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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 centre.
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 coloured 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 construc-ted, 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.
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