How men first learned to make fire (IP)

Fire was discovered a long time ago when people still lived in caves instead of houses.

 

The beautiful, red haired daughter of the chief of a tribe of cave men; her name Ermella, was constantly besieged by young suitors desperate to marry her and become the chiefs son-in-law and they were always bringing her gifts like pretty flowers and sparkling rocks but Ermella didn’t want any of the men because she thought they were all brawn and no intellect and she wanted to marry a man just as smart as she.

 

And there was a young cave boy whose name was Ugbert who was very much in love with Ermella but he wasn’t muscly and strong or a great hunter like the other young men in the tribe and so he was certain that Ermella wouldn’t be interested in him.

 

But then, one day, Ermella asked all her suitors to gather in her cave and she told them,

 

“Bring me the flower that fades the most quickly but, while it lives, shines as bright as the sun”.

 

Now all the suitors round about her scratched their heads, partly because they had fleas, but mostly because they had never seen such a flower anywhere in all the forests and fields and hills they had travelled.

 

But then Ermella told them,

 

“Whoever manages to bring me that flower is the man that I will marry”.

 

And so, although they hadn’t a clue where to start looking for the mysterious magic flower, they all headed off into the forest to look for it, desperate to be the first to find it and claim the lovely Ermellas hand in marriage.

 

And, because he had been hiding behind a bush outside her cave and listening, Ugbert heard what the chiefs daughter had said as well and he thought to himself,

 

“This is my chance to marry Ermella. If only I could find her magic flower”.

 

And then Ugbert went off into the forest, like the other men, to search.

 

And he searched everywhere, at the top of every tree; under every rock and stone; inside every cave; at the top of every hill and at the bottom of every lake and river but however hard he looked he just couldn’t find the fabulous flower.

 

But then, just as he was about to give up hope, he saw two stick insects on a rock making love.

 

Now stick insects are cursed by a terrible problem, it’s very sad actually; you see whenever they make love their stick like bodies rub together and cause such friction that they often start a fire and sometimes they even die, burned to death by the heat of their passion.

 

And this is just what happened to the two poor stick insects on the rock; they burst into flames but then, seeing the flames, he thought to himself,

 

“Why fire looks just like a flower with petals of red and orange and yellow. Isn’t it pretty?”.

 

But after he had thought this, suddenly, it occurred to him that perhaps the flower which Ermella had asked for was not a flower at all but fire.

 

“The flower that fades the most quickly but, while it lives, shines as brightly as the sun ; just like a yellow flame”, he said and leapt about with joy.

 

But how would he take the fire to Ermella?, he wondered.

 

Then, however, he remembered the stick insects and their bodies rubbing together and how that had started a fire and so, picking up two dry sticks that were lying nearby, he tried rubbing them together.

 

And, suddenly, to Ugberts astonishment, he saw smoke rising from the two sticks and then they started to catch fire.

 

“It worked, it worked”, he said leaping and dancing about again and waving the two burning sticks in the air.

 

But then he rushed back to his tribe and presented the chiefs daughter with one of the burning sticks, a flame flickering upon its end just like the head of a flower.

 

“Here it is”, he said, “The flower that you asked for; the flower that fades quickly and yet while it lives glows as brightly as the sun”.

 

Ermella took hold of the blazing stick in one hand and with her other hand she dragged him towards her and kissed him passionately.

 

“There’s another type of flower”, she said, “That shines as brightly as the sun but never fades at all and that is the fire of love and I shall always love you”.

 

And then the boy married the chiefs daughter and they lived happily ever after.