Hero and Leander

Drift away with the Greek myth of Hero, a maiden trapped in a tower with a prophecy warning her against venturing out. With the guidance of her loyal nurse, Hero dares to defy destiny and attend the feast of Aphrodite, hoping to find freedom and perhaps even appease the goddess herself. She meets Leander, whose nightly swims guided by Hero's torch symbolize a love that braves both myth and marine fury. 

The music in this episode is Frankel by Syntropy.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:20

Welcome to Dreamful Podcast bedtime stories for slumber. In this bonus episode, I will be reading Kiro and Leander. So snuggle up in your blankets and have sweet dreams.

Speaker 2: 0:38

I'm sorry.

Speaker 1: 1:15

One sunny day in April, long ago, a maiden sat in a lonely tower looking out across the Hellspont At her feet. The blue ripples lapped lazily on the beach and played a soothing lullaby upon the stones, and the wide-sailed ships floated slowly down the stream from Sestos, carrying their rich freights of corn and merchandise To the north. She could see the port of Sestos with the great walls running down from the city to the harbor and the masts of the ships as they lay at anchor by the quay Across the water. Facing the tower stood Abydos, with its palaces and houses nestling white at the foot of the low green hills. So narrow is the sea that runs between Sestos and Abydos, and so swiftly does the current flow that the ancients used to think it was a great river, running down from Propontis and the stormy Eusine and emptying their overflowing waters into the wide Aegean mean, so they called it the broad Hellespont, for the rivers of Greece were but narrow streams beside it. As she looked across the sunlight waters, the maiden sighed and turned warily to an old dame who sat spinning in a corner of the room.

Speaker 1: 2:52

Good mother, she said. How many years didst thou say we have lived in this wave-washed tower? Tis close on. Twenty years, my dear, since I brought thee here. Twenty years, sighed the maiden. "'twenty centuries have passed by more swiftly. "'in the bright, busy world out yonder. "'i am tired, tired of this lonely life' sobbed the maiden. "'why am I shut up here all alone'? "'thou knowest the reason full well, my child. If thou goest forth into the world, a great sorrow will come upon thee and drive thee to death in the flower of thy youth. Such was the oracle of the gods concerning thee. Thy mother, poor young thing, scarce, lived to hold thee to her breast, and when she died she put thee in my arms. Take her away, nurse, far from the haunts of men, and never let her out into the cruel world. Go live with her as some lonely tower by the sea and make her a priestess to Pitellus, foam-born Aphrodite, night and day. As soon as she can lisp a baby prayer, let her burn incense before the altar of the goddess. And perchance she will have mercy on her and save her from her fate. And she stroked the girl's cheek tenderly. And perchance she will have mercy on her and save her from her fate. And she stroked the girl's cheek tenderly and sighed as she thought how, for many months past did grow paler, week by week. O think me not ungrateful, great hero. Thou knowest that I love thee and would never leave thee. But my heart is restless and I long to set foot beyond this tower and see a great town and streets and the faces of my fellow men.

Speaker 1: 4:59

But the old nurse was very troubled at her words, very troubled at her words. My child, thou hast thine own shrine within the house where thou can burn incense and offer up flowers to Aphrodite. She will answer thy prayers as well from here as from the crowded temple in the town. Then why do men build her great pillar temples and throng from far and near to keep her feast, if the fireside shrine and the simple prayer would please her as well? Nay, she loveth rich gifts and music and singing and the heads of many bowing as one man before her. Image O nurse, let me go. Image O nurse, let me go.

Speaker 1: 5:50

My child, why wast thou go when thou knowest the world can only bring thee sorrow? Stay here with me in peace. Nay, there is no peace here for me. Aphrodite is angry and she will slay me by a slow and cruel death if I do not keep her face this year. Should I, her priestess, say, away when even the meanest of folk gather together in her honor? Thou thyself shalt go with me and stay by my side till I join the procession of priestesses and maidens. Then I will go up with them to the temple and in their midst I shall be as far from the world as in this tower. I long to stand within the great white temple and hear the chanting of the priests. I long to see the gleaming image of the goddess and the statue of the risen Adonis and the altar sweet with incense and flowers. Ah, nurse, let me go. And all the rest of the year, till the glad season comes round once more, I will stay with thee in this tower and pine no more. So, piteously did she beg that. The old nurse had not the heart to refuse, though she feared what may come of it, but she tried to comfort herself with the thought that perchance, after all, the maiden was right and that Aphrodite was killing her by a slow and cruel death because she had never kept her solemn feast day.

