Infrequently on KALLISTI and elsewhere, I have referred to a copy of D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths that I had when I was a toddler. This weekend, the book fell into my hands again.
It is, indeed, held together with duct tape.
… although the duct tape isn’t really working out, is it?
One of the things that confuses me is that the page for the Mousai — one of my favorite pages in the entire book when I was a young kid — has evidence of misbehavior with markers. Did I do this? Did one of my sisters? 😥 WHO?!
Ourania was the Muse featured in the movie Pegasus (as the narrator); she was the one I loved the most when I was a young girl. 🥰
Of course, the book itself ends like this — with a statement that the gods are all gone now.
It always seemed to me a tragedy as a girl — how could the Muses fall silent? — and it complements the song in Don’t Eat the Pictures that Oscar sings about the broken statues when it comes to the messaging that was around when I was young.
Of course, my family would go into modern Neopaganism a few years later, so the statements on this page were ultimately very irrelevant. Despite my warm memories, it wouldn’t be the book I would give to a child. I’d rather have a well-illustrated book that treated the myths from an insider perspective.
Anyway. I hope you’ve enjoyed my mini-trip down nostalgia lane. 😂
KALLISTI 