What do you think the women were doing while the men
were working on their weapons?
What tools and weapons did the women need? Do you think
that they made them themselves?
_How the Women Dressed Sabre-tooth’s Skin_
While the men worked upon their trophies and weapons, the women, too,
were working.
[Illustration: _How the women dressed skins_]
They had gone to the river banks to get stones to make into tools.
They were ready to dress old Sabre-tooth’s skin, so they hunted for
stones that would make good scrapers.
They shaped the stones by chipping them with hammer stones, but they
did not make handles for them.
If the rough edges hurt their hands, they wrapped the scraper in a
piece of skin.
When the scrapers were ready, they found a smooth spot where they
stretched out Sabre-tooth’s skin.
Then they made little slits all around the edge and drove little pegs
through them.
They scraped off thin shavings from the inner side, but they were
careful not to spoil the skin by cutting through it.
[Illustration: _One side of scraper_]
[Illustration: _Opposite side of scraper_]
When they had a smooth surface, they rubbed it with fat so as to make
it soft.
Sometimes they chewed the hard parts to make them soft.
When the skin was smooth and soft, they dried it in the sun.
Then they took it into the cave.
Sabre-tooth’s skin was too large to wear every day, but Strongarm wore
it on feast days.