Danae and the Giant
There was once a small farming hamlet nestled at the very edge of the Doeham Hills which produced a beautiful crop of barley each and every year. Each member of this hamlet did their job in the harvest and then later did their job as they distilled the grain down into the hamlet's prized amber ale. This amber ale was purchased by the wealthy cities to the west and the north, providing the hamlet with luxuries and renown in which it happily bathed. However, there was fear present at all times amongst the little thatched roofs and dirt floors, as each and every member knew of the danger of the hill giants that lived nearby. In order to keep peace with these giants, the village had promised their leader, Carog, a large portion of their ale after the first snowfall of the year.
Amongst the members of the village was a young woman named Danae who was well known for her strength and her persistence, and her daughter, a joyous little girl with large, deep brown eyes who was called Inessa. Danae was well-respected and though no one knew who Inessa's father was, the entire village took care of her, adoring her vibrancy and playfulness and claiming that she seemed blessed by Lliira herself.
One day, against her mother's warnings, little Inessa wandered off the play in the foothills near the village, lured out by the last bursts of purple wildflowers amongst the grasses. As she played, picking flowers and weaving dolls, she began to hear noises from behind her.
Thump... thump... thump...
"Fiji smells tasty snack," said a booming, gruff voice behind Inessa, startling her so much that she dropped her half-completed doll and her bouquet. Her little heart beating fast, she tried to dash away from the frightening voice but was scooped up by a meaty hand that wrapped around her whole body and brought her to a face that smelled of long-rotting meat and mud. Two beady, small eyes set into wrinkled, sagging, sun-baked skin peered at her with hungry joy and shook her around until she screamed.
A bassy laugh rattled her bones as she was hit by that smell once again, "No worry, foodling. I bring you to Storkokk Carog. She maybe let me be husband if I bring tasty snack that dance and cry."
With that, the giant slung her over its shoulder alongside the bloodied bodies of deer and sheep and began further into the hills, ignoring her screaming and the doll left laying amongst the flowers.
The day continued like any other within the hamlet as the villagers spent their hours finishing up those last early batches of amber ale until the sun began to set and snow began to slowly drift from the sky, melting as it hit the sun-warmed soil. It was as this dark fell that Danae began winding through the village trying to call her daughter to her.
"Inessa! Inessa, it's time for supper, work has finished now!"
Danae continued like this through the village as dusk fell, eventually circling the grasslands and foothills that surrounded the borders, calling and calling, until she stumbled upon a half woven doll and large footprints crushed into the drying grass. Filled suddenly with a great fear for her daughter, Danae ran back to the village and began to knock upon doors, begging for help. Although Danae knew that the villagers loved Inessa, each door she turned to slammed in her face as their fear won out, and she was left in the softly drifting snow with a slowly growing rage in her heart.
As a cold flake landed on her nose, she began to plan. Under the cover of the dark, she returned to the brewing house with a large cart that she had pulled many times during the harvest, and began to load it with barrel after barrel of the ale they had just made that day. Once the cart was bowing in the center, Danae began to pull, gritting her teeth against the weight of it, until the wheels began to groan and creak and then finally, finally, move.
She pulled the cart through the hills as fast as she could manage, following the tracks that the giant had left, even as her muscles ached and cramped and her hands bled from the friction. As she reached the forest, she began to ragefully weep for the loss of her daughter and the fear of her hamlet. Still, she continued, even as the moons tracked further and further across the star-dark sky.
Unbeknownst to Danae, her weeping caught the attention of a small, friendly sprite who wandered these woods. Curious as to the source of the noise, he followed it until he spotted Danae and her cargo. As he watched, he could easily see, in the odd way of sprites, the good in her heart and the deep sorrow she carried with her. Making a decision, he flew in front of her.
"Now what is it that has you weeping so, my dear?" he asked her, a tilt to his head.
Though she had heard of the fey and their habits, Danae had never seen one in the flesh before, and startled slightly, hitching mid-sob as she looked him over. Not letting go of her cart or stopping, she sniffled mournfully.
"My daughter was taken by the hill giants. I would kill them all if that is what it took to get her back at my side," she said, her voice wavering even as she tried to compose it. "Would you help me?"
Although he had already made up his mind to help before approaching the woman, the sprite glanced over her cargo appraisingly and brought up one of his hands, holding in it a bottle containing a thick, shimmering liquid that sloshed against its container with the movement. He shook it so that she could see and then gestured to her cart.
"This is a very powerful sleeping tonic that is distilled from the rare black lotus flower. Three drops is enough to make a grown orc sleep for a full day. If you mix it in with those," he pointed to the barrels of ale, "then perhaps you could incapacitate the giants long enough to grab your daughter and run."
"And... what is it that you would ask of me in return?"
"Perhaps," the sprite seemed to sniff the air for a second, before looking towards the bag slung around Danae's waist, "those delighful-smelling honey cakes that you carry. And a drink of that prized amber ale, before you mix it with the black lotus."
Danae, shocked and thrilled with such a low price, readily agreed, setting down the cart to pay the sprite and mix the lotus into the ale. As she finished and turned to ask his name however, he had disappeared, along with the open wounds across her palms, leaving thickened callous and firm skin in their place. Invigorated and hopeful once again, Danae picked up her cart and continued forward.
Danae continued walking, and walking, and walking, until the sun began to break into reds and purples through the bare branches of the trees. With the light, Danae sucked in a chilled breath as she spotted the edge of the giant's camped piled high with rotting game and refuse, the stench finding her downwind and making her eyes water. A deep breath in, a steadying, irate breath out, and Danae began forward, vibrating with the heat of a building volcanic eruption.
