The music of the spheres : $b A nature lover's astronomyGrondal, Florence Armstrong
Science
The music of the spheres : $b A nature lover's astronomy
Grondal, Florence Armstrong
Astronomy
The ancient people imagined that before the earth was smoothed out flat
in its present attractive form, the whole world was tumbled together in
great confusion,--land, air, sea, sky, hot, cold, soft, hard, light and
heavy all mixed and melting in a desolate mass presided over by the god
Chaos. Chaos was dethroned by the God of Darkness, who in turn was
dethroned by Light and Day. Light and Day, being orderly, industriously
sorted the earth from the sea and extracted the heavens from both. The
fiery part was cast into the sky where it splintered into stars, while
the earth, "a lifeless lump, unfashion'd and unfram'd," was heaped in a
big, broad mound with a deep and terrifying stream of waters flowing
around it. Then Uranus, the Heavens, noting his superior position, took
the scepter away from Light and Day and became the first ruler of the
created world. Love was then born and the Earth, entranced, hemmed in
her valleys and extended her plains, made paths for the rivers and beds
for the lakes. The seeds, relieved of weight, burst their coverings, and
the hills became green with foliage and the meadows brilliant with
flowers. The world was now beautiful, and Heaven looked down on the
colorful earth, and Earth looked up into the starry eyes of Heaven, and
love grew, and the Earth became the Heaven's bride.
In the course of time, Uranus began to seriously consider his numerous
and somewhat fearful progeny, for the huge Titans, the one-eyed Cyclops
and the hundred-handed giants were here and there and everywhere about
the land. Foreseeing that his sovereignty might eventually become
imperiled, he picked up the Cyclops and Hecatoncheires and thrust them
out of sight into the Pit of Darkness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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