How Fire Got Into the 

Rocks and Trees

     Once there was a very wonderful kind of Fairy Person, who was named Nee-kil-stlas.  He was also the first man.  He was always nice to the Indian people and always helped them when they needed it.  Because he was a fairy, Nee-kil-stlas had the magic power to change himself into anything he wanted to.  He also had a magic coat made of white feathers.  It let him fly like a bird.  A long time ago there weren’t very many Indians in the world and the Bad Fairy People had all the wonderful things on the earth, so that leaves the Indians with nothing.  So Nee-kil-stlas decided to get the things the Indians need.

     To get the things needed by the Indians, Nee-kil-stlas needed to get them from the mean-tempered and very jealous Bad Fairy People.  They would not give away or sell anything they had to anyone.  To make matters worse, the Bad Fairy People were at war with the Indians and killed them whenever they got the chance.

     There was a very selfish Bad Fairy Chief named El-ee-mos who owned all the fire in the world, so the Indians didn’t have any fire to keep them warm.  El-ee-mos would not give the fire to anyone.  Nee-kil-stlas had tried for a long time to get fire from El-ee-mos but that was impossible because they were enemies.

     One day, Nee-kil-stlas changed himself into a pine needle on a pine tree.  The tree grew right by the tipi of the Bad Fairy.  Nee-kil-stlas watched for days to get a chance to get fire. It was difficult to do this because he rarely left.  One he did.

     When he was gone Nee-kil-stlas let wind blow him off.  The fire was burning in the tipi.  He changed himself into a raven.  Then he put on his whit4e magic feather coat and picked up a burning stick from the fire.  He quickly flew out of the smoke hole at the top of the tipi where the Bad Fairy Chief lived, and away he went as fast as he could go.

     He flew all over the country, everywhere, giving to each of the Indians enough fire to start their own.  You see, there were no matches or lighters in those days.  Sparks fell as Nee-kil-stlas flew along, and smoke was left in the sky.  Whenever a spark of fire fell on a rock or tree, the Indians say, it just burned right down inside and hid itself there.  Today, if you scrap one rock against another or rub two dry sticks together, you’ll get a spark because Nee-kil-stlas dropped fire on them.  Now people get fire whenever they want. 

     You know, the black smoke turned all the nice white feathers of Nee-kil-stlas’ magic coat black as coal, so the raven has worn a black coat ever since.