Reader question: What is Argus-eyed? My comments: Someone who is Argus-eyed is a person who's observant, all-seeing. In Chinese legend, we have heavenly people who have "eyes that penetrate a thousand miles" and can detect what you and I can't see, or "ears that ride the wind" and can hear what the Greeks are saying from across the seas. Argus on the other hand is a Greek creation. Argus is said to have 100 eyes, all of which he never has closed at the same time. After some fun research, I found that: Argus is the giant who has 100 eyes and is assigned to keeping many a watchful eye open on a cow in the disguise of Io, who's a young woman so in shape that she distinguishes herself from all the rest even as a heifer into which she had been metamorphosed by Zeus, her lover who is the king of gods and husband of Hera, who finds one day Zeus consorting with Io, one of her maids, and come barging in to poop the party. And in consequence, Zeus, in a not so clever ruse, turns Io into a heifer. But Hera, being Hera and none other than the life-long partner of the king of all gods, is not deceived, cleverly demanding that her husband give her the shapely animal to keep as a gift. Granted her wish, Hera swiftly exiles the heifer to somewhere resembling Siberia but ostensibly green with a fertile pasture, lest heifer ever reunite with her creator, who as the king of all gods should be above scheming behind her back. To further act upon her way of thinking, she sends Argus Panoptes, the hundred-eyed giant to guard the cow. Thus, heavenly peace is restored but not for long, because Zeus soon dispatches Hermes, the god of cunning, invention and theft to rescue his lover. To lull the giant into sleep with all hundred eyes closed tight is no easy task, as you may very well imagine. So Hermes has to play a flute with a lilting tune so enchanting that Argus falls into slumber before Hermes finishes with the first movement. Hermes thus slays the giant and returns Io to Zeus. Later, Hera, in memory of his dead soldier, places Argus' hundred eyes in the tail of the peacock, her favorite bird. Finally, Zeus, in a last attempt to patch up with Hera, vows that he and Io were just friends and really had nothing going on that would arouse any paparazzi from the tabloids. Now, if these run-on sentences fail to pique your interest in Greek mythology….

About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.