Pity poor demon-boy Ascalaphus! He told Jupiter that Proserpine had cheated death -- whereupon Proserpine is condemned to remain with Pluto forever. Thus Ascalaphus is actually the hero of the story -- and simultaneously also the villain of... the story. Proserpine/Persephone curses Ascalaphus by hurling a few drops of pomegranate juice at him which results in red speckles on his skin -- which turn him into a speckled owl ("Bubos askalaphos") .
Thus, throughout the ages, Ascalaphus has become a synonym for someone who is punished cruelly for telling the pure and simple truth. As Oscar Wilde (a Saint of Antinous) said: "The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple."
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