dracox-serdriel:revfrog:good questionCassandra had the gift of prophecy, Apollo cursed her with a ki
dracox-serdriel:revfrog:good questionCassandra had the gift of prophecy, Apollo cursed her with a kiss. He didn’t take her power to see the future - which he could’ve done, prophecy was one of his “things” - no, he took something far more precious than the ability to see the future. He took away people’s belief in her. So she was doubly tormented: she knew what was coming, but no one would ever heed her warnings.The boy who cried wolf did much the same thing, only he did it to himself. He cried for help when he didn’t need it and rubbed everyone’s faces in his “joke.” So they lost belief in his word, and no one heeded his warning when he needed them to.Many people tell the Boy Who Cried Wolf as a story to warn against lying, but could just as easily be interpreted as a story that warns against stubbornly ignoring a warning, too. Do you think anyone in that village believed that the boy in the story deserved to be mauled to death by a wolf for what he’d done? The boy came from the village, and there were people who cared for him and loved him there. Do you think any of them said, “Well, he shouldn’t have lied!” when they found his mangled corpse on the third morning? Do you really believe that no one regretted staying in on the third night when he was being mauled to death? Maybe he is the boy who cried wolf… but that doesn’t mean you leave him defenseless in a field for the wolf to eat him. Of course, in the telling of the Boy Who Cries Wolf, this rarely - if ever - comes up. Because this story is almost exclusively told to children to make them afraid to lie. The story of Cassandra has a much stronger message. Her gift was incredibly powerful, yet no matter how often she was proven right, people still refused to heed her warnings. They questioned her abilities (even after they were well-proven), then her sanity, then her motives. Any excuse they can find not to believe her. Yes, Apollo cursed Cassandra, which by itself provides no moral lesson. But how his curse affected those around her (rather than Cassandra herself) absolutely does. By all standards, Cassandra should’ve been the one in control. People should’ve gone to her for guidance after her first few predictions were proven true. But nobody believed in her abilities, regardless of proof, because no matter what, when it comes to human communication and words, belief and trust are both essential and arbitrary. People may choose not to believe and trust something that is well-proven and undeniably true; people may choose to believe and trust something that has no proof and is completely false; and literally all the shades in between.The Boy Who Cried Wolf is a story that people tell – usually to children – to instill a fear of lying–because if you lie, you’ll lose trust. Apollo’s Curse on Cassandra, however, is a much more realistic account of how trust works in human society.Why is one told more than the other? Because there is plenty to be gained in making children (or people) afraid of lying. There is far less to be gained in sharing a painful truth. -- source link
#folk tales#greek mythology#mythology