The slime with which the earth was covered by the waters of the flood,
caused so excessive a fertility as to produce every variety of life,
both good and bad. An enormous serpent, called Python, crept forth and
lurking in the caves of Mt. Parnassus, became the terror of the people.
Apollo encountered this reptile, and, after a fearful battle, slew him
with his arrows. In commemoration of this conquest he instituted the
Pythian games, in which the victor in feats of strength, swiftness of
foot or in the chariot race, was crowned with a wreath of beech leaves.