And this was something that no one else of the Folk had ever done.

We were the first of the Folk to set foot on the north bank of the river, and, for that matter, I believe the last.

That they would have done so in the time to come is undoubted; but the migration of the Fire People, and the consequent migration of the survivors of the Folk, set back our evolution for centuries.
Indeed, there is no telling how disastrous was to be the outcome of the Fire People's migration.

Personally, I am prone to believe that it brought about the destruction of the Folk; that we, a branch of lower life budding toward the human, were nipped short off and perished down by the roaring surf where the river entered the sea.

Of course, in such an eventuality, I remain to be accounted for; but I outrun my story, and such accounting will be made before I am done..