THE COMING OF FIRE
WHEN Mother Nature got ready to send Fire to the cave men, she called
Heat and Cold and Wind and Rain to her and explained what she wanted
them to do.
"My little people down there," she said, "need something to keep them
warm, during the Winter, and also they need something to cook their
food with, and later on to help them make pottery, and smelt metals,
and do all the wonderful new things I am going to teach them to do.
Without Fire, they can never be anything but savages, the way they are
now. So we must send them Fire."
"Fire," said Cold, puffing out a great cloud of frost. "I have no Fire
to give them."
"Nor I," said Wind and Rain.
"I have plenty of Fire, inside the Earth," said Heat. "Do you want me
to burst out in a blazing volcano? I am afraid it might burn them all
up."
"No, Heat," said Mother Nature. "We do not need any volcanoes just
now. But you have another way to give them Fire. Have you forgotten
Lightning?"
"I see," said Heat. "Lightning is certainly very hot. What do you want
me to do?"
"The trees and grass in the valley," Mother Nature replied, "are brown
and dry from the Sun. Cold and Wind and Rain, I want you to send a
thunder storm to the valley, and set the forest afire with a bolt of
Lightning. Then, Heat, you can blaze away all you like, until I tell
Rain to put you out again."
[Illustration: THE FIRST FIRE
The storm rolled down over the valley, and at last a great flash of
Lightning struck a dry tree and set it on fire.]
So Heat, dancing down the rays of the Sun, turned the water at the
surface of the Ocean into vapour, like steam, and it rose high in the
air and formed clouds. Then Wind drove the clouds over the valley, and
Cold blew on them, and turned the vapour of the clouds back to water
again, so that it fell as Rain. Now each little bit of vapour in the
clouds carried with it a tiny spark of Electricity, for the Air about
the Earth is always filled with Electricity, carried by tiny drops of
moisture. When all the little sparks got together in the thick black
clouds, they formed big sparks, and when the clouds got so full of
Electricity they couldn't hold any more, these big sparks jumped from
the clouds down to the Earth, in great flashes, sometimes half a mile
long. You can make a little spark like that, if you walk quickly over a
soft rug, on a dry winter day, and then put your knuckle to the metal
radiator. It will be a real Lightning flash, although it will be only
half an inch long, and the little crackling sound you hear, as the
spark jumps from your knuckle to the radiator, is real thunder, but
because the flash is so small, your thunder will not be very loud.
So the storm rolled down over the valley, and the Lightning flashed,
and the Thunder roared, and all the cave people ran into their holes
and huddled together, shivering. They had seen the Lightning and heard
the Thunder before, but because they did not know what they were, they
thought some terrible dragon, with a roaring voice and a tongue of
flame was coming to eat them up.
At last a great flash of Lightning struck a dry tree and set it on
fire, and the Wind blew the clouds away for a while, so that the Rain
might not put the fire out.
"I'll show them something," said Heat, as the tree and the bushes about
it began to crackle and blaze.
As soon as Wind blew the storm away, the cave people, not hearing the
Thunder any more, came out to see what was going on. When they saw the
blazing tree, they were at first very much frightened, for they had
never seen Fire so close at hand before. So they chattered and pointed,
afraid to go near it.
After a while, when they saw that the fire did them no harm, they went
closer, and gathered about the roaring flames, watching them as they
devoured the dry leaves and branches.
Then Mother Nature told Wind to blow the flames gently toward the
cave people, and the heat from the flames warmed them, and they liked
it. So they came nearer, and at last a boy picked up a blazing branch
that fell near him, because it was red and pretty. But he dropped it
again very quickly, you may be sure, and ran howling with pain to his
mother, his burnt fingers in his mouth.
"I am sorry," laughed Heat, dancing among the flames, "but I had to let
you see that I can burn as well as warm you. So you had better treat me
with care."
Soon the flames spread, and other trees took fire, and the flames
roared and danced down the valley like mad, their red tongues licking
up everything that came in their way.
Some of the older cave men went to the place where the fire had first
started and gathered about the hot coals, enjoying the warmth. But soon
they saw that the fire was dying out, so they began to throw leaves and
twigs and branches on it, and every time it blazed up they shouted with
joy.
When Mother Nature saw that the cave people liked the new thing she had
sent them, she told Wind to blow the storm back again, so that Rain
might fall on the blazing forest, and put out the flames before the
trees were all burned up.
"But do not wet the little fire the cave people have kept burning among
the rocks," she said, "for if you do, they will not be able to light
it again. And I wish, Cold, that you would blow with all your might."
The cave people, gathered about the fire, felt the cold wind on their
backs, and because the fire kept them warm, they liked it, and put more
and more wood on it to keep it alive. Whenever it died down, and they
felt cold again, they brought more branches and twigs. After a time,
night came, and the bright yellow flames pleased them so much that they
danced about the fire, chattering with delight.
Presently they grew sleepy, and lay down beside the fire, because it
was warmer there, than it was inside the caves. And they went to sleep
and forgot all about the fire, so that, when morning came, they woke
up, chilled by the cold, to find that their fire was gone.
This made them feel very sad. Then one of the younger men, who was
called Ab, because he was slow and lazy, like a bear, was very angry
because the fire had gone out and left him cold, so he began to poke
about among the ashes with a stick, and after a while, away down at the
bottom of the pile, he found a bed of glowing red coals. He got some
leaves and twigs and put them on the coals, and when the fire blazed up
again, the cave people all shout Ai-Ai, and that became in time their
word for fire. They called Ab Ai-Ab after that, because he was the one
who had brought back the fire.
