The Book of Nature Myths | Page 2

I. THE GREAT FIRE-MOUNTAIN.
Long, long ago, when the earth was very young, two hunters were
traveling through the forest. They had been on the track of a deer for
many days, and they were now far away from the village where they
lived. The sun went down and night came on. It was dark and gloomy,
but over in the western sky there came a bright light.
"It is the moon," said one.
"No," said the other. "We have watched many and many a night to see
the great, round moon rise above the trees. That is not the moon. Is it
the northern lights?"
"No, the northern lights are not like this, and it is not a comet. What can
it be?"

It is no wonder that the hunters were afraid, for the flames flared red
over the sky like a wigwam on fire. Thick, blue smoke floated above
the flames and hid the shining stars.
"Do the flames and smoke come from the wigwam of the Great Spirit?"
asked one.
"I fear that he is angry with his children, and that the flames are his
fiery war-clubs," whispered the other. No sleep came to their eyes. All
night long they watched and wondered, and waited in terror for the
morning.
When morning came, the two hunters were still watching the sky. Little
by little they saw that there was a high mountain in the west where the
light had been, and above the mountain floated a dark blue smoke.
"Come," said one, "we will go and see what it is."
They walked and walked till they came close to the mountain, and then
they saw fire shining through the seams of the rocks. "It is a mountain
of fire," one whispered. "Shall we go on?" "We will," said the other,
and they went higher and higher up the mountain. At last they stood
upon its highest point. "Now we know the secret," they cried. "Our
people will be glad when they hear this."
Swiftly they went home through the forest to their own village. "We
have found a wonder," they cried. "We have found the home of the Fire
Spirit. We know where she keeps her flames to help the Great Spirit
and his children. It is a mountain of fire. Blue smoke rises above it
night and day, for its heart is a fiery sea, and on the sea the red flames
leap and dance. Come with us to the wonderful mountain of fire."
The people of the village had been cold in the winter nights, and they
cried, "O brothers, your words are good. We will move our lodges to
the foot of the magic mountain. We can light our wigwam fires from its
flames, and we shall not fear that we shall perish in the long, cold
nights of winter."
So the Indians went to live at the foot of the fire-mountain, and when

the cold nights came, they said, "We are not cold, for the Spirit of Fire
is our good friend, and she keeps her people from perishing."
PART II. THE FROLIC OF THE FLAMES.
For many and many a moon the people of the village lived at the foot
of the great fire-mountain. On summer evenings, the children watched
the light, and when a child asked, "Father, what makes it?" the father
said, "That is the home of the Great Spirit of Fire, who is our good
friend." Then all in the little village went to sleep and lay safely on
their beds till the coming of the morning.
But one night when all the people in the village were asleep, the flames
in the mountain had a great frolic. They danced upon the sea of fire as
warriors dance the war-dance. They seized great rocks and threw them
at the sky. The smoke above them hid the stars; the mountain throbbed
and trembled. Higher and still higher sprang the dancing flames. At last,
they leaped clear above the highest point of the mountain and started
down it in a river of red fire. Then the gentle Spirit of Fire called,
"Come back, my flames, come back again! The people in the village
will not know that you are in a frolic, and they will be afraid."
[Illustration]
The flames did not heed her words, and the river of fire ran on and on,
straight down the mountain. The flowers in its pathway perished. It
leaped upon great trees and bore them to the earth. It drove the birds
from their nests, and they fluttered about in the thick smoke. It hunted
the wild creatures of the forest from the thickets where they hid, and
they fled before it in terror.
At last, one of the warriors in the village awoke. The thick