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[Illustration]
STORIES
of the
CAVE PEOPLE
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
STORIES _of the_ CAVE PEOPLE
_By_ MARY E. MARCY
[Illustration]
CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS :: :: :: CHICAGO
Copyright 1917
by
CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY
CHICAGO
+-----------------------+
| JOHN F. HIGGINS |
| PRINTER AND BINDER |
| |
| [Illustration] |
| |
| 376–382 MONROE STREET |
| CHICAGO, ILLINOIS |
+-----------------------+
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PREFACE
No man or woman can begin to intelligently interpret the causes of
social phenomena and human progress to-day without a practical knowledge
of sociology and a general understanding of the underlying causes of
social evolution.
Man has risen from a stage of lowest savagery, little higher than the
apes, buffetted by the hand of Nature, dependent upon the wild game he
might kill or the food he found ready to hand, a fearing and a furtive
creature of the forests and of the plains, preyed upon by a thousand
stronger foes, to a being able to provide warmth and clothing and
shelter against the rains and the cold and food against the seasons. He
has become a master instead of a plaything of the elements. In a large
measure he has become arbiter of his own food supply and, hence, his own
destiny. He has subjugated, in a marvelous degree, the forces of Nature
and harnessed them to his needs.
The ordinary man all over the world to-day does not know these things.
He attributes all this wonderful progress to a supernatural agency or to
supernatural agencies; he believes that the institutions of to-day have
existed since the beginning of time; that the Gods created man exactly
as we find him in the 20th century; that the present ideas of morality,
religion, law and human justice have always prevailed. He is unable to
tell whence we sprung and which way we are going. Amid a changing world
he sees only fixed things.
He knows neither the origin nor the trend of anything; to him the world,
the human race and all social institutions began as they are now and
will be—world without end.
But Science has shown us that the only stable fact in the world to-day
is the process of _change_, how man has evolved through the ageless past
and the direction of the social current.
In this little book I have sought, in a series of stories or sketches,
to present only the _first steps in human progress_ as elaborated by
Lewis J. Morgan in his brilliant work on Ancient Society. If they
stimulate the young folks to a more comprehensive study of the struggles
of primitive man and the causes of his slow but steady advance, they
shall have fulfilled their purpose.
THE AUTHOR.
A SONG OF THE “CAVE PEOPLE”
_By Gerald J. Lively_
Hear now a tale—a tale of human genesis,
A tale of first endeavor,
The dawn-flush in the night.
It’s a long, long way to go, to those days of long ago,
But your baby feet have trod it, oh ye children of the light.
Dark were our early days—night and cold encumbered us,
Driving us to trees and caves
Who had no eyes to fight.
Yet it still seems very near, does that dreary age of fear,
When we trembled in our shelters at the noises of the night.
Prey to all the stronger beasts—mock of half the lesser ones;
Little, less, and lower ones
Marvelled at our shame.
Till from out our utter need came the thought, and came the deed,
And we won our way to freedom with the all-compelling flame.
Noises we misunderstood—dreams that came to trouble us;
Shades that shrank and lengthened
And danced about our way.
Our world was full of hosts of goblins, gnomes, and ghosts—
Are ye still afraid of goblins, oh ye children of the day?
Stark—but for flint and bone—pitted we our wit against
The sabre-tooth and cave-bear
And beasts we slew for food;
But the fiercest fight began when we slew our brotherman:
Oh children of the daylight, have ye lost the taste for blood?
Dim is the tale we tell: dust of Time has muffled it;
Far apart the happenings
That made ye lords of earth.
By the ages in between times ye know and pleistocene
Have pity on our childish ways and pride in all our worth.
CONTENTS
Pages
The Fire Beast 15
The Ornament of Big Nose 27
When Run Fast Went Hunting for a Wife 41
Little Laughing Boy 53
Hunting an Echo 69
The Flood 81
Big Foot’s New Weapon 95
The First Planting 109
The First Pot 123
The Arrow Throwers 137
The First Priest 151
Questions for Teachers 162
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
I
THE FIRE BEAST
No one among the Cave People knew how to kindle a fire. On several
occasions when they found the trees in the forest aflame, Strong Arm had
borne back to the Hollow a burning branch. Immediately all the other
Cave People were seized with a desire to have torches and they swarmed
around the skirts of the blaze and secured boughs also. And on they sped
toward home and the Hollow amid roars of laughter and much pride, till
the sparks from one of the branches blew into the frowsy hair of the
Stumbler and set him aflame.
Instantly all the Cave People dropped their boughs in terror and the
Stumbler beat his head with his hand, uttering shrill cries of pain.
Only Strong Arm advanced steadily toward the river, grunting his
disgust. “Bah! Bah!” he said many times, spitting the words from his
mouth.
Strong Arm was the great man of the tribe. No one among the Cave People
could jump so far, or lift so large a rock as he. His back was broader
than the shoulders of the other men. His head was less flat, and his
eyes were very keen and saw many things.
When they reached the Hollow, Strong Arm gathered dry leaves and sticks
and built a huge bonfire upon the rocks. And the Old Woman and Gray
Beard came out of their cave to marvel at his work.
