Kitabı oku: «The First Days of Man», sayfa 4
CHAPTER VIII
MA-RA FINDS A NEW KIND OF FOOD, AND A COAT OF FUR
Ma-Ra, the grandson of Ra, was out looking for food. It was the chief thing the cave men did. When they had plenty, they would lie in the sun and sleep, but when food was scarce, as it was now, they spent the whole day, from morning to night, looking for something to eat.
Ma-Ra went down along the banks of the stream, hoping to find a fish. It was not so much of a torrent, now, as it had been during the storm, but it was still swift and strong, dashing down over the rocks in the narrow way it had cut for itself, and boiling up here and there in clouds of foam. The wide lake at the lower end of the valley was gone, and there were no longer any quiet marshy pools along the edge of the stream, in which fish might live.
The stream poured out of the valley through a narrow gorge, tumbling over the rocks in a foaming waterfall. This was the only entrance to the valley, except over the rough, forest-covered hills that surrounded it on all sides, and none of the cave men, in their hunts for food, had ever gone outside the valley. They knew nothing of the country beyond, and were afraid to enter it, not knowing what sort of enemies they might meet.
Ma-Ra reached the waterfall and stood there for a long time, his heavy spear in his hand. All he could see through the gorge was a wide marshy plain, covered with tall rank grass, with here and there a clump of fern-like bushes and trees. He wondered if there were any food to be found in the plain, for he had had nothing to eat since the afternoon before, and he was very hungry. He knew it would be useless to go back to the caves, for he would find no food on the way, and when he got back, there would be nothing there either, except a few of the dry roots of plants on which the cave people were trying to keep themselves alive. Ma-Ra felt a spirit of adventure stirring within him; why, he said to himself, should he not go outside the valley and see what he could find? He might as well be killed by some wild beast, as starve to death. So he decided to go.
Picking his way carefully over the slippery rocks beside the waterfall, he finally got to the bottom of it, and found himself on the edge of the wide, marshy plain. There were many hummocks of grass, with muddy pools between, but although he searched very carefully, in none of them could he find any fish.
As he walked along through the tall grass, higher than his waist, he saw many large birds fly over his head, lighting here and there to feed on the tender shoots of the grass, but while he knew these birds might be good to eat, there was no way in which he could catch one of them.
Suddenly Ma-Ra paused, the hair on his neck and head standing up straight. Some animal was coming toward him through the grass; he saw the grass tops waving, and heard low grunts, as the creature forced its way along through the mud. What it was Ma-Ra could not tell, but he stood quite still, a little to one side of the path the animal was taking, and waited, spear in hand.
In a few moments he saw a heavy pointed snout come poking through the grass, with little sharp tusks sticking upward, and small bright eyes, which turned quickly from side to side, watching for any danger. Suddenly the animal saw Ma-Ra and stopped. It had never seen a man before, and did not know what to make of him.
Ma-Ra was very quick. Without waiting a moment, he drove his flint-pointed spear into the animal's side, just behind its fore-leg.
The wild pig tried his best to use his sharp tusks, but it was too late. Ma-Ra's thrust had been a fatal one, and in a few moments the boar fell over on his side, dead.
Ma-Ra drew out his spear. Some bits of the animal's flesh, warm and covered with blood, clung to his spear point. Half starving, he put them in his mouth, chewed them, swallowed them. They tasted good to him, even better, he thought, than raw fish. With the blade of his spear he cut some strips of flesh from the animal's side and made a hearty meal. Then, because the body of the boar was too large and heavy for him to carry, he twisted some marsh grasses together, tied them to the animal's front legs, and began to drag it along through the marsh toward the entrance to the valley.
When he at last came to the waterfall, he was tired, and he saw at once that he would not be able to carry the body of the boar over the steep, slippery rocks that led into the valley. So he sat down to think what he should do, and meanwhile, ate some more of the boar meat. Soon he heard a cry from the rocks above, and saw two of his brothers standing in the valley entrance, looking down at him in surprise.
