No creature but man can possess or use this gift. Man would not part
with it for all the treasures below the earth's surface, nor for all the
gifts that birds, beasts, and fishes can boast.
With fire, weapons are made that can subdue the strongest beast that
ever fought for its life. Tools with which man tills the earth and
blasts the rock are made with the aid of fire. With fire man warms his
dwelling. While the wild creatures shiver in the ice and snow man makes
summer within the four walls of his home.
Man walks the earth a conqueror, but should the gift of fire be taken
from him, how would he then teach the lower animals that he is their
master? Having this gift he excels all other creatures. Without it he
would be poor indeed.
Go where you will, the gift Prometheus brought is known to the race to
whom it was given. There is no savage so ignorant but that he has the
art of making fire.
Fire gleams from the eyeballs of the beasts when they are in anger, but
this fire is cold compared with the burning blaze of wood and coal.
No beast will attack mankind when protected by a blazing torch. The gift
of Prometheus shows the wisdom of Minerva.
BEYOND THE FIRE ISLAND
_Russian_
Once there was a man who decided to take a journey to the uttermost end
of the world where it touches the sky.
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