I wrote this myth..... hope it's okay! :)

Tumble of the Gods and a girl of Seaweed

By: Savannah Stone, B1 English

              “Adria, step away from that window, and close the curtain immediately!  OH, if someone saw your face...”  Adria stepped slowly away from the window where she could see all the children playing . She longed to be part of their groups too, but her father simply wouldn't allow it. Adria lived in a small village with her father. Her mother had died several months ago at sea while she was traveling to a small island when a wave came and swallowed her boat completely. While Adria was growing up, her father saw how beautiful she was and  banished her to the house in fear that she would marry off too soon leaving him behind alone.  Each day Adria would would do the small house jobs that needed to be done then ponder what it would be like to have a life outside of this little house. She pictured climbing and swimming, the beautiful trees and sunsets, but also, a great wish of hers, to have friends. Adria hadn't been outside since she was four years old and after 12 years of that she longed so badly to go out. Every night she would pray to the Sea God Poseidon. She prayed to him faithfully every night that he would allow the ocean to spit her mother and her ship out so father wouldn't be lonely and he would allow her to leave. She prayed silently for weeks before she got a much unexpected answer and visit. She was about to retire for the night (after praying to Poseidon) when there was a sudden crack of lightening and her roof came off immediately. Everything for a few seconds thereafter were completely silent. Then she gasped! Standing next to her was the ( very angry ) face of the Great God Zeus. She started to tremble but then regained some courage. She, being very uneducated because of her banishment to the house, had not learned how to properly speak to someone formally, especially a God.  She swallowed her fear and spoke out with a loud voice saying, “Who do you think you are, ruining our roof and leaving us without  protection. We could be swayed by the wind, rained on, or perhaps a wild beast could jump right in. Do you not see that we could be in danger? What business do you have doing here anyway?”  Zeus, ready to ready to kill her, then saw her fair face.  He instantly fell in love but hid it so she could not read his face.  He spoke, “And may I ask what business  a fair maiden like you has praying to a filthy sea God instead of me?” She hesitated then told him about her mother and her circumstance at home. Zeus nodded understandably and then said innocently, “Dear girl, you must not realize everything. The very ground  you walk on, in fact the entire earth is at my command. I also control the skies of the earth and also Olympus, the Kingdom of the Gods.  I assure you that my brother is useless to you. I could sweep you off your feet right now and you could rule beside me in Olympus. I could get you out of this stupid house that you hate and give you a life of power, where you could paint every sunrise and mold every mountain. Come with me and we will never have to come back to this village again.” Adria being very surprised at this sudden proposal was stunned to silence for a few moments. Finally she said, “Zeus, I could never leave my father alone without myself or my mother to comfort him. Also, living in Olympus I would have no friends. That is my greatest desire of all. I want to lead a normal life, although your offer may sound grand to another fair woman. I must go now.” This angered Zeus. He lifted his lightening bolt, this time unafraid to kill her when suddenly there was another flash of light and Adria could smell a faint sea breeze.

              Now, she could tell that she would not be the only one Zeus wanted to zap off the planet at this moment. Standing beside her was the Sea God Poseidon. The two gods started sizing each other up when Poseidon spoke. He turned to Adria and said “ I have heard your faithful prayers to me and decided to watch you for a few days. You are so very beautiful. I would like to make you an offer of my own. I could let you come live with me. I could recover your mother from the oceans depths and your family would be completed again for us to visit. You could have many friends with the Sea-nymphs and fish, and I would allow you to live in your village for times so you could gain friendships of your own people as well. Please join me, we could live forever together, in love.” Adria looked in the God's eyes and saw that he would not lie to her, and that he truly did love her. She decided that she would marry Poseidon the next day. Zeus fled back to the sky in a huff of anger and Poseidon parted with a smile. She left to lay in her bed and think about what had just happened. All of her desires would come true in the morning. She would be happy, and so would her father. She fell into a heavy sleep with dreams of her future life. She awoke several hours later to an odd sensation. Her bed, floor, house, well everything had a slight tremble. Everything was shaking.  She stood up a little too fast and fell to the floor. She crawled out of her house to find the shadows of two full grown Gods tumbling and wrestling each other. Everything in their path was breaking and crumbling. They would keep rolling one on top of the other and with each tumble, the earth shook violently. Horses would crash into Zeus and lightening would hit Poseidon. They were fighting over her.

              Finally after a few moments of more wrestling, Zeus pinned Poseidon to the ground. He laughed and said that Adria would be his. Adria who was watching from a distance yelled out. She said, “ I will never marry you Zeus, I will die before I marry you!” With that said, Zeus suddenly turned on her, ready to strike. She screamed but before she could be hit by Zeus's lightening, when she suddenly felt a different kind of zap. She felt all tingly and looked down to see that she had been turned into sea kelp. Long stringy seaweed replaced her flowing blond hair.  Her skin that was once flawless turned a sickly green color, and her body became all displaced. Zeus laughed and said, “Poseidon, my dear brother, you are such a genius! Turning such a beautiful girl into such a horrible thing is a better punishment than death!” With that, Zeus disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Poseidon then turned to Adria and said, “ I am so sorry my beautiful wife. There was no other way to save you from the hands of my brother. I still love you and now, on the bright side, we can live together in the ocean.” Adria didn't know what to think.

              Poseidon did later fulfill his promise and recovered her mother from the ocean, but the only time she could talk to her family was when she washed onto shore at the nearby beach. She did live a fairly happy life in the ocean. She met many fascinating animals and  such in her new home.  She only saw Zeus once more in her life. He had come soon after their wrestle to complain about how his earth had been destroyed in certain places. Neither God wanted to take fault for the lines of damage and the trembling of Zeus's earth. They then decided to leave the lines how they were and named them, 'fault lines'. To this day, those fault lines are where the Gods settle their disputes and the Earth trembles.  Since Poesidon got the girl, he became God of the Earthquake. Adria made friends and she saw many wondrous things in the ocean, some far more beautiful then a mountain, some as pretty as the stars. She learned to love, and love what she had and she no longer felt sad or alone. She was happy.

                                                              THE END