A quick mythology lesson. The five rivers of Hades in the underworld are:
Styx (Unbreakable oath/Hate)
Lethe (Forgetfulness)
Acheron (Woe)
Cocytus (Wailing)
Phlegethon (Fire)
What fewer know is that they actually have a presence on land. And today, we collected four out of five of these waters.
For all of my preparedness for this epic adventure, however, it never occurred to me that we wouldn't be able to get to the banks of these rivers. That was until we were confronted with 20' sheer cliff banks or 10' tall thistle bushes. That was when we started to get creative.
Of course, I had brought masking tape. Who doesn't travel with the stuff? So, I set about twisting it into lengths and then braiding those lengths together into stronger and longer lengths, until Randall got the brilliant idea to use our MacAir power cable attached to the 6' extension cord I also brought. Again, who doesn't travel without an extension cord? I taped these together at all the seems and, with an old diet coke plastic bottle, we set about fishing for two of the more elusive waters--(Peri)Phlegethon and Styx.
Within a few minutes and several strange looks from the passing cars, farmers on their tractors, and the shepherd herding his sheep from a moped, we had collected our samples. The Cocytus and the Acheron were more accessible through diligent climbing.
On to Lethe! If only I could remember where it was.
Excuse me, did I read you correctly? Masking Tape? Oh right, the theatre masks of comedy and tragedy. Very puny. It’s the symbolism of the extension cord I don’t get. Yeah, yeah, you want to buy the world a coke and teach it how to sing – hence the coke bottle. You sure are full of clever ideas.
ReplyDeleteYou may have to drink the waters of the 5 rivers of Hades to get them past security. Let us know when you remember where to find Letho!