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Welcome to Get Sleepy, where we listen, we relax, and we get sleepy.
As always, I'm your host, Thomas.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
I'll be reading this evening's story, which was written by Frankie.
It's the ninth installment in an ongoing series on the Olympian gods and goddesses of ancient Greece.
If you haven't had the others yet, that's okay.
You can go back and enjoy them another time.
Fierce and formidable, wild and untamed, Artemis is the Greek goddess of the moon.
More than just the moon, however.
She rules over the wilderness, the hunt and those places of untouched nature.
She watches over those in childbirth and over children.
She is both nurturing and powerful.
Tonight we'll run through the woods with this daughter of Zeus and her retinue.
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Okay, my friends, let's prepare for our story with a wind-down that is befitting of its themes.
As you lie in your comfortable bed, knowing that you are in the safe and reliable world of order, cast your mind into the untamed landscapes.
Picture a mountain so large and impressive that it seems to scrape the sky with its peak.
The top third is thick with perfect white snow, while the rest is blanketed with a deep green forest.
The full moon shines down on everything.
Your still mind and body take the form of the mountain and everything on it.
Like the very trees on its slopes, a mountain has deep roots into the earth.
Feel the places where your body connects with the bed.
Imagine the roots growing into the ground, securing you and calming your muscles.
You belong here, rooted to the ground and completely calm.
Even the fiercest storm or the wildest winds cannot move you.
They don't even cause your mind to stir in the depths of your slumber.
The blanket of forest keeps you warm and cosy.
The star-studded sky above you envelops you in a feeling of restful calm and perfect tranquility.
Mountains are slow to change, feeling no rushing, stressing, or tension.
There is nowhere you need to be, apart from here, under the peaceful moon.
Zoom into the slopes of your mountain.
In the deep heart of the forest, there is movement, energy, and a figure darting between the trees.
Behind her, trailing like the tail of a comet, are others.
So, let's join her.
This is where our story begins.
Thank you.
The old forest around her goddess becomes a blur of dark hues and textures as she runs.
She runs not as the chaste, but for the pure love of running.
At her heels, her pack of dogs keep pace, though she could outrun them if she wanted.
Not far behind, she can hear the others coming.
To mortal ears, her retinue would be completely silent and would probably pass by unnoticed.
But to Artemis's ears, they thunder like the very titans themselves.
Artemis smiles to herself and runs faster still.
She knows every branch, leaf, rock and stone in this forest.
She can feel the heartbeat of every deer, wolf, bear and mouse that calls it home.
She is the goddess of the hunt and the wilds.
Nothing on two legs or four is faster than her, and Artemis loves nothing more than the feeling of the wind in her hair as she runs through the countryside.
Her relation is a combination of joyful freedom and the satisfaction of knowing that she is the fastest being mortal or immortal.
Well, nearly the fastest.
As if reading her mind, a figure appears next to her, easily keeping stride.
Her brother, Hermes.
He wears the same cheeky, knowing grin that always appears on his boyish face when he wants to rile her up.
Artemis barely glances at him before speeding up.
Her hounds slowly fade into the background, unable to keep pace.
Even her retinue is far behind now.
Hermes' grin simply widens as he matches her speed.
He even dares to start pulling ahead of her.
Artemis scowls and pushes herself to her top speed.
Her legs are a blur as the world around her disappears in a haze.
Hermes simply continues to smile and pulls ahead of her further still.
The forest begins to thin around them.
In the blink of an eye, both gods stand completely still on the edge of a high outcropping.
Artemis controls her breathing, unwilling to show her brother that she is winded.
Hermes, apparently completely at ease, lounges on a nearby boulder.
After several moments of glaring at the horizon, Artemis turns to her brother and asks what he wants.
He always wants something.
Hermes begins to monologue about her brusque manner, the importance of close family ties and the complicated nature of the world at large.
Artemis sighs.
That is Hermes.
He loves the sound of his own voice.
Knowing that it's better to let him run out of words, Artemis turns her mind to her other brother, her twin Apollo.
They are mirror images of one another in the way so many siblings inevitably turn out to be.
Somehow, Artemis and Apollo are both incredibly similar and complete opposites.
Even their realms of rule are connected.
She is the goddess of the moon, and he is the god of the sun.
They are both archery gods.
