Supplemental Guide to Lord of the Flies/Fire on the Mountain

Ralph, Jack and Piggy hastily return from their tour of the island. Now, they call another meeting. A small boy with a visible birthmark says he has seen a snake (that will later become the beast). Ralph says that they need to make a fire in order to be rescued - the children eagerly take up this challenge and rush to the top of the mountain, and move the wood in order to build it. Piggy finds this very childish. When they have built it, there is no way to light it. Jack takes Piggy's glasses against his will. He lights the fire using the glasses as a magnifying glass. The fire gets so big and out of control that it sets the forest ablaze on one side of the mountain. They soon realize one of the "littluns", the boy with the birthmark, has probably been killed by the huge fire. The boys go to sleep by the now contained fire and ignore the littlun's presumed death.