The young men brought branches and leaves and fed the flames and when
night came on the Cave People sat around the fire and laughed together.
For the wolves came out of their holes and showed their white fangs. And
their yellow eyes gleamed through the darkness, but they hovered on the
edge of the woods, for they were afraid.
Far into the night the Cave People danced, while the flames from the
fire brightened the whole Hollow. They beat their hands together and
chanted in two tones from a minor strain, and not till they were worn
out with dancing and fuel gathering did they crawl back into their
caves.
But in the morning the fire was dead. Grey ashes marked the spot of
their gaiety and the Cave People were filled with awe and wonder.
But they learned many things. The next time Strong Arm brought a blazing
bough to the Hollow he discovered that the fire burned best when the
branches met the face of the wind, and in time they learned to coax the
coals to live through the night by covering them carefully with ashes
and damp moss. And at last, by watchful care, the Cave People were able
to keep the fire burning constantly.
The Cave Women with little children, who were unable to hunt with the
men, came in time to be the natural care-takers of the fire.
It was the Foolish One who first, in a fit of wantonness, threw a hunk
of bear meat upon the coals, and it was Strong Arm, the wise, who fished
it out again. For in those days bear meat was not to be had all the
time, and Famine followed close upon the heels of Feasting. Often a
chunk of bear meat was the most precious thing in the world.
Strong Arm ate the steak which he had poked from the coals and he found
it delicious. Then he threw more chunks into the fire and gave them to
the Cave People. After that every one threw his meat into the flames. By
and by they stuck great hunks of raw flesh upon long sticks and broiled
them over the fire.
No longer as darkness crept over the world were the Cave People forced
into their Caves for safety. Secure around the fire they danced and
chanted rude measures wherein they mocked their enemies, the mountain
lion and the grey wolves, who came forth in the night and watched them
hungrily from afar.
Four times had the nut season come and gone since the birth of little
Laughing Boy and he could remember one day only when the fire had not
burned upon the rocks in the Hollow. Ever since he had been able to walk
he had trotted at his mother’s heels down to the shore, when the air was
chill and had squatted very close to the coals, for the warmth was very
pleasant to his small body.
His mother, Quack Quack, which meant Wild Duck in the language of the
Cave People, always screamed shrilly to him and gesticulated wildly,
till he crept back out of danger, while she scoured the woods for logs
and branches.
But there came a day when he crawled down to the river and found no fire
on the shore. Then his father, Strong Arm, had gone upon a long journey.
Many paths he had crossed on his journey along the bank of the river to
a friendly neighboring tribe. And he returned after several suns with
the good fire in his hands.
Since then the Cave People had tended the fire more carefully than ever.
Thus Laughing Boy came to know that the fire was a friend, a friend who
protected the Cave People from the wild animals of the forest. He knew
also that it was very good to feel the warm flames near his brown body
when the days were cool, and that it hurt very much if touched with his
fingers.
Laughing Boy always ran at the side of his mother, Quack Quack, tagging
at her heels or hanging on her shoulders. Although a very big boy, as
Cave Boys grew, he had never been weaned and always when he grew cold or
hungry, he ran to her side and pulled at her breasts, uttering queer
little grunts and cries.
In the bad season Quack Quack grew very thin as Laughing Boy nursed at
her breasts. When he was four years old and the fruit was dead and the
nuts and berries were nowhere to be found from the North fork of the
river to the bend far below, Quack Quack felt that she could no longer
endure but pushed him from her again and again, giving him bits of meat
and fish to chew.
When once the Cave People had hunted twelve days without bringing home
any large game, the eyes of the people grew deep with hunger and their
faces were drawn and gaunt. A few fish they caught and again found
bitter roots and some scrubby tubers, but these meant only a mouthful to
the Cave People when they could, one and all, have devoured great hunks
of meat.
Strong Arm sat on the bank of the river one whole day, but the storms
had driven the fish up stream and he caught only two small ones that
fluttered and beat themselves against the sticks which he had rammed
into the mud, after the fashion of a fence.
Quack Quack, who was often alone in the Hollow, felt the gnawing pangs
of hunger more keenly every day as she weakly thrust Laughing Boy from
her breasts again and again, and staggered into the forest after fresh
fuel.
And there came a time when the hunger and pain grew so strong that she
remembered only that she must satisfy them. Then she pushed Laughing Boy
into the cave, which was the place that served to her and Strong Arm for
a home, and with a mighty effort rolled a stone before the entrance.
Laughing Boy, too, was very hungry, but she knew he was safe from the
beasts of the forest. She heard his low wails as she turned her back on
the Hollow and hurried away toward the branch of the river, pausing only
when she saw the scrub ends of the wild plants, to examine them. But she
found nothing to eat, only many holes where the Cave People had thrust
their sticks in a search of roots.
Quack Quack continued on her way, almost forgetting the mountain lion,
and the dangers that assailed without, for the hunger passion was strong
within her.
The wild duck she sought and knew their haunts of old. It was because of
her skill in catching them that she had earned her name among the Cave
People.
Better than any other, she knew their habits and how to catch and kill
one among them without alarming the flock.
