Greek Myth Reflection

A Poisonous Punishment

After Arielle, a simple girl who lived in a small cottage, returned from her pottery making lessons, she decided to go apple picking from a well-known garden with her mom. The garden was beautiful, it beared the juiciest, sweetest and freshest apples. No fruit vendor could provide apples of better quality than these. The problem was that in an attempt to take a crunchy bite of of the juice-oozing apples, many died. Some apples were poisonous; they were so deadly that one bite was all that was needed to kill anybody. Luckily her mom, Terriesta, having experience with harvest, knew all about the poisonous apples and how to identify them. She taught Arielle too, so that she could separate the edible apples for her. Terriesta loved and trusted her daughter more than anything. The only thing was that she couldn’t bear if any of the rules or directions weren’t obeyed. That was the only reason why Arielle feared her mom.

After Terriesta finished picking apples from the tree, Arielle would sit on a rock and start to separate the edible apples from the poisonous. Terriesta didn’t allow Arielle to leave the rock without informing her because she feared Arielle would get lost and never find her way through the twisted trees and confusing paths. Every week it was the same routine, until one week, Arielle heard a harp being played at a distance. It was the Siren. She could hear the melodious harp being played at different pitches, blending in beautifully. She could also hear light whispering that welcomed Arielle to listen to them, and she got hypnotized. The music was so enticing that she just couldn’t resist running and taking a closer look. After some time, when the music stopped, and Arielle came back to her senses, she ran back to the rock. She was just in time because Terriesta was coming too. Arielle knew that her mom would be very upset to hear that she hadn’t done her job and instead had run off without telling her. So she decided to lie that she had separated the good ones from the poisonous ones, and then quickly separate them when Terriesta wasn’t there. When Terriesta approached the rock, she questioned Arielle about the task she had given. Arielle reluctantly said that she had done her job, and then gave a drained, faint smile. Terriesta, having trusted her daughter so much, left for home without seeing the empty basket in the corner. Arielle could feel a bag of guilt tugging in her throat, but she was relieved to see that Terriesta was out of sight. Arielle was always given the task to then pick wild berries from the neighboring bushes, and separate the ripe berries from the sour. She found this opportunity to quickly separate her apples before Terriesta came out to check.

When Apollo, the god of truth, heard Arielle’s lie and deceit to her mom, he was infuriated.

“Why did she lie? By committing a grave mistake in front of my eyes, she will get her punishment. But how do I give her such a punishment, that will leave her in nothing but regret?” He thought hard, and finally came to the conclusion that the best way to punish Arielle, was to punish her mom.

“But since Terriesta has no fault, I will let her stay and enjoy with the gods once she dies.”

Apollo then walked away, eyeing Arielle quickly doing her job. How about I leave a few poisonous apples for Terriesta to eat? And so that happened, even though Arielle had been very careful, she had to leave a few poisonous apples. When she returned home, she lied that there weren’t any good berries to eat, and then placed the apple basket on the counter next to her mom. Terriesta was pleased to see the apples, and picked an apple without looking. Evidently, the apple she picked, was indeed one of the poisonous apples. She took an immediate bite of the crunchy fruit, and began work. Arielle was happy that she had gotten away with her lie. Apollo just sighed. He then waited to see when the poisonous apple would do its work, and Arielle would realize her mistake.

Days passed by, until one week, Arielle and her mother decided to pick fresh mangoes. The mangoes weren’t poisonous so it was easy to pick the right, ripe mango. Stretching her arms, Arielle reached for the dangling mangoes this time, and let Terriesta sit on the rock and wait. The moment Terriesta sat on the rock, she felt sick. Suddenly, with a loud THUD, she fell to the ground. Even the birds chirping nearby paused their music. Dropping her basket, Arielle turned around to check what had happened. Arielle was in shock, Terriesta lay dead.

“Mother! Wake up! Oh, what happened?” Ariella screamed.

“This is the result for lying to your mother. This is the work of a poisonous apple.” a voice boomed. It was Apollo. Ariella was speechless, her face blood red with shame. How could I lie to my mother, that too, in front of the god of truth? She dropped to her knees and cried. She felt horrible, and regretted the mistake she made. Then she noticed her mom slowly turn into a green apple.

“This, and every green apple will remind you of your lie. Every sour bite will remind you of what you’ve done, and make you cry at your mistake. Every green crunch will represent the poison your mother took. The punishment wasn’t for your mother, but for you. Every minute will torture you, recalling this bitter memory.”

And so Ariella kept the green apple as a punishment, to punish the lie she said. And so now when anyone takes a bite of a green apple, all they will taste is a green, sour crunch which brings Ariella’s lie, the first lie, in front of the world.

Reflection:

I have definitely grown as a writer! When I compare my Myth with my On-demand, I can see a significant difference in word choice, authenticity, and structure. I feel more comfortable in applying skills such as appositive, participle, and absolute phrases in my writing now. I have really improved on structure as well. Challenges like myth authenticity and including Membean words were faced, but it was actually fun to find ways to overcome them. I was full of surprises when I compared my on-demand with my recent writing! I didn't know I could write in an authentic way! I got feedback to focus on Greek terms and originality which further improved my myth.