16 THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL. 



of his strength. So the great Jove pro- 

 ceeded to cut these creatures into two 

 parts, as you cut oranges when about 

 to eat them. 



Great was the consternation at this loss 

 of power, the agony of cutting two sides 

 asunder being intense. For man thus 

 shorn of his rotundity could no longer 

 wrestle with the lion, nor outstrip the 

 deer. Each part of the divided creature 

 was compelled now to stand upon two 

 legs a feat of much skill, the art of 

 which he was slow to learn and swift 

 to lose. Every step he attempted to 

 take only showed him his loss of original 

 power; and that the gods had laid 

 upon him a burden too heavy to bear. 



And this was not the worst. Besides 

 having to pass his life in trying to stand 

 on two legs, man found to his sorrow that 

 he was parted from his better half. 

 When the rebel rotundities were cleft 

 in twain, the two halves were scattered in 

 different parts of the world. Each 

 wounded part sought its fellow, but the 



