Prometheus, a fire god and trickster, stole fire from heaven and gave it to mortals on earth. Zeus, the king of gods, was determined to offset this blessing by providing a woman with all manners of evil and misery locked away in a jar she possessed. Out of curiosity, she opened the jar and unleashed all the evil and misery throughout the earth. During the 16th century, the tale was mistranslated, and the jar became a box, hence Pandora’s box. Today, a reference to Pandora’s box means “any source of great and unexpected troubles,” or ” a present which seems valuable but which in reality is a curse.”