Danae lay on a hard stone bed. The dry leather mattress she wore provided no warmth. Danae's eyes gazed aimlessly, there was nothing to see in the pitch-black prison. It had been a month since Danae, a king's daughter, had been locked up in this underground dome. Danae's soft hands clawed at the edges of the cold, rough bed.
The sound of the sliding stone door awakened Danae. The morning sunlight slipped in between the shadows of the arriving people. Accustomed to the dark, Danae quickly squinted and she tried to reduce the glare with the shadows of her own hands.
Aganippe, Danae's mother, moved to embrace the princess. "Oh Danae, my dear child."
Danae returned the hug weakly. Her eyes were still trying to catch the figure standing in the doorway, furthest from her. Acrisius, king of Argos, a figure Danae would never forget.
She still remembered clearly when her father dragged her harshly. She still remembered when her father threw her into this dark prison. And just before the heavy stone door closed, Danae clearly remembered how Acrisius glared at her with a look full of horror. All night Danae cried, but no one came, probably no one heard her. The next morning the door opened, and six people arrived. Two guards who opened the door, two servants who brought food, her mother who held back tears, and her father who watched from afar. Danae repeatedly asked her father what he meant by this, but received no answer. "You will stay here forever," Acrisius ordered. From that moment on Danae was confined to the underground domes, without reason, without explanation.
As usual, it was her father who left first, leaving Aganippe who still missed Danae. "You're getting thinner," said Aganippe. Illuminated by the small candle brought by the servant, Aganippe looked at yesterday's meal, which had only been lightly touched. "Why don't you finish your meal?"
"I can't do anything here, so I'm not hungry."
"I brought you some porridge with your favorite wine." A servant handed Aganippe a bowl of porridge. "Eat it, dear," Aganippe said, feeding Danae.
Danae reluctantly accepted. The longer she ate, the more ravenous she became. Bite after bite she quickly devoured until three bowls of porridge had been eaten by the hungry princess. But there was something else that left Danae unsatisfied. She leaned against Aganippe who put her arm around her. "Yesterday you promised to tell me today," Danae whispered.
Aganippe had the guards and servants wait at the end of the driveway, away from them. She sighed heavily. Aganippe wasn't sure if she should tell Danae this, but she also couldn't bear to see Danae tormented. She couldn't change Acrisius' decision, but she felt she should at least tell Danae why Acrisius locked her up. "Danae, you ... cannot have children."
Danae frowned hard. "What does that mean?"
"Your father locked you here because he didn't want you to have children."
"Why father didn't want me to have children?"
"There is ... a reason," Aganippe said hesitantly.
"What? Tell me quickly, Mother."
"Danae, do you remember when your father went to see Oracle of Delphi?"
"Yes."
"Your father went to ask why we never had a son."
"So? What does that have to do with locking me here? What does it have to do with me not having children?"
"The wise woman gave her prophecy, guidance from Asvollios, the great sun god. The prophecy ... shook your father."
"What did she say?" said Danae who was already very confused as to how all this related to the treatment that had fallen upon her.
"He said that we would not have a son," Aganippe said quietly.
Danae felt her mother's sadness and disappointment.
"She also said there would be a son from our bloodline born into the world. A son from you, Danae."
Danae frowned. "Then what's the problem? Isn't it great that my son will be the successor in Argos?"
"Oracle of Delphi's prophecy does not end there," Aganippe said before taking a deep breath. "She ended her prophecy by saying that ... your son will be the cause of your father's death."
Danae gasped.
Aganippe called out to Danae, but Danae did not respond. Aganippe then left Danae who was silent in contemplation. Slowly the stone door was closed again by the guards.
Once again, darkness enveloped Danae who began to understand this situation. "My son ... will kill father? So that's why he locked me up here." Danae curled up on the stone bed. "I don't want that either. I don't want my son to kill father. But why lock me in here? If you'd told me directly, I'd have been willing to forgo marriage so the prophecy wouldn't come true." Danae smacked her hard stone bed. "All because of the Oracle! You're like this because you asked her for a prophecy. What if she is wrong? What if the prophecy doesn't come true? No, Oracle Delphi is never wrong. But even that is just what I heard. After all, the center of the merziptoi birds is in Delphi. She might have been wrong, but the word didn't spread!"
Danae got up to walk to the center of the dome. She looked up at the dark ceiling of the dome, wailing through it at the sky she longed for. "Even if the prophecy didn't happen, why did you have the heart to punish my innocence like this. Oh Asvollios, why don't you give your light to poor me? Oh Zepter, why don't you come with your justice? Oh Erenoe, why don't you give my mother a son. None of this would have happened if father had gotten a son." Danae fell to her knees with tears in her eyes. Her hands clutched the cold ground. "Why am I the one who was born and suffered like this?"