You have heard that some of the Shining People could be very jealous. Even Zeus himself used to get quite angry if he thought that anyone, whether mortal or Immortal, was receiving too much admiration and praise. So, knowing that a certain man called Prometheus was very great and wise, the king of Olympus kept a careful eye on him and was always ready to interfere if Prometheus in any way usurped the royal power. Prometheus, for his part, was too busy teaching other people all he knew to give much thought to Zeus’s jealousy. He was like a clever giant among men and cared for nothing but making everybody happier and wiser than they had been before.

There was one thing that, above all the rest, Prometheus wanted to present to mankind — and that was the gift of fire. He knew all about it, and the wonderful things that could be done with it. He knew that the sun itself was a ball of this beautiful and flaming mystery, which Apollo drove daily across the sky in his jeweled car drawn by glittering, winged horses. Prometheus knew, too, that there was fire in the high stars, and in the heart of the smoking volcanoes. But on the Earth itself, in the homes and workshops of men, there was no fire; for Zeus hid the secret of it and would never tell any mortal how to produce even one little tongue of living, leaping flame.

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📚 Source: Once Upon A Time: Children’s Stories From The Classics (1920?) by Blanche Winder (1866-1930).