Deucalion and Pyrrha

This story happened when the Earth was still very young. The people who lived then were only the fifth generation of humankind. So Zeus, the ruler of the world, was still very curious about how people lived on Earth. However, the rumours that had reached him suggested that people were behaving extremely cruelly.

And it was true. The kings who ruled on Earth at that time treated their subjects terribly. They forced them to work so hard that they collapsed from exhaustion. They did not give them enough food and they let them freeze in the cold. And if anyone was found to have broken their strict laws - woe betide them! The kings would lock them inside an arena with fierce, hungry tigers. The kings even seemed to be competing to see who could be the cruellest.

There was so much cruelty and misfortune in the world! When he heard about it, Zeus thought it so disgusting that he did not want to believe the rumours. He decided to take on the form of a man and travel all around the Earth to see for himself what was really going on. And so, disguised as a pilgrim, he travelled to all the corners of the Earth. Unfortunately, he found that the reality was in fact far worse than the rumours he had heard.

The final straw came when he visited King Lycaon’s palace. When Zeus saw King Lycaon’s immense cruelty, he decided to reveal his true identity and intervene. When he revealed his divine form, all the people in the palace fell to their knees except King Lycaon, who stood there laughing at him. “You, a god? What a ridiculous idea! Look how this poor fellow is trying to deceive us,” he exclaimed scornfully.

This…