Story 31. Getting Fire Under Control
In modern times, making a fire is easy.
Strike a match and there you have it, a nice hot flame.
But it wasn't always so easy.
Long ago, in prehistoric times, humans did not have fire under control.
They lived in a dark, cold world.
Nothing to use for cooking food.
Nothing to light the way at night.
And most importantly, nothing to keep them warm.
There were lots of natural fires in the prehistoric era.
Lightning would strike the earth, frequently causing fires.
Cavemen might come across a burning tree that had been set a fire by lightning.
By trial and error, they learned that fire was good.
The next big step was learning how to control fire.
So humans had to find fire and then learn how to keep it burning.
They also needed to learn how to keep fire under control so it would not burn things they did not want to burn.
Soon, they figured out how to light a stick, using a natural fire, and keep it burning for a long time.
They carried a burning coal from the fire and took it to a place where they wanted to make a new fire.
They appointed someone in their group to become the fire keeper.
His job was to keep the fires burning.
When the cavemen moved to a new place, the fire keeper would bring the hot coals and make of a new fire.
Nothing was perfect, though.
Sometimes, the fire keeper could not keep the fire going.
Rain might come and wash it away.
The cavemen would then have to find a new fire.
They might steal fire from another group of cavemen living nearby.
Eventually, someone figured out that they could make a fire by rubbing sticks together.
Or by breaking special stones to make sparks.
This changed everything for prehistoric humans.
They could make a fire whenever they needed one.
Humans then had total control of fire.
This would change the way they lived forever.
