King Ceix, son of the Morning Star, was walking along the beach with his wife Alcion, daughter of the King of the Winds.
"I must leave in a few days and go on a long journey to visit the Oracle of Delphi," King Ceix said to his wife, "but I promise to be back in no more than 2 months."
Alcyone paled. She knew that the rough winds from the open sea were very dangerous.
-Eolo, my parents rule the winds and I know the force it can unleash during a great storm, I beg you if you love me. Do not go!.
King Ceix reaffirmed his love for her and promised to return soon. But the queen could not console herself a few days later as he stood at the stern of his ship waving his hand in farewell, she collapsed on the sand and shed bitter tears then crawled to her abode and there began the long wait for the return.
One night as King Ceix's ship was sailing the sea the waves began to rise.
- "Remove the oars", "lower the sails". Shouted the captain, the men however could not hear them because the winds had begun to roar and the thunder rumbled in the skies.
The Ocean threw its foam towards the stars and lightning illuminated the night, then the sea turned yellow and great torrents of water rushed from the skies as the waves hit the king's ship Ceix's last thoughts were for Alcion addressing the gods shouted:
-drive my body to where my wife is on the other side of the sea. And then he repeated her name over and over until a huge arc of water dragged him into the dark depths of the ocean then there was no more lightning or stars but a deep darkness.
The Morning Star did not shine at dawn, but grieved over the death of her son, she remained hidden behind the clouds.
Halcion counted the days that separated him from the Ceix return. for her welcome he had woven a beautiful tunic for him and a dress for her, every day he burned incense and prayed to Juno, the protective goddess of married women, he wanted to ask her that her husband return home safely.
Upon hearing Alcyone's prayers, Juno took pity on her and summoned her messenger Iris the goddess of the colored bow and commissioned her to address the dream god to ask him to send her a dream that will reveal that her husband had drowned the sea.
Iris set out at once, leading her thousand-colored wake across the sky to reach the gloomy lands of the Cimmerian country. There in the hollow of a mountain lived the god Dream once he had reached the cave of the god, Iris not me, nor the song of the birds and the barking of the dogs nor the cackling of the geese and could only hear the sleepy breathing of the river Lethe. In the semi-darkness while walking on poppy laws and arriving at the Sueño enclosure, the rainbow goddess put aside the empty dreams that she was finding in her path, then she arrived next to Sueño who was snoring in her enormous black ebony bed and woke up the sleepy man. God and asked him to send him dream Alcyone.
When she was accepted, Iris flew back to Mount Olympus tracking all the colors of the rainbow with her.
Sleep raises Morpheus one of his thousand sons who could best imitate humans and instructed him to fly in search of Alcyone then returned to his bed and let his sleepy head sink back into the land of dreams.
Led by the silent wings of him Morpheus crossed the shadows and when he finally reached the abode of Alcyone he adopted the face and body of King Ceix and slipped into his bedroom and stood in front of his bed. Ceix's ghost's beard dripped seawater and tears shed down his face as he leaned over to his sleeping wife and whispered:
- "Oh! My beloved, can you see me? Has death changed me? I didn't shelter anymore for the hope of my return the storm sank my ship in high evil and I perished and there pronouncing your name, get up now and cry my death".
Alcyone sobbing in the middle of her dream she tried to take her husband in her arms but it was useless she handcuffed, she called out to him until her own voice woke her up although she realized that she he had been dreaming. She feared that vision was reality and cried until dawn.
As soon as the light had penetrated his bedroom Alcion got up and descended to the beach to the place from where he had last seen Ceix standing at the stern of the ship saying goodbye to her Alcion looked at the sea and discovered something floating in the water When he got closer he saw the body of a man on the crest of the waves.
-Oh! Poor sailor - and poor wife if he's married. A wave brought the body to the beach and Alcion could see that it was her husband then she exclaimed.
-Oh my love because you have returned to me in this way!
Then, running, she entered the sea and although the waves broke against her, she did not sink but began to beat the water with gigantic wings, screaming like a bird, rose through the air and flew over the sea until reaching the inert body of Ceix.
When she touched her husband's cold lips with her beak, he became a bird and the two were able to be together again, since then every year for 7 days before the winter soltice, the waves calm down the water remains perfectly calm these days are called 'the days of the Alcyone' because during them the King of the Winds keeps them locked up because his daughter Alcyone is brooding in her nest beyond the seas.