“Tempting Fates” is a piece about The Moirae– the Fates– the three women (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) in Greek mythology charged with the destinies of all living beings. Each destiny was represented by a string.
Clotho would spin the string that represented the life of a living being; Lachesis would measure its length to determine the length of that being’s life, and Atropos, the eldest, would cut it when the time was right, thus ending with that being’s life.
In the story of Hercules, when the Fates try to cut his thread, it transforms from black (mortal) to gold (God) as Heracles regains his deification for his willingness to sacrifice himself for another’s life. This turn of events shocked the Fates, solidifying that not even the all-knowing, know everything– and futures can be changed with acts of bravery and love.
