"Snow"

"Snow"

         Long ago, before the ability for gods to descend from Mount Olympus and mingle with the mortals on Earth was known as possible, there lived a beautiful woman. She was more beautiful than all of the women in her village and more beautiful than the most gorgeous of roses. Her name was Snowin. Nothing in nature could compare with her loveliness and grace. No woman in existence was more beautiful than she. No woman, except for Hera, Zeus' wife on Olympus. Try as Hera might, nothing she did could totally conceal the woman and her uncanny elegance. Soon, and to her dismay, Zeus took notice.

         It wasn't long until Zeus was coordinating a trip down to Earth to visit her. This greatly displeased Hera, and understandably so. I mean, wouldn't you be annoyed if your god of a husband planned a trip down to earth to fraternize with a strange woman? She had seen this happen to her countless of previous times, and frankly she had had enough. Hera felt alienated. She felt replaced, unwanted. So, she began to formulate a plan.

         She reasoned with herself that if she couldn't control Zeus and get him to stop cheating on her with mere mortals she would have to punish them. In order to get through to Zeus, she would have to do something drastic, since her situation was so dire.

         On Zeus' departure day, Hera stood by, ready. Sneakily, Zeus left Olympus in hopes of his wife not noticing his absence. But, unfortunately for him, Hera did notice. In fact, she anticipated this very situation, and she was prepared.

         From her throne, Hera kept vigil, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting, until the moment presented itself. Zeus and his new sweetheart were sitting on rocks overlooking the ocean watching the orange sunset hide itself under the edge of the world. Suddenly, a mysterious mist appeared, clouds covered the sleeping sun and a curious and cryptic cold encased his lady friend. Scared and uncertain of what to do, she began to bawl, but at such a frigid temperature her tears turned to small ice crystals. Slowly, and fascinatingly, her tears fluttered silently to her feet. The crystals, tiny but beautiful, were just like her.

         Baffled by what he was seeing, Zeus realized only one person could be responsible for such a deed, Hera. Angrily, he returned to the castle with the woman, and audaciously demanded that she be fixed. But alas, it was impossible. Nothing Hera tried restored Snowin to her original state. As a punishment to Hera, Snowin was given a special room on Olympus, the city in the sky. To this day on especially cold winter days, Snowin is reminded of what was done to her and she starts to cry. When she weeps, her tears travel down from Olympus to Earth in the form of minuscule ice crystals. When this occurs, people say it is "snowing."