Aurora

Aurora was a child born in Thessaly to Perinus, a farmer, and his wife, Adriena. They lived contented and simple lives in the hills outside the capital. Now Aurora was a beautiful child with long, flowing hair that would be any women’s envy. But anyone who had ever met Aurora had nothing but love for the child and treasured the time they spent enjoying her sunny disposition. Indeed, a stranger listening to stories about the child would find them fantastical till he had met the girl himself. And so the stories of Aurora travelled until they reached the ears of Ceyx, king of Thessaly. Having just come to the throne and not yet wed, Ceyx decided on a whim to see if the stories were true.

Arriving on the farm and finding Aurora at play in a sun-dappled pasture, Ceyx was struck with her beauty and fell instantly in love. Though he would have to wait three years till she was fifteen to wed, Ceyx demanded that Aurora be sent to the capital and tutored in the ways of the court. Weeping for their loss, the parents of Aurora were still happy for the good fortune that had befallen their only daughter.

A long year of training had passed and served only to make Aurora more charming and beautiful than before. Early Spring, found Aurora outside the capital on break from her tutoring. At times like this, Aurora loved to climb to the highest hill and take the gift of sunlight at it’s best. It was here that Apollo first felt her worship as he rode high in the sky. The strength and purity of her reverance aroused his curiosity. Like those before him, Apollo was captivated by this mortal’s beauty and took her for his own. In his passion, the Sun God failed to note the ill-effect his devotion had upon Aurora. With the casual disregard of a god, Apollo left her and continued his trek across the sky, leaving behind a withered and burnt shell of a mortal.

Blistered and disfigured, Aurora tried to return to the palace of King Ceyx only to be driven away at the gate. “Get away crone. The King does not give refuge to such as you.” The King’s servants beat her till she turned and fled back villages in the hills. But here Aurora was also met with fear and disbelief. “You are not Aurora but a hag. Leave or we shall stone you.” Fleeing again, Aurora at last came to the farm of her parents.

Apollo’s passion had consumed Aurora’s beauty and youth such that even her parents were unable to recognize their own daughter. “You are old and withered, witch. Aurora is young and beautiful with a bounty of hair that flows like a river. You have naught on your head but sores and scars.” Not wanting to hear more, Perinus drove Aurora from the only home she had ever really known. Scared and bewildered, Aurora retreated into a nearby forest and remained there hidden away from all those who knew her only as a beautiful child who loved to play in the sun.

Soon word came from the capital that Aurora had gone missing. Taking this news with the disturbing appearence of the old hag, the villagers began to whisper that perhaps the hag had killed Aurora out of jealousy. As hunters periodically reported seeing the maimed Aurora in the forest, the stories of the Burnt Witch were soon being told.  Mothers began to use them to chasten their children. After thirteen years of hearing of the Burnt Witch and grieving for their daughter, Perinus and Adriena sacrificed their best bull to Artemis, the protector of children. The virgin goddess heard their pleas for vengance in the name of their maiden daughter.  Such was her compassion, that Artemis came down to the Forests of Thessaly to hunt for the Burnt Witch.

Being the goddess of the hunt, Artemis had no trouble finding Aurora where she hid her blackened form by day. As Artemis peered down an arrow shaft at the cowering hulk, she saw what the others could not. The eyes of the goddess saw the soul of a scared and hurt girl inside the shell of this woman-child. Laying aside her bow, the goddess swept Aurora up and gently pried the story from her. Outraged at the injustice the farmers, villagers, and nobles had shown Aurora, Artemis declared “No longer shall I shine in the evening. The light was taken from this child and so shall my light be taken from your skies.” Artemis’ fury was redoubled when she learned it was Apollo, her twin brother, that was the cause of Aurora’s pain.

The people cried out to Zeus in their fear and pain, as nights without moonlight held terror from monsters and bandits. Zeus listened to their pleas, as well as Artemis’ refusals and proclaimed: “For the thirteen years Aurora spent in exile, so shall Artemis take away part of the moon for thirteen days. In remembrance of thirteen years of happy childhood, Artemis shall return a part of the moon each day. One day the moon shall be whole to remind us of the beauty and purity of the child. One day the moon shall be dark to remind us of the lasting pain we can inflict on the child.”

In her anger, Artemis declared that she would chase her brother across the skies till she caught and quenched his fire and Aurora would ride with her to be there when it happened. To this day, the moon still chases the sun and occasionally catches it for brief moments. And at times, when Apollo is especially mad, we can look up and see Aurora’s hair catching fire across the heavens.