This she had discovered when she was a very little girl. In those days
it had been almost impossible for the Cave People to catch the wild
duck. While they were sometimes successful in killing one, the others
always scattered in terror. Soon they began to regard the Cave People as
their enemies and immediately one of them appeared the alarm was given.
But when Quack Quack, the mother of Laughing Boy, was ten years old and
the Cave People were disgusted because the wild ducks eluded them so
quickly, she found a way to deceive the flocks.
She had waded out into the fork of the river, with the great green
leaves of the cocoanut palm wet and flapping about her head, for the sun
was very hot, and she stood quietly among the rushes, when a flock of
wild ducks swam slowly down the stream. Suddenly she stretched out her
arm, under the water, and seized one of the ducks by the legs and drew
him down. And then the rest of the flock, unsuspicious of danger, swam
on slowly around the bend.[1]
Footnote 1:
Prof. Frederick Starr says in his Some First Steps in Human Progress
that this old method of catching wild ducks is still practiced by the
tribes in Patagonia.
Then the little brown girl ran out of the water holding aloft the duck,
which was dead. Her mother was very proud as well as the young brown
girl, and all the Cave People clapped their hands and said, “Good!
Good!” And the young men said “Woman,” meaning she was grown very wise,
and after that everybody called her Quack Quack, after the voice of the
wild duck.
And Quack Quack grew very proud of her accomplishment and spent long
hours hiding in the rushes for ducks. All the Cave People put leaves or
bark over their heads in order to hide themselves and tried to catch
them as the brown young girl had done, but they always frightened away
the flock even when they were lucky enough to seize one of the ducks.
Many years had passed since the brown girl discovered the new way of
hunting, but the brown woman, whom they still called Quack Quack, had
not forgotten.
She could not forget with a great hunger in her breast, as she slipped
through the wood along the river bank.
Gently she stepped, making no sound, and every little while she parted
the brushes lining the river with her hands and peered through. But
there were no ducks and she caught her breath each time eagerly and went
further on, twitching her ears nervously.
When she was almost exhausted, after some time, she again parted the
brush. Now her eyes flashed, her small nostrils quivered and her hands
worked convulsively, for there, not very far away, evidently drowsing
near the rushes, she saw a solitary wild duck.
The brown woman drew in her breath, and softly, very softly, withdrew
from the brush and bent her steps further up the river. On her way she
tore a long strip of dead bark from a tree and wound it carefully around
her head and face.
Then she plunged into the river until it rose above her shoulders, when
she waded very gently with the current, down stream. The water was very
cold, but Quack Quack clutched her hands sharply and stepped onward,
deeper into the sluggish current, till only the rough bark which covered
her head, remained in view.
Slowly, very slowly, she felt her way over the soft bottom, making no
sound, causing not even a ripple in the water. A small bough floated at
her side and she kept pace with it, going no faster, no slower than it
drifted, till she came close, very close, to the motionless duck. Then
her hand shot forth and she dragged it sharply under the water. But it
was alone. There was none to take flight at its cries and Quack Quack,
the brown woman, scrambled up the bank, wringing the duck’s neck as she
ran.
She shivered in the wind and shielded herself in the brush, and then,
lying flat on the ground, buried her teeth in the duck’s breast. Swiftly
she ate, making loud noises with her lips and grunting joyfully, and not
until the last portion was gone did she rise and turn her face toward
the Hollow. Her stomach sagged with its heavy load and she walked
slowly, glutted with food.
When the Cave People saw her, they cried out, “Wild Duck, Wild Duck!”
They looked at her stomach, big and distended and were very miserable,
for they knew after what manner she had earned her name.
The fire on the rocks in the Hollow was cold and dead and Strong Arm was
very angry, but Quack Quack said nothing. She heard the cry of Laughing
Boy as she slipped into the Cave, and she threw herself onto the bed of
dead leaves and drew him, whimpering, to her breast.
II
THE ORNAMENT OF BIG NOSE
[Illustration]
As far back as any of the Cave People could remember, their fathers had
used the bones of wild beasts as weapons. I suppose they discovered long
before that the marrow inside these bones was very good to eat. Then
they hammered them with great stones till the bones split open and after
they had eaten the marrow somebody discovered the sharp bones made very
formidable weapons. No one had ever found sticks so strong and so sharp
as these bone weapons.
By and by all the Cave People possessed great bones, split at one end,
like a sharp sword. Almost every day the youths and maidens threw bones
or sticks to display their skill. And the one whose aim was true and who
showed most power in his arm, strutted about and stuck out his chest, in
order that all the other Cave people might know how great he was.
One there was whom they called Big Nose. Now in the time of the Cave
People it was a marvelous thing for a child to possess a nose that
protruded. Generally cave noses were much like the noses of the Tree
People, with merely two large nostrils in the center of the face,
slightly extended, preceding the head in order that the owner might
catch the smell of danger or of good food. But him the Cave People
called Big Nose because his nose turned down instead of upward, and it
extended nearly half an inch beyond his face.
When he was only a slim brown youth, Big Nose became able to out-throw
all the other young folks. He could fling his rough bone javelin many
feet further than any of the others and with greater force. At the edge
of the woods, he would hurl it far among the trees and clip off, every
time, the heads of the small purple flower that grew tall and slim in
the forest.
