The Purple Duck

A Lesson on Ancient Mythological History

A long, long time ago in Erebor, the far, far away and lonely, mountainous land of the dragons, a magnificent golden egg was found. The legend does not reveal how, or by what glorious creature the egg was laid, but as the tale will tell, the egg clearly possessed a power beyond this world. The dragons, being very protective of their treasure, kept close watch over their golden prize.

The existence of the golden egg was exposed when the magical pythons of Delphi consulted Pythia, their oracle. She revealed to them that the source of all riches, happiness, and freedom was contained within one beautiful golden egg. The pythons were able to magically slither their way into Erebor to steal the egg from the dragons. The excursion was costly, but one lone surviving python was able to barely escape with her life and return to Delphi with her prize.

The pythons were not careful with their secret, though, and soon a fierce band of warriors from the island of Elysium heard tales of the golden egg. They wanted to seize the egg and bring it to their island paradise so they would never again want for anything, and their homeland would secure freedom forevermore. Therefore, the warriors made their way to Mount Parnassus to snake the golden egg from the pythons. The fight was intense, but the expertise of Elysium gave them victory and they returned triumphantly back to their island with the precious egg.

For centuries the warriors were so happy that the Vikings in Valhalla heard of the mystical egg and decided to travel to the faraway island to engage the warriors in battle in hopes of securing the treasure for themselves. The Vikings’ plan worked, and they seized the egg to secure their freedom, but the years passed and their thirst for conquering more and more was not quenched by the egg alone. With the egg in their possession for good luck, they traveled to the British Isles to pillage Camelot. In doing so, however, they encountered King Arthur and his knights and ladies, whom they were unable to overpower. King Arthur extended mercy to the Vikings and let them live, but coerced them into surrendering their most valued possession, the golden egg.

The golden egg had found a new home where it felt warm and at peace. It provided the knights and ladies with riches, happiness, and freedom. The kingdom of Camelot prospered and as the centuries went by, everyone forgot about the golden egg. And then, one warm morning in spring, some children found the egg, and thinking it was a ball, took it to the yard. In the yard, the rivers were running fast because the snow was melting, and when the children’s “ball” fell into the water they were unable to recover it.

The golden egg made it to the sea and there it was carried to the city of Atlantis. It only got to spend a few years there before it was found by the most powerful monster of the deep…the Kraken. The beast took the golden egg with one of its tentacles and dragged it to the surface where it started squeezing the egg… you see, the Kraken wants to be the only powerful magical being in the deep of the sea and it could sense the vast purpleness within the golden egg. The golden egg cracked and from within, the mighty purple duck was born.

For two centuries the purple duck looked for its home and now has found it here at Liberty Common High School. Every year, junior-high students give their all to win the riches, happiness, and freedom the Purple Duck still carries with it