Bon Appétit

Erysichthon was a man who scorned the Gods and didn’t honor them. For him, nothing was sacred and he refused to make sacrifices in the altars of those in the Olympus. One day, Erisychthon decides to cut an old tree knowing that this tree was sacred to Ceres. Ignoring the importance of this, he chopped down the tree, but when goddess Ceres heard the cry of her tree she decided to punish him. Ceres, then, decides to send Oread so that he orders Hunger to make Erysichthon suffer and pay for his actions. In effect, Hunger follows orders and makes him suffer.

“Hunger crawled through the air to the house of the victim. As she flew overhead, fields withered and men starved. The birds scattered from her path, too weak to fly. It is night when she arrives at Erysichthon´s home and curdles through the halls until she finds him sleeping in his room. She wraps cadaverous arms around him in an embrace as strong as love, but quite the opposite of love. She breathes her spirit into his spirit. And he begins to dream.” Pg 36

From this moment on Erysichthon started to feel hungry. He couldn’t control his hunger and anxiety so he started eating, but nothing seemed to satisfy him and it was never enough. Each time he asked for more and more food until the food was over and he decided to sell his own mother in order to eat. After selling his mom, he continued eating until there was nothing left. Then, Ceres appears with a silver tray, a fork, and a knife andgives them ho Erysichthon. The man, unable to satisfy himself, and greedy for more, ends up placing his foot in the tray and starts eating himself. This is actually called self-cannibalism.

"Narrator:
There can only be one end to such a man.
[CERES comes toward ERYSICHTHON with a silver tray holding a plate, a large fork and knife, and a rosebud in a vase. She sets it down on the deck.]

Narrator:
He will destroy himself.
[ERYSICHTHON goes to the tray, takes off his shoe, places his own foot on the plate, and raises the knife and fork.]" pg 40

Ceres:
Bon appétit.

I really liked this story since I thought it was very interesting how a person can sell his own mother to satisfy his necessities. It was very surprising to see this since it is incredible how someone can be so selfish and I could relate this lot to modern society. In modern society it all has to do with surviving and survival of the fittest. Everyone seems to be always acting to accomplish and satisfy their desires without thinking on how their actions could affect others. I could also relate this story with the Buddhist and Hinduism believes of Karma.

Karma: The total effect of a person's actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person's existence, regarded as determining the person's destiny.
Basically this principle means that your actions determine your destiny and what you give is what you will eventually receive (what goes around comes around).

In this story karma is reflected since Erysichthon by cutting the tree was punished by being always hungry and eating himself. Because of his bad actions, the future gave him what he deserved.