21ST CENTURY ENGLISH
Second Edition | Grade 8
Reading Worksheet 3
What Prometheus Did with a Bit of Clay
Every boy and girl has the same wonder at one time or another.
“How was the world made?” they ask.
So did the boys and girls of that long ago time when the myths were new, and the
Greek teachers told them that the earth and sky were all a huge Chaos at first until the
gods from their thrones, with the help of Nature, straightened out all things and gave
order to the world. They separated the earth from the sea, first, and then the sky from
both of these. The universe was all a flaming mass in the beginning but the fiery part
was light and ascended, forming the skies. The air hung just below the skies. The
waters were very heavy and took the lowest place where the earth held them safely in
its hollows.
Just as one takes a ball of clay and moulds it into shape, some one of the gods, it was
said, moulded the Earth. He gave places to the rivers and the bays, raised mountains,
planted the forests and laid out fertile fields. And, next, the fishes swam in the waters,
birds flew through the woods and built nests, and four-footed beasts began to be seen
everywhere.
But the earth was not finished then by any means. There were two giants of the race
of the Titans who inhabited the earth at that time, and both of these brothers,
Prometheus and Epimetheus, could do marvellous things with their hands. Prometheus
took a little of the new earth in his hands and as he looked it over he saw, hidden in
it, some heavenly seeds, very tiny of course but they gave him an idea about something
wonderful that he might be able to do. So Prometheus mixed some water with this
handful of earth and seed; he kneaded it well, and then he skilfully moulded it into a
form as nearly like the gods as he could make it. This figure of clay stood upright.
Instead of turning its eyes down to the ground as the four-footed creatures did, this
form that Prometheus had made looked up toward the sky where the sun and the stars
shone now that the air had cleared.
Prometheus had made man.
Source: [Link]. (n.d.). The Project Gutenberg eBook of Wonder Stories, by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey. [online]
Available at: [Link] [Accessed 4 Feb. 2022]
© Burlington Group 2024
A. Fill in the blanks:
1. The Earth and the Sky were in a state of ……………………………. until the
Gods brought order into it.
2. At first, the Universe was a ……………………………. mass but the fiery part
ascended forming the skies.
3. The Earth was moulded in the same way as a ball of ..…………………………. .
4. Before humans, ……………………………. inhabited the Earth.
5. The figure that Prometheus designed stood ..................................... unlike
the four-footed creatures.
B. Read the passage and answer the following questions in your own words.
1. What did the Gods do with the help of Nature?
2. Who created man? How did he do it?
3. How did Earth become a habitable place?
4. After reading the passage, how complex do you think is the process of creating
the Universe?
5. What is the difference between a human and an animal?
© Burlington Group 2024