Prologue- Pandora's Box
There were once two brothers, Epimetheus and Prometheus, and both greatly upset the gods. The leader of these gods, Zeus, enforced a punishment on the whole of humanity for the brothers' insolence. He decided to take mankind's most precious gift; fire. Without fire, the humans could no longer cook their food, see at night, or stay warm. Many suffered from the lack of this element in their life.
Prometheus, however, was sly and knew where he could steal fire back from the gods to give to the humans. He went to the Isle of Lemnos, where Hephaestos, the Gods' blacksmith, lived. There he kept his forge running hot with an eternal fire. Prometheus stole some of the flame and brought it back to his hometown, where the people rejoiced.
Above, Zeus raged. He decided then and there to teach humanity some respect once and for all. With the help of Hephaestos, he created a beautiful woman from clay. He gave her many gifts and traits, such as beauty and kindness. However, the one that would destroy them all was her great curiosity. When Zeus had deemed her ready, he sent her to Earth to become Epimetheus' wife. Prometheus had earlier warned his brother against taking any gifts from the tricky god. However, Epimetheus' was completely smitten with the beautiful and gentle ways of the woman Pandora. He decided that he had to marry her so that she could become no one else's.
Zeus, seeing that his plan was working, congratulated the two and gifted Pandora with a beautiful box. It shone a silver as bright as the moon and was decorated with fantastical creatures of all sorts, from unicorns to dragons. Pandora thought the box to be extremely beautiful and was eager to open it. However, Zeus warned her that she must never open the box and that it was simply for looking at. He handed her a key on a chain to wear on her neck to represent the beautiful present she was not allowed to open.
That first day, Epimetheus made Pandora swear that she wouldn't open the box, as Zeus had commanded. She agreed half-heartedly but her curiosity continued to rise. She lie next to Epimetheus that night, her mind storming like a hurricane. What was in the box? Why wasn't she allowed to open it? What could possibly go wrong? She tried to just ignore it but it was gleaming and seemed to speak to her with its mystery.
Pandora...the box seemed to whisper in her mind. She rolled away from it, pressing herself against Epimetheus to try to drown out the curiosity in her head. Pandora...open me...you know you want to. You can find out what's inside...open me...let us out...Pandora….
Finally Pandora had had enough. She ripped the key from her neck and climbed out of bed towards the silver box. Her hands shook as she fit the heart shaped key slowly into the lock, twisting it to pop the lid open.
What Pandora saw made her eyes grow wide with fear. Inside the box were all of the evils humanity would ever grow to know. Out raced disease, poverty, misery, death, sadness, anger, and all of the pain of the world. They raced out like bees, causing immediate destruction.
Pandora fell to the floor, the box in her lap, and began weeping. Epimetheus woke to see her with the box open and knew that something terrible had happened. He ran to her and demanded why she would open it. When she told him about her curiosity, he knew that Zeus had done this intentionally. Epimetheus took the box from Pandora's hands, going to close it. Before he could slip the lid completely closed, though, a shining gold light fluttered out.
It was hope and hope was the only thing that could lessen the pain that Pandora had released on humanity. It was hope that kept Pandora and Epimetheus together. It was hope that calmed the fears of the towns. And it is hope that fills our hearts today and keeps us going, telling us that anything is possible, even in the darkest of situations.
