There are three things in my mythologies class:
Reading the first few pages of Cadmus and Harmony was a shock, because it felt like there were more than three things. It felt like Europa was flying above the sea right in front of me, and Zeus looked down on her, probably remembering similar sights he saw with Io, his love. It felt like Eros was falling in love with Europa in the same way my friends have fallen in love with each other- it felt like I watched Io, Hephaestus, Lloye, and Europe become a family lineage before my eyes. If a myth is a lie, this myth is the best lie I've ever heard, and I'm only a few pages in. Love, betrayal, jealousy, confusion, questioning, all pertinent parts of an intricate plot that ends in Europa's devastatingly beautiful confession: "...myth is the precedent behind every action, it's invisible, ever-present silver lining... need not fear the uncertain life opening up..."
But once again, this myth is a lie. This tale is told by re-telling the Greek mythologies, by looking at the Greek relations between these gods and goddesses and all the creatures that are able to appear in the reader's mind. The beautiful thing about this story is just that; it's a story. It's a story that I can get invested in and fall in love with and hate and cry to and hold onto, but at the end of the day it's just a fabrication of a life that was never really there.
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