ords the nature of
his version of the myths: "He [the author] does
not plead guilty to a sacrilege in having
sometimes shaped anew, as his fancy dictated,
the forms that have been hallowed by an
antiquity of two or three thousand years. No
epoch of time can claim a copyright in these
immortal fables. They seem never to have been
made; and certainly, so long as man exists,
they can never perish; but, by their
indestructibility itself, they are legitimate
subjects for every age to clothe with its own
garniture of manners and sentiment, and to
imbue with its own morality."

The story "The Paradise of Children," taken
from _A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys_, is
Hawthorne's version of the Greek myth of
Pandora's Box, which is an attempt to explain
how pain and suffering came to humanity.
According to the Greek myth, Jupiter was angry
when he learned that Prometheus, one of the
Titans, had given men fire stolen from heaven.
That men might not have this blessing without
an affliction to compensate, the gods filled a
box with ills, but put Hope also in the box.
Then, fearing that neither Prometheus nor his
brother Epimetheus would open the box, they
created Pandora. Mercury, the messenger of
Jupiter, carried Pandora and the box as a gift
to Epimetheus, and the curiosity of Pandora led
her to open the box.

THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

Long, long ago, when this old world was in its tender infancy, there was
a child named Epimetheus, who never had either father or mother; and,
that he might not be lonely, another child, fatherless and motherless
like himself, was sent from a far country to live with him and be his
playfellow and helpmate. Her name was Pandora.

The first thing that Pandora saw, when she entered the cottage where
Epimetheus dwelt, was a great box. And almost the first question which
she put to him, after crossing the threshold, was this,--

"Epimetheus, what have you in that box?"

"My dear little Pandora," answered Epimetheus, "that is a secret, and
you must be kind enough not to ask any questions about it. The box was
left here to be kept safely, and I do not myself know what it
contains."

"But who gave it to you?" asked Pandora. "And wher