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Pandora's Box
When the gods created the earth, they made it a perfect place for man, Each of the gods gave man a gift, such as strength, intelligence, and skills, and they filled the earth with everything that man needed to live happily. Fruit trees grew everywhere, and beautiful flowers gave out a delicious drink called nectar that gave people energy. No people needed to work or hunt, and people never grew old or sick or died.
The only thing that the gods did not give man was fire. This they kept for themselves. They feared that giving man fire woukd make him as powerful as the gods and would cause him to destory the many wonderfull things that the gods had put on earth.
One day, the Titan named Prometheus stole some fire from heaven and gave it to man. Though man knew that fire was the possession of the gods, they still accepted Prometheus' gift. Zeus was very angry at this and decided to punish man. He called on Hephaestus, the god of metal and fore, and asked him to build a woman out of stone. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, modeled for the statue so that it would be beautiful. When it was finished, Athena breathed life into the cold stone and it came alive. Then each of the gods gave the woman a gift. Aphrodite taught her how to dance and how to attract any man whthout even having tolook at him. Athena gave her great wisdom. Apollo taught her how to play many musical instruments, and the Muse's taught her how to sing. Hermes taught her how to speak wonderful lies that made other poople happy.The last gift was given to her by Hera, Zeus's wife, and this was curiosity. The gods then named her Pandora, which means, "All--gifted" and placed her down on earth with all the common men.
Zeus went down to earth with Pandora and gave her one last gift. It was a beautiful box, clothed with a heavy lock. He then gave Pandora the key to box and told her that she must never open it, or let anybody open it for any reason.
After a short time, one of Prometheus' brothers, Epimetheus, met Pandora and fell deeply in love with her. She loved him as well and returned with him to his small village. They lived there together happily because life was easy and there were no troubles. The people of the village apent theie days dancing and singing in the warm sunshine. Plenty of food grow on the trees and clean water ran throuth the rivers. Also, since nobody ever grew or became ill, there was no way to die or lose a friend, family member, or a lover. Everyone's life on earth was perfect.
Though Pandora was happy living with Epimetheus, she could not forget the box that Zeus had given her. This was because Hera had given her the gift of curiosity, and each day Pandora's curiosity grew bigger and bigger inside her. But she followed Zeus' order and put the box in a corner of their home where she would not have to look at it. She then told Epimetheus not to ever touch it or move it.
One night, after a fwe years in the village, Pandora woke up in the middle of the night and walked into the room where the box was. The moonlight was shinining in through the window, and it made the box look bright and wonderful. The box itself was not fancy or special. It was just a common box with a large lock on the front. Pandora reached into her pocket and felt the key inside for she had kept the key there since Zeus had given it to her. The key felt warm in her hand and sent excitement through her body. Her curiosity grew and grew as she walked closer to the box, but then she remembered Zeus's words and turned away.
She got back into her bed with Epimetheus, but was no able to sleep. She kept thinking about the box and wondering what was inside. Finally, Pandora got up and went to the room where the box sat. She carried the box outside into the garden, dug a deep hole in the middle of a group of golwers, and placed the the box inside. She look down at it one last time before covering it with the earth. She then took several large stones and piled them on top of the hole. She was tired from her work and retrrneed to bed to sleep with Epimetheus.
