1 Two-Legs was now a very old man.
 
His race was constantly increasing. It lived over a large and glorious plain, where the rich corn waved in the fields and the cattle through the tall and grass. Some of the men followed the sea, others tilled the soil and tended the cattle, others felled timber in the forests. The women kept house and weaved and span.
 
Wherever the plain rose into a little hill, a wind-mill . Every that ran turned the wheel of a water-mill.
 
Two-Legs himself constantly sat and observed what went on around him in nature and pondered upon it. All looked up to him with respect, as the of the race and the cleverest man in the world. All came to him for advice and help and seldom went away unaided.
 
In the middle of the plain rose a tall, cone-shaped mountain. From its top, off and on, came a column of smoke. Two-Legs often looked at this mountain. Once he rode up to the top and stood and stared into the hole whence the smoke , but the heat that came out of it was so great that he could not endure it or remain there.
 
Then he rode back to his house again and sat and gazed at the mountain and thought and wondered what there could be in its depths. He knew mountains that contained gold and iron and other metals; and he taught his children to extract the ore and it and shape the metal into tools and . But a mountain like this, which smoked at the top, he had never seen before.
 
2
Now, one day, as he was sitting in thought, he heard voices round about him, as he was to do. They whispered in the stately palm-tree that raised its crown high above his head:
 
“Two-Legs is ... greater than any other in the world ... he rules the earth and all that is upon it.”
 
They sang in the river that ran down to the sea:
 
“Two-Legs rules the waters ... they carry his ships wherever he will ... they breed fish for his table.”
 
The warm wind blew over his face:
 
“Two-Legs is greater than any other ... he rules me ... I have to in his service, like the ox and the horse.... Blow east, blow west, he catches me and uses me.”
 
Two-Legs passed his hand down his long, white beard and nodded with pride and contentment.
 
At that moment, a thundering noise was heard. It was as though it came from the interior of the earth; and, indeed, one could not imagine where else it should come from. For the sky was cloudless and clear and the sun shone bright and warm, just at noonday.
 
“What was that?” said Two-Legs.
 
“Who knows?” said the palm-tree, trembling right down to its roots. “Who can the forces that prevail in nature?”
 
“Who can say?” said the river, tossing its waves in terror, like a rearing horse. “What do any of us know, after all?”
 
“Who has so much as an idea?” said the wind, dropping suddenly, like a tiger preparing to spring. “The earth is full of mighty forces, which not one of us knows anything about.”
 
There came another booming sound. Two-Legs rose. He looked at the mountain in the middle of the plain and saw that the column of smoke had turned into a great black cloud, which grew and spread faster than his eyes could follow it.
 
Now, it masked the sun; now, the waves in the river and met the waves of the sea, which came dashing over the land; now, the wind rose, in a moment, into a furious .
 
And, before Two-Legs could look round, it was suddenly black as midnight.
 
He saw, just as the light disappeared, that something dropped from the sky, but could not see what it was. He groped his way to the stable, where his horse stood tethered, jumped on its back and away from the region where danger lay. The beast was mortally frightened, like himself, and ran for its life.
 
He could not see his hand before his eyes, but thought he heard a and crying through the storm, all over the plain, wherever he came. He was able to tell a voice here and there, but he merely rushed on and on, until his horse dropped under him.
 
Then he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, stumbled and fell and got up again and ran and ran, while the cries rang out around him, when they were not drowned in the roar of the storm and the thundering noise from the mountain.
 
He was struck by a stone on the back of the head and felt the blood down his neck. His foot trod in something that was like boiling water. He drew it back with a cry and ran the other way. At last, he lost consciousness and had not himself the least idea how he had managed to escape. When he recovered, he was lying on a , right at the end of the plain. Round about him lay half a score of people of his family, bewildered and like himself. They did not speak, but gazed at one another in dismay and wept, with trembling hands.
 
3
Two-Legs shaded his brows with his hand and looked out over the plain.
 
It had become light again, suddenly, even as it had become dark. The black clouds had drifted away and the sun was setting in and gold as on the most perfect summer’s evening.
 
Here and there, on the neighbouring hillocks, were some of his family, who had saved themselves as he had. They also had a few of the tame animals with them; and Two-Legs suddenly noticed that his faithful dog was licking his hand.
 
But the whole country, except the few hillocks, was buried under an ocean of boiling and bubbling mud that soon to a hard crust. All the houses and mills were destroyed and drowned in the sea of mud. All the people and animals lay dead and buried under it. All the rich and glorious plain looked like a desert in which nothing had ever lived; and in its midst stood the mountain, tall and calm, with the column of smoke on its top.
 
Two-Legs’ set to work to collect what had been saved.
 
With wailing and , they withdrew from the ruined country where they had made their home, together with the poor remnants of their wealth. The women carried in their arms the babes which they had saved and cried over those which were dead. The herdsmen counted the few head of cattle that had been spared. The sailors scanned the sea in vain for a single ship that had escaped unhurt.
 
“Come, Father Two-Legs,” they said. “Let us leave this accursed land. There must be some place in the world where we can find peace and begin afresh to build up all that these terrible hours have destroyed.”
 
