Cassiopeia Look in the northern part of the sky. You may see a letter W made of stars. This is the constellation Cassiopeia. It is named after a queen. Here is one way to tell her story.

Cassiopeia

2 There once was a queen named Cassiopeia. She was very proud of her beauty. She spent hours looking at herself in her mirror. She would wear only pretty dresses. She made her helpers work hard to make her hair nice. One day the queen and her helpers walked along the ocean shore. Cassiopeia saw herself in a pool of water. She liked what she saw. Then she said a very foolish thing. She said that she was more beautiful than even the daughters of Nereus, the god of the sea. Unfortunately for Cassiopeia, they heard her.

3 Nereus was a kind god. Some called him the Old Man of the Sea. He had 50 daughters. Cassiopeia’s words made them all very angry. The worst thing a person could do was to claim to be better than a god. Cassiopeia had insulted 50 of them by her words The daughters went to their father. “Father, you must punish this woman!” they cried. “She has insulted us. She said she is better than us. No person should ever say they are better than a god.”

Nereus, God of the Sea

4 Nereus did not want to get angry. He did know his daughters were right. Cassiopeia could not be ignored. His daughters would not let him rest until he punished the queen. So Nereus sent a great sea serpent to the country of Queen Cassiopeia and her husband King Cepheus. The monster began to catch people. Then it ate them. Soon everyone was afraid.

Sea Monster

5 King Cepheus sent for a fortune teller. He asked why this was happening. The fortune teller said that the Nereids had heard the Queen say she was prettier. They were angry. The sea monster would eat people until a sacrifice was made. Queen Cassiopeia must give her own daughter, Andromeda, to be eaten. Then the monster would go away. King Cepheus called for the queen. He told her what the fortune teller said. Queen Cassiopeia cried out in horror. Andromeda was the one thing the queen cared about more than herself.

Cassiopeia and Andromeda 6 “Chain the child at the shore,” the king said. “The killing must stop.” To the queen he said, “Your pride has killed our daughter!” They chained Andromeda beside the sea. She waited for the sea serpent. Suddenly she was surprised. A flying man landed next to her.

7 The man was Perseus. He was on his way home. He just had many adventures. Some of the gods helped Perseus in his adventures. They gave him winged sandals so he could fly. They gave him an unbreakable sword and a shiny shield. They gave him a magic bag. The bag could hold anything. Inside the bag now was the head of a monster he had killed. The monster Perseus was named Medusa.

8 Medusa’s head had a strange power. If anyone saw the head, they turned to stone. Perseus had not looked at her when they fought. He had looked at her reflection in his shield. This saved him. After he cut off Medusa’s head, he dropped it into his bag. Perseus thought Andromeda should be saved. He could use his magic gifts to save her. When the sea serpent arrived, Perseus was ready. He killed it with his sword. Then, he cut Andromeda’s chains.

9 Perseus and Andromeda went to the palace. Perseus asked the King and Queen if he could marry Andromeda. They said yes.

10 All the names in the story are Cepheus the names of Cassiopeia constellations. Andromeda Cepheus and Cassiopeia slowly turn Perseus around the North Star all night long. They can be found in the north all year long. Sometimes they are upside down. Maybe they are both being punished. And where are Andromeda and Perseus? You can see them in the evening from late summer to mid winter. The rest of the year they are not there. They have other things to do.

11 Sky Calendar Cassiopeia Correlation Fountas & Pinnell L DRA 24 ✯ Estimated Lexile Measure 500 Written under funding from Monroe 2–Orleans BOCES by: Fred Arnold, Resource Teacher Designed and Printed by the BOCES 2 Printing and Graphics Services.

10/13 Copyright 2010 by the Board of Cooperative Educational Services for the Second Supervisory District of Monroe and Orleans Counties, Elementary Science Program. All rights reserved. This publication may only be reproduced for one-time classroom use. No part of this publication may be stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted or reproduced, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Monroe 2–Orleans BOCES, Elementary Science Program.

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