A rakshasa who had once been promised Puloma finds her alone and demands that the household fire say whose wife she is. Agni, a witness to her wedding, answers truthfully and slowly: she was chosen first by the rakshasa but married to Bhrigu with rites. The rakshasa carries her off as a boar; her child falls from the womb, shining, and the abductor burns to ash. Bhrigu curses Agni to eat everything. Agni argues that a witness who lies or stays silent is guilty, refrains from cursing back, and withdraws from all sacrifices. Brahma rules that only his lower flame and the digestive fire will eat all things, and that whatever he burns shall be pure.
On Balarama's pilgrimage the ford called Agnitirtha is explained: Agni, terrified by Bhrigu's curse, hid inside sami wood. The gods asked Brahma to create fire, then searched with Indra and Brihaspati, found him in the sami and went home. Agni became an eater of everything as Bhrigu had said.
What is different here:
No rakshasa, no speech in defence, no strike and no ruling by Brahma; Agni hides from fear and the curse takes effect unsoftened. Links the sami-tree hiding to this curse.
Mahabharata, Anushasana Parva 85 (sami tree without the curse)
Pan-IndiaAll traditions
The gods need Agni to father the slayer of Taraka. A frog, an elephant and a parrot betray his hiding places in turn; he is found in a sami tree, whose wood becomes the kindling of sacrifice.
What is different here:
Explains the same sami-tree hiding with no mention of Bhrigu or a curse on Agni; told in full under agni-hides-in-the-waters.