13　The People Who Made Our ABC’s

Long before people knew how to write,there lived a carpenter named Cadmus. One day he was at work on a house when he wanted a tool that he had left at home.Picking up a chip of wood,he wrote something on it and,handing it to his slave,told him to go to his home and give the chip to his wife,saying that it would tell her what he wanted.The slave,wondering,did as he was told.Cadmus's wife looked at the chip,and without a word handed the tool to the amazed slave,who thought the chip in some mysterious way had spoken the message.When he returned to Cadmus with the too l,h e begged for the remark able chip,and when it was given him,hung it around his neck for a charm.

This is the story the Greeks told of the man they say invented the alphabet.We believe,however,that Cadmus was a mythical person,for the Greeks liked to make up such stories,and we think no one person made the alphabet.But Cadmus was a Phoenician and we do know that the