DEUKALION, THE CHAMPION OF A NEW RACE
Deukalion was the son of Prometheus, and a just and god-fearing man.
In the time of Deukalion, Zeus destroyed the human race by means of a
great flood. People had become wicked and godless; they did not fear
the gods, and the meaner classes paid no respect to the better, and
all of them loved every manner of wickedness.
This state of affairs reached the ears of Zeus. But wishing to take
the evidence of his own eyes and see if the stories that came to him
were really true, he took the form of a mortal man and went down from
his Olympian home to the Earth.
One evening after sunset he reached Arcadia and asked for a night's
shelter in the palace of Lykaon, the king. Lykaon was famous for his
wickedness. Some of the people seemed to see some signs that Zeus was
a god and went down on their knees to him, but Lykaon laughed at their
credulity and said: "Stay till I find out whether he be a god or a
man!"
Lykaon had a stranger in his palace who had been sent to him as a
messenger. Lykaon had the stranger killed and served up as food for
his guest. When the dreadful feast was placed before Zeus, he arose at
once in anger and left the table, and he shattered the house with a
thunder-bolt. Lykaon betook himself to flight with all speed. He fled
to the fields howling like a wild beast.
Lykaon tried to speak, but his human voice had left him. His skin
turned into a wolf's pelt, his hands into paws. He rushed furiously
among the herds and began to tear and bite cattle and sheep. He had
been changed into a wolf.
Zeus, having seen with his own eyes that things were even worse than
had been told him, returned to Olympos. He called the gods together in
council and related to them the wicked deeds he had seen. He ended by
saying: "The whole race of man must surely perish," and the other gods
consented to his judgment.
At first Zeus thought it best to send thunder-bolts to destroy the
evil race, but he feared that the flames might reach from earth into
the heavens and burn the whole firmament. He therefore laid aside his
thunder-bolts and resolved to drown the earth's inhabitants by means
of a flood. So he ordered the God of the Winds to shut Boreas and all
the other winds in his cave, save Notos, only, the wet south wind, who
was to go free.
Then Notos flew forth with his damp wings. A thick cloud hid his face
like a veil and darkness hung around his head. Water ran down from his
brow and his hair. Cloud-bursts broke from the sky and sent cataracts
of water over the earth, flooding it in every direction. The work of
the farmers was stopped and their hopes destroyed in an instant.
But Zeus was not satisfied with that. He called Poseidon, Lord of the
Seas, to his assistance. Poseidon came quickly. He spoke to all the
rivers in a loud commanding voice. "Leave your beds," he cried, "and
rush wildly over your banks and flood the world!" The rivers obeyed,
and Poseidon himself struck the earth with his trident. The earth
quaked and, bursting open in many places, let forth torrents of water.
The waters rose higher and higher. The valleys became one wide lake,
and soon the tops of the trees were no longer above the water. Man
and herds were drowned. The altars of the gods were swept away. When a
house remained standing it was soon covered with water. The highest
towers disappeared in the flood. Land and sea were no longer
separated. The world was all sea--a long, shoreless sea.
Seals gambolled where goats had formerly grazed. Dolphins swam over
the cities that were buried beneath the waves. Wolves and sheep, lions
and tigers huddled close together and swam about as long as they could
keep afloat, when they sank below the waters. The deer could no longer
find ground for his fleet foot. The birds flew on tired, trembling
wings searching for a place on which to perch and finally fell into
the sea with worn-out wings.
The people tried to save themselves in any possible way. Some fled to
the hills and mountains. Some took refuge in ships and sailed over the
fields where formerly the plough had moved. By and by the
mountain-tops were swept by the waves, and the ships were whirled
about by the terrible currents and wrecked.
Deukalion and his wife, Pyrrha, were the only ones to be saved. He had
taken the advice of his father, Prometheus, to build himself a
floating-house in the form of a box and to store in it a great amount
of food; when the flood came he entered this house with his wife. The
house was carried about nine days and nine nights by the winds. Only
the two peaks of Parnassos remained above water. On this mountain the
floating-house stuck fast.
When Zeus cast his eyes down to earth he saw that everything was
covered with water, on the surface of which floated trees and grasses
and thousands of animals and people who had perished in the flood. And
he saw Deukalion and his wife safely anchored on the heights of
Parnassos.
Then Zeus gave commands to Boreas to chase away the black clouds. The
sun shone again and the waters retreated from the earth, which was
soon dry again. Poseidon laid aside his trident and the rivers ran in
their old channels. Woods sprang up and the fields bloomed with
flowers.
Deukalion and Pyrrha looked around them. Everywhere was loneliness and
silence. It was like the solitude of death. Deukalion wept and said to
his beloved Pyrrha: "My dear wife, I do not see a living soul far or
near in any direction. Thou art my only companion. All the friends we
have known have perished in the flood. We are the only inhabitants of
the earth. What will life be worth to us, since we must live alone in
the world with no fellow-men. I should like better to live if we had
other people whom we might love and help and with whom we could enjoy
ourselves. But we will give thanks to Zeus for saving us."
They walked along a little way and came to an altar of the Goddess of
Justice. There they fell on their knees and said: "Oh, divine Justice,
tell us how we may revive the human race which has perished. Oh, help
us and restore our lost ones to us." They listened for the goddess to
answer and soon they heard a soft voice reply: "Veil your faces, oh,
Deukalion and Pyrrha. Go down the mountain, and as ye go throw
backward over your shoulders the bones of your mother."
Deukalion and his wife were puzzled at these words and at first they
could not tell what they meant. But after some meditation Deukalion
said: "My dear wife, the earth is our mother and her bones are the
rocks. As we go down the mountain we will cast behind us the stones
which we find in our pathway."
So they started forth, the founders of a new race, throwing the stones
and rocks which they met over their shoulders and out of sight. From
the stones which they cast there sprang up living men and women; the
stones which Deukalion threw became men and those which Pyrrha cast
became women.
Deukalion and Pyrrha had many children. One of their sons was called
Hellen. Hellen's children and grandchildren spread over Greece and
were called Hellenes, and they gave the name Hellas to Greece.