“Chew-chew tried to teach the children how to know the hissing sound.”The bubbling ceased, but Chew-chew was still afraid. So she called the children together, and took them into the cave.When the men and women came home that night, Chew-chew told them what had happened. They went to the spot and saw the meat, which they thought the god had left. Then they listened in silence as Chew-chew told them the story again and again.THINGS TO DOChoose some one for each of the parts and dramatize the story.Draw pictures which will show what happened.See if you can boil water by dropping hot stones into it.Show in your sand-box how the skins were stretched out, and how the skin-lined hole was made.XTHINGS TO THINK ABOUTWhat do you think Chew-chew might learn by dropping the meat into the hot water?What kind of boiling-pots did people first use?Why didn’t they hang their boiling-pots over the fire?Why the Children Began to Eat Boiled MeatThe more Chew-chew thought about the bubbling sound, the more she wanted to hear it again. She wondered what the god wanted to say, and if he was asking for food. She wondered if she could make friends with him by giving him something to eat.Chew-chew talked with Eagle-eye and at length they tried to make friends with the god. They prepared a place for the water by making a skin-lined hole. Eagle-eye poured the water into the hole, while Chew-chew dropped in a piece of meat. Then they looked and listened for a sign, but no sign was made. They tried it again and again, but still there was no sign.At length Chew-chew thought of the hot stones she had dropped when she heard the voice. So she and Eagle-eye heated stones and dropped them into the water. As they did it they muttered prayers to the gods and asked them to protect the Cave-men.Before the women had dropped many stones, the children crowded around. Nobody was frightened this time when the hissing sound was heard. But their eyes opened wide when the water began to bubble.Chew-chew dropped the meat into the water as an offering to the god. Everybody watched as she dropped the meat. Everybody breathed more freely when the bubbling ceased. And Chew-chew said, “The god is pleased with the offering of meat.”Many times after that Chew-chew dropped hot stones into the water, and offered meat to the god. But when she did it she never thought that she was cooking meat. She thought she was helping the Cave-men by winning the favor of the god.Sometimes when the children were hungry, Chew-chew let them tear off strips of partly boiled meat. Sometimes she let them drink the broth from bone dippers and horns.The children liked to eat the boiled meat and to drink the rich broth. But they always thought the meat and broth were what the god had left.THINGS TO DOMake tongs out of sticks and see if you can lift small objects with them.Watch water when it boils, and tell where the steam comes from.Where does it go? Hold a cold plate over the steam and see what happens. Where do the drops of water on the plate come from?When water stands in the open air, what becomes of part of it?Why do we hang clothes out on the clothes-line to dry?What becomes of the water that was in the clothes?Tell what you think happens just as clouds form. See if you can do something that will show what happens at the time.What happens to the clouds just as it begins to rain?XITHINGS TO THINK ABOUTWhy would the grass-eating animals go from place to place during the summer? What do you think the Cave-men would do when the herds went away?At what season of the year are nuts fit to gather? Is there any place near by where you have a right to go nutting?What animals eat nuts? What animals store nuts? Do you think the Cave-men would gather many nuts?The Nutting SeasonSummer passed as summers had passed before. When the bison went to the higher lands, the Cave-men followed them. When they started toward their winter pastures, the Cave-men came home.“All the women and children went nutting.”It was the nutting season when they returned. All the beech, walnut, and butternut trees were heavily laden that year. The ground underneath their branches was nearly covered with nuts. Slender hazel bushes bent under their heavy loads.Wild hogs and bears had begun to harvest the nuts before the Cave-men returned. Each day they went to the trees and ate the nuts that had fallen. When Eagle-eye saw what they were doing, she said, “Bring your bags and baskets and come. If we do not look out the hogs will get the best of the nuts this year.”Then all the women and children went nutting. They gathered the nuts that lay upon the ground and put them in their baskets. Some climbed trees and shook the branches until they got a shower of nuts; others took their digging sticks and beat the heavily laden branches.The children had a feast that day. They sat down under the trees and cracked all the nuts they could eat. They gathered handfuls and helped their mothers fill baskets and skin bags. They climbed the trees and they laughed and played all day long.When the women first came to the trees, they heard the wild hogs in the distance. Once a big hog came up and tried to eat the nuts out of a basket. But Eagle-eye chased him with a big stick and drove him away from the spot.When Eagle-eye was coming back from the chase, she saw other trees heavily laden. She called to the women, and they came to the spot and forgot all about the nuts they had gathered.The wild hogs were having a feast.It was Chew-chew who first thought of the pile of nuts they had left on the ground. It was she who ran to the trees and found the wild hogs having a feast.Chew-chew struck one of the hogs with her digging stick. He was munching the nuts she had gathered. He turned away and she struck another; then the first hog came back.Chew-chew soon found that unless she had help the hogs would eat all the nuts, for as fast as she drove one hog away another one came back. Chew-chew screamed for help and the women came with their digging-sticks.The women drove the hogs away, but they returned again and again. And so the women learned to keep a close watch while they were gathering nuts. But in spite of all their trouble, they had a good time that day.It was not until they were starting home that they found that a serious thing had happened. They did not know all about it then, and some of them never knew.It was all about Fleetfoot. When Eagle-eye looked for him, he was nowhere to be seen. At first she thought he was with Chew-chew, but Chew-chew had not seen him since morn.Fleetfoot had played near his mother nearly all day. He had cracked nuts; he had climbed trees; he had mimicked the squirrels; he had scattered burrs in the rabbits’ paths, and he had done all sorts of things.But now Fleetfoot was lost, and everybody began to hunt for him. Eagle-eye found the stones he had leftonly a short time before. She found his tracks and followed them until they crossed the boundary of the hunting ground. There she lost all trace of him. She called, but the “caw-caw” of a crow was the only answer.The men heard her call, and came to join in the search. But in spite of all they could do, they did not find the child.And so the Cave-men thought they would never see Fleetfoot again. They thought he had lost his way in the forest and had been killed by a cave-bear. For a few days they mourned for the child, then they spoke no more of him.THINGS TO DOTell a story of what happened one time when you went nutting.Name all the nuts you can that grow on trees. Name those that grow on bushes. Where do peanuts grow?Dramatize this story.Draw a picture of the part you like the best.XIITHINGS TO THINK ABOUTWhy do people put up such signs as “Keep off,” “Do not trespass”?Why do people build fences around their land?Do you think the Cave-men could hunt wherever they chose?Why did each clan have its own hunting ground? What kind of boundaries did the hunting grounds have? Why was it not safe to go on the land of a stranger?Why did mothers teach their children the boundary lines?What do you think some mothers mean when they tell their children that the “Bogie-man” will get them?Why Mothers Taught their Children the Boundary LinesEach day brought so many hard things to do that most of the Cave-men forgot Fleetfoot. But his mother and grandmother did not forget him. They often thought of the boy they had lost.Other mothers were afraid they might lose their children. So they tried to keep them from running away. Most of all, they tried to keep them from running across the boundary line.When Pigeon tried to run away, Eagle-eye would say, “The cave-bear will get you.” Mothers tried all sorts of ways to keep their children from danger.Each clan had its own hunting ground. The people who lived together shared it, but no one else was allowed to hunt on the land. It was not even safe to cross the land of a stranger. Sometimes the Cave-men had to do it. Sometimes they had to call upon their neighbors for help. But since there were people who had lost their lives when trying to cross the land of strangers, the Cave-men learned to use signs to show what they wanted. They carved pictures upon sticks, which told what we might tell in a letter.When a stranger carried a message-stick, it was safe for him to do his errand. People knew what he wanted and why he came, so they let him go on his way unharmed. But when a stranger had no message-stick, his life was not safe in a strange land.