Pan

What Becomes of a Rejected God?

Born with pointy ears and two horns and the lower extremities of a goat, Pan was so hideous his mother ran away in fear. Luckily for him, his father, the God Hermes, found him and took him to Mount Olympus, where he grew up as happily as any child rejected by his mother could. But was he really happy?

Pan may have danced, sang and made music with his reedy pipe but was he really masking some deep inner pain. What could have compelled him to challenge Apollo to a musical showdown. He had to have known that his reedy pipe was no match for Apollo's magnificent lute. Then after he lost, he refused to help poor King Midas who had voted in favor of Pan.

His treatment of Echo was even worse. Pan loved her, yet Echo did not feel the same. Instead of accepting Echo's feelings and moving on with his life, Pan had his cronies tear her to pieces.

These signs of an inner turmoil are hard to deny. His anger and his guilt must have been tearing him up inside, and can be presumed to be the cause of his unlikely and untimely death.