He called to them to join him, which they did, chattering loudly over his bravery in going outside the valley. They too were very hungry, so Ma-Ra showed them the boar he had killed, and gave them some of the meat to eat. They liked it, as he had, and soon their stomachs too were full. Then the three of them carried the body of the boar up over the steep rocks beside the waterfall, and took it home to the caves, very proud of what they had done.
That night Ma-Ra's family had a big feast, and Ra patted his grandson on the back and said a word or two which meant, in their simple language, that he had done well. The next day several parties of the cave men went out to hunt for the new sort of food. They found many different kinds of animals, in the marsh, and on the hillsides around the valley, and they ate them, and soon got to like the flesh of animals better even than they had liked the raw fish.
That winter the tribe did not go hungry, and the new food they had found, as well as the danger of hunting for it, made them bolder and fiercer than ever. There were scarcely any animals that they were afraid of now, except the great mammoth elephants, which we call mastodons, and the huge hairy rhinoceros, which sometimes attacked them in the marsh, and the terrible sabre-toothed tigers.
Food was not the only thing the cave people got from the bodies of the animals they killed. For one thing, they found a way to use the skins.
At first, finding them tough and not fit to eat, they threw them away, but Mother Nature did not like this. She wanted her children to learn to use the furry skins of the animals they killed. So, one day, when Ma-Ra and some of his friends were stripping the skin from an animal they had speared, in the marsh land, she called Cold and Rain to her and told them to make Ma-Ra and his companions just as uncomfortable as they could.
Cold and Rain laughed when they heard this, for they loved to make the funny little creatures dance, so they poured down such a bitter cold rain that Ma-Ra and the others were chilled to the bone.
Ma-Ra, his teeth chattering from the cold, looked at the skin he had just stripped from a small bear. The skin was still warm, and without thinking he wrapped it about his head and shoulders to keep off the cold rain. His friends did not understand what he was about, at first, but soon they saw that Ma-Ra was warm, while they were not, and they tried to take the skin away from him, but he would not give it up.
When the rain was over, and the party had returned to the valley, Ma-Ra took the skin of the bear with him and hung it up on the wall of the cave.
The next day, when he went to get it, he was very much disappointed to find that it had dried hard and stiff as a board, and seemed no longer of any use to him.
Now Ma-Ra had begun to think quite a good deal, and he remembered that when the skin was soft, the day before, it had been moist, so he took it down to the bank of the stream and washed it over and over in the water, scrubbing it with sand, and pounding it between two round stones, until it had become quite soft again. Then he put it in the sun to dry.
Again it dried stiff and hard, and Ma-Ra was about to throw it away. Then he remembered how the grease and fat of the animals he killed softened the rough hard skin of his hands, so he got a lump of grease and rubbed the bear skin over and over with it, working the grease into all the pores. This time, the skin stayed soft, and Ma-Ra, although he did not know it, was the first Man to make leather.
He threw the heavy piece of fur about his shoulders, and fastened it with a sharp thorn, and walked about very proud of his new fur cloak. After that, the cave people did not call him Ma-Ra any longer, but Han, which in their language meant the skin of an animal.
Other very useful things, too, the cave people found in the bodies of the animals they killed. Some of the bones, after they had cracked them open and eaten the marrow, they used for knives, or for spear points, and the women made coarse needles from them, with which they later on sewed together pieces of skins for belts, to hold the men's clubs and knives when hunting. Sinews, drawn from the animals' muscles, gave them strong cords or thread, and after a time they made sandals, or moccasins, out of the tough hides, to protect their feet when running over the sharp stones. The teeth they often strung on bits of sinew and hung around their necks, to show what great hunters they were.
As the centuries went by, they once more found, in the marshes below the valley, fish which had made their way up from the Ocean, and from the bones of these they made smaller and sharper needles, for sewing the leather they had begun to use. Strips of this leather, called thongs, or the twisted entrails of animals, called gut, took the place of the cords made of marsh grasses, for binding on the heads of spears, or axes, and as the cave men took to wearing skins and furs, they began to lose the hair on their bodies, and they looked less and less like animals, and more and more like human beings.
