Chapter 25

25  Orion

 

Orion was a giant hunter.He was the beautiful son of Poseidon.One day,when hunting in the forest,he caughtsight of Artemis' fair maidens,the seven  Pleiades .Hewas so attracted by their beauty that he started chasing them.Indespair the charming maidens prayed to Artemis for help and were sent up by the goddess to the heavens as a  constellation .Later he fell in love with another maiden,Merope by name,butrash and impatient,he took the maiden by force and enraged her father,King Oenopion of Chios.The king made him drunk and put out his  eyes .Following the sound of the Cyclopes' hammer,he went to Hephaestus,who sent a guide to travel with him to the east,where the sun rose.Exposing his eyeballs to the rays of the sun,he was restored to his eyesight.He became aconstant companion of Artemis and followed the goddess in the chase with his dog Sirius.Apollo did not approve of this love,however.One day he dared his sister to shoot at a dark spot moving in the sea.Little did she suspect that she was aiming herarrow at Orion,for the dark spot turned out to be the head of Orion swimming in the ocean.Artemis was extremely sad.As she could not pull him back from the grasp of  Death  she sent him up to the sky as a constellation,with his hunting dog  Sirius  be sidehim.

25 奥利安

 

奥利安是位身材高大的猎手。他是海神波塞冬漂亮的儿子。一天,他在森林中打猎,看到了阿尔特弥斯的仙女们——七颗明星。他如此爱慕她们的美丽,便追赶她们。困境中,美貌的仙女们向阿尔特弥斯求救。结果女神将她们都送入天空充当星座。后来奥利安爱上了另一少女墨洛珀。他鲁莽急躁地施暴于她。这激怒了少女的父亲俄诺皮耳国王。国王把他灌醉后,挖出了他的眼睛。随着“独眼巨人”大锤的敲响,他来到火神赫斐斯托斯跟前。火神派向导带他去太阳升起的东方。将眼球暴露于阳光后,他就恢复了视力,成了女神阿尔特弥斯永久的伴侣,并带着他的猎狗天狼跟随女神打猎。阿波罗并不赞成他们之间这种恋情。一天,阿波罗怂恿阿尔特弥斯向海中一移动的黑点射箭。她根本没想到自己是将箭瞄准奥利安。当看清黑点竟是在游泳的恋人奥利安的头时,阿尔特弥斯悲痛万分。因她无力使他起死回生,只好将他送入天空作一星座。他的猎狗天狼(即天狼星座)则蹲在他的身旁。