Big Nose grew proud and held his head very high. And he began, after a
little while, to wander farther and farther into the woods alone, for he
desired greatly to meet the mountain lion or the green snake, in order
that he might kill them with his weapon and become still greater in the
eyes of the Cave People.
Every one thought he was brave but very foolish, for the youths and
maidens rarely wandered about in the forest alone. Too often had their
brothers gone out and never returned, and there was fear in their
hearts.
But in spite of their warnings, Big Nose continued to hunt and one day,
when he had traveled beyond the great rocks, he discovered a large tree
lying prone upon the ground. The spring storms had uprooted it and flung
it down to die.
Big Nose sped on till he reached the oak tree, when he heard, from its
branches, a deep growl and much scratching. Big Nose drew back quickly
and sheltered himself behind a great tree, waiting. Aloft he held his
bone spear, ready to hurl it upon the enemy.
He waited a long time, but nothing came forth from the boughs of the oak
tree, and gradually he grew bolder and cautiously advanced again. His
ears twitched constantly and he drew his lips back from his teeth just
as dogs do when they attack the enemy.
Big Nose still heard the low growling, but he saw nothing. When he
reached the fallen oak, he saw that its branches were flung over a deep
hole in the ground. He peered into it carefully and saw a black bear,
digging frantically with her paws. Evidently she had blundered through
the branches of the tree and had fallen down into the hollow.
When Big Nose found there was no danger, he grew very happy and laughed
softly to himself, for the black bear stood upon her hind feet and
clawed the air, trying to get out.
And he dropped stones upon her head till she grew wild with rage and
staggered about trying to reach him with her paws. Big Nose laughed
softly and continued to tease her till she stood again on her hind feet,
exposing her throat in rage. Then he lifted his arms above his head and
flung the bone javelin into her breast with all his strength.
The bear dropped to the ground pawing at the bone which protruded from
her throat, dripping with blood. Furiously she tore about the pit,
beating its sides with her paws. And Big Nose was terrified when he saw
his bone weapon fall to the bottom of the hollow, and he ran about
hunting for a long stick with which he hoped to poke it out again.
When he returned to the pit, bearing sticks and boughs, he found the
bear pressing her paws to her breast and growling with rage.
Very carefully he bent over the hollow and poked his weapon, but the
bear discovered his movements and turned quickly upon him. With a stroke
of her great paw, she slashed savagely at his arm, and laid it open to
the bone. Big Nose choked back a cry of pain.
Then he arose to his feet and staggered homeward. Softly he went and his
feet touched the earth gently. Dry leaves did not crack under them and
he made no sound. But his wound bled badly and he grew weak with pain.
Then he stopped at the side of a dead tree and tore off a strip of bark,
which he wrapped tightly around his arm. And he sped quickly, for wild
beasts came forth eagerly at the smell of blood and he had no weapon
with which to defend himself.
But he arrived at the hollow in safety. And the old men among the Cave
People nodded their heads and threw out their hands, as much as to say:
“We told you so.”
But the youths and maidens gathered around Big Nose with much interest,
saying, “What? What?” which, in the language of the Cave People, means,
What is the matter?
And the brown maidens came near and gazed upon Big Nose with wonder and
admiration. Even Light Foot, who had, alone, slain the man, who came
down the river, from the enemies, the Arrow People, was pleased with Big
Nose and brought herbs with which to wrap his wounds.
But Big Nose waved them all aside with a lofty gesture. Though the pain
hurt him sorely, his face was calm, and he knew all the Cave People
would think long of his bravery. And his blood was warm because Light
Foot looked upon him with love and fire in her eyes.
When all the eyes of the Cave People were directed upon him, Big Nose
knelt quickly on the ground and dug a small hole in the earth. With his
arm that was uninjured, he pointed into it, growling in imitation of the
black bear. And they knew he had discovered a bear that had stumbled
into a hollow. Then Big Nose threw a stick into the hole and they
understood he had hurled his bone javelin upon the bear. Snatching a
second stick, he poked furiously to show how he had sought to extricate
his weapon. With another deep growl, he pulled out his arm and held his
wound where all could see.
It was in this way that the Cave People talked to each other. Their
words were few and most of their ideas were expressed by gestures.
“Quack, quack,” they said when they meant wild duck. A deep growl
signified the black bear, while a long line, made by drawing a finger
through the dust or sand, gave everybody to understand the person spoke
of a snake.
If you have seen a pantomime show, you will understand something of the
manner of the gesture language of the Cave People. Even we “civilized”
folks, long accustomed to verbal language, say many things to each other
every day, by facial expression and by gesture.
And so, even the children among the Cave People understood the
adventures Big Nose had encountered. When his pantomime monologue was
finished, the men and women of the tribe rose eagerly. They pointed
first to the hole Big Nose had dug in the ground, and then toward the
forest, as much as to say,
“Is the bear still in the pit?”
And one of them asked “Big Nose kill?” Big Nose shook his head and
started toward the wood, indicating that the Cave Men were to follow.
So the strong men started through the forest. They hurried forward,
keeping close together, with their bone javelins in their hands. For it
was growing dusk. But all were hungry, and Cave People who have eaten
little for twenty-four hours are willing to risk some danger for a meal
of fresh meat.
