Then Mercury, the messenger of the gods, took Pandora and led her down
the mountain side to the place where Prometheus and his brother were
living.

[Illustration: PROMETHEUS PUNISHED FOR HIS GIFT TO MAN]

"Epimetheus, here is a beautiful woman that Jupiter has sent to be
your wife," he said.

Epimetheus was delighted and soon loved Pandora very deeply, because
of her beauty and her goodness.

Now Pandora had brought with her as a gift from Jupiter a golden
casket. Athena had warned her never to open the box, but she could not
help wondering and wondering what it contained. Perhaps it held
beautiful jewels. Why should they go to waste?

At last she could not contain her curiosity any longer. She opened the
box just a little to take a peep inside. Immediately there was a
buzzing, whirring sound, and before she could snap down the lid ten
thousand ugly little creatures had jumped out. They were diseases and
troubles, and very glad they were to be free.

All over the earth they flew, entering into every household, and
carrying sorrow and distress wherever they went.

How Jupiter must have laughed when he saw the result of Pandora's
curiosity!

Soon after this the god decided that it was time to punish Prometheus.
He called Strength and Force and bade them seize the Titan and carry
him to the highest peak of the Caucasus Mountains. Then he sent Vulcan
to bind him with iron chains, making arms and feet fast to the rocks.
Vulcan was sorry for Prometheus, but dared not disobey.

So the friend of man lay, miserably bound, naked to the winds, while
the storms beat about him and an eagle tore at his liver with its
cruel talons. But Prometheus did not utter a groan in spite of all his
sufferings. Year after year he lay in agony, and yet he would not
complain, beg for mercy or repent of what he had done. Men were sorry
for him, but could do nothing.

Then one day a beautiful white cow passed over the mountain, and
stopped to look at Prometheus with sad eyes.

"I know you," Prometheus said. "You are Io, once a fair and happy
maiden dwelling in Argos, doomed by Jupiter and his jealous queen to
wander over the earth in this guise. Go southward and then west until
you come to the great river Nile. There you shall again become a
maiden, fairer than ever before, and shall marry the king of that
country. And from your race shall spring the hero who will break my
chains and set me free."

Centuries passed and then a gre