Did you ever wonder what people did before television? Well,
before TV there was radio. And before radio - long before radio
- there was the sky.
It's quite likely that the constellations began as vehicles through
which ancient people could tell stories. In fact, constellations
depicting one of the most interesting and convoluted of all such
stories - a celestial soap opera - appears now in the sky shortly
after dark. It features a girl named Andromeda, princess of Ethiopia,
and her parents Cepheus, the king, and Cassiopeia, the queen.
Cassiopeia
was a conceited woman, and bragged that she was more beautiful
than Juno, queen of the gods. To avenge this insult, Neptune sent
a sea monster - possibly Cetus, the whale - to ravage the Ethiopian
coast.
Horrified by the unfolding events, King Cepheus learned that he
could appease Neptune if he were to sacrifice his beautiful daughter
to the sea monster, so he arranged for her to be chained to a
rock on the coast, exposed to the beast.
Fortunately for Andromeda, Perseus happened to be flying by on
his mighty steed Pegasus when he saw her chained to the rock,
her silken hair blowing in the breeze. Amazed at her beauty, he
fell immediately in love and cried out to her: "You should not
be wearing such chains as these - the proper bonds for you are
those which bind the hearts of fond lovers! Tell me your name,
I pray, and the name of your country, and why you are in chains."
At first she was silent, but when Perseus persisted, she revealed
her identity and how her mother had been much too vain about her
own beauty. As she spoke, the sea monster rose angrily from the
deep and the girl screamed in terror. Perseus shouted to Andromeda's
parents that he'd slay the monster if they would give to him their
daughter's hand in marriage. Of course the horrified parents consented;
Perseus killed the monster and freed Andromeda, and they were
married.
Today each of these characters is immortalized in the stars; simply
go outdoors and gaze toward the northeastern and eastern skies
after dark.
