And I will tell you a story.
Once upon a time
there was a Girl
who was beautiful
as her Brother was hideous.
Everyone hated what he reminded them of
so much that they locked him away,
deep beneath the earth in a treacherous maze
and only his sister would come see him
and tell him stories.
She wove for him myths of the world above,
tales of a triumphant God
who was sometimes mistaken for a man,
and his foolish, lusty companions,
his smart and pious cow-herders,
the women who went mad and hunted with him,
the sad girls who wandered and swung from trees for him,
and all the Strange Spirits who came to join his traveling circus show.
And somehow these stories soothed
something broken and angry within Asterion,
and washed away
all the pain and guilt of generations past
he carried on his broad, bullish shoulders.
And when he was ready,
though it broke her heart to do so,
the Sister introduced him to a Man
who could free her Brother, a wild, bearded Man
who wore animal skins and carried a great club
and could travel between worlds.
I shall have more to say about him later.
Now sleep sweet, my dear one.
