Mayhem in Greece

The road then turned inland, and the seaward skyline was rendered hideous by clusters of tall chimneys, belching smoke from distilleries, cement works and soap factories. Robbie frowned at them in disgust and said: 'One would have thought there were plenty of other peaces on the coast where they could have built those horrors. To have chosen Eleusis for them is the all-time high in modern vandalism.'

'It was at Eleusis that the famous Mysteries used to be held, wasn't it?' Stephanie remarked. 'And this road is called the Sacred Way because it was along it that the great processions used to come. I wonder what really happened at the Mysteries? Someone told me once that it was only a ceremony at which, when they came of age, young people of the upper classes were let into the secret that all they had been taught about there being gods and goddesses was bunkum; but that they must continue to support the priesthood because a little religion was good for the masses.'

Robbie gave her a shocked glance. 'I'm sure you're not right about that. To the ancient Greeks of all classes, the gods were very real, otherwise they wouldn't have gone in such fear of them. For example, the Mysteries here were in honour of Demeter, and if they hadn't done their stuff at her festivals, they would have been frightened that their crops would fail. There was a time when she caused a most terrible famine, and they never forgot it. But being a Greek yourself, you must know all about that.'

'I suppose I ought to, but at the schools I went to they didn't give much time to ancient history. I'll have to mug it up a bit now, though, if I'm to understand the allusions to the characters in this book of yours that you were telling me about yesterday.'

Tf you read all the chapters I've already written, before you start to do any typing, that would be a help,' Robbie suggested. 'But I haven't done the story of Demeter and Persephone yet. If you like, I'll tell it to you now.'

'Oh, please do,' Stephanie smiled. 'As a child I used to adore being read to and told stories.'

'Right-oh.' Robbie paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, then began: 'Well, I'd better start from the beginning. Demeter was one of the six children of Cronos and Rhea, so Poseidon, the King of the Sea; Pluto, the King of the Underworld; and Zeus, King of both Heaven and Earth, were her brothers.

'In those days, apart from the Royal Family the world was mainly inhabited by monsters, so you'll understand how it was that, to begin with, for marrying and, er . . . that sort of thing, these brothers and sisters had no one but one another.

'Demeter was very good-looking, and Poseidon got a crush on her. But she took the same sort of dim view of him that you do of your cement magnate, so one night she slipped out of Olympus and came down here to live in Arcadia. To make even more certain of escaping Poseidon's unwelcome attentions, she changed herself into a mare and joined a big herd. However, he was terribly keen on her, so he hunted for her all over the place and eventually he saw through her disguise. Then he turned himself into a stallion and ... er . . .' Robbie suddenly reddened and came to an abrupt stop.

Then they did what the bees and the birds do,' Stephanie helped him out, adding with a little titter: T am twenty-four, you know; so it's quite a time since I learnt about the facts of life.'

Robbie gave an awkward laugh. Thanks for being so frank. Otherwise, I'd have had an awful time trying to spare your blushes. You see, so much of that sort of thing went on among the gods and goddesses that if one cuts it out, their histories hardly make sense.

To continue, then. As a result of the affaire, Demeter gave birth to a horse that could talk, and had men's feet instead of hooves on its right legs. She felt frightfully sick at the way she had been treated, so-'

T bet she did. What girl wouldn't?'

'Ah! Yes, of course. Well, she made herself look like a Fury, and went to live on her own in a cave. Zeus was the youngest of the family, but had managed to become top-boy, and had given all his brothers and sisters jobs to do; so in fairness to the others, he couldn't let Demeter go on shirking. Down he came to her cave, and made her return with him to Olympus. By then she had become a lovely girl again, and suddenly he felt an urge ... I mean, he, too, began to take a good view of her.'

'More bees and birds stuff?'

'That's it; but she was just as much against letting him as she had been with Poseidon, so he had to deceive her by turning himself into a bull.'

'Was she crazy about bulls, then?'

'I've no idea. But that's the way Zeus did the trick, and as a result Demeter had a daughter named Kore—although she is much better known by the name she took later, Persephone. I don't think I mentioned it, but Demeter had the most marvellous golden hair and her daughter, who took after her, was just as lovely. Although Demeter continued to associate with the Olympians, she was still a bit sulky with Zeus for having taken her against her will, and spent quite a lot of her time in Sicily. Then, just when Persephone had become a really smashing teenager, Eros played one of his mischievous tricks.'

'Eros was another name for Cupid, wasn't it?'

'Yes; and whoever he shot one of his arrows into fell in love with the next person they set eyes on. In this case he shot Pluto, and the King of the Underworld came up in a fiery chariot out of Mount Etna, roaring with rage. In a flash, he was half-way across the island and came down on the shore of a beautiful lake near the mountain stronghold of Enna. There, in a meadow, he saw young Persephone with her companions, making daisy chains. Snatching her up, he drove his pitchfork into the ground. It opened, and he carried Persephone straight down to the dark realm of Hades.'

Stephanie breathed a sigh. 'It seems that all sorts of exciting things happened to girls in those days.'

Robbie turned to stare at her. 'You wouldn't like to be carried off like that, would you?'

'It would depend on whether I liked the chap. There is something to be said for a tempestuous wooing. But I'm interrupting the story.'

'Well, naturally, Demeter was terribly upset at her daughter having disappeared, and fairly rushed about the world looking for her. At length the Sun God, Helios, let on to her that it was Pluto who had ravished Persephone.'

'What a lovely word. It's so descriptive. But go on.'

'He also told her that it was really Zeus's fault, because he had said he had nothing against Pluto's acquiring the young blonde to brighten up his gloomy kingdom. At that, Demeter got more up-stage than ever. She severed all connection with her family and said that mortals were much nicer; in future she would live among them.

'After wandering all over the place, she turned up at Eleusis, in the guise of an old woman dressed in rags. She spun the people there a yarn that she had been carried off by pirates, but, being too old to be much fun for them, they had put her ashore on the coast nearby. The King of Eleusis was a chap named Celeus, and his wife, Metaneira, had just had a baby. Hearing that Demeter had been offering her services round the town as a nurse, they decided to take her on.

'In spite of her rags, they guessed from her bearing that she must be someone rather special, so they offered to treat her as one of the family. But she wouldn't eat or drink with them, and just stood staring at the ground, until one of the slave girls made a bawdy joke. That set her off laughing, and eased the situation a bit. The baby, Demophoon, was given to her to take care of.

'Instead of feeding the infant, she breathed on him, smeared his body with ambrosia, and at night put him in the fire, so that all that was mortal in him should be burnt away. The result was that he grew like a young god, but one night his mother happened to come into the nursery just as Demeter was piling red-hot coals on him. His mum threw a fit, and-'