Speaker 1: 7:31

The next day broke bright and fair, and Hiro, as she looked out from the window, was filled with joy. Nurse, nurse, she cried. The sun is shining and the world has awakened from sleep. It is time to pick the roses and the lilies, fresh with dew, and weave them into garlands. For the goddess, come up and go out with me to the garden. Without waiting for an answer, she tripped down the turret stair and out into the garden, and the old nurse sighed and followed slowly behind. In the golden morning, they gathered the roses and lilies and wove them into garlands and posies and heaped up the loose flowers and baskets. When all was ready, they set out for the town.

Speaker 1: 8:26

Though it was yet early, the streets were thronged with pilgrims and folk purring this way and that to the houses of their friends and kinsmen. Yet despite the bustle and confusion, there were few who had not leisure to turn and watch the maiden hastening along. It is Hebe. Come down from the courts of heaven, they said, she who giveth to the deathless gods eternal youth and joy. None can look on her face and be sad, and indeed all the sunshine of the morning seemed reflected in Hero's face, so glad at heart was she. It was small wonder that men turned and looked at her, for she walked as one of the immortals, full of dignity and grace. No evil thing had ever touched her or left its mark upon her soul. And now, though she know it not, the call of life had come to her.

Speaker 1: 9:34

In the midst of that bustling city crowd, she was like a fair flower that brings into some restless, sick room the scent of sunlit meadows and the murmur of dancing streams. As she went, she laughed and talked merrily to the old nurse beside her, and ever and anon, a flower would fall to the ground from the laden basket she was carrying, and one of the crowd would quickly pick it up and place it in his bosom and carry away in his heart something of the music of her laughter and the sunshine of her eyes. The old nurse, when she saw it, was filled with fear and hastened faster along. But Hero saw none of these things, nor knew that she was different from other folk of these things, nor knew that she was different from other folk.

Speaker 1: 10:35

At length they reached the temple on the hill and went into the chamber where Aphrodite's priestesses and maidens were to meet. Little children scattered rose leaves in the path, and behind them followed maidens playing upon pipes and singing the hymn to Adonis and Aphrodite. Next came the priest, and on either side of him two maidens walked and held above his head great fans of peacock's plumes. After him followed the long procession of priestesses and maidens, incense bearers and the keepers of the sacred doves. Last of all came Hero, bearing in her hands a garland of roses and lilies to lay at the feet of the great white statue of the goddess. As they sang, the choir of maidens parted this way and that, when she had laid it at the feet of the statue, the procession formed once more and with music and singing they marched round the colonnade to the shrine of Adonis, and all the people followed after still, hero walked as one in a dream, and when the procession halted, she turned into a small recess and leaned against a pillar to rest.

Speaker 1: 11:53

For her part was done. With her eyes closed, she drank in the sweet scent of the incense and flowers and listened to the chanting of the choir, as they sang, of the love of Adonis and Aphrodite. As Hero listened to the well-known tale, her heart was moved and she felt that if she ever loved, her love would be, as the love of Adonis and Aphrodite, stronger than death. And she sighed as she remembered how she must live lonely all her days, in the tower by the sea, as though in answer to her sigh, she felt a light touch upon her arm and, raising her head, she found herself face to face with the young man. She was about to turn away in anger and return to her place in the procession, but the look of his eyes held her spellbound. So full of fire and yet so sad were they. For a moment she stood gazing at him and the fire of his eyes seemed to light another in her heart. The hot blood rushed to her face and she lowered her eyes in confusion and her limbs trembled beneath her so that she leaned back against the pillar for support.

Speaker 1: 13:29

I ask your pardon, gentle lady, said the man. Forgive my rudeness. Though thou knowest me not, I have known thee for many a long year, and day and night I have prayed to the gods that I might meet thee face to face this day. Aphrodite has heard my prayer. If I have seemed presumptuous, forgive me. T'was the goddess nerved my arm to touch thee and he stood with bowed head before her awaiting her reply.

Speaker 1: 14:04

Who art thou stranger, asked Hero. My name is Leander, said the stranger, and I dwell in white abydos across the water. Full well do I know thy lonely tower, for as I ply to and fro between Sestos and Abydos on my father's business. I pass close beneath his walls and day by day I have seen thee sitting at thy window looking out across the sea. The first day I saw thee, thy beauty set my heart aflame, and since then I have lived for thee alone. As he raised his eyes full of hope and joy, to her face, she turned aside her head to hide the answering fire of her eyes. Alas, sir, she said, mine is a heart that must never beat for any living man. I am doomed to dwell in my yonder tower, lonely, all my days, for if I go forth, amixed with the world, I shall die by the curse of heaven before my time.

