If you were going to live in a cave that had been taken
from a wild animal, what would you do to make it
comfortable?
What do you think the Cave-men did?
What do you think the Cave-men found in the cave?
What kind of beds do you think they made?
If they built a fire inside the cave do you think that
the smoke would pass out?
Where do you think that they would make their
fireplace? Where do we make our fireplaces?
How do we keep the smoke from getting into our rooms?
_How the Cave Was Made Ready for a Winter Home_
The morning after the feast Firekeeper built a fire inside the cave.
Then all went in to look at the cave, but the smoke soon drove them out.
So Firekeeper raked out the fire with a branch of spruce wood and
waited for the smoke to go out.
Then the Cave-men took firebrands and crept inside, and stood up and
walked around.
Bones of animals were strewn upon the rough rocky floor.
Pieces of rock shaped like icicles hung from the roof and stood up from
some parts of the floor.
Drops of water trickled down from the roof.
Layers of rock jutted out from the walls like shelves.
The Cave-men walked through the large dry cavern until they came to a
narrow passage.
Then they stopped to see where it led.
They peered into the darkness, but saw nothing.
They listened, but heard no sound.
Since no one wanted to creep through the passage, they turned back
toward the mouth.
The dry cavern near the mouth was large enough for a home, so the
Cave-men thought no more of the narrow passage.
Before the men went out of the cave they picked up armfuls of bones for
weapons.
They carried them out by the fire and sat down and worked upon them.
The women cleared away piles of bones, so as to make a smooth place to
sleep.
Then they went out among the trees to find something to cover the floor.
They broke off small branches of evergreens and carried them into the
cave.
The children brought armfuls of moss and leaves, and scattered them
over the hard rocky floor.
When the beds were finished they made a fireplace.
They dug a shallow hole just outside the cave and walled it around with
stones.
Perhaps you would not call this a good fireplace, but it was the best
fireplace any one had at that time.
[Illustration: “_The children brought armfuls of moss and leaves_”]