The story of the man who invented fire

After many years of work, an inventor discovered the art of making fire. He took his tools and set off for the northern regions covered in eternal snows, where he initiated a tribe into the art of fire-making and its benefits. The people were so absorbed by this novelty that they forgot to thank the inventor, who one day disappeared.
As one of those few people endowed with the gift of modesty, he did not wish to be remembered or respected by the people. The only thing he wanted was the satisfaction of knowing that someone had benefited from his discovery. The next tribe he went to was just as eager to learn as the first, but the local priests, seeing the influence the stranger had on the people, ordered his murder. To avoid suspicion of murder, they installed a portrait of the Great Inventor in the very altar of the temple and designed a special liturgy for him, so that everyone would worship him and his name would never be forgotten. They decreed that the new liturgy would always be held and that it would never be changed. The tools for obtaining fire were installed in a box, and the priests affirmed that all who laid their hands upon them with great faith would be healed. The High Priest himself undertook the task of writing a book about the Life of the Inventor. This became the Sacred Book of the tribe, in which his goodness and love were spoken of as an example that should be followed by everyone, in which his life was praised and his nature was decreed superhuman. The priests saw to it that the new Bible passed from the hands of one generation to the next, authoritatively interpreting the meaning of the words written in it, namely the holy life of the Great Inventor and his death. Those who deviated from this doctrine were punished by death or excommunication. Caught in the trap of these religious duties, people completely forgot how fire should be made.
( People continued to bow and offer sacrifices before the altar, but there was no fire ......)
From the volume "The Frog's Prayer" by Anthony de Mello