Which modern literary work by Nathaniel Hawthorne retells the Pandora myth in a chapter titled “The Paradise of Children”?

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys retells the Pandora myth in “The Paradise of Children.”

Published in 1851, A Wonder-Book is a collection of adaptations of Greek myths written for young readers. Hawthorne frames the stories through a fictional narrator and reworks classical material in accessible nineteenth-century prose. “The Paradise of Children” tells the Pandora story, including the arrival of Pandora, the forbidden container, and the consequences of opening it.

Hawthorne does not reproduce Hesiod word for word. Like many mythographers, he reshapes characters, dialogue, and atmosphere to suit a new audience. His version is therefore a literary adaptation rather than an independent ancient source for the Greek myth.

The title is sometimes confused with Hawthorne’s other works because his best-known novels include The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. Neither of those novels is the Pandora retelling. The relevant work is the children’s myth collection published in 1851.