Round the Herne

 It was International Dog Day recently (who on earth actually decides these things?) and I was going to record a story, but work got in the way. So here is a belated account, my version of the final Labour of Herakles where he must acquire the giant dog Cerberus and bring him to the court of his mealy-mouthed cousin King Eurystheus. For the literary among you this is a katabasis tale (the journey into Hades) followed by an anabasis one (the return to the living). I'm sure you are glad to know that.

 This is my version of the Greek myth of Perdix and his uncle Daedalus the inventor. This story reminds me of the Irish myth of Dian Cecht and his son Miach whose skill (in medicine rather than engineering) threatens to outstrip the master. Whilst both stories can be read as straightforward warnings about the dangers of envy, the Irish tale has subtext about the dangers of immortality which the Greek story does not have. 

 A short-ish philosophical musing on the Ancient Greek understanding of time and how it relates to two deities, Kronos and Caerus. It would be interesting to hear people's views about the nature of time and particularly the issue about whether brief good times can outweigh long bad times in the qualitative Caerus-sense.

 My reading of H P Lovecraft's 1922 short story "Celephais" which warns the reader about the seductive danger of fantasy and daydreaming, luring people away from engaging in the world around them. Unusually for Lovecraft, there are no real squeamish horrors eating people's brains or turning their souls into earrings - however, the creeping madness is ever present.

  My recording of H P Lovecraft's (1920) short story " Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family", a tale which suggests that it is sometimes better not to delve too deeply into one's genealogy. This story is from the same collection that I have previously recorded other Lovecraft tales from.

 It is harvest time in Britain, so thought I would record a story connected to agriculture. This is part of the myth cycle of Demeter and how she forms an association with the kingdom of Eleusis and the birth of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Disguised as a mortal woman, Doso, she looks after the baby Demophon and his older brother Triptolemus, There are close parallels between this story and one told of Aset (Isis) when she too is wandering the land in search of a lost loved one and ends up taking care of a royal baby. One story may have inspired the other, or both may reflect a universal truth.