For children: The tale of how young Hanuman learnt to make fire and also control it

After he had mastered the art of Pramanthan, or making fire by striking wood on wood, the King sent forth Hantara and Byadha to teach his subjects.

Though they slept at night in the royal palace, the two men spent their days among the commoner monkeys of the realm. During their absence, Hanuman experimented on a way of making fire more easily than by striking long pieces of timber on one another. He thought of producing the flame by striking a metal on a rock. Alas, he failed almost invariably, no matter what he tried.

One day, completely downhearted, he begged for his mother’s advice: “You, who are versed in the ways of men and gods, you alone can guide me.”

To comfort his dejected spirit, Anjana readily spoke of the source to which he should go: “You must go to the maker of fire in the sky, the Thunder-god.”

“But how can I reach and speak to the Thundergod?” Hanuman wished to be instructed. “Instruct me, please.”

“That is easy,” Anjana assured him. “During a thunderstorm, leap up to the sky and see the way he, the Thunder, ignites his bolts.”

“But would not the bolt scorch me?” Hanuman asked with trepidation.

“That it cannot, if you approach the god...

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