I’m frequently asked about the relationship between The Family Morfawitz and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Here’s a look at the action in Ovid, broken into chapters along Morfawitz lines. I’ve also included a parenthetical “who’s who” beside the chapter in which they first appear.
A note about the names: characters in TFM retain the first letter of their Greco-Roman inspiration. Ovid uses the Roman or Latinized names, but the Greek ones are often too good to pass up. For instance: Zeus and Hera become Zev and Hadassah, because those are much better options than what is offered up by the twin Js of Jove and Juno. Naphtali, however, derives from Neptune, not Poseidon. Heinrich derives from Hades because Pluto would have had to be Philip, which is no fun, or Peter, who does not sound very Jewish. Marilyn derives from Minerva, though she was very near to being Agatha. In the explanation below, I’ll use whichever name the TFM equivalent is derived from. So that’s a note about the names.
Book 1: Creation (Metamorphoses Book 1)
Uranus fathers the Titans by Gaia; the youngest, Cronos, kills his father by gelding him. (Uri - Uranus; Chaim - Cronos; Gallina - Gaia)
Cronos fathers the major Gods on Rhea. Afraid of being deposed in the way in which he killed his own father, Cronos swallows the children - Hestia, Hera, Hades and Neptune - as soon as they are born. This does not sit well with Rhea. When her youngest son, Zeus, is born, she gives Cronos a stone to swallow in his stead and gives the boy away to be raised by nymphs on Crete. When Zeus is old enough, he rises up and kills his father, Cronos. (Zev - Zeus; Hadassah - Hera; Hannah - Hestia; Deb - Demeter; Naphtali - Neptune; Heinrich - Hades)
The Gods rise up against the old Titans and take their place as rulers of the new world.
Zeus begins an affair with the goddess, Leto. Hera finds out and mandates that Leto cannot give birth anywhere on the mainland. Through Zeus’s machinations, an island is created for her. (Leah - Leto)
Leto gives birth to Apollo and Artemis. Apollo kills the python and grows in strength. Artemis goes off to become the virgin hunter goddess. (Asher - Apollo; Abby - Artemis)
Apollo falls in love with Daphne and chases her. Just as he is about to catch her, she is metamorphosed into a tree. Apollo also fathers a child on Clymene, an ocean nymph. (Daphne - Daphne; Cleo - Clymene)
Another of Zeus’s bastard sons, Hermes is the troublemaker god. As soon as he is born, he steals Apollo’s flock of cattle. Zeus falls in love with the nymph, Io. (Hersh - Hermes; Iona - Io)
To hide Io from Hera, Zeus turns her into a white cow. Hera is not fooled, and sets the hundred-eyed giant, Argus, to guard over Io the cow. Zeus asks Hermes to kill Argus so that he can freely be with Io. Hermes complies, first lulling Argus to sleep with a story.
Apollo’s son by Clymene is named Phaethon. He is friends with a son of Zeus, who is always bragging that Zeus is his father. Clymene tells Phaethon who his true father is, and Phaethon goes west to find the palace of the sun. (Patrick - Phaethon)
Book 2: Sons
Phaethon finds his father at the Palace of the Sun. Apollo swears on the River Styx (an unbreakable vow for a god) to give Phaethon anything he asks for. Phaethon asks to drive the Sun Chariot across the sky for one day.
Even though Apollo knows that his son will not be strong enough to control the Sun Chariot, he keeps his promise and lets him try. Phaethon loses control and scorches the earth by riding too close, until Zeus is forced to strike him down with a thunderbolt so that the earth will be spared.
Minerva (Roman equivalent of Athena) is born to Zeus by Metis, his nurse when he was a child. Zeus eventually chases the pregnant Metis and - in order to escape - she turns into a fly. Zeus swallows Metis whole, and so Minerva comes to term inside her father. One day, he has a splitting headache that nobody can cure; the cause of it is Minerva, who jumps out of Zeus’s split skull fully armed and ready for battle. (Magrit - Metis; Marilyn - Minerva)
Aphrodite is Ares’s lover and is supposed to marry him, but Hera is in debt to Hephaestus, her firstborn son who she cast off of Olympus at birth. She gives Aphrodite to Hephaestus instead. (Adam - Ares; Ahava - Aphrodite; Hezekial - Hephaestus)
Raven and the Crow are speaking. Raven wants to tell Apollo that his mistress is being unfaithful. Crow warns him to keep it to himself. Raven doesn’t listen to the warning and decides to tell Apollo anyway. (Rita - Raven; Corvin - Crow)
Apollo, in a rage at his mistress’s infidelity, kills her. He immediately regrets it upon learning that she is pregnant. He takes the living child from her womb and gives it to the centaur Charon to raise. (Chatan - Charon; Olivia - Ocyrhoe)
Hermes is caught trying to steal Apollo’s cattle by Battus, who swears secrecy. Hermes disguises himself and asks Battus where the cattle are, and Battus tells him. Hermes turns Battus into stone. (Boris - Battus)
Zeus falls in love with Europa. He turns himself into a white steer, and tasks Hermes with enticing Europa to ride him. As soon as she does, he begins to run, and then takes off to sea with Europa on his back, taking her away from her homeland and onto mainland Europe, which is named in her honor. (Erzsebet - Europa)
Book 3: The Rage of Hadassah
Europa’s father tasks her brother, Cadmus, with bringing her home. He tells Cadmus not to return if he fails. Cadmus, once free, does not return. He is given a prophecy and settles down with his wife, Harmonia. (Caleb - Cadmus; Harmonia - Harmonia)
Cadmus kills a giant Viper that is sacred to Ares. He sows its teeth into the ground, and an army of men rises up. (Jonny - The Viper)
The House of Cadmus is cursed by several gods. Hera, Ares and Artemis are foremost among them.
Cadmus founds Thebes, but his woes are multiplying.
Semele is having an affair with Zeus. Hera finds out, and tricks Semele by disguising herself and telling her to force Zeus into making love to her the way he does with Hera. Zeus assumes his full godlike form - fatal for a human to experience - and Semele burns. (Seraphina - Semele)
But Semele had been pregnant, and Zeus sews the unborn child into his own leg. The child is Bacchus. After this episode, Zeus and Hera are arguing about whether men or women enjoy sex more. Hera calls Tiresias, who is famous for having been turned into a woman for seven years and then back into a man, so he’s experienced sex both ways. Tiresias says that women enjoy sex more. Hera, in a rage, takes away his vision. Zeus gives him foresight as compensation. (Barnabas - Bacchus; Tehrani - Tiresias)
Tiresias’s first prediction concerns Narcissus, whose mother asks the great prophet if her son will live a long life. Tiresias famously answers: “If he knows himself, not.” (Nico - Narcissus)
Echo falls for Narcissus, but she can only speak back his words. Hera once took away Echo’s speech, as punishment for Echo talking so much in order to distract Hera from discovering Zeus’s infidelity. (Elizabeth Cho - Echo)
Narcissus sees his own reflection and falls in love. He is turned into a white Narcissus flower.
Epilogue: A Different View of Tower Morfawitz
Hephaestus catches Ares and Aphrodite having an affair, after being tipped off by the sun. Aphrodite gets revenge by making the sun fall in love with a girl. Cadmus and Harmonia leave the city of Thebes and pray to be transformed into serpents. They slither off together.