The Black Diamond

Long long ago when the earth was a swampy land with dense trees, plants and forests, layers of dirt and rock covered these plants over millions of years. The resulting pressure and heat turned the plants into a black substance.....that no one knew. Until one day.....

It was a cool winter night, the family was sitting beside the fire. The father was getting disappointed....he had to go back to the forest and bring dried twigs and branches time and again since strong cold air blew and they were feeling cold the animal skin could hardly cover every part of their body. The babies and mothers should be protected from the freezing cold. Grumping he stood again to bring the woods, the children were playing beside the fire, the boar hung on a wooden plank made from the dried branches of the trees to be roasted.

Human has by then discovered the utilisation of fire. While playing the small child took a rock and threw it into the dying fire.....the fire with a sudden jolt sparked as if it was given a life...the father watched this, he suddenly saw that his son was playing with a few black stones...he took few pieces and threw it in the fire, the fire swallowed them and glowed brightly......."Eureka...Eureka"

But what these stones were? Though the fire lasted a little longer with time it died again..now it's time to bring the dried twigs and branches......The father got up and walked away from the cave into the forest. A few hours later he came back with only a few twigs, the frost had wet all the dried twigs and they would not burn, the cold was killing them.Somehow they managed with feeble fire at night.When the morning sun rose,the father went out for a hunt and collecting dried twigs and branches to burn during the nights, while looking for a hunt in the forest he came near a trench.....it was filled with the same black stones, shining in the sunlight, giving sparkles like a diamond...He filled his animal skin bladder and started to look for the hunt and dried twigs. At night when he came back to his cave, he had a close look at the black stones..they were as black as tar.....the fire was lit, slowly and gradually he threw a stone and two into the fire, the fire swallowed the stones and burnt furiously and gave heat to them, but it caused smoke....never mind the heat was better, woods burns away quickly but this stone kept burning till the sunrise keeping them warm.

The discovery of this black diamond slowly and gradually helped in developing humankind nor did it open the door for industries but with its powerful method of burning became high demand fuel more than a Diamond...This black diamond was named coal. It was black but elegant and powerful which could be used as fuel to cook and keep warm and away from animals. With the revolution, coal was used to bake pots by the potters, and the powerful black diamond was used in steam engines, and industries, in generating power and electricity. So is the power of this sediment rock... it's black yet powerful enough to destroy everything when set on fire......