relented. He spoke the prophecy, warned Zeus not to marry Thetis, and
the two were reconciled. The hero Heracles (himself an earthly son of
Zeus) slew the vulture and set Prometheus free.

But it was still needful that a life should be given to expiate that
ancient sin,--the theft of fire. It happened that Chiron, noblest of
all the Centaurs (who are half horses and half men), was wandering the
world in agony from a wound that he had received by strange mischance.
For, at a certain wedding-feast among the Lapithae of Thessaly, one of
the turbulent Centaurs had attempted to steal away the bride. A fierce
struggle followed, and in the general confusion, Chiron, blameless as
he was, had been wounded by a poisoned arrow. Ever tormented with the
hurt and never to be healed, the immortal Centaur longed for death, and
begged that he might be accepted as an atonement for Prometheus. The
gods heard his prayer and took away his pain and his immortality. He
died like any wearied man, and Zeus set him as a shining archer among
the stars.

So ended a long feud. From the day of Prometheus, men spent their lives
in ceaseless enterprise, forced to take heed for food and raiment,
since they knew how, and to ply their tasks of art and handicraft, They
had taken unresting toil upon them, but they had a wondrous servant at
their beck and call,--the bright-eyed fire that is the treasure of the
gods.




THE DELUGE.