Many moons ago, when war flooded the cities, there was a humble farmer with a loving wife. His name was Polynices, and her’s was Ariadne. They both honoured the gods. They both lived happily in a wooden barn next to the city of Troy. Everyone was happy. But danger was ahead.
The Trojan War had caused chaos all over Troy. The Greeks had taken over. Houses were burnt. Blood was spilt. Crops were demolished. Troy had been conquered. Polynices and Ariadne were forced to leave their beloved house to flee the endangered city, along with some other injured refugees. Polynices prayed to the gods that everyone would be safe, and that they would cure the injured men, but all hope was lost for them.
They started searching for safe land, carrying the young and injured in his callused hands, but everywhere and everything was covered with holly. Polynices prayed to Demeter, (The natural world god) to help them to survive the wilderness. Demeter and Polynices used to be the best of friends, until Demeter got taken away and put up on Mount Olympus. Polynices had helped Demeter save her daughter Persephone from hemlock poisoning, he had made a cure. So Demeter had answered his prayers.
She asked Artemis, (The wild land god) to clear a space of land for them to settle. And she did that very thing. Land was cleared for them. Apples grew on trees. But little did they know that Artemis had sneakily put a deadly disease on the land. But they didn’t know that. Their luck was getting worse and worse. The next night Polynices saw everyone with pale green faces, coughing and being sick. Polynices was distraught. He prayed to the gods, so that everyone would get better and recover from the illness. So he waited, and waited, and waited.
That night Polynices was awoken with a dream. That dream was that he found a cure for the disease. He suddenly woke up in a shock to find a firefly circling his head. He didn’t jump up in shock, because he knew that Demeter had answered his prayers. Follow the firefly. Follow the firefly. He heard. He got up and found the firefly drifting away from him. He chased after it. The firefly finally stopped at a beautiful field of flowers. Pale primroses, beautiful Rues, pretty Lotus’, pink Lily’s and emerald green clovers covered the grassy ground. But the firefly led him to one flower. The white rose. It was as white as a shimmery pearl. It’s a cure. It’s the cure. He heard. After that, he knew what to do. That night, he slept with thanks. The gods had listened.
In the morning, Polynices showed his wife and the refugees his flower. He told them it was a cure. They were astonished. They used the petals from the flower to make a medicine. A few hours later, everyone was up and healthy. “All hail our king, who saved our lives!” The crowd cheered. “All hail our king!”
Days passed, and Polynices’ thankfulness grew. Demeter wanted to award Polynices for him being King, so she asked Hades to award him. The next day, a beautiful river of gold started to flow down the horizon. Everyone was amazed. Polynices wanted to build a city with the marvellous gold, to advertise other citizens. He was over the moon.
As the city grew, Polynices’ pride grew with it. The refugees, who had become builders, started taking gold out of the golden river. He was proud of himself for the mighty kingdom he had created. “Look what I have created.” said Polynices proudly. “It sure is mind- blowing.” replied Ariadne. “No, it’s good. Not mind-blowing.” snapped Polynices. “I can still see brick and mud. Get the workers to dig out the finest marble for my city. Now go wife. Go!” Ariadne was getting very confused about what Polynices had turned into. His pride was growing, and she began to dislike that. She liked the old Polynices. Not this one.
Demeter was angry as well. This isn’t the real Polynices? The one I knew was kind and loving and humble. I need to go warn him now. Thought Demeter. She rushed down from mount Olympus and disguised herself as a homeless refugee. She knocked on the golden gates. “King Polynices here, who is it?” asked a voice. “It’s a refugee from the Trojan war.” mumbled Demeter. “Well, Get out!” shouted the voice. I don’t want you here. You’re dirtying my perfect city! Go, now. Go!” Demeter walked away furiously, clenching her fists and dragging her feet.
But Polynices wasn’t over yet. He started cutting down all the trees on the plain. He stomped on the flowers from Demeter, without even feeling pity. He used the wood for ships to steal treasure from countries. He was going crazy.
Demeter was infuriated! Her face was as red as fire. She was clenching her fists. She wanted to punish Polynices, in a way that he would never forget. But she didn’t want to. She was stormed over to Artemis and forced her to punish Polynices. She told her what he had done to her. What pain he had caused her. So Artemis was glad to punish him.
On one misty morning, the birds were chirping and Artemis was ready. Polynices on the other hand, was proudly striding across his city, ignoring all the people bowing. Suddenly, all the birds stopped chirping. He looked around. There were no trees. Out of nowhere, a murder of crows flooded the city, blocking out the sun. The ground started to shake. Polynices was shocked. Citizens muttered and whined to eachother. “The gods are unhappy.” They said. “There are no gods, there is only ME!” bellowed Polynices. Then, vines started to grow all over the city walls, dying them green. Hemlock started to grow through the ground. The walls started to crumble. “My perfect city!” Wailed Polynices. A vine grabbed him by the ankle and started to drag him away from his city, watching it turn to ruins.
He stopped at a plain piece of land, where he used to pray to the gods. Some grass started to grow on top of his body, stripping his sight of the city. The citizens. Were sprinting away as fast as they could, shouting in fear. The city was destroyed.
And there now lays a beautiful willow tree that had grown onto of Polynices’ hubristic corpse, forever looming over the ruins that used to be a perfected city.