Only once was the established order in the world disrupted, and the sun god did not go to heaven to shine on people. It happened like this. The Sun-Helios had a son from Klymene, the daughter of the sea goddess Thetis, his name was Phaethon. One day, a relative of Phaeton, the son of the thunderer Zeus Epaphus, mocking him, said:
“I don’t believe that you are the son of the radiant Helios.” Your mother is telling a lie. You are the son of a mere mortal.
Phaeton became angry, a blush of shame flooded his face; he ran to his mother, threw himself on her chest and complained with tears about the insult. But his mother, stretching out her hands to the radiant sun, exclaimed:
- Oh, son! I swear to you by Helios, who sees and hears us, whom you yourself now see, that he is your father! Let him deprive me of his light if I tell a lie. Go to him yourself, his palace is not far from us. He will confirm my words to you.
Phaeton immediately went to his father Helios. He quickly reached the palace of Helios, shining with gold, silver and precious stones. The whole palace seemed to sparkle with all the colors of the rainbow, so marvelously the god Hephaestus himself decorated it. Phaeton entered the palace and saw Helios sitting on the throne in purple clothes. But Phaethon could not get closer to the radiant god, his eyes - the eyes of a mortal - could not stand the radiance emanating from the crown of Helios. The sun god saw Phaeton and asked him:
“What brings you to my palace, my son?”
- Oh, light of the whole world, oh, father, Helios! Only dare I call you father? - Phaeton exclaimed. - Give me proof that you are my father. Destroy, I pray you, my doubt.
Helios took off his radiant crown, called Phaethon to him, hugged him and said:
- Yes, you are my son; Your mother, Clymene, told you the truth. And so that you no longer doubt, ask me whatever you want, and I swear by the waters of the sacred river Styx, I will fulfill your request.
As soon as Helios said this, Phaeton began to ask to be allowed to ride across the sky instead of Helios himself in his golden chariot. The radiant god was horrified.
- Crazy, why are you asking! - Helios exclaimed. - Oh, if I could break my oath! You are asking the impossible, Phaeton. After all, you can't do it. After all, you are a mortal, but is this the business of a mortal? Even the immortal gods are unable to resist my chariot. The great Zeus the Thunderer himself cannot rule it, and who is more powerful than him? Just think: at first the road is so steep that even my winged horses can barely climb it. In the middle it goes so high above the ground that even I am overcome with fear as I look down at the seas and lands spread out below me. At the end, the road descends so rapidly to the sacred shores of the Ocean that without my experienced guidance the chariot will fly headlong down and crash. You think maybe you will meet a lot of beautiful things along the way. No, there is a path among dangers, horrors and wild animals. It is narrow; if you deviate to the side, then the horns of a formidable calf await you there, a centaur’s bow, a furious lion, a monstrous scorpion and cancer threaten you there. Many horrors are on the way across the sky. Believe me, I don't want to be the reason for your death. Oh, if you could penetrate my heart with your gaze and see how afraid I am for you! Look around you, look at the world, how much beauty there is in it! Ask for whatever you want, I will not refuse you anything, just don’t ask for it. After all, you are not asking for a reward, but a terrible punishment.
But Phaeton did not want to listen to anything; wrapping his arms around Helios’s neck, he asked that his request be fulfilled.
- Okay, I will fulfill your request. Don't worry, because I swore by the waters of the Styx. You will get what you ask for, but I thought you were smarter,” Helios answered sadly.
He led Phaeton to where his chariot stood. Phaeton admired her; it was all gold and sparkled with multi-colored stones. They brought the winged horses of Helios, fed with ambrosia and nectar. They harnessed the horses to the chariot. Rose-fingered Eos opened the gates of the sun. Helios rubbed Phaeton's face with sacred ointment so that the flames of the sun's rays would not scorch him, and placed a sparkling crown on his head. With a sigh full of sadness, Helios gives his last instructions to Phaethon:
- My son, remember my last instructions, fulfill them if you can. Don't rush the horses, hold the reins as firmly as possible. My horses will run on their own. It's hard to hold them. You will clearly see the road along the ruts; they go across the whole sky. Don't rise too high, so as not to burn the sky, but don't go too low, otherwise you will burn the whole earth. Don't deviate, remember, neither to the right nor to the left. Your path is exactly in the middle between the snake and the altar. I entrust everything else to fate, I only hope for it. But it's time, the night has already left the sky; The rose-fingered Eos has already risen. Take the reins tighter. But maybe you will change your decision - after all, it threatens you with death. Oh, let me shine on the earth myself! Don't ruin yourself!
