Part 1

The Set-up: Melik was a beautiful slave who’s duty was to be a cup bearer and serve wine for his king, King Athamas of Orchomenus, and other royalties. One day, the king of Larymna from Opuntian Locris visited Orchomenus in Boeotia, and dined with the Boeotian King. The visiting king had come for the golden fleece that had been promised to him, but since the ram was stolen, the host king threw a feast instead. Melik was naturally tasked to serve the wine to all royalties at the occasion.

Call to Action: Seeing the cup bearer’s beauty despite being male, the king of Larymna was captivated and wanted the young man for himself. The visiting king told the host king that since he didn’t have the promised golden fleece, he was fine to settle for his beautiful cup bearer instead. Hearing this, King Athamas was very relieved, he had felt embarrassed that he could not fulfil his promise, but since the other king seems happy to overlook it for something else than he would give whatever the other wanted.

Call Refusal: Melik wasn’t particularly pleased with this arrangement, since he had heard that the king of Larymna was known for being a tyrant that lived too lavishly, but he could do nothing about it and had to accept being given away. The visiting king looked very pleased when his request had been so readily accepted and happily continued on with the feast for the rest of the day.

No Return: Once the king of Larymna was ready to return back to his city, he made sure to have Melik by his side to serve him wine on the way back. Melik now truly had to come to terms with the fact that he had not only changed ownerships but will be moving to a different city as well. The journey was long and tiring, but Melik was at least grateful that he was allowed to rid a donkey, the king rode a horse while most of the other people who travelled with him moved on foot.

1st Struggle: Once they made it to Larymna in Opuntian Locris, Melik was introduced as the king’s new cup bearer, where he was given a golden water jug to assert his status. His duties still remained the same, expect now he serves the royalties of Larymna. The rumours he heard seemed to be true, the king really did live quite luxuriously—compared to his old king—and even makes a show of it, with decorations everywhere and his palace sitting high on the edge of a cliff. It made the disparity between the king and his citizens’ lives even more apparent. Melik saw many children who looked underfed that made him feel sorry for them.

Commitment: Regardless, Melik dutifully did his job without complaints, until one day he caught wind of an assassination plot against the king. The royal adviser and the king’s son were planning to dust the king’s wine cup with a poisonous powder that will dissolve in wine, so that the king will be poisoned when he drinks from his cup, but the cup bearer would be safe when he tests the wine. Then once the king dies, the assassination can be blamed on the new cup bearer slave from the neighbour kingdom, and the king’s son will be able to ascend to the throne and have all the city’s wealth for himself. Melik, hearing this plot, was shocked.

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Part 2

2nd Struggle: The realisation of his situation made Melik feel sick. More than that, he realised that even with the king and his own death, the people in the city wasn’t in any better hands under the king’s son. Melik mourned, not for his own incoming death because his life wasn’t important, but for the people that had to continuously lived under such tyrant rule. In despair, he prayed to the heavens, to any God listening, he prayed that the people of Larymna would be free of their greedy kings. He even poured out all the wine in his water jug on the earth as an offering, though he had no idea if it was an acceptable offering.

Crisis: It had started raining that day after he gave his offering and had not stopped since. Nobody paid it any mind since it was not unusual for this time of the year for the city, and life went on as normal. A few days later, the king had a party arranged for all nobles and royalties, and as usual Melik was to serve everyone. He knew that the king’s cup was poisoned, so after the king had taken a drink from his cup, Melik snatched it away, saying he had forgotten to test the wine before serving and drank directly from the king’s cup. It was a huge offence, nobody but the king drinks from that cup, but he didn’t care since now he was going to die anyway. He would rather die of his own will than die falsely accused.

Climax: The king was furious, and ordered guards to take Melik away. He liked his cup bearer enough to not punish him in front of his party guests, but he won’t leave him unpunished entirely. The guards dragged the cup bearer out into the rain that had become a strong storm. Melik laughed and told the guards that they should go back to the king because the wine they both drank from was poisoned. This made the guard freeze and rushed back into the party hall, leaving Melik out in the harsh weather. The poison was beginning to act and Melik’s head began pounding heavily and his body growing weak, but he didn’t miss it when suddenly there was a large rumble and the earth under the party hall crumbled and sunk. The party hall was located directly on the edge of the cliff and it suddenly broke off from the heavy rain, taking the entire building with it, along with all the royalty and nobles inside.

Aftermath: It was a catastrophe, in one night the entire royal family and many greedy rich nobles died from the disaster. Melik also died, but only from the poison he ingested. His soul was taken by Zeus before he could go to the underworld. The great god had been very touched by Melik’s compassion for the people of Larymna and felt it needed to be acknowledged. Zeus told him that the Sky God, Ouranos, had also been touched by his prayer and was actually the one who created the storm that caused the disaster. Divine retribution; from this disaster the people were free of tyrant rule and could rebuild themselves for the better. For Melik, Zeus made him—with his water jug—the personification of Aquarius, giving him a place amongst the stars.