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Show u It U a wloar n.otwn rhat a fire U only far heal. A chief value •I it it, however, to look at. And it i3 never twice the •ame."-cHARLES DtrDLIIlT W AHNER: Backlog &udiea. THE OPEN FIRE I LIGHTING UP MAN is the animal that has made friends with the fire. All the other creatures, in their natural state, are afraid of it. They look upon it with wonder and dismay. It fascinates them, sometimes, with its glittering eyes in the night. The squirrels and the hares come pattering softly towards it through the underbrush around the new camp. The fascinated deer stares into the blaze of the jack-light while the hunter's canoe creeps through the lily-pads. But the charm that masters them is one of dread, not of love. It is the witchcraft of the serpent's lambent look. When they know what it means, when the heat of the fire touches them, or even when its smell comes clearly to their most delicate sense, they recognize it as their enemy, the Wild Huntsman 241 |
