In those
very early times
there was a man named Deucalion, and he was the son of Prometheus. He
was
only a common man and not a Titan like his great father, and yet he was
known far and wide for his good deeds and the uprightness of his life.
His wife's name was Pyrrha, and she was one of the fairest of the
daughters
of men.
After
Jupiter had bound Prometheus
on Mount Caucasus and had sent diseases and cares into the world, men
became
very, very wicked. They no longer 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 nor safety in all the land. Things were in much
worse
case now than they had been before Prometheus had come among men, and
that
was just what Jupiter wanted. But as the world became wickeder and
wickeder
every day, he began to grow weary of seeing so much bloodshed and of
hearing
the cries of the oppressed and the poor.
"These
men," he said to his
mighty company, "are nothing but a source of trouble. When they were
good
and happy, we felt afraid lest they should become greater than
ourselves;
and now they are so terribly wicked that we are in worse danger than
before.
There is only one thing to be done with them, and that is to destroy
them
every one."
So he sent
a great rain-storm
upon the earth, and it rained day and night for a long time; and the
sea
was filled to the brim, and the water ran over the land and covered
first
the plains and then the forests and then the hills. But men kept on
fighting
and robbing, even while the rain 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, and had often told them that
unless
they left off their evil ways there would be a day of reckoning in the
end. Once every year he had gone to the land of the Caucasus to talk
with
his father, who was hanging chained to the mountain peak.
"The day is
coming," said
Prometheus, "when Jupiter will send a flood to destroy mankind from the
earth. Be sure that you are ready for it, my son."
And so when
the rain began
to fall, Deucalion drew from its shelter a boat 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 the rising waters. Day and night, day
and
night, I cannot tell how long, the boat drifted hither and thither. The
tops of the trees were hidden by the flood, and then the hills and then
the mountains; and Deucalion and Pyrrha could see nothing anywhere but
water, water, water-and they knew that all the people in the land had
been
drowned.
After a
while the rain stopped
falling, and the clouds cleared away, and the blue sky and the golden
sun
came out overhead. Then the water began to sink very fast and to run
off
the land towards the sea; and early the very next day the boat was
drifted
high upon a mountain called Parnassus, and Deucalion and Pyrrha stepped
out upon the dry land. After that, 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 fields were carpeted with grass and flowers more
beautiful
than in the days before the flood.
But
Deucalion and Pyrrha
were very sad, for they knew that they were the only persons who were
left
alive in all the land. At last they started to walk down the mountain
side
towards the plain, wondering what would become of them now, all alone
as
they were in the wide world. While they were talking and trying to
think
what they should do, they heard a voice behind them. They turned and
saw
a noble young prince standing on one of the rocks above them. He was
very
tall, with blue eyes and yellow hair. There were wings on his shoes and
on his cap, and in his hands he bore a staff with golden serpents
twined
around it. They knew at once that he was Mercury, the swift messenger
of
the Mighty Ones, and they waited to hear what he would say.
"Is there
anything that you
wish?" he asked. "Tell me, and you shall have whatever you desire."
"We should
like, above all
things," said Deucalion, "to see this land full of people once more;
for
without neighbors and friends, the world is a very lonely place indeed."
"Go on down
the mountain,"
said Mercury, "and as you go, cast the bones of 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. Who is our mother, if it is not
the Earth, from whom all living things have sprung? And yet what could
he mean by the bones of our mother?"
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"Perhaps
he meant the stones
of the earth," said Pyrrha. "Let us go on down the mountain, and as we
go, let us pick up the stones in our path and throw them over our
shoulders
behind us."
"It is
rather a silly thing
to do," said Deucalion; "and yet there can be no harm in it, and we
shall
see what will happen."
And so they
walked on, down
the steep slope of Mount Parnassus, and as they walked they picked up
the
loose stones in their way and cast them over their shoulders; and
strange
to say, the stones which Deucalion threw sprang up as full-grown men,
strong,
and handsome, and brave; and the stones which Pyrrha threw sprang up as
full-grown women, lovely and fair. When at last they reached the plain
they found themselves at the head of a noble company of human beings,
all
eager to serve them.
So
Deucalion became their
king, and he set them in homes, and taught them how to till the ground,
and how to do many useful things; and the land was filled with people
who
were happier and far better than those who had dwelt there before the
flood.
And they named the country Hellas, after Hellen, the son of Deucalion
and
Pyrrha; and the people are to this day called Hellenes.
But we call
the country GREECE.
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