making fire

Once there lived a man who discovered how to make fire. He was a good man and did not keep the discovery to himself. He went around from village to village — showing people how to make fire and explaining its uses for cooking, for keeping people warm on cold evenings, for burning off the undergrowth in the garden, for lighting up the village at times of festivity.
Soon he became a very popular figure. Everyone wanted to meet him, hear him and learn how to make fire. He came to be so popular that some became jealous of him and said he was dangerous and that his fire could cause harm. So they arranged quietly for someone to kill him. However, they were very shrewd. After his death, they arranged for a big shrine to be built in his honour. A large image of him together with his instruments for making fire were set up in the shrine. People came regularly to honour him and days were set aside during the year when his work was recalled and celebrated. Songs were composed about him and a special book was written about his life and work and everyone had copies of it to read.
Over the years it was amazing to see how many shrines big and small were constructed in his honour, how many people celebrated feasts in his honour, and how many hours people spent reading the great book about him, studying his words and singing songs to his memory.
It was truly remarkable! However, the strange thing was that very little fire was being made. People were so busy honouring him, reading about him, studying his words, singing songs about him and celebrating his memory that there was not much time left to actually make fire. the man was remembered and celebrated but the wonderful gift he came to communicate was almost forgotten.