There were two brothers-in-law in one village. One was a blacksmith who forged spears and axes. The other was a carpenter. One night elephants trumpeted near the village, and the carpenter borrowed a spear from the blacksmith to hunt them.
After a hard chase he struck an elephant in the thigh, but the wounded animal fled into the bush with the spear still lodged in its body. The carpenter searched and failed. In the morning the blacksmith demanded the very same spear, refusing any replacement. So the carpenter took his dog and went back into the wild.
For nine days and nights he found nothing. On the tenth day he met elephants and asked about the wounded one. They told him the elephant had left the earth and gone down to the underworld, still carrying the spear. They gave the carpenter directions: southward, over three hills and across three rivers.
The journey was long and dark. After forty days and nights he reached the underworld and greeted its chief. The chief fed him and listened to his request. Yes, an elephant had arrived with a spear. The carpenter could take it, but only if he could identify it among many spears in the chief's armoury.
The room was full of weapons, all alike, all rusted. The carpenter was troubled, but his dog understood. It smelled spear after spear, then pulled one down and laid it at its master's feet. The chief admired such cleverness and offered a reward.
The carpenter remembered the darkness of the road and saw that fire burned in the underworld. He asked for a portion of it. The chief gave it freely, saying it could serve the carpenter and all his people. With the spear, the fire, and the dog, the carpenter returned home. The village celebrated his return, and from that journey fire came to human hands.