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Pandora waited. There were yet two immortals who hadn't given her a gift. Demeter, the goddess of grain, stepped forward. She opened her hand and blew upon the palm. Instantly a garden, filled with flowers and vegetables came to life. It was such a small space, perhaps inches wide yet it harbored many fragile and sturdy flowers, many tuberous and vine vegetables.
"Yes! Yes!" Pandora cried out. She was once again transported to a distant place and taught to plant a garden and nurture its fruits. There were all manner of colorful blooming flowers and productive vegetables. When she returned to the clearing with Demeter, the god Hermes immediately came to her. The Messenger of the gods stood tall and straight. "I also have a gift for you, little one." One moment, the ground with its grass at her feet was empty. The next there sat a heavily jeweled golden box. "Oh!" Pandora cried out with delight, bending to finger the precious jewels in shades of sapphire, ochre, ruby and garnet. A hand gripped her own. She cried out in pain. "You must never, ever, open this box, little one. Not ever," Hermes said to her firmly. "But why not? What could be inside you don't want opened?" "Do not ask why. Don't ever open it," came the stern reply. Pandora did not have much time to ponder the reason she could not open the box. Hermes took her hand and off they went, down the steep hillside of Mount Olympus. He walked with a shepherd's rod while she clutched the golden box with its hidden treasure clutched under her arm. They walked for many miles. Pandora was about to ask how much further it was to where they were going when they stopped at a small house. A man wearing a tunic and sandals came out to greet them. "Welcome, visitors, to my small and humble abode. You may have anything you care for to relieve the tedium of your journey." Pandora did not know that this man was Epimetheus, the brother of Promethesus, who had accepted the gift of fire from Zeus and had thus angered the god of gods. In an officious voice, Hermes said to him, "The gods have permitted you to have a wife. Her name is Pandora. Take good care of her." Hermes bestowed a tight smile on the once clay figure and thinned to nothing before he completely vanished. Pandora thought him the strangest of all the gods and goddesses who had bestowed gifts on her.
The copyright of the article The Golden Box and Its Hidden Treasure - Part 3 in Ancient Greece is owned by Suzi Goode. Permission to republish The Golden Box and Its Hidden Treasure - Part 3 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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