Once upon a time, a log – of dense, aromatic wood – lying in the forest, was happily ablaze.
Until one day, some people discovered the log and covered it with sand to extinguish the fire, thinking it unseemly, and possibly dangerous.
Many years later, a man searching for a rare species, came across the mound of sand that concealed the log.
To his astonishment, when he removed the sand to find what was underneath, the fire reignited and fierce flames sprang from the log.
Miraculously, the fire had survived all those years without oxygen as a dormant glow deep within the wood.