Here, at the edge of the camp, she could see her daughter. Inessa sat, trembling and wide-eyed in a shoddy cage at the foot of a sagging throne in which sat a massive, round giantess with matted yellow hair and greasy skin, who slammed a large club into the ground at the sight of Danae's arrival.
"Carog wants know who dare intrude," yelled the giantess, and each swollen, overgrown face lounging around the camp turned towards the young woman as she tried to peel her eyes away from the sight of Inessa.
Biting down insults, Danae smiled sharply and gestured towards the cart of ale. "Snow has fallen last night, Storkokk Carog. I was sent with your gift of amber ale."
The giantess began to her feet, groaning and leaning onto her bloodied club, and stepped towards Danae with loud impacts that send dust and ash into the air as the ground shook around her. Danae forced herself to remain still and passive as the giantess leaned down and picked up one of the barrels as one would a tankard, giving it an appraising sniff before turning her flattened face and icy gray eyes back to Danae.
"Why you bring here. We go to you."
Danae paused, thinking for a moment on what little she knew of these giants. They were gluttonous, and they prized strength and size above all else. Would it not make sense for them to prize their laziness as well?
"We thought it would be insulting to make you walk so far this year. We can put in the effort of carrying it instead of you," ground out Danae, trying not to look towards her frightened daughter, "so that you can relax and spend your mornings eating."
The giantess stared at Danae for a moment, processing, and Danae thought that she could see the thoughts forming even as her heart swung wildly against her ribs, before she finally turned back to the barrel in her hand and, with the effort of tearing paper, ripped off the nailed wooden top and downed the entire barrel. As she reached for a few more and began to retreat back to her throne, there came a sudden rise in squabbling voices shouting in a language that Danae could not understand as the others lumbered towards the cart. Subtly stepping backwards out of the camp, Danae hid herself among the dying foliage and watched the giants imbibe.
It only took some ten minutes before she saw the giants begin to sway.
Thump... thump... thump...
Massive bodies began to impact the soil one by one, bouncing and lolling sickeningly in their unconscious stupor. Danae wondered if the lotus had killed them. She hoped it had. That rageful thing forming in her heart began to preen over her victory and warm her.
Prying herself from her hiding place, she began back towards the camp, pulling a rusting shortsword from a pile of rotting things along the side of the camp as she approached. However, she quickly stilled upon hearing a groan, and the creaking of wood, as she watched Carog sluggishly bring one hand towards the side of her head and used the other to wrap meaty, thick fingers in between the bars of the cage holding Inessa, prying it open easily. The hill giantess's eyes swam drowsily towards Danae as she watched in frozen horror.
"You hurt Carog... You hurt head... Little bug try hurt big giant. Who you think you are?" Carog intoned angrily, her words slurring together. The giant wrapped her awful hand around Inessa and began to pull her upwards.
It was Inessa's fearful scream that made Danae see red.
Charging forward with a furious cry, Danae swung the shortsword across Carog's sluggishly moving arm. The blade cut through easily. With a thud, the hand and Inessa impacted the soil, and Danae swung again. And again.
Even as she was hit and sent tumbling across the ground, she shook herself off and charged forward. Even when her back hit a tree and her breath flew from her, she charged forward again with a scream and plunged the blade into the ribs of Carog.
Again.
And again.
Until Carog finally fell, lifeless, to the ground with a rattling, wet breath, and Danae collapsed next to Inessa, embracing her daughter and weeping for what the two had gone through. In the feeling of her daughter's tears soaking her dress, Danae felt that red-hot rage flee her again, settling exhaustion into her bones. She placed her hand onto Inessa's face and the two looked at each other.
"I'm sorry, mommy," sniffled little Inessa, "you told... you told me not to play in the hills and I did. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry. I will always come to protect you, my joyous Inessa," Danae promised, kissing the top of her dark hair, her nose, her hands, filled with love at her wholeness, "even if you disobey me. I will always be here to make sure you are safe."
And the two remained there, shaking, for a short while, before Danae stood, taking Inessa's hand. They passed through the illuminated forest, the tall grasses, and the hills, eventually coming to their hamlet, where they were greeted with sobbing apologies and embraces. A feast was thrown for their safety, and for Danae's victory over the giants that had tormented them for so long.
And even though she remained closer to home, whenever Inessa's dark eyes looked back towards the foothills, and she could almost swear she saw a small figure smiling at her.
Historical Basis
Although it is unknown whether the events of the myth actually occurred, it is said that the sword used by Danae to slay Carog exists somewhere within the nation of Opheros. This rumored weapon is commonly referred to as Carog's Folly , and is said to possess a strength against all giant-kin due to the rage channeled into it by Danae as she slew Carog.
Spread
Danae and the Giant is a well known myth throughout Opheros, used often by parents to scare children out of dangerous locations like the Doeham Hills, the Sanval Marshes, or the Arid Mountains
Cultural Reception
Many claim that the tradition within Opheros of leaving honey cakes and ale for the fey originated due to this myth. Mothers, especially, follow this tradition and invoke Danae's rageful strength when talking of protecting their children.
In Literature
Danae is often referenced in literature across Opheros as a symbol of maternal rage, especially in reference to fighters and famous barbarians. Danae and the Giant is also referenced in allusion when discussing an underdog winning an unfair fight through both cunning and unexpected strength.
In Art
The image invoked of Danae standing in front of the dead giant's face, or embracing her daughter in front of the dead giant's face, is a relatively common subject in the art of the nation of Opheros.
Related Ethnicities
Comments