Io was a young priestess of Hera and the daughter of the river God, Inachus. Zeus saw her, and as usual desired her. In order to fool Hera, he turned himself into a cloud. Hera grew suspiciouse (with a husband like that, who wouldn't?) and came down to investigate.
In an effort to decieve Hera, he turned Io into a pure white heifer. Hera knew that this was a woman in disguise and asked for the cow to be given to her as a gift. Zeus saw no other option but to turn his lover over to his wife.
Hera gave Io to Argos, a monster with one hundred eyes. While fifty of the eyes slept, the other fifty watched the poor girl, so she could not excape. Not knowing what to do, Zeus asked his son Hermes to help his dear ol' dad. Hermes, being the sneakiest of gods, pretended to be a traveling musician and played music for Argos, until all hundred eyes fell asleep. Hermes lept to his feet and killed the monster with one stoke of his sword!
Hera, infuriated at being decieved, sent a gladfly to torment the poor child. The creature drove her all across the world, until one day she reached Egypt. Zeus, freed from his wife for a moment, comes down and changes Io back to ehr human form. At the same time he impregnated her with a child named Epaphos. It is believed that Epaphos was the founder of the royal families of Egypt and Argos, as well as being the ancester to the Danaids.
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