Week 3 Storytelling: Famine

Famine Memorial in Dublin

As I sat at the top of the mountains looking for what little food I could find, I finally found some grass. I pulled the grass out with my teeth and hands, desperately trying to get what nutrients I could find. Suddenly, I heard a noise behind me and turned around to see an unfamiliar nymph. She stared at me for some time, seeming uncomfortable, so I knew I looked fierce and inhuman. I turned away to look at my reflection in the creek and saw that my eyes were sunken, my hair looked like a rat’s nest, and my bones were sticking out. Needless to say, I understand the blank stares and timidness around me. I always forget just how terrible I look, but never feeling fulfilled is tiresome when there is never anything to eat. I went back to the nymph to hear her request, as people never come up here unless they need my services. She refused to be near me, and backed away when we got close. She believed I would hurt her, which just increases the crushing loneliness that befalls me atop this mountain.

Cere has requested I take my place in the stomach of a blasphemous man named Erysichthon as punishment for cutting down her beloved tree and harming her. I only agreed because when I get to perform my services, I not only get to eat, but I also get to spend time with other people. So, I travelled to this man’s house and entered his stomach while he was sleeping. All I have to do is breath onto him and my curse is spread to his body, as well. Now, I just sit and wait. After he awakens, he tries to fill his stomach and intense hunger. If his hunger is anything like mine, nothing will fill it, and eating makes you want more. I watch him stuff his face with anything and everything he can find. As he finished eating the last thing he owned, all that remained was his daughter.

To my disbelief, he goes out to sell his daughter to get more food. Out of curiosity, I follow them, hoping he will back out of the transaction. I watched as they spoke of selling a human being, and his daughter just stares at the ground solemnly. To my distress, he went through with the transaction and walked away with money for food while a stranger walked away with his daughter. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do to help her, so I sent a prayer up for her and followed her father back to his home. Before I left, I breathed my curse into him one more time so that the hunger would never cease, and I made my way back to the mountaintop.

Author’s Note:

I chose this story because I thought it was really interesting. As with my other storytelling posts, I try to stay close to the original story. The main thing I changed was the viewpoint. This story is from the viewpoint of Famine. I finished my story before the original story ended, however. In the original story, Neptune took Mestra’s (Erysichthon’s daughter) virginity, and Mestra begs for his help when she is sold. Jupiter gives her the ability to change genders from a woman to a man, and she uses this to get out of being sold. When her father finds out, he sells her repeatedly for food and money so that she may turn into a man and get out of the sale.

Bibliography:

The Famine