They reached the pit safely. The bear still growled savagely in pain,
and it was after much jabbing with their bone weapons that they
dispatched her.
Speedily they dragged her from the hole and began at once to skin and
disembowel her. They worked into the dark hacking up and distributing
portions in order that each man might carry back to the Hollow his share
of the burden.
Very sharply the Cave Men drew in their breath, for the fresh blood of
the bear smelled good to them. But the terror of the night was strong
upon them, and they listened intently, sniffing the air, twitching their
ears and trembling with fear. For it is in the night that the wild
beasts creep forth for food, and the smell of fresh blood reaches a long
way off.
So the Cave Men huddled together very close, each carrying a portion of
the dripping carcass of the bear. Big Nose, too, bore a huge chunk of
the meat, which he chewed from time to time. His wounded arm ached
sorely, but because of the pride in his heart, he spoke not. But the way
to the Hollow seemed very far and his knees almost sank beneath him.
Each man bore his bone weapon pointing away from his fellows, in order
that the hyena, if it sprang at them, might receive the sharp bone
point.
Strong Arm was he who thought most of the fire and the safety it
brought. But he was unable to express his thoughts. For the sign of the
fire among the Cave People was spoken in a gesture, and gesture language
is not understood in the darkness.
One terrifying incident marked the journey home. Soft foot-falls
crumbled the leaves and two green eyes spotted the black, but the Cave
Men huddled closer together, and shrieked so loudly that the animal,
whatever it was, dashed away in fear.
When they came to the Hollow, the Cave Men called loudly to the others,
and distributed big chunks of bear meat, which they all ate eagerly,
with great satisfaction. Then the people crept into their caves, rolled
great stones before the entrances, and slept.
Many suns came and went away again and Big Nose was so proud of his
wound that he moved his arm with great care. The blood that covered it
grew hard and black but he sought to preserve it there always, in order
to recall to the minds of the Cave People thoughts of his courage. To
him it was a precious ornament, so beautiful that it caused the young
men to regard him with jealousy and the young women with admiration.
And Light Foot, who was very beautiful in the eyes of all the Cave
People, refused to look any longer upon the other youths of the tribe.
And when Big Nose asked her to share his cave, she was proud and happy
and went to live with him and became his wife.
One there was among the youths of the Cave People whom they had never
called “Man,” which is to say, “you are wise and brave; therefore you
are a man.” Him they called Run Fast, because, in spite of the hair
grown heavy upon his face, it was always his custom to run away when
trouble came.
All the Cave People were often afraid, for death sometimes lurked in the
shadows, and their ignorance was so great that they were unable to
explain very common occurrences. But Run Fast was more fearful than the
old women and the little children.
Run Fast hated Big Nose because Big Nose had done all the things he was
afraid to do.
But one day he crept into the wood. He thought he knew of a way that
would cause all the Cave People to look upon him with admiration. He did
not see Laughing Boy slip through the brush behind him.
Run Fast did not travel far. He never went far from the Hollow when he
was alone. And he did not see little Laughing Boy, who watched him
curiously from the bushes.
Then Run Fast did a very strange thing. Seizing his split bone knife, he
scraped his arm till the blood ran and dropped on the ground. Then he
bound it tightly, with a piece of bark, just as Big Nose had done.
He returned to the Hollow, screaming wildly, until the Cave People
gathered to learn the cause of his distress. And he repeated, in the
language of gesture, the same story Big Nose had told a few suns before.
The strong men and the women surveyed him sharply, for it did not seem
possible to them that Run Fast had killed anything. But little Laughing
Boy, who saw that Run Fast was receiving much attention because of the
blood upon his arm, pushed his way among the people.
With a stone in his hand, he rubbed fiercely up and down upon his
forearm, till the blood flowed, pointing to Run Fast and shaking his
head.
His meaning was plain. The Cave People understood him. It was, “See me.
I can scratch myself harder than Run Fast did.”
Then all the Cave People knew what Run Fast had done and they cried
“Baby! Baby!” to Run Fast and he was disgraced before them all.
After that, when the young men of the tribe came home with blood upon
their bodies, the strong men shook their heads and refused to believe
tales of their adventures, unless they brought back something to prove
their words. So it came to be a custom among the Cave People that the
men or women who had killed a savage beast carried home with him the
tail, or the hide or teeth of that animal. These they wore always as
tokens of their bravery. Thus the Cave People first adorned their
bodies.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
III
WHEN RUN FAST WENT HUNTING FOR A WIFE
The Cave People were skillful fisher folk. From the bark of the cocoanut
palm, which they bound to the forked branches of trees, they made nets
and caught the fish.
The Cave babies were able to swim almost before they could walk. When
for the first time their fathers and mothers threw them into the edge of
the river they would beat the water with their little hands, and, with
much splashing, make their way toward the bank again.
Boat making, however, came slowly to the Cave People. They knew, of
course, how logs, or the trunks of trees float, but tree-felling was
beyond their knowledge and their tools.
Not until they had learned to fashion cane rafts rudely strung or bound
together with strips of bark, were the Cave People able to ride against
the current of the river. But these cane rafts were so light that they
were able, with little effort, to paddle up stream, if they hugged the
banks of the river where the current was weak.
