'Amphion at least had a pretty good innings before the curse caught up with him. He married Niobe, and she presented him with seven handsome sons and seven beautiful daughters. As they ail grew into youths and maidens, their parents can't have had much less than twenty-five years of domestic bliss. But Niobe about takes the cake for stupidity. One day, at the Women's Institute, or somewhere of that kind, she ran into Leto and started to needle her. Putting out her tongue, she said: "Yah! You're not much good. You've had only two children, and I've had fourteen," or words to that effect.
'Leto could have retorted: "You silly old bag, mine were by Zeus and are among the greatest of the Immortals, so they're worth fourteen thousand of anything you could produce." But she didn't. She just went home, feeling a bit hurt, and next time her children came for the week-end she told them about it.
'Apollo and Artemis were not the types to take an insult to their old Mum lying down; so, like a couple of rockets, they took off for Thebes. Apollo shot dead all Niobe's sons, and Artemis Put one of her deadly arrows into each of the daughters. Amphion was so upset by seeing all his boys killed that he stabbed himself through the heart, and Niobe was so overcome with grief that sorrow turned her into a stone statue that still continued to weep whenever the sun or moon shone on it.'
Stephanie rolled her blue eyes up to the blue heavens. 'Goodness, what a massacre!'
'We've not half done yet,' Robbie cheerfully assured her. 'Amphion's family having been wiped out, the Boeotians sent for another descendant of Cadmus to be their King. His name was Laius, and that of his wife was Jocasta. Laius was warned by an Oracle that, if he had a son, that son would kill him and be the ruin of his Queen. So, when Jocasta gave birth to a boy, there were no free cakes and ale for all and sundry at the Palace.
'Laius gave the infant to a goat-herd and told him to expose it on Mount Cithaeron, so that it died of cold. But the goat-herd felt a bit squeamish when it came to the point, so he passed on the bundle to a pal of his who was going down to Corinth. At that time, a couple called Polybus and Merope were King and Queen of Corinth, and they had not managed to have any children; so, when this goat-herd turned up with a jolly healthy-looking baby boy, they promptly adopted him and gave him the name of Oedipus.
'He was brought up as a Prince, and everyone might have lived happily ever after if it hadn't been for a rude fellow who chanced to be in the secret that Oedipus was not really the son of the King and Queen. He got stinko one night at a banquet, and taunted Oedipus with being the by-blow of some tart who had left him in the gutter.
'Very perturbed about this, Oedipus went to the King and Queen. They said "not to worry", because they loved him as a son, even though it was true that they were not his real parents. Like an ass, instead of socking the drunk for six, and staying put to inherit the kingdom, Oedipus packed a grip and went off to ask the Delphic Oracle who his parents were. Even the Oracle tried to save him from himself, and said: "Forget it, son. If you ever find out, you will land yourself in one hell of a mess." But the pig-headed clot would not be warned and, instead of going home, set off on a hiking tour, in the hope of finding someone who could tell him the truth about his birth.
'Fate decreed that he should head for Boeotia, and soon after he had entered that country the road became a narrow defile. From the opposite direction a chariot, in which an old gent, was being driven, was approaching, and a slave was running in front of it, shouting a bit breathlessly: "Out of the way! Out of the way for my master!"
'Having been brought up as a Prince, Oedipus wasn't standing for that sort of thing. First, he struck down the runner then, when the old man chucked a javelin at him, he gave him, too, a biff over the head, overturned his chariot and left him dead in the ditch. Only the driver of the chariot got away, and when he reached home he excused his own cowardice by saying that his master had been attacked and killed by a band of robbers. When Oedipus arrived in Thebes, he found the city in mourning for its King, and-'
'Then it was his father that Oedipus had killed,' put in Stephanie.
'You've hit it. But, of course, he didn't know that at the time, nor did anyone else. And their King's death wasn't the only thing the Thebans had to worry about just then. The Sphinx had taken up her residence outside their walls. This creature was said to be the sister of Cerberus, the monstrous hound that guarded the entrance to Hades. She had the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle and the head of a woman, and she was playing merry hell with the standing corn.'
'So, of course, Oedipus went out and slew her.'
'No, it wasn't quite like that. She must have been a queer sort of creature. Before gobbling up people, it was her custom to give them a chance to save themselves by guessing a riddle; with the sporting understanding too that, if they guessed right, she would go off and play ring-a-roses with herself in the cornfields of some other city. Every day for weeks, some bold Theban had gone out and had a shot at answering her riddle, but none of them had returned; so the girls in the place were getting very gloomy about the increasing shortage of dancing partners.
'Creon, Jocasta's brother, had taken over the Government when the news of Laius's death had reached the city, and he had sent out his own son to tackle the Sphinx. But this young hopeful hadn't proved up to it, and Creon was getting really desperate. He had posters put up, announcing that anyone who could answer the riddle of the Sphinx, and rid Thebes of this awful creature, should be rewarded by being made King of Boeotia and, into the bargain, be given Jocasta as his wife.
'By then, Oedipus was so down in the mouth that he hardly cared if he lived or died; so he said he didn't mind having a crack at answering the riddle. Naturally, everyone said: "Jolly good show", and hurried him outside the walls, just on the off-chance that he might have a lucky break. Pretty gloomily, he trudged through the bleached bones of his predecessors, until he came to the huge nest that the Sphinx had made for herself.
'She blinked a bit, then asked him quite civilly: "What creature is it that alone changes the number of its feet? In the morning it goes on four feet, at midday on two and in the evening on three." Rather generously, I think, she gave him a clue, by adding: "When it has the fewest feet, it is really at the top of its form."
'Oedipus just shrugged and replied: "That's kindergarten stuff. The answer is Man. As a babe, he goes on all-fours, at the height of his strength he goes on two feet, and when he gets old, he needs a stick on which to lean."
'The Sphinx was very peeved at having her pet riddle guessed but she honoured her bond, and with a loud squawk, flew off to Play "boomps-a-daisy" in somebody else's corn.'
. 'After that, the Thebans hailed Oedipus as the tops. They made him King and, as Jocasta was still a very good-looking piece of goods, he was delighted to have her for his Queen.'
T remember the story now,' murmured Stephanie drowsily. F 157
'It's the famous tragedy about the young man who fell in love with his mother, isn't it?'
'That's right,' Robbie nodded. 'It seems he did fall for her, and she for him, although neither knew who was who at the time. They were frightfully happy together, too. Jocasta had four children by him; twin sons named Eteocles and Polynices, and two daughters, Antigone and Ismene. Everything went marvellously until the children grew up, but then an awful plague fell on the land; so Oedipus sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to Delphi to ask the Oracle how to get rid of it.
'For once, the Oracle didn't try to make a monkey out of anyone, but said right away: "The plague is a punishment sent because Laius's murder has never been atoned for." The local Scotland Yard was put on the job, but couldn't discover who had done in the late King; so they sent for a famous blind seer, named Tiresias. He was very loath to do his stuff, but eventually he recalled to Oedipus the old boy in the chariot and the prophecy that Laius would be killed by his own son.