Erisichton
More than one Scythian king, Linha, punished Demeter, she punished the king of Thessaly, Erisichton. Erisichton was arrogant and impious, he never honored the gods with sacrifices. In his impiety, he dared to boldly insult the great goddess Demeter. He decided to cut down a hundred-year-old oak tree in the sacred grove of Demeter, which was the home of the dryad, the favorite of Demeter herself. Nothing stopped Erisichton.
-Even if it wasn't Demeter's favorite, but the goddess herself," the impious man exclaimed, "I'll still cut down this oak!
Erisichton snatched the axe from the servant's hands and plunged it deep into the tree. A heavy groan was heard inside the oak, and blood gushed from its bark. The tsar's servants stood amazed in front of the oak tree. One of them dared to stop him, but the enraged Erichton killed the servant, exclaiming:
- Here is your reward for your submission to the gods!
Erisichton cut down a hundred-year-old oak tree. With a noise like a groan, an oak tree fell to the ground, and the dryad who lived in it died.
Wearing dark clothes, the dryads of the sacred grove came to the goddess Demeter and begged her to punish Erisichton, who killed their dear friend. Demeter was angry. She sent for the goddess of hunger. The dryad sent by her quickly rushed on Demeter's chariot, drawn by winged snakes, to Scythia, to the mountains of the Caucasus, and there she found on a barren mountain the goddess of hunger, with sunken eyes, pale, with disheveled hair, with rough skin that covered only bones. The messenger conveyed Demeter's will to the goddess of hunger, and she obeyed Demeter's command. The goddess of hunger appeared in the house of Erisichton and breathed in him an insatiable hunger that burned all his insides. The more Erisichton ate, the more the pangs of hunger became. He spent his entire fortune on all kinds of viands, which only aroused in Erisichton an insatiable, excruciating hunger. Finally, Erisichton had nothing left-only one daughter. In order to get money and get enough, he sold his daughter into slavery. But his daughter received from the god Poseidon the gift of taking any image and each time she was freed from those who bought her, then under the guise of a bird, then a horse, then a cow. Erisichton sold his daughter many times, but he didn't have enough money that he earned from this sale. Hunger tormented him more and more, his suffering became more and more unbearable. Finally, Erisichton began to tear his body with his teeth and died in terrible agony.