When the men of the Hairy Folk, who dwelt far up the river, descended
upon the Cave People and sought to take away their women and their
daughters, the Cave People gave them blow for blow and, in the end,
drove the intruders back into the wood.
And the secret of the matter was a strange sickness that had came upon
the women of the Hairy Folk, and had stricken them with an unknown
illness. The women of the Hairy Folk had died in great pain, one by one,
till only the old and unattractive ones remained to the tribe. And the
young men of the Hairy Folk went forth to seek new wives.
Now Run Fast was the greatest coward among the tribe of the Cave People,
but after the Hairy Folk were driven away, he felt that a great strength
had come into his heart.
Much hair covered his face, and his limbs were as lithe as the branches
of the willow, shining in the sun like bars of burnished copper. But his
courage was like the water of cool springs, running from him always.
For this reason he had never been able to win for himself a wife.
Stripling lads had routed him and taken the young women he loved, and so
he remained alone in the tribe.
Deep in his heart Run Fast knew that it would be by brave deeds alone
that he could gain a wife. And it was the laugh of the Cave People and
the scorn of the young women, as well as the hunger in his heart, that
drove Run Fast one day along the river bank.
He bore only his bone weapon, split at the end like a strong javelin. At
his side, and beyond, down past him, flowed the great river and as he
ran, he kept close to the bank for he knew that there only would he be
able to elude the fierce hyenas and the black bear.
It was the first time Run Fast had ever traveled forth from the Cave
People alone; there was a trembling in his strong limbs, and upon the
breaking of a twig, or the falling of a branch, he started forth closer
to the river.
And the waters rushed continually past him with a mad roar and he knew
that he had only to throw himself into the current to be borne swiftly
back in the direction whence he had come. Of this one thing Run Fast had
no fear, for he had been accustomed to the water for many seasons.
For many hours he traveled, only pausing at the edge of the river and
dipping his palms, cupwise, to drink.
And when he grew hungry Run Fast skirted the edge of the forest for
nuts. Then he resumed his journey, for he remembered the word of Strong
Arm, and his gesture toward the sun, when Strong Arm spoke of the homes
of the Hairy Folk. This meant that it would take one of the Cave Men a
day of hard walking to reach their dwelling places.
When the Western sky was covered with the gold of the setting sun Run
Fast found a raft tied to a tree with a piece of bark. The raft was rude
and very heavy, being merely the trunk of a great tree across which were
bound branches and pieces of cane, which served to prevent the log from
rolling over in the river and dumping the people into the water.
Run Fast knew the raft belonged to the Hairy Folk, for according to the
words of Strong Arm, there remained but a little way to travel before he
would reach their homes.
But he marked the spot where the raft lay well. If the Hairy Folk
discovered his approach, he had only to throw himself upon the raft and
be borne toward the Hollow where dwelt the tribe of the Cave People.
So eager was Run Fast to reach the enemy that he slipped through the
wood, like a shadow in the evening. The rustle of leaves was not heard
as his feet sped over them. And he was in the land of the Hairy Folk
before he was aware.
When he saw the men walking about or squatting over a piece of bear
meat, Run Fast slipped into the brush where, unseen, he could watch the
manner of living of these folks. His limbs trembled sorely for the quick
beating of his heart refused to subside, so heavy was it with fear.
But his heart said over and over again that did he but kill one of the
men of the Hairy Folk, or return to his people with one of their women,
all the Cave People would look upon him with wonder and admiration. He
knew also that if the men of the Hairy Folk discovered him he would have
need to run very swiftly to elude their vengeance. It was this thought
that brought the sweat to his brow and caused his hair to bristle with
fear.
The longing to feed his anger against the enemy burned within him, but
Fear taught him reason. So he lay long among the bushes, awaiting an
opportunity to harm them.
Men he saw lying with distended bellies, after a meal of fresh meat, but
no women. Darker it grew, as the sun continued to ride low in the West,
and he had need of all his new found courage to prevent his limbs from
running away.
Came a time when he felt he could endure the waiting no longer that a
woman walked forth from one of the caves. Tall she was and very thin,
and so heavy grew the hair upon her chin and face that he first mistook
her for a man. Heavily she walked, as though she were very old or weary
with much pain. And at her heels trotted a small brown boy.
Long Run Fast watched her eagerly for his cave was lonely for want of a
wife. His eyes gleamed and he heard in his mind the yells of the men of
the Hairy Folk when he should carry off one of their women.
At length as the woman bent her steps toward the caves Run Fast rushed
upon her, like the winds that come when the buds grow large. He made no
sound, but the brown boy who first saw him set up a cry of alarm. With a
sweep of his arm, Run Fast struck the boy to the earth and seized the
woman, whom he bore, clawing and scratching, to the bank of the river.
The hairy woman showed her great teeth, making hideous sounds of rage.
She tore at his hair and dug her teeth into his arms.
But nothing stopped Run Fast and on he dashed, dragging, pulling and
finally carrying her as he went. Soon they reached the edge of the river
where lay the raft. And close upon their heels, mad with rage, came the
men of the Hairy Folk.
