Ruth Young, age 15, of Helena, Mont., for her question:

WHO WAS PANDORA?

According to Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman in the world. Also, she was the owner of the famous Pandora's box out of which came all of the miseries that have fallen on mankind during the ages.

The story goes that Zeus, king of the gods, was unhappy because Prometheus had given the blessing of fire to man. To balance this, Zeus decided to create Pandora to bring trouble to man.

When Pandora left to marry Prometheus' brother, each god gave her a gift that included beauty, music, charm and gracefulness. Pandora means "having all the gifts." But the gods also gave Pandora a box and warned her that she must never open it. The box held every kind of evil and misery you could imagine.

Out of curiosity, however, Pandora opened the box and out gushed all the misfortunes, sorrows and plagues to torment mankind forever.