Podalirius

Once, in a land of rolling green hills, blossoming with tiny flowers and numerous insects Zeus spotted a beautiful, young maiden frolicking with the birds. Zeus, being the great admirer of beauty, instantly fell in love with her. Zeus disguised himself as a swallow and flew down to earth.

 

After two weeks of tickling and teasing, Zeus presented himself as a handsome young man. Podalirius was so over-whelmed by his beauty that she instantly lifted her white skirt around her arms and lay down on the soft foliage, like a gorgeous angel with bare legs. Before Zeus could take the young maiden, Hera appeared.

 

Zeus’ wife shook with jealousy, screaming at Zeus for his infidelities. Then Hera suddenly turned on the fearful maiden and spoke with a menacing calmness, “For weeks you have brought shame and disgrace upon your self for cavorting absent-mindedly through these fields, so I condemn you to relive the past two weeks!” Hera quickly picked the closest flower and sprinkled Podalirius with the pollen. The beautiful maiden started shrinking and within seconds, she had been transformed into a butterfly! The shape of her wings reflected her crime; an upturned skirt and bare legs.

The Iphiclides Podalirius or Scarce Swallowtail butterfly have a life-span of two weeks and can be seen frolicking all over Greece, serving as a reminder to Zeus that not all beauties can be captured

Author's Note

This is a writing task for my literature class where we had to write our own Greek fable in 300 words. What letter grade would you give it?

Reviews

[Mdaalling]

Zeus is like dude why are you a butterfly. I liked it but why a butterfly. Of all the creatures, right. The duality of creatures I suppose, cuz you know butterflies were caterpillars first. Wow, that was awesome.

[.]

i'm wondering if, in writing class, they ever give you australian topics?

[Sarah Stephen]

No they don't. I've actually never thought of that...

[Samuel Dickens]

Excellent. You're very clever, and quite a good writer, too. My only suggestion is that in the first paragraph, you might consider reducing the number of times you say "Zeus".

[Karli]

This is fantastic!!

[Polaroid Impossible]

Fantastic. A few spelling mistakes here and there but an overall good read. The second paragraph was written well. It flowed and I was drawn into the affair between Zeus and Podalirius. I would give this an B+ (With spelling editing)

Well done!