Arion, the son of Poseidon (Neptune) and the nymph known as Oneaia, lived in Corinth, where the ruler, the tyrant Periander, loved to hear him sing and play the lyre. Arion went on to Sicily, to compete in a musician's competition, which he easily won. He gained not only the victor's wreath to bring back to Corinth, but also money and other gifts from those who had heard him play the lyre so well.
He stood at the very front of the ship, singing in praise of the gods, then leapt overboard. The sailors looked overboard but could not see him. He had spared them the trouble of killing him, or so it seemed.
But Arion was not dead.
A school of dolphins had heard his wonderful singing and swam all around him, nudging him until he climbed onto the back of the largest of them. Then they all went speeding through the water, overtaking the ship on its way to Corinth. Arion arrived days before the ship. The dolphins made sure that everyone had time to witness his arrival, plunging through the sea like prancing horses. Arion told his story to the tyrant Periander, who waited for the ship to arrive and then sent for the sailors. "Where is my dear Arion?" he asked them. "He is still in Sicily," they replied, "and he asked us to tell you that his beautiful songs are so well liked there that he intends never to leave the place." Periander then confronted the men with the living Arion, and passed a sentence of death upon them.
Arion lived a long and happy life, and according to some stories, the gods placed the Lyra constellation in the sky at his death to commemorate his truly wonderful talent with the lyre.
Edited by Dave Parker
Adapted from ~ Mythology: Myths, & Legends & Fantasies
Global Book Publishing
