What about the Sphinx? (I think I remember the details) It was a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human face, that would lie outside the gates of Thebes and quiz people who passed:
"What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?"
People who answered wrong got devoured, until Oedipus came along and answered correctly. Then he got to become king and marry Jocosta, the queen (who was unbeknownst to either of them, his mother).
Of course science and exploration have displayed mythology to a certain extent, since many myths were attempts to explain natural phenomena:
"Lightning means Zeus is mad and throwing thunderbolts."
"It's winter because Persephone is in the underworld and Ceres is greiving."
I doesn't see these explainations as foolish. People have always wondered why things happen and mythology was a way to explain things.
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