For my last book of the year, I do indeed seem to be reading Pegasus: An Easy Ancient Greek Reader. This retells the story of Pegasus in very easy Ancient Greek with basically every word on the page in a facing glossary.

I had a big ol' book of Greek myths when I was a kid -- not one of the standard ones -- and of course my favorite story was the one about Bellerophon bridling Pegasus and then fighting the chimera. Because, you know. Horsie. It had, I think, a full-color plate for every story (this is why I suspect it wasn't one of the standard books because it was not heavily-illustrated). Now that I have looked around, I think it was this -- Myths Every Child Should Know -- which seems, uh, pretty obscure. I found a nicer PDF though.)

I remember being in, like, second grade and having painstakingly made and illustrated my own "book" of Pegasus, retelling the story in my own words, for some kind of school project, which I bound by having my parents help me wrap pieces of cardboard in pegasus-themed wrapping paper and then duct-taping the spine together. I definitely remember using my extremely fancy Prismacolor colored pencils to render the golden bridle. So I am deeply familiar with it... but only this one exact version.

Anyway, the story in Myths Every Child Should Know definitely did NOT mention that Bellerophon was in Lycia fighting the chimera because he'd been exiled from Corinth for killing a rando guy named Belleron -- apparently "Bellerophon" means "murderer of Belleron," and his previous name was Horse Mind (Hipponous) -- and he ended up in Argos as a guest of the king who ritually cleansed him of the miasma of his murder (lysimache says this is a cultural concept that everyone knows but I have never heard of this in my life) but then the queen decided she wanted to fuck Bellerophon and when he turned her down, she went to her husband the king and said Bellerophon had wanted to fuck her and he should have this guy killed. Of course she did.

So at this point in the story, Bellerophon is being sent to Lycia with a letter telling King Iobates (the wife's father) to have him killed, because the king of Argos can't just kill him because he's a guest he has ritually cleansed and eaten meals with and killing him is just Not Done. However, it's cool to send him to your father-in-law and have him kill him. That's fine. I love hospitality.

Apparently this part was not a Myth Every Child Should Know. Anyway! Looking forward to more unanticipated sex and violence!