And lastly, but not leastly, clue three showed the constellation of Perseus himself - stealing a bar of chocolate from a swan!
The connection of these meteor showers to Perseus is not just that they are best seen around the area of his stars; there is another link too, as the King of Argos, Acrisius, was so desperate for a son to inherit his crown, that he took to asking the priestesses at the Oracle at Delphi. They said that he would never have a son, but he would have a grandson, though it would be a mixed blessing as the child would kill him.
He did not think much of that truth, so he decided to prevent his daughter, Danae, ever giving birth, locking her in an underground chamber made of impenetrable bronze. But one night the god Zeus, who had admired the daughter for some time, made it rain, and during the rain he visited her, through a crack in the roof, disguised as a shower of gold. I tell you they knew all about romance in those days.
The net result of that though was that Danae had a son, and that son was Perseus, and despite every attempt to stop the word of the Oracle coming true, Perseus did kill his grandfather, in what we would call a freak accident. This happened when Acrisius was visiting an athletics event and Perseus was competing in the discus, during which, somehow, as the discus went along, it hit Acrisius, and he was killed instantly.
However, this created a bit of a problem as the gods would not allow any one of them to profit by murder - so it was deemed that Perseus could not be King of Argos, but they arranged a swop, the current king of Tiryns becoming King of Argos and Perseus becoming King of Tiryns.
There are twelve cards in this set, some of which, like ours, show more than one constellation. The constellations are not named, but they are shown as gold stars on top of the item that they represent, so for instance our card shows the stars of Perseus, the hero, and Cygnus, the swan.
By the way these two constellations are not neighbours in the sky, but they do have a connection, as Zeus, the father of Perseus, actually disguised himself as a swan to steal away the affections of the wife of King of Sparta. And, before you ask, Perseus was one of over ninety children fathered by Zeus....in his various disguises!
You can see all the cards at Cartolino.com/111 - and at some time I will fathom them all out and add them to the list below below. You can also make each card larger by clicking on it. Or I will try to find cards with the alternative reverse, which must be an earlier version of this set, as that has the names of the constellations on each one!
- Le Serpent et Le Vierge - Serpens and Virgo
- Perseus et Le Cygne - Perseus and Cygnus
And if like me, you look at the back of the card and asked yourself what a "dujas" was, I can tell you, it is plural, for hazelnut pastes. or, more correctly for sweets made containing such a substance.