A HEROINE'S BEGINNINGS
Deep in the vast wilderness along the outskirts of the kingdom of Arcadia, a mother bear sat near a forest stream, foraging for nourishment to sustain her when she returned to nurse her two newborn cubs. She waited patiently by the water for a meal to present itself. Just as she was about to successfully catch her lunch, however, the fish was startled away by a weak, bleating cry from across the clearing. Forgetting momentarily about her growling stomach, the bear turned to investigate the unfamiliar sound. There, hastily hidden in the brush, was a small creature swaddled in an elaborately woven blanket. Surely it was a cub of some sort; it was entirely helpless… but this was unlike any cub the mother bear had ever seen before. Instinctively she reached down, gently plucked the new cub from its resting place, and began to walk. Before long, they reached the safety of the den. The exhausted mother bear looked down at her three suckling cubs. Sure, the new one was a little different, but she loved it just the same.
At the same time, across Arcadia, a prince was consoling his young wife. “There, there,” he reassured her. “I don’t know what might have happened to the infant, but don’t fret my love. It was only a girl, and we are still so young. I know in time we will have many healthy sons.”
“The promise of future sons means nothing to me if I cannot hold my daughter in my arms!” the princess wailed.
“My love, don’t say such a thing! By this time next year, you will be holding a handsome baby boy, and this whole ordeal will be nothing but a painful memory,” the prince crooned. Internally, he sighed. Why did the silly woman care so much about a worthless girl anyway? All they really needed were sons who could bring the family honor and fortune, and eventually take over the kingdom. A girl would bring nothing but trouble and expense. The prince knew that he had done the right thing, the responsible thing, by solving their little family problem. Now if only he could get his wife to stop wailing about it.
~~~
Years passed, and the mother bear grew increasingly concerned about her adopted cub. It was almost time for all three of her cubs to embark on their own journeys, and while she felt confident that two of them would be just fine, she was worried for the hairless one. It had dull claws and teeth, it still stumbled when it walked, and it was less than a third of the size of its sisters. Just as she was about to abandon any hope that the cub would survive, she encountered a curious sight- a group of skinny, hairless creatures, like larger versions of her cub! Perhaps they would know how to help. The mother bear nudged her cub forward into a clearing and slunk into the shadows to wait and watch.
“Markos, are you seeing this?” the astonished hunter couldn’t believe his eyes.
“I don’t understand… Where did she even come from? We trekked for days to reach this forest; there’s not another soul around. How could a toddler have managed to make it out here alone?” Markos hesitantly replied.
“I don’t know, but we can’t just leave her here—"
“What are you suggesting, Kyros?”
“We can’t leave a toddler in the forest. Maybe we could bring her back to the camp with us? I’m sure the men wouldn’t mind; she couldn’t possibly eat much. And just think, if we start her training now she could be a hunting prodigy! The goddess would certainly bless us for raising such a faithful servant!” exclaimed Kyros.
“That is a compelling point… surely, Artemis would smile on our hunt if we raised this girl to honor her. What would we even call the child?” Markos mused, watching as the young girl happily babbled and played with twigs.
“We could call her Atalanta. I don’t know of a single man who could survive in this wilderness for two years without any assistance or supplies, and the girl has done so effortlessly. Already, she’s more than equal to a man!”
Markos chuckled at his friend’s enthusiasm. “A fitting name. Go on then, get the girl. Good luck explaining this one to the rest of the group.”
The mother bear watched as Kyros smiled down at her cub and gently took her by the hand. Finally, she felt at peace, content with the knowledge that someone would be looking out for her funny little hairless cub.
Author’s note: The beginning of Atalanta’s story is absolutely wild to me. Her father abandoned her in the wilderness because he was disappointed that he didn’t have a son instead, which is pretty ironic given the fact that she goes on to become one of Greece’s greatest heroes in her own right. She is found and nursed by a she-bear (which is one of the symbols of Artemis). Later, she is found and taken in by hunters, who raise her. I didn’t make too many changes to the original story here, because I find it so fascinating. Instead, I expanded on it, adding in some details to more fully paint the picture of the early years of Atalanta’s life. I went with a third person point of view because I wanted to be able to shift perspectives a bit and explore the story from the point of view of the three main caretakers at the beginning of Atalanta’s life: her father, the she-bear, and the hunters.
I did a little extra research outside of the mythological aspect of the story. First, I wanted to figure out how old bear cubs usually are when they leave their mother- turns out bear cubs are usually independent at around two years old, and obviously, a human child would be nowhere near independent at that age, so the momma bear was probably a little worried about the development of her adopted cub. I also had fun looking up some Greek names for the hunters, since the hunters are unnamed in the original story.
Story Source: Atalanta on Theoi.com