Zeus und Europe

Description of the tool

As an introduction to the game the game leader explains the myth of the character ‘Europe’:

“Zeus the mythical god of the gods, the absolute lord of the dark powers of the deep came to the earth. It was a wonderful sunny morning to play a sophisticated trick on the most beautiful of the beautiful the young Europe who had come to the beach to pick flowers. Zeus the ‘lover of lightening’ changed himself into a hazelnut brown bull of the finest race and persuaded the enchanting creature to climb onto his back. A perfectly planned abduction: Zeus leapt with the abducted Europe over the sea to Crete and there fathered many offspring with her. The woman named Europe in Greek mythology is immortal and a whole continent is named after her. . (http://www.wdr.de/online/wirtschaft/euro/europa.phtml)

In the following game the abduction of Europe by Zeus is re-enacted. To do this the participants first get into pairs and stand in a circle with their partner in front or behind them. Only two participants who play Zeus and Europe have no partner and remain outside the circle.
Zeus’ chase after Europe now begins and she runs away from the dangerous and deep voiced Zeus screaming in a high-pitched voice. When he catches her they change roles and the chase begins again the other way round. The only hope of rescue for Europe is to stand behind or in front of one of the pairs. This person’s partner now becomes Zeus and the former Zeus is now Europe and is being chased themselves.