尼诺和忠狗——希拉和爱娥

Zeus, the king of the gods, had a way of hiding things from his wife Hera. When he wanted to do something secretly, he would gather dark clouds around him. In this way Hera could not see what he was doing.

Hera had figured this out a long time before. So, one day, when Hera saw the dark cloud, she was not fooled. Very quietly she pushed away the cloud.

She saw her husband sitting by the river with a beautiful young cow. There was no fooling Hera. She doubted that the cow was really a cow.

Indeed, it wasn't a young cow. It was Io, the daughter of the river god. Zeus loved her very much and sometimes they met to talk. Zeus had changed Io into a young cow when he saw Hera push away the cloud. He was very surprised!  He didn't know Hera had found out about his secret.

Hera saw her husband and the young cow and said, "What a beautiful cow! Whose young cow is this?" Zeus answered, "I don't know. When I was walking along the bank of this river, this cow suddenly appeared."

Hera knew that her husband was not telling the truth. She kept on asking questions to see what he would say. "My dear, I want to have the young cow. Will you give it to me?" asked Hera.

Zeus didn't want to give the young cow to his wife, but at last he agreed. Hera was sure the cow was something unusual and she brought the cow to Argus to watch over it carefully.

Argus was a strange creature. He had a hundred eyes. Hera knew he would have no problem watching the cow even as he slept. For she knew he never went to sleep with all his eyes closed. He would sleep with two of his hundred eyes open.

He took good care of the cow. During the day Argus gave her lots of food and water. At night he tied her up with a strong rope around her neck. Io tried to talk to Argus, but she didn't know how to.

One day  Io was surprised to see her father and her sisters. They were searching for her. Io was missed by her family. She quickly went over to them. They patted her on the back and said that she was the prettiest cow they had ever seen.

Her father gave her some grass. She licked her father's hand. She hoped that her father would know her. Finally Io thought that maybe she could write something to her father. She tried very hard and finally she was able to write her name with her hoof.

Her father saw the writing and realized that his daughter had been changed into a young cow. His heart was filled with sadness, and he put his arms around the cow's neck.

He hugged Io for a long time before he could speak to her. He told her, "My daughter, your sisters and I have walked far and wide looking  for you."

Then Argus appeared and saw them. He didn't understand what was happening. He was afraid the old man and girls were going to steal the young cow. He became angry and took Io, the young cow, away to the pasture.

Meanwhile, Zeus knew of the unhappiness Io was feeling and took pity on her. He wanted to rescue Io.

He called Hermes, the messenger of the gods, and told him to go to Io and rescue her. Hermes immediately obeyed and glided down from the heavens to the earth.

Once there, he laid his wings aside and found a small stick. He disguised himself as a shepherd driving his sheep to market. As he walked with the sheep, he blew upon his musical pipes.

Argus heard the pipes and stopped to listen with delight. He had never heard such beautiful music before. "Young man, come and take a seat beside me. Rest a while. This is a quiet place," said Argus.

Hermes sat down beside him. They told each other stories till late in the evening. Argus asked Hermes to play his pipes again. Hermes hoped that the music would put Argus to sleep, but it didn't.

Hermes thought for a while, and at last began to tell him a long story. Finally, as Hermes was telling his story, Argus began to sleep. Argus was very comfortable being with Hermes and, feeling that nothing was going to happen, shut all of his eyes.

When Hermes was certain that Argus was sound asleep, he took his sword in his hands. With one swift stroke he cut off Argus' head. It tumbled down upon the ground. Poor Argus! The light of his hundred eyes was put out forever.

Not long after, Hera heard that Argus had been killed. She was very sad and felt responsible for his death. She wanted to do something special for him that would remind everyone of her faithful friend.

She went to find Argus' head. It took her a long time to find it. When she did find it, Hera took Argus' eyes and put them on the tail of her peacock to decorate it. Now we can see Argus' eyes on the beautiful tail of the peacock.

Hera was very angry with Io. She knew that because of Io Argus had been killed. She knew she couldn't kill Io or Zeus would be very mad at her. But Hera wanted to punish her for Argus' death. So she sent a gadfly to bother the poor cow. Io then fled to the banks of the Nile.

Finally Zeus decided to help Io directly. He begged his wife to let him change Io back into the beautiful girl that she was. He promised he would not see her again. Hera agreed to let Zeus return Io to her original form.

In the pasture where Io stood, she felt the rough hair falling from her body. Her horns disappeared. Her eyes grew smaller. Her hands and fingers returned. She had feet instead of hoofs.

At last she changed back into the beautiful daughter of the river god. She left the pasture at once and went to find her father and sisters.

