Boreas and Orifia

Grozny Boreas, god of the indomitable, stormy north wind. He rushes furiously over the lands and seas, causing all-destroying storms with his flight. Boreas once saw his daughter passing over Attica Erechthea Orifia and fell in love with her. Boreas begged Orifia to become his wife and let him take her with him to his kingdom in the far north. Orifia did not agree, she was afraid of a formidable, harsh god. Boreas was also refused by Orifia's father, Erechtheus. No requests, no pleas from Boreas helped. The terrible god was angry and exclaimed:

- I deserved such humiliation myself! I forgot about my formidable, violent strength! Is it proper for me to humbly beg someone? Only by force must I act! I drive thunderclouds across the sky, I raise waves on the sea like mountains, I uproot ancient oaks like dry blades of grass, I whip the earth with hail and turn water into ice hard as stone - and I pray like a powerless mortal. When I am rushing in a frenzied flight over the earth, the whole earth is shaking and even the underworld is shaking Hades. And I pray to Erechtheus as if I were his servant. I must not beg for Orifia to be my wife, but take her away by force!

Boreas waved his mighty wings. The storm raged all over the earth. Like reeds, the centuries-old forests wavered, the foam-covered waves came menacingly across the sea, dark clouds covered the whole sky. The dark cloak of Boreas stretched above the mountains, and the chilling cold of the north blew from him. Crushing everything in his path, Boreas rushed to Athens, grabbed Orifia, soared up and flew with her to his north.

There Orifia became the wife of Boreas. She bore him two twin sons, Zeta and Kalaid. Both were winged, like their father. The sons of Boreas were great heroes, both of them participated in the Argonauts' campaign for the Golden Fleece to Colchis and performed many great feats.