Long ago, there was a fox that
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 the fox, but cautioned him never to open his eyes
while flying.
One
day, darkness descended suddenly as they flew over the village of the
fireflies, ko-na- tcic-a. The glare from the flickering fireflies caused
the fox to forget and he opened his eyes--instantly his wings collapsed.
When he fell, he landed within the walled area of the firefly village,
where a fire constantly burned in the center. The
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. The
Fox tied a piece of cedar bark to his tail and moved closer and closer to
the fire. He quickly thrust his tail into the fire, lighting the bark as
he told the tree to bend down. The cedar tree bent for the fox, and up it
carried him far over the wall. As the 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. This is how fire first spread over the
earth.
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