The Later Cave-Men Part 6

While Chew-chew worked at her basket, Fleetfoot played near at hand.

Often he came to his grandmother's side and talked about many things.

At length Chew-chew, holding up a skin, turned to Fleetfoot and said, "Do you know what animal wore this skin?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A bear's tooth awl._]

"One of the reindeer we saw at the ford," quickly responded Fleetfoot.

"Where have all the reindeer gone?" was Chew-chew's next question.

"To the cave of the Big Bear of the mountains," came the prompt answer.

While Chew-chew and Fleetfoot talked the children played near the cave. Pigeon was playing with stones which she had gathered and tossed into the fire. In trying to get them out again she burned her fingers, and began to cry.

When Chew-chew saw what had happened, she told Fleetfoot to play with Pigeon. And Fleetfoot played with Pigeon, and he showed her how to lift hot stones without getting burned.

The children played and carried hot stones with tongs made of sticks.

They ran back and forth between rows of skins until Pigeon dropped a hot stone into the hole.

No sooner had Pigeon dropped the stone than she screamed, "A snake! a snake!" And she ran to her grandmother and sobbed, while she hid her face in her chubby arm.

Chew-chew thought that a snake was crawling about. Fleetfoot helped her look under all the skins. They looked for some time, but they found no trace of a snake.

Then Chew-chew asked Pigeon to tell her all about it. And Pigeon said, "A big snake hissed and made me drop the stone."

Just then Fleetfoot dropped a hot stone and something went "s-s-s-s-s-s."

Pigeon screamed again, but a hearty laugh from Chew-chew showed there was nothing to fear. Chew-chew knew that the hissing sound was not the hiss of a snake. It was the sizzling of the water when it touched the hot stone.

And so Chew-chew tried to teach the children how to know the hissing sound. She picked up hot stones and dropped them into the water. Each time a stone was dropped, the hissing sound was heard; and the children learned to know the sound, and they were no longer afraid.

As Chew-chew kept on dropping the hot stones, she did not notice all that happened. She thought only of teaching the children, so that they would not be afraid. But at last such a strange thing happened, that even Chew-chew was afraid.

The water no longer was still. It kept moving like the angry water in the rapids of the river. A thin mist began to rise, and a strange voice came from the water, saying:--

"_Bubble, bubble, bubble; Bubble, bubble, bubble._"

At the sound Chew-chew was filled with fear. She was afraid the G.o.ds were angry. She looked about for an offering, and found a piece of bison meat. She dropped the meat into the water, hoping to appease the angry G.o.d.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "_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 G.o.d 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._

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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?

_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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d. 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 G.o.ds and asked them to protect the Cave-men.

Before the women had dropped many stones, the children crowded around.

n.o.body 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 G.o.d.

Everybody watched as she dropped the meat. Everybody breathed more freely when the bubbling ceased. And Chew-chew said, "The G.o.d is pleased with the offering of meat."

Many times after that Chew-chew dropped hot stones into the water, and offered meat to the G.o.d. 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 G.o.d.

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 G.o.d 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._