How do you think Fleetfoot felt the first few days he was with the
strange clan?
What do you think he will learn of them? What do you think he can
teach them?
_Fleetfoot is Adopted by the Bison Clan_
For a few days Fleetfoot missed his mother and Chew-chew more than he
could tell. He missed little Pigeon, too. He missed the people he had
always seen. But he said very little about them.
It was Greybeard who told him that he was now living with the Bison
clan. Not all of the people belonged to that clan, but there were more
of that clan than of any other. And so they were known as the Bison
clan.
At first Fleetfoot was afraid of the men and large boys. Most of all
he was afraid of Bighorn, for it was Bighorn who captured him.
But before one moon had passed, he was adopted by the Bison clan. And
soon after that, he began to feel at home. Greybeard told him stories,
and gave him little spears. Antler was kind to him, and the children
were always ready to play.
[Illustration: _A skin stretched on a frame._]
Fleetfoot liked to play with the children. He liked to play with
Flaker best of all. Flaker was Antler's child, and he was about the
size of Fleetfoot.
[Illustration: _A scraper._]
As the days became cold, the women worked upon skins. There was not a
smooth spot near the cave which was not covered with a skin. Fleetfoot
watched Antler as she cut little slits in the edges. He helped stretch
the skins out on the ground and drive little pegs through the slits.
He watched her stretch a skin on a frame and put it near the fire.
Antler scraped a skin until the fat was off, and the inner skin was
removed. Then she roughened it by scraping it crosswise, so as to make
it flexible.
When Fleetfoot saw Antler roll the skins in a loose roll, he asked if
she was going to chew them. Antler smiled as she asked Fleetfoot how
his mother softened skins.
Fleetfoot showed how his mother did it. And he told Antler about
Chew-chew. He told her that Chew-chew got her name because she learned
to chew the skins.
While Antler and Fleetfoot were talking, all the women and children
gathered around. They wanted to see what they were doing, and to hear
what Fleetfoot said.
Then Antler said to the women and children, "These skins are ready to
soften. Come, join hands and show Fleetfoot how we soften hard skins."
[Illustration: _A hammer of reindeer horn._]
What a noisy time they had for a little while! Each group wanted to
finish first. Some of them stamped the skins, and kept time by
singing. Others pounded the skins with their hands, and still others
pounded with hammers of reindeer horn.
They had such a merry time that Fleetfoot could not keep still. He was
soon stamping and singing as well as any one.
When the skins were softened, Antler told Fleetfoot that once her
people chewed the skins. But since they had found an easier way, they
chewed only the edges they wished to sew.
And so Fleetfoot began to learn lessons of the Bison clan. But once he
was the teacher. It was when he showed Flaker what happened the day
Pigeon played with hot stones. Flaker told his mother, and Antler told
Greybeard. And then Greybeard asked Fleetfoot to drop the hot stones
in the water again.
All the Cave-men gathered around to see what Fleetfoot did. When the
steam began to rise from the water, they stepped back. But when they
saw that the child was not afraid, they came forward cautiously.
When the water began to bubble, they were all filled with fear. They
looked upon Fleetfoot in silence. They called him a wonderful child.
#THINGS TO DO#
_Tell a story about dressing skins. Draw pictures which will show
all that is done in dressing the skin._
_Dramatize the part of the story that tells what Fleetfoot taught
the Bison clan. Draw a picture of it._
_Make a song that people might sing in stamping upon the skins._
_Make a song to sing while beating the skins._