But Two-Legs shook his head:
 
“Do you go,” he said. “I will follow you.”
 
4
They went; and he did not so much as look after them, but only sat and gazed at the strange mountain from which the disaster had come. He sat far into the night, which was clear and mild, and had none with him but the dog, who would not leave him. The smoke from the mountain was carried past him, now and then, by the wind; but now it was only like a light, thin stream.
 
“Who caused that? Who caused it?” said Two-Legs and gazed before him.
 
“I did,” said Steam.
 
“You?” said Two-Legs. “Who are you? You are flowing past me like a mist. How did you have the strength to do it? Who are you?... Where do you come from?”
 
“I am Steam,” he said. “I come from the mountain up there. I was shut in until I grew mad and furious and had to get air. Then I broke out and destroyed the whole country. Now that’s over and I have found peace and am as you see me.”
 
“You bad Steam,” said Two-Legs.
 
“I am not bad,” said Steam.
 
“Would you have me call you good?” asked Two-Legs. “You have destroyed my rich land and killed nearly all my children and grandchildren and most of my cattle. All that I invented so cleverly and successfully to make life easy and pleasant for me and mine you have spoilt in a few hours, though I have done nothing to offend you. Are you good?”
 
“I am not good,” said Steam.
 
“Very well, you are neither bad nor good,” said Two-Legs. “I seem to have heard that nonsense once before. Wait a bit: it was the wind who made the same remark, when he too had been the cause of my misfortune.”
 
“Exactly,” said Steam. “I am neither bad nor good. It is just as the wind said. Didn’t you see, at the time, that the wind was right?”
 
“Yes,” said Two-Legs, quietly.
 
“Didn’t you take the wind into your service?” asked Steam. “You caught him and put him to your boat and your mill. You watched him and learnt to know his ways, so that you could use him as he came. Am I not right?”
 
“Aye,” said Two-Legs. “I became the wind’s master. But I do not understand how I am to conquer you, who are than the wind, or how to employ your formidable power in my service.”
 
“Catch me, use me!” said Steam. “I serve the strongest.”
 
5
Two-Legs sat and gazed and thought. He looked at the ruined land, at the sun, which shone as mildly as though nothing had happened, at Steam, who floated quietly over the . There was not a house left , not a tree; and not a bird was singing.
 
Once, he turned round and looked after his kinsmen. He saw them far away on the horizon, but still it did not occur to him to follow them. Then he said to Steam:
 
“Who are you? Tell me something about yourself.”
 
“I am like this at present,” said Steam. “You see me now and you saw me a little while ago. Look out across the sea and you shall see me there, too.”
 
“I don’t see you there,” said Two-Legs.
 
“That’s because you don’t know,” said Steam. “As a matter of fact I am water, to start with.”
 
“Tell me about it,” said Two-Legs.
 
“It’s easily told,” said Steam. “You see, I am the sea water, which soaks through the ground into the mountain yonder. I in through a thousand underground passages. But inside the mountain there is a tremendous fire, which smoulders and never goes out. Now, when the water rises above the fire, it turns to steam; and the steam is collected in great cavities down the mountain, so long as there is room for it. At last, there is so much of it that it can’t exist there. Then the mountain bursts. Rocks and stones ... the whole mountain-lake up there, which is boiling because of the fire in the ground ... mud and sludge, boiling water and scalding steam come rushing out over the land, as you have just seen. I burst everything, when I am tortured beyond endurance. There is not a wall that can me, not a door which I cannot open ... do you understand?”
 
Two-Legs nodded.
 
“You have seen the column of smoke that rises from the mountain every day,” said Steam. “There is always a little opening, you know, an air-hole through which some of me can escape. But at last it is no longer big enough and then I burst the whole concern. Now learn from what has happened to you to-day that you must never build your where you see a smoking mountain, for you can never be safe there.”
 
“It’s not enough for me to be safe,” said Two-Legs. “I don’t want to avoid you. I want to rule you. You are the strongest force I know in the world. You must be my servant, like the horse and the ox and the wind.”
 
“Catch me and use me, if you can!” said Steam.
 
“Well,” said Two-Legs, “I will try. But first tell me what becomes of you when you float through the air, as you are doing now.”
 
“Then I turn cold,” said Steam. “And, when I have turned cold, I become water ... rain ... mist ... whatever you please.”
 
“And then you fall into the sea,” said Two-Legs. “And then you soak into the mountain, where the fire is, and become steam again; and so on and so on, for ever and ever.”
 
“That’s it,” said Steam.
 
Then he floated on across the wilderness and disappeared out at sea. Two-Legs gazed after him and then stared at the mountain again, which was smoking peacefully, as it had done before.
 
He sat the whole night and pondered. Then he rose, called the dog and went after the others.
 
6
Two-Legs and his family had discovered a new country.
 
They built their houses again and tilled the soil and reaped corn and raised cattle. They cut timber in the forests and the built new ships. Many years passed before the disaster was overcome, but at last the whole tribe was recovered to such an extent that they forgot about it, all excepting Two-Legs.
 
He was always sitting and pondering and thinking a............