[Although they sit not in sight of one another, there is intimacy still in this manner of storytelling, with one's words lapping the other's ears. The oral tradition makes allowances for push and pull: response from the audience, adaptations to the story as it unfolds - and so Evan's prompting falls easily into the rhythm of his tale.]
Indeed, a plague which ravaged so thoroughly the people of Thebes that Creon, son of Menoeceus and brother of Oedipus' queen Jocasta, sought wisdom at the temple of Apollo in Delphi. It is Leto's sleek-haired son, after all, who casts light upon the truth when it hides from mortal eyes. There he learned of what displeased the gods so: Laius' murderer had never been brought to justice in all these years, and the darkness which lurked in Thebes' breast could not be dispelled until he was found and fairly punished.
Long had been the years since Laius was slain. How was anyone to know what had become of the murderer? Where was Oedipus to begin, should he wish to save again the city which he so dearly loved although he thought it not his native land? There was none who knew but far-seeing Teireisias, that famed prophet who needs no sight to know the signs of birds and the hearts of the gods. He knew that the culprit was there in the house of Oedipus.
Yes, truly! For you see, it was Oedipus himself who had slain Laius at the crossroads ere he arrived in Thebes. Rumor has it that an argument arose between the two, and fury so blackened Oedipus' heart that he raised his sword against this stranger and struck him down. Yet this was not his most wicked crime. You might now wonder, what could have brought Oedipus to the crossroads where he slew Laius and thus doomed himself?
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Indeed, a plague which ravaged so thoroughly the people of Thebes that Creon, son of Menoeceus and brother of Oedipus' queen Jocasta, sought wisdom at the temple of Apollo in Delphi. It is Leto's sleek-haired son, after all, who casts light upon the truth when it hides from mortal eyes. There he learned of what displeased the gods so: Laius' murderer had never been brought to justice in all these years, and the darkness which lurked in Thebes' breast could not be dispelled until he was found and fairly punished.
Long had been the years since Laius was slain. How was anyone to know what had become of the murderer? Where was Oedipus to begin, should he wish to save again the city which he so dearly loved although he thought it not his native land? There was none who knew but far-seeing Teireisias, that famed prophet who needs no sight to know the signs of birds and the hearts of the gods. He knew that the culprit was there in the house of Oedipus.
Yes, truly! For you see, it was Oedipus himself who had slain Laius at the crossroads ere he arrived in Thebes. Rumor has it that an argument arose between the two, and fury so blackened Oedipus' heart that he raised his sword against this stranger and struck him down. Yet this was not his most wicked crime. You might now wonder, what could have brought Oedipus to the crossroads where he slew Laius and thus doomed himself?