Long ago, there lived a chief who had a beautiful daughter. There were many suitors who wanted to marry her. But the chief thought that they were not good for his daughter. Among the other suitors were Fire and Rain. They, too, wished to marry the chief’s daughter. Rain went up to her and proposed to her for marriage. The chief’s daughter said, “Yes!” Exactly at the same time, Fire went to the chief and said, “I want to marry your daughter. Will you give her to me as my wife?” The chief agreed. The chief ordered his servants to call for his daughter. When she came, he said to her, “My dear daughter, you will marry Fire. I gave him my promise.” She said that she could not marry Fire as she had promised Rain for the marriage. The chief was confused, “What shall we do? You can’t marry both of them.”
The Race
The next day, both Fire and Rain came to meet the chief and his daughter. The chief said to them. “Tomorrow my daughter will be married.” “To me?” asked Fire. “To me?” asked Rain. The chief replied, “My daughter will marry the one who wins the race.” On the day of the race, a huge crowd assembled to see the race. Some people said that Fire would win while the others said that Rain would be the winner. But the chief’s daughter wanted to marry Rain. At last, the race began. The wind helped Fire to run very quickly. But nobody could see Rain. Where was it? The crowd shouted. “Look, Fire is about to reach the finish line!’” Suddenly, Rain began to fall from the sky and put out Fire. Sadly. Fire could not finish the race. The people cried, “Rain is the winner!” The chief married off his daughter to Rain and they lived happily. From that day onwards, Fire and Rain are enemies.
