If Flaker is lame, how will he be able to get food? What do you
think he can do that will be useful to the clan?
Do you think the Cave-men took as good care of the sick, and the
lame, and the old people, as we do? What could they do for them?
Why did the men use weapons more than tools? Why did the women use
tools more than weapons?
Think of as many tools as you can that the women used.
_How Flaker Learned to Make Weapons of Bone_
Before Flaker was hurt he and Fleetfoot had planned to do many things.
But now Flaker was lame, and all the Cave-men knew he would never be
able to hunt.
When Flaker first knew it, he was very sad. And so Fleetfoot tried to
comfort him. Each day he brought him a bird or a rabbit, and he told
him all that had happened.
For a while Flaker thought that if a man could not hunt, there was
nothing else for him to do. But soon he found there were many things
to do besides going out to hunt.
Flaker began by doing a few little things to help Fleetfoot. He helped
him flake heads for harpoons and javelins and make strong shafts.
When Greybeard and Fleetfoot praised his work, Flaker was very happy.
And so Flaker busied himself in the workshop when the men went out to
hunt. Sometimes Chipper helped him, and often Greybeard worked with
him.
When Flaker was tired he would look at the trophies which were
fastened on the wall near the cave. He was always glad to see the
locked antlers of the two stags.
As he looked at the strong antlers, he could almost see the handsome
stags. He thought of them standing head to head ready to strike deadly
blows. And he wished he had had such powerful weapons to meet the
bison's charge.
[Illustration: _A wedge or tent pin._]
The children wanted to be good to Flaker and so they brought him the
antlers they found. They liked to play with the antlers, and their
mothers used them in many ways. They had learned to cut them with
choppers and chisels, and sometimes they cut them with stone knives.
All the women used the small prongs of the antlers. They used them as
wedges in prying the bark loose from the sap-wood of young trees. All
the women had learned to make hammers of antler by making two cuts
near the base. And sometimes they used the broad end of the brow
antler instead of a stone chisel.
Once when Flaker was watching Antler, he thought she was making a
dagger. But Antler had not thought of making a dagger. She was making
a hammer and wedge. When she had finished, she dropped the long beam
of the antler upon the ground and went away with her tools.
Flaker kept his eyes fixed upon the long beam. The more he looked at
it, the more it looked like a dagger. At length he reached and picked
it up. Then he took his knife and began to cut it.
[Illustration: _The head of a javelin._]
That night when Fleetfoot came home, Flaker gave him a dagger of
reindeer horn. Fleetfoot showed it to Bighorn, who took it, then
tossed it on the ground.
Bighorn had never seen such a dagger. He thought a good dagger had to
be made of stone. So he made fun of Flaker's weapon, then thought no
more about it.
But Greybeard and Chipper did not make fun of the weapons Flaker made.
They tried the dagger next day, and found that it stood the test. So
they asked Flaker to make each of them daggers and javelins of
reindeer horn.
#THINGS TO DO#
_Tell all you know about the antlers of full-grown stags. Tell all
you know about the antlers of other reindeer._
_Look at the antlers in the pictures on pages 16, 17, 108, and 121.
Find the part that would make such a wedge as is shown on page 119.
Find the part that would make such a hammer as is shown on page 74.
Find a part for a chisel or scraper. Find the long beam that was
used in making such a dagger as is shown on page 123. Do you think
that Flaker's first dagger was carved in this way? Can you tell why
the Cave-men carved their weapons?_
_Act out the part of this story you like best._
_Draw one of these pictures:_--
_Flaker watching for Fleetfoot's return._
_The children bringing antlers to Flaker._
_The women at work making tools._
_Fleetfoot showing the dagger to Bighorn._
_Greybeard and Chipper asking Flaker to make daggers._
_Make as many simple tools as you can out of bone or horn. Find
ways of using them._