Mythos: The Greek Myths Reimagined (Stephen Fry's Great Mythology, #1)

by Stephen Fry

He had, with his characteristic lack of foresight, completely omitted to consider what he would bestow on man—poor, naked, vulnerable, smooth-skinned, two-legged man. Epimetheus went guiltily to his brother and asked what they should do now that there was nothing left at the bottom of the gift basket. Man had no defences with which to arm himself against the cruelty, cunning, and rapacity of these now superbly provisioned animals. The very powers that had been lavished on the beasts would surely finish off weaponless mankind. Prometheus’s solution was to steal the arts from Athena and flame from Hephaestus. With these, man could use wisdom, wit, and industry to pit himself against the animals. He might not swim as well as a fish, but he could work out how to build boats; he might not run as swiftly as a horse, but he could learn to tame, shoe, and ride one. One day he might even construct wings to rival those of the birds. Somehow then, by accident and error, man alone of all mortal creatures was given qualities from Olympus—not so that he could rival the gods, but merely so that he could fend off the more perfectly equipped animals.