DLTK's Horoscope Activities
Scorpio: The Scorpion
While many stories exist that speak of the great Scorpion, plenty of stories describe this mighty beast in a head-to-head battle with the great hunter Orion. Unlike Cancer the Crab, who was sent to the sky for eternity in honor of its tragic death against the heel of Hercules, the sign of Scorpio the Scorpion represents the defeat of a great man by an even mightier animal. Thus, lean in close as we tell you of the demise of Orion by the stinger of the boundless Scorpion!
Once upon a time, in the lands of ancient Greece, long before action figures and toy stores, there were whispers of a hunter so large and attractive in all respects that no living man dared to challenge his prowess and strength. Orion was his name.
Rumors surfaced as the years passed that Orion was getting greater, faster, and stronger than anyone--even the gods themselves. Like Athena and Hercules, Orion had drawn the interested of a particular Greek goddess, himself. Artemis, the goddess of hunting and survival, was particularly fascinated by the boastfulness of Orion. She knew that she was the best hunter capable of roaming the Grecian hills, and yet, Orion not only proudly boasted of his ultimate greatness, but he also passionately believed that he was the greatest warrior indeed.
Now, not all gods were as easy-going and humoring when it came to boastful humans. Quite frankly, goddesses like Hera and gods like Apollo the sun god, Artemis' brother, were not so forgiving. Great and ethereal gods, like Gaia goddess of the earth, usually chose to stay out of human affairs altogether. But Orion would run to the highest mountain peaks to declare his greatness, and the support of men like this by gods like Artemis and Athena worried Gaia, Hera, and Apollo greatly.
Orion became increasingly independent. Eventually, he lost contact with those who had raised him. Orion only followed the voice and musings of Artemis and himself. He roamed forests, mountainsides, and pastures aplenty in search of a hunt—day and night, dusk until dawn. Always beside him, his dogs would leer and bark at the sign of any movement. He was quite a sight to see!
He eventually happened on an unusual terrain--the desert. Sandy footsteps trailed for miles behind him as Orion ventured farther than he ever had before. He knew Artemis was either up ahead or close behind, and he did not fear the unknown. However, Orion had no idea of the fate that was to sting him deeply for eternity.
He shuffled his sandaled feet quickly through the crumbling pieces of land below him; he swiped his sword back and forth, back and forth in front of his body; and he cried out at the top of his lungs, "I am the man of gods!"
Watching from the safety of Mount Olympus above, Gaia, Apollo, and Hera themselves shuffled back and forth: they had decided. With the snap of her nimble fingers, Gaia created a giant scorpion to take Orion down. As the brave and boastful hero stumbled on a pack of wild boar resting in the shade of a stone pillar, he drew his sword and began to shout, "I said, I am the man of all gods!"
The boars awakened and trampled the sandy ground beneath their ruddy toes. Orion chortled and basked proudly in the noises he heard around him. He closed his eyes and lifted his sword to slice a beast below him. However, his pride blinded him: the scorpion swooped in with its stinger and impaled the great and mighty Orion. As the scorpion lifted Orion in the air, an arrow from Artemis' bow pierced the hero's leg. Orion heard Artemis gasp in horror as the scorpion mouthed Gaia's great and gentle words, "Even we gods make mistakes."
Orion let out his last breath, and Artemis returned to her brother Apollo. Gaia, Hera, and Apollo greeted her with the compassion of familiarity. And the scorpion became the stars in the sky. The gods knew historians and writers like us would continue to write about Orion's bravery and so chose to center the narrative around the beast instead. The constellation Scorpio is where the scorpion lives now. It shuffles its stinging mark across the sky. It is the fiercest and bravest of us all.
The End.