written by James Baldwin, adapted and illustrated by Leanne Guenther -- based on Greek mythology
Many years ago, according to the stories told by the people of ancient Greece, there lived two brothers who were not like other men, or like the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus. They were the sons of one of the Titans who had fought against Zeus and been sent in chains to the prison of the Lower World.
It to Man, Prometheus was resigned to eternal life on the rocks, so to speak. But wait! The story doesn’t end here. You see, the Centaur (half man, half horse) named Chiron ky'-rahn, a wise and immortal mentor of many Greek heroes, had been accidentally shot and wounded by one of Hercules poisoned arrows. The myth of Prometheus and fire makes us contemplate on a serious question: If Prometheus hadn’t stolen the fire from Zeus, what the mankind would have done? But the mischievous Titan in the Greek Mythology stole it and while he was celebrated by the mortals he was cruelly punished by the God of all Gods. AESCHYLUS PROMETHEUS BOUND Translated by Ian Johnston Vancouver Island University Nanaimo, BC Canada 2012 TRANSLATOR’S NOTE In the following text, the numbers without brackets refer to the English text, and those in square. Prometheus protested, but Zeus wouldn’t listen. Kind-hearted Prometheus cared for humans and did his best to nurture them. He wanted them to succeed—which made Zeus’ unfair pun-ishment even more upsetting. Prometheus knew that it was up to him to right this wrong. Clever Prometheus, one step ahead of Zeus, stole a spark in the dead of night.
The name of the elder of these brothers was Prometheus (which means Forethought). Prometheus was always thinking of the future and making things ready for what might happen tomorrow, or next week, or next year, or even in a hundred years time. The younger was called Epimetheus (which means Afterthought). Epimetheus was always so busy thinking of yesterday, or last year, or a hundred years ago, that he never worried at all about what might come to pass in the future.
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Prometheus did not want to live amongst the clouds on Mount Olympus. He was too busy for that. While the gods were spending their time in idleness, drinking nectar and eating ambrosia, he was planning how to make the world wiser and better than it had ever been before.
So instead of living on Olympus, Prometheus went out amongst men to live with them and help them and he quickly noticed that they were no longer happy as they had been during the golden days when Kronos, the titan, was king. He found them living in caves and in holes of the earth, shivering with the cold because there was no fire, dying of starvation, hunted by wild beasts and by one another—the most miserable of all living creatures.
'If they only had fire,' said Prometheus to himself, 'they could at least warm themselves and cook their food; and after a while they could learn to make tools and build themselves houses. Without fire, they are worse off than the beasts.'
Prometheus went boldly to Zeus and begged him to give fire to the people, so that so they might have a little comfort through the long, dreary months of winter.
'I will not!' said Zeus, 'Not one spark will I share with them! For if men had fire they might become strong and wise like us, and after a while they would drive us out of our kingdom. Besides, fire is a dangerous tool and they are too poor and ignorant to be trusted with it. It is better that we on Mount Olympus rule the world without threat so all can be happy.'
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Prometheus didn't answer, but he had set his heart on helping mankind, and he did not give up. As he was walking by the seashore he found a tall stalk of fennel. He broke it off and then saw that its hollow center was filled with a dry, soft substance which would burn slowly and stay alight for a long time. He carried the stalk with him as he began a long journey to the top of Mount Olympus.
'Mankind shall have fire, despite what Zeus has decided,' he said to himself. And with that thought, he snuck quietly into Zeus' domain and stole a spark from Zeus' own lightning bolt. Prometheus touched the end of the long reed to the spark, and the dry substance within it caught on fire and burned slowly. Prometheus hurried back to his own land, carrying with him the precious spark hidden in the hollow center of the plant.
When he reached home, he called some of the shivering people from their caves and built a fire for them, and showed them how to warm themselves by it and use it to cook their food. Men and women gathered round the fire and were warm and happy, and thankful to Prometheus for the wonderful gift which he had brought to them.
One chilly winter evening, Zeus gazed down from Mount Olympus and noticed fires burning cheerfully at the hearths of men and women in every village across the land. It did not take him long to realize that Prometheus had disobeyed him and given fire to men.
Zeus was very angry and ordered that Prometheus be chained to the side of a mountain to suffer there for all eternity. And there Prometheus stayed, thinking of the future, happy in the knowledge that he had given fire to men until he was one day rescued by Hercules, the mortal son of Zeus.. But that is a story for another day!
The Flood
In those very early times there was a man named Deucalion, and he wasthe son of Prometheus. He was only a common man and not a Titan like hisgreat father, and yet he was known far and wide for his good deeds andthe uprightness of his life. His wife’s name was Pyrrha, and she was oneof the fairest of the daughters of men.
