ESL Blogs

Sibyl was a hauntingly beautiful girl from Cumae. She asked gods for as many years of life as grains of sand she could squeeze into her hand, but she forgot to ask for eternal life as well as eternal youth.

Gods granted her wish. The youthful days have passed and in came the excruciatingly painful years when she aged horrendously. Her pearly white teeth fell out;  her face was riddled by wrinkles. Her bones were dissolved and little by little, she became the size of a shriveled finger. Due to her curse, she needed no food or drink, for she could neither starve nor die of thirst.

People put her in a cage and there she hung on a stake in the town square. Children would dance around her cage, poke her with a stick and tease,  ”Sibyl,  Sibyl what do you wish?”  To which she would reply with a faint whimper, “Nothing, nothing. I wish to die.”