Cassiopeia Look in the northern part of the sky. You will see a pattern of stars a little like the letter W. This is the constellation Cassiopeia. Many people have told the story of Queen Cassiopeia. All of them tell about her great mistake. Here is one way her story has been told.

Cassiopeia

2 There once was a queen named Cassiopeia. She was very proud of her beauty. She spent hours just looking at herself in her polished brass mirror. She would wear only lovely dresses. The queen’s servants worked hard to keep her hair pretty. One day the queen and her helpers walked along the ocean shore. When Cassiopeia saw her reflection in a pool of water, she was delighted. At that moment 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 kindly god. Some called him the Old Man of the Sea. He had 50 daughters known as the Nereids. Cassiopeia’s words angered them all. The worst thing a person could do was to claim to be better than a god. Cassiopeia had insulted 50 of them with her boast. The Nereids went to their father. “Father, you must punish this woman!” they cried. “She has insulted us. She said she is more beautiful than us. No person should ever say they are better than a god. She must be punished!”

Nereus, God of the Sea

4 Nereus did not wish to make waves about this, but he knew his daughters were right. Cassiopeia’s boast could not be ignored. His daughters would not let him rest until Cassiopeia was punished. So Nereus sent a great sea serpent to the country of Queen Cassiopeia and her husband, King Cepheus. The monster began to catch and eat people in their land. Soon everyone was terrified.

Sea Monster

5 King Cepheus sent for an oracle (fortune teller). He asked why this was happening. The oracle said that the Nereids had heard the Queen brag she was prettier than they were. They were furious. The oracle said that the sea monster would not stop until a sacrifice was made. The sacrifice must be Andromeda, the Queen’s daughter. Then the monster would depart. King Cepheus called for the queen. He told her the oracle’s message. Queen Cassiopeia cried out in horror. The queen loved her daughter Andromeda more than anything, even her own beauty.

Cassiopeia and Andromeda 6 “Chain the child at the shore,” the king said. “I love her too, but we must save the kingdom.” To the queen he said, “Your pride has killed our daughter!” Andromeda was chained by the sea. She waited fearfully for the sea serpent to arrive. Suddenly, to her surprise, a flying man landed next to her.

7 The flying man was Perseus. He was returning home from many adventures. Some of the gods had helped Perseus. They gave him winged sandals so he could fly. They gave him an unbreakable sword and a shield as shiny as a mirror. They also gave him a magic bag that could hold anything. Inside the bag he had the head of a monster he had Perseus killed. The monster was named Medusa.

8 Medusa’s head had the power to turn people to stone when they saw it. Perseus had not looked at Medusa’s head. He had looked only at her reflection in his shield as they fought. This kept him from turning to stone when he cut off Medusa’s head. Then he dropped it into his bag. Perseus knew he could save Andromeda. He could use the gifts from the gods to save her. When the sea serpent arrived, Perseus was prepared. He killed the serpent with his sword. Then, he broke Andromeda’s chains and set her free.

9 Perseus took Andromeda to the palace where he asked the king and queen if he could marry their daughter. They said yes.

10 The names in the story are Cepheus the names of Cassiopeia constellations. Andromeda Cepheus and Cassiopeia slowly turn Perseus around the North Star all the night long. They can be found in the northern sky all year long. Sometimes they are upside down. Maybe the king and queen are being punished for what they did to Andromeda. Do you want to know if Andromeda and Perseus can be seen? You can see them in the evening from late summer to mid winter. The rest of the year they are not there. They have private lives to lead.

11 Sky Calendar Cassiopeia Correlation Fountas & Pinnell O DRA 34 Estimated Lexile Measure 690 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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