Crystals IV

Zeus’ final trial-3

He stepped out of the cave, admiring at the same time the beauty of the surroundings. As he was outdoors, still mesmerized by the beauty he had just witnessed, he committed himself to return after the end of his trials. As he came out of the cave, he felt way much stronger than when he had come in. He didn’t know why; he was ignorant of the fact that the positive energy of the cave had amplified all of his abilities, and he started running faster than any time before. He himself wondered how that happened, but he went on regardless. Not even in the track event had he run like that.

In long last, Zeus located the lion again back in its cave where it had gone to relax. A new wild chase commenced since the lion refused to stay and put up a fight. But now Zeus was much faster and was constantly coming closer to the lion. At a certain point, the lion realized that there was no escaping him and it stopped and turned to face Zeus, roaring loudly and forcefully. The time of mutual intimidations had come. The lion roared so strongly that all the living beings in the forest froze for a moment, turning their scared look at the direction of the roar. At that time, some were having a draught of water, others were grazing on the tender grass, some were regurgitating under some shadow, while some others were suckling from their mother’s t**s. The birds were either drinking water, eating seeds or twitting nonchalantly. The whole forest suddenly turned into a frozen shadow. Everything froze in a moment, as if time stopped. But it was not time that froze! It was fear that had been struck in the souls of the living. Besides, wasn’t fear steeped in time? Contrary to the frozen image of the forest, only the leaves of the trees that were just before the lion were rustling in the soft breeze, but even those reacted to the blast of wind from the roar. The drool from the lion shot from its mouth and reached Zeus and fell over him like rain.

But despite all that, Zeus did not step back and did not lose heart. He stayed there steady and immobile. He would only step forward. He knew it! He was completely ready for it. It seemed that the huge, wild lion felt it, too. It closed and opened its eyes in wonder that a living being was not scared of it. It had been used to watch everyone retreat before it. What it was perceiving now was a strange image, and that scared it a bit. It stepped back for a moment, a sure sign that it cowered before Zeus’ steady and unwavering courage and his uncontested superiority. Two wild beasts, one facing the other, one so different from the other. That was a strange but true image of nature.

Suddenly, both beasts lunged at each other and a wild struggle ensued. With agility and grace, Zeus was easily avoiding the lion’s now drawn claws, since the time had come for each of them to fight for freedom and liberty. At times, a moment Zeus seemed to be right in front of the lion’s mouth, open and ready to maul him to pieces, but right at that moment, Zeus jumped up on the lion’s back and hassled it. He two beasts kept fighting, both sweaty but neither having drawn blood, until fatigue took the better of them. But visibly more fatigued was the lion that was already breathing in and out heavily. It had succumbed before the exceedingly arduous struggle it had to fight for its life. More trained and already used to extreme training, Zeus, on the contrary, was able to go on, constantly drawing energy from within himself. He understood that the lion was getting tired and started to hassle it, pretending to be an easy victim, to force it into further aggressive moves that would tire it even more, to the point it dropped. He would step right in front of it and stood there still, then getting out of the way with swift moves, always avoiding danger. The lion fell in his trap and was soon exhausted, falling ponderously on earth, breathing heavily while his heart was pounding forcefully, ready to explode from the effort it had been subjected to. Using plant fiber ropes, Zeus then tied the beast’s mouth and feet and sat on the ground to get his breath. He had been tired too! He drew strength from mother Earth and then he headed to a nearby water puddle to cool himself. He had a draught of water and then he dived in to wash himself. Using a flat-leaved plant, he carried some water to the captured lion to cool it, too. The lion gladly accepted the water, sucking it down through his teeth with difficulty because of the way its mouth had been tied. Then he loaded the beast on his back and started on his victorious return. If he got tired on the way, he would try the trick on the lion he had used on the aurochs as well. Mind had proven victorious over brutal physical strength, no matter how much that was.

That trial completed itself right at the moment the sun had touched the horizon, behind which he would disappear at night to rest. He managed to get back within the deadline by a few minutes only. In eight minutes he would have lost that trial! He had been delayed at the Diktaion Cave that had enchanted him so much. The Kourites had been on the edge all that time. With clouded, worried eyes, they would look towards the direction of the returning Zeus, while at the same time, they were looking at the setting sun to gauge the position of the star of the day. For as long as they did not see Zeus returning, they were wishing that the sun stopped on its tracks for a while. In the end, Zeus appeared returning from the opposite direction. He was first perceived by the Idaioi Daktyloi who shouted out a thundering victorious yell of joy. Their yell was so loud that all those present around Gaia’s altar heard it and turned to look in that direction. As soon as the Kourites saw Zeus, the ominous and brooding look of theirs changed and they joined in the shouting and yelling, while at the same time they started jumping up and down like crazy, spurred by the contradictory feelings and emotions they had been experiencing.

