It’s kind of interesting to me how memory works: with no context, the bit about the Danaïds was sufficient for me to remember that I wrote this in a motel room in St Louis on the first trip I took to teach LaTeX classes. This was at a defense contractor in St Louis which dealt with highly classified information and had security at a level where if I left the classroom where I was teaching unaccompanied, I was in danger of being shot. I also remember this being the week where I became a movie superfreak, seeing a movie in the theater every evening I was in St Louis except one when I watched The Graduate on the in-room cable.
The tale of the Danaids is somewhat striking—these women, in punishment for slaying their husbands, were sentenced to continually fill a vessel (presumably for a purification ritual) which leaked faster than they could fill it. I should like to add a second twist to this torment. The women realize that if they should have but one of them fetch the water while the others stop the leaks with their hands, they might be able to fill the vessel. In fairness they decide to switch off the task of fetching the water and the woman who pours the last pitcher in will be the first to bathe. This agreed to they begin their project. But severally, they begin to mistrust each other. Why would the purified stay in Tartarus to help the impure? As the vessel nears fulfillment, the women begin to jealously guard the privilege of pouring the final pitcher of water into the vessel. Spilling some of their pitcher’s contents to prevent the woman after her from performing the task. Allowing some water to drain from the vessel to prevent the preceding woman from gaining the opportunity. In this manner, they fail their escape from Tartarus.
What I should like to do is contrast the classical myth (with my variation) with a modern tale of similar principle.
As I recall, the impetus beyond this entry was a dream I had thanks to reading The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology.
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