Hestia

Once, long ago, when the Greek Empire was at its peak, there was a young woman who lived with her father. He was in his elderly years and bedridden. The small family made their living by farming, and the man had been injured in an accident. While threshing the wheat, his hand had slipped and he hurt his leg badly with his sickle. The young woman did all she could to help her father, but she worried about what would happen when winter came. The only way to keep her father warm was to keep the fire burning all night, but she feared that she would fail to wake up and tend to it. Her father tried to comfort her, but she saw he had the same fears.

As the summer months came to a close, the young woman went to the local priest for guidance on what to do. He told her that the best way to keep a fire burning was to make sacrifices to the goddess Hestia. As goddess of home and hearth, she would keep the fire burning, even if the young maiden fell asleep. But she was skeptical. How could she put her faith and her father's health into something she couldn't see, someone so minor that she didn't even have a temple? Instead, she resolved to never sleep at night. She could get her rest in short periods during the day, but she would stay up and keep the fire burning overnight. Despite her good intentions, this plan failed. During the coldest week of the coldest month of the year, Gamēliōn, as a storm raged outside, the young woman fell asleep in front of the burning fire. Slowly, it began to go out. She awoke to the cold of dusk, realizing the mistake she made. She saw the cold, empty grate and cried out: "Oh Lady Hestia, please have mercy on me. Please protect me and my father and keep us warm this day!"

Suddenly, a spark flew out from the fireplace. Within moments, there was a crackling fire, and the house flooded with warmth. As she dried her tears in astonishment, the young woman gazed into the fire and saw a shape. There was a godly figure sitting within, not warming herself, but tending the fire. The young woman fell down in astonishment, realizing that she was in the presence of the kindly goddess Hestia, whose mercy she did not deserve after her scorn. The Lady Hestia looked up, saw the maiden, and smiled. She spread out her arms, and immediately there was a breakfast banquet set before the maiden for her and her father. Hestia leaned down and brought the woman's head up from the floor. She gazed kindly into the maiden's eyes and said, "Worry not. This fire will never go out and the food never be eaten up, until Lady Persephone returns from the Underworld to visit her mother, Demeter, and spring is once more here."