Javascript required
Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

Arsonists Dont Play With Fire They Make Art Out of It

DLTK's Countries and Cultures - Greek Mythology
How Prometheus Gave Fire to Men

written past James Baldwin, adapted and illustrated by -- based on Greek mythology

Many years ago, according to the stories told by the people of ancient Greece, at that place lived two brothers who were non like other men, or like the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus.  They were the sons of i of the Titans who had fought against Zeus and been sent in chains to the prison of the Lower Earth.

greek mythology

The proper noun of the elder of these brothers was Prometheus (which means Forethought). Prometheus was always thinking of the future and making things prepare for what might happen tomorrow, or next calendar week, or adjacent yr, or even in a hundred years time.  The younger was chosen Epimetheus (which ways Afterthought).  Epimetheus was always and so busy thinking of yesterday, or last year, or a hundred years ago, that he never worried at all about what might come up to pass in the hereafter.

Prometheus did not want to live among the clouds on Mount Olympus.  He was besides busy for that.  While the gods were spending their time in idleness, drinking nectar and eating ambrosia, he was planning how to make the globe wiser and meliorate 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 nearly miserable of all living creatures.

greek mythology"If they only had burn down," said Prometheus to himself, "they could at least warm themselves and cook their nutrient; and after a while they could acquire to make tools and build themselves houses.  Without burn, they are worse off than the beasts."

Prometheus went boldly to Zeus and begged him to give fire to the people, so that and so they might accept a little condolement through the long, dreary months of winter.

"I will not!" said Zeus, "Not ane spark volition I share with them!  For if men had fire they might become potent and wise similar the states, and after a while they would drive us out of our kingdom.  Besides, fire is a dangerous tool and they are as well poor and ignorant to be trusted with it.  It is amend that we on Mount Olympus rule the world without threat so all can exist happy."

Prometheus didn't answer, but he had prepare 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.

greek mythology"Mankind shall accept fire, despite what Zeus has decided," he said to himself.  And with that idea, he snuck quietly into Zeus' domain and stole a spark from Zeus' own lightning commodities.  Prometheus touched the stop of the long reed to the spark, and the dry out substance within information technology defenseless on fire and burned slowly.  Prometheus hurried back to his ain land, carrying with him the precious spark hidden in the hollow middle of the found.

When he reached abode, 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.

1 dank wintertime evening, Zeus gazed down from Mountain Olympus and noticed fires burning cheerfully at the hearths of men and women in every village across the land.  It did non take him long to realize that Prometheus had disobeyed him and given fire to men.

Zeus was very angry and ordered that Prometheus exist chained to the side of a mountain to suffer there for all eternity.  And there Prometheus stayed, thinking of the futurity, happy in the cognition that he had given burn to men until he was one day rescued by Hercules, the mortal son of Zeus...  Merely that is a story for another day!

Print friendly version of this story

whearewintralmor.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.dltk-kids.com/world/greece/m-story-prometheus-fire.htm