4. The Singer on a Wild Deer Chase

The face that launched a thousand ships was the face waiting to welcome him in Mycenae. His heart skipped a beat. Was this a reward for successfully completing two quests? But the charm somehow had a frightening quality to it. He felt helpless like a moth hurtling towards the candle flame. The face was like a marble statue, blemishless in its perfection, cold as ice and the beauty far beyond the reaches of time’s ravages. As he was lost in awe, her perfectly carved lips parted to let out sweet words like the melodies from a flute.

“Dear, a beautiful deer I just saw. Antlers of gold, hoofs of bronze, skin like velvet has the Ceryneian Hind. Swifter than the wind is she in flight. I beseech you to bind her and bring her to me as a token of true love.”

He would have given her his life if she had asked for it. So spell bound was he in her hypnotic charms. A mere deer was the price to be near his dear. He was filled with energy as he set out behind the Ceryneian hind.

Though technology has made hunting easy, one still needed to know the tricks of the trade. Hunting unfortunately had not been one of Harvi’s hobbies. So he had to get help from the experts. He decided to log on to Linked-in on his mobile to look for hunting communities. But unfortunately Linked-in had no hunters, only head hunters. So he moved on to Facebook. Luckily he stumbled upon a couple of hunting forums there where he could get some hunting tips.

Money was no longer a constraint with the sales of snake oil on e-bay rocketing to the skies. So he got on to Amazon.com and got himself some advanced hunting gear: a heat seeking dart gun, an engine powered roller skates, gold detector etc. With all this gear, the deer had absolutely no chance. The deer had been a sitting duck. Thinking of duck reminded him of book someone had written about her filmmaking experiences titled 'Bombay duck is a Fish'. He wondered how it would be if he wrote a book about his hunting experiences titled 'Greek duck is a Deer'. But then there would be nothing to write. Technology had made it all too easy. That was one of the reasons he hated technology. Technology just sucked romance out of life.

His musings were cut short by his arrival at Mycenae. She was no longer there. But one of comparable if not greater beauty awaited him. She had such a lovely nose, which if it had been shorter would have changed the course of history. If the earlier one was ice, this one was fire. Passion was written all over her face. With a regal gesture of the hand, she motioned him to leave the deer in one of the palace rooms.

“I am planning to host a royal banquet soon”, she announced imperiously. “Have the Erymathion boar in the kitchen ready for the royal cooks in a week’s time from now” So saying she dismissed him with a flick of her wrist. Wow! This was turning out much easier than he had expected. The third task had been really easy and fourth one was just a repetition of the third task with a find and replace 'deer' with 'boar'. He was good at cut copy paste and find replace.

He had walked a few steps from Mycenae when he ran into a third stunner. He wondered if someone had slipped good luck charm into his morning tea. One quest completed and on the way to complete the next and meeting not one, but three of the most beautiful women who had ever graced the earth in a single day! After Helen of Troy and Cleopatra, who was this? Princess Diana?

It turned out to be Diana indeed. However it was not princess Diana as he expected but Goddess Diana, the virgin Goddess of the hunt. All wild animals fell under her domain. He had trespassed into her domain and hunted the animal most sacred to her – the golden hind. He would now have to pay for his crime.

“I am sorry, Goddess. I am a stranger to this land and I was not guided properly about the rules and regulations here. “

“But you have committed a grave offence and I cannot let you get away unpunished”

“I will willingly accept punishment but as a Goddess I am sure you would not deny me the right to be heard by a fair judge.”

Now whereas Juno and Venus were known to be mean Goddesses, Diana had a good reputation for fairness. So she could not afford to taint her reputation.

“Ok. I will let you be tried by a fair judge of your choice.”

Without hesitation, Harvi replied, “I would like to be tried in an Indian court of law”

Diana had not been prepared for this. “But we can’t go to your country now”, she protested

Pat came the reply, “No problem. I have a 3 G mobile phone and we can join the court proceeding through video conferencing.”

The case was filed in the court and court gave a date of hearing 3 months later. Diana let him go free till the judge delivered his final verdict. Harvi knew too well how the Indian legal system worked. Hearing after hearing, hearing after hearing, the case would drag on for years together. Diana being a Goddess had no sense of time in the human world and would not even notice the delay. Meantime, he could finish his quest, return back a hero, start his business, become rich, marry, beget children, bring up his children, get them married, see grandchildren and die a peaceful death. The case would still be going on.

Now he could focus on his next quest.

Next Part of the Story        :  Singer on a Boaring Quest
Previous Part of the Story  :   Singer Sings Hydra Stings
First Part of the Story        :   Singer on the Roof

Picture credit : Deer Picture