The First Days of Man

CHAPTER IX

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."

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.

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.

CHAPTER X

THE FIRST BOAT

Tul the Swift, and Ni-Va the Fish, were always together.

It made them angry not to be allowed to leave the valley with the hunting men, so they planned in secret to make a trip by themselves. The weather was warm, now, for the spring had come, and they talked a great deal about the country outside the valley, where they had never been, and planned to see it.

Tul had a fine spear he had made, with a long sharp lizard's tooth for a point. He had found the tooth among some bones in the lower end of the valley, where the lake had once been, and was very proud of it. Ni-Va's spear was tipped with bone, for spearing fish. He had never killed one yet, but he wanted to very much, for he heard the older men talking about it, when they came back from the great marsh. He also carried a small stone-bladed axe, while Tul took a flint knife, such as the men used for skinning animals. Both had leather sandals, and belts from which the hair had been scraped with sharp stones.

They took no food with them when they went, and they did not tell any one that they were going, but one morning, very early, they crept out of the cave, before the sun was up, and made their way down the banks of the stream toward the lower end of the valley.

When they came to the waterfall, they climbed down over the path of rocks worn smooth by the feet of many hunting parties, and soon found themselves on the wide marshy plain which stretched out as far as their eyes could reach.

The river, after it emptied into the plain, spread out into many small winding streams, and that was what made the great marsh they saw before them. Off to the right, however, they found that the ground was higher, so instead of following the paths through the marsh which the hunting parties usually took, the two boys circled off toward the higher ground, as the walking was easier that way.

The ground was hard, and full of flat stones, between which the coarse grasses were springing up covering the Earth with a fresh coat of green.

Tul and Ni-Va travelled all day, without seeing much to interest them. The path led downward hour after hour, toward the lower country, and they soon left the marsh far behind them. Great flocks of water fowl flew overhead, going to and fro from the marsh; they threw stones at them, but did not hit any. There were few trees or bushes on the hillside, and the ground was stony and rough, with scarcely any animals about. Once some strange creatures like deer, without any horns, ran near them, and in the distance they saw some giant forms that looked like the mammoths they had heard the hunters speak about, but nothing that they could use for food came within their reach.