Once upon a time, thousands of years ago, when mythical, magical creatures were still roaming the Earth, there was a beautiful mermaid called Pleione. One day she met a Titan called Atlas and they fell madly in love. Soon they got married and over the next years they had seven children, seven lovely little girls, who themselves grew up to become beautiful women like their mother. Their names were Alcyone, Electra, Maia, Taygeta, Asterope, Celaeno and the youngest one, Merope.
Now, these sisters were of course not actually human, although they looked like women. That is not perhaps so strange, since they were born from a Titan and a Mermaid. But the main reason they were not human, is that they were, in fact, immortal! For thousands of years they lived on Earth and had their own sons and daughters. Through all this time, perhaps because of their different nature, they stayed ever so close with each other and loved one another deeply.
Then, one day, the youngest one, Merope, met a young man called Sisyphus, a handsome human, who was the king of a Greek city called Efyra. This town still exists in Greece today, but is now called Corinth. Merope fell so much in love with Sisyphus, that in order to be able to be with him, she gave up her immortality and became herself a mortal woman!
Merope became Sisyphus' wife and the queen of Efyra and they had a family together. The years went by and she grew old, like all humans do, and eventually the day came she passed away. Her sisters though remained immortal and the grief from the loss of their younger sister over the years became unbearable. So they asked the God Zeus to spare them their pain and find a way to reunite them with their sister. Zeus, moved by their sisterly love, found a way to grant them their wish. He turned all of them into stars - including Merope, who he brought back from the dead. He put them close to each other in the night sky, so they can be together for ever! He also chose to put them close to Earth, and made them to shine with a very bright, distinct blue light, so that they could be seen from Earth even with naked eyes.
And so it was, that the people of Efyra thousand of years ago, (and all the people on Earth ever since), could look up to the night sky and see their beloved queen and her sisters looking down on them, reunited for eternity, reminding them that love is the strongest bond and that those who love each other will always be together, in this life and the next!
The story of the seven sisters passed from mouth to mouth from one generation to the next, for thousands of years, since before the time of Homer, who was the first to put it in his writings. And it continues to be told and passed on from generation to generation by all those who look up in the night sky and know where to find them.
And of course they couldn't be missing from our skies! So here they are, perched in their little corner on the front cover of our first book, shining their beautiful blue light on our joyful little stars as they celebrate their game, bringing their blessings to our little story with their ever lasting love!
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