Hephaestus, the son of Zeus and Hera, the god of fire, the blacksmith god, with whom no one can compare in the art of forging, was born on Bright Olympus as a weak and lame child. The great Hera became angry when they showed her an ugly, frail son. She grabbed him and threw him from Olympus down to a distant land.
The unfortunate child rushed through the air for a long time and finally fell into the waves of the boundless sea. The sea goddesses took pity on him - Eurynome, the daughter of the great Ocean, and Thetis, the daughter of the prophetic sea elder Nereus. They picked up little Hephaestus who had fallen into the sea and took him with them deep under the waters of the gray Ocean. There, in the azure grotto, they raised Hephaestus. The god Hephaestus grew up ugly, lame, but with powerful arms, a broad chest and a muscular neck. What a marvelous artist he was in his blacksmith's craft! He forged a lot of magnificent jewelry from gold and silver for his teachers Eurynome and Thetis.
For a long time Hephaestus harbored anger in his heart against his mother, the goddess Hera, and finally decided to take revenge on her for throwing him off Olympus. He forged a golden chair of extraordinary beauty and sent it to Olympus as a gift to his mother. The wife of the thunderer Zeus was delighted when she saw the wonderful gift. Indeed, only the queen of gods and men could sit on a chair of such extraordinary beauty. But - oh, horror! As soon as Hera sat down in the chair, indestructible chains wrapped around her, and Hera found herself chained to the chair. The gods rushed to her aid. In vain - none of them was able to free Queen Hera. The gods realized that only Hephaestus, who forged the chair, could free his great mother.
They immediately sent the god Hermes, the messenger of the gods, for the blacksmith god. Hermes rushed like a whirlwind to the ends of the world, to the shores of the Ocean. In the blink of an eye, Hermes flashed over land and sea and appeared in the grotto where Hephaestus was working. For a long time he asked Hephaestus to go with him to high Olympus to free Queen Hera, but the blacksmith god flatly refused: he remembered the evil that his mother had caused him. Neither the requests nor the pleas of Hermes helped. Dionysus, the cheerful god of wine, came to his aid. With a loud laugh, he brought Hephaestus a cup of fragrant wine, followed by another, and after that another and another. Hephaestus got drunk, now he could do anything with him - take him anywhere. The god of wine Dionysus defeated Hephaestus. Hermes and Dionysus put Hephaestus on a donkey and took him to Olympus. Hephaestus rode swaying. Around Hephaestus, ivy-covered maenads with thyrsus in their hands rushed in a merry dance. The drunken satyrs jumped clumsily. The torches were smoking, the ringing of tambourines, laughter, and tambourines were loudly heard. And ahead walked the great god Dionysus wearing a wreath of grapes and carrying a thyrsus. The procession moved merrily. Finally we arrived at Olympus. Hephaestus freed his mother in an instant; now he no longer remembered the insult.
Hephaestus remained to live on Olympus. He built majestic golden palaces there for the gods and built himself a palace of gold, silver and bronze. In it he lives with his wife, the beautiful, friendly Harita, the goddess of grace and beauty.
The forge of Hephaestus is also located in the same palace. Hephaestus spends most of his time in his forge, full of wonders. In the middle there is a huge anvil, in the corner there is a forge with a blazing fire and bellows. These bellows are marvelous - they do not need to be moved by hand, they obey the word of Hephaestus. He will say - and the bellows work, fanning the fire in the forge into a brightly burning flame. Covered with sweat, all black from dust and soot, the blacksmith god works in his forge. What marvelous works Hephaestus forges in it: indestructible weapons, jewelry made of gold and silver, bowls and goblets, tripods that roll themselves on golden wheels as if alive.
Having finished his work, having washed his sweat and soot in a fragrant bath, Hephaestus goes, limping and staggering on his weak legs, to the feast of the gods, to his father, the thunderer Zeus. Friendly, good-natured, he often stops the quarrel between Zeus and Hera that is about to flare up. Without laughter, the gods cannot see how the lame Hephaestus hobbles around the banquet table, pouring fragrant nectar to the gods. Laughter makes the gods forget their quarrels.
But the god Hephaestus can also be formidable. Many experienced the power of his fire, and the terrible, powerful blows of his huge hammer. Even the waves of the raging rivers of Xanth and Simois were subdued by Hephaestus at Troy with his fire. Terrible, he struck down mighty giants with his hammer.
The great god of fire, the most skillful, divine blacksmith Hephaestus - he gives warmth and joy, he is affectionate and friendly, but he also punishes menacingly.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru