What do you think the Cave-men will do while the old
man and Sharpeyes are gone?
How will they keep the animals out of the cave?
_Why Firekeeper Made a Door_
The day after the old man and Sharpeyes went away, a cave-bear came up
toward the cave.
The women sent the children into the cave and grasped their weapons to
help the men.
The bear turned and went away.
But the Cave-men were afraid that he would come back.
They could defend themselves at the mouth of the cave, but they had to
go out to get something to eat.
They were afraid to leave the children alone for fear the cave-bear
might get them.
At last they thought of shutting them up in the cave.
They had never seen nor heard of a door, but they knew how to heap up
piles of stones.
So they rolled up large stones and piled them up until part of the
entrance was blocked.
They did not want to wall up the whole mouth, for the stones were too
heavy to move every day.
But they wanted to close the mouth of the cave so as to keep the
cave-bear out.
Everybody tried to find a way to do it, and at last Firekeeper got an
idea for a door.
Perhaps you would not call what she made a door, but it was a good door
for that time.
[Illustration: “_They rushed upon him with their knives and spears_”]
Firekeeper made it of tough branches.
She stuck several large branches into the ground and wove smaller ones
among them.
When the door was finished, the women pulled up the large branches and
carried the wicker-work door to the cave.
They set it between the stones so as to close the mouth.
After that they shut the children in the cave when they went out to
hunt.
But the cave-bear still prowled around.
When the women came home from the woods one day, the cave-bear was at
the door.
They rushed upon him with their knives and spears.
They were torn and bruised by the cave-bear, but he never troubled them
any more.