Mother Nature, who was watching the cave people, was glad when she saw
that they had saved the fire, for she was afraid she might have to make
it all over again for them. But she was not satisfied.
"The Rain will soon put it out," she said to the Sun, "if they do not
carry it into their caves. I must teach them a lesson. But first, they
must find out more about what Fire can do for them, so you had better
keep on shining for a while."
The cave people, when they saw that the fire was burning again, left
Ai-Ab and the women to keep it blazing, while they went out to hunt for
food. They did not know, then, all the wonderful things Fire was going
to do for them, but they liked it because it kept them warm.
There were two boys in one of the parties that went down the valley.
One was called Tul, which meant quick, and the other was called Ni-Va,
which meant fish, and they called him that because he was a very good
swimmer. Tul and Ni-Va were not allowed to go outside the valley with
the older men, but were told to search through the woods for the sweet
roots of certain kinds of plants that the cave men ate, and for eggs,
and the young wild birds.
When Tul and Ni-Va came to the edge of the forest, they saw a great
wide space which had been burned by the fire before the rain had put it
out. So, being curious, they forgot all about the roots and eggs they
had been sent after, and went poking about among the ashes and charred
trunks of trees, to see what they could find.
They had been doing this for quite a while, when Ni-Va heard Tul call
to him, and ran up to see what his companion had found.
There among some burnt bushes lay the body of a great bird, as large as
a turkey. It had been sitting on its nest on the ground, and in trying
to escape it had become entangled among some thick vines. The fire had
burnt away the feathers of the bird, and left it scorched and black,
and still a little warm from the bed of ashes in which it lay.
[Illustration: THE FIRST COOK
Ai-Ab took a large piece of the deer meat, and putting it on the end of
a stick, held it over the flames of the fire.]
Tul tried to lift the bird by one of its legs, but to his surprise,
the leg came right off in his hand, for the body of the bird had been
cooked by the fierce heat.
Tul looked at the leg, smelt it, and then being hungry, began to eat.
It was the first time that he or any other man had ever eaten cooked
food, and the taste of it pleased him, so he told Ni-Va to eat the
other leg. This Ni-Va did, and he too liked it very much, because it
was much more tender than raw meat, and had a better taste. They took
the body of the bird home and gave it to Ai-Ab, who was sitting beside
the fire.
Ai-Ab, who was also hungry, smelt the cooked food, and when the boys
showed him how they had eaten the legs, he tore off a great piece of
the breast and devoured it. The rest he gave to some of the women.
Now Ai-Ab, although he was slow and lazy, was also very smart. When he
tasted the cooked meat, and saw how good it was, an idea came to him.
He did not say anything to the two boys about it, but when the men came
home from hunting, bringing with them the bodies of two young deer,
Ai-Ab took a large piece of the deer meat, and putting it on the end of
a stick, held it over the flames of the fire.
The other men crowded about, laughing, because they thought Ai-Ab had
gone mad and was burning up his dinner. But when the smell of the
cooking meat came to them, they liked it, and stopped laughing. Soon
Ai-Ab drew the hot crisp meat from the flames and began to eat it, and
then they all wanted to taste it, but Ai-Ab told them if they wanted
any to cook it for themselves. Some of the others followed his example,
holding the bits of meat over the fire on the points of their spears,
and it was not long before the whole tribe took to cooking their food
instead of eating it raw. They kept the fire burning day and night, and
Ai-Ab watched it, and kept it going, and he was the very first cook
among Men.
"They have found that Fire is very useful to them," said Mother Nature,
"for it not only keeps them warm, but it cooks their food. I must teach
them to take better care of it." So she told Rain to sprinkle the fire
a little, but not to put it quite out.
When the cave men saw that the rain was putting out their fire, they
were very angry, for they did not want to lose it, but although they
piled on more and more wood, the flames sank lower and lower, and at
last the fire was nearly out.
Then Ai-Ab, who was the keeper of the fire, and had shown himself so
smart, took a burning stick from the bottom of the pile, and ran with
it into the cave where he and his people lived. It was a large cave,
because Ai-Ab's father was one of the head men of the tribe, and had
several wives and a great many children.
Ai-Ab took the burning stick into the cave and dropped it in the middle
of the floor. Then he gathered some dry grass and leaves from the beds
on which he and the others slept, and threw them on the coals. The fire
blazed up at once, and his brothers and sisters ran out and got armfuls
of twigs and branches, and although the twigs were wet, they finally
began to burn.
When the other cave men saw what Ai-Ab had done, they made fires in
their caves, as well, and if one went out, they would borrow some hot
coals from a neighbour. Once, however, during the rainy season, when
all the wood was wet, they came very near losing their precious fire,
so after that, the head man of the tribe told two old men, who were not
strong enough to go out after food, to watch the fire and keep it going
in a cave by themselves, which they filled with dry wood, and while one
watched, the other slept, and in this way the fire never went out. The
Fire seemed something sacred to them, and after a time, they got into
a way of coming to the cave and saying prayers or making wishes to it,
and thought of it as a sort of god. And in worshipping Fire, or the
Sun, or any of the other great forces that helped them, the cave men,
although they did not know it, were really worshipping God, who made
all these things for their use.