I chose to retell the story of Perseus and Medusa, but go into more detail about the most exciting part of the story. My main goal for the story was to provide an exciting tale about how Perseus actually killed the sea monster. In the original story, Perseus is trying to free the princess Andromeda, who is exceptionally beautiful and has been chained to a mountain to please the sea monster that terrorizes the area. Perseus has just slain Medusa and is offered Andromeda as a wife and his own kingdom in exchange for freeing the princess. I kept to the main story except for the details of how Perseus actually killed the sea monster.
How Perseus Freed Andromeda
After agreeing to free the princess Andromeda in exchange for a kingdom from her parents and her hand in marriage, Perseus sets off to slay the sea monster. Having just slain the beast Medusa, he is quite confident and eagerly awaits his prize when he rescues the princess. He does not know much regarding the lair of the monster, except that it resides in a cave. Using his winged sandals, Perseus flies into the cave and is shocked by the size of the lair. Exploring the cave, he realizes that the sea continues into the cave, which also happens to be extremely dark.
Possessing a magical bow that shoots glowing arrows and a curved sword, Perseus begins to attempt to find the monster. He hovers above the dark water and begins to shoot his glowing arrows into the water. They light up the water, but there is nothing to see as the arrows seemingly sink forever. After hours of searching the expansive cave, Perseus thinks of a sure way to draw the monster out of the cave and into the light. He flies to the ledge on rocky slope that Andromeda is chained to and pulls out his sword. He strikes one of the chains that is holding the princess captive, which breaks the chain. Immediately, the sea monster lets out an enormous roar and emerges from the cave. Perseus flies into the air and begins to shoot arrows at the monster, but the monster maneuvers around the arrows while continuing to get closer to Perseus.
A thick fog begins to encase the two combatants, making it harder for Perseus to fly as his winged sandals get soaked and become heavy. Realizing he doesn’t have much flight left in his sandals, Perseus allows the monster to get extremely close. As the monster encloses, Perseus lands a few arrows into the monsters scaly skin. Clearly injured, the monster begins to lose elevation, allowing Perseus to fly down and deliver a fatal blow with his sword.
The monster sank deep into the sea and finally Perseus could fly over to the princess and release her. Upon returning to Andromeda’s parents, he is given everything that he was promised and there is a massive feast thrown in celebration. At the feast Perseus showcases the head of Medusa and goes on to explain how he beheaded her. Eventually the festivities wind down and Perseus joins his new wife for the night.
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| This statue of Perseus holding Medusa's head was sculpted by Antonio Canova and is made from marble (unknown year). |
Bibliography
Story: Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline (2000).
I thought you might choose this one, Jeremy - it is one of the great stories to be found in Ovid, and one that has inspired so many storytellers AND artists over the MILLENNIA. So you are now part of the tradition! And including the author's note is first is a great way to set up the story so you can zoom in on the dramatic moments that you want to focus on. I like the way you used third-person for all the setting details while also sharing Perseus's thoughts with us; that is exactly the power of third-person: it becomes EVERY-person as you share the thoughts of the character(s) with us as you see fit! And I love the magical arrows that light up in the darkness of the water and the cave - very cool! Your style is very cinematic and is exactly suited to the heroic battles that are such a strong feature of Greek storytelling. Are you thinking of maybe doing the Iliad for your choice next week???? I would really recommend it: the battles of Iliad are some of the most famous of all time and from seeing the excellent way you depicted this battle, my guess is that you would really enjoy the mastery of Homer in telling those stories too! Thanks again so much for working ahead like this: you are the first person to have launched into the world of the Un-Textbook and told your own story for Week 2! Super!!!
ReplyDeleteJeremy,
ReplyDeleteI personally enjoy Greek mythology and the infinite number of stories that encompasses all the Gods and Goddesses. This heroic story was a fun one to read, I enjoyed the depth you went into for this story I felt it made the story come to life. I also thought the picture you chose accurately represented the most important moment in this story. Medusa is such an infamous character in many ancient greek myths, I always enjoy reading about her and her snake hair! I can't help but wonder how it would have been to live during these times and to experiences these mythological tales.
You addressed one of my main complaints with the story I had mentioned in my Reading Diary, and that happened to be the lack of detail in describing action and the seemingly apparent assumption that Perseus would prevail. In your story, I get a greater sense of Perseus' mortality--an important quality to instill in a character when it comes to Greek mythology. In particular, I love your attention to detail when it comes to how changes in the environment could affect the characters, e.g. "as his winged sandals get soaked and become heavy."
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