Mestra

Set in the world of Greek mythology, this short story reimagines the myth of Mestra, the daughter of Erysichthon, a king of Thessaly cursed with insatiable hunger by the goddess Demeter after he destroyed her sacred grove of trees. Narrated by fifteen-year-old Mestra, the story traces her journey from desperate devotion to her father toward the recognition that his hunger, both literal and figurative, will consume her if she lets it.

The story opens as a merchant arrives at the ruined palace to buy Mestra. Her father has already eaten through every animal, treasure, and store the family once possessed, and all servants have fled. He sells Mestra for seven roasted chickens, three fewer than the agreed-upon ten, because the merchant brings them hot and Erysichthon cannot resist. As the merchant leads Mestra away beneath a makeshift wedding veil, she begs to stay. Her father refuses, insisting that being sold is the best help she can provide.

On the cart ride, Mestra passes the beach where, three months earlier, the sea god Poseidon rose from the waves and assaulted her. He left her bruised and bleeding, promising she would bear his child, but no pregnancy resulted because starvation had already stopped her menstrual cycle. Her father, consumed by his own suffering, never noticed her injuries. Realizing the merchant will discover she is not a virgin and may kill her, Mestra whispers a prayer to Poseidon. The merchant mocks her, and she despairs.

When the merchant stops the cart, Mestra removes the veil and discovers her body has changed: large, hairy hands, a beard, a man's tunic, and a round belly free of hunger. She tells the frightened merchant she is the girl, picks up his whip, and orders him to leave. Walking home alone for the first time, she explores the unfamiliar body with curiosity and delight, climbs an apple tree with ease, and gathers six fruits.

At the palace, her father does not recognize her. She offers the apples, and when his gaze fixes on her, the man's body melts away and she reverts to her thin, starving self. He tests her power with excitement rather than alarm. She becomes the man with a shiver, then their old cook, a freckled woman who fled after witnessing Erysichthon's endless eating, then her cousin Arete, a girl her own age, and then the Queen of Mycenae from a childhood feast. But she can only become people she has actually seen and cannot modify or combine their forms. Her father calls her dull, then announces his plan: They will sell her repeatedly, in attractive forms, for higher prices.

Mestra realizes the man's body belongs to a real person: a fisherman who, after Poseidon's assault, saw her battered face on the beach, gave her three fish, and offered to walk her home. The knowledge that she inhabits this kind stranger's form disturbs her deeply.

In the city, the selling scheme begins. Mestra recalls the origin of the curse: Erysichthon wanted to expand his dining hall and ordered the felling of Demeter's sacred grove; when his workmen refused, he seized an axe himself. Her father now finds buyers while Mestra shifts between identities to escape each one. A butcher sets a guard dog at the door; Mestra escapes by shifting into the butcher's own form and commanding the dog. A lord's son gropes her; she escapes when sent to wash. Her father sells her five times in a day, then six the next, moving between marketplaces and harbors. The men who buy her pinch and grab, but Mestra tells herself it is not really her they touch; when she changes, the marks are wiped clean. She comforts herself by holding her own hand as Arete, imagining her cousin is really there.

Her father is never satisfied, blaming her inability to create more attractive forms for the low prices. When an old man begins tearing the dress from her shoulders, Mestra shoves him and the fisherman's form surges into her unbidden. The window is too narrow for a person. She thinks of her cousin's pet sparrow, Honey, transforms into a bird, and flies through the window into the sky.

This breakthrough opens the animal kingdom to her. She transforms into Oak, a horse of divine stock that her father had eaten, and feels the animal's thundering heart. Her father sells his whole former stable that day, each horse multiple times. She carries him home as Oak, placing her hooves softly to spare his bones. Yet his hunger proves bottomless. He devours enormous meals and demands more, seizing Mestra's wrist with skeletal fingers and accusing her of eating. She suggests he ask Demeter for release; he refuses violently.

He sells her as a cow to a kind farmer with a pregnant wife. Mestra feels guilt for the first time and recognizes a deeper truth: No matter how much her father eats, he only grows more hollow. They could rob a thousand people and he would still be starving to death with his mouth full.

Mestra tells her father she does not want to be sold anymore. To her surprise, he agrees, claiming to have found the answer. He reasons that Poseidon blessed Mestra because Demeter's curse prevented the god from giving the power directly to Erysichthon. A mortal cannot bear such power long, he warns, citing shape-shifters from myth: Proteus deposed, the sea goddess Thetis ravished, Metis swallowed by Zeus, king of the gods. His conclusion: They must transfer the power. He calls Mestra's flesh ambrosia, food of the gods, consecrated by Poseidon, and holds up a knife.

Mestra considers transforming to bear the pain but realizes that would mean letting someone else's body be carved. She pulls up her sleeve. Her father cuts a chunk of flesh from her arm, roasts it, and eats it, claiming the curse lifted momentarily. He demands another piece. When Mestra protests, he grows impatient and says: "This is your chance." The phrase breaks something open. Mestra recognizes that her father has always been skilled at getting people to give him things, piece by piece. He did not need all of Demeter's trees, but he chopped them down anyway. The scraps of affection he showed her were just enough to keep her serving him. She was never a child to him, only the closest piece of meat. His warnings about Proteus, Thetis, and Metis describe fates already befallen her: She has been deposed, ravished, and swallowed.

Mestra laughs. Erysichthon grabs her wrist and lifts the knife. The fisherman's form comes, and he drops her as if scorched. She becomes Oak, kicks the table into the wall, stamps at him as he flees, and gallops out of the palace into the darkness.

Some time later, Mestra reunites with Arete, who embraces her and touches the scar above her elbow where the flesh never grew back. Mestra apologizes for hiding in Arete's skin; Arete shrugs and says it was not her. Mestra notices her likeness of Arete was never accurate and reflects that she could have fixed the details if she had wanted, meaning her limitations were never truly about inability. Traveling the coast in the guise of a sailor, she heard the news: Erysichthon was found dead in his feasting hall, the flesh of both arms chewed to the shoulder, his own fingers in his mouth. He ate himself to death. Arete suggests the power may not have come from Poseidon at all. Mestra remembers galloping as Oak and the thought: This is not a feeling that can be given; it can only be found. Outside, a black poplar, a species from Demeter's destroyed grove, shakes its leaves in the wind. Mestra says she owes the farmers a cow; Arete smiles and says she will find a way. Mestra claims her full identity: the horse, the fisherman, the cook, the falcon, the lucky cow, and now the girl with the scar. She becomes a sparrow like Honey, but plumper and with brighter wings, distinctly her own, and flies to her cousin's hand.