God of War: Tales of Another World

Tales of Greece: Pygmalion and Galatea

The next morning Kratos continued Atreus's training, he seemed to be improving as he was tought the basics of soldering and strategical thinking. There was not much of a need for schoolastics since they lived in the woods isolated from any colony or encampment with human life in it. People were still rather scarce in midgard as the helwalkers still infested the forests and shores, by noon Kratos took him fishing once more to help pass the time. Their food stores kept getting raided by helwalkers and hungry animals, so he decided to collect their food on the spot instead of securing his come and storing it. At least for now. On the boat in the middle of the lake of the 9 Kratos got back to fishing with Atreus, the boy was eager for more stories of his father's homeland.

Atreus: Any Greek stories that don't involve, war?

Mimir: Very few, the popular ones always involved some form of conflict or another, but there were a few tragedies here and there where there was more of a series of unfortunate events than legitimate battle.

Atreus: I see, know any?

Kratos: I know of one, it involved an ivory sculptor by the name of Pygmalion.

Mimir: Ah, I know of him! From what I heard he was quite the talented lad, and very popular amongst the ladies. I wonder what happened to him?

Kratos: If you would not interrupt me I could tell you.

Mimir: Fair enough....

Kratos: Pygmalion was as the head said, a very talented sculptor. He lived in the island of Cyprus and was said to be a bit odd.

Atreus: How so?

Kratos: There was a brothel close to his home, his view on women became warped by the local whores. They disgusted him and because of this he saw all women as flawed and vowed never to waste a moment of his life on them, however he did admire beauty in all its forms. Ironically enough he also admired women for their beauty.

Atreus: ...but he viewed then as flawed...how can he admire them for their beauty if he's disgusted with them?

Kratos: The same way one can admire the way the sky, or a sunset. Or how a soldier can admire the blood of his enemies on the sand, or their ships sinking into the abyss of the ocean.

Atreus: Oh, ok. So what then?

Kratos: Pygmalion wanted nothing to do with women and began to focus solely on his work, however he still yearned for love and warmth, so he decided to make a statue that would be his masterpiece. A woman made out of Ivory named Galatea, he sought to correct in marble the very flaws he saw in women. Pygmalion worked so long and with such inspiration on the statue of Galatea, that it became more beautiful than any woman that had ever lived or been carved in stone. As he finished the statue’s features, they became exquisitely lovely, that he found himself applying the strokes of hammer and chisel with increasing affection. When his chisel finally stopped ringing, there stood before him a woman of such perfection that Pygmalion, a man who had professed his disdain of all women , fell deeply in love. Over the course of months he would bring it gifts, caress it, kiss it and talk to it every day. He brought it gifts he thought women would enjoy, such as pretty seashells, beads, songbirds, baubles and flowers.

Atreus: Ok, I can see admiring a sunset but doing all that to a statue sounds weird....

Kratos: He had poured his heart and soul into making the statue perfect in every conceivable way, it was more than just his creation. It was it's soulmate.

Atreus: Still...

Kratos: It probably doesn't help his case if I said he would dress the statue in fine clothing, and put rings on her fingers, necklaces around her neck and even earrings.

Atreus: What?! Ok wait, so he scorned all women, made a statue of one, would fawn over it constantly and even dress it up?

Kratos: Yes.

Atreus: Wait, was the statue of a naked woman?

Kratos: Yes.

Atreus: Were all Greek statues of people naked?

Kratos: Not all of them, however many artists saw the bodies of men and women as works of art that needed to be immortalized in stone or bronze.

Atreus: Oh, so what happened afterwards?

Kratos: The irony began to set in, a man who had detested women had fallen in love with one who could never love him back. After some pondering he sought out Aphrodite, the goddess of love an beauty. He beseeched her to bring Galatea to life, Aphrodite inspected the statue and deemed her perfect. She brought Galatea to life, his mind kept racing between joy and doubt but with every touch he saw that his creation was brought to life.

Atreus: That was nice of her.

Kratos: One of the few unions she has made that didn't result in countless deaths and untold suffering.

Atreus: Oh...

Kratos: Soon Pygmalion and Galatea were wed and Aphrodite herself blessed the nuptials of the union. They soon had a son named Paphos, who would grow to raise a city with his namesake sacred to Aphrodite in Cyprus. Both were eternally grateful to Aphrodite and would deliver gifts and offerings to her temple for the rest of their lives.

Atreus: That was a nice ending to the story. I'm guessing Aphrodite wasn't as bad as the other gods.

Kratos: Just because she didn't ruin their lives does not mean she didn't ruin the lives of others.

Atreus: Oh...

Kratos: Hmmm, yes.

After a few hours the caught some fish in the lake, they went to a near by shore to cook and eat their catches. They soon headed back home and began to dig in traps, and set up barriers on the land around their home to keep predators and helwalkers out of their home. Over the next couple of days it seemed to work, Kratos and Atreus rebuilt the food stores to once again store food for the winter. Fimblewinter was said to last 3 winters, they would need to be prepared for ragnarok if it arrives. Atreus had much to learn but Jratos would try to make sure that he is ready.