The Fire Demon

The young fire demon had been very good that year, or so she told her parents. She ate up all her fuel. She started several notable fires, including one three alarm blaze. She had even begun to learn to fight other fires using only herself. She had, by all accounts, been a very good fire demon and thus, she deserved a very special treat on Burning Night, the evening of the first cold snap of the harvest when all the fireplaces around town got their first good blazes since the previous winter. All she wanted was a riding log of her very own, perhaps some white oak or hickory that would burn hot and last a long time.

A week before Burning Night, a great rain came, and a fire the young demon had worked so hard to start went out with a splash and a sizzle. Dejected, the young demon hung her head in shame, knowing that with such a complete failure to get a good burn going she would have a very dull holiday indeed.

And then, to her surprise when she rose with the moon on that first cold snap in November, she saw such bounty in the fireplace that she could scarcely believe her eyes. A whole fire pit full of every type of log imaginable, from maple to dogwood, and ash and birch and pecan. All night long and well into the afternoon the following day, she danced from one log to the next, riding away and glowing bright with each new bit of wood. She had never been happier.

- Originally mailed to D. Murphey from Ocean Springs, Mississippi