He stands for the logical order of things like medicine, music and science, while she rules over the wild and uncontrolled parts of the world, like the wilderness, the night and childbirth.
As a devoutly chaste goddess.
Even she sometimes thinks it is odd that she is the goddess of childbirth and the protector of children.
But perhaps that is because children are born wild and only tamed as they become adults.
As for childbirth itself, it is the first of her duties, though she will never experience it firsthand.
She is the older twin of the two and she remembers clearly the day she was born, even after all these millennia.
Immortals have good memories that way.
Her mother, Leto, was a titan and of an older generation of deities.
Like so many other beautiful nymphs, mortals, and gods, Leto caught the attention of Zeus.
Their short affair was over before it began, but Leto became pregnant.
Not wanting to give birth on Olympus amongst the gossiping pantheon, Leto took herself away to the island of Delos.
Delos was afloat in the ocean, and not attached to the ocean floor.
The floating island travelled around the seas, drawn here and there by the tides and the winds.
It took Leto some time to find it, as it drifted up and down the Mediterranean.
When Leto arrived, the island seemed a secluded paradise.
The vegetation was lush and rich.
There was a clear spring that gurgled through the woods.
The trees gave way here and there to broad meadows of fragrant wildflowers.
Birds and small animals went about their business here and there, unafraid and unbothered by the arrival of the pregnant goddess.
The sun shone down on the island with cheerful brightness, but was not so hot as to be uncomfortable.
It didn't take Leto long to find a dry cozy cave in the hills to make her home for the next few weeks.
Some of her nymph friends came to visit her in the weeks leading up to the birth.
They would brush her hair, sing songs, and gossip about the things going on back on Olympus.
As her time drew nearer, Leto accepted fewer visitors and turned her thoughts to the child she was about to bring into the wild.
This was her first time, and she was in equal measure excited and nervous.
The night of the next full moon drew closer, and Leto knew that would be the night when her child would arrive.
The sunset blossomed from the horizon, painting the sky in all the vibrant colors the Hesperides could conjure.
Leto thought to herself that the triple goddesses of the sunset and the evening had outdone themselves with this sky.
Oranges, pinks, coppers, and golds melted in and out of one another with divine simplicity.
As the sun set over the horizon, Leto saw a bright flash of green as the last rays dipped down.
It wasn't until the huge full moon was at its zenith that Leto's trials ended and she held her daughter in her arms.
The moon was a bright gold harvest moon.
It shone down on the perfect baby, capturing just for an instant the greatest moment of Leto's existence.
But only a couple of hours later, with the moon descending and the night growing, old Leto realized that there was another baby to come.
She knew inherently that this one would be more difficult and wished for someone anyone, to be there to support her.
Movement in her arms drew her attention down to her baby daughter, barely a few hours old.
The child looked at her with such knowing that Leto's anxieties melted away.
Artemis would help her mother through this experience.
And so it was that Artemis' first divine act was to help her mother deliver her twin brother into the world.
Just as the bright golden sun rose fully over the horizon and shone in the sky, Artemis and Leto welcomed Apollo into the wild.
Forever, pregnant women would be under Artemis' protection, for birth is an experience between worlds.
In its own way, it is wild, untamed, and fierce.
It is a rare place where one life becomes two, and Artemis is honored to be the one who oversees this divine rite.
Plus, she loves to tell the other gods, deities and immortals about how she delivered her baby brother, much to his chagrin.
Artemis's thoughts drift back to the here and now, as her half-brother Hermes drones on.
He is silver tongued, but she is the silver goddess of the moon, and his abilities are less effective on her.
Which is probably why he loves teasing her so much.
He still seems in the thick of his monologue, and she can hear her retinue is quite far away.
Artemis settles back once again to let her mind wander.
Not long after the birth of her children, Leto and the twins were welcomed back to Olympus.
Zeus, for all his faults, took an active role in the raising of the pair.
One day, about five years after their birth, Zeus was sitting in his great throne room and listening to the pleas, requests and demands of the other immortals.
It was a duty that he didn't look forward to, as he sent another nymph away telling her that he was not going to punish a mortal man simply for loving or not loving her.
Zeus controlled the urge to roll his eyes.
He looked up to find a new, surprising supplicant before him.
