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Sometime after the ice retreated from Europe, populations of humans started organizing into groups. In Northern Africa, some of those transitioned from nomadic hunters into agricultural communities. Building architectures sprang up as people learned that tents made of skins simply weren’t suited to long-term domestic needs. Trades and forms of currency developed as did forms of accounting. During this transition…

The Fire Pit Parable

As the larger cats were hunted to extinction, Og, being somewhat foresighted, decided that hunting had limited career potential. He also decided that it was time to settle down. But being a hunter, he knew little of gathering or domestic needs. Og’s skill as a hunter was unsurpassed. So he agreed to trade a rather large amount of his annual catch to two local building designers who were playing with triangular shaped buildings. The conversation went something like this:

Og: “Og!” and pointed to himself.

Tarc:   “You want building? You trade.”

Og: “Og!” and pointed to a pile of skins. Og is, like many of his time, not particularly good at verbal communications.

Tarc: “What building?”

Og: “Og!” and waved his hands in large triangular movements.

Tarc: “Many people?”

Og: “Og!” and waved his hands pointing at all the people in his group.

Tarc: “Much stuff?”

Og: “Og!” jumping up and down, he points to his pile of skins, clubs, and rocks.

Tarc: “Many people, much stuff means big building, much cost.”

Og: “Og!” and pointed to a pile of skins again as if were obvious that he had the money and why didn’t Tarc understand in the first place.

Tarc: “Good. We build. You pay.”

Og concluded at this point, that his intent was fully understood and would be executed according to his expectations (wildest dreams).

The next season brought many changes to the world. The water level in the Nile had dropped another foot, but that had been going on since anyone remembered, so it was expected. The saber-toothed tiger had all but disappeared, much to the credit, or blame, of people like Og. Another ten percent of the grasslands had been turned to desert by the new, environmentally unfriendly, goat herding industry. And, as a rather not so trivial side note, for people of the Nile valley, the secret of fire had been rediscovered.

While returning to his expected new home, Og passed through one of the nearby settlements, and found that fire was, in fact, good. He immediately doubled his pace, in excitement, to return home, to try out his new fire pit.

Upon returning home, he found a beautiful adobe crafted out of limestone and wood. There were rooms for everyone, places to store food, and even empty rooms so that he could add to his family without worry. What was missing was a place for fire.

Og: “Og!” in anger, and picked up a rock, looking for Tarc.

Tarc: “What wrong? We build. You pay. Deal good.”

Og: “Og!” and pointed to the fire pits being used by other people in the village. “Og!” pointing back at his very expensive home, even more expensive now since there were fewer skins available than when the project was started.

Tarc:   “We put. You pay.”

Og: “Og!” sticking his tongue out in disgust. Og figured that, since fire was the generally accepted standard, Tarc should have incorporated it into his designs.

Tarc:   “No pay. No fire.”

Og: “Og!!!” This only served to infuriate Og even more. He felt that he was justified in his assumption that he was paying good skins for the best building made. He didn’t know what he needed, since he wasn’t a house builder, and trusted those who knew to make a good house. Good was now defined as having a fire pit.

After considering the matter, being rather irate about the whole thing, Og realized that he could make his own fire pit. He picked up a flat rock and started digging in one of the lower rooms of his home. He dug and dug until his heals were so covered in dirt that he’d have to take a trip to the Nile to get clean. But he now had his fire pit. Of course, you might guess what happened next.

Og dug a fire pit based on what he saw others doing. It was a good fire pit. A well built fire bit. A fire pit in an inside room with no windows. Og was a hunter, not a building engineer. He didn’t know that you needed a chimney or some ventilation for the smoke. He did discover something wrong the first time he started his fire, as the smoke covered everything in the room with soot and made him very sick. Being wise, he knew something was wrong, so he put out the fire by covering the fire pit with sand.

This caused two things to happen: the fire was out; and the fire pit was no longer usable. Og fell back against the wall in exhaustion, and from the effects smoke inhalation, and considered what he would do.

With regret, Og went back to Tarc, gave him more skins, and got his fire pit and was satisfied, but unhappy.

Some months later, Og heard something about being able to move water from the Nile across the ground using channels of stone. He thought this might be a very good idea for the community, but, couldn’t seem to get that point across to anyone, having a very limited vocabulary.

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The author leaves you to draw your own morals and lessons from this story. However, the characters of Og and Tarc are intended to be of the highest caliber in each of their own fields.