An ancient story tells us that there was once a king of Ethiopia named Cepheus whose wife was named Cassiopeia. Queen Cassiopeia was very beautiful, and she boasted that she was even more beautiful than the goddesses of the sea. Poseidon, who was the god of the sea, grew very angry at this and decided to punish the Ethiopians, so he sent a sea monster to attack them. The sea monster destroyed any ship that it found, large or small, devouring the ship's crew and passengers.
The people of the kingdom were terrified and begged their king to save them. "King Cepheus," they cried, "you must offer up a sacrifice to appease the monster!" Desperate, the king cast lots in order to divine the will of the gods, and the chosen victim was his own daughter, Andromeda. Sadly, King Cepheus took Andromeda and chained her to a rock by the shore of the sea as a sacrifice for the monster.
Meanwhile, a young man named Perseus happened to be flying by through the sky. Yes, flying by! Perseus was a favorite of the gods, and Hermes himself had loaned Perseus his winged sandals. From high in the air, Perseus saw the beautiful woman chained to a rock, with the monster swimming quickly towards her, its mouth gaping open. Perseus immediately swooped down and engaged the monster in battle. After a fierce struggle, Perseus slew the monster and rescued Andromeda from the rock. The grateful king told Perseus he could have any reward that he wanted, and Perseus asked if he might marry Andromeda. Andromeda agreed, and the two of them lived happily ever after.
