Myths :: Phaeton's Pride
The sun was shining unbearably hot upon the Ethiopian fields. A group of teenage boy was lying under one of the trees, lounging to avoid the sun’s insufferable heat.
“I wish my father would hurry up and get home with dinner.”
“You’re father’s a hunter?”
“Yeah, so?”
“No reason.”
The other boys got up from their lounging positions to look at the other boy.
“Phaeton, why? You want to start something? You’re father isn’t even around!”
“My father is always around. My mother told me- he’s the Sun God himself.”
The other boys stared at Phaeton for a split second before bursting into laughter.
“Yeah, ok Phaeton! You’re dad is Helios, my dad is Zeus!” At this, the other bys began to laugh even harder.
Phaeton glared at them angrily. “I don’t care what you guys think! I know my dad is the Sun God, and I don’t care what you think!” Phaeton ran off, the other boys laughter ringing in his ears.
When he got home, he stopped his mother, “Mom, tell me the truth; who is my father?!”
Clymene1 looked at her son nervously. She still remembered her tryst with the Sun God, and she had told Phaeton about it, but it was natural for others to be skeptical.
“Mom! Tell me!”
“He is your father. Helios is your father, son, I remember the day he came to me like it was yesterday. I swear to you, he is.”
“Prove it,” dared the boy.
Clymene looked shocked. Her son had never been so persistent, it must have been the teasing.
“There… There is a way," she relented, "In the East, in the land of mountains, he has a palace. You can visit him, speak to him. He will tell you he is your father.”
Phaeton nodded, in awe. He could meet his father… It was too good to be true, “I’m leaving immediately.”
Clymene nodded. “Be careful, my son.”
“I will, mother. Thank you.”
And so Phaeton departed. Traveling over India and Persia, he soon came upon the mountains where his father lived. He climbed he mountain, taking the better part of a day, and finally found the palace in which his father had his home. Phaeton’s jaw dropped when he saw it: it was a palace, a palace of the sun, gold, and shining with brilliant light.
“Father!” Phaeton walked into the golden palace, screaming for his father. “Father! It is I,. Phaeton, son of Clymene!”
“I know who you are.”
Phaeton turned towards the voice, and standing there was his father.
Helios the Sun God was tall, most Gods were. He was wearing a robe that was apparently golden silk, and his hair was as golden as the sun itself. Phaeton was in awe of the God, in disbelief that this was the man who had helped create him.
“Are you… my father?”
“Yes, Phaeton. Your mother and I… you are my son.”
Phaeton just stared at the God. They had the same face, and the impossibly golden hair, and the body structure… there was no denying this man, this God, was his father.
But he wanted- no he needed proof. “Prove it,” he dared.
“What?” Helios could not believe the brashness of this boy, of his son.
“I need you to prove you are my father.”
Helios just stared at the boy. He had his mother’s eyes. Very rarely did children of Gods get their eyes, it was unheard of. Helios sighed, “I… swear to you, on Styx herself, that I am your father.”
Phaeton smiled brightly, “I want to drive the chariot.”
Helios gasped, taken aback. “No. Impossible.”
“You swore on Styx. That’s the deepest promise you can make. Are you going back on it?”
Helios just stared at his son. “Fine. Fine, I’ll let you drive the chariot. But let’s wait, okay? Not right away.”
So they waited. Phaeton stayed at the palace, and every morning, would watch his father take the reins of the chariot and ride away across the sky itself.
Phaeton was ready. He could almost feel the reins in his hands as he mimicked his father after he left.
At night, Helios would talk to Phaeton, trying to talk him out of it. “But son… The horses will not let you control them- you have to make sure to grip the reins tightly, and hold on. No matter what, do not let them control you.”
Phaeton would just nod and smile. He was going to drive the chariot. He was going to control the sun.
Finally, the morning came. Phaeton and Helios stood at the edge of the palace, and Phaeton shuddered a bit. The horses were humongous, and powerful, with fiery manes and leering eyes. They almost seemed to know that this boy would not be able to control them.
Helios patted Phaeton on the back. “Good luck, son. Remember, don’t let go.”
Phaeton nodded and hopped into the chariot. Almost as soon as his hands touched the reins, the horses took off. They flew dangerously fast across the sky, the fire brightening the day as they traveled across the world.
Phaeton struggled with them, their strength hundreds of times greater than his. They began to fly upwards, leaving the Earth cold.
“No! Go down! Lower!” Phaeton pulled the reins, jerking the horses downwards. Down they went, towards the earth. The people below scattered as the horses flew close by, houses catching fire and vegetation drying to a crisp as the horses skimmed the surface of the earth.
“NO! Stop!” Phaeton pulled the reins harder than ever, and this time, the horses refused. They continued to fly over the country, turning most of it into a desert, the people fleeing as their skin began to darken from the magnificent heat of the sun.
Phaeton was crying as he pulled the reins, harder, harder than ever. He had ruined crops, turned most of a country into a desert, and was now losing control once more. They were climbing, higher, higher…
Meanwhile, Zeus, the king of Gods himself, was sitting at his throne when his wife, Hera, rushed in.
“Zeus! You must come! The earth- Helios has let his half-breed son drive the chariot, and he’s lost control thrice already! You must stop him!”
Zeus looked incredulously at his wife, “What do you propose I do?”
“Kill him! Throw a lightning bolt, and stop him from blackening the earth!”
Zeus looked down at the earth, sighing. This was going to be painful.
He held the lightning bolt in his hands, aiming it down at the poor boy. The electricity crackled in his hands, illuminating Hera’s face harshly as she spoke: “Do it.”
Zeus unleashed the lighting bolt, watching as it hurtled toward the earth.
Back in the skies above earth, Phaeton was still fighting with the spiteful horses, “Stop fighting!”
A light illuminated the sky above him for a brief second, and Phaeton looked up. It would be the last thing he ever did: the lightening bolt struck him, disintegrating the chariot and killing him instantly. The horses stumbled for a second, realizing they were free, they sped off towards the mountains.
Phaeton’s body fell for what seemed like an eternity, until, finally, he crashed into the river Eridanos.
Almost instantly, his sisters appeared. The Heliades stared at their brothers bodies for a split second before they began to weep, their tears falling into the river. Their bodies heaved with the force of their sobs, mourning for a brother they never knew. Their grief was almost solid as they cried, their sobs echoing into the morning like a bird’s call.
A few months later, Zeus was staring at the spot where the boy had fallen. Hera looked down, seeing a group of women standing by the river, lost in their grief.
“It’s sad, isn’t it? Losing a loved one?”
Zeus nodded solemnly. “It must be.”
“You can ease their pain, you know.”
Zeus looked at his wife. “I guess I can…" Zeus waved his hands, and within moments, the women froze up- their skin began to harden, becoming a hard shell, their arms elongating and sprouting leaves. Zeus had turned them into poplar trees to immortalize their grieving. Hera smiled. “That’s better. Look, their tears!”
Hera pointed to where the women’s tears had been, where there was now a sticky, yellow substance.
“Amber.”
Hera nodded. “That poor boy should have just listened to his father.”
Zeus nodded. “Indeed.”
The two gods just watched as the amber fell into the river, and was washed away. The trees just stood at the bank of the river, remaining stoic as ever, their grief truly immortalized forever.
by Joshua Grullon
This is a retelling of the myth of Phaeton and is based on a variety of sources. Artistic license has been taken.
Leave Feedback for the Author