“Mothers taught their children what the boundaries were.”And so people learned to stay on their own lands and mothers taught their children what the boundaries were. They taught the children to name them over and over again. They taught them to know how the boundaries looked.For a long time Pigeon had to tell her mother each day the boundaries of the hunting grounds. She would stand on the cliff and point north to the narrow valley, then south to Little River. Then she pointed to a high ridge of hills toward the east and west to the River of Stones.While Pigeon was so small that Eagle-eye had to take her by the hand, her mother took her to the boundaries. Eagle-eye had taught her so well that she knew them as soon as she saw them.Perhaps you have heard the story told about mothers who taught their children the boundary lines. It is told that mothers used to be so anxious to have their children remember the boundaries that they whipped them at each one. Then the story is told that in later times instead of beating the children, people let them beat the boundaries. Some day you may be able to learn more about the strange customs of beating the boundary lines.THINGS TO DOMark out in your sand-box the boundary lines of the hunting ground of the Horse clan. Show a good place for another hunting ground.Ask some one to read you the story, “The Goblins will get you if you don’t watch out.” What do you think the story means?Climb a hill, or look out of a high window, and see if you can find land which at one time was a good hunting ground.See if you can make a message-stick.XIIITHINGS TO THINK ABOUTWhat do you think had happened to Fleetfoot?If strangers found him, what do you think they would do with him?What Happened to FleetfootPerhaps you have been wondering what happened to Fleetfoot. Perhaps you would like to know how he happened to wander away from his clan.It happened in this way. He cracked all the nuts he could eat; he climbed trees; he threw sticks and stones; he watched the wild hogs eating nuts; he listened to the whistle which Scarface blew to call the men to the hunt. He wished that he could blow the whistle and hunt with the men.Then a rabbit hopped across his path and stopped and looked at him. How Fleetfoot longed to catch the rabbit and to hold him in his hands! He stood perfectly still; he could hear himself breathe; he tried to breathe more quietly, for he did not want to frighten the rabbit.The rabbit started. How Fleetfoot wished he would go down the path where he had scattered burrs! But the rabbit took another path and Fleetfoot ran to catch him. He was almost sure he could lay his hands on the rabbit’s stumpy white tail.The rabbit was too quick for him, yet Fleetfoot did not give up. He started on a hard chase and forgot about everything else. Up hill and down the rabbitran and Fleetfoot followed after. Not until the rabbit was out of sight did Fleetfoot give up the chase. Then he stopped and rested a while and tried to get his breath.While Fleetfoot was resting he looked at the squirrels which were chattering in the trees. He watched them hold nuts with their forepaws while they gnawed through the shells. He listened to their chattering and then he wandered on.Fleetfoot did not know that he had crossed the narrow valley. He did not know that he had wandered into a strange land. He thought nothing about where he was until some time had passed. But after a while everything seemed still, and Fleetfoot began to feel lonesome. And so he turned around to go back to the women and children.Fleetfoot walked and walked, but he did not find them. He called, but no answer came. So he wandered on and on.Soon Fleetfoot knew he was in a spot he had never seen before. Everything seemed strange. He looked this way and that; but he could not tell which way to go. And so the lost child wandered farther and farther away from home.He was choking down a sob when he caught sight of some women with packs upon their backs. Fleetfoot thought he had found his people going home with their loads of nuts. He ran and called to his mother.A strange woman stopped and looked at the child. Then she gave a signal to her clan.Fleetfoot was within reach of the strange womanbefore he saw his mistake. He tried to run away. But he could not do it. A big man caught him and lifted him up and put him upon his shoulder. Strange men, women, and children crowded around and stared into his face.“A big man caught him, and put him upon his shoulder.”Bighorn asked him where he lived; but Fleetfoot was too frightened to speak. He remembered the stories Chew-chew had told about strange clans. He wondered what the strangers would do. How he wished he were safe at home!But poor Fleetfoot did not see his home again for many long years. He was in a strange land, and soon he was traveling with the strangers far away from his home.A woman, whose name was Antler, took charge of Fleetfoot. She took him by the hand until he was too tired to walk. Then she carried him until they came to the place where they camped for the night.THINGS TO DOChoose some one for each of the parts and see if you can act out this story. Draw pictures to illustrate the story.Name the wild animals you can find in your neighborhood. Notice what they eat. Do they help or harm the people near where they live?Model one of these animals in clay.XIVTHINGS TO THINK ABOUTWhat kind of a shelter do you think the people will have for the night?Think of as many easy ways as you can of making a shelter out of trees.How the Strangers Camped for the NightThe camping place was an old one. It had been used many times. The strange clan always used it on their way to and from the lowland plains. It was under a big oak tree, and near a spring of fresh water.When the strangers reached the camp, Greybeard took charge of Fleetfoot. The women quickly unloaded their packs, and began to build a tent.It did not take long to make the tent, for it was almost ready-made. It was an old oak, which reached out long and low-spreading branches. The branches had been bent to the ground many times, and now they nearly touched it. So all that the women had to do was to fasten the ends firmly. They did it by rolling a stone over the end of a branch, and sometimes they tied the end of a branch to a peg which they had driven in the ground.All the Cave-men made such tents in the summer when they were away from the caves. When the branches were not thick enough for a shelter, the women broke saplings and leaned them against the tree.While Chipper worked at a spearhead, the other men were moving about. Bighorn feared that Fleetfoot’s clan might follow their tracks.Long after Fleetfoot fell asleep, the strangers talked quietly. They held their ears close to the ground and listened. They went and looked at Fleetfoot, now fast asleep. Then they all sat down by the fire.“The tent was an old oak, which reached out long and low-spreading branches.”At length the men turned to Greybeard. And Greybeard spoke to them and said, “When I was young my clan lived in a cave near Sweet Briar River. Every year, in the salmon season, the neighboring clans met at the rapids. The Horse clan came from the Fork of the River, where the Sweet Briar joins the River of Stones. They may live there still. This boy may belong to them.”“Do you think they will follow us?” asked Bighorn.Greybeard looked up, but did not speak. He seemed to be trying to think. At length he turned to the men and said, “Sleep until the moon sets; I’ll watch and wake you.”So the Cave-men went to the tent and slept while Greybeard kept watch. Not a sound escaped his ear that night. Not a leaf rustled that he did not hear. Not a twig broke, as wild animals passed, but that he found out what it meant.As Greybeard watched in the moonlight he heard many a familiar sound. Now he heard the roar of a tiger, and again the “hoo-hoo” of an owl; now the howling of hyenas, and again an eagle’s scream.Among all these sounds Greybeard heard nothing that seemed to come from the lost child’s clan. But when the moon was set he roused the people, and under cover of the darkness they hurried toward home.They let Fleetfoot sleep, for fear he might answer if he were called. And so the child slept while he was hurried away through the darkness. At daybreak, when he awoke, he found himself in a new home.THINGS TO DOSee if there is a tree in your neighborhood that could be made into such a tent as the Cave-men made.Find a thick branch and make such a tent in your sand-box.Draw one of these pictures:—The council of the clan before going to sleep.Greybeard watching in the moonlight.Hurrying home under cover of the darkness.Fleetfoot awakes and finds himself in his new home.Act out part of this story and let some one guess what it is.Write as many calls of the birds as you know. Model one of the birds in clay. If you know its nest, model that.XVTHINGS TO THINK ABOUTHow do you think Fleetfoot felt the first few days he was with the strange clan?What do you think he will learn of them? What do you think he can teach them?Fleetfoot is Adopted by the Bison ClanFor a few days Fleetfoot missed his mother and Chew-chew more than he could tell. He missed little Pigeon, too. He missed the people he had always seen. But he said very little about them.It was Greybeard who told him that he was now living with the Bison clan. Not all of the people belonged to that clan, but there were more of that clan than of any other. And so they were known as the Bison clan.At first Fleetfoot was afraid of the men and large boys. Most of