Starry Bear myth is so romantic.

Each time Dionysos completes a regenerative cycle he begins again as a vulnerable child beset by monstrous foes who seek his utter annihilation.

Just when that is about to happen Hermes swoops in and whisks him away to safety in some exotic locale where he is protected and tutored by indigenous land-spirits until he reaches maturation and sets off on a new set of adventures.

And that’s how he ended up as Odysseus that one time. Hermes wiped the God’s memories and stitched him into the mortal line of the Wolf Itself, so his malign pursuers would lose track of him and he could be trained for war.

It works for a while; he has many adventures, overcomes many tests and trials.  But the persona cracks while in Italy, when the Falcon Sorceress from the Black Sea has him sit on a throne, drink a hallucinogenic potion from her chalice and asks him the questions from the gold lamellae while he’s tripping balls.

After that he journeys to the underworld, overcomes further ordeals and eventually returns home to his beloved Weaver, massacring her 108 suitors in a berserk frenzy.

He convinces her that he truly is her long-lost husband by noting something only he would know – one of the pillars of their marital bed is a living tree. (And also the Tree of Life or World Tree.)

She embraces her man, and welcomes him home. Then she introduces him to the half-goat child she had with Hermes while he was away.