Besides getting their food by hunting, the cave people soon learned many ways of trapping animals and other game. In the case of the larger beasts they sometimes made traps by digging deep holes or pits in the ground and then fixing upright in the bottom of these pits many strong, sharp stakes, with keen points. Over the pits they would lay a thin covering of branches and leaves. These traps were placed in the paths the animals usually took when going to the streams and ponds to get water. When the heavy beast walked on the thin covering of the pit, it would give way, and he would fall on the sharp stakes, and either be killed, or wounded so that the hunters could make short work of him with their spears.
Smaller animals and birds they trapped by snares of different sorts. One kind they made by bending down a stout sapling until it almost touched the ground, and hooking the end of it under a notched stake driven in the earth. On the end of the sapling was a noose of cord, or gut. This noose they spread in a circle around the notched stake. On the stake they tied a bit of food, for bait. When the animal tried to pull the food off the stake, the bent sapling would slip out of the notch and fly upward, and the animal or bird would be caught in the noose.
In many such ways the cave men got food for themselves and their families.
The Sun was very much surprised to see how quickly the cave men had begun to learn.
"They are smarter than any of the other animals on Earth," he said.
"Yes," said Mother Nature. "They are smarter, because they have begun to use their brains, to think, just as I told you they would. But they have really only just started. If you watch them carefully, you will see many surprising things, in the next two or three thousand years."
"They seem very cold," said the Sun, "even with their caves, and their fur coats. I have a hard time to keep them warm, in the Winter."
"I will attend to that," Mother Nature told him. "I am about to send them a very wonderful thing."
"What is it?" the Sun asked.
"Fire," Mother Nature replied. "Soon they will be making Heat work for them."
CHAPTER IX
THE COMING OF FIRE
When Mother Nature got ready to send Fire to the cave men, she called Heat and Cold and Wind and Rain to her and explained what she wanted them to do.
"My little people down there," she said, "need something to keep them warm, during the Winter, and also they need something to cook their food with, and later on to help them make pottery, and smelt metals, and do all the wonderful new things I am going to teach them to do. Without Fire, they can never be anything but savages, the way they are now. So we must send them Fire."
"Fire," said Cold, puffing out a great cloud of frost. "I have no Fire to give them."
"Nor I," said Wind and Rain.
"I have plenty of Fire, inside the Earth," said Heat. "Do you want me to burst out in a blazing volcano? I am afraid it might burn them all up."
"No, Heat," said Mother Nature. "We do not need any volcanoes just now. But you have another way to give them Fire. Have you forgotten Lightning?"
"I see," said Heat. "Lightning is certainly very hot. What do you want me to do?"
"The trees and grass in the valley," Mother Nature replied, "are brown and dry from the Sun. Cold and Wind and Rain, I want you to send a thunder storm to the valley, and set the forest afire with a bolt of Lightning. Then, Heat, you can blaze away all you like, until I tell Rain to put you out again."
So Heat, dancing down the rays of the Sun, turned the water at the surface of the Ocean into vapour, like steam, and it rose high in the air and formed clouds. Then Wind drove the clouds over the valley, and Cold blew on them, and turned the vapour of the clouds back to water again, so that it fell as Rain. Now each little bit of vapour in the clouds carried with it a tiny spark of Electricity, for the Air about the Earth is always filled with Electricity, carried by tiny drops of moisture. When all the little sparks got together in the thick black clouds, they formed big sparks, and when the clouds got so full of Electricity they couldn't hold any more, these big sparks jumped from the clouds down to the Earth, in great flashes, sometimes half a mile long. You can make a little spark like that, if you walk quickly over a soft rug, on a dry winter day, and then put your knuckle to the metal radiator. It will be a real Lightning flash, although it will be only half an inch long, and the little crackling sound you hear, as the spark jumps from your knuckle to the radiator, is real thunder, but because the flash is so small, your thunder will not be very loud.
