I saw no trace of cruelty in the maenads as they drifted through our fields by day. I wondered if it contributed to their gentleness? The ritual gave fearful shape to the anger and the grief that had driven so many of them here in the first place; they screamed and danced in their blood-soaked frenzy by night so that they could live serenly in the sunlight.
From Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
















