ABSTRACT
In the Admiralty Islands, to the north of New Guinea, the natives say that in the beginning there was no fire on earth. A woman sent the sea-eagle and the starling to fetch fire from heaven. She said, “Go ye two to heaven! Go ye two to fetch fire hither to me!” So the two birds flew up to the sky. The fish-eagle took the fire, and the two returned to earth. But midway between earth and heaven they shifted the fire between them ; the starling took the fire and carried it on the back of his neck. The wind blew up the flame, so that it singed the starling. That is why the starling is now so small and the fish-eagle so big. Never would the fire have singed the starling if only the starling had been bigger than the fish-eagle. The two brought the fire hither to us on earth. We eat food cooked on the fire. If it were not for these two birds, we should not eat food cooked on the fire, we should dry our food in the sun. 1
