471 myths · Page 5 of 16
Seth's descendants learned fire and flood were coming. They carved their star charts on two pillars, one brick for the fire, one stone for the water.
Penniless Rakyon taxed the dead for four hundred days to buy his way into court. He took the throne and gave every ruler of Egypt his title forever after.
Hezekiah's mother heard what salamander blood could do. She anointed her son before Ahaz carried him to Moloch's fire, and the flames did not touch him.
One pair of serpents could have done all of humanity's work and dug up gold and pearls besides. Then one of them decided it wanted Adam dead.
Leviathan sent fish to bring the fox to the deep. The fox descended, then claimed its heart was still on shore and walked free.
Adam lay dying and sent his wife and son to the gate of Eden for oil. On the road, an animal knocked Seth down and argued with Eve.
After the expulsion, Adam stood neck-deep on a stone in the Jordan and asked the fish to grieve alongside him. The river ceased to flow.
Eve sat facing him on the dark ground and wept because he was weeping. Neither of them knew that mornings existed. They found out at dawn.
Seth's descendants lived near Paradise for generations, pious and untouched. Then they looked down at the Cainites and made a choice they could not take back.
A girl in Admah gave a stranger bread and water at his request. The town smeared her with honey and left her out where the bees would find her.
When the Tabernacle was raised and fire came down, God's joy matched the joy of the first day. The world had been waiting for this moment.
Adam lay unformed across the whole world while the generations filed past him. One of them was a boy with three hours of life.
No iron could touch the Temple stones. Only the shamir could split rock without weapons. Only Asmodeus knew where the shamir was kept.
Elijah came back from heaven to explain why women are indispensable to men, and why God refuses to destroy even creatures no one wants.
Jonah bought a whole ship at Joppa so no one could turn it around. Every other boat that day had calm weather. Only his hit a wall of wind.
After the Temple fell, God sent Jeremiah to wake the Patriarchs from their graves. Jeremiah lied to them. He feared they would blame him for what had happened.
Hegai gave her seven attendants and Esther gave them names. Nobody in the palace heard anything strange in them. She was counting to the Sabbath.
The bricks were fired hard and sealed with bitumen so no water could get in. Nimrod was not reaching for heaven. He was building above the flood line.
Rabbi Loew built a clay guardian to defend Prague's Jews from blood libel violence. When the emperor promised protection, the Golem's work was done.
God summoned the surrounding hills and commanded them to merge. What had been a hollow in the earth rose to become the axis of the world.
The stones at Mount Moriah were already arranged when Abraham arrived. Adam had built the altar first. Noah had rebuilt it. Then Abraham found it waiting.
God summoned all twenty-two letters to testify against Israel. Before aleph could speak, Abraham stepped forward and argued them all into silence.
Adam held the entire Torah from the first day. When Cain proved unworthy to carry it, Adam waited two decades before Seth was born to receive it.
A tradition in Talmud and Kabbalah says Adam was not Cain's father. Samael seduced Eve in the Garden, and the murder of Abel was written into Cain's blood.
Samael did not tempt from outside the Garden. He entered. A folktale explains how the yetzer hara, the evil inclination, found its home in the human heart.
Haman left the queen's first banquet certain he was the only man in Persia she wanted at her table. He had one night left.
The Egyptian governor made small talk with the youngest brother. How many sons do you have? Ten. And what are they called?
When Abraham defeated four kings to rescue Lot, the rabbis saw something beyond war. He was waking peoples who lived under divine shelter without knowing it.
In the first moments after creation, every animal prostrated itself before Adam as if he were their god. What Adam did next set the pattern for all worship.
One language, thousands of workers, signals and schedules and supply chains. Then a man spoke to his fellow. The fellow heard noise and reached for his sword.
