Sisyphus and Allophus
Myth
Part II
Continued from Sisyphus Says No (Myth, Part I)
Is it the gods that told Sisyphus he can’t get help? Nobody ever said. I think he’s just the kind of jerk that will never accept anyone’s help. He genuinely believes he will do it himself someday, and refuses to be beholden to some yokels beneath his station. We all know people like this. Most of our movies and popular culture are about the epic saga and the lone hero. That’s the poetry of the ancient Greeks: the gods are just devices; the mortals build their own curses.
Turned away by Sysyphus, the people of Allophus go home. They can’t force him to accept help. He enjoys it? Maybe Camus is right? A few years pass, they go about their lives. They check in every once in awhile, more out of curiosity on just how stubborn he can be – Sisyphus says no.
Then one beautiful Grecian day, starting with your typical rosy pink fingers of dawn and progressing toward a brilliant golden sun scattering blinding dazzles of starfire on the otherwise aquamarine Gulf of Corinth, a few Allophusians turn from alternating between their favorite pastimes of scanning the surf for Aphrodite and watching Sisyphus’ struggles and they start to idly wonder whether they’re missing something – how hard can it be to roll their own boulder up a hill – why not give it a try?
It is tough! The first few times they fail miserably, hardly get the boulder moving. There are a few scrapes and bruises, an Allophusian toe is broken. They learn quickly that even the strongest among them will definitely fail when they try it alone. They laugh over their impersonations of Sisyphus saying NO - make that into a little game, give awards for the “Most profanity”, the “Sternest countenance”, the “Most Sisyphean”. Then they turn back to trying the boulder thing. They start working together, and make a little progress. They vow to try again the next day.
Overnight they come up with a few new ideas and are ready and excited to try them the next morning. They listen to each other brainstorm over breakfast, then they experiment. They are learning together, they are collaborating. They make some progress. Some of them scout the path, some clear the brush, some hold, some push, some steer, some advise, some invent, some just bring up water, some tell jokes. Days pass. They have a real breakthrough when someone comes up with a lever system, another when they figure out how to send ahead a team to dig out a temporary hole with lever for storing the boulder over night and moving it quickly again the next morning. They’re becoming good at this, together.
Meanwhile, Sisyphus can see all of this happening and it just makes him more determined to go it alone. Cuz y’know, Sisyphus. After the Allophusians get their first boulder up the hill they come and offer to help – he rejects them. They succeed with bigger boulders, more treacherous paths, new mountains, new objectives, they invent new technologies for moving and storing boulders. Again and again they succeed, they offer assistance to Sisyphus and he says NO. They bring over boulders and levers and show him how to use their systems. They clear the path, they tell him they’ll be there when he’s ready. Sisyphus says no. These myths just write themselves.
Rolling a boulder up a hill becomes a hobby and then an obsession and then a vocation for the Allophusians. They become bored with Sisyphus, he may never learn, but they have. Now the myth is about them. Soon they are travelling the world, helping people roll boulders up hills. They get a real break when they advise on a thing you might have read about called the Stonehenge project. The pharaohs call them in for guidance on stacking, though the Allophusians decline the consultancy because of appalling labor conditions. They visit Easter Island and get into heads. The Allophusians become central bankers when they advise on Yap and ultimately invent credit, moving boulders without moving boulders. They dabble in barrigones and are seen with the Olmec. They fiddle around on New Zealand beaches, playing the bocce of giants. They really shine when the people of Isla del Caño need to move around the Diquis Spheres.
As you knew it would happen, eventually they realized that there was more to the world than just moving big stone balls. They’ve become of the world by now, women and men and those who are other, they speak many languages and have created families and friendships in many lands, helping people move things bigger than themselves. Unlike Sisyphus, it isn’t about them or their ego. They don’t take credit, they just show up and help, then move on. At the last council of Allophus, they decide that what they’ve learned is too useful to be reduced to such banal tasks as rolling things up things, there are too many problems to be solved for the Allophus way to be kept in secret. They disband the village (which is why you’ve never heard of it) and pledge to go out in the world and help with the problems that can only be solved by all of us.
Before they go, they send the most generous among them and ask one more time, patiently and humbly as ever:
Sisyphus, can we help?
Sisyphus says no.
Why a myth?
