not so lovely, or something or other that was disagreeable, and
which stole the beauty out of all the rest. Nevertheless, on looking
more closely, and touching the spot with her finger, she could
discover nothing of the kind. Some face, that was really beautiful,
had been made to look ugly by her catching a sideway glimpse at it.

The most beautiful face of all was done in what is called high relief,
in the centre of the lid. There was nothing else, save the dark,
smooth richness of the polished wood, and this one face in the centre,
with a garland of flowers about its brow. Pandora had looked at this
face a great many times, and imagined that the mouth could smile if it
liked, or be grave when it chose, the same as any living mouth. The
features, indeed, all wore a very lively and rather mischievous
expression, which looked almost as if it needs must burst out of the
carved lips, and utter itself in words.

Had the mouth spoken, it would probably have been something like
this:--

"Do not be afraid, Pandora! What harm can there be in opening the box?
Never mind that poor, simple Epimetheus! You are wiser than he, and
have ten times as much spirit. Open the box, and see if you do not
find something very pretty!"

The box, I had almost forgotten to say, was fastened; not by a lock,
nor by any other such contrivance, but by a very intricate knot of
gold cord. There appeared to be no end to this knot, and no beginning.
Never was a knot so cunningly twisted, nor with so many ins and outs,
which roguishly defied the skillfullest fingers to disentangle them.
And yet, by the very difficulty that there was in it, Pandora was the
more tempted to examine the knot, and just see how it was made. Two or
three times, already, she had stooped over the box, and taken the knot
between her thumb and forefinger, but without positively trying to
undo it.

"I really believe," said she to herself, "that I begin to see how it
was done. Nay, perhaps I could tie it up again, after undoing it.
There would be no harm in that, surely. Even Epimetheus would not
blame me for that. I need not open the box, and should not, of course,
without the foolish boy's consent, even if the knot were untied."

It might have been better for Pandora if she had had a little work to
do, or anything to employ her mind upon, so as not to be so constantly
thinking of this one subject. But children led so easy a life, before
any Troubles came into the world, that