You know, long time ago, there was this fella named Cadmus, right? He was a strong man, real tough. He done built Thebes, a big ol’ city. But lemme tell ya, it ain’t all ’bout the city. No, no, it’s about his wife, Harmonia. That woman, she was special. Now, Harmonia, some say she was the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, them big gods up in the sky. Others say she came from Zeus and Electra. But who cares, really? All we know is, she got hitched to Cadmus, and boy, that was somethin’! Big ol’ wedding with all them gods showin’ up. Must’ve been a sight, huh?
Now, they didn’t have just any ol’ life, no ma’am. See, Harmonia had this necklace, a real pretty thing, but it was cursed. That necklace brought bad luck to whoever wore it. And poor Harmonia, she wore it on her weddin’ day. You can imagine the troubles that followed, right? Well, her kids, they didn’t have it easy. Cadmus and Harmonia had one son, Polydorus, and four daughters: Ino, Autonoe, Agave, and Semele. But Mars, he was angry, and oh boy, did he take it out on Cadmus’s family. Them poor kids, most of ’em didn’t make it, all ’cause of that curse.
After all the heartbreak, Cadmus and Harmonia, they couldn’t stay in Thebes no more. Too much sorrow, too much bad juju. So they packed up and moved to Illyria. But let me tell ya, it didn’t get much better. Them Illyrians, they went and made the gods mad too. But somehow, Cadmus and Harmonia, they was spared. Must’ve been somethin’ special ’bout them, huh?
Now, here’s where things get real strange. Some say Cadmus and Harmonia turned into snakes after they died. Ain’t that somethin’? They turned into these big ol’ serpents and kept watch over their graves. But their souls, they didn’t just hang ’round. No, they went to the Elysian Fields, that’s where the good souls go, real peaceful-like. Imagine that, spendin’ eternity as a snake but restin’ in peace!
Folks also talk about how Harmonia came from Samothrace, and Cadmus, he met her there after some sort of mysteries. Whatever that means, right? But that’s what the old stories say. Cadmus, he had himself a rough life, built a city, lost his kids, and ended up slitherin’ ’round like a snake. And Harmonia, well, she just wanted to be with her man, no matter what happened. Now that’s somethin’, ain’t it?
And you know, that necklace, it kept bringin’ trouble even after Harmonia. The folks who got it later, they had their own share of problems. It’s like that curse just never stopped. Some things in life, they just keep goin’, like a bad storm that won’t pass. But at least Cadmus and Harmonia, they got each other, even if it was as snakes. I guess love don’t care what form you’re in, huh?
Life sure ain’t easy when the gods got their eyes on ya, but Cadmus and Harmonia, they stuck it out together. Even with all the bad luck, they found their peace in the end, somewhere out there in them Elysian Fields. Ain’t that somethin’ to think about?
Tags：[Cadmus, Harmonia, Greek mythology, Thebes, cursed necklace, Elysian Fields]
