Deucalion and Pyrrha left their boat, and as he looked around him at the widespread desolation he said: “Oh my spouse, bound to me by ties of kindred and marriage, behold, we are the only human beings in the wide world. How wretched would it then have been if death also had overtaken me! If thou hadst been swept away by the flood I should have followed after thee, for without thee I could not have lived, best beloved! Oh! would that I possessed my father’s divine power of creating men and bestowing life upon them.” Tears choked his voice and Pyrrha wept also. At last they decided to implore Themis[6] to have mercy and relieve them in their sore straits, and repaired to the temple of the goddess. What a spectacle! The aisles were covered with slime and the fires upon the altars were extinguished. They fell upon their knees, kissed the cold stones, and prayed: “Divine, all-gracious, and merciful one, behold! Empty is the world! We alone remain of all its mortals. Oh pity us and let us once more live among people like ourselves.” At once through the halls of the temple resounded these words: “Leave the temple, cover your heads, loosen your girdles, and throw behind you the bones of your great mother.” They were mute with astonishment for a time, but at last Pyrrha said with trembling voice: “Be not angry with me, oh goddess, that I cannot throw my mother’s bones behind me. Thereby I should disturb the dear one now wandering among the shades in Tartarus.” Sadly they descended the temple steps, Deucalion meditating over the mysterious message to them. At last the shadows of grief in his heart were dissipated and he said: “Best beloved, the goddess intends no harm to us. I believe this is the meaning of her message. The earth is the mother, the stones are her bones. So we will throw them.” They began at once to obey the goddess’s message. They loosened their girdles, covered their heads, and threw stones behind them. Suddenly life began to manifest itself in the stones. They began to enlarge and take shape. Soon they resembled blocks of marble which the sculptor is fashioning in human form. The softer parts were changing to flesh, the harder to bones. At last appeared the forms of living persons. The stones which Deucalion threw behind him became men and those which Pyrrha threw became women. Thus was the earth repopulated with beings made of stone—a race of strong minds and stout bodies. Chapter III Hermes (Mercury)