Sui Drilling Wood to Make a Fire

In the ancient time, people did not know the existence of fire; let alone how to make use of it. When the night came, it was as black as pit and the cries of the beasts lingered on. People had to stick together, cold and frightened. Since there was no fire, they had to eat raw food, as a result of which they got ill easily and lived a short life.

Fuxi, sympathetic towards people who were suffering, wanted to introduce fire to them. Therefore, he created a thunderstorm in the forest during which the trees were struck by the lightning and started to burn. People found it was warm to get close to the fire. They picked up branches and worked in turns to prevent the fine from going out. But one day, the person who guarded the fire fell asleep and the fire went out when Ranches were burned up.

Seeing all this in heaven, Fuxi went into dream of a young man and told him to find fire in a country called Sui Ming and bring it back.

Having climbed over mountains, waded across rivers, went through the forest and undergone many other hardships, the young man finally arrived in Sui Ming. The young man had to take a rest under a tree named Sui Wood”.

The Sui Wood was such a huge tree that its roots and leaves stretched over 10,000 square kilometers away. It should be even darker under the shelter of the tree, for the country was already a dark one. However, the truth was quite otherwise. While sitting under the tree, the young man suddenly sensed flashes in front of him, which lightened the surrounding areas. The young man located its source and he found some big birds pecking for worms in the tree with their short and hard beck. Whenever they pecked, sparks would appear on the bark. A method of getting fire suddenly occurred to the young man at the sight of that. He immediately broke some branches of the Sui Wood and used a small branch to drill a bigger one. After a hard work, smoke came out and a fire was started.

After the young man returned home, he spread the method of drilling wood to make a fire. Hence, people did not have to live in coldness and fear. To express their gratitude to the young man, people elected him as their leader and addressed him “Sui” which meant the person who brought the fire.