Jupiter and his Mighty Folk had not always dwelt amid the clouds on the
mountain top. In times long past, a wonderful family called Titans had
lived there and had ruled over all the world. There were twelve of
them--six brothers and six sisters--and they said that their father was
the Sky and their mother the Earth. They had the form and looks of men
and women, but they were much larger and far more beautiful.
The name of the youngest of these Titans was Saturn; and yet he was so
very old that men often called him Father Time. He was the king of the
Titans, and so, of course, was the king of all the earth besides.
Men were never so happy as they were during Saturn's reign. It was the
true Golden Age then. The springtime lasted all the year. The woods and
meadows were always full of blossoms, and the music of singing birds was
heard every day and every hour. It was summer and autumn, too, at the
same time. Apples and figs and oranges always hung ripe from the trees;
and there were purple grapes on the vines, and melons and berries of
every kind, which the people had but to pick and eat.
Of course nobody had to do any kind of work in that happy time. There
was no such thing as sickness or sorrow or old age. Men and women lived
for hundreds and hundreds of years and never became gray or wrinkled or
lame, but were always handsome and young. They had no need of houses,
for there were no cold days nor storms nor anything to make them afraid.
Nobody was poor, for everybody had the same precious things--the
sunlight, the pure air, the wholesome water of the springs, the grass
for a carpet, the blue sky for a roof, the fruits and flowers of the
woods and meadows. So, of course, no one was richer than another, and
there was no money, nor any locks or bolts; for everybody was
everybody's friend, and no man wanted to get more of anything than his
neighbors had.
When these happy people had lived long enough they fell asleep, and
their bodies were seen no more. They flitted away through the air, and
over the mountains, and across the sea, to a flowery land in the distant
west. And some men say that, even to this day, they are wandering
happily hither and thither about the earth, causing babies to smile in
their cradles, easing the burdens of the toilworn and sick, and blessing
mankind everywhere.
What a pity it is that this Golden Age should have come to an end! But
it was Jupiter and his brothers who brought about the sad change.
It is hard to believe it, but men say that Jupiter was the son of the
old Titan king, Saturn, and that he was hardly a year old when he began
to plot how he might wage war against his father. As soon as he was
grown up, he persuaded his brothers, Neptune and Pluto, and his sisters,
Juno, Ceres, and Vesta, to join him; and they vowed that they would
drive the Titans from the earth.
Then followed a long and terrible war. But Jupiter had many mighty
helpers. A company of one-eyed monsters called Cyclopes were kept busy
all the time, forging thunderbolts in the fire of burning mountains.
Three other monsters, each with a hundred hands, were called in to throw
rocks and trees against the stronghold of the Titans; and Jupiter
himself hurled his sharp lightning darts so thick and fast that the
woods were set on fire and the water in the rivers boiled with the heat.
Of course, good, quiet old Saturn and his brothers and sisters could
not hold out always against such foes as these. At the end of ten years
they had to give up and beg for peace. They were bound in chains of the
hardest rock and thrown into a prison in the Lower Worlds; and the
Cyclopes and the hundred-handed monsters were sent there to be their
jailers and to keep guard over them forever.
Then men began to grow dissatisfied with their lot. Some wanted to be
rich and own all the good things in the world. Some wanted to be kings
and rule over the others. Some who were strong wanted to make slaves of
those who were weak. Some broke down the fruit trees in the woods, lest
others should eat of the fruit. Some, for mere sport, hunted the timid
animals which had always been their friends. Some even killed these poor
creatures and ate their flesh for food.
At last, instead of everybody being everybody's friend, everybody was
everybody's foe.
So, in all the world, instead of peace, there was war; instead of
plenty, there was starvation; instead of innocence, there was crime; and
instead of happiness, there was misery.
And that was the way in which Jupiter made himself so mighty; and that
was the way in which the Golden Age came to an end.
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