Little Artemis stood proudly in front of the throne and stared hard at her father.
Soos, thinking she simply wanted to play, started to explain to her that he would be done soon and they could continue their game of chase later.
The precocious child interrupted her father, king of the gods, and told him that she was here with a request.
Caught off guard, Zeus simply nodded his head and asked her to proceed.
Artemis cleared her throat and told him before the entire court that she had some requests for what should fall under her domain when she matured to full godhead.
The little goddess told him that her foremost duty should be that of the goddess of the moon and the night.
It was her favorite time of day, and she wanted to ride across the sky in the great moon chariot.
Zeus nodded, unable to see any issues with this request.
He opened his mouth to make the proclamation final, and thus bring this meeting to a close.
But Artemis stopped him and told him that she wasn't finished.
Zeus' younger daughter had always been a wild child.
So he was unsurprised when she also listed the hunt, the chase and the wilderness as her requested domains for sacred animals.
She wanted the deer, the hound, and the bear.
And for sacred symbols, she requested bows and arrows, crescent moons, torches, and the spear.
The little goddess paused for a moment and took mental stock of everything she had just listed.
It all sounded like it was there.
She looked back at her father and told him that was all.
Zeus, impressed and very amused, granted her wishes.
Artemis once again comes out of her reverie.
Hermes is still talking.
Artemis has never been, and probably will never be known, as a goddess of patience.
She clears her throat loudly and smiles as Hermes comes petering into silence.
She puts on her sweetest voice and asks him in no uncertain terms what it is that he wants from her.
Hermes, knowing the game is up, finally gets down to business.
He tells his sister of a passionate but short-lived love affair with a mountain nymph which has produced a son, another mountain nymph.
Hermes has already named the child Daphnis for the laurel tree under which he was born.
Long story short, Hermes needs someone to raise the child for a few years and keep an eye on him.
Artemis bites her tongue.
Even though her brother is a god and an Olympian, she is certain he will never learn.
Despite her reluctance, something inside her, a goddess's intuition perhaps, tells her that this child will be important.
Artemis agrees to take the boy, but only after quite a long lecture to her brother about how actions have consequences.
Hermes nods his head, putting on a face of complete innocence and repentance for about thirty seconds, before he flits away on his winged feet in the blink of an eye.
Artemis barely has time to sigh to herself, before his back, bearing a bundle in his arms.
Artemis takes the child and looks down into a perfectly lovely and cheerful face.
The baby giggles at her happily.
Hermes thanks his sister again, and promises not to leave her the responsibility all on her own.
He will send another of his sons to help.
Artemis starts to thank him, until she really thinks about what he has said.
She starts to tell him not to send anyone, but Hermes is gone again.
Just at this moment, the rest of Artemis' retinue arrives, bursting through the trees and underbrush.
They see Artemis, the sunlight turning orange behind her, holding a baby.
Artemis's two hounds come up to their master, and she kneels down to let them smell the bundle.
They wag their tails and try to lick the divine child, clearly in agreement about the new member of the group.
Artemis introduces the nymphs, satyrs, and human hunters to the child.
They pass around tiny Daphnis, each person cooing at him as he goes by.
Another sound comes from the forest, like someone stumbling slightly.
A moment later, Pan appears.
He is half goat, half man, like all satyrs.
He is the musical and wily son of Hermes.
He is also a god of the wild, shepherds, flocks, and the mountains.
Despite Artemis' disinclination to accept Pan in the retinue as well, she grudgingly admits to herself that a god of the mountain wilds will be helpful in raising a mountain nymph.
Artemis hands the child to Pan, who grins hugely and laughs like a billy goat.
The child laughs in return.
Artemis thinks to herself that there is no going back now.
As the light of the day slowly fades to night, Artemis instructs her retinue to set up camp where they are.
She entrusts the baby to Pan and departs without any of them for the palace of the Hesperides where she keeps the moon chariot.
Usually, the duty of driving the moon across the night sky is one that Artemis leaves to the much older goddess Selene, who is the personification of the moon itself.
But tonight, Artemis needs to think.
She needs the time to consider the implications of this child and her role as a goddess protector of children.
Selene, happy to have an evening off, hands the silver reins to Artemis and returns to the palace.
Artemis greets the pure white horses that pull the chariot before climbing aboard.
