Hello, I'm Maia, and I'm from the Little Angel Theatre.
I'm here today to tell you the story of Pandora's Box.
Has your curiosity ever got you into trouble?
Have you ever been so desperate to know a secret, that you took no notice of a warning?
Well, all through history there are stories of people being told not to open doors, caskets, cupboards, gates,
and all sorts of other things.
And in so many of the stories the people just did not listen.
One person who didn't listen was Pandora.
Her story comes from ancient Greece and her curiosity bought her a whole heap of trouble.
In ancient Greece there were two brothers named Epimetheus and Prometheus.
They upset the Gods and annoyed the most powerful of all Gods - Zeus.
This was not the first time that humans had upset Zeus.
And once before, as a punishment, he had taken from humans the ability to make fire.
This meant that they could no longer cook their meat and could no longer keep themselves warm.
However, Prometheus was clever and he knew that on the Isle of Lemnos lived a blacksmith
Who had a fire burning to keep his forge hot so that he could work.
Prometheus traveled to the island and stole the fire from the blacksmith.
Zeus was furious and decided that humans had to be punished once and for all for their lack of respect.
Zeus came up with a very cunning plan.
With the help of the blacksmith he created a woman from clay.
The goddess Athini then breathed life into the clay.
Aphrodite made her very beautiful.
And Hermes taught her how to be both charming and deceitful.
Zeus called her Pandora and sent her as a gift to Epimetheus.
His brother Prometheus had warned him not to accept any gifts from the Gods,
but Epimetheus was completely charmed by the woman,
and thought Pandora was so beautiful that she could never cause any harm.
So he agreed to marry her.
Zeus, pleased that his trap was working, gave Pandora a wedding gift of a beautiful box.
However, there was one very very important condition.
Pandora must never open the box.
Although she was very curious about what might be inside,
Pandora promised that she would never open it.
But, as time passed, all she could think about was what could be inside the box.
She couldn't understand why someone would send her a box if she couldn't see what was in it.
It seemed to make no sense at all to her, and she could think of nothing else
but of opening the box and unlocking its secrets.
This was just what Zeus had planned.
Finally Pandora could stand it no longer.
When she knew Epimetheus was out of sight, she crept up to the box,
took the huge key off the high shelf, fitted it carefully into the lock, and turned it.
But at the last moment she felt a pang of guilt, imagined how angry her husband would be,
and quickly locked the box again without opening the lid, and put the key back where she'd found it.
Three more times she did this, until at last she knew she had to look inside, or she'd go completely mad.
She took the key, slid it into the lock, and turned it.
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and slowly lifted the lid of the box.
She opened her eyes, looked into the box,
expecting to see fine silks, gowns or gold bracelets and necklaces or even piles of gold coins.
But there was no gleam of gold or treasure.
There were no shining bracelets and not one beautiful dress.
The look of excitement on her face quickly turned to one of disappointment, and then horror.
For Zeus had packed the box full of all the terrible evils he could think of.
Out of the box poured disease and poverty, out came misery, out came death and out came sadness.
She slammed the lid shut.
But it was too late. Pandora had let loose all of these troubles into the world and she didn't know what to do.
She could still hear a voice calling to her from inside the box.
Pleading with her to be let out.
It said "Pandora, let me out. I am hope and I will help you".
Pandora didn't know what, or who, hope was.
But she thought that nothing inside the box could be any worse than the horrors she'd already let out
And so she opened the lid once more.
When hope came out, it was nothing at all like the other creatures Pandora had let loose.
Hope had beautiful wings that shone like sunshine.
And it fluttered out of the box like a beautiful dragonfly.
It made Pandora feel better just by seeing it.
Unfortunately, hope could not bring all of the ugly nasty creatures back into Pandora's box.
It was too late for that.
The creatures had already started flying around the world, spreading pain and sorrow and fear.
But wherever the nasty creatures went, hope went too.
Hope brought comfort to all those that were sick and in pain, and instead spread joy and comfort.
Now even though this story took place a very very long time ago,
all of those creatures are still in the world today.
But we must never forget that where there is sadness, there is also hope.
And hope makes all the difference in the world.