Monsters of Greek Mythology, Volume Two (60 page)

But we can't be sure that the Sphinx still languishes in the hot sands of the desert, for another legend holds that she was not frozen in the great battle but managed to escape from Tartarus and find employment with Zeus. He used her on special assignments—to punish those mortals who dared imitate the gods.

One such mortal was a young prince named Oedipus, who believed that he was an orphan. He came to Thebes, and in a series of accidents, killed the king—who, unbeknownst to him, happened to be his father—and married the widow—his mother—and took the Theban throne.

This angered Zeus, who did not believe in accidents and did not approve of mortals marrying their close relatives. “For,” he stated, “this is a privilege reserved for the gods who must marry within the family. Take me for example: Whom could I have married without lowering myself—only my own sister.”

So Zeus was displeased with Oedipus for breaking this taboo, and sent the Sphinx to kill him. Lurking in ambush beyond the city's walls, she trapped the king's chariot in a valley. She snatched up the charioteer and devoured him, armor and all, as Oedipus watched, horrified. He drew his sword to defend himself. But the Sphinx was in no hurry; she wanted to have a little fun before killing him.

“I'll give you a chance to save your life,” she said. “If you can answer this riddle, which no one has ever been able to guess, I'll let you go—or at least save you for later.”

“Ask your riddle!” shouted the king.

“Very well.… What has sometimes two legs, sometimes three, sometimes four, and goes least when it has the most?”

“This is the answer,” said Oedipus. “It is man—who walks on two legs in his prime. On three—that is, two legs and a cane—when old. And on four when a babe who can only crawl, and then goes slowest.”

Now, this legend says, the Sphinx was stricken with shame at having her riddle guessed so easily—leaped off the cliff and dashed herself to pieces on the rocks below. Whereupon Zeus, still determined on punishment, sent a plague upon Thebes. And Oedipus, consulting an oracle, was told that he had brought the plague upon the city by killing his father and marrying his mother.

Then, one version of the story says, Oedipus killed himself. Another says he blinded himself. And still another that he went into exile, accompanied by his youngest daughter, who would also have been his half sister.

However, while the other tales of the Sphinx are a matter of solid record, there is very little evidence to support the Oedipus story. The account of the monster killing herself, for example, seems far out of character. Monsters value themselves too highly to commit suicide, especially this monster.

Now, Persephone did spend half of each year with her mother in the Upper World, and that time became spring and summer. Half a year she spent underground as Hades' queen. And that time, Demeter decreed, was winter, and no crops grew. As for Charon, he served as ferryman while Persephone was underground—and that was the busy season, for more old folk die in winter. And it is said that Hades by then did not care how much time Persephone spent on the ferry. For he had become interested in Menthe.

And when it was time for Persephone to visit her mother, Charon went too. He was not idle in the Upper World; he always found work as a ferryman. That he and Persephone met often then is proved by the way the most beautiful wildflowers grow on riverbanks.

We should be aware that we may not yet be finished with the Sphinx, nor she with us. There are those who say that the figure still crouching in the Egyptian desert—the figure of a monster with a lion's body, an eagle's wings, and a woman's face—is not carved out of stone but is the actual living body of the Sphinx, so deeply frozen that ninety centuries of desert sun have only begun to thaw her out. But the thawing has begun, as Hades predicted; the Sphinx is being unlocked from her frozen sleep, and will wake up hungry.

About the Author

Bernard Evslin (1922–1993) was a bestselling and award-winning author known for his works on Greek and other cultural mythologies. The
New York Times
called him “one of the most widely published authors of classical mythology in the world.” He was born in New Rochelle, New York, and attended Rutgers University. After several years working as a playwright, screenwriter, and documentary producer, he began publishing novels and short stories in the late 1960s. During his long career, Evslin published more than seventy books—over thirty of which were for young adults. His bestseller
Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths
has been translated into ten different languages and has sold more than ten million copies worldwide. He won the National Education Association Award in 1961, and in 1986 his book
Hercules
received the Washington Irving Children's Book Choice Award. Evslin died in Kauai, Hawaii, at the age of seventy-seven.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The Hydra
© 1989,
Ladon
© 1990,
Medusa
© 1987,
The Minotaur
© 1987,
The Nemean Lion
© 1990,
Procrustes
© 1987,
Scylla and Charybdis
© 1989,
The Sirens
© 1988,
The Sphinx
© 1991 Copyright by Bernard Evslin

Cover design by Olivera, Omar & Andrea Worthington

ISBN: 978-1-4976-6707-5

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