Atondido Stories
Raven how to use. And they said, "If you ever lose Fire or if it
dies for lack of food you can always call it back to life with these
two little stones." Then they showed him how to make Fire with
the two little stones and withered grass, and birch-bark and dry
pine, and Raven thought it was very easy. And he felt very
proud because he had brought Fire and Light to the earth. He
kept Fire for himself for a long time, and although the people
clamoured loudly for it, he would not give any of it away. Soon,
however, he decided to sell a quantity of it, for he now had the
power of making it. So he said to himself, "This is a good way to
get many wives," and he announced that he would only sell
some of his fire in return for a wife. And many families bought
his fire and in exchange he received many wives. And to this day
he still has many wives and he still moves about from place to
place with a flock of them always around him. But the Indians
when they arrived took Fire away from him. Thus Fire came to
the Indians in the olden days. And when it has died, as it often
does, they still sometimes use Raven's flint stones to bring it
back to life.
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