Zeus and the Great Flood (Deucalion & Pyrrha)

Pandora's box had caused quite a few problems. Zeus was horrified at what had happened. After the box was opened, Zeus looked down on earth from Mount Olympus. He saw fights and riots and wars and murders. Even though it was Zeus himself who had loaded Pandora's box with all kinds of terrible things, Zeus was determined to punish mankind for the terrible behavior he saw.

He decided man had to go. Man was a mistake. Zeus ordered the waters to rise and flood the earth. Everyone drowned except two people. One was King Deucalion, who was considered the most honest man on earth. The other was the king's wife, Pyrrha.

Some say the god Prometheus warned King Deucalion that a flood was coming. This was the same Prometheus who had given mankind the gift of fire. Not only did Prometheus have a kind heart, but King Deucalion was Prometheus' son. He knew how much his son loved his mortal wife.

Prometheus told his son to build a sturdy boat and stock it well. His son knew that Prometheus could see into the future. (He also knew that his father had trouble explaining what he saw in his visions.) Prometheus told his son that when the waters receded, he must throw the bones of the Great Mother over his shoulder and to have his son's wife do the same.

King Deucalion loved his father. He trusted his father. He did not always understand all of his father's instructions, but he certainly could built a sturdy boat.

Just as his father predicted, the flood came. King Deucalion and Pyrrha sailed away on their boat for 9 days and 9 nights. When the waters receded, the boat settled down on the tallest peak in Greece, at the very tip top of Mount Parnassus.

King Deucalion had listened carefully to his father's directions. They had not made much sense to him, but he had listened. The king mumbled to himself, "The earth is the Great Mother. Since the earth is the Great Mother of humans, her bones must be ...... stones!"

King Deucalion picked up some stones and threw them over his shoulder. Magically, the stones became men! Pyrrha did the same. Her stones became women. Many stones later, the human race had started again.