smiled and suppressed a small laugh.

“You want to ask me why the Muse of Music visits upon two souls who are at peril?” Ari’s face grew hot and red, and she began to cry with shame. Euterpe stopped walking and drew the frightened girl into a hug.

“There is no need for shame. The question you never asked is a good one". Euterpe bent down just a bit and stared into Ari’s eyes; speaking in a gentle, motherly voice.

“Leander sings like a girl.” Euterpe seemed to sound just like her mother Helen might sound at that moment if she was there instead of off to the village on an errand.

“He sings like a girl, yes?” Euterpe repeated. Ari nodded and spoke with a bit of a stammer.

“Yehh…yes?!”

“Then you and I will teach him.”

“To…to sing like a boy?”

“No dear, sweet Ariadne,” Euterpe replied as they resumed their walk across the meadow.

“You and I will teach Leander how to be a girl.” She laughed softly; not a cruel, teasing laugh, but the laugh that gently encourages and dispels worry and doubt. Ari nodded without understanding but with a huge amount of faith.

As they neared Leander, Euterpe glanced over her shoulder and nodded at a woman standing in the doorway of the shack. Helen, the mother of Ariadne and Leander.

Helen took her arm and wiped away the tears that fell from her face. She looked upward and mouthed the words, ‘Thank you.’

And high above, Athena and Hera both smiled down at Helen. Of course, she could not see them, but she trusted them with all her heart that her children…her daughters would be alright.

Next: Dýo - Gennaiótita (Two - Bravery)

Title art by matintheworld