Embedded Files
Every god and goddess was eager to wake up today. The excitement of the tale that Zeus told yesterday made everyone want to go back and play more Yahtzee. Everyone is determined to have their time to tell their favorite story.
The clock struck three and once again, the game center was flooded with residents. The usual “popular” residents all sat at the same table. Zeus was boasting about his big win yesterday as he sat at the table. It seemed as if he loved the idea of getting under his brothers’ skin more than winning Yahtzee. Poseidon and Hades were glum and didn’t want to be bashed in another story, so they quietly took their seats. Hera was her usual jealous self as she observed other goddesses looking in Zeus’ direction. Finally, Aphrodite arrived and carefully chose her seat as she did not want to sit next to Hera.
Hera stared at Aphrodite with daggers in her eyes and said, “What? You don’t want to sit next to me? Do you think that I’m going to bite you or something?”
“I wouldn’t put it past you.” Aphrodite shrugged.
Before Hera had time to blow up, Aphrodite took charge of the Yahtzee game.
“Today, it’s my turn to tell my favorite story,” Aphrodite said. “I know that someone else at this table is quite familiar with it as well. Especially with the way that it turned out.” Aphrodite smirked in Hera's direction.
Everyone at the table looked over at Hera as her head was ready to pop off. Hera wasn’t able to get a word in before Aphrodite began telling the story of the beauty contest which claimed the prize of the golden apple.
Hera
Aphrodite
“So this story started out with Peleus and Thetis getting married. Zeus was kind enough to throw them a celebration. I guess Eris was not invited and was bent out of shape because of this, so she brought a golden apple to give to the goddess that was the fairest of them all. As the goddess of love and beauty, I was of course in the running for the beauty contest. My competitors, Athena and Hera, were also beautiful,” Aphrodite explained.
“Oh come on, Aphrodite. Let’s be real. Athena isn’t even that pretty. I’m not trying to give you a compliment, but the real competition was between me and you,” Hera quickly disrupted.
“I disagree, but believe what you want. As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, the battle for the golden apple began shortly. Zeus was supposed to judge, but that didn’t really work out and he passed that duty off to Paris of Troy,” Aphrodite said.
Zeus heard this and kept his head down as the Yahtzee game continued. He knew that his reasoning to not judge the contest was because he didn’t want to get into the middle of the competition.
“Paris of Troy judged us on our beauty in multiple ways. Ultimately, it led to what each of us could offer him. Athena offered Paris wisdom and skill in war. Hera offered to make him the king of Europe and Asia. I offered him the most beautiful woman to wed him. I always knew he had a thing for Helen of Troy. Of course my beauty and offerings are what got him to choose me as the most beautiful and fairest,” Aphrodite said with a big smile on her face.
“You bribed him, Aphrodite! I would’ve won that contest so easily if you didn’t cheat!” Hera screamed at the top of her lungs.
“How is it cheating to be the most beautiful goddess? Sorry, but we all gave him offerings. My offering combined with my stunning good looks is what got me the golden apple,” Aphrodite calmly responded as she played her last round in Yahtzee.
“You know what, Aphrodite? I think you are just jealous of me. Always have been, always will be. I was the most beautiful goddess in that competition and I continue to be the most beautiful, you wrinkly old goddess,” Hera screeched as she stood up from her chair and pounded her hands on the table.
“I’m jealous of you? Hera, you have got to be kidding! You are the one notorious for being jealous. Right, gods?” Aphrodite answered back.
Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades all looked at each other and decided to not answer and keep their heads down. They knew they didn’t want to start anything involving them.
“For you to call me wrinkly is outrageous. Your saggy skin literally hits the floor as we speak. I think all that jealousy and screaming isn’t doing you too much good,” Aphrodite responded back.
With that, Hera turned bright red and was filled with anger. She got up from her seat, took both of her hands and wiped every Yahtzee piece off of the table. After the game cards and dice flew across the room, Hera stormed off and angrily walked back to her room.
“Once again, Hera takes everything too far and ruins it all for the rest of us. I guess there will be a rematch of Yahtzee tomorrow,” Aphrodite bitterly said.
Author's Note:
For this story, I decided to tell the story of some other gods at the Yahtzee table. I decided to have Aphrodite tell the story because I felt that if Hera told the whole thing then it would’ve been too similar to my story involving Zeus. I tried to make it different, but also have a tense and petty tone between the two goddesses.
The story I told is close to the original, but I took the liberty to write what I thought that each goddess felt. In the original, there is a celebratory party for a marriage where there is a golden apple waiting to award the most beautiful goddess. Eris is the one that brought the golden apple. Her name literally means discord, and that is exactly what she brought to the table. Eris was upset that she wasn't invited to the wedding, so she brought the golden apple competition to stir up trouble. Athena,Hera, and Aphrodite were up for the running of the most beautiful. There were some things that the women had to do to impress Paris, like stripping their clothes, but I didn’t want to include that. The offerings mentioned in my story are the offerings each goddess truly did give. The original story crowns Aphrodite as the most beautiful because Paris wants to be with Helen of Troy.
Hera is known for being extremely jealous, so I tried to have that be shown throughout my story. Overall, I feel that I stayed close to the original while trying to characterize the goddesses as much as possible. I hope you enjoyed!
Bibliography
Hera information from Theoi, online source
Aphrodite information from Theoi, online source
Judgment of Paris information from Wikipedia, online source
Google Sites
Report abuse