Letters to the Gods
Dear Artemis,
In my hopes to become a great hero I have embarked on a quest that seems to be too much for me alone. I have been sent to hunt and slay the mighty boar that roams the woods of Aenos. Foolishly and without question I accepted this quest. Soon after I accepted this quest I departed Larissa to travel to Delphi to seek the oracle. When I spoke with the oracle, she told me about how mighty the boar was and how I was foolish to take on such a quest. She said to me 'This is no ordinary boar; this monster is ten times the size of a boar on normal size. This boar feeds on human flesh and bone and will only be stopped by the help of the gods.' After this I started to leave to go to your temple to ask for help, but the oracle stopped me and continued with 'You have nothing to do other than die or complete this quest, for if you don't the wrath of the gods will fall upon you. You must do one or the other.' She finished after this, and I left for Ephesus to pray at your temple. I left an offering of honey and cakes at your alter and prayed that you would help me in this hopeless quest. After waiting days for an answer I left to find the boar, and defeat it on my own. I tracked the boar for week before I found that it was at the base of the Aenos Mountain which its forest surrounded. I then made my way to the roots of the mountain to kill the monster, complete my quest, and become a hero. But, the oracle did not lie. This boar was like nothing I had ever seen. Its tusks the width of trees, its hooves the size of boulders, and its eyes as black and hungry as the Underworld it's self. I then knew that to try to defeat this great boar on my own without your help was hopeless. So, I ask you to help me to conquer this great beast. I will take no glory for myself, and I will tell all about your help in this great matter. I know that if you do not help me with this quest that I fool-heartedly accepted in order to become a hero, I will die. If not from the boar's tusks, then from your own hands, for the oracle told me that the god's wrath would fall upon me if I left this quest before I died. You are my last and only hope for survival.
Faithful servant always,
Ἄδραστος
Ἄδραστος then rolled up the parchment which he had written on, and walked over to a tree. This tree was by the bed of the river Cerynies, it was said that nymphs lived in this part of the woods and within this river. Ἄδραστος took a poison arrow from his quiver and stabbed it though the parchment, he then took this arrow and laid it at the base of the tree, he did not want to stab it in fear that it was home to one of Artemis' nymphs. "Please of great Artemis, Goddess of the hunt, please take this letter, read it with kindness in your heart, and send help to me. If you cannot come to this place to take this letter, have one of your nymphs read it to you one I am gone, for if you do not send me help I shall die." After this quick prayer under his breath, Ἄδραστος walked back to the roots of the Aenos Mountain to fight the boar.