all he was afraid of Bighorn, for it was Bighorn who captured him.But before one moon had passed, he was adopted by the Bison clan. And soon after that, he began to feel at home. Greybeard told him stories, and gave him little spears. Antler was kind to him, and the children were always ready to play.A skin stretched on a frame.Fleetfoot liked to play with the children. He liked to play with Flaker best of all. Flaker was Antler’s child, and he was about the size of Fleetfoot.A scraper.As the days became cold, the women worked upon skins. There was not a smooth spot near the cave which was not covered with a skin. Fleetfoot watched Antler as she cut little slits in the edges. He helped stretch the skins out on the ground and drive little pegs through the slits. He watched her stretch a skin on a frame and put it near the fire.Antler scraped a skin until the fat was off, and the inner skin was removed. Then she roughened it by scraping it crosswise, so as to make it flexible.When Fleetfoot saw Antler roll the skins in a loose roll, he asked if she was going to chew them. Antler smiled as she asked Fleetfoot how his mother softened skins.Fleetfoot showed how his mother did it. And he told Antler about Chew-chew. He told her that Chew-chew got her name because she learned to chew the skins.While Antler and Fleetfoot were talking, all the women and children gathered around. They wanted to see what they were doing, and to hear what Fleetfoot said.Then Antler said to the women and children, “These skins are ready to soften. Come, join hands and show Fleetfoot how we soften hard skins.”A hammer of reindeer horn.What a noisy time they had for a little while! Each group wanted to finish first. Some of them stamped the skins, and kept time by singing. Others pounded the skins with their hands, and still others pounded with hammers of reindeer horn.They had such a merry time that Fleetfoot could not keep still. He was soon stamping and singing as well as any one.When the skins were softened, Antler told Fleetfoot that once her people chewed the skins. But since they had found an easier way, they chewed only the edges they wished to sew.And so Fleetfoot began to learn lessons of the Bison clan. But once he was the teacher. It was when heshowed Flaker what happened the day Pigeon played with hot stones. Flaker told his mother, and Antler told Greybeard. And then Greybeard asked Fleetfoot to drop the hot stones in the water again.All the Cave-men gathered around to see what Fleetfoot did. When the steam began to rise from the water, they stepped back. But when they saw that the child was not afraid, they came forward cautiously.When the water began to bubble, they were all filled with fear. They looked upon Fleetfoot in silence. They called him a wonderful child.THINGS TO DOTell a story about dressing skins. Draw pictures which will show all that is done in dressing the skin.Dramatize the part of the story that tells what Fleetfoot taught the Bison clan. Draw a picture of it.Make a song that people might sing in stamping upon the skins.Make a song to sing while beating the skins.XVITHINGS TO THINK ABOUTWhat kind of clothes do you wear in winter? What do you think the Cave-men wore? Can you think how they learned to fit skins to their bodies? What part of an animal’s skin could they use for sleeves? What part could they use for leggings?How do you think they learned to make mittens and gloves?How many ways do you know of fastening garments? Which of these do we use? Which of these do you think the Cave-men used?What did they use instead of a needle? What kind of thread did they have?“Greybeard asked Fleetfoot to drop the hot stones in the water again.”How the Cave-men Protected Themselves from the ColdOne morning Fleetfoot started out of the cave, but a cold wind drove him back. Snow had fallen during the night, and the air had grown very cold. It was not fit for a bare-backed boy to go out on such a day. So Fleetfoot stayed in the cave all day long.All the Cave-men stayed in the cave nearly all the day. Once Chipper went out and found fresh tracks. He followed the tracks until he came within close range of a reindeer. But his bare arms shook with the cold, and he missed his aim.The next day was bitterly cold. The river was frozen almost into silence. Only the ripples of the swiftest currents laughed aloud at the frost. The snow was deep on the hillsides. It was deeper in the valleys, and the narrow ravines were almost filled with snow.The third day was still very cold and everybody was hungry and cross. The children were crying for food, and since Antler had nothing to give them, she was trying to get them to play.At length the children began to take turns at playing they were cave-bears. Now it was Fleetfoot’s turn to be the bear, and when Antler saw him she laughed.The Cave-men looked up in surprise. Everybody was so hungry and cross it seemed strange to hear any one laugh. But Antler really was laughing.Fleetfoot had found a cave-bear’s skin on a ledge inthe cave. He had wrapped it around him so that he looked like a little cave-bear. The children kept calling him “little bear,” and he was trying to act like one.Soon all the people were laughing. They forgot, for the time, how hungry they were. And the next day they had meat, for it was warm enough to go hunting.Many times after that the children played cave-bear. Many times the people laughed when they saw the children dressed in cave-bears’ skins. Once when Antler looked at them, she got an idea about making clothes.When Antler took a large skin and wrapped it around her, Fleetfoot thought that she was going to play “bear.” But Antler was not playing. She was thinking of the cold days when the children had no food. She was thinking that if she could make a warm dress, perhaps she could go out in the bitter cold.Antler talked with Birdcatcher about it, and Birdcatcher helped her fit the skin. Birdcatcher fitted the skin of the head over Antler’s head so as to make a warm hood. Then she run a cord through the slits along the edges and tied the ends under Antler’s chin.Antler fastened the skin down the front with buckles. She covered her arms with the skin of the forelegs. She cut off the skin that hung below the knees, and afterward used it to make a pair of leggings.When the garment was fitted, Antler took it off. Then the women sat down and worked until it was done. They punched holes through the edges with a bone awl. Then they threaded the sinew through the holes in an “over-and-over seam.”“When the men saw the new garment, they wondered how it was made.”When the men saw the new garment, they wondered how it was made. So Antler and Birdcatcher showed them how it was done, and helped them to make warm garments of their own.A Cave-man’s glove.And so all the Cave-men soon had warm garments of fur. Sometimes they fastened them with buckles, and sometimes they used bone pins. They made long leggings of soft skins, and moccasins for their feet.Perhaps you can think how they learned to make mittens and gloves. We know that they had warm mittens and gloves, for we have found pictures they made of them. When they dressed in their warm fur garments, the Cave-men did not fear the cold. If they wanted food, they put on their garments and went wherever they pleased.THINGS TO DOIf you can get a small skin, fit it to a doll the way you think the Cave-men fitted skins to their bodies. If you cannot get a skin, cut a piece of cloth so as to make it the shape of a skin, and show how the new suit was made.Find as many things as you can that you can use for pins, buttons, and buckles.Find as many ways as you can of sewing a simple seam. When you go to a museum notice how the seams are sewed. Why do you think people invented new stitches? Visit a shoemaker and notice how he sews.Draw one of these pictures:—The cold wind drives Fleetfoot into the cave.Playing “Cave-bear.”XVIITHINGS TO THINK ABOUTHow do you think the children played in the winter? What do you play in the winter?How do you think the Cave-men would hunt when there was only a light fall of snow?How would they hunt when the snow was deep?How would they hunt when there was a hard crust on the snow?How the Children Played in WinterWhen the children saw their fathers and mothers go out of doors, they, too, wanted to go. But they had no warm clothing, so their mothers tried to keep them in doors.Sometimes Fleetfoot and Flaker teased to go out and play in the snow. And when the days were warm enough, Antler let them go out and play. But on very cold days they had to stay in the cave.The children had good times in the cave. They played many animal games. They played they were grown men and women, and they made believe do all sorts of work. They peeked out of the cave many times each day. They heard their fathers and mothers talk. And they listened to Greybeard’s stories.And so the children always knew what the men and women were doing. After a heavy fall of snow, they knew they would trap the animals in the drifts. When a hard crust formed, they knew they would dig pitfalls.Antler often wished that the children might play out doors every day. Greybeard wanted the boys to learn to make pitfalls and traps. But neither Antler nor Greybeard had thought of making clothing for little children.The day Antler thought of making clothes for the boys, was the day they ran away to the pitfall. It was soon after Chipper came to the cave and said that two reindeer were in the pit.When the boys heard