and I am inclined to believe that it was in one of those unwise times
that the doubt was raised; for I believe it happened, although I am
not sure about the date.

One thing is certain: there was a time when Europe was about all
forest, where it wasn't water or bare rock. There were no cities, so
of course there were no policemen. There were not even kings and
queens, although the present kings and queens don't like to be
reminded that there ever was a time when the world got along without
any. They think it is impolite. Of course, sometimes it is impolite to
tell the truth, and then one can only say nothing, or talk of the
weather. So any young king or queen who reads this may go back and
read it again and skip that line.

Be it as it may, there once lived in that great forest a boy and his
sister. Not being able to speak their language I do not know what
their names may have meant; but they had names, one sounding like a
grunt, the other a hiss. Better call them Umpl and Sptz, which is as
near as I can come to it. Of course Sptz was the girl; and they both
believed most firmly in hobgoblins, evil spirits, wicked elves, that
were ever on the watch for them in the dark; and when they heard the
long cre-ak of a tree branch rubbing on another branch in the night as
the wind arose, their ears told them that it was a branch, but their
fears said it was a goblin, and in the night-time they believed their
fears the most. If only they had fire, with its light and warmth, it
would be different! So they thought many a day, when the sunlight
glinted through the tree trunks and lay in spots upon the moss. Then
the dark came down, and still they had no fire.

Does this seem strange? Remember, then, that matches were not made in