Wonder Stories: The Best Myths for Boys and Girls — John Shaqi
Wonder Stories: The Best Myths for Boys and GirlsBailey, Carolyn Sherwin
General
Wonder Stories: The Best Myths for Boys and Girls
Bailey, Carolyn Sherwin
Mythology, Classical -- Juvenile literature
Every boy and girl has the same wonder at one time or another.
"How was the world made?" they ask.
So did the boys and girls of that long ago time when the myths were new,
and the Greek teachers told them that the earth and sky were all a huge
Chaos at first until the gods from their thrones, with the help of
Nature, straightened out all things and gave order to the world. They
separated the earth from the sea, first, and then the sky from both of
these. The universe was all a flaming mass in the beginning but the
fiery part was light and ascended, forming the skies. The air hung just
below the skies. The waters were very heavy and took the lowest place
where the earth held them safely in its hollows.
Just as one takes a ball of clay and moulds it into shape, some one of
the gods, it was said, moulded the Earth. He gave places to the rivers
and the bays, raised mountains, planted the forests and laid out fertile
fields. And, next, the fishes swam in the waters, birds flew through the
woods and built nests, and four-footed beasts began to be seen
everywhere.
But the earth was not finished then by any means. There were two giants
of the race of the Titans who inhabited the earth at that time, and both
of these brothers, Prometheus and Epimetheus, could do marvellous things
with their hands. Prometheus took a little of the new earth in his hands
and as he looked it over he saw, hidden in it, some heavenly seeds, very
tiny of course but they gave him an idea about something wonderful that
he might be able to do. So Prometheus mixed some water with this handful
of earth and seed; he kneaded it well, and then he skilfully moulded it
into a form as nearly like the gods as he could make it. This figure of
clay stood upright. Instead of turning its eyes down to the ground as
the four-footed creatures did, this form that Prometheus had made looked
up toward the sky where the sun and the stars shone now that the air had
cleared.
Prometheus had made man.
While the giant was accomplishing this, his brother, Epimetheus, had
been busy with the task of equipping the other creatures of the earth so
that they could take care of themselves. To some he gave the gift of
courage, to others wisdom, great strength, or swiftness. Each creature
was given that which he most needed. It was then that the slow moving
tortoise found his shell and the eagle his talons. The deer was given
his slender limbs and the dove his wings. The sheep put on his woolly
covering that was to be renewed as often as man sheared it, and the
horse, the camel and the elephant were provided with such great strength
in their backs that they were able to draw and carry heavy loads.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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