Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Capricornus the Sea Goat

Continuing our tour through the summer zodiac we come to constellation Capricornus. This creature is alleged to have the body of a goat and the tail of a fish. Um, okay? How's that?

Once upon a time (in Greek mythology), an almost omnipotent monster named Typhon terrorized the gods. All ran in fear before him. A tiny, minor god named Pan had a great ability to turn himself into animals. He often used this as a defense when he had to avoid household chores and unwanted visitors. One day Pan was standing waist deep in the Nile River when the monstrous footsteps of Typhon rippled the water around him. In a panic, Pan immediately changed shape to fool the approaching behemoth. Unfortunately he didn't fully think out his shape-changing and the part of his body above the water turned into a goat, the part under the water turned into a fish. Luckily for Pan, the mighty Typhon didn't even notice.

In one version of the story, Pan later plays the hero. Typhon actually first defeats Zeus and cuts off his hands and feet. A witness to this event, Pan lets out the shrillest, girlie-est shriek which made even the mighty Typhon recoil. This distracted the monster from finishing off Zeus. Hermes comes to rescue the dismembered Zeus who recovers in a cave. When Zeus is back to 100% again he throws lightning bolts at the monster and finally hurls Mt. Etna down to crush old Typhon. Sometimes Mt. Etna still smokes revealing the monster still trapped within.

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