UNINTERlingua 2023

60 different from some of the most famous ones in classical mythology. I will mention here only three examples as these are the earliest occurrences, and all of them have continued to inspire other authors since ancient times. In no particular order, the first of these is the well-known story of Orpheus and Eurydice. She was killed by a snake bite while fleeing from the advances of ano- ther man. Orpheus, the greatest musi- cian of mythology, made the descent into the underworld of Hades to try to get her back. His singing and musical skill playing the lyre enchanted both the god Hades and everyone in the underworld, so he was permitted to take Eurydice back with him on the condition that he must not look back at her until they both reached the upper world. As Orpheus was ready to step into the light, he could not hear Eury- dice’s footsteps behind him, so he looked back, only to see his beloved disappear from his grasp and return to Hades. The second story is that of Heracles who brought Alcestis, the wife of his friend Admetus, back from death. Admetus had been condemned to die by the goddess Artemis for forgetting to sacrifice to her at his wedding feast. Through Apollo’s intervention, Admetus might be spared if someone else agreed to die in his pla- ce. No one but Alcestis was willing to make that sacrifice. When Heracles arri- ved, unaware of her death, he was still received hospitably by Admetus. Once Heracles learned the truth, he vowed to wrestle Death for Alcestis’s return. While no details are given of Heracles’s journey to the underworld of Hades, nor the wrest- ling match, he was successful in retuning Alcestis to her family. The third story concerns the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone, who was abducted from a meadow by the god Hades himself in his golden chariot. Angered that Zeus did not object to the abduction, Demeter left Olympus to grie- ve on Earth and sent a year of barrenness upon the earth. Zeus finally intervened, sending Hermes to convince Hades to release Persephone. The lord of the lower world agreed, but gave the girl a pome- granate seed to eat, thus binding her to the underworld because she had eaten the food of the dead. A compromise was finally worked out so Persephone could spend two thirds of her time on earth and one third of her time in the lower world. By comparison, Lázaro’s descent and return is not typical of these other stories in several aspects. Traditionally, the des- cent into a lower world takes place for one of the following reasons: 1) to rescue a person, either abducted or dead, 2) to find the answer to a question or to discover a secret from the ruler of the underworld, or 3) to find and obtain some treasure. First, Lázaro’s “descent” is purely accidental and non-purposeful. He has no intention of going to a lower world, and none of the other characters in the novel have a pur- pose for Lázaro’s descent. The descents in classical mythology each have a definite purpose, as the brief preceding examples illustrate. That is to be expected. After all, no one is likely to visit the lower world accidentally or on a whim. Of course, the lower world in which Lázaro finds himself is not a land of the dead and thus is much less sinister. Into such a world of the tuna fish one could most likely come only by accident, with no purpose in mind.