Speaker 1: 15:19

I have heard thy tale, lady, for even the most secret things are noised abroad by rumor. Far be it from me to bring the curse upon thy head. If thou couldst give me thy love, there would be no need for thee to come forth into the world. I have thought of that Each day. We would live our lives as we have done till now, but at night, when none would miss me, I would come to thee. No living soul should know my secret, no, nor yet the lifeless bores of my boat, for even dumb wood can tell a tale. If need be, nay, these two arms shall bear me. Look not fearful lady, full. Often have they borne me to and fro across this narrow sea from mere love of sport with thee, as I prize, they would bear me twice as far as he spoke, he held them out towards her and indeed they were goodly arms to look upon, and his face and form did them no shame either. Then Hero raised her eyes and looked him full in the face. Leander, she said, though one short hour ago I had never seen thee, yet now I feel that I have known thee always and that life apart from thee were worse than death. A hero, he cried and took her hand in his Twas, an answer to my call that thou didst come today to the feast, for I prayed Aphrodite to move thy heart, for I knew not how I should ever speak to thee. This very night I will come to thee, and the light which thou burnest in thy chamber shall be my guiding star. How carefully I will trim that torch tonight, she said that it may burn brightly for thee and for thee alone. Now the service was ended before the shrine and the train of people began to move once more. With one last look and a pressing of hands, they parted and Hiro returned to her place in the procession.

Speaker 1: 17:52

In the crowd inside the temple, the nurse had lost sight of Hiro and her heart was full of fears for the maiden. As she helped her to lay aside her festival robes and garland, she gazed anxiously at her. "'art thou content to come home with me, my child', she asked. "'or has the glamour of the world ensnared thee'? "'ah, nurse', she cried joyously. Never, never, have I loved my tower so well. Let us hasten home, and in the quiet of the evening, I will tell thee that of which my heart is full.

Speaker 1: 18:35

The old dame was glad when she found her so ready to go home and they hastened silently through the crowded streets as the sun was setting behind the hills and the shadows fell cool and long across the garden slopes. Hero sat at her nurse's feet and told her the story of Leander's love and how that night would make them man and wife. Hero, she said, this thing can never be. I have failed in my trust. Think no more of him. Let this day be to thee as though it had never been, and thou mayst yet escape thy doom. But Hero sprang to her feet. What she cried? Thou wouldst take away the only joy of my life. Now when I have just found it, never curse or no curse, leander shall be my wedded husband. Nothing that the old dame could say availed to change her purpose, but with her heart full of joy, she put on her brightest robes and sat by the lighted torch in her chamber, looking out across the sea and waiting for the night.

Speaker 1: 20:06

True to his word, leander came as soon as darkness fell and the old dame led him in by the turret door. Carefully, she shaded her lamp with her hand so that the light fell upon his face, that she might see what manner of man he was. He had dried himself as best he might with leaves and grass from the garden, but his hair hung in damp clusters about his head and his tunic clung wet about him. Yet in spite of all that, he was full fair to look upon a very god for strength and beauty. The old dame led him upstairs and gave him a change of clothes, and when he was ready she took him to Hero's chamber. There, before the shrine of Aphrodite, they plighted the troth with but one faithful soul to witness their vows and the music of the wind and the waves for their marriage.

Speaker 1: 21:13

Hymn To the two lovers. The night fled by on wings of lightning, and too soon they had to say farewell, for every day dawned, leander must have reached the further shore. So for many a day, their lives ran smoothly on. Each night, hero lighted her torch. Each night, leander was guided by its light. Each night, Leander was guided by its light and, true to his word, swam across the narrow sea that divided him from his wife. Yet for all his secrecy, there was one who each night watched for him with a longing as great as hero's own.

Speaker 1: 22:17

In the depths of the blue waters, the daughters of Nereus dwell, the fair nymphs of the ocean. All day long they play beneath the waters and dance hand in hand along the yellow sands and the shell-strewn hollows of the sea. But at night, when the eyes of men are darkened, they come up above the water and, cradled in the bosom of the waves, swing gently to and fro in the soft summer air. In the white gleam of their arms is a glint of ripples in the moonlight. But when the wild storm wind shrieks over the sea and the skies are dark and lowering, they forget their fears and are filled with madness. Then they chase each other across the black waters with wild locks flying in the wind. And woe to those who are out upon the high seas when the Nereids dance in the storm, for their dance is the dance of death.

