Ask Me Everything#3

Why do we have myths?

In ancient times, myths helped people to understand the world. Before scientific discoveries, things like the sky, the Moon, and natural disasters were believed to be supernatural. People told stories to help explain these things as well as historie events. Over time, these myths came to be believed as fact.

Sun stories

O Ra, the ancient Egyptian Sun god, spent all his time in a boat. He could be seen sailing across the sky during the day but disappeared into the dark underworld at night.

OViracocha, the Inca god of creation, ordered the Sun, Moon, and stars to rise from Lakę Titicaca and light up the world. Inti, the Sun god, was father of all the emperors.

OWhen the Japanese Sun goddess Amaterasu hid in a cave to avoid her brother’s practical jokes, the world was plunged into darkness.

O A Sun goddess to the Native American Cherokees wept and hid when her daughter died from a rattlesnake bite. The world grew dark and her tears caused aflood.

O In Chinese myth, ten Suns took turns in lighting up the sky. One day, they played together and scorched Earth.

The emperor punished them by asking the Heavenly Archer to shoot them from the sky. Ninę Suns fell and tumed into crows.

How to: stop a vampire

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\|\| A^vv	I Lureyour 1 suspected vampire ’ to a day on the beach. i The sunshine will reduce 1 him to a pile of ashes.
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I Keep garlic, .] ¹ holy water, and a crucifix l handy at all times. You K never know when a ! vampire might strike. i		^v

	J ■ Ask a vampire-hunter to j drive a wooden stake \| through the vampire’s

heart if you are attacked.

v i ■ Bury the dead upside-down with extra nails to close the coffin. This will prevent them from being possessed by vampires in the first place.

■ Hand a mirror to a suspected vampire and say that his hair is messy. If there is no reflection, you are dealing with a vampire.

A Chinese airline paid 2.33 million yuan (morę than $280,000) for the phone number 8888 8888 in 2003.

WEIRD OR i WHAT?

In 1987, a flotilla of 24 boats used $1.6 million worth of sonar technology to search for the Loch Ness Monster.

Bunyip

(lakę monster) Aboriginal Australian

Three crescent-shaped marks did appear in the sonar reports, but these were

explained _—

as being fish or