But Phaeton quickly jumped onto the chariot and grabbed the reins. He rejoices, rejoices, thanks his father Helios and hurries on his way. The horses beat their hooves, flames burst from their nostrils, they easily pick up the chariot and quickly rush forward through the fog along the steep road to heaven. The chariot is unusually light for horses. Now the horses are already racing across the sky, they leave the usual path of Helios and rush without a road. But Phaeton does not know where the road is, he is not able to control the horses. He looked from the top of the sky to the ground and turned pale with fear, she was so far below him. His knees began to tremble, darkness clouded his eyes. He already regrets that he begged his father to let him drive his chariot. What should he do? He has already traveled a lot, but there is still a long way ahead. Phaeton cannot cope with the chariot, he does not know their names, and he does not have the strength to restrain them with the reins. He sees terrible celestial animals around him and gets even more scared.
There is a place in the sky where a monstrous, formidable scorpion lies, and horses carry Phaeton there. The unfortunate young man saw a scorpion covered in dark poison, threatening him with a deadly sting, and, mad with fear, he released the reins. Then the horses rushed even faster, sensing freedom. Either they soar to the very stars, then, descending, they rush almost over the earth itself. Helios’s sister, the moon goddess Selene, looks in amazement as her brother’s horses race without a road, unguided by anyone, across the sky. The flames from the nearby chariot engulf the earth. Large, rich cities are dying, entire tribes are dying. Mountains covered with forest are burning: double-headed Parnassus, shady Cithaeron, green Helikon, the Caucasus mountains, Tmol, Ida, Pelion, Ossa. Smoke clouds everything around; does not see the Phaeton in the thick smoke where it is driving. The water in rivers and streams is boiling. The nymphs cry and hide in horror in deep grottoes. The Euphrates, Orontes, Alpheus, Eurotas and other rivers are boiling. The heat cracks the earth, and a ray of sun penetrates the dark kingdom of Hades. The seas begin to dry up, and the sea deities suffer from the heat. Then the great goddess Gaia-Earth rose and loudly exclaimed:
- Oh, greatest of the gods, Zeus the Thunderer! Must I really perish, must the kingdom of your brother Poseidon perish, must all living things perish? Look! The atlas can barely withstand the weight of the sky. After all, the sky and the palaces of the gods can collapse. Will everything really return to primeval Chaos? Oh, save from the fire what remains!
Zeus heard the plea of the goddess Gaia, he menacingly waved his right hand, threw his sparkling lightning and extinguished the fire with its fire. Zeus smashed the chariot with lightning. Helios' horses ran in different directions. The fragments of Helios's chariot and horse harness are scattered all over the sky.
And Phaeton, with curls burning on his head, flew through the air like a falling star and fell into the waves of the Eridanus River[1], far from his homeland. There the Hesperian nymphs raised his body and buried it. In deep sorrow, Phaeton's father, Helios, covered his face and did not appear in the blue sky for the whole day. Only the fire of the fire illuminated the earth.
For a long time, Phaeton’s unfortunate mother, Klymene, searched for the body of her dead son. Finally, on the banks of Eridanus she found not her son’s body, but his tomb. The inconsolable mother wept bitterly over her son’s tomb, and with her they mourned her dead brother and daughter Clymene, the Heliades. Their grief was limitless. The great gods turned the weeping Heliades into poplars. Heliad poplar trees stand bending over Eridanus, and their resin tears fall into the icy water. The resin hardens and turns into transparent amber.
His friend Cycnus also mourned the death of Phaeton. His lamentations were heard far along the shores of Eridanus. Seeing the inconsolable sadness of Cycnus, the gods turned him into a snow-white swan. Since then, the swan Kikn has lived on the water, in rivers and wide, light lakes. He is afraid of the fire that killed his friend Phaeton.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru