Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined (Stephen Fry's Great Mythology, #2)

by Stephen Fry

He did not know what he expected in reply to the simple, bald question, “Who are my true parents?” but it was not the simple, bald answer he received. Oedipus will kill his father and mate with his mother. That was all he could get out of the Pythia. As ever with oracles, all supplementary questions were met with silence. Oedipus left Delphi in a daze, striking out on a road that took him in the exact opposite direction from Corinth. He must never see Polybus and Merope again. The risk of harming Polybus through some accident was too great. And as for the second part of the prophecy . . . the idea made him feel physically sick. He was very fond of his mother, but in that way? One thing was certain, the greater the distance he put between himself and Corinth, the better.