Caenis/Caeneus

Shortly before our protagonist became one of the most protected warriors in Ancient Greece.

Greetings, reader. This week, we're taking a look at an Ancient Greek myth Caenis/Caeneus. It's mentioned in The Metamorphosis by Ovid. It is still Pride month and I'm really excited to have found a story like this one. And that I could find a version that wasn't overly traumatic. This story has a few versions that are not kind to our protagonist. Click the link above to check it out and continue below to analyze it with me.

Firstly, Poseidon needs to learn some restraint. I know the Greek gods didn't really care what mortal women wanted, but they really should have. I could write a lot more about that, but I'd rather talk about the protagonist instead. This person could have wished for anything. Even if Caenis wanted to make sure no one would rape her again, she had plenty of options. However, she chose to become a man. Which makes it seem like she probably wanted that change before this. So, shout out to my trans friends. You are all over history.

Anyway, Poseidon decides that not only will this person become a man, but he'll also have impenetrable skin as well. Because why not. After that, Caeneus becomes a warrior and goes on several adventures. (If you're interested, they're linked in the story above; I just don't have time to go into all of them.) Just a few noteworthy details: In the hunt for the Calydomia Boar, there was a female warrior named Atalanta included in the group. This caused some discord, but Caeneus doesn't seem to have been annoyed. And at Pirithous' wedding, when the drunk centaurs tried to kidnap the female guests, Caeneus was instrumental in stopping them. So what I'm saying was he was a man who still cared about women. From what I've read, I can't tell if Caeneus preferred men or women romantically, but since this happened in Ancient Greece, it's really a toss up.

We do need to address the idea of a warrior who was impenetrable to weapons. Since this was Ancient Greece and warriors were honored for their bravery and strength, I can just imagine Caeneus doing ridiculous things because he knew he couldn't be hurt. Running into the middle of a sword fight? No problem. Juggling super sharp knives? Why not? If Caeneus didn't do at least a few crazy things around weapons, then it's almost like he was wasting his ability, right?

That being said, it's really rough how Caeneus died. Being crushed to death is no way to go. I prefer to think that he escaped as that golden-winged bird and he lived a simpler life. Although, I have to assume that even as a bird, he was still impenetrable to weapons, so he probably continued to do ridiculous things. They would have been even more noteworthy coming from a bird than a warrior. I wonder if his kids would also be impervious to weapons, even if they were birds. Hm.

The moral of this story is if a god owes you a favor, ask for what you really want and they might throw in a bonus as well. Alternatively, if you know weapons can't hurt you, be careful around things that aren't weapons but could still kill you.

Have a different moral? Wish we had more stories of Caeneus doing crazy risky things? Sad we don't know much about him as a person? Comment below!
If you happen to know of another good fairy tale or folk tale with an LGBTQ protagonist, let me know. I only need one more for this month, but they're kind of hard to find.