Bellerophoniad

Bellerophon was a really well known hero in his hay day. He was most known for capturing Pegasus and training him. He used Pegasus to fly to where the famous creature Chimera lived. There Bellerophon slayed the beast Chimera. John Barth also takes the view point of Bellerophon being an older guy trying to relive his past. In the story Bellerophon trys to make himelf out to be more than he really is. He trys at one point in his life to ride Pegasus up to Mount Olympus to become a god, though to find himself only bucked off Pegasus and fall one-thousand feet down to the ground.

Perseid

This is a great mythological story about Perseus and his triumphs as a Greek hero. The story was like a classic love story where Perseus saves Andromeda from a sea monster, who destroys both man and beast, named Ceto. Perseus and Andromeda then get married. Perseus could be considered maybe one of the greatest heros in Greek mythology for the slaying of the Gorgon and Medusa. Though in the story of Perseid, he is show as an old man who trys to hang on to his youth where he would be heroic. He woud hang on to "fan letters" and store them in alphabetical order so he knew exactly which one he wanted to read. John Barth puts a spin on his character to seem like he is a washed actor or musician, in his case a washed up hero.

Dunyazadiad

This story is about two sisters who come up with an extrordinary plan to stop a Kings rampage towards all the women in the land. They decide to tell the King stories every night and not finish them so the King would let Sheherazade live until the next day so she could finsh the story. They do this for the next one-thousand and one nights. During this time Sheherazade has three children with the King. After Sheherazade asks for her life to be spared for the sake of their children, her and the King get married and Dunyazade, Sheherazade's sister marries the King's brother. After the marriage ceremonies they have an eleborate plan to kill both of them. I don't want to give the end away for those who might read this that haven't read the book, but it is definetaly my type of "Live Happily Ever After" story.