Poseidon's Weakness Read online

still thundering bolts of lightning, launched from Zeus’s right hand, hitting the earth with great ferocity.

  The rain of lightning bolts and the thundering went on for some time but then it came to a sudden halt, just as it had started. Flying Pegasus opened wide its huge magnificent wings and the chariot disappeared from the sky carrying Zeus back to his residence. The dark clouds closed the opening in the sky, just as curtains close the stage at the end of a theatrical play.

  Lost for words and just as I turned to go back inside the palace, Nefeli, one of the mermaids, came rushing into my quarters with tears running down her face and the look of despair distorting her beautiful characteristics.

  “He is gone, finished forever, everything is lost and our father and protector is no more!” she cried out loud.

  “What are you saying, what happened?” I asked, although I was certain I knew the answer.

  She sat on the edge of my bed and with broken voice she told me about the events which took place at the bay of caves, a beach right at the feet of vertical cliffs whose faces are decorated with many natural cavities.

  Nefeli’s description of the events took more than half hour because there were intervals of sobbing and crying and mumbling incoherent words in the language of mermaids, but finally, more or less, I got her version of what had happened.

  Here is a summary of her story: “While swimming near the island of Rhodes, Poseidon met Niobe, widely known as the Jewel of Greece. She was indeed the most beautiful of all mortals with such perfect symmetry of body dimensions that not even Pygmalion, the best among the Greek sculptors, would dare to produce a statue of her. For years, Poseidon was looking out for the opportunity to establish a more meaningful relationship with Niobe, so today he was not going to let their chance meeting go to waste. Most probably, with his expertise in manipulation, he persuaded her to go inside a cave by the beach and away from curious eyes, they proceeded to seal their friendship with wonderful and exiting love-making, which candidly we all witnessed in the coordinated reaction of the sea. However so much was the intensity and enjoyment of their encounter that they completely lost track of time. But three hundred kilometres away the council of Gods had already convened under Zeus’s chairmanship. They waited in vain and two hours after Poseidon’s appointment was due, they all left realising that Poseidon had no intention of appearing before them. Zeus was beyond himself with anger. The insult to the Gods was unbelievable and somehow very original because it was the first time since the beginning of the world that something like this has happened. Zeus summoned the flying Pegasus and flew down to the sea searching for Poseidon. He sensed his presence on the island of Rhodes and he went there with the intention of sending Poseidon down to Hades, the God of the Underworld, from where there was no return to the surface and no relief from the daily routine of hard labour. He aimed his lightning bolts as close as possible to Poseidon because he wanted to scare him before he would finally kill him. But then he saw the terrified woman, hanging in desperation from Poseidon’s arm and when Poseidon begged for forgiveness, Zeus realised that, truth be told, there was no man, mortal, demi-god or god who could keep track of time while he was in the arms of such extraordinary beauty. Right there and then, Zeus decided to spare Poseidon’s life but the indiscretion had to be severely punished. He decided to demote Poseidon to a mere mortal, remove all his privileges, forbid him to have any contact with the gods and send him to live in the city where common people live.

  Zeus picked up the “trident”, symbol of Poseidon’s dominance over the seas, indicating the finality of the decision. Obviously he intended giving it to Poseidon’s eventual successor.”

  I sat motionless on my bed not sure about my next move. I was out of a job, without a master and without the benefits outflowing from working for a God. All my dedicated work, for the past twenty five years, amounted to nothing. My heart was aching from the injustice of it all, but there was nothing that I, a simple secretary and biographer of the Gods, could say or do to rectify the situation.

  Damn you Poseidon and damn your urges, your passions and your obsession with beautiful well shaped women!

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