  THINGS TO THINK ABOUT How do you feel after you have had a long, hard chase? What does your mother tell you to do when you come in dripping with sweat? How do you think the Cave-men learned to take care of themselves? When they were lame and stiff, do you think they would know what made them so? Think of as many things as you can that they might do to make themselves feel better. After the Chase When the long, hard chase was over, the Cave-men were tired and dripping with sweat. All but Scarface threw themselves upon the cold ground to rest. It was Scarface who blew the whistle which called the women to the spot. It was he who guarded the carcasses until the women came. And while the women skinned the horses he sat on a log to rest. It was sunset when they reached the cave. All joined in a feast upon horse flesh, then they slept until Perhaps you can tell what made the men lame. None of the Cave-men knew. Everybody thought that an angry god was trying to punish them. And so the men tried to drive the god away by raising fearful shouts. Then they asked Chew-chew’s advice, and Chew-chew took her basket and started up the dry ravine. There she found bitter roots which she gathered and carried home. No one knew at that time how to steep roots, for people had not learned how to boil. So Chew-chew chopped the roots with a stone chopper and laid them upon hot stones. And while the men breathed the bitter fumes, Chew-chew threatened the angry god and commanded him to go away. In a few days the men were well and it was almost time to go hunting again. Straightshaft feared the angry god. He talked with the men and they wondered why it was that Scarface escaped. They looked at his deep scar which a tiger’s claw had made. And then they looked at the trophies of Scarface which he wore about his neck. Every Cave-man admired the deep scar of the bravest man in the clan. Every man wished that he, too, could show such a scar as that. And the men began to wonder if the scar was a kind of a charm. image Chew-chew took her basket and started up the dry ravine. The more the men talked about the scar, the more So Chew-chew muttered prayers to the gods, and asked them not to hurt the Cave-men. Then she took a flint point and scratched the men’s arms until she made big scars. Years afterward, when people made scars, they stained them with all sorts of things. Sometimes they stained the scars with juices of plants, and sometimes they colored them with paints. The Cave-men thought they could protect themselves by scars, and by all sorts of charms. So they kept on making scars, and they hunted for all sorts of charms. But no matter how many charms they wore, they often were lame and stiff. Some one must have noticed that they were more apt to be lame after sitting on the cold ground while they were warm. For after a while the custom grew of never sitting on the bare ground while they were warm. THINGS TO DO Draw or paint a pattern which you think the Cave-men might have tattooed upon their arms. Where do we put the pictures which we make? Find and name as many roots and herbs as you can that are used as medicines. What animals have you seen eating herbs? What mistakes did the Cave-men make when they tried to cure themselves? image “She took a flint point and scratched the men’s arms until she made big scars.” |
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