one of them was just the thing to crack nuts on, and Umpl found
another was quite as good as a bone-cracker, till his father took it
from him and made a head of it for his war-club, where it did great
bone-cracking in another way. And I might tell how Umpl learned at
last to take one sharp stone and, by pressing on it with another,
break off little chips until what was left became a beautiful
arrowhead, and how he made so many, and so many chips around the cave,
and so many other chipmakers were doing likewise, that to-day men call
the time when Umpl lived the Stone Age, for all their axes, knives,
and tools seemed made of stone. Some day I may tell more. Meanwhile,
now you know how the Iron Star came into this world of ours.




SPARK II.

HOW THE STAR AGAIN BEGAN TO TRAVEL.


It certainly seemed to both Umpl and Sptz that the iron mass which was
once a falling star had brought good luck to them. Fire in itself was
a grand thing. It was so good not to lie cold o' nights, or to be
obliged to fill up the doorway with stones and pull them down in the
morning. Many and many a time they went to the spot where the large
piece lay and looked at it with half-frightened eyes. They could not
understand it. Where did it come from? Why did it come there? When
would it go away? Did a spirit throw it, or was it itself a spirit?
All these and many other odd thoughts came to them because of it; and
this was one of the very best things that ever happened to either. No