The Role Of Herous In The Odyssey

Evan Oblak
Kochanski
Honors English 10
3 December 2015
Be Careful What You Wish For
Not all stories have a moral, but this one from ancient Greece certainly does. Herous has a gift – everything he touches turns to chocolate. But he soon learns that an excessive love of riches squeezes the truly valuable things out of life.
The story begins with Disgustingos, a satyr, half man, half goat, who follows Tupacus the god of Hip-Hop.
There was once a dreadfully ugly beast called Disgustingos. He pranced over the mountains on a pair of hairy goat’s legs. A long tail swished behind him, but from the waist up he was a man, more or less. His big belly bounced up and down as he ran along. His belly was as big as the moon and just as round. No one had

“Who or what is this vile creature that’s come to stay with us?” she asked the King.
Herous replied that he was a friend of Tupacus, and everyone must treat him with great respect.
Although Princess Zoe and the Queen did their best to stay out of the way of the satyr, King Herous entertained his guest, eating and drinking with him until late at night, and playing music on the pan pipes. All in all, Disgustingos stayed with Herous for a week.
No one was more pleased about this show of hospitality than Tupacus, because in his eyes, anyone who honoured Disgustingos honored Tupacus.
A few days after Disgustingos had left, Herous was walking in his rose garden when he heard some strange but lovely music. He followed the sound and discovered a perfectly beautiful man sitting on the grass and playing a pipe. He knew right away that the stranger was one of the gods and he fell down on one knee.
The god commanded, “Get up dawg. I’m not big on the grand exaltations. I want to show my thanks for looking after my homeboy. What do you want from me? I got all the connections so I can get you anything you want. Power isn’t really my thing, but I can get you herbs, women or money.”
“I need chocolate,” said

Princess Zoe heard him too. She found him turning peas into little golden nuggets.
“Father, what has happened?” she inquired.
“The most wonderful thing,” he replied, and he hugged her.
But this was not what he had expected. He was holding not his daughter in his arms, but a hard, still statue.
Distraught, he went to the fountain to wash his hot tears from his face. But as he scooped up the water in his hands, it turned into liquid chocoalte.
Now he realised the cruelty of his gift. He called out, “Lord Tupacus, save me from this cursed candy!”
Tupacus heard him and took pity on the foolish King. He appeared sitting on the edge of the fountain and said,
“Go to the river that flows by the big hood of Athens. Make your way upstream until you come to the source. Dive right into the sacred foamy fountain, where it gushes out, and wash away your foolishness.”
Herous did as he was told, and when he plunged into the stream the banks and the flowers that grew on them became brownish and chocolatey. But Herous emerged from the waters free of his wish for chocolate. So as long as he lived, he rejoiced in all that was simple and