• When Jupiter arrives at Crete, still carrying the princess Europa, he abandons his bull shape and turns back into himself.
• At the same time, King Agenor, whose daughter had just been carried off, sends Cadmus, his son, to bring her back.
• Cadmus wanders over the entire world, but doesn't see any sign of his missing sister.
• Eventually, realizing his search is futile, but knowing he can't go home, he asks the oracle of Apollo what he should do.
• The oracle tells Cadmus to keep an eye out for a heifer (female cow) standing alone, one that has never pulled a plow. He should follow this heifer, and wherever she stops to rest, that's where he should found a settlement. He is instructed to call the region Boeotia. (The name "Boeotia," an actual region in Greece, sounds like the Latin word for cow, "bos." This word is related to the English word "bovine.")
• When Cadmus leaves the shrine, sure enough, he sees a heifer matching that description walking by.
• He follows the heifer and, after some time, it starts bellowing and lies down in the grass. Cadmus knows this was the spot.
• At this point, the appropriate thing to do is offer a sacrifice to Jupiter. For this, however, he would need some fresh spring water. Accordingly, he sends his men out into the forest to get some.
• Unfortunately, in the cave where they go to get their water, there lurks a giant snake, sacred to the god Mars. He kills all of Cadmus's men.
• By the time noon rolls around, Cadmus is wondering where all his men went. Finally, he goes in search of them. When he gets to the cave, a grisly scene confronts him.
• Cadmus battles the snake and eventually kills it, pinning it with his spear against an oak tree.
• While Cadmus is staring at the snake, however, he suddenly hears a voice call out, "What do you think you're staring at? Don't you know that you'll be a snake too one day?"
• Then, all of sudden, the goddess Minerva appears. She tells him to plow the ground and plant the snake's teeth in the furrows.
• He does as he's commanded. When he's done, the snake's teeth germinate into a race of warriors who rise out of the soil. For apparent reason, these warriors all start killing each other, until only five are left. These five then make peace with each other.
• Now Ovid tells us that Cadmus ended up having a pretty sweet life – beautiful wife, nice kids, and so on. But, he reminds us, don't consider a man happy until he's dead. He tells us that, in Cadmus's case, the trouble started when his grandson, Actaeon, was turned into a stag.
• Now we flash forward a bunch of years to see what in the world Ovid is talking about.
• On the day in question, young Actaeon and his buddies are out hunting in the forest. They kill lots of animals, and the ground is stained with blood. Nice.