Tereus the Mythological Hoopoe

I have spent quite a bit of time studying mythologies in the past few years but usually I would read summaries of the ancient stories or stories that incorporated the long-forgotten myths. I had completely blanked how gory and graphically terrifying stories are. I am shocked! I guess that's what happens when a lot of your ancient myth exposure comes from mythological children's stories.  

Percy Jackson Poster

It is amazing to me how much of Ovid's tales are able to be translated to books and novels that have been written in the current era and been wonderfully successful. The books that I am specifically thinking about are the Percy Jackson series. My point is not my love of the series (which is very great) but that the idea of gods, heroes, and anything mythological is welcomed at any era in time. We, as humans, need these stories to help make sense of the world and our role in it. The group of humans that most need these myths during our lifetime is our children. Our children need an acceptable and accessible way to reach back in time to these myths. Not only haven't children learned to be bored but they also haven't learned to be untrusting and cynical. It is a shame that we have stopped teaching our children to believe in these myths or more importantly to believe in anything. I say this not only as a Lit major who is tired of being asked what the point of my degree actually is going to be but also a future mother, aunt, and hopefully someday a grandma! I have been extremely lucky to have a family who has encouraged my exploration into the mythical, magical, and extraordinary. 

Now to get off of my little tangent and back to how horrified I was at some of the stories. I think that the story that made me most want to be sick was the story of Tereus, Procne, and Philomela. Every character in this story was absolutely awful except for maybe the women's father. I get that Procne and Philomela had been tragically wronged but the idea of someone killing their own child and feeding that child to someone is one of the sickest things I have ever read or imagined. 

Tereus, Procne, & Philomela at the Banquet

While I am disgusted by this story, I have been doing some research on the origins of it and some meanings of names, symbols, and such. One really thing that I did come across was that Tereus was turned into a Hoopoe. In Ovid, I could not find the specificiation of what he turned into but Wikipedia said that he turned into this greatly magical creature. This creature has been seen in mythologies all across the world. He is often seen as a king of the birdly realm. 

Hoopoe Bird

The place that I most distinctly remember encountering the Hoopoe is in Haroun and the Sea of Stories. This once again is a children's story that has untold value to children and adults alike. I read this in a class last year for Dr. Sexson and it quickly became one of my favorites of all time. I strongly recommend that everyone read this amazing classic. This story connects not only the mythological world of eons ago with today but it also connects the political, social, and economical problems of our ancestors to us. This story is in fact my answer to why literature matters and why it is important that children are given the chance to explore the magical, mythical, and extraordinary.