Page 29 of Hermes
It wasn’t until my fifth day that I remained on Corinth in the forest, beside my Crocus, that I was summoned by Zeus. A messenger of his came to find me, explaining that I needed to be seen by my father right away. There would be no excuses I could use to avoid him. So, here I was, standing before my father, with who was now my sworn enemy by my side.
Zeus glanced back and forth, inspecting the two of us very closely, before directly speaking. “Hermes, my son. Aphrodite has brought forth some shocking claims as to a strife that has been occurring between the two of you for several years now. Is it accurate to say that you and her have been at odds for the past few years?” he asked, rubbing his thick alabaster beard as he did so.
I nodded. “Yes. Although I did not know a quarrel existed between us until she informed me that she had put my lover under a spell. It was a spell that made him fall in love with a mortal, to separate the two of us.
Zeus then diverted his attention back over to Aphrodite. “And is this true, Aphrodite? Did you purposefully put a spell on a lover of Hermes?”
She adamantly shook her head in the negative. “Purposefully, I did not. Now, I will admit I was bitter and resentful of Hermes having embarrassed me all because I asked him to do us all a favor by venturing out to rescue Ares from those repulsive Aloadae years ago.”
The Goddess of love was clever with her words. She was painting a narrative to make it seem like she had to suffer for what was a favor and a request that was representative of all the gods. Although I despised her for everything she did to me, again, from one conniver to another, I had to admire her art in being so compelling.
She continued on with her explanation. “When I stumbled upon the poor Crocus in Corinth, who was a kind and endearing young man, caring for his brothers and sisters, I saw that he was lonely. He needed a woman in his life to help and care for him. To support him. Thus, I had one of my followers, Smilax, introduced to him. Yes, I invoked a spell to speed up the process of them falling in love, but it was all in good faith. I had absolutely no idea Hermes was in love with Crocus. Actually, I had no idea Hermes was capable of loving male mortals to begin with.”
“She is lying!” I shouted. “She knew very well that we were in love. It’s the only reason why she cast a spell on him to fall in love with that odious woman, Smilax. She sought revenge on me for embarrassing her all those years ago. She even revealed that to me on the beach when I confronted her about the matter.”
“Did this truly happen, Aphrodite? Did you tell Hermes you did all of this just for your own vindictive reasons?” my father inquired.
“No. It was nothing more than a mere coincidence. I am not sure of what encounter Hermes is referring to, but never have I met him on the beach to discuss such affairs. I’m afraid he is sadly mistaken,” Aphrodite lied.
“That’s not true! She is completely deceiving you, father. You have to believe me…” I practically begged, hoping he would see right through the bitch’s deception.
“It seems we are not getting far here. Let us proceed to the next portion of what we have to discuss. Hermes… you did, in fact, go to Corinth and turn Smilax into a shrub. Is this true?”
I nodded, but there was so much more to the story that I still needed to fill my father in on. “Yes. But it was only to dispel the curse against my lover. Crocus has always loved me. If Aphrodite was not involved, he and I would have remained together all along.”
“I see…” Zeus simply replied. “Go on. And now recite to me what happened. You turned Smilax into a plant?”
“Yes. But then, Crocus fell back in love with me. Whenever I had the time, I paid him a visit in Corinth. We had a whole future planned together. Everything was going accordingly until Aphrodite inserted herself once again,” I started to say before she intervened.
“But of course. I had no choice but to step in. Be honest, Hermes. When I asked you what became of Smilax, did you not deny knowing her whereabouts? You told me you had no idea where she was. Yet, just weeks later, I happened to overhear you and Crocus deep in discussion, with you admitting to him that you transformed her into a bramble.” Aphrodite gave me a look of indignation as she explained this.
“Hermes, is this true?” the King of the Gods asked me.
This wasn’t the direction I wanted this trial to go. It seemed Aphrodite was winning with her terrible falsities. So, I had no choice but to lie and level the field. If Aphrodite did it, why couldn’t I? She wasn’t the only tricky, deceitful person in the room. “No. It’s certainly not true. I was upfront and honest with Aphrodite from the very beginning. I told her what became of Smilax when she had confronted me. But then, why did Aphrodite not turn Crocus into a flower, then and there? Why would she be so cruel as to allow me to make love and spend time with Crocus for weeks on end and then decide to take him away from me?”
My question was rhetorical, but Zeus began to think aloud. “Well…”
I interrupted his train of thought. “Well, I’ll tell you why. It’s because she’s a nasty, heinous bitch!”
Aphrodite gasped at my remark. As if she actually cared, though. I knew without a doubt that she had been called far worse by many people for how wicked of a goddess she was.
“Why you little…” she said.
But Zeus slammed his fist onto the arm of his throne chair, disrupting us, causing a commotion of his own. “Silence! That will be enough from the both of you!”
He pressed his hand to his forehead and shook it, seeming disappointed at the two of us. “Clearly, this controversy between the both of you has gotten out of control and has gone too far. So, I demand a separation of you both. One hundred years. Hermes, you will avoid Aphrodite for that length of time. Aphrodite, you will do the same with Hermes, until both of you have settled down and can remain amicable for the foreseeable future,” Zeus ultimately decided.
“But what of Crocus?” I asked. “Surely, you will tell her to return him to his former self, as a mortal human.”
“I’m sorry, my son. But I will do no such thing. Smilax and Crocus will remain as they are for an eternity. Your actions have been decided. And so, losing a mortal that was close to the both you will be your punishment. There will be no reversing of any curses or spells,” he dictated.
“I love him, father! Please, do not let her get away with this. Make her change him back!” I screeched, begging him to reconsider his decision.
“No. And my ruling is final, Hermes. Aphrodite has lost Smilax, and you have lost Crocus in all of this. Let this be a lesson to the both of you in how you handle your affairs with one another and to learn to never allow mortals to get in between your disputes.”
This was not right. This could not be what my father thought of as a fair sentence. It was completely unfair!
“So, you both are willing to separate me from the love of my life and not feel guilty over it!?” I accused them.