what Chipper said, they were playing they were Bighorn and Chipper. They had tied the skins of wolves’ heads over their heads, and they let the rest of the skins hang down as if they were capes.When the news came about the reindeer, everybody was excited. Everybody hurried to the pitfall so as to see the reindeer. Nobody noticed the boys steal out of the cave. Nobody noticed them run to the pitfall.But soon after she started, Antler saw the tracks of their bare feet. She guessed at once where the boys had gone. And it was then that she thought of making them clothing.While the children slept that night, Antler talked with the women. And when morning came, the women took skins and made the children warm clothes and moccasins.When the children put on their wolf-skin suits, they looked like a pack of wolves. Sometimes they played they were wolves. Then they chased make-believe wild horses.Sometimes when the children were playing in thesnow, they found the antlers of a full-grown stag. The children began to look for the antlers of the full-grown stags in early winter. But they knew that the other reindeer kept their antlers until early spring.An old stag’s antlers were large and strong, and the children liked to find them. They would pick them up and hold them in their hands and would then make believe they were Cave-men trapping reindeer in the snow.One day Greybeard showed Fleetfoot and Flaker how to trap the reindeer in the snow. He showed them how to dig a pitfall in the drifts. The boys found a large drift near the trail and they cut out a large block of snow. They hollowed a deep pit under the crust which they took pains not to break. Then they fitted the block of snow in its place, thus covering the pit.To make sure that the reindeer would come to the pitfall they scattered moss over the thin crust. Then Greybeard taught them to say,“Come down to the river, reindeer;Come down to the river to drink.Come eat the moss I have spread for you,Come and fall into my trap.”All the Cave-men believed that these words would charm the reindeer to the spot. They always muttered such lines as charms when they went out to hunt. And so Greybeard taught the boys the lines, for he wanted them to know all the Cave-men’s charms.THINGS TO DOName the animals which you know by their tracks. Draw a picture of the tracks you know best.Tell a story about hunting an animal by tracking it.Next time there is a heavy fall of snow, play hunting animals by driving them into the drifts.See if you can show in your sand-box how the pitfall was made.See if you can think of a way of having real drifts in your sand-box.Draw a picture of the children playing with the antlers of the reindeer.Draw a picture of the reindeer in the pitfall.XVIIITHINGS TO THINK ABOUTDo you know whether we can tell what the weather is going to be?Have you ever heard any one talking about the signs of the weather? What signs do you know?Notice animals and see how they act before a storm.Notice what animals and birds are here in summer that are not here in winter. Are any here in winter that are not here in the summer?Why did the bison go away from the Cave-men’s hunting grounds each winter? When they went away would they go in large or small herds?If the weather kept pleasant how do you think they would travel? What would they do if it looked like a storm?Notice the animals that live near you and see whether they turn their heads or backs toward the storm.Overtaken by a StormWinter passed and summer came and now it was almost gone. The cattle had gone to the forests in thelowlands where they spent the winter. Straggling lines of bison were moving down the valley. Now and then they stopped a few days to eat the tall grass. Then they slowly moved onward toward the lower lands.The days were like the Indian summer days which we sometimes have in late autumn. Everybody enjoyed each day as it came, and thought little about the coming cold. But one morning the sky was gray and gloomy, and the sun could not pierce through the heavy clouds. The air was cold and now and then a snowflake was falling.There was no meat at the cave, and everybody was hungry. So Bighorn said to the men, “Let’s hunt the bison to-day.”The men crowded around, for they were always glad to go hunting with Bighorn. As soon as he had shown them his plan, they took their weapons and started toward the herd.Bighorn expected to find the herd feeding quietly on a hillside. But, instead, the bison were tossing their horns, sniffing the air, and looking this way and that.Bighorn saw that the bison were restless and that he could not take them by surprise. “We shall have a hard chase,” said he to the men, “if we get a bison to-day.”The men stood still for a moment, for they did not know what to do. Fine snowflakes were now falling and the dark clouds threatened a heavy storm. But the men were hungry and they were not ready to give up the hunt at once.“Listen!” said Bighorn, as a low rumbling sound came from the upper valley.The Cave-men put their ears to the ground and heard a sound like distant thunder. As they listened it came nearer and nearer and the ground seemed to shake.The Cave-men were not afraid. They knew what the sound meant. The bison, too, knew what it meant. They knew that winter was coming, and that it was time for them to be gone. They knew that the laggard herds were racing with the storm.And so the sentinels of the scattered herds gave signals to the bison. And before the Cave-men were on their feet, the bison had started toward the ford.Louder and louder the rumbling sound grew as the great herd galloped on. The snow was now falling thick and fast, and a cold northwest wind was blowing. But in spite of the wind and the snow, the Cave-men pressed on toward the ford. Bighorn still hoped to get a bison as the great herd passed.By the time the herd reached the ford, the wind had become a strong gale. The air was so thick with the snow that it nearly blinded the men. Then Bighorn turned and said to the men, “We must find a shelter from the storm.”The bison, too, tried to find a shelter. Some of them hugged up closely to the sheltered side of the cliffs. Others sought cover in the ravines. But many could find no protection, so they turned about and faced the storm.
“Chew-chew tried to teach the children how to know the hissing sound.”
The bubbling ceased, but Chew-chew was still afraid. So she called the children together, and took them into the cave.
When the men and women came home that night, Chew-chew told them what had happened. They went to the spot and saw the meat, which they thought the god had left. Then they listened in silence as Chew-chew told them the story again and again.
THINGS TO DO
Choose some one for each of the parts and dramatize the story.Draw pictures which will show what happened.See if you can boil water by dropping hot stones into it.Show in your sand-box how the skins were stretched out, and how the skin-lined hole was made.
Choose some one for each of the parts and dramatize the story.
Draw pictures which will show what happened.
See if you can boil water by dropping hot stones into it.
Show in your sand-box how the skins were stretched out, and how the skin-lined hole was made.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
What do you think Chew-chew might learn by dropping the meat into the hot water?What kind of boiling-pots did people first use?Why didn’t they hang their boiling-pots over the fire?
What do you think Chew-chew might learn by dropping the meat into the hot water?
What kind of boiling-pots did people first use?
Why didn’t they hang their boiling-pots over the fire?
Why the Children Began to Eat Boiled Meat
The more Chew-chew thought about the bubbling sound, the more she wanted to hear it again. She wondered what the god wanted to say, and if he was asking for food. She wondered if she could make friends with him by giving him something to eat.
Chew-chew talked with Eagle-eye and at length they tried to make friends with the god. They prepared a place for the water by making a skin-lined hole. Eagle-eye poured the water into the hole, while Chew-chew dropped in a piece of meat. Then they looked and listened for a sign, but no sign was made. They tried it again and again, but still there was no sign.
At length Chew-chew thought of the hot stones she had dropped when she heard the voice. So she and Eagle-eye heated stones and dropped them into the water. As they did it they muttered prayers to the gods and asked them to protect the Cave-men.
Before the women had dropped many stones, the children crowded around. Nobody was frightened this time when the hissing sound was heard. But their eyes opened wide when the water began to bubble.
Chew-chew dropped the meat into the water as an offering to the god. Everybody watched as she dropped the meat. Everybody breathed more freely when the bubbling ceased. And Chew-chew said, “The god is pleased with the offering of meat.”
Many times after that Chew-chew dropped hot stones into the water, and offered meat to the god. But when she did it she never thought that she was cooking meat. She thought she was helping the Cave-men by winning the favor of the god.
Sometimes when the children were hungry, Chew-chew let them tear off strips of partly boiled meat. Sometimes she let them drink the broth from bone dippers and horns.
The children liked to eat the boiled meat and to drink the rich broth. But they always thought the meat and broth were what the god had left.
