How Mount Everest Came to Be

Long ago, when Greeks and Romans still communicate with gods and
monsters, there lived two twin giants named Otis and Ephialtes. They were born
from Gaea, the earth goddess, and Tartarus, god of the pit, to oppose the god
Bacchus, god of wine and parties. Instead of fighting, they perform comedy acts,
and try to get monsters and other unearthly beasts to say theyve better jokes and
acts than Bacchus (or, in Greek, Dionysus). Once, Otis even hung suspended in a
block of ice, over the River Lethe in the Underworld for six months, but didnt get
ANY attention! That sure got them worked up. But that was when Mount Everest
existed. What Im going to tell you about happened before then. Way before then.
It starts out with Otis and Ephialtes gloating in their lair, trying to figure out a
new act that would get attention, blah blah blah, when Ephialtes gets an idea.
Heres an idea that is way better than anything Bacchus can do! He exclaimed.
What is it? Otis asked eagerly. Does it involve ballet? No, dummy! Ephialtes
roared. It involves us, of course, and mountains. Otis was disappointed. When
could they do an act that involves ballet? All we have to do is stack mountains on
top of other mountains and when we have enough, we will destroy MOUNT
OLYMPUS! He thundered. Otis immediately cheered up. D-d-destroy Mount
Olympus? He asked carefully, making sure he heard correctly. Yep, his brother
replied. Im hoping to start in about a week, so we should prepare for 3 days and
travel from here, in Rome, to Nepal. Ephialtes walked away, mumbling to himself
while Otis stood there, thinking. It did sound like a good idea. Otis decided to go
along with his twins idea and lumbered off to start packing.

A week later, the giants arrived in Nepal, The ground was a vast wasteland,
surrounded by distant mountains. There wasnt anything exciting. At least, not until
you looked up. The sky was a place to be very proud of. Enormous, angelic white,
cotton-candy clouds hovered lazily above. And if you looked in the gaps between
them, You could see the peaks of a glowing castle. That was Mount Olympus. Its so
gorgeous! Otis cried. No wonder the gods love it so much. This is perfect,
because when we climb our mountains and destroy the place, the gods will hate it
so much that theyll abandon it. After that, its ours to renovate! Yep, this is way
better than anything Bacchus could ever do Ephialtes got lost in his train of
thought, most likely thinking about how only he will rule Mount Olympus, and Otis
will be somewhere else, not that he really cared. Meanwhile, Otis is admiring ever
little, unimportant detail with humongous delight. He, then, was horrified about how
they were going to destroy this beautiful place. But after a bit more thinking-which
was rare for him- he finally decided that the gods, especially Bacchus, deserved for
treating them so horribly.
The twins could make Mount Olympus much better than it was before. They
could make it perfect! All the scum (a.k.a GODS) that inhabited the place would be
wiped away, forced somewhere else to live. That would be fantastic! Otis, you
dofus! Snap out of it!Ephialtes shouted, suddenly, shaking Otis out of his daze. We
need to start staking those mountains, he pointed at the mountains some ways
away. I thought we were going to wait alittle before starting, Otis answered,
confused. Of course not! We have to start immediately or those mountains are
gonna erode right in our fingers. Fine. The brothers went over in just a few great
leaps and started gathering mountains. Because of their great size and strength,
the huge boulders felt like carrying a couple of gallons of milk to the twins. In close

to 45 minutes, the boys were able to stack enough mountains to reach halfway to
their destination. Almost there! Ephialtes cried. About three more of the big ones
and we can start climbing! Otis got very excited. Soon they will be able to prove
themselves to their fellow giants and monsters and get revenge on the gods at the
same time! After five minutes passed, Ephialtes announced that they were done.
Ill go up first since it was my idea and you can follow, he told Otis, then started
up the makeshift ladder. Once he had gone about 6 mountains up, Otis started
climbing also. Things were looking pretty good until about of the way up. At first
the brothers thought it was just the wind playing tricks with their minds, but then
realized it wasnt a trick. The mountains were going to fall. Just a little bit more to
go! Ephialtes cried desperately. But both boys knew they werent going to make it.
Just then, the ladder gave out. Otis and Ephialtes went tumbling to the ground and
crashed, creating a ginormous crater. They were both so weak that it was not
possible to move the mountains again.
After about 2,000 years, the great pile of mountains eroded into another
mountain that would eventually be known as Mount Everest, the Highest mountain
on Earth!