Man took two of the sticks and rubbed them together, like he rubbed his hands. He did this for a long time, and the sticks got very hot with the spirit of the fire, but they did not burn.
Man said to Woman, "The spirit of the fire is in the sticks, but I cannot get it to come out, and I am tired."
Woman said, "It is warm enough already today, and you are hot from rubbing the sticks together. Maybe you should wait for another time."
And Man thought to himself, "She does not think I can do this."
So he got a very large stick, and he put it on the ground, and that way he only had to rub the other stick against it. He rubbed and rubbed, for a very long time, and wore a groove in the large stick.
In this groove there was a fine powder, which came out of the wood as he rubbed it, and this powder began to smoke.
Man thought to himself, "This smoke is like the smoke of a fire."
And he remembered that when the fire was dying in its nest they would blow on the embers, and sometimes they would burn again. So Man blew on the smoking powder, and it stopped smoking.
He said to Woman, "I have made the spirit of the fire, and I have made the smoke of the fire, but when I blow on it, it does not burn."
And she answered him and said, "This is a baby fire. You must blow very gently, and we must make it a baby nest."
So they took dry leaves, and rubbed them between their hands until they were soft, and made a nest. And they lined the nest with the softest parts of the leaves, which had fallen when they were rubbing them. And they put some of the powder from the groove in the big stick in the middle of the nest, to welcome the fire.
And Man rubbed the little stick in the groove for a long time again, and when the powder smoked, they took it gently, and put it in the baby nest, and blew on it very lightly, and a baby fire was born.
And when it began to eat its nest, and grow, they put it in the pit, and fed it with twigs and leaves until it was big enough to eat the sticks.
And Woman said, "Now we can call the fire from the sticks it feeds on, and make it do our bidding."
And they used the fire to warm themselves and to cook their food, and to clear the land, and for many other things.
And some say this, also, was a mistake. They say that the fire was not there to do the bidding of humans. They say that this was the beginning of the trouble.
But I do not think so.
I think Man and Woman were wise.
