• Alilah is the daughter of Persephone and Hades. She had long, curly, dark hair and copper-toned skin. She was the goddess of free thought. When she was born all the gods were in rejoice. Each one had given her a special gift. From Athene she gained her wisdom, Artemis, her wild spirit, Apollo, her talent and love for music, Poseidon, her ability to swim and fondness of water, Aphrodite, her beauty, Nike, her lovely onyx wings, and from Nyx she received her eyes as dark as night that shined like its stars. Even her own grandmother Demeter (who despised Hades for taking her child) had given her a scarlet rose to match the color her face turned when she blushed. Alilah wore the rose in her hair and it would never die for as long as she lived. Then, Zeus had given her the most precious gift of them all. He gave her the gift of will power. With this she could decide for herself what she wanted to do, when and where she wanted to do it, and most importantly she could think for herself. Neither man nor god could control her thoughts. If nothing else, those were her own.

    Being the goddess of free thought Alilah was also a free spirit. She would always travel to exotic places and explore unknown worlds. She went wherever the wind took her and came and went as she pleased.

    One day Alilah decided to play her little flute that Apollo had given her by a nearby river. It had begun to get dark. Alilah paid no mind, because she loved the night, for with her eyes of the sky she had the power to see through the dark. She walked across the water for hours playing her flute.

    A man walking home had gotten lost in the shadowy woods when he heard the breathtaking music being played. He walked toward the river not knowing whom or what could attain the ability to play music so brilliantly. Alilah did not see him walk up, but when she turned around she saw his face. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. He had wavy brown hair and jade green eyes and was oh, so beautiful. She was struck suddenly with embarrassment, shyness, and one feeling she had never felt before. She stopped playing. His face had taken her breath away, just as her music did the same to him. The man did not see Alilah for it was much too dark.



    “I beg of you to not be frightened. Whoever is making that wonderful music do not stop because of me. Do go on, for in my short life I have never heard anything as pleasurable as this,” he pleaded.



    Alilah was so taken by the sound of his voice that she could not speak a word. She merely blushed and began to play a song that had just appeared in her head because of this strange man standing in front of her. When she was finished she noticed that the man was sitting on the river crying from the music. She wanted him to stop, but was still trying to figure out why she could not talk to him, so she began to cry for him and with him. The man looked down into the river and saw a reflection of the sky and stars. He noticed that two of the stars were brighter and different from the others. They looked as if they were moving. These were Alilah’s eyes. She wanted to reach out to him so bad, but was too nervous for reasons she didn’t know why. How could a goddess as (almost as) perfect as her be frightened of a mere human?! sweatdrop



    “May I see you tomorrow,” he said, in a voice that made Alilah’s golden heart stop beating. She couldn’t answer.

    “I know not of whether you be a human, god or something different, but would you please at least tell me your name,” he said.



    Again, she could not answer so he said

    “Well if I can in fact see you tomorrow… could you …… maybe…. give me sign…..?

    I’ve got it! If you want to see me here again tomorrow you can splash in the water and if you don’t, you can do nothing at all.”

    When there was no sign the man sullenly started to walk away. Right when he was almost gone Alilah lost all control and dived into the water. The man heard the faint splash and smiled all the way home.





    The next day Alilah followed the man around everywhere he went. She figured that if she followed him around she could figure out why she was having all of these strange feelings over this one human man. The night before she had followed him home and watched him sleep. Seeing him be so at peace made her unknown feelings even stronger. She thought that maybe the man had put some kind of spell on her. Another thought was that he had given her a love potion when she wasn’t looking. This she considered, but found it humanly impossible. Not only did she live in the heavens, but she had never seen this man before in her life.

    The man then when to work in the fields where she had heard some people call him by his name. It was such a unique and handsome name. His name was Chryssander. As he was in the fields she noticed a man in a horse come up to him. He was in much finer robes than everyone else and seemed to be a very angry man. She also noticed that Chryssander was daydreaming when the man o his horse pulled up behind him. She found this very attractive, because she herself loved to daydream. The man then slapped the back of Chryssander’s head nagging him not to slack off again. Then, he said something that truly puzzled Alilah.



    “Until you pay your debt you are mine! Do you hear me boy? Mine! Now back to work with you,” he demanded.



