主播大秀

A native American tale retold by聽Retold by Zia Williams

Read by Mina Anwar

Many, many moons ago during a particularly cold winter, the secret of keeping warm had not yet been shared with human beings.聽 The teepees that had once been filled with the smiles and laughter of children were filled with sad and gloomy faces. 聽The cold winds had blown away all the happiness.

It was only the fireflies who knew about warmth. 聽They had fire, but they kept it hidden from the human beings.

Clever Fox felt sorry for the human children. 聽He wondered how he could help them. One day, he learnt about fire聽from the geese, who had flown over the fireflies鈥� tiny kingdom. 聽The geese had seen the power of the burning wood.

鈥淵es,鈥� said Fox. 鈥淚 must bring fire for the children so it can give them warmth like the summer sun.鈥�

But Clever Fox had a problem: the kingdom of the fireflies could only be reached from above聽because it was surrounded by walls.

The geese agreed to help Clever Fox. 聽They made him special wings, but they warned him: 鈥淭hese wings will allow you to fly, but you must never open your eyes or you鈥檒l fall from the sky鈥�.聽

As Clever Fox soared through the sky with the geese, he suddenly felt the heat from the fire below and secretly opened one eye. 聽聽Down, down, down fell Clever Fox.聽 But this was just what he wanted. 聽He fell into the fireflies鈥� walled kingdom, right next to the fire.

鈥淥h dear,鈥� said Clever Fox, limping towards a group of fireflies. 聽鈥淧lease, can you help me? 聽I need to get back home and I can鈥檛 get over the wall.鈥�

鈥淐ertainly,鈥� said the fireflies.聽 鈥淩est until tomorrow so your leg can get better and then you can go to the cedar tree next to the wall, ask her to bend down and she can lower you down onto the other side.鈥�

鈥淭hank you,鈥� said Clever Fox, and he lay down beside the fire and began to think how he could take the fire over the wall with him.

Clever Fox made a plan. 聽The next day he said to the fireflies: 鈥淚 feel so much better, and to thank you for looking after me, I鈥檇 like to invite you to dance to my drum music.鈥�

The fireflies agreed that this was a good idea and set about collecting wood to make the fire burn stronger. 聽While they were working Clever Fox fixed a piece of wood to his tail.

The fireflies danced around the fire as Clever Fox played the drum. 聽Then, Clever Fox saw his moment. 聽With the wood still attached to his tail, he moved craftily closer to the fire. 聽When the wood had caught the flame, Clever Fox ran towards the cedar tree.

Soon the fireflies noticed and chased angrily after him.

Clever Fox reached the cedar tree and called out: 鈥淪ister Cedar, Sister Cedar, please bend down and take me over the wall.鈥�

Immediately the cedar tree bent down and Clever Fox was able to climb over the wall.聽 He ran and ran and ran, but the angry fireflies were right behind him.

Flying high in the sky was Brother Hawk.聽 鈥淏rother Hawk, Brother Hawk,鈥� cried Clever Fox. 聽鈥淭ake this fire to the land of the teepee children!鈥�

Brother Hawk swooped down and took the burning wood. 聽聽

When the fireflies finally caught up with Clever Fox, he was safely in his den.

鈥淭ricky Fox! Tricky Fox!鈥� they shouted. 聽鈥淵our punishment for stealing our fire is that from now on you鈥檒l only be able to come out at nighttime and never in the daytime.鈥�

But Clever Fox didn鈥檛 mind. 聽He knew he had helped the human children. 聽He had brought them fire so they could keep warm and the cold winds could no longer steal away their happiness.