Hardwood sticks are rubbed against the wood or drilled into it to get fire by friction.
Idiom Pronunciation:
钻木取火
zuān mù qǔ huǒ
Origin:
《关尹子·二柱》：“形之所自生者，如钻木得火。”
Story:
Legend has it that in the ancient barbaric times, people did not know that there was fire, nor did they know how to use it. At night, it was pitch dark, the roar of wild animals intermittently, people huddled together, cold and afraid. Because there was no fire, people could only eat raw food, often fell ill, and did not live long.
There was a celestial god named Fuxi, who was sad to see such a difficult life on earth, and he wanted to help people realize the usefulness of fire. He wanted to help people realize the usefulness of fire. So, Fuxi showed his magic power and sent a thunderstorm in the mountains and forests. With a loud “click”, lightning struck the trees, and the trees burned into a big fire in a short time. People were thunder and lightning and the unprecedented fire scared to run around. Soon, the thunderstorm stopped, nightfall, after the rain, the earth more wet and cold. Scattered people gathered again to keep each other warm, they looked at the burning trees in horror.
One young man suddenly noticed that the roar of the wild beasts, which had often appeared around him before, was gone, and he thought, “Are the beasts afraid of this glowing thing?” So he bravely went to the fire, and he found that his body was suddenly much warmer. He excitedly greeted everyone: “Come on, this shiny thing is not scary at all, it can also bring us light and warmth!” At the same time, there are people found not far from the burning beast, emitting a fragrance. People tentatively gathered around the fire and shared the meat of the burned beast, feeling that they had never eaten such a delicious meal.
In this way, people felt the preciousness of fire, they picked up branches, lit them, and kept them as kindling. Every day, someone took turns to guard the fire to keep it from going out. But one day, the man on guard fell asleep, and the fire burned out the branches and went out. The people were plunged back into darkness and cold, and suffered terribly.
Seeing all this in the human world, the heavenly god Fuxi entrusted a dream to the young man who first discovered the usefulness of fire, telling him, “There is a Suiming country in the far west, where there is fire, and you can go there and get it back.” The young man woke up, remembered what the gods had said in the dream, and resolved to go to Suiming to find the fire.
The young man went over a high mountain, crossed a big river, went through a forest, and finally arrived at Suiming country after a lot of hardships. But here there is no sunlight, day and night, all around the dark, there is no fire. The young man was very disappointed, so he sat under a big tree called “Suimu” to rest. Suddenly, there was a flash of light in front of the young man’s eyes, and then another flash, lighting up the surrounding area very brightly. The young man immediately stood up and looked around for the light source. At this time he found in the Sui Mu tree, there are several large birds are using short and hard beak pecking the tree insects. As soon as they peck, the tree will flash bright sparks. The young man saw this scene, a flash of light in his head. He immediately broke some branches of the wood, with small branches to drill large branches, the branches did flash fire, but can not start a fire. The young man was not discouraged, and found a variety of branches, patiently using different branches to rub. Finally, the branch smoke, and then out of the fire. The young man wept with joy.
Later, the young man returned to his hometown and brought the people there a way to drill wood for fire that would never go out, and from then on, people no longer had to live in cold and fear. The people were so impressed by the young man’s courage and wisdom that they elected him as their chief and called him “the flint man”, which means the one who takes fire.
