The Story#
A long, long time ago, people didn’t have fire.
They could only eat raw food: raw meat, raw fruits. When winter came, there was no fire to keep warm, and they shivered from the cold.
At night, everything was dark. They couldn’t see anything, and it was very scary.
There was a clever man named Suiren.
One day, Suiren saw a bird pecking at insects in a tree. Peck, peck, peck—suddenly—
“Snap!”
The tree branch caught fire!
Suiren was curious: “So rubbing wood hard can create fire!”
He tried finding two pieces of wood and drilling them hard against each other.
“Whoosh—”
The wood started smoking!
“Whoosh—whoosh—”
Flames burst out!
“Fire! Fire! We have fire!” Suiren jumped for joy.
He taught everyone how to make fire.
From then on, people could eat roasted meat, gather around fires to keep warm, and have light at night.
Everyone was very grateful to Suiren. They called him “Suiren-shi,” which means “the person who discovered fire.”
Little friends, now we can light fires easily with lighters and matches. But we should remember that Suiren was the first to teach humans how to use fire.
What the Story Teaches Us#
Suiren discovered how to make fire through observation and experimentation. He teaches us to observe carefully and be brave to try new things to discover new knowledge.