Long before recorded time, the gods of Greek mythology ruled the earth. Their King was Zeus and he ordered the brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus to populate the earth. Epimetheus made many, many creatures, endowing these creatures with the many gifts that were allotted to them (by Zeus) for that purpose. Among the gifts were fur, claws, wings, and fins.

But while his brother was making creatures, Prometheus was carefully crafting a creature made in the shape of the gods. He called this creature a human. However, Prometheus took so long in crafting his masterpiece that, when he was finished, Epimetheus had already used up all the gifts from Zeus. Prometheus turned the humans loose on the land but they had no gifts to survive and he watched as they huddled together, shivering in the cold winter nights.

Feeling sorry for his creations, he decided to steal fire from the gods. Prometheus climbed Mount Olympus and stole fire from the chariot of Apollo. He carried the fire back in the stalk of a fennel plant, which burns slowly and so was appropriate for this task. Thus mankind was given a gift and was warm. 

Zeus was enraged and had Prometheus carried to Mount Caucasus, where he was chained to a rock for 30,000 years! Each day a vulture would attack Prometheus and eat his liver, which caused the god great pain. To further his punishment, Prometheus’ liver grew back each night! 

For having fire, Zeus decided to punish the humans made by Prometheus. He had the god Hephaestus make a woman out of clay and gave her life. They named this woman Pandora, which means “All Gifted”. While Hephaestus gave Pandora form, the goddess Aphrodite gave her beauty and the god Apollo gave her musical talent and a gift for healing. Then the god Hermes gave her two special gifts. First, he gave to Pandora a box. A box that was closed and tightly latched. Then, Hermes gave his second gift to Pandora. He gave her the gift of curiosity!

Until then, mankind had lived a life in a paradise without worry. However, one day, Pandora's curiosity got the better of her and she opened the box, releasing all the misfortunes of mankind (plague, sorrow, poverty, crime, etc.). Realizing what she had done, Pandora shut it in time to keep one thing in the box: hope! The world remained extremely bleak for an unspecified interval, until Pandora again opened the box and released hope! Thus, mankind always has hope in times of evil.

Which brings us back to the challenge this week. Pandora’s Box! Was it wooden or metal? Was it square or rectangular? Was it plain or painted? Large or small?

Boop	Cami	Daisy

Jeri	Marion	Patricia

Paula	Sharon