Storytelling: A Poor Mortal (Week 13)

A 19th-century interpretation of Charon's crossing by Alexander Litovchenko.

Charon rowed.  And rowed.  And rowed.  That’s almost all that he did.  His arms had stopped throbbing hundreds of years ago.  Now, the years passed liked days to him.  The screams and wails of the lost souls had also partially deafened him.  Long ago, he had even been able to hear the distant click-clacking of the centaurs’ hooves from so far off circle of hell.  He couldn’t hear much other than the last lamentations of the sorrowful souls he carried across the river.  His beard and head had started greying long, long ago.  Now, his beard only had specks of its natural hue; instead, grey had taken over.  Both in age and appearance, he was an old man.  

Soon, he would have to find someone else to take over his responsibility as the ferryman.  Reflecting was not something he did often, but it was something that he felt was appropriate now that he would be relinquishing his position soon.  He had been alive for far too long to care to remember everything that had happened to him.  Even if he did desire to remember the occurrences that had taken place throughout the course of his post as ferryman, there were so, so many souls that he had taken, it was impossible to remember them all.  In fact, most of them blurred together.  Few souls had interested him during his millennia on the job.  He did vividly recall one soul in particular, though.  His name was Dante, and he was a soul Chiron had yet to take.  He was one of the handful of mortals who had venture down into the Underworld for some reason or another.  

From what he recalled, he was on a quest of some sort and was with a soul that he had previously taken across the river, a soul named Virgil.  In life, Virgil had an importance about him and a way of stirring things up.  In death, the same was true.  He claimed to be a guide to the mortal who had found his way to the ferry.  Charon tried to warn the mortal Dante that his ferry was not for the living, but neither he nor Virgil would heed his warning.  Instead the guide pushed Charon, urging him to let the mortal pass.  He stated something about the mortal’s passage being fated or willed or something along those lines.  Charon remembered deciding not to argue.  He remembered thinking that if it was that mortal’s fate to see the trials of hell, fate was cruel indeed.

Author's Note:

I decided to write my story about Charon's interaction with Dante and Virgil because it really stuck out to me while I was reading the unit.  I placed the story at some point after Charon's encounter with the two of them.  I thought that doing this would give an interesting perspective.  I also got the impression the Charon had seen a lot during his time, so I really wanted to play up his age and maybe his wisdom as well.

From the Gates of Hell and Charon section of the Dante's Inferno unit

Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline (2002).