white man lights big fire

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Like many old sayings, this seems to have many forms:

http://ourcountryhaven.com/OCH1/viewtopic.php?t=7
"Old Indian saying,
(White man builds big fire and steps back,
indian builds small fire and steps up.) "

http://www.chilit.org/KREYCHE.HTM
"I recall the old Indian saying that " The Waschitu (whites) build big fire, sit far away. Red man build small fire, sit close." "

http://anpa.ualr.edu/digital_library/gibson/gibson.htm
"The Indian builds a small fire and sits comfortable by it. The white man builds a big fire and has to move back and forward, to and from it, and does not enjoy his fire."

and although I can't find a copy of it on the internet, I always heard it as "red man builds small fire and keeps warm; white man builds large fire and keeps warm collecting / chopping wood"

In all cases, it favours the indian and puts the white man into a bad light. It can be translated into a more PC version as the 'wise man' vs. the 'foolish man'.

No doubt the wise man would also have built a large fire if bears were a danger... :)

ODG
 
Well, my signature is Scots Gaelic for
"Better a small fire that warms you than a big fire that burns you"

So does that mean we discovered America or something?
 

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