Ever wondered why a peacock is considered the epitome of vanity? Why is it considered to be so arrogant? Well the answer lies in a Greek myth.
Hera, the queen of Zeus, the King of all gods was considered to be a jealous woman. Hera had her reasons to be jealous, as Zeus’ instances of infidelity were of mythical proportions, and not just with goddesses and nymphs, but with mortals too!
Once Hera looked down from the heavens to see a cloud where there shouldn’t be any. She immediately smelled a rat and rushed down to see thru the cloud. When she saw thru the cloud, it was indeed Zeus but with a little white cow. Zeus who had sensed Hera’s arrival had converted his new bride Lo, into a little cow, to avoid trouble. Hera didn’t quite trust Zeus and requested that she have the cow for herself. Zeus, who used to dread the tempers of Hera, couldn’t deny it and so gave Lo to her.
Hera tied the cow to a tree and sent her most trusted servant Argus, to keep a watch on the cow. Now Argus had a hundred bright eyes all over his body, so that at any point of time, some of his eyes were always open and nothing missed his sight! Very soon poor Lo was beginning to get tired being on her four legs and having to eat grass and being watched by Argus.
Seeing her mournful state, Zeus sent his son Hermes, the craftiest of all gods, to bail out Lo. Hermes disguised as a shepherd went and sat next to Argus, started playing his flute. Soon after, he started telling a dull and boring story to Argus, which never had a beginning or an end. The dull story lulled Argus’s fifty eyes to sleep. Hermes went on till his other fifty eyes too went off to sleep. Hermes then touched the hundred eyes with his magic wand and sent Argus to an eternal sleep. Argus was literally ‘bored to death’.
To ensure that Hera’s faithful servant be never forgotten, she put his hundred bright eyes on her favourite bird, the peacock. Since then, the peacock has eyes all over her, which though could not see, but were bright and beautiful! The peacock which was already feeling the chosen one as she was Hera’s favourite bird, now was all the more arrogant and thus came to be known as the epitome of arrogance, thanks to the new found beauty, but not of its own doing!
Hera, the queen of Zeus, the King of all gods was considered to be a jealous woman. Hera had her reasons to be jealous, as Zeus’ instances of infidelity were of mythical proportions, and not just with goddesses and nymphs, but with mortals too!
Once Hera looked down from the heavens to see a cloud where there shouldn’t be any. She immediately smelled a rat and rushed down to see thru the cloud. When she saw thru the cloud, it was indeed Zeus but with a little white cow. Zeus who had sensed Hera’s arrival had converted his new bride Lo, into a little cow, to avoid trouble. Hera didn’t quite trust Zeus and requested that she have the cow for herself. Zeus, who used to dread the tempers of Hera, couldn’t deny it and so gave Lo to her.
Hera tied the cow to a tree and sent her most trusted servant Argus, to keep a watch on the cow. Now Argus had a hundred bright eyes all over his body, so that at any point of time, some of his eyes were always open and nothing missed his sight! Very soon poor Lo was beginning to get tired being on her four legs and having to eat grass and being watched by Argus.
Seeing her mournful state, Zeus sent his son Hermes, the craftiest of all gods, to bail out Lo. Hermes disguised as a shepherd went and sat next to Argus, started playing his flute. Soon after, he started telling a dull and boring story to Argus, which never had a beginning or an end. The dull story lulled Argus’s fifty eyes to sleep. Hermes went on till his other fifty eyes too went off to sleep. Hermes then touched the hundred eyes with his magic wand and sent Argus to an eternal sleep. Argus was literally ‘bored to death’.
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