Bellerophon, Tamer of Pegasus
Published by GHC • Nov 16th, 2009 • Category: Fictionby Toppyrocks, age 12
I am the grandson of Sisyphus, the cleverest king ever. I am the greatest horse tamer in all of Greece. I can tame any horse that is brought to me. Why, I believe I could even tame Pegasus if I had the chance! There is nothing I would want more than to ride Pegasus, even if it was just once. Pegasus was born when Perseus cut off Medusa’s head when fighting her. Afterward, Pegasus had sprung out of her neck and then flown to Greece. His current caretakers are the nine muses, for they found him and are the only ones who can get near him (except I know I could).
Two Years Later…
I sit around the fire with other beggars, sharing food and stories of times past. Straton is just finishing his story of his grandfather while Athenais yawned tiredly in her mothers’ arms. Straton finished his story and took some stale bread. Little Athenais turned to me and said, “Tell me the story of the horsey.”
I tried to refuse, but the other beggars urged me to as well. Finally, I agreed.
“I used to be one of the greatest horse tamers in all of Greece. All I wanted was to ride the great Pegasus, just once. One day, after worshiping the goddess Athena in her temple, I fell asleep thinking of Pegasus. As I slept, I dreamt that Athena had given me a golden bridle, one that could tame Pegasus. I dreamed of all the places I could fly to and what I could conquer. When I woke up I felt something rubbing up against my hand. Soft and smooth, and fairly light. I looked at my side, and there was a golden bridle! Athena must have left it for me while I slept.
A couple days later Pegasus flew over Corinth, my home, and must have been thirsty, because he landed at the spring that my grandfather had won from the river god. (That’s another story for a different time, Athenis.) I was watching Pegasus and waiting for just the right moment. Pegasus must have been really enjoying his drink because I got close enough without him noticing to fling the bridle on his head. My dream must have been true, since Pegasus just stood there, as if waiting for me to climb on and ride him instead of flying off.
I took my chance and got on, and once I realized that he really was tame, I urged him into the sky and we flew away.
I decided we would have to fight the Chimera, a terrible monster devastating the kingdom Lycia. The Chimera was a cross between lion, goat, and serpent. The Chimera breathed fire and it’s skin was impenetrable. Not wanting Pegasus to come to harm, I made sure that Pegasus could not be reached by the inferno. I had with me a staff with lead on the end. I stuck the lead end into the Chimera’s mouth. Chimera’s hot fire melted the lead. The liquid lead ran into Chimera’s mouth, killing her from the poison.
Lycia’s people could finally come out of hiding, and thanked me greatly for destroying their nightmares. The king offered me marriage to his daughter, then when the king died I became ruler of the kingdom. But, I took it too far and thought I was greater than I was. I thought I was as great as Zeus, the king of the gods. So, I took Pegasus and tried to enter Mount Olympus with him. Pegasus must have known the truth, and threw me, letting me fall to the earth and entering Olympus alone, becoming Zeus’s thunderbolt carrier. And now here I am today, a beggar.
I am the grandson of Sisyphus, the cleverest king ever. I was a good horse tamer in my time, but now just a beggar. I once tamed Pegasus with a bridle from a god. I defeated a monster on Pegasus, but then that all went to my head and I looked at myself as equal to Zeus. Pegasus is now taken care of by Zeus, and is better off than with me.”
I looked around at the beggars sitting at the dying fire. Athenais is sleeping in her mothers’ arms. The others, listening carefully, had finished eating. I had lived the glory of those days once again and realized the mistakes I had made.
The End
Hey!
That was really good! Good job! I really enjoyed reading it : )
Great!!
Love in Christ
~Raechel~
Champion story. I love Greek Mythology.. especialy about the pegasus of cource. =0)
~HF
Pegasus myth is my favorite one. It’s kind of sad how Bellerophon made that mistake, but at least Pegasus didn’t get hurt. I love this story though. Great job!
p.s. sorry i haven’t been on, but I’ve been kind of busy. I missed my GHC!
that was really good Toppyrocks! BTW are you new here because I haven’t seen your name here before.
I love mythology(: good job on this one!
~Michelle
Wow, how do you now so much about Greey Mythology? You are like my friend. She knows everything about everything becasue she researches anything she can! But that is so cool! And sad! how can someone think themselves as great as that? Although I don’t believe in Zuse, Bellerophon should have known better! He isn’t immortal!
thts a really great story! i really like how u tied a bit of greek mithology into this….teriffic job.
Great story, i’ve never heard it told that way! You should write a story from pegasus’s point of view [that would be very interesting] :] Oh, and I love the picture!
Thanks soo much guys! Your right, husky+horsegirl3. I am new here, but I did have a poem published on Saturday. This is actually a story that I wrote for grade 7. We had to retell a myth from the person’s point of view, so I choosed the Pegasus one.
Thanks GHC for finding that awesome pic!
How often are the submissions open to everyone? Also, I used to come on here a few years ago just to and I liked the Int*L horse and the create your own horse. What happened to those? Are they coming back? Thanks soo much again!!
This was excellent. Was it a real myth that you revised, or did you make it up? Either one, it was really good.
-Raven
It was a real myth, but I added in the parts of him at the fire and stuff like that.
Toppyrocks, some hackers got in and crashed out barn. LeadMare got GHC back up again, but we don’t have those features yet. I miss the Perfect Horse feature and the Loft Book Club the most. But I’m glad I’m a JB!
i’ve heard of this greek legend! and from bella sara
thanks for telling me, mustang23. That’s horrible! Who would want to delete hore stories and games? because one, what’s the point? and two, its just mean. I hope those other things come back.
Good job Toppyrocks! I love Pegasus :)
I didn’t know any of that mustang23, wow! That’s terrible!
Can anyone tell me what the GHC Break is? Thanks :)
[~~~*Nevada*~~~]
Nevada Sunshine: According to the Publishing and Event Calendar, the break starts on the 1st December :)
Way to go!!
Oh okay, thanks Madelaina!