THINGS TO DO
Make tongs out of sticks and see if you can lift small objects with them.Watch water when it boils, and tell where the steam comes from.Where does it go? Hold a cold plate over the steam and see what happens. Where do the drops of water on the plate come from?When water stands in the open air, what becomes of part of it?Why do we hang clothes out on the clothes-line to dry?What becomes of the water that was in the clothes?Tell what you think happens just as clouds form. See if you can do something that will show what happens at the time.What happens to the clouds just as it begins to rain?
Make tongs out of sticks and see if you can lift small objects with them.
Watch water when it boils, and tell where the steam comes from.
Where does it go? Hold a cold plate over the steam and see what happens. Where do the drops of water on the plate come from?
When water stands in the open air, what becomes of part of it?
Why do we hang clothes out on the clothes-line to dry?
What becomes of the water that was in the clothes?
Tell what you think happens just as clouds form. See if you can do something that will show what happens at the time.
What happens to the clouds just as it begins to rain?
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
Why would the grass-eating animals go from place to place during the summer? What do you think the Cave-men would do when the herds went away?At what season of the year are nuts fit to gather? Is there any place near by where you have a right to go nutting?What animals eat nuts? What animals store nuts? Do you think the Cave-men would gather many nuts?
Why would the grass-eating animals go from place to place during the summer? What do you think the Cave-men would do when the herds went away?
At what season of the year are nuts fit to gather? Is there any place near by where you have a right to go nutting?
What animals eat nuts? What animals store nuts? Do you think the Cave-men would gather many nuts?
The Nutting Season
Summer passed as summers had passed before. When the bison went to the higher lands, the Cave-men followed them. When they started toward their winter pastures, the Cave-men came home.
“All the women and children went nutting.”
It was the nutting season when they returned. All the beech, walnut, and butternut trees were heavily laden that year. The ground underneath their branches was nearly covered with nuts. Slender hazel bushes bent under their heavy loads.
Wild hogs and bears had begun to harvest the nuts before the Cave-men returned. Each day they went to the trees and ate the nuts that had fallen. When Eagle-eye saw what they were doing, she said, “Bring your bags and baskets and come. If we do not look out the hogs will get the best of the nuts this year.”
Then all the women and children went nutting. They gathered the nuts that lay upon the ground and put them in their baskets. Some climbed trees and shook the branches until they got a shower of nuts; others took their digging sticks and beat the heavily laden branches.
The children had a feast that day. They sat down under the trees and cracked all the nuts they could eat. They gathered handfuls and helped their mothers fill baskets and skin bags. They climbed the trees and they laughed and played all day long.
When the women first came to the trees, they heard the wild hogs in the distance. Once a big hog came up and tried to eat the nuts out of a basket. But Eagle-eye chased him with a big stick and drove him away from the spot.
When Eagle-eye was coming back from the chase, she saw other trees heavily laden. She called to the women, and they came to the spot and forgot all about the nuts they had gathered.
The wild hogs were having a feast.
It was Chew-chew who first thought of the pile of nuts they had left on the ground. It was she who ran to the trees and found the wild hogs having a feast.
Chew-chew struck one of the hogs with her digging stick. He was munching the nuts she had gathered. He turned away and she struck another; then the first hog came back.
Chew-chew soon found that unless she had help the hogs would eat all the nuts, for as fast as she drove one hog away another one came back. Chew-chew screamed for help and the women came with their digging-sticks.
The women drove the hogs away, but they returned again and again. And so the women learned to keep a close watch while they were gathering nuts. But in spite of all their trouble, they had a good time that day.
It was not until they were starting home that they found that a serious thing had happened. They did not know all about it then, and some of them never knew.
It was all about Fleetfoot. When Eagle-eye looked for him, he was nowhere to be seen. At first she thought he was with Chew-chew, but Chew-chew had not seen him since morn.
Fleetfoot had played near his mother nearly all day. He had cracked nuts; he had climbed trees; he had mimicked the squirrels; he had scattered burrs in the rabbits’ paths, and he had done all sorts of things.
But now Fleetfoot was lost, and everybody began to hunt for him. Eagle-eye found the stones he had leftonly a short time before. She found his tracks and followed them until they crossed the boundary of the hunting ground. There she lost all trace of him. She called, but the “caw-caw” of a crow was the only answer.
The men heard her call, and came to join in the search. But in spite of all they could do, they did not find the child.
And so the Cave-men thought they would never see Fleetfoot again. They thought he had lost his way in the forest and had been killed by a cave-bear. For a few days they mourned for the child, then they spoke no more of him.
THINGS TO DO
Tell a story of what happened one time when you went nutting.Name all the nuts you can that grow on trees. Name those that grow on bushes. Where do peanuts grow?Dramatize this story.Draw a picture of the part you like the best.
Tell a story of what happened one time when you went nutting.
Name all the nuts you can that grow on trees. Name those that grow on bushes. Where do peanuts grow?
Dramatize this story.
Draw a picture of the part you like the best.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
Why do people put up such signs as “Keep off,” “Do not trespass”?Why do people build fences around their land?Do you think the Cave-men could hunt wherever they chose?Why did each clan have its own hunting ground? What kind of boundaries did the hunting grounds have? Why was it not safe to go on the land of a stranger?Why did mothers teach their children the boundary lines?What do you think some mothers mean when they tell their children that the “Bogie-man” will get them?
Why do people put up such signs as “Keep off,” “Do not trespass”?
Why do people build fences around their land?
Do you think the Cave-men could hunt wherever they chose?
Why did each clan have its own hunting ground? What kind of boundaries did the hunting grounds have? Why was it not safe to go on the land of a stranger?
Why did mothers teach their children the boundary lines?
What do you think some mothers mean when they tell their children that the “Bogie-man” will get them?
Why Mothers Taught their Children the Boundary Lines
Each day brought so many hard things to do that most of the Cave-men forgot Fleetfoot. But his mother and grandmother did not forget him. They often thought of the boy they had lost.
Other mothers were afraid they might lose their children. So they tried to keep them from running away. Most of all, they tried to keep them from running across the boundary line.
When Pigeon tried to run away, Eagle-eye would say, “The cave-bear will get you.” Mothers tried all sorts of ways to keep their children from danger.
Each clan had its own hunting ground. The people who lived together shared it, but no one else was allowed to hunt on the land. It was not even safe to cross the land of a stranger. Sometimes the Cave-men had to do it. Sometimes they had to call upon their neighbors for help. But since there were people who had lost their lives when trying to cross the land of strangers, the Cave-men learned to use signs to show what they wanted. They carved pictures upon sticks, which told what we might tell in a letter.
When a stranger carried a message-stick, it was safe for him to do his errand. People knew what he wanted and why he came, so they let him go on his way unharmed. But when a stranger had no message-stick, his life was not safe in a strange land.
“Mothers taught their children what the boundaries were.”
And so people learned to stay on their own lands and mothers taught their children what the boundaries were. They taught the children to name them over and over again. They taught them to know how the boundaries looked.
For a long time Pigeon had to tell her mother each day the boundaries of the hunting grounds. She would stand on the cliff and point north to the narrow valley, then south to Little River. Then she pointed to a high ridge of hills toward the east and west to the River of Stones.
While Pigeon was so small that Eagle-eye had to take her by the hand, her mother took her to the boundaries. Eagle-eye had taught her so well that she knew them as soon as she saw them.
Perhaps you have heard the story told about mothers who taught their children the boundary lines. It is told that mothers used to be so anxious to have their children remember the boundaries that they whipped them at each one. Then the story is told that in later times instead of beating the children, people let them beat the boundaries. Some day you may be able to learn more about the strange customs of beating the boundary lines.
THINGS TO DO
Mark out in your sand-box the boundary lines of the hunting ground of the Horse clan. Show a good place for another hunting ground.Ask some one to read you the story, “The Goblins will get you if you don’t watch out.” What do you think the story means?Climb a hill, or look out of a high window, and see if you can find land which at one time was a good hunting ground.See if you can make a message-stick.
