Folly

Written By: Katelyn Abbott

 

Author’s Summary: Princess Cassandra of Troy ponders on her folly of rejecting the Sun God Apollo’s acceptance for who she was, his care for her, and his love for her and her scorning him.

Apollo was her folly.

Cassandra had been foolish when she had chosen to reject the Sun God Apollo’s acceptance of who she was, his care for her, and his love for her and scorned him. She could not have known how disastrous the consequences of her choice would be for her beloved family, her countrymen, and her dear city of Troy. Dooming her entire whole Trojan people to the crying, death, endless hunger and thirst, fire, grief, and illness that the Trojan War would bring to them all and causing the destruction of Troy had never been her intention.

Capturing Apollo’s attention towards her with her brown hair kept in curls, her brown eyes, her china nose, her delicate mouth, her even white teeth, her full red lips, and her fair white skin and him being drawn to her for her beauty, her intelligence, her charm, her desirability, her elegance, and her friendly and gentle nature had been an accident. She did not want him to desire her. Cassandra ended up never leading the amorous god on as he endlessly wooed her with gifts of flowers, fruit, gorgeous robes, jewels, and wine, followed her around like a lost puppy would his master whispering words of love to her, and gone on to make songs in her honor and play them on the lyre to her. She gently gave him frequent hints that a relationship between them could never happen without saying that relationships between the gods and mortals never end well. However he saw her as a challenge and nothing she tried to do to make him leave her in peace worked.

Cassandra could accept Apollo for who he was and care about him, but she could not love him the way that a woman would love a man. She did love him as a devoted worshipper of the gods should do especially as he was the protector of all Trojans though it was not the love that he desired to have from her. Cassandra ended up devoting her entire whole life to him as one of his priestesses and she faithfully served him for the light that he gave to Troy, but it was not enough for Apollo. Even though Apollo was the handsomest man she had ever seen with his blond hair, his deep blue eyes, and his muscular build and he was intelligent and charming, Cassandra did not desire him. Furthermore she had taken a sacred vow of chastity and she gave her word to him that she would remain a virgin all of her life so she would never break her word to him.

However when Apollo realized that she was not playing a game of hard to get and he saw that she was serious in keeping her vow of celibacy to him he tried to tempt her to break it by bestowing upon her the gift of prophecy. It was a gift that she had not asked him for and she had not desired to have it. Still when she refused to give him her love and she scorned him he turned the gift into a curse out of his anger to the damage that a mere mortal woman denied herself to him had done to his pride. That curse was for Cassandra to be able to see the future and be correct in her predictions, but never to be believed by anyone for all eternity.

Her folly in her honesty to Apollo about her inability to return his love and her integrity in keeping her sworn vow to him to remain a virgin for all of her life was what to Princess Cassandra of Troy that had caused her to doom her people to the horrible tragedy yet to come.