:09:02
Xi had never seen anything
like this in his life.
:09:06
It looked like water, but it was harder
than anything else in the world.
:09:11
He wondered why the gods
had sent this thing down to the earth.
:09:19
It was the strangest and most
beautiful thing they had ever seen.
:09:23
They wondered why the gods
had sent it to them.
:09:32
Pabo got his finger stuck in the thing and
the children thought he was very funny.
:09:47
Xi tried the thing out to cure thongs.
It had the right shape and weight.
:09:54
It was also beautifully smooth
and ideal for curing snakeskin.
:10:03
And Pabo discovered
you could make music on it.
:10:07
And every day they discovered
a new use for the thing.
:10:13
It was harder and heavier and smoother
than anything they'd ever known.
:10:18
It was the most useful thing
the gods had ever given them.
:10:21
A real labour-saving device.
:10:25
But the gods had been careless.
They had sent only one.
:10:28
Now, for the first time, here was a
thing that could not be shared...
:10:33
...because there was only one of it.
:10:41
Suddenly, everybody needed it
most of the time.
:10:44
A thing they had never needed before
became a necessity.
:10:47
And unfamiliar emotions
began to stir.
:10:50
A feeling of wanting to own,
of not wanting to share.