The peacock and its annual appearance as a rainmaker, has inspired generations
of storytellers. The bird is also seen as a flagbearer of male vanity. It finds
several references in mythology and folklore from around the world.
One of the myths about the bird is found in Greek mythology.
It starts with Hera wife of Zeus, the father of the gods who is well known for hi
infidelity. The story goes that Zeus had hit upon a novel tactic to keep his
suspicious wife in the dark. To keep his dalliance with his latest obsession, a
mortal princess who served as a priestess of Hera in one of her temples on earth
Io, away from her prying eyes, he used his divine powers to change the form
and shape of his lover. Io became a cow who Zeus always kept close to himself.
Hera wore no blinkers when it came to her consort and so she sent her trusted
aide, the monster-serpent Argus, the one with a hundred unblinking eyes all
over his body, to watch the cow. Wherever Io went, Argus’s eyes followed. Not
for a moment could she shed her cow skin, nor could she stretch out on her two
legs. Io was despairing of standing on four legs and living on a diet of grass and
leaves.
Zeus came to her help. He sent his son Hermes, the craftiest of all gods, to bail
her out. Hermes disguised as a shepherd placed himself beside Argus and
entertained him with his flute, all the time interspersing the sonorous notes with
a dull and uneventful story that had no beginning or an end. Argus had no
option but to let sleep cover his eyes, putting the shutters down on all 100 of
them.
However, sleep was the end of Argus. Io disappeared in a flash and Argus
collapsed under the weight of his failed duty. And the furious goddess Hera,
wept. However, her love for Argus was so great that she decided to gift his 100
eyes to her favourite bird, the peacock. These eyes are blank, visionless pieces
of glass. But they confer upon the wearer, heavenly beauty. And the peacock,
which already felt it was better than the rest as it was Hera’s chosen bird, turned
even more boastful and arrogant with the new gift.
That is how and why, the myth tells us, a bird with rather plain looks and
feathers began fancying himself as a king of all birds, mistaking the eyes of a
dead monster for a divine gift of beauty.
Source: Various collections of Greek mythology
