Discovery of Fire

[Robert Spiritwalker Murchison]

Long, long ago, animals and trees talked with each other, but there was no
fire at that time.


Fox was most clever and he tried to think of a way to create fire for the
world. One day, he decided to visit the Geese, te-tl, whose cry he wished to
learn how to imitate. They promised to teach him if he would fly with them.
So they contrived a way to attach wings to Fox, but cautioned him never to
open his eyes while flying.



Whenever the Geese arose in flight, Fox also flew along with them to practice
their cry. On one such adventure, darkness descended suddenly as they flew
over the village of the fireflies, ko-na- tcic-a. In midflight, the glare
from the flickering fireflies caused Fox to forget and he opened his
eyes--instantly his wings collapsed! His fall was uncontrollable. He landed
within the walled area of the firefly village, where a fire constantly burned
in the center.


Two kind fireflies came to see fallen Fox, who gave each one a necklace of
juniper berries, katl-te-i-tse.


Fox hoped to persuade the two fireflies to tell him where he could find a
way over the wall to the outside. They led him to a cedar tree, which they
explained would bend down upon command and catapult him over the wall if he
so desired.



That evening, Fox found the spring where fireflies obtained their water.
There also, he discovered colored earth, which when mixed with water made
paint. He decided to give himself a coat of white. Upon returning to the
village, Fox suggested to the fireflies, "Let's have a festival where we can
dance and I will produce the music."


They all agreed that would be fun and helped to gather wood to build up a
greater fire. Secretly, Fox tied a piece of cedar bark to his tail. Then he
made a drum, probably the first one ever constructed, and beat it vigorously
with a stick for the dancing fireflies. Gradually, he moved closer and closer
to the fire.


Fox pretended to tire from beating the drum. He gave it to some fireflies who
wanted to help make the music. Fox quickly thrust his tail into the fire,
lighting the bark, and exclaimed, "It is too warm here for me, I must find a
cooler place."


Straight to the cedar tree Fox ran, calling, "Bend down to me, my cedar tree,
bend down!"
Down bent the cedar tree for Fox to catch hold, then up it carried him far
over the wall. On and on he ran, with the fireflies in pursuit.


As Fox ran along, brush and wood on either side of his path were ignited from
the sparks dropping from the burning bark tied to his tail.


Fox finally tired and gave the burning bark to Hawk, i-tsarl-tsu- i, who
carried it to brown Crane, tsi-nes-tso-l. He flew far southward, scattering
fire sparks everywhere. This is how fire first spread over the earth.


Fireflies continued chasing Fox all the way to his burrow and declared,
"Forever after, Wily Fox, your punishment for stealing our fire will be that
you can never make use of it for yourself."


For the Apache nation, this too was the beginning of fire for them. Soon they
learned to use it for cooking their food and to keep themselves warm in cold
weather.