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The Myths These are arranged by the books The following myths have coming directly for the Daughters of the Moon books, so all information here is credited towards Lynne Ewing. | Goddess of the Night | In ancient times, it was said that the goddess Selene drove the moon across the sky. Each night she followed her brother Helios, the sun, to catch his fiery rays and reflect the light back to earth, One night on her journey, she looked down and saw Endymion sleeping in the hills, She fell in love with the beautiful shepard. Night after night she looked down on his gentle beauty and loved him more, until finally one evening she left the moon between the sun and the earth and went down to the grassy fields to lie beside him. For three nights she stayed with him, and the moon, unable to catch the sun's rays, remained dark. People feared the dark moon. They said it broght death and free evil forces to roam the black night. Zeus, King of the Gods, was angered by the darkness and punished Selene by giving Endymion eternal sleep. Selen returned to the moon and drove it across the night sky, but her love was too strong. She hid Endymion in a cave; and now, three nights each lunar month, she leaves the moon to visit her sleeping lover and cover him with silver kisses. In his sleep, Endymion dreams he holds the moon. He has given Selene many daughters to gurard the night. They are powerful and beautiful like their mother, and mortal like their father. | Into the Cold Fire | In antiquity, Hekate was loved and revered as the goddess of the dark moon. People looked to her as a guardian against unseen dangers and spiritual foes. All was well until Persephone, the goddess of spring, was kidnapped by Hades and ordered to live in the underworld for three months each year. Persephone was afraid to make the journey down to the land of the dead alone, so year after year Hekate lovingly guided her through the dark passageway and back. Over time Hekate became known as Persephone's attendant. But because Persephone was also the queen of the lower world, who ruled over the dead with her husband, Hades, Hekate's role as a guardian goddess soon became twisted and distorted until she was known as the evil witch goddess who staled the night, looking for innocent people to bewitch and carry off to the underworld. Today few know the great goddess Hekate. Those who do are blessed with her compassion for a soul lost in a realm of evil. Some are given a key | Night Shade | Diane was the goddess of the hunt and of all newborn creatures. Women prayed to her for happiness in marriage and childbirth, but her strength was so great that even the warlike Amazons worshipped her. No man was worthy of her love, until powerful Orion won her affection. She was about to marry him, but her twin brother, Apollo, was angered that she had fallen in love. One day, Apollo saw Orion in the sea with only his head above the water. Apollo tricked Diana by challenging her to hit the mark bobbing in the distant sea. Diana shot her arrow with deadly aim. Later, the waves rolled dead Orion to shore. Lamenting her fata blunder, Diana placed Orion in the starry sky. Every night, she would lift her torch in the dark to see her beloved. Her light gave confort to all and soon she became known as a goddess of the moon. It was whispered that if a girl-child was born in the wilderness, delivered by the great goddess Diana, she would be known for her fierce protection of the innocent. | The Secret Scroll | Long ago, darkness reigned over the night. People were afraid and remained inside their shelters from sundown until sunrise. The goddess Selene saw their gear and gave light to their nocturnal world by driving her moon chariot across the starry sky. She followed her brother Helios, who rode the sun and caught his shining rays on her magnificent silver chariot, then cast them down to earth as moonbeams. She felt pride in the way the earthlings were comforted by her light. But one night when she had abandoned her chariot to walk upon the earth, she noticed that intimes of trouble many people lost all hope. Their despair bewildered her. After considering their plight, she knew how she could make her moon the greatest gift from the gods. From then on she frove around the earth and each night caught her brother's rays from a different angle. This way the face of the moon was everchanging. People watched the moon decrease in light every night, until it could no longer be seen from the earth. Then after three nights of darkness, a crescent silver returned and the moon increased in light until it was fully illuminated as before. Selene did this to remind people that their darkest times can lead them to their brightest. The ancients understood Selene's gift in the lunar phases. Each night when they gazed at the moon, they knew Selene was telling them to never give up hope. | The Sacrifice | A.D. 1239 The boy's eyes could not adjust to the dark. It was as if he had been blinded in his sleep. He called for the night who had been charged with guarding him, but no one answered. Why had his guard allowed the hearth of fire to go out? The boy listened. He could no longer hear the urgent voices of his father and the other knights in the banquetting hall. Had they left already on their crusade? Then a strange presence filled the room, and the boy knew he was not alone. He had heard his father and the priests whispering about an ancient evil. He felt his thumb for the ring his father had given him for protection. It was gone. Had it fallen off while he slept? He smoothed his hands under the pillows and down the bedcovers, searching for the comforting stone and metal. The door to his room slowly opened. He squinted against the sudden light from the lamp torches in the hallway. A girl stood in the doorframe. She looked more goddess than human, the way her skin seemed to glow. Abruptly cold air made him turn from her and look up. Threatening shadows gathered above him, whirling into a monstrous form. Then, without warning, darkness rushed over him. He screamed for his guardian knight, but it was the goddesslike girl who fought through his thickening blackness and rescued him. She held him tight against her and ran. The demon shadow raged after them with a force that shook the castle's stone walls. The girl fell, and the darkness kidnapped the boy. | The Lost One | A scraping sound came from the kitchen below the little girl's bedroom. She wondered if her parents were still cleaning up from dinner. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand. It was four in the morning. At this hour they should be in bed, deep in slumber. Another, softer noise made her tense. It wasn't the natural creak and pop she sometimes heard at night. Thump. The noise repeated. She sat up with a start. Someone was walking up the stairs. She threw back her covers, crept to her door, and peered into the hallway. Her heart lurched. Two shadowy figures pressed against the wall. She could scream for her parents, but caution told her to be still. Instead she slipped back across her bedroom to her open window, pushed out the screen, and crawled onto the thick branch of an elm tree. She had done this many times. She liked to sit there to think and write in her journal. She had never clambered the length of the branch to her parents' bedroom before, but it looked possible. She tugged at her nightgown and struggled to their window, then stretched her arms out to pull off their screen, but suddenly stopped. The streetlamp cast a beam of light across their carpet. Why were they sleeping, sprawled together across the floor? She bit her tongue hard to keep the scream in her throat from coming out, then she blinked rapidly, not allowing herself tears. She needed her strength to find her sister, Jamie. With new resolve she reached forward and tore off the screen. It fell to the ground below, landing silently in a bed of pink and red carnations. She mounted the windowsill and pulled herself inside. She didn't let her mind consider what made the carpets warm and wet beneath her bare feet as she crept foward. She crouched behing their door and looked out. The two men were entering her room now. As soon as they did. she dashed on tiptoe across the hallway to where her sister slept. She rushed in and almost tripped over Jamie, lifeless and curled in a ball near the canopied bed. Her knees were suddenly too weak to hold her, and she sank to the floor, realizing everyone in her family was dead. She knew that soon the men would be look for her. She rose and started to hide in the closet, but something stopped her. Instinct told her the two men would find her there. Quietly she raced across the hallway and down the stairs, stooping low against the banister. When she reached the landing, she heard the men behind her. She swung open the door as their footfalls pounded down the steps. At last she ran out into the night guided by the full moon.