宇斯是众神之王，他有办法对她太太希拉隐瞒事情。当他想要秘密地做些事情时，他会召集一些乌云围绕在他身旁。这样希拉就看不到他在做什幺。

希拉老早就理解到这一点。所以有一天当希拉看到乌云时，她并未被欺骗。她悄悄地推开云朵。

她看见她的丈夫与一只漂亮的小牝牛坐在河旁。这是不可能骗得了希拉的。她怀疑那只牝牛是不是真的牝牛。

的确，她不是一只小牝牛。她就是河神的女儿爱娥。宙斯非常爱她。有时他们会在一起约会聊天。当宙斯看见希拉推开乌云时，他将爱娥变成了只小牝牛。他很惊讶！但是他不知道希拉已经发现了他的秘密。

希拉看见她的丈夫和年轻的小牝牛便说：『多幺漂亮的小牝牛啊！这是谁的小牝牛呢？』宙斯回道：『我不知道，当我走在河边时，这只小牝牛突然出现了。』

希拉知道她丈夫在说谎。她不断地追问，要看看宙斯怎幺回答。希拉问：『亲爱的，我想要这只小牝牛。你要不要将它送我呢？』

宙斯不想要把这只小牛给他的太太，但最后还是同意了。希拉很肯定这只牛有点不寻常，她就把这只牛交给阿格斯小心看管。

阿格斯是只奇怪的家伙。他有一百只眼睛。希拉知道即使他睡觉时，他要看管这只小牝牛也没有问题。因为她知道他睡觉时从不会把所有的眼睛都闭上。他睡觉时，一百只眼睛中有两眼是睁开的。

他妥善照顾这只牝牛。白天，阿格斯喂她许多食物和水。晚上他用一条坚固的绳子拴住她的颈部，爱娥设法跟阿格斯说话，但是她不知道怎幺说。

有一天爱娥很惊讶地看到她的父亲和姊妹们。他们正在寻找她。爱娥的家人很想念她。她很快地走近他们。他们拍拍她的背说她是他们见过最漂亮的牛。

她父亲喂她一些草吃。她舔着父亲的手，希望他会认出她来。最后爱娥想她也许可以写些字给父亲看。她很努力地设法写，终能用她的蹄写出她的名字。

她父亲看了那些字才明了他的女儿已被变成一只小牝牛。他心中悲伤逾恒，用双臂紧抱着她的颈子。

他抱住爱娥好久才和她说话。他对她说：『我的女儿啊！我和你的姊妹们走遍了千山万水，找你找得好苦。』

这时阿格斯突然出现，瞧见了他们。他不知道发生了何事。他担心这老头和这些女孩子们会偷走这只小牝牛。他生气起来，便把小牝牛，也就是爱娥，带到草原中。

此时，宙斯听说爱娥很不快乐，心生怜悯想要救爱娥。

他唤来众神的使者赫密斯，要他到爱娥那儿去救她。赫密斯立刻遵命，从天上飞到地面上。

一到那儿，他将双翼摆一旁，找到了一只小棍子。他乔装成牧羊人，赶着羊群到市集去。当他走在羊群中，他吹着笙笛。

阿格斯听到笛声，很高兴地停下来听。他从未听过这幺美妙的音乐。阿格斯说：『年轻人，来坐在我旁边休息一会儿。这是个安静的地方。』

赫密斯坐在他旁边。他们说故事给彼此听，一直说到晚上。阿格斯要赫密斯再吹笛。赫密斯希望音乐能让阿格斯入眠，但他并未睡着。

赫密斯想了一会儿，最后开始向他讲一个很长的故事。最后，赫密斯说故事时，阿格斯开始入睡了。阿格斯与赫密斯在一起很自在，感觉没有事情会发生，便把所有眼睛都闭起来了。

当赫密斯很确定阿格斯睡得很熟时，他手里拿着剑，很快地一挥，砍断了阿格斯的头。头滚落到地上。可怜的阿格斯！一百只眼睛的光芒永远都消失了。

没多久后，希拉听到阿格斯被杀了。她很悲伤，认为她应对他的死负责。她想为他做点特别的事，让每个人都能记得她的挚友。

她去找阿格斯的头。她很久才找到。当她找到时，希拉拿着阿格斯的眼睛放在她的孔雀尾巴上作为装饰。我们现在可以在美丽的孔雀尾巴上看见阿格斯的眼睛。

希拉很气爱娥。她知道因为爱娥，阿格斯才会被杀。她知道她无法杀掉爱娥，否则宙斯会生她的气。但是希拉想要为阿格斯的死处罚爱娥。所以她派了一只牛蝇去打扰这只可怜的牛。爱娥便逃到尼罗河岸。

最后宙斯决定直接帮助爱娥。他乞求他太太让他将爱娥变为原来的美丽女子。他答应不会再来看她。希拉同意让宙斯将爱娥变回原来的样子。

在爱娥站的草原，她感觉身上粗糙的毛发正在掉落，她的角不见了。双眼变小了。她的手和手指头都变回来了。她的蹄变成了双脚。

最后她变回河神的漂亮女儿。她立刻离开草原回去找她的爸爸和姊妹们。