Week 2 Story: Retelling of Pygmalion

There was once an old widow named Penelope, who lived on the top of a mountain. This old woman had three sons, Patroclus, Perseus, and Pygmalion.  Now, these sons were grown, and two of them had married and moved away. Pygmalion was the only one who remained. After a while, Pygmalion built himself a house by his mother's, for he could not stand his mother pestering him to marry. Pygmalion was an unusual man. He was very self-concerned; he didn't notice much that did not directly affect him. He viewed most people as beneath him and had no interest in interacting with anyone. All he ever did was work. His mother worried about him. She knew he would never find someone to love him, for who would love a man who cared only for himself? And he was neither rich nor handsome. He was destined to be a lonely hermit for his whole life. Penelope knew she would never find a girl willing to marry him, but she was desperate for him to have a partner, for she knew she would not live forever, and once she died he would be all alone. So Penelope decided to make him a partner. She carved a girl out of ivory, and when she was done her creation was so incredibly beautiful that Penelope knew Pygmalion would not be able to turn her down. So she brought the stone girl to Pygmalion. Pygmalion knew it would break his mother's heart not to accept her gift, and besides, it was a lovely creation. So he accepted it and brought the ivory girl inside. Once they were inside, Pygmalion tried to resume his work. He could not help glancing at the beautiful statue in the firelight, however, and found himself quite distracted. He gave up on his work and decided to inspect the girl further. Once he was really looking at her, he gasped in wonder. "She is beautiful!" He could not get over how lovely the ivory girl was. Soon his interest was piqued, and that interest then turned into infatuation. He began treating the girl like she was alive. He bought her clothes and presents and cleaned up his house so it would be fit for a lady. He adorned her with the most expensive clothes and jewelry he could afford. His mother saw what was happening and she was happy, for finally, her son was thinking about someone other than himself, even if that someone was made of stone. After a while, however, she became worried. Her son was acting like a madman, wasting his money on this ivory girl, treating her like a real person. She saw that he had begun to forget that the girl was not real and so she prayed. She prayed to the goddess Venus, for she hoped that the goddess of love would take pity on this situation of hopeless, unrequited love. She prayed every night and day and after one week, Venus appeared. "Why should I grant you this wish? Why should I transform your ivory creation? What would I gain from this?" The old woman answered "Because you are the goddess of love and my son loves the girl so dearly, you would be helping create a happy romance! And if you grant me this wish, I will do anything you ask in return." The goddess saw this mother, who loved her son so dearly, and was inspired. "If I am to do this, it must be in the name of true love." Excited, the old woman said "It is! My son is completely infatuated with this stone creature." Venus responded "Infatuation is not love. If you wish me to do this, you must first make a sacrifice. Go to the edge of the cliff and think about what you are asking for. If you decide that this is what you want, pray to me again, and step off the cliff. Your sacrifice will prove that I am doing this in the name of love. And thus, I will grant your wish. So the woman thought about it, and decided it was worth it. She thought to herself "I am old, and I will die soon anyway. If I don't do this my son will be alone forever." So she went to the edge of the cliff and said her prayer to Venus. She took a deep breath, "I love you, Pygmalion." she whispered and stepped off the cliff. As she died, the ivory girl came to life. The son was overjoyed and rapturous. They married immediately. They were so happy in love that they didn't even notice the mother's disappearance, for the girl had never known her, and the man did not notice anything except for himself, and now his wife. The End.

(Image Information: Venus, Pixabay.)

Author's Note: This story is based on the story of Pygmalion. I changed quite a lot in order to make it my own. I added the mother's character and made the story be more about female characters than males. I also focused more on the mother's story than on the story of Pygmalion. 

Bibliography:
Metamorphosis: Pygmalion by Ovid, translated by Tony Kline. (2000)