From the life of the gods. Stories of the Olympus - episode 4

The Tritons’ Band.

      Poseidon arrived in front of his underwater palace with a coach-and-pair hippocampus (two-legged seahorses). He was cross. He felt the first symptoms of migraines. The day was hard. The accident of a tanker and the oil slick spilt on the area of hundreds of miles of the ocean, as well as civilization sewage and garbage. His main job lately was cleaning. He got of the vehicle and handed his horses to a stable man. He entered the spacious interior of his home. The noise of the loud music deafened him when he crossed a threshold. “My sons are having the party again”, he thought with aversion, heading for to the source of sound.

     He was right. In one of the palace’s rooms he found his son - a giant cyclop, drumming with human thigh bones on a large cauldron. He was accompanied by a group of tritons, trying to squeeze the sounds of lively music from their instruments made of shells. Around that strange band sat the Nereids and Poseidon’s wife’s sisters – the Oceanids, swaying to the rhythm of uncoordinated sounds, laughing and humming. For Poseidon who was exhausted after the whole day of work, it reminded unbearable jazz, so he quickened his steps to pass quickly the merry company.

“Dad! - the cyclop called him and making a brake in stomping the cauldron.”

“I'm listening to you son - Poseidon stopped unwillingly.”

“Dad, I have to ask you for help in a certain case...”

Poseidon strained his ears but it was difficult to hear anything in the noise made by the Tritons’ Band. In addition, he felt that his headache was intensifying and he wanted a quick relief in the arms of his beloved wife Amphitrite. He raised his hand in a sign that everyone would be silent and so it happened. The tritons stopped playing all of a sudden, the girls who accompanied them, silenced too. Only one triton, probably too much inspired, continued to make some pathetic squeaks with his shell. Poseidon looked at him with cold eyes. The sound of the last shell was cut short. Finally, in the complete silence, the voice of the God of the Seas and Oceans was heard loudly:

“You were saying, my boy”.

"Pop, I need your help because Odysseus is teasing me again..."

“Son, you are a big, courageous cyclop. Why could you not deal with a little human being?!” Poseidon was outraged.

“Because this man is realy smart and additionally he gets help from your niece Athena. Recently, Odysseus locked me in my cavern and I couldn’t leave it for two days, and I was so hungry...”

“Well, I'll exile him to the Ogygia island, to the goddess Kalypso.

“And do you think it is punishment?! Kalypso is one of the most beautiful goddesses and, as far as I know, she will fall in love with him immediately since she has been alone on this island for ages!”

“Son, you do not get it. The punishment will be his imprisonment on Ogygia, while the greatest dream of this man is to return to Ithaca to his home and his beloved wife Penelope.”

“To the wife?! Probably old and used by those all admirers who camp in his palace. I would choose Kalypso...”

“You do not understand people.”

“You’re right, no two-eyed woman even looks at me.”

“Because they are shallow, and they are interested only in a nice appearance. They do not see how many attributes you have."That's true", the nereids chattered.

"You see, my boy, that ladies like you and they have two eyes" said Poseidon.

“That's why I formed the band. The girls are always after the rockmen.”

“Great. As proof, how much I appreciate your music, I’m going to order to build a dazzling band shell for you and your group. My house is not suitable enough for such great music.”

“Cool! But as long as this shell is not there, we will be giving our shows here.”

“No, son... please. Your dad has returned from work tired and would like to have some peace.”

“But, I have to practice, my talent needs care.”

“Son, the band shell will be ready in two days. You can make it for this time. For consolation, I will send sirens to Odysseus...”

“That is awesome! He won’t win with the sirens. He will be under their singing spell and then they will eat him piece by piece. But before you ask sirens for help, let Odysseus catch Proteus. I would like him to tell me the fortunes but it is difficult to capture this ratfink. He's still changing his forms. Recently, I almost got him. I managed to hold him when he turned into a lion and an elephant, and even into my mummy... But at the end he foxed me, turning into a vault toilet that had not been emptied for hundreds of years. In that moment I had to let him free.”

“Well, sonny, I'll do anything that you would get out with that noise... I'm sorry... that music, from my house.”.