Pegasus, where I least expected to find him — in my own backyard.
This is total projection, but of all mythological flying creatures, Pegasus always struck me as the wisest, kindest, and most quiet. I don’t think I’d make much use of a flying creature that was always squawking and performing scary maneuvers to impress onlookers (see Harry Potter), but Pegasus and I would have gotten along just fine.
Pegasus was sired by Poseidon and brought to life from the blood of the dying Medusa. Wherever his moon-shaped hoof struck the earth, an inspiring spring came forth. The most famous of these springs was the Hippocrene, spring of the Muses, on Mt. Helicon near the Gulf of Corinth, making Pegasus a favorite of the Muses.
Pegasus’s most famous rider was Bellerophon, a mortal son of Poseidon, who used the winged horse to defeat the Chimera and fight the Amazons when they invaded Lycia. Bellerophon eventually fell victim to the most human of all human weaknesses: hubris. Believing himself to be equal to the gods, he tried to ride Pegasus up to Olympus to take a place among the immortals. But Pegasus knew better and refused to make the ride.
Endearing himself to the gods, Pegasus found shelter in the heavenly stalls of Olympus where he was given the honor of becoming lightning and thunder bearer to Zeus. To thank him for his faithful service, Zeus transformed Pegasus into a constellation and placed him in the sky, where he remains to this day. On the day of his transformation, a single feather to earth near the city of Tarsus.
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