Gods and Heroes; or, The Kingdom of JupiterFrancillon, R. E. (Robert Edward)
General
Gods and Heroes; or, The Kingdom of Jupiter
Francillon, R. E. (Robert Edward)
Mythology, Classical -- Juvenile literature
Whenever it thunders, that is the voice of Jupiter. One of the planets
is named after him--it is a beautiful large white star. In pictures,
he is a large, strong man, with a thick brown beard, looking like a
king. He sits on a throne, with lightning in his hand, and an eagle
by his side. Juno is a large, beautiful woman, tall and grand, looking
like a queen, with a proud face and splendid eyes. The peacock is her
favorite bird, just as Jupiter's is the eagle.
PART II.--THE FIRST MAN; OR, THE STORY OF PROMETHEUS AND PANDORA.
One of the Titans left two sons, Prometheus and Epimetheus. Prometheus
means Forethought, and Epimetheus means Afterthought. Now Prometheus
was not big and strong like the other Titans, but he was more clever
and cunning than all of them put together. And he said to himself,
"Well, the gods have shown themselves stronger than we. We can't
conquer them by fighting, that's clear. But there are cleverer ways of
winning than by fighting, as they shall see."
So Prometheus dug up a good-sized lump of clay, more than six feet
long, and nearly four feet round. And now, said he to himself, "I only
want just one little spark of Heavenly Fire."
Now the Heavenly Fire is only to be found in the sky; and Jupiter had
ordered that no Titan was ever to enter the sky again. But Prometheus
was much too clever to find any difficulty about that. The great
goddess Minerva, who is the goddess of Wisdom, happened to be on a
visit to the earth just then, so Prometheus called upon her and
said:--
"Great goddess, I am only a poor, beaten Titan, and I have never seen
the sky. But my father and my father's father used to live there in
the good old times, and I should like, just once, to see the inside of
the beautiful blue place above the clouds which was once their home.
Please, great goddess, let me go in just once, and I'll promise to do
no harm."
Now Minerva did not like to break the rule. But she was very trusting
and very good-natured, because she was very wise; and besides,
Prometheus looked such a poor little creature, so different from all
the other Titans and Giants, that she said:--
"You certainly don't look as if you could do us any harm, even if you
tried. Very well--you shall have a look at the sky, and I'll show you
round."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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