Melampus

In Greek Mythology, Melampus, or Melampous (Greek: Μέλαμπος), was a legendary soothsayer and healer originally of Pylos, who ruled at Argos; he was the introducer of the worship of Dionysus, according to Herodotus, who asserted that his powers as a seer were derived from the Egyptians and that he could understand the language of animals. A number of pseudepigraphal works of divination circulated in Classical and Hellenistic times under the name of Melampus. According to Herodotus and Pausanias (vi.17.6), on the authority of Hesiod, his father was Amythaon, whose name implies the "ineffable" or "unspeakably great"; Melampus and his heirs were thus Amythaides, of the "House of Amythaon".
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[Greek heroic] Melampus was the cousin of Bellerophon. He loved the animals, and he once saved two baby snakes his servants were about to kill. In return, the snakes gave Melampus the ability to understand what all animals said. One day Melampus was walking around Pylos when he heard that the king was offering a reward if someone could cure his son from a strange sickness he had suffered since he was a toddler. Melampus went to the palace and started right away. He first slaughtered an ox, then waited behind a tree to see if the vultures who would eat the ox knew what to do. One of the vultures said that they had not eaten a feast this big since the king made a sacrifice and his son was scared by the bloody knife. When the king threw the knife away to comfort his son, the knife hit a tree and the nymph of the tree was hurt and angry. She cursed the boy, saying he would be sick until the knife was removed from the tree and the rust from it mixed with water. Then, the nymph promised that the prince ...
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