Myth - Io

Notes (on notebook paper) Characters: - Jupiter - Juno - Io - Mercury - Inachus - Argus

Jupiter, king of the gods, often flirted and fell in love with beautiful women. This made his wife, Queen Juno, quite cross. She hated these rivals who took her husband’s attention away from her.

One afternoon Jupiter was on earth with Io, the beautiful young daughter of Inachus, a river god. Juno angrily rushed down to earth. Jupiter, sensing her approach, changed Io in to a snow-white cow. Juno pretended to be fooled. She praised the pretty cow and begged Jupiter to give her the animal as a gift. Fearing her bad temper, Jupiter reluctantly agreed.

Juno sent for her servant Argus. “Keep constant guard over my little cow,” she instructed him. Argus was the perfect watchman. He had 100 eyes, and he never closed more than half of them when he slept.

Io felt quite upset and lonely. Abandoned by Jupiter, she spent her days eating grass, always closely watched by Argus. One day, while she was grazing near a river, she saw her father. She tried to call out and tell him what had happened, but she could only moo and moo.

Jupiter felt sorry for the suffering he had brought upon sweet Io, but he didn’t dare help her himself. He called for his son, Mercury, and asked him to go to earth and find a way to set Io free. Mercury was a very cunning god. He dressed himself as a shepherd and walked up to Argus. “Let me play a tune for you on my shepherd’s pipe,” he said. Argus was glad for the company and listened happily to the soft music. After some time, Mercury began to tell him a very long and monotonous tale that went on and on and on. Argus became so bored that finally all of his eyes closed, and he fell fast asleep. Quickly, Mercury drew his sword and killed him.

Juno was irate when she saw that Argus was dead. To honor her loyal servant, she placed his 100 bright eyes on the tail of her favorite bird, the peacock. To this day the shiny (but unseeing) eyes of Argus can be seen on this bird’s fancy tail feathers.

As for Io, she was now free, but remained a snow-white cow. Still angry, Juno sent a stinging gadfly to chase her. Io ran from land to land trying to escape the buzzing, biting insect. At last, Juno’s heart softened. “Promise me that you will never look at Io again,” she said to Jupiter. He happily agreed. With that, he changed Io back into a beautiful young girl.

Notes (on notebook paper)

Write a one paragraph summary on Io’s myth.

Io – Character Cards

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