Page:The Music of the Spheres.djvu/70

 believing that by this supreme sacrifice the wrath of Neptune might be appeased. Storms, wrecks and other disasters relating to the sea were thought to be the handiwork of the Sea-god seeking revenge for some fancied insult. Seeing the strange sea-beast appear along their coast, the Ethiopians probably considered all their sins and decided the cause was the excessive vanity of their Queen. Thus, from a bare thread, a beautiful story was elaborated and woven about Andromeda, the Princess; Perseus, the Hero; Cassiopeia, the Queen; Cepheus, the King; and Cetus, the terrible Sea-monster.

Not only was Cassiopeia proud and beautiful, but she wished others to be envious of her beauty, and to prove her superiority sent challengers throughout the country so that none might question it. In the excess of her vanity, she deliberately took her throne and sat in state by the shore, loudly repeating her boasts to show that she did not fear even the peerless sea-nymphs.

When the news of this audacious performance reached the ears of the Nereids who inhabited the depths of the Mediterranean, there was great excitement, but particularly was it resented by the sea-beauty Atergatis who straightway swam to the palace of Neptune, under the Ægean Sea, and begged him to avenge the insult offered to his nymphs. Neptune, furious at the effrontery of the Ethiopian Queen, shook the land of King Cepheus until the hills cracked and sent his waves to flood the country and wash away the coast. With the onrushing waters came the ferocious sea-monster which loitered near the shores and the mouths of the rivers and destroyed every man and animal that came within its reach.

Terrified by such a combination of calamities, Cepheus and Cassiopeia fled to the oracle of Jupiter, but they found no peace here, for the oracle informed them that the only way to make amends and ward off the evil that had befallen them, lay in the sacrifice of their innocent daughter Andromeda. There being no