All cats are excellent hunters. They have acute senses and sharp teeth and claws. Even most domestic cats could survive in the wild by catching mice, small birds, insects, and other creatures. The mirrorlike layer inside the eye reflects the light at the back of the eye. This is why a cat’s eyes shine in the dark.
Kittens spend hours chasing their tails, springing on each other, and having mock fights. Their play helps them develop hunting skills, quick reactions.
Cats were probably first domesticated in ancient Egypt about 5,000 years ago. Ancient Egyptians kept domestic cats to guard grain stores. Cats became so celebrated that some were worshiped as gods, and statues were made. The Egyptians mummified large numbers of them and placed them in tombs so they could continue to serve their owners in their afterlife.
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We use our teeth every time we eat. Teeth enable us to break up food into small pieces so that our bodies can digest it. A tooth has three main parts – the crown, which shows above the gum; the neck, which shows at gum level; and the root, which is hidden in the jawbone. A tooth has three layers – creamy white enamel, dentine beneath and the pulp cavity in the center. The pulp contains many nerves. Chisel-like incisors at the front of the mouth cut and slice food; canines tear and rip food; and premolars and molars crush and grind it. We have two sets of teeth. Children have 20 milk teeth that gradually fall out and are replaced by permanent adult teeth. Adults have 32 teeth in total. Wisdom teeth grow when a person is about 20.
We should take care of our teeth, brush them twice a day.
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Today, each of us can afford to have our own umbrella. However, in ancient times umbrellas were the privilege of distinguished persons.
The first image of the umbrella is found on the monument to Sargon the Ancient, the king of Akkad, built around 2400 BC in honor of the victories of the ruler, who united all the Sumerian territories (modern Iraq). Sargon is pictured ahead of his army, and a servant with a sun umbrella stands behind him.
Years passed. Sun umbrellas became popular all over the Mediterranean and reached Egypt. When traveling on chariots, Pharaoh and his family members used sun umbrellas. The first Egyptian umbrellas were made of palm branches, later they were made of papyrus.
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The myth of a great flood – a terrible catastrophe, sent by divine power in time immemorial to destroy human civilization – is widespread among dozens of peoples of the world. The most famous of these myths are the biblical story of the Flood and Noah’s Ark, the Hindu legend of Manu, the tale of the Deucalion Flood in Greek mythology, the Babylonian myth of Utnapishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
The earliest existing legend of the Flood appeared in the Ancient Sumer. The text of the Sumerian flood poem, dated to the 17th century BC. It was found during excavations of the city of Nippur and in 1914 it was published by Arno Poebel. The poem tells how the god Enki warned the king-priest Ziusudra about the decision of the gods to destroy mankind. Enki ordered the king to build a large boat. The flood lasted seven days and seven nights, after which Ziusudra left his ship and sacrificed bulls and sheep. Then the hero was instructed to populate the land again.
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The story of the Holy Grail is such an intricate tangle of European legends, oriental stories, literary narratives and conjectures, rooted not in the biblical source, as one might suppose, but almost in the pagan folklore motifs of the Celts.
The Holy Grail is most often identified as a serving dish or a chalice that was used by Jesus during the Last Supper.
The Provencal poet troubadour Chrétien de Troyes described the Grail in his novel Perceval or The Story of the Grail (1182). In this novel the Grail is presented in the form of a large dish with precious stones. However, in other works about this artifact – poems and novels – the Grail appears in the form of a bowl, a cup and even a stone. However, none of these works does not enjoy the reputation of an authoritative source of information.
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The triumphal flight of two dogs, Belka and Srelka, is widely known in the history of space exploration. But there were their predecessors, who paved the way to space and are now almost forgotten.
In 1946, the Soviet Union, barely recovering from the Second World War, adopted a program for the development of the country’s rocket and space industry. In addition to military-strategic tasks, scientists were required to verify the possibility of sending a person into space. But as in medicine, in the rocket and space industry, they first decided to conduct experiments on dogs.
The Americans chose the chimpanzee as the kind of animal closest to humans. And in the USSR, experts preferred the man’s best friends. According to the legend, the Soviet leaders believed that people liked dogs more than other mammals, so the dog-hero would glorify the Soviet Union quickly than a rat or a monkey. But it was not so.
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Baba-Yaga is an old witch, possibly, the best known of all Slavic legendary characters. She is an immortal shape-changer, like most Russian witches. However, she is more dangerous creature and much more powerful than an ordinary witch. Baba-Yaga is the personification of death.
The oldest surviving stories of Baba-Yaga suggest that she is an ancient deity. Her origin is, perhaps, as long ago as Paleolithic times, when she was the patroness of herds and herdsmen, the goddess of horses, and the patron goddess of farmers and farming.
She lives in a cottage on hen’s legs in the most remote and inaccessible part of a deep forest. This cottage revolves either freely in the wind or when some unheard word is spoken.
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