DEMIGOD
DISPATCH
10/2/22
Hello Heroes, Magical Beings, Monsters, and Mortals
The harvest season is upon us! Leaves fall, decorative gourds abound, and treats like apple cider and pumpkin spice somehow just taste better now than at any other time of year. In honor of the season and its abundance, we thought we’d take a look at some stories featuring mythology’s famous fruits!
Chinese
A Commotion in Heaven, Liu Jiyou (1956)
In Chinese tradition, peaches rather than apples are the special fruits, symbolizing good health and longevity.
The Jade Emperor and his wife Xi Wangmu, known as the Queen Mother of the West, shared the Peaches of Immortality with their companions. Some peaches granted additional perks, like strength, beauty, or the ability to fly! The trees were said to bear fruit only once every three thousand years, so their harvest had to be guarded carefully.
The Queen Mother of the West learned the hard way not to trust just anyone with her orchard. When the mischievous Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, was made Guardian of the Heavenly Peach Garden, he wasted no time in helping himself to some of the fruit he was supposed to be protecting.
The Queen Mother wanted him punished, but because he had eaten the Peaches of Immortality, and drunk some of the Heavenly Wine, and taken several Pills of Longevity, he was invincible! Not even a horde of demons could take him down.
Norse
Loki and Idun, by Swedish artist and illustrator John Bauer (1911)
In Norse mythology, golden apples are what keep the gods of Asgard young, strong, and beautiful! The goddess Idun is the caretaker of these golden apples, which means the other gods depend on her for their vitality.
Once, Loki tricked Idun into leaving Asgard, promising to show her apples even more beautiful than her own. He owed a debt to Thiazi, a jotunn who took the shape of a great eagle, and lured her away from safety, allowing Thiazi to take Idun and her apples.
The gods of Asgard began to grow old, gray, and withered. They soon realized who was to blame for Idun’s disappearance. Loki begged for mercy, promising to right the wrong, if only Freya would lend him her falcon form. Freya agreed, and in the shape of a falcon, Loki flew to Thiazi’s home, where he turned Idun into a nut, clasped her in his talons, and flew away with her.
Thiazi soon followed! But when the other gods saw him on Loki’s tail, they began a great fire. Loki was able to dodge the flames, but Thiazi could not and set his feathers ablaze, allowing the other gods to defeat him. With Idun restored to Asgard, the gods had access to her golden apples once again, and their young and healthy forms were restored.
Greek
Hesperides by Ingrid Skare
When Hera married Zeus, she received a golden apple tree as a wedding gift. Hera planted it in a garden at what the Greeks considered the western edge of the world, near the Atlas Mountains in North Africa. She charged the Hesperides, nymphs of the evening, to care for the tree under the protection of Ladon, a dragon with many heads.
The golden apples of the Hesperides became the focus of the Eleventh Labor of Herakles. In some versions of the story, he slays the dragon Ladon so he can get to the precious tree; in others, he tricks the titan Atlas into fetching the apples for him. Because the apples were too powerful to remain among mortals, Athena eventually restored them to their rightful place in the garden.
Golden apples also play a significant role in the story of Atalanta, an adventurer who swore she would only marry a suitor who could beat her in a running race. A young man called Hippomenes loved her but knew he could never outpace her, so he begged Aphrodite for help. She gave him three golden apples, either from the Hesperides or from her own garden, to use as a distraction during the race. Each time Atalanta got too far ahead, Hippomenes rolled an apple in front of her. They were so irresistibly beautiful that she turned aside to pick them up, allowing Hippomenes to rush past her and win the race.
Perhaps the most infamous fruit in all of Greek mythology, the Apple of Discord was responsible for the downfall of an entire civilization. When the other gods snubbed Eris by refusing to invite her to a wedding, the goddess of strife crashed the party and tossed a golden apple on the banquet table. In some versions of the tale, this apple was also stolen from the Hesperides, but other stories separate this dubious fruit from the nymphs’ “apples of joy.” In addition to its great beauty, Eris’s apple was inscribed with the words “to the most beautiful.”
Several goddesses tried to claim Eris’s apple, but the gods refused to decide which goddess deserved it, passing that undesirable responsibility on to a mortal. No big deal if the goddesses got mad at him, right?
Unfortunately for the city of Troy, this mortal was their prince, Paris, who struck a deal with Aphrodite. When he chose her, the other goddesses swore vengeance, and the ensuing chain of events led to the Trojan War.
Plato’s Recommendations
Hercules: The Twelve Labors, a graphic novel by Paul D. Storrie and Steve Kurth
Recommended grade range: 4th-8th grades
Famous for his superhuman strength, Hercules is the most popular hero in Greek mythology. The son of Zeus—king of the gods—and a mortal mother, Hercules faces the wrath of Zeus’s wife Hera, who resents her illegitimate stepson and vows to bring him misery. With her magical powers, she tricks Hercules into performing a series of twelve seemingly impossible labors, each one a test of his strength, courage, cunning, and fighting skill. Is Hercules strong enough to foil her scheme?
The Race of the Golden Apples by Claire Martin
Recommended grade range: 1st-3rd grades
Atalanta, left exposed at birth by a cruel king who wants only sons, is rescued by Diana, the Goddess of the Hunt. Raised by the goddess and Crona, a she-bear, the girl is happy in the forest until she is returned to her father. When he insists that she marry, she refuses to marry anyone who is not swift enough to outrun her. Hippomenes will risk everything to win her love, even make a deal with Venus.
No harvest time celebrations would be complete without apples, ghosts, and Hispanic heritage. Why? Because October 15th is the last day of Hispanic Heritage month and we’ve got a hauntingly good book to celebrate!
Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega
Recommended grade range: 4th-7th
Coco meets Stranger Things with a hint of Ghostbusters in this action-packed supernatural fantasy adventure! Shortly before Halloween, Lucely and her best friend, Syd, cast a spell that accidentally awakens malicious spirits, wreaking havoc throughout St. Augustine. Together, they must join forces with Syd’s witch grandmother, Babette, and her tubby tabby, Chunk, to fight the haunting head-on and reverse the curse to save the town before it’s too late.
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