How the Tauren Got Fire

A long time ago, when the world was new, Tauren did not have the knowledge of fire. They lived happily until one day when the Cold Maker brought winter with him and then the Tauren Suffered. Before the winter was over many of them had starved or frozen to death. Wolf looked upon the Tauren and pitied them, her fur was thick and warm, but the Tauren grew no winter coat.

Wolf gathered up her friends and they all agreed that the Tauren should have fire to keep warm, but back then, fire was jealously guarded by giant beings of terrible power. Prowler volunteered to search out the source of fire and report back what he saw.

Prowler traveled for a long long time until he reached a distant mountain where the guardians of fire lived. Creeping through the trees and the bushes, Prowler got close enough to see a great fire that was tended by three giant beings of terrifying strength. Prowler was very frightened by their imposing presence, but he remembered his promise to his friends and did not want to make the long trip back empty handed. So he stalked in the bushes for days as he watched the giants go about their business. Every once in a while one would hear rustling in the bushes, but Prowler was quick and would dash away at the first hint of trouble, only to return later.

"It was just Wind, playing tricks on us." The giants would say.

After observing the giants for some time it began to look as though they would never leave the fire unguarded, one would always guard during the day, and two would always guard at night. However, just as he was about to leave and go back to his friends, Prowler saw that one morning as the sun was rising, the daylight guardian was late getting up from sleeping. Bolstered by this discovery, he ran as fast as he could back to his friends and told them what he saw.

Soon they came up with a clever plan to steal fire from the giants and give it to the Tauren. Since the flame was so hot, they would all go to the mountain and help carry it. Prowler, the stealthiest of the group again volunteered to get close to the giants. He would wait until they switched their guard and when the one giant was late, he would steal the fire and pass it off to someone else. He waited for several days until one morning, the day guard was late.

"I'm tired," said one of the night guardians "We should just go to sleep now and let our friend work extra tonight."

And so they went to sleep and Prowler crawled up to the fire and snatched a burning ember away from it. He was unprepared for just how hot it would be though, and the heat from the blaze scorched his fur, bleaching it a light tan color which it remains to this day. The giants immediately realized that something was wrong and they woke up in a rage. Prowler ran as fast as he could, but the giants were gaining on him, so he threw the ember to Swoop.

Swoop caught the ember in his talons and tried to fly away with it. The heat from the ember burned all the feathers off his feet, but he held onto it. Before he could get away though, one of the giants reached up and grabbed his tail feathers and pulled him to the ground, leaving a bright red mark which can still be seen. Swoop quickly tossed the ember to Snake and the giants released him.

Snake caught the ember in his hands and ran with it for a long time, but it burned him so badly that his arms eventually fell off, leaving him to crawl on his belly for the rest of time. Even though snake was very fast, the giants eventually caught up to him and he was forced to toss the ember on to Strider.

Strider caught the ember in her mouth but it burned her so badly that she dropped it before she could throw it to Wolf. If you look at a strider today, you can still see the colored markings on her face where the ember burned her.

Wolf could not reach the ember in time and was certain it would burn out when it touched the ground and she cried out in anguish. But just then, Prairie dog ran up and caught it in his hands.

"I have an idea, but it will take some time." Prairie dog said.

So Wolf turned around and lunged at the giants, taking them by surprise. One of them saw the ferocity in Wolf's eyes and fled in terror. But the other two were not frightened and injured Wolf badly before they went after Prairie dog, but even now, Wolf remembers how she scared away a giant and will attack without fear when she knows she must.

Prairie dog was the cleverest of the group and knew that the only way to get the fire away from the giants was to hide it. She went around and began hiding parts of it everywhere she could find, so that even if the giants found one piece of it the would never find all of it. She gave part of the ember to Grass, which took it gladly and now even on a cool day, grass feels warm to the touch. She gave part of the ember to tree, who took it and hid it deep inside himself. As she was running to give the last part of the ember to Iron, the giants finally caught her and swiped at her backside causing her to drop the last ember. This is why Prairie dogs have three white stripes on their backs, one for each claw, and why metal does not burn.

The giants raged across the plains, but they could not find the other pieces of the ember. They asked tree, but he would not tell them anything and they grew furious. They threatened, beat and attacked tree, knocking all the branches off his lower trunk, but they could not bring fire out of him. They burned tree but every time they burned him the fire eventually went out and the could not get the ember back. Eventually they gave up and went back to guard the rest of their flame and left tree alone.

Everyone felt terrible that they had failed to steal the fire from the giants, especially Wolf, who wasn't able to carry the ember at all. But Prairie dog knew Wolf could talk to the spirits and told her where she hid the embers. Wolf told the spirits where Tauren could find the fire, and the spirits in turn told the Tauren's greatest shaman the secret. Now, when you rub two sticks together over a pile of grass, they will let fire out and keep you warm.