Very quickly Run Fast tore loose the bark that held the raft and drew
the woman onto it with him. Then he gave a mighty shove that sent them
whirling into the river, where the current caught the raft and bore it
swiftly down stream.
The men of the Hairy Folk were now on the bank of the river and some of
them leaped into the water. Others hurled their bone weapons toward Run
Fast. But none of them stuck home, and beating down the woman he paddled
with his hands, and they were soon beyond pursuit.
At this season of the year the current of the river made about five
miles an hour, and the distance it had taken Run Fast a hard day’s
journey to cover, would be made by the raft in a few hours.
Continually the old woman struck at Run Fast and he had great difficulty
in keeping her from throwing herself into the river. But a blow from his
fist soon quieted her and she ceased to struggle.
By and by the stars came out and the moon showed her face and covered
the surface of the river with a flood of gold. The old woman snarled,
but Run Fast held her very tightly in his arms.
His heart sung a song of pride and triumph for he knew that he would no
longer be the scorn of the Cave People. No more would he be compelled to
sit alone in his cave with the howl of the hyena to make him more
lonely.
The day of his triumph was at hand and with tenderness he drew the old
woman close to his breast. And the stars laughed and the moon smiled,
while the raft floated steadily, noiselessly down the river. But the
face of the woman was hard with pain, for she knew that men may come and
men may go, but the small brown boy, in the home of the Hairy Folk,
would be her boy forever.
Who can know the understanding of the dog, which lost in a strange land,
finds his way home again! Or the animals of the forest, how they find
the old haunts through the unknown ways! And who among us can say how
Run Fast understood that when the moon rose high in the heavens the raft
would be nearing the bend in the river which appeared before the Hollow,
wherein lay the homes of the Cave People!
For the Cave People were unable to count. One, they made known by the
pointing of a fore-finger upward; and two by pointing two fingers. But
beyond this, they had no signs for the numbers but flung out their hands
as though to say, “many.”
But Run Fast knew even as his brothers would have known under similar
circumstances. And when the raft curved about the bend, he paddled with
his hand to steer the boat close to the shore.
Very cautiously he pushed the woman on to the bank before him, for the
beasts came often to the river edge to drink, but he saw no danger.
Then, making fast the boat, he bore the woman of the Hairy Folk over the
rocks to his cave and rolled a great stone before the entrance.
And his heart was glad and his blood was warm, for he knew that no
longer would he be an outcast among his own people.
Two suns had come and gone again when Run Fast bent his steps toward the
forest, and the old woman disappeared. Doubtless she turned her face
toward the home of the small brown boy among the Hairy Folk. Run Fast
was thus again made lonely, but the voices of his brothers cheered him.
Always they said, “man, man,” when he appeared, for he had proven his
courage and his bravery among the tribe. The young women looked tenderly
at the strength of his limbs and he was become honored among his people.
* * * * *
[Charles Darwin says in his Descent of Man: “In utterly barbarous
times the women have more power in choosing, rejecting and tempting
their lovers, or of afterwards changing their husbands, than might
have been expected.” He gives several illustrations. Page 620,
Crowell edition.]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
IV
LITTLE LAUGHING BOY
When the luscious fruit ripened and fell and the nut season came around,
the time of joy and plenty was at hand for the Cave Dwellers. Then
millions of fish sought the shallows of the river; nourishing plants,
with a strange bittersweet flavor, thrust up their heads, and the nests
were full of eggs for the hand of him who cared to gather.
It was then only that the Cave People were never hungry. With plenty
abounding always in the forest, they feasted continually and grew fat
against those periods of famine that spread through the long after-suns
and the dreary wet seasons.
True it was, that their enemies of the forest throve and grew strong
also. The green snakes awoke and wound themselves around the branches of
trees, with eyes that glistened and glowed toward every living creature.
And the brush grew thick and abounded with creeping things.
The cubs of the black bear flourished and the fierce hyena yielded
bounteously to her young. Great flocks of strange and familiar birds
darkened the sky and swooped down upon the berry bushes and swept them
bare. But for all these there was enough and to spare for the wants of
the Cave Dwellers.
Even the limbs of Strong Arm, the wise and brave, grew soft during this
season, for his stomach was always filled. The fierce rays of the
tropical sun beat down upon the heads of the Cave Dwellers, filling them
with a sweet drowsiness. There was nothing to drive them forth from the
shades of the Hollow, where the waters of the river washed the green
rocks, and teemed with thousands of golden and silver fish.
It was not in the season of plenty that the Cave People learned new ways
to trap the black bear, or to snare the wild pig. Nor did they at that
time seek to fashion new weapons or to travel strange paths. Rarely they
plied the waters. These were not the days of progress or discovery, and
the minds of the Cave People grew torpid and they forgot many things
they had learned in the times of hunger and activity.
The hands of the youths and maidens lost a portion of their cunning and
the older members of the tribe grew lazy and dull. For the bread fruit
ripened and the tubers grew thick and all the land smiled with a
bountiful supply of daily food.
The season of plenty was come. And the Cave People loved and laughed and
feasted and were content. Few dangers menaced during those days and the
members of the tribe forgot fears and drowsed in peace.
But the children of the Cave People grew strong, lifting their heads.
