The Gift
“Daughter! A present
from Corinth!”
My heart thrummed
like the strings of a lute, thinking this another gift from my beloved. I gasped when I saw it was from his
former wife!
Inside was a beautiful
robe, spun from the finest gold. A
robe so splendid, I could not resist slipping it onto my trembling body.
Oh, unmerciful
agony! My limbs burned, on fire from within. My virgin’s body instantly devoured in the flames of her
vengeance. My courageous father
burning to save me.
“I curse you, wicked
sorceress! May you die alone, swimming in the blood of your children!”
This Dabble in FLASH FICTION is from
FRIDAY FICTIONEERS courtesy of:
http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2013/10/09/11-october-2013/comment-page-1/#comment-8751
· and you can comment on mine
below:
But first,
some culture from the Classic World:
Here is the last Chorus
from Euripides’ ‘Medea’:
Manifold are
thy shapings, Providence!
Many a
hopeless matter gods arrange.
What we
expected never came to pass,
What we did
not expect the gods brought to bear;
So have
things gone, this whole experience through!
In other words, that's life...
It's a trick handed down from older members of the first wives club. This has very graphic imagery and impressive language. Well done.
ReplyDeleteAs a first wife...twice no less, I only wish. Ahahahahaha! ;)
DeleteAh revenge is a dish better not served at all.
DeleteThanks. Those are mighty words coming from you. Much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteA very scary curse at the end!
ReplyDeleteYes. So sad that it came true and we hold Medea up as an example to this day, of very bad mothering.
DeleteAlways be suspicious of gifts from ex-wives. I thought you did an excellent job capturing the time period.
ReplyDeleteWhy, thank you very much Russell. Of course, I had help from Euripides, or at least the translations, which seemed gorgeous to me, so I tried to keep up the pace...
ReplyDeletewhat Russell said. i like that you went in this direction and i loved the language :)
ReplyDeleteDear Lindaura,
ReplyDeleteVery graphic description of an ex-wife's revenge. Makes me want to jump into the nearest body of cold water.
shalom,
Rochelle
Thank you, Rochelle. That is quite the effect I was hoping for.
DeleteFrom Athens,
Lindaura
Dear Lindaura,
ReplyDeleteHave some madeira, Madea... Loved this story. Should you not have written, 'my virgin body'? Let me know what you think.
Aloha,
Doug
I am not sure about that. Kind of like "My life's blood", it is just a way of talking about yourself from an outside prospective, as a Princess would, I think.
ReplyDeleteBut thank you for enjoying the story.
When you go back and read those classics, the language is so amazing. But living here in Athens right now, I realise that Greek is an amazing language. They have an enormous vocabulary with hundreds of words for everything. Damnably, they speak so fast and run everything together so I cannot understand them at all! But, it is a very musical language, and in fact, I have been informed that it was more or less sung in classic times.
So, there you are and here I am.
X
Great writing.
ReplyDeleteWondering what was impregnated in the golden dress.
I don't think it is anything we have in our local apothecary. Medea just ordered a dress made of golden cloth impregnated with the most agonising death-causing potion available at the time. In those days, there were lots of wizards about as well as various sons and daughters of Gods that had it in for the human race in general, so it was easy for her to put in her order.
ReplyDeleteOh, what revenge! I read this yesterday but couldn't figure out how to comment (I am blonde, darling!) but I came back today to give it another whirl. Never trust a gift from your beloved's EX!
ReplyDeleteSo right, darling. I think there is another lesson here though, but that would be Euripides' plan. Something about Revenge is not the answer...He pretended to blame it on the Gods, but he was really talking about human folly...
DeleteWell done, Linda! I knew that wasn't going to end well as soon as I saw whom it was from! As for "virgin's body" vs. "virgin body", I think they both work, although the latter is more common (but not in the negative sense.)
ReplyDeletejanet
Possibly not so common, in the positive sense. Not to many virgin bodies around these days...
ReplyDeleteHi LG,
ReplyDeleteThis one is a little bit of a departure for you. No robots. Classy classical tale and I enjoyed the excerpt from Medea. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts! Ron
Yes, and I promised myself to put robots in my story this week, but I was under the influence of the sword and sorcery crowd. I think they put some kind of literary spell on me, but I will shake it off for next week. No golden robes for me!
DeletePoor girl! The ex-wife knew her victim well - that she would be unable to resist trying on such a beautiful dress, even though it was surely a strange thing to receive from an ex and she must have been suspicious!
ReplyDeleteYes, you are right. In the play, Medea actually wrote this incredibly beautiful apology, begging for forgiveness, before she sent the robe. Her plot was very carefully planned and the poor victim was an innocent pawn in it all.
DeleteI think I'll stick to jigsaw puzzles. Less dangerous than matrimony.
ReplyDeleteYes, Jigsaw puzzles are just as fun to do alone! Who needs a partner? Who needs competition. But they don't call them jigsaws for nothing, watch out for the many carrying the saw!
ReplyDelete