If man travelled along the never ending river of time, they would come across a humble man who sat in his great theatre. This man went by the name of Katrios. Ideas flooded into his head as night over took the day. Being a playwright wasn’t easy for Katrios: the large city of Athens needed entertaining.

The morning came, and citizens strolled in as the morning performance began. Katrios stood backstage, a prayer on his lips as he shook. He wanted it to be perfect.

Later on, in the busy streets of Athens, he was showing a puppet show to a small group of children. He taught many things: how important it is to worship the gods, the country of Greece and other lessons for them to enjoy. After his show, a little girl shuffled her way through the crowd and tugged on Katrios’s robes.

“Hello little girl, how may I help you?” said Katrios.

“I think you are the greatest playwright ever!” said the little girl, her eyes glowing as she said it.

“You should enter the Great Dionysia, I am sure you would win!”

Katrios’s eyes widened.

“You know what, In think I will” he said triumphantly. And with that, he left the little girl to start writing his plays.

He stayed up late for many nights writing three plays that would go down in history.

Apollo watched him every night, sending him arrows of confidence. At last, they were finished. After months of work, he had done it. Katrios called together his acting group and they travelled to the Great Dionysia.

There were many performances before Katrios’s plays. The competition was tough. At last , the time came for his performance.

Before they went on, Katrios called them together for a prayer to Apollo. Only the god of the arts could help them.  A thin arrow flew between them, there was something attached to it. A golden mask. Apollo had listened.

Without hesitating, Katrios picked up the mask and handed it to his best actor.

“Apollo is with us, he wishes us the best”whispered Katrios, handing it to her.

She put it on and proudly strutted into the spotlight, leading the actors.

They acted beautifully, danced gracefully and sang perfectly.

When they came backstage, Katrios was speechless.

“That was amazing!” said Katrios.

They were all provided with flowers and gifts as more friends came backstage.

Soon came the time for the winner of the Great Dionysia.

They had done it. The crowd cheered, throwing flowers to congratulate them.

“We’ve done it!” shouted one of them.

“We are amazing!”

I’m amazing!” joked Katrios, bowing and blowing kisses.

When they returned home, a grand banquet was held to celebrate their talent. Many citizens came to congratulate him. He stayed up late: dancing, eating and talking about his victory. Katrios strutted down the street to his theatre, watching other citizens whisper about how great he was. That’s what Katrios thought, but he was wrong. The citizens were tired of listening to Katrios boast about how great he was.

“OK, everyone!” he shouted.

“I have a new play for you to perform.”

He handed them a script.

“Sorry Katrios, but this is awful!”said one of them.

Hearing this made fury erupt inside him.

“I stayed up late last night writing this play!”Katrios shouted, storming out of the theatre.

“I created their talent” he muttered to himself, pushing citizens that got in his way.

All this time, he didn’t realise the mist drifting above him. Apollo was watching him, shaking with anger. He made the mist cover Katrios like a thick grey blanket. Apollo carried him back to the theatre. There, he disguised himself as one of the actors.

“How am I here again!”said Katrios.

“Oh it’s you, my least favourite actor!”

Apollo narrowed his eyes and spoke in a booming voice that echoed through the theatre, causing the other actors to run to the noise.

“Over the last few days, I think you have been challenging the gods of high Olympus” bellowed Apollo.

Katrios got to his feet and scowled at Apollo.

“I am Katrios, the most handsome, creative, most amazing playwright!”

“You are only an actor”

Apollo knew starting a fight would not help his fury, the only option was to walk away. Not shout as he did, but walk away silent. And that is what he did, complete silence.

The next day, Katrios had a new play. However, he did not let his actors decide whether it was good or not. All he did was shove the script into their hands and threaten them to perform it.

A large crowd had gathered to watch this, including Apollo. The performance began and before Katrios knew it, everyone was in floods of tears. The play was a horrible display of the Olympus gods making a fool of themselves. Apollo could barely contain his anger. He rose to his feet, removed his disguise and in one dominant click, cursed Katrios before he could blink.

Katrios tried to stop the play, but all that escaped his mouth was the most tragic words any man could think of. Apollo bellowed over the weeping crowd.

“Fame isn’t everything, now be gone Katrios!”

Katrios felt hot tears flood into his eyes.

He fled from the theatre, weeping as he ran. Ran far away from all of his fame

Some say he disappeared into the mountains and was never seen again. But one thing is for sure, fame definitely isn’t everything.