Cassiopeia
by: Ashley Campbell
We all know that overbearing mom who always thinks that her kids are better than all of the other kids, right? Well, Cassiopeia took the overbearing mom role to the extreme. So much so that she almost caused her daughter to lose her life.
Cassiopeia felt as if she and her daughter, Andromeda, were the most beautiful women in all of the land. One day she even proclaimed that the two of them were more beautiful than all of the sea nymphs. That was a very bold statement made by Cassiopeia; needless to say vanity does her no justice. Her proclamation upset the sea nymphs and they took their complaints straight to Poseidon, the god of the sea.
Poseidon decided that he should seek revenge on Cassiopeia and her family. He decided that he would send a sea monster to destroy the land that they lived on. King Cepheus, Cassiopeia's husband, was very scared by the power of the sea monster. Cepheus sought out help from an oracle, in order to find out what he could do to tame the anger of Poseidon. The oracle told Cepheus that the only way to get rid of the sea monster was to offer up his daughter, Andromeda, as a sacrifice. The king decided that he would offer up Andromeda in order to save what was left of their land and their lives. Andromeda was tied to a pole and left there as an offering to the sea monster. Andromeda was not left there for long. As you would expect in a great story, she was rescued by a man named Perseus.
Before falling in love with Andromeda, Perseus was on a mission to bring back the head of Medusa. He made an agreement with King Cepheus that if he would kill the sea monster, he would be able to marry Andromeda. Perseus, being the hero that he is, killed the sea monster and was then able to marry Andromeda. King Cepheus and Cassiopeia were happy that their daughter was in love and that she was still alive.
Cassiopeia was never really punished for the uproar that she had caused. Her boastful tongue almost cost her a child, but she did not seem very remorseful. Eventually Cassiopeia achieved what she had longed for: she became a star. She was turned into the constellation that is visible in the sky for all of us to see. However, her constellation was placed near one of the poles so for half of the night her head is held down.
* Author's note:
The story is very similar to the original.
I did not add anything big, but I did put in a few more details to give
the
story some length. The story of Cassiopeia was one of the more popular
ones
in
Greek mythology, so I thought it would be appropriate for my storybook.
It is
also a very popular constellation that is visible with the naked eye.
Not to
mention that it provides us with a great lesson of being careful what
you say
because the gods can always seek revenge .
Also, in case you were wondering, Cepheus was the king of
~Links to Stories: Cassiopeia (Encyclopedia Mythica), Cassiopeia (Mythography)
~Image Information: Cassiopeia