Sweet smelling herbs at this time of the year. And those magnificent eagles flying above. Did you see any vultures. No? That’s a mercy. We can do without vultures, I can tell you. So want do you want with me? I am very old now.. I live very simply as you can see. I keep myself in isolation now . I don’t think I would be welcome in the world of men in these tattered clothes .I forage away on the mountain and that gives me enough to eat. And of course I still have this, This little fire in this pit. I have to be very careful to keep it alight.
That flame has caused me a lot of trouble I can tell you. I spend a lot of time watching it pondering on those happenings all that time ago .But perhaps that is why you are here? To hear my story. I expect you know about my fifteen minutes of fame. Well it was more than fifteen minutes I can tell you. Thirty years on this rock. chained with heavy metal shackles. Look you can still see the scars on my wrists and ankles. And when the sun rose , that great vulture came with a terrible flapping of wings, and a cry that sounded as if it came from the depths of hell. That sharp beak pecked at my innards every day, every day for thirty years. I was in agony I can tell you. And every night I lay there waiting for the pain to subside as my organs healed and I was able to have an hour or so of some respite. But when the sun rose the it all started again. Back came that monstrous bird, pecking and gouging. I thought it would never end.
All this came about because of a disagreement the Great One, Zeus, He Who Had To Be Obeyed. When my brothers and I were giving gifts to men, he told us not to give them fire. I could see that men would never thrive denied this power. If it were up to Zeus he would have left them as clay. I suppose he was frightened that one day men would forget him and all the other gods. Talk about ego! But I knew I had to do something. And so one night when all the gods were asleep I stole into the temple where the divine flame burned, lit a taper and smuggled it out past the keepers of the flame. They were all asleep they never saw me. As the sun rose the next day I gave the taper to the race of men, and they had fire!
Well, when Mr High and Mighty saw what I had done he went into one of his rages.
“Prometheus” he roared,”You‘ve gone too far this time, with all your tricks and subterfuges.“ And the next thing I knew here I was chained to this rock. And all my troubles and torments began.
When I thought about it, and I had a long time to think about it, I came to see the Great One had a point. Yes, men made iron with fire, which they could use for making ploughshares. But they also used the iron to make weapons to kill each other. That I did not foresee. But even that was Zeus’ doing. In his rage he had Pandora fashioned and the silly girl let all the evils of the world out of that jewelled box she was supposed to take care of. Men certainly got their fill of jealousy and greed. She a whole lot of disease was released as well and that’s causing a lot of trouble. But men also used to sit around their fires at night. And that’s when a lot of knowledge got shared I am sure.They learned to communicate with each other, and tell stories and have dreams.That’s how they started to build great civilisations. Perhaps Clever Clogs one was right, perhaps men were not ready for such a powerful tool, perhaps they lacked wisdom, and things would get out of hand.
But I could not see why I had to suffer so. But once he gets into one of his rages anything can happen, and usually does. Well at long last the Great One must have relented. One beautiful morning I slept late, that was unusual. When I woke the sun had risen quite high in the sky and all was quiet, except for the rustling of the trees, water bubbling out of that spring there and lovely birdsong all around. My chains lay broken on the ground. In front of me was a man sitting there, holding a massive sword. He was not exactly old, but not young either. Well built. He said something about looking for the golden apples. Could I help? Some task he had to complete. I think he was an apprentice god, or some such thing. Hercules he said his name was. Anyway he had shot the vulture and freed me from my chains. I thanked him and told him I couldn’t help him find his apples. He looked a bit disappointed and went on his way. But best of all I was free of all that torment and I never saw a vulture again. I often wonder if he found those apples.
I have had a long time to reflect on what what Mister Know it All was trying to teach me. I think it was humility. Not that he does very well in that department either. So I live quietly here. I am able to see what men are doing in that world of theirs and it doesn’t seem to be going very well, does it? Sometimes people said I had the gift of forethought. Well that’s as may be. The way I look at it that in the world of men pride has taken hold, arrogance even, and a bit of humility would not go amiss. But I don’t know how to tell them this. I think they should sit down for a while and work it out for themselves. Perhaps you can suggest it to them when you go back down?
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