Apollo and the Sunflower

Original

Apollo and the Sunflower

          Once upon a time, I, the mighty god Apollo, was wandering around in the sky, as usual, when I passed by a market in the countryside of the Aegean island of Naxos, surrounded by beautiful grasslands. However, as I was in a good mood and was passing through the market, I saw a crowd gathered around a podium. Gliding closer, I recognized the three young people as the handsome princes of Naxos, the Illio Brothers, boasting about their archery skills. Their blond hair flashed in the sunlight and proud blue eyes glittering like the sea.
          I watched as the first brother, Illa, announced, "We are so well-trained and our archery skills are so perfect that anyone competing with us will fail definitely!"
          "Of course! I bet even Apollo, the god of archery himself, could not win us!" The second brother, Illi, added.
          The crowd gasped, and I was also aghast. Normally, people just say how they're blessed by me, but I have never seen anyone saying they're better than me! How could some mortals challenge the god of archery himself to an archery contest? I decided to give those arrogant teens a lesson. In golden tunic, I appeared in front of the sea of people. "How dare you mortals have such hubris that you provoke us divine beings?" I warned loudly, " I am Apollo, and I challenge you on a competition to decide who's the best on archery!"
          I could notice their frequent eyeing of each other, showing their nervous brains working furiously on deciding what to do, and obviously, they wanted to quit. But the princes couldn't get embarrassed in front of the crowd, and with so many spectators chattering expectantly in front of them, the third brother, Illo, finally responded for them, "We accept your challenge!"
          Throughout the vast, clear sky, a swirl of thundering clouds gathered nearby.
          When the archery ground was set up, we all stood behind a stretched line, getting our bow and arrow. I proudly volunteered to shoot first, and using my keen eyesight and superb skills, let go of an arrow that landed exactly on the center of the target. As I stretched carelessly, I smirked scornfully at him, doubting they could even reach half of what I did. But Illa came up and shot so precisely and forcefully that his arrow equally split mine, already sticking on the target, and went through it! I was a bit unsettled, but considered it luck and kept watching. Next came Illi, and even more astoundingly, he fired through the hole Illa had penetrated and pinned a string of spider web on a tree bark. Before I could comprehend what was even happening, Illo walked up and launched an arrow with such an amazing parabola that it went through the target's hole, halved Illi's arrow, and collided with the tree, cracking and bringing it down!
          Realizing of their apparent victory, the three brothers held hands and celebrated, and amid their unbelievable enjoyment, they took turns to taunt at me and brag about how they were more skilled than me on archery. As angry as I was, I knew I could do no better than them. But finally, I could stand no more of their jeers, and in frustration, I cursed as I transformed the three attractive princes into flowers with dark, ugly heads with humiliating yellow rings, making them rooted to the ground so they could never near archery and threaten my supreme spot again.
          The three sunflower brothers, not yet comprehended what had happened, questioned in confusion, then protested loudly, "What did we do to deserve this punishment?"
          "You should never have the ego and self-importance to challenge us divine gods!" I yelled defiantly, "You should have known what would happen to you at the beginning! This is your lesson!" With that, I silenced them and disappeared in a cloud of glitters, and the only thing the sunflowers could do was sway in unfairness as they were engulfed by the rumbling storm clouds.
          From that day on, all of the three sunflowers and their descendants stared and followed the Sun in hatred, their leaves spread out as if wanting to shoot down Apollo with volleys of arrows. But being immobile, they could only gaze at Apollo in detestation, hoping something bad would happen to him. This is also why the Greek name for sunflower is "illios," named after the Illio Brothers.