So the storm rolled down over the valley, and the Lightning flashed, and the Thunder roared, and all the cave people ran into their holes and huddled together, shivering. They had seen the Lightning and heard the Thunder before, but because they did not know what they were, they thought some terrible dragon, with a roaring voice and a tongue of flame was coming to eat them up.
At last a great flash of Lightning struck a dry tree and set it on fire, and the Wind blew the clouds away for a while, so that the Rain might not put the fire out.
"I'll show them something," said Heat, as the tree and the bushes about it began to crackle and blaze.
As soon as Wind blew the storm away, the cave people, not hearing the Thunder any more, came out to see what was going on. When they saw the blazing tree, they were at first very much frightened, for they had never seen Fire so close at hand before. So they chattered and pointed, afraid to go near it.
After a while, when they saw that the fire did them no harm, they went closer, and gathered about the roaring flames, watching them as they devoured the dry leaves and branches.
Then Mother Nature told Wind to blow the flames gently toward the cave people, and the heat from the flames warmed them, and they liked it. So they came nearer, and at last a boy picked up a blazing branch that fell near him, because it was red and pretty. But he dropped it again very quickly, you may be sure, and ran howling with pain to his mother, his burnt fingers in his mouth.
"I am sorry," laughed Heat, dancing among the flames, "but I had to let you see that I can burn as well as warm you. So you had better treat me with care."
Soon the flames spread, and other trees took fire, and the flames roared and danced down the valley like mad, their red tongues licking up everything that came in their way.
Some of the older cave men went to the place where the fire had first started and gathered about the hot coals, enjoying the warmth. But soon they saw that the fire was dying out, so they began to throw leaves and twigs and branches on it, and every time it blazed up they shouted with joy.
When Mother Nature saw that the cave people liked the new thing she had sent them, she told Wind to blow the storm back again, so that Rain might fall on the blazing forest, and put out the flames before the trees were all burned up.
"But do not wet the little fire the cave people have kept burning among the rocks," she said, "for if you do, they will not be able to light it again. And I wish, Cold, that you would blow with all your might."
The cave people, gathered about the fire, felt the cold wind on their backs, and because the fire kept them warm, they liked it, and put more and more wood on it to keep it alive. Whenever it died down, and they felt cold again, they brought more branches and twigs. After a time, night came, and the bright yellow flames pleased them so much that they danced about the fire, chattering with delight.
Presently they grew sleepy, and lay down beside the fire, because it was warmer there, than it was inside the caves. And they went to sleep and forgot all about the fire, so that, when morning came, they woke up, chilled by the cold, to find that their fire was gone.
This made them feel very sad. Then one of the younger men, who was called Ab, because he was slow and lazy, like a bear, was very angry because the fire had gone out and left him cold, so he began to poke about among the ashes with a stick, and after a while, away down at the bottom of the pile, he found a bed of glowing red coals. He got some leaves and twigs and put them on the coals, and when the fire blazed up again, the cave people all shout Ai-Ai, and that became in time their word for fire. They called Ab Ai-Ab after that, because he was the one who had brought back the fire.
Mother Nature, who was watching the cave people, was glad when she saw that they had saved the fire, for she was afraid she might have to make it all over again for them. But she was not satisfied.
"The Rain will soon put it out," she said to the Sun, "if they do not carry it into their caves. I must teach them a lesson. But first, they must find out more about what Fire can do for them, so you had better keep on shining for a while."
The cave people, when they saw that the fire was burning again, left Ai-Ab and the women to keep it blazing, while they went out to hunt for food. They did not know, then, all the wonderful things Fire was going to do for them, but they liked it because it kept them warm.
There were two boys in one of the parties that went down the valley. One was called Tul, which meant quick, and the other was called Ni-Va, which meant fish, and they called him that because he was a very good swimmer. Tul and Ni-Va were not allowed to go outside the valley with the older men, but were told to search through the woods for the sweet roots of certain kinds of plants that the cave men ate, and for eggs, and the young wild birds.
