The Heart of the Labyrinth-Kim's contribution to Lisa's Book

From ancient Greece...




in an age of myths and legends...





From a time when there existed mythical beasts...




fair maidens...





and heros ...





comes a tale of deceit and forbidden love.












Enter the labyrinth...





and beware of what dwells within.

Lisa's book for the Pulp Redux collaboration is themed Labyrinth. I must admit the theme sparked off so many ideas I had trouble settling on just one, so in true women's fashion decided to do two! After all two must be better then one right! Right! LOL!


The first part of my contribution outlines the ancient Greek story of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur.


The sea God , Poseidon sent to King Minos of Crete, a beautiful white bull to be sacrificed in his honour. Minos however on seeing the beautiful animal decided to keep it and sacrificed another in it's place. Poseidon was so angry with Minos that he cast a spell upon Minos wife, Pasiphae which caused her to fall in love with the bull. Pasiphae unable to resist the spell mated with the bull and the offspring of their union was the Minotaur. The Minotaur grew to be so ferocious that Minos ordered a prison to be built to confine the Minotaur, and so Deadalus his servant, constructed a labyrinth which was so complex that none who went in were able to find their way back out, and the Minotaur was cast inside to remain forever.





Many years later, the Athenians who were at war with King Minos, killed one of Minos' sons. As punishment to the people of Athens, Minos called down a plague on the city. Only by agreeing to send to Crete each year seven youths and seven maidens would Minos lift the plague from the city. The youths and Maidens sent to Crete were cast by Minos into the labyrinth and there were devoured by the Minotaur.

In the third year of the tribute, the Athenian Prince Thesius, determined to end the slaughter of his people, and volunteered to go as one of the sacrificial victims where he vowed to find the Minotaur and destroy it. On arriving in Crete, Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos and Pasiphae saw Thesius and fell in love with him. She provided Thesius with a ball of string and bade him to tie one end of the string to the entrance to the labyrinth on entering, and in so doing he would be able to find his way back out again. Thesius did and within the heart of the labyrinth he found the Minotaur and killed it, fleeing Crete and taking with him the youths of Athens and Ariadne.




The tale although tragic ( I always feel sorry for the Minotaur!) is an interesting one and I rather liked the idea of it's being a part of the book.

Here's a look at one of the pages as it appears in the book.

The pages are constructed using black velvet and a heavy matching furnishing weight fabric.





I rather like the dark look all that black added to the tale!

So that's the first part of my additions. The second section is entirely different and sets quite a different mood entirely!
More on that soon. Some things just take ages to dry properly!