Myths with Consequences
He stole fire for humanity and was chained to a rock as punishment.
Who was Prometheus?
The living microorganism that makes bread dough rise by releasing gas.
What is yeast?
The orphan who asks for more gruel in a Dickens novel.
Who is Oliver Twist?
The U.S. state with the towns by the names of Humptulips, Lebam, Skookumchuck and Sequim.
What is Washington state?
A chess piece sometimes called a castle — a crow-family bird — a verb meaning to swindle.
What is a rook?
The presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains.
What is Camp David?
Her beauty launched a thousand ships, according to the familiar phrase.
Who was Helen of Troy?
The acid responsible for much of lemon juice's sour taste.
What is citric acid?
Sherlock Holmes's physician friend and frequent narrator.
Who is Dr. John Watson?
The European country containing the ancient site of Delphi and the island of Crete.
What is Greece?
A citrus fruit — a color — a county in California.
What is orange?
The 1930s federal program whose young workers planted trees and built trails in
parks.
What is the Civilian Conservation Corps?
The Greek king of the gods hurled thunderbolts from Olympus.
Who was Zeus?
The chemical process that browns a freshly cut apple when it meets the air.
What is oxidation?
The young girl who follows a white rabbit down a hole.
Who is Alice?
The African river that flows north through Egypt toward the Mediterranean.
What is the Nile?
A gemstone — a girl's name — a deep blue shade.
What is sapphire?
The city where the Liberty Bell is displayed.
What is Philadelphia?
He looked back at his wife while leading her from the underworld, losing her a second time.
Who was Orpheus?
The Fahrenheit temperature at which water boils at sea level.
What is 212 degrees Fahrenheit?
The narrator of The Great Gatsby, observing his mysterious neighbor from Long Island.
Who is Nick Carraway?
The mountain range dividing much of Europe from Asia in Russia.
What are the Ural Mountains?
A fruit — a computer company — the Beatles' record label.
What is Apple?
The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ratified together in 1791.
What is the Bill of Rights?
The craftsman who designed the Labyrinth and fashioned wings for himself and his son.
Who was Daedalus?
The compound whose molecules vibrate in food heated by a microwave oven.
What is water?
The governess whose charges include Jane and Michael Banks.
Who is Mary Poppins?
The island divided politically between a republic and a region of the United Kingdom.
What is Ireland?
A month — a spring festival pole — the first word of a nautical distress call.
What is May?
The Tennessee city where the Grand Ole Opry began as a radio show.
What is Nashville?
The river a newly dead soul crossed to enter the Greek underworld.
What is the Styx?
The missing word in baking soda’s alternative chemical name: sodium ____.
What is bicarbonate?
The girl from Kansas whose dog Toto accompanies her to Oz.
Who is Dorothy Gale?
The inland sea bordered by Israel, Jordan and the West Bank, famous for its high
salinity.
What is the Dead Sea?
An insect — a piece of computer hardware — a small rodent.
What is a mouse?
The 1862 law offering western land to settlers who lived on and improved it.
What is the Homestead Act?