Who could not feel for this delightful and heart-warming tale of Orpheus who was blessed with a talent for playing enchanting music and had an equally enchanting love for Eurydice? I couldn't resist the temptation and I had to add it in although, as you will see, it isn't a very long story and is simple compared to most other myths. Despite this, Orpheus is probably one of the best known characters of myth in the world and I'm prepared to try and do the tale justice.
The nymph Eurydice meets Orpheus after being drawn towards him by his enchanting music. They fall in love and soon become married. The wedding is barely over however when Eurydice is bitten by a snake on her ankle and dies almost immediately.
Orpheus is heartbroken and refuses to play his lyre or sing anymore.
Determined to regain his newly-wedded bride, Orpheus makes his way into the Underworld and persuades Hades and Persephone to release Eurydice.
They agree to his request on the condition that he walked ahead of her and did not look back or attempt to engage in conversation with her until he had reached the world of the living. Orpheus agrees and he and Eurydice make their way out of the Underworld. He succeeds only until the last moment when he looks around at her to see if she was still there for he was afraid of her slipping due to her snake-bite injury. As he turned, he saw her slip away into the shadows and Orpheus lamented his second loss of Eurydice. Orpheus is now too upset to do anything and becomes inconsolable. He refuses to eat or drink and walks along the riverside with his hair unkempt and avoiding all female company because of the hurt that his love for Eurydice had bought him. In anger for spurning the women of Dionysus called the Bacchae, the women tear his body apart in a frenzy and throw his dismembered body into the stream. Orpheus' head floats apart from the rest of his dismembered limbs and begins to sing a joyful song as his spirit is united with Eurydice in the Underworld.