Mark out in your sand-box the boundary lines of the hunting ground of the Horse clan. Show a good place for another hunting ground.
Ask some one to read you the story, “The Goblins will get you if you don’t watch out.” What do you think the story means?
Climb a hill, or look out of a high window, and see if you can find land which at one time was a good hunting ground.
See if you can make a message-stick.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
What do you think had happened to Fleetfoot?If strangers found him, what do you think they would do with him?
What do you think had happened to Fleetfoot?
If strangers found him, what do you think they would do with him?
What Happened to Fleetfoot
Perhaps you have been wondering what happened to Fleetfoot. Perhaps you would like to know how he happened to wander away from his clan.
It happened in this way. He cracked all the nuts he could eat; he climbed trees; he threw sticks and stones; he watched the wild hogs eating nuts; he listened to the whistle which Scarface blew to call the men to the hunt. He wished that he could blow the whistle and hunt with the men.
Then a rabbit hopped across his path and stopped and looked at him. How Fleetfoot longed to catch the rabbit and to hold him in his hands! He stood perfectly still; he could hear himself breathe; he tried to breathe more quietly, for he did not want to frighten the rabbit.
The rabbit started. How Fleetfoot wished he would go down the path where he had scattered burrs! But the rabbit took another path and Fleetfoot ran to catch him. He was almost sure he could lay his hands on the rabbit’s stumpy white tail.
The rabbit was too quick for him, yet Fleetfoot did not give up. He started on a hard chase and forgot about everything else. Up hill and down the rabbitran and Fleetfoot followed after. Not until the rabbit was out of sight did Fleetfoot give up the chase. Then he stopped and rested a while and tried to get his breath.
While Fleetfoot was resting he looked at the squirrels which were chattering in the trees. He watched them hold nuts with their forepaws while they gnawed through the shells. He listened to their chattering and then he wandered on.
Fleetfoot did not know that he had crossed the narrow valley. He did not know that he had wandered into a strange land. He thought nothing about where he was until some time had passed. But after a while everything seemed still, and Fleetfoot began to feel lonesome. And so he turned around to go back to the women and children.
Fleetfoot walked and walked, but he did not find them. He called, but no answer came. So he wandered on and on.
Soon Fleetfoot knew he was in a spot he had never seen before. Everything seemed strange. He looked this way and that; but he could not tell which way to go. And so the lost child wandered farther and farther away from home.
He was choking down a sob when he caught sight of some women with packs upon their backs. Fleetfoot thought he had found his people going home with their loads of nuts. He ran and called to his mother.
A strange woman stopped and looked at the child. Then she gave a signal to her clan.
Fleetfoot was within reach of the strange womanbefore he saw his mistake. He tried to run away. But he could not do it. A big man caught him and lifted him up and put him upon his shoulder. Strange men, women, and children crowded around and stared into his face.
“A big man caught him, and put him upon his shoulder.”
Bighorn asked him where he lived; but Fleetfoot was too frightened to speak. He remembered the stories Chew-chew had told about strange clans. He wondered what the strangers would do. How he wished he were safe at home!
But poor Fleetfoot did not see his home again for many long years. He was in a strange land, and soon he was traveling with the strangers far away from his home.
A woman, whose name was Antler, took charge of Fleetfoot. She took him by the hand until he was too tired to walk. Then she carried him until they came to the place where they camped for the night.
THINGS TO DO
Choose some one for each of the parts and see if you can act out this story. Draw pictures to illustrate the story.Name the wild animals you can find in your neighborhood. Notice what they eat. Do they help or harm the people near where they live?Model one of these animals in clay.
Choose some one for each of the parts and see if you can act out this story. Draw pictures to illustrate the story.
Name the wild animals you can find in your neighborhood. Notice what they eat. Do they help or harm the people near where they live?
Model one of these animals in clay.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
What kind of a shelter do you think the people will have for the night?Think of as many easy ways as you can of making a shelter out of trees.
What kind of a shelter do you think the people will have for the night?
Think of as many easy ways as you can of making a shelter out of trees.
How the Strangers Camped for the Night
The camping place was an old one. It had been used many times. The strange clan always used it on their way to and from the lowland plains. It was under a big oak tree, and near a spring of fresh water.
When the strangers reached the camp, Greybeard took charge of Fleetfoot. The women quickly unloaded their packs, and began to build a tent.
It did not take long to make the tent, for it was almost ready-made. It was an old oak, which reached out long and low-spreading branches. The branches had been bent to the ground many times, and now they nearly touched it. So all that the women had to do was to fasten the ends firmly. They did it by rolling a stone over the end of a branch, and sometimes they tied the end of a branch to a peg which they had driven in the ground.
All the Cave-men made such tents in the summer when they were away from the caves. When the branches were not thick enough for a shelter, the women broke saplings and leaned them against the tree.
While Chipper worked at a spearhead, the other men were moving about. Bighorn feared that Fleetfoot’s clan might follow their tracks.
Long after Fleetfoot fell asleep, the strangers talked quietly. They held their ears close to the ground and listened. They went and looked at Fleetfoot, now fast asleep. Then they all sat down by the fire.
“The tent was an old oak, which reached out long and low-spreading branches.”
At length the men turned to Greybeard. And Greybeard spoke to them and said, “When I was young my clan lived in a cave near Sweet Briar River. Every year, in the salmon season, the neighboring clans met at the rapids. The Horse clan came from the Fork of the River, where the Sweet Briar joins the River of Stones. They may live there still. This boy may belong to them.”
“Do you think they will follow us?” asked Bighorn.
Greybeard looked up, but did not speak. He seemed to be trying to think. At length he turned to the men and said, “Sleep until the moon sets; I’ll watch and wake you.”
So the Cave-men went to the tent and slept while Greybeard kept watch. Not a sound escaped his ear that night. Not a leaf rustled that he did not hear. Not a twig broke, as wild animals passed, but that he found out what it meant.
As Greybeard watched in the moonlight he heard many a familiar sound. Now he heard the roar of a tiger, and again the “hoo-hoo” of an owl; now the howling of hyenas, and again an eagle’s scream.
Among all these sounds Greybeard heard nothing that seemed to come from the lost child’s clan. But when the moon was set he roused the people, and under cover of the darkness they hurried toward home.
They let Fleetfoot sleep, for fear he might answer if he were called. And so the child slept while he was hurried away through the darkness. At daybreak, when he awoke, he found himself in a new home.
THINGS TO DO
See if there is a tree in your neighborhood that could be made into such a tent as the Cave-men made.Find a thick branch and make such a tent in your sand-box.Draw one of these pictures:—The council of the clan before going to sleep.Greybeard watching in the moonlight.Hurrying home under cover of the darkness.Fleetfoot awakes and finds himself in his new home.Act out part of this story and let some one guess what it is.Write as many calls of the birds as you know. Model one of the birds in clay. If you know its nest, model that.
See if there is a tree in your neighborhood that could be made into such a tent as the Cave-men made.
Find a thick branch and make such a tent in your sand-box.
Draw one of these pictures:—The council of the clan before going to sleep.Greybeard watching in the moonlight.Hurrying home under cover of the darkness.Fleetfoot awakes and finds himself in his new home.
Act out part of this story and let some one guess what it is.
Write as many calls of the birds as you know. Model one of the birds in clay. If you know its nest, model that.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
How do you think Fleetfoot felt the first few days he was with the strange clan?What do you think he will learn of them? What do you think he can teach them?
How do you think Fleetfoot felt the first few days he was with the strange clan?
What do you think he will learn of them? What do you think he can teach them?
Fleetfoot is Adopted by the Bison Clan
For a few days Fleetfoot missed his mother and Chew-chew more than he could tell. He missed little Pigeon, too. He missed the people he had always seen. But he said very little about them.
