0:00:06.730,0:00:09.950
It was the perfect wedding, [br]the guests thought.

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The groom was Orpheus,[br]the greatest of all poets and musicians.

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The bride Eurydice, a wood nymph.

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Anyone could tell the couple [br]was truly and deeply in love.

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Suddenly, Eurydice stumbled, [br]then fell to the ground.

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By the time Orpheus reached her side,[br]she was dead,

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and the snake that had bitten [br]her was slithering away through the grass.

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Following Eurydice’s funeral,

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Orpheus was overcome with a grief [br]the human world could not contain,

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and so he decided he would journey [br]to the land of the dead,

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a place from which no living creature [br]had ever returned, to rescue his beloved.

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When Orpheus reached the gates of the[br]underworld, he began to strum his lyre.

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The music was so beautiful that Cerberus,[br]the three-headed dog who guards the dead,

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lay down as Orpheus passed.

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Charon, the ferry captain who charged [br]dead souls to cross the River Styx,

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was so moved by the music that he brought [br]Orpheus across free of charge.

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When Orpheus entered [br]the palace of Hades and Persephone,

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the king and queen of the dead,

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he began to sing.

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He sang of his love for Eurydice, [br]and said she had been taken away too soon.

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The day would come when she, [br]like all living creatures,

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dwelled in the land of the[br]dead for all eternity,

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so couldn’t Hades grant [br]her just a few more years on Earth?

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In the moment after Orpheus finished, [br]all hell stood still.

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Sisyphus no longer rolled his rock[br]up the hill.

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Tantalus did not reach for the water [br]he would never be allowed to drink.

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Even the Furies, [br]the demonic goddesses of vengeance, wept.

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Hades and Persephone granted[br]Orpheus’s plea, but on one condition.

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As he climbed back out of the underworld,

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he must not turn around to see [br]if Eurydice was following behind him.

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If he did, she would return[br]to the land of the dead forever.

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Orpheus began to climb.

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With each step,

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he worried more and more [br]about whether Eurydice was behind him.

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He heard nothing—[br]where were her footsteps?

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Finally, just before he stepped out [br]of the underworld

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and into the bright light of day,

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he gave into temptation.

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Orpheus tried to return to the underworld,[br]but was refused entry.

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Separated from Eurydice,

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Orpheus swore never[br]to love another woman again.

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Instead, he sat in a grove of trees [br]and sang songs of lovers.

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There was Ganymede, the beautiful boy [br]who Zeus made drink-bearer to the gods.

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There was Myrrah, who loved her father [br]and was punished for it,

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and Pygmalion, who sculpted [br]his ideal woman out of ivory,

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then prayed to Venus [br]until she came to life.

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And there was Venus herself,

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whose beautiful Adonis [br]was killed by a wild boar.

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It was as if Orpheus’s own love and loss

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had allowed him to see into [br]the hearts of gods and people everywhere.

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For some, however, poetry was not enough.

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A group of wild women called the Maenads

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could not bear the thought that a poet [br]who sang so beautifully of love

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would not love them.

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Their jealousy drove them to a frenzy [br]and they destroyed poor Orpheus.

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The birds, nature’s singers, [br]mourned Orpheus,

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as did the rivers, [br]who made music as they babbled.

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The world had lost two great souls.

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Orpheus and Eurydice had loved each other [br]so deeply that when they were separated,

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Orpheus had understood [br]the pain and joys of lovers everywhere,

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and a new art form, [br]the love poem, was born.

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While the world wept, Orpheus found peace,[br]and his other half, in the underworld.

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There, to this day, he walks with Eurydice[br]along the banks of the River Styx.

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Sometimes, they stroll side by side;

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sometimes, she is in front;

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and sometimes, he takes the lead, turning [br]to look back at her as often as he likes.