When Tul and Ni-Va came to the edge of the forest, they saw a great wide space which had been burned by the fire before the rain had put it out. So, being curious, they forgot all about the roots and eggs they had been sent after, and went poking about among the ashes and charred trunks of trees, to see what they could find.
They had been doing this for quite a while, when Ni-Va heard Tul call to him, and ran up to see what his companion had found.
There among some burnt bushes lay the body of a great bird, as large as a turkey. It had been sitting on its nest on the ground, and in trying to escape it had become entangled among some thick vines. The fire had burnt away the feathers of the bird, and left it scorched and black, and still a little warm from the bed of ashes in which it lay.
Tul tried to lift the bird by one of its legs, but to his surprise, the leg came right off in his hand, for the body of the bird had been cooked by the fierce heat.
Tul looked at the leg, smelt it, and then being hungry, began to eat. It was the first time that he or any other man had ever eaten cooked food, and the taste of it pleased him, so he told Ni-Va to eat the other leg. This Ni-Va did, and he too liked it very much, because it was much more tender than raw meat, and had a better taste. They took the body of the bird home and gave it to Ai-Ab, who was sitting beside the fire.
Ai-Ab, who was also hungry, smelt the cooked food, and when the boys showed him how they had eaten the legs, he tore off a great piece of the breast and devoured it. The rest he gave to some of the women.
Now Ai-Ab, although he was slow and lazy, was also very smart. When he tasted the cooked meat, and saw how good it was, an idea came to him. He did not say anything to the two boys about it, but when the men came home from hunting, bringing with them the bodies of two young deer, Ai-Ab took a large piece of the deer meat, and putting it on the end of a stick, held it over the flames of the fire.
The other men crowded about, laughing, because they thought Ai-Ab had gone mad and was burning up his dinner. But when the smell of the cooking meat came to them, they liked it, and stopped laughing. Soon Ai-Ab drew the hot crisp meat from the flames and began to eat it, and then they all wanted to taste it, but Ai-Ab told them if they wanted any to cook it for themselves. Some of the others followed his example, holding the bits of meat over the fire on the points of their spears, and it was not long before the whole tribe took to cooking their food instead of eating it raw. They kept the fire burning day and night, and Ai-Ab watched it, and kept it going, and he was the very first cook among Men.
"They have found that Fire is very useful to them," said Mother Nature, "for it not only keeps them warm, but it cooks their food. I must teach them to take better care of it." So she told Rain to sprinkle the fire a little, but not to put it quite out.
When the cave men saw that the rain was putting out their fire, they were very angry, for they did not want to lose it, but although they piled on more and more wood, the flames sank lower and lower, and at last the fire was nearly out.
Then Ai-Ab, who was the keeper of the fire, and had shown himself so smart, took a burning stick from the bottom of the pile, and ran with it into the cave where he and his people lived. It was a large cave, because Ai-Ab's father was one of the head men of the tribe, and had several wives and a great many children.
Ai-Ab took the burning stick into the cave and dropped it in the middle of the floor. Then he gathered some dry grass and leaves from the beds on which he and the others slept, and threw them on the coals. The fire blazed up at once, and his brothers and sisters ran out and got armfuls of twigs and branches, and although the twigs were wet, they finally began to burn.
When the other cave men saw what Ai-Ab had done, they made fires in their caves, as well, and if one went out, they would borrow some hot coals from a neighbour. Once, however, during the rainy season, when all the wood was wet, they came very near losing their precious fire, so after that, the head man of the tribe told two old men, who were not strong enough to go out after food, to watch the fire and keep it going in a cave by themselves, which they filled with dry wood, and while one watched, the other slept, and in this way the fire never went out. The Fire seemed something sacred to them, and after a time, they got into a way of coming to the cave and saying prayers or making wishes to it, and thought of it as a sort of god. And in worshipping Fire, or the Sun, or any of the other great forces that helped them, the cave men, although they did not know it, were really worshipping God, who made all these things for their use.
