The Tree-Dwellers Part 18

x.x.xI.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

What animals live in the cold north?

Do they like to live there?

Would you be surprised if any of these animals came here to live?

If they came, what do you think it would mean?

[Ill.u.s.tration: _The strange musk sheep_]

_The Coming of the Musk Sheep_

One day long after Bodo lived some men went up the valley to hunt.

They had not gone far when the leader waved his hand.

All the men stopped to find out what he wanted.

He pointed to a herd of strange animals feeding on the rocky slope.

Then he motioned to show them what to do.

He sent some of the men up the trail to the right.

He motioned for others to go to the left.

He wanted to surround the animals.

The strange creatures soon caught sight of the hunters.

They huddled together like frightened sheep.

Then the men thought they could surely catch them.

They shouted aloud for joy.

But the animals turned and ran up the slope.

They jumped over rocks and chasms with ease.

They were soon out of sight.

How disappointed the hunters were!

They did not know what these strange animals were.

They did not know from what place they had come.

They wondered why they had come to their land.

Perhaps you would like to know.

They were musk sheep that had come from the cold, cold north.

They were used to treeless, desolate places.

They were used to eating moss and young shoots of the willow.

They looked something like sheep and something like oxen.

Sometimes they are called musk oxen.

They looked something like the bison.

Sometimes they are called musk bison.

Does it seem strange that the musk sheep should leave their cold home and come to the land where the Tree-dwellers had lived?

It was not so strange as it seemed.

Many years had pa.s.sed since the Tree-dwellers lived.

It was no longer warm on the wooded hills.

There was snow on the ground the greater part of the year.

After many years it became very cold.

Then all the animals came down from the north.

The coming of the musk sheep was the sign of the coming cold.

THINGS TO DO

_Bend your arms to show how the musk sheep's horns curve._ _How do you think the musk sheep used its horns?_ _Model a musk sheep in clay._

x.x.xII.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

What animals stay here in the winter?

How do they keep warm?

How do they find food?

_The Woolly Rhinoceros_

About the same time that the musk sheep came from the north, another strange animal appeared.

It was a huge creature.

Not one like it has lived for ages.

It was a woolly rhinoceros.

The big-nosed rhinoceros liked to live where it was warm.

It lived on the wooded hills before the Tree-dwellers did.

The small-nosed rhinoceros liked the warm country, too.

It came from the south when the Tree-dwellers appeared.

But the woolly rhinoceros came down from the north.

It was able to live in the cold.

It had an inner coat of fine curly wool.

This coat kept it warm.

It had a coa.r.s.e, hairy outer coat.

This coat kept it from feeling heavy blows.

It had two horns on its ugly snout.

They kept it safe from harm.

When it was not disturbed it was a peaceable animal.

But when it was attacked there was no animal that was more fierce.

The other animals learned to let it alone.

Sometimes the wolves and hyenas frightened it over a precipice.

But it was a long time before men tried to hunt it.

THINGS TO DO