"The Wedding Gift" Story

			Activities: Stories: The Wedding Gift

by Elaine K Smith 10/99
Adapted from Hawthorne and others.

This is an old story about how pain and sorrow came into the world; and about the HOPE that came along with them.

When the gods of the holy mountain were old and wise, they wanted a world with no old age in it, and no wisdom to rival their own. So they made a new world. The streams and rivers sparkled in the light. The trees had smooth skin and fresh green leaves throughout the year. The animals all played together, and ate grass. The people were like children, not quite grown up. And they were all boys. And they loved to have adventures. One day, they sent their bravest and strongest to steal FIRE away from the gods.

The angry gods caught the one who stole the fire and punished him terribly. But before they caught him, he handed the fire out to everyone else. The gods wanted to punish the others, too, and they thought of a trick to play. They made a beautiful box with a lid, and in this box they put all the troubles that they had kept out of their shining new world fear and anger, shame and regret, violence, illness, old age and death. Then the gods made a new person: a girl child, not quite grown. They named her PANDORA, which means ÔAll-GiverÕ. They gave her strength and bravery, cleverness, curiosity and love of life. And they gave her the beautiful box. They told her that she was getting married, and the box was their wedding gift to her future husband.

ÒSo DONÕT open it!Ó they told her. ÒKeep it shut tight, and youÕll never have any trouble.Ó But before Pandora took the box into the world, one of them secretly inserted HOPE far down into the bottom.

Pandora met the boy whom she had been sent to marry. She held out the box to him and said, ÒI have a present for you!Ó But he could see that it came from the gods, and he thought it might be a trick. He took Pandora to a small house, and she put the box down in the broom corner. Then he gathered the other boys, and they left, to discuss what to do about the box.

Pandora asked, ÒCan I come with you?Ó But they said, ÒNO GIRLS.Ó So she wandered by herself, admiring the flowering plants and trees, and playing with the animals and birds, who had no fear of her. Evening came, and it began to get dark. She thought about the boys busily arguing about her wedding gift. She wondered what it could be. Once I give it up, she thought, I might never find out!

She walked back to the small house. In the dark corner of the darkening room, the box gave off a faint light. Pandora thought it made a humming noise. She knelt beside it, and she saw there was a face carved on the lid the same god with wings who had brought her from the holy mountain. The lips smiled mockingly, and the eyes filled with glee, as if the face was about to laugh at her. Pandora lifted the lid the tiniest crack. She felt something stinging her fingers, but she cried out, ÒI want to know, I want to know!Ó and she threw the lid back.

The room filled with a blizzard of horrible flying things! Pandora screamed as they stung and scratched and bit her. Through her terror, she reached out and closed the lid again, in case there were more evil things inside. She grabbed the broom and swung it as hard as she could, beating the air and the walls, until the horrible things flew out through the doorway, and vanished in the night. Then she sat down on the floor.

After a moment, the boys all came hurrying up with torches raised. They had not heard Pandora scream, nor seen the swarm of troubles, but they knew that their world had changed, and they themselves were not as they had been before. ÒWhat have you been up to?Ó they asked. ÒDid you look in that box?Ó And Pandora answered, ÒYes,Ó and she started to say, Ò but I wanted to KNOW, and I shut it again and I drove the awful things away, and IÕm very sorry - Ó But they all shouted together, ÒYouÕve ruined everything! ItÕs all your fault, you silly girl!Ó And they turned around, and marched away with their torches, grumbling, ÒWe need a meeting to discuss this.Ó

Pandora did not ask if she could go with them. She sat in the dark, and her stomach hurt, heavy with feelings that she could not name. Then she heard a voice calling softly, ÒPandora, Pandora! Dear heart, look again!Ó She turned around, but no one was there. The voice came from inside the box. On the lid, the mocking godÕs face had disappeared. Instead, in the faint light she saw a womanÕs face, marked with pain and sorrow, strength and bravery, cleverness, curiosity and love of life. The eyes looked tenderly at her, and the lips seemed just about to smile. ÒPandora, dear heart, look again,Ó she heard. With blistered fingers she raised the lid the tiniest crack. She felt something soothe and caress her hands and face, and her eyes filled with the first tears in the world.

A small bright thing, like a glowing dandelion seed, slipped between her fingers and floated in the air. ÒI am HOPE,Ó it said to her. ÒI will stay by you always, and help you to face your troubles.Ó Pandora smiled, and rose to her feet. She left the house, and with HOPE shedding light on the path before her, she went in search of the others, to share her wedding gift.

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