    Already outraged by the slapping and now confused by the words, Alilah did not know what to do stressed . She decided to continue following Chryssander for the rest of the day until they were to meet at the river again.

    That night Alilah rushed to get to the river before Chryssander to play the music that had lured him in the first time. When he came to river he only sat and listened. When Alilah had began her third song Chryssander said



    “May I ask you a question?”

    Alilah immediately stopped to listen to him.

    “Can you talk?”

    This question made Alilah almost laugh at the thought of her not being able to talk. She splashed the water to answer “yes”.

    “May I hear what you sound like,” he asked.



    Blushing again Alilah said quietly “If you must know I suppose I sound like this depending on what you hear.”



    “You have such a melodic voice and you sound beautiful. If only I could see you. You are a human aren’t you?”


    The question made her gasp. Afraid to tell him she said



    “I could show what I am better than I could tell you, but you might not like what you see.”

    Then, Alilah touched his eyelids to give him the gift to see through darkness. He opened his eyes and saw the shy girl with her onyx wings floating over the river. He noticed that the rose in her hair matched the color of her blushed nose and cheeks. He thought it was so cute for her to be a goddess so beautiful and be so shy. He, in his small village had never seen a god or goddess, much less talk to one.



    “Why does a goddess as beautiful as you shy away from people’s sight?” he asked.



    “I…..I…I don’t know,” she answered. “Why do you let a man on a horse control your thoughts?”



    “I…don’t know,” he admitted. “Why do you ask?”



    “I am the goddess of free thought and it kills me to see such great minds are controlled and go to waste. But, why do you work for that man anyway?”



    “My mother owed him a lot of money, but died when I was very young so I have to pay her debts for her. In short terms I’m a prisoner and they make me work like a dog and I get little pay for the hard work I do.”



    Alilah was astonished to what she had heard. This person whom she had just met yesterday just told her so many things about his life. It was while before anyone spoke again. Then, Chryssander mumbled something under his breath. When Alilah asked him what he said he replied.



    “I love you! I knew it from the moment I heard your music yesterday! I night not know why you tried to hide from me or why you didn’t want to talk to me and though it’s obvious that you don’t feel the same way I just wanted you to know how I felt. I love you!” he screamed.

    He then broke down and fell to his knees. Alilah’s eyes got big with astonishment as she realized that the feeling she had never felt before, she could not explain, it was there in front of her face the whole time. Seeing Chryssander confess his feelings like that made her realize how much how deeply she felt. One thing was for sure, that Alilah was deeply and madly in love with Chryssander and had not even known until now. She felt the same way he did and though he did not think so, it was true. She then flew to him and crashed upon him with a loving hug.

    “I do love you Chryssander! I do!”



    Chryssander could not believe what he had just heard and hugged Alilah back.

    “Will you marry me Alilah? I have never seen anyone or thing as beautiful as you before. I’m poor so I have nothing to offer you but my love and understanding,”



    “Chryssander as long as I have you I need no more than your love and understanding,” she answered. “But what will you do about your debt? You can’t just run away from it can you,” she asked worried. Chryssander chuckled at what she had said and smiled at her not answering the question.



    The gods did not like the thought of their beautiful little goddess getting married to a human, but could not interfere with her decision for with Zeus’s gift to make her own decisions and Athene’s gift of wisdom she would undoubtedly find some way to elope so why test her? Gods and goddesses and women and men all came to attend the wedding. They were sure to live a happy and long life together.

    Years later Alilah went to the same river where they had met to play her flute. Remembering the question she had asked Chryssander that was never answered she began to wonder. When she arrived at home Chryssander was asleep. She quickly awaked him to answer the question that had been taunting her for so long.



    “Chryssander I must know this. After years of working to pay your mother’s debt why did you run away like that?” she hesitated.



    “I did not runaway,” he said “I just simply walked off from the life of a prisoner,”



    “Yes, but why?”



    “If I have learned anything from living with the goddess of free thought, it is that you can not be imprisoned physically unless you let yourself be imprisoned mentally first,” he said. “I simply choose to be neither one.”

    He then sniffed her scarlet rose and went back to his free thoughts into dreamland. heart