After Jupiter had bound Prometheus on Mount Caucasus and had sentdiseases and cares into the world, men became very, very wicked. They nolonger built houses and tended their flocks and lived together in peace;but every man was at war with his neighbor, and there was no law norsafety in all the land. Things were in much worse case now than they hadbeen before Prometheus had come among men, and that was just whatJupiter wanted. But as the world became wickeder and wickeder every day,he began to grow weary of seeing so much bloodshed and of hearing thecries of the oppressed and the poor.
“These men,” he said to his mighty company, “are nothing but a source oftrouble. When they were good and happy, we felt afraid lest they shouldbecome greater than ourselves; and now they are so terribly wicked thatwe are in worse danger than before. There is only one thing to be donewith them, and that is to destroy them every one.”
So he sent a great rain-storm upon the earth, and it rained day andnight for a long time; and the sea was filled to the brim, and the waterran over the land and covered first the plains and then the forests andthen the hills. But men kept on fighting and robbing, even while therain was pouring down and the sea was coming up over the land.
No one but Deucalion, the son of Prometheus, was ready for such a storm.He had never joined in any of the wrong doings of those around him, andhad often told them that unless they left off their evil ways therewould be a day of reckoning in the end. Once every year he had gone tothe land of the Caucasus to talk with his father, who was hangingchained to the mountain peak. How to download football manager.
“The day is coming,” said Prometheus, “when Jupiter will send a flood todestroy mankind from the earth. Be sure that you are ready for it, myson.”
And so when the rain began to fall, Deucalion drew from its shelter aboat which he had built for just such a time. He called fair Pyrrha,his wife, and the two sat in the boat and were floated safely on therising waters. Day and night, day and night, I cannot tell how long, theboat drifted hither and thither. The tops of the trees were hidden bythe flood, and then the hills and then the mountains; and Deucalion andPyrrha could see nothing anywhere but water, water, water–and they knewthat all the people in the land had been drowned.
After a while the rain stopped falling, and the clouds cleared away, andthe blue sky and the golden sun came out overhead. Then the water beganto sink very fast and to run off the land towards the sea; and early thevery next day the boat was drifted high upon a mountain calledParnassus, and Deucalion and Pyrrha stepped out upon the dry land. Afterthat, it was only a short time until the whole country was laid bare,and the trees shook their leafy branches in the wind, and the fieldswere carpeted with grass and flowers more beautiful than in the daysbefore the flood.
But Deucalion and Pyrrha were very sad, for they knew that they were theonly persons who were left alive in all the land. At last they startedto walk down the mountain side towards the plain, wondering what wouldbecome of them now, all alone as they were in the wide world. Whilethey were talking and trying to think what they should do, they heard avoice behind them. They turned and saw a noble young prince standing onone of the rocks above them. He was very tall, with blue eyes and yellowhair. There were wings on his shoes and on his cap, and in his hands hebore a staff with golden serpents twined around it. They knew at oncethat he was Mercury, the swift messenger of the Mighty Ones, and theywaited to hear what he would say.
“Is there anything that you wish?” he asked. “Tell me, and you shallhave whatever you desire.”
“We should like, above all things,” said Deucalion, “to see this landfull of people once more; for without neighbors and friends, the worldis a very lonely place indeed.”
“Go on down the mountain,” said Mercury, “and as you go, cast the bonesof your mother over your shoulders behind you;” and, with these words,he leaped into the air and was seen no more.
“What did he mean?” asked Pyrrha.
“Surely I do not know,” said Deucalion. “But let us think a moment. Whois our mother, if it is not the Earth, from whom all living things havesprung? And yet what could he mean by the bones of our mother?”
“Perhaps he meant the stones of the earth,” said Pyrrha. “Let us go ondown the mountain, and as we go, let us pick up the stones in our pathand throw them over our shoulders behind us.”
“It is rather a silly thing to do,” said Deucalion; “and yet there canbe no harm in it, and we shall see what will happen.”
And so they walked on, down the steep slope of Mount Parnassus, and asthey walked they picked up the loose stones in their way and cast themover their shoulders; and strange to say, the stones which Deucalionthrew sprang up as full-grown men, strong, and handsome, and brave; andthe stones which Pyrrha threw sprang up as full-grown women, lovely andfair. When at last they reached the plain they found themselves at thehead of a noble company of human beings, all eager to serve them.
So Deucalion became their king, and he set them in homes, and taughtthem how to till the ground, and how to do many useful things; and theland was filled with people who were happier and far better than thosewho had dwelt there before the flood. And they named the country Hellas,after Hellen, the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha; and the people are tothis day called Hellenes.
But we call the country Greece.
Preface • Persons and Places Mentioned • Jupiter and His Mighty Company • The Golden Age • The Story of Prometheus • The Flood • The Story of Io • The Wonderful Weaver • The Lord of the Silver Bow • Admetus and Alcestis • Cadmus and Europa • The Quest of Medusa’s Head • The Story of Atalanta • The Horse and the Olive • The Adventures of Theseus • The Wonderful Artisan • The Cruel Tribute
This eBook of “Old Greek Stories” by James Baldwin belongs to the public domain. Complete book.
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