My New Home

I woke up on the island of Lemnos. My body was broken and I could barely speak, much less move. Luckily for me, the Islanders heard my crash and came to help me. They did what they could for me and after a few years I could move around on my own. Not long after that I had the Islanders set up a forge for me so that I could get back to my work.

However, I quickly noticed that my craftsmanship was a far cry from the time before Zeus crippled me. I had to relearn how to use my body and my hands again. That process lasted another year before my work was halfway decent, but I used that time to come up with a plan to get back to Mount Olympus. Basically, the plan was to build a chair that would restrain anyone who sat in it, even if that someone happened to be a god.

Building the Chair was no easy feat and it required special materials that Lemnos did not provide. The Islanders assisted me in this task. They willingly left Lemnos to gather the materials that I required. Year after year, they gathered all the materials that were needed. After seven years of honing my skills as best I could, the time to return to Mount Olympus had finally come.

It just so happened that Dionysus was holding a great feast in honor of Aphrodite being married to Ares. I made my way to the edge of the island, sat down, and waited for Poseidon to make his way to Olympus. I must have waited a few days for Poseidon to come, but those days were nothing when compared to the time I spent planning to get back on Mount Olympus. “Uncle! Uncle!” I shouted.

“Who is that?” Poseidon asked absentmindedly.

“It is Hephaestus, your nephew,” I replied. Poseidon drifted over to the island and came to stand in front of me.

“Ah, the Crippled One,” Poseidon said as he looked me over. “What do you want that you would bother me, nephew?”

I took a deep breath before talking. “I heard that Dionysus is throwing a great feast in honor of Aphrodite’s marriage. I wanted to attend and offer my wedding gift for the bride to be,” I said with as much sincerity as possible.

“Tsk, like my brother would allow that,” Poseidon scoffed. He continued, “Besides, I am no messenger; I’ll send Hermes to fetch your little gift.” After saying that, he disappeared among the waves in the direction of Mount Olympus.

Not too long after that, Hermes appeared on the horizon. Skidding to a halt Hermes said, “Hey there, Crippled One, I heard you had a gift for the bride?”

“I do,” I said. I brought out the Chair and placed it in front of Hermes.

He looked it over thoroughly and then said, “No can do. There’s no way that I could run this all the way back up Mount Olympus by the time the wedding starts.”

As Hermes spoke those words, I began to feel my plan fall apart. Then I had an idea. “Come with me, Hermes!” I shouted over my shoulder as I turned to go to my forge. As soon as we got there I had Hermes take off his sandals. I took his sandals, some spare feathers, and began to combine the two while imbuing godly power into them. “Try these on for size!” I boasted proudly to Hermes.

Hermes slipped on his sandals and they immediately fluttered to life. “Whoa! What the…!” Hermes yelled as the sandals flew him across the room. “Oh wait, this isn’t so bad, I got the hang of it now!” He said excitedly. Before I could say anything to him, he flew past me, snatched the Chair and ascended Mount Olympus. It was all a waiting game after that, but I had more than enough patience.

Not too long after that, Hermes returned to Lemnos and without saying a word grabbed me and took me up Mount Olympus. I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw Aphrodite trapped in the Chair. “Let me out! Let me out! Let me out!” Aphrodite screamed. Ares strode over to her confidently, drew his sword and attempted to cut her free of her invisible fetters, but to no avail.

“Stand aside, son,” Zeus commanded. Summoning a thunderstorm to himself, Zeus attempted to destroy the Chair. After the smoke cleared, Aphrodite and the Chair were still there and both completely intact. Pacing back and forth, Zeus finally stopped and decreed, “Whoever can free Aphrodite from this wretched Chair will have her hand in marriage!”

This was the moment that I had been waiting for. I moved towards Aphrodite, grabbed hold of the invisible fetters, drew my hammer as high as I could, and then smashed all the chains to dust. I stood up triumphantly, took Aphrodite by the hand, and walked straight up to Zeus. “A god’s word cannot be broken,” I said.

“Very well,” Zeus said, “It seems I underestimated you, Hephaestus.” Then Zeus smirked and leaning in close said, “Now that I know what you’re capable of I’m going to keep you here on Mount Olympus where only I can make use of your gifts.”

Author's Note: In the original story, Hera is the one trapped by the Chair, which is actually a golden throne. Hephaestus trapped Hera because of his being thrown off of Mount Olympus. Eventually, Dionysus gets Hephaestus drunk enough to release Hera and is given freedom of choice from Zeus. Poseidon then persuades Hephaestus to ask for Athena's hand in marriage. My story is obviously much different in certain areas. I wanted to show that Hephaestus learned the virtue of patience. The other Olympians are able to accomplish things through their might, but I wanted to demonstrate that since Hephaestus could not do this, that he had an alternate way of accomplishing his goals. Through his patience and planning, Hephaestus is able to trap Aphrodite, get back to Mount Olympus, and even win Aphrodite in marriage.

Also, as you can see, I still included Poseidon in the story but gave him a character of indifference. I actually got this idea from another student's storybook which is called, "Real Housewives of Greek Mythology." In this storybook, Poseidon doesn't seem to want to get involved in any drama. He doesn't even help out until his wife continually urges him to do so. I thought this was pretty funny, so I adapted this to my own story.

Bibliography: Hephaestus, theoi

Image 1: Poseidon

Image 2: Hermes