Page:Brazilian tales.djvu/98

94 I saw all pass before my eyes, until night caused me to lose my taste for day, and now I cannot distinguish flowers from thistles. Everything is confused in my wearied retina.

. But nothing pained you personally; and what about me, from time immemorial suffering the wrath of the gods?

. You?

. My name is Prometheus.

. You! Prometheus!

. And what was my crime? Out of clay and water I made the first men, and afterwards, seized with compassion, I stole for them fire from the sky. Such was my crime. Jupiter, who then reigned over Olympus, condemned me to the most cruel of tortures. Come, climb this rock with me.

. You are telling me a tale. I know that Hellenic myth.