Cupid and Psyche |Lesbian Version|

Apollo

Apollo was the most beautiful of the gods during his youth. His hair was dark gold, his eyes stormy blue. He wore a tunic of golden panther skin, carried his golden bow, and wore a quiver of golden arrows. His chariot was beaten gold, its horses were white with golden manes and flame-colored eyes. He was god of the sun always. Later he became patron of music, poetry, mathematics, and medicine. 

And, later, when he was a mature god, he preached moderation. He bade his worshipers to look first into their own hearts and find there the beginnings of wisdom, and to conduct themselves prudently in all things. But in his youth he did many cruel and wanton deeds. Several times he was almost expelled from the company of the gods by his father Zeus, whom he had angered with his wild folly.

As soon as he was given his bow and arrows he raced down from Olympus with his twin sister Artemis to hunt the Python who had tormented their mother. He skinned the great snake and saved the hide for a gift. 

Delphi was a sacred place where he had done his killing, here lived the oracles of Mother Earth, whom the gods themselves consulted. Apollo thought he might as well make his glory as large as possible, and claimed the oracles for his own — bidding them prophesy in his name.  

Less excusable was Apollo's mistreatment of a satyr named Marsyas. This happy fellow had the misfortune to be an excellent musician — a realm Apollo considered his own and him the master of it alone and where he would brook no rivalry. Hearing the satyr praised too often, Apollo invited him to a contest. The winner was to choose a penalty to which the loser would have to submit, and the Muses, were to judge. 

So Marsyas played his flute and Apollo played his lyre. They played exquisitely; the Muses could not choose between them. Then Apollo shouted, "Now you must turn your instrument upside down, and play and sing at the same time. That is the rule. I go first." 

Thereupon the god turned his lyre upside down, and played and sang a hymn praising the gods, and especially the beautiful Muses. But you cannot play a flute upside down, and certainly cannot sing while playing it, so Marsyas was declared the loser. 

Apollo collected his prize. He flayed Marsyas alive, and nailed his skin to a tree. A stream gushed from the tree's roots and became a river. On the banks of that river grew reeds which sang softly when the wind blew, serenading the hearers like Marsyas's flute itself.

During the contest with the satyr, Apollo won the favor of the most playful Muse, Thalia, queen of festivities. With her, he fathered the Corybantes, or crested dancers, lithe young men who shaved their hair to a forelock and danced at the great rituals. 

Then, roaming the hillsides, he came across a young girl who reminded him of his sister. She was a huntress. She chased deer on foot, hunted bears and wolves. When he saw her wrestling a full-grown lion, and throwing it to earth, the god decided he must have her.  Her name was Cyrene. The son he gave her was named Aristeus, who taught man beekeeping, olive culture, cheese-making, and many other useful arts. 

His next adventure was with the nymph Dryope. He found her tending sheep on a mountainside. He hid behind a tree and watched her. To his dismay, she was joined by a gaggle of hamadryads, mischieveous girls who love to tell tales. So he had to stay hidden. He waited for the hamadryades to leave, but they lingered. Gods are impatient, they hate to be kept waiting.

Apollo changed himself into a tortoise and crawled out. The nymphs were delighted to see him, and turned him this way and that, and tickled him with a straw. He was a splendid glossy tortoise with a beautiful black and green shell. Dryope wanted him for her own, and put him in her tunic.

When her friends protested, Apollo turned himself into a snake, poked his head out of the tunic, and hissed at them. The hamadryads fled, screaming in fright. Dryope fainted. When she came to, she was in the arms of a god. The son he gave her was Amphissus, founder of cities, and builder of temples.