The Greek myth of Demeter's revenge - Iseult Gillespie
Mestra, Princess of Thessaly,
was far from home.
She had watched her father,
King Erysichthon,
plunge into a ruin of his own making.
Now, to save himself, he sold
his own daughter to the highest bidder.
But Mestra refused to accept this fate.
Finding herself momentarily alone,
she began to plan her escape.
Months earlier, Erysichthon had decided
to build himself a gleaming new hall,
declaring that only the finest wood
would suffice.
The king was well known
for spurning the gods,
as he was more interested
in honoring himself.
But in an unprecedented act of disrespect,
he marched his men into the sacred grove
of Demeter,
goddess of food and agriculture.
Ignoring the prayer offerings
that hung from the trees,
Erysichthon headed straight
for the most magnificent oak.
As he swung his axe,
the tree trembled and turned pale.
Blood gushed from the wound,
and a strangled cry rung out.
It was the voice of one of Demeter’s
wood nymphs who resided in the tree.
With her last breaths, she called
out to her patron for revenge.
Erysichthon, though, was unfazed.
He decimated the rest of the forest
and dragged the wood back to his palace.
Upon learning of the loss and destruction,
Demeter quaked the earth with her anger.
Swiftly, she ordered a mountain nymph
to go and enlist the help
of another fearsome goddess.
In a dragon-drawn chariot,
the mountain nymph soared
over barren lands and icy seas.
At last, she reached the remote lair
of Hunger, goddess of famine.
She found her picking through weeds
with her rotten nails and teeth,
clutching her hollow stomach
and twisting her knotted limbs.
Not daring to come too close,
the nymph called for Hunger
and shared Demeter’s vengeful plan.
Hunger usually kept to her lair—
but she relished this gruesome mission.
Under the cover of night,
she crept into the palace
and released her famished breath
into the sleeping king.
Erysichthon immediately began
to dream of a lavish feast,
gulping air and grinding his teeth.
He awoke to a ravenous hunger,
which only seemed to increase as he ate.
As Mestra looked on in horror,
her father devoured all the food
in the palace,
before calling for the city’s
crops and goods.
But no matter how many feasts he devoured,
he felt empty and weak.
Before long, Erysichthon had sold
his entire estate for food—
with only Mestra left by his side.
But not even his loyal daughter could
escape the depths of his greed,
and he shamelessly sold her into slavery.
As she set sail with her captor,
Mestra stared at the sea.
This wasn’t the first time
she’d suffered at the hands of men—
years before, she’d been violently pursued
and assaulted by the god Poseidon.
Now, she demanded his help.
As an act of repentance,
Poseidon granted her the power
to change her shape at will.
With this, Mestra immediately
transformed into a fisherman.
And distracting her captor
with a bounty of fish, she escaped.
For the first time, Mestra was in control,
able to freely adapt
and slip away from any situation.
But she felt compelled to return
to her tortured father.
However, when Erysichthon discovered
Mestra’s new powers,
he only saw an opportunity for himself.
He exploited his talented daughter,
selling her again and again for food.
Each time, she gracefully
transformed herself—
morphing into a swift-footed mare,
a soaring bird, or an elusive deer
to steal more meals while evading capture.
But as her father continued to sell her
at higher and higher prices,
Mestra was left with little hope.
One day, when arriving home
in one of her many forms,
Mestra entered the hollow palace
only to discover the king’s lifeless body—
Erysichthon’s hunger had grown so great
that he had consumed his own limbs.
Gazing upon her wasted father,
Mestra’s hope returned.
She was no longer unfairly burdened
with the wrath of the gods
that the king had courted.
Untethered from her father’s
selfish agenda
and buoyed by her ability
to transform herself at will,
Mestra was finally free.
