Cadmus and Europa

 Once a long time ago a king had two children, a boy and a girl. 

The boy's name was Cadmus. 

The boy became very brave and strong and he was trained in warfare. Cadmus was also very learned and he could read and write well.

The girl Europa was beautiful and grew up to be more beautiful. 

The king's kingdom was very small. One side of the kingdom was protected by mountains and the kingdom opened into the sea on the other side. 

However he was a good king and he loved his children too.

Europa would spend the afternoon's looking after the cows and the bulls which were grazing around the grounds of the cash. She loved it here. 

Once however a snow-white coloured bull joined the herd. 

Europa could not identify the bull but she did not sense anything wrong from the animal. She made a garland of flowers and placed it on the bull. 

Before the cowherds or Europa herself could react, the bull suddenly picked up Europe and ran as fast as it could and jumped into the sea and swam away from there.

The king and all the people of the kingdom ran and saw in the sea and soon they lost sight of Europa in the waters. The women of the kingdom wept at the loss of Europe and the king shut himself inside his castle. 

After three days the king called for Cadmus and asked Cadmus to come back home only when he had his sister with him.

Cadmus chose twenty brave people from his kingdom and set sail into the sea. From there he went to every single place in the sea and asked the people whether they had seen his sister. 

Unfortunately nobody had seen her. 

Finally Cadmus landed in ancient Greece. He asked them the same question.

Though none of them had seen Cadmus's sister, they advised him to talk to the Oracle of Delphi.

Cadmus did not understand what that meant. So the Greeks explained it to him about how the Oracle of Delphi was connected directly to God Apollo, who could look into the future. 

The Greeks believed that the Oracle of Delphi could guide Cadmus properly. 

The Oracle of Delphi told Cadmus the truth. 

She told him that it was Jupiter the God of the Skies, who had taken Europa in the form of a white bull and that she was lost forever. 

However Cadmus was at a loss. 

His father had told him not to return without his sister. He did not know what to do. 

Then the Oracle was able to help Cadmus too. She foresaw that Cadmus's father had perished and another strange king ruled the kingdom now.

She also told Cadmus that he was to stay in Greece and he was supposed to follow the white cow and build a city there.

Though Cadmus did not understand what that meant, he walked away from the place.

Much to his surprise he saw a snow-white coloured cow there. 

He decided to follow the cow. 

The cow walked for many days and Cadmus followed it. 

Finally at a particular spot near a huge mountain the cow sat down. 

Cadmus called on his men and decided to build a city there. 

He sent his men to find water nearby before sacrificing the cow and that was when disaster struck. 

His men went missing and no matter how much he looked, he could not find them.

Cadmus himself looked around and he was shocked to find a huge dragon near the mountain stream that the cow sat down on.

Looking at the scene near the dragon Cadmus realized that his men had come here looking for water and had perished fighting the dragon.

A terrible battle ensued between the dragon and Cadmus.

Finally Cadmus killed the dragon but at a terrible price. All his men had been killed in the fight with the dragon. Now he was not sure how he could build a city without his people. 

Finally Athena the Goddess of wisdom appeared before Cadmus and she told him to plant the teeth of the dragon under the ground and she told him that would give rise to people who would help build the city. 

Exactly as the Goddess had said a group of powerful warriors grew from the dragon's teeth. 

After initial fighting among themselves the warriors finally helped Cadmus build the city. 

This city was originally called Cadmeia. As the city became bigger it began to be known as Thebes.

The greatest thing that Cadmus did for the Greeks was to teach them the alphabets that he had learnt in his own kingdom. The first letter that Cadmus taught the Greeks came to be known as alpha and the second letter was beta. It went on to become the alphabet of the Greeks.

Cadmus never found Europa in his entire life. 

It remains unknown where the white bull took Europa. But it is generally believed that the continent of Europe is named after Europa because that was supposedly where the white bull brought her after taking her from her own kingdom.

Stories and Legends of Greek folklore