wonderful to know, so that they grew out of their childhood, and began
to take thought for themselves. Some people even say that he knew how
to make men,--as we make shapes out of clay,--and set their five wits
going. However that may be, he was certainly a cunning workman. He
taught men first to build huts out of clay, and to thatch roofs with
straw. He showed them how to make bricks and hew marble. He taught them
numbers and letters, the signs of the seasons, and the coming and going
of the stars. He showed them how to use for their healing the simple
herbs that once had no care save to grow and be fragrant. He taught
them how to till the fields; how to tame the beasts, and set them also
to work; how to build ships that ride the water, and to put wings upon
them that they may go faster, like birds.

With every new gift, men desired more and more. They set out to see
unknown lands, and their ambitions grew with their knowledge. They were
like a race of poor gods gifted with dreams of great glory and the
power to fashion marvellous things; and, though they had no endless
youth to spend, the gods were troubled.

Last of all, Prometheus went up secretly to heaven after the treasure
of the immortals. He lighted a reed at the flame of the sun, and
brought down the holy fire which is dearest to the gods. For with the
aid of fire all things are possible, all arts are perfected.

This was his greatest gift to man, but it was a theft from the immortal
gods, and Zeus would endure no more. He could not take back the secret
of fire; but he had Prometheus chained to a lofty crag in the Caucasus,
where every day a vulture came to prey upon his body, and at night the
wound would heal, so that it was ever to suffer again. It was a bitter
penalty for so noble-hearted a rebel, and as time went by, and Zeus