he wide world. While
they were talking and trying to think what they should do, they heard a
voice behind them. They turned and saw a noble young prince standing on
one of the rocks above them. He was very tall, with blue eyes and yellow
hair. There were wings on his shoes and on his cap, and in his hands he
bore a staff with golden serpents twined around it. They knew at once
that he was Mercury, the swift messenger of the Mighty Ones, and they
waited to hear what he would say.

"Is there anything that you wish?" he asked. "Tell me, and you shall
have whatever you desire."

"We should like, above all things," said Deucalion, "to see this land
full of people once more; for without neighbors and friends, the world
is a very lonely place indeed."

"Go on down the mountain," said Mercury, "and as you go, cast the bones
of your mother over your shoulders behind you;" and, with these words,
he leaped into the air and was seen no more.

"What did he mean?" asked Pyrrha.

"Surely I do not know," said Deucalion. "But let us think a moment. Who
is our mother, if it is not the Earth, from whom all living things have
sprung? And yet what could he mean by the bones of our mother?"

[Illustration: "AS THEY WALKED THEY PICKED UP THE LOOSE STONES IN THEIR
WAY."]

"Perhaps he meant the stones of the earth," said Pyrrha. "Let us go on
down the mountain, and as we go, let us pick up the stones in our path
and throw them over our shoulders behind us."

"It is rather a silly thing to do," said Deucalion; "and yet there can
be no harm in it, and we shall see what will happen."

And so they walked on, down the steep slope of Mount Parnassus, and as
they walked they picked up the loose stones in their way and cast them
over their shoulders; and strange to say, the stones which Deucalion
threw sprang up as full-grown men, strong, and handsome, and brave; and
the stones which Pyrrha threw sprang up as full-grown women, lovely and
fair. When at last they reached the plain they found themselves at the
head of a noble company of human beings, all eager to serve them.

So Deucalion became their king, and he set them in homes, and taught
them how to till the ground, and how to do many useful things; and the
land was filled with people who were happier and far better than those
who had dwelt there before the flood. And they named the country Hellas,
after Hellen, the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha; and the people are to
this day called Helle