Wild with terror he hurried on, hiding himself in the
woods and under the roots of trees and resting at last in
reedy marshes where swans build their nests and wild geese
rear their young.
For ages and ages—nobody knows how many—Iron
lay hidden in bogs and forests and lonely caverns. Fear
of his raging brother made him lurk in lonely places, made5
him cover up his face. Lazy bears went ambling through
the rocky places; wolves rushed madly over the oozy
marshlands; and timid deer ran and leaped among the
trees. In time the hiding places of Iron were uncovered.
Where the paws of bears had plodded often, where the feet10
of wolves had pattered, where the sharp hoofs of deer had
trodden, there the timid metal, red, gray, yellow, black,
peeped shyly out.
At length into that same land there came a skillful Smith.
He carried a hammer of stone in one hand and tongs of 15
bronze in the other, and a song of peace was upon his lips.
On a green hillock, where the south wind blew, he built
him a smithy, and in it he placed the tools of his craft.
His anvil was a block of gray granite; his forge was carefully
built of sand and clay; his bellows was made of the 20
skins of mountain goats sewn together.
The Smith heaped live coals in his forge and blew with
his bellows until the flames leaped up, roaring and sparkling,
and the smoke rose in dense clouds over the roof of the
smithy. "This forge will do its work well," he said. Then25
he checked the bellows and smothered the flames and raked
ashes upon the fire until the red coals slumbered unseen at
the mouth of the forge.
Out into the forest the Smith wandered. Closely he
scanned the hillsides and the boggy thickets and the paths 30
among the trees. And there, where the bears had trailed
and the wolves had rushed and the deer had left their
footprints, he found ruddy Iron, dusky Iron, yellow ore
of Iron, peeping, trembling, hiding. The heart of the
Smith was glad. His eyes danced merrily, and he sang a
song of magic to the timid metal:
"Iron, Iron, hearken while I call you5
Let no false and foolish fears appal you,
Come from out the crevices that hide you,
Leave the worthless stones that are beside you,
Leave the earth that lies around, above you,
And come with me, for I do dearly love you."10
Iron moved not, but timidly answered, "I dare not
leave my hiding places; for Fire, my brother, waits to
devour me. He is strong and fierce. He has no pity."
The Smith shook his head and made reply, still singing:
"No! your brother does not wish to harm you—15
Willingly he never would alarm you.
With his glowing arms he would caress you,
Make you pure and with his kisses bless you.
So come with me, my smithy waits to greet you;
In my forge your brother waits to meet you—20
Waits to throw his loving arms around you,
Glad indeed that thus, at last, he's found you."
These words made Iron feel much braver; and they
were spoken in tones so sweet and persuasive that he was
almost minded to obey without another word. But he asked,25
"Why should I leave these places where I have rested so
long? What will become of me after I have made friends
with Fire?"