The fierce rays of the sun were unable to subdue them. Laughing Boy,
grown tall and straight, was weaned at last. Always he laughed, showing
his large white teeth, like a dark dog snapping at a bone. And he danced
and ran about, spilling the strong life that surged up within him and
would not be stilled.
With his young friend, The Fish, whom the Cave People had given his name
because of his early skill in swimming, Laughing Boy learned many
things. Their joy and juvenility seemed exhaustless, and their romps and
chatterings ended only with the days.
Not many years before, the fathers and mothers of the Cave People had
come down out of the trees to dwell. The Tree Dwellers found shelter in
the natural caves that lined the river bank. In time they learned to
walk erect, on two legs. The Cave Dwellers resembled them very closely.
The arms of the Cave People had grown shorter as they ceased to swing
themselves constantly, from tree to tree. The thumb of the foot
disappeared and they now possessed a great toe in its place. Still the
feet of the Cave Dwellers retained the power of prehension. They were
able to hold—to cling awkwardly with them.
In the children this power was very marked. On the skirts of the forest
they loved to clamber up the slim trees, poise on the swaying boughs and
swing themselves from branch to branch, like young monkeys. This gave
them strength of limb and quickness of vision. Soon they learned to
choose those branches strong enough to bear their weight, as they flung
themselves through great gaps of space to seize the boughs of a
neighboring tree.
But the fear of the green snakes, that wound about and hid themselves
among the leaves, kept them near the Hollow. Only on rare occasions did
they penetrate deep into the forest.
Among many of the savages living to-day great skill and agility
prevails. We are told of tribes whose members are able, by a partial
circling of the trunks, with their arms, and by the clinging and
pressing of flexible toes, to mount trees in a sort of walk.
Jack London writes that this is a common practice of the natives of the
South Sea Islands. And we are assured by several young friends that the
art has not wholly disappeared among our own boys.
Many were the feats accomplished among the swaying branches of the trees
by Laughing Boy, and his friend, The Fish, in their frolics many years
ago. Their feet were never still. Their jabberings flowed without end.
Tireless as the birds they were and gay as youth itself.
One day, as they played, Laughing Boy found a flat, curved piece of
wood. It was as long as the arm of a man and had been split from a tree
during a storm. Laughing Boy hurled the stick far into the air at his
friend, The Fish. But The Fish threw himself from the bank, into the
river, to avoid it. And he screamed with joy as he disappeared beneath
the waters. Then a very strange thing happened. For the flat stick
swished through the air, like a great bird, far over the river. Then it
turned about and whirled slowly back again, where it fell at the feet of
Laughing Boy. At once the hair of his head rose with fear, and he ran to
his mother uttering shrill squeals of alarm. Quack Quack awoke from her
sleep and snatched up a bone weapon, for she thought one of the forest
enemies had attacked Laughing Boy.
But he pointed only to the strange, curved stick and clung to her, in
terror. All the while he jabbered wildly. Quack Quack desired to quiet
his fear, so she flung the stick far out over the river, as he had done.
Then again the big stick swished through the air, turned about and
whirled gently back, striking her arm. Then it fell at her feet.
Whereupon Laughing Boy screamed and ran into the Cave. Then a great fear
assailed Quack Quack and she added her cries to his. And all the Cave
People hurried to her side to learn the cause of so much trouble.
Again the strange stick was hurled toward the river, and once more it
returned. And all the Cave People marveled and were afraid. For they
could not understand a stick that returned when it was thrown.
Strong Arm only was brave enough to touch it with his fingers. His face
bore a strange wonder that such things could be possible to a mere
stick. And he carried it to his cave, where he hid it among the rocks,
under the dead leaves.
But when the nuts were gone and the season of plenty had passed away,
and there was need for the Cave People to hunt, he brought it forth
again. After many seasons, a flat stick, curved in the manner of the one
first found by Laughing Boy, came to be used as a weapon by the Cave
People.
Perhaps you have seen the painted boomerangs sold in some of our stores
to-day. They are the same shape as those first used by the ancient Cave
Dwellers. A small pasteboard boomerang, cut the right size and shape
will interest the children. When struck with a lead pencil, it will
whirl through the air and return, just as the larger and more formidable
boomerangs did when thrown at their enemies by the Cave Dwellers many
thousands of years ago.
After a time the alarm and excitement caused by Laughing Boy’s discovery
of the first rude boomerang, died away. The strange stick no longer
menaced them, and the Cave People returned to their feasting and their
slumbers. And Laughing Boy and his young friend, The Fish, resumed their
play.
They chased each other up and down the Hollow or concealed themselves in
the long grass that lined the river bank. At each discovery they tossed
and rolled over and over again, like puppies, wild with the exuberance
of young blood.
It was one of their great pleasures to lie chattering in the grass on
the top of the river bank and roll, tumbling, down into the clear
waters. Then, amid a great splashing and much laughter, to clamber out
and up the slope again. Thus the children of the Cave Dwellers romped
and grew strong, during the season of plenty, in the days of old.
One day it chanced that Laughing Boy stumbled over a large cocoanut,
during his frolics with his young friend. He seized it in his arms and
danced about, jabbering with glee, that his friend might know the
treasure he had found.