Nisos and Skylla
When King Minos of Krete was young, he set siege on the city of Megara, which was at that time ruled by the invincable Nisos and his daughter Skylla. Nisos was son of the war-god Ares (below) and had a wonderful secret that made him invincable against any opponent.
So, of course, Minos stood no chance. At least until Nisos' daughter fell in love with him. Skylla began to spend her days dreaming of Minos, absolutely captivated by his beauty and strength. So she, the duplitive big-mouth she was, told Minos Nisos' secret: Nisos had a lock of deep purple hair on his head, which gave him his wonderful strength. And then Skylla took it a bit too far. That night, she crept upon Nisos, and snipped off his purple lock. He became so weak instantly that he shriveled up and died on the very spot. Skylla, overjoyed, ran to Minos to tell him the "good" news. But Minos was horrified. He had never intended to even kill Nisos, just take over the city. So he called his guards, and as he stood on the cliffs watching, he had Skylla thrown into the sea. Skylla beat against the water to keep alive, but as she did, news began spreading like wild fire across Megara: King Nisos' body was missing.
Meanwhile, Skylla swam toward the cliffs, ready to grab onto the rocks and pull herself up, when out of thin air soared a sea-eagle, swooping and ducking: the transformed spirit of Nisos. The eagle swooped and dug its claws into her arms. Skylla let go and plummetted into the water. The eagle forced her underwater, and as bubbles rose about her, she became the ciris, the bird that always flees the sea eagle's approach, always in fear of its father-eagle's wrath.
Well, there's the story of Skylla and Nisos, the explanation for the ciris bird in Greek Myth. Stay tuned for more later!
No comments:
Post a Comment