Three
If you think of three as three dots, you can show it as a triangle. A
triangle is a shape with three sides and three angles, or corners.
That’s how the ancient Greeks thought of three.
The Greeks counted three, not one, as the first odd number. An odd
number is a number that can’t be divided into two equal parts. Break a
three apart and you get a one and a two. The Greeks thought of three and
all the other odd numbers as “boy” numbers. The even numbers were all
“girl” numbers.
For many people of long ago, three was a magical number. It stood for
the three parts of life—beginning, middle, and end. It stood for the
three “kingdoms” of the earth—animal, vegetable, and mineral. And
magicians and witches usually worked in groups of three when casting
their magic spells.
The color of three is said to be yellow. Three is also said to belong to
the star group called Gemini, or The Twins.
