The Later Cave-Men Part 27

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Do you think that any of the young men and their wives would live with Fleetfoot and Willow-grouse? Where do you think Flaker will live?

Can you think why Willow-grouse would take great pains to embroider her baby's clothing?

Why would Willow-grouse want pretty colors? Think of new ways she might find of getting pretty colors. How could she get the color out of plants into the stuff she wished to color?

Why was it easier to make pretty dyes after people knew how to boil?

_The New Home_

A year or so pa.s.sed and Fleetfoot and Willow-grouse were settled with their kinsfolk in a new rock shelter. Its framework was covered with heavy skins instead of woven branches. Heavy bone pegs and strong thongs served to keep the skins in place.

Flaker and other young men with their wives lived in the rock shelter.

There were little children, too, and tiny babies.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A baby's hood._]

Willow-grouse had a baby and she thought he was a wonderful child. She dressed him in the softest skins which she embroidered with a prayer.

And she hung a bear's tooth about his neck because she thought it was a charm. In winter she put him in a skin cradle and wrapped him in the warmest furs. In summer he played in a basket cradle which Willow-grouse wove on a forked stick.

In all that Willow-grouse did, she always asked the G.o.ds for help. The baskets she made for boiling food, were also prayers to the G.o.ds.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "_In summer he played in the basket cradle which Willow-grouse wove on a forked stick._"]

She searched for the choicest gra.s.ses and spread them on a clean spot to dry. No one knew so well as Willow-grouse when to gather the twigs.

She knew the season when they were full-grown and gathered them before the sap had hardened. She gathered them when the barks peeled easily and when the rich juices flowed.

When the twigs were gathered the women soaked them and peeled off the bark. They left some of the twigs round, but others they made into flat splints. Sometimes they stained them with the green rind of nuts, and sometimes they dyed them with pretty dyes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _First step in coiled basketry._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Second step in coiled basketry._]

Instead of weaving the baskets, Willow-grouse sewed them with an over-and-over st.i.tch. In this way she made the soft gra.s.ses into a firm basket. She began by taking a wisp of gra.s.s in the left hand and a flat splint in the other. She wound the splint around the wisp a few times then turned the wrapped portion upon itself. When she had fastened it with a firm st.i.tch, again she wound the splint around the wisp and took another st.i.tch.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Three rows of coiled work._]

Sometimes Willow-grouse made baskets for boiling food, and sometimes she made them for carrying water. The baskets she prized most were the ones into which she put a prayer. The prayer was a little pattern which she made for a picture of one of the G.o.ds. Sometimes it was a wild animal and sometimes it was a bird. Sometimes it was the flowing river and sometimes a mountain peak. And sometimes it was a flash of lightning, and sometimes it was the sun.

All the Cave-men wanted the G.o.ds to be friendly and they wanted them to stay near. That is why they took so much pains in making pictures of them. That is why that soon after the rock shelter was made they engraved a reindeer upon the wall.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "_Greybeard, now old and feeble, walked all the way to the spot._"]

Greybeard, now old and feeble, walked all the way to the spot.

Fleetfoot and Flaker wanted him to perform the magic rites.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A water basket._]

Not all the people who lived there were allowed to take part in the ceremonies. Only the grown people were allowed to see the first part.

And only the wisest and bravest ones went into the dark shelter.

For a moment, those who went in stood in silence waiting for a sign.

Then, by the light of a torch, Fleetfoot chiseled a reindeer on the hard rock, and Greybeard, holding a reindeer skull, murmured earnest prayers.

A feeling of awe came over them while they worked. They began to feel that the G.o.d of the reindeer was really there with them. They asked the G.o.d to take good care of those who lived in the rock shelter, and to send many herds of reindeer to the Cave-men's hunting grounds.

#THINGS TO DO#

_Make a rock shelter with walls of skin instead of plaited branches. Use bone pegs to keep the curtains drawn tight._

_Find a forked stick and several smaller ones and make a framework for a basket-cradle. If you cannot weave such a cradle as the one shown in the picture, make one in some other way and fasten it to the framework._

_Find gra.s.ses and splints and see if you can make a sewed mat or basket. Make a simple pattern for your mat._

_Look at the picture of a water basket. Why do you think it was made to bulge near the bottom? Why was the bottom made flat? Why was the neck made narrow? Why were handles put on this basket? Tell or write a story about this basket._

_Turn to the frontispiece and find a picture with this legend: "A feeling of awe came over them while they worked."_

XLI

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

What might happen that would lead the Cave-men to work together? At what times might the clans help one another?

Think of as many ways as you can of making tents out of poles and skins.

_How the Clans United to Hunt the Bison_

In spite of all the Cave-men did to appease the wrath of the G.o.ds, it seemed to them that a powerful G.o.d was trying to do them harm. Soon after the bison came, the gra.s.s near the caves disappeared. Then the herds scattered and the Cave-men said, "The G.o.d has driven them away."

As the word pa.s.sed from cave to cave, all the people were frightened.

Wise men shook their heads and looked about in despair. Then it was that the younger men spoke of Fleetfoot and Flaker.

Scarface knew of Fleetfoot's courage. And when he heard of Flaker's magical power, he sent messengers, bearing gifts, to invite them with their people to a meeting of the clans.

Fleetfoot and Flaker accepted the gifts and made ready to go. The women made a stretcher for Flaker. And when they had buried their household treasures, all set out to the meeting of the clans.

They arrived at the Fork of the River where Fleetfoot had lived when he was a child. There the frightened clans had gathered to seek aid against a common foe.

When the people saw Flaker upon the stretcher, their voices were hushed and all was still. And when Flaker, arising, fixed his eyes upon something that no one else could see, they scarcely breathed.

They were sure that something was going to happen.