It was Greybeard who told him that he was now living with the Bison clan. Not all of the people belonged to that clan, but there were more of that clan than of any other. And so they were known as the Bison clan.
At first Fleetfoot was afraid of the men and large boys. Most of all he was afraid of Bighorn, for it was Bighorn who captured him.
But before one moon had passed, he was adopted by the Bison clan. And soon after that, he began to feel at home. Greybeard told him stories, and gave him little spears. Antler was kind to him, and the children were always ready to play.
A skin stretched on a frame.
Fleetfoot liked to play with the children. He liked to play with Flaker best of all. Flaker was Antler’s child, and he was about the size of Fleetfoot.
A scraper.
As the days became cold, the women worked upon skins. There was not a smooth spot near the cave which was not covered with a skin. Fleetfoot watched Antler as she cut little slits in the edges. He helped stretch the skins out on the ground and drive little pegs through the slits. He watched her stretch a skin on a frame and put it near the fire.
Antler scraped a skin until the fat was off, and the inner skin was removed. Then she roughened it by scraping it crosswise, so as to make it flexible.
When Fleetfoot saw Antler roll the skins in a loose roll, he asked if she was going to chew them. Antler smiled as she asked Fleetfoot how his mother softened skins.
Fleetfoot showed how his mother did it. And he told Antler about Chew-chew. He told her that Chew-chew got her name because she learned to chew the skins.
While Antler and Fleetfoot were talking, all the women and children gathered around. They wanted to see what they were doing, and to hear what Fleetfoot said.
Then Antler said to the women and children, “These skins are ready to soften. Come, join hands and show Fleetfoot how we soften hard skins.”
A hammer of reindeer horn.
What a noisy time they had for a little while! Each group wanted to finish first. Some of them stamped the skins, and kept time by singing. Others pounded the skins with their hands, and still others pounded with hammers of reindeer horn.
They had such a merry time that Fleetfoot could not keep still. He was soon stamping and singing as well as any one.
When the skins were softened, Antler told Fleetfoot that once her people chewed the skins. But since they had found an easier way, they chewed only the edges they wished to sew.
And so Fleetfoot began to learn lessons of the Bison clan. But once he was the teacher. It was when heshowed Flaker what happened the day Pigeon played with hot stones. Flaker told his mother, and Antler told Greybeard. And then Greybeard asked Fleetfoot to drop the hot stones in the water again.
All the Cave-men gathered around to see what Fleetfoot did. When the steam began to rise from the water, they stepped back. But when they saw that the child was not afraid, they came forward cautiously.
When the water began to bubble, they were all filled with fear. They looked upon Fleetfoot in silence. They called him a wonderful child.
THINGS TO DO
Tell a story about dressing skins. Draw pictures which will show all that is done in dressing the skin.Dramatize the part of the story that tells what Fleetfoot taught the Bison clan. Draw a picture of it.Make a song that people might sing in stamping upon the skins.Make a song to sing while beating the skins.
Tell a story about dressing skins. Draw pictures which will show all that is done in dressing the skin.
Dramatize the part of the story that tells what Fleetfoot taught the Bison clan. Draw a picture of it.
Make a song that people might sing in stamping upon the skins.
Make a song to sing while beating the skins.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
What kind of clothes do you wear in winter? What do you think the Cave-men wore? Can you think how they learned to fit skins to their bodies? What part of an animal’s skin could they use for sleeves? What part could they use for leggings?How do you think they learned to make mittens and gloves?How many ways do you know of fastening garments? Which of these do we use? Which of these do you think the Cave-men used?What did they use instead of a needle? What kind of thread did they have?
What kind of clothes do you wear in winter? What do you think the Cave-men wore? Can you think how they learned to fit skins to their bodies? What part of an animal’s skin could they use for sleeves? What part could they use for leggings?
How do you think they learned to make mittens and gloves?
How many ways do you know of fastening garments? Which of these do we use? Which of these do you think the Cave-men used?
What did they use instead of a needle? What kind of thread did they have?
“Greybeard asked Fleetfoot to drop the hot stones in the water again.”
How the Cave-men Protected Themselves from the Cold
One morning Fleetfoot started out of the cave, but a cold wind drove him back. Snow had fallen during the night, and the air had grown very cold. It was not fit for a bare-backed boy to go out on such a day. So Fleetfoot stayed in the cave all day long.
All the Cave-men stayed in the cave nearly all the day. Once Chipper went out and found fresh tracks. He followed the tracks until he came within close range of a reindeer. But his bare arms shook with the cold, and he missed his aim.
The next day was bitterly cold. The river was frozen almost into silence. Only the ripples of the swiftest currents laughed aloud at the frost. The snow was deep on the hillsides. It was deeper in the valleys, and the narrow ravines were almost filled with snow.
The third day was still very cold and everybody was hungry and cross. The children were crying for food, and since Antler had nothing to give them, she was trying to get them to play.
At length the children began to take turns at playing they were cave-bears. Now it was Fleetfoot’s turn to be the bear, and when Antler saw him she laughed.
The Cave-men looked up in surprise. Everybody was so hungry and cross it seemed strange to hear any one laugh. But Antler really was laughing.
Fleetfoot had found a cave-bear’s skin on a ledge inthe cave. He had wrapped it around him so that he looked like a little cave-bear. The children kept calling him “little bear,” and he was trying to act like one.
Soon all the people were laughing. They forgot, for the time, how hungry they were. And the next day they had meat, for it was warm enough to go hunting.
Many times after that the children played cave-bear. Many times the people laughed when they saw the children dressed in cave-bears’ skins. Once when Antler looked at them, she got an idea about making clothes.
When Antler took a large skin and wrapped it around her, Fleetfoot thought that she was going to play “bear.” But Antler was not playing. She was thinking of the cold days when the children had no food. She was thinking that if she could make a warm dress, perhaps she could go out in the bitter cold.
Antler talked with Birdcatcher about it, and Birdcatcher helped her fit the skin. Birdcatcher fitted the skin of the head over Antler’s head so as to make a warm hood. Then she run a cord through the slits along the edges and tied the ends under Antler’s chin.
Antler fastened the skin down the front with buckles. She covered her arms with the skin of the forelegs. She cut off the skin that hung below the knees, and afterward used it to make a pair of leggings.
When the garment was fitted, Antler took it off. Then the women sat down and worked until it was done. They punched holes through the edges with a bone awl. Then they threaded the sinew through the holes in an “over-and-over seam.”
“When the men saw the new garment, they wondered how it was made.”
When the men saw the new garment, they wondered how it was made. So Antler and Birdcatcher showed them how it was done, and helped them to make warm garments of their own.
A Cave-man’s glove.
And so all the Cave-men soon had warm garments of fur. Sometimes they fastened them with buckles, and sometimes they used bone pins. They made long leggings of soft skins, and moccasins for their feet.
Perhaps you can think how they learned to make mittens and gloves. We know that they had warm mittens and gloves, for we have found pictures they made of them. When they dressed in their warm fur garments, the Cave-men did not fear the cold. If they wanted food, they put on their garments and went wherever they pleased.
THINGS TO DO
If you can get a small skin, fit it to a doll the way you think the Cave-men fitted skins to their bodies. If you cannot get a skin, cut a piece of cloth so as to make it the shape of a skin, and show how the new suit was made.Find as many things as you can that you can use for pins, buttons, and buckles.Find as many ways as you can of sewing a simple seam. When you go to a museum notice how the seams are sewed. Why do you think people invented new stitches? Visit a shoemaker and notice how he sews.Draw one of these pictures:—The cold wind drives Fleetfoot into the cave.Playing “Cave-bear.”
If you can get a small skin, fit it to a doll the way you think the Cave-men fitted skins to their bodies. If you cannot get a skin, cut a piece of cloth so as to make it the shape of a skin, and show how the new suit was made.