Zeus reached Gaia’s sacred altar while the sun, already half-hidden in the horizon, was still sending its rays to it. He placed his precious cargo on it right at the point just before the sun vanished completely, making it just in time as the trial demanded. The umpires examined the lion carefully checking whether it had been hurt by Zeus in any way. In the end, they ruled that the trial had been successfully completed in every respect and ordered Zeus to release the lion. Looking curiously at all of them, but mainly at his tamer, it bent its head in gratitude and then disappeared into the forest forever. Some descendant of that lion thousands of years afterwards would meet Hercules, also a descendant of Zeus and a similar story would ensue. Then a bitter and nostalgically sweet smile would form on Zeus face.

After that trial was completed, Zeus left to wash up and relax. He had no time for joyous celebrations that the Kourites and Diktaioi Daktyloi so much wanted but who could see Zeus’ need for relaxation as he had been very tired.

On the fifth day, Zeus was first tested on the sacred team dances. Then he was tested on the war dances, while at the same time he had been tested also at his ability to shout and yell war cries amidst the clatter that the Kourites would create. A little before sunset, he would be tried at the greatest of all dances, the pyrrhic dance. After a rigorous and arduous, varied and continuous physical exercise that lasted for 18 years that trial counted as a supreme evaluation standard. It was the harmonious epitome of all his physical training combining technique, balance and beauty. It was the showcasing of his whole training in the Art of Dance. It was a hard art to master and understand. It was the art in which the body painted and played music, spoke and sang, simultaneously capturing all the senses, shaking all the cells of the organism that they would pulsate in a one rhythmic and unique movement. Every cell would synchronize with every other and all together in tandem would create a total of transcendental images and meanings. The final result was to make the dancer move in and cross into another ‘state’ making the spectator watch him mesmerized. The spectator remains immobile but he feels that his whole body is moving. The spectator might look at his own body being immobile but he feels he is not controlling it, that his body is moving in full synchronization with the movement of the dancer. But how is that possible? That is a transcendental, metaphysical, beautiful and mesmerizing state. It was a sum total of revolutionary turbulence of soul, body, spirit and intuitive mental processes. Dancer and spectator have together been transferred in another world, in the world of the angels and gods, the metaphysical world!

The first dancers are considered to be the Nymphs of the Forests, the Rivers, the Lakes, the Sea, the Plains and the Mountains. Their dancing moves were subtle, sensual and magical and that was why they mesmerized whoever mortal might happen to watch them dance, either incidentally or deliberately. Their movements were continuous, without any gaps, without abrupt changes, maintaining a constant flow of movements, so imperceptible and unceasing, that the nymphs did not seem to the move but actually ‘flow’ into the space, as if they were colorful condensations and spreads of the atmospheric air. Or could they actually be such? Particularly when the Diktaies, Iades and Oceanid Nymphs were dancing in some sacred or sensual dance, the mixture of the liquid, solid and air element of nature mesmerized the whole universe and every spectator. Plants and animals, living or not, just froze for a moment and then they were imperceptibly synchronized with the movement of the Nymphs. Everyone and everything were merged and remained transfixed together. Everything had become one, and as one saw, that one whole included everything!

That is in general terms the magic of dance. This is the known influence of dance in the spatiotemporal that starts as a point singularity with some harmonic vibrations that ‘flow’ in the sociotemporal continuum and then they are gradually transmitted into space and time, possessing even the last spatiotemporal point in the whole universe. Yes! The dance of the Nymphs was creating pulse waves that flowed in the spatiotemporal continuum, reaching all the way to the far reaches of the universe. But doesn’t music do the same? Isn’t music and dance the same thing which emerges and appears in a different unique way? In any case, dance and music, bit by bit, point by point, cell by cell ‘flow’ and spread in the universe, affecting everything in their pure and sacred course. They imbue and permeate the substance of all those creatures that would come in contact with their noble course. They will educate, ameliorate, enhance and beautify even the wildest beast they would come across, all the way down to their cockles of their hearts. That is the way all living creatures are cultivated, transforming their ‘being’ into a fertile ground ready to accept anything good, just, perfect and every virtue that is required in life. In beautiful life! In wonderful life!

The moment of the Pyrrhic Dance came. The Pyrrhic Dance is the most ancient Greek war dance. His prehistory is lost in the myth and the depth of the ages, showcasing the martial exercise through dance. The Pyrrhic dance ends up finally in being the dancing version of Pangratium which is a combination of wrestling, boxing and male impartial fight, when the need demands it. Even if the virtue of the fighter is trying to avoid it as much as he can. Because this clash would most likely bring forth another clash, even more painful and dramatic. But when the true warrior is left with no other option, he cannot do otherwise, since he would have to defend himself for the good and the beautiful that virtue teaches and stresses in life.