HOW STRONGARM HUNTED A BEAR AND A LION
In those days Strongarm was busily digging a big hole away out in the
forest. He cut the dirt up with his stone ax, and threw it out with a
clam shell. He had worked now for days, and at last the hole was large
enough. He laid branches over it, and over the branches he hung the
leg of a wild goat.
That night the wild things of the woods came out to hunt for food. A
cave bear came by and smelled the meat. He went to get it and fell
through the branches into the hole beneath.
The next day when Strongarm went to the hole, he found the great cave
bear in it. He killed the bear and carried the meat home to eat, and
the skin to sleep on.
Burr took the bear skin from him and laid it out on the ground. She
drove sticks down through the edges, all the while pulling the skin
tight. Then with her stone scraper, she scraped off all the meat and
fat. She left the skin stretched on the ground, and thought, "It will
dry there, and another day I will scrape it again. Then it will be
good and soft to sleep on."
[Illustration: She scraped off all the meat and fat]
She looked up as a man came running toward the cave.
"Oho, Hickory!" called Strongarm, "what is it?"
"A lion hunt!" shouted Hickory, and shook his spear.
Strongarm's bold face lighted up.
"Tell about it," he said.
"A lion has come among the caves by the river. He kills the people and
carries off the children. The women dare not go to the river for
water. The men are afraid to go alone to hunt. So they want help to
kill the lion. They want all the strong men and the good hunters.
They have sent for you."
Strongarm quickly took his club and spear and went off with old
Hickory. The men went over two hills and across a stream, and came to
Hickory's cave. There other men joined them. All the men had clubs
and spears and stone axes. They went together toward the river caves.
They found the lion and killed it.
Strongarm came home after some days, bringing lion's meat. Burr cooked
it, and Strongarm said to the boys, "Eat, it will make you brave."
After a while Strongarm sat down and made a hole in a lion's tooth.
Then he took off his necklace. It was made of shells and bears' claws
and a tiger's tooth and a bit of amber. He put the lion's tooth on his
necklace and held it up and looked at it and said, "Men will see that
and say, 'There is a brave man. There is a good hunter. He has helped
to kill a lion.'"
[Illustration: Tiger's tooth and bear's claw]
The boys stood by, watching. Thorn pointed to the tiger's tooth.
"How long and sharp it is! I never saw a tiger."
"You never want to see one unless you are where he cannot see you,"
roared Strongarm.
"Tell us about the lion hunt, father," begged Pineknot.
[Illustration: Lion]
"We watched the lion for days," said Strongarm. "We found that he
slept nearly all day in the thick reeds by the river. At sundown he
went out to hunt. He hunted all night; we heard him roar at times. In
the early light he went back to his bed of reeds by the river and went
to sleep. We rolled a big stone from a high rock and killed him while
he slept. Then we went down to where he lay. We saw that he was an
old lion; he could not hunt animals enough to eat, and that is why he
had begun to kill people."
[Illustration: Lion's tooth]