Most of the constellations were named by people who lived thousands of years ago. The constellations were given the names of characters from the myths and stories of these people. Here is the story of my birth sign in the zodiac, Cancer the Crab.
Hercules was a great and powerful hero of the Ancient Greeks. The goddess Hera hated Hercules and she made him go crazy. In moments of madness, he thought his children were wild animals and killed them.
As punishment, King Eurystheus ordered Hercules to perform twelve tasks that no man had been able to complete before. One of the tasks was to kill the hideous nine-headed serpent, the Hydra. The breath of the serpent monster was so poisonous that it killed those who inhaled it. Hercules held his breath and began to knock off all the heads of the monster. He was shocked to see several new heads grow back where one had been chopped off. Hercules didn't stop. He continued to knock the heads off and burned the place where they had grown so that no new heads could grow.
The goddess Hera was furious that Hercules was winning so she sent Cancer, the giant crab, to fight Hercules. But Hercules picked up the crab and threw it at the last head of the Hydra, killing both enemies. Hera felt sorry for the crab. She picked up the pieces of Cancer and set them in the heavens where they can still be seen today as the stars of the constellation Cancer the Crab.
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This article was written by Raechel Carson and appeared in the March 1996 newsletter.