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Once upon a time there was a sea between two lands, shared by gods and men, called Mare Nostrum by some of the people who knew it, a place where myth and reality used to merge. Legendary navigators, such as the Argonauts, and others of flesh and blood travelled through these waters. They all lived on this sea Feared and revered, the Mediterranean was the realm of Poseidon, sometimes calm and sometimes enraged. For thousands of years, the inhabitants of these coasts have tried to discover the secrets of this rich source of life, guarded by the winds, that over time has revealed all its mysteries.
Mare Nostrum
One of the legends spread by the “parlotaires” (those who used to tell stories) during the second half of the 19th century is known as “The Hymn of Orpheus”. This story is part of the Renaissance folklore of the Empordà region and has all the characteristics of a neoclassical influence. The legends of the “parlotaires” have no written text, we only have an oral tradition thanks to which we are aware of them now.
Venus and Orpheus
When the deities roamed the world, long before the arrival of the Greeks to the Catalan coast, the divine Orpheus fell madly in love with Venus, the passion was so intense that he could not stop thinking about the goddess, whom he turned into his muse for the most beautiful compositions. At night, Orpheus would go to see Venus, and under her window, accompanied by a lyre, he would sing his melodious songs until the sunrise. For the first few days, the goddess did not approach the window because she was afraid that her husband Vulcan would find out about those visits, but in the days to come, her feminine instinct was stronger than fear and she put her head out the window, showing herself to Orpheus who dedicated the best songs in his repertoire to her.
Roques de l’Encís
As the days went by, peacefully and harmoniously, Venus was getting ready to put her head out the window and Orpheus was singing, full of inspiration. The goddess was ready to confess her love to Orpheus, but Jupiter, who had long been attracted to Venus, went to visit her and declared his love for her first. So compelling were Jupiter’s reasons that the goddess accepted the proposal of her new lover.
In the evening, Orpheus went to sing the serenade to Venus and, full of inspiration, sang one of his most beautiful compositions. Jupiter was with Venus at the time and was very pleased with the sweet tone he heard so he opened the window to meet the singer.
Despite the goddess’s efforts to prevent this, as she did not want to upset Orpheus, Jupiter opened the window wide and showed himself to Orpheus, who had the unpleasant surprise of seeing the beautiful presence of Venus replaced by the magnificent beard of the god. A few days after this incident, the divine Orpheus took his lyre and decided to embark on a ship ready to find in the sea the happiness he had lost. After sailing for a long time, a strong storm sank the ship, and our hero, thanks to his wooden lyre, was able to survive. It took a few hours until the lyre, swept away by the current, reached a small islet. Already on the mainland, Orpheus believed himself saved and as the stars shone in the sky at night, the instinct of a poet he had inside, inspired him to sing a hymn about the greatness of the storm he had just experienced.