Speaker 1: 23:21

One of these same Nereids it was who saw Leander as he swam across the Hellespont each night, and she loved him for his beauty and longed to have him as her playfellow. So she swam near him on the crest of the dancing waves and called him softly O child of the green earth, come, come with me and play with me and my sisters in the depths of the blue. But he saw her not, nor listened to her pleading, for his eyes were darkened. To him, the gleam of her arms was a moonshine on the water and the sound of her voice like the west wind on the waves. So she followed him in vain across the channel, and when he went up into the tower she sat below upon a rock and watched for him to appear at the window. And she saw Hero sitting by the torch waiting for her lover, and heard her cry of joy as she ran to greet him when he came. Then again she called to them softly. Oh children of the green earth, come and play with me. I will crown your heads with white sea pearls and you shall sit on coral thrones beneath the waves and be king and queen over all the nymphs of the sea. But as they stood hand in hand at the window, they saw her not and heard only the murmur of ripples on the beach. So she sat calling in vain all the night, long before the grey morning dawned. Leander came down and when he reached the shore he turned and called Farewell Hero. And Hero, leaning from her window, answered Leander farewell. So the sea nymph learned to know their names and every night she would sit sadly calling them. And they heard her not.

Speaker 1: 25:45

But one night all the winds of heaven were loosed and they rushed with a wild shriek over the face of the waters and lashed them to a fury of white main waves. With white cheeks and a heart full of fear, hero knelt before the shrine in her chamber and prayed to the gods to have mercy on the sailors out at sea and above all to grant that Leander had not set out where the storm began. Meanwhile, leander on the other side had seen the storm approaching and he knew full well that when the seas ran high, no man could swim the channel and reach the other shore alive Across the stream. He could see the torch burning fitfully in the gale. God's grant, she thinks me not faithless, he said, for not going to her this night'.

Speaker 1: 26:51

"'as he sat and watched, "'the storm grew wilder and more terrible. "'in the swirling seething waters, "'the nereid danced with madness of the tempest in her heart. "'in the gleam of the lightning flash, she held her arms out to the shore and called Come and dance with me. Leander, oh, leander, come, as she called. The east wind rushed with a wild shriek across the water and blew out the beacon light in Hero's chamber. Leander, at his window, saw the pale light disappear and return no more. A blinding flash of lightning rent the sky, and the rattle of thunder sounded as though the mountains of the earth were falling. Then the spirit of the storm came upon him too, and he heard the voice of the earth were falling. Then the spirit of the storm came upon him too, and he heard the voice of the sea nymph calling with a wild shriek Leander, oh, leander, come. And he thought it was a voice of hero calling him in deadly peril. Perchance, the thunderbolt had struck her tower In a mad frenzy.

Speaker 1: 28:13

Scarce knowing what he did, he plunged into the seething waters and struggled in the waves with the strength of despair, with a wild cry of joy, theysenev caught him in her arms At last. At last, thou hast heard my call, she said, up and down through the hissing wave. She bore him, now plunging down deep into the calm green water below, now rushing round and round in a whirlpool, now leaping from the crest of one white wave into the boiling foam of the next, till he lay limp and breathless in her arms. She heeded not, but bore him on across the water till they came beneath Hero's Tower, across the water, till they came beneath Hero's tower. Then, rising on the crest of the waves that beat against the wall, she called "'Come, join with us in the storm. Dance, come, hero'. In the breath of the east wind, the stinging foam beat against the window and the echo of the sea.

Speaker 1: 29:28

Nymph's cry reached the maiden as she knelt before the shrine. Filled with terror, she rushed to the window and looked down on the seething water, on the bosom of a breaking wave. She saw Leander, with his arms tossed, helpless about him, and his head throw back, pale and lifeless, and above him stood the sea nymph in a robe of flashing foam. With a cry of despair, hero leaped to the sill and plunged into the roaring waves and, with her arms about Leander, she too was tossed along in the dance of death till the storm died away and the nymph bore them down, side by side, to the floor of the blue sea. There, true to her word, she set them on thrones of coral entwined, white sea pearls in their hair and, in time, the winding seaweeds and clinging ocean flowers wove a shroud of beauty about them, and their bodies slept side by side in the fair ocean depths.

Speaker 1: 30:46

So did it come to pass that the curse of the gods was fulfilled? That the curse of the gods was fulfilled. But whether it was truly a curse or a blessing, who shall say? For they lived and loved with a love that has become famous among men, and side by side, they died. And does not the poet tell us of the islands of the blessed, where the souls of the brave and true abide forever, where the breeze blows away bright and fresh and the golden fruits are glowing and the crimson-flowered meadows before the city are full of the shade of trees of frankincense? In that far land there is no death, nor parting, no sorrow or tears, but those who have been true on earth dwell ever side by side. If the poet is right, hero and Leander are there together where no storm can reach them and no sea no-transcript.