"Yes. So far they have hardly done anything at all. But they are on the right track. With every thousand years that go by they will learn a little more, and some day, far in the future, they will begin to be really civilised. That time will come when they have conquered everything else in the world, and begin to conquer themselves."
"Why is it," asked the Sun, "that some of them, like the ones on the island, are going ahead so fast, while others are still just savages?"
"It is because of the climate, and the kind of country they live in. Look at those savages down there in the hot jungle. All they have to do is stretch out their hands and pick some nice juicy fruit. There is always plenty for them to eat, and it is so warm all the time they don't need any clothes, or houses to live in, but can sleep in the trees, or in little bamboo huts. They will never learn to grow things, or to hunt animals to eat. Life is so easy for them that they will keep right on being savages for thousands of years."
"They are getting brown and black," said the Sun. "Why is that?"
"It is because they do not wear any clothes, and the hot rays you are shining down on them are turning their skins darker. Just look at those people up there in the north, where your rays are not so hot. They are getting lighter and lighter all the time, their hair is getting yellow and their eyes blue. They are stronger and quicker, too, and they know much more. In their cold country there is no food ready to be eaten all the year round. They have to fight very hard for a living, and this has made them strong and brave and cunning."
"It is very wonderful," said the Sun.
"Look at those people by the seashore," Mother Nature went on. "See what splendid fishermen and sailors they are getting to be. And those strong hunters, who live in the mountains, and those farmers, beginning to raise grain and other things for food. Each tribe is learning different things, depending on its surroundings. Soon those tribes on the plains will have great herds of buffalo, and sheep and other animals, and later on they will teach them to work, and to carry them on their backs, and pull heavy loads. They will use their milk for food, too, and the wool and hair from their backs they will weave into warm, strong cloth from which to make clothing. After a while you will see these tribes wandering thousands of miles with their flocks and herds, going north in summer and south in winter to find fresh grass for their animals. The people will live in tents, and ride horses and camels, and they will be called nomads."
"How are they going to catch these animals?" asked the Sun.
"Some they will capture while very young. For others they will make traps by digging pits in the ground and covering them over with thin rushes and grass. The animals will walk on the rushes, thinking they are on solid ground, and so fall into the pits, and be caught."
"These different peoples don't like each other," the Sun said. "They fight whenever they meet."