Iris

Hello there. Didn't really expect to still see you, but I'm glad you're here. We're going to switch tracks to something a little bit different. Have you ever wondered how all those messages of yours made it up to the Big 12? If you haven't, then you haven't paid enough attention to the goddess Iris. Not only does she do all of this work, but she often doesn't even get credit for it! She spends all her time carrying messages to and fro for the gods, and I bet you think that Hermes is the messenger god. I mean. He is. But so is Iris, and she works for it. So I want you to pay attention to this story and really think about how much of life would be impossible if we didn't have Iris.

There was once a young woman in a small farming town. Her father, a farmer, had injured himself with his sickle during the harvest season, and both feared the long winter ahead of them. When the maiden consulted with her local priest as to what she must do to keep themselves safe and warm during the long winter, he told her to pray to Hestia, goddess of the hearth. Hestia would keep the fire burning. The young woman was astounded. How could she trust a goddess that, not only could she not see, but that she had never even heard of? Instead, she vowed to stay awake all winter. She would keep the fire burning; she would make sure that they were looked after.

Over her rainbow bridge, she brought Hestia to the young woman. Hestia took her seat in the fire and began speaking to the woman. The message delivered, her duty done, the goddess Iris left the hut, with its warm and glowing fire, onto carry the next message.

As she left the hut, Iris felt herself being called to another small farming village. This time, the village was crying to the Horae. They called for each goddess: Eirine, Dike, and Eunomia. They were starving during a long winter, waiting for a spring that had not come. Iris took their messages to each goddess, using her cloak to build the bridges. As soon as she had brought the Horae to the village, she felt herself being called again. Ever faithful to her duties, she departed. She had no time to stay and watch the outcome for the village, but she knew she could trust in her fellow goddesses. She flew away on her golden wings, excited for what lay ahead.

Janus Note: I hope you remember the other stories we've talked about. None of that would have been possible without Iris. Poor Iris. She loves her duty, loves helping people's prayers. But there's no prayers to her. No, she only gets called on when people want something. Even if they do remember to call on her name, it's always, "Oh Iris, please take this message to this other god or goddess that's just so much more impressive and important and powerful than you are." And like I said, that's when people remember to call on her! They usually either chalk it all up to Hermes, or they just put their messages out into the Cosmos and hope that they find their way. So sad.

Well, this is it. The end of the line. The final story. I'd say you've seen it all, but you really haven't. There's still the tales of Nike, the Charities, the Muses. I could go on. But I hope you've learned something. Those big guys up there? They don't really care about you. They care about themselves and how they can use you to get what they want. These minor godlings are where it's really at. You want to talk helpful, look no further than them. And please remember them. It's not like me to put a request to humans, but you know. Desperate times and all that. Remember these gods and goddesses. They do so much more than you can even imagine, and they're fading. Fading because the people you love are forgetting about you is so much worse than just being allowed to die, don't you think?

Author's Note: This is it, my final story! I was initially planning on talking about Eros, possibly telling the story of Cupid and Psyche, but it felt a little too out of place. I decided that I should stick to the goddess theme, and then I hit upon Iris. I could use her as a way to tie the two stories together and give almost a "behind the scenes" view of what was going on. Iris does have a lot more details out there about her, but she still doesn't feature too prominently in the grand stories. I wanted to focus on her role as messenger of prayers between gods and humans, as I felt that that was also the most fitting with the theme of the important roles of these minor godlings. I know she doesn't feature very prominently in this tale, but I wanted to highlight her sacrificial nature. I also wanted to use the Janus notes to point out the fact that she doesn't get all of her credit. In fact, while she appeared in the Iliad, she was actually left out of the Odyssey. Homer gave her role to Hermes. I hope all of this came across and that you enjoyed my story!

Bibliography: Wikipedia and theoi.com

Image Source: Jean-Édouard Dargent, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons