Lubna Qureshi, age 13, of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, for her question:

WHO WAS MEMNON?

Memnon was an Ethiopian king in Greek mythology. He entered the Trojan War and after a long struggle was killed by Achilles. Greeks believe dewdrops are tears of sorrow shed by Aurora, Memnon's mother who was the goddess of dawn.

The Vocal Memnon is one of two huge stone statues near Thebes in Egypt built about 1400 B.C. It was damaged in an earthquake in 27 B.C. The damaged statue gave a musical sound at dawn when the sun struck it. The sudden change of temperature at sunrise probably caused vibrations in the statue that made the sound. The Egyptians believed that the sound was Memnon's greeting to Aurora.

The sounds stopped after the Roman emperor Septimius Severus had the statue repaired.