Find as many things as you can that you can use for pins, buttons, and buckles.
Find as many ways as you can of sewing a simple seam. When you go to a museum notice how the seams are sewed. Why do you think people invented new stitches? Visit a shoemaker and notice how he sews.
Draw one of these pictures:—The cold wind drives Fleetfoot into the cave.Playing “Cave-bear.”
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
How do you think the children played in the winter? What do you play in the winter?How do you think the Cave-men would hunt when there was only a light fall of snow?How would they hunt when the snow was deep?How would they hunt when there was a hard crust on the snow?
How do you think the children played in the winter? What do you play in the winter?
How do you think the Cave-men would hunt when there was only a light fall of snow?
How would they hunt when the snow was deep?
How would they hunt when there was a hard crust on the snow?
How the Children Played in Winter
When the children saw their fathers and mothers go out of doors, they, too, wanted to go. But they had no warm clothing, so their mothers tried to keep them in doors.
Sometimes Fleetfoot and Flaker teased to go out and play in the snow. And when the days were warm enough, Antler let them go out and play. But on very cold days they had to stay in the cave.
The children had good times in the cave. They played many animal games. They played they were grown men and women, and they made believe do all sorts of work. They peeked out of the cave many times each day. They heard their fathers and mothers talk. And they listened to Greybeard’s stories.
And so the children always knew what the men and women were doing. After a heavy fall of snow, they knew they would trap the animals in the drifts. When a hard crust formed, they knew they would dig pitfalls.
Antler often wished that the children might play out doors every day. Greybeard wanted the boys to learn to make pitfalls and traps. But neither Antler nor Greybeard had thought of making clothing for little children.
The day Antler thought of making clothes for the boys, was the day they ran away to the pitfall. It was soon after Chipper came to the cave and said that two reindeer were in the pit.
When the boys heard what Chipper said, they were playing they were Bighorn and Chipper. They had tied the skins of wolves’ heads over their heads, and they let the rest of the skins hang down as if they were capes.
When the news came about the reindeer, everybody was excited. Everybody hurried to the pitfall so as to see the reindeer. Nobody noticed the boys steal out of the cave. Nobody noticed them run to the pitfall.
But soon after she started, Antler saw the tracks of their bare feet. She guessed at once where the boys had gone. And it was then that she thought of making them clothing.
While the children slept that night, Antler talked with the women. And when morning came, the women took skins and made the children warm clothes and moccasins.
When the children put on their wolf-skin suits, they looked like a pack of wolves. Sometimes they played they were wolves. Then they chased make-believe wild horses.
Sometimes when the children were playing in thesnow, they found the antlers of a full-grown stag. The children began to look for the antlers of the full-grown stags in early winter. But they knew that the other reindeer kept their antlers until early spring.
An old stag’s antlers were large and strong, and the children liked to find them. They would pick them up and hold them in their hands and would then make believe they were Cave-men trapping reindeer in the snow.
One day Greybeard showed Fleetfoot and Flaker how to trap the reindeer in the snow. He showed them how to dig a pitfall in the drifts. The boys found a large drift near the trail and they cut out a large block of snow. They hollowed a deep pit under the crust which they took pains not to break. Then they fitted the block of snow in its place, thus covering the pit.
To make sure that the reindeer would come to the pitfall they scattered moss over the thin crust. Then Greybeard taught them to say,
“Come down to the river, reindeer;Come down to the river to drink.Come eat the moss I have spread for you,Come and fall into my trap.”
All the Cave-men believed that these words would charm the reindeer to the spot. They always muttered such lines as charms when they went out to hunt. And so Greybeard taught the boys the lines, for he wanted them to know all the Cave-men’s charms.
THINGS TO DO
Name the animals which you know by their tracks. Draw a picture of the tracks you know best.Tell a story about hunting an animal by tracking it.Next time there is a heavy fall of snow, play hunting animals by driving them into the drifts.See if you can show in your sand-box how the pitfall was made.See if you can think of a way of having real drifts in your sand-box.Draw a picture of the children playing with the antlers of the reindeer.Draw a picture of the reindeer in the pitfall.
Name the animals which you know by their tracks. Draw a picture of the tracks you know best.
Tell a story about hunting an animal by tracking it.
Next time there is a heavy fall of snow, play hunting animals by driving them into the drifts.
See if you can show in your sand-box how the pitfall was made.
See if you can think of a way of having real drifts in your sand-box.
Draw a picture of the children playing with the antlers of the reindeer.
Draw a picture of the reindeer in the pitfall.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
Do you know whether we can tell what the weather is going to be?Have you ever heard any one talking about the signs of the weather? What signs do you know?Notice animals and see how they act before a storm.Notice what animals and birds are here in summer that are not here in winter. Are any here in winter that are not here in the summer?Why did the bison go away from the Cave-men’s hunting grounds each winter? When they went away would they go in large or small herds?If the weather kept pleasant how do you think they would travel? What would they do if it looked like a storm?Notice the animals that live near you and see whether they turn their heads or backs toward the storm.
Do you know whether we can tell what the weather is going to be?
Have you ever heard any one talking about the signs of the weather? What signs do you know?
Notice animals and see how they act before a storm.
Notice what animals and birds are here in summer that are not here in winter. Are any here in winter that are not here in the summer?
Why did the bison go away from the Cave-men’s hunting grounds each winter? When they went away would they go in large or small herds?
If the weather kept pleasant how do you think they would travel? What would they do if it looked like a storm?
Notice the animals that live near you and see whether they turn their heads or backs toward the storm.
Overtaken by a Storm
Winter passed and summer came and now it was almost gone. The cattle had gone to the forests in thelowlands where they spent the winter. Straggling lines of bison were moving down the valley. Now and then they stopped a few days to eat the tall grass. Then they slowly moved onward toward the lower lands.
The days were like the Indian summer days which we sometimes have in late autumn. Everybody enjoyed each day as it came, and thought little about the coming cold. But one morning the sky was gray and gloomy, and the sun could not pierce through the heavy clouds. The air was cold and now and then a snowflake was falling.
There was no meat at the cave, and everybody was hungry. So Bighorn said to the men, “Let’s hunt the bison to-day.”
The men crowded around, for they were always glad to go hunting with Bighorn. As soon as he had shown them his plan, they took their weapons and started toward the herd.
Bighorn expected to find the herd feeding quietly on a hillside. But, instead, the bison were tossing their horns, sniffing the air, and looking this way and that.
Bighorn saw that the bison were restless and that he could not take them by surprise. “We shall have a hard chase,” said he to the men, “if we get a bison to-day.”
The men stood still for a moment, for they did not know what to do. Fine snowflakes were now falling and the dark clouds threatened a heavy storm. But the men were hungry and they were not ready to give up the hunt at once.
“Listen!” said Bighorn, as a low rumbling sound came from the upper valley.
The Cave-men put their ears to the ground and heard a sound like distant thunder. As they listened it came nearer and nearer and the ground seemed to shake.
The Cave-men were not afraid. They knew what the sound meant. The bison, too, knew what it meant. They knew that winter was coming, and that it was time for them to be gone. They knew that the laggard herds were racing with the storm.
And so the sentinels of the scattered herds gave signals to the bison. And before the Cave-men were on their feet, the bison had started toward the ford.
Louder and louder the rumbling sound grew as the great herd galloped on. The snow was now falling thick and fast, and a cold northwest wind was blowing. But in spite of the wind and the snow, the Cave-men pressed on toward the ford. Bighorn still hoped to get a bison as the great herd passed.
By the time the herd reached the ford, the wind had become a strong gale. The air was so thick with the snow that it nearly blinded the men. Then Bighorn turned and said to the men, “We must find a shelter from the storm.”
The bison, too, tried to find a shelter. Some of them hugged up closely to the sheltered side of the cliffs. Others sought cover in the ravines. But many could find no protection, so they turned about and faced the storm.