17. This Goddess Cornered Her Husband Into Giving Her His Lover as a Present
In his mad lust after Io, the chief god pursued the beautiful priestess. However, she resisted his advances at first, until her father kicked her out on the advice of some oracles. Homeless, she finally gave in to Zeus. He turned her into a white heifer in order to conceal her from his jealous wife, and shield her from Hera’s wrath. It did not work. Hera, who knew her husband all too well, grew suspicious when she noticed how much time he was spending at a pasture, in which a magnificent white cow grazed.
So she begged Zeus to give her the heifer as a present. Unable to come up with an excuse to refuse, the chief Olympian god grudgingly gave his lover as a gift to his wife. Hera then assigned Argus Panoptes, a giant with a hundred eyes, to tether the white cow to an olive tree, and keep a constant watch on her. Zeus, driven to distraction by his lust for Io, was unable to bear the separation. So he sent the messenger god Hermes, disguised as a shepherd, to lull Argus to sleep.