A lot of people talk about Pandora and her box, but I am not going to do that, as it seems that it may not have been a box at all but a jar! And it wasn’t really hers either! What was inside is important… but before I tell you that, I am going to say that as with many ancient stories and myths, there are a number of different versions…
In this story: Pandora’s parents married her off to Epithemius. Sadly, that happened in those days. He was not very bright. He didn’t understand that his wife was lonely and wanted company, and he hardly talked to her. He carried on with his life much as he had before he was married. One day Pandora thought she would take his mid-morning drink to him in his room herself, and not wait for him to fetch it.
“Hello,” said Epimethius, “what do you want?”
“Nothing,” said Pandora, looking about her. She saw a large jar in the corner, – it was very beautiful and Pandora was fascinated by it. “Actually,” she said, “I love that jar. Do you think I could have it in my room?”
“No,” said Epimethius. “I’ve been asked to keep it.”
“Oh,” said Pandora. “Do you know what’s inside it?”
“No,” said Epimethius. (He was not good at conversation.) “Have you got anything else you want to say?”
“No,” said Pandora. Then she left the room. (They were not a very lively pair.)
After this, Pandora took Epimethius his mid-morning drink every day. And every day she looked at the jar and wondered what was in it. She really wanted to know! After about a week, she said “There are lots of lilies in the garden. They’d look lovely in that jar. Shall I pick some for you?”
“No,” he said. “It can’t be opened.”
“Why not?” said Pandora. “What’s inside?” (She was very curious about this.)
“Zeus (the father of the gods) gave it to me to keep safe,” said Epimethius. “He didn’t tell me what is inside.”
“Could be jewels,” thought Pandora, “very beautiful and expensive jewels. They must be or Zeus wouldn’t bother about keeping them safe. He must know Epithemius is boring and we don’t get many visitors.”
It was true, Epithemius was boring. He said very little by day, and at night he slept like a log.
One night, when the moonlight was streaming through the window, Pandora got up. She didn’t want to listen to Epithemius snoring any longer! She crept out of bed, and suddenly thought this would be a great time to go and see what was in the jar: in the moonlight, she could see quite well. She went out of the room, down the passage, and into his room.
There was the jar! And there was no one to stop her peeking inside! Slowly she began to ease the stopper, then all of a sudden it was out!
But Pandora was not prepared for `what came out: little spirits with labels, Illness; Famine; Floods; Pirates… Quick as she could, Pandora put the stopper back in – but not before she heard a squeak… “Let me out too, I’m Hope!” Of course, Pandora did let Hope out, and that is how we have hope in our world, even when things look very bad….
No-one knows what happened to Pandora after this, but she always hoped something interesting would happen…
If you want to listen to the audio version, the link is here:
https://charlotteswonderfulstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pandora.mp3
Charlotte's Wonderful Stories 