The gates open, and they launch into the unclouded sky.
The stars seem to glitter and gleam in greeting to Artemis.
The cool fresh air blows her hair behind her.
The horses move gracefully through the air, pulling the chariot higher into the sky.
The giant spinning wheels gleam a pure silvery white, creating a glorious full moon just like the one that shone the night.
Artemis herself was born many centuries ago.
Below Artemis, the world passes slowly.
The glowing fires of human settlements paint the landscape in a golden design, too complex and beautiful to map.
As if in a mirror, the stars also shine in their constellations.
Artemis passes the heroes, deities and creatures that have been placed in the sky as everlasting beings.
There is Ganymede, the cup-bearer.
As a mortal, he was a prince of Troy, renowned for his beauty and kindness.
He was so universally loved that Zeus himself invited the prince to live on Olympus with the other gods and act as his cup-bearer.
Ganymede fulfilled his duties honorably and became so well loved even amongst the gods, that Zeus placed him with the stars in the constellation Aquarius.
Artemis passes Cancer the Crab.
This giant beast was loyal to the Queen of Heaven Hera, and was rewarded by being immortalized in the skies.
There is even a whole family written in the stars.
Queen Cassiopeia, King Cepheus and their daughter, Princess Andromeda, can be seen shining together throughout the night.
Zeus placed his hero sons Pollux and Castor into the sky as the constellation Gemini.
Artemis waves to them, her half-brothers.
These men were mortal heroes who were on the Argo with Jason in the quest for the Golden Fleece.
They were so devoted to one another that they were allowed to be together in the heavens.
They were twins, like Artemis and her brother Apollo.
The night draws on and Artemis can see the Palace of the Sun in the distance, where her brother's horses and their charioteer Helios, stay.
Helios is the brother of Selene, just as Apollo is the brother of Artemis.
Eos, goddess of the dawn, also lives there.
Even now, Artemis can see her waiting to greet the moon chariot before she throws open the gates of dawn for the chariot of the sun to begin its journey.
Artemis leads the horses into the stables, with barely a bump on the ground.
After seeing to the horses, she makes her way back down to the earth, now ready to take on the future of little Daphnis.
Artemis arrives back at the camp of her followers just as the dawn is breaking.
Her hounds greet her as she makes her way to where Pan is sleeping, wrapped around the little bundle of Daphnis.
She gently wakes Pan, and they discuss the child's future.
The Goatman is serious and measured during their conversation, an attitude that surprises Artemis, as he is usually very cheerful and bubbling over with energy.
They chat for several hours and come to an agreement about the boy.
Daphnis wakes up at the end of their conversation and gurgles happily at his caretakers.
They beam down at him.
Years pass in a flash for an immortal like Artemis.
Daphnis grows to his moment of peak beauty, like all immortals, and stops aging.
Now, Artemis runs through the woods once again.
This time, there is an accompaniment to her strides.
A lovely sound that plays around the ears like a couple of squirrels chasing one another up an ancient oak tree.
It flits and flies through the air like sparrows on the wind.
The melodies chase one another like the noble stag through the thickest wood.
Artemis breaks through the forest and into a clearing.
A few seconds later, the retinue comes through as well.
They gather around Artemis as the song wraps around all of them.
A young man is amongst them, playing the music on a set of panpipes.
He is a permanent and dearly loved member of this group.
He was taught his craft by Pan and plays even more beautifully than his master.
This young man is Daphnis, blossomed into his full maturity.
He is a nymph of the mountains, an Already.
The humans in this area are starting to build little shrines for him when they go for walks in the mountains.
He watches over them and makes sure their trail is clear.
He leads them back to the trail when they get lost, and he makes sure that they arrive home safely.
All the while, they hear the enchanting sound of his palm pipes dancing through the air.
Artemis often thinks back to the day that Hermes dropped his child in her care and is grateful for her wayward brother.
Daphnis, her nephew, is someone she loves dearly.
He plays special songs just for her.
He honors her as something between mother and sister.
His devotion to her, as both goddess and leader, is unparalleled.
Artemis has always been the protector of children, but this is the first one she has raised.
Her family is large and sprawling, but this child stands out amongst the rest.
She has loved watching him mature more than anything and looks forward